"Shh, please don't cry love bug, I'm here, I'll always be here." Zayn gently comforts his nine-year-old son. He felt so bad after Louis had explained to him the reason Harry was crying. Liam just sat there, he didn't know what to do, the thought that Harry felt left out never occurred to him. Yes, they were spending a lot of time with Niall, they're just trying to get him completely settled into the family but he thought Harry was getting the same amount of attention.
"M'sorry papa." Harry wailed, trying to messily wipe his tears off his face. He was nine, and a quite cuddly little child, but still he felt embarrassed when he cried in front of his father's.
"It's alright darling, you have nothing to be sorry about." Zayn snuggled Harry closer, "Please don't cry yourself sick, we don't want that, do we?" Harry shakes his head, slowly his crying reduced to sniffles. "We're really sorry bug, so so sorry." Zayn cooed as his boy was slowly falling asleep.
"How did we manage not to pay attention to one of our children?" Liam asked in bewilderment.
"Don't blame yourself dad, I didn't even notice." Louis says sadly, "Things just have been hectic around here."
Liam nods, he knows Louis is right but it doesn't make him feel any better. One does not forget one of his children.
"How was Niall? What did the doctor say?"
"He's fine, just the flu. He should start getting better within a couple of days." Liam sighs and Louis just nods.
"I could watch him, if you want to spend some time with Harry you know." Louis offers which made the fathers beam with pride, it's not every day that your teenager offers his time to watch a baby sibling, not that he could do anything else, the boy was grounded.
"That would be great Louis, thank you." Zayn speaks, gently rocking the now asleep boy in his lap. He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, if it wasn't for the drying tear tracks on his face, you'd never guess the boy was in any sort of pain.
An hour when by before the boy started to stir on the sofa, slowly opening his eyes and taking in his surroundings. "Oh you're up, bug." Zayn shoots the boy a smile and takes a seat next to him. "Was your nap good?" And Harry only nods, looking at his papa sceptically.
"We're so sorry love bug. We're so sorry." He gently lifts the boy up to his lap. "Louis is watching Niall so daddy and I were wondering if there was something you wanted to do with us?" Harry's face lights up, he could finally do something he wanted with his fathers. "Can we go to the park papa?!"
Zayn sighs. I was really cold outside but he just couldn't say no to him, he could just layer him with clothes. "Sure can! Go tell daddy!" Harry runs off to find his daddy and tell him the great news. Twenty minutes and a lot of clothing layers later, the tree are heading to the park near their house. Harry had a blast, his fathers even played a little footie with him, he was having the time of his life.
----
A few months passed and Harry was back to feeling the effects of being a middle child, but Harry didn't complain at first, he almost had a month of being the center attention in the family so he was okay at first. But after a couple of months he was feeling sad again, just like before.
Louis had gotten himself a girlfriend and broken up with her and that didn't settle well with the teen, he was out all nights, not coming home until early mornings. That wasn't something that the father's let slide, so more often than not they were scolding Louis, grounding him. Then they found out that he was failing some classes and was jeopardizing his possible scholarship because grades matter just as much as football skills. So, they had to help Louis with his school work.
