Lover Dearest (Ziam Vampire AU)

Chapter 3

Zayn hadn't come to him the day before, and Liam knows that he won't do it on his own. So he gets up the next day, just as the sun sets low in the sky, and plans to corner him. He showers first, dresses in his comfiest sweats because he has a feeling Zayn's going to yell at him, and he prefers to be comfortable when he's getting yelled at.

No one else is up yet, unsurprisingly. Niall sleeps late, and Zayn's words last night have no doubt put Harry in a mood, which means he'll likely sulk in his bedroom for the next week. Liam always gets up the earliest, and he hates it. The house is creepy at dusk, when he's the only one awake. The floorboards creek, and none of the lights are on. The years he's spent living here have yet to make that uncomfortable feeling go away as he pads down the dark hallway in his socked feet, but he has a feeling that no amount of time will ever change that feeling.

Not that he really has anything to worry about, he rationalizes. He lives with the kind of creatures that keep most people awake at night, and he happens to be pretty fond of the three of them.

But if Liam's hallway has him shuddering, Zayn's makes his heart hammer in his chest. The attic has always been the worst, has always seemed the most frightening. It's more cave-like than anything, what with the way Zayn's covered each of the windows with large oil paintings. Sound bounces off the walls with no way to escape, and it's pitch black.

The floor groans underneath him and Liam nearly jumps at the sound. He rolls his eyes at himself and reaches along the wall for the doorknob to Zayn's room, and then he spends the next minute searching for the light switch.

Zayn's room barely brightens. The light in the fixture is weak, barely illuminating the space. Liam's always wondered why Zayn likes it like that, but he's never asked.

Of course, Zayn is still fast asleep in his four-poster bed, burgundy comforters pulled up to his chin. His skin looks even more ashen in the lowlight, his lashes fanned across his cheeks like smudges of black paint. Zayn always looks so much softer when he sleeps, with his hair fluffed around his pillow and his lips parted. When there isn't that hard set to his mouth, and his eyes aren't narrowed black slits, he looks so much younger. But his cheekbones are still sharp, and his jaw is still covered in coarse, dark hair, somehow managing to be jagged and dangerous even at his softest.

"Zayn," Liam says. He reaches out, gently shaking Zayn's shoulder.

Zayn sighs and curls up on himself, tucking his head into the blanket. "Go 'way."

"Wake up," Liam prompts. He shakes Zayn a little harder. "I told you to come see me yesterday."

Zayn's eyes snap open and he lets out an inhuman hiss, all sharp teeth and eyes the colour of coal. Liam snorts at him for it.

"You don't scare me," Liam states, but he kind of does. Only Liam's used to this, used to Zayn's hissy fits in the morning. "Get up."

"Get out," Zayn warns. "I swear I'll—"

"You'll what?" Liam asks. "Hiss at me some more? Flash your fangs again? I'm sorry, Zayn, but you're all bark and no—"

Zayn leaps at him. Liam doesn't even have time to suck in a breath before he's falling, Zayn's weight knocking into him. But Zayn turns them at the last second so it's his own back that smacks against the ground, making Liam's teeth chatter. As soon as they've landed, Zayn flips them over, trapping Liam easily under him.

Liam takes a shuddering breath, looking up into Zayn's eyes. They're once again the colour of chocolate and whiskey mixed together and Liam knows he has nothing to worry about right now. Not that he ever does, he thinks, since he trusts them all completely. He sort of has to, what with the fact that the three of them sink their fangs into him on a weekly basis. There has to be a bit of trust there, or Liam would live in a constant state of fear.