𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 » 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 ✓

twenty six

it was dinner time at the styles residence. zayn's mum and dad were there, as well as harry's sister gemma who dropped everything to see her brother. they were gonna invite over niall, liam, and louis along with their families, but they didn't want to overwhelm harry, so decided to keep it small and later they could come over and visit harry. earlier, harry had taken a nap and after waking up trembling and sweat dripping down his forehead. zayn was there to calm the sobbing terrified boy down. and after about half an hour, he was sound asleep again.

harry's been glued to zayn's side all day. if harry had to use the bathroom zayn had to go with him, if he wanted to lie down zayn did too, if he went into the kitchen, zayn had to as well. he would not go anywhere without him, gripping onto his hand or arm. zayn had explained to anne that he's been extremely clingy since he got back and she understood. so at the dinner table, as anne and zayn's mum trisha helped place the food down, no one questions why harry is propped up on zayn's lap with his face stuffed in the crook of zayn's neck.

zayn softly dragged his fingers up and down harry's back in a comforting matter. harry sighs in content loving how every time he breathed in he could smell zayn's scent. he was safe in his arms and his embrace brought him nothing but comfort and love. finally everyone was seated, trisha, gemma, anne, des, yaser, zayn and harry. it was quiet at first, everyone too hesitant to start up a conversation. it was great having harry back but no one knew what to say. anything could set harry off and they just wanted this to be a smooth dinner, and be happy that harry was safe and back at home.

but soon enough, yaser clears his throat and decides to break the ice. "so um, zayn, harry how've you been?" trisha slaps yaser in the back of the head while anne and gemma narrow their eyes at him.

"seriously? that's the question you ask after-" gemma started, but zayn cut her off.

"no, it's okay. we've been ok, and harry's- he's coping." zayn says softly, rubbing harry's side. harry was calm so he seemed fine with the question. though it was a bit tense, and awkward, the tension being able to be cut with a knife. it was just a weird situation. zack was the reason for harry's distress and here he was with his brother, and parents. parents who didn't seem to understand or know how to feel about the situation. what does one exactly say when their child whom they've birthed and raised and grown to love has gone completely rogue without warning? it was a tough situation. but harry didn't expect them to completely turn to hate their own child, it was completely understanding. yes, they were disappointed and sad even about the situation but they couldn't hate their own son.

he just needed help. a lot of help.

everyone ate their food. only sounds of small talk and the clanking of dishes as they ate. zayn ate as well, and tried to get harry to eat. harry only took baby bites of what zayn would give him, making him frown. "harry, babe you gotta eat. doc says you have very low iron and lacking proteins."

"but i'm not hungry." harry whispers. zayn sighs.

"baby please? just a little?" zayn pleaded. harry bite his lip, before slowly nodding against zayn's shoulder. zayn pats his back lightly. harry whined when zayn started to lift him off of his lap. zayn shushes him softly, "c'mon, we're going to eat in the family room okay?" zayn told him. harry nodded wordlessly and reluctantly climbed off zayn's lap. zayn grabbed his and harry's plates, and motioned with the nod of his head for harry to go first, before following behind him.

once there, zayn sets their food down on the coffee table and sits down on the floor in front of it, motioning for harry to sit next to him. harry lowers himself to the floor close enough that his and zayn's legs touch. zayn smiles and reaches over, gathering some food onto harry's fork and holding it up to harry's mouth. harry frowns, eyeing the food before he opens his mouth and let's zayn feed him. after swallowing, he looks back at zayn. "i know i've been through a lot lately, but i'm not suddenly handicapped zayn, i can feed myself." harry mumbled. zayn chuckles lightly.

"i know baby." zayn strokes harry's cheek.

"i'm not a baby." harry pouts, narrowing his eyes at zayn. zayn grabs harry by the waist and pulls him into his lap, nuzzling his neck.

"you're my baby." zayn kisses harry's cheek. harry almost smiles for a split second, before his lips draw back into a flat line and he hums and leans his body more against zayn. they sat in silence while they ate their food. zayn had managed to get harry to eat all of his food. they migrated back into the kitchen to wash off their dishes, where their family were still talking and having some dessert. the boys decide to skip dessert and inform them that they were headed back up to harry's room. they nod, giving harry sympathetic looks. once they get up to the room, harry lets out a long sigh, sluggishly walking over to his bed. zayn follows. "hey, what's wrong?"

harry bites his lips, and shakes his head. zayn gently grabs his arm not wanting to scare or harm him and pulls him to sit on the bed. "no babe, don't close up again, tell me what's bothering you." zayn says. harry stares at the hand zayn has rested on his arm.

"it's just, i- i feel like i'm the elephant in the room." harry admits, averting his eyes up to zayn's.

"babe you're no-"

"yes i am zayn. you know it. look what happened at dinner, they didn't even know what to say. it was like they were afraid they were gonna set off a bomb." harry says. and zayn just looks at him, biting his lip because he knew it was true. he didn't want harry to feel like that, but he also knew that, harry kinda was a ticking time bomb. anything could trigger him or upset him, so of course people had to be careful what they said, but he didn't know harry felt like that. it honestly made him feel bad. he just wanted to protect harry, help him get better.

"baby, i didn't know you felt that way." zayn says sadly. harry shakes his head.

"it's okay. i just.. don't want to be the reason that everyone is so awkward and speechless every time i'm in the room." harry says with a frown as he stares down at his hands.

"and i understand. but we just don't wanna say anything to upset you love."

"i know. it's okay." harry whispers. zayn runs a hand through harry's disheveled hair, his eyes trailing over his face. he could see the stress and fear evident on his face. although things seemed to be getting better, it wasn't. not when it could still get worse when his worst nightmare was still doing god knows what out there. zayn always told him he was safe now and that everything would be okay, but deep down, he knew it wasn't. no matter how much his mind wanted to say this was over, he knew it just wasn't. not until a certain someone was behind bars.

"listen, how about we invite the boys over and do something fun to get your mind off things?" zayn suggested. harry thought for a while, before he slowly nods. he did miss hanging out with their friends and being normal. even though it's only been two days since he's been back. he knew they didn't expect him to be back to normal in such a short time, but he also didn't wanna be treated like a delicate china who could break if it weren't handled with caution. harry knew deep down inside that maybe he was a fine china waiting to break. he just didn't want to think about it. he didn't want to be treated differently, he just wanted to forget. but it would take some time. but it wouldn't hurt to start now, would it?

as zayn starts to dial up liam's number, harry tugs on his arm. zayn looks down at him, humming, "p-phase 10, drinks, a-and lots of junk f-food." was all harry said and it was all that needed to be said to bring a bright smile onto zayn's face. he leans over to kiss harry's cheek.

"you got it baby."

let's just pretend things are okay for now.

~

sorry this chapter was sucky and uneventful. but next chapter will be 😏

character's ask:

harry:

zayn:

zack:

liam:

niall:

louis:

other: (questions about the story)

love you guys xx