Collision; Larry

20.

Needless to say, Zayn doesn't sleep a lot that night.

It's a lot to take in. Travel through a world portal, turning the target for your insufferable crush into a golden statue, meeting Thor and Sif, and to top it off be presented with the information that you're in fact from a fairy-tale world you've only ever dreamed about for your whole life? It's kind of extremely overwhelming to get to know all of this within the timespan of a day. Hell, experiencing one of those things would've been enough to make him question everything he's ever known.

So it doesn't come as a surprise that he spends the whole night, tossing and turning while Niall sleeps blissfully in the other bed. None of this is keeping the blond boy restless, that's evident, and Zayn envies him as he turns his pillow over to the cool side once more, closing his eyes shut and trying to loosen his puzzled frown.

It doesn't really work, and by the time light start peeking through the tiny gap between the rugged curtains, the only sleep Zayn's gotten are a few minutes here and there. His bones ache with exhaustion, but every time he's on the verge of falling asleep the image of Liam, lifeless and petrified in a supporting stance creeps onto his closed eyelids, etching itself into his cornea and rooting inside his head, and he always has to open his eyes again, rapidly and with a sharp inhale. He tries to push those thoughts away, but he can't. Not when he has this much time and room, such a golden opportunity to dwell.

It will be fine, he reminds himself repeatedly throughout the night and until dawn, whispering to himself like a broken record. It will be fine. It will be fine. He will be fine. We will be fine.

The sunrise has only been going on for a couple of minutes when Niall's bed finally start creaking, signalizing the movement that means the boy is waking up. Zayn doesn't look his way, but continues staring up at the ceiling, tracing the bumps and dents in the rock tiles above him with his eyes.

"Good morning," Niall chirps finally and stretches his torso, joyful as ever. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sure," Zayn says, not breaking his thorough examination. "As one does, after turning someone into a lifeless statue."

Niall sighs, and the bed creaks again followed by the soft sound of bare feet against stone, and the blond boy makes his way over to Zayn's bed.

"You know, it wasn't your fault," he says, sitting down at Zayn's bedside, and he's serious now. Sincere. "No one blames you. Liam is going to be okay, and when he comes back I'm one hundred percent sure he won't blame you either."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Zayn mumbles. "I'd be pretty pissed."

"If Liam did that to you, on accident, would you be pissed at him?"

Zayn doesn't answer right away.

"No," he finally admits. "But I have some kind of ridiculous school girl crush on him, so he could probably chop my leg off and I'd thank him."

Niall chuckles. "And you honestly don't think he maybe feels the exact same way? The guy could barely stand up straight around you for the first couple of hours you knew each other and he's a fucking shapeshifter. Have you ever heard of a naturally clumsy wolf?"

Something stirs in Zayn's stomach at the way Niall so surely and convincedly forms his words, and he finally shifts his gaze to look at him. The boy is wearing a small smile and his eyebrows are raised, waiting for Zayn's response.