One Rainy Day.. {ziam}

Cats And Dogs

particularly heavy rain.

Zayn likes to find the colour in everything.

He's depressed, sure and really wants to not wake up every day but looking at a random things like it's some artistic masterpiece makes him glad to be there, even for a moment. He can't do it with himself but he appreciates every single hair on his family's dog's body, every leaf that's ever whizzed past his head in the autumn and every drop of rain, every musical note he's ever heard (even if it's one or Zedd's off key attempts at Adele). It brings a certain fondness for life, in contrast to his hatred for the suffering and futility of it all.

He's already fond of Liam, though which is why this was a mistake. He likes how Liam has different kinds of laughs, some nervous, some slipping off the tongue before he can hold them back. He likes how Liam genuinely looked at him when he was rambling at the cafe like he actually cared about whatever he was spewing. He likes the crinkles at the sides of Liam's eyes. If he paints Liam, he won't be able to hold back any weird expressions that might arise because as Zedd said the day before, he looks like a man high on love when he thinks about him.

Zayn knows they're just being dramatic about it but the l-word makes him uncomfortable. He can't help that. He enjoys a life of non-commitment and the one time he strayed from that, he got himself hurt. He figures he can be friends with Liam without allowing the fondness he felt for him or the attraction boil over. If it does, he'll simply keep his distance and allow nature to take its course so each forgets about the other, like they'd never met at Arc-en-ceil in the first place. He's done it before, losing many friends over the years that way and Liam Payne would be no different as long as he kept any far-out thoughts away from his mind.

When Liam knocks on the door, he just has to laugh the moment Lola rushes to see who's there and gets swiped off her feet with a light yelp. And then he looks at Liam. He's smiling so hard you can hardly see his eyes, heavy crinkles at the sides as he immediately coos and fawns over her. Zayn tells himself the strange, warm feeling coursing through his body is because he hasn't eaten yet and lets him in.

Just like Zedd did, Liam's friends teased him before he came over, too. It was on a group call and everything, so they could reach Harry and Louis in Italy. Niall was convinced he needed the full squad so they could all convince him that he should give this a shot.

"Give what a shot? I've known the guy not up to a month."

"Yeah? And? What do you think of him so far?"

"Well... I dunno. I know I like him. A lot. I mean, he's a bit guarded and all but aren't we all? Most men tend to be. I'm really curious about how much more I can find under those bloody walls of his, if he'd just make it easier for me and cooperate more. But it's fine cos he's so interesting so far. Like he's so turned off to life which is crazy cos he seems to find so much beauty in things. Yesterday he sent me a pic of a fucking leaf and said it made him think of me. And I was obviously thinking you're crazy mate but then he explained and that was probably one of the nicest compliments I've ever received and... I dunno. Sure, he's super sexy and so and so but there's so much more to him and whoever does get to date him is such a lucky person but it won't be me cos I'm perfectly content being friends with him."

"Well. Shit. You want to suck his dick so bad bud..."

"Niall!"

"I totally agree with Nigel, mate, not sorry bout it either. What's your two cents, love? I really want to get back to that thing we were discussing tryi-"

"Ahem! Well... I was thinking more of how romantic that was but still, yeah... Careful about the guarded type, though. It's hard to get through to them. Spoken from experience."