A Match Into Water (Neeroy Fanfiction)

Chapter 17

Before I start, I'm going to give this chapter to Liam and then Niall, just to show specifically their feelings about what happened to Leeroy. This will be definite for this chapter and maybe in chapters in the future there will be more POV's!

Liam's POV

It all happened so fast. It is impossible to describe, but how I felt when that gigantic lorry darted at my brother and... I knew I wouldn't be able to report what happened. Especially without feeling that pang of regret, the regret of it should have been me. I should be the one in hospital.

And that is exactly where Leeroy is. He's in a coma, in Heartfully Hospice. And I don't know why I'm here, next to him, just gazing into his face. He has the same face shape as me, with the exact same nose and eyes... I wish I could see his eyes, but they were snapped shut.

I still recall that scream of pain before he was knocked out. I cringed and looked away. I knew that image would haunt me before I saw him well and happy again.

Although I told Niall a million times I hated my brother, I didn't. I loved him, I just never forgave him. He left me and neglected me and starved me and traumatised me... How can I just push that away? Why am I even here? Does he really deserve my pity?

I turned to leave when I spotted somebody's big blue eyes peering through the door window. His eyes weren't on me; they were on my brother. I stared at the figure and then the ocean orbs connected with mine and I saw a twang of bewilderment.

I froze and stood up from my seat next to Leeroy's hospital bed, and tore my gaze away from the boy. The door immediately opened, and Niall entered the room, this time his eyes fully on Leeroy. He did not give me a second glance and I saw his eyes water with the sympathy.

The silence lingered until I saw Niall whimper with pain. I, involuntarily, grabbed him and pulled him into a enormous bear-hug and clutched him to my chest, just so he could let it all out. I heard his little sniffles as he ruined my white T-Shirt with salt water. When he finished, he whiped his nose with the back of his red jacket's sleeve.

My knees almost crippled and toppled me over as I saw the red rims caked under his eyes from the bawling, and his blue eyes were bright and stained with water. His impossibly long lashes were sticky from teardrops and I wanted nothing else than to get him away from any pain. He didn't deserve any of this. I made it worse for him.

"I look disgusting," he whispered as he checked himself in the mirror hung up on the wall next to Leeroy. But he looked the opposite.

I glared. "I'm quoting Demi Lovato here because I know how much you love her, but nothing is more beautiful than a smile which has struggled through tears."

He half-smiled and snatched a chair from next to a computer, before circling it around so it faced Leeroy's bed and he sat down on it before gesturing back to my chair. I perched down on it, and we were both facing my brother from difference sides of the bed.

Just so our eyes could bore into his face. And who knows, could it be the last time?

"You can't escape pain," Niall immediately mumbled. "Even if you have a bajillion pound house and you're mega-rich and has the perfect family and job and everything- you'll still feel pain. Some pain is more agonizing than others, but... you just can't escape it."

And he was right. Idly, I wondered if Leeroy felt any pain. He was asleep in a coma, and normally when you're asleep, you can't feel anything. But... I just conjectured... what if?

"It was my fault," I whispered, glaring down at the white tiled floor, guilt stabbing me right in the heart, right where it hurts.

Niall shook his head and grinded his teeth together in frustration. "Liam, he saved you. Why should that be your fault? Yeah, you shouldn't have stumbled into the road but everyone makes mistakes. And... I wouldn't be full of glee and running off in the sunset with Leeroy if you were in that hospital bed in some mother fucking coma! It was no-ones fault."

And that was when I cried. For the first time, I broke down.

And I hated myself.

Niall's POV

Don't get me wrong: Leeroy being like this was toture. Agonizing torture. But is this the light, the light to say that Liam was finally warming up to his brother, the last leg of our journey?

Seeing Liam cry was heartbreaking, but everytime I tried to comfort him he refused to let me. He'd tell me he was okay and he was strong, but I saw him crumbling at the sight of his brother. Maybe this was a good thing, for him to let it all out.

"He'll be fine," I whispered, though I wasn't quite sure myself. Was my Romeo going to be fine, or was that just something I was telling myself to escape the pain? Though there was no way out, you could make it easier for yourself for a while, but it will all come crashing down again. Was that what I was doing to myself? Inhaling more loss?

Dr. Welsh interuppted Liam's sobs as he skitted through the door with a notebook and pencil. He had wavy chestnut hair and charcoal coloured eyes. He was tall and good looking, but recently I haven't noticed people after I met Leeroy. He was mine.

"Visitoring hours will be finished soon," he told us sternly, peering at Leeroy with concern and empathy but right now I hated Dr Welsh. He didn't know Leeroy, and what gave him the right to feel sorry for him? I knew I was being stupid and selfish; I wasn't the only one hurting. 

Liam nodded, sniffing. "Just tell me if he's going to be okay."

"It is just very hard to tell right now, Mr Payne," Dr. Welsh answered in a low voice, all business and medical. "Coma's can last for months- up to a year! He cannot breathe by himself, and things are just the same after the... er, incident."

Liam sighed and gazed up at the doctor with melting chocolate brown eyes. "But can he die? I see the bruises, I see the cuts, but is he going to survive?"

Dr. Welsh narrowed his eyes and squinted at Leeroy, soundlessly asleep. In pain? Unable to feel? Living? I wanted to tell Liam that we should just go and leave, but instantly I wanted to know the same as my best friend. Was my Lee going to survive? Will there be any internal injuries? Will he be that same, hilarious, beautiful man I fell in love with?

"There is a vast chance he will live, but there's also things which can occur and go wrong," the doctor murmured vaguely. "As I said, difficult to tell. Visiting hours are, however, over. So can you please exit the room while I supervise Leeroy Payne?"

I heaved myself up and gave my love a long, lingering kiss on his forehead. I wished he would stir, but he did not move or move it to my lips. He just lay.

"I love you," I whispered and exited the room.

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