We soon arrive at their flat, Elia singing ‘Jingle bells’ excitedly as she takes of her shoes, throwing them, along with her jacket, into a corner before running to the kitchen.
“Think she’s really excited since you’re here”, Harry says, smiling, “Guess I’m a little too boring for her.”
I know Harry meant that as a joke but I still feel the need to defend him so I shake my head. “You’re the most amazing dad she could’ve ever wished for.”
He looks at me for a few seconds, his lips tilted a little. “You genuinely think so?”, he asks, gulping.
“I do, yes”, I say, nodding.
“Thank you”, he breathes, starting to smile broadly as if a big weight fell off his shoulder. While we walk to the kitchen, I can’t help but wonder why it seemed like no one has told him that before in the last three and a half years.
“I’m ready”, Elia shouts, a small apron that has cupcakes on it, dangling from her neck, “But someone has to tie cause I dont know how.”
“Don’t you look adorable?”, Harry says, picking her up and pressing kisses all over her face which causes her start squealing loudly.
“Daddy, stop, that’s no fun”, she shouts, trying to kick him with her tiny legs as Harry keeps teasing her for a little longer before he puts her down on the ground to tie her apron.
“You don’t have one?”, I ask Harry, pointing to hers, “That’s a little disappointing.”
“He has!” Elia grins excitedly and opens a drawer to pull out a fully pink apron, a big crown on the front. “It’s super pretty”, she says, smiling happily.
Harry presses his lips together, I’m not sure that’s due to embarrassment or amusement but he then shrugs and takes it. “It’s super pretty”, he repeats.
“And I didn’t get it myself. My sister thought it was a good Christmas present”, he quickly adds.
“Louis”, Elia then shouts, still kneeling on the floor, looking into the drawer, “I don’t finded another one for you.” She pouts a little and I might as well melt.
“That’s alright”, I say, “I’m good without one, thank you, darling.”
“Amazing”, Harry mutters, “Of course I had to get this one.”
“It’s super pretty”, I repeat, smiling as I take it from his hands and slip it over his head and I can’t really tell because he quickly bends down to tie Elia’s apron, but it looked a little as if he blushed.
“Okay”, Elia says, clapping her hands and climbing onto a little wooden stool, “Lets go!”
I smile at Harry who is smiling at Elia fondly, somehow feeling happy because of how much love he has for her.
“Okay, Li, what do we need?”, he asks her, ruffling through her hair.
“Flour”, she says, drawing her eyebrows together as she thinks, “Water?”
“No, not really”, Harry says, “I suggest we rather use some milk. Will you get it out of the fridge as well as some eggs?”
She nods, hopping off the stool and walking over to the fridge, unable to reach all of the things she needs, causing me to walk over and help her.
“Thank you”, she says, smiling as she takes the eggs and milk from my hands. I get a little anxious that she’ll drop the eggs or the glass bottle of milk but she makes it to the counter safely and places it all there.
“I feel like there’s still something missing”, I say, staring at the stuff, actually trying to figure out what ingredients you need for cookies.
Harry laughs, rolling his eyes a little. “Come on, Louis, you can figure it out.”
I look at Elia a little helplessly, desperately looking for an answer and she giggles, throwing her head back. “Sugar”, she whispers.
“Sugar”, I repeat a little louder, nodding confidently.
“Did you cheat?”, Harry asks, looking at Elia with a playfully mad look on his face, “I have a feeling that I heard you whisper the answer to Louis, is that true?” He raises his eyebrows and approaches her slowly reaching his hands out.
Elia shakes her head, curls flying into her face. “Nah, Louis’ just so smart.”
“Why, thank you, love”, I say, nodding proudly, “See, Harry, I’m just really smart. Your daughter’s right.”
Elia giggles, her hair falling into her eyes again. Harry takes the hair tie he’s tied around his wrist and takes half of Elia’s hair to tie it into a small bun on top of her head.
We finally start baking after a while and, surprisingly, I actually learn how to bake a tiny bit. We start cutting out the dough with little metal shapes, just like we used to do when I was younger and it remind me of home a lot.
“So pretty”, Elia exclaims, happily gently patting a small star she just cut out. “Later comes the best”, she says, directing her explanation at me, “Cause then we sprinkle all the sugar on top.”
We wait for the dough to cook in the oven while sitting down on the couch, Elia undressing and re-dressing her dolls over and over again as me and Harry talk about Christmas for a little while.
“I’m driving home to my parents”, I say, taking Lilly from Elia to button up her shirt, “My sister’s are coming too, it’s been like this every year.”
“We celebrate with Gems and Leo”, Elia says, taking Lilly back from me to slip a cardigan over her.
“My sister and her boyfriend”, Harry explains, a bit of sadness in his voice.
We change the topic to the winter break a little later and talk about how Harry is planning on also taking a break from work before the cookies are done.
“I do a little pink star with blue and purple glitter”, Elia says, showing the sugary cookie to me before smiling proudly.
“I’m gonna do a little small-“, I pause, “hang on, is that a kangaroo?”
Elia throws her head back as she laughs, a little bit of blue glitter sticking to her lips as she shakes her head violently. “No, Louis”, she calls out, “It’s a reindeer!”
I slap my hand to my mouth, turning the cookie ninety degrees until I actually see it.
“You know what, I think a Christmas kangaroo sounds better.” I start trying to draw a little face onto it but in the end, it ends up looking a little beaten up, but it makes Elia laugh happily so the rest doesn’t really matter at all.
We’re done when it’s getting dark outside again and Elia is occupied with showing Timmy her cookies so Harry accompanies me to the door, smiling once I’m dressed.
“Thanks for coming”, he says.
“Thanks for inviting me. It was fun.”
He nods in agreement and takes a shy step forward before wrapping his arms around me again, my face resting against his shoulder, for the few short seconds we stay like that, close to each other.
“Have a good Christmas”, he says, “Maybe you wanna come over soon afterwards.”
I nod, smiling again. “You too. We’ll make sure to see each other again this year.”
~~~
hope you enjoyed :)
actually might be able to publish a chapter every day because I'm nearly done with writing this <3
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Apricity (l.s.)
FanfictionLouis is good with children, so it's obvious that he decides for babysitting as a way to earn money while studying. Harry is a single dad. Raising his three-year-old isn't easy, but he's managing. But now Louis is there to help him, making Harry fee...
