Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Fifty-Five

Niall

He'd forgotten what Liam was like when he was working.

Well, actually, he'd never seen Liam quite like he was when he was working. He'd forgotten the way Liam would seemingly come alive, like he used to when they were kids, but he'd never seen Liam as he was now, buzzing with energy, constantly busy, answering phone calls with a smirk awake stupidly early doing radio interviews and leafing through notebooks filled with song lyrics Niall hadn't even known he'd had. He was constantly grinning, positively bouncing with energy, spending most of the days before the rapidly approaching tour deadline in rehearsals, meetings with vocal coaches and stylists and was almost always in communication with the boys.

It gave Niall conflicted feelings, watching Liam.

There were moments when he became almost...enchanted with this version of Liam, especially when he happened to surprise Niall while he was working, visiting the shop to bring Niall coffee, maybe acting under his management's orders but still being there for Niall, yet at other moments, Niall wished this version of Liam would disappear.

The way was Liam was when he was working was yet another reminder that Liam was leaving, the tour dates rapidly approaching to steal Liam away. It was also a reminder that they hadn't yet told Chloe, something he was loath to do because he wasn't sure how Chloe would react.

Liam had had plans of taking Chloe for a special day out and telling her then, but both Niall and time constraints had put a stop to that. His reasoning had been fair, there was no telling how the seven-year-old would take it and he didn't want to ruin something good for her with bad news. Time constraints had meant that Liam had spent the last two weeks promising to get around to it, but never actually finding the time.

It didn't help that Niall had gotten a lot busier. Liam's team were constantly calling and texting him with updates as to how their public relationship and the set-up were going, having somehow gotten hold of his number, and, maybe because of the now public information about where he worked or maybe not, the store was a lot busier. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. More customers meant more sales, more sales meant his boss was happier, and a happier boss meant that Niall got bonuses to take home and treat Chloe with.

It meant that when Jessica dropped Chloe off at the shop, Chloe had to spend her time waiting in the back room, instead of 'helping' at the tills or playing in the actual shop, but the extra money meant Niall could leave her sat there with a new book or magazine to pass the time until he was ready to leave.

There had been talk of involving Niall directly in a interview at some point, but no one had actually said anything to him, so he was left wondering whether that was actually happening or not. Liam did interviews frequently, promoting One Direction's first tour after they'd returned from their break, sometimes with the boys, sometimes without them, setting the scene for him to come out, though, from the things he said in interviews, he was pretty much already out, albeit unofficially. Niall and Chloe listened to the interviews before breakfast or watched them on her iPad whilst having dinner, and they left Chloe asking, 'Is Papa really that famous, that he's on the radio?'

Liam had laughed when Niall told him, pulling Chloe into a hug as he said, "Nah, Chlo. I'm just friends with the DJ."

Chloe nodded, wide eyed and unaware as to why Niall was sniggering.

The interviews Liam gave left Niall smiling. The things he said and how...how happy Liam sounded left Niall smiling, wrapping the words around himself like a blanket, holding on to them like they were the lifesaver that would keep him from drowning when Liam left.

******

It was only maybe a week before the first London concert that Liam, in between rehearsals and everything else, realised that, maybe, he and Niall really should tell Chloe, if she hadn't already figured it out. Tour dates were common knowledge, and Liam had had bags packed, sorted and ready for tour; waiting by his front door for nearly two weeks, and he'd kind of been hoping that Chloe already knew and was okay with the idea.