Double Standards // ziam

Chapter 23

Being at home, Zayn never felt like he was out of place, it was his comfort zone, his shelter from the outside world. Home never felt so strange until now. He tried to stumble back into his routine, searching for a job, giving piano lessons anything to help a little and to keep his mind wandering far away from the ghosts of memories that haunted him at night. He finally found a job it was not as his previous one, in fact it had nothing to do with his previous job; he was now a substitute music teacher at a primary school. He found it satisfyingly stress-free. Music was his passion; consequently he enjoyed it enormously. It had been just a week or was it two before they took the break. He lost track of time, or forced himself to, he needn't wait on anyone. He was better left alone; in fact he wanted to be alone.

His parents are aware of everything naturally, he was so open explaining what happened to him excluding the embarrassing parts. They did not actually say it out loud but he could see the sympathy in their eyes. Except for his brother, Lenny, he was furious on his behalf because nobody treats my brother that way!

He was fine really, he just needed to learn to move on and the wounds that were fresh a month ago are beginning to heal leisurely, how ugly the scars they left would be, God only knows.

***

Fenster, Missouri, was covered in a white blanket of snow with Christmas decorations hanging at all the town's intersections; Fenster had a Norman Rockwell quaintness about it that reminded Liam rather poignantly of Zayn's initial shyness about sex.

Aided by the directions a taciturn old man had given him a few minutes before, Liam had no trouble finding the quiet little street where Zayn had grown up. He pulled to a stop in front of a modest white frame house with a swing on the porch and an enormous oak tree in the front yard, and turned off the ignition of the car he'd rented at the airport five long hours ago.

The slow, treacherous drive across snow-covered roads had been the easy part; facing Zayn was going to be the difficult part...an extremely difficult part.

His knock was answered immediately by a wiry young man in his mid-twenties. Liam's heart sank...and his inside twisted. Never in his worst imaginings during the drive down here had he considered the possibility that Zayn might have another man with him.

"My name is Liam Payne," he said, and watched the young man's curious smile change to open hostility. "I'd like to see Zayn."

"I'm Zayn's brother," the young man retorted, "and he doesn't want to see you."

His brother! Liam's momentary relief was followed by an absurd impulse to hit the younger man on the face for stealing Zayn's allowances when he was a little boy, but did he really have the right, what he did to him was a lot worse and he wanted to make sure he lived his live making up to him.

"I've come to see him," Liam stated implacably, "and if I have to walk over you to get to him, I will."

"I believe he means it, Leonard," Zayn's stepfather said, stepping into the hallway, his finger in a closed book he had been reading.

For a long moment, Robert Danner studied the tall, determined man in the doorway, his penetrating blue eyes observing the lines of strain and tension etched deeply into his visitor's features. He had the set of blue eyes that could x-ray your body...showing your very soul.

A faint, unwilling smile softened the stern line of Mr. Danner's mouth. "Leonard," he said quietly, "why don't we give Mr. Payne five minutes with Zayn to see if he can change his mind. He's in the living room," he added, tilting his head over his shoulder in the direction of the Christmas carols playing on the stereo.

"Five minutes, and that's all," Leonard grumbled, following right on Liam's heels. If this man wanted to talk to Zayn he'll have to be there to protect him.