"Harry they will be perfectly fine. We won't be gone for more than four or five hours. We need to get out and do some Christmas shopping for all three boys." Louis says to his anxious husband.
"But the boys haven't been left alone together in ages and what if something happens with Zayn?" Harry asks.
"Then they can call us, Lou, or Lauren. Zayn will just stay in his room and the only thing Liam and Niall have to do is make that he eats and does at least an hour of homework. We need to get out and do some Christmas shopping." Louis says and Harry nods as he resumes putting his shoes back on.
"I know, but it's like leaving your baby alone for the first time." Harry mutters and Louis rolls his eyes.
"He's eleven, not one. I'm going to go talk to the boys." Louis says as he tugs on his jacket and heads down the hallway to Zayn's room first. "Hey buddy, care to chat for a moment?" Louis asks as he sticks his head inside his stepsons bedroom.
"Are you guys leaving?" Zayn asks looking up from Harry's laptop he was borrowing to "write a paper" when, in reality, he was just watching animal videos off of YouTube.
"Yeah. I just want to make sure that you will be fine with Liam and Niall." Louis says and Zayn nods. "They won't mind if you ask for anything. And you need to work on your homework for an hour, not watching funny animal videos, do actual work." Louis chuckles as he eyes the screen that was pulled up on the computer.
"Yeah okay." Zayn mumbles with a blush as he closes the screen.
"Alright. You can call us on the home phone if you need us. The numbers are on the fridge." Louis says as he stands up and heads out, Zayn mumbling an "okay" back. Louis heads to the game room where he can hear his two oldest sons yelling about some video game they were playing.
"Boys, pause the game." Louis says walking in. The two boys groan but still pause the game.
"You boys are still fine with being left alone with Zayn?" Louis asks and the two boys nod, "Make sure he does at least an hour of homework and try and spend some time with him."
"I'm in charge right?" the sixteen year old blonde boy asks with a smirk.
"Yes Niall, you are in charge." Louis groans.
"Then if I am in charge I say we can have a few friends over." Niall smiles and Louis smirks.
"You can each have one friend over, but that's it." Louis says and the two boys smile. "And make sure Zayn is included." Louis hollers as he heads out of the room.
"You ready?" Louis asks walking into his and Harry's bedroom.
"Yeah I guess." Harry says with a sigh. The two make their way out of the house with one last goodbye to each child.
-
It has been been about an hour since Harry and Louis have left and Liam was just now going to check on his stepbrother.
"Zayn?" Liam asks walking in to the foreign bedroom.
"Yeah?" Zayn mumbles, looking up from the paper he was currently typing.
"Um do you want to like come hang out with us?" Liam asks.
"Er sure." Zayn mumbles, getting up and following his stepbrother into the game room. He sat down at the end of the couch and watched as Liam and Niall continued their game. After a couple more minutes of watching Liam lose badly to Niall, the doorbell was ringing and the two older boys were getting up.
"Our friends are here. You can wait here if you want, we will be right back." Niall says and Zayn shrugs.
"I'm actually going to go work on my homework." Zayn says standing up.
"Um okay." Niall says as the smaller boy brushes past him. The two older boys make their way downstairs to greet their friends.
Back to Louis and Harry, the two were making their way around the city, picking up Christmas gifts and enjoying their alone time.
"Maybe I should call and check in with the boys." Harry says as he pulls out his phone.
"Harry." Louis sighs, letting go of his husband's hand and raising his eyebrow.
"It's been a couple hours, I just want to make sure that they are including Zayn a bit." Harry says as he walks off with his phone.
"Hey papa, what's up?" Niall asks as he answers the phone.
"Nothing, how's Zayn been? Are you guys including him?" Harry asks and Niall groans.
"Yeah, he's fine. He's been in his room pretty much the entire time." Niall says and Harry sighs.
"Go get him and bring him downstairs if he has been in his room for more than an hour. I told you this earlier. "
"All he is going to do is sit there and not utter a word." Niall points out.
"I don't care, be a good brother and go get him." Harry snaps.
"He's not my actual brother, he's just my step brother. I'll talk to you later. Goodbye" Niall says, hanging up before Harry could get another word out.
"What was that all about?" Liam asks as Niall throws his phone on to the couch.
"Cinderella upstairs." Niall mutters which only resulted in his girlfriend hitting his arm. "Ow! What was that for?" Niall asks, rubbing his arm.
"Don't talk about him like that, he's probably been through a lot. I don't know about the rest of us, but I want to meet him." Selena says and Niall huffs as he stands up.
"Whipped." Liam laughs and Niall flips him the middle finger as he heads upstairs.
"Zayn come downstairs." Niall says as he walks into the boy's bedroom.
"Why?" Zayn asks, snapping his head up from the book he was studying.
"Because my papa said so, come on." Niall groans in frustration. Zayn rolls his eyes as he gets up and follows Niall back on downstairs. "My girlfriend is here, as well as my friend Nick. Liam has his friend Andy and his girlfriend Sophia over." Niall says as they walk downstairs.
"Didn't Harry say you could only have one friend over each?" Zayn asks with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"I swear to god if you say anything you little shit." Niall mutters, grabbing Zayn's arm.
"What if I do?" Zayn asks with a devilish smirk.
"I swear to god you don't want to find out, but let's just say your life will be a living hell." Niall says pushing Zayn against the wall and grabbing his chin harshly.
"I won't, chill." Zayn says, squirming under his older step-brother. The two glare at each other for a moment before Liam is clearing his throat.
"Come on you two. Everyone is waiting." Liam says with a quick look to Niall as Zayn walked past him. "Everything alright?" he whispers to Niall as they follow Zayn to the living room.
"He's just a bitch." Niall snickers and Zayn whips around.
"I can hear you, you know?" Zayn says and Niall holds his hands up like he was surrendering. The three walk into the living room and take their seats, shooting glares towards one another.
"So you're the famous Zayn. I am Selena, Niall's girlfriend." a dark haired girl says with a wave.
"Uh hi." Zayn smiles with a small nod. Everyone introduced themselves and now they were sitting in awkward silence.
"What did you make on your maths test?" Andy asks Liam.
"91, what about you?" Liam asks and Andy smiles.
"93." and Liam groans.
"I was sure I did better than you." Liam says with a huff of annoyance.
"Shut it nerds." Niall says and Liam's eyes narrow.
"I'm not the one who has to go to tutoring twice a week." Liam says and Niall kicks the boy.
"I am a busy guy, I don't have time for school." Niall laughs.
"Yeah whatever." Liam says and then it returns to awkward silence.
"Um Zayn, how old are you?" Sophia asks with a small smile towards the boy.
"11." Zayn says and his two stepbrothers shoot each other looks.
"No you're 12." Niall says and Zayn looks at him confused.
"No, I think I would know my own age." Zayn says.
"So I guess that birthday card we sent you was wrong." Liam says and Zayn gives a small nod.
"Yep." Zayn says, popping the P.
"Oh." Niall mumbles.
"Ouch." Nick says and everyone gives a nervous chuckle. A few more minutes of awkward small talk go by before Liam is jumping up.
"Oh shit! My parents are headed home, sorry ladies, but you gotta get the hell out of here." Liam says to the two girls as he looks at the Find My iPhone app on his phone.
"Alright we'll see you guys later." Selena says kissing Niall's cheek.
"Bye guys. Nice meeting you Zayn." Sophia says, kissing Liam's cheek before following Selena out.
"You better not say anything to our dads." Liam says pointing at Zayn who looked down at his feet.
"He won't." Niall mutters and Liam raises and eyebrow, but Niall just brushes him off. About fifteen minutes later, Harry and Louis were walking in with a few bags.
"Hey boys, how did everything go?" Louis asks as he sets the bags on the counter.
"It was fine, we just chilled." Liam smiles and Harry hums.
"Good, Zayn come here, I bought some warmer clothes for you and I want to make sure they fit." Harry says and so Zayn gets up and takes a look at the sweaters, jackets, and pants Harry was pulling out of the bags.
"Just go try on this outfit and then I'll know what fits and what doesn't." Harry says handing Zayn a pair of jeans, a black sweater, and a white t-shirt. Zayn quickly put on the outfit in the downstairs bathroom before walking out and showing Harry.
"Looks good." Louis says as he inspects Zayn's outfit.
"It swallows him, but he'll grow into it." Harry says as he tugs at the clothes. "Alright. Why don't you take these things upstairs and let me know what you like and what you don't. Whatever you like just go ahead and hang up." Harry says as he hands Zayn about five or six bags from different stores. Harry walks over to his boys and their friends and plops down on the couch.
"I can smell perfume." Harry says immediately and the four boys shoot each other looks as silence fills the room for a few moments. "Is someone going to speak up?"
"It was probably Zayn." Niall laughs and Harry rolls his eyes.
"That isn't nice and I just bought him some body spray that most definitely doesn't smell like women's perfume." Harry points out and Niall blushes. "Well since you guys aren't going to talk, I'll ask Zayn." Harry gets up and makes his way up the stairs and down the hall to his sons bedroom.
"Hey bubba, I got a question for you." Harry says as he walks in. Zayn looks up from where he was hanging up a jacket. "Did Niall and Liam have their girlfriends over? If I find out that they did and you lied to me, not only will Niall and Liam be in serious trouble, but so will you. I promise if you tell me the truth I won't be mad." and Zayn remains silent for a moment before giving a small nod, just in time for Liam and Niall to see. "Thank you baby." Harry smiles while the older boys glare. Harry smirks when he sees his sons and says, "You two are grounded for two weeks no rook for discussion. You both know better than to lie and have your girlfriends over without any adults. I thought I could trust you boys more than this." Harry shakes his head before walking downstairs to talk to Louis.
"You little shit!" Liam says as he storms into Zayn's room.
"It was either all three of us got in trouble or only you two got in trouble and honestly, I have no reason to save your asses." Zayn says bluntly.
"That doesn't matter. What did I tell you earlier." Niall says, grabbing Zayn's shirt and pulling him up so he was standing on his tippy toes.
"Not to say anything to Harry." Zayn mutters, eyes focused on the ground.
"And what did you do?" Niall asks and Zayn remains silent. "I asked you a question." Niall snaps, gripping Zayn's arm tighter.
"I told Harry." Zayn mutters again.
"Better watch your back Cinderella." Niall smirks before dropping Zayn and heading towards the door, but instead of walking out he turned on his feet and gave a single stomp towards Zayn causing Zayn to jump back. "Bitch." Niall laughs before walking off with Liam following. Zayn groaned and fell back on to his bed which was still littered with clothes.
He hated being the Cinderella of the family