Delayed Epiphany ♕ Zarry AU

One | Lexi

"Zayn."

Zayn groaned, rolling over. He nuzzled his face against the pillow, hoping for a few more hours of sleep. He'd just dozed off when someone splashed water in his face, causing him to jolt upright, gasping. The girl who was asleep next to him shrieked, directly in his ear, mind you.

"What the hell?" he spat, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes. "Seriously, Mum?"

"Yeah. Seriously," she spat back, and he was surprised by how angry she actually was.

"Mum," he said slowly. The girl next to him still had her mouth open in fury.

"Get the girl out. We need to talk." His mother's voice was sharp, unlike anything he'd ever heard, and she slammed the door when she left.

"Guess you should go," Zayn shrugged, rolling out of bed to pull on some boxers. He grimaced at his wet hair and stepped into the bathroom to shower.

"You'll call me, right?" the girl called as she left, voice loud over the sound of the shower.

"No," Zayn called back, not even going to lie about it. She said something in response, probably something rude, but Zayn was humming too loudly in the shower to hear her. When he got out of the shower, she was gone, and he made his way down the stairs of the palace and into the living room, where his mother waited.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes when he saw her sitting stiffly in her armchair, her crown glinting in the sunlight. Honestly, sometimes even Zayn forgot she was a queen. She's just his mother, strict and a bit overbearing. Under the cold exterior, Zayn knew she loved him, but it was still annoying of her to hound him all the time.

"Hi, Mum," he sighed, flopping on the couch.

"Seven hundred thousand dollars," she responded.

He lifted his head. "What?"

"Seven. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars."

"Is that...supposed to mean something?"

She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That's how much you've spent in the past month, Zayn."

He sat straight up. "What? No. No, Mum, that's impossible."

"Not impossible." She unfolded the pieces of paper in her lap; Zayn hadn't noticed them. "I have the bills right here, would you like to see?"

Zayn stood up, snatched one. Skimmed it. With a wince, he gave it back. "Okay...maybe not impossible."

"Zayn, we're worried about you." Her voice was much softer now. "You don't talk to your friends anymore. We haven't seen Liam in months. You sleep all day, party all night, a different girl in your bed every night. Your father and I hardly see you at all unless you're stumbling in the door drunk."

"That's not --"

"It is true, Zayn, and we aren't taking it anymore." Her back straightened, and he groaned; she was about to go regal on him. He fought to keep from rolling his eyes again. "Since you're so good at spending money, you might as well spend it on someone who matters."

"...What are you saying?" Zayn asked slowly, mouth dry. His mother had never actually held him accountable for anything he'r done in his life, and this legitimately frightened him.

"I'm saying you're getting married." Her voice was finite; she'd been thinking about this for a while, which meant his father probably had, too.

"I'm what?" Zayn spat, sitting up so fast his head rushed. That shower did not fully kill his hangover, and he desperately wished it had. "Mum, you've got to be shitting me."

She swatted him with one of the rolled up bills. "Language, Zayn, princes don't use such filthy language!" She scowled at him, a familiar expression for him, honestly. "No, Zayn, I'm not kidding. You're getting married, your father and I are choosing the lucky person today."

Zayn relaxed a little. "It's not automatically a girl?"

"You're bisexual, Zayn. Your father and I will honor that." She sounded a bit hurt.

"I'm sorry, Mum -- for everything. Truly." He meant it, too. "But you can't make me get married."

She laughed, gets up from her seat, and rose an eyebrow at him. "I'm the queen," she responds, "I can do whatever I want."

Zayn lay back on the couch, head reeling. She had to be kidding, of course -- his mother's never been one to joke about things like this, but she couldn't be serious. He closed his eyes. No -- she's just screwing with him, wants him to clean up his act. If she wants his act to be cleaner, he'll do his best, but she's not going to make him get married. His mother isn't that crazy.

Right?