Roses | ziam.

Fool's Gold

A/N:
I turned my imagination loose with due risk-

-but please do let me tell you that I had a lot of fun with this.
___

Without even throwing a sideways look at the two Horan children, Liam shakily fumbled towards Zayn's bed, pulled up a chair and sat beside the raven-haired lad.

"Zayn? Zayn, it's me, Liam," the brunette took Zayn's heavy hand in his. He slipped his fingers in between Zayn's fingers and gave it a light squeeze.

A sickly feeling was congealing in the pit of Liam's stomach. The brunette leaned in closer and calmly placed the back of Zayn's hand on his cheek. The fingers of Liam's left hand were still entwined tightly with Zayn's, and Liam gently rubbed Zayn's hand against his face.

"Wake up and show me that cheeky wink that I've come to adore. Wake up and call me those mushy names that I pretend not to like. Wake up and sing love songs for me again, anything, just wake up. Please, Zayn?" Liam mustered, the edges of his voice cracking jaggedly.

When he got no response, Liam hung his head and fell silent, his breath hitching as he left a trail of tender kisses from the tips of the raven's fingers all the way down to his wrist, exactly like how Zayn used to kiss Liam's own hand-

Barbara gazed at her unconscious husband and best friend, her distraught children, and lastly, Liam Payne, whose defenses were crumbling, crumbling- She felt the glitter of imminent tears forming in her eyes, but she brushed them away roughly. When Liam had learnt of the news, they had hurtled to a cheap hospital without a second thought. The brunette had fired questions at her like bullets, and an aghast Barbara could only swallow back her tears, berate her ignorance and whisper over and over again I don't know, I don't know!

Her arms were held as rigid as rakes at her sides and her lips abruptly tightened fractionally into a grim, resolved line. Nate Horan hugged his Pooh bear tighter to his little body and burst into a renewed bout of tears when he heard Liam's words . He was sitting on Niall's bed, holding his father's arm and wrapping his own hands around it, as though by doing that he could transfer some warmth to his father's cold, cold body-

"You promised us a trip to the zoo when you said your job was done, Daddy, you can't leave us now, not now, not ever! Please, please…" Nate managed through soft sobs, before hiccupping to a stop. The fur of his bear was matted and wet with his tears, and with his eyes crystallizing with leftover teardrops, Nate tucked the bear under Niall's covers, just like how Niall would tuck Hugo to bed every night-

Rose Horan, on the other hand, was sitting as far away from the hospital beds as possible. Her head was bowed, concealed by an unrelenting curtain of blonde locks. Liam realized that ever since he had entered the room, Rose had never once looked up, nor were there any weeping sounds emanating from her. But Liam could see her fingers were curved angrily, her fingernails clawing painfully onto the arm of the chair. She lifted her head up marginally, and the brunette caught a flash of pure, unadulterated fright flit across wide blue eyes.

It was as though by distancing herself physically from Niall, by keeping her emotions at bay, Rose was disconnecting herself from this scene. She was pretending that this wasn't happening, steeping herself into the denial that it wasn't her father, an epitome of security and sanctuary, dying-

Liam tried to keep a clear head and reassure it's only been a few hours, he'll probably wake up tomorrow morning, laugh it off, dust himself off, he's Zayn Malik, for God's sake- himself. There was no room or time for tears right now, the only thing he could do was to keep vigil at Zayn's bedside and hope that it'll turn out right in the end.

But worry still had their tentacles twined around Liam like the deadliest miasma. Distress and disbelief was frittering throughout his system, and he exhaled ponderously.