Distant | A Niam Story (Discontinued)

4.

Liam was so stupid. Niall had told Liam about what had happened with the drive to his house. Kissing Niall? Really, dumbass?

Pulling at his hair and pacing around the small living room of his flat, Liam groaned. What the fuck was he thinking? He was going to kill himself. Maybe not now, but he felt like it would happen eventually. "I've got to call him," Liam mumbled under his breath, pulling his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He opened the contacts app, hovering his thumb over Niall's name as he thought. What was he going to say?

Eventually gathering his thoughts enough to be able to form a sentence correctly, Liam pressed the call button under Niall's name. It rang for a few minutes before being answered by an enthusiastic Niall.

"Liam! What's up, mate?" "I uh, just wanted to call and apologize for yesterday," Liam chuckled awkwardly, mentally facepalming at his own response. He was horrible with social interactions, even with those he knew. "Oh, it's fine," Niall answered nonchalantly. "Really? I was pretty stupid back there," Liam tried not to sound as surprised as he did, but he couldn't help it. He was half expecting Niall to delete his number from the phone and just stop speaking to him. "Yeah! It's no problem, man. You were drunk," Niall said casually. "Thanks, Niall," Liam sighed in relief. "No problem." "I'll see you later, then. I'll leave you to it," Liam said after a moment. "I don't actually have anything to do, if you'd like to come over to my place," Niall offered just as Liam was going to say goodbye. "Oh, um..." Liam thought for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that - not at all. "Um, sure. Yeah. Send me the address, I'll be there in a bit," Liam eventually decided. "Sounds great. See you, mate!" "See you," Liam said, then hung up, putting the phone back in his pocket. He sighed, walking out to his car.

True to his word, Liam had arrived at Niall's house within ten minutes. Liam mentally prepared himself for Niall as he reached for the doorbell. Niall was nice and all, but he was a bit overbearing without the proper preparation. Liam was just about to press the button when Niall opened the door, wide grin on his face. "Come on in," Niall ushered Liam inside. "So, uh, is there anything in particular you'd like to do?" Liam asked carefully. "I have something in mind, if you don't have anything you'd like to do," Niall responded. Liam nodded. "Go ahead."

Liam had to do a double-take at what Niall had said. "What about a question game? I'd like to know you more, if that's fine." Niall wanted to know more about him? Even after what Liam had done the previous night. How insane was he?

"U- uh, sure?" Liam answered as if it was a question. "Great! We can go back and forth asking questions," Niall explained. "I'll go first." Liam swallowed, then nodded. He was probably more anxious about this whole thing than he should be. "Let's see..." Niall hummed in thought. "What's your favorite.. colour?" Liam thought for a minute. "Um.. I guess purple?" He answered unsurely. Throughout school he had been bullied about that, as silly as it seemed. Even now, as an adult, Liam didn't quite feel comfortable with the subject. "Sick," Niall grinned. Liam smiled softly in return, glad that Niall hadn't said anything against him.

The questions went on until Liam was ready to go back to his flat, tired from the day of human interaction. He wasn't used to spending this much time with people. "I should probably get going," Liam said, stifling a yawn. "Aw, alright," Niall nodded. "See ya, Li." Liam blushed lightly at the new nickname, silently praying that Niall didn't see. "U- um, yeah," Liam coughed awkwardly into his fist. "See you."

-

The rest of that night was spent relaxing on the couch, scrolling through social media, reading whatever news he found interesting or worth his time. It probably wasn't the best idea, however, Liam realized when he went to go sleep. Liam didn't get much sleep that night, having stayed awake for hours overthinking whatever popped up in his mind. It was a rough night.