“Niall, will you hurry it up already?” Liam said irritably as he stood outside the washroom in Niall’s small London flat.

“I’m goin’ as fast as I can,” was the blonde boy’s only reply as he opened the door. He went back to examining his hair in the mirror, making sure every strand was perfectly in place.

“Come on, Nialler,” Liam rolled his eyes. “It looks good. It always looks good,” he added.

Still, Niall continued to play around with his hair. “I’m tryin’ to make it look how it did in the One Thing video. Do you think it looks like that?” he asked, cocking his head slightly so Liam was able to see his reflection in the mirror.

“I don’t remember what it looked like in that video,” Liam lied. Of course he did.

“You’re a liar,” Niall said with a cheeky grin. “Just give me five more minutes.”

“We’ve got to get going,” Liam said with exasperation. “We’re on a really tight schedule.”

Niall still kept the cheeky grin plastered on his face. He knew Liam wasn’t really angry – he just liked to be on time. Almost to a fault. “Relax, Li,” he said with a smirk. “That’s why you stayed over here last night, isn’t it? So that you’d have more time to get ready and you wouldn’t be so rushed?”

“Oh yeah,” Liam said with a sarcastic shrug. “That was the only reason.”

“Right,” Niall replied, knowing that obviously wasn’t the case. It was the reason they continually gave everyone else, and the reason Liam always so guiltily gave to Danielle, but the only reason?

Far from it.

“There,” Niall said with a satisfied look on his face. He dropped his hands from the top of his head and admired himself in the mirror. “How does it look?”

Liam smiled softly as Niall turned to face him. “It looks good,” he repeated himself. “It always looks good,” he mumbled, as he leaned down to kiss his boyfriend, lover, friend-with-benefits… They hadn’t talked about what they were to each other. But in that moment, Liam didn’t really care.

Niall sighed into their kiss, wrapping his arms around Liam and bringing him in closer. He wasn’t sure how all of this had started, it just had. And now, they were in much too deep to stop. But in that moment, Niall didn’t really care.

Liam ran his hands over Niall’s clothed back. The two boys were both wearing the same shirts as they had an event they were going off to that day, and the material felt soft and new against their skin. Liam had always loved wearing new clothes for the first time, whereas Niall was one to wear his wardrobe to death. It was one of the many opposite qualities that made the two of them fit so nicely together.

Niall clutched Liam closer to him as they continued to kiss in the entrance of Niall’s washroom. It was starting to get a bit heated, and though they knew they had to get moving, neither one of them wanted to stop.

That is, until Liam moved his hands upward in an effort to run them through Niall’s perfectly styled hair.

“Mmph,” Niall breathed into their kiss, grabbing Liam’s wrist as he pulled away. “I just spent half an hour doing that.”

“It’s just hair, Nialler,” Liam said with a slight sigh.

“Easy for you to say,” Niall replied, shaking his head. “You can just wash it and let it go. My hair goes everywhere if I don’t do something with it.” He made motions with his hands around his head, as if to signify his out of control hair.

“Yeah, that’s because I keep it shorter,” Liam replied, unable to curb the smile playing on his lips. “If you cut your hair short, you could do that too.”

Niall studied Liam’s hair for a moment. “It’s a bit long now actually.”

“Well I haven’t had time to cut it, I’ve been so busy lately,” Liam replied suggestively, and Niall grinned sheepishly. “And speaking of time, I really need to start getting ready and decide what I’m going to do with my hair.”

“Hmmm.” Niall looked up at the older boy, studying his soft brown hair once more. He had to admit he was sort of jealous of it. His natural colour was very close to the same, but after years of dying it blonde he didn’t feel as though darker hair suited him anymore. “Sit over there,” he said, pointing to the edge of the bathtub.

“We have to go,” Liam began to protest, but Niall shook his head.

“Just sit,” Niall said, and Liam sighed, but obliged.

Niall walked over to the sink and scooped up some of the product that he’d used in his own hair onto his finger tips. He stepped back over to where Liam was sitting, watching him intently. Niall ran his hands through Liam’s hair. It was still damp from the shower he’d, well… they’d had earlier.

He worked his fingers, massaging Liam’s scalp lightly, doing his best to make sure the product was evenly applied. He lightly brushed Liam’s hair to one side, taking the ends between his fingertips and pulling lightly on them.

“You are way too good at this,” Liam said softly, his voice bordering on sensual.

“Yeah?” Niall laughed. He didn’t think he was doing anything special, to be honest. “Maybe I should’ve taken up a career as a hair stylist.”

“No,” Liam said softly. “I want your hands all to myself.”

Niall grinned, and stepped back slightly to admire his work. He had to admit – he’d done a pretty good job. Considering how long it had taken him to do his own hair.

Niall leaned over, placing his hands on Liam’s thighs. “You can have them,” he said quietly, slightly rubbing his nose against Liam’s “I’m all yours.”

Liam leaned upwards and kissed Niall softly. “We should get going,” he whispered.

“Yeah.”

The two of them reluctantly left the washroom. They grabbed their essentials for the day and walked towards Niall’s front door. The pair smiled at each other lovingly before exiting, knowing that once they were in public, it had to become a secret once again.

Niall reached his fingers upwards and lightly touched the side of his head, smoothing out a piece of his hair. “Does it look okay?” he asked one final time, giving Liam a look.

Liam laughed a little. “It looks good,” he said with a small smile. “It always looks good.”