Earn Me (Niam)

Eleven Years Earlier

The toned seventh grader continues to grunt while doing push ups on his bedroom floor. The red-orange glow of the afternoon sunlight makes the sweat on his brows and forehead glisten. His muscles have already surpassed the point of subtle aches, but Liam Payne doesn't care. Because at this point, he is only trying to brush away that heavy feeling in his chest that has taken over ever since that dreadful conversation with his family.

About half an hour to an hour. That's how long I'll be out.

When his mother made that loud announcement to the rest of the family, the brunette could only grunt his acceptance. And he swears, he did not even let Karen's impromptu exit affect him in any way. Seriously. Dead serious. Did not even let it cross his mind for a second. Liam Payne is that good.

Then thirty minutes passed without the return of his mother. Which is fine, the twelve year-old thinks to himself. His mother usually never comes back when she says she does, he thinks to himself yet again. Besides, she gave everyone a time frame. Which means that within the next thirty minutes, she will be back. Furthermore, Karen Payne is allowed to have fun. She can be out wherever she wants whenever she wants with whoever she wants. Liam scolds himself and shakes his head. He knows that he is acting a little too paranoid for his liking, so he just needs to chill and calm down. What is it that Louis always tell him?

Liam, you need to calm the hell down and not get your panties in a twist.

Liam smiles, because yes he does need to calm down. He does not wear panties (because ew, gross), so there's not a possibility to get them in a twist. But anyway, he should not even be keeping tabs on his mother like that. He should be doing something - anything - more productive with his time. Which is why he looks around his room to find some sort of distraction. His eyes immediately land on a few loose leaves of white paper and a single sheet of pale pink paper sitting peacefully next to an open textbook. The twelve year-old hops off of his bed and strolls across the short distance to his desk and stares down at the papers. Never mind, he glares at the papers as if they have offended him. And to be completely truthful, they probably have.

Who in their right mind wants to do worksheets on geological processes and the way tectonic plates collide to create earthquakes and other tremors? Definitely not Liam. The twelve year-old pointedly ignores the sheet of pink paper with music notes and big black letters decorating it.

Hesitantly, the brunette boy sits down on his plush swivel chair and once again, darts his eyes around to find some sort of distraction. Except he does not find any. So like any other seventh grader who literally hates their science teacher, Liam Payne grumbles to himself, grabs the nearest pencil - which needs to be sharpened - and starts the Hell that is his science homework.

Regardless of his moaning and groaning, the worksheets are actually pretty easy. Thankfully, much to Liam's delight, all five pages have photocopies of the textbook readings attached to them. After realizing that piece of information after answering the first three questions, the twelve year-old happily slams his textbook closed and tosses it carelessly over his shoulder. And for the next fifteen minutes, Liam answers the questions quickly and (hopefully) accurately. He ignores the small pang in his chest when the tiny thought that there would be a certain someone with blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes who would correct his homework after they were done doing it together. Yes, Liam pushes that horrible feeling aside until he tells himself he can no longer feel it because he is on a roll.

He finally gets to the last page and he can almost scream with joy when he sees that there is only one question. Because it is a damn near miracle whenever their science teacher gives them a worksheet with only one question on it. It isn't until he reads the actual question on the paper that his happiness instantly vanishes and a familiar disappointment settles in.