Chapter Text
It started with that damn look.
Zayn could have blamed it on how hot the building was with the shoving bodies, or on the various colored drinks being shoved at him from all different directions as Chris Brown blasted through the speakers, or the way that Harry and Niall were in some sort of grinding orgy with what seemed like half of the club, Niall’s drink sloshing over some poor girls breasts and Harry licking them clean. Zayn could even try blaming it on the crudely wrapped joint he shared on the way from the venue from Harry, his own version of passing out cigars after the birth of his baby - the baby in this case the biggest crowd that Niall and Harry had performed in front of since they began their little escapade. Maybe Zayn would go so far as to blame the concert itself.
Because the night only ended up the way it did because Harry and Niall practically dragged Zayn out of the house.
“You have to leave at some point, you can’t become a part of the furniture even if you are comfortable.” Niall, the constant charmer with his roguish accent and bright baby blues (Zayn wishes he could hate Niall for how easily he fit in places and got anyone to like him - even the nasty landlord who runs over cats for amusement), had shoved a red shirt at him and forced his pants down.
“Hey! Leave me alone, I can dress myself.” Zayn huffed and scratched at his newly shaved head, the long hairs at the top falling over his eyes before he tied it up in a bun and sighed heavily.
Again, Harry and Niall were trying to get him to go to their gig. Harry, the lead singer and first person Zayn had met on the campus, gave Zayn the incentive to go with his short and firm, “If you don’t come to this one I’ll call your mother and tell her all about the time you fell asleep drunk in the middle of the road at 3am before you had to take your final exam.”
Zayn decided to give it a go.
It wasn’t like Zayn didn’t like his friends’ band - they had agreed on ‘The White Rogue’ after Niall had been arrested that one time for being a public disterbance - and they were good at what they did, including fan service. What Zayn didn’t like was crowds. And potential embarrassment. And stupid decisions, such as passing out drunk in the middle of the road at 3am.
So instead of being curled up without his pants on watching the Parks and Recreation finale (again), he found himself pushed against sweaty bodies while Harry crooned into his mic, Niall rubbing up against his side and Josh - a friend of Niall’s from high school who followed him like a puppy to college - crashing around on his drumset, and they were good. They were good, and Zayn wanted to go home. Halfway between their set someone started to toss condoms around, and Niall picked one up, unwrapped it, and blew it up into a balloon.
Zayn needed to go home.
And he would’ve if it wasn’t for those dark eyes across the club, plus Zayn wasn’t an idiot, he could see the way that he was getting mind-fucked from across the room by a kid in one of those ‘I-cut-my-own-sleeves’ shirts that was missing almost the whole entire side, a little uneven, but still attractive in a strange, grunge kind of way. He watched the muscles ripple under the kids’ shirt - he didn’t even know that was possible outside of romance novels - and against his own will he felt his heart beat faster and his jeans tighten. Turning back to his drink, he gulped the acrid liquid down in one swig and shook his head to get the after taste from burning a hole through his esophagus, being interrupted by the hot breath on his ear and the firm, sweaty body plastered on his back.
“If you want it, go get it!” Niall’s loud voice rang in Zayn’s ear, and a hand, well, several hands actually, but whether they were trying to pull or push him was unknown, made him stumble closer to the boy with the plump, red lips. He wasn’t that obvious, was he? He could feel his hands start to get clammy before he shoved them into his front pockets, shuffling through the bodies to get away from the crowd. There was a gust of cool air fanning over his face as someone opened the alley door by the bar, the smoggy air clearing momentarily until a cloud of smoke was blown into his face.
Walking away from the couple who were practically undressed and making noises Zayn was sure weren’t human, he pulled out his pack and lit up quickly to calm his pulse and find a sense of calm. Unfortunately, that calm ended as soon as it had begun, and the boy from the club was standing in front of Zayn with the sort of smirk you know comes with trouble. The boy was only a bit taller than Zayn, but tall enough that Zayn had to look up from the boy’s birthmarked neck to meet his gaze with Zayn’s hazel eyes, and God, Zayn wanted to mess up his spiffy quiff and know what this boy could do with the tongue that kept darting out to lick his thick lips.
“D’you speak?”The other boy murmured as he lifted his glass full of an amber liquid up to his smirking lips, Zayn didn’t watch his throat as his Adam’s apple bobbed with the slow swallow and he definitely wasn’t hard, no way. Nodding slowly, Zayn ran his tongue across his lips before shifting on his feet, a small smile tugging at his lips.
“Yeah,” He breathed out quietly, “Sorry, I usually have my mates with me, and they do most of the conversing.” His arms moved behind him, his hands coming together behind his back, fidgeting fingers pressing into the backs of his bony hands. “M’Zayn. I’m friends with the band.”
“Liam.. I’m friends with a friend of the band, but he’s off somewhere. Probably with the tall one.” Liam’s eyes raked over Zayn and Zayn subconsciously moved his arms to cover his chest, the sleeves of his leather jacket protesting as they moved up his arms slowly from the bending of his arms.
“Harry? The tall one?” Zayn couldn’t help but laugh at the way Liam had described his friend, but he had to agree, Harry did have the height of a tree, and had a sort of giraffe complex as well with his gangly limbs and stumbling footsteps.
Liam nodded slowly, his eyes drawn to the stretch of Zayn’s jacket, his voice low and slow as he reached forward to pluck the cigarette from Zayn’s lips just to bring it to his own, “I’m sorry, I really can’t think with your lips wrapped around this.” Zayn nearly choked on his tongue as Liam winked and tossed the last of the cigarette to the ground, promptly stubbing it out with his boot and stepping closer to Zayn, his thick biceps coming up with his hands - okay no Zayn was definitely not just staring at those beauties - as they pressed against the wall beside either sides of Zayn’s head. Something on Liam caught Zayn’s eye, something around his neck like a band, and being an idiot, Zayn reached for it and pulled it out to inspect it. Zayn’s eyes widened at about the same rate as Liam’s as he scanned the I.D card, noticing the words in big block letters, UNDER 21.
Liam snatched it back and looked at Zayn with a scared expression, his cheeks flaming red and his lips parted in shock, while Zayn was still in place, running what he had just happened over again in his mind. Liam started to babble about how no one could know and how he’d get kicked off his team and swearing under his breath, all but sprinting away from Zayn to the door, opening it to reveal the pulsating thrum of the club.
Zayn wasn’t quite sure what to do next, he glanced down at his hands before moving behind Liam, a soft sigh leaving his lips, “Hey, wait, don’t-” His hand rest on the back of the door and in a bold move, he put all his weight on it, closing the big metal door before Liam could take a step through it. “I won’t tell anybody,” He flashed a small hesitant smile, pulling his hand away from the door sheepishly, “Didn’t mean to slam the door in your face, sorry..”
“S’alright,” Liam’s tongue ran over his bottom lip as he seemed to weigh his options, making Zayn’s breath catch in his throat, “Just most.. most people freak out, it’s not like I’m not legal. I’m 18, I just can’t drink- especially because of my sports, God, I would be kicked off the team.” Zayn watched as the younger male babbled off to himself, a fond smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
“Trust me, I won’t blab on you, I didn’t for Harry or Niall, we’re cool, mate,” Zayn bit down on his bottom lip, watching as Liam slowly relaxed, getting comfortable in the situation once again, the burning look of determination returning to his features, leaving the older boy’s brain to try and catch up to the pace that Liam’s was running on. Swallowing the small lump in his throat, Zayn went to speak again, “So, you’re only 18 then? A senior, I’m assuming?” His voice was a little weak, and he cleared his throat, willing himself to speak louder. “‘Cause you were talking about sports, I mean..”
Humming, Liam nodded his head, watching Zayn speak softly, his eyes drinking in the sharp cut of his cheekbones and the slight pout to his puffy lips that he decided he wanted to ruin completely - not that he was going to let this act of faux innocence drop just yet, “Mhm, I go to the high school downtown, Louis’ a friend of mine who I met on the football team.” Liam lifted his eyes from Zayn’s mouth to his eyes, he could stare into them forever, they were colored like his favorite drink and he fucking loved it. “Graduated late, ‘cause he can’t focus and he failed his sophomore year.”
“Hmph, okay, didn’t know that.” Zayn furrowed his eyebrows, thinking back to when Harry had first started hanging around Louis after Niall had started talking to him after a gig, the three of them were interesting, to say the least, but it was none of Zayn’s business - especially after he had walked in on the three of them hooking up a few months prior, no one brought it up again after Louis had left and that was that. “He’s only ever over after shows, which means tonight.” His chuckle was soft, tumbling from his lips and falling upon Liam’s ears like a piece of candy on his tongue.
“We should get out of here,” Liam comments, not sure exactly the way that Zayn will take it but the raised eyebrow is good enough for him as he feels his signature smirk pulling at his lips, “Not like that, I meant away from the club, Zayn.” He ran his tongue over his lips as he saw Zayn’s ears start to flush red, the blunt of his teeth pressing into his bottom lip. “Unless you’re interested in something else?”
“No, no, I mean.. you, I-” Zayn stumbled over his words, trying to find a way to get a comprehensible sentence to come out from his mouth, “You’re just- want to go to McDonald’s?” He finally found the words, a soft, defeated sigh leaving his lips, “That good? Or maybe we could go to Burger King.”
“McDonald’s is fine,” Liam smiled at the flustered man in front of him, opening the alleyway door again to get inside, “Gotta tell Lou that we’re leaving, pull the car up front?” He smiled warmly at Zayn, taking the first step inside as the other boy’s head nodded curtly, walking in the whole way once Zayn headed off in the direction of his car.
Weaving his way through the crowd to the center of the large group of dancing people wasn’t really as hard as you’d think. There was a little shoving, but Liam was used to it and shoving back wasn’t something he was against. Finally, after a few minutes of avoiding the drunk women coming onto him, he finally got to the trio, including his friend, Louis.
“Mate,” He was caught off guard by an arm being wrapped around his shoulder, until the familiar voice rang out from the body next to him, “Think we’re gonna head out.” Louis slurred, a hazy grin on his face as he looked up at Liam, “If you know what I mean.” The over exaggerated wink that Louis sent him almost made Liam snort, his hand removing Louis’ from his shoulder as he began to speak,
“Alright, be safe, yeah? Text me in the morning if you need a ride home.” He ruffled Louis’ hair as the threesome worked their way away from him, towards the main entrance. He watched with a fond smile before remembering that he, too, was supposed to be going out the same way to meet up with Zayn.
With his driver’s seat window rolled down, Zayn sighed softly as he waited for Liam out in front of the club. His arm rest against the door, a lit cigarette in between his index and middle finger burning to ash as he glanced out the window, checking every once in a while to make sure that he wasn’t going to miss Liam walking out of the brick building. Flicking the ashes out onto the pavement beneath his vehicle, he was frightened when he all of a sudden heard the passenger door open.
“Boo.” Liam giggled - although, if you ever asked, he would never admit to it - as he climbed into the car next to his new friend, a smile on his lips. “You really should lock your doors, I could’ve been a stranger.” He hummed, running his fingertips over the leather-lined inside of the car. “Nice ride though, the black fits you.” Zayn just blinked, his mouth hung open the slightest bit.
“How’d you.. get- what?” His eyebrows furrowed together, a crease forming between his brows as he tried to fit the pieces together, “I was just.. and you- how..what?” It was happening again, he couldn’t dig himself out this time, he was completely and utterly confused.
“Security brought me out with your friends and Louis, just in case and so I could give them my number, so if Louis needed a ride they could reach me.” Liam smiled, his eyes brightening up a little as he buckled himself into the car, “M’not a vampire, or summat, can’t teleport. Although, that would be so sick.” He murmured more to himself towards the end. "Wouldn't it?"
“Yeah, I guess if you’re into that kind of thing.” chuckled Zayn, putting the car into drive as he flicked his cigarette butt out the window. Thankfully he wasn’t that drunk, and could probably get them there without hassle if he made sure to go slow. They chatted a bit in the car - well, Liam chatted, Zayn politely grunted and nodded and made comments when needed, not that he wasn’t interested in what Liam had to say about his school and friends or whatnot, it was just the fact that Liam was being very touchy and his large hand was nearly completely wrapped around his thigh.
As Liam’s fingers tensed as he came to an important part of his story, he glanced away from Zayn to his grip on the steering wheel, the edges of his naturally tanned skin turning a pale reddish-white as he squeezed the plastic, fake wood inserts. Liam tilted his head slightly, his tongue running over his lips as he shifted his hand up Zayn’s skinny thigh, not missing the hitch in the other boy’s breathing. “You listening?” He questioned, moving his hand back towards the other’s knee rather than leaving it halfway up his thigh, “Don’t make me start over now, I was almost to the good part.”
“No, no, I was listening,” Zayn’s smile was small and strained as he did his best to keep his eyes on the road in front of him, reaching a hand from the steering wheel to scratch at his collarbone momentarily before flipping his turning signal on, turning into the fast food restaurant’s parking lot; a soft sigh of relief left his lips as Liam moved his hand back to his own side of the console to unbuckle his seat belt. If Zayn hadn’t been hard when he first got into the car, he sure as hell was now.