Summary: The Styles triplets rule the world and Louis is their baby.

Author: SS98

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When the air ran out; when the ghosts started runnin' wild.

*LOUIS' POV*

"Thank you, Frederick." I tell him with a hand on the partition so he knows I'm talking to him.

"No problem, Lou." Came the reply of my driver.

I adored Frederick because he was young and listened to me when I wanted to disobey my husbands for a little while. He was put in charge of driving me everywherebecause I was not trusted to get from place to place on my own.

It was a matter of safety of course, having been married to the top dogs of the underground crime syndicate one needed to be guarded especially if that one was as blind as me.

After being born blind I decided that I'd live life because I was too cowardly to end it. I was born into the family with the least frightening last name but who gladly sat on top of London's drug circuit. Any kind and every merchant belonged to us from the beginning, and my father never treated me any different so naturally I was passed the position of head honcho on my nineteenth birthday.

There was blood everyday and everywhere in our home; not in a savage way but the metaphor was very real. I'm glad I didn't get to see any of it but I felt it when I borrowed my father's pen for school work or when I was little, sitting on his lap to finish my braille. I was his only child and I knew he loved me as a good father does, but that didn't stop anyone from avoiding me like the plague whenever I went out.

I tried at first, to deal and punish and handle things but I couldn't. It wasn't me to cutting people's thumbs off when I could barely go to the bathroom properly. My father pitied me when a rival gang arrived and he found out that they were part of the US mafia society.

The United States had the greatest control over the black market and the family that ran it, is who my father needed for an ally. They could rule the Northern hemisphere if a closed a deal with them but I had to part of that deal. On my twenty-first birthday my gift was under the tree and came in a small black velvet box.

I was to be married to a man - who I later learned could be men - before I even met him. I didn't argue because what was the point? You learn to bow your head and say yes when you grow up as me.

Turns out the man I had to marry was one of three replicas. Triplets. They were polite and charming and I hated them completely for it.

"Can I see them?" One asked me, making me frown as I puzzled over what he meant.

We were left sitting alone in the lounge while our parents made themselves pretend to be scarce. I couldn't move from where I stood because I wasn't sure I where was, considering the home wasn't ours.

"See what?" I question.

"Your eyes." This voice was deeper. I've only heard two voices so far and the third is very quiet.

"Why?"

"I bet they're beautiful." Said the first voice who initially asked for such an odd favour.

A blush crept onto cheeks, heating up my face with embarrassment. "I-I wouldn't know."

"Let's see them, cookie." At last came the third voice ringing.

"Cookie?" I must have sounded twice as shocked as I really was because someone somewhere muttered an apology.

"He loves food which means he really likes you." The first voice elaborated. "The bastard never gets fat."

"I have a name!" Cried the outraged triplet.

"That's right. He's Edward and I'm Marcel." Explained Marcel who had been talking this whole time.

"I'm Harry." The voice was to my left. "You look like you could be a lot of fun."

I was saying 'I do' to all three before I could bring myself to regret anything. I loved them way too quickly in a way that I refused to admit to them because I'm blind and who could love that? One night when I felt particularly depressed I told them what truth hurt most in my heart.

We had separate bedrooms even in marriage and it broke my will to try and salvage some good habits for them. It was just after dinner time and I got to visit their bedroom to say goodnight. We've never had sex and they've never even kissed my cheek beyond our wedding kiss.

"Y-You can um-....see other people if-if you want to, you know." The words scratched my throat as I threw them up, but it was true and they deserved someone who could serve all their needs. When I got to reply I went on. "I-I know we're married and-"

"Enough!" I was conflicted as to whose voice bellowed so frighteningly, I cringed because even after a life in this industry I've never heard this much frustration. "You want us to fuck other people?"

"I-I-I'm sorry I just- I know you all didn't want this marriage and you shouldn't suffer b-because of me." I rush to justify my sudden topic of discussion.

Nothing happened for a whole two minutes but it felt like a century of time had passed before anyone said anything. I wanted to be able to see so I could run back to my room and never come out again.

"Stand up."

"Don't make him, Marcel." I assumed it was Harry who spoke up for me, sounding tired.

They've had a long day and I'm a terrible husband for bringing my issue now.

"Stand. Up." Marcel pronounced every word with pressure and rounded vowels, so I carefully got to my feet and wished I knew where to look.

"Brother-"

"Do you pity yourself, Louis?"

"No." I answered, above a soft croak.

"Then why are you telling your husbands to cheat on you?"

"I-I just.....don't want everyone to be miserable because of me. We're married but we've never proven it. I want you three to not resent me later....or-or now."

"You think you're not good enough?" Marcel sounded closer but nothing else moved in the room. "You darethink you're not good enough?"

"Marcel, I-"

"You are our husband, and you are under no circumstances allowed to feel that way. Something must have made you say this to us and I know exactly what the fuck it is. We haven't had the opportunity to learn to love in this marriage and if our lack physical intimacy is bothering you then you should know we'll be waiting for the first to happen. We won't force you into anything."

I had stuttered and stammered all through the night because I felt a lot embarrassed but Edward wouldn't allow that feeling to fester. He insisted we share a bed - and do nothing else - when I was being escorted out by himself. Harry liked the idea and Marcel didn't need any convincing, so I got to sleep with my husbands for the first time.

Our marriage turned out to be fun and easy after that night because we grew on one another and, at a snail's pace, learned to love each other after we got hitched, which was a weird twist. It was wonderful when they tried to be completely normal, amusing me without boundaries when they tried things like gardening.

"Is there a need for this?" I asked on Saturday, the day their greenhouse was fully erected and empty.

It was a decently small one - Harry called it 'wee' - in our yard out back, ready to be filled with whatever plants the triplets wanted. Edward had driven to a nearby nursery by himself to get flowers and some edible plants.

"I believe so." Harry sat on the grass with me, he staring at the sky and myself no longer feeling deprived that I couldn't. I combed through his curls with my fingers and he rubbed stars into my thigh.

"We need to relax, cupcake." Marcel told me as he and Edward unloaded the van. "This is ideal."

"You'll forget about this place a week from now, love." I told them the reality of their whims.

"I'll take that bet." Edward muttered, stomping over grass as he passed us by.

Needless to say, a week had passed and my prize for winning that bet meant I got a home-cooked meal that was a flop of regal standard. We ordered pizza and ended up making love in front of the fireplace.

Now those three are in charge where my father and their father were. They took over the drug trafficking and handled the money loaning. It was a hard task each day seeing blood, only being able to consume more vices in order to tolerate it. They kept telling me that they had me now and that's all that mattered.

It's been three years and I'm at their offices that was in the form of a legal software company, because staying at home was utterly boring. Today was not the first time I'd be visiting them on work premises and my guide was Frederick still, letting me hold onto his arm as we walked through everyone.

"We're here, Lou." Said he, releasing my hand after our elevator ride up to the highest level in the skyscraper.

The atmosphere up here was always the same: silent and busied. There was no receptionist on this floor because everyone who worked for the Styles physically had to station themselves below them. Exiting the elevator, the silence falls on my ears and Frederick stays in the elevator to go back down to the car.

"Hello?" I call out, as is a ritual whenever I'm left to work my way around here.

It's a wide and open-plan office I've been told. It always felt light and I rarely bumped into things. I also rarely had to use my walking stick because someone always escorted me from place to place. Usually, by now one of my brooding yet jovial husbands would have come to get me so I bite my lip worriedly and stand still.

"Marcel?" I call for him first. He always came running to my rescue even if I didn't need him there. "Harry? Edward?"

I feel movement and it's only because the floor carpet carries the vibrations of their weight forward to me. I step towards it with my arms wrapped around my middle, insulating myself against the cool thermostat.

"You're late, cupcake." Finally it is Marcel who answers me but makes no movement forward.

*NARRATOR'S POV*

There was still motion in the office. When the three brothers heard the elevator doors open, they simply stood where they were and made no sound. Louis promised them that he'd learn to follow their voices because his hearing was in tip-top shape and Harry found it to be an adorable couple thing.

"I know." Louis frowns when nobody makes a move towards him, and he's still standing there alone. "I'm sorry. I was with Niall."

Marcel glares at Harry when the latter takes a step. They will get this done today. Harry stops and drags his shoe back. Next the elder brother looks at Edward, whose turn it is to speak.

"What did you do?" Edward asks, confusing Louis when his voice comes from across the room.

"Um...-" Louis turns roughly in his direction and his hand very briefly extends his way. "We got some work done."

"That it?" Harry continues, puzzling Louis with this game.

"Where are you?" Louis feels a lot unnerved by them not being close enough and starts to worry.

"Right here, cupcake." Marcel is closest, his voice husky from something he's feeling. "You wanted to learn to follow our voices."

"Wha- I didn't mean now!" Louis pouts with his arms crossed, feeling heavily manipulated by his husbands.

"Too bad, sugar plum." Harry piped up from beside the cupboard that doubled as a photocopying cover and gun stash concealor.

"Fine." Louis smoothed out the front of his shirt. "You're all very mean but okay."

Marcel's laughter is absorbed into Louis' eardrums as he hears it, boastful but beautiful all in the same breath. Marcel - despite his very cute name - is the most terrifying of the triplets with Harry landing on the opposite end of the spectrum and Edward who was a cool 180 degree man.

There was a distinct difference between the brothers and anyone would be able to tell. Harry was what he dubbed 'my marshmallow' within the walls of their home and in situations like this, but it was he who took care of debtors that didn't pay on time.

Edward was quiet most of the time but Louis discovered that it was so because his tongue had a nasty little injury in the corner and he had a lisp from it. He had told Louis - ironically - that it is from his first day 'on the job' when he was a newbie who didn't know how to be forceful yet.

"Who do I go to?" Louis' a lot anxious about this challenge because he's never attempted it before.

"Come to me, cupcake." Marcel, the closest of the three, was speaking in much too seductive a tone to be appropriate.

"O-Okay." He immediately stuttered, affected naturally by his spouse.

Marcel started to speak continuously and Louis dropped his hands to his side to follow that train as best he can. He had to purposely shut out all other noises and close up all his senses in order to concentrate. His mind created a visual where Marcel's words formed the smoke that his nose followed.

Louis also couldn't help his blush at hearing what was being spoken about without interruption from anyone else.

"You were wearing white that day, cupcake. All white except your shoes which is a mystery as to why you decided to wear black. You looked beautiful when you were trying to pretend nobody else was there because you'd forgotten your vows. Harry took that as a compliment, and I mean we were all a little disappointed when you remembered because you started to race through it. It was the most endearing moment of my life to watch you. When we got to dance first, I knew from the start you'd be as clumsy as you were. Letting you walk all over my shoes was madness."

Louis remembered their wedding so well that he doubted it was normal. Besides the fact that his memory is undeniably one of the best in the family, that day is the most important to him. Always will be.

He was about a foot away but facing the wrong direction when Marcel bent over and whispered in his ear. "And a year later I finally got to carry you to our wedding bed."

Feeling weak in his knees, Louis just about managed to last long enough to bravely reach out and hope his instincts were right. Marcel chuckled in his ear and wrapped him up in his arms with all his might protecting his beloved.

"I am proud of you, cupcake." Marcel holds Louis against him and kisses his lips, languidly and with one hand sneaking under Louis' shirt.

"Thank you." Louis nudged what he knows is Marcel's jaw, dropping a kiss on his shoulder.

"We can move now, right?" Harry asks Edward, not softened at all because he's not as aware about how loud he is as the people around him.

Edward shrugs and goes back to cleaning pistols, which he hurried up so that when Louis came to him he gave their husband all his attention. Louis sat on Marcel's lap for the time-being, allowed to hold the man's hand and keep him from working.

"How was your day?" He asked when the table creaked and he knew Harry was sitting on it.

"Uneventful thus far." Marcel had his lips pressed to back of my neck, moving with his words and pouting when he wanted to leave a kiss. "But now you're here."

Louis knew that voice, the purr of arousal permeating to the surface. He knew also that judging by somethingbulging against his bum that Marcel was not playing with the thought of amorous activities. He wanted it, but he'll have to wait because Louis is here for all his hubbies.

"Harry?" He tries not to squirm on Marcel's thighs and be a complete sadist.

"Hey, cherry pie." Harry took my hand and kissed my knuckle, the feel of his lips reassuring me that getting to watch him do it is not most important.

"How's your back treating you today?" Louis was concerned about Harry not lightening up when he had a notorious spinal column that refused to cooperate.

He was a badass in the sense that no matter how many times Louis asked him not to spend time on the race track where their boys handled drag racing, the man never listened. It was so serious that Louis had to wearpanties and eat ice cream to keep Harry indoors. Louis can never eat ice cream without turning absolutely red.

"Hasn't started to hurt today at all." Harry admits, testing out the fact with a little curve. "I have you to thank. You give the best massages."

Harry had trouble getting out of bed this morning and Louis had tried to lessen some of the pain with lavender oil. This led to his husband falling asleep and Louis waking up two hours later to being eaten out below the sheets. Louis also can't handle the sight of lavender oil anymore.

"Of course I do." Louis shivers when Marcel's hands lower from him waist to under his bum, kneading him there under the table without indiscretion.

"Hey Lou." Edward had joined them at last, sitting on the floor and pretending not to see Marcel's madness. "I missed you."

Louis always cooed at Edward. Edward was his adorable husband without knowing it because of the scars and black ink. Marcel had no tattoos and Harry's were pointless.

"I missed you too." Louis leaned to his general left side and Edward kissed him without hesitation. "Marcel, calm down."

Marcel grumbled into his neck and dug his nails into Louis' thighs, conveying his desperation. He stopped publicly exploring his husband to embrace him around his waist.

"He's been a horny bunny rabbit all day." Harry confesses what Marcel will never say.

"Yeah." Edward tsk's. "Kinda creepy."

"Hey now." Louis protects his wonderfully independent husband. "He's nowhere near as bad as you two."

"You tell 'em, cupcake." Marcel mumbled, half uncaring.

Edward was a silent but sexually deadly presence. Whether he knew it or not he was a predator in the bedroom and Louis always felt secure as his prey. Edward also spoke the filthiest things that Louis didn't know he loved so much, clinging longer and coming harder.

Harry was a gentleman when he took Louis, minus the thirteen times he came home angry and nearly broke his wrist by how quickly he grabbed Louis to be bent over his desk. He was the exhibitionist of them all and Louis got to have sex in just about every public bathroom they've been to.

Marcel was the same everywhere: hard and fast. He left Louis bruised and sated every night since that night when Louis told him an awful suggestion to turn to other people. He deeply loved any opportunity to plug Louis up with a vibrating implant, watching his husband squirm when he controlled it.

"Remember that time Harry hit his head trying to be a member of the mile high club?" Marcel mused behind my shoulder, and dodging whatever whizzed pass my ear.

"Don't throw things. Lou's here." Edward admonishes, sweet as ever. He's the first of the three I said three vital words to, and I heard him trip before saying it back.

"I remember that." Louis holds the chair's armrest and slowly lowers himself to the ground.

Marcel gets the wrong idea - or whether he just hoped Louis was going to unzip his fly - and Edward has to snatch up their pretty husband to keep him safe from his brother's adultery.

"Hi." Edward kissed Louis' cheek, hugging him around his slender mid-section.

"I never asked you-" Louis wiggles on Edward's crossed legs. "-but- Edward!"

"What?" Harry bends over the table's surface to see what's going on, and bursts into laughter. "You're proving Lou right here, brother."

"I knew I was right either way." Louis swats Edward's arm and almost missed, bicep muscle straining under a narrower sleeve.

Edward hides his face in Louis' neck and curls them both up, groaning when his underwear is harsh on his semi. "I didn't mean to. You're very pretty, Lou."

"And he wiggles." Marcel contributes. "I don't blame you, Edward."

"I do." Harry adds in. "I blame you both."

"Lou?" Edward bites Louis' shoulder, getting his attention back. "I'm sorry."

Edward is always the most concerned about his five foot husband, treating him like the gem he is all the time. He held Louis traditionally every night and never gave that up, always took care of Louis with most dedication when the boy was sick.

"You don't have a reason to be sorry." Louis assures him, Edward guiding him to his cheek for a kiss. "Want to go to the copy room?"

"Lou!" Marcel gasps, having heard everything.

Edward ignores him because Louis never initiates sex unless he's needy too and that's usually the best kind of time. He chuckles and whispers his agreement in Louis' ear, standing up already. Harry confusedly watches Edward carry Louis to their small closet that served as the gun room. It's Edward's favourite room.

"Do you have the profile on that Italian family down in the district?" Harry asks out of the blue.

"No. Why?" Marcel physically restrains himself from growling at the lock clicking.

"They're overdue." Harry returns to his desk to grab his coat and gun. "I'm taking-"

"Ugh take whoever." Marcel waves him off, sexually frustrated.

"Want me to take care of it?" Harry flips the collars of his coat up, smirking as he offers.

"Fuck you. Don't touch me." Marcel watches his brother leave.

"Tell Lou I'm gone? I'll be back in an hour."

"I will give you two because I need that debt repaid todayor later I'm going for them myself."

Their hours worked as day shift and night shift, although the times varied. The software company was much easier to run that their illegal escapades and so they allowed overlaps such as this sometimes.

* * * * *

"E-Edward, slow down." Louis pleaded, the stand-up board he was against rattling violently. "Slow down, baby."

Edward suffered a wild thrust that made Louis all sore inside, groaning when the boy's body clenched deliciously around him. He pressed himself into him, leaning forward to rest on Louis against the wall. His hands secured Louis' thighs and his hips were beaten red with his rhythm.

"Did I hurt you?" Edward asked, worried.

"N-Nah uh." Louis tried to get Edward's length to touch his prostate, greedy for that electric pleasure. "Couldn't feel you."

Edward had moved too fast, too dangerously pounding into his husband's body to get them off. Louis enjoyed the intimacy of going slower because he was in that mood and wanted to be taken care of.

Jerking to rest their bodies tighter and closer together, Edward stared into Louis' eyes. They were so beautiful, so enticing. He slowly started to thrust again, their naked skin rubbing off on one another. The squelch of lube and Louis' gasp, eyes trained right on Edward but he would never know that.

Edward buries his face in Louis' neck and continues thrusting, deep and slow thrusts that bombarded Louis' insides with all the coiling emotions within him. He dumped them in Louis' body to feel and fester, to comprehend what three years of commitment has meant to him.

Louis' little noises are in his ear, warm puffs of air down his throat as he earnestly scrambled to keep the boy held up everytime he started to slip. They were untidy about this but neither brought out the worry to display, far too caught up in one another.

"Th-three years and you're still afraid to kiss me." Louis pulls Edward towards him, their mouths landing safely on one another's as he frees the buttons on Edward's dress shirt.

His tongue flicks against Edward's and feels the dip where his muscle had healed over a slash in the side. He breathes in deeply through his nose and presses their bare fronts together, pushing off the wall to take all of Edward inside him. He's deep and filling his mind with a sensual kind of thrill that seeks out rendezvous like this.

"Three years-" Edward holds Louis' hands so they aren't lost. "-and you still want to kiss me."

"Y-Yes- Oh God, Edward."

Louis comes apart when his thighs start to quiver and he all but screeches when Edward squashes him against the wall, struggling to keep himself straight. As he orgasms into the warm confines of his husband. The term for his spouse always made him turn into a giddy teenager but nobody had to be aware of that.

"I think they heard us." Louis' cheeks turn into a healthy blush and he hides in Edward's neck. "I'm not leaving this room."

"You'll have to!" Marcel shouts to him from outside, both lovers inside nearly falling with the sudden interruption.

"Fuck off!" Edward screamed at his intruding brother before pressing his forehead against the wall.

"I need to use the fucking room, you get out."

Louis rolls his eyes and lowers his jelly legs to the ground, his socked feet landing safely as Edward steadies him. He held onto Edward's shoulders and smiled in the direction of his husband, leaning just a bit forward and Edward responding by kissing him.

"What do you want to use it for?" Louis feels around for the right spot to rest his head on Edward's strong shoulder.

The room was a storage closet for guns and at this point in the day, there's no need for a gun outside the ones they each have in their top drawers. His husbands handled their darker matters at night when the wolves were out and could take their side.

"Ugh just let me in. Cupcake?" Marcel was close to begging on the other side of the door, his fist colliding with the wood.

Louis shuffles around until he feels his clothes being put back on him slowly, his arm moved for him and his legs crooked upward just the right way. He has to lean against the wall when Edward nudges him back against it, resting as he closed his eyes to make for an even blacker sight.

"You can come in now." He heard Edward say, his tongue overlapping some of his words as he unlocked the door.

"You're a bastard, you know." Louis hears Marcel tell his brother, a small collapse of boxes alerting him that someone was shoved.

"You're the perverted one out of us." Edward replies to him but Louis can feel cold hands on his hips under his shirt and rubbing around and around on the soft skin.

The chill on Louis' skin makes him squeak and gasp, Marcel's relaxing voice in his ear telling him that it's a person he can trust. Soothed by this presence, he runs his hands up Marcel's front seeking out his favourite spot to rest against. He finds it just under the man's chin and settles there like a kitten finding its home again.

"Did he take care of you, love?" Marcel's lips press against his neck, pulling Louis' hands away from his chest and lace their fingers as one and hold it behind the boy's back.

Louis giggles and can't hide his face like he normally would try. Instead he let's Marcel hold him and sway from side to side, nearly lolling him off to sleep.

"Let's get you somewhere comfortable." His hands are released and his feet are knocked off the ground, taken up into the air where Marcel holds him in suspension.

He gets ahold of Marcel's shoulders and grips them like his anchor, slowly inching his arms around that curve to a safer position. They're moving all of a sudden and he can feel it because of the wind hitting him and the bump of a walking rhythm.

"This is Harry's couch." Marcel says to him, subtly informing Louis that he's about to be put down.

Louis always slept on Harry's brown leather couch whenever he stayed over at the office until the triplets were done working. Despite this, he didn't form a formal pillow or cushion and would end up bunching someone's coat into a ball to make one.

"We got you a cushion." Marcel says, bursting the hope and chance of another Yves Saint Laurent jacket under his head.

Someone - Edward - hits Marcel with said cushion and curses in his hurried statement to him.

"Edward got you a cushion." Marcel restates to a drowsy Louis, then to Edward. "Happy?"

* * * * *

"I'm back." Harry came home rather than go to the office after his time with the Italian family.

Marcel was cooking in the kitchen while Louis sat at the island fidgeting with a green apple. Harry stopped by him first and gave Louis' defined cheekbone a little peck, which made Louis blush like a virgin - filthiest word ever when Louis is concerned in Harry's opinion.

"Hi, cherry pie." Harry feels very nude without Louis in his lap and instantly cures the problem with pulling his tiny boyfriend-husband to be correctly positioned.

"H-Hey." Louis grips the counter when he's being moved, breath hitched and heart plummeting because no matter how many times they do this it'll always be fresh terror for him.

"You're safe, baby. It's just me." Harry braces his hands on Louis' soft hips, kissing Louis' neck at a slant. "You're always safe with me, love."

Louis knows this. He nods when Harry tells him and blushes when Harry hugs him around his middle. "Where were so long?"

"Had somethin' to take care of." Harry is honest when he discusses matters with Louis, he's the only one that was. "Was easy enough to get done."

"Yeah? Good." Louis dropped the apple he was holding and wanted it back. "C-Could you um-"

Harry's already putting the fruit back in his hand with a fond smile reserved just for his boyfriend. They were married but Harry behaved like they were still dating. He took Louis out on dinner dates and phoned him from work to tell him, asking if a certain day was okay even if he knew it was.

"Thank you." Louis kisses what he can feel and what his lips feel is the rough pulse of Harry's neck artery. It's always been his favourite place to kiss.

"You're making Marcel jealous." Edward walks past, iPad in hand and a hiss coming out when saying his brother's name due to his lisp.

"Oh can it." Marcel laughs, a little evilly. "Harry hasn't seen Lou all day."

Harry gives Louis an insufferable cuddle when he hears that, not willing to let the night go without one. Louis giggles and feels so safe where Harry prevents him from dipping too low.

"Neither have you." Edward remarks from the stool beside the happy couple, watching Louis close his eyes on his brother's shoulder.

Marcel dishes out food for Harry first. The big bear always got hungry after he took care of something work-wise. When it was a family issue, he got drunk as Hell and broke everything in his path. The scariest part was he never let the spouse that was closest to him move away or else he got violent, which is why he never went to family reunions.

"Eat." Marcel gets another warm plate and dishes food out into it. It's meant for Louis but when he turns around Harry is feeding Louis from his own plate. "You're ridiculous."

"I think it's cute." Edward snaps a picture of Louis trying to avoid the fork. He ends up hitting his forehead on Harry's shoulder and the fight ends with a pout.

"You need to eat as well." Marcel slides him a plate and fills one for himself, grabbing two forks and giving Edward one. "Did you do what I asked today?"

"You'll have to be more specific." Edward smirks as he chews, lips curled and eyes glittering.

"The research of that German syndicate? They're supposed to be landing tomorrow and want to see us first thing."

"I did but why us? I thought they wanted the Italian family Harry went after today."

"Papa Joe-" Harry interrupts to refer to the breadwinner of the family he 'visited' today. "-said he doesn't owe anyone any money. His son does."

"We don't care for technicalities." Marcel barks, Louis remaining unaffected because he's used to one of his husband's often losing their temper. "His name is on the slip."

Harry shrugs. "He said he never signed for anything."

"Where is his son?" Edward's fork scrapes the plate. "He's got two hundred grand on us."

"Three hundred on the Germans." Marcel is pacing with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "A thousand in Ricky's drugs. If he's not a fucking millionaire when we find him, he's fucked."

"He's in Belgium." Harry answers.

"Ricky?" Louis' voice pipes up, the name striking a bell.

"Yeah, cupcake. You'll know him for at least-"

"Thirteen years." Louis finishes for him. "He's still around?"

"Aha." Harry doesn't like his boyfriend-husband paying attention to other males.

"You can get Ricky to track him down. He's got a network of people all across Europe."

"And how would you be knowing that, cherry pie?" Harry possessively wrapped himself around Louis.

"Dad dealt with him so many times." Louis patted Harry's hand to comfort him, taking three tries before he found it. "He came to my sixteenth birthday dinner even. I can ask him for a favour?"

"You still talk to him?" Marcel is mortified by the thought.

"Not really." Louis admits. "I think he can get this done if you pressure him."

Marcel considers this option. They'll be needing the help tomorrow if the Germans land in a foul mood - what are the chances that they won't? - and want to negotiate. Papa Joe isn't a wealthy man and it will take him well over the rest of his lifetime to pay back the debt his son owes.

"Yeah. Okay." Marcel exhales loudly. "But I'm not willing to be in the debt of any drug lord."

"Hey. Be nice." Louis admonishes. "Those are my people."

This kind of conflict arose often when they came from different worlds. Louis could handle any kind of illegal substance being imported, exported, sold, bought, blackmailed with or consumed. His husbands, having come from a less polite and more bloody history, found that kind of transaction boring.

Whenever drugs were involved, they'd come to Louis for fact and opinion. He was their expert on the subject, above any advisers their father pretended to be.

"Sorry, love." He got a kiss on his forehead from one of them, and it might have been Edward because it came from his left.

* * * * *

"Get them in here." Marcel snaps at the goon who made the German's wait outside. "We don't need to fucking piss them off while we're at it. Go!"

"I don't think the German's are the ones pissed off, Marcel." Harry doesn't look up from his iPhone screen where he's texting Louis.

Louis has a major presentation to do today and he's been chewing one of the triplets' ears off all night. Their lovely husband was so thrilled that his professor didn't treat him any different except for allowing Niall to present with him because of technical handling. Harry's trying right now to keep him calm while he's got his own battle to fight here.

"Is that Lou?" Edward peers over his brother's hunched shoulder. "Tell him I said good luck."

Harry hummed and typed a quick message to Louis about Edward's well wishing. Marcel had heard them by then and enquired as well. "Me too."

Erasing the whole message with a frustrated frown, Harry added Marcel's name and elongated it a bit more before shutting his phone off. Louis would understand because he's aware of the business they must take of today. He's wished them luck with kisses this morning, Marcel made a depraved animal noise when he had to let go.

"They're here." Marcel drums his fingertips on the table's surface, getting Edward to straighten up and Harry to stand.

All was in order when the Germans walked in, in no different clothing than the Londoners here. They were bigger built and came in two's rather three's like the triplets. Marcel felt less intimidated by this fact and also the Browning 9mm tucked into his waistband.

"Don't you three look cute." Said the burly, hairy man with bulging biceps who walked in first.

The one who spoke took a seat, his heavy arm resting on a chair's back. He smiled with what is probably dazzling in Germany but Marcel frowns and believes there are higher standards for goatees here.

"To get down to business-" Marcel is handed a portfolio by Harry and doesn't miss the way this giant's companion is unhappily eyeing him. "-the man you're looking for is Papa Joe's son, not Papa Joe."

"You think I care?" The man snatched the portfolio up when Marcel offered it to him and flipped through it. "I want my money."

Marcel controlled his rage and Harry picked up by now that this other newcomer was staring quite blatantly. "We want our money too but you can't harm our clients for yours. It doesn't work that way."

"Maybe it doesn't over here where the world has gonesoft-" The beast of a man brings himself to his feet and steps all the way up in Marcel's personal space. "-but back home we handle things any which way we can."

His tone was unappreciated and his chilling glare that hinted at some sick amusement made all three brothers want to gag. Marcel was cool and composed through the thickly accented words. "Well you're on our soil. You'llhandle things the way we do or you'll have thirty men after you. Men with more power than you."

It was a territory thing when outsiders came onto their land - which is essentially their home - and became difficult. Enemies or not, family lineages worked to eradicate all unworthy arrivals.

The German's smile grew into an ugly cheshire cat grin, overly whitened teeth on display. "You three have a beautiful husband."

Three bodies went cold to the bone as they stood in the Styles penthouse office. Harry's hand got a stiff grip around the barrel of his gun, Edward's teeth clenching to flex his jaw angrily. A subtle threat was most dangerous.

Marcel couldn't keep his cool any longer and after his twitch, all the guns in the room were out. Marcel had his pressed right up against the German's forehead, the latter exchanging by aiming at his crotch. Harry threatened the freaky companion who stared too much while Edward threw a knife right at the men who tried to step forward. It was a grand enough threat to not taking another step.

"Blue eyes, brown hair?" The German chortled unattractively. "Imagine his screams, of all kinds. Pain and pleasure. It would, of course, give me pleasure to see him in pain. Give me my money and I won't grab him from his lecture hall on Oxford street."

Harry's mood rolled over and his blood turned black as it thickened in its high boiling temperature. Their darling husband.

"Go." Marcel knew what Harry was thinking and nodded his head. "Fucking go!"

Taking off, Harry gave Edward a chance to take out his own fire arm before leaving. He sprinted towards the elevator and almost got held up by the men at the door who weren't theirs. Today he was in no mood to fuck about because Louis was in danger and the trip to campus is seven minutes long.

He put two bullets, one for one, in the men's throats before walking past and pulling his phone out. Frederick answered on the third ring, Harry already wiping blood off his hands and punching the right floor button.

"Get Louis out." Harry spoke curtly. "Get him out right fucking now, Frederick. I'll hang you on a stick if he's hurt."

"Yes Sir." Came the boy's reply before the call was hung up and Harry slid into the driver's seat of Edward's SUV.

The drive to Louis' Oxford campus is a gruelling one. He tries dialling and redialing his husband's number but there's no answer and he puts great stock in the hope that Frederick got Louis to safety. There's silence on college ground when he gets there and races out, door left open, as he runs like a mad man down to the lecture room he knows Louis is in.

Their Nissan SUV is parked nearest to the main entrance like it always was, but nobody was in it. Harry didn't stop on taking the stairs three at a time to leap bounds up onto the top level.

Brown and heavy wooden doors flew open on one side, Louis rushing out with Frederick like....like someone was chasing them. Harry looked behind them and indeed someone was, hidden in the crowd of students rushing out to save themselves.

"Lou!" Harry grabs Louis by his arm and their chests slam together with how hard he yanks the boy.

Louis immediately settles against him, calmed by the sound of Harry's voice and unable to see any of the chaos. He's almost tripped and knocked over many times but Harry is a solid rock to depend on in times like this. A hand covers the back of his head and Harry's arm moves shockingly fast, two gunshots ringing through the air.

There's a shriek and it's from Louis, a mass of bodies escaping the line of fire by trampling each other to get away. Harry gets the pursuer in the leg with one gold-plated bullet, blocking out all that he can for Louis with his body.

The man of German descent crumbles to the ground amongst a human swarm of bodies and Frederick takes over to step on his femur where it's shot. A howl of awfully high volume and gruff undertones fills the air, campus security hanging back because this isn't their jurisdiction by far.

Louis wraps his shaking arms around Harry's middle under his coat, smelling the metal of blood and saltiness of sweat. He can't hear anymore violence but his knees are wobbly, needing to lean against Harry for every bit of support. His lack of sight is made up for in touch and hearing, leaving him to listen to Harry's strong heartbeat and breathing hard as adrenaline subsides.

"It's alright now, baby." Harry conceals his precious Louis in his arms. "It's okay, I promise. You're fine."

The new sense of fear makes Louis cry loudly into Harry's chest, never having been in the crossfire like this ever before. With his family his father protected him and now his husbands. His mind is shaken up and he can't do anything with the words he learnt since birth other than sob.

"Shh." Harry rocks him from side to side, hugging Louis close and kissing his forehead. "Don't cry, my cherry pie. You're okay and now I'm going to kill two Germans in your name."

It's not lightening to their mood but Louis wipes his eyes futilely and looks up at Harry a little less burdened. Harry leans down and kisses his nose. "Wanna go home?"

Louis shakes his head, slipping a little to the side and wishing he could look at Harry right now. "W-Wanna stay with you."

"Okay." Harry rubs Louis' back comfortingly. "Okay, love. You can stay with me."

* * * * *

"Where is he?" Marcel asks the second he sees Harry walking back into the office, the mess they made cleared up by employees and money transactions dealt with.

They'd gotten the German to back down enough to accept their money, which would put them on Papa Joe's case for half a million. It wasn't pocket money and would make a huge dent in their accounts but Marcel was determined beyond all Hell to get that money. More than half of it nearly cost him his soul-mate and he'll drag Papa Joe's son towards the worst death because of that.

"Here." Harry revealed Louis under his arm and almost hidden behind him, walking slowly and his eyes wide even if it didn't make a difference.

Marcel blew out a heavy sigh of relief and strode over to Louis, picking him up when he got slightly spooked and kissing his cheek. "Just me, cupcake. Are you okay? Hurt?"

"I'm okay." Louis' legs are wrapped around Marcel's waist, his shaking reduced to timid shivers. "What um-....Who-"

"Don't worry about it now, love." Marcel combed Louis' fringe into the proper state of order, fondly watching his cute husband smile. "I'm so sorry."

Edward returned to the office after disposing of the German's companion. He hadn't made it because Marcel couldn't let the staring go, and the leader didn't seem to care. The poor lad was given to the Styles as a treaty of peace, but a treaty that was asphyxiated and whose throat was slit wide open.

"Lou." Edward saw his brother holding their Louis and rushed over as well, embracing the smaller male and kissing his temple. "Thank fucking Hell. I was worried, baby."

"I'm okay." Louis holds onto Edward's firm, bony wrists when his face is cradled. "I promise, Edward."

"Been a long day, huh?" Marcel grips Louis' firm thighs with bruising strength and hikes him up a bit higher. "Let's go to lunch?"

"Lunch?" Harry looks up from his phone, done examining a small crack at the corner of the screen.

Edward's devious grin becomes infectious. "Let us pay Papa Joe a visit, yeah?"