Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Ninety-Three

Liam

As usual, he found airports to be a grim, intolerable place. Every time he was forced to travel through one, he was reminded how much he hated them. They were all the same, always busy, and always full of overly caffeinated, overly perky people. And fans were always there. Even if they were flying into a place at some ungodly hour, there would be fans with cameras, phones and photos, all clamouring for autographs and selfies and asking questions, and it was just something to hate.

Liam loved their fans, he did, but airports provided no escape and they were unbearable. He wasn't the only one to think so, either. They meant that Zayn had to act like a human being, no matter if it was three in the morning or if they'd been awake for two days, and Harry and Louis couldn't fall into the gross couple act they did when they were alone. They walked apart, even now, unable to hold hands or for Harry to wrap an arm around Louis as they went. They might be out, as Liam was, but years of bullshit meant that no one got to see them the way they really were, curled in on each other occupying only if of their seats on the plane, car or wherever, frankly.

In summary, airports were awful and he, along with all three of his band mates, hated them.

Even when airports were ostensibly a good thing, when the same nondescript buildings meant that he was going home, that they had completed months on the road and finally reached the ending, he hated them. They were the final obstacle, the hurdle catching you at the end, and a journey through Stansted airport was all that stood between him and home.

An airport filled with people, with fans, with photographers, and Liam was far too eager to get away from them to tolerate. It didn't help that it was just him and Paddy there, everyone else had flown away from their last concert in Amsterdam to go on holiday — Zayn to New York, Harry and Louis to southern France — so it was just him, smiling and playing nice despite the fact that he wanted to scream.

He didn't, though. He made it out of the airport, blindly following Paddy as he always did, keeping his eyes on the back of Paddy's head all the way out to the car park, where, thankfully, a car was waiting for him. Not his car, that wouldn't have been driven for months, but a car of the getting the hell away variety. Paddy opened the door for him, despite his eye roll, and Liam had just dropped into the seat when he noticed the figure sitting one seat over.

Before he could say anything, he had an arm around his shoulders, face hidden in his shirt and it was all he could manage not to cry. Niall, however, made no such efforts and, when he finally let go of Liam, he reached up to wipe his eyes before trying to speak. "Hey, you."

Liam was still smiling, unable to help himself or exercise any sort of control even if he wanted to, and his smile grew wider, if such a thing were even possible, as he took in the sight of Niall, all bright blue eyes and gorgeous smile —.the one that Liam saw so rarely and might be the thing that feels most like home — and everything else Liam had missed. Luckily for him, his brain remembers how to function after a moment and he blinked, managing to reply, "Hey yourself."

Then he was kissing Niall, one hand cupping Niall's cheek, the other running through the back of Niall's hair, not caring that Paddy and someone, Sam, mostly likely, were sat in the front seats trying to pretend to be busy. He slid across the backseat to be closer to Niall, so lost in the moment that he barely noticed the grip Niall had on the collar of his t-shirt and the press of Niall's fingers into his skin. The kiss ended after what felt like only seconds but given the sigh Paddy let out was probably far longer than considerate, and Liam could only grin again, running his thumb along Niall's cheek before kissing him again, softly.

Despite the fact that there was a one hundred percent chance that Niall already knew, Liam took the opportunity then to say, "Missed you."

Something in Niall's smile suggested that he was really laughing at Liam then and saying, 'I can tell,' though he simply squeezed Liam's hand and said, "Missed you too."