Belong To The World

~ TWENTY ONE ~

| T H E M |

He woke up feeling shitty from the inside out. His eyelids felt like there was anchors holding them down as he tried desperately to open them. Niall wasn't sure if it was morning, night, or just five minutes after he had passed out the first time, but he didn't really care.

He stayed in his spot as still as possible on the bed till he had finally gotten the one percent of strength in him to lift his head and scan the room he was in.

There was Liam, Louis, Zayn, and Harry, all four of the boys all squished into one double bed. Liam was curled up at the end with Louis' foot shoved into his face, and Niall would've laughed if the pain wasn't so ruthless.

He tried taking it a step further, moving his hands flat along the mattress to push himself up. But he let out a breathless gasp, falling roughly back down onto the bed making him flinch in pain.

He knew he needed to go to the hospital, he knew that there was something that needed to be fixed. But he was too scared, way too scared and all his choices were now to either stay here or go back to Nick and Ivy.

He should go back to Nick and Ivy, they are probably wondering where their money is that he had gotten them last night. Both like impatient little brats wanting nothing but money, money, money. But Niall felt too safe right now, even though he was withering away in pain it felt too good to lay here in bed and not have to lay on the hard wooden flooring feeling like a worthless dog.

But than there was those four boys right beside him, those traitors that called him every name in the book and never let him explain himself. Let him get abused by this random pig of a stranger. They don't deserve him, and neither does Nick.

He has to weigh out the pros and cons though, and right now, laying here in silence, that was the biggest and best pro.

It only lasted a few minutes though, before he could here shuffling of the covers on the bed beside him. Niall immediately closed his eyes, trying to look like he was sleeping as feet starting thumping along the floors.

Niall had shot his eyes wide opened though when he had felt his shirt get lifted up, and his hands flew out to grab whoever it was, fingers clasping around a tattooed wrist.

Louis was standing beside him by the bed, his hands were frozen with some gauze and medical tape in his hands. That had made Niall slowly release his defensive hold, letting Louis go to work on his wound.

"Your rib had pierced through your skin, causing you to almost get an infection. I am putting this gauze and stuff down to keep you from touching it." Louis explained quietly so he wouldn't wake up the others.

As he worked, Louis spoke again. "You need a hospital Ni. Its not a want or a maybe anymore, you need one. The next thing your ribs can puncture is your lung. Don't take that chance." Louis looked at Niall with pleading eyes, big and blue and so nice to look at. But Niall looked away before he could consume himself in them.

"You know I can't do that Louis." Niall whispered out, and Louis huffed in annoyance as soon as he said that.

"It wont hurt what you do for a living, you can't even do it anyways with how badly you are injured right now. You need to stop this anyways." He patched up the rest of the gauze with the tape and then looked right back up to him. "You need to leave that man, Niall. Please."

Niall felt anger boil in his gut. He bit at his lip to stop the words from spewing from his mouth and took in a big breath. "This is my life now, Louis. I have nothing but this job. You have no right to tell me what I can and can not do."