Reason To Be (A Zouis Family AU)

Interlude One, Chapter Four

Eventually, Zayn steps back and looks down at his watch. "It's getting pretty late. Do you think I go split up the party next door?" He says, in reference to the 'study session' consisting of Liam and his 'definitely-not-my-girlfriend', Emily.

"Hm, yeah. I'll come with you, see if she needs a lift home," he says, though they both know the real reason is so that they can both be nosey and possibly have the chance to be embarrassing Dads to their twelve year old.

However, upon pushing open the ajar door of their son's bedroom, they are greeted with the sight of two preteens scrambling away from each other, cheeks bright red and flushed. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they had been doing.

Liam wipes his hand over his mouth quickly, trying to play innocent as he looks up at his parents from the edge of his bed. "Dad! Papa! You can't just walk in like that without knocking!" He gasps.

Louis really would love to bite back with, 'knocking wouldn't be a problem if you two were studying like you were supposed to', but refrains himself from embarrassing the boy. Instead, he turns to the dark haired girl whose cheeks are still vibrant red with a smile that hides his laugh at their embarrassment.

"Do you need a ride home, Em?" He asks, and the girl shakes her head quickly.

"Oh, no, it's okay. My Mum'll be here any minute," she rushes, before hoisting up her school bag and shoving in her papers, turning to Liam with a bashful smile. "Um. I'll wait for her out front, see you," she says, before hurrying out of the room and down the stairs.

The two men watch her go before glancing at each other with small humorous smirks, then turning to their eldest.

"I'll go make sure the boys are alright," Zayn says, before going down the stairs behind her.

Louis raises his eyebrow.

"So..." he begins, and Liam huffs.

"Dad! That was embarrassing! Are you trying to ruin my life?" He huffs, and Louis lets out a bark of laughter.

"Bud, I can assure you I would have knocked if I'd known. But of course, Emily isn't your girlfriend so I couldn't have known -"

"She isn't!" The twelve year old insists, prepubescent voice cracking in the middle in a way that makes Louis' smile widen teasingly. "That was - I mean - we've never even kissed till just now," he whispers, the redness in his cheeks flaring again.

Louis decides to stop the teasing at that, moving over to his son's bed and sitting on the edge of the mattress. "You know...we haven't had a certain talk yet -"

"Oh God. No. We don't need to do that, Dad," the boy cringes, still standing on the opposite side of the room and avoiding eye contact at all costs. "We're not doing that, are we? We just kissed. There's - there's nothing wrong with that."

Louis lets out a soft chuckle at that, shaking his head as he pats the bed beside him. Liam eyes him warily before moving across the room to sit beside him with a sigh.

"There's nothing wrong with that, no. Just, you're twelve and -"

"Da-ad," he whines, making Louis laugh again. His face is back to being beetroot red. "They already taught us everything we need to know at school."

The man smiles then, letting out a relieved breath because really - it isn't a conversation he wants to have either. "Okay. Okay," he holds his hands up as if in surrender before reaching out to pull the boy in for a hug. Thankfully, Liam melts into him with a small sigh, arms coming up to return the embrace. "I'm happy if you're happy, kiddo."

Liam smiles against his chest, nodding a little. "I'm happy, Dad," he murmurs, and the words are like music to his ears.

"Good. That's all I ever want you to be," he murmurs in return, feeling himself growing emotional. He swallows down the lump in his throat before standing up and ruffling the boy's hair. Liam smiles up at him, clearly biting back his own sensitive streak. Louis grins to lighten the mood. "But seriously. I expect this door to be open whenever your girlfriend is over from now on, okay?"

Liam huffs. "Fine," he mumbles dismissively.

Already backing out of the room, he lets out a small laugh. "I'm serious, buddy. I'm not ready to have grandkids running around for at least another decade," he says, pulling the door ajar in front of him as a shield for the pillow that his son inevitably throws at him. He peers through the crack with a teasing smile. "I love you my baby," he says sweetly, smiling at the way the boy is trying to keep his annoyed expression in place.

"Shut up Dad," he yells back, before breaking into a small smile himself. "I love you too."

Louis smiles at that, turning around and almost jumping out of his skin at the sight of his husband standing behind him. Zayn grins, shaking his head as he wraps his arms around the shorter man's waist.

"You are such a wind up," he scolds playfully.

Louis grins, holding back onto the other man and grinning up at him before leaning up for a kiss. "You all love me really," he says, and Zayn laughs into the kiss.

"Of course we do."

Louis pulls away after a second, arms still embracing the taller of them. "Are the little ones alright?" He asks, and Zayn laughs.

"They're in the middle of a pretty intense game of spies that I was definitely not invited to," he says. "Niall told me he was shooting me with lasers so I'd say it was pretty clear how they felt about me lingering around down there."

He smiles at that thought, shaking his head. "God, I love them."

Zayn smiles right back, pulling Louis into another embrace. "Hm. It's impossible not to, actually. They get their little hands around your heart and then they just keep them there...and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Louis nods at that.

"Yeah. Me neither."