follow me// larry + ziam (and a side of niall)

14: Zayn

"What do you have homework in today Lou?" Zayn asked as he dropped his backpack to the floor. The boys usually rotate houses weekly, and this time it was Zayn's.

"Uh, English, Chem, and Calculus. But we can just work on Chem and Calculus because I have to wait for Harry to work on our English project." Louis explained to him. 

"Speaking of Harry, since when are you two friends?" Zayn curiously urged. Louis' cheeks turned bright red, and Zayn instantly knew they weren't just friends. "Oh my god, are you guys a thing?" Zayn clapped his hands together. Louis bit his lip in contemplation. 

"Well, we aren't really dating but I think it's safe to say we're more than just friends." He told him.

"Since when? Two weeks ago you hated him." Zayn said, bewildered. 

"I never hated him, just intimidated more. And we first kissed at Ava's party." Memories flooded back through Zayn's mind, seven minutes in heaven, the hickey. 

"Oh wow I forgot about that." Zayn admitted. 

"Yeah. I had an episode at her house though, and Harry helped me." Louis lowered his head in shame. 

"Lou, stop it," Zayn used two fingers to pull the boy's chin up, "You've got to stop being ashamed of this. It's part of you, and we all have our demons. Even Harry." Zayn knew that he was the only one who really knew about Louis' problems. ADHD affected how Louis studied, so it made a lot more sense when Zayn finally squeezed it out of him. Zayn learned about the Oneirophobia (fear of dreams) when Louis accidentally fell asleep on his couch and he ended up helping the boy through an episode.

"I know, and you're right, but my brain is telling me otherwise." Louis sighed and flipped open his Calculus book. "What about you and Liam? I saw you pull him into the janitor's closet, by the way." Zayn tensed up, he didn't want Louis to know about him liking guys, let alone liking Liam.

"He was just being an ass and I needed to talk some sense into him." Zayn let out a nervous giggle, and Louis eyed him suspiciously. 

"You're a horrible liar Zayn, but I can tell you don't want to talk about it so I'll drop it." Louis looked back down at his textbook. 

"Thank you." Zayn said quietly.

"Do you know how to do this one?" Louis pointed at a problem on the paper, and Zayn pulled out his pencil. 

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"Alright, Zayn and Liam, you two will be helping out with the 1st graders. Ms. Madison will show you the ropes." All the volunteers stood with their partners, and Mr. Rhodes was handing out name tags. 

"Thank you." Liam smiled at the teacher when his tag was passed to him, and Zayn did the same. A tall and slender woman, in the early 20s maybe, walked up to Zayn and Liam. 

"Hi! I'm Madison, you're Zayn and Liam right?" She asked. 

"Yup." Zayn nodded. 

"Awesome. Come with me and I'll give you some brief training and instruction." The boys listened to her talk about the kids in her group and how they learning aspect would go for about 20 minutes. Parents began to shuffle in with their kids slowly but surely.

"Ms. Madison, who's the new teachers?" A little girl named Allicen tugged on Madison's shirt sleeve. 

"Boys, do you want to introduce yourselves?" She asked, and they both nodded. 

"I'm Zayn--"

"Mr." Madison corrected.

"I'm Mr. Zayn." He tried again.