Ziam oneshots ✔️

Wanna Jump Real Hard (With Someone Like You) II

Liam Payme exhaled heavily and forced himself to rap his knuckles quickly against the apartment door before he lost his nerve.

Then he waited.

He could hear music playing inside—not obnoxiously loud so that the neighbours would be bothered, but just loud enough that Liam could hear because he was paying attention, so it was probably a little loud inside the apartment and maybe Zayn Malik was dancing around a bit—

The door opened, and then Zayn was actually standing there, in grey sweatpants and a baggy blue shirt, glasses on rather than his contacts which probably meant he was watching TV, and his hair was all messy and shoved all out at weird angles.

"Liam?" Zayn's voice was a little confused, but it was still kind and even and that made Liam's eyes sting. "Are you okay?"

"Can I—" Liam swallowed hard, looking to the side and rubbing a hand over the arm of his silk blouse, noticing the music was a lot quieter now. "Can I come in?" He asked softly.

Zayn pursed his lips together and for a split second, Liam thought that he was going to say no, but then he was stepping aside and jerking his head backwards.

"Sure thing," he said quietly.

Liam let out a shaky breath as he stepped into the apartment, eyes flicking from side to side as Zayn closed the door behind him and then lead the way across the open lounge, over to the kitchen.

"I wasn't that hungry, so I was just having a smoothie for dinner," Zayn shrugged. "You want one?"

Liam looked a the array of ingredients that were laid out on the counter and part of him wanted to smile and shake his head at how different their versions of a smoothie were—Liam's were filled with coconut water, avocado, pine nuts, protein powder, spinach, almond milk, and sometimes there were dried cranberries when he was feeling extra generous toward himself, whereas Zayn had a bag of mixed berries, honey, ice cream, full cream milk, yoghurt and some M&M's on the bench next to the smoothie maker.

It looked like an incredibly indulgent dessert, and there was no way Liam could deny himself one if it was being offered.

"Thank you," Liam said softly as he followed Zayn into the kitchen area, his toes curling into the bottom of his Chelsea boots, trying to ground himself as he pressed his fingernails into the palms of his hands.

"Take a seat," Zayn nodded at the barstools on the other side of the breakfast bar as he moved to take another smoothie glass out of the cupboard, Liam watching his fingers closely, the veins in his hands flexing, the gorgeous ink on the back of his hand shading and sculpting the image of a beautiful masterpiece.

"Is there anything here that you don't like?" He asked as he turned back around and Liam tried not to look as though he had been staring, although he felt as though he was always staring when he was around Zayn.

"Um...No," he shook his head, and then let out another shuddery breath that he hoped was quiet, but when his eyes lifted, his gaze met Zayn's.

His breath caught in his throat, and he wondered if Zayn was going to call him out, ask to know why he was at his apartment for the first time by himself in forever—in the whole time they had known each other—but Zayn seemed to decide against it and started filling the smoothie machine.

Zayn only had one ring on tonight, the silver one on his pinky with a greenish-blue stone, which was a change from the usual, since he always seemed to have enough silver on his hands to weigh down a small horse.

The smoothie machine was loud, and Liam flinched when it started even though he had been expecting it, but once he was done, Zayn still softly apologized, even though it wasn't his fault, and it wasn't as though he was the one intruding on someone's evening.