Back to Where We Started

Chapter 21

Unfortunately, by the time Liam woke up, both Louis and Zayn had managed to doze off as well, leaving the lad to shuffle into the front of the bus and find everyone snuggled up together. Without him.

As he stood there, looking at the four sleeping forms, Liam warred with how to react. On the one hand, he understood that the boys didn't mean to leave him out; they'd just all woken up before him and managed to fall asleep again. Heck, they were probably even trying to be quiet in an effort to allow him to sleep some more. On the other hand, Liam was usually one of the first up in the morning. Shouldn't the others have found it odd that he had slept the latest? Why didn't they wake him so they could all spend some quiet time together this morning?

With that last thought, Liam huffed out an annoyed breath and made his way over to the coffee maker. Pleased to see that there was still some coffee left, Liam opened the cupboard to search for a coffee mug. Trying to keep the noise down to a minimum, Liam pulled one down from the shelf, set it on the counter, and reached for the coffee pot. It was then that Liam realized the coffee maker had been on long enough that the automatic shutoff feature kicked in, leaving the remaining coffee cold, and therefore, undrinkable.

Logically, Liam understood that this was just a case of bad timing. However, that didn't mean that Liam was feeling very logical. Rather, he found himself feeling rather emotional in that moment. In that moment, Liam's feelings of annoyance morphed into frustration. Feeling the way he now did, all concern for keeping quiet so as not to disturb his sleeping bandmates flew out the window as Liam noisily began moving about the kitchenette so he could make another pot of coffee.

Niall, who had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the last fifteen minutes or so, was the first of the boys cuddled up on the couch to stir. Trying to make out the cause of all the noise, he blinked his eyes rapidly before bringing a hand up to his eyes and scrub at them. When his vision finally focused, he frowned, watching as Liam bustled about the kitchen, seemingly on a mission.

"Morning, Li." Niall greeted cautiously.

Liam briefly turned to look over his shoulder, silently acknowledging that he'd heard the greeting, but not feeling inclined to return it.

Still in a foggy state of mind, Niall decided against pressing the lack of response from Liam, and instead turned his attention to figuring out the best way to extract himself from the mess of limbs on the couch so he could duck into the loo.

Thankfully, he was saved the trouble by Zayn, who was apparently awake as well, but had opted to keep his eyes closed. "I can hear you thinking, Ni. Just give me a minute and I'll try and get out of your way." He mumbled sleepily. It didn't take long for him to put words into action, and Niall was able to hurry off down the hall to take care of business.

By some miracle, Louis and Harry had managed to sleep through Zayn shifting them around so he and Niall could get up, as well as the noise that Liam was clearly making zero effort to minimize. Intent on making sure the two were not rudely awakened from their slumber, Zayn decided to make his way toward Liam.

"Morning, Li. You sleep well?" Zayn asked, voice low.

The only evidence that Liam had heard Zayn's greeting was a weak shrug of a shoulder.

Crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the counter, Zayn searched Liam's face with a critical eye. He watched on as the lad needlessly shuffled things around, waiting for the coffee to brew. Something was clearly bothering the lad, but it seemed like he wasn't planning on telling him what that was anytime soon. Not without any prodding, at least.

"What's going on, Liam?" Zayn pressed.

Liam threw an unimpressed look toward Zayn. "What makes you think something's going on?"

Zayn huffed out a breath. "Since when do you brush Niall off when he says, 'good morning' to you?" he challenged.

Liam rolled his eyes at that. He hadn't answered Niall when he'd wished him a good morning. So, what? Just because he typically acted like an overindulgent big brother and coddled his Irish friend while he fully woke up, it didn't mean that he had to do so every morning.

"Hey, none of that, now," Zayn admonished lightly. "You just don't seem yourself and I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help make it better."

Liam almost felt bad for his sour mood when he heard the genuine concern in Zayn's voice. Almost. Not yet ready to let go of how he was feeling, but acknowledging that he had to change his tactic for handling Zayn, Liam took a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm fine. I just, didn't sleep well last night. That's all."

"You didn't?" Zayn asked.

Liam shook his head. "No. You know how it can be. First night back on a moving bus after sleeping in a hotel for a few nights."

Zayn hummed his agreement. While he knew what Liam had said to be true, a part of him also felt skeptical that Liam was telling him the truth. Deciding that things were likely to escalate rapidly if he continued to press the matter, Zayn expressed his sympathy for Liam's poor night's sleep and promised himself that he'd talk to Lou and make sure that they both kept an eye on the lad throughout the day.

By the time Niall had joined them again, Louis had started to stir. "Mmmm," He groaned.

"Good morning, sunshine." Zayn greeted with a smile.

Louis looked in the general direction of Zayn's voice and huffed before flipping him off.

"Oi!" Zayn protested.

"How come he can get away with that, but we can't?" Niall whined.

"Yeah, Lou. How come you think you can get away with that, but they can't?" Zayn challenged.

Suddenly feeling more awake, Louis situated himself so he was sitting upright. He threw Zayn an apologetic look before turning to Niall. "Sorry, Ni, I shouldn't have done that."

After witnessing the exchange between the oldest two, Niall's pout was exchanged for a mischievous smirk. "You know, Zayn, if I'd done that, one of you would have swatted me and had my nose in a corner by now."

Noting the teasing tone Niall was using, Zayn decided there was no harm in playing along. Making eye contact with Louis, he attempted to silently communicate his intentions. When he noted a faint blush in Louis' cheeks, Zayn found himself unable to suppress a satisfied smirk. "Right, Tommo. You heard the lad. Can't exactly go setting a double standard now, can we?" he asked. "Let's get this sorted, then."

At this point, Liam abandoned the frustration he'd been feeling so he could turn his attention to the scene unfolding.

With all eyes on him, Louis shifted around uncomfortably. "Well, no, but..." Louis faltered. He'd briefly considered pleading for mercy and promising that he'd do better in the future, but then snorted at the thought. Here he was, the 'sass master,' embarrassed about being punished for something he scolded the other boys for on a regular basis, and for the most part, at least when things were normal, apart from the obligatory grumbling, they hardly put up any complaints. Swallowing his pride, Louis made eye contact with Zayn once more before pushing himself up off the couch and shuffling to stand in front of him.

Uncrossing his arms, Zayn made quick work of tucking Louis under his left arm and delivering five rapid swats. To his credit, although he'd sucked in a sharp breath, he's managed to refrain from making any more of a fuss. With the smacks dished out, Zayn grabbed hold of Louis' elbow and directed him to stand in the corner. "Ten minutes, Lou," he informed him.

When Zayn turned back around to face Niall and Liam, he was met expressions that appeared to hold mixed feelings. Liam looked caught between amusement and curiosity while Niall looked bewilderment and curiosity. Not completely convinced that he was making the right decision, Zayn chose to ignore the looks he was receiving and focus his attention on searching for something to serve up for breakfast. 

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it :) I really struggled with how to end this chapter, so it ended up taking me longer than I'd hoped to post. 

As always, I'd love to hear what you think!