Zephaniah // z.m

9. Coffee with panic

Zayn

Squirming away when Zephaniah started tickling my bare belly, an embarrassing squeal left my mouth. "Zeph! Stop it." I chuckled as I tried to roll myself up in the duvets, trying to stop him from tickling.

"Daddy, you are t-tickles - ticklish," Zephaniah smiled brightly, his teeth showing and his eyes sparkling as he looked at me.

"I'm not." I mumbled as I rolled over to the middle, where Zephaniah was lying. I started grinning and tickled all over his pajama clad body, not being able to resist myself.

Zephaniah gasped and tried to pry my hands off his little body, "Daddy, stop! I-I.. I" He couldn't finish his sentence as he started laughing and screaming.

"Got you!" I exclaimed happily as I kept tickling him, Zephaniah squealing out because of the tickling but also in happiness, which made me smile even more.

"Not fair daddy, I s-sstarted it so I get to finish!" He exclaimed, a fake pout appeared on his face as he said so.

I stopped tickling him and stretched my arms out above my head, knowing he'd take the moment for granted and start attacking my bare upper body once again.

Zephaniah climbed half on top of me, sat down on my lap and tickled all over my upper body. I squirmed once again, not being able to stop it and my knees pulled up automatically. "Zephaniah Malik stop it right now!" I said playfully.

Zephaniah immediately stopped and climbed off my lap, staring at me with wide eyes. "Are you mad, baba?"

I sighed softly, "No, Zeph. I was just teasing you." I gave him a warm smile and after a minute or so, Zephaniah understood that I really wasn't lying, so he smiled back at me.

He lied down beside me in bed and I turned on my right side as I stared at him, softly stroking his pink cheeks.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?" I answered as I kept looking at my beautiful son, my heart swelling all over again, every single morning when I'd opened my eyes and saw him.

"I like Ms. Hannah," Zephaniah blushed and reached for my fingers as he started playing with them.

I frowned and silently looked at him for a while. He had never liked someone that fast. In fact, he hadn't ever liked the caregivers he had, even if they were nice to him. "Really? But you've only played with her for one day."

Zephaniah looked up at me, a slight frown visible on his forehead. "I know, daddy. B-but I am still scared to talk, baba, but Ms. Hannah talks to me."

I felt my heart break at those words. I knew his other caregivers never really took the time to actually talk to him, they did say things, but they were the more practical things like; do you want to go to the playground? Do you want your water bottle? I didn't think he'd see it as not talking to him at all.

See, with things like that he understood more than I thought he did. Would Hannah be the right caregiver for him? After five hard tries, full of crying and nerves from Zephaniah?

"Well.. that's good, Zeph." I answered, biting my lip thoughtfully as I stared up at the ceiling. I knew I hadn't been the nicest to her, but she needed to know what I wanted. I had lost my patience a long time ago when it came to caregivers so I needed to be clear at the very start. Getting over with.

Zephaniah sat up and stared at the clock, "Daddy? What time?"

"It's fifteen minutes past seven." I mumbled sleepily as I glanced at the clock and stretched out my body.

Zephaniah blinked his eyes and stared at the clock in confusion with his lips parted, "How long till 8?"

"Don't worry about that, Zeph. I'll make sure you'll be on time, I promise. Do you trust daddy?" I asked him as I softly rubbed his warm back.