I Love You, Man (Larry Stylinson AU)

Chapter 03: Family

"It is beautiful. It's totally understated, and it's just- it's perfect," Eleanor chatters away with the home phone practically glued to her ear. "I know! No- he's the best. I feel so lucky."

She enters the kitchen, where Louis is busy pouring two glasses of wine, and gives him a quick peck on the lips.

"Alright, Alana. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye!" Louis is working with the cork on the wine bottle as Eleanor finally hangs up the phone, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. "Babe! I've been totally hogging the phone! Who do you wanna call?"

"I'm okay," Louis mumbles, pretending to be more interested in getting the bottle open. "My parents are probably asleep. I'll just talk to them tomorrow."

"You don't wanna tell any of your friends?"

"I'll make some calls this weekend," Louis fakes a smile.

"Really? Well, what about that guy, Nick?" Eleanor insists on holding the phone out to her new fiancé. "You talk to him like 20 times a day, right?"

"Well, yeah. He works two cubicles away from me," Louis presses, not really wanting to think about Nick Grimshaw at a time like this. "I'll see him Monday morning."

"Or what's his name? The one that you play footy with."

"Stan?"

"Stan!" Eleanor beams.

"Stan! Stanley. Stanorama," Louis jokes around. "Nah, he's not really a call right away kind of friend."

At that, the cork on the wine bottle suddenly releases with a loud 'pop,' causing Louis to laugh out loud. He laughs more out of stress than anything, but the surprised look on Eleanor's face is still pretty hilarious.

"Hahaha!" Louis laughs wickedly, raising a crystal glass before pouring anything. "Toasting!"

"Huh," Eleanor chuckles.

She's happy, but the situation does seem a little tense, even she has to admit. Regardless, she lets Louis fill the two glasses, cheering him before taking a deep sip.

This might be a long night.

·

Louis raps his knuckles on the old wooden door he's become so familiar with. The door opens, revealing a very flustered, very happy Johanna.

"Hiii!" Louis' mum sings, pulling both him and Eleanor into a big hug.

"Hi!" Eleanor beams back, placing a sweet kiss on her cheek.

"Congratulations!" Johanna squeals.

"Thanks, mum," Louis laughs warmly before kindly pulling back, and stepping into his parents' house.

The living room mantle holds numerous photographs of his small family, namely pictures of his father and brother sharing boyish memories together. In the centre, there rests a beautiful photograph of himself and Eleanor on a park bench with their arms around each other. Louis smiles at it, but somewhere in his heart he feels like something is missing from the family shelf.

It doesn't take long before the lot of them are sat around the dining room table. The sound of chairs scraping across the floor and cutlery clinking on porcelain plates fills the room, as small talk is happily passed along from person to person.

"Excellent meat," Louis' father praises.

"So good," his brother, Liam, agrees.

"This is delicious," Eleanor smiles. "Thank you so much."