Don't Go

5

It’s so easy to settle into life in his apartment. He gets up early to walk Jessie. He has a quick shower before heading to class, and then he comes home afterwards and walks Jessie again before getting ready for work, if he has it that day. If he doesn’t, he walks Jessie, relaxes for a bit, and then ends up either at Harry’s with Niall or the two of them and Louis come over to hang out for a bit.

The apartment looks more like a home already. For one, there’s actual food in the cupboards, not just expired cans of beans. Zayn makes a habit of leaving tiny messes wherever he goes, just to prove that someone does live there. Like the cup on the coffee table, or the comb on the sink in the bathroom, or the plate on the counter. Little things that would be easy to clean up, he just doesn’t bother.

And he forgets about Liam coming home. Harry never said an exact date, and when Zayn had asked, he said there wasn’t one. Just a vague time frame of which Liam could arrive home. So on Thursday after class and a particularly bad walk with Jessie -- she pulled him into a giant puddle and then shook herself off afterwards, affectively soaking him from head to toe-- he jumps in the shower without bringing extra clothes to change into. He’ll just walk from the bathroom to his bedroom in his towel.

It’s almost like Liam doesn’t exist, in his mind. He’s just a person mentioned in passing, a friend of a friend who he’s never met, and probably never will. Someone who’s name you might remember, but who you never give more than a few seconds worth of thought.

When he steps out of the bathroom, steam billowing out around him, and sees someone knelt down on the floor near the hallway, petting Jessie, he doesn’t put the pieces together. He just doesn’t get it. At least, not until the guy stands up, his eyes slowly slipping down Zayn’s body while a blush rises to his cheeks, and says, “Hi. I’m Liam.”

And Zayn is so, so fucked. “Hi,” he squeaks out, too aware of the fact that he’s practically fucking naked, with only a towel tied around his waist. His hair is wet and water’s dripping down his shoulders, too, and this isnot how they were supposed to meet.

“You’re Zayn, right?” he asks, and Zayn notes the way that, after that first time, his eyes do not waver from Zayn’s, like he’s making a point of meeting his eyes instead of looking elsewhere.

“Yeah,” Zayn says slowly. “I was just--,”

Jessie takes that moment to stand between the two of them, her tail wagging like crazy. She looks between Zayn and Liam and then sits down and barks once.

“Oh,” Liam blinks at her. “She probably just needs to go out.”

“I just took her,” Zayn says, frowning at Jessie, for a minute forgetting the fact that he feels incredibly awkward. “Pulled me into a puddle, didn’t you?”

Jessie looks pleased with herself, and continues to wag her tail.

“I’m so sorry,” Liam says quickly, eyes wide. “She gets like that when it rains. It’s her worst habit. I take her to the beach during the summer, and she loves the water.”

Zayn nods and then looks down at himself. “I should, um, go change.”

“Right!” Liam says loudly. “You should-- definitely-- right. I’m going-- I need to talk to Harry, anyways.” He’s already turning around. “I’ll see you after,” he call over his shoulder.