"Ni, do you know if your Nick gives you milk or formula at bedtime," Zayn asks.
The blond whips his head back and shrugs. "Dunno."
The twenty-one year old turns his body back around to continue dancing with Louis. The oldest has more points than him and they banter with each other while watching the cartoon figures from the Just Dance screen move past them.
"I'm winning," Louis says gleefully.
"Only 'cause I'm letting you," Niall huffs, kicking one leg in the air.
"Come on, slow poke! Gotta move faster than that!"
"Lou, play nice," Zayn reminds.
"Bet I could beat you at footie, too," Louis grins.
Niall let's out a couple huffs of heavy breaths. 'Nuh-uh! I'm the bestest! Aren't I, Uncle Z?"
"You're both amazing, okay," Zayn says, not looking up from his phone screen.
The song finishes and they both pause to take sips from their cold cups of juice. Louis hasn't a hint of sweat on his entire body. His hair is messier than usual from all the jumping, but other than that, he looks fine. Niall on the other hand has flush cheeks and sweat droplets rolling down the back of his neck.
"Well, what song should we do next," Louis wonders aloud, scrolling through the various songs on the flashy menu.
He pauses on one that shows two men with incredibly large afros and funky clothes. The title says "Sexy and I know it" by LMFAO.
"Ooh! That one! I wanna be that guy," Niall says, pointing to character with glowing green glasses.
"I don't think so, babes," Zayn says. "Pick another song."
Louis turns to look at the man with his lower lip jutting out. "Awww! But why, Papa?"
"It's too inappropriate, Louis."
"Please," he says, holding his fists together in a pleading motion.
Niall copies. "Yeah, please, Uncle Z? I wanna be that guy!"
"Boys, I said no. Either you pick a more appropriate song or you're done playing for the night."
"Fine," Louis grumbles, returning to his spot in front of the tv.
"And drop the attitude, please."
When Louis knows Zayn is no longer looking, he rolls his eyes and carries on picking. He settles for "This Is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie always gave him the creeps.
"Hey," Niall whines. "Why do I hafta be the pumpkin?"
"'Cause I wanna be the vampire and I'm the leader," Louis tells him.
The level starts and they both do ridiculous motions, pretending their Wii remotes are giant spoons, stirring an imaginary cauldron. The spooky music begins and the boys copy the characters, pretending to shovel the ground and run forward and back.
Halfway through their song, their view is obstructed as Harry runs in front of television, pressing his cheek to the screen. "Punkin! Dada! It's punkin," he calls out to Liam, who hasn't made it into the room yet.
"Get out of the way," Louis says.
"Move, Harry! Can't see," Niall whines.
Harry backs away from the screen a few inches and plops to the ground, watching the figures continue their dance while the two boys behind Harry glare. Harry, oblivious to the others, watches with a huge smile, bopping his head to the music and clapping his hands.
"Harry," Louis says much louder. "Move!"
"Louis, do you want a time out," Zayn asks.
Louis' mouth drops. "Me?! Papa, that's not fair! He won't move! We can't play wiff him there!"
The oldest boy realizes the more worked up he get's, the more childish he sounds. But he doesn't care because he and his friend were having fun and Harry ruined it.
"That doesn't give you any right to yell at him," Zayn says. The man stands from his position on the couch and walks over to Harry. With a bit of strain, he manages to completely pick the boy up from ground, bridal style. "Come here, little one. Can't have you sitting so close to the tv, hmm? It'll hurt those pretty little peepers of yours," he smiles, kissing over Harry's shut eyes.
"Hurt," Harry frowns. "Ouchies?"
"Yep, ouchies. That's why you need to stay a bit away from the tv."
"No, ouchies," Harry shakes his head, nuzzling into Zayn's shoulder.
Zayn sets Harry on the floor by the couch. He leaves him there for a second to grab the tote of Lego Duplos, telling the boy to be a good boy and play.
He resituates himself on the sofa and reads over the bedtime routine instructions that Nick texted him.
From Nick:
Yeah mate I usually just give him formula but if u don'r have any its ok. milk is fine. Ni tookk a bath this morning do he should b ok. We usually cuddle but i never let him fall asleep till after he's put in his crib...so he doesnt wake up. he needs his binky when he sleeps. thanks again for watching him! I'm knackered and falling asleep. call if you need anything :)
An exhausted looking Liam comes into the room with his sleeves still rolled up from doing dishes. "Finally done," he sighs, flopping down on the couch next to his husband.
"Dada,' Harry greets sweetly.
"Hey, baby," Liam chuckles, bending forward to kiss Harry on his forehead.
"Wan' play?"
"Not tonight, bugaboo. I'm pooped!"
Harry nods and continues clacking the plastic blocks together. Occasionally some of them will stick, but the little is having more fun making noise than he is trying to fit pieces together.
Out of curiosity, Harry picks up a bright red brick and examines it. His mouth waters as he compares it to a red apple. Slowly, Harry brings the Lego to his mouth and experimentally bites down on the hard plastic. He whimpers a bit at the lack of fruity flavor but continues to lick it anyway.
Liam is the first to hear the gnawing sound. His eyes open wide as he sees Harry drooling over the brick. "No, no, Harry," Liam says. "We don't eat our toys."
Harry cocks his head to side, trying to make sense of why the man was so worried. "It's yucky."
"Ucky," Harry repeats. His eyes scan over the plastic. "Ucky."
"That's right. Will you please give me the Lego," Liam asks, extending his hand.
The boy shakes his head slightly and with a jittery hand, he places the block in Liam's palm. The man doesn't even react to now having a glob of Harry's saliva in his hand. He simply uses his other hand to push Harry's hair back. "Thank you," Liam praises and kissing the boy before pulling the clip-on pacifier to his mouth.
"Guess I'm gonna have to bleach all of those," Liam sighs. He sets the toy on the side table.
"Probably wouldn't hurt to give all their toys a bath," Zayn agrees.
"Especially his bear. He's been chewing on it's ear in his sleep."
"Good luck trying to get that in the wash," Zayn snorts. "Remember last time you tried cleaning Roger?"
Of course Liam does. Who could possibly forget Harry frantically searching every room and then opening up the washing machine and throwing every wet item of clothing on the ground? Or how Harry tried giving the teddy bear CPR like he saw in a movie because he genuinely thought Roger had drowned.
"So I guess a quick hand wash during naptime is just going have to do the trick," Liam says.
Zayn chuckles, grasping his spouse's hand as they watch Niall and Louis dance to "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce. The boys hop and giggle and genuinely enjoy themselves.
Things are calm for the next few minutes. Harry's attention switches multiple times between his brother and Niall and his toys. It's not until the end of the song that tension rises.
The song ends and a loud voice and applause sounds over the surround-sound speakers. "NEW HIGHSCORE," the voice cheers.
Without much thinking, Harry scoops of his Legos and throws them in the air like a giant squares of confetti. "Yay," he shouts, happy for his big brother.
Louis and Niall skip towards each other and high five, but when they back away, Louis steps on a Lego brick.
"Ow," he cries out.
Zayn rushes forward. "Lou, are you okay?"
"No," Louis whines into Zayn's neck. "My foot!"
Zayn kneels in front of Louis and picks up his foot, examining the sole. "No cuts, just hurt to step on."
"This is all Harry's fault," Louis says.
"Hey, hey," Zayn says. "He doesn't know any better right now."
"So? Why doesn't he just grow up? Stop acting like dumb baby!"
Zayn peers behind him, incredibly thankful to see that Liam and Harry were nowhere in sight. Liam must've whisked him away immediately after realizing Louis' anger.
"Louis, sweetie, I know you're upset. But you can't take out your frustrations on Harry. He's so little right now."
"He's nineteen," Louis yells. "All he's been doing is whining and getting all of your attention! What about me? I'm a good boy but you don't cuddle me and carry me everywhere."
"Louis, I'm so sorry. Really, I am. Just please calm down," Zayn pleads.
"Why should I," Louis asks.
"Because if you do, I'll take you anywhere you want to go."
"What," Louis says.
"I mean it. Just you and me for an entire day this weekend. A Papa and Louis day."
"You mean it," Louis asks.
Zayn sticks out his pinky. "I promise."
Louis bites his lip and hooks his small finger with Zayn's.
Zayn stands up and wraps his arms around Louis' small shoulders. He kisses between Louis' eyebrows and lingers there for a few seconds.
"I love you so much," Zayn hums.
They both turn when they hear the sound of plastic crashing together. Niall crawls accross the floor, collecting every Lego he can find.
"Ni, you don't have to do that, little guy. I got it," Zayn says, picking him up.
The blond, whose face shows an odd amount of dejection, ducks his chin into his chest.
"Hey, buddy, don't be upset. I'm sorry you had to see all that."
"It's okay," Niall mumbles.
"Y'know what boys? I think we should have some ice cream and watch a film. Good 'ole lads night, yeah?"
The mood lightens again as the boys eagerly skip to the kitchen and tuck into the couch.
--
It's around 2:30 in the morning when the youngest little wakes from his slumber. The realization that he's awake now and it's playtime causes a grin to form on Harry's face. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and brings himself up to a kneeling position. His eyes adjust to the dark room.
"Woger," he says excitedly, hugging his top hat wearing teddy bear up. "Play!"
The boy looks over to his brother's bed and gasps when he sees Niall's blond hair pressed against the padded bars. He had nearly forgotten about his friend's presence.
"NiNi," Harry shouts. "Up! Play!"
Niall groans in his sleep and rolls over to press his face into Louis' chest.
"NiNi! Hey! Hey! NiNi! Play!"
'Shhh, Hazza," Louis whines, partially awake now.
Harry, unsatisfied with the lack of enthusiasm to play from his brother and friend, does the first thing he can think of. The curly haired boy snatches one of his tiny pillows and tosses it towards Louis' crib. The pillow hits Niall's head with a soft thud.
Niall sits up and scowls. "What did you do that for?"
The light blinks on and all three boys hold their hands to their eyes for a few seconds to readjust.
"What's going on in here," Liam asks. His husband stands behind him looking equally confused.
"Daddy," Harry happily squeals. "Play!"
Liam sighs. "Not now, honey. It's bedtime."
"He threw his pillow at Ni," Louis tells them.
"Harry," Zayn grumbles in disapproval.
Harry stretches his arms over the crib bars in an attempt to beckon his daddies forward.
"Out?"
The daddies both walk forward until they're just barely out of Harry's reach. Harry makes tiny grunting noises as he tries to reach them.
"Little one, why are you awake," Zayn asks.
'"Papa," Harry whines, "out."
Zayn tells Harry to watch his hands as he lowers the front of the crib and picks the boy up.
"What's all this about," he whispers in the boy's ear.
"I up! Play now!'
"Babe, it's sleepy time."
Harry shakes his head, frustrated that he can't form his thoughts into proper sentences. "I sleep. I up now. Play now, Papa. Play."
From his left, Zayn hears Liam let out a heavy breath. "I couldn't get him to sleep so I told him he could play in the morning when he wakes up."
"Let's get you changed and then it's back in your crib. It's too early for you to be awake."
While Zayn takes the youngest to the changing table, Liam checks on the other two.
"Are you boys okay? Do you need anything?"
"No," Louis scowls. "Wanna sleep."
"Me, too," Niall huffs and lays his body back down.
Liam runs his hand through the blond's hair a few times. "I'm sorry he woke you.. He's not usually like this," the man says.
It's strange to Louis, almost foreign, that one of his daddies is actually apologizing for Harry's behavior.
From the corner they hear Harry squealing out words about being tickled. Louis sighs and sits up further, resting his head on the wall. All he wanted was a good night of sleep after a very long day and he's not getting his way.
"Does he have to sleep in here," Louis asks, letting his annoyance be known.
"You don't want your brother in here," Liam asks, biting his bottom lip.
"He's too loud."
"I'm sorry, baby boy," Liam says yet again.
Louis grumbles and lays down again, this time with his back towards Liam. The oldest boy presses his face against his friend's back and absorbs his body heat.
On the other side of the room Zayn struggles with settling Harry down enough to put his pajamas back on.
Harry giggles as he swipes his hands up towards Zayn's face, trying to grab a single strand that has fallen out of place.
"No, no, baby," Zayn says softly. "You need to keep your hands to yourself."
The black haired man clasps his hands around Harry's wrists and brings his hands up to his lips, quickly kisssing each knuckle before guiding Harry's arms down onto the padded changing table.
He let's go and reaches down to pick up Harry's pajama pants. As his eyes are closed, he doesn't see Harry reaching up again. The boy wraps his palm around the loose strand of hair and tugs.
Zayn let's out a yelp.
Liam rushes to his side. "You okay? What happened?"
"I'm fine. Can you go get some mittens," he whispers.
Liam nods and leaves, returning a minute later with thick, pink mittens. He hands them to Zayn, who has finally managed to get Harry back into hiis bottoms.
"Okay, ittle boy," he says. "Hold out your hands."
Harry's eyes bug when he eyes the gloves. "No, Papa!"
"Come on, don't be difficult."
"No wan' mittens!"
"I'm sure you don't. But it's not okay to throw stuff at our friends, is it? And you know that you're not supposed pull hair," Zayn reasons.
"Wanna play," Harry pouts, tucking his chin into his chest.
'You may in the morning, after, your time out and you apologize to your brother and Niall."
Harry doesn't look at Zayn as the man engulfs his hands with the warm fabric and pulls the velcro straps tight.
He picks the little up and places him on his hip. Harry grunts and squirms. Zayn huffs and sets the boy down.
"Daddy," Harry whines, rushing into Liam's arms instead.
He holds up his hands to show Liam the much hated mittens.
"Papa meanie," Harry tells him.
Liam sends Zayn an apologetic look and carries Harry out of the room. "No, he's not."
"Uh-huh," the young one argues. "We play now?"
"'fraid not. You're gonna spend the night with Papa and I."
Harry is set down on the large, messy bed. He crawls to the top, leaning against the headboard. He crosses his arms and juts his lip out.
"Don't pout, baby. You're much too cute to be a grumpy butt."
Liam joins him in the bed and pulls his smaller body close to him.
Zayn enters the room with Roger in one hand and a bottle of warm milk with two tablespoons of camomile powder mix in the other. Harry turns his body around to face Liam, away from Zayn. The older husband frowns.
"Baby? I brought your teddy," he says with a hopeful voice.
The curly haired boy glares at Liam's chest.
"Thank you, Papa. That was very nice of you, right Harry," Liam says, grabbing the bear. He hands it to Harry who struggles to shift Roger so that he is close to his chest.
"Meanie," Harry mumbles.
"I know you're mad at me, but I brought you some milk. Hmmm, a nice bottle sounds nice, doesn't it," Zayn asks.
It's hard for Harry to not turn around and hug and kiss Zayn and grab for his precious baba, but he wants the man to know he's upset. It isn't fair that Harry doesn't get to play whenever he wants. He hates having to wait till someone else tells him it's okay. He just wants to be able to go into the playroom whenever he deems right.
Harry has been living in his own world of confusion. He wants to be a big boy. He wants to be able to grow up a little and do big kid things. Niall gets to watch grown up tv with his daddy, so why shouldn't Harry? Eleanor doesn't have to wear a nappy 24/7, so why does Harry have to? Louis is allowed to eat on his own when he wants to, so why can't Harry?
The problem is, every time Harry actually thinks about growing up, he gets scared and his mind coils in on itself. He regresses temporarily further down, as if his mind is trying to shield itself from scary thoughts. Because, what if being a big kid isn't all it's cracked up to be?
The nineteen year old certainly does enjoy being fed his nighttime bottles and he could never part from Roger.
"Harry, what's going on in that pretty head of yours," Liam asks. "We can tell something's wrong."
The boy buries his face in Roger's head.
"Sweetheart, you know you can tell us anything. We're your daddies, we'll make what ever it is bothering you go away," Zayn says, soothing a hand down his back.
"Just wanted to play," Harry mutters.
"But you knew it was past bedtime."
"Don't want bedtime."
"Why not," Liam asks.
Harry brings a mitten closer to his face and examines it. More than anything he wants to bite the velcro off.
"Harry's a big boy," he says to no one in particular.
"Oh," Liam says, glancing knowingly at Zayn.
"And does big boy Harry not like his bedtime," Zayn asks, faking curiosity.
Harry nods. "Want to play all the time."
"You know, Harry," Liam pauses. "Even big boys have bed times."
Harry looks up and meets his Daddy's eyes. "Really?"
"Yep. And they also still have to listen to their daddies. That way everyone is safe and happy."
"Baby, I need you to turn around and look at me," Zayn says in a serious tone.
He doesn't until Liam gives him an encouraging nudge. Harry slowly flips his body around and conceals half of his face with his bear. His eyes lock onto Zayn's chin, watching his lips move.
"There are those pretty eyes." Zayn smiles at this tiny victory. "Do you remember when we first made rules? How you agreed that you trusted us to make all of the tough decisions for you? Yeah? Well tonight you were being naughty and I had to do what I thought was best."
"Take off now," Harry asks.
"No, beautiful. Your mittens are staying on till morning."
Harry whines into Roger's back.
"Now, if you want to change your rules, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Everything that you have to say to us, we'll listen. But for now, all you need to do is drink your baba and go back to sleep."
Harry nods.
"Who do you want to feed you?"
Harry presses his lips together, a small part of him still bitter. "Daddy."
Liam is given the bottle and sits up slightly for Harry to be able to lean up against him. The silicone tip is placed in his mouth. He drinks slowly as Liam kisses his head and Zayn massages his tummy.
"What a good boy," they praise.
The feeding continues on for the better part of half an hour. Harry whines and hums every time he wills himself to stay awake. Against his will, his eyes begin drooping and becoming harder to open. Liam takes the bottle away and burps him. Harry is then tucked into Liam's side, drifting off into dream world while his daddies watch over him.
And despite any negative feelings earlier, as the night goes on, Harry cuddles happily closer and closer to his Papa.