fOoL fOr YoU (Zarry) *discontinued*

4.1

"baba, zayn, tea!" waliyha calls from the kitchen. zayn scurries off to the kitchen, while his father watches after him. "here," she says, handing him a mug once he's sitting down. "where's baba?"

"i assume in the hallway, still," zayn mumbles, wrapping both his cold hands around the mug. niall plops down next to him, discreetly squeezing his thigh in assurance.

"so, what did you say to him?" waliyha asks, tilting her head slightly. zayn shrugs, not bothering to offer her an answer. he knows it's only a matter of seconds before his father calls him back and demands answers. he's not going to bother giving those answers twice.

"zayn malik, come back here, right now!" yaser demands from the hallway. zayn looks at both waliyha and niall with wide, helpless eyes, but the two of them just shrug.

"i don't want to," zayn whispers. "you go and explain. you know everything, don't you?" he says to niall. niall frantically shakes his head.

"i'm not going, he'll yell at me," niall whispers back. "it's your father, wali, you go. he won't even raise his voice at you."

"fuck if i'm going. i don't even know what's going on," waliyha says. "your stupid cheek is still bleeding, by the way," she adds.

"zayn!" yaser calls again, making the three of them freeze.

"well, you come with me. i'm not going alone," zayn urges, standing up. niall shakes his head again, but zayn nods, pouting like a child. "please?" niall sighs and gives in. the two of them slowly make their way down the hall, when niall suddenly runs off to his bedroom, zayn freezes in his spot. traitor, he thinks, huffing. but the blond boy returns, with a sleepy calum in tow.

"yaser, look, this is calum, my boyfriend," niall says, pushing calum in front of yaser. zayn almost barks out a laugh. "he's from australia."

"hello, 'm calum," calum mumbles, holding his hand out, still half asleep.

"the boy is asleep on his feet," yaser points out. niall simply shrugs.

"he just woke up," niall states. "cal, this is zayn's dad. he's here to meet you." now zayn does laugh loudly, covering his mouth right after, clearing his throat.

"err, soar throat..?" he offers. niall giggles covering his mouth as he does so. "let's go to the living room so you and calum can get to know each other, baba. do you know he loves cricket?"

"wait, why does zayn's dad want to meet me? i didn't do anything wrong," calum whispers to niall as the four of them make their way to the living room. niall ignores him, leaving for the kitchen to grab waliyha and everyone's tea.

"hi, cal," waliyha greets through a mouth full of cookies.

"hi," calum yawns, waving.

"what are you trying to do?" yaser sighs, looking a bit fed up already.

"i told you what i had to tell you, baba. there's nothing more to say," zayn softly says. "that's everything that happened and i'm sorry i can't go into details right now. i'm a bit of a mess, but i promise when everything's settled down i'll tell you everything. alright?" yaser sighs again, shaking his head slightly, lips pressed together. and zayn knows it's just worry, but his head's trying to convince him otherwise. so he apologises, head hung low, hands under his thighs. and he apologises like a child. because that's all he ever really does.

"it's alright," yaser assures, patting zayn's thigh. and then he turns his attention away, joining in on the other threes conversation. zayn does not bother to. he watches them though, feeling like he isn't really there. it's just his body there, his mind and soul are wandering some place else.