12 Days of Christmas || A Festive Collection of Ziall One Shots [2018]

"baby's first christmas"

Song: none!

"Happy Christmas, lovely," Niall felt himself being kissed awake by his husband, Zayn. He snuggled into his warm embrace, pulling the sheets up to their shoulders. The cold Christmas chill drifted in from their leaky window, but that only meant they got to cuddle closer.

"Mmmm," Niall happily kissed Zayn again, feeling their little baby boy squirm around inside him. "I think he hears you, babe," Niall laughed. He ran the back of his fingers over Zayn's scruffy beard, settling deeper in the pillows so Zayn had better access to his tummy.

Zayn smiled softly down at his husband's stomach and pressed the palm of his hand to the skin underneath Niall's jumper to get a reaction out of their son. Their little boy pressed his foot against Zayn's warm hand, unknowingly making both of his fathers coo.

"How you feelin', babe?" Zayn directed his attention back to Niall, his soft black hair falling into his eyes. Zayn settled his gaze on Niall like a butterfly to a flower, and watched as Niall reached up to cup his cheek again.

"'M feelin' great, to be honest!" Niall said, thumbing over Zayn's sharp cheekbone.

And he was. This pregnancy had been rather rough on him, but Christmas morning with Zayn made everything all the more brighter.

Bright December sun shone in through the bedroom blinds, cascading across their faces. Snow fell quietly but consistently in large flakes outside of the window, meaning that today was probably going to be spent in the house (not that Niall could go anywhere seven months pregnant).

They laughed and kissed lazily into the late Christmas day morning, cuddling all the while. Since there were no little ones to wake them up (yet), Zayn and Niall stayed in bed until Niall had to get up and stretch.

Zayn watched Niall's curves in his sweats, recording them in his memory to sketch later. He gazed at the little sections of baby fat Niall had gained back through this pregnancy, loving the way it looked on his thighs, tummy, hips, and even bum.

"I'm going downstairs, are you coming?" Niall asked sweetly, holding out his hand. The other one supported the underside of his belly, where Zayn could see little infinite expanses of pale skin peeking through his jumper.

"I love you, baby," Zayn called out randomly. "And yes." Zayn knew 'I'm going downstairs' meant 'I'm going to lay down in a different spot,' something he was completely okay with.

Niall just rolled his eyes with a smile and started to walk out of the room, Zayn hot on his heels.

-

Niall plopped down on their sofa and threw his aching feet over the arm. Zayn lay behind him with his legs splayed so that Niall could fit in between them, mindlessly carding his fingers through Niall's chestnut hair.

Snow fell in flurries outside of their large living room window, helping set the atmosphere with glowing Christmas tree lights and the scented red and green candles that Niall had set out.

Niall pulled an afghan over them, and settled deeper into the sofa. Christmas movie re-runs ran on their cheap TV as Zayn lazily flicked through them, finally settling on the Charlie Brown special.

"Baby," Zayn mumbled into Niall's hair, eyes closed. His hand trailed across Niall's belly, fingers dipping underneath his large Christmas jumper and splaying across the pale skin.

Niall reached back with one hand to kiss Zayn a little teasingly, and placed his other one on top of Zayn's on his stomach.

"Yeah?" He grinned breathlessly, suddenly bringing Zayn's palm over to where their son was kicking.

Zayn kissed him hard again, and rubbed a circle over Niall's bellybutton. "Our baby,"

Niall shifted his body as far as his stomach would let him to reach Zayn better. "Our baby," he sighed and let Zayn take their hands and trace them all across his middle. "This has been a good Christmas, yeah?" He smiled gently, pecking the corner of Zayn's mouth and holding his husband's hand still in his own .

The tree lights reflected off of Niall, making his natural glow even brighter. Zayn nuzzled his nose against Niall's, taking in all of his beauty. "It's been the best, baby."

-

In bed again later that night, with his husband curled up as comfortably as possible in their tiny bed, Zayn lay awake. With the lightest touch he stroked Niall's hair, brushing strands back off his face. It had really been one of the best Christmases he'd had in a long time, despite its shortcomings. The house was old and drafty and the bills were stacking up, their bank account was almost bare and Zayn worked three jobs just to even keep them in their house. But now, none of that mattered. Niall loved him, their baby boy was healthy, and Zayn was content just to lay there with both of them.

Quietly, so as not to wake Niall, Zayn doted on his baby, whispering, 'You are my favourite gift. Merry Christmas, baby boy. I love you."

-

sorry for that weird ending. i just couldn't think of anything