[23]: Old friends

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[A/N: Friendly reminder that this story was edited and character names have changed! If you are lost you may want to go back a chapter to refresh :)

Kolya is now Kieran
Noah is now Niall
Krish is now Cris
Scorpio is now Sergio]

Kieran POV:

At 1:30 we finally decided to eat at a small cafe that was only five or so minutes from the gym Isaiah wanted to meet at. I looked around at the people coming in and leaving.

Niall smiled at me over his cup of iced coffee. I returned it, biting in my bagel sandwich thing. We ate and talked for a little bit before falling silent.

Niall suddenly sighed. "Hey Kier?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry for everything," he said. "We're taking up your house and your time and everything. I feel bad for doing that to you."

"Niall," I said, looking at him seriously. "I don't care. It doesn't matter that I'm spending time with you, Bailey or Sergio. Besides, it's not hockey season, so I'm glad I can be there for you as much as I can," I smiled. "I don't think it's a waste."

He frowned a little. "But how does Mr. Kent and Maria feel about us staying? We're taking up your family time a-and we're getting in the way of everything."

"Honestly, Niall, will you give it up?" I asked, exasperated. "Mom loves you and your siblings—she's never been happier. Clay likes you guys, and I don't care either. I'd rather gave you guys stay with us for a while, but if you really don't want to stay we can take you guys back to your house."

He was quiet for a second, and I could see his eyes growing glassy. "I-I don't—"

"Niall," I cut him off softly, taking his hand. "Don't decide right now. I want you to know that you're not wasting our time. We want to help you as much as we can." He chewed on his lip, and I had to stop myself from groaning out loud at his guilty face. "Stop with that face. It's cute, but not cute enough to make me agree with you."

He smiled suddenly, squeezing my hand over the table. "Thank you, Kieran. I needed to get that off my chest."

I gave him a small smile. "You're so weird."

He laughed lightly. "Well, being gay isn't conformity, and I am gay and people call non-conformity weird. So I guess that's technically correct."

I rolled my eyes at him as he leaned forward and stole a bite of my bagel. "Who said you could have some of my bagel?"

"I did," He grinned wickedly, drawing a laugh out of me. He seemed like he was doing a little better, enough to be acting like his weird self. I didn't mind, it made him all the more charming.

"Niall?!" Someone cried, appearing in front of us almost out of nowhere and bouncing excitedly. "Oh my god it is Niall!"

He jumped, nearly spitting out my bagel and nearly dropping his coffee. I grabbed napkins, handing them to him. He covered his mouth with them and attempted to swallow.

He turned around, glaring at the person. His eyes opened wide. "M-Mika!?"

"Yeah, who else?" She said, smiling and giving him a thumbs up. Her British accent was the first thing I noticed as she clung to his arm. "I didn't know you lived here!"

"What are you doing here!?" Niall asked, completely shocked, staring at the girl with shoulder length black hair.

"I'm here for a trip!" She said excitedly.

Niall stared at her, bewildered. He blinked. I thought he was going to cry, but he just hugged her. "I-I haven't seen you in so long! I missed you!"

"Hah! I heard you earlier," she scowled, mimicking Niall's voice. "'I'm gay and people call non-conformity weird so I guess that's technically correct' and I knew it was you as soon as I heard it," She laughed a little, patting his head.

Niall blinked at me wide-eyed. He mouthed 'I can't believe this!' and looked between us. I smiled at his absolutely bewildered expression. It was adorable.

The girl looked at me, as if noticing me for the first time and smiled. "Hi! I'm Elizabeth! I'm Niall's old friend from middle school, but you can call me Mika."

"Hey," I said. I'd only seen Niall this happy a few times, it made me happy that her timing was impeccable for him. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kieran, his boyfriend. He's told me a lot about you."

"Ooh, boyfriend huh?" she asked, grinning and nudging Niall's arm.

Niall smiled brightly. "Yeah, he's my boyfriend," he said happily. My heart jumped at the sincerity and the joy in his voice when he said it.

Mika smiled and looked at Niall happily. "Hey, how's your mom?"

Instantly the mood dropped and Niall frowned deeply. Mika realized something was off and gestured apologetically. Yikes, I guess she'd seen this before.

Her smile fell. "Oh...oh I'm so sorry I-I didn't know..."

I squeezed his hand, looking at him supportively. Despite everything, he was doing amazing and I was so proud of him. For leaving the house, for eating, for smiling. He smiled at me, sadly, but he seemed to get my sentiment. He shook it off, though it was more like masking it.

He shook his head. "It's...alright. It's recent, yknow?" He said, smiling at Mika as she nodded knowingly and putting a hand on his arm comfortingly. "How's Natalie?"

"Natalie's still in the UK," she said, shrugging. "She's in another school, but we still talk and hang out."

"That's good, I'm glad you guys are still talking," Niall nodded, looking at the time. "Shit, Kier, we've got to go."

I looked at the time. 2:05, oops.

Mika grinned, hugging Niall tightly. "I miss you. Let's catch up some more soon, yeah?"

Just before we left, he stopped. Almost as if mind reading, they shared phone numbers without even asking for them. It was something I never thought I'd witness, I guess I was underestimating how close they actually were, and it made me smile. I really couldn't thank Mika enough for showing up when she did.

"Thank you, have fun on the rest of your trip, Mika," he smiled wide.

"Thank you, I will!" She replied, giving him one last hug. "Bye, Kieran, it was nice to meet you!" and returned to her friend, who immediately asked her some questions.

"Look who's showing up late?" Cris said, putting his hands on Niall's shoulders and shaking him. "Where the heck were you!? I thought you decided to ditch us!"

Niall grabbed his wrists and stopped him from shaking him. "We ran into Mika. Calm down," he said, removing Cris' hands.

"You saw her again?" Cris asked with a huge smile. "Like, Mika from the UK?"

Niall and I both furrowed our eyebrows. "Uh, yeah, who else would it be? I have no other friends, ya ding dong."

Cris huffed at him, then grabbed his wrist. "Come on, Zay's in here."

I looked at Niall to see if he had any idea what that was about. He just shrugged and followed Cris.

It'd been so long since Zay had wanted to meet up here. When he did, it was never a good reason.

Zay used to be on the volleyball team. He loved it, and his father did too, he'd go to every one of his games with me and his mom. Then, Isaiah's father snapped and started drinking, since then Isaiah's never played volleyball again.

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