chance connection |2| [zarry]

twohundredfiftyeight

"I might be home late, yea? They always try to cram as much as possible into Friday so we don't have to catch up as much on Monday."

"Sure," Zain says, accepting Harry's kiss. "I'll take monster to the beach for a bit. Text if you want anything specific from the store."

"I'm good, I think," Harry says, burying his nose in Zain's neck for a moment. "I'm very happy that it's Friday but that also means you're leaving in two days."

"Sorry, babes."

"Yea, I know. I'm glad Louis didn't insist on you leaving tomorrow," Harry adds. "Stupid job keeping him in London."

"Stupid job keeping you in France," Zain counters gently, kissing his cheek. "Go on, babes. We'll be here when you get back."

"Yes," Harry sighs, squeezing Zain obnoxiously tightly for a moment before smacking a kiss to his cheek. "Love you!"

"Love you, too," Zain says, watching Harry kiss Freddie's cheek a few times in rapid succession. Freddie doesn't let himself be distracted from breakfast in the slightest.

"So," he says after Harry's pulled himself away and Freddie's dribbled milk down his skin while calling "bye mummy" after him. "What do you wanna do today, my monster?"

"Beach!" Freddie perks up. "Can we get a dragon?"

"A dragon?" Zain asks, trying to remember every dragon and dragon-like thing Freddie had encountered recently.

"Yes!" Freddie nods. "We saw it at the beach yesterday. Remember? The girl had a string!"

"Oh, you mean the kite?" Zain asks, remembering. "Baby, I don't know if we'll find one that looks like a dragon. It I guess we can try."

"Yes!" Freddie nods. "Kite dragon! It looked so cool!"

"It did look cool," Zain agrees, putting his chin in his hand and watching Freddie finish breakfast. He hasn't even considered not getting one for Freddie, he really was getting used to having more money at their disposal. "Try and keep the milk inside your mouth, monster," he adds, when Freddie dribbles everywhere again in his enthusiasm.

"Am," Freddie protests, mouth full. "Oops," he giggles when half the contents of his mouth spill down his chin.

"Yea, oops," Zain sighs, taking a sip of his tea.

🌱

"Mummy!" Freddie calls, hopping onto the couch and Harry's lap, kneeing him into the stomach.

Harry winces, catching Freddie and pulling him onto his lap properly, kissing his cheek. "Do you have a moment to listen to me, baby?" he asks, pressing his nose to Freddie's cheek.

"Why?" Freddie asks, tilting his head back and reaching for Harry's ears.

"Because, my love," Harry says, calmer than he thought he would be. "I have something exciting to tell you."

"What is it?" Freddie asks, wiggling around until he faces Harry properly. "Is it ice cream? Is it a puppy?"

"Neither," Harry says, a bit amused, rubbing his thumb over Freddie's cheek. "Remember how you were asking for a baby?"

Freddie gasps. It's almost comical, his eyes going wide and surprised, his mouth dropping open. "A baby?" he shrieks. "You're getting me a baby?"

"I'm not getting you a baby, Freddie," Harry laughs, amused. "But I'm having one."

"Really?" Freddie asks, his eyes still wide, his mouth hanging open.

"Really," Harry says, kissing the side of Freddie's nose. "What do you think, hm?"