"Zaynie"

"M-my biwrthday?"

ᑕᕼᗩᑭTEᖇ 5

Harry

Harry moved around the kitchen in a blur. He was aware of the fact that he had a little flour on his cheek, but also knew that rubbing it away would only result in more. His hands were crusted with a mixture of dough and frosting and he went over to the sink to wash them. He could hear tumbling from upstairs where Niall was trying to put Zayn to bed. They had all agreed upon surprising him early in the morning tomorrow, but the hesitance was clear. Was a surprise too abrupt for someone like Zayn? Harry thought so and they had therefore told him earlier today that it was his birthday tomorrow. Harry was glad they had chosen to do so considering Zayn's reaction earlier. 

His eyes had widened, but before he could grow fearful, Liam jumped in with examples. "Like Niall's birthday when we all had cake, and Louis' birthday at Christmas remember?"

Zayn's brows had furrowed in that adorable, but completely confused way of his. The sound of his birthday had made him alert, but Harry thought - and this was only him guessing -  that maybe Zayn wasn't quite aware why he was alert. The boys knew of the scar on the inside of the kid's elbow, but was Zayn still aware of it? He had been a couple of months ago, and Harry found it hard to believe that he could just forget so suddenly. But for now, Zayn had not mentioned it. He'd been wary throughout the day, wondering what would happen on his birthday. 

"You'll turn four!" Louis had told him excitedly. "Become a big boy. And you're gonna start preschool soon."

Zayn had tilted his head in curiosity at that. "Pweschool?"

"And you'll get lots of presents," Niall added, giving him a wide grin. "Toys and cake, and people will sing Happy Birthday."

"Oh," Zayn said thoughtfully. The boy seemed to reflect over the harmless appeal of birthday. Liam had a great idea to put on an episode of Ben 10 where it was his birthday. This episode was quite intriguing to Zayn and he'd been glued to the TV while the others made the rest of his arrangement for his birthday party tomorrow. They hadn't told him of the party, only that he would be celebrating at kindergarden and getting presents from them all. Some surprise was therefore still due.

Once the confusion and pondering vanished, Zayn seemed almost too hyper to calm down at the thought of getting presents and eating cake tomorrow. He'd jumped around asking for the presents, and trying to guess what it was he was getting. He'd asked if Santa was going to visit with the presents. He'd also asked if he was going to become a real alien like in Ben 10. Harry had left to take some calls for the guests tomorrow, but he'd heard the boy going on with his questions about what his birthday would entail. 

Now, at 9 p.m, they found it difficult to make the boy sleep. Harry had begun baking the cake since it was supposed to be ready by tomorrow morning. He'd already contacted Emma from kindergarden and asked her if any of the kids had gluten or lactose or any other allergies he needed to know of. So far, there was a nut allergy and two gluten allergies. It was his first time dealing with gluten-free flour, but Harry was proud of his work so far. Liam had popped his head in a couple of times, offering help, and Harry had given him the cupcakes to work on. There would be another cake tomorrow at the party, but that one was a professional one they'd ordered from the bakery. 

Harry turned the faucet off and dried his hands on a paper towel. He walked out the kitchen and found Louis hanging up lights in the living room. Liam was hanging up a Happy Birthday banner. Happy was hanging on the wall, but Birthday was lying on the coffee table. They'd gone out and bought some Ben 10 themed cups and plates, and there was even a helium balloon in the face of Ben 10 that needed to be filled. Niall tip toed down the stairs, already changed in his blue striped pajamas. "Okay, I think he's asleep now," he said, letting out a huge sigh.