The Man Who Sold the World (Zarry AU)

Chapter 4

When Harry hesitates, Zayn’s sure he’s going to tell him to piss off again, but to his surprise, he turns and takes the bottle of Jack Daniels from one of the shelves behind the bar then reaches under it for two shots glasses. He licks away a smirk as he puts them down in front of Zayn and when he’s filled each one, Zayn takes one and raises it as if to say, Cheers.

‘It’s been a while since anyone spoke to me like this,’ he says as he knocks it back.

‘Yeah?’ Zayn puts the glass down and pushes it towards him. He doesn’t even want another one, just wants to know if Harry’ll do it and when he does, he feels his cheeks flush.

‘Just my sister.’

‘Wanna know the best bit?’ Zayn smiles sweetly. ‘You don’t even know my name.’

Harry shakes his head and smiles as if to say, Touché.

‘You got any sisters?’ he asks as Zayn downs the shot. He shouldn’t have, because it makes his head is spin. When he holds up three fingers, Harry nods. ‘That explains a lot.’

Zayn wipes his mouth with his hand. ‘About how I know how to deal with divas?’

Harry smiles again. He’s enjoying this, Zayn knows. He is, too, as he swallows back a giggle and taps the rim of his shot glass with his finger.

Harry holds up a finger. ‘You gotta earn this one.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Twenty questions. If you refuse to answer, you have to take a shot.’

‘What are we, thirteen?’

‘I’ve never played it before.’

‘Are you guilting me into playing twenty questions?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Okay. But you have to answer them, too.’

Harry nods. ‘We’ll take it in turns.’

‘You should know, though,’ Zayn stops to look at him from under his eyelashes, holding his gaze for a moment longer than is comfortable, ‘I’m a journalist.’

Harry gasps theatrically and Zayn can tell from the way his eyes get brighter that it’s not because he’s surprised; it makes it more of a challenge.

‘Who do you write for?’

‘The Guardian.’

‘The Guardian,’ Harry repeats, eyes wide as if to say, Get you.

‘The blog,’ Zayn adds.

‘How long you been working there?’

‘A few months. Since I graduated.’

‘Where did you go to uni?’

‘Manchester.’

‘So are you living in London now?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Whereabouts?’

‘Hackney,’ Zayn says then frowns. ‘Hey! I thought we were taking it in turns?’

Harry shrugs, clearly unrepentant.

‘That was like ten of your twenty questions, Styles.’

Zayn points at him across the bar and Harry looks down at his finger as though he’s going to bite it, but thinks better of it and refills his glass.

‘Okay.’ He puts the bottle down with a smile. ‘First question-’

‘You just asked about ten,’ Zayn interrupts.