Always Come First

Chapter Two

Liam woke with a start, feeling the hot sun beating down on his face.  He could hear Niall cooking something in the kitchen. Liam sits up, and pushes the blanket off his body. 

“Niall?” He shouts.

“Yeeee buddy, I’m in the kitchen. Breakfast?”  hollered back Niall.

Liam walks down the short hallway, to the kitchen. The strong smell of bacon, eggs, and his favourite chamomile tea wafts towards him.

“What’s all this for?” Liam questions, pulling himself into one of the stools sitting in front of the counter.

“Well, you’ve been stressed a lot lately, and you stayed home with me last night, so to say thank you … I made you breakfast.” Niall replies, placing a mug on the counter in front of Liam.

Liam picks up the cup, and takes a tentative sip. He realizes that Niall must pay attention to everything, because the right amount of sugar and milk is in it. Liam sets the mug down, and studies the pattern on it. Niall made it in his art class last semester.  The swirls and dots mesmerizing Liam, making him lose his thoughts. Niall has a natural talent for art, mostly painting and sculpture, but Niall can create anything once he puts his mind to it.

“Liam? You okay?” Niall asked, concerned for his gorgeous best friend, and secret crush.

“Yeah, peachy. I was just reminding myself how amazing you are at creating something beautiful.”

Niall blushes a deep red, and pushes the plate of food over to Liam. The delicately fried bacon on the one side, light and fluffy eggs on the other, and a slice of buttery toast sitting on top. Niall slides himself into the chair beside Liam with an identical plate of food, and starts scarfing down. They eat in silence, mostly because Niall is stuffing his face, and Liam doesn’t know what to talk about.

“Thanks bud, that was amazing.” Liam says, grabbing both plates and putting them in the sink. He has to do dishes anyways, and he isn’t really in the mood to do it now. “Let’s go out this afternoon.  I want to get a new pair of trainers, and you probably need some new pencils for your class.”

Niall swallows his swig of tea, and says with a laugh “Sure, let me just get some real clothes on.” Since he woke up with just his boxers on, he has only thrown on a sweatshirt.

“Alrighty. Meet down here in thirty minutes?”

Niall goes upstairs, slips into his room, and shuts the door. He doesn’t really need the thirty minutes to get ready, but he wants Liam occupied when he does this.

Niall sits on his bed, and reaches into his nightstand drawer. He pulls out the small piece of metal, and lifts up the sleeve of his sweater. He takes the fragment, and places it about a quarter up his wrist. He hesitates, drops the metal piece, and rolls over onto his back. ”I can’t keep doing this to myself” he thinks to himself. “I’m destroying myself and everything I want to become”.  That’s when Niall loses it, and he starts bawling. He cries and cries. He cries until his throat is sore. It’s the grace of god that Liam doesn’t hear him. 

Suddenly, Niall shoots up, gets himself ready in a few short minutes, and runs down the stairs.  Niall refuses to be weak in front of anyone, let alone Liam. Liam thinks Niall is okay, so Niall is going to pretend to be okay.

“Right on time I see! Let’s get this show on the road!” Liam proclaims, as he throws his arm around Niall’s shoulders.

                                                                                         ~~~