Trypanophobia -
An irrational fear of medical procedures (such as injection) using needles.

NIALL POV:
The five of us were live streaming on Twitter, when someone wrote in the chat to get tattoos live. We all saw the message. I tried to ignore it, since I have a fear of needles and I know I wouldn't be able to handle a tattoo, but the boys noticed it too.

"Hey, why don't we do that!" Zayn said.

The boys all knew about my phobia, meaning I had told them before, but they seemed to forget.

"Sure!"

"Wait, doesn't someone here have a phobia of needles?" Liam asked.

"Harry does, but he'll be fine, it's not that bad."

Harry nodded.

"I-I also-" I started, but Louis cut me off.

"Why don't we do it tomorrow? We have a free day, right?"

"Sounds good," Liam said.

"Ok, we should end the stream today then, we gotta find someone," Harry said.

"Good thinking babe," Louis said.

"Bai!" Liam said into the camera.

The rest of the boys waved, and Louis shut the laptop.

"Uh, Niall, you ok? You were pretty quiet when we started talking about tattoos..." Liam said, eyeing me.

"Oh, me? Nah, I was just... thinking.

"Ok," Louis said.

"S-so we're gonna do it tomorrow?" I asked.

Louis nodded.

"Do you not want to do it?" he asked.

"N-no! I- I'm gonna-gonna head upstairs to my room now," I said quickly.

"Ok."

The Next Morning
NIALL POV:
I wake up sweating.

I had a nightmare about a bunch of needles surrounding me.

I know it sounds childish, but I've been even more scared of tattoos ever since I saw that comment.

Trying to push the whole thought of needles out of my mind, I pick up my phone.

Immediately I see a few messages, but one from Louis sticks out.

"We're going to get the tattoos at 1:00. We did some polls, and you're getting the biggest one. A butterfly!"

No! First, I'm forced to get a tattoo, now I have to get a whole frickin' butterfly!? No!

Well, that's what I want to say. Instead, I write back a simple, 'Ok.'

I decide I have to do it, so waste time by going back to sleep.

Liam wakes me up around 12:30.

"Gee, have you been sleeping the whole day Ni?" is the first thing he says to me.

I sit up, and nod.

"Why are you so tired?"

"Mmm, just trying to waste some time."

"Well, ok. Ready to go down and get some tattoos!?"

I just nod, and luckily he doesn't spot anything wrong with me.

He gets up and goes downstairs, while I follow.

The boys are all in the room already.

"The guy's outside, we're getting them in the kitchen. Going live in twenty!"

I nod. Liam seems to notice something is wrong, but just shrugs it off.

"So, who's going to go first?"

"Not it!" they all say.

Shit! Now I have to get a tattoo, the biggest tattoo, and I have to go first.

Harry seems to sense my worry.

"Uh, never mind, I'll go first."

"Why?" Louis asks.

"Uh... I feel like it..?"

"Ok, you are doing the smallest one anyways."

"Thank you," I whisper to Harry.

He just smiles back.

Then, the artist comes in.

"Ready?"

"Yup, we're going live in five minutes, so you can set up whatever you need to set up, right here," Louis says.

The guy nods and heads toward us.

Five Minutes Later
NIALL POV:
"And... we're live!" Louis shouts out.

We all turn our attention to the camera, and say our hellos. I put on a fake smile and wave.

The anxiety is already creeping towards me.

"Ok, so we decided Harry would go first... and that's all we have."

The comments spammed with orders, but we just ignored them.

"Ok, I have the smallest one. Just the words, 'Be Happy!'" Harry says.

He sits down, puts out his right arm, and looks away.

God, I wish it was that easy for me.

After the tattoo is done, he simply stands up, with a smile on his face.

He shows the tattoo to the camera, and it starts getting spammed again.

"Ok, who's going next?" Louis asked.

"Why don't we spin a wheel?" Zayn said.

"Sure!"

Harry finds some website online, and entered the four of us' names.

He spun it, and it landed on my name.

"Liam!"

"Alright, guess I'm up."

I stopped paying attention after realizing it wasn't me.

After that went Zayn.

When he was done, we spun the wheel again.

Then, it landed on my name.

My eyes widened. I knew I would have to do it, but why did I have to do it?

"Uh... can-can Louis go?"

Louis shook his head.

"Nope, the wheel chose you."

"B-but, I have a ph-"

"Anyways," Louis cut me off, "Niall has the biggest tattoo. A butterfly!"

I shook with worry.

"Um, I gotta use the bathroom first," I said, suddenly feeling sick.

"You're just stalling. It's not working by the way!" Louis said.

"No, I think I have to-" I stopped when I started puking onto the floor.

Liam quickly mumbled a quick sorry, then turned off the mic and camera.

"Ni? Are you sick? You were sleeping until, like 12:30," Liam said.

"I- no, just worried about the-the tattoo."

"Oh, it's your first one, the fear is normal. Come on, you can do it," Harry said enthusiastically.

I really wish I could do that.

I took a deep breath and sat down. Liam turned the mic and camera back on.

The artist cleaned off my arm with a wipe.

"Uh, he's trembling. Are you sure he's alright. He might have a phobia of needles. Sometimes-" he started saying, but was cut off.

"He's fine, it's just because it's his first one."

"Um... ok."

Liam put his arms around me, then quickly withdrew them.

"Niall... your heart is beating, like... really fast."

"He's fine! Get on with the tattoo."

I looked at the camera, and saw how much I was shaking. The chat was spammed with messages telling me not to do it.

"Ok, I don't think I can do this tattoo with him shaking like this."

"Why are you so worried? It's just a little tattoo!" Louis said.

I started crying.

"I-I have a phobia of n-needles."

"What!?"

"I've told you guys before..."

"Oh, that's right. You-"

I started puking again when I subconsciously turned back to the needle.

Liam rubbed my back.

I heard someone shut the computer.

"We're sorry we made you do this Niall, we forgot about your phobia, that's all."

"I tried telling you multiple times today, but you just cut me off..."

"We're sorry bud," Harry said, pulling me into a hug.

The boys joined.

After I was pretty calm, I went upstairs.

"Where you going?"

"Gotta get something."

I came back down, and handed the artist a few hundred dollars.

"For your troubles," I said, "Thanks for also pointing it out, instead of just, leaving me to suffer through it."

"No problem, just doing my job the way I was taught."

I gave him a hug.

"Do you still want that other tattoo?"

"Nah, we're fine."

"No problem," he said getting up.

When he left, the boys wrapped me into another hug.

"How come-"

"We're sorry," Harry said, "How about Nando's, yea?"

I just smiled and nodded.

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