As He Moves

Chapter 9

Ever since that day he went to the strip club, Zayn's been on unsteady ground with Liam. Sure, things didn't crumble the way he expected, but still. Things are different, only it's not him that's making them that way. He thought it would be, thought that Liam would for sure realize how Zayn felt because he couldn't stop checking Liam out or thinking about kissing and touching him, but it's Liam who's changed.

It was that Friday before the bar where it started, he thinks, with the random hand touching and then the suggestive comments about Zayn in his clothes later on. And then that day he was working out in their living room and he'd spotted Zayn watching him and he'd acted like it was no big deal. And then that day Zayn came home to Liam being quite loud in the bedroom with no one but himself.

Liam is playing with him.

Maybe it's not even intentional, but it doesn't matter. It's like every opportunity he gets, he gets Zayn going like crazy. Soft touches, these little secretive looks on his faces, the way he says things sometimes. Zayn is convinced Liam doesn't even realize he's doing it, but he is doing it.

And tonight— tonight takes the cake.

Zayn's curled up on the sofa, text book in front of him, glasses slipping down his nose as he flips through the pages, sighing periodically because it's part of his homework routine. Liam comes out of his bedroom, cigarette dangling from his fingers (one of Zayn's, and he didn't even ask but Zayn doesn't mind because it's not like Liam smokes all that often— and he has a feeling he's a reason for that recent bad habit, too, because when they first moved in together Liam looked at cigarettes like they were the devil) and his phone pressed to his ear, this impossibly bright grin on his face.

"Yeah, I'll definitely be there," he's saying, and every word Zayn's read in the last ten minutes slips from his mind, forgotten. "Sounds good. Bye." Liam hangs up, pocketing his phone, and then he says, "Guess who was just offered a thousand quid an hour to do a party tomorrow?"

Zayn's eyes go comically wide, and he chokes on air. "What?"

Liam laughs, falling onto the sofa, jostling Zayn's books. "Remember when I told you I was good at what I did? I meant really good. I make more money than all the guys I work with, and I was just requested to do a birthday party for some – I don't know, really. All I know is they're giving me a thousand an hour because it's such short notice, and they've got me booked for two."

"That's— Shit," Zayn breathes. That's more than he makes in a month in one fucking day. "Are they hiring by any chance?"

Liam laughs again, hand falling onto Zayn's thigh. "I'll ask Alex," he jokes, but they both know Zayn isn't serious. He wouldn't be able to do it. It's not that he's self-conscious about his body or how he looks (quite the opposite, most of the time) but he doesn't think he could handle being the center of attention to thirty women while completely naked. "But I need to practice my routine, actually. Do you mind?"

"Nah, it's fine," Zayn says. "I'll let you know if the music gets too loud." Liam gets up, and he expects him to head into his bedroom but instead Liam starts moving the coffee table, and Zayn realizes— "Wait, you meant out here?"

Liam freezes, eyebrows drawing together. "There's not enough room in my bedroom. Is that going to be a problem?"

Zayn shakes his head, dropping his eyes to avoid Liam's gaze. "No, that's— Yeah, that makes sense. It's fine. I'll just... keep doing my homework and you— yeah."

"Let me know if I distract you and I can stop," Liam tells him.

Zayn snorts out loud. The chances of him not distracting Zayn right now are slim to none. In fact, he's already distracted and Liam's done no more than move the table out of the way to give himself more space. He hasn't even turned the music on or started dancing, and as soon as he does Zayn knows that any and all concentration he has will fly out the cracked window to his left.