Harry's draining fruit in vinegar for the children's snack, while Louis sits at the table reading the mail. He's shuffling through when he finds a magazine with a very proactive woman on it. Louis sighs and waves the magazine in the air. "Your son's ordered another one of these." Harry arches an eyebrow at the vague sentence and frowns when he sees the Playboy magazine. "Again? I thought he got over those." He says in disappointment.
"Clearly not," Louis mutters as he separates the piles of mail and magazines. "because he's got two more."
Harry sighs exhaustingly and takes the magazines from his husband, looking through them. "These are way worse than the ones you used to own." Louis rolls his eyes at Harry's remark and scoffs. "First of all, My father was the one that was convinced I'd marry a woman. You know I very much preferred your ass over some lady's tits– and I can now proudly prefer your tits over another's."
Harry laughs hard enough that his head falls back and takes a seat across from him. Audrey comes downstairs, knowing that her mom was making a snack for them. She climbs onto Harry's lap for a cuddle and he reciprocates, wrapping his arms around her and pulls her closer. Louis smiles at his daughter softly. "What were you doing, miss Audrey?"
"Pooping." She answers.
Louis blinks awkwardly and Harry laughs, kissing her forehead. "Did you wipe?" She hums in affirmation and snuggles further into his arms. "Is the strawberry shortcake done?"
"No, the fruit's still cleaning."
Harry returns to the previous conversation and sighs indulgently. "We have to talk to him."
"And do what, go and tie his hands behind his back?" The younger man rolls his eyes at his husband's quip. "No, you have to tell him not to do it so much."
"Do what, Mommy?" Audrey innocently wonders.
"Read, honey. We're talking about reading." Harry says.
Audrey frowns. "I thought it was good to read?"
Harry forces a smile. "Yes, it is good to read. You just don't want to do it so much that you go.. blind." He lifts Audrey off his lap and stands up. "I can't even deal with this right now, I've got to get ready for work."
"Me too!" She exclaims and runs off.
Harry pulls out the sponge cake to finish off the dessert. "You know I'm coming home late tonight, right?"
"I thought you said you were going to be on time, tonight?" Louis asks.
"No, I have to pick up Keke's shower gift." Harry reminds, referring to their close friend's baby shower. He's so excited for Keke's baby, especially after the couple agreed to have no more babies. "Have you seen my Victoria's Secret catalog?" He remembers.
Louis hums. "Yeah, it's in the bathroom with Junior."
Harry laughs in disbelief. "Am I going to have to hide that thing?"
Louis chuckles and gets rid of the mail, contemplating on throwing the magazines in the trash. He's so nonchalant about the situation, now that he understands that Junior has a significant other or whatever the hell he's calling it. But, Harry still doesn't know, and he has to bite his tongue to not say anything. Luckily, Harry's fairly distracted with Keke's baby shower and coaching Dakota and Delaney's soccer team. The latter was definitely interesting, since Harry is anything but athletic, but he seems to have fun with it.
The front door opens and Eileen, along with a couple friends come skipping inside. "Mom, guess what?!"
Harry raises an eyebrow from where he's spraying whipped cream. "What?"
"I got on the cheer team!" They all start squealing and Louis has to cover his ears to block some of the noise. Harry gasps and touches his chest. "Oh my god, baby, I'm so proud of you! If you girls need anything, I'm always willing to help." He enthuses. Eileen smiles but tilts her head. "What will you help with?"
Louis rolls his eyes and looks at his daughter knowingly. "Your mom used to be on the cheer team, prancing his little bum around in those skirts."
Harry throws the whipped cream bottle at his head. "I did not! Don't listen to your father. The school didn't let me wear a skirt, but that doesn't matter. The point is, from a former cheerleader, you girls can use some help." He says. The shortcakes are overall done, so he sets them aside to stand in front of the girls. "I'll even show you guys a cheer."
Eileen groans. "Mom-"
Harry starts to clap his hands. "Five, six, seven, eight!" His dance is overall good, but then he does the bouncing move from their samba lessons and Eileen immediately ushers her friends out the room. Harry frowns when the girls leave and pouts to his husband. "Did I do something wrong?"
Louis forces a smile. "I'm afraid your daughter and her friends don't want to see you twerking."
Harry makes a noise of offense. "I was not twerking!"
"And I think you've forgotten the little boobs you have."
Harry's hands fly to his chest. "I do not! You're always so mean!" He huffs and stomps toward the living room to get dressed. Louis laughs and follows after the younger man, gently pulling his waist. "I'm not, baby. I'm just teaching you this generation's humor."
Harry scoffs. "You out of all people do not understand teenagers."
"I do, too." Louis argues.
"Are you forgetting the Bahamas incident?"
Louis' face drops. "You're sick." He pushes the curly man away and Harry cackles, tugging his arm. "Louis, don't walk away from me! I'm just giving you the same treatment."
✧˖°🌷𔘓 ָ࣪ ₊˚
The next morning, half the family gathers around the table for their meal. Eileen's off for cheer practice and Phoebe's already left for school, leaving the youngest children as always. Harry's dressed in his work clothes and setting the table with breakfast when Junior comes into the dining room. He pauses at the sight of his mother and prepares to leave, but Harry can see him through the corner of his eye. "Go on and sit down, June." He says in a defiant tone.
Junior sighs and drops his bookbag on the ground, taking a seat at the table. He rubs his hands together at the food. "What'd you make?"
"You're looking right at it." Harry replies.
Junior purses his lips and Harry props a hand on his hip, the other occupied with holding the top of a chair. "Listen, I told your Dad to have this conversation with you but I highly doubt he did, so I'm going to tell you. You need to cut it on the magazines. June, you look like some sex depraved monster when you're going around stealing Victoria's Secret catalogs and buying old Playboy magazines, no one even reads those anymore! And I'm not trying make you feel ashamed or anything, but really Junior?"
The boy stares at his mom and chuckles. "Okay, mom. First of all, hello, invasion of privacy?"
"These are magazines you're buying with the allowance your Father and I give you, and what comes in, in our mail." Harry reminds.
Junior blows a raspberry. "Okay, maybe so. But that doesn't give you the right to treat me like some brainless pervert."
"June, just the other day you tried to sniff in on Eileen's friends."
"Okay, so what? I'm a growing boy, just like you've said these past few months. I have necessities and that just might be one of them."
Harry arches an eyebrow and deflates. "Just know that this conversation isn't over." He warns before calling everyone down for breakfast.
Delaney and Dakota are on the all girls soccer team, but Delaney is the most interested in the sport. Dakota likes ballet more, but they're having a hiatus so she's now doing soccer with her twin sister. Harry's enthusiastic about the activity because he gets to coach his daughters and witness their victories and losses, and also teach them the fundaments of the sport.
Harry grabs a fork and knife and cuts through Dakota's french toast. "Dakota, I need you to load up on the carbs. You have a very big soccer practice today." He softly says. Dakota shrugs her shoulders. "I just want to score a goal this year."
"Join the club." Junior mumbles.
Louis glares at his son and Harry chooses to ignore him, clapping his hands together. "You don't have to worry about scoring a goal because you're going to score a lot of goals with Mommy as your coach, because Mommy isn't going to let you fail, all right?" Dakota nods and he smiles. "Now carb up."
Delaney doesn't need him to tell her, since she's as competitive at the sport as her mother is. Ave perks in his seat. "Mommy, I want to do soccer!" The triplets nod in agreement and it encourages the younger twins to parrot them. Harry smiles at them softly. "I can't squeeze all you guys onto the team, but maybe you can watch your sisters play." He suggests.
Junior snorts around his orange juice. "Yeah, cause you guys wouldn't even kick the ball right."
Harry's eyes twinkle with malice. "You know what, why don't you be the equipment manager."
Junior's face falls. "Mom-"
"No, no! Since you're such an expert at everything, you're going to help with the team. I need an extra hand, anyway." Harry says nonchalantly. Louis smiles at his husband's sarcasm and shoots Junior a knowing look. The seventeen year old grumbles and angrily eats his french toast, not speaking for the rest of breakfast.
Harry sits down beside his husband and starts to eat, enjoying the rays of sunshine that elicit through the room and the presence of his family. Claire looks up from her food then, smiling sheepishly. "Since Junior's going to be the equipment manager, is it a good time to say I may have gotten caught in the goal net and it ripped?"
Mornings just may not be their strong suit.
✧˖°🌷𔘓 ָ࣪ ₊˚
Louis' fixing himself an afternoon snack when the door slams open and Dakota runs inside the house. "Run for your lives!" She shouts. Louis knits his brow and follows Dakota with his eyes, distracted that Harry marches over and takes the sandwich because he ended up holding it out. Louis gawks at him with severe offense as Harry chews down on it before gagging. "What is this?"
"My sandwich." Louis says.
Harry shakes his head and spits it out in the trash can, tossing the sandwich on the counter. He starts to pace around Louis, throwing his hands in the air. "I set Dakota up fifty times, fifty times and she couldn't get the ball into the net once." He exclaims.
"Well, maybe they had a good goalie." Louis tries to reason.
"There was no goalie." Harry hisses.
Junior comes into the house next, waddling with large flags and a net full of soccer balls in his arms. "Where do I put this stuff, mom?" He asks irritably. Harry slaps his hands against his thighs and scoffs. "Where do I put this stuff mom," he mocks. "Did you detangle your net, did you count your knee guards, did you even wash your balls?!"
Junior throws his hands up. "I haven't even brushed my teeth yet. You had me going nonstop since breakfast!"
Harry sighs. "Junior, if you want to be equipment manager, you're going to have to stop with the whining."
"I don't want to be equipment manager." He says.
Delaney stomps into the room next, and only adds onto the scene. It seems she's taken on Harry's competitiveness, and is also angry about practice. "You can't even set the flags straight! You told Faith that she can't kick any goals when you can't even set up the goal!" She degrades feistily.
Junior gaps in shock. "Dad, help!"
Louis shrugs. "Go hose down your balls."
Junior's in even more disbelief from his nonchalance. He would not be acting funny if he were in his position! He huffs and leaves the house to put the equipment away and Louis sighs. "Come in for a hug, guys." He opens his arms and Harry lets himself be pulled into a hug. Delaney's still snarky and rudely declines, stomping away.
Louis shakes his head with a laugh and rubs Harry's back. Harry exhales slowly and eventually pulls away. "I'm sorry. Maybe I do have a teeny weeny tendency to go overboard and in the scheme of things, maybe my dream of having a professional little girls soccer team is just not that important." He says.
Louis smiles and nods. "Yes, exactly." He softly agrees.
"I'm joking!" Harry shouts in a random outburst before angrily stomping away.
Louis holds his chest from the scare and feels his heart beating rapidly. Sometimes, he thinks he is scared of this Harry. Louis' had multiple experiences with his competitiveness, but him and losing? Oh, that never goes well.
Later that day, Harry leaves to see a movie with Keke and he's given the time to read. Dakota walks down the stairs and scurries to him. "Where is he?" She whispers. Louis arches an eyebrow. "Who, your mother?"
"Yeah." She confirms with a nod.
"Oh, he went out." Louis answers.
Dakota sighs in relief and walks to the couch opposite of him. "Good, we need to talk."
"What's the matter, soccer's not fun with your Mommy coaching?"
Dakota answers hysterically. "Dad, he goes crazy, he blows the whistle, then he yells at everybody! Ask Junior!" She exclaims when her brother just so happens to pass by. Louis raises his head to his son. "Your mom's a tough coach?"
"He's terrible, Dad. He's yelling at seven year olds to drop and give twenty. They can't even count past three!"
Louis chuckles and he continues. "Then he yelled at this one kid so loud, he wet himself!"
Louis hums. "I thought it was an all girls team?"
"I was scared." Junior defends and ascends up the stairs.
Louis smiles at his son and then looks at Dakota. "I'll talk to your mother, okay?"
"He's going to yell at you, too." Dakota warns as she gets up.
Louis waves her off. "I'm not afraid of him."
"You should be." She says.
Louis laughs incredulously and listens to Dakota's scurrying feet up the stairs. Now, he understands that Harry is competitive, he's been with him for eighteen years, but he also knows Harry can be too eager. Take their samba lessons for example; there's two versions of Harry's competitiveness – kind of like an alter ego. There's the bubbly and excited one from the samba lessons, and then there's the unforgivable (kind of rude) and hysterical one that is currently coaching the twins' soccer team. He knows Harry just wants to win, and forgive him for the straightforwardness, but the girls kind of suck at soccer, but they won't get anywhere with Harry's consistent pushing.
That's why Louis will have a nice, mature conversation with his husband about the matter.
The room's dark and cold with the blinds shut, but their bubble is humid and engaged with sweat and the sticky lubrication from their activities. Harry moans inside his husband's mouth and digs his nails into his shoulder blade, tensing as another delirious thrust hits his prostate. Louis thrusts harder, the cacophonous sound of their skin and lube echoing through the room. The noise encourages him further, but before he can get anywhere near cumming - Harry blows that damned whistle and he startles off him.
They wanted to go for marathon sex since they've been missing it for the past month, and Harry insisted on wearing the stupid whistle. Louis was opposed to the idea, but Harry made it clear that he would not do anything with him if he didn't, so he sluggishly agreed. Harry also said that it would go longer in thanks to the whistle, so they've been interrupted three times so far by the whistle. Harry exhales deeply as he tries to regain his breath, speaking disordiently. "You have to slow down!"
Louis' shoulders sag as he falls back against the headboard. "I can't when you've been edging me for the past three hours!"
"Louis, this is important. You're thirty five and losing your stamina, I'm helping you!"
Okay, Louis should be offended by Harry's proclamation, but he ignores it. "Let's go back three out of five." He decides.
"Alright." Harry agrees and blows his whistle, about to lay down but Louis stops him. "Easy, baby, give it some more time."
Harry nods and sits up, steadying his breathing. "Okay, that gives me time to work on my playbook." He says, turning the lamp on and grabbing the sketch of the soccer field. Louis glances at the book and he remembers the complaint Dakota had made. He leans on his elbows and begins. "You know, Haz, I think you're taking this coaching thing a little too seriously," Harry makes a face and he continues. "this is supposed to be fun for kids."
"Louis, I am trying to teach these girls about discipline, teamwork, and respect." Harry says.
Louis argues. "But that's not fun when you're five, it's not fun when you're thirty five."
Harry laughs falsely. "Are you trying to tell me how to coach? That's hilarious. Louis, you don't have a clue how to do what I do."
Louis shrugs, not disagreeing. "Probably not, but I bet they would have a lot more fun if I coached."
"You think you're funny?" Harry deadpans.
"I want you to see how ridiculous you're being. I mean, you're hard on them, I'm starting to get concerned for those kids." Louis dramatizes.
Harry rolls his eyes. "Oh, boohoo, the poor kids. I didn't know I was married to Sally Struthers."
Louis sighs and takes Harry's whistle. "You know what, give me this whistle. If you want me to take over, I'll take over." Harry speaks simultaneously over him. "Good, fine. Yeah, take over, you do that."
Louis smirks. "And you also know what?"
"What?" Harry asks in annoyance
"It's time." He blows the whistle and Harry immediately drags himself down the bed, spreading his legs.
✧˖°🌷𔘓 ָ࣪ ₊˚
Delaney is not happy to hear that Harry won't be coaching her anymore. Overtime, she bonded with his loyalty to the sport, even if he isn't the one playing. She was so upset when she found out Louis would be coaching that she threw a tantrum, blaming it on her sister but Louis coaxed her. "This way, your other siblings can play on the team as well." Louis claimed. "How is Ave supposed to play if it's an all girls team?" She replied with snark.
Louis didn't say anything after that.
Now, he has all the girls and Avery gathered on the carpet as he explains the game. "Let's forget the rules right now. I want us to concentrate on the fundamentals of the game, and you can't have fundamentals without having fun, or damentals for that matter." He says.
Delaney raises her hand. "What are damentals?"
Louis smiles and crouches down to her level. "Well, it looks like little miss Delaney Maeve doesn't know everything, does she?" He derides. Delaney pokes her tongue out at him and he answers. "Damentals, my little genius, are the thing that goes on inside your brain that prevent you from having fun while playing soccer. You see, damentals tell you 'you're not fast enough, you're not strong enough to play soccer.' That's why we have to make damentals, fun. Fundamentals! You got it?" He tells them.
The girls and Avery cheer and he ushers them out of the house to go to the soccer field. By no means is Louis as athletic as he was in high school, but he somewhat has the children practice while also having fun like he said. And besides, most of them either just started school or aren't even school age.
When they come back home, Dakota beams as she walks beside her Dad. "That was the best, Daddy. I had so much fun." She says.
"You mean, it was fundamental." Louis cheekily corrects.
Dakota grins. "I like that you're our coach, Daddy. I love soccer!"
Louis combs his fingers through her sweaty hair. "I love you. Now go take a shower." She obliges and runs up the stairs happily. Delaney only eyes him up and down before walking away. Louis sighs and turns around to find Harry standing by the doorway to the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest. "It looks like you've got a really big fan." He says.
Louis shrugs. "She's just trying to cover up all the pain of losing you as a coach."
"You don't have to sugarcoat, Louis. If the team likes you better, it's okay." Harry calmly derisives. He heads to the kitchen to finish dinner and Louis follows. "No, baby, those girls love you, I could never replace you. I just think that maybe my coaching techniques are a little more suited for five year olds."
Harry hums. "Right, well just out of curiosity, what plays did you go over?"
"Oh, we didn't go over plays. We just kind of went out there and fooled around a little."
Harry spins around. "What the hell are you doing to my team?"
Louis finishes his sip on his water and puts his hands up defensively. "You asked me to coach them."
The younger man scoffs and places the bowl of butter bread on the table. "They were running around today like chickens with their heads cut off."
"You were spying on us? I thought that tree had a nice ass." Louis unnecessarily comments. Harry rolls his eyes and nods in confirmation, grabbing a bowl of salad. "That was me, and you were pathetic, Louis! Kick with your feet in the air?! What was that, Louis? And you know what, you think I didn't see my picture on that net? I saw my picture on that net!"
Louis laughs under his breath and approaches him. "I think it's way too early for you to be criticizing my coaching methods."
"What coaching methods? There were no coaching methods- you didn't even blow your whistle! How do you even expect them to shut up if you don't blow your whistl-"
Louis blows it in his face, cutting him off. "Listen, we are talking about little girls.. and Avery. This is only about them having fun, not about winning."
"Let me tell you this, all the love they have for you is going to go straight to the crapper the minute you lose your first game, you want my help." Harry says and starts to walk away.
"We're not going to lose the first game, we're going to win." Louis calls. "..I hope."
They end up losing the game. The team stomps into the room or walks sluggishly, sulking about their ultimate loss. Louis sighs as he sees the state of the children and tries to coax them. "Come on, guys. Where's your team spirit? I mean, even though we lost, it wasn't that bad." He says. Delaney stops and glares. "Eighteen to nothing is pretty bad."
"Keep in mind that you scored twelve for them!" Louis tells them.
The kids groan and Delaney sighs. "I'd be happy if I scored just one goal."
"That could very well happen, we just need some more practice. We need a little more heart, a little more determination." Louis encourages.
"If he says fundamentals one more time, I'm going to shoot." Delaney murmurs.
Harry prances into the living room cheerily, greeting the children. "Guys, how'd it go?!" He exclaims. Louis smiles with a closed mouth, holding his hands in front of him as he gazes over the kids. "It was great. We came in second."
Harry grins passively. "Oh, that's okay, as long as you guys had fun." The younger man crouches to Delaney. "Delaney, did you have fun losing eighteen to zero?"
Delaney scowls. "What the hell do you think?"
Louis frowns. "Hey, language, Delaney."
Delaney sighs exasperatedly. "I am pretty p-ed off."
Harry nods in affirmation. "Mr. Tomlinson's right, you guys need to watch your language. That's what I'm going to teach my new team." He vaguely informs as he stands in front of everyone. Louis raises an eyebrow. "You have a new team?"
"Oh, I didn't tell you? The league called me in today and apparently one of the coaches of the other teams got caught in a skiing accident and they asked me to take over the Blue Jays." Harry pulls open his coat and reveals a soccer jersey, and everyone gasps⎼ scandalized. Louis does too, but then he frowns. "Why're we scared?"
"The Blue Jays are nasty and mean, and one of them looks like she shaves." Delaney answers.
"Well, it can't be that bad, huh?" Louis wonders.
"See for yourself, baby, because we're going to be playing you next week." Harry says chirpily.
Louis frowns. "Why're you doing this?"
"Because I thought it would be fun."
✧˖°🌷𔘓 ָ࣪ ₊˚
The next week is torturous. Louis knows, God, he knows that the team is most likely going to lose. While he doesn't really care about a dumb scoreboard, the girls are worried about it; Avery not included because he honestly just wants to be involved more than anything else - and he'd rather run around in circles like a dog chasing it's tail than play. But the girls? Oh, they're sick, and Harry's 'innocent' jabs at the twins isn't making it any better.
Louis also knows that Harry can be competitive, but how much does he have to be? Enough that Dakota's practically pulling her hair out from stress and Delaney's pissed because she can't play on her Mom's team? To make matters worse, Harry is a sore loser, and a cheater! As he's currently pestering Eileen for answers, and all the girl wants to do is just get out the damn house. "You've seen your father's practice, right? What plays are they using?" Harry attempts to casually mention.
Eileen hunches her shoulders, curling into herself as she nervously answers. "They don't have plays, they just eat candy and run around in circles until they get dizzy." She flinches from the ball Harry's tossing in his hands and glares at him.
Harry squints his eyes and then huffs. "Come on, Eileen, you've got to know something." He jerks the ball in front of her face like he'd throw it and she scoffs, fleeting for the front door. Louis walks into the living room and she calls from the door. "Dad, he's crazy!"
"Stop torturing the girl, she doesn't know anything." Louis says.
Harry smiles teasingly. "Oh, could it be that somebody's frightened about the big game on Saturday?"
Louis rolls his eyes and sits on the dining room chair. "You're the only one thinking about it, and it's not a big game, it's actually as small as a game can get."
"Waving the white flag already." Harry says.
"Well, actually, I think we have a chance."
Harry laughs like that's the funniest thing he's ever heard. "You do now?"
"That's right, Dakota did pretty damn good out there, today."
"Why, Dakota? I'm shaking in my boots about big bad Dakota." Harry jests. Louis shakes his head at his husband's childishness and falls back in his seat. "I give up."
Harry raises his eyebrows tauntingly. "Oh, that's a good slogan for your team. I give up." He enthuses before walking away with his folder for the Blue Jays.
Later in the bedroom, Louis just has to ask Harry what happened to make him so competitive at coaching. One thing he's learned about the man is that there's always some kind of origin story behind his behaviors, and he has no choice but to figure out. So, as they sit on the separate small couches in their room- Harry wearing his skimpy robe and Louis in lousy pajamas, he finally asks. "Harry, how did you get so competitive?"
"There's a long story behind it." Harry pouts, reminiscing.
"Okay, never mind." Louis says and grabs his book.
"No! Baby, I'll feel much better if I tell the story." Harry whines. His husband sighs and smiles falsely. "I'm sure I won't, but continue."
Harry sits up on his chair and plays with the sleeves of his robe. "Well, you may not believe this, but there was a time in my life when I was considered a.. big boy."
"Really?"
"Yes, now at that time I was seven years old, about 3'2 and about eighty one pounds. My Dad, the marine sergeant, thought it would be a good idea if I got some exercise. So he signed me up for the little boys soccer team."
"As what, the goalie?" Louis quips.
Harry nods. "Actually, they called me the wall. Nothing could get by me, I finally felt like somebody and the kids weren't teasing me anymore saying fat fat water rag, go and scratch your hairy back."
"I can't tell you how much of a turn off this is." Louis comments, easing Harry's nervousness. Harry rolls his eyes. "Anyway, nothing could get in my way⎼ I was hot. No matter how hard any team tried, I was just quicker and blocked the ball so fast. No one bothered me anymore, but then, I come to practice one day and the coach told me that they put a new person on the team. It was some boy that was small, he couldn't even cover the first three inches of the goal! I got kicked off the team and they replaced me with some beanpole! Then the kids went back to calling me fat fat water rag, go and scratch your hairy back." Harry narrates the entire story with animation, and when he finishes, he seems to have worked himself up.
Louis coos and opens his arms, allowing his husband to sit on his lap. "Oh, baby, I didn't know that about you." He says as he rubs his hands up and down his back. Harry grumbles, burying his face into Louis' shirt. "I forgot about it until I started coaching the team. I don't want any of them to feel like they aren't enough!" He exclaims, somewhat explaining his reason.
Louis hums and pinches his cheek. "That doesn't mean you work them like some military camp." He scolds. Harry sighs and rests his head back on his shoulder. "I guess. But y'know, I'm still going to win."
Louis snorts. "I know."
✧˖°🌷𔘓 ָ࣪ ₊˚
The team wasn't going to give up, they were going to go up! Not to heaven, obviously. Their scores would go up, and hopefully the girls wouldn't have to put through the shame of losing. Saturday came quicker than Louis' mind could process, and soon, he was standing above all the girls, and Avery, on the soccer field⎼ right before the game starts. "Alright girls, are we ready to have some fun?!" He shouts.
"Yeah!" They all cheer.
"Okay, remember, I want you to keep that energy up! How do we keep our energy up? Two words, pixie stick!"
"Yay!"
Louis goes to the container full of candies and grabs the sticks, handing them to a couple of girls. "I want you to pass that around, everybody get some," Avery happens to take most of them, sticking his tongue out when a girl tries to complain. He looks at Avery. "but remember, you have to keep your eyes on the ball at all times. Just pretend that the ball is Avan Jogia."
"Avery likes boys, Avery likes boys." Dakota teases in a sing-song voice.
"I like boys," Avery nods. "But I don't just like boys. I like flowers, I like pop-its, I like science, I like math, and I like these!" He exclaims, hopping around as he holds the multiple pixie sticks in his hands. Louis realizes how hysterical his son has gotten- and he truly does not want to deal with his sugar crash in the next hour, so he takes them away.
"Those are mine!" Avery shouts.
"No more of these." Louis scolds. He regains the focus of the girls and sighs. "I want you guys all to know that no matter what happens out there today, I believe in you, okay? There's not a team in the world that we should be afraid to play."
"Oh yeah? Look." Delaney points. Louis follows her finger, only to find what he assumes is Harry's team, and he now understands what she meant by a 'girl' that looks like she shaves. Because sure enough, there is 5'2 muscly wo-man marching with girl's behind them. Harry smiles proudly as he approaches Louis. "The Blue Jays wish you guys good luck. May the best team win. Wish them luck Blue Jays."
The girls and wo-man oblige and Louis furrows his eyebrows, his lips turning in distaste. "Are you sure those are all girls?"
Harry frowns. "Of course they are, Louis."
"All of them? What about this one?" He beckons his head at whatever the person is and they fluff out their pigtails. "Oh, Angel? She's our secret weapon, she's from East Germany; raised under a power line."
She smiles and Louis shakes his head. "That still doesn't explain why she's wearing a cup."
Harry rolls his eyes. "Do you want to chat or would you like to play some soccer?"
The ref blows the whistle, and the game finally begins.
The Blue Jays play good, like Louis expected and they make almost no goals. Instead of playing, most of the girls end up running in fear from Angel. But at the last fifteen seconds, when a red haired girl has the ball and Dakota's desperately waving her arms for her to kick, she does and it bounces from Avery's head to Dakota's falling into the goal. Everyone on the team cheers happily and Dakota pulls off her shirt, waving it in victory.
Harry watches Louis run to the two responsible for their goal, lifting them on both of his shoulders and cheering. He bites his lip and ponders. Although Blue Jays won, they're still so happy about scoring at least one goal. Maybe it wasn't that special.
Still, after the game, he takes the team to the house to eat pizza, and Louis happens to bring the girls there with pizza as well. Louis raises his eyebrow. "Hey, I guess the Blue Jays are still celebrating their victory, huh?"
Harry presses his lips together. "Actually, we're not celebrating our victory. We're celebrating my retirement from coaching."
"Yay!" The children all shout.
Except Angel, who comes jumping into Harry's arms, crying. Harry grunts from her heavy body and struggles to drop her back on the couch. "It's alright- girl, sit down." Louis smiles in confusion, not sure whether he should feel like Angel was being sweet, or if that was weird. Harry exhales loudly after releasing her from his arms and approaches his husband. "I think I acted ridiculously. Will you forgive me?" He apologizes.
"Of course I'll forgive you. But why the sudden change of heart?" Louis wonders.
"It made me realize what I've been missing all these years." Harry answers lightly.
Louis arches an eyebrow. "What, medication?"
Harry laughs and rolls his eyes. "No, fun."
Louis smiles and puts his hand over his kids heads. "Good for you. They were very good."
Harry scrunches his nose as he smiles and squeezes Avery's cheeks. "Yes, come here, baby. That was a great goal, I was so proud of you!" He says and kisses his face. He does it to the twins as well, listing his favorite things from their plays.
"Well, I'm going to go get us drinks." Louis says but Harry stops him. "No, I'll get it for you."
"Bring her a beer." Louis tells him, referring to Angel.
Harry looks over his shoulder, holding a grin that screams it's not funny, but it is.
"Haz, I'm really happy you're finally able to let this whole winning thing go." Louis says.
Harry smiles. "Me too, it's really a relief." He turns and heads inside the kitchen for their drinks. "13:01, sucker." He whispers in a quiet cheer.
I hope you guys enjoyed! Don't forget to leave a vote ♡
(unedited)