Iridium (One Direction, AU, Niam)

Chapter Eight - L...

Niall shoved his hands into the pockets of his borrowed, clean pants as he walked down the streets of downtown London. He was feeling a bit exposed due to this lack of a hoodie. He had disposed of his old clothing in a dumpster a few feet away from Liam's building, retrieving what little he owned beforehand. Which was a simple Eighty pounds.

Niall walked down the busy streets one London, feeling over exposed due to his lack of a hoodie. He was trying to decide if he wanted to risk going hungry to be able to buy himself the comfort and warmth and security of a hoodie, or if he wanted to have a few larger meals for once. 

Niall finally decided that a hoodie will last him a lot longer. And besides, his stomache was already fuller than it had been in years thanks to Liam. 

Liam... Niall's thoughts went towards the curly haired boy and his kind, alluring copper eyes. His kindness towards a obviously not normal stranger was completely remarkable. 

Niall shook his head. He had to get this boy out of his head. He had to think of something, anything else but Liam. Niall would have to try and completely forget the boy, no matter what it took.

Niall quickly turned down an alley that would lead him to the quieter shopping districts of London. He took all the alleys and a few rooftops, and before he knew it, he was walking down a not so busy street, hands stuffed in his pockets still and he glanced into every shop window that he passed.

He quickly found an empty shop, besides the one lone employee, that looked cheap enough and quickly made his way inside.

The bell above the door chimed softly when he pushed on the glass door. 

The employee looked up, a young lad, about his age. He just flashed Niall a smile and a small greeting of, "Welcome" and told Niall if he needed any help, not to hesitate to ask, before going back to the paper he was drawing on behind the counter.

Niall just shrugged and walked to the wall of jackets and hoodies. More than half of the sweaters were obnoxious and brightly coloured, or just plain white. None were just a pure black with a large hood. 

Niall searched for a bit longer, almost about to give up. He turned to leave the store, when the boy behind the counter stood and walked over to the racks beside Niall. He took one glance at Niall and then flipped through a few jackets, before pulling out one and holding it out towards Niall.

He raised his eyebrow at Niall in questioning if Niall liked it.

Niall reached out and took hold of the pure black fabric. It had kind of diamond shapes sewn into the entirety of the jacket, with large pockets. It was a snap-button up and the hood looked to be perfectly sized. The only thing that wasn't black were the white hood strings. He took it fully out of the employee's hands then and gave a small, satisfied smile towards the boy.

The boy looked appeased with himself and moved his fringe to the side of his face out of his eyes.

"Is that approval I see there?" He asked in a higher pitched voice, his blue eyes sparkling in amusement. 

Niall shyly nodded and mumbled a, "Thank you." to the blue eyed boy. "But how did you know exactly what I was looking for?" Niall questioned as the boy led him towards the front counter.

He just shrugged. "I guess I just have a slight knack for knowing what people are looking for I guess. Probably why i'm such an amazing employee." He gave a half smirk as he typed in the price. "That'll be twenty-four pounds please." 

Niall paused, he expected that jacket to be a heck of a lot more expensive. He almost questioned, not wanting to the one to rip off this kind boy. But, he remembered, he needed this money more than the well dressed boy in front of him did.