This House (l.s.)

1

I break if you do 

but I will use my pieces 

to fix you again 

-Tyler Knott Greyson

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"Daddy, can you tell us how you met Papa before bed?" Sophia asks, her bottom lip jutting out.

"Again?" Louis laughs, sitting the six year old on his lap. Lucas, his eight year old, sits next to them on the couch, and his one-year-old daughter Gabriella is already sleeping upstairs.

"It's a good story!" Lucas insists, curling into Louis' arm.

"Okay, okay, only because I like this story," Louis smiles. "Papa and I met during university. He was in my English class and on the first day he sat next to me. He made silly faces at me and made stupid jokes to try to make me laugh. He took me out to dinner, well, the place only served breakfast, so we ordered pancakes. Papa has always been like that, wanting to be different. You know how silly he can be." The kids laugh at that, knowing exactly what Harry is like. "But those pancakes were the best pancakes I've ever had. After that, he dropped me off at my dorm and kissed me goodnight. And that's it, we fell in love, and we got married, and now we have you lovely kids."

Louis kisses them both on the forehead, making them smile.

"You and Papa really love each other a lot," Sophia giggles, and Louis grins.

"Yeah, we always will. C'mon, loves, bedtime."

Truth was, that's not how they met, exactly. There was a bar and there were drinks and there were drunk kisses, but the pancake house the next night was true, and the falling in love part was more than true. The kids don't need to know all the details quite yet.

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Louis stares out the window, his knees to his chest and a blanket over his shoulders. It's started to snow lightly, and Harry isn't home yet. He sighs, glancing at the clock: 12:07 in the morning. Harry's shift was supposed to be over at 11.

Louis knew this would be difficult when Harry told him back in uni he was planning to be become a doctor. Louis was okay with it, because he would be saving lives and making good money and doing what he loved. But sometimes, it gets lonely.

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"Daddy, why isn't Papa home yet?" Lucas asks quietly while Louis tucks him in. Louis smiles softly, pushing Lucas' hair back.

"Well, Papa is kind of like superman," Louis tells him.

"What?!" Lucas exclaims, his eyes wide and bright.

"Yup. Papa goes out and saves lives every day, that's why he can't be at home as much. But he always comes back home, and he'll always be our hero."

*********************************

Lucas was only four at the time, but Louis used that explanation for all of his kids, even now that Lucas was 15. Harry has always been superman, and Louis knows he'll be home soon; he has to be.

"Babe?" Harry calls softly into the room, closing the door behind him. Louis looks up quickly, sighing in relief.

"Hi," Louis answers quietly. "You're home late."

"I know, I'm sorry. Patient died on me today," Harry says nonchalantly, and that scares Louis so much. Harry's gotten so used to watching people die he's becoming desensitized to it.