Sneak peek of Single Dad Harry revamped (Patreon)

Hello! So this is all I have rewritten thus far of single dad harry :) I'm hoping to have it done before Christmas! Make sure to let me know what you would like to see happen in the rest of it (on tumblr)

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i. 

Y/N wonders if the universe has something against her. 

She doesn't think she's done anything to deserve it. 

Every time there is an old woman with bags, she offers her help, or when she's working and sees a customer scrambling for an extra dollar or quarter, she waves them off and takes it out of her own pocket. If her friend Adam forgets his lunch, she'll cut her sandwich in half during the lecture they share together and let him eat it since her day ends only one lecture after and he has to chug through a lab. And Niall -- as lazy as he can be sometimes -- will legitimately forget he has an essay due in a day, so she'll stay up with him late into the night compiling articles, being emotional support, and even helping him draft his introduction and thesis statement (to which he buys her dinner, fun things he finds when he's out shopping, or a back scratch when she requests it). Hell, she twisted her ankle once running after someone who dropped a whole lot of money (the exact amount she would've needed for a pair of shoes she'd been eying) and had to have Adam wrap it for her (since he's her roommate, he gets roped into a lot). 

All of those things and more she doesn't even think twice about doing it! 

Yet here she sits, a burning sting from the scrapes on both of her knees because her dog (a playful little chihuahua/dachshund mutt that had the saddest little face ever, properly named Eeyore) somehow snaked his way around her legs, got her all twisted up, and took her down to the ground once he saw a squirrel. Which would be all fine and dandy -- scrapes suck, but she's got a wicked first-aid kit at home for falls such as these -- however, the route her and Eeyore take for his walks is not very near to where she lives at all. Though he's a relatively small puppy, she feels guilty that he's being subjected to the college lifestyle of a flat and no yard, so she likes to take him on extensive walks, one of which being that of a gated community that they kind of have to break into. 

It's not in a creepy way though! For fuck sake, they had just been walking one day, and he had insisted on scaling up along this hill, and once they were at the top he had scampered down the gentle decline of the hill, covered in rich green grass towards a pretty little lake. She had thought he would be satisfied once he splashed around in the water for a second but then he tugged her towards a pathway, that led to a neighborhood of both steep hills and winding roads that he adored so passionately. Dare she say, his permanently sad face lit up that very first time, and she just couldn't not bring him back. He was her puppy for Christ sake, he deserved the world she's sure of it. 

So every other day (or every other two days if she doesn't have the time allotted for their trot), she has Adam stop her off here before work, takes their walk, and pays Niall in a bakery good for a ride back home. She'd been here so often, people in the neighborhood had started nodding at her as she passes, shooting soft smiles; esteemed doctors, successful producers scuttering to their cars or leisurely making their way to their doors, maybe with bags of groceries, or a dog of their own in toe. She's fairly sure that they've mistaken her for some lawyer's daughter, because they've called her the same wrong name a few times, and one even asked how her father's firm was doing (she smiled wide and lied through her teeth as she said it was good, trying not to shit herself when it dawned on her she could probably be arrested for trespassing if things went sour). 

Though she feels bad for intruding on their living area, she keeps quiet, to herself, and always picks up after Eeyore if he decides he's going to do his business in the way too pretty grass along the sidewalk. If she's got an extra bag with her, she'll even pick up some of the stray litter she'd find every here and there, just to make herself feel better. 

The damn things she'd do for this dog! Letting him eat the rest of her burrito because he's staring at her is one thing, but trespassing in a gated community is a whole other ordeal that she hardly thinks anyone would side with her on. Hell, the day she finds someone who would side with her on it, was most likely the day she found her soulmate. 

That's why it really sucks that she's sat here on the sidewalk with two scraped knees, one bloody with a droplet caressing her skin and staining it a hue of red, because not only is she a far ways from her first aid kit, but she also had to work her way up and down a hill, leaving full potential for all sort of bacteria and germs to latch onto her. The thought makes her shudder -- microbiology really did her in for it last semester -- and she's just about to give herself up to Niall so that he could come get her and bring a band aid with him, when something startles her. 

By something, she means someone, and by someone she means what appears to be a child who looked awful familiar, maybe three or four gaping at her with wide eyes, "Oh no," he says through a sniffle, waddling forward, away from a ball that slips off into the street and reaching out for Eeyore, patting gently at his fur but staring at Y/N like she might be on her way out, "Yous got a ouchie," he points at her knee and she nods, eyes scanning the area to see if anyone might be around to claim him. 

"Yeah," she pouts her mouth, brows tipping in, "Took a bit of a tumble, but I'll be alright. What's your name?" 

His little face is still twisted with concern, looking from her scrape, to her face, "Teddy," he snuffles again -- that sticky little kid snuffle that is permanent for some reason on every child -- "My real name is T'eodor' but Daddy calls me Teddy 'cos. ..'cos" he thinks for a second, holding his hand out and wiggling his fingers like he's counting before stretching them all out again, and grinning that he's remembered, "Tha's my nickname."

Y/N nods and smiles, figuring that right now she isn't allowed to be the baby that she wants to be and whine over her scratched knee because there is an actual child standing in front of her, with no guardian, meaning she was responsible for him until she could find one, "Well, Teddy, that's a great name! I'm Y/N. Where is your Daddy at? We have to go tell him he's smart for naming you that." 

He points at the house they're besides, that has a door swung wide open, and she's beginning to piece together what had led the little one out here, "There. S'this doggy, yours?" He crouches down again, awkwardly petting at Eeyore, but Eeyore merely licks and laps at his fingers while Teddy giggles. 

"Yes, this is my doggy. His name is Eeyore." She scratches Eeyore's bum afterwards, "He's a bit cross with me 'cos of the fall, but he seems to like you very much! You must be able to talk to doggies right?" Y/N begins to push herself to a stand, talking to him like she would any of the little ones in her family, and watches as he nods his head eagerly, "Well it seems to me you're a very special little guy. We should probably get you back to your Daddy so that he doesn't worry too much that such a cool son has up and ran off." 

Theodore -- or Teddy -- begins to stand up with her, but before they could make any moves, there is a sharp cry of his name from a very familiar sounding voice. It's when Y/N turns to the left, towards the house that the boy had pointed at and claimed was his own, that she sees Harry Styles tripping over his feet across the yard to them. Or, what she called him, Mr. Styles, when she was sending him off with flowers from the floral shop she works as a summer job. The tall, very gorgeous business man with striking green eyes, soft looking curls that she had only daydreamed once or twice about threading her fingers through, and a jawline made for modelling.

"Teddy," he begins, his brows knitted in, voice sturdy in his scolding, "What did Daddy say about going outside without anyone?" 

Teddy looks besides himself, pouting deeply and looking down at the ground with a sour face, "Daddy say s'dangerous, 'cos I might get smushed by a car," he responds, turning to her with a very sincere look on his face, "M'not good at lookin' bof ways." 

"I understand," she nods, "I'm not very good at look both ways either."

Teddy grins at her before turning back to Harry, reaching a sticky hand towards his cheek, "Please don' be mad." 

He sighs, crouching down to his level, "M'not mad, Teddy Bear, you just know it scares Daddy is all. If one of the grown ups is silly and doesn't lock the door, then you don't touch it, and tell Daddy so he can fix it, okay?" 

Y/N only manages to snap out of her daze once his gaze turns towards her, "I'm sorry about him." 

She shakes her head quickly, "He's no problem at all, really! I -- he was just concerned about my knee, so s'probably my fault he wandered all the way down here." 

Harry looks confused for a moment before his gaze turns down to her knees and his eyes widen, "Christ, are you okay?" His gaze flickers up to her. 

"Daddy, I t'ink she's goin t'a die, if we don' fix her." 

He slips his hands beneath Teddy's arms and raises him, tucking him onto his hip, "She's not goin' to die, Pet, s'just a scrape," he doesn't even look like he believes his own words though, "A nasty one at that. Where d'ya live, Love, I'll help ya to your --" 

"No, it's fine, really!" She begins to unravel herself from the leash, "I think -- I think I can make it." How was she supposed to tell him that she didn't live anywhere near here without sounding like an actual creep? She couldn't survive getting arrested and jail cells are breading grounds for bacteria and infection which she was definitely not willing to chance her knee with.

But Harry looks unconvinced, biting hard on his bottom lip before saying, "At least let me fix up your knee before you go then?" 

Opening her mouth, she's about to deny, but she figures that looks more suspicious -- her hurrying off like that would give him more of a reason to be concerned when there was no concern necessary. So she nods her head, "Okay, yeah, that'd be good," Y/N agrees, and Harry grins graciously like she was doing him a favor, nodding towards his home as he begins to walk. 

"Okay, jus' follow me up to the porch and have a seat. I'll bring the first aid kit out here." He says and she follows him, brows furrowed as they step through the far too perfect sod (she felt immense guilt that they were just letting it crunch beneath their shoes) towards the stairs to the porch. She winces when she has to bend her knees some to get up, plopping down onto the white wooden bench and its plush cushion with a soft huff. Eeyore sits besides the bench staring between her and the door in which they had disappeared through, almost like he was annoyed that their walk was getting cut short. 

"This is your fault you little demon. Out of all the things I do for you!" She huffs quietly to him, "No milk bones for you tonight." 

He grumbles like he understood what she'd just taken from him, turning from her and staring out towards the street, but before she can chastise him for being cantankerous, Harry and Teddy both walk out of the house equipped with a big first aid kit, and Teddy with a sucker tucked between his lips, "Alreet, alreet," Harry murmurs, taking a knee before her on the ground, "Lets clean this up." 

They're quiet for the first few moments, as Harry picks her leg up with tender fingers uses a soft washcloth to wipe up the blood that had been trickling down her leg, blotting around the blood that pooled amongst the wound. She bites down on her lip as she watches him take out a very specific spray bottle -- even as a child she hated this shit, and would avoid it at all costs -- and apparently Teddy feels the same as he switches the hand holding onto the stick of his lollipop to the other, a soft, stubby little fingered hand wrapping around her finger, "Thi'th it'th the wor'th part." He speaks around the candy and Y/N's shoulders slump, a soft giggle leaving her, and she notices Harry look over at where Teddy is holding onto her, brows raised like he hadn't expected this. 

"I know," she responds with a nod of her head, looping her finger around his and giving a soft squeeze when Harry squirts it over the scrape, and Teddy jumps at the noise, "Thank Goodness I've got you here, or I might have started crying." 

He smiles around his sucker and Y/N is about to take a second to coo to herself because this kid is fucking cute, but Harry speaks up from below her as he places the spray bottle, exchanging it for a little package of antibiotic ointment, "You work at the florist off main, right?" 

The fact he had remembered her was confounding, leaving her with somewhat of a dumbstruck expression as she responds, "I do, yeah. Over summers it's good for some extra money." 

Harry hums softly, "I knew you looked awful familiar," he utters quietly, "You helped me create a bouquet of cosmos and catmint flowers for my receptionist, and then another with gardenias and primrose for my employee of the month. I'd never think to put those two together and both of them loved the combinations immensely; everyone does their job ten times better with a little floral encouragement, apparently." Tearing off the top of the packet, he squeezes the insides out, and smooths it over the scrape, "Are you interested in that? Something concerning flowers and plants?" 

Shaking her head, Y/N watches as he opens the bandage with an almost expert finesse, "Oh, not really no. It gives me a chance to utilize my useless botany facts though -- if you ever need a tasteless version of how plants procreate, I'm ready." 

With a soft chuckle, he slips it over her scrape and promptly moves to the next knee, "I'll be sure to call." He, again, washes the wound carefully, holding beneath her knee with his other hand. The rest of the bandaging is quiet and uneventful, while Harry works both quickly and efficiently, Teddy continues to shower Eeyore in attention, and Y/N quietly swoons over the man on his knees before her. He'd remembered her, which makes her once school yard crush bloom further.

Once he's all finished, he gives a good sigh, "There we are -- all fixed." 

"You've got t'a kiss it be'er, Daddy." Teddy removes his sucker to say, and Y/N feels her cheeks warm as Harry chokes on a laugh, covering it with a cough and reaching to knuckle at his child's head. 

"Thank you," Y/N rushes to say, choosing not to mention the little suggestion from Teddy who is looking innocently between the two, and instead loses herself in the gentle jade green gaze that warms her up from the insides out, "For all this. You're very kind." 

Harry waves her off, "Don't mention it, honestly. Thanks for distracting him before he got to the street -- or should I be thanking you," he turns his attention to Eeyore, who soaks the attention right up, showing off his neck for Harry to scratch, "Well, I need to go in and make dinner before someone gets grumpy. I'll hopefully see you around?" 

Y/N smiles, "Yeah. See you around." 

As Y/N scales the side of the hill, with Eeyore yanking her as she simultaneously messages Niall to come pick her up -- she's sure of three things. 

Mr. Styles is gorgeous. 

Her heart is racing. 

And she's definitely going to cave and give Eeyore a milk bone. 

                                                                         .                                .                             .

"Listen, all I'm saying is that someone's going to think you stole the fruity pebbles." 

"Nobody is going to think I stole the fruity pebbl--" 

"Walking around a grocery store, with it wide open! What, did you steal some milk too?" 

"I don't even think they sell the singles her--" 

"Oh, look a box of granola! Why don't we just hold 'em on her head and walk right past the cashier and right out of the --" 

"For fuck sake, Adam, shut up!" Y/N finally huffs through an exasperated whine, bumping the cart with her hip as he pushes it, "You're worse than a father."  

Was it unsightly to see someone eating their breakfast at 11AM while they were grocery shopping with their roommate? Of course it was, but a very hungry, sleep deprived Y/N had just gotten off an accidental double from the only edible cookie dough shop in the world to be open twenty-four fucking seven (her relief decided to cancel, so instead of getting off at 2AM as she was supposed to, she had to stay until the next relief came in). At that moment, she couldn't have given a care less what someone might think as she chews on her soggied fruity pebbles. 

"I'm just saying," he raises his hand, "Once Niall and I walked in while he was eating a candy bar, and they wouldn't let us leave until he paid for it!" 

Y/N puffs out a breath, "I'd like to see anyone try it. M'in no mood to be compliant or nice to anyone." 

Adam reaches out and squeezes her shoulder, "Poor thing, you really are tired," he sighs, "When're you gonna get a different job? They don't treat you right there." 

"Trust me, m'looking." 

Y/N wants to leave and if it were easier to find a job then she definitely would've left a long time ago, but finding a free, decent paying job in a college town is like finding a needle in a haystack. The free cookie dough doesn't make up for the countless no-shows and long hours, nor does the piss poor paychecks she receives for the amount of hours she continues to put into working. Once they had figured out she was reliable, they wanted her all the time, for when people called in, for late nights etc. and it used to be as soon as she started showing signs of wearing to the end of her tether, they give her a week of paid vacation or maybe even a bonus -- but upon the boss's son taking over, that was stripped away. 

So she's stuck, always tired, and working like a dog with nothing to  show for it. 

Now she's proper ruffled and is taking in a breath to start rehashing her tirade about how much of a shit show the entire situation is, when a very gentle voice catches her attention down towards the ground, "Y/N!"

There stood Theodore, staring up at her with moony eyes, grinning at his sense of recognition, and her brows raise, "Oh, hi Teddy," she says casually, ignoring Adam who she can feel is staring at her hard, while she bends down to the young boy's height, "What're you doing here? Where's your daddy?" 

Theodore looks behind himself, then to her with confusion taking his features, "I don' know," he shakes his head, "I saws some dough-nut and came t'a get it." 

If how much Harry had panicked when he was outside by himself, Y/N couldn't imagine how much he must be panicking right now, so she offers Theodore her finger, "C'mon, we should go find him before he pops a blood vessel."

"Y/N," Adam begins, "Who is --"

"Teddy!" All of their heads turn down the isle where Harry comes jogging, looking frazzled beyond belief, "For Christ sake, m'going to have to invest in a leash." 

Theodore doesn't release her finger right away, waving at his dad like he didn't understand he was probably about to get in trouble, "Look daddy! I found Y/N here." 

"I see that," he tries to catch his breath, shaking his head and looking to her sorrowfully, "Here we meet again like this -- probably look like a shit father, can barely keep a handle on him." 

Y/N's brows dip in, "Not at all, Mr. Styles. He's just got a little adventure in him is all," she gives Theodore's hand a squeeze, "I was the same growing up -- my mum contemplated a leash many times." 

"Hell, she's still like that," Adam tuts his tongue from besides them, "I blink and she's disappeared, find her staring at the sweets like a five year old." 

Kissing her teeth at him, she says, "Oi, hush! Jus' 'cos you're a health nut doesn't mean we all have to be one." 

Harry laughs, reaching out for Theodore who finally lets go of Y/N's hand in favor of running to his dad, "How's your knee?" He nods forward and down, towards where her knee has a new bandage while the other one has none at all and his grin only broadens when she does a show of pulling her leg up, and swinging her leg back and forth. 

"Right as rain! Thanks to you, that is." Looking from him to her knee thoughtfully, she nods her head, "You'd think you were some sort of medicinal village witch." 

"Think I must've been in a past life." He winks at her, "Well, I best be off -- I left the cart unattended. I'll see you later Y/N -- don't be a stranger." 

Once they've disappeared around the corner, Y/N begins walking again only to be stopped by Adam coiling his fingers around her bicep, "When were you going to tell me you met an Adonis-like creature?"