Book Three - Discovery

Chapter Thirty Five

The boys had a lot of the day off, most of the afternoon was prep for the X-Factor finale, and then after they performed and the show was finished after they announced the winner. Niall had to separate from the other boys and Liam because he had to be seen with Barbara. He'd been told to kiss her because it'd make everything come together much better, but he refused to do that to their fans. They'd go chaotic. It'd be bad enough being around her and holding her hand. He didn't know her. He wasn't sure if he could do it. He had come a long way, but this was a total stranger.

It was hard on Liam to watch Niall go through it all, but he knew his boyfriend was stronger now so he tried not to worry.

Harry left the party around 3.30am, he was taking Ben Winston's wife home for him since she wanted to go and he wasn't interested in leaving.

The following day, the press ran wild with stories of Harry with a mysterious blonde and Niall with the "VS Angel". It was all bullshit, but it's not as if their management or label gave two flying fucks about them.

The boys did their charity event at Rays of Sunshine that morning, Zayn wasn't feeling well, so he ended up staying home. Louis made jokes about Zayn having the diarrhea when they got asked why he wasn't there.

After the event, Liam was told to go out with Sophia since it had been such a long time. Liam wanted to use Niall as an excuse not to go be with her, but Niall was doing better and he didn't want to make it look like Niall was having setbacks when in fact, he was doing really well.

Harry and Louis were able to spend a day together though, it wasn't always that often that they had time for themselves when off tour.

Niall bit his lip. "I'll go back home. I'll walk Loki. Maybe go to the Gym." He told Liam on their way out.

"Call me if you need me, fuck them, I'll be there for you in a heartbeat." Liam whispered.

"I know, Li...I love you for it." Niall smiled.

The boys all went their separate ways. Niall went home, he took Loki for a walk, but carried him home when the poor little dog got tired.

Niall needed to do more to distract his mind, so he changed into some work out clothes and decided to go biking. He had to get into shape for the upcoming tour after all.

Niall came home a couple hours later, still no Liam, he didn't want to text him and bother him, so he took a shower instead.

After his shower, he fed Loki, and started to work on making dinner for himself, and made sure to put some away for Liam to have later.

It was a little later that Niall finally heard the alarm switch off and the door open. He grinned seeing Liam, jumping straight into his arms and showering him with kisses.

"I missed you so fucking much. I didn't know shopping would take that long." Niall whispered.

"I had to do dinner also. I'm sorry I didn't text. But, I'm home now, baby. I'm fine. I missed you too." Liam kissed him back and held him in his arms. He reset the alarm and took Niall's hands in his own. "Can you show me how much you missed me?" He smirked a little.

Niall chuckled. "Why of course..." He said and took Liam's hand, leading him to their bedroom.

After feeling each other's love for quite awhile, they were able to sleep peacefully.

The following morning, the boys each tweeted about how their film, This Is Us, was now available to purchase on DVD.

"Hey, babe?" Niall said looking over at Liam who was petting Loki. "Don't forget about your sisters and parents coming over this afternoon." He said putting his phone down. "They're bringing over the rest of your things from your flat since you're living here, and selling that place."