Reason To Be (A Zouis Family AU)

Interlude One, Chapter Four

When Louis injects Harry's thigh at home the following week, the boy doesn't cry. This time, Niall is holding his hand and talking ten to the dozen, though he does fall quiet when Harry sucks in a sharp breath and squeezes his little fingers slightly.

Louis glances up as he presses a plaster over the small dot of blood, always feeling guilty for causing the boy pain, but Harry is looking at Niall.

"Does it hurt you lots?" Niall asks, voice slightly lispy since another of his front teeth has fallen out.

Harry gives a small shrug. "A tiny bit. I just don't like injections," he murmurs, and Louis smiles in sympathy, pulling up the boy's trousers and getting the bg machine.

Niall pauses in thought for a moment before he nods. "I don't like 'em either. Daddy says they make you better though," he says with all the trust in the world bore in his voice.

Louis smiles again at the way the boys are interacting as if he isn't even there. Niall does a good job at distracting his brother from it all, and he's more than grateful to have the boy in the room with them to stop the tears.

"Yeah, they do."

"'Cause you made me really scared when you were poorly. You were in the hospital for forever and ever," Niall says with wide eyes, hand still held in Harry's tightly as Louis pricks the older boy's finger to take his blood sugars.

Harry chews his lip. "It wasn't forever, just two days. But m'sorry," he says sincerely, and Niall shrugs. Harry smiles instead. "I like having you here. You make it less scary."

Louis really has to resist cooing at the statement, trying to focus on the task at hand instead.

Niall smiles proudly. "M'a really good helper, that's what Papa said. I helped 'im make dinner yesterday, didn't I Daddy!?" He gushes in excitement, grinning that adorably gappy grin.

Louis smiles, sticking another plaster over Harry's finger gently as he looks up at the six year old. "You sure did, little one."

Niall looks to Harry for praise and his older brother just grins at him. "Yeah, you're definitely a good helper," he says, then puts on a more serious (or at least, as serious as the cute eight year old can be) face. "But you still gotta be good at school even if you're good at home."

The man wants to laugh at the way Harry is trying to lecture his little brother like an adult, but he doesn't get the chance, because surprisingly, Niall puts up no argument the way he does whenever he or Zayn try to tell him.

He just nods and hugs his brother. "I will," he says, and Harry smiles as if he's proud before he turns to Louis.

"Can I go play outside now Daddy?" He asks, and Louis smiles, standing up.

"Sure baby. Not for long though, it'll be getting dark soon and I wanna test you again before bed," he says, and Harry pouts a little but nods before Niall tugs him out of the room.

He stands where he is for a while, just basking in the absolute cuteness that he has just witnessed, before Zayn walks in with a smile.

"Seemed to go better than usual," he comments. "No tears?"

Louis grins, stepping over to the window to watch the two boys running around in the garden and playing some sort of concoction of tag and bulldog.

"No tears. Though I think I might cry at how freaking cute those two are," he says, making his husband chuckle.

They both stand by that window and watch their two youngest sons playing for a while, laughing when Niall decides to pretend to by a spy, doing a roly-poly and clambering up with his arms in front of him whilst Harry laughs at the younger boys antics.