As Zayn woke up he was in bed alone but he could see Harry who was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. He was combing his hair and looked sleepy. It was a view that made Zayn smile and he wished he could wake up to forever. For a little longer he enjoyed what he was seeing before he rolled out of bed to make his way over to Harry who was still busy with his hair as Zayn pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder and pushed his arms around Harry’s middle, resting his chin on his shoulder.
“Morning.” He mumbled and Harry smiled at him, showing off his dimples that Zayn thought made him absolutely adorable.
“Good morning.” Harry answered and looked at the older one in the mirror while he kept brushing his hair on the side that Zayn’s head wasn’t on. “Did you sleep well?”
“Better than ever.” Both grinned at each other and Harry put down the hairbrush a little after, leaning into Zayn’s body.
“Any plans for today?” Zayn asked
“Nope” Harry said popping the ‘p’
“Would you like to stay in and have a Zayn and Harry day?” The smile on Harry’s face grew wider as he nodded.
“I’d love to” Harry said as he started to pull his hair into a bun.
“Let me help.” Zayn smiled as he pulled back and stood behind Harry. The younger man’s hair felt soft against Zayn’s fingers as he combed through it a couple of times before dividing it into three parts. His eyes were locked on his fingers work as he started braiding it. Ignoring the fact that Harry wanted it in a bun.
Zayn couldn’t see how fascinated Harry looked at him through the mirror until he asked for a hair tie and Harry gave him one quickly. “What?” He asked, still concentrated on his finger.
“Nothing just ... No one ever does that besides my mum. Didn’t know men who don’t have long hair could do it.”
“Hey I’ve been in a relationship with a girl for a year I picked up a couple of tricks about hair. If you ever need help with your make up I know a couple of things about that might help as well.” He winked at Harry who rolled his eyes but turned around to kiss Zayn.
“Shut up. Thanks for helping me though.”
“You’re welcome. Now get dressed so we can start our Zayn and Harry day”
“So it’s just you and me today?” Harry asked
“You and me baby” Zayn said with a smile, he put his arms around Harry’s neck, stroking his neck lightly barely letting his fingers ghost over the soft smooth skin. He let his right hand trail down to Harry’s collar. He caressed it slightly and moved his hand up to Harry’s soft perfect cheeks.
He moved closer to harry and grazed his lips over Harry’s barely touching them.
“I love you” he murmured before giving him a light kiss.
“I love you too” Harry said against his mouth “We should get our ‘Zayn and Harry day’ started”
“You can start by making me breakfast, you know I’m a shit cook” Zayn said with a chuckle, grabbing Harry’s hand and dragging out of the bathroom.
**
Liam is woken up when he feels a slap to his face, his eyes flutter as they start to open.
“Baba” he hears and a smile makes his way to his face. He finally opens his eyes and he see’s Lawson smiling down at him.
“Morning baby” he says as he starts to sit up against the headboard of the bed. He grabs Lawson and sits him on his lap.
“Hi Baba” Lawson giggled reaching out and feeling Liam’s unshaven face. He giggled once more when the texture tickled his finger tips.
“Did you sleep well baby?” Liam asked and watched as Lawson nodded.
“Let’s go make you some breakfast baby” Liam said “I’m sure you’re hungry, I can hear your tummy growl like a monster” Liam continued tickling Lawson’s stomach making him burst out into more giggles.
He stopped his tickling and lifted up then puckered his lips, Lawson puckered his lips too and kissed Liam.
Liam’s face broke out into a wider smile; he got up from the bed and lifted Lawson onto his hips.
“Baba, daddy” Lawson said pointing to a sleeping Niall.
“Daddy is tired baby, he’ll come play with us later” Liam said brushing Lawson’s blonde hair out of his face.
“Okay Baba” Lawson said and Liam walked them out the room, he looked at Lawson becoming engrossed in listening to Lawson’s nonsense and let his smile grow wider when Lawson started to explore his unshaven face again.
**
Niall woke up to an empty bed, at first he frowned but got up as soon as he heard Lawson’s giggles and Liam’s voice. He picked up a sweatshirt that was on the ground and put it on before he started to head where the noises where coming from.
They’re in the play room and Niall rest his head against the doorframe and watches them play for a little while.
Liam is sitting down cross-legged and is playing peek-a-boo with Lawson but he’s covering Lawson’s face instead of his own and he’s starting to freak out.
“Silly Baba!” Niall lilts to draw his attention. He settles down in front of them and gently pulls Lawson into his lap so that they’re both facing Liam. He takes Liam’s hand and pulls it up to his face.
"Where is he? Where'd he go? Do you see him?"
He's well into the game, starts giggling extremely loudly until Liam uncovers his face and says "Peek-a-boo, I see you". He screams joyously.
The next time, Niall lets Liam cover his face by himself, but Lawson starts smacking on his hand in distress. "What is it?" he asks him, as he keeps at it, and Liam peeks between his fingers and starts grinning knowingly. "Do share with the class, Liam."
"I think he wants you to put your hand on my face like before," Liam explains. Niall tries lifting his hand to Liam's face again, and he starts clapping like he's possessed. Niall bursts out laughing, both because of his emphatic reaction and because his hand only covers about a half of Liam's.
When they uncover his face again Liam yells peek-a-boo while Niall bounces him. Judging by Lawson’s reaction, this is the most exciting thing that has happened in history.
"Are your maternal instincts kicking in?" he asks Liam, after bending down to kiss Lawson’s forehead.
"I think so, I’m getting pretty good at the dad thing” Liam says with a smile.
Niall tightens his hold on Liam's hand and says in a baby voice, carefully looking at the top of Lawson's head, "Do you know how lovely your Baba is? Did he tell you he's charming and kind and caring and wonderful? Did he tell you that I'm in love with him?"
Liam shuffles closer and kisses his forehead, his fucking nose, muttering, "I love you too" and Niall doesn’t say anything, but smile at him. When Liam puts both hands on Niall’s cheeks to kiss him on the mouth, Lawson starts fussing and they both chuckle, cut-off.
Liam goes back to his perch in front of them, but Lawson is still in hysterics. Niall hugs Lawson to him and Liam pulls silly faces, really only making Niall giggle. Eventually Niall grabs Liam's hand to stop him from tugging on his ears, and it's like they flipped a switch and Lawson is back to cooing and being generally amazed by all the things. When Niall lets go of Liam's hand Lawson is in near-tears. Liam takes Niall’s hand again, and Lawson quiets.
Liam lets out his bark of demonic laugh and startles all three of them, making Lawson forget his hand-holding obsession and clap like he's demanding Liam to sound like a nutter again. It's not that hard to achieve—Niall always was the best at making Liam laugh.
They continue to play and when Niall hears a knock, he heads downstairs and opens the door, surprised to see Leigh-Anne, Lawson’s babysitter.
“Oh hi Leigh-Anne”
“Hey Niall, I know I’m a little late but traffic was busy, hope you’re not late for your appointment” she says sounding apologetic.
Niall looks at her with confusion “Appointment?” he asks completely confused as to what she is talking about.
“Your dentist appointment, today” She says looking at Niall as realisation drawn on his face. “Shit that’s today?” he asks and Leigh-Anne nods.
“Completely forgot, fuck, come in” He says “don’t mind me, I’m just going to head upstairs”
He says running upstairs to his room and starts to dress. he is putting on his jeans when Liam walks into the room.
“Where you heading babe?” he asks
“I have a dentist appointment that I’m very late for” Niall says rushing to get dressed.
“What’s the appointment for?” Liam asks, as he sits down on the bed watching as Niall rushed to get dressed.
“I’m getting my wisdom teeth taken out”
“Do need me there, you know for mural support” Liam says
“I’ll like that very much” Niall says smiling at him before pulling him up from the bed and giving him a kiss. He pulls away and intertwines their hands, dragging them both out the room.
**
Liam sighed as he flipped through the papers on the clipboard, filling in the information and checking and double checking he got everything correct. As soon as they got to the orthodontic surgeons office Niall threw himself into a chair, only moving to snuggle up against Liam when he sat down beside him, he had made puppy dog eyes at Liam, when one of the dentist assistant gave him papers, Liam had sighed and took the papers from Niall, filling them in for him. He couldn’t resist Niall’s puppy dog eyes, he was sucker for them.
“Are you allergic to anything other than wearing your own clothes?” Liam joked, looking down at Niall in one of his sweatshirts.
“Shut up” Niall groaned, rubbing his face against Liam’s neck, “You know I love wearing you’re clothes”
“I love seeing you in my clothes” Liam said taking his eyes off the paper to look at Niall for a moment.
“I love you” Niall says looking down up at Liam with a fond smile. They just stare at each other for a moment until their lovely moment is ruined by the growl of Niall’s stomach. Niall giggles and buries his face deeper into Liam’s neck to hide his blush.
“You hungry?” Liam asked “I can get you something to eat”
“I’m not allowed to eat” Niall says “I think I’m dying” he adds a moment later.
Liam lets out a laugh before speaking “You’ll be fine babe, they put you to sleep. Just think, it’ll take an hour tops and then we’ll have the rest of the day off to do nothing”
Niall sighed, acting all put out, “Easy for you to say you’re not the one getting your teeth viciously yanked out of your mouth.”
Liam smiled down at Niall, looking around before quickly giving him a placating kiss on the forehead. He untangled Niall’s limbs from his, ignoring Niall’s grumbling as he went up to the front desk to hand in the paperwork.
Niall was quiet when he came back, throwing himself at Liam as he sat down, shoving his face back into Liam’s neck, “Sorry I’m being a grump. Thanks for coming with me, I love you”
“Anything for you babe and I love you too”
**
“We’re going to spend the whole day in this blanket fort?” Harry asked
“Yep” Zayn says, “Do you like it?” Zayn’s eyes are bright with hope and his fingers are drawing patterns on Harry’s bare back. Harry snuggles into his embrace and gently nods his head.
“I love it” Harry says, watching as Zayn’s lips curl into a breathtaking smile and he is momentarily frozen in a flurry of adoration.
They stay in silence, loving the feeling of being in each other’s presence, Harry watches as Zayn turns the other way and his eyes drop close. He slowly starts tracing the Arabic letters into Zayn’s skin with his fingers. He knows Zayn’s not asleep because his breathing isn’t slow and even and sometimes it hitches just a bit from the contact of skin on skin.
Harry loves just running his fingers over the black lines on Zayn’s body, memorizing their shape and the feel of them under his fingertips. He especially loves the ones people don’t usually see, the ones on Zayn’s back, splayed out on his shoulder blades, or the ones on his calves and near his ankles.
Harry stops the movements of his hands and then changes directions and leads them down to tangle his fingers through Zayn’s. Zayn squeezes his hand softly and they just lie there.
It’s not long before Harry’s fingers go back to tracing the script beneath the sharp jut of Zayn’s collar bones. The writing has always been a favourite of Harry’s both because of its story and just the way it looks against Zayn’s golden skin.
“Zayn,” Harry says, and it’s more of a whisper because he doesn’t really want to break the silence, “can you say something in Arabic?”
Zayn turns around so they’re pressed against each other, chest to chest. He snuggles his nose into the crook of Harry’s neck and presses a gentle kiss on his neck, all while breathing out these small little laughs which tickle against Harry’s skin.
“I don’t speak Arabic, you twat.” There’s no heat behind Zayn’s words and Harry can feel him smiling against his skin.
Harry’s face heats up a little from embarrassment and he’s sure there’s a pink blush in his cheeks. He probably should have known a little thing like that.
“Oh, what do you speak then?”
“Urdu,” Zayn replies, laughing again.
And yeah, Harry really probably should have known that. He’s sure that Zayn’s mentioned in an interview before and it’s one of those things that he should remember.
“Can you say something in Urdu then?”
“Hmm, what do you want me to say?” Zayn asks, in between peppering small kisses on Harry’s jaw, down his neck, and over his chest.
“Anything,” Harry gasps a bit as Zayn’s lips trail close to his nipple, “I just like hearing your voice when you speak it. It’s soothing.”
Harry loves hearing the tones and inflections of the foreign language rolling off Zayn’s tongue. He always listens closely, a smile on his face, when Zayn’s talking to his dad or his sisters on the phone. Of course he doesn’t know what Zayn’s saying, but it’s still lovely to hear, almost like a song.
Zayn stops the trail of his lips, which were reaching dangerously close to the waistband of Harry’s jogging pants, and shifts himself back up so he’s looking into Harry’s eyes. Zayn is almost uncomfortably close and Harry can see the flecks of gold in his eyes and count each of his impossibly long eyelashes.
There’s this look on Zayn’s face like he’s contemplating what to say. He worries his bottom lip between his teeth, and Harry really wants to just take it in between his own, but he waits while Zayn thinks things out.
“Mein tumse pyaar karta hoon,” Zayn finally says, his eyes shining bright, he’s got this smile on his face and it’s soft and fond and so completely wonderful that it makes something twist deep in Harry’s gut.
“What does that mean,” Harry breaths out and it’s not a question, not really, because he feels like he already knows the answer.
Zayn’s cheeks turn a little pink and his smile becomes a bit more shy as he says, “I love you.”
For a second Harry stops breathing and he’s pretty sure his heart’s probably stopped beating as well. It’s not the first time they’ve said “I love you” to each other, but there’s something about the way that Zayn is looking at him, like the love is practically shining in his bright eyes and on his face and it almost hurts to look at him.
“I love you too,” Harry replies, softly, closing the small gap between them.
They kiss slow and deep and Harry hopes that those things that he can’t put in words are being expressed through the movements of his lips. Harry rests the hand that’s not holding Zayn’s on Zayn’s hip and Zayn tangles his through Harry’s hair. Zayn deepens the kiss with a tilt of his head and Harry makes a small moaning noise in the back of his throat when he feels Zayn’s tongue tangling with his own.
Harry pulls away first, breathing heavily, and Zayn whines in protest. He laughs and leans his forehead against Zayn’s and Zayn smiles at him, all pearly white teeth and shining eyes.
He really does love Zayn, so much, and he’s never felt it as strongly as he does now.
**
"Liam?" the orthodontic surgeon asked as she walked into the waiting room, looking down at the clip board in her hand and smiling when Liam quickly stood up.
"Yes that's me, I'm Liam. Is he okay? How'd it go?" Liam breathed out, wringing his hands in front of him. It’d been a little less than an hour since they called Niall’ name and he watched Niall shuffle his way back to his “impending doom”.
He knew realistically that nothing bad could possibly happen but after hearing the horror story of how josh woke up puking and unable to eat for days after he got his taken out, Liam was a little on edge.
She chuckled as she motioned Liam to follow her through the double doors and back to the recovery rooms where the Post-OP patients were held, "Other than being a little loopy from the anesthesia he's perfectly fine."
Liam smiled as he could hear Niall babbling from down the hallway, the melodic sound of his voice growing louder as they got closer to his room.
“Liam’s here for me. He’s waiting. In the waiting room. He’s my person, you know my boyfriend. He’s real I’m not making him up!”
Liam walked in, seeing who he assumed was a surgical assistant, laughing as she unhooked Niall from the machines and wiped up a little bit of spit coming out of his mouth, “I believe you hun.”
“Good because he’s real. He’s mine you can’t have him,” Niall huffed, crossing his arms in front of him, his face scrunched up in indignation.
“Hey babe, how’d it go?” Liam said softly, smiling as Niall whipped around to face him, the sour look dropping and his eyes crinkling up in happiness.
"Li!" Niall cried out, voice slightly muffled by the little bits of gauze sticking out past his lips, his cheeks puffed out and swollen, “See he’s real. Told you.”
Liam laughed as Niall smirked over at the assistant who only smiled as she walked towards the door, “I didn’t doubt you for a second dear. Someone will be back in a few with some papers to sign."
Liam smiled as he sat down next to Niall grabbing the hand Niall was flailing in his direction and squeezing it reassuringly.
"You're pretty," Niall sighed, his face pink and flushed, pupils slightly dilated, "And soft, your hair looks soft let me touch it."
Liam laughed as Niall made little grabby hands towards him, leaning down so Niall could shove his face into his hair.
"Hi you're Liam. Boyfriend. I told them to get you. You're my person. Person who is here, for me.”
"How are you feeling?" Liam blushed, ducking his head slightly, not being able to keep the silly grin off his face.
"I'm fine," Niall sighed leaning back, his eyes narrowing suspiciously "Wait, what are you doing here? When are they taking my teeth out?”
"They're done already."
"No," Niall said tentatively blinking around the room and looking around before focusing back on Liam, mouth opening wide in shock, “They took them out already?”
“Yeah it’s been about 45 minutes.”
Niall’ mouth dropped open comically wider, his eyes getting huge, “No way! But I’ve been here the whole time. I think they forgot to take my teeth out, I would remember if they did.”
He blinked a couple more times as he turned to look around the room, settling back into his chair with a frown on his face.
Liam watched him, almost being able to see the wheels turning in Niall’ head, his face going from an exaggerated pout to a look of sheer delight.
“Li when did you get here? I was waiting for you forever!”
Liam threw his head back and laughed, Niall' face open and confused, "Babe I've been here. You're done, as soon as the surgeon comes back I can take you home."
"It's over?" Niall asked touching his face and poking at his cheeks, “Liam I can't feel my face," he said in awe, "Are my teeth really gone? They took them out?"
"Yeah they did,” Liam replied, squeezing Niall’s hand and bringing it up to brush his lips along Niall’ knuckles.
"Cool," Niall said looking around the room again and back at Liam, dopily smiling at him.
“Okay looks like we have everything all set,” said the surgeon as she came in, carefully packing everything up, handing Liam a little bag filled with gauze and Niall’ pain medicine prescription.
“Did you see my Liam?” Niall piped up, waving his hands around and pointing at him, “He’s mine. He’s my boyfriend. He’s the best boyfriend ever.”
“Really?” she said with a smile.
“Yes,” Niall nodded, his face turning suddenly serious, “He’s my person, he is the best, and his really cute when he plays with our snowflake” Niall paused, blinking a couple times his eyes widening as he went over the words he said, “His a really good Baba”
Liam’s heart was beating almost painfully in his chest as he flushed with emotion, rolling his eyes and trying to hide how pleased he was. Niall sighed, sitting up straighter, beaming over at Liam again and continuing his drug induced babbling.
“His really hot. Don’t you think his hot?” Niall asked the surgeon
“His a very handsome man” the surgeon said amused.
“He’s perfect. And mine. My lovely Li bear” Niall sighed, throwing himself at Liam and wrapping his arms around his neck.“Am I getting my teeth taken out now?” Niall asked sweetly, lolling his head back and smiling up at the surgeon.
“We already did it hun. You’re all ready to go.” She replied, holding back a laugh as she handed Liam the discharge papers to sign.
“Liam," Niall whispered as she turned her back to them, "Li am I high?"
"It's the medicine babe you're fine."
"Really?" Niall asked sceptically, arching an eyebrow.
"Yes,” Liam chuckled, sweeping a reassuring hand across Niall’s forehead and playing with his hair.
"Oh okay." Niall nodded smiling and leaning toward Liam, staring at Liam's face with his eyes wide as the doctor explained the rules on what he can and cannot eat and when he should take his medicine.
“Do you need help getting him to your car?” she directed the question to Liam, smiling fondly at him.
"I think I can handle it. Thank you so much, sorry about all of this,” he chuckled, getting an arm around Niall and helping him to his feet.
“Oh it’s quite alright. He’s been a delight. You better take care of your boy,” she teased as she pointed a pen at Niall.
“I will. The best of care” Niall nodded sagely, stumbling slightly as he gave her a hug.
“Alright then, come on babe let’s get you home,” Liam laughed, putting an arm around Niall’s waist and following the surgeon back down the hallway and to the main entrance. Niall waved at everyone as they stumbled through the waiting room, blowing kisses at the people sitting in the chairs and giving a dramatic bow, “Goodbye everyone! Thank you for coming to the show!”
Liam all but dragged him out to his car, opening up the door for him and buckling Niall into his seat, “So you enjoy that laughing gas you menace?”
“Oh it was fine,” Niall dismissed with a wave of his hand, fiddling with the radio, “Didn’t affect me at all to be honest.”
Liam barked out a laugh, his whole body shaking as he wiped at his eyes, “Yeah, sure babe. Come on I’ll stop by Milkshake City to pick you up something, and maybe on the way home we can stop to pick up some Nando’s for lunch. How does that sound?”
“And then we can have a family snuggle?”
“Yeah,” Liam replied, looking over at Niall as he pulled out of the parking lot, “family Snuggling sounds like a great idea.” “
"Love you,” Niall said, putting his hand over Liam’s on the gearshift and squeezing their fingers together.
“Love you too Ni”