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“What day is it?” Niall groans, scrubbing a palm over his face and yawning. He feels the shallow pounding of an oncoming headache and grits his teeth as his eyes adjust to the brightness of their room. Harry rolls closer to him, his ankles already hooked around Niall’s as he buries his face in the warmth of his pillow. Niall scratches his scalp and squints at the bedside table where their alarm clock is sitting.
Harry presses a tired kiss to his shoulder, breath warm on Niall’s skin as he murmurs, “Saturday.” And even though Niall knows what day it, he mumbles a quick ‘thanks’ as he pulls the covers tighter around them. “Let’s sleep in,” Harry whispers quietly, stretching an arm across Niall’s bare stomach as his eyes droop closed again.
“Hare, it’s already eleven.” Niall sighs when Harry blinks up at him helplessly. He looks so soft and sleepy, even the sharp edge of his jaw managing to look smooth as Niall runs his fingertips along Harry’s cheek. Harry blinks one more time, feigning a look of innocence, and Niall gives in with a small huff.
“Oh fine,” he says as he leans in to press a languid kiss to Harry’s lips, “Few more minutes.” Harry smiles when Niall brings a hand up to cup his cheek, the other tangled in his hair. It’s slow and gentle, and Harry pulls away a few moments later, breathless as he settles his head back on Niall’s shoulder. He feels Niall’s arm wind around his back, hand coming to thumb at his hip, and he relaxes as he curls himself against Niall’s side.
Niall hears his breathing even out a minute or so later, and he smiles.
He loves Saturdays. He loves waking up to his husband wrapped around him. He loves feeling the faint ache in his muscles from a good night’s sleep. He loves the warmth of their bed and the peaceful atmosphere surrounding the bright mornings. He loves getting to spend time with Harry and-
“Daddy?”
Niall cranes his neck to see a head of long, dark curls peeking through the doorway. Aliya grins toothily as she slips into the room and pads across the hardwood floor, blanket trailing in hand. She clambers up beside him, curling into his right side like she’s mirroring Harry, and after tapping his nose with her finger, she presses a sloppy kiss to his cheek.
“Morning, darling.” Niall croaks, kissing the top of her head as she reaches across his chest to pat Harry’s cheek. Harry only groans in response, eyes staying closed.
“Papa.” Niall watches her pull the covers down further past Harry’s shoulders, and he grins when Harry shivers and tries to nuzzle impossibly closer.
“Papa, wake up,” she crows, giggling when he groans again.
“’M awake,” he mutters as he blinks his eyes open, wincing slightly. He yawns into his hand before twisting his torso and stretching out the kinks in his back. Aliya crawls over Niall to get to him, bony knees digging into Niall’s stomach, and he doubles over, sputtering a raspy laugh when she jumps on top of Harry.
“It’s Saturday,” she shouts from where she’s sprawled across Harry’s chest. Harry grins at her with a sleepy smile, fingers hovering over her waist, and then he’s tickling her. She flails around as she tries to pry Harry’s fingers from her sides through fits of laughter.
“Daddy, help me,” Aliya squeals.
Niall just shakes his head with a grin and watches Harry pick her and playfully toss her to his side of the bed. She bounces, curls flying everywhere as she shrieks in delight.
Harry seems awake now, bracing himself over their daughter and peppering her face with kisses. She laughs and then reaches out to grab onto Harry’s night shirt.
“This is what you get for waking me up,” he says with a wicked grin before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.
She giggles some more, beating his back with her tiny fists in mock anger. “Let me go, Pa, let me go.” But Harry doesn’t.
Niall takes in the giant smile his husband wears, lips curling around his teeth as those familiar dimples come out, and before he knows it, Harry’s tumbling onto the bed beside him, Aliya clinging to his back.
“Daddy.” She rolls off of Harry, crawling on top of Niall and grinning down at him, her wild hair framing her face. “It’s Saturday,” she says, bouncing on his chest. He laughs quietly and turns to Harry, who’s watching them, for a split second before nodding at Aliya.
“You know what that means?” He murmurs, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.
Aliya shouts “Cartoons” just as Harry shouts “Family time”, and the three of them bust out laughing, faces hidden in each other’s necks.
After they’ve managed to calm down a bit, Niall presses a kiss to his daughter’s forehead and asks, “Do you wanna go find some cartoons to watch with breakfast?” She grins as she nods, one of her front teeth missing. He remembers the dilemma is had caused last month and how he’d gotten to play the tooth fairy for the first time.
She slides from their bed, racing out of the room.
“Slow down there, speedy,” Harry shouts at her on the way out, and he and Niall both laugh when they see her peek through the doorway, eyes wide as if she’d just been caught in a game of hide and seek. Harry motions for her to go on.
“She’s so beautiful,” Niall mutters after she’s gone, rolling onto his side to face Harry. “How’d we get so lucky?”
Harry shrugs with a small smile. “She’s almost as beautiful as you.” And Harry knows he’s being cheesy, but Niall likes cheesy. He likes the way Harry looks at him in the morning when his hair’s a mess and when his cheeks are covered with red lines from the creases in his pillowcase and when his eyes are glazed over and puffy with sleep. He loves that Harry says ‘I love you’ all throughout the day and holds his hand when they’re waiting in line at the market together just because he can. The way Harry always tries to make him laugh, pulling the corniest jokes from his memory and delivering them with ease. He loves Harry, and he has for a long time.
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Niall mutters from where he’s propped above Harry, and Harry just smirks at him, leaning up to meet Niall’s lips.
“Got me here, didn’t it?”