Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Eighty-Four

Liam

Was it possible for time to have stopped?

For every moment to drag on, seconds lasting hours, hours lasting days, until you were sure you'd been stuck in one moment for an eternity, only to find that not even thirty minutes had passed by. Even if it wasn't technically possible, it sure as hell felt like it was happening.

His chair was uncomfortable. That was another thing. Time was dragging itself out, making every minute feel longer than the last, and he was stuck there, in an uncomfortable chair that squeaked whenever he moved. He hadn't even been there for half an hour, still had over an hour and a half left before he could go free, and, already, it was unbearable.

He was bored, so mind numbing bored, and not even Niall was there to distract him. It was probably for the best that Niall wasn't there, that Niall had been excused after he stopped being 'relevant' to the meeting, that he'd gotten to leave, because Liam was sure whatever was being said was probably offensive and degrading and overly concerned about his personal life, or as close to one as he had, and he didn't want Niall to have to hear that.

Hell, he didn't want to have to hear that and he'd zoned out, trying to distract himself, but it wasn't working. Time was crawling by and he wanted nothing more than to get up out of his squeal chair and make for the door, but the professional, interesting in keeping his career part of him wouldn't allow that. For a good reason. If he left, he wouldn't get a say in any of the decisions that were about to be made and then God only knew what bullshit he'd end up doing.

And why were decisions being made about him? After all, he'd finally dared to come out, leaving behind the days of Sophia and the stunting, and he was out quite comfortably these days, there should be no need for interference, barring the odd Chloe related moment, yet here they were. Decisions were being made how to best handle the latest bombshell Liam had dropped on his poor, long suffering team, the news that he and Niall were going to have a baby.

If he was honest, they had taken the news better than he'd been expecting, barring a few poorly disguised swear words and one of them, Meg, he thought, Meg Masters, putting her head in her hands before pulling out her phone, leaving the room to start making urgent phone calls. Everyone else seemed to take the news rather well, at least until someone said something that Liam didn't quite hear and all of a sudden Niall was being dismissed, ushered from the room, casting a frown in Liam's direction, his blue eyes filled with worry.

Really, there was no need for him to worry. It wasn't like they could actively force Liam into anything, not anymore. Only if he chose to go along with it, and even then, only to a certain extent. Only to the point where it was in his favour, to protect him and his image.

And, at least from his perspective, there was nothing they needed to protect him from. There wasn't much they could do, apart from advising him on how to go on, so telling them, as he and Niall had done, was merely a courtesy. He could have done things the way Louis had advised and posted a picture of them with the pregnancy tests and let fans work things out from there, and whilst the idea had appealed to him, it had a few flaws.

(Telling the boys had been an experience. Technically, they hadn't even told their families yet, but tour was starting back up in less than two weeks, so Liam had felt that he had to tell them. Harry...Harry loved children and had of course been supportive, beaming, really, though the others had been varying degrees of less enthusiastic. Zayn had hugged him, before muttering that he really needed to learn how a condom worked, and Louis...Louis had rolled his eyes whilst simultaneously calling dibs on the role of godfather. They'd all been...brilliant about it, though, especially when speaking to Niall. That was when Louis had suggested his idea, actually, and Niall had been kind enough not to point out the potential flaws, of which were there were a few.)