"Zayn, your girlfriend is back." Liam taunts, slapping a hand against the small of Zayn’s ridged back before he sprints away, too fast for Zayn to catch him with the head start of surprise, so Zayn just glares at his back when Liam’s halfway across the field before he glances over his shoulder and, sure enough, that boy is still there, jerking his head down once he meets Zayn’s eyes because he was (no surprises here) looking at him.
"He’s not my girlfriend." Zayn mumbles to himself, kicking at the grass lightly before his football coach yells at him to get back in line and he rushes over to his position of running back. He glances over one more time and, low and behold, that boy is looking at him again but he just shakes the feeling off. He doesn’t mind the attention. He just wishes he knew why he’s getting this attention.
The rest of the game goes off without a hitch and, as they all head toward the showers, Zayn sees the blonde pack up his bags and head for the parking lot without a second glance back. Zayn shoves down the urge to go chase after him but regrets it in the changing rooms. He could have his answers right now if he’d just gone.
Zayn sleeps with the regret heavy on his shoulders, walks to school with it weighing down his head, and he’s just starting to get over it when he’s walking to first period when he sees the blonde again. Zayn’s with his friends so it’s not exactly like he’s just going to run over there - curiosity or not, he has an image to uphold. Still, he drops the conversation with his friends in favour of watching the blonde and the way his left arm is glued to the right wall, head ducked down and books cradled protectively in his arms.
They are within inches of each other, Zayn could practically reach out and touch him, and then there’s a hard shove against his side (he’s going to kill Liam, he swears it) and then he is touching the blonde, catching himself against the lockers as he holds them both up from falling to the floor. He hears the wild cackle from his friends but they’re sprinting off down the hall and Zayn swears under his breath before he realizes.
"Shit, are you okay?" He asks, looking down at the boy in his arms but he is just shaking, hands pressed tight to Zayn’s chest as he quivers like a leaf. "Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. My friends are ass holes. I’ll punch them for you."
The blonde looks up and Zayn’s next sentence just catches in his throat because his glasses have fallen askew and the blonde’s eyes are, wow, they are ridiculously blue. Zayn would make some stupid comparison to the sky or the sea if he could think anything except for ‘shit’.
"Um," The blonde mumbles as he tries to push himself out of Zayn’s arms and, instantly, Zayn laxes the hold he has around the boy, shoving his hands into his pockets so that he doesn’t get the urge to loop his arm around the blonde’s shoulders (he just knows they would fit together perfectly and OKAY he has problems now).
Zayn notices the books scattered across the floor a moment later and, cursing again, he drops to his knees. “I’m sorry. Again.” He says as he collects them, swallowing a little when the blonde drops to his knees as well. He hands the books over once he’s done and cocks his head to the side. “Are you okay though?”
"I bruise easily." The blonde offers, testing the weight of his books in his hands before he stands up and Zayn follows his lead.
"Let’s see." Zayn’s hands are halfway rucking up the blonde’s shirt before he even realizes what he’s doing and the boy is stiffening under his touch. He curses again and jerks away, reaching up to run his hands through his hair. "Fuck. Sorry! I’m just-," The blonde just rushes away without letting him finish his sentence and Zayn feels at least a hundred times worse as he watches him disappear into the crowd.
Zayn sighs and hangs his head only to notice that there’s a strip of paper on the ground, the corner of a notebook page, and Zayn picks it up without thinking about it, turns it over to see an intricate drawing on the back. It’s not hard to recognize the person etched onto the other side. Zayn feels his heart start to race for the first time in years.
A.N.: This is probably gonna be a full one shot on ao3! Hope you enjoyed! This was so much fun to write hahah
