Snow (Zarry AU)

Part 12

Slowly but surely Zayn wakes up, his face smushed into the pillow and limbs all over the place. He hasn't slept like this in what feels like ages, so deep that it takes a while for everything to register. Longer than it normally does, anyway. The first thing he does is wiggle his toes, and he smiles when he can feel Harry's leg. He's about to say 'good morning' when he hears the click of a camera.

"Whadyoudoing?" he grunts, eyes still closed. He didn't come as far as opening them, yet.

"Just taking a photo," Harry muses. Zayn cracks open an eye, sees Harry sitting up and tapping away on his phone screen with his tongue poking out at the side.

Zayn groans. "Not of me, I hope?" He turns on his back with a sigh, dragging his hand down his face.

"Just for my background, promise."

"Lemme see," Zayn demands, holding out his hand. Harry hands him the phone and when he looks at it, he sees his face taking up the entire background. Or he thinks it's his face. It's still half buried in the pillow, and his hair resembles a bird's nest. At least he was still smiling. "Fucking hell, Harry," Zayn breathes and throws the phone back at him.

"I think you look hot."

"Fine, but you're an idiot."

Harry lies down next to Zayn, slinging his arm over his stomach. "Your idiot?"

"Yes, my idiot," Zayn sighs and looks down at Harry, whose chin is resting on his chest. He reaches with his hand, brushing through the dishevelled chestnut curls.

Harry hums and closes his eyes. "You can be my idiot?"

"Who says I'm an idiot?" Zayn snorts, but keeps rubbing Harry's scalp.

Harry giggles and turns his head so his ear is pressed against Zayn's chest. "I do."

"Alright, then. This idiot wants to take a shower," Zayn says and starts to move away, but Harry keeps clinging onto him.

"No! Stay. Pet." Harry takes Zayn's hand and directs it back to his head.

"I was thinking the other idiot might want to join this idiot?"

Harry looks up at Zayn, eyes wide. "I'll get the water going!" On his way off the bed and into the bathroom, he manages to knee Zayn in the stomach and almost faceplants to the floor. This gives Zayn the time to stretch and contemplate if he should worry about Harry slipping in the shower. That boy can be a disaster sometimes.

Yelling from the bathroom gets him off his feet, and when he enters he sees Harry through the foggy glass pane, already under the spray of water, his curls slowly disappearing as they get wet. Zayn turns to the side and stops when he catches his reflection in the mirror.

Something looks different, and it's not something physical. Not really. As he looks into his own eyes, unblinking, he can see happiness. It's something he hadn't really seen in a while, but now it's here and it's startling. It also makes him realise he's never going to find the flaw he was looking for, because it's not his flaw. It never was. Harry is proof of that.

It was Louis' mistake all along and there is nothing Zayn could have done.

"Gonna stare at yourself all morning or what?" Harry quips, his head poking out from behind the shower door. "You can wash my hair if I can do yours," he suggests, holding out a bottle of shampoo.

Zayn nods, rushes out of his underwear and takes the bottle. "I wasn't staring at myself, just to be clear."

Harry looks him up and down with a smirk. "Good, because that's my job." Zayn just blushes and quickly gets into the shower, swatting Harry's shoulder when he winks at him.

"Turn around so I can wash your damn hair."

"Ooh, bossy!" Harry laughs, but listens and turns around anyway.

Zayn thinks he's falling for an idiot, but it might just be what he needs.

Sorry about the short chapter! Next update will be on Tuesday.

All the love xxx <3

Dedication: @zarrydelight