The rest of his office hours pass by relatively quickly, he finishes planning the next few lessons, and Liam heads home for the day. When he gets back to the apartment, the first thing he does is turn on the radio to a station that plays soul music. He doesn't listen to it all the time, but sometimes he's just in the mood to hear something with emotion and feeling. He toes off his shoes by their closet and hangs up his blazer. Rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt and undoing the top two buttons, he gets ready to work some food magic.
Niall's an easy guy to please; Liam has always appreciated that fact. You could give him a beer and a nice cheeseburger, and he's good to go. Liam likes lowkey nights just as much, but he has slightly more refined preferences. So tonight he's cooking steaks, baked potatoes, and asparagus, and he's going to light some candles for the patio table even if he'll appreciate his own efforts more than Niall will. Liam opens a bottle of wine after he starts preparing the food, sipping from his glass while he cooks.
"Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovers out there, you know who you are," the deep, soothing voice of the radio DJ says from the speakers. "So grab your lady, grab your man, show 'em you love 'em, and enjoy the next few hours of nonstop classics that'll be sure to spread the love." The host's voice disappears and is replaced with an Otis Redding song.
After popping the baked potatoes in the oven, Liam takes the steaks and vegetables and his glass of wine out on the balcony so he can use his grill to cook them. He leaves the sliding glass door open and sways to the music as it plays from inside. "My love is growing stronger, as you become a habit to me," Liam sings along to the radio. "Oh, I've been loving you a little too long. I don't wanna stop now."
Liam keeps humming and swaying to the music, drinking his wine and maintaining the food as it cooks. It's a beautiful evening out, warm with a cool breeze and mostly clear skies, and he enjoys watching the city grow gradually more orange as the sun gets tired of shining.
Niall takes doesn't take long to come back after having spent the rest of his day with Ellie. He's walking in through the door right when Liam's plating their food.
"Hey," Niall starts with a giant smile when he sees the food. "You must have some fancy-schmancy hot date tonight."
Liam smiles as Niall comes up behind him and wraps his arms around Liam's waist. "Oh yeah, super-hot date. You should probably get out here before he comes over," Liam teases in response. Niall kisses the back of his head, then puts his face into the crook of Liam's neck and kisses his skin before blowing a raspberry and making Liam giggle like he's some kind of little girl, and Liam bats him away as he clears his throat. "Get off me, you overgrown toddler."
"Yes, sir," Niall responds with a laugh before moving to pour himself a glass of wine. "If this is your idea of my Valentine's Day present, I approve."
Liam nods, feeling successful. It's not complete yet, though, seeing as he lit candles outside so they could eat outside and watch the sunset together. "Do you want to eat outside? It's nice out."
"Let's do it." Niall grabs a plate and his wine and heads out the glass door. He sits down after admiring the view and cuts into his steak before Liam can even refill his own glass of wine. As Liam fills up his glass, Niall takes his first bite of the steak and he makes a pleased groan and rolls his eyes back. "Oh my god," he tries to say, but it's muffled by food and his fist covering his mouth.
Liam beams proudly. "Good?" Niall nods and takes Liam's wrist in his hand and pulls him down for a kiss. Niall's lips already taste like the steak marinade, and Liam's smile widens. "Good."
Liam sits in the other chair and starts eating, bobbing his head and tapping his heel to the beat of a particularly good song. "I've got sunshine," he sings despite there being food in his mouth. "-On a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May."
Liam takes another bite and glances up to see Niall watching him with amusement. "That's so sexy."
Liam grins and gets playful with it. "I guess you'd say- come on, Jay- what can make me feel this way." Niall chuckles and Liam swallows the food in his mouth, but reaches out his hand in gesture. "My guy, my guy, my guy-"
"Talkin' bout my guy," Niall pitches in even though he doesn't bother trying to carry a tune.
The boys finish the song together, eating, drinking, and gesturing grandly to each other- which is probably quite a sight to people with table manners, but fuck those people anyways. After the food is gone, Liam relaxes back in his chair and watches the sunset with another glass of wine. From underneath the table, Niall kicks his feet up onto Liam's lap and admires the sky with him. Its nights like these, he's even more grateful to have access to a view like this- where he can look in one direction to watch the sunrise and turn around to watch the sunset, all without leaving his balcony. That's really what sold the apartment for him in the first place.
Tonight's sunset vaguely reminds him of the one Niall painted and they currently have hanging up in the bedroom. The clouds are dyed pink, blending with the fading orangeness of the sky, slowly being replaced with shades of purple. While the sun gives one last valiant effort, shining bright, warm colours from the horizon as it sets, the rest of the sky subsides into a pure indigo. The sides of the building become consumed by the shadows, and street lights gradually start turning on.
With a sip from his glass, Liam glances over to admire the look of quiet wonderment in Niall's eyes as he watches the view. His eyes give everything away, the way his mind is absorbing the colours that inspire his creativity. Not paying any attention to Liam, he drinks from his glass and squints a little, and his fingers twitch subconsciously as if he was already imagining himself painting something. The colours of the sky reflect off of Niall's features for a few more moments, and Liam thinks this would probably be the most beautiful view he's ever witnessed.
He imagines doing this well after they stop keeping their relationship a secret and Niall divorces Ellie, domesticating and settling down like a couple of Joneses. They could find a house with an even better view- maybe a porch or a deck of some kind... They should make sure to get a big yard so they can get a dog or two. Liam's willing to bet they could even find one with a room nice enough to inspire Niall, and they could convert that into his new art studio. Liam could build some shelves and put them up in an office area for his own personal library...
"What are you staring at?" Niall inquires, knocking Liam out of his daydream. Liam comes back to reality and notices the sun's already set, and the sky had faded into a deep purple, not quite black yet.
Liam blinks a little, runs his thumb over his bottom lip. "I'm just thinking about some things," he answers.
"Good things?" A small smile pulls at the corners of Liam's lips, and he nods. Niall tilts his head, yieling. "Figured."
Liam gives a little laugh from behind the fingers he has pressed to his lips. "What's that supposed to mean?" Niall shrugs a little and finishes his glass. He relaxes with his head on his shoulder and Liam lifts up to refill the glass before settling back. "We should get a house."
"'s that what you were thinkin' about?" Niall prompts softly, eyes glossing over Liam. Liam nods, and Niall's lips turn up into an easy smile. "That'd be nice."
"Yeah?" Niall nods and drinks from his cup with a grin and Liam smiles. "Alright, duly noted." They take some more time to sit outside before Liam stretches his back. "We should go ahead and clean up."
The men gather the dishes, blow out the candles, and head back into the apartment to start cleaning up the mess. Liam starts washing the dishes and Niall immediately goes to the refrigerator and looks inside. Niall rummages through its mostly-emptiness and makes a displeased noise.
"Are you seriously still hungry?"
Niall looks up at him with a look that displays only mild shame. "Would you totally hate me if I said yes?" Liam shakes his head and Niall laughs. "I'm sorry! Dinner was obviously great, but-"
"I put the menu for Shu's in the drawer by the silverware," Liam interrupts simply, looking down at the dishes he's washing.
Niall makes a noise somewhere between pained and happy. "I knew you were hiding it!" Niall fishes the menu out of the drawer and gives Liam's cheek a kiss. "You want anything?" Liam declines, and Niall kisses his shoulder briefly before leaving the room to order his food. If he's honest, he doesn't order anything tonight because he knows Niall will get plenty, and he could always steal an egg roll or something if he changes his mind later.
Liam hums to himself when a timeless Sam Cooke song pours from the speakers of the radio, and sways his hips. "Darling, you send me. I know you send me." Liam reaches to his cup on the counter and takes a sip of his wine as he rinses off a dish in the sink. "Darling, you send me. Honest you do. Honest you do. Honest you do, whoa."
Niall comes back into the room and makes some strange noise Liam couldn't identify if he even wanted to. "Li, I know you're not cleaning when this song is on." Liam looks at him in confusion, and Niall just presses his body up against his back to sway in time with the music, and runs his hands down Liam's arms and locks fingers with his hands even though they're wet and covered with soap. "You thrill me. I know you, you, you thrill me," Niall sings along in his ear quietly, holding Liam's hands and swaying along easily.
"Oh you think you know somethin' about Sam Cooke now?" Liam teases with a smile, letting his head fall back onto Niall's shoulders.
Niall shushes him and wraps his arms over Liam's chest, Liam's hands still in his. Niall presses the side of his face to Liam's and nuzzles his cheek. "Darling you, you, you, you thrill me. Honest you do," he sings before pulling Liam away from the sink and spinning him to face Niall and moving one hand to Liam's waist.
"You're not a good singer," Liam notes with a cheesy grin that he takes no shame in.
Niall shrugs and watches Liam with an easy smile. "You don't mind." Liam says nothing because it's true, just lets Niall rock their bodies to the music. "At first I thought it was infatuation," Niall sings and makes a gooey face, full of drunken sappiness. "But it's lasted so long. Now I find myself wanting to-" Niall pulls him in tighter and pauses with the music. "-Marry you, and take you home," he adds with a shake of his head and a giant smile.
Liam used to hate people trying to lead him but he just lets Niall gently guide him around their kitchen and sing to him in that Irish accent slurred with alcohol and adoration. Eventually, Niall stops singing, though, just keeps his soft eyes on Liam as they dance. "Do you love me?" Niall asks as if he doesn't know the answer.
Liam sighs and combs his fingers through the hair at nape of Niall's neck. "My first instinct is to reply 'Am I breathing?' But that would imply that death could stop me from loving you."
Niall's lips spread into a grin, and Liam decides that he gave a good answer. "So what was the topic for today's lesson professor?" Niall asks.
"Love"
"What does love mean to you?" Niall asks, head tilted.
The song on the radio changes, but they continue dancing the same way. Liam sighs, watches Niall carefully like he could find the words written on his skin if he looked close enough. "Love means everything to me," he speaks evenly. "It never was- before. Y'know... I used to think I knew what love was, I thought it was a feeling I would get. But... It took falling in love for me to realize I was a fucking idiot."
Niall's bottom lip tightens as he listens without interruption, watching the words form on Liam's lips. He holds him closer, rocks them to the slower pace of Etta James's voice bleeding from the speakers.
"Now, I don't even remember what it was like to exist without it. I don't remember how I felt when I woke up, or how I went to sleep. I don't remember the feeling I got when I watched a sunset like tonight. All I know is that it's changed; love has changed me. I... I wake up, and my first emotion, my first thought of the day is about you, and when I go to sleep, the thought that puts me to sleep is about you. Every sunrise, every sunset in my life is for you," Liam explains slowly, still trying to find the words himself. He swallows, licks his lips, and continues. "I would compare it to you planting a seed and having that seed grow inside me, but I feel like that doesn't really do the notion justice."
While he pauses, Niall adds, "Plus, it sounds dirty."
A laugh bubbles up from his chest, and he nods. "You're not wrong." Liam resumes twisting his fingers through the ends of Niall's hair. "Alright, let's see... For me, I feel love in the form of passion, in heat, and raw intensity." He bites his lip and tries not to focus on the way Niall mirrors the movement. "I feel it in the form of dedication, in never growing tired of spending your days and nights with one person. A lot of students touched on the feeling of longing, of yearning for their person, but I'm never really without you. You aren't here," he says as he places his hand flat on Niall's chest. "-Anymore. I keep you with me at all times. If it makes sense, when you aren't in my arms... My heart weighs heavier with the added weight of yours. And when I'm touching you, we share the weight, and it takes the heaviness from my chest. But I don't miss you. I don't have to."
"And the..." Niall swallows thickly, leaning his face closer to Liam's until their noses are brushing. "The feeling of being complete..."
"Yes," Liam breathes against Niall's lips. "Before this, I didn't know that- I didn't know I wasn't whole. It took..." Liam swallows again, finding his chest growing hotter as Niall's lips ghost across his. "It took having this for me to realize I wasn't complete before, and now that I..." Liam shudders as a chill runs over him. "I'm with you, there's no way I could ever exist without. I know in my heart that we're-"
"Soulmates," Niall finishes with him milliseconds before surging his lips forward and grabbing the sides of Liam's face as he claims Liam's lips. A noise rises up from Liam's chest at the force of it, and he fists his hands in the front of Niall's shirt. Niall kisses him with a hungry mouth, thoroughly enough to get his head spinning, running his hands down Liam's arms and grabbing whatever he can get his hands on.
Niall grabs him by the waist and pushes him up against the nearest wall hard enough to smack the back of his head, and Liam's mouth hangs open with a grunt. Niall chases the noise with his lips, their kisses only parting long enough to suck in a gasp of breath when it feels like they might suffocate. With Niall rutting up against his front and his back being held up by an unforgiving wall, Liam has nowhere to go but into the depth of Niall's touch.
Niall's hands on his hips hoist Liam onto his lap- his toes only barely touching the ground- both legs on either side of Niall's and their groins rocking together with the rolling movement of their bodies. Liam's lips fall open as he tries to catch the breath that escapes him. He desperately holds onto the sides of the younger man's face, the shared air between them making the hairs on Liam's skin stand up. Niall tilts his head to kiss the sides of Liam's mouth and over his jaw. Niall's small hands keep Liam's hips rolling and pressed firmly to his own setting up a rhythm that- combined with the alcohol- makes Liam's head swim. Liam lets his eyes close and his head fall back against the wall.