Rolling onto his side, Louis stares at the walls from between his view of the bars on his crib. He liked the time he had all to himself in the mornings. This time reminded him of the early morning walks at the agency, only good skips got to tag along, so the rare occasion Louis was allowed to attend - he'd bask in the moment letting the cool wind whip across his cheeks, feel the warmth of the sunrise as his chest burns knowing the anxiousness of the day had yet to even start.
At that moment things were still.
At that moment Louis wasn't a skip, society didn't exist, he still lived at home, or maybe he lived in Paris - he had another life. Anything was possible at that moment.
He reflects on those times now more than ever, the nights he stayed up begging the universe for help, to be signed, to not be given up on. Louis even tried to bargain with the universe at times, he'd offer to submit to someone if they just rescued him from the agency.
"Like Prince Charming? You kiss any frogs there princess?" the sarcastic rhetoric is exclaimed by none other than Luke, the dominant laughing at the boy who had admitted in his evaluation that he wanted to be saved essentially from spending another year at the agency. Louis felt tears well in his eyes at the teasing, he wanted Ashton in there to defend him, but instead, he shook his head chewing the insides of his cheeks, "N-no-"
"No what?" Bethany was another member of staff sitting in the room during Louis' monthly evaluation, "No sir," Louis whispers keeping his eyes focused solely on his lap. He knew this was considered out of character for him, he always had something to say or yell back in reply, but he also knew he had managed to be good for the entire week thus far and was willing to do anything for a sunrise stroll.
Rolling on his other side to shift away from his flashback, Louis rolled his eyes feeling the familiar sting of tears pricking his eyes. Louis didn't want to fight today, he just wanted to be held.
Curling further into himself he sniffles tracing the skip mark on his arm, it was rare that the boy felt truly out of place, even with everything that had happened recently with being signed and thrust into the life of placing uneducated skip - AKA toddler for Harry Malik - Louis still managed to ground himself.
This morning however he found himself wanting to fly, to make a home for himself in the clouds. The sun peaked further into the room illuminating the rocking chair in the corner by the window, Louis glanced at it with a sigh. He couldn't wait for Harry to come in so the two could rock.
He just wanted to be held.
Niall's pulled the majority of an all-nighter, he's asleep on the textbook in the rec room when someone takes it from underneath his arms causing him to fall headfirst onto the desk.
Cursing, he blinks rubbing his eyes with a huff, "Th-the fuck w-was that for?" he gripes, "Yesterday," the voice growls, Zailey sits behind the boy on a chair with her arms crossed, a glare prominent on her features, "What the fuck was that about?"
Niall sighs continuing to rub his eyes with a yawn, he glances toward the window seeing it barely reaching dawn, the sun peaking over the trees, "I-I don't know what you're talk-"
"Am I a submissive?"
Niall felt his insides freeze at the question, he pondered it all night, from the pills to her actions, to the society tests - what were the odds someone had tested incorrectly?
"Are you?" he asks meeting her eyes, the girl sniffles shaking her head, "I-I guess, a-according to them,"
Niall nods seeing the textbook Zailey had in her hands, "I-I was reading that one last night, it-it's new, says something about law six, w-what is that?"
He remembers hearing it on the headlines his first night of the hospital stay but found himself too overwhelmed by everything to seek the official answer. Zailey clears her throat peering down at the book herself, she thumbs through to find Niall's place returning the book to him, "Submissives with a level six and higher can test up,"
"A level six is high," Niall mumbles re-reading his notes, Zailey nods, "It is, but a level eight and higher doesn't require a dominant. You-you can't have kids or adopt a skip, but you can marry." Her tone softens at the words, tears slipping down her cheeks as she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, "Y-you have to make a-a case to s-society and th-they can grant you a re-test."
Niall's chest tightens at the words, he had been granted a re-test at the hands of Zayn Malik, a wealthy enough dominant to have a say. All educated skips were given the option to re-test after having been signed for a year, with the owner's permission of course. It petrified Niall he wouldn't be allowed if Harry said no, to his fortune, the owner didn't seem entirely against it. Perhaps it was his delusion in thinking that, that led Niall to falling head over submission in love with Zayn, the dream of him leaving his husband and status being all conjured in his head with nothing to support it.
That thought alone scares him.
"What level are you?" Niall finds himself asking the girl in front of him, Zailey's eyes maintain focus on the floor beneath them, her chest rises with her deep inhale, "I'm a level seven,"
Hearing the door open, Louis turns expectantly, he frowns seeing Zayn approaching him with a soft smile on his features, "Good Morning buddy," The skip turns once more keeping his back to the man, "W-where's daddy?"
"He had to go somewhere, it's just you and I this morning," Zayn remarks ruffling Louis' hair, the skip raises an eyebrow, "N-No Liam?"
"Lee's still asleep, it's early Bubba." Scooping the boy in his arms he kisses his cheek, Louis winces at the foreign affection shown by the man who usually just scolded or hit him, "I-I want daddy," he pouts finding his own need for the man he refused to submit for disgusting.
Zayn lays Louis on the changing table undressing him from his pajamas, "Well I'm all you got this morning, and daddy told me something you'd like to do," he muses, "I even got up extra early for it," the skip swallows past the lump in his throat half expecting Harry to pop out at any second with a "gotcha", surely the man that clearly liked having all control would allow his husband he showed clear disdain for spend unsupervised time with his skip.
He's changed into another onesie, this one long sleeve with a pair of overalls. Zayn returned him to his hip heading out the door, Louis whimpering as he caught sight of the rocking chair he didn't get to lavish in this morning with Harry.
Captured by the meaner of the two Maliks in Louis' opinion, he raises an eyebrow and protests starting when Zayn opens the garage door setting Louis in a stroller, "Daddy couldn't be here, but said that you'd enjoy a walk to watch the sunrise," Zayn remarks buckling Louis in tucking a blanket around him. The skip was speechless, he never told Harry he loved sunrise walks, just that he enjoyed watching the sunrise.
Maybe the man knew his boy loved being rocked and watching the sunrise and knew that since he couldn't be rocked he'd enjoy this instead. Louis chooses to believe this as he relaxes in the stroller allowing himself to feel the coolness of the morning, grinning with a giggle as the heat from the sun painted itself across his tan cheeks.
Peaking over the visor at Zayn, the boy snuggles more into the blanket with a hum, he'd submit for this.
Hearing the bustling of nurses in the hall, Niall stands placing the textbook on the shelf with a sigh, "I'm sorry, about yesterday," he turns from the shelf watching the girl with a frown, his eyes flickering to the window where the sun had risen the birds singing its praise at the warmth it brought beginning to melt the frost from the night.
"It's okay," Zailey mumbles, she stands wrapping her arms around the man with a kiss to his cheek, "After all, w-we're never going to see each other again, are we?"
Niall nods caressing her face, "You are worth submitting for," leaning his head against hers he kisses her nose, "You'd be one hell of a dominat."
Zailey chuckles at the thought placing her hand over his, "W-when are you leaving?"
"I-I don't know-"
"Mr.Horan? You have a visitor this morning," Nurse Isla Gray announces, she offers a smile toward the pair gesturing for the skip to follow her. He bids Zailey one last goodbye stepping away, trailing Nurse Gray until they're at the visitor station, his eyes widening, breath hitching seeing the familiar thin-lipped smirk.
"Oh fuck,"
"Language, we have a baby in the house now."
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