Rivals - L.S.

Bonus Chapter - Fast 'Four'ward

Four Years Later

Harry strolled down the sidewalk, a gentle ache in his knees from his uncomfortable boots (which he refused to stop wearing purely for the sake of fashion) and a soft chill rushing over his skin. His hands were full of bags from the local farmer's market; he tended to go overboard on the organic foods because, well, the market was cute and artsy and made him feel healthy. Louis always made fun of him about it, but Harry didn't care and continued to splurge on the yummy items. Harry was yawning due to all of the late nights and early mornings he had been enduring lately.

He stepped up the few small stairs leading up to his and Louis' two story townhouse, struggling to hang onto his bags and get out the keys to his flat at the same time.

Before Harry managed to get the key in the lock, the door flew open to reveal two small children with (what appeared to be) pancake batter smeared all over the fronts of them.

The first child was a boy, Asher, who was just three years old. His eyes were bright blue and strikingly similar to Louis', which was surprising considering that the young lad was adopted and not actually related to the man. His hair was a medium blonde that, due to Harry's influence, had grown down to the boy's shoulders. He was grinning from ear to ear. Asher wore his favorite ripped jeans and black tee shirt; he was in a phase where all of his outfits had to match Harry's at all times.

The second was a little girl, their two year old named Darcy. She had chocolate colored hair that was pin straight. It was tied up into sloppy braids, presumably done by Louis who seriously lacked hair styling skills. Darcy wore an oversized New York Mets jersey that was definitely Asher's, she was obsessed with everything Louis-related and always wanted to rep his sports team.

"Daddy!" they both squealed at the same time, running onto the porch. They threw their arms tightly around Harry's long legs to hug him below the knees.

"Good morning, angels! What are you guys up to? You little goofballs are covered in food!" Harry replied happily, leaning forwards to ruffle his kids' hair after switching all of his bags into one hand. With the children still clinging onto his legs, he took big and dramatic steps into the house to carry them along.

Amidst their loud giggles about how Harry was walking, they both shouted, "Making breakfast!"

Louis appeared around the corner. He looked even messier than the children. He was wearing one of Harry's aprons, the ironic kind that had the outline of a woman's body in a tiny bikini on it to look like it was his own. It was splattered with batter and flour and sugar and chocolate. His hair was sticking up in every direction possible and his eyes were sleepy, rimmed with dark circles and faint crinkles at the corners. "Welcome back," Louis smiled warmly. "Ash, Darcy, let Daddy come inside."

The two kids peeled themselves off of Harry's legs. Asher still hovered closely at his side while Darcy instinctively ran back to Louis, leaping up in the air for the man to catch her and clutch her to his chest.

"Thanks for the backup," Harry grinned at him. "I see that you tried cooking?"

Louis started to laugh which, in turn, made Darcy start laughing. She was in the phase where she mimicked everything around her, the happy husbands barely even noticed it at this point. He pressed a kiss to the girl's forehead before gesturing down at his messy clothes with one hand. "'Tried' is the key word, there. The batter kind of exploded when I was using the little spinny-stirring-bowl-machine thingy," he explained.

"The mixer?" the curly haired man asked, an amused smirk on his face.

Louis nodded quickly. "Yeah. That thing," he affirmed.