"Chase 's my favourite 'cause he is a German shepherd and I really like that dog breed, and also 'cause he is a police dog." Zayn said quietly in a mumble behind his thumb, which had somehow now travelled up and found it's way in between the boy's lips, bobbing between them.

"Ah, I see. Good reasons then, Zayn." Liam hummed, subconsciously rubbing Zayn's back once more. He seriously couldn't help himself, doing the reassuring movement with his hand against Zayn's body just felt so normal and he could tell that the boy felt the exact same too, just by the way he cuddled and relaxed against his touch. "Ye'h."

On the screen, the cartoon dogs were solving some mission that involved saving a concert. Liam still really didn't understand much of what was going on but by now Zayn's eyes looked so pure and bright. He had a large smile across his face and his cheeks were a soft shade of pink, occasional giggles were falling from his lips and It was amazing to see. Liam instantly counted himself lucky, knowing that he had so far been the only person to had seen that side of Zayn.

"Brmmmmm...!" Zayn whispered, flying his teddy around in the air in front of him. It was obvious that the boy had slipped by now, and Liam really didn't know what to do - so he simply did the first instinct that he quickly thought of and that was wrapping his arms around Zayn, which caused the boy to look up and smile shyly. Liam smiled back and the two kept eye contact for a short while before Zayn broke it and pointed randomly at the TV. There really wasn't a reason for him to do so but he found it hilarious anyway and giggled away, "Chase!"

"Chase, yep, he's on the telly." Liam replied, playing with Zayn's hair. Zayn nuzzled against his hand with a big grin against his face, "'s good."

"So good, Hm? You like your hair playing with?" He chuckled and the boy nodded, enjoying how Liam's fingers felt running through his fluffy hair. He was totally relaxed right now in himself, and Liam even shockingly felt the same. Being within Zayn's company and caring for him in a way just felt so stress relieving, it felt like something that he really needed - in no way was he Zayn's caregiver, just yet, but he was totally in full utter admiration of the boy's little side. He was grateful that he was introduced to this secret world. "Wuv it."

He truly couldn't grasp just how old Zayn was feeling at this moment in time, as he wasn't the most talkative and was mainly just giggling and clapping his hands. He figured that Zayn felt roughly around two or three years old but then again he was no childcare student and studied different angles of shooting balls for a career. It seemed about accurate, especially when the lad picked up his teddy and shoved it's ear in his mouth, sucking on it. "That's.. icky. Haven't you got anything else you can suck on?"

"N'uh, Li." Zayn mumbled, a blush across his face in response to the nickname in which he had just called Liam. "Oh yes, of course. You told me you didn't have anything the other day... Just your pup. Silly Liam for forgetting..." He chuckled, "We'll have to get a pacifier or something to go between those lips of yours."

"'cifier." He repeated, clapping his hands and Liam would be completely, totally insane if he agreed that Zayn in this headspace wasn't the cutest thing he had ever witnessed because it well and truly was. "Yep. If that's okay with you? I'll discuss it with you when you're, like, big... Cause you can't keep sucking on that dirty thing everytime you want comfort."

"Noooo-" Zayn giggled, hiding behind the puppy again, "No dirty'".

"Alright. Behind that very, super duper clean thing then?" He laughed, tickling Zayn who instantly dropped his teddy and burst out into a fit of giggles.

"'ickles!"

"Of course it tickles! I'm tickling you." Liam beamed and Zayn reached up to nuzzle his face against the side of Liam's, enjoying the feeling of their skin against each other. It was now Liam's turn to blush and blush he did, his face turned completely red, thankfully it wasn't visible to the boy who was now glued back to the tv, his warm, brown eyes immediately on it.

Coughing gently as a distraction to create reasoning behind the redness of his cheeks, clearing himself of embarrassment, Liam thought it would be best if he gave Zayn some space instead of being by him the whole time. He did say he didn't want his little space to be made a big deal of and Liam really hoped that he hadn't done that so far. He was also getting hungry and he knew that after the long day, Zayn would be too. "Would you like spaghetti hoops for dinner time, Zayn?"

The little boy kept his eyes on the TV, way too zoned out to even hear what Liam had just said. That made Liam chuckle, to which Zayn quickly turned his head at - he just loved Liam's laughter! "Mm?"

"I asked if you want some spaghetti hoops for dinner?"

"'sketti 'oops."

"I'll take that as a yes? That sounded very Yorkshire." He grinned, getting up. Patting his hands against his hips, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me but I'll be able to see you from there as well - so all is good." The boy bobbed his head and returned back to watching the television, his puppy tucked under his arms in a protective hold and his body now under the warm bed sheets. He was all cozy and he felt extremely safe and welcomed into his space - he loved every growing inch of it.

The footy lad made his way over to the kitchen, checking back on Zayn as he did so, and got out two cans of Heinz spaghetti hoops. He sat it on the side and picked out a large pan to cook it in; spaghetti hoops was by far the easiest and quickest thing to cook, all you had to do was put it all into a pan and turn the heat up, stirring it occasionally. It was something he had as a kid whenever his parents were out and too busy to make food for him, he grew up doing a lot of things on his own, hence the fact he knew how to cook so much.

After putting it on the heat and stirring it, he leaned against the counter and watched Zayn who was in his own little world. Eyes lighting up every time his favourite character was shown upon the screen. He began to wonder, just how did he get so lucky to end up in a situation just like this? And who does he have to thank for it? It felt as though it was a miracle, as though this was something he had been waiting for. Why wasn't age regression known widely around the world when it felt so warm, safe and compacting in his chest?