Pressures of the Night

Chapter Two

The next morning, Liam decides to leave Harry and Niall to wake up Louis while he goes and wakes Zayn. The man told himself the prior night that if they are going to do this with Zayn, then it is going to be done slowly and gently, which is why Liam is deciding to help Zayn get changed this morning. The young boy is usually pretty clingy in the morning, always wanting to go back to sleep, so Liam figures this is the best time to start.

So Liam quietly enters Zayn's hotel room, where the young boy is spread out on his stomach, clutching a pillow to his side, while only in boxers and a loose t-shirt. Hardly holding back a coo, Liam makes his way over to the side of the bed and gently begins to rub the boy's lower back.

"Zaynie, babe, it's time to wake up. Wakey, wakey, Zee," Liam coos, and Zayn squirms a bit before turning onto his back and squinting open his eyes.

"Li Li?" The small boy questions while fisting some of the sleep out of his eyes, and now Liam actually does coo.

"Yeah, baby, it's me. We gotta get you ready and dressed, we're leaving for the airport in a bit," Liam continues in a soft voice. Upon hearing he has to get ready, Zayn whines slightly but nonetheless begins to pull himself out of bed only for Liam to stop him.

"Come on, babe, let me help you. You can stay sleeping, if you're still tired," Liam coos and though Zayn finds it weird, the idea of more sleep is too appealing to argue against.

So Liam walks over to the boy's luggage where he grabs him some sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie that has forever lost it's true owner due to it being passed around so much. From there he quickly slides the sweat pants on and switches the shirts before closing up Zayn's luggage and taking it out to the living room where Paul is currently waiting for everyone.

"If Zayn's being a hassle I can take care of him," Paul says when he sees Liam exit the boy's room without the boy.

"No he's fine, I was just helping him get ready," Liam spoke, slightly noticing Paul's thrown off expression. "Uh, ask Harry and Niall to give you a brief rundown of our conclusion from last night. It'll make more sense then." And that's all Liam says before walking back into Zayn's room.

"Come on, bubba, the van's here. You can sleep the whole way to the airport," Liam says while picking up the young boy. 

From there, the six make their way down the elevator and into the lobby where a good size crowd is waiting outside in hopes to see the boys. Paul quickly makes a few trips to put the boys' suitcases in the van before reentering the building to help them all out. As Liam goes to step outside, Zayn, who is still on his hip, immediately begins to squirm which only makes Liam hold on tighter.

"Zee, bubba, stop squirming I don't want to drop you," Liam scolds lightly.

"Down, don't want pictures of me being carried," Zayn whines in a sleepy voice while continuing to squirm in Liam's hold. The older of the two sighs but nonetheless puts him down, only to quickly grab his hand immediately afterwards.

"You can walk, but hold my hand the whole time. I don't want someone trying to pull you away," Liam says sternly. As the group makes their way out into the crowd, Harry grabs Zayn's other hand which causes the young lad to blush profusely since there's no doubt that he must look like some type of toddler.

Finally, the group make it into the van where Zayn quickly rushes to the furthest corner much to the dismay of Liam. However, his frown is soon put away when Louis quickly cuddles up in the man's lap, trying to get comfortable in hopes to sleep a bit longer.

"Zee, wanna come sit up here so you can lay on me for a nap? I'm much more comfortable than the window," Niall offers with a small smile. And though Zayn thinks about it for a minute he finally agrees, and quickly makes his way over to the seat next to Niall where he falls asleep almost in an instant.