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“Are you sure about this color?”
Harry holds up the two small pieces of paper with the paint samples on them, comparing them for the hundredth time.
“Mm,” Louis hums tiredly in response.
He leans against the doorway and folds his arm across his chest. Louis’ not doing much thinking about paint swatches with his eyes closed and his mouth falling open. He’s just started to doze off when Harry clears his throat and waves the papers in front of Louis’ face frantically. He looks crazed, a bit, and Louis can’t help but want to kiss him. He gets particularly fussy about home renovating.
“Baby,” Louis says, chuckling. Harry huffs. “I love you. I love our house. But honestly, all of these have started to look the same to me. You decide, love. I trust you to make it look beautiful.”
Harry pouts, putting a hand on his hip. Louis bites his bottom lip to keep from smiling. Harry does this often - a full body pout, Louis likes to call it - and it reminds him of their daughter every single time. He always says that she got her adorable attitude from Harry, which the younger man denies every chance he gets.
“The one on the left,” Louis says with a sweet smile. “Dark red. ‘s pretty.” He leans up and kisses Harry’s cheek, which makes him relax.
“Sorry,” Harry grumbles, shuffling his feet. “I just want it to be perfect.”
Louis nods because he knows. They’ve talked about remodeling the kitchen, finally, for almost a year now. They’ve been in the house for a little over six years - they moved in right after they got married - and the kitchen has always been on the back-burner. The house as a whole had needed so much renovation and serious uprooting that the kitchen had gotten some new cabinets and counters, and they’d called it a day.
The kitchen is one of Harry’s spaces now, as he does all of the cooking, and Louis wanted it to be beautiful like it probably once was. All that’s left, really, is to paint the walls in the breakfast nook and get the new appliances in place and they’ll be finished.
It’s been an exhausting process.
Harry sets the paint swatches on the counter, running his hand across the new, shiny marble. He smiles. “It’s pretty perfect now, isn’t it? The house?”
Louis nods. “Always been perfect. Even when the walls were rotting and the stairs would collapse underneath our feet.”
They both laugh, remembering fondly how bad the house had been when they first started visiting it. Louis thought it was charming the second he walked inside, despite being terrified out of his mind. It had such open spaces and a beautiful layout underneath all of the cobwebs and he can remember thinking fleetingly that he would’ve loved to live here during its prime.
After that dare so long ago, they’d spent the next couple of years during university visiting with their new ghost friends and slowly cleaning up the house little by little. To make it more livable, for the non-living humans that inhabited it. It also became a home away from home for the both of them, when they needed a night to just get away.
It made sense that when Harry had graduated the year after Louis, he had turned to him one day and said, “I think we should buy the house”. Louis had agreed without another word and they started saving up that day. Zayn, Niall, and Liam had been dropping hints for months that they wanted them to move in - it seemed like the only option.
The ghosts had been doing more than dropping hints, apparently. They had been saving money of their own, accumulating a small fortune over the last nearly one hundred years between the three of them. They won’t come right out and say it to Harry and Louis, but stealing from the house’s current occupants through the years may have been their main form of income. They hand it over to their dearest human friends easily, though, telling them to fix the house however they want. So, that’s exactly what they did.
Harry walks towards him and puts his hands on Louis’ hips suddenly, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“What time do we pick Adelaide up from mum’s?”
Louis hums. “Six? I think. I’m not sure. Judging by the pictures I’ve been getting today--” He pulls out his phone to find that, sure enough, he’s just received a new picture of their daughter holding a giant snake. She’s grinning like she’s absolutely thrilled by this occurrence. “They’ve been at the zoo since morning.”
“Right up her alley,” Harry says, smiling.
He slides his hands to rest on the small of Louis’ back and leans down to kiss him. Louis kisses him back easily, fitting his lips against Harry’s like he’s grown so familiar to. They’ve been together ever since they spilled their feelings in a dusty, old bedroom upstairs years ago, and Louis couldn’t be happier about that.
It took them two years to get engaged (they’d wanted to finish school first) and only six months after that to get married. Adelaide came not even a year after, and their lives haven’t been the same since. Harry works with Gemma now, putting his Interior Design degree to good use by helping her furnish and decorate homes that she intends to sell. His job lets him work mostly from home, ordering pieces online and drawing up blueprints - which is great, since Louis’ job is a bit more hands on. Just barely two years ago he signed on with the Doncaster Rovers, his dream football team as a young boy, and he makes the drive over that way for practices a few times a week. It’s been a whirlwind, but their lives are actually pretty perfect, if he says so himself.
Harry groans quietly against Louis’ lips when he pushes his hips forward to meet Harry’s. “Don’t tease, babe.”
Louis leans back to look at him and scoffs dramatically. “I would never.”
“Hm, in that case,” Harry says, smirking before leaning back down to kiss the side of Louis’ mouth with more intent. He pulls Louis impossibly closer and nips at his lower lip playfully. “How much time do we have until we have to leave?”
Louis smiles against Harry’s mouth. He knows where this is going, and he feels warm all over with a mix of need and excitement. It’s hard to find time these last couple of months, with Adelaide starting school and finishing the last of their home renovation, finally. This is one of the very few quiet moments they get.
He doesn’t get to answer Harry, of course, because suddenly Liam is sitting on the counter next to them. Louis glares at him, in all of his nearly-translucent glory, over Harry’s shoulder.
“Hiya,” Liam chirps, flashing them a knowing smile.
Louis hates these fucking ghosts, honestly, with their ability to make themselves known whenever they please. Or, he does right now, at least, when he’s already half hard and has his husband’s fingertips digging into his back with want.
“Something we can help you with, Payne? Oh, by the way, did you know that your last name is short for Payne-in-my-arse?” Louis asks, not even attempting to hide the roll of his eyes.
“Oh, sorry, were you two busy?” Niall asks, casually walking - floating, rather - into the kitchen.
He’s wearing the same knowing smirk, and Louis hates the both of them. Zayn too, even though he hasn’t technically done anything yet. He’s Niall’s other half, so by association, he’s part of this.
Harry groans, dropping his forehead to Louis’ shoulder. “Can you believe that we have to move out?”
Louis laughs and pinches Harry’s hip, whispering a low “later” to him before pulling away.
“What can we help you two with that absolutely could not wait?”
Niall claps his hands excitedly. “We have loads to talk about.”
Zayn walks in then, as if that’s his cue, holding up his hands defensively as soon as Louis looks at him.
“I had nothing to do with this.” He hops up onto the counter next to Liam. “I was perfectly happy to stay in our room while you two fucked. ‘ve had to listen to the two of you dirty talk on the phone to each other for the last week. You could use some work, Harry.” Zayn directs his gaze to Harry, who is blushing a deep red.
“Hey,” Louis says. He wraps an arm around Harry’s waist, pulling him against his side. “I quite like his dirty talk.”
“Oh, I know,” Zayn deadpans. “Trust me.”
It’s Louis’ turn to blush now, and he makes a mental note to make sure the ghosts aren’t active before making another private phone call.
He clears his throat. “Get on with it, lads.”
“Tomorrow’s a big day. Baby Addie turns five,” Niall says, his grin threatening to split his face wide open.
Louis can feel his own face soften immediately, and he smiles at the three ghosts hardly containing their excitement. He’d almost forgotten, with how hectic it’s been, the promise they’d made years ago.
“That’s right,” he whispers. He looks over at Harry, who is smiling just the same before his brow furrows.
“She’s hardly a baby anymore.” Harry pouts. “She’s going to be five. Five. I’m so old.”
“You aren’t even thirty yet, love.”
“Almost, though.”
Louis nods. He’s closer than Harry is - just on the cusp of it, actually, which he desperately tries to ignore daily. He’s been twenty-three for his last few birthdays, which is fair.
When they’d had Adelaide, they’d been fairly young still and scared out of their minds. Harry had just barely graduated from university for good, and Louis had just started training with his old football team. She came as a bit of a surprise, if only because they felt like they could never really be ready. They’d planned, though, for a while to have a kid. They always knew, deep down, that it wasn’t something they’d wait too long for. Even as young as they were, they knew.
“I don’t know why you’d put that stupid rule in place anyway, Lou,” Liam says, rolling his eyes.
Louis squawks. “Okay, first of all, Harry is also her father and he also set that rule in place, thank you very much. I’m not the bad guy.”
Harry kisses Louis’ temple. “He’s right.” He laughs when Louis sticks his tongue out at Liam. He’s nearly thirty, but that doesn’t mean he’s matured at all. “It just wasn’t the right time.”
“I can’t wait to meet her. Like, properly meet her, you know? I’ve been seeing her for-- shit, so long. She’s funny as hell.” Niall is bouncing on his heels now. Louis’ never seen him so excited.
It’s not like they had wanted to keep their daughter from their closest friends, not exactly. It’s just that, well-- Their closest friends happen to be ghosts, which is something Louis never thought he’d have to factor into his life. She’s always been too young to understand it, on any level, and they never wanted to scare her. They both decided when she was born, that at five, they could explain to her in simpler terms about their friends. She’s quite mature for her age, Harry always likes to remind Louis, so they both agree that she’ll take the new information well. Louis always prepared himself to talk about the birds and the bees with his children, but he never really planned on explaining why his best mates are a bit see-through.
They’d made the ghosts promise, swear on their non-existent lives, that they wouldn’t make themselves visible to Adelaide until her fifth birthday. They could always see her, obviously, making sure that she was safe even when she was out of Harry or Louis’ eyesight. That part was extremely helpful - it was like having three babysitters in the house at all times. They’d fallen in love with her the moment Harry and Louis brought her home from the hospital. They were allowed to be visible that day, since the newborn barely opened her eyes and wouldn’t remember even if she saw them. After that day, though, they’ve reluctantly kept their distance.
“We have to set some ground rules then, I guess,” Harry says, immediately donning his stern father voice.
Louis giggles, making Harry pout immediately. “Sorry, love. Go on.”
“Here we fuckin’ go,” Niall mumbles under his breath.
“Okay, great. Thanks for starting us off, Ni. Number one, no cursing.”
All three of the ghosts groan in agony, making Louis roll his eyes. A bunch of children, they are.
“Number two, we get to explain everything to her, okay? As she gets older, you can tell her more about yourselves, where you came from. But she’s still-- She’s just a baby, yeah? We’ll keep in simple.”
Liam raises his hand, requesting permission to talk. Harry must not pick up on his sarcasm, because he nods his head happily, pleased that Liam’s been so polite.
“I don’t know why we didn’t just go with my idea. Just tell her we’re your weird cousins from, like, America.”
Harry clears his throat, ignoring Liam and continuing with his rules. “I guess the last rule is to be, like, good friends to her. I know you guys, and I know you love her. I just want her to feel close to you like we do.”
He looks over at Louis, seeking confirmation. Louis notices that his eyes are a bit wet and his mouth is doing that frowning thing that he does whenever he’s trying not to cry. He’s a giant sap, is what he is.
Louis stands on his tip-toes and presses his lips against Harry’s gently. He places his palm firmly against the small of Harry’s back when he pulls away, and Harry sighs.
“I think he covered it, yeah.”
The three ghosts nod happily, exploding in a chorus of “of course” and “we love her already”, making Louis’ heart swell. They got so lucky when they stumbled into this dirty old house years ago, when they were practically children themselves.
“Tomorrow morning, then. After she’s had her special breakfast - yes, we’ll save you leftovers - we can do some introductions, yeah? Long overdue.”
He chuckles nervously and smiles at each of them. They grin back at him, and Louis can’t help but feel a bit teary himself. It feels like a big moment.
__
If Louis had thought this day would go smoothly in any way, he’s not sure why he’d been lying to himself.
The cake that they ordered two fucking weeks ago will apparently be ready at the very last minute this afternoon, not to mention that Harry forgot to go to the grocery store last night for any of Adelaide’s favorite lunch and dinner fixings. While he’s running to the closest Tesco’s at sunrise on the morning of her birthday, Louis is sitting on the side of her bed, the back of his hand pressed against her forehead.
Warm. Not hot, really, but there’s definitely some heat there. Perfect.
“Addie, baby?” He says softly, pushing one of her brown curls away from her eyes.
She groans in response, not opening her eyes in the slightest. Her face is paler than usual. When Louis had gone in to wake her up this morning, her face had been scrunched up in the same way that Harry’s does when he’s poorly. She’s so much like him that it’s scary sometimes.
“Do you feel icky?” he tries again, hoping his cool fingers against her skin soothe her even the tiniest bit.
“A little,” she murmurs, turning onto her side. Her perfectly pink lower lip pouts adorably, and she squints one eye open. “I can’t be sick, Daddy, I’m five.”
Louis chuckles. “You can still be five and feel poorly, love. I’ll go get you some water and you try to sleep a little while longer for me, okay?”
She huffs, frustrated with herself, and nods. Louis waits, running his hand through her hair, until he hears the soft little snuffles that indicate she’s fallen back to sleep.
He sighs loudly, standing from the bed and exiting her room. He walks into the bathroom just down the hall, looking for some of their children’s cold medicine and maybe a cold rag to put on her forehead. He’d like her to feel okay for at least some of today, as it’s something she’s been talking about for weeks now.
Louis and Harry had told her last night that they had a big surprise for her in the morning, and she hasn’t stopped chattering on about it since. Her only guess right now is the pink dollhouse she’d not so subtly pointed out out at the toy store last week. (She’s getting that as well, since neither he nor Harry have any self control whatsoever when it comes to her. It’s a problem.)
“What’s wrong?” Zayn whispers, appearing out of nowhere. It’s been years, and Louis is still not used to that at all.
“Jesus, Zee, you could knock,” Louis says, clutching his chest. Zayn glares at him, and Louis scoffs. “Right. Anyway, Addie’s got a tiny fever, I guess. So that’s--”
He runs a hand through his hair, flustered. He wishes Harry were home already, since he’s usually got the magic touch when it comes to boo-boos and upset stomachs.
Zayn shushes him calmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, s’alright. She’ll still have a good day. We can get her back to normal in no time, you know. If you want.” He raises one eyebrow.
“No,” Louis says immediately. “No special freaky ghost spells. I don’t want to--”
“Louis. It’s her birthday. Don’t you think you can make an exception just this once?”
Zayn puts on his best pair of big, brown, and innocent eyes, which is rather convincing. He stares at Louis until he knows he’s finally cracked.
“Fine. But be quick, yeah? And only use the lavender stuff.”
Zayn nods quickly and smiles, scurrying out of the room. Louis leans his forehead against the doorframe and groans.
The ghosts have accumulated quite a few quick fixes and “spells” over their many decades in the house - something about being a spirit and having a knack for that sort of thing, they say. Louis never asks too many questions, since he thinks it’s probably safer not to tempt fate more than he already has. They’ve only used their healing spells on Harry and Louis a few times, when they were feeling particularly close to death themselves. Louis’ favorite method is using a small pouch of something that he gives a few good whiffs of - it smells like lavender every time - and within minutes he feels more like himself. He hopes it has the same effect on Adelaide, for all of their sakes.
Zayn returns to the bathroom within minutes, holding a small brown pouch in the palm of his hand. He hands it to Louis.
“Just hold it under her nose for a few seconds. Once she’s taken a few good sniffs, you can move it. That should do the trick, I think.”
Louis nods, giving Zayn a grateful smile before heading back into his daughter’s room. He’s pleased to find her still asleep, and he carefully holds the pouch under her nose while she breathes deeply.
After a few moments, her eyelids start to flutter open, and he quickly moves the pouch to hide it behind his back.
“Good morning, birthday girl.”
Adelaide giggles. “Hi, daddy. Where’s Papa?”
“He’ll be back soon. Went to get your favorite foods for today, since you’re the princess.”
She laughs again, tucking her face against her pillow. Louis’ heart must swell three times right then, and his chest feels like it’s going to explode. She’s just so cute, is all.
The color has returned to her cheeks, a light rosy blush making her look much better than she had this morning. It’s like she was never sick at all. Louis makes a mental note to thank Zayn later, and to stop calling them “freaky ghost spells”.
He scoops her up in his arms and kisses her face incessantly, making her squeal the whole time he carries her downstairs.
__
After Adelaide has scarfed down two plates of birthday pancakes (topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream situated to look like a smiley face, thanks to Harry), she’s sat on the living room couch, ready for her surprise. She kicks her feet against the couch in excitement, holding her hands in her lap to be a good girl like she promised.
They decide to give her the actual presents later, after the excitement of finding out she’s been living with three ghosts dies down. Louis thinks this is a solid plan, really.
“Okay, Addie,” Harry starts, breathing in deeply through his nose. He and Louis are sat on the coffee table in front of her, their thighs pressing together. Harry’s leg won’t stop moving, and finally Louis rests a hand on his knee to calm him. “We have something to tell you.”
Her eyes get wide, and she sits up straighter.
“Am I going to be a big sister?”
Louis audibly chokes, coughing to try and conceal it. Harry laughs from beside him. “No-- No, there’s not a new baby.”
Not yet, at least. It’s not like they aren’t trying. That’ll be news for another day, though. Ghosts today, a new sibling some other time.
“Oh,” she says, settling her arms across her chest. “What is it then?”
Louis sucks in a breath before releasing it slowly. Now or never, he thinks.
“We have some friends that Papa and I would like to introduce you to,” he starts, smiling when she lights up immediately. She’s always been such a social butterfly. “But they’re a little different, and we don’t want you to be frightened.”
Her eyes widen impossibly bigger at that. “Different? Like Uncle Ed?”
Harry and Louis both laugh and shake their heads. Louis continues, “No, not like that. Uncle Ed is just silly. These friends are not like me and Papa.”
“Have you ever heard of a ghost?” Harry asks, and Louis almost rolls his eyes at the bluntness of it.
To be fair, they haven’t really rehearsed anything. He’s not sure it would’ve helped even if they had. There’s not exactly an easy way to broach the subject.
She nods excitedly, her face lighting up again. “Oh, yes! Aunt Gemma always lets me stay up late and we tell ghost stories when I stay with her--” she clasps both hands over her mouth. “Oops. ‘m not supposed to tell you that.”
Harry grumbles under his breath for a moment but chooses to ignore that for now. “And what do you know about ghosts, love?”
She shrugs. “They’re dead people, I think.” Her face is scrunched up in concentration, and she pauses for a moment before her face lights up again. “Some of them are nice and some of them are big, scary monsters.”
At least she knows that some of them are nice, Louis thinks.
“Do you believe in ghosts, do you think?”
She thinks for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I guess so. They’re like secret friends. Aunt Gemma said she’s seen one.” Her eyes widen comically.
Harry lets out a little breath of surprise and he smiles. “Yeah, Addie. Uh, our friends, they’re not like Daddy and me because-- well, they’re kinda like that. They used to live in this house a long, long time ago, and now they stay here forever. They’re kinda, like, ghosts. Does that make sense at all?”
She nods slowly. “Like Casper?”
“Just like Casper. Well, not just like that. But they’re friendly, and they’re like us in a lot of ways. They’ve known you for a long time, but you haven’t met them yet.” Louis reaches out and puts a hand on her arm.
“Why not?”
“Well,” he sighs. “You were just a little too young to understand, baby. But now you’re a big five year old, and we wanted to see if you’d like to meet them.”
She scoots forward in her seat. “Yes, please.”
Louis feels relieved immediately and he wonders if that maybe went a little too well. He’s not sure if he should be alarmed or not that his daughter is so quick to meet ghosts.
Harry moves to stand up, but Addie puts a tiny hand on his leg to stop him.
“What if they don’t like me?”
Her voice is timid and she sounds so vulnerable that Louis wants to cry.
“They already love you a lot, okay? Don’t worry about that at all.” Harry stands, but leans down to kiss her on the forehead. “You’re the coolest little girl in the world.”
She nods, looking determined now. She scoots off of the couch, her feet landing with a quiet thud. She stands with her hands on her hips next to Harry, and Louis moves to stand on the other side of her. She quickly slides both of her hands into theirs, and they look over her head to smile at each other.
“Okay, lads. Come on out.”
It’s quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and it almost startles Louis when he sees Niall come into the room. He walks in like a normal person, thankfully, and the other two are following close behind, all wearing matching smiles.
“Addie, these are our friends.” Louis squeezes her hand, and she looks up at him with wide eyes.
“Hiya,” Niall says.
He sounds nervous, which Louis thinks is adorable. Niall crouches down in front of Adelaide, and he holds out a hand in greeting. She doesn’t shake his hand immediately, but after a moment she wraps her small hand around his. She gasps quietly, and Louis knows the feeling she’s experiencing is a weird one. It’s not quite like touching a human, but it isn’t like moving your hand through thin air either. It’s bizarre.
She giggles. “That feels funny. I’m Adelaide May Tomlinson, nice to meet you.”
Louis puts a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. The other two ghosts step forward, both of them crouching down to be at her level as well.
“I’m Liam. Happy birthday, Addie,” he says, shaking her hand slowly. His eyes look like they could shoot hearts out of them at any moment. Louis feels like he and Harry probably look much of the same.
She gives the same introduction again, making all of them laugh. She turns to look at Zayn, and suddenly she gasps. Louis puts a hand on her back instinctively, not sure what’s happened.
“Zaynie! I remember you!” She squeals before throwing her arms around Zayn’s neck in a friendly hug.
Harry narrows his eyes down at the two of them. “What.”
Zayn hugs her awkwardly before pulling away, looking up at Louis and Harry. “Uh.”
“I’m sorry, mate, I’m not understanding.” Louis crosses his arms. “Did she just call you Zaynie?”
“Uh--”
“Indicating that she’s met you before?”
Harry clears his throat. “Adelaide, why don’t you go upstairs and get into your birthday outfit, okay? We’ll be right up to help.”
She nods, waving goodbye to the ghosts and skipping off to head upstairs. Once they’ve heard her feet shuffle into her room, Louis turns to face Zayn.
“Are you fucking serious? You promised!” he yells in his best inside voice. He’s totally calm. Completely.
“Listen, I meant to tell you--”
Harry scoffs incredulously. “Well, it’s the thought that counts.”
Zayn’s face is red and a bit sweaty, and he runs a hand quickly through his hair. “It was her fourth birthday--”
“It’s been a year and you never--”
Zayn hushes Louis, and for some reason he does close his mouth and motion for Zayn to go on. He rolls his eyes, though, because he’s a bit bratty but most of all he’s incredibly curious.
“It was last year, and it was a total accident. I wanted to tell you guys, really, but it was her birthday party that day and I could never find a good time after that to bring it up. I also didn’t want the other boys to get upset that they hadn’t gotten to meet her, or something.”
Niall huffs, and Zayn turns to him immediately.
“You’re absolutely terrible at keeping secrets, babe,” Zayn says, his eyes fixed on the floor. “But I’m really sorry that I didn’t say anything. You too, Liam.”
Niall and Liam both nod in understanding. Harry clears his throat, throwing his arms out in exasperation.
Zayn smiles nervously. “I’m so sorry, like--. It really was an accident. She just saw me, kind of, and I couldn’t run away. It’d scare the shit out of her, you know? Plus, she’s quite charming and polite.”
Louis squints his eyes at Zayn. “Okay, that’s true.”
He’s already forgiven him, is the thing, but he still wants to know what the hell happened. He sighs and motions to the couch, and the ghosts sit down on it while Harry and Louis sit across from them on the coffee table. Louis grabs Harry’s hand, giving it a light squeeze. He knows that Harry isn’t actually mad, that he’s probably just being a bit over-protective. It’s endearing more than anything.
“So,” Louis starts. “What happened?”
__
It’s not like Zayn wanted to go against Harry and Louis’ wishes. He remembers that day so clearly, as it’s one of his favorite memories. He’s kept it locked up in one of the most accessible places of his mind.
Adelaide’s fourth birthday had been a fairly large production, and Zayn had given Harry and Louis a lot of shit about it, he remembers. He’s never known a four year old to have so many friends or sweets at her party (they had a s’more making station, for fuck’s sake), and he’s definitely never seen anything like the giant inflatable bounce houses in the backyard. It was a day fit for a princess, Louis had said.
Zayn had been standing at the kitchen window, watching everyone laugh and socialize outside at the party, when he felt a small hand tugging at his pant leg. He turned around so quickly that he must have startled the child, because they jumped back a few steps before he could even see their face.
“Addie?” Zayn whispered quietly when the little girl pushed back her unruly curls. “Oh god.”
“Hi,” she chirped. “I’m Adelaide May Tomlinson, who are you?”
Zayn honestly felt like he was going to cry, which Louis would never let him live down. It’s just that he’d been waiting so long to meet her, and-- he shouldn’t even be visible. Fuck. He pushed the thought aside as his eyes roamed over her face, up close for the first time. She’s so gorgeous, always been the spitting image of both of her dads - big, green eyes and curly brown hair like Harry, but all of her facial features are tiny replicas of Louis’.
He crouched down to be at her level, and stuck out a hand. “I’m, uh, Zayn.”
“That’s a very silly name,” she said, matter of factly. Zayn remembers that he hadn’t been even the least bit surprised. She is a Tomlinson, after all.
She giggled then, and it’d been one of the sweetest sounds Zayn’s ever heard, although he’d probably heard it a hundred times before.
He’s really gotta pull himself together, he thought.
She started chatting to him about her party, and how much fun she was having, and would he like to come in the bounce house with her, please? Zayn had smiled fondly and nodded the whole time, shaking his head when she looked up at him with innocent eyes.
“‘raid not.”
“Well, why not?”
He had been tempted, really. He’d never even tried to be in the backyard for long, really. He simply smiled at her and patted her head, unsure of how to even interact with her after just watching her grow up for so long. He’d never spent much time around little girls, anyway - at least any that weren’t his own sisters.
“I’m kinda busy right now, Addie, but maybe later, yeah?” She nodded, so Zayn thinks he must’ve given a good enough excuse. “It was nice to meet you.”
He ignored the lump in his throat.
“Thank you very much! It was nice to meet you too, Zaynie. Is that your name?”
Zayn had just laughed. “Yeah, close enough.”
“You’re funny.” Adelaide giggles again.
“You too, love.” Zayn couldn’t believe he was going to have to wait another year to talk to her again. “Go have fun now, okay?”
She grinned and ran off, even turned around to wave goodbye before walking out the back door again. Zayn had stood there in the kitchen for nearly half an hour, just breathing and trying to decide what he should do.
He recounts all of this to Harry and Louis now, scanning their face for any signs of anger or homicidal thoughts. Not that it would really matter, he thinks.
“So, like, it really was an accident. I’m sorry.”
Harry looks dumbfounded. “I can’t believe you never told us. But that’s, like, so sweet, Zayn. Thank you for not scaring her or anything.”
Zayn rolls his eyes. As if. “Well, of course. What else would I have done? Start chanting one of my ghost spells or shaking my chains?”
Harry and Louis both laugh, and Zayn doesn’t miss that both of them wipe quickly at their eyes. They’re a match made in heaven, the saps.
Niall nudges Zayn’s side with his elbow, whispering softly, “I can’t believe you never told me any of this.”
Zayn feels particularly guilty, then. He’s been in love with Niall before he even really realized that it was love, he thinks. He tells him absolutely everything, but for some reason Zayn had wanted to keep this to himself for a little while. He knows that deep down Niall understands, and they’ll talk about it later enough. It still feels strange, is all.
Zayn had been stuck in the house in his current state for far too long by the time Niall moved in. He had been only thirteen years old when his family moved in, and Zayn had been drawn to him immediately. Niall was too loud and too outgoing, and Zayn couldn’t have wanted to talk to him more. He would watch him, in the most normal way possible, when Niall’s band would practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Zayn’s old study room. He listened to Niall sing alone in his room at night while he was trying to sleep - that was one of his favorite things. He had to watch Niall’s horrible accident happen with his own eyes, and it’d been absolutely terrible.
Zayn hadn’t tried to talk to Niall right at first after the accident. Niall had enough to deal with - realizing you’re somehow immortal, stuck in the same house for all of eternity as a spirit is kind of a lot to take in. He waited until Niall had been a ghost for a whole year before he made himself visible to him. Liam had agreed to do the same, as a favor to Zayn. He’d wanted it to be perfect.
He was always horribly bashful around Niall, and Liam teased him mercilessly. Niall had been the one to finally kiss Zayn in the middle of a normal conversation, like he couldn’t wait another second. Zayn had been caught off guard completely, flailing his arms out wildly before wrapping them around Niall’s waist. It was all history after that, he supposes.
“I’m really sorry,” Zayn says to Niall, squeezing his thigh. “I wanted to, like, everyday.”
“I get it, I think.” Niall leans forward and kisses Zayn’s cheek. “I don’t blame you, babe.”
Zayn’s really grateful for Niall, always has been.
“God, relax with the PDA,” Louis groans dramatically, and all four of them turn to give him a death glare. “What?”
“If you’ve forgotten,” Liam says, “we’ve had to see absolutely everything for the last, like, ten years almost. Don’t even try to talk about PDA.” He shifts his eyes accusingly between Harry and Louis. Zayn laughs.
He loves Harry and Louis quite a lot, actually. They’re disgustingly in love, and they’re never afraid to show it. They’re also two of the best friends he’s ever had, so he thinks he probably doesn’t mind that much anyway.
“Aw, Leem, don’t be jealous,” Harry teases.
“I’m not worried. Someone is bound to die in this house and I’ll find my own soulmate.” Liam shrugs casually.
The room is silent for a moment, all of them staring at him with wide eyes before Liam continues. “Oh, that was pretty bloody morbid, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean you guys, obviously. Just, like, eventually. The rest of you found your soulmate, surely there’s one for everybody. Chances are mine will live here someday, if I’m lucky.”
Zayn’s heart flutters a bit at the word soulmate, but then he looks at Niall out of the corner of his eye. Yeah, he thinks. Liam is probably right.
“Don’t worry. We can play matchmaker, like you did for us,” Harry says with a smirk. “That seems fair.”
Liam groans, dropping his head into his hands. Zayn clears his throat once everybody’s laughter has died down. “So, can I be forgiven now?”
Harry and Louis look at each other before breaking out into wide smiles and rolling their eyes in unison. They’re so in-sync sometimes that it’s scary.
“Of course, you arse.”
Within seconds, all of them are hugging Zayn, whooping loudly and pinching his sides. He laughs, mumbling that he hates every single one of them, before finally escaping their smothering bodies. Being a ghost is great sometimes, especially for making a getaway.
“Can we go see Addie now?” Niall whines. “It’s been five years, I’m ready to hang out with her now.”
Zayn chuckles, throwing an arm around Niall’s shoulder. “So cute, babe.”
Harry sighs happily and claps his hands together. “You lads ready to celebrate?”
All of them grin a bit too wide at that. They’re ready to celebrate Adelaide’s birthday, of course, but it feels like they’re celebrating a lot more. They finally get to spend time together as some sort of melting pot family, without the ghosts having to disappear quickly the second they hear tiny feet pattering across the hardwood floors. It’s a really cool day, Zayn thinks.
He nods at Harry and Louis both, smiling and turning to look at Niall and Liam, too. They all look like they’re too happy for barely even eleven o’clock in the morning, and Zayn couldn’t care less.
“Yeah,” he says quietly, so Adelaide can’t hear. “Let’s fucking party.”