The next morning, Liam wakes up before Zayn. The young boy is still gripping onto Liam's shirt with a few dried tear stains upon his cheek that Liam can't help but coo at. Liam continues to admire the boy for a bit longer before gently getting out of bed and making his way downstairs where a wide awake Harry is cooking breakfast for the lot of them.
"Morning, Hazza," Liam says with a small yawn.
"Morning, Li. I understand if you want to sleep in a bit more, you had a long night," Harry sympathizes while pouring two cups of tea.
"You heard?"
"It was kinda hard not to hear. I walked out of my room right when Niall entered Zayn's with the bottle so I just assumed you two handled it. What happened then?"
And when Harry asked that, Liam couldn't help but sigh because this was something none of them were really used to. Sure when Louis started he was embarrassed about the whole ordeal but never did he cry for a solid hour and have to be forced to wet himself.
"This is gonna be a lot different than it was with Lou, but I think he actually might be in more need of it than Louis was," Liam says while taking a small sip of his tea. "After Niall brought in the bottle, I got him to drink most of it while I rocked him on the chair for a bit before taking him into bed with me. It was just for last night, but he really needed it."
"Don't worry I understand, I'm pretty sure we all did the same with Louis at least once when we first started him out," Harry says with a fond smile.
The two go on to talk for another thirty minutes or so before Niall is making his way down the stairs with a giddy Louis on his hip. The "younger" one seemed to be going on about some dream he had while also mentioning all the fun things he plans on doing throughout the whole day and all three "adults" can't help but smile at the boy.
"Morning baby. Have a good sleep?" Liam coos while pulling the boy in for a hug.
"The bestest sleep, baba! I dreamed about what me and Zee do today and now we gots to do all of it!" Louis exclaims while leaving a sloppy kiss on Liam's cheek.
"Well how about I get you settled for breakfast while Daddy wakes Zaynie up, yeah? What did you dream about eating?" Liam asks while slightly looking over at Harry who just nods in return before making his way up the stairs to get their other little one.
Harry quietly makes his way into Liam's bedroom where he finds Zayn sprawled out on the bed in nothing but a nappy and what he can assume as one of Liam's t-shirts by how big it is. After taking a moment to coo over the cuteness, Harry makes his way over to the side of the bed where he immediately begins to run his fingers through the boy's hair. After a few more minutes of him doing that Zayn finally begins to stir before looking up at Harry with wide eyes.
"Harry?" Zayn questions in a tired voice while rubbing one his eyes.
"It's Daddy, Zee, remember?" Harry coos before gently picking the boy up and hoisting him up on his hip, only for Zayn to immediately freak out and squirm to be put down.
"Please put me down! Please, please, please, I'll do anything. Please don't carry me," Zayn cries out which worries Harry a bit but nonetheless he puts the boy down.
"What happened, Zee? I won't drop you, I promise," Harry coos but Zayn just shakes his head. "Are you wet, babe? Is that why you're scared?"
"Not wet," Zayn blushes and Harry just sighs before gently grabbing onto Zayn's hand and walking him down the stairs to where the other three are already seated and waiting to eat.
Upon getting downstairs, Harry quickly seats Zayn in the booster chair between Niall and Liam with only minimal struggle from the boy. The five eat in a peaceful silence, well it would be silent if Louis would stop trying to tell every single person every detail or his dream, before Harry speaks up.
"Zee, why were you so scared when I was carrying you?" Harry asks which gains the attention of both Liam and Niall as well.
"You were scared, babe?" Liam asks in concern which only makes Zayn blush more.
"You- you said we'd- we'd start slow," Zayn whimpers and Liam sighs.
"I did say that, but I also said that you're gonna have to try-" Liam starts only to be cut off.
"I am fucking trying!" Zayn cries out. "I'm wearing the nappy, I drank from the bottle, I slept in a crib, I fucking wet myself! How can you say I'm not trying!"
"Zayn calm down, baby. I know you're trying, we all know you're trying. Just relax, love," Liam coos while pulling the boy out of the booster seat and onto his lap. With all his emotions bunching up it's no surprise that Zayn begins to cry into Liam's shoulder which only causes the older lad to sigh once again.
"Can you try talking to me again a bit kinder this time around?" Liam coos and Zayn slightly nods his head with a whimper.
"You said we would do this slowly, but- but then you just made me do everything at once! I said- I said I would try but it's hard when I'm trying a million things at once," Zayn whimpers and Liam frowns a bit because he never really thought of it that way.
"Babe, can you look at me?" Niall says softly and Zayn turns to him with wide, red eyes. "I'm sorry if you feel like we were pushing too hard too soon. If we you want, would you like to have a quick sit down about some of the things that we will start with before we even attempt to add other stuff in?"
After a moment or so of thinking, Zayn finds himself nodding and Liam smiles at the gesture, but before he can place him back in the booster Harry is once again interrupting them.
"Okay I know we just agreed to starting slow, but I feel like this is one thing that needs to be included on the slow part which is punishments. You cursed a couple times a few moments ago, Zee, so I think you and I both agree that a small timeout is in order, yes?" Harry says with a stern look, and though Zayn is embarrassed he slowly nods his head so gently Harry guides the boy off Liam's lap and over to the corner of the room.
"Ten minutes, love, then we can cuddle and discuss everything again," Harry says while kissing the boy's forehead and walking back over to the breakfast table.
+
Ten minutes pass and then some because when Harry goes to get the boy out of the corner he finds him quietly bawling his eyes out while sucking on a couple fingers in order to muffle his sobs. At the sight, Harry wants to coo but he feels if he does it'll only make the boy cry more which is why instead he just picks him up and begins to bounce him around the living room until he calms down.
Harry ends up going upstairs to the boy's room in order for him to have a bit of privacy where he then seats the two on the rocking chair. The curly headed man continues to rock the two for a few more minutes until Zayn is finally calm and no longer crying.
"Boys you can come up to Zayn's room now," Harry says softly while continuing to run fingers through the boy's hair.
"The- the boys aren't here," Zayn says in a confused manner.
"I'm sure they were sitting by the baby monitor waiting for me to invite them up," Harry says while tickling Zayn's slightly exposed belly which earned a couple giggles in return. And not even fifteen seconds later are the boys entering the room along with a shy looking Louis.
"Alright, babe, why don't we all get comfy on my bed and then we'll have a full conversation about everything again, yeah?" Liam asks sympathetically while lifting Zayn out of Harry's arms once the boy nodded. So the five of them walk through the conjoining bathroom and into Liam's room where they are all quick to find a spot on the bed.
"Alright, Zaynie, me and Liam were talking and we agree we may have been pushing a bit too hard too soon, so we're willing to negotiate. But before that can you tell us your biggest concerns," Niall says in a caring voice.
"The carrying and the...the daddy names. It's- I just- it's hard to call you lot that when for five years we've been calling each other brothers," Zayn whimpers. "And I already hate the nappies, but I know that's not up for negotiation, it's just last night when I- you know- well, um, I just couldn't make myself. Like I kept trying but I couldn't do it on my own."
"That's understandable, babe. Even with Louis he found it quite hard to willingly let go the first couple of times just because your body has formed a constant reminder to use the toilet. And I know what I did last night might come off as embarrassing but you were in pain and I didn't want you to hurt yourself more, so that's why I did what I did," Liam says while continuing to hold the boy in his lap.
"As for the daddy names, I think we can go at your own pace with that. We didn't have Louis start calling us that stuff right away, so I don't think you need to either. But just because we're letting you do this on your own pace doesn't mean you can avoid it all together. You have to try Zayn, we promise none of us will look at you differently just please try," Niall says this time.
"I will, I'll try but I can't right now. It just doesn't fit in my mouth at the moment," Zayn says quietly while fiddling with th edge of his shirt.
"And as for carrying can I ask why you're scared of it?" Harry asks before noticing a faint blush on the boy's cheeks.
"Don't wanna get dropped," Zayn answers quietly but all three adults hear him, and all three adults coo.
"Zee, none of us will drop you. But until you're more comfortable with it how about we settle on hand holding while you go upstairs and carrying around the rooms when you allow us to?" Liam bargains, and Zayn quickly finds himself nodding his head with wide eyes because that's probably the best offer he's gonna receive.
"Well now that all this is settled how about we go explore the backyard? I'm pretty sure we have a really cool playground setup," Liam says excitedly to which Louis quickly nods his head while dragging Niall out to help him get changed followed by Harry.
"You wanna go play, Zee?" Liam asks a bit quieter.
"Sure," Zayn says, keeping his head down while squirming in Liam's lap. And though he knows he'll probably embarrass the boy by asking he knows it must be done.
"Babe, do you need to go potty?" And when Liam sees the blush upon Zayn's cheeks he knows he got the answer right which is why he lies the two of them back on the bed while lightly massaging the lower portion of Zayn's belly.
"I know it's hard, and that's why I'm here to help. All you gotta do is relax, baby," Liam coos and the next thing he knows he feels a slightly warm pressure expanding from the front of Zayn's nappy as well as on his shoulder. "Shh, Zee, you don't need to cry. You were good, so very good!"
Zayn cries only for a few minutes before Liam is taking him to the changing table to rid him of his soiled nappy. Liam swiftly changes the boy before walking off to the closet to get him some clothes for the day. Liam settles on a pair of athletic shorts- knowing Zayn will like them because they conceal his nappy a bit more, a shirt that they received for Red Nose Day, and some red tie dyed socks.
"Now that we're nice and clean, how about we go play in the sandpit for a bit?" Liam asks while trying to seem excited. And it seems to have worked because the thing Liam knows Zayn is slightly smiling while nodding his head ever so slightly.
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A/N: Hi! I'm sorry this is shorter than most of my updates but I'm trying to get as many updates out there as possible because unfortunately come next Friday I'll be in Spain doing some study abroad program for two and a half weeks and I don't know if I'll be able to update as much as I usually do! So I'm really sorry for that but anyways don't forget to vote, comment, and send in prompts! Byeeeee :)