glued on tight.

Zayn offered a genuine small smile, happy to at least be going through this with Liam. "Thank you," he said as he wanted nothing more than to lace their hands together. It was bittersweet, he decided as he was pulled up and taken out of the room, to have Liam but still not have him in the way he wanted. His mind scattered to decide exactly how he wanted Liam, which was a major concern since he managed to find himself in the younger man's life again. He was happy to put his sunglasses on himself, tucking himself against Liam for some kind of protection from the flashing lights. He didn't know where Liam was exactly taking them, but decided not to question it as he adjusted the collar of his shirt. He was sure that the coffee house should be the last place they should go, anyone easily able to enter and pester them about anything. As soon as the smell of coffee filled his nostrils, he smiled and felt calmer, deciding maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that they were in this place after all. "What're we doing here? Just a refuel on caffeine?" He asked, nudging Liam with his elbow.

Liam smiled back at that, not yet answering as he pulled Zayn over to get into line, looking over the small, handwritten menu that was secured to the wall over the various coffee machines. "Yes, we need to continue sustaining your life force, and caffeine that the only way to do that," he said, eyes still scanning over the menu as, his mouth pulling into a weird configuration as he tried to pick between his usual orders. He leaned closer to Zayn after finally making his decision, pressing his cheek softly against the side of his shaved head. "They don't allow any form of paparazzi or cameras period here, you're all but kicked out if you hound anyone while in here. It's been a small sanctuary for me since I found it one day and learned about the atmosphere they attempt to keep in here," he said, taking a few steps forward as the line moved. Liam could see the people across the street when he looked back, their various cameras and such pointed towards them, but just the simple fact that they were separated from them made him feel as though he could relax a bit more. So, he turned back, slipping an arm around Zayn's waist and slotting his hand into one of his back pocket, hoping they would soon break away and leave them alone.

Zayn hummed in understanding before he scanned over the menu himself, slightly surprised by just how many options were written on the board. He was equally surprised when he felt Liam's hand sneak into his back pocket, almost forgetting about this entire fake dating thing. He leaned into the touch, glad that even for a few hours a day they were to act the part of a happy couple. "I feel bad, though, what if a girl just came walking up to us and asking to a picture. They shouldn't kick her out for that. But I suppose if it'll keep the paps away, it doesn't matter," he said as he went and ordered for himself, smiling at the barista behind the counter. He looked behind him sneakily, seeing the crowd across the street slowly dispersing to try to find the next big story that wasn't them. He pressed his lips to Liam's ear. "You should know, I am really glad to have you here," he whispered, smiling before pulling away. He grabbed his coffee once it was ready, going to sit at one of the booths in the back, waiting for the other to come sit with him.

Liam stared after the other for a moment, watching as Zayn slid into a booth before stepping up to the counter, placing his own order and paying for the two coffees. He waited for his coffee to be prepared, leaning against the counter as he watched the other from his distanced spot. He could feel the bubbling emotions deep in his gut, the fluttering that he had long ago learned to disregard when it made him aware of it. At the present time, Zayn was reciprocating, seemed as though he may even share his feelings, but Liam can't bring himself to look too deeply into that, because while he may be showing signs at the time, the other has always be quite a talented actor. So, he ignores it, the uncomfortable nagging that persists whenever he's around Zayn, grabs his coffee and goes to sit across from Zayn. He raises his cup in a mock toast, "to a job well done," he said, before taking a sip and settling back into the booth. "So, we're got a public appearance, three interviews and a photo op, all scheduled to happen in the next three days. You ready for that, partner in crime?" Liam asked, smiling over at Zayn as he raised an eyebrow.

Zayn's heart sinks slightly as he recuperates the toast, nodding his head as he tried on a smile. "Yeah, job well done," he mumbled, not exactly feeling like this was him acting. There was a quickly blurring line between his emotions and his job of being Liam's other half. It drove him mad to know that Liam didn't feel the same way, couldn't possibly feel like that if he insisted on instead calling this a job. "What are we even going to do at the photo op? Just hold hands and look happy? Bunch of shit if you ask me," he said with an amused grin, "it seems pointless to have a photo shoot about our relationship, don't you think?" He mentally kicked himself for referring to it in private as their relationship, since it was only acting. He took a sip of his own drink, crossing his legs as he sat up a bit straighter. There was a part of him that liked the fact that there wasn't any cameras to document everything that they were doing, this was just them.

"Think it's the most pointless thing we've scheduled, and if you could pretend to have food poisoning specifically at 2:45 two days from now, I won't tell anyone you're faking it," Liam said, grinning over at Zayn as he lifted the cup to his lips, taking a long pull of the rich liquid. He looked over at the other patrons of the small coffee house, noticing how everyone but a group of girls opposite them didn't even glance their way. He'd always enjoyed this place because of that, because no one seemed to want to butt into what you were doing. "But, it's sadly necessary. We're getting a five page spread and front cover of a rather prestigious magazine. And we need this," Liam said, quieting his voice as he folded his arms on the table and leaned forward, trying to keep what he was about to say between them. "We need to spin this story as tight as possible, to as many people as we can. We were found out while still in relationships with others, and there are still people who believe that this whole thing is just a big cover-up for our indiscretions. It's come down to do this, we have no other choice."

Zayn leaned closer as he heard the other discuss things in a quieted voice. He nodded his head slowly, trying to comprehend everything that has happened to bring them to doing a five page spread on their fake relationship. "I am really sorry, Liam," he mumbled, wishing to wave a magic wand and make this not happen. "You really didn't need this, everyone would have taken your side of things. You could've, you know, made it sound like it was my fault, I wouldn't have minded," he said, trying hard to be completely honest while not giving away his emotions. He didn't mind people sending him rude messages online, knew that Liam would probably take it more personally than he ever would, which is probably what he is still trying to convince himself at that moment. He put his hand on top of the other's. "But I suppose now we are in deep, huh?" he said, trying to grin as he took another drink of his coffee.

Liam laughed as he turned his hand over to wrap securely around Zayn's own before bringing it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back. "This whole thing was because of me, I don't think I could have let you take to blame for all of this even if you were the guilty party here," he said, grinning over at him before releasing Zayn's hand and patting his forearm. "We're in deep, but give it a few months. We'll be big news, we'll get hounded by people, and then it all will die down. We'll not be the big thing, and we can 'split' up, citing the stress of the world knowing, or something like that, put too big of a strain on our relationship. Then, you can go back to what you were doing and we can continue on," Liam said, shrugging his shoulders as he quickly grabbed for his coffee, hiding the vicious downturn of his lips behind his cup. "Hopefully we can both get out of this with our semi-decent reputations intact," he continued, speaking around the rim.

Zayn felt oddly comforted by the way that Liam's lips pressed against to the back of his hand. He held back a smile, the one that his mother always told him made him look lovely. He still didn't know how to talk to his mother about this entire thing, even though it was obvious that she would have known about it by now. Doniya hadn't been as giving, yelling at him about not telling the family and Zayn having to promise that this didn't mean what she thought it meant and to not tell his mother about any of this. "I still haven't told my mum, you know, Liam," he whispered, really wishing that Liam didn't let go of his hands because he needed this support, "she probably knows but I haven't answered her calls yet." He bit his lip as he looked back down at the table. He didn't know if Liam would even relatively care, but he assumed he would since it was a big deal to his family and him.

Liam squeezed Zayn's hand, feeling quite acutely for the delicate situation that he was currently in. He had been chewed out by his own family just last night after finally getting the balls to return their calls. "Bollocksed mine right up, ended up in tears on the phone with mum as I tried to explain the situation, at least what I could," he said, giving a self-deprecating laugh as he drained the rest of his coffee. "If you need be to be there when you talk to them, or if you're planning on going to tell them in person, just tell me and I will. We're gonna get through this whole mess one way or another," Liam continued, giving Zayn's hand one finally squeeze before getting up to return his cup to the collection tray above the trash bin. He walked back over, taking a seat to wait for Zayn to be finished, watching the other for a moment before speaking once more. "And she may already know, but she still will probably want to hear it from you."

Zayn laughed softly, nodding his head since Liam was right. They could do this together, find time to make their ways to Bradford and tell Trisha as well as Yaser. He didn't know what his father would think, but he hoped that there wouldn't be any disappointment from his parents. "They'd probably end up saying all about how glad that if I was to be in a relationship with a man, they are glad it is you," he said, rolling his eyes as he offered Liam a small smile. He tried not to focus on the task that was obviously ahead of him, knowing that this was still hard on him since she had just made dinner for the family since he was back there only last month. "You know, my mum probably likes you more than she likes me," he joked, knowing that it was far from the truth since he couldn't possibly believe his mother could love anyone more than him.

Liam couldn't hold back the bark of laughter at that, his eyes crinkling with his wide smile as he reached forward, patting Zayn on his cheek softly. "Though I'm more than sure you're stretching the truth there, I'm flattered none the less. I know Trish has a soft spot for me, I'm always the one who helps with the garden. And honestly, they should expect better of you, having to settle for me," he said, leaning forward to peer into Zayn's mug. He gauged that it would take a little while longer for him to be done, so he stood up to go fetch something to eat. "I'm gonna get us some muffins and me some more coffee," he said, leaning down to press a kiss against Zayn's cheek without really thinking, making a quick dash away after he realised just what he'd done.

Zayn sat with a loving smile on his face, only showing adoration for the man that sat in front of him. "Only person she'll let touch her flowers," he agreed before he frowned, "hey. You'll make someone real happy soon. You already make millions happy." It was the truth he spoke as he noticed Liam peering into his mug. He brought it in for a drink, feeling a little self conscious because of how little he had managed to drink. A nod was given to Liam once the man seemed to make his way toward the counter for some food. Once lips were pressed against his cheek, he fought the urge to pull the man closer to him, to press his lips against Liam's and kiss him until he stopped thinking he wasn't good enough. He cursed mentally to himself, feeling horrible for letting his emotions spread out of their little corner of his mind.

Liam stood drumming his fingers against the worktop, refusing to allow himself to look back at Zayn because he knew his emotions were not currently under control. He ordered another cappuccino, along with a blueberry muffin for Zayn and a double chocolate one for himself, smiling at the cashier as he paid for the items, grabbing the plate of pastries and moving a few paces to the left, waiting for his coffee. "So, we've got a stretch of four days free in about a fortnight, and if you'd like to, we can head up there so you can talk to them and stay a few days to visit with everyone. We need to be back the following Tuesday for an appearance, and then we have to begin packing for the upcoming tour, but we can make a trip up there," he said, sliding back into his seat and placing the other muffin in front of Zayn. "We've got a radio interview on that Monday, but I'm sure we can do it over the phone," he said, peeling the wrapper from his own muffin before taking a large bite of it, looking up at Zayn finally, hoping his indiscretion was forgotten.

Zayn was sure that he could feel the heat of where Liam's lips were pressed against his cheek. He took a shaky breath as Liam's switch was put back to professional, which made his head swim even more as he was generally too confused to continue thinking about what the man's intentions were. The cameras were off, focused instead on whatever else was going on in the world that he could care less about. "You really want to see my family with me?" He asked, his hands in his lap as he played absently with the hem of his shirt. He didn't know how Liam could suddenly touch him like he loves him and then quickly talk about this relationship like it was a career. This was for their careers, he knew, but he just didn't understand how they could both play the roles too well, to the point where everything was blurred lines.

[ BLURRED LINES. help. headband has broken me. ]

Liam nodded his head as he scarfed down his muffin, wiping the crumbs from his lips before licking them off his finger. He took a long drink of his coffee, washing down the muffin and removing the nearly too sweet taste from his mouth. "Yeah, I'd love to come with you. You're my boyfriend, remember?" He said, winking at Zayn before brushing his shirt off and reaching to steal a chunk of Zayn's own muffin. He could feel the tightness in his throat at his seeming 'joke', and he nearly couldn't make himself swallow from the misery that was curling inside him. He couldn't figure out why he was constantly bring it up, just knew that he need to make a joke out of this whole thing to remind himself that it was not real, that the man across the table couldn't be his. "For real though, I'd like nothing better. By then, I'm sure we'll both be about fed up with all the press and paparazzi. It'll do us some good, and we can relax and just ready ourselves for the upcoming tour. You realise you'll be expected to make appearances every once in a while, right?"

[ you're dumb af ]

Zayn managed to halfheartedly smacked Liam's hand once he saw the man trying to steal his muffin, but still allowed him to take the piece he had already broken off. "Yeah, boyfriend," Zayn mumbled as he continued to stare at his muffin. He tore off his own piece, placing it into his mouth even though he felt slightly put off on food. This wasn't good for him, he had decided as he thought about how his emotions were slowly becoming more real than fake. He decided that he might as well take it, though, it was a great excuse for letting the man touch him in every way. It was almost as if he was falling into the illusion that this was actually real. "Yeah, I think I can manage it. I just hope that walking around with you on concert days will be enough to make them believe it. I don't want to really go on stage," he said. He had to admit, he did stalk social media sometimes and plenty of videos and posts of people booing even at his face during concerts or they'd talk about how he left everyone and abandoned ship because he didn't care. It hurt to read those things and made him want to stay away from those people, afraid with confrontation by fans or when he'd inevitably snap at them for continuing to hurt his feelings.

[ that gay ass headband is what gives me life, tho. ]

Liam grinned cheekily at Zayn before quickly stealing another chunk, just missing another smack towards his hands and quickly eating the piece. He took another long pull from his coffee, the liquid having cooled down enough for him to do so before he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "So, we've got a radio show interview in a few hours. I need to go pick up some new pants, and I'm sure you'd enjoy anything that involves shopping, correct?" He asked, raising and eyebrow at the other, his grin still firmly in place.

---

Liam stood in his back garden, elbows on his knees and a fag dangling precariously from in-between his fore and middle finger. He took another drag as he waited for Zayn to arrive, knowing he had a key to the front door and would find his way back eventually. He dropped his head lower, taking a few deep breaths to steady his racing head, the rushing whirlwind of the last week almost being too much for him to handle. He was tired, and no matter what they told the public, he came home every night to an empty bed, the space next to him always unoccupied by the one person he wanted there.

[ it's a little sad that this is what your life has come to. i am sure we can arrange you to be buried with it. ]

Zayn didn't know if he felt happiness or despair every time that he was with Liam. It was getting harder and harder to bury his feelings behind the pretend relationship. He almost wanted to ask out of it, no longer feeling like he could handle doing this. The driver didn't say much other than where Zayn was headed on the drive to Liam's, glad that he was finally going to see the rest of the lads again. He had missed them dearly, even if he was the one to leave, and he managed to get all their numbers back on his phone without another thought. Louis and him were slowly mending back together, even joking about about pulling pranks like they use to do before he started breaking away from them all. When he finally managed to get to the man's house, he hopped out of the car and to knock on the door. He remembered before he knuckle touched the wood that he actually had the key to Liam's house. Management made sure that they had copies to each other's houses, as if that would somehow sell it all off. "Liam?" He called, looking around the house before finding the man in the back garden. Zayn didn't have to think about it as he automatically sat next to him, taking the cigarette out of Liam's hand before he took his own drag of it. "Could kill you, you know," he said, motioning to the cigarette that was between his thumb and forefinger.

Liam could feel the swell of emotions in the pit of his stomach at the man sitting beside him, the want that was nearly a need for the other clogging his throat and making him unable to talk for a moment. He shook his head, getting out a rueful chuckle as he reached for his pack lying next to his thigh, pulling another from the pack and placing it between his lips, lighting up. He passed that one to Zayn, reaching for the one he had first had. "Yeah, well, if the news is to be believed, so can breathing period," he said, taking another drag as he leaned back against a hand on the stone bench. "You think I'm appropriately attired for a burger joint?" He asked, gesturing to his tee and joggers, having been to lazy to put actually pants on after he's gotten out of the shower earlier. After the rather busy week that they'd both had, all he wanted right then was to sit down with his best mates and enjoy a nice, juicy burger. He didn't know how Zayn managed to still dress himself so well when he knew the other was dead tired. "You definitely don't play around with the public appearances, do you? I'm gonna look like the slob of us two," he said, taking another drag of his cigarette as he shook his head.