EXPERIENCE POINTS
Title: Experience Points
Author: dulosis/el_em_en_oh_pee
Ship(s): Zayn/Niall, Liam/Harry, Louis/Selena Gomez
Rating: Explicit
Wordcount: 40,000+
Summary: The good news is that Simon has decided to let Zayn start officially developing the game she and Liam have spent years talking about creating. The bad news is that, because Liam is bedridden after a debilitating accident, Simon puts the new girl, Niall, on the project with Zayn instead. The worse news is that Niall is just Zayn's type.
A/N: I couldn't have made this fic happen without help from the usual suspects and some new faces, too, so: first off, thank you to beestings, without whom this fic literally wouldn't exist. I asked her to give me a quick Ziall prompt to warm up. She asked for a high school AU. 40,000+ words later, I have fulfilled none of her requests, but I hope this is an adequate substitute.
Thanks also to intherubble for sending me links to approximately ten million different Ziall masterposts when I needed inspiration, himaryan for encouraging me to rant about the process whenever I needed to despite not even being in the fandom, lazy-daze for the eternally appreciated eleventh-hour Britpick, and kellykapoor, for making the accompanying fanmix and cover art, which is so very, very perfect, and you, for reading this incredibly self-indulgent fic.
Most importantly, thank you to my best babe eachtoeach, for holding my hand through this entire process, reading each and every section as soon as I finished writing it, and assuring me that it was good enough to post. Baby, you're my forever girl. ❤
(standard disclaimer applies: this is such an incredible work of fiction oh my god. all of my knowledge of video games comes from watching other people play)
Read Experience Points at the AO3