Something Great (Ziam AU)

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Six – Liam

Liam sighs as he finally makes his way into his hotel room, they arrived hours ago, but his meeting with Eleanor and the few other members of his management had taken a lot longer than he expected it to. Louis had gone with him, but after he announced that he was dating Zayn, they had not so nicely asked Louis to leave, Louis had refused, stubbornly crossing his arms, until Eleanor threatened to remove him from the tour. Liam had begged him to leave then, needing him by his side, and Louis had agreed reluctantly and with one last glare had stormed out of the room. Liam pulls out his phone to call Zayn just as he promised, hoping that his boyfriend is still awake, needing to talk to him, needing his comfort. The phone rings three times before it’s picked up “helloooo” Zayn giggles and Liam furrows his eyebrows, “hey, it’s me, you ok?” he asks flopping across his bed. He hears shuffling and a door closing, “Leeyum, you called, you said you’d call and you called” Zayn answers and Liam frowns “Zayn are you drunk?” he asks, chuckling, there’s no response for a moment, and Liam hears a loud thump, before Zayn giggles “ow” “What happened, are you ok?” Liam asks worriedly. “I missed the bed, I’m alright” Zayn slurs and Liam shakes his head, “Alright, now are you drunk?” he asks again even though he’s pretty sure he knows the answer, Zayn isn’t normally clumsy. “Nooooooooo, drunk, me?” Zayn giggles and Liam chuckles at him, and thinks that even though this will make any important conversation with Zayn impossible that it’s completely adorable and wishes he was there with him. “I think you might be, babe” Liam chuckles and hears Zayn sigh, “fine, you caught me, but I swear I only had six, might have been seven, but it could have been eight. Alright I don’t really know but it was definitely less than ten, couldn’t have been more than fifteen” Zayn rambles and Liam laughs, “it’s fine, really” he chuckles. Even though he’s not having the conversation with Zayn that he wants to it’s definitely helping to relax him.

“…and then Tristan challenged Niall to a drinking contest, and Niall’s now decided that he’s ok” Zayn finishes a long rambling story, that Liam was only half listening to, “that’s great babe, but are you sober enough to hear about my conversation with management? Or should I call you tomorrow?’ Liam asks, they’ve been on the phone for about thirty minutes and Liam has heard all about Zayn’s trip to the bar with Harry and Niall, Zayn seems a lot more coherent than when he first answered and Liam hopes he’ll be able to tell him now. Zayn sucks in a breath, “I-I’m still drunk, but yea we can be serious” he murmurs and Liam grins, because he knows he’ll probably have to fill in some blanks of their conversation for Zayn tomorrow. “So I talked to my management about us, and” Liam starts, pausing to take a breath, “what Liam? Are they going to hire a hit man to take me out?” Zayn asks quickly and Liam laughs, “no, Zee, I would never let them” he reassures him, Zayn sighs “good” he mumbles. “Anyways, they’re ok with us being together, but as fans are getting suspicious and they still don’t think me coming out is a good idea, they want, well they’re going to, no matter what I say really-” Liam’s rambling is cut off by Zayn laughing “I’m the drunk one and you’re rambling, what is it Li?” he asks. Liam shakes his head “they’re going to hire me a beard” he mumbles and hears Zayn choking on his own saliva presumably.

It’s silent for a moment neither one of them talking “Zee, baby talk to me, please?” Liam asks unable to take it anymore, “I, that’s, um what?” Zayn asks and Liam frowns, “is your computer working, can we Skype, I need to see you” he answers, instead of addressing Zayn’s question. There’s some shuffling on the other end of the phone and Liam hears the familiar sound of Zayn’s computer starting up, “yea, please, I need to see you too” Zayn murmurs and Liam smiles. “Ok, I’m going to hang up and I’ll talk to you in a minute” Liam replies and Zayn just mumbles a vague response. Sighing Liam hangs up and grabs his laptop, opening Skype and clicking on Zayn’s contact, it only rings once before Zayn’s face is on his screen, he looks drunk, and tired but he also looks incredibly gorgeous and Liam can’t help the large smile that takes over his face at the sight of his boyfriend. “Hey baby” Liam breathes as Zayn waves and grins at him, “hi” he answers and Liam chuckles, “so about what I just told you” Liam trails off biting his lip and Zayn rolls his eyes, “I, well I’m not really excited about the idea of some girl hanging off you all the time” he snorts and Liam hides his face to muffle his laughter. He hears Zayn huff and looks back up, “I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, and they said they already had someone in mind” he sighs. Zayn’s bloodshot eyes widen, “they were already going to hire her, weren’t they?” he asks and Liam nods slowly, “looks that way, yea. I hate it Zee, I hate not being one hundred percent honest with my fans” Liam mumbles and Zayn nods, eyes softening and making him look adorably soft and sleepy.

Neither one of them says anything for a moment and Liam is just drinking Zayn in, he misses the boy already and can’t wait for when he, Harry and their friend Niall (who’s been getting very cozy with Josh) come out to visit. “Have you told them, all you just told me?” Zayn asks suddenly and Liam nods, “of course, but Eleanor always brushes me off, saying it’s for the best and whatever” he snorts and Zayn nods. Liam frowns, “I’m sorry Zayn, this isn’t what I wanted for us” he mumbles sadly, Zayn smiles sadly, “I know, but you know I don’t mind the hiding part, at least for now. I’m not too fond of the idea of sharing you though, you make sure this, whoever she is, knows that you’re mine” Zayn growls and Liam can’t help but smile at his obvious jealousy, although he wonders if it’s Zayn or the alcohol still in his system. “I’m all yours babe, I won’t let her get to grabby, promise” Liam soothes and sees the way Zayn visibly relaxes at his words, “good” he mumbles around a yawn and Liam chuckles, “get some sleep babe, I’ll call you tomorrow, we only have a rehearsal. Drink lots of water before you go to bed though, or you’ll have one hell of a headache tomorrow. I miss you, sweet dreams” Liam murmurs and Zayn pouts but nods, “I miss you too, and yea, ok. Sweet dreams LiLi” Zayn yawns again and Liam smiles fondly, “night” he murmurs, blowing a kiss to the camera which Zayn returns, before Liam reluctantly ends the call.

Liam’s changing into his pyjamas when there’s a loud knocking on his door, rolling his eyes he pulls it open to reveal Louis “about time, I’ve been calling you for an hour now” Louis snaps as he pushes his way into the room. “Good to see you too, Lou” Liam sighs, shutting the door and padding after him, he finds Louis pacing the living area of the room, tugging on his hair. Liam smiles, knowing his best friend is worried about the fate of his relationship, “sorry Lou, I called Zayn right after I got back, and he was drunk so I Skyped him to see his reactions” Liam soothes and Louis sighs, turning to face him. “I figured as much, and at least your drunk boyfriend walked out of the bar and back into his apartment, my drunk boyfriend had to be carried” Louis chuckles and Liam’s eyes widen Zayn hadn’t told him that. Louis finally stops pacing, “so how did it go, do I need to hire an assassin? Are you and Zayn going to move to the arctic and live amongst the penguins?” Louis asks quickly as Liam sits beside him. Liam shakes his head, “they aren’t happy, but they did say that Zayn and I can stay together…in secret. But they’re going to hire me a beard to keep fans from getting suspicious. So, sorry Lou, but no assassins just yet” he sighs, suddenly Louis is pulling him into his arms and hugging him close, Liam wasn’t even sure it was what he needed until it was happening and now, he’s more grateful than ever for his best friend. Louis presses a kiss to his forehead, “at least you get to be together, yeah?” he murmurs and Liam nods and shrugs, “Zayn didn’t seem too happy about the idea of a girlfriend no matter how fake she is though” he mutters and Louis chuckles dryly “well think about it Li, you two just got together, if the situation was reversed would you be happy about it?” he asks gently. Liam sighs “no, but I’m not exactly excited about it now either” he mumbles, Louis sighs releasing him, “I know and I’ll see what I can do tomorrow, alright, maybe I can convince Eleanor to use one of the girls from Little Mix, or someone like that” he soothes, running his fingers through Liam’s messy hair. “Yea, that, that could work, I just wish I could show everyone how happy Zayn makes me” Liam sighs, leaning in to Louis’ touch.

They don’t talk about management, or beards, or anything important after that, Louis orders a movie on the TV, while Liam raids the mini bar, they are sprawled across Liam’s large bed, just enjoying each other’s company and exchanging stories about their conversations with their respective drunk boyfriends from earlier. “Did Harry really need to be carried out?” Liam chuckles and Louis nods, “yea apparently Niall and that James guy they work with had to carry him to the cab and then into the apartment. Harry claims he was only trying to cheer up Zayn, but he lost count of how many drinks after about fifteen, he was quite the character, not that he isn’t when sober too though” Louis answers, reaching into the bag of gummy bears between them. Liam laughs again, “what are we gonna do with them?” he teases as Louis shrugs popping a gummy bear into his mouth, Liam soon doing the same, once again glad to have Louis along with him.