End of the Day // One Direction Sickfic

Zayn Fainted

Louis POV
"Alright boys, ten minutes" Paul said as he poked his head into Zayn and my hotel room
"Okay! We're getting ready" I called in return and then I heard the door click shut. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat before we work out?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't like working out on a full stomach. Makes me nauseous" Zayn reasoned and I nodded.

I think all of us had begun to notice how skinny Zayn was getting. Even the press had to be noticing at this point.
Every day he would make up a new excuse - oh, I'm not hungry or I'm feeling a bit nauseous.
I was starting to wonder if there was more to what was going on with Zayn than he was letting on.

"Boys, let's go!" Paul called, snapping me from my thoughts
"Coming!" Zayn said as we both grabbed out gym bags and followed Paul to Harry, Niall, and Liam's room.
"Harry, Liam, Niall, let's go" Paul said as he knocked on their door and soon all three of them appeared
"No beanie, Louis?" Harry said as he ruffled his hand through my hair
"Nope. I've got hair now" I smiled. Recently I had been taking off my beanie more often around the boys, but finally yesterday I decided I was done wearing the annoying thing out in public during the summer.
We all walked down to the hotel gym, where our trainers Evan and Denny were waiting for us.
"Louis, hang on a second" Paul said as I turned to head to put my stuff down in the gym locker room
"Alright" I said
"How's your head today?"

For the past few weeks, a headache had began forming and it refused to go away, and it was only getting worse.

"It's better" I lied. "I feel good today"
"Okay, are you sure?" He asked skeptically
"Yes, yeah. I'm fine. I'm alright" I assured him, nodding a little to vigorously that my head pulsated a bit. I did my best to not wince at the pain.
"Okay. Take it easy today, still. I'll be outside and I can take you back up to your room if you need to end early, okay?"
"Alright," I said before I gave a small wave and walked back to the changing room

No One's POV
Shortly after putting their things down, the boys began their workouts. Harry and Liam were helping each other with weights, taking turns, Louis and Niall were doing floor exercises with Denny, and Zayn was working with Evan on the treadmill.

"You're gonna have a nice bum after this" Louis said to Niall as they did some weighted squats.
"Oh yes, for sure. I'll get all the ladies" Niall joked in return

While Louis and Niall were busy cracking jokes, Zayn was not having nearly as much fun doing cardio.
"That's it, keep it up Zayn" Evan encouraged
As Evan increased the speed for Zayn's third sprint interval, Zayn was overcome by a feeling of dizziness.
"Come on Zayn, just one more sprint after this, then you get a break" Evan said and Zayn did his best to nod
By the time the interval was over, and Evan had lowered the speed back down to a jog, Zayn was almost certain he would pass out if he had to do one more.
"Can we, can we stop?" He asked breathlessly
"You can do it Zayn, just one more. No point in stopping now, let's finish out strong. You got this" Evan reasoned, not knowing the extent of Zayn's need to stop
Sure enough, Zayn's prediction was correct, and as the final interval began, black spots began crowding his vision.
"Stop. I need. Stop" He tried to say as he grabbed onto the handrail
"Thirty more seconds Zayn" Evan said
"Can't. Please" Zayn begged
Evan foundered as he began to notice just how poorly Zayn looked - he was sweaty, but his face was white as a sheet despite having been running for almost half an hour - and he turned the speed back down to a jog
"Gon. Gonna" Zayn said before his eyes rolled back and Evan did his best to catch him
"Shit. I need some help over here" Evan yelled as he moved Zayn away from the treadmill and laid him down on the floor.
"What happened? Is he passed out?" Liam asked as he and Harry rushed over. Denny, Louis, and Niall made their ways over too.
"We were doing intervals, he asked to stop, and then he just collapsed" He said and they all crouched beside the unconscious boy
"Niall, can you go find us a water bottle? And Louis, can you go get Paul" Denny requested and both boys left to do as they were asked
"Here," Harry said as he stood up and pulled a nearby bench over, then helped Evan lift Zayn's legs onto it
"Come on, mate" Liam said as he gently shook Zayn, which proved ineffective at waking him.
"What happened?" Paul asked as Louis led him over and he crouched beside Zayn's head
"He passed out on the treadmill" Denny said and Paul nodded
"Zayn, can you hear me?" Paul said as he shook him, "Okay, do we have any water?"
"Niall's off to get some" Liam said
"Alright" Paul said as he took Zayn's pulse and checked his breathing. "Here, take his legs down. Let's get him into recovery position. It'll be easier for him to breathe"
Paul and the trainers carefully rolled Zayn onto his side, and then Paul tilted his head backwards to help open his airway.
"Here, I have some water" Niall said as he returned, a plastic water bottle in-hand.
"Thank you, Niall" Paul said as he took the bottle from it and opened it.
"Come on, Zayn. Wake up" Harry said as Paul rubbed water onto Zayn's neck and cheek
"Murgh mmm" Zayn groaned after a few moments
"That's it, keep waking up" Evan encouraged
"Argh" Zayn said as he brought his hand up to his head
"Can you open your eyes for me, Zayn?" Paul said as Zayn eventually fluttered his eyes open.
"There you are" Denny said
"What, happened" Zayn said as he glanced around
"You fainted on the treadmill. Hey, hey, don't try to get up," Paul said as Zayn tried to sit up. Paul gently pushed Zayn back down to the ground and Zayn relaxed again.
"Just relax Zayn. You passed out" Harry said as he took hold of Zayn's hand

The next few minutes were spent trying to keep Zayn comfortable and laying down while he regained his bearings.
"Alright Zayn, how are you feeling?" Paul asked
"Better" Zayn replied
"Okay, do you think you can sit up?"
Zayn nodded
With the help of everyone, Zayn sat up and was handed a water bottle.
"Zayn, have you eaten anything today" Paul asked and Zayn looked at Louis before looking down and shaking his head no. He knew that if he lied, Louis would rat him out. "Okay, that's alright. I'm going to have someone come and bring you a juice box and some food, okay? We need to get some sugar and food into your system" Paul said gently.
He knew that he couldn't be stern with Zayn right now, as he was in a fragile mindset when it came to food - it had been obvious to Paul for awhile now.

A couple minutes later, the other boys had headed to the locker room to get ready to leave, and Lou came down with a juice box and some food for Zayn.
"Here honey," She said as she opened it for him
"Just eat as much as you can, Zayn" Paul encouraged and Zayn took a sip from the juice box.

Once Zayn had finished the entire fruit bar and half of the juice box, Paul and Lou helped him stand up. One of the guards, Aaron, had already taken the rest of the boys back to their room, so Paul decided he would just take Zayn to Lou's room.
"Zayn, you're gonna go up to Lou's room for a bit and talk to her, okay? And then you can go back with the boys" Paul said
Zayn was about to protest, but then nodded in submission, knowing he couldn't argue.

Lou and Zayn talked for an hour, before Paul came and took him back to his room.

Paul POV
"How did it go?" I asked as I sat down on Lou's hotel room couch
"I think he needs to go home. To Bradford" She sighed
"It's that bad?" I asked, thought I already knew that it was
"He's anorexic, Paul. And what's worse is that he doesn't think he has a problem. He thinks he's in control"
"Do you think he will be able to finish out the tour?" I asked. I knew Modest! wouldn't let him leave early, no matter how much Lou and I wanted him to
"I don't know, and it's more so will his body be able to handle, what, five more weeks of shows?"
I sighed, not knowing what to do

After Lou and I talked for a little while longer, I had to head back to my room, where I decided to call Trisha.
"Hello? Paul?" She answered
"Hi Trisha. How are you?"
"I'm good, Paul. How are you? Is everything alright?"
"I'm doing well. I am actually calling about Zayn. Do you have a minute to talk?"
"Yes, of course. Is he alright?"
"I don't want you to panic, but he collapsed during his workout today. He was only unconscious for a few minutes, but we think it's because he hasn't been eating"
"Is that why he's gotten so skinny? I thought I was the only one who'd noticed"
"No, trust me, we've all noticed. I am going to talk to management to see if he could have a few weeks off to go home once the tour is over. Would you be okay with him coming home?"
"Of course. I want to help him than anything. He's my baby boy"
"Okay. That'll be in about five weeks time. Is there a good time for him to call you this afternoon? I really think he should talk to you today"
"Anytime. Anytime. Please have him call me"
"Alright, okay Trisha. Thank you"
"Thank you for calling me. And please try and help my boy"
"I will try my best" I said before she hung up the phone. "I will try my best" I repeated to myself as I dialed Modest! management