Gravity Always Wins (Zouis Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4

Louis’ clearly curious about the tattoo thing. Zayn catches him staring sometimes if his shirt is unbuttoned just enough to see the curve of his grandfather’s name. Usually Zayn would be embarrassed if a guy stared at him like that, but it’s Louis so he doesn’t ask him what he’s looking at because if Louis wanted to say something, he would. But he never will because Louis’ a stubborn ass and he’ll never give Zayn the satisfaction of admitting that he wants to get a tattoo, not after being so vocal about not liking them.

They’re tacky, apparently. That’s what he said in the back of a cab once. They were all slightly worse for wear, Liam and Niall already asleep, their heads back and their mouths open, but Harry was wasted and all of over Zayn, a hand in his shirt.

‘I’m getting a tattoo,’ he slurred, stroking the Arabic script curled under Zayn’s collarbone with his finger, but it sounded more like a threat than an announcement.

‘They’re fucking tacky, Haz.’ Louis rolled his eyes and Zayn tilted his head at him.

‘My grandfather’s name is tacky?’

‘Don’t be an asshole, Lou,’ Harry said, his hand curling around Zayn’s shoulder as he waited for Louis to apologise, but Louis never would – never, especially when he was drunk – so Zayn didn’t hold his breath. But he did see Louis’ cheeks go from pink to red before he turned his face away and he knew that he was mortified.

Just like he knows that Louis will never admit to wanting a tattoo. Zayn would tease him about it, tell him it’s karma for being such a dickhead, but he doesn’t need to because Louis winds himself up about it. Like earlier, Zayn was wearing a tank top and it must have been low enough to expose the top of the playing card tattooed on his side and when Harry saw it, he gasped and tried to tug the arm hole down. Zayn had no idea he was so ticklish, yelping then giggling as he wriggled away from him and pressed his hand to his side to hide the tattoo. But that only made Harry more determined, and he climbed into Zayn’s lap, pinning him to the sofa as he tried to get a better look.

Louis must have heard them wrestling and walked to the back of the tour bus as Zayn grabbed Harry’s wrists and told him to leave him alone with a helpless giggle.

‘What are you doing, Haz?’ Louis asked with a frown.

Harry cackled, trying to bite one of Zayn’s hands so he let go of his wrist. ‘He won’t let me see his new tattoo.’

‘It isn’t new,’ Louis said with a surly sigh, taking Harry by the collar of his shirt and pulling him out of Zayn’s lap as though he was a naughty puppy. ‘It’s a month old.’

‘How come you’ve seen it?’ Harry asked with a pout, but Louis ignored him and put his hands on Harry’s shoulders, pointing him towards his bunk.

Zayn chuckled softly as he watched them walk away, his hands on his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. He waited for Louis to look back, but he didn’t. He didn’t look at him for the rest of the day, in fact, not until Zayn was about to go to bed. Zayn thought he was the only one still awake so didn’t bother going into the bathroom to strip down to his underwear, but after he pulled off his t-shirt, he looked up to find Louis waiting to get past. The shock of it made Zayn step back, which made Louis do the same.

‘I was just.’ He held up an empty glass and nodded towards the kitchen.

‘Sorry,’ Zayn said, getting out of his way.

When he stepped aside, that should have been it, but as soon as he slid past him, Zayn turned back as Louis did and when their gaze met it made Zayn’s cheeks burn as he asked himself what Louis was looking at. But then that made his cheeks even hotter, because Zayn wouldn’t know that Louis had turned back if he hadn’t turned back as well.