Ziam one shots

Mirrors- The Vacancy That Sat In My Heart Is A Space That Now You Hold

Chapter 6

"Zayn, I love you."

Liam held his face in his hands, looking at him, trying to gauge his reaction. Zayn eyes went wide, impossibly so. His hands came up to hold Liam's, by his face. His brows went tight, his eyes squinting at Liam disbelievingly; unsure.

"You what?" His voice wasn't shaky, just questioning.

"I love you. You don't have to say it back," he assured, panicking at Zayn's lack of words. "You don't. I just- I love you, okay?" He stroked his cheek, his thumb moving along with Zayn's. "I know it's too soon, and you probably think I'm crazy for falling in love in what, three moths? Two and a half? But I've never felt like this. This is new to me, too."

Zayn opened his mouth to speak, but Liam silenced him with a finger to his mouth.

"Don't say anything yet, alright? Let me finish," he begged. "Let me explain myself before you tell me to fuck off."

"Liam, I'm—"

His grip on Zayn's face tightened, forcing him to look Liam in the eyes. "Please?"

Zayn nodded, letting Liam carry on.

"I don't know what this is, Zayn. I've never been in love. I don't know what it feels like. I don't know." His mind is racing, he's muddling through his feelings one at a time. "But I love that you want to be with me. I'm in love with that. You want me, you don't push me away. You never have, well, you did, but I got past that. You let me get past that."

Zayn still has a guarded look on his face, like he doesn't know where Liam is going with this. That makes two of them.

He lets his hands fall to his neck, grazing the skin, feeling Zayn's pulse erupt at the touch. "I love that people are scared of you. I love that you have this unbreakable image, this bad boy who's covered in tattoos and filled with teenage angst."

Zayn chuckles at this, and that brings Liam's point back into view. "But then you smile. You push your tongue against your teeth and your mouth gets all big and I have a hard time understanding how anyone can see you for anything other than the huge fucking softie you are."

Zayn's lip juts in a pout and Liam surges forward to seal their mouths together. After a moment he leans backwards, knowing if he kisses Zayn as he should, he'll never finish what he was saying.

Liam pauses to collect his thoughts. "But I love that. I love your laugh and your smile and those eyes you give me when you want me to get you a beer from the kitchen. I love how you don't care about anything,"

"That used to drive me insane," he admits, trying to be honest. He's grown impossibly tired of telling lies. "I didn't understand how someone could be so confident in themselves at one moment, ignoring the criticism, defying people's expectations. And the next moment you're worried you're not good enough."

He brings Zayn forward, resting his head in the crook of his neck, kissing the flesh, the shaky vein, trying to show him. "How could you ever think that? How could you not know you're the most amazing person I've ever met? Who made you doubt that?"

He feels Zayn's muscles tense at the question, attempting to gasp out a response. Liam shushes him and keeps kissing into his neck. "No, don't tell me. I know you're not ready." He pulls back to let his own eyes reach Zayn's. "But I want to be around when you're ready. I want to know everything you ever want to tell me."

He continues. "I love that you keep things so close to your heart. You're safe but you're so damn dangerous." Zayn smirks this time, misunderstanding his words. "No, you ass. You being dangerous has nothing to do with smoking or trying to turn me into a felon. You scare me, Zayn. You make me want things I'm not used to wanting. You make me see things and feel things and that's scary. As fuck."