boys //ziam

chapter eighty-seven

liam comes into the house with a bunch of presents, because of course he does. zayn rolls his eyes as liam brings them in. he's holding lana in his arms.

"you can just put them next to the tree," zayn says. liam nods, dropping them there.

"where's everyone else?" liam asks.

"it's eight a.m. what do you think?" zayn says. he realized that he was snappy after saying that, but it's christmas and he wants things to go well. he has to play nice. "merry christmas by the way."

"thank you, merry christmas to you too zayn," liam replies. "and you too lana."

"dada," she says, reaching out to liam. liam carries her from zayn. zayn sighs from the relief. she's been fussy all morning and refused to be let down.

"wait, where's theo?" zayn asks, realizing he didn't walk in with liam.

"he's with asher," liam says.

"what? i made it clear we're all spending christmas together,"

"i know. he'll be here," liam assures. "need help with anything?"

zayn shakes his head.

"you can just sit. i'll let them know you're around," zayn says. liam nods, sitting on the couch.

he thinks back to how christmas usually is for them. the kids would wake up early, excited as they open their presents.

when they were younger, they'd wear matching pyjamas but as soon as they became teenagers, they stopped doing that because they insisted it was cringe.

then they'll have breakfast together. zayn would let them eat junk food, which he rarely does except for the christmas occasion.

then they'll watch a marathon of christmas movies together, after that they'll play some holiday games.

then they'll all prepare christmas dinner together. sometimes zayn would bake a cake.

after preparing and eating dinner, they'll all clear up and do the dishes. then relax in the living room, mostly chatting or playing games. sometimes they'll tell christmas stories too.

sometimes, they'll go around the neighborhood to see the christmas lights of their neighbors and compare it with theirs. zayn is usually very competitive with that, but this year he calmed down a bit.

after that, they'll tuck the kids to bed. but not till they've left cookies and milk for santa. and then zayn and liam would retire to their room and have some time to themselves.

liam smiles at that. zayn would always try to make every year special. he wonders how this year would be.

he thinks again, and realizes the last two years have been different.

years ago, by this time the kids would already be out opening their presents. but now everyone is still asleep, not as excited.

liam wonders how he should even interact with zayn. he's only here for the kids, but he still has to be cordial. he doesn't want to show too much affection and at the same time he doesn't want to act cold.

he groans. why did everything have to be so complicated.

"they'll be here in a bit, dressing up," zayn says. "i invited zayaad, gemma and rosie for dinner by the way,"

liam nods. they were also here for last christmas. he doesn't mind them, and he's actually grown closer to zayaad due to what happened two years ago.

but now that he's divorcing zayn, that would have probably changed.