The Way We Do (Ziam)

Chapter 17

And nobody loves you, baby, the way I do... 

Zayn woke up the next morning to the sound of bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do blaring from his phone. "Liam," he whined when Liam didn't immediately stretch over him to silence the alarm, as had become their custom. He bucked his shoulder back to get his attention, only to realize that his back was cold and the bed was empty, and well. That was no good. He fumbled for his phone, turning the alarm off before dropping his head back onto his pillow. 

A quick glance around the room told him that Liam was no where in sight, but before he had time to regret the loss of their morning cuddles Liam was pushing the door open and bounding into the room. He hopped onto the bed, straddling Zayn's stomach and bouncing lightly with way too fucking much energy for such an early hour.

"Time to rise and shine, buttercup," he sing-songed, looking down at Zayn with a bright smile. "Places to go, people to see."

"No people. No places," Zayn groaned, pulling Liam's pillow over his face and closing his eyes once more. "Sleep."

"But Zayn..." Liam started, pulling the pillow out from his grasp and tossing it to the side. "It's tomorrow."

It took Zayn's tired mind a few seconds to realize what the hell Liam was talking about, and despite the fact that remembering what he had to do today made him want to get out of bed even less, he did the opposite, propping himself up on his elbows and shooting Liam a small smile.

"Shit, sorry. I'm up."

Liam scooted back a bit, pulling Zayn with him until he was sitting upright. "I made us some sandwiches and packed a cooler, and downloaded some songs for us to listen to on the ride, and I-"

"Jesus Christ, Li, how long have you been up?" Zayn asked, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand and trying not to yawn.

Liam shrugged, looking sheepish. "Couldn't really sleep," he admitted.

Zayn could feel the energy pouring off of him, and he wished that he could match his enthusiasm. But he couldn't, dread already weighing him down, so he patted him on the leg instead, urging him to move off of him so that he could get up. The sooner the day started the sooner it would be over, and at this point that was the only thing Zayn could ask for.

In his haste to stand Zayn had forgotten that he'd slept totally naked, and that, combined with the fact that it was morning and Liam had just been straddling him, left him standing half hard in front of Liam, a flush spreading up his neck as he watched Liam's smile turn wicked.

He pulled Zayn down onto the bed in an instant, blanketing his body with his own, a thigh pushed between Zayn's legs as he ran a hand through his hair. "Just think, by this time tomorrow I could be fucking you into the mattress," he murmured, stroking along Zayn's jaw with the back of his fingers, his hips pulsing minutely against Zayn's. Zayn brain short circuited, because yeah, that was something he could work up a little enthusiasm over.

He looked up at Liam, resisting the urge to kiss his bright pink lips. It felt like Liam was doing the same, his eyes lingering over Zayn's mouth before his gaze traveled lower, his eyes widening comically as his body tensed.

"What is it?"

Liam swallowed, not looking Zayn in the eyes. "Um," he said, before swallowing again. "You remember how we agreed that I'm your favorite person in the whole world?"

"I most definitely did not agree to that."

Liam ignored him. "And that you could never, ever be mad at me, because I'm so wonderful? I'm going to need you to keep that in mind when you look in the mirror."