Louis, Harry, and Liam were lounging in the living room when Louis heard a soft whine from upstairs.

"Liam, I think Ni is awake."

"I'll handle it," Liam answered, before he stood from the couch and ascended up the stairs.

"Niall, baby," Liam softly said as he opened the door to see Niall on his bed, sheets ripped from the boy and lying on the floor. Niall was covered in sweat, curled into a small ball into Liam's pillow. Liam had to stop himself from cooing.

"Oh little one, what's wrong snowflake?"

Liam brought his hand up to Niall's forehead, just to check if he had a fever and yes, he did. "Oh, baby boy, come here."

Niall reached his arms up to Liam. Liam gripped him under his arms and pulled Niall into his chest. "Let's get you into a cool bath, love."

Liam undressed Niall, trying to keep his eyes on the boys' blues instead of on his milky skin.

Niall was quiet as Liam set him into the bath, using a cup to wet his hair and body before grabbing Louis' vanilla shampoo to wash Niall's hair. Niall whimpered, grabbing the attention of Liam.

"What hurts, baby love?"

Niall whined again.

"Does it hurt here or here, bub?" Liam gestured to his nose then his tummy.

Niall pointed to his nose, and then his head.

"Oh baby, we'll get you some allergy medicine when we get downstairs. I can make you some food if you want, do you want creamy pasta?"

Niall shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows in pain.

"Ni, baby, you always want creamy pasta. Can you talk to me, love?"

Niall nodded. "It hurts," he wheezed out. His throat burned, he had a headache, and he feel like himself.

"Alright, love, I think you have the flu, snowflake. Ill make you some soup. Relax in the tub for now, do you want Lou-Lou to come talk to you?"

Niall nodded again, his head going back against the edge of the tub, eyes closed and mouth slightly open.

Louis and Harry were curled up on the couch, Harry running his fingers through Louis's hair.

"Lou, please go talk to Niall in the bath. I think he has the flu, he doesn't want to be alone."

Louis whined because he had to leave Harry but with a soft smack on his thigh, he stood and went upstairs to talk to Niall.

"Hey Niall, bud. How are you feeling?"

Niall shook his head. "I don't know how this happened, but it's not fun."

"I know, I hate being sick. But having Harry around makes it better, especially when I'm little," Louis explained.

Niall opened his eyes to look into Louis'. "When did you start calling Harry daddy?"

Louis sighed, trying to remember. "Oh! The first time was when Stan yelled at me one day. I was early to one of his practices and for some reason he didn't like me waiting in the parking lot. Now, I know it was because I didn't give him time to cheat on me but then I was convinced I had done something wrong. Harry and Liam were here when I got back. I had been crying. Only Liam knew about me, really, but I couldn't hold myself back from calling Harry daddy when he held me while I cried. He was always there and sometimes when we were at school he was mean, but when we were home it just felt so right."

Niall nodded, understanding that feeling because he felt it with Liam. "I know he wants to hear it, I just don't know when to say it."

"That desire to hear isn't going to go away for Liam. You're not on a timed schedule with him at all. You can move at your own pace and he won't care as long as you at least try. Right now, you're sick, and sometimes I slip into my headspace when I'm sick so I wouldn't be surprised if it happened soon. But you have to let yourself regress, you can't go back and forth and play with his emotions," Louis lectured. He didn't want to see his brother hurt just because of Niall's experimentation with this. He wanted this to work.

Apparently, Louis triggered something inside Niall because immediately Niall's eyes filled with tears. "Want daddy, please." He looked down at the milky water he was sitting in, feeling bad for hurting Liam.

"I'll get him, Ni-Ni," Louis smiled, knowing this was an amazing step for Liam and Niall.

Louis curled into Harry's side again.

"I hope they're okay. Please cuddle me, though, I missed you."

Louis clinged to Harry's shirt as Harry laughed at him, rolling his eyes playfully but cuddling the boy, regardless.