Lover Dearest (Ziam Vampire AU)

Chapter 12

He's suddenly assaulted by – everything. It's so loud. The people all around them, crowds of them. Their chattering and laughter and shouting to friends in the distance. There's a beeping to his left, followed by a loud, "We have a winner!" and music pouring from every direction. There's flashing lights on everything. He was right about it getting darker, because it's nearly night, now, the sky is a deep navy, not quite black. But everything about where they are is so bright. Flashing greens and blues and red, beacons of light beckoning him closer.

"Fair," Zayn explains.

Liam can see that. There's rides, and booths. There's food stands and games. There's a brightly lit, impossibly huge Ferris wheel. It's amazing. It's the most incredible thing Liam's ever seen.

"Zayn," Liam breathes. His chest feels tight, and he's a little overwhelmed but in the best way.

"It's my way of saying sorry," Zayn elaborates. "You deserve something to make you happy, yeah? And I'm trying to bribe you into forgiving me."

Liam doesn't care why. He feels like a kid on Christmas morning. There's this ride in the distance that turns and twists and flips people upside down until their arms are hanging and they're screaming in fear or enjoyment, Liam really can't tell. There's a game to his right where a little boy is struggling to hit a button with a hammer that looks too heavy for him as his older brother laughs and holds anf armful of stuffed animals. There are so many people, more than Liam's used to seeing, with cotton candy and corndogs and tickets in their hands.

He's watched TV shows and movies with fairs. He's read about them in books. But they don't really compare to the real thing. To the energy in the air, of laughter and excitement. And the smell of carnival food or the onslaught of sound. It's so much. It's all so much to take in.

"Zayn," Liam says again, because he can't really form any other words.

Zayn takes his hand, a rare grin on his face. "What do you want to do first?" he asks.

And Liam says, "Everything."

Laughing, Zayn tugs him off towards a large, glass-cased booth with a bored looking woman inside. There's a list taped to the glass that reads, 10 tickets for 10, 20 tickets for 15, 35 for day pass.

"The day pass lets us go on anything as many times as we want, right?" Zayn asks.

The woman sighs. "Obviously." She lifts her gaze to Zayn, and she quickly scrambles to add, "I mean, yes, sir, that's correct."

Zayn smiles tightly. "We'll take two, then."

He fishes into pocket, pulling out a thick, stuffed wallet. Liam raises his eyebrows, but he's not all that surprised. They're loaded, Zayn and the others. And Liam isn't going to feel at all guilty that Zayn's spending money on him. In fact, now that the high of excitement has died down just a bit, Liam plans on taking advantage of this. If this is Zayn's way of apologizing, Liam is going to milk him for everything he's got.

The woman in the booth asks them to hold out their hands, and she wraps a thin, slightly uncomfortable paper bracelet around each of their wrists, fingers lingering a little long on Zayn's. And then Liam realizes that, oh, right, she would. Zayn's beautiful. Liam would have done the same thing. It's just a little weird, being around someone else who gets that. Niall and Harry, they don't seem at all effected by the way Zayn looks. But Liam is, and apparently so is the girl in the booth.

When they're done, Zayn puts his wallet away and grabs Liam's hand again, a little tightly as they move into the thick of things. There's a pathway with leading to this ride that consists of a long train of carts pulled quickly along a track surrounded by flashing lights. Even as Liam watches, the ride suddenly jerks backwards, going in the opposite direction. It's making him dizzy just watching it.