Chapter Text
‘Keep your head down and go,’ Liam thought to himself as he looked around at all the stalls set up around the library. 'You can do it. Just straight through.’ He held his breath and charged past the people waving flyers at him and trying to gain his attention, almost stumbling through the library doors. He blew his breath out again. “Made it,” he whispered.
“Hi.”
Liam nearly jumped out of his skin, head whipping to the side to see a blonde guy around his age standing beside the vacant front desk. “Um… hi,” he mumbled.
“New here?” the boys asked. “Me too. I thought hanging around in the library would help me make some friends with brains.”
Shifting uncomfortably, Liam replied, “That’s nice.” He tried to leave, but the boy started talking again.
“I’m Niall, what’s your name?”
“Liam,” he answered quietly, shuffling further and further away from the desk.
“Pardon?”
Liam cleared his throat. “Liam,” he repeated, not much louder.
“Well, good to meet you, Liam,” Niall grinned.
Nodding once, Liam scurried away before Niall could start talking again. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Niall hadn’t followed him, then blew out a sigh of relief before settling himself in the corner of the library furthest from the door. He set up his laptop and pulled up Tumblr. “Right.”
“Morning, Liam.”
Liam flinched a little as he entered the library on his second day of Uni only to be greeted by the bright smile of the blonde from yesterday. “Morning,” he mumbled. 'Head down and go,’ his mind ordered. He did exactly as it said, heading straight for his corner and setting his laptop up again.
Although he had been hoping to be left to blog in peace, Liam was suddenly made uncomfortable by company in the form of a cheerful blonde not ten minutes after he had sat down. “How’ve you been?” Niall asked.
Angling his screen away from Niall, Liam mumbled, “Fine.”
“That’s good,” Niall smiled. “What’re you doing?” He tried to look at Liam’s laptop screen.
“Nothing.” Liam shut his laptop, avoiding Niall’s eyes.
“Oh. Well, I’ll just let you get back to your 'nothing’.” Niall hopped up and headed away. “See you, Liam,” he called cheerfully over his shoulder.
“I just want to use the free Wi-Fi,” Liam mumbled, lifting his screen again and resuming his blogging.
After his third day, Liam realised he could access the Uni’s Wi-Fi in the cafeteria, which led him to sitting in there any time he wasn’t in classes. For the first couple of days, he felt a little bad for not going back to the library, but that guilt evaporated when he told himself that the cute boy looking for people with brains can surely make proper friends with more socially capable people. He had managed four weeks of no interruptions of his mindless scrolling when suddenly he felt a presence beside him in his corner of the cafeteria.
“Hey, Liam.”
A blush filled Liam’s cheeks. “Hello, Niall.”
“Haven’t seen you for, like, a month,” Niall commented.
“Busy,” Liam shrugged, keeping his eyes down.
“Hey, you’ve got Tumblr?” Niall asked, surprised.
Slamming his laptop shut, Liam blushed deeper. “Busy,” he mumbled, standing to leave.
“Hey.” Niall grabbed Liam’s arm and stopped him from leaving. “C'mon, I don’t bite.”
Liam glanced from Niall’s face to his grip on his arm, then slowly sat down again.
“There, see?” Niall gave him a grin. “What do you blog?”
“Uh…” Liam swallowed hard. “Just… stuff.”
Giving Liam a look, Niall asked, “What sort of stuff?”
“Like… movies and stuff,” Liam shrugged, fingers twisting together nervously.
“Same.” Niall grabbed his laptop out of his bag, opening it up and typing his password in. “See?” He turned his laptop to show Liam his screen, displaying his Tumblr dashboard. The first picture was of Loki from The Avengers. “My favourite, he is,” Niall grinned.
“Mine too,” Liam blurted out. “From Marvel,” he clarified quickly. “Batman from DC. But if I had to choose, Batman’s better than Loki.”
Niall tilted his head from side to side. “Eh, I just like Loki 'cause Tom Hiddleston is the most adorable man alive,” he shrugged. “Like, I could listen to him talking all day long.”
“Yeah…” Liam glanced to Niall, blushing all over again when he saw the blonde smiling at him.
“Y'know, you’re cute,” Niall chuckled, scooting Liam’s laptop to face him more. “Your URL’s batman4lyfe? Damn, you just keep getting cuter.” Turning to his own laptop, Niall went about following Liam’s blog. “There, that’s me,” he pointed at the notification that popped up on Liam’s screen.
“Lokiskisses?” Liam blinked a few times.
“Yeah, I write the fan fictions you’re always liking.” Niall giggled at the shocked and embarrassed expression on Liam’s face. “I’ve got a few regulars who like my stuff. You’re one of them.”
And Liam suddenly found himself unintentionally making friends with that cute boy from the library.
One week later, Liam was sat in his dorm room scrolling through his Tumblr dashboard when he noticed the little red (1) next to his inbox. He clicked the link with the odd feeling he knew who this was from.
Lokiskisses: Hey, Liam :) Are you busy around 4pm tomorrow ??
Biting his lip, Liam typed back a quick response and sent it privately.
Batman4lyfe: Why?
Lokiskisses: Wondering if you wanted to go for coffee aha :)
Batman4lyfe: Where?
Lokiskisses: ¯\_( ツ)_/¯ wherever
Batman4lyfe: Why do you want to?
Lokiskisses: Coz I like you and wanna hang out
Batman4lyfe: Why do you like me?
Lokiskisses: Why not ?
Liam paused. That was a very good question.
Batman4lyfe: What time?
Lokiskisses: 4pm
Batman4lyfe: Want me to wear anything particular?
Lokiskisses: Is that a yes ??
Batman4lyfe: Long as I don’t have to dress up
Lokiskisses: :D you could wear a potato sack youd still look amazing :P
Blushing and deciding to leave the conversation there, Liam closed his laptop and turned off his lamp. He snuggled down in his bed, telling himself those butterflies in his tummy were nothing and that Niall’s confidence was the only reason he accepted his offer. But he couldn’t quite wipe the smile from his face.