night shift // l.s.

extra: princesses, dragons, and tooth fairies

"daddy! daddy, look!" raven ran straight to louis, showing her gapped smile. "i lost a tooth!"

"i know! daddy sent me a picture!" louis gasped. he knelt down and tugged raven's bottom lip down to inspect where she was in fact missing a tooth, right on the bottom row. "how did it come out?"

"riley socked her in the mouth."

louis' eyes bulged. "we just got him to stop hitting."

"i'm kiddin', lou. she was eating dinner and it popped right out."

"goodness," louis cooed down at his daughter. they had been waiting on this wiggly tooth to come out. she had lost a few before, but this one took longer than the rest. "did it hurt?"

"nope!" raven shook her head. "i already put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy. daddy put it in a bag so that she won't lose it."

"good deal." louis pulled her in for a hug and kissed her head. "go get your jammies on and i'll get you tucked in, alright? it's getting late. you should have already been asleep."

"i let her stay up so she could show you in person," harry murmured from his spot on the couch. "we've been watching tangled."

louis couldn't help but grin at the princess on the telly. their six year old convinces her father to do literally anything. as the oldest, she has that right. "it's a good movie, i guess."

raven wiggled out of her father's arms and ran upstairs, footsteps dying down when harry told her to be quiet because her brothers were asleep.

"come here." harry made grabby hands for his husband. once louis got to him, he pulled him onto his lap. "you look tired. was it busy?"

"not really. i just did a lot of detailing. my back hurts from standing so long." louis leaned into his touch, yawning.

"i'm sorry, baby," harry cooed. "when sissy goes to sleep, i got you."

louis nuzzled his face into the man's neck. "you're the best. getting back to work sucks. i miss my babies."

"you can always just stay home, you know."

"i don't want you to be the only working parent again. i already felt bad enough quitting bounty over rae. working makes me feel like a real adult."

"well, if you ever decide to give up on the adult life and wanna be a stay at home dad again, i wouldn't be mad. we have the money for only one of us to work."

"it just wouldn't be fair."

"bull. we both do so much for the kids and eachother. i don't want you to overwork yourself. you just got cleared to go back."

louis nodded. "i just work a few days out of the week for now. short shifts. i'm still trying to get used to not having rio all the time and it's hard. i miss him."

"he missed you a lot today," harry commented. "he was fighting his sleep earlier so i laid in our bed with him and he passed out within minutes."

louis cooed at that. their littlest is only eight weeks old. "i love his little self so much."

raven popped up at the top of the stairs, dressed in her pajamas. "daddy, come on."

"i'm coming, babe," louis hummed. he kissed harry's cheek and got up, following their daughter to her bedroom.

when raven climbed in her bed, louis covered her up with her blanket and made sure that ruby and her moo were tucked in her arms.

"did you have a good day today?"

"mhm." raven nodded. "avvy and the twins came over with uncle zee. uncle niall wasn't feelin' good."

"oh man, i'm gonna have to see what's up with him. how's avvy?"