Louis and Harry pulled up at the large house, nervous as to what was inside as they climbed out.
"They accept us, right?" Harry asked, taking ahold of Louis' hand.
The older boy nodded, "Yeah, I called the woman before and she said it was okay. None of the kids are homophobic, they don't know any better, she said," he assured, sneaking a kiss onto his husbands cheek.
Harry blushed, and opened the door, letting Louis go through before following him to the first room on the right. There was a woman sitting at a desk, though she looked up and smiled. "Hi!" she greeted, and saw their locked hands, "you must be Harry and Louis?" she questioned as she stood, to which they nodded, "great. Now, I have eight kids living here in total. Most of them are playing outside and the rest of them are in the living room. Follow me," she told them, gesturing after her as she walked out of her small office and out the door. The two boys followed, getting more excited as they walked through the open gate and into the yard, hearing a chattering of talking and laughing.
"Now is there a certain gender you're looking for? Or any age?" the woman asked, "my name is Cheryl, by the way."
Louis shook her hand, then Harry. "No, we haven't gotten anything specific. We did prefer a younger kid, three or four maybe, but other than that no," Louis spoke, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. Harry nodded in agreement, silently wondering how the kids were playing outside considering how cold it was.
Cheryl nodded as well, and stopped, "Mostly the older ones hang out outside, granted the eldest is only thirteen but still. The younger ones are probably hanging inside mostly. We don't have many three year olds but all the others, four, five, six, all them, they're probably somewhere running around. If you want to talk to any certain child just point and I'll get em," she smiled, and stepped behind them so that they could go at it.
Harry turned his head to Louis, "Can we look for three year olds?" he asked, a grin on his face.
"Yeah," Louis beamed at him, "c'mon, I'm excited," he giggled, and off they went.
It had only been five minutes later that a little boy tripped over his own feet, and fell onto the ground. Harry turned to the left and gasped, "Oh, c'mere bud," he spoke, and bent down to pick the toddler up. "You okay? Where's your jacket?" he asked, hoisting him onto his hip. Louis, who saw him be picked up by his husband, had turned to face both of them.
The boy shook his head, a pout on his lip as he kicked his leg out. "I fell!" he cried.
"Where does it hurt," Louis took ahold of his arm, "here?" he asked, blowing raspberries into his elbow. "Or here?" he blew raspberries into the boys neck. "How about here?" he tickled the boys tummy.
By that point the little toddler with the bright green eyes was giggling hysterically. "Again!" he exclaimed, his words stirring together in that cute baby babble that three year olds had when they still can't pronounce things right.
So, Louis did it again, tickling his stomach and then his neck, laughing in adoration as the kid laughed and giggled and buried himself in Harry's side.
Harry hoisted him up better, "What's your name, bub?" he asked.
"Aiden!" he told them.
Louis glanced at Harry, "Aiden. That's cool!" he spoke to the child, "what's your favorite thing to do?" he asked.
Aiden looked around, side to side until he spotted the older kids, who looked only about ten, playing football. "Dat!" he screeched, "and spidah-man," he said.
Both boys grinned, looking at each other with a type of look that told them what to do, as if they could communicate through their minds. "Aiden, love, would you want to come live with us?" Harry asked after Louis secretly waved over Cheryl.
Aiden looked confused, "I wiv here," he frowned.
Harry's smile dropped, and Cheryl stood besides him, "Honey, he means do you want to go home with them? They'll be your family," she said in a soothing voice.
The young boy gasped the cutest gasp, his eyes lighting up and his mouth forming an o. "Yes yes yes yes yes!" he babbled, rambling and bouncing in Harry's arms.
"Okay! Go with Amy and get your stuff!" she shooed him off, chuckling as he scrambled out of Harry's arms and quickly inside. "Sorry about that. Since they're so young they don't understand the whole thing about being adopted. So instead of telling them they're moving, or living somewhere else, we tell them that they're going home and that whoever is adopting them will be they're family. Granted, the older ones don't bother to deal with all that since they're older and smarter and they understand. It's just a thing we do," she waved her hand, "come on, I'll take you into my office and we can sort things out," she smiled.
Louis pecked Harry's lips once the woman turned around, and happily wrapped his arm around the younger boys waist.
"We did it," Louis mumbled to Harry, hugging him after about twenty minutes of paperwork and such. They had already had someone come over to their house to inspect that it was alright for a child to live in, and already had gotten a bed and everything.
The two had been told all about the little boy they were adopting. It turned out that three years ago, when Aiden was a newborn, he had been put up for adoption by his broke sixteen year old father, who had been given the responsibility of taking care of him since the mother didn't want him. The two boys understood that the father probably just wasn't ready for a child, and that it was a smart decision to make. They were also told that, when he came by, the father told Cheryl that the mother didn't want the baby to even have her last name, and he said that whoever adopted him could gladly claim their surname as his.
Aiden was now a Tomlinson. An Aiden James Tomlinson, that is, because he hadn't been named a middle name when he was born. So when he was asked about if he wanted a middle name he just shrugged cluelessly with a smile. So, Harry and Louis gave him the middle name of James. Due to the fact of both Niall and Liam.
"Home?" the toddler asked, tilting his head as he stared up at the boys from the place on the ground. They both grinned, and Louis lifted Aiden up onto his hip.
"Yeah, bub, home," Harry grinned, ruffling the little boys hair, that laid lazily on his head, very identical to Louis' hair only on a younger child. And he couldn't help but adore the small child with the big green eyes and pouty lips like his own, or the light feathery hair that matched his now fathers.
They got the boy strapped into his car seat, already having bought it since they knew they were going to adopt a young kid.
"Seabell!" he smiled as Louis buckled him in. Louis practically melted at the child's words, because he couldn't pronounce things correctly. When he used an s it was replaced with th.
He babbled along to the songs that played on the radio, even though he couldn't sing to them and didn't know them. Though his new parents didn't mind. They just grinned ear to ear and intertwined their hands on the console, happy that they had done this.
The three soon pulled up to their house, grins on their faces as they scooped Aiden up and set him on the ground. He gave them a bright smile, looking up to the house and then back to them. "Can go?" he asked excitedly.
"Yeah, let's go up!" Louis cooed, and both of the boys nearly melted on the spot when the toddler grabbed ahold of Louis' hand. Harry smiled wider, leaning down to kiss his husbands cheek.
"No no," Aiden said loudly, reaching out for Harry, who furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"What bub?" he asked, moving to his side instead. He wasn't expecting for the small hand to reach up for his. And it sent Louis' mind back three years ago to when he was a senior in high school.
"No no no," Harry had muttered, looking down and reaching for the older boys hand. Louis smiled at this, and attached his hand to Harrys, giving it a squeeze.
Louis smiled fondly at the memory and at the curly haired boy, and sighed lightly as they continued walking up to the door. Louis used one hand to unlock the door, and pushed it open. They walked inside, Harry setting down his sons bag before scooping up the boy, blowing raspberries on his neck, causing him to shriek with laughter.
"C'mon, love," Louis chuckled, "I'll start up dinner," he said. Harry raised his eyebrows, and Louis' jaw dropped.
"Hey! I can cook too, you know!" he exclaimed, laughs coming from his lips. Harry laughed along, and shook his head as he walked into the kitchen.
"I know. I'm just joking, love," he smiled as he swiped his lips across his husbands cheek. Aiden got a glimpse inside the freezer when Louis opened it, and gasped.
"Nugges!" he exclaimed, pointing down to the box. Harry furrowed his eyebrows, and pulled the box of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets out.
"Nuggets?" Louis smiled, "you want nuggets, Aiden?" he chuckled.
"Yes yes yes!" the toddler begged, reaching for the box. He handed it to Louis, who took it reluctantly and started making a dinner of chicken nuggets.
❊ ❊ ❊ ❊
Aiden didn't sleep in his room that night. No, he didn't stay in the room with the light blue walls and the cream colored baby bed with the spiderman duvet. The two had found that Aiden had recently grown out of using a crib and then used a baby bed. Basically a bed with bars on the side to keep him from falling or rolling off.
He had been tired, and practically fallen asleep in Harry's arms as he changed him into his favorite pair of Thomas The Train pajamas. When Harry went to put him into the bed without waking him, his arms tightened around his neck, and he whimpered and told Harry he didn't want to be alone.
"No no no," Aiden whined, pulling himself closer to Harry's chest, "wanna stay wif you," he whined.
Harry stood straight again, and smiled softly, "Alright. You can sleep with us, okay, love?" he said quietly, kissing Aiden's forehead as he walked out of the room and into his and Louis'.
Louis was already laid in bed, sleeping soundly due to how he was passed out from the movie and had been carried in by Harry. Harry was already in sweats and a tshirt, so he just laid down under the covers as well and pulled them up. Aiden yawned, and pawed at his eyes. He was also under the duvet, but he turned on his side and wrapped his arms around Louis' bicep, resting his head on his arm.
Harry couldn't help but awe at how cute the two were. Which was why he had taken his phone out and snapped a picture of Louis and Aiden cuddling in bed. He sent it to his mum and Jay in a group chat, and even with it being nine o'clock at night, they both answered right away.
Harry: *picture attached* I no its late but I wanted to show you the newest member of the family!!
Anne: Oh my god!!! I knew you two were adopting but I didn't know you were doing it soon!! Oh my god oh wow, Harry I'm so proud of you two!
Jay: Ahhhh!!! I'm so happy for you too!! Louis had told me about you 2 really wanting to adopt!! I wasn't expecting it so soon but I'm happy for u 2!
Anne: Tell me about the little one!!!!
Jay: Yes! What is he like?!
Harry: He's so adorable I can't even handle him!!
Harry: His name is Aiden James and he's literally the most amazing thing ever right next to Louis. He's got green eyes and hair just like Louis' hair.
Harry: And what I love is that he was so willing to come live with us and for us to adopt him even if he doesn't rlly get the whole adoption thing. And like he grew so attached to us within like a day and wanted to stay in our bed tonight. Ugh I'm so happy
Anne: Aww honey!! He sounds absolutely adorable!
Jay: We'll have to come down and meet him!
Harry: Ok but Louis and I are gonna take him out shopping for clothes and some toys that he would pick out. Louis went out after dinner and bought him a spiderman duvet <3
Harry: We'll talk to him and let you know when you can come meet him. We want him to be comfortable with us first
Jay: That's fine hun!
Anne: Yes, that's alright. I'm glad you both are taking such responsibility of him already :*
Harry told them he was going to go to sleep, and he did after a quick conversation with Gemma, knowing that his mum had obviously told her all about it by the way she yelled at him excitedly through text message.
"I've got two babies, now," Harry hummed, snuggling as close as he could.
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YAYAYYAAYYA OMFG IVE HAD THIS CHAPTER FOR LIKE OVER A MONTH TBFH AND IM SO HAPPY I FINALLY GOT TO POST IT😍