Ficlet: Louis/Nick, kid fic + puppy
Dec. 9th, 2018 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magicalrocketshipsOriginally posted here.
ANONYMOUS ASKED louis x nick fic where louis' a single dad who lives next door & his kid keeps 'accidentally' stealing puppy whilst home sick from school & hiding her in various places around their house & louis' oblivious until nick turns up on his doorstep AGAIN, resigned smile on his face & an autographed 5sos picture as a bribe that louis works out his kid is a dog-napping rascal (except maybe his kid's ulterior motive all along is just to get the cute neighbour his dad is always staring at to come over)
THIS IS SORT OF YOUR PROMPT, ANON. Sort of. /o\
Louis/Nick, kid fic + puppy
The doorbell rings when Louis is just about done with making tea. They’re having beans on toast, which is just about the level Louis can achieve in the kitchen without having to concentrate really hard on not fucking things up. This week he’s achieving spectacular levels of fucking things up across the board, so he’s reverting to nice and simple in the kitchen.
“Max,” Louis yells, dropping his knife down onto the counter, turning the hob off under the beans, and darting out into the hall, “do not answer that door–"
Max is nowhere in sight, which is weird, because since they’ve moved in, Max has maintained that he has to answer the door to every visitor, under all circumstances. Max is naively, desperately in love with people, which is normally fine, except he's five. Louis is fairly sure he shouldn’t be in charge of answering the door and the phone, regardless of how much Max whines he wants to.
Louis answers the door to find a terribly tall, ridiculously quiffed guy on his doorstep, who Louis immediately recognises as Nick Grimshaw. Louis is aware that Nick Grimshaw lives next door, but he’s never actually met him. They’ve only lived here a few weeks, for a start, and Louis has been busy bunging Max into a new school and starting his new job, and that hasn’t left much time for anything other than a general aroma of harassed and exhausted.
"Hello,” Louis says, still looking around behind him for Max. Max is never quiet, which is partly why Louis is exhausted ninety-eight per cent of the time, and he’s never not under Louis’ feet.
“Hi,” quiffed Nick Grimshaw says, raising his hand in greeting. He looks a bit awkward, which Louis would like to delve more into, because Nick works for Radio 1, and Louis has been listening to the Breakfast Show his entire life, and Louis doesn’t really know what to do with the way his heart is speeding up in his chest at the sight of his secret idol. “Uh, not to be rude, but has your kid got my dog?”
Louis bristles. “No, my kid has not got your dog, whatever you might mean by that.” He is terribly defensive of Max, who is, by all accounts, a bit of a menace. He has a subscription to The Beano and has counted Dennis the Menace as his hero since he was old enough to pick his own bedtime stories. Louis is ever so proud of him, at least he is when he’s not too exhausted to keep his eyes open. Now he’s just weary.
“Right,” Nick Grimshaw says. “I’m just asking because the last time Puppy went missing, your kid had him tucked away under a bush in your garden, and now my dog’s gone, and–”
“Have you been talking to my son?” Louis asks, sharply. “Without me there?”
“I only leaned over the fence and asked him if he’d seen Puppy–”
“Max hasn’t seen your stupid dog,” Louis snaps. “He’s upstairs playing, so don’t come round here with your stupid accusations.” He shuts the door in Nick Grimshaw’s face. “Max. Max, answer me.” He goes upstairs, and stomps into Max’s bedroom. “Did the next door neighbour talk to you?”
Max is sitting in the middle of his bedroom, hugging a dog that does not belong to either Louis or Max, and the dog is, rather unfortunately, wearing a pink princess dress. At least Max looks guilty.
“Crap,” Louis says. “Max, where did you get that dog?”
The dog woofs. Louis rolls his eyes, and scoops him up and out of Max’s arms. Max woofs too.
“No barking,” Louis says. “Tell me, because now we’re going to have to go round to bloody Nick Grimshaw’s house and give him his dog back, and I’d quite like to know how he ended up in your bedroom anyway.”
“There’s a hole in the fence,” Max says, looking put upon.
“And the dog crawled through?”
“I crawled through,” Max says.
His son is a dog thief. Glorious. His job is shit and he hates it and he’s hundreds of miles away from his friends, and now he has to go and knock on Nick Grimshaw’s door and give him his stolen dog back. “Right,” Louis says, and he lets out a breath and takes Max’s hand. “Come on, let’s go and give Nick Grimshaw his dog back, and then you and me can have a little talk, all right?”
“Don’t want to,” Max says, and his lower lip wobbles. “My dog.”
“He’s not your dog, love, and his owner’s worried about him.”
God, going tail between his legs to Nick Grimshaw’s front door is hardly his idea of fun. Max is crying by the time they get there, and it’s all Louis can do to ring the doorbell and bundle the dog into Nick’s arms and apologise, before he’s having to lift a sobbing Max up and hug him tight. Max is wailing about wanting a dog, and Louis tries to blink away tears too, because moving has been so hard and he just wants to be able to curl up and cry too, because being a parent is hard.
They end up spending the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa, eating cold beans on toast, under a blanket watching Monsters Inc., talking quietly about dogs and stealing. When it’s bedtime, Louis avoids The Beano in favour of the Rupert annual. Max is asleep even before the end of the story, and after Louis has made sure his nightlight is on and his door is ajar, he goes into his room and faceplants into his bed and tries to work out how he got to this point in his life.
~*~
Nick Grimshaw turns up the following evening after tea, when Louis and Max have just had a competition to see who could eat the most chocolate mousse without using a spoon, so Louis is still wiping his face on a tea towel even as Max is opening the front door.
“Max–” Louis says, trying to get to the door first, but it’s too late. Max is literally covered in chocolate mousse, and Louis is fairly sure he is too, although at least he’s got the worst of it on the tea towel. “Sorry, hi.”
“Hi,” Max says, clutching on to Louis’ hand. “Hi.”
Nick is holding Puppy in one hand, and the pink princess dress in the other. “I think this is yours,"
"That’s mine,” Max says, holding out his chocolatey hand.
“Sorry,” Louis says. “We were just, um, having a race.”
“A chocolate race,” Max supplies.
“I can see,” Nick says, crouching down so that he’s on a level with Max. “Did you win?”
“Daddy did,” Max makes a face. “But he cheats.”
Louis does sometimes. It’s a thing. “Only a little bit,” Louis supplies. “Come on, let me get you cleaned up, Max.” The tea towel is ineffectual, and they’re both probably a mess. Nick drops the princess dress down onto the side table by the door, and looks a bit awkward.
“I was wondering,” Nick says, “and only if it’s okay with your Dad, but if you might want to play with Puppy sometimes.”
Louis lets out a breath, and tries not to sag back against the wall. He’d really like a dog, but there is literally no way at this point in time that he could cope with Max and their lives and a dog on top of that, regardless of how much he might want one.
“Is that a yes from your dad?” Nick asks, and he looks hopeful.
“It’s a yes,” Louis says, and Max does an actual victory dance right there in the hall. “Do you want a cup of tea?” he asks Nick, because he has a feeling he was way too short with him yesterday. “As an apology for yesterday. And for me being a dick.” He says dick quietly, but Max is already clamouring to play with Nick’s dog, and Nick’s dog looks just as excited as Max does.
“Okay,” Nick says, and then he motions towards Max, and his dog. “Can I?”
“Go ahead,” Louis says. “Place is a big enough mess as it is, a dog can only improve matters.”
He washes his hands and face, and Max’s hands and face as the kettle boils, and afterwards he and Nick sit in Louis’ messy living room whilst Max and Puppy run round the house in loud, untidy, complicated circles, chaos following in their wake, both of them barking madly.
“Puppy’s my new best friend,” Max tells him, tumbling into Louis’ lap half an hour later. Puppy does the same with Nick’s lap. Max gives Louis a messy kiss on his cheek, and Louis gives him one right on back. “Can Puppy come over every night?”
Louis glances over towards Nick, who is looking a little flushed. Louis tries to ignore the way his heart beats a little faster in his chest at Nick’s cautious smile.
“Nick’s busy, love.” Louis says, carefully.
“I don’t know,” Nick says, “I think I could come round sometimes. If your dad’s okay with it.”
Louis swallows. “I’m okay with it,” he says.
“And maybe,” Nick says, “if you’d like, the two of you could come round for dinner. See where Puppy hangs out.”
“Right,” Louis says, and he’s glad there’s a massive framed picture of him and Max and Louis’ friends at Pride on the wall, waving a massive rainbow flag in the air, because it reduces the questions required for actual coming out. “I could bring a bottle.”
“That’d be nice,” Nick says, eyes on Louis, and Louis is fairly sure he’s been asked out on a date, which is weird. And nice. And scary. It’s been almost five years since he’s been on a date. He’s not entirely sure that this is actually one, but it feels like it might be. He’ll figure out the details later.
“Puppy needs a present too,” Max reminds him, and Louis nods.
“You’re absolutely right, Maximillian,” Louis tells him. “We will bring puppy treats, all wrapped up in a bow.”
“Yes,” Max says, and snuggles into Louis’ side. “That’s right, Daddy.”
Over the top of Max’s head, Louis offers Nick a cautious smile, and Nick smiles right on back.
ANONYMOUS ASKED louis x nick fic where louis' a single dad who lives next door & his kid keeps 'accidentally' stealing puppy whilst home sick from school & hiding her in various places around their house & louis' oblivious until nick turns up on his doorstep AGAIN, resigned smile on his face & an autographed 5sos picture as a bribe that louis works out his kid is a dog-napping rascal (except maybe his kid's ulterior motive all along is just to get the cute neighbour his dad is always staring at to come over)
THIS IS SORT OF YOUR PROMPT, ANON. Sort of. /o\
Louis/Nick, kid fic + puppy
The doorbell rings when Louis is just about done with making tea. They’re having beans on toast, which is just about the level Louis can achieve in the kitchen without having to concentrate really hard on not fucking things up. This week he’s achieving spectacular levels of fucking things up across the board, so he’s reverting to nice and simple in the kitchen.
“Max,” Louis yells, dropping his knife down onto the counter, turning the hob off under the beans, and darting out into the hall, “do not answer that door–"
Max is nowhere in sight, which is weird, because since they’ve moved in, Max has maintained that he has to answer the door to every visitor, under all circumstances. Max is naively, desperately in love with people, which is normally fine, except he's five. Louis is fairly sure he shouldn’t be in charge of answering the door and the phone, regardless of how much Max whines he wants to.
Louis answers the door to find a terribly tall, ridiculously quiffed guy on his doorstep, who Louis immediately recognises as Nick Grimshaw. Louis is aware that Nick Grimshaw lives next door, but he’s never actually met him. They’ve only lived here a few weeks, for a start, and Louis has been busy bunging Max into a new school and starting his new job, and that hasn’t left much time for anything other than a general aroma of harassed and exhausted.
"Hello,” Louis says, still looking around behind him for Max. Max is never quiet, which is partly why Louis is exhausted ninety-eight per cent of the time, and he’s never not under Louis’ feet.
“Hi,” quiffed Nick Grimshaw says, raising his hand in greeting. He looks a bit awkward, which Louis would like to delve more into, because Nick works for Radio 1, and Louis has been listening to the Breakfast Show his entire life, and Louis doesn’t really know what to do with the way his heart is speeding up in his chest at the sight of his secret idol. “Uh, not to be rude, but has your kid got my dog?”
Louis bristles. “No, my kid has not got your dog, whatever you might mean by that.” He is terribly defensive of Max, who is, by all accounts, a bit of a menace. He has a subscription to The Beano and has counted Dennis the Menace as his hero since he was old enough to pick his own bedtime stories. Louis is ever so proud of him, at least he is when he’s not too exhausted to keep his eyes open. Now he’s just weary.
“Right,” Nick Grimshaw says. “I’m just asking because the last time Puppy went missing, your kid had him tucked away under a bush in your garden, and now my dog’s gone, and–”
“Have you been talking to my son?” Louis asks, sharply. “Without me there?”
“I only leaned over the fence and asked him if he’d seen Puppy–”
“Max hasn’t seen your stupid dog,” Louis snaps. “He’s upstairs playing, so don’t come round here with your stupid accusations.” He shuts the door in Nick Grimshaw’s face. “Max. Max, answer me.” He goes upstairs, and stomps into Max’s bedroom. “Did the next door neighbour talk to you?”
Max is sitting in the middle of his bedroom, hugging a dog that does not belong to either Louis or Max, and the dog is, rather unfortunately, wearing a pink princess dress. At least Max looks guilty.
“Crap,” Louis says. “Max, where did you get that dog?”
The dog woofs. Louis rolls his eyes, and scoops him up and out of Max’s arms. Max woofs too.
“No barking,” Louis says. “Tell me, because now we’re going to have to go round to bloody Nick Grimshaw’s house and give him his dog back, and I’d quite like to know how he ended up in your bedroom anyway.”
“There’s a hole in the fence,” Max says, looking put upon.
“And the dog crawled through?”
“I crawled through,” Max says.
His son is a dog thief. Glorious. His job is shit and he hates it and he’s hundreds of miles away from his friends, and now he has to go and knock on Nick Grimshaw’s door and give him his stolen dog back. “Right,” Louis says, and he lets out a breath and takes Max’s hand. “Come on, let’s go and give Nick Grimshaw his dog back, and then you and me can have a little talk, all right?”
“Don’t want to,” Max says, and his lower lip wobbles. “My dog.”
“He’s not your dog, love, and his owner’s worried about him.”
God, going tail between his legs to Nick Grimshaw’s front door is hardly his idea of fun. Max is crying by the time they get there, and it’s all Louis can do to ring the doorbell and bundle the dog into Nick’s arms and apologise, before he’s having to lift a sobbing Max up and hug him tight. Max is wailing about wanting a dog, and Louis tries to blink away tears too, because moving has been so hard and he just wants to be able to curl up and cry too, because being a parent is hard.
They end up spending the rest of the evening curled up on the sofa, eating cold beans on toast, under a blanket watching Monsters Inc., talking quietly about dogs and stealing. When it’s bedtime, Louis avoids The Beano in favour of the Rupert annual. Max is asleep even before the end of the story, and after Louis has made sure his nightlight is on and his door is ajar, he goes into his room and faceplants into his bed and tries to work out how he got to this point in his life.
~*~
Nick Grimshaw turns up the following evening after tea, when Louis and Max have just had a competition to see who could eat the most chocolate mousse without using a spoon, so Louis is still wiping his face on a tea towel even as Max is opening the front door.
“Max–” Louis says, trying to get to the door first, but it’s too late. Max is literally covered in chocolate mousse, and Louis is fairly sure he is too, although at least he’s got the worst of it on the tea towel. “Sorry, hi.”
“Hi,” Max says, clutching on to Louis’ hand. “Hi.”
Nick is holding Puppy in one hand, and the pink princess dress in the other. “I think this is yours,"
"That’s mine,” Max says, holding out his chocolatey hand.
“Sorry,” Louis says. “We were just, um, having a race.”
“A chocolate race,” Max supplies.
“I can see,” Nick says, crouching down so that he’s on a level with Max. “Did you win?”
“Daddy did,” Max makes a face. “But he cheats.”
Louis does sometimes. It’s a thing. “Only a little bit,” Louis supplies. “Come on, let me get you cleaned up, Max.” The tea towel is ineffectual, and they’re both probably a mess. Nick drops the princess dress down onto the side table by the door, and looks a bit awkward.
“I was wondering,” Nick says, “and only if it’s okay with your Dad, but if you might want to play with Puppy sometimes.”
Louis lets out a breath, and tries not to sag back against the wall. He’d really like a dog, but there is literally no way at this point in time that he could cope with Max and their lives and a dog on top of that, regardless of how much he might want one.
“Is that a yes from your dad?” Nick asks, and he looks hopeful.
“It’s a yes,” Louis says, and Max does an actual victory dance right there in the hall. “Do you want a cup of tea?” he asks Nick, because he has a feeling he was way too short with him yesterday. “As an apology for yesterday. And for me being a dick.” He says dick quietly, but Max is already clamouring to play with Nick’s dog, and Nick’s dog looks just as excited as Max does.
“Okay,” Nick says, and then he motions towards Max, and his dog. “Can I?”
“Go ahead,” Louis says. “Place is a big enough mess as it is, a dog can only improve matters.”
He washes his hands and face, and Max’s hands and face as the kettle boils, and afterwards he and Nick sit in Louis’ messy living room whilst Max and Puppy run round the house in loud, untidy, complicated circles, chaos following in their wake, both of them barking madly.
“Puppy’s my new best friend,” Max tells him, tumbling into Louis’ lap half an hour later. Puppy does the same with Nick’s lap. Max gives Louis a messy kiss on his cheek, and Louis gives him one right on back. “Can Puppy come over every night?”
Louis glances over towards Nick, who is looking a little flushed. Louis tries to ignore the way his heart beats a little faster in his chest at Nick’s cautious smile.
“Nick’s busy, love.” Louis says, carefully.
“I don’t know,” Nick says, “I think I could come round sometimes. If your dad’s okay with it.”
Louis swallows. “I’m okay with it,” he says.
“And maybe,” Nick says, “if you’d like, the two of you could come round for dinner. See where Puppy hangs out.”
“Right,” Louis says, and he’s glad there’s a massive framed picture of him and Max and Louis’ friends at Pride on the wall, waving a massive rainbow flag in the air, because it reduces the questions required for actual coming out. “I could bring a bottle.”
“That’d be nice,” Nick says, eyes on Louis, and Louis is fairly sure he’s been asked out on a date, which is weird. And nice. And scary. It’s been almost five years since he’s been on a date. He’s not entirely sure that this is actually one, but it feels like it might be. He’ll figure out the details later.
“Puppy needs a present too,” Max reminds him, and Louis nods.
“You’re absolutely right, Maximillian,” Louis tells him. “We will bring puppy treats, all wrapped up in a bow.”
“Yes,” Max says, and snuggles into Louis’ side. “That’s right, Daddy.”
Over the top of Max’s head, Louis offers Nick a cautious smile, and Nick smiles right on back.
