Forget Me Not (Zayn/Harry; Mpreg AU)

35 - Being truthful

With apt interest, Niall watches Harry pick on his deconstructed caesar salad, separating the croutons from the parmesan shavings and the romaine lettuce and dumping them on the little dish with the dressing in it. Next, the younger man starts pairing the lettuce leaves with the parmesan shavings before sprinkling them with, quite shockingly, brown sugar.

"Harry, what the bloody hell are you doing to your food?" Niall squawks, horrified. He stares, dumbfounded, as Harry shrugs at him and starts munching delightedly on his food. "That's just nasty."

Opening another packet of sugar, Harry proceeds to empty the whole thing into his half-eaten lettuce and parmesan cheese combo. "Hey, don't knock it, 'til you try it, Niall," he recommends with an honest smile. He pushes his plate and several more packets of brown sugar towards his friend. "Cold, crunchy and sweet."

Niall sticks his tongue out with a grimace. "No, thanks," he declines politely. He spares Harry one more confused stare and then tucks into his own plate of cheese ravioli with marinara sauce. "I've got my own food. With no brown sugar topping. Which is how I prefer my savory foods. Like, everybody else."

Harry pouts, sensing Niall's teasing disapproval over his choice of seasoning. "Suit yourself," he grumbles and just reminds himself that the baby craves the sugar to grow healthy in his womb.

Comfortable silence descends upon the two friends as they dig into their respective meals. Occasionally, Niall steals glances at Harry, only to find him doing something bizarre with his food. After sweetening his caesar salad with sugar, he is now slathering ketchup on his breadsticks, like - honest to god - drenching the whole thing in the tangy red dip and then picking it up to gobble it down in two big bites. He moans as he savors his weird food combination and then gulps down three tall glasses of the house special iced tea. The waitress, who has opted to stay close to her customer, finds everything hilarious and giggles as she pours Harry's fourth glass of the beverage. It's probably a good thing that the drink is bottomless or they will be paying a bloody large amount on just the drinks alone.

"You know, Haz," Niall tells his friend when he finally recovers from the sight of Harry finishing his plate clean of everything and then munching on the ice cubes from his glass. He flags down their waitress and requests for their bill. "I didn't think you'd accept Gemma's offer to cater the cake and flowers for Zayn's wedding. You're not masochistic or anything, right?"

Chuckling quietly, Harry finishes the last of the ice cubes and dabs a paper napkin on his mouth. He exhales loudly afterwards and taps his chin in thought, pondering how he can get his point across. "Ni, Gemma was right. The bakery and flower shop will benefit greatly from this, uh, how do I say this? Erm, exposure, I guess? If this collaboration, between Gemma and my bosses, turns out to be a success, there will be more paying customers for them. That's good."

"You're too kind for this world, Hazza," Niall sighs, looking fondly at his friend. However, behind the tenderness, there is hopelessness and scorn. The former is because he has no idea how he could alleviate the pain that he knows Harry has and the latter is directed, of course, towards those who have done Harry wrong. He adds himself to the equation, hating that he has only brought Harry more pain by introducing him to Gemma, because now he is forced to actually be in the wedding. Life is a fucking joke. "The world doesn't deserve you."

Harry flaps a hand at Niall, careless. He watches his friend check their total, slip some money into the bill holder and give it back to the young lady, who patiently assisted them tonight. When he is sure that Niall's attention is on him, he talks. "Don't worry so much, Nialler. I'll make sure to take care of myself and not let the Maliks catch me at the wedding."

"How would you do that?"

"I'll stay at the delivery van? Request for kitchen work instead of delivery? I don't know." Harry stands up then, rubbing his slightly protruding tummy. He stretches a bit and his shirt rides up to expose a rounded little swell, which Niall finds a bit unusual. Continuing with their conversation as he pulls his coat on, Harry adds, "Let's just cross that bridge when we get there."