lonely hearts club | zianourry au [COMPLETE]

seven

"you ready?" zayn asks niall. niall manages a shy nod, looking down at his shoes. he's most intimidated by zayn and liam, mostly because he's spent more time with both harry and louis than he has these two. "you okay?" zayn questions gently. "do you not want to do this?"

"no, i do!" niall says, quickly, finally looking up. "i'm just..." he bites his lip, and then shrugs.

"you're a little nervous," zayn says, realization in his voice.

"yes. well, sort of," niall answers. he follows zayn out the double doors to his car.

"sort of?" zayn questions.

niall nods. "i don't know. i sorta...i knew a little bit about louis and harry before i hung out with either of them. i don't really know anything about you."

zayn is smiling. "okay, what do you want to know?"

niall squints, thinking. "what are your thoughts on candy corn?"

zayn laughs, loudly. "that's your first question.

"it's important."

"fair," zayn nods. "i'm very strongly pro-candy corn."

niall beams. "good. okay."

zayn looks over at him, expecting more questions, but niall is just sitting there contently, looking out the window.

"that's it?" zayn chuckles.

"uh-huh," niall hums. "if you like candy corn, i find you trustworthy pretty instantly."

zayn's smile hurts his face.

"what?" niall asks once he realizes zayn is staring at him.

"nothing," zayn says, very softly. he wouldn't know how to form thoughts this fond into words anyway.

- - -

"i haven't been bowling in ages," niall says to zayn as they enter, hand-in-hand.

"i have a little proposition," zayn responds.

"shoot."

"whoever loses has to buy the other person a milkshake from sonic," zayn grins. "any flavor."

niall grins, too. "and fries."

zayn's grin widens. "deal."

both of them are super competitive, which makes this get very interesting. a bit of cheating may ensue, including zayn literally picking niall up to keep him from bowling a strike. at one point, niall jumps on zayn's back to keep him from being able to bowl at all, which makes zayn almost fall over, making niall laugh.

"you are a brat, you know that?" zayn asks good-naturedly.

"the best kind," niall beams back sweetly.

"and what kind is that?"

"the kind who wins," niall laughs, pointing at the scoreboard. zayn looks up, surprised -- he'd been so distracted by niall's cuteness that sure enough, he's lost.

"i think you cheated," zayn says suspiciously.

"so did you!"

"i would never," zayn says haughtily, his expression so displeased that niall can't help but laugh. at niall's laugh, zayn ends up laughing, too. "okay, i guess you get your milkshake and your fries now."

"yes!" niall punches the air with delight.

- - -

"alright, cutie. what kind of shake do you want?" zayn asks niall. he's sitting in the passenger's seat, knees drawn to his chest in excitement.

"cookie dough master blast!" niall squeals delightedly, and zayn shakes his head at his excitement, smiling. he orders a caramel milkshake for himself and a side of fries, and niall cheers when the worker brings it to the car. he takes a huge gulp as soon as the cup is in his hands, and then immediately scrunches up his face. "ooooh -- brain freeze!"

zayn laughs. "slow down, sweetheart."

"i can't help it, i got excited," niall pouts, but ends up laughing at himself. they share the container of fries, talking quietly between sips of milkshakes.

"can i try some of your shake, niall?" zayn asks.

niall nods, handing his cup over to zayn. to his horror, instead of taking a sip, zayn takes at least three, HUGE sips of his shake.

"zayn!" niall shrieks, enraged. zayn hands it back.

"eh. that flavor's okay," zayn shrugs.

"okay!? you didn't like it!? you drank like half the thingy!"

"the thingy?" zayn repeats, trying not to laugh.

"stop laughing at me! i can't think of words when i'm angry!"

zayn tries to stop laughing, but it's just so cute. "i'm sorry, i'm sorry. you're just --" he pauses to chuckle, "you're adorable. i can barely stand it."

niall is blushing now, his fury suddenly gone. "shut up," he mumbles, ducking his head. "i want some of your milkshake now since you drank, like, all of mine!"

"you're so dramatic. i did not," zayn laughs, but he hands his cup over anyway.

- - -

"how did it go?" calum asks when niall calls him later.

"good, i think. i was really, really nervous, but zayn seems really cool."

"that's good," calum says back. it sounds like he's smiling. "liam's the only one left, right?"

"uh-huh."

"they're gonna ask you if you wanna be their boyfriends after that," calum reminds him.

"i know. i dunno what i'm gonna say." niall suddenly feels nervous.

"don't worry. it's gonna be just fine," calum says back, smile in his voice, and niall tries to keep that in mind.

a/n: cake, cashton, malum or ot4?