eternity. ♡ zarry ♡

19: bond

Age 17

That day, Harry didn't tell Zayn's mother about them because, truthfully, there wasn't anything to tell. They were the same just like before, only now they leaned in when they were inches apart.

He wondered..

"Would it be okay?" Zayn whispered.

He held on tightly to Harry's hand as he was led throughout the haunted house, something their high school put together for Halloween.

Harry looked back at him, half his face a shadow and the other half illuminated by the dark red light that flowed throughout the small space.

"Would what be okay?" Harry asked quietly.

He looked away from Harry and around at the small hallway.

"To be this. To be different. To be.. together." Zayn paused and looked back at Harry who was still looking at him as they came to a halt. "Would that be okay?"

When Harry smiled, it happened in slow motion, like time went slower just so Zayn could enjoy it. That smile was kind, gentle, and a little sad.

Harry looked forward, the hallway feeling less frightening the longer they stood there. "Are we really different?"

Zayn knee what he meant. The feelings he felt was something that's always been there, only now the feelings were amplified.

"You should know by now that as long as it's you and me, it'll always be okay."

"Even if we aren't best friends?"

Zayn felt his heart squeeze when Harry let go of his hand.

"That promise.." Harry looked at him again, his smile gone, ".. wasn't a matter of staying best friends, but of staying by each other's side."

"What?" Zayn blanked.

Harry linked their pinkies together. "You words were a promise of being best friends, but here," he pressed his palm to the spot over Zayn's heart, "it was a promise to never break our bond."

"Our bond?" Harry kept walking, Zayn following behind him and their pinkies still linked together.

"The thing that connects us, ya know? What keeps us together." He could see Harry's dimple even in the dim red light. "So don't worry, Zayn. Best friends or not, as long as we stay by each other's side, you aren't breaking your promise."

"Really?"

Harry nodded. "You know what I was thinking that day before I made you make that promise to me?"

"What?" Zayn glanced started walking closer to Harry, their shoulders bumping. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking: 'man, what if I lose him? What if things change when we go to high school?'" Harry's pinkie tightened around Zayn's. "What if he finds someone better than me?"

Every sound around them seemed to fade out as he listened to Harry.

"Then when you asked me, 'what'll I do if you find a new best friend?'" Zayn thought Harry might cry. Harry hardly ever cried. "I knew you were just as scared of losing me as I was of losing you. So I knew, even if you didn't make a promise that day, that you'd still be here with me."

Zayn smiled. "I'm still holding on and I'm never letting go."

Harry looked at Zayn with wide eyes because he remembered.

Just keep holding on, I'll send you my strength.