Strong (A Ziam/Zarry AU)

Chapter Thirteen

"Sooooo? What happened next?" Chris asked Zayn, literally on the edge of her seat. Herself, Meg and Zayn where at Kay's apartment. Kay was in the kitchen starting to throw together dinner, whilst the other three were in the living room. Zayn was sitting with his feet up on one section of the corner sofa, Chris on the other, whilst Meg sat cross legged on the floor by the coffee table, using it to skin up a joint. They each had a glass of red wine and were discussing Zayn's 'date' with Liam.

"What do you think happened?" Meg drawled sarcastically. The truth was she already knew. Liam had called her that very afternoon, whilst Zayn was at the Prada shoot with Kay.

Liam closed his front door, his heart fluttering like a humming bird in his chest. If last night had been wonderful, this morning had somehow managed to be even better. He had made a vow to himself, in bed with a slumbering Zayn at peace in his arms. He had sworn he would make this beautiful, quirky, kind souled man, his. That every night would be as special as the night before.

At 5am he had disentangled himself from Zayn and crept downstairs to the kitchen. Zayn had a car coming to meet him at 6:30 and Liam wanted to spend some time with him before then. He threw together some scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee as well as some freshly squeezed orange juice and placed it all on a tray. He contemplated nipping out to the garden and cutting a flower to pop in a vase on the tray as well but decided it was a bit too, for want of a better word, gay.

Zayn was just waking when he got back to his bedroom. "Morning babe."

"Morning. Is that for me?" Zayn asked propping himself up against the headboard. When Liam indicated that it was indeed for him Zayn smiled shyly "No one has ever made me breakfast in bed before. Thank you darlin'."

Liam got a delicious little tight feeling in his stomach from Zayn calling him that. He placed the tray on Zee's lap and got back into bed beside him. "Are you not having anything?"

"I'll eat an hour or so before I go to the gym. I've got a title fight in seven weeks so I'm training really intensely right now. That means a crazy calorific diet."

Zayn took a bite on his toast and started asking Liam about his work, eating and listening to Li talk, prompting him to continue in between mouthfuls, by asking more questions. It was all very fascinating to Zayn. He loved hearing this athlete, this former Olympian, talk about pushing his body to the very limits, about being the very best in the world at something. He had finishing eating (discreetly avoiding the bacon) and the boys were laying on their sides facing one other. Zayn was about to ask about what it felt like to win gold at the Olympics, to represent your country and become a national hero, when Liam has said with a smile "Sure you understand about being the best. You're at the top of your game right?" He ran a hand along Zayn's cheek and brushed his sleep flattened hair from his face "You're the best model." Zayn chuckled derisively, "You're kidding right? That's hardly the same and it's an objective thing anyway. Lots of people think I suck at the whole clothes pony thing and lots think others are better."

"You're stunning. No one else comes close." Liam said playfully dropping a kiss on the tip of Zee's nose and winking. Zayn laughed, taking the compliment in the spirit it was meant "Well thank you, but being good looking is only a part of my job. There's the brand ambassador stuff, the being seen in the right places, with the right people, being personable and not forgetting the actual modelling itself. Understanding the camera, the lighting, my face, my body all that jazz. And believe me there are people who do it much better than me."

"You are the highest earner in your profession, you have the most covers of GQ, Maxim, PoP, iD, Nylon Guys, Vogue and Dazed and Confused. You're about to launch a line you designed with Vivienne Westwood who has publicly said you are not only the greatest model living or dead but her personal inspiration. You can definitely claim the 'best in the world at' title...and yeah, I googled you when we first met."