Here's Your First Photo Of A Zayn-Less 1D

It has been a tough few weeks for fans of One Direction. Zayn Malik officially left One Direction in March and while fans of the boy band are trying so, so hard to be strong, not enough replays of "Night Changes" can help them see the light. Yes, the band will go on as a foursome, and yes, there's no bad blood between Malik and any of his bandmates, but will things ever really be the same for this band? I'm not sure they can ever go back, even if we still have four perfectly lovely members left in the group — and this photo proves it. One Direction just released their first photo without Malik, and it shows that even the guys aren't thrilled about the departure of one fifth of their band.

The photo, which is the first official one taken of the band post-Malik's departure, shows the remaining band members Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson standing against a blank wall in their signature "casually fashionable yet not overly styled" attire. They don't look too happy to be posing, and not in a sexy brooding kind of way — more in a "I'm kinda over this already" sort of way. Something is definitely missing from this photo, and it will take fans about half a second to realize that the "thing" is Malik's beautiful face and even more beautiful facial hair. The whole thing is just such a bummer.

We'll all need to get used to the band without Malik, so let's hope that future photoshoots are a little less depressing than this one. Malik, we miss you already.