While Clint hooks the boat back up to the truck, the teenagers follow Ren to her car. She pulls out a bunch of fluffly towels and tosses them to everybody. Liam wraps his head and shoulders up immediately, not enjoying the feeling of being cold.
Ian chuckles from next to him. Liam looks over to see the boy wrapping his own towel around his shoulders. His longer hair is sticking to his forehead and his neck, dropping in a way it doesn't usually do. Liam finds himself smiling.
"What are you grinning at?" Ian asks, his tone playful.
"Your hair looks silly." Liam comments. That makes Ian laugh and Liam laughs quietly too. "I definitely prefer it fluffy."
"Oh yeah?" Ian raises his eyebrows with a grin. "I was actually just thinking the same thing, about it looking silly. Your hair is sticking to your forehead and you look like a sick puppy."
"Really?" Liam pulls his towel over his forehead more. Ian laughs, reaching forward to grab it. Ian starts to rub Liam's head with the towel, drying it while they wait.
"That's gay." Ember says, bringing Liam and Ian's attention away from each other.
"So are you so shut up." Ian smiles sweetly, his hands rub Liam's head with the towel for a few seconds more before dropping. They instead go to his own towel and he works on drying himself off.
Liam goes to work on himself too, drying off his arms and legs. Finally, Clint walks over with his friendly smile that makes him look so much like Ian. Well, it's probably more accurate to say make Ian look like him. "You kids ready to go?"
"Yeah." Ian looks over to Lucas as he answers. The boy has the towel draped around his shoulders like he doesn't care. He went ahead and dried himself off already. Lucas nods and when Ian looks to Liam he nods too.
"Girls you better be dry or put those towels on the seats because I am not having wet seats in my car." Ren walks up behind her husband. Ember and Paige both nod.
The girls grab their clothes, not worrying about putting them on, and get in the car. Ian grabs the shirts and throws one to Lucas. He holds it but doesn't put it on. Ian puts his on and then hands Liam his. Liam debates putting it on but doesn't.
Ian tugs lightly at Liam's arm as he starts walking away. Lucas and Mr. Morrison are already walking to the truck. Liam falls in step with Ian and follows after them.
Lucas climbs in the front seat this time, grumbling something about not listening to country music on the way back. That leaves Liam and Ian to climb in the back by themselves. Liam get in the seat on the passenger side and Ian sits behind the driver's seat, although he's leaned over a little closer to the middle.
Liam shivers once the air comes on. He takes his towel off to put his shirt on, still a little cold. Ian sees this and wraps his towel around Liam's shoulders.
"Better?"
"No, your towel is damp." Liam grumbles. Having overheard this, Lucas snorts.
They start driving then. Lucas clicks on the radio and begins messing with stations. He doesn't say anything about Ian and Liam's conversation.
Ian rolls his eyes, picking up Liam's towel and draping it over the boy's head. He starts rubbing his head like he did when he was drying his hair earlier.
"That's not helping at all?" Ian's voice is quieter now.
"It is now." Liam says, also keeping his voice quiet. Ian smiles and leans back into his seat. Liam leaves the towels draped around him, fully aware that he probably looks like a baby right now. Ian's smiling though, and not in a teasing way, so he doesn't really care.
They drive back home without talking much. Music plays in the background and Lucas on occasion bops his head along in the front seat. Liam starts to warm up a little as they get closer.
Ember's mom parks by the curb when they reach their house so that Ian's dad can back the boat into the garage. When the man goes to unhook it, Ian tugs at Liam's shirt and starts to get out. Liam follows after him.
Lucas gets out of the truck after them. The girls both come walking up from Ren's car too. They both have their clothes back on and Paige has the towel loosely around her. Liam and her almost match because he also still has two towels around him.
"Let's go." Ember starts leading the way into the house. Liam pauses while following her, Ian pauses next to him as well.
"My sweats are in my car." Liam looks over at his car in the driveway.
Ian's hand gently moves to push at the small of his back. "You go ahead, I'll grab them."
Liam nods and walks up to the group that's now entering the house. Ian jogs over to his car to find the sweatpants. Paige holds the door open for him.
"We gotta change." Ember and Paige both start running up the stairs. Lucas looks like he's going to follow after them before he stops. He looks around and then at Liam.
"Where's Ian?"
"He said he was going to get my sweats out of my car for me." Liam shrugs.
Lucas rolls his eyes. "He's too damn polite." Then he turns to start up the stairs. "Come on, we'll wait for him in his room."
Liam follows Lucas up the stairs and then into Ian's room. It looks the same as before but the LED lights aren't on anymore. Liam sits down on the end of the bed.
Lucas walks over to a backpack thats sitting on the ground and picks it up. It must be his because he pulls out a pair of shorts and then picks up a hoodie from the floor next to where the backpack was.
"Do you mind if I change in here? I can go to the bathroom if you're not comfortable."
Liam's eyes widen a little. "Um no, you're okay."
Liam clicks his phone on and looks down at it, feeling a little awkward. The door opens behind him and he spins to look at who it is. Ian smiles, black sweatpants folded up under his arm.
"Here you go." Ian says while handing it over. Liam smiles while taking it.
Ian walks over to the closet, standing next to a shirtless Lucas while looking through it. Liam turns to the bed, facing away from them. He changes into the sweatpants quickly, not worrying about changing his shirt since it didn't get wet.
He takes a seat on the bed and gets on his phone again. A second later Lucas sits down next to him, also pulling his phone out.
A hoodie hits Liam in the face and he blinks, pulling it away. He looks up to see Ian smiling. "In case you get cold, you can give it back before you leave."
"Uh, okay." As Liam is putting it on he gets a sense of deja vu. With that sense he suddenly remembers he never gave back Ian's hoodie from before. He's just about to say something about it when he glances at Lucas. He doesn't know how much the boy knows, nor does he know how much Ian wants him to know, so he doesn't say anything.
"Ian, stop hogging my friends!" The door opens and Ember walks in. Paige is right behind her, shutting the door behind them.
"You wanna watch a movie in here?" Lucas looks over, raising his eyebrows. "I don't wanna go home just yet."
"I need to go home sometime. Ren said she'll drive me." Paige says, sitting down in one of the beanbag chairs. "We can watch something though."
Ember sinks into the beanbag chair next to Paige. "I guess I won't complain about watching something."
"I wanna pick." Lucas announces, leaning over to pick up the remote to the TV.
Lucas lays down on the left side of the bed, his front half propped up on the pillows. Ian leans back on his legs, propping himself up while still facing the TV. Liam just looks between the two, not sure what to do, and then settles for staying how he is.
Lucas picks out some action movie and presses play. He puts the remote back and shifts a bit to get comfortable. He doesn't seem to mind that Ian is using his legs as a pillow.
Once the movie starts Ian's arm moves down, closer to Lucas's face. "Hand me a pillow."
Lucas hands over one of Ian's pillows, it has a dark blue cover on it. Ian grabs it and sits it on top of Lucas's legs next to him. He then gently grabs Liam's shoulder and eases him back so he's leaning against Lucas on top of the pillow.
"Good?" Ian asks quietly. Liam glances at Lucas only to see the boy unfazed and watching the TV. With that confirmation that it's okay he nods to Ian and lets himself relax.
Ian grabs a blanket from the end of the bed and spreads it over himself. Then, he offers it to Liam who accepts and tugs it over so it's covering both of them. Liam cuddles into the blanket and the hoodie.
The thought of Ian's hoodie at his house comes back to him. He glances around to make sure everyone is paying attention to the movie and then leans over next to Ian. He's closer to Ian's chest than his face but that doesn't bother him.
When Ian doesn't seem to notice that he's leaned over, Liam reaches over to poke him lightly in the side. Ian then turns his attention to the boy and raises his eyebrows.
Liam keeps his voice low, mostly because he doesn't want to disturb anyone else but also because he doesn't know who knows Ian crashes at his. He doesn't want to be the one to tell people if Ian wants to keep it a big secret. Maybe the boy wants people to believe he actually sleeps at his mother's house.
"Your hoodie is still at my house. Sorry, I forgot about it and never gave it back."
Ian's lips tug up into a smile. He ducks his head so Liam can feel his breath against his ear when he speaks. "Don't worry about, you might as well keep it."
Liam swallows and then nods a little. His stomach feels a bit weird now. "Um okay."
Ian readjusts, going back to leaning up against Lucas's legs. As he does this, his arm finds its way around Liam. He's not full on holding Liam but his arm is loosely around him. Sometime during the movie Liam finds himself leaning a little more into him for the warmth that radiates off his body.
Paige left about twenty minutes before the movie ends. Nobody moves but just says bye to her. She flashes Liam a kind smile before leaving Ian's room. They all go back to the movie after.
Liam's eyes are heavy by the time the movie ends. The credits starts playing and he feels like groaning. He's comfortable and doesn't wanna move.
"You asleep?" Ian's voice is quiet and his arm gently nudges Liam.
"Not quite." Liam mumbles.
"You wanna just stay the night?" Ember looks over her shoulder from the beanbag chair. "You can drive home in the morning to change. Maybe I can catch a ride with you so I don't have to take the bus."
Liam knows he probably shouldn't say yes. His mother will undoubtedly flip out if she realizes, which she will. He knows this but can't find it in him to care. So, he shrugs.
"Why not? I'll take you and Paige to school tomorrow."
"Yay!"
"Well, my parents won't let me stay out past curfew so if I'm going to walk home I better leave now." Lucas speaks. He wiggles his legs a little beneath Liam and Ian.
Ian sits up and so does Liam, Ian's arm gently guiding him up before dropping. Lucas swings his legs to the side of the bed and sits up.
"Thanks for letting me chill." Lucas stands up. He picks up his bag and waves. "See you."
"Bye Lu!" Ember calls and Ian waves. Liam smiles at him and waves a little too. He still feels tired.
"Liam are you gonna be good in here?" Ember looks over at him after Lucas is gone.
Liam glances over at Ian. The boy is fixing the pillows on his bed, unbothered by the conversation. This isn't anything they haven't done before. He looks back to Ember and nods. "Yeah."
"Alright, well I'm gonna hit the shower and then go to my room. Just text me if you need anything Li."
"Okay." Liam watches as she walks out and then turns to Ian.
Ian speaks before he can. "You want the right side of the bed, right?"
"Uh-" Liam wasn't expecting that. He nods. "Yes please."
Ian smiles, moving over to the left side. "Do you need to shower or anything? We did go swimming in the lake."
"I probably should." Liam answers quietly.
"Okay, you can borrow anything out of my dresser or closet. I'll text Ember and have her tell us when she's done in the bathroom."
"Okay." Liam nibbles on his bottom lip for a second, still awkwardly sitting at the end of the bed. "Thanks."
"No problem man." Ian smiles kindly, laying down on the left side of the bed. "You wanna pick something to watch?"
"You can."
Ian finds some TV show to watch. He claims to have never seen it and since Liam hasn't either they start it together. Ian pauses it when Liam leaves to shower.
Liam takes a quick shower. He wears his black sweatpants and Ian's hoodie. He didn't worry about a shirt underneath because the hoodie was comfortable enough on its own and he felt bad taking too many of Ian's clothes.
When he gets back to the room Ian's laying on the left side of the bed just like before. Only this time he's in different clothes. He's wearing a gray T-shirt and black basketball shorts. His hair is a little damp too.
"Did you shower?" Liam closes the door behind him as he enters.
"Yeah, I used the downstairs bathroom. We don't usually shower down there, my parents usually do, but I figured it'd be faster and you wouldn't have to just awkwardly wait in here while I shower."
Liam nods. He's grateful for that, waiting really would've been awkward. He walks over and sits his folded up clothes on top of the dresser for him to grab tomorrow when he leaves. Then, he walks over and lays down on the bed.
Ian plays their show and Liam half pays attention. His eyes get heavy again. He's not sure when he drifted off but he knows it was sometime after Ian had pulled a blanket over the two of them.
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Liam's door swings shut behind him. He walks through the door smiling simply. He felt good.
This morning he had waken up to an alarm on Ian's phone. Since he fell asleep without settting one, Ian did it for him. He picked up Paige and the three left to go to school. They only stopped briefly at his house so he could change and grab his backpack. He moved quickly and didn't see his parents on the way in or out.
It appears though that returning home he wouldn't have the same luck.
"William!" The shrill voice of his mother made him pause in his tracks. "Where the hell were you last night?"
Oh no. Liam's mother doesn't curse. Hell, unless talking about the place, counts as cursing. He gulps, already knowing that he's in deep shit.
"I was out with friends. I planned on coming home but I was really tired and passed out."
"That is no excuse!" Her face was slowly turning red with anger. "You are not allowed to stay out all night. Especially not on a school night for Christ's sake. If this is what those friends are making you be like then you should not be hanging around them. I knew from the beginning that those kids-"
Liam turns around and starts heading up the stairs again. He knows she has the right to be mad, she really does. However he doesn't want to stay and listen to her rant about his friends. He feels more at home around them than he does his own parents.
"-were bad influences- Where are you going?!" He could hear footsteps following behind him. He didn't have the energy to talk back though. "You can not ignore me William. What you did is unacceptable. And on a school night of all times?!"
Liam reaches his bedroom door and stops. He turns around to face the woman that's the same height as him. With a sigh he tries to relax, the knot in his throat made it hard to speak.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I am. I understand it was not okay of me to stay out, especially not without telling you. I don't plan on doing it again."
That didn't seem to dissipate her anger though. "Recognizing your actions as bad doesn't make it magically go away."
Liam holds in another sigh. "I understand. Can we talk more about it later? I'm tired from school and still have a lot of homework."
He twists the door knob and opens it. Without waiting for his mom to reply he walks in the room. She keeps in step behind him though, clearly not finished with this conversation. Liam drops his bag by his bed and walks over to his closet while beginning to untie the knot in his tie.
"William, this is not something to take lightly. There are going to be consequences to your actions." She grumbles, still following him even as he enters his closet. She stands with her arms crossed in the doorway. "I don't think you should be hanging around with those children anymore."
Liam began to unbutton his shirt after getting his tie undone. He tries to keep his head clear. Getting frustrated will only make this worse. "That's a bit extreme, isn't it Mother? It's not their fault I slept over, I was just so tired I passed out."
"You've never been like that before!"
Liam slips out of his shirt and starts folding it up. I've never had real friends that I hung out with before. He doesn't say that outloud though.
After his mother has been quiet for a moment he spins around to see if she's still there. He didn't hear her leave but it's not likely she'd be so quiet. Sure enough, she's still there. She was still stood in the doorway but her angry face isn't there anymore. Now her eyebrows were furrowed in a confused manner, although she still looks mad under the confusion.
"Have you gained weight, William?"
Liam looks down at himself. He had. He's started to realize that lately too. His shoulders were more filled out now and less boney, his ribs weren't showing anymore unless he stretches his arms up. He likes it that way.
"You have." She doesn't even let him answer. "You're tanner too. What have you been doing lately?"
Liam opens his mouth, unsure of how to answer. His mother wouldn't approve of swimming in a lake. She thinks public pools are disgusting, what would she think of a lake with fish in it? She'd probably have an aneurysm.
"This is all because of those friends, I can already tell. Have you been overeating? You know how I feel about your weight. I'm calling to schedule an appointment with Doctor Kelsey."
With that she walks out. Liam sighs heavily. Fantastic. He decides not to worry too much over it right now. He continues to change out of the uniform.
Once in his comfortable pajama pants and a white T-shirt he leaves. He wants to crawl in bed. He always wants to crawl in bed.
Yet, he can't. He has homework. Damned homework. He walks over and grabs his backpack, moving to go sit at the desk.
It was going so well.
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Love you ♡
- Z