Chapter Text
Harry woke up in the pack-and-play crib in Niall’s nursery and immediately began to cry. He did not want to be awake yet. It was still fairly dark outside, not scary-dark, Harry noted, but the sun still hadn’t woken up yet. Harry had a messy diaper and he cried as he realized his daddies wouldn’t be with him until breakfast.
Niall was sound asleep in his own bed and chewing on the ear of his teddy bear. Harry held Honey in his arms and brought the dog up to cover his face. He continued to cry from discomfort, but he did his best to not be so loud that he woke his best friend.
The door to the nursery was soon pushed open gently and Harry looked over to see a rather sleepy looking Liam approach him with a soft smile. Part of Harry was relieved because he loved his Uncle Liam and he knew that his arrival meant that the situation with his dirty diaper would be resolved. But the more dominant part of Harry’s brain was not happy. He only continued to cry as Liam slowly lifted him out of the crib and rocked him back and forth, humming a soft, calming tune before laying Harry on the changing table. Harry trusted Uncle Liam, but he wanted his daddies. So while he didn’t throw a tantrum or outwardly sob or whine, he still frowned and let tears roll down his cheeks as he was changed.
When there was a new, clean diaper taped around his hips and his pajama bottoms pulled back up, Harry was confused that Liam picked him up and carried him out of the nursery rather than placing him back in the pack-and-play. Harry hiccuped as his cries subsided in his confusion. But he didn’t question his Uncle Liam, he just held Honey close as he was carried down the hall.
“You woke up just before I was going to start breakfast, bud,” Liam said as he entered the kitchen. With Harry balanced on his hip, Liam used his free hand to drag Niall’s high chair closer to the kitchen counter. He set Harry down and Harry got worried that Liam was going to feed him breakfast. Harry wasn’t supposed to have breakfast until his daddies showed up. He resolved himself to not eat whatever Liam has until he sees his daddies.
“I know it can be no fun to wake up to a messy diaper, so instead of going back to bed, I thought you could help me make breakfast. Won’t that be a nice surprise when your daddies join us?” Liam spoke with such a wide smile as he buckled the tray over Harry’s lap, the little couldn’t help but smile behind Honey’s head. Harry nodded. He was glad Liam wasn’t going to mess up his daddies promise. Liam got to work gathering all the ingredients he needed to make a meal for both families.
Harry tried to hum along with whatever song Liam was mumbling the words to. Liam set a sippy cup in front of Harry and let the boy slowly wake up and drink some milk.
“How’s that finger, H?” Liam asked, slowly pulling Harry’s wrist toward him to peel off the bandage on the baby’s fingers and get a look.
“Better,” Harry mumbled around the spout of the sippy cup. Liam smiled and gave a satisfied nod. He grabbed his mixing bowl of batter for the pancakes and set it with a large spoon on the tray of the high chair.
“What should we mix into our pancakes, Harry?” Liam asked. “We have strawberries, chocolate chips, bananas, walnuts, peanut butter, Niall and I have tried just about everything.”
“Blueberry?”
Liam clicked his tongue and ruffled Harry’s hair. “I’m sorry, sweets, I know they’re your favorite, but I’m all out.”
“Can we do chocolate and banana?”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Liam grinned. He opened a cabinet and withdrew a bag of chocolate chips before he peeled and sliced two bananas. Once both add-ins were measured out, he let Harry dump them into the mixing bowl and stir everything together while he got to work preparing the other dishes.
Liam checked his phone, looking at the time. He thanked Harry for mixing the batter before placing it in the fridge. “It’s about time for Niall to get ready for the day. Do you want to help me wake him up?”
Harry grinned and nodded, holding his arms up for Liam to get him out of the high chair.
Liam let Harry gently nudge Niall awake. Niall grumbled at first and had anyone else grumbled at Harry like that, it might have made the little boy frown. But Harry knew Niall was just still sleepy so he tried again. “Niall,” He drew out the second syllable, giggling as he held it out. “It’s almost breakfast time!”
Niall blinked awake and rubbed at his eye with a closed fist. “Harry… Y’re not in your crib…” Niall pointed out, not noticing his daddy was also in the room. “That’s naughty…” He managed to say around a yawn.
Harry pouted. “Nuh uh!
Before Niall could argue further, Liam made himself known and picked Niall up to carry him to the changing table.
“Hi hi, Daddy!” Niall cheered, feeling more awake.
“Hi, bug,” Liam cooed. He quickly taped up his little’s diaper and set him on the floor. He grabbed both of the littles by the hand and led them to the kitchen
“Niall, do you remember how we get strawberries ready for breakfast?”
Niall nodded. He beamed because he knew the answer to this question without a doubt and was more than ready to show off. “We gotta slice off the leafies,”
“That’s right! And then you can cut them in half if you want,” Liam pulled two butter knives from his cutlery drawer and handed one to each little and set a container of strawberries in front of the boys and laid out a wooden cutting board. “Can you show Harry how while Daddy cooks the pancakes? Count so you both cut up ten.”
Niall all but squealed and got to work. He slowly counted out ten strawberries, placing them in a pile in front of Harry and repeated then count with his own pile. He said each number clearly and maybe louder than necessary, but he wanted to make sure his daddy heard him.
Harry was very hesitant to use the knife Liam gave him. But he could see it wasn’t too sharp, and as he watched Niall get to work he soon followed and felt very accomplished when his pile of ten strawberries was sorted through and completely de-topped.
Liam plated another pancake when the doorbell rang. Both littles looked up with excited faces. Harry a little more so because while Niall was always ecstatic to see his uncles, Harry could hardly contain himself. He almost ran to the front door all on his own, but he still remembered his rules. So instead he quickly toddled over to his Uncle Liam and tried to pull on the man’s arm to get him to open the door.
Liam chuckled at Harry’s urgency and swiftly lifted the little into the air to settle him on his hip, walking to the door to welcome his friends inside.
Harry did squeal when he saw his Daddy and Papa.
“Hi baby,” Louis cooed, moving to take Harry from Liam without even thinking, his body going into autopilot as soon as he saw his little.
“We can eat now,” Harry beamed as he snuggled deeper into Louis’ arms and received kisses on the cheek from
Zayn.
“That’s right, sweets,”
The adults walked into the kitchen. Louis and Zayn were met with a cheer from Niall which they happily returned. Liam picked Niall up to place him in his high chair. He knew that Harry would be eager to be close to Zayn and Louis, no doubt sitting on one of their laps. He considered doing as such with Niall, worried Niall might complain about his high chair if Harry wasn’t resigned to one. But Liam knew that, even though Niall wasn’t a terribly messy eater, pancakes and syrup had a tendency to get all over the boy even in a high chair.
Liam served everyone their plate of chocolate-banana pancakes, strawberries, and toast. He had glasses filled with orange juice for himself and Louis, water for Zayn, and sippy cups of milk for the little boys. Niall, thankfully, didn’t kick up any fuss about being in his high chair and being fed by Liam. Louis sat down with Harry in his lap and Zayn took on the role of feeding Harry bites of his breakfast in between feeding himself. In between bites, Harry was telling his daddies about all that he and Niall got up to during their sleepover.
“I am so happy you had such a good time, sweet pea,” Zayn said near the end of the meal. Harry’s plate was mostly clean. He ate all of his strawberries and most of his pancakes, his toast went almost untouched, but Zayn and Louis didn’t worry over it. “I already knew what a good, brave boy you are, but you just keep showing off, don’t you?” He cooed as Louis handed him a baby wipe to get rid of all the syrup and strawberry juice on Harry’s face.
“We go home now?”
“That’s right, Harry Berry, we’re gonna leave in just a bit,” Louis stood and set Harry down. “But first we need to make sure all of your things are packed up.”
“And a bye-bye hug!” Niall said as Liam let him out of his high chair. Harry immediately toddled over and wrapped his arms around Niall.
Niall went with Harry to get his blanket and Honey from Niall’s nursery, and the littles hugged each other three more times before Zayn, Louis, and Harry all left to return to their own home.
;;
“Look who’s up and at em today!”
Harry gurgled from where he was sitting up in his crib.
“Are you excited?” Zayn cooed as he lowered the side of the crib. Before lifting Harry, he tickled the baby’s belly. “Excited for your first day of playgroup?”
“Niall,” Harry said as he bobbed his head with a big grin on his face.
“That’s right, your best friend Niall will be there too,” Zayn replies and carries Harry over to the changing table.
Zayn got Harry cleaned up and in a new diaper before dressing him in a nautical patterned romper and matching socks.
Zayn and Louis couldn’t help but be wary of Harry’s anxiety flaring up over something as new and unfamiliar as playgroup. So they find themselves using positive reinforcement at almost every turn so long as Harry isn’t tearing up.
“Niall’s house?” Harry asked as Louis straps him into his car seat.
“Not quite, baby.” He answered. “Playgroup is at a new friends house. But Niall will be there, don’t worry.” He quickly reassured Harry before the boy could even fret. He booped Harry’s nose before closing the car door and climbing into the passenger seat.
Zayn played ones of Harry’s favorite upbeat playlists for the drive over. It did a good job of distracting him until Zayn parked in front of the host’s house.
“Time for some fun,” Zayn cheered and helped Harry climb out of the car.
“By myself?” Harry looked up at both of his daddies. The frown on his face had Zayn rushing to quell his little’s worry.
“No, sweetheart. Do you see that black car right there?” Zayn pointed at a sedan parked a few yards down the street from his SUV. “That’s Uncle Liam’s car. That means Niall is already here and ready to introduce you to some new friends to play with.
Harry shook his head, his papa didn’t understand. He whined a bit as he struggled to come up with the right words. “You come too?”
Zayn smiled and rubbed Harry’s cheek, trying to bring back his boy’s smile. “Daddy and I are coming inside too. We are staying the whole time. While you and Niall play, we will just be in another room talking with other mommies and daddies. So if you need anything you can come find us.”
That’s how Liam had explained the play group set up to them. Different families took turns hosting each week. The littles were either in a playroom, nursery, or fenced in yard with two or three caregivers to supervise the littles and lead them in fun activities, sometimes crafts, or learning or games or combinations of the three. The rest of the caregivers got some time to themselves to socialize. Everyone would have a small snack time together, and then the littles got some more playtime before leaving with their mommies and/or daddies.
Louis carried Harry inside with Zayn following with the diaper bag.
“Zayn, Louis! Long time no see!” Christopher, the host, greeted the daddies. He was more of a friend-of-a-friend than anything else, but both men matched his eager greeting. “And this must be Harry,” Christopher said after shaking Zayn’s hand. “Niall has been telling absolutely everyone how fun you are, little man.”
“Where Niall?”
Christopher chuckled. “He’s in the playroom with all the other kids, right this way.”
Louis set Harry down to walk as they followed Christopher. Inside the playroom, there were six littles already sitting on the floor while one walked around them for a game of Duck Duck Goose.
“Hi, Daddy!” One little boy called out from his spot in the circle.
“Hi, Casey,” Christopher waved to his son.
“Oh, boys and girls, it looks like we have a new friend arriving!” One of the caregivers, a mommy Harry didn’t recognize, in the room said, getting the littles to pause their game.
“Harry!” Niall squealed. He was sitting in the middle of the circle, but he stood up and rushed to his best friend’s side. He gave Harry the tightest hug he could manage before trying to pull Harry over to the circle.
“Niall! You’re not supposed to leave the mush pot until Bailey’s turn is over!” One little girl whines. “Miss Hannah!”
Harry ignores everyone else as Niall whines back and Miss Hannah placates both littles. He looks up at both his daddies, feeling unsure about his place with all the other littles he didn’t know.
Louis gives Harry a quick hug and several kisses all over his face. “You’re going to have so much fun, Harry Berry,” He reminds the little.
Zayn then gives Harry another hugs and more kisses. “And Daddy and Papa are just going to be in the living room if you need a change,” He leans in closer and stage-whispers to Harry, acting as if he is about to share a big secret. “Or just some more snuggles.”
This got a smile out of Harry and gave him just enough confidence to not cling to his papa.
“We’ll see you in a little bit for snack time, precious,”
Harry nodded and then turned to take a step closer toward the group of littles.
“Hi Harry, I’m Miss Hannah,” The lady in the room said as she squatted a bit to be more in Harry’s line of sight. “And that’s Mr. Peter. If you need anything, you can just tell us, and we can help or find your daddies for you. Now let’s have some fun.”