Archive of Our Own ^beta

It all starts on a rainy Tuesday just after Nick leaves the studio. The show hadn’t been exactly terrible, but it certainly had seen better days and so he didn’t feel like lingering around waiting for Fincham to finish his paper work and give him feedback. He really had been with the show long enough to know what he had done wrong this morning, so he skips past Fincham’s office ducking his head as he leaves the building.

He’s only two blocks down the road when his phone rings and Nick lets out an frustrated sigh, almost positive that it’s Fincham who’s calling him demanding him to come back to the studio right now. With surprise he notes that it’s not Fincham’s name on the screen.

“Mom?” Nick asks surprised, barely glancing left and right before he crosses the street to get to one of his favorite Chinese places to get some take-away for lunch. He and his mom used to not speak a lot but ever since she and his dad split up they’ve been keeping close, Nick helping her as best as he can.

“Hey sweety.” She says, sounding calm and taking away some of the panic Nick had been feeling bubbling up inside him. “I was wondering if you wanted to get lunch with me and the kids?”

“Are you in London?” He asks back, sounding rather alarmed again.

“Yeah.” She says with a light laugh. “Could have warned you probably. We were looking at apartments.”

Twenty minutes later Nick sits in a small and cozy restaurant on the other side of town, trying to chat with his mom while the siblings are ripping the menus apart and Taryn is wiggling restlessly in his lap.

“Noah, Levi. Please.” His mom says, giving the twins a stern look and they shoot her a guilty look, putting the menus down. All parties involved know that the boys will go back to molesting the laminated sheets of paper as soon as their mom turns away from them, but nobody says anything.

“So,” Nick begins after a while, turning his mom’s attention towards him again. “How’s looking for apartments going then?” He has to turn his gaze away from her to help Tayrn eat spaghetti without getting sauce all over the dress she’s wearing, but tilts his head to the side the slightest bit to let his mom know he’s listening anyways.

“It’s alright, I suppose.” She says with a sigh. “We saw a really nice flat in down in Merton today. The rent isn’t too bad, so maybe that’ll be it..”

“Oh.” Nick replies, looking up suddenly. “That’s not.. not too bad. I think.”

“What?” His mom asks back, not taking his eyes off him though her hands are busy, trying to snatch the menu out of Levi’s hands before he puts it into his mouth. Again.

“Well, I was just thinking..” Nick says halfheartedly, looking fondly down at the little girl in his lap who against all efforts has tomato sauce all over herself by now. “Merton is quiet far away from my place and.. well I thought when you’re moving to London anyways we’d be closer.”

“Awh, Nick.” His mom replies giving him a fond smile. “We will be closer though. You’ll get to see the three little monsters you have as siblings more often than you like.”

“Doubt that.” Nick mumbles as Taryn tucks on his sleeves and demands his attention, holding up a handful of spaghetti for him to eat. Being a good older brother Nick takes a noodle from her hold and eats it until she’s laughing in his lap.

Meanwhile his mom is busy with the boys again who refuse to eat any of their food and instead are still nibbling on the menus.

“Boys.” She says, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“Boys.” Taryn repeats cheerfully, giving her brothers a stern look. They glance back at her and Levi sticks out his tongue at her, but both of them drop the menus. Nick only raises his eyebrows in surprises and his mom gives him a quick look.

“She seems to be the only one who can control them.” She supplies and Nick lets out a quiet laugh before bending down towards Taryn.

“Good girl.” He encourages her and she giggles again, leaning back against his chest as she keeps eating messily. When Nick looks up at his mom again she had a slightly panicked, but mostly stressed out look on her face.

“Are you okay, mom?” He asks softly, drawing her attention away from the three children for a moment. The separation and upcoming divorce was hard on her, Nick already knows that, but he can only imagine what taking care of three restless gadflys in between all of that must be like.

“Yeah.” She says, a tired but genuine smile on her lips. “It’s been a lot lately, but.. yeah, I’m fine.”

“Mom, if you moved closer I could take the kids someti-”

“No, Grimmy.” She says immediately. “I don’t need help.”

As if on cue Noah flips his plate over, fries and fish sticks flopping onto the table. Nick gives his mom a stern look and cocks an eyebrow at her.

“Fine.” She admits. “I may need some help. But I don’t want you flipping your life over for me. I’ve got it under control.. I’ve been thinking about getting an Au Pair actually.”

“Mom!” Nick exclaims, trying really hard not to raise his voice with the three children around them. “No. Not an Au pair. You don’t want some strange Spanish chick you know nothing about to take care of Taryn and the boys!”

~

In the end it all turns out ten times worse. His mom doesn’t back down from the Au Pair idea and ends up getting one only a month after their move to London. Nick has no say in who she picks – not that he would be interested in that anyways – so his mom ends up picking a french boy.

A. French. Boy.

Nick wants to commit suicide because he really doesn’t want his sibling growing up carrying baguettes under their arms or wearing funny hats or striped shirts or whatever the french do nowadays. He just doesn’t want it.

The kids however are ecstatic, really excited to get “another older brother” as his mom put it, to explain to them why the boy was coming to live with them. They don’t know yet that he’s going to be stupid and french and that they’re not going to like him anyways, but Nick doesn’t want to crush their hopes just yet so he doesn’t say anything.

And since he’s the only one in the family who really doesn’t want to get to know the Frenchman, he of course turns out to be blessed enough to be the first one to meet him.

The boy’s plane lands on a Friday noon and Nick’s mom has to work and all the kids are at their new kindergarten so of course Nick is lucky enough to wrap up work quickly after he gets off air and sprint to his car to get up the airport at least remotely on time.

Of course the plane gets in late – very french – and Nick is beyond pissed before he even sees the boy for the first time. His mom had his application portfolio at the house but Nick made a big show of not giving a crap about the boy, so he has no idea what the boy he’s looking for looks like. To make matters even worse though his mom made him take a sign with the boy’s name Taryn drew the other day as some sort of welcoming gesture. Nick pretty sure he doesn’t want to welcome the strange boy into his home – or his family’s home – and if it would have been his choice the sign would say ‘Fuck off, Frenchman’. But it wasn’t, so right now he is holding the sign Taryn made, which is colorful and sparkly and reads ‘Welcome, Louis Tomlinson’.

Nick feels awkward holding the sign and people are looking at him from time to time so he can really only hope that nobody recognizes him.

Even though the plane is late Nick doesn’t have to wait very long and barely thirty minutes after his own arrival the plane from Paris is announced via the intercom and so he idly moves closer towards the exits the passengers are going to be coming through. After all the faster he finds this boy the faster he can take him to his mom’s house again and get rid of him.

When the doors open and people start rushing out Nick contemplates hiding his face behind the sign, but in the end curiosity gets the better of him and peeks over the sign, watching the people that pass him by. To his surprise a lot of them don’t really look very french.

But since the universe likes to fuck with Nick’s luck the boy who tentatively comes approaching him looks more french than he rest of the people from the plane put together. He is short and rather curvy, almost in a girly way. He is wearing the most ridiculous striped shirt and colorful chino pants that show off his ankles and canvas shoes. His hair looks messy, but kind of in a way that it’s supposed to look that way and Nick has to contain himself really hard from raising his eyebrows mockingly.

The boy approaches him slowly and a wide smile spreads across his face, making Nick smile back at him a little in return.

“’Ello.” The boy says as he come to a stop in front of Nick glancing up and down between the sign and his face. His accent is thick in only one word already.

“Louis Tomlinson?” Nick asks, though it’s probably kind of pointless now.

The boys nods frantically, but then shakes his head. “No, no. Louis.” He corrects, pronouncing his name just the slightest bit differently. “The ‘s’ is silent.” He says and Nick feels like he’s in a student-teacher situation all over again. He doesn’t like it.

“Ah, oui.” He tries, giving Louis his best french accent and fake smile, but Louis doesn’t even notice, flashing a blinding smile back at him instead. Nick decides to purposely pronounce the ‘s’. Every. Single. Time.

“And you?” The Frenchman asks after a while.

“I’m Grimmy.” He says back and Louis’ eyes widen comically at that.

“Is that you real name?” He wants to know, and Nick cringes slightly at the false grammar and thinks about correcting him, but he feels that would be rude considering that it’s Louis’ first day and everything.

“No it’s not.” He admits instead, trying to get something remotely close to a smile onto his lips. “It’s Nicholas.. but nobody calls me that anyways-”

Louis doesn’t even listen to the last part of the sentence, already letting the name roll off his lips, pronouncing it in his weird french way. “Nicholas, Nicholas.” He repeats, leaving out the ‘s’ and making it sound like a girl’s name. Nick hates it.

He tries to be a good son though and doesn’t tell the french boy off right there and then and only quirks an eyebrow at him instead, leading them towards his car to get them home as fast as possible. He even helps Louis load his suitcase in the trunk and thinks he deserves an award for that already.

“Do you speak french?” Louis asks him after they have been driving for a little over ten minutes. Nick only shakes his head and pretends to focus on the road in front of him, trying to avoid conversation.

“Would it be okay if I call I parents? Tell they I landed.”

Nick has to bit his lip hard in order not to start yelling over all the mistakes Louis is making, but he only gives him a short and very fake smile. “Sure, go ahead.” The smile Louis returns is bright as daylight and really kind of annoys Nick. But what annoys him a lot more is the happy french blabbering that follows soon after, when Louis chats into his phone.

“Oui, salut maman! Mon avion vient juste d’atterrir.” Nick tries really hard to focus on the road again. “Tout s’est bien passé, ils sont venus me chercher.“ He’ll just drop Louis off and then go home. “Non l’ainé, il a l’air sympa.” The twins are eight and Taryn is five. “Oui ok, je te rappellerais plus tard.” He can’t completely mess them up with his french behavior, can he? “Moi aussi je t’aime à plus!”

Louis finishes his call up soon after and glances at Nick quickly afterwards, shooting him another blinding smile. And Nick already knows the time with Louis is going to be one long year.

~

It’s a week later that Nick gets a text at around noon from Harry, asking him to hang out. Nick is still at the studio when he gets the message, but replies right away suggesting going to the pub just down the road from Harry’s place. The younger boy replies only a minute later, agreeing and saying that he’ll see him later.

Nick drags himself through the day after that. He goes from the studio to his place and thinks about stopping by at his mum’s but that’s all the way across town and also Louis will be there, so no. Nick can really imagine his afternoon going better than getting his ears bent by some ‘orrible french accent. So there’s that.

Almost five hours later Nick deems it an appropriate time to show up at the pub, even if he is twenty minutes early. So he orders a drink already and sits by himself for a while, unlocking and locking his phone aimlessly until Harry shows up.

The things with Harry though it, he is never alone. Wherever he goes Liam drags along, clinging to his side almost pathetically. Nick is almost positive that they’re dating, but Harry keeps saying that they’re “just a casual thing”. Which surprises him a bit, because really Liam doesn’t seem like the type of guy who does anything casually, but Nick doesn’t question it any further than that.

He isn’t really surprised however when Niall and Zayn stumble in along with the two other boys, because well. It’s just those four and they are always together and Nick is beyond questioning that as well.

“Heya!” Harry greets happily as they all pile into the booth Nick had claimed. Liam gets back up a moment later again, looking at them expectantly.

“Drinks?” He asks and Nick only waves him off, motioning towards his still half full glass.

“Beer.” Niall says though and Zayn nods at that, giving Niall a quick smile.

“Haz?” Liam asks, as Harry is the only one who hasn’t said anything yet, and he’s giving him this look that looks nothing like “just a casual thing” in Nick’s eyes. But whatever.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Harry replies and Liam gives him another smile before he disappears. Nick only quirks an eyebrow at his friend as their eyes meet.

“So,” He starts, amusement swinging in his voice. “How is your casual thing going?”

“Oh, shut up!” Harry scoffs, showing his elbow in Nick’s side while the two boys across from them only laugh at their bantering.

“Well, how is your french boy doing?” Harry asks back and Nick only rolls his eyes at him letting out a dramatic sigh. He downs the rest of his drink at that and earns a skeptical look from Liam as he returns to their table with their drinks.

“What’s wrong?” Liam wonders as he slides the drinks across the table towards them and Nick waves him off, but Harry seems to have taken a liking in Nick’s suffering.

“Nick ne aimer pas le Au Pair.” Harry tries and even though Nick does most certainly not speak French he can tell that Harry got it wrong. It just sounds odd. Not the way Louis says it.

“Wha?” Liam asks again, kissing away the pout from Harry’s face.

“Casual thing.” Nick says with a cough and Niall and Zayn are laughing again, but Harry is too busy adoring Liam at the moment to even fight back.

“No, but really now.” Zayn says after a while. “How is he?”

“Well what do you think?” Nick asks back, raising his eyebrows a little. “He’s as bad as I expected, obviously. Worse even.” They all only look at him in silence, waiting for Nick to elaborate. “Well.. for one he looks fucking french. He can’t speak proper English, like, he’ll say ‘you’ instead of ‘your’ and ‘I’ and stead of ‘me’. And he’s just such a bootlicker. He’s the perfect son, I can’t even go home anymore.”

They all fall silent for a moment and Nick can feel them glance at him.

“Well.. what do the twins think then? And Taryn?” Harry wants to know. “They must all be really disappointed, right?”

“No, fuck no. That’s the biggest problem. They all fucking love him and think he’s perfect and- ugh.” A frustrated sound escapes his lips and then everyone is silent again. He can feel them staring – again – and it makes him feel like he said something inappropriate.

“Well..” Zayn starts a after a while, obviously cautious not to say the wrong thing. “Are you.. sure you’re not just overreacting a little bit? Maybe?”

Nick shoots him a ‘bitch, please’ look, but that doesn’t really seem to impress anyone anymore. They know Nick to well. Nick should get new friends.

“Zayn’s right.” Niall chips in after another moment of silence. “You should bring him around some time. So we can meet him.”

“You really don’t want to mee-” Nick starts, but Harry interrupts him.

“Just bring him around! Can’t hurt to take a look at the Frenchman, can it now?” He argues and Niall and Zayn nod in approval. Nick still doesn’t like the idea and the only one who is with him seems to be Liam who makes a face at Harry’s eagerness to meet Louis.

~

Nick has always had a way to get around those things he really doesn’t want to do so it’s a week later, Friday night yet again, and he still hasn’t brought Louis along for his friends to meet him. Harry seems to realize that too and texts him multiple times that day, telling him not to procrastinate any longer and finally asks Louis to come out with them that night.

That night however, Nick has an excuse that’s pretty good and bad at the same time. Good, because he doesn’t have to bring Louis along to see his friends. Bad, because.. well because he still has to see Louis and spend the evening with him.

Nick had been avoiding his mom’s place all week, but of course she realized and so she more or less forced him to come to dinner on Friday evening to not only see his siblings, but also get friendly with Louis. Nick is 99% positive he is not going to get friendly with Louis, but whatever. Since Louis has taken over the role of the perfect son Nick has to take whatever chance he gets to at least please his mom a little bit so she doesn’t disown him altogether.

So when he arrives at his mom’s new apartment Nick brings along some wine – Italian wine, no ridiculous French grape juice – and some fizzy nonalcoholic soda drink for the kids. They come and hug him long for a moment, talking all at once and way too fast but Nick nods along excitedly and laughs a little.

The first enthusiasm fades quickly though when Louis comes into the kitchen, drawing the kids’ attention towards him. Nick’s smile falls immediately, but the twins and Taryn seem even more excited, bouncing up and down around Louis and yelling at him. Louis only laughs at them, picks up Taryn and leads the other two into the living room from where Nick can hear them laugh and play.

“He’s so great with them.” Nick’s mom says fondly as pushes some food around in the pan. Nick wants to vomit as he hears those words. Yet another thing that makes Louis oh so perfect.

“Yeah.” He replies lamely and his mom doesn’t say anything back. She must feel that Nick isn’t too fond of Louis, even after seeing him. But Nick assumes she hopes that they will get along better when they get to know each other. That’s the only reasonable explanation for this dinner. Too bad Nick already knows he’s not going to like Louis, no matter what.

Fifteen minutes later dinner is ready and Nick and his mom load six plates with food and bring them into the living room where they place them on the table. Nick’s mom goes back to get glasses for them all and Nick opens the wine as he watches Louis laying on the floor, the twins jumping up and down on his short torso while Taryn is busy braiding his short hair as best as she can. It’s kind of cute to look at, the kids Nick means, not Louis of course. The french boy lets out a huff as Levi drops down onto his chest a little too forcefully and Nick only grins at that, turning away to hide his evil smirk.

His mom returns and calls them all to the table. The twins appear in no time and Tayrn is right behind them, climbing onto Nick’s lap like she always does when they eat together. Louis follows them shortly afterwards, untangling his hair from the braids.

“No.” Taryn whines as she sees her masterpiece being destroyed and Louis shoots her a guilty look.

“Maybe you make they again later?” He suggests and Taryn’s face lights up before she digs right into the casserole their mom made. Nick tries to ignore the comment and the grammar and generally everything as best as he can, but Louis really seems to be oblivious to the hatred feelings Nick feels towards him and constantly pushes his buttons. He just seems unable to stop banter lovingly with the twins, making Taryn laugh or telling Nick’s mom what great children she has.

“Really, Eileen.” He says, vaguely motioning towards the twins and Taryn in Nick’s lap. “You ‘ave really good kids. You must be proud.” He smiles and Nick’s mom smiles and the kids smile and Nick wants to vomit.

“Nicholas is so good with radio.” Louis continues saying and Nick cringes when he uses his full name. Nobody, literally nobody, does that. Except Mr. Frenchman of course.

“I really like you show.” He says with a smile. “We listen every day, right?” The twins gaze up at him with big eyes, nodding along as he talks and Nick feels something sting in his stomach, but suppresses the feeling and looks down at Taryn instead when she tugs on his sleeve.

“Louis always laughs at your jokes.” She says. “Even when they’re not funny.” Nick chuckles a little as he hears that and only shoots Louis a quick look, who seems a little flustered, but covers it up with a great smile.

“He’s never not funny.” Levi says slowly, looking from Taryn to Louis, giving the boy a smile just as wide as Louis’.

“He never is funny.” Noah argues back and his twin nudges him in the side making a ‘shush’- motion.

Nick only laughs at them and his mom laughs too and okay. Maybe if he ignores Louis, dinner with them all together isn’t all that awful. It’s only for one year anyways, so he’ll just try to be home at his mom’s as little as possible for one year and after that he’s good again.

Sounds plausible.

His mom however has to cross Nick’s lovely plan right there.

“So Louis has one day off every week.” She explains kindly and not directed at Nick, but really who else would she be talking to if not him? “It’s tomorrow for this week so I was thinking maybe Nick could show you around town a bit? One of those bars or pubs you always go to?” She suggests and yeah okay, now she’s talking directly to Louis, but really Nick can barely say no anymore.

“Oui.. I mean yes.” Louis replies with a shy smile and Nick really, really, really wants to say no.

“Well..” Nick starts, thinking of an excuse that doesn’t make him sound like a total dick. And just as he thinks that saying that he’s sorry but he’ll be having a headache tomorrow sounds like a good thing to say, his mom shoots him a look that makes it very clear that virtually Nick has no choice.

“Okay.” He says after a while, forcing himself not to roll his eyes at the boy. “I mean Haz and I were going out for drinks anyways, so fine. Come along.”

He shoots his mom a look as if to ask ‘You happy?’ and then lets his gaze wander to Louis who isn’t looking at him anymore. Neither is he smiling anymore. His gaze is fixed on his plate and from the expression on his face, which Nick can barely read hidden behind the boy’s fringe, he can tell that he knows Nick didn’t want him to go. To his own surprise that knowledge doesn’t make him feel quite as smug as he thought it would.

~

Before Nick leaves his mom’s place that night he tells Louis to be at the pub at eight and gives him the address, saying goodbye before the boy can protest. London may be big, but Louis is there to learn something after all and Nick is most certainly not his babysitter.

This decision however earns him a few angry glares the next evening when he shows up at the pub without Louis in tow. Nick had only texted Harry, but obviously Liam, Zayn and Niall are there too. They’re all sipping on some colorful cocktails when Nick comes in.

“Where’s the french boy?” Harry asks before Nick even gets a chance to sit down.

“Don’t know.” Nick shrugs back as he takes off his coat and drops it next to hit as he slides into the booth next to Niall. Niall is sitting with Zayn and Liam and Harry sitting across from them and Nick thinks that since Harry seems to be so eager to meet Louis he might as well leave the only empty spot next to the curly haired lad. He’ll see what that does for him.

“Grimmy! You said you were gonna bring him.” Harry says almost accusingly.

“I told him the address and shit.” Nick shoots back. “I’m not his babysitter.”

“But, Grimmy.” Niall argues next to him. “Harry’s right. He’s new and you should have taken him. He probably has trouble finding the place.”

“That’s really kinda rude.” Zayn adds from the other end of the table and Nick is already rather close to leaving again. He doesn’t even know why but the french boy seems to bring out the diva in him even more. He just really doesn’t have time for some Au Pair’s shit. Seriously.

Ten minutes later all arguing turns out to be totally in vain when Louis comes stumbling into the pub, all smiles and feathery messy hair, grinning nonstop through his apologizes of running late.

“It’s okay.” Zayn waves him off with a small smile and Louis blushes.

“You streets are confusing. I looked for the wrong street.” Louis explains himself, which only gains Nick angry glares from his friends.

“Well, somebody could have shown you the way.” Harry says dryly, looking directly at Nick. “Anyways,” He continues turning towards Louis now. “I’m Harry. That’s Liam. Niall and Zayn.” The other three boys give small waves and tentative smiles as Louis slides into the booth next to Harry.

“’arreh.” He repeats Harry’s name and the bright sparkle in Harry’s eyes as he hears his name from Louis’ mouth makes Nick get up.

“Drinks?” He asks dryly, though everyone expect Louis and himself has a drink in front of them. They all kind of look at Louis then, expecting his answer.

“Euh..” The boy pauses, blushing from the sudden attention directed towards him. “Cider?”

Nick lets out a breath, and well. “Beer.” He says as a sort of correction, already half way turned around to leave the table when Niall jumps up behind him.

“I’ll come.” He says with a quick smile before following Nick to the bar. Nick tries to ignore the looks the blond lad shoots him, but it’s kinda hard with nobody else to look at and Niall making prompting noises every now and then as they wait on the drinks.

“Fine.” Nick spits after a while. “What do you want?”

“Well what is wrong with you?” Niall asks back. “Louis seems to be alright.”

Nick only scoffs back, deciding that dropping the topic was smarter than arguing about it. He didn’t really have valid arguments other than the fact that Louis was just stupid, and if the others disagreed with that Nick was going to have a problem. What if they planned on actually befriending him?

When they return to the table (after Nick cussing two hole minutes about the fact that he had to pay for Louis’ drink now) Nick had to find that it’s already too late for stopping any friendly behavior. Harry and Louis are talking animatedly, as if they had known each other forever and Nick can’t help but frown at that. He slides Louis’ beer across the table and tries not to gag when Louis chips a quick “Merci.” at him.

The rest of the evening goes really good on the one and really bad on the other hand. The good thing is that Nick doesn’t need to talk to Louis once more through out the evening. The bad thing is that he has to listen to the constant french accent rambling into his ear as Harry and Louis talk with no stop. Harry seems interested enough in the french boy to drop all conversation with Nick or the other three lads at the table.

Niall and Zayn look like they couldn’t care less, not really touched by Louis’ presence at all. Liam however has a sort of sour look on his face for the rest of the night and Nick can’t help but interpret the squinted eyes and pursed lips as jealousy. It surprises Nick, really, because usually Liam is the first of their little group to make new friends. He isn’t one to not like people, so Nick is even more glad to have him on his side with this.

~

Louis and Harry exchange numbers at the end of the night and Nick tries really hard to be mad at Harry. Or to hold a grudge against him for the next couple of days. It’s hard however and Harry makes no move to approach Nick either and so there’s mutual silence between them for almost two weeks.

On Thursday morning it’s unusually cold even for November, winter’s finally coming. Fincham is sick that day and some random bloke is in the studio with Nick instead. He barely talks and lets Nick go on with his show, which Nick is glad for, he really is, but he does feel kind of lonely all morning.

And so he pulls himself together and gives Harry a call just before he wraps it up at the studio.

“Hello?” Harry asks, picking up the phone after the first ring.

“Hey Harry, it’s me.” Nick chips while shuffling some papers for an interview tomorrow morning into a different folder on the desk.

“Oh, Grimmy. What’s up?”

“Nothing much, just wrapped up the show. Listen, I was wondering if you wanted to go grab lunch with me?” He pauses for a moment. “Haven’t talked in a while and all that..”

There is silence on the other end of the line and all Nick can hear is Harry’s even breathing and Nick wonders what Harry is thinking about. If he had different plans he could just tell Nick. He would be pissed for maybe a day or two, but he would come around. He always did.

“Actually,” Harry starts, pulling Nick back into reality. “Yeah. Sure. Why not?”

“Great.” Nick replies and can’t help but beam. “Let’s say the usual in like.. thirty?”

“Sounds perfect.” The other boy agrees and Nick can hear he’s smiling as well. “See you.” And then he’s gone and Nick staples some more papers together, deciding that he might as well finish the preparations for the interview the next morning and is off soon after.

On his way to the restaurant he shoots Fincham a quick “Get well soon, babe. The new one is an idiot xx” text before he realizes that he walked two blocks into the wrong direction and then turns on his heel to hurry back the right way to make it to the restaurant in time.

He feels a certain excitement when he gets there, ready to drown Harry in a gush of curse words, expressing how he feels about his day so far. Oh and Louis. Because even though Nick successfully avoided Louis since the night at the pub he still hates his guts. So there’s that and Nick really needs some quality time with his best mate. When he gets to the restaurant however, he’s almost positive Harry as of now is not his best mate any longer.

In the restaurant (Harry’s & Nick’s restaurant) right next to Harry there is Louis, sitting with him, chatting and laughing. Nick wants to leave. But Harry spots him and waves him over excitedly, still giggling over something Louis said and Nick has been to this restaurant too many times before to throw a tantrum right now and leave without speaking a word to Louis. So he is a good boy and forces on a fake smile as he approaches the table the two boys are seated at.

“Grimmy.” Harry chips happily and Nick almost thinks, okay this could be alright. That is of course until Louis decides it would be a great idea to talk.

“’Ello Nicholas.”

Yeah. Nick’s pissed. “Louis.” He says purposely stressing the ‘s’. With satisfaction he watches the smaller boy cringe a little, but shows not sign of happy emotions whatsoever.

“So,” Nick prompts after a while when curiosity gets the better of him. “What are you two doing together here then?” He’s clearly talking to Harry, and Harry only, and for once Louis seems to get it and simply shuts up.

“I just offered to show him around town a bit after the night at the pub. We’ve been out a few times.” Harry adds and Nick merely purses his lips, hoping his eyes express the betrayal he feels right now.

“We went shopping today, didn’t we?” Harry says with a warm smile directed as Louis, trying to engage him in the conversation.

“Oui.” Louis agrees, blushing lightly. “You come sometime?”

It takes Nick a while to understand what Louis is asking and as soon as he does he thinks yeah, no. Definitely not. But Harry already looks at him accusingly and so Nick forces on another fake smile and replies with a short “Maybe.” before letting his face fall again. Louis of course beams at him.

“Well, should we order then?” Harry asks with a smile at them both. “I hear they have great French toast.” And he wiggles his eyebrows at that and that’s it for Nick.

“I think I should go.” Is all he says before getting up without glancing at the two boys one last time. He leaves the restaurant and stands in the cold autumn air for a moment, breathing in fresh oxygen to clear his brain. It doesn’t really work though and his thoughts are filled with baguettes and french toast and striped shirts with colorful chino pants.

~

If Nick had thought that Harry was mad at him after the evening at the pub it was nothing in comparison to what he felt now. Ignoring each other was one thing and Nick could handle that, but when he got a call from Harry barely two hours after he had left the restaurant he knew he wouldn’t get away with the silent treatment this time around. Really, why was Harry so intrigued by the Frenchman anyways?

Nick didn’t answer any of Harry’s enraged calls, but the messages the younger lad left on his voice mail and the texts he sent were prove enough for the boy’s anger.

‘Grimmy, for fuck’s sake!’

‘You really hurt his feelings, you know?’

‘You act like a prick, answer my calls at least.’

‘Grimmy.’

‘Nicholas Peter Grimshaw.’

‘Oh fuck you.’

So yeah, Harry and him aren’t really on talking terms, but whatever. Nick does’t care. Okay, maybe he does, but Harry seems to have a great new friend, so really. He doesn’t want to care. And so he purposely doesn’t invite Harry when he calls up Liam, Niall and Zayn on Sunday to go out for dinner and some drinks.

Fortunately for Nick they all assume Harry is invited as well and don’t call him up themselves, so when Nick arrives at the posh new place Zayn picked for them that night, Harry isn’t there.

“Harry not coming?” Niall asked after a while which Nick assumes he deem even too late for somebody like Harry to arrive. They all kind of glance at each other until their eyes fall on Nick.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He says defensively. “I assumed he and Mr. France were busy again.”

Liam scoffs loudly, but nods in agreement and Nick can see Niall and Zayn exchanging quick looks before shrugging helplessly at each other.

“So,” Niall says after a while, trying to lighten up the mood again. “How was everyone’s week?” And of course Nick doesn’t miss a chance to a) talk about himself, b) dish the dirt on somebody, but most importantly c) talk bad about Louis.

“I walked away from sitting through a lovely lunch with Harry and Louis.” He says sweetly, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Well, at least you actually got to see Harry this week.” Liam retorts bitterly.

“I wish I hadn’t.” Nick replies almost cheerfully now.

“Touché.” Liam gives in, nodding in approval.

“Guys!” Zayn interrupts them from the other end of the table, looking amused and shocked at the same time. “Stop it, jesus. You sound like jealous girlfriends.”

“Oh shut up.” Nick rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, huffing out some air. Liam however, only looks down at his hands, nibbling on his bottom lip nervously.

“Li.” Niall says softly, leaning other the table towards him. “Harry and Louis aren’t like that, okay? You know Harry is crazy about you, right?” Liam only shrugs and they all can see that he is not really sure of that, so Nick snakes and arm around his shoulders, pulling him a little closer.

“Louis is stupid, and he’ll go home soon anyways. Don’t worry about him.” Nick tries to cheer Liam up. The younger boy gives him a weak smile, but the hurt he sees in his eyes makes him despise Louis even more.

~

The next day during his show Nick decides that it would probably be smart to talk to Harry again. To tell him off, to let him know that he’s hurting Liam. Because as much as Harry likes to deny it, Nick is pretty sure he and Liam are more serious than he admits to. And Harry isn’t nearly as selfish as Nick, so he wouldn’t hurt his almost/not-really boyfriend for his own benefit.

So Nick leaves the studio with his mind set and the plan to call Harry as soon as he gets home. Two minutes later however, that plan is long forgotten when he gets an hysterical call from his mother.

“Mom, what’s up?” Nick asks casually as he gets into his car, adjusting his quiff with a quick look into the interior mirror.

“Grimmy, I need you to go to the hospital.” His hands fall from his quiff at that, gripping onto the steering wheel instead.

“What? Why?” He asks, panic suddenly bubbling up inside of him.

“Levi got hit with a baseball bat in his PE class. The hospital called me and said he has a broken arm and that somebody needs to pick him up. I’m still at work though-”

“No problem mom!” Nick says right away, starting the car and starting to drive right away, his mom still on the line. “What about-”

“No, Louis can’t. It’s his day off and I’m so sorry. I know you must be really busy, but-”

“It’s fine mom.” Nick says, not quite sure how fast he’s allowed to go, but thinks something around fifty should be fine. “I wasn’t asking about Louis, though.” Duuh. “I was wondering about Noah. Is he still at school, or-?”

“Yeah.” She supplies quickly. “I’ll pick him and Taryn up in a bit and then we’ll be home when you get there.”

“Alrighty.” Nick says again and ensures his mom a time or ten more that he’s fine and that he was not busy and that everything is going to be alright. They only hang up just before Nick gets to the hospital and skips the front desk, making his way to the emergency room right away. He thinks it’s sad that he knows his way around the hospital, but parties do get crazy sometimes and while he tends to know his limits he had to take his friends there several times before, so yeah.

When he gets to the ER this time however, it’s doesn’t smell like beer and vomit and he’s kind of glad for that. Looking around for a moment he finds a nurse that doesn’t look completely stressed out and asks about his brother before she leads him into a little room by the side, where his brother is laying in a hospital bed, his eyes closed and his breath even.

“Levi.” He breaths and makes his way over to the bed quickly, not sure if he’s allowed to hold his brother’s hand and also not sure which one is the broken arm and so he only kisses his forehead, leaning back again, when a doctor enters the room.

“Oh, hello.” He says, looking at Nick in surprise. “Are you his father?”

“Brother.” Nick replies with a tired smile. He gets that a lot.

The doctor looks flustered for a moment and Nick thinks maybe he recognizes his voice, but doesn’t say anything. They talk for a while and the doctor explains what happened and then proceeds wrapping Levi’s arm in plaster. Nick watches, mildly worried about that fact that Levi still is asleep, but the doctor says it’s the pain medication that knocked him out so Nick sits tight, holding his brother’s healthy hand in between his own carefully.

When the cast is fixed in place the doctor leaves and tells Nick that he can take Levi home as soon as he wakes up. Relieve floods Nick, really, because he doesn’t want for his little brother to have to spend the night at the hospital.

Levi however doesn’t really seem to mind and Nick wonders if he actually is going to wake up at all, after sitting on the uncomfortable chair next to Levi’s bed for five hours. The nurses assure him that it’s normal for children to be under quite long after getting a large dose of pain medicine, but Nick is still relieved when Levi starts to stir a little while after.

Nick leans forwards, one hand on Levi’s shoulder the other on his arm looking at him curiously as he blinks his eyes open slowly.

“Louis?” Levi croaks and Nick feels his stomach drop.

“Not, Levi. It’s me, Grimmy.”

“Hi.” The smaller boy smiled tiredly. “I think I broke my arm.”

“I think you did.” Nick grins back. “Does it hurt?”

“Yeah.” Levi says with a nod. “Can you sing the song Louis always sings before we go to bed?” Nick tries to ignore the feeling of loosing grip and falling. Deep.

“Don’t you think you slept enough?” He asks with a tried smile, but Levi doesn’t seem too impressed at that.

“Please.” He begs and Nick doesn’t really know how to say no.

“Okay. Which song is it?”

“The French one.”

Falling. Falling. Falling.

“I don’t know that one, sweety. I’m sorry. You’re.. you’re gonna have to ask Louis to sing that one to you when we get home.”

“Can we go home then?”

“Sure.” Nick says hoarsely, trying to get rid of the big lump in his throat. “Let’s go, Levi.”

~

Nick keeps assuring Levi that he’s a big boy and that he’s doing great as they leave the hospital and slowly approach Nick’s car. He lets Levi sit in the front with him and the little boy beams at that, insisting on buckling up himself, even though it takes him forever with only one good hand. Nick waits patiently and then tells him how good he did, shooting him a wide smile before they drive off and Nick takes him home.

Halfway through the ride Levi asks Nick to turn down the radio and Nick does so. His little brother then starts singing quietly and it takes Nick a while to realize that he’s singing in french. He purses his lips and tries not to give away how much that bothers him.

Levi keeps singing and Nick has to admit that the song is kind of beautiful and that the words sound kind of nice, even though Levi doesn’t really know how to pronounce them. Nick can imagine having Louis sing those words to him would make him fall asleep easily as well.

But Nick doesn’t want to think that and so he ignores random Louis related thoughts and feelings, pressing them to the back of his mind as he turns the radio up again and rather rudely shuts Levi up. The younger boy shoots him a strange look, but Nick ignores that as well and the ride is silent until they reach their mom’s house.

Levi jumps out immediately and Nick follows him, suppressing a yawn as he climbs up the porch and stand behind Levi who was already knocking on the door with his healthy hand excitedly. Their mom opens the door a moment later and Levi jumps into her arms, a gush of words flowing out of of mouth as he tells her what happened at the hospital. She laughs as he talks and talks and pets his head, telling him that he was so brave and then sends him off into the house to go find his siblings. And Louis.

Nick’s mom pulls Nick inside right after Levi, thanking him a million times and Nick has to push her away lightly, telling her it was no problem when she doesn’t let go of him.

“Really, mom.” He says calmly, trying to suppress the rage he’s still feeling towards Louis. He just wants to leave as soon as possible, preferably without having to see the french boy at all. But of course that wish isn’t granted him when his mom wordlessly pulls him into the living room where Louis is sitting on the floor with Nick’s three siblings. Levi sits on his lap and Louis eyes his cast with big eyes while Taryn and Noah sit right next to them, touching Levi’s arm carefully.

“I should get going.” Nick says, having a hard time to pry his eyes off the twins and Taryn. And Louis, well because he’s right there with them.

“You could stay for dinner.” His mom suggests and Nick shakes his head, turning to leave. He is already halfway out the door when he catches onto a tune that’s oddly familiar to him. It’s the song Levi was singing in the car earlier on and it causes sudden rage to strike through Nick.

“No.” He says calmly as he turns around again. Louis is still singing and the three kids are all singing along with him. And it’s French and really they should be learning proper English before they start off with a second language. It’s just wrong.

“No, mom.” Nick says again and his mom turns to face him then, an adoring and loving look in her eyes. “Mom, he needs to leave.” He says half loudly pointing towards Louis.

“Honey, what-?” His mom looks confused.

“I- don’t want him here. It’s wrong. Make him go.. Or I will.”

~

The next day at work Nick happily finds that Fincham is back. They laugh and joke around for about thirty minutes before Fincham breaks into a coughing fit and Nick has to find that Fincham still feels kind of under the weather, so the show goes rather slow after that. They still laugh and joke and generally have a good time, but it’s all a little calmer.

That is of course until Harry come storming into the studio, slamming a hand down onto Nick’s desk and making him jump. He’s awfully glad that he’s not on air right now, but the song playing at the moment only has about a minute left and the expression on Harry’s face doesn’t look like it’s going to go away within that time.

“What?” He hisses then already putting the next song in line and deciding to simply skip the talking part in between. Fincham shoots him a worried glance but Nick ignores it.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Harry almost yells and Nick double checks to make sure all the microphones are turned off. “What on earth had Louis ever done to you? What? Nothing!” He lets out a frustrated breath and Nick isn’t really sure if he’s expected to talk at all. “Louis called me last night and he was crying. Grimmy, he was crying! And you wanna know why?” Nick is pretty sure he doesn’t want to know, but Harry looks like he’s gonna tell him anyways, so well. “Because you are a total prick and so fucking mean and why the hell would you say you want him to leave?”

“Because I do.” Nick shoots back suppressing to roll his eyes at Harry, because the younger boy’s anger is indeed kind of frightening.

“Back on in ten.” Fincham warns quietly and Nick shoots Harry a ‘Now shut up!’ look and turns towards his microphone. He says a few words about the last song and then announces the next, sounding awfully stiff he thinks, but well he’s kind of distracted right now so what the hell.

“Harry, go.” Nick growls as he puts songs in line and flips a few switches that do nothing, but he wants to give Harry the impression that he’s awfully busy right now. The younger boy stares at him in silence for a little longer and it gets harder and harder for Nick to ignore.

“Just tell me what’s wrong.” Harry asks after a minute or two passed. “What’s your problem?”

Nick lets out a frustrated sigh. “Do you really wanna know? Okay, fine. Louis – apparently – is awfully endearing. My family loves him, my friends love him, he is so much better at everything than I am that people are dropping me right and left. So think again, what do you think is my problem? Mr. I-Haven’t-Talked-To-Grimmy-In-More-Than-Two-Weeks!”

“Five, four, three-” Fincham announces quietly again and Nick takes a deep breath before forcing on a smile and turning towards the microphone again. He tries to make himself sound happy and light, talking to Fincham for a bit and pointedly ignoring Harry. The next song comes and Nick leaves on his headphones this time, hoping it’ll make Harry go away. Well, false hope.

“Grimmy.” The curly haired boy says softly, inching a little closer. “You don’t really think that. I love you. Your family loves you. Don’t feel so threatened, we’re not going to leave you for Louis.”

Nick refuses to tell Harry that he already has left him and instead only gives Fincham a look and nods towards Harry, asking to get him kicked out.

“Oh, Grimmy.” Harry groans as Fincham asks him to leave. “Very mature, really. Kicking me out. Good job.” He gets up then and leaves and Nick can’t help but feel a little accomplished.

~

Nick is mad at himself and at Harry and at Fincham for no reason. Since Fincham still isn’t feeling right he kindly lets Nick know that he doesn’t have time for his shit and then dismisses him early from the office, telling him to go fix things with Harry before he comes back to work the next day. Fixing things with Harry though would mean fixing things with Louis, so that’s a no right there.

And even if Nick doesn’t intend on talking to Louis or do such ridiculous thing as apologize, he still wants Harry on his side again and gives up on the silence three hours after leaving the studio and gives the younger boy a ring. His call however, is forwarded to Harry’s voice mail right away.

‘Answer your phone, Harold.’

Nick texts him angrily, not really believing they’re doing the silent treatment crap again.

‘Apologize to Louis, Nicholas.’

Harry texts back and yeah. Nick most certainly will not. He has pride after all.

‘Harry, stop making this about some french dude you’ll never see again when he has to go back. Let’s just keep him out of this and go back to normal. Pints tonight?’

‘Apologize to him. We’re not talking until then.’

Nick really can’t believe it.

‘This is ridiculous.’

‘Harry.’

‘Stop being a five year old. Talk to me.’

‘Pleaaaaasee.’

‘Fine you fucker, I’ll go.’

~

Of course Nick doesn’t intend on actually apologizing to Louis. He can’t for one, because he really isn’t sorry. He doesn’t like Louis and he wants him to go. Since when has stating his own opinion become something illegal? Right, it hasn’t. This is a free country and screw Harry for making him pretend to apologize.

But after all neither Louis nor Harry will ever know Nick is only faking to be sorry, so who cares? Nick knows the truth and that’s all that matters.

So that afternoon he texts Louis, asking him where he’s at, receiving a hesitant and incorrect (grammar and spelling) reply, guiding Nick to an old playground not too far away from his mom’s new apartment building. When he gets there he can hear Levi and Noah argue from ways away and hears Taryn laugh over something before Noah drops into the sand for no apparent reason. Kids.

Louis is watching the whole spectacle while sitting on a stone, leaning forwards a little when Levi starts whirling around, his arm still caught in the cast.

“Careful.” Louis tells the twins just as Nick gets into hearing range and stops for a moment before walking close enough to sit on the stone next to Louis. The boy looks up at him surprise, obviously not having seen him approach the playground and probably not really expecting him to show up anyways. After all what could Nick want from him? Nothing, right, just a fake apology.

“Hi.” Nick says, trying to sound genuinely friendly. It kind of works he thinks.

“’Ello.” The french boy replies and Nick thinks he really needs to learn how to pronounce an ‘h’. “I didn’t think you come here.”

“Yeah.” Nick replies with a soft chuckle, because he’s not really sure if Louis meant that as a question or a statement. “Listen,” He continues, thinking he might as well get it down with so he can leave again. “I’m sorry about the other night. It was kind of rude of me to say something like that with you in the room and everything. I didn’t really think you’d hear and yeah.. Well, maybe we can go to dinner sometime?” Wait, what? “Just, you know, to get to know each other. So I know who’s watching my three little monsters.” Nick hears himself say, though he’s pretty sure his mouth has no permission from his brain to do so. Where did that last part even come from? He really didn’t mean to say that.

Nick starts feeling kind of sick. Louis however, looks like he has just won the lottery and flashes Nick a wide grin.

“That is nice. Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nick waves off, his brain slowly starting to kick in again. The five thousand watt grin on Louis’ face though makes it hard to take back the invite, as much as Nick would like to. “I’ll call you about it some time?”

“Yes.” Louis agrees and okay, he can really stop being the fucking sun now. “You come to the ‘ouse later for dinner with we?”

Nick thinks Louis’ grammar should really be getting better by now, but whatever. None of his business. “I’m busy I’m afraid.” He supplies with a not-so-fake smile before pushing himself off the stone and walking to pick up Taryn from one of the swings and swirl her around a couple of times before he sets her down again and then excuses himself to go home and drown his sorrow in a cheap bottle of wine and crappy TV instead of sitting through an evening with Louis’ attendance. Well, he doesn’t exactly say that. But something along those lines.

~

It’s two weeks later and the middle of December when Nick and Louis actually go to dinner together. Nick had told Harry about their dinner plans proudly the day after he had apologized to Louis and Harry had been happy. So happy indeed that he decided not to talk to Nick again until they actually went out to dinner. It made no sense to Nick whatsoever and actually made him rather angry too. But of course, Harry is Harry and he doesn’t give a shit.

Nick runs into Liam one afternoon just after work in the store, just as he is stacking his cart with chocolate bars. The younger boy shoots him a smile and tells him that Harry told him about Nick’s and Louis’ date. Of course Harry would tell him Nick has ti admit, rolling his eyes.

“So you and Harry are good again?” Nick asks after and Liam shoots him a grin in return.

“Ever since you’re keeping Louis occupied.”

He sounds sly and satisfied and Nick rolls his eyes at him, but doesn’t say anything. Liam only underlines once again that Nick and Louis really need to go out. ASAP.

So Nick tried to arrange their dinner as soon as possible, but as a popular DJ and radio host he happens to be kinda busy – yes, really – so it’s two weeks now and their finally meeting. Well, not finally meeting, Nick thinks, but finally getting the dinner over with so he and Harry can be pals again.

And so Nick is not only putting on his best behavior but also a fresh button-up shirt and some clean jeans, along with shoes Harry would probably call fancy. So that should be fine he thinks.

With his weird french driving license Louis isn’t allowed to drive in England and even though Nick very much planned on making him walk to the restaurant he picked, he somehow ends up at his mom’s place now, picking Louis up. It’s like a date almost, he thinks and a shiver runs down his spine.

Expect it’s most certainly not and it’s weird when Nick’s mom opens the door and he stands there almost awkwardly like “I’m here to pick up my date”. He doesn’t say that of course, only gives her a tight smile when she tells him how proud she is that they’re trying to get along.

Taryn shows up and then Levi and Noah, all three pressing chaste kisses to Nick’s cheek before running back into the living room, screaming for Louis. The french boy turns up not much later, running a hand through his hair, looking lightly stressed. But apart from stressed he looks.. okay. Nick has to admit Louis isn’t exactly ugly. But he’s still stupid and french and all that, so never mind his pretty looks.

“Nicholas.” Louis greets with a smile and Nick is this close to calling the whole thing off before it even started, but the tight smile his mother sends him tells him not to. And so he only smiles back, chips a quick “Hey, french boy.” and then leads Louis to his car, getting in wordlessly.

“Where are we going?” Louis asks as they drive off.

Be nice.

“It’s a place called ‘Hoovers’. You’re gonna like it, I think.”

“Ah.” Louis says, almost like he recognizes the same. “’oovers.”

Be nice. Be nice. Be nice.

Louis is just making so goddamned hard. But Nick can handle, he tells himself. He can do this. He wouldn’t be the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show host if he couldn’t talk through awkward situations. And so he does what he can do best and just talks about himself. He tells Louis about his work and other things he reckons the boy is least interested in. What he can’t really decide is whether to use complicated words, so Louis doesn’t understand anything, or whether to use easy words so Louis actually understand the boringness of Nick’s stories. It’s a tough debate.

But Louis is good, Nick thinks. The french boy doesn’t complain once, doesn’t show one sign of boredom or discomfort at all. Nick has to admit he is impressed.

After they reach the restaurant, are seated and order their drinks and food in mutual silence, Louis finally quirks up.

“It is really nice ‘ere.” The boy says and Nick manages not to cringe at the missing ‘h’. “In France I do not eat dinner.”

“Ever?” Louis wants to ask, mock the boy mercilessly but then he reckons that would be rude. And Louis is trying after all. “Why not?” He asks instead, because well he knows what Louis meant to say.

“Nobody ask I for a date.” The petite boy replies with a shrug and he actually looks kind of sad when he does so. Nick feels bad for him for a moment, wondering why nobody had taken a linking in the boy yet. He was rather fit after all and to all the other french people his french behavior probably wasn’t all that annoying.

Nick is halfway lost in his thoughts when he realizes what Louis’ statement also implies. The boy doesn’t really think they were on a date right now, does he? Because, hell no, they were not.

“Well,” Nick starts quickly, trying not to show the sudden urge to clarify the situation. “Maybe you’ll find someone here. Eventually.”

“Maybe.” Louis says back with the same indifferent tone as before, looking even sadder now. Okay, so maybe Nick feels a little bad. He would hate to go on a date and halfway through find out that it’s actually not one. But he never said they were going on a date in the first place, so it’s not his fault that the french boy got the wrong idea.

Nick gives him a sympathetic smile anyways and then decides that changing the topic would probably be the best thing to do right now.

“So, Louis” - he actually forget to purposely pronounce the ‘s’ this time - “what are you gonna do when you get back to France? Go to Uni? Do they have Unis in France?”

The younger boy laughs a little at that. “Yes, they ‘ave. But I not know yet. Maybe go to Uni to be a teacher, I think.” He shrugs and Nick tilts his head to the side, for once not only pretending to think about what the other boy had said. Teaching would suit Louis, he thinks. When he tells the boy so, he only gets a confused look back.

“Suit?” He asks helplessly and Nick realizes that he probably doesn’t know the word.

“It would look good on you. You would be a good teacher I think.” He phrases the statement differently for Louis and then is granted with an incredibly wide grin that Louis is pretty sure just blinded somebody behind him to death. Maybe even himself. Everything seems kind of fuzzy on the edges with Louis around. Nick doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or if things in life are supposed to be this way. If they are, he’s pretty sure he hasn’t experienced it before.

“Thank you.” The boy breathes back a little belayed, but Nick only gives him a small smile in return. “But I not think I be good as you with the radio. It is really ‘ilarir- ‘ilarou- ‘irarlio- .. well, funny?” He gives up in the end and Nick can’t help but laugh.

“Hilarious?” He provides helpfully and Louis beams at him with a nod.

“’ilarious.” He replies and the ‘h’ almost doesn’t bother Nick this time. Well almost.

Louis seems really interested in the whole radio deal, so Nick finds himself talking about his work again, picking out the rather interesting aspects and stories this time around. He just finds them funnier to tell, he says to himself, arguing that him being nice is solely to his own benefit, not to Louis’.

But either way Louis is listening intently as Nick talks and talks, only interrupting him to ask brief questions, or have words explained. To his own surprise Nick doesn’t even mind adjusting his vocabulary the way he does when talking to his five year old sister. But that’s probably the wine, Nick’s had two glasses already. Louis has had three though and he seems kind of unfazed, so maybe that’s not it, Nick thinks, but then he stops because thinking of an alternative explanation is just.. no. Just no.

In the end Nick lets his worst night mare come true and actually pays for Louis’ food. To his own defense, Louis doesn’t put up a fight either. Nick offers and Louis simply agrees with a wide smile which almost makes Nick forget that he actually didn’t want to pay.

When they leave the restaurant Louis is trailing close behind him and it would just be rude of Nick not to hold the door open for Louis, right? So he does, sew him.

It’s drizzling just the slightest bit and so they stand on small porch watching the quiet parking lot for a moment as the chattery sounds from the restaurant fade away as the door closes behind them.

“That was nice dinner.” Louis says, breaking the silence and making Nick turn towards him. “Merci.” He adds then and leans in to kiss Nick’s left cheek, then the right and then the left one again.

“Okay.” Nick replies with an airy laugh, not really sure what to think of that. Weird french thing to do! Louis should really learn how to control his habits from taking over. After all Nick doesn’t want strange french behaviors to rub off onto his siblings. He doesn’t even want to begin picturing Levi or Noah on one of their first dates, thinking it would be alright to bid a girl farewell with three kisses on the cheek

Not. Happening.

Nick kind of hopes Louis knows that too.

“Okay.” He repeats, lacking better words, though he makes sure to sound stern this time, unamused. He steps off the porch and walks over to his car, not turning around to see if Louis is following him. He is though, of course, and unfortunately for Nick he can also sense the change in the older man’s mood.

“Everything okay?” He asks tentatively, not walking around to the passenger door, but pausing halfway around the car right in front of the hood. “I do mean-”

“Just-” Nick interrupts him, trying hard not to lose his temper, but somehow the french boy has gotten under his skin again, making him rage with fury. “Try to not let your.. let’s call them ‘french habits’ rub off onto my siblings, you hear me?”

Louis looks seriously confused, obviously trying to detect what had caused Nick to be hateful all over again suddenly.

“I- I not try to- to make they-” Louis stammers, looking lost for words.

“And, good Lord!” Nick exclaims, raising his hands over his head. “Work on your grammar. Work on your pronunciation. Learn some vocabs. I thought that’s why you were here in the first place!” He says angrily, almost yelling now and Louis still only stares at him, his mouth wide open and his eyes displaying utter surprise, shock even.

“I- I-..” He begins again. “Nicholas.”

“And please stop calling me that fucking name! It’s Grimmy. Grimmy. Everyone calls me Grimmy. Not even my mom says Nick anymore, let alone Nicholas.” He lets out a heavy pant. “Don’t you know anything?”

“Mais bordel, qu’est-ce que tu fous? T’as pas le droit de dire ça sur moi, tu me connais même pas.” The words rush out of Louis’ mouth and for a moment Nick is too starstruck to understand that he doesn’t understand anything. And also why he doesn’t understand anything.“Tu ne m’as laissé aucune chance et depuis le début tu me détestes.”

“Oh yeah, aren’t you smart-”

“J’ai essayé d’être sympa et de faire en sorte que ça marche, mais tu n’as même pas songé à ce que je pouvais ressentir.”

“-talking french and I don’t understand.” Nick positively yells now, trying to unsuccessfully drown out the noise Louis is making.

“J’essaye de faire en sorte que tu m’apprécie, mais tu continues à faire le con encore et encore!”

When Louis finishes he is panting too, staring back at Nick with dark eyes and a hateful expression on his face that makes Nick’s stomach cramp against better judgment. They’re glaring at each other for a moment before Louis spits out another hateful phrase Nick doesn’t understand, but the tone alone make him pounce forwards and onto Louis, sending them both onto the hard cement ground.

“Tu fais vraiment chier, je te déteste.”

“You little shit! Fucker!” Nick curses as he presses Louis down with his big hands. Louis is squirming underneath him though, tilting his hips until they tip over and Nick lays underneath him, panting hard.

“Calme tout, chut.” Louis is pinning him onto the ground, his hands wrapped around Nick’ wrists firmly, but the whole situation had a different feel to it all the sudden. Nick doesn’t know what Louis is saying, but his voice is softer now and it sounds warm and soothing and makes Nick want to stop struggling against the restraints keeping him on the ground and just sink back into the cement even though it’s cold and hard. “Chuuu…tout va bien. Calme tout, ça va aller, tout va bien se passer.“

Louis just keeps talking and Nick lays and listens, completely ignoring the fact that he’s laying in a restaurant’s parking lot at night, with a french boy pressing him onto the ground, murmuring strange foreign things to him. Expect Louis isn’t really pressing him onto the ground anymore and the things he’s murmuring aren’t all that strange and foreign anymore.

Much rather Louis is leaning slightly forwards now, one of his hands pressing against Nick’s cheek, caressing it soothingly as he keeps talking. Nick is pretty sure he’s talking English now, but he still can’t precess the words, too caught up with the bright blue eyes above him, sparkling lighter now than they were only a minute ago. They look warm and Nick wants to drink in their color forever. He wants to touch Louis and to pull him close, but his limbs feel heavy and so he only lays there, staring up as Louis who is still bent right over his face.

Nick doesn’t realize that he is crying until Louis wipes away the tears from his cheeks. If he was a little more himself right now, Nick is sure he would be embarrassed, but Nick is gone way too far for things as pride right now.

“’ey, ‘ey, ‘ey.” Louis coos, and there’s no ‘h’, but it’s soothing nevertheless. “What is wrong?”

Nick kind of wants to answer and he kind of doesn’t, but when he swallows hard around the lump in his throat he finds that he’s unable to speak and so he only lays in silence for another moment, Louis still leaning over him, still straddling his waist, his hand still pressed against Nick’s cheek. The only thing that changes are Louis’ eyebrows that he furrows more and more the longer Nick keeps quiet.

“Tell me.” Louis urges again after a while, nudging Nick’s cheek lightly with his thumb and waiting patiently as Nick swallows again and wets his lips.

“I- I-” He starts, his breath coming out way too quick and pants taking over again so he closes his mouth and closes his eyes, silent tears slipping down his temples until they get lost in his hair or hit the ground. Louis is there to wipe them away again and Nick kind of wonders why he is still here. Nick had been nothing but mean to him, and yet still he’s here now to pick up the pieces. When he had made it through all is he should probably show Louis his gratitude and.. take him out for dinner? Rather not, probably. Maybe flowers. Or chocolate. Louis is french after all.

It’s another few minutes later that Louis nudges him again and he doesn’t have to ask again. Nick knows the question.

“I just..” He begins, his voice sounds hoarse from crying. “I’m- I’m-.. loosing my family. They’re here now, they’re so close, but they’re slipping from my hands and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“No, no, no.” Louis says, shaking his head, petting Nick’s cheek with his hand. “No.”

“Yes.” Nick protests, more sobs escaping his mouth and shaking his chest violently. “T-They play with you. T-They s-sing with you and g-go to- to- to the playground. And I’m just-” He stops, the sobs getting too much to talk through and Louis is there, wiping away the tears and caressing his cheeks.

Nick doesn’t really notice at first, but when he starts calming down it’s Louis who is still hovering over him, his voice coming out in a soothing and sort of familiar tune.

“Une chanson douce que me chantait ma maman, en suçant mon pouce j’écoutais en m’endormant. Cette chanson douce je vais la chanter pour toi..” It’s that song, that song the Levi sung after Nick picked him up from the hospital and the song that Louis had all of Nick’s siblings had sung once they had gotten back. It’s so nice and calming and Nick feels so at peace as Louis’ voice is the only thing he can hear drifting into his ear.

“Thank you.” He mutters a while after Louis finished, a tired smile tugging on his lips. Louis returns the smile, slowing moving his hand away from Nick’s cheek. He bents down and places a soft kiss onto the skin of his cheek he had been holding only a moment before and Nick can feel his face heat a little. Only one single kiss, so Nick thinks he can handle. No weird french habit this time around.

When Louis sits back up he’s gazing at Nick cautiously, probably expecting another wave of tears or screaming fit, but Nick has himself controlled quite good for now. Or at least his temper, not so much the coloring of his face, so he just hopes Louis won’t realize in the relative darkness of the parking lot.

After another long pause Louis stirs again and pushes himself up, off of Nick’s lap and stands. He holds out one hand for Nick to grab and helps him up, before sending another smile up at him. Nick returns it quickly and then looks away, embarrassment finally setting in. They have been incredibly lucky that no other customers has left or entered the restaurant in the meantime, even though Nick isn’t all that worried about what total strangers think of him. Not that he really cared about Louis’ opinion before but right now.. well, it is a little weird.

Louis seems to get the same vibe and only steps back a bit, before walking around the car and climbing in, shutting the door behind him to give Nick a moment. Letting out a sigh he runs his hand through his hair, wiping away some last tears with the other and then follows Louis’ example and gets into the car as well.

They ride in silence, but it’s not as awkward as Nick expects. Louis is gazing out of his window and Nick is kind of glad that the french boy doesn’t shoot him lingering looks and worries glances. He knows this evening went very unplanned and he doesn’t need curious stares emphasizing that. Fortunately for once Louis understands.

When they reach the house Nick makes no move to get out. He sure as hell isn’t going to walk Louis to the door. After all, this still isn’t a date. So very not.

However, Louis doesn’t get out either for a moment and Nick turns reluctantly to glance at him. Louis gives him a small smile, unbuckling his seat belt.

“Grimmy, we go.. ice skating. Next week.” The french boy says tentatively as he reaches for the door handle. “If you want to come?”

And with those words and a short smile he’s out of the car. Nick watches him walk to the porch and unlock the door, still staring at the closed door long after Louis had gone inside. He thinks about Louis’ offer and it’s makes him warm and fuzzy. Louis didn’t say it and Nick is really glad he didn’t, but they both know that Louis is trying to get Nick quality time with his siblings. And Nick couldn’t be happier.

~

On the 23^rd they go ice skating. Louis, Nick, Noah and Levi, and Taryn. Nick’s mom still has to work, but she’s glad to hear that Nick joins Louis and his sibling voluntarily. She has caught up on the way Nick and Louis are friendly with each other now, texting and calling every now and then and how Nick starts coming over for dinner with them a couple times every week. She enjoys seeing it and she doesn’t say anything about it.

Much unlike Harry who is taking the piss out of Nick at any possible moment. Nick told him that the dinner went nice and that they are friends now, but Harry didn’t believe it until Louis confirmed. Ever since then Harry has gone on and on about wanting to hang out just the three of them , doing something special. But Nick still has a job to do and Louis has three kids to take care of so they postpone their get together until after Christmas.

But Christmas is worrying him and the only thing that can take his mind of worries about Christmas is Louis. Louis on a pair of ice skates, twirling around the ice aimlessly, not totally in control of his motions. Nick watches him in amusement as he wobbles and almost falls, almost. He catches himself and then turns around swiftly – almost falling over again – to grin at Nick who is sending him two thumbs up and a wide grin in return.

Slowly and a little more careful this time Louis glides over to where Nick is standing, one hand holding onto the boards the other one gripping Taryn’s gloved fingers tightly. Nick and Taryn watch as Louis approaches them. The one thing they all haven’t really figured out yet is how to stop and so Louis crashes into the boards next to them forcefully, catching himself with his arms before he turns around again.

“Almost perfect.” Nick says with a laugh and Taryn giggles as well. Louis only raises an eyebrow sceptically, lifts a fake hat off his head as a salute and then glides off again, hunting after Noah and Levi who are racing across the ice recklessly. Nick and Taryn on the other hand glide through the rink smoothly and rather slow. Taryn can barely hold herself up and so Nick pushes her forward with his front, holding her between his legs. She laughs and talks as Levi and Noah rush by and just that makes Nick plain happy. He had forgotten how amazing being with his family is over all the hatred with Louis.

But fortunately that’s forgotten now and Nick can laugh at the way Louis is helplessly chasing after the twins who are way too fast for him.

After almost two hours they’re all exhausted and ready for a break so they sit on the bleachers and Louis pulls some bottles of water along with snacks he had brought for them to eat. Nick sits down next to him, the twins in front if them and Taryn comes walking over – shuffling her feet awkwardly due to the heaviness of the ice skates – asking to sit on Nick’s lap.

“Do you know what day tomorrow is?” Noah asks, chewing on a granola bar and watching Nick expectantly. Nick only grins back. He remembers how excited he used to be as a kid for Christmas. No matter what Harry might say, it hasn’t been that long!

But Nick plays along with their little game and cocks his head tot he side, pretending to think. “I don’t know.. What day is tomorrow?”

“The 24^th.” Noah says with a sly smirk and wow, Nick thinks. They’re getting old enough to play back. Or at least Noah is.

“It’s Christmas Eve, silly!” Levi says and Taryn shakes her wildly in Nick’s lap.

“No!” She calls, swinging her little feet back and forth forcefully. “It’s Louis’ birthday!”

“Yeah!” The twins chip in unison and Nick only looks at Louis in surprise. The french boy looks back with a shy smile and blushes lightly.

“Are you gonna come for Louis’ birthday?” Taryn asks, looking up at her oldest brother with big eyes.

“Well, I don’t know.” Nick replies with a playfully accusing look at Louis. “I wasn’t even invited. Am I invited?” Louis rolls his eyes at him, but the kids all cheer together, telling him that, yes, he is invited. And so Nick tells them that he has to work in the morning, but promises to come by afterwards to eat some birthday cake with them.

~

It’s the 24^th and there’s only thirty minutes left on the show before Nick has to go and see Louis for his birthday. And since he only kind of found out last night he doesn’t have a present. Which he rationally knows Louis won’t be mad at him for, but still feels weird. He wants to do something for him.

When he voices his concerns to Fincham during a song, with all the microphones switched off, Fincham only shrugs.

“I don’t know, Grimmy. What is he like?”

“French.” Is Nick’s immediate reply.

Five minutes later he is googling French artists and even though he likes to call his knowledge of the music business quite multifaceted he barely knows any of them. But he finds something and something is better than nothing at all, so here goes nothing.

“Kind of chilly today, isn’t it Finchy?”He asks as the previous song fades out and Fincham only grumbles in agreement. “Why could that be? Oh, right! It’s Christmas Eve. Yey.” He laughs a little, adjusting the headphones on his head. No, that’s not from nerves, thank you. “Most of you are probably on their way home right now, to go see your families. But not everybody can be this lucky, and for some people on top of all that it’s their birthday today as well. So, we’re trying to make you feel a little less homesick and so I got this lovely song for you. It’s french. And it’s from Stromae, called ‘Bienvenue Chez Moi’. Hope you enjoy!”

~

When Nick gets to his mom’s place a little later that day the door is opened by a positively beaming Louis, who stares at Nick a little too long to be casual.

“Hi.” Nick says carefully, waiting for Louis to let him in, but instead of doing that Louis only steps forwards, wrapping Nick into a tight hug. Nick laughs and huffs but wraps his arms around Louis’ middle and holds him for a moment, smiling into the feathery hair.

“So you heard.” Nick concludes and Louis only nods against his chest, making no move of letting Nick go anytime soon. “Bon Anniversaire?” Nick tries tentatively after a while and Louis squeals against his chest and then only pulls him in even tighter, making Nick laugh again.

They only get interrupted when the twins turn up and try to press in between them, hugging Nick’s middle before rushing off again and Louis finally steps back, letting Nick come inside and then closing the door behind him.

Nick finds his mom in the kitchen and chats with her for a few minutes before going to join Louis and his siblings in the living room. They’re sitting around the dinner table, papers and colorful pencils spread all over it.

“Grimmy, we’re drawing.” Taryn says matter-of-factly as Nick pulls out a chair next to her and glances at the drawing.

“That looks really pretty.” He compliments the drawing, though he doesn’t really know what it is. “Is that for me? Can I take it to the studio to hang up with the other pretty drawings you did for me?”

“Nope.” Taryn sing songs. “It’s for Louis’ birthday.” She whispers, not quiet enough for Louis not to hear and the two men grin at each other from across the table.

“That’s a beautiful present.” Nick whispers back, still grinning at Louis.

“What is your present for Louis?” Noah wants to know and Nick feels his face heat up a little. Louis reaction had been pretty positive, but a song wasn’t the greatest gift after all.

“Uhm,” Nick starts, feeling awkward, but the twins were glancing at him curiously now. “I played a song for him. On the radio.” He says, hoping that out loud it wouldn’t sound as negligible as it did in his head.

Noah only rolls his eyes and then turns back to his drawing, but Levi fixes Nick with a stern look. Well, stern for a child.

“You play songs every day. On a birthday you have to do something special.” He says with force and it sounds a lot like he was just trying to say “Duuh”. Levi looks at Nick for a moment longer and then rolls his eyes like his brother did before turning his attention back to the pencil in his hand as well.

The whole deal makes Nick feel really bad and he bites his lips, gazing at Louis carefully. His siblings were right after all, a song really is as good as no gift at all. But he only found out yesterday, so..

“It is okay.” Louis mouths from across the table and nods encouragingly. Nick gives him a weak smile before lowering his eyes again.

“You should draw a picture for him, too.” Taryn whispers loudly again and Nick has to cover up his laugh with a cough when his sister looks up at him expectantly. “Here.” She pushes one of the blank sheet over towards him and Nick eyes the paper warily. Taryn hands him a red pencil and then turns back to her drawing. Nick shoots Louis an amused look and is about to say something, when his mom calls from the kitchen asking for some help.

Nick is about to get up when Louis tells him not to worry about it and gets up himself, leaving Nick with his siblings. The crooked smile on Louis’ lips makes Nick doubt that his intentions were solely altruistic and that he just wanted to see Nick struggle at drawing. His wondering is interrupted though when Taryn pokes him in the side with her pencil.

“Draw something.” She prompts and Nick looks back down at the still empty sheet of paper.

“I don’t know what though.” He says with a dramatic sigh. Taryn giggles.

“Look, I’m drawing a heart. You should draw a heart.” Nick glances over at her paper and oh. That is supposed to be heart, okay. Though he probably shouldn’t be that one talking when he has to draw himself now too. So he furrows his brows in concentration and tries to draw the outlines of hat turns out to be a very crippled looking heart.

“Color it in.” Noah says, pushing more pencils towards him and Nick picks up different colors to fill in the not really pretty looking shape as he is told. It takes him a while and so he listens to the twins’ bantering with amusement and watches Taryn draw next to him.

“I’m done.” Nick says after a while and puts the pencil down, having three curious eyes dart over to gaze at his drawing immediately.

“Awh,” Taryn says a smile on her face. “So pretty.”

“You have to sign it.” Levi says. “Write: To Louis, From Grimmy”

Nick does as he’s told and grabs a black pencil to write in the corner of the picture. He changes he twin’s suggestion and puts ‘To Louis, From Nicholas’ instead. Simply because be can. Oh well.

“Is it done?” Nick asks as he puts the pencil down again and looks at his younger siblings expectantly.

“I don’t know..” Levi trails off.

“Write something french.” Taryn suggests, her eyes already back on her own drawing.

“I don’t know anything french.” Nick says. And it’s true, his knowledge if the french language was very, very limited. The only thing he really knew was ‘Merci’ and he was pretty sure that meant thanks, so why would be put that?

“I know something.” Noah chips and pulls up an extra paper writing out something for Nick to copy. Nick glances down at it and isn’t really sure it that is actually a french phrase.

“Are you sure that’s how it’s spelled?” He asked sceptically eying the paper.

“Something like that.” Noah says with a shrug. “Louis always says it on the phone with his mom.”

“Okay.” Nick replies tentatively, starting to copy the words in order not to hurt his brother’s feelings. Louis would understand.

Te j’aim Nick copied before looking up at Noah again, tilting his head to the side in thought. “Sounds like jam. Anyways, what does that mean, Noah?”

“Oh. I love you.”

~

Half an hour later it starts to snow and the twins and Taryn drop everything around them in order to be the first ones in the backyard to play in the snow and catch the snowflakes out of the air. Nick is right behind them, bringing coats, hats, scarfs and gloves for his siblings and wrapping them up good until their warm and ready to go out again.

He pulls on his own coat and goes out with them, having to fight all three of them in an epic snowball fight. He loses, of course. But it’s fun and not even all that cold, because the twins are sure making him run and Taryn wants to be carried at all times, so he’s more than a little sweating twenty minutes into their outdoor adventure.

Thankfully Nick’s mom shows up not soon after, calling them all back inside for dinner. So Nick shoos the twins inside, carries Taryn right after them and then helps them get rid of their excessive clothing.

“Hang up your coats and wash your hands.” Nick says before he grabs his own coat and is about to follow them when Louis suddenly appears in the hallway. He looks at Nick with big eyes and then nudges his head towards the living room slightly.

“Can you..?” He starts and then walks into the living room. Nick eyes him curiously for a moment but then drops his jacket on the floor and follows him.

“Wha?” He starts asking, but Louis is only standing by the dinner table. All the papers have been cleared off of it and the pencils are gone, all replaced by dishes and silverware now. Louis holds up a single drawing for Nick to look at though and he recognizes it as his own.

“Well..” He starts off, though he isn’t quite sure if he’s about to explain himself or what. Louis cocks an eyebrow at him curiously, letting out a small laugh.

“Do you.. want to say je t’aime?” He asks and his mouth folds beautifully around the words, making them sound like a song or a poem or something just utterly beautiful. It definitely sounded different from what Noah told him, but Nick just assumed Louis is more likely to get it right.

“That.. sounds good when you say it.” Nick has to admit and a sly smirk plays around Louis’ lips.

“Does it now?”

“Yeah.. well. Maybe French isn’t all that stupid. It’s still pretty stupid, but.. you know.” Nick admits and Louis is grinning even wider than before.

“And?” He prompts, slowly stepping closer towards Nick.

“And maybe you‘re not all that stupid either?”

“And?” Louis prompts again, his face almost splitting in half with how wide he is grinning.

“And.. what?” Nick asks a little confused.

“And you can kiss me now.” Louis says and oh. Oh.

“Okay.”

Louis takes another step towards him and Nick lets his hands rest on his hips, guiding him closer until they are breathing in the same hot air in the same quick pants. A smile dances across Louis’ lips as he watches Nick’s eyes dart down towards his lips and then back to his eyes before he finally leans in to close the distance between them.