"We're The Paylinsons!"

1.

Forty-five more minutes. Only forty-more soulless minutes. 

Cooped up in his small office cubicle, it was next to impossible for Liam to hate his job more than he already did. From 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Liam worked his shift as an intern and he could profoundly say that those eight hours of work were more like six hours of pure hell. Liam had always thought he’d wind up being something spectacular. Like a world renowned doctor, a CEO of a booming cooperation or a head of state! 

Okay, maybe a head of state was too spectacular. But lucky him, he wound up being an intern. 

Nonetheless, as much as Liam loathed his job, Liam was more than happy to be able to put food on the table for his family he loved ‘oh-so’ much. Liam gazed profoundly at the picture of his husband Louis on his desk. He had their first born Zayn in the bath, staring down lovingly at their little bundle of joy. Now Zayn had turned seven last month and was much too ‘old’ for that stuff. Incidentally, Zayn would never openly admit it, but he could never turn down a cuddle from either Louis nor Liam. It was funny because, his other kids, Niall and Harry would throw a fit if their Daddy or Papa had forgotten to tuck them or kiss them goodbye before they went off to school. 

 Liam couldn’t help but smile. 

At times, Liam found himself envying Louis. After all, he got to stay at home whilst Liam had to work relentlessly hours in this dingy office. Louis got to spend more time with the kids whilst Liam at the most could fit in about three or four hours of quality time a day.

Taking a look at the clock, Liam counted down thirty more minutes. Just thirty more minutes until he could kiss his office cubicle ‘goodbye’ for the week.

. . .

Louis felt like dying.

Niall, his one and half year old son had come down with a terrible cold. He was hacking and sneezing everywhere. Surely, Louis didn’t mind that. What he did mind was that when Louis would lay him down to rest, minutes later Niall would be wailing out for him. 

“Papa!” Niall screamed. “Papa!”

Louis threw his head back on the couch and inwardly screamed. Liam had it easy, he didn’t have to wait on this kid’s hand and foot nearly every day. Letting out an exaggerated sighed, Louis got up and off the couch, making his way to his son’s room. 

"Yes, babes?” Louis cooed. 

Niall grasped his crib bars for dear life and with all his strength stood up on two very wobbly feet. 

Daringly, Niall lifted one hand off the bar and motioned for his Papa to come over and pick him up. “Up Papa.”

Even as exhausted and fed up as he was, Louis plucked Niall from his crib and wearily smiled when Niall nuzzled his nose in to the crook of his neck. He swayed Niall two and fro, humming a melodic tune in his ear as Niall little by lit nodded off. Louis takes a seat on the mahogany wicket chair which was placed convinently in the far corner of Niall’s room. He smoothens his pale blonde hair down, cooing as Niall lets out little muffled snores.

Minutes later the door bell sounds off in the distance. Must be the boys, Louis thinks to himself. Whilst balancing a drowsy Niall on his hip, Louis makes his way to the front door and is greeted by two beaming boys, his seven year-old son Zayn and his four year-old son Harry.

"Hi, Papa.” Zayn enters the house with his little brother Harry, following close behind. He motions for his father to lean down and proceeds to place a soft peck on his cheek. 

 “We played house today, Papa! I was the dog.” Harry boasts.

Louis smiles down at him. “I’m sure, that must’ve been very nice.” 

Then, something sparks Louis' attention. Harry had seemingly snipped the laces off of his new shoes. 

"Harry, what happened to your shoes?" Louis sighed. 

"I forgot how to tie 'em, Papa!" Harry clutched his stomach in fits of laughter as if it was the funniest thing in the world. He certainly wouldn't be laughing if he had had to cough up fourty quid just for them. 

"Take them off so we can toss them in bin." Louis coaxed. "And count your lucky stars that Daddy hadn't seen you in them." 

That shut Harry right up. He knew exactly what Liam would have done had he seen Harry's laces cut off. 

“Oh Papa.” Zayn says. “I need help with my maths, can you help me?” 

“Of course, babes. Let me just go put down Ni, alright?” 

Harry roughly tugs on Louis' leg. "And when you’re done with Niall, Papa, I can tell you all about my day at school!” 

Zayn butts in. “Oh! That reminds me, we learnt how to spell the word ‘understanding’. It is a VERY big word, Papa.” 

Clearing his throat, Zayn begins to sound off the first letter of the word, but Louis cuts him short. 

“That’s lovely, Zee and I would love to hear it.” Louis reassures. “But, could you just wait a little while?” 

He nods his head vigorously and flashes his Papa a toothy smile. “Ok!” 

Louis wearily grins. I’m in for one hell of a night, he thinks. 

. . . 

Liam wishes he had the money for a lot of things, but Liam specifically wishes he had enough money for a car as he hated having to take the tube to and from work. Much like his job, there wasn’t a thing about taking the tube that he didn’t hate. 

As of now, Liam is stuck on said tube in-between an elderly woman who looks rather too posh to be on here and a man who quite possibly needs to invest in some deodorant. So these are Liam’s circumstances, they could be worse, they could be better. Liam will just have to suck it up for the time being. 

He takes a quick glance at his phone, the time reads 5:57 PM and he’s got one text from Louis. 

‘will u b home soon?’

Liam quickly types his reply and hits send. 

‘yea babes’

Within seconds, Louis had sent one back. 

‘brill, the boys wont stop roughhousing” 

Chuckling, Liam types his response. 

‘nothing my hand cant solve’ 

The train comes to an abrupt halt causing Liam to jolt forward and absent-mindedly thump the elderly woman in the back. She gives him a dirty glare and Liam responds with a sheepish smile. As Liam is meandering his way through the bustling tube station crowd, his phone buzzes deep inside his pants pockets. 

‘ive sat harry & zayn in timeout now, doin sme colorin with nialler now.  i have everything under control’ 

He shook his head, Louis was a total pushover. 

‘sure you do’