Friday, March 21, 2014.
Liam's POV
"Daddy, I'm hungwy." Mikey complains, and sits on my lap.
"Mikey, you just ate an hour ago, you're going to spoil your appetite." I lay back on the couch, exhausted from work. I close my eyes, and suddenly open them when Mikey starts rocking her body back-and-forth on my crotch.
"I'm hungwy." The innocent child shouts at me. I grab the child from my crotch, and lay her beside me on the couch.
"You just ate." I scold, looking directly in her eyes.
"I want cookie." She pouts her lip, trying to make me give in. I laugh at my daughter, and mess up her hair with my hand. "Pwease!" She shouts.
"One cookie, and then you are going to take a nap." I say, irritating her.
"I'm thwee now, I don't take a nap anymoe." Mikey tries to speak.
"If you want a cookie so bad, then you're going to have to take a nap. We made a deal, Mikey."
"No, daddy." She complains, and starts kicking her tiny legs to show how mad she is.
"Ow, Mikey, stop." I hold back the child's legs, making her even more irritated with me. "We made a deal." I remind her.
"Well, I gonna bow up the house, and then I don't have to take a nap." She moves her arms to represent an explosion.
"Mikey, if you blow up the house, we won't have any cookies. They'd be burnt to ashes." I smile at the visibly angry child. "I'll take a nap with you, I was at work all night, and I'm very tired." I close my one eye, and cover my yawn up with my hand.
"I not tired." She sits up, sitting partially on my chest.
"Well, I want you to go to sleep, I have to work all night again."
"I be back." She says before climbing over my body to get off of the couch. I close my eyes, and try to take a nap. After a few minutes, someone knocks on the door. I open my eyes to see Mikey running for the door. "I got it, daddy. Go back to sweep." She shouts with her squeaky voice as she tries to reach the doorknob. I get up from the couch, and walk over to the door.
"Mikey, I got it." I watch as she continues to struggle.
"No, daddy." She jumps, and grabs a hold of the doorknob. "I got it."
"You are short, just like your mother." I comment on her height. She opens the door, and reveals a beat-up man.
"Liam-" Niall starts before I interrupt him, going in full-panic mode.
"What happened - are you okay - is Harry okay?" I ask as I help him in the apartment.
"Harry's fine, he doesn't even know this happened." He limps to the kitchen area. I take the door from Mikey's grip, and push it shut.
"Harry's okay?" I ask, feeling instant relief.
"Mhm." Niall groans. I help him walk over to the counter, where I lift him up to set him on top of it. "Ow."
"Who did this to you?" I ask, backing away from the counter to take in Niall's distorted appearance.
"Kyle," He manages to say. "He wanted to know what happened to Harry." He sniffles the dripping blood from his nose.
My eyes widen, "You didn't tell him, did you?" I grab some paper towels from beside the sink, and hand them to him.
"No, he tried to get it out of me, though. I kept my mouth shut." He tries to smile, but stops when his feels the sharp, broken tooth rub against his tongue. He stuffs the paper in his nose to stop the dripping.
"Does your mum know you aren't in school?" I ask, crossing my arms. He shakes his head, and continues to go over the broken tooth with his tongue. "She's going to be up my ass." I say under my breath.
"I hate him." Niall starts to cry.
"Why does he care?" I ask, and walk in front of Niall. I roll up his sleeves until Niall interrupts me by painfully taking off his shirt.
"He wants to use it against Harry and I, he really hates us." He wipes away his few tears as I reach over to the sink to wet some paper towels.
"He's an arse." I mutter, and Niall chuckles at my comment. I rub the wet paper on Niall's bleeding cuts. He grasps the edge of the counter to relieve himself from some of the pain.
"Ow, Liam." He groans, and holds onto my arm trying to stop me from going on.
"What the fuck, did he bring a fucking knife to school?" I question why the cuts are so deep. I push through Niall's grip, and continue.
"No," He mumbles in pain. "I did that." Niall admits. I let go of his bleeding arm, and stare at Niall.
"Did Kyle do any of this to you?" I ask starting to doubt Niall.
"Yeah, he punched me, and kicked me in the stomach." He bites his lip with his broken tooth, causing his lip to bleed. I continue to wipe his arm, watching as the bleeding starts to slow down.
"Why, Niall?" I ask, refusing to look at him in the eyes.
"I-It's been rough..." He mumbles. I nod my head, and look up at him.
"Yeah...Very." I look back down at his arm, and roll my eyes at him. I stop wiping his arm, and throw away the collection of pink, wet paper.
"Thanks, Liam." Niall whistles, and covers his mouth after hearing the horrid noise.
"Don't thank me, you are just lucky I wasn't at work right now." I watch as Niall pulls out the dark red paper from his nose, and throws it in the trash can beside the counter. "I'm going to take a nap, I haven't slept yet and I have to work tonight." I say before yawning.
"Can I stay here until school lets out? My mum can't know I left, and I'll just tell her I walked home from school." Niall jumps off the counter, instantly regretting his decision. His face scrunches up, showing visible pain.
I go through my messy hair with my hand, and say, "Sure, if you don't mind me taking a nap."
"I'm tired too, I didn't sleep well last night." He limps to my bedroom without asking me if he can sleep in there. I walk into Mikey's room to find my child playing with her dolls. I smile at her, until she looks up at me with tears in her eyes.
"Daddy, is mummy weaving forever?" The child asks.
Shit.
"Mikey, your mummy will be back." I kneel on the ground, and whisper to the child.
"I miss my mummy." She cries.
"Awe, she misses her mummy." Niall says from behind me, scaring me.
"Niall, shit you scared me." I place a hand on my heart, feeling the beating against my hand. I turn to see Niall wearing one of my shirts.
"You'll meet her one day, Mikey. I bet she misses you just as much." Niall says, making the problem worse. I turn back around to comfort Mikey.
"Niall-"
"But then again, she did move out of the state after Mikey was born." Niall interrupts me, causing Mikey to cry even harder.
"Niall, go to sleep." I scold him, looking back to make sure he left.
"Daddy-"
"I know, Mikey. Please, calm down." I wrap my arms around my child, and peck her cheek. "I love you, Mikey."
Niall's POV
I gently lay myself on the giant bed. I carefully get under the blankets, and try to get comfortable. I close my eyes, and feel the cuts on my arms. I gasp as I accidentally scratch the one with my fingernail. I try to ignore the pain, and try to sleep. I open my eyes to see Liam yawning in the doorway.
"You're sleeping on my side." Liam complains, and pushes back his hair.
"Oh, isn't the whole bed your side?" I ask, and sit up from the bed.
"No, that side is Harry's, this one is mine." He points at the bed.
"You share a bed with Harry?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, is that weird?" He questions me, and lays down on my right.
"A little, I never slept with my parents. I think it would be creepy if I shared a bed with my guardian...You know, if I had one." I lay back down on the bed. "I thought you wanted to sleep on this side."
"I don't really care, I'm just tired." Liam gets under the blankets, and closes his eyes.
"Why are you sleeping with me?"
"If it makes you uncomfortable, you can sleep on the couch. This is my bed, and I am going to sleep." He grumbles.
"What about Mikey, is she okay?" I continue to bug him.
"She's taking a nap, and I will never get to if you don't leave me alone."
"Sorry." I apologize, and look over at the stand next to Liam's side. I find his phone, keys, and an unused condom. "Why do you have a condom?" I reach for it, and hold it in my hand.
"Just incase." He says quietly.
"How many girls have you brought home?" I throw the condom back on the stand.
"I brought one home from the hospital, I call her Mikey." He teases, probably really annoyed with me.
"How many men have you brought home?" I ask, realizing the mistake I made.
"One, two soon." I turn on my right side to find Liam smiling to himself.
Is he talking about me?
"You're like me?" I ask, getting really excited for some reason.
"No, I'm Liam and I'm tired. You won't leave me alone, and I have to pick up Harry from school in an hour." He opens his eyes just to close them again.
"Sorry." I apologize, and watch the older man sleep. "I didn't know you liked men." I whisper to him.
He opens his eyes, and says, "Goodnight, Niall." Liam closes his eyes again before I turn on my other side. I close my eyes, and slowly start to fall asleep.
Just a small nap won't hurt, right?
~
"Harry is mine, not yours, Niall."
"No, dad-"
"You will never see him again, and you don't even care."
"I love him, I will never let you hurt him."
"You don't even care...What kind of friend are you?"
"I...Love him..."
"You are lying to yourself, you don't care. You let me do this, Niall."
"No, dad-"
"Say your final goodbye."
"Bye, Niall."
"No, Harry-"
I jump out of my sleep with wide eyes. I look around at the completely black room, and try to sit up. Something forces me back down. I try to sit up again, and finally break through whatever was just holding me down. I reach for Liam's cellphone on his stand, and check the time.
9:47 PM
I've been sleeping for seven hours.
I place the phone back down on the stand, and use my hand to figure out what was pulling me down. I start patting around when I suddenly feel movement.
"Niall?" Harry croaks from beside me. Harry sits up, and turns a lamp on. Harry smiles at me, and rubs his eyes. "Why are you so surprised to see me?"
"I-I...You-"
Harry chuckles at me, and says, "Liam told me what happened with you and Kyle...Thank you but-"
"No, no, it's fine. I would do it any day for you." I interrupt him with a smile on my face.
"Thank you, but I don't want you to keep doing that for me, even if it means that I'd be in your place..." He trails off giving me the opportunity to speak.
"Harry, I would never let anyone hurt you for your own privacy. He is just being an asshole, I really don't mind."
"I just don't want you to get hurt...I can't let this happen again." Harry frowns. "I can't let it happen, Ni."
"What are you going to do?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at him. I run my fingers through my hair, making it look worse than it already did.
"Just trust me, the bitch ain't gettin' away with it." He laughs at his remark, and I roll my eyes jokingly at him. "We can figure it out tomorrow, I'm really tired." Harry yawns, and lays back down on his pillow.
"I need to go, my mum is going to kill me, and I'm already on her death list." I yawn, and lay back down on the pillow. "Maybe tomorrow."
"We don't have school tomorrow, you could just tell her you were at a sleepover she forgot about." Harry reaches for the light, and turns it off. I turn my body to face him. I scoot my body closer to his, and wrap my arms around him.
"I fucking love you, motherfucker." I whisper in his ear causing him to laugh at me.
"I love you, Niall."