Finding The Courage (a Ziam Mayne AU)

Chapter Twenty-Six "Family Matters"

Zayn's POV

We'd been sitting in the cafeteria a while longer, talking, until we ran out of substance.

An annoying sound, like a slight, but consistent beeping broke the impending silence. I looked around to see where it came from.

Chrissy connected faster than I did: "Liam, sweetie. That's your phone."

He looked at her, a confused look on his face. Then he understood, crammed his phone out of his pocket and got up to take the call.

I caught little fragments of his side of the conversation: "Yes, that's me... No need to bother me with the details, we weren't exactly close... And if I don't want to?... Fine, I'll think about it." He said goodbye and came back to the table, leaning onto it, his face suddenly pale as chalk, staring into the distance.

Louis was the first one to find his speech back: "What is it?"

Liam's gaze went first to me, then to Harry and then fell onto the table. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "Stan is dying."

All of us looked at each other in confusion, except for Harry who's face turned equally as white as Liam's.

"Who is Stan?", Chrissy asked eventually.

"His father.", Harry mumbled and got up from Louis' lab to walk towards Liam, putting a hand on his shoulder. I felt a sting of jealousy in my stomach. Get yourself together, Zayn! This isn't about you! "What are you gonna do?"

Liam shrugged. "The lady on the phone said I should come visit him."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What bad could he do to me? In his state?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Didn't ask. Didn't wanna know. Don't care."

"Do you want to go?"

Liam nodded slowly.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Harry seemed scared to ask. It looked like he didn't really want to go. He looked terrified.

Liam shook his head. "No. He hates you. I don't want to do this to you. Besides, I want to do this today and it's your birthday. I don't want to ruin your day with this crap. Get your boyfriend and make yourself a nice evening. I'll be fine."

He now finally turned his head to face me, as if he'd just now remembered that we were also still there. "Would you come with me?", he asked, trying to smile but failing.

I took his hand, taking over the smiling-part for him. "Of course."

I didn't know what to expect from all this. Liam never talked about his father - his family in general. Ever. Whenever anyone brought it up, he would smoothly change the subject. After his and Harry's weird little conversation there, I'd gotten really worried but I felt that he needed someone. And he chose that someone to be me.

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We ditched the rest of university for the day. Liam wanted to get this whole thing over with as fast as possible. Harry pulled me aside before we left.

"Please, don't ask him.", he hissed, worriedly squinting over at Liam.

"Ask what?"

"I really have no idea how he feels about this and what it's gonna do to him. But you need to promise me you won't start squeezing information out of him at all costs if he doesn't tell you - not that I think you'd do that, I just... You're probably a much better company for him right now than I am. I'm just another piece of his fucked up past that would weigh on his shoulder. A bit of New would really do him good. I just need to know that you're gonna protect him because-"

I stopped his rambling by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Harry. Calm down." I tried an encouraging smile. "I will. You have my word. And I won't force him to tell me anything. You can count on me."

He blinked the tears away and returned my smile. "Sorry. I don't even know why I'm getting so emotional...", he laughed. "I just... I've always kinda felt responsible for him. But I'm glad he's got you now." He pulled me into a quick hug and was gone again before I could reciprocate.

In the car Liam was awfully quiet. Harry's words in mind I resisted the urge to ask him. I was a little scared of what was to come but I had to persevere. For Liam.

"Would you please say something!", he yelled at some point and squeezed the steering wheel harder. "This silence is driving me nuts!"

"I'm sorry...", he muttered when he saw how startled I was at his outburst. "I know Harry talked to you. Let me guess, he asked you not to talk to me about my father?"

"Bull's eye.", I said, a little ashamed that I'd been so obvious.

His lips formed a week smile. "Don't you wanna know?", he asked hesitantly.

"Do you wanna tell me?", I responded, eyeing him closely.

"No.", he said carefully, merely breathing the word.

I took the hand that was lying on his thigh and gave him a cheerful look. "Then no.", I said, clearly and honestly. "I don't wanna know."

I hadn't noticed he'd been holding his breath until he exhaled heavily. He laced his fingers with mine and gently squeezed my hand, giving me an unbelievably relieved smile.