𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝙼𝚎 (𝙽𝚘𝚝) - 𝚉𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢

chapter xiii.

Harry's taken out of the passion-induced trance by Sadie's voice. Zayn's hand drops from his waist quicker than a pile of ash.

"Um," Harry frowns. "Dad will take you, strawberry," he looks over at Zayn hopefully because he has no fucking clue where the restrooms here are. Thankfully, Zayn nods at him and promptly gets up.

"Haz, get the food ready, yeah?" Zayn adds before he leaves with Sadie. Harry wants to do something funny that would hopefully make Sadie laugh, like salute him but he's left nodding dumbly like a child.

"Right," Harry says to himself and reaches for the picnic basket. There's some cut-up fruit and sandwiches, juice boxes and water. And napkins, cutlery. He takes it all out, opening up the Tupperware boxes and getting the juice boxes ready. A bee comes buzzing in, hanging around Noah's sleeping form a little too long for Harry's liking so he swooshes it away with his hand.

He goes to open his journal again and flip through it before Zayn and Sadie return when he hears that sound of distress from Noah again. The journal's promptly abandoned as Harry turns his attention to Noah, who's waking up slowly and certainly starting to cry.

"Daddy," Noah cries miserably, his eyes barely open. Harry's immediately knee-walking to him around the food. "Hey, baby, it's okay. Daddy's here," Noah looks at him with tearful eyes and reaches out for him. Harry quickly takes him into his arms, holding him against his chest and rocking him. "It's okay, sweetheart. Daddy's here, you don't have to cry, angel." Noah sniffs a little, still crying as he tucks his face into Harry's neck. His hand ends up in Harry's hair soon, at the nape of his neck. Harry grabs Noah's other hand and kisses it a bunch of times. "I love you, darling, it's okay. You don't have to cry. I'm right here, honey. I'm right here." Noah's tears are wet on the skin of Harry's neck. He keeps rocking him and shushing him. Eventually, Harry starts humming a tune, he's not even sure what it is but it seems to calm Noah down. He continues rocking him as Noah's cries die out slowly.

"Is that better, honey?" Harry asks him, looking at Noah's tear-stained face. "Do you want a snack, Noah? Hm? Do you want some blueberries?"

Noah's pouting a little. He rubs his eyes with his little fist. "Love daddy."

Harry's heart shatters. He hugs Noah as tight as he can. "Oh, I love you too, Noah. I love you so, so much. You're such a sweet boy, do you know that?" Noah wraps his short arms around Harry's neck and kisses his face wetly. Harry laughs and it's a miracle he hasn't broken down in tears yet. "Thank you, Noah, that's so kind of you." Harry kisses Noah then too and Noah giggles and screams in joy and Harry's eardrums might be suffering but Noah's not crying anymore and that's the only thing he cares about.

"Someone's up."

Harry looks up at Zayn and Sadie, a smile on his face. "Yeah, No-No woke up and got a little snotty, didn't he?" he blindly searches the diaper bag for tissues as Sadie and Zayn sit down on the blanket. First, he gently wipes Noah's face, both the tears and the snot. Then he puts the tissue on Noah's nose and tells him to blow. Noah does dutifully and Harry wipes his nose properly. "There, that's better, isn't it, love?" As he goes to throw the tissue onto the little pile of trash, he notices Zayn watching him with a soft smile. "What?" Harry asks him, chuckling a little. "Did Noah get snot on my face?"

Zayn just shakes his head, the smile not leaving his lips. "No, you're fine."

"C'mon, tell me," Harry demands. "What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing is wrong, babe," Zayn says, putting his hand on Harry's knee for a moment, squeezing him. "Everything's more than fine." That has to be a lie, considering that their lives have been turned upside down but Harry doesn't have the time to overthink.