Our Brother is a Superhero

30

Zayn had trouble sleeping that night. He seemed to be fine while the horror movie was playing, because he could convince himself he was safe when he could feel Andy's presence. Now, he was alone in his sleeping bag, surrounded by all the sleeping boys and couldn't stop thinking about the monster in said horror movie.

Every time he closed his eyes the monster would appear, when he would open them he could see dark shapes and then he would clamp his eyes shut again. Really, the dark shapes were just shadows of the boys' bags but the way they were positioned alluded to something much scarier.

Trying to be discreet in order to not wake anyone up (or disturb the monsters) Zayn tried to tiptoe into the kitchen with his phone clutched in his hands. He really didn't want to go home, he was really enjoying being with all the team, but he knew he'd get no sleep if he stayed because all he wanted in that moment was his big brother to cuddle him and tell him it would all be okay.

He turned the light on in the kitchen (to be absolutely sure that there were no monsters hiding) and poured himself a glass of water, almost pouring the whole glass over himself when he turned around from the sink and bumped into Andy.

Zayn gasped and Andy managed to reach a hand out to balance the glass before they were both given a shower. "You scared me Andy." Zayn pouted as his breathing and heart rate decreased to normal and he sipped his water, taking a seat at the island.

"Why're you up bub?" Andy asked as he got himself some water too. It wasn't often he drank water, being prone to either protein shakes or coffee but neither seemed appealing nor appropriate at the time of night.

"Couldn't sleep." Zayn mumbled, suddenly finding his glass very interesting. He watched the water as he swirled it round, avoiding Andy's eyes that he could feel burning into the side of his face.

"Was it the movie?" Andy asked as he leaned against the cabinets, looking down at Zayn who gave an embarrassed nod. "Do you want me to take you home?" He asked again but this time Zayn shook his head quickly.

"I don't want to go home, tomorrow the boys will all know I left 'cause I got scared. But I'm having fun here too." Zayn pouted.

Andy was torn, he knew Liam had asked him to call if Zayn was unsure but Andy could also understand that Zayn was having fun, he was just a little scared at this exact moment.

"Well what is it that's making you scared?" Andy asked, taking another sip of his water.

"It's just the movie, 'nd then when I opened my eyes I could see shadows of creatures in the room." Zayn whispered, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment after he said the words aloud as he could hear how silly he was being. His eyes started to water, with the tiredness and embarrassment, but he was quickly pulled into Andy's warm chest.

"Hey, don't worry. Do you want to sleep in my room and we can leave the lamp on for you, so you don't disturb the other boys?" Andy suggested as he knew Liam left the light on in the hall outside of Zayn's room and Zayn kept his door open so some of the light shone through. However, the rest of the team also needed a good sleep and Andy had a suspicion that they would not take too kindly to the light being on.

"Will you stay upstairs too? Don't want to be on my own." Zayn asked as he pulled away from Andy, playing with his fingers.

"'Course I will bud. C'mon, lets go get some sleep." Andy said, taking the two glasses of water and putting them in the sink before taking Zayn's hand and leading him upstairs.

The two boys got into Andy's bed, Andy sending a quick text to Liam to let him know what was happening, and this time Zayn was able to fall asleep quickly with Andy's lamp softly glowing and the reassuring presence of Andy being next to him.