zesty grapefruit [zarry] ✔️

12

The house, of course, is fucking huge. Zain shouldn't really have expected anything else. Even with his thorough disinterest in googling Harry, over the years he has caught enough from Gemma, and Waliyah, that he knows Harry can afford just about anything. It's a nice start into taking holidays abroad at least. He'll probably be spoiled for life.

"Hi," Harry says brightly, opening the door. He kisses Zain's cheek and hugs Gemma tightly, kissing her hair. "Did you get here alright? Was the flight ok?"

"Sure," Gemma says with a shrug, kicking her bag past Harry. "No troubles. Zain just needs a shower cause he was a nervous wreck and he's starting to stink."

"Thanks, Gemma," Zain answers, rolling his eyes as he follows them into the house. She's not exactly lying, though. He feels like he can smell himself and though he is fairly sure Gemma is exaggerating, he does want a shower pretty desperately.

"You don't like flying?" Harry asks, looking at Zain worriedly like it was somehow his fault that Zain had never set foot in a plane.

"Never flown before," Zain shrugs. "Wasn't too bad, though. Considering."

"He just worries about things," Gemma explains, patting Zain's head condescendingly. "I wasn't kidding about the shower, though."

"It's not that bad," Harry says, touching Zain's arm, like the fact that he can apparently smell Zain isn't disconcerting in itself. "Come, I'll show you so Gemma will shut up."

"Thanks," Zain says, poking Gemma's side. He's not exactly happy about her methods but she did manage to cut any lengthy processes of saying hello short.

"You're both upstairs," Harry explains, leading him up the stairs. "I put Nick and Josh in the bedroom downstairs cause they're loud. You know." He makes a crude gesture.

Gemma snorts. "You're the one who invited a couple," she says. "Can't complain now."

"No one else was free," Harry says, pushing a door at the end of the hall open.

"So we're your pity invites, is that it?" Gemma wants to know, putting her hands on her hips.

"No," Harry sighs, like she's particularly trying. "This is yours, Gemma. You always complain about my snoring, so there, you get the end of the hall."

"Cheers," Gemma says, looking happy. Zain's not sure why Harry declared that he was putting Gemma here like it was a punishment. It was a large room, with a large bed and a very very nice view of the sea. And it had an ensuite bathroom. "Where are you putting Zain?" Gemma demands, dropping her bag at the bench by her bed.

"In the nicest room," Harry says smugly, putting his arm around Zain's shoulder. "Cause it's his first time in France."

"Alright," Gemma nods. "I can accept that. Do you guys already have dinner plans? Because I could eat."

"I made lasagna," Harry says, ignoring Gemma when she interrupts with a shout of "Italian food in France? You heathen!" like that was a thing. "And it's gonna be ready in twenty, more or less. So anytime you're done showering," he says, throwing her a pointed look.

She flips him off, waggling her fingers at Zain with a grin.

"Come on," Harry says, dropping his arm from around Zain's shoulder and running a hand through his hair. "You're good with lasagna, right?"

"What kind of mince did you use?" Zain asks, following Harry into what must be his room. It's somehow even larger than Gemma's and the view from the window encompasses not only the sea but a bit of cliffs and the beach as well. It is, somehow, really nicer than Gemma's. Zain had been halfway sure that Harry had been kidding to tease Gemma.

"Beef," Harry answers. "Is that ok?"

"Yea," Zain says. "I just don't eat pork."

"Right," Harry says with a slight frown before spreading his arms in an expanding gesture. "This is yours. I'm across, by the way," he adds, scratching his cheek. "There should be towels and all in the bathroom but shout if you need anything, yea? I'll be downstairs in the kitchen."

"Cheers," Zain says, dumping his bag by the bed.

Harry nods at him and leaves, pulling the door shut behind him. Zain turns around the room, allowing himself to gape at the space of it. He's fairly sure this room itself is bigger than their living room at home. He takes a picture of his view to make his mates jealous before hurrying into the kitchen. He was actually getting kind of hungry and now that he was surrounded by clean and nice things, he felt even itchier with sweat and the general dirt of traveling.

💟

"Hey," Harry smiles at him. Zain is kind of glad that he managed to find the kitchen on the first try. "You good?"

"Perfect. Love that shower," Zain nods, raising his hand towards the two other men in the room. "Hey, I'm Zain."

"Yep, we heard," one of them grins. "I'm Nick," he adds almost immediately, not giving Zain a chance to react. "The showers are great, aren't they?"

"Yea," Zain affirms, his eyes going towards Nick's boyfriend.

"That's Josh," Harry introduces. "He likes to pretend he's too cool to talk to us."

"Piss off, Styles," Josh says affably. "You're Gemma's friend, right?"

"Yea," Zain nods, wishing Gemma wouldn't take so long with her showers so she can field these questions. "We're in uni together. Flatmates. All that."

"Those were the times," Josh nods, although he's probably not even ten years older than Zain. "I miss uni. Just. Chilling. Drinking. Having fun."

Zain doesn't say anything to that. It's a kind of attitude that annoys him a lot actually, the kind of assumption that uni was for having fun and not to make sure your future was somewhat secure. He has plenty of fun, but most of his time was actually spent worrying about money, his grades and his employability and with that, again, money. He licks his lower lip, looking around the huge kitchen, and thinks that maybe he should not start that discussion now, here, and in this company.

"You smell better," Gemma announces, pressing her face into his neck and hugging him tightly.

"You're so sweet," Zain answers sarcastically, pinching her side. "You smell like a fruit basket."

"So I smell lovely, thank you," Gemma says. "Can we have food now? Zain and I have travelled from far away, we need substance."

"She did her English Lit reading on the plane," Zain explains, poking her cheek. "And it has turned her brain."

"Don't quote at me, geek," Gemma answers, handing him a stack of plates. "Are we eating outside?"

"Yea, let's," Harry says, bending down to inspect the oven. "It looks good."

"Yum yum yum," Gemma sings, pushing Zain towards the outside.

"I regret inviting you already," Harry says, setting the lasagna on the counter. "At least take plates and cutlery."

"As you wish," Gemma says in a sing song. "I love holidays, I already feel so relaxed."

"We can tell," Zain says drily, taking the stack of plates she hands him. She's even more exuberant than usual, which promises to be an exhausting week, but it also means she'll get him to do all the thing she has planned on doing which means he'll actually be able to tell him mum that he's seen the sights and not just lazed around all day like she feared he would.

"Food, Zain, don't just stand around," Gemma says, shooing him forward and ripping him from his thoughts.

💟

...zain accidentally got annoyed, oops. but did anyone say filler?