Reunion

Zayn poured the fresh, hot coffee in tothe mug on the counter in front of him, eagerly anticipating the shot of caffiene that would start his day. He stirred in some sugar and took the much anticipated first sweet sip. It tasted like heaven to his too tired body.

He was about to take another when he felt a pair of solid arms wrap around his chest and a firm, warm body press against his back. A pair of soft lips trailed along his skin, causing a distinct shiver to make it's way along his body.

"Good morning," he heard whispered like a growl against hi sskin, the soft friction of unshaven skin feeling deliscious against his own. "I was disappointed to wake up to a cold and empty bed instead of a warm you beside me. I thought you said you didn't have to go in today and we weren't going to leave that bed of yours."

Zayn felt a hand reach under the grey t-shirt he had thrown on as he had cautiously crawled out of the sheets as the other played with the hem of the boxers he had also slipped on. He reached an arm behind him and wrapped it around the other's neck, stroking the fine hairs at the base of it.

"I was just getting a needed energy boost," he said as he poured a second cup but skipped the sugar. Adam, the man currently letting his hands dance on his skin, liked it bitter, not sweet like he did. "And so do you after the way you kept us up last night."

Zayn felt his body being turned from the counter where he set his mug. After only a moment, he found himself facing one of the most beautiful men that had been placed on planet earth. His body was toned and fit, cords of muscle visible underneath his pale brushed bronze skin. His face was a perfectly drawn example of living art with it's balanced lines and marred only buy a small dimple when he smiled. His eyes were infinite pools that Zayn could easily lose himself in if he ever would allow himself to.
And this excquisite man, the one by the name of Adam, was standing in Zayn's kitchen, absent any clothing. He had spent much of the last twelve hours the same way, relishing the mutual enjoyment of each other's bodies as they had tangled themselves up in the sheets. And the plan for th edaylight hours had been a continuation of it.

"I promised a day off and that is what you will get." Zayn placed a chaste kiss on Adam's lips. "There are perks to being the boss." Zayn had started his own graphic design company when he had walked away from his solo career. It was something he had done originally just to occupy his time but it had reawakened his passion for drawing and it was something he now loved. Adam had been hired as an intern two years earlier and the physical attraction between the two of them had been immediate. After a year of lustful looks and obvious innuendos, Adam had left the company but not Zayn. They had embarked on a mutually convenient arrangement of hot sex, casual dates and no commitment although they were exclusive to each other. Both of them enjoyed the freedom it allowed while still providing warm companionship when needed or wanted.

Zayn pressed his own body against Adam's, the physical effect of their closeness being felt by both of them like carbonation in their blood.

"I don't know about you but I don't need that energy shot," Adam said as he made a snack of Zayn's collarbone, the combination of tongue and teeth making Zayn moan. He felt Adam's hand drop below the waistband of his boxers and his fingers graze his hardening cock. "Now either you return to that bed and keep your promise or you let me bend your ass over right now and I fuck you right here." Adam's voice was deep within lust and it stirred Zayn. He grabbed the back of Adam's neck and pulled the plump lips toward him, eagerly mating them with his own.

"What if I say that your cock deep inside of me right here is exactly what I want." Zayn's voice was just as lusty and he quickly felt his body being turned again, Adam's hand putting slight presure on his back as his underwear was being harshly pulled down.

"I would say you are about to get your wish," Adam said as he began to eagerly give Zayn exactly what he was asking for.



Eight o'clock at night and Zayn had sent Adam on his very satisfied way. He had found himself in his kitchen where he had ordered himself some takeout food and was pouring a drink of the non-alcoholic variety. His body was covered in only a pair of ripped jeans as he put the food on a plate and carried them barefoot to his leather couch in his living room.

Just as he had promised Adam, they had spent the day in bed with occasional snack breaks. Zayn always enjoyed their time spent together and not only for the sex or companionship it provided. It was the fact that Adam knew he was a distraction for him, a placeholder in his life to keep certain things away. He was cute and silly and sexy and generous and funny and made Zayn feel warm and bubbly and all the things that people put on those perfect partner lists they made when theywere teenagers. And when Zayn pushed him away or acted like a complete ass, he didn't take it personally. He just told Zayn to call him when he was done being a male version of Paris Hilton. And Zayn always did. Because being alone made him think. And thinking make him remember. And remembering made him think about cracking open a bottle again. Something Liam had made him promise never to do again. All Adam asked for in return was honesty. He would be Zayn's crutch but only while Zayn could admit he needed one.

Liam. His one true friend. The person who clutched so many of his secrets and held none of them over his head. In the week and a half since the funeral, where he had cowered in the back row like a four year old girl, he had stood in the doorways of three bars, his body tempted to go in and sink itself into the alcohol that could let him escape. But his heart stopped him. His heart and Liam's voice telling him he was better than that, he was worth more than that, that putting down the bottle had to be as much a conscious choice as picking it up wasn't. And each time those words had made him walk away. And back to Adam to repatch the walls that he needed to survive.

Even though he had promised Adam a work-free day, now that he was gone he could go through the proposal he had to present to a major corporation the next day. The company he had started was still small which was what he enjoyed about it since it allowed him to keep his hands in almost every area but the large account would help with cash flow. The report was on the coffee table and he bent over to pick it up when he saw his phone flash and Niall's face come flashing across the screen.

It caught him off guard. He knew that Niall and Louis were pissed at him for not talking to them during all of the drama. And especially since they thought that he had missed the funeral. But he had talked to the most important person in the middle of it all. He had talked to Liam almost everyday and tried to give back some of the moral support that he had gotten during his own trials. The picture he was seeing was one taken over nine years earlier when they had been at the height of their popularity. Niall looked young and hyper and the image that had forever been imprinted in Zayn's memory. He easily decided to let the phone go to voicemail, letting the answering machine take the berating that was obviously going to happen.

But Niall wasn't going to give up that easily like he had so many times before. The phone rang again, Niall's face showing up almost like an unwelcome ghost. Zayn turned the phone over, the light from the screen showing like a halo around the edges against the glass, and grabbed the proposal for tomorrow. He had just opened the file folder containing it when his phone rang a third time. Niall really was just not going to give up. Zayn roughly grabbed the phone and picked it up, sliding the bar over to accept it.

"Hello," he said, not sure what to call Niall now. Niall seemed too formal and Nialler seemed inappropriate now. Hello was just simpler.

"Hi Zayn." Niall's voice sounded tight and strain. Zayn remembered the way he had looked at the funeral, broken like a slim branch battered by the wind. He had wanted to be at his side, standing beside his former best friends. But he had been unable to face the harsh light that came with it. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." Zayn didn't bother to reciprocate the question. He was pretty sure of the answer. "What do you need?"

Niall didn't seem to know how to respond to the question and Zayn immediately regretted the harsh and abrupt tone of it. But he gathered himself after another moment and started speaking again.

"I need you to do something for me. For me and Liam." The name caught in Niall's throat and in Zayn's brain. "It was something he wanted to have happen after he died."

Zayn would have done many things for Liam, especially in his last days. But he was gone now. And only the obligations he had made before that would remain now. Liam would have understood, he hoped. But he decided to humor Niall for the moment.

"And what was that."

"He wrote us all letters and he asked me to get us all together to give them out. And kind of have a reunion. Just the four of us.

Flags immediately flung up in Zayn's mind. Spending time in the same room with this former best mates was something he had consciously avoided for five years. Them and the strangling emotions that came with them. He felt an urge to light up relaxing cigarette but he had quit while he had been in rehab, another promise made that he was determined to keep.

"Niall, I appreciate the effort to try and get this together and I know this is what Liam wanted but to be honest, I'm not interested. I made my peace with Liam and that's all that matters right now. You guys have a great time though."

"But what about the rest of us? What about making peace with us?" Niall's voice sounded hurt at Zayn's rejection. "We were best friends. We spent years with lives that were always intermeshed in so many ways. Don't you care to get an ounce of that back? I know you were dealing with alot at the end and we weren't there for you the way you thought we should be but we can try to repair that. We just need the effort back from you too."

Zayn listened tot he words but they bounced off of the shell he had strategically created. He stayed silent and Niall became frustrated.

"You know what, I don't know why Liam put up with your shit. You haven't bothered to pick up a phone and call any of us except for him for five years, even though I tried your number at least a couple of dozen times. All because Zayn got his feelings hurt one day. I thought we were better friends than that. And Liam did too. That's why he wanted this. And I'm sorry that will make you uncomfortable but I don't give a shit anymore because neither do you apparently." And with that Niall hung up. The dial tone even sounded angry in Zayn's ear.

Zayn put the phone down on the table and harshly took a bite of his now cold take-out. he told himself that what Niall thought was not important. Niall and Louis and Harry. That he had moved on to a life seperate from them and the craziness that had been such a part of his life then. That it was a good life with a person to enjoy it with if not share.

But then he felt memories start to leak back into his consciousness. Sitting on a bus and hearing Niall's random strums of his guitar that never seemed far from his side. Talking to Harry about his various girlfriends and just how in love with them he was at the time of the conversation and not only as little as days later. Crying with Liam when they thought they had been eliminated before being called back onstage and being told he was no longer a single act. Pulling pranks with Louis that would cause them to be called into the offices of the great Simon Cowell. Not all of it had been bad. Most of it had been good and great and special and treasured in the core of his being.

"Damn it," Zayn cursed to himself. Why did Niall have to say those things? Whey did he have to push those particular buttons? Why was Zayn picking up the phone and even considering going along with this whole reunion?

Because of what they had been. Because of the bonds that they had built that they had promised would never be broken. Because he had done enough therapy to know that he had to face up to some shit that he had run from for long enough.

Zayn hit the recall button and heard Niall's phone ringing. Unsurprisingly, the call was not answered and went to voicemail. After listening to Niall's message and waiting for the beep, he spoke.

"Fine," he said with only a hint of tiredness. "I'll do it. I'll go to this reunion. Call me with the details. And Niall ..." Zayn paused for a moment, wondering if Niall was listening on the other end. "I do give a shit. I give more than you know."