Never • Say • Never § a Niam Horayne collab fanfic [AU]

Chapter Thirty-One - "Just... Remember."

(written by MrsNiallHoran :3)

-- Niall's POV --

Liam was an interesting boy, I thought. He was so young and innocent, and yet he seemed so smart and wise, like he knew what he was doing with everything. He seemed both young, and too old for his age all at the same time. I didn't know what to think of him. 

We live together. It was an unfamiliar thing, but not weird. Somewhere deep down, I had known that. I just couldn't access that place that held all my memories. So if we live here together, then where's his family? Where's my family?

I pulled my sweater off, pondering over things, until I noticed something. I frowned and lifted up my wrists in front of my face, eyes widening slightly. "Liam?" I asked softly, looking up. He was watching me with a certain look in his gentle brown eyes that I couldn't quite decipher. I walked over to him, holding up my wrists to show him. He just nodded slightly. "What happened?" 

He bit his lower lip, like he was considering whether to tell me or not. "I don't think you want to know." he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Tell me." I ordered firmly. "I don't care if it's not anything pleasant, I want to know."

He sighed and put a hand to my elbow, holding my arm steady. His fingers traced over the scars, some of them so fresh that they hadn't had a chance to scar over, with a sad look in his eyes. His touch was so light that it didn't hurt. It just made my wrist start to tingle, then my hand, then my arm, then it ran all throughout my body. It was almost electrifying, energizing. "You did this." he said quietly. "Terrible people convinced you that you're a mistake." he then began shaking his head, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't know why they'd say such a thing. You're not." he now closed his eyes, continuing to shake his head. A tear fell off of his cheek and hit my wrist. "Y-You're not..." he repeated in a whisper.

"Don't cry, Li." I murmured, lifting up my other hand to wipe the tears off of his cheeks. 

He took a deep breath and forced a smile. I could tell that it wasn't real, no matter how believeable he tried to make it. He was quiet for a second and then he seemed to get an idea. He grabbed my hand and led me off into the bathroom. I was confused, until he stopped me so that I was in front of a mirror. "That's you." he said gently, pointing to the figure in the mirror.

I blinked. Short blonde hair, blue eyes, fairly short... The person in the mirror seemed familiar. That's me, I thought. I slowly poked my face, which caused Liam to chuckle. The reflection I was seeing was familiar, definitely, and it seemed to go with everything else. 

"Now you know how adorable you are." he commented, smiling.

To me, my appearance was nothing special. I honestly didn't think I was adorable - I didn't even really find myself attractive. I liked my eyes, though. "Sure." I replied, laughing.

"I'm serious, Ni." he said with a straight face. He wasn't joking? He sighed lightly and appeared behind me in the mirror. For some reason, I liked the look of us together. "You're amazing in every single way. You're gorgeous, smart, talented... I'm so lucky to have you as a..." he seemed to trail off and his eyes darkened slightly as he looked away. "Friend."

I blushed madly. Gorgeous? If he wanted to find someone gorgeous, then he should just look in the mirror. Smart? He was much smarter than me. Talented? Well, since Liam was great in so many other ways, he had to be talented. There probably wasn't a thing he couldn't do. I didn't really remember much about him, but in my eyes right now, he was flawless. I turned around and wrapped my arms around him, my head against his chest, and hugged him tightly. It took him a second to react, but his arms soon folded around me, holding me in a strong, protective grip.

"Do me a favor." he whispered suddenly.

"Anything." I replied. What kind of favor did he want? 

"Just... Remember."