Something Great (Ziam AU)

Chapter Four

Chapter Four – Liam

Liam wakes up to someone obnoxiously poking him in the face, he opens his eyes and sees nothing but a Starbucks cup, he groans and swats it away, before rolling over, in his ridiculously large hotel room bed. Louis chuckles “Li, c’mon mate, you gotta get up, we have a plane to catch” he murmurs. Liam jolts upright at this information, suddenly remembering that they are in fact flying back to London today, he has five days off before the week of torture as Louis’ been calling it begins, then the rest of his UK tour follows that. He reaches for the cup of coffee Louis is holding out to him, only to have Louis pull his hand back at the last second. Liam topples out of bed with a loud thud, and Louis dissolves into a fit of giggles, until Liam reaches out, pulling on Louis’ ankle, causing the older boy to fall as well. Louis glares at Liam who just offers him an innocent grin “you can’t hurt the talent” he teases and Louis rolls his eyes, before he jumps to his feet reaching down to pull Liam up as well. Louis looks around the room, “you packed last night, didn’t you?” he asks incredulously and Liam nods, “yea, I knew we had to leave at stupid o’clock and didn’t want to forget anything” he yawns, Louis shakes his head and stomps towards the door. “You going to pack Lou?” Liam asks, but the only response he gets is the slam of his door as Louis storms away.

An hour and a half later Liam is sitting on his private jet, a disgruntled look on his face, Louis flops down beside him, cuddling into his side, Liam smiles slightly and wraps an arm around Louis. “What’s wrong Li-Li?” Louis asks quietly as Josh, Sandy and Dan, Liam’s guitarist, all file onto the plane, Liam shakes his head, but glances around the plane, making sure there’s none of his management team around, “you know I hate this plane, Lou. Why can’t we just fly back on a normal plane” he whines. Louis chuckles “you know why, Li, remember the last regular flight you were on?” he asks, and Liam groans, the flight in question was about six months ago, he and Louis were going on a vacation together in their time off. They had barely taken their seats when Liam had been mobbed by nearly every passenger on the plane, since then whenever Liam had to fly, he was to use the private jet, the only upside being that Louis, and Liam’s backing band got to fly with him. Liam rolls his eyes at Louis “I remember Lou, doesn’t mean I enjoy all this” he says gesturing around to the almost comically large plane. Louis nods snuggling more into Liam, “I know Li, but you get to go back to your flat for a few days and just relax” he soothes. Liam smiles and presses a friendly kiss to the top of Louis’ un-styled hair, just as Louis’ phone rings, causing him to groan, and glare at the small device in is hand. “I don’t want to talk to them anymore” Louis grumbles thrusting the phone into Liam’s hand, Liam chuckles at him but answers the phone for him after seeing it’s Eleanor calling Louis again. 

The flight is half over and Liam is curled up on a small couch, with his laptop open in front of him, reading through the twenty five entries for the upcoming contest that Eleanor had sent, incidentally she had been calling Louis to tell him about them. Apparently Liam had to pick the best ten out of these, who would then get votes from their friends, and the one with the most votes would get to hang out with Liam. He was almost finished reading the last one, and so far he had a pretty good idea of which ones he wanted to win, actually if he had it his way there was one he wanted to pick to just win the whole thing. A boy named Zayn, who was apparently his age, and had used Liam’s music to help himself through hard times, like losing his parents, Liam had been in tears reading his entry and really hoped this boy won, A) because he deserved it, and B) because as the only male entrant, he was probably most likely to go along with Liam’s video game plan. Louis sat on his feet as Liam was typing an email to Eleanor explaining his ten choices, “can I help you Lou?” he asks without looking up, Louis chuckles “nope, came to see if you needed any help, actually” he smirks and Liam eyes him curiously as he sets his laptop aside. “I actually could use that devious brain of yours Lou” Liam sighs, making Louis lean closer to him in interest, “The Liam Payne, wants me to help him be devious” Louis says in mock horror, Liam rolls his eyes but nods his head. “It’s this contest Lou” Liam sighs “you want me to help you get out of it?” Louis asks confused but Liam shakes his head, “no, do you think we can rig it, so one in particular wins?” he asks biting his lip.

To say Louis is shocked is an understatement, judging by the look on his face, Liam continues to bite his lip, just waiting for a response. Louis shakes his head suddenly and furrows his eyebrows at Liam, “yea I think we can, I mean from what I understand, once you’ve picked the ten, they each get a link custom to them. They get people to click their link, it counts as a vote for them, and the one with most votes wins” he starts slowly and Liam nods. Louis leans in closer, “so you get a hold of the one you want to win’s link, and tweet it out, with no explanation, all your fans will click on it, without hesitation, completely bulking up their votes. There’s really no way anyone will be able to compete with your amount of followers” Louis finishes. Liam’s eyes are wide when Louis finishes, “Lou, you’re a genius, but I can’t lie to my fans like that” Liam mumbles, and Louis shakes his head, “then tell ‘em Li if you want too” he sighs, “but you know they’ll all be catty that it’s not them you’re helping, and won’t do it” Louis chimes, making Liam nod. “What if you and I get our friends, and the band to just click his link every day?” Liam asks quietly, Louis shrugs “that could work, I still think you should tweet his link though” he says slowly, before narrowing his eyes “wait did you say his? As in a boy, why do you want him to win, is he fit, does little Liam have a crush?” Louis sings and Liam groans. “There’s no picture so I don’t know what he looks like, but from what he wrote, he deserves to win this, and I don’t think we would hate hanging out with him” Liam mumbles avoiding Louis’ eyes as a blush creeps up his cheeks. Louis chuckles lowly, “ok, ok, I’ll get you his link, the rest is your call” he murmurs, Liam smiles widely and launches himself at Louis in a hug, “thanks Lou, I owe you” he mumbles into Louis’ neck, making the older chuckle. Louis pulls away from Liam “you don’t owe me, you’ve been carting me around the world for the last three and a half years, Li, I think we’re even” he chuckles. Liam goes to respond but Louis pushes a finger to his lips, silencing him, “nope, don’t say anything, get some rest, you’re gonna need it for when we land” Louis chuckles, before pulling his hand back in disgust as Liam licks his finger.

As they get off the plane in Heathrow a few hours later Liam sighs, he can already hear the dull roar of his fans outside the arrivals gate, he turns to Josh, “how do they always know where I am, even when I don’t?” he asks and Josh chuckles, “management tweets it, apparently it’s good for your image” he shrugs, before running ahead to go collect his luggage. Sighing Liam follows the band, vaguely hearing Louis talking on his phone behind him. Liam pulls his suitcases out and loads them onto a luggage cart, before stepping back and waiting for Louis, Louis joins him a moment later, as Jim and four other members of his security team swarm around them, “you ready, Liam?” one who Liam thinks his name is Alec asks him. Sighing Liam nods and allows himself to be bustled through the doors into the main airport. The sounds of screaming gets exponentially louder and Liam’s head instantly begins to pound, he plasters a smile onto his face, he loves his fans, really he does, but the last leg of the tour was long, and he’s tired and really just wants to get home. Louis presses a sharpie into his hand and Liam breaks away towards the barriers keeping the girls back, with two members of his security following closely behind him. As Liam smiles for pictures, a few of the braver girls press kisses to his cheeks as they snap their pictures, he signs his name so many times that his wrist aches and the writing doesn’t resemble anything anymore. Finally he’s away from the throngs of screaming, crying and fainting girls and being shoved alongside Louis into a car, it’s always been mind-blowing to Liam the effect his presence has on most of his fans. He’s just Liam Payne, no one special it’s surreal to him that people begin to cry just because he looked at them, and faint because he touched them, he never imagined in his wildest dreams he would have that effect on anyone. He loves it, but at the same time it terrifies him. He always worries when he meets someone new if they like him for him, or because he’s Liam Payne, famous singer, and (apparently) a heartthrob, his last relationship ended because they saw him as a superstar and not a person, and only wanted to spend time with him in the public eye. Louis elbows him snapping him out of his thoughts, as the car pulls away, “you ready for a few days off?” he asks and Liam nods, “can’t wait” he murmurs, leaning against the window, letting his eyes slip closed.