chance connection |2| [zarry]

onehundredninetythree

"There's daddy!" Freddie says eagerly, pointing, and struggling to be let down.

"Yea," Zain says, holding onto him, "wait a moment, monster, he still needs to get to us."

"Daddy!" Freddie squeaks instead of paying attention, making everyone around them turn in their direction. But Louis looks away from who must be his boss as well, a wide grin breaking out on his face. He waves, picking up his pace.

"Let me down, Zain, I wanna go!" Freddie says and Zain gives in, setting him down inside the barrier. There wasn't really a reason not to.

Freddie almost stumbles in his rush to get at Louis, who catches him, swinging him around a couple of times before settling Freddie on his hip and starting to walk again, peppering Freddie's face with kisses as he goes.

"Hey," Louis grins when he makes it out past the barrier. "I made it back to the land where they have proper tea."

"And your kid," Zain says drily.

"And my kid," Louis grins, pressing a kiss to Freddie's cheek again. "Let's go home, yea."

"You gotta say bye to your boss?" Zain asks, looking around.

"Nah, we already did, he's gone," Louis says, starting to walk. "I got tomorrow off, isn't that nice? Might even endure America for that."

"You had a good time, then?" Zain grins, twirling the car keys around his fingers.

"Yea, it was good," Louis nods with a shrug. "Tell you about it later."

"Sure," Zain shrugs back.

🌱

Harry looks up from where he's lounging on the couch, closing his laptop and getting up as soon as they enter, like he needs to greet Louis properly.

"Hi Louis," he says, hugging Louis carefully around Freddie and pressing a kiss to Freddie's nose. "Zain and I are going out tonight."

"Er, are we?" Zain says, surprised, letting himself fall onto the couch.

"Yea," Harry says. "So Louis can have the monster to himself for a bit, right, baby?" he adds more softly, still very much crowded in Louis's personal space.

Louis leans back slightly, trying to get away from Harry without pulling Freddie from him, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. "Very considerate."

"Imma sleep in daddy's bed tonight," Freddie announces, not really paying attention, too busy trying to style Louis's hair. He didn't use to do that, it's only since Harry and his hair arrived that he's started trying to fix all their hair into whatever he considered cooler. Usually it involves one of Harry's hair ties which were sparkly and pink more often than not.

"Why are we going out tonight?" Zain asks, taking Harry by the hips and pulling him backward and into his lap.

"It'll be nicer than during the weekend, less people," Harry shrugs, leaning into Zain slightly. "And Gemma and Perrie are coming."

"I'm going up to my mum's this weekend and I'll be at football tomorrow," Louis throws in, taking Freddie's hands from his hair. "Monster, keep your hands to yourself, yea."

"And Louis'll be at football tomorrow," Harry adds quietly to Zain while Freddie starts arguing with Louis. "Which means you don't have to get up."

"Yea, ok," Zain shrugs. It's not like he has actual objections and it'd be nice spending some time only with Harry. "You got an idea where to?"

"I think so," Harry grins brightly, kissing the side of Zain's jaw. "I'll be nice."

"Sure," Zain agrees sarcastically, stroking his thumb over Harry's skin. "Because we never eat dinner together."