I want admission to your party, it's the best in town
Admission to your party, don't you let me down
I want admission to your party
Admission to your party, yeah

I hear it's the best in around
I want a ticket to the soirée

Admission to your party, yeah.

- "Admission to Your Party" || Smallpools

____

"I've got an idea."

"You? An idea? I dunno. Should we be scared, Lou."

Louis scoffs, rolling his eyes. "You're so dramatic, Niall," he says, and this causes Zayn to laugh. Niall wasn't exactly someone he'd necessarily peg as 'dramatic,' but hey.

"When aren't my ideas good?" He asks. "I'll tell you when; never."

Niall and Zayn only look to each other. Neither of them decides to answer this question, considering they all just got home from class and no one is particularly in the mood to argue.

It didn't help that Niall had come home complaining about there being nothing to eat, and they hadn't exactly ordered out yet, meaning that Niall was hungry and he was really not himself when he was hungry.

Besides, Harry was over and when Harry was over, arguments turned into Harry and Louis vs. Niall and Zayn, and because Zayn was waiting for Anais to come over, he wasn't 100% invested in arguing.

Then again, he rarely was.

"What is it, Lou?" He asks, leaning backwards in his chair.

Louis bows, "Thank you, Zayn," he rolls his eyes with a flippant scoff. "Someone wants to hear my great idea."

Both Niall and Zayn make eye contact again.

Harry only laughs.

"Anyway," Louis continues, "Soo's birthday is like, next weekend and I really want to do something for her; y'know. Throw a big party. Invite all her friends. That sort of thing."

Niall lifts his brows. "The kind of thing a boyfriend would do?" He snorts, laughing behind his hand. "Whipped."

"Niall," Louis begins, "there's the door," he motions towards the exit. "Feel free to leave."

"Really, Lou?" Harry asks. "Really?"

But, Niall rises from his chair, "Fine, then," he snorts, only to feel a hand around his wrist. He's being pulled back down into his chair by Zayn, who says nothing and only shakes his head.

Niall sits.

He stays.

But, only for Zayn, dammit.

__

"Soo? Soo, I'm home."

"Ana! Come back, I'm in my room."

Anais drops her coat on the couch, walking back through the darkness. She can see the light filtering through the hall from Soo's open door, and as she wonders why it's so dark and why Soo is living like Edward Cullen, when she reaches the room and raps softly upon the open door.

"Soo?"

"Ana!" Soo Joo exclaims, suddenly appearing in front of the door and dragging her best friend inside the room. She pulls her onto the bed beside her, curling up along the pillows. "Anais, arghh - Why is my life so hard?"

Anais wants to laugh but she doesn't, because this is her best friend who must need her.

"What are you talking about, my little cutie Soo Joo?"

"Well..." She begins. "You know that next week is-"

"Your birthday," Anais finishes, because the date had been circled multiple times on her calendar and Soo had also created multiple weekly alerts in her cell phone. She shakes her head, "How could I possibly forget?"

Soo smiles. "Well, you know how Louis is a bit-"

"Outrageous? Yes."

Soo laughs. "Well, okay, that's not exactly what I meant, but-"

"Fine," Anais flicks her wrist. "Overbearing?"

"Anais!"

"Extra?"

"Yes. Yes, a million times. He's extra. He's so extra, especially when it comes to parties."

"You mean, especially when it comes to planning things." Louis did not understand that small was good, too, or that simple was often better.

That concept was literally not in his M.O.

"Okay, well, I think he's extra with a bit more than just that but," she shakes her head, laughing to herself. "For the sake of this conversation, yes. Yes, he's extra when it comes to planning."

"So," Anais shrugs. "What's going on?"

"The problem is that I can just tell he's gonna do something crazy. Like, I feel it in me bones."

Anais laughs aloud. "You're so weird, Mr. Krabs."

"You know what I mean!" She exclaims. "I can just tell. I have a radar and it like, buzzes in my body when he's about to spring something gigantic on me. Like, remember that time freshman year when our air was off and he bought that Slip N' Slide and set it up in our dorm?"

Anais cringes at the memory. "Please," she rubs her temple, "please do not bring me back there."

They literally had to call a cleaning company to get out the water stains before they were fined by the university. Their RA's were complaining about leaks, and her parents. God, explaining that to her parents...

"Okay," Anais nods, "I get it. There's a legitimate dilemma here."

"Thank you! And I can just tell he's gonna do something way over the top now that we're-"

"Sleeping together?"

Soo buries her face in her pillows. "No," comes her muffled response.

"Fine," Anais laughs. "Since you're dating?"

Soo lifts her head, pouting. "Maybe."

"It's fine," Anais shrugs. "You don't have to admit it. Even I was in denial, once."

"Ha," Soo laughs. "Denial. Like Niall Horan. De-Niall...Get it?"

"Okay, please stop and say that again, maybe never."

Soo snorts, sitting upright. "You know I'm hilarious. And wait a second, now. You weren't in denial, girlfriend. You and Zayn were practically dating even when you weren't, so-"

"So, what?" She scoffs. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, at this point you might as well start planning the wedding."

"Hush," Anais says, blushing. And y'know, she's a little over being embarrassed about Zayn in front of all her friends. She thought that might end once they became official. Apparently, she was wrong.

Soo grins. "See? Look at you! Look at you right now, Anais Malik!"

"Just hush, Soo Joo."

__

"So," Harry begins slowly, elbows on his knees as the boys watch Louis pace back and forth in the kitchen. "What are you gonna do, then?"

"Ah, y'know," Louis shrugs, "something big, yeah? I'm thinking we go to dinner, catch a show, something like that before I bring her here and only hundreds of her closest friends surprise her and shower her with love and affection," he nods striking his beard. "Perfect, right?"

"Oh," Zayn nods, pulling a face. "Sounds simple."

Louis holds out his arms. "You might as well say it."

He lifts a brow. "Say, what, exactly?"

"Tell me. Tell me I'm amazing. Tell me I'm the best boyfriend ever."

"Or," Niall begins, sitting upright. He's suddenly become invested in this conversation, "Or, Y'should throw her a puppy party."

"What?"

Harry claps his hands. "Yes!"

"What the hell's a puppy party?"

"Aw, c'mon, Lou! I know you've heard of 'em. Some guy literally brings in a bunch a' puppies and ya' sit in the middle of 'em all and play all day."

"Oh my god..." Harry sits up. "That's it. That's happening. You're doing that."

Harry and Niall are high-fiving.

Louis turns to Zayn. "What do you say about that, Z?"

"I mean," he shrugs, "how do you say 'no' to puppies, Lou?"

Niall grabs his shoulders and shakes him. "See?"

"Yeah, like," Harry pauses for a really long time that allows Niall to sigh like, eight times and for Zayn's mind to wander. "You're not...No, you've like, got to do this."

"Thank you, Haz."

"Playing with puppies clinically makes you live longer."

Zayn nods too, although his mind has immediately gone to thoughts of Anais because when was her birthday, exactly? And now, here was Louis and Soo and they were like, Anais' best friends about to completely show him up. He couldn't be the boyfriend that didn't celebrate his girl's birthday. He couldn't like, not make her happy on the day she was born.

"Really, Harry?" Louis asks. "Honestly, where d'you find that bullshit?"

"It's true!" He exclaims.

Niall lifts his hand. "I've heard that, too."

Harry and Niall high-five again.

"Fine, then," Louis exclaims, "Somebody find me a company that does the puppy thing and I'll add it in. Like, we can go to a show and do dinner or something and come here and her friends surprise her and then -"

"Puppies!" Harry exclaims. He throws his head back, "Yes."

Niall laughs again, as Zayn slips his phone from his pocket.

He's gone onto Facebook, scrolling down Anais' page. Louis gone on about something, "So I'm thinking balloons and streamers and cupcakes - Soo loves cupcakes - and I'll need your help with it too, alright? Like, I'm definitely gonna need a team of my best mates to help me pull this off-"and he's almost completely tuned everything out because he finds that Anais birthday was January 22nd and they didn't do anything together.

Like, she hadn't told him.

Anais didn't tell him that her birthday had passed, and now Louis was about to throw a fucking carnival with puppies for Soo Joo.

__

"I think Zayn's birthday was a few weeks back."

Anais lets out a loud gasp. "What?" She exclaims. "Are you kidding me, Soo?"

She shakes her head. "Nope. I'm not. I think it was the 13th, Louis said...?" She rolls her eyes to the ceiling. "Or, was it the 14th? No, wait...I think it was before?"

"When was it, Soo?"

"The...the 12th," she decides, nodding. "Yep, it was, 'cause Louis had come over and it was on the same day that I walked in that show for Adonis and Broderick and..."

Anais' head is swimming. What kind of girlfriend was she? A shitty one, that was for sure. I mean, sure she and Zayn hadn't been official, then, but what kind of friend forgot their other friend's birthday? No. No, no, no. That just wouldn't do.

"Oh hell no," she exclaims, interrupting Soo's revelry. "No way. No he did not forget to tell me about his birthday."

She slaps her hand on Soo's bed. "We could've done something for him! We could've gone out!"

"Um," Soo begins, "by the way Louis made it seem, sounds like Zayn's not too big on parties, Ana."

"I mean, yeah," Anais snorts, because this was Zayn they were talking about. "Then, I could've done dinner, Soo! God," she sighs. How does her boyfriend not tell her when it's his birthday.

"How does my boyfriend not tell me when it's his goddamn birthday?"

Soo sits up. "I mean, Anais," she begins, "did you do anything together for yours?"

__

"I'm mad at you, just so you know."

"What?" Zayn exclaims, as Anais rushes from the cold and into his flat and continues walking past him.

"You heard me," she snaps.

And she passes Harry and Niall in the living room. "Hey, guys," she grins.

Their eyes are glued to Niall's computer, and Anais gets an eyeful of puppy gifs as she passes.

"Hi, Ana."

"Hey, love."

And she continues down the hall towards Zayn's room.

"Wait, c'mon, Anais," he says, slamming the door shut and hurrying after her. "C'mon, why're you mad?"

She only shrugs, slipping out of her coat and folding it on the back of his desk chair.

He leans against the doorway, watching her with arms folded. He's kind of trying not to smile, a little.

"C'mon, babe," he prods, and Anais decides to slip out of her scarf and say nothing since each and every time he calls her 'babe,' she falls a little harder. "Why're you mad at me?"

And she turns abruptly, arms folded. "Way to not tell me it was your birthday!"

"What?" He exclaims, head bumping the wall behind him. "That's what this's about?"

"How come you didn't tell me, Zayn?"

"'Cause it's like, seriously not that big of a deal," he replies, laughing. "And anyway, you didn't tell me about yours, and to be honest," he grins, "I'd expect you to tell me about yours."

She scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Because I hate birthdays," she says, and Zayn almost doesn't believe this.

"You hate them?" He repeats and she shakes her head, folding her arms. "Anais, like, no one hates birthdays. That's like hating cake, or smiles or, or um, or puppies, or something."

"Well, you're dating The Devil, then, because honestly, a birthday is like, every other day and I hate all the attention and blah," she shakes her head, shuddering. "Gross. No thank you."

Zayn laughs. "Who are you?"

She shrugs. "Good question."

"You've never had a proper party, then?"

"For my birthday? C'mon, Zayn," she rolls her eyes, "Of course I have."

"Then-"

"Just, like," she shrugs, "as I got older they became less special...I dunno...Once you hit double digits, you're a granny, anyway."

Zayn laughs harder out of shock. Again, the things Anais says sometimes, most times, blow his mind.

"The day you like, first came alive isn't special?" He shakes his head.

"I mean, I didn't have much say in my creation, so..."

He crosses the room. He's shaking his head, "Then, in that case, your birthday's for me, then."

"Ha-" She shakes her head. "How?"

"Because," he stresses, "because-" because, as cliché and ridiculous as it sounded, he really honestly couldn't imagine his life currently without her in it.

Anais shakes her head, "Wait. What's your excuse, then?"

"Wha-? What do you mean?"

"You had a birthday too, that you failed to tell me about."

He shrugs. "My excuse is like, it's really not as good as yours, honestly."

She grins. "Whatever."

"I mean," he says, "Liam got me a cake, so..."

"Oh, well," she snorts, "that's a party."

"Thought so, too," he grins, and as Anais laughs, he pops up. "Wait," he says at once. "Wait right here."

Anais stares, watching as he rustles around his room, tugging on his hair and talking to himself.

"There it is," he whispers, snatching his lighter from his dresser.

He turns back to Anais. "Wait here, okay? Like, don't go anywhere, alright?"

Anais laughs. She's got no idea what's going on, but Zayn literally looks so cute flustered and flushed. "Promise."

He smiles, and Anais can't help but smile back because that smile.

"Be right back," he says, opening and closing his door, leaving her inside his room.

Exactly sixteen minutes later, he returns.

She looks up. "Thought you'd-"

He shuts off the light.

"-forgotten about me..." she finishes slowly. She can't see him in the darkness. "Um...What're you doing?"

"Celebrating," he replies simply, and Anais can at least tell that he's still near his door.

She stays seated at the foot of his bed. "Celebrating what?"

And there's a spark of light. It's his lighter, jumping to life as he lights...He lights a candle.

Anais can see the silhouette of his face, now. He's smiling.

"You," he replies.

And he starts to sing.

"Happy birthday, to you-"

"Oh my god, Zayn..."

"Happy birthday, to you-"

"Zayn..."

"Happy birthday, Anais-"

She's so happy it's dark because she's more than a little overwhelmed, not only by this random, outrageously thoughtful gesture, but by his voice.

"Happy birthday to you."

And Zayn is like, actually beaming at her as he brings this candle towards her. He's sitting beside her and he's smiling, looking expectantly from this candle to her and back to the candle.

"Well?" He asks. "Aren't you gonna make a wish?"

Anais nods. She shuts her eyes tight, and Zayn watches her eyes close, light passing shadows over her skin.

And she opens them, leaning towards him as she blows out the light.

He jumps to his feet, quickly flipping on the lights again before he retakes his seat beside her.

And that's when she sees what exactly this candle was stuck into.

"Zayn!" She exclaims, bursting into laughter. He's shoved a fucking candle into an apple. "Zayn, what? How did you even-"

He rubs the back of his neck. "Well," he chuckles sheepishly, "I didn't exactly have cake, and Niall would've killed me if I'd taken some of his cookies...He counts y'know, and-"

"I love it," she laughs, sliding closer. "God, I love it so much," and she picks up the apple, slipping the candle from it.

She takes a bite.

"You're like, the greatest, y'know. Like," she chews, "how'd you know that apples were my favorites? I fucking love apples, Zayn! I do, I really, really do!"

"Stop, you," he chuckles, watching as she swallows.

She holds out her apple. "Want some? Want some of my birthday gift?"

He nods, but instead of taking the fruit from her hands, he leans towards her, eyes locked on hers as he takes her hand and bites. Juice runs down his face and between their fingers and he chokes on a laugh.

"Sexy," she says.

Zayn laughs, chewing. "Shut up," he mutters, wiping at his bottom lip. "I didn't think it was so-"

"So, what?" Anais smirks, teasing him since he's lost his train of thought. Her little fingers are cradling his chin and dragging his face towards hers. "Happy birthday," she says.

He stares at her, eyes running over her face and lingering on her lips.

His gaze snaps back to her eyes.

"I love you," he says.

She presses her lips to his. He tastes sweet, like apples, and her hand tightens around her actual apple as his hand tightens on her thigh.

She sighs, moaning into his mouth, eyelids fluttering. He grips her tighter, pulling her closer and Anais, in this moment realizes that birthdays are only sort of bearable when Zayn was the one celebrating with her, because she was really, really, truly head over heels for this boy.

Like, that was it.

He was her beginning and end, and in some weird way, she was completely and perfectly fine with that.

Honestly.

-~*~-

LONG CHAPTER AYYYEEEEEEE.

I heart Soo.

This gif tho.

Kind of think this is my fave chapter so far guys (sorry extra credit sorry sunday)

Also I'm really excited for these upcoming chapters (look at me having sh*t planned out already!)

ALSOOOO if you have time please check out my new story! It's a Calum fic (bc I feel like it was necessary) and it's called 'Polarize' and I'm super excited for it. Like, I'm literally sooooooo excited.

P.s. I think I'm kind of sold on one shots if you guys want to write them/have ideas. :)

Comment and vote! xx