Today was Harry and Louis's date, and to say Harry was freaking out would be an understatement. Niall is over to help him get ready and to help keep an eye on Darcy, but that's the easy part because she was sitting beside Niall on the bed watching Harry throw clothes out of his closet. Neither was he doing anything for his breakdown, just sitting there watching him while eating popcorn.
"Niall James Horan!" Harry exclaimed and turned around. His hair went all directions by the number of times he'd pulled it.
"Alright, alright," Niall said with a chuckle and gave Darcy the bowl of popcorn. He scanned all of Harry's clothes that were on the floor. He looked at Harry, scanned him head to toe and then back at the clothes on the floor and started to pick stuff up. He then shoved the clothes in Harry's arm and pushed him to the bathroom. "We'll clean," Niall said, and Darcy made a noise of protest.
"I don't wanna clean, I wanna put it all on the bed and jump in it like a pile of leaves," Harry stopped in his tracks and stared at his daughter before shaking his head with a smile and walking away.
Fifteen minutes later, Harry walked back into the room, and sure enough, all his clothes were on his bed with Niall and Darcy in the middle of it laughing. Harry cleared his throat, and they both shot up and scanned Harry from head to toe.
"I think I should quit music and pursue fashion," Niall said, and Harry picked up one of his jackets and threw it at Niall. "You look good, actually better than good."
"Thanks, Ni," Harry walked to the full-length mirror and looked himself over again and fixed his hair.
"Daddy? Do you have to go?" Darcy asked shyly, and Harry turned around and saw her looking at her fingers and playing with them.
"I thought you were okay with this," Harry said, and Darcy sighed. Harry looked at Niall, who took this as his cue to leave, giving the father and daughter time by themselves. Harry got in the pile of clothes beside Darcy and swiped a piece of hair behind her ear. "Talk to me, princess."
"I only see you for a week, and then you're gone for three, and he is taking one of those nights away from me. Does daddy love Louis more than me?" Darcy looked up with tears in her eyes, and Harry was quick to scoop her up and hug her tightly.
"You will always be first in my heart Darcy, always. I love you so much, and Lou is not taking me away from you. After tonight I will be all yours, and we can hang out as much as you want before we leave. Don't ever think I love you any less just because someone else is coming into my life. I will drop everything for you, okay?" Harry said and kissed the top of Darcy's head.
"Do you love him?" Darcy asked, and Harry nodded. "Do you love me?" Harry nodded once again. "Who do you love more?"
"I love you both equally in different ways," Harry said, and Darcy pouted.
"He's not my papa," she muttered, and Harry frowned at her.
"I thought you started to like him," Harry said confusingly.
"I do, but he makes the smallest wrong move, and he is out. No one hurts my daddy, especially someone who already hurt you. I don't like seeing you cry over a hedgehog," Darcy said indeed angrily, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's very sweet of you, Darcy but can you please at least try?" Harry asked, and Darcy sighed but nodded. "Good, now let's get you ready so Uncle Ni can drop you off at Uncle Li's. Do you want to bring a book? Some toys?" Darcy beamed and nodded. "Go pack your bag," Darcy climbed off of Harry and pulled her with her, which surprised Harry but went either way.
They were in Darcy's room packing a bag with her toys, a book, a colouring book and crayons. They were so busy figuring out what to bring that they neither heard the doorbell go off or the sound of the door opening and closing or talking and walking.
"Okay, I think that's everything," Harry said, zipping up Darcy's bag.
"Yup," she said and pushed herself to stand up and helped Harry stand up and took his hand. "Daddy, the daddy stealer is here," Darcy said, and Harry raised his eyebrows at her and crossed his arms. "Daddy, Louis is here," she huffed, and Harry kneeled at her level.
"Darcy Johanna Styles Tomlinson, I know you may not like this, but I promise you that he is not stealing me from my princess. No one, and I mean no one, would ever do that, okay? You will always be my number one, always. Now even upset you have to...?" Harry trailed off and started at Darcy expectantly.
"Treat people with kindness," she said defeatedly. "I'm sorry, daddy," she said, and Harry stroked her cheek. He nodded his head in the direction of the doorway, and Darcy walked over to Louis, who crouched down to her level. "I'm sorry for calling you a daddy stealer, but you better not hurt him, or I will come after you. I may be small, but I can do some damage," she threatened, and Louis bit his lip to contain a fond smile and nodded.
"I don't plan to," he said, and Darcy stared at him before nodding and running back and hugging Harry's legs.
"Have fun at Liam's, okay?" Harry said, picking Darcy up and placing her on his hip and kissing her temple.
"I will. have fun on your date," Darcy said.
"But not too much. You still have to pick her up at night," Niall added in, and Louis and Harry both deadpanned Niall.
"Go with uncle Ni now," Harry said and placed her on the ground, and she walked over with her bag and took Niall's hand.
"Sorry about her. She's been like that for most of the day," Harry said once he heard the front door open and close and finally looked Louis up and down.
"Don't worry, I understand it, but she got my mouth didn't she?" Louis said with a chuckle, and Harry nodded rapidly.
"Oh definitely," Harry said and walked closer to Louis. "You look great, Boo," Harry said and wrapped his arms around Louis's waist, who wrapped his around Harry's neck.
"So do you," he said before pulling Harry down to kiss him.
Louis was wearing a black moto jacket with a white shirt underneath it and skinny black jeans and his vans. Harry is wearing a Saint Laurent Satin jacket with a black shirt, black skinnies and brown boots.
"Let's go," Louis said with a smile and stepped out of the embrace and took Harry's hand and led him out of the flat. Harry locked up, and they quickly made their way down to Louis's car, which had tinted windows.
"So, where are we going?" Harry asked once they were both seated in the car.
"Not telling, babe, and you have to wear this," Louis said smugly and held out a blindfold. Harry gave him an 'are you serious look' before looking at the blindfold then back at Louis. He sighed and took the blindfold and put it on. "Good," Louis said and leaned over and picked Harry's cheeks. He smirked when he saw Harry blush. "You still blush whenever I do that. I love it," Louis said, and Harry blushed harder and looked out the window, and Louis chuckled.
The car ride there was filled with the two horribly singing while jamming out to the songs on the radio. But soon enough, Louis had pulled up to their date, and the car stopped, and Harry looked around as if he could see, but with the blindfold, he couldn't.
"We're here?" Harry asked.
"Stay here," Louis said and got out of the car and jogged to the other side and opened Harry's door and helped him out. He walked to the front of the car and stood behind Harry. "I'm taking it off now," Louis whispered in Harry's ear before he took off the blindfold.
Harry blinked a few times, adjusting to the light and looked around. They were on the roof of someplace that overlooked the lake. There was a table with two chairs, a flower in the middle and a candle. Fairy lights are strung up around the whole place, and then there's also a white sheet hung up.
"Lou, this is," Harry breathed out and turned around and crashed their lips together in a love-filled kiss. "I love it," he whispered once they pulled apart.
"Once we are done eating, I have a projector and blankets and pillows in the back of the car, and we can snuggle while watching a movie. I know dinner and a movie is a cliche, but we can't exactly do that out in public, so I decided to do this," Louis said and gestured around them.
"This is so much better," Harry said and pulled him into a hug.
"Let's eat," Louis said and took Harry's hand and led him to the table where he pulled out the chair, which Harry chuckled to but sat down either way before he sat down himself. He took off the lids of both plates to have lasagna and mashed potatoes. "I got them from the restaurant down the street, sorry."
"It's fine, but I missed your chicken stuffed with mozzarella wrapped in parama ham with homemade mashed," Harry said, and Louis rolled his eyes but had a smile on his face.
"The fans are still obsessed with that," Louis said.
"That's because you said it so many times, and you always do it with the hand gestured," Harry pointed out, and Louis held up his hands in surrender.
"But admit it, it was really good," Louis said, and Harry nodded in agreement.
The two ended up talking about anything and everything. They spoke about Louis's family, who were still bugging him to see Harry again and get an explanation. They spoke of Fizzy and Jay, which Louis had some tears in his eyes but a fond smile on. Harry told stories about Darcy, which they both laughed at. Louis talked about the band after Harry left, which was bittersweet. They were just catching up on each other's lives and talking more about random topics that randomly popped into each other's brains.
When they were done eating, Louis positioned the car, so the back was facing the makeshift screen and set up the back to be comfortable. They put on Greece and cuddled as they watched and snug along with the movie.
"Thank you," Harry said, cuddling closer to Louis.
"Your welcome, but I'm happy to do this," Louis said and kissed the top of Harry's head.
Ring Ring
"It's Li," Harry said once he looked at his phone. He picked up but didn't move out of Louis's hold. "Hey, what's up?"
"Darcy is tired and wants to sleep but refuses to sleep until you tuck her in, and well, she is crying," Liam said, and Harry looked at the time and saw that it was 11:30 pm.
"Thanks, I'll be there soon," Harry said, and they hung up, and Harry turned to Louis apologetically.
"No worries, let's go," Louis said and kissed his forehead before the two of them got out of the car.
"Do you have a place to play footie?" Harry asked out of the blue while they were driving to Liam's place. Louis turned to him and made a confused sound. "She loves to play footie. While we're here, I just think you might as well take advantage of the time to get to know her properly and bond. Plus, you are better than I am, so she can actually learn things from you."
Louis's face completely softens, and he reaches over the console and grabs ahold of one of Harry's hands and brings it up to his lips and his knuckles before squeezing it and placing it on his thigh.
"I would love that. My house has a private yard where there's a goalie post already set up. If you want, you can bring her over tomorrow, and we can play," Louis suggested, and Harry's smile widened.
"I would talk to her," Harry said, and the two were smiling widely now.
---
By the time they get to Liam's house, they can already see Darcy and Liam sitting on the front steps, and Liam has an arm around Darcy, and she is resting her head on his shoulder. Harry jumps out of the car, rushes over to them, and kneels right before Darcy, who immediately launches herself at Harry and sniffles into his neck.
"Hey, I'm here, princess. I'm here," Harry whispers and cards his fingers through her hair. 'Thank you,' he mouths to Liam, who nods and takes a few steps back to give them some privacy. "What's up, love? You were always able to sleep without me tucking you in."
"I had a nightmare, and I was scared without you there to hold me when I screamed or make the monster go away. Can we go home, daddy?" Darcy asked, pulling away to look Harry in the eyes who's face immediately softened and nodded and picked her up. Liam hands him her bag and waves before walking back into his house.
"I'm here. Lou will drive us back, okay?" Harry asked, and Darcy nods resting her head on his shoulders.
"Hi, love," Louis said when Harry put Darcy in the back seat, and Darcy gave him a small smile before wiping her eyes and turning to Harry.
"Tomorrow, we can play some footie. How about that?" Harry asked, and Darcy's face immediately brightened. "Louis has a yard for us to play, and you remember watching some of his games. He is pretty good."
"You would do that?" She immediately turned to Louis, who smiled and nodded. "Okay, but can we do our tradition, daddy?"
"Of course we would," Harry said and kissed her forehead before stepping back to close her door and getting into the passenger seat.
"What's this tradition you are talking about?" Louis asked the minute Harry got settled into his seat.
"Nope," Darcy said. "You will find out tomorrow, Louis," Louis chuckled and looked at her through the rearview mirror. Harry smiled and shook his head and reached over and grabbed one of Louis's hands.
Darcy was quiet the rest of the ride, so the two didn't say anything, and the car was quiet aside low hum of the radio. When they arrived at their flat, Darcy climbed out of the car and waited on the side for Harry. Louis and Harry got out, and Harry held onto Darcy's hand, and Louis stood on the other side. Darcy reached up and grabbed Louis's hand as well, and she walked casually to their flat while Louis was beaming happily.
Harry went to tuck Darcy into bed after giving her her medication and reading her a bedtime story before meeting Louis in the kitchen, making a cup of tea.
"How is she?" He asked softly and handed Harry the tea.
"Asleep," Harry said and brought Louis to the couch and fell on it exhausted. "Today was perfect, aside from Darc getting scared. But the date was amazing, thank you, Boo," Harry kissed Louis's cheek before snuggling into his side.
"Your welcome, Hazza," Louis said and hugged Harry closer to him. "Would it be too early to ask you to be my boyfriend?" Harry lifted his head off of Louis's shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes. After moments of the two just staring at each other, Harry crashes his lips onto Louis's in a deep and passionate kiss. Louis was caught off guard but quickly reciprocated the kiss and ended up with his hands in Harry's hair.
"Yes," Harry mumbled against Louis's lips before pecking him a few times and then pulling back completely. "I'm your boyfriend again," Harry whispered rested his forehead on Louis with a wide fond smile on his face. Louis let out a breathy laugh and kissed the tip of his nose.
"Yes, you are, and I am yours," Louis said.
"Mine," Harry said cutely and with a pout before wrapping his arms tightly around Louis's neck and hugging him.
"My God, you haven't done that in forever," Louis said, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and buried his face in Harry's neck.
When they first got together, whenever Harry would say that he was Louis's, Louis would respond with 'I am yours,' and Harry would say 'mine' and hug Louis as if he would disappear. It started when Louis first asked Harry to be his boyfriend and quickly turned into something they did whenever Harry would utter those first words.
"Yeah, we were so happy back then and didn't give a fuck about management. The fans all knew," Harry said and turned in Louis's lap, so he had his back pressed to his chest.
"They knew before we did. We were officially together during the X-factor house, but we most definitely had feelings for each other, and it showed," Louis said, reaching for their teas.
"Especially when you said, "and I'll marry you, Harry." you looked so serious," Harry said with a chuckle and took a sip of his tea.
"I was, still am," Louis said, and Harry almost choked on his tea. "I didn't know the extent of how much I will love you back then, but I knew you would be someone special to me. Then when we got together, I wanted to purpose, but we were way too young back then, but I told myself when the time was right. Then you left, and I hated you, myself, and everyone who interfered with our relationship, but my love for you overpowered my hatred. That just confirmed how hard I fell for you, and I still believed you were the one for me. After the initial pain of you leaving, I began to think that you had a valid reason which you did. Now that we are starting something again, I still believe that we will end up together. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I'm just stating the truth."
"Well, then it's a good thing I'll say yes in the future. This relationship now seems to be moving faster than I guess a normal one would," Harry said, tilting his head to get a better look at Louis, who was staring off into space.
"Yeah, maybe, but we have a history together. We never stopped loving each other, and outside forces just separated us. I guess for us, it's like picking up from where we left off," Louis said, and Harry placed a kiss on his jaw.
"I miss your family. I love them, and you and it would've been, so fun had I come during the last two weeks of our break," Harry said mindlessly, playing with Louis's fingers.
"Did you just inadvertently tell me you love me?" Louis asked playfully, and Harry drove and thought back to what he said.
"Oops," Harry giggled and shifted once again, so now he was straddling Louis and looking him in the eyes.
"Hi," Louis said, locking his hands behind Harry's and smiling up at him.
"I love you, Mr. Louis William Tomlinson," Harry said seriously.
"And I love you, Mr. Harry Edward Styles," Louis said and pulled him in for another slow but passionate kiss. Their lips and tongue moved perfectly together, and Harry had both his hands cupping Louis's face while Louis had one hand in his hair and the other resting on his back.
Harry pulled back before it got too heated and looked Louis in the eyes.
"Stay the night? We don't have to do anything. I just want to fall asleep next to you," Harry whispered, and Louis smiled and nodded. They both finished their teas and put the mugs in the sink before getting ready for sleep. Harry lent him a toothbrush, and Louis stole a pair of Harry's sweats and climbed into bed. Harry planned on only wearing boxers, but he decided to follow his lead and grab another pair since Louis put on sweats. Harry got in beside Louis, and Harry climbed into Louis's open arms, and they fell asleep.
---
Sometime during the night, they switch positions because when Darcy ran into Harry's room and jumped on his bed, Louis was snuggled tightly to Harry's side. Darcy stood on the end of the bed, staring at them confused before she shrugged and jumped and landed on Louis and Harry, who let out pain-filled groans.
"Darcy, you need to stop doing that before you break my bones," Harry said, rubbing his eyes with one hand and the other blindly looking for Darcy, who was moving away from his hands.
"But it's fun," she giggled and launched herself higher and landed on their chest, and this made both adults wide awake.
"Daddy and Louis out of bed. We need to change, make breakfast, then bake, and then we can play footie," she commanded sternly.
"Are you sure she's not Li's?" Louis whispered to Harry, who chuckled.
"As I said, she is like a mixture of all the boys," Harry said before raising his hands in defence when Darcy started getting impatient.
"Princess, Daddy and Pop can't get up if you are sitting on us," Harry said, and she made an 'o' with her mouth before carefully climbing off of the two and running out of the room.
"Pops?" Louis asked, sitting, and Harry playfully kicked him.
"Shut up. We went with papa for a while, but I don't know. That's something the two of you have to discuss," he said, climbing out of bed going to the bathroom to get his day started.
After they both brushed their teeth and got changed, Louis rummaged through Harry's clothes and huffing and muttering about him being a tree before finally finding something that would fit and not make him look smaller. When Harry saw, he had to bite his lip not say anything since Louis looked like he was swimming in his clothes.
Harry made them breakfast with the help of Darcy, and they spent the morning just talking about random stuff. It felt very casual and normal to all three of them despite Darcy not liking that she is actually liking Louis. She's jealous and scared that Harry won't have time for her anymore if he and Louis start to get serious. Harry and Darcy always had a tight relationship since Harry always made sure she felt loved and had someone, and Darcy doesn't have many friends she is exceptionally close to. She doesn't want to lose that relationship with Harry, but she can see how Louis is making Harry happier.
"So, what is this tradition?" Louis asked when he and Harry were doing the dishes while Darcy was packing a bag.
"We do some baking. We make little muffins and granola bars, some fruit salads and some smoothies. Darc has Ni's appetite, so she eats a lot, especially after working out like anyone else, so yeah," Harry said.
"So healthy food," Louis said with a frown and Harry chuckled.
"Yes, Louis, healthy food," Harry said and started pulling out everything they needed to make everything. "PRINCESS, I'M GOING TO START!"
"COMING," she yelled, and soon they heard little footsteps and then a thud and then a Darcy running into the kitchen. "Is Lou helping?"
"Can I?" Louis asked, and she nodded happily.
The three of them spend an hour in the kitchen baking. Well, it mainly was Harry baking, and Louis and Darcy were messing with him. That was after Darcy did her usual part when they baked together. Luckily Louis hadn't started a food fight like he had when the two used to bake together in their shared flat. Harry didn't get annoyed, in any case. He was happy that Darcy seemed to have dropped her guard around Louis, and the two were getting along great.
Once it was done, they put them into contains, brought everything out to Louis's car, and made their way to Louis's house. Darcy was quick to get out of the car and run to the front door waiting to get inside so she could play football. Louis and Harry chuckled at her eagerness but rushed to grab everything, so she wasn't waiting for too long.
Darcy didn't want a tour. She just wanted to go to the yard to play, so Louis immediately led her there while Harry put everything in the kitchen.
Harry played with the first few rounds, but then he decided to give Louis and Darcy some alone time, so he made himself a tea and sat inside down on his phone and watched the two. He took photos and videos of the two messing around.
When they were too tired, they came in to eat their snacks and drink the smoothie they made while watching a movie.
Harry and Darcy spent the whole day at Louis's house, and Harry watched as Darcy and Louis got closer. They informed Darcy that the two were official, and Darcy just cheered and pulled the two into a group hug by the end of the day.
The rest of the week, the three of them would hang out together and rebuild the lost relationship a few years back. Darcy and Louis spent a day by themselves while Harry and Gemma spent the day together. Gemma was still iffy around Louis but saw the light come back in Harry's eyes and knew that Louis was good for him. Neither one of them talked about their mother and what she wanted, but they both could feel the weight of that conversation weighing them down.