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1.) “Dear God, Styles; you’re an absolute disgrace.” Niall snorted and threw down the controller after decimating Harry (again) at FIFA. Harry just shrugged, smiling a bit because he’s unbothered. Louis’ the competitive one.
“Can’t fuckin’ wait ‘til Louis gets back, man,” Niall complained. “He’s the only one of you lot who can even take me on.” Zayn looked up from his phone and gave Niall a half-assed glare before rolling his eyes and returning to his text. “How long’s he got, now, Hazza?” Niall asked, tilting his head back onto the couch he was sitting in front of to look up at Harry.
“’Nother two and a half months, Nialler,” Harry said, screwing his face into a grimace so his voice didn’t waver. He was a bit of a baby about this deployment, with it being Louis’ first.
“There’s no way,” Niall muttered, and Zayn snorted, shaking his head when Harry glanced at him.
Harry sighed, nudging Niall’s arm with his socked foot, hanging off the cushion. “Wanna kill me again?” He asked, not really interested, but he knew if he had time to himself to think, he’d agonize and become paranoid over Louis’ state of being.
Niall shrugged, understanding Harry’s tone, and went about starting up a new game, and Harry struggled to keep up. Well – he failed to keep up, and struggled to even look like he knew what he was doing.
He was used to Louis murmuring in his ear – or, more often, yelling in his ear when he forgot he was so close to Harry – instructions and strategies, and he found he wasn’t very good without Louis’ voice echoing in his brain and telling his fingers what to do.
“Pass, Harry,” said a voice from the doorway, and Harry froze.
Niall cheered as he scored, not realizing anything had happened, but Harry barely heard him as he turned around slowly, craning his neck uncomfortably until he saw a young man in military camo. Behind him, Liam had a big green bag slung over his shoulder, obviously carrying it for Louis, and Louis’ fingers clenched around his hat – taken off once he got inside the house, obviously.
“Louis!” Harry shifted and launched himself off the couch, running the span of the room and leaping into his boyfriend’s arms, tears already streaming down his face and ugly sobs wrenching from his stomach and making his throat hurt. “Louis, my God, oh, fuck, thank you, God, thank you so much, thank you, thank you.” Harry’s sobbing overpowered his vocal chords and he tucked his face into Louis’ neck to cry while Zayn and Niall both jumped up, having pieced it together and noticing Louis in the room.
Harry felt Niall and then Zayn crowd behind him as they squeezed in a hug of their own, but Louis held the back of Harry’s thighs with one arm so he didn’t drop him (though Harry definitely was holding tight enough), and as Harry sobbed he breathed in the scent of Louis and clean uniform and staleness from a long flight with recycled air. Harry gagged on the strength of his sobs and it shocked him into calming down a bit so he didn’t have to go get his inhaler.
Louis chuckled and rubbed Harry’s back as he walked awkwardly to the couch Harry was just sitting on, mumbling a ‘thank you’ to Niall for moving the forgotten controller. When he sat down with an ooph, Louis pushed Harry back and grabbed his face, pulling Harry back in and kissing him fiercely, ignoring the tears and tiny bit of snot (Harry was too happy to be embarrassed). Eventually, though, Harry couldn’t breathe and he broke the kiss, staring at Louis’ eyes hard.
“You’re home,” he choked out, rubbing his thumbs underneath Louis’ eyes, which crinkled as he smiled and nodded.
“I’m home,” he echoed, running fingers down Harry’s spine and back up soothingly.
“Respite?” Harry asked, heart in his throat as he desperately hoped to hear no.
“No,” Louis said with a breathtaking smile, “I’m home early, babe. Mission finished early.”
With an embarrassingly not masculine squeak, Harry buried his face into Louis’ neck again, crying harder with relief. “I love you so much,” he said hoarsely. “Thank you for coming home.”
“Wouldn’t rather be anywhere else,” Louis assured him sincerely, leaning back onto the couch cushions and rubbing Harry’s back.
2). Harry wasn’t ignoring his teacher.
Okay, well. He was kind of ignoring his teacher. But for a good reason.
Or not.
Geometry was boring, alright? He was going into kindergarten education; not middle school, and he shouldn’t have to learn this. What kind of K-5 program was his college running? Harry knew he had to learn how to teach all elementary school grades, but honestly, what kind of fifth graders were learning about the Pythagorean Theorem?
No kind. There were no fifth graders learning about the Pythagorean Theorem.
Stupid Pythagoras.
It wasn’t even like the theorem was hard; it was just boring, and learning how to teach it wasn’t fun in the least.
“…And if we’ve got A-squared and C-squared, then you can switch sides, obviously – remember, folks,” Mrs. Kekuna warned. “Remember to tell your students that whatever you do to one side, you have to –”
Harry breathed a sigh of relief when a knock on the door silenced Mrs. Kekuna from her droning and returned his focus to his paper, doodling a design for his shoulder tattoo on the margin of his math notebook. He was eager to get it, so he could surprise Louis when he got back from his deplyment. Louis loved Harry’s tattoos.
He’d been in Afghanistan for half the year, and Harry had progressively heard less and less from him, only getting a few fuzzy phone calls and hastily-written letters as Louis was moved place to place for safety’s sake. Tension was high over there still, and Harry hated it.
“Mr. Styles?” Mrs. Kekuna said, and Harry hummed out like he’d been paying attention, his head snapping up to look at the teacher, who stood with her back to the door. Her lips were pursed like she was hiding an expression, and she said, “You have a visitor.”
Harry felt the instant anxiety that came with unexpected visitors these days. He wasn’t listed as next of kin, so nobody from the military would come knocking on his door if anything had happened to Louis, but Louis’ mother would come tell him face-to-face if he’d been hurt, and it made Harry uneasy every time his doorbell rang.
“Is it a woman?” Harry choked out, his face going pale, but Mrs. Kekuna smiled and shook her head, pulling the door open and revealing –
Louis.
Harry’s breath left him in a whoosh and he scooted his chair back away from his desk only to double over with happy hysteria. His head dropped in between his knees and he covered the back of his head with his hands, sending a quick prayer of thanks skyward before he realized his boyfriend was all the way across the classroom.
Harry jumped up from his seat and walked as quickly as he could, making his way through the awkwardly-set up classroom before he got to Louis, who was grinning wildly, and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist and pressed a kiss straight onto his lips before he tucked his face into Louis’ neck, one hand sliding up to tangle fingers in his short hair.
Louis hugged him back fiercely, and Harry let out one short sob. “I was so worried about you,” he whispered, shuddering just a tiny bit.
Louis rubbed his back, kissing the side of his head because it was all he could get to. They forgot about the classroom, all ‘awe’-ing over them, and Louis inhaled Harry’s apple shampoo. “’M home now,” he said quietly. “I’m okay; I’m home. I’ve missed you.”
Harry let loose a laugh mixed with a sob, and Louis laughed at the awkward sound. “I missed you so much,” he said, finally leaving Louis’ neck to kiss him full on the lips, letting Louis hold him tight and sway on the spot. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
“I love you so much,” Louis mumbled against Harry’s jaw, and Harry pulled away to go grab his bags before they left to go home, where Louis belonged.
3). Harry stood outside the auditorium door in his black gown, his cap in hand as he fiddled with the stupid tassel, aware how big a milestone this was and still a bit reluctant to let himself feel as excited as he was supposed to be. His mom smiled softly and cupped his cheek, her thumb wiping away a single tear from his eye.
“He’d want you to be happy,” she said softly.
Harry bit his lip while his mum smoothed the gown down over his shoulders. “No, I know,” he said softly, his breath shuddering just a bit, and then he laughed at himself. “I’m such a baby,” he grumbled, rubbing at his eyes as they stung.
Anne smiled. “You’re not,” she said, softly defending her baby from himself. She plucked the cap out of Harry’s hands and placed it on his head, arranging his curls so they didn’t look stupid. “You’re an emotional person,” she scolded for what felt like the millionth time. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” She kissed his cheek and smiled at him, her own eyes shining. “I am so proud of you, Harry,” she whispered. “Never forget that. I love you. You’ll always be my baby.”
Harry hugged his mother tight, murmuring an ‘I love you, too’ back to her before an intercom called all the graduating class into the auditorium. “I’ll find you guys in the seats,” he said as he walked away from his mother.
An hour later, Harry sat outside in the sun on the football field while the ‘A’s were being called out still, unable to find his parents and sister and friends. He pulled out his phone to see if they’d texted him, but nothing popped up until a message from Niall made the phone vibrate in his hand.
Ur mom says put ur phone up rn young man and pay attention it doesn matter if ur a college grad now
Harry sighed, looking around the stadium once more, and then gave up and put it back into his pocket, relaxing in his seat – it’d be at least ten minutes until they got to his name.
He missed Louis.
Louis and Harry had graduated high school three years ago, and Louis enlisted six weeks later, excelling flawlessly through all his training, and was shipped out on a six month deployment to Kuwait, where tensions were building up while Harry went to and excelled in college, managing to pile on credits so he could graduate early. Through the summer leading into and part of Harry’s sophomore year, Louis was in Afghanistan, and now, over Harry’s college graduation, Louis was somewhere in the middle east – Harry wasn’t allowed to know yet, if ever.
“Mary Stinton,” Mr. Noubani called out, and that was Harry’s cue. His row stood and filed down to the stage that had been set up for the occasion, and after four more people, Harry walked onto the stage, finally looking up and seeing the balding principal – and his entire family a few yards behind, just off the side of the stage.
Harry walked closer to Mr. Noubani, shaking his hand and seeing the flash of light saying his picture had been taken, but he didn’t notice because just then, someone moved, and Harry saw Louis.
“Ow,” Mr. Noubani murmured as Harry squeezed his hand too tight, and Harry rushed past him, nearly forgetting to let go of the man’s hand as he hurried. People in the stadium started cheering and clapping, and photographers started running parallel with Harry to get pictures for a nice newspaper editorial if they could manage.
Harry didn’t care, because the force of slamming into Louis knocked his graduation cap off and he nearly tripped over his gown in his fancy shoes (because graduation was a formal occasion, as they’d all been reminded countlessly), but Harry kissed all over Louis’ face and laughed joyfully, shouting happily that Louis had seen him walk the stage, had seen him graduate.
“You look so handsome, all decked out in your awards,” Louis said, pulling at colorful threads hanging off Harry’s gown – things for honor roll, summa cum laude, and for all his volunteer work – as he smiled proudly. “I wouldn’t miss your college graduation for all the world peace, baby,” he vowed breathlessly, and Harry hugged him so tight he felt like his arms would pop out of their sockets.
And it was only a respite leave, but it was so worth it when Harry got two full weeks of having Louis.
4). Harry looked around at his twenty-four kids, sat silently at their desks doing their work.
Well. Mostly. “I hope you’re all doing your work individually, like I told you,” he said mildly, eyes sweeping the entire room so nobody but the two guilty parties knew who he was talking to. Ava and Mason looked up at him sheepishly, and he made his face a bit more stern to let them know he meant business.
When Harry was called in for an interview at Kellen Elementary School, he’d assumed it’d be for the Kindergarten position, which had been open since the previous teacher, Mrs. Smit, had given birth and wanted to take a gap year off. Instead, he’d been offered a second grade position, and after observing for six hours over the next week, he’d fallen in love with the little seven- and eight-year-olds. They were just starting to really grab their own personality traits and Harry was fascinated with the prospect of helping to mold them into good people at such an important year of their lives. Ms. Allen, the teacher he would be replacing, was retiring at the (rather astonishing) age of seventy-three, and Harry also spent a day meeting the first grade students, some of whom he’d be teaching. Harry never thought he’d love his kids so much, but here they were, all wonderful and different and chaotic and emotional, and Harry loved every single one of them to bits (even Kent).
Once the fifteen minutes of quiet time was over, Harry moved over the hand on the plastic wall clock and let it point to Library. Some kids groaned (Harry was certain Ivory would be each high school English teacher’s worst nightmare, and he’d also decided to keep a close eye on Bryson, as he’d been stubbornly resistant to reading and was also quite slow when he was forced to), and some kids cheered (and realistically, Harry knew Arya would probably grow up to be something mundane and would almost surely be underemployed, but if she played her cards right, Harry believed she could do some incredible things later in her life, with her outstanding comprehensive levels), but all of them lined up, Mason at the front because he’d been the best behaved so far.
Harry led them down the hall and then slowed his walk, letting about half of them pass him, when he heard a few start giggling. “What is it?” He asked Alton, one of his most mischievous.
(Harry tried hard not to show favoritism, but Alton really reminded him of how he imagined eight-year-old Louis.)
Alton just giggled and shook his head, and his little girlfriend, Imunique, covered her mouth with her hand to try and hide her giggles.
“What? Tell me,” Harry insisted, a smile growing on his face.
Imunique beckoned Harry close, so he leaned down, walking awkwardly, and let her wrap her hands around his ear so she could whisper, “Alton says the libarian-lady has a witch nose.” Harry straightened up while Imunique and Alton both lost it in fits of giggles, and Harry let out a giggle or two himself before remembering he was meant to be a teacher and role model.
Half-heartedly, Harry told Alton that saying things like that wasn’t very kind and would hurt Ms. Hinson’s feelings if she heard them talking about her like that (it didn’t really work, because Alton sassily replied, “She should get a new not-witch nose, then, if she doesn’t want me to think it,” and Harry didn’t know what to say to that, so he just shushed him and tried not to smile).
Harry loved these kids. They kept him entertained and gave him things to think about during his off-time, too – as much as Harry loved Liam, Niall, and Zayn, all of them had jobs and they could only do so much about Harry’s constant loneliness with Louis deployed – and also, they gave him hilarious stories to tell Louis whenever he got to talk to him.
This deployment hadn’t been too bad. Louis was in Guam for six months – and he was currently just at three months into it – and he was just accompanying some presidential tour thing (Louis wasn’t really allowed to tell Harry much). He was safe, and they Skyped at least twice a week, usually on weekends or when Harry didn’t have much homework to go over or the lads weren’t free, and Louis himself wasn’t going out with his buddies. They also used kik to text quite often, and though Harry obviously missed him loads, he found that this T.D.Y. was nothing compared to other previous ones.
Harry brought his kiddos around and they sat on the brightly-colored carpet, where Ms. Hinson (and her witch nose) sat with a few books out to read. As it was near Christmas-time, all the books were Christmas-themed, and Harry sat quietly in a chair and graded a few worksheets, keeping his ears open to make sure his kids didn’t act up for the poor librarian. When the books were read, Harry glanced at his watch and noticed he had about twenty minutes to spare before they needed to head back for science time, so he gave the kids the go-ahead to roam around and pick out some books. “Make sure they’re a level two or above,” he reminded them, earning a glare from Bryson and an eye-roll from Arya, who was already walking past the level five rows.
The kids checked their books out and lined up once again, and Harry led them down the hall towards his classroom, preparing to talk through the metamorphosis stages of bugs in the wild, and preparing them for their outside class the next week to search for the various stages. Harry turned the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, causing Mason to bump into him.
“Mister Styles, why’d you stop?” He complained, rubbing his nose, but Harry was just smiling at the military man, sitting on the floor with his back pressed up against the walls, clearly waiting for him to come back. Mason looked ahead and suddenly erupted, running forward and shouting, “Mister Louis! Mister Louis’ home! Mister Louis, you’re home! Mister Styles, look! It’s Mister Louis!”
Harry’s eyes started to sting as he watched Louis being buried in a mound of twenty-four kids who adored him, all clamoring for hugs and acknowledgement, and he covered his mouth and nose as he slowly walked forward, a few of the kids moving out of the way for him, although some didn’t so he had to bend awkwardly over them to reach Louis, wrapping his arms around Louis’ neck and squeezing as tight as he could.
5). “Honestly, Valkyrie, could you please put your phone down?” Harry asked, growing annoyed with his oldest daughter. “We’re here for Lucas’ game; you could at least pretend to pay attention.”
Valkyrie sighed and rolled her eyes, putting her phone down and cheering for Lucas for a full minute as he ran all over the field with the ball before she picked her phone up, saying, “There. I cheered. Woop-de-doo.”
Harry gritted his teeth, and let it slide. Valkyrie was very close to Louis, and this eighteen-month deployment was ridiculously hard on the thirteen-year-old. Lucas had taken it hard, too, being eight and idolizing his Dad the way most boys do. Then again, even little three-year-old Arianna had struggled, wanting Daddy to tuck her in, rather than Harry. Skyping a few times a month didn’t help, it sometimes seemed, and the kids were often left moody and defiant from missing their father.
Harry wiggled Arianna’s hands as he cheered for Lucas, who was tearing up the field – honestly, he was so much like his father.
“Can I hold her?” Niall asked, and Harry chuckled, throwing Arianna up in the air and catching her before placing her in Niall’s lap. Niall and his girlfriend had just gotten married, and Niall had the worst baby fever of all – but his girlfriend, a model, wasn’t quite ready to give up her figure and, consequentially, her career – so Niall had been staving his growing desire to be a dad by using his friends’ kids.
Harry smiled as Niall blew a raspberry onto Arianna’s chubby cheek before returning his attention to Lucas’ game. “Pass it, Luke!” He cheered, clapping approvingly when Luke passed to a teammate and moved out of the way of a kick from a defender. He got the ball back and started tearing down the field…and suddenly left the ball where it was and took off towards his left. “Lucas!” Harry shouted in confusion, standing up and making to follow him, and Valkyrie looked up nosily. Luke started screaming something, but it took a few seconds for Harry to realize what his son was running towards.
“Oh, my God,” he whispered.
Niall stood with Arianna, and Harry trusted his friend to follow when Valkyrie shouted, “Daddy!” and took off, following her brother and cutting straight through the game, phone still open in her hand but otherwise forgotten about. “Daddy!”
Harry jogged after his two oldest kids, hearing Niall hurriedly walking behind him and cooing in a high pitch about her daddy. Lucas had finally reached Louis and jumped straight into his arms, already crying, and Valkyrie slowed down into a walk as she neared her father, crying and opening her arms out for a hug of her own, standing behind her little brother as she sobbed brokenly.
Lucas kissed Louis’ cheeks as he sniffled, trying to be a ‘man’, and then backed away, but Valkyrie just stayed in her father’s hold. “I missed you so much,” she cried, her voice breaking and wobbling.
“I missed you, too, baby girl,” Louis said gruffly, holding the back of her head to kiss her forehead. “God, I missed you guys so bad.”
“Are you home, now?” She cried, staring at Louis like she couldn’t believe it.
“I am, baby; I’m home,” he promised, hugging her tight again.
“Daddy!” Arianna cried shrilly, and Harry looked behind him to see Niall squatting down and letting Arianna run towards him. Wiping her eyes and sniffling, Valkyrie moved away and hugged her little brother as they both watched Arianna run towards Louis, who squatted down as well. “You’re home, Daddy!” She said, giggling ridiculously. “Daddy, I missed you, Daddy! I love you! Thank you for coming home!” Louis let out a single little sound, a moan mixed with a sob, as he buried his face in his daughter’s belly, holding her tight when he kissed all over her face.
“Oh, I’ve missed you, too, Anna,” he choked out, and his eyes moved to Harry, bright blue with unshed tears, and Harry broke.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Harry said with a bit of a sob of his own, and moved to his husband. It had been so long since Louis had been deployed for more than three or six months, and the stress of the past year and a half suddenly crashed down and he was crying into Louis’ uniform while the soccer game went on behind them and his kids all wept, Niall standing back and waiting impatiently.
Louis grabbed Harry’s face and roughly kissed him, one hand supporting his daughter and the other tangling in Harry’s curls. Valkyrie and Lucas made gagging sounds, making Harry and Louis start to laugh, and Harry pulled away, taking Arianna with him as Niall swore loudly and jumped forward to give Louis a hug and a big smacking kiss.
“It’s so good to be home, my God,” Louis said, and Valkyrie started crying all over again, so Louis held her tucked under his arm, Lucas standing to her side and holding Louis’ hand. Harry claimed Louis’ other side, allowing Arianna to ride tall on his high shoulders, and Louis broke a reg. by letting her wear his hat. Niall drove them home, and Harry sat up front so the kids could have Louis all to themselves, battering him with questions about where he was and what he did, updating him on the menial details of their lives, and planning, planning, planning things to do together, now that he was home.