Pressures of the Night

Chapter Nine

"Zaynie, time to wake up, baby," Liam cooed to the little boy who was fast asleep in his crib, dummy in mouth and stuffed rabbit clutched between his arms. Liam continued to rub the boy's exposed belly a bit before finally Zayn's eyes fluttered open. "Good morning, baby."

"Morning, ba- Liam," Zayn says with a blush while extending his arms out to the man.

"You can call me Baba, babe, I won't think any less of you," Liam cooed as he lifted Zayn onto his hip and over to the changing table. "Do you need a change this morning, lovey?" And to say Liam was shocked when Zayn nodded his head would be an understatement.

From there Liam was quick to change the little boy out of his wet nappy before helping him down the stairs (not wanting to exactly be carried this morning). When Zayn and Liam got downstairs, the younger of the two noticed only Louis downstairs which confused him a bit because normally when Liam wakes him up everyone else is awake as well.

"Where's everyone?" Zayn asked while playing with Liam's fingers.

"Harry went to go visit his mum and sister for the afternoon and Niall went to go see some rugby game in London. It's just us three today."

"What are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna go see Caroline today, remember? She was gonna fit our suits for Boo's fundraiser," Liam said while lifting the boy into his booster seat before placing a fruit cup, bottle, and small bowl of eggs in front of him.

As Zayn ate his food, Louis couldn't pass up on the chance to be a big brother for a bit, so the older boy found himself poking at Zayn's cheeks or trying to pull his food away from him which only caused Zayn to whine in frustration a bit. After the fifth time of doing it, Liam got fed up with it as well, and that's how Louis found himself being fed by Liam with a pout on his lips.

As the two finished eating their breakfasts Liam carried them both upstairs to change them into their day outfits. And it was then that a thought came up in Zayn's mind.

"No nappy?" The boy questions with wide, hopeful eyes, however, Liam just gives the boy apologetic eyes.

"Yes nappy, babe. You're doing very well with the progression and we don't want to hinder that. Don't worry Louis will have one on, too," Liam cooed but Zayn's eyes still watered. "Shh, everything's gonna be fine. Caroline has seen Louis in his nappy hundreds of times, and she's even seen your little tooshie a couple times. I promise this won't be that bad."

"B-but C'-Ca'line always- always travels with us. I don- don't want her t-to laugh at m-me," Zayn whimpered as the tears began to cascade.

"She won't laugh at you, baby. I'm gonna talk to her when we get there. Don't worry, you don't have to worry about anything."

+

After many words of encouragement from Liam and Louis and even a facetime call to Niall and Harry, Liam managed to get Zayn to relax just enough to actually get in the car without having an anxiety attack.

With that in place, Liam put Zayn into his car seat while Louis sat up front not being in his headspace at the moment. Liam was lucky that Zayn managed to fall asleep within the first ten minutes of the ride as he and Louis talked about some last minute details for the event the next day.

The car ride took about an hour and half, but finally they managed to arrive at the tall building with no tears for the entire car ride.

"Zee, we're here, baby," Liam cooed as he unsnapped Zayn from his seat. The boy squirmed a bit before his eyes opened. Zayn stretched in his seat a bit before finally hopping out of the car and began to walk into the familiar building with Liam and Louis on either side of him, making him feel even smaller than he's used to.