Chapter Text
Louis Du Pointe Du Lac was sitting in his sitting room, drinking coffee and reading a book in the early morning sunlight waiting,
The house his family shared was cluttered, loud as it was cozy, his home but… he cherished these early morning reads before another would stirred. When his father was alive it was something they shared, now? It was just him, he sat in the chair that was once his fathers for he was the man of the house now, it was his job to take care of Grace and Paul and mama and- and he was a father now, as far as the world and the law were concerned anyways, he had a daughter and a wife and he was that daughters father.
Claudia Du Pointe Du Lac, his daughter, Miss Lily's daughter- his Lily's daughter. Because they were married because, well, when your best friend gets pregnant and disowned (because apparently she can only be a prostitute when it benefits them) you take some of the blame and pretend to be the father.
Not that he didn’t love her! Of course he did! They were made for each other, so now he was married to her and… it was fine.
the second that thought left his head. He looked up at the ceiling, listening to presumably Lily's steps walking around upstairs, doors opening and closing and walking down steps.
“Louis…” Lily said with no particular intention, voice heavy with sleep, holding Claudia’s hand.
“Good morning girls” he hummed, finishing his coffee off. “How are you two this fine morning?” Lily entered the room properly, closing the door behind them as to not wake anyone else.
“We’re good, Claudia here is a ray of sunshine who misses her daddy” Claudia nodded fervently in response.
“Good morning, little miss” he cooed, leaning down to her level, ruffling her hair “I like her dress” he addressed Lily now.
“Isn’t it adorable!” She squealed, running her hands through Claudia’s hair.
“I like the frills, it’s breathable” He dusted off the dress despite it being perfectly clean.
“It’s great for running, Daddy, like a cape!” Claudia said in her little, sweet voice, a little but tough girl of only five but just a sweet.
“Not in the house I hope” He laughed.
“Nope! What are you reading?” She grabbed the book in his lap, abandoning their previous topic of conversation with that scatter brained tact only a small child had.
“Oh, you can’t read this one yet, little miss, it’s a grown up book!” To emphasize his point he held the book with two pages full of words up.
“Can we read one that isn’t?… frog and toad! Can we read frog and toad?” Just then Grace walked in.
“Me and mama made breakfast, you two!” Apparently he had been solitary for longer than he thought, no wonder Lily and Claudia were awake.
“Three”
“Three”
“Three!” The trio said in unison, him lifting Claudia to be in Grace's eyeline.
“You three, come eat!” She said with a playful eyeroll.
After breakfast Louis went to work and dragged his way through the day. It was… a job, what he did, being a landlord but not even really, not anymore, he just owned homes, dull monotony to make money to keep his family afloat.
It was dreadful day in and day out, the same old dreadful with the same old nonsense.
…that was until he got a phone call, a number he vaguely recognized but one not saved to his phone. “Hello?”
“Louis Du Pointe Du Lac, how’ve you been?” Daniel Molloy’s voice rang out through the phone.
“Daniel? It’s been years!” He exclaimed.
“Five to be exact, I’m swinging back through New Orleans and was wondering if you wanted to meet up?” Daniel’s tone was casual.
“Two time Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Molloy wants to meet? With little old me?” He teased, Daniel already had those when they met.
“He does! He remembers when Louis Du Lac poured his heart out to him in San Francisco and… and he just got a really good gig he thinks you might be interested in” his tone had a hint of mischief.
Louis laughed softly, shaking his head “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Invite me over and find out” He could hear Daniel smiling through the phone.
“Well, when are you swinging back through?” He drawled.
Daniel paused evidently for dramatic effect “Oh, just today. Flight should be in in the evening”
“Today?! Daniel, I have a toddler now! I can’t just talk to you all night… plus I’m not in college anymore”
“Don’t you have a wife?”
He clicked his tongue “See, shit like that is why you’re divorced twice over”
“Asshole”
“I’m self aware” he shrugged.
“Come on! I need a good home cooked meal and the food there is some of the best” Daniel wasn’t sincere in his begging, he wasn’t trying to be.
“There being New Orleans or my house?”
“How about both?”
Louis sighed heavily, if not fondly “alright, call me again once you’ve landed, ok?”
“You got it!” Daniel said before hanging up.
When Louis got back Lily was sitting with Claudia in her lap as they read to the captive audience of the twins and Benjamin. Sitting in the living room.
“You picked a good one, Louis” Levi hummed, him and Grace sitting in the room just across the living room, sipping tea leisurely.
“I did” he smiled, somewhat hollowly, he did, Lily was good, Kind and loyal but… he smiled hollowly.
Grace seemed to notice. “How was work today?”
“Good, the same” he shrugged venturing into the room deeper, closing the door behind him.
Levi seemed oblivious to his plight “that’s good! Lily told us to buzz off when they started story time over there but we didn’t want to venture too far from those adorable faces” his smile was bright, happy, the smile of a man fulfilled.
“That sounds like her” he laughed, walking behind Grace and kissing her cheek. “Oh! Y’all might wanna buzz off tonight… My old pal Daniel is coming down and-…” he laughed and shook his head in disbelief at his own actions “-and I told him he could have dinner with me. He wants to talk about something too but all the man does is talk, I’ll set y'all up in a hotel”
“Daniel who? I don’t remember any Daniel from school or anything” Grace pushed him away playfully as she spoke.
“Daniel Molloy, I don’t know him from school, I know him from when I was working over in San Francisco”
“Daniel Molloy?! The Pulitzer winner?” Levi gapped at him.
“Yeah, him” he was disillusioned to the myth of two time Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Molloy and was accustomed to just Daniel by now. Even if they didn’t talk that often they were friends.
“How the hell do you know Daniel fu-!” She stopped herself with a glance to the kids, leaning and whispering “-fucking Molloy!? He’s famous!”
Louis rolled his eyes “he’s just a journalist”
“He’s a trailblazer! He’s famous-” Levi started before the children started wailing, likely about nothing but Louis’ attention snapped to them at the sound of Claudia crying.
“You gonna go tend to that?” Grace cooed, batting her eyes.
Levi sighed adoringly, standing “yes I am” he sat his tea cup down and left.
“Sit down, please” Grace looked to Louis, pointedly.
“Yes, dear sister” he made it a point to drag his feet as he moved to Levi’s seat, and plopped down.
“Are you ok?” Grace asked with all the delicacy and kindness that came with her, reaching her hand across to his with an empathetic look.
“What? I’m- I’m fine”
“Exactly your fine. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life, I’m married like you are, to a kind and amazing person. I have the beautiful, blessing of children, like you and I’m happy”
“I’m happy, Grace” he squeezed her hand.
“You’re stagnant, Louis”
“I’m… Lily is a great wife, Claudia is all I could wish for and more, and my business is thriving! I can and do take care of all of you and I take pride in that” He squared his shoulders and spoke clearly and concisely.
“And why do I only believe one of those things?” She leaned in closer and held both his hands in hers.
“Grace, what the fuck are you talking about?” He said with a little more bite than he intended.
“You aren’t happy, Louis… making us happy isn’t making you happy unless it’s Claudia, because she’s your daughter… you… you and Lily aren’t happy. She's amazing, she’s perfect, she’s wonderful but y'all aren’t” he tried to wrench his hands away but she held his hands even tighter.
“I love you, I love this family, I love Lily” he tried to pull his hands away again.
“Louis…. I know you love us, so much, but you can love us and not be happy with this life, I don’t know why it is but you aren’t… I want to help you. I- I don’t want to lose another brother, I can’t lose you, Louis!” She was crying now, begging.
“I don’t need help… I’m not like Paul, I’m gonna be ok” he bowed his head.
“You might not be as troubled as Paul but you’re in just as much trouble, Claudia can’t lose her daddy, I can lose my brother”
“I’m not- I’m not going to do anything like that, Grace… people go through phases of life and I’m at one” he shrugged.
“Phases of this? Louis, I love you and I love Lily being in my family, she is family but… you don’t”
“Don’t what?” He lifted his head sharply to look her in the eyes.
“Love her, not like you should. I know it’s been hard, I know… y’all didn’t do things like you should and mama gave you a hard time, the entire city did! But… it shouldn’t be this hard, I know you love her, I know she’s your friend, I know you love her but…”
“I don't… I- it’s just hard” he whimpered. The words feeling as wrong as they did right.
“It’s ok, marriage is hard sometimes, especially with all that’s happened since with daddy, Paul, your business and schooling, but you can work on it together. You might be my big brother but I’m still your sister and… well I owe you for all the tea parties” she smiled softly, squeezing his hands tighter still, her wedding bands cutting into them.
Despite his better judgment, despite his heart aching to be honest with his sisters, confide in her, he didn’t, he simply smiled and said “yeah, I think you’re right… we should try couples therapy, maybe?”
“Yes, Louis, yes! Exactly. You two are a great team and you can be even better if you work this out” she beamed.
“Yeah… I think we can” he didn’t know if he would ever not feel guilty about lying to his baby sister.
“Louis Du Lac!” Daniel exclaimed as he walked into the Du Pointe Du Lac household.
“Daniel, how are you?” Louis beamed at the older man, shaking his hand and pulling him into a quick hug.
“I’m good, I heard you’re great with this domestic bliss stuff” he said with an annoying amount of sarcasm.
“I am, actually, I sent the rest of my family out for the night for you, all except my girls-” Daniel started to say some smart ass shit again when Louis started speaking “-Claudia’s bed time is soon and Lily always goes down with her so we’ll still be able to talk about whatever it is”
“Took the sleep when the baby sleeps thing to heart?” Daniel probably didn’t care, he didn’t hate kids, his or otherwise but he was long past the baby stage.
“Extremely, I’m shocked you remember anything about fatherhood though” he joked with a glint in his eyes.
Daniel placed a hand over his heart and laughed heartily. Louis led him to the kitchen where Claudia was supposedly helping cook.
She wasn’t really doing that, Lily was, Claudia was making a mess in that way parents found extremely endearing and strangers found gross.
“Hi! I’m Claudia!” She chirped, jumping down off the stool she was on and running over to them.
“…hi, I’m Daniel” he blinked, raising a hand to wave.
“Daniel this is, as she said, Claudia, my daughter and that lady over there is Lily Du Pointe Du Lac” he picked Claudia up and threw an arm out to Lily, if you didn’t know any better you’d think they were a picture perfect family… Daniel happened to know better, far better.
“Nice to meet you Mr Molloy! I’ve heard so much about you” she beamed, she wasn’t much of a cook, it was his mother, Grace or Louis who cooked, though he rarely admitted how much he helped, so she was simply trying to not burn the house down.
“Same here” Daniel shook her hand, give her a small very fake smile.
She returned the gesture.
The animosity was odd, he didn’t talk about the other with either much at all but, then again, they both read people extremely well. That’s the only reason he was close with either because they could see through his bullshit.
After dinner, after the girls went to bed, Daniel and him were sitting around the table, drinking and talking, catching up he supposed but that wasn’t really necessary, was it? It didn’t feel that way, it was as if no time had passed but it had.
“What exactly did you want to talk to me about, Daniel? Don’t get me wrong! I’m glad you’re here, but… why are you here?”
“I have a proposition for you, I know you hate your real estate bullshit-“ Louis tried to cut him off “-don’t. I know you, but guess what? Me, you’re old pal Daniel is here to break up this domestic life” he poured himself another drink.
“And with what exactly?” He was getting a little annoyed.
“I’m making a documentary about The vampire Lestat and his tour, I need a camera man. I don’t want an entire crew, they don’t want an entire crew, and I trust you to do it”
“I- what? Why me?” He stuttered out.
“You like photography, filmography” it wasn’t a question despite what his tone might lead you to believe,
“Yes but- but I- I have a life here Daniel! I can’t just pick up and follow some rockstar diva around on tour for… a year or something!” He gestured with his drink in hand.
“Come on! Do it for me” Daniel encouraged, hitting his arm lightly.
“What about me? My family?” It was a genuine question.
“The wife and kid can come, I’d bet they’ll even pay for it” he shrugged it off so casually, he was starting to understand why he was on his second divorce.
“No, my entire family, Grace and Mama don’t have jobs and Levi can’t afford a house like this, this lifestyle, any of it. It’s my job to provide for us!” He threw his arms up.
“…Listen, give it a chance, he’s stopping here for three shows, three days, that’s why I’m here. Come and give it a try if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work and you get some cash” Daniel drawled.
“Be the camera man for a documentary about the worlds least favorite, favorite rockstar with a weird vampire kink?” He raised a brow, taking a drink.
“Be the camera man for international super star the vampire Lestat and make bank with your friend-” Daniel lifted his in a toast “-…he also probably has a weird vampire kink, though” he admitted.
Louis sighed, heavy and world weary, before lifting his own and clinking their glasses together. “Fine. I’ll give it a go, no guarantees I’m sticking around past these shows” though he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited to finally get to try, get to do something he’s always wanted to.