Clarity « Niam

Chapter 22

"Daddy, come me." Aybrum giggled, scrawling back into his hiding space and covered his mouth with both hands so Liam couldn't hear his giddy laughter.

Liam uncovered his eyes, "Ready or not, here I come." He started looking around the toddlers bedroom, pulling open drawers, cubby doors and checked the bottom of the hamper.

Aybrum giggled from his hiding spot, watching Liam look in all the wrong places.

"Where are you, bud? Are you even in here?" Liam mumbled towards the end, slightly panicking that he managed to loose his son during the half hour Niall's left them alone.

He started pulling the blankets off the crib, checking under and in absolutely everything.

"No, no! Daddy, no!" Aybrum squealed, crawling out from behind the wardrobe and tried to stop Liam from opening the bottom drawer of the stand beside his crib.

Liam fell over on his butt, having been squatting down when Aybrum appeared out of nowhere and knocked him down.

"What? What's in there that you don't want me seeing?" He sat back on his heels once he'd gotten up, giving the toddler a curious eyebrow raise.

Aybrum wiggled his way in between Liam and the drawer, shrugging his shoulders. "I potty, daddy. Go me." He tried, wanting to distract the adult into forgetting.

Liam smiled, scooping Aybrum up and sat him down on his lap before he opened the drawer. "Aybrum James Payne, you naughty little sneak." He playfully scolded, seeing that the drawer was packed full with an assortment of sweets that Aybrum had most likely nicked when Niall was otherwise occupied.

His cheeks flushed before he turned and buried his guilty face against Liam's chest, "No, bubba."

"I won't tell anyone, bud. It can be our little secret." Liam smiled, grabbing one of the mint chocolate sweets. "But, you have to share your stash with me."

Aybrum shook his head, looking up at him with puppy eyes as he watched Liam unwrap the chocolately sweet. "Daddy." He whimpered, opening his mouth for the chocolate.

Liam bit half the sweet, plopping the second half into Aybrum's awaiting mouth and kissed his forehead. "That must be how everyone feels when I make that ridiculously pitiful face." He mumbled to himself, commenting on the expression Aybrum had just used on him because Liam makes that exact face from time to time.

"Peanut? Liam? Where are you guys?" Niall voice questioned from somewhere in the flat.

The two exchanged a look, not realizing Niall had came home and Aybrum jumped up to slam the drawer shut and quickly sat back down in Liam's lap.

"Shh, daddy." He whispered, looking up at him with a deer in the headlights expression and snapped his gaze towards the bedroom door when it started to open.

"Aybrum, are you -" Niall walked in, spotting them on the floor by the crib together. "Oh, there you both are. I've been home long enough to put groceries away and I didn't hear a single peep, I thought you might of been out somewhere until I noticed nobodies shoes or jackets were gone."

Liam tactfully stood up with the toddler, keeping his forearm across his stomach and placed his opposite arm under Aybrum's bum - creating a seat for him. "We were playing hide-n-seek, Aybrum won."

He looked at them suspiciously for a couple more seconds, eyeing them both. "Well okay, but it's this little ones nap time and I'm sure you need to get ahold of your lawyer."

"Bollocks, yeah I do." Liam kissed Aybrum's temple before he handed him off to Niall and dug his phone from his sweatpants pocket.

"Daddy?" Aybrum whimpered, thinking he was leaving already and started to swell with salty tears.