Zarry One Shots by dattumblrgal

Canon AU - When We Were Young Part 1

****** I wrote this at the beginning of 2017, it's called When We Were Young, originally posted on ao3, it's about zarry finding their was to each other nearly 2 years after zayn left the band. Enjoy! ********

Zayn didn't mean to sit here like this and think about what used to be and what could've been, he really didn't. He just wanted to move his stuff in peace. Every single cell in his body had been screaming at him not to open that damn box, but he did it anyway. He opened it and now he's been staring at his phone screen for the past 10 minutes.
            When he opened that box, he felt as though his heart had stopped beating. He hasn't seen any of those things for at least a year and half since he packed up his house in London and moved to LA. He hadn't seen them until now when he decided to rip his heart in two again.
            The first thing that caught his eye was Harry's black Pink Floyd t-shirt that was sitting right on top of everything. His fingers unconsciously found the matching tattoo of the logo he shared with Harry. He took the t-shirt out and dug deeper through more of Harry's clothes he used to wear more often than Harry and random things Harry kept at his house, until he reached another little box at the bottom. His heart started to feel heavy at the sight.
            This one wasn't just a simple cardboard one. It was made of dark wood, had a small lock and looked more like a tiny chest than a box. Harry got it at one of those vintage shops in LA he loved so much. Said it could keep all of their memories and "where are we supposed to keep the stuff to show the kids, Zayn? We can't keep our polaroids in my journal forever,". Thankfully the box came without its original key and either way, they didn't think it was necessary to keep it locked.
            He took a deep breath, picked it up and lifted the lid, not really prepared to see what's inside.
            He picked up the gold ring first. It felt quite heavy in his palm. The ring brought back probably the most painful memories. Harry gave it to him when he was leaving Hong Kong in the middle of the night to go home. He gave him the ring thinking they would see each other over the next break. After he decided he wasn't leaving just the band, but Harry as well, he wore it on a chain around his neck for weeks. He thought that maybe Harry would see a photo, see the ring and he would know that things weren't over, that they would find their way to each other again, that Zayn didn't give up on them.
            Zayn never meant to end it, no. He loved Harry with all of his heart, but there were so many things to be dealt with at the time, he just couldn't add a long-distance relationship to all that mess. It would've hurt both of them, they would drift apart slowly and everything'd go to shit. It wouldn't be fair to them, to their love. He had no idea it would go to shit either way.
            The ring found its place in the wooden box after 4 months of Harry ignoring all of his attempts to speak to him.
            The only other thing in the box was their photo album. They filled it on one lazy Sunday before the last tour, took all of their polaroids, printed out more photos and glued there some tickets and postcards as well. It was lovely, really.
            As Zayn was flipping through the pages, through all the memories and love, he didn't even notice he was crying, until a tear fell on a picture of him and Harry at a beach in Malibu. Wide smiles were splitting their faces and they were in an embrace, holding onto each other as if they feared they would dissipate into thin air if they let go. Fire was casting a warm glow over them and their surroundings. It was an amazing night during one of their first trips to America, when they weren't mobbed every time they dared to walk on a street without an army of bodyguards. They were young, already head over heels in love with each other and clueless about what was waiting for them.
            It's really the album's fault that he's sitting on the floor in Gigi's living room, switching between staring at his phone and the New York skyline. God, he should put that box away before Gigi comes home and finds him crying over his ex-band mate, who's his ex-lover at the same time. She doesn't need to know about that bit of their relationship.
            It's really the album's fault that he picked up his phone and with tears still prickling his eyes typed out a text and sent it to Harry. Liam is an angel for giving him Harry's new number. He just hopes Harry hasn't changed it again.
            It's really the album's fault that the words "im so tired of this harry, please talk to me. you just fucking ignored me after that email again. i miss you. zayn xx" weren't showing only on Zayn's screen, but were waiting to be read on Harry's phone too.