"You can't catch me!" Five year old Zayn squealed as he ran away with the football from his father, giggling uncontrollably.
Yaser chuckled softly at his son and grinned before jogging after him. He chuckled when he picked up his squealing son, spinning them around. "Gotcha" he grinned.
"That's no fair" Zayn pouted and crossed his arms, playfully glaring at his father and huffing. "You cheated"
Yaser fake gasped, clutching his heart. "I did no such thing!" he exclaimed, poking his sons stomach. "How can I cheat?" He asked, raising questioningly his bushy eyebrow.
"Your legs are longer" The dark haired boy kept his hard glare on his father, Yaser cooing at his sons cuteness.
"Don't worry bub, you'll get there soon" The older man chuckled softly, kissing Zayn's forehead.
"Boys? Dinner!" Trisha yelled from inside the house. "Okay, come on bub, let's go before your mum gets angry again like the last time" He mumbled the last part with a low chuckle, Zayn whining softly at that. "But I wanna keep pwaying baba" He pouted some more, giving his dad his oh so famous puppy dog eyes.
"After dinner, promise" Yaser smiled down at his son before carrying him up towards the door. Zayn huffed dramatically, mumbling a small 'fine' before slumping in his fathers chest and resting the side of his head on his shoulder.
As his father carried him up to the door, his eyes wandered over to the house beside theirs, noticing a moving truck in front of it and strangers carrying boxes into the house, figuring they were getting new neighbors. His eyes then landed on a small boy his age who was wearing a pink skirt and a tiara on top of his mop of messy curls.
Zayn narrowed his eyebrows in confusion, wondering why a boy would wear something girls like to wear. "Baba?" He questioned, straightening himself to look up at the old man.
Yaser hummed in respond, looking down at the boy after stopping in front of the door. "Yeah sport?"
"Why is that boy wearing a skirt and a tiara?" The five year old pointed to the hyper boy by the yard next to theirs who was jumping around excitingly while his parents were carrying boxes inside the house and smiling at the little boy, Yaser turning his head.
He couldn't help but smile softly at that. "Well son, most kids your age don't really care about the things they wear. Some boys may be interested in wearing girl clothes, there's nothing wrong with that" He explained while entering the house with him.
"He looked cute" Zayn giggled and smiled, Yaser humming in agreement. "He did" He smiled down at his son, already proud of himself that he raised him.
"Can we visit them after dinner?" Zayn suddenly asked. "Please please please" He begged while grabbing a fistful of his fathers shirt and jumping up and down on his arms.
"Okay okay, calm down little one" His father laughed softly, letting his son down. "Yes we can visit them after dinner, now go wash up and tell your sister to come down" He chuckle and watched as his son ran towards the bathroom, squealing excitingly.
Yaser shook his head fondly at the boy before heading into the kitchen and smiling softly as he spotted his pregnant wife standing in front of the stove, stirring the sauce.
"We have some new neighbors" He said and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her swollen bump. Trisha chuckled and leaned into her lovers touch. "I know. The Payne's. They already came over a few weeks ago while you three were gone and introduced themselves, just wanting to know how the neighborhood was" She explained to him, turning off the stove.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. They're really nice, and I believe Liam, their son, would be perfect for Zayn. He's such an adorable lad" Trisha smiled and placed the pot on the table.
"Is that the little boy that wears the skirt and tiara then?"
"That's him"
"Zayn already asked me why he wore them, but he did say he looked cute" Yaser chuckled and sat down, watching as his two children came running into the kitchen.
"He does look cute" Trisha smiled and helped her daughter get on the chair before sitting down, while Zayn was still trying to climb up on the chair.
"Need some help bub?" Yaser chuckled and looked over at his son. "No baba! I got this, I'm a big boy!" He exclaimed and jumped, trying to get back up. "Okay I need help" He huffed and pouted, Yaser laughing softly and helping him up, sitting him down.
"The perks of being short" Doniya, his older sister, giggled and grinned innocently, receiving a glare from his brother. "Shut up" he stuck his tongue out at her, his sister rolling her eyes.
"Okay you two, no fighting while we're eating" Their mother warned, putting the food on each and everyone's plates.
The two kids stopped bickering and mumbled a 'sorry mum' before they all started to eat.
After dinner, Yaser and Zayn were making their way over to the new neighbors, Zayn already being excited to meet the skirt wearing boy.
His father chuckled softly and looked down at his son. "You ready?" He asked him, already reached over to the door bell.
Zayn nodded and held his fathers hand, grinning widely. There was shuffling coming from the other side of the door and a muffled 'be right there' before the door was opened, revealing a middle aged woman standing there. "Oh hello" She greeted them breathlessly, smiling at the two in front of her. "How can I help you?" She asked politely, brushing a few strands of hair out of her face.
"Um hello, I'm Yaser Malik and this is my son, Zayn. We saw you move in earlier this evening and wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood. I believe you have already met my wife? Trisha?" Yaser smiled kindly at the woman.
"Ah of course, of course. Do come in. I'm Karen by the way" the woman, Karen, introduced herself, smiling at them once they stepped inside.
"It's nice meeting you Karen" Yaser shook her hand, looking around. "Mummy! Who's at the do-" Both Yaser and Zayn looked towards the kitchen, spotting the same boy from earlier standing behind the frame, his head peaking out shyly.
"That must be Liam right?" Yaser smiled softly over at the shy boy, Karen nodding her head. "Yes this is my sunshine Liam" she smiled. "Liam sweetie, why don't you come over and say hi to the neighbors?" She offered, reaching her hand out for the curly haired boy.
The five year old glanced at his mother, carefully taking her hand and quickly walking over to her. He hugged her leg and looked shyly at the two, mumbling a small hi before hiding his face.
"He's very shy as you can tell" Karen chuckled and looked down at her son.
"It's okay" Yaser chuckled lowly, kneeling down.
Zayn looked up at his dad before looking at the boy, slowly approaching him. "I like your skirt" He smiled at him, tilting his head to the side.
The boy, Liam, blushed and hid his face some more, thanking him. "Sweetie why don't you show Zayn your room yeah?" She offered, smiling at the two.
Liam looked up at her before nodding his head slowly, walking towards the stairs. Zayn looked at his father who mouthed a go with a smile, motioning for him to follow Zayn which he did after giving Karen a big kind smile.
"You like the avengers!?" Zayn gasped once he stepped into Liam's room, immediately spotting some comics on his bed.
Liam nodded shyly and blushed, fixing his ruffled skirt before climbing on his bed. "That's so cool! Who's your favorite?" Zayn asked, sitting down beside him and grabbed one of the comics. "Captain America" The curly haired boy smiled slightly while fiddling with his small fingers.
"Oh me too! He's so cool" Zayn giggled and went through the pages. "Isn't this one of the new one's?" He asked as he looked at the covers.
"Yeah, my dad works in a comic shop, so I get all the new ones first." Liam stuttered, and looked at the comic, smiling. "That's amazing" Zayn giggled and looked at Liam.
"Do you always wear skirts?"
Liam looked at Zayn, nodding his head and feeling his cheeks heat up. "Yes. I feel more comfortable in them..." He shrugged, his confidence suddenly boosting up a little.
"That's cute"
"You think?" Liam smiled shyly and looked at Zayn, who nodded his head. "Yeah, it's different. I like different" he grinned at the other boy.
"Thank you!" Liam exclaimed, smiling brightly. "I like your DC shirt"
"You like DC too?"
"Yeah, batman is my favorite!"
"Mine is superman, but batman's cool too" Zayn smiled, instantly feeling a connection with the boy.
"You wanna see my batman action figures collection? I got a box full with him and his enemies!"
"I'd like that!" Zayn watched as the other boy ran over to one of the unpacked boxes, opening it and getting out another smaller one before running back to him. "Here" Liam smiled, opening it.
And after a while of them talking and playing with Liam's action figures, Yaser and Karen came up to tell them it was time to say goodbye, but the boys managed to convince them, for Zayn to stay over the night.
And that's how their beautiful friendship began. Yet neither of them knew, that there would be a whole lot of drama.
****
Hello everyone!
I finally updated the prologue, I'm deeply sorry for the long wait, but it was hard coming with the perfect one.
So it ended up longer then I expected, but I ain't sorry for that. At least you know how ziam met and became instant best friends.
I hope you liked it, vote and comment please, thank you.
( Sorry if it isn't good 😁)
~ Steph