ZIAM ONE-SHOTS (BOTTOM LIAM)

Hello, My Name Is...

Author: insomniacjams

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2663969

Summary:

alternately titled "Hurricane Zayn"

Liam first sees Zayn when he joins an international student club at college.
Zayn first sees Liam when his name appears on Liam's binder with a heart.

Liam + Zayn ♥

"You know, when you said 'come join a club', I imagined, like, twelve people sitting around talking about being an expat or some shit." Louis looked distinctly unimpressed as Liam leeched onto his side. "I don't do people, man. This is weird."

"There's only, like, fifty people here," Louis sighed, dropping Liam into one of the chairs in the circle. "It's a good group, I promise. I've been doing this for years; you'll have fun."

Liam audibly gulped, and Louis rolled his eyes. "Look, you said it yourself – you need to get out and meet people. You can't spend your entire college career hiding in the library."

"I like the library," Liam pouted, but he had said it himself – he was in his third year and he hadn't made a single friend outside of Louis, who as it seemed some days, knew more than three quarters of the entire college.

"Just shut up and get a name tag," Louis sighed, pointing to the sign-in table where a group of people had collected and were fighting over the coloured markers. Liam took a deep breath; he reminded himself that aside from Louis, he'd never met anyone in the room before – he had a blank slate. Everything was going to be just fine.

He made his way over to the table and grabbed a nametag. It was one of those cheap stick-on ones that didn't actually stick well to clothing they sold in packs of 100 for $1.50 at the dollar store. Liam grabbed the nearest marker, a purple one, and scrawled his name across the sticker, right under the "Hello, my name is..." before peeling it carefully from the backing and smacking it on the right side of his t-shirt.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Louis grinned as Liam picked his way across the room back to him.

"Says you," Liam groaned, but Louis wasn't even there to hear it, already whisked away into another conversation by his other friends. Liam hovered awkwardly and eventually just sat down on a chair again, pleased to find there were at least a few other people who didn't know anyone in the group and were seated, playing with their phones or pencil cases.

"Alright everybody," a loud voice pierced through the rising chatter. "It's 5:30 – we need to get started. Everyone find a seat please." Liam watched as the group slowly dispersed from around the sign-in table and found seats in the circle of chairs.

The woman who ran the group, who later introduced herself as Perrie, passed out a few large boxes and said, "These are your binders. You're expected to bring them to every weekly meeting—inside you'll find our monthly schedule, as well as volunteer and leadership opportunities." As she prattled on about the upcoming events (a BBQ, a social night, a pub crawl), Liam looked around the room.

It was a social club for expats, or international students – there was only one major rule of the club, and that was to speak English so everyone could understand. Well, Liam thought, at least he could do that.

At the front of the room, Perrie introduced the support staff that would sit in on the occasional meetings and talked about fundraising that would be done throughout the semester. In fact, Liam tuned most of it out, instead observing the people around the room, already laughing and joking like they'd known each other forever. Liam felt like an idiot for trying to butt his way into a well-established circle of friends, but he clenched his jaw, curled his toes in his shoes, and said nothing.