𝑍𝐼𝐴𝑀 𝑂𝑁𝐸 𝑆𝐻𝑂𝑇𝑆☁︎

1. You & I

"You and I, we're one too many worlds apart
It really shouldn't work but it does
And side by side, we're different but
somehow the same
It really shouldn't work but it does
It really shouldn't work but it does
When it comes to us."

Coffee.

Coffee.

What I needed was some fucking coffee, Liam decided, as he made an abrupt 180° in the direction he had come.

There was only one place he could think of that had coffee worth buying, and was open this time of the night.

He glanced down at his watch. It read 10:25 p.m.

There was a homeless man who stood at the corner of Lyndale and 83rd. His clothes looked incredibly worn and paved in dirt, which almost matched the aesthetic of the New York City streets. Liam felt obligated to slip some change into the styrofoam cup of his bony fingers, but there were far too many homeless people in New York City to donate money to.

The building the man sat beside, was a little hole in the wall of a coffee shop. Something Liam had stumbled upon on another one of his nightly adventures.

He took one last hit of the cigarette He was smoking, before killing it on the ashtray above the trash bin outside the building.

As he opened the door, his senses were instantly hit with the strong aroma. His craving for the hot, soothing drink only intensified.

The place itself was nice. It was far too small and a little cramped, but homey nonetheless. Fairy lights were strung across the roof of the shop and around the pillars that held up the ceiling. He expected the cafe to be dead and empty so late into the night, so it took him by surprise when He saw another figure sitting by the window.

His eyes gravitated to that boy, as he glanced out through the panels of the glass. He could see the bright blue wire from his earbuds peek out under his thick scarf. He wore a knitted hat, but it did nothing to tame his hair that practically covered the surface area of his shoulders.

Zayn didn't mean to get lost in thought. It sort of just happened. He, too, had stumbled into the cafe at this odd time of the night. He hadn't even known cafes could stay open this late, so it came to his surprise when the neon OPEN Sign flashed through the window of this hole in the wall.

He had walked in and ordered himself a regular cup of coffee. There was no one there when he arrived.

He hadn't attempted to take off his thick army green jacket. Instead, he continued to sit there, staring out the window as his fingers gently traced the rim of his coffee mug. From this angle, Liam could see how sharp Zayn's facial features were... but he wanted to see more.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the lady at the register welcoming him.

"Great to see you again, Liam, what can I grab for you?" He asked. He recognized his face, but never remembered her name. He was sure it started with an S or was it a C? He was always working whenever he came in.

"Hi" He smiled. "Just a cup of coffee tonight. Black with one sugar."

He nodded to him, then turned to get to work.

He glanced back over at the guy that he had seen earlier, and his eyes caught his. His face was expressionless as he stared blankly back at him.

Though Zayn wasn't actually listening to any music, he was so consumed by his thoughts, he hadn't noticed anyone else come in. He offered him a small smile, but he just turned around and glanced back out the window.