Work Text:
February 2018
When Harry opens the front door to his house on a Wednesday afternoon in February, he's immediately met with the sound of Maggie shrieking with laughter followed by Niall's distinct cackle right after. A huge smile comes across his face and he hurries to take his boots and coat off so he can get inside and see them.
Harry walks quickly toward the sitting room and stops in the doorway, watching his boyfriend play with his eleven month old daughter by holding her up in the air and blowing raspberries on her belly. It's an amazing sight to come home to and Harry can't help but get his phone out to start recording it.
"Harry!!!" Niall practically screams a minute later when he spots Harry in the doorway, "Oh my God, I didn't hear you come in. Frightened the shit outta me!"
"Sorry," Harry grinned sheepishly and put away his phone, "You two were so cute when I came in. I didn't want to ruin the moment."
Niall grins and looks down at a squirming Maggie on his lap, "What? You want to get down and crawl around everywhere don't you? Alright." Niall put her down on the carpet and watches with a fond smile as she happily starts crawling around, "She's gonna walk soon, I can feel it. She keeps using the coffee table to pull herself up. It's just a matter of time before she takes that first step."
Harry sits himself down on the couch with Niall and kisses him softly, "You better have your phone on you at all times in case I'm not around when it happens. I want to at least be able to watch it."
"Of course, Petal. Don't worry," Niall smiles at him and lifts his hand to push a lock of hair off Harry's forehead.
"I'm glad you're here," Harry murmurs, leaning into Niall's touch, "Have you been waiting long?"
"No," Niall leans in to kiss him again but only briefly. He needed to keep his eyes on Maggie to make sure she didn't get into anything. "We had lunch with Laura and then I just decided to come over. Me and the little Miss missed you, didn't we Maggie?"
"Ga!!" Maggie shouts, slamming her hand down on the floor and grinning, her two front teeth proudly showing. Harry wanted to pick her up and kiss the face off her. She was too cute and getting cuter everyday. He was just as in love with her as he was with her father.
"Well GA to you, too, sweetheart," Harry says to Maggie, giggling when she smiles happily up at him. When she moves off to crawl some more he turns to Niall again, getting lost in his eyes almost immediately. How many times has he actually forgotten what he was going to say because he gets caught up in Niall? Too many!
"Were you going to say something, Pet?" Niall said as he laughed.
"Oh! Right! Yes, I was going to ask how lunch was? No problems with paps?" Harry asked while running his fingers over Niall's forearm. They were always touching in some way when they were sitting together, whether it be on the couch, while laying in bed, while on a plane or bus- they were always connected and Harry loved it.
"Lunch was good. No problems. Some of your fans recognized me but they were really nice and waited until Laura and I were finished eating and leaving to ask me for a picture. Then someone must have tipped off the paps because there were maybe three around but they stayed on the other side of the street so it was fine. Like, it's bizarre to me still that people want pictures of me but I don't care as long as they don't box me in," Niall explains, "I guess they got your message loud and clear."
Back in January, right after New Years, Harry had done an interview with Nick for the soul purpose of warning the paps off Niall and Maggie. It ended up turning into somewhat of a PSA as other celebrities took to Twitter and Instagram to support Harry after they saw the videos of what happened to Niall. People like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, Louis, Justin Timberlake and a bunch of others all made it very clear if something like that happened to them or their loved ones there would be lawsuits a plenty. The overwhelming support had taken Harry by surprise but he was forever grateful and when he showed everything to Niall, the Irish lad had teared up and clung to him for a long time, grateful that people were willing to stand up for him.
"It looks that way, baby, and thank god because I want you to feel safe going out whenever you want to. I'm glad you had fun with Laura today," Harry said.
Niall was about to say something back when they were both paralyzed by the sound of Maggie's voice.
"Dada!!" Maggie shouted, making Harry and Niall stare at each other with wide eyes.
"Harry," Niall whispered, grabbing onto his bicep really tight.
"Niall," Harry whispered back, grabbing onto Niall just as tight.
They both whipped their heads around to stare at Maggie who was sitting on her bum with her arms held out to Niall and a smile on her face, "Dada!" She said again, leaning forward with her arms out, clearly trying to tell Niall she wanted to get back up in his arms.
"Oh my God!" Niall breathed out, scrambling off the couch to pick her up. He scooped her up in his arms and sat her down on his lap on the couch between himself and Harry and began kissing her cheek repeatedly, "You called me Dada! Didn't she Harry? You heard it right? She said Dada?"
"She definitely did," Harry said, getting all choked up, his eyes filling with tears. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and started recording, pointing the phone at Maggie and Niall, "Who's that, Maggie?" Harry asked, pointing at Niall, "Is that Daddy? Can you say Dada again?"
Maggie giggled and kicked her legs out, looking up at Niall with her big smile, "Dada!!"
"Yes!!!" Harry praised her, tears running down his cheeks now, "That's your Dada! Oh my God, Niall, she's so cute!"
"She's my brilliant baby girl!" Niall cooed, picking her up so she was standing on his thighs and hugging her close. She wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled again as she started mouthing at his chin, her face screwing up when she felt Niall's bristly beard, "You're so smart aren't you my love? So smart!"
Harry finished recording and put his phone down so he could move closer and wrap his arms around both Niall and Maggie. He kissed the top of her head then kissed Niall's forehead before resting his cheek on top of Maggie's head, her brown hair soft against his cheek, "I can't believe she said her first real word, Niall. Oh God that was so perfect. I'm so happy. So incredibly happy for you and so proud of my baby girl."
Niall lifted his head and he and Harry kissed over the top of Maggie's head, both men with tear stains on their cheeks and smiles on their faces, "I'm so glad you were here to hear her first word," Niall whispered against his lips as they continued to keep pecking each other's lips, "It wouldn't feel right without you."
"I'm so glad I was here too. I love you so much, baby, both of you," Harry whispered back.
"We love you, too, Petal."
Harry pulled back and wiped at his eyes, laughing a little at how sentimental he is, "I got it on video. I'm going to send it to our Mum's if that's okay with you?"
"That's definitely okay," Niall said, adjusting Maggie so she was sitting on his lap again. She picked up her stuffed toy, a giraffe Harry got for her for no other reason than he thought it was cute, and started playing around with it while mumbling nonsense under her breath.
"What do you think, Maggie? Can I send that video to your Nana and my Mum?" Harry asked the little girl, running his hand over her velvety hair while he spoke.
"Ga ga ba bababa" Maggie said, looking up at Harry and smiling with a little bit of drool running down her chin.
He and Niall both laughed and Harry pulled up his Mum and Maura in his contacts, "I'll take that as a yes!"