Harry hadn't worn a suit in so long, so the material felt itchy against his body, but there wasn't much he could do but pull at it or ignore it as he sat in the front row of his mother's funeral. Because the family had to sit in the front, Louis and Liam sat two rows behind Harry, which didn't help his nerves at all as he watched the priest speak about his mother as if he knew her.
The people around him that he called family barely knew her; no one knew her better than him.
Maybe he only thought that because the rest of the family rarely visited or spoke to them, only when there were gatherings, which didn't happen very much if Harry was honest. In the beginning of the service, before he separated from Louis and Liam, his family members and Anne's friends had come up to him and pat his back, said 'my condolences', and smiled weakly at him.
He was being treated like a China doll, and there was nothing that he despised more than that. He knew that Louis could sense his attitude, because when Harry quickly glanced over his shoulder to look for him, the man's face was blank and solemn, like he was trying to communicate with just his eyes to tell Harry to relax.
He strictly remembered his mother telling him that she didn't want a depressing funeral; she wanted a joyful funeral (preferably somewhere fun) and for everyone to wear bright colors instead of black and white because it would make her 'look bad'. Harry had worn a bright pink and purple tie, which stood out from the dull colors and attracted odd looks from some his family members. Harry had also made Louis wear a green tie, which made them even more questionable.
". . .this woman helped me when I needed it the most, and I couldn't thank her enough for it. It's sad to see her gone, but I bet she's watching over us with a giant smile on our faces," a lady by the name of Nonny said as she finished with her speech, then looked down at the green grass before she went back to her seat. She had been a family friend that Harry only met once, but seemed genuinely nice unlike the others.
"Would the son of Anne like to say a few words?" the priest asked, and caused everyone's attention to focus on Harry, who sat idle in his seat with his eyes glued on his mother's coffin. He shook his head and the priest nodded as a response, then lifted his hand slowly - a sign for people to rise. "We will start the lowering of the casket."
It goes slow after that, but it felt like Harry blank out from the entire thing since one minute he's watching dirt being thrown over his mother's coffin, and the next he's sitting a few feet away from the spot she was buried with his butt on the ground and his hand on his chin. He wouldn't say he felt empty - probably a little lonely, but his heart is filled with so much love when Liam and Louis sit on the opposite sides of him.
While Louis took his hand, Liam's head rested on Harry's shoulder and hummed some old folk song he had been listening to for a week -- Harry couldn't stand it. He wanted to speak to break the silence, but he didn't know if he could talk without wanting to break down in tears; he didn't want to do it in front of all of these people he barely knew.
"Is it me, or did your Aunt Dee get hotter?" Liam asked in a serious tone, then groaned in distress when he felt Harry slap him against the back. "Ow, it was just a question."
"It was a gross question." Louis responded candidly as he squeezed Harry's hand, then bumped shoulders with him to get his attention. "You know what we have in common, Harry?"
Harry blinked. "Our mothers are both dead?"
"I cannot relate to this," said Liam nervously, then stood up from his spot on the ground and dusted himself off, "but I'll be waiting in the car for you two. Don't be too long."
"Although that is true, no." Louis responded just as Liam walked off. "I was going to say that we both hate funerals. Everyone here looked hypnotized, and some people were making up moments with Anne; you could tell from their faces. But I know you could tell because your shoulders would tense up. So, I was thinking about what you told me before - about how your mother didn't really want a funeral when she died."
"Yeah?"
Louis stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a couple of golden coins - Chuck-E-Cheese coins. "There will be more when we get there, but these are just some I saved. You're probably going to think that this is unbelievably idiotic, but Liam told me you like gaming places, as does he, so where's a better place to go than a place that smells like kids, feet, and pizza? Feel free to say no if you--"
"Louis," Harry began as he looked down at the coins, "are you asking me to go to Chuck-E-Cheeses with you and Liam?" Louis lowered his hand leisurely, expectant of a 'no'. "Because if you are, then that's the lamest, but coolest thing someone has ever done for me."
Louis breathed a sigh of relief and stood up after he stuffed the coins back in his pocket, then smiled with so much adoration in his eyes that Harry felt like he could float off of the ground. After Louis gave a hand to Harry, they began to walk towards the car together, still in deep conversation. "So, we're going to look a little . . . weird. We're going to be in our suits at Chuck-E-Cheeses playing games and winning tickets. Also, we can't just go without a kid, so your little cousin Artie is going with his aunt — we'll make it seem like it's a party of five."
"We're gonna look like the Men in fucking Black!" Liam shouted excitedly from the backseat of the car when the two got inside.
Louis rolled his eyes. "We're gonna look like psychopaths."
And they do, but Harry doesn't care as he watched tickets pour out the machine of skee ball. He had beaten Louis for the twelfth time, but Harry believed that Louis had let him win for the sake of having a good day; it wasn't magical – the sight of kids ran by with no shoes on and smelled deathly of cheese – but Harry couldn't ask for anything greater.
"Where's Liam with that pizza? I'm starving." Louis complained as he, yet again, got a ball inside the slot marked 100.
Harry huffed quietly and tried to roll his ball again, but it didn't get in any of the slots, so he accepted defeat and took the ticket he received from the machine. "He should be at the table with it now. I just need to beat you in a game first, then we can eat."
"I beat you in everything."
"Okay, that's true. Then I'll give you a dare. If you go up to the playground and go through that tunnel looking thing, wave at me, then come down completely unscathed, then I will give you all of my tickets."
Louis glanced down at the bunch of tickets in the bag Harry held and scrunched up his nose in thought. "All 40 of your tickets? Compared to my hundreds?"
"Yes."
"Okay, fine." Louis said, then shoved his bag into Harry's hands before he rolled up his sleeves. "There will be no 'if I win' statements because this will be a piece of cake. Hope you're ready to give up your tickets and lose."
Harry just smirked and watched Louis walk over to the playground, which was littered with children that had sticky fingers and tomato sauce all over their faces. It was a funny sight to see; the way a couple looked at him as if he was a kid himself from how short he was and smiled when Louis climbed up the stairs of the playground.
With his arms crossed, Harry watched Louis crawl through the tunnel and wave down at Harry with a haughty smile on his face. Just as Louis backed up, Harry saw a kid jump onto Louis' back, grab onto his neck, and push him backward in the tunnel, like a fucking wrestler would do. At the sound of a distressed 'shit!', Harry's eyes widened as he snorted at the site.
Louis was being attacked by a small child. Why was it so cute?
"Is that Louis?" Liam asked with his mouth full of pizza as he appeared next to Harry; his eyes squinted as Louis pounded on the glass with his hand, a signal saying that he needed help - but Harry was pretty preoccupied with holding the tickets. "That kid is tearing his ass up."
Suddenly, an elderly woman shouted from the bottom of the playground at the site of the tunnel, "Timmy! You stop fighting that little boy this instant!"
"I feel like we should help him." Harry suggested, and took the pizza Liam had handed over to him. "But this is really funny to watch. He looks so petite."
"He really isn't that small. I mean, look at his structure. His back is about to break through the tunnel of that playground slide thing. He is at least 5'9."
"Are you kidding me? He's so small--"
Then, out of nowhere, Louis appeared in front of them with a frustrated look on his face; his button up had a tiny tear at the bottom, his hair stood up a little on one side, and his bottom lip had a tiny cut on it. Harry tilted his side with amusement and lifted the pizza up to his mouth to prevent himself from wheezing, but Louis smacked it out of his grip so that it landed on the floor.
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed, trying to be serious, but his voice cracked since he couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I'm sorry. It was just so funny to watch. I win all of the tickets. I said to come down unscathed, and you're a mess."
"But I went up there and indulged a shit ton of pain for you! That little shit just did not let up." Louis argued, but Harry shook his head and hugged the bags of tickets up to his chest in mock delight, earning a look of disdain from his boyfriend. "Fine, you can have them. You better get something good with those or I'll just be thoroughly disappointed."
So after they went back to the table to eat the pizza they ordered, Harry went to the machine to count up his tickets and hummed a happy song as Louis watched him from behind. Liam snatched the paper out that would tell them how many tickets Harry had before Harry could even see it, then screamed so loud that it attracted the attention from people coming through the front door.
"A thousand tickets? How the hell do you play this much? I always get it in the hundreds." Liam questioned in shock. "What are you going to get?"
"The hamster plushie!" Harry said excitedly, then stood up to bump hips with Louis, who stood motionlessly with his arms still crossed, still vexed at the fact that he had lost all of his tickets, which were being used to get a fucking hamster plushie. "I'll let you and Liam split the 400 tickets. 200 for the both of you to be fair."
Louis growled under his breath. "What are we gonna get? Plastic rings?"
"I love plastic rings!" Liam whooped, then ran off to the counter with Harry's paper in his hand.
"Don't be so salty, Louis." Harry scoffed playfully, though Louis' expression still remained unchanged. "I love youuu."
"Do not."
"I loveee youuu."
"No."
Harry dug the heel of his shoe into the carpet and leaned forward so that their faces were a foot away and wiggled his eyebrows, a habit he had picked up from one of his students whenever he accidentally made a sexual innuendo in class - accidentally. "If you get a ring for both you and I, I'll do that move in bed you've wanted me to do. Tonight."
". . .The Pump 'N Grind?"
"The Pump 'N Grind." Harry whispered, and that was when Louis' expression changed.
Louis blinked and snapped his fingers at Harry as he took a couple of steps back - in the direction of the counter. "I suddenly have the urge to buy those rings. Do you want one as well? You know what, I'll even get your hamster plushie for you. We'll even name him. I'll be back."
NOTE: AH HI NEXT CHAPTER IS THE EPILOGUE IM SOBBING !! is there anything u would like to see in the epilogue?! (something that is not mpreg pls & chances are there will be smut so no need to ask) like do u think harry should get in on that ass action if u kno whatimean>???! if not, thats fine; i just love being a versatile larry!! i love you soooooo much. (((AND YES THESE GROWN MEN WENT TO CXHUCK E CHEESES AFTER A FUNERAL LET ME LIVE))
question: favorite part from the book? part that made u really sad?
my fave part was when the author wrote the smut on chapter 30 like that was my fave i believe & the part that made me sad was when louis was sad because im a louie bye