parenthood | niam au [ON HOLD]

vacation (pt. three)

"DADDY!" a voice screeches, and liam lets out a pained grunt when a small body lands directly on his stomach.

"help," another voice whines, and when liam opens his eyes, he can see teddy struggling to climb up onto the bed, which is a bit too high for him. liam lets out a low chuckle and reaches down to help him onto the bed. "thanks, daddy!"

"you're welcome, teddy bear," liam smiles. teddy crawls up until his head is resting on liam's chest, and liam strokes his hair. "daddy! i can hear your buh-bum!" he cheers after hearing liam's heartbeat, and liam's heart nearly explodes from how cute his youngest son is.

"daddy, can we have mickey mouse pancakes?" flynn asks. after landing on liam, he'd crawled over to niall and silently snuggled up under his arm. niall is playing with his hair.

"hmmm...i think that sounds pretty okay. what do you think, niall?"

"how about i ask uncle harry if he'll make them? he makes the best pancakes," niall suggests, and flynn nods, eyes still closed, snuggled up to niall. "okay, let me grab my phone so i can ask him."

"no!" flynn whines, clinging to niall. "five more snuggle minutes, papa, please?"

"alright, love," niall chuckles, wrapping his arm back around flynn and rubbing his back. liam wraps his arms around teddy, who hums happily and nuzzles his cheek against liam's chest. liam lets out a low chuckle when he sees teddy's cheek all squished against him. about ten minutes later, niall's phone starts to ring, and flynn lets out a displeased whine when niall has to move to answer it. "hello?"

"hey, ni, just wanted to see if you guys were up. elise is going nuts, she wants to play, are your little guys up?"

"yeah, we're all up. do you wanna come over and make some mickey mouse pancakes?"

"i feel like you only love me for my culinary skills," harry teases.

"you would be one hundred percent right in feeling that way," niall teases back, and harry laughs and hangs up the phone. "okay, kiddos, uncle harry's coming over to make some pancakes, so guys can play with jellybean while you wait, okay?" both boys cheer and scramble out of the bed. teddy bounces over the zinnia's crib.

"papa, can i hold her?" he pleads. "she needs snuggles."

"sure, bug, one sec," niall answers, getting up and stretching. he scoops zinnia out of the crib and changes her diaper. she makes happy, gurgly, cooing sounds, reaching up to touch niall's face. she laughs loudly when he pretends to nibble at her fingers. "okay, teddy, have a seat on the couch." teddy skips over and sits, and he lets out a happy sound when niall gently sits zinnia in his lap. "okay, sweetheart, one hand on her back, right here...perfect! and the other one here. you're doing great, kiddo, look at her little smile!"

teddy giggles when she touches his hair. "i love her so much, papa!"

"aw, bug, she loves you, too," niall replies, heart so full. he runs a hand through teddy's curls, and not much later, the malik-styles family makes their way into the room. the kids all pool on the floor to play, and harry starts making pancakes.

- - -

"DADDY, I SEE POCAHONTAS!" flynn shouts. "can we go, please?" he inches in her direction, but stops when zayn calls his name.

"flynnigan zayn, what are the rules?" liam asks sternly.

flynn sticks his lower lip out. "hold daddy or papa or uncle zee or uncle h's hand at disney...and don't run off..."

"exactly, and which of those rules did you break?"

flynn's frown deepens, and he inches to zayn's side and takes his hand. "sorry, daddy."

"it's okay, sweetheart," liam soothes, leans over to kiss his forehead.

zayn scoops flynn up and sets him on his hip. "hey, where'd your smile go? don't be sad, bub! we're the only zayns here, kiddo, we gotta stick together!"

flynn smiles a little. "don't like it when daddy's mad at me..."

"oh, sweetheart, your daddy's not mad. he just doesn't want you to get hurt or lost, yeah? he's only making sure you're safe because he loves you soooo much."

flynn plays with the collar of zayn's shirt. "really?"

"really really," zayn confirms, kissing flynn's forehead. 

"daddy, can we go find pocahontas now?" elise asks, leaning forward in the double stroller so she can see zayn.

"i think that sounds like a good idea," zayn nods.

"oh! papa! i wanna go on space mountain!" teddy gasps, pointing.

"i think that one might be a little too big for you right now, kiddo. but there are lots of other rides for us to check out!" niall replies, and teddy only pouts for a few seconds before brightening again.

- - -

by the time the night ends, the kids are exhausted. they met most of the princesses and went on a lot of rides and ate a lot of sweets. zayn is carrying flynn again, and harry is pushing elise and lydia in their double stroller. niall is carrying teddy, who is full-out snoring, and liam is carrying zinnia, who is rubbing her eyes and whining from exhaustion but refuses to sleep.

"uncle zayn," flynn mumbles sleepily, eyes shut, voice muffled from the thumb in his mouth.

"yes?"

"i'm glad we're both zayns."

zayn lets out a tired laugh, kisses the top of his head. "me, too."

it takes some serious effort, but they manage to all get buckled into the rental vans. flynn tries his hardest not to sleep, but the movement of the car makes him groggy, and the next time he wakes up, he's being tucked into his little rowboat bed back at the hotel.

"daddy," he says with a big yawn, grabbing liam's wrist.

"yes, sweetheart?"

"sorry 'bout running away before. don't hate me, please?" his eyes start to sting a little at the thought, and he rubs at them with his fists.

"flynn, baby, i could never, ever hate you. never ever. i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings and made you think that. i just didn't want you to get lost or hurt." he leans down and kisses his son, smiling at how sleepy the little boy is. "i love you so so much. more than you could understand."

flynn lets out a whine, puts up his arms for liam to pick him up. "to the moon?"

"and back," liam confirms, cradling his sweet boy in his arms. when he looks over to check, teddy is out cold. "to the moon and back a million times."

"i love you that much, too," flynn whispers, no longer worried about liam's feelings towards him. liam tucks him back into bed, kisses his forehead.

"was i too hard on flynn earlier?" he asks niall when he gets back to their bedroom. "he just asked me if i hated him...i just --" he cuts himself off, and when he looks up at niall, niall is astonished to see that his eyes are full of tears. "i love our kids so much, niall, and the thought that one of them could ever think i could hate them...i just didn't want him to get lost! i didn't even realize he was sneaking off until zayn said something!"

"whoa, love, whoa, calm down. look at me," niall says quickly, cupping liam's face in his hands. "slow down, liam. deep breaths." liam tries to slow his breathing, but all he can think is that his kids don't know how much he loves them. "liam, flynn knows how much you love him. there's no way he could think otherwise. we haven't had to be very stern with them the whole time they've been living with us. they've been little angels. it makes sense that you'd react that way if one our kiddos could've gotten lost!" liam still looks unsure, so niall continues. "liam, we're gonna mess up. everything isn't gonna be perfect. but we love our kids. we adore them and we want to treat them well. that's all we can do."

liam nestles his face into niall's neck. "you always know what to say."

niall just wraps his arms around him. "i just love you. a disgusting amount."

liam laughs, and niall feels it against his skin. "god, i love you, too."