Wrong Side of Love (Ziam bodyswap)

Chapter 2

Liam figured the time apart would make things better between them. Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that. Or is it absence? Whatever, it doesn't matter because it didn't. Or maybe it's not the riff between him and Zayn that causes the argument. Maybe it's the impossibly long, exhausted flight from London to Australia, but whatever the reason, it still happens.

It's after they've gotten off the plane, everyone stiff and irritable, and they're climbing into the car to take them to the hotel. Harry and Niall are in a separate vehicle, and Liam, Zayn and Louis are in one of their own. Louis snags the whole back seat, putting up his legs and grumbling about the long flight, which leaves Zayn and Liam in the middle seats. And as Zayn's pulling on his seatbelt, he elbows Liam in the side.

Liam makes an annoyed sound before he can help himself, and then Zayn's turning on him, eyes narrowed, snapping, "It's not like I fucking did it on purpose, Liam."

Two months ago, Liam would have been wounded by that tone and look in Zayn's eyes. Now, all it does is make anger flare inside him. "I didn't even say anything!" he snaps right back, a little defensively.

"Whatever," Zayn grumbles, settling back into his seat. He crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the front of the car.

Liam could let it go. He knows Zayn, knows that Zayn would be happy to leave the argument at that, brooding all the way back to the hotel. He'd give Liam the silent treatment, ignoring him for as long as he could before he broke and they both apologized. But Liam doesn't let it go. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" he demands. "Because it feels like you go off on me for every tiny little thing."

"Are you kidding me?" Zayn looks more than a little scandalized. "You're the one always starting shit lately! You've got something stuck so far up your ass these last few weeks that—"

"Fuck you, Zayn," Liam growls.

Zayn actually looks a little surprised by the vehemence in Liam's tone; Liam is, too. But that doesn't stop Zayn from spitting "Fuck you," right back.

"Guys." Louis leans forward, hands resting on the back of Zayn and Liam's seats. "What the hell is going on?"

Neither of them answer, for a moment. They both just sit there, turned to each other, Louis' hands acting as a separator between their bodies. That little argument was all it took to make Liam feel heated, his hands clenched into fists, his chest heaving, his breathing unsteady. He figures his face is red, too, but so is Zayn's, his cheeks flushed and his mouth a thin, angry line.

When he's mad, Zayn's a little frightening. He's not the same as the others, shouting and stomping and making a scene. Zayn is good with words, can slice into someone with a simple sentence, but it's his looks that kill. That anger etched into every line of his face, a dark, almost scary look in his eyes. Zayn would be the one to punch you, out of all of the lads. Louis might raise a hand and consider slapping someone, but you'd have to push him pretty far to make him actually do it, Liam figures. If Niall's drunk enough, Liam could see him getting physical, maybe. Harry — he doesn't want to know what it would take to get Harry to snap enough to hit someone, but it'd have to be something terrible.

Zayn, on the other hand, is like a venomous snake when he's angry. Liam's honestly waiting for him to strike.

Instead, Zayn sighs and breaks eye contact. "Nothing's going on," he mutters. "Stay out of it, Louis."

"Stay out of it," Louis repeats. "You realize that this fight between the two of you affects the band as a whole, yes? That when you two are fighting, it throws off the entire dynamic of the group and—"

"Stay out of it, Louis," Liam says this time.

Louis leans back in his seat, looking sufficiently put out. Liam would feel bad if he weren't too busy being angry at Zayn. And maybe Louis does have a point, rationally, but Liam doesn't care. This is between the two of them, not the five of them, and as much as Liam loves his boys, sometimes he can't always think with a group mentality.