>44<

405 18 8
                                    

FORTY FOUR: Family over Fashion

After the sister, or not getting a sister, fiasco, Harry made it perfectly clear to not only his husbands but to every manager he had left that there would be no interviews, no pictures, no unplanned or planned outings - Nothing until the lawsuit was settled.

He even felt the need to tweet the matter making it "official", but refrained when Zayn took the phone from his hands exclaiming the public didn't need to know how tight of the leash the family was being kept on.

That line itself opened a whole new can of worms when Liam overheard and shrieked thinking they were going to put a leash on him.

"No Leesh!" Liam wails his eyes widened ears burrowed beneath his fluffy brown hair, Harry darts his concerned look to him, "Who has a leash?" Zayn crosses his arms narrowing his parental Papa stare at him, "Maybe I do, and maybe I'll use it if you raise your voice to me again," he playfully threatens, Liam sniffles opening his mouth to protest further, only this time whispering, "No leesh, ever," he pauses, "please," 

Niall had even supported Harry on his strict guidelines of keeping out of sight, he'd had all the groceries ordered in - even if going to the store was the one bit of peace he had left in his day since being a father of three needy hybrids prevented much relaxing moments. 

"Why are you sitting in your car?"

"So I can feel like I'm going to the grocery store," Niall returns glancing at his husband who peered in through his cracked driver-side window, "Oh," Zayn mumbles, "Are you sure-" Before he could even finish Niall huffs, "Yes I'm hiding from Louis! We've spent too much time together I think my hair is naturally going back to blonde-"

"I think they call that gray honey,"

"Watch it Malik or I'll start posting the pictures of your gray hair before the dye," Zayn raises his hands in surrender with a grin coiling on his lips. He had to admit he was jealous he hadn't thought about hiding in his car first, "Don't forget to order the milk," he calls before leaving Niall to his imaginary grocery run. 

For once the Stylin household was a peaceful warzone, the fathers were standing their ground with management while realizing quickly if the management team acted like their monsters they would've tucked their tails between their legs by now. 

Defeat was the only option toward the end of the day in the mansion, from the meltdowns, the tantrums, the whining, the once rare silent moment - everything swirled down the drain in the end as the only remaining consistency was bathtime before bedtime. 


Sudzed up between shampoos, Louis giggles making himself a beard from the bubbles, "Look Max I'm Santa!" he calls, Liam rolls his eyes at his brother splashing his face with water, "You's a bad Santa,"

"Lee that wasn't nice," Harry scolds from his spot on the toilet, it his was turn on bath duty which at this point consisted of sitting within running distance if the monsters turned on each other and started drowning their brothers, but also kept Harry from the splash zone. 

He sits with his knees to his chest staring at his iPad, while publically he'd been shut in, he hadn't missed a day of scrolling through all his different timelines. Or checking his email. Currently, he'd been doing the latter, and stared at the open email requesting an RSVP, more so an answer to an already asked question: Will you be attending this year's LFW?

Chewing his bottom lip, he jumps his foot sliding off the toilet seat and knocking him onto the floor with a thud, snapping his head up seeing his older boys taking turns throwing ice-cold water from the tap on their faces giggling like the little maniacs they were.

Keeping Up With One Direction 2Where stories live. Discover now