Thought He Was Fine - Part 1 (Liam-Centric Fic)
Prompt: Anonymous → A Prompt where Liam is sick but nobody believes him because they’ve had a huge fight. The boys think that he’s just trying to get attention but then they find out he really is sick and are all sorry and stuff. Please? Take you time. I would be happy if you’d fill it :)
Warnings: Sickness and Angst, totally not proof-read
Note: Surprise! Decided to just post this instead of telling you in advance, not to disappoint you guys in case I took too long or gave up. Also this is probably really lame and I apologise for any OOCness. So, sorry.
Liam doesn’t remember when it started. He just had this weird feeling that something was wrong and it was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time, since he was young and constantly in the hospital. He’d been running out of energy quickly recently, he always felt like sleeping and had trouble waking up which resulted in him being late on a couple occasions. Today, again, the boys had ended up leaving him behind.
The 21 year spent minutes laying in bed before finally opening his eyes. He blinked several times, cringing at the light before looking at the time. Realisation set in that his band mates had probably left without him again when he heard how quiet their suite was. Liam dragged himself out of bed, showered, put on his comfiest clothes and a pair of sunglasses though the sky was covered before he finally called Paul to pick him up and bring him to wherever it was he was supposed to be. He felt too out of it to try to remember.
~*~
"Ah, finally his highness decides to show up." Louis mocked with a roll of his eyes. The boys were in the middle of a photo shoot for the announcement of a preview party for their new album Four. “What’s your excuse this time?” Liam just ignored him, he could feel a headache coming on and would really prefer it if this didn’t evolve into an argument. “Yeah Liam, why was it that you couldn’t bother waking up on time, again? We were all supposed to be here two hours ago.” Niall added with a frown.
"I don’t feel really well." He flopped into one of the make-up chairs, groaning as he had to take his glasses off. The brown eyed lad hoped that would be the end of it but of course, his mates seemed not to want to let it go. "Just seems like a major hangover to me. What happened to you being the responsible one? You’re starting to act like a diva." Liam couldn’t believe his ears, it was like they all had a grudge against him. He ignored Harry and looked to Zayn for help but it seems the older man wasn’t looking at him, giving him the silent treatment.
Once his makeup was ready and he’d gotten changed, Liam went to take his solo shots while the other boys watched on. His shoot went horribly, his smile didn’t reach his eyes, his head was pounding and he was overall really stiff. Annoyed that he couldn’t seem to do anything right that day, he huffed asking, “Can’t you just fix it with Photoshop or something? I just can’t do this right now.” He felt as if he was going to fall over. The photographer relented and called for a break before they were to take the group shots.
Complaining about how Liam had it so easy despite his shitty attitude, Louis was just adding fuel to the fire. “How about you just quit the band if you don’t want to put your part of the work in anymore?” He asked glaring. Liam was taken aback, what had he done wrong apart being tired and feeling sick? He couldn’t help but raise his voice, unable to believe his ears. “Are you fucking kidding me Louis? I give it my all every single day! What the fuck is wrong with me being off for a day?”
"We wouldn’t care if it was a day, it’s been five days that you’ve been thinking about no one but yourself and letting the band down." The brunette felt betrayed as he turned to Zayn who had spoken, frowning at him and arms crossed. "I though you guys would know me better than just think I was a selfish git! I honestly just haven’t been feeling well re-" "Stop with the excuses. Yesterday it was a headache, the day before that your stomach, and before that you were just ‘too tired’. You’re shouting at us perfectly fine right now!" Niall cut him off mid sentence and it was then that Liam realised this was a losing battle. His head was now pounding and he just couldn’t deal with them all right now. He felt betrayed and nauseated though he didn’t know if it was because of his friends’ behaviour or his mystery illness.He turned away without another word, went back to the dressing room to change and grabbed his sunglasses before leaving.
~*~
Later that day, they had sound check for an intimate concert in front of a crowd of 40 lucky fans. This time, Liam was the first to be there as he hadn’t felt like going back to the hotel and decided to walk to the venue, feeling like some fresh air would do him some good.
The boys arrived a couple hours later and while waiting for everything to be set up were sitting in a room talking with the band and other members of the crew. Paul brought Liam lunch, rightly guessing that the young man hadn’t had much to eat that day. He tried to eat but his stomach was tied in knots and after only a few bites, he pushed his plate away. His headache came back full force. He pulled up his hood, trying to block out the light by laying his head on the table face hidden between his arms.
In the end, he fell asleep and was woken up by Zayn who just gestured for him to follow.
"Enjoyed your beauty sleep?" Louis asked, fiddling with his in-ear monitor. Liam ignored him, grabbing his own monitors. Each member took place on the stage, Liam in the front facing the empty seats as the others had their backs turned to the audience. The music started, slowly gaining in volume. As the light came on suddenly, Liam flinched hard and dropped his mic, causing a horrible sound. He tried protecting his eyes but the noise aggravated his headache and he ended up falling from the stage trying to get away from it all.
Shouts could be heard but the panicked boy had no idea where they were coming from. Aggravated, he pulled himself up on his knees and scrambled away, nauseous. “I’m fine. I’m okay, I’ll just…” He got up and gestured towards the restrooms, telling the security men he didn’t need to be accompanied. His band mates looked on in confusion, worry finally settling in. Maybe they’d been wrong about their friend…
"I, I’ll go check on him." Zayn said in a quiet voice. He was unsure what he was going to find once he got to Liam. He should’ve paid more attention to the other boy, instead of… Instead of ignoring him. His best friend.
He pushed his thoughts aside as he entered the men’s room. “Liam?” He called. There was no answer. Walking to the last stall, he pushed on the door which had been left ajar.
"God, no. Someone, anyone! Paul! Liam, Liam wake up." Before him, Liam was half-sitting, half-leaning on the toilet, unconscious, his stomach’s content emptied in the bowl.
TBC
