Tunnel Vision » Ziam AU «

Chapter Twenty Six

He's got the window seat, but he makes Liam switch with him before they settle in. Liam is still looking around in interest, taking everything in. Zayn's seen it all before, and he's been on nicer planes, honestly. At least his and Liam's seats are so close. He's been on flights where there's entire walls of separation between each seat, but this isn't the case today, at least. Their seats are directly beside each other, only a small separation between them. There's enough room between the seats in front of them and behind them for them to recline their chairs far back, too. He takes advantage of that by hitting the button to release the footrest, pulls on the belt, and tries to get comfortable. An eleven hour flight is not something he's looking forward to, even in the cushy, spacious first class seats.

"It's different than I thought," Liam admits as he gets into his own seat. He sits straight up in his seat, still looking around. "It's so big."

Zayn puts his arms behind his head, the picture of comfort. "The perks of first class, babe. You'd be stuffed in like sardines in coach."

Liam's eyes narrow. "Thank you for reminding me that I'm still not talking to you because of that."

That's only half true. His conversation with Eleanor had gone much better than expected. She'd admitted to already having a feeling about his relationship with Liam, and she actually said that it might be good for his publicity. "Everybody loves a scandal," she'd said. Zayn hadn't cared about that. He wanted to get to the point and said as much, and she'd said that it might not be the best for Liam to continue on as his personal bodyguard. And Zayn had thrown a fit.

A tiny, little fit, but still. He hadn't went full-out bratty popstar, but he'd went a little more overboard than he normally does. He doesn't regret it, though. Not when Liam's beside him right now, not jobless. But Liam's still upset at him about the whole flight thing. As soon as they'd gotten over the initial elation at the fact that they didn't have to hide anymore and Liam wasn't getting fired, Liam had taken a vow of silence. That lasted about fifteen minutes until he broke.

That's how it's been for the last three days. Periodically Liam will remember that he's upset with Zayn, and he'll go minutes ignoring him until Zayn kisses him, or tickles him, or makes a joke. At which point Liam will huff and try to look upset while half-smiling, claiming "Your ridiculous lips can't fix every problem, Zayn." But apparently they could, because it always got Liam to forget about the fact that he was angry.

Now, Zayn reaches for Liam's hand and widens his eyes in what is probably a not very good rendition of Liam's puppy-dog look that he sometimes does (that cracks Zayn nearly every damn time, truth be told). "No being angry on the plane," he says.

Liam refuses to hold his hand as he settles into his own seat. "You wouldn't even know if I were angry if I were in coach, where I should be right now."

Before Zayn can argue this again (he really doesn't understand what the big deal is), a flight attendant comes over to them. "Is there anything I can get for either of you before we take off?" she asks. "Also, I would like to inform you that, since your flight will be fairly long, your seats do convert into beds, and if you'd like you can request myself or another steward to help you with this. There's also a separation screen between your seats, if you require more privacy."