"Hey," Zayn said softly, waving at the infant who was giggling over Niall's shoulder. The blonde was frantically trying to get him to quiet down again, having just put him down for his nap. He looked over his shoulder with a scowl and muttered under his breath. "Thanks for waking him up."
Zayn's eyes widened, his smile fading rather quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry." He sounded truly sorry, but Niall wasn't having it. "Sure you are." He then picked Adam up in his arms and started bouncing lightly in his place, trying to coo the baby back to sleep. Adam's head was rested against Niall's shoulder, smiling knowingly at his dad.
Without another word, Zayn turned and walked back out into the living room, not bothering to change out of his work clothes. About half an hour later he was joined by a sleepy looking blonde. He sunk down onto the opposite side of the sofa lazily, closing his eyes.
"Sorry, love."
It was almost like Niall could tell how carefully he'd chosen his words. His eyes opened again and he brought his forearm half-way up, twisting his claddagh engagement ring around his finger. "Are we ever going to? Money's not tight, Adam's old enough.. what's the wait for."
Zayn sighed and turned off the tele, flipping the remote back and forth between his two hands. "It's just.. not the right time-," He was cut off.
"When is?" The tone sounded annoyed, and he could feel the other staring at him though his head wasn't turned. "We'll know,"
Niall scoffed and pulled himself off the couch, dusting off his clothes. "If you don't want to marry me, just say it now. Don't get my hopes up by saying we'll tye the knot someday."
Zayn bit his lip, shaking his head slowly, as if he was holding back saying something. "Do you even want to marry me?" Niall continued, his tone falling nothing short of hurt.
Silence.
"Fine." Zayn couldn't see what he was doing, too distracted by looking at the black television screen. He didn't see Niall take the ring off, but he heard Niall drop the ring on the sofa beside him and walk away. Those were the two of three noises he'd never thought he'd ever have to hear.
The third was when he heard the front door slam. Not even just the bedroom door, but the front door.
*
It looked to Zayn like there was a chain reaction happening all of a sudden. A routine.
He'd wake up alone, feed Adam and take care of him - wait around until he was an hour late for work for Niall to show up and drop Adam off at Zayn's mum's house ( seeing as she had offered earlier on to take care of Adam ) then drive himself to work.
Niall would supposedly come home later on and feed the baby, but then he'd start an argument with Zayn blatantly and leave before the baby had even stopped wailing.
Everytime he heard the door unlock, a rush of relief washed through him, and he'd make sure everything looked tidy and put together before Niall walked in.
"Zayn?" Niall called softly from the foyer. Zayn didn't hesitate before he was basically speed walking out to meet him. Niall was smiling sheepishly, wringing his wrists in his hands. "Are you home?" Zayn asked, smiling back at him.
"Y-yeah.. I'm sorry. He told me I can't give up so easily." His eyes suddenly got wide.
"He?"
Niall paused, nodding. "Harry."
He had been staying with Harry? Harry convinced him not to 'give up'? The same Harry who thought it'd be a good idea to glue a unicorn horn onto his cat's forehead?
"If you're not willing to marry me yet.."
Zayn suddenly felt the urge to cut in. "Willing? Who said I wasn't willing?"
"You didn't reply when I asked you if you wanted to marry me. Anyone who actually had empathy would've atleast said no. You just sat there and ignored me.."
Adam started to whimper a little from the kitchen, catching both men's attention, but before they had the chance to do anything Zayn spoke again. "You dragged me into this from day one, Niall. We could've been married ages ago, but you were always the one who wasn't ready."
"With Harry for the past week feeling sorry for yourself when you could've been here looking after your son and trying to make things work with us," he sighed to himself, taking a moment to think about what he says so he doesn't make a fool of himself, "We're doing fine, Adam and I."
Niall was obviously speechless, his jaw was slack and his eyes were widened somewhat.
"Thanks for stopping by, though."
