Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Forty-Seven

Niall/Liam

It was a day of talking about things, it seemed.

After they'd returned from the park, leaving slightly earlier than they'd planned due to the arrival of a group of teenagers, some of whom seemed interested in Liam to the extent that he was beginning to wish that they would just approach him or piss off and Niall had made the executive decision that maybe, just maybe, they should go home.

He'd used home as a loose term, but the walk back to Liam's flat gave him a few minutes to think about what that meant. His flat, the cramped little two bedroom place he and Chloe had lived in for the past few years was technically home. It had all of their crap, all of Chloe's drawings and toys and they'd had so many birthday's and sort-of-Christmases there, but, if he was honest, Liam's flat, where Chloe could run around, leave her shoes by the door and lay on the rug in the middle of the living room without being in the way or running into something or falling over, seemed to fit that description better.

There was space, actual space, that they didn't have at their flat, and it was warm, always. Not just temperature wise, but it was welcoming. Their flat on the estate wasn't. It was cold, dismally so in winter, when the gaps in the windows rattled, and the graffiti that was everywhere seemed more prominent. They seemed welcome there, with Liam, and there was never the risk that they'd come home and find an addict camping in their doorway. Which had happened only a year or so ago. Niall had taken Chloe to Jessica's for the night, not wanting to deal with the situation with a six-year-old in tow. Niall's point was that, with Liam, it was safe, homey, and everything he'd ever wanted, for Chloe and for himself.

And then...then, as always, there was Liam. Everywhere seemed to feel more like home when Liam was there.

Niall thought about telling Liam as much, thought about throwing those words out there, but Liam sort of beat him to the punch.

They were laid together in Liam's bed, the blankets thrown casually over them and music softly playing from Liam's iPod on its dock, a cold breeze blowing in from the open windows, giving Niall a reason to justify why he was shivering every so often, it having nothing to do with Liam or the way his fingers would brush over his skin, but the draught instead. Obviously.

Liam let his fingers trace over the freckles littering Niall's back, smiling as Niall leant into his touch and waiting until Niall had relaxed back against him before he whispered, "I like having you here. I like being here much more with you. With you here, you and Chloe, it finally feels like home."

Niall bit back a smile at that, rolling over so he was facing Liam and leaning up to kiss him before he asked, "It didn't before?"

"Not really. You've seen how massive it is. I was rattling around here, on my own. I didn't even choose it, it was picked out for me by someone at our old management. I used to hate it, you know. But now...it's home, when you're here." Liam bit his lip after he'd spoke, wondering if he'd said too much, frowning slightly as Niall shook his head at him before kissing him again. Niall had been deliberating over whether or to call Liam a sap, deciding against it as he saw the look on his face.

Instead, he kissed Liam, letting his fingers catch in Liam's hair and gasping a little as Liam pushed him back against the mattress and the covers ended up abandoned on the floor for the second time. It took a while for Niall to be able to form a coherent thought, let alone string a sentence together, but, eventually, when he'd caught his breath and Liam was laid beside him, the sort of smile only Niall ever saw on his face when it was just the two of them, the intimacy between them making Niall feel like it was okay for him to say, "You feel like home. For me. Here, with you, feels more like a home than me and Chloe have ever had."