As He Moves

Chapter 3

"So... what? McDonalds, or is it that ice cream store downtown that makes the staff sing everything they say?"

They're not even fully in the apartment when the words come out of Zayn's mouth. Liam calmly shuts the door, turns the lock, and then he turns around and gives Zayn a blank look before moving towards his bedroom. And Zayn should let it go, right? He knows he should let it go. A good friend would let it go. A good friend would wait for Liam to tell him on his own terms.

Zayn is apparently not a good friend.

"Seriously, where could you possibly work that is so embarrassing that you can't tell me?" It sounds a lot more hurt than he meant for it to, and Liam stops at the door to his bedroom, shoulders tensed. "I'm not going to make fun of you, Liam, I swear."

"I know that," Liam sighs. He turns around, and the look on his face is way too reminiscent of the one his dog when he was younger used to give whenever he got in trouble. It's all wide eyes and scrunched up brow and pouty lips, and it instantly makes Zayn feel bad. "I just don't see why it's a big deal. Why does it matter where I work?"

Zayn shifts a bit, wrapping his arms around his waist. "It doesn't," he says, but it's pretty obvious to both of them that it does.

Liam raises his eyebrows. "So why is everyone always asking about it, then?"

"Because you're always vague about it!"

The sad-puppy look is gone, replaced with a rabid-dog one. Liam's lips curl, his eyes narrow, and it's not often that Zayn ever sees that look on his face, and he's pretty sure it's never been aimed at him. "It's not your business," Liam says shortly. "If I want to be vague about it, I will. You're my roommate, not my boyfriend. You don't have to know everything about me."

Zayn's mouth closes with an audible clack. The apartment gets deafeningly quiet and there's this horrible feeling in his gut, like he'd eaten too much and it's all threatening to come back up. It's like they're both frozen, him and Liam, neither of them moving or speaking, staring each other down across the room.

Fuck.

"You're right," Zayn finally says, shaking his head. He's always been really good at feigning indifference when someone's hurt him, and this is no exception. "No, you're right. It's not my business. I shouldn't even...."

Liam rubs a hand over his face and Zayn's words trail off, dying in his throat. He should go to his room, he thinks, but he feels rooted to the floor in front of their door, unable to move. And Liam's shoulders are slumped and curved defensively, like he's waiting for Zayn to cross the room and punch him or something.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly.

Zayn doesn't say anything back. His jaw clenches and he wraps his arms a little tighter around himself. He's never felt like he was on unsteady ground with Liam before. Liam is his rock, his fucking everything, nearly, and they've never fought before. He doesn't like this, and he has a feeling that anything he says right now will only make it worse.

"I'm not even embarrassed about it," Liam says, still speaking in a hushed voice as if the shouts from a minute ago are still echoing in the room and anything else will be too much. "It's not about that. It's about – I don't want you to think that –" He cuts off, wincing and tugging at the hem of his shirt. "Do you really want to know?"

"Not if it's going to cause a fight," Zayn says.

"Just." He pauses, taking a deep breath. "198 Lansdown. My next shift is on Thursday. If you really want to know, stop by around ten."

Liam disappears into his room, shutting the door between them. As soon as he's gone, Zayn crosses the room and snatches up the notebook and pen he'd left on the table earlier, quickly scribbling down what Liam had just said.

What the hell is on Lansdown? He tries to remember, but he rarely goes to that side of town. He sticks to the area around the university, never needing to go much farther ever. All his friends live around here, their bar is just two streets down and the grocery store he works at is three.

It doesn't matter. Apparently he's going to find out.

o|o