The Brother I Never Wanted (Larry AU)

Chapter 10

Louis takes the long way around the living room to the kitchen when the sudden thought occurs to him that Harry might already be in there. This way, he can hide behind the wall and check before just sauntering in for a snack. It's only been a couple of hours since they had that spat over him intruding on his personal phone call, and he has no doubt that Harry's still pissed. He was quiet at dinner, glaring down at his plate as if he wanted it to explode under the stare, and Louis' sure that it'd have been directed at him had their parents not been there too. Ever since that incident on the couch, they've been more careful to hide their hatred towards each other but Louis doesn't think they're fooling anyone.

Unfortunately for him, his dad is already in on his routine of watching telly on the couch, and he has to walk past his dark silhouette to reach the kitchen. He debates just turning around and going back upstairs, but then his stomach growls, gnawing inside him. Screw it. He's going in. His bare feet pad quietly on the carpet, barely audible to his own ears over the hum of the television set, but his movement is apparently caught out of the corner of his eye and his dad's head is turning towards him. Damn. He almost made it.

Looking around the edge of the wall and into the small room with shiny, chrome appliances, he can see that Harry's not in there after all, and he hates that he had to have been caught sneaking around like he's walking on thin ice. Louis smiles bashfully at his dad's questioning eyes, trying to play off that he's just goofing around. His dad doesn't say anything for a second and he attempts to move past him when he's stopped.

"Louis?"

He mutters a silent, "s**t", but turns to face the deep voice anyway. "Yeah dad?"

His thumb taps the volume button on the remote, adjusting it to a lower amplification and pivoting his body. "Is there something going on? Why are you creeping around?" He grimaces at him. "Is it because of Harry?"

Louis wants to lie - brush it off so he can just have a banana or something to settle his fatigue. But lying to his dad feels so wrong. They've always been really close. To the point where Louis' not afraid to tell or ask him anything. The birds and the bees, boy advice...almost everything. There's only one thing he doesn't know, that he's kept a secret in fear of how he'd react, and that's the fact that he gets the occasional shove from his teammates. And looking into his gray eyes now, he doesn't feel he could flat out lie without feeling sinful.

"Yes," he sighs. He looks down at his bare feet, wiggling his toes in the plush floor covering. "I did something bad, dad. I ruined our chances of being friends. I just...I don't want to talk to him. That's why I was sneaking around, I mean."

His dad knits his eyebrows in concern and pats the seat to his right, Louis' spot. He knows what Louis likes. But even his spot can't cheer him up this time. He feels horrible about what he did and no amount of sulking in the couch cushion is going to make Harry forgive him. He should've just walked away when he had the chance. He should've known that something like this would happen when he hesitated in the doorway.

"Louis, I think we need to talk about this."

Louis hesitates, posture tense in uneasiness. "Actually . . . can we do it tomorrow? I'm kind of hungry -"

"Louis."

His lips purse at the authoritative tone he adds whenever he wants Louis to obey his demands. He doesn't use it often. Only when he actually tries to be the strict parent. Louis settles down where his hand was obediently.

"Now tell me," he starts, reaching over to brush Louis' messy fringe out of his face gently. "I know it's only been a day but why can't you boys try to get along? You've never even met him before this, and I know that that's my fault, but the moving in thing was kind of a spur of the moment decision. It was too tough to be in a relationship when we live so far away from each other, and we thought it would be a good idea to try living together, but I'm starting to question whether it was a good idea. You guys seem to hate each other more than any other siblings I've seen, and I'm sorry but I really don't understand why. I'd like it if you could give me some insight here." There's a small frown on his lips and Louis' stomach clenches.

He can't help but grumble a quiet, "He's not my brother." It slips before he registers it, and he can see the frown on his dad's face deepen. He clearly thinks it's not going to work to be in a relationship with Harry's mum if the two of them can't get along, and he can kind of see why he would think that. He probably doesn't want to feel like he has to babysit them all the time just to make sure they don't kill each other. That's probably the worst thing to experience as a parent: not being able to keep his child happy in his own home.

"Maybe he can be," he speculates quietly, expression hopeful. "Maybe you'll end up liking each other. My brother and I growing up used to fight a lot but we'd always find a way to figure it out."

Louis feels like scuttling under a rock and just hiding from everybody. Even his dad is starting to sound like Niall. He's more private about it than Niall is, just quietly encouraging him and for better reasons other than telling him he's acting like a t**t, but it still makes him uncomfortable that so many people are relying on, prompting, for this relationship to work out and he can't deliver.

"I know, but I don't think talking about our feelings is going to help, dad. He really doesn't like me, and I don't know what to do. I've never had a sibling before."

"Work it out. Spend some quality time together and get to know each other. It's not that hard, Lou. I don't know what you did or claimed you did, but he can't keep a grudge forever and I'm sure he'll realize that soon enough." His dad rubs a hand on his arm soothingly. "He really is a sweet boy when he wants to be."

Louis accidentally snorts at that last comment, sweet probably the last word he would use to describe Harry. His dad narrows his eyes at the outburst - warning him about being nice, and he exhales exasperatedly, thumbing the cool upholstery underneath him.

"God, dad. I'm trying, okay? It's all just happening too fast right now. He doesn't want to be here, he didn't hesitate to tell me that, and I don't think there's anything I could do to change that because he won't listen to anything I say. Maybe he's possible of being sweet to you or somebody else, but it doesn't seem like he's going to be warming up to me anytime soon." He catches his tongue after that though, not adding his extra thought that he reminds him of a brooding three year old who doesn't get a toy he wants.

His dad contemplates his words for a second, rubbing the spot just above his eyebrow. "He won't listen to you, huh?" Louis shakes his head. "Well maybe he'll listen to his mother than. Why don't we do something as a family? I can have his mum talk to him and we can try and sort this out."

"What do you mean, do something as a family?"

"How about we go out to eat tomorrow night?" He proposes. "We can go to a nice restaurant and just pretend to be a family for a few hours. Maybe that will change his mind. Maybe it'll change your mind. I expect you to be on your best behavior of course as I'm not the only one who knows about your strained relationship with Harry, and I know you're better than this. You're usually so well-mannered and decent, and I think you're more than capable of doing it for the likes of Harry."

Louis just stares. An hour - hour and a half in a dark restaurant, next to Harry. That sounds like hell. For more than one reason. Help me, God.

"Fine. Can I eat now?"

*********

"Harry, come on! Let's go! We're going to be late!" No answer. "If you're not out here in the next two minutes, I'm leaving you!"

Louis opens the door, carving his keys out of the bowl with his fingers and sticks his house key in the knob, jiggling it. It takes him a good minute to get it so that the handle locks in his grip and, by that time, Harry is jogging down the hallway, bag bouncing against his side. He heads for the garage door before noticing Louis' figure standing by the front door and furrows his brow.

"What are you doing? Where are you going?"

Well, at least he's not ignoring him anymore. Maybe his dad was right about the grudge thing. "Niall's taking us, c'mon. He's already been waiting in the driveway for like seven minutes."

His red, plump lips twitch downwards as he walks slowly to the front door, eyeing the keys in his hand. "Why?"

"I can't drive; I'm crippled."

"Fine, but . . . why can't I drive us to school? It's only like ten minutes. Why'd you ask him to drive us?"

Louis raises an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?" After the stunt he pulled yesterday after practice, he's not letting him anywhere near his front seat again. That might've been a one time thing, but he's not taking any chances. Harry seems to sense that he did something wrong as his eyes drop slightly. He's still got the shadow of bruises under his eyes. "And I didn't ask him. He offered and I said yes."

He closes the door behind Harry sharply and jogs ahead of him, sliding into the passenger side next to Niall. It's warm in the car and Niall's on his phone when he shuts the car door, but he puts it away as soon as he notices that he's there. Whereas, Harry takes his precious time dragging his large feet to the back seat, for some reason, passing the door and going all the way around to the other side to sit on the seat behind the passenger seat. That's weird. He seemed to like Niall alright yesterday.

"Hey, Lou." Louis hums in acknowledgement. "I heard that Malik is throwing a party on Friday. You want to go? I know they're not really your thing, but I think you could let out some stress. You've been freaking out about tests all week."

Louis looks out the window on his side, observing a woman walking a large dog on the less than ideal sidewalks. "Doesn't matter if I want to. We'll never get invited Niall, you know that." Zayn is popular, a lady killer. He's not going to want a gay nerd like Louis to come, and once again he's aware of the way he tends to drag everyone he's close to down with him. Niall could've been popular if he hadn't given it up to be Louis' friend. He could've gone to parties like that.

"Aw, c'mon, Lou. Have a little faith. We're seniors. We could still get invited." Louis just shrugs.

Niall glances over at him quickly then pulls into the parking lot, parking towards the front of the school. He shifts gears and reaches down on the passenger side to grab a paper sack, thrusting it at him. "I got you the usual."

"Sweet. Thanks, Ni."

"What?" A deep, slow voice drawls from behind him. "Are you selling drugs? Didn't know you had it in you, Blondie."

Niall just glances in the rear view mirror. They still have a good twenty minutes till school starts, and he doesn't think any of them want to move from the warm car when it's this cold. Louis rummages in the bag and pulls out a coffee and a donut. Not exactly healthy, but he doesn't care. That's what football is for. A pale hand suddenly reaches over from Niall's side and pulls out another donut, handing it backwards to Harry. He looks unimpressed.

"You want one?"

Harry's lips curl into a humorless smirk and he plucks the donut from his grip. Niall shoots him a hopeful look like he thinks he can bribe Harry to like him with food. But then they hear the mechanical whine of the window opening and Harry chucks the donut onto the lot two spaces down. Louis looks in the side mirror in disbelief and his face is back to a blank slate. Maybe he's not a fan of carbs.

"What the hell?" Niall mutters. "He threw my donut."

Louis shrugs as if to say, I told you so, then twists in his seat to try and get Harry's attention. "Our parents want us to go on this . . . family thing tonight. Wasn't my choice; I was blackmailed." He picks a sprinkle off his donut, rolling it between his fingers before popping it in his mouth. It's true though. He was kind of blackmailed emotionally. "To bond or some shit."

His head lulls from the window to look at him briefly then back towards the glass. "Fine." Ah. Always with the one-worded answers.

"Louis." Niall elbows him harshly, voice low. "You could ask politely."

"I could." He gets another elbow to his side. "Ow."

It's quiet for a while, the only sound being the quiet flow of air from the vents. Then he feels a puff of hot air hit his ear and he jumps slightly before realizing that it's just Harry. "Do you always let your girlfriend fight your battles for you?"

Louis ignores that comment and the will to shove his donut in his big, fat mouth, instead jerking his head away to the other side of the headrest. He needs another coffee.

Niall looks behind him, probably at Harry. "Hey, Harry. What lunch do you have?"

"C."

"Do you want to have lunch with us? We have room at our table for one more. I'm sure Louis won't mind."

Louis chokes on a piece of his donut. "Actually -"

"Alright."

He starts at the straightforward answer Harry shoots him. He certainly didn't expect Harry to actually agree, but Niall smiles warmly at the boy in the back seat before turning back and giving Louis a look. Louis flashes Harry his best fake grin.

"I couldn't imagine anything better."