never enough [zarry]

1

"Hi Zain," Harry Styles says like he does every day, walking past Zain in his Louis Vuitton coat and his Gucci handbag, his MacBook tucked under his arm like he was in some sort of university fashion show instead of their 8 am lecture on Morphosyntax.

"Hey," Zain says because he's not a complete arsehole, not matter what Louis says.

Harry smiles at him and then gets distracted by his usual hanger-ons, who coo at him and fawn over him, and don't spare Zain a second glance.

Zain's not sure why Harry even bothers. They weren't in the same course but shared enough modules that they saw each other regularly. Still, they'd never shared more than a greeting and that had always been on Harry's initiative.

Zain can appreciate Harry's legs and it was sweet of him to greet Zain almost religiously, but he's fine staying in the periphery of Harry's life. Or rather have Harry stay in the periphery of his own. He already knows too much about him, because their whole department was always talking about Harry Styles and what he was wearing and where he was going for the weekend or on holiday and who he was seen with and what kind of coffee he was drinking.

"He broke it off with Luke," Zain hears that particular morning, holding back an eyeroll. He's already annoyed that he knows Harry Styles had been dating Luke Simmons, the other overly rich guy on their campus, driving a brand new BMW to class and wearing his Marco Polo shirts like he needs to prove a point. He does not need to know about their split now.

"What?" gossip number two whispers. "But I thought they were as good as engaged. Everyone said they'd get married after uni."

"Well, I heard," a third voice adds, "that it was Luke who broke it off. Apparently Harry's a right prude. Wouldn't even you know."

"What?" number two gasps again. Zain considers putting in his earphones and turning on some music so he doesn't have to listen to them. At least he doesn't feel have to see whatever crude gesture had no doubt been exhibited behind his back.

"But they've been together for ages!"

"I heard Luke tell his mates last night at the pub," the third voice continues. Zain doesn't want to turn around and find out. "Harry's really spoiled and clingy and won't do anything in the bedroom basically. He just couldn't take it anymore."

"Really? I always thought-" but Zain doesn't get to find out what number one had always thought, thankfully, because their lecturer arrives.

They are at least considerate enough to only whisper about the lecture while their professor talks. It makes Zain want to roll his eyes for completely different reasons.

Harry Styles sits in the second row, just in Zain's sight, a colourful cardigan on that looks like it should belong to some grandpa. Somehow, when Harry Styles was wearing it things that had gotten Zain laughed at in middle school were cool.

He's not exactly jealous, but he does resent the privilege surrounding Harry Styles. He's had three different laptops, all MacBooks of course, over the years. Zain's still carrying the same he had bought during school and half the time it does just before he has to hand in assignments. Just having one new computer would have made his life so much easier.

He shakes his head and forces himself out of his petty jealousness. Harry Styles might not know who Zain was, but he also wasn't one of those people who would sneer when he passed them.

The lecture ends with their presentation assignments. Zain's never been a fan of group work, and he hasn't really tried integrating himself in the course either, happy with the friends he's made. He'd just put his name down for one of the few empty slots and hoped maybe that he could do it on his own, the topics all equally appealing.

But the table the professor puts up on the screen lists him next to Harry Styles. Just his luck. He hopes Harry Styles at least cares about classwork and is not a complete dick when interacting directly with Zain. Zain still isn't sure why he says he'll go Zain every time but it didn't necessarily mean he wouldn't still be a complete dick.

He packs up his laptop slowly, waiting for the others to clear out. He'll approach Harry Styles at the beginning of next class. He's not sure Harry Styles knows who he is, so it'd be easiest to do some research on the topic so they can jump right in.

"Hey Zain."

Zain blinks up at Harry Styles, surprised. "Hi," he says on reflex, grabbing his bag.

"We're on the same topic," Harry Styles says unnecessarily. "Wanna swap numbers so we can meet up later this week? I like to get started early, I don't like to rush assignments."

"Sure," Zain says, positively surprised. Harry Styles not only saw fit to approach him first, he was also interested in finishing course work early. He takes the brand new iPhone handed to him and enters his number a bit clumsily, putting his name as Zain Malik (Modern English Lit) just in case Harry was really good at faking knowing who Zain was.

"Thanks," Harry smiles at him, pocketing his phone and smoothing out non-existent creases on his coat. "I'll text you later, I gotta hurry. I have Transformative Writing downhill. Bye."

"Bye," Zain echoes, and follows him much more slowly out of the lecture hall. He has an hour until his tutorial which he'd better spend in the library. He crosses the yard, soaking up a few rays of sunshine, and settles into his usual place in the back of the English section, starting on next week's reading.

His phone vibrates just as he's set himself up. He looks at is, surprised to see that he already has a message from Harry Styles.

Hi, this is Harry Styles from Modern English Lit ☺️
Do you have time this week to meet up? I can do most days in the afternoon, except Thursdays.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
-H

Zain smiles, a bit amused at the phrasing and the one random emoji and saves the number to his phone, tapping the profile picture of Harry Styles. It looks like a professional photo shoot, casual and elegant at the seaside somewhere. Zain let's his eyes linger on his long legs and flat belly, shown off nicely by the short blue shorts and an almost see-through shirt. It should look cheap, maybe, or obvious, but it's sexy as hell. Zain looks at it for a moment before locking his phone.

He unlocks it right away again. No need playing hard to get.

i work thursdays to sundays, other than that i think we have most classes in common.
zain

Harry's response come through before Zain's even put his phone away

Let's do tomorrow then! You can come by my place, we won't be disturbed or disturb anyone like in the library ☺️
How about after History of English? We can walk to my apartment together.
H xx

Sounds good, Zain answers. He usually does his groceries after History ask then cooks the one proper meal he has during the week, but maybe he could just postpone it a bit.

The assignment needed to be finished, and it was promising that Harry wanted to start early. It was not often the case with those that were studying without a proper career goal and on their parent's money. He tucks his phone away and actually starts on his reading.

💫

Another uni au... have at it