CHAPTER 44:

"They don't know how special you are." ~They Don't Know About Us, One Direction. 

Friday, 14th February 2014

HARRY'S POV

I was a bit eager to go to school today, and anyone can probably guess why. 'Cos today was Valentine's Day, and I couldn't wait to kiss my boyfriend and tell him I love him.

After waking up, I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my phone, unlocking it to check my messages. And I swear I smiled like a right idiot when I saw Zayn's text, telling me he loved me. Biting my lip shyly, I texted him an 'I love you' back.

I skidded out of my room after making myself presentable, showing up at the kitchen table, humming to myself. Mum raised her eyebrows from above her newspaper, as I walked past her to take a box of cereal out of the cupboard.

"You're in quite a good mood today," Mum noted, amused. I shrugged, smiling.

"I know. I never pinned myself as the romantic type, but I'm actually looking forward to Valentine's Day," I explained, while I poured myself some cereal in the bowl, and twisted around to retrieve some milk from the fridge.

"Wait, it that today?" Mum gasped, standing up. I smirked at her. "Yep."

"I gotta go!" she squeaked, taking her cell phone and running to her room. I just shrugged at her actions, and stuffed a spoonful of Lucky Charms in my mouth.

Dusty started weaving through my feet, meowing, demanding breakfast, so I leaned down and scooped her up in my arms, petting her furry head. My cat purred in response, burying her face into my chest. I smiled and set her back down, pouring some cat food in Dusty's food bowl, which she immediately attacked.

And just then, right on time, I car honk sounded downstairs. Similing to myself, I shouted a goodbye to Mum and hurried downstairs.

"Hey! Happy Valentine's Day," I greeted Zayn as I got inside his car, smiling cheekily.

"Same to you babe," Zayn smiled back adorably, pecking me lightly.

~*~

As soon as we entered the school gates, you could literally see every possible shade of pink and heart shaped everything, everywhere!

"Looks like the decorations committee went all out this year," Zayn commented, wrapping an arm around my waist, assessing the hallway walls amusedly.

Zayn and I made it to the fountain first, as there weren't any sign of the others yet. Hmm, they all must be busy doing lovely dovey things then.

A few minutes later, Zayn started laughing suddenly, clutching his stomach. When he calmed down a bit, I asked him what was so funny. He pointed in the direction of Louis and Niall walking towards us, and Louis was walking with a bit of difficulty- oh. I snorted and cracked up, leaning against Zayn as we both laughed like hyenas.

"May I know the joke?" Niall asked when they got closer, raising his eyebrows, while Louis was oddly quiet, blushing lightly. Awh!

"Looks like you two had a bit too much fun last night, eh?" Zayn teased slyly, and Louis became even redder than he already was.

"As a matter of fact, we did!" Niall stated proudly, turning his nose up in the air.

"Ooh, damn! So you topped, eh Nialler? Never took you one for-"

"Alright, that's enough!" Louis shrieked, his face even more redder if that was possible. "And you're one to talk, Malik!" Uh-oh.

"Oh?" Zayn questioned.

"Yeah! Remember last week, when you both were limping so much, a blind guy would've guessed you both had did the deed!" Louis snorted, and I blushed, laughing nervously.

"Oh my God, yeah! I mean, you guys looked spent!" Dani suddenly appeared beside Niall, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

I groaned. "Alright, alright, I get it. We're all perverts, and none of us are virgins. Can we please change the subject?" I pleaded.

"Sure, my little innocent Hazza," Louis mussed my curls, and I happily let him. But if you did that to Zayn, you would probably have a broken arm by now.

"Hey, have you guys looked at this yet?" Liam asked, looking up from the flyer he was reading.

"No, what is that?" I asked, reaching for it.

"Talent competition. Huh," I read the bold heading. When no one spoke, I frowned and looked up to see five faces grinning at me hopefully.

"Oh no! Oh no no no! No. I know what you guys are thinking, and I'm not going to do it!" I said resolutely, crossing my arms.

"Aw, come on Harry!" Louis pleaded. "You can really sing, mate. And I know you want to go somewhere with that, so why not?"

I sighed. "You guys know I can't sing in front of people, I-I get nervous." All the guys groaned, and Zayn squeezed my hand comfortingly.

"Come on, Curly! Man up already! You really need some confidence!" Dani chided, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, Harry! You're really good. You can just-" The bell rung at that moment, cutting Niall off.

We all walked to homeroom, and before we entered, Zayn pulled me aside. "Why aren't you entering, Haz? Do you really suffer from such severe stage fright?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

"Hey, look at me," Zayn demanded softly, hooking his finger under my chin, making me look into his eyes.

"You are going to sing, do what you do best, and I'm going to help you with that. No buts. And we're not done talking about this!" he added sternly, pulling open the door and swiftly entering the class.

I sighed lightly, following Zayn inside.

~*~

ZAYN'S POV

After school, we decided to spend the rest of the day at my house, just the two of us, together. I had insisted we go to some fancy place for today, but Harry insisted that he just wanted to be with me, peacefully. And how could I even say no?

I pulled over in my driveway, and got out of the car, Harry following behind. I entwined our fingers and with my free hand, pulled out the keys and unlocked the door.

We passed by the kitchen where Helen was baking some freaking amazing things, judging from the heavenly smells.

"Oh, celebratin' Valentine's day, eh lads?" Helen questioned cheekily and I blushed.

"Yeah, Helen. You can say that. What're you baking?" I asked, Harry and I being pulled in by the aroma like cartoon characters.

"Oh, just some special brownies. And-" The timer beeped on the oven, and Helen smiled at us. She pulled out a steaming tray of mouth watering brownies, cutting them up and setting them in front of us. "and here you go, boys. Enjoy!"

After letting them cool down a bit, we scarfed down Helen's legendary brownies, and Harry thanked her, and so did I. My parents never ever thank Helen for anything, even if she's been here for more than 30 years. And I didn't, either. That is, until Harry came along.

"My pleasure, lads. On every Valentine's day, I used to bake me brownies for me husband, he loved them. I think I was jus' keeping up with the tradition," Helen explained tearfully.

"That's so sweet," Harry smiled at her.

"Thanks lad. Well, go on now! Have fun!"

We both laughed, and trudged up the stairs to my room, hands still linked.

"So, are you using my gift?" Harry asked randomly.

"You'll see," was all I said as I led us to my room and shut the door behind us, even if were almost alone in the whole house. Yep, my parents were gone on a bussiness trip. Surprise, surprise.

Harry ran to my huge bed and sprawled face first on it, his gangly limbs hanging from the sides, and I chuckled lightly at the sight.

"Okay, look." I showed Harry the sketches that I made so far in the special sketch book that he gave me. He looked at them in awe, and I couldn't help but smile at his expression, feeling proud of myself.

I decided to finally show Harry my art room today. I've never shown anyone my art room before, not even Harry, who is the person closest to me.

Beacause my art room is my personal space, when nobody ever goes there except me. Ever.

"Come on Haz, I gotta show you something." Harry frowned, but set the sketchbook aside, and followed me. I walked to the far end of my room, and pulled the curtains away from the corner of a wall, revealing the door to my safe haven.

"Whoa, what is that?" Harry asked curiously. I didn't say anything, just shot him a cheeky smile.

Pulling the key out of my pocket, I unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping inside. The familiar smell of paints and color alcohol hit us, and I turned on the lights. Harry followed me in, and as soon as his eyes landed on the ways, his jaw fell slack.

"Wow," he murmured.

~*~

HARRY'S POV

Zayn led me inside some secret hidden room of his. And as soon as he opened the lights, and the room came into view, my mouth dropped open in awe. "Wow," I murmured unconsciously, walking past Zayn and examining the beautiful artworks on the walls. Seriously, they were so damn good! Paintings, oil paintings, charcoal sketches, God, he can work with any medium!

My boyfriend is freaking talented!

My eyes widened as I came across a canvas set up on an easel, which Zayn must be working on lately. It was an oil painting, and it was of a person, but you couldn't actually tell who. Only you could tell they had green eyes. I gulped. "Is this..."

Zayn wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, my back against his chest. "Yes love," he murmured in my ear. "You're my muse."

I turned around in his arms, so that I was facing him. "Really?" I asked, smiling like a fool. "And all these other paintings, those sketches, they're so... perfect Zayn! God, you can't hide this talent in a tiny room!" I pleaded, almost frustrated. He had pure talent, I wasn't that much of a fan of art, but anyone with a keen eye for art can tell you that Zayn had pure talent.

"Oh, really?" Zayn asked sarcastically, smirking.

"Yes, really! You should post your work online, hell, it's fit to be displayed in an art gallery!"

Zayn didn't say anything, just continued to smirk at me.

"What?! I'm not joking, Zayn!" I huffed.

"I know," Zayn nodded. "But how about we make a deal then."

"Huh, deal?" I frowned.

"Hmm, call it a sort of bargain, if you may," he murmured, carding his fingers through my curls distractedly.

"Okay...?"

"How about this; I promise you, that I will post my stuff online, expose my artwork, but only, and only, if you agree to take part in the talent competition," Zayn finished truimpantly, crossing him arms.

I groaned. "Come on, Zayn! Don't do this! That's not even in the question! I have stage fright!" I whined pathetically.

Zayn tsk-ed. "And my dear Harold, I have a severe case of insecurity. But I'm going to expose my art, expose it to other people's judgement, only for you. Can't you face your stage fright for me?" Zayn asked, his golden eyes shining.

I gulped, looking away. God, he is a genius. And he's right. It's an amazing deal, bargain, whatever you call it.

I took a deep breath, and nodded. "Fine, I agree. I'll sign up for the competiton. This'll be good for both of us."

Zayn beamed at me. "Really?"

I nodded, my curls falling into my eyes. "Uh-huh, for you."

"And I accept as well, for you," Zayn murmured, pressing his soft lips to mine.

~*~

Ahh, fluffy filler! And Harry's finally gonna enter in the talent show! Woo! :D

REAL LIFE FLOWER CROWN ZARRY ON THE SIDE ASKJGJSFDLK >>>

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~bemycupcake <3