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“There you are!”
Louis looks up as the sound of Harry’s voice startles him out of a pensive state. He hadn’t heard him come outside.
“The movers are done loading everything up in the truck. We can go whenever you’re ready,” Harry announces, wrapping an arm around Louis’ waist.
Louis takes a deep breath and gives his husband a tight-lipped smile. He’s not sure he’ll ever truly be ready to leave this place.
“Okay,” he still says, looking down at the tire swing next to him.
That swing has been there for as long as Louis can remember – decades at least – and it holds so many of his fondest memories.
He was just about three years old when his Mum and him moved into this little house, back when it was still just the two of them against the world.
One of the first things his Mum had done after they got here was hang up the tire swing in the big oak tree at the back of the yard, and Louis still remembers how happy and excited she was to show him.
It’s only a simple used rubber tire hung up by a thick twisted rope, really, but it has somehow stood the test of time.
All these years later, this very swing is one of the last things that remains the same about this house. It’s been a solid constant in Louis’ life, and it has witnessed so much.
It has seen Louis swing on it for hours on end, then push all of his little sisters on it when each of them came along. It has seen the family grow and morph over the years, and it has seen Louis turn into the man that he is today.
It was also there to see Louis fall for the curly-headed boy that moved across the street when he was 17, and it was where Harry and him shared their first kiss a few months after meeting.
Louis still remembers it like it happened yesterday.
They were both sitting on opposite sides of the tire swing, their legs tangled together where they dangled in the middle.
Harry had had a bad day, and though he refused to tell him the exact reason why, Louis had a feeling it might have something to do with a few idiots in his Maths class that had been bothering him all semester.
Of course, he made it his mission to cheer Harry up that night, because nothing made him feel as good as seeing Harry’s dimples appear just for him.
“Alright,” Louis said resolutely. “If you won’t tell me why you're upset, then at least tell me what I can do to make it better.”
Harry blushed and looked away, which immediately made Louis even more curious to know what was on his mind.
“Come on! You know you can tell me anything!”
Harry still looked uncertain when he looked up at Louis again. “Maybe you could kiss me?”
He said it in such a quiet little voice that Louis had to confirm he hadn’t misheard him.
“Sorry, what?”
“I mean you don’t have to.” Harry curled in on himself a little bit. “Not if you don’t want to.”
Louis used one hand to force Harry’s eyes to meet his again. “I want to, trust me. I just need you to say it again please, just to be sure.”
“Kiss me?”
This time, Louis didn’t hesitate at all before closing the small space between them and pressing his lips to Harry’s.
He’s yet to find a way to replicate the way he felt during that exact moment.
The swing was also there through his Mum getting sick, and he remembers coming out here on multiple occasions to cry about it without her or any of his siblings noticing.
While he had to stay strong for his family, the tire swing never judged him for these moments of raw vulnerability.
When the cancer won and heartlessly tore his Mum away from him, the swing was where Harry found his boyfriend, sobbing and clutching at the ropes his Mum had hung there herself all these years ago.
A few years later, when his Mum’s husband found love once again and put the house up for sale, Louis didn’t hesitate one second before buying it.
While he and Harry brought quite a few changes to make the space feel like their own, the tire swing in the backyard remained exactly the same.
Eventually, their own family grew, as two became three, and then four shortly after.
Just like he did years ago with his younger siblings, Louis spent countless hours pushing their two children on the tire swing, all while making sure both of his babies knew all of the stories behind it.
And now everything is about to change, and Louis is having slightly mixed feelings about it.
He was ecstatic when Harry first got the call telling him he’d gotten his dream job in London a few months ago, he still is really.
He knows first hand just how hard his husband has worked his whole life to get to this point, and he is so incredibly proud of him.
But it also means officially having to move away from a home that still holds a lot of sentimental value to Louis because of its ties to his Mum. And his tire swing.
“We can take it with us to the new house if you want,” Harry says softly, pulling Louis from his thoughts. “There are trees in the back garden. I’m sure one of them will be sturdy enough to hold it.”
Louis appreciates how patient and considerate Harry has been through this whole moving ordeal, and he actually considers his suggestion for a few seconds before shaking his head.
“No,” he says, giving the swing a gentle nudge and watching as it sways slightly. “This is where it belongs.”
They stay put for a moment longer, Harry squeezing his hip in a gentle, reassuring manner as he waits for Louis to say his goodbyes to this place.
Though he also has a lot of memories attached to this house, both good and bad, he can only imagine how hard this must be for Louis who has basically lived here his whole life.
They’ve been standing there for a few minutes when Louis moves to grasp Harry’s hand in his and looks up.
“Ready?” Harry asks him with a small smile.
Louis nods, not trusting his own voice right now.
Together, they turn and walk away from the swing, then the house altogether, thanking it for all it has done for them before climbing in the car and following the moving truck to their new future.
Louis has faith it will be filled with just as much love and warmth as this place was.