There's More Than Meets the Eye

Yo guys! I'm also on ao3 thought I'd just show my shit on here. :) Have fun ~Ley

Prologue:

“Hey Zayn, Daddy has to go to work now. I’ll see you after alright?” Zayn’s father bends over the dark cherry wooded crib in which Zayn lies. His father leaves a kiss on his forehead. (Zayn may have only been eighteen months old, but he tries to keep all the memories of his father intact and as clear as possible.) Yaser’s raven black hair brushes against Zayn’s skin, tickling him, as his father rises back up and smiles softly. Half words spew out of Zayn’s mouth as Yaser strides out of his room. Zayn sees his mother stopping his father at the door.

“Stay safe alright? I need you to come back for him. For Donyia. For me.”

“Yes love, you remind me every day. And don’t worry, I’ll be back home. I promise.” He gives her a quick kiss.”

“I know. I just…”

“I get it. I have a dangerous job.” Zayn doesn’t even know what he does. He knows that he always goes to work in the same black suit every day; even the weekends. Maybe it’s not the same suit. Maybe he just has a lot of the same one. Did he buy them all at once? Zayn’s adolescent mind doesn’t really ponder over those thoughts anymore and instead he marvels over the stuffed monkey beside him. His parent’s conversation leaving his ears. Zayn grabs the toy in his chubby sausage fingers and holds it above his head. Zayn hasn’t let this animal leave his sight since he was born. Its black stitched smile, soft coffee brown mohair fur, and the little ‘Z’ embroidered on the right side of the chest. Zayn had fallen in love with it.

“Daddy, can I come to work with you this one time? Please? I promise I won’t break anything!” Zayn has been begging for years now. He’s five now, and he just really wants to meet all of his friends he talks about see all the cool things he does. Zayn now knows his father is spy. And he really wants to be one too. “Please?” He gives him his best puppy dog eyes he can muster up. His father sighs.

“Fine, but you can’t touch anything alright? And I’ll have one of my friends walk around with you because I have some work today alright?” Zayn shouts in excitement and dances around in victory.

“Thank you thank you thank you Daddy!” Zayn hugs his father tightly.

“Alright kiddo, get your shoes on. We’ll be leaving soon. And I have to tell your mother.” Zayn prances up the stairs to grab and put on his shoes. The oak stairs creak on the 5th step underneath Zayn’s naked feet just like they always have. Zayn pulls on socks and his black sneakers that light up when he walks and have ties on them “because dad, Velcro isn’t cool!” Then he runs back down the stairs, almost tripping and falling, and grabs his jacket just as his father comes out. “Ready?”

“Yes!” Zayn is beyond ready.

“Then let’s go.”

.

When they get to HQ (“Dad, why don’t you just call it Headquarters?”) Zayn is practically glowing. He gasps on how huge it is. It isn’t at all how Zayn thought it would look. He thought it might be a tall sky scraper with the logo on the top in huge block font in red or black fluorescent lights. But no. It’s a three storied building, which looks a lot like stairs, with beige coloring the unused outside walls. Floor to ceiling windows space each of the levels, but it’s not all windows like he had imagined. When they walk inside it’s even more extravagant. People are furiously working, scribbling on paper, typing away on computers, and writing things down on white boards. It’s a mess really. Some people are rolling around in their swivel chairs to other workspaces cutting off Zayn and his father. There is a walk space from the door to an elevator though, which Zayn is glad for. He really doesn’t want to walk through the tornado that is the entirety of the first floor.