Forget Me Not (Zayn/Harry; Mpreg AU)

33 - Reflection

"Harry, this is Robin Twist. He's the owner of Twist 'n Shout and, as you can see, one of those pun kind of guys."

Harry laughs heartily and shakes Robin's offered hand firmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Robin. I'm Harry," he introduces himself with a grin. "If you must know, I am a bit of a pun connoisseur myself."

"Is that so?" Robin replies, highly amused. He regards Harry with a warm gaze and a mischievous smile. "Well, I might need some convincing to be certain of your expertise."

There's a collective groan from Niall and Michal, who are both used to hearing the lamest of jokes from both parties. "Please don't," Niall whines, tugging at Harry's arm playfully. "Have mercy."

Michal slaps a hand against his forehead, dropping the rag that was in his grasp. "Where's my wife when you need her?" he wonders loudly, looking around the empty nightclub and pretending to look fervently for his wife. It is around 4 in the afternoon and they are doing some general cleaning before their store opens for another busy business day.

Waving his hand in dismissal of the two pouting blokes, Robin nods encouragingly at Harry. "Have at it, lad."

Harry clears his throat, schooling his expression into one of seriousness. "Why can't the flower ride his bike?"

"Why?" Niall says despite his earlier protests, his little doting smile directed towards his friend, like he couldn't help smiling at Harry even though he knows he shouldn't. He is just weak when it comes to Harry.

"Because his petals fell off," Harry, honest to god, cackles, head thrown back and his arms wrapped around his stomach. In front of him, Robin is in a similar state of amusement, chuckling rather loudly.

Crickets may as well be named as Niall and Michal as they watch the two blankly for a bit, silent and unmoved. But then, after a few seconds, they start cracking up, too.

"Oh god, that was so lame, Haz," Niall giggles, reaching for Harry and lightly smacking the boy's shoulder. "In fact, it was so awful that I'm laughing at the utter terrible of it."

Michal agrees with a nod of his dirty blond head. He has stopped wiping down the table in front of him and is, instead, slapping at it merrily while he is seated on the couch.

Calming down after a few minutes, Robin wipes under his eyes, where a bit of moisture has collected. He has laughed himself to tears because he, honestly, enjoys such kinds of jokes. He pats Harry's head and goes behind the counter to drink water. He pours some for his three companions, as well, handing a full glass for the youngest in the room.

Harry chugs the water down and wipes the sweat on his forehead and neck. It has been so long since he has had an actual audience to his jokes and he almost forgets how good it feels when you interact with people. After all, Eclair only barks at him and his endless small talks at home. Depressing. "Did I manage to convince you, Robin?" he says, cheeky.

"You sure did." Robin gives Niall a glass of water and then Michal, when the bloke has finished his pre-opening duties. "Say, Michal, do we have any openings for Harry here?"

Michal collects the empty glasses and shrugs. He puts the glassware on the sink and proceeds to wash them before putting them in the dish rack to air dry. "Oh, I know. Harry can be some sort of stand-up comedy act on a certain day of the week," he teases, bumping his hip against Harry's when he passes him by, a broom in his hand.

Harry is about to retort when a silvery greeting reaches them. He turns his head towards the sound and sees a petite young lady walking towards them. She has strikingly pale white skin with charmingly scattered freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, an attractive grin combined with dimples and shoulder length purple hair. She is dressed comfortably in a peach-colored, thin-strapped sundress, that reaches just above her knees, and white sneakers. Once she gets close to them, Harry is mystified to note that she looks an awful lot like him.