chance connection |2| [zarry]

twohundredseventyseven

"Oh shit, monster," Zain says, patting his pockets again and staring at the door. "Daddy took the keys."

"What?" Freddie gasps with appropriate horror. "But I wanna get inside," he says, pulling at the door handle. Unfortunately — in this case — they have not forgotten to lock it.

"Let's see if we left the terrace door open, monster," Zain says, patting his pockets again. But he remembers Louis locking up and pocketing the one key. And he knows he didn't pack one. And he knows Louis and he never exchanged them.

"Locked!" Freddie yells from where he's run ahead, pressing his nose against the glass. "It's locked!"

"Yea," Zain says and tries as well, just to be sure. There is no window open either, not even the upstairs ones. He grimaces and pulls out his phone. They could make a day out of it but neither he nor Freddie were great at spontaneous adventures without all the necessary gear.

"I only took the T-Rex," Freddie says, his nose still pressed against the glass. "Everyone else is inside."

"I know, baby," Zain says and taps the screen of his phone, pulling a grimace when the ringtone sounds. "I'm calling mummy but he's at work so we'll have to entertain ourselves for a while."

"But Zain," Freddie says, looking at Zain solemnly. "I don't have all my things I need."

"I know, baby," Zain assures him, stroking his cheek as the call cuts off into voicemail. He hangs up, texting Harry instead. "I don't have all my things either. Let's go see what we can do to pass the time, hm? Maybe we can have pizza for lunch?"

"Yea?" Freddie perks up, clutching to Zain's hand. "Can I have Orangina?"

"You're a bit addicted, monster, huh?" Zain says, calling Harry again, just to be sure.

"A bit," Freddie says, holding his thumb and index finger barely apart. "It's yum!"

"Yea," Zain agrees, unlocking the car. He still doesn't know how he could have forgotten to take the keys along.

🌱

"So," Zain says when Harry calls back, finally. "What if I don't have my key?"

"What?" Harry says, panicky and out of breath. "I saw your calls, I thought something happened."

"I texted that we're fine," Zain grimaces at Freddie who grimaces back. "But we kinda wanna go back home so, like, can I pick up your key?"

"I, sure," Harry says. "How do you have the car but no house key?"

"Yea let's not talk about that," Zain grimaces again, making Freddie giggle. "We can be there in like ten minutes," he adds. "We've kinda set up close."

"I'll have to make some arrangements," Harry says. "But what happened to the key?"

"Louis might have taken it to London," Zain winces.

"Alright," Harry sighs his disappointed sigh. "I'll call you back in a bit."

"Thanks, babe," Zain says sincerely, hanging up. He turns the sound back on, proud to remember, and looks at Freddie. "Mummy to the rescue, monster," he says, rubbing a hand through Freddie's hair.

"Yay!" Freddie nods, chewing on the snacks Zain had bought when he had realised they'd had to settle in for a bit. "s good, my dinos don't know I'm gonna be gone long, they'll be scared."

"Yea?" Zain asks, taking Freddie's hand and starting to walk towards the entrance to the film set they had avoided until now, with all the people crowded around it. "Don't you think they'll have too much fun playing to remember?"