ᑕᕼᗩᑭTEᖇ 142
[Zayn]
By the time they returned home, Zayn had caught about a hundred snow flakes, watching them melt on his palm or the sleeve of his jacket. It was freezing at night, and Zayn's hands were cold as ice. They were stiff and he fumbled with the zip of the jacket.
Phoebe crouched with a smile. "Here." She unzipped his jacket for him, and Louis seemed to notice Zayn's red hands. He crouched down as well and took the boy's hands in his warm ones. "Woah," he said, blue eyes widening. "You're freezing." He squeeze Zayn's cold hands, and Zayn felt the warmth from Louis' hands encase his. He shuddered a little. "It cold outside," he said mater-of-factly.
"Yes, I know. And you need gloves," Louis said, rubbing Zayn's hands quickly to warm them up.
"I'll make some tea," Daisy said, kicking off her shoes and placing them in the compartment. Doris followed after her, waddling behind her like a lost puppy. She seemed tired and sleepy, quite like Ernest who was too focused on untying his shoelaces, his fingers fumbling.
"Ernie, I'll do it," Felicity said, but the boy shook his head sleepily, his blonde curls bouncing. "I want do meshelf."
Louis picked Zayn up, and Zayn placed his head on the boy's shoulder. He wasn't sleepy, just a little tied of playing and walking around so much.
"Did you have fun?" Louis questioned as he sat down on the couch in the living room. The fireplace was crackling, its warmth enveloping them, melting away the cold. Zayn sat cross legged on Louis' lap and nodded in answer.
Louis smiled and pushed his fringe back, relaxing against the couch. "Good. I've planned a lot. We'll watch a few Christmas movies, lots of things to bake, and we're going to go Christmas shopping..." his voice faded, and he let out a yawn.
"You should head to bed," Charlotte suggested, plopping down beside the two of them. Ernie padded into the room and climbed up beside her, blinking slowly. "I'm putting the twins to bed too."
Louis nodded, sending Zayn a look. "Do you want to sleep with them?"
"No. I alone with no Jiam," he said sadly. "I miss him."
"Well, at least Rair's with him," Charlotte said with a shrug. Zayn narrowed his eyes at her. "Woaw. He name is Woaw."
"Oh sorry, at least Woah's with him," Charlotte corrected and Zayn face palmed. Louis let out a laugh, shaking his head. "I think Lottie meant to say Roar."
Lottie's eyes widened and she chuckled. "Yeah, Roar."
"What Lottie?" Zayn wondered. Louis ruffled his hair. "It's her nickname."
"What Jayn's nickname," Zayn asked excitedly. Louis bopped his nose, making him grin. "Zee."
"But Liam call Zaynie," Zayn stated, suddenly missing the other three boys. "I wanna talk to Liam," he said with a pout. Louis glanced at the clock and nodded slowly. "Okay, But if you're sleeping with me, we're heading to bed now, I'm too tired."
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Half an hour later, Zayn was in his pajamas, lying on Louis' bed, the duvet pulled over him. His mouth tasted of the mint toothpaste and in his hand was Batman. The iPad was set in front of him, and now the three boys' faces popped on screen.
"Hello!" Zayn greeted happily while Louis was in the bathroom. Zayn grinned and made Batman wave his hand as well.
Liam chuckled, and he was dressed in a sleeping tee, seemingly in bed too. "Hi Zaynie."
Zayn brightened and laughed lightly at Niall who was snoring on screen. Harry smiled enthusiastically at Zayn. "Hello!" He then narrowed his eyes at Niall. "Niall?"
The lad seemed to be fast asleep. Suddenly, the camera was lifted and someone else came into view. An unknown man. Zayn frowned and clutched Batman tightly.
"Oh hey Greg," Harry greeted and Liam did the same. Greg waved at them. "Hello. Uh, Niall's pretty wasted at the moment so..."
Liam rolled his eyes playfully. "Wild night?"
"Welcome back party," Greg explained with a slight grin. "Anyways, I need to head back to Denise and Theo."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye Niall," Zayn said sadly, though he had no idea what 'Greg' had said. "Is Niall okay?" He wondered curiously and worriedly. "That was Greg, his brother He's fine," Harry told him with a smile. "How was your day?"
"Vewy good!" Zayn exclaimed. "I eat icecweam."
Louis exited the bathroom, his toothbrush in his mouth. "Ashk Hawry which date he's coming."
"Hawwy, Louis ask date which he's coming," Zayn forwarded, causing Harry to look confused for a second. "Uhm...I'm coming the 19th?"
"I'm coming the nintenth, Hawwy say," Zayn told Louis, turning the iPad so he could see the screen. Louis waved at the boys, receiving two waves back. "Where's the Irish?"
"He fine," Zayn assured him, repeating Harry's words from earlier.
"Wasted," Liam explained. Louis gaped, pulling his toothbush out of his mouth. He had a little paste on the side of his lips. "I literally refuse a drink with my mates and Niall's out there getting drunk?"
"Uh, yeah. You are the one with the child, Lou," Harry said amusedly. Louis pointed his toothbrush at the screen. "Life is unfair. Parenting is hard." Liam laughed at him and Louis returned to the bathroom. Zayn turned the iPad back to himself, bored. The boys talked about so boring things, half of their covnersations just went over his head.
"So you ate ice cream. Wasn't it very cold outside?" Liam asked, smiling softly at him. Zayn snuggled his head against the pillow. It was quite cold. "Yes, but I'm okay." He suddenly lightened up as he realised the boys didn't know his plan. "Ziam not hewe, but Jayn gonna to film everything and take pictuwes so Jiam see what going on," he explained excitedly.
"That's good," Harry encouraged him. "How did it go with the new Ziam, did Louis find one?"
Zayn wrinkled his nose, nodding a little. "That wasn't Ziam, Hawwy," he whispers in horror. He looked up as Louis walked out of the bathroom, ready for bed. Zayn turned the iPad towards him. "It Louis fault that Jiam not hewe," he said accusingly. Louis climbed on the bed with a pout, pointing a thumb at the fake Ziam that was sitting on top of their suitcase. "You can try and be friends with him, at least,"
Zayn narrowed his eyes and turned the iPad to himself. "No." He tried to show fake Ziam to the boys, and Liam aah'ed. "He does look a little like Ziam. They're both cute."
"Jiam is cutew," Zayn said firmly as Louis pulled the duvet over the both of them, setting the iPad on top of Zayn's stomach. "Well, we're going to sleep. Talk to you boys tomor-"
"No!" Zayn exclaimed, holding his hands out to stop Louis from saying goodbye. "I not sleepy," he said truthfully. "Jayn want to talk to the boys."
"But they're probably tired too," Louis argued, and Zayn turned to look at Harry and Liam, jutting his bottom lip out in a pout.
"Oh well, I'm not that tired," Liam said, and Harry agreed with a smile. "Besides, Zayn hasn't told us about what he's seen so far in Doncaster."
Zayn immediately felt happy, and he looked smugly at Louis. Louis sighed but nodded, snuggling lower on his pillow. "But don't talk too loudly. And shut the lamp when you're done."
"Okay!" Zayn chirped, grinning at the two boys on screen. He talked to them about the day's events, and then when Zayn asked what they had been doing, Harry had smiled and told him he went out to eat with his family. Liam told him his mother baked cookies in the shape of snowflakes, which made Zayn excited to talk about snow again.
"I only see on TV, but it weally nice," Zayn said, chatting away and describing. "Ewnest like it too."
Harry yawned and ran a hand through his hair. "Who's your favourite out of everybody?"
"Jonannah!" Zayn exclaimed loudly, causing Louis to stir. Liam shushed him with a small smile. "That's nice. What about out of the girls and Ernest?" he asked. "Making friends?"
"Evewyone is okay," Zayn said thoughtfully, his eyes starting to get heavy. He glanced at Harry who was lying on his side, hair in a bun, and then at Liam who was snuggled under the duvet. "When you come?" Zayn wondered with a frown. "I miss you."
"Aw, we miss you too," Liam said sincerely, but his voice seemed a little far as Zayn's eyelids started to droop.
"Should we wake him to turn off the light?"
"No, let's let him sleep."
"He's so precious."
"I know. I kinda want to just fly over."
"Well, it's only till new year."
And then Zayn completely succumbed to the comfortable darkness and warmth that enveloped him, pulling him under.
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The next morning, Zayn woke up cold in bed. His body was shivering and he snuggled deeper under the duvet, breathing heavily. The boy rubbed his eyes and opened them, the room dimly lit because of the daytime brightness from the window. Zayn peeked over the duvet, but Louis wasn't there. He sat up slowly, feeling slightly queasy. The boy slid off the bed, body shivering. The wooden floor was cold against his bare feet as he padded out the room. There was chatter coming from downstairs and when Zayn walked into the living room, everyone was awake. There were boxes filled with decorations around the room, and everyone was busy with something. He spotted Louis by the fireplace, pulling out colored socks that were too huge to be his. Zayn felt too tired to wonder why they had socks that could only fit Humangasour from Ben 10.
"Morning, Zayn!" Louis greeted, pausing his conversation with Dan. Louis was wearing a sweater and jeans, warm comfy socks on his feet. Zayn walked over to him with a yawn and raised his arms, a silent plea for the other boy to pick him up.
Chuckling, Louis did so, seeming to be in an excellent mood unlike Zayn.
"Hi Zayn!" Phoebe greeted as she brought out a tray of mugs, and everyone gathered around her to get a cup. Some cups were colorful, and Zayn noticed that Ernest's cup had dinosaurs on it. He decided he wanted his own cup too, but then he realized he didn't drink tea or coffee because they were both disgusting.
Phoebe handed Dan and Louis their cups, and for some reason, Louis' was a red cup with half a smiley face. Phoebe grabbed the last cup, a slightly smaller yellow cup and offered it to Zayn.
"I don't dwink tea," he stated. "It's yuck."
Phoebe smiled at him as she showed him the brownish content. "It's hot cocoa. Though your's not so hot."
Zayn accepted the cup slowly, and reveled in it's warmth. He smiled a little and took a sip, the lukewarm chocolate milk sweet on his tongue. "Taste like chocolate," he said, pleased.
"Did you look outside the window?" Louis asked Zayn happily. "It's winter wonderland out there."
"It snowing yestewday," Zayn said, taking another sip. He looked at Louis who was holding him with one arm while drinking with the other. Louis was strong.
"What this?" he asked curiously, pointing to the huge socks.
"Stockings," Louis explained with a smile, setting his cup on the mantle. "Gotta explain some Christmas traditions to you, boy," he said, tickling Zayn a little. Zayn giggled, almost losing his cup. He then gasped, realizing something. "I was talking to boys! They gone now."
"Yeah, you fell asleep," Louis told him. "They called earlier, but you were still sleeping. You slept for quite a while actually We're going to head out to check out the neighborhood. Let's get you some breakfast and then head off."
"Okay!" Zayn chirped, excited for the day, and feeling much better than he had when he woke up. Maybe it had just been the chilly room.
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🌝 - Thoughts?