#i wheezed at rackety hips

[ohthathurt]

Fate Has It

Something for the lot of us who seem to be stuck in a rut, where it doesn’t seem like something good might happen for or to us. This is my message to you, one day Fate will smile down on you and I x

Fate lies not with the stars…

“Grab a partner everyone, it’s almost time!”

Someone shouted into the cold air around them and Zayn almost didn’t hear them over the deafening sound of music pumping out of the speakers. Thankfully, it wasn’t snowing; it was freezing of course but it was tolerable for a bit of partying. He was stood on some stranger’s roof and he was cold and alone.

Harry and Louis were the ones who forced him to come in the first place; a New Year’s party that some of their university friends had thrown. He’d been reluctant of course, feeling far too old at the age of 25 to be partying this late on New Year’s.

But the alternative was sitting at home and pet-sitting his neighbour’s rather frisky pug.

So here he was, bundled up in his thickest clothes and a scarf round his neck in an attempt to keep warm as everyone awkwardly tried to dance through their winter gear. It was laughable yet fun to watch.

In front of him, he saw Harry and Louis intertwined with one another on the dance floor, of course heavily making out and not even stopping for a breath. Zayn scrunched his nose up in disgust at them; he’d already been forced through their obvious PDA throughout school, but now even in his single adult life he was forced to sit through it.

He sighed and turned away, scanning the crowd for any potential idiots that may seem interested in him. Sure, he knew he was easy on the eyes, but something about them always made him run the other way.

That one guy he dated right after his GCSE’s, what’s his name-Spencer. From the get-go, Zayn was bothered by his over-the-top dramatics and he knew Louis so that was a stretch. The guy had ended up creating a scene at a coffee shop after Zayn had taken a bite out of his jelly doughnut.

“Why did you eat my jelly doughnut? You know how I feel about them!” He had tearfully demanded of Zayn who had muttered out a horrified apology and literally run out of the shop.

Then there was that girl who was all sharp angles and dark smiles; who’d straddled Zayn at the back of the bar and kissed him hard and fast.

Just when he thought it could go somewhere, she’d ducked down and whispered into his ear, “I have a list of bad ideas I want to try. How do you feel about corpses?”

Needless to say, Zayn had scrambled away from her and gone and hid behind the bar where his friend, the bartender, had laughed at him until he was informed she’d gone away, looking confused.

He sighed dejectedly, there was no one here for him, and yet another year would be welcomed with him stuck in a rut and completely love-less.

Behind him, he could hear the echoes of a countdown.

Oh good, and he didn’t even have someone to kiss. Just as that thought had passed through his mind, he spotted a pair of blue eyes checking him out. They belonged to a man about his age with blond hair and an easy smile. The two gravitated towards each other and said their hello’s rather shyly.

After learning a bit about him, Zayn found that Vince was here on a vacation from Chicago. In his loose yet charming American accent, he informed Zayn that he’d noticed him ever since the party started and would love to take him out sometime.

Blushing slightly, Zayn agreed, “Yeah sure, why not? But before that I kinda havea favour for ya.”

Vince raised an eyebrow at him so he continued, “Be my New Year’s kiss?” He bit his lip nervously.

But the other man only smiled slowly at him before nodding and two laughed a little at the awkward moment between them.

Suddenly, the music stopped as the chant of countdown grew louder.

15, 14 ,13 . . .

Unbeknownst to Zayn, Vince had shouted a quick ‘I need a drink!’ and left to get one.

Zayn took a deep breath and let it out; all he had to do was turn and around and kiss him. That’s it. Nothing else to it.

9, 8 ,7 . . .

But as Fate would have it, Zayn needed at least one more embarrassing moment in 2018.

Just as the fireworks exploded in the sky, he whirled around and clenched his eyes shut as he grabbed Vince’s jacket.

He pulled the other man hard towards him, oddly enough not connecting why he yelled before their lips crashed.

It was a chaste kiss of course, too chaste for Zayn’s own liking. Though as seconds passed by, he noticed the other man wasn’t even moving his lips. He frowned against the man’s forehead and pulled back to ask him why –

Brown eyes widened in shock stared back at him. This wasn’t Vince!

His vision was clouded by confused eyes and furrowed thick eyebrows and as he pulled further back he took in the man’s face and was absolutely blown by how gorgeous he was. Even in his state of shock and confusion at being manhandled by Zayn, the man had the cutest button nose and soft, plump lips that were red thanks to Zayn.

Zayn jolted back to reality when he saw a confused and hurt Vince standing behind the man and he turned away before Zayn could apologise or even form words.

“Uh –“

Zayn quickly looked back at the man who was still staring at him in bewilderment.

“I’m so, so sorry – “He started out his rushed apology in hushed tones but the other man opened his mouth before Zayn could complete his sentence.

“Hey it’s okay, chill. I guessed by your face you meant to kiss someone else. Sorry I was in the way.” His voice was deep and warm and Zayn’s pretty sure his toes curled inside his thick boots at the sound.

But he shook his head, “No really it was my fault. Sorry again, mate.” He finally let go of the poor man’s jacket and smoothed it down for him, biting his lips at the feeling of hard muscle underneath.

The man smiled easily at him, “No worries. Me name’s Liam.” He held a hand out for Zayn to shake.

Zayn only smiled in answer and took the man’s hand. It was warm just like him and dwarfed his own hand. “Zayn.”

The two smiled awkwardly at each other before someone from behind Liam called him and he only shrugged at Zayn in apology before he was lost in the thick, drunk crowd.

As soon as he was gone, Zayn’s confidence crumbled entirely and he cringed into his own hands.

Happy fucking New Year to him.

***

Zayn groaned long and loud; unfortunately he rarely groaned in a sexy way these days, it was mostly in annoyance or anger.

Right now it was both, as he stared into his friends’ overly excited faces when they informed him about –

“A fucking picnic? Really? What are we, in our 70s?” Zayn demanded harshly but nothing but Armageddon could deter the forces of nature that were Louis and Harry.

“Come on, mate! You’re working yourself to the bone nowadays. Get out a bit. Have fun before your biological clock starts ticking.” Louis snickered at his own joke and when Zayn stared stonily at him, he looked to Harry for help.

His boyfriend obviously sided with him and before Zayn knew he had wrestled a few clothes into a handbag with him and they were stood on the pavement a few houses down the block from where they all lived.

It was 10am and the chilly January air was beginning to settle into his bones. Just before he could open his mouth to complain some more, a loud rackety and wheezing sound was heard coming down the road.

To his horror and Harry and Louis’ excitement, it was an old prison bus. The driver of the bus waved enthusiastically at him before stopping in front of them. The door to the bus was understandably broken and a strong scent of rusted metal leaked through.

Zayn was about to burst into tears.

“What the fuck?” He hissed at his friends who paid him no mind, and shoved his and their luggage into the bus right after climbing onto it themselves. Zayn was the last one to climb through, and the condition inside wasn’t any better.

Before he could find himself a seat away from everyone else, he spotted a familiar face.

Hair pushed back messily and beard grown out, it was Liam. The man looked even more delectable in daylight, a blue button up shirt that was left unbutton over his chest and tight black jeans that hugged powerful thighs.

And yet again Fate smirked down at him.

The bus jolted and rattled to a start and Zayn went flying. In his daydream of mentally undressing Liam, he’d completely forgotten he was standing inside a bus and all thoughts screeched to a halt before an alarm blared in his head.

He was falling and no one was going to catch him.

He let out a single, loud yelp and landed backwards onto something hard yet soft.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to see he’d fallen onto –

He groaned internally, it was Liam he’d fallen onto; his lap, to be exact.

The whole bus full of people going on the fucking picnic burst into laughter at the sight of Zayn in Liam’s lap, having fallen there thanks to his own clumsiness.

Zayn blushed something wild, eyes downcast as every laugh pierced through his self-esteem like knife through warm butter. This was like the worst sort of high school flashback and he chanced a look at his mates who were understandably scowling at the rest of the group.

Hands he hadn’t noticed on his hip suddenly clenched hard. He looked up to see Liam glaring hard at his friends who had laughed the loudest. Suddenly, he was being shifted and to his own shock he realized Liam wasn’t helping Zayn up off him, rather he was arranging Zayn so he was more comfortably positioned in his lap.

“That’s my boyfriend you’re laughing at you twats!” Liam’s loud voice echoed through the bus and swiftly everyone dropped the humour and went back to whatever they were doing – Liam’s friends included.

Zayn turned to look at Liam, all gloriously sexy in his anger, jaw clenched, “Boyfriend?” He whispered so no one else was privy to their conversation.

Liam’s hard expression dropped as he took in Zayn’s confusion. “Smile.”

That was an odd demand of him so Zayn questioned him, “Why?”

Liam’s face softened entirely as he shyly muttered back to him, “I like your smile.”

Both men were now profusely blushing, ignoring Harry and Louis’ loud giggles at their stupid love-sick behaviour. Zayn was the first to break as he burst into giggles he hid in Liam’s neck, enjoying the way his scruff tickled as gentle kisses were placed behind his ear.

…but within ourselves.

Here he was, yet another year, at yet another party. Though, this one was a bit different. It was a traditional wedding ceremony. Not his own, of course. His little sister, Safaa, had finally grown up enough to be married and all the years of their childhood life came back to him

He watched with amusement as family members rushed back and forth, shrill screeches from his sisters as they made sure everything was in place.

Zayn smiled softly at the sight of his father sitting by his grandmother, the two deep in some conversation, a little girl in his father’s lap; his own niece.

Drapes of flowers and garlands decorated the whole place and soft tones of a wedding song echoed through. Zayn took in a deep breath of jasmine and roses and smiled at his mum making her way to him.

“Zayn! Is everything ready, sunshine? Oh god I’ll have an aneurysm by the end of today!”

He laughed at his mum’s theatrics, “Mum c’mon I’m here I’ll help you out, won’t I?”

Soon he was directing arriving guests to their seats, ignoring his annoying friends’ loud laughter coming from the back table. How he wanted to join them. But first he’d to find someone else.

Turning around, he scanned the crowd, wedding guests milling in and out before he finally spotted the familiar figure.

He smiled as he was reminded of another time he’d scanned the crowd and ended up finding something else entirely.

He plopped down on a sofa beside where Liam was sat. His husband turned to look at him with a wide grin.

“Alright?”

Zayn hummed and shifted closer, eyes dropping to Liam’s lips. “I’ll be better if you gimme a kiss.”

Liam burst into shocked laughter, eyes closing shut with the force of it, “You’re horrible at flirting.”

“Worked on you didn’t it?” Zayn scowled playfully.

“You mean falling onto my lap and forcefully kissing me?” Liam raised an eyebrow in amusement at his husband, whose mouth fell open in shock.

“It didn’t happen that way! –“

But Liam was already giggling and leaning in to kiss Zayn just so he’d shut up and not go on another one of his spiels about the truth.

They bumped noses awkwardly and laughed all the way into each other’s mouths and it was not a perfect kiss. But it was everything to Zayn and even more when –

A whine from between them broke their embrace as Liam quickly looked down at the tiny human strapped to his chest. “Oh look Mimi doesn’t like it.”

Zayn glared at his husband, “Her name is Maneha, stop normalizing Mimi!”

Liam only shrugged and held their daughter closer, “She’s Mimi just for Daddy!”

Zayn looked on with a soft gaze as his husband started his round of baby-talk, babbling and giggling stupidly at their own daughter who was not yet grown enough to even raise her head.

And after all those years, Fate smiled down at him.