chance connection |2| [zarry]

onehundredseventynine

"Why are you in a bad mood this early?" Zain asks, kissing Harry's shoulder that was pulled up more than usual.

"I looked at my social media," Harry answers, stirring the porridge. "You look very handsome by the way."

"Thank you?" Zain says, stroking his hand down Harry's back to get him to relax. "Should I not have told you?"

"No," Harry sighs. "It's fine and it wasn't anything bad. Just. It's annoying that they think you're Gemma's boyfriend. Did you look online at all?"

"No," Zain shrugs, stroking Harry's belly and kissing his shoulder. "Not yet. Why?"

"They mentioned you by name. I guess your art account helped them with that. It's nothing bad, I promise," he adds, turning his head to kiss Zain's jaw. "I just don't want them to think you're Gemma's."

"A bit possessive, aren't you, my love?" Zain smirks, amused, kissing Harry's cheek and tickling Harry's belly.

"Maybe," Harry grins, unabashed.

"Baby," Zain says. "If you want them to stop thinking I'm Gemma's boyfriend, I'm sure we can solve that."

"Yea," Harry sighs. "But do I want to deal with that right now?"

"Well then you gotta have to deal with being jealous for a bit, brat," Zain says.

"You're very calm about this," Harry says, tilting his head back to lean against Zain's. "I thought you'd be more upset."

"You're plenty upset for both of us," Zain says quietly, kissing his shoulder. "You said it would happen and it's nothing bad, right?"

"Yea," Harry says. "It's really not. Just a mention. I'm glad you're not upset," he adds quietly.

"Comes with the territory, I best deal with it," Zain says, stepping away when he hears Freddie thundering down the stairs.

"Zain, Daddy says he needs your help," Freddie announces in a rush, attaching himself to Harry's leg.

"Why?" Zain asks.

"Dunno," Freddie shrugs, very much not interested in whatever Louis was up to so. It still left everything that wasn't particularly interesting to Freddie in the running.

"Harry, morning cuddles," Freddie demands. Zain sometimes wonders it's because they lock the door most night now and he couldn't just crawl into bed with Zain if Louis was already busy getting ready. But it wasn't like he was deprived of cuddles, and usually very good at demanding them. Zain watches Harry pick up Freddie and kiss his cheek, hugging him and rubbing their noses together before leaving them to it, making his way up the stairs.

He pulls his phone from his pocket, checking Instagram for the first time since his last post on Friday. His notifications are through the roof, but that isn't anything new since Harry liked his posts, or even since Gemma had linked him. There is an enormous amount of direct messages as well and Gemma had repeated a few times that he should actually answer the one related to his art, but he's already very much not looking forward to it.

"Whatcha need?" He asks, knocking on Louis's door and entering.

"A new kid," Louis says, turning around and showing Zain his shirt a bit dramatically.

"Oh shit," Zain swears, biting his lip to keep from laughing. "When did he do that?" Louis shirt is a mess of finger prints and smears, completely ruined.

"It wasn't just now!" Louis says, exasperated, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Must have been Friday," Zain shrugs. "We were painting and you know he runs around. What's the issue, just wear another one."