state of grace » l.s. mpreg

nine

Louis comes home from work, sweaty and dirty and exhausted, and he can't wait to see Harry. That's the only thing that gets him through the day, honestly.

"Haz?" He calls out. No answer. Furrowing his eyebrows, he walks into the kitchen to see Harry sitting at the table, weeping, and writing something down, bent over his eight-month baby bump. His laptop is open, textbooks stacked, and papers scattered. He looks up at Louis, sniffling.

"Hi," He says weakly.

"What's the matter, love?" Louis asks softly.

"I hate law school," Harry sniffles again. Louis knows he's stressed, how could he not be? He's a perfectionist, and eight months pregnant, and Louis knows he'd rather be doing anything but homework. Yet, despite his tears, he's still writing, still doing his work. Louis shakes his head, though he's endlessly proud of him.

"You wanna take a break?" Louis approaches him, tucking one of his long curls behind his ear.

"No," Harry sighs, wiping his eyes. "I need to get this done."

Harry's stubborn, and Louis doesn't feel like arguing, so he just nods. "Okay. I'll make you a cuppa."

Harry peels his eyes away from his paper to look up at Louis, and he smiles weakly while Louis brushes away one of his tears. "Thank you, L," He says softly. "I love you."

Louis smiles back at him, leaning down and pecking his lips. "I love you too," He says gently. "But, seriously, Haz, stress isn't good for you right now. If you need to take a break, you should."

"I'm okay," Harry assures, sighing softly. "Just a little overwhelmed. I'm almost done."

"Okayyy," Louis knows he's not going to break him. He kisses his forehead. "I'll make you a cuppa, and then I'm going to take a shower."

"Good, you smell."

"Oi!" Louis huffs, and Harry giggles. "Was gonna say you could join me when you're done. But now I'm not sure I want you to."

"Nooo," Harry pouts. "I was kiddinggg. You smell...great."

"Alright, fine, I'll be waiting for you," Louis laughs, walking towards the stove and grabbing the kettle so he can fill it. "Don't stress yourself into labour over there."

"Baby can't come today, I have an exam next week," Harry says, only half-kidding. Louis rolls his eyes, but he's smiling fondly.

♛

"Do I have to be in here for this?"

"Yes. I'm nervous," Louis sighs, but he doesn't argue, sitting on the vanity as Harry takes a pregnancy test over the toilet. "You literally watched Gracie come out of me, I don't know why you're grossed out by a little piss."

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't compare our daughter being born to you taking a wee."

Harry giggles, pulling his joggers back up and putting a cap on the pregnancy test. "'S Gracie up yet?" He asks softly, avoiding the elephant in the room.

"Don't think so," Louis shakes his head. They hadn't gone to sleep since Harry had woken Louis up the night before. They're both a little sleep deprived, and nervous, but he'll take this over them arguing. "She hasn't been going down as easy lately."

"I know," Harry sighs. "She's fussier. Y'think she's upset over something? Over...us?"

"I reckon," Louis nods, and Harry frowns. "Kids are intuitive. And she's smart."

"She is smart," Harry shakes his head, a small, fond smile across his lips. "Takes after you."

Louis scoffs. Harry's always told him how smart he is, but. Harry's the lawyer. Harry's the one who graduated uni with honours–even after being pregnant, as well as home with a newborn while Louis was at the construction site. Louis' never considered himself to be smart.

"Louis," Harry says softly. Louis meets his eyes. "You're very smart."

He must've read Louis' thoughts. Louis rolls his eyes, still not buying it, and Harry just sighs, shaking his head. "Going to uni doesn't make you smart," Harry points out, setting the test down on the sink. He stands between Louis' legs, looking up at him. "I graduated because I work hard, not because I'm smart. You have always been able to work things out, and take care of everything–finances, conflict, everything. You're...clever. I don't know where I'd be without you."

Louis softens, looking down at Harry's big doe eyes and swallowing thickly. "You really think that?" He asks sheepishly.

"Of course I do," Harry grins back at him. "I'm sorry I've never said it before."

"I..." Louis' cheeks are warm. He doesn't know what to say. He's about to argue, to tell Harry he's just saying that, but then he notices how flushed Harry looks, his eyes glued to the test laying on the sink.

"It's positive," Harry observes quietly. He picks it up and stares at it before flipping it to show Louis. There's a pretty little pink plus sign. So, that's that. Harry's pregnant.

Without hesitation, Louis wraps his arms around his husband, holding him close to his chest. He kisses the top of his head. "I love you," He mumbles into his hair. "No matter what."

♛

"Daddy?"

"Yes, princess?" Louis looks down from where he's making Harry some tea. Gracie is tugging at the bottom of his t-shirt, big green eyes looking up at him.

"Will you watch Frozen with me?"

Louis almost shudders as soon as she speaks that god-forsaken name. "Why don't you ask Papa?" Louis suggests, knowing he'll have hell to pay later. "I told you I'd fix your slide today, remember?"

"But 's raining, Daddy."

Damnit. Louis forces a smile. "Would you look at that, I suppose it is," He sighs. "You, me and Papa can watch it together, then."

"Okay!" Gracie beams, running off to find Harry. Louis shakes his head, smiling fondly as he dunks Harry's teabag into the hot water.

When he's done with Harry's cuppa, he walks into the lounge to find Harry curled up on the sofa, Gracie digging through their box of DVDs. Harry glares at Louis, and Louis just shrugs, smiling apologetically. He hands Harry his tea, whispering, "I'll make it up to you."

"You better," Harry huffs. He hates Frozen just as much as Louis does (only because this will be their sixth viewing this month). "Gracie, baby, are you sure you don't want to watch something else?"

"Ooh, what about Coco?" Louis adds on, sitting down next to Harry, letting Harry lay his legs in his lap. "I like that one."

"No. Frozen."

"Okay," Louis sighs. "Frozen it is."