It's Complicated || Larry & Ziam [COMPLETED]

twenty-seven

"Li," Zayn said, feeling much too desperate. "Please, Li, listen to me."

Liam only continued to ignore him.

"Seriously, this is important."

Nothing.

"Please?" Zayn hated the little whimper that escaped him. That earned him a glance. At least Liam knew he existed now. "I need to tell you—"

"If you don't want to be seen with me, you should probably go away before anyone makes any assumptions."

"No, Liam. You mean everything to me. You know that."

"I obviously don't, since you won't let me even touch you when we're in public. You haven't told anyone other than Louis. You haven't even told your mum!" Liam's voice went slightly higher in his anger. "That's why I'm so mad at you! It physically hurts me to be around you when you won't even tell your mother that we're together."

"I told her," Zayn said, biting his lip to try to not cry. He was at school; crying in front of anyone was stupid. "I told her and she said she knew and she said she was happy that I was happy and I just want to be happy again."

Liam froze. Zayn looked at his most vulnerable. He looked small, and he looked like he was about to cry, and he looked tired. He looked sad, too, and worried that Liam would actually break up with him.

"Why?" Liam asked slowly.

"I called Lou, and he said that you were already there with him and Harry, which meant that I couldn't talk to them because they were on your side and I'd get an earful that I'd already gotten from you, only it would be from Louis, which is even worse. My mum looked worried as soon as she got home, and I needed to tell someone and I knew you wanted me to tell her and... yeah."

"You told her because I wanted you to or because you wanted to?"

Zayn could lie and make himself look better, but he knew he should tell the truth. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and said, "Because you wanted me to. And because it was my last choice. But I—"

"Just be quiet for a second, please," Liam muttered. Zayn closed his mouth, feeling hurt, but knowing that Liam was the one who would decide the outcome. If Liam wanted to break up with him, there was nothing Zayn could do.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Liam began talking again. "You shouldn't have told her if you didn't want her to know. I'm tired of you not thinking that it's important for you to care as much for this relationship as I do. If you don't want to tell anyone, you go right ahead. I don't even care anymore."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Zayn asked weakly. Please, no, he thought. I can't do this without you. I can't let us end this way. I can't tell my mum that I told her for nothing.

Liam ignored him. "The way I see it, our relationship is like this dying plant. It's been neglected so much that it's about to break into tiny little pieces. It has the tiniest bit of water and the tiniest bit of sunlight, and it's probably about to die."

Zayn sniffled but didn't move. It hurt to stand there, but he had to hear the rest of what Liam was saying. He was about to lose his first real relationship, and he was about to lose his best friend, but a part of him thought he deserved that pain. He didn't deserve to be able to walk away.

"I don't know how we could possibly make this work unless something major changes. You can't just let people you care about slip away and hurt and make you hurt just because you're too selfish to care about what they think. You just can't do that, Zayn, and I don't see why you don't see it. I honestly don't know if we can do this if you're just going to be this way."

"I... I told my mum," Zayn said, so softly it was almost a whisper. "I told her. Isn't that worth anything?"

"You didn't tell her because you wanted her to know. You told her because I was telling you to. There's a huge difference between those."

"I don't want to break up," Zayn said, hoping that he didn't sound as desperate as he felt. Desperation was all he was feeling recently. Desperation for Liam to see that he mattered.

"You're proud," Liam told him. "You're too proud to let people see how you feel, and you care way too much about the opinions of people who don't care about you, and you don't care how much that hurts me. You only care about me when no one's around, and you get mad at me whenever I bring it up. I can't act like this isn't happening, Zayn. It doesn't really seem like you don't want to break up, because if you did, you'd try harder. Do I need to find someone who will try their very hardest to make sure they don't lose me?"

"You deserve that," Zayn said. It hurt him to say it, but he knew it was true. Liam deserved everything good in the world and for everything to be perfect for him. He didn't deserve what Zayn caused him.

Liam sighed. "But I don't want it. I want you, and it hurts to want you as much as I do. It hurts how much you seem to not want me."

"How many people know about us?"

"Louis and Harry, our mums, my dad, and my sisters."

"That's it?" In Zayn's head, there'd been much more. There'd been a long list of people who knew and who hated him for it.

"That's it. I don't tell people if you don't want me to, even though it's something I want."

"That's not enough people," Zayn said, closing his eyes. "I've been freaking out over your family and our best friends and my mum knowing and now I feel stupid."

"You deserve that, but I care about you so I'll at least say that you're not stupid."

"You're not breaking up with me?" Zayn asked hopefully.

"No. But you need to relax a little if I stop being so insistent."

"Yay!" Zayn was so happy that he even stepped up on his tiptoes just enough to kiss Liam briefly.

Liam stood, dumbfounded. Zayn just kissed him. In the hallway. His day just got so much better.

"Thank you," his boyfriend said into his ear. "I'll work on it. I'll make sure of it."

"Okay," Liam said, his cheeks still flushed from the kiss.

Zayn smiled lightly at him before heading to class. Liam's head felt like it was spinning.