Adopted

Sick Little Babies

Harry huffs, not so gently laying down his head on the pillow and crossing arms. It's been an hour since he was taken away from Louis and he misses his brother already. Liam had tried keeping him entertained by playing Power Rangers with him, but that only furthered his upset state because the only person good at playing Power Rangers with is Louis. Harry ripped the Red Ranger out of his Daddy's hand and threw it at the wall, earning himself a time out. Then both Daddy and Papa decided Harry should have a nap before lunch to make him less grumpy, so here he is, lying on the couch in the living room because they thought if he napped upstairs he would sneak into the guestroom again. Which is most likely true.

Zayn walks into the room carrying a basket of laundry. He looks at the boy and then shakes his head disapprovingly. He sets the basket down on the last cushion of the couch which only has half of Harry's feet on.

"Baby, you should be napping."

"Nuh-uh," Harry protests.

"Do you want to talk about why you're so cranky," Zayn asks.

"No," Harry snaps.

"Please don't use that tone with me," Zayn says, picking up a freshly washed onesie and folding it neatly.

"'m mad," Harry admits.

"What's got you mad?"

"Wanna play wiff Louis. It's playtime!"

"Baby, you know your brother needs his rest. If you weren't feeling good would you want someone trying to play with you even when you're tired?"

"No, but-," Harry says, but doesn't continue.

"Exactly. I'm sure he'll be fine soon enough and then you can play as much as you want."

"But, Papaaa," Harry whines.

Zayn sighs, putting down the t-shirt he's folding and places the basket on the floor. He pats his laps and Harry pulls himself up and crawls over to Zayn, sitting in his lap. The man wraps his arms around Harry's waist and rests his chin on the boy's shoulder.

"My sweet little boy," Zayn says more to himself than to Harry. "Sometimes life can be hard when we don't get what we want, yeah? And believe me, I'm not saying you can't be upset about not getting to play with your brother, but you do need to understand that he need his rest."

Harry whines, not exactly liking what the man has to say. He twists his body so his bum dips between Zayn's leg and the arm of the couch. He lays back and finds a comfortable position. Harry reaches his hand out and clutches Zayn's shirt, as if he is scared the man would just disappear.

Zayn chuckles. "Baby boy, what are you doing?"

"You said it was my nap time," Harry says, attempting to stop the conversation because he isn't getting his way.

"I didn't mean to nap on me," he playfully gasps.

"Shhh," the 19 year old says. He brings a finger up to Zayn's lips. "Shhh, good couches don't talk."

The daddy looks down at his ward and grins. Harry says the cutest things, something naturally part of his charm.

The young boy brings his thumb up to his mouth and sucks, rubbing his nose with his pointer finger. "Would you like a paci," Zayn asks. Harry shakes his head and shifts his body one last time so he is lying more on his side with his head resting on Zayn's arm. His eyes droop as he is comforted by the closeness of his Papa and the security he gets from focusing on sucking and nothing else.

Zayn watches him drift to sleep, petting Harry's curly locks until he is completely unconscious. He knows he should move Harry and finish folding laundry and get a start on lunch, but he finally just went down and he looks comfortable. He spends the next twenty minutes just watching his little sleep, cooing whenever the boy smiles around his thumb or makes a tiny snore and then falls asleep himself.