HELPING HAND [ZARRY]

Chapter TwEnTy

HARRY:

When he and Z came downstairs after putting the kids to sleep he went to the kitchen to grab some late night snacks for both of them to enjoy and placed two glasses of milk and some chocolate cookies on the tray before going back towards the living room where Zayn was putting the ornaments right on the tree quietly.

"What time is your flight tomorrow?" harry asked putting the tray on the table asking.

'Uh, two. But I gotta take the train to JFK,
so I'll probably leave Brayden around 11.'  zayn informs him turning back and looking at him seriously.

"That's barely time for brunch."he couldn't help but chuckled sadly.

'Clearly, I didn't plan this through.' zayn said too smiling gloomily looking at harry and  his own shoes.

"You know... there's something about a quiet house on Christmas Eve... I used to always love." harry muttered now coming towards zayn with small strides looking at all the Christmas decoration in the house.

'It's the anticipation.' zayn whispered back completing the sentence looking at harry intenselyand he too started walking towards harry to end the distance and whispered.

'So much is about to happen. Our family
isn't big on traditions, but... one thing that we do on Christmas Eve that I loved, is we turn off all the lights in the house, except for the ones on the tree. And then we listen
to "Silent Night" and just'... Zayn takes a deep breath smiling at harry before finishing. '...be present.'

Harry raised his eyebrows grinning and they both started to click the lights off of the whole livingroom and then standing in front of the Christmas tree. Zayn sighed looking at harry standing so close to him with their shoulders almost touching but then turn towards the tree to enjoy the moment.

Harry started to hum softly the song Zayn told him about 'silent night'.

"* All is calm *" harry sings slowly.
"* All-- *" he gasps softly when he feels Zayn's fingers ghosting above his hand then slowly slotting his fingers between his hand looking at him.

"* ...is bright *" harry sings now looking back at him getting lost in Zayn's beautiful eyes and the way he's looking at him so lovingly and then their gaze shifts towards each other's lips and they started to inch forward.

Harry can feel Zayn's breath on his mouth and their nose touching when they hear a vehicle approaching outside and brakes squeal and  just like that they lean away and then chuckled nervously looking at each other breathing slight heavily.

'They're home.'  zayn sighed looking at his lips for a while then looking forward and started walking towards the hallway of the house with harry tagging along behind him.

~~~~~~~

ZAYN:

"Hey, Dad!" He said smiling widely looking at his dad came from the entrance and he hugged him tightly.

'My boy!' yaser said kissing zayn on his temple.

'Hi!' harry said coming forward and hugging doniya.

'-Thank you!' doniya said now hugging zayn after Harry.

"-Of course! That's what big brothers are for." zayn said hugging and swaying with her lightly.

-Oh... my gosh!. Both harry and Zayn gasped when Amir enters the house with the little baby.

'-There she is.' Amir said looking at the baby and back at Z and H.

"So cute! Come on! Come on!" zayn said excitedly ushering all of them towards the living room.

~~~~~

Zayn and doniya was sitting in the living room looking at the baby sleeping while the other three were taking out the luggage from the car.

"I always forget how tiny they are." Zayn sighed emotionally looking at the baby sleeping in her baby carrier.

' Well, she'll probably be in college by the next time you come visit, so...' doniya said sarcastically looking at him.

"Oh, I'm impressed... you got a dig in, in the first five minutes. Well done." zayn said shaking his head smiling.

'You know I'm skilled like that.' doniya replied chuckling and looking at him.

"What if I... stayed here for Christmas?" zayn said shrugging biting his lips and looks at Doniya for her reaction.

'Are you serious?' she asked absolutely shocked.

"Only if that's cool with you." zayn said now getting nervous.

'You know I'm cool with it.' doniya looked at him astonished and chuckled.

'What made you change your mind?' she asked still in some kind of shock due to this sudden change in zayn.

"A lot of things." zayn said slowly now looking at the entrance of livingroom where harry came with their luggage and looking back at Doniya smiling shyly to which she smiled knowingly and nodded.

'Harry? I can't thank you enough. You're the best contractor in the world... and a great friend.' doniya said gratefully getting the attention of harry.

'Glad to help. And it was a real education.'  harry said shrugging coming in the living room and smiling wide looking at both of them.

'I hope it didn't scare you off of having kids.'
Doniya said wincing slightly looking at him.

'Just the opposite.' harry said.

'Well, you're gonna be a great dad.' Doniya said quietly looking him with a smile.

"I second that." zayn chimed with a puppet voice with a little stuffed bear in his hands.

'I hope so.' harry chuckled looking at him.

'All right, well, I am gonna go get her settled
and... I will see you later.' doniya said to harry while getting up from the couch along with the baby carrier from the table.

'and I will talk to you soon. Okay, bye.' she said now looking at zayn and then started walking ahead to go upstairs in her room leaving them behind.

~~~~~~~

HARRY:

He saw doniya going with the baby and now him and Zayn are alone again he huffed and walked a little further to stand infront of Zayn.

"I had a lot of fun." he said beaming at zayn

'So did I.' zayn said copying his smile.

'It was nothing like how I thought it would go.' zayn expressed himself further.

"It's a really good thing you had an uncle consultant." harry said smirking and trying to flirt subtly.

'Right? Zayn replied smiling and suddenly stopped when he got hit with some realization.
'Right.' zayn said digging in his pocket for something which confuses harry a little.

'Um, I almost forgot to give you this. There you go.' zayn said taking out a folded paper and handed it to harry who takes the paper from him smiling.

"Oh." he muttered when he opens the paper to find a check for his services or maybe more then they agreed on the first place and he stopped smiling  now looking at zayn seriously no more trace of flirtiness on his face.

'It should cover the retainer fee, and then some.' zayn said oblivious to the change in His mood.

"This is way too generous." he said to zayn with a half smile.

'Well, I couldn't have done it without you.' zayn said shrugging.

"I bet you could have... eventually." harry said gulping slightly when he saw Zayn's confused and shocked expressions so he just looks down and started picking his nails.

'Hey, Zayn?' Amir said coming in the living room and getting both of them out of their trance which made harry moved towards the fireplace to give them some space to talk.

'Could you, uh, uh... show Yaser  to the guest bedroom? I'm gonna go help settle
the baby with Doniya.' Amir said to zayn

'Yeah, sure.' as zayn said this to Amir harry discreetly puts the check in Zayn's stocking hanging above the fireplace.

'Okay. Thanks.' Amir replied and then also went upstairs like doniya.

"So I think I'm gonna take off. It was nice getting to know you, Zayn Malik." he said once zayn turn towards him.

'That sounds strangely final.' zayn said bewildered.

"No. The deal is done, and the check is paid. As agreed, so... Merry Christmas." harry said quickly not finding strength in him to look and talk with zayn and started walking towards the main door to leave as soon as possible.

~~~~~~~

ZAYN:

zayn was dumbfounded when Harry literally ran out of the house he started to walk towards him not understanding what happened to harry because they were having a great conversation a moment ago and then harry is suddenly leaving but his dad comes in his way while eating cookies and held his hand.

'These cookies are great! -You didn't make them, did you?' yaser asked him mouth stuffed with a cookie and looking at the other one when zayn heard the main door open and closing indicating that harry indeed had left.

'-No, they were a gift.' zayn said nonchalantly while painfully staring towards the door harry had left from.

'Huh! Well... they're fantastic.' yaser said and then leaves him standing there alone with his hands clutched to his side and his eyebrows furrowed still not processing what had happened.

NOTE:
I just wanted to say Zayn you idiouh....
Next day is Christmas what y'all think gonna happen till then....
Enjoy!!