Liam's POV
It happened during the final show of the European leg of our Where We Are tour. The atmosphere was great; we were singing our song and our Portuguese fans were screaming like crazy and obviously having an amazing time. I could feel the adrenaline running through my veins - God, this truly was the best feeling in the world.
Before it was time for me to sing my solo, I felt such a huge amount of energy inside of me I started jumping across the stage - and tripped. I tried to catch myself, but then I felt my ankle twist, followed by a terrible pain that made me fall to the ground.
I immediately knew that something was wrong. I usually wasn't a sensitive person, but at this moment I had to grit my teeth to keep myself from screaming in pain.
I could hear Louis sing my solo as I missed it and the crowd screaming as they had probably noticed that I was injured.
»Liam, are you okay?« It was Niall's worried voice. I shook my head as I felt like I wasn't able to speak right now.
»Let's get him backstage quickly!«, Zayn exclaimed and then I felt two pairs of strong arms lift me up to help me get to our backstage room. When we arrived, Paul came running towards us.
»What happened?«, he asked with a concerned look on his face.
»I think it's his ankle«, Niall explained. »He tripped and fell on stage.«
Paul desperately shook his head. »I can't believe it, boys. It was just the beginning of the concert and one of you is injured already. Can you put any weight on your foot, Liam?«
»Don't think so«, I croaked out and sat down on the sofa with Niall's and Zayn's help.
»I need to take off your shoe to check out your ankle«, Paul said apologetically and I groaned as I knew it would cause me a lot of pain.
»Squeeze my hand if it hurts, okay?«, Niall said. I nodded thankfully and took his hand while Zayn was comfortingly rubbing my back.
I watched Paul untie my shoelace, then he took off my shoe as carefully as he could, but however it hurt like hell and I let out a yell of pain while tightly squeezing Niall's hand.
»I'm sorry«, Paul said, then went on removing my sock which wasn't as painful as taking off the shoe, but still bad enough.
Niall's POV
I felt awfully bad for Liam as he groaned with pain while Paul took off his shoe and sock. When I saw his ankle, I inhaled sharply. The injured area was swollen and had a deep purple colour - I could only imagine the amount of pain Liam had to be in.
»It doesn't look good«, Paul said in a worried tone. »I'm gonna call a doctor since I can't tell if it's broken or just sprained.«
»Paul, no«, Liam moaned. »I just wanna do the show.«
»Don't argue. Your health is more important. And if it's not broken, maybe you can go back on stage after having it checked out.«
With those words he grabbed his phone and moved to the other side of the room to make the call.
»He's right, Li«, Zayn said. »You shouldn't put your health at risk for the show. It's not that important.«
»It is«, Liam answered back. »I don't want the fans to be disappointed. They paid to see all of us on stage tonight.«
»I'm sure they rather want you not to be there than seeing you getting even more hurt«, I said. »They want you to be okay, Li, and so do we.«
At that moment the door opened and Harry and Louis headed into the room looking extremely worried.
»Are you okay, Liam?«, Harry asked rushing towards us. Liam shook his head sadly.
»His ankle is either sprained or broken«, I said. »If it's broken he can't be part of the show tonight.«
»Shit«, Louis exclaimed. »Does it hurt a lot?«
»It's quite painful«, Liam admitted. »But I'll be okay.«
»Harry! Louis!«, Paul yelled as soon as he had finished the call. »What the hell are you doing here? What about the audience?«
»We finished the song«, Harry said, and if one of my best mates wouldn't be injured, I would burst out laughing right now.
»Jeez, boys, you're really driving me bananas today«, Paul said running his hand through his hair. »Do you know what your management is going to tell me if they find out about all of you suddenly leaving the stage?«
»I don't care a fuck about the management«, Louis said and I was surprised about his angry tone. »Our mate is injured and we needed to know if he was okay. And we're gonna stay with him till we know what's wrong with his ankle.«
I noticed Harry looking at Louis very proudly and I was quite impressed too.
Paul sighed. »You know, I'm on your side, boys, but ... « He seemed like he was struggling to find the right words, then sighed again. »I'm gonna settle this up for you. Stay here and help Liam get his leg on the stool there.« He pointed at a low stool that was standing in the corner, then left the room.
We all looked at each other with wide eyes.
»He's officially the best«, I said and the others agreed.
Harry got the stool and put it in front of the sofa, then we carefully lifted Liam's leg and put it onto it. It didn't seem to cause him too much pain as we didn't touch his injured ankle.
»Does it feel better like that?«, Zayn asked and Liam nodded gratefully.
Just a few minutes later the doctor arrived. She was really friendly and wanted to know what exactly had happened.
»Okay Liam«, she said after we had finished telling her everything. »I'm going to have a feel on your ankle and the area around it to make sure it's not broken. I'm afraid it's going to be painful, but I need to do it in order to find out what's wrong.«
Liam just nodded, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was scared.
»It's gonna be okay«, I said quietly and took his hand. »Squeeze it like you did before. I'm here for you.«
»Thank you«, Liam whispered.
»Are you ready?«, the doctor asked and Liam nodded again, holding his breath. »I'm going to be careful.«
I'm sure she was careful like she had said, but however, Liam flinched and screamed in pain when she touched his hurt ankle and gently started palpating it.
»Shhhhh it's okay, Li«, I heard Louis say as he was trying to comfort him. Zayn was still on his other side and rubbed Liam's arm with one hand and his back with the other.
»OWWWWWW!«
I bit my lip when Liam screamed again and tried to hold back the tears. Seeing my best mate in so much pain was a different level of a heartbreak. I wanted to beg the doctor to stop doing this to him, but I knew it had to be done so I kept quiet and squinted my eyes while holding Liam's hand in mine. He squeezed it so tightly he nearly broke it, but I couldn't care less.
When he finally stopped screaming and groaning with pain I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked into Harry's face.
»Are you okay, Ni?«, he asked and I nodded weakly. Tears were streaming down my face and I could feel myself shaking.
»Oh my God, Ni, don't cry«, Liam said as he noticed my tears. »Not because of me, please. I'm okay.«
»You didn't sound okay though.«
»I'm sorry I had to hurt your friend, Niall«, the doctor said apologetically. »But I have good news: Liam, your ankle doesn't seem to be broken. It's just sprained. I'm going to compress it with an elastic bandage now to stop the swelling, and afterwards I'm going to inform Paul about what you should do and not do for the next few days and weeks.«
»Does that mean I can go back on stage?«, Liam asked excitedly even though he was still in a lot of pain from the examination.
»I would recommend you to not do the concert and rest instead, but I can't force you to. If you decide to go back on stage, I would highly recommend you to sit the whole time because if you'd twist your ankle again, you'd be at the risk of needing surgery.«
»Then I'm gonna do it sitting«, Liam said determinedly.
»Okay, but first I need to bandage your foot so I'm afraid you need to grit your teeth one more time.«
Liam's POV
I did grit my teeth, but it still hurt a lot. I managed to suppress most of my screams and groans because I didn't want to be the reason for Niall crying again although I was really touched by him commiserating so much with me. I tried to distract myself from the pain by thinking about the concert we would continue in just a few minutes, and Niall's thumb rubbing my hand. It was actually really comforting.
»All done. You did really well, Liam«, the doctor said and I sighed in relief.
»Thank you so much for your help«, I said.
»You're welcome. I wish you good luck and a lot of fun during the concert. And make sure you're going to take a break if the pain gets worse, okay?«
»Of course. The only question is - how do I get onto the stage?«
»Easy«, Zayn said. »We're going to carry you!«
»Wait what?«, I asked, but the next moment I felt Niall and Zayn lifting me up and I instinctively wrapped each of my arms around my bandmates' shoulders.
»You're crazy«, I laughed as we left the room like that, followed by Harry and Louis.
»Bye, boys!«, the doctor said also laughing and slightly shaking her head probably at our dumbness.
When we got back on stage and Paul saw us in our constellation he looked like he was flabbergasted. But when the fans noticed us being back they erupted into screams and started chanting my name. God, they were so precious.
Niall and Zayn carried me to the lower section of the stage and helped me sit down there. I looked at Niall and he gave me a smile.
»Good luck, Payno«, he said with a grin.
»Thank you, Nialler.«
And then the guitarist played the opening notes of our next song: You and I.
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