Pressures of the Night

Chapter Nineteen

With Louis being the easier of the two to wake, Liam obviously went to him first. It took a couple of shakes and gentle backrubs but eventually Liam got him up and out of bed. A quick nappy change was done first, before Liam sent him down for breakfast and then made his way to Zayn's room. The little one was still peacefully sleeping in his big boy bed with a dummy perched between his lips. It definitely was a cute sight, but Liam knew he needed to get the boy up.

Rather than waking him and then changing his nappy like he did with Louis, Liam settled for simply picking him up and putting him straight on the nappy table. When they were midway through the change Zayn managed to open his eyes which Liam cooed at as he gave the boy's forehead a quick kiss.

"Morning, baby. Sleep well?" Liam coos as he fastens the nappy before picking the boy up.

Instead of responding, though, Zayn just nods as he lays his head down on Liam's shoulder with a content filled sigh. Liam chuckles a bit at the boy's lack of speaking, but other than that says nothing as he continues to make his way down the stairs. Once there he finds the other two father figures situated at the table along with Louis with all the plates of foods already set out. Quickly Liam sets Zayn down and allows the boy to feed himself this morning.

Eventually Liam sits down and immediately everyone begins to eat their food. It was quiet for the most part except for Louis telling them all about his dream the night before. Apparently he had created some game in his sleep, so he was trying to explain how to do it so he and Zayn could play later. Once everyone was done eating, though, Harry decided it was finally time to tell the boys - mainly Zayn - about their expected babysitters.

"Boys I have some news for you," Harry says as he comes back over to the table with Zayn and Louis' now warmed up bottles.

"Is it good news, daddy?" Louis asks as he reaches for the bottle an immediately begins to drink it.

"Uh, m'not too sure," Harry replies as he lifts Zayn up and carries him over to the sofa so he can feed him the bottle. "Come on over here, Lou."

Quickly the other little one makes his way towards the sofa with especting eyes, so Harry knew he couldn't postpone this anymore.

"Me, Papa and Baba all have to work today, so we had to call you two a sitter."

"Oh who?! Paulie? Lou?" Louis asks in excitement whereas Zayn simply stays frozen in Harry's arms.

"Even better! Ashton, Luke, Cal, and Mikey," Harry says with a smile as he watches Louis' face light up.

The blue eyed boy was about to squeal in excitement and list all the things the group of them could do, but he's cut off by a scared, familiar voice.

"N-n-no, they don't- they don't know 'bout," Zayn says while gesturing to everything, obviously coming out of his headspace a bit.

"Baby, they don't care," Harry sighs as he begins to rub the heaving boy's back.

"But I do! I won't do, this wasn't the deal," Zayn says as he now begins to struggle in Harry's grasp.

"Baby, calm down please."

"Don't wanna! Can't know!" Zayn cries as sobs begin to pour from his lips.

Upon seeing their bandmate struggle, Liam and Niall quickly walked out from the kitchen to try and help console Zayn, however, the youngest member was simply too far gone to listen. Eventually Liam simply lifted him up and carried him up the stairs until he was inside the boy's room and seated in the rocking chair. Once they were there, it only took another ten or so minutes to calm Zayn, but Liam's pretty sure he only calmed down because he exhausted himself.

"Are you gonna talk to me now, baby boy?" Liam coos as he continues to rub the boy's back. When Zayn nods, Liam smiles as he quickly kisses the boy's forehead. "Why are you so scared about the lads watching you? They used to babysit you when we were on tour."

"S'different now," Zayn mumbles. "Nappy."

"I know, love, but they would never laugh at you for that. They've never laughed at Louis."

"But-"

"No, Zayn, no buts. I know this is scary, but Daddy, Papa, and I really need to work today and we didn't have many options to call. It's too late to call in and cancel now, but is there anything I could do to make you feel more comfortable with all of this?"

Zayn takes a few moments to think about this because he knows Liam is trying. Obviously the man would only bring this upon Zayn if it was absolutely necessary, so he shouldn't be so upset about it. But then again, all of this is embarrassing and he feels like too many people already know.

"Only Ash," Zayn mumbles which causes Liam to furrow his brows.

"You and Louis are too much work for just Ashton to be here, baby," Liam jokes while poking the little one's belly.

"Just Ashy knows," Zayn clarifies with a faint blush across his cheeks.

And now Liam understands. Considering all things Zayn's request was reasonable enough, but before he could even respond the sound of the doorbell was ringing which signalled that all the lads were here.

"You got it, lovey. Now how about you put some sweats on and then come meet us downstairs to say goodbye?" Liam says, and quickly Zayn nods as he wipes away the remaining tears before rushing to grab a pair of pants.

Liam smiles at the boy as he makes his way downstairs where he finds Louis already attached to Luke and Michael while also telling them about his dream as well. At the sight, Liam couldn't help but chuckle which caused Louis to immediately look up and smile at his Baba.

"Baba! You can leave now! Ashy, Lukey, Mikey, and Cal are here!" Louis squeals as he moves on to hugging Calum and Ashton.

"I didn't realize you wanted me gone so bad," Liam jokes as he kisses the boy's cheek. "Go say bye to Papa and Daddy while I speak to these guys a bit, Boo," Liam instructs.

Once the little one was out of the room Liam turns to the other guys who were still smiling over in the direction Louis ran off through.

"How've you all been?" Liam asks kindly.

"S'been good. Just getting ready for tour, you know how it is," Ashton says. "How's break been?"

"Relaxing," Liam sighs. "We needed this a lot."

"Heard Zayn needed it a lot more than he thought he would," Calum adds in with a raised brow.

"Niall told us about him," Luke throws in when he notices Liam's confused look and now the older man can only sigh.

"Yeah about that, uh, he's still not comfortable with other people knowing about all of this, and, uh, let's just say ten minutes ago there were many tears being shed," Liam explains as the other four frown. "Everything's settled now, but I did have to negotiate."

"And how'd you do that?" Ashton asks.

"According to him, only you know about his little situation, Ash. You other three are supposed to be oblivious to it," Liam explains.

"That's not too bad, though," Ashton says. "We can handle that I think."

Before Liam could reply though, Zayn is walking down the stairs with a shy smile on his face as he sees their old tour mates. Quickly the boy scurries over to Liam who smiles fondly at the little one while the other four lads coo to themselves.

"Hi, Zee," Luke says as he ruffles the boy's hair.

"Hi," Zayn says shyly which causes the four to chuckle a bit.

"You gonna be good for the lads, babe?" Liam questions as he kisses Zayn's forehead.

"Yes, B-Liam," Zayn corrects with a blush.

Eventually Niall and Harry also enter the room with Louis in tote as they greet the guest. Finally though Niall, Harry, and Liam manage to say goodbye to the two boys leaving it to be just Louis, Zayn, and the 5SOS lads in the room.

"So Louis, what was that game you were telling us about?"