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"He's awake! Oh God, Niall's awake!" someone was yelling.
Niall sputtered, trying to get his corneas used to the brightness. He felt like he'd finally broken out of the freezing black waters, surfaced for a new gasp of air.
"Niall, can you hear me?" Zayn's voice sounded on the edge of tears, his hand clutching Niall's tightly. "Oh my God, I thought I was going to lose you. Please say something, tell me you can hear me! Anything at all, Niall. Oh God, I can't believe it. I'm looking right at you, and I think you're looking at me because your eyes are open but I don't know if you're actually seeing anything. Can you see me, Niall? Just make any sound so I know you're with me -"
"Zayn," Niall smiled weakly.
"What is it, Niall? Anything, what do you need?"
"Shut the hell up."
Zayn laughed, and when Niall blinked a little more, the boy's face came into view. Zayn was laughing and crying. It gave Niall some sort of pleasurable pain to look at him like that.
"Oh God, how are you feeling?" Zayn whispered, brushing Niall's hair away from his eyes. "Can you see me?"
"Yes, I can see you perfectly," Niall was too weak to lift his arm to touch Zayn's face, but he managed to entwine his fingers in the other boy's. "And you look nice."
"Are you kidding me," Zayn smiled, wiping at his red eyes. "I've been a huge mess since your accident."
"The tears are unflattering," Niall said. "So I'd prefer you without them. Stop crying."
Zayn brought Niall's hand to his lips and kissed the fingers delicately. Fine tingles ran up Niall's arm as he looked up. "So I guess you heard. Y'know, everything I told you."
"Yeah," Niall croaked. "I heard. It was nice."
"Did you feel the kiss?" Zayn whispered. "Last week?"
Niall couldn't help the tears filling up his eyes like a waterfall. "Of course I did," he said softly. "It was perfect, Zayn."
The door opened and the rest of the boys ran in, followed by the doctor. "Can someone call a goddamn plumber?" Louis rolled his eyes at the way both of them were crying. "There appears to be some kind of unscheduled waterworks going on here."
"Shut up, Louis, come here," Niall laughed, reaching out to hug him tightly. "Zayn said you've been cranky all week, and you only give attention to Harry."
"Firstly, excuse you, Zayn, because I am literally always a fucking ray of golden sunshine," Louis sniffed daintily. "But I do admit, because of unforeseen circumstances my sense of humour may have been severely compromised this last week."
"You still make me laugh, though, Lou," Harry added helpfully.
"Thank you, love," Louis blew him a kiss, then turned back to Niall, surveying him with a raised eyebrow. "Secondly, I do not only give attention to Harry. It's just that Harry happens to be the most pleasant one of the lot when it comes to handling an emotional crisis."
"All he did was cry," Zayn fired at him.
"All you did was cry, you wanker," Louis shot back, but he was laughing. "Besides, at least Harry's still pretty when he does it."
"Are you calling me an ugly crier?" Zayn demanded.
Louis glanced at his watch, then looked back at Zayn. "Wow, it only took you, like, forever to get that."
Niall chuckled along with the rest of them. The boys took turns to speak to him, each telling him about what he'd missed. From what they told him of the crying and drinking and empty meaningless days, Niall might've been glad he wasn't there to see. But then again, this was his fault anyway.
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Zayn and Niall: Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes
FanfictionThe one in which Niall dreams about Zayn, Harry might be in love with Louis, and Liam tries really hard to keep them all going.