One thing that surprised me was how Niall was comfortable with being physically close to me. This surprised me because one, I'm a murder, and two, we were basically strangers.
But, these things didn't faze Niall at all. No, the pretty boy was completely fine with me keeping my arms around him as we rode the horse for hours on end.
When we stopped to make camp, it was nighttime and we were halfway to Falkreath. Niall quietly sat on a log, observing me as I set up a tent and started a campfire. He didn't seem to mind much when I sat down next to him, either; we sat there for a while before I laid down and patted the ground next to me. The boy accepted my invitation and laid down beside me. Staring at the stars, I thought about Niall and how I was ever going to convince my family not to hate Niall.
Niall's mind seemed to be in a different place, because he looked at me and said, "So tell me about yourself."
"Well," I propped up my head on my hand and looked at him. He was absolutely beautiful, still lying on his back and looking up at me expectantly. "My name is Liam. I'm a murder."
"Yeah, I kind of figured," Niall retorted. "I mean actually tell me things about yourself. Like what you enjoy doing."
"I enjoy plunging my lovely enchanted daedric dagger into people's backs while they're asleep."
Niall scooted away slowly in response.
"I'm just kidding. It's okay, I guess. Um, I'm one-fourth Redguard and the rest is all Nord," I told him. "I really love alchemy and daggers."
"Oh," Niall nodded his head and scooched back to me, but closer than where he was before, I noticed. "You got a girl back at your home?"
"A... A girl?" I laughed, not able to help it. "Honey, I'm gay. I'm surprised you couldn't tell when I informed you that you're adorable."
His cheeks flushed. "I'm nineteen, you know."
"Oh, I know," I told him. "The Dark Brotherhood knows a lot about you. For instance, you're one-hundred percent Imperial, your favorite food is beef soup, you're gay, and you moved to Skyrim in fear of another Oblivion Crisis."
"That's... slightly creepy," he laughed lightly, and I decided I wanted to make him laugh more often. "But yeah. It's all true."
He pursed his lips and paused for a second. "How are we going to convince your... family... not to kill me?"
"Well," I smiled slightly. "I was thinking we could say you're my boyfriend."
"What?" Niall jumped, surprised. "M- Me? With you?"
"Of course, babe," I smiled again, liking the reaction I got. "What do you say?"
Sighing, he nodded his head. "Yeah."
Everything about him was tempting me at that moment; his pink lips especially, but I knew I shouldn't kiss him because we'd just me and all of this was extremely crazy. I mean, who actually just goes with some guy that was about to kill them to some place with a bunch of crazy people? Except Niall, of course.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," he told me. "I can't believe I'm pretending to be a murderer's boyfriend so his family doesn't kill me."
"Neither can I," I replied, still tempted by his lips. For a while we just sat in silence, before Niall spoke up.
"I'm bored. Tell me a secret."
"A secret?" I trailed off. "I kissed a girl once."
His eyes widened. "Ew. How was it?"
"Exactly what you said. 'Ew'," I informed him, earning an adorable little giggle. "Your turn."
"Uh.. I read a lot," he said, like it was some big secret.
"You were supposed to say something that wasn't obvious, you twat," I chuckled. "You're still adorable, though."
"Why do you keep saying that?" Niall shivered.
"Because it's true," I reasoned.
"No, I mean..." he blushed as he trailed off. "Are you trying to make me want you?"
"Not trying, exactly. Just wanting to let you know you're adorable," I explained. "But if it makes you want me, wonderful."
He reached a hand up and started to trace patterns on my chest, but it shocked me. Literally.
"Fuck. I hate when that happens," he cursed.
"Ow," I whined. "How the hell did you do that?"
"Don't know," he shrugged. "It happens from time to time. I've got this constant energy in me and I guess sometimes it needs a way out."
"Hmm," I responded, zoning out a bit as he continued to trace patterns on my chest. Most people with energy like that tended to have an extreme talent, and it was usually in magic. Suffice it to say, I didn't really think Niall held much interest in magic though, so I just shrugged it off and enjoyed the little trails of sparks he was making on my chest.
"This is so weird," he realized. "Nobody just gets up and leaves with a stranger. You must be special."
"Or you must have been paranoid that someone else from the Dark Brotherhood would come along and kill you," I suggested.
"It's something I should've considered. Let's just pretend I did," he said.
And, even though it was so highly absurd that I was becoming attached to this boy, I was, and I fell asleep to the sound of Niall's faint breathing.
~~~
"Hey. Liam. Do you have any food on that bloody horse of yours?"
"Ugh," I groaned, and covered my eyes with my hands, because it was morning and morning was bright. "Yeah, in the bag that's tied around his neck."
Niall proceeded to go over to Shadowmere and search the bag that was tied loosely around his neck, finding some bread and cheese. "Do you live off of this crap?"
"For the most part," I sat up and observed our surroundings. We were just behind a few trees, in a clearing, where our campfire from last night was barely still burning. My tent sat untouched and Shadowmere casually lounged around, eating some leaves and grass. You'd think a horse like him would eat innocent bunnies' souls, but most of the time, he settled for grass.
It had been incredibly stupid of me to just fall asleep there with Niall, because a bandit -or anyone, for that matter- could've come and stabbed us before we even knew what was going on. "We didn't even use the tent," I realized.
"Nope," said Niall, handing me a piece of bread with some cheese.
"Thanks, boyfriend," I snickered, watching his cheeks turn red. "You look lovely in the light."
"You know, we're not actually boyfriends," he pointed out, raising his eyebrows as he sat next to me.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He let out an exasperated sigh and rolled his eyes before taking a bite of his cheese and bread. "How much longer until we arrive at your home?"
"About a day and a half," I informed him.
That must have seemed like a long time to him, because he sighed again and continued eating his cheese and bread without saying another word.
~~~
Later that day, when it was dark again, we were sitting in front of another campfire, and I could tell I'd irritated Niall earlier by calling him boyfriend.
"Niall, you know I was kidding, right?" I told him. He'd been awfully quiet all day and I was beginning to worry that I'd really offended him, but I didn't see how he could take offense from that.
"What?" he looked up at me like I'd broken him from a trance. "About what?"
"When I called you my boyfriend..?" I replied, puzzled.
"Oh," was all he said.
"Something bothering you?" I asked after a while of lying there and observing the stars next to him.
"I'm trying to figure out why I'm so damn attracted to you," he bit his lip and closed his eyes. "This isn't supposed to happen."
"And what makes you think that?" I rolled on to my side and propped my head up with my hand like I had last night.
"You're a murderer," he glanced at my lips. "I'm not supposed to like you.'
"Murderers have feelings too, you know," I smiled a small smile because it felt weird to have this discussion with a boy I was supposed to kill.
"Murderers aren't supposed to fall in love," Niall decided, but looked at my lips again.
"I guess I'm breaking all the rules, then," I mumbled before pressing my lips to his on and impulse; I immediately pulled away when I realized what I'd done, and witnessed Niall's reaction.
The boy was frozen again, with his eyes shut this time, letting out shaky breaths. When he opened his eyes again, they looked bluer than usual, or at least, I thought so. "I'm not even sure what to say right now, so..." he reached up and grabbed the collar of my armor, shocking me like he did yesterday, except this time I didn't mind, because he lowered my mouth to his and let me press my lips on his own.
I started moving my lips, and we kissed like that for a minute or so until I pulled away. The absurdity of it all was astonishing. "I would ask you to be my boyfriend for real, but I'll give you some time," I whispered, laying down on my back once again.
"You are so weird," he breathed, but not saying anything in response to my comment about him being my boyfriend. Both of us fell asleep looking up at the stars.
~~~
And the next day, we were in front of the door with the skull on it. Bloody handprints were on it too and I could see it clearly creeped out Niall because he hid behind me when it started talking in its voice.
If you've ever experienced getting locked in a freezer for half a day, then you'd know how I felt every time that door talked. It asked "What is the music of life?" and every time I replied by saying, "Silence, my brother." It had felt weird the first few times doing it, but I kind of got used to it after a while.
When I walked in with Niall trailing behind me, it was eerily silent.
"Astrid?" I called out. "Nazeem? Babette?"
"Who the fuck is that?" asked a cold voice from behind me.
~~~
merp merp merp. All of that was filler, again. It'll get more interesting from here though so I'm guessing most of the filler stuff is over.
I love you bbys, and thanks for reading.
~Karlo