Where Is My Mind (Larry/Ziam AU)

08.

CHAPTER 08.

His usually bright green eyes are growing dull as the teenaged boy grows tired. It is only a little after three in the afternoon, but he didn’t sleep well last night and it’s beginning to catch up with him. He blinks a few times to try and refresh his eyes, but it doesn’t seem to work. Slowly, he stretches out his legs and gets up from his desk chair, heading down the stairs in search of caffeine.

“Look who’s come out of their cave!” Gemma mocks as he walks past her stirring a cup of tea.

He says nothing, merely raises his middle finger and holds it up in her direction while putting the kettle onto boil.

Gemma snickers at her brother’s immaturity, but makes no further comment as their mother wanders in, no doubt drawn by Gemma’s comment or the sound of her son’s dragging footsteps.

“Where have you been hiding all day?”

With a shrug, the boy sends Anne a weak smile, “I’ve been distracted, sorry,”

Anne immediately notices the happy tone beneath the obvious tiredness in her son and a smile forms on her lips. She is happy to see him warming up once again because when he has his down days, she’s always at her wits end, but then he comes back a little and it’s like a ray of sunshine for her. Silently, she hopes it will last longer this time before he slips back into his isolated shell.

“I was thinking of inviting Niall around for dinner,” she suggests, hoping the presence of a friend will only lift her son’s mood further.

“That’d be great, if I can stay awake that long,” he half-heartedly chuckles.

The whistling of the kettle interrupts their discussion and with a shake of his head to clear his vision of chocolate curls, Anne’s son turns away from her. She exchanges a quick glance with her daughter and Gemma nods, understanding. She slips from the room and makes sure to take her phone with her.

It only takes a few seconds for her to find Niall’s number in her phone, and he picks up halfway through the second ring.

“Is everything okay?” Niall answers the call, without even a greeting.

“Yes, you loonatic. Mum wants you around for dinner, your best buddy’s smiling again,”

“I’ll head over now!” Niall’s voice brightens up and he hangs up without even a goodbye.

“Rude,” Gemma mutters, staring at her phone.

Back in the kitchen, a yelp comes from the tired boy and he quickly turns on the cold water, sticking his hand under the faucet. He’s too tired to even get the water in his mug. Anne takes over making the beverage for him while sending concerned glances his way. He reassures her with a smile.

 

~

 

Louis is finishing up his latest English Lit assignment when his laptop beeps. He has a good feeling that it is probably Jamie messaging him and trying to get him to answer his offer from a couple of days ago. He will admit that it is kind of Jamie - a complete stranger from the Internet - to offer to help him with the very class that will be his downfall, but Louis doesn’t understand how writing a story together will help him. He doesn’t know the first thing about story-writing and he predicts this whole thing will be a huge letdown.

He stalls on checking his inbox by going over his answers for the assignment. Louis pulls out his past assignments and tries to learn from prior mistakes, but all the red ink is really upsetting and he feels like the biggest failure on the planet. With a huff, Louis shoves the papers away from him and decides to distract himself, so he finally reads the message.