All I Want For Christmas Is You | Ziall Oneshot

When they were 5, Niall and Zayn used to wish for toys under the Christmas tree. It was really the only occasion they’d get gift, on Christmas and on their birthday. There’s the fact that they’ve lived in the orphan for two years, but they still don’t get use to it. Of course, there’s Mr. Lindsay, the one who’s taking care of them, acting like the paternal figure, but it’s nothing close to actually having their parents and both boys know it. They do have each other though, and it almost feels like family when Zayn decides to spontaneously draw something for Niall or when Niall talks in a stupid accent, just to make Zayn smiles when he has a bad day. They also have Harry, quiet Harry who sometimes hide under the bed when he doesn’t feel like talking to anyone (which happens quite often and worries Mr. Lindsay each time), they have Liam, the boy who never lets go of his plush toy, the boy who has very unlikely survived the fire that killed the rest of his family (except for Pico, his plush toy), and they have Louis, Louis who is older, Louis who is stronger, Louis who is probably the saddest of them all but never shows it. They’re not as close as Niall and Zayn are though, but they’re still there and in places like that, it feels good to have people. Just to know that they’re there, even if days pass by without telling each other a word. They’re always there. 

Zayn and Niall can’t go a day without talking to each other. It’s physically impossible, not when they both make sure to wish the other boy sweet dreams every evening, and not when Niall wakes up almost every following morning with Zayn in his bed. It’s just impossible. 

~

When they were twelve, Niall and Zayn used to wish for snow. During weekends, they’d go shovel and use the extra amount of snow to build a snowman, a terrible looking one, but a snowman anyway. They’d run around the house, looking for buttons and steal a carrot from the kitchen and then, they’d stay out all day to look at their creation. 

“It’s our baby,” Zayn would say. Niall would nod and agree. 

“Yeah, he’s part of our family.”

~

When they were seventeen, Niall and Zayn realised they were different. Not because they didn’t have parents or because they had a funny accent, they were different because they loved each other. 

They had always known it, sort of. That’s what Louis says, but it’s when Niall presses his lips against Zayn’s under the mistletoe that they know. Because Zayn had never felt that spark when he kissed that Perrie girl back when they were fourteen, and Niall had never looked at anyone else the way he always looked at Zayn and they just know, and it feels right. 

And they walk, hands linked together, in the heavy snow on the way home every day after school, and Zayn presses kisses on Niall’s red cheek to warm it up and Niall laughs when his snowball successfully hits Zayn behind the head, and Zayn knows that it’s exactly how it’s meant to be. 

 ~

“I miss you,” Zayn whines in the phone and hears Niall laughs. “Stop laughing you dickhead, I’m sharing my feelings.”

“I know baby, I miss you too,” Zayn smiles at those words, craving for the boy to be right here with him in that exact moment. 

“So, how’s things?” Zayn asks even though he’s not sure he wants to know. Niall sighs.

“It’s hard. Especially this time of the year. We all want to go home. Josh told me about his wife and their new baby girl and how much he wanted to be with them during the holidays. It’s unfair,” Zayn makes a sound of approval and they stay silent for a while until Niall talks again with a hint of sadness.