Keep Coming Back
So, I was sent a prompt and started working through it, and by the time I worked out that I had misinterpreted the prompt, I had done too much to want to change it. Sorry to the anon that sent this prompt, but I hope this is still okay :) (It’s not too far off)
xXx
"Can't believe he's gonna go through with it."
Greg sighed and glanced over his shoulder at his brother, then shook his head and went back to digging through the kitchen cupboard. "Niall, if it bothers you that much, tell him. For god's sake, you've been whining about this fucking wedding for months. Stop whinging and actually do something about it."
Niall groaned and let his head thunk down onto the kitchen counter he was sitting at, covering his head with his arms. "It hurts, though," he whispered. "It hurts he hasn't noticed on his own."
"He has noticed, he's just trying to ignore it," Greg told his brother, turning to him and sitting a cup of tea in front of him.
"If he'd noticed, he would've called the wedding off," Niall mumbled.
"He's not gonna call off his wedding unless you actually give him a reason to," Greg sighed, poking Niall's shoulder to attract his attention to the tea.
"I'll never be enough reason to call off the wedding."
"Don't be stupid." Greg turned to the fridge, but stopped when he heard Niall sniffle. "Ni?"
Niall lifted his head and blew out a breath, giving his brother a view of his red-rimmed eyes. "'S fine," he whispered, picking up his tea and talking a sip.
"It's not fine," Greg stated, folding his arms.
Niall swallowed a mouthful of tea and sat his mug down, hands still wrapped around it, and dropped his eyes to the counter. "I'm not worth it."
Greg was about to reply when Niall finally let slip a tiny sob. Instead of pressing the matter, Greg walked around the counter and wrapped his arms around his brother in a side-hug, squeezing him as he cried quietly into his tea.
xXx
"I'm not sure what colour looks best," Liam sighed as he scrolled between two colours of tablecloth on his laptop screen. "What do you reckon, Lou?" He turned his laptop around.
Louis, who had been pacing beside their bed, suddenly stopped and sat on the edge of the mattress, elbows on knees and head in his hands.
"Lou?" Liam frowned, sitting his laptop aside. He crawled over and wrapped an arm around Louis' shoulders. "What's wrong, love?"
"Li, I can't do this."
Liam's frown only deepened. "Do what? If you need a break, I can go make some tea-"
"No, Liam. I mean the wedding."
"What do you mean?" Rubbing Louis' back, Liam told him, "I know it's stressful. We can postpone it if-"
"Liam, I don't want to marry you anymore."
Liam froze. "What?" he whispered.
Louis sighed heavily and turned his head to look at the confused pair of brown eyes watching him. "I love you, Li. I do, I swear. But I… I've met someone that just… we just click. And I don't want to be the dick who cheats on his fiancée or husband, so I want to call this off now before I do."
Slowly moving back from Louis, Liam whispered, "But we're engaged, Lou."
"No, Liam." Sliding off his engagement ring, Louis stood and sat the fine band of silver on the bedside table. "We're not." He gave Liam a sad smile, then kissed his forehead and left the room.
Sinking into the pillows, Liam curled in on himself and drew in a shaky breath. "Oh my god…"
xXx
Liam could feel his hands shaking as he knocked on Niall's front door. He needed someone to hold him, someone to remind him that this wasn't going to kill him. But when the door opened, it wasn't Niall he was greeted with.
"Oh… hi, Liam."
"Hey, Greg," Liam sniffled. "Is Niall in?"
Greg swallowed nervously. "Um… no, mate. He… he moved…"
A look of innocent confusion filled Liam's face. "What?"
"Like, I own this place, but me and my family were living somewhere else so Ni was living here. But… he moved out last week. Me and Denise have moved in here because this place is a better spot for Theo's school."
"Niall… Niall's moved?" Liam frowned, his eyes showing what could only be hurt. "When? Where to?"
"Like I said, it was last week," Greg explained patiently. "And he… well, he didn't leave an address, so I don't actually know where he is."
Liam opened his mouth to speak, but only managed a slightly choked noise through his closed-up throat. A few tears snuck down his face, but he swallowed hard and nodded his head. "Okay," he whispered.
"What's wrong, mate?" Greg asked carefully.
Liam just shook his head, turning and hurrying away from the house.
xXx
"Liam, sweetheart, you can't stay locked up in here," Karen told him gently, sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing his shoulder comfortingly.
"Why not?" Liam croaked, rolling onto his side so his back was to his mother.
"It's not good for you to shut yourself away from the world."
Liam sniffed and blinked at the tears that built up in his eyes. "Everyone's left me, Mum," he choked out. "Louis left me for another man, Niall moved away…" With a small sob, Liam whispered, "I saw Louis with his new boyfriend the other day. They were holding hands and being all lovey and…" A strangled sound fought its way from Liam's throat. "And I'm all on my own," he whimpered.
"Have you tried calling Niall?" Karen asked, rubbing her hand up and down Liam's back.
"He's changed his number," Liam sobbed.
Karen sighed quietly. "Come downstairs when you're ready," she murmured. "I'll make you some tea and food." Leaning down to kiss her son's hair, she left him to fight tears on his own.
xXx
"Is this really the way to deal with this, Ni?" Sean asked, watching his childhood friend throw another dart across the room.
"You got a problem with it?" Niall muttered.
"You're throwing darts at a photo of Liam's fiancée. Yeah, you're hurting, but seriously?" Giving his friend a look, Sean grabbed his arm. "C'mon, we're gonna go grab a drink."
Niall glanced between his friend and his dart board, relenting with a sigh. He threw his last dart and let Sean pull him out of his house.
"When's this wedding supposed to be, anyway?" Sean asked.
Niall sent his friend a glare. "Not helping, mate."
"'M just curious," Sean surrendered, raising his hands.
Lowering his eyes and kicking the ground as the two of them walked down the street, Niall mumbled, "Day after tomorrow."
Sean hummed. "So what's going on?" When Niall gave him a confused look, Sean pointed across the street to where Louis was kissing a taller man that definitely wasn't Liam.
Niall was fuming. He stormed across the street and grabbed Louis' shoulder, yanking him away from the man. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he growled.
Louis slowly raised his hands in surrender. "Ni, this is Harry," he explained, grasping Harry's hand. "Haz, this's Niall. Harry's my boyfriend, Ni," Louis explained carefully.
"Sure," Niall scoffed. "Because you're not marrying Liam on Saturday or anything."
"No, I'm not."
Niall frowned. "What're you talking about?"
Louis was frowning himself. "Niall, I called the wedding off two months ago." Glancing to Harry briefly, Louis asked, "Didn't Liam tell you that?"
"No…" Niall swallowed hard. "I haven't seen him for, like, three months."
"Why not?" Louis asked in confusion.
"Because I… I…" Niall's throat closed up. "He's been on his own for two months?" he whispered.
"I guess so." Shoving Niall's shoulder lightly, Louis told him, "He'd be fine if you were talking to him."
Niall thumped Louis' arm, earning a yelp from the brunette and a slight glare from Harry. "You left him!" Niall shouted. "You left him two months before your wedding, you bastard!"
"Hey, I've had contact with him since," Louis defended. "Where the fuck have you been?"
Niall waved his arms around them. "I'm in Ireland. I came home. What the hell are you two even doing here?"
"I didn't want to be in England on the day me and Liam set for our wedding," Louis replied, daring to look hurt. "You have no idea how hard it was to walk away from him, Niall. But I couldn't stay with him, so I had to leave. Would you've preferred I cheated on him?"
"You fucking prick," Niall spat.
"I thought you'd be happy about me and Liam splitting," Louis huffed. "For fuck's sake, you've been pining over him long enough."
Niall stopped. "How do you know that?"
Snorting, Louis told him, "It was pretty fucking obvious." He blew out a long breath. "He's on his own now. For god's sake, go and talk to him. He probably thinks everyone's abandoned him."
"But I…" Niall turned to Sean, who was standing behind him and watching with raised eyebrows and arms folded. "Shit… Sean… shit…"
"C'mon, you idiot," Sean sighed, grabbing Niall by the back of his hoodie and dragging him away.
xXx
Karen tapped her fingers against the kitchen counter, sighing as she considered heading upstairs again to check on Liam. "It's not worth it," she whispered. Shaking her head, she told herself, "Don't be stupid, Karen, of course it's worth it, he's your son." Heading off towards the stairs, Karen stopped suddenly when the doorbell rang. She debated leaving it and attending to her son, but had never been one for ignoring others. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she pulled the front door open.
"I know there's probably a hundred things you wanna yell at me right now, but can I please talk to Liam first?" Niall rushed out.
"I… of course you can-"
"Thank you." Niall hurried past Karen and ran up the stairs to Liam's room, barely knocking before throwing the door open.
Liam jerked upright, eyes wide in shock.
"Okay, this is a lot more dramatic that I'd meant it to be, and I didn't want to do this on the day you and Louis were supposed to get married because it's fucking cheesy and gross, but I couldn't get a flight any earlier and then I had to find you and-"
"Niall?" Liam whispered. He rubbed his eyes and blinked to ensure he wasn't imagining the sight before him.
"Liam, I'm sorry, I thought you and Louis-"
"Louis left me for some gangly, mop-haired, funny-arse muppet," Liam snapped. The sudden anger in his eyes made Niall shrink back. "And when I went to my best friend to talk about it, I found out he's moved away."
"That was self-preservation," Niall mumbled, folding his arms.
"What're you talking about?" Liam scoffed. "I needed my best friend!"
"And I needed to get away and not watch you fawning over your wedding. I couldn't handle it, Liam, alright?" Running a hand through his hair, Niall huffed, "How was I s'posed to cope with watching you marry him?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I've been in love with you for years and you, whether you noticed or not, weren't going to give me even a smidgen of what I wanted. It means I needed to give myself a break from feeling shitty all the time because my feelings are unrequited." Shaking his head as Liam simply stared at him, Niall turned away from him. "I don't want the fairytale shit of you suddenly realising you've been in love with me the whole time. I came here because Louis was in Ireland with his new boyfriend and had the nerve to yell at me for not being here for you." Facing Liam again and leaning his back against the wall opposite the brunette's bed, Niall shrugged his shoulders. "So I'm here. But don't you think for a second that this isn't fucking killing me."
Liam sat silently for a moment. "So… you're saying you love me… but you don't want me to love you back?"
"I don't want you to have that corny, slow-mo lightbulb moment that 'oh my god, I've loved you the whole time'," Niall explained in a mocking voice. "I don't wanna be a rebound, I just wanna get you back on your feet again." Gesturing around the room, he stated, "This is not how you move on from a breakup."
"Neither is running away," Liam replied.
With a frown, Niall protested, "We were never together, how was-?"
"I meant Louis." Liam pushed himself to his feet and paced back and forth in front of his bed. "Why was he in Ireland?"
Niall shrugged one shoulder. "He said he didn't wanna be in England on the day you and him had been supposed to get married."
Glaring down at the floor, Liam muttered, "Arsehole."
"He said you two have been in contact…"
Liam scoffed. "Twice. Once to sort out moving our things out of our flat, and once because he apparently felt the need to explain that Harry is his soulmate and he would only have kept going back to him even if we'd got married, and that it wouldn't've been right or fair on me." Rolling his eyes, Liam muttered, "Why would he have kept going back to Harry?"
"Because that's what you do with your soulmate," Niall replied quietly, staring at the floor. "No matter the circumstance, you always come back for them." He blew out a breath and shook his head. "Go downstairs and talk to your mum."
"But-"
"Go downstairs and talk to your fucking mother," Niall stated firmly, pointing towards the door. He waited until Liam dragged himself to his door and trudged out of the room before blowing out a heavy sigh and following after the brunette.
"Liam, how're you feeling, love?" Karen asked gently as her son shuffled into the kitchen.
"'M only down here because Niall would've killed me if I didn't come down," Liam mumbled, flinching when Niall smacked him around the back of the head. "You're an arse," he spat at him.
"And so are you," Niall shot back. "Be a decent fucking human being and talk to your mum, for Christ's sake."
Pointedly ignoring Niall's language, Karen asked, "Are you hungry, boys?"
"I'm fine thanks, Mrs P," Niall replied. "But Liam's going to eat something, even if I have to force it down his throat."
"Would you stop with this overprotective rubbish?" Liam huffed to Niall as Karen started reheating a bowl of the soup she had prepared over the day.
"This is fucking irritation, Liam," Niall snapped. "I don't care if you've been upset; so have I and I still ate food. I still got out of my fucking bed and did things. Even if that was just throwing darts at a photo of Louis' face, I got my arse out of bed every day and did something."
Liam frowned at his friend with a hint of disbelief. "You threw darts at a photo of Louis?"
"He had everything I wanted," Niall muttered, folding his arms. "Jealousy is shit, alright?"
"Here you are," Karen murmured, sitting the heated bowl of soup on the bench beside Liam before patting Niall's shoulder and leaving the room.
"You were that jealous?" Liam frowned.
"Of course I was," Niall mumbled. "I'd fancied you for a year or more, then suddenly you meet Louis and you fall all in love with him, and then one day you come running up to me showing me your engagement ring and I'm left feeling like complete shit because you don't want me."
Shaking his head slowly, Liam asked quietly, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"What? 'Hey, Liam, come cuddle me instead of snogging that dickhead because I've loved you since I was sixteen and you've known him six months'? Yeah, that would've gone down well," Niall scoffed.
"You wouldn't have had to do that," Liam sighed. "But… just told me. Like, not some huge declaration of love, just… said it."
Niall gave Liam a bland stare. "How? I couldn't manage it for more than a year when you were single, how could I manage it knowing you'd found someone you actually wanted to be with?" Shaking his head and folding his arms, he muttered, "Now can we please stop talking about this?"
"No, because I-" Liam started.
"Stop talking about it, Liam," Niall snapped. "For Christ's sake. Leave it." He glared down at his feet, kicking at the floor. "I came here to prove that not everyone's abandoned you. I didn't come here to fight with you," he mumbled.
Blowing out a long, pained sigh, Liam rubbed his hands down his face. After a few minutes of silence, he moved closer to his friend and wrapped his arms around him.
"Liam," Niall grumbled in protest, shifting to struggle free.
"Shut up and let me hug you," Liam huffed, squeezing his arms around the blonde tighter. "You want to prove you haven't abandoned me? Fucking hug me."
"I…" Letting out a long sigh of resignation, Niall curled his arms around Liam's middle, resting his head on the brunette's shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, feeling himself melt into Liam a little more. "I missed you," he mumbled into his friend's T-shirt.
Burying his face in Niall's hair, Liam sighed, "I missed you, too."
xXx
Niall had made sure to visit Liam every day after that. They had played FIFA together, watched Batman and Toy Story, and even tidied Liam's room.
Which was why Liam was worried one the day Niall's didn't show up.
It had been two weeks. Two wonderful weeks where they were best friends again. Now, Liam was pacing up and down his room with his phone pressed to his ear, cursing loudly when he was sent through to Niall's voicemail for the seventh time. With a huff, he shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed his keys before jogging downstairs and finding his shoes.
"You going somewhere, love?" Karen asked from the kitchen doorway, drying her hands on a tea towel.
"To Niall's," Liam grumbled, tying his laces. "He won't answer his bloody phone."
Karen frowned. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know," Liam replied sarcastically. "He won't answer his phone."
"Alright, no need to get snappy," Karen surrendered. "Go and find him, then. He seems to be the only thing that calms you down at the moment."
With a grunt, Liam headed out the front door and hopped into his car. He thought over the past two weeks throughout the drive to Niall's, only becoming more irritated as he drove. By the time he arrived in front of the block of flats Niall was now living in, Liam was bordering on livid. He marched up the stairs and grabbed Niall's spare key from under his front doormat, where he always kept his spare, and barged into the flat.
"Li?" Niall asked in surprise, eyes wide. He was standing in front of the stove in his open-plan kitchen/living room, a teapot in his hands.
"What's your fucking problem?" Liam snapped, furious.
Niall blinked twice. "What?" Watching Liam's heavy breathing, he asked carefully, "You want some tea? Sit down, yeah?" He slowly sat the teapot down and flicked the kettle on.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Liam asked, glaring at Niall and not moving to sit.
Frowning, Niall stuck his hand in his pocket and checked his mobile, pressing the lock button a few times. "Because it's flat," he replied, moving to plug it into the charger on his kitchen bench. "What's wrong?"
Liam felt the anger building up, then burst out with a frustrated noise that made Niall jump. "You didn't show up," Liam huffed, slumping down on Niall's couch.
"Liam, it's only ten in the morning," Niall said slowly.
"What…?" Liam glanced to his watch. "But…" Groaning, he buried his face in his hands.
"Didn't realise you'd be so desperate to see me," Niall half-laughed, turning to the boiled kettle and pouring water into the teapot.
"I just… ugh." Liam rubbed his eyes roughly.
"Just…?" Niall asked, awaiting elaboration. "Just realised you're in love with me and never want me to leave your sight ever again?" he joked, glad Liam couldn't see or hear the hint of sadness in the question.
Liam huffed out a sigh. "I dunno, maybe I have."
Niall nearly dropped the mugs he grabbed from the cupboard, eyes wide.
"At least that would make sense," Liam muttered. "I was really fucking annoyed with you."
"I was just being a normal human and getting some sleep," Niall mumbled, trying to ignore how Liam had replied as he poured the tea and added the appropriate number of sugars. "What time in the morning were you up?"
"Dunno," Liam shrugged. He accepted the mug of tea Niall handed him as the blonde sat down beside him. "It felt weird. Being awake and on my own."
"How do you mean?" Niall asked, sipping his tea. He lightly elbowed Liam in the side when he didn't answer. "Li?"
With a heavy sigh, Liam admitted, "I miss Louis."
It took every ounce of energy Niall's possessed not to roll his eyes.
"I miss him, but I don't at the same time," Liam continued. "Like… I miss having someone there to talk to every minute of the day, or cuddle with, or just hold. But I don't think I really miss Louis."
"Yeah?" Niall asked disinterestedly.
"Niall, I know you don't like Louis, but at least try not to sound like you'd rather be anywhere else," Liam huffed. "You're supposed to help me feel better."
Niall sighed and leaned his head against Liam's shoulder. "I always want to make you feel better," he whispered. "You just don't let me."
"Niall, I'd let you if I thought it would be fair on you."
Turning fully to face his friend, Niall asked disbelievingly, "You would let me?"
"It wouldn't be fair to lead you on like that," Liam told him.
"So… you don't…" Shaking his head, Niall mumbled, "Of course you don't." He stared down at his hands wrapped around his mug.
"Maybe…" A look of realisation crossed Liam's face. "I think… I think we're…" He chewed his lip hard. "Maybe… Y'know what you said about Louis and Harry being soulmates?"
"Mm?" Niall hummed, still not looking up.
"Do you think it's possible to meet your soulmate and not be in love with them straight away?" Liam asked, setting his mug of tea on the floor.
Niall shrugged one shoulder. "S'pose. I mean, if you met your soulmate in the supermarket, you wouldn't immediately fall to your knees in front of them."
"Could it take years to fall in love with them?" Liam continued.
"Can't see why not." Looking up at Liam, Niall frowned, "Why?"
"I think I might be starting to fall in love with you."
Niall felt his heart stop. "You… you what?" he whispered.
Sliding his arm around Niall's shoulders, Liam explained, "I can't stand the idea of you not talking to me. The first thing I thought of this morning was how annoyed I was that you weren't there with me." Leaning his forehead against Niall's, he sighed, "I don't know for sure, but… I feel like you could be my soulmate."
Barely resisting the urge to snort, Niall huffed, "And it took you this long to figure it out?"
"Well… you said soulmates always come back for each other and… and as soon as Louis split with me, I went straight to find you," Liam confessed, bringing a hand up to hold the back of Niall's head. "And then you came back two months later, even though you were mad at me." Gently rubbing his thumb up and down the back of Niall's neck, Liam whispered, "I'm really sorry you had to wait so long."
"I… I-I…" Niall had to blow out a breath to steady himself. "I'm…" At a loss for words, he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Liam's lips. "I've wanted to hear you say that for so long," he breathed out.
Nodding slightly, Liam smiled, "It was strangely satisfying." He tilted Niall's head back and kissed him more fully on the mouth. "Definitely satisfying," he sighed.
"Is this weird for you?" Niall asked, wrapping his arms around Liam's neck. "Because we were friends for so long?"
Liam thought for a moment, then shook his head. "We're still friends. We're just… closer." He nudged his nose against Niall's. "I really am sorry it took me so long to catch on."
"Just don't be a dick about it if you change your mind," Niall mumbled. "Because you know I won't be able to stay mad at you."
"I won't," Liam promised. Sharing a soft smile with the blonde, Liam sealed his promise with a kiss.
