After Liam laid Zayn down, the two adults walked into Niall's room where the boy was playing a video game.
"Hey snowflake, can we talk for a minute?" Liam asked and the younger boy nodded, pausing his game.
"What happened?" Harry asked simply as he pulled Niall to his side.
"Well Zayn and I were eating lunch and I guess you guys texted Louis and said that you would be home in like 2 hours, but he used your names that we call you like 'Dad' and 'Papa'. Well Zayn didn't recognize who that was and so I explained that it was you guys and then he asked if he should call you guys that and Louis went off on him. He got really mad and snapped at him saying stuff like 'no you aren't part of this family' and 'you are not going to be here very long'.", Niall said taking a deep breath before continuing, "and so Zayn stopped eating and just went up to his room and so I followed him when I heard he was crying and then when I found him in his closet he was pulling his hair, fisting his eyes roughly, and scratching his arms roughly too. So I called dad and then he tried to calm him down and yeah."
Liam and Harry looked at each other concerned. "Snowflake I'm sorry you had to go through all that by yourself. You were a good big brother though, a lot better than Louis. We can go out tomorrow and you can get a new video game." Liam praised kissing Niall's cheeks.
"Really?!" Niall asked and the two men chuckled while nodding.
"We are going to go talk to Louis, can you listen for Zayn in case he wakes up and starts crying." Harry asked and Niall nodded, resuming the video game.
The two adults walked downstairs and saw Louis still playing on his phone with earbuds in. Liam walked over to the boys and yanked his headphones out before taking the phone out of his hands.
"What the hell?" Louis asked looking up at the two.
"Watch your language. You are in enough trouble as is." Harry seethed and Louis gulped, sinking farther back into his chair.
"Did you tell Zayn that he was not allowed to call us daddy and papa and that he wasn't part of the family?" Liam asked and Louis knew there was no point in lying, so he gave a small nod.
"Why on earth would you do that?" Harry asked this time.
"Because he isn't, he is just some kid who was supposed to stay with us for a night, not forever!" Louis snapped.
"Watch your attitude," Liam growled, "What has Zayn done to you? He has happily gone with me to your footie practices and even asks if we can leave early to go pick you up so we can watch you. Louis, he looks up to you a lot and it's not fair for you to treat him like that."
"Then why do you focus on him all the time?" Louis asked.
"Okay for one just the other day you said we spent to much time worrying about you and you needed more space. And Zayn is barely 5 years old, he needs our help a lot more than you do." Harry said and Louis huffed in annoyance because everything they were saying was true. He did want more space, he doesn't really need his parents help for that much anymore, and yeah Zayn did need a lot more help than him and Niall combined.
"You are grounded if you didn't pick up on that already." Harry said and Louis nodded with a sigh.
"I figured."
Liam opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Niall frantically called for him and Harry and then a loud sob was heard. The two men rushed up the stairs to see Zayn thrashing around the bed while Niall stared off to the side with wide eyes.
"Niall babe go get me a warm wash cloth." Harry said as he pulled the sleeping Zayn into his lap. Niall ran off and came back a couple moments later with a soft wash cloth in hand. "Thank you love." Harry said calmly.
