December, 23rd.
It's Harry's last day of work until a longer Christmas break.
He still works at the small bakery and is lucky enough to a have a proper Christmas break, lasting until the second of January.
Harry is happy once he leaves his work, wishing his co-worker happy holidays before hopping to his car. He shivers a bit, thinking it would be a good time starting to wear his warmer winter coat instead of wearing just a leather jacket.
He is just in time to get Aisling from school. It's her last day as well and Harry already knows how excited she is. He was spending the night and taking Aisling to school in the morning, and the little girl couldn't stop blabbering about Christmas.
Christmas is going to be amazing, Harry reasons, while driving to Aisling's school. He is going to spend the Christmas with Niall's family and on 26th, his mum and step-dad are flying to Dublin for a few days.
He reaches Aisling's school five minutes early, stepping outside the car and making his way to the lobby of the school where he always waits for her. They have a certain place where he stands, Aisling told him to do it a while back and ever since, Harry has been waiting for her in the same spot so she can easily find him.
When the bell rings, the lobby fills with little kids and the noise is incredibly loud. Harry looks for Aisling, finally spotting her with two of her school friends Oli and Sammy. He waves, catching Aisling's attention and laughing when the little girl shrieks and starts running to him.
"Hazzy!" She giggles as she reaches Harry.
"Hello love," Harry ruffles her curls gently, asking her where her beanie is.
"In my bag," Aisling says and carefully places her schoolbag on the floor, pulling her beanie out. Harry takes her bag as always, reaching to take her hand and asking if she wants to say bye to her friends.
"Already said Merry Christmas and bye," Aisling tells and Harry nods, leading them outside the school building and listening to Aisling telling about her school day.
"Did you work today?"Aisling carefully asks as they are about to reach Harry's car.
"Yes I did, I told you this morning I was going to work. Don't you remember?" Harry playfully asks and she giggles a bit.
"Yes! You told me but I forgot," she happily says as Harry lifts her on her car seat, clicking the seat belt on.
"Is daddy home?" Aisling asks once Harry has started the car.
"No not yet, daddy will be home in a few hours," Harry explains.
"You and I have a task to do," he then tells her.
"We have to go to the grocery store. Do you want to go right now or go home first?" He asks.
"Now," Aisling decides.
"Are you excited for Christmas?" Harry asks while driving towards the closest grocery store.
"Yes! What did you buy for me?" Aisling questions and Harry chuckles at that.
"You know I can't tell you, it would ruin the surprise."
Aisling huffs, soon giggling when Harry tells her she is being a bit silly. She then explains she is excited to see her family members, mentioning everyone and even including Harry's parents in the list which makes Harry feel proud.
Harry thinks it's funny how Aisling doesn't believe in Santa Claus like any other child would. Niall explained the whole thing a few weeks ago, telling how it's both his and Bobby's fault. Apparently Bobby was Santa last year but Aisling somehow figured it out, and then she announced that Santa doesn't exist.
Niall didn't bother lying to her and so this year, there is no need to tell the typical story. Aisling knows that everyone have bought her presents and there won't be no Santa Claus visiting them.
.
While driving, Harry does some deep thinking. There's Kodaline playing in the background and he notices small snow flakes on the car window. It causes him to smile, thinking the time ahead, wondering when he's going to move to Niall's.
He can't wait until they live together although it's like he's living there already. Half of his things are around the house, he's got his own key and the only thing really missing is his mail coming there, too. Aisling still doesn't know about him moving there, him and Niall don't want to tell her until the moving day is certain.
Liam and Zayn have been house hunting, Harry knows. They have settled for a one they want and after the holidays, they might get it.
"Hazzy!" Aisling interrupts his thoughts.
"There's snow outside," she tells him from the backseat.
"I noticed, love," Harry chuckles a little.
.
Once they reach the grocery store, Harry helps Aisling out of the car. They walk to the main entrance hand in hand, Aisling still talking about Christmas and how excited she is.
"Do you want your own trolley?" Harry asks as he's getting trolleys. The store has small ones for children which he finds impossibly cute, and he gets one for Aisling to push and keep her occupied. Normally, she can get bored in the store but at least now she has something to keep her busy.
Harry's shopping list isn't impossibly long, Niall has bought most things for Christmas day meal already, he's just missing a few items. At some point, Harry starts thinking Aisling's trolley looks too full and he takes a closer look, bursting out a laugh.
"Aisling," he chuckles, picking up a package of cheese and cereal off of her trolley.
"Hey! I want those," she protests, trying to get them back.
"Did you ask permission?" Harry asks her and she pouts her lower lip but ends up shaking her head.
"Can I have them, please?" She then asks, being impossibly adorable.
"No for the cheese but you can have the cereal," Harry decides, handing the package back to her.
"And don't put anything else in your trolley without asking," he uses a playful tone, causing her to giggle.
Once Harry has picked everything the list says, he tells Aisling they should go pay for everything. Before going to the cashiers, he goes through her trolley to make sure she hasn't picked out anything else without him noticing. She hasn't, surprisingly, and smiles proudly at Harry.
"Hazzy? Is your mummy coming for Christmas?"
"No not for Christmas, they'll come on Boxing Day," Harry explains.
"Your daddy too?"
"Yeah Robin's coming," Harry answers as he's putting the groceries in the conveyor.
After paying for everything, he makes sure Aisling leaves the children's trolley on the right spot. He has a hard time carrying all the bags to the car, telling Aisling to wait until he has put everything in the boot.
"Let's go home then," Harry tells her, lifting her on her seat.
He remembers to put a Christmas CD on this time, Aisling knowing the words to all of the songs. She begins to sing loudly along 'All I want for Christmas is you', Harry chuckling as he's driving to Niall's. He takes a look at the time, thinking Niall should be home in less than two hours.
.
When Harry has dinner in the oven and Aisling's playing in the living room, he decides to clean around a little. He knows Niall hasn't done his Christmas cleaning yet and wants to help out, starting hoovering from the hallway.
At some point, Aisling comes at him, telling him 'daddy will be mad'. Harry turns off the hoover, asking her what she means by that.
"Daddy doesn't like when you clean here," Aisling says before rushing off, leaving Harry chuckling alone in the hallway. It causes him to recall a memory, smiling shortly when he relives it.
-
Throwback to My Hazzy 1, chapter 17.
That Friday afternoon, Aisling was taking a much needed nap and Harry walked around the downstairs area, thinking he'd go crazy soon if he didn't think of something to do.
He walked to the utility room, spotting Niall's hoover and thinking maybe, just maybe he could hoover a bit and Niall didn't need to know about it. He decided it was a good idea, hoping Niall's hoover wasn't loud so Aisling wouldn't wake up.
He sighed when he realised the hoover was in fact very quiet and he doubted Aisling would wake up to the sound. He hoovered around downstairs, starting from the kitchen and making his way to the living room. He could only hope Niall wasn't going to realise he'd been cleaning again, knowing how little Niall liked it.
Harry couldn't help it though, he was bad at sitting still while waiting for something. He tended to get nervous and doing something helped his restlessness. He thought he should mention it to Niall so maybe he wouldn't be angry if Harry cleaned around from time to time.
At some point, Aisling woke up from her nap and laughed at Harry who was still hoovering. Harry quickly told Aisling how his cleaning should remain as a secret and how they shouldn't mention it to Niall. Aisling only giggled before asking if Harry could read for her.
Niall came home earlier than normally, around four thirty. Aisling greeted him with loud shrieks and a very wet and loud kiss on the cheek.
"Daddy," Aisling suddenly said.
"Hazzy clean here."
Harry frowned and Niall quickly looked at him. Aisling made the situation even worse because she started laughing, ending up doing a ridiculous fake laugh.
"Harry," Niall shook his head.
"I only hoovered," Harry quickly protested.
"Thanks a lot Aisling," Harry told the little girl, using a playful tone in his voice.
"You welcome Hazzy, you naughty boy." She laughed again and ran to Harry, poking his stomach. Harry lifted her up, holding her up in his arms and she giggled loudly.
"Put me down!" She giggled and Harry pretended to drop her, only causing her to giggle louder.
-
.
That evening Harry goes home for the night. He has some wrapping to do and he has also promised to drive Liam to the airport in the morning. Liam is going home for Christmas just like last year, while Harry is staying in Ireland.
They end up staying up until early hours, only getting three hours of sleep before they need to go. Harry has to drink an energy drink to keep him awake and as he drops Liam off and begins to drive to Niall's, he thinks he might fall asleep behind the wheel.
He doesn't, though, managing to get to Niall's in one piece. It's still early, way too early Harry thinks, only quarter to eight. He opens the front door with his own key, listening carefully to hear if anyone's up. He can't hear anything, the house is dead quiet so he takes off his shoes and coat, tiptoeing upstairs.
He peeks to Aisling's room out of habit, seeing the little girl sleeping peacefully. He smiles before tiptoeing to Niall's room, going straight to the bed and climbing in. Niall is sleeping on his back and Harry snuggles to his side, wrapping his arm around Niall's bare waist.
"Babe?" Niall sleepily murmurs, Harry humming against his neck.
"What time is it?"
"Quarter to eight," Harry mumbles against his neck, placing a kiss there.
"Too early. Let's sleep for a bit," Niall murmurs, Harry agreeing with him. He is passed out before seconds later, next time waking up when Aisling is poking his side.
"Hazzy, daddy," she tries to wake them, first poking Harry's side and then Niall's cheek.
"Wake up, both of you. I want food!"
"Come here first," Niall murmurs, unwrapping his arm around Harry and reaching for her. She lets him hug her for a while before getting restless, whining about being hungry.
.
"We should go skating today," Niall suggests while they're eating breakfast. He thinks it might be fun, he has never taken Aisling to skating before and thinks she might like it.
"Aisling, do you want to go skating?" Harry asks her and she immediately nods.
"I'll check what time the rink opens," Niall pulls out his phone, typing in something.
"At ten. Should we go before or after lunch?"
"Before," Aisling is fast to answer.
"Then go to Mackeys, I want nuggets," she continues.
"Someone's being bossy today," Niall teases her and she giggles, shaking her head.
"We can go to Mackeys," he ends up promising her, thinking it's fine.
.
The ice-skating turns out to be fun although at first, it looked like an upcoming disaster. Harry is a fine skater and Niall's somewhat good too, and Harry ends up being the one helping Aisling. They got her a helmet and pads for her knees and elbows.
At first she keeps tripping over her feet, Harry there to catch her every time so she won't fall. Eventually she ends up clinging to Harry's leg, refusing to let go. Harry laughs at her, saying she'll be fine since he is holding her hands.
After an hour, Aisling starts getting the hang of it, not falling over every five minutes. Harry is skating backwards, dragging her along and she giggles when she doesn't fall, instead sliding after Harry.
Around twelve she gets hungry, complaining about it and saying she needs some food. They go take their skating gear off before heading towards a McDonald's nearby, Niall deciding they should get take away and eat lunch at home instead of staying at the crowded restaurant.
While eating their food, they are watching a Christmas film together. In the afternoon they go out for a walk, getting hot chocolates from a corner coffee shop. On their way back home Aisling is holding both Niall and Harry's hands, walking between them.
.
After dinner, they dress in Christmas pyjamas, snuggling on the couch to watch another Christmas movie. Aisling falls asleep on Harry's lap, curled against his chest. Niall thinks it's the cutest thing ever, snapping a picture of them before they take Aisling to bed.
"We should put my presents under the tree," Harry says when they're back downstairs, Aisling sleeping in her room. He still has all his presents in the boot of his car, completely forgotten there.
He thinks he may have gone overboard with the presents, but then again Christmas is his favourite day of the year. He even bought something for Maura and Bobby, and Greg's family.
Niall's family are gathering at Niall's tomorrow to eat Christmas meal together and Harry is looking forward to it. Him and Niall are going to do most of the cooking, although Maura promised she'll come around in the morning to help out. The rest of Niall's family will join them later in the day to eat food and open the presents.
"Harry," Niall groans when Harry opens the boot of his car, revealing the amount of presents he has bought.
"There's something for your parents and Greg's family," Harry defends himself, looking at the four huge bags full of presents.
"Babe, still," Niall groans, lifting one bag and carrying it inside.
"This is too much," he scolds Harry once they have managed to carry the heavy bags inside the house, Harry beginning to arrange the presents around the tree. He thinks the tree looks amazing, him and Niall bought it a few days ago and decorated it together with a little help from Aisling.
"What about Aisling's stocking?" Harry suddenly remembers.
"Oh yeah we need to fill that," Niall says.
He has everything ready, hidden in the utility room where Aisling has no business of going and therefor it was a safe option. He rushes there, getting the bag full of small presents, along with her stocking.
"You didn't buy me anything expensive, did you?" Niall asks after they have filled Aisling's stocking, hanging it to the side a bookshelf since Niall doesn't have a fireplace.
"No," Harry smiles, shaking his head.
"Harry?"
"Really, nothing expensive," Harry promises, sitting down on the couch and pulling Niall on his lap. He presses a kiss on Niall's cheek, hugging him tightly, thinking he is happy he decided to stay in Ireland for Christmas.
- - -
Who remembers the little throwback part I added? It was right before Harry met Maura for the first time! Exciting, exciting. Later on in the chapter Harry and Liam went to the movies and Niall happened to be there.
Anyway I'm terribly sorry about posting Christmas chapters in July. I didn't want to skip Christmas because it's Harry and Niall's first one together and I felt like it was important. Next part is going to be Christmas Day!
Let me know your thoughts on this! Did you like the throwback part and would you like to read more of those in the future? Not in every part of course but I could do it again sometime.
Ps. Sorry about the annoying dots, Watty wouldn't add spaces in this part so I had to use dots in order to create that space between paragraphs.