High Above in the Sky
every day's the same
London is cold in the mornings, and honestly all of the time, and since it's January, Zayn has gotten used to it. Louis, of course, still whines.
"Fuck, it's freezing," he says, shivering under his alarmingly firetruck-red jumper, clutching his assignments notebook to his chest like it will somehow make him warmer as the two of them descend the steps to the London tube.
Zayn shrugs, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and slumping a bit in on himself to combat a particularly frosty breeze. "Should have dressed warmer, you're not even wearing a coat," he says, and Louis sends him a glare.
"I don't want to wear a coat, they make me look all puffy and that's not a turn-on," Louis declares, sliding his Oyster card and barreling through to the other side of the entry doors. "There will be cute people to impress, today, I'm sure of it," he says, wiggling his eyebrows like the insane person he is while Zayn just rolls his eyes.
"And you think they'll be impressed by that flamboyantly red jumper you're sporting," he says, quirking an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yes," Louis says with feeling, and Zayn shrugs again as they claim their place on subway, fighting off a laugh at the indignance radiating from Louis's being.
The two of them part once they make it to campus, Louis bounding off to some Creative Writing class with a ridiculous salute (which of course earns him another eye roll from Zayn), and Zayn walking towards the building for the architecture class he's taking.
He slips into a seat towards the back of the large lecture hall, taking out his materials to start a simple drawing of the room plan of a one-story house that the professor-- a tall woman with almost ironically large glasses and an equally large brown cardigan-- has put up onto the projector.
Class is about ten minutes in when another student with short brown hair slides into the room, and he's clearly trying to sneak in, like he thinks he'll get in trouble like in high school, which, okay, is kind of unfairly adorable. He's wearing a cross country sweatshirt for some university in Newcastle, and his nose is a bit red from the cold as he glances around the lecture hall for a place to sit. The seats are mostly filled up, but the spot next to Zayn is close to the door and it's an easy in for a latecomer, so he sits down and sets his backpack on the ground lightly, sending Zayn a smile that's much warmer than Zayn usually gets and holding out his hand to him.
Zayn's eyebrows raise of their own accord, a bit confused by this kid who apparently shakes hands as way of introduction. And although Louis will accuse him of being standoffish or unwelcoming at least once a week, Zayn isn't rude, so he shakes the kids hand and nods politely as he introduces himself as Liam Payne.
"Zayn Malik," Zayn says, realizing suddenly that he's still holding the kids hand and dropping it to his side with a slight clearing of his throat, picking up his pencil and looking intently down at his drawing to hide the pink that he's almost positive has made its way onto his cheeks.
"Is this your major?" the student-- Liam-- asks, and Zayn snorts lightly and shakes his head.
"Hell, no. I'm an art major, this gets a little too close to engineering for me, sometimes. You?" Zayn asks, and Liam smiles.
"I'm an engineering major," he says, giving a breathy little laugh that Zayn can only describe as coy, and he bites down on his bottom lip to hide what seems like is a smile. Zayn ignores the thoughts that come to mind when he thinks 'teeth on Liam's lip', because they make his stomach feel weird and he really, really doesn't need this, this sudden, stupid-- attraction, because that's Louis's thing, he doesn't do this, but oh, god, Liam.
"Oh?" Zayn asks, chuckling under his breath as he shifts in his seat, and Liam nods.
"Yeah, I'm interested in bio-medical-- you know, like, prosthetics," he says, and he's clearly passionate about that, if the way his eyes brighten and his hands tangle together with some sort of buzzing energy is any indication.
And at that, Zayn thinks, I wonder if I can get him that passionate about other things, and he wants to bash his head into the wall because this is so not his life.
"That's great, really brilliant, actually," Zayn says honestly, and the answering smile that Liam gives him is almost blinding, and--
He is so fucked, honestly.
"Fuck, it's freezing," he says, shivering under his alarmingly firetruck-red jumper, clutching his assignments notebook to his chest like it will somehow make him warmer as the two of them descend the steps to the London tube.
Zayn shrugs, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and slumping a bit in on himself to combat a particularly frosty breeze. "Should have dressed warmer, you're not even wearing a coat," he says, and Louis sends him a glare.
"I don't want to wear a coat, they make me look all puffy and that's not a turn-on," Louis declares, sliding his Oyster card and barreling through to the other side of the entry doors. "There will be cute people to impress, today, I'm sure of it," he says, wiggling his eyebrows like the insane person he is while Zayn just rolls his eyes.
"And you think they'll be impressed by that flamboyantly red jumper you're sporting," he says, quirking an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yes," Louis says with feeling, and Zayn shrugs again as they claim their place on subway, fighting off a laugh at the indignance radiating from Louis's being.
The two of them part once they make it to campus, Louis bounding off to some Creative Writing class with a ridiculous salute (which of course earns him another eye roll from Zayn), and Zayn walking towards the building for the architecture class he's taking.
He slips into a seat towards the back of the large lecture hall, taking out his materials to start a simple drawing of the room plan of a one-story house that the professor-- a tall woman with almost ironically large glasses and an equally large brown cardigan-- has put up onto the projector.
Class is about ten minutes in when another student with short brown hair slides into the room, and he's clearly trying to sneak in, like he thinks he'll get in trouble like in high school, which, okay, is kind of unfairly adorable. He's wearing a cross country sweatshirt for some university in Newcastle, and his nose is a bit red from the cold as he glances around the lecture hall for a place to sit. The seats are mostly filled up, but the spot next to Zayn is close to the door and it's an easy in for a latecomer, so he sits down and sets his backpack on the ground lightly, sending Zayn a smile that's much warmer than Zayn usually gets and holding out his hand to him.
Zayn's eyebrows raise of their own accord, a bit confused by this kid who apparently shakes hands as way of introduction. And although Louis will accuse him of being standoffish or unwelcoming at least once a week, Zayn isn't rude, so he shakes the kids hand and nods politely as he introduces himself as Liam Payne.
"Zayn Malik," Zayn says, realizing suddenly that he's still holding the kids hand and dropping it to his side with a slight clearing of his throat, picking up his pencil and looking intently down at his drawing to hide the pink that he's almost positive has made its way onto his cheeks.
"Is this your major?" the student-- Liam-- asks, and Zayn snorts lightly and shakes his head.
"Hell, no. I'm an art major, this gets a little too close to engineering for me, sometimes. You?" Zayn asks, and Liam smiles.
"I'm an engineering major," he says, giving a breathy little laugh that Zayn can only describe as coy, and he bites down on his bottom lip to hide what seems like is a smile. Zayn ignores the thoughts that come to mind when he thinks 'teeth on Liam's lip', because they make his stomach feel weird and he really, really doesn't need this, this sudden, stupid-- attraction, because that's Louis's thing, he doesn't do this, but oh, god, Liam.
"Oh?" Zayn asks, chuckling under his breath as he shifts in his seat, and Liam nods.
"Yeah, I'm interested in bio-medical-- you know, like, prosthetics," he says, and he's clearly passionate about that, if the way his eyes brighten and his hands tangle together with some sort of buzzing energy is any indication.
And at that, Zayn thinks, I wonder if I can get him that passionate about other things, and he wants to bash his head into the wall because this is so not his life.
"That's great, really brilliant, actually," Zayn says honestly, and the answering smile that Liam gives him is almost blinding, and--
He is so fucked, honestly.
♠ ♠ ♠
So this is my spiral into One Direction. Turns out that I really, really wanted to write the boys in college together (university AUs are my kryptonite, it's kind of a thing) and somehow I wrote this. Or rather, am continuing to write this. I have a few more chapters already written so I'll update fairly soon, I think. Um, most chapters will be a bit longer than this, this is more of a prologue than anything else.Chapter title/description are shamelessly taken from the song "Each and Every Day" by Best Coast.