°• 𝙰𝙻𝙱𝚄𝙼 𝙰𝚁𝚃 •°[ 𝚣𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 ]

Atlas Hands 🏞

ZAYN

Take me to the docks, there's a ship without a name there
And it is sailing to the middle of the sea
The water there is deeper than anything you've ever seen
Jump right in and swim until you're free

I will remember your face
'Cause I am still in love with that place
But when the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?

It's been almost a week since he broke up with Joe and he still is wallowing in his self pity, he had always known if things with Joe were to ever go south he would be in a lot of pain, he had become used to the constant support Joe provided, being so far away from home and everything. He was very aware that Joe told him they were still friends and he had made it very clear that he didn't harbour any hard feelings towards him. Zayn however couldn't bring himself to call this early on. Knowing that Zayn was really going through it being the one who broke up and he really didn't want to see how Joe was holding up knowing whatever condition Joe would be in right now would have been because of him. Zayn knew people around work were starting to notice how he was a little more in his shell than he had been the week previous and he knew it was maybe affecting the quality of the work he was doing. He knew he had to pull himself together at least in the office, he was the head designer for one of the biggest artists in the industry and he couldn't afford letting his personal life ruin the campaign for his newest album. Speaking of said artist, he had definitely noticed that something was off with Zayn.  Straight after the break up he had walked into the studio and if Zayn's puffy red eyes, the dark circles under them and his more than usually quite demeanor wasn't a give away the way Zayn had replied when he asked him how he was doing with a barely there smile that looked like it caused him physical pain and a very quiet okay must have made Harry certain something wasn't right. He didn't pry and he had held off from prying for the following week opting instead to give him small smiles and ask him if he needed anything whenever he saw him.

Zayn honestly didn't know to what he owed such kindness from Harry, he was after all only his designer. These gestures were making it even more difficult for him to move on from Harry and he couldn't say they didn't warm his heart.

Zayn walked into the studio that Monday morning still upset but with his will to work and put out his best work rejuvenated. He remembered how much he loved this job and just how much he had sacrificed to get to where he was and he knew he couldn't let all of that go down the drain because he messed up his private life a little.

Zayn had been working for a few hours now and had only left his desk once to have tea with his friends and teammates out in the cafeteria, he had gotten many, " Glad to have you backs " throughout the day and that had made him more aware of just how poorly he had been for the past week. He still held the hurt of the loss of a three year long relationship but he decided he wasn't going to let that effect his quality of work no longer. He was still completely immersed on putting in the final touches on a particular poster he had been working on when Harry walked in. Maybe it was the fact that he had finally managed to rise a little bit out of his haze of misery but Harry's beauty seemed to hit him like a freight train and he had honestly lost his breath for a second. After making conversation with a few designers Harry had come to know pretty well from all his visits to the studio Harry made his way towards Zayn's desk.

Harry gave him the same calculated smile he had been giving him for the first week and only when Zayn replied with a genuine smile and a, " How you holding up Harry? " did he sit down and give him a proper smile and replied with his own, " I've been good how about you? " Zayn was going to answer with a non committal okay when the look in Harry's eyes made him realise Harry maybe wanted more of an honest response than that. Without really understanding why he found it so comfortable opening up about his love life to someone he was working for he told Harry about how he had broken up with his boyfriend of three years because he just didn't feel the same anymore, he'd of course left out the details of why he was questioning his feelings. He finally let out all of his feelings on how his break up from Joe made him feel like he had lost his teather and he wasn't used to not being with Joe since he was his comfort. He emphasized how he still loved Joe so much but it was just that he wasn't in love with him anymore and that still made him feel really guilty.

Harry listened with an unreadable expression on his face and once he thought Zayn was done saying everything that had obviously been going through his mind ever since the break up he finally said that there were worse ways this break up could have gone and Zayn had done the truly difficult and honestly commendable thing of coming to terms with what he was feeling and making sure that in the long run everyone hurt less. He stayed a little longer and made sure Zayn was feeling better after their little talk.

Harry had a photoshoot and had to leave fairly quickly after his little chat with Zayn but the things Harry said somehow made Zayn feel like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders and made him want to call Joe up to see how he was doing which he knew was the first thing he was going to do once he got back home. Zayn started back up with work with a smile on his face, a similar smile was reflected on Harry's face as he sat in his car passing by buildings on his way to the shoot, he felt a sense of pride at being able to get Zayn to talk to him and he knew that what he was feeling was something to the effects of hope maybe? He had an idea of what he was hopeful for but he refused to let himself think about that right now.