your whispers are voiceless

Call

       The rain is pelting the windshield, sheathing the car in curtains of water.

The second Niall pulls over by the parking lot at the back of their school, Liam is opening his side of the door, tumbling out with his foot snagging at each other. Rain drops wet the edge of his seat as he holds the door open, towering over the car and leaning down a little so he can see Niall. "See yah, babe. I'll meet you later, yeah? There's football practice that I'm so fucking late for." He dives deep into the car, a knee sunk into the seat, and must've been aiming for Niall's lips like always but catches him on the cheek instead. He doesn't seem to mind. 

He shuts the door, and Niall watches him cover his head with his jacket as he jogs over to the double doors leading to the hallway. He sighs.

        He sees Liam again at gym class, through the windows, leaning at the wet bleachers with a ball tucked into his elbow. He's talking to somebody, and Niall knows immediately who it is. Sophia. Cheerleader, a year above him. They're talking at a distance that makes Niall's lungs pull downward until his heart is pressed flat against his rib cage. 

       It's right after the bell rings when Liam grabs his wrist and drags him down the hall. Catches him off guard. "Liam, what are you doing?" 

"Just follow me, yeah?" Liam answers. He doesn't look back. He seems distracted, like the only thing that's on his mind is reaching their destination. "I forgot something . . . earlier."

Niall grows pliant, then, with Liam's fingers tangled loosely in between his. Lets him pull him deeper into the crowded hallway. Because it's always been like this, even when they were little and didn't know the difference between a moth and a butterfly. Niall will follow Liam even if it might mean the sinking of his newest Spiderman shoes in thick mud, or the tearing of his favourite shirt as they tumble into the woods. 

He'd probably even follow him to the edge of a cliff. 

He's given Liam too much of his heart. 

They move up some floor where the student population is thin, and slip surreptitiously into an empty white tiled room. "Liam, why'd you bring me here?" he asks the moment the door closes. There's a small ball of panic curling the veins that sit just under his heart. He doesn't like sneaking around. Liam knows this. 

The boy shrugs and leans down to kiss him, quickly. "I just forgot to give you that this morning." He smiles. 

Niall feels himself blush, everything inside him melting. the panic dissolves. He looks around the room. There's a life-size replica of the human skeleton tucked into a corner, microscopes and cylinders and giant plastic balls molded into human eyes encased in glass cabinets, just beneath the rain-pelted window. There are three rows of long tables whose tops have been sheathed in white veneer. 

On top of one, in the middle, are plates of food. 

"Thought you might want to have lunch with me," Liam says, his voice low but casual in the silence. He's smiling. 

"What?" 

Liam grabs him by the hand and walks them over to the table. "We haven't had dates for a long while. Which is really all my fault. Football's been eating up my schedule more than I thought it would earlier this season. Coach is making us work double time each week, even in the fucking rain. It's so fucking infuriating. It sucks I don't have to spend as much time as I want with you." 

"It's okay," Niall says as they sit down, side by side. "It's football. You've been dreaming about playing it for as long as I can remember. And besides, your father wants you to be the best of the best at this. I think it actually means a lot more to him than to you, to be a football champion or whatever."