"I Will Always" » Zarry* ⚠ ✅

9️⃣ 9: But

Zayn's at Sixth Sense Scents early the next morning. But Louis doesn't walk in the door until a little later.

"Sorry I'm late." He says when he gets in the door.

"Late night, I take it?"

"Not really. After you left, Liam went to bed early."

"Oh."

"What's the deal with you two, anyway?"

Of course Louis knows already because Liam told him the whole story. But he wants to see if Zayn will say it.

"Just something that happened between him and Harry a couple years ago."

"Like what?"

"Stupid stuff. Mr. Payne accused Harry of false advertising for a job he took, called him a liar. And so many other things."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Which is why it was such a shock that you were dating him. How could he not know that you were my friend? Have you never talked about me to him? Have you not mentioned me at all in the entire month and a half?"

Louis swallows thickly. "We don't do a lot of talking."

"I see."

Zayn returns to what he's doing so Louis moves closer to him. That's when he notices Zayn's lip poking out a little more than normal.

"Whoa, what happened to your lip?"

Zayn puts his hand up to his mouth to cover it.

"Nothing. Just an injury."

"From what? Your mouth didn't look like that when you came by last night."

"So what? Hours have passed since then."

"Okay. Did you get hit or something?"

"Louis." He says sternly. "I'm fine. I'm not the only person to walk into a wall. But it's what happens when you're clumsy. It is what it is."

Louis definitely doesn't believe that. Zayn has never just walked into walls before. Why would he randomly start now?

He is almost one hundred percent sure this is Harry's doing. Harry gave him that fat lip. It's so obvious. And now finally after a month and a half of waiting to find out the truth, he believes his suspicions are finally confirmed. Now he just needs to figure out how to get Zayn alone in a casual setting without Harry again so he can tell him and let him help him.

"Um... so how do you feel about Liam, then?" He asks.

He shrugs. "I don't know how I feel about him."

"Did you tell Harry about him yet?"

"No. And I won't be. I know it would just upset him."

Breath of relief.

"Okay, so then you must not feel the same way as he does if you kept it secret."

He shakes his head. "To be honest, I don't know how I feel about any of this."

Yes he does. He doesn't hate Liam at all because he knows now that he was right all along about Harry. But it doesn't matter. He won't turn on his husband for anyone. When he said he would always be there with him and for him, this was included.

"But you don't hate it, right?"

"No. You're my best friend and you are allowed to like who you want to like. But I can't tell Harry. Like I said, it will just upset him and for good reason. But I'm willing to tolerate him as long as you're with him."