Work can only sustain one's interest for so long, especially when you work in an art store where people rarely frequent. It had been a few weeks since the party that the cops broke up and not much had happened since. Zayn was living a simple life with a great group of friends, a job just engaging enough to keep him awake and a new identity.

Today, Zayn was especially exhausted because the previous evening he had gone to a marathon of Bond movies with Harry at the local drive-in. He had never been to one in his entire life and the only thing he had to compare to it was the scene from Grease where Danny tries to cop a feel of Sandy's breast. Needless to say when he was alone in Harry's car with the bloke he had a crush on with this thought in mind, he really had to keep his hands to himself.

He rested his head down onto the counter of the register, wishing that either a customer would come in or maybe one of his friends would pop by to give him some amusement. When neither came, he felt his eyes began to flutter shut as he fell asleep.

All he could associate was fear. He was trapped in an endless darkness with nowhere to escape to but that tortuous moment that changed his life forever. He couldn't ignore it any longer and finally opened himself to re-living the memory once again.

Tanner lay before him, a vacancy in his eyes that made Zayn sick to his stomach. Regret filled him as he looked down at his fallen friend but as he neared something changed about Tanner. He no longer had the side-swept hair that he had always sported, instead he had curly hair and the blank brown eyes that he had gotten used to were now shockingly green.

Zayn's breath hitched as Harry was on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, clearly long gone from this earth. Zayn felt shattered as he backed away slowly from the horrid scene, falling to the ground himself and backing into a corner.

Harry was dead and there was nothing that Zayn could do about it. He plummeted further into the darkness as regret and guilt began to rein his every thought.

Zayn was pulled out of the shocking nightmare by somebody's hands coming down on his shoulders.

"Ian? Ian?" A voice asked as Zayn's eyes shot open, freed from the macabre situation he had been forced to endure.

Zayn looked up and saw Harry staring across the counter, concern in his eyes. For a moment Zayn couldn't put the words together because he was just so relieved to see that pair of Emerald eyes looking so alive.

"I-I'm fine, just fell asleep on the job, I guess." Zayn murmured, still shaken by what he had been forced witness by his subconscious.

"You were crying and shaking a lot." Harry said and only then did Zayn notice the tears that had clearly fallen down his face. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Zayn didn't want to stress Harry out at all so he simply shrugged and answered, "Just peachy, sometimes my imagination likes to torture the hell out of me though. But that comes with the territory of being an artist."

"Well, you still seem like you need some cheering up. When is Nialler coming to relieve you from your duty?" Harry asked after chuckling because of Zayn's comment.

Zayn looked down at his watch before responding. "Whoa, time goes by when you're sleeping instead of working. I must've closed my eyes for a good half an hour which means I only have a little over an hour before he gets here."

"After your shift ends, come to my workplace and we'll fix you something up to make sure you have a cuddle buddy if you have another nightmare like that." Harry said, winking at Zayn.

As much as Zayn simply wanted to invite Harry to be his permanent cuddle buddy, he decided that it would probably not be quite what Harry had in mind. What Harry was actually inviting him to do was make a teddy bear.

"Sounds good to me." Zayn expressed before he got a nod of confirmation from Harry.

"See you in a bit then." Harry greeted before exiting the store.

As much as Zayn wanted to appreciate the invitation, he still wasn't quite over the shock that the nightmare had put him through. All he knew was that he wouldn't be falling asleep on the job again (at least not during this shift).

Niall and Liam hadn't spoken much about what had gone on between them the night of the party but since then Liam had paid more attention to what his actions put Niall through. He wasn't just wallowing because he thought nobody cared anymore; he was consciously looking at things in a more positive light by Niall's inspiration.

They were out for lunch when one of Liam's older brother's friends came over to the table.

"Liam? Liam Payne?" The guy inquired and Liam recognized him immediately as one of the blokes who had been there the night that his older brother had drowned.

The atmosphere immediately darkened, as did Liam's expression. Niall gave him an 'are you ok' look and while he had to clench his fists to keep things together, he nodded assuredly at the blond.

"Yah, uh…. Tim, right?" Liam asked politely, his voice wavering slightly but he managed to keep his emotions under wraps. He made sure to sound a little unsure when he knew exactly who the guy was.

"Tom." The guy corrected but quickly shrugged it off. "Man, Liam, you grew up fast. It's shocking how much you actually look like him."

Niall bit his lip as Liam's eyes clouded over with the mention of his brother. The blond watched as his friend thought about how to respond to the insensitive friend of his perished brother.

"I get that a lot. I'm sorry to sound blunt but I'm having lunch with my friend and I don't exactly want that to be disturbed by a reminder of the mistake my brother made that haunts me basically every day." Liam stated. "I'm sorry."

Tom nodded in complete understanding. "Don't worry, I totally get what you're talking about. What happened was disturbing and the regret is torturous, I'm just glad to see that you're doing okay. And okay is better than letting the past determine your every day life."

"Thanks, Tom. I'll see you around." Liam murmured before Tom walked away from the table.

Niall beamed at Liam, proud of the way that Liam had handled the situation. It meant that his friend was finally beginning to heal and he was doing so consciously.

"That was amazing." Niall noted, reaching a hand across to Liam to squeeze his palm briefly.

"He's right though, I need to stop living in the past. I'm here, with you, and that's all that matters." Liam responded, appreciating the supportive contact that Niall was making with him.

Niall chuckled. "It's only lunch… I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a good lunch, but…"

"No, I don't mean this exact moment, Niall. I mean I see how much it hurts you when I'm in pain but I put myself through that because I don't want to lose the memory of my brother. But I realized that by letting my every thought be controlled by that goal, I'm not even living in the present and that's not fair to you or anyone else around me." Liam explained and Niall nodded understandingly.

"Liam… that's, well, I think that's great." Niall concluded, overwhelmed by the happiness that filled him by seeing Liam make such a conscious effort to combat his demons.

"I'm not just doing it for me though, I'm doing it for you too." Liam shared which made Niall's heart soar with an unjust amount of excitement. He felt like a little boy in a candy shop, knowing exactly what he wanted but a bit too ashamed to ask for it.

He didn't know how to respond without showing what he was really thinking so he simply muttered, "Cool" before continuing on shoveling food into his face. The sight made Liam laugh and the tension of the moment, to Niall's relief, was put to an end.

They were just two friends out for lunch and even though they might want more, neither of them wanted to be selfish and ruin their moment of peace.

"I'm sorry that I'm late!" Niall blurted as he ran through the front door of the art supplies shop. "I was having lunch with Liam and I totally got distracted by how delicious it was and lost track of time. Please don't hate me."

Zayn laughed at his spastic blond friend before answering, "Calm down, man. I'm in no rush so you don't have to be either. I'm sure the food was worth it anyway. How's Liam doing?"

Niall calmed himself down at the mention of Liam's name. "He's, uh, doing much better actually. Since the party he's sort of remade his outlook on life; I haven't seen him this way since we were kids, more alive and in the moment and such."

"Seems like you feed off of that, Mr. Bubbly." Zayn teased as he walked out from behind the counter, picking up his bag.

"I do, actually and I'm damn well proud of it." Niall rebutted playfully and slipped behind the counter so Zayn could finally get the hell out of his immensely boring workplace.

"Good, well, I'll catch yah around, okay?" Zayn greeted before heading out toward the Build-a-bear that Harry worked at.

Zayn walked through the crowds of mall frequenters and finally came to the store that looked like a toy store on crack. There were screaming children as well as stressed out looking mothers and fathers trailing behind their tantruming tots but the thing that really caught Zayn's eye was how calm Harry was in the middle of the chaos that surrounded him.

"Hey, welcome to hell." Harry murmured, a smile plastered on his face.

Zayn chuckled as he followed Harry through the store to the back where you could pick out what animal you would stuff and then cruelly dress up for your own amusement. Thank goodness they were at least inanimate.

"Now, what catches your eye, Mr. Daniels?" Harry inquired as Zayn's eyes trailed over the array of animals that he could choose from.

If it was this overwhelming of a choice for a grown man, he couldn't imagine what he would be like for a kid. But, he finally settled on a little sheep with a crooked smile.

"I shall call him Squishy and he will be my Squishy."

"Finding Nemo, nice touch." Harry noted with an amused smile as he took the unstuffed sheep from Zayn's grasp.

He brought it over to the machine and quickly stuffed it before saying, "Well, now you have to put it a heart in it but before we do that, you have to kiss and make a wish."

Zayn took the little cloth heart from Harry's grasp and had to think hard about his wish. He contemplated a few options about changing his past but then realized that if Tanner's death hadn't happened, he would never have met Harry. As selfish as the thought was, it made Zayn realize that he should wish for something in the future instead.

I wish that Harry could see and know the real me. Not Ian Daniels anymore, just Zayn Malik.

He made the wish, kissed it and passed it off to Harry who tenderly put it in the stuffie before lacing it up and handing it back to Zayn.

"I hope you used your wish well." Harry said, a little half-smile gracing his adorable face.

"I hope so too." Zayn murmured, clutching onto his little sheep stuffie and staring into Harry's gorgeous green eyes.