in the hills • zayn malik

twenty seven- faith

twenty seven- faith

song for this chapter: “mess is mine” by Vance Joy

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Zayn could feel a heaviness in his chest as he woke up; Iris bundled up in his arms, still asleep. They were covered in a pile of blankets to keep the cold away, and he knew that as soon as they threw away the blankets there would be no turning back. He had a bad feeling that when he got back, something would keep him from her.

She always looked beautiful, even when she wasn’t meaning to be. Even now when her lips were down turned and her lips were dry and cracked and her hair was a right mess, she looked beautiful. But maybe that wasn’t why she looked so beautiful to Zayn. He knew, as a fact, a certainty, that Iris was beautiful. Every part of her, every atom of her, was beautiful.

And he really couldn’t put this into words, because no word yet encompassed the amount of beauty that he was referring to when he looked at Iris. No one would ever figure it out, Zayn realised, because this realisation was beyond mortal understanding, that withstood the tests of time. He shivered as he thought that in a thousand years another person would be making this same discovery, this same wordless realisation.

It scared him a little, to feel so strongly for her. But he felt something changing inside of him, almost like the dust had finally settled and he could see. He could see that Iris was the only person in this world, in this lifetime, in all lifetimes, that would make him feel this way. The gravity of it all made him panic for a second, but he only had to look back down at Iris to be grounded again.

He brushed his lips against her forehead, and as soon as he touched her with his lips, this belief solidified within him, brining the sweetest smile to his face. Iris stirred and slowly awoke, blinking slowly up at him. Once she managed to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds, she smiled at him. 

“Good morning.” Iris whispered, placing a hand on his chest.

Without much thinking, Zayn refrained from replying and instead leant down and kissed her, placing his hand on her cheek, holding her there. A hot feeling arose throughout his whole body, every part of him tingling, every atom screaming for joy.

Zayn pulled away, keeping his hand resting on her cheek, thumb brushing across her cheek. “Morning.” He said softly.