Fool's Gold » ziam

« Chapter 2 »

"niall, it's time to go to jidda's. Stop hiding from me." zayn sighed and continued looking around his flat for his giggling son. he had a habit of hiding himself away whenever abi had to leave.

"no! not go." niall shouted from his hiding spot. they'd had a nice time all week and now abi was leaving him.

"niall. abi has to work. come on sweetheart." zayn sighed and opened the bottom cupboard in the kitchen. "come out here." he said holding his arms out for the toddler.

niall crawled out and pouted at hi, "no." he whined. zayn sighed.

"you're gonna go stay with jidda for a few hours. now you need to behave yourself." zayn said softly and kissed his head multiple times.

"not go." he whined as he pushed his face in his abi's neck.

"i'm sorry, blondie, but you have to go to jidda's. abi has to work." zayn said softly. there was another knock on the door and zayn went over to open it slightly. He frowned when he just saw Liam standing there, "what the hell do you want?" zayn snapped. he already has a distraught toddler and he didn't have the time to deal with this. "i have to go. i can't deal with whatever you want right now." zayn left the door open as he walked over and grabbed niall's nappy bag.

"why is he crying?" liam asked completely avoiding the previously asked question.

"i'm leaving for work, he doesn't want me to go." zayn said gathering other things around the apartment quickly. he slipped his glasses into his bag, just in case he lost a contact.

"could i watch him?" liam asked. zayn stared at him like he was crazy.

"i wouldn't trust you with my goldfish, let alone my son." zayn meant every word he said. he grabbed his keys and pulled the door shut, pushing liam out of the way as he walked out and locked the door. "you've been back in our lives for two days and you aren't ready to be a father. I can already tell."

"how can you tell?!" liam snapped, immediately defensive.

"for one you're snapping at me when i have a three year old in my arms, the second thing is that you're in your boxers in the middle of the hall, liam. put some pants on." zayn sighed and rolled his eyes as he walked over to the lift.

"i was about ready to... nevermind that last part." liam immediately changed his wording when he saw the look zayn gave him. "i heard him crying and i wanted to check up on him... zayn, can you just give me a chance? please? how long will you be gone?"

"i don't want you watching him alone, i don't want you alone with him at all. i'm not comfortable with that." zayn sighed as he looked at the time on his phone. "i'm going to have to call in late if you waste anymore of my time." he mumbled and pressed the lift button, carrying niall with him.

~*~

zayn had picked niall up from his mums later that evening and fumbled with his keys, niall's head was hanging on zayn's shoulder and zayn yawned himself.

"shhh boys, people are sleeping." zayn heard a small voice coming from the lift behind him. two small boys were trailing behind him.

"daddy, we wanna go back home to mummy." one boy was whining.

"i'm sorry, your mum had things to do tonight." the man glanced at zayn and smiled. "hey! you must be the new neighbour my boyfriend was telling me about."

zayn unlocked his apartment and gave a half smile to the man, "yeah, i suppose. i assume your boyfriend is liam payne?" he just held a moving niall closer.

"yeah, you know him?"

"all too well." zayn sighed.

"maybe we can get together sometime? have a playdate with the kids." he suggested and zayn nodded.

"sure, sure, maybe we can. my son loves playing with kids his age."

"mine just need some friends." he opened the door to his apartment and ruffled the hair on his older son's head, "this is ethan and my little one is benjamin."

"this is niall." zayn rubbed niall's back as the kids skipped into the man's apartment.

"my name's louis tomlinson, soon to be tomlinson-payne." louis held his hand out for zayn and zayn shook it quietly.

"my name's zayn malik." he shook his hand.

"zayn malik?" louis' eyes fell a little bit.

"he told you about me... didn't he?"

"yeah, quite a bit. he's never mentioned you having a baby though." louis explained and looked him over, "and he never said you were so young, or cute, or that you lived next door." zayn blushed.

"well, i was sixteen when we got together." zayn shrugged, "he left me when i was seventeen and pregnant."

"he's grown up a lot since then." louis whispered softly, "he wasn't a great guy then but he's changed. you don't have to take my word for it but i think you should let him see niall every once in awhile."

"niall isn't his." zayn sounded defensive.

"i'm sorry... i just assumed. the timeline fit." louis sighed, "i hope we can be friends and let the boys hang out."

"yeah, sure. you can bring your boys over tomorrow for lunch or something." zayn opened his apartment door and louis just nodded, going into his apartment. zayn carried niall into his apartment and put him to bed. zayn sighed as he went to his room and changed into his sweatpants and pulled his shirt off. he kicked his shoes off by his closet door and took his contacts out, sliding on his glasses. he went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a bottle of water, moving over to lock the front door as he heard a knock.

he opened the door and rolled his eyes when he saw liam standing there for the second time that day. "tattoos huh?" liam admired zayn's chest.

"what do you want?" zayn took a drink from his water bottle.

"heard that you met lou."

"i did meet him" zayn shrugged and went to shut the door. "i'm trying to relax before i go to bed and i wouldn't like to be bothered by you anymore today. so go, thanks." zayn sighed loudly when liam stopped him from shutting the door again. "can i fucking help you?" he asked, annoyed.

"i want to come over with lou, ben, and ethan." liam mumbled.

"get out of my doorway." zayn slammed the door once liam had moved his hand and locked it directly after. fuck him. 

(A/N: 1086 words 18 April 2017

idk where this is going to go. 

-Celina Azad)