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Their last show in Japan ends in a flurry of confetti and Niall immediately swings his guitar around to his back as he pulls the other boys into a crushing hug and the noise swells around them. He has Zayn tucked under one arm, Harry crowding up on his other side, and across the tight circle, Louis is yelling nonsense into Liam’s ear. It’s only a month into another long tour year and they’re still riding the high of getting to perform all their new songs.
Back in their dressing room, Niall settles himself on the sofa to watch everyone go through their post-show routines. Liam disappears into the showers at the venue right away, yelling at Louis to hurry up. Louis just waves him off and sits next to Niall.
“Last chance to come with us,” he offers. “I won’t even make you try and surf with us.”
Niall lets himself slip sideways against Louis’ shoulder. “Nah, I’d just be in the way.”
“Nonsense, Neil,” Louis replies. Niall doesn’t even protest the nickname, his attention’s been caught by Harry’s laughter from across the small room. Next to him, Zayn is smiling so wide that his eyes have gone all crinkly and small. It’s Niall’s favorite Zayn-smile. He can feel the moment that Louis figures out the source of his distraction. “Oh, really,” Louis mutters.
Niall sits up to try and see Louis’ expression, but all that does is let Louis jump up and dash towards the other two boys. There’s a split second where Niall is terrified at what Louis might give away, but all he does as he runs past them is hit Harry in the balls (he really needs to get better at dodging that) and try to ruffle Zayn’s hair. Zayn, of course, sees it coming and manages to twist away before he can make contact.
Louis doesn’t even pause. “Bagsy next shower,” he yells, slamming the dressing room door shut behind him.
“Heyyyy,” Harry whines from where he’s hunched over protectively. "I was next."
“Better go catch him,” Zayn says fondly. Harry pouts before hurrying out the door in pursuit. Niall pats the spot next to him on the sofa until Zayn sits.
Niall stays there through everyone else's showers. Zayn is replaced by Liam and another offer to head off to Australia for the week. Harry wanders by to shake his still-wet hair all over them before giving them all hugs. He's off to LA for the week. Niall privately thinks he's crazy for wanting to deal with the long flight and inevitable paparazzi storm when he lands.
He's half asleep by the time he gets herded into a waiting van with the other three boys. Liam lets him slump on his shoulder in the back while Zayn and Louis whisper on the bench seat in front of them. It's warm and Niall's sad to say bye to them, even though they'll probably not stop texting each other during the time apart.
Zayn takes Liam's place as they head off to their new hotel. "Just you and me now, babes," Zayn mutters into his hair. Niall hums back quietly and closes his eyes for the rest of the trip.
When they get to their new hotel, Niall trails Zayn to his room. Technically they have their own rooms, but with them being the only two in the band still here, it feels pointless to not share. Niall flops on his stomach onto the bed, ears ringing in the silence. He feels the mattress dip as Zayn lies down next to him. It’s weird thinking that they have a whole week. It feels almost too indulgent to have a break this early into the tour. He can feel Zayn shifting restlessly and slowly curls up on his side to see what’s happening. Zayn is mirroring him on the bed, curled up facing Niall, eyes closed. His hair is still damp from his own shower and curling softly around his ears, just begging for Niall to reach out and brush his fingers through it. He makes himself resist the impulse.
They lie together in silence until the air conditioning kicks on. Niall watches Zayn’s eyelashes flutter as he opens his eyes, catching Niall’s gaze. There’s no one waiting on them to go anywhere, nothing on the schedule, and time feels frozen around them for just an instant. Zayn blinks, fracturing the moment.
“Hungry?” Niall asks, further breaking the hush that’s settled around them.
Zayn shrugs. “Could eat. Want me to call for one of everything while you shower?”
“You sayin I stink, Malik?” Niall asks with a laugh. Now that he’s horizontal, the thought of moving feels like more effort than it’s worth. But also, Zayn is right. He didn’t get a chance in the showers at the venue and it’s becoming very apparent.
He levers himself off the plush mattress with a grunt and wanders into the en suite with a backwards call of, “Get me a burger and some chips? Thanks.”
In the shower, he lets the water run hot as he can stand and lets it wash away the rest of his leftover adrenaline, leaving him feeling lazy and warm. It feels amazing on his knee, which has been aching a bit after a particularly enthusiastic leap on stage. He hears when the food arrives when they knock on the door, the sound filters in over the running water and his own aimless humming. He lets the water wash over him for a few more seconds before shutting it off. Once he’s dry, he doesn’t bother with more than a pair of pants. It’s not like he’s planning on going anywhere and Zayn won’t care.
The rush of fresh air when he opens the door is a relief after the thickness of the steam that’s collected in the bathroom. Zayn is sitting on one side of the bed and working on his plate of food. There’s a covered plate on the other nightstand. Niall’s stomach rumbles.
“Cheers,” Niall says as he walks over and settles on top of the duvet. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Zayn look up at him and quickly refocus on the TV.
“Aren’t you cold?” Zayn asks.
Niall shrugs. “Food now, clothes later,” he mumbles around a mouthful of chips.
Zayn doesn’t answer and Niall doesn’t think twice about it, too busy trying to inhale his food. He does end up pulling on a shirt as soon as he’s done and immediately curls into Zayn’s side for cuddles. They get through nearly four episodes of a Property Brothers marathon before Niall forces himself away from the edge of sleep to try and plan out their next handful of days. If they’re careful, they should be able to visit a lot of places without getting caught out by fans, and he wants to make the most of the time.
They only get through planning about 3 days before Zayn protests that he’s too tired to look at more maps and that they can figure it out later. So, Niall lets himself get pulled back into a hug and drifts off.
He wakes up the next morning feeling more warm and relaxed than he has in ages. Zayn’s turned into the little spoon at some point overnight and is still dead to the world, so he lets himself lie there, breathing in the small of Zayn’s shampoo from the back of his neck. He actually dozes off again until Zayn wakes up and squirms out of his arms to wander into the bathroom. It’s a nice start to the week.
Niall hopes the next few days are full of playing tourist and nothing else. The last time they were in Japan, as a band, they were filming for the movie and going anywhere was a huge production. Now it’s just the two of them (and Basil, but he’s promised to stay mostly out of sight) and it’s easy enough to stay inconspicuous for the most part.
The first order of business is gifts for their various family members. Zayn wants to pick up some things for his sisters and Niall is still on his one-man mission to spoil his nephew rotten, so they spend the first day in Shibuya ducking in and out of stores until both of them are carrying so many bags that they end up having to send Basil back to the hotel with them and a promise to check in later.
Somehow, they haven’t been spotted all day, but Niall still makes sure that the light scarf he’s wearing stays tucked up by his ears. Zayn has a beanie pulled low on his forehead. At best, it will maybe stop someone from looking twice.
“Now what?” Zayn asks as they watch Basil vanish into a car.
Right on cue, Niall stomach lets out a rumble they can hear over the sound of the traffic. “That answers that,” Niall laughs.
The end up tucked into a little ramen shop behind one of the many shopping complexes, knees knocking under the tiny table. The room is less packed than most of the other places they’d peeked into, but not by much. Luckily, everyone seems very intent on their own meals.
“It’s so crowded everywhere. You doing okay?” Zayn asks as a server brushes by them.
Niall shrugs. “This isn’t bad. Like, it’s just a city, yeah? Lots of people, but none of them are looking at us or anything, so it doesn’t bother me.”
“Just let me know if we need to leave, kay?” Niall nudges Zayn’s foot under the table in silent thanks.
Neither of them can read the menu, so they just point to some of the pictures and end up with large bowls of mystery soup. By the time they’ve finished trading bits from each others’ food and tried guessing at some of the odder vegetables in their dishes, Niall is pleasantly stuffed and ready to keep exploring.
“We should get a proper guidebook,” he says excitedly.
Zayn gives him a skeptical look. “I have my phone.”
“It’s not the same,” Niall insists. “We only have a few days, I wanna do this right.”
They ponder over a small, spinning rack of local guidebooks before finally settling on the Eyewitness Travel guide because it’s the shortest. Niall immediately pulls out the map and his phone so he can start taking notes on everything they need to do while Zayn smokes and watches the people passing by on the street. By the time he’s done, Niall has a tentative plan.
“We’re too early for the cherry blossoms,” he says sadly.
“When are they?”
Niall consults the book. “It says early to mid April. I bet it looks sick.”
He feels a hand brush across his shoulder. “We’ll just have to come back sometime. Maybe bring the other boys too.”
Niall nods in agreement and closes the book. “Ok, let’s go.”
“Where’re we going?” Zayn asks as he trails behind Niall.
Niall just waves him off with a grin and then tangles their fingers together so that they don’t get separated. No one is giving them a second glance, they’re just another pair of boys walking the busy street. He huffs out a laugh and shakes his head at that thought.
They finally round the corner and Niall feels the way Zayn’s hand grips his tighter as they take in the scene before them. Towering LCD ads overlook a massive intersection, the borders of which hold hundreds of people watching the cars go by. There’s a sense of anticipation over the whole scene, like a subtle and slowly building pressure.
“Whoa,” Zayn says, sounding awed.
Niall drags them over to a clear spot by a building so they can watch as the car traffic is stopped. Instantly the intersection is covered in people crossing, their paths creating an intricate flow as everyone works to avoid walking into each other. It only lasts about a minute before the last handful of stragglers are speeding up to avoid the newly started traffic.
“That was sick,” Niall says loudly. “I don’t know why, but it was.”
“Yeah,” Zayn agrees, still squeezing his hand. “I’ve seen it in films, but like. This is so much better.”
They stay and watch the cycle a few more times. It never gets less incredible. It’s a silly thing, just watching people walk across a street, but it feels a bit like watching a secret within the constantly shifting crowds. Like if they watch long enough, they’ll solve some long forgotten mystery, but only if they’re patient.
Niall finally shakes himself out of the semi-trance he’d fallen into. “Do you wanna try it?” he asks.
Next to him, Zayn blinks and looks over at him with a concerned expression. “You’ll let me know if it’s too much?”
“Just keep holding on,” Niall replies, shaking their still-linked hands gently. “There’s something I wanna see on the other side anyway. It’ll be worth it.”
They set off towards the nearest edge of the street, wedged between a group of ladies in work clothes and an elderly man chattering away into a cell phone. It’s a bit of a squeeze in the thick of the crowd so Niall tucks himself up against Zayn, letting his solid presence ground him. For all that he’s been reassuring Zayn that it’s ok, this is edging into too much. Before it can build more, the lights change and the crowd starts to move around them bringing them along for the ride. It’s a rush, honestly. All Niall can think about is how long it’s been since he could do something like this without it turning into a mob scene.
He and Zayn are giggling a little breathlessly once they get to the other side. They’re still holding hands. Niall thinks about letting go, but immediately dismisses the idea when Zayn looks at him expectantly.
“So what’re we seeing now?”
Niall consults the map briefly before leading them over to a small, semi-enclosed circular courtyard. It’s shaded by a few trees and ringed in benches. In the very center, there is a statue of a dog with lopsided ears. Fortunately, being a weekday, there aren’t many people in the area, so Niall leads them over to stand in front of it.
“What’s this?” Zayn asks. The plaque on the statue is written in Japanese.
“Hang on, I’ll tell you in a second,” Niall murmurs. “Let’s take a picture first.” He pulls out his phone quickly and snaps a shot of them with the statue. Zayn runs a hand along the dog’s flank before the walk away to settle on a bench.
“Why’s this here?” Zayn asks.
Niall doesn’t look at him, focusing on the statue instead. “The dog’s name was Hachiko,” he says. “His owner worked at the university and Hachiko always waited at the train station for him. But one day the owner never came back. Because he died. But the dog still waited every day for the man until he also died.”
“That’s so sad,” Zayn says quickly. Niall looks over at where Zayn is staring intently at the statue. “That poor dog.”
It’s still a bit cool out, but after another consultation with the map, they decide to take the short walk north to Harajuku to go see the shrine before they call Basil for a ride back to the hotel. The farther they get from Shibuya, the less crowded it gets. They spend the whole walk chatting quietly about the upcoming tour dates and taking in the surrounding buildings.
They know they’ve arrived when they turn a corner and are met by a massive Torii gate. Beyond it, they can see a path surrounded by trees and even at a distance, it feels towering. They stop in silent agreement to just look. It’s like the city doesn’t exist beyond the gates.
“Whoa,” Zayn finally breathes out before pulling out his phone to snap a couple pictures. “Hold up, let’s get one of us.”
Selfies taken, they set off to explore the gardens and shrine grounds. The further they get into the trees, he less city noise they can hear. There aren’t many people wandering the grounds and there are entire stretches of time in the gardens when they are totally alone.
“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Niall asks, looking around during one of those times.
“I like it,” Zayn replies. “It’s peaceful. Kinda wish I had some paper with me.”
Niall studies Zayn’s profile as they fall into companionable silence. This is part of why he loves time with just Zayn; they both just know when it’s time to be still because they both use it to ground themselves. Any of the other boys would be itching to move, to talk, to see more. Zayn catches him staring and Niall looks away quickly.
The shadows eventually start to lengthen and Niall breaks their calm. “We should think about heading back soon probably.”
Zayn sighs, clearly reluctant. “Yeah, I can call Basil. Where should he meet us?”
“Wait,” Niall says as Zayn pulls out his phone. “There’s one more place we need to go.”
He guides them across the grounds and back towards the main shrine until they’re standing in front of a large tree. The base of the tree is surrounded in rope and wooden wall covered in small planks hanging off pegs. There’s an older couple on the other side of it hanging a plank together.
“What’s this?” Zayn looks between Niall and the tree quizzically.
Niall grins. “It’s a wishing tree. You write your wish on one of the pieces of wood and hang it up. Then the shrine priests pray over them all. Wanna do it?”
Zayn doesn’t even bother answering, choosing instead to walk over to the pile of blank pieces of wood and pick up a pen. He’s already writing by the time Niall joins him.
“Don’t look,” Zayn says.
“I don’t think it works like birthday cake wishes,” Niall says, teasing. “But ok, then you can’t see mine.” He doesn’t actually write any words on his plank. He draws 5 shaky stick figures surrounded by large cherry blossoms. They walk over to the tree.
“Do we just hang it and leave?” Zayn asks.
Niall shrugs. “I guess?”
He looks at his crude drawing hanging there among all the other wishes. Maybe it’s a bit of a silly wish; there are probably much bigger ones hanging right by it, but it feels right. As long as he has the other boys, he’s got everything he needs.
By the time they get back to the hotel, they’re both exhausted. Niall barely has the energy to shower before they get some pizza ordered in. They fall asleep next to each other again.
They wake up late the next day. Zayn looks about ready to just stay in bed all day, but Niall is determined to get him out. He’d seen something in the book that he’s convinced Zayn will go crazy for.
“Zayn, come on.” He prods at the lump under the covers. Zayn reaches out a lazy arm to try and bat him away, but Niall just dodges the swipe and starts poking his other side. They bat at each other until Niall nearly rolls off the bed and Zayn is fully unearthed from the blankets, hair mussed with sleep.
“I thought this was a vacation,” he mopes.
“I promise this will be worth it,” Niall says earnestly.
Basil drops them off in a secluded side alley and tells them that he’ll return in 5 hours, unless they want to leave earlier.
“Do I get to know what we’re doing now?” Zayn asks. He’s been trying to get Niall to tell him since he fully woke up to no avail.
“You’ll see in about 30 seconds,” Niall replies, already walking towards the mouth of the alley. He hears Zayn hurrying to catch up and they manage to round the corner together. They’re standing on a busy street and even now, in the midday light, the whole scene is bathed in the neon lights of Akihabara. There are signs everywhere advertising games and electronics and anime.
“So?” Niall prompts, suddenly not sure if Zayn’s silence is a good thing or not.
His doubts are quickly assuaged when Zayn turns to him with wide eyes. “We’re going to need more than five hours.”
Niall laughs, feeling relieved and so very pleased with himself. “Where should we start?”
They spend hours bouncing between arcades and burn through a significant chunk of the money Niall had brought with them. Niall’s favorite is the arcade that specializes in racing games and he would have happily spent all day trying them all. Zayn falls in love with the top floor of a shop called Super Potato that specializes in retro games.
“I gotta come back someday,” Zayn whispers when they finally leave. “I am gonna buy so many games.”
Niall steers them over to the last stop of the day; an arcade specializing in rhythm games. Zayn catches on as soon as they walk in the door, noting the machines designed to catch dance moves and all the electronic instruments hanging off the cabinets. He gives Niall a pleading look that is ignored.
“Not a word,” Niall says, already eagerly walking up to one of the dance machines.
Several rounds of overly enthusiastic DDR later, they leave the arcade in search of something to drink.
“Admit it, you had fun,” Niall teases.
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t the only person who looked like a fool,” Zayn says. His words are softened by the massive grin on his face. “Okay, I guess it was kinda fun too.”
Niall lets out a quiet victory shout. “I knew you’d like it.”
“Shut up, you know I did,” Zayn says quietly. They’re still wandering aimlessly down the street and after a pause, he continues. “Hey, d’you think we could stop somewhere to buy a drawing pad or something?”
“Yeah, of course,” Niall says. He peers around them until he spots a building with a massive neon sign. It looks to be several floors and is covered in posters of colorful anime characters. “I bet that place’ll have something.”
They have to walk up to the second floor before they find any art supplies and Zayn gratefully goes to wander through the aisles as Niall decides to go see what else is sold. Zayn finds him ten minutes later on the third floor, contemplating a rack of DVDs.
“Gonna pick up some-whoa.” Zayn stops in his tracks when he notices what Niall is looking at. “What is that?”
Niall tilts his head. “There are so many tentacles. This is going to haunt me, Zayn.” Zayn responds with a gentle grab of his arm and an attempt to pull him away from the shelf.
“I’m done, we can go now.”
“Wait,” Niall says, pulling away. “Let’s get one.” He grins at Zayn who just looks at him in confusion.
“Um?”
Niall lets out a burst of laughter. “Oh you should see your face. It’s not for me.”
“Then why are we buying it?”
“I promised Louis I’d buy him a souvenir.”
Zayn is still laughing when they leave the store, each carrying a small bag with their purchases.
~
By partway through their third day, Niall is starting to feel a bit restless. There’s so much more left to see of the city, but he’s itching for a solid night out. They both sleep in and he lets Zayn talk him into staying in the hotel, mostly because he’s feeling a bit unwilling to try and plan another excursion. They’ll just have to come back.
They end up begging their Basil to find them a karaoke room somewhere in the city for that evening and rope some of the crew members that have stayed in the city to join them. The room is dim and small, even for just the 6 of them. Niall sets one of the security team in charge of keeping their private room well supplied in alcohol and settles next to Zayn on one of the couches that ring the room.
“Pretty good, eh?” he says happily.
Zayn grins wide and toasts him with the drink he’s holding. “Just what the doctor ordered.”
Niall clinks their glasses together and reaches over for one of the song binders. “Alright, Malik. Let’s do this thing.”
“Wait,” Zayn says, deftly stealing the binder right out of his lap. “Let’s make this fun. We pick songs for each other.”
“You’re on,” Niall says, already making a mental list of potential songs.
By the time they get the controller, a half dozen songs have already been added to their queue, so Niall puts himself in charge of keeping their drinks refilled at all times. They’ve earned this night. Except maybe he does his self-appointed job a little too well and before long, he’s definitely feeling the effects of all the alcohol. Maybe he’s using it as an excuse to be sitting nearly in Zayn’s lap, but also Zayn doesn’t seem to mind. So really, it’s like Niall isn’t doing anything at all.
He’s not paying any attention to the singing so it catches him by surprise when someone yells from the corner, “Wait, who picked this one?”
Both of them look over at where the song is paused on the title screen.
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
Zayn immediately bursts into giggles. “That’s you, Nialler,” he finally gets out through his laughter. Everyone else is just staring at them now, so Niall pushes himself up with as much dignity as he can muster under the circumstances and marches over to get the microphone.
“I’d like to dedicate this song to Zayn even though he hardly deserves it,” he announces before the song is started.
Niall makes sure that his performance is dramatic as possible, with lots of arm waving and a fair amount of singing directly at where Zayn is practically curled up with giggles on the bench. He finishes the song with an ad-libbed flourish that earns him a smattering of applause and a fair bit of catcalling. He points at Zayn as the song fades out, receiving only a wide, crinkly-eyed smile in return.
“You’re next, Malik. And I’m not even sorry.” Everyone turns to watch as the next song title comes up on the screen.
Dancing Queen - In the Style of ABBA
Niall grins in satisfaction as he hears Zayn groan and everyone else breaks out into cheers. “I wanna see your best moves,” Niall yells over the din.
“I’ll put yours to shame,” Zayn yells back playfully as he strikes a pose for the start of his song. This is possibly Niall’s favorite version of Zayn. This version that is actually smashing the vocals on this song while shamelessly wiggling his hips and throwing out the cheesiest dance moves possible.
By the end, they’re all singing along enthusiastically with Zayn. He ends the song with a final wiggle and takes a bow for the room. Niall is still yelling as Zayn flops on the bench next to him, grinning as wide as Niall’s ever seen him. Niall slings an arm across his shoulders, pulling their bodies flush together.
“Does my dancing pass?”
“It’ll do for now,” Niall replies with a laugh, nuzzling into Zayn’s shoulder. They stay curled up together, only moving to reach for fresh drinks. It’s comfortable. He loses track of how long they sit there, doesn’t even really notice what songs everyone is singing.
The only thing that snaps him out of it is Basil saying both their names right in front of their faces. Niall blinks in confusion. “Wait, what?”
“I put in a song for you two, up you get.” Niall only grumbles a little as he pushes himself up and offers Zayn a pull up as well.
“What’ve you got for us, then?” he asks as he turns to read the screen. His eyes widen as he sees the title and he hears Zayn sputter a bit next to him. He looks over at Basil. “You’re a cruel man.”
Basil starts the song before Zayn can add anything and Niall immediately yells, “Hiya Barbie!” into his mic.
Zayn shoots him a look before answering, “Hi Ken.” He pitches his voice higher to match the role.
“Wanna go for a ride?” Niall punctuates it with a little swivel of his hips and then has to dodge when Zayn tries to swat him on the arm.
It only gets more wild from there as they both pour all their energy into the song. Niall doesn’t ever need help with letting himself go a bit crazy and he knows that Zayn secretly loves this sort of thing when he’s around people he trusts, but the alcohol is definitely adding an extra element of insanity to their duet.
Zayn kills it, of course. If Niall weren’t too busy being proud of him, he might feel inadequate. Instead, he focuses on dancing up on Zayn and laughing with delight when Zayn dances back. It’s so enthusiastic that Niall almost feels out of breath by the end and even Zayn’s hair is starting to droop a little.
The song finally wraps up and everyone starts clapping and cheering before they can get out the final spoken lines of the song, so when Zayn says “Oh I’m having so much fun,” with a dramatic bat of his eyelashes at Niall, he doesn’t even bother saying it into the mic.
“Well, Zayn,” Niall replies, feeling cheeky. “We’re just getting started.”
Zayn blinks up at him from where he’s pressed fully flush against Niall’s side. He doesn’t say the final line, but he does tilt his head so he can brush a kiss along the top of Niall’s cheekbone. Niall’s hand tightens on his hip in response before the pull apart to relinquish their mics and go back to curling up on a corner bench of the room.
They must not stay for much longer, but Niall loses track of the time as he lets himself get wrapped up in Zayn. In mutual, silent agreement, they’ve mostly stopped drinking. They aren’t even really talking. Niall’s managed to get a lazy hand on the bare skin of Zayn’s waist and is lazily stroking at the spot with his thumb. Niall feels like he should be feeling sleepy, but even just that small point of contact is keeping something buzzing under his skin. He can tell that Zayn can feel it too by the way that his hand keeps flexing on where he’s got it pressed to Niall’s thigh. They stay like that, balanced on the edge of something, until Basil lets them know that it’s time to leave.
The trip back to the hotel is hazy after that. They’re herded into the back of a black car where Niall half-crawls into Zayn’s lap for the ride, tucking his face into the crook of Zayn’s neck. He can feel the way Zayn is breathing fast under his hands, the way his heart speeds up as Niall lets his lips brush against his ear. It makes his own heart race in return.
Finally, they’re back in their room. When Niall looks up from closing the door behind them, Zayn is in front of him, staring like he wants to eat him. This is relatively uncharted territory for them. For all that the world seems to think otherwise, Niall’s never shared more than a handful of sloppy, drunk kisses with any of the boys.
They look at each other in the hush of the hotel room. The burning urgency that had been bubbling under Niall’s skin subsides a bit as they just look at each other. He can tell that it’s mellowed out in Zayn too by the way that his stare goes soft around the edges. Somewhere, under the residual haze of alcohol, Niall feels a bit disappointed at the shift in mood.
Zayn reaches out with one arm and places his hand carefully at Niall’s waist, like he’s afraid Niall might pull away. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Niall mirrors the action and uses his own touch to urge Zayn to move towards him, crowding him up against the door.
“Alright, babe?” Zayn asks quietly.
Niall’s barely finished nodding before he’s being pulled flush against Zayn’s front and they’re kissing. It stays sweet and just the sort of tender that Niall knows to expect from Zayn. Not that he’s thought overly hard about what kissing Zayn might be like. He lets one hand drift up to tangle gently in Zayn’s hair, which is long and starting to curl at the nape of his neck.
He feels warm and content when they finally separate. They stare at each other, breath mingling between their mouths. The moment curls around them until Zayn blinks and looks down at their feet. Niall leans in, trying to catch his gaze again, but he’s already pulling away.
“Bed?” Zayn asks.
“Yeah,” Niall replies quietly. He touches his lips as Zayn vanishes into the en suite. They don’t feel outwardly different. He yawns suddenly, feeling the weight of the night’s merriment crash down on him and sapping the rest of his energy. He crawls under the covers and is nearly asleep before Zayn joins him.
The next morning, Niall wakes up alone. The other pillow still has the indent where Zayn’s head had been, but there’s no sign of where he’s gone. He rolls over lazily to grab his phone from the side table, wondering whether Zayn’s gone to get them food. But the only message he has is from Greg with a new picture of Theo.
???? he sends to Zayn.
He dozes off again while staring at the message screen, waiting for a reply. When he wakes up a couple hours later it’s to a phone with significantly less battery and no new messages.
He doesn’t really let himself dwell on it, feeling the need to piss and rinse out his mouth in an attempt to wake up a bit more. But once he’s done all that, there’s nothing left for him to do but sit back on the bed and remember everything. He touches his mouth carefully and flops back against the pillows. It’s not fair. He can still smell Zayn’s soap all over the sheets.
Niall spends the rest of the afternoon moping around the room, waiting for Zayn to return. He doesn’t like this feeling of confusion that’s lingering over him. Last night had been really nice and in a lot of ways, it felt like the natural continuation of their friendship. Now, in the light of day and without Zayn, Niall is starting to doubt it. It really, really sucks.
Zayn slinks back into the room just before Niall’s started wondering if he should venture out with some of the crew for dinner. He has a couple bags with him that he tosses on top of his own pile of things in the corner before flopping down on the bed.
“Where’ve you been?” Niall asks.
He gets a shrug in response. “Just around. Wanted to pick up a few things for my mom.”
“I could’ve gone with you,” Niall says tentatively. He’s still feeling unsure about where they stand and Zayn’s apparent dismissal of any potential awkwardness isn’t helping. Niall’s never been the sort to hide from his issues, especially when it comes to any of the other boys, but this isn’t anything he’s ever had to deal with before.
“Didn’t wanna wake you up,” Zayn replies. “You hungry?”
“Could eat,” Niall replies cautiously. If Zayn’s going to play this game, then he can too.
They end up squished into a corner booth at the hotel restaurant with some of the sound crew. It’s fun, but much more subdued than the previous night. After, they return to the room to watch movies and Niall’s asleep before midnight.
-
The following afternoon, they get Basil to agree to another evening excursion with the crew. This time, they find a bar that’s tucked away behind what looks like an office building. It feels like a dive bar, albeit one that none of them can read any sort of menu at. The vibe is really mellow, so they all just settle at a corner table to work through a few rounds.
They don’t start of sitting next to each other, but once Niall’s got a second drink in front of him, Zayn slides up next to him with a smile. The drink in his hand is alarmingly orange.
“What is that?” Niall asks, eyeing the glass warily.
Zayn shrugs and takes a sip. “I just pointed to something on the menu. It’s not bad, wanna try?”
Niall wrinkles his nose at the offer. “Think I’ll take a pass on that.”
“Boring,” Zayn replies.
He’s joking, and Niall knows that, but his pride refuses to let the unspoken challenge stand. “Give it here.”
“Nope, changed my mind. You don’t deserve it.” Zayn cradles the glass to himself
“Fine, I’ll get my own.” Niall’s already at the bar when he remembers that he doesn’t actually know what Zayn’s been drinking. Not that Zayn know what he’s drinking, but at least he could have pointed it out on the menu. With nothing else to do, he points randomly at a drink on the list and hopes it’s right.
It’s not. The glass that’s put in front of him is violently purple. Niall leans over to sniff it cautiously before shrugging and taking it back to sit next to Zayn.
“That’s not the same thing,” Zayn says.
“I dunno, man,” Niall replies. “I just picked something random.” He takes a cautious sip. It’s a little more fruit-based than he’d prefer, but it’s not terrible. They finish their drinks in companionable silence.
“Want something else?” Zayn asks, pointing at the empty glasses.
“Surprise me.” Zayn comes back with a glass of something dark red and something lime green. Niall considers his options before grabbing the green glass. “I feel like I’m drinking my way through a bag of skittles.”
Zayn laughs at him over the rim of his glass. “There are worse things to drink.”
Niall eyes his drink. “If this is radioactive and I end up with superpowers, I’m blaming you.”
He taps his glass against Zayn’s and they both drink. The green turns out to taste overwhelmingly of energy drink and something melon. It’s not terrible, but Niall can already feel his many other drinks settling like a fog over his body. He can tell that Zayn feels the same by his loose posture.
Of course, now that he’s looking, he can’t help but focus on the way Zayn’s red-tinted drink is slowly staining his lips. The way that the warmth in the bar has made his hair go limp and starting to flop down into his eyes and the way it doesn’t make him look any less beautiful and put-together. He doesn’t realize he’s staring until Zayn catches him and shoots him a quizzical look. Niall glances away, feeling awkward, and busies himself with draining his glass.
They both finish their drinks at the same time and this time Niall wanders up to go get them another round. This time he ends up with pink and dark brown. He slides the pink over to Zayn once he settles back in, not feeling in the mood for whatever sweetness it probably contains.
“We should have kept a record of which ones we’ve tried,” Zayn muses.
Niall just takes a sip before answering and is mildly disappointed that it’s just a regular rum and coke. “We’ll just trade off the repeats.”
The night devolves fairly quickly after that. They do end up marking what they’ve already ordered on the incomprehensible drinks menu. Niall loses track of the number of times they get another round, but he does know that eventually they start just tasting their drinks and then pawning them off to someone else. Zayn is tucked against his side just like the other night and it’s exactly what Niall needed after the weirdness of the past couple days.
By the time Basil taps on his shoulder to tell them that it’s time to go, Zayn’s half asleep and practically in his lap. Niall doesn’t feel very inclined towards movement, especially when he tries to shift them and Zayn mutters grumpily and tucks his face against Niall’s neck. The rub of facial hair makes him shiver the tiniest bit.
“Hey, Zayn. It’s time to go.” Niall moves one hand up to scratch gently at the nape of Zayn’s neck, rubbing at the back of his head where the hair is short and fuzzy.
Zayn finally looks up with a drunk pout. He’s flushed from all the drinks, his hair is drooping on his forehead, and it makes him look younger. Niall smiles at him fondly and plants a kiss right on the tip of his nose, unable to resist his own drunken impulses. Zayn crosses his eyes in response.
Next to them, Basil rolls his eyes. “Ok, boys. You can pick this up again back at the hotel, but the car is here.”
The ride back is sleepy and quiet. Zayn holds onto his wrist the whole way, not letting go until they’re herded back into their room. The door’s barely shut behind them before he’s stripping down to his pants and crawling onto the bed, holding out his hands to make grabby motions at Niall. Drunk Zayn might be too much for Niall’s feelings to handle.
He strips down, letting out a happy sigh as the air conditioning hits his overheated skin. He crawls under the blankets and lets Zayn curl up against him. The last thing he remembers before falling asleep is a gentle touch down his arm and Zayn’s hair tickling his nose.
~
Niall doesn’t notice anything being particularly wrong when he manages to wake up the next day. The only thing wrong is the way it feels like someone has turned his head inside-out as he slept. There’s a lump under the blankets next to him that he assumes is Zayn and he knows better than to try and rouse him. That road leads to pain and bruises in places Niall doesn’t want to contemplate. Zayn has very pointy elbows.
He doesn’t bother turning on any lights as he rolls out off the bed and wanders into the en suite for a piss. There’s weak sunlight filtering in through the high, tall window in there that leaves him squinting a bit, which is why he doesn’t actually catch sight of himself until he’s done and washing his hands.
His first hint is the smudge of something dark on his hand, just next to his thumb. Niall rubs at it absently for a few seconds before he realizes it’s not going anywhere. Instantly, the sleepy fuzzy feeling in his head vanishes and he finally looks up at the mirror. Zayn’s reflection looks back at him.
Niall yelps and stumbles backwards, falling heavily against the wall behind him. In the mirror, Zayn does the same thing. He rubs at his eyes for a few seconds, wondering if he’s maybe still drunk or if this is a dream. He pinches his arm hard and has to muffle another yell at how much it actually hurts. Also now he feels bad because apparently Zayn bruises easily. Now that he’s a bit more awake, he can feel the difference in his body. He and Zayn have always been about the same size, so his movement feels very similar, but he’s missing the dull ache that always seems to linger around his knees.
‘So,’ he thinks. ‘This is a thing.’
There’s nothing for it, he’s going to have to wake Zayn up. He prods cautiously at the bed lump until it starts to stir, trying to squirm away from him.
“Zayn, please wake up,” Niall pleads. It sounds so wrong as his words come out with the wrong accent entirely. He’d thought that things were going to be fine, but this detail is threatening to spiral him into a full-blown anxiety attack and he doesn’t have time. “Zayn, come on.”
The lump finally stills. ‘Why do you sound so different?” Zayn asks. Niall sits heavily on the bed. That’s...his voice.
“This is so fucking weird,” he mutters to himself while Zayn struggles to untangle himself from the sheets. He sees the moment when Zayn registers what he’s looking at as the color drains from his face.
“What,” Zayn says. “Is this a joke? This is a joke, I’m still asleep.”
“How could it be a joke?” Niall asks desperately. Zayn stares at him, uncomprehending. The longer that no one says anything, the more Niall can feel his breath speeding up, edging towards hyperventilating.
Zayn clearly notices his growing panic and pulls him into a cuddle on the blankets. “Hey,” he says quietly. “Calm down, ok. We’ll figure this out.”
They sit like that for a few minutes, until Niall feels slightly more calm. As calm as he can be right now, when everything is so wrong.
“What’s happening?” he whispers.
“I really have no fucking idea,” Zayn whispers back. “Maybe it’ll go away in a minute.”
They stay curled up together on the bed. Niall squeezes his eyes closed, waiting for some indication that things are going back to normal. If he can’t see what’s happening, maybe it’s not real. All it really does is let him focus on how different this feels. They fit together all wrong like this. Niall’s used to being the big spoon and the way that Zayn fits around him like this (in Niall’s body no less) is making him feel more than a little small and helpless.
“I don’t think it’s going away,” he whispers. It comes out sounding choked. He doesn’t know how long they lie there, tangled in each other, eyes closed and hoping for this to all go away. Eventually, Zayn shifts away from him and sits up on the bed. Niall rolls onto his back to look up at him.
“Ok,” Zayn says. “Ok here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re going to Skype Liam.”
Niall blinks. “There is no way they’re going to believe us,” he says flatly.
“Do you have a better idea, then?” Zayn shoots back. Niall just stares at him helplessly until Zayn grabs his phone to send Liam an S.O.S.
They pull out Zayn’s battered laptop, setting it up so they can huddle together on the center of the bed. Niall studies their reflections in the black of the screen as it starts up. It’s strange how even when they look like each other, he can still pick out the ways that their own mannerisms are showing through. Zayn’s already picking at the edges of his (Niall’s) nails, revealing the source of the rough edges on Niall’s current hands. He reaches over to tangle their fingers together and stop the nervous tic. He gets a soft squeeze in return.
They start up Skype in silence and watch it ring through to Liam. The video connects on Louis and Liam squished together to fit into the frame. Louis is waving at them while Liam just looks vaguely concerned. Even through the subpar connection, they look more tanned than when they left.
“Well, neither of you are dead at least,” Louis says cheerfully in greeting. It gets him an elbow in the side from Liam.
“What’s going on, you both look fine?” Liam asks.
Zayn takes a deep breath. “Ok, this is going to sound totally crazy, but just hear us out.”
“Niall, you’re scaring me a bit.” Even Louis is starting to look a bit concerned.
“Er, that’s the thing,” Niall replies. “That’s actually Zayn. I’m Niall.”
There’s a pause and then Louis starts laughing so hard that he ends up falling off-screen. Liam looks confused and skeptical, eyes flicking between the two of them.
“Told you they wouldn’t believe us,” Niall mutters.
“Is this a prank?” Liam asks, squinting at them. “Because it’s not a very good one.”
“No, it’s not,” Zayn agrees. “Look, we all know this is too stupid to ever work as a prank and now we’re freaking out so how do we convince you?”
Louis has stopped laughing and looks at them thoughtfully. “If you’re really Zayn, but in Niall’s body, tell me something that Niall wouldn’t know.”
“Like what?” Zayn asks.
“Uh, remember when we talked right before my birthday and you swore me to secrecy on that thing? Tell me the thing.”
Zayn’s eyes are wide by the time Louis finishes his rambling thought. Niall recognizes the look of quiet panic on his own face and takes pity on him. “It’s not very fair to make Zayn say something like that.”
“Well I’m not sure how else he can convince me,” Louis says doubtfully.
The shift in attention away from him seems to have helped Zayn calm down again. “I’m gonna text it to you,” he interrupts. “I’ll type it right here where you can see that it’s me.”
He pulls out his phone and shows the blank message screen to the webcam before starting to type. They all watch in silence as he finishes up and his phone emits the sent message tone. On the Skype call, Louis’ phone lets out an answering chime. Niall watches breathlessly as Louis checks it, being careful to angle the screen towards himself.
“Well, shit,” he says faintly. “It’s not a prank.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Liam finally says, breaking the silence that’s descended on them.
“Did anything weird happen yesterday?” Louis asks.
“We went out with the crew and then came back to the hotel,” Niall replies.
Next to him, Zayn lets out a tiny gasp. “What if it was something we drank?”
It’s useless. Neither of them can name most of what they tried, they can’t even remember the name of the small bar. The rest of the call isn’t particularly helpful. Liam and Louis can’t really do anything from Australia, but they do agree to contact Harry and catch him up on the situation.
Niall flops backwards on the bed after they’ve hung up. “Now what?”
He hears the laptop snap shut and feels as Zayn shifts until he’s no longer on the bed. “Well,” he says. “First I need to pee. But then we need to do some googling.”
The door shuts quietly as Zayn vanishes into the en suite. Niall stays where he is, staring at the ceiling and very carefully trying not to think about what Zayn is doing. In all honesty, they’ve all seen the other boys naked at some point since they’ve been a band, but it feels different like this. And it’s not like he really registered anything earlier, unlike Zayn who is now fully awake and aware of what’s happened.
The door opens again before he can think too hard about it. The only indication that maybe Zayn came to the same conclusion at him is the flush of pink across the tops of his cheeks. Niall always has been quick to give away his thoughts through blushing.
“We can get some food and see if we can find out anything?” Zayn already has the phone in his hand before he finishes the question.
“What do we even look for?” Niall asks as he goes to get his own laptop out of his neatly packed bag. “Is there like, a witches and magic directory?”
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Zayn says mournfully before dialing for room service.
They spend a few hours trying to do research on their respective laptops. Niall doesn’t really feel like he’s made any progress on their situation, but he does have a nice list of movies that feature bodyswaps. He’s also found a lot of sites that claim to have spells to make it happen on purpose and somehow spent a solid half an hour lost in the depths of a Wizards of Waverly Place wiki.
By the time mid-afternoon hits, he’s bored and feeling more hopeless than ever. Niall snaps his laptop shut and rolls onto his stomach to stare up at Zayn. “Find anything?”
Zayn pushes at where blonde hair is flopping into his eyes. “Not really. Just lots of stories.”
He carefully puts his laptop on the side table and flops down too. Niall immediately pulls him into a cuddle. It still feels weird, but he’s starting to figure out how they fit together this way. And it is kinda nice to be the slightly smaller person in a cuddle. It’s helping settle him through the stress of the situation.
“I need a break,” Niall says against Zayn’s shoulder.
“Me too,” Zayn replies quietly. “Let’s get some food and find a movie on TV or something?”
They never end up going back to researching and the other boys don’t contact them again. If he’s being honest with himself, Niall is glad that they don’t really think about it for the rest of that because it’s stressing him out too much. All his hopes are resting on them waking up in their own bodies.
~
Niall jolts awake early the next morning after a night of restless dreams.
“Zayn.” He shakes the lump next to him with increasing urgency. “Zayn, wake up.”
Zayn grumbles and tries to swat at him. “Go ‘way,” he mutters. Even if Niall hadn’t already noticed that things haven’t changed overnight, the way Zayn’s sleepy words are heavy with Niall’s own Irish accent would give it away. He can tell when Zayn notices by the way he stills suddenly.
Finally, a blonde head pops up from under the blankets. “It’s not gone.”
Niall shakes his head sadly.
“We have a concert in a couple days,” Niall says. He twists the sheets between his hands. Zayn notices and reaches out to still them. “What if it’s not fixed by then?”
“We can cover for each other?” Zayn asks.
Niall stares at him skeptically. “You’re shitting me, right? That would never work.”
“Why wouldn’t it? You’re me, surely you could just sing my parts?”
“Yeah, and I guess you’ll just play the guitar bits then?” Niall shoots back. He knows he’s being overly tetchy, but he’s not sure what else to do besides maybe cry. And that seems like it would be even less useful.
Zayn sighs and reaches over to pull Niall to fall against his chest. He feels a hand come up to pet at the back of his head. “Let’s just try it anyway,” Zayn murmurs. “It’s not like we have anything better to do.”
“Ok,” Niall sighs. Zayn’s right, as usual. They won’t know until they try and at least it will help distract them for a bit. “I think I’ll take a shower first though?” He poses it as a question, not really sure what the procedure is when you’re in someone else’s body. From the way Zayn’s eyes travel, he’s thinking the same.
He’s about to take it back when Zayn’s stare turns playful and mischievous. “If you wanted to get your hands on me, you just had to ask.”
It breaks through Niall’s nerves and he reaches over to gently punch Zayn on the shoulder. “You should be grateful, I'm over here trying to make sure you don't smell!”
Zayn is still laughing when Niall closes the door behind him. The problem is, now he’s thinking about it. He cranks the water up hot and strips quickly, avoiding his own gaze in the mirror, and climbs into the shower. He lets out a quiet sigh of happiness as the hot water cascades over his shoulders, warming him up quickly. Here, with his eyes closed against the spray, he can almost pretend that things are normal. It’s an illusion that’s broken as soon as he reaches up to push the hair off his forehead and he catches sight of a dark splash of tattoo on his wrist.
Now that it’s caught his attention, he finds himself tracing over the delicate swirls that spill onto the top of his hand. It’s not like this is the first time he’s done something like this, but it’s new to be following those lines and feeling the path his fingers take. Once he’s done with the top of his wrist, he can’t help switching his focus to the other arm where there is more ink. He spends extra time on the MSG tattoo, thinking about the rush of standing on that stage with the other boys.
Right now, those memories are making him feel a bit sad. He shakes his head and focuses on the feeling of the shower instead. He’s quick to wash himself, trying not to linger on the soaping up, despite how he might want to a little bit. It just feels a bit wrong. He’d thought that maybe they’ve been moving towards something new over the past few days and he’s not sure whether this strange switch is helping or not. Regardless, this isn’t how he’d pictured getting Zayn naked.
When he finally goes back into the main room, it's to the sight of Zayn sitting on the bed with the guitar in front of him. He's staring at it like it might attack him if he looks away.
“You alright?” he asks. Zayn starts in surprise and twists to look at him.
“I thought I’d see if maybe my fingers knew how to play, or something.”
“Did it work?” Niall asks. It would be very convenient if it did, he’s never really tried to teach someone else how to play beyond some fooling around with Harry.
“Not at all,” Zayn says ruefully. “It’s probably a good thing you didn’t hear it.”
Niall runs a hand through his hair and settles next to Zayn on the bed with a huff of laughter. “Well let’s give it a try?”
He reaches over to pick up the guitar, intent on making sure it’s tuned before starting the lesson. Immediately, he feels how it sits differently in his hands and he struggles to readjust his grip. Not only are his fingers slightly longer, but the lack of calluses on his fingertips makes the strings feel different. He strums a few careful chords before segueing into part of Strong which has Zayn humming along.
“Ok, your turn,” Niall says when he’s happy with the tuning.
He gets Zayn settled with the guitar and they spend the next couple of hours trying to teach him how to play. He manages to learn a good set of chords and nearly all of What Makes You Beautiful, albeit about three times slower than they normally perform it, before they admit defeat.
Zayn flops backwards onto the bed. “Ok, so maybe this wasn’t a good plan. I’m hopeless.”
“Maybe we can just tell everyone I’ve hurt my hands and can’t play.” Niall flops down next to him after carefully storing his guitar again.
“Might work,” Zayn replies. He rolls over to nudge his nose against Niall’s shoulder. “Should we try singing now?”
“Might as well,” Niall sighs. He’s not feeling optimistic about it. He might have Zayn’s vocal chords right now, but he is pretty sure he won’t be able to replicate his actual singing.
They sit facing each other on the mattress with Zayn’s phone between them. After a brief discussion, they decide to try getting through each others’ parts of You & I. It doesn’t go well. It takes them a half dozen tries before they aren’t trying to sing their normal parts instead. And then, by the time they’re singing the correct bits, Niall can tell that it still doesn’t sound right.
“I give up,” Niall finally says. “It just sounds wrong, everyone is gonna be able to tell.”
Zayn reaches over to tangle their fingers together. “Let’s just see if we can find anything else out online, okay? Maybe the others will have some ideas when they get back.”
“Yeah, alright.”
~
“Zayn, what if we never switch back?” They’ve given up on researching and are curled up together in the center of the bed.
Zayn twists to look him in the eyes. “Is it really so terrible being me?”
He looks a little bit sad and Niall immediately feels sad too. “You know that's not it,” he says. “I just feel all wrong. We can't even use it to prank anyone because they're not here and I'm kinda afraid to do anything because what if I hurt myself and we switch back and you're stuck with it?”
Zayn's eyes soften at the last bit of Niall's outburst. “We'll figure out how to fix it.”
Niall just grumbles to himself, pressing his face against Zayn’s chest. “Why do you think this happened to us?”
“Dunno,” Zayn replies quietly. “But if it had to be anyone I’m glad it was you.”
Gentle hands nudge Niall’s head, moving him until he’s looking right at Zayn. The room is silent, except for the quiet hum of the air conditioning, and neither of them moves to long seconds. Niall isn’t sure who moves first or if they both decided together, but one moment he’s studying Zayn’s face and the next he’s busy cataloguing the way their lips slide against each other. It’s light, and sweet, and just as wonderful as he’s been remembering.
When they finally break apart, Niall feels like his face might break with the force of his grin. Zayn looks just as pleased as he feels. “There’s the smile I like,” he says, tracing Niall’s lips with a gentle finger.
“Not really my smile, is it?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zayn replies. He places a hand on Niall’s chest. “Even if you look different, it’s what’s in here that matters.”
Niall blushes and puts his hand’s over Zayn. They fall asleep like that shortly after, curled up on top of the comforter with the lights still on.
~
This time when he wakes up, Niall notices the change before he opens his eyes. It’s not anything big, just a sense of being more settled in his body. His eyes snap open to the wonderful sight of actual Zayn still sound asleep next to him. He doesn’t even think twice before shuffling closer and curling his arm across Zayn’s waist. The movement and touch are enough to wake Zayn up. His eyes flutter open and Niall sees him snap into immediate alertness as what he’s looking at registers.
“We’re back,” he breathes out. Niall doesn’t even get a chance to answer before Zayn’s mouth is on his.
They’re so engrossed in each other, Zayn’s got one hand working its way up and under Niall’s shirt, that they don’t hear the beep of their door swipe being activated. However, they do notice when Louis flings the door open, making it hit the wall. They jerk away from each other as Niall’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest.
Zayn shoots an irritated look towards the door. “We’re busy.”
“Are you now?” he asks, leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. “And here we were all worried about you not being back to normal.”
Niall curls himself up against Zayn’s chest. “Can we have this conversation later?” he mutters.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll just go tell the others,” Louis says fondly. He opens the door and for a split second, Niall think they’re going to get off easy. “Don’t forget to use protection,” he all but yells before slamming the door shut. They can hear him cackling the whole way down the hall.
From his spot halfway underneath Niall, Zayn thumps his head on the pillow a couple times. Niall smiles, feeling unbearably fond towards him. He runs his fingers through Zayn’s sleep mussed hair, ruffling it even more, before pulling him in for another kiss. They still have a lot to figure out, a lot of questions are still unanswered, and the other boys will want to talk about it.
But right now, all he needs is this. The rest can wait.