Pillowtalk / Niam

Chapter 5: Love Sonnet 17

The rest of the hour flies by, just getting ready for their day. They split the pot of coffee in half, both taking a travel mug for themselves. Liam kisses Niall goodbye- slow and chaste because kisses should never be rushed or taken for granted- and leaves for university while Niall heads back home to Ellie.

Liam walks into his classroom after most of the students have filed in already, smiles briefly in their direction and goes to his desk to get out the materials. Liam sets up his laptop for the presentation, sets aside the papers he printed to use for the lesson. In celebration of the current holiday, Liam wanted to spend the week focusing on love poetry and different famous romance writers. Specifically, today they would be discussing and analysing Pablo Neruda, one of the most notable writers in the genre.

A couple of the students who actively participate in the class greet him, and he greets them back. When the other students inevitably make their way into the room and settle in, he starts up the presentation. "What is love?" Liam starts, projecting his voice.

"Baby, don't hurt me?" One of the guys pipes up from his seat. A couple of the other students giggle, and Liam grins.

"Alright," he concedes. Liam leans against the podium casually, ready to delve into the subject he never really gets tired of discussing. "Love is subjective. Ask everyone you see how they would define 'love,' and I'm willing to bet they all have a different answer. I've heard a lot of people describe it as a specific feeling, an action, or sometimes they recite a quote that resides with them. So, I want to start today's class with an open discussion. What is love to you? Anyone."

A couple of the students make no effort to even look like they're thinking, just glancing at the other students in the room- most, however, at least look somewhat interested. An eager girl who is always active in group discussions raises a finger, even though she knows she can speak freely. Liam nods in her direction and she smiles. "Okay, this will probably sound incredibly cheesy, so don't make fun of me."

Liam chuckles and nods. "No jokes from me, I promise."

The girl smiles. "So love is like when someone tells the same terrible joke a hundred times, and you laugh every time because of the way their face lights up. It's never being afraid of how bad your morning breath is because you know they won't mind." Liam grins, immediately thinking of Niall "And when you share your food with them even when they have a full plate. Love is talking for hours about nothing and everything... Basically for me, love means not being afraid because you know that they will be with you, and they will make you the very best version of yourself. It means their happiness becomes your own as you both grow and adapt and learn together."

A group of guys sitting farther back make sounds of snickering, and the girl's smile falters. "Hey!" Liam barks sternly towards them. "If you want to keep having open floor discussions, you can leave that shit at the door. Or else we can just do lectures for an hour and a half." The boys make no response, but slip lower in their seats. "That's what I thought." He turns his attention back to the girl. "That was an awesome way to open the topic, thank you for sharing." She smiles and he winks at her before going back to looking for other students.

"Love is like..." Another student starts. He hesitates on his words. "It's like this ache that sits in your gut all the time- kind of like a sickness that you can't take medicine for. And when you see the person you love, it kind of makes you want to throw up."

Liam could definitely spend a while analysing that, but he won't because the kid who answered seems pretty insecure as it is. He nods in acceptance of the answer and looks to the crowd. "What if you haven't been in love?" A girl asks from the middle of the room.