"daddy! daddy, look!" raven ran straight to louis, showing her gapped smile. "i lost a tooth!"

"i know! daddy sent me a picture!" louis gasped. he knelt down and tugged raven's bottom lip down to inspect where she was in fact missing a tooth, right on the bottom row. "how did it come out?"

"riley socked her in the mouth."

louis' eyes bulged. "we just got him to stop hitting."

"i'm kiddin', lou. she was eating dinner and it popped right out."

"goodness," louis cooed down at his daughter. they had been waiting on this wiggly tooth to come out. she had lost a few before, but this one took longer than the rest. "did it hurt?"

"nope!" raven shook her head. "i already put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy. daddy put it in a bag so that she won't lose it."

"good deal." louis pulled her in for a hug and kissed her head. "go get your jammies on and i'll get you tucked in, alright? it's getting late. you should have already been asleep."

"i let her stay up so she could show you in person," harry murmured from his spot on the couch. "we've been watching tangled."

louis couldn't help but grin at the princess on the telly. their six year old convinces her father to do literally anything. as the oldest, she has that right. "it's a good movie, i guess."

raven wiggled out of her father's arms and ran upstairs, footsteps dying down when harry told her to be quiet because her brothers were asleep.

"come here." harry made grabby hands for his husband. once louis got to him, he pulled him onto his lap. "you look tired. was it busy?"

"not really. i just did a lot of detailing. my back hurts from standing so long." louis leaned into his touch, yawning.

"i'm sorry, baby," harry cooed. "when sissy goes to sleep, i got you."

louis nuzzled his face into the man's neck. "you're the best. getting back to work sucks. i miss my babies."

"you can always just stay home, you know."

"i don't want you to be the only working parent again. i already felt bad enough quitting bounty over rae. working makes me feel like a real adult."

"well, if you ever decide to give up on the adult life and wanna be a stay at home dad again, i wouldn't be mad. we have the money for only one of us to work."

"it just wouldn't be fair."

"bull. we both do so much for the kids and eachother. i don't want you to overwork yourself. you just got cleared to go back."

louis nodded. "i just work a few days out of the week for now. short shifts. i'm still trying to get used to not having rio all the time and it's hard. i miss him."

"he missed you a lot today," harry commented. "he was fighting his sleep earlier so i laid in our bed with him and he passed out within minutes."

louis cooed at that. their littlest is only eight weeks old. "i love his little self so much."

raven popped up at the top of the stairs, dressed in her pajamas. "daddy, come on."

"i'm coming, babe," louis hummed. he kissed harry's cheek and got up, following their daughter to her bedroom.

when raven climbed in her bed, louis covered her up with her blanket and made sure that ruby and her moo were tucked in her arms.

"did you have a good day today?"

"mhm." raven nodded. "avvy and the twins came over with uncle zee. uncle niall wasn't feelin' good."

"oh man, i'm gonna have to see what's up with him. how's avvy?"

"good."

"does she like her sisters?"

"loves them. we played with them. daddy said they can't play princesses yet but we still played."

grinning, louis stroked her little curls back. "were they the castle guards again?"

"uh huh. and riley was a dragon."

"what about rio?"

raven shrugged. "a sleeping dragon."

"i bet he was. what did you guys have for dinner?"

"uncle zee made us breakkie. we had lots of waffles."

"was it good?" louis grinned at that. raven's current favorite food was waffles with peanut butter on them. she'd turn into a waffle eventually.

"yes," raven yawned, snuggling into her pillow. "think daddy saved you some, unless riley ate it."

louis chuckled. riley's stomach is a bottomless pit. "that's okay. daddy ate at work, so i'll probably get a snack or something before bed. but you need to go to sleep, too, kiddo. the tooth fairy won't come if you're awake."

"can we go shopping with my money?"

"maybe. how much do you think she'll give you this time?"

raven grinned up at him. "a hundred."

"a hundred? wow," louis whistled. "that's a lot for one tooth. she's gonna make you rich, huh?"

"yep."

"well, we'll see in the morning, alright? and we can go shopping on my next day off. just a me and you day. sound good?"

"okay."

when he noticed his daughter was starting to fall asleep, he leaned down and kissed her temple. "goodnight, beebs."

"night, daddy," raven mumbled. "love you."

"i love you more."

it didn't take long for raven to pass out. louis knew she was knocked when she pulled her stuffies closer to her face. she always did that when she was asleep. she could sleep with moo or ruby each, but preferred to have both. sometimes, though, her little brother would steal ruby and sleep with her so she would be stuck with just her cow.

slowly, louis stood from his spot on raven's bed and turned her night light on. he checked on her one more time, kissed her little head again, and stepped out of her room, leaving the door cracked just a hair for the tooth fairy to sneak in.

he poked his head in riley's room, spotting the toddler knocked with his thumb in his mouth. silently, he walked to his bed, kissed his head as well and whispered a goodnight to him since he couldn't tell him earlier.

finding harry was easy. the bedroom door was open and the lamp on his side of the bed was turned on. the older man was going through the closet for clothes, pulling out ones that looked familiar.

"rae says she's getting a hundred for that tooth."

"i'm gonna kill zayn."

"why?"

"he told her that the tooth fairy would give her that much."

"well...tell him to cough it up, then." louis eyed harry suspiciously when the man pursed his lips. "no."

"it's on the dresser."

"jesus fucking christ. i feel like he spoils her more than us and she's our kid."

"she's his first niece. she's all of our firsts. and he told me when riley loses his first tooth, he'll do the same."

"i'm not giving raven a hundred dollars for a tooth. she'll expect that every time and try to yank all of her teeth out of her head. i told her i'd take her shopping this weekend. i'll just tell her that uncle zee gave her money to spend. boom. problem solved."

harry chuckled and pulled louis' uniform shirt off of him. "it's not that big of a deal, babe."

"imagine she goes to school and tells her classmates the tooth fairy gave her that much money. those kids would be so mad. i would. the most the tooth fairy ever gave me was a tenner and that was because it had a silver cap on it."

"good thing we're homeschooling, right?" harry smirked.

louis narrowed his eyes at him. "rae's your favorite. we get it."

"i do not have a favorite kid. all of my babies are spoiled, and happy, and have everything they could ever want and need."

louis put harry's larger tee shirt on and took his leggings off slowly so that he wouldn't irritate his healing stomach.

"including you." harry grabbed him by the waist. "give me a kiss, damn it. i missed you."

louis smiled and kissed him softly, resting his hands on the man's shoulders. "missed you, too. one of our regulars asked where you were today 'cause you usually work wednesdays. he said to tell you hi and to come back soon."

"was it johnse?"

"yup."

"he's a good lad."

"he tipped me a fifty on a five dollar tab."

"that was sweet. i tip more though."

"come see me at work and prove it."

"i just might."

louis peeked over the crib that was across the room and fawned over the little one that was barely blinking. he was swaddled in a thin, baby blue blanket. it was the blanket that niall had picked out for one of their baby shower gifts.

"hi," he whispered. "it's just me, bubba. it's time to eat."

he picked rio up carefully after unswaddling him and rubbed his back to keep him calm. he walked over to the bed, where harry was sat shaking a bottle up.

"thank you," louis murmured when the bottle was handed over. a kiss was planted to his cheek as well.

harry rubbed his lower back gently as he fed their son, making sure he wasn't putting too much pressure on him but just enough to alleviate some of his discomfort. he pressed tiny kisses to louis' shoulder and laid his cheek there, eyes trained on the tiniest of the three.

rio blinked his eyes open, staring up at louis with soft greys. there's a hint of blue in there, which gives harry the slightest bit of hope that their baby will have louis' eyes. he's always believed louis had the prettiest eyes. he wanted all of their kids to have them too, but riley's stuck with green. he's harry's carbon copy.

"good evening, little lad," louis cooed. "i know it's super late but you gots to eat so you can sleep. i promise i won't bug you any more after this."

"i might."

"don't listen to your dad. he's been on one tonight." his husband's chuckle made him grin. "he knows it, too."

"mhm." harry gently scratched the middle of louis' back. "just missed you. you know i have to pick sometimes."

louis burped rio every few ounces to get any air out of his tummy and talked to him through his feeding, telling him what all he did at work, who he saw, and how he wanted to come home sooner but traffic was insane for no reason. it's not even midnight yet. traffic should have died down ages ago.

"luckily you won't have to deal with any of that until you start to drive," louis said as he laid rio back down to finish feeding him. "but i may just have to cut off one of your toes so you can't drive. you need to stay this little forever."

"don't take his toes, you meanie. look at how cute they are." harry pouted as he took one of rio's socks off. "him's got cute little baby toes."

"all the more reason i should take them, so that he can't use them."

harry pushed rio's foot into louis' nose, giggling to himself. louis then took the opportunity to pretend that he was eating baby toes, which actually made the tiny baby grin around the nipple of his bottle.

louis took rio's other sock off and held both of his tiny feet with one hand. he peppered kisses to the bottom of his feet, then scrunched his nose down at him.

"stinky feets," he told him, smelling his toes and smiling. "sheeew. smell, daddy."

he held rio's feet in harry's direction, laughing when harry had the same reaction as him.

"you're definitely riley's brother."

louis snorted and handed the socks over so harry could put them back on. he burped rio one last time and got as much snuggles in as he could before he had to put him back down.

"i could lay like this forever," louis admitted, looking down at the baby that was snuggled into his chest.

"you should see him. he looks so content. his little hands are holding your shirt."

louis' lip jutted out in a fond pout. "stop it. i'm gonna cry."

"don't cry, lou. it's okay. he just knows you." harry smiled softly. "he loves you. all of us love you. and we appreciate everything you do for us."

"i love you guys, so so much," louis said, pressing a soft kiss to his son's head. "i hate to put you in your bed, kiddo, but i have to pee and you're gonna get wiggly which will not help my case at all."

"give him to me. i'll put him down." harry grabbed rio's blanket so he could swaddle him. he tucked him in his blanket gently and kissed his forehead before laying him back down so louis could go pee.

after louis finished his business, he stepped out of the bathroom with his toothbrush hanging from his mouth. he grabbed his little container of stretch mark cream from the dresser and applied it to various spots on his tummy and arms before heading back to finish cleaning his mouth.

harry brushed his teeth with him and washed louis' face for him, making sure to keep the product out of his eyes. even though louis tells him he doesn't have to do all of that, he still does it. he tells him that he birthed three of his babies, the least he could do is this.

"now go lay down and i'll give you a real back rub." harry kissed the top of his head. "tooth fairy has to make a delivery real quick though."

louis snuggled into his side of the bed with a soft sigh and pulled a pillow to his chest. he's adjusting rather well to this recovery compared to when he had riley. after riley, he was in constant discomfort and barely slept. luckily rio was a tiny little thing and didn't cause any postpartum complications. the entire pregnancy was a breeze. he was just hungry all the time.

"delivery has been made."

"how rich is she?"

"just a five like usual," harry said. "but i did put twenty in her piggy bank."

"of course you did."

"hey. my girl wants to go shopping, so i had to pitch in just a little bit."

louis craned his head back and grinned at harry. "her future partner is gonna have so much fun with her being spoiled by her dads."

"someone's gotta set the standard around here, and it's gonna be us. if they can't take care of my baby, they're trash." harry took his shirt off and sat behind the one laying down. "i've already got a list of interview questions ready."

"are you serious?"

"yup. first of all, their intentions with my daughter. second, their birthday, because she's a sagittarius and they are very hard nuts to crack sometimes. third, are they rich or born into wealth, because we deserve cool father's day gifts-"

louis cackled and covered his mouth so he wouldn't wake rio. "shut up."

"i'm just saying." harry cheesed down at him. "you don't want a fancy keurig from our potential son or daughter in law? i know i do."

"you are ridiculous," louis giggled.

"you love me."

"unfortunately." louis puckered his lips. he got the kiss he requested and snuggled back into his pillows.

harry propped another pillow under his side to give him extra comfort and slipped his hand up the smaller man's shirt. he rubbed over his hip and across his back like he does every night to ease his aching.

"i just hinted that i want a keurig, by the way."

"so get one."

"but..." louis could hear his pout. "my husband works, so i can just use his money to get it."

"oh really?"

"the point of having a husband is to spend his money while sitting and looking pretty at the same time, so yes, really."

louis smiled into his pillow as kisses were fluttered along the side of his face. he spoils harry just as much as harry spoils him. he's getting that keurig one way or another.

"take it out of sissy's piggy bank if you have to."

"i'm not using raven's money for your keurig."

"it can be a late father's day present from her. or early christmas. do people still do christmas in july? is that even a thing anymore?"

"i don't know," louis laughed into his cushion. harry's an idiot. "i'll get you one this weekend."

"ugh, i fucking love you." one more kiss was dropped onto his cheek. "best husband ever. you're so getting your dick sucked for this."

"i better."

"trust me, you will."

—-

hi <3 figured we could use an extra because why not. thank you for getting NS to 600k!!! loves you loads!!!