Pressures of the Night

Chapter Six

"So how long has this one been going on for?" Jamie asks Liam when Harry took Zayn inside to get a drink.

"Just recently actually. We came to the conclusion to do this when we were in China and then on the flight here we talked him into it. It's all still pretty surreal to him, so he's a bit self conscious on us taking care of him," Liam says as he sips his beer.

"Yeah I could tell. But, hey, listen if you ever need someone to watch him I'd be more than willing to help out. Same goes for this little one," Jamie coos while tickling Louis' belly causing the boy to squeal of joy.

"Yeah we know you are," Niall says with a laugh as he then reaches over to tickle Louis. "You gonna stay for dinner, mate?"

"Uh, I guess I could stay for a bit, yeah. Plus who am I to say no to a free meal," Jamie says with a laugh before he lifts Louis up onto his hip and begins to make his way into the house only to run into something first. Or rather someone.

"That's why we don't run, Zaynie," Harry chastises lightly while lifting the boy up from the ground as well as the dummy that fell out too. Harry quickly placed it in his own mouth to rid it of any dirt before putting it back in Zayn's only for the boy to immediately spit it out.

"Ew, Harry that was so gross! I have your spit in my mouth!" Zayn squeaks while he rubs his tongue of any "Harry germs".

"I'm sorry, love, it's force of habit. Let's go wash that off, yeah?" Harry offers as he begins to walk back into the house. Harry quickly washes the boy's dummy before giving it to Zayn who took it begrudgingly. "Go play with Louis, baby." Harry said as he placed Zayn onto his feet.

So Zayn walked out to the living room where the rest of the boys were and awkwardly walked up to the side of the toy chest. He discreetly looked into it only to see those fighting robot toys he used to love so much when he was little at the top. Zayn wanted so bad to grab the box and ask someone to play with him, but he knew that meant giving in to their ways and he was not about to do that.

So instead of playing with the toy, Zayn sat next to the toy chest with his head down as he picked at the loose strings on the hem of his shirt. Upon seeing the boy quietly sitting alone, Niall quietly got up from the couch and made his way over to Zayn.

"Hi buddy," Niall said with a smile.

"Hi," is all Zayn spoke and Niall frowned a bit, but then he noticed Zayn subtly trying to glance back at the toy chest and an idea clicked in his mind.

"Zayn can you do me a favor?" Niall asks in a whisper like voice that grasp Zayn's attention, but still the boy simply shrugs. "There's a game I used to love playing when I was little but I can't remember the name of it and I don't remember how it was played. What I do know is that we have it, so would you mind testing out a couple of these games with me until I remember which one it is?"

"I guess," Zayn whispers back quietly. And unbeknownst to the two, Liam was listening in on their "whispering" and he couldn't help but smile at watching Zayn dig into the toy chest. The two boys played a selection of games before Niall finally pulled out the boxing robots one. Upon seeing the box Zayn's eyes immediately lit up and Niall saw that, but as he pulled the toy out of the box all joy was gone.

"Oh no, it seems to be that this toy's broken," Niall pouts lightly and so does Zayn.

"It's okay. I don't wanna play anymore," Zayn says quietly as he scoots away from the box causing Niall to frown even more.

After that small bonding moment, Zayn went back to being his quiet self and sat away from the group. Well that was until Liam picked him up and sat him in between him and Jamie, but that didn't change Zayn from being silent. A bit more time passed before there was a knock on the door and Harry was shouting that dinner was there. So gently Liam lifted Zayn into his arms and strapped him into his highchair before he himself sat down next to the boy.