Tunnel Vision » Ziam AU «

Chapter Fourteen

Between the next show and the next time they all load onto their buses, Liam moves his things into Zayn's bus. And Zayn possibly hid out in his hotel room the entire time to avoid the awkward conversations that could have happened, or the questions Liam could have asked, like "Do you normally invite members of your security to share your bus with you?" or "Why did you have El ask me to share your bus? Why didn't you just ask me yourself?" which Zayn would rather not answer, thanks.

It isn't until they're on the road again, and he climbs into his bus to find Liam already inside, perching nervously on the edge of the couch, that Zayn realizes just how small his tour bus is. Before, it had seemed so big, ridiculously big for just one person. Now, he can't fathom how he and Liam are going to share this space without practically living on top of each other. Unless Zayn hides out in the back room with his bed and keeps the sliding door shut between them constantly.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Liam asks.

Zayn digs around in the bag he'd brought on board, and he shoves the cheap, plastic wrapped, manufacture made brownie that tastes nothing like homemade into his mouth to avoid having to use his words. He grunts and shrugs, and Liam frowns.

"Did they even ask you about it first?" Liam questions. "Or is it like with the inviting me on tour thing, where they just sprung it on you without giving you a choice?"

Zayn swallows, realizing that it's not a frown on Liam's face. It's guilt. Mingled with a bit of nervousness. "I asked them to have you share my bus," Zayn admits. "No one forced it on me."

"Oh." Confusion takes over the guilt, and then a small, hesitant smile pulls at Liam's lips. "Thank you."

Zayn shrugs again. "Do you mind if I-?" he points at the back room. "I'm pretty beat."

"Sure, yeah." Liam nods quickly. "Night."

"The couch pulls out into a bed," Zayn adds on his way past. "If you need more room. And there's a gaming system-" He points to it. "- that you can use whenever. Make yourself at home."

Liam nods and thanks him again as Zayn makes his way to the backroom. As soon as he's inside, he shuts the door and locks it, and then he reaches into the small compartment beside the bed, pulling out his box. He gets a piece of gum for himself first, chewing it until the outer shell no longer leaves gritty pieces in the rest of the gum, and then he pulls out his newest notebook. He had to pick another one up the other day since the last one was completely filled.

He manages to get a few lines down, something that was rattling around in his head all day, over and over, words changing occasionally until they fit better in his head. On the other side of the door, he hears the sound of the X Box starting up. It isn't all that loud, easily ignorable if he wanted, but it's all he can focus on.

The sound of a fake engine starting has him biting his lip, and he remembers Niall switching out Halo: Reach for a racing game even though Zayn has explicitly told him three times not to do that. He listens to the game play for minutes with his pen in his hand, and then he shoves another piece of gum into his mouth before putting his stuff away.

Liam looks up when he opens the door, pausing the game. "Is it too loud?" he asks. "I can mute it, if you like."

Zayn shakes his head. "Two player?"

"Sure," Liam says with a grin, scooting down the couch so there's more room.

Zayn grabs a controller and Liam restarts the game. And then he spends, like, three minutes picking his car and changing the colour. Zayn watches as he flicks past car after car, reading the stats, and he finally picks one, but then he switches it seconds later with a mumbled, "Sorry. I always do this. My friends back home hate playing games with me."