(Written by butterfliess ;3;)
-- Liam's POV --
The words came out of my mouth sounding right, but feeling weird. Maybe I wasn't willing to wait for him... The only thing that was definite at the moment was that he was right. These were our party, crazy-kid years, and I understood him not wanting to waste them, so to say. Maybe my mind was a mess from everything, and I loved him, I knew I did. Maybe I was crazy for thinking I wouldn't wait. Niall slowly let go of me and reached for his pocket. He pulled out the ring and placed it in my palm, closing my hand into a fist afterwards. He didn't say a word, but he didn't leave either. I wandered over to the couch and he followed, snuggling up with me as I sat down.
"You know I still love you, yeah, Liam?" He paused. "Me... Breaking off the engagement doesn't have anything to do with how much I love you. You know that, yeah?"
I nodded gently, lifting my hand to play with his hair. "Mhm. And I love you too." There was a long, long moment of silence before I said, "Y'know, Niall, I've gotten thinking about it, and... We've come such a long way. From being bestfriends, to hating eachother, to not 'hating' eachother, to being friends, to being bestfriends, to being boyfriends, to being engaged, and now, back to just boyfriends."
"Speaking of our long journey, have you talked to Harry lately?"
I cringed. "No. God, what's it been? It's been like a month since I caught him and Lou."
"You should talk to him..." He said quietly, his words trailing off.
I shot him a surprised look. "Really, Niall? He doesn't want to make things better between us, so what's the point? He would've texted me if he wanted to. And you're giving sympathy to him? Can't you remember how many times he's backstabbed you?"
"I'm just a little more forgiving, 'tis all." He protested.
"You can't be serious. I am not talking to him. I don't care if I ever talk to him again."
"But... When - if - we ever get married, if you guys aren't friends, we won't be inviting him, so wouldn't he be upset?"
"Niall, we've been over this. He wasn't coming in the first place, and he didn't care. And him and Lou are still together, yeah?"
"Yeah, they are."
"I can't help but feel like they completely shouldn't be together. Harry's gonna end up hurting him one way or another, and you and I both know that for a fact, so don't try to protest."
"Come on, Li." He sighed. "They're happy together, can't you be? For them? Even though Harry's not technically friends with us, and Louis is, doesn't mean he's not happy for us. Can't you be for them? They've come a long way too, and they've had their ups and downs."
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I guess I can, but I can't hep the feeling. Lou is a lot more fragile than it seems. I'm just praying that Harry won't do anything stupid."
He shrugged. "He probably will, knowing him."
"Probably."
----
We sat in silence for another half an hour, watching TV, until Niall looked over and scrunched his face up at me. When I asked him why he was doing that, he ran a finger through my hair and messed it up, saying, "You need to grow your hair out again. I'm banning haircuts for you."
"Why?" I protested, crossing my arms.
"Because you haven't had your lion's mane in like, eighty seven years. I miss it. You looked freaking adorable with it."
I could tell I was blushing. "I guess you could say I had a lion's.... Payne."
He stared at me intently. "You didn't."
I nodded and pursed my lips. "I did."
"Get out."
We laughed and I wrapped my arm around him again. His head dropped and he lay it on my chest. Suddenly, he looks up at me again, and then sniffs. He retorts from that with a disgusted look. "What now?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"You stink. We are not cuddling anymore until you take a shower." He said, pulling away and sitting on the opposite side of the couch, arms crossed. I laughed and sighed.
"Sure, sure. Whatever. I'll be like, ten minutes." I said, getting up and wandering into the bathroom.
----
I pulled a towel off the rack opposite from me as I stepped out. I dried my hair quickly and then wrapped the towel around my waist, tying it. I looked around, dumbfounded, just to see that my clothes I left to change into weren't there.
"Niall, you asshole!" I yelled, opening the bathroom door and running. I could hear his laughing from a mile away. I stood in front of him as he lay on the couch casually, holding in laughter. "Give me my clothes."
He stared at me for a second with a wide grin and bit his bottom lip. "Dem abs." He giggled and broke the intenseness. He leaned over and poked my stomach. I didn't move a muscle.
"Give me my clothes, you asshole." I said with a small grin.
"Noo. You gotta find 'em." He smirked. I sighed and my first look was behind the couch. I rolled my eyes and pulled them out. "How'd you know?" He sighed, shaking his head.
I shrugged. "You're terrible at doing things under pressure."
"I..." He said. "Was not under pressure."
"Then you just suck at hiding stuff from me. I know you too well."
----
Once I changed, I realized that all my comfy shirts were actually dirty, and not wanting to necessarily smell again just after a shower, I completely took my shirt off. Niall seemed to enjoy it, so I didn't hold him back from poking my stomach again and laying his head on my chest.
It was late at night and I assumed he was staying the night. He yawned loudly and then said, "Li, can you sing to me?"
I nodded lightly, getting up. "Yeah, sure. But we are not going to sleep. Not yet. Too early for that shit. Let's have a party. And you have to sing with me." He shrugged and agreed. I pulled out the cord for speakers, and plugged them into my phone. It wasn't that dark, so we didn't put any lights on. I started playing Pass Me By by R5, which was a surprisingly good song.
"Remember that trip we took to Mexico!" We both sung as the music started. "Hangin' with the boys and all your senoritas!" We sung while dancing stupidly. "I never spoke up, yeah I never said hello. But I keep on trying to find a way to meet 'cha. I was 'chillin, you were with him, hooked up by the fire. Now he's long gone, I'm like so long, now i've got my chance, now I've, now I've got my chance..."
We intertwined our hands. "Like damn! You could be the one that could mess me up, you could be the one that will break me. Damn! All them other girls said they had enough. You could be the one that will take me!" We sung unecessarily loud. "I was solo, livin' yolo, 'till you blew my m-"
"Dick!" Niall sung loudly and I burst out laughing.
"Like damn! You could be the one that could mess me up. I can't let you, can't let you pass me by. Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, I can't let you pass me by! Oh oh, oh oh, oh oh, I can't let you pass me by!" By then, I had spun him around in a circle and we were now face to face, foreheads pressed together, when we completely blocked out the music.
"This song oddly relates to us." He smiled, biting his lower lip. I nodded. We sat there for a long time, listening to the song, before I pressed a kiss to the bridge of his nose. We fell back onto the couch as the music played.
"We have come a long way, haven't we?" He crossed his feet. Suddenly my phone buzzed, and it was our local hospital. I stared at the number intently as Niall got up and turned off the music. My thumb hovered over the answer button, but I wasn't sure if I entirely wanted to hear what they had to say.
