Pressures of the Night

Chapter Fourteen

"Oh thank god, Zayn!" Paul said in an exasperated manner as he ran over to the boy.

"Hello, Sir Paulie," Zayn said with a giggle as he saluted the man which caused him to raise a brow.

"Zayn where the hell have you been? We've all been calling you for the past two hours!"

"Oh, yeah, I saw."

"You saw?! Zayn we were all worried! Where were you?" Liam asked this time as he approached the boy but once again Zayn just giggled. "Zayn are you drunk?!"

"Are you drunk?" Zayn said in a teasing voice back at the older man.

"No, no I am not, but you are and you're not allowed to be. Zayn you're fifteen!"

"You lot drank at fifteen, get off my arse, yeah?" Zayn said with a huff as he tried to walk away from the boy, however, Liam just stopped him.

"Yes we did, but we weren't smack dead in the middle of the world's eye. Zayn you're suppose to be a role model."

"Role model, shmole model, I just wanted to have a bit of fun tonight. Now can I go to sleep, please?"

And though Liam was annoyed by the boy, he found himself nodding his head and soon Paul was guiding Zayn up to the bedroom he was to be sharing with Niall. It was a bit of a struggle but Paul managed to get Zayn into something comfier than his skinny jeans and shirt and under the covers before the rest of the lads got upstairs. However, when they did it was almost as if they were calling a mandatory meeting.

"He's fifteen! He can't just go around drinking like that," Harry said in a rather annoyed manner.

"He'll be grounded for the next two weeks, and next time he wants to hang out with his friends it has to be where we are," Liam added.

"And we need to get whoever he's hanging out with number in case Zayn's phone dies," Niall says.

"Maybe get his Find My iPhone code, so we can locate him easier," Louis throws in and immediately the boys agree, however, Paul doesn't.

"Boys you won't be doing any of that. During tour I am Zayn's guardian and I decide how or if he gets punished," Paul says.

"Paul he was drinking and he came home two hours after his curfew," Liam argued but Paul just shook his head.

"This is the first time he's done something like this. Zayn's a good boy, he just made a bit of a dumb decision tonight. I know for a fact all four of you have done the same, and Zayn doesn't deserve to be grounded for it. I'll talk to him but that's about it, and I don't wanna hear one thing from you lot about it."

And though they all disagreed with Paul's decision, they found themselves nodding because in a sense they understood where he was coming from...they just necessarily like it.

That next morning came much sooner than the boys were expecting, well, sooner than Niall was expecting because after feeling like he slept for only two hours he was quickly woken up to the sound of vomiting. Knowing it would be Zayn, and slightly sympathizing for the boy, Niall got up from the bed with ease and made his way into the restroom where he saw Zayn hovered over a toilet. The blonde boy filled up a cup of water before crouching down next to Zayn and rubbed his back while holding his bangs out of his eyes.

"It's alright, Zee, just let it out. You'll feel better afterwards I promise," Niall cooed as Zayn continued to empty all the alcohol from his system.

After about another ten or so minutes Zayn found himself simply spitting out clusters of saliva, and finally he allowed himself to push away from the toilet and place his back to Niall's chest. The blonde man handed Zayn the cup of water to rinse his mouth a bit as well as wiped a cool cloth across his forehead before he lifted the boy and took him out to the living area.

"I'm gonna get you some saltine crackers and a gatorade, that should help settle your stomach as well as get your blood sugar to a regular level again," Niall said as he ruffled up the boy's hair.

The rest of the early morning and afternoon was spent with the boy's lightly chastising Zayn while also helping him get through his first hangover. Eventually, though, Paul arrived at the room, and after giving the boy a sympathetic smile he guided him away from the boys so they could have their own talk.

"So how was catching up with Danny and Ant last night?" Paul asked Zayn in a tone that everyone knew was reserved for just Zayn and occasionally Louis when he was little.

"It was good. They both made varsity footie this year, and they invited me to their game later in the evening. I told them I would go, but- but I'm guessing that won't be happening anymore?" Zayn says shyly and Paul just chuckled.

"You're not grounded Zayn," Paul said with a smile that turned even brighter when he saw Zayn's eyes light up.

"Really?! This isn't some kind of joke?"

"No joke, you're really not grounded," Paul chuckles as Zayn tackles him a hug. "But we do need to have a bit of discussion. It's only fair, yeah?"

"Yeah," Zayn said, back to his shy voice as he sat down on the bed in front of Paul.

"Now I know kids your age drink all the time. They go to parties, they have fun, they hookup with whoever they want, and overall they make dumb decisions. It's a part of growing up, but unfortunately that's part of the growing up you have to skip over a bit. Obviously you're gonna make some bad choices in life, but because of the position you're in you have to try and limit those bad choices.

"The media is an evil device, Zayn. We've seen first hand how they can tear people down, I mean just look at Louis! He was on the brink of quitting the band, but luckily we have you boys surrounded by a group of good people. I'm not mad about you for last night because I trust that you're smart enough to only get like that with people you trust. I'm not gonna tell you you have to wait till your eighteen to drink because that's a ridiculous thing to ask of today's generation, but I am going to tell you you have to be careful. Make sure you're with a good crowd, or make sure you let one of us know in case we need to come get you ever.

"Now the other boys weren't too keen on my not punishing you, so if they give you a hard time just listen and nod your head to please them, however, if they don't stop you can come to me. I trust you enough to know you're a smart kid, and you won't be doing this every weekend. So let's go back out there for a bit and then later I'll drop you off at Ant and Danny's game, only condition is I would like their numbers and their mother's number, okay?" Paul says with a stern look and Zayn can only nod.

"Thank you, Paulie. I'll get it right now," Zayn said as he exited the room to grab his phone.

The boy sent a quick text out to Danny asking for his mum's number, and the boy sent it back within five minutes. Everyone sat on the couches and watched a bit of TV for a bit longer before finally Zayn once again left the hotel to go hang out with his friends.

Everyone was under the impression that Zayn was actually sorry for his actions and that he wouldn't be repeating them anytime soon, however, not even a week later was he caught coming back to another hotel once again drunk. And a month later he was caught on cameras being high after a concert. And then the occurrences started to become almost daily.

-.-.-.-.-.-Flashback Ends-.-.-.-.-.-

Eventually everyone said their goodbyes before it was just the One Direction boys left in the room. Everyone said their goodnights, and Liam found himself entering the room where Zayn was sleeping, upon entering, though, he noticed the boy sucking his thumb. Deciding it was the best time to bring this trait into full effect, Liam grabbed an unopened dummy from the nappy bag and inserted it between Zayn's lips before crawling under the comforters with the boy.

"Goodnight, baby boy. I'm so proud of you."

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A/N: Hi! So I need a couple of prompts for this story please! Let me know what you think and don't forget to comment and vote! Bye :)

DB