Cover Story

Chapter 1

"I'm going to be calling out who is rooming with who for the duration of bootcamp, so pay attention," yelled some man into a microphone.

Zayn really wanted to tell him that he didn't have to yell; he had a microphone after all. He figured it was for dramatic effect as everything was for this show. He waited some time to hear his name called, and finally it was.

"Zayn Malik and Niall Horan, room 347."

Zayn shrugged a bit. He didn't know a Niall, but then again he didn't know most of the people here. He grabbed his suitcase and collected a room key from the woman at the front before heading to the assigned room. Once he got there, he stood outside the door and just hoped that whoever he'd been roomed with wasn't a total jerk. Zayn could get along with most people; he was mostly nice and caring. The caring part came more from having little sisters than anything else. Finally, he reached into his pocket and took out the room key. He slid it through the lock and stepped in slowly.

Zayn walked down the small hallway until he got to the bedroom part of the moderately-sized hotel room. Standing next to one of the beds was a shorter blonde boy. He had his suitcase open and a few of the drawers in the dresser next to the bed open as well. He looked a little worried, biting his lip and bouncing on the balls of his feet discreetly.

"Niall?" Zayn asked from where he was standing. He watched as the boy jumped and then turned around quickly.

"Yeah," Niall breathed. "You must be Zayn. You scared me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you," Zayn said apologetically. He picked up his suitcase again and began to set it on the bed next to Niall's.

"Sorry! I didn't ask which bed you wanted, we can switch if you don't want that one or-" Niall started anxiously.

"It's really fine. I'm not picky. A bed is a bed and all that, right?" Zayn said, smiling at Niall. He was clearly nervous, twisting his fingers together and biting the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah, right. Okay," Niall said, starting to unpack his things.

Niall knew it was all part of the plan. He knew as soon as he got through the audition stage that he would be going to bootcamp and rooming with someone else, probably a stranger. He prepared himself for the entire month between his audition and boot camp, and still as his mom pulled up and helped him get his things out of the car, he was so nervous he felt like he was going to get sick. Obviously, all of this is what he wanted. But he'd watched X Factor before; some of the things contestants went through were awful.

"Niall, love, help me with these bags," Niall heard his mom say. "And stop biting your nails. They're getting to be much too short," she admonished lightly. She helped Niall into the building with his bags and set them down before turning to hug her son.

"You're going to do great, Niall. I just know you are," she said in his ear.

Niall hugged her back. "I'm really nervous," he said, inhaling a shaky breath.

His mom squeezed him before pulling back to look at him. "I've packed your night time pants just in case it gets to be too much. They're in the bottom of your suitcase," she said quietly.

Niall looked at her in horror. "I don't need those, mom!" he said, his face going red. "I haven't in years."

"Shh, I know," she said, smoothing his hair. "Just humor me. Call it a mother's instinct."

If Niall would have know right then that she would be right, he probably would have turned around and given up. He was always so nervous, and even though Zayn seemed nice enough, he couldn't help but feel weird staying with a stranger. He spent most of his time during boot camp in the commons area singing with a guitar in hand. That was the only thing that made him feel like himself anymore. Even though he wasn't necessarily trying to attract attention, people always flocked around him and sang along or just listened to him. For a few moments, it would make him feel like he was actually talented enough to be there, like the pressure was disappearing and it was just all about the music again.

Of course, it did only last for a few moments.

About a week into boot camp, things really started getting to Niall. He was always an easy crier, and when he was younger he used to wet the bed when he was stressed at school. That was when he was at home with his way-too-nice mom. Now he was here, at the X Factor of all places, and no, there was no way this could be happening to him.

The first time it happened, Niall luckily woke up at about 3 in the morning. He sat up abruptly and anxiously pulled at his hair. Niall was just a sixteen-year-old boy whose mom had always taken care of these sorts of things. How was he supposed to know what to do with his wet bedclothes? He scrambled out of the bed and yanked the sheets off, running to the bathroom across the room and stripping off his wet, cold pants and underwear. He quickly jumped in the shower and scrubbed himself clean, not even caring what time it was and how he was probably waking Zayn up.

As soon as he got out of the shower, he stumbled to his suitcase in the dark and got out some new clothes. Bless his mom for packing so much for him. If Niall had his choice it would have just been a few t-shirts and a couple pairs of jeans. Niall tripped and fell with a loud thunk on the floor when he was reaching for his phone. He held his breath for a moment before thanking God that Zayn was such a heavy sleeper. He tiptoed out of the room and grabbed the wet sheets before leaving the room, calling his mom as he went. Miraculously, his mom answered on the last ring.

"Niall, darling?" he heard his mom ask sleepily into the phone.

"Mom," Niall finally cried.

"What is it, Niall? Why are you awake at this hour?" She asked, quickly waking up and sitting up in bed.

"Mom, I-I wet the bed, and I don't know what to do, and I don't want Zayn finding out, and I don't know how to get new sheets, and," Niall rambled, letting a few tears slip out along the way.

"Niall," his mom cut him off. "Go put your dirty sheets through the shoot to the laundry hamper. Then go to the front desk as ask them for some new sheets. If they or anyone needs an explanation, say you spilled a drink on them, yeah? And promise me that from now on you'll wear the pull-ups," she added at the end.

Niall did exactly as she said, but pulled a face at the last thing. "I'm sure it was just a one-time thing, Mom," he said, heading toward the front desk.

"Niall, please. I don't have a problem helping you with these things, but you need your sleep. And so do I," she said patiently.

"Alright," Niall muttered, not actually planning on doing what she said. He quickly said goodbye to his mom as he approached the service desk. He easily got new sheets from the nice lady at the counter and breathed a sigh of relief as he made his way back to the room. He walked in and shut the door quietly behind him, but gasped when he turned around to see Zayn walking out of the bathroom, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, Ni," he yawned. "Where've you been? It's too early."

"Um, I," Niall stuttered. "I had to, uh, get new sheets. I just, I spilled a coke all over myself and the sheets, and it got everywhere," he rushed out.

Zayn looked at him skeptically for a moment before chuckling and making his way back to bed. "You're a proper klutz, aren't you mate?"

"Yeah I guess," Niall mumbled.

Unsurprisingly, Niall didn't heed his mother's warnings and neglected to wear pull ups to bed. Somehow he logically knew that it would be far less obvious than it was to get out of bed every night to take a shower and fix his sheets. He got smart the second time and just requested extra sheets to the room to hide in the closet. Finally, though, after wetting the bed four times, Niall gave in and began wearing pull ups. He was mortified, and he made sure to keep everything very hidden from Zayn's watchful eyes. He didn't think he ever got much past Zayn though.

"We've decided to put the five of you in a group," Simon told them. For the first time since being brought back out on the stage, Niall looked around at the other four boys. He recognized all of them, and obviously he already knew Zayn. Liam and Zayn were already friends from what Niall knew and the other two boys, who Niall didn't know the names of, were obviously close as well. Nonetheless, Niall smiled so big he thought his tear-streaked face was going to break because he was staying in the competition. He jumped up and down with the other boys like an excited toddler and gave Zayn a hug. And for a moment, the excitement covered up the stress.