Bullied By Zayn Malik.

Chapter 15: The Real War Begins.

*Niall's POV*

Zayn and I walked back to my house in silence, his eyes didn't leave the ground once. I felt so bad for Zayn, I had no idea how hard of a life he had. I always thought he was just a big, cocky bully; but all this time all he wanted was attention. I can't seem to wrap my head around that.

When we reached my house, Zayn seemed a little stunned. "Wow, compared to my place, this is a mansion." I snickered, fumbling with my keys. I opened my door, and got attacked with a hug from my mother. "Niall baby, don't ever scare me like that again!" she cried, stroking my hair. I felt my cheeks turn red, come on, Zayn was standing right there! "Mum, I left you a note telling you were I was going." I pulled away, fixing my hair. "I know, but still. You're my baby." I heard Zayn chuckle, and I face palmed myself, how embarrassing can it get? "Who's this?" my mum asked, looking behind me to Zayn. "Did you bring home a hitch hiker?"

"Mum!" I cried, covering my face with my hands. This only caused Zayn to laugh a little harder. "Ugh, this is Zayn. He needed a place to stay for a little." He flashed a smile at my mum, reaching out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Horan." My mum extended her hand out to shake his, but when he took it, he raised it up to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. "And may I add, you're much too young to have a son as old as Niall." My jaw nearly hit the ground, what a flirt! My mum blushed wildly, letting out a high pitched chuckle. "My my Zayn, you certainly know how to please a lady."

"OKAY! I had enough! Please stop before I puke!" I yelled, covering my ears. My mum and Zayn laughed, while I grabbed Zayn's hand and dragged him upstairs. We entered my room and I slammed the door behind me. "Dude! What the hell?! No hitting on my mum!" I cried, giving him bug eyes. He snorted with laughter, holding his stomach. "Oh man, Niall! You should of seen your face when I kissed her hand. Total picture moment!" he collapsed on my bed, laughing even harder. My cheeks began to turn a familiar crimson color while I bit my lip. "Oh put a sock in it, Zayn." When he finally calmed down, he looked around. "Nice crib." He looked at all the pictures on my wall. His smile instantly vanished when he saw my favorite. It was me, Louis, Harry and Liam in my backyard around the end of September. We all had nerf guns, and were pointing them at the camera like we were going to shoot. We had the most ridiculous faces on, it made me smile whenever I looked at it.

But it seemed to do the total opposite for Zayn. His eyes didn't leave the picture for awhile, causing me to wonder what he was thinking. "I saw them today." he finally said, breaking the awkward silence between us. "Huh?" 

"I saw them." he repeated, his eyes finally leaving the frame and returning to the ground. "I went to Starbucks before, and they were sitting at the back table. I swear Niall, if looks could kill, I wouldn't be sitting with you right now." I bit down on my tongue hard. I felt guilty. The boys don't know how hard Zayn has it, they need to stop picking on him. I need to talk to them.

"Just ignore them." I finally said back, taking a seat beside him. He didn't say anything, he just nodded slighty. 'Well, I know it's already 7 in the morning, but I didn't get any sleep. So I'm going to bed. How about you?" I asked. He nodded, "Where should I go?" I tried to think of where he could sleep. I didn't want him to sleep on the couch downstairs, that's where my mum was. SO not happening! He couldn't sleep in Greg's room, that would just be awkward. But i didn't have anything for him to sleep on in my room. What do I do?

A light bulb went off in my head. 'Stay here, I'll be right back." I hopped over my bed and ran downstairs. "Hey mum, where is the air bed?" I asked, digging through the hall closet. "Erm, i think it's in the garage hun!" she called back. I groaned, rolling my eyes and walking out into my backyard. I opened the garage door and started searching. "Where is it?!" I yelled angrily to myself, after about 20 minutes of looking. I finally spotted it in the corner, and tugged it out of a pile of crap that mum doesn't want to get rid of. I heard a squeak, and saw a little white mouse scurry it's way across the floor. I bolted out of there like lightning, I hated rodents.

When I finally got back to my room, Zayn was still sitting on my bed, waiting patiently for me. But his eyes were drooping, struggling to stay open. "Hang in there Zayn, I just need to blow this up." I said, plugging it in. He nodded, rubbing his eyes. The mattress took it's time filling up with air, I sighed sitting against the wall waiting for it to finish. When it finally did, I unplugged it and moved it so it was on the floor, next to my bed. "There, all set." I said, throwing a pillow on top of it. He smiled at me, "Thanks Ni, sweet dreams." He laid down on the mattress, and fell asleep almost instantly. I smirked, grabbing an extra blanket and throwing it over him.

"Night Zayn." I mumbled, climbing into bed myself, just as the sun was peaking through the branches of the tree outside my window.

***

A loud bang and multiple voices awoke me, nearly giving me a heart attack. "What's going on?!" I cried, looking around. My eyes grew wide; I saw Lou, Liam, and Harry standing by my door. "Morning Ni." Liam smirked. They didn't see Zayn on the opposite side of my bed yet. "Wha-What are you guys doing here?!" I quizzed, hopping out of bed. "We wanted to say sorry for acting like such jerks." Harry said, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Yeah," Louis added, "We're sorry for acting like a bunch of Zayn's." The three of them burst into laughter, while I just stood there. I didn't know what to say.

"Niall?" Zayn's raspy voice said. My breath became short. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's going-" When he saw the trio, his eyes grew wide and he stopped talking.

"What the fuck is he doing here?!" Louis nearly screamed. His sweet blue eyes suddenly turned red with anger. "I thought you said you weren't gonna talk to him anymore, Niall?! Now he's staying here?!" I narrowed my eyes, "I didn't say that Louis. YOU did. I don't care what you guys want. Zayn is my friend, he needed a place to stay. Get over it." All three of them stepped closer to me, making me step back. "Guys.." I said nervously.

"Leave him alone!" Zayn yelled, standing up. The boys took a step back. I could tell they were scared, but they were holding their ground. "Shut the fuck up Zayn, we don't need your opinion." Harry snapped. I saw Zayn's hands clench into fists. This was going to get ugly, real fast. Zayn was over by my side in a flash. "Watch your mouth, Styles." he warned. Harry smirked, he knew he was playing with fire. "Or what, Malik?" That was the death sentence. Zayn grabbed Harry by his shirt, lifting him off the ground. He pulled back his fist to nail him, but I got in the way before he could do anything. "STOP!" I yelled. Zayn's eyes went from Harry to me, Harry simply smirked. "..Fine." Zayn growled, throwing Harry into Louis and Liam, knocking them over. "Fucking douche bag!" Liam screamed, helping Harry and Lou up. "As if I don't know that already, shrimpy." Zayn taunted, shrugging his shoulders. They all started to yell at each other once again.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, pulling at my hair. The all stopped, leaving the room dead silent. I stared at Zayn, then my three friends. "..Guys, please leave." they nearly fell over with my response. "You're choosing HIM over US?!" Louis cried. "Please, just leave." I repeated, pointing at the door. Harry shook his head, glaring at me with those emerald green eyes before walking out, Liam doing the same. Only Louis was left, and he just stood there, staring at me. “..I'm sorry, Lou.” was all I could say. He moved closer to me, getting so close up that I could feel his hot breath on my face. “You're going to regret this, Horan.” those scary words escaped his mouth, in a voice I've never heard before. Who was that? That wasn't Louis, that was some monster that I didn't know. He stared at me more, before shooting a look that could kill at Zayn and walking off, slamming my bedroom door behind him.

The room was silent. Zayn stared at the ground, I could see the anger leaving his eyes. “Niall.. I'm so sorry.” he mumbled, before quickly walking out of my room with something in his hand. I didn't bother to chase him. My door slammed once again behind him.

Then I was alone.