your lipstick stain is a work of art » stylinson

twenty-four⚤

part twenty-four

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"when were you planning on telling me?," louis asks, furrowing his eyebrows, twisting his ring around his finger with his left hand's index finger and thumb. his heart hammers as his mother gives a guilty shrug and laugh, smiling at him like she did whenever she had to have him wear boy's clothes for some school function. mandatory.

nobody at the table makes a sound, not even the boys on the furthest part, where they were just laughing and cutting up. "i wasn't purposefully keeping it from you, baby," she says gently, and at the term of endearment, louis' eyes fill with tears, already dreading the idea of not having his mother just across town. not even in the same country. "c'mon, don't cry, it'll be okay. it might not even be forever. dan got a job there, to help design some part on the landing gear on an airplane. how long can that take?," she says cheerily, though it's obvious that the revelation has weighed on her. harry knows how louis and his mum hate to have secrets - they're so close.

"if it'll only be a short amount of time, why don't you just stay here? plenty of wives have husbands overseas...," he says, but even he knows that he's grasping at straws. his mum and his step-father just had twins, there's no way they're going to be separate. "i'm gonna go lie down. thank you for dinner, babe, it was delicious," he sniffles, and harry's mouth bobs as louis leans over and kisses him on the cheek, and his heart thumps at the sweet smell of his perfume as he brushes past.

he tries to hold onto for as long as possible, but he closes his eyes when it's gone in just a few moments, disagreeing as louis sweeps out of the room. "i'm...," niall stammers, and harry opens his eyes and looks over, seeing the blonde haired lad looking sort of uncomfortable. "do you think that it's best if we...?"

harry shakes his head, looking between both of the mums in the room, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. "oh, for heaven's sake!," huffs anne, and harry looks at her startled.

"what?," he asks, tilting his head to side, looking at the door where louis disappeared through.

"i know i didn't raise you like this, harry edward styles. be a gentleman. go comfort your man," she groans, and harry looks over to her, seeing himself in her eyes, though hers are probably more kind than harry's could ever be. he looks at her skeptically, which makes her eyes roll again. "c'mon, babe, we're alright. we'll finish up here and we'll show ourselves out. it's perfectly fine, we'll see you tomorrow. good with you?," she aims the last part to jay, who nods quickly.

"yes, please, that would make me feel so much better," she says quietly, and harry can see how much she regrets hiding this from her son. "just have him give me a ring... whenever he's up for it," she requests, and harry nods quickly, looking over at the three lads at the end of the table, who are nodding in agreement, resuming to their previous, messy eating, smiling at him.

"just don't make too much noise!," niall cackles, and harry's face takes on an expressing of pure scandal. he looks over at him and louis' mums, expecting the same, but they have looks of amused agreement on their soft faces, and harry really should have expected this.

harry itches his ankle with the top of his prosthetic nervously, still conflicted, and he doesn't go until his mum gives him the harshest glare he has ever received, and his mates whoop laughing as he tucks tail and hustles through the house, straight to where he knows louis is.

he had said he was going to lie down, but the tiny boy has taken up the habit of hiding out in the shower, fully clothed, just letting the water hit the floor whenever he's sad from an emotional movie, or scared, from a lightening storm, or stressed, by all of his professors hitting him with excruciating amounts of work and doesn't want harry to know that he's really upset.