Finally Wanted

Chapter Twenty-One

Trigger Warning: This chapter deals a lot with cutting

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Zayn sighed as he leant against the bedroom door, looking in and watching as Corbin slept. The events of the hours before were fresh in his mind and his heart ached for the teenager. 

"Hey Zayn." 

Zayn turned to see Louis smiling at him. He joined him at the door and peered in, sighing sadly at the red-rimmed eyes and tear tracks on Corbin's face. 

"How is he?" 

"Just as well as he can be," Zayn replied. "he's been sleeping ever since I brought him in." 

Louis shook his head. "How did we not notice this before Zayn?" He asked softly, his eyes never leaving the prone figure on the bed. "The signs were all there in front of us." 

Zayn nodded his agreement. "I know, I guess we just weren't watching out for it." He looked away, his mind racing as he remembered that previous Saturday when he found a blood stain on one of Corbin's shirts. That should have sparked a few warning bells and a proper conversation with said teenager. The fact that the boy mostly wore long sleeves and when he didn't, he wore large, thick leather bracelets which covered majority of his wrist also should have been obvious that something bigger was going on. 

"Harry needs to have a talk with us." Louis said, straightening up suddenly, glancing over to Zayn, who nodded and quietly shut the door. 

They went into the lounge where the other boys were sitting, a solemn look on each of their faces. 

"How is he?" Harry asked. 

Zayn sat down with a sigh and rubbed his face. "He's sleeping." 

Louis leant forward. "How do we deal with this?" He asked, his voice soft. 

The others offered no answer as they glanced helplessly at each other. 

"Ah fuck." Liam placed his head in his hands. "I've never encountered this problem." 

"Well, do we talk to him or what?" Niall asked. 

Zayn nodded. "I think that would be a good idea, but all of us need to do it." 

Harry frowned. "Won't that overwhelm him?" 

"I think it might do him more good than harm to see us all unite to help him with this problem." Zayn elaborated. 

The others slowly nodded as they understood what Zayn was saying. 

"Okay okay." Harry got to his feet and started pacing the room. "When should we do it? Like, as soon as he wakes up or should we leave it for a bit?" 

Liam immediately shook his head. "No, definitely don't leave it," He said. "we don't want him to have time to think about what he did wrong in hiding this or to do worse than he's already done." 

Louis raised an eyebrow and moved so he could see Liam properly. "You seem well clued in on this Payno." 

Liam chuckled, "I have a degree in psychology mate, you know this." He said, lightly hitting the back of Louis' head. 

Louis smiled sheepishly and rubbed his head. "I have more important things on my mind at the moment." He muttered nonchalantly. 

"I think we all do." Niall said. 

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When Corbin finally woke up, he was confused to say the least.