Quick info: I don’t know a lot about the hospitals in England, so… yeah…
~
To try to balance your three thousand Spanish books down the stairs from the fourth floor to the first maybe don’t seem so hard. Now add texting on your phone at the same time. A little bit harder, right? It didn’t help that Niall always felt a little bit dizzy when he climbed down the stairs nowadays either.
hey, my spanish is over now, you and the others wanna meet up for lunch?
He sent the text to Harry and waited patiently for an answer while carefully making his way down towards his locker. His phone vibrated in his hand and he quickly unlocked the message:
sorry man, we already ate
Bitches. Fucking bitches. Why did they always do this? Was it impossible for them to wait half an hour for his class to end?
Niall finally arrived to his locker and dug in his jeans pocket for the key. Now the only problem was to unlock it while holding his Spanish books and phone.
“Dammit!” He cursed and suddenly a warm, soft hand took the keys out of his grip.
“Let me help you with that.” Liam said and unlocked Niall locker. When he turned to give the key back to Niall he found the blonde boy staring at him.
“What’s up with you?!” Niall shouted, but his voice wasn’t angry, just frustrated and surprised.
“What do you mean?” Liam asked and looked adorably confused.
“Why are you always around when I need help?! Are you stalking me or something?!” To Niall’s annoyance Liam started to chuckle.
“Trust me, I know how weird it is that I’m always helping you, but when you think about it, you actually do need more help than most people.” He pointed out and Niall thought this over for a moment.
“You’re right… But don’t you have better things to do than to be my own personal hero?” Niall asked and Liam shrugged.
“Not really. So, I came to ask you if you wanted to go and get lunch together. If you’re not eating with your friends, that is.” Liam suddenly didn’t look so secure anymore.
“That would be great! Let’s go.”
They found themselves on a small bar & grill not far from the school ten minutes later.
“If it isn’t Liam Payne.” A red haired waiter grinned when he walked up to their table.
“Ed! What’s up mate?” Liam greeted him. Niall glanced at Ed; his red unruly hair, his tattooed arm that peeked out of the white shirt sleeve, his mischievous grin… this guy looked like the exact stereotype that Niall would usually hang out, party and get drunk with. Now, on the other hand, he felt more drawn to Liam’s calm atmosphere.
“I’m good. Haven’t seen you around in a while though, where have you been man?” Ed asked and Liam shrugged.
“Around.”
“Yeah; around your apartment.” Ed teased and Liam hit his arm lightly. “Moving on to more interesting matters; who is this beauty?” Ed turned to Niall with curious eyes.
“Ed, this is Niall.” Liam introduced him.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Niall.” Ed picked up Niall’s hand and kissed the backside of his palm.
“Um…” Niall caught Liam’s eyes with his own confused and almost a bit scared ones.
“Ignore him; he’s just weird.” Liam said and Ed chuckled.
“Okay, now that we all know each other; are you ready to order?” Ed asked and God, did this guy ever stop grinning?!
When Niall and Liam had ordered and Ed had disappeared, Liam looked a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry about that, Ed can be a bit much sometimes.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Niall smiled and Liam returned it.
“I got you something.” Liam said suddenly and Niall’s eyebrow flew up in surprise.
“You did?” He had to admit that this was a bit creepy…
“Don’t look so freaked out, it’s not like that.” Liam assured Niall before he reached into his backpack and took out a white can with a rainbow painted on it. Niall raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “It’s vitamins.” Liam explained and opened the lid to show Niall the pink pills inside. “It might stop your hair from falling off.” He added, then closed the can again and put it down in front of Niall.
“Really? Wow, thanks!” Niall picked up the can and examined it. “Children’s Chewable? Liam, this is for kids…”
“I know, I used to eat them as a child, but that doesn’t mean that they are less effective. Besides, they taste pretty good.”
“Thank you Liam, really, you didn’t have to.” Without thinking about it, Niall reached over the table and put his hand over Liam’s. He was surprised by his own action, it had been pure instinct, and he expected Liam to pull his hand away. But he didn’t. Well, not until Ed arrived with their food and he winked at Niall before leaving them alone.
“Is he…?” Niall pointed in the direction that Ed had disappeared.
“No, he just likes to flirt with guys to make them uncomfortable. He thinks it’s funny, I don’t understand why thought…” Liam rolled his eyes and Niall nodded.
They ate their lunch while engaging in various conversations and it was probably the best lunch Niall had been on in months – hell, years!
“Guess where we are going?” Liam said when they exited the grill and started to walk down the pavement together.
“Back to school?” Niall asked, but he had a feeling that he was wrong.
“Hospital.” Liam said and Niall sighed.
“Seriously Liam, I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
“Well, I think it’s best if you do.”
“You’re not in charge of my life.” Niall felt like a snotty kid as soon as he had said it.
“Someone have to take care of you since your shitty friends don’t.” Liam said neutrally and hailed a cab. Niall didn’t protest against Liam’s insult towards his friends, because they were pretty shitty right now. Or had they always been? Maybe Niall just hadn’t noticed it…
When they arrived at the hospital Liam told the nurse what had happened and that they only wanted a small checkup. After Niall had showed his horrible ID, which he got when he was fourteen, the nurse told them to sit down and wait for their turn. It didn’t take long until a doctor invited them both into a room for examination. He tested Niall reflexes in legs and arms, then Niall had to close his eyes and touch his nose repeatedly (something about the nerves) and he ended up in a laughing fit because it was just so silly.
“So, Niall, when did you fell down the stairs?” The doctor asked.
“Uh, about a month ago… it was the 18th of August, I think.”
“Okay…” The doctor wrote something down. “What happened after the accident?”
“My friends took me back to my dorm where I went to sleep.”
“Did you bleed anything or threw up?”
“I bled a little through my nose and mouth. Uh, and I woke up to threw up repeatedly the whole night.”
“When did you eat again?”
“Late next day, but I could barely open my mouth and I could only chew with my front teeth so I didn’t eat a lot.”
“How is it with your mouth and jaw now?”
“Better, but it still hurts if I open up too big; like yawning.”
“Right.” The doctor scribbled something more on his papers. “And your head?”
“It was swollen for about a week, maybe more. The headache didn’t stop until last weekend.”
“How is it now, generally?”
“Loud music is a bit unpleasant, as well as all the noise in the school cafeteria and corridors.” Niall noticed how Liam glanced at him and waited for him to say one more thing. When he didn’t, Liam spoke up.
“He has been having trouble with his feelings, like they are dulled. And he feels a bit depressed.” Niall stared and the brunette with betrayed eyes, but Liam ignored him.
“Would you mind if we do an x-ray?” The doctor asked and Niall gulped.
“Not at all.” He said and licked his lips nervously. Liam obviously noticed his anxiousness and wrapped an arm around his shoulders while they walked towards the x-ray room.
(A/N: I don’t remember much from when I did my x-ray because I was barely conscious, so just imagine this scene, please xx)
Liam and Niall went back to the first room after the x-ray while they waited for the test results.
“You know, dragging me to the hospital during school time isn’t going to help me with my shitload of school work.” Niall said with a light tone so that Liam would understand that he wasn’t angry at him.
“I realized that too…” Liam sighed. “I promise to help you study, okay?”
“You promise me to help me with a lot of things.” Niall pointed out. “Weren’t you going to teach me how to value my own time or something?” Liam chuckled slightly.
“I am going to do that too, but today is hospital-day.”
In that moment, the doctor walked into the room. He sat down in the chair opposite the bed where Niall sat.
“The x-rays showed that you had a heavy concussion and two small bleedings in your brain. They were very small though, nothing to worry about now. You’ve healed well, but it was very unwise to not come here in the first place, it could have been serious.”
“But everything is fine?” Niall asked, and his big was wide with worry.
“Everything is fine. And don’t worry about your numbness; feeling a bit depressed is natural and you should be back to normal soon.”
“How soon is soon?”
“It’s different from patient to patient; some doesn’t feel depressed or numb at all, others feel it for a month or two… You might even have to wait until Christmas-“
“Christmas?!” Niall burst out and looked terrified.
“But I’m sure you won’t have to wait that long.” Liam assured him and leaned over in his chair so that he could rub Niall’s forearm comfortly.
“Okay, any questions?” The doctor asked.
“Not that I can think of.” Niall shrugged.
“Can this somehow relate to hair loss?” Liam asked and Niall glared at him. Was he planning on blowing all of his secrets, or…? Or… blowing something else? Niall perked up suddenly. That was in fact the first sexual thought that he had had in over a month. And it was about his newfound friend Liam. He glanced subtly at the boy beside him, to see if he had noticed anything, but he was just listening to the doctor talking about how Niall’s hair loss wasn’t related to his other injuries. Niall took in Liam’s appearance and noticed once again that he was beautiful. But it was in a slightly different way this time. There was something about Liam. Niall decided to ignore whatever he was thinking, because this was going a bit too fast.
“Well, that’s it then.” The doctor stood up and Liam and Niall followed suit. “Be careful, Niall.” The doctor smiled and shook both his and Liam’s hands.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Liam asked when they walked out of the hospital.
“Not at all… I just wish my friends would have taken me, you know? I mean, I had two bleedings in my brain!”
“Well, why didn’t you tell them to take you to the hospital then?”
“I just wanted to sleep, I wasn’t thinking about hospitals.” Niall said and Liam rolled his eyes.
“You’re so stupid.” He reached out and ruffled Niall’s hair.
“Hey!” Niall shouted and pushed his hand away. They were being awfully touchy-feely for only knowing each other a few days, but Niall didn’t mind.
Liam walked Niall back to his school so that Niall could go to his last class.
“Well, this has been fun.” Liam said.
“Yeah, thank you for taking me to the hospital. And for lunching with me. And for the pills.” Niall blushed as Liam laughed at his struggles with saying ‘thank you’ for the right thing.
“You don’t have to thank me, Niall; it’s not a big deal. But I was thinking that maybe I could have your number?”
“My phone number?” Niall asked in surprise.
“No, your locker combination!” Liam rolled his eyes to mark out his sarcasm.
“But I don’t have a-“
“Niall, it was a joke. Please don’t tell me you’re that slow.”
“No, I’m not slow at all! But I do have my blonde moments.”
“You are blonde.”
“It’s colored, it doesn’t count.”
“Yeah, yeah. Now, how was it with that phone number?”
Niall had to think for a minute to remember his number and then he repeated the digits until Liam had them memorized.
“If I don’t get them right I’ll just be creepy and find you again.” Liam assured him and Niall laughed at his joke/promise.
When he stumbled into his classroom five minutes later the lesson had already started.
“Where have you been?” Zayn hissed.
“With a friend.” Niall shrugged.
“I didn’t know that you had any-“
“Friends.” Niall finished Zayn’s sentence. “That joke is getting pretty old, mate.”
“Shut up, Niall.” He murmured and ignored Niall for the rest of the class. Niall’s phone vibrated with a text in his pocket and he subtly picked it up.
it’s liam, thought you might want my number as well :o)
Niall couldn’t help but smile at the text, because that smiley was just so ridiculous!
~~~~~~~~
A/N: and that ending was ridiculous! just… feel free to shoot me at any time…
if you want to see the childeren’s chewable that Liam gave Niall I found a picture that I posted on the side (I eat them, they taste pretty good ^^)