Niam: What Hurts The Most

Chapter Five

4:29pm, 3rd March 2012, Thursday  

Liam took a deep breath. "Ready?" he asked quietly.  

Niall's hand found his, clutched it tightly. "Yes."  

Liam closed his eyes. "We'll jump together. On the count of three. One, two, thr-"  

"Stop!" Niall screeched. "I'm scared."  

"Niall, you've been wanting do this forever. Now that the chance is finally here, you can't back out. You promised that you wouldn't!"   

Niall shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "You're right. Let's do this."  

Liam started counting again. "One. Two. Three!"  

Both of them let out long screams as they hurled themselves off the edge of the platform, sliding down hard on the swirly slide. Water gushed everywhere, rapid currents ensnaring them together. Niall clung to Liam, terrified, as they crashed into the icy cold pool at the bottom.  

Liam surfaced from the water, heart thumping as he tried to catch his breath. He grinned at Niall. "That's one more thing off our bucket list!"  

Niall high-fived him. He was completely drenched, and his hair clung to his face, and they were so close that Liam could see the drops of water falling off the thick dark eyelashes.  

It was funny how he could zoom in on Niall, every once in a while. It was like the big picture would fade, leaving behind a few intricate details that were so stunning that it took Liam's breath away.  

At this very moment, Liam's mind froze over Niall's face. His eyes were piercing, a fierce shade of blue with flecks of black, green and gold, framed with dark eyelashes and glistening with light. Liam's eyes moved to the nose, the small ski slope that was specked with freckles, leading down to the lips. Small, precious, curved into a smile, a little bit swollen from the teeth that occasionally bit into it.   

There would always come a moment in time, a turning point of a relationship between two people, where you could memorize everything about the other person. And Liam realized that he'd reached that point, in the one moment as he stared at Niall's face. It was like opening new eyes, like waking up after realizing that he'd only been half-asleep his whole life.   

It was that feeling he got in the frozen few seconds, just looking at Niall and thanking everything for finding him. For whatever it was that brought this little Irish man into his life, that made them cross paths.  

He realized that he'd gone very still. Shaking himself awake, he turned to help Niall out of the icy pool. Drying themselves off with the complimentary towels, they sat down together by a bench.   Liam peeked at Niall from the side. "You okay?"  

Niall nodded, taking a deep breath and smiling. "It's just... I've been doing a lot of thinking lately."  

"About what?" Liam asked gently, not recognizing the guarded tone in the Irish boy's voice.  

Niall looked down, scratching his head like he was ashamed by it. "About stuff, I guess. My life, and my friends... basically you, and the way that I live."  

It wasn't usual for the carefree guy to do such deep thinking. "Why now, all of a sudden?"  

Niall shrugged. "No reason."  

Liam put an arm around Niall's shoulder. "What were some of the stuff you thought about me?"  

Niall smiled. "You're the best friend I'll ever have. You're like a huge part of me. The reason that I'm the person that I am right now, is because of you, because of the things you showed me and taught me, and the way we've lived."