Niall
Great.
Fucking perfect.
For a week, things had been going his way. His boss was talking about raising wages, Chloe was getting over her 'I-hate-Liam-why-don't-you' phase, the building manager had fixed the flickering lights and now, Liam, Liam, Liam had asked him on a date. The actual invitation had been worse than sixteen-year-old Liam's muttered invite the first time, but he'd asked him on a date, and the prospect was giving him butterflies.
Actual fucking butterflies.
But now, now it looked like things were returning to their normal let's shit on the guy who's done nothing to deserve any of it ways. Jessica wasn't free to babysit Chloe, having taken off to go on an impromptu holiday somewhere sunny, meaning he had no one to look after Chloe, so he was now dropping Chloe off at school early before the breakfast club actually started and picking her up after the after school club had technically finished. Chloe hated it as she was missing swimming, and Niall hated it as he was now the one responsible for the frown on his little girl's face, the frown that was there whenever she'd had to spend ages waiting for him, stuck in a classroom with whichever teacher had deigned to stay behind with her.
The lack of babysitter also meant that he couldn't work the extra shifts he'd been relying on picking up to be able to afford to buy Chloe the new costume and goggles she'd need for when she was finally able to go back to swimming.
The biggest kick in the pants was that, without Jessica, Niall had no way of being free on Thursday, not when Chloe had spent enough time without him looked after by strangers. Which meant that there was no way he'd be free on Thursday. Which meant he'd have to find a way to call off the first date he'd actually been looking forward to going on in years. It was actually the first date he would have gone in nearly three years, the only other dates he'd gone on before having gone exactly nowhere, once they'd all had the to take in the existence of the three/four/five-year-old that would be waiting for him back at his flat. This would have been the first date that he might have actually enjoyed, and now it wasn't going to happen.
Which was great.
Just great.
Fucking perfect.
But not going meant that he and Chloe could actually spend the evening together, and he wouldn't miss a chance to make Chloe happy, especially since the seven-year-old had put up with the disruption Jessica's absence had caused uncomplainingly. And, with that in mind, Niall found himself calling Liam during his lunch break, pacing the length of the break room, clutching his phone tighter in his hand as he waited for Liam to pick up.
"Niall...Hey. Was just thinking about calling you. About tonight. There's this great little bar, not too far out of Brixton and I think you'll love it. There's also a showing of that new World War 2 film, I was thinking we could maybe go and see that..."
Biting his lip, Niall let Liam continue to talk for a few moments before he took a deep breath, eventually finding the nerve to get out what he needed to say. "That would have been amazing. Sounds great, Li. There's just one little problem..."
"Problem as in you can't decide what to wear problem, or problem as in you don't actually want to go out with me and you're trying to let me down easy." Forcing himself to keep his tone light, Liam didn't miss a beat as he said, "That's okay, you know. If I've been pushy or...It's fine if you don't. Want to go out tonight."
"It's not that. Really. I would love to go out with you tonight. I would and your plans sound great. Dinner, everything, it all sounds amazing. It's just that I don't have a babysitter. So I can't come out with tonight. It's not doable. I would love to see you and you plans sounds fantastic but-" Dropping onto the battered sofa crammed into the corner of the room, Niall sighed, running a hand over his face, relaxing slightly as Liam said, "-but Chloe. It's fine, Niall. I totally understand. Of course Chloe comes first. And besides, there's always another time. I get it. We can...Reschedule or something."
Glancing over at the clock on the wall, Niall sighed again as he realised he was running out of time, standing up and wincing as he knocked his knee against a stack of old CD's, huffing for a second, his voice softening as he said, "Still, I'm sorry. I wanted to go out with you tonight, really, I did."
"I really wanted to take you out. Another time, though, yeah?" Both of them falling silent, Liam let out a quiet gasp, an idea slowly beginning to form, about to speak when Niall cut him off. "I have to go, Li. My lunch break should have ended by now. Call me later, or I'll text you, yeah? Bye, Li."
**************
Smiling and shaking his head fondly at Chloe as she stretched out along the sofa, using him as a pillow, Niall wrapped his arm around his daughter and settled back against the couch, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and focusing back on the TV, watching as intently as Chloe as the scene they'd both seen practically a thousand times came on, both of them watching intently as Belle and the Beast get to see the beginning of their happy ever after, the attention waning once the scene had passed. Wincing as Chloe's elbow came into contact with his ribs, Niall shifted, propping his head up with a cushion and checking the time on his phone before he asked, "You want tea yet, poppet? It's nearly half seven. I got chicken nuggets, like you wanted."
"After this film. Can I have ice cream for afters?" Resting her head on Niall's chest, Chloe elbowed him again accidentally, turning her attention back to the TV and grumbling as Niall got up, wriggling and taking over her dad's seat as Niall headed through to the kitchen, ignoring her question and sorting out the various parts of their dinner, only answering Chloe as she asked again. "Daddy? Please? Ice cream?"
"Maybe. If you eat all of it. And that includes the vegetables." Struggling with an oven tray, Niall was about to sit back down and continue watching the film when someone knocked on their door, giving Chloe a shrug as she asked who it was before he went to answer it, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Liam standing there, a sheepish smile on his face and a shopping bag at his feet. Holding the door open, it took Niall a second to think clearly and invite Liam in, giving him a surprised grin as he shut the door.
Well aware of Chloe watching over the back of the sofa, staring at Liam and Niall inquisitively, Niall took the bag from Liam, frowning slightly as he heard the bag chink, giving Liam a questioning stare as he asked, "How...What are you doing here? Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but-"
Giving Chloe a small smile, Liam looked back at Niall, trying to gauge his reaction as he hovered awkwardly in the doorway. "But you weren't expecting to see me? Well, I wanted to see you and I was hoping you'd want to maybe kind of do our date here. With Chloe. I brought a Disney film. One you guys might not have seen. Is this okay? I can go..."
"Okay? It's great. We're always looking for more Disney films so that's a score. I've got dinner cooking but I'm sure we can stretch it to three." Smiling again, Niall glanced over at Chloe, raising an eyebrow at the seven-year-old as she sighed, gesturing for Liam to sit as he placed the bag on the counter, pulling the DVD out of the back and showing it to Chloe as he dropped onto the sofa next to her, taking up his old spot and pulling Chloe onto his lap, making room for Liam. "Okay, Chlo? Guess what Liam brought you? The Aristocats. Haven't seen that one yet, have we?"
"Nope. It looks cool, though. The kittens are cute." Settling back against Niall, Chloe kicked her feet up, ending up sprawled half one Niall and Liam as they started on the next film, cuddling into Niall's side until he got up to sort dinner and then ending up curling up against Liam, yawning her way through The Aristocats and falling asleep just after the ending. Watching as Niall smiled down at her, picking up Chloe and carrying her through to her bedroom, Liam sort of followed him around, watching from the doorway as he tucked Chloe in, leaving her in her leggings and t-shirt and pulling her duvet up before he pressed a kiss to her forehead and brushed her hair out her face.
Pulling Chloe's bedroom door shut behind him, Niall gave Liam anther smile, running a hand through his hair as he headed back to the living room and paused the TV, dropping onto the sofa and stretching out as Liam sat next to him, giving him an amused smile. "You're so good with her. I shouldn't be surprised...I mean. It's surreal, you know?"
Laughing at Liam's botched phrasing, Niall nodded, sort of understanding why Liam meant. "Thanks. Yeah, I get it. You can't quite get your head around the fact that that will be you with her some day. Understandable. You know, when Chloe was born, it took me weeks to get my head around the fact that she was here and I...I was all she had. And I've had seven year's of practice, of course I'm good."
"Always were modest, weren't you." Moving closer to Niall, Liam smiled with him, laughing as Niall nodded, the ease of the moment surprising him for a second before he decided to go with it, relaxing back as he thought about what Niall had said, filing that information under things to think about at a later time. Moving slightly closer to Niall, Liam gave him another smile, at some point in the evening, during the many inane things they ended up talking about, the two of them ended up sitting so they were curled up next to each other, the bottles of beer Liam had brought with him empty, leaving them both feeling pleasantly buzzed, a softer smile taking over Niall's face as he looked over at Liam. "Thank you. Tonight was...Probably the most fun I've had for a while."
"Me too. Really. And you've definitely got me hooked on Disney films." Shaking his head as Niall began to laugh and out a yawn, Liam checked the time on his phone before disentangling himself from Niall and standing up, stretching slightly before saying, "It's late. I should really go."
Following Liam out to the hallway, Niall nodded, glancing back in the direction of Chloe's room, nodding again as he looked back at Liam. "You should. Thank you for tonight, though, really. I think Chloe enjoyed the film. Actually, I think she liked seeing you."
"I'll call you, yeah? And we could do something this weekend, if I, or you, don't have to work or anything." Grabbing his shoes and his jacket, Liam smiled more at Niall's words, hesitating for a second before he leant against the front door, meeting Niall's gaze as he said, "I still want to take you on a proper date, date. You know. We go out for dinner, as I said, I know this great little place that you would love, or something."
"You'll just have to ask me out again then." Opening the door once Liam had straightened up, Niall reached out and tugged on Liam's sleeve as he made to leave, pulling him back into the doorway so he could reach up, hesitantly pressing a kiss to Liam's cheek before letting him go again. "Goodnight, Li."
_____________________________________
And she finally returns.
I am really sorry, guys, that it's been so long since I updated (roughly 12306467468234 million years) and I can't even promise that it won't happen again. Long story short, there's a lot of shit that I'm still struggling with, work/school/general life, and, whilst it's gotten slightly better, everything is still stressing me out to the extent that I'm struggling to actually function.
But you guys probably don't really need to hear about my shit, so here's an update. It's slightly longer than the past few have been and I promise I have not given up on updating this, it's just going to take a while, I think.
Also, I'd like to thank (and dedicate this chapter to) niallersgirl139, kadiebmore and cin461d, along with anyone else who's been supportive and nice to me about everything, and for the really supportive comments left on the last update for my other book, Redemption. I'm really grateful to you guys...
Again, I am so sorry about how long this took, and I'd really love to see what you guys think of the chapter...