Homeless Item (Niam Fanfiction)

Chapter Eleven

Liam's first proper shopping trip was utterly adorable at times, the two were both comfortable enough with heading out to a public place. Liam needed some more clothes, a toothbrush, soap and curtains. Liam kept a hold of the back of Niall's jumper sleeve, his jumper and t-shirt pooling down below his bum, practically touching his knees. His hair had started curling again, bouncing ringlets at the ends. His skin wasn't a silk white anymore, it was full of colour, big red rosy cheeks and a nice brown hue to his skin.

Liam had his jumper sleeve stuffed in his mouth as he followed behind Niall at a steady pace. The blonde seemed to know everybody, being greeted and welcomed by nearly everybody he walked past. He also knew where everything was.

Liam was shuffling his feet against the floor. He hadn't been in a proper clothing store for years. So seeing this many t-shirt made Liam want to cry and buy them all. Niall was wandering around, resting the shirts against Liam's chest to measure the sizing. Whichever one fitted, went into the basket. Niall soon discovered that Liam was an xx small. Which horrified him slightly because he was shorter than Liam and was only a size small.

He bought Liam all the essentials that he needed, he didn't want the poor boy to go without. He wanted him to feel as normal as possible. He could see clearly how innocent and young Liam looked more now. Like he stopped aging when he was removed from school. He looked traumatized and so so fragile. Niall felt like he needed to put a 'handle with care' sticker on Liam's body.

He had noticed a lot of things about Liam now that he was living with him. The way he ate, slept. He did it with such carefulness, he was so slow and gentle, like he might get in trouble if he rushed. Liam also got scared easily and he would instantly cower, hands dropping whatever he was holding so he could cover his eyes, or ears. It depended on the extent of the noise.

Niall handed Liam the chocolate milkshake and rolled his jumper sleeves up carefully, so they didn't get caught whilst Liam was eating or drinking. He placed the bags down by the table and watched the way Liam timidly glanced at the people who walked passed. His eyes held so much emotion that Niall felt like Liam could tell a story purely just with them.

Everything was okay until one of Niall's rowdy friends approached, he slapped Niall on the back and it set Liam off. Even if it was meant to be a friendly gesture. He placed his cup down and shielded his eyes sadly with his own hands. Niall noticed this instantly, another thing to add to his list of triggering things.

"hey Liam, buddy. It's okay, he didn't hurt me it was just a friendly gesture." Niall assured, managing to take one of Liam's boney hands over the table. But he could tell that Liam wasn't one hundred percent certain, again Niall could tell from the vulnerable boys eyes.

"does that trigger something Liam? It's alright though okay? I'm perfectly fine." Niall said softly, feeling the way Liam's grip tightened on his fingers. His other hand going back to sip on his milkshake. Niall's friend had since moved off, scurried off after Liam's reaction.

The brunette checked his surroundings before he did anything and completely refused to use a public bathroom. Liam wouldn't even let Niall go in. Just let his bottom lip wobble dangerously until Niall gave in and picked their bags up again.

It was awfully hard to get a word out of Liam in a public place like this, he seemed to be more confined now that Niall had taken him in, reserving himself more, but the blonde knew everything was trial and error. They took two sets forward and three sets back, but at least he knew there was process.