Daisy's Daycare 🧸 Zouis {COMPLETED}

CHAPTER 5

From: Clara
Hey, Louis! I had fun yesterday. It was nice getting to know you, I hope we can hang out soon :)

Louis smiles when he sees the text from Clara. Despite his initial resentment towards the girl, Clara is a really sweet girl, and Louis hopes the two can be friends. Besides Zayn, he doesn't really have any friends.

Louis responds to Clara's message before getting up and getting ready for the day. He makes breakfast, and gets everyone up, besides Harry who was already awake.

He's in the kitchen, passing everyone their plates and quietly humming to himself when Lottie says, "You seem happy today, Louis." She gives him a look that tells him she knows why.

"Well, I'm just in a good mood," Louis says, crossing his arms and glaring at Lottie. "There's no particular reason, I just woke up on the right side of the bed."

"No particular reason means Zayn, right?" Lottie asks cheekily and Louis glares at her harder. She throws her hands up. "What? I'm glad you've been so cheerful lately, but I think we all know why that is."

"He's just my friend, Lottie. You know that," Louis says. He hands Harry an orange, but Harry just glares at it and shakes his head. "C'mon Haz, you've gotta eat your fruit. It's good for you."

Harry shakes his head rapidly. "Nuh-uh. I'm not eating it. It's gross," Harry says defiantly. He steals some eggs off of Liam's plate and Liam begins crying.

Louis sighs. Being an older brother is hard. "Harry, if you wanted more eggs you should have told me," Louis lectures. "It's not nice to steal food from your brother." Louis gets more eggs from the pan and places them on Liam's plate.

Once everyone has eaten and is off to school, Louis takes the moment to relax for a bit before he begins getting Liam ready for daycare. He notices Liam's shirt has a few spots on it. "Liam, why don't you wear a different shirt, that one is dirty."

"No!" Liam cries out, refusing to pick out a different shirt. Normally, Louis would argue about it, but he just doesn't have the energy so he gives up and lets Liam wear the stained shirt.

"Alright, Li, it's time to get in the car."

Once they arrive at Daisy's Daycare, Louis spots Zayn and Niall. He walks up to Zayn, Liam running to give Niall a hug. "How's your morning been?" Louis asks Zayn.

"Exhausting," Zayn says, and Louis can tell from his voice that it really was. "Niall threw a huge fit because he couldn't find his favorite teddy bear."

"I can relate to that," Louis replies, thinking about how his morning went. "Harry wouldn't eat his fruit this morning and he stole Liam's food. And then Liam refused to wear a clean shirt."

"Taking care of kids is hard, huh?" Zayn says and Louis hums in agreement. Zayn looks over at Niall and Liam who are playing with some toy trucks. "It has its high points though."

"Yeah." Louis studies Zayn a little harder and he notices something different. His hair is a little shorter, but still pretty, and it looks really good. Like really good. "You got a haircut?"

"Oh. Yeah," Zayn says awkwardly, surprised that Louis noticed. He feels self conscious all of a sudden and has to resist the urge to bring his hand to his hair.

"Looks good," Louis says, trying to act casual and praying that his cheeks aren't red.

"Thanks," Zayn says, so quietly that Louis almost didn't hear him. It's silent for a moment before Zayn speaks up again. "We should- uh get going."

"Right," Louis agrees, cursing himself for making things so awkward. He wishes he didn't just blurt out whatever he's thinking all the time.

Once they arrive at work, they see Clara sitting at a table with a cup of coffee. She waves at them when they walk in. She gets up and walks over. "Hey! I just came to get some coffee, I was hoping I'd see you two here."

"Here we are," Louis laughs. He smiles at Clara, happy to see the girl again. "We'd love to talk more, but we have to start working."

"Of course. Duty calls!" she says, laughing. "I was just about to head out to do some errands anyways, but I'm glad I caught you before I left. I'll see you around."

Clara leaves and Louis and Zayn start working. Louis can tell that something is off with Zayn. He seems to be in a sad mood, and he isn't very talkative. Louis doesn't know how to bring it up, but he wants to know what's wrong.

He decides to say something when they go on their break. "Hey," Louis says and Zayn turns to look at him. They are sitting at a table eating their lunches. "Is everything alright? You seem down."

Zayn looks surprised, he hadn't realized it was that obvious. "Just having some hard thoughts. Happens all the time, I'll be ok," Zayn insists.

"You want to talk about it?" Louis asks. He gives Zayn a face free of judgment and full of genuine concern. Zayn shakes his head. "Ok. Well I'm always here."

"Thanks Lou."

Lou.

Louis feels his heart race. "Of course."

They don't talk much after that, but Zayn does seem a little happier, which Louis is grateful for. He wishes he could help more, but he understands that Zayn doesn't want to open up to him quite yet. But he hopes he will. He wants to be able to help, to get to know the boy more.

Later that day, Louis had just finished reading Liam and Harry their bedtime story and putting them to bed when he got a text from Zayn.

From: Zayn
Thank you for caring.

To: Zayn
Of course. I care about you.

Louis feels his heart beating quickly as he sets his phone down. He hopes he didn't come off too strong. But it's true. Despite not knowing Zayn for very long, he does care about him. And he wants Zayn to know that.