Never • Say • Never § a Niam Horayne collab fanfic [AU]

Chapter Twenty-Four - "I'm glad."

(by butterfliess)

Liam's POV

"You're special too, Ni. No one knows anything about me; I don't like telling people." I admitted, my gaze moving upwards into the sky. There were no clouds... There was only a clear, bright blue sky above me. 

"I can understand that." He replied shortly afterwards. 

"I can't thank you enough, Niall. Out of everyone in the world, I never knew it'd be you to bring me out of the shadows." I sighed in relief. I finally got away. "Listen, Niall," I paused and turned to him. "Promise me we'll never go back to being enemies... I don't want to feel useless anymore."

He smiled brightly. "I promise." He stared into the sky and fiddled with the large threads of grass. "Li, you're not useless, trust me. You're far from useless." 

I replied with a cheerful grin, "Thanks." I sprung upwards onto my feet and dragged Niall with me. He laughed as I pulled him upwards. "What's up, Liam?" He managed to say through a snicker. 

I chuckled, saying nothing. Though, he didn't seem bothered by it. My phone buzzed; it was Harry. He'd texted me, actually, several times this night and called too. He was asking me where I was. I rolled my eyes and slid it back into my pocket.... Who needed him anyways. Why did he suddenly seem worried.

---

We woke up next to eachother the next day, both our lips instantly curling into smiles. We'd made our way to school, separating a minute before so it wouldn't seem suspicious. 

"Hey, Liam. Where you been?" Harry said in a rather bulky voice, joining beside me. I shrugged. "Why?" 

"My phone was taken away, and you wouldn't answer yours, so I called your house. Your dad told me you ran away with... you know who..."

I put on a shocked expression, fakely turning to him in surprise. "The hell? Why would I be with him?" I put on a little show of hatred. He slapped my shoulder.

"That's my bro. I thought you turned on me."

"Why in the world would I do that?"

"It just seemed like you two became friends or something. I was a bit worried there, bro." He laughed. I lifted my bag higher onto my shoulder and snickered.

"Friends?" I said, pausing. Niall looked at me from a little ways away. I started to yell to emphasize my now fake hate for him. "Who could ever be friends with Horan?" I went back, for the moment, to calling him Horan. For show, that is.

He stared at me, frozen. I gave him a secret wink and he carried on. I hope he knew I was just trying to convince Harry we weren't friends. 

Louis had passed us and Harry called him over. "Tommo, come here." He invited the indesicive boy over. "Have you decided to join us yet?" 

Louis shook his head.

"So you've gone to Horan's side? Just as I thought." He shot Lou a cold look.

"I haven't chosen a side."

"Yet. You haven't chosen a side yet." Harry corrected.

Lou lifted a hand. "No, I won't choose a 'side.' It's stupid. Why don't you just be friends?"

I froze. "Because. It's... Niall. Why would I want to be friends with him?"

He gave me a weird look, like he was let in on Niall and I's little secret. Even if he wasn't... I guess it was time to tell someone. Lou was loyal enough.

I pulled out my phone and started to text Niall. I typed fast so no one would know. 

You: Can I tell Lou?

I got a reply fairly quickly, and our conversation went on and on.

Niall: Tell him what?
You: About us being friends.
Niall: Are you sure he won't tell anyone?
You: Yeah. He's loyal.
Niall: Yeah, sure, go ahead. Just make sure he keeps his mouth shut.

I took Lou aside. I had made Harry believe that I was going to convince him into joining us. 

 "Lou, if I tell you something, will it stay just between us?"

"Yeah, of course." He smiled.

"Promise?" I extended my hand.

"Promise." He took it firmly and we shook.

"Okay, so... Niall and I... We're not enemies anymore."

"You aren't?" He didn't sound surprised or confused... He sounded normal.

"No, we aren't. We decided on becoming secret friends, that's why you need to keep your mouth shut and not tell anyone a word about this. We ran away from our homes; we're sort of living together in a hotel."

Louis stood with a blank expression.

"That's awesome!" He finally said. "I knew this would happen someday! But running away? Living together? You aren't in love, are you?" He laughed.

I shook my head. "No, definitely not. It's a long story; maybe get Niall to tell you all of it."

Louis smiled. "I'm glad."

"Why?"

"Because I always thought you two fighting was stupid. I always knew you'd become besties again."