Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Forty-Two

"Tricky." Still sounding unconvinced, Chloe hid under the blanket, grudgingly making room for Liam as he made to sit next to her, both of them watching or at least pretending to watch an old episode of The Simpsons that was on, Chloe's demeanour slowly relaxing as the episode went on so that she was curled into Liam's side, sharing the blanket with him.

The two of them were halfway through an old episode of Pokémon when Niall appeared in the doorway, clutching the mug Liam had left for him and making a face at the taste of cold coffee before he cleared his throat his throat. "Morning, Chlo. Did you sleep alright, poppet?"

Forcing himself to smile as Chloe nodded, Niall ran a hand through his hair, glancing down at the mug in his hand and back at Liam before he began to speak, chasing his mind halfway through the sentence and trailing off. "Liam...you're still here. I thought you would've...never mind..."

Liam then muted the TV, ignoring Chloe as she protested, giving Niall a tentative smile and shifting over to make room for him on the sofa, trying to ignore the accusation in Niall's tone and reminding himself as to why Niall was probably allowed to make such comments, deliberately keeping his tone light as he said, "Nope. Still here. And...if I'm not intruding, I'd like to stay. At least until we...we talk."

Nodding, Niall was well aware of the look on Chloe's face, her smile rapidly fading as she watched Niall and Liam, any fight leaving him as he sat down with Liam and Chloe, smiling softly as Chloe curled into Liam's side and he wrapped his arm around her, turning and paying attention to what they were watching before he snorted, unable to contain the brief flash of laughter at the realisation that Chloe had gotten Liam to watch Pokémon, a cartoon Liam had flat out refused to watch when it was on TV when they were kids, sitting back and taking a sip of his coffee and wincing at the last before he reached over and took Liam's mug, helping himself to the mug of hot coffee and ignoring Liam's shout of protest.

"Hey! That was mine."

"I think you'll find that it's technically my coffee." Elbowing Liam playfully, Niall handed the mug back over, sighing dramatically and smirking as Liam gave the mug right back to him, grumbling as Niall finished the last of the coffee. "You're lucky you're cute, Ni."

"Oh, I'm cute, am I?" Raising an eyebrow, Niall didn't push Liam away as he pulled him closer, both of them sharing a smile as Chloe huffed, reaching for the remote and turning the volume up on the TV, trying to drown out the two of them, Liam shaking his head at Niall before saying, "You know you are."

They spent a good chunk of the remainder of the morning like that, the three of them squished together on the sofa, watching cartoons and enjoying spending the Sunday morning together, both Niall and Liam happy to let Chloe choose what they watched and decide what they were having for breakfast, the seven-year-old choosing pancakes for breakfast again, a meal it was rapidly becoming clear that Liam could not cook without either burning the pancakes or accepting help. They eventually ended up with plates of edible pancakes, three attempts of ruining perfectly good pancake batter before they ended up with non-charred, non-lumpy and non-rubbery pancakes, that they ate whilst watching whatever show Chloe had chosen.

Eventually, though, the temporary peace, truce, whatever you wanted to call it, ended and Niall' smile faded as he and Liam ended up sitting opposite each other on the sofa, both of them trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. Chloe had been allowed out to play with the boys from downstairs, giving them the privacy to argue, talk, and fix things without having to worry about her hearing or the two of them upsetting her somehow. So far, though, they hadn't done much talking, the easiness of earlier in the morning long gone as Niall became the first one to break the silence. "You're leaving for tour in two months. Why didn't you tell me?"