Seconds, Minutes, Hours

Chapter iv

Liam was at Zayn s house when he got there. Zayn had known he would be, but had decided to come anyways. Sometimes Liam was a nuisance, but other times it was good to have a friend.

When Zayn walked in the door, Liam knew something was wrong. Zayn was pale, frail looking. Liam grabbed his hand, turning in the machine Zayn despised.

"What happened?" He asked Zayn. He saw the boy reach for his cigarettes and grabbed his wrist, taking the pack away from him. "No smoking until you explain the situation."

Zayn scowled, grabbing the pack back from Liam. "I'll smoke if I wanna smoke." Liam didn't take it personally. With Zayn, it was all take for a while. He would relax after a while.

"Relax Zayn. It's just me." Liam reminded him. Zayn, despite everything, hated yelling at Liam. He sighed, collapsing on the couch. Liam brought over his breathing mask, the one attached to the air treatment machine. Zayn put it over his mouth and Liam took a seat next to him.

"So what really happened?" Zayn shut his eyes, and Liam understood that it wasn't an easy subject for the boy.

"I got a bit of a tounge lashing for not taking my meds." Liam could see the tears gathering at the edges of Zayn s eyes. He knew that Zayn hated any confrontation about th pills he refused to take.

"It isn't her choice whether you take the medicine." Liam reminded Zayn. He had always been supportive of whatever decision Zayn made. He knew how bad the treatments could be, and understood why Zayn wouldn't want to endure them.

Zayn sighed. "Sometimes it feels like it should be. Am I making the wrong decision?"

Liam wasn't sure how to answer the question. He didn't want Zayn to feel bad about his decision, but he didn't want to encourage him to keep his decision either.

"No one but you can answer that." Liam finally told Zayn, who was breathing more evenly as the machine took over. The color was slowly returning to his face.

"That's not what moms gonna say." Zayn argued.

Liam shrugged at him. "You already had you're daily confrontation with her. She'll probably let it slide."

Zayn sighed. "She isn't gonna be too happy. I kind of suspended myself for 5 days then stormed out."

Liam laughed at Zayn s silliness. "You suspended yourself? Speaking of that, why we're you even in the office?"

Liam had always been the one who kept Zayn from doing something he'd regret. It was why they had been kept together, always processed as brothers even though there was no physical relation between the two. Liam was there to save Zayn from himself, and he played the role well. Zayn s eyes were full of shame as he recalled the story. Liam was the only one who could make him feel bad.

When he was done with his speech, Liam hugged Zayn. Zayn seemed to have relaxed and allowed his brother to hug him. He really did feel bad about slamming Louis into the wall, but other than that the day had just not gone in his favor.

"What I don't get is why you are so calm around Harry and Louis. You treat them like anyone else, even though they give you so much more material to work with. You might even have people willing to help if you decided to beat them up." Liam wasn't saying it was a good idea, he was just genuinely confused as to his brothers actions.

Zayn smiled and breathed in deeply through the mask before responding. It didn't seem like Zayn to be so calm, but then again Liam had always brought out a more rational side of him.

"Because I knew that my brother and only ever friends is gay and didn't want him crawling off to his room and crying himself to sleep after I spend all afternoon crying On his shoulder." Zayn smirked at the shocked expression on Liam s face. After a moment, Liam sighed.

"How'd you know?" He finally asked. Zayn rolled his eyes.

"I'm not thick Liam. I've seen the way you stare at people." He pointed out, his breath starting to slow as his eyelids dropped. This machine wasn't supposed to put him to sleep, but Liam knew it always did. He smiled as he watched Zayn struggle to stay conscious.

"So you're okay with it?" He asked. Zayn was taking the news suprisingly well. Then again, he had figured it out on his own.

Zayn shrugged.  "Its none of my business. But yeah I'm cool with it."

Liam smiled and gave Zayn a hug. "Thank you."

Zayn rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Now let me nap in peace."

Liam laughed to himself a bit as he left the room. Zayn was so observant, so understanding, and overall a great person. Liam knew that, having seen him when he had still been comfortable enough to be himself. Things had defiantly changes for the worse since then. Zayn had started smoking, become quite the bully and could hardly breathe with out help anymore. Of course, the rapid downhill spiral could be traced directly back to one thing.

And the only thing Liam wondered as he sat in the kitchen was why did Zayn Have to get lung cancer?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, If you want any more of this, I need feedback. 20 reads, 2 comments and 2 votes. That counts the 17 reads 1 comment and one vote I already have.