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Look. Louis loves his son. He does. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that there is quite literally nothing he wouldn’t do for his son.
But he’s a kid who knows his father well. Which means he knows exactly how to wind him up.
As of right now, he’s doing exactly that.
“Theo, please!” Louis embarrassingly begs. He begs his six-year-old to just listen to him.
All he does is stomp his foot and adamantly keep facing the other way. They’re in the middle of the Aldi sweet aisle, and his heaven-sent angel of a son is ignoring him.
Louis knows why, and he understands that to a six-year-olds brain, what Louis is denying him is envied by death. But it’s 5pm, Theodore has been in school all day, and Louis has dinner to cook when he gets home, so he cannot have what he’s asking for.
Which, for the record, is a packet of off brand Penguin bars (called seal bars) that they already have at home in the cupboard. But because he is barely four feet, he can’t see them. Louis has tried to tell him this, tried to reason with him, but he’s not having it.
It also doesn’t help that in Theo’s eyes, Harry is doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Over the course of their year and half long relationship, Theo has learnt not to ask Harry for these things, because the response he always gets is ‘I can’t give you anything without your dad saying yes, bud’ so he’s stopped bothering.
This, however, does not stop Theo finding other ways to use Harry to his advantage.
So, when Louis tries to direct Theo down the aisle with a gentle hand on his back, he takes off in a little skip-run, away from Louis’ touch, up to Harry and grabs his hand. “C’mon new dad!” He shouts, pulling with all of his might for Harry to follow him.
Usually, to any normal couple, this would stun them both and make them panic slightly. The mere idea of Theo seeing Harry in that way enough to verbalise it would make Harry freak out and Louis cry a little bit.
But, as it is, Theo calls Harry a mixture of a few things. Sometimes he’s ‘dad’, other times he’s ‘papa’, but most of the time he’s just ‘Harry’. Evidently, he knows when to pick his moments.
He drags Harry down the aisle, away from his job of pushing the trolley, and adamantly not looking back to check if Louis is following. “I swear to god,” Louis mumbles, wrapping his hands around the bar on the trolley and pushing it forward. “This kid is gonna kill me.”
Harry, bless his heart, turns to face Louis as he’s being dragged and sends Louis a worried look. “Theo, love, stop a second,” Harry gently tugs back so Theo stops, and doesn’t waste a second before squatting down in front of him. “Why are you angry with your dad?” Harry asks, his voice soft as he reaches out and strokes his little brunet fringe down.
“I’m not angry with you.” Theo answers, shrugging his shoulders.
Where neither of them see, Louis rolls his eyes, lovingly (sort of).
Harry huffs a tiny laugh, pulling Theo out of the way off passers by. “You know what I mean, what’s wrong bub?” He patiently asks.
Theo swings side to side and drops his chin to his chest, taking his time to think. “Nothing, you did nothing.” And before Harry can answer, Theo is tugging at his hand again. So, Harry has no other choice but to stand up and follow him.
This entire thing had to happen in only the second aisle of the shop, so Louis has to trail behind them both for the next twenty minutes. He puts the things they need into the trolley, Harry doing the same when he finds something he knows Louis would want, while Theo ignores him the whole time.
It particularly stings when Theo asks Harry to ‘go up’ so he can pick up a couple of the spices they need. Louis has to hold back from watching it happen like a hawk, but it’s difficult, okay? Theo wraps both of his hands around the jars and squeals when Harry pretends to drop him, it’s adorable and he’s only sort of strong.
Then it somehow gets worse when he manages to convince Harry to keep holding him. So, Louis is left waddling behind them, Theo’s little hand at the base of Harry’s neck, fiddling with his hair there.
When they finally get to the tills, Theo is getting slightly more lenient for Louis. When Harry uses his free hand to help unpack the trolley, Theo reaches down to grab a few things. But he obviously can’t reach them, so Harry picks them up and puts them in his hands.
Theo has always been afraid of the conveyor belts in shops. He refuses to go near them or put stuff on them, so when Harry leans down a little, he chickens out every time and Harry ends up putting it down for him.
When Harry goes to put some yogurts down, Theo gets too close and instinctively reaches out for Louis, a tiny whine coming from him as his lips droop on the sides. Without even thinking, Louis reaches out to take him, to comfort his baby, but Theo remembers the little act he’s putting on and shies away from him too.
He spends the rest of the time they spend unpacking the trolley hidden in Harry’s neck.
Once they’ve gotten all the shopping into bags and back into the trolley, Louis pays, and they head for the door. It’s already getting dark out, curse early evenings in winter, so Harry sets Theo down in his car-seat and shuts the back door to help Louis put everything in the boot.
“He just said ‘thanks dad’ to me.” Harry whispers, weary of the little but sharp ears from the backseat.
Louis huffs and rolls his eyes, sliding a bag of cold items to the back corner. “He’s doing my head in; I hate when he does this.” Louis mutters, far quieter than needed, but he’s terrified of Theo hearing and taking what he’s saying the wrong way.
“I know baby, he’s probably just a little tired.” Harry reasons, hauling a big bag out of the trolley and placing it in the boot for Louis to put somewhere.
Louis hums and thinks for a moment, wanting to get his wording right. “Just makes me feel a bit shit you know? Like to him, you can do no wrong, but I can, when all I’m saying is we don’t need the seal bars, because we’ve already bloody got some.” Louis answers, taking a step back from the car to pinch the bridge of his nose.
Harry rubs his back and presses a soft kiss to his cheek. “He’ll get it once we’re home, I love you.”
Louis lets out a long sigh and drops his arms. “I love you too, thank you for trying to talk to him in there.”
Harry doesn’t need to answer, because Louis knows Harry would do anything to help both of them. Instead, he presses another kiss to Louis’ cheek and starts taking the trolley back to where it came from.
Thankfully, once Louis gets in the car, Theo is already asleep. He rubs his eyes and leans his wrists on the top of the steering wheel, letting out a long-suffering sigh. When Harry gets in, he leans over and rubs his neck.
Louis sways with the pressure of it, before sitting back up and starting the car. The second the car is on, the radio comes through blasting a song from Theo’s cd, causing him to jump awake. “Home already?” He asks, rubbing his eyes.
“Not yet love.” Louis answers, putting the car in reverse and making his way out of their parking spot.
Theo doesn’t answer him, instead scratches the back of his head and turns to Harry. “Are we home papa?” He says then, swinging his legs up once.
Louis has just about had it but contains himself by gritting his teeth and focusing on driving out of the carpark.
Theo’s car-seat is behind the drivers’ seat, with a couple mirrors strategically placed so Louis can see him most of the time. This also means it makes it one hundred times easier for him to talk to Harry, and only Harry.
He turns to face Louis first, reaching over and putting a hand on his thigh, before looking to Theo. “You heard your dad bub, we’re not there yet.” Harry gently says to Theo, not wanting to cause any rough waters between them. It’s hard enough when Louis is in Theo’s bad books, it’s right fucking torture when they both are.
(It’s only happened once, thank god, when Theo found out he’d be spending an entire weekend at his nans rather than the usual one night. All because Louis had gotten Harry a couples spa weekend for his birthday.)
Theo just huffs and mumbles something under his breath. Usually, Louis would chide him for mumbling, but he guesses he’s not exactly got any ground to stand on at the moment, so doesn’t bother.
The trip back home is short, considering they live quite close, so the awkward silence doesn’t last long. When they’re home, Louis turns to Harry with a tired expression. “Can you have him get into his pyjamas; he won’t listen to me so.” Louis says, albeit with a bit of spite in his voice.
Harry just nods his head and leans over to peck Louis’ lips before getting out the car and rounding it to Theo’s door. He lifts him out of the seat and settles him on his hip, closing the door with his free hand. “Pyjama time little man, let’s go.” Harry gleams, heading for the little house Louis has for the two of them.
Louis spends the next fifteen minutes in peaceful, angry child-less bliss while he unpacks the shopping. He didn’t get much, just enough to last the rest of the week and hopefully most of the weekend, so it doesn’t take long.
He’s just closing the fridge for the last time when Harry strides into the kitchen, with Theo trailing behind. He’s got his hands in front of him, fiddling with his fingers, and his chin angled down. Harry lifts his own chin and steps to the side of them both. “Theo has something to say, don’t you bud?”
Theo nods his head then brushes his slipper clad foot on the ground before letting out a truly adorable sigh, one to envy his father’s, and puts his hands behind his back. He looks up at Louis with his mouth etched into a frown. “I’m sorry daddy.” He whispers, his tiny face looking sad.
Louis can barely handle it. He squats down in front of him and opens his arms a little for Theo to step into them. It takes everything in his power not to let out a sigh of relief when Theo shuffles towards him. “Can you tell me what you’re apologising for, babes?” Louis asks, rubbing up and down Theo’s back.
Theo swings side to side and lifts his hand to nibble on one of his nails. Louis gently takes his hand away from his mouth, trying to break that habit before it can fester into a bigger one. “For being mean to you.” He answers, doing his best to stop his bottom lip from wobbling.
Louis pulls him a little closer. “I appreciate that my love, why were you being mean to me?”
Theo hums, lifting his head a little bit more. “‘cause you wouldn’t let me get seals.”
Feeling his legs start to ache (curse getting old), Louis drops down onto his bum and invites Theo to sit in his lap. “What did I say when you asked for them?” Louis asks, smiling when Theo slumps down on his lap and grabs at his t-shirt.
Louis brushes some of Theo’s fringe away from his face, pressing a kiss to his temple. “You said we have them at home, but I di’nt believe you.” He says, mumbling towards the end of his sentence as he turns to wrap his arms around Louis’ neck.
Without a second’s hesitation, Louis tightens his hold on Theo and buries his nose into his neck, inhaling the addicting smell of his kids shampoo. “You know I’d never lie to you bub, we do have them in the cupboard, I can show you.” Louis offers, pressing another kiss to Theo’s cheek.
Gently, Harry taps his shoulder, and when he looks up, he’s holding a chocolate bar with light red packaging. Louis barely holds back his laugh as he takes the seal bar, and nudges Theo to look at him.
It would be comical the way Theo’s face lights up at the chocolate, but then he reaches out to take it and Louis has to quickly pull it back. “Let’s make a deal, yeah?” Louis says, grinning at the way Theo nods his head furiously. “If you eat all of your dinner, and help Harry tidy up, you can have one after dinner and in your lunchbox tomorrow.”
Theo happily obliges, getting up from Louis’ lap and hopping up and down a couple times. “Papa! I get one later!” He yells, reaching his arms up for Harry to lift him.
Louis watches on with a smile as Harry lifts him up under his shoulders and bobs him around a little. Then Theo opens his arms out for Louis, so he steps forward, and with his legs still around Harry, Theo wraps his arms around Louis’ neck, connecting all three of them.
**
In the end, Theo doesn’t eat all of his dinner, but Louis deems it enough and dismisses him to clean his face in the bathroom while he and Harry finish up their own food. “He’s a little monster.” Louis comments once Theo is out of earshot.
Harry reaches over and pokes Louis’ hand. “Yeah, but he’s our little monster.” He answers, forking a few pieces of pasta and shoving them into his mouth, grinning happily at Louis.
The first time Harry insinuated that Theo was theirs rather than just his, Louis had freaked out a little bit. It led to a lengthy conversation and a couple of (more like hundreds of) reassuring kisses shared between them.
It took a while, but Louis slowly but surely grew to see the three of them as a little family. Sure, Harry’s only been in his life for eighteen months, and Theo has only consistently seen him around for about a year, but Harry was always so damn perfect.
He watches, listens and learns when Louis does and says things. He’s picked up on how to treat Theo, what questions he can answer independently, and what ones he should direct Theo towards Louis for.
Because Theo is a smart kid, he knows how to get his way, but Harry has learnt how to see that coming, and to check in with Louis when he asks for certain things. Slowly but surely, Harry is making his way to being Theo’s actual father and is learning how to fill that role the best he can, not only for Theo, but for Louis too.
Louis grins over at Harry, lifting Harry’s hand to kiss his knuckles. “I love-“
“EW!” Theo yells, coming to a stop in front of the table, his little hands up on his face to cover his eyes.
Harry lets out a boisterous laugh as Louis pushes his chair up to rush over to their son. “What? Is it gross?” Louis asks, scooping Theo up into his arms. “Is it so disgusting to see your dads love each other?” Louis says, flailing Theo around, making him squeal and giggle.
“So gross!!” Theo shouts, pushing at Louis’ face.
Louis leans down, pulls up the hem of his shirt and blows a big raspberry into his stomach. “So so gross, is it?” He answers in a just as loud shout.
And then Harry is behind him, wrapping his arms around his body to tickle at Theo’s sides. “Does it gross you out to see your dad loving me?” Harry asks, smiling happily as Theo squeezes his eyes shut and laughs loudly.
“Ew! Ew! Ew!” He screams, wiggling in the way Louis knows means he wants to be put down. So, he gently places him on the floor and ruffles his hair.
He takes a few big breaths, smacking his lips to indicate he wants a drink. Before Louis can even turn, Harry is already back with one of his orange plastic cups, filled halfway with apple juice.
It’s in those moments that Louis really knows he’s gotten lucky. He’s probably the luckiest person in the world to have met Harry and to have him the way he does.
Theo eagerly gulps down his juice, both hands wrapped around the cup, before ambling over to the counter to put it next to the sink. When he turns around, he puts both of his hands on his hips and looks at them both. “Papa, I gots to help you clean so I can have my seal.” He says, looking every bit like Harry, with the attitude of Louis.