i'll show you

seventeen

merry christmas my loves!! i hope you got everything you wished for and more.

i wished for harry styles under my tree but his ass was nowhere to be found 😒

zayn brings liam lunch to his office every day now. it's their thing. every day, right at one-thirty, zayn will walk into liam's office with a smile on his face and a bag of food in hand.

"hello zayn. nice to see you again." the secretary says as he walks passed her desk.

"you as well, sophia." zayn says and walks into liam's office. as usual, liam had his glasses on and was typing away on his computer. liam looks up at zayn and smiles.

"yay! my friend with food!" liam cheers. "you're a lifesaver. i'm starving."

"i hope mcdonald's is okay." zayn says as he walks to the chair in front of the desk and sits down.

"it's more than okay." liam pulls out his wallet in one of the drawers and opens it. "how much do i owe you?"

"you've tried this everyday and i'm going to say it everyday. you do not need to pay me back."

"you don't need to bring me lunch everyday but you do it anyway."

"because i care about you." zayn replies.

liam huffs and puts his wallet back in the drawer while mumbling something about 'we'll try again on monday.' zayn hands liam his bigmac and fries and chuckles when liam practically snatches it out his hand. "i'm so hungry." liam groans before he takes a big bite of his burger.

zayn pulls out chicken nuggets for himself and sits back to watch liam eat. it's amusing to see liam scarf down his food. "do you work this weekend?"

liam holds up his finger and he continues to chew. he swallows before saying, "just tomorrow. i only have to show one house and i'm off sunday." zayn nods. guess where he'll be spending his weekend? "zayn, come look at the house i'm supposed to show tomorrow. it's so cool!" liam throws his trash in the empty mcdonald's bag and wipes off his hands.  zayn walks behind the desk so he's standing next to liam while he pulls up the website. "look."

the house was anything but modern. it screamed old fashioned but like liam said, it was cool. the inside of the house was mostly brick and wood. a flight of stars stood in the middle of the house leading to not two, but three floors.

"i could see myself living here." zayn says honestly.

"me too. maybe i shouldn't show the house tomorrow and just buy it for myself." liam jokes. "it's so cool. isn't it?" he says as he scrolls through more pictures.

the phone in liam's office starts to ring. liam sighs and leans over the desk to pick it up. "hi! this is liam." liam's eyes flicker over to zayn. "i just had lunch. i'm sorry." this grabs zayn's attention. who was he talking to? "i mean, i guess. but-" liam pauses. "alright. i'll see you tonight. bye." liam lets out a deep breath and hangs up the phone. he slowly turns to zayn. "that was harry."

"oh." zayn had suspected it was niall. he can feel himself quickly get irritated. "what did he want?"

"he asked if i wanted to go out for lunch but i told him i already had lunch. then he asked if i wanted to go to his house for dinner and that's what i'm doing tonight..." liam trails off. "but if you don't want me to, i won't." he says quickly.

zayn wants to say that he doesn't want liam to go over to harry's house. that even though he said he was over him and harry sleeping together, he's not. but louis' words pop up in his head. "you can go if you want to. you don't need to ask me for permission liam." zayn attempts to chuckle.

"really? okay." liam is surprised. "i promise nothing will happen. that was a one time thing."

"and if something did happen, it'd be none of my business." zayn wants to laugh at his own words. he knows if anything happened between the two again, he would act like it's his business.

"alright." liam smiles. "you can come and sleepover tonight if you want. after i get back."

"sounds good." zayn smiles despite the nerves in his stomach.

---------------------------------------------

while liam was at harry's, zayn was at liam's house. liam told him that he shouldn't be at harry's long and that zayn could go ahead and wait for him.

that was nearly four hours ago.

it felt weird to be in liam's house without liam. sure, he's done it before but this time niall is here. they had awkward encounters a few times. zayn doesn't know why they can't act normal around each other. niall seems like the type of person who can converse with anyone.

it's almost midnight when liam comes back. zayn and niall were both sitting on the couch watching tv. "i am so sorry!" is the first thing liam says. "i was ready to leave at nine but harry insisted on baking all types of goods and making me taste them. apparently he used to work at a bakery- i don't know. i'm sorry."

"you're a grown ass man. the hell do you have to apologize for?" niall says.

liam glares at him. "i wasn't talking to you." liam states matter-of-factly.

"you were talking loud enough. i'm trying to watch a movie you know."

"there's a tv upstairs in your room."

"this ones bigger." niall says. "and you know size matters." niall smirks at liam. liam's face heats up and he quickly looks away.

"i don't like you. zayn, are you ready to go to bed?" zayn nods and stands up from the couch. on their way upstairs, liam slaps niall in the face.

"you fucker!" niall yells and grabs his face. liam giggles and runs upstairs.

as soon as they get into liam's room, zayn collapses on liam's bed. he's tired. he usually doesn't stay up this late.

"i'm gonna go wash my face." liam says and point to the bathroom. zayn nods in reply. he watches liam grab clothes from the closet and then head to the bathroom. zayn snuggles in the bed. he loves liam's bed. especially when liam's in it with him.

he tries to fall asleep to the sound of the faucet running but he can't. he can't get comfortable without wearing his pajamas.

zayn slowly gets out of the bed and walks over to the bathroom. he knocks on the door and liam cracks it open. liam is scrubbing his neck with a wet washcloth.

"do you have a shirt i can borrow?" zayn asks.

"yeah. just go to my closet and grab one." liam rinses out the washcloth and zayn watches the tan color coming from the cloth go down the drain.

zayn steps away from the door and liam closes it. he walks into the closets and grabs a plain black shirt. it smells just like liam and zayn finds himself quickly putting it on. he shimmies out of his jeans and folds them at the end of the bed. zayn gets back into bed with a sigh. now he can go to bed.

liam soon comes out of the bathroom. he's wearing a turtle neck and shorts. he climbs into the bed next to zayn and lays on his side. "do you want to come with me to show the house tomorrow? i can just say you're interested in real estate and want to see what it's like."

zayn nods. "i'll go. i really want to see that house." he chuckles.

"good." liam smiles. "i'll wake you up when it's time." liam then snuggles closer to zayn and rests his head on zayn's chest.

now, zayn's not stupid. he doesn't know who liam thinks he's trying to fool. once he knows liam is fully asleep, he pulls down liam's turtle neck. on his neck were three small love bites. zayn feels anger rise within him and he pulls his hand away. him and liam have been doing so good so he won't say anything.

at least not now.