Once in a Lifetime

Thirty-Four.

Harry had agreed to everything Louis said, so a week later everyone was helping Harry to move out. He had enlisted the help of Louis, Niall, Liam, Ed, James and Nick, each of them loading the cars with boxes and taking them to the boys' house. They had decided to clear out Zayn's room a few days before, inviting Zayn's parents to help so it didn't feel as strange.

"Louis, my dear, it's lovely to see you again! Niall, Liam, you're both looking well, how did all of your exams go?" Trisha asked, hugging each boy as her husband followed behind, shaking everyone's hand.

"Glad you could make it, sorry for the short notice but we thought it's time to do this," Louis explained, also offering to make them both a cup of coffee.

"Our exams went well, thank you, getting our results next month so it's currently just a waiting game. How have you both been?" Liam asked politely, sitting down on the sofa as Louis headed to the kitchen.

"We're good, thank you for asking. We've actually just returned from our trip to Italy, the weather was lovely!" Trisha exclaimed, instantly taking her phone from her pocket and showing the boys pictures of their holiday.

"Mum did say you were away when I came home last week, I was going to pop round and say hello, but you were too busy for me," Louis joked, handing out the drinks. The conversation continued for a little while, but eventually they made their way upstairs, opening the door to Zayn's abandoned room.

"It feels so strange to be in here," Yaser admitted, looking around at his son's belongings, "it shouldn't because we still have his room at home exactly how he left it, but it feels somewhat different here."

"We felt that too, it took a while for us to come in here as you know, but now it's become a sort of sanctuary, I guess?" Niall said, looking at the other boys.

"Niall's right, we often come in here when we're having a bad day or just want to feel close to Zayn, it kind of has a positive vibe now instead of the negative one it had before." Once Zayn's parents had got used to the room, they began to sort through his things, placing everything into piles. Liam, Niall and Louis had piles of things they wanted to keep, Trisha and Yaser had a pile of things they wanted to take home, there was a pile of things to take to the charity shop, and a pile of things to take to the tip.

"Oh, Louis, do you remember when you were little, and your mum and I took you both to the amusements? You were both so desperate to both win a teddy, but Zayn lost his coins without winning, so you spent the rest of yours to help him get this?" Trisha reminisced, holding up a stuffed t-rex. Louis remembered the day clearly; he had won a stuffed monkey toy, but he felt bad that Zayn hadn't had any luck, so he used his pocket money to win something for him too. He could remember the way Zayn's face lit up, shining brighter than the flashing lights of the arcade around them.

"Would you mind if I kept it?" Louis asked, thanking Trisha when she put it in his ever-growing pile of memories. By the time they were finished, Louis had all the pictures of them both, Zayn's favourite blanket that they would always snuggle up and watch a film in, the dinosaur, his lava lamp that they used to be mesmerised with when they were younger, and a few of the books that Zayn had always wanted to read but never got the chance to. It was a tiring day, and once they'd taken everything to the charity shop or the tip, and helped load Yaser's car, they all said goodbye and spent the rest of the evening chatting about Harry moving in.

---

"Can you believe we had our first kiss here?" Harry asked, turning all the lights off and standing in the doorway for the final time.

"This was the place I told you about Zayn, where I talked and slept and ran away. It was the place we kissed and had sex, where we stayed up late watching films and eating pizza. It's where we revised and fell asleep on the floor with our books around us. It's where you've drank with friends and finished university. It's the first place you've ever lived on your own. How do you feel?" Louis asked, watching as Harry closed the door and locked it, slipping the key back into his pocket.