Baby Boy | Zustiall AU [COMPLETE]

Twenty Eight

"Yeah...so normally, we wouldn't mention anything about past relationships, because we figure it isn't relevant. But...we got a text from our ex, and he wants to meet up. We didn't end on good terms, so it surprised us. Now, we talked about meeting up with him, but we're only gonna do so if it's okay with you. We don't wanna make you uncomfortable at all," Justin explains.

Niall is silent for a few minutes, just mulling it over. "Thank you for telling me," he begins, smiling shyly. "It would've made me really sad if I'd found out you'd met up with your ex without saying anything." He pauses again, and then says, "I'm not gonna tell you that you can't. If you wanna see him and get closure, I completely understand that."

"Are you sure, baby boy?" Zayn asks softly. "Please don't say yes because you think that's what we want you to say. We are completely fine with it either way."

"I'm sure," Niall replies. 

"Okay, babe. Thank you," Justin smiles, and when he opens his arms, Niall climbs into his lap.

"You're not still in love with him, are you?" Niall's voice is muffled by Justin's shirt, and Justin pulls back so he can see his face.

"Baby, no! Not at all. In fact, I have no positive feelings towards him whatsoever. Cheating is a hard line for us," Justin says back quickly.

"Alex is an asshole," Zayn says plainly. "But if he wants to meet for closure, I'm okay with that. But only for that, Ni, I swear."

"I trust you," Niall says, giving his boyfriends a shy half-smile. "If it's what you want, and you have no feelings for him anymore, then I don't mind. I trust you guys, and I love you."

"We love you, too," Justin chuckles, kissing the sweet boy's face a few times until he giggles. 

- - -

"He's late," Justin snaps, glancing at his watch. "He knows that pisses me off." They're waiting for Alex in a Starbucks, and Justin is squeezing his iced latte cup so hard Zayn is worried it's going to pop.

"He's probably doing it to piss you off," Zayn replies, irritated as well. "If he's not here in ten minutes, you wanna leave?"

"Definitely."

Five more minutes pass, and Zayn is about to get up when Alex comes rushing in. He's short and pretty as ever, black hair and green eyes, but it irks nothing but disgust and disappointment in Zayn now.

"Hi," Alex beams, brushing his hair out of his face. "I'm so sorry I'm late! Traffic was shitty, and Uber is so unreliable in this city. Anyway, hi! It's so good to see you guys!"

"Uh...you, too," Justin replies awkwardly.

"So, which one of you is gonna buy me a coffee?" Alex asks sweetly, and Zayn and Justin exchange surprised glances.

"Uh, I think you're buying you a coffee," Zayn responds.

Alex rolls his eyes. "Now I remember why we broke up, you guys are no fun! I'm totally teasing, I'll get my own coffee." He hops up from the table and gets in line.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Justin hisses to Zayn.

"Instant regret," Zayn mutters back.

"So!" Alex grins when he sits back down, drinking a coffee the size of his head. "What's new with you guys? Are you seeing anyone? Do you miss being with me? I've seen on the news your company is doing well! Like...really, really well."

"Uh..." Justin looks over at Zayn. "We are seeing someone, yeah. And, uh, yeah, our company is doing surprisingly well..."

"Your business is doing well and you can't even buy your boyfriend a coffee?" Alex laughs.

"Ex-boyfriend," Justin replies coldly.

"Semantics," Alex smiles. "So! Tell me about the cute little blond you're seeing!"

Zayn stiffens in his seat, and Justin snaps his head up to glare at Alex, who is smirking around his straw. "Who the fuck told you about him?" Justin demands.

Alex rolls his eyes. "Oh, Jay --"

"Don't call him that," Zayn snarls.

"Whatever." Alex takes another sip of his drink. "Justin, then. Come on, don't you guys watch the news? Paparazzi caught you guys boarding your little jet to Italy or whatever."

Justin passes his hand over his face. "We're not talking about him."

"His name is Niall, right? Niall H something..." Alex is enjoying this too much.

"Keep his name out of your fucking mouth. That's it. We're done here," Justin says, shaking his head. "Zee, let's go."

"Wait! Don't go yet. We don't have to talk about him," Alex says quickly. "I'm sorry. I know I don't have the right to ask."

Justin slowly sits back down, jaw clenched. 

"Don't you want to know how I'm doing?" Alex asks softly.

"Not particularly," Justin snaps in response. "I don't even know why we agreed to do this, honestly. I think we should go."

Alex nods solemnly, all smugness gone. "Okay. I understand." He grabs his phone and pushes the home button and then hisses, "Fuck," under his breath.

Zayn resists the urge to roll his eyes. "What is it?"

Alex shakes his head. "Uh, nothing. My phone's just dead, I can't call my ride to come pick me up."

Zayn pinches the bridge of his nose. "Here, use mine. Be quick. We're leaving in 2 minutes."

"Thank you," Alex smiles, dimples peeking out, and he pulls up the phone icon and dials. 

"Hurry up," Zayn snaps, seeing that Justin is fiddling with his wedding ring with a shaking hand.

Alex tells his ride to pick him up and hands Zayn's phone back over to him. "Thanks, guys. I'm sorry that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Maybe we should try again?"

"Maybe we shouldn't. Zayn, let's go," Justin says, voice even tenser, and Zayn takes his hand and leads him out of the coffee shop. As soon as they're in the safety of the car, Justin's face crumples, and his entire body starts to tremble.

"Shit," Zayn hisses, recognizing his panic attack coming. "Hey. Hey, Jay, baby, look at me. Look at me. I'm right here, baby. I've got you. We're together, and I'm never leaving you." He cups Justin's face in his hands, forces them to maintain eye contact. "I've got you, my love. You're just fine. I'm right here."

Justin roughly wipes his face, his panic attacks always presenting themselves as hysterical sobbing and shaking for hours. "I f-fucking can't believe he kn-knew about Niall."

"Shhh, babe. Don't think about that. He can't do anything to him, we'll keep our sweet boy safe, yeah? Just calm down. I got you."

- - -

Alex, still sitting in the coffee shop, takes a pen out of his bag and scrawls down Niall's phone number on a napkin. He'd memorized it after finding it in Zayn's contacts, and he sits there, grinning smugly.

"Not getting rid of me that easily," he mumbles to himself, and pulls out his not-dead phone to send a certain someone a text.