The Prince's Heart (Ziall, Niam)

Chapter 6

"I don't like him though" Liam says.

"You don't like who?" I ask. We were both chilling by dock at the lake. I said I was gonna take a nap but Liam came and what's a better way to spend the rest of the day than at a lake with the person you are nearly in love with?

"Your knight. I meant, that knight. I hate calling him 'yours'" Liam shudders.

"You mean, Zayn?" I asked. I had stopped trailing my hand along the surface of the water and stared up at him. "What’s wrong with him? He's a nice guy"

"Maybe he's just being nice to you or in front of you. He looks at you like he'd rather have you marry him instead of me" Liam pouts his lips in a completely endearing manner but continues staring forward. I grinned and scooted closer to him.

"Are you jealous?" I teasingly asked. Liam huffed but refused to answer so I asked again. "Is brave and strong Prince Liam scared that little Nialler will be swept off his feet by a knight in shining armour?" I poked the side of Liam's face before giggling.

Liam's eyes visibly softened because gosh I am supposed to be a grown man and here I am poking his cheek and giggling. Giggling for fuck's sake. Liam bit his lip and I stared at it, halting my actions. If I were to choose my favourite part from Liam's body, I would choose his lips. Liam has the plumpest softest (or at least it looks soft) and pinkest lips in the world. I wonder what it would feel like to kiss them. 

Then I remember Zayn and I's first kiss and I frowned a little bit because I really wanted Liam to be my first kiss but at the same time I wanted Zayn too. My thoughts were interrupted by Liam’s huge hand on my slightly smaller one.

"Niall?" he says softly and I smile at him. 

"Yeah?"

"You were staring off into space" 

I laughed, a little forcedly, and said, "Bad habit. Harry says I should stop doing that"

"What were you thinking about?" Liam asks. He squeezes my hand once and I close my eyes for a second because it's such a comforting gesture. I open them again and stare at where our hands meet.

"You"

"What about me?" I didn't have to look at Liam to know that he was mildly pleased, it was apparent in his tone.

"Your lips. I want to know how they feel like against mine" I admit with a blush. 

"Oh" Liam says and when I look at him, he gives me a genuine smile. "I want to kiss you too Niall, but I'd really like to kiss you in front of loads of people so that they'll know you're mine" 

"I know" I said slowly.

He might have misinterpreted my tone because his face scrunched up in worry and his grip on my hand tightened. "I didn’t mean it that way. I know that at first, we were just a fixed marriage. But now, it's different. I don't want to marry you just because our kingdom needs your and vice versa; I want to marry you because your smile is so bright it makes my day all better. When you laugh, it reaches your eyes and my heart. I want to marry you because I like you, Niall. I like you a lot and don't you dare think any differently" 

I couldn't help myself; I squealed and attacked Liam with a hug. My heart is pounding and my face is warm. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that way for so long because my attack caused the both of us to slip from the dock and into the freezing lake.

I had to let go of Liam inside the lake and tried to calm down just enough for me to swim to the surface. As soon as my head was out of the water and I could breathe properly, I looked around for Liam, only to see him swimming towards me quickly but gracefully.