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Zayn groans as he looks at the rows and rows of cough medicine in front of him. Of all possible days for him to catch a cold, his body decides that today is the perfect day to shut down on him. He's barely been able to get out of bed all day, forcing his roommate Niall to bring him plenty of soup and tea, hoping to flush whatever it is out of his system. When he finally decided to take some medicine to ease the symptoms, he realized they never stocked up on cough medicine in their apartment after the last time he was sick. That cold had lasted him almost two weeks and left him incapable of doing anything other than sleeping and complaining about his condition. He shudders at the memory, hoping his current cold doesn’t last him nearly as long as that one did.Normally, when he's this under the weather, he would just sleep until the cold rids itself or until Niall pities him enough to go out and buy him medicine, but the only reason he's willing to get out of bed and actually take medicine for his cold is so he doesn't have to postpone the date he has planned with Liam tomorrow.Liam, the boy he met through Niall at a random office party his roommate dragged him off to, with the big brown eyes and heart-shaped birthmark below his jawline. Liam, with the wide smile and fingers that brushed just barely against his before sheepishly asking to exchange numbers. Liam, who texted him for weeks at every waking moment before Zayn finally got the courage to ask him out to dinner.He finally decides on some random flu medicine that promises to treat all symptoms, a bottle of ibuprofen, and some cough drops for good measure, before he makes his way over to the candy aisle for some Cadbury chocolate, the real medicine, he thinks. Satisfied with his choices, he moves into the line for the only open cash register and groans when he realizes there's four people in front of him. He just wants to go home, take his stupid medicine and eat his stupid chocolate, and go to sleep to get rid of this even more stupid cold. He's half tempted to just put his items back and go home just to avoid the wait of the long line when he hears a sharp intake of breath from the customer behind him, followed by a "Zayn?"He turns around, startled, before coming face to face with none other than-“Liam?” His shock throws him into a sudden coughing fit, and within seconds Zayn is doubling over, coughing heavily into his elbow to cover his mouth. He feels a hand on his back patting him through it, and once he’s able to breathe again he gives the boy in front of him a small, sheepish smile to thank him. Liam, however, looks nothing but concerned, his thick brows furrowed and causing his eyes to squint together.“Are you alright, Zayn?” He asks, his eyes momentarily flashing towards the items in Zayn’s hand. Zayn feels his entire body flush, which isn’t so good since he’s already been feeling nauseous all day, and reaches out to grab something nearby just to steady himself. That thing ends up being Liam’s arm, and he shakes his head suddenly as he feels another coughing fit rake over his body. Liam grabs him once again, rubbing one of his hands up and down Zayn’s arms comfortingly.When the coughing fit is over, Zayn shakes his head and mumbles an “I’m okay,” which causes Liam to look even more concerned, and okay, he wouldn’t believe himself either.“Are you sick? Do you have a cold?” He hears Liam ask, despite the store in front of him suddenly spinning and his ears ringing from the congestion. He nods and sniffles a little, wiping his nose on the sleeve of his long-sleeved shirt, which he realizes is probably gross, but he doesn’t have a tissue on him and he’s honestly not concerned what anyone thinks of him when he has a cold for fuck’s sake.“I woke up this morning and I felt really dizzy and I think I have a cold. I made Niall make me soup but he was too busy to buy me medicine, so now I’m here,” he explains. His voice sounds rugged from the stuffy nose he has, and he sniffs again, all while Liam uses his free hand to rub his back comfortingly. He leans into the touch, embracing the slight warmth of Liam’s larger palm stretched around his arm. He looks fleetingly over at the cash register and sees the customer is now pulling out a stack of coupons that has the cashier and everyone else in line groaning. He takes the stall as a blessing to give him more time with Liam.Liam chews on his bottom lip while in thought, before he says, “you know, if you’re not feeling to well, we don’t have to go out tomorrow. I’m okay if you want to just stay in or wait until you’re feeling better-““No! I mean,” Zayn clears his throat nervously before continuing, “It’s okay. I’ll be okay. I really want to see you tomorrow, Liam.”Liam looks at him doubtfully, “Are you sure? You’re sick and the last thing you probably want to do is sit through a meal at a restaurant. We can always just reschedule.”And honestly, he’s right. The last thing Zayn wants to do while he has snot running down his nose and a coughing fit every two minutes is have to sit at a restaurant and pretend his only concern is how rare his meat is or how they’re going to split the bill. He’d rather have his first date with Liam be perfect and not risk getting the other boy sick. But he also doesn’t want to cancel on Liam. He’s waited way too long to get himself to ask out the boy. The last thing he wants to do now is wait even longer before he can hang out with him in person. Which is why he lies when he says, “no, it’s okay. I promise I’m almost over it, I’ll be just fine to get through our plans tomorrow. I promise, Li.”He looks up at Liam with a small pout as a way to convince the boy to accept his promise. Liam, however, doesn’t seem to fall for Zayn’s antics. He leans into whisper softly in Zayn’s ear, away from any nearby customers who may be eavesdropping.“Are you saying you wouldn’t rather spend the day in with me, with a nice bowl of hot, steaming chicken noodle soup and some cuddles in bed?” He pulls back and frowns adorably at Zayn, who shudders at the cool air that hits his skin at the sudden loss of Liam’s warmth. And yeah, he’d much rather stay in bed with Liam’s body pressed against his, keeping him warm and comfortable while he fights off his cold. And perhaps, if he feels more energized and less sickly, he and Liam could do other, more exciting things in his bed. He almost smiles at the thought, until-Well.Until his eyes finally settle on the only item that has been in Liam’s hand throughout their entire encounter, waiting to be purchased.And no, it’s not the fact that Liam’s holding a box of condoms that causes him to freeze up. It’s the fact that it says “extra small” right underneath the “Trojan” label.And fuck.He looks away almost as quickly as he spotted it, covering his surprise with a fake coughing fit that has Liam momentarily distracted before he sputters out an almost high-pitched, “Yeah, that sounds great,” in response to Liam’s suggestion to stay in and fuck fuck fuck.Extra small? That’s the last thing he would’ve expected from Liam, who’s hands can wrap entirely around Zayn’s lithe wrist. And Zayn swears he’s seen Liam with a bulge poking through his jeans before, leading to plenty fantasies of Liam that include anything BUT an extra small cock. And he knows Liam’s roommate Louis is always going on about Liam’s “ten inch payn train,” leaving Liam a stuttering and blushing mess, and oh god, what if that was why Liam would always get uncomfortable at any mentions of his dick. And now Zayn can’t think of anything else, but luckily he doesn’t have to, because suddenly he’s the next person in line and the cashier’s almost montone and practiced voice gets his attention away from Liam’s dick. “Did you find everything okay today?” She asks, and Zayn nods, momentarily stunned. He gets ready to pay when Liam suddenly puts his pack of condoms on the counter with Zayn’s items and uses his hand to push Zayn’s hip lightly out of the way. “These are all together,” he says, and before Zayn can argue against Liam paying for his stuff, Liam is swiping his credit card and taking the receipt from the cashier, parting from her with a smile and a “thank you, have a lovely day!”He fishes the pack of condoms out of the plastic bag she hands him and stuffs it into his back pocket. He turns to look at Zayn, passing him the bag with all of his items, and presses his hand to the small of Zayn’s back to guide him to the exit of the store. “Let me walk you to your car,” he says, and Zayn nods, still slightly stunned at what he just witnessed Liam buy, the words “extra small” the only things running through his mind. What’s even more surprising is how confident Liam was buying the condoms, just casually placing them on the counter for Zayn to see, as if it was no big deal that his dick was small. And it’s not that Zayn suddenly doesn’t like Liam anymore, but he can’t help but feel a little disappointed that Liam isn’t packing as much as he’s fantasized about him having.When they finally get to his car, he doesn’t know what to say, so he just leans up to press a quick kiss to Liam’s cheek and thanks him for purchasing his cough medicine for him.“I’ll see you tomorrow then, yeah?” Liam says, gazing at Zayn with a mixture of concern and adoration. Zayn nods, stiffling a cough by clearing his throat.“See you then,” he says, nodding once more for good measure. Liam smiles and pecks his cheek in return, whispering a “feel better, Zaynie,” before he’s running off to his own car across the parking lot.It takes a few moments for Zayn to realize he’s standing awkwardly outside of his car in the middle of a parking garage, and he finally wills away his thoughts of what just happened before he’s driving the five minutes it takes to get to his apartment from the pharmacy. When he gets home, he takes the medicine and drinks a tall glass of water before he flops onto his bed, having left the candy on the kitchen counter knowing Niall will see it in the morning and eat it, a silent gift for having taken care of him all day.He groans into his pillow, sighing disappointedly as his mind reminds him once more of the box of condoms Liam purchased, before closing his eyes and letting sleep overtake him.He’ll pity himself in the morning.
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The following morning, Zayn doesn’t feel any better like he had hoped he would. He wakes up extremely early for his liking, and after a good twenty minutes of soaking in the warmth of his bed sheets, his stomach starts growling and he heads down the hall to the kitchen he shares with Niall. He’s barely walked out of the door of his room when he’s smelling whatever breakfast Niall is cooking and feels a wave of appreciation take over him.“Good morning! Feeling any better?” Niall asks when he spots Zayn hovering, filling up two plates with food and handing one over to Zayn. Zayn hums in appreciation, reciprocating a quick side hug before Niall is off to the living room to eat his breakfast. He’s half tempted to tell Niall off for eating in the living room when they have a perfectly good dining room, but decides against it and follows him to the couch to join him. He did make him breakfast, afterall.“No, still feeling terrible,” he groans. His throat feels less sore but he still feels congested and groggy.“That sucks bud,” Niall says through a mouth full of food, causing Zayn to grimace. He finishes chewing his food before he continues, “You gonna call it off with Liam tonight?”And oh, right. That.Zayn groans loudly, albeit a bit more dramatic than usual, and leans his face into Niall’s shoulder. Niall, half confused and half concerned, just continues to eat his breakfast, unphased by Zayn’s mysterious antics at this point.Zayn breathes and waits to gather his composure, before he asks, “What would you do if the bloke you were dating had a small dick?” Niall almost chokes on his food mid-swallow, but gathers himself quickly enough to respond, “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not into blokes then.” He continues chewing, before adding, “Besides, not like you have to worry about that with Liam. I bet the dude is massive.”Zayn groans again and coughs to clear his throat, his face flushing again. Niall takes in Zayn’s reaction and almost spits out his food in shock, “No! No way. Liam? Did you see it?”“Shut up,” Zayn mumbles. He feels shallow being concerned with something so small about Liam. The boy is perfect for him, and so what if he’s not as well-endowed as some other guys he’s been with. It shouldn’t matter.Yet for some reason that Zayn doesn’t want to admit to himself, it does.Niall, unsurprisingly, is unwilling to let this go, however.“No, really. How big is it? I need an idea. Could you just hold your hands apart and show me an idea of it?”“Niall, shut up,” he grumbles. He hesitantly takes another bite of his food, suddenly not as hungry as he was earlier. “And no, I haven’t seen it.” “Then why the fuck are you worried, mate? You had me excited for a second, I thought I had some new gossip material for the office,” Niall says, and Zayn gives him a panicked look, because he did not want Liam’s entire workplace to know about this. Niall sees this and laughs, “I’m just messing about, mate. I’m not the type to gossip. Besides, no one would believe me anyway, but why on earth would you think Liam has a small dick?”Zayn sighs, knowing his flatmate isn’t going to let this go. “I ran into him last night at the pharmacy up the street and he was buying extra small condoms,” he explains hurriedly, dropping his voice to a quiet whisper by the time he gets to the end of his sentence.“Huh?” Niall asks, having not heard him.“He was buying extra small condoms!” Zayn exclaims, covering his mouth almost immediately as he feels his cheeks heat up with a blush.Niall looks shocked for a second, before bursting into a fit of laughter, which doesn’t help Zayn’s embarrassment at all. He groans and leans his head into Niall’s shoulder, hoping to hide himself from reality.“Oh god, who would have known,” Niall says mid-chuckle, bringing his arm around Zayn’s shoulders to pat his back almost mockingly, “Maybe he just likes a snug fit, though. Ya never know.”Zayn looks up at him curiously, the idea making him think, “You think so?”“I mean, ya never know. Or maybe he was using them to make water balloons or pick up dog shit off the street.”Zayn raises an eyebrow at his flatmate, “Yeah okay, you’ve lost me now.”Niall shrugs, “I’m just saying, mate. There’s a lot of uses for condoms. You used to make fun of me for joining that frat back in college, but there’s a lot of things I’ve learned from it that you wouldn’t know.”Zayn snorts, “Well, in that case, I’m glad that in the four years you attended college you learned how to pick up dog shit with a condom, instead of, you know, a plastic bag.”“Frat houses are full of condoms. They aren’t full of plastic bags,” Niall argues, eyeing Zayn firmly as he takes a bite out of his toast, daring him to argue against him.Zayn just snorts and goes back to eating his breakfast. He’ll just have to accept that there are some things he won’t ever understand. Niall is one of them. . He texted Liam his address earlier in the afternoon and explained to him where he and Niall left the spare key, too exhausted to leave his bed after his cold drained whatever energy he had left in him earlier in the day. He’s gone through almost an entire box of tissues in just two hours, the tip of his nose red from the irritation. He hasn’t eaten since breakfast but has had way too many glasses of water in an attempt to flush the cold out of his system, sending him to the bathroom almost every half hour. He’s tired and frustrated, but more than anything he’s anxious to see Liam.He and Liam agreed that five would be a great time for Liam to come over. It gives Zayn more than enough time to shower and look put together, considering all he wants to do is stay in bed until his cold completely fades, and Liam enough time to get home from work and freshen up before heading over. Niall has plans with a few of his friends at a pub halfway across town, so getting him out of the apartment wasn’t hard.Liam should be coming any minute now, and Zayn is nervous. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking about their encounter the night before, berrating himself for being so shallow. He’s tried his best to consider Niall’s words and reassure himself that Liam probably bought the condoms for some other purpose that only frat boys will understand (and he’s not sure if Liam was ever a frat boy, but he’s gonna assume he was just to give himself some peace of mind), but the thought of it is so unlikely that he feel ridiculous for even trying to justify it. He has no idea how this night will go, but he’s glad he can at least blame his lack of lucidity on his cold.He suddenly hears a soft click and the sound of footsteps in the hallway, before there’s a knock on his door and a head peeking through. It’s none other than Liam, brown eyes crinkling as he smiles the second he spots Zayn, opening the slightly-cracked open door until he’s able to step fully inside the room when he spots Zayn’s brown hair peeking out of the covers. “You feeling any better?” He asks, tip-toeing over to the bed and whispering as if he’s a child on Christmas eve trying to sneak downstairs and spot Santa, not a grown man walking into his friend’s bedroom. Zayn smiles when he spots Liam carrying a large bag full of items, feeling like a child himself when he responds, “A little. Did you bring me gifts?”Liam laughs and falls into the space between Zayn and the edge of the bed, slightly jostling Zayn, but Zayn doesn’t mind. “Depends, do I get anything in return?”Zayn’s brow furrows in confusion until he spots Liam’s lower lip jutting out like he does when he wants a kiss from Zayn. Zayn shakes his head and hides the lower half of his face underneath the blanket, “I don’t want to get you sick, Liam.”Liam jokingly pouts further, “Not even on the cheek?” He gives Zayn his best puppy dog eyes, and Zayn feels himself soften immediately, but he still pretends to be thinking when he says, “Well, maybe since you asked so nicely. And you did bring me gifts after all.”Liam hums as Zayn leans forward to kiss his cheek, tilting his face at the last second just in time to capture Zayn’s lips in his own. Zayn, surprised, lets out a disgruntled noise and pulls away from Liam, despite softening into the kiss almost immediately. He glares at Liam and ducks his face back under the covers, but Liam just laughs and turns to empty the contents of his bag over Zayn’s bed between them.“Since we couldn’t go out to eat at your favorite restaurant, I thought, why not bring the restaurant to us?” he says, and Zayn can smell the aroma of the delicious food even through his stuffed nose almost immediately. He eyes Liam suspiciously before lowering the covers from his face once again, eyes softening.“You brought all of this food for me?” He asks, peeking at all of the food in front of him as Liam opens the lid of each takeaway container. There’s more than enough food for the both of them. In fact, he’s pretty sure the two of them will only be able to finish a third of the food Liam brought. He tells Liam as much, who just shrugs in response and beams at Zayn.“I figured this way we’d have more options.”Zayn smiles and leans his head on Liam’s shoulder, scooting further towards the wall to give Liam more room on the bed. Liam kisses the top of his forehead and leans into Zayn’s warmth, handing him a fork before the two of them start to dig in.They’re halfway through their meal, just giggling and chatting about nonsense, when they decide to play a movie on the television across the room. When they’re done eating what they can, Liam collects all of the containers and leaves them in the fridge for Niall when he gets home. When he comes back to Zayn’s room, Zayn is huddled back under the covers, having left some room for Liam to join him.He crawls under the covers and maneuvers himself so that he’s between the wall and Zayn, curling against Zayn’s warm back. He presses play on the movie and presses his nose into Zayn’s hair, smelling bits of citrus from his shampoo and a faintness of tobacco.Zayn does his best to focus on the movie, but suddenly he’s overwhelmed by the feeling of Liam’s front pressed against his back. Specifically, a certain member pressed against his back.“Were you ever in a frat?” He asks Liam, muttering the words before his brain can filter them. He curses himself in his head as Liam eyes the back of his head curiously.“Nope. Why do you ask?” He asks, rubbing his hand down Zayn’s arm and pressing a kiss to the fantail tattoo at the back of his neck.Well, there goes that. Fuck.“Where goes what? And fuck what?” Liam asks, and oh, shit. He said that out loud didn’t he.“Yeah, you did,” Liam responds, his brows furrowing in confusion. Zayn curses and tries to pretend on focusing on the movie, but Liam just turns him around to face him.“Are you alright? Do you need me to bring you some more of your medicine?” He asks, eyeing Zayn suspiciously. Zayn shakes his head, “No, Liam, it’s nothing. I was just wondering.”“Oh,” Liam says. “Why?”Zayn frowns, “Does it matter? I just wanted to ask a damn question.” And okay, maybe he’s being a little too defensive, but he really doesn’t want to tell Liam the truth as to why he asked.“Well you don’t have to be so rude about it,” Liam says, letting go of Zayn and putting some distance between the two of them, and okay, no, this isn’t what Zayn wanted.He sighs and reaches out to grab Liam’s arm gently, furrowing back into the warmth Liam’s chest provides, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”Liam’s frown dissolves almost immediately, his hand coming up to carress Zayn’s cheek, his thumb gently grazing Zayn’s eyebrow. He leans into their embrace, just enjoying the warmth and not saying anything, the movie long forgotten. “Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you?” He finally asks, nudging Zayn’s face up so that they’re making eye contact. Zayn bites his lip and his fingers twitch against Liam’s skin, a nervous habit of his that Liam noticed very quickly after meeting the boy. He shakes his head and Liam tsks, eyeing him firmly. He’s not accepting no for an answer.“Zayn,” he reprimands. “Tell me what’s wrong.” It’s less of a question this time, and Zayn knows Liam knows him well enough to know when he’s lying. He just doesn’t know how to go about telling Liam that, yeah, he saw Liam purchasing extra small condoms the night before and now he feels shallow because he can’t stop thinking about whether or not Liam is packing much down there.“So, you weren’t in a frat at all?” He asks again, grimacing slightly when Liam glares at him.“No, I wasn’t. Now tell me what’s wrong,” he says, tilting Zayn’s face so that they’re making eye contact again. Zayn flushes under the gaze, his heart beating rapidly as he breathes and tries to put his words together.“Uhm,” he starts, biting his lip nervously before he continues, “is there any reason why you were buying those-uhm, things? Yesterday.”Liam’s brow furrows again and he asks, “What, your cough medicine?”Zayn groans and shakes his head. God, he doesn’t want to say it.“No Liam, not the cough medicine,” he says. He clears his throat and sniffles as he feels a wave of congestion come over him, but now is not the time to have a coughing fit, even though it’d relieve him of this awkward conversation he’s about to have.“Then what- oh. The condoms?” He asks, brows pinching together in a way that Zayn would find adorable if he didn’t feel so embarrassed right now. He clears his throat again and nods, and Liam sighs, “God, Zayn, is that what this is about?”Zayn nods, biting his lip nervously. Liam uses his thumb to pull his bottom lip out from under his teeth, rubbing it with his finger before pecking Zayn’s lips with his own quickly, before saying, “Zayn, love, I didn’t get thise condoms because of you, if that’s why you’ve been acting so strange lately.”And, oh.“Oh,” Zayn frowns. He should have known Liam got those condoms because of someone else. Should have known that he and Liam weren’t as serious or as exclusive as he thought. They weren’t even official yet, anyway, today having supposed to been the day of their first date. He feels his cheeks heat up even more, completely embarrassed. He fights Liam’s hold on him until they’re no longer making eye contact, needing to look away after knowing the implications of those words.He hears Liam groan, “Wait, no. Zayn, that’s not what I meant. I meant, I wasn’t purchasing them because of you, because they weren’t for me either.” He pauses, “Does that make any sense?”Zayn’s brow furrows adorably as he looks over at Liam again, “What?”Liam huffs, “I guess not.” He takes his hand and smooths out Zayn’s eyebrow with his palm. “What I mean is, I didn’t buy those condoms for myself. They were for my roommate.”Zayn feels a rush of emotions at this. Surprise, confusion, and-relief? Wait, that means-“Louis?!”Liam grimaces, pressing a kiss to Zayn’s forehead before he says, “It’s not what you think. Despite living with Louis for so long, I’ve actually never seen his bits so I can’t tell you much about that.” He frowns. “Not that I’d want to,” he adds, and Zayn laughs, feeling his body relieving some of the tension it’s accumulated throughout their conversation. “Anyway, his car broke down so he asked if I could pick up some condoms for him at the store. I wasn’t gonna let him drive my car, so I offered to get them for him, except he was pissing me off the entire day and made a complete mess of our apartment, so I got him the extra small pack to get back at him,” he admits, giggling when Zayn gives him a look.“So, wait,” Zayn says after a moment. “Was Louis in a frat?”Liam pulls back and gives him a look, “what does that have to do with anything?”Zayn just bites his lip again and shrugs, which makes Liam sigh, but he says, “Yes, actually. He was in a frat. Just don’t ask me which one, because all of them sound the same to me.” He eyes Zayn suspiciously, before continuing, “You don’t have some weird kink for frat boys that I should know about, do you?”Zayn laughs, pulling Liam closer to himself, “No I don’t. I have eyes for only one guy.”Liam sighs, “Man, he must be a lucky fella. I would kill to be him.”Zayn kisses his cheek, smiling up at Liam with eyes full of adoration. He faux whispers, “Hey, don’t tell anyone, but the guy I like is actually you.”Liam raises an eyebrow and whispers back, “You don’t say?” Before pulling Zayn back into his arms and peppering his face with kisses until Zayn is a laughing mess, trying to pull away, but Liam has a firm hold on him.It’s not until a coughing fit takes over his body that Liam finally pulls away, rubbing his back while Zayn coughs into his arm, reaching for a tissue from his nightstand to wipe his dripping nose. When he lies back onto the bed, Liam is eyeing him curiously, his bottom lip tugged between his teeth.Zayn looks at him, silently nodding for Liam to say what’s on his mind.“It wouldn’t have mattered, would it?” He asks. Sensing Zayn’s confusion at his words, he continues, “If the condoms really were for me. Would it have mattered?” Zayn tugs his lip between his teeth in thought, but shakes his head. As nice as it would be for Liam to be well-endowed in all departments, he ultimately has come to like Liam purely for his personality. And he’s sure there would’ve been ways they could have gotten around it in their sex life, had their relationship gotten that far. He shakes his head, looking at Liam firmly before he says, confidently, “No, it wouldn’t have. Part of me may have been a little disappointed, but ultimately, I like you for you, not because you have a small dick.”“Oof,” Liam grunts, “And who says I have a small dick?”Zayn laughs, reaching down to pat Liam’s butt cheekily, “Well, just because the condoms weren’t for you, doesn’t mean you’ve got anything incredible down there.”Liam makes a noise between a grunt and a growl before he’s pulling Zayn into him, manouvering him so that Zayn’s right leg is splayed over Liam’s hip. He grinds his hips up into Zayn’s, and Zayn whimpers as he feels the outline of Liam’s cock through their pants, and okay, Liam is definitely packing, there’s no doubt about that. He leans forward to bite Liam’s collarbone, the warmth of his breath tickling Liam’s skin. He bites at the heart-shaped birthmark just under Liam’s jaw, and Liam groans before manhandling Zayn so that he’s straddling Liam’s thighs.Zayn moves his hips down experimentally, biting his lip at the relief the new angle gives him. He puts his fingers underneath the hem of Liam’s shirt, fingernails digging harshly into Liam’s skin as Liam grinds their hips together, snaking a hand underneath the waistband of Zayn’s jeans to cup his cheek and grind their hips together.Zayn shudders, whispering an “oh, God, Liam,” as Liam grinds their hips together. Liam presses a kiss to his chin, stilling his movements and whispering a “Is this okay?”Zayn nods, biting back a whimper at the loss of Liam’s movement, and grinds back down into Liam’s lap. Liam pulls his knees up to support Zayn from behind, who helps Liam get their clothes off quickly, as best as they can without halting their grinding. Liam rubs his hands down Zayn’s arms, eyeing him with a look of awe that has Zayn almost shying away and halting his movements completely. Liam flips the two of them so that he’s on top, Zayn’s knees now bracketing Liam’s hips.“Zayn,” Liam murmurs, kissing his jaw before pulling back to look at him. “Yes?” Zayn asks, the word drawling out between his lips slowly while he tries to lift his hips up to edge Liam on, but Liam grabs his hips and keeps him firm against the mattress, trailing his lips softly down Zayn’s jaw until he reaches the base of Zayn’s neck.“You’re beautiful, ya know,” he says, nipping softly at the juncture where Zayn’s neck meets his shoulder. Zayn rolls his eyes fondly, trying to grind his hips up against Liam’s again but to no avail. He lets out a small huff in annoyance, but Liam’s chest expands with adoration, the corner of his lips tilting upward until the outline of his smile is pressing against Zayn’s smooth skin. Zayn instead settles on reaching his hand up to play with the short strands of Liam’s hair, pushing the longer ones in the front up and away from Liam’s forehead.“You’re the beautiful one, Li,” he whispers, tapping his fingers playfully against the side of Liam’s face until the boy looks up from where he’s sucking a bruise onto Zayn’s clavicle and smiles, resting his bony chin on Zayn’s chest. Zayn huffs and tries to push Liam’s face off of him, and Liam leans up to kiss his lips but Zayn is quick to turn his face away from Liam, who frowns at the sudden movement.“I’m still sick, Li. I don’t want you to get sick, too,” he explains. Liam’s gaze softens, and he kisses Zayn’s cheek one, two, three more times before he rests his head against the pillow next to Zayn’s, using his index finger to tilt Zayn’s head to face him.“Are you saying you don’t want to take care of me when I’m sick?” He huffs playfully, and Zayn laughs, biting Liam’s cheek in retaliation.“No,” he teases, “My immune system is shit and I can’t take care of you if I’m not done being sick either.”Liam laughs, “I guess we’ll just be sick together then, that way we can make our roommates take care of us and go out to buy us condoms.”Zayn laughs as well, but his heart aches at the first half of Liam’s statement. He frowns and cups Liam’s face in his palm.“I don’t ever want to see you sick,” he admits softly, and Liam looks at him with an unreadable expression before he’s pressing his lips to Zayn’s despite Zayn’s protests all night, their lips molding together perfectly. He doesn’t think he could ever get enough of kissing Zayn, even though the boy has a cold and is whining unhappily at the contact.He pulls back with one last nip to Zayn’s bottom lip before he rests his forehead against Zayn’s. “Now there’s no way I won’t get sick, so you might as well keep kissing me,” he teases, brushing the hair that’s matted to Zayn’s forehead back with his knuckles before kissing Zayn once again. He runs his tongue gently across Zayn’s bottom lip, grinding his hips against Zayn’s again until they’re moving again in a steady rhythm. Zayn pulls back from the kiss to moan, his back arching slightly at the pressure of Liam’s cock against his. Liam carefully hooks his fingers under the waistband of Zayn’s boxers, eyeing the boy for any signs of hesitation before he’s peeling back the thin fabric along with his own, both of their cocks springing free. Zayn takes advantage of the moment to peek down at Liam’s crotch-and yeah, okay. Liam is definitely packing. He blushes at the sight and looks back at Liam, who presses his hips back into Zayn’s until they’re rocking together steadily.His fingers twist into the bedsheets, his chest letting out a low rumble that encourages Liam to keep going.“Liam, can we just-,” Zayn starts, his words cut off by a whine as Liam angles his hips downward onto Zayn’s. “Just like this, tonight, please?”Liam nods in understanding. It’s too soon for them to sleep together, as much as he knows they would both like to. He doesn’t ask for an explanation, just continues to grind his hips downward as he places a kiss to Zayn’s jaw to let him know he understands.He pulls back slightly, brown eyes peering down with an intensity Zayn has never seen before, causing the raven-haired boy to preen under the attention.“Could look at you all day,” he admits, biting his lip as he watches Zayn throw his head back into the mattress, his hair fanned across the pillow and back arching so his hips can roll back and meet the press of Liam’s as much as he can.They come just like that a few minutes later, breathing heavily into one another, skin slicked with sweat as their hips meet repeatedly, Zayn with a loud cry and Liam with a bite to Zayn’s shoulder to muffle his own grunt.Zayn relaxes back against the bedsheets, barely sated enough to notice Liam’s absence while the brown-eyed boy runs to the bathroom to grab a warm washcloth, until he comes back and starts wiping down his and Zayn’s chest. Zayn gives him a small smile of appreciation, his orgasm and his cold now both leaving him completely exhausted. He’s asleep before Liam is even back in bed, who manouvers the sleeping boy gently until he can get his arms around Zayn’s and Zayn’s head is laying on Liam’s chest. He turns off the television as well as the lamp on the nighstand, until the room is completely dark. He falls asleep not long after, with a final kiss to Zayn’s forehead and a whispered, “good night,” that he knows Zayn won’t hear, but his lips twitch at in his sleep, anyway.