Keep This Love (In a Photograph)

Chapter 11

After a restless night, Zayn finds himself in his kitchen making coffee at eight in the morning. Tiger's staring up at him clearly wondering what's happened to his human because Zayn doesn't do early. And Tiger keeps staring at him all through breakfast.

Grouchy at being judged so early in the morning, Zayn carries his half-eaten toast and mug into his studio, very carefully shutting the door behind him so that Tiger and his judgemental stares can stay outside. He takes his time getting settled at his computer and spends five minutes reading emails he's been ignoring for months.

He deletes them all in one go.

There's eight memory cards full of photos from yesterdays shoot and he decides to do them in order of shot. He might lack Harry's precision in Photoshop but he's still pretty good and it's easy enough to work his way through the shots, starting with Louis. It's painfully obvious to see how uncomfortable Louis is in the first few shots so Zayn discards them. He knows which shot he's going to use but he sorts through them all regardless, just in case. But when he sees Louis laughing at Harry just off camera, he knows that's the shot. Harry's caught him perfectly with Louis' lean body taut with laughter. It's a perfect shot.

The morning disappears as Zayn works methodically. He takes a break for lunch and spends half an hour playing with a surprisingly enthusiastic Tiger, sending Harry a text around midday explaining he won't need Harry for the aftershot touch-ups. He gets a response full of crying and sad emojis that he ignores in favour of asking Harry how his date went. Harry's response is a succinct and simple thumbs up so Zayn's pretty sure he'll be getting a blow-by-blow account of exactly who blew who at some point.

Zayn comes across the shots of Liam laughing into Niall's shoulder straight after lunch. Objectively speaking, he knows they're beautiful shots. Liam's face is lit up with pure joy and there's a reflection just over his shoulder of the sun hitting the fire engine that's created beautiful colours and shadowing. Zayn drags them into his own personal folder, away from the rest of the pictures. He doesn't doctor them in Photoshop or edit them, reluctant for some reason to change them in any way. Then he pulls up the next set and gets to work.

All too soon, Liam's photoshoot is staring back at him. There's twice as many photos of Liam than there have been of any other model but Zayn refuses to be embarrassed about it because he had the handicap of a lack of equipment so yeah, he had to take more pictures. He pulls up the first shot and he feels a swoop in his belly. There's Liam, glancing up at camera through his eyelashes and it's even more provocative than Zayn remembers. He leans in unconsciously and studies the hard angle of Liam's jaw and the curve of his cheek. The contrast between sharp and soft, of angular and rounded appeals to Zayn's artistic eye. The sprinkling of facial hair across his jawline draws Zayn's eye before he travels down Liam's toned and tapered torso. Where Bressie is all solid muscle, Liam is more compact. He's lean and toned and the contrast between his softness and his solid core is almost breathtaking.

Zayn leans back in his chair and lets out a breath. He's being ridiculous. Liam's just a lad he's met a few times and he's got a bit of a crush on. He can't be falling for Liam, not when their project is over and he'll probably never see Liam again. It's just a little crush that will fade in time.

He distracts himself by making a cup of tea and sips at it while he sifts through Liam's shots. Then he ignores the fact that he's half-hard and settles down to do his job.

*

Zayn presses send on the email notifying Ed that the pictures are up and ready online for Ed to download on his end for the client. Then he shuts down his computer, stands up and stretches his arms out wide and yawns. He's been bent over the computer all day and now that he's done, he just wants to grab a beer and maybe order a takeaway and crash on the sofa for the rest of the night.