Reticence ( Kid!Zayn) ( Larry Family)

six

Zayn was laying on his mattress his eyes glued to the ceiling. It was quite late at night. His body was tired but his mind was far too awake for him to fall asleep. There were a lot of things Zayn missed about his previous home. Particularly, the people and the memories he had built there. The six-year-old was known to get attached to things quite easily. From inanimate objects to people, he had very strong feelings for all.

Before he realised Zayn was sucked into a whirlwind of memories. He blinked his eyes close to see the first time he and Uncle Freddie had went to the carnival. They had sat on the pirate ship ride and Zayn was terrified. He saw Freddie's reassuring expressions and felt himself grow two more inches.

" You're a tiger, Kit. Tigers don't get scared." And that was enough. Zayn did not scream even once. He didn't get scared even when they were high above in the sky and his feet didn't touch the floor anymore. It wasn't actually that bad to be very honest but maybe that was because of his uncle's tight grip on his arm. They had visited the amusement park every month after that and as a tradition, the pirate ship ride was the first ride they went to. Zayn recalled thinking why his dad couldn't ever take him to the amusement park until one day he did and maybe somethings only felt so magnificent because of the people you had around you.

His mind wandered to his friends in his grandma's neighbourhood. He didn't really miss them but sometimes he remembered some of the things they did together and it managed to put a smile on his face. That one time it was raining and they had gone to the park together, all four of them. Zayn remembered playing with them all day and by the time he walked home he was covered in mud from head to toe. His papa's gaze was reprimanding and he knew he was going to get the biggest lecture of his life but then his grandma came and saved the day. She grasped him by his arm and silently took him to the washroom. Zayn had sat under the shower conscious of every sound that he made while his grandma scrubbed all the dirt and grime of off him.

A heavy puff of air left him. He missed her a lot. She was always there. His shield. His everything. It's not like he didn't visit her but it was different. She wasn't there for him all the time now and it was disheartening.

His mind went back to the time when he had gone to Charlotte's and a thumb pin had sneaked its way from her desk to under his heel. It was hurting a lot and so he walked back home and fell asleep. His grandma had known something was wrong but he didn't tell her what exactly just that his feet hurt. As soon as he fell asleep she called Zander and Freddie to check what was wrong with her precious grandson. And of course, Zayn woke up the exact second his uncle pulled the drawing tool out of his feet. Unlike what he had pictured there was no blood or pain whatsoever. It wasn't the first time he had felt stupid and it definitely wasn't the first time he had felt cared for.

Surprisingly, though, his grandma's home wasn't the only place Zayn missed. Actually, he missed Fiona's house a lot more than he thought he would've. He missed Stan. He missed all the adventures and the treasure hunts they had went to. He missed waking up to a toddler waiting for him to brush his teeth so they could play. Or a toddler waiting at the door when he came back from school, dragging him to his room upstairs so they could reenact their favourite scenes from their favourite movies. Which basically consisted both of them trying to save each other from dying in different scenarios.

Sigh. It had been ages since he had last seen his best friend and even when he came to visit all they talked about was how they missed each other. Stan asked Zayn to come back to his place more than a hundred times and even though he missed that place, there were just too many demons there and he couldn't let them get to him yet again.

Although all these things never seemed to escape his mind but what he missed the most was his room upstairs. He had always thought of it like a cage and it was good to be free and have an entire house to himself. But unfortunately, he had fallen in love with the cage. He couldn't even get himself out of the little things that made his life all better and bright. How his dad would make plum juice in a plastic tub and when their heart was filled to the brim with the cold drink he would pour all the liquid on Zayn. And despite being sticky and having to take a shower, he'd be beyond happy in his little world with his dad's roaring laughter and his papa's little giggles. In fact, come to think of it, he missed that the most. Just the three of them against the world. Don't get him wrong, he loved his little sister and she was the best thing that had ever happened to him but he just missed being the only child.

His eyes shifted to look at his parents sleeping on the bed, a cot laid beside them where Myra was sleeping in. They settled on the space between his parents and a small smile crept up his face. That was his place. He used to sleep there. And now he didn't. The smile dropped.

He averted his gaze back to the ceiling his mind taking him to the first time they had gone for a trip. He was four years old and they went to a hill station. It was very pretty with all the tall trees and the calming wind. He and his dad were having a boxing fight. He was standing on the bed flinging his fist around trying his best to get his dad's chest but missing every time.

" No, wolverine. You need to be faster." Harry had chuckled. Louis was sitting in the balcony going through his favourite novels. Zayn brought back his fist to strike again but his dad caught his fist in his massive hands, rubbing his wrists softly. He had a huge grin on his face and it made Zayn want to laugh out loudly.

" Dad...Come on." He brought his fist back and threw a punch again. Harry's phone started ringing. He took it out, raising a hand in an attempt to stop his son from attacking again. But Zayn didn't take notice of it, aiming a fierce punch to his dad's chest. Unfortunately, Harry had moved from his place distracted by his phone call. As soon as Zayn flicked his wrist towards his dad's nonexistent chest, he lost his balance and fell face first into the carpet. A sharp pain through his nose made him scream out. Louis was on his feet in a second. He had picked his son up trying to calm him down. Harry had turned around to get himself a tight slap against his chest. Louis wasn't exactly a violent person, just an overprotective parent. Zayn's nose had been bleeding and he wasn't calming down even a little.

" What the hell Harry?" Harry had excused himself from the call and threw his phone away.

" I'm so sorry. Kit?" He took his son from his husband placing a hand under his nose.

" He's bleeding!" Louis had freaked out. Harry took the bottle of water from his bedside and pour it over his son's head.

" Wolverine?" Zayn wouldn't stop crying and it was scaring his parents.

" Harry do something?" Louis had started crying and the situation was getting more chaotic by the second.

" Louis go order some ice cream. I'll take him to the balcony. A little fresh air might do something." He had walked to the balcony one of his hands pressed to his son's nose, which wasn't bleeding anymore but there was still a chance that it could. " Come on, Kit. Do you want to see the mountains? You like them, don't you?" No response.

They had sat in the balcony with their cups of ice cream for hours before Zayn had spoken out. " I like chocolate." And Harry had laughed at that before getting him a chocolate ice cream.

It wasn't the first time that Harry had picked him up when he fell down but it wasn't the first time that Harry was the cause of his downfall either.

The one thing Zayn did like about his new home was that there was a calmness to it. Nothing was temporary and they didn't have to jump from one place to another just to get some peace. Life had a routine now and he liked it. The days where Aunt Fiona ruled were gone and he didn't have to care about his papa going downstairs and a fight breaking out. In fact, Zayn hadn't seen her in so long that he had actually forgotten the terror he felt when she was around. The only worry that was left was grandma Rina, Harry's mother, who had decided to come live with them for a while. Sometimes she was rude to papa but not as bad as her daughter. Aunt Sharon came almost every day, with both of her daughters, Natalie and Riley. Zayn's cheeks heated up as he remembered the time when he couldn't find Myra anywhere and Riley had found him opening all the cupboards, looking through them for his lost little sister. Turned out Shane had taken her out for an ice cream. Zayn liked Aunt Sharon and her family. They were all good to him. More importantly, they were all good to his papa.

Sighing, he rolled over in his mattress and closed his eyes. It was good he decided. His new life, it was good.

A/N 

HI! I've been planning to post this chapter for a while now but it's just hard trying to fit your life in a book format. Sorry if this sucks I'm not really sure about it. 

BTW Thankyou so much for 10K, I love you all!