Clarity « Niam

Chapter 1

"Aybrum James Payne, what do you think you're doing?" Niall scolded halfheardly, trying to contain his smile and play the tough parent role.

The toddler looked at him innocently, acting like he wasn't covered head to toe in baby powder and that he hadn't been the one to spread it all across his carpeted bedroom floor. Because even the one year old knew that when his daddy said his full name, he was most definitely in trouble.

He sat down on the floor and looked down at his powdery toes, poking at them silently.

Niall squatted down in front of him, gently tilting his face up towards him and tried to catch his wandering eyes. "Aybrum, look at me, please."

The toddler avoided his eyes for a couple more seconds, giving up when he realized there was no way to avoid this because daddy knows he's been naughty and got into things they both knew he wasn't supposed to play with.

He brushed some of the powder from the toddlers face, keeping it from getting in his eyes. "I'm not mad, Aybrum. But you know you aren't supposed to play in your changing cupboard, because now you've wrecked your bedroom."

Aybrum stared at him, absorbing only a small portion of what his daddy was trying to explain to him. Which Niall knew, but Aybrum was at that age where you needed to explain things fully anyways or they'd never pick up on what's considered wrong and right.

Plus, the toddler has a limited vocabulary seeing as he's only just started talking - his favourite words being, "no" and "bubba".

"You're getting two minutes in time out and then a bath to get you cleaned up, okay." Niall smiled at him as he lifted him up, brushing off some excess powder in the process. "I still love you lots though, peanut. But you need to be a good boy."

"No." Aybrum mumbled against Niall's shoulder, hiding his face and reverted back to sucking on his thumb.

He rubbed his back as he carried him, "Yes, peanut. I'll come get you when your time is up, I'm going to go clean your bedroom up."

Niall set him down on the small faded yellow chair, turning the dial on the timer and went down the hall again. Only he ended up poking his head around the corner to make sure Aybrum was actually going to stay seated, which surprisingly he had.

The toddler was sitting silently with his hands in his lap as he twisted his fingers around and around. Niall smiled when Aybrum sighed, huffing out an overly dramatic big breath and flopped back against the chair completely and slouched defeatedly.

Niall had only got as far as stripping Aybrum's bedding and collecting his powdery race car mat when he heard the toddler shouting for him, which meant his two minutes were up.

"Do you want to listen to the radio whilst you take a bath, huh - maybe they'll play that song you love so much." Niall cooed as he placed Aybrum into the warm bath, handing him a toy to play with so he could switch on the small radio he kept on the shelf.

Aybrum's always loved music, even when Niall was pregnant with him, he could feel him moving like crazy whenever he played upbeat music. Nothing is different now, only Aybrum has the freedom to bounce around and wiggle his bum like he does whenever he hears any type of music.

Lately his favourite has been, Girls by The 1975, he hops around like crazy whenever Radio 1 plays it.

He nodded, understanding what his daddy was suggesting to him and smiled when he heard the music playing from the small radio. Aybrum flapped his arms around, splashing water everywhere and bobbed his head.

Niall froze for a second, trying to convince himself that the song that was playing wasn't actually playing. But sure enough, he heard that familiar voice and switched it off quickly.

"Bubba!" Aybrum squealed in protest, upset daddy had turned off the lovely music. "No."

He looked at the toddler in the bath, staring at his features and was hit with nostalgia because Aybrum has a lot of his fathers features and Niall tends to forget about that seemingly major detail. He's tried so hard to forget, that he never realized the truth was staring him in the face on a daily basis.

Aybrum was a reminder of the past.

Niall swallowed the dryness in his mouth, blinking a couple times and forced a smile. "Sorry peanut, daddies finger slipped." He switched it back on, relieved the song was over and it was just the dj talking.

He went back to helping Aybrum clean the powder off his body, giving him a thorough washing because Aybrum had managed to get every last inch of his little body covered with baby powder.

After a good ten minutes of washing Aybrum, Niall sat back on his heels and let the toddler play with the bubbles and a couple toys. Mostly because he was trying to listen to what exactly the dj was talking about, he'd been babbling on about something for awhile now and curiosity had gotten the best of him.

'International boy band member, Liam Payne is trying to reconnect with an old boyfriend. Insiders say, Payne has been talking nonstop about a bloke the last couple months and he's clearly smitten.

One Direction have recently started their 2014 tour and it's reported Payne has flown back to the UK, and won't be returning to tour until he's found the lucky bloke.

If Payne's willing to abandon fans for an ex boyfriend, what's the fate of One Direction as a whole? If Payne doesn't find this mystery ex, will One Direction be forced -'

Niall got up and switched it off, telling Aybrum they weren't going to play anymore music and that it was time to get out of the bath.

But really, Niall couldn't handle hearing those lies anymore. Not to mention, he knew exactly who Liam Payne was looking for.

Him.
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(authors note: apologies on how terrible this is, I wrote numerous "intros" and this was the best. Again, I'm so sorry.

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