Reason To Be (A Zouis Family AU)

Part Two, Chapter One

He wishes he could go to bed, but he can't yet. Even if this stupid maths problem keeps him up until the following morning.

"No. I'm just studying, thought I'd come down and grab a drink," he replies, and the man eyes him for a moment before giving a small nod.

"Good idea, keep that smart brain of yours hydrated. Just, don't overdo it. You gotta sleep, bud," he tells him, and Liam just smiles at his Papa's concern, shrugging it off.

"I know, Pops," he mumbles, before leaving the room and going into the kitchen instead.

Dad is checking Harry's bloods with him. At eleven and in his first year of high school, Harry tends to take care of his diabetes all by himself, but their parents make sure to stay as involved as possible with his health where they can.

"You're perfect, Curly," the man says, and Harry eyes him suspiciously.

"Can you do it again, just in case?" He asks, and Liam rolls his eyes, practically able to quote his younger brother off by heart at this point.

It's the same fiasco every night since he watched a dumb documentary about children with diabetes in which a little girl went to bed one night only for her levels to drop dramatically, causing her to fall into a coma in her sleep which she never came out of, unfortunately. Now Harry has some sort of fear of the same thing happening to him, meaning he has an alarm set for every two hours throughout the night so that he can check his levels.

Everyone, even his doctors, have tried telling him that actually disrupting his sleep cycle is more likely to do damage to his health than the probability of his levels unexpectedly dropping in the early hours and throwing him into a coma.

But Harry has the idea in his head now, and for a practically genius eleven year old who can play two instruments and speak three languages fluently already, Liam can't help but think he sure can be dumb sometimes.

Still, he does have sympathy for the boy. He can't imagine having to inject himself multiple times each day, even if Harry does have a special pump called an omnipod that does all that for him now.

"Haz, you're going to be fine. If you keep giving into the fear then you're going to prolong it, kiddo," Louis warns, and Harry's face looks ready to crumple.

"But what if -"

"No, no more what ifs. I'm not checking it again, and I refuse to be waken up by your alarms every other hour again tonight. So hand the phone over too," he says, and the boy huffs.

"But Dad -"

Dads face softens then, because even Liam can hear the genuine fear in his brother's voice. "Sweetie, me and your Papa aren't going to let anything happen if we can help it. Your levels are fine and unless you go eat a bag of sweets or do something stupid - which we know you won't - then you're going to wake up tomorrow and be just fine. Okay?" He says softly, rubbing a hand up and down the eleven year old's arm.

Harry gulps but gives a tentative nod, handing over his phone. "Okay," he murmurs, then glances up to Liam, who's been hovering in the doorway and not wanting to interrupt.

Dad turns too then, looking a little surprised. "Sorry Bear. Didn't even realise you were standing there. Everything okay?" He asks, and Liam smiles slightly, giving a tired nod.

"I'm good, Dad," he says, managing to squeeze past and turn the kettle on. "I'm making coffee. Anyone else want anything?" He asks, making the man's eyebrows shoot up a little as Harry hops off the stool and goes back to the living room.

"Coffee? You do know it's gone eleven, right?" He asks, and Liam gives a shrug.

"School doesn't start for another week, it's not like I need to be up," he mutters, preparing his mug and dumping in a couple teaspoons of instant coffee.

Dad gives a small frown but then turns back to packing away Harry's bg machine. "Hm. Just make sure you start preparing yourself for early mornings again because I'm not about to be your personal alarm clock like last term," he comments, and Liam rolls his eyes a little, not really all that fussed by it but wanting to be dramatic.

"You won't, Dad," he groans. "Em's brother's gonna start picking me up and dropping me off anyway, so I have no choice but to be up."

"Oh yeah? And is Harry involved in that offer or are you gonna abandon him and let him walk by himself?"

Liam winces at that, turning to face his father as the kettle boils. He's only a couple inches shorter than the man now, and he knows it'll only be a month or two more before he's taller. Papa, of course, still towers over him.

"Dad, come on. He's made enough friends, can't he just walk with them?" He asks, because of course he loves Harry. But he doesn't love having his brother there when he's trying to flirt with his girlfriend...though he supposes there won't be much flirting going on when her twenty year old brother is present anyway, come to think of it.

Dad shoots him a look, blue eyes holding a tinge of disappointment that he can hardly stand to see - it transforms his stomach into knots all over again, anxiety returning full force. He corrects himself before the man even has time to open his mouth.

"But it's fine. I'm sure Em's brother won't mind," he says, and Dad smiles a little then.

He presses a kiss to Liam's head before moving across the room to put the medical kit back on top of one of the cupboards. It has to stay somewhere too high for Niall to reach since the kid had managed to crack into it once and come dangerously close to injecting himself with what would have been a deadly dose of insulin. Needless to say, their parents had both almost had heart attacks before all the yelling started, and Niall thankfully hadn't tried it again since.

As soon as the kettle finishes boiling, Liam fills up his oversized mug and tugs his sleeves over his hands to pick up the hot ceramic. Dad smiles at him again. "Don't be up too late, okay bud?" The man says gently.

Liam smiles back with a tiny eye roll at the man's expense, before he leaves the room. "Course not Dad."

He doesn't go to sleep until four AM that night.