The Contract

Cheers to 2023

New Years came and Niall hadn't seen any reports or sightings of the two so he created a group message with them. When asked, they both just passed it off as if they had separate plans already. Niall was also busy with his family so he understood and said they'd discuss the plan at their meeting when he got back.

Given everything that happened Zayn desperately wanted to spend the holiday away from all the stress. He spontaneously booked him and Harry flights to New York where he met up with his model friends Kendall and Gigi. Harry would've never forgiven him if he'd gone without him because of his little crush on Kendall.

Liam had been visiting Louis the few days before New Years. He even broke his sobriety although Louis advised against it, but it was out of his control. One of the newer bartenders had taken his order first.

When it came to New Years Liam was invited to tons of parties in the city but he decided last minute to meet up with some of his close college friends in Switzerland since they were already there. It was like old times again.

During the trip his friends would ask which hot model he was seeing now and Liam would brush it off. Some of the boys even asked about the picture with him and Zayn, but he just brushed that off too. Even though his friends knew about his sexuality they never bothered him about it.

At the party he attended in New York Zayn met someone. It was Kendall who introduced the two whispering to Zayn that the other was interested in him. In fact, he even shared a New Years kiss with this person. Given that he was a little tipsy, but he felt like a normal person for once. He convinced himself that everything with Liam was superficial and just him trying to cope with his parents actions.

Majority of his night was spent with the man in one of the private balconies. At times like this he was thankful for Kendall's top notch security because it was super exclusive since it was at her penthouse.

He hit it off with this person instantly and found that they had tons of common interests. They shared lots of personal things like dreams, childhood, and careers.

When they shared the kiss he felt horrible because while it was nice in the moment he was set to be with Liam. He also knew that since the picture of them came out people would be speculating about their relationship so he was surprised this person didn't ask about it.

With guilt he bid this person goodbye saying he had a good time and made his way back to the hub of the party. Of course his best friends kept pestering him if anything happened but he chose not to say.

When they made it to their hotel Harry made Zayn spill. As he spoke from his heart Harry couldn't help but ache for his friend. The place his friend was in right now was complicated and no matter what he said to him, he knew that ultimately Zayn had to deal with it on his own time. As a best friend you can only say so much. Everyone is their own independent person and their journeys are all so different.

Their meeting came faster than expected and they still hadn't been face to face since Christmas Eve, so both were nervous about the upcoming encounter.

Their meeting was awkward. Niall easily sensed the air between the two. Though they probably didn't think it but the two were practically sitting at the edge of the couch just to not be close to each other.

After sharing their separate schedules for the next couple months, Niall went over his idea and set up some outings for them in the meantime. After concluding his agenda the meeting was over. They each went separate ways without saying anything to each other. Niall seeing them off sighed because this was going to be way harder than he expected.

On top of all that winter break was over and Zayn started his final term of university. Before all this happened he was super excited for graduation, but now he wasn't so sure.

This plan of theirs was already set in motion and without the distraction of school, all his life would be from then on out was modeling and Liam. Was I ready for that? He thought.

The next outing Niall decided would be Zayns birthday bash. In previous years it was usually low key dinner with family and close friends but Niall advised a big event to officially announce their relationship.

The PR manger had already come up with a backstory for them and since they grew up together it made things for him way easier than they made it. Since the latest pictures of them weren't that expressive of their "affection" to each other he decided to play at that.

Ultimately what he visioned was to say that they had been trying to keep their relationship a secret since about late August early September. With the surprising announcement of Liam stepping up in November the two decided to hold off on going public due to the fact that a "boss/employee" relationship wouldn't look the best.

He figured he could also tug at peoples heartstrings by having them say they felt like they couldn't open up about their relationship because people would judge them for the fact that Zayn was under Liam as a top model.

To round it out, at the party Liam would  present Zayn a gift and the two would share a kiss. Thus, publicly announcing their "relationship." He had everything lined up from interviews, to podcasts, and made sure the press would be covering the party. Niall also gave each a study guide because he wanted them to be ready for any questions thrown their way.

Liam and Zayn were both numb at this point. There was literally nothing the two could do about this. It was happening , whether they liked it or not, this was their life from now on. A show.