It hurts [Ziall]

24

Niall

I nervously paced around backstage. We still have around ten numbers until Zayn and my diet, and I was freaking out.

What if I mess up? What if I forget the dance? What if I fuck up in the lift and fall onstage?

I knew that I normally thought these things before I go onstage and nothing ever happens, but I was just especially nervous today.

I spotted Zayn on the other side of the stage stretching. I gave him a small wave and he smiled at me.

'You ok?' He mouthed. I shook my head, knowing that I was freaking out a lot more than usual. A look of worry crossed his face and he immediately started walking around the back of the stage.

"What's the matter Niall?" He whispered, as soon as he came out from the back wing. At that point I was hyperventilating and a few tears had slipped from my eyes.

"Woah, woah, baby breathe." He said quietly. He helped me to the wall and we sat down.

"Breathe ok? Breathe Niall." I took a few deep breaths, then collapsed into his arms.

"What's wrong baby?" He asked.

"I just got really nervous." I said quietly. "I'm not sure what that was about."

"Babe we're gonna do great ok?" He said, helping me up. "You're going to nail all of the choreography and I promise..." He have me a small smile. "I won't drop you."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"I love you." He said. "So much Niall, and people are always going to say that we're just a high school romance, but we both know that this is so much more than that."

I nodded, then leaned up and lightly kissed his cheek. I heard the number before us being called.

"I gotta go to my side." He said. I kissed his lips lightly, then he ran off to the other side of the stage.

I stood in my wing and shook out my ankles and wrists. I glanced down at my scarred wrists, knowing that people would be able to see them. Nobody from my studio knows about my self harm except Zayn and Perrie.

"Next to the stage, Zayn and Niall with Lay Me Down." The announcer said. I took a deep breath and walked onto the stage, Zayn coming out from the other side and standing in the center of the stage.

I heard a few gasps and whispers, no doubt about the cuts on my arms, some still fairly new, and some faded white scars.

The music started to play and I forgot about everyone in the audience. I forgot about the judges, the judgmental people, and everyone else who wasn't on this stage with me. The only people who mattered right now, were me and Zayn.

It came time for the first lift and we performed if flawlessly, not missing a beat.

By the end of the dance, I had tears running down my face and so did Zayn. Lyrical has always been my way of getting out my emotions, and I didn't care that I was onstage. I just let myself cry over the last 5 horrible months of my life, that have also been the best of my life, because of Zayn.

We did the final pose, then Zayn twisted me around and the kiss afterwords was not at all staged. I kissed him desperately, my hands on his cheeks and his arms around my waist.

In that moment, I totally forgot that we were even onstage. The only people in the whole world that even existed in that moment, were me and Zayn.

He pulled away from the kiss, my hand lingering on his cheek.

'I love you.' He mouthed quickly.

'I love you too' I mouthed back, then we turned away and walked offstage.

As soon as I was in the wings, I ran around to the other side, straight into Zayn, who apparently had the same idea as I did.

"That was amazing baby!" He cried, wrapping his arms around me in the biggest hug ever.

"I know! We did really well!" I said excitedly. He leaned down and pressed our lips together.

I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck and his hands went to my waist as we kissed. As we pulled away, he rested his forehead against mine and I smiled.

"I love you." I mumbled.

"I love you too babe."

Our sweet moment ended as Perrie ran backstage and engulfed me in a hug.

"OH MY GOD NIALL THAT WAS SO GOOD IM SUCH A PROUD MOTHER RIGHT NOW!" She yelled, picking me up. I laughed, shushing her.

"You're going to get murdered by the backstage workers Perrie! Shut up!" I laughed, hugging her back.

"Oh my god, it was so good though!" She said, running over to Zayn and hugging him as well. That's when basically the whole senior group from our studio came backstage, hugging Zayn and I.

A bunch of the girls hugged me, in tears over my self harm, telling me it was all going to be ok and all that.

In a chorus of "oh my god I can't get over how good that was", "you guys were amazing", "I cried watching that", and "if you don't get first place in going to sue.", we walked from backstage because we were causing quite a commotion back there.

Zayn intertwined our hands and led me out to the audience, while the girls all went to the dressing room to help Perrie, Ana, and Rylee get ready for their trio.

I leaned my head on Zayn's shoulder to watch Perrie's trio and some of the other duets and trios, but my mind wasn't fully in it. I thought about how much the girls cared, how so many people gasped when I walked out onstage, and even Zayn's face when he first found out about me, back when it was fake. People actually care.

I smiled and blinked the tears out of my eyes as Zayn looked down at me.

"You ok?" He whispered, squeezing my hand tightly. I nodded.

"Too much crying for one day." I laughed. He smiled, leaning down and kissing my lips. He started to say something, but was cut off by the announcer's loud voice booming over the speakers.

"It's time for the awards ladies and gentlemen! Can all of the dancers make their way up onstage please!"

I smiled at Zayn, taking his hand in mine and dragging him up to the stage. This is my favorite part of being a competitive dancer. No, not getting awards, breaking it down with your best friends beforehand.

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

Crappy ending to a long overdue chapter :/

If you're a dancer you'll understand that last part hahaha. Basically, before an awards ceremony, the judges need time to tally up points and do judge stuff idk, but they put on popular music and songs with choreographed dances that everyone knows (watch me whip, Cupid shuffle, gangnam style, etc.) and the whole stage is a bunch of kids dancing around together and forgetting about the awards and sometimes they throw prizes and stuff it's so much fun

Yeah, anyways NIALL AND ZAYN'S DUET IS THE VIDEO IN THE SIDEBAR. Zayn is the guy and Niall is the girl (sorry nialler)

Again, sorry for the super late update

THERES ONLY ONE CHAPTER LEFT BEFORE THE EPILOGUE *cries*

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