"Liam, you better tell me."
"Niall, stop it," Liam says back sternly, making the smaller boy stick his lower lip out. "Nope, don't even try it, I'm not Zayn or Justin. I'm immune to the pouty lip."
Niall huffs. "I wish you'd just tell me!"
It's Niall's birthday weekend, and Justin, Zayn, and Liam have put together some sort of surprise for Niall. Neither of them will tell him what it is, despite his pouting and whining and the fact that he actually mustered up some fake tears.
"If you don't tell me I'm gonna tell Harry you don't like him!"
Liam rolls his eyes. "No, you won't."
Niall pouts. "No...I won't...but I'd think really hard about doing it!"
Liam can't help but laugh. "Cupcake, it's only about three more hours you have to wait. I really think you can handle that."
Niall whines and slumps further back on the couch. "I hate you."
"You love me." Liam kisses his forehead and leaves the room, and then the apartment. Bored out of his mind, Niall starts to clean the kitchen when his phone rings.
"Zee!" he cheers when he sees that it's Zayn.
"Hi there, lovebug! You sound happy to hear from me," Zayn beams.
"I am! Are you gonna tell me what the surprise is? Pleeeease?"
Zayn rolls his eyes. "And spoil your surprise? Never, angel. I bet you're pretty bored, though, huh?"
Niall starts to nod frantically before he remembers Zayn can't see him. "Uh-huh! I'm super, duper bored and Falcon is sleeping and won't cuddle with me!" He frowns over at his puppy, curled up asleep on his bed.
"Hmm...would you like it if I came over and we took him for a walk? By the time we finished, I think your surprise would be just about done."
Niall immediately hops up to get dressed. "Yay! Okay! When will you be here?"
"So excited. Such a sweet, little thing," Zayn coos, making Niall blush. "I'll be there in about fifteen minutes, is that all right? I'm not too far from you right now."
Niall can't stop smiling. "Okay! See you soon!" They hang up, and Niall hurries to get dressed, pulling on a black sweater and jeans, waking Falcon with all the ruckus he's making. He's just yanked a beanie over his messy hair when the doorbell rings, and he bounds forward and hugs Zayn around the waist. His boyfriends have been so busy for the past week planning his birthday surprise, and it surprises him how much he's missed them.
"Hi, angel! Someone's happy to see me," Zayn chuckles, leaving a few kisses on Niall's forehead. "I'm happy to see you, too, little love." Niall just cuddles closer to Zayn for a few seconds, and then lets go to scoop Falcon up in his arms. "Ready?"
Niall nods after clipping Falcon's leash onto his collar, and takes Zayn's hand. They stroll down the street, hand-in-hand, Niall unable to keep from laughing every time Falcon does something cute. Zayn can't help but stop every few minutes and kiss Niall's hand or his cheek or the top of his head. His sweet, little boyfriend is such a delight, so full of joy and innocence, Zayn's heart is about to beat out of his chest from the overwhelming affection he feels for him.
"Zayn?" Niall chirps.
"Yeah, baby boy?"
"I, um..." He swallows nervously. "You know you don't have to do anything big for my birthday, right? I mean...I mean, you did just give me a puppy...a-and I'd...I'd hate for you guys to feel like you have to spend money on me! 'C-Cause you don't! Even just...even just spending the day with you guys would be enough..."
"Hey now, angel, look at me," Zayn says, stopping in his tracks. Niall looks up at him, chewing on his bottom lip. "You know the money doesn't mean a thing to us, yeah? We want to celebrate you, baby. You deserve to be celebrated. Justin, Liam, and I, we adore you, sweetheart. We just want to show you how much. Please don't overthink it too much. We just want to be able to give you an ounce of the joy you give us. Is that all right?"
Niall pouts. "Well...if you say it that way, I sound like a jerk if I say no!"
Zayn laughs. "You can always say no, darling, or tell us if it's too much."
"And you won't get mad?"
"With you being honest with us? No, love, we won't get mad."
When they get back to Niall's apartment, they have about half an hour to kill before Justin and Liam come to celebrate. Niall sits in the armchair, just staring at Zayn, chewing on his lip, cheeks slightly flushed.
"What is it?" Zayn asks, an eyebrow raised. Somehow, that makes him even more attractive, and Niall squirms a little. "You okay, love?" Zayn moves closer, puts a hand to Niall's forehead. "You're a little flushed," he adds, but he's smirking a little, and that frustrates Niall even further.
"Don't," Niall whines, embarrassed at being teased, and Zayn just chuckles and pulls the small blond into his lap. Immediately, Niall is kissing him, barely able to handle the tension between them. Zayn lets out a low groan as Niall's fingers tangle into his hair. Niall is losing himself in this kiss, he can feel it, and normally something like that would frighten him, but it feels good. Losing himself in Zayn feels good, because he knows Zayn will ground him. Zayn won't let him disappear. He knows this even as he feels himself fading faster as Zayn sucks on a spot on his neck.
"Fuck," Zayn hisses, hands roaming Niall's back. His hands are so large and warm, Niall can't help but squirm in his lap. "Fuck, fuck, Niall, can I touch you?"
Niall gasps out a yes between kisses, barely believing how much he wants Zayn to, and he lets out a loud whine when Zayn squeezes his thighs and then his ass with both hands.
"Jesus fucking Christ, these jeans," Zayn mutters, sliding his hands up and down Niall's thighs. That causes Niall to grind his hips down onto Zayn, which makes the older man groan low in his throat, and then pull back. "Hey, sweetheart, let's slow down, yeah? I don't wanna do anything you're uncomfortable with," he murmurs, leaving one last kiss on a hickey on Niall's neck.
Niall takes a low, shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he mumbles.
"Hey," Zayn says firmly, tilting his chin up. "Nothing to be sorry for. That was fucking hot," he replies, pecking Niall's lips and smiling a wicked grin. It makes Niall blush. "I just didn't want to go too far. We've got all the time in the world, love, no need to rush."
Something about that makes Niall's heart go even softer in his chest, and he hugs Zayn hard around the neck, nuzzling his face into the older man's neck. With one last squeeze to his ass, making Niall squeak, he gently helps Niall off his lap just as the door to the apartment opens.
"Baby boy! Happy birthday!" Justin shouts immediately, crossing the room to kiss Niall. "Hey...where'd you get these hickies from?" he asks, and Niall immediately goes pink.
"Oops," Zayn says dryly, clearly unapologetic, and Justin sticks his tongue out at him.
"You guys are gross," Liam chuckles, setting a box with the cake in it on the table. "Come on, Ni, it's cake time!"
"We haven't even had dinner yet," Niall laughs. "How can it already be cake time?"
"I firmly believe cake comes before food on birthdays," Justin says back.
"It's true. He wouldn't shut up about it when we drove to get the cake," Liam chuckles, and Justin shoves him. Clearly, they get along well, which makes Niall smile. "Come on, kiddo, cake!"
So Niall makes his way over to the table, waiting patiently as Zayn lights the candles. They all sing to him, Justin making up verses just to make the sweet little blond glare at him with annoyance.
"Alright, alright," Zayn laughs, interrupting Justin's 8th verse of happy birthday, which just consists of the words, "You are cute as fuck," repeated over and over. "Let the poor guy blow out his candles, Jay, Jesus."
Niall closes his eyes to make his wish, and blows out all the candles. He lets out a squeal of delight after doing so, and Liam hands him the knife so he can cut into the cake. As he does so, he hits something hard, and looks over at his boyfriends and best friend with surprise. They all look confused, too, and when Niall pulls the slice away, he sees that someone embedded a mason jar in the middle of the cake, and Niall looks up again, confused. He unscrews the jar at Justin's command, and pulls out a toy airplane with a note tied to it.
"Happy birthday, Niall," he reads aloud. "You are so loved and adored, and we wanted to show you how much. This birthday will be one you'll never forget..." He looks up, still confused.
"Flip it over," Justin says, practically bouncing up and down from excitement, and when Niall does, he realizes that the note was written on a postcard that says, "Welcome to Italy!"
"We're going to Italy!?" Niall shouts.
"Yes!" Liam laughs. "The four of us plus Harry. We're fucking going to Italy, Niall!"
"I..." Niall shakes his head. "I can't let you pay for this! This...this is insane!"
"They didn't pay for it. I pitched in, too," Liam says. Niall opens his mouth to object, but Liam shakes his head. "Niall, you deserve this. We all care about you so much and we want to share this with you. Please let us."
Niall can't argue with that kind of logic, especially with how much he loves these people. "Fucking hell, you guys, we're going to Italy." He shakes his head. Zayn and Justin wait, still unsure if he's pissed off or not. Then he looks up, beaming. "When do we leave?"