Light On {Niam Love Story}

Fifteen- [Part Two]

A/N: Once again, sorry for the wait! Does anyone even read these author's notes anymore - after, what, fifteen chapters now? Wow. Well, I'll try to make this short, so you can jump right into the action. This is dedicated to LizzyLeprachaun because she is a total sweetheart! The song for this chapter is Untitled by Simple Plan. So, yeah - enjoy babes! x

"I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream; how could this happen to me?"

Niall woke up early, too early for his liking - he had only slept six hours.

He crawled out of bed, for a quick drink and a bathroom use, before jumping back into his bed - falling into a twelve-hour REM slumber.

He didn’t dream, not once, and woke up once more feeling oddly relaxed. Now, on a normal day, he would wake up with aches and pains, and swallow down three cups of black coffee. However, he strode right past his kitchen, and back to his bathroom. He rifled through his drawers before finding a bottle of sleeping pills. He popped three into his mouth, swallowed them down with faucet water, and collapsed back into his bed to wait for more sleep.

He needed a break, that’s all.

While snuggling deep into the couch, he traced invisible patterns in the ceiling, and thought - thought about Liam, about the band, about everything. No matter how at ease he was at the moment, however, he couldn’t still couldn’t think straight.

He sighed, “Fuck this.”

He reached over, and grabbed his house phone from the coffee table. He dialed the number he knew by heart, and crossed his fingers.

“Hello?” the voice was smooth and beautiful - Niall hadn’t heard it in so long, he almost forgot how smooth it was. In fact, he paused for a moment, trying to let the sweet feeling sink in while it lasted. “Hello…?”

Niall sighed in relief, “Mama…”

“Niall, baby,” Maura sighed, and Niall smiled more brightly than he ever had in his life. “I’ve missed you. How have you been?”

Niall took in a shaky breath, “Honestly, mum? Not the best.”

~-~-~

Liam walked up the un-shoveled sidewalk, up to Louis’s flat, and stopped before knocking on the door. Louis said he had news - big news, at that, and Liam wasn’t particularly sure he was ready to handle it. Louis had made it quite clear that said news was about Niall.

Liam had practically raced over to Lou’s, for fear that something was horribly wrong. But now, he was nervous as he reached up, and pressed a slender finger to the doorbell. And, although it had probably been less than thirty seconds, Liam had felt like it had been hours before Louis finally answered the door, and let him in.

“Hi, Li,” Louis greeted, and gestured him to the living room. He wanted to coax Liam into this; it had to be done gently. “Have a seat. Would you like some tea?”

Liam answered slowly, “Uh, sure.”

Louis, having prepared the tea prior to Liam’s arrival, scurried into the kitchen. He picked up the metal tray of porcelain cups and rolls, and set it down on the coffee table. Liam didn’t even touch his cup; he just stared at Louis.

“You said you had news?” Liam cocked an eyebrow. “Get to it, Lou. I didn’t come all the way across town to stare at you.”

“Right. Well…” Louis frowned, unsure how to tell. He had to, he knew, but how did he come about telling the truth? Did he tell it from the beginning, or just come out with the main point? Which way would Liam find the most easy to take?

“Niall was raped.”

“Niall and I were making out. He told me he was raped.”

“I was trying to force Niall into having sex with me, when he had just told me he had been raped.”

“Niall was attacked in an alleyway the night we went clubbing, and it was all my fault because I hadn’t been around to give him a ride home.”

None of those options would bring Liam happiness, but what could Louis do? What had happed to Niall had been done, and no one could do anything. Besides, how angry could Liam get? It wasn’t Lou’s fault - wasn’t Niall’s fault, either.

He sighed, “Liam, Niall…he was…we were…we were, like, hanging out, and he was having a bit of an episode. I asked him what was wrong, asked him what triggered the attack and everything - even though, you know, most of them come without reason. But, like…he did actually tell me, um, what had been bothering him for the past couple weeks.”

Liam was almost mad, mad that Niall would tell Louis rather than him. But, for some reason, his system wouldn’t allow anger. Instead, he was concerned for Niall - more than just concerned, actually.

“Are you going to tell me, or…?”

“He was raped, Li.”

At first, Liam wanted to rage - wanted to scream, to cry, to throw his cup of tea in Lou’s face and yell at him because, somehow, this was all his fault. He wanted to go out, and hunt down whoever it was that had hurt the boy he cared about more than anything and slowly castrate them until they were begging for mercy. He wanted them to feel the pain Niall had, only about a thousand times worse.

At the same time, he wanted to go to Niall’s house - wanted to apologize, to hold him, to tell him everything he would be okay, even when they wouldn’t be. He wanted to kiss him, love him - show the boy exactly how making love should be. The past didn’t matter, Liam wanted to think right now. The only thing that mattered was Niall.

He stood.

~-~-~

Niall was asleep when Liam entered his flat - he knew were Niall kept the key, of course.

Liam sighed, and rested a single hand on Niall’s chest. He smiled once he felt Niall’s slow, rhythmic breathing beneath his warm skin. He breathed in and out frequently, almost matching Liam’s breaths.

Liam ran a hand through his tousled hair. He couldn’t wake Niall up now, and he very well knew that. The blonde looked so peaceful, so radiant. Who would Liam be to interrupt the most angelic moment he had ever seen.

“Niall…” he sighed, and crawled onto the couch beside the younger boy. He wrapped his arms around Niall’s skinny waist, and nuzzled his nose in the nape of his neck. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner, Niall? We could’ve helped before it got this bad.”

Niall would only twitch in his sleep.

Liam stroked his hair back, “You didn’t deserve that, you know? You didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Especially not by me…I mean…”

Liam sniffled, “I’d like to, um, say I didn’t know. But that’s not an excuse. I will never, ever hurt you, Niall - never, ever again. If I ever break that promise, say so. Scream it at the top of your lungs. Slap me across the face, if you’d like. Whatever makes you feel better, I’ll put up with it. I really do care about you. You must know that.”

Niall didn’t move - didn’t speak, didn’t react.

Liam sighed, and stood up. He looked around the living room, which was neat as a pin - unusual for Niall, the maid must have been around. Maybe, just maybe, he could find something - anything - in this house to help him.

So, he went up to Niall’s room. He didn’t care if this was an invasion of privacy - Niall needed help. After all, what if the lad went back to cutting?

After ten minutes of searching, Liam had found three valuable pieces of evidence that proved Niall was slowly, ever so agonizingly slowly, falling apart - his Quick Blade, an empty, crumpled package of Marlboro cigarettes, and a wrinkled piece of paper. Scrawled writing reads;

“I’m sorry I’m not gone. I’m sorry I ruined your life. I’m sorry.”