Bromance One-Shots

Ziam - Just An Old Photograph

ZIAM!

Prompt: Liam and Zayn have been best friends since they were kids. But Liam leaves, and is gone for five years. Time changes people. 

xx

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“I thought maybe we could take the same picture. You know, stand in the same place as the old picture. The one from when we were little,”

            Liam bit his lip, staring at Zayn and breathing through his nose. They had been best friends since they were little and Zayn just wanted to relive the old times. Relive all the great moments they had before Liam packed up and left.

            “Why are you still so immature?” Liam asked bitterly. Zayn was shocked by Liam’s words, and he flinched away, his eyes wide in sorrow.

            “But…but Li, I thought that you would like to have a picture to take with you. So you can always remember me,” Zayn whispered. The cool autumn wind whipped past them as they stood under the oak tree, its limbs guarding them from the harsh sun. They had grown up under this tree, the two of them playing games, hitting puberty, and talking late at night when everyone else was asleep.

            “We’re 18 years old, Zayn,” Liam’s voice cracked, “That’s all little kids stuff, taking silly pictures and holding each other,”

            “But…remember? Do you remember the picture?” Zayn asked, tears filling his eyes, “The one we took under our tree. This tree. You had your arm around me and I was laughing into your shoulder. We were like…8 years old, Liam,”

            “I know,” Liam sighed, running his hands over his face. “That’s why it doesn’t matter anymore, Zayn. We’ve been growing apart. Can’t you feel it?”

            Zayn’s heart was pounding now, because no, he hadn’t felt as though he and Liam were drifting apart. He thought it was the same as always. “I don’t understand why you are saying this,” Zayn whimpered, tears spilling over now and streaming down his cheeks.

            “Did you think this could last forever? Did you think that we’d be best friend until we died? That we would both raise our own families and still manage to stay connected?” Liam asked, his tone cruel. That’s when Zayn snapped, breaking into sobs and trying to run away. But Liam was hit with that guilt, the terrible, gut wrenching guilt that made him throw out his arm and catch Zayn’s wrist. “I’m sorry,” Liam’s voice was rough and weak, and Zayn didn’t think that it sounded sincere at all. It didn’t even sound like Liam.

            “Why are you being like this?” Zayn sobbed into his hands, looking at Liam through his fingers. Liam shifted on his feet and tucked his hands into his pockets roughly, rocking on his heels.

            “Because I’m leaving Zayn,” Liam choked, “I’m leaving, and I’ll probably never see you again, and I can’t keep believing these childish things,”

            “But…I don’t want to never see you again,” Zayn was a wreck.

            “Well, we can’t be neighbors forever,”

            “Yes we can,” Zayn protested, falling to his knees and feeling like he may vomit. He didn’t want to lose Liam. He couldn’t lose him.