"Happy birthday, Tobias!" Louis cheered as he put the caterpillar cake with one candle on the tray of Tobias' high chair. It was his birthday, the first of November and the release of the boys final album was in three days.
Louis and Harry's family were at their house to celebrate. Zayn, Liam, Sophia, Niall and his new girlfriend Sarah were there too, holding hands as Tobias looked at the burning light with wide eyes.
He looked up at Louis who was smiling next to Harry and smiled. "Kank koo, dahey" he said. Everyone cooed as Louis pecked his forehead before standing behind the baby in his highchair with his hands on his tiny shoulders. "Blow it, baby boy" he said and blew past his head and exhaled past his ear so he didn't blow out the one candle. Zayn chuckled as he recorded it on his phone.
Tobias looked at the candle as Harry adjusted his hearing aid. Tobias sucked in a breath and puffed it out, making the flame disappear and people start cheering which made Tobias' smile fade and his face crumple. Harry took the candle from the cake and rubbed his sons cheek and pecked his forehead. "You're okay, son" he told him.
Even though Harry carried Tobias, he wasn't like the mother figure Louis was to him. Really, Harry was the man in the relationship, as much as Louis didn't want to admit it.
Harry didn't mind that his son and his fiancé were that tiny bit closer, it made him happy and proud that they were.
Tobias' whining stopped in a couple of seconds and afterwards he looked at his cake and dropped his head to the chocolate, eating the top of it as everyone laughed from the baby's face plant into the cake. Zayn laughed as he zoomed in on Tobias.
Louis smiled fondly as he cuddled into Harry's side and watched their son eat the food. After a while, Louis went to detach his son from the cake, not wanting a sick baby from eating too much chocolate.
"I know, Toby. But you will get poorly" Louis cooed as he picked up him, holding him on his hip as he cried. Zayn stopped recording and sent it to Harry.
Louis walked over to Liam with Tobias and sat next to him as the rest of the family watched a movie or played outside in the freezing weather. "Can I hold my little superman?" Liam asked, motioning to the superman shirt Tobias was wearing and jeans with little boots that Harry got made so they were specifically like his.
"Of course" he chuckled and handed him over. Tobias looked at Liam and reached out to pay his cheek but pulled away and scowled when he hit his beard. He babbled at Liam who pretended to know what he was talking about as Louis followed Zayn into the conservatory where he was sat down on the L-shaped sofa.
"You okay, mate?" Louis asked. Zayn hummed and then sighed.
"Your son is amazing" he stated. Louis nodded and sat next to him.
"Yeah. He surely is something" Louis chuckled as he looked through the closed glass door to where Liam, Sophia and Niall were all playing with Tobias and ruffling his ringlets.
Zayn sighed again and bit his lip. "Lou, I don't know who else to tell this to and I feel like I can only trust you to not tell anyone" he began.
"W-what is it?" Louis stuttered.
Zayn sighed "I don't want to tell you this on Tobias' birthday" he mumbled.
"No, don't be daft" Louis frowned.
"I-I have prostate cancer" Zayn cried. Louis just froze, his whole body locked up as Zayn played with his hands.
"I-it's not terminal though?" He choked out.
"No. It's not, thank god. But Lou, I'm okay. It's one of the easy cancers to survive. I will be fine" He promised.
Louis shook his head and climbed into Zayn's lap and buried his head into his chest. "I'm sorry for the way I acted when you left the band" Louis cried.
"Louis, that was two years ago" Zayn frowned but Louis just shook his head.
"I'm still sorry" he cried. "What's happening then? Shit! Will you be able to have children?" Louis gasped.
Zayn's eyes then filled with tears as he smiled, trying to put on a brave face. "I don't know. I mean, it's not testicular cancer but there can be complications," he said then hid his face in his hands. Louis sighed and hugged his head to his chest and rubbed his back.
"I'm so sorry" he whispered. Zayn didn't say anything, he kept quiet. Perrie didn't know anything as she was on tour with Little Mix. "You will be fine, you'll get through it" he whispered. Zayn nodded and wiped away his tears.
"It's Tobias' birthday. We are meant to be having fun" Zayn laughed. Louis chuckled sadly and nodded, standing up and opening the door for them both.
"Come here, baby boy" he whispered and picked up his son. "Hello" he told him.
"Hello" Tobias cheered with a giggle. Louis cooed and bounced him on his hip.
"Hi" Louis replied enthusiastically as Harry handed his band members a bottle of beer each. "Hi baby boy" he smiled fondly and kissed his cheek before putting him back down. Tobias crawled away to his toy box and grabbing handfuls of toys.
Harry sat down next to him and played with him while everyone else watched the movie.
Louis taking pictures of his boyfriend and child playing together, catching sight of the engagement ring on Harry's finger, reminding him that they had to finish planning their wedding for February as they already had a date and most of everything done.
After three hours, the boys started to head home, leaving Harry's family and Louis' family. "Let's have a nap then, Toby boby" Louis said and picked up the sleepy baby.
"Toby boby?" Harry laughed. Tobias lifted his head from Louis shoulder and scratched his eye with his balled up fist. Harry kissed his forehead and began cleaning up from the party as Louis went to rock him on his rocking chair in his room.
"Go to sleep, darling" Louis said as Tobias rested on his chest as they sat in the rocking chair.
"I wonder what you will be like when you are older, baby boy. Will you be. . . like dada, shy and talented or like me? What am I like baby?" Louis asked as Tobias shuffled around in his arms.
"Hot, confident, driven. Stubborn, sexy" Harry said as he walked in with Toby's thing 1 teddy bear. Louis rolled his eyes and took the teddy from his hands and gave it to Tobias who was now fast asleep.
He stood up and put him in his crib. They stared at him for a while and then went to plan the rest of their wedding which was just choosing wedding invitations and the wedding bands. "I can't wait to marry you. It's been a long time coming" Harry smiled.
"I know" Louis laughed and sat back on the sofa, looking at the stack of wedding invites that ranged from lifelong friends to celebrities they met last year.
This is going to be the second royal wedding to many of the fans and it will be talked about, celebrated and desired just like a royal wedding.
