Chapter 1

" Gotcha!" 19 year old Niall slammed a pillow into his best friend's, 18 year old Harry, face.

" 51 for Niall and 78 for Hazza." 21 year old Louis, who was perched on the back of the couch keeping score of the friendly pillow fight, reported.

" Got a long way to go before you beat me, brother." Harry panted, repeatedly scoring hits on his older buddy's body with the pillow.

The three band mates were clowning around in their living room one Saturday afternoon after a morning of housework.

It had started with Harry and Niall chatting next to each other on the couch, when Harry had without warning grabbed a pillow and smacked Niall over the head with it.

Niall hollered for Louis, who was in the kitchen putting the last of the dishes away, to get in here and help him as he struggled to defend himself form his best friend's onslaught.

Louis came all right, but not to help, to keep score.

Niall was forced to wrench a pillow out from under Harry while the curly-haired boy beat him with the pillow and return the attack, under immense teasing from Louis for calling for help.

Laughing, the two best friends had commenced a full scale pillow fight on the couch, while Louis tallied up the score.

A door slammed as just-turned-20 Zayn entered the house.

Louis glanced into the kitchen as the tired singer emptied the last of the lemonade into a tall glass, then walked into the living room.

He sat down and wiped his forehead, then grinned at the fight on the couch across the room.

Setting his lemonade on the side table after a long drink, he called across to them, " So, who's winning?"

" Harry." Louis answered, his pencil flying as he made mark after mark.

" Mmm." Zayn said, leaning back into the other couch. " Seems like no one but me is working. Where's Liam?"

" Liam? He's at the store replacing all the food piggy here ate while the rest of us were hard at work." Harry said, scoring more hits on a protesting Niall.

Liam was 19 also, though he seemed far older then the rest of them and was often called daddy directioner.

" I did my chores too!" Niall put in, giving Harry a few smacks with the pillow while shielding his own face.

" Yeah, sure." Zayn said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

He had been mowing the lawn, and it was not exactly cool out.

Suddenly, the phone rang, and Zayn got up to get it with a groan.

" No one knock over my lemonade; it's the last we have, and I hope Liam thinks of picking up some more." He said as he walked out.

He sticks his head back in. " And if it is dumped when I come back, the guilty one pays with his bottom." Then he answered the phone.

The pillow fight continued for a while and Zayn was stuck on the phone.

Finally, Harry lost a grip on his pillow and it flew across the room, knocking over the glass of lemonade.

All three boys froze, remembering Zayn's words.

Harry gulped, and looked at the floor.

He got spanked the most, with Niall coming in second on that, and all of them knew that Zayn was not the one you wanted to be spanked by.

He spanked hard, and if you cried, he spanked harder.

Louis would sometimes dish out spankings, but not nearly as bad as Zayn.

Often, Niall only got it because Harry coaxed him to join in on a new plot of his, and then they got caught.

Liam almost never got in enough trouble to get spanked for it, and he never fell for Harry's schemes as much as Niall did.

Harry had just been spanked that morning, when he flat out told Niall that the breakfast he cooked was disgusting.

Normally that was okay, but the catch was, Harry refused to apologize or laugh it off as the normal banter.

Louis had spanked him for this one, which Harry hated, as Louis was his best friend along with Niall, and it hurt him to see Louis was upset enough to deem it necessary to punish him.

Poor Harry was still sore, and he dreaded another punishment, this time from Zayn.

Niall felt bad for his friend too, and made a sudden decision.

He would take the blame and save Harry a spanking.

He was Zayn's favorite anyways, and probably would not be spanked as hard as Harry would have been.

He turned urgently to Harry, having made his mind up.

" Go upstairs with Louis, Harry, I'll take this one." He said, stroking the side of Harry's face and ruffling his friend's curly hair in an effort to hide his own nervousness.

Harry looked appalled.

" No Nialler! I can't let you do that! It was my pillow that knocked it down; I accept my own punishment for it."

Niall shook his head and stroked Harry's face a moment longer, then nodded to Louis, who grabbed Harry's wrists and pinned them behind his back as Niall stuffed a kerchief into the English boy's mouth.

He helped Louis to haul the struggling Harry upstairs to the bedroom Harry and Zayn shared, which was across from the one Louis and Niall shared, as Liam preferred sleeping on the couch, and then turned to go back down to the scene of the crime.

As he did so, they all heard Zayn explode below.

" Who did it?!" they heard him bellow, and Niall ran down the stairs as Louis wished him luck and Harry silently cried and fought to be free.

Niall burst into the living room to face a livid Zayn.

The dark-haired boy spun around to face him, the look on his face frightening Niall.

Then Zayn's look of anger turned to a look of surprise and hurt.

" You?" he croaked, and Niall nodded and looked at his feet, kicking the floor.

Zayn rubbed the back of his head. " I honestly never thought you'd be the one to do that, I expected Harry to knock it over just to be funny."

Niall didn't say anything; he just shuffled his feet and peeked up at Zayn through his eyelashes.

Zayn gave a heavy sigh. " May as well get this over with. Come, Niall."

Niall slowly stepped to Zayn, and allowed himself to be bent over the arm of the couch and his pants pulled down to his ankles, leaving just his boxer shorts on.

He gritted his teeth as he heard Zayn unbuckling his belt, and reminded himself he was doing this for Harry.

He tensed as he waited for the expected blow, but before it landed, Zayn spoke in a voice full of remorse.

" I hate having to do this to you Niall, and I am sorely disappointed in you."

Niall felt hot tears coursing down his cheeks as Zayn continued, wanting so desperately to cry out and say, ' Zayn, I didn't do it!' but he could not; no, he had to do this for Harry.

Zayn's next words about broke his tender heart: "You are my best friend, and I love you. I love cuddling with you and all the other fun stuff we do, and I thought you felt the same for me. I never expected my best friend to deny me a drink after I worked so hard out in the blazing sun and found that the water was out."

As he finished, he swung the doubled belt against Niall's backside with a loud smack!

Niall let out an agonized gasp in spite of himself.

He knew Zayn spanked hard, but he was never prepared for it.

Smack!

Niall bit his lip and tried not to cry out.

Smack! Smack!

" I wish I could ask if it was an accident, but from the angle you were on the couch, I know you had to really try for it." Zayn said sadly.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

Niall whimpered.

" I might have let you off lighter if it was just a slip up, but there is no way that was not done on purpose." Zayn continued, raining spanks down as Niall tried not to make a sound.

He gasped as quietly as he could, fighting back more tears, as Zayn kept on.

" Why Niall?" Zayn asked in a choked voice. " Why did you do it? You knew I would have to spank you. Why?"

Niall had no answer, as he really did not do it, and he could not just tell on Harry now.

Not like he would anyway, but still.

Suddenly, there was a crash upstairs, and the sound of pounding feet coming down the stairs, as though the runner was taking the steps eight at a time.

Turns out that was the case, as Harry ran down the stairs and flew towards them, hollering at Zayn to stop.

Zayn did so just as Harry reached them and grabbed Zayn's wrist to prevent him form laying another spank on the defenseless Niall's bottom.

Harry was in tears, and laid his head on Zayn's shoulder, sobbing out, " D-don't p-punish him a-anymore, I d-did it, n-not Niall!"

Zayn was speechless for a moment, then he scooped Niall off the couch and cradled his head to his chest, stroking the blond boy' soft hair.

Harry moved around and wrapped his arms around Niall, leaning his curly topped head on Niall's shoulder this time.

They remained there until Louis, who had slowly followed after Harry, cleared his throat.

Zayn then lifted Niall's chin, and looked into the hurt blue eyes of his friend.

" Why did you take Harry's punishment for him and not tell me?" he asked, half scolding.

" Because you would not spank me but Harry, if I told you." Niall replied.

" You're right, and it was stupid of me to get so upset over a glass of lemonade anyway. I'm sorry." Zayn closed his eyes and this time, it was Niall who did the comforting.

" Niall?" Harry sniffed.

" Yeah?" Niall replied, snuggling Zayn.

" Don't ever do that again, Nialler. I love you and all, but if you do that again, I'll smack you silly." Harry said, stroking the side of Niall's face softly.

" Okay. And same goes to you Curly Locks." Nail said, earning himself a light punch in the back from his curly-haired friend.

Louis breathed a sigh of relief. " I'm telling you, Harry is stronger then he looks." he said, rubbing his shoulders.

Everyone laughed at that.

Just then, Liam walked in, his arms full of groceries.

" What? I missed a family hug? No fair!" so saying, he dropped the bags, and he and Louis joined the other three in a great bear hug, in which they were careful not to crowd claustrophobic Niall too much.

" Why is Niall in his boxer shorts?" Liam wanted to know when they parted.

" Long story." Zayn replied. " Any chance you brought home some more lemonade?"