Prince Not-So-Charming And His Tipsy Princess (l.s)

Chapter 3

"I'm gonna go talk to our boss, then. I'd just love to hear his side of the story, as well. Straight from his stupid mouth." Liam's eyes widened but Louis shrugged, patting his shoulder and walking towards Simon's office. Liam sighed and turned back to Harry, his mood further dampened when he caught him sobbing.

"Aww no, no...! Where'd 'e go? He was so pretty... Liam, make him come back, that's not fair! Why do people always do this to me?!" Zayn rose from his chair after a lot of contemplating, manoeuvring his way over to them and touched Harry's cheek, looking him over and mumbling comforting words into his hair as he gave him a hug. Harry wouldn't stop crying and Liam softly promised Harry that Louis was fine. Everything felt utterly chaotic and he blamed himself completely for it. Zayn must've hated his guts, as well. Great. Messing up his chances before they had even had a proper conversation.

He felt bad about Harry, too but he had his orders and his fearful respect of Simon had always overruled that. Harry was in tears and hyperventilating because of him. He felt sick, all of a sudden and stumbled back, frozen entirely when Zayn's dark eyes rose immediately to meet his. A sharp breath was sucked in and then he was muttering apologies and rushing to get out of there. He didn't know why when it came to Zayn, he was drained of every inch of confidence he had but he sent his friend a quick text, waiting in his car for Louis to reply so he would know the conversation with his boss had gone alright enough.

Over the music, Zayn overheard the yelling from Simon's office and arched an eyebrow. Harry was listening too, his sniffling subsiding as he heard Louis yell his name at one point. He turned to Zayn, all traces of sadness gone from his face as he squeaked out an excited "he cares about me" to the amused artist. Zayn nodded in reply, sparing a glance at the door Liam had just left through. Did he really look that intimidating?

They heard a door slam, then another but Louis didn't come out. Harry waited impatiently for some seconds but eventually, he started yelling out Louis' name. Zayn caught the signs that he was panicking, once again and reached for Harry, swearing when he ducked under the counter. Remembering the days he got paid to look out for Harry, he could say with full confidence that it wasn't nearly enough for the job.

He started to consider whether or not to join Harry on the other side, rushing to his feet when Harry let out a loud yell that caused even the DJ to look up. Zayn assumed it wouldn't be a particularly big deal but then, he walked into what looked like a storage room and was proved wrong. There was Louis, laying on the floor with blood dripping onto the back of his clothes and his hands.

"Zayn! Zayn, you're here, oh God, oh God, help me, help him! D-do something, Zayn, he's... He's...!"

Zayn watched Harry flail about, his eyes widening as the boy's screaming was reduced to sobbing and whimpering as he held onto fistfuls of a dazed Louis' shirt. He didn't have time to react, the man was bleeding badly. He had to be the sensible one. His first thought was to contact Liam and so he gripped a disoriented Louis' hand, using his bloody thumbprint to bypass his phone's security and went straight to contacts.

The only name that didn't seem detached with generalities like Landlady or Chinese Food was the only one in frequently contacted, 'Payne in the Ass'. He feverently hoped he wouldn't end up talking to a complete stranger and rang him up, letting out a sigh of relief when Liam picked immediately, demanding an explanation to his delay in replying a message.

Something about Liam's voice calmed him, despite the fact that he sounded irritated. He hadn't even known he needed to be calmed as he stroked Harry's hair gently, coaxing him to give Louis' some room. "Hey, Liam? It's... Well, it's Zayn? I come in with Harry to the club-"

"I know who you-" Liam cut himself off, suddenly panicking. "Hold on, you have Louis' phone?! Is he alright?!"

"Actually, I was about to call the ambulance to take him to the hospital, I just wanted to let you kno-"