Take Me Home

Chapter Twenty-Three

Zayn lowered Louis onto the bed in his room, smiling at the boy's sleepy mumble as he rolled onto his side. He gently brushed his hair away from his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead before tugging the red duvet cover up to his chin and tucking him in.

"Night little man," he whispered, before leaving the room and closing the door half way behind him.

Niall was waiting for him in the hallway, leaning his back against the wall and studying the palm of his hand. Unlike Louis, he had not fallen asleep by the end of the movie. Despite it being past his bedtime by almost an hour, the kid was insistent that he wasn't tired.

"Zayn?" he asked, as soon as the man approached him.

Zayn smiled down at the blond. "Yeah, Ni?" He could hear soft murmurs coming from Harry's room, and he guessed that the two of them were talking about what was going on with the teen. Zayn hoped he would be filled in afterward.

"What do the lines mean on the backs of our hands?" he asked, out of the blue.

Zayn chuckled. "What makes you ask that?"

Niall shrugged. "And why am I shorter than Louis, even though we're both seven? And why do we all get different coloured hair and eyes?" he rambled on.

Zayn laughed, the kid's questions distracting him from the stress of what was going on in the other room. "That's a lot of questions, Ni," he said.

Niall huffed. "You're not giving me any answers. I have billions of questions, Zayn. Maybe I should stay up and ask you all of them," he said, coughing slightly into the crook of his elbow.

"Ni, you're barely over the flu yet. You need plenty of sleep, it's already past your bedtime," Zayn told him, though Niall just pouted like a toddler.

"But Zayn, I'm not even tired. Please can I come downstairs with you again? Can we watch another movie?"

Zayn sighed, getting the sense that there was something deeper going on here. The kid was clearly exhausted, but he was refusing to go to bed. Before he could ask, Niall went on.

"I'm hungry, I didn't even have lunch today because I didn't feel good then. But now I'm starving," he exaggerated.

"Fine, you can have some toast and let your food settle, but then it's straight to bed, okay?"

Niall nodded quickly.

In truth, Niall was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for five days straight, but he couldn't because he was too scared and he didn't want to admit that to Zayn. For now, he would just have to go without sleep. He used to go for nights on end without getting any sleep when he was on the streets, so he decided that this wouldn't be any different.

"Ni, I asked if you wanted jam or butter?" Zayn said, waving a hand in front of his face as he sat up at the breakfast bar. Niall blinked at him, then smiled tiredly.

"Butter," he said.

Zayn raised an eyebrow. "What's the magic word Liam and I were telling you about?"

"Butter, please," he added, staring at the food in distaste as it was set down in front of him.

In all honesty, he wasn't very hungry at all. This just seemed like the best chance he had at getting Zayn to let him stay up a little longer. His next plan was to convince the man that he felt really sick again, so that he would sleep in his room with him like he had the first couple of nights after he had come out of hospital. He felt guilty for lying, he knew what people who lied got. He had lied to Keith once and paid the price, but for now this was his only option. His only way to feel safe, albeit tired.