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28

Pulling his chair out, Niall hesitates letting his fingers drop from the top of the chair, he glances at Zayn bringing his bottom lip between his teeth in thought to suppress his thoughts from vocalizing. 

The skip hadn't intended to fall into subspace, he'd be lying if he said it didn't terrify him that he did, and worse that he longed to return to it.

Niall always found himself wanting to be present, grounded, while laying with Zayn. To witness every moment with the man, to know his features so well he could trace his face with eyes closed.

Taking his chair, Niall's look flickers across the table to the empty chair, again he looks to Zayn questionably, "W-where's Liam?"

"Asleep," Harry mutters as he walks into the room, he sits Louis in a high chair ruffling the boy's hair with a coo, "Are you hungry baby boy?"

The tone alone made Niall's skin crawl, from the first night he met the man he knew his nurturing personality didn't stretch to him. The skip was originally fine with that, in fact, he preferred that - it made hating him all the easier.

It also lessened Niall's guilt when it came to sleeping with his husband and purposefully driving the wedge between the pair. To be fair, the crack was already there, halfway apparent, Niall just placed himself in the middle repeatedly to chip at it. 

Day by day he saw the fire behind the forest eyes dimming, a month before Harry's birthday party Niall thought the man had given up completely. Zayn had suggested at dinner that night that Niall accompany him to his meeting out of town, to a conference where a dominant would be speaking about some new law - Niall's sudden memory begins forming a migraine as he shakes his head wincing at the impromptu pounding, he groans rubbing his temple, "Are you okay?" Zayn asks moving from his chair, Harry raises an eyebrow turning from tutting at Louis, "What's happened?"

Niall feels his blood freeze, chills line his arms as he shakes his head willing the memory away, at the time a new law sounded like another lie, now he wonders if Zayn had truly been that sloppy and would've taken Niall to that conference.

It also made sense why Harry did everything in his power to stop it.

Wanting to keep his revelation to himself, Niall clears his throat snaking his hand around his glass of water, "I-I'm fine, fine, I-I just have a bit of a headache," he lies, Zayn nods kneeling by the skip side stroking his thigh, "Are you sur-"

"Zayn," Harry's strained warning fills the room with an unavoidable silence in return before he speaks again, "He said he's fine." His final clipped response warrants a plastered smile and nod from Zayn who steps back with his hands raised in a mocking surrender as he returns to his chair.

Somehow Niall manages to survive dinner, he keeps his stare on his plate not even lifting when he feels Zayn's gaze boring into him, Harry keeps his conversation solely to Louis only briefly including Zayn when he speaks about headlines that evening. 

The knife he had in his hand to cut the steak stills in the movement at the uttered words, a tradition he's resigned himself to be a part of for six months feels foreign as the boy knows the headlines weren't truly the headlines.

He felt as if he finally had one up on Harry, that perhaps the man didn't know he saw actual headlines in remission and just expected things to resume per usual. 

Lifting his head he reaches for another drink, a dangerous move as he lifts his eyes doing so, his icy orbs caught in the crossfire between firey hazel and a burning forest, he meets the jade eyes slit with anger offering him a subtle smile, "I've missed the headlines,"