Kerosene ~Zarry~

Chapter 2.

Zayn gets out of his Jeep and slings his duffle bag over his shoulders again, as he heads to the open garage doors of The 118.

Almost as soon as he walks in, someone stops him with a hand in front of his chest. "Who are you?" The man asks. He has brown hair, blue eyes, and a strong build.

"Zayn-" Zayn starts.

"Malik." The man cut him off. "The new guy." He says and Zayn nods. The man stares at him, blank face and hard exterior. Until he breaks into a wide smile and puts his hand out for Zayn to shake. "I'm Niall." He says still smiling.

Zayn gives a halfhearted smile and shakes his hand. "A pleasure." Niall states. Zayn just nods his head.

"Where's your chief?" Zayn asks, looking around the fire house until his eyes land on an office in the corner of the first floor.

Niall follows Zayn's gaze and nods his head. "He's in there." Zayn nods a thanks as Niall pats his back.

As Zayn walks to the office, he notices a table with a framed picture in the middle, and flowers and cards surrounding it. He knew that was for Firefighter Centineo, and he would pay his respects later.

He knocks on the door of the office once he reaches it, and a couple of seconds later someone opens the door. He looks at Zayn for a couple of seconds with a blank face, then shoulder checks him as he walks by.

"You can come in." Zayn hears form inside the office. Zayn turns and looks after the guy who opened the door with a confused face. What did he do? Zayn shakes it off and walks into the office. "Door." The man behind the desk says, and Zayn closes it.

The man turns and faces Zayn. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and was very muscular. The man motions for Zayn to walk closer, he does. "Sit." Zayn sits. "Who are you?" Chief asks.

"Zayn Malik." Zayn says and the man nods.

"Liam Payne." Liam says, "Fire Chief." He finished and reaches his hand over the desk for Zayn to shake it. "Good to have you on the team, Zayn." Liam says.

Zayn just nods his head and Liam continues to tell him additional information that wasn't on the papers. Then Liam tells Zayn who will be giving him a tour of the house. "Firefighter Styles will tour you, I believe you've already...met." Liam says.

He sounded a little irritated and Zayn was confused by his statement. "He was in my office before you." Liam clarifies.

"Oh." Zayn says with a frown. Liam must have noticed because he spoke up.

"Don't take anything he says or does to heart. Firefighter Centineo was his friend. He took it, pretty bad." Liam says sadly.

"I'm sorry." Zayn says. He knows how it feels to lose a friend, and more.

Liam nods at him with a small smile of appreciation. "Thank you. I've already told Styles he will be touring you around, you can head out and he will be waiting." Liam says.

Zayn nods a thank you and stands up. They shake hands again and Zayn walks out of the office and to the lockers, where he changes his shirt and puts his duffle bag away.

Zayn heard his phone ding as he shut his locker and turned to walk out. He got a text from the babysitter, it was an image attached of a drawing Alana had made.

It was of Zayn, climbing down a ladder while holding a baby kitten, having just saved it from the burning house next to him. The words scribbled at the bottom of the page said "Dada is my hero!" And a big heart on the side.

Zayn smiled brightly and started walking out of the locker area. "My little artist!" He wrote back with a heart and sent it. Zayn was about to put his phone away when he bumped into someone.