Summer camp *ON HOLD*

Chapter 13

Liam carried Louis back to their shared cabin, cradling the still sobbing boys head to his chest with one hand whilst the other patted his bum soothingly. Harry had taken a hold of one of Louis' hands and was currently rubbing small circles on the back of his hand with his large thumb in a small act of reassurance to try and reduce the boy's crying. Louis other hand remained close to his face, thumb still stuck between his lips top try and soothe himself as he listened to the older man's heartbeat through his bright orange summer camp shirt. 

Eventually they reached their cabin, Liam made his way to his room and sat on his bed, leaning back against the headboard and stretching his legs out in front of him, with Louis now effectively straddling his lap. Harry went to their shared room to retrieve one of the boy's dummies because his thumb was still dirty after playing in the woods and they wouldn't want Louis getting any germs, as well as some wipes to clean his face once he had calmed down a bit. Harry soon retuned to the boy's side, retrieved items in his left hand and his right reached out so soothingly rub Louis' shoulder. At this action, Louis lifted his head ever so slightly off Liam's chest and faced Harry, revealing Liam's soaked t-shirt from his tears, but the older man showed no sign of caring, more focused on calming the child down. Harry gave a small smile to Louis before pulling his thumb out of his mouth and replacing it with his dummy. Louis made a small whining noise at the loss of comfort however soon began eagerly sucking on the plastic item and resting his head back down on Liam's chest once again, searching for his heartbeat. "Shh Bubba, your thumbs icky from playing in the woods" the curly headed lad cooed softly.

After another 20 minutes of reassuring words and back rubs from both Harry and Liam, Louis was reduced to sniffles and slowly lifted his face from Liams chest once again, sitting back slightly and facing the man. He brought his tiny fists up to rub the tears away just a little too harshly which triggered Harry to take a hold of both the boys wrists in just once hand whilst the other reached towards his very damp face with a wet wipe. Gently, Harry began to lean up the boy's face and soon Liam was asking what had caused Louis to get upset. "Can you tell me what all of these tears are for please baby? Are you just upset that your tower fell down?" The puppy-eyed man asked, slowly prying the dummy out of the boy's mouth so he could reply. Louis shook his head at this, sniffling several times as new tears glazed his bright blue eyes once again. Quiet chants of "Hate me, hate me!" And "bad baby" fell from the tiny boy's lips in a soft, slightly raspy voice due to all of the sobbing yet was still rather high pitched. Both older boys scrunched their faces in confusion as to what the boy could mean before Louis began to clear up their confusion. "Zaynie hate Lou" he began to repeat as a few stray tears rolled down his cheeks. Harry reached out to swipe them away with the pad of his thumb whilst Liam was shaking his head furiously at the comment.

"No baby no! Zaynie doesn't hate you darling! Never!" He insisted.

Louis nodded his head sadly "H-he s-s-said Lou is i-idiot! Sh-shouted at meeeeee" the small boy cried, beginning to get worked up again. Harry just rubbed the boys back whilst Liam tried to reassure him that Zayn would never hate him and that he didn't mean what he called the boy, it was all meant to be a light-hearted banter.

After another five minutes, Liam gently passed Louis over to Harry so that he could change his still soaking shirt. Harry lay down on Liam's bed and brought Louis to lay on top of his chest, sensing that the boy was feeling incredibly tired after that episode. The two snuggled together and Liam brought a fluffy blanked over the top of the pair. He then cooed at the sight and placed a gently peck to the back of the boy's head, ruffled Harrys hair slightly and left the room to fetch the two their lunch, as well and find Zayn, as he was sure his raven haired felt really guilty about the entire thing.

Harry had slipped the boy's dummy back into his mouth and was carding his fingers through his hair lovingly and patting his bum gently with the other. Louis tried to hear Harry's heartbeat but was struggling and was really craving some skin-to-skin contact, much like his mother used to give him whenever his became this distressed. Louis began gently tugging the hem of Harry's shirt, small whines leaving the feather haired boys lips as he looked up into the green eyes above him, trying to portray his message. Harry soon caught on to what Louis was silently asking, much to the little boy's relief. "You want this off Bubba?" Louis just nodded in reply, so Harry sat up slowly and pulled his top off, simply chucking it across the room to land on the floors before lying back down fully and pulling Louis in close to his chest once more. Louis was instantly calmed by the lad's warm muscly chest, loving the way it soothingly vibrated as he began to hum a familiar tune to coax the boy to sleep.

Harry had just finished humming "you are my sunshine" for the second time when he noticed Louis' breathing had evened out and his dummy was slowly bobbing in and out of his mouth. One of the boy's hand had somehow found its way into Harry's hair, a single curl loosely wrapped around Louis' index and middle finger. Harry just smiled down at the boy's peaceful face, love swarming his heart for this little baby he felt so strongly connected to after just over 24 hours.

The pair stayed in that position for a while, with Harry soon falling asleep too, as the days events proved to be rather exhausting for the tall lad also. This is how Zayn and James found the two roughly half an hour later when they had retuned to check on them, bringing their lunch too as they missed having it in the mess hall. Although the sight was adorable, with the only indication of Louis actually being present was the small tuft of his feathery hair sticking up from under the blanked and small, lightly tanned fingers contrasting against the older boy's dark curls. The two older men knew that they needed to wake the pair as it was nearly time for their thirds and final activity of the day.

James carefully tiptoed over to the side of the double bed and lifted the fluffy blanket from Louis, he then slipped his large hand underneath the boy's t-shirt and slowly rubbed small circles at the bottom of his spine. Louis soon woke up, lifting his head slowly off of Harry's warm chest and looking up at James, eyes still clouded over with sleep and dummy bobbing in his mouth. "Heya Lou, sorry but its time to wake up now darling." He spoke softly, Louis nodded before untangling the hand that was in Harry's hair and reaching both arms towards James, silently asking to be picked up. James happily obliged, setting the small boy on his hip. Harry was woken up by the loss of warmth from Louis being over and sat up to rest against the headboard, lazily rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Zayn, who had been stood at the doorway to the bedroom this entire time gently placed the two boy's lunch on top of the table next to him before bending down and picking Harry's discarded shirt from the ground and chucking it towards the lad to put back on. Louis startled a bit at this, not noticing Zayn's presence before, and turned to look in the direction the shirt had been thrown from. As soon as Louis' eyes landed on Zayn, he tensed up and quickly shoved his face in the crook of James' neck, as if in an attempt to hide himself form the man. All three other lads in the room frowned at this action before james spoke up. "Hey Lou, i think we've got someone who wants to have a little chat with you. Would that be okay sweetie?" He asked softly.

Louis only shook his head, that was still stuffed in the mans neck, mumbling a weak "hate me" that came out rather lispy due to the dummy still being in his mouth, but everyone heard it none the less. Hurt flashed through Zayn's large hazel eyes as he approached the rest of the boys in the room. He stopped just a step away from Louis facing the small boy. "I don't hate you Lou Lou! I'd never hate you sunshine!" He reassured. Louis picked up his head to look Zayn in the eyes at that, looking for any signs of anger or lies but finding none. Zayn took to reassuring the boy that what he said earlier was only banter and he never intended to hurt the boys feelings. Eventually Louis accepted the man's apology and made grabby hand towards him. Zayn didn't miss a beat, hurrying to have the little boy is his arms, swinging him around the room in utter joy before snuggling him close to his chest. Louis wrapped his arms around Zayn's neck before pulling his dummy out and setting a rather slobbery peck to the man's cheek. Zayn didn't seem to mind this though and all three beamed at the youngest boy.

James soon left, needing to begin to round everyone up ready for the final activity session of the day, satisfied that Louis was happy once again. Zayn sat down on the bed beside Harry, resting up against the headboard and flipping Louis around so that his back was pressed to the older mans chest, arms wrapped tightly around his petit waste. The two camp attendees then began to eat their lunch in silence before getting ready for their final activity for the day which hopefully wouldn't cause too much drama.