"Yes, Gemma, I will visit. No not around Christmas, mom is coming to see you though," Harry sighs while choosing the right bunch of bananas.
He likes them ripe enough to eat straight away, the worst thing that could happen to him besides getting killed on his job is having to take a green bunch of bananas in the store. Both of those are very comparable, in his defense.
While he's comparing every single banana the store has Gemma complains about him missing out on the holidays with his family.
He's got the morning off since he worked last Saturday and is taking advantage of this time to go grocery shopping at a calm hour.
"I'll come after new years, I'm not in the mood for a big family get-together this year."
"Why not? Is it because everyone always asks why you aren't settled down yet? That was my next question by the way," Gemma snickers.
Harry scoffs, "No, it's because work has been extra stressful and I can't leave here for a few days in the next two months. And no, I haven't, I'm strong and independent."
Once he finally got the perfect bunch he made his way to the candy isle, don't judge him he's a single man who craves chocolate sometimes while watching a stupid romcom.
He hears a child crying over Gemma who's chuckling in his ear over his previous words, when he looks behind him he sees a toddler sitting on the floor at the other side of the isle, crying for his 'papa'.
Harry squints his eyes twice to finally realize it's Lucas. He says a quick goodbye to his sister, not even listening to what she's been saying, he had his full attention on the little boy from the moment he heard him.
He walks over as fast as he can and crouches down, "Lukey?"
He's confused because he knows for fact that Louis is at the station right now. Lucas removes his little fists out of his eyes and looks at Harry through his wet lashes that are sticking together.
"Hazzy!" He cheers and makes grabby hands.
"Hi, little one," Harry picks him up with ease and kisses his forehead, "What are you doing here, all alone?"
"Uncle Li an' Ni, gone!" the boy starts sobbing again while gripping Harry's shirt with snot and tear covered hands.
Harry bounces him a bit, "Shh, it's okay, baby. Let's find them, yeah?"
He curses the two 'uncles' for losing the little boy in a grocery store, god knows what could've happened. There are a lot of creeps in this world and he knows all about them since he has locked up a few of them himself.
Lucas puts his head on Harry's shoulder, probably tired after all the crying he's done.
"Hazzy, dummy?"
"I'm sorry bubs, I don't have one. You'll get one, once we've find your uncles," Harry promises and strokes the toddlers curls out of his face gently.
Harry sees two guys looking frantic and asking random people a question while pointing at their phone. He figures they are the ones looking for Lucas.
"Lukey, are that your Uncles?" Harry asks softly, not wanting to startle the boy any further.
The boy lifts his head and nods, "Yesh, Uncle Li! Uncle Ni!"
Both men turn around and sigh relieved, "Lucas, where were you?! We told you to hold the cart!"
Harry bops Lucas' nose, "You have to listen to your Uncles, little monkey. I think your papa won't be happy when he hears this."
Lucas pouts and hides his face in Harry's neck.
"Uhm, I don't want to sound rude, but who are you.." Niall asks when they've reached him. They know Lucas would never hug someone he didn't know.
"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. This might seem weird, I'm Louis' boss," Harry lifts Lucas a bit higher to free his right hand. He shakes both of the men's hands and tries to pry Lucas out of his neck to hand him over but the toddler doesn't budge.
"Ah, so you're the infamous 'Hazzy'," Liam smiles.
"That would be me, some call me Harry though," Harry chuckles.
"We're Niall and Liam," Liam points at both of them, "Louis' best friends and we watch Lucas when he works. If he's not running away, that is."
Harry tickles the boy's tummy, "But Lukey isn't going to run away anymore, is he?"
Lucas hides his giggle and shakes his head 'no', still against Harry's neck.
"Why did you run away, monkey?" Niall asks concernedly, he never did something like that before.
Lucas lifts his head a bit, "Saw pwetty candy! M' sowwy, uncle Ni," His bottom lip starts to tremble again.
Harry consoles him quickly by bouncing him lightly and rubbing his back gently.
"It's okay, baby. Just ask uncle Li or me to go see it together next time, yeah?" Niall coos.
"I should probably go," Harry smiles and tries to hand over Lucas.
"No! Hazzy, play wif me?" Lucas pouts and holds on tightly onto Harry's neck.
"I can't right now, Lukey," Harry sighs, "We'll play next time!"
"Pwomise?"
"I promise, big boy," Harry swears.
Lucas giggles, "Me big, papa tiny!"
Harry chuckles and nods while Liam and Niall laugh too.
"I'll say hi for you to your papa, yeah?"
"Yesh, wove papa!"
"I'll tell him that, too," Harry kisses his forehead after receiving one of Lucas' wet slobbery kisses on his cheek.
"Fank u!" Lucas says politely, making Harry's heart melt.
Niall takes Lucas over and hugs him close after having the scare of losing him.
"Thank you so much," Liam sighs, "Louis' going to kill us."
"You're welcome, I'm happy to help. And he'll understand, kids run away sometimes," Harry soots them even though he silently hopes Louis gets mad at them. He doesn't dare to think about what could've happened to Lucas.
Liam takes Lucas over, "Do you want to sit in the cart or do I have to carry you, monkey?"
"Cawwy me, can I have dummy, pwease?"
Harry smiles fondly at the toddler before saying his last goodbyes.
He goes back to his cart in the candy isle, very relieved his perfectly ripe bananas aren't gone. He sends a quick text to Gemma when he sees the worried once he received after their phone-call before grabbing his favorite chocolate and heading to the check out.
⚡︎
"Come in!"
"Hi, chief. I just wanted to thank you for finding Luke this morning," Louis starts, still shaking from the anxious feeling he got when his friend told the story, "Liam called me and told me what happened.."
"That's no problem at all, Tomlinson. I'm very happy I found him, tell your friends to be more careful," Harry answers dryly.
"I will, I'm not amused over the incident," Louis sighs while tightening his jaw.
Harry nods, "I get that, however they did seem pretty upset and it was a mistake. But make sure they know how badly that could've ended."
"Oh, Lucas said hi and he told me he loves you," Harry's stern boss face breaks for a few seconds in a small smile.
Louis smiles widely nods, "Again thank you, I can't thank you enough, really. I don't know what I would do if I lost him."
"It's okay, Tomlinson. Don't think about that," Harry says before dismissing him.
⚡︎
After scolding his best friends for 30 minutes straight he finally forgave them. He's been hugging Lucas close ever since he got here and is honestly scared of letting him go.
"Okay since you're all raged out, can we talk about how pretty your boss is and how much he cares about Lucas?"
"No."
"Bu-"
"No."
"Not even wh-"
"No."
Liam chuckles, "I must say Lou, he does care about Lukey and the other way around too."
"Yeah, well he babysat him and played with him. Of course Lucas likes him," Louis scoffs.
"You know you gotta have some sort of gift to be on Lucas' good side that soon," Liam points out.
"Yeah, he's just good with kids."
Niall coughs, "Boyfriend material," He coughs again.
"Fu- off, Niall. He's my boss and if you want to know he's a total pain in the a- at work," Louis stops himself twice from cursing.
"What kind of pain? Mentally or physically, hm? I didn't see you limping," Niall cackles.
Liam slaps his head and rolls his eyes, half out of fond other half out of frustration and disgust.
Louis makes sure Lucas is watching the other way while he flips Niall off.
"I'm serious, he's not nice at all. He yells a lot and demands almost everything instead of asking."
"That seems unlikely from what we've seen this morning, he was very sweet with Lucas and actually kind towards us," Liam raises an eyebrow.
"He has his moments where he's okay, I guess, but then he just turns around and starts being annoying, maybe he's just stressed or afraid to lose his authority. Anyways it's not nice to have someone ruining your mood everyday."
"At least someone hot is ruining your mood," Niall shrugs.
Louis throws one of Lucas' toys at him before he gets up to leave, "Even though I'm not happy about today, thank you for watching him. And don't beat yourselves up, I know you feel guilty already."
"You're welcome, lad. And that will never, ever, ever happen again, I swear," Liam offers him a smile while leading him towards the door.
⚡︎
Hi!
I had to put in some lucas x harry fluff because I already missed them, blame me :)
I hope you enjoyed the double update! I'm done with my exams so I'll probably write more frequently from now on, I guess :)
Comment what you think and vote if you want!! <3
Stay safe and treat people with kindness! 💛