Chapter Text
"Harry, hurry up!", Louis called from downstairs, "Come on, even a two and a half-year-old child is faster than you, and he almost dressed himself!" Harry could hear the teasing tone in Louis' voice but it was not enough to cover the fond that came with Louis' words. Harry always took too long, in Louis' opinion.
He finished the last touch on his curls, they were long enough to almost touch his shoulder again, and he loved it. As did Louis, considering the way he still didn't pass up a chance to touch Harry's curls in any way.
Harry made his way downstairs to where Louis was already waiting with Freddie. The both of them were matching, each of them wearing a pair of short, pale blue jeans paired with a blue t-shirt that had a big white Adidas logo in the front. They were also wearing the matching all black vans that Harry bought them last week. He couldn't help but smile widely at the sight of them.
"I'm ready now," He grinned at Louis, giving him a small kiss, "You two are ridiculous."
"We are cute and manly, that's what we are, Harry. Right, Freddie?" Louis held his fist out for Freddie to bump, which he enthusiastically did while grinning and nodding affirmatively. Harry loved the relationship between Louis and his son, and he was immensely glad that Louis and Brianna had come to a mutual agreement in the end. Louis had Freddie every second weekend whenever he was in LA, and for the time he wasn't, they planned special times when he could take him with him to London, for example, or also on holiday if it wasn't too long.
The first time Harry had seen Freddie was on his first birthday when he and Louis went to LA together. He immediately loved that little lad, who was a ball full of energy, just like his dad. And Harry also found that he couldn't say no to Freddie's big blue eyes either. Damn those Tomlinson genes.
"Alright, let's go. We have to be at Brianna's in like five minutes." Louis said, heading towards the garage. Harry followed him with Freddie holding on to his hand, grinning and bouncing with hurried steps to keep up with Harry's long legs.
"We going to mummy's home?" Freddie asked him while Harry strapped him into his car seat.
"Yeah, we are, buddy. Daddy and I have to be somewhere important today, so you're going home a little earlier than usually. Is that okay with you?" Harry replied.
Freddie seemed to think about it for a moment, frowning a little bit.
"Okay," was all he answered. Harry knew that that wasn't really what he was thinking, he had the same facial expression like Louis in situations like that. But he couldn't have changed anything anyway, so he decided to let it be, pressing a small kiss onto Freddie's forehead before closing the door and getting into the passenger seat.
"You look good, Haz." Louis said a few minutes into the drive. And Harry couldn't help it, hearing words like that still seemed to get him flustered. "Thanks.", he replied shyly, smiling at Louis profile. He still had times when he couldn't believe that this was his life. That Louis and he finally were together again. For good this time. Hopefully. They spent a lot of time talking after Louis' birthday that night, discussing their feelings, discussing their future. They have both grown up quite a bit, wiser in their decisions, wiser in choosing the right words instead of hot-headedly just blurting out every single thought. They knew that hurting each other purposely has never been the right way to do things, even if it was sometimes so much easier.
They have been good since then, over one and a half years now. Harry's mum was over the moon when they told her, she immediately asked them to come over and stay for a few days. Louis was a little overwhelmed at first, having someone there who has been like a second mother to him for such a long time, just a few weeks after his own mother died, was a bit too much. But in the end, he told Harry that Anne had really helped him with processing things. Of course, it was still hard sometimes, especially on Jay's birthday or any other holiday they used to spend with their family. But it got easier with time. Louis was healing, slowly but steadily. He kept his promise to talk to Harry whenever he felt down or was reminded of something again. And having Freddie with him more often was a gleam of hope in dark times, too.
They arrived at the flat that Louis had rented for Brianna and Freddie and Louis parked the car. Harry got out and opened the back door, unfastening the belts around Freddie's child seat and hoisting him out of it and onto his hip.
"We're home, buddy. Are you looking forward to seeing your mum again?" He asked him, while Louis was already at the door, asking Brianna to come downstairs.
"Yes!" Freddie grinned, swinging his legs back and forward at Harry's side, one Hand tugging at Harry's hair.
"Alright. Come on, give me a kiss, big boy. Will see you soon." Harry hugged him close one last time while Freddie pressed what he thought resembled a kiss against Harry's cheek. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran towards Louis, hugging him close as well.
"No kiss for me?" Louis pretended to be hurt. Freddie giggled and then pushed a wet smack against his father's cheek as well.
The door opened and Brianna came into sight, opening her arms for Freddie to run into. Louis spoke to her briefly, checking if they were still going to see Freddie in two weeks again. Harry sent her a small smile when she looked at him but otherwise stayed in the background.
When it was time for them to go, Freddie called out to him. "Bye, daddy, bye, Hazzy. See soon!"
Harry couldn't help but grin at the adorable wave Freddie gave him. He gave one back and said goodbye himself. A few seconds later Louis was back at his side, slinging one arm around Harry's waist and looking up at him.
"Ready to do this, then?" he asked with big eyes.
"As ready as I will ever be. Let's do this." Harry replied, hugging Louis close to him for a moment.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
~~~
One hour later, they found themselves backstage at the CBS studios, waiting for their makeup to get done. They were sitting on a two-seater sofa, Louis slouched into Harry's side with Harry's arm around his shoulders. His hands were playing with the rings on Harry's hand and his right knee was bouncing nervously up and down.
"You okay, Lou?" Harry asked, squeezing him closer and kissing his temple.
"Yeah, 'm alright. Just nervous, I guess." Louis replied, sinking further into their embrace, melting them together.
And yeah. Harry got it. He was nervous, too. No matter how many times he thought about this exact moment, no matter how much he always wanted it, it was still beyond scary to be so close to it now. He was so glad that he got to do this with Louis by his side.
"Yeah, I am, too. But at the same time, I'm so excited that I kind of want to shout it from the rooftops. This is it, babe." Harry admitted quietly.
Louis turned to face Harry, looking up at him. He brought his hand up to catch Harry's chin between his fingers and pulled him into a soft kiss. Harry hummed, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feeling of Louis' lips on his own.
"This is it." Louis repeated after they separated.
~~~
Another hour later, they were sitting on the gray sofa, inside the studio, staring at a real life audience and with James Corden in front of them. This was it. They were really about to do this. Harry's heart was beating erratically, his thoughts all over the place. He could sense that Louis was the same next to him, and it took everything in him not to reach out and take Louis' hand.
Not yet.
"Welcome back, everybody. We're here with half of One Direction, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson!" James introduced them again after a commercial break, "We've talked about both of your solo projects already, but everyone knows everything about that already. So let's get a bit more into it now, shall we?" He started. "I think there is one question that everyone wants to know the answer to since the beginning of your hiatus. Is One Direction coming back? It has been almost three years now, hasn't it?"
Harry and Louis grinned, looking at each other briefly. They could answer that question.
"I've always promised that we're coming back, haven't I?" Louis teased, looking at Harry again and nodding at him to give an answer.
"It's one of the reasons we're here today, we finally have an answer to that question," Harry explained. He could see the audience getting excited, their good mood immediately rubbing off on him.
"We've decided to start touring Made In The AM and a few new songs in May 2019 and we're really excited." He almost wasn't able to finish his sentence because the audience was losing it. They were screaming and clapping and just going mad, understandably.
After they finally settled down again, James began to speak again.
"Alright, that's quite big news, guys. I'm really glad to hear that. Are you sure you don't need a fifth member anymore?" he grinned, that joke was never getting old.
"Well, maybe we will bring you on stage to rap that part for Drag Me Down, that was pretty sick." Louis grinned back.
They talked about their tour for a few more minutes before James cut off for another commercial break. Because it was pre-recorded, there wasn't a real break, just a small breather for everyone.
"So, that's it, guys. You ready?" James asked them off-camera.
Harry looked at Louis, who was already looking back at him.
"Yes, we are ready. We trust you, James." He answered, sending him a small smile. James nodded and then signed for his crew to continue the recording.
"Alright, we're back with Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, everybody. There is one last thing we wanted to do today. There is a reason for why only the two of you are here today, isn't it?" He asked.
"Yeah, guess you could say that," Louis said, and Harry could feel himself starting to get nervous again.
"Care to elaborate?" Was all James said then. Great, so it was in their hands now. They wanted it that way, of course, wanted to be able to tell their story without somebody asking questions they probably wouldn't be able to answer.
Harry looked at Louis, who was turning his head towards him already. They looked each other in the eye for a short moment, gaining courage from each other. With a mutual agreement, they clasped their hands together between them and then turned to face James again.
"Harry and I, we uh... We're in a relationship." Louis spilled the beans, just as they had agreed on before.
For a few seconds after that, Harry was sure he would have been able to hear a pin drop inside the studio. And then after a collective gasp was heard throughout the studio, all hell broke loose. Some clapped, some screamed, some cried, some seemed perplexed and some just sat there with their mouths hanging open. Harry could hear murmurs of 'I knew it', 'wait, is this a joke?' and 'oh my god, Larry is real'. He looked at Louis, who seemed to be overwhelmed as well. There was no going back now.
"Alright, calm down everyone. I know this is big news, but please let me do my job and talk to these two for a moment?" James eventually managed to calm the audience down and then turned towards Harry and Louis.
"Soo. Well, that was some news you had there. I don't even know where to start."
Louis and Harry just chuckled, not really knowing what to do either.
"Let's begin with some of the typical questions, alright?" James asked, waiting for them to agree before he started.
"Alright. So, how long have you been together?"
Harry grinned at Louis, deciding to answer that one.
"Well, if we count the first time, where we have been together for about two years, we have been together three and a half years now."
~~~
It was a few days later and they were at home, their episode of the Late Late Show about to air. Louis was settled between Harry's legs, back to chest, with Harry hugging him from behind. Apart from James' crew and the audience, who all had to sign NDA's not to tell anyone until the episode was aired, no one knew about them yet. But that was going to change in a few minutes. The rest of the interview had been going well, James being really great about it all, so they felt freaking relieved afterward.
They watched the show together, hearts beating almost as fast as they did sitting on that sofa. Harry was painfully aware that in only a few moments, the whole world would know their secret. There was no going back now.
When it was over, Louis turned around in Harry's arm and hugged him tightly, hiding his face in Harry's neck. Harry could feel him breathing shakily against his skin.
"Darling. Hey. You okay?" Harry asked, playing with Louis' hair, stroking it gently.
Louis slowly lifted his head up. "Yeah, I'm good. God, Haz. We're out."
Harry couldn't help but grin at that thought. They really did it. They finally made it.
"I know. I'm so, so proud of you for having the courage to do it, you know that? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you so much. You don't even know."
Harry then grabbed his face in between his hands and kissed him. Days of pent-up nerves and years of keeping a secret so big that it had almost destroyed them once, simply melted away with that kiss.
They made it.
They're free.