Loved You First

Chapter 20

Harry’s frantic voice was the first thing Zayn heard when he came to. Through the pounding in his head he could hear the worry laced in his boyfriend’s voice. “Zayn? Shit, what happened?” Harry carefully wiped some blood away from the boy’s forehead, keeping it out of his eyes.

Zayn struggled to focus on Harry’s words, pain and adrenaline running through his veins. He was unable to form words. All the dark haired boy could thing was that he was sure he was dead, or at least very close to it. The pain in his body was nearly unbearable. It was only when he heard his best friend’s voice was that he even realized where he was, still on the cement of the football stadium. “Man, we’ve got to get him out of here. He needs to go to the hospital,” Liam’s voice sounded nearly as worried as the curly headed boy’s.

Harry looked up from where he was crouched next to his boyfriend on the ground, supporting his head in his hands. “I know. Why don’t you go pull the car around and I’ll help him out, yeah?”

Liam agreed immediately and headed off towards the parking lot with Louis following in suit. Harry turned back to Zayn, laying on the ground passed out cold. He tried to control his state of panic as he looked at the dark haired boy, blood running down the side of his face, scratches and bruises forming on his exposed flesh. Harry didn’t even want to imagine the kind of bone damage he had. He bit his lip, feeling guilty that he let Zayn wander the stadium alone, he knew if he would’ve gone with him none one would’ve even thought about messing with them. He placed a hand on the side of the boy’s face, trying to wake him slowly. “Zayn, babe. C’mon, we’ve gotta get you to a hospital.”

The dark haired boy managed to pry his eyes open, meeting the worried green eyes staring at him from above. He replied with a sort of groaning, weakly reaching out his hand to have Harry help him up. The curly haired boy immediately complied, standing up and slowly pulling his boyfriend up onto his feet, all the while a grimace plastered on Zayn’s face. He knew the pain he was experiencing must be excruciating.

“Can you walk on your own?” Harry wrapped his arm gingerly around the boy’s waist in an attempt to keep him stable, waiting patiently for a reply.

Zayn shook his head. He was surprised he could even stand; walking was a whole other challenge. He hated being seen like this, broken and weak. Then again, Harry had always been more of the man in the relationship. He was always a bit more standup-ish, the bolder one of the two, the stronger.

Carefully, Harry pulled Zayn’s arm over his shoulders in the classic human-crutch hold to help him out towards the exit. Zayn let out quiet gasps every few steps, gritting his teeth in an attempt to hold in the sounds of pain escaping his lips. Blood ran down the side of his face from the harsh cut he had on his head from where it’d hit the cement. Even in such a broken state Zayn managed to be more worried about Niall’s sweatshirt than himself, worried about staining the only thing he had left of the blonde boy. He continually brought a shaky hand up to smear the blood away from dripping off his jaw. Moving his arm sent shooting pains through his body but he couldn’t stand the thought of soiling the blonde’s hoodie when he’d already soiled their relationship so much.

Zayn remembered thinking he must’ve deserved this; that he was finally getting what he deserved. He remembered thinking this had to have been what it physically felt like to go through what he’d put Niall through. He remembered Harry’s stress-filled voice just before he lost consciousness.

+

            “Son, I think you’ve about had your limit,” a large man from behind the bar leaned over the counter a bit, giving the boy on the other side a sympathetic look.

            A low grumble came out of the boy’s throat. “I’m payin’ ya ain’t I?” His accent was always the heaviest when he was drunk. He nearly barked his order at the bartender. “Another.”