PAYBACK » Zarry ✔

Twenty Six

It's been 3 years. Zayn sits at the table with his head buried in his lunch menu. Across from him is his significant other who's also got his head buried in his own menu. To Zayn's right, Tabib, their one and only adopted son, sits up in a booster seat and makes tiny popping noises with his mouth. Tabib is a silly little boy but he is never boring.

"Leo."

"Yeah, babe?"

"Are you going to get chicken?"

"Likely not. Why?"

"Me either. I was just wondering if you were because I was going to order chicken for Tabib."

"No. I don't think I'll have that. Maybe we can just order him his own plate."

"He'll mess over most of it."

"That's okay. It's his birthday today. He can mess over whatever he wants."

Zayn chuckles. "Fine, I'll get Tabib the chicken and rice. Let's hope it's not too spicy for him."

He sits his menu down and notices Tabib reaching out for him. Probably because he heard his name and knows his parents are talking about him. So Zayn picks him up out of his booster seat and sits him in his lap.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart. I really wish the painters could've worked faster so you'd be able to sleep in your newly painted room but you'll have to wait and do that tomorrow when the toxic fumes are all out."

"I don't think he minds. He likes sleeping between us in our bed." Leo says. "We might even have trouble getting him to leave."

"That's​ what happens when you're​ loved. And you love us, don't you?"

Tabib laughs out loud and claps his little hands. But Zayn grabs them and shushes him. "Shh. We're in a restaurant and we don't want to disturb others' lunch. But when we get home, you can be as loud as you want to be. I promise."

He stops laughing and occupies his mind and hands with the buttons on Zayn's shirt so that he's quiet. But across the restaurant, another couple has already been disturbed. One man with short styled hair looks over in their direction. Upon first glance, he's not sure he actually sees what he thinks he sees so he does a double take. He finds that it's exactly what he thought it was and he can't help but stare at them.

"Baby.... Baby.... Harry, what are you doing? Why are you staring at those people like that?"

Harry faces his date. "Um. Nothing. Just looking." He quickly asks the waitress over to bring his check and she does. When he's paid for two meals, he leaves a generous tip and stands up from the table. He helps his date to his feet and leads the way so that he can walk by the table he had been staring at.

When he reaches it, he stops and just looks at the three of them. The man across from Zayn is checking his phone but Harry recognizes him right away. That's Leo, the man he saw under the night sky that night. It's been three years and Zayn's still with that guy. Wait... It lasted? It lasted for three whole years?

Thinking of that, reminds him of Zayn's requests. Because after​ two and a half years, Zayn wanted marriage and kids with him. Has he gotten those things with Leo? Well as he looks around, it seems that he did. There's an adorable little boy in his lap who's lying against his chest and as Zayn combs through his hair, there's​ a shiny gold ring on his left ring finger. He is married with a child. He's gotten everything he wanted without him. And he looks happy. He's so happy that it physically makes Harry sick to the stomach.

"Excuse me, sir? Can we help you?"

Zayn is startled by Leo's voice and he follows his eyes. He gasps quietly when he sees Harry behind him and looking at him. This is the first time he's seen him since he left him halfway buried in the ground. He wonders if that night is going through Harry's head like it's going through his right now. Probably.

One thing he does notice is that Harry's also got a short hairstyle. Zayn expected it to be long again but he must've never grew his hair out again once Zayn cut it off. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone tug Harry's hand and he notices the man next to him. It's not Nelson. It's somebody else. It's somebody he hopes is being treated much better than he ever was.

"Sir, I said can we help you?" Leo repeats.

Harry leaves his trance. "Oh. No. Your family just reminded me of someone else." He lies. "I'm sorry."

Harry takes his date and they leave out of the restaurant. Zayn faces Leo.

"That was weird, wasn't it?"

"Yeah..." Zayn answers quietly. But it's only weird to Leo. Leo still has never seen Harry's face because from the day Zayn left him, he deleted every part of him out of his life. He has no pictures of him. No tangible memories. Just Leo and Tabib because that's all that matters to him now. That's all that's important.

"Family cuddle in the living room tonight, I say." Leo unknowingly suggests at the right time. That way his thoughts can't​ be occupied by what just took place.

"Yeah, and a movie Tabib will enjoy."

His husband chuckles. "You mean fall asleep to."

"Which will give us some alone time. Plus it's his birthday, right? So if he falls asleep, at least he's content."

"True. Happy birthday, Bib. I love you." He grins when Zayn kisses Tabib's cheeks and looks lovingly at the two of them. "And you too, Zayn. I love you too."

He smiles at him. This is the way he wants to be loved. It's the only way he ever has. "I know. I love you three."

After the waitress takes their orders, Zayn puts Tabib back in his booster seat. As he and Leo converse back and forth with such ease and peacefulness, it causes him to drift off in thought and he is reminded of his struggles with Harry. Sure, the way that he made him suffer up until the day Harry finally admitted the truth to him is still so satisfying to look back on and makes him feel good. But perhaps this is the ultimate payback. Three years down the road when Harry happened to eat at the same restaurant as him and he got to see firsthand how Zayn can be happy without him. That's got to be the final nail in the coffin to his "you need me" tactics. It's dead. He doesn't need Harry. He never did.

This is what it feels like to be free, though. This is what it feels like to be happy; to love himself. He now knows that the last of the three is what should have always come first to him. Because how can he expect anyone else to properly love him if he can't even properly love himself? If he loves himself, he can be happy and when he's happy, he feels free. That's something he'd never have figured out if he had chosen to stay.

Zayn still loves Harry and he believes that he always will. But that's not worth the sacrifice. Not for this. Harry said that Leo could never give him what he gave him and he was exactly right because Leo gives him much better. He gives him a husband who genuinely loves him, a beautiful little boy and a happy home. This is the real "good life." The one thing that never changed in all the three years is that this has always been the one thing he ever wanted. But only until now when he sees Leo reaching over to hold Tabib's little hand and the look of wonderment his son wears as he looks up at his father, is he absolutely sure that he has everything he ever needed.