"zayn," liam says, trailing his fingers at the sides of his husbands body. they're still in bed, liam woke up much earlier and he's been waiting for zayn to get up too.
"hmm?" zayn hums, stirring on the bed and turns to liam.
"something came up at work," liam mumbles. "i have to go back today."
zayn feels a sudden rush of anger and he pulls away from his husband. "unbelievable."
"i'm sorry, it's urgent," liam says, knowing there's no way to tell his husband about this without it leading to an argument. "you don't have to come with me. you can enjoy the rest of the vacation-"
"the whole fucking point was for us to have a getaway together liam, what the fuck am i going to do here without you," zayn raises his voice at his husband. liam winces.
"i'll make it up to you," liam says. "i promise."
"lets just go," zayn sighs. "i expected it but i'm still disappointed."
liam starts to feel guilty. "i don't like it when you're mad at me,"
"i don't like it when you make me mad either," zayn says. "but here we are," he says dryly.
"i wouldn't cut our vacation short if it wasn't important," he says.
"well i'm used to coming second after your work so whatever," zayn murmurs.
"do you think i'd rather work nine hours a day than to stay at a beautiful country with my husband? do you really think i prefer that than to spending all day in bed with you?" liam questions.
"it's what happening now, isn't it?" zayn snaps back.
"someone has to earn the money, isn't it?" liam responds in the same tone. he knows it's a low blow when zayn looks away. he expects his husband to respond but zayn doesn't say anything. "zayn..."
"let's just go home please," zayn replies. liam swallows. zayn never went to college due to him getting pregnant at high school and then getting pregnant again two years later for liam. he always wanted to complete his education but never had time due to the children. when the twins were born, that was it. zayn lost all hope of ever furthering his education and just basically became a full time housewife. liam is the one that earns the money.
they board the plane barely talking to each other. zayn is deep in thought but doesn't seem to be upset anymore, he still replies normally when liam talks to him.
liam calls his driver to pick them up from the airport, they're both at the back seat. liam reaches for zayns hand and squeezes at it.
zayn smiles at him. "if you're thinking i'm still mad, i'm not."
"i'm sorry for being an asshole," liam starts. "i shouldn't have said that."
"you only said the truth," zayn shrugs. "it's just, i still regret never going to college."
"it's not too late," liam mentions.
zayn snorts. "i'm turning thirty-four liam,"
"it's never too late to pursue your dreams," liam adds.
zayn shakes his head. "my dream is not to finish college at almost forty. plus we've got four kids to take care of."
"shit, did you tell them we were coming early?" liam questions.
"we'll say it's a surprise?" zayn says.
...
the next morning, lucas brings up what jordan mentioned to him the previous day.
"i was going through moms old art supplies in the garage for a school project," jordan starts explaining as they walk to the garage together. "i found this box."
as they get to the garage he shows his younger brother the box he was talking about.
"open it," he tells his brother. lucas does as he says and he sees a bunch of old pictures and letters. the pictures are all of zayn when he was much younger. he looked like he was a teenager.
"he was sixteen in these pictures," jordan says.
"how can you tell?" lucas asks.
"i've seen his fifteen year old pictures, i've seen his seventeen year old pictures when he was pregnant with me. but i've never seen these ones before," jordan says.
"what does this have to do with anything?" lucas questions.
jordan responds by bringing out a picture from his pocket. "i found this here."
he shows the picture to his younger brother. it's a picture of their mom, but with another person. another male.
"you think this is your dad?" lucas questions. he looks at the pictures and he can see some similarities, but it's very generic.
"i know he is," jordan says. "i asked mom."
"and he said yes?" lucas questions.
jordan shakes his head. "i asked him who this was and he got upset."
"he looked like he was going to cry. that was enough confirmation for me. he said he was just an old friend but i didn't believe him," jordan continues. "this is my father. i'm sure of it, i can feel it."
lucas isn't sure of what to say. "what if he's not?"
"he is," jordan insists.
"but there's a high chance that he's not and you could just get your hopes up for nothing," lucas tries to be reasonable.
"i knew you wouldn't understand," jordan laughs dryly. "no one at this house understands me. that's why i need to find him."
"if he is your father. why didn't he come see you all these years? what if mom didn't tell you about him for a reason?"
"he never knew about me," jordan says. "that's more reason i need to find him."
"i don't want you to leave us," lucas admits. "you don't need to know him jordi, we're happy just the way we are. dad is your father, he raised you. not this man."
"i'm not happy here," jordan mumbles, but not loud enough for his brother to notice what he said. instead, he decides to pretend to agree to forget about it.
"you're probably right," he says.
"i don't know i'll do without you, you're like my cool big brother," lucas says.
jordan smiles, "you think i'm cool?"
"don't let it get to your head, you already know you are," lucas rolls his eyes. "i mean you're literally famous on instagram."
"m'not," jordan says.
"you've got thirty thousand followers," lucas brings up, brings out his phone to show his brother his own account. "see, you've literally signed a modeling deal."
jordan gives him a playful punch on his shoulder. "that's not famous."
"i feel like you'd end up being a top model, noah would probably invent a cure to cancer and oliver would direct a hit movie someday," lucas imagines.
jordan laughs, "what about you?"
"i don't know," he says. "i don't have anything special about me."
"that's not true," jordan says.
"lets say we form a boyband, let's name ourselves the payne's. you'll be the gorgeous payne, noah is the smartest payne and oliver is the creative payne. which one would i be?"
"you'll be the sweetest payne," jordan says.
"you see," he scoffs. "nothing special about me."
"i wish you could see that you're more special than you realize," jordan says. "you've got a good heart and you're smart."
"i'm failing math," he responds.
"not that kind of smart. you're people smart, you know how to read people. i used to be jealous of you," jordan admits.
"why on earth would you be jealous of me?"
"i don't know. i was insecure, you always seemed to know what to do without second guessing yourself. you were the wanted child, i was not. it's stupid but you know," he admits.
"oh," lucas says. he's always second guessing himself, does his brother really see a confident person when he looks at him? he's far from that. "i'm insecure too, about everything," he says. "and don't ever say you aren't the wanted child. we all look up to you okay?"
jordan sparks up at that.
they hear a car pulling in the driveway and they both come out of the garage. it's their parents, but how could they be back so soon? they both go to welcome them.
"what happened?" jordan questions referring to why they came back a week earlier than they're supposed to.
"ask your father," zayn responds jokingly making them all turn to look at him.
...