Next To My Heart (Zarry AU)

Part 14

Days have passed until Harry sits down to go through the photos. Ruth told him to take his time, but he'd rather have it done sooner than later. So he comfortably settles on his sofa with his laptop, and gets to work.

It's a process, alright. First he makes sure to separate them into different folders before checking the actual quality of the photos. The ones that aren't up to par are removed, and only then does he start with editing the photos. Sometimes they need to be sharpened or just cropped a little. It's all sorts of things.

Harry makes sure to take a break every once in a while, and he also had to admit he wasn't going to finish it in one night. So it's on the third day that he spots it.

Zayn.

Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first. He really only noticed when his hands were holding his sandwich and his eyes were lazily scanning over the photo. Now he's trying not to choke on it, coughing into his fist.

It's a photo he took of the ceremony, Ruth and Thomas standing under the arch, with everyone's attention on them.

Almost everyone.

Now, Harry didn't really think anything was off at first. He just noticed that Zayn wasn't looking at the happy couple. Only when he started thinking of where he was looking, did his heart fall into his stomach. Because, why?

Of all things, Zayn was staring straight at Harry. Almost into the camera. Nobody else even seems to spare Harry a glance in the photo, in any of the photos, yet Zayn... Harry goes back and forth between some of them, mouth suddenly dry. His throat aches, but for a completely different reason now. It's the kind of sting you feel when you're on the edge of tears. Not that Harry's going to cry.

He's not.

It's not like after realising he's in love, he's given a glimpse. Except he is. A glimpse of what it's like to hold Zayn close, to have his eyes on him when everyone is looking the other way, only for it to have no meaning. Not to the other person. To Harry, it means too much.

He keeps the photo for himself, ignoring the voices in his head telling him to delete it, telling him it's a bad idea to hold onto this. But Harry is hopeful.

Hoping that one day a glimpse can become reality.

Sorry about the extremely short chapter! The next one will be a bit longer :)

See you on Sunday! xxx <3