So, this one is dedicated to larryfan02
Thanks for all your comments!

^^^

2020 dedication, idk if that account still exists.
But if my past self dedicated that, then it must have been someone who earned it.

Now, happy Louis' birthday Eve and Merry Christmas everyone!

2022 Mag 🦋

TWELVE

I woke up the following morning with Freddie hitting my arm non stop.
He was giggling, pinching my skin and tickling me in the armpit.

Though, sometimes kids don't measure their brutality.
He was more like poking me rather than tickling.

So, in this case it was fun for him, pain for me.
That's how parenthood works sometimes.

When I finally opened my eyes and stopped Freddie's little hands from hurting me any longer, It took me a minute to understand where we were, until last night came to me in a flashback.

I was at Harry's house.

He offered me to stay in his guest room with my son, while he slept on the other room.

Last night he and I stayed up late after putting Freddie down on the bed, we finished the remaining ice cream on the bucket, watched tv while cuddling and sharing kisses until we both started yawning.
Only then, we said goodnight and I got into the bedroom to sleep next to Freddie in the big queen-sized bed.

So now, I found myself waking up on a foreign bed with my son jumping happily in the middle of it, sitting down on my abdomen and bouncing on me to get my attention.

"Hey lad." - I yawned, stopping his bouncing with my hands. - "Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Great! I want breakfast."

"Okay." - I covered my mouth to stop another yawn. - "We'll go to the kitchen in a bit, yeah? Let's brush your teeth first."

"Okay." - He frowned, leaning closer to me and whispering in my ear. - "Where are we, Dad?"

I laughed.

"We stayed at Harry's house, remember?"

"Teacher Harry?" - He asked in surprise.

"Yes, your teacher."

This got me to think, was it really okay for me to start dating his teacher?
Shouldn't we have waited a little?
Was all of this too fast?

We already spent the night here, at his house.
We had dinner, we played board games, he helped a lot in calming Freddie down.

He had already crossed the boundaries of a teacher-student relationship.

I didn't know how a five year old kid would process this.
Maybe it would only make him more attached to Harry than the rest of his friends.
Maybe it could backfire and make Freddie want all of Harry's attention at school from now on.

Maybe even Harry's perception of Freddie changed already. Since it was the first and real meeting outside the daycare.

Almost in a stepfather way. Ish.

This was definitely going too fast.

I shook my head, not needing more worries in my mind than the ones already there.

Stretching my back and sitting up on the bed, I reached for my phone on the nightstand, checking the time.

Ten thirty am.

One text from Brianna checking on Freddie.
And three missed calls from Niall.
The fucker.

If he was calling to apologize, he should try harder then.
I wasn't going to call him back.

Not after what he did on the date with Harry.

After letting Brianna know everything was alright and deleting Niall's miscalls, I extended my hand to Freddie and guiding him to the ensuite to wash his teeth and get him out of his pijamas.

Then, we walked hand in hand to the kitchen.

Of course, Harry was already awake, recently showered, and drinking a cup of coffee with a huge smile on his face as we got closer to him.

"Good morning you two."

"Hi, teacher Harry!" - Freddie let go of my hand, running towards Harry and hugging his legs.

"Hey Freddie, slept alright?"

"Yes! Thank you." - Freddie smiled up at him.

"You're welcome. How about you?" - Harry asked me, still wearing his beautiful smile.

Freddie moved away and sat at the dinning table, starting to play with one of the car toys that we didn't get to pick up the night before.

"I slept great." - I smiled, stepping closer and kissing his cheek when Freddie wasn't watching. - "Good morning." - I whispered.

"I want breakfast, Dad." - Freddie said, too busy looking down at his toys to even aknowledge Harry's hand on my waist.

"Oh right. H, can I use your kitchen?"

"I got this." - Harry said, squeezing my hip. - "What would you like to eat Freddie? I can prepare you anything you like."

Freddie looked up at him in excitement.

"Milk and pancakes!"

"Great choice!" - Harry answered.

Harry turned around to pick the milk from the fridge and some ingredients to start with the pancakes.

I walked to where Harry was, sliding my arms around his waist and pecking his cheek shortly, making sure Freddie was occupied with his toys again and out of seeing range.

"Thanks" - I whispered, now pecking his lips. - "You're a beautiful person, H."

Harry smiled widely, showing his pretty dimples.

"Another one?" - He puckered his lips.

I shook my head, amused, but leaned in again nevertheless, kissing him once more and loving the taste of morning on his lips.

Coffee mixed with the mint toothpaste and the suavity of his body wash.

"You taste nice." - I whispered into his lips.

Harry bit his lip, containing another smile.

"You're a total charmer in the mornings, aren't you?"

I shrugged, separating myself from him a little.

"I'm just in a good mood, I guess."

"Can I ask why?" - Harry smirked.

"As if you didn't know the answer." - I rolled my eyes, softly poking his hip.

"Fine. Don't tell me." - He faked a pout but them smiled again. - "What should I prepare you for breakfast?"

"I can prepare my own breakfast, H."

"But you're my guests. So, you eat pancakes too?"

"Love pancakes." - I smiled, already giving up.

"Great. Pancakes for three, then."

🌈

After we had lunch, I started feeling like we were overstaying our welcome.

Not that Harry was uncomfortable with us there, quite the contrary actually.
Harry had been incredible all morning, making a delicious breakfast and letting Freddie spread all of his toys on the living room once again.
He played with him, he made him laugh, he read a book from his large collection to both of us and acted the dialogues with different stupid voices, and I've never seen Freddie having that much fun before.

Harry had been nothing but lovely towards us, but I still felt that we were staying longer than we should.

I didn't know if it was my logical side speaking, or my worries coming back to life.
But in either case, staying the night at the guy's -you recently started dating- house with your kid and then not only have breakfast but also lunch the next day, it was a little too much.

Add to that the fact that said guy is your son's teacher.

"Little lad, I think it's time for us to go." - I said, kneeling down to be at Freddie's height.

"I want to stay with teacher Harry." - He pouted, causing Harry to giggle.

"We can't stay any longer, I'm sure Harry has a lot of things to do this weekend and we're bothering him. C'mon, pick up your things."

"No! I don't want to!" - He screamed, sitting down on the floor and crossing his arms and legs, kicking a few pencils away in the process.

"Freddie, please. C'mon, I'll help you get your toys." - I said, reaching for one of the pencils that rolled away on the carpet.

"No, Dad!" - He said, now kicking my arm. - "I'm staying."

I sighed, stopping his kicking and looking directly at him.

"Freddie, don't make this difficult."

"Teacher Harry said we could play with my Legos. We didn't play with my Legos yet!" - He exclaimed.

I looked up at Harry, sensing he was now coming to us.

Harry gave me a look and whispered "I got this."
He kneeled down in front of Freddie and started talking.

"Hey, look at me." - He told Freddie with a smile. - "You can come back whenever you want. Besides, I'll see you on Monday at the daycare and we can play all those fun games too. But now you have to go with your Dad, yeah?"

"But I'm having fun."

"I know, me too. But we can continue playing on Monday. What do you say?"

"I want to play with you and my dad too."

"Okay, next time you want to play here in my house, you can ask Dad to bring you, okay? But today I have to do things, so I can't stay and play, and you either." - He explained, poking Freddie's nose and making him giggle.

"Fine." - He smiled. - "Dad, are you going to bring me again?"

I was astonished with the scene happening in front of my eyes, I couldn't even speak, Harry was so good with Freddie. He had convinced him.

Harry convinced him when I couldn't.
But only by making the promise of having him back in his house in the future.

He wanted us in his house again.
Otherwise he wouldn't have offered it, right?

"Sure."

"Promise?"

"Yes, little lad. I promise." - I said, looking from Freddie to Harry. - "As long as Teacher Harry invites us."

"You're both invited any weekend." - Harry smiled, ruffling Freddie's hair. - "Now let's tidy this mess and get your bag ready, yeah?"

As Freddie and Harry picked up all the toys from the floor, I took the things that we had left in the bedroom and put them all in our bags.

Checking the whole house one more time not to forget anything, I finally grabbed Freddie's shoes and socks so I could put them on his feet before leaving.

When I took Freddie up in my arms, ready to leave the house, Harry handed Freddie a tupper full of pancakes and fruit.

"So you don't have to eat the hotel food." - Harry smiled at Freddie, pinching his cheeks sweetly. - "Your dad said it's not good. If he makes you eat that food, call me and I'll send you more pancakes. Okay?" - He whispered to Freddie, but it was loud enough that I could hear.

I rolled my eyes.

"Stop spoiling him with food, H."

"This is between Freddie and I." - He smirked mischievously at me, then winked at my son. - "Isn't it?"

"Yeah!" - Freddie punched the air, making Harry and I both laugh.

"Already plotting against me." - I chuckled. - "Unbelievable."

Harry walked us to the door and opened it for me.
I turned around not very sure of what was the right thing to say after everything.

Was a thank you enough?
Freddie was right there, I couldn't do more than that.

I couldn't exactly kiss him goodbye with Freddie there.

Luckily, Harry noticed my discomfort and spoke first.

"You go now, we'll talk later."

I sighed in relief and nodded. He understood.

"Bye, H. Thank you for everything."

"My pleasure. You were the best guests I've ever had." - He grinned, stepping closer and facing Freddie entirely. - "You had fun?"

"Yes! Lots."

"Great, I'll see you in Monday, yeah?"

"Ok, bye teacher Harry." - Freddie said and hugged him.

"Bye, Freddie." - Harry winked at me from above Freddie's shoulder.

With a discreet hand, Harry caressed my forearm, sliding it down until our pinkies intertwined.

"I'll see you on Monday too then?" - I asked. - "I'll be dropping Freddie."

"Yes." - He nodded. - "And do me a favor? Please talk to your friend. I noticed he's called you multiple times today. Give him a chance. You can't continue living in a hotel, Lou."  - He whispered the last part.

"I'll try." - I sighed.

"That's all I'm asking." - Harry smiled softly as he let go of my pinkie. - "See you guys around."

I nodded, walking to my car and placing Freddie inside. I secured him on his car seat and then opened the driver's door.
Still with one foot outside the car, I turned around and waved at Harry timidly.

Harry smiled widely in response, waving at both of us happily.

"Goodbye Teacher Harry!" - Freddie screamed from the car.

"Goodbye! Drive safe!"

"Thank you." - I said, sitting on the driver's seat and closing the door. After a second, I rolled the window down, seeing Harry still staring at me. - "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Was last night awkward?" - I frowned.

"Last night was fun and different. Not like any other Friday night. Unique." - He shrugged. - "You're both good company."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"It wasn't, Louis. Stop overthinking it." - He smiled reassuringly.

"Alright." - I nodded.

Before turning the car on, I blew Harry a kiss and waved one last time, trying to stop my mind from spinning yet again.