At age twelve Niall and Liam grow even more bored of Sunday school than of real school. They're too old for the church to think that colouring in is helpful, and they just have to sit and listen to some learning to be pastor or something person preach. They've got a really monotone voice, and Liam's promised to take Niall to the new Nando's that's just opened up in Wolverhampton.
It's easy to tell that Niall's hungry as he wiggles around his seat, huffing every so often. Liam pokes him, warning him to wait it out for another half an hour. Niall just makes a face, and sticks his tongue out, immediately the preacher calls out Niall's name, demanding that the Irish boy tell him what book he had been reading from.
As Niall's stomach is more attached to his brain than his ears he flounders, looking unsure. Liam's known the bible cover to cover since he was five, and whispers the right answer to Niall. Settling a little, Niall smiles winningly and calls out the answer. The preacher looks furious. And as a small motion, something familiar and just right Niall leans over and the tiniest press of lips against forehead occurs. The air sort of changes into something soft, loving and Liam smiles, staring straight at Niall, straight into those blue eyes, which he could probably lose himself into. Niall grins back, smile tickling the corners of his lips and he kind of loves his best friend, a lot.
There's a cough, and the two boys look up to the entire Sunday school class staring at them, a couple of girls giggling and a thunderous look on the preacher's face. They laugh the moment off, and everyone else joins in. The laughter echoes in the large hall, which only spurs the giggling more, and soon the moment is forgotten, except for the preacher, who looks half way between exploding with anger and vomiting.
When the laughter dies down, the topic changes and suddenly it's on the wrongness of homosexuality. How it's a sin. The preacher gets passionate about it, throwing his anger into the argument, and Niall looks at Liam, rolling his eyes like the preacher's crazy, and Liam can't help agree, where'd it say in the bible that it's sinful to be homosexual?
"Excuse me sir," A little girl from the front of the class asks, and the preacher pauses, face red to nod and listen to her question, "But what is homosexuality? And why is love bad? You were just saying it was good."
The preacher looks ready to throw something, and thankfully one of the mums from congregation comes in, ending the session. Niall goes to take Liam's hand, like he normally does, but he glances at the preacher, and then shrugs, letting his hand drop to his side. Liam thinks he kind of hates it as they walk to Nando's, fingers not gripping onto one another's.
**
There's weight over Liam, knees dug into the mattress on either side of his hips. There's a hand on his shoulder and one combing through his flat hair and god it feels so good he could almost purr. He fights himself again; he knows that if he was truly asleep this would not wake him up, but he wants to see Niall. Liam forces his eyes to stay closed, almost has to clench them closed when he feels warm breath over his mouth. He can smell mint toothpaste, and he groans.
Liam curses himself mentally, thinking he's given himself away, but the breathing doesn't leave. The hand in his hair slides down lower, resting on his cheek, finger tips pressing into his skin. The touch is so warm and Liam wants to press against it, wants to lift his hips, arch his back. He wants to feel the heat all through his body, but he's supposed to be asleep, so he doesn't move.
"Good Morning, Li." The words fill the air and the Irish accent Liam has fallen in love with makes him finally flutter his eyes open, unable to keep up the ploy. He needs to see the pink tinged cheeks that he knows Niall has. He wants to see how sparkly his favourite pair of blue eyes are. Liam wants to be able to relish in the moment that is now and be able to enjoy just how close they are.
