Reason To Be (A Zouis Family AU)

Part Three, Chapter Four

Liam sighs, head in his hands in the empty apartment.

Emily is in class, and it's unsettlingly quiet. It's not often that he has time to sit down and think, and today it isn't going too well for him.

In short, he's stressed. And he doesn't really know why - he isn't at university since he had decided that further education would be great for his anxiety, but he does work two jobs and between the two of them, they exhaust him. One is just retail work at some burger place but the other is one that he cares about a lot; an apprenticeship for a journalist company.

And things have been going great in every aspect of his life lately. He's found a sort of balance where he isn't quite overworking himself, he has time to spend with his girlfriend whom he loves with all of his heart and time to spend with his family.

But he still has that worry that he should be doing more whenever he has the time to sit alone and actually breathe. He isn't sure it's a feeling that's ever going to leave.

He's older now anyway.
Backtracking a few years, he would have forced himself to do something productive to fill the time; be it school work or some meaningless task that he would attach importance to. And he's always end up worse off.

He understands well enough now that he's better off dis trees ancient himself from anything that might stress him out further - and that means his own solo company.

He picks up the phone and calls his Dad.

The phone rings a few times before it is answered.

"Hey kiddo. Everything okay?" The man asks immediately, because it's three pm on a Thursday afternoon and he's usually at work but today is just one of those days where his schedule is low.

He manages a tight smile. "Um, yeah, Dad...can I come over for dinner?" He asks quietly, because the thought of sitting down with his parents and brothers and just getting lost in the normalcy of it all sounds like the perfect medicine in that moment. "Only if it's okay, I'm just feeling anxious for no reason again and -"

"Bear, you know you don't even have to ask. Of course you can...do you need me or Pops to come pick you up?" He asks gently, the use of the childish nickname soothing him to no end.

The smile is a little easier this time as he stands up and swipes his car keys off of the counter. "It's okay. It's not that bad this time," he answers truthfully, thinking back to that one time he'd had a panic attack over the stress of moving away from home only for Dad to have to come and pick him up because he couldn't even imagine getting into a car in the state he'd been in. "Um. I'll be like, twenty minutes?" He says, and the man answers in the affirmative.

And its only fifteen minutes later that he's stepping into his home. His old home? He still never knows how to refer to it, because childhood home makes him feel as though he hasn't lived there for years when in reality, it's been eleven months.

Dad is there in an instant when he steps into the hall, drawing him into a hug, and it causes a pang in his chest when the man has to reach up to hug him. Maybe not by a whole lot, but enough. Still, Harry is already the same height as him and it's forever going to drive him crazy that his little brother is going to be taller than he is. Then again, he'll never have to worry about Niall being any higher than his shoulder, he supposes.

He gives the man a tight squeeze before he pulls away, smiling at the worry in the man's eyes.

"I'm okay, Dad. Really. I don't even know what caused it," he mutters, and his father just shakes his head.

"I'm just glad you called. I'm proud of you, you know that?" He says softly.

Liam smiles and opens his mouth to reply when Harry comes down the stairs towards them. He grins when he sees Liam.