flannel shirts [l.s mpreg]

three.

two months later, louis starts to get discouraged. this could partly be due to the fact that ever since be told zayn he and harry were trying, it was all zayn could talk about. well, that and liam. but louis couldn't help but feel like he was letting everyone down and besides that, he felt like harry had been distant and it made him nervous.

louis had cut alcohol out of his diet and eventually made harry do the same (the boys were very annoyed by this because niall had no one to get drunk with since "zayn spends too much time with perrie and liam is a prick" ((niall didn't know zayn was only friends with perrie and liam wasnt so much a prick as he was totally in love with niall))). louis only ate healthy and made harry cook every night for the two of them so eventually harry started sneaking out to meet niall at mickey d's sometimes during work.

so when louis woke up one day and got sick not 30 seconds later, he couldn't help but feel elated, despite how shitty he felt. and harry was right behind him with a glass of water and a toothbrush.

when harry went with him to get pregnancy tests (not one, but six), he paid for all of them and couldn't help but feel a little bit excited too.

and when all the tests came back as negative, harry held louis and let him cry. and well, who's to judge if harry cried a little himself?

harry was there the next day, too, when louis was suffering from the stomach flu and overall disappointment. harry made soup, which louis promptly threw up, and cuddled louis while watching romantic comedies in bed. louis wore nothing but harry's purple flannel and boxers and harry wore his red flannel and sweats and a huge smile, despite their unfortunate situation, because louis didn't make a single comment about how gay the flannel looked.

so when zayn asked louis one night if they could expect a little baby harry any time soon, it's understandable why louis would start crying.

and as harry was so used to doing, he held louis tightly and stroked is hair and whispered soothing words in his ear. "lou, honey, you can't keep doing this to yourself. being so sad like this, it's not healthy. it's not accomplishing anything, lou." harry was trying to be soothing and make louis feel better, but all he earned was a look from louis that made harry lose hope and harry was too tired to put up a fight.

"oh my god," louis whispers. "are you blaming me for this?" and more tears  comes and harry watches in agony as he begins to clean up the damage.

"no, fuck, lou, of course not," harry says quickly, sweeping louis back into his arms and holding him tightly. "i would never do that, this is not your fault. it's not anyone's fault. it'll happen, i swear. louis, i want to do this for you, you know i do. i'll do anything, lou."

"anything?" louis whispers, his voice hoarse but still sweet sounding, a somewhat familiar sound that soothes harry. "even adoption?"

"louis," harry trails off. "i know that's not what you want."

"you said anything," louis cries.

harry nods and pulls louis back in once more. "ok, but you know adoption might take a while?"

louis sniffs and wipes his nose against the green and blue flannel harry's got on over his white v-neck. "i just need a guarantee at this point, haz."

one afternoon while harry was at work, liam was helping louis look over the adoption applications and countless files with information and needless to say, they were both a tad overwhelmed and liam was a tad bit distracted by the new found information of the possibility that niall could be seeing someone.

"has niall said anything about him dating?" liam brought it up casually as to not arouse suspicion in his friend but louis was on to the three of them and didn't try to stifle his snort.

"what's it to you, mate?"

liam blushes a deep shade of crimson and louis laughs the loudest he has in weeks.

in other news, zayn's been spending a lot of time at niall's playing fifa and niall couldn't be happier, though liam could do without the two's constant compliments of each other because damnit, why didn't niall invite him over to play fifa? zayn does his best to make sure liam's happy all the time but liam is distracted by zayn's fawning because who is niall texting and why does their name have a heart?

if it wasn't clear, tensions were high and it wasn't helping that harry was barely making any of the friend's gatherings anymore. the curly haired boy was working late every night, trying to earn enough money for doctor's appointments and adoption meetings and a nursery and god forbid, braces. he was going out of his mind and louis didn't seem to notice or care.

it was a rough time between all the boys and the only thing that soothed this was the puppy that louis had bought one day when he was feeling down. except for harry ended up paying for it and taking care of it so it ended up living with niall, who was grateful for the company because it gave him an excuse besides video games to invite zayn over.

overall, it was a rough time in their lives but on the bright side, through all the stress this had brought on harry, he did find enough time to buy a new plant. and so far, it was still living.