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Niall is not the most popular kid in school.
Actually, Niall might as well be deemed the loser of the school. Niall didn’t really understand it at first, he thought he was a pretty nice guy and his 14 year old mind couldn’t really understand the words that were constantly being thrown at him.
Well, Niall was 15 now, nearing 16, and he understood why the other kids didn’t like him. He was a fag. He was a fag, just like his dads, except he was ugly and he had braces and he just wasn’t like everyone else.
Now that everyone in his year was a year older, the name-calling had recently turned into something much more violent and cruel. The other boys in his grade and the older boys on the school footie team had started to physically attack Niall, sometimes harshly shoving him against the lockers and other times punching and kicking him until he was a sobbing mess on the floor.
Niall had gotten used to it. He learned how to put on a brave face around his peers and teachers and he learned how to act normal around his dads. Of course, Daddy Liam and Papa Louis noticed a difference, but they brushed it off, blaming the entire ordeal on teenage angst and puberty. It wasn’t that they didn’t care— it’s just that Liam had been working really hard on his newest film score and Louis was on his way to becoming a Preschool teacher now that Niall had grown up a little bit.
Plus Niall was really really good at pretending he was okay.
Usually, the physical effect of the bullying wasn’t hard to hide. Luckily, Niall’s tormentors were usually pretty precise in their placement and didn’t leave many visible bruises.
Today was different.
Today, Niall was riding on the underground, his usual transportation home. Only this time, he had a large bruise spanning from the underside of his jaw up around to his left cheekbone. He also had a small purple bruise surrounding his left eye. Not to mention he was two hours late.
His school let out at three o’clock, but today the older guys from the football team had caught up to him against the back of the school. “Caught up” meaning they gave him the worst beating of his life, spitting out words like “fairy” and “cock-sucker”.
Niall had woken up hours later, nose bleeding onto the cold concrete ground. It had taken him a few to shakily get up and then waddle his way to the underground.
He rested his head against his knees, sitting on the subway along with a few other people. He tried to ignore the pointed glances people were giving to him, and he desperately hoped that the bullies hadn’t done too much visible damage. Niall looked up at the map, he had 3 more stops. He could rest for a little while and get away with it, right?
Niall shrugged to himself, his injured and possibly concussed head decided for itself, ‘I’ll be fine.’ he thought lazily as he slipped his eyes closed.
* * * *
Zayn isn’t much of a people watcher, but when cute blonde boys drag themselves onto the subway with bruises around their faces, he gets a bit curious.
Now, Zayn is used to bruises. Zayn is used to violence and pain, obviously, his piercings, tattoos, and scars could tell anyone that. He just is used to it around his crowd. You know, the scary, bearded, ‘maybe we should cross the road before he walks our way' kind of men that carry knives and rob corner stores for cheap beer and a pack of fags.
Zayn just isn’t used to seeing fluffy, absolutely innocent kids looking like they just walked out of the loosing side of a bar fight. I mean, this kid was practically the epitome of a living angel. All blue eyes and blonde hair, tiny and skinny. Zayn watched as the boy slowly awoke from his rest, and almost had a heart attack when the boy bolted up, muttering something like “oh shoot, crap, s-s-shoot!”
Zayn stifled a laugh, gathering that the boy must’ve missed his stop. Zayn’s eyes drifted to the map and shuddered, hoping the boy would be smart and just stay on the tube until it returned back to his stop. This was not a part of town this type of boy would want to find himself in.
Zayn watches, almost helplessly as the boy bolts off the subway when it docks. Zayn bites his lip, tapping his foot impatiently. He rolls his eyes and mutters, “Shit,” violently as he realizes he just can’t let this kid go out in fucking Islington on his own.
Zayn jogs, trying his best to keep up with the bobbing head of blonde hair.
* * * *
Niall quickly learns that he has made a horrible mistake.
He doesn’t know what the hell Islington is and he doesn’t understand why there aren’t any taxis around. Niall’s plan had been to quickly make his way to the street, grab a taxi and get home before his parents noticed he was gone. Honestly, he was surprised that his parents hadn’t called or even texted yet, but his dads had been really busy lately and Niall didn’t really seem to be their number one priority anymore. But it was dark and nearing dinner time, they had to have noticed by now. Niall banged his hand against his phone lightly, wondering if maybe it’s broken. Not that Niall cared too much, he understood why they wouldn’t want to spend time with him.
But of course, Niall was an idiot, so of course he chose the one place in all of London that doesn’t have constant a taxi-flow. In fact, there was absolutely no traffic here in Islington. There wasn’t much of anything. Niall suddenly realized that maybe the boarded up shops and graffitied walls probably weren’t the best indicators. The people here were all wearing baggy clothing, either smoking a cigarette or holding a bottle of something in a paper bag. Niall felt himself tense up as he began to sense the stares he was getting.
Niall knew the feeling of not belonging all too well.
Slowly, Niall began to back away, trying to make his way towards the underground’s stairs as quickly as possible.
"Oi, blondie, where do you think you’re going?" A gravely, thickly accented voice called.
Niall froze in his steps, turning slowly, trying to steady his breathing.
"Um-" Niall tried, not exactly knowing what to say.
"A bit, lost, hm?" The man asks, and now Niall can see that he’s older, maybe in his late 30’s. He’s got a 5 o’clock shadow and dark eyes, and suddenly he’s close enough that Niall can tell he smells like whiskey. Niall, terrified, only nods.
The man is grinning at him with some glint in his eye, and Niall wants to run. Niall thinks about it, but the man is flanked by two others, each looking even bigger than the boys at his school. “An’ injured too? Tell ya what, cutie, ya come home wit’ me and I’ll make ya feel all better, yea?” He slurs, and Niall takes an immediate step back.
"Sorry- uh, Sir, but I really need to get home." Niall stutters, attempting to turn around but the man grabs his arm, holding Niall to him by his shirt color, making Niall’s coat ride up as he balanced on his tip toes to keep from choking.
"Nah, I don’ think ya understand. You’re on mah territory, see? I’m thinkin’ that in return for not feeding ya to these dogs," the man tips his head to the men behind him. "ya owe me somethin’." He says, gritting his teeth.
Niall opens his mouth, maybe to cry out help, when a strong arm grabs him from around the waist and pulls him into a rock hard chest. He whimpers loudly, desperately trying to calm his racing heart.
"He’s with me, Roger.” The man behind me growls. Niall glances down to see a heavily tattooed arm and tries to crane his neck to see the man’s face but his other arm goes to push Niall’s head back down. “Behave.” The man growls, just loud enough for the other man to hear. He flinches and decides to submit to the man, because Niall was pretty sure this guy was saving him.
The other man, Roger, narrows his eyes. “Zayn fuckin’ Malik? What the bloody hell are ya doin’ here?” He asks.
'Zayn' responds, tightening his arm around Niall's waist. “Collecting what's mine.” He says, and Niall watches Roger and his men slowly start to back off.
"Why should I let ya? Hm? He looks like a pretty good lay, yea?" Roger says and ‘Zayn pushes the blonde behind him slightly, and Niall gets a good view of a muscled set of broad shoulders hidden beneath a white tee shirt. Niall’s eyes widened as they traveled along the other man’s body. His hair was jet black, pushed into a seemingly perfect quiff. The ripped up, black skinny jeans adorning his legs fit perfectly. Niall was downright stunned.
"Everyone knows I could destroy you, Roger. You don’t want me to do that, yeah?" Zayn snarls, backing off a bit when Roger and his men raise their hands in defeat. "Then stay the fuck away from what’s mine." Zayn spits, draping a heavy arm over Niall's shoulder and dragging him down the stairs of the underground.
The second they arrive in front of the platform, ‘Zayn’ grabs Niall by the shoulders with large plams, finally letting the blonde get a complete look at his face.
He’s perfect.
He has amber eyes, surrounded by long, thick lashes and beautifully defined cheekbones. He has a scattering of stubble running along his jaw and he’s got several piercings in his ears and one through his eyebrow and his tattoos are everywhere and Niall is in love.
Yeah.
Niall lets out a heavy breath and returns his eyes to the man’s sputtering, “W-what?” as he realizes he was asked a question.
The man’s eyes stay serious, “Are you alright? This is important, c’mon. Can you tell me your name? Do you need anything to eat or something? Jesus, you’re pale.”
Niall realizes, suddenly, that he’s worried that Niall’ll go into shock. “I’m okay! I’m okay. My name is Niall Tomlinson-Payne and I’m always like this.” He says, his words merging together as he talks quickly.
The man manages to give him a smile, even though Niall can tell he’s still a bit worried. “Alright Niall. I’m Zayn Malik.” He says and Niall nods, almost mesmerized by the other’s beauty.
Thankfully, the train comes before things can get too awkward and Niall can’t even make himself ask where they’re going. He doesn’t even know what to say to the man that sav-
"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Niall blurts suddenly, Just as Zayn sits him down in the chair in front of the place he’s standing. "That man— he was going to— oh god— and you stopped him! Thank you so- Oh my god—" Niall falters.
"There it is." Zayn mutters as Niall stands and wraps his arms around Zayn’s neck, sobbing into his chest painfully. Zayn stands awkwardly for a second, trying to remember the last time someone hugged him, before remembering how to recuperate and wrapping his arms securely around the smaller boy’s waist and mumbling soothing words. Zayn’s glad that there aren’t many people to witness this. Niall’s legs eventually seem to give out and Zayn’s forced to sit him down in the chair, but Niall just won’t let go and Zayn’s forced to sit in the chair with Niall sitting in his lap and then Zayn’s baffled as he realizes that he really doesn’t mind.
He doesn’t even ask the boy to move until they arrive at their stop and he asks the boy if he can on his own. Niall just nods solemnly, looking like he desperately wanted to stay in the other’s embrace but didn’t want to be a bother.
Niall followed Zayn dutifully as Zayn led him the 3 blocks it took to get to his small studio apartment building. He stopped at the garage next to the building, punching in his code. He turned, a tiny bit asking the timid boy, “So, where do you live?”
Zayn watched as the boy checked his phone and watched as the boy’s entire stature deflated. “Um. Thank you— really— so much, for everything, but I don’t need a ride home. Thanks though.” Niall said, leaning in to give Zayn another cuddly hug and breaking away to walk down the street.
Zayn watched, absolutely astonished. “No! Hey wait!” He called, jogging after the boy for the second time that day. “Let me walk you home at least, or something, I can’t just… I can’t let you walk away like this, c’mon.” He pleads. Zayn isn’t about to let this boy just walk out of his life.
Niall stops in his tracks, turning to the older man. “I— I’m not going home. I don’t know.”
"Then stay with me." The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them.
The bruised boy’s eyes finally meet Zayn’s. “Really?” He asks, rocking back and forth on his heels.
Zayn nods, not trusting his voice quite yet.
* * * *
The two decide on grilled cheese for dinner. Zayn grins as he cooks, listening to Niall’s pointless rambling and he realizes that maybe he’s actually been lonely for these past few years he spent in solitude. Niall is basically living sunshine. He talks about his dog at home, an oversized, orange-tinted husky named Ed and he talks about his guitar. When Zayn asks about his family, Niall gets a foggy look in his eyes, and mumbles that he had two dads, both of which work a lot. Zayn’s eyes flicker towards his bruises and his hand tightens around his spatula as he wonders if either of Niall’s dad’s believe in “tough love”.
Zayn finishes the grilled cheeses quick enough and asks Niall if he wanted a beer.
Niall’s eyes are wide when Zayn turns, but Niall tries to act cool as he answers, “Yeah, totally.”
Zayn wonders fleetingly if he’s giving alcohol to a minor. (He also wonders if he’s actually crushing on a minor too, but he’d never admit to that)
After dinner, Niall’s already a bit tipsy and Zayn knows for sure that this was his first beer, if the boy’s constant choking and acrid faces didn’t give it away, then his toleration certainly did. A few minutes after dinner, Zayn offers Niall some pajamas to sleep in, and Niall agrees but tells Zayn he isn’t ready to sleep. Zayn just laughes and hands the boy joggers and an old tee. He then leaves the room and sits on the couch, turning the TV on to some cheesy chick flick.
Zayn sputters loudly when Niall comes out of Zayn’s own bedroom wearing nothing but Zayn’s ratty old tee shirt, green shamrock boxer briefs and a pair of warm socks.
Niall laughes it off, probably not understand why Zayn is literally dying, and he immediately crawls up into Zayn’s arms and cuddles in close. Zayn wonders if this is because they’ve just grown close very quickly or if the boy is like this with everyone.
(He secretly hopes that it’s just him)
* * * *
Niall doesn’t know what to make of the feelings he’s having towards Zayn. Zayn is attractive. Zayn had taken his shirt off before and well, yeah, Niall always knew that he liked boys, ever since his parents clarified that he had a choice. But there’s something about Zayn that just sparks something within him that aches. Niall sits, tucked underneath Zayn’s arm, inhaling his scent and just imagining what it would be like to kiss Zayn. He wonders if Zayn would hold his hand or if Zayn even liked boys at all. Niall wondered and wondered, feeling his ache being to hurt more and more, all centered around his lower zone.
And Niall guesses that this certain ache is one that shows because…
"Erm- Niall?" Zayn stutters, his breath catching. "You have a- uh…" He trails off, his eyes centered on Niall’s now prominently hard member.
Niall’s eyes trailed down to where Zayn was pointing. His eyes met Zayn’s and Zayn was taken aback to see tears, “I’m sorry! I don’t know how to make it go away!” He cries, pulling away from the older boy. Zayn’s eyes widen because how innocent can this kid be?
”You- you don’t know how to deal with a boner?” He asks, trying to keep his gaze away from Niall’s hard on and his perfectly parted, pink lips.
Niall shook his head sadly, almost whimpering. “It hurts, Zaynie.”
Zayn groans out loud this time. “Does it, baby?” He asks, pressing himself closer to the younger boy. “Why does it hurt, sweetheart? Were you thinking about somethin’? Somethin’ naughty?” Zayn asks, his voice raspy and rough and what the hell is he doing?
Niall moans as Zayn brushes his hand lightly against the bulging fabric of Niall’s boxer briefs. “Yea…” Niall pants, “Thinkin’ about you.” He says, and fuck, Zayn’s gone.
"You want me to fix it, baby? Want daddy to fix it?" Zayn asks, and wow he’s never been a kinky person before.
Zayn’s prepared to worry about it, until Niall full out whines, pushing his lower body up, trying to get some friction. “Yea, daddy, daddy, please, help.”
Zayn pushes the young boy against the couch’s armrest, pushing his own tee up the boys chest, his hands resting around the boy’s tiny body. He drags his lips up his slightly pudgy stomach and across his chest, meeting Niall’s softly at first.
Niall mewls into Zayn’s mouth and Zayn can’t hold himself back anymore, pressing his tongue against Niall’s bottom lip and dragging it along the younger boys small mouth. The word ‘minor’ drifts in and out his mind fleetingly but he forgets it the minute Niall moans.
Zayn breaks away from the younger boy, breathing hard and simpering and they haven’t even touched each other yet. Zayn’s ready to go back to kissing to his boy, fingers already threaded in the blonde hair he adores when Niall’s hands drag across Zayn’s own hardening dick.
Zayn groans, “Fuck, princess.” and Niall giggles.
He fucking giggles, asking with a sweet tone, “Can i see it?” and he’s blushing and Zayn immediately complies.
He shimmies out of his tight jeans, and hisses as his dick is suddenly on full display. Niall mouth drops open and fucking fuck, Zayn wants to fuck it.
"It’s so big, daddy." Niall says in a small voice and Zayn just can’t anymore. "Won’t fit."
Zayn growls, “Eventually, baby.” And he means it.
Niall shuffles closer, his flat chest bare and he clambers onto Zayn’s lap, “What you want me to do, daddy?”
Zayn attacks Niall’s throat, biting marks into the pure, unadulterated skin and licking them over. Niall moans, tipping his head back and gripping onto Zayn’s back.
Zayn pulls back, proudly glancing over his marks, whispering against his boy’s ear hotly, “Wanna suck daddy, princess?”
Niall nods, loving the feel of the rough stubble dragging against his face. Zayn slowly lets the boy go and Niall finds his place between Zayn’s legs. Niall whines, beginning to touch himself through the fabric of his underwear and Zayn snaps at him, “No touching yourself! Only bad boys touch themselves. You’re not a bad boy, now are you baby?” Zayn asks, his chest filling with something when Niall shakes his head vehemently. Zayn slides his hand down Nialls briefs, grabbing the boys considerably smaller shaft and placing it so it placed comfortably between the boys own stomach and his underwear, only the head peeking out. Niall keens, loud and wanting. Zayn coaxes the boy slowly. “Just don’t use your teeth. Put your mouth on all you can, baby boy.” Niall slowly opens his mouth, blushing fiercely as he meets Zayn’s eyes. Niall kitten licks at Zayn’s impossibly stiff member, making the tattooed boy loose his breath. “Fuck, princess, just like that.”
Niall, spurred on by the older boys encouragement, wraps his small mouth around the head, running his along it as he started to move his mouth up and down. Zayn’s hand found its eay to the back of Niall’s head, guiding the younger boy along with his thrusts, fucking into the boy’s mouth as well as he could without hurting him. Every now and then Niall would let out a quiet gag, and then Zayn would meet his innocent, watering eyes and absolutely loose it. “Good boy, Niall, such a good boy for daddy.” Comments like that made Niall crazy, and Zayn could see him trying not to come too early. By the time Zayn got close, Niall was rutting up against his leg like a dog in heat. Zayn gripped Niall’s chin in his free hand and forced the boy’s eyes to meet his own. “Come for me, baby boy, come for daddy.” And Niall looses everything, whimpering out a loud “daddy” around Zayn’s cock, coloring his own chest white.
The sight of his baby boy absolutely loosing himself for what was probably the first time, made Zayn loose it, much sooner than he usually did, spilling his seed down Niall’s throat. Niall choked a little, but swallowed what he could, the rest spilling over and covering his chin. Zayn heaves out a large breath, wanting so badly to take a picture of his dirty boy, but instead brings his hand to wipe what he can onto his fingers and replacing his now softening dick with his fingers, reveling in the fact that Niall licked it all off.
There’s a single moment where the two just sit in the aftermath of their ecstasy, before Zayn picks up the dirty boy and brings the barely conscious boy into the bathroom to clean up. After running a warm washcloth over the both of them, Zayn lays the boy in bed, cuddling in close next to him and holding him close, trying not to worry about the fact that he probably just broke the law.
* * * *
Louis Tomlinson-Payne likes to think that he’s a good father. But when he goes to wake up his son, only to realize that his son isn’t in bed, he realizes how wrong he may have been in his thinking.
At first, he tries to justify it, maybe he woke up early to take a shower? ?Well, there’s no running water. Maybe he went to school early? your baby, Niall? Going to school early?
Louis suddenly can’t even remember seeing Niall the day before. His heart stops for a moment as he tries to recall the day before, not remembering anything but working and working and working. Liam had worked late, and he hadn’t come in until Louis had long since gone to bed. Louis himself had had and exam due at midnight, so he locked himself up in his room, leaving a note for Niall on the fridge, giving instructions for dinner and explaining the situation.
Louis grips the door of his son’s bedroom tighter and tighter as he tries over and over again to remember any indication he may have gotten that Niall was home. Hell, did he even text him yesterday?
Louis feels the anxiety building in his chest and he lets out a loose scream of “Liam!”
By the time Liam sprints to his husband, Louis is having a full fledged panic attack, not able to explain anything other than a wheezed out “Niall.”
* * * *
If there’s one thing Liam Payne cares about in this world, it’s his family. Yes, music is a very important element of his life, and it always has been. But when it comes to Louis and Niall— Liam would do anything for the two.
So when 1/2 of his family is having a panic attack over something having to do with the other 1/2, Liam is bound to be freaked out. Liam peeks his head through Niall’s door, not understanding when his son isn’t anywhere to be found.
"Louis, Louis, I need you to breathe with me, alright? Come on, 1, 2, 3. You have to tell me what’s happening with Niall, so I can fix it, alright?" Liam says soothingly, having dealt with Louis— and Niall’s— panic attacks before.
After a few moments, Liam gets Louis calmed down and Louis explains to him. “I can’t find Niall anywhere and— God, Liam, I can’t even remember seeing him yesterday. I don’t even know if he came home yesterday, oh my god, Liam, where is he? Oh my god, my baby could be out— our baby, Liam! He’s gone! I lost him! Our baby—”
"Louis, Louis," Liam whispers, hoping that Louis won’t be able to sense his fear that way. "I know he will always be our baby, alright, but he’s a smart boy. He can fend for himself, Louis, yeah? We taught him well."
"He still wets the bed, Liam!"
Liam sighs, “How could this have happened, why didn’t we text him?” Liam asks, wanting to kick himself.
Louis shakes his head, resting it against Liam’s shoulder. “We work too much. That’s what this is, Liam, Niall is gone because we work too much— Oh my god… oh my god.”
Liam grabs his phone. “it’s alright. I’ll just call him, okay, it’ll be fine.”
* * * *
Zayn isn’t quite sure when he became a giant softy but it must’ve been the exact moment when this stupid, adorable, perfect little blonde boy stumbled into his life.
The morning wasn’t nearly as awkward as Zayn had expected. Niall woke up before him, and Zayn woke up to an excited boy with love-hearts in his eyes, gazing up at him like he hung the moon. Maybe Zayn would be scared of having a kid this kind of connection with him— but maybe Zayn had a weird connection with the kid too.
Taking Niall home wasn’t something Zayn was looking forward to. As he suspected, Niall lived in one of the richest parts of London. Zayn wasn’t sure how the neighbors— or even worse, his parents— would feel about Niall arriving on his Kawasaki Ninja 300 motorcycle. Zayn had handed the boy a helmet, and reved his engine. He tried to ignore how adorable Niall’s excitement over the bike was, but he couldn’t and ended up kissing his forehead sweetly before pushing the helmet over the boy’s adorable bed-head.
The ride wasn’t long, and when they pull up to a large neighborhood, with a gated community sign that Niall had to sign into, Zayn realized that he could possibly be seeing Niall for the last time. Niall seemed to be thinking the same think, tightening his arms around Zayn’s waist and burying his face in Zayn’s back.
Niall tells Zayn to stop as they hit a huge house, a stoney craftsman style home with a nice mailbox prominently stating “221 Tomlinson-Payne residence"
Zayn pulled his helmet off, trying to ignore the several curtains he can see fluttering, opening and closing quickly all around the neighborhood.
Niall takes his helmet off and hands it to Zayn hesitantly. “Thank you so much, Zayn, for everything.” Niall says and are his eyes watering? And is he walking away? What-
"What do you think you’re doing?" Zayn hollers, and Niall turns quickly, tears nearly falling from his eyes. Zayn doesn’t say anything more, he just simply opens his arms, completely ready when Niall flies into his arms, tears leaking into Zayn’s shirt. "Hey, no need to cry sweetheart. I put my number into your phone, and you can call me or text me all the time." Zayn soothes as he glances at the house warily, "Whenever, for whatever reason." He says, pulling the small boy back and brushing his finger along the bruise on his jaw. "Especially if this ever happens again, alright?" Zayn asks, wiping the tears from Niall’s cheeks and the blonde sniffles and nods, a small smile on his face. "Alright, princess." Zayn says, and something about that name makes Niall grin and hop up to his tip toes, kissing Zayn softly, letting Zayn take control moments later, gripping the younger’s waist tightly. The two pull away at the sound of Niall’s phone buzzing.
Niall only gets to look at the phone for a second before the two hear the nearby front door opening and slamming shut. “Niall!” Two worried, loud voices yell from across the lawn. and suddenly two, tired and overworked-looking parents are on top of Niall, basically suffocating him with attention.
Louis is holding his son impossibly tight, tears in his eyes and Zayn can see where Niall got his emotional side. Louis is apologizing over and over again and Zayn has a small smile on his face at the display of love between the father and son just before he realizes that the second father is there too, brushing his hand through Nialls hair and just as he’s about to embrace his son, both fathers see Niall’s face.
* * * *
Niall knew that his face still had some bruising. He had seen it this morning, the faded purple around his eye and the brownish-yellow of the one around his jaw weren’t the ugliest things in the world. It still made him wonder what the hell Zayn saw in him last night.
No no don’t think of that in front of your parents.
"Niall, what the hell happened to your face, darling?" Louis gasps, reaching out to touch his son’s usually smooth face. Niall flinches slightly, not having been prepared for this explanation.
"Um…"
Liam, stepped in a bit closer, always the enforcer of the two. “Niall…” He muttered suspiciously, looking at Zayn as if Zayn had something to do with Niall’s bruising. Kind of like how Zayn was looking at Liam.
Niall sighs, trying to act like they had caught him in a lie. “I just missed my stop, on the tube and I guess I thought I could just get off and catch a cab at the next stop—”
"But the next stop is Islington!" Louis gasps, and Liam’s hand tightens around my shoulder, his eyes darkening.
"Yeah— I guess I didn’t think about it and some guys there they… sort of roughed me up." Niall says, shrugging, his ‘lie’ coming out a lot easier seeing as it was actually pretty much true. Liam’s hand falls from Niall’s shoulder and I can see it balling up into a fist.
Louis gasped once more, tears filling in his eyes again, “My baby.”
Niall shrugs. “And then Zayn came in— saved my life, papa.” Niall says, nodding towards the tattooed boy, and though he had addressed Louis, his stare was focused on Liam, who was still looking suspicious.
Liam relented, holding his hand out for Zayn to shake, “Then I think a thank you is in order, Zayn. Thank you for bringing our little boy home.” Liam says, his eyes narrowed and words cold.
Louis, always the opposite of his husband, jumps up to Zayn and hugs him graciously. “Ignore him, Zayn, he’s a douche bag. We will never be able to repay you for what you’ve done, really.”
Zayn barely bites back a ‘don’t worry, your son already did' but Louis is the nice one, so he just smiles, “Really, anyone would've done it.”
Louis smiles sadly. “I think we both know that’s not true.” He sighs. “But luckily Nialler had you.”
Niall can sense that his parents want to ask why he didn’t return until now, but for some reason they’re both silent and we all stare at each other. Niall coughs. “Okay, I’ll call you Zayn.” Niall says, stepping into Zayn’s arms once more. Zayn sighs heavily, breathing in Niall’s scent as much as he can. Whispering a brief, “See you around, sweetheart.” as Niall kissed his cheek softly before being dragged away by his obviously overprotective parents.
Zayn didn’t miss the disapproving glare Liam sent through the window of the house.
Zayn sighed as he climbed onto his bike, thoughts of missing the tiny blonde presence behind him already hitting hard.
This was going to be one hell of a trip.