A.M. ↠ zarry AU

uxorial

ux·o·ri·al

/ˌəkˈsôrēəl, əɡˈzôr-/

adjective

of or relating to a wife.

×××

trigger warning: homophobia & mentions of violence relating to it

"I saw you and your wife the other day." Zayn frowns and turns to face Harry. "She's pretty."

Zayn nods and his eyes drop to the floor. "She is." He agrees in a hushed tone. "She didn't see you did she?"

"No, not that it would matter if she did." Harry had a point. Both him and Zayn were careful - hell he didn't even know where Zayn lived.

"Where did you see her?"

"She was walking out of a restaurant with you." Zayn doesn't say anything else and stops paying attention to Harry altogether, so Harry takes it upon himself to keep talking and asking questions. "Why do you always leave at the strangest times, does she really need you at 3 A.M?"

He finished buckling his belt before he could answer Harry. He hesitated a bit, wondering if he should divulge so much of his life to Harry. "I have a daughter." He bent down to grab his green shirt and Harry felt like he had just been doused in a litre of ice water. "She's almost a year old now. She's always waking up between four and five in the morning. She's always been like that since she was born. Her mother works late into the night so when she goes to bed around midnight, I really don't mind attending to her. So," He sighed tiredly, "when I go home - as soon as I'm by the door I hear her already screaming so I take a shower and hold her for a while until she calms down... After I got back from that New York trip she got a chest infection and we had to admit her to hospital and it was the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life."

Harry sits in silence and stares at the sheets around him. His eyes trace the patterns of the creases formed on them while Zayn continues. Harry could handle a wife, that was no problem to him, but as soon as a kid was mentioned, everything changed.

"I know it may sound weird, but I'd spend all the time in the world with her if that's what she wants. I'd give my life for her - I wish I had more time to spend with her..."

It doesn't sound weird. Zayn doesn't know, but Harry can relate extremely well.

"What's her name?" He asks, finding his voice again.

"Ameera." Zayn smiles and Harry sees just how much love he has for her and it makes Harry's heart swell.

Although Zayn had chosen to not mention his wife's name, he couldn't help it when Harry asked about his daughter. She was his pride and joy and Zayn loved nothing more than to speak about her since she was the purest thing in his life.

The reason he's able to spend a lot more time with Harry on weekends? Whenever Zayn and his wife would have a heated argument, which was becoming more and more frequent, she would take Ameera away for the weekend to spend at her parents house - leaving on Friday and coming back on Sunday.

He sits on the edge of the bed and leans forward on his knees. "I want to give her a good life, a better life than I had growing up."

What does he even mean by that?

Zayn looked like he had come from a good background. He was smart, determined, kind - I mean the only 'delinquent' thing he had done was get one little tattoo... to symbolise freedom.

"What happened?" Harry's mouth worked faster than his brain did and he couldn't stop his inquisitive self.

"It wasn't the easiest thing coming out to your strict Muslim family as bisexual at only sixteen years old." Harry got out of bed, put on his own pants and moved to sit next to Zayn, making sure to leave a comfortable distance between them. "I was at a party one night and, there was this guy, he was a senior and dear God, he was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen."