Infidelity [Zarry]

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"Hey lad, did you have a good day?" Louis asked as Niall got into the car.

Usually Louis' mom would pick Niall up from school, but Louis left work early today after Liam's visit.

"Where's Grandma?" Niall asked.

"At her house. I left work early." Louis explained.

"What happened to your jeans?" Louis asked, seeing that they were ripped just below Niall's knee.

"Fell down." Niall mumbled, avoiding Louis' eyes.

"Are you okay?" Louis asked.

Niall shook his head no, picking at the hole.

"The other boy got the last cool bandaid. I had to wear Hello Kitty and the other kids laughed at me." Niall said.

"What other boy?" Louis asked, turning the car off and turning in his seat so he could look at Niall.

"The one who....pushed me down." Niall mumbled.

"Pushed you down? Did you tell the teacher?" Louis frowned.

"No." Niall barely whispered, constantly picking at the hole and watching his hand.

"Why not?" Louis asked.

Niall shrugged.

Louis stared at his son for a while.

"Are you scared of this other boy?" He asked.

Niall shook his head no.

"It's always okay to tell the teacher if someone does something wrong to you." Louis said.

"But daddy said it isn't." Niall protested quietly.

"What d'you mean?" Louis asked.

"Daddy s-said that I shouldn't be a tattletale. He said if someone does something to me, that I should do it back. I tried to push him back but he's bigger than me." Niall said.

"So I scratched him on his head. That's why he got the cool bandaid. Cos I made him bleed." He continued.

"Niall, you know that was wrong." Louis said softly.

"I know. We both had to sit out for the rest of recess." Niall said sadly.

"I don't want you to hit anyone else, or scratch anyone, or anything like that, d'you hear me? If anyone does something mean or bad to you, I want you to tell the teacher. You won't be a tattletale, you'll be doing the right thing." Louis said.

"D'you understand me?"

"Yes papa." Niall mumbled.

Louis turned back around and started the car again.

"Can I take this bandaid off?" Niall asked.

"Leave it on until your bath tonight." Louis said.

"But it's for girls!" Niall protested.

"I don't want you to get an infection." Louis said.

"I won't." Niall said, peeling the bandaid off anyway and sticking it on the window.

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The next day, Zayn chose to take a day off from work when he woke up feeling nauseous.

His nausea soon faded, but Zayn didn't exactly feel better when he learned that Louis was off today as well.

At first, Louis tried to talk to Zayn, and suggest the two of them do something together with the free time they had.