Nine things Louis loves about Harry–things he tries to think about whenever they're doing badly.

1. He's gentle. He's never rough, never aggressive, never belligerent. He cups spiders in his hands and brings them outside rather than killing them. He never yells at Gracie; he sits her down and talks to her. He doesn't get genuinely angry often. He gets sad, and he masks it as anger. He's soft. Louis loves that he's soft.

2. He carried Gracie. He created Louis' absolute favourite, most precious thing in his whole life.

3. He's a badass in the courtroom. He defends children who have been neglected, women who have been abused. He fights for them with everything he has.

4. He's the only one who can make Louis' coffee correctly. Most of the time Louis wants tea, but sometimes, on special and often stressful occasions, he needs coffee, and Harry knows exactly how to make it. How much sugar and milk to put in it. Louis can't even make his own coffee as well as Harry can. There's a lot of things that only Harry can do correctly.

5. He kisses Louis' neck in a way no one else could.

6. He has never made Louis feel stupid. Incompetent, maybe, but never stupid. Stupid is something Louis' thought of himself as his whole life. Harry has never called him stupid, never even implied it. He does the opposite. He makes Louis feel smart. He probably doesn't even realise it, either. Probably doesn't even know how much the little that's-a-really-good-idea-babys and you're-so-smart-what-would-I-do-without-yous mean to him.

7. He's the only man Louis has ever liked long hair on. He's the only one who's ever made it look as beautiful as he does. He likes how it fans around his head on his pillow while he's sleeping, like a halo. He likes watching him untwist it from a towel on top of his head after a shower. He likes tucking it behind Harry's ear. He likes twirling his curls around his finger, making the ringlets even tighter. He likes when Harry has it up, out of his face, but he kind of likes it even more when it's in his face, wild and messy and framing his features.

8. He tries. Louis knows it's hard for him, sometimes, but he tries.

9. He's beautiful. That's kind of trivial, but. He makes everything he does look beautiful. The furrow in his eyebrows when he's concentrating, his laugh when he finds something genuinely funny, the way he looks at Gracie. He makes everything look like art, like Louis could take a picture and frame it and it would sell for millions because of how awe-worthy it is. Louis told his mother this once. His mother told him that's how he knows he's in love. True, real love.

Louis looks down at his list, smiling at himself in triumph when it's finished. It's not like it was difficult for him to write it. He was able to pour all of his feelings about Harry down on that piece of paper while waiting for him to finish getting ready.

"Okay. I'm ready."

Louis looks up, feeling his face soften as he looks up at Harry. He's wearing this button-down shirt with flowers on it, one Louis' never seen before. It's sheer, and he has the first few buttons undone. Louis was expecting him to just wear what he wears to work. One of his plain white or blue button-downs. He looks beautiful. Louis thinks he's blushing.

"Wow," Louis says softly. Harry's face flushes. "You look...wonderful."

"Thank you," Harry grins shyly. "So do you, L. Whatcha got there?"

"My homework for Miriam," Louis shrugs, folding the paper up and sticking it in his pocket. "I finished it."

"Ooh, big shot," Harry's smile widens. Louis gives him a playful glare. "I need to start mine."

"Should I be worried that it's taking you so long to think of why you love me?" Louis chuckles, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"No," Harry assures. "There's so many reasons, I'm trying to figure out the nine best ones. Maybe I should be worried you got yours done so fast."

Harry catches Louis' eyes. It's intense, and leaves Harry blushing before turning his head away shyly. "You really do look wonderful," Louis says quietly. "I think pink is your colour."

"Really?" Harry smiles sheepishly, tucking his hair behind his ear.

"Yeah," Louis stands up out of his chair. He walks over to Harry, gently grabbing his hips and pressing him against the wall. Harry can't keep himself from grinning wider.

"W-What're you doing?" He whispers.

"Being romantic," Louis smirks. "Don't ruin it."

Louis kisses him, feeling Harry's hands rest on his cheeks. Louis feels warm, familiar butterflies filling his tummy as he kisses Harry harder. He would honestly be content staying home and doing this all night.

"Ewww!"

Louis jumps back from Harry, raising his hands up as if he's being arrested. Gracie is standing in the entrance of the kitchen, making a face. Harry, cheeks pink, bites his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Louis clears his throat. "Hey, G, uh, you ready for Nan's?"

"Mhm," Gracie smiles, a little My Little Pony rucksack on her back. "Where you goin'?"

"Me and Papa are getting dinner," Louis explains, grabbing his keys off the counter.

"Why can't I come?" Gracie pouts. Harry bends down in front of her, cheeks still rosy.

"Because sometimes Papa and Daddy need some alone time," Harry explains. "Like you like to have alone time with me or Daddy sometimes, y'know?"

Louis squats down next to Harry. "And where we're going, there's no chicken nuggets or pizza," He points out. Gracie wrinkles her nose. "Yeah, I'm not thrilled about it either."

Harry giggles, and Louis looks at him. He feels warm just looking at him. "But I think Nan told me there'd be pizza and ice cream at her house," Harry mentions, raising his eyebrows. Gracie gasps, and he smiles. "So why don't you go grab your shoes, and we can get going, okay?"

"Okay!" Gracie runs towards the stairs, her little rucksack bouncing up and down as she does. Louis stands up straight, helping Harry up as well. He keeps their hands together, smirking.

"As I was saying," He says before pressing Harry against the wall again. Harry laughs, and Louis kisses him again.

♛

"I made you coffee," Harry sets a cup in front of Louis, leaning down and kissing the top of his head. Louis leans back in his chair, feeling Harry's fingers run through his hair. "Hey," Harry says softly. Louis looks up at him. "'S not the end of the world. There are plenty of good jobs out there."

"That was a really good one, though," Louis says quietly. He could've done a lot with that job; started a college fund for the baby, gotten them a bigger place to live, taken care of his family. But, he didn't get it. They wanted someone with a degree.

Harry sits down in the chair next to him. He has a proper bump now, Louis wants to puke every time he thinks about it. There's no way he's going to be able to do this–be a dad, take care of a baby. He can't even get a job.

"I could get a job," Harry offers.

"No," Louis says quickly. "You have to focus on school. It's okay. I'll...I'll figure something out. That's the last thing you need–something else to stress over."

Harry frowns. He tucks his hair behind his ear, and Louis takes a sip of his coffee. "We're gonna be okay," Harry says after a moment. It sounds more like he's trying to convince himself than comfort Louis. Louis just sighs.

"Maybe I should've just kept my job at the bar," He crosses his arms over his chest.

"You hate that job," Harry points out.

"But the pay was decent," Louis argues. "What if I can't find a job better than that?"

"You will," Harry assures. He takes Louis' laptop, turning it towards him and seemingly scrolling through the job search website. "Okay...you could sell insurance, it's forty-four thousand a year."

"Can you picture me selling insurance?" Louis wrinkles his nose, and Harry giggles.

"So real estate is out too?" Harry assumes, and Louis nods. "Okay...you could work for this construction company? Forty four thousand a year, you don't need any experience, and you could work yourself up to a management position."

Louis twists his mouth. "Sounds like my best bet."

"And you'd look sexy in the uniform."

"Shut up!" Louis laughs, taking his laptop from Harry and staring at the job offer. Harry giggles, and Louis takes another sip of his coffee. He thinks Harry's magic or something, because he's the only one who can make coffee this good. "No homework or anything tonight, babe?"

"I made sure I finished it all yesterday so I could spend time with you this weekend," Harry smiles brightly. Louis melts a little, leaning over and pressing their lips together briefly.

♛

"How's work?"

Harry looks up, clearly surprised. "You...wanna hear about work?"

Louis grins. "I mean, yeah. You used to tell me about your cases all the time, now I never get to hear about them."

"I didn't think you wanted to hear about them," Harry shrugs sheepishly. "Um, well. Right now I'm working with a domestic abuse case."

Louis frowns. "Yeah?" He asks softly.

"Yeah, it's a mum, and...a kid," He sighs shakily, clearing his throat. Louis doesn't know how he does this everyday, he could never do what Harry does. "I think she's going to win, though."

"Of course she is," Louis smiles. "She's got the best."

Harry smiles back at him. "I don't think I've ever told you this," He says softly. "But someday I wanna open my own law firm."

"Really?" Louis raises his eyebrows. "You've never told me."

"I didn't know if I wanted to or not, but," Harry shakes his head. "I don't want to have to work for these people forever. They're...money-hungry. And arrogant. And kind of heartless–they fired a woman last year because her mum died, and she missed too much work. I guess that's why I feel like I have to work so much, I don't want to give them any reason to fire me."

"Why do you work there if it's that bad?" Louis asks. The fact that he didn't know any of this is making his chest ache a little. He supposes he's never bothered to ask.

"It's a good job," Harry says. "With great benefits, and no one else would want to hire me. People don't like lawyers who look like they're fresh out of law school, I'm surprised they even hired me."

"Hm," Louis nods slowly, twisting his mouth.

"I'll probably try and open my own firm someday," Harry shrugs. "When Gracie's a little older, assuming any other kids we have are older too."

Louis freezes, a smile growing on his face. "You want more kids?"

Harry realises what he said and blushes, looking away and clearing his throat. "I mean, probably," He says softly. "If everything with Miriam works out 'n stuff. And I'd have to figure out how to manage my stress better, I guess."

Louis decides it's pointless to argue with Harry that his stress didn't cause his miscarriage, instead saying, "We haven't fought at all in three weeks."

Harry furrows his eyebrows, leaning back in his chair. "Wow. You're right."

"That's pretty good for us," Louis grins.

"It is," Harry nods, holding his glass of wine up. "Cheers."

Louis laughs, clinking his glass against Harry's. Harry takes a sip, furrowing his eyebrows. "Is this..."

"The same wine from our wedding?" Louis' smile widens. "Yeah, I was wondering when you'd figure it out. I literally ordered it right in front of you."

"I guess I zoned out," Harry giggles with a shrug. "I was barely old enough to drink."

"You handle your alcohol now as well as you did back then," Louis teases, and Harry pouts.  "Like at Niall's twenty-first, when you danced on top of a table at that club."

"Stop!" Harry groans, covering his face with his hand, cheeks visibly red. He's really cute, Louis can't help but think.

"Or at Taylor's twenty-second, when you were six shots in and sang The Edge of Seventeen during karaoke."

"So what?" Harry huffs. "Did I embarrass you or something?"

"Oh, no," Louis smiles. "I was going around telling everyone 'that's my husband, and the father of my child'."

"I was born for the stage," Harry shrugs slyly, and Louis throws his head back and laughs, the memory of Harry getting every single word of the song wrong crossing his mind. They used to be really fun. Now they're old, and have a marriage counsellor. Louis' trying not to think about it, how sick that makes him feel. He knows he should get over it, but he can't. He just hopes things stay this good, as good as they used to be.

♛

Nine things Harry loves about Louis–things he thinks about throughout the day when he's at work, wishing he was home with him and Gracie

1. He's incredible with Gracie. Harry never imagined someone could be such a good father. Since the moment she was born, he was in love with her. Harry can remember when he was pregnant, and Louis kept saying all he wanted to do when Harry was giving birth was hold his hand. He didn't want to see anything. But, when the time came, he was so into it. Asking the doctors all kinds of questions, being so fascinated by everything going on. Louis' whole life from that day was Gracie; he was obsessed with her.

2. He's supportive. Anything Harry does, Louis is right there behind him.

3. He fixes things. He can fix the sink if it's leaking. He can sew, his mother taught him because she thinks it's a necessary life skill. All of Harry's torn shirts agree. He can, miraculously, fix any toy Gracie breaks (even if it means buying a completely new one and pretending it's fixed). When Gracie was a baby, he was the one who fought tirelessly to make sure they figured out why she was so fussy. The doctors didn't even believe them when they said something was wrong. Louis didn't care. He fixed it.

4. He's really good to his mother. You can always tell a lot about a man from how he treats his mother.

5. He's smart. He always knows what to do. If he was able to go to uni, Harry just knows he would've kicked ass. He's incredibly intelligent.

6. No matter how mad they are at each other, he makes Harry tea and pours it into a travel mug every morning. Sometimes he hands it to him with a kiss to his forehead. Sometimes he leaves it on the counter. But it's always waiting for him.

7. He buys Harry flowers. On their anniversary, on his birthday, on Valentine's Day. Sometimes just because, although he doesn't do that quite as often anymore.

8. He plays Harry and Gracie the guitar. He was playing songs for Gracie before she was even born–Harry was pregnant and stressed and having breakdown after breakdown over his stupid law school shit, and Louis would stand over him and play him something soft and romantic. Gracie would always settle after hours of kicking without fail.

9. He hasn't given up on Harry yet.