Life As We Know It | Niam Kidfic

Thirteen

"Uncle Li." A tiny voice, way too close to Liam's face, by the way, is what wakes him up. "Uncle Li?"

"I'm up," Liam says immediately, though he isn't really. "What's up, Louis?"

"I'm hungry," they whine. Liam finally opens his eyes, and Louis sits back on their heels, blinking big blue eyes up at their uncle. "Food, please?"

Liam yawns. "You know how to get cereal, bub. Would you like something else, is that why you woke me up?"

Louis nods. "Also, I don't wanna go to school."

"It's Saturday, sweet kid. You don't have school today," Liam chuckles, standing to lift Louis onto his hip. "Are you brothers awake yet?"

"Harry is," Louis answers, and lays his head on Liam's shoulder. "More cuddles, please."

"You wanna cuddle for a bit?" Liam repeats, surprised. Honestly, the fact that Louis woke him up instead of Niall was surprising on its own, but now they want cuddles from him, too?

Louis just nods, thumb in their mouth, so Liam sits on the couch and cradles the sweet kid in his lap. Louis squeals with giggles when Liam pretends to bite their fingers every time they touch his face.

"Should we figure out breakfast and go get Harry up now?" Liam asks, running his fingers through Louis' hair.

Louis nods, thumb still in their mouth, so Liam scoops them onto his hip and carries them into Harry and Zayn's bedroom. Zayn is still asleep, full out snoring, and Harry beams and stands up in his crib when Liam walks in.

"Hi, Harry," he coos, and then laughs once Harry starts bouncing up and down in his crib out of impatience.

"Pancake," Harry requests, playing with Liam's hair that's getting slightly longer. 

"I don't know about that, kiddo. I don't think I should be making pancakes anytime soon," Liam laughs, setting Louis down once they get to the kitchen.

"Please, Uncle Li? Please, pancakes? Uncle Ni can make them once he wakes up, we can just mix them." Louis is sticking their lip out, and Harry just squeals "pancake!" over and over until Liam can't so no.

"Alright, alright," Liam chuckles. "What kind of pancakes should we make then?"

"S'mores!" Louis shrieks, which makes Harry kick his legs in agreement.

"S'mores pancakes?" Liam laughs. "I don't think I've ever made those, Lou. Let me see if I can find out how."

"Daddy used to," Louis says, but they don't sound as sad as they normally would. They bound over to the pantry where they find marshmallows and chocolate. "Can you reach the graham crackers, please?"

Liam grabs them down, and the two kids go to town mixing up the batter. Harry ends up eating way more mini marshmallows than he probably should at 9am, but Liam has a really hard time saying no to him, especially with the dimples.

"What's going on in here?" Niall's voice asks not much later, carrying a very sleepy Zayn on his hip. "Why does Harry have chocolate all over his face?" he adds, laughing.

"We're making s'mores pancakes!" Louis chirps, skipping over to give their uncle a hug. "Can you flip them? Uncle Li says he's not allowed."

"Not allowed, huh?" Niall asks, grinning knowingly at Liam.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," Liam warns, but he can't help but smile a little in response.

"Make me," Niall counters, fully smirking now.

Liam can't help himself then, he has to kiss him, even though Zayn whines out, "Ew!" and tries to push Liam away. When the kiss is broken, Liam kisses Niall's nose and then kisses Zayn's chubby cheek until the small boy is giggling.

"You're not smirking anymore," Liam points out once the kiss is broken. Niall's cheeks flush pink, and he just puts Zayn down so he can make the pancakes. Once the toddler is no longer blocking the right side of Niall's body, Liam notices a purplish bruise since he's not wearing a shirt. "What happened here?" Liam asks quietly, touching near the bruise but not over it. Niall winces even though Liam isn't touching where it actually hurts.

"Nothing."

"Niall," Liam says in a warning voice.

"Not here," Niall pleads.

"You said that last time." Liam studies the side of Niall's face, but he doesn't say anything. "Kids, can you go play in the living room until the food is done?" The kids run off without complaint, Louis shouting something about Moana, and Liam leans against the counter so he can see the bruise fully. It's bigger than he'd originally thought, starting at Niall's hipbone and going up near his ribs. "Can you please talk to me about this?"

"You're going to be mad."

"I'm already mad," Liam says honestly, and Niall winces again. "Not at you, angel. I just might end up killing whoever did this to you."

Niall shakes his head. "I've got it under control, Li. I promise."

"I don't believe you. At least tell me who's doing this."

Niall chews on his lip as he flips a pancake, thinking this over. "Devin," he finally says, mostly in a whisper. "But it's okay, I've –"

"What?"

"Liam..." Niall sighs. "He's just showed up at the school a few times since we went out, okay? He's just...very persuasive and determined, that's all."

"Persuasive and determined enough to bruise up your side?"

Niall squirms uncomfortably. "I guess."

Liam shakes his head, beyond pissed. "No. Nope. I'm going to school with you on Monday."

Niall looks up. "What? No. No, Liam, you can't –"

"Niall, the fact that I'm not beating the shit out of him right now is me showing extreme restraint, okay? I just..." Liam sighs. "I won't let anybody hurt you, okay? I won't let anyone hurt anybody I love. Not you or those sweet kids who I'm pretty sure might be sacrificing a Barbie in our living room." Niall snorts. "I love you, Niall. I mean that. And I mean it when I say I won't let anyone hurt you, too."

Niall can't help but smile a little, and he turns his head to leave a kiss on Liam's shoulder. "I love you, too. I just...didn't want you to worry."

"I know." Liam pulls him into a hug once Niall's turned the stove off. "And you're sweet for that, but I'm always gonna worry about you, angel."

"Don't be cute."

"I'm always cute," Liam grins annoyingly attractively, and Niall can't help but smile the whole time through when Liam kisses him.