~When the air ran out and we both started running wild,

The sky fell down~

Liam rolled over, his chin resting on Zayn's shoulder. He was awake, on his phone. His eyes were red, from either a lack of sleep or a sob session. Zayn knew that Liam was awake, from his twitching, but let him look at the memes with him.

Liam showed him some funny meme accounts, and Zayn showed him some too. They were giggling little messes while Louis and Harry were asleep just a couple feet away. They were dead to the world, however, so it didn't matter. Liam was feeling slightly sick, but he was trying to hide it. His detox started today, but he wanted to act normal.

"Breakfast?" Zayn asked, looking for his jeans. Liam handed them to him, and the two of them went down the hall. Winston wasn't there, so Liam made a pot of coffee while Zayn found enough eggs for the both of them. "Scrambled, right?"

"Of course." Liam smiled, grabbing the mugs out of the tall cabinet with ease. Zayn started whipping the eggs together before he put them in the pan, but that was when a sleepy Winston came in, yelling at Zayn.

"I am paid a lot of money to do this job. Do not try to cook for yourselves."

"Sorry, sorry." Liam said, grabbing Zayn and the mugs and rushing out before Winston had a full-on stroke. Winston muttered something about scrambled eggs, and Liam led Zayn outside.

The grass was wet and their feet were bare, but they didn't care. They sat on a bench in the garden, sipping the boiling hot drink. "We should play hide and go seek." Liam suggested. "It'll be fun. There's lots of stuff to hide behind out here."

"We're adults."

"There's no one around to judge. Everyone's asleep. Come on, Zaynie." Zayn got up, leaving his mug. That was a big deal. But he was willing to leave his coffee for Liam.

Liam hid first, and then Zayn went to find him. He looked behind bushes and trees, but he was found hiding on the patio where Zayn couldn't have seen him from the garden.

But when Zayn hid, he ran as fast as he could across the field to where there were some trees at the edge, near the fence. He wedged himself in between the tree and the fence, making himself as small as possible.

"I saw you peeking." Liam laughed, after Zayn had gotten curious.

"Can you help me?" Zayn asked him. Liam helped pull him out, but instead of letting him go, he held on.

"I'm not drunk anymore, I swear." He said, before leaning in for a kiss.

It was the first romantic kiss the two of them had shared. The first one where someone didn't end up hurt or feeling rejected. It just ended with the both of them going back to the bench, drinking their respective drinks.

But in silence.

---

Louis was in the living room, playing with Fin, later that day, when Perrie came walking by. She had a big arrogant smile on her face, and she headed straight for Simon's office. The one place in the house that they weren't supposed to go. But she marched straight in without knocking, even.

"Perrie." Simon said, a warning tone in his voice. A tone a father would use with his daughter. Except Perrie's parents were dead, and Simon never, never wanted children.

"The bomb is done." She said, in an exaggerated Russian accent. "I checked all the wires, and it's all falling into place."

"Good." He smiled, understanding her urgency. "Then there's no time to waste. Let me call Hailee. We are doing this tomorrow after all."