Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Forty-Five

Niall

It was still early when Niall woke. At least he thought it was. Liam was still asleep next to him, with one arm thrown around Niall, holding Niall close. It was still dark outside, and there were no sounds coming from Chloe down the hall. Even Loki was quiet. What had woken him happened to be his phone. The sound was so faint, he'd almost slept through it, but years of waking at the slightest sound coming from Chloe's room had left him incapable of sleeping through even the quietest of noises.

He was awake none the less, and so he got up, slowly sitting and pulling away from Liam, watching him with a fond smile as Liam protested at the loss of Niall's body heat but didn't quite wake, easing the covers back over Liam and grabbing Liam's t-shirt from the floor and pulling it over his head, finding his phone on the nightstand as he headed out to the kitchen, quietly peering into what was really becoming Chloe's bedroom to see her and Loki still asleep before he continued down the hallway.

Waiting for the kettle to boil, Niall glanced down at his phone, expecting to see the missed call which had woken him to be from his boss or maybe even the police before he realised it was far too early for that, staring down at the battered old Nokia for a second before he remembered who 'H' was. Though why Liam's bandmate would be calling at such an ungodly hour made no sense to him at all.

To be honest, Harry hadn't really made any effort to contact him in the time since they'd met, though, in all fairness, Niall hadn't made that much of an effort either. So why Harry would be calling him now left him feeling more confused than he had been when Harry had first wanted to give Niall his number.

He thought about it a bit more as he made his mug of coffee, still avoiding using the incredibly posh coffee maker that sat proudly in the corner of Liam's kitchen, not daring to mess with it and break it somehow, making his coffee strong and black before sitting back on his stool, yawning as he called Harry back, not expecting him to answer straight away only for the call picked up almost immediately. "...Harry, Hi."

"Niall! My Irish sort of friend! I didn't wake you, did I? Lou says I must have but you answered. I did, didn't I? You sound tired. Liam said something...something — I can't remember, anyway — happened and he had to...to pick up Chloe today, no yesterday, now. It's Saturday now, right? Not Friday. Not anymore." Harry rambled on for a minute or two more, asking incoherent questions about how Liam was doing, and Chloe, giving Niall some more time to wake up and swallow a couple of mouthfuls of coffee before he did his best to answer. "It's fine, Harry. I'm only awake an hour or so earlier than I should be. Liam and Chloe are fine too. In the nicest way possible, why are you calling? At quarter to six in the morning? On a Saturday? Are you still out?"

"Lou and I are still out at this new club in Soho we found. We're going to breakfast with Gems at eight, through and through, y'know. I was...Lou and I were wondering what Chloe wanted for Christmas. We're...we are going shopping later with Gems and Lotts, and we wanted to know what we could get Chloe. Lou wants to get her a pony, but I think thats the Vodka talking." Harry disappeared for a moment, shouting at someone in the background and cheering before he returned. "The others agree, no to the pony. But the bar...bar tender thinks we should just ask you. So I am."

Niall stifled a laugh, taking another sip of his coffee and thinking for a second, thinking back to the list Chloe had presented him with at the start of December, before he said, "Anything Build-A-Bear works for Chloe. Disney, too. If it's Disney themed, she'll love it. You guys don't have to get her anything, you know."

"Don't be rid- ridicu- ridiculous, there, I said it, ridiculous, Niall. You guys...you're part of the group. Of course, we do. We want to, anyway." Harry grew serious for a second, the thump of the music in the background filling in the line before he cleared his throat and said, "Disney or Build-A-Bear. Got it."