After his mother's death, Louis begins to fall apart. Between his grief, the pressure to stay strong for his siblings and the stress of debuting his solo career, it all just becomes too much for him to handle.
Disclaimer: Some of this story wil...
"Shh, little one. You're alright. I've got you." I rock a little, holding Louis tight, hoping that the simple action will make him feel safe enough to make it completely into his headspace.
Niall's POV
After several minutes, Louis stops crying, but he resists when I try to pry him off my chest to look at his face. I don't push the matter, because I don't want to upset him, however I would really like to know how he's doing and whether or not he is fully little right now. After about five more minutes of cuddling, though, he sits up on his own accord and looks at me.
"Dada, m'hungry." He pouts, and I have to hold back laughter. His face is just so cute and ridiculous.
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(A/N Doesn't he just look like he has bedhead? Cutie...)
"Shall we go see what Papa made for dinner?"
He nods, putting his arms around my neck, so I stand up, holding his body tight to myself. I'm still surprised at how light he is, but I guess it's a good sign that he asked for food. When we get to the kitchen, Harry is almost ready to eat. There is a pot of delicious looking homemade macaroni and cheese on the table, and he is setting out plates and forks, and a plastic spoon for Louis.
"Good timing, Harry. This little one and I are hungry."
Harry looks up at us, a look of surprise coming over his face as he takes in the figure clinging to me.
"Little?" I nod, rubbing Louis' back.
"Are you ready to eat?"
"Yeah, just gotta find Li. I don't know where he went."
"I'm right here." Liam walks into the kitchen. "How's Louis doing?"
I turn my back to him so Louis' face, over my shoulder, is visible.
"M'hungry Daddy."
I turn back around, wanting to see Liam's reaction, and I'm not disappointed. He is smiling widely, but doesn't say anything, which I am glad for, because I'm not sure how steady Louis is in his headspace at the moment.
"So are you going to come eat my masterpiece, or just stand around gawking at each other?" Harry demands playfully.
"Sorry, sorry. We're coming." Liam says.
We all sit ourselves around the table, with Louis on my lap as I'm going to be feeding him this evening. Dinner goes smoothly, and afterwards we go to the living room to watch a movie. Louis snuggles on Harry's lap, as he still seems slightly spooked by Liam from earlier. When it gets to Louis' bedtime, we decide to try putting him down without anyone in the bed with him. I don't know if it's going to work, but I told the others I wanted to talk, so it seems like the best time to do it. He doesn't put up a fight, seeming quite tired after his bottle, so we leave him with his teddy and a dummy to fall asleep.
Harry, Liam, and I are relaxing in the living room, sitting in silence for a few minutes before anybody speaks up.
"So, Ni. What's up?" Harry asks, but Liam interjects before I can say anything.
"Before we talk about whatever you wanted to talk about, I have a question: how did you get Louis in headspace this afternoon? That was totally unexpected!"
"That's actually what I wanted to talk about. I...I think I discovered a trigger for his headspace..." I bit my lip. I'm a bit worried about this possible trigger. It has the potential to go very, very wrong.
"What?" Both Harry and Liam look intrigued.
"Um...it's not the greatest thing..."
"What do you mean? Was it the corner?" Harry asks, looking confused.
"Well, kinda. I think the trigger is fear and vulnerability."
"Like that night with the nightmare..." Liam suggests.
"Yeah, probably. I guess this afternoon he got scared first when you went to check his nappy, and then standing in the corner he felt vulnerable with his back to the room, and he ended up getting scared that we'd leave him there."
"Oh, shit. That's...well it's good and bad, I guess." Liam responds, with a worried look on his face.
"I knew a long timeout was a bad idea..." Harry mutters. "Why did I let you do that? I thought it might upset him..."
"Harry..." Liam starts, but I interrupt, because I know he's displeased with Liam.
"It's not such a bad thing. Yeah, it's not pleasant for Louis to be scared, but he's okay, and it's a really good thing we figured this out from something as mundane as a timeout. It could have been a much worse situation, and now we have the information, it could help us."
They both nod, my words seem to have placated Harry.
"We'll have to be careful..." Liam says softly, as if he's thinking out loud. "Make sure he feels safe if we put him in timeout or whatever..."
"Um, guys..." Harry says suddenly. I look at him in confusion; he sounds distressed. "Where's the baby monitor? I think I can hear Louis crying from here..."
Sorry, it's short, but I wanted to get something up because I haven't posted in a while. I will try to get another chapter up tomorrow if I can.
