Kick, Push

Competition Day: -2

Tired eyes squint in the dark room, brought awake by a blaring alarm somewhere near.

They close again once Zayn's managed to locate his phone and turn the bloody sound that's meant to get him up in time to meet his family for breakfast, off. He's not sure if the two haven't moved all night, or if he's just found his way back to the position he was in when he drifted off ten hours ago. What Zayn does know is that the hard body was still adversely soft enough for him to snuggle closer to. "They can eat without me," he mumbles into the man's warm chest when he feels Liam start to stir.

"You'll regret it later." Zayn highly doubts that. "Come on." Languid kisses are being placed to his head as Liam sits up.

"If this is your way of getting me out of bed," he protests stubbornly. "I think you need to re-evaluate your tactics."

"Would you rather I just leave?" Even though Liam's tone isn't serious, he still starts to slip out of the bed and away from Zayn's grasp.

Petulant, the sleepy male pulls Liam back towards him. "No, Leeyum, please."

From the smug look on Liam's face, Zayn doesn't think it's his grip that has the male leaning back into his previous space. "I could get used to hearing you say that," he says into Zayn's ear, biting down on the lobe after.

The feeling of Liam's beard against his turns Zayn on just as much as the words. Nudging the other's cheek, Zayn gets Liam to pull away enough for him to capture his lips with his own. When they part, he whispers, "play your cards right, and that won't be a problem."

With Liam being as responsible as he is, all he can do to ensure the skater's not late is to give him another sultry kiss, leaving the next occasion as a mystery. While they're putting on their clothes, Zayn a fresh outfit and Liam the same from the day before, the athlete wonders more about when that might be. Although standing in front of Liam's door, Zayn's more concerned with how they're meant to act around each other now that they've just spent the night together, than if it'll happen again.

"I'll text you later," he promises with both hands in his trouser pockets.

Liam refrains from unlocking his door with the code just yet, "Ok, but don't feel pressure."

It was an easy out for Zayn to take, he recognizes that, but what Liam didn't realize was that Zayn wasn't an empty promises sort of guy, didn't say things just to say them. Which meant Liam was getting the message.

"I'll text you later," he reaffirms, smiling at the man and walking off in the direction of the lift to avoid any awkward morning after goodbye hug or kiss or whatever people did. Pushing the button for the ground floor, Zayn's not sure if it was the right move considering how cordial Liam was as a person, but he tries not to over think it as he steps into the mirror lined space.

Like Liam had predicted, he's glad he didn't miss out on breakfast, but he's more than ok with having to take a few phone interviews in the afternoon while his sisters fawn over beauty supplies and makeup. Ducking in and out of alleys to take the calls was easy, it was the getting recognized thing that Zayn found harder now that he had won. People picked up on him here or there, but it was usually the skater crowd, and they were practically the chillest group on earth, so the five or ten minute stops from the general population wanting pictures was new to the athlete.

What felt even weirder was the fact that Zayn hadn't even been on a board in two days. Had it not been for the activities of last night and getting one of the best night's sleep in months, Zayn probably would've gone out that morning for a quick ride. He thinks last night was worth it.

At dinner, his Dad gives a speech on how proud he is of Zayn, which brings everyone to tears, Zayn included. Skateboarding wasn't the traditional career that a parent would envision for their child and Zayn knew that early on. When other kids were studying diligently for their exams, Zayn was only doing what he needed to get by, any free time outside of that dedicated to perfecting his craft. Clearly it paid off, but none of them knew that back then. For all they knew, Zayn could've crashed and burned, quite literally. To support their child as much as they had, their bisexual child at that, was a miracle in Zayn's eyes. He couldn't have asked for a better support system.