Zayn awoke the next day, a ray of sunlight shining through the gap between the curtains onto his face, highlighting his beauty. He yawned and stretched out his arms before rolling over to see an empty bed. He sighed, not bothering to call his name as he already knew he would get no reply. 'Damn, he must have left…' he swung his legs out of the bed and placed his feet firmly on the carpet floor, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, when he heard shuffling coming from downstairs. He quickly got up and sprinted out across the landing, making his way down the stairs in just his underwear, to see Liam heading for the door.

"Liam..?" he called. Liam stopped, startled by the noise of his voice. "Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry Zayn, this was a mistake." He couldn't even look him in the eye, and before Zayn could reply he was gone. The house fell deathly silent, and Zayn sat down on the steps with his head in his hands. He didn't know how to react. He was angry, sad, confused, everything. All these feelings built up inside him, and he attempted to release it by pounding his fist into the wall, the force leaving a visible dent, and his hand turned bright red. He swore, rubbing his hand to try and numb the pain, before making his way back up to his room. Even though there was no one home, he still locked his bedroom door, it made him feel safe. He climbed under the covers, not planning to leave anytime soon. He'd never felt so alone. 'How could he just leave like that? Did last night mean nothing to him?' He revelled in his self pity, thinking up every possible reason that may have put Liam off, pointing out all his flaws to himself. This carried on late into the afternoon, when he finally decided to get up and shower. He let the water run over him, soaking his ruffled hair and warming his toned body, as he slowly closed his eyes and lost himself in the steam surrounding him.

He was bought back to his senses by the familiar sound of the doorbell, and he quickly turned off the shower, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, sighing as he made his way downstairs. He hated being interrupted, especially when he was already in a bad mood. He opened the door and there was Harry, grinning and holding up a bag full of beer cans.

"Sorry, I was just in the shower." Zayn mumbled.

"I can see," he looked him up and down jokingly "you should cover up mate, that body could turn a straight guy gay!" He made his way through the doorway, laughing to himself, and walked into the kitchen, placing the cans on the side. Zayn rolled his eyes unimpressed and pushed the door shut. He'd forgotten he had planned to have a 'lads night in' with Harry and Niall tonight. This usually consisted of Zayn watching the movie they'd chosen while the other two guys got drunk and watched porn on his laptop. He would always complain but secretly he liked the company, they made him smile, and sometimes that was all he wanted. But right now he was definitely not in the mood for their jokes, he just wanted to be left alone, however he didn't have the heart to kick Harry out so he walked to the living room and sat folding his arms in front of the TV. Harry walked in and handed Zayn a beer, sitting next to him and began making idle conversation before noticing Zayn's reluctance to talk.

"What's wrong mate?" Harry asked, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"Nothing." Zayn shrugged him off.

"Come on, I'm not that blind, I can tell when something's wrong with you." Zayn scowled but didn't see the point in arguing. Harry was right after all. "Is this something to do with that guy you met last night?"

"How do you-" Zayn began to ask, confused

"Louis told me of course." he grinned. "So?"

"Well, yeah. He came back here last night and we fooled around a bit, nothing major, it was just nice. But when I woke up he was already halfway out the door, told me it was a mistake. He couldn't even look me in the eye." he was stumbling over his words as he recalled what happened. Harry listened intently and put his arm around Zayn's shoulder.

"Wow, I'm sorry, man. He has your number right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then he'll probably come begging you to give him another chance soon. And if he doesn't, well then he's missing out." he smiled, patting his back.

"Thanks Harry." Zayn smiled, the first genuine smile he'd given all day.

The doorbell rang again, this time Niall was waiting with snacks and a DVD for the night. Harry answered the door and quickly filled him in on Zayn's troubles, before they made their way back to the living room, where Niall proceeded to turn the DVD player on and make himself at home.

"So what are we watching tonight?" Zayn asked, mildly interested in what Niall's choice would be.

"Oh it's this film called Shelter." he replied. It was Zayn's favourite movie, and Niall knew that.

"Look I know you're trying to cheer me up but you guys don't have to sit through that, I'm sure you'd rather watch some hot girls being chased in their bikinis by a serial killer or something." Zayn quipped. It was actually a pretty accurate description of what they usually watched. But they were determined to cheer him up, and so they settled down to watch the film after Niall got them all another can of beer. For the first time in what felt like forever, all three boys managed to stick with the film all the way through to the end, without being distracted, although Zayn couldn't really tell whether the film had managed to cheer him up or not, as seeing a happy couple was the last thing he needed right now. So as a result, he decided to numb his angst by drinking his sorrows, and his two friends were more than happy to help. By 10pm all three boys were beginning to get tipsy, and decided to get Zayn's Playstation out for a round of Singstar. They chose to do a rendition of 3 by Britney Spears, with accompanying sexual moves by Niall, which led to so much laughter that the boys weren't even able to finish the song. For the first time Zayn had completely pushed Liam out of his mind, and was able to simply enjoy himself. After a few more rounds the door bell rang, to which Harry jumped up and offered to answer, as Zayn and Niall were embraced in a romantic duet, staring into each others eyes trying their hardest not to laugh. He walked through the hallway and opened the door to an unfamiliar face.

"Alright mate." he greeted.

"Hi, um, is Zayn in?" the boy replied.

"Yeah, who's asking?"

"Liam."

Harry's smile turned to a frown as he stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"So you're the one who's upset Zayn?" Harry asked.

"Err…"

"Do you have any idea how you've made him feel? He's been moping around the house all day because for some reason he thinks he's not good enough for you!" he'd always been quite protective over Zayn, and it was showing.

"…I'm sorry." Liam replied, looking down in embarrassment.

"Look I'm not the one you need to be apologising too."

"Who is it?" Niall called from the living room.

"One second." Harry shouted back. "I'll give you 5 minutes with him, but if he doesn't want you here you're leaving straight away, okay?"

"O-okay." Liam replied, a little unnerved by Harry's aggression. Harry went back inside and Liam followed him into the living room. Zayn and Niall were sitting laughing over their performance, waiting for Harry to return.

"There's someone here to see you Zayn." Harry stated. Zayn turned around, and the room fell silent as he laid eyes on him. Liam tried to smile to make him feel better, but anger was already building up inside Zayn. He stood up and stared at him.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, his tone expressing his frustration.

"Zayn I'm sorry, I came to apologise…" Liam replied.

"Apologise? I thought I was a 'mistake'." he said, the hurt in his voice breaking through.

"I didn't mean that, I wasn't thinking straight, please just let me explain." Liam pleaded. Zayn looked to Harry for approval, who gave him a slight nod.

"Alright." he said through gritted teeth. He walked through to the kitchen and Liam followed him. He stopped and leaned back against the counter, folding his arms. "Go on then, explain."

Liam sighed. "That night when we met, I'd been secretly hoping you would come to talk to me for weeks. From the first time I saw you hanging around there, I couldn't get you out of my head. Every week you always seemed to be there but I never would've guessed you were there for me. I didn't think we would ever meet, so it was okay for me to think about you. But when we got talking and went back to your house and we… well…" he was starting to mumble. "Believe it or not in my church guys like us aren't exactly welcomed with open arms."

"Guys like us…" Zayn rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean Zayn. My family are homophobic, if they ever found out I wasn't the perfect straight son they think they have then they'd probably disown me, or worse. I don't believe in religion, any of it, but my family are all strict Catholics and I never had a choice. They practically brainwashed me to believe that homosexuals are sinners and deserve to burn in hell. When I started to realise I was attracted to guys I didn't know what to do. I just felt trapped. You're the first person I've ever been able to be myself with, and it felt so great to meet someone like me, but when I woke up everything my parents told me about being gay came flooding back, it made me feel so… so wrong. I just couldn't take it, I had to get out of there…" he was getting frustrated trying to explain himself, and Zayn started to worry.

"Liam, I-"

"Do you have any idea how that feels, being told that everything you are is wrong?" he could feel his eyes beginning to well up, and turned away to wipe them on his sleeve, but he was unable to stop the tears flowing. Zayn felt a huge pang of guilt inside himself, he couldn't bare to see Liam upset like this, no matter how much he had annoyed him. He followed his instinct, wrapping his arms tightly around the boy, and kissed him on the forehead. Liam placed his head on Zayn's shoulder.

"It's okay, Liam." he whispered. It wasn't much, but it was all he could think to say. He couldn't understand why he felt so responsible for him, it wasn't like him at all. All he wanted to do was make him happy again. Zayn pulled away and put his arms on Liam's shoulders. He looked at him and rested his hand on his cheek, causing Liam to smile through his tears. He grabbed a tissue from the counter and dabbed his eyes, before moving in to kiss his lips gently, for only a second. This wasn't lust, but genuine emotion he was feeling.

"Zayn… I really like you." Liam stuttered. Zayn smiled.

"Me too… you… I mean… damn" they both laughed at his mistake, before hugging one last time. Harry, who had been waiting outside the kitchen with Niall, checked his watch and realised the 5 minutes were up, so went in to check up on them. He entered to the sight of the two embraced in each others arms and smiled, happy that Zayn had managed to work things out. He motioned Niall towards the door and the two made their way out of the house, deciding it was best to leave them alone.

Zayn took hold of Liam's hand, and led him through the hallway and up the stairs to his room, where they sat on his bed and kissed tenderly. They stripped down to their underwear and climbed under the sheets. Zayn wrapped his arms around Liam from behind, and buried his face in his shoulder.

"Goodnight Liam."

"Night Zayn."

They both smiled and closed their eyes, falling asleep.

Sorry for the heavy dialogue, I just wanted to get this part of the story out of the way as soon as possible. I was listening to More Than This when writing Liam's explanation/confession and asdfghjk it made me so emotional ;_; gahh Liam the things you do to me…

There will be more sexy time in the next chapter I promise! Please review if you have time :) xx