Work Text:
June 15th 2014
They talk about it a lot, the future. It's been four years since they became HarryandLouis and it's inevitable that their plans, their hopes and their dreams, would come up every once in a while. It's normally trivial things, like where they'd most like to buy a house, or whose family they'll spend Christmas Day with but sometimes it's a little more serious and they talk about marriage and children and grandchildren. They're still so young and on top of the world, but to both Harry and Louis there is nothing more important that knowing that this is forever.
They're travelling through Sweden from Stockholm to their next venue on tour in Copenhagen; they're all tired after a long day of press and then the show and there had been the usual grunted 'goodnights' and then they'd crawled into their bunks to sleep for most of the journey.
When Louis wakes up, he realises that it's Father's Day back home. It's always been a bit of a sore spot with him, though, what with the lack of an actual father to celebrate but he still digs for his phone under his pillow and texts Mark and Dan to wish them a good day with the girls and the twins respectively. Harry's just starting to stir when he's done, but Louis knows that Harry had left Robin a card with his mom before they'd left, and mailed one to his dad a week ago so has no obligations until they reach the stadium.
Harry snuffles sleepily and turns onto his side to cuddle up to Louis. He stretches an arm around Louis' middle, fingers trailing across Louis' stomach.
"Wha'ya doing?" he mumbles, nuzzles his cold nose into Louis' neck.
"Nothing, just texting Mark and Dan." Louis locks his phone and shoves it back under his pillow then wriggles around to get comfy in Harry's arms.
"Do you ever think," Harry starts, mouth pressed up close to Louis' ear so he can keep his voice low, not wanting to wake Zayn who's asleep in the bunk across from theirs, "that me and you will have kids one day that will text us on Father's Day even when they're older?"
"Of course, love," Louis says softly, twisting his fingers into Harry's that lay on his belly. "They'd know better than to not tell us they appreciate us at least once a year."
Harry giggles under his breath then presses his lips to Louis' jaw in a soft kiss. "I want so many babies with you," he whispers, kissing along Louis' jaw line to his cheek. "I just know you're going to be the most amazing dad in the world, and our kids are going to love you so much."
"They'll love you, too." Louis lifts Harry's hand to his mouth to kiss his knuckles and sighs contentedly. "I can't wait for us to have babies, Hazza."
Harry dips his head and Louis feels him grin into his shoulder, and Louis turns to nudge his head back up and meet Harry's lips with a soft kiss.
They both choose to ignore Zayn a few hours later when he tells them just how sickening they are to listen to.
*****
June 17th, 2016
Louis' pulled from sleep by the feel of Harry's lips on his neck, kissing him softly. He hums contentedly, reaching out blindly to tangle his fingers in Harry's curls.
"Morning," Harry says, voice raspy and Louis can tell he's smiling. Last night had been fun.
"Mmm, good morning." Louis stretches languidly across the bed, the sheets tugging a little where they're caught around his leg and he hisses at the ache in his lower back. Harry's too busy sucking a bruise into Louis' jaw to notice, tapping out a rhythm on Louis' hip with his fingertips.
"Do you know what day it is?"
"I do believe it's Sunday, love," Louis teases. Harry pinches the skin of Louis' belly in retaliation, making Louis squeak indignantly.
"I know it's Sunday, but..." Harry trails off and twists around to pull open the drawer of his bedside table and rummage inside. He produces a white envelope, shaped like a greetings card and Louis has this sudden sinking feeling that he's forgotten something important.
"Here." Harry thrusts the card at him then snuggles back into his side. Louis' trying desperately to rack his brains for a birthday, an anniversary, anything that warrants a card but then he's sliding it out of the envelope and he could smack Harry for making him panic, he really could.
It's a Father's Day card, except Harry's used a Sharpie to scribble on the front so it now reads Happy Father To Be's Day with a picture of a cartoon monkey holding a baby monkey. Louis doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"You're such a sap," he murmurs, leaning down to kiss Harry softly on the lips instead.
"Open it, though," Harry says and when Louis flicks the card open he really does get tears in his eyes. Harry's written 'love you, Daddy!' at the top in childish handwriting unlike his own and then stuck two pictures at the bottom, one of their surrogate Becca's ever-expanding baby bump and the sonogram from two weeks ago where you can clearly see the outline of their baby growing.
"I love you," Louis whispers, dropping the card onto the mattress so he can shimmy down the bed and kiss Harry, a gentle, lazy slide of their lips against one another. Harry smiles into Louis' mouth and says 'I love you too', pulling Louis close into his body with a warm hand pressed to his back.
They don't get out of bed until a lot later that afternoon.
*****
June 18th 2017
Louis bounces Maisie on his hip, handing her a soft biscuit to munch on to keep her occupied while he pours Harry's coffee into his favourite mug decorated with Scrabble tiles.
"Let's go wake up Papa, eh monkey?"
Maisie cheers half-heartedly and smushes a bit of damp biscuit into Louis' shoulder but he just jiggles her up and down and giggles along with her as he carries her up the stairs.
Harry's lay on his stomach spread-eagle across his and Louis' bed, still seemingly fast asleep, with the covers bunched around his waist and Louis indulgently takes a moment to admire the way his husband's back dips and curves with his strong muscles.
"Go on then, Mais," he whispers, setting her down on the foot of the bed and patting her on the bum. She's Louis' daughter through and through, though, and doesn't need telling twice to cause a bit of mischief and she crawls her way up the bed to clamber onto Harry's back. She thumps her tiny hands against his shoulder blades, babbling nonsensically at the top of her voice, 'papa, papa, papa!' the only word Louis can really understand her saying and it makes his heart swell in his chest with how much love he has for his baby girl.
Harry grunts and groans for a few seconds, as though he's just waking up, then he suddenly reaches out to grasp Maisie by her pudgy little arms and rolls over, tickling her sides so she shrieks and squeals and Harry laughs loud and happy, obviously wide awake.
"You're the worst," Louis says, shaking his head fondly as he flops down on the bed beside Harry.
"You love me," Harry teases, leaning over for a chaste kiss as he holds onto Maisie's wrists and lets her bounceup and down on her toes on his tummy.
"It's possible, I guess. Happy Father's Day, babe."
Harry grins. "Happy Daddy's day to you, too." He lifts Maisie up and holds her above Louis like an airplane, then murmurs, "give Daddy a kiss, baby," and swoops her down so she can gum wetly against Louis' cheek.
"Thanks, monkey," he smiles, rubbing his nose against hers so she gurgles happily and pats his neck with her little chubby hand.
"I love you," Harry says quietly, settling Maisie down between himself and Louis, cuddling her up tight and warm beneath the duvet.
"Love you too," Louis replies, pressing a gentle kiss to Maisie's temple.
*****
June 21st 2019
Caden Joseph Tomlinson is born a month and two days early, and is so insanely small that when they let Harry hold him for the first time he almost fits entirely into the palm of one of Harry's hands and Harry can't stop crying because this is his son, his baby boy and there's nothing he can do to help make him better.
"You need to go home, love, get some sleep," Louis says softly, running his fingers through Harry's unkempt hair. Harry shakes his head stubbornly, not taking his eyes off of the tiny bundle of blue blankets in the cot that's his baby hooked up to wires and machines that are monitoring his progress. Caden's four days old, now, and Harry hasn't left his side once.
"I can't leave him," he croaks, voice all but gone through lack of use and the amount of crying Harry's done since Caden was born.
Louis sighs and looks desperately over at Zayn stood in the corner but Zayn shrugs his shoulders, as at a loss as to what to do as Louis is himself. Louis just feels utterly helpless; he can't do anything to make his son any better and nothing he does seems to comfort Harry either. It's so hard for Louis, seeing his baby lying there looking so small and poorly, but he knows too that Harry's blaming himself for this, no matter how many times Louis tries to tell him that it's not his fault. Maisie is biologically Louis' child, and they had agreed that their second would be biologically Harry's, but now Harry thinks it's his fault that Caden was born too early
"Babe, he'll be ok for a few hours while you just-"
"I'm not going anywhere, Louis," Harry grounds out through gritted teeth.
"Harry-"
"Don't, Zayn," Harry hisses, whipping his head around to glare at his friend. "When it's your son lying in hospital then you can lecture me but right now I need to concentrate on Caden so just... just fuck off, Zayn."
Zayn seems a little bewildered, used to a more calm and collected Harry and Louis looks at him apologetically, mouths 'I'm sorry' across the room but Zayn understands, gets that Harry doesn't really mean it. Zayn has a daughter of his own at home, Alia, and he can't even bring himself to imagine what it would be like if she was sick and there was nothing he could do and he can't blame Harry for wanting to lash out at someone.
Louis crouches down beside Harry's chair and rests a hand on Harry's knee, but Harry barely even acknowledges that his husband is there. "Maisie's been asking for you," Louis says softly. He rubs his thumbs in circles on Harry's thighs. "She misses her Papa, H."
"Please don't," Harry whispers, ducking his head as tears slide down his cheeks and Louis swears his heart is breaking, seeing his husband hurting so much and not being able to fix it.
"Then just go home and cuddle your daughter and get some sleep, please, love," Louis begs, pushing up on his toes so he can brush his lips to Harry's cheek. Harry whimpers and grasps onto Louis' wrists to hold him close, and Louis breathes a little easier for a second, thankful that Harry's willing to let him in and hasn't disappeared from him completely.
"Maisie asked me to give you this." Zayn hands Harry a square white envelope, and Harry takes it, sniffling into the sleeve of his jumper as he pulls away from Louis. He tears it open and pulls out a folded piece of paper, letting out a quiet sob into his hand when he's unfolded it.
"I forgot," he mumbles, holding it out to Louis; it's a mess of colours, Maisie obviously having used every crayon she had, and in her disjointed writing that somebody must have helped her with it says, 'Happy Father's Day, Papa! We love you! love Maisie and Caden' and about twenty kisses across the bottom. Louis can't help smiling despite the tears he can't hold back now, overwhelmed by how amazing his little girl is. "I have to go and see my daughter," Harry says suddenly, looking up at Louis with puffy, red-rimmed eyes.
"Ok," Louis nods and he kisses Harry's knee in relief. "Ok, we can go, even just for an hour if that's what you want."
"I can stay here," Zayn offers. "Niall's watching Alia anyway so I can stay as long as you need me to, and I'll call you, if anything changes, I promise I'll call straight away."
Harry stands up and pulls Zayn into a rough, one armed hug and Zayn says something into his ear that Louis doesn't catch but it makes Harry nod, looking a little ashamed of himself as he crosses to Caden's cot.
"Hey little man," Harry says softly. peering down into the cot and trailing his fingertips over Caden's cheek. Caden mewls and wriggles, stretching his hand out like he's searching for Harry's and Harry chokes out a sob. "I know, it sucks, huh? I'm so sorry, baby, I love you, though, ok?"
Louis reaches out for Zayn's hand and squeezes it tight, needing to hold onto something because it hurts so damn much having to watch his husband like this.
"I have to go and see your big sister for a little bit, ok? I won't be gone long, I promise, I'm not leaving you, never, I promise. I just... I need a cuddle off your sister because I can't cuddle you and it's Father's Day and it's not really fair for Daddy not to see his little girl as well as you, yeah?"
"Harry-"
"Yeah, I'm coming," Harry sniffs and leans down to press the gentlest kiss imaginable to the top of Caden's head. "I'll be back real soon, buddy, promise, just... just stay ok for Papa, please?" He kisses Caden again and then it seems to take every ounce of strength Harry has for him to step away from the cot. Louis smiles at him weakly and moves to kiss Caden, because as distraught as Harry is, Caden is still Louis' son too and it's hard for Louis to have to be so strong for Harry and Maisie's sake.
Louis takes a hold of Harry's hand and leads him from the room, and pretends he doesn't notice Harry looking back at their son with tears in his eyes.
*****
June 17th 2022
"Shut up Maisie, you're going to wake them!"
Louis buries his face in Harry's shoulder to try and hide his uncontrollable smile. He can hear the kids stood outside the door arguing about who gets to give Louis and Harry their Father's Day gift and Caden getting more and more anxious that Maisie's going to wake them up and ruin the surprise.
"How long do you think they're going to stand there?" Harry mumbles into his pillow and Louis snorts, scratching lightly at Harry's back with his nails.
"Mais will never let Cade win, you know that," Louis murmurs and Harry hums in agreement, twisting around so he can snuggle into Louis' side.
"I'm the oldest so I get to give it to them."
"Fine," Caden grumbles and the door handle jiggles a bit before the door creaks open and little footsteps come padding into the room.
"Shhh," Maisie hisses, elbowing Caden to make him tiptoe and Louis has to try desperately not to giggle. Caden's still small for his age, and Maisie had taken instantly to her role as big sister and while she's protective as hell over Caden she can still be a little bit bossy. It's possible she inherited that from Louis, but Louis would never admit to it.
"What are you two monkeys up to?"
They both freeze halfway to the bed, and Louis pinches Harry's belly to reprimand him even though he's trying hard not to grin at the look of complete horror on his kid's faces.
"Papa," Maisie whines, stamping her foot. "You were supposed to be sleeping so we could surprise you."
"Oh no!" Harry gasps, slapping a hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry, baby, but I was too excited!"
Maisie grins big and wide and bounds over so she can jump onto the bed and Harry lets out an 'oof' when she lands square on his chest, knocking all the wind out of him. Caden's a little more reserved, just stands beside Louis and holds out his arms so Louis can lift him up onto his lap and Caden instantly cuddles into him, fisting a hand in Louis' t-shirt. Louis presses a kiss into Caden's hair and settles back into his pillows; it's still early, and Louis imagines that Maisie, in all her excitement, had woken Caden before he was really ready to get up.
"What did you get us then?" Harry asks Maisie, combing his fingers through her messy bed hair.
"Oh!" She leans over the side of the bed and Harry catches hold of her ankles just in time so that she doesn't go tumbling head first onto the floor. She scrambles her way back up and sits down on Harry's stomach, a knee either side of him. "Here."
Maisie pushes two envelopes into Harry's waiting hands and he squeals childishly to make Maisie giggle.
"Shall we let Daddy open one?" Harry says and Maisie nods eagerly so Harry passes Louis one of the envelopes but not before puckering his lips, asking for a kiss. Louis rolls his eyes but happily obliges, then snatches the envelope from Harry.
Inside Harry's envelope is a pair of tickets for the next Chelsea versus Manchester United game in a couple of months, and a gift voucher for a meal at Santini, their favourite Italian restaurant in London.
"Uncle Ni said he can babysit Caden, and Uncle Zayn said me and Ali could have a sleepover so you and Daddy can spend the whole day and night together," Maisie explains, biting her bottom lip like she's afraid they won't like it but Harry grins at Louis and tousles Maisie's hair.
"This is amazing, Mais, thank you," Harry gushes, kissing Maisie's cheek and she claps her hands happily.
"Thanks, buddy," Louis says quietly to Caden who's half asleep in his arms but Caden just pats his hand against the envelope Louis' holding.
"Open it," he says, so Louis lets Caden help him to rip the top open and pull out two cards.
They're both the same; a white card with 'Happy Father's Day!' written across the top by Maisie and then two handprints underneath, one purple one and a smaller one in green and Louis guesses that the kids had made them at Zayn's the night before. One reads 'Daddy' on the inside, and Louis hands Harry the other that says 'Papa'.
"Did you make these?" Louis asks and Caden nods, yawning into his fist.
"Uh-huh, Uncle Zayn helped, though."
"Well, it's really cool, thank you," Louis smiles and kisses Caden on the forehead.
"Love you," Caden mumbles sleepily, cuddling in closer to Louis and it never fails to make Louis heart beat a little bit faster when his babies tell him they love him.
"Love you too, buddy," Louis murmurs then leans over to kiss Maisie on the very end of her nose, making her scrunch up her face. "Love you, monkey."
"Love you, Daddy," she grins and Louis sticks his tongue out at her so she giggles.
Harry lets Maisie put on the TV for a bit, but turned down quiet because Caden's falling asleep as Louis rocks him slightly, and the four of them snuggle down to watch cartoons and enjoy the peace of a lazy Sunday morning together.
*****
June 16th 2025
Niall's the last of the five of them to become a dad, and he's adamant that they're going to celebrate his first Father's Day properly. He organises a barbeque at his house and invites the lads around to spend the day then have a sleepover for the kids and Louis laughs for days over how enthusiastic Niall is until Harry reminds him about how excited Louis gets over the kids' birthdays, and Christmas and Easter and Halloween and Bonfire Night and Louis shuts up, then.
"I gotta say, Ni, you do know how to grill a good steak," Harry says, groaning and massaging his stomach as he collapses onto the sun lounger next to Louis'. Niall just grins, bouncing baby Olivia on his knees so she gurgles happily, huge smile on her face to match her dad's. Louis' sure he's never seen Niall look so happy in all the years he's known him.
It's early evening, but still warm and sunny and they're all stuffed from the amazing food Niall had cooked earlier that afternoon. The girls, Perrie and Danielle and Niall's girlfriend Tori, had declared it the guys duty to watch the kids, seeing as it was 'Father's Day' after all, and had disappeared to the pub down the road for a couple of glasses of wine while the lads relaxed in the garden so they could keep an eye on the kids playing.
Not that it's too much of a chore; Maisie and Alia are sat in the shade making daisy chains and chatting away about hair and make-up or whatever it is a nine year old and an eight year old girl talk about, while Caden and Joshua and Mattie, Liam's boys, and Zayn's son Luca are lazily kicking a ball about further up the lawn from where the five of them are sprawled out on sun loungers on the patio enjoying the sun.
"You still with us, babe?" Harry asks with a smirk, nudging Louis' knee with his own.
Louis blinks his eyes open and scowls at Harry; he'd only been resting his eyes for a minute or so, feeling sleepy from all the food he'd eaten and the warm weight of their son, Noah, curled up asleep on his chest, worn out from the excitement of the day. "Shut up, 'm tired, you slept right through Noah crying last night."
"Because I'd spent all day in town with Maisie looking for a dress to wear to your mother's anniversary dinner next week and I was knackered!" Harry retorts but he's still smiling and Louis pokes his tongue out at him playfully.
"Who would have thought that fifteen years down the line we'd be sat here arguing about who has to deal with the kids?" Liam pipes up from where he's curled up with Zayn playing hangman on his IPad. Louis laughs softly, reaching out for Harry's hand so he can bring it to his lips to press a kiss to his knuckles.
Louis and Harry adopted Noah when Harry had started to complain that his babies were growing up too quickly, and that he missed the feeling of holding a little baby in his arms. Louis had to admit that he was starting to feel a little broody too and after numerous discussions they'd agreed that adoption was the best route. Six months after beginning the process they were chosen by a sixteen year old girl in Manchester whose boyfriend had died not long after she'd discovered she was pregnant and knew she couldn't take care of the baby herself. Louis and Harry hadn't really cared where the baby came from or what the gender of the baby was or what they looked like, only that they were healthy and happy and when Noah had been placed in Louis' arms in the delivery room he knew in his heart that this was their son and they would love him with everything they had.
Noah's eight months old now, and Louis' so ridiculously glad they decided to have him because he's such a lovely little baby and Louis' so in love with him, but he's especially glad when he looks at his other son and his daughter and sees how big they're starting to get. Maisie had come home from school last week and declared that she had a boyfriend now and Harry had nearly thrown a fit, claiming that Maisie was the reason he was starting to get grey hairs but Maisie had just laughed it off, mostly because Louis couldn't stop laughing at the look of horror on Harry's face. Caden's still their baby boy, still loves cuddles and attention from his daddies but he likes to copy his big sister too and try to be more independent than either Louis or Harry is ready to let him be. But now they have Noah, their gorgeous son with his blue eyes and dark blonde hair and he's so tiny in their arms when they hold him, and, though they both know that eventually he will grow up and stop being so dependent on them just like Maisie and Caden have, they know too that he completes their family in a way they hadn't known they needed until he was theirs.
"I love you," Louis says quietly to Harry, twisting around in his chair so he can snuggle against Harry's shoulder without disturbing Noah and Harry drops a kiss into Louis hair, tracing his fingers over Noah's cheek.
"Urgh, well these two are still as sickening as ever," Niall grumbles and Zayn sniggers but Louis couldn't care less because he loves his husband and he loves his family and he doesn't care who knows it.
Later, the girls will come back from the pub and drag the kids inside to light the candles on a huge cake that they all carry outside between them to let their dads blow the candles out, then Louis and Tori will get Noah and Olivia settled in their cot for the night while the others set the kids up in front of the TV to watch Monsters Inc before bed and eventually it'll just be the five of them, Louis and Harry and Niall and Liam and Zayn curled up together in the living room with a beer to reminisce about the last fifteen years that they've spent together, growing up and starting their families.
But Louis' content where he is for now, curled up against his husband with their baby boy sleeping peacefully in his arms and watching his children play happily with his best friends' kids. He thinks back to their life as a band, when everything had been so hectic and out of their control, and remembers all of the hushed conversations he and Harry would have in their bunk on the tour bus about their future and their children and their lives after the band. He'd never really been able to imagine what that life would be like, or what kind of father he'd be, always worried that he wouldn't be able to look after their kids or live up to Harry's expectations but looking at their children and how perfect they are he likes to think that, in the end, he's kind of done alright.
Fin