The Missing Piece

Thirteen

The following day is a quiet one. Louis all but begs to go to the park, but with Niall so withdrawn and upset still, there's no way they're dragging him out. So Harry takes Louis to the park and Liam goes out to one of his friend's houses, and that leaves Zayn alone with Niall for the first time in...well, ever, if they're talking about since they got him back. Back before George had taken their son from them, Zayn had been alone with him all the time and it had never been this anxiety provoking.

As such, he makes sure the eight year old eats and drinks something before turning on the morning cartoons and making sure the boy is comfortable before he goes to his room to fish out the sketch pad and pencils that have gone untouched for so long.

He isn't sure why, but it feels right. He hasn't drawn in the longest of times but he wants to; he actually feels inspired to. And with the whole meeting with George out of the way, there's something akin to hope blooming in his chest that maybe, this means there's nothing holding them back from moving on properly now.

Niall doesn't even blink when Zayn re-enters the room, his eyes tired and half-lidded as he watches the tv. Zayn sits on the other end of the couch and begins to draw.

After a short while, Zayn catches the boy watching him from the corner of his eye from his space curled up next to the arm of the couch with his legs pulled up and Bunny hugged to his chest, but the moment he looks back at the kid, he quickly looks back to the TV and tries to act as if he hadn't been staring for the past few seconds.

He turns back to his sketch for a few seconds, the basic outline of his son snuggled up in his PJs watching cartoons before looking back up to find Niall eyeing his sketch pad again.

He smiles. "Did you want to see?" He asks gently, and the child hesitates before giving a small nod, shuffling across the couch until he's sitting beside Zayn with his legs crossed in front of him and his teddy in his lap, tilting his head to look at the page better.

He pauses, then looks up with wide eyes. "You're drawing me?" He asks, quietly.

Zayn smiles again and nods. "I am."

Niall looks puzzled. "Why?"

"Because I love you," Zayn says simply, eyes softening when the boy looks almost confused by the statement. He closes the book and runs his hand over the worn cover; the edges are softened rather than sharp now and there are ridges and bumps in the leather binding. "I've had this book for twenty years, your Dad bought it for me on our one year anniversary of being together," he explains, and Niall's eyes widen.

"It's — it's even older than Liam," he says, earning a chuckle from the man, who nods.

"Yup. When Harry gave this to me, there was a note taped to the inside cover," he flicks the page open and runs a hand over the sheet of paper still stuck there. "See, it's still here. I won't read it to you, but it basically says that this is a book he only wants me to use when I feel completely, entirely in love with the thing that I'm drawing or the moment that I'm trying to capture."

Niall doesn't answer, just stares at the book, and so Zayn turns the page. The first picture is from that day, the one year anniversary of their first ever date; Harry, face smoother and rounder and younger, sprawled out on the living room floor with his laptop open, papers and folders scattered around him as he studied. Zayn had sat curled up in the armchair in the tiny apartment they'd shared back then and watched him, and he'd realised just how madly in love with this man that he was, and so, true to the note, he'd sketched the moment.

"This one was from the day he gave this to me," he says gently, then turns the page, grinning at the sketch of Harry fast asleep on the couch with a bag of crisps on his chest and his head tilted back, mouth wide open, the light of the TV screen lighting one side of his face. "This is the night before I proposed to him, he fell asleep when we were watching a movie and I just...I can't explain how I knew, but I realised I never wanted to be away from him a day in my life if I could help it. Course, we couldn't actually get married back then because the laws were different for people like us, but we wore the rings and it meant the same thing really."