Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5759437.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Zayn_Malik_(Musician), One_Direction_(Band)
  Relationship:
      Zayn_Malik/Liam_Payne
  Character:
      Zayn_Malik, Liam_Payne, Louis_Tomlinson, Nicola_Payne
  Additional Tags:
      Older_Zayn, Younger_Liam, Age_Difference, Blow_Job, Hand_Job, Angst
  Series:
      Part 1 of Best_Friend's_Brother_AU
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-01-19 Words: 9181
****** Make You Feel My Love ******
by iwanttowriteyouafic
Summary
     "Zayn pulled into Liam’s driveway, trying to get as close as possible
     so Liam wouldn’t be in the rain for too long. He turned off the
     engine and looked over at Liam, struck by just how young the boy
     looked. He knew, logically, that there was only a four year
     difference, and that Liam was well into puberty and probably looked
     quite mature for his age, but Zayn was fixated on how small he was."
      
     (Or the one where sixteen-year-old Liam is Nicola little brother, and
     when she asked her best friend Zayn to help cheer him up she probably
     didn't predict it all to end like this.)
Notes
     Based off anonymous prompt: "Hiii!! would you write something along
     the lines of 'in a secret relationship with my best friend's brother
     and then they kind of catch us?' thank you! x'."
     I didn't 100% stick to the prompt, but, y'know.
     *** PLEASE DO NOT REPOST ANY OF MY WORKS ON OTHER SITES WITHOUT
     GETTING MY PERMISSION FIRST. Do not post copies of my work on
     livejournal, wattpad, fanfiction.net or anywhere, even if you have
     the intention of giving me credit. I do not want them on those sites
     at this point in time. So far, I have only given permission for my
     fic 'Pride' to be translated into Russian and posted on a Russian
     fanfiction website. Any other copies of my work that I come across
     will be reported. Please don't do it. It really sucks that I have to
     even write this note. ***
“I just don’t know what to do,” Nicola was whispering into the phone. Zayn
could picture her hiding in her kitchen pantry, trying to keep her voice soft
so her little brother couldn’t hear. “Like, all day there’ve been people
calling Mum to say they aren’t coming. And she hasn’t told him yet, because
he’s so damn excited for the party.”
“Why wouldn’t they just tell your brother?” Zayn asked, picking up an old comic
with interest. It was in pretty good condition considering it was in the
second-hand pile.
“He put down Mum’s number as the contact, I think,” Nice said. “He sent out
proper invitations instead of just making a thing on Facebook.”
Zayn winced a little. He hadn’t met Liam before, but he was starting to get the
idea that he wasn’t all that popular at school. He sounded sweet, though. “Do
you know if anyone’s said they’re coming?”
“Ruth and her boyfriend promised to stick around,” Nic said with a sigh. “And
I’m making Charlie come, too.”
Charlie being Ruth’s boyfriend. “But no-one from his school?” Zayn clarified.
Nic muttered her affirmation. “I’ll come, too.”
“I wonder if he knows your little sister,” Nicola commented.
“Waliya?” Zayn guessed, figuring Safaa’s too young. “She’s got another party
tonight- oh, shit. Does Liam know another kid in his year has a party tonight?
Wali said the whole year was invited.”
“Liam obviously didn’t get the memo,” Nicola said, sounding sad. Zayn knew she
was probably pinching the bridge of her nose right now, frustrated because she
desperately wanted to help her brother but didn’t know how.
Zayn had to do something. He knew that Nicola would take it as a personal fault
if Liam had a bad birthday, and he couldn’t bear to see his best friend so
upset. “What’re his hobbies?”
“What?” Nicola sniffed.
“The stuff he’s into,” Zayn clarified. “Does he like a certain tape of book,
or…?”
“Comics,” Nicola corrected. “The sort of ones you read, like superheroes and
all that. And he likes those sort of movies, too.”
“Okay,” Zayn said. He put his phone on speaker while he made a list on the
notes app. “Anything else?”
“Er,” Nicola murmured, thinking. “Oh! He tried out for X Factor a couple years
ago, so music I guess. And video games, but I think Ruth bought him a whole
stack. And he started boxing a few weeks ago, but there’s not much you can do
with that. I’m assuming you’re going to use this information to buy him a
present, right?”
Zayn made a face, taking his phone off speaker. “I’m not going to use it to
tease him, Nic. I’m not like your asshole boyfriend.”
“I swear to God, if you two fight again-“
“We’re not going to fight at your little brother’s party,” Zayn scoffed.
“You better not,” Nic warned. “I’ve got to go. I’ve been standing in the
cupboard for twenty minutes now.”
“Of course you have,” Zayn sniggered. “I’ll see you later. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Nicola said quickly, hanging up. Zayn looked back at the list
he made, then back at the second-hand pile of comics. He can tick at least one
thing off.
+
Zayn arrived at Nicola’s house a little after seven. He’s not sure when a
sixteenth birthday party is supposed to start, but figured he’s early because
it’s dead quiet inside.
He’s wrong.
“He’s been waiting for over an hour,” Nicola groaned into Zayn’s chest when she
greeted him at the door. She looked like she was nearly in tears. “Not even his
prick best mate Andy has shown up.”
Zayn had heard a few stories about Andy. The boy apparently had a thing about
blaming Liam on stuff his parents caught him with, like a pack of smokes or a
stolen movie. Nic had hold him about the screaming matches their parents would
have, and how Andy would text Liam nonstop until he gave in and said he did it
to save his best mate’s ass. Liam’s parents never punished him because they
knew their boy was lying.
“I’ll slug the kid one day, I swear,” Zayn grumbled.
“You haven’t even met him,” Nicola pointed out. “Or Liam, for that matter.”
Zayn pulled back from the hug and nodded down the hallway. “You should
introduce us, then.”
Nicola grabbed his hand and lead him down the hallway. On the way to the living
room they past the kitchen door, where Zayn quickly waved at Nic’s parents.
They waved back a little sombrely, and Zayn could guess why. The living room
was decorated with balloons everywhere, tied to odd bits of furniture or
floating freely along the roof. Banners exclaiming ‘Happy Birthday!’ were
pinned on two walls, one hovering behind a table holding a huge cake and bowls
of chips and finger food. Another table next to it had every soft drink
imaginable, plus a few juices and ginger ale. And sitting on the couch, staring
down at his hands, was the youngest Payne child.
Zayn was taken aback, if he was honest. From Nicola’s descriptions of how dorky
her little brother was, and how sick he’d been as a kid, and how he only had
one (shitty) friend, Zayn had been expecting a short, thin kid with braces and
a bowl cut or something.
Instead he was met with a boy not much shorter than himself, with curly brown
hair and a little definition to his arms. When the boy looked up at him in
interest, Zayn was met with chocolate brown eyes not unlike Nic’s, but also an
unexpectedly sharp jawline and bushy eyebrows that expressed his confusion so
clearly.
“Who’re you?” Liam asked, glancing between Zayn and Nic. He had an unexpectedly
low voice.
“This is my friend Zayn,” Nicola said.
“Oh,” Liam said, looking down again. “I thought you were dropping off a little
brother, or something.”
“I’ve only got sisters,” Zayn said, shrugging. There was a painful tug at his
heart when he saw Liam sigh, fidgeting with his shirt nervously and his breath
a little uneven like he was holding back a sob. Zayn quickly pulled off his
backpack, dropping it onto the floor heavily as he unzipped it. “I bought you
some presents, though.”
Nicola sat down on the carpeted floor, so Zayn followed suit, crossing his
legs. Liam eyed him in confusion, gaze darting to where a bunch of poorly-
wrapped presents were peeking out of Zayn’s bag.
“You bought me stuff?” Liam asked, trying to hide his obvious excitement
beneath a poor façade of nonchalance. “We haven’t met.”
“Nic’s told me so much about you that you might as well be my best friend,”
Zayn said with a small laugh. It was a lie, though – Nic talked about him a
lot, yes, but Zayn felt like everything he had learnt and assumed was being
modified and nulled the more he watched Liam.
Liam hesitated for a moment. He looked at Nicola for approval, received a small
nod, then slid off the couch and sat across from Zayn.
“Okay, so,” Zayn said, grabbing the one on top and passing it to Liam. “Nic
told me you liked these, so I picked out some of my favourites.”
Liam had long, strong looking fingers, but they were nimble and delicate when
they opened Zayn’s horrible attempt at gift wrapping. Liam’s jaw dropped in
surprise when a dozen comics slid onto the floor, ranging from big names like
Thor to more obscure ones that Zayn found by chance and fell in love with years
ago. The boy ran his hand over the different covers, apparently not concerned
by how a few of them were frayed at the edges.
“I’m going to grab a drink,” Nic murmured, leaving them in favour of going to
the kitchen. Zayn guessed she was probably going to skull wine and worry about
Liam with her mum.
“These are amazing,” Liam said in wonderment. He looked up at Zayn with bright
eyes, grinning widely. “Batman’s my favourite,” Liam said, holding up an old
comic with a bat symbol on the front.
“I like Iron Man,” Zayn said, leaning forward to tap one of the comics that had
fallen closest to him. “Tortured middle-aged billionaire orphans are sort of
the best.”
“Especially with their sidekicks,” Liam agreed enthusiastically. “Like Jarvis
is awesome. I’m glad they made him funny in the movies.”
“Same,” Zayn said, grinning now as well. He didn’t really have any friends who
were into this stuff, so it was nice to have someone to talk to about it. He
dug into his bag again. “Okay, Present Number Two.”
Liam was less hesitant when he took the package from Zayn’s hands. He was
equally as careful with unwrapping it, though, even when he discovered Zayn had
overdone it with the sticky tape. Zayn was a little endeared.
“Holy crap,” Liam exclaimed when he unveiled a recording mic. He opened the box
straight away, staring excitedly at the device that was obscured by bubble
wrap.
“So you could record yourself singing,” Zayn told him. “I better be credited on
the first album.”
“I’ll write the whole album for you,” Liam told him earnestly, then blushed
deeply when he realised what he said. “For, like, giving me this. I mean.”
“I know,” Zayn told him, smiling softly at Liam’s cute stammering.
“Well,” Liam said, swallowing thickly as he packaged the microphone again.
“Thank you so much for these, Zayn.”
Zayn shook his head. “There’s more, you goof.”
“What?” Liam said in astonishment, watching as Zayn pulled out a small box.
Zayn held it out to him, but Liam didn’t take it. “C’mon, Liam,” Zayn said,
shaking it a little.
Liam finally took it from him. He opened it slowly, grinning down at the boxing
glove keychain. Zayn thought it was kind of a shitty present, but Liam’s smile
made him think it was a good thing he bought it. “My sisters keep stealing my
house key because they think it’s theirs,” Liam said. “This’ll make it easier
to tell it apart.”
Zayn held out his last gift: a small envelope. Liam took it gingerly, shaking
his head at Zayn as if exasperated by the amount of presents he’d received. He
opened the envelope just as carefully as the presents, and looked startled when
an iTunes voucher fell into his lap. He picked it up absentmindedly as he read
the card, smiling at Zayn’s rushed attempt at drawing the Hulk. Zayn can’t even
remember what he wrote in the card, but he knows it definitely isn’t good
enough to deserve Liam’s beaming smile.
“Think you, Zayn,” Liam said, eyes a little wet. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it,” Zayn said. “If-“
Zayn cut off when Nicola and her boyfriend entered the room. Charlie had a beer
in one hand and a gift bag in one hand, with a fake, tight smile on his face
when he dropped the bag next to Liam’s knee.
“Happy birthday,” he said, ruffling Liam’s hair. Zayn watched Liam recoil from
the touch. Charlie’s eyes averted to Zayn, and he frowned. “What are you doing
here?”
Zayn met his glare evenly. “Celebrating a birthday.”
“How convenient,” Charlie said lowly, eyebrow raised. Nicola quickly walked
over and grabbed his hand.
“We’re going to grab the pizzas,” she said quickly, eyes dancing between her
best friend and boyfriend with a warning look. “Right, Charlie?”
“Right,” he agreed, keeping his eyes on Zayn as he retreated back into the
hallway, Nic pulling him out of sight. Zayn glared at him all the way.
“I hate that guy,” he and Liam said at the same time. They both laughed in
surprise.
“Why do you hate him?” Liam asked curiously.
“He’s a prick because he thinks I’m trying to steal his girlfriend,” Zayn said,
shrugging. “We don’t get along.
Liam tilted his head. “Are you?”
“Trying to steal Nicola from him?” he asked. Liam nodded. “I’m gay, Liam. I’m
more likely to steal him.”
“Oh,” Liam said, surprised.
“Why do you not like him?” Zayn asked, changing the subject. He wasn’t ashamed
of his sexuality, or anything, but he knew how accidentally offensive teenage
boys could be, and he liked Liam too much to find out if he was like the
majority.
“He’s not the greatest person,” Liam said. As if proving his point, he pulled a
pack of socks out of the gift bag with a card that said ‘You’re Fifteen!’ on
it. “And he’s not very observant. I don’t know why Nic’s dating him.”
Zayn figured it’d be inappropriate to tell him that Charlie is apparently
dynamite in bed. “I’m sure he’s got a spiffing personality,” Zayn said with
fake enthusiasm.
Liam laughed brightly. It died out quickly, though. He was looking around,
checking the time on his phone and looking quite sullen. Zayn thought about
telling him about the other party, just to put him out of his misery, but
thought better of it.
“Did Ruth give you her present?” Zayn asked, eyeing a little shred of gift wrap
that didn’t belong to any of the presents Zayn had bought him.
“Yeah,” Liam said, a little distracted. “A few new PS4 games.”
Zayn grinned. “Wanna play?”
+
Fifteen minutes later, Zayn was ashamed to say he was having his ass absolutely
handed to him. He’s not exactly sure what the game is called, but it
essentially involved tracking each other down and killing the other as many
times as they could within a certain time frame. Liam had killed him about
twenty times in the last five minutes alone. Zayn had managed to kill him once,
but spent so long celebrating that he didn’t realise Liam had tracked him down
again, and threw a grenade at him.
“That was rude,” Zayn said. He simultaneously groaned and laughed when his
character splattered across the screen. “God, this is graphic.”
“Do you not like it?” Liam asked, looking worried.
Complete opposite, actually. He was having way too much fun being repeatedly
killed. “Nah, ‘s good,” Zayn said, having a sip of coke while he waited for his
character to revive again. “I’m just not very good at it.”
“You’re too slow, old man,” Liam teased, almost instantly killing Zayn again.
“I’m not that old,” Zayn squawked indignantly. “I’ve only just gone twenty.”
“Please, you’re practically ready to retire,” Liam joked.
“I’ll make you retire,” Zayn grumbled without heat, new determination as he
hunted Liam’s character down again. Every time Liam popped in view he ducked
away again, too good at hiding. Zayn tried to nudge him to make him lose focus,
poking him in the ribs and trying to shoot him with one hand but not able to
aim straight because Liam’s laugh was so distracting. It was the type of whole
body laugh that had his legs curling in and back arching. It intensified when
he managed to throw another grenade at Zayn.
“Oh my God,” Liam gasped out through his laughs. “You’re so bad!”
“Leeyum,” Zayn whined. The timer had run out, and Liam had won 27-1. “You’re
definitely cheating. There’s no way you’re that good.”
“I’m not that good, actually, you’re just spectacularly bad,” he giggled. Zayn
dropped his remote and lunged at him, tickling his sides until he was gasping
out and begging Zayn to stop. He still found the energy to continue trash
talking Zayn, though, so he kept on tickling him, only stopping when Nic
cleared her throat in the entranceway.
“Got the pizza,” she said, grinning at them when she placed two boxes on the
floor. “Meat lovers for the birthday boy, and vegetarian for the man trying to
kill my brother.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Liam told her. “Zayn couldn’t kill someone if they were
standing in front of him and he just had to press a button.”
“You’re a menace,” Zayn laughed, picking up his remote again. “I’ll win this
round, just you watch.”
He lost. Bad. He didn’t even look at the score when it flashed on screen.
“Kicking your ass makes me hungry,” Liam told him cheekily, dropping his
controller in favour of the pizza boxes. He opened the first one and scrunched
up his face at the sight. “Ugh, vegetarian.”
“Yum,” Zayn corrected, happily taking the box from him. He hadn’t eaten all
day. “And it’s from the good place on Carlton Street. You won’t believe how
many times I’ve gone there when I’m high and having cravings.”
“Do you do weed?” Liam asked. He looked so innocent that Zayn nearly blushed
when he nodded. “Does Nic?”
“Of course not,” Zayn lied quickly. They’d smoked a bowl two nights ago,
actually, but he wasn’t going to say that to her little brother. Liam grinned
like he knew.
Zayn dug in to his pizza, moaning exaggeratingly at the first bite. Liam looked
over, scrunching up his face again.
“Do you hate it that much?” Zayn asked, laughing.
“Looks nasty,” Liam said, shuddering.
“Have you tasted it before?” Zayn asked him. Liam didn’t answer. “Liam, how can
you hate something you’ve never tried?”
“You sound like my mum,” Liam told him.
Zayn smiled. “You sound like me before I tasted vegetarian pizza.”
Liam apparently knew where this was going, and leant away from Zayn when the
man started inching forward. “I’m not trying it. Nope. No way.”
“Just one bite, Leeyum,” Zayn said, crawling forward and holding out the pizza.
Liam turned his nose up, laughing as he tried to scramble away. Zayn tried
another approach. “One bite, and I’ll tell you what your last present is.”
Liam looked intrigued. “Another present?” he asked. Zayn nodded. Liam looked
from him to the pizza, biting his lip. Finally he sighed and leant forward,
taking a bite of it. Zayn watched, entranced, as Liam’s mouth clamped onto the
end, teeth peeking out and biting down, eyes fixated on his own when he pulled
away. Zayn swallowed thickly, snapping out of it when Liam sat back on his
heels expectantly. “What’s the last present, then?”
Zayn grinned. “The gift of vegetarian pizza.”
“Dick move,” Liam grumbled, smiling a little when he ate some of his own pizza.
“Did you like it, at least?” Zayn asked.
Liam shrugged. Zayn grinned when he realised that he had finally won.
It was too silent while they ate, so Zayn pulled out his phone and played some
music quietly. Liam nodded his head along to the beat of the music, but didn’t
speak. He looked lost in thought. Zayn looked around the room again, wondering
how much money Karen and Geoff forked out to pay for the snacks, the drinks,
the helium in the balloons. He looked back at Liam and found the boy watching
him.
“You can ask, you know,” Liam told him.
“Ask what?” Zayn asked in confusion. Liam gave him a look. “I honestly don’t
know.”
“You can ask why no one wanted to come to my party,” Liam told him, looking
down at his pizza. He wasn’t eating now, he was just picking at the toppings.
Zayn didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to ask the wrong questions and get
Liam upset after how happy he’d been for the last hour.
“I dunno if Nic told you, but when I was younger I was a bit sick,” Liam said,
not looking up. “And so I missed a lot of school, and didn’t get to make
friends naturally like the others did. So for most of primary I was a bit of an
outcast. Getting picked last for sports and stuff, like.”
He stopped talking for a moment. Zayn wondered if he should say something, but
got the feeling that Liam needed to just get it all out.
“High school has been better, at least,” Liam said. “I met my mate Andy on the
first day, and we’re still friends. And, like, when I got through to Judge’s
houses on X Factor I was, like, some hero at school, or something. I even got
first pick at lockers, right in the middle next to the cafeteria. But then I
got kicked out because I was too young, and some of the older kids thought it
was funny. So naturally everyone found it funny. And then somehow everyone
found out that I like girls and guys, even though I only told Andy, and, well,
you know.”
“I’m sorry,” Zayn said, because he needed to say something. Liam looked smaller
than he had all day, and it made something in his ache painfully.
“It’s okay,” Liam said, finally looking up. He was smiling wryly. “Once I go to
uni it’ll be better. People are a lot more accepting there, right?”
Zayn nodded quickly, even though it wasn’t always entirely true. “I had a hard
time in school, too. I’d always known I was gay but I just sort of never told
anyone until about tenth grade when someone took a photo of me snogging a guy
from another school. Kids were a little more obviously homophobic back then,
and pair that with being Muslim and biracial, and pretty quiet most of the time
– well, there was a lot to not like about me.”
“I find it hard to believe you never fit in,” Liam said, smiling a little.
“You’re so, like, cool. With your tattoos and leather jacket and stuff. And
you’re gorgeous, so all the girls were probably in love with you until they
found out you were gay.”
Zayn raised an eyebrow at being called gorgeous but didn’t mention it. “In high
school you’re picked on for what makes you different. It’s in college that
people start to find differences interesting, and that’s where you get your
confidence if you don’t have it already,” he said. He smiled a little, thinking
back. “I got a lot more confidence when I met your sister. She’s the best
friend I’ve ever had.”
“Andy’s my best friend,” Liam said. He wasn’t smiling. “He’s a bit of a prick,
though.”
“I’ve heard,” Zayn said, frowning. “Why do you let him get you in trouble?”
Liam shrugged, didn’t answer. The room was silent except for the sound of Drake
softly crooning through Zayn’s phone. Zayn didn’t know what to say, if there
was anything to say. He was hyper aware that he was supposed to be an adult
here. He felt like a kid, though, helpless and not sure how to act.
“I like this song,” Liam murmured after a moment.
“You like Drake?” Zayn asked, surprised.
Liam nodded eagerly. “I wanted to go to his concert last year but didn’t have
anyone to go with.”
Zayn’s jaw almost dropped. “Same! I was begging Nic for weeks to go with me.”
“If we’d met a few months ago, we could’ve gone together,” Liam said, smiling.
Then his face dropped a little in embarrassment. “Not like a date. I mean. Not
that I wouldn’t date you, but. Uh.”
“I get it,” Zayn said, chuckling fondly. He wiped his greasy hands on his jeans
and picked up his controller again. “Tell you what: if you win, I’ll take you
to his next concert. If I win, I’ll take you to his next concert.”
“The stakes are high with this one,” Liam laughed, picking up his controller.
“You’re on.”
+
“You can go home, if you want,” Nicola told him when he was finished in the
bathroom. They were down the hall, out of Liam’s earshot. “I know that Ant was
having people around tonight.”
“I wasn’t going to go anyway,” Zayn said honestly. Ant’s a good mate, but his
friends were fucking weird. “Besides, I’m having fun.”
Nicola wrapped her arms around him, sighing. “Thanks, Zayn. You’re the best.”
“Where’s Charlie?” he asked, trying to keep the malice out of his voice.
The look on Nicola’s face says he failed. “Didn’t want to stick around the
whole night.”
“Why do you stick with him?” Zayn asked, thinking of the conversation with Liam
earlier.
“His dick is amazing, Zayn,” Nicola said, looking at Zayn very seriously.
“Like, you would understand, if only you knew.”
“A good dick doesn’t count if eighty-percent of it is lodged into his
personality,” Zayn told her.
She snorted. “Nice. Anyway, you can go home if you want. If not, we’re all
going to watch a movie.”
“When was this decided?” Zayn asked, following her back to the living room.
“When you decided to take the world’s longest piss,” she said. “Seriously,
Malik, why is Niagara Falls located in your urethra?”
Zayn shoved her playfully. He didn’t tell her that he’d lost a bet with Liam a
couple hours earlier and ended up chugging one of the unopened bottles of soft
drink. He thought to ask her why she’d been so absent all night, but figured
her asshole boyfriend had something to do with it, and he didn’t want to talk
about Charlie when he was having such a good night.
Liam picked Iron Man, much to Zayn’s amusement. And, softly, he asked Zayn if
he could sit next to him. He and Nic sandwiched the boy between them, and Zayn
shot Nic a superior look when Liam rested his head on his shoulder two minutes
into the movie. Zayn wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders, enthralled by
how small Liam felt next to him. Karen and Geoff joined them after a little
while, sitting on an adjacent couch. Ruth and her boyfriend also decided to
stay and watch the movie, with Finn sitting in the armchair and Ruth on his
lap. Zayn smiled at how Finn fed her bits of popcorn and ran his hand up her
back absentmindedly. He wished Nicola had someone like that. (He wished he did,
too.)
When Jarvis made a particularly funny comment, Zayn turned to grin and Liam and
found the boy already smiling up at him. Zayn thumbed fondly at the hairs on
the back of Liam’s neck, turning his attention back to the movie. It was
relaxing, surrounded by the Paynes (and Finn). His own family was too chaotic
to sit down and watch a movie together, but the Paynes seemed happy to spend
the night in comfortable silence. Zayn wondered if this was a regular thing, or
just because it was Liam’s birthday.
By the time the movie was finished, it was midnight and Liam was snoring softly
on his shoulder. Nicola gave him an apologetic look that Zayn waved off.
“I’m going to get ready for bed,” she whispered.
“I’ll be up there in a minute,” Zayn said softly. Her parents had long
since retired for the night, both needing to get up early for work the next
day. Finn was trying to escort a half-unconscious Ruth out to his car, and was
more or less dragging her. Within minutes it was just Zayn and a sleeping Liam
in the room.
Zayn watched Liam for a minute, wondering how anyone could dislike this boy.
The TV was casting his face in soft shadows, accentuating the fan of his
eyelashes and the dip of his nose. His hair was curly and soft, tickling Zayn’s
neck gently. He was gorgeous – beautiful even, but it was more than that. Zayn
had known the boy for almost exactly five hours, and already he knew Liam was a
sweet, funny, interesting kid whose only flaw was caring too much.
He didn’t want to wake Liam, but he needed to get the boy to bed. “Liam,” he
said softly, hand on his cheek. “Liam, you need to wake up, babe.”
Liam woke slowly, eyes blinking languidly up at Zayn. His entire demeanour was
clouded with sleep, from the way his face was slack with exhaustion to how his
feet curled when he stretched a little.
“What – time is it?” he asked, voice cracking with a yawn.
“Midnight,” Zayn said, watching how Liam blinked slowly up at him. “Bed time.”
“Okay,” Liam said. He stumbled to his feet, seemingly only remaining upright
because of Zayn’s firm hand on his hip. Zayn helped him upstairs, laughing
softly when Liam had to rest half his weight on Zayn on the way up. He seemed
to be almost flailing with how tired he was, no control of his limbs like a
baby deer. (It was en-deer-ing, Zayn thought.)
“This your room?” Zayn asked quietly. He was pointing to the door next to
Nicola’s room that had a Batman poster plastered on in.
“Mmhmm.”
Zayn pushed the door open and led Liam inside, carefully dropping him on the
bed. Liam kicked off his shoes and pants before climbing under the covers,
grinning lazily up at Zayn. Zayn ducked down and playfully smacked a kiss to
Liam’s forehead. Liam buried his cheek into the pillow, holding it close.
“Best birthday ever,” he muttered, already half asleep. Zayn closed the door
with a heart three sizes too big.
He poked his head into Nicola’s room, where she was only in her bra and
underwear, lying back on her bed with her phone in her hands, probably texting
Charlie.
“I’m off,” Zayn told her. She blew him a kiss distractedly. He rolled his eyes,
closing the door quietly and tiptoeing back down the stairs. He grabbed his
backpack from the living room and locked the door when he left.
It was only when he got back home that he realised Liam had put all his
presents back in the bag.
+
“I don’t know why he’d do that,” Nicola said once Zayn had explained why he was
back at her house the next morning. “Probably thought he didn’t deserve it all.
Which is bullshit, because he deserves to have a party where everyone shows up
and gives him presents, but still.”
Zayn wiped his feet on the welcome mat before he walked in, toeing off his
shoes and going straight for the kitchen. “Where’s he now?” Zayn asked while he
pulled out a drink from the fridge. Nicola peered in from under his arm and
grabbed the huge container of leftover cake.
“School,” she said, grabbing forks for the both of them. She sat on the kitchen
bench while Zayn leaned against it, both digging in to the cake. “So you have
the perfect opportunity to dump the presents back in his room and make a runner
before he gets a chance to hand them back.”
The chance ends up being slim, because the two of them spend so much time
eating cake and gossiping that Zayn doesn’t remember his purpose for coming
until ten minutes before Liam’s due back from school. Zayn quickly ran up the
stairs and emptied out his backpack of the four gifts from yesterday, plus a
box of donuts with a note saying ‘Try and return them again and I’ll buy you
five more presents!! (:’.
He was just walking down the driveway when Liam was walking up. He offered the
boy a grin. “Hiya, Liam.”
The boy beamed at him. “Hey,” he said. “What’re you doing here?”
“Hanging out with Nic,” Zayn said, trying to act casual. He thinks it might be
working, because Liam looks oblivious.
“Cool,” Liam said.
“Yeah,” Zayn said lamely. His mind was sort of frozen, taking in how young Liam
looked in his school uniform; white shirt a little tight, tie askew, blazer
sticking out of his maroon backpack. His hair was all windswept, and Zayn
suddenly had the urge to run his hands through it. He cleared his throat.
“Well, I’ve gotta go. See you around, Leeyum.”
“See you,” Liam said. He was so endearing, he even fucking waved as Zayn drove
away.
+
“What’s got you all chipper?” Louis asked, eyes barely open as stirred his
coffee. It may be nearly noon, but neither of them were prepared for the day.
They’d gotten spectacularly drunk last night for no reason, drinking until they
passed out on the couch. Zayn had woken up at some point that morning and moved
to his bedroom, but even still his neck was particularly sore and his head was
throbbing.
“Nothing,” Zayn said, locking his phone. Nicola had sent him a photo of when
she was seven, and Zayn had been fixated on the toddler that had to be Liam
picking up a shell in the background.
“You’re too awake,” Louis grumbled. He drank half his coffee in one go.
“What’re we doing today?”
“I have no plans,” Zayn said, rubbing his temples. “And I don’t intend on
making any plans. In fact, today would be the perfect day for a psychopath to
come in and murder me, y’know?”
“If only,” Louis said, downing the rest of his drink and then holding his cup
out to Zayn. Zayn rolled his eyes and started making more coffee, sighing when
he looked out the window. It was a miserable day, with rain pouring in fat,
heavy loads. Zayn knew without a doubt that the gutters would be flooded
tomorrow when Zayn will need to drive to work, and he was definitely not
looking forward to it.
Right as he was sliding Louis’ mug across to him, his phone started buzzing
madly. An unflattering picture of Nicola flashed across the screen, making
Louis snort into his drink.
“What’s up?” Zayn asked when he picked up.
Nicola was breathing heavily. “I need your help,” she panted.
Zayn stood up straight, worried instantly. “What’s wrong?”
“Calm down, I’m fine,” she responded. “I’m at work though, and one of the pipes
as burst and now the entire basement is flooded and we’re all trying to move
the books into another room higher up.”
“Do you need me to come help?” Zayn asked, panic subsiding.
“Nah, I need you to do a family thing,” Nicola told him. “Liam’s school is like
a half-hour walk from home, and I promised him a lift but there’s no way I’ll
be able to get there. He has a hard enough time at school without having to
walk home in a storm.”
“Okay,” Zayn agreed easily. He looked at how gross it was outside, and knew
instantly that he wasn’t going to let Liam walk in that. “What’s the address?”
“It’s your sister’s school, Zayn,” Nic said, exasperated. “You literally went
there two years ago.”
“Right, forgot,” Zayn said.
“Made plans?” Louis asked when Zayn hung up.
“Doing a favour,” Zayn said. “Speaking of – I’ll be needing your opinion with
something.”
+
Less than three hours later, Zayn was pulling up in the school’s car park. He
was parked in an undercover area, so when he got out and walked up to the
building he remained completely dry.
He was dressed to impress, one could say. He and Louis had made an afternoon of
picking out the perfect outfit, shifting through both their closets until they
got this: thick, heavy combat boots; ripped, dark jeans; a black singlet that
dipped low to reveal tattoos along Zayn’s collarbone and chest; a worn leather
jacket with platinum zips and a thin hooded cardigan underneath; untouched hair
that fell across his face; black earrings, half a dozen silver rings, and a
thin necklace hanging from his neck; and, his personal favourite, they had dug
up some of Louis’ stage makeup for uni and blotted purple and red eyeshadow
across his knuckles so it looked like he’d recently punched someone. They’d
send a photo of the outfit to Nicola with the caption ‘Gonna scare off some
punks’, prompting her to call them because she felt texts could not get across
how funny she thought it was.
So Zayn walked into the school feeling pretty damn good. He remembered Liam had
mentioned something about a locker next to the cafeteria, and made his way in
that direction with his boots thundering across the linoleum floor. Halfway
along the hallway the end of day bell went off, and soon there were kids
rushing out of their classrooms, staring at Zayn with poorly disguised intrigue
and respect. Zayn was internally laughing his head off.
He arrived by the cafeteria doors and stood there, waiting with his arms
crossed. He spotted Liam a few minutes later, stumbled out of a classroom with
a few bigger guys behind him, laughing. Zayn didn’t pick up what was happening
until one of them stepped forward to purposely stand on the back of Liam’s shoe
as he walked, causing the boy to stumble a little. He had to stop and pick up
his shoe the second time it happened because the guy behind him had stepped on
it so firmly that it fell off. Something dark and angry curled in Zayn’s chest.
Liam shuffled over to his locker, which happened to be three down from where
Zayn was standing. It was comical, almost, watching Liam finally spot him. His
jaw dropped a little, eyes raking over Zayn’s impressive outfit. Zayn smirked a
little in greeting, but his attention was quickly averted by the guys who had
been giving him a rough time. They were walking past, but had paused to grin
over at Zayn.
“Who’re you?” one of them asked.
Zayn gave him an obvious once-over, frowning. “None of your fucking business,
twiglet.”
The boy looked affronted by this. “Twiglet?” the guy repeated, astounded.
“Oh, shit, that wasn’t too big of a word for you, right?” Zayn asked, forcing
himself to look concerned. “You’re at least twelve, yeah?”
The guy just glared at him and moved on, hunching his back at the quiet
snickers that followed him.
Zayn turned back to Liam and smiled. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Liam said, pulling on his backpack. He still looked confused, but
didn’t question it. They started walking down the hallway, attracting a fair
bit of attention. Zayn prayed that neither of his little sisters showed up and
called out his bad boy act.
Thankfully, Zayn didn’t run into anyone familiar. He and Liam walked silently
to Zayn’s car, but then once they were in the run-down jeep Liam burst out
laughing.
“Oh, God,” he gasped out, eyes disappearing into crinkled slits. “The look on
Justin’s face, shit.”
“Hopefully he won’t be bothering you anymore,” Zayn said, starting up the car.
He pulled out of the parking lot, windscreen wipers going manic as he navigated
his way back to the Paynes’ house. “How was school?”
“Boring,” Liam shrugged. “We played indoor dodgeball because of the weather,
though, and I was the last one left on my team.”
“Did you win?” Zayn asked, smiling.
“Nah,” Liam said. The boy did another once-over of Zayn, jaw a little slack.
“What’s all – this?”
Zayn shrugged, turning a corner. Fuck, it was raining a lot. “My roommate and I
got bored.”
“I’m guessing you were the bad boy back in school, then,” Liam said with a
grin. “Smoking right outside the principal’s office and not giving a fuck.”
“Smoking? Yes. Bad boy? Not so much,” Zayn said with a laugh. “I was the
teacher’s pet, actually, depending on the class. And I smoked a little less
obviously, thank you very much.”
“Really?” Liam asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” Zayn said, darting a look at him for only a moment before his eyes were
back on the road. He didn’t want to chance anything in this weather. “I’m proud
to say I never got caught smoking until literally my last day of school.
Graduation was stressful, and all that.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Liam told him. “I hate school.”
Zayn’s fists curled a little tighter around the wheel thinking of the pricks
who’d touched Liam. He wondered how long that’d been happening for. “Less than
two years to go now.”
“Thank God.”
Zayn pulled into Liam’s driveway, trying to get as close as possible so Liam
wouldn’t be in the rain for too long. He turned off the engine and looked over
at Liam, struck by just how young the boy looked. He knew, logically, that
there was only a four year difference, and that Liam was well into puberty and
probably looked quite mature for his age, but Zayn was fixated on how small he
was.
“What?” Liam asked self-consciously, ducking his head a little.
“Nothing,” Zayn murmured. He cleared his throat. “I’m really sorry that
school’s so shitty right now.”
“It’s okay,” Liam said softly, looking up at Zayn through his lashes. And,
fuck, he was so innocent and hopeful and young. He hated how the jerks at
school were trying to taint him.
“It’s not okay,” Zayn said, just as softly. “You deserve better than that.”
It was a soft, intimate moment, and Zayn wasn’t surprised when his eyes
naturally looked down at Liam’s lips. In Zayn’s defence, they were incredibly
distracting; plump and red and untouched. Zayn couldn’t stop himself from
running a hand along the bottom lip, dragging it down a little with his thumb.
“Zayn,” Liam said quietly, a little whine. “I really want to kiss you.”
“You’re too young,” Zayn said. He didn’t move his hand away.
Liam leant forward. “I’m legal now.”
Zayn was leaning forward, too, like a magnet. “Your sister would kill me.”
“She doesn’t have to know,” Liam whispered.
Their mouths came together in a soft, needy collision. Liam was leaning over
the console to try and deepen the kiss, but Zayn kept it slow and deliberate,
savouring the taste and feel of it because he knew this couldn’t become a
thing.
Liam was insistent, though. He poked his tongue into Zayn’s mouth, messy and
hungry. Zayn moaned a little, causing Liam to surge forward further with
newfound confidence. He placed his delicate hands on Zayn’s chest and shoulder,
pushing off his seat to crowd Zayn’s space. Zayn kept his hands to himself.
Noticing this, Liam let out a small noise of protest and completely climbed
over the console until he was awkwardly straddling Zayn’s thighs. Zayn looked
up at him, enthralled by chocolate eyes framed by curly hair. He was so
beautiful, so young. Zayn needed to keep his hands to himself, otherwise he’d
be tempted to ruin him.
“Liam,” Zayn said. His hands clutched the seat tightly when Liam started
kissing down his neck. “Liam, we can’t-“
Liam pushed his hips down, grinding their groins together. Zayn could feel that
Liam was almost completely hard, rutting against him almost pleadingly. Zayn
let out a small noise, trying desperately to keep still.
Liam reached down past his legs to pull the lever there, and suddenly Zayn’s
seat was moving backwards and Liam had more room. Liam immediately used this to
his advantage, settling more comfortable on Zayn and kissing along his
collarbones. His hands slid under Zayn’s singlet and over his stomach and
chest, nails running over Zayn’s nipples and making him buck. Liam repeated the
motion, looking amazed. His hand’s trailed further down, over Zayn’s crotch
where Zayn was embarrassingly hard. Zayn choked out a gasp at the contact, but
still didn’t move.
“You’re so fit,” Liam mumbled. He was gazing at Zayn with wide, excited eyes,
biting his lip and looking down when he undid Zayn’s zipper. Zayn had to look
away, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to control himself if he didn’t.
Just, fuck. This was Nicola’s brother. His best friend’s little brother. And
aside from that, Liam had only just turned sixteen. He was still just a kid,
controlled by his hormones and the thrill of finally getting action. Zayn
swallowed thickly at the thought, trying to calm himself. Zayn was fucking
disgusted with himself, getting off on the idea of ruining Liam’s innocence.
But it was like his brain was frozen on the idea; he couldn’t stop, even if he
wanted to. And fuck, he wanted to.
“I wanna suck you off,” Liam said, looking back up at Zayn with pleading eyes.
“Can I, please?”
Zayn had to close his eyes when Liam gently pulled his cock out of his jeans.
His fingers were so soft, so delicate, and they felt like fucking heaven on
him. Zayn felt his seat move further backwards before Liam was dropping to his
knees in front of him. Zayn opened his eyes to find Liam cramped in the space,
barely fitting, but looking unaffected when he started pumping Zayn, eyes
hungry as he watched his cock thicken.
Zayn closed his eyes again.
When Liam’s tongue hesitantly licked his head, Zayn couldn’t help the low,
surprised noise that he made. Liam did it again, letting out a small giggle
when Zayn’s hips bucked up involuntarily. Zayn wanted to demand that he get a
move on, but kept his mouth shut. He was going to let Liam do his own thing. He
wasn’t going to be involved. (That makes it slightly better, right?)
Zayn felt as Liam’s lips carefully wrapped around his head, a hand at the base
of his cock guiding him. Liam experimentally sucked, shuddering in surprise
when a blurt of precum fell onto his tongue. Zayn shivered at how soft and warm
his mouth was. Fuck, he was going out of his mind.
Becoming gradually more confident, Liam took Zayn down a little further. It was
only another inch or so, but it was enough to have Zayn cursing. Liam’s tongue
was positioned just right on the underside of his cock where a thick vein was,
completely on accident, and it had more than a little effect on Zayn when he
realised that Liam didn’t even know what type of technique he was using, didn’t
know that he had a mouth like sin.
Liam pulled back. “I want you to look,” he said, hand rubbing Zayn’s leg.
“Please, Zayn.”
Zayn couldn’t deny him anything. He opened his eyes, finding Liam looking at
him with innocent eyes and slick lips. Zayn knew that he wouldn’t last long
now.
Liam took him down again, too quickly, choking a little when Zayn’s head caught
at the back of his throat. He pulled back a little and tried again, this time
managing to hold Zayn’s head at the back of his throat and swallow around it.
“Oh, fuck,” Zayn hissed. His fingers were shaking where they gripped the edge
of the seat, knuckles white as Liam started bobbing his head. “Oh, fuck,
Leeyum.”
Liam hummed around him. Zayn wondered if Liam watched much porn, because the
boy had this shit down to a tee. His cheeks were hollowed, teeth were well out
of the way, and his hand was delicately pumping the length of Zayn that he
couldn’t fit in his mouth. He looked like a wet dream, one that Zayn knows will
be playing in his mind for years to come.
And then Liam did something with his tongue, something that made Zayn yell and
shove his hips forward. Liam pulled off, coughing and gagging. “Shit, Liam, I’m
so sorry,” Zayn apologised, panicked as tears pulled in Liam’s eyes.
“It’s okay,” Liam wheezed. He grabbed Zayn’s cock again. “Do it again? I’ll be
better.”
Zayn groaned. Fuck, this kid was going to ruin him.
Liam took him down again, as far as he could. Zayn gave him a few moments to
get used to the weight of him again before carefully pushing forward. Liam
gagged again, but didn’t pull back. Zayn did it again, and again, and again,
until they’d developed a rhythm and Zayn’s eyes were rolling to the back of his
head, a tight pressure building in his stomach.
“I’m close,” Zayn told the boy. Liam didn’t pull back. “Liam, I’m going to cum.
You need to-“
Liam responded by swallowing around Zayn’s head again. Zayn gasped and writhed
in his seat, chasing the heat of Liam’s mouth when he pulled back to tongue and
suck at the slit. Zayn shuddered and came with a whimper, whole body shuddering
as he released ropes of cum into Liam’s mouth. Liam tried to swallow it all
down, but lines of it dripped from the corner of his mouth and down his chin.
He stared up at Zayn with a bit of pride in his eyes, and Zayn had to turn away
while he came down from his high.
It was like dropping straight back into reality. Suddenly Zayn was hyperaware
of where he was, of what he’d done. Tears sprung to his eyes as he realised how
fucked in the head he is. He tried to hide them from Liam by covering his face,
but Liam pulled his hands away with wide eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Liam asked, looking worried. “Did I do something?”
“No,” Zayn choked out, starting to properly cry. “It’s my fault. I’m so fucking
sorry, Liam. I’m so – sorry.”
Liam looked confused. He climbed on Zayn’s lap, mindful of the sensitive cock
that was resting there uselessly. “What’re you sorry for.”
“I’m a fucking paedophile,” Zayn sobbed, rubbing desperately at his eyes. “Oh,
fuck.”
“What? No you’re not,” Liam said slowly. “I’m sixteen. I’m legal, Zayn.”
Zayn shook his head. “I’m too old for you, Liam. I’m-“ he cut himself off
again, a loud sob ricocheting through his body.
“It’s okay,” Liam tried to soothe, cradling Zayn’s face in his hands. He looked
bewildered but so eager to help Zayn, so eager to be what Zayn needs.
Zayn pulled his hands away from his face, holding them so Liam couldn’t reach
for him again. “You need to go inside, Liam.”
Liam suddenly looked scared. “What? Zayn-“
“Go inside,” Zayn said more firmly. He let go of Liam’s hands and looked away,
keeping his face carefully resolved.
“Zayn, please,” Liam pleaded, trying to turn Zayn’s head to face him again.
“You’re so good, Zayn. You’re such a good person, and you’re so nice to me-“
“Get out of my car, Liam,” he nearly yelled. He was losing his patience. He
needed Liam gone so that he could properly bawl his eyes out.
Liam sat there, frozen for a moment. He slowly slid off Zayn’s lap and back
into his own seat. He clutched his bag tightly to his chest. “Please don’t hate
me,” he whispered, and then he was gone.
Zayn slammed his head against the window a few times, tears blurring his vision
more than the rain outside. He tucked himself back into this pants, wincing at
the memories that were already flooding his mind. None were more clear than the
look on Liam’s face when he told him to go.
Fuck, Liam didn’t deserve that. Zayn should have explained himself more
carefully, should have taken the time to make sure Liam understood. But now the
boy thinks he hates him – he has everyone on his back at school, and now he
thinks Zayn hates him, too.
Zayn wasn’t thinking when he stepped out of the car. He definitely wasn’t
thinking when he let himself into the house and made his way upstairs. He was
thinking too much when he knocked on Liam’s closed door. “Liam?”
“Go away,” the boy replied, sounding choked. Fuck, he was crying. Zayn couldn’t
handle it.
Zayn pushed the door open. “Fuck, I’m so..”
Zayn trailed off. Liam wasn’t crying – or not much, anyway. He was beating
himself off.
The boy looked up at Zayn when he entered, mouth open in surprise or pleasure
or both, legs spread and the muscles in his tanned torso clenching as he worked
himself over. Zayn couldn’t do anything but just watch, fixated with how Liam
looked when he was getting off.
“Zayn,” Liam said, not stopping his hand. “Zayn, please.”
Zayn stumbled into the room as though there was a magnet drawing him to the
boy. Liam spread his legs a little wider when Zayn reached the bed. Fuck, there
was so much skin available for Zayn to look at. Liam’s pants were still on, but
had been pushed past the swell of his ass so that Zayn had a full view of
everything. Zayn wasn’t able to control himself when he dropped down onto the
bed, crawling up and pressing kisses along Liam’s chest.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered against his skin. “I’m so, so sorry.”
He reached a hand down to replace Liam’s, feeling the weight of his heavy cock
in his hand. Liam softly keened in his ear as he started pumping him, quick
strokes because the look on Liam’s face said he was close. Liam just laid
there, clawing at Zayn’s back and whimpering with each stroke. It seemed to
surprise them both when Liam’s orgasm hit him, cock throbbing in Zayn’s hand
and cum spilling over his fist. Zayn stroked him through it until Liam was
gasping and pushing his hand away, too sensitive for more.
“I’m sorry,” Zayn said again. He held his position, boxing Liam in with his
body. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I don’t hate you.”
“Okay,” Liam said. He was smiling a little, like Zayn had done nothing wrong.
Zayn pulled back and stood up again. He grabbed some tissues and cleaned off
his hand and what was left on Liam, throwing the tissues in a wastebasket under
the desk. Zayn looked around the room, finding movie posters and figurines and
comics and school books and everything he would have had in his room four years
ago. He swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing that he couldn’t drag it out
any longer. He sat on the edge of Liam’s bed, clasping his hands together
because it was taking everything in him to not touch Liam, even just a little
bit.
“Liam,” he said, to the and get the boy’s attention. Liam’s head rolled in his
direction lazily, clearly still on a high from his orgasm. “Liam, we can’t do
this again.”
Liam sighed. “We can. You just don’t want to.”
Fuck, he sounded so sad. “No, Liam, we can’t,” Zayn told him. “It’s not fair on
you, or Nicola. And your parents would call the police if they ever found out.”
“No, they wouldn’t.”
“Yes, they would,” Zayn said firmly. “Liam, you’re an amazing guy, and you’ll
find someone soon. But we can’t do this again. This shit is dangerous, and it’s
against the law for a reason, Liam. It’s to protect you. In a few years you’ll
understand why, because you’ll be looking at sixteen-year-olds and know exactly
how young you are now.”
“I don’t care,” Liam said, sniffing.
Zayn forced himself to look Liam in the eye. “I do, Liam. I care about you. So
we can’t do this again.”
He got to his feet and made his way to the door again. He heard scrambling
behind him and then Liam was there, grabbing his arm and turning him around. He
was looking up into Zayn’s eyes, then his lips. “Just one last kiss,” he
whispered. “Please?”
After a moment, Zayn nodded. Liam surged up at him, lips colliding seamlessly.
His tongue ran over Zayn’s bottom lip, mouths moving together perfectly. It was
the type of kiss that Zayn knew Liam was trying to make a point with, desperate
and heated. It was the type of kiss that made Zayn want to stay.
“I’ve got to go,” Zayn whispered, pulling away. He kissed Liam softly on the
forehead. “Goodbye, Liam.”
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