Life As We Know It | Niam Kidfic

Five

"Louis, take it easy with the paint there, kiddo. Harry, spit that out! Out! You know we don't lick our paintbrushes, kiddo. Zayn, I see, you don't have to hold that two inches from my face. Your painting's very pretty," Liam laughs, all of these rushing out of his mouth in what seems like one big breath.

Niall smiles from where he stands in the kitchen. Liam has the kids in the basement because they'd been whining about painting all day, and Niall adamantly refused. Now he's standing in the kitchen making ants on a log. The domesticity of it all is very weird, but not unpleasant. He and Liam still aren't getting along, of course, but the softness they both aim towards the kids ends up aimed towards each other occasionally, too.

"Uncle Ni!" Harry's voice screeches, and suddenly, Niall has a two year old wrapped around his lap. When he looks down, he can't help but laugh -- Harry is covered in paint, especially his mouth, and the left leg of Niall's pants will definitely be significantly bluer by the time Harry lets go.

"Hi there, baby. How's painting going?"

"Good! Can I have ants on log, please?"

"Sure thing, thank you for asking so politely," Niall smiles, and he leans down and gives Harry a piece of celery with peanut butter and raisins on it. Harry shouts out a thank you and immediately stuffs half of it in his mouth. "Harry! Smaller bites!"

Harry just laughs and puckers his lips for a kiss, and Niall laughs at how he managed to get peanut butter all over his face from one bite of his snack. "Can we go to the park?"

"Hmmm. I think that sounds okay. Why don't we see if Zayn and Louis want to go, too?" Niall asks, scooping Harry up and setting him on his hip.

"And Uncle Li?"

Niall fights the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, if Uncle Li wants to go, I guess he can come, too."

Harry giggles and kicks his legs. "Yay! Park!"

"What's this I hear about the park?" Liam questions, smiling as Niall comes down the stairs with Harry in his arms. 

"Wanna go!" Harry yells.

"Me, too!" Zayn gasps, painting forgotten. He's only slightly less messy than Harry, and someone painted a messy smiley face on his left cheek.

"What about you, Louis?" Liam asks.

Louis hesitates and then nods. The two younger boys cheer, and about half an hour later, the five of them are making their way out the door and heading to the park.

"Can I ride my bike?" Louis asks.

"As long as you stay on the sidewalk," Liam answers. Louis skips off to get his Big Hero 6 bike, complete with Baymax helmet. Liam follows behind him as he bikes down the sidewalk, making sure he doesn't fall, while Niall carries Harry and holds Zayn's hand.

"What are you guys gonna do first at the park?" Niall asks.

"Sandbox!" Harry cheers.

"I like monkey bars," Zayn answers, somewhat shyly for some reason. "But...sometimes I get stuck and Daddy has to help me down." His lower lip starts to jut out at the thought. "I miss Daddy. Mama, too."

Harry's eyes start to well up with tears, too, and Niall knows he has to think quickly to keep this from building up to a complete meltdown. "I know you miss your daddy and mommy," he says slowly. "But if you get stuck, Uncle Li or I will get you down. And we know it's not the same as having your mommy and daddy here, but we love you three so, so much, and we just want you to be happy and healthy and together. Does that sound okay to you?"

Zayn nods, wiping away the last of his tears, and Harry nods, too. When they get to the park, Zayn immediately runs off to go down the slide, but Harry refuses to let Niall put him down. So Niall sits on a bench, holding the toddler in his lap.

"Don't you wanna go play, baby?" he asks, brushing Harry's messy curls out of his face. Harry snuggles Niall a little tighter before nodding. The sandbox is close to where Niall is sitting, and he can see Zayn running up the play structure to go down the slide a few times. 

"Hey," Liam says not too much later, sitting beside Niall on the bench. 

"Hey. Where's Louis?"

"Basketball court. Some of his friends and their parents showed up, they're playing freeze tag. He told me to go away because I wasn't cool enough to play with him."

Niall laughs. "He's absolutely right."

Liam nudges him. "Rude."

"He never would've said that to me, just saying." 

Liam has to laugh. "Yeah, that's probably true." They sit in a silence that's oddly comfortable until they hear a loud shriek that is definitely Zayn, and they both get up much faster than either of them had thought possible. Liam grabs Harry out of the sandbox, who whines disapprovingly, and they run over to where Zayn's cry had come from.

He's sitting at the bottom of the play structure, crying his little eyes out. "Uncle Li," he sobs, putting his arms up when he sees them, and Niall takes Harry so Liam can pick up Zayn.

"What happened, baby? Oh, I see, you've got a little owwie on your elbow, huh? Can you tell me what happened?" Liam says gently, rolling up Zayn's sleeve to reveal his scraped up arm, and touches a bruise on his cheek. Through sobs, Zayn explains that one of the bigger kids pushed him off the play structure, and Niall sees Liam's jaw go tight. "Can you show me who?"

Zayn wipes his eyes with one hand and then points to a boy, not much older than Louis' age. When Liam and Niall look over, Niall has to try hard not to laugh -- Louis has shoved the boy to the ground and is screaming in his face. When they get close enough to hear, they just catch him saying, "I'll kick you in the butt if you're mean to Zee again!"

"I think you mean you'll kick his butt," Liam chuckles.

"Louis, we do not push people," Niall scolds, figuring one of them should be the proper adult, though really he's quite proud that Louis wants to stand up for his little brother.

Louis frowns. "But he pushed Zayn. That's not nice." Zayn sniffles at the sound of his name.

"You're right, that's not nice. But you should tell a grown-up next time and not push him yourself, okay?" Liam says gently.

Louis nods. "Am I in trouble?"

Liam and Niall look at each other and shake their head in unison. "No, because you were trying to protect Zee, but don't let it happen again, okay?" Liam answers.

Louis nods, and they gather up the kids and Louis' bike and head home. Zayn screams bloody murder when Liam sprays antibacterial spray on his cuts, and he doesn't stop crying until he gets How To Train Your Dragon band-aid. Liam literally has to go to the store and buy them to make Zayn stop crying.

"Oh my God," Liam sighs once the kids are asleep. "Being a parent is so much work. I feel like I'm never getting enough sleep."

Niall laughs. "Just wait until you have a baby."

Liam shakes his head. "These three are our babies. We're a family. I don't need anyone else," he yawns, and that statement has Niall awake for another hour, just thinking about it. 'We're a family. I don't need anyone else.' Something about that has butterflies erupting in Niall's stomach, despite how much he doesn't want it to.