Power And Control [ Ziall ]

vi. "hi"

"We give and take a little more, eternal game of tug and war."

"Good God, can he stop staring for a minute?" Niall huffed out, leaning against the chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "Aw, don't be like that, Ni, I think it's cute," Harry said from his left. The blond snorted. "It's not, I feel so trapped. Also, I have to concentrate on school, else my dad's gonna kill me." 

Truth was, Zayn was an annoying and arrogant pig and Niall was fed up. He had figured him out by now; Zayn was one of those guys. The ones' that think they can have anyone and Niall wanted to blow the older's beautiful head, because he was confusing him so much. He kept on looking, glancing. And the worst, Niall had dreamt of him. Thrice. Right when Niall admitted to himself that he may have some really weird hate-like feelings for the other boy, he had to go and smash it. "Fuck him," Niall had told himself too many times already. Because that was what he should've been doing, alright. And yet, his subconscious had other plans for him and Niall was just exhausted. 

Zayn had made it clear that Niall wasn't the only one getting attention and Niall just didn't want to play his game. He was complimenting Harry on a nearly weekly basis and Niall had set himself the goal to just forget about him. Couldn't be too hard, anyway. 

The blond's eyes wandered over Zayn who was just turning around, their eyes meeting and Niall could've sworn the air prickled. He cringed. This was going to be harder than he thought. 
Quickly trying to recover, he averted his eyes, looking out the window. What he saw was a grey sky and for a moment he wished he could trade with the birds, floating across the sky. 

* * * 

"Ugh," Niall cursed under his breath, scrunching up his nose as he stepped right into mud. It was mid-February and it was snowing and bloody cold. 
The blond stood at the bus stop, waiting and begging that it wouldn't be close to overflowing, with one earphone in, when something on his right caught his eye. 

Niall wanted to puke. 

Of course, there was Zayn -- who the fuck else?-- with his best friend, Louis, walking into his direction, close enough so he could hear them laugh and, wow, Zayn's laugh was-- nice, actually. He had forgotten that fact. Niall quickly turned down the music (it was in instinct) and looked down onto his phone. He was about to tell Harry or Liam about Zayn being there, when a shadow stopped in front of him. He darted his eyes up, slowly and-- he wasn't getting air. Was everything getting slower again? 

His eyes widened just a tiny bit as he took in the way Zayn looked; with reddened cheeks and snow flying around and his cheek bones and the lazy smile playing on his lips. Niall took in a sharp breath, realising that this was actually the very first time Zayn smiled at him. "Hi," the older said, his voice deep and smooth and thick with his accent. His one hand was stuffed into his winter jacket and he just looked so cuddly, Niall wanted to hug him so badly. "Hey," the blond choked out, feeling how his cheeks were pinking and his heart started racing. 

Zayn ran a hand through his hair and Niall was getting butterflies and how cliché was that? 

But then Zayn looked back and Niall followed, realising that Louis was grinning bright and self-absorbed. Of course. Niall's heart started beating fast again. This time, though, it was because of how obvious it was. Of course, Zayn would smile at him. Of course, Louis would grin. Of course, they were assholes. Niall wouldn't stay here and be the victim of their unfunny plans.