"Gracie Mae, you get your shoes on right this instant."

"No!"

Louis, truly, is not in the mood for this. He stands over Gracie, hands on his hips, while she glares back at him. "Gracie, you're going to make us both late. Get your shoes on, grab your rucksack, and get in the car."

"'M not goin'!" Gracie stomps her foot, little fists clenched. Louis is indescribably frustrated with this six year old in front of him. He, usually, would try to contain his temper a little better, but he can't. He raises his voice.

"You don't have a choice!" He shouts, grabbing her little slip-on Vans and setting them down in front of her. "On. Now."

"You can't make me!" Gracie raises her voice right back. And, just to prove her point, she stomps out of the room and to the kitchen. Louis follows her, sure that his face is bright red right now.

"Try me," He grumbles, grabbing Gracie before she can run from him and carrying her over his shoulder. Gracie screams, kicking Louis' chest. She's going to wake Harry up. Louis clenches his jaw, setting her down on the couch. "You are being very naughty. Just wait until Papa hears about this."

"I like Papa more than you," Gracie crosses her arms, slouching into the couch.

"Yeah, 'm not too fond of you right now either," Louis sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. There are moments he really regrets spoiling Gracie the way he does. This is one of those moments. "And there will be consequences for how you're acting. Get your shoes on."

Gracie gives him her signature glare, but it slowly melts into sadness; eyes teary and bottom lip trembling. Louis softens a little, watching as she puts her face over her hands and starts crying.

"Oh, G," Louis sighs, crouching down in front of the couch so they're eye-level. "Gracie, love, 'm sorry I raised my voice at you. I was just frustrated."

Gracie doesn't say anything, just continues crying. Louis stands up straight, lifting Gracie up off the couch and holding her. "You're okay, pumpkin, I'm sorry," He says softly. "Why don't you want to go to school, bub?"

Gracie sniffles, face buried into the crook of Louis' neck. Louis sits down on the sofa, Gracie in his lap, and kisses her cheek. They're already going to be late, it doesn't even matter.

"Hey," Louis says softly. Gracie leans back from him, showing her puffy eyes and wet cheeks, and Louis' heart practically breaks. "Gracie, babe, what's going on? You love going to school."

Gracie hiccups, wiping her cheeks. "Jack was mean to me yesterday," She mentions, and the anger immediately settles in Louis' stomach. "He told me I was goin' to some place with fire 'n stuff."

"Gracie," Louis chokes out, putting both of his hands on her face. "Baby. Why didn't you tell us yesterday?"

"Papa was sad," Gracie sniffles, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her shirt. Gross. "And last time I told you 'bout Jack, he cried."

"Oh, love," Louis pulls Gracie back into him, holding her tight and kissing the top of her head. "Sweet girl, I'm so, so sorry. I'm sorry he said that to you. I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell us. You can tell us anything, okay?"

"'M sorry I was naughty," Gracie says.

"It's okay, love," Louis assures, wiping a tear from Gracie's cheek. "I should have asked why you didn't want to go to school, but you also should have told me, yeah? We were both a little grumpy."

"What is that place?" Gracie asks. "With the fire?"

"Doesn't matter," Louis says sternly, looking Gracie in the eyes. "Because you are not going there, okay? I don't think anyone goes there, but especially not you. Jack and his mummy and daddy have a very hateful, mean view of the world and other people, and you don't listen to a word he says to you, okay?"

"Okay," Gracie nods, sniffling.

"And if he ever says something like that to you again, you tell me," Louis says, his hands still holding Gracie's face. "And Daddy and Papa will take care of it."

"Don't tell Papa!" Gracie pleads, starting to cry all over again. "He's gonna cry!"

Louis sighs. She's so sweet, and so much like Harry, it warms and breaks his heart at the same time. "Okay, I won't tell Papa," He assures, kissing Gracie's forehead. "As long as you tell me if anything like this happens again."

"Okay," Gracie nods, sticking her pinky in the air. "Pinky-promise?"

Louis grins, linking his pinky with her tiny one. "Pinky-promise."

♛

On Louis' lunch break that day, he drives over to Gracie's school. Does he have any idea what he's going to say? No. But, he has to do something, so he storms into the main office. The woman at the front desk looks up at him with wide eyes. He wonders if it's the neon shirt, how red his face must be, or the way his firsts are clenched at his sides.

"I need to speak with the headmaster," Louis tells her. "It's an emergency."

Just as he says that, Ms. Germanotta walks out of her office. She furrows her eyebrows. "Mr. Tomlinson, hello."

"Hi, um, I have to talk to you," He says, hands on his hips. "Like, now." He's well aware of how rude he's being. He doesn't really care.

"Mr. Tomlinson, she's not available right now," The secretary starts, but Ms. Germanotta holds her hand up to her.

"It's okay, Lana. Come in, Mr. Tomlinson," Ms. Germanotta waves Louis forward, leading him to her office. She closes the door behind her, sitting in her big desk chair. "Have a seat."

"No thanks, this won't be long," He says, and Ms. Germanotta raises her eyebrows. "I just wanted to let you know that Jack told Gracie she's going to hell, and I expect him to face consequences. My daughter's not getting another shitty apology letter that says 'I'm sorry you were offended'."

"Mr. Tomlinson, I'm completely with you," She assures, seeing how worked up Louis is getting. Louis exhales shakily, running a hand over his face.

"I'm sorry," He says after a moment. "I'm sorry I barged in like this."

"No, I get it," Ms. Germanotta says, giving Louis a sympathetic smile. "I would be upset too. Let me just figure out how to approach Jack's parents, and I'll call you with an update whenever I can, okay?"

"Okay," Louis takes a deep breath, the pit of his stomach still heavy at the thought of Gracie being in the same class as that kid right now. "Okay, um, thank you."

"I will probably have to call Gracie in," Ms. Germanotta says. "To ask her a few questions. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Louis nods. "Whatever it takes to just...stop this from happening again."

"Okay," Ms. Germanotta smiles. "They're at lunch right now, I'll call her in once she's back from recess."

"Alright," Louis musters a small smile, though he's still beyond furious. "Thank you very much."

"Of course," Ms. Germanotta nods. They exchange goodbyes, and Louis walks back outside to his car, the secretary glaring at him on the way out. Oh well. He got what he wanted.

♛

"Daddy!"

Louis smiles, weary, and scoops Gracie up as she practically launches herself at him. "Hey, pumpkin." He greets, kissing her cheek. "How was school?"

"The headmasta' asked me 'bout Jack," She mentions, leaning her head on Louis' shoulder. It's then Louis notices Harry sitting on the sofa, blanket draped over his legs. He was fully expecting him to stay in bed all day.

"I already know all about it," Harry says, giving Louis a small smile. Louis carries Gracie over to where he's sitting, leaning down and pecking his lips as a greeting. "Me n' Gracie were just talking about how she can tell me if something like that happens."

"Ah," Louis nods, sitting on the other side of the sofa, Gracie in his lap. He looks at her, keeping her steady with his hands on her hips. "D'you feel a little better about it now, G?"

"He's still gon' be in class with me," Gracie says, pouting a little. "'N I don't like when he says stuff 'bout you n' Papa."

Louis frowns, exchanging a sad look with Harry. "I know, love," He says softly. "I'm sorry. I'm trying to make it better, okay?"

"Okay," Gracie leans into Louis' chest. Louis kisses the top of her head, holding her tight. He's trying so, so hard to fix everyone, to make things as easy as possible for Harry and Gracie, and his stomach sinks a little when he realises that might not be as easy as he had hoped. "I made anotha' picta' at school."

"Really?" Louis gasps, and Gracie nods excitedly. "I'd love to see it."

"Okay!" Gracie climbs off of Louis' lap, running towards the stairs to get it from her room. Louis turns to Harry, grabbing his hand and bringing it up to his mouth to kiss the tip of his ring finger. "How're you doing?"

"Um," Harry shrugs. "Just sad, I think."

"I'm so sorry, H," Louis says softly. Harry gives him a small smile, like he's trying to reassure him. "You eaten anything today?"

"I had breakfast," Harry says quietly. Louis waits for him to continue. He doesn't. He gets into the habit of not taking care of himself when he's sad or stressed or overwhelmed. Louis' been with him long enough to know that.

As much as he wants to chastise him, tell him he's carrying two of his babies and needs to eat, he doesn't. He kisses the tip of Harry's finger again and says, "Okay. I'll make you some dinner."

"You don't have to," Harry says, but he won't do it himself, and Louis knows that.

Louis smiles at him, squeezing his hand. "I'd be happy to. Pasta?" He asks, and Harry nods. "Got it."

"I love you," Harry says, and Louis can feel himself soften. "Thank you."

"I love you too," He stands up off the sofa, leaning down to kiss him briefly before walking to the kitchen. As he grabs a pot out of the cabinet to fill with water, Gracie comes barrelling in, a piece of paper in her hand.

"It's for you!" She squeaks. Louis puts the pot down and grins.

"Thank you, babe," He says, holding the picture up. It's not a painting, like yesterday, it's crayon. At the top of the picture, the words "my hero" are typed. It must have been an assignment. Gracie's drawn a picture of her and Louis, and written something at the bottom, the teacher's much neater handwriting below it, translating Gracie's chicken scratch.

"My daddy is my hero. He takes care of everyone. He's really funny. He plays football and guitar. He's my best friend."

Is Louis tearing up at these crayon scribbles in the middle of his kitchen? Yes. He has no shame. "This is really lovely, Gracie," He chokes out. "Thank you."

"I was gon' do Mickey," Gracie mentions. "But then I chose you."

Louis laughs, his eyes wet as he leans down and kisses the top of her head. "Thank you, bub," He says, looking back at the picture. She's made his shirt a very neon green, like his shirt he wears at the construction site, and it makes him laugh. "I really needed this today."

"You're welcome!" Gracie chirps, skipping back to the lounge to sit with Harry. Louis stares down at the picture again, smiling to himself. He sniffles, wiping his eyes before setting the picture down and going to make Harry's dinner.

i'm on a roll

thoughts? comments? concerns? professions of love for me?