Long Story Short (Short Stories & Thoughts)

Drown (Ziam)

Title: Drown

Pairings: Zayn/Liam

Rating: PG-13 (For suicidal themes)

Word Count: 2,164

Summary: Everyone knows Zayn can't swim, but Zayn knows it best of all. And he loves it. 

Disclaimer: Sorry, but I've been having quite a few Ziam feels lately. So I decided to write this, and it's immensley angsty, but I actually really love it, and hope you all do too. I recommend listening to Moments, by One Direction (on the right) while reading, to set the mood. 

            Zayn loved the water because it was infinite. 

            He loved the way it glistened in the sunlight and reflected in the moonlight, the way it lapped at the shore. The blunt power it had in a storm and the refreshing feeling it had when it ran down a person’s throat.

             Though those were all very lovable things about water, they were also things to fear. They were things Zayn feared. 

            Swimming had never been something he thought he’d need, something he never bothered to learn. In result, he simply stayed away from water if he could, and that was the end of that problem. 

            Whenever the boys pushed him into water on accident, they would all immediately dive in again, remembering his incompetence in the liquid. Whenever Zayn did get too involved with the water, someone was always there to pull him out again, usually one of the boys. 

            Though it had always been something he’d been concerned about before, now he was glad he’d never learned. Not knowing how to swim opened up just another possibility, another possibility of a different ending. 

            This time, no one was there to pull him out. 

            Right now he stood at the shore, fully clothed the way he had been before, the way he had been at the interview they’d just finished not an hour ago. 

            “Zayn, are you feeling alright?” He was asked before it began, but he didn’t answer. He had avoided the person’s eyes, he didn’t like seeing concern or pity, not for him. 

            “Most of you have been single for a while, right?”

            Zayn took another step into the water, feeling it seep through his clothes. Though it was as cold as ice, it barely seemed to touch him, for he didn’t even shiver. 

            “Zayn, you haven’t dated anyone since Perrie a few months ago?”

            He was waist deep now. 

            Zayn had shaken his head no, a simple and silent answer. Some people in the crowd had squealed, screamed happily even, though it didn’t matter. None of it did anymore. 

            He had loved Perrie, he had loved her with all his heart, but he realized all those months ago that she wasn’t quite what he wanted, or what he needed. That didn’t stop him from loving her, but it wasn’t quite in the way everyone thought he did. 

            Zayn didn’t even really know what he wanted. He didn’t know who he liked, who he felt for. All he really knew was that he didn’t have a purpose anymore. The band didn’t need him, Perrie didn’t need him, no one did.