Zayn was waiting outside Louis' dressing room. Louis and Zayn had agreed to meet there after the concert. After a minute or two, Louis arrived, still damp from water fight with Liam.
"Hey, Z," Louis greeted his bandmate with a smile.
"Hey, Lou. Why'd you ask me to meet with you?"
The older lad chuckled. "Jumping straight to the point I see." Gesturing to his dressing room, he added, "Why don't we go in? I gotta change into some dry clothes."
Zayn followed his friend into the room and plopped himself down on the couch. He watched as Louis grabbed a new shirt and some shorts and set them on the table.
"Thankfully, Liam managed to completely avoid my boxers," Louis stated. Then, with a smirk, he continued, "I got the bloke everywhere, though."
Louis pulled his shirt off and threw it on the floor, deciding to deal with it later.
"You know, Lou would be mad if she knew you were tossing your clothes on the floor," Zayn pointed out with a smile.
Louis just flipped him off and put on his clean shirt. Next, he changed into shorts. Needless to say, his pants met the same fate as his damp shirt.
Louis then made his way to couch. Smirking at Zayn, he asked, "Watching me dress, are you?"
"Not anymore," he answered innocently. He nodded toward the seat next to him. "Sit down."
The blue-eyed boy obeyed, sitting as close to Zayn as humanly possible, before snuggling into him.
"So, why did you ask me to meet with you?" Zayn questioned again, His arm settling across Louis' shoulders.
Louis hummed contently. "This is why."
Zayn raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to cuddle?"
Louis closed his eyes and cuddled Zayn closer. "Not just that, I wanted to spend time with you."
"Why me?"
"I know you're unhappy, Zayn. I know you're thinking of leaving the band."
The younger band member sighed. "How'd you know?"
"I've known you for five years, Zaynie. I've learned how to read you."
"The others haven't."
Louis sat up, still leaning against Zayn, and looked him in the eyes. "That's because they don't know you like I do. I've seen sides of you that only your family has. You try to hide and deny it, but you're the biggest softie I've ever met. And that's saying a lot, because I've met Niall."
"So you're not mad?" Zayn sounded almost guilty and a little confused.
"Of course not. It's not up to me or the other boys to decide when you're not happy. I may be a little disappointed that you didn't come to me about it, but I understand why you didn't. You don't want to let us down. But you're not going to us let down unless you stay and continue being unhappy, and I know the boys would agree with me. If you don't want to be in the band, you don't have to. We're not going to force you to stay."
"I want to leave the band, but I don't want to leave you guys."
"Then leave the band, but stay with us. You don't have to record or perform with us. You don't have to go to interviews. But if you want, you can stay with us, travel with us, be with us. You can be just our best friend and brother without being our bandmate. At least, without physically being our bandmate. 'Cause there's no One Direction with Zayn Malik. One Direction isn't just a band, Zaynie, its a family. You can still be part of the family, without being part of the band. Like Lou. She's part of the 1D family, but not the 1D band."
Zayn felt a tear roll down his cheek. "Louis, how can you be so... so you?"
Louis laughed. "Because you inspire me to be."
And with that, Louis smashed his lips into Zayn's and kissed his friend's pain away.
The next day, Zayn told Liam, Harry, and Niall about his plan: leave the band, but stay with the family. The boys supported him, of course. They weren't actually losing him, he was staying with them, just not hanging out in the spotlight anymore. Zayn preferred it that way, and although the boys were sad to record and perform without him, they still came home to him every night and that made them happy.
Also, Louis' and Zayn's relationship was truly and beautifully flourishing. They whole 1D family, including management and the fans, were happy about that as well.
