Coalesce

THREE

Louis wakes up to his phone buzzing on the chest of drawers on his side of the bed. He frowns, flinging an arm out from under the covers and batting at the screen a couple times until the vibrations stop. He huffs, cracking an eye open and rolling over in the bed, mumbling something tiredly beneath his breath when he finds that it's barely even slightly light out, meaning it's likely the early hours on a Saturday, his one day off, and now he's awake when he could've been getting a lie-in.

Zayn breathes evenly beside him, stirring slightly at the sudden movement, rolling over to face him and slinging an arm over his middle. Louis smiles, cuddling closer to the man and drifting off again.

When he wakes the second time, maybe two or three hours later, they're still in that same position. He smiles tiredly, tilting his head up to plant a gentle kiss on the man's chin. Zayn's lips twitch upwards in his sleep before he slowly blinks his eyes open and stretches slightly.

"Hmmm, mornin'," he greets, leaning down to kiss him on the forehead instead.

"Good morning," Louis replies in a whisper, reaching his arms up to stretch himself before reaching out to clumsily grab his phone, wincing at the brightness on the screen before he reads through the notifications, frowning at all the voicemails to at have been left.

He yawns, dialling the three-digit number and holding the phone up to his ear, laughing a little as he leans back on the pillows and Zayn throws one arm and a leg over him like a child, nuzzling his face into his neck. Then the first message plays and he stops laughing, heart pounding instead.

Zayn pulls away and he sits upright, lowering the phone from his ear. The other man frowns at him.

"What's wrong?"

Louis looks across at him, throat tightening. "The apartment. The whole place is being put under review, it's being deemed a risk. Our landlord thinks we should start looking for somewhere else to live," he says, running both hands down his face, the stress already getting to him.

The apartment is the place he and Anna had raised Niall, their home and — oh, god, Niall. How the hell is he supposed to tell him about this? That place is all the boy has left of his mother. There's no way he'll be able to handle letting it go.

He doesn't even realise how shallow his breath has become until Zayn rests a hand on his back and another on his cheek, tilting his head up slightly.

"Hey, hey, breathe. We'll sort this out," he soothes, and Louis looks at him almost desperately. Zayn traces his thumb over his cheekbone gently. "Did he say it's for definite? You can't keep the place?"

Louis stutters a nod. "He didn't say much, told me to call him back, but he said it's likely the place is gonna have to be bulldozed, rebuilt. That could take years, Z, I don't —"

"Stay here. This is your home already, it would never have felt right for the two of you to leave anyw —"

Louis cuts him off by pressing their lips together, hands rising up to hold either side of his boyfriend's face. Zayn automatically kisses back, then blinks in surprise upon pulling away.

Then Louis pauses, frowns, and slumps, shaking his head. "Z, I love you. But the apartment, it's Ni's home. I can't just tear that away from him —"

"You wouldn't be tearing it away from him, Lou. You can't go back there anyway," Zayn argues.

He sighs, chewing his lip. "I know. I know that, but I can't say yes before speaking to Ni. I don't...shit, Z, I don't know how he's gonna react. He misses her. He might want to live somewhere closer to the apartment or..."