Something Great (Ziam AU)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight – Liam

“Wake up Li” Louis coos beside Liam’s ear early Thursday morning, Liam whines in his sleep but doesn’t otherwise acknowledge Louis’ presence, Louis huffs, “c’mon Li, you gotta get up, we have to be at the hotel in an hour for that contest thing” he murmurs. Liam swats him away and rolls over to face the wall again, Louis sighs, “I didn’t want to do this” he sighs and disappears, Liam smiles in his half asleep state, happy that he’s been left alone. He’s tired, no he’s exhausted, the London week of torture is in full swing and he’s been running around like crazy for the past four days, all Liam wants to do is sleep. He jolts up as Louis pours a glass of freezing cold water over top of Liam’s head with a shout, “OI Lou, what did you do that for” he glares and Louis smirks in response, “I tried to wake you up”, “‘m tired Lou” Liam whines sleepily. Louis drops his smirk and sits beside him on the bed, “I know you are, LiLi” Louis coos, wrapping his arms around Liam’s sleep rumpled torso, “but at least today is just that contest, and a concert tonight, you can keep it low key all day with this Zayn kid” he adds. Liam stifles a yawn and nuzzles his face into Louis’ neck inhaling his best friend’s familiar scent, “mhmm” he hums, and Louis chuckles at the feeling on his neck. “But you gotta get up Li, you need to be at the hotel in an hour, so Lou can do your hair and dress you” Louis says flicking through his phone, to double check the schedule, Liam pulls his face out of Louis’ neck at this and pouts, “I can dress myself I’m twenty one years old” he mutters, crossing his arms petulantly. Louis laughs and flicks his lower lip, “I know you can babe, but appearances and what not, please just play nice. The less I have to speak to Eleanor today the better” Louis pleads, blue eyes going wide, lower lip threatening to wobble if Liam continues to be difficult. Liam sighs, and covers his eyes, “not the face, Boo! I’ll let them dress me, just stop” he chuckles, as Louis tackles him in a hug.

Considering he’s not going to keep his own clothes on for this whole ordeal, Liam just pulls on his favourite (and comfiest) pair of sweat pants, and a t-shirt, he’s looking for a hoodie when Louis walks back into the room. Louis sends him a look “don’t try too hard mate” he teases, and Liam just glares, “I don’t get to keep it on anyways, so why bother” he sighs. Louis nods, reaching around Liam to pull out the hoodie he is undoubtedly looking for, holding it out to him, Liam smiles gratefully as he takes it, pulling it over his head. Louis’ phone dings in his pocket signalling a text and he groans as he pulls it out, “it’s Josh, he and Sandy want to know if you want them there today, apparently they asked you know who, and she said it was up to you” Louis reads, looking to Liam for an answer. Liam just shrugs, “if they want to come, sure, but if they want to take advantage of most of a day off that’s fine too” Liam says chewing on his bottom lip as he looks for a snapback, Louis huffs in annoyance, and texts the drummer back. A minute later his phone dings again and he laughs “Josh says to tell you you’re useless and they along with Jon and Dan will see you there in a couple hours” Louis chuckles, Liam glares at Louis’ phone for a second before chuckling himself, and triumphantly pulling the snapback he was looking for out from under his bed.

Louis ushers him out of his apartment, and onto the elevator, Liam has two bags with him, one containing his PlayStation and some games, the other has his Xbox and some games for it, Louis also has a bag which has various other things they may need or want today. Once they step off the elevator in the Lobby Liam, smiles kindly at the doorman as he holds the door for them, “have a good day Mr. Payne” he says with a wave and Liam rolls his eyes, grinning at the man “how many times do I have to tell you to call me Liam, Manny?” he asks, brown eyes twinkling, Manny lets out a laugh “at least once more, like always sir” he replies, before disappearing from sight. Liam groans and Louis guides him into the awaiting car, it’s all black with heavily tinted windows, Liam can see out, but no nosey paps or fans for that matter can see in. Liam lets out a sigh as they pull away from his building, his fans are pretty good about not showing up at his home, and Manny does an excellent job keeping them away when they do happen to come, the paps however are a different story. Manny punched one a few months before Liam’s tour started, because the guy wouldn’t stop trying to get past him, it was why Liam bought him a car for Christmas. Louis grins at Liam who narrows his eyes “what are you planning Lou” he mumbles and all he gets as a response is a head shake, before Louis taps on the glass dividing them from the driver. The glass slides slowly away to reveal Sebastian, Liam’s usual driver, “hey Seb, can you swing by Starbucks on the way?” Louis asks, fluttering his eyelashes. Sebastian chuckles and nods, “sure thing Mr. Tomlinson, but as we don’t have security with us, Mr. Payne can’t go inside” he warns. Louis sighs and Liam bangs his head on the window at this information, “I know Seb thank you” Louis says, as the glass divider slides back into place. Louis looks at Liam warily, “I’ll get your coffee, I kinda expected that, to be honest”, Liam sighs nodding, “I did too, but it would be nice to get my own coffee sometimes too, you know?” he mumbles. Louis just nods and pats his knee, because as much as he would like to understand, he just doesn’t, he gets noticed sometimes, but it’s always as ‘Liam Payne’s Best Friend/Assistant Louis’ he doesn’t get the same attention as Liam and he never will.

 They pull up in front of the hotel, about thirty minutes later, each with a Starbucks cup in his hand, “thanks Sebastian” Liam mumbles as he gets out of the car, Sebastian just nods, in response, before getting back into the car and driving off. Louis leads Liam by the wrist through the lobby and onto the elevator, they step off on the top floor and Louis knocks on a door which is pulled open almost immediately by Lou Teasdale, Liam’s stylist. She grins widely and tugs the two into the room, wrapping each in a hug as she does, Liam melts into her touch, he’s always really liked her and was glad she’d been able to stay with him for so long, “so Liam, what are we doing to you today?” she asks him, crossing her arms to survey him as she does, he just shrugs in response. Lou sighs and points to a chair she has set up in the room, Liam goes over to sit in it, as Louis flops down on the oversized couch in the room, pulling out his phone, no doubt to play Candy Crush. Lou immediately gets to work on Liam’s hair, pulling, twisting, and brushing, with care, until she steps back with a triumphant noise, handing him a mirror, “looks great Lou, as always” he chirps and she rolls her eyes. She had styled it up into a sort of quiff in the front, it was his usual look, and he liked it Lou handed him some clothes next and he rolled his eyes at her, she just gave him a look, “if you hadn’t showed up dressed like a bum, I would have pretended to have forgotten the outfit” she scolds and he sighs taking the clothes and disappearing into the bathroom to change. He comes out wearing a tight fitting black t-shirt and black jeans, Louis whistles from his spot on the couch and Lou gives him an appraising look, she nods, before reaching behind her, and pulling out a red and black plaid shirt. Liam furrows his eyebrows at her and she giggles “trust me” she sighs as she ties the shirt around his waist, turning him to look in the mirror, Liam smiles, “looks great, almost like I picked it myself” he chuckles turning back to look at Lou and Louis, who both nod, Louis sending him a thumbs up.

Lou quickly packed up all her supplies and left after finishing touching up Liam’s hair, Liam flops onto the couch beside Louis, as the door shuts behind her, “can I help you?” Louis asks with a chuckle and Liam shakes his head “nah, how much longer though?” he asks chewing on his bottom lip, Louis chuckles, and looks at the time on his phone, “about forty five minutes until they should be here” Louis answers, as Josh and the rest of the band pile into the room. Liam nods and snuggles carefully into Louis’ side, as Louis continues to play on his phone. They had been sitting in silence for about ten minutes before Liam sits up, “we should probably set up the PlayStation and Xbox” he sighs getting up and grabbing the bags they had brought, Louis nods and gets up to help him. It takes them longer than normal to set up the systems and they finish just as someone knocks on the door, Louis frowns as Eleanor opens it and peeks inside, “Liam how are you this morning?” she asks politely, and he shrugs, “I’m alright” he answers and she nods. “Good, good well Zayn the contest winner and his friends are on their way up, enjoy the day, and all of you be nice” she warns before exiting the room, Louis rolls his eyes and Josh, Sandy and Dan all snicker, they all groan as they hear her overly sweet voice greeting someone just outside the door. The door opens quickly and four people are ushered into the room before it closes again, Liam looks up prepared to greet them, but his words catch in his throat, as he takes in the people standing in front of them. There’s one boy with wildly curly brown hair and sparkling green eyes, with dimples indenting his cheeks as he smiles, another boy this one blond, with blue eyes and an awesome smile, a girl who looks similar to the curly haired boy. But the one who has left him speechless, (the one who he is hoping is Zayn) is a boy with tan skin and raven black hair, he has deep brown (possibly hazel, it’s hard to tell from here) eyes with the longest eyelashes Liam has ever seen framing them. He appears the most nervous and is shifting from foot to foot, while chewing on his bottom lip, waiting for Liam to speak. Louis jabs Liam in the ribs, hard, snapping him out of his daze, “Hi, it’s great to meet you, all, I’m Liam Payne, which one of you is Zayn?” he stumbles out as his band and Louis laugh at him.