Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home (Zarry AU)

Part 24

He hears the ocean before he sees it. Its waves are calmly brushing over the shore, just short of his feet. The push and pull is lulling him into a state of trance, his mind and body at peace and void of thought or emotion. He simply is.

There's not a cloud to be seen and it's difficult to tell the ocean from the sky because all Harry sees is blue. He doesn't know if he's alone or if someone is with him; he seems to have lost his senses, but he's fine with that. There's only him and blue.

Until the voices come. They're trapped in the sigh of the ocean, as it pulls back and prepares for the next meeting with the shore. They're calling Harry, beckoning him. The only voice he can make out is his mother's, sweet and soft to his ears. Her lovely voice singing their lullaby, the one she always sang after a bad night, when she knew Harry had been up and listening. She told him everything would be okay, that even bad nights have an end and if he went to sleep, he would see in the morning that she was right.

She couldn't sing to him after the incident. Now Harry's not sure if the night is truly over when he wakes up, if the morning brings him happiness or greets him with a sad face and tells him the world will never become a better place, that the natural state of the world is night and the sun has left the people. The people are consumed by night, and Harry is determined to become the sun.

''Mom?'' Harry calls out to her, to her fading voice. He takes a step into the ocean, wants to follow it and go to the voice, let himself get dragged into the effortless push and pull.

A hand stops him. It's large and warm around his, a hand Harry has only just gotten to know. The voice belonging to the hand whispers to him, calm yet demanding.

''Not yet, Harry.''

A blaring alarm wakes Harry and turning it off proves to be difficult, since his entire arm has gone numb from sleeping on it. When it's shut off he first takes a moment to come to his senses, staring at his ceiling and trying to figure out what he just dreamed about. He knows the hand and voice belong to Zayn, but why would he dream about him? What part does he play in all this?

This question haunts him the entire morning, enough so that he doesn't even notice Niall sitting on his desk and waving a newspaper in front of his face.

''Mate, you there?'' Niall snaps his fingers in front of Harry's face, startling him.

''What?''

''You looked like you ascended to another plane of existence for a moment, there.'' Niall drops the paper on Harry's desk and regards him carefully.

''I was just thinking,'' Harry defends himself, taking the newspaper and looking at the front page. Nothing special.

Niall snorts. ''Clearly.'' He pats Harry's desk, nodding approvingly. ''See you're keeping things clear. It's better, isn't it?''

''Yeah.'' Harry looks at the neatly organised surface and is glad Niall can't see his house, because it's in a worse state than his desk was. ''It made quite a difference. Thanks.''

''You're welcome.''

Harry folds up the paper again, tapping Niall on the leg with it. ''Can't believe I never asked - how's it been since the promotion?''

''Busy,'' Niall pauses, pursing his lips and stroking his chin. ''Demanding, stressful, great. I get to do more and less at the same time.''

''How so?''

''I have to do a lot of the same thing, but I like the control I have. And the paycheck is better.'' He picks up the paper and whacks Harry on the head with it. ''I also don't get to hit you on the head as often anymore, which is a shame. I really enjoy doing that.''

Harry rubs his head in feigned hurt and pushes Niall off his desk. ''And I miss doing that.''

Niall laughs loudly, hitting Harry's legs with the newspaper from where he's sitting on the ground. ''You'll regret that!'' He gets up and swings at Harry, but he ducks just in time. ''Alright, I'm out!''

''That's right, flee!'' Harry laughs at Niall as he hurries off, turning his head every few steps to glare at him. By the time he's out of sight, Harry's wiping away tears and trying to keep quiet for his already annoyed colleagues.

It doesn't matter what kind of day Harry's having, Niall always manages to bring some joy into it. 

Surprise! I updated early because the chapter is quite short, and because Yasmine asked me to (couldn't say no heh). The next update will be on Wednesday!

Until then xxx <3