mute • ziam ✓

12

2014
liam, 18
zayn, 21

"it was nice knowing you, malik. hopefully i'll see you on the other side very soon, hey?" louis winked at zayn and he just scoffed, but still laughed. "yeah mate, i'll see you. now don't get into too much trouble trying to save me."

"i'll have the help of some people, i'm sure i'll be okay. and-"

"tomlinson!" a guard warned him, to which he just rolled his eyes. "well i'm off. see you, yeah? we'll work it out." he winked and was off.

zayn really hopes he does work it out.

—

"h-hi. my name is... l-liam. i'm eighteen and i'm going to uni-university next year." liam smiles to himself as he spoke those words. every morning, he says those exact same words, always to at least try not to stutter, and he's getting there.

"i lov-" he was about to say something else to himself in the mirror, but his phone goes off. it was niamh texting him to ask if he wanted to come over to scotty's house, as there were some things he wanted to talk about.

he obviously agreed and decided to walk since it wasn't too far, and that it was quite a nice day out. but when going outside, a random guy he's never seen before, was leaning against their car.

"ah, liam, is it?" the guy walked up to him as liam locked the house door, but nearly going to open it again from this guy approaching him.

"hey don't worry, i won't bite. i know well enough not to touch you since you're malik's one and only." liam was now very confused and wary of this guy. who seriously was he?

"i'm here to take you to scotty's by the way. like once again, i'm not crazy enough to hurt you, even though i'm pretty good at hiding myself if something were to happen." he winked and that just made liam uneasy, which the guy noticed. "okay i'm sorry, wrong words. but it's seriously good, i was an inmate with zayn, he told me to do some stuff. promise."

the guy came closer, sticking out his hand, "i'm louis, nice to finally put a face to you instead of looking at zayn's drawings of you." he chuckled and liam was confused, which louis then realised his mistake. "uh anyways, c'mon. you can message scotty if you're not sure about me."

if he's saying that, surely he must be fine. so liam sighed, and followed along.

when reaching scotty's, niamh opened the door and smiled, hugging liam. "good to see you, li! and hi, uh you must be louis, yeah?"

"yeah, nice to meet ya. i swear i'm a nice dude, zayn trusts me well enough, yeah?" louis reassured, more to liam and that's when scotty came. "if zayn trusts you, i will too. nice to meet you."

then it clicked to liam that louis' name was familiar, he was in a letter zayn wrote about an encounter with him.

"so, let's get this show on the road. i've got ideas and clues on how zayn got put in there." that got liam interested and wanting to be involved. so, he put up his hand, making them all look at him and he pointed that he wanted to go to the bathroom. they all nodded and waiting for him in the lounge.

once liam reached the bathroom, he let out a sigh, resting his hands on the counter. looking up to the mirror, he lets out a deep breath. "h-hi. i want to know everything you know about getting zayn o-out and how to help." liam smiled proudly to himself, with only stuttering twice.

it was his time. he was ready to speak in front of people. he feels bad that it's not ruth and riley, or even zayn that's first to hear him, but he just thinks it's time. and he has known niamh since forever, so he knows it would mean a lot to her as well.