Something Great (Ziam AU)

Chapter Fifty Three

Chapter Fifty Three – Zayn

Zayn chews his lip, and picks at his fingers as Harry pulls into a parking space at the airport, “what if you know who murders me?” he asks quietly, Harry shakes his head and Niall barks out a laugh from the backseat. “No one is going to murder anybody. Louis promised me” Harry smirks making Zayn grin, “Josh promised too” Niall adds and Zayn shakes his head at them “it will all be fine Zayn, eventually. You'll see” Harry soothes. Zayn just nods, because he's not sure it's going to work out at all, and he just wants to be with Liam again, have his strong arms wrapped around him once again. It's been three days since Liam had shown him the picture, and Twitter was in an uproar about it, everyone had a theory about it, and the surprising thing to Zayn was that Liam's management were keeping quiet so far about the whole thing. Liam and Louis weren't saying much on Twitter either, they were both ignoring any and all tweets about the subject. Zayn himself had been bombarded with new Twitter followers and hundreds of mentions a day asking him about Liam, Zayn chose to ignore them for the most part, not giving any information away at all.

The worst part of the past three days for Zayn has been watching Eleanor's silent attack, Liam had been forced onto several dates with Lexie in the three days since the picture's reveal and every single one was completely photographed and filled with forced kissing. Zayn's stomach turns with every new photo of his boyfriend kissing Lexie, even with warning from both Liam and Louis that they were coming the first set of them caught him by surprise and he spent a large portion of the evening curled up on the couch crying into Harry's chest, while Liam called out apologies from Skype on the laptop on the coffee table, and Niall cursed quietly at him from Zayn's other side.

“You need to go check in Zee” Harry murmurs snapping Zayn out of his thoughts, he nods and fiddles with the sketchbook in his lap, “I just, I'm not sure I can do this” he murmurs. Harry sighs and Niall reaches over the seat to rest his hand on Zayn's shoulder “you can do this, Liam needs you right now” Niall murmurs and Zayn furrows his eyebrows turning to look at his blond best friend. “I know, I'm just scared I can't be what he needs” Zayn murmurs, turning to look out the window, “you are what he needs, you have been since the day of the contest when you two met. Liam needs you to be there for him, the same way you need Liam there for you” Harry sighs and Zayn nods, opening his door to climb out. Once his feet are on the pavement, he reaches in to grab his backpack throwing it over his shoulder, as Harry comes around the car with his suitcase and Niall climbs out of the car as well. The three don't say another word as they link arms and make their way into the busy, and crowded airport. Harry's still pulling Zayn's suitcase, and Niall is steering all three of them expertly around people and obstacles, to get them to the desk Zayn needs to check his luggage at.

Zayn needs to board his plane, it's leaving in twenty minutes and the announcement is warning it's the final call for all passengers, he sighs and throws his arms around Harry's neck tightly, “I'll call you when I land” he mumbles against Harry's skin. Harry chuckles, “you better, and Louis says he'll meet you at the airport with Jim” he says and Zayn nods, before pulling away “I'll miss you Haz” he mumbles. Harry grins “you won't be gone too long, and you'll be busy. But I'll miss you too” he teases. Zayn rolls his eyes and moves on to Niall, “I'll miss you too Irish” he chuckles and he hugs Niall tightly, “I'll miss you too Zee” Niall replies hugging him back. Zayn pulls away and adjusts his backpack, and grips his sketchbook firmly, he nods at Harry and Niall before turning and heading towards his gate. He turns back and waves one last time after handing over his ticket, and heads onto the plane to find his seat for the short flight to Liam.

Zayn gets lost in finishing a sketch of Liam as soon as the plane takes off, his headphones in his ears and the music instantly taking over his senses, so he doesn't even notice the plane is about to land, until a flight attendant politely taps his shoulder and asks him to do up his seat belt. Once the plane lands Zayn quietly waits to get off and go find his luggage, sighing in relief when he sees it come down the belt moments after he arrives. He grabs his suitcase and carefully makes his way through the airport with his head down hoping no one recognizes him before he finds Louis. Thankfully Louis is easy to spot and Zayn's instantly relieved when he's standing beside the older boy, and Jim is taking his suitcase from his hands. Louis instantly wraps Zayn in a comforting hug without saying a word as soon as his hands are free, “I'm sorry about everything Zayn, and trust me if I ever find out who took that picture I'll personally kill them” Louis mutters as he pulls away and Zayn grins. “It's not your fault Louis, we knew the risks and we went out anyways” Zayn shrugs smiling at him slightly. Jim gently grabs for Zayn's elbow as Louis falls into step beside him, “we need to go now boys, I think some people just figured out who you are” he murmurs. Louis chuckles “they don't care about me” he smirks and Jim rolls his eyes “just stay close” he says and Zayn and Louis nod as Jim steers them towards the nearest exit.

Zayn sighs in relief once they're safely in the car and driving in the direction of the hotel everyone is staying in, he never realized how stressful getting out of the airport could be until now. “You ok?” Louis asks, rolling his head to look at Zayn and Zayn nods slowly, “yea, I just want to see Liam” he sighs and Louis chuckles. “He just wants to see you too” he teases and Zayn sighs, “how's he really doing?” he asks quietly and Louis shrugs, “honestly, I've never seen him like this. I know he's scared, and I know he's freaking out but he's not willing to discuss it, and that kind of scares me” Louis says honestly and Zayn bites his lip. “What do I do?” he asks playing with his fingers, Louis grins, “you be you, I really think that's all he needs” he answers and Zayn nods, “I can do that” he murmurs and Louis chuckles “I know you can, and honestly don't worry about anything that comes out of Eleanor's mouth in the next couple days alright? She's always crazy but right now she's just plain awful” he warns and Zayn nods turning his gaze to look out the window.

They pull up to the hotel a few minutes later and Louis sighs, Zayn looks out the window to see the large amount of fans surrounding the building and lightly taps his head against the window. “How are we supposed to get through that?” Zayn asks quietly and Louis chuckles “keep your head down and stay close” he grits out as the car comes to a complete stop. Zayn nods and Louis chuckles “it's not so bad, and just remember your boy is on the other side” he says and Zayn swallows thickly, “ready?” Louis asks and Zayn shakes his head, “no” he mumbles and Louis laughs, “well, they've doubled since I left to pick you up, I think it's now or never” Louis teases. Zayn smiles tightly “yea, ok, lets go” he mumbles, Louis grins and pushes open the car door, Zayn notices Jim is already there and and Alec and another member of the security team whose name he doesn't know are pushing their way towards them through the crowd. The noise is deafening and Zayn is thankful as Louis grabs his hand and pulls him quickly through the crowd of fans, some are trying to grab at his clothes, and others are shouting things that Zayn can't quite hear, or understand. After what seems like forever Jim is pushing Zayn and Louis through an open door, and he finds himself in the back of the hotel's kitchen. “I think we're clear now, Louis you got him from here?” Jim asks as he looks out the small window beside the door, Louis nods and eyes Zayn curiously, “yea I'll deliver him” he chuckles and Jim nods before walking away quickly.

They ride the elevator to the top floor and as soon as the doors open Louis grabs Zayn's bag and leads Zayn to the right and down the hallway stopping in front of the last door on the hallway's left side. Louis presses a key card into his hand and grins, “my room's right across the hall if you need anything. Now go get your boy, he needs you” Louis murmurs before he disappears into the room he just indicated as his own. Zayn takes a deep breath to centre himself, before sticking the key card into the door and pushing it open and struggling to pull his bag through. Once inside Zayn takes a look around, the room is similar to all the ones they stayed in while he was on the tour with Liam but he doesn't see the brown eyed boy anywhere. He does however hear the shower turning off in the bathroom, so he drops his backpack in a corner pulling his suitcase over to it as well, before he lowers himself onto the couch to wait for Liam to come out.

He's not waiting long before the door clicks open and Liam walks out of the bathroom in just a pair of sweatpants, Zayn eyes his half naked body hungrily for a moment before Liam's eyes seem to focus completely on Zayn. “You're here” Liam breathes and Zayn nods taking in the bags under Liam's eyes “yea I'm here” he murmurs, before Liam stumbles the last few steps to where Zayn is sitting and falls onto the couch beside him, wrapping his arms around Zayn's body and pulling him close. Zayn breathes in Liam's scent, as he wraps his own arms around Liam's waist, burying his face in his shoulder. Liam's cast is heavy where it sits across his back, “I missed you, Baby” Liam sniffles and Zayn frowns, “Li, are you crying?” he asks gently. Liam shakes his head, “no, I'm just, ok maybe” he chuckles and Zayn smiles holding Liam a little tighter.