Echo Of Us • Zarry

M 1

Harry has always loved the feeling of getting something he's been wanting for ages. Whether it was a toy when he was a kid or some fancier clothes when he was a teen, it was all the same. It only got better after X-Factor because after the gutting feeling of coming third, everything else seemed to work flawlessly. And he's never gotten tired of it. No matter how many times he got the things he wished for because in reality, Harry enjoyed it the same every time. It wasn't much different with the engagement.

The one thing he's wanted the most in his life was to be with Zayn. The desire came when they already had money, fame and basically the whole fucking world. That's why Harry craved love more than anything else. It didn't matter how many fans were screaming his name each night or how much money was coming to his bank account, there was nothing that could fill the hole in Harry's heart where Zayn was supposed to be. Sometimes it got so fucking fierce Harry thought he'd choke with it, drown with the feeling of all-encompassing want and love. He wanted nothing

more than to march to Zayn's London house, hoping she would open the door so Harry had the chance to scream 'He could never love you as much as he loves me' in her face before even stepping inside the foyer. But he was never allowed to.

For years and years, Harry was missing just one single piece of the puzzle. The most important one right from the middle that would bring everything together. He spent countless hours daydreaming about what-if's. What if we could be together? What if we just said no and did whatever we wanted? What if he really doesn't love me? What if we were never famous and met in uni like normal people? It used to drive him mad, reaching for something that was right there, he could touch it, feel it and at the same time, it was nothing but a ghost slipping between his fingertips. Zayn was right there – next to him on stage, holding him in bed, kissing him in the middle of the night. Yet it wasn't enough. It was never enough because all they had were locked hotel rooms and dark corners and so much fucking love but they never had courage.

In hindsight, they don't regret it. When they had that fateful phone call that would eventually separate them for three years, they knew. Zayn said that they would regret getting together then and it would drive them to hate each other because while they would gain their relationship, they would lose everything else. Their careers, their fans and ever so slowly and painfully, their love.

Harry kept thinking about a conversation he and Zayn once had a lot when they were apart and lately, his mind seemed to come back to it a lot. It took place sometime before the last tour when they had fucked off to Bali for a few days. They were high and talking about the weirdest shit, lying by the pool while the moon was shining over them. It was blissful and Harry wished they could stay like that forever. Not in Bali doing nothing all day long but happy and at ease. Zayn was playing with Harry's hair and it seemed to Harry that they'd been doing it for decades instead of years. That was what made him ask Zayn something neither of them had the nerve to before. 'Could you imagine spending the rest of our lives together? Maybe even getting married, adopting a fat cat and a dog with three legs. Or having kids?'. Harry's heart was beating in his throat during the pause that separated his question and Zayn's answer. 'Yeah, I think so.'. 'Really?'. 'Yes. But I don't think it's possible for us. Simon would kill us and serve us as dinner to his poodle.'. 'Fuck.'.

They didn't bring it up again.

But things change, don't they? Sometimes feelings stay in place, cemented down and sometimes not everything has a terrible ending. With nearly all his hope lost, Harry got a second chance on dream-like conditions. The life that was a mere wishful thought a few years ago is now reality. Their love has been set free and Harry has no intention on wasting this chance by fucking up or doing the same stupid shit they used to when they were just old enough to be considered adults. Now them talking about marriage and spending the rest of their lives together is normal, ordinary, even expected in some way. It isn't a dream, it's the next step in their lives.