“What is the surprise?”, Jonah asks, making a small pause after every word, “Tell me, Harry.”

I grin and try to pull the green sweater over his head.
“Guess what, your dad will be back when you get home from school today.”

Jonah gasps and opens his eyes widely. “Daddy! That’s the bestest message ever!”, he shouts and runs off to the kitchen, sweater still not put on correctly.

I smile widely and follow him. “I agree, that really is the best message ever.”

I can’t wait for Louis to come back home, I can’t wait for Louis to get better, I can’t wait to finally ask him out when he’s alright again.
I’ve decided I’m really sure I want to get to know him even better than I did the last days because he seems pretty much perfect.

What he said yesterday and the way he took my hand made my realize just how much I like him already.

“I tell Daddy everything about the dogs and show him my picture with Liam and Zayn from the playground and also I make my daddy some soup, he always does that when I’m sick.”

Jonah won’t stop smiling while making plans for the afternoon, trying to eat his cereal while talking but he ends up leaving half of the bowl before running to the door.
“Go, Harry, the faster I go to school the faster it’s afternoon.”

I chuckle and drink the last sip of my tea before following him. “That is not exactly how it works, love, but yes, we should get going anyways so you’re not late for school.”

I take our car to take Jonah to school so I can pick up Louis right afterwards.
I don’t know why I’m so excited to see him already, it’s only been two days, but I can’t wait to see him again.

In the car I turn on the radio and Jonah sings glibberish to some song by a boyband I don’t know the name of.

“Harry, stop”, Jonah squeaks and points out of the window, “You drive past my school.”

I pull a funny face. “Oopsies, I was a little preoccupied.”
I was a little preoccupied thinking about your dad.

He chuckles and then bends over to press a kiss to my cheek, something that makes my heart flutter a little.
I adore this boy.

“Bye, Harry”, he mumbles before jumping out of the car.
I watch him run off to the entrance, making sure he arrives safely. I can’t believe how much I like him.

I look at him greeting his friends before I take a turn, finally heading to the hospital.

~~~

I bounce my foot up and down, looking at the clock every three seconds.

Louis is only five minutes late and he said it’s possible that he won’t be punctual because of his doctor still having to run a few final tests and filling in some papers but I’m impatient.

I feel like exploding if he doesn’t arrive soon.
“Thank you”, I hear Louis voice from the floor and I quickly get up.

It takes him about forever to enter though, probably because of his leg and the crutches he has to use. It would come across weird if I just stood there, awkwardly waiting for him, so I sit down again.

That seems weird too though. Maybe I should grab a magazine and pretend to be reading when he enters? That probably would-

“Hi, Harry.”
I get up a little too fast and excitedly and look at Louis.

He looks way better, if there wasn’t still a little bruising on his forehead and the cast around his leg, I wouldn’t even have noticed any difference. He always looked tired before the accident already.

It’s probably very weird and wrong but I just feel like hugging him so I wrap my arms around him.

It’s awkward for a second because he can’t really use his hands to hug me since they’re occupied with the crutches but when he lets his head rest against my shoulder, his breath getting calmer with every second we hug, I feel so comfortable.

“Thank you for coming”, he mumbles into the soft fabric of my jumper.
And then, when it’s silent for some time again: “I missed you.”

I wonder if he can feel the butterflies through my tummy, if he can hear my heartbeat getting faster, wonder if he can see me blushing deeply.
“I missed you too.”

I slowly pull away and we look at each other for a second, both smiling shyly and trying to hold eye contact. I fail though and quickly look to the ground.

“Let’s go walk to my car, should we?”
He nods quickly and starts walking with me, I try to walk a little slower so he can keep up with my pace.

We don’t really talk for some while; I’m still thinking about that hug and his smell and the way he blushed.

“How are you doing, Louis?”
He smiles. “Pretty good. Sure, my leg hurts a little and so does my head, but I’ve been worse, it’s just getting better.”

I smile back, the roaming in my tummy doesn’t exactly get better when he looks at me like that.

When we arrive at the car, I open the door for him and try to help him in, he grabs my arm softly to get comfortable in his seat.

“Thank you”, he whispers and smiles. I walk around the car and try to catch my breath a little, ignoring the tingling on my skin where he touched my arm.

“Let’s drive home, shall we?”, I ask when dripping onto the driver seat and turn the radio a little more quiet.

“I’m usually not listening to this kind of music”, I explain to Louis and point to the radio, “That was your son’s doing.”

Louis chuckles and leans back in his seat, looking out if the car window. “Can I thank you?”
I shrug and laugh. “’Course you can.”

“Just cause you never actually let me thank you and always come up with something to reply instead of just accepting my gratitude.”

He’s probably right about that but I don’t want to make him feel bad so I try to act like what I’m doing is not a big deal in front of him.

“So, for real this time, thank you, Harry, for everything you’ve done the past days, for taking care of Jonah, for helping me get through this mentally and emotionally. Thanks for picking me up today.”

I smile and press his hand once, just once, really quickly.
“You’re very welcome, Louis. I mean it. I liked doing all of this.”

And it’s not a lie. I enjoy being there for him, I enjoy helping him because what he’s giving back is worth even more.

~~~

When we arrive at Louis’ house and get him out of the car, he stands there a little awkwardly, pointing to the stairs.

“How do I get up there, with those?” He lifts one of the crutches a little and waves it though the air awkwardly.

“I have no idea, try it?”
He nods quickly and starts trying to walk up the stairs, taking forever to take the first step. He flinches when he accidentally puts too much weight on his broken leg.

“I can’t watch this anymore”, I say, “Come on, I’ll carry you.”

He raises an eyebrow and it looks like he blushes a bit before I stand on the staircase below his and he climbs onto my back. I take the crutches into my hand and he locks his hand in front of my chest.

I chuckle. “Good thing you’re so tiny, really. You’re not even heavy.”

He tries kicking my leg with his healthy one but ends up nearly falling down the stairs backwards. “Careful, small one, one accident is enough for now.”

He giggles again and hides his face in my neck. I feel his breath on my skin and his hands on my chest, I feel his legs around my waist and fuck, he’s so cute.

“I hope none of our neighbours see me like that, that would be extremely embarrassing.”
We both laugh at the thought and I’m a little sad when we’re upstairs after walking up just one floor. I liked being that close to him.

I open the door with the key and walk into the living room, dropping of Louis at the couch carefully.

Louis sighs contently and I fall onto the sofa next to him.
“Feels good to be back home”, he says.

“Feels good that you’re back."

~~~

he's homeeee

what do you think?