jaan//ziam

७.

Half an hour later, the Emir's huddled up in his seat, hugging his knees to his chest, feeling nauseous because of the sudden drop in temperature and pressure.

He reaches for the Madeira he illegally snuck into the flight and takes a large swig of it.

'Emir saahib, are you okay?' Liam speaks up and Zayn shivers as he reaches forward to set the bottle on the table in front.

When Zayn doesn't reply, Liam places a hand over his and gently strokes his mandala ink as he speaks up.

'S-S.. Sub uh - what was that word again - um... oh! kh-kheri. Keri-'

'Sab kheriyat*?' Zayn giggles weakly and Liam's blushing when the Emir turns to look at him.

'I was getting there-' Liam mumbles, trying not to smile, '-But yeah. That. Sub kerry-ath? Are you okay?'

'No' Zayn shakes his head and curls his toes. He turns to Liam with wide eyes, 'Promise you won't laugh?'

Liam starts laughing already and Zayn huffs, turning to face forward again. Little shit.

'Okay, okay, sorryyy-' Liam drawls softly, rolling his eyes. Zayn stays quiet.

'Chalo bolo, bolo**' Liam hums impatiently and Zayn smiles, turning to Liam again.

'Only because your Hindi there impressed me' Zayn points out and Liam grins.

'While Roo and Jawaad were dating, I was roped into watching Bollywood movies with them as third-wheel' he chuckles, shaking his head, 'Anyways - you were saying?'

Zayn can imagine Liam squinting at the screen trying to understand what's going on, rolling his eyes when something cliché happens, wiping away one climatic tear when someone dies, cringing at the bad humour parts, huffing and throwing popcorn at Ruth and Jawaad when they engage in another make out session- he needs to have a movie marathon with Liam soon.

'Zeee- Zayn! What's wrong?'
Zayn shakes his head, realises he got distracted again.
He looks round, avoiding Liam's curious Bambi eyes as he silently mutters, 'I have a fear of heights'

'What?' Liam says, eyebrows furrowed as he squints at Zayn, 'You're talking too softly!'

Zayn rolls his eyes, 'I'm scared of heights - ya know?'

Liam snorts and Zayn shoots him a glare. 'What's so funny?'
Liam shakes his head and shifts his hand to Zayn's thigh.

His fingers edge upwards over Zayn's silk patiala bottoms. They both watch as Liam stops, tracing little swirls over the Emir's clothed thigh.

Zayn's mouth goes dry when he hears what Liam says next.
'Meet me at the pullout bed. I'll show you fun things we can do at heights'

And Liam gets up and as he slips past Zayn, brushes his fingers over Zayn's clothed crotch. As he walks away down the isle, he shoots Zayn a (two-eyed) wink before disappearing round a corner.

Imtiaz coughs from his little corner and peers at Zayn over the book he's reading,
'Saahib, the "supplies",' he puts little air quotes round that word, 'you might need are stashed right there. And don't worry, I shall not inform the Rani Maa of anything you do there'

Imtiaz may seem like a self-absorbed prick to anyone else, but Zayn knows he's actually quite sweet, just takes a long time to warm up to people.

The Emir smiles weakly at the man and gets up, before making his way down the isle, semi-hard already.

The door to the "bedroom" is shut and Zayn precariously knocks on it.

'Leeyum-are you in there?'

He presses his ear to the door and hears someone pottering around. Then a gun bang and a loud swear.

The Emir widens his eyes and tries to push against the door with all his weight, but it's locked.

'FUCK! Imtiaz! IMTIAZ MASTER CHAAVI LE KAR AAO***' he yells, frantically twisting the doorknob.

There's a second bang from inside the bedroom.

He growls and yells Liam's name again, fearing for his jaan's safety.

Fuck - the revolutionaries-

Liam comes rushing up to Zayn's side with wide, worried eyes and parted lips.
'What's wron-'

'SAAHIB - CHAAVI!'
The Emir turns to a panting Imtiaz and grabs the keys out of his open palm, before before putting it into the lock and twisting it.

The lock clicks and he shoves into the door, stumbles inside.
The Emir rushes into the room, searching for a person, a weapon - something.

'Emir! Khoon^!!!' Imtiaz yells and the Emir turns to see Imtiaz and Liam rush into the ensuite bathroom.

Zayn hears a loud gasp and then the sound of multiple things falling and swears, rushing in after his servant and fiancé.

'Ya Allah' he yells as he skids over a puddle of ruby-red blood, grabs on to the sink just in time to stop himself falling against the bloody floor.

He turns to look at Imtiaz who is standing with Liam limp in his arms, just next to a shelf hanging off its hinge and an assortment of fallen shampoos and conditioners

'He fainted and knocked everything over' Imtiaz explains casually and Zayn nods, raising one eyebrow.
The Emir carefully manoeuvres himself to stand up properly and lets go of the sink.

'Khoon kidhar se aa raha hai pata chala kya?^^' He mutters gravely and Imtiaz shakes his head.
Zayn looks round himself and grabs a wrapped shaving blade off the sink surface.

He quickly tears off the wrapping before carefully advancing towards the shower cubicle.
The Emir slowly pulls the door open, before ripping the curtains open.

He looks down and there it is. A young man clothed in now bloody robes and a handkerchief around his mouth.

Zayn instructs Imtiaz to go out and lay Liam down on the bed, before pulling the intercom phone away from the wall and dialing the cockpit number.

What is going on?

‡
Who doesn't love death in a fic is the real question?
Liam is me in this situation tbh.
Sorry for cutting out the ziam smut 😬 trust me, this will be made up for at some point!
Ooh also please reply to the question about covers on the last chapter! I can't choose 🙃

*sab kheriyat? - everything okay? Generally used in Urdu more than Hindi.
**'chalo bolo bolo - literally means, "come on, tell, tell"
***IMTIAZ MASTER CHAAVI LE KAR AAO - haha this wouldn't always be written in caps in case anyone was wondering. This means "Imtiaz get the master key" CHAAVI means key.
^Khoon - blood. Can also mean "murder"
^^Khoon kidhar se aa raha hai pata chala kya? - "Have you found out where the blood is coming from?"

Sorry for the repeated publish/unpublish-wattpad reordered the damn chapters 😓

-nia☺