This Town |Ziall|

Chapter 2: Hey Brother

"A candle does not lose its light by lighting other candles."
  ~Harshasha

Loud banging on his hotel door startled him awake. It took a second or seven for him to get his bearing and the pounding on the hotel door louder and louder. He groggily dragged his feet to the door, and opened it without checking through the peep hole.

"What have you been up to?" Eleanor explodes, making her way into his hotel room. Niall rubs his eye with the back of his hand, sleep still heavy under his eyes. "It's almost one-thirty. In the afternoon, Niall. Have you really been asleep all this time?"

"Yeah," he managed to say, his throat scratchy. "Why are you so hyper in the morning?"

"I'm guessing you haven't checked Twitter? Instagram? Maybe read a few articles this morning?"

Niall stared at her. "No. Why? Are people hating on my brunette hair once again? That's hardl—".    

"You followed Zayn yesterday."

"... I did. Yeah."

"And?" she asked, waiting for a better explanation than that.

"And I turned on his notifications."

Eleanor groaned, flopping down on the chair and crossed her leg on her knee. "You really haven't seen anything?"

"No. And please tell me you're carrying food in that large bag of yours?" he asked, eyeing Eleanor's rather large forest green bag.

"Nope. Today is vlogging day so I'm going round Manhattan to—Stop distracting me! You've brought the world of Twitter on a standstill."

Niall gawks at her. "Why?"

"Because, you Irish idiot, unblocked Zayn and followed him. Everyone knows that all four of you blocked him literally the month after he left and now here you are, following him. Immediately after, the Zquad and Directioners got wind of it."

Niall sat on the edge of the bed, his head spinning lightly. "Crap."

"Crap does not cover it. The two fandoms got into wars with each other, one saying that you were a traitor to the pact that you made with Louis and Co. while the Zquad were saying that you finally grew a pair and—"

"Grew a pair? Whose words?"

"Theirs," she said, a little too quick if Niall is being honest, "but I agree with them. Took you long to grow a pair."

"Someone told me that it's my life and I can do what I want," he said and winked at her.

"So after the war, which is still going on right now, several trending hashtags were about you, well, you and Zayn. There was Ziall, Ziall Bromance, someone hoping One D were getting back together but the one which is still trending is Ziall. Then people like Sugarscape, Elle, the Debrief," she flips her wrist in a 'and all those others' motion, "were all about you following and what impact this has. Most just want to know if there is a One D reunion."

"I agree with them," confessed Niall.

"He followed you."

Niall looked up from the floor at her. "Zayn?" She nodded. "He followed me?"

"A few minutes ago."

~ ~ * ~ ~

After the interview with iHeart Radio, Niall accompanies Eleanor on her Youtube vlogging tour of Manhattan. The interview, thankfully, goes on successfully and thanks to his bestfriend slash PA, the topic of him following Zayn on Twitter was not brought up. He talked about his debut single, the vague meaning of This Town, his future plans, if he prefers chocolate ice-cream over vanilla, you know, the norm.