It's eight o'clock in the morning when my phone rings. I'd like to add that it's eight o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, which makes the situation even worse.
I feel better when I see it's Harry calling because I haven't seen him in a week and I miss both of them.
"Hi Lou," he says without waiting for me to give an answer first, "I'm so sorry for calling so early." He sounds stressed, and I can hear Elia crying in the background, which immediately makes my mood worse because what if something happened to one of my babies?
“Babe? You okay, H?"
“Yes”, he says, “Sorry. I really didn’t wanna wake you but Elia’s been crying for like twenty minutes now because there’s this parent thingy at kindergarten today.”
I raise an eyebrow, perplexed by the situation. "Does that make it a bad thing?"
"No," Harry says quickly. "I'm not sure, we all go there and the kids prepare some songs or a play or something, and then it's like a parent day, you know?"
"I remember my sisters having those when they were younger. And Lia is sad about it?"
"She's upset that you're not coming. Because all of her friends seem to have a picture-perfect life with two parents, and she insists you're her second one now."
He lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry, love," he then adds, "I didn't want to put all of this on you, really. You can say no if you want to."
"Hey, don't worry so much, baby," I say softly, "If I hurry, I can be there in half an hour. Is that all right?"
"Thank you so much," he says as we hang up the phone. Even though I don't want to rush in order to get up soon, I'm glad Elia wanted me to come and that I'll be seeing them.
When arriving, it’s twenty-seven minutes after Harry called but I’m feeling really sweaty under my winter jacket.
They’re already waiting by their door, Elia waving excitedly when she sees me while Harry smiles at me a little exhausted.
“Hi, darling”, I say, crouching down to hug Elia and press a kiss to her forehead, “All okay again?"
She nods. “All okay again.”
“What do you say?”, Harry asks, “Louis came just for you, baby.”
“Thank you, Lou”, Elia mumbles shyly, staring at the ground.
I smile and give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Of course, darling, anything for you. I'm excited to see where you stay all day; are you going to show me everything?"
She nods and smiles as we begin to walk in the right direction, Harry's hand in mine, while Elia skips excitedly in front of us.
"Baby," I mumble, kissing Harry on the cheek and gently pressing his hand twice, "you're so tense, darling, been an exhausting morning?"
He nods, his frown growing and deepening. "Yeah, Elia was whiny and pretty annoying if I can be honest and I really had to try and not snap at her because none of this, I mean her not having a mum, is her fault at all, but it's hard, you know. And I don't want to go, I really don't."
"How come, honey? Elia’s gonna be happy.”
"I know." He sighs and wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in sideways as we walk. “But they’re all so much older. They're all so much more experienced and perfect, Louis. And I'm fairly certain they're all straight."
"Oh," I say, feeling stupid for not thinking of it, and then stop walking to pull him in for a hug. "I'll be there for you. Okay? Won’t let anyone say anything bad about you. Because you're doing a much better job than most of those other parents out there, H.
You’re the most amazing dad to the most well raised girl anyone could ask for. Do you hear me? If there’s anyone judging you, they’re wrong.”
Harry hides his face in my shoulder, sniffling quietly and nods.
“Yeah”, he breathes, “Yes, thank you, Lou, thank you. L- Like you so much. Thank you.”
I smile, tilting his neck so he’s looking at me and I can wipe away his tears with my thumbs. “Good. You need to be more aware of how absolutely wonderful you are, darling; we can't have you walking around this stupid world with such a low self-esteem, mhm?"
He nods again, ducking his head down to kiss me softly, laughing when Elia calls for us, waiting at the corner, waving impatiently.
I take his hand into mine again and we walk the rest of the way together, taking about five minutes more before we arrive, only two minutes too late. There are a few other people entering with us so we at least don’t have to worry about being unusually late.
“Hi Simon”, Elia says, greeting a boy with short blonde hair with a wave, grinning, “Did you bringed your parents?”
The boy nods, pointing to a couple walking in with us. While the kids put on their slippers, Harry chats with the couple before turning around to smile at me. "That's Louis, my boyfriend. "Louis, this is Laura and Tom?"
They both nod, smiling. “Simon’s been talking about Elia a lot these last weeks. We have to set up a play date for them some day.”
Harry nods, agreeing with a big smile. I turn to listen to Elia and Simon talk while they undress from their jackets.
“Who’s that?”, the little boy asks, pointing at me as he raises an eyebrow.
“That’s my Lou.”
“Is he your dad, too?”
Elia thinks for a second, shrugging, then she nods. “Yeah”, she states with a small smile on her lips, “Yeah, he is.”
They then get up to put their jackets on the wardrobe and walk towards the four of us, Elia intertwining her hands with one of mine and Harry’s.
“Daddy”, she tries whispering when we walk inside, “I telled Simon that Louis’ also my dad."
“Okay”, Harry says, nodding, “Why did you say that, honey?”
“Cause I don’t know exactly what he is but he is a little my dad and Simon asked so I sayed yes but I hope I don’t lie.”
“Baby”, Harry says, picking Elia up, “Maybe you can talk to Louis about it, but I’m pretty sure he’s pretty fine with you telling the others he’s your dad too, okay? Whatever feels best for you, alright, darling?”
She nods, then smiling at me, her eyebrows raised a little as if she wanted me to ask and I nod. “That’s more than fine with me, Lia, but you could also say I’m Daddy’s boyfriend, okay? As you want.”
She smiles shyly again, hiding her face in Harry’s neck.
“’Kay”, she mumbles, “I thinked I lied already cause Tara didn’t believe me. Good then.”
~~~
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Apricity (l.s.)
FanfictionLouis is good with children, so it's obvious that he decides for babysitting as a way to earn money while studying. Harry is a single dad. Raising his three-year-old isn't easy, but he's managing. But now Louis is there to help him, making Harry fee...
