The Element People

25. "You Seem Frustrated"

He sat at the side of the river with his legs in the water when he heard footsteps behind him. He let out a sigh. "Leave me alone, Lou!" he snapped, but was surprised when Zayn sat down next to him instead.

"Not Lou."

The other boy huffed. "I figured."

"Though Louis has been searching for you as well," the raven-haired said as he got comfortable and put his feet in the water too.

"I know. I don't need to see him right now. I don't want to see anyone right now," Liam said. Hoping that Zayn would take the hint.

But he didn't. "Louis told me what you said to Niall."

The younger boy rolled his eyes. "Well, I was right."

"You seem frustrated."

The waterbender groaned. "Yes, of course I am frustrated! Why can't everyone just let me do my thing!"

Zayn studied him for a moment. "I don't think you're frustrated with Niall though."

"I-"

"Or with Louis," Zayn continued. "I think... that you are frustrated with yourself."

Liam looked surprised but then narrowed his eyes at him. "Is that so? And why would you think that?"

"I know you're frustrated. You can't handle it that Niall is picking everything up a lot faster than you did. You're pushing him to see what his limits are and getting annoyed that he gets closer and closer to your own level."

The waterbender frowned and looked away. "That's not true. I'm only preparing him for what is about to come. No one else seems to take the whole situation serious."

"Oh but it is true. And you know it! Don't deny that you're only reflecting your own insecurities on the boy," Zayn firmly said.

"How about you just shut the hell up and try to fix up your own messed up life," Liam bit back.

This time Zayn narrowed his eyes. "You know I could give you a full on inspirational talk on how we are all in this together and how we need to help each other, but I guess you will always come back to being this big whiny baby in the end! I thought you wanted to be a leader, but you can't be a leader if you won't ever fucking listen! It's not all about you!"

Without saying more, Liam pulled his legs out of the water, stood up and walked away.

And with that, Zayn was fed up with the situation too. He quickly got up took a deep breath, put his hands together and pointed forward as he breathed out again. Sending a wall of flames surrounding the waterbender.

Liam shrieked, as he hadn't expected the firebender to do that. Pushing away his surprise, he turned around and crossed his arms. "Look who's finally showing his true self."

The raven-haired started to turn red now. He put out his flames as he snapped at the other boy. "God, Liam. What has gotten into you! You're not accomplishing anything by being a dick! Stop running away from your problems and talk to me!"

Zayn didn't lose his calm composer quickly, but it didn't hold Liam back to get on his nerves either.

"I'm running away from my problems!? It was you who kept everything for himself! If you had spoken up earlier we would've been a lot further! But no, it all had to be about your own honour. Even when we got closer! You couldn't care less about anything else than keeping your stupid secrets!"

Zayn lowered his shoulders. "So is that what this is about? You're still mad at me?"

"Yes- I mean no- I mean... I don't know, okay! I'm mad at both of us. I'm mad at my parents for putting me in this position. I just thought that I had finally made some friends and that I was doing the right thing. I thought I finally had everything figured out. But then everything just gets messed up again and I don't even know what I'm doing." Liam grabbed the back of his head as he let his frustrations out. "I just don't want to let anyone down, okay."