Liam wakes up with an arm tightly around his waist. Ian's breath hits the nape of his neck since that's where his head is resting. Liam looks around, looking for his phone. He spots it in the back pocket of his jeans which are laying discarded on the floor.
With a sigh he looks over at his digital clock. It's six in the morning. He tries to get up, attempting to get out of Ian's grip, but Ian groans and only holds on tighter.
"Ian." Liam complains, once again trying to pry the boy's hands off him.
"No." Ian mumbles tiredly. "Sleep."
Liam sighs, rolling over in Ian's grip. "Fine."
He cuddles into the other boy, resting his head on Ian's chest. Ian hums in approval. They drift back off for another hour when Ian's alarm goes off.
Ian groans at the new distraction from his sleep. Liam rolls over to look for his phone since it isn't on the side table either. He finds it on top of Ian's jeans that are also on the floor.
"Ian." Liam shakes his shoulder. "Wake up."
Ian groans but complies, sitting up in bed. He looks around, spots his phone, and gets out of the bed to go pick it up. Liam watches his back as he moves.
They're both only in their boxers. Liam only managed that because Ian slipped them on him last night before they fell asleep.
Ian shuts off his alarm and stands up, pulling his jeans on when he does. He turns around to face Liam while zipping them up. He shoots the boy on the bed a grin and Liam has to return it with a small smile of his own.
"I better get going." Ian leans down to land a kiss on Liam's lips.
"Okay." Liam whispers before kissing him one more time. "Will you be here tonight?"
"Yeah." Ian nods, pulling back to look for his shirt. He finds it and throws it on. On his way to the window he falters and turns around. "Hey."
Liam looks up at him, humming. "Hm?"
"Do you want to come over sometime today?" Ian asks, bringing his hand up to rub at the back of his neck. "You could meet my mom. Well, I mean, meet her as my boyfriend. Officially and all."
Liam smiles a little. Boyfriend. The word sounds so casual, if only a little nervous, coming out of Ian's mouth. He likes it.
"Sure." Liam smiles. He's not worried about it, he's already met Laura and her husband David before and it went well. He doesn't see why this time would be any different, she seems like a nice woman. Ian's face breaks out into a wide smile.
"Okay, cool. I'll see you later then. Come around lunch time, like one or so."
"Okay." Liam nods. "I'll be there."
"Okay. Great. Cool." Ian smiles, leaving out the window again.
Liam rolls over onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillow with a smile. He has a boyfriend. He's Ian's boyfriend. The joy those thoughts brought him is unreal.
Sliding out of bed, Liam went to stand. There was a dull ache in his backside. It wasn't terrible, he knew he could ignore it and go about his day. However, he felt like being lazy so he used it as an excuse to lay in bed for the rest of the morning.
At twelve he finally decides he should get up. The first thing he does is check his phone. He has a text from Ian, sent about twenty minutes ago, that is the address.
Liam realizes he actually lives pretty close to the Martin's. He sends a text to Ian asking when he should head over and then walks to his closet. He picks out some basketball shorts and pulls them on.
He also grabs a T-shirt, looking down at the three marks he has on his chest before pulling it on. It's a striped gray and vintage red shirt. He likes it.
After getting a text telling him to come over from Ian, he slips on his shoes and leaves the room. He walks down the stairs, feeling the pain in his backside get a little worse while going down. He ignores it and it goes back to a very dull ache once he's walking normally again.
The drive over there doesn't take too long. He parks in the driveway of the house that's about as big as his and gets out. He feels a new set of nerves take over as he approaches the front door.
Maybe he didn't think this through. What if they told his mom? Is David going to be there? Maybe he shouldn't be letting David know. What would happen if they told his parents? How would his parents react? His mom freaked out when she figured out they were just friends, what would she think if they were boyfriends?
The door swings open and there stands Ian. He's smiling wide and suddenly Liam calms down. Ian's wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a plain black shirt.
"Hey." Ian grins, stepping aside so Liam can step in. Liam gives him a small smile back.
"Hey."
"David's gone at a meeting, so now is probably a good time to catch my mom." Ian says. Liam feels his nerves calm a little even more.
"Oh, okay." Liam nods. As the door shuts behind them, Ian's arm wraps around his waist. He's lead through the foyer and into the living room.
The living room is big and decorated in dark colors. There's two black leather couches and a matching pair of chairs. The table in the center is painted black and there's a giant flat-screen TV on the wall.
Laying on one of the couches is none other than Laura, wrapped up in a light blue blanket and eyes focused on the TV. She looks over when she sees Ian enter and smiles happily at Liam. She briefly glances at Ian's arm placement but doesn't say anything about it.
"Hey boys." Laura greets, smiling sweetly. "It's nice to see you again Liam."
Liam smiles politely back at her. "You too."
"So, Mom, I just wanted to let you know, Liam is my boyfriend." Ian says. Laura's eyebrows raise.
"Well, it's nice to be informed of these things." Laura says, still smiling. "Are you two hanging out here?"
"Yeah." Ian nods. "We were just gonna head upstairs."
"Okay." Laura nods.
Ian starts to walk away but Liam doesn't. Since an arm is still around him Ian stops and glances at him. Liam nervously looks down.
"Oh, and Mom." Ian starts, pulling Liam closer to him. "Liam's parents don't know."
Laura raises her eyebrows again. "Are you telling me not to tell them?"
Ian nods while Liam just shyly sinks into his side.
"Okay honey." Laura smiles simply. "Don't do anything stupid up there, I'm not sure when Dave will be back."
"Okay." Ian nods. This time when they start walking, Liam follows along with him. As they walk, Ian leans down to whisper. "That is what was worrying you right? Is something else bothering you?"
Liam shakes his head. "No, that was it."
"Okay." Ian smiles. They start up the stairs and into a big room. The walls are painted white and the floor is hardwood.
The bed is in the center with a dark blue bed spread and matching pillows. In front of it a big TV is mounted on the wall. There's a couch against the wall opposite to the door and then two other doors on the wall by the TV, probably leading to a bathroom and closet.
"You didn't do much decorating in here, did you?" Liam looks at Ian with a questioning glance while walking over to the bed. Ian shakes his head.
"Nope." He says with a shrug. "I'm only ever here to visit my mom. I never plan on staying here."
Liam nods with understanding, slipping his shoes off. He sits on the edge of the bed but when Ian climbs on he moves. Ian leans up against the headboard and pats the spot between his legs. Liam sits there and rests his head against the boy's chest, feeling his heart flip when Ian wraps his arms around Liam's waist.
"What've you been doing since I left?" Ian asks, keeping his voice soft since he's sitting directly behind the other boy.
"I've just been laying in bed. I took a nap." Liam answers honestly. Ian laughs quietly. "What have you been doing?"
"Watching TV with my mom and talking." Ian hums. "Do you wanna go to a water park?"
At the randomness Liam looks at Ian over his shoulder, confused. "Right now?"
"No, more like tomorrow. Chris wants to go with the group but has been putting off asking everyone. He talked to everyone at school or my house over the week and I said I'd ask you." Ian explains.
"Oh, well then sure." Liam shrugs. "Why not?"
Ian smiles. "Okay, good."
The brunet boy leans over to land a quick kiss on the side of Liam's neck. He pulls back away and leans away a little, one of his arms leaving Liam's waist, to grab the remote. He comes back and clicks the TV on before handing the remote to Liam.
"You pick, I'm happy with anything." Ian hums, resting his chin on Liam's shoulder.
Liam smiles and clicks buttons on the remote. He finds a movie that seems interesting and turns it on. His stomach flips and his face hurts from smiling so much. He doesn't think he's ever felt so happy in his life.
○●○●○
"William, where do you think you're going?"
Liam's steps falter as he reaches the bottom of the staircase. He's all dresses for the water park today in a black tanktop he borrowed from Ian yesterday and a pair of dark blue shorts. He turns to look in the living room and sees his mother sitting in her chair with a cup of tea.
"I'm going swimming with my friends." He says. Lately, his mother's been a bit less overbearing. She still glares and scolds him but she doesn't spam his phone when he's with friends or Ian nor does she demand he stay home and stop going out.
Her eyes narrow at him but, to his surprise, she doesn't say anything. She scoffs and looks away, going to sip at her tea. Liam stands there frozen for a little bit like he expects her to change her mind and have a different reaction. When she doesn't, he continues to walk out the door.
He goes outside and Chris's car is sitting in the driveway. Ember is in the passenger seat while Paige and Ian are crammed in the back. Liam slides in the back, Ian scooting over into the middle seat to give him room.
As Chris starts to drive, Ember twists in her seat to smile at Liam. "Congrats on your official relationship."
Liam smiles. He knows that they've been informed. Ian told him he'd be sharing the news when he went home from his mom's this morning.
"Are you excited?" Paige leans forward in her seat to look at Liam. He nods at her, a small smile of his own on his face.
"Yeah."
"Good." She grins.
Chris turns up the radio a little as a new song comes on. Ember gives him a distasteful glare but doesn't say anything. Instead, she pulls out her phone and types away on it.
"Javi, Lucas, and Izzy are leaving the store now. We should be getting there around the same time." Ember announces.
"Why did they need to stop at the store again?" Ian asks.
"Lucas needed goggles." Paige answers. "His broke last year."
"Oh." Ian says blandly.
Liam relaxes into the seat. He likes being here, with these people. He feels a little more normal when he's around them.
The drive didn't consist of much talking. Ian rested his head on Liam's shoulder and scrolled through Instagram, Ember was on her phone, and Paige looked out the window. Liam ended up getting his entertainment from the memes he saw on Ian's phone.
They finally reach a parking lot and all get out. The entrance is wide and fancy. On the other side of the parking lot, Izzy climbs out of a car and excitedly waves her hands while running towards them.
"We can go in now, yay!" She beams happily.
The group all walks amongst each other up to wait in line and pay to get in. Liam notices as they walk that Ian, Paige, Izzy, and Lucas all have bags while Ember, Javi, and Chris didn't bother with one. Liam didn't bring one because Ian promised to take everything they need. He wonders if the other three are also just relying on the other people in the group.
The place is really big and there's lots of things to do. There's plenty of rides, different slides, and a few different big pool areas for swimming. Liam ends up just following Ian or Paige around the whole time but it's tons of fun.
He swims with Ember and Izzy at some point. Javi joins them too for a little while. After that he goes down a slide with Paige. Chris drags him onto a log ride with him and after he gets off, Ian steals him away.
Him and Ian run around and do everything they can. Two hours go by of just fun. By the time everyone meets up to leave, Liam has done almost everything twice.
They walk towards their cars after changing. Liam has a towel draped behind his neck that Ian put there. He can't wipe the massive grin he has off his face.
Ian's hand is resting in his, their fingers intertwined. Their hands swing in between them with each step they take. It's such a small thing but makes him undeniably happy.
He loves this.
"Hey, I'm riding with Javi and Izzy so I can go straight home. Izzy is staying over." Ember says when they reach Chris's car. Ian nods.
"Okay. I'll see you later."
"Yeah." She looks over to Liam. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"See you." Liam smiles.
"Let's go!" Chris yells while opening the door to his car. Paige hops in the passenger seat and Lucas gets in the back.
Liam ends up sitting in the middle of the backseat on the way back. Ian shares an airpod with him and they watch videos together the entire drive.
Lucas gets dropped off first so there's more room. Liam doesn't move though, he prefers to sit next to Ian. Ian doesn't comment on this but his lips form a smile as they start driving again.
They finally reach Liam's house and he sighs, giving Ian's earbud back, before unbuckling his seat belt. He starts to scoot away when Ian grabs him. They share one quick kiss before Liam leaves and heads in the house.
He had fun today.
•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•
I'm almost done with this book but it doesn't feel like we're approaching an ending and now I'm stressing.
Love you ♡
- Z