chance connection |2| [zarry]

twohundredthirtythree

Zain wakes up to Freddie whispering about his dinosaurs. When he opens his eyes, Freddie's laying on Harry, his elbows on Harry's shoulders and his chin in his hands as if Harry is his personal cushion, looking utterly contend. Harry runs his hands through his hair, watching him talk, a sad twist around his mouth.

He reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind Harry's ear, and both of them turn to look at him.

"Zain," Freddie says, reaching out to grab his shirt, blinking sleepily despite the brightness on his gaze.

"Hey, monster," Zain says, scooting closer and cupping his cheek. "Sleep well?"

"Yea," Freddie says slowly, yawning. "Mummy snores."

"You say that every time, monster," Zain says, amused, running his fingers through Freddie's hair.

Freddie shrugs. "He does. What's for breakfast?"

"Hmm. Dunno," Zain says slowly. "How about monster?" he growls, pulling Freddie towards him and biting gently at his arm.

Freddie shrieks, delighted, kicking his legs, laughing.

"Go wake your dad," Zain yawns when he lets go of Freddie, who's still giggling to himself, spread-eagled across the space between Zain and Harry.

"Okay," Freddie nods, delighted, jumping off the bed with a thud. The door bangs against the wall as he rips it open, already yelling "daddy!" at the top of his voice.

"Babe," Zain says, pulling Harry towards him and kissing his lips.

Harry's breath hitches again. "I'm not crying," he says.

"Yea," Zain agrees, stroking the tear from Harry's cheek. "You good to get up?"

"Yea?" Harry says, sounding unsure, sniffing slightly, fingers tight on Zain's t-shirt.

"Babe," Zain says helplessly.

"I'm fine," Harry sniffs again. "I'm just gonna miss him. And you. And being home."

"I'm gonna miss you, too," Zain says, chest tight. He nudges their noses together, acutely aware that the door is still open and that Freddie is chanting "daddy daddy daddy" not too far away. "But it's gonna pass quickly, I promise."

"Yea," Harry says, kissing the corner of Zain's mouth and lingering for a moment.

"Up and at 'em!" Freddie yells. Zain's not even sure where he picked that up.

"Up and at 'em," Harry echoes, snorting, and sits up, scrubbing a hand through his hair and sniffing at his t-shirt.

"You're not gonna drive to France in that shirt, are you?" Zain asks, eyeing him. "And you call me a slob."

Harry grins, shrugging, pulling jogging bottoms on. "Not like anyone's gonna know," he says, smirking slightly.

Zain rolls his eyes at him and forces himself to get up as well. Freddie's quiet again, like maybe Louis managed to get him to cuddle for a moment. He pulls on a clean shirt, scrubbing a hand through his hair before following Harry downstairs.

He might tease Harry about him and Freddie being clingy but he isn't ready to have Harry leave his sight just yet either.

🌱

The whole day is spent in weird anticipation. Freddie compensates by jumping around even more, attaching himself to Harry inbetween and Louis hovers awkwardly at the periphery, watching Freddie with a worried frown.

Zain doesn't think it will be too bad, used as Freddie was to one of them going away for a bit and used to Harry being abroad to a certain extend already, but it still felt different somehow, him leaving for such a stretch of time, not matter how often they assured each other that Zain would visit and visit often.