The Way We Do (Ziam)

Chapter 2

Something deep inside me, I can't give up...

It ended up being harder to stay away from Liam that Zayn had anticipated. He could hear laughter drifting out of his apartment as he made his way up to the fourth floor a few days later, and he smiled, thinking that he'd do whatever he could to be able to hear his girls laugh more often. Growing up their house had been filled with nonstop laughter and lots of love, but things had been different since the accident. Zayn did the best he could, he really did, but he feared that his best wasn't always good enough.

His smile died on his lips as he unlocked the front door and walked in to see everyone crowded around Liam, who looked completely out of place in the shabby apartment. Zayn's eyes went immediately to the couch, which was still covered with his blanket and pillow from the night before, and he cursed himself for having been too lazy to put them away this morning. And then he cursed Liam fucking Payne, because how dare this asshole make him feel ashamed of his home.

Zayn squared his shoulders and raised his chin as he walked the few steps it took to get to the kitchen, giving Safaa a kiss on the head before glaring at Liam. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, earning a swat on the arm from Doniya.

Liam had the good graces to look a bit rebuffed, at least, but his voice was sure when he answered him. "I live not too far from here, and I saw Don," - Don? Did he really just fucking call his sister Don? - "struggling with a load of groceries. I recognized her from our game and offered to help."

"It was very nice of him," Doniya added, looking pointedly at Zayn. He ignored her.

"Where do you live?" Zayn asked Liam, doing his best to ignore the way Liam was looking him up and down. Zayn didn't even bother to stand up straight, since he already knew how good he looked in his tight navy uniform as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. Not that he gave a damn whether Liam thought he looked good or not (but he did, he definitely did).

Liam waved his hand towards the window closest to him. "A few blocks down, over on Sayler Ave."

Zayn nodded, his suspicions about Liam confirmed. Sayler Avenue may only have been a few streets over, but that neighborhood bore no resemblance to Zayn's, made up mainly of fancy old Victorians with expensive cars parked in front. Cars like Liam's. Zayn looked him up and down, seeing him up close out of uniform for the first time. His clothes looked nice, though Zayn couldn't tell if they were designer or not, since he really didn't know shit about that stuff. But he could definitely tell how expensive his watch was. It was huge and gaudy and probably cost more than Zayn made in a month.

Like Zayn had suspected from the start, Liam Payne was an asshole. He could carry Zayn's groceries a million times and that fact would still remain.

"Well, thanks for your help. I can take it from here," Zayn told Liam, hoping that he'd get the hint that he wasn't welcome.

"I've invited him to stay for dinner. As a thank you," Doniya piped up.

"Yay!" Safaa shouted, grabbing one of Liam's big hands and jumping up and down. To his credit he looked just as happy as she did, even jumping up and down a few times himself, which delighted Safaa to no end. Zayn made a mental note to try to stop being so grumpy all the time around her. It was nice to see her this excited, even if it was because of a fucking fireman.

Zayn decided that just because Liam was making himself at home didn't mean that he needed to hang around to watch it, so he left the room without another word, heading into the bathroom for a shower. The hot water felt heavenly after a long day at work, and he did his best to force his tense muscles to relax. But for some reason knowing that Liam was only a few yards away from his naked body was getting him way, way more worked up than it should. For once he was grateful when the hot water cut out, the cold snapping him back to reality and keeping him from imagining what Liam would look like soaking wet.