parenthood | niam au [ON HOLD]

a day without daddy

a/n: the time gaps in this book are going to be larger than in the last one because i want to have as many cute scenarios as possible :)

"daddy, don't goooo," teddy whines, wrapping his tiny, chubby arms around liam's leg. he presses his cheek against liam's knee, still whining. "please? please stay? i'll be good!"

"oh, sweetheart," liam coos, scooping him up. teddy nuzzles his face into liam's neck. "i'm not leaving because of you, teddy bear. i've just got to go to work. i'll be back home before you know it, yeah? you'll have fun with papa."

teddy sniffles. "i'll keep him from gettin' in trouble."

liam laughs. "that's my boy. give me a kiss, yeah?" teddy kisses him, and liam sets off in search of flynn. he finds him in the kitchen with niall, sitting on a kitchen chair and carefully holding zinnia in his lap. he looks up when liam walks in.

"daddy!" he cheers, "papa's letting me hold zinnia!"

"i see that! be extra gentle, yeah?" liam asks, leaning over to kiss the top of his head.

"i will, daddy," flynn nods, and zinnia lets one of her smiles escape when liam kisses her little cheek.

"bye, sweetheart. i love you. call zee if you're overwhelmed, okay?" liam says, pulling niall close and kissing him quickly. niall smiles throughout the kiss.

"i love you, too...don't worry. i can handle it," niall assures him.

"but if you can't, you'll call him, right?"

niall rolls his eyes. "get your cute ass out of here, liam. i'll call if i need to."

liam kisses him again, bites his bottom lip. "okay. i love you." he opens the door to head out, but pops his head back in at the last second. "by the way, your ass is the cute one."

niall waves him away, and liam leaves, laughing.

"okay, kiddos, what do you want to do today?" niall questions.

"let's make a surprise for daddy!" teddy suggests.

"ooooh, yay! yes! let's do that!" flynn cheers, clapping his hands together. he stops quickly when the movement shifts zinnia.

"okay," niall laughs. "what do you want to make him?"

teddy and flynn hum, thinking. "let's color him a picture and clean the whole entire house!" flynn yells.

"yeah!" teddy cheers.

niall has to keep from rolling his eyes. 'let's clean the house' will probably mean 'let's pick up three toys and then go watch paw patrol.' he's tired, and doesn't have the energy to clean the whole house by himself....but at the same time, the boys are so excited, and he doesn't have the heart to disappoint them by suggesting something else.

"okay," he says with a sigh. "but i need lots of help, okay?"

both boys nod eagerly. niall takes zinnia off of flynn's lap, bouncing her so she's smiley, and carries her upstairs. it's about her naptime anyway, and after drinking a bottle, she dozes off in her crib.

"okay, boys. you two start cleaning your room, yeah? i'll come and help you when i've finished cleaning my and daddy's room." the boys gallop out of liam and niall's room, giggling amongst themselves, and niall sits on the edge of the bed with a loud sigh. he's tired already.

a couple of seconds later, however, his phone starts to ring, and he grabs it off the bedside table.

"hello?"

"hey, sweetheart." niall can hear the smile in liam's voice. "just wanted to check up on you."

niall glances at his watch. "dumbass, you haven't even been gone an hour?"

"i'm not allowed to check up on my both incredibly sexy and unbelievably exhausted husband?"

niall laughs. "i guess there's no law against it. how's work?"

"boring. i'd rather be at home with you."

"i wish you were here, too." niall lays back on the bed.

"where're the boys?"

"cleaning their room," niall answers. 

"you sound skeptical."

"i am," niall laughs.

"yeah, you probably should be. okay, i've gotta go. just wanted to hear your voice." liam's voice goes softer at the end of his sentence, and niall melts like ice cream.

"i love you, dude."

that makes liam laugh. "i love you, too, bro."

after hanging up the phone, niall lets out a sigh and starts to make up his and liam's bed. baskets full of laundry litter the floor, and niall picks one up to toss a load in the dryer, and he peeks a head into teddy and flynn's room to see what kind of progress they've made.

to his surprise, the room is nearly spotless. teddy is picking up the last few lego blocks, and flynn is fixing the duvet on the top bunk of the bed.

"wow," niall gasps. both boys turn when they hear him, and they both beam.

"do you like it? does it look nice?" teddy asks, beaming.

"yeah, it does! i'm very impressed, boys. elise is terrible at cleaning up," niall laughs, but he stops when he sees the odd expression on flynn's face. "what, sweet pea? what is it?"

"our, um..." flynn swallows, and then winces. "before...b-before... b-b-before..." when flynn gets really upset, he starts to stutter, and niall knows that whatever he's trying to say must be bad. he drops the laundry basket and pulls his sweet son into his lap. "b-before you and daddy a-a-adopted us...th-they would make us c-c-c-clean. e-everything." he closes his eyes, small face pained. "w-we couldn't sl-sleep until w-we were d-done."

"sweetheart, you should've told me," niall says gently, cradling him. "i never would've let you clean so much if i'd known..."

flynn shakes his head. "no...it's d-different. i wanted to...for you and daddy. it's not bad when we want t-to. right, teddy?"

teddy nods fervently. he creeps closer to niall and flynn, wriggles his way into niall's lap beside his brother. they sit there in silence for a minute, snuggled up together.

"i love you both so much," niall whispers. and god, he does, he does.