"I don't want to tell them."

Louis sighs, keeping his arm wrapped securely around Harry. Harry's pale from having gotten sick before he came over. He showed up at Louis' door only minutes later seeking comfort. Louis kisses the top of Harry's head, holding him tight as Harry buries his face into his chest.

"I know, baby," Louis mumbles. "But we have to."

Harry doesn't say anything. Louis frowns, brushing a curl out of Harry's face. "Do you know how far along you are?" Louis asks gently. It feels weird, just talking about it. Harry swallows thickly, wrapping Louis' blanket around him tighter.

"Twelve weeks," Harry says softly. "I...I went to Planned Parenthood right before I told you."

That's so like Harry, Louis thinks. To want to know all of the details before telling someone something. "That's like, three months?" Louis questions. "Right?"

"Mhm," Harry nods, closing his eyes. "'Ve gained five pounds."

Louis feels as though any comment he has about Harry's weight is unnecessary, no matter how reassuring he wants to be. He just holds Harry tighter.

"So," Louis says. "Tomorrow my mother and I are going to the doctor's to go over the...the game plan. For the cancer."

"Oh," Harry says blankly. Louis knows Harry's still processing all of this, he is too. This is a lot for two people to take on. Louis brushes a curl out of Harry's face.

"And my mom said you could come," Louis says. "If you really want to. If it's...if it's too much for you, then that's okay. I can give you the details and such afterwards."

Harry is quiet for a few moments. "I'll come," He says, looking up at Louis through his thick eyelashes. His eyes are so pretty, Louis' in love with them. "I wanna know, like, what's going on."

"Okay," Louis nods. "I didn't want to say it before, but I think it'll be better for me if you're there. My mum has been very emotional about the whole thing, and she's amazing, but I want to get through the meeting without crying."

Harry smiles wearily, nodding a bit. Speaking of Jay, both boys hear the front door open and close downstairs. Harry immediately tenses, Louis can feel it, so he bends over a bit to peck Harry's lips. "We got this, kid."

"I like when you call me kid," Harry says softly, and Louis grins adoringly. He waits for Harry to start to get up before he does, immediately feeling the pain in his chest. Harry looks up at him, and Louis sees the genuine fear in his eyes for the first time. He leans forward and kisses him again.

"I love you, Harold," Louis says quietly.

"I love you too," Harry whispers. Louis stands up off the bed before helping Harry up. Harry doesn't really need the help, Louis' just trying to prove that with everything going on he can still be good. Good at being a dad, and being there for Harry, and most of all being strong.

Louis leads Harry downstairs, their fingers intertwined. They find Jay in the kitchen unloading some groceries, and Harry immediately goes to help her without even saying anything. Louis sits at a stool at the counter. There are only a few bags to unload, anyways.

"Thank you, love," Jay says towards Harry as he stands on his tiptoes to put something in the cabinet. "What's up, boys?"

"Where is everyone?" Louis asks.

"Lottie is studying for GCSES," Jay says, making quotation marks with her fingers. That means Lottie is messing around with her friends. "Fizzy is doing a school project at her friend's house. Phoebe and Daisy are at the shopping centre with Holly, and Ernie and Doris are with Dan at the park. A day like this doesn't come around too often, huh?"

"Yeah," Louis chuckles nervously. The groceries are all put away, so Harry sits down next to Louis. Louis grabs Harry's hand and squeezes it. "So, Mum. Can we talk to you about something?"

"Of course," Jay is grinning until she notices the looks on the boys' faces. "Oh, no. What's the matter?"

"Mum," Louis starts, but then sighs. He doesn't know how he can do this. "Um. Harry and I have sort of...sort of a problem."

"What is it?" Jay asks. Her face tells Louis how nervous she is.

Louis doesn't say anything. He can't find his courage, can't bring himself to break his mum's heart like this. It's quiet for a few moments before Harry looks down at his lap, squeezing Louis' hand tight. "I'm pregnant," Harry whispers. Jay hears it though, Louis can tell. Harry looks up at Jay through the curls hanging into his eyes. "I'm sorry, Johannah."

Louis' mum, for once in his life, is completely silent. Her eyes dart between Harry and Louis quickly. "So," She swallows thickly. "What are we thinking of doing about this?"

"We want to keep it," Louis finds his bravery. "The baby. No abortion, no adoption."

Jay's expression is unreadable. Harry looks like he's ready to cry. "This..." She stops, seemingly thinking about what she wants to say. "This is stupid. It's a bad idea, boys."

"We know," Louis looks right into his mother's eyes. "But it's what we want to do, Mum. We just...thought we should tell you."

Jay is quiet again. She leans against the counter and seemingly takes a deep breath. "Louis," She says quietly. "You're going to be in and out of treatment a lot, you know that."

"Mhm," Louis nods.

"So you could miss lots of doctors appointments," Jay points out. "Even the birth. You'll probably be feeling weak a lot of the time too."

"I know," Louis says. Jay blinks at him before looking over to Harry. Harry's eyes are shiny. She sees how scared he is, and her face softens.

"Harry," She says softly. Harry looks to her, bottom lip trembling. "Is this what you want?"

"Mhm," Harry nods, sniffling. "I-I'm nervous, Mrs. Deakin, but it's what I want to do. I think we'll be okay."

Harry always calls Jay by her first name, because she always insists he does. This shows how anxious he's feeling. Jay nods slowly. "Being pregnant is really hard, love," She says gently. "And I'm not positive Louis will be able to help you a lot."

"I'm going to help him," Louis says quickly, defensive. "No matter how sick I'm feeling."

"You say that," Jay sighs. "But you don't know how you're going to feel a few months from now."

"I don't care," Louis says. "Doesn't matter how I'll feel."

Jay sighs again, but she's smiling weakly. "Alright," She runs her hands over her face. "Okay, boys. I'll support you in your decision." She looks at them. "But...I am disappointed. I thought you'd be more responsible."

Louis nods understandingly. "I'm sorry, Mum," He says. "We both are." A tear drips down Harry's cheek as he nods. Jay just nods back, resting her face in her hand.

"I know, baby," She says quietly.

♛

It's not that Harry's mother doesn't like Louis.

At least, Louis doesn't think she totally dislikes him. He thinks she just hasn't really gotten to know him in the past year and a half, that's all. He's not trying to sound cocky, but he can't think of anything he's done that would potentially cause her to dislike him. If she doesn't now, she definitely will after he and Harry tell her the news.

Harry leads Louis to the side door of his house. It's big, almost as big as Louis', and really nice on the inside. Every time Louis mentions that Harry just blushes and shakes his head.

They walk through the garage and into the house, Harry's hand gripping onto Louis' tightly. Harry's mum isn't in the kitchen, maybe she's not there? Harry never really seems to know where she is.

Harry leads Louis to his bedroom. It's bigger than Louis' with a whole sofa and telly on the wall opposite of his bed. "Do you want anything?" Harry asks, biting his bottom lip and looking down at his socked feet.

"No, I'm okay," Louis assures. He hates seeing Harry like this, so on edge. It can't be good for the baby. Their baby. Harry crosses his arms over his chest, his lips stuck in a pout. Louis steps forward and wraps his arms around him, holding him tight. Harry buries his face in Louis' chest.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Louis whispers.

"I'm so scared, Louis," Harry sniffles, clinging onto Louis tightly. Louis wishes he could take all of Harry's fear away. "Your mum was right, this is stupid."

"Love," Louis sighs. "We're going to be okay, I promise. This is the decision we wanted to make, and it's going to work out for us."

"I don't know how you can be so calm all the time," Harry mumbles into Louis' jumper.

"Calm?" Louis laughs. "I'm the opposite of calm, there's a baby inside of you and I have cancerous lungs. I'm just trying not to think about it too much, if I'm being honest."

"You're brave," Harry says. Louis smiles wearily. "A lot braver than me."

"Don't say that," Louis pushes Harry's hair out of his eyes. Harry just sighs, and Louis kisses the top of his head. They can both hear a car door close outside, and Harry jumps a little, gripping onto Louis tighter.

"We've got this," Louis assures, rubbing Harry's back.

"Right," Harry takes a deep breath. "Right, we've got this."