Dark [Zarry]

Chapter 9.

Zayn

I shuffle sleepily around on the bed, my eyes heavy beneath my eyelids. I shuffled around on the bed, trying to get into a comfortable position when I felt a pair of hands wrap around me, pulling me close. I frowned, peeking my eyes open to see Harry gazing down at me.

"Morning, beautiful." he mumbled when he saw that he saw that I was awake. He pulled me closer so that I was half lying on top of his body, our legs together. Blinking my sleepy eyes, I pulled away from him after a couple of seconds and I stumbled out if his bed, my feet catching in his bed sheet.

"You okay there, babe?" he chuckled huskily, clearly amused by my clumsy episode. And there it was again. Babe. The name he had recently called me a few times now. I could really get used to this... I nodded, walking around his bed. "Bathroom's to the left." he told me, pointing a long finger to the white door. I mumbled a thank you an headed in that direction. "Y'know, I could always join you..." he suggested thoughtfully, now standing in the doorway with his hands in either side of the door frame. I made a 'tssk' sound and tutted and he chuckled again, heading out of the room.

When I was fresh and dressed, I walked into the kitchen where Harry said he would be and I was instantly greeted by the smell of pancakes. I let my nostrils take in the smell, almost moaning at the goodness of it. But I stopped when I found Harry stood over the stove, a frying pan in his hand. He seemed to be having fun flipping the pancake up and down in the pan, but not to high in case he dropped it. He was smiling beautifully, his dimples showing on his cheeks as he turned round. "Hey, there." he said cheerfully when he saw me, scooping the pancake on to the plate on the table.

"Aww, you really are a morning person, aren't you?" I cooked cheekily, strolling over to him. He giggled sheepishly, pouring me a glass of orange juice. "I didn't know what you liked with pancakes so I just put a bowl of syrup at the side. I hope it's nothing but if it's a problem, we have tons of other stuff in the cupboards," he beamed, leaning against the table with his arms folded, looking pleased with himself. I suddenly felt guilty and his face fell when he saw my sad expression. "What's wrong?" he asked, leaning in too hold both of my hands and pecking me lightly on the nose. "It's looks lovely, Harry, but... I can't have it. I'm day shift today, I promised Ste I'd go in." I pouted a little and he looked disappointed at first but at the mention of Ste, he wrinkled his nose.

"Okay, I'll...I'll save some for you coming home." he sighed, letting to of my hands and gathering up the plates. I jumped a little when he thumped the plates into the dishwasher, the dishes landing with a loud clang. I grabbed my jacket, keys and wallet and headed out the door before Harry could turn round. I didn't want Harry to go off on one of his rages again, I'd seen to much already. I wasn't prepared for seeing anything even more ugly after last night.

When I got to work, I swung open the door and walked past the isles, standing at the front desk. Ste had just emerged from the storage room and almost fell back on the chair behind him when he saw me. I gave him a puzzled look when he continued to stare, his mouth open. "Bloody hell Zayn, who did that to your face?" he asked angrily. Funny how he went straight to 'who did that' instead of 'how did you'...typical Ste. Always making accusations. My hand immediately flew to my nose and I winced, forgetting about the pain. "Oh...nobody. Just walked into a pole." I shrugged casually, staring at Ste. "I take it the pole had a strong fist, then?" he smirked back, shaking his head in disbeleif as he moved a basket of CD's to the side.

"I'm not stupid, Zayn. I've known you for five years now and that's well enough to know that you're a crap liar. I know it was Harry." he sighed, grabbing my arm and gently pulled me around the desk next to him. He held his hands on either sides of my face, examining it carefully. "Be grateful it isn't broken." he tutted and I cocked and eyebrow. "Since when did you become doctor Ste?" I asked sarcastically and he rolled his eyes, turning around to see a fellow employee walking through the door. "Calum, can you cover for me for a second please? I'll be right back, don't worry." he promise and Calum nodded while Ste took my arm, guiding me into the staff room.

"I still don't know what you see in that guy Zayn, he's bad news." Ste admitted, getting a first aid kit out from under a cupboard. "I know, I don't know what I see in him either." I aged and he smiled lazily, sitting down in front of me and plait a small bandage over the bridge of my nose, covered with a plaster. Something Harry would never do. "I'd leave that on until the swelling goes away." he insisted. "Okay, dr Ste." I smirked and chuckled, shaking his head.

At the end of my shift, which was around half nine, I waved good bye to Ste and Calum and hooked my leather jacket over my shoulder, ready to leave. I was about to fumble for my keys when I heard a shout, a cry. I turned round a corner to a dark alleyway, just in time to see Harry being shoved against the wall, violently and aggressively. My eyes widened in shock, stunned by the person who did that to him. Because it wasn't like Harry was the sort I person to be so weak. "HARRY!" I yelled and his eyes snapped up at me just as he fell to the floor, the guy choosing this as a distraction to hit him.

He groaned a little and I jumped in fright when the guy bent down to punch Harry in the back. When he stood back up, his hood fell off and I gulped when I recognized who it was. Jai. "Nice to see you again, Zayn." he chuckled when Harry took the time to stand up, his eyes trained on me. I gasped a little when Jai's fist clenched and pounded into Harry's stomach, causing Harry to whimper a little. I immediately shoved Jai's fist back against him, suddenly smelling strong alcohol. I must've known they'd both been drinking. "Don't." I warned Jai. His eyes scanned over me, my nose and then back to Harry who was smiling sheepishly at me as he clutched his abdomen tightly. "I'll give you one last chance to be with me, babe. He's really not worth it." he smiled, and my jaw clenched, stepping back.

Shaking his head, he turned to Harry. "You're weak, you know that? Needing something else to protect you." he tutted and Harry frowned but didn't say anything, still staring at me. Jai's jaw tightened when he raised a fist at me but Harry attempted to stand in front of me in a protective stance. "You heard the man, Jai. Don't." Harry said sternly and Jai took a couple of seconds to finally decide to leave us alone. "I'll be seeing you soon, Harry. And you Zayn." Jai added loudly.

The snide comment had clearly agitated Harry and provoked him as he lashed out to get to Jai but I stopped him, turning him around to face me. His dark eyes roamed my body, his chest breathing heavily. "Harry, look at me. He's not worth it." I pleaded, clasping my hands around he face just as Ste had done to me earlier. "B-but-" he stuttered desperately, but no sort of sentence forming in his mouth. "No buts." I told him, bringing his face close to me to stop him from struggling. His eyes mouthed to my mouth when I leaned in to kiss him. When the kiss had been to forceful, I pulled away. I tilted his chin up to examine his cuts. His swollen lip had been split open, a bruise on the left side of his cheek and a bloody nose. His knuckles were grazed too, in attempt to fight back Jai but probably hit a wall or something.

Sighing deeply, I wrapped his arm around my shoulder and walked him home to his flat seeing as he was completely drunk and out of it. He tried to not out as much weight in me as possible but found it difficult. I half carried him, half dragged him back to my flat. My flat was quicker than Harry's anyway. "Thought we were going home?" he asked, frowning when we entered my flat. "This will do for now." I sighed, letting him sit on my bed. I watched him lie on the bed, whimpering and wincing in pain as he pulled off his teacher. His behaviour was amusing, almost child-like making him vulnerable. Watching a vulnurable Harry was always difficult to watch, seeing as I had always seen him as the tough one.

I strolled over to him, a wet flannel in my hand as I attempted to clear up the blood. "Why did you come?" he asked quietly, staring into my eyes. "Because you were getting hurt." I replied simply. His eyes darkened then, his hands clenching at his sides. "I can take care of myself!" he shouted, jumping up from the bed and I jumped. I watched as he turned his back to me, his hands behind his head as he paced the length of the floor angrily. "You'd do it for me. Wouldn't you?" I asked impatiently, frowning at him. He paused, turning round to face me and his eyes immediately softened. He crawled back on the bed and let me tend to him.

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I'm sorry for the long wait! I've been VERY busy recently. I have also said this before but people don't seem to grasp this message. I am flattered that you like this story so much but it annoys me when you constantly ask me to update. I have a life of my own, as I have said, but it puts pressure on me when people keep repeating themselves. I'm doing the best I can with updates and I can't do anymore than that. I try to update at least once a week, sometimes twice if I have spare time. But please, stop asking me to update. I'm doing my best. On a brighter note, what do you think of this chapter? I'll update as soon as I can, thanks for your amazing feedback! I love you! xx