Summary:
Zayn’s bad ass and maybe a little bit of an accidental hipster. Liam. Well. Liam is anything but, though that doesn’t stop either of them from anything. But Liam’s dad might stop both of them from everything.
By: FlyingWithGlassWings.archieveofourown.org
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It starts at - of all places - a party, where everyone is speaking in drunken slurs and random howls and maybe even a bit of drug-induced babble, which is okay for some people (people like Zayn Malik and Niall Horan and, even, Ed Sheeran) because drunken slurs happen to be their native tongue. But it’s all pretty foreign to Liam. And that sort of sucks because Liam wants to speak like a drunk or a stoner because, well, Zayn Malik is fluent in drunk and stoned and Liam might want Zayn to fall in love with him. Just a little bit.
But Liam’s a homebody; shy and reserved and more nerdy than he’s likely to admit. He can (and does) quote Batman, recite more numbers of pi than ever will be necessary (3.141592653...), and has a replica of The One Ring sitting on his nightstand. He tutors kids like Zayn Malik - the stubborn druggies who are half scruffy, half clueless, and should probably have a parental warning tattooed to their foreheads - he isn’t supposed to fall in love with them (okay, so maybe it isn’t love, but it’s well on its way there).
Which is why Liam is standing alone in the kitchen, sloshing beer around in his red plastic cup, occasionally taking an experimental sniff, and Zayn is out there wading through the sea of bodies with a few of his friends, howling along to whatever song is blasting through the speakers (do you really expect Liam to know what song it is?).
To be honest, Liam isn’t even sure why the hell he’s here in the first place or how in the world Louis even convinced him to come. It’s Friday night, which is usually reserved for Liam’s guitar practice or, sometimes, a movie marathon with his sisters (all chick-flicks; which, now that he thinks about it, is probably why he’s gay because, honestly, you can only see Channing Tatum so many times before falling for him). But, no, Louis, who - for some reason - is Liam’s best mate, absolutely had to drag Liam to some party or the world would explode (or something of that nature).
But that’s okay because, yeah, when it all breaks down Liam loves Louis and he can always spend Saturday night with his guitar and the beer isn’t actually that bad and maybe he can pass himself off as sick tomorrow morning and his father won’t make him go to church that evening to prepare or practice or whatever (Liam’s dad is the preacher at the local church, which is pretty discouraging to his homosexual-as-they-come son) (but, you know, he manages) (and his dad doesn’t know. That helps a lot).
Liam had, as soon as he walked in, claimed his spot in the kitchen, close to the beer and far away from the couple dry humping against the kitchen counter, and hadn’t intended to move until he was herding Louis and (maybe) Aiden out the door, both presumably drunk and hiccupping (Louis probably crying, as most Friday nights end that way), but that plan quickly changes when he sees Zayn waltzing his way over to where Liam is standing, and the last thing Liam wants is for Zayn Malik to actually talk to him (sure, falling in love sounds great on paper, but if it involves communication, then Liam’s sort of screwed). On the downside, Liam is rooted to the spot and can’t find it in him to move. It’s as if his Converse are literally sewn to the ground, and he really can’t move. Which, you know, is a problem.
