Chapter Text
Zayn groaned and flung an arm out at his alarm clock, hitting it harshly. The pain buzzed through his arm, but he ignored it in favor of basking in the silence. He brought his arm back under his comforter, burying his face in his pillow. He didn't want to get up.
It was a Wednesday, the worst day of the week in his opinion. If he had a choice, Wednesdays would be banned.
He allowed himself a couple more minutes in bed before lifting his head to check the time - 9:47. Plenty of time to get ready and be at work by ten.
He forced himself to sit up and slid out of bed. His bare feet stung against the cold wood floor and he immediately wanted to go back to bed. But he needed to pay the rent; therefore, he needed to go to work and earn money.
At least he wasn’t stuck behind a desk all day; he could move around all he wanted and take breaks while he worked at Hot Topic. It wasn’t that bad.
He stumbled into the shower and washed up. He brushed his teeth. Shaved. And proceeded to trip over a pile of clothes Louis had left in the hallway while on his way back to his room.
The only thing he could hope for was for today to be different.
He snorted as he waited for his coffee.
“Yeah, right,” he muttered.
/\/\
Stacey shot him a glare when he entered the store. “You’re late,” she said.
“It’s not even ten yet – there’s still ten minutes till we open,” Zayn protested. Stacey shook her head.
“Yeah, but you should have been here ten minutes ago.”
Zayn rolled his eyes. It happened every day he came into work, but they both knew that he would never show up at the right time.
“Yeah, whatever, where’s my lanyard?” Zayn bent down to check under the counter. He heard a think above his head and looked up to see his lanyard sitting on the counter, his manager staring at him smugly.
“You really need to keep better track of that, it’s the only uniform you have.”
“Shut up,” Zayn muttered, lifting the lanyard and dropping it over his head.
“Go stock the t-shirts—I think the Call of Duty shirts need to be refolded. And check the wristbands while you’re at it – you may need to make sure they’re in the right spots.” Stacey checked her clipboard. “After that, you should be clear to man the counter.”
“Sure, whatever,” Zayn mumbled, going over to the back door. He grabbed the Call of Duty shirts, shaking his head. Sometimes he wished he had gone to college for that art degree.
Back in the store, he folded the shirts neatly, resisting the urge to shove them in a pile and leave them. Stacey would probably fire him, and he needed this money.
Finished stocking the shirts, he turned and went to the wrist band display. He studied the mess of bracelets for a moment, then sighed dejectedly. It would take him hours to sort through this.
He started at the top, reorganizing the bands with a mumbled curse. Why did this have to be his job?
A couple more minutes passed. The store was officially open, but there were no customers yet.
He had gotten halfway through the wrist bands, with more than a few muttered curses, when a young man entered the store.
He looked impossibly adorable, to be honest, with his curly brown hair and big brown eyes. He reminded Zayn of a puppy. A puppy that Zayn really, really wanted to sleep with, but that was beside the point.
Zayn stood from his crouching position on the floor, dusting off his hands.
“Hey, welcome to Hot Topic,” Zayn said. “You need help finding anything?”
The young man nearly jumped, looking scared out of his mind. “Umm…yeah, maybe….my friend’s birthday is a couple days from now, and he wanted something from here…” He started to dig through his pockets, biting his lip. Zayn had to bite his own lip to hold back his groan.
“Here it is, he said he wanted an Avengers…t-shirt?” He bit his lip again. “Sorry, I’ve never been here before.”
Zayn chuckled. “It’s okay; lots of people come in here confused. The t-shirts are back there.” Zayn pointed to the back of the store. “You should find what you’re looking for back there, and if you don’t I can help you.”
“Okay, thanks,” the man said, smiling before quickly turning and starting to look through the shirts.
Zayn resisted staring at him and went back to his job.
He finished in record time; the only thing left to do was man the counter. With only one customer, this was beginning to look like a slow day.
Stacey had disappeared into the back room. The young man was still standing at the t-shirts, picking through them carefully. Zayn tried to find an excuse to not stare at him; when he couldn’t, he leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms. He stared.
The guy was only a couple inches taller shorter than Zayn, and Zayn could tell that he worked somewhere where he had to wear at least a button-down shirt. Right now, he was wearing a pale blue button-down, with black trousers. No one actually wore something like that for a day out. At least, no one Zayn knew.
It was so obvious that he didn’t belong in this store that Zayn almost felt sorry for him.
“Excuse me.”
Zayn blinked, shifting his gaze to realize that while he had zoned out, another customer had come in. A teenage girl, with bright purple hair that honestly kind of scared him, stood in front of him, a couple CD’s and a belt thrown on the counter.
She glared at him. “I would like to check out.”
Zayn closed his eyes and sighed. This was not his day.
He scanned the items, asking the usual questions and putting in the information. He bagged her purchases and slid them across the counter as fast as he could.
She took her change and strode from the store angrily, taking out her cell phone and nearly running into a potted plant as she started texting. Zayn wanted to laugh at her.
When he turned the young man was behind him; Zayn sucked in a breath from shock.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I couldn’t find the shirt I was looking for. Can you help me?”
“Oh, sure, yeah,” Zayn said, following him back to the shirts. They searched for the shirt for a couple minutes, but when they couldn’t find it Zayn straightened.
“I guess it’s not in stock right now – I can check in the back if you’d like?” he offered.
“Could you?” The poor man looked so utterly confused.
“Sure,” Zayn said, nodding. “I’ll be back in a minute. Look around, see if there’s anything else you’d like.”
Zayn entered the back room, letting the door swing shut behind him. Stacey was in the way back, nearly hidden behind racks of clothes.
He hunted for the shirt, but he didn’t find anything close to it. After nearly falling over checking the top shelf, Zayn dusted his hands off and looked over at Stacey.
“Hey, Stacey,” he called.
“What?”
“Do we have any Avengers shirts? I can’t find any,” Zayn said.
“If you can’t find any, we don’t have any. There’s a new shipment coming tomorrow, there will probably be some then. If not you can order them online.”
“Thanks, Stacey,” Zayn muttered. He left the back room.
His customer was standing by the counter, arms crossed. Zayn walked over to him.
“Sorry, we don’t have any right now,” he said, and watched as the man’s face fell.
“Well, do you know where I could find one?”
“We’re getting a new shipment tomorrow, there should be some then. I can keep one on hold for you, if you’d like?” Zayn offered, shrugging. “You’d just have to come back tomorrow. If you can’t come in, you can order one online for sure.”
“Can you hold one for me?” he said. “Tomorrow’s my day off; I need to be in this area anyways.”
“Yeah, just give me your name and the size you need,” Zayn said, grabbing a post-it from under the counter.
“Liam. Liam Payne.” Zayn bit his lip as he wrote the name down, scribbling out the t-shirt he wanted and the size.
“Thank you,” Liam said. “You have no idea how much I need this shirt.”
“It’s no problem.” Zayn chuckled. “Just make sure to come back and pick it up.”
“Trust me, I’ll be back.” Liam smiled, before he turned leaving the store.
Needless to say, the rest of Zayn’s day was horrible compared to that morning.
/\/\
Liam did not make it back to work on time. Being unable to find the shirt had thrown his entire schedule out of whack, and he ended up late.
Luckily, the school he worked at had had a late start, and then when the students finally got there they needed to go to the auditorium for an announcement. Liam technically didn’t need to be there for it, but he still just barely made it.
He got to his classroom just as the bell rang. His students were seated and talking quietly while they waited for him.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he set his bag behind his desk. “Got caught up this morning.”
“What were you doing?” Sam, one of the boys who actually listened when Liam talked, asked.
“Shopping for my friend’s birthday,” Liam answered. He turned to the white board, picking up a black marker. His students didn’t ask any more questions.
The rest of the day passed quickly. His students didn’t talk too much, only asking the occasional question. He was honestly shocked. They were never this quiet.
He tried to remember what the assembly was about, thinking that that was the only reason they could be acting like this. Not that he was arguing with it. He wished they were this quiet every day.
/\/\
When Liam got home, Niall was sprawled across his couch. Liam shook his head, not questioning it anymore. They had been friends long enough that there was no reason to.
On the other hand…Niall didn’t have a key to his apartment.
“How did you get in?” he asked, dropping his bag on the table. He ducked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.
Niall didn’t look up from the TV.
“You don’t want to know,” he said. Liam cocked his head at that, cutting a glance at the window.
“Did you climb…through the window?”
Niall barked out a laugh, taking a sip of his beer. “Of course not, I’m not crazy. You live on the fifth floor!”
Liam shrugged. “I’m never sure with you.”
He sat down next to his friend, cradling his glass of water in the palm of his hand while he stole the remote from him.
“How was work?” Niall wondered, and Liam raised an eyebrow and glanced over at him. Niall wasn’t looking at him, his attention trained on the TV.
“The students were pretty quiet, listened well,” Liam finally said. Niall nodded absently.
“That’s good.”
Silence reigned, and usually Liam would try to break it with conversation. Instead he turned the volume up, downing half his glass of water, letting his mind drift.
He thought about the Hot Topic employee. His name tag had said Zayn, and Liam just really wanted to get to know him.
It really wasn’t his fault, though. That guy was hot.
“Liam!”
Liam jolted out of his reverie, shaking his head slightly and turning to his friend.
“Yeah?”
Niall frowned and shook his head. “What is into you? I called your name, like, five times.”
“Sorry,” Liam said. “Thinking.”
“About what?” Niall got a wicked grin on his face. “Did you meet someone?”
“No!”
“Oh, my God, you totally did!”
“Niall!”
“Tell me everything,” Niall demanded, turning on the couch to face Liam completely, legs crossed beneath him.
“Niall, I swear, you are worse than a teenage girl,” Liam muttered. “I’m not telling you anything.”
“I hate you,” Niall told him.
“No you don’t.”
“Yes, I do! You never tell me anything!” Niall pouted, staring at Liam with wide eyes. “Come on, please?”
Slowly, Liam’s resolve fell away. He could never resist Niall for long.
“His name is Zayn…”
“Ooh! Is he hot?”
“Niall!”
“What?” Niall blinked. “That is a perfectly legit question!”
“This is why I don’t tell you anything,” Liam groaned, tilting his head back against the couch.
“Whatever.” Niall huffed and leaned back against the couch, turning his attention back to the TV. Liam wasn’t sure what was even on.
Hours later, when Niall finally left and Liam had gone to bed, he made a promise to himself in his half-asleep state.
Tomorrow, he would muster up the courage to have a proper conversation with Zayn. Maybe, just maybe, it would end with him gaining a date.
/\/\
Zayn slumped over the counter, cradling his chin in his palm. Today was even slower than yesterday. He hadn’t had a single customer. At all.
Liam hadn’t showed up either. Granted, Zayn had barely been there for an hour, and Liam had said that it was his day off. Zayn was sure he had better things to do then pick up the damn shirt he had waiting for him.
The new shipment that had come in included three different types of Avenger’s shirts; one of them just happened to be the one Liam needed.
Zayn tapped his fingers against the counter rhythmically, counting down the minutes to closing and going over what he needed to do tonight when he got home.
First he had to throw Louis’ clothes in the washer. Just because the older man was in a different country didn’t mean that his clothes all went with him.
Although Louis sure as hell tried to take them all with him.
He needed to wash the dishes piled in the sink. Also from Louis.
Even though when he wasn’t here, Louis was still the main cause of every single mess in their apartment.
A cough caught his attention, and Zayn’s head whipped around to see Liam standing to the side of the counter looking uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Zayn blinked, then shook his head. “No, you didn’t scare me. Just deep in thought.”
“Oh.”
“I have your shirt,” Zayn announced, reaching under the counter and groping around for the fabric. He dropped it on the table.
“Thank you,” Liam said gratefully, stepping forward to lean against the counter. “How much is it?”
Zayn scanned the shirt, then said, “$19.99.”
“Okay.” Liam pulled out his wallet, shoved a twenty across the counter. “Here.”
Zayn handed over his change, stuffed the shirt in a bag.
“Hey,” Liam said. “I like you. Would you like to go out for coffee sometime, or something?”
Zayn smiled, tilted his head to the side. “Do you have time now? I’m off for the day.”
“Of course.”
Zayn pulled his lanyard off, dropped it into Stacey’s hand for safekeeping, and followed Liam out of the store.
“Where would you like to go?” Liam asked.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t eaten since breakfast. We could go to a restaurant that’s close by – they have really good food.”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
Zayn led the way, silently freaking out, because, hello, this guy was drop-dead gorgeous.
Zayn took a deep breath and opened the doors, stepping in after Liam. The cool air washed over him, making him shiver.
The dark interior calmed him, if only a little. He didn’t have to worry about his face turning bright red and being that noticeable.
Of course, if Harry decided to get back at him for all those years Zayn had teased him, then Zayn couldn’t count on it being dark.
“Hello, welcome to The Castle, how many – Zayn! What are you doing here?” Harry looked up from his podium to see that Zayn was standing slightly in front of Liam, hiding him from view from his nosy friend.
“…On a date?” Zayn replied hesitantly.
“Oh, my God!” Harry peeked around Zayn’s shoulder to see Liam, who shyly raised a hand in greeting.
“Hey, Harry, how’s Louis doing?” Zayn quickly interrupted Harry’s train of thought. There was no way in hell he would let Harry mess with this date. “Talked to him lately?”
“Yeah, actually I just got off the phone with him. He said to tell you to walk the dog.”
“We don’t have a dog.”
“Oh.” Harry tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, and grabbed two menus from behind the podium. “Wonder who I was supposed to tell that to then.”
Zayn rolled his eyes and reached behind him to grasp Liam’s arm, pulling him forward to follow Harry. His friend led them to a booth in the back, close to the kitchen. Zayn glared at him.
“Really, Harry?”
“We’re pretty busy here, Zayn.”
Zayn and Liam both cast a look around the dimly lit restaurant, seeing a total of three people. Zayn decided not to say anything about it.
“Anyways, what would you two like to drink?” Harry grinned at Zayn. “Wine?”
“Harry,” Zayn warned. “I will tell Louis about the summer you spent with your mother. I will tell him and laugh as he tries to strangle the guy you met.”
Harry’s eyes grew wide, only for him to shake his head. “Nah, you wouldn’t do that.”
“I will.”
Harry shook his head again, but he dropped the subject. Liam stared down at the menu in front of him, finally glancing up and asking for a glass of water. Zayn ordered the same.
“I’m sorry about him,” Zayn apologized as Harry left. “He’s been a little out of it since Louis left.”
“Is Louis his boyfriend?” Liam wondered, looking around the restaurant again to avoid Zayn’s eyes.
“Yeah, they’ve been dating for a couple years now. Since they met in college,” Zayn said. “They own this place together. Right now Lou’s visiting his mother in England; he’s been gone a couple weeks. He should be coming back this weekend, actually.”
“So how do you fit into the picture?” Liam asked, finally fixing his eyes on a point over Zayn’s shoulder.
“I’ve been friends with Louis practically the day I was born. We were neighbors and basically grew up together. Even went to the same college for a while, at least until I couldn’t afford it anymore.” Zayn closed his eyes, heaving a tired sigh. He hoped Liam wouldn’t ask for him to elaborate.
“What were you studying?”
Zayn cracked his eyes open, taking his date in. Liam wasn’t looking at him, instead staring over his shoulder, and his cheeks were dusted pink. Zayn arched an eyebrow. Was Liam embarrassed?
“Uh, art, I guess.”
“…I don’t understand. How can you not be sure?” Liam finally met his gaze with a confused stare.
“Well, I never really knew what I wanted to do. I finally just went for it, but I didn’t have the money to stay there. I had to drop out and…well, you saw where I work now.” Zayn shrugged.
Liam didn’t say anything, and there was an uncomfortable silence until Harry came back with their drinks. He set the waters down in front of them and smiled. “Are you ready to order?”
Zayn broke the eye contact with Liam to glance down at the menu, rattling off a random item. Harry stared at him doubtfully at his no doubt awful choice, but wrote it down anyways. Liam gave his order slowly, clearly unsure as to whether he really wanted the pasta or not.
Zayn found it unbelievably cute.
“What about you?” Zayn asked as Harry walked away to the kitchen. “What do you do?”
“I’m a teacher over at the high school,” Liam replied. “Not very fascinating, but it pays the bills, I guess.” He sighed.
Zayn frowned. “You don’t sound too happy with your job.”
“No! Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, I just…this wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to do something more with my life, help the people who need it.” He suddenly huffed out a laugh. “Look at me, spilling out all my darkest thoughts. I barely know you!”
“Hey, I shared something, it was your turn,” Zayn defended himself. “It’s only fair.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“I’m always right!” Zayn exclaimed. “You’ll see. Once you get to know me you’ll learn to never question what I say.”
Liam laughed. “Okay, whatever you say.”
“See? You’re already agreeing with me.”
And finally, the awkward layer of ice covering their words was shattered. They fell into an easy banter, opening up more and more. Before they knew it, it was closing time and Harry was kicking them out.
“You’ve been here six hours! Leave already!” he shouted at them as way of explanation. They laughed and Zayn pulled out his wallet to pay, only to have Liam place a hand on his arm.
“Let me, I can pay.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Liam. I took you here, I can pay.”
They stared at each for a long minute, before finally Liam smiled and dropped his hand. He let Zayn pay with no more argument.
Leaving the restaurant, Zayn couldn’t help feeling just a little helpless. What was he supposed to do now? Ask for Liam’s number? Walk him home?
“Thanks for the…well, I guess it’d be dinner, wouldn’t it?” Liam chuckled. “I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, sure.” Zayn nodded numbly. What was he supposed to do? “Can I have your number, then?”
“Yeah,” Liam said, holding his hand out. “Here, give me your phone, I’ll program it in.”
Zayn obliged, fishing his phone out of his pocket and dropping it in Liam’s hand.
“Thanks,” he said when Liam passed it back. “I’ll text you later.”
“Sure.” Liam smiled. “See you later, Zayn.”
“Bye, Liam.”
/\/\
When Liam got home, Niall was once again sprawled across his couch. Seriously, how did he get in?
“Man, you gotta stop breaking into my apartment,” Liam said as he passed his friend on his way into the kitchen.
“Where have you been the last four hours?” Niall exclaimed. “I texted you, like, twenty times!”
“Oh, sorry, had my phone on silent,” Liam said absently as he studied the pile of dishes in the sink. Maybe he should do those.
“What were you doing?” Niall asked suspiciously, hopping up to sit on the counter. Liam didn’t bother reprimanding him.
“Not telling you,” Liam muttered even as his cheeks flushed pink.
“Oh my God, were you on a date?”
“No!”
“You totally were!” Niall clapped his hands excitedly as Liam rolled his sleeves up and flipped the water on.
“I’m not telling you anything.”
“Come on, Liam! I need to know these things!”
“No.”
Niall pouted. “Fine. If you won’t tell me, I’ll just keep my day to myself.”
“Fine.”
Liam ignored Niall as the blonde banged his feet against the cupboards, methodically scrubbing at the dishes and setting them to the side to dry.
“Fine, I’ll tell you!” Niall shouted. Liam rolled his eyes. Niall couldn’t stand silence for very long.
“I met this guy, Justin, right?”
Liam sighed, spreading his palms flat against the bottom of the sink, up to his forearms in soapy water. “Niall, I don’t want to hear about your new crush. I am not a thirteen year old girl.”
“You suck.”
“Whatever.”
Another minute of silence.
“Agh!” Niall near screamed. “What do you want from me?”
“Get out of my house and come back at a decent time.”
“Liam, that was harsh.” Niall pouted.
“I don’t care. I want to go to bed.”
“You suck.”
“Love you too, Niall!” Liam said cheerfully as he shoved Niall out the door. “See you later!”
He locked the door behind his friend and tried to push the thought of Zayn from his head.
“I am so screwed,” Liam muttered to himself.