Comic // z.m. au [discontinued]

Fifteen

"Oh my God," is the first thing Zayn hears after being suddenly awoken by Ivy, whose fingers dig into his shoulder blades as she shakes his body from side to side, trying to get his attention while still consumed by an unconscious state. Her voice is nothing but a whisper in the dark, not too alarming so that it makes Zayn jerk upright in concern. Instead, he groans sleepily, tries to wriggle his way out of Ivy's grasp so that he can continue with his sleeping—because God knows how much Zayn cherishes his sleep—but she makes it impossible for him to do so. And somehow—somehow—he's always getting woken up in the middle of the night when he'd rather be left alone with closed eyes and dreams of him and Ivy dancing colorfully behind his lids.

And no, no Zayn doesn't have dreams about Ivy. Of course he doesn't.

"Zayn," Ivy whispers excitedly again, and the sound kind of makes Zayn's fond heart grow twice the size, but he'll never admit that out loud. Never. "Zayn, wake up. You have to see this."

And if it's what Ivy wants, it's what she'll get. Zayn's eyes flutter open, then. He brings his hands up to rub the sleep that still hides away on his face from his eyes before he moves to sit upright until he's facing Ivy. And—wow. Even in the darkness of the night, with the moon up at its highest point and the stars twinkling so bright and pretty, Ivy still looks like something straight out of a movie scene. She's truthfully a work of art that should be a painting hanging high and large in the biggest of museums there is. Just admiring her already starts to make him lose his train of thought, but then he's quickly pulled out of his wandering daydreams and back to his midnight reality when Ivy snaps her fingers directly in front of his face.

"Huh?" He mutters, trying to get himself to stop thinking about Ivy so much. It's nearly impossible to do, it really is. "What's up? What's happening?"

"Look," she points a finger sharply behind Zayn's head. And Zayn wastes no time shipping his head around to follow Ivy's line of vision, and he's met with a sight he never expected to see sitting in the exact spot Ivy was the day she turned Zayn's life completely upside down. The day she became more than just an intricate drawing on a page in his sketchbook, which is a day that Zayn thinks is safe to say now was the best (and probably most bizarre) days of his life. He wouldn't have traded that moment in for the world.

"Is that..." Zayn's trails off in complete wonder—he can't believe his eyes. "Holy shit."

And there, across the room, sniffing around with its nose close to the floor and wagging its tail around so happily yet quietly, is the last thing Zayn expected to be woken up by, the one thing Zayn never thought would happen again.

There in his room is the drawing Gia practically begged Zayn on her knees for nonstop until he finally caved in and sketched it, is the cutest little puppy he's ever seen before right in front of his eyes. It's so tiny with curly dark fur, so silky, and big brown eyes and it looks just the way his little sister wanted him draw it. It's just like the picture on a page in his book.

It's funny how the world works, Zayn thinks to himself. Funny how just last week this exact thing was supposed to happen, just like Ivy's plan, but didn't and now Ivy's plan worked out all along. And—and Ivy had been right this entire time; Ivy kept her promise like she'd always known. He's glad he has someone like Ivy to trust, and now that she's proved her trust, Zayn knows he can trust her with his entire life. And he knows Ivy only has him in her best interest, that she'll guard and guide him with whatever it takes, and if there's anything he can do to thank her, he'll do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes and then some.

"Oh my God!" Ivy squeals delightedly but quiet enough so that no one besides to two of them can hear. She hops right up from her spot next to Zayn and skips over to where the puppy is like she's just been injected with a shot of enthusiasm and she can't contain herself. Zayn can't help the grin that takes over his drowsy features as he watches her so happy and bubbly like this. It makes his insides feel all fizzy and weird and he just wishes this wouldn't happen every time he looked at her. But it's inevitable at this point, something that can't be helped no matter how badly he tries.