"So this is it guys, I have officially been forcibly domesticated." Simon joked into his camera lens as he flashed it around with a smile. "He's just saying that because it's taking him a while to realise he can't live with JJ forever." Liv smiled into the lens as he turned it round to face her.
She looked upwards slightly and cover her eyes from the sun with a small wince. It may have been nearly Christmas but the mid-winter sun was still blinding through the tall London buildings.
This made her boyfriend chuckle as she lent into him as they walked and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They had been out in the surprisingly mild sunlight for about half an hour navigating themselves towards the new loft they were viewing.
Simon had decided to use the journey as an opportunity to vlog about their possible house-buying for their fans and his girlfriend had enjoyed seeing him in his element, talking to his fans through his camera. He was always smiling this way and she loved that smile. She only hoped their baby inherited it.
"Guys help! Look what she's doing to me! She's making me act like an adult!" He whined jokingly.
"We'll you are twenty-seven, I'd hope you'd be acting like an adult." She replied making him laugh again.
"Well someone work up this morning and chose to be a smartarse." He mumbled making her laugh.
"Please you love my arse." She winked at him without thinking of her words and how out of context they could be taken if the blog got clipped.
Then she gave the camera a slightly embarrassed look and he shuck his head with a chuckle. "Yeah yeah.....now walk ahead." He slightly pushed her by the bottom of her back. Jokingly sending her further ahead then him as he flipped the camera angle and captured her flipping up a middle finger at him and sneering at the lens.
"My girlfriend everyone!"
"Please you love it!"
-.-.-.-.-
It was an hour later when the couple had just finished up the viewing with their real estate agent and her assistant. Liv was stood gazing around their possible new home with a look Simon could only decipher as the one she gave to all things she fell in love with.
The loft flat was her dram home.
It was an old industrial space. A bit wide and echoey but it was the perfect blend of modern and rustic and Simon had never seen Liv look more excited. Well other then at their first ultrasound.
There she was clutching a pile of books and papers as she talked with the older woman and young man in sensible suits and quizzically quirked her face as she talked excitedly about the property.
Simon was just getting ready to suggest they take the night to discuss so they could leave their last flat viewing of the week, when his phone rang.
He shot Liv and the two estate agents an apologetic smile as the three others in the room turned to look at him, "it's my mum." He told them; to which she nodded in reply, "take it....I'll get the rest of our info off of Claire then I'll meet you at the car, yeah?"
He smiled once again, gave her a knowing nod.
They'd landed on her dream home and he knew she was looking to him, begging for his approval too. So he gave her the look he knew she could decipher, 'go on and tell them we love it.'
He leaned his head slightly down, kissing her head gently, mumbling a small, "yes" into her hair before he clicked the receiver button and brought the phone to his ear. "Hi mum...yeah, yeah I'm with Liv.....yes mum.....no, no she can't say hi at the minute mum, mum she's busy with our agent......yes we can meet you at your hotel...." Liv caught him speaking before he wandered out of the room shaking his head slightly as he chuckled at his presumably chattery mother.
"Everything alright?" Their real estate agent Claire asked as she and her partner Tyler, finished looking around the vacant flat's kitchen and looked at the younger woman hopefully. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, Si's family gets into the city today....for the holidays." She replied with a reassuring smile.
"How lovely....so what do we think of the place?"
"Well I love it, it's not too far from where we are now...but it's far enough from the main city to be more family friendly and..."
"Expecting a family soon are you?" Claire interjected with a smile making the pregnant woman chuckle slightly nervously to play it off.
"Uhhhh, yeah....yeah we're thinking about it." Liv awkwardly nodded, not really wanting to share her whole life with the strangers.
"Wonderful.....so you like the location and the apartment itself....do you have any queries or-."
"Well I know Simon was worried about parking and local traffic but he was googling it yesterday and it seemed better than we expected." Liv nodded, and the two agents both beamed at her.
"Plus there's an extra room for Si's office, and one for my filming room for when we need to film separately." She thought out loud. The two nodded again and Claire spoke: "You're both those 'YouTubers' right?"
Liv nodded. 'Here come the "real job" comments' the pregnant woman thought to herself.
"Yeah yeah I am."
"Oh my little girl is a huge fan of that Zoella woman, you know her?" Tyler asked. "Uhhhh, yeah....yeah I know Zoe....I mean I know her brother Joe better but Zoe's lovely."
"Yeah and my son's obsessed with someone called 'George Memer'?" Claire stuttered through a rather rough pronunciation of Liv's friend's name. "Yeah I know George too, him and my brother and good friends."
"Well that's nice......anyway....here's your info pack and you have our card.....and all the other information.....I guess we'll let you go away and have a think....call us if you've had any decisions or any questions." And like that the two gave her a gentle handshake and a hug and off they went leaving her stood waiting for Simon in the hallway of their possible new home.
"So what do you think?" A voice suddenly whispered in her ear after a minute of solace. "I think I'm in love." She gently smiled feeling her boyfriend's arms wrapping softly around her waist from behind as his head lay gently on her shoulder.
"I think I do too." He said and she grinned as she span to face him. "You really want this to be our new home?" She asked and he nodded adamantly at her "Liv you could be in love with a cardboard box and I'd let you make it our home......I can't wait to do this with you."
"Really? You're not feeling too 'domesticated'?" She joked and he laughed. "I'm serious." He grinned leaning down to capture her lips in a celebratory kiss.
"Wanna give ourselves a day to let it sink in?" He asked and she grinned, "how does a few hours sound?"
"It sounds perfect." He agreed before he lifted up her hand and pulled her out towards the direction of their new front door.
"Let's get back to your family then." He sighed. "speaking of families....was your mum alright?" Liv asked. "Oh yeah she's great.....just wanted to know what time we would be meeting them at their hotel tonight.....I kept telling her she didn't need to book a bloody hotel."
"Well she did, which kind of relays the tension a bit if I need to come escape to yours if my family get too much at mine." She joked back and he rolled his eyes but agreed with a smirk, "It's nice having the place to myself with JJ home for the holidays....but the flat is awfully lonely.....as is my bed-." He shot her a coy smile to which she hummed. "Oh really?" She raised a teasing brow as he went to pull her closer by her waist.
"You know I love you right?" He asked and she grinned, "I never doubted it.....now, I lied..." he looked at her suddenly worried, but the. She continued, "I can't wait a few hours.....I love this house Si, and.....and if you do to I really want it......so are you gonna text Claire and tell her we want this one, or am I?" She joked and he pointed at her phone. "You can do the honours." He smiled down at her, "and yeah, I love it too.....and," he kissed her nose, "and you." He then knelt to kiss her still-flat stomach.
"Are we really buying our first flat together?" She asked making him grin as he returned to standing, still holding her waist gently. He gave a light laugh at her anxiously excited face. "Yeah then we're having our first baby," he tapped her stomach, "then we'll get married, and have lots more babies and buy an even bigger home together."
"You called it a home." She beamed.
"Yeah, cause I'm ready to build one with you Livy."
"Oh Si-." But she was cut off when he once again leaned down and kissed her passionately, right there at the bottom of the stair well up to their new loft.
She grinned into the kiss, pushing her lips back against his as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck and pulled gently ast the hair on the nape of his neck. "I love you too."
But then the moment was ruined when her phone dinged and the screen lit up on WhatsApp, a photo from her mum.
MamaBear🐻❤️: How was the flat?These bloody two, come help me yell at them for almost trashing your tree. Xx
She sighed groaning into his chest as he chuckled at the photo. "Well then we should probably go rescue your mum." He joked smiling at the image of Liv's two youngest siblings messing with her tree. "Never mind my mam, look what they're doing to my bloody tree." She muttered looking at the photo pointedly. He chuckled gently into her hair making he laugh too.
Btw this is the flat they looked at:
-.-.-.-.-
"Mam! Liv and Simon are back!" Sophie brashly shouted for their mother as her sister and Simon walked through Liv's front door and into the chaotic sitting room of Christmas decorations. "It looks like a snow globe exploded in here." Liv muttered looking around at all the mess in horror making her boyfriend chuckle behind his hand.
Luke was stood with a confused look on his face and a string of fairy lights dangling over his arms all wrapped in big protruding knots. Mia gave a gentle wave from where she sat with Will sorting out the baubles inside Liv's old decorations box and Will raised his hand for a fist pump from Simon who was closest to him.
"How was the flat then?" Will asked and Liv gave a sudden and jarring my uncharacteristic girly squeal. "Oh it was amazing......we put down an offer."
"What?! Congrats!" Will beamed at his sister and mate while Mia nodded stood to hug her boyfriend's sister kindly. "That's wonderful guys.....you'll have to take us for a tour at some point."
"Oh don't worry, you can have a virtual one now- Liv took a shit ton of pictures." Simon joked making his girlfriend swat his arm off of her shoulders. "Yes I did....because I want our family to see where we'll be living." She sighed, "honestly Minter. You were the one vlogging the journey there."
"Speaking of which, I better go edit that before we go meet my mum and dad." He said before he kissed her head and moved to leave the room again, "see you at the restaurant?" He asked and she nodded, watching him pick up his laptop bag, coat and car keys. "Yeah....see you there at seven thirty right?"
"Yep." He leaned down kissing her again, making Luke who'd just walked into the room pretend to gag while Mia swatted at Will for laughing with Luke.
Sophie ran and gave Simon a goodbye hug while he patted his girlfriend's stomach again after kissing his palm. "See you later loves." Then he was gone.
-.-.-.-.-
"So when's the baby actually gonna be born?....when do you find out if it's a boy or girl......when do I get to go to a scan with you......Liv....Livvy are you even listening? Me and Luke were arguing earlier and I wanna know if I'm I gonna be an auntie or just aunt to the baby? Because he said-."
"Sophie Dorothy Lenney! Leave your sister alone love! Come and help with Nan's hair." Bonnie finally interrupted her youngest with a scowl as she was stood curling her mother-in-law's hair in front of a mirror.
Liv was busy making a silent Instagram video of herself doing her makeup to make up for the weekly dance videos she normally posted of new moves and routines. Her camera was faced away from the rest of the family while she precisely sat doing her eyeliner and Sophie had been stood behind it questioning her since she sat down.
"Liv's not even been pregnant a few weeks and you lot are all already obsessed, so why can't ask questions?" She huffed.
"Sophie stop it your sister will be stressed enough with out you questioning about the baby when she's about to introduce us lot to her future in-laws and tell them about the baby!"
"They're not her future in-laws! They're just Simon's parents." She argued back rolling his eyes. "Yes and it's a big night for her and Simon so please have some respect and go get some nicer shoes." Her mother ordered.
"Calm down love, the bairns are gonna be fine.....Sophie love, pass me my bag would you." Nana Dotty interjected making Bonnie calm slightly as she put the finishing touches into the older woman's hair.
Sophie reached over and handed her beloved nana her bag which she took and started rummaging through, "you do me a favour and write out that card for the Minters for me, while your mam and sisters finish getting ready."
"Dotty you got them a card?! Oh gosh was I supposed to?" Bonnie panicked. "No not at all dear, just thought I'd be a nice surprise, future great-grandmother to new grandmother."
"Aye mam, I'll do it no bother nan." Sophie replied taking the card and pen from her nan. "You didn't have to nan." Liv finally spoke up from behind the table as she finished her video and sat back putting her phone down on the table.
"It's alright love. You're face looks lovely, not that you need all that paint."
"Thanks nan." The eldest child smiled at her grandmother. "You need any help with anything mam?"
"Would you go check on your father and granda for me love? The taxis are gonna be here in twenty minutes." Bonnie nodded and Liv agreed standing up from her table, collecting her make up bag and making her way back through the flat into the hall where she knocked on Harry's room that he was letting her parents stay in, whilst her grandmother and grandpa stayed in Cal's room.
"Just finishing up I'll be out in a few!" She heard her dad call through the door. "Dad! It's Liv! The taxis are gonna be here soon. "Aye no bother love!"
Then she moved on to her grandparents current quarters, "granda it's Liv the taxis gonna be here soon!" She called and the door suddenly was swung open. "Cheers love, I was just coming now....how's gran's hair looking?" He asked jokingly and she smiled.
"Wonderful granda....what's that?" She asked noticing the package in his hands. "It's something small for you and your fella, thought I'd give you it tonight love.....you can have it at dinner, nice for your new place."
"Thanks granda that means a lot."
"No bother love."