Cards
title: Cards
pairings(s): Liam/Zayn, side-pairing of Louis/Harry
disclaimer: ahaha haha ha no.
word count: 1278
summary: Liam's special Christmas cards get lost in the mail. Zayn has an idea.
notes: I was scrolling through Tumblr and I found this on a favorite blog of mine and I've stupidly decided to participate. I know I'm a bit behind, but I'll catch up if it kills me which it will. They won't all be Ziam, but rather a mesh of pairings. Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
"Wait-what?" Zayn asks, looking around the empty office for something that might have caused him to hear the man wrong.
"The Christmas cards you ordered, Sir," the elderly man said, his voice barely civil, much less pleasant, "seem to have gotten lost."
"Oh, no," Zayn says, "No, no, no, no."
The man gives him a tight apologetic smile that looks more like a grimace. "Can I interest you in anything else? We have a lovely holiday stamp collection."
"Those would be really great," Zayn says enthusiastically before dropping the act, "if I had cards to send."
And then the brunette boy is stalking out of the small Hallmark and pulling his thin jacket close, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. It's not that he even wanted cards-he doesn't celebrate the holiday-but Liam had been so excited for the pair of them to send out their first set of couples' cards, with their names signed in neat script, 'With love, Zayn and Liam' at the bottom.
Zayn's boyfriend had had them custom-made ages ago, with little glittery scenery picked out for the front and they'd actually looked very nice, and the company had been supposed to call the pair of them to pick up their order a week previous. "Oh, give it some time," Liam had said, "They're probably swamped with Christmas things."
But seven days later and even Liam had been growing a bit concerned and Zayn had marched out of their shared flat late this morning after watching the hazel-eyed boy spend twenty minutes deliberating on whether or not he should call the post office.
The walk takes a good twenty minutes, but even as Zayn stands in the elevator of their building, he hasn't yet figured out exactly how to break the news to Liam. He still doesn't quite understand what the big deal is-custom Christmas cards with their names at the bottom-but he does know that he doesn't want to see the disappointment poorly hidden in the depths of the younger boy's eyes.
Suddenly, Zayn has an idea that's crazy enough that it just might work.
He presses the stop button for the elevator and gets out two floors below their flat and flies down the stairs, his hands already fumbling around in his pockets for his phone.
He's halfway to Tesco's when he locates it and dials Louis' number without even glancing at the keypad.
"What do you want?" Louis answers the phone on the fourth ring and Zayn glances at the clock on his dashboard.
"Lou-it's like eleven in the morning. There's no way you've got a boy in your clutches this late or this early."
"Well I do," Zayn's best friend sniffs and Zayn rolls his eyes even though no one can see him. He sifts through different scrapbooking supplies before dumping the whole lot of it in the little trolley and grabbing a classroom-sized package of glue sticks and half a dozen rolls of tape.
"Just-get yourself dressed and get over to my flat." Zayn says. "Bring your victim-the more hands the better."
"Are we finally having that orgy?" Louis asks, far too casual for his words, and Zayn almost chokes, shooting a weak smile at the girl at the register who's ringing up all of his crap with a slightly judgmental look on her face.
"No," Zayn says firmly, "I'll explain when you get there."
*
Zayn catches Louis and a tall, leggy brunette boy with a mop of curls on his head in the stairwell and purses his lips together in a 'not bad' sort of look. Louis has been known for having horrible taste when wasted, so Zayn is actually really impressed that this random is very easy on the eyes.
"Shut up," Louis grumbles, catching Zayn's look and correctly interpreting it with ease.
"'Lo," the random says cheerfully, and Zayn's totally committed to Li, but hell if that voice didn't make him just a little bit hard. "M'name's Harry."
"Harry," Zayn drawls, his voice husky and smooth, his best smirk plastered on his lips, because he's a bit of a prat sometimes, and he grins wickedly when Harry, the cupcake, blushes and looks down. Louis looks torn between being peeved off and amused, but he knows torment is due. When Zayn and Liam had finally gotten together, Louis hadn't shut up about it for months.
Finally, Louis notices the bags Zayn's clutching and raises an eyebrow. "You interrupted my fun for a bit of an arts and crafts sesh?" he says disbelievingly and Zayn sighs, leading the way onto the correct floor and towards their door.
"Liam custom-ordered these cards," Zayn says, rolling his eyes fondly, "and he was so excited about being able to send them out to everyone with our names signed together at the bottom, but the post office lost the packages."
Louis takes in Zayn's expression, his blue eyes darting to the bags once more before it clicks. And then he roars with laughter.
Zayn and Harry watch, the former unimpressed and the latter fond, as Louis bends down, clutching his stomach and nearly falling to the ground, as he laughs.
"Are you quite finished?" Zayn asks, checking his wrist that is, unsurprisingly, watch-less.
"You want us to help you make cutesy holiday cards that way Liam isn't upset?" Louis asks, straightening up and wiping fake years from his eyes. Before Zayn can retort, however, Harry's pretty green eyes have lit up and he's gasping and cooing.
"That's so romantic!" Harry sighs dreamily, pushing some of his curls out of his face. "The most adorable thing ever."
"I agree," Louis says quickly and Zayn's eyebrows are now making acquaintance with his hairline and he watches as Harry gasps again, whirling around to smile brightly at Louis, throwing his long arms around Zayn's rather embarrassed best friend and presses a kiss to the smaller boy's jawline.
"We should do it too!" Harry says to Louis and Zayn nearly chokes when the older boy agrees.
"Shut up," Louis grumbles again and Zayn shrugs, giving the boy a look that clearly says 'we'll discuss this later' and Louis groans but half-carries Harry to Zayn's door and waits patiently as Zayn unlocks it and leads the way inside.
"Li!" Zayn calls, "I'm home-and I've brought company."
"Good," comes the distinctly Irish accent of Liam's best friend. "I hate it when it's just the three of us. Third wheeling much?"
"Hey, Nialler," Zayn says, entering the kitchen and not even blinking to see the blonde boy rooting around in his refrigerator, Liam at the table with a cup of tea. Zayn presses his lips to Liam's cheek and takes the spot next to him, shrugging when Liam makes a pointed questioning look towards Louis and Harry.
"So I got to the shop," Zayn begins, launching into the tale he'd already prepared, "and I got the cards and they didn't have the same sort of shine we'd originally thought they would."
Liam stares at him because Zayn had barely glanced at the computer screen when the younger boy showed him which ones he was buying, but motions for him to proceed.
"So I asked for a refund-" Zayn continues louder over Liam's 'you did not, Zayn' "-and bought all of this stuff, and we're all going to make the cards ourselves."
Zayn smiles innocently at Liam's devastated expression and dumps over the four bags of supplies all out on the table, picking up a bottle of glitter at random and waving around in front of his boyfriend's face. "See?" Zayn says, "they won't be good-they'll be perfect."
*
Oh, look, Ziam with a side of Larry--surely that deserves a review?