It's Better To Not Know Better (Ziam)

Will

About half an hour after Zayn left, another knock sounded on the door. Harry was perhaps a little too eager to see who it was, as Zayn's absence had made him rather lonely. He quickly got up and opened the door.

The excitement to have some company immediately melted back into anxiety and he prayed his face remained the same color.

Will.

"Harry," he said gently, like a greeting. "We need to talk about something."

Harry could feel the blood leave his face. "Wh-What about?" he asked, looking discreetly over Will's shoulder to see if anyone else from management was there. Hoping that Paul was. Paul was not.

"It's just me, Harry," Will told him, and Harry looked back to him.

"Oh."

Will chuckled and Harry awkwardly let him in. "You're so jittery." He sat on the couch where Zayn had been sitting. "Did something happen?"

Harry shook his head, and turned to the door, becoming especially involved with closing it. "No. No I guess I just--"

"It's Zayn, isn't it?"

Facing the door, Will couldn't see Harry's eyes widen.

"It's alright. I know it must be pretty hard on you. I heard about your sleeping and eating issues."

Harry slowly shut the door, hearing a soft click. "It's not all that bad."

"Harry, I know you don't want this to be real, but that doesn't mean you have to put your life on hold. It's not going to--"

"So what about the other lads, then?" he said, turning around. "Heard about how Louis' gone parental, Niall's gone terrified, and Liam's gone crazy? We're all losing sleep over this, he was our brother."

"I understand that," Will insisted. "But even they're eating."

"So it doesn't worry you at all that Niall has to sleep in Liam's bed like he's five years old?"

"If it's helping."

"Louis is the only one who keeps us in check, since Liam's too busted?"

"He's the oldest, it's time he took any responsibility."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you joking? Do you know who I'm even talking about?"

"Harry, you know as well as I do that Louis is not normal."

"That's because he's LOUIS. Who would he be if he were normal?"

"You can't justify everything, Harry."

Harry bit his lip in frustration and took a deep breath. "Let me tell you a little something about Liam. This morning, he talked to us for the first time since the morning we found Zayn had left. But we'd heard him talk before that. One night Niall said he heard him praying, and he cried himself to sleep, so Niall had to sleep in our room. We'll ask him how he slept, and he'll act like we don't exist. And this morning, he's the reason why they went to look for Zayn."

Will paused. "Why didn't you go?"

Harry looked at the floor. "Because he won't be there."

There was a silence, and Harry wondered if he'd said a bit too much.

"You can't make raw judgments like that if you don't know what's going to happen."

Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, not wanting to say anything that might screw everything up.

"But I need you all to get back on your sleep," Will said, standing up, "and food."

"Anyone figured out what we're doing?"

Will took a deep breath. "We're holding the show, waiting to see if he's coming back." He rubbed Harry's back. "If he doesn't we're gonna have some major problems."

"He's coming back," Harry said quietly. Will sighed.

"I know."

And then he was gone.

Harry sat down in front of his laptop once more. He didn't want to be the one to do it, but it was better him than the others, who were worse. And Zayn was counting on him.

He took a deep breath.

Dear Directioners, he typed.

Hello, it's Harry. And something rather unfortunate has come up.