Harry Styles Imagines and Preferences Book Two

Requested

"Do you want to hold her?" Ed asks suddenly, and you snap out of your trance to see you're about to slip from the love seat in a bid to get closer to the three-week-old sleeping in her father's arms.

"Who, me? No, nope. I'm fine over here where I can't, you know, drop her on her head and disable her for life," you murmur as you scoot back on the couch without diverting your gaze from Stella's dark auburn hair, Harry's amused chuckle reaching your ears as he pulls you back against him.

"Good thinking, that's a real possibility where you and children are concerned," Louis quips without looking up from his intense FIFA match against Liam, followed by a snort of agreement from a tipsy Niall.

"We all know that's not true!" Harry spits defensively, although you can tell by the rumbles vibrating into your back from his chest that he's trying his hardest not to laugh, "you know how good she is with Lux."

"Everyone's good with Lux, she's indestructible to the point that shewants me to 'accidentally' hit her in the face with a football," Louis retorts.

"Well, he's not wrong," you hear Lou sigh as she emerges from behind the couch with a squirming Lux on her hip, both of them covered in finger paint with Lux's grin tinted a terrifying shade of Happy Apple Red.

"I know you'll be brilliant and I'm right here, okay? We'll do this together," Harry murmurs reassuringly before nodding at Ed, who slowly rises from his chair with Stella.

You reach out hesitantly, Harry's hands moving your arms and adjusting your posture as he instructs you on how to properly cradle her head and to relax, love. Just relax.

"There, you got it," he whispers and you can hear the smile in his voice, his words of comfort drowning out the background noise saturating the stadium's private lounge.

You tend to get nervous holding children who aren't old enough to escape on their own, so you try and avoid it altogether. But when Ed let go and Stella was safely in your arms, a tiny bundle of warm wool and pink skin, it was like she was meant to be there.

"She's perfect, Ed," you tell your oldest friend as you stare at his daughter in awe, the perfect mix of her father and mother.

"See, you have something in common already," Harry breathes as his hands fall from your wrists to cradle your waist, taking care not to jostle you and Stella in the process.

Turning your head slightly, you nudge his nose and he presses his soft lips to yours, your stomach flipping in a new kind of need - one of instinct.

Stella starts to move in your arms, and you glance down to see her yawning, sleepy lids blinking to reveal tropical blue eyes you've known since you were just as young.

"It could be like this all the time, you know," Harry says, "we could buy a spot in the country, some place where we could get away from everything and have a real life. The tour's over in a month and...and we could start a family."

You fail to notice how the room has gone quiet apart from the dull screams of the fans waiting for the show to start, completely absorbed in how right it feels holding this tiny life in your grasp with Harry's lips on your temple and thumping heart beating in time with yours.

"Look at yourself," Harry mumbles sometime later as you continue to struggle with how to process the gravity of his words, "look at us. We're made for this - for each other."

Zayn breaks the silence with an over-dramatic sigh, one he's perfected after being subjected to your constant mushiness for months on end.

"It seems the rest of the world agrees," Lou states as she walks over and hands her phone to Harry, who recites the tweet Lou posted just minutes before.

Lou Teasdale @louteasdale
The world is waiting @harry_styles & @y/n, tick tock tick tock x

Harry is silent for a moment before bringing the screen in front of you, the picture Lou attached showing you both in a light nobody - including you - has ever seen before.

You and Harry are in your own world, his kiss to your head frozen in time. Your face is filled with awe and wonder as you stare down at Stella, the love radiating from the both of you spilling from the photo. If seeing yourself like that wasn't proof enough that Lou was right, the thousands of comments and record-breaking amount of re-tweets combined with a constant stream of supportive and aww-inducing comments sure was.

"I love you and we're ready for this. I want you and a baby and us more than I've wanted anything in my entire life." Harry didn't care that he wasn't just speaking to me anymore; he didn't care if the entire world knew.

You look up to see the rest of the boys, Lou, Ed, and a few other members of your entourage watching you closely but your gaze quickly shifts to Harry, his sincerity showing itself in the way he waits patiently and breathes just for you.

"Me too."