Harry let out a deep breath as he adjusted his messenger bag on his shoulder, putting on a smile as he pushed open the flat door.

"I'm home!"

"Daddy!" a shriek was heard a second later, followed by the litter patter of feet and a bark.

"Hello love," he said, scooping Nate up and kissing his curls, "good day with aunt Gemma?"

"Yeah, we play lots and I draw you and Lou Lou a picture and-"

And Harry tried to keep listening as he walked fully into the flat and kicked his shoes off with Princess following him and yapping along. The only thing really having his attention being how tired he was, but he tried his hardest to be present for Nate.

He sat them down on the living room couch, his son going on and on about what he and his aunt got up to today.

"You okay H?" Gemma asked quietly, seeing her brother slump into the couch and rub a hand over his face.

"Just tired," Harry mumbled, "Lou's not home yet, huh?"

Gemma shook her head, looking back at him softly, knowing how hard this past week has been for them. "Do you want me to stay so you can relax a little, or I can make dinner?"

"No, it's okay," he breathed out, not even wanting to think about cooking dinner. "I'll just order something and Louis should be home soon."

She looked at him for a moment to make sure he was really okay before kissing the two of them goodbye and heading for the door.

"Daddy when Lou get home?" Nate turned to his father.

"I'm sure in a little bit buddy. I'm gonna order some dinner tonight though, you in the mood for anything?" he asked, already pulling out his phone to look at menus.

"Pizza!"

Harry rolled his eyes, the 3 year old always wanting pizza. "How about chinese hm? Something different maybe?"

"But Lou like pizza and I like pizza," Nate groaned.

"I know love, but I'm sure Louis is sick of eating it two times a week," he laughed, "there's noodles, chicken and rice, all types of yummy stuff."

Maybe that was convincing enough since Nate sat there for a second before letting out a huff and saying a quiet "okay". That was all Harry needed to hear before pulling up his favorite restaurant and putting an order in for the three of them. He made sure to get his boyfriend's favorite, knowing if he had half the day as him then he was more than exhausted.

Luckily there was a movie on that grabbed Nate's attention as he laid against his chest with Princess at his feet. Harry had basically melted into the cushions at finally not being in the studio.

There was no lie, this past week has been more than hard. From early wake ups to a pile of work that needed to be done, then coming home to a more than hyper toddler. Harry knew he and Louis were struggling to keep up with everything and catch up, but he didn't think it would be this hard.

At first he thought it would take him a few days, maybe a week to catch up, but with more clients coming in it only made him more backed up. On top of that Louis was doing everything in his power to be here with them at least for a few hours before Nate went to bed, but some nights it just hasn't worked out like that.

And Harry really hoped it wasn't one of those nights when 45 minutes later the food arrived and he hadn't heard back from the older lad yet.

"Daddy Lou gonna eat with us?" Nate asked as his father got him situated in his booster seat.

"I think it's gonna be a you and I night tonight," Harry said quietly, his boyfriend still not responding to him. "Hopefully he'll be home to tuck you in."

Nate huffed but nodded as his father offered him a smile.

The two ate their dinner, Harry mostly listening to his boy's day and what his friends got up to at daycare. He couldn't help but notice how dinner was significantly quieter without Louis. Him and Nate were talking of course, but there was less laughter, less funny voices and a character that was too big for their tiny body missing from their table.

It wasn't until they were done eating did Harry finally get a text from Louis saying he'd be there just after bath time and apologizing too many times to count. But once he relayed the message to Nate the toddler couldn't be happier so that made Harry relax some.

He put Louis' dinner in the fridge for him before putting Nate in charge of finding a show for them to watch before bath time. They cuddled on the couch with princess, the pug snorting and farting every so often as their show went on. With each noise from her though Nate got a good giggle, so Harry guessed the horrid smells were worth it.

The two watched show after show, the green eyed man glancing towards the door every 5 minutes to see if his boyfriend came home, but no luck. He tried pushing back bath time, but the later it got Harry knew if he didn't start their bedtime routine soon he would have a grumpy toddler on his hands. So reluctantly he gave Nate a bath and put him into bed, trying his hardest to explain to him that Louis was just running a bit late and that the older lad would definitely come in to kiss him goodnight when he got home.

Of course he expected the whining, Nate only seeing Louis for breakfast but Harry had the same old talk with him that this was work. He told him that this was only for a little while and before they knew it it'd be the three of them like it was before.

Harry kissed him goodnight, promising him that Louis would come up when he got home. He gently closed the door behind him, quietly making his way downstairs and to the living room. Harry basically threw himself onto the couch and laid down, letting out a few deep breaths and just trying to regain himself.

Princess was nuzzling her nose onto his hand that laid by the floor and Harry didn't even have it in himself to stop her from licking his fingers. He was so tired and missing his days with Nate and his boyfriend, and everything with work had his head spinning.

For a little while Harry was able to just breathe and gather his thoughts. He tried to figure out how to finish his stack of work while doing shoots at the same time. Time didn't seem to be a thing as his thoughts ran, not sure how long it was before he heard the front door opening.

"Lou?" Harry picked his head up off the couch and peered over the edge.

"Hey love."

And Harry could already hear how tired he was, more so than he has been in the past couple days.

"You okay?" he asked quietly as he got up and walked over to the older man.

"Yeah... Just exhausted," Louis breathed out, reaching for a beer from the fridge, "Nate in bed?"

Harry nodded, catching Louis' eyes for a second before he watched him run his hands over his face.

"Lou, you know, this happens sometimes, it's okay," he said, reaching a hand over and rubbing his boyfriend's back, knowing he was beating himself up over this. "You can still say goodnight to him."

"He won't even be awake, he won't remember," Louis muttered as he shook his head and took a swig of his beer.

"You don't know that love... And besides what's the harm if you do? Just see him..." Harry barely whispered, never seeing him like this.

Louis looked to the ground for a moment before letting out a deep breath and nodding. He put his beer down and made his way up the stairs and to Nate's room. Each step he took guilt flooding over him and only getting worse when he saw the 3 year old fast asleep.

Louis shuffled into the room, quietly kneeling by the bed and brushing his fingers through Nate's hair.

"I'm sorry..."

He looked down at his sleeping form, hand clenched tightly around his blanket, mouth hung open and small smores escaping him. Louis knew he wouldn't remember him coming home, knew he made a promise and broke it, and that by itself broke his heart. But all he could do was whisper his goodnights and kiss Nate's head before silently heading out of the room.

Walking back downstairs was a struggle in itself, hating that he's been gone so much, that yet again work is taking over his life.

"Lou?"

He finally picked his head up, Harry waiting for him at the breakfast bar.

"Are you really okay?"

Louis bit his lip as he picked up his beer, barely nodding at him before taking a sip.

"Lou c'mon," Harry nearly begged, "What's wrong?"

"I-..." Louis opened his mouth, running a frustrated hand over his face as he released a deep breath. "I-I can't do this again..."

"Do what again love?" the green eyed man asked softly, carefully reaching for him and relieved when he leaned into his touch.

"Not be here for bedtime, or dinner, or just- just-"

"Hey, hey," Harry stopped him quickly, wrapping his arms around the shorter lad and pulling him into his chest. "Lou it happens sometimes, I get it-"

"Yeah, but Nate doesn't," Louis stopped him, "he doesn't get why I'm not here when I said I would be, and I told you I'd be here, I said I wouldn't do this and here I fucking am."

Harry felt his mouth open but absolutely nothing came out as he heard his boyfriend, seeing how frustrated he was with himself.

"I'm so sorry H, they just- they're giving me breaks, but no one told me with breaks comes working later to make up for lost time which is bullshit cause-"

"Louis..." Harry stopped him, needing him to breathe, "I'm not mad, I'm not upset or anything, please..."

"I'm just... I'm sorry..."

"Love I'm not going anywhere, neither is Nate, we're here," he whispered into his hair, "some days are harder than others... But we're not leaving..."

For maybe the first time all day Louis felt like he could breathe in his boyfriend's arms. Relishing in the feeling of him around him, breathing him in and knowing he was here, he wasn't going anywhere.

*~*

Louis chugged a gulp of water as he paced his office, his eyes focused on his script and reading his lines over and over.

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant! An elephant's faithful one hundred percent!... God, fuck," he groaned to himself, running an irritated hand over his face at that not being how he needed to sound at all.

Louis thought if he came home for a little and practiced lines it would get a jump on tomorrow, but he was only able to have dinner with his boys before having to retreat into the office. He needed to focus, there was nothing more he wanted than to just finish this, to be done. But Louis was only able to get through half of what he wanted to before he heard a soft knock at the door.

"Yeah?"

Harry carefully peered his head in, his boyfriend's eyes trained on the script in his hand as he frustratedly paced around. "Hey love, I uh, I put Nate into bed. He wanted you to say goodnight."

"What?" he finally looked up, furrowing his eyebrows at the younger man confused. "H it's been like forty minutes since dinner, why's he going to bed?"

"Louis it's been almost two and a half hours," Harry said quietly as he bit his lip.

At that Louis froze for a second, checking his watch and almost wanting to scream as he saw the time. He threw his script and glasses on his desk and quickly made his way towards the door.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth as Louis rushed past him, having no clue what to say as he saw his boyfriend more than annoyed. The blue eyed man quickly making his way down the hall to Nate's room.

"Hey buddy," Louis said softly as he carefully knelt in front of the 3 year old's bed.

"Lou Lou," Nate said through a sleepy smile, only to yawn as soon as the words came out.

"Tired, huh mate?" he asked through his own grin, running a hand up and down his back.

Nate nodded, holding onto his blanket a bit tighter and fighting to keep his eyes somewhat open. "Miss you, wanna say night night."

Louis' smile faltered for a second, it already took everything in him to smile at all right now, but that crushed him. "I miss you too buddy... I'm sorry I lost track of time tonight..."

Nate kept his eyes on the older man, again only finding it in himself to nod and sink further into his mattress at feeling sleep creep up on him.

"But we have breakfast tomorrow," Louis whispered, seeing the toddler fighting to stay awake, "goodnight love, I'll see you in the morning," and with that and a quick kiss he stood up, finding Harry watching from the doorway.

As soon as the door was closed behind him and they were in the hallway all he felt were Harry's eyes on him. Louis couldn't look up though, he knew he screwed up.

"C'mon," Harry said quietly, nodding towards their bedroom.

Louis could barely find it in himself to shuffle his feet forward, but eventually he got to their room and Harry shut the door behind them.

"Love... Are you okay?" he barely whispered, his eyes scanning over his boyfriend and never seeing him look so exhausted, so stressed.

Louis' eyes were trained on the ground, not remembering the last time he felt like this and it was something he definitely didn't miss. "It's just... It's work..." he could manage to get out, "I'm juggling again and... A-and I'm fucking it all up."

"No you're not Lou," Harry said softly, his heart nearly breaking at seeing his boyfriend sit on the edge of the bed and hide his face in his hands.

"Harry yes I am, and don't tell me I'm not," Louis said almost sternly, "I haven't spent time with you guys in a week and a half, I haven't even been able to put him to bed the past four nights!"

"Louis stop it," Harry said just as seriously back as he saw him close to yelling.

"Harry even when I'm here I'm fucking up! Just like before I lose track of time and- an-"

"Louis," Harry stopped him, grabbing his face between his own hands and forcing their eyes to meet, "Stop it..." he whispered, "I know you're stressed, and I know you're scared..."

He could see Louis try to calm down, try to even his breathing, but Harry couldn't miss the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"But I love you, and Nate loves you and the life we have is amazing and I'm not going anywhere," he said as softly as he could, letting his fingers run through the back of the older man's hair to pull him just a bit closer. "Please love..."

"Harry I can't fuck up like I used to, you have to tell me, if I have to stop tell me to stop," Louis pleaded as he shook his head, begging his tears not to fall.

"It's not gonna be like any of those times Lou," he whispered, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and making sure there was no room between them. "C'mon it's just a few more days, it's okay."

"I just... I already feel myself going back there, and I can't do that to you and Nate, I can't disappear."

"Louis you're doing the best you can," Harry said, needing to get this through his head, "You said it yourself, you're juggling, but you aren't fucking anything up..." he whispered, "I remember us having this exact conversation, but it was the other way around. You told me I can't be perfect at everything, and neither can you..."

It was that that got Louis to let out a deep breath, not even realizing he was holding one in as his boyfriend held him.

"It's hard and new for you being a boyfriend and a dad on top of it, but you are so incredibly far from fucking anything up... I'm in this for the long run."

Louis picked his head up, his eyes unable to peel away from Harry and even when green met blue he couldn't find his voice. There were so many things in that one sentence that his brain had to process, but there was one word that rang in his head.

"Dad... I-I mean you think- like, you consider me his-"

"His dad, yeah," Harry smiled into his hair, pulling him that much closer, "he looks up to you so much Louis and he loves you with all his heart, like-" he stopped himself, almost having to not laugh that the older lad even questioned this. "You called him 'our boy' on vacation and... Well he is, he's ours, yours and mine."

Louis had to just breathe for a second. This was different, this was so different than any of his relationships before, but it was different in the best ways possible.

He wasn't all that surprised when he lunged forward to connect their lips that Harry was more than startled, but Louis couldn't stop the smile that came over him. It was as if a weight he didn't know he was carrying had been lifted off his shoulders.

"I love you so much, both of you holy shit," Louis mumbled out, not wasting a second before connecting their lips again.

Harry laughed against his mouth, relieved he had finally calmed down.

"And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for snapping at you in the office, I was just frustrated with myself and-"

"Louis, Louis," Harry smiled at him, "Breathe... I get it. Lord knows I get snappy when I'm stressed too, it's okay, it happens."

And Louis doesn't get it. He doesn't get how such an incredible human chose to be with him, how day after day Harry comes home to him.

"Did you mean it?" Louis barely whispered, the younger lad looking back at him with furrowed eyebrows, "did you mean when you said you wanted this for the long run? Like uhm, like eventually make us a real family?"

It was so quiet but Louis prayed his boyfriend heard him because he wasn't sure if he could gather the courage again. But he knew Harry heard him as soon as he felt a pair of heavy lips on his.

Relief immediately washed over Louis as he kissed him back, feeling the younger lad smile against him.

"We're already a real family Lou," Harry mumbled against him, "but I mean if you wanna put a ring on it some day..."

And as hard as he could Louis couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped him, pulling away just enough to see Harry smirking at him. He didn't know how wide he was smiling, didn't care as he leaned back in and pressed his lips to the younger lad's.

Almost too easily he let Harry pull him to lay down on the bed, Louis settling against his boyfriend's chest and allowing their lips to slowly move together.

Harry was pulling him so close that there was no room between them, his hands down his back and sides, just needing him to know how much he meant every word he said.

Louis kept it gentle though, small breaths exchanged between them as the younger man's hands explored him. He only disconnected their lips when he felt Harry tugging his shirt up, not needing to be told to sit up to take it off. As soon as it was thrown off to the side he saw Harry yanking his own shirt off before pulling on the back of his neck and crashing their lips together.

He wasn't shy about squeezing Louis' bicep and clutching his neck. The blue eyed man taking the once slow kiss to tasting into Harry's mouth, immediately being accepted.

Louis rested against his chest, tangling his legs with the younger lad's and letting their hips meet. Harry's lips parted just enough as he did that that Louis could deepen the kiss, pressing his entire weight on his boyfriend and letting his fingers tug at his curls.

He kept their mouths moving, the green eyed man's hands growing desperate as he gripped at Louis' waist and silently begged him to move.

He didn't need any more hints, but wasn't shy about laughing into Harry's mouth as he slowly ground down on him. And it only took Louis rocking his hip a few times on top of his boyfriend before he felt him letting out a low groan under him.

Louis took the opportunity to move his lips down Harry's jaw, going painfully slow as he sucked along his heated skin. He could feel the younger lad moving