Hiding in the Shadows

The Plan

Hearing Niall's voice Louis sighed in relief, he just didn't think he could take anymore of the desperate pleading even if he didn't understand what the boy was saying; he still understood the pain in the voice.

Now that he was alert Niall quickly became aware of what had just happened. Shame and confusion warred over him. He was ashamed that he'd screwed up – again. That he'd woken yet another bandmate in the middle of the night because he couldn't have a silent nightmare – because let's face it, having no nightmares just wasn't gonna happen. More than anything though he was confused; why was Louis sitting with him? Why wasn't Louis yelling at him or shaking him? He didn't understand.

"Niall?" Louis asked after a few moments of silence, "You alright?"

"Yes" Niall cleared his throat, "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for waking you" he said as he slipped out of Louis' grasp.

Louis was confused but he let Niall up, "It's fine. I don't mind"

Niall shook his head, "I shouldn't have done it. I'll be quiet from now on"

Louis sighed, stood up and took Niall's wrist, dragging him back to the bed, "It's fine, let's just lay down and get some sleep"

"I'm fine, slept enough"

Louis snorted, "You've had a total of two hours of sleep, that's no where near enough for either of us"

Niall tried to argue but Louis wasn't listening. Instead Louis gently forced Niall to lay back on the bed, he wrapped his arms around the shaking boy and refused to let go. Eventually both boys drifted off into a deep sleep.

Louis was the first one up in the morning and he was a bit surprised at first to feel a slight weight in his arms. He looked down and saw Niall sleeping peacefully while using his chest as a pillow. As he recalled the events of late last night he couldn't believe that he'd forgotten. Years ago – before Niall started rooming alone – Louis would often be the one to room with the boy because of the nightmares. The fact that the others had been rather tired these past couple of days started to make since; Niall must have awoken them at some point during the night.

Niall's phone went off and interrupted Louis' musings. Niall groaned and shifted as he awoke. "Morning sunshine" Louis greeted.

Niall blinked up at Louis in confusion, why was the man still there? Why was he being so pleasant? Why had he stayed with Niall last night? Niall didn't get it. Louis kept watching him, waiting and eventually Niall replied, "Morning"

"So... Why is it that your alarm is set for...." Louis paused to take a look at the clock, "five in the morning?" if he remembered correctly Niall wasn't one for getting up before seven unless necessary.

Niall shrugged as he sat up and stretched, it felt so good to actually sleep. "Got a session with my trainer"

"Oh" was all Louis said in reply. He sat there silently stunned as he watched Niall gather his clothes and walk to the bathroom. He'd forgotten about Niall having a trainer.

"So will you be joining us in the lounge later?" Louis asked as Niall changed.

Niall paused on the other side of the door, would he? He had nothing going on after his cooking lesson, he'd planned on grabbing a bit of breakfast but he didn't really need to eat. In truth he hadn't eaten breakfast in... well that's not the point. "Sure"

Louis smiled in victory, "Brilliant, you're on my team for FIFA later"

Niall felt a smile pull at his lips, a real smile, "OK"

Louis let Niall alone after that and didn't think much of it when he didn't see the boy at breakfast, he never saw Niall at breakfast. As he, Harry and Liam started gathering their controllers and setting up the game though Louis started to wonder just how long Niall's training session was.