"No, it was great. Delfi and Jade just tend to forget otherpeople exist around them. They are so disgustingly cute all thefucking time. It's annoying but adorable" Louis reported lively.

They were sitting together in the back of Zayn's tattoo studio andwere talking about Saturday's writing session with Dolphin's Curve.Or well, Louis was telling Sean and Niall vivaciously and animatedlyabout it while Harry was trying to follow the conversation and Liamwas just simply sitting there. Zayn was watching them from afar andstill couldn't grasp that they were all here together. It still feltsurreal to him. Like, he would wake up one morning and realise it hasall just been a nice dream.

"I can see that happening. In interviews, they always end upbeing lost in their own little world. It's cute" Sean markedexcitedly.

"To be honest, I've never seen any of their interviews orperformances or videos or anything really. Maybe I should do thisright now while we're watching you get hurt by a tattoo needle"Niall confessed surprisingly.

"Never?!" Sean gasped appalled. "How is that evenpossible?".

"He's quite the fan, you must know" Louis snickered evilly.

"They are absolutely amazing! Of course, I am a fan of pure art.Anyone who isn't is deaf and tasteless" Sean clarified huffy.

"Naw, aren't you the cutest?!" Louis cooed over him, pinchingSean's cheek dramatically.

"I hate you, Tommo" Sean slapped his hand away.

"No, you don't. You love me and my teasing. You enjoy it"Louis contradicted him smugly.

"Maybe" Sean grumbled cutely, arms crossed over his chest.

"It's not a given though that people understand such teasing orenjoy it. Some people feel deeply offended when you take nothingseriously, Louis. Sometimes kindness is more appreciated" Liam threwin out of nowhere in a cold voice, shocking all of them.

"Now you're saying I'm not kind just because I jokingly tease myfriends because I know they like that? Which also means I takenothing seriously, yeah?" Louis cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Repeating my words in such a mocking manner doesn't change themeaning behind them" Liam didn't back down sternly.

"What's the matter with you, Liam? Where is all of that comingfrom?" Niall wondered bewildered.

"Yeah, why is my teasing suddenly such a red flag for you? It'snot like I just randomly started that today" Louis wanted to knowas well. Zayn watched the exchange carefully. Something was off.

"It has been from the start. I don't like it. You can cover upbullying with the excuse it was just teasing and that's not okay. Yousimply don't bully your friends" Liam argued tensely.

"Is there something we should know about?".

"Louis is not bullying anyone, Liam".

"Really, Harry? Are you sure about that? You're defending himalthough I can see you haven't forgiven him either? Stop being such ahypocrite and be honest for once" Liam faced Harry when he suddenlydecided to take part in the conversation.

"Forgiven me for what?" Louis was losing it now. "I reallydidn't do anything wrong! I could have handled things differently butnone of it was wrong, apart from me leaving wordlessly, which youknow wasn't my decision. So, what are we even talking about here?".

"I'd like to know that, too. I thought we were all being friendsagain? Liam? Harry?" Niall looked expectantly at his mates.

"Guys, please" Sean tried to get their attention but it was invain.

"I never said we were friends again. I wanted to talk things outand not pretend nothing ever happened. Like people didn't leave or brokehearts. You're the ones acting like total idiots or do you reallythink we can just live this life here and be normal? Be friends withLouis again after everything? Maybe leaving like you did wasn't yourfault but you still left. That was your decision and you wanted itbut you never fully left. You kept in touch with Zayn and remindedhim day after day ... You dragged him down with you and now look athim? You ruined everything!" Liam was losing it now, turningeveryone into speechless empty shells.

"Liam. Front desk. Now" Zayn spoke up now, deciding enough wasenough. He had a feeling he knew what this was about.

"I don't ...".

"Now!".

Without another word, Liam followed Zayn out of the back andtowards the front desk. No one was here apart from them.

"What is this really about, Liam? I know it's not about Louis.Not about him leaving or bullying anyone because you know he isn't abully or left without a reason. You're better than what happened backthere, Li" Zayn leaned against the desk, looking Liam up and downslowly. He seemed totally tense.

Something must have gotten through to him because suddenly hiswhole posture fell and his facade crumbled right in front of Zayn'seyes. Now Liam only looked vulnerable and broken. Hurt.

"I know he isn't a bully and I went too far but he still ... Hedragged you down with him when you were the most vulnerable. Maybenot on purpose but he still did. He took you from me when we couldhave worked things out. He ... You ran, just like him. Only becauseof him. If you wouldn't have stayed in touch ...".

"I still would've left, Liam" Zayn cut him softly, making Liamlook up at him with big shocked eyes. "Me leaving had nothing to dowith Louis or still talking to him. Well, maybe a tiny bit because Iknew what he has been through due to Jackson and I knew how horriblehe can be to get what he wants. But what I was trying to say is, thatI made the decision to leave on my own. Louis had nothing to do withthis. He even tried to stop me, told me to think this through andthink about my career and the opportunities I'm throwing away but itwas pointless. My mind was set on leaving. No one could have stoppedme. Not Jackson, not Louis. And not you, Liam. I'm sorry".

"It really hurt, you know? That you left and didn't tell usbeforehand. It felt like a strange deja-vu but ten times worse for methan when Louis left. I mean, I missed him but I was mostly pissedand angry. Hella mad. Which wasn't fair and I know this by now. But ...when you left a piece of my heart left with you and you should haveknown that. I know we had our fights and arguments and weren't reallyon good terms that time but you could have talked to me. We couldhave fixed this. Us. But you decided to leave and not fight for whatwe had" Liam opened his heart up to him in a shaky voice.

"There wasn't an us anymore when I left, Liam" Zayn sighed outheavily.

"Because you pushed me away" Liam countered hurt.

"Because we had no future, no chance. We're not meant to be morethan friends in this life" Zayn stated gently.

"How can you be so sure? How could you have been so sure backthen? We had a good thing and could have ...".

"What? Fought for it?" Zayn interrupted him. "We couldn't.All we had was something behind closed doors. It never even was areal relationship. We never said we were a couple. We had our goodmoments but we both know the pressure and stress and stunts and lieswere all too much on us. We weren't strong enough to handle any ofit. We were meant to break".

"We could have talked about those thoughts of yours. Even if ithadn't saved us, it would have given me some clarity. To me, itlooked like our last break was because of Victoria" Liam pointedout tearfully.

"And I'm really sorry about the way I handled all of this.Seeing you stunt with Victoria was never easy for me but at one pointI only felt numb and emotionless when I saw you two together. That'swhen I realised what was happening to me. I was accepting this wholebullshit and that wasn't okay. Leaving and breaking things off forgood was never connected to each other, Liam. If I had stayed ..."Zayn's voice broke off now, the emotions of the best finally catchingup on him and overtaking his feelings.

"We'd be broken up now anyway" Liam finished his sentence withnewfound understanding lacing in his voice. "I think I'm startingto understand now, Z".

"Really?" Zayn snivelled lightly.

"Yes. What we had was never healthy. We had to hide and publiclybe with other people. Hell, I had to stunt with my ex-girlfriend,which was totally fucked up" Liam smiled teary-eyed at him,chuckling to himself. "What we had was good while it lasted. Youwere right. All this time I was too hurt to see Louis wasn't part ofthe equation. I was just too used to blaming everything on him".

"It's okay. I know I hurt you badly and I'm really sorry" Zaynwiped away some of his tears.

"I hurt you, too. We hurt each other and our future would havebeen full of stupid fights and arguments. It was better to put an endto the story. I just couldn't see it clearly. Being here and lettingit all out helped to understand a lot" Liam took away the blamefrom him calmly.

"You can always come to me when you need to talk, Li. I'm herefor you now" Zayn opened his arms wide for him.

"Same goes for you, Z" Liam fell into his arms, hugging him.

This hug was long overdue. For so long, there has been a hell lotof tension between them and unsaid words were taking them the air tobreathe. Now that everything was out in the open between them theycould finally move on and maybe rebuild the friendship they once had.Eight years ago.

Sudden hushed voices and quiet footsteps tore them out of theirlittle moment and they broke away from the hug. They shared an amusedlook and wordlessly, went back to their friends. All of their facesbetrayed them. Zayn just knew from simply looking at them thatthey've all been eavesdropping on their conversation because theywere curious and nosey little fuckers. He really couldn't blame them.He wasn't any better.

"So ...".

"You two were a thing? Why am I the last person to know aboutthat?" Niall exploded loudly, making everyone laugh.

"I didn't know either, Nialler" Harry noted matter-of-factly.

"Well, I did" Louis pointed out smugly.

"Of course, you did" Harry rolled his eyes amusedly.

"Joey tells me everything. We're that close, Harold" Louissaid in a child-like voice.

"And I'm happy you are" Liam let him know, walking over toLouis with everyone staring at him. "I'm sorry, Louis. Everything Isaid was so mean and cruel and uncalled for. I just ...".

"It's okay, Lima. I understand. Forgive and forget" Louiswaved the matter off like the amazing person Zayn knew he was.

"So, were you only spying on us?" Zayn cleared his throatextremely loud, making everyone jump. "Geez".

"No, we saw that your last interview with Benny was published afew minutes ago but then we were too curious. Haven't watched thething yet. Your drama was more interesting" Sean told themunbothered and a bit oblivious to what this could cause.

"Press play, Sean".

All huddled together, they stared at the phone in Sean's hand andwatched the video closely. They all couldn't help but laugh whenNiall had to call his old mate or when Liam was simply being Liamwith Evan on the phone. But they all fell silent when it was Harry'sturn. Their label didn't cut the call out and you could clearly seehim struggling with deleting or calling Louis. In HD.

"Why didn't they cut it out? This will cause so much drama.Everyone is gonna talk about the drama between us and you, Zayn. Thismakes no fucking sense" Niall frowned deeply.

"But it does. It's press. Bad press but still attention to aband being on break. A band that isn't providing anything at themoment to stay relevant. This here is perfect for them" Zaynexhaled heavily.

"Why is ex-bandmate drama so interesting? You've been gone foryears and not ... Showing that you don't wanna talk to Harry is goodfor us? It will only lead to fights inside the fandom" Niall justcouldn't understand this although he should.

"The fandom will be all over it, that's for sure" Zayn mumbledmore to himself, realising everyone had heard him way too late.

"Am I too slow or what is he talking about?" Sean couldn'tfollow the conversation but everyone else was totally pale.

"You can see clearly that Harry is struggling with the call,which could indicate that he was calling Zayn willingly. But whenZayn answers the phone only Niall and I look shocked. Harry looksconfused, almost disappointed. The fans that know him will see thathe wasn't expecting Zayn to answer the phone" Liam explained thematter more detailed to Sean, who seemed to catch on.

"They'll wanna find out who Harry was actually calling. Whosenumber he didn't want to delete. Who Zayn could be with right now.And this curiosity won't die any time soon".

"Even Dylan just asked me about it and I didn't even know hewould watch this shit" Louis threw in absent-mindedly, trying toavoid looking at Harry.

Zayn was watching both of them. Louis couldn't stop glancing atHarry or the phone screen with the moment Harry had decided to callhim still right in front of his eyes. In the video, Harry reallylooked disappointed that Zayn had picked up the phone and answeredthe call. He really looked right out pained just thinking aboutdeleting Louis' number. All of that was visible on his face.

At the moment, he kept staring at the floor, glancing at Louisover and over again, who was texting Dylan seemingly. To Zayn, itlooked like Harry wasn't liking what he saw. Could he be jealous ofDylan? No, that wasn't possible ... Well, with everything Zayn knewit could well be possible. Harry could be jealous without realisingit himself. For now, Zayn decided to just sit back and let lifehappen. Drama was coming their way anyway.

"Back to your tattoo, Tommy?" Zayn decided to change thesubject because they couldn't change the outcome anyway.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. Sure" Louis blinked a few times,apparently coming back from somewhere deep inside his mind.

"What are you getting, by the way?" Niall focused on Louis.

"We're just finishing up my chest tattoo. We did it in two partsbecause it's bigger than my other tattoos" Louis let him know whiletaking off his shirt.

Zayn threw one quick glance at Harry, who really was staring atLouis and blushed when he saw Louis' naked chest. Zayn smirked tohimself but said nothing. He had to figure this out on his own andLouis needed to get some things straight as well.

"What does it say?" Niall tried to read it upside down.

Zayn grinned at Louis, seeing Harry staring again. Louis gotcomfortable on the chair and presented the tattoo to his friends. "Itis what it is".

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So, Ziam was a thing behind closed doors but broke up. Thoughts?

What does Zayn know about Larry and could he be right about Harry?

Wil the video cause drama?