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Will wasn't usually a guy to worry about things that could happen. He lived his life as carefree as possible, living in the present rather than worrying about the future or past. Granted, that didn't mean that when a problem arose he just hoped it would disappear. He just wasn't a dweller nor worrier, and whilst that usually worked in his favour, luck hadn't quite been on his side for his this week on the internet live tour with Stephen.
It had been the night of one of their London shows, and most of their friends had been kind enough to offer their support. Will had always been thankful for his friends for that; no matter what was happening in their lives, they'd all be more than happy to show as much support possible to each other's careers. Unfortunately, Brian and Laurence had both been too busy to attend, but had both apologies profusely to the two other XO members. It hadn't bothered Will at all, nor had it Stephen, as the two showed more than enough support over social media, and they all knew that if it had been possible then they both would've dropped everything to attend.
However, the rest of their group certainly didn't disappoint.
Alex, James and Fraser had all insisted on coming for the night, refusing to listen to Will when he tried to explain that it was fine if they couldn't. Whilst Jake hadn't been acquaintanced with Will or Stephen for a long time, he still showed an interest in coming, and once the other three had found this out it had been pretty much guaranteed that Jake was to join them to show his support.
George had contemplated going for a while, seeing as he wasn't the most comfortable in situations where he could've easily been identified and exposed. Even Alex, James and Fraser had reassured the younger male he didn't have to come, but after much consideration George had decided that he couldn't refuse to support Stephen and Will with such a big opportunity, his privacy be damned.
Cam loved both of his friends, no one could deny that, but he was admittedly not the best at planning things in advance. He was similar to Will in a way, a go-with-the-flow sort of chap, except he was far less organised and planned than the Geordie. Therefore, it hadn't been expected of him to turn up to the show, but it was a pleasant surprise to see him in the hotel lobby the night before, and no one was going to complain about Cam's impromptu arrival.
Will loved his friends, don't get him wrong. Their support even overwhelmed him a little, and he knew it shocked Stephen to near enough tears as well. If it could've just been them going to the show then Will wouldn't have had any complaints. Hell, Will would've been so happy if the day had run as smoothly as they all hoped. Of course though, none of the seven lads ever had the best of luck, and the hotel hadn't seemed the most reliable of all places to stay, so maybe, just maybe, it would've been better if the show had been void of any of his close friends.
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The night before, they had all agreed to meet up at around ten, a realistic time for them all, and a time that meant their day didn't solely run around just going to the show. Some of them hadn't seen each other in a while anyway, with Alex, Fraser and Jake having only just returned from Spain not too long ago, so it would've been nice to catch up and spend some time as actual friends rather than Youtubers who constantly needed a video to upload.
Their plans, of course, had all been ruined. It was almost like a chain reaction of bad events, and Will could only blame his luck for such a fate.
Firstly, Will had completely missed the schedule of meeting up, and was rudely awoken by Stephen rapidly shaking his shoulders. He had drowsily woken himself up after that, hurriedly changing to make himself semi-presentable before leaving his hotel room with Stephen in tow.
The next thing had been trying to figure out which hotel rooms his friends had been staying in. Although all of them lived in London, with of course the exception of Stephen, they had all collectively decided to stay in a hotel room close to the arena Stephen and Will were performing in for no reason other than convenience and laziness.
He had knocked on the door to the room next to his expecting George or Alex to answer. Unfortinately, he had been met with a rather unplesant lady who had a few carefully selected words to scream at Will, unless of course George had undergone a sex change during the night or changed his usual disguise.
The last straw was definitely the elevator, though. Will didn't have much of a problem with elevators, nor heights, as he never really had an upsetting experience with them. With that in mind, it wasn't as if he exactly trusted the metal boxes with his safety, seeing as a sigh had been carelessly torn off the elevators door. They had all struggled to read it, seeing as it had ripped in half, but the word malfunction was easily deduced from the scrap of paper.
Perhaps Will should've realised the elevator was a bad idea, as he was a rather intelligent individual. Whether it was pure laziness or foolish optimism, he had decided to step into the elevator, the doors shuddering as they opened, looking around the box before shrugging. It didn't seem too bad, so what was the fuss?
Hesitantly, the rest of his friends followed behind him, and it wasn't long before he was drawn into a conversation with George. Alex silently stood between Fraser and James, distractedly listening to their conversation. Cam attempted to strike up a conversation with Jake, but his lack of knowledge on their new friend left Cam talking to only Stephen.
The door shuddered shut suddenly with a loud bang, causing Will to pause midsentence to look up. He took a deep breathe, relaxing himself as he felt the elevator slowly descend downwards. It was normal, it was safe, he was just being ridiculous.
Wrong. Of course he was wrong.
After a few seconds, the elevator jolted, causing all the men to fall silent. It fell a few metres more at speed before suddenly stopping, causing Will to slam into George, who hit the back wall of the elevator with a slam. Will blushed, pulling away from the younger male in embarrassment.
"Everyone alright?" James asked, evidently concerned about all of his friends. He was forever the dad of their group.
"Yeah, s'fine. Sorry mate, didn't mean to fall into you." Will chuckled, though his voice held no humour. George smiled in return.
"If you wanted to tell me you were falling for me you could've just said." George jokingly responded, rubbing his head. Will rolled his eyes.
"I don't mean to be the downer of the group, but shouldn't the doors have opened by now?" Jake asked. Will frowned, pursing his lips.
"Ye'what mate?" Will asked.
"I mean, seeing as we've stopped, surely we've reached ground floor. So the doors should open, right?" Jake explained.
"Makes logical sense." Cam added.
"So why haven't they?" Jake asked.
"Are you thick or something?" Stephen muttered, glancing up from the floor. "You really think we're already at ground floor, especially after that?"
"You think it's broken then or something?" Fraser asked calmly, trying to diffuse Stephen's sudden anger.
"No shit Sherlock. Gold star for the genius!" Stephen practically shouted.
"Calm down Ste, s'not like its their fault." Will murmured, reaching a hand out to place on Stephen's shoulder. Stephen shrugged him off. James sighed defeatedly.
"Why don't we try the emergency button then? See if someone can give us an answer." He suggested. The room remained silent, leaving James to press the button himself. They all stood silently for a few moments, waiting for a response.
It never came.
"So we're just stuck in here I guess." George shrugged. "Could be worse, I suppose."
"Like what?" Cam asked. Will interrupted before George could answer, whether it be sarcastic or serious.
"Anyone got phone signal? We could always phone reception." Will offered, glancing quickly at his own phone before shaking his head.
"Nah mate, sorry." George replied, pocketing his phone. James murmured a similar response, Cam and Jake doing the same. Alex silently shook his head, resting his head on Fraser's shoulder, who also didn't have any signal. Will looked hopefully at Stephen, who had turned his back to face the wall away from the other men.
"Ste?" Will asked gently. Stephen shook his head, biting his lip.
"Alright. Guess we're stuck here for a little bit. Not to worry." Will smiled optimistically.
"Could be stuck with worse people." George added to his optimism, and Will was thankful that someone was willing to see the bright side of the situation.
"Exactly!" Will cheered.
Despite the wide smile on his face and optimism within his voice, Will was dreading the moments he was going to spend in the elevator. He wasn't even sure why: it was some of his best friends, and someone would come for them eventually, but for some reason Will was sick to his stomach at the thought of being stuck in a metal box for potentially hours.
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Roughly twenty minutes had passed when things began calming down in the box. James had resorted to sitting on the floor, Alex resting his head on James' lap and Fraser resting his head on James' shoulder, and Jake had sat beside Alex, silently watching his three friends as he typed on his phone. Will, George and Cam all sat together in a very basic circle, telling each other childish horror stories to try and rile the other two up. Stephen sat near to them, but still clearly sectioned off from them. He reached a hand out to Will, who silently held it, no questions asked.
In fact, Will would have almost called the situation pleasant, until the elevator had decided to move once more, violently jerking a few floors down, sending all the men crashing into each other. Will managed to steady himself before he fell onto anyone, but the way George's head collided with the floor again told Will that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
"Its alright." James reassured everyone, though Will wondered if it was to reassure himself more than the rest of them. He spared a quick glance at the four of them, silently sighing in relief when he saw that the only injury the four had sustained was on Alex's wrist.
George sat up, holding onto his head, groaning as a sticky red substance coated his fingers. Will looked away quickly, focusing his attention on Cam and Stephen, who had landed ontop of each other. He would've chuckled at the sight, had he not been so worried about the situation.
"Is your head alright?" Will asked George, still looking away from the smaller male. George sighed heavily in response, grabbing his bandana from his pocket and holding it over the back of his head.
"Should be." He replied.
Will nodded, staying silent. Instead, he reached a hand out towards Stpehen and Cam, pulling Stephen towards him. The ginger haired male thanked him quietly, pulling his knees towards his chest before remaining silent. Cam smiled tiredly at them both.
"Guess we're not in such a good situation, huh?" Jake said, forcing a smile onto his face. Will shook his head.
"We'll be okay." Will weakly insisted. His previous optimism has vanished, and even he didn't believe himself at this point.
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It had been a painful hour of silence, all sat together in the flickering lights of the elevator as they waited in fear for something, anything, to happen. Will sighed heavily, attempting to fill the suffocating silence with something to stop the paranoia and fear from filling his senses. Alex looked up at him, pausing his fingers which had been tapping incessantly on his legs. His eyes looked defeated, though his hunched shoulders clearly showed how petrified the youngest of the group was. He smiled weakly at Will, who returned one.
"Guess now isn't the best time to say I don't like small spaces." Alex laughed dryly into the silence. Will furrowed his brows in concern.
"Probably not, but go off." George encouraged. Alex shrugged.
"Just don't. Which is weird, seeing as I'm pretty small, but y'know. It just unsettles me."
James pulled Alex into a side hug, resting his head ontop of Alex's head. He murmured quietly to the younger male.
"We'll get out of here. There's nothing to be scared of." James murmured. Fraser nodding, resting his head on Alex's shoulder in hopes of providing comfort.
"I just don't like it." Alex whispered, his chest shuddering as he attempted to hold in a sob. He failed, as he sobbed into James' chest, clutching at the taller male. James only hushed him, resting a hand on the back of Alex's head to only pull him closer.
"Don't cry Al." George murmured. "Its fine, I promise. We're all gonna be fine."
The elevator fell silent again, except from James' quiet words to Alex and the occasional sob from the younger boy.
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The next time anyone spoke was half an hour afterwards, and it was when the lights finally flickered off. They had been flickering for a while, the dim lightning somehow managing to stay alive for quite some time. Will could feel Stephen freeze beside him, his grip on Will's hand tightening tremendously. Will looked up, concerned. Stephen took a few deep breathes before settling into Will's side, his chest rising and falling dramatically.
Will looked up to see how everyone else was coping. In the darkness, he could vaguely make out the outline of Alex, James and Fraser, the three all curled up together in a corner, with Alex asleep on James lap. George sat beside Will, his head resting on the wall as his bloodied bandana laid carelessly beside him. Cam and Jake sat across from him and Stephen, talking in hushed whispers in an attempt to try and normalize and calm the situation for each other.
"Ste?" Will asked quietly, not wanting to disturbing the others. Stephen's hand shook in his as he turned to face Will. Even through practically no lightning, Will could see how scared Stephen was. It reminded him of Alex when he admitted to his claustrophobia, and Will could only hope Stephen wasn't going to get worked up over this.
"H-Hm?" Stephen stuttered, struggling to take a breath in. Will pulled him closer.
"What's wrong Ste? Talk to me." Will said, stroking Stephen's shoulder to try and calm him down. Stephen's breathing faltered again, tears leaking out of his eyes as he desperately tried to grab a hold of himself.
James raised his head at the situation, tilting it to the side in confusion. He had put some earphones in Alex's ears so the youngest wouldn't be disturbed, but he couldn't help but worry about Stephen's clear anxiety.
"Everything alright?" He asked quietly, his voice gentle and soft. Stephen whined quietly, trying to control his breathing.
"Cant-Dont like-" Stephen attempted to say, but the words just wouldn't come out. Fraser raised his head, as did George.
"Stephen? You alright fella?" Cam asked, standing to move closer to the comedian. Stephen shook his head, scrambling to his feet as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
Will calmly stood beside him, pulling Stephen into a hug as he petted his hair. He murmured quietly, placing Stephen's shaking hand on his chest to try and regulate his breathing.
"Try and copy my breathing, yeah?" He whispered. Stephen nodded, and after a few attempts managed to calm himself down. Will continued to hold Stephen tightly against him though, refusing to do anything but provide as much comfort as he could.
"Sorry." He whispered, looking towards the floor in shame. Will went to interrupt him before Stephen rested his head on his shoulder. "Don't have the best of experiences with the dark, should've probably said. My bad."
"As long as you're alright now, that's all the matters." George said.
"Is it like a fear or...?" Jake trailed off, trying to make conversation.
"Not the time mate. Ask another time, yeah?" Cam said before rambling on about something to Jake.
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The final disturbance had Will almost in tears. He didn't doubt that someone would find them eventually, but after spending three hours in the same metal box with the same people, Will could only question how much longer his sanity and optimism could last.
It had been the loud drilling of someone trying to pry the elevator doors open from the outside that disturbed Will. He, Stephen and George had all curled up together, wary of the injury to George's head, almost asleep when the screeching of metal had him startled awake. Fraser, James and Alex were all the same, Fraser being the one to point out the doors. It didn't really phase Cam and Jake, both of the lads spared a glance to it before returning to their conversation.
When the doors had managed to form a small gap, Will called out to the person(s) outside.
"Hello?" He shouted, trying to gain someone's attention. "Anybody there? Please-"
"Its gonna be alright son, don't you worry. We'll get you out of there in no time. Can you answer a few questions for me?"
Will had never been more thankful for a stranger's existence in his lifetime. He quickly responded with a yes, and male on the other side began asking questions.
"Alright son, is it just you down there?" He asked. Will shook his head, quickly counting in his head before responding.
"Nah, s'eight of us." He responded.
"Anyone badly injured or unconscious? We've got paramedics, but if someone's unconscious we need to know."
"No one's unconscious, no." Will replied.
"Alright son. Can you get everyone away from the door? We're gonna see how much further we can get it open."
Will looked at James, Fraser and Alex, who all began moving away from the door. Alex winced as he put his hand on the ground to push himself up, causing Will to frown. Alex shook his head at Will, promising to explain later mentally.
"We've moved." Will stated.
"Won't be too long now. Just sit tight." The stranger said before the drilling began up again.
True to his word, they had managed to open the door a fraction more, thought it seemed too defiant to try and open anymore. Will looked through the gap at the man who he assumed was the guy who was talking to him earlier.
"Still there son?" He asked.
"Yeah." Will responded.
"Reckon you and the others can fit through the gap?" He asked. Will nodded, before giving a verbal response.
"Take your time, come when you're ready." The guy reassured, stepping back from the doors. Will turned to the rest of the group.
"Surely that's not safe." Alex said. "What if the elevator suddenly drops-"
"The elevator's been put on an emergency stop, meaning that it can't move an inch. I understand your concern though, but trust me, it's completely safe." The stranger explained. Alex nodded, but moved closer to Fraser and James.
"Would it make you feel better if I went through first?" Jake asked. Alex nodded.
"Don't think anyone will complain if you go first Baz." Fraser said, taking a hold of one of Alex's hands.
Jake nodded, moving towards the door before lifting himself onto the platform above. The stranger from before helped pull him up, and it was reassuring to the men to see that nothing would happen to them.
"See? Completely safe. Promise you." The stranger said.
"C-Can I go?" Stephen asked quietly, fiddling with his hands nervously. Will nodded, almost pushing Stephen towards the door.
They continued like that until it was just him and George in the elevator, the order having been Cam, Fraser, Alex and James, the last two having followed within seconds of each other.
"You go next." Will offered. George shook his head before holding onto it with one hand. Will moved forward to try and help the boy before George spoke.
"Nah, you go, it's fine."
"George, you're clearly hurt-"
"I'm fine, Will. Just go. I'll be out seconds after you anyway." George promised.
Will nodded unsurely, lifting himself onto the platform of the floor above, feeling himself get grabbed by several unfamiliar hands to pull him out quicker. His eyes never left the inside of the elevator as he watched George get out, several people also moving to help him. George smiled at him before being swarmed by a bunch of paramedics.
Will fleetingly looked around, spotting Alex and James sat together, with Fraser and Jake stood beside them. Will sat next to Alex, resting his head on Alex's shoulder as he grabbed Alex's now-bandaged hand. He looked up at the youngest for an explanation.
"When the elevator jolted, I fell badly on my wrist. They reckon it's broken." Alex explained. "Hurts a fucking lot though."
Will laughed. Alex smiled at Will's response, and they all laughed to themselves for a few moments before settling into a comfortable silence. Cam and Stephen joined them, Stephen laying his head on Will's lap and Cam holding onto his hand. George joined them when he had been bandaged around his head, and the group almost laughed at how ridiculous he looked.
"I told you we'd be alright." Will whispered when they had all recollected as a group. "Y'should know I wouldn't lie to 'ye."
"I'm sorry I never said about my claustrophobia before." Alex apologised. Will shushed him quickly.
"Nope, not letting anyone apologise. It was no one's fault and no one's done anything wrong." Will insisted. "Besides, think we're all closer now, aye?"
"Guess you could say that." Cam said.
"Now, if you fuckers think this gets you out of the tour tonight you's can piss right off." Will joked, and everyone laughed.
Will smiled warmly at the scene. He was glad that they'd all be okay. He knew deep down that they would, but he was just glad that him and his friends were finally a lot closer, and that they would be for a while more.
♡The End♡