brainchild | z.m. & n.h. au

iv.

Niall is the only one not in line for his medication. Granted, the sad-looking nurses enclosed behind the Plexiglas box have no such pills to give him. He is simply Patient 22 on Floor 4 and nothing more—no diagnosis to speak of, no habits that need to be stopped just yet. He is still skin and bones and enormous blue eyes and he wonders what it is the other patients have to see.

They’ve been staring at him. Not all at once like he imagined they would—a pack of vultures circling their prey. This group does not move together—they are not one collection of madness that walk and talk relative to each other; they are all completely separate. In fact, aside from a few small clusters of friends, the patients don’t seem to want a thing to do with each other.

Niall follows suit—easily conforming to the group’s unspoken rules—and sits alone at an ugly grey table in the corner of the room. He keeps his head down and pretends that it’s not raining outside because how the fuck can he be so unlucky? What happened to the luck of the Irish he used to swear by?

Very few patients stop by his table, but the ones who do give him funny looks. Pressing, lingering. He feels a bit self-conscious—a bit exposed, really, because at times he imagines his brain is attached to the outside of his skull rather than the inside and that they can see the malfunction that everybody talks about. Niall pats his hair down just to be safe.

And he’s only pretending to be unaware, really; so why is it that he doesn’t notice the man with the missing tooth until he’s sitting right across from him? Niall hates to admit that he jumps—hates to admit that he’s terrified of people, especially when they stare him down like that. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Niall. The man thrums his bony fingers against the table and asks about the stars spinning around his little blonde head.

I’m not crazy, Niall chants religiously, not that he’s ever taken solace in the idea of a real god before. He stares at the man and the man stares back as words tumble out of his mouth without proper construction or meaning or pronunciation, for the matter. I’m not crazy. The man laughs like an animal and it takes him repeating the sound four times before the small boy concludes that it must be a nervous twitch. Niall pulls the sleeves of his brown sweater over the edges of his fingertips—hopefully now the man won’t see.

That’s about the time the boy walks over. He is a tall collection of dark features—dark hair, dark eyes, dark tattoos covering his arm and peeking out the top of his white shirt. And it merely takes a glance for Niall to wish that he could call him something other than the boy.

“Leave him alone, mate,” are the first words to drift from his mouth; accent choppy and rough like the fluttering of moth wings. His tone is softer than his words are—quiet and escaping through a delicate smile. “He’s not up for your games—not today, yeah?”

The man sends a glare of confusion but he seems to get the point—clambering out of his chair like a bear in a china shop and trotting off. The boy takes the seat and rests his hands on the table, staring at Niall expectantly.

“Um, thanks,” is all he can manage.

The boy shakes his head, his eyes and his pointed stare never straying once, “Nah, he’s harmless, really.”

Niall nods and hides his hands under the table, looking down at his lap—clad in small grey trousers that blend into the plastic chair.

“So, you’re the new boy, that right?” the raven-haired boy’s voice is rough and smooth at the same time and Niall has no idea how that’s even possible. “Saw the nurse bring you in last night is all.”

“You were up?” Niall asks, curiosity fouling his plan to keep quiet. Stupid.

“Shh,” the boy hushes him softly, leaning further across the table, “Can’t tell, yeah? Night privileges,” he winks and the blonde swallows thickly, “No one else has got them.”

Niall nods and the rain hits the glass a little softer, “Your secret’s safe with me.”

...

[idk if people are actually wanting to read this lol but I’m sorry it took a while. I procrastinate...a lot. Anyway, I hope this was alright. Xo]