Love Lock

Gains and Losses

"Oh my god, it's Zayn," Harry's jaw dropped as he looked at Louis in shock.

Louis looked back incredulously. This must be why Simon postponed the proposal, he realized.

"Zayn!" Niall yelled, smiling wider than ever before. He looked back at the big screen, watching as crying faces of fans flashed by.

The raven haired boy finished the song and walked further onto the stage, hesitating as he came closer to the boys. Would they accept him? Zayn worried they might not.

Niall ran towards Zayn and engulfed the boy in a bear hug. The Irish boy had no clue as to why Zayn was there or what was going on but he was just so happy to see him.

"Zayn, what are you doing here?" Niall shouted over the crowd, still squeezing his old friend. "We haven't seen you in months," Niall started again, completely in awe. Could it all be a dream, the boy wondered.

"I was wrong. I was all wrong Niall! My home was always with you four. I took everything for granted," Zayn hugged Niall back with newfound hope.

Liam, Harry, and Louis jogged towards the two boys and joined in the hug.

"Zayn, is this for real? Are you coming back to us?" Harry asked innocently. He didn't know what to believe anymore; everything seemed so untrue in his world.

"If you'll let me," Zayn looked up at his boys. All four of them nodded. Though Louis was the most hesitant, he wouldn't ever reject someone he cared about.

The group let go of each other and faced the audience once more. Liam held his mic up to his lips after recognizing that the power had been turned back on.

"I don't know what the hell is going on," Liam laughed, smiling at the crowd. "But Zayn has decided to join us tonight, and he will always be our brother. What do you guys say, are we ready to finish this show?" Liam asked the fans.

The stadium cheered in response as four became five. The remainder of the show was unexpectedly flawless. Zayn fit right back in as though he had never left.

All those hour the boys had spent memorizing Zayn's parts seemed to fade away into a distant memory. In a matter of one night, One Direction was whole again.

~

"Okay, what is going on? What just happened?" Liam laughed again, out of breath, looking at Zayn for an answer. The five boys had finished the show and ran off stage.

There was a part of everyone that thought maybe this was just a one time thing. Maybe this wasn't permanent.

"I'm so sorry, I know that was too much," Zayn hid his face in his hands. "I was coming to surprise you guys after the show and tell you everything. I was gonna ask if there was any chance I could come back, but then Simon practically pushed me onstage! He told me I had to go out and sing or else he wouldn't even consider letting me back into the contract," Zayn rambled, feeling completely overwhelmed.

Louis and Harry looked at each other knowingly. Simon was quite literally the worst person they knew.

"God, I didn't want it to happen like this. I feel like I just barged in uninvited. I wanted to explain myself first.." Zayn began again before anyone could comment.