Two weeks later Harry was good as new all thanks to Louis and to thank him he had gotten him a bouquet of roses surprising him one friday afternoon. He would never forget the way that Louis' face had lit up as soon as he had seen him walking in carrying them in his arms. He hadn't noticed Jay, Gemma and his mum were there until he heard them squealing while Gemma kept asking what was going on. Anne was quick to tell her and soon Gemma had joined in, a few minutes later they were alone after they had decided to leave wanting them to have their alone time.

"Thank you, you didn't have to bring me anything." Louis said as he filled a flower vase with water thinking how Collin never bothered even when they first started dating.

"I wanted to and it's the least I could do." Harry smiled.

"Thank you." Louis smiled again leaving Harry completely breathless at the sight of his blue eyes, adorable tiny button nose and his pink lips he wanted to kiss, at least a peck would be enough.

"Do you want to go out? Like dinner?" Harry found himself asking without thinking it through first.

"Uh...sure. Yeah, why not." Louis hesitated then agreed not really knowing why.

"Great!" Harry said then walked to their bedroom to change with Louis staying behind trying to arrange the flowers making Harry smile at how focused he was.

They finally left the apartment almost half an hour later when Louis had taken his time to find the perfect spot to put the flowers. Harry drove them to a small yet cozy and well decorated Italian restaurant that Louis quickly fell in love with thanking Harry as soon as he had sat down then waited for him to sit in front of him before picking up the menu the hostess had left behind.

"It smells great." Louis commented as he looked through the menu trying to find something he would like.

"And the food is delicious, I always come here when I'm feeling like eating Italian food." Harry responded already knowing what he was going to order then grabbed a piece of garlic bread offering the basket to Louis who smiled as he grabbed one.

"I've never heard of this restaurant before." Louis took his eyes off of the menu as soon as he was sure of what he wanted then looked around noticing more people coming in taking a bite out of the garlic bread.

"Hello, my name is Rosalie, I'll be your server tonight. Would you like to order now or do you need more time?"

A pretty dark skinned girl with the biggest brown eyes Louis had ever seen asked them as she looked between them with a smile and a notepad in her hands.

Harry ended up ordering lemon rosemary chicken while Louis ordered the spicy romano chicken just wanting something spicy then waited for their food while making conversation about their day. For some reason they ended up talking about Zayn and Liam and how they had been spending all of their free time together then started talking about Niall and his obsession with Derby County.

"I swear that's all he talks about when he eats lunch with us but it makes him happy so of course I like to talk about it too even if I don't like it that much." Harry finished seeing Louis resting his chin on his palm looking at him with bright blue eyes.

"How long have you known them? I never got the chance to ask before." Louis asked pausing when Rosalie placed their plates in front of them then left after asking them if they needed something else.

"Since I was five. I met them during recess at school, Niall had just moved here from Ireland and Liam moved from Wolverhampton when he was a year old." Harry said getting ready to start eating.

"So you were born here in London?" Louis continued asking wanting to know everything about him.

"No, I was born in Cheshire but my parents moved here when I was a month old and we've been here since then. Were you born here in London?"

"Doncaster. We moved here when dad left-" Louis cut himself off then continued when Harry gave him a reassuring smile, "We moved here when my dad left, I was fifteen and I learned to call London my home."

"London is pretty cool." Harry said trying to steer the conversation away from that topic then smiled as soon as Louis did.

"Yeah." Louis agreed.

After that Louis went back to eating his spicy food like it was nothing while Harry enjoyed his own not saying anything because if Louis liked it that way then who the hell was he to call him out on it. He wanted Louis to be happy, he wanted to make him happy. He suddenly stopped eating thinking how he didn't use to give a fuck before whether he was making someone happy then continued eating trying to get those thoughts out of his head.

When they finished they were already too full to eat dessert and after Harry paid refusing to let Louis pay half of it, they made their way outside where a few people were standing. Louis had a smile on his face as Harry talked about when he got deported from Mexico adding even more details than the first time but quickly lost it when he saw him standing a few feet away from them then out of instinct grabbed Harry's hand with his own.

"You okay, Lou?" Harry asked noticing how tense he was.

"Yeah. C- Can we go? Now?" Louis quickly said looking ahead then at Harry who seemed to understand as soon as he saw a man with dark hair and brown eyes making his way to them.

"Sure, lets go." Harry wrapped his arm around Louis' waist walking them to the car giving the man a look that clearly told him to stay away from them.

Harry didn't say anything on their way back understanding that just like there were things he didn't like to talk about, Louis didn't want to talk about him when he already knew who he was. He shook his head wondering why had he thrown away everything he had with Louis when Louis was perfect in any way shape or form.

"That was Collin...my ex fiance." Louis finally said looking at Harry who only nodded and after that didn't say anything.

When they got home Louis went to bed as soon as he had taken a shower quickly falling asleep and when he woke up again it was already morning and Harry was nowhere to be seen making him frown. He yawned then rubbed his eyes with his small hands before he got up to the bathroom. He was brushing his teeth when he heard music coming from somewhere and when he opened the door a few minutes later his mouth watered at the smell of bacon.

He followed the scent until he was standing on the kitchen doorway and a smile quickly made its way onto his face when he saw Harry standing in front of the stove only wearing old SpongeBob pajama bottoms shaking his hips as he danced and sang along to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

He stayed there wanting to laugh when Harry used the plastic tongs as a microphone pouring his heart out into the song doing a shimmy before he turned the bacon so the other side could cook. He was still singing when he noticed Louis standing by the door and instead of getting embarrassed he only grinned putting the utensil down and shimmied his way to him grabbing one of his hands to pull him forward.

"Harry!" Louis laughed when Harry danced around him while singing then grabbed both of his hands moving them around while shaking his tiny perky bum.

"Dance with me!" Harry said wiggling his brows until Louis sighed and started dancing along with him, "When the working day is gone, when the working day is done, Oh girls, girls just wanna have fun."

When the song ended they ended up way too close when Harry wrapped his arms around Louis' waist and before Louis could react Harry was already leaning in. He only felt Harry's lips barely brushing against his own when they heard a sizzling sound then the smell of something burning and just like that Harry was gone leaving him standing there too stunned to even move.

"Shit! My bacon!" Harry shouted trying to salvage it but was too late when it was already way too crispy for his taste and black in some parts.

"There's still some more in the freezer, I went grocery shopping the other day." Louis rushed to the fridge as soon as he had reacted then opened it taking out the frozen bacon.

"But this one was almost ready." Harry pouted down at the burnt bacon poking it with the tongs.

"I know but we can cook more. Come on, I'll help you." Louis said grabbing another pan.

They got to work together while listening to music and soon enough they had a full breakfast then after setting the table they sat down to eat complimenting each other, something that Collin never did for Louis. He took a bite from his bacon then observed Harry tilting his head to the left then a small smile made its way onto his face when he saw him slowly nibbling on it.

He couldn't help but compare him to a cute bunny when he had his hair up into the tiniest and cutest bun he had ever seen. He was still watching him when Harry suddenly stop nibbling on it then looked at him with a smirk making Louis get ready for whatever he had to say.

"Lou?" Harry said in between giggles.

"What?" Louis said bracing himself for it.

"Why do chicken coops only have two doors?" Harry finally said after he had managed to stop giggling long enough to be able to talk.

"Um...I don't know. Why?"

"Because if they had four, they would be chicken sedans!"

And the moment Louis burst out laughing at such a bad joke that made Harry, Harry, he knew he was fucked. He held onto his sides trying to stop laughing until he ran out of air and had to cool himself off. When he finally managed to stop laughing Harry looked so damn proud of himself he couldn't stop smiling the whole entire time.

"You're actually the first one to laugh, everybody else just roll their eyes and walk away." Harry shrugged picking up a piece of bacon.

"I'm sorry but...it was so bad, it was actually pretty good." Louis said.

"It made you laugh." Harry once again shrugged it off as he smiled.

They fell into a comfortable silence and when they finished their breakfast they picked up and cleaned the kitchen having learned the bad way that it was best to clean everything up right away.

"What are you doing today?" Louis asked after they had finished cleaning the kitchen.

"I think I'm gonna stay in and watch a few movies. What are you doing today?"

"Gonna go see my mum. I guess I'll see you later." Louis said before going to the bedroom to grab clean clothes to take a shower.

"When are we gonna set up a Christmas tree? Christmas is like two weeks away." Harry said as soon as Louis walked into the living room freshly showered and ready to leave.

"You want to? We could put it up tomorrow. Do you have one?" Louis asked surprised that Harry wanted to put it up.

"We should buy everything new." Harry said then furrowed his brow before looking at Louis, "When's your birthday?"

"December twenty fourth. Yours?" Louis asked.

"Almost a christmas baby!" Harry exclaimed, "Mine is february first. We are so gonna do something for your birthday."

"You don't have to, I really don't like celebrating it." Louis looked down at his shoes.

"Nonsense, we are gonna celebrate it big this year." Harry smiled.

"Okay then." Louis happily sighed then left after telling Harry he was going to bring dinner.

~*~

"How have you been doing, sweetheart?" Jay asked kissing Louis' cheek giving him a long hug as soon as her son had walked through the door.

"Good! Actually...better than I have ever been." Louis said returning the hug, "I don't know but...now I know I was going to make the biggest mistake of my life by marrying him. We're nothing alike and he just wasn't right for me."

"I never really liked him, I'm sorry to tell you this but I'm glad you didn't marry him. I'm sorry that things ended the way they did." Jay said walking with him to the kitchen sitting down around the kitchen table where she had tea ready for both of them.

"It doesn't matter anymore, I'm happy now." Louis shrugged and after a few minutes gave his mum a questioning look when she smiled at him giving him a knowing look, "What?"

"You look happier, you're always smiling and you have this shine in your eyes. Its hard to miss it when you're around Harry." Jay said handing him a cup of tea.

"Harry and I are friends, we get along really well and that makes it easy to live together. It's like back in college, like having a roommate." Louis explained.

"A roommate...I see." Jay said, "A roommate whom you're married to. You say you're just helping him out but if there's nothing there then you're taking it too seriously. You guys do everything in sync, like you developed a system that makes you depend on each other."

"We're just friends, there's nothing going on." Louis quickly said feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Lou..." Jay insisted.

"And there will never be something, look what happened last time and the one before Collin. Its like I have a thing for cheaters, Elliot at least had the decency to break up with me before telling me he had been seeing that guy when he skipped town with him...but Collin. Now it makes sense why he would always leave early and make me work later than usual. Who knows how many people he cheated with." Louis said feeling his eyes stinging with tears caused not from pain but from anger.

"You're afraid." Jay simply stated.

"What?" Louis looked at her with a surprised expression.

"You're afraid of falling for him, you don't want to fall in love with him because you're afraid he's going to turn out like them." Jay gave him a sad look.

"No, I'm just done with relationships and I am never going to fall in love ever again. I am done. How are the girls?" Louis changed the subject hoping she would drop it and sighed in relief when she did.

"Great, they're out with a few friends and can't wait for christmas break. Anne wants us to spend it together so we can also celebrate your birthday and I already said yes." Jay happily informed him.

"Yeah! I don't see why not plus Harry wants to celebrate my birthday too. First time in eleven years..." Louis trailed off.

"I know you're still hurting love and you have every right to but, I'm sorry but he's not worth it. I know you were so close to him and..."

"You're right, it doesn't matter anymore. I wasn't even biologically his so there was nothing stopping him when it came to me but my sisters...they are biologically his. He might've lost the right to be called dad but they're still his daughters." Louis looked down at his lap.

"You know that to him you are his son no matter what. He raised you as his own and what happened was between me and him, you had nothing to do with it." Jay gave him a stern look that had him nodding right away.

They spent the rest of the day talking about anything just wanting to spend time together and by the time it was time for him to go he stopped by a restaurant to get something to eat after getting a text from Harry asking him if he was okay with having Niall over for dinner. Louis quickly replied with a yes as he smiled at the thought that Harry had taken his time to ask him not wanting to take him by surprise or upset him.

When he got home Harry and Niall were sprawled on the couch playing video games sometimes shouting at the screen then furrowed his brow when he saw a baby sleeping in Harry's arms. He tilted his head to the left finding it completely adorable at the way he held the child careful not to drop him while playing.

"Oh hey Lou, didn't notice when you walked in." Harry smiled.

"I just got home. Hello Niall, nice to see you again." Louis smiled still holding onto the bags.

"Hi, so great to see you too! Thanks for letting me stay over for dinner, I am starving." Niall gave him a warm smile.

"Whose baby is that? Is he yours, Niall?" Louis asked putting the bags on top of the coffee table then slowly made his way to Harry kneeling down next to him to get a better look of the sleeping child dressed in a tiny blue and white striped onesie wearing a tiny blue beanie on his little head and white socks on his tiny little feet.

"Nah, he's my older brother's. He and his wife are out having dinner and I offered to babysit little Theo. Say hi buddy." Niall cooed at him while Harry waved his tiny hand around just as he opened his eyes.

"And I am holding him 'cause Niall here can't hold a child right." Harry said.

"That was one time Harry! I tried therefore you have no right to judge me." Niall quickly defended himself making Louis chuckle.

"How old is this cutie?" Louis asked grabbing his tiny hand smiling when Theo wrapped it around his index finger and yawned.

"He's four months old today." Niall said then sighed, "He's growing up too fast, I remember when he was a newborn, so tiny and wrinkly. Seven pounds of cuteness."

"Oh come on Niall!" Harry playfully rolled his eyes.

"May I hold him?" Louis asked and smiled when Niall nodded then took the baby in his arms cradling him against his chest, "Hi baby, I'm Louis."

"Oh look, he likes you!" Niall exclaimed when the baby fell asleep again getting comfortable in Louis' arms.

"Do you want me to put him on the bed?" Louis asked.

"I have his car seat right here, he can sleep there." Niall said then got up to get it from where it had been resting by the tv stand.

"Dinner's gonna get cold." Louis said watching Harry grabbing the bags before Niall could as he gently set Theo in his car seat then covered him with his soft baby blanket before bringing it to the dining table with him not wanting to leave him alone then set it on top of a chair next to him.

He spent the rest of dinner glancing at the baby barely making conversation with them and as soon as they were finished he quickly picked up his trash then headed towards the now awake baby. He picked him up wrapping the blanket around him and sat down on the recliner with him against his chest while Harry and Niall continued playing.

"Oh, I think someone went poo poo." Louis softly chuckled rubbing the baby's back.

"Here," Niall paused the game then grabbed a bag getting ready to get up, "I'm gonna go change him, he'll probably want to eat soon."

Louis let him take the baby then focused on replying to a few text messages from his sisters then put it away as soon as Niall was back and for some unknown reason held his arms up for the baby. He smiled as soon as Niall gave him to him never hesitating then went back to make a bottle.

"Do you mind if I feed him...that way you can continue playing." Louis grabbed one of the baby's hands seeing Harry staring at him from the corner of his eye.

"I don't mind." Niall shrugged and as soon as the bottle was ready he handed it over to Louis who was quick to start feeding the baby.

He was too focused on making sure he was comfortable as he ate that he didn't notice Harry staring at him until Niall shouted in victory mocking Harry as he did so. He felt his cheeks heating up a bit squirming a little until Harry focused once again on the game. He lowly hummed a lullaby until the baby finished the whole bottle squirming until Louis started patting his back and soon heard a tiny burp that made him smile.

"You're really great with babies, Louis." Niall commented out of nowhere getting Louis' attention who had been focused solely on the child.

"I used to help my mum with my sisters so I learned quite a few things." Louis said bringing his legs up close to his chest then placed the baby against the top of his thighs so he was facing him.

"I had to learn too so I could babysit." Niall proudly told him, "And so did Harry when he used to help Gemma with the kids."

"You both babysit a lot?" Louis asked them.

"Sometimes." Both Harry and Niall said before they started a new round.

Louis happily went back to playing with the baby and a few minutes later had him a laughing mess as he blew raspberries on his chubby cheeks while Harry watched him with a fond smile.

Niall ended up staying until ten then left leaving a pouty Louis behind who almost refused to give the baby up but did so understanding that he had to go back to his parents. He ended up falling asleep on the recliner and woke up in bed the following morning to see Harry asleep with his mouth wide open. He closed it up then went back to sleep feeling exhausted waking up three hours later. He stayed in bed looking up at the ceiling until Harry walked in fully dressed and sat down at the foot of the bed to put his shoes on.

"Where are you going?" Louis asked wincing at how raspy his voice sounded.

"I was gonna go get us something to eat then I was thinking maybe we could go and buy all the christmas stuff and decorate later today." Harry said then turned around to look at Louis raising an eyebrow.

"Okay. I'll get ready while you go get the food." Louis lazily said feeling his eyelids getting heavy again.

As soon as Harry was gone Louis got up to take a shower feeling more awake after he was done and just when he was done getting ready, Harry walked in holding two McDonald's bags. Louis was quick to reach for one of the bags taking out pancakes then sat down to eat them not even waiting for Harry like he usually did.

"I'm so hungry, so so hungry I could eat a whole cow." Louis said with his mouth full of food.

"Well...good thing I got extra pancakes!" Harry happily exclaimed giving Louis a second plate laughing when he made grabby hands at it.

"You are amazing!" Louis happily said hugging the plate close to his chest then set it back down on the table where he proceeded to soak them in syrup.

When they were finished they made their way to a shopping center only intending to get a new christmas tree and a few decorations but instead ended up getting a whole lot more. After seeing the natural christmas tree, Harry had been dead set on buying it until Louis gave in and let him get it not wanting to think about all the pine needles he was gonna have to pick up. They set up a delivery time then continued with their shopping and soon the cart was full of ornaments and lights after an argument on which ones they should get.

"We still have to shop for presents. I have to ask Gemma what she's getting the kids so I don't give them the same thing." Louis said as he followed Harry to the check out line bumping into him when Harry bump into someone else.

"I am so-" Harry started.

"Watch where you're going!" A familiar voice snapped making both Louis and Harry roll their eyes.

"Excuse you." Harry retorted then wrapped his arm around Louis' waist pushing him in front of him putting his arms on each of his sides then started walking again with Louis pushing the cart just wanting to get away from him after recognizing him.

"Louis." Collin said seeing the way Louis was letting him touch him, one hand on his hip and the other on top of his hand where it was resting on the handle seeing their wedding bands.

"Babe, let's go." Louis said not even bothering to look at him then started walking as soon as Harry did.

"Louis please, we need to talk." Collin insisted going after them stopping when they stopped and Louis' new husband turned around.

"You fucked up and lost him now leave him alone. He's my husband and I don't want you near him, don't even think about him." Harry gave him a threatening look and with that turned around quickly getting out of there.

They paid for their stuff as fast as they could then drove home not saying anything until they got there and busied themselves with making space for the tree and just as they were finished there was a knock on the door. Harry stayed back letting Louis instruct the delivery guys on where to put it and when they were done he tipped them thanking them before they left.

"Okay, so now after that hideous incident let's get to decorating. I want this house to look amazing." Louis said looking around with an excited expression on his face.

"Lou, are you okay?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"I am okay, Collin means nothing now...he's in the past." Louis shrugged.

"But-"

"Leave it Harry! I already told you it's all in the past and I don't want to talk about it anymore, believe it or not I'm over him. He's not who I thought he was so just leave it." Louis gave him a stern look that had Harry nodding not wanting to upset him. That was the least thing he wanted to do.

Instead he just focused on getting everything ready and trying to get into the holidays once again after seven years of not giving a fuck about them. To help him do so all he had to do was look at Louis' excited face as he wrapped the white twinkly lights around the tree then the ornaments where he gladly helped him.

A few hours later they were still trying to finish and when they finally did they only stood in front of the tree for a few minutes admiring their hard work.

"Looks great." Harry commented.

"Yup! Now all we have left to do is the christmas shopping." Louis nodded hearing Harry groaning.

"I don't want to. Can we just like...I don't know, give them money." Harry looked at Louis with tired droopy eyes.

"No, we're giving them real and nicely wrapped christmas presents." Louis narrowed his eyes at him seeing him dropping on the couch.

"Whatever you say babe." Harry smirked yelping in surprise when the couch pillow hit him on the face then heard Louis laughing.

He found himself loving the way it sounded.

Thoughts? :)