Faking

16

The bedroom was quiet besides the distant rummaging in the connected bathroom. Harry sat on the bed in his and Zayn's room, his hands clasped together as he bit his lip with anxiety - though it wasn't as bad as it would've been if he hadn't taken his meds last night.

Zayn had been in the bathroom for five minutes maybe, they'd gone up to the bedroom and after the raven had instructed Harry to sit on the bed he'd gone to the loo. The anticipation could've killed Harry as he waited not so patiently. He'd never been the most patient, he was a natural overthinker but the meds helped.

The meds he hadn't been taking.

The loo door opened to reveal a more clothed Zayn, he had put on a jumper over his raggy shirt, though the sleaves were pulled up to his elbows. Zayn had always been a cold person, no matter the temperature. He made his way over to his husband, coming to a halt in front of Harry - whose head cocked south in order to avoid eye contact.

Never had that really worked, Zayn squatted down and gently grasped Harry's face, lifting up his chin so they could see each other. They'd been married for what felt like ages - Zayn knew all of his husband's tics for anxiousness - including how he kept shifting his weight on the bed and he flush in his face.

"It's going to be okay Haz. You're okay. Just take a breather real fast." The raven exaggerated his breaths until Harry followed - it made him feel like a child but he did it anyway nonetheless. (He wouldn't admit it had helped.) Zayn nodded softly as he half-smiled. "Good job. Now let's talk for a second, okay?"

Harry hummed, maybe that was all he could do with the thoughts swirling around in his head. "You know what's about to happen yeah?" Another deep hum because Harry did know. He knew what was about to happen. He was going to get spanked like a child because he'd acted a fool, and here were the consequences.

He'd only been spanked by Zayn four times in their years of marriage and as boyfriends, each time had been for a good reason and well deserved. The first happened when they were boyfriends, he had gone to a bar and gotten totally recked and then drove home drunk. The next morning was not a good one - Harry remembered that day distinctly.

Zayn had been furious, the whole time he was turning his arse red he was scolding him about safety, how he could have died, how he could have killed someone else. At the end of the spanking, he said, "What would you do if I died hmm? You'd be devastated, because you love me so goddamn much, so take that love and apply it to yourself because you need to realize how important you are - and how absolutely devastating it would be to lose you, especially to something as stupid and reckless as this!"

It was safe to say, Harry didn't drink much after that. Even now - ten years later, he barely touched alcohol.

The second time was when he had gotten into a fistfight because this guy had asked for Zayn's number and he had gotten jealous and broke the guy's nose. When Zayn had finished icing his bruised cheek he had spanked the daylights out of him and went over trust and anger, coping mechanisms to when he got too angry.

That's the day that Harry stopped getting into fights because Zayn had also made it a point to mention he couldn't be a detective with assault charges every other month. After the spanking had been over, Zayn had kissed him to tell him that it was kind of hot - but to never do it again or else the punishment would've been ten times worse.

Harry's arse was going to be sore for two different reasons the next day.

The third time, they'd been married for six months and Harry had actually asked for one because he had lied to Zayn about spending nearly a thousand euros (1119.62 dollars) on Chelse boots and felt awfully guilty. Zayn had been pleased he had told him, but still followed through on his husband's request and spanked him.