I Remember

Maybe spending time at the hospital wasn’t such a bad idea after all. The two boys sat down at a table together and began to eat their meals, while happily making small talk like old friends do. After their stomachs were content, they decided that it was getting late and decided to retire back to their room.

At around 9pm, the boys decided to hit the sack, mostly because poor Niall’s mind was utterly exhausted from the day’s events. The nurses were kind enough to find Liam some extra blankets so he could sleep in the extra chair. Niall felt bad because it obviously wasn’t comfortable. Just before falling asleep, the blonde boy rolled over in his bed to face the other.

“Liam, thanks for staying here. You really didn’t have to do this just for me but... thanks. And thanks for sleeping in that god awful chair tonight.” cooed Niall from his nest on the bed. Before Liam had the chance to respond, Niall had already drifted off.

“Anything for you, Nialler.” whispered the brown-haired boy to his sleeping companion. Liam tried to fall asleep, but his mind kept wandering. He sat in the chair staring at the white ceiling just letting his mind go. He thought about all the moments he and Niall had shared in the past and tried sorting them out, the most important ones first. Then he started wondering about how this would affect the band and if Niall would ever join them again. He wasn’t sure what he was thinking or when it was that he fell asleep, but he did somehow, despite his reeling mind.

--------

Niall could suddenly feel the walls closing in on him, and it got increasingly harder to breathe with every second that passed. Liam, Louis, Harry, Zayn, and all the doctors were standing together in a small room, staring at Niall with hard expressions. They all started mumbling things at the same time, all saying different things. As they each took a step closer to Niall, their voices got increasingly louder, and the words they were saying became unintelligible. When they all got to within a few feet of the blonde boy, they started yelling at him, spitting out terrible words that Niall couldn’t understand due to the pure panic behind it all. All he could do was look around in a frenzy, and try to decipher what they were saying. Just when Niall didn't think he could handle the volume of their voices any longer, everyone but Liam disappeared, sinking into the black abyss surrounding them. He stepped closer and gave Niall a disgusted look.

"You're worthless. No one really cares if you can remember anything. They just want to get you out of their hands so they don't have to deal with you anymore. You'll always be the less important one. No one actually pays attention to you." He gripped Niall’s arm and squeezed it tighter with every word he spoke, shaking him violently. "Stop it. Stop trying. No one cares. You’re unimportant to me, Niall.”

He spat out his name over and over, his nails digging into the soft white flesh of Niall’s forearm. “Niall. Niall. Niall.”

--------

Liam was sound asleep when he heard the most gut-wrenching sound. At first he thought it was someone from down the hall, until the voice registered in his head. Niall. He sprung up out of his chair and ran over to the side of the bed and tried waking up the screaming boy.

Niall flung open his eyes in a panic, drenched in sweat, shaking like a leaf. He realized he must have been making some sort of noise, for Liam was right next to him, trying to snap the blonde out of his daze.

“Niall?! Niall what happened?! Wake up Niall!” was all the petite boy could hear, and all he could do was burst out into tears over the traumatic experience. Anything he attempted to say was mumbled and drowned out by the hysterics.

Liam immediately sat on the bed and held Niall close.

“Shhh... It was just a bad dream. You'll be okay. Shhh... I'm right here.” Liam kept whispering things to Niall to try and calm him down.

At one point, the doctors came in, and the larger boy had to frantically wave them out before the small figure in his arms noticed they were there. They sat like this for a good 15-20 minutes before Niall finally started to calm down.

“Sh sh shhhh everything's going to be okay now. You were just having a bad dream. I'm here, I'm right here.” Liam continued to whisper to the weeping form in his arms.

Niall started to feel safer in Liam’s arms, but still could not get over what the Liam in the dream had said to him. As far as he knew, Liam hadn’t the slightest idea of what happened in the dream, and he intended to keep it that way.

Eventually, Niall’s blue orbs gave up on spilling their tears, and settled on being red, puffy, and stinging. The sudden outburst from the nightmare left Niall exhausted, so he gripped tightly onto the strong figure beside him and let the sobs that once racked his body subside and slowly succumbed to sleep.

--------

Seeing Niall in his arms, Liam thought that he looked so small and innocent. It was heart wrenching to think that anything could have happened to this young lad to make him this upset. Being the protective figure he was, Liam stayed next to Niall and allowed him to stay in his arms because Liam had the slightest idea that if he was there, nothing would ever dare haunt this poor boy again.

Right before Niall dozed off completely, he uttered a few simple words.

”Thank you, Li Li.”

Li Li. That was what only Niall had called him. And he remembered it on his own. No one told him that, either.

A single tear escaped from Liam’s eyes, and it fell onto Niall’s forehead. Liam tenderly wiped the tear away and sniffled a bit. He wiped away a few tears now rolling down his own face and was only able to sputter, “Anytime.”

At that, Liam ended up falling asleep positioned against the headboard with Niall’s head on his chest. For some reason, being like this gave him some peace. He didn't want to disturb the sleeping Niall either, so he figured one night like this wouldn't hurt.