Zayn was watching as Harry pushed the heel of his foot into his shoe. "Ready?" He asked.

"Yes. I believe so."

"Do you need anything before we go?"

"I don't think so. But we are only going next door, Zayn. I'll be fine."

"Okay. Let's go then."

Harry came to the front door where Zayn was and they went outside. After he used his key to lock the door, he took Zayn's elbow and let him walk him down the pathway and up the sidewalk.

"I'm so excited." He said.

"You are?"

"Yes. I'm going to be a guest in your home for the first time since you and I met. I haven't been to many other people's houses in my lifetime either. Only Mitchell, Mindy and Liam's. And also your friend Maitea since she invited me. It's just easier to get around a place you're most familiar with, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

"So that means you're going to have to drag me around everywhere with you while I'm here."

"Hmm. So I get to keep my hands on you today and every other time you're here? I fail to see what could be wrong about that."

Harry laughed a little. "Every other time. Is that you inviting me over in the future?"

"Didn't it sound like that?"

"Yes. It sounded like a very clever way of doing so."

"Then that is exactly what I was doing."

They made it up to the door of Zayn's house and went right inside because it was already unlocked.

"I um... I don't have much. But this is home."

"That's okay. You don't have to have much in order to call a place home. My grandmother always said what makes a place home is the special feeling you get when you walk in the door."

The accuracy of that statement impressed Zayn. Harry's grandmother was very wise. He locked the door behind them then faced Harry. "Do you want a snack? I have chocolate covered pretzels and some cold bottles of grape juice."

He lifted his shoulders a little. "Sure."

Zayn led Harry to the living room and over to the couch while he got the treats. Harry sat down and his hand happened to land on one of the pillows next to him. He smiled when he realized it was textured. He would like to think that these pillows were here just for him but he knew better than that. Still, it didn't hurt to pretend they were.

Moments later, Zayn came into the living room with two paper bowls of chocolate covered pretzels and two bottles of grape juice. He sat his down on the coffee table but he handed Harry his.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I was just feeling your pillows. I really love them."

"You do?" He sat down on the couch.

"Yeah. It gives me something to touch."

"Oh. Well thanks. I bought them from the home decor store that you and I went to together. I thought I could be a designer and do something different with my living room. But I'm not a designer."

"Me either, obviously. But I may think about getting a pillow like this just to give my hands something to do."

Zayn's mind immediately thought about Harry's hands unzipping his jeans the other day and a tingly feeling went through his body. He felt guilty that his mind was so dirty in that moment and he shook his head at himself. "I'd be happy to take you there to buy a pillow like this, if you want me to. Or we could order it online like we did when you ordered your comforter."

Harry slowly took a bite of one of his pretzels. "We'll see."

Deciding to move on from the conversation, Zayn took out his phone so they could get started on today's discussion. He went to the page he'd always been reading from and scrolled down. "Today we'll be learning all about the color white. I also thought I should let you know this is the second to last color you'll be learning. So you're almost done."

"Really?"

"Yes. Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"It is. We're moving through them so fast. What are we going to do when we're all done. What are you going to teach me then?"

Zayn winced. No more time for dirty thoughts or he'll never live down the guilt. "How to concentrate on what's happening right in front of you, maybe?"

"Aha." He said. "I understand. You may continue."

He smiled and looked down at the page. "Okay. So... White is associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity. It's also considered to be the color of perfection. It represents having no blemishes or spots."

"Oh."

He propped his arm up on the couch. "I wanna tell you something really cool about the history of the color white real quick."

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Alright. By now, you've heard that many women choose white as their wedding gown color, right?"

He became excited. "Yes! Mindy's dress is white. I told you all about it."

"Yes, you did. Did you know that back then, women wore red as the traditional color wedding dress?"

"No. I didn't know that."

"Yep. At the time, red was popular and white was considered the color of mourning. But then in the 1800's, Queen Victoria wore a white dress for her wedding which she herself had designed and after that, white wedding dresses started to become popular and the color white took on a new meaning. Many women started wearing white to symbolize innocence and purity. To show that they had remained virgins before officially being given in marriage. But just like it did back then, the symbol of the white dress is slowly changing. People still like to wear that color dress these days, either because of tradition or they like the way a white dress looks. But as far as what it represents..."

"Times have changed." Harry said.

"Right. People don't really see the white wedding dress as a symbol of themselves in the modern day era. It's pretty much just fashionable and traditional."

Harry smiled. "Wow. That's so fascinating. We learned about the color red a while back and I'm not sure that the change over time to the white dress wasn't a good thing. White sounds more suited for a bride."

"Yes it does." He looked down at the phone again. "And even more than the meaning of innocence and virginity, the color white also means safety, purity, and cleanliness. And I find learning this quite enlightening because some mental hospitals have what they call calming rooms, which is where they like to place unstable patients when they have mental breakdowns or psychotic episodes. The rooms are pretty much all white because the color is calming and helps them feel free from harm and therefore less likely to hurt themselves or others. Can you believe that? A color can do that."

Harry saddened. "Wow. That's amazing but it also makes me sad that there are people like that. I know I can't fault myself for not fully understanding because I can't see the colors physically. But I never realized how important of a role colors play in our lives until you started explaining them to me in detail."

Zayn smiled softly. "You're not alone, Harry. I can physically see all the colors. But I hadn't realized how important they are to us either until I started teaching them to you. I guess I just took them for granted. But I'm glad you asked me to teach you. Now we both have learned something new together and we aren't even done yet."

Harry helped himself to a couple more pretzels. "Yeah. Which is cool."

After Harry finished eating, Zayn put his phone down on the table. "Would you like to tour my home?"

"Really?"

"Of course. I've been all over your house many, many times. I think it's only fair."

"Okay then, yes I would like to tour it. If I'm going to start visiting more often, I'm going to have to learn how to navigate this place anyway."

At the thought of Harry willing to get out of his comfort zone for him and actually learn his home, his heart fluttered wildly. He actually had to put a hand over his chest and catch himself because he never had that happen before with Harry. But he knew it was because he had so much admiration for him. He cared for him a little more now than he did before. He just hoped that was the case when it came to Harry caring for him.

* * *

"Thanks for the tour." Harry said when they were all done and both standing in the kitchen.

"You're welcome."

"You're doing very well for yourself. And when I say that, I mean it. You've really picked yourself up after all you've been through."

"Thanks. I didn't have a choice though. Life would've moved on with or without me. So I might as well had."

"That's true and a good way of looking at it." He softly pat the counter and then sighed to himself. Zayn could tell he was thinking about something and he was about to ask him about it until Harry spoke up himself.

"Zayn."

"Yeah?"

"I know that you know."

"You know that I know what?"

"About Mindy moving away when she gets married."

Zayn panicked and he was so glad that Harry could not see his face. "I know?"

"Yes. You do."

"And you know? How do you know? Not that you shouldn't know because you should and she's your friend. But when did she tell you? Or did she?"

Harry found his barrage of questions comical but he was too sad to laugh. "Yes. She told me."

"When? How long ago?"

"A couple weeks or so ago. Whenever it was that she caught us kissing in the kitchen."

Well, Zayn surely remembered that day well. After he had eaten an awkward breakfast with Mindy and Harry, he got out of there and went home as fast as he could. "Oh. I see."

"After you left, she sat me down and she told me everything. About how Liam was going to own his father's second restaurant. I was somewhat upset but not really. The day she came and told me Liam proposed to her, I knew something was going to change. I just didn't know it would be this big of a change."

Zayn reached out and softly touched Harry's hand. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, but a single tear fell. "It's not like she's gone for good. She still promises to come and visit. It will just be less often than now because of the distance. So I don't feel like I've lost her. I actually feel like I gained a friend in Liam because of her. You shouldn't be sorry. Unless of course there's an ulterior motive behind you being with me."

"Huh?"

Harry slid his hand from beneath Zayn's. "Mindy was honest with me. So I know that she told you about it and about how she wasn't going to be here much once she got married. Does that have anything to do with us and why you like me?"

Zayn's pulse quickened. "No. Not at all."

"Convince me."

He ran his hand through his hair as he gathered his thoughts. "Listen... The day I knocked on your door and brought you candles as an apology, you intrigued me then. But the night when my family was having dinner at my house and I came outside for a smoke around the same time you were bringing out your trash, I wanted to get to know you more and see how you did things but I was afraid I would seem weird or nosy to you. So I held back for a while until we were able to meet again. Yes, Mindy may have asked me to be here for you when she left. But I befriended you because I wanted to do it on my own. Except when I did, I started to like you a little more than I thought I ever could. And the boyfriend thing just kinda happened on it's own. That wasn't planned at all. You have to believe me because that's the truth."

Harry instantly leaned forward and hugged Zayn. "I know."

He raised his brow. "You know?"

"Yes. I know."

"But you just asked me to convince you."

He chuckled and stood back. "Because I wanted to hear you say it. That's all. Just to be sure that I was right."

Zayn let out a sigh of relief and laughed nervously. He thought Harry would be so angry at him but he wasn't. He knew all along. How did he know? He wanted to ask. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he knew Zayn was honest with him.

"Now I understand why you were so worried about me leaving you the other day. But I want you to know I care about you as a friend first. So no matter what, I don't plan on abandoning you."

"Good. Cause I feel the same way. And I know you mean you'll be there physically because my disability means there are certain things I just can't do. But at least if I can't assist you physically, I can be there emotionally for you. It's not as great, but..."

"Don't sell yourself short, Ace. That means a lot more to me than you think. We can be here for each other. Equally."

Just as a smile crept up on Harry's face, Zayn leaned forward and kissed his cheek tenderly.

"How about a game of hide and seek?"

"Hide and seek? You know how the adult version is supposed to end, right?"

"In the shower."

He gasped quietly. "In your shower?"

"We're in my house, aren't we?"

"Hmm. Okay. But afterwards, I want to go get dinner at Village Grill. I haven't been in ages and Mindy said Niall asked about me the other day."

"Okay, sure. Sounds like a nice date." He reached around Harry and smacked him on the butt, earning a cute laugh from him. "Now go hide. I'm gonna count to twenty five."

"Twenty five? No way. I need a whole minute."

"Why?"

"You know your house. I don't. It's going to take me forever to find a place to hide. And where is your blindfold?"

"I'm wearing it."

"You're lying."

Zayn smiled. "How do you know?"

"Because I know. And I can't believe you're trying to decieve me because you know I'm blind. Very bad boyfriend, you are."

He laughed. "Oh, come on. I was gonna keep my eyes closed."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm sorry."

"Not yet."

"Not yet? What does that mean?"

"It means I can't wait till we get in the shower. I hope it's nice and warm, too."

"And why is that?"

"Because the warmer the shower, the longer I like to stay in it. And there would be no need to rush you into an orgasm, would there?"

He turned and started to walk with his hands outstretched so he'd know where he was going. Zayn just stood there looking at him with a curious and amused facial expression. Did he really just say that to him? He did. Was Zayn imagining what it would be like in the shower with him? He was. Could he wait to get there? Not at all.

He turned his back and closed his eyes then began to count to sixty. And all the while, he was silently thanking Harry's ex that he had ever agreed to play this game in the first place.