If You Were Mine (Ziam/Niam/Zarry)

Wednesday

Liam pulled on his swim trunks and headed down to the beach, hoping that the sun might be able to burn away the images flitting through his head, of Niall and Luke and Calum, wet from the pool and pressed together, Liam the furthest thing from their minds.

But instead of relief from his thoughts he found something better at the beach: Zayn, stretched out on a lounge chair, a foot dangling off the side so that his toes could rake through the sand, a book in one hand and a drink in the other. And next to him another chair, one that was gloriously empty, calling out to Liam like a beacon. He hesitated briefly, wondering if things would be awkward between them after last night.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked shyly, unable to resist the opportunity to spend more time with him.

A smile tugged at Zayn's lips as he looked up to see that it was Liam who was asking, and Liam wasn't worried anymore. He wasn't anything but happy. He felt lighter, the dark thoughts he'd been having about Niall floating away as he looked at Zayn. Zayn nodded, nudging the chair away from his own with his foot so that Liam had space to walk between them. Zayn was wearing sunglasses, and though Liam couldn't see his eyes he could feel them on his body. Liam was doing the same thing to Zayn, taking in the golden hue of his skin and the details of his tattoos, more eclectic than anything Liam could've ever dreamt up.

Liam smiled to himself as he watched Zayn take a sip of his drink. He would have imagined Zayn sticking to whiskey, or maybe scotch, but here he was, the straw from his strawberry daiquiri trapped between his teeth, and suddenly Liam wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

"So, you from around here?" he asked as he sat down. Zayn laughed, not unkindly, Liam joining him an instant later, his ears reddening. "Just shut up and answer, before I ask you what your sign is, or if you come here often."

"I thought I might get chatted up a bit when I booked this holiday, but I never imagined I'd like it as much as I do coming from you, Liam," Zayn murmured, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head and looking down, his eyelashes resting against his cheekbones. "And I grew up in Bradford, but moved to London a few years back to open a tattoo shop."

"You're a tattoo artist? That's wicked."

Zayn waved the compliment off, sitting up and turning so that he was facing Liam, their knees almost touching. "What about you?"

"I was raised in Wolverhampton but came to London for uni and fell in love with the city. Can't imagine living anywhere else, really."

"And what is it that you do, in London?"

Liam blushed, certain that Zayn was wondering about more than his profession and not minding that at all. "I'm a preschool teacher, and studying to get my Masters in Early Childhood Education."

"Really? That's...I can see that, actually, you looking after a bunch of little kids. It fits, somehow."

Coming from Niall Liam wouldn't have known whether to read that as a compliment or an insult, but he could hear the sincerity and admiration in Zayn's voice.

"I had a bit of a rough time in secondary school," Liam admitted quietly. "Made me want to get to them when they were little, maybe stop them from becoming bullies, or getting bullied themselves."

Zayn nodded, thoughtful. "I bet they think you're some sort of superhero. Probably go crazy whenever you walk into the room," Zayn said, his voice light and flirty.

"You could always come visit my classroom, see for yourself," Liam tossed out excitedly, the thought of seeing Zayn in London making his pulse race. "Maybe give me a tattoo in front of the kids."