Chapter 10 "Naked Truth"

Drawing and painting is Zayn's safe haven. When he is doing either he can relax, and think. After what felt like no time at all, but was actually over half an hour, of kissing and resisting further advances Leo told him to go grab his sketch pad and pencils from his room and hurry back he thought it was going to be a peaceful morning of him drawing whatever came to mind and Leo playing whatever video game he wanted. It took him some time to grab what he needed.

"Um... why did you change into a robe?" He asked as soon as Leo opened the door.

Leo smiles mischievously as he pulled Zayn into the room and against the wall opposite the bathroom. "We have about three hours left. You're going to draw me." He starts kissing Zayn's neck.

Zayn swallows and his voice goes up as he asks his question. "In your robe?"

Leo chuckles. "That wouldn't be very fun. You've been acting so curious about what's in my pants..."

Zayn swallows harder this time. "Leo--" He was going to ask if Leo was naked, but Leo answered the unspoken question by dropping the robe and the answer is yes. As a reward for his boldness Leo heard the slightest moan as Zayn keeps his eyes hyper focused on Leo's face before speaking. "I see… I mean I understand. I haven't seen anything. Oh god, you're going to give me a heart attack."

Leo chuckles. "You're a little young to have a heart attack Zaynie. Didn't you learn to draw the human figure in your classes?"

Zayn's heart was indeed racing as he continued to avert his eyes from Leo's lower half and being led my the hand to a chair beside the bed. "I did… but I didn't know that model… and I didn't want…" If red cheeks can turn redder, Zayn's were. When Leo suddenly gets close enough to press their bodies together before kissing Zayn's cheek he gasped at the contact and looked up to the ceiling. "Leo— I thought you were planning to warm me up�� this feels like jumping into a pot of boiling water…"

Leo's smile can be felt against Zayn's cheek. "Because you want to do more than draw me? This is room tempurature Zaynie, as long as we keep our hands to ourselves anyway." Zayn only swallows in response which makes Leo chuckle as he leaves his side and starts to make himself more comfortable on the bed. His expression suddenly became earnest. "I want to see how you see me… all of me…"

Zayn let out a soft gasp at Leo's words and slowly sat down in the chair. He took a deep breath, sighing on the inhale as he lowers his face to see the subject of his piece today, keeping his sketch pad up to cover Leo's waist from his view. "I usually do landscapes and scenes… not portraits…" The soft look in Leo's eyes start to melt Zayn's hesitations. "Are you comfortable in that position?"Leo nods. He is laying on his side, his bottom hand tucked under his pillow and the top arms resting along his torso, draped over his waist. He looks so peaceful and Zayn smiles as he realizes that he can spend a good chunk of time just drawing Leo's face and upper body. His mouth goes dry as he begins, drawing and sketching out dimension guides for himself, still using his sketch book as a guard.

"Are you planning to avoid it forever?" Leo asks, his expression darkening a little.

"…" Zayn isn't sure how to answer. He had felt so eager earlier. Eager to feel him, and be felt by him, but this somehow feels more… "Oh—" He whispers, more to himself than for Leo's benefit. His heart had instantly started to race and hurt his chest a little, and palms feel slightly damp, making it more difficult to hold his pencil. He leaves the rest of his revelation to his mind. 'He wants me to be more familiar with his body. He wants me to feel comfortable and confident.' Leo can sense the realization and his expression relaxes again. Zayn slowly lowers the sketch pad to his lap and allows himself to see all of Leo. His cheeks feel hot as he continues his sketch without avoiding any of the subject. As his pencil markings catalog every curve, dimple, and scar the pace of his heart and breath steadies. After three hours of detailed sketching he put the sketch pad and pencil on the nightstand and spoke firmly. "Leo…"

"Hm?"

Zayn stood from his chair, stirring Leo enough to open his eyes and watch as Zayn removes his shirt. "We only have a little over thirty minutes left and I want—"

Leo sits up straight when he interrupts Zayn. "No."

Zayn huffs. When he speaks he pushes both pants and boxers to the floor. "I want you to see me too."

Leo took sharp inhale as Zayn stood in front of him, grabbing his own elbow and biting his lip while maintaining eye contact. Leo was finding it difficult to hold back and spoke in a strained manner. "Zayn… I don't draw…"

Zayn sat on the edge of the bed and took a steadying breath. "Okay." He reaches for Leo's hand and places it on his chest. "Then don't draw… feel…"

Leo smirks. "Zayn… this is heating up faster than I was planning…" He pulls Zayn onto the bed and lays down next to him before bringing his hand back where Zayn had placed it. He began to observe as much of him as he possibly could with his hands and eyes. He admires the silky white skin, looking as still as an undisturbed lake except for the occasional mole. Zayn shutters when Leo's hands meet his waist and Leo's attention snaps up to see Zayn's face tilted up and slightly open with the ghost of a smile in the corners. He kisses Zayn's smooth stomach just about his pubic bone as his hand continue to move lower and speak against his hip. "You broke me a little… I can't resist anymore…"

The soft whimper that Leo adores falls from Zayn as he takes his solid need into his hand and begins to move his hand up and down, still half observing, the other half is distracted with the heat and need building up in himself. He feels a bit like a sculptor working clay as he learns the curves of his lover, and what movements work best for him. He continues to pump his hand around Zayn and brings his face up to for hungry kisses. Leo wasn't expecting it, so when Zayn reached for him and began to mimic his movements he let out a shutter. "Zayn, you don't have to—"

"I want to." His interruption is serious. His expression melted back into something more tender. "I want to feel you too Leo." Leo's lips crash hard into Zayn's as they each continue to moan.

It only took another moment or so for Zayn to shutter and release into Leo's hand. Zayn got flustered shortly after coming down from his high to see Leo still hadn't, and didn't seem close. Leo just smiles, wipes the evidence of Zayn's climax onto the bed and places his hand around the one Zayn has on his. "It's a little difficult for me to… like this…Here, I like it when you focus here." He shortens the strokes, focusing more on the head. "Hah ah. See Zaynie mmm, keep doing that and oh fu—" Zayn swallows Leo's last word as his hips start to buck and jolt and ribbons of white and warmth release into Zayn's fist a moment later.

They are both catching their breath when Leo chuckles and speaks in a humored tone. "You do realize it hasn't even been twenty four hours and we just…"

Zayn rolls on to his side and places his innocent hand on Leo's chest. "I know… It's just… I was trying to be my old self when I said we should wait that long... the me that never really had the desire to touch someone in that way or be touched like that…"

Leo grabs Zayn's hand and brings fingers to lips. "You like me that much?" Zayn nods in response, not sure he even knows how to fully explain to Leo, much less himself, the divine feeling of peace that what they just did brought him. Desire, the thing that was missing from all of his previous relationships, was overwhelmingly present with Leo. All those years of feeling stuck and thinking he would never feel the way the characters he played felt, or that he could ever feel at ease, when Leo pulled that release from him, began melting. All he could think to do in response to all of this was look into Leo's eyes, smile and pull them into kiss after kiss until Leo's alarm to get ready to leave goes off.

"Call in sick." He tried to persuade him to stay. "Warm me up more and say you have a fever."

Leo chuckles as Zayn tries to distract him with more kissing, and the fact that he was still naked wasn't helping. "Zaynie— I have to go. Emma— is going to be— pissed about this hickey you left."

Zayn pulls away in shock. "What? I didn't leave a hickey…"

Leo quickly took the break from the kiss to pull away and run into the bathroom. He knows Zayn followed close behind. He wants to stay, but there are people counting on him. "You— You should get dressed… and enjoy the rest of your day off."

Zayn is just on the other side. "You're right… I'm behaving selfishly…" He presses his head to the door, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a breath through his nose. "I—" He holds back the rest of his intended sentence, 'woah... too early...', he thought to himself. He sighs before speaking again. "I will get out of here so you can get ready in peace…"

"You don't have to leave yet…" Leo says.

Zayn smiles and pushes his face from the door. "I know… but I probably should. I need to… cool off…"

"Oh" Leo gasps the sound. "I probably won't get back until really late tonight… would you… would it be asking too much— could you stay with me again?"

Zayn's smile falters a little. "Eh���" He sighs. "If it will help you…"

When Leo emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later he found it empty of Zayn, which he half expected him to still be there. As he walked over to the table to grab his back he found a room key card and a note.

"It's a key to my room.

Text me what you want to eat when you're done shooting today and I will have it in my mini fridge.

Do your best today.

Zayn"

Under the note there was another piece of paper face down. When he flipped it over he was delighted to find the sketch Zayn had done of him. Zayn drew him looking calm and inviting, nothing threatening or cold at all about his face. He took great care in drawing things like the scar on his rib from a dirt bike accident when he was a kid, and the mole on his left hip. "Hmm you like my imperfections…" He mused.

Zayn took a long walk after he left Leo's room just to cool off. He walked to a park nearby the hotel and after doing one round he sat on a bench and watched as clouds passed by until his thoughts turned back to his morning with Leo. "Maybe tonight I'll put a pillow between us…" He thought out loud.

He grabbed something to eat before returning to the hotel, asking for a replacement card since he "lost" his first one. When he got to his room he opened his laptop to get a good view of his calendar and called his manager. "Hi Fiona, are you available to talk for a few minutes?"

Fiona sounds both pleased to hear from Zayn and yet also melancholy. Years of pining over Zayn came to a crash the other day when he informed her of his intentions to date his male co-star, the one she thought he might murder less than a week ago. Things move quickly in this business and so will she, or at least that's what she told herself when she got drunk and slept with the extra that just happened to be at the same bar as her the other night. "For you Zayn, I've got a couple minutes. What's up?"

Zayn smiles, he suspected that she had feelings for him for a long time, the change in her tone and verbiage only boosts his idea. ���Thank you Fiona. Last night I was made aware of a potentially dangerous stalker that has been harassing Leo…"

Fiona listens to him explain the last few communications that Leo received and before he even gets to his concerns Fiona speaks. "He might try to target or harm you or Leo's reputation. I'm going to talk to Leo's team and we will all be on this. I think it would be wise for the two of you to each hire a body guard as well… I've seen this kind of thing get… anyway… Filming should be wrapping up in that location this week and then you will all be heading to LA For the remainder of filming. I've got a hotel already blocked out for you, I'll talk to the hotel about security as well."

Zayn sighs. "Can we cancel the hotel? I'd like to rent something instead… It's going to be three months down there, too long in a hotel for me…"

Fiona clears her throat. "Actually, I'm glad you brought that up. Since your interview the other day we��ve been getting calls and emails for job offers like crazy. Most of the jobs either start in LA or completely take place in LA. I know you enjoy acting on the stage in New York ever now and then… and your parents… I think you may want to consider moving to LA or a second place…"

Zayn is surprised, not by the offers or the suggestion to move, but by how little objection he had to the idea. "Okay— I will definitely think it over. How is the Loouis Vuitton shoot coming? Are we scheduled?"

He can hear her smile through the phone. "Yes. His people just got back to us. Apparently Leo called this morning to cancel some of his training for his upcoming race to make room in his schedule. It looks like you two will be able to do the shoot on June fifteenth. He can fly out on the night of the fourteenth. You'll have the rest of the day to yourselves, an early interview the next morning together, and we should get you heading back no later that the morning after that. Sound good?���

Zayn smiles. "Thank you…" Looking at the schedule on his laptop as she added everything, after so many years of working with her he knew when she was making things lighter for his personal life.

Fiona smiles sadly on her end of the call. "You're very welcome Zayn. You're apartment will be ready for you… and a guest… Would you like us to schedule anything with your parents?"

Zayn almost chokes. "No. I'll call them. It's a free day for me anyway… Thank you for your time today Fiona."

When he called his parents he got their voicemail and left a a brief message explaining his upcoming trip. "I hope that we can connect while I am in town… I'd like you two meet someone…" As he hung up his stomach was in knots and he wondered if he should have even said the last part.

Unlike his phone call to his parents where he felt nervous for them to answer, the next phone call he was excited to hear the other person's voice. "Hey! It's good to hear from you again!" His uncle sounds just as excited to hear from him as he feels to talk to him.

"Hey. I just wanted to call to tell you that I'll be in New York in a couple of weeks… with…" His heart sped up, more excited than nervous this time. "…my boyfriend…"

Robert sounds like he has a gentle smile. "I'd love to meet him, if that's something you're comfortable with."

Zayn smiles. "Yes. I'd like that very much. I'm waiting to hear from my parents to see if they're available... we'll be available the evening of the fifteenth and most of the afternoon and evening of the sixteenth."

"I can move around anything on our calendar to meet you guys." Robert wasn't even looking at his calendar. He didn't care what might be on there, he wasn't going to miss out on time with his only remaining nephew.

Zayn was beaming. "Great! I'll reach out again when I hear from mom and dad."

"So— Are you going to tell me anything about this boyfriend before I meet him in person?" Robert was smirking on the other end, and remembering being young.

Zayn pushes his breath out of his nose as his smile softens. "His name is Leo… and… I don't even know where to begin…"

Robert chuckles. "Sounds like a good sign… What do you like about him?"

Zayn sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "He's so easy to be around. I don't feel like I have to hide anything. He makes me laugh, I'm pretty sure I'm just smiling like an idiot every time I am near him… and at the same time he can be very thoughtful and mature. I don't think I have felt this comfortable with someone since Grant… This morning I almost said… I almost let it slip out… But I can't be, not this soon… that takes time to get there… Sorry, I went a little inside my head there…"

Robert just smiles from his nephew's words as he watches his partner in the kitchen, scrolling on his phone while sipping coffee. "It can happen faster than you think… Well, I need to take care of something before I head off to work today. I'm looking forward to meeting…"

"Leo. His name is Leo."

Robert continues speaking as he walks into the kitchen. "Well Derek and I are looking forward to meeting Leo when you come to visit. Talk to you later Zayn."