Chapter Text
“Niall, come over here, love.”
The Irishman glanced at the glop of sunscreen Liam had squirted into the palm of his hand and whined. All it took was a stern eyebrow raise for Niall to shuffle forward and allow his daddy to start smearing the goop on his nose and cheeks. His skin was sensitive and he knew he needed sunscreen, but he always refused to wear it, even when they were in places like Orlando. His boyfriends were never able to force him to use sunscreen, but his daddies certainly could.
They had been doing their little ‘family’ thing for about a month now, and they had the balance between work and home (meaning hotel rooms) perfected to an art. When they were out and about, Niall was the same loud, fun-loving lad that looked and dressed like he belonged in a university frat house. But as soon as they were behind closed doors, a whole new dynamic emerged.
They had to perform and give an interview, but they would get a little free time that afternoon and evening. Zayn was unfortunately unable to join them in the US, as he was too sick to be able to do much of anything. He was staying with his parents to let Trisha coddle him because, despite how much he denied it, he was a complete and total momma's boy. He missed his boyfriends (and his baby) though, so they were hopefully going to Skype after the boys got back to the hotel.
Once Liam finished slathering him with sunscreen, Niall quietly said, “Thank you.”
Liam smiled and bopped him on his now protected nose. “You’re welcome, babe.”
Even when Niall didn’t feel like a baby, when they weren’t in public or at least weren’t in front of a camera, he still felt little. It didn’t help that his daddies constantly reminded him that he was their little boy. They would give him stern looks if he was close to doing something naughty, they would cuddle him when he was feeling particularly little, they constantly asked if he needed a potty break, since they apparently didn’t completely trust him with big boy pants.
Going without the nappies wasn’t so much a hassle as it was an annoyance. He still flushed red in embarrassment every time he got changed, but he had grown used to being able to just go wherever, whenever. Having to actually get up and go to the toilet to have a wee was just a pain in the ass, which almost made Niall want to laugh. Here he was, a grown-ass man, and he wanted to complain about not being able to piss himself.
They were all ready at this point, and they had some downtime. Louis had decided it would be a good time to call Zayn while Liam had been taking care of Niall. Harry was off somewhere, probably doing a juice cleanse, according to what Louis told Zayn. Niall rolled his eyes when he heard that. That’s what he always assumed when they didn’t know where Harry had ended up.
“Niall,” Louis called out, hand over the receiver of his iPhone. “Did you want to talk to Zayn?”
Niall nodded and took the phone Louis handed to him. “Hey, Zayn, feelin’ any better?”
“‘m gettin’ there,” Zayn mumbled into the phone. Whenever Niall referred to them by their actual names, they knew he didn’t really feel like being completely little, and they respected that. He got the little reminders still, but Zayn was going to speak to him as just his boyfriend and not his baby. For the most part. “You lads doin’ alright?”
“You’re the one who’s sick. Stop worrying about us.”
“It’s my job to worry, babe. Both as a boyfriend and a daddy.”
Niall couldn’t help the heat that rushed to his face. He was sure Trisha wasn’t in the room to hear him say that, but what if she was nearby? They couldn’t be too careful. “Zayn.”
“Oh, hush, hun. My mum is downstairs.” He could practically hear Zayn’s smile. "When do you start?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Do you need one of your daddies to change you before then?"
Niall was almost used to the heat that rose to his face. His boyfriends really knew how to rile him up, and they loved every second of it. "Zee, 'm already in my boxers!"
Even though Niall couldn't see his boyfriend's face, he could just imagine him biting his lip to hold back a laugh. Louis, who was absolutely eavesdropping on Niall's side of the conversation (despite Liam's scolding) had a pretty good idea of what Zayn said, didn't even try to hold his laugh back. Harry, who had wandered back in at that moment, flinched when the first thing he heard was Louis’ bark of a laugh. "You make it too easy, babe," Zayn told him. "Is Harry there? Haven’t talked to him yet."
"Yeah. I’ll let you talk to him." Niall lowered his voice, even though his other boyfriends were the only ones around, and said, "Love you, Baba."
"Baba loves you too. Be good for your daddies today, alright? Give the phone to Papa, please."
Satisfied with his little (and he meant that literally) indulgence, Niall held the phone out to Harry. "Zayn wants to talk to you."
"Thanks, love," Harry said as he took the phone and greeted Zayn.
Niall left Harry to pace around as he chatted, and went back over to Louis and Liam. The two were sprawled out on the couch, but they made sure to make room for Niall in the middle.
“Are you excited to sing today, baby?” Liam asked, carding his hands through Niall’s freshly styled hair.
Niall nodded and cuddled into Liam further. He didn’t feel like talking. He’d save that for the interview.
/ /
Despite the nerves he had originally felt about his first live performance since their 'lifestyle change', Niall was pretty confident about how he was doing so far. He tucked his hand into his pocket during one of Harry’s solos, and almost panicked when his shirt rode up before he felt the waistband of his Calvin Kleins and remembered that he was wearing pants.
His boyfriends hadn't really wanted him to be out of nappies at all, but Niall assured them that he had had control of his bladder for enough of his life to be trusted. They still insisted on regular potty breaks for him in order to 'avoid accidents', which embarrassed him, but in a good way. He couldn't help but love being taken care of, even when he felt big enough to take care of himself.
The interview wasn’t anything spectacular, the man asked the usual questions, and Niall wasn’t surprised when Zayn’s absence was brought up.
“Yeah, he’s got a tummy bug, so he’s not very well at the moment, so he couldn’t make it.” Niall resisted the urge to smile at hearing Liam use the word ‘tummy’, not to mention telling the crowd how disappointed they and Zayn were that he couldn’t make it but they would still have a great day. Even when he wasn’t Daddy, he was still totally Daddy.
As their fans cheered and Louis made a fart noise into his microphone (haha, Dada was so silly), Niall looked out and gave some small, but confident fist pumps. Being back in the swing of things was great, even if he did have to be big. They’d have plenty of time to let him be little later.
“Liam, there’s obviously a lot of concern, a lot of fans have been tweeting overnight. There’s been a lot of action on social media about him. Is it something more serious than just a minor illness?” Niall’s brows furrowed. What was this guy on about? “There have been rumors of substance abuse. What’s going on?”
What’s going on? What’s going on is you’re an asshole.
That’s what Niall wanted to say, but he couldn’t. He didn’t just fall off the back of the tour bus, he knew that aggression in response to a rumor only made people think there was truth behind it.
He still couldn’t help the befuzzled expression he gave the man while Liam did damage control. Niall took a page out of Louis’ book and made a few small fart noises into his mic for the booing audience. It didn’t really make for a good rebuttal, but it made him feel better. A little.
The interviewer went on with his other questions, as if he hadn’t just accused their bandmate of having some sort of addiction problem. Who did he think he was? Who the fuck asked stuff like that? Even if there was a sliver of truth behind the question, did he think they were going to just say ‘yeah sorry mate Zayn’s too busy trippin’ balls to be here’ or something? No, of course not. He just wanted to stir up drama.
They always do.
The boys went on after the interview and performed, and Niall killed it, as always, but he was still furious, in the back of his mind. He was usually the calmest one when it came to stuff like that and let things roll off his back, but being little meant opening yourself up to being more emotional. And with the good emotions came the bad.
Niall had a lot of big, bad emotions inside him and for once, singing didn’t help.
/ /
The boat had taken them back to the studio where they had gotten ready, and Niall was still salty about the interviewer’s nerve. He either did a good job at hiding it, or the boys didn’t notice. Maybe they thought he was just a little fussy, if they did notice.
“You okay, Ni?” Louis asked as the four made their way back to the dressing room, a communal backpack slung over his shoulder.
Niall didn’t want to bring the question up. He didn’t want to upset his daddies, even though they seemed okay. “Jus’ hungry, that’s all.”
“We’ll get some lunch on the way home, okay?” Louis rubbed the boy’s back, ignoring the fact that Harry had begun rummaging through the backpack for something. “Then we can get you all comfy and have fun the rest of the day, yeah?” Niall nodded, trying his best to give a genuine smile.
“Here you go, baby,” Harry said, handing Niall the banana he had just peeled. “That ought to hold you over.”
He had packed bananas? Niall wanted to roll his eyes. Harry was a walking caricature of himself sometimes.
It was then that he spotted him. The interviewer. Niall hadn't bothered to remember his name, or otherwise he would have cursed it in his mind. The man's back was turned to him, and it looked like he was talking to someone on his phone. He could see Harry and Louis turn around the corner, but Niall had stopped.
Just seeing that guy, happily chatting it up and acting like he hadn't done something wrong, made the blonde unreasonably angry. It wasn't the first time a rumor had been started about one of them, but it was the first time a rumor had been started while Niall was little. So he did something he never would have done if he wasn't little (or maybe wasn't sober).
Niall chucked the remaining half of his banana at the back of the interviewer's head, and before he could even see his reaction, he felt a strong hand grip his forearm and drag him around the corner.
"Have you gone mad?" He was finally oriented enough to realize it was Liam that had pulled him away. He must have noticed that Niall stopped walking and saw what he did. "What on earth were you thinking?"
Liam was walking awfully fast, so they were able to catch up to Louis and Harry pretty quickly. Their smiles faded when they saw the serious look on Liam's face and the horrified look on Niall's. They knew Niall must have done something, so they stayed silent until they reached their dressing room. Once they did, Liam didn't restrain himself any longer.
“Niall James Horan, I cannot believe you!” Niall shrunk back at Liam’s stern tone. Oooooh, he really messed up. He only got the full name if he was in big trouble.
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Harry slowly said, taking in the scene. Or what he could take, with what little information he had. “Can’t believe what?”
Liam turned to Niall expectantly. “You want to tell Papa and Dada what you did?”
Thank god they were alone. He still wasn’t feeling very brave, so he couldn’t find the words to explain himself.
Once he realized he wasn’t going to get anything out of the boy, Liam sighed and turned back to Louis and Harry. “You know that interviewer? Niall threw his banana at him.”
Harry elbowed Louis when the Doncaster lad let out a snort. He couldn’t help but find it a bit funny too, but they couldn’t just laugh Niall’s antics off anymore. “Niall, that wasn’t very nice, love,” Harry gently, but firmly said.
“I know,” Niall pitifully said, not looking any of them in the eye. “But I didn’t like him.”
“That’s no excuse. What if that guy saw? Or someone else?” Liam asked. “The media would have a field day, imagine the articles about it! One Direction’s Niall Horan… Throws Fruit at People... or something,” he muttered in conclusion.
The corners of Louis’ lips quirked downward. It was more from how worked up Liam was getting than what Niall actually did. “Not a very clever title, Li.”
Liam shot his boyfriend a befuddled glare. “That doesn’t matter.”
Louis merely shrugged. “I’m just sayin’, there’s a lot of opportunity there. Something like…” He scrunched his face in a look of absolute concentration and waved a hand around in a circular motion, as if that would pull an idea out of thin air.
All of a sudden, Harry snapped his fingers and pointed at Louis. “Niall Horan Goes Bananas,” he suggested with an expression far too serious for the current subject at hand.
After barking out a laugh, Louis clapped his hands and exclaimed, “See? Practically writes itself.”
The glare Liam cast both of them took the smirks right off their faces. Was this how Niall felt when they gave him The Daddy Look?
Louis cleared his throat rather loudly and adopted a stern demeanor when his eyes fell on Niall. “Jokes aside, that was unacceptable, mister. You don’t throw things at people and you know it. That’s not how good little boys behave.” Louis was probably the least strict out of all the boys, but he still knew when playtime was over and he had to be firm.
“But… But you heard what he said!” Niall was starting to sound childish, but he had acted childish and he was well aware of it. Might as well talk the talk. “He deserved it! That guy was an asshole!” That wasn’t such a childish thing to say.
The three Daddy Looks he got in response didn’t make him feel very good about his little slip-up. One of the rules they had established was no bad words, big or little. He didn’t do so good with this rule when he was big, and he always ended up getting his bum smacked for it. On top of his little outburst, it looked like he was going to get more than just a little smack.
“Niall James,” Harry started in a calm tone. Sometimes the calmest tones from his daddies scared him the most. He’d rather get yelled at, to be quite honest. It was somehow less frightening. “What did you just say?”
“I… Uh.” Niall suddenly felt two feet tall. He usually liked that feeling, but not when it meant he was in trouble. “I-I didn’t mean to say it.”
“But you still said it, didn’t you?” Harry asked.
“Well… Y-Yeah, but-”
“No buts,” Liam cut him off. He took hold of Niall’s forearm and started leading him toward the exit. “We’re going back to the hotel and when we get there, you’re in big trouble.”
Big trouble meant a big pain in the bum.
Literally.
/ /
Niall didn’t cry on the way home. He didn’t cry when they went up to one of their hotel rooms. He didn’t even cry when Liam forced him to sit on the bed while he, Harry, and Louis talked in the conjoined lounge. He was a big boy and big boys don’t cry.
Big boys do feel really, really sad sometimes though. And Niall certainly wasn’t happy.
He couldn’t even say he didn’t deserve to get spanked. Was he stupid? He probably would have just gotten scolded or maybe just forced to sit in time out for his little outburst, but swearing was a major no-no. Niall might as well have just bared himself right there and begged them to blister his bum.
The blond boy sat there and twiddled his thumbs for what felt like ages, but was probably more like ten or fifteen minutes, until the door finally cracked open. He was expecting Liam to do the deed but he wasn’t surprised to see Louis walk in and shut the door behind him. None of the lads wanted to be seen as the ‘mean’ daddy, so punishments, rare as they were, weren’t predominantly done by one person. In this case, Liam had been the one most upset by Niall’s actions, so they agreed he shouldn’t spank Niall. They didn't want the boy to think Liam didn’t love him anymore. Big Niall wouldn’t think that, but they still weren’t sure if Niall was big or little at the moment, as he seemed to be drifting in and out of his headspace, so they stayed on the safe side.
“Have you had time to think about what you did, baby?” Louis asked, standing in front of his boyfriend and loosely crossing his arms.
Niall nodded, looking up at Louis through his eyelashes. He couldn’t bring himself to lift his head and look at him straight on, he was so ashamed. “Yes, Dada.”
Louis curtly nodded. “So you know what you did was wrong?”
Niall looked back down at his socked feet and sniffled. “Yes.”
Louis nodded again, sitting to Niall’s left. His baby wasn’t being very chatty, so he was clearly ready to get this over with. Honestly, he was too. He patted his lap and simply said, “Lay down on your tummy.”
Niall’s eyes began to fill with tears and he suddenly felt even smaller. He nodded and shuffled over, laying himself down and burying his face in the comforter. He didn’t even flinch when Louis tugged down his jeans and boxer briefs in one smooth motion, but he did let out a muffled sob.
Louis didn’t waste time and got right into it, smacking both of Niall’s pale cheeks. “Throwing a little hissy fit is one thing, Niall, but you do not throw things at people you don’t like,” he told the boy as he continued his cheek-to-cheek pattern. “And you certainly do not say naughty words. You’re lucky we don’t wash your mouth out with soap!”
Niall continued to sob, both from the hurting on his bottom and the hurting in his heart. He hated disappointing them. He hated it. He tried so hard to be good for his caretakers, he really did. Niall had only gotten a spanking, a real spanking, once. Zayn had denied him a cookie one night because he had been rude while asking for it, and he threw a tantrum in response. Liam, having marched into the kitchen as soon as he heard the commotion and got the story from Zayn, had dragged Niall upstairs and told him he was going to get spanked, and that made him shut up right away.
Well, not really, because he just started crying instead of screaming, but still.
They had been at home, and it was a first for the both of them, so Liam had spanked him over his nappy. It didn’t really hurt much, he had just felt bad for getting spanked, that was all. Now, he was feeling bad for getting spanked in a whole new way.
Overall, Louis had given Niall about twenty swats. Most were on his bum, but a few had made their way to the backs of his thighs and his sit spots, as well. Niall knew it could have been a lot worse (Harry and Louis went through a brief BDSM phase when they were the only two dating and Harry had given him a quick peek of the damage Louis could do), but in his little state of mind, he had never felt so hurt in his life.
Louis left the boy limp on his lap to sob for half a minute, but he couldn't stand it anymore and brought Niall upright and into his arms. "Oh, my sweet baby," Louis cooed, kissing both of his tear streaked cheeks. "Shhhh, it's okay. Dada's got you."
Niall sniveled for a bit before he could finally choke out, "'m so-sorryyy!" and buried his face in Louis' chest.
"Niall, you're going to make yourself sick, sweetheart," Louis gently said. "It's alright, okay? Daddy and Papa and I know you're very sorry, and we know you'll try better to listen and be good next time, right?" Refusing to unbury his head from Louis' chest, Niall nodded. "Then you don't have to cry, baby. If you're sorry, and you mean it, then your daddies will always forgive you. Okay?" Niall nodded into Louis' chest again. Louis sighed and kissed the top of his head. "Can you look up at Dada and use your words?"
Niall lifted his head and nodded. "Yes, Dada."
Louis grinned at him and pecked him on the lips. "That's my good boy. What do you say we get you changed into something more comfy, huh?" Niall nodded, but he had a feeling Louis would have done it whether he agreed to it or not. Louis laid him down on the bed and, after yanking off the clothes that had pooled around his lower legs, pulled a few items out of a nearby suitcase. “Lift you bum for Dada, boo.” Niall complied, allowing Louis to slip an unfolded nappy underneath him. “Good boy,” Louis praised, getting him taped up and tugging on a loose pair of joggers. “Is that better?”
Rubbing excess tear away with the palms of his hands, Niall nodded. “Uh-huh.” It didn’t feel great, but it felt better than skin tight pants.
“Niall?” Harry asked, poking his head through the threshold. “Baba wants to talk to you.”
That was the last thing Niall wanted to do. Baba was probably really disappointed in him for being a little brat, especially when he promised him he’d be good. He didn’t get spankings for being good.
“D-Do I have to?”
“Yes, baby,” Louis told him, helping him stand and giving him a pat on the bum to get him moving.
Niall walked over to Harry, rubbing his bottom with one hand and taking his Papa's hand with the other. Knowing he wouldn’t want to sit down, Harry helped Niall lay down on his belly, rubbed his back, and placed the laptop he and Liam had place on the coffee table on the space on the cushion left in front of Niall. He figured Niall and Zayn needed some time alone and, since Liam had gone out to get them all some lunch, Harry joined Louis in the bedroom.
Once the door clicked shut, Niall finally faced his Baba. Or rather, the screen his Baba was on. He was propped up in a bed fitted with white sheets and far too many pillows. Trisha had gone all out to keep her baby comfortable. Now Zayn had to have a talk that was most likely going to make his own baby uncomfortable
"Hi, Baba," Niall quietly said, trying not to look at Zayn's face. He still looked like hell, but there was a dash of sternness there, as well.
Zayn sighed and said, "Hi, sweetie. Daddy and Papa already told me what happened."
“I-I said I‘m sorry,” Niall sheepishly told him, resting his chin on his crossed arms.
"I know you did, love, but sorry doesn't mean you didn’t still do something naughty, does it?" Zayn rubbed at his eye with the palm of his hand. His vision was a tad blurry and looking at a computer screen wasn't helping much. "You know throwing things at people and swearing at your daddies isn't nice."
"But he said-"
"Daddy told me what he said, Niall. That's not the point and you know it."
Of course he knew. He knew that what he had done was impulsive and childish. But sometimes… sometimes the things people said about them, the accusations and the gossip, it just… it got to him. He tried to block it out, he really did. He was a relatively chill lad, but nobody enjoyed having rumors about them and their friends. Niall never really minded when there were rumors about him, but his boyfriends… that was a whole other ballpark.
Rumors about Zayn in particular were always a touchy subject with Niall, even if he was good at hiding it. Zayn’s ‘bad boy’ status made him pretty susceptible to some pretty nasty rumors, and Niall wasn’t ignorant enough to not think his race and religion didn’t factor into any extra rumors as well.
Niall, at a loss for words, could only stutter out, "B-But-"
"No buts, Niall." He was almost thankful Baba had interrupted him. He wasn't sure what was going to come after that 'but'. "I want you to tell Baba why you did what you did, and I want the truth." Zayn straightened himself in order to look authoritative and not like the mess that he felt. "If you won't tell me or if I detect so much as a hint of a fib, I'll make sure to tell Dada the first trip over his knee wasn't good enough."
Niall wanted to chuck the laptop against the wall just so he could finally cry in peace, but he felt like being able to sit sometime in the next two years so he knew he had to at least try to word what he was feeling. That was Zayn's intention, at least. Part of him worried that being in little space was affecting Niall's big life too much, but another part of him thought it was something more than a fit.
"That man said mean lies about you, Baba!" Niall huffed. "People always say mean things about you and I hate it! I'm sick of it! You're so nice a-and caring and-and you don't deserve it!" He had hardly noticed how quickly he slipped out of his headspace, but Zayn certainly did. His tone didn't hold the same sense of innocence. This was simply the voice of a boy who had been forced to grow up too fast.
They managed to stay calm under the scrutinizing eye of the media most of the time, but it wore down on them every now and again. This was one of those times for Niall.
"Niall," Zayn calmly said, pausing as he thought about how to approach this. It seemed to be about more than the typical toddler tantrums, so he couldn't just scold him for being bad. There was more to it than he was letting on. "That's very sweet of you to say. I know what he said made you upset, but I don’t want you to get yourself all worked up on my behalf, and I certainly don’t want you giving the lads a hard time, alright?”
Niall readjusted himself so he was resting on his elbows. One of them, at least. He used one of his arms to wipe his teary eyes. “O-Okay."
"I'm a big boy, I can handle whatever people wanna throw at me. I'm not gonna act like I like it, but I can handle it. I have my family, I have my friends, and I have our family." Zayn paused when Niall sniffled, but when he saw Niall wasn't actually going to interrupt him, he continued. "They can say what they want, but you and I both know they're wrong. Right?"
Eyes stinging with fresh tears, Niall nodded. "Mm-hmm."
Zayn nodded. "Are you Big Niall or Little Niall now?" He couldn't honestly tell, at the moment.
"B-Big," Niall wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and added, "With a little bit of little."
"Do you want to be big?"
"N-No. Not anymore."
"You don't have to be."
"I know," Niall sighed, wiping the rest of the tears away. "Give me a minute."
It wasn't always a quick transition. Zayn knew that by now, so he allowed some silence for a moment. His curiosity, however, broke it. "Harry said something about how everyone booed when that bloke asked you lot that."
Niall smiled for the first time in a while. "I never thought I would be so happy to hear our fans booing."
"At least our fans know us better than that asshole." He was grinning before he even saw the incredulous look on Niall's face.
"Why do you get to say that and get off scott-free but I get my bum handed to me on a silver platter for saying the same thing?"
"Because I'm the daddy, that's why."