The Malikson Family

Boys will be boys

Louis POV

In and out, that's all he's been doing. Just crawling in and out of a wash basket that Niall had put on the floor while playing 'bear grylls'.
I'd love to know what's so interesting about the plastic white basket but honestly, living with 4 boys has taught me not to question any thing and just leave it happen. He'll figure it out on his own.
"Roar!" Niall all but shouted as he pounced out from behind the curtain, startling his brother momentarily but Harry honest didn't give a fudge. He was too happy in his wash basket to care.
"I is the big lion and you is the zebwra and I has to eat you hazzy."
"Mmmmmmmmmmwah!" The baby squeaked.
"No! Zebwras not allowed to give lions kissies! They run away from dem" Niall huffed in exasperation as he sat on the floor.
"Hey, he doesn't understand just yet baby. He's only little. Bear grylls isn't his sort of game yet... But do you wanna know a secret?" I butted in in the hopes of preventing world war Niall.
He nodded eagerly, creeping onto my lap. I leaned in carefully as brushed a blonde lock of fine hair behind his small ear before whispering "I'm a big scary crocodile and crocodiles eat lions for their tea!"
He let out a loud scream of joy as I tickled his sides. His peels of laughter filled the room and that made everything so much better.
"Maybe we should go find a lake to have a wash in? We don't want you becoming a stinky lion do we? Plus that little zebra in the wash basket is starting to smell like a real zebra at this stage."
"No"
I raised an eyebrow, a clear tell tale sign that I was not at all impressed by his answer.
"I mean, only if we watch a movie after" he corrected himself, earning a satisfied him from me.
"That's more like it. Now go find your papa and ask him to run you a bath. I'll be right up. No running around naked ok? Remember Sophia still lives here and she doesn't need to  see your Willy" but all of my scolding was no use.. As per usual he more than likely already had his pants off despite only being half way up the stairs so instead of being a responsible parent and scolding him again I decided to just leave him be and go get Harry. Boys will be boys and Niall will be Niall. It's the way of the world.
"Bath time bubba!" I cooed, watching as Harry whined and crawled back into the comfort of the wash basket.
"Oh look! I'll just have to wash you in the washing machine so... Ok no problem" all was good until he started crying. He might be a bit behind developmentally but he has an extremely clear understanding of everything we say. "Oh no, baby I was joking love. I'd never put you in the washing machine sweetie" he continued to sob as we walked up the stairs, him with his face implanted in my shoulder while I rummaged around in my pocket for that magical object that held my sanity together for years. His soother.
As soon as the tip of it touched off of his plump lips there was silence. No loud sobs, just a rhythmic sucking sound. Music to any parents ears!
"Now darling.... Relax for me bug." I cooed to him softly before heading up into the attic bedroom to Liam and Sophia.
The door was open so I just walked straight in, watching as Sophia played with Gemma's tiny hands. Meanwhile Liam was catching up on some online classes which is fantastic seen as his A levels are at the end of this year.
"Hey lads, I'm gonna bath the boys, would you like me to bath Gemma aswell?" I asked softly so as not to startle the little girl on the bed.
"Are you sure Louis? We can do it afterwards if you're gonna have your hands full."
"Don't worry about it! Bath time is fun time here.. Think of it as a pool party but for babies... Except none of them happen to like the water..."
Soph just laughed in response, carefully lifting up a content looking Gemma from the duvet and handing her into my spare arm.
"You're lucky that she didn't seem overly phased by baths so there shouldn't be any trouble. We're just up here if she does kick off though."
"Perfect babe, I'll have her back to you in the next half an hour... Say 'I'll see you later mummy!'" I cooed while helping her little hand to wave, giggling when Harry joined in too, waving awkwardly with as much coordination he could muster up.
As I rounded the corner into the bathroom I was met with loud chants of "MOWRE DADDY MOWRE" which could only mean one thing in this house... More bubbles.
"You're gonna get lost in there if we put in much more Nialler"
"No I won't! Pwease!"
Zayn casually pretended to add some for of the bubble bath to the water which kept Niall happy aswell as us.
Zayn carefully lifted in the two bath seats and fixed them firmly to the floor of the tub so neither of them were going anywhere unexpected. Gemma lay in hers without a problem much to our surprise. The boys all hate baths! No, not hate, DETEST.
Then it was Harrys turn to go in. He whined and whimpered before finally crying as soon as he was put in his seat but again, that's nothing that a dummy can't fix. And finally Niall plopped himself down in the water after Zayn lifted him in, causing the water to splash out and soak Zayn and I.
"You little rascal!"
"I no rascal papa" he giggled cutely as he splashed around in the water between the two babies.

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I quietly snuck out of Niall's room, looking back to make sure he's snuggling down for the night and not attempting to do a runner. His small body lay still under a mound of Thomas the tank quilt and his hair smelt like apples and baby powder when I kissed him goodnight, the smell still lingering in my nose.
The door gave a long squeak as I pulled it out behind me but thankfully the hyperactive toddler didn't even stir. He had a busy day of building Legos and playing with poppy I suppose.
"Is he down?" Zayn whispered as soon as I got out, snuggling our youngest lad against his bare chest.
"Out like a light.. How's H? Any sign of sleep yet?"
"He's fighting it. Not even the bottle worked which is weird."
Harrys gorgeous green eyes peered over at me from his position against zayns shoulder, earning a coo but nothing more. He's clearly content but I was hoping he'd be clearly asleep.
"Maybe just put him in his cot? He might fall asleep if he's in his normal sleeping environment or whatever." I yawned, kissing Harry good night before strolling down stairs, getting an ice cold beer from the fridge and plopping myself down on the couch to relax after a long day.
Having 3 boys and a grand daughter in the house as well as your sons girlfriend is really starting to take its toll on zayn and I but at the same time I couldn't imagine it any other way. The house is too quiet for my liking whenever the kids are out or at school. There's this eery silence that hangs in the air and if anything it's just dead creepy and unsettling.
"Anything on the telly? Feels like months since I've watched anything that wasn't about a cartoon pig or learning to count to ten... " zayn exclaimed as he sat on my lap, earning a playful shove from me.
"Oi! You're breakin' me legs man! Get off!"
"Nah... You're comfy Lou..must've been a chair in another life"
"I'll give you comfy if you don't get off!"
"Fine, gimme a beer and I'll move." He compromised making me pinky promise before finally lifting his big arse off of my, now broken, legs.
"You'll pay for this lad!"
"And I'll getcha right back babe, always do. Oh and make sure to get me a Budweiser please" He winked as he stretched out on the recliner with both hands behind his head with a smug grin plastered across his tanned face.
Within two minutes I was back with the open brown bottle, leaving it on a coaster before zayn scooped me up and pinned my body to the sofa with wild, lust filled eyes and a smirk buried in-between his stubbly cheeks.
"The beer-"
"It can wait... I prefer it at room temperature anyway" he winked sexily before leaning down to connect our lips passionately.
Then cries erupted from the monitor.
"Ugggh, it's like they know when we're just about to enjoy ourselves !" I grunted, sliding out from under zayn as he moved back, watching, waiting.
His hopes were dashed when he saw the tear stained face of our youngest little prince in my arms, snuggling close as though he were frightened but he was a cuddly boy anyway so it was hard to tell what the matter was.
"Plans on hold Zee, we've got a little guest who wants to stay up"
"Can't deny him that then can we?"
"What can you say zayn, boys will be boys... Whether they'll be grouchy in the morning or not isn't that right buddy?" I cooed as Harry laughed cutely and sucked on my t-shirt relentlessly so I just ended up leaving him. It's not like it's dirty and as i said earlier, boys will be boys.

A/n: sorry I took so long to update! I had important exams but they're done now thank god! 😊 thank you all for your patience! So there's one chapter left in this book 😓 but I have another 2 books in the pipelines so don't worry 😊 one's a prequel and the other is a sequel. Thank you all so much for your comments  and votes throughout this book ice loved reading them all! See you soon for the epilogue! 💕