chance connection |1| [zarry] (✔️)

onehundredfourtyseven

"I'll be home early today, Sarah's gotta go to a family thing so we're stopping when she leaves," Harry says, putting his bowl into the dishwasher and stopping next to Zain, wrapping his arm around Zain's shoulder and leaning down.

"Alright," Zain yawns, kissing Harry's jaw. "We're gonna get groceries and probably going to the park, so don't be surprised if we're not here."

"Ok," Harry nods, stroking Zain's cheek and kissing him again. "See you later."

"See you," Zain says, watching him go with amusement.

"We're going to the park?" Freddie asks, tilting his head slightly to accept Harry's kiss. "Do you think Hassan will be there?"

Harry snorts, throwing Zain a look over his shoulder. Zain holds back an eyeroll, shrugging instead. "Hassan is there most days, isn't he? He'll probably be there today as well."

"Okay," Freddie says, pushing fruit around his bowl. "Can we go after breakfast?"

"Yes, monster," Zain says. "If you're done eating, you can go brush your teeth and get dressed."

"Can I take my football?" Freddie asks, almost dropping his bowl on the way to the dishwasher. Zain scrubs his hand through his hair and downs the last of his tea.

"Sure," he says, following Freddie upstairs at a leisurely pace, watching Freddie hop up the stairs and aiming under his breath. Zain is halfway sure it's Harry's song mixed with random outbursts of 'Park!'. Zain snorts and follows him into the bathroom, sitting down on the edge of the tub to watch him brush his teeth.

"We gotta go to the shop afterwards, monster, yea."

"I know," Freddie says barely intelligibly.

"Alright," Zain says, crossing his arms and waiting for Freddie to finish with his teeth. Dressing himself usually went well, but brushing your teeth still needed supervision or he'd leave halfway through and not be bothered anymore. He's not sure he's ready for when Freddie will do everything himself.

"I'll get dressed as well," Zain says when Freddie starts rinsing out his mouth. "Long sleeves, monster, ok?"

"Ok," Freddie says, sloshing water around his mouth and dropping most of it down his chin.

"Ok," Zain echoes, amused, and leaves him to it.

🌱

"Alright, thanks, Lana," Zain says, hanging up with a frown and letting himself fall back down onto the sofa.

"What was that about?" Harry asks curiously, crawling into his lap and kissing the frown on his forehead. Zain rarely got calls and it sounded serious like work calls never did. He had even left to speak to Lana alone, and Harry had never heard of Lana, not was Zain the type to leave the room when on the phone. At least not when it was just Harry.

"Hm?" Zain makes, like Harry's pulling him from his thoughts. "Oh, my friend with the art gallery," he says dismissively.

"And?" Harry asks, running his hands through Zain's hair. He likes that he's let it grown again. Zain always looks good but he loves him with long hair. It makes him softer somehow, less edgy perhaps than his buzz cut. "Whatchshe want?"

"Some big shot curator from a London gallery called her," Zain says slowly, still frowning.

"And?" Harry asks again when Zain doesn't continue, kissing his nose piercing. He's gonna miss him so badly and all the stupid little details about him. It's just two weeks in the US and he'll have so much to do, but he's so used to just having Zain there, he's not sure how he'll deal with a completely empty house away from everyone.