Work Text:
"They don't know you
Not like I do...
I'll follow you like
Toy soldiers"
Toy Soldiers - Marianas Trench
Fucking bullshit is what it was. Niall stalked into first hour, blaring anger having burrowed under the epidermis into his wound of betrayal like a burn searing deeper into his flesh. The initial shock of the burn had worn off, that so hot it’s cold sensation long gone. He’d gone to bed with the taste of tears in his mouth and had woken up with an appetite to kill.
But he was still Niall Horan, abnormally gentle for his age, so he wouldn’t just go around starting fights. He would, however be ending them dare Louis Tomlinson speak a word to him. Niall didn’t want his words, his fucking bullshit. All that they were were stupid lies to string him along in some kind of sick game where it was most fun to screw over the only person who actually liked him.
Okay, Niall knew that wasn’t true. Everybody liked Louis. But he just wished for a second that they didn’t so he could feel what Niall felt. It wasn’t alone. Niall never felt alone with his family always supporting him and providing him with unconditional love. No, Niall did not feel lonely. He felt rejected and like a fool. Like an ass tied to a post, braying at the laughing humans. He wanted that for Louis. For him to know what it was like to try so hard and give so much to an ungrateful prick— to be pushed down and not even have a chance to get back up.
Niall sat down in his usual seat because that was his fucking seat and he wouldn’t be the one giving up anything else this time. He'd be just as petty as the rest of them. Show them how much of an ass he could be.
“Oi, you alright?” Zayn asked from his right side.
Niall wanted to reach out and slap him because he wanted to reach out and slap almost everyone right then, but he reminded himself that Zayn was okay. Zayn wasn’t off the hook for standing by idly while Louis talked shit about him, but he at least didn’t join in with Louis and his shit friends and his precious Harry.
“Yeh m’fine,” Niall mumbled, turning in his seat so he at least wouldn’t be angled at the bastard when he decided to show up to class.
Zayn backed off then because Zayn was smarter than Niall and could tell when his presence was unwanted.
“So I said listen here, if you wanna wake up tomorrow with your internal organs internal, you’d better not fuck with me.” A roar of laughter followed Louis as he collapsed in the seat to the left of Niall, looking like he fucking owned the world.
Seeing Louis with his little posse of shits caused Niall’s annoyance to spike so he laid his head down on his arms and closed his eyes, willing himself not to cause a scene. Niall kind of wished Louis would do something so he could have an excuse for punching the shit through him right there in the middle of the classroom.
“Aye, Nialler, rough night?” Louis teases. He’s probably leaning back right now with Harry rubbing his shoulders while poor Liam gets his notebook out to do Louis’ work for him. Niall didn’t even know why Louis had Liam of all people doing his work. He wasn’t exactly the best at school. That was Zayn. Zayn was the smartest, which was probably why he wasn't deluded into believing he owed anything to Louis.
Niall grimaced into his arms when everyone laughed again. Not because Louis wasn’t funny (which he wasn’t), but because there was once a time when Niall would be the first and the loudest to laugh at anything Louis did, and that filled him with shame. “Feelin a little sick,” Niall replied, cursing himself for being such a wussy and not bringing up the truth.
“All those years of eating everyone’s left overs coming back to bite you in the arse?” Harry simpered, looking pleased as a fucking peach when Louis smirked along with him.
Niall tensed up, ears probably red from the sheer amount of self-restraint it took not to break the leg off his chair and beat them with it. He could feel the condescension coming off of Louis in waves. Niall slowly lifted his head, hoping his face looked as done as he felt. “I've never been bitten in the arse, so I think you’re more capable of answering that question yourself, mate.”
Everyone froze in place, like a physical representation of the phrase 'oh shit'.
You see it was one thing to insult Louis Tomlinson, but there was hell to be paid if you went anywhere near Harry. Niall didn’t fuckin care. He didn’t have any friends to lose anyway.
Before Louis could shake the disbelief from his features, the teacher came in and started the lesson.
For once, Niall was glad she was a grouchy old cunt, so no one could try to talk to him.
[][][][]
“The bloody fuck was that about, Horan?!” Louis shouted, trailing Niall as the blonde boy tried to keep his temper.
“Nothin, alright? Just leave me alone.”
The second Niall felt Louis’ fingertips came in contact with his bicep, he swung his fist back straight into Louis’ balls without even looking. As Louis fell to his knees, Niall continued walking, only looking over his shoulder to side-eye the heap of boy in the floor nastily.
[][][][]
Niall didn’t sit with the group at lunch. He didn’t even go to lunch. He sat in the library, fuming mad. Zayn and Liam were cocks. Leigh-Anne and Harry were cunts. And Louis was the gapingest arsehole in the world. They could all fuck each other in peace now that Niall was gone.
[][][][]
When the last bell of the day rang, Niall bolted from his seat. He didn’t need to run into anyone on the way to his brother’s car which was parked around the block. But of course that didn’t happen. Louis cornered him the minute he stepped out of the building.
“What the fuck is your fucking shit, Niall?!” he yelled, shoving the younger boy into the grass and jumping on top of him. He wasn’t punching, but Niall wasn’t about letting this pixie dick pin him down.
“My fuckin shit?! What about your fuckin shit?! Alla that fuckin bullshit that comes outta your fuckin mouth.” Niall struggled to resist, but Louis had a bit of weight on him despite being shorter.
“OH fuck me! I’m the bad guy here! Sure! You punched me in the balls, you dick! The fuck did I do to you?”
Niall put on his highest voice, mocking Louis’ accent. “He’s so feckin stupid I sweh to god. I could tell him to eat shit out of a littah box and he would. He feckin follows me everywheh. Wish he’d shut the feck up and piss off to i-ah-land!”
Louis stilled for a moment in shock, then came back full on, forcing Niall’s wrists into the dirt. “What? Now you’re fucking stalking me too?!”
"No! I'm tryin to avoid you, you fuckin idiot! Been fuckin gone all fuckin day but you won't fuckin fuck off and let me fuck off!"
"I don't even know what you just said but the amount of times you used fuck pissed me off!"
"Aye, break it up! Get off of him!" Liam shouted in distress as he lifted Louis bodily off of Niall.
"What's going on here?" Jade gasped, helping Niall up from the grass.
"He fuckin jumped me. Psycho."
"He punched me in the balls!"
"Surprised you had any!"
"You little-"
Liam snagged Louis by the back of his shirt, rolling his eyes when Louis turned around and whacked him. As if the little shit could ever put a dent in Liam.
"Suppose you're both at fault," Jade offered helpfully.
"It's not my fault he's a fake shit dickhole," Niall seethed.
"You're the fake one! Always trying to kiss my arse so you can use me."
"I'm the only one who doesn't use you! I'm the only one who gave a flying fuck about you before you got a new, rich daddy."
Niall knew that would strike a chord before the words left his mouth; he just thought it would feel better to see the look on Louis' face when the realisation swept through him, wiping the look of indignation of his annoying little face, destroying the fantasy he'd been living in. As it turned out, Niall just felt like shit.
Louis snatched his backpack from Liam, spitting a strained 'fuck you' at Niall as he stomped by and then sped off in his douche-black Range Rover.
It took a moment for the rest of them to snap out of shock.
"But he was my ride..." Harry mumbled in confusion.
"Mine too," Liam replied, clapping Harry on the shoulder before he ran over to beg a ride off Zayn, seeing as he always kept an extra helmet for Perrie. But fuck Perrie; Liam had his new J's on.
[][][][]
After some intense begging and a little hermano-a-hermano bribing, Niall convinced Greg to drive him to Louis' house. Niall wasn't a heartless monster like some people. He needed to apologise so that he wouldn't hate himself forever and so Louis wouldn't bury his sorrows in cocaine because Niall knew how rich people were; he'd seen Gossip Girl.
Niall still felt the clench of envy in his chest as the functional-not-fashionable Toyota wheeled along the smooth,fresh pavement, past rows of spacious professionally groomed lawns and sidewalks so clean he could lick them. The houses weren't cramped together side-by-side same model after the next with weather-rotted telephone poles and discoloured street lamps like where he lived and Louis used to live. They were spread out, colourful gardens and sprinkler systems (for god knows what reason- it's England for christ sake) and fences between them. Each house was its own kind of beautiful like commissioned artwork tailored to its owner's desires. It even had that fancy strip of grass between the sidewalk and the road lined with small trees and fancy iron lamp posts with giant white orbs on top.
And it was just the neighbourhood leading into Louis'.
Niall hated it so much that his family couldn't afford to live there— could barely afford to live where they did. He wasn't ungrateful, but he knew this was where his mother deserved to be. What made those other people so special?
Niall had to brace himself as he told his brother the pin to the fucking gate that separated Louis' family from the filth of common peasants.
Now that he wasn't under the influence of Louis' bullshitting, Niall was able to feel so fucking disgusted by the opulence around every corner. Niall's seen children who handle money better than these indulgent fucks. The place reeked of wine and pseudo-celebrities, car wax and socialites.
"This one," Niall says tightly, pointing at a side road. Louis had waved it off (as if it were the seven-metre slab leading up to Niall's house), calling it a drive, and that it was– a five minute one up to the Georgian beast of architecture the Tomlinson/Deakin family called home.
"Bloody hell," Greg mumbled, squinting in disbelief at the sight in front of him. Niall would call it a waste of money because it was so large but with seven (soon to be nine) people living there, it was a waste of money because nobody needs a fucking reception room (whatever the fuck that is)— much less two.
As Niall was reaching for the handle, his brother stopped him with a hand in front of him. "Before you go, I need you to do something for me."
"Whaaaat?" Niall groaned. He'd already promised to do Greg's chores for a month. What else could he possibly want?
"Mention me to the prime minister."
"Fuck you."
Niall slammed the door on his brothers cackling. Fucking idiot.
Niall jogged past the three poshly shiny vehicles to the front door(s). He rang the doorbell, blushing embarrassedly when it set off a chain reaction of barking dogs and screaming children.
When the door finally swung open, Niall cowered under the murderous glare Louis' mother had intended for the asshat who set off Armageddon in her house. Her face became slightly less terrifying when she realised who it was. After four years of Niall and Louis living between each others houses, Niall had become more than just a former neighbour to her.
"Hi, Niall," she sighed amicably, letting the boy in. "I didn't know Louis was having anyone over. I would have locked up the animals." She motioned towards where the twins were rolling around with two tiny purse dogs. Niall wasn't sure if she was referring to the dogs or her children.
"It's fine," Niall mumbled awkwardly, not to his usual chatty standards.
She seemed to sense his impatience and sent him up the stairs with a warning that he might 'find Louis putting on eyeliner and writing poetry'.
Niall was jittering by the time he reached Louis' bedroom. His palms were sweating, and he felt like a shark about to regurgitate its stomach as he knocked on the door.
"I'm doing homework! Leave me alone!" Louis shouted, which anyone who knew him would know that was straight lie.
Niall knocked again.
The door swung open, Louis yelling the whole way to it. "For christ's sake! I am trying to— oh, it's you. Why are you here?"
Niall gave Louis a you-know-why look, barely concealing his flinch when Louis barked a hateful laugh in his face.
"Don't tell me you're here to apologise...?" The boy's eyebrow raised as he smirked knowingly. "Oh, you are!" he cooed, voice laced with sarcasm. "That's sweet, but my daddy told me not to talk to poor people."
"Because they might tell you the truth?" Niall responded, irritation evident.
Louis' friendly facade was dropped instantly, and, honestly, the scowl on his face would've defeated anyone who didn't know what he looked like with Spider-Man briefs on his head.
Louis glared both ways down the hallway, before snatching Niall into his room by the arm, which was a bad sign because the only reason Louis would let Niall into his room at that moment was if he couldn't risk someone else in the house hearing what he was about to say.
"What the fuck is your problem? What the fuck made you think that you were welcome in my house after what you did today? How dare you talk to me like that— I don't care where we are: school, home, fucking Jupiter. After all I've done for you, I deserve some fucking respect."
Niall had been trying so hard to be nice, but he couldn't stop himself from scoffing after Louis' little speech. "After all you've done for me? Is that right? Like excluding me from things so that I don't feel uncomfortable because I can't afford it, and talking shit about me behind my back so it comes from the friend of a friend of someone I trust, and making sure that everyone knows I'm your bitch so that they know not to mess with me unless you say they can. Are those the things you had in mind?"
Louis continued glaring at Niall with his jaw clenched so tightly his teeth had probably begun to crack. He didn't have a fucking thing to say for himself, which Niall guessed was better than him bullshitting another lie about how charitable he was.
"Look, I'm not here to make you feel like shite–"
"Could've fooled me."
Niall seethed a breath, yanking down on the drawstrings of his jacket in frustration. "See?? This is why it's so hard for people to genuinely like you! You act like such a bitch to them that your only redeeming quality is your money. Can you just revive your soul for two goddamn minutes? Just long enough to have a real conversation with you? That's what I came to do. That's why I'm here."
"Don't pretend like you know what it's like to be me. You think I don't know that everyone's just kissing my arse to taste the money I can shit out? I'm not stupid. I know what those gates in front of my neighbourhood are for. So only people like me can get in."
"Anyone with the passcode can get in the gates. Your mother lets me in the front door. No matter where you live."
"You think you're so special just because you used to know my family."
"And now you think you're too good to remember mine. Last time I checked, we were the ones you stayed with when your mom had a doubleshift to pay the bills and you didn't want to be alone. What was I after then? All the stuff you didn't have?"
"Don't talk about my mum."
"Fuckin hell," Niall sighed in exasperation as he slid down the door onto his bum. The padding of his sneakers was worn flat, making it painful to stand in them for long periods of time. Also Niall felt lightheaded from forcing back tears for the last two days. "Keep your fuckin money, keep your gates, keep your head in the dirt. I don't know what else to say to you. I just can't leave without knowing why my best mate in the entire world is doing this to me? What's wrong with me?"
Niall felt like such a pathetic idiot for being so emotional, but he would at least feel better if there was an actual reason Louis didn't think he was friend material.
"Are you..." Niall felt fingertips brush his knee tentatively before withdrawing. "Are you.. crying?"
"Nah," Niall sighed, pulling his hands off his face to reveal a concerned Louis kneeled in front of him. "I can stave off that for another fifteen minutes. Contrary to what I've sounded like, I'm not that much of a pussy yet."
"I'm a real cock, aren't I?" Louis asked ashamedly, staring at his hands as he picked his nails in his lap.
"Yeah... Well I'm not going to lie!" Niall quickly added the last bit after the look Louis shot him.
"I just... At first, I thought that I could get away with treating you like shite because you'd never realise and leave. Then, I was sure you were just pretending not to notice what a dick I was being to you just so you could keep using me. It just didn't make any sense that you would stick around for anything else."
"I'd stick around no matter what. Honestly, I'd follow you even if I was at the end of the line."
"While I appreciate your loyalty, that got a little chick flick for a second there."
"Oh piss off," Niall half-smiled while rolling his eyes.
"Well, I guess I should apologise for being a dick. I'm sorry I was such a terrible friend and just a bad person all around."
"Uh huh, go on."
Louis playfully smacked Niall on the side of the head as the younger boy cackled.
[][][][]
"What's he doing here?" Harry whispered in Louis' ear as they sat down opposite of where Niall and Zayn were measuring quiffs. Louis missed the way Harry's curls used to tickle against his ear, but Harry had taken up wearing turbans to go with his one earring and heeled boots.
"Being a decent human being. You used to be one too, y'know."
Louis didn't even try to stop Harry as he picked up and left in a huff. The boy would come around soon enough. And even if he didn't, Louis still had Niall.
Louis met Niall and Zayn's confused stares with a smirk.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, he'll be fine... once he stops sharing a head with Voldemort."