"What?" Louis voiced, carefully balancing both eggs and butter in one of his hands, the other one closing the refrigerator.
"Why would you need baking soda for cookies?" He asked, Genevie shrugging in response while looking at the computer on the kitchen counter. She patiently listed all the ingredients again while Louis searched for the baking soda, grabbing flour and sugar from a shelf in the process.
"You forgot brown sugar," The girl added when he carelessly dropped a container filled with salt next to the pile of ingredients already on the counter.
The man paused and turned around, feigning exhausted while asking. "There's something called brown sugar?" Louis, a little tired from running around the kitchen in search of everything, widened his eyes jokingly. Genevie just turned the screen towards him, looking with disbelief in her eyes from the electronic device to Louis, who had a frown etched on his face.
Louis saw the difference in her body language, growing more confident every day. From the nervous wreck she had been, to the one standing bravely in the kitchen. Sometimes, she was still that timid ball of nerves, too afraid to ask for juice when Liam only offers water, but the difference from a week ago was striking.
Right now she didn't look on edge, ankle rested over the other, her backside against the wall behind her, arms carelessly by her sides, not in the protective cross they had been a few days prior. She had also gained the courage to nod, answering his question while looking slightly confused, like she couldn't believe he didn't know different types of sugar existed, and until this moment, Louis didn't.
Genevie spoke teasingly, surprising Louis, "how can you not know this?" Though, the second the words left her mouth she looked concerned, maybe afraid to have hit a nerve.
Louis just grinned and shook his head, telling her about his horrendous adventures in the kitchen while sitting down, Genevie laughing loudly from his stories. The older man was so proud, she had enough confidence to tease him and laugh at his mistakes. The husbands noticed the changes day for the day, how she was coming out of her shell, opening her door wider and wider for them.
"Okay, want to give this a try?" Louis asked, Genevie nodded excitedly while looking around the kitchen.
It started out okay, they dropped an egg on the floor and Louis got some flour in his hair, but overall, everything was fine. The older man didn't know where a single thing was in the kitchen, including the brown sugar he wasn't aware of existed. When they had searched every cabinet, they decided on adding usual sugar instead.
-
"But why would you need both?" He asked while Genevie was changing song, the girl shrugging in answer. "I thought you said you had baked cookies before; they do different things." She stated, looking questioningly at the man.
"Yeah, but that was when I was like five, I'm usually not allowed in the kitchen here, apparently I'm a hazard or something." The older one replied, mumbling about how unfair Liam was.
Louis looked on the top shelves, standing on a stool to do so while Genevie added vanilla to the butter mixture they had created. Genevie was glad someone else was short, even though she was even shorter than Louis. And under no circumstances was she allowed to call him anything else than tall. But he could probably relate to her struggles anyways, even if he believed he was 5'9.
"I can't find it, maybe we can just switch the baking powder for the other stuff? What's the difference?" Louis said, hopping down and landing on the floor with a thud. Genevie scrunched her nose in response, not sure about substituting baking powder with baking soda, or 'the other stuff'.
"Or we could just skip it, it's probably not that important," he suggested, booping the younger's nose, seeing her skepticism.
An hour later, Genevie understood why Liam had forbidden Louis from cooking. She had saved the batter so many times she had lost count, the Daddy had tried everything from adding too many eggs because 'it was fun to crack them' to replace the flour with sugar because Niall liked sweet things. The only thing she didn't argue with was to pour more chocolate in.
With a dough filled with chips of joy, they scooped it onto two trays and put the first one in the oven, which they had forgotten to preheat.
While waiting for the cookies to bake, they sat on the floor in silence, Genevie's choice of music in the background. Louis had let her have complete control over the speakers, interested in what music she listened to.
It had been a mix of everything, the only thing she didn't play was the songs Mai had showed her by Louis and his husbands. Paper Houses and Perfect Now amongst others were left out, mostly out of embarrassment of admitting she listened to them.
Louis hummed before asking, the bubble of calmness in the house still there, soft like a blanket of protection from freaking out. "How are you feeling about all of this?" The question spoken into the air between them, taking Genevie by surprise.
She thought about it, really mulling over how she actually felt. She hadn't considered it for some time, just powering through the changes in her life, not giving it a second thought. Because she knew that when she did, it would be an overwhelming amount of emotions, so she had pushed it off for the future. But now, the future was here, on the kitchen floor with Louis as the catalyst.
The man looked worriedly at Genevie when she didn't answer, deep in thought. He gave her time, knowing how much was running through her head. They didn't have anywhere to be, he could wait for the entire day if that was how long she needed to figure out the answer.
Louis and Genevie had been left alone for the day, everyone else stuck in a meeting with management. Louis couldn't take one more day of homophobic assholes without punching someone, which led to the decision that he could stay at home.
They were under no circumstances signing new contracts with SYCO, this wasn't their first time dealing with greedy record labels, they weren't young, naïve boys anymore. They were unfortunately well aware of how brutal the industry was.
Now, when they wanted to reunite One Direction, and possibly come out, they just needed to negotiate all the terms, have a talk with their lawyers and everything else Liam had listed that Louis didn't pay attention to, instead rocking his chair like a five-year-old, trying to piss Harry off.
"You know, I really thought it would be so different." She started, staring straight in front of her, the smooth floor cold under her fingers as she dragged them over it in an attempt to distract herself. Louis hummed, encouraging her to explain her feelings.
She sighed, deciding if she would like to drop the bomb of emotions onto Louis in this peaceful moment. Maybe she had held onto it for long enough?
"When mom and dad came to pick me up from the hospital and we went for ice cream, I thought that was it. I thought we would get our happy ending, that they would be home more often, care more." She dragged a ragged breath through her body, feeling the sadness from the past year return.
"But then they left, I remember it, three days after I got home, they had to leave for the next conference. Mom kissed me on my cheek before they said goodbye. I still had that hope, that they would return and be like normal parents, with normal jobs. But no, they continued to travel the world." She looked down at her other hand, intervened with Louis' tattooed one. He squeezed it, the warmth of the gesture spreading through the girl fought with the coldness she felt from memories, the constant missing of a family.
"And before, Charlie had been there, Mai had been there, we had our trio. But then it was down to just me and Mai, and everything hurt so much. We were both missing him so much, and we both had so many nightmares, we both were hurting. But Mai had her parents, Mai had her family. And I was always invited, but- but I didn't want to intrude and so there I was, the lonely kid, alone and scared, like always."
"And suddenly, mom called every week, trying to convince me to move. Not having listened to a single thing I had said over the past years, how scared I am of everything changing, how I'm scared of being the only one left. And I'm so sorry, this wasn't at all what you asked about, umm... but yeah, I'm doing okay."
She suddenly realized he hadn't even asked for her entire backstory, she had just dumped everything on him, well not everything, he had no idea who Charlie was or what had happened, but still.
"No, it's okay, I'm here to listen to anything you want to get off your chest, okay? I may seem like a clown, but I'm here, I always have time, no matter what. We all have our demons, and I know firsthand how much they can hurt," he spoke, sincerity in his voice, a bit of pain straining at his vocal cords. He hadn't realized how much the girl had been through, just having heard pieces from Eleanor, and he knew this was just the tip of the iceberg.
They sat on the floor in silence, both processing new information. The light buzzing from the oven sounding over the mellow playlist Genevie had put on. The younger one's arm pressed against Louis' bigger one, their fingers still intervened, the comfort needed.
Slowly, Louis could feel hair touching his shoulder, gradually more weight added on it. He could feel her breathing deeply, eyes closed, shielding the outside world from seeing those beautiful greens. His heart warmed at the gesture, content sitting on the floor, watching over their cookies, the oven still not warm enough.
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Well, hello again!
She's back with a new chapter, and on time!
I'm super tired, so I don't have a lot to say, just, thank you so much for the support, you are incredible!
If you liked the chapter, please vote, comment, continue reading and be the amazayn human you are!
'Til Next Time
See ya!