Chapter Text
2005 - Late Fall
Prelude
Louis Tomlinson & Company
Louis sidestepped the front door, the moment he saw his sister’s feet dangling off the roof, that could realistically mean only one thing. Their parents were at each others throats again. He walked around to the side of the house, grabbed the questionable ladder from behind the rose bushes (he and Anastasia had stolen it about three years ago from their overly angry neighbor - who surprisingly still thought they were thieves). He climbed to the top to see Anastasia holding both Daisy and Phoebe, stretched out on a blanket of sorts, Fizzy and Lottie a little higher on the roof, eyes covered in tears, and their little faces wrapped up in concern. Louis sighed, climbed the rest of the way up, and wrapped his arms around Dase and Bebe. Anastasia passed him a fag, and blew out the drag she’d been holding in, they sat under the sparkling stars, and for a moment no one dared breathe or talk.
Louis watched as Anastasia pulled a large rucksack closer to her, and drew out a bunch of blankets, passing them around for the kids. They shared a look over the kids' heads, as Anastasia pulled herself further up the shingles, bringing the little girls with her, until they were at the soft incline that Louis, Lots, and Fiz were. The two oldest sat in complete silence, as the yelling from inside the house waffered upward, crashing could be heard, as the stars twinkled above them the younger four finally fell asleep. He had no clue how late it was, when the front door slammed open, and their da stormed out, suitcase in hand, he turned to look at the six on the roof, before he shook his head, and hurried to the car. Their da, Mark, wasn’t Louis or Anastasia’s father. Louis’ father had taken off when he was ten days old - and he hoped to never see him again. Anastasia’s father was a nameless man from their mother's one attempt at ‘partying’ when Louis was about three months old.
“What was it about this time?” Louis asked, his voice raw from the fag, and the cold that was creeping in, both he and Anastasia had shed their blankets to wrap them securely around the girls.
Anastasia shivered, her eyes looking upward, tears falling from her lashes. “Mark told her today that he didn’t want a family, anymore.” She said and motioned for the fag, Louis passed it over, and let her take a drag, knowing she would need a moment, “Apparently, the twins made it too much.” She added, sad and a little dazed, “Like four kids weren’t a handful enough, but mum had to go and deliver twins.” The twins in question were almost one, and had no business being on the roof, but still - it was the one place that was safe when nights got like this. “Mum kicked him out over dinner.” She added, and passed the fag back to him, “What the hell are we going to do, now?” She breathed out, fear in her eyes.
It was a heavy weight, Louis realized as he looked at her, to be thirteen and the main caregiver in the house (their mother was always working to make ends meet). Louis himself was only fourteen, too young to get a serious job, and too old to be considered a kid (neither he nor Anastasia would be able to enroll in summer programs provided by the community). Lottie was seven, Felicite was five, and the twins were on the cusp of one. Tonight was fucked. “We can sort it out, I promise.” Louis nor Anastasia ever broke, they never cried, never let the little ones see how affected they were by the events around them.
“Thought you would be out here.” Their mum, Jay, called up to them, hands on her hips as she gazed upward. “Are you coming down anytime soon?” She asked, clearly a little concerned.
“The babies are asleep.” Louis offered, “How about you come up?”
With that Jay clambered up the ladder, and with helping hands from both Anastasia and Louis she found herself perched on the roof above them, at almost the flat of the spine. “So, you’ve been up here a lot lately, and I’m really sorry.” She bit her cheek, tears were threatening to fall, “The thing is, this time I don’t think Mark is coming back.” She felt her oldest two take her hands, and squeeze. “I’m so sorry, babies, I thought he’d be the one to stick around.” She looked up to the sky then, “I thought he’d always be my friend.” She bit at her bottom lip, her face red from crying, and her eyes puffy. “We can’t afford this house anymore, I’m sorry.” She breathed, “Part of him leaving is because we were going to be… well we’ve been evicted.” Jay shivered a bit, as Louis and Anastasia both offered her a corner of the blankets, they had left that were not wrapped around the children.
“Are we going back to Grans?” Anastasia asked after a moment.
Jay sighed, and looked over at her eldest daughter, then back to her son, “No, not this time.”
“Mum?” Louis breathed.
Jay gave them a tired smile, “I’ve managed to save up some, darlings, we are going to move out of Doncaster.” She breathed after a moment, “Going to get some space.” She sighed, then leaned over to rest her head on Louis’ shoulders, Anastasia tucked herself around her mother’s legs, curving her body to protect the little ones from sliding downward, while Louis let his hand fall onto Fizzy’s shoulder, to hold the five year old in place. “Moving somewhere better.” Jay promised them, and tumbled into exhausted sleep herself.
Anastasia looked up at the moon, just as Louis looked over at his sister, “What the fook does that mean?”
“Means we’ll be moving in the middle of the night, again.” Anastasia sighed. “Only this time we aren’t running cause Mark’s done something wonkers, we're running cause Mum’s afraid of the past and future.”