paint · ziam au

xi

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(words: 1.164)

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"So" Louis began, looking up at Liam with a frown on his face. "You brought him to our date?" He points at Zayn who stands awkwardly next to Liam.

Liam rolls his eyes "It's not a date, Lou." He pulls Zayn a bit closer "And besides, he's not doing anything wrong."

Louis huffs and puts his hands up in defense. "Okay, alright. Let's just sit down, yeah?" He says as he sits down at one of the red booths in the local diner.

He nods, letting Zayn slide in first. As they sit down a waitress asks for their orders immediately. When she is about to leave, Liam quickly stops her. "Oh and would you mind bringing some crayons and a piece of paper?"

The woman eyes him funnily, crayons and coloring paper usually came with the kids meal, but she didn't question him and agreed.

Louis cocks an eyebrow and chuckles. "Since when are you so into coloring?" He asks as the lady comes back with a small crayon box and paper.

"It's not for me -" Liam says "-It's for Zayn." He slides the two items over to Zayn, who smiles in delight.

"So his name is Zayn?" Louis asks as he watches him, beginning to draw the outline of something.

Liam nods, also watching Zayn color.

"Does he talk?" Louis asks, his tone a bit annoyed.

Zayn flickers his eyes up at him, but then looks back down at the paper. He has a feeling that Louis doesn't like him.

"He does, he's just a bit shy, that's all."

Louis chuckles and sits up straight, shaking his head. "Where'd you find him?"

Liam purses his lips, not wanting to answer in front of Zayn. "Is it really the appropriate time to talk about that, Louis?"

"I think it is, because you had told me that we were going to talk about this today."

Liam huffs and luckily the lady comes back with their orders. As she sets them down, Louis narrows his eyes at him, which he avoids.

If Liam won't answer, let's see if Zayn will.

"So, Zayn." He says his name a bit too cheerfully.

Zayn stops coloring and looks up Louis, his smile is a bit too wide to be considered nice. "Yes?" He says quietly.

"Where did you live before you moved in with Liam?" He asks.

Zayn swallows a bit, stuttering. "I-I lived u-uh... in front Tim's Bakery." He answers.

"Oh, really?" He perks up a bit. "In one of those apartment buildings?"

He gulps and shakes his head as he continues coloring.

Liam gives Louis a death glare as he chews on his food. Louis ignores him and continues questioning him. "Where then?"

Zayn's eyes sadden a bit, his coloring was shakey as he answered quietly. "The... alleyway."

Louis seems to be satisfied with the answer, but he wants Zayn to repeat it. "Excuse me, I didn't hear you."

He looks up at Louis who has a mischievous smirk on his lips. He wants the ground to eat him up and disappear forever . "Alleyway." He colors harshly onto the paper, feeling anger and humiliation being bubbled up inside of him. His blue crayon snaps in two and he clenches his jaw as he sees that he has colored outside of the lines, but that wasn't bothering him.