Perfect // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 10

~I might never be the hands you put your heart in,

Or the arms that hold you any time you want them~

"Thanks for getting me out of the house." Zayn told Liam, who was very sneakily paying for their lunch with the credit card that Simon had given them for tasks related to the missions. Liam smiled at him, and watched Zayn bundle up the rest of the fries in a napkin and put them in his hoodie pocket.

"You heathen. Get a box."

"This way, I can eat them while we're walking back." Zayn said, and Liam couldn't help but agree to that statement.

"I actually have an appointment at the hospital soon, I've got to get going." Liam said, standing.

"Can I come?" Zayn asked, not wanting to go back to the house.

Liam thought it over, but nodded. "Of course."

The two of them walked over there, and finally Zayn asked why they were going. "Dialysis." Liam said. "I have a kidney thing. One of them just doesn't work."

"Do you need a transplant?" Zayn said, already signing away his kidney to this handsome boy. In his head of course. He didn't want to come off too strong.

"I'm surviving, right now. Not very high on the list. Condition isn't too bad at the moment. I get by with dialysis a couple times a week. Not too much water, not too much alcohol." Liam seemed embarrassed to tell Zayn this, but Zayn was quiet, accepting, and warm. The perfect boyfriend, except Liam was straight and didn't notice that Zayn liked him.

In the dialysis room, Zayn was offered a chair, and Liam started scrolling through Twitter. Zayn was looking at his phone as well, when Gemma came in for her dialysis. She was wearing sweats and a nice blouse, and was surprised to see Liam there. "Hello." She said to them.

"Hi." Zayn said. Liam waved to Gemma, and Zayn scooted in closer to Liam, feeling territorial over his man.

"Doing well?" Gemma asked, sounding constrained.

"Yes, I'm well. How about you?" Gemma gave a generic answer, and the longer Zayn stared, he realized that he recognized her. He just couldn't place from where.

Gemma was pretty quiet the rest of the time, but it was clear that she liked Liam, from the way she kept sneaking glances at him. Zayn kept trying to look away, but Liam was looking at her too, occasionally. And by the time they were done, Zayn was so emotionally overwhelmed that he almost exploded when Liam spoke.

"Louis left his car in a garage across the street. He wanted to walk." Zayn shrugged, and Liam got in the driver's seat a minute later, surprised that the car hadn't been stolen. Zayn turned the radio on to drown his thoughts out, and Liam started singing. "You have a nice voice." Zayn told him.

"Thanks." Liam laughed, and then his expression turned down. "I'm scared that I'm gonna mess this up."

"The job? We'll be prepared." Zayn said.

Liam closed his eyes. "Not the job, necessarily. Everything. I'm talking about you guys more. I'm going to mess up this good thing I've got going. I always do." Liam opened his eyes, driving through the now green light. "And I'll get back into heroin again or something."

"No, Liam. We won't let you. That's why Louis is so snoopy about you. He wants you to succeed."

"I'm getting into therapist zone with you." Liam laughed.

"Would you like to hear my story?" Zayn asked. "My background." Liam nodded slowly. "I was born in Virginia, and was accepted to MIT. I left Virginia, and my family was so proud of me. The oldest child, going to an amazing school with an amazing scholarship. My second year, I had this math teacher who was blazing hot. Total 11 out of 10."

"Oh god." Liam covered his mouth.

"I stalked him." Zayn said, pulling at his jeans nervously. He hadn't really told the story to anyone. "And we had sex. Way too many times. I incited it."

"Wait, him?" Liam exclaimed, slamming on the brakes, but for traffic reasons.

"Yeah." Zayn said. "I'm gay." Liam's eyes bugged out of his head. "And we got caught. Of course. And I got kicked out of school. Haven't been home since."

"You got kicked out of MIT for sleeping with your math teacher?" Zayn nodded, and was just so happy that Liam found his sad backstory funny.

But Liam was actually quiet for a moment, thinking deeply. "You...you like me don't you?"

Zayn couldn't tell a lie. "Yeah. I do like you." He angrily wiped away his tears, getting ready for the rejection that was coming.

Expectedly, Liam sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Zayn. I just...don't like guys. I'm not attracted to them. It's not that I have a stigma against gays or the LGBT+ community, it's not who I am."

"I understand." Zayn said, trying to keep the tears out of his throat.

"I'm sorry." Liam said, hunching down into his seat. Zayn went silent, but he was just silently crying.