Puppy Eyes (A Niam love story)

Prologue

Word Count: 1.055

“Again, thank you. We don't have many volunteers, just another boy and a girl, so it's really amazing having you here. We have almost sixty dogs and it's hard for Niall and Danielle control them all” Mrs. McDellen, the dog shelter's owner said to Liam. It was probably the the third time that the old lady had thanked him since he had walked trough the door half an hour ago.

He just smiled and said “Again, you are welcome. I really like dogs and I also have free all my afternoons”. She smiled at him.

“Okey. Come here, I'll show you the dogs and you'll meet your partners”.

~o

The first thing that Liam noticed when he walked in was the noise. The big room was filled with dogs barking.

“I know, they are a little bit loud, but you'll get use to it” Mrs. McDellen said, while walking trough the hallway created between the big cages where the dogs were.

The second thing he noticed was a stunning face with the bluest eyes he'd ever seen and the most gorgeous smile. The boy was sitting in the floor, playing with three little golden retriever puppies. Mrs. McD was saying something, but Liam wasn't listening: one puppy had licked the blonde lad nose, making the boy laugh, and Liam got lost in the cheerful sound.

“Hey mate, I'm Niall” Oh, so he was Niall. Liam smiled to himself: becoming a volunteer had been the best idea he'd ever had.

“I'm Liam, nice to meet you” they shaked hands and smile to each other. Niall took the three puppies in his arms and then he placed them in an empty cage.

Suddenly, a girl with a lot of brown curls appeared, almost dancing around the cages.

“Hey newie! I am Danielle, nice to meet you!” Liam couldn’t help but smile at her.

After the basic introductions and after Mrs. McD, Niall and Danielle explained to Liam the basic “rules”, the curly haired girl left to prepare the dogs food and Niall started to introduce Liam to the dogs. They've only seen about twenty dogs, but “the newie” already had problems remembering their names.

“It's alright, you'll learn them eventually. We've been here for three years, at least half of them came after us, Dani and I have a little advantage” Niall said to him. “But you need to remember her name” the blond pointed at an old dog that started moving her tail in happiness when Niall opened the cage. “She, my friend Liam, is Daisy”.

“Hi, Daisy!” Liam said while getting closer to her and starting petting her, just like Niall was doing. The dog licked his hand and sunk her head in the brown eyed boy's knees “She's really cute” he exclaimed.

“I know, but she's pretty old too. She's probably eleven or twelve years old, and no one wants to adopt an old dog. She is kind of my favorite. I'd love to take her home with me, but I already have two dogs and my mom won't let me” Niall complained.

“I think that she knows that. And that she's happy just spending time with you here. I mean, look how happy she is now!”

“Thank you” Niall smiled. They stood there, grinning at each other like idiots for what seemed like hours. But then Daisy barked, making both guys jump in surprise. Liam quickly looked away, trying to ignore the adorable blush that was shining red in Niall's cheeks.

“Guys, food's ready!” Danielle shouted, coming from what Liam thought was a kitchen.

The blue eyed lad looked at Liam, still a little blushed, and asked “Want to join?”

“I'd love to.”

~o

“So. how was your day, Payne?” Louis, one of his two best friends asked, with hs head in Harry’s lap.

The Wolverhampton guy had arrived just five minutes ago from the shelter. He had spent the hole afternoon with Niall and Danielle, playing with the dogs, feeding them, trying again to learn their names and getting to know his co-workers better. He discoreved that Niall was Irish (that explained his accent) and that he had moved here a couple of years ago, that he lived with his best mate Zayn and that his brother was called Greg, who lived in Mulingar.

He had enjoyed his first day a lot. He couldn’t wait for the second one. A part of him, anyways, was trying to convince him that that wasn’t in part because of ciertan blond.

Liam didn’t understand why he felt those butterflies on his stomach whenever Niall smiled. He met him just like five hours ago. But the Irish guy had stolen Liam’s heart since the first minute.

“It was doos, really good! Mrs. McDellen couldn’t stop thanking me because they have a lot of dogs but only two persons to care care of them, Danielle and Niall, so it was a little bit hard for them to control them all. And, aparently, people this days don’t like to help in dog shelters.”

Harry smiled “Oh Niall… our little boy has a crush on someone already?” he teased Liam, with a cheeky grin in his face.

Liam remebered clearly the day when he came out. He had only told Louis, Harry and his family at first. He knew that his frind would be totally ok with it (Louis and Harry acted like a couple all the time) and he also knew that his sisters would be with him no matter what, but he had been a little bit worried about his parents. But everything went perfectly fine. It had been a year ago and Liam was really happy about everything.

“What?! No! He’s just a friend. I met him hours ago! I don’t have a crush on him” Liam tried to lie, but his cheecks were sooo red…

“No? I don’t believe it it for a second! Liam, tell us” Louis said, with an amused smile.

“There’s no need to use a Caesar Flickerman’s quote with me!” Liam tried again, but the look in their faces was totally sceptical. “What do you want me to tell you?! I think he’s a great guy, really funny, and I want to know him better. And maybe… just maybe I love when he smiles, Happy now?”

“Very” both friends said.