Next To My Heart (Zarry AU)

Part 6

That morning he wakes up grumpy. His sheet ended up on the floor and his muscles feel cramped up. He takes his time to stretch and think about how this is the second time this week he woke up in a bad mood. Okay, so the first time is his own stupid fault for falling asleep at work and getting painted on, but the second time, however, is completely unnecessary. He's going to go to the bakery after getting dressed, and he decides to wake Louis up afterwards just to share his misery. Yes, he's probably being selfish, and he shouldn't drag Louis into this, but he needs to vent.

He makes sure he has his keys and wallet before heading out the door, going down the stairwell extra slowly. It's nice and cool there, which is a blessing during summer.

Harry's at the bottom of the stairs when he hears rushed footsteps heading down. He knows for a fact that Louis would never go outside this early, which leaves only two people. Both of whom he really doesn't want to see. He squares his shoulders and takes a deep breath before slowly approaching the door. Only a few seconds later does the mystery person make themselves known, with an annoyingly cheerful greeting.

''Morning, Harry!'' When he turns around he sees Liam practically hop down the last few steps, a bright smile on his face. His instinct would be to frown and grumble something in response because Liam looks too good this early in the day, all dressed up. Harry looks down at his own scuffed up sneakers and has to resist the urge to pout.

''Liam,'' Harry acknowledges him. It's a bit curt, but he feels justified. ''You're up early.''

''Yeah,'' Liam says while holding open the door for Harry, ''I've been sent to the bakery.''

''Al has the best stuff.'' Harry nods his head and they walk to the bakery, side to side. There's some awkward tension between them, which seems to make Liam uncomfortable, but Harry's fine with letting them stew for a bit.

Is he being petty?

Probably.

When they're inside and ordering, Al seems to catch on to the tension between them, throwing Harry a knowing look. There are some questions directed towards Liam which Harry feels free to shut out as he looks around the shop. He wasn't lying when he said Al has the best stuff. There are some really nice golden brown pastries with fresh looking strawberries on top that he gets, just as a small apology to Louis. He's not a complete ass.

The moment they both have their orders - Harry's bag stuffed to the brim - he's ready to leave. Only, Liam is still talking with Al. What's the protocol here? Does he just leave, or wait for him? Joining in with the conversation isn't going to work because Harry hasn't been paying attention. It only takes him a few more moments of awkward shuffling before they all say their goodbyes, and Liam and Harry head back outside. Waiting was the nice thing to do, right? The last thing Harry wants is to be on Zayn's bad side, which means he's going to have to be nice to Liam. Not that Liam doesn't deserve it. The man's been nothing but kind, other than the fact that they both kept him from sleeping in his bed last night.

''So,'' Harry starts off, somewhat awkwardly, ''what do you do?'' He holds the door open for Liam this time, welcoming the cool air of the stairwell.

''I'm a Physical Education teacher, but I teach at a different school. It's a bit farther away from Zayn's.'' Liam is built well, with plenty of lean muscles. He looks like a PE teacher, alright. Although Harry remembers one of his old PE teachers looking nothing like that. They didn't seem too interested in the sports aspect of their job, but more in the ordering kids around one.

''Looks like we all love working with kids, then,'' Harry points out. ''Although mine are a bit younger.''

Liam laughs at that, or snorts, rather. ''A bit? I reckon there's a ten year difference, maybe?''

Harry isn't as amused, tempted to bite back with a snappy comment, but he doesn't. ''Yeah, you're right.''

''But, we do all love kids.'' Liam at least seems to agree with that. They reach the top of the stairs and the conversation pretty much dies after that, which is totally fine with Harry. He waits until Liam is inside before loudly knocking on Louis' door, tapping his foot on the floor as he's waiting.

When Louis opens the door he gives Harry a sour look. ''Mate.''

''Oh, shut up.'' Harry holds up the bag and shakes it in front of Louis' face. ''I've got a treat.''

Louis nods at that, opening the door all the way. ''Do come in.''

Much to Louis' amusement, Harry spends ten minutes just complaining about Liam, trying to rationalize a reason to hate him. To Harry it isn't funny at all, because his crush on Zayn is serious, and Liam is just in the way. The complaining goes from Liam to Harry's horrible night on the couch, but eventually Louis cuts him off to give him an earful about how big of an idiot he is.

By the time Harry goes back to his own apartment, the extra pastries have been devoured by Louis, who claimed they were his favourite.

Harry knows him too well.

*

Only a few hours later, Harry finds himself seated in a pub and staring at a menu for dinner. Due to some schedule changes at Niall's work they had to change plans, but they don't mind. He already knows what he's ordering, but he's just staring at the menu to have something to look at. If he doesn't stare at the words - that are looking less like words the longer he stares at them - he'll stare at Niall. And then the floodgates will open.

He had planned to talk Niall's ears off about last night and how obnoxious Zayn and Liam were, perfect couple and all that. Now, those plans changed. Harry blames Louis. He wasn't having any of it and used the opportunity to stuff himself with pastries and laugh at Harry's crush. It shut him up pretty quick. Also, Louis doesn't do shit-talking, not behind people's backs. Not that Harry was shit-talking, he was just complaining. Completely justified complaining.

Screw that, he was whining. Like a teenager to their parent. Louis might have been right to laugh at him. He internally groans at himself and drops the menu on the table, moving on to inspecting the pepper and salt shakers. They're ordinary, so there's not much to see and he gets bored quickly. When he looks up, he sees Niall observing him over the edge of his own menu with that calculating look.

''What?'' Harry asks, nervously picking at the edge of his menu.

Niall closes his own, placing it at the edge of the table. ''Lou gave me the rundown of this morning. Warned me you might want to talk.''

Harry shakes his head. ''I'm good.'' He's not even convincing himself.

''You look about ready to burst,'' Niall says, rolling his eyes. ''Just tell me now so we can actually enjoy our meal, okay?''

He has no idea what to say anymore and ends up just shrugging. The waitress comes by to take their orders and after she's gone, the menus with her, he still hasn't said anything.

Finally, Niall seems to come to the conclusion that Harry isn't going to talk, and takes matters into his own hands. ''Look, from what Louis told me, you couldn't sleep last night because your crush on Zayn prevented you from asking them to quiet down, like a normal person would. Also, you don't like how often you're running into them because you're jealous. Did I miss anything?''

Harry almost laughs, because it's so true. Leave it to his friends to give him a reality check. ''I think the part where I've been a stupid prick?''

''I mean specific to this situation, not in general.''

This time Harry does laugh, his smile only growing wider when Niall joins in. ''You're an ass,'' he says, breathless.

Niall nods, sitting back with his hands folded on the table. ''But you love me.''

''Can't imagine how that happened.'' He can, actually. Niall is an easy person to love. Himself, not so much. He can only hope that's not going to be a problem.

Because he really wants Zayn to like him.

That was part 6 already! Hope you're enjoying it so far ;)

Have a lovely weekend! xxx <3