Liam
December 18th, 2011
"You'll be fantastic, Love. Your dad and I are so proud."
"Mu-um..." Hiding his face in her shoulder as she hugged, him Liam tried to keep the smile on his face from being evident in his tone, knowing he was failing as his mother simply laughed before releasing him.
Giving him a fond smile, Karen watched after her son as he was led off by Paddy in the direction of wardrobe and the other boys, waiting until he'd glanced back over his shoulder to discreetly wave to her before she called. "I mean it, we're so, so proud. Keep calm, chin up, and we'll find you after, yeah?"
******
February 23rd, 2014
"All right, lads, let's smash it, yeah?" Pasting a confident smile on his face as he looked over at the three other boys, Liam reached in and fist bumped them, taking a second to notice the new sense of calm slowly enveloping them, a far cry from the chaos there had been earlier.
To distract themselves from the impending gig, the first performance of the tour, and the pressure, stress and nerves, Louis had suggested they steal as much as they could of anything and bring their horde back to the dressing room, simply for laugh, and they'd ended up surrounded by shit Liam hadn't known they took on tour with them.
It had all been returned eventually, having taken their families to intervene and Louis' mum to dissuade him from stealing anything else, and it had worked as a distraction, though now everything around them was out of place and in the process of being stuck, nailed or locked down. It made him grin, though, an actual, genuine grin as he caught Louis' eye, the two of them still smiling as they were corralled off in the direction of the stage.
******
April 25th, 2014
"It's mine."
"No, it's mine. Yours is the one hanging by the door to the dressing room."
"No, that one's mine. Yours is the one hanging by the door to the dressing room."
Giving Zayn a pointed look as he showed him the shirt's label, pointing out the size difference between the shirt in his hand and the one Zayn was wearing, Liam ran a hand through his hair, suppressing the urge to gloat or- Or whatever and pulled the shirt over his head as Zayn grabbed the shirt he'd been trying to pass off as Liam's. No sooner than he'd pulled the shirt over his head, Zayn was pushed out of the way by Harry and Louis, both of whom were bickering in a similar manner, the stress and anticipation they all felt leaking out in the form of an argument about the longevity of bees.
"Harold, they'll die out. No one actually gives a shit about them, they're bees."
"Bees will be all that's left, Lou, you know I'm right."
******
February 7th, 2015
"Liam, you coming?"
"Where to?" Glancing up from his phone in confusion, Liam raised an eyebrow as Louis pulled his jacket on, gesturing in the direction of the door they'd been asked not to go out of as he shot a bored look Liam's way.
"Anywhere. We've got four hours, Done soundcheck and makeup doesn't take long. We've got time; I'm off exploring. You coming?"
Muttering something that could have been 'fuck it', Liam jumped up and followed Louis, not caring when exploring turned into sneaking up a fire escape and sneaking a cigarette. All the time they were out, Louis fidgeted, his knee bouncing or his fingers itching, and Liam recognised the feeling. He'd spent half an hour fighting Zayn over the last can of red bull and whether his latest tattoo was better than Zayn's simply as a distraction.
Their exploring only ended when Paddy came out to find them and dragged them inside, taking the packet of cigarettes away as he shepherded them towards the dressing room where the others waited, a fight between Zayn and Harry erupting over a Twix as they entered.
******
February 2nd, 2019 (current time)
"I know it was you."
"Oh come on! How could it have been me?"
"You were the only one in the dressing room."
"For the last fucking time, it wasn't me."
Liam couldn't help but smile as he watched Zayn and Louis' argument unfold, pretending to scroll through his twitter feed and absent-mindedly favouriting a few tweets, sharing a look with Harry as Zayn continued the argument, shouting at Louis, not caring that Harry was holding up his other shoe, having been the one to steal said shoe all along.
Eventually, Liam got bored of listening to their argument and cut in, interrupting Zayn before he could tackle Louis and steal his shoes in revenge. Ignoring Zayn's glare, Liam took the shoe Harry was holding and threw it at him, waiting for Zayn to fall silent before he spoke. "Come on, guys. Save the fighting for at leat the second performance. We're supposed to have grown up since the last time."
The others seemed to contemplate what he'd said for a second, the changing room becoming eerily quiet until Zayn shrugged, wrinkling his nose as he said, "Speak for yourself, Li."
It wasn't surprising when Zayn turned away from Louis and threw himself at Harry, tackling him to the ground and stealing his shoe from him in retribution, yelling and messing up Harry's hair, the uproar prompting Liam to go back to scrolling through his twitter and Louis to sit back and admire the chaos, a grin on his face as he said to Liam, "Haven't you missed this?"
They left Zayn and Harry to their fighting, and it seemed typical to Liam that then would be the moment that Paddy chose to show Niall and Chloe in. For everyone else's families, this was usual behaviour for the last few hours before the first gig of a tour, their way of blowing off steam and overcoming the nerves, but for Niall and Chloe the scene they walked in on was far from ordinary. They walked into see Zayn and Harry messing each other's hair and shouting at each other, Zayn waving Harry's shoe in the air with one hand whilst they wrestled.
Chloe shook off her surprise at the unfolding scene, running over Harry and Zayn and tackling Liam with a shout of, "Papa."
Liam caught her up in his arms and picked her up, spinning her around as best he could within the confines of the dressing room before he pressed a kiss to her forehead and set her down. "Hey, poppet. How was swimming?"
"Great. I beat the others again, cos I'm fastest." Waving a little shyly at Louis as she noticed him, Chloe gave him a small smile, offering the same to Zayn and Harry as their fighting came to a stop before she looked back up at Liam, not noticing the tapping of his foot or tousled hair, as though he'd ran his fingers through it countless times, instead clamouring to be picked up and swung around again, a request Liam easily complied with.
Clutching dizzily at Liam when he finally set her down, Chloe happily collapsed onto the sofa in the middle of the dressing room, close to where Louis had been sat, struggling to sit up and regain her equilibrium. she was easily distracted by Louis and Harry as Niall let Liam pull him close, the seven-year-old either not listening or choosing not to notice as Niall reached up and kissed Liam by way of greeting, a teasing smile on his face as he said, "Wow, Li. Here was me thinking you'd be bricking it and all, but here you are."
The smile on his face told Liam he wasn't serious, and Liam chose to reply by kissing Niall again, the two of them only separating when Zayn brushed past, muttering something about getting a room and, "You should have seen him half an hour ago, then. He had a meltdown over whether he should have tea or coffee."
Niall scoffed in disbelief, glancing up at Liam as if he were asking if that was true or not, only to have Harry and Louis nod solemnly as they too left, smuggling Chloe out with them. "It's very true. Right diva, he is. We're stealing your daughter, by the way. Lux's here and she'd love to meet her if that's all right."
They didn't wait for an answer and left, carry Chloe between them and swinging her around, leaving Niall and Liam alone for a while. Niall noticed how dishevelled Liam's hair seemed and the slight tapping of his foot, pulling him over to the sofa and sitting him down as he asked if he was okay, not accepting the light and breezy answer Liam tried feeding him. "Bullshit. You sure you're okay?"
Liam chose to kiss Niall again instead of replying, the memories of last night telling the truth far more elegantly than Liam could currently, and living between them like promises. It was why Niall didn't question it as Liam took his hand and snuck him off for an adventure, really just a visit to a rooftop where they were more or less immediately found by Paddy and taken back inside, or why Liam snuck him into the soundcheck after, keeping near enough all of his attention on Niall as he and the others ran through what was by now a familiar rehearsal.
It didn't escape Niall's notice that every so often someone would hold a phone in Liam's direction or in the vague direction of Louis, Zayn and Harry, sometimes wanting Niall in the frame, sometimes not, and when he asked, Liam gave him an apologetic looking before citing the contract Niall had signed and the agreements made. "Promo, Ni. Sorry, Love. Chlo's not in it, though; they all know not to include her."
Bounding over to them then, seemingly in response to hearing her name and holding hands with another little girl, Chloe seemed unaware of the frantic-looking people following her and the little girl whose hand she was holding, gesturing at her new playmate and grinning as she said, "Lux and I wanted to ask if her mummy can do my hair. She's waiting to sort Papa but then she's done and can style my hair if you say yes."
"Sure, poppet." Smiling a little as Chloe and the other girl cheered, Niall was about to say something when the two of them ran off, leaving Niall stood there, staring after them. Liam took Niall's hand and led him in the direction of the girls, leading him to a room where yet more frantic people in suits were stood around, apparently waiting for Liam. Chloe and the little girl, Lux, were sat in empty chairs, playing with hairclips and swinging their legs as they chatted.
After someone, Lux's mother Niall thought, was finished fixing the mess Liam had made of his hair, someone else shepherded Liam off, leaving Niall stood around, uncertain of what he was supposed to do. He hung around as Lux's mother played with Chloe's hair, snapping a picture of the outcome using his phone, ignoring the grainy, barred, low-quality picture his phone was only capable of and instead focusing on the thrilled look on Chloe's face.
Eventually, someone Niall didn't recognise came to direct him and Chloe to where a few others were gathered, a sectioned off seating area where other family members of the boys' were already waiting.
By the time the performance started, long after the support acts had finished, hours after they'd first met Liam backstage, Chloe was clinging to Niall, exhausted and whining that she be carried, no longer quite so enthusiastic to be there as she had been earlier. Niall simply shook his head before he picked her up, sighing a little that she was getting too big for him to carry, but he let Chloe hide her face in his shoulder nonetheless.
They ended up stood next to Harry's family and one of Louis' siblings and it was actually almost nice, chatting with people who knew what to expect and knew why the boys liked having family around, at least at the first concert, people who were a part of the group built around the boys and were more than happy to include Niall and Chloe.
Harry's sister ended up stood directly next to them, chatting with Niall and guessing which songs would be performed before Harry, Louis, Zayn or Liam could introduce them. There were a few Niall knew, recognising them from years ago, songs such as Moments, a song he'd had to teach one of his past coworker's daughter to play, Drag Me Down, one anyone who listened to the radio could tell, and other songs that he half recognised from Liam humming them whilst working or rehearsing, such as Infinity, Temporary Fix. Other he didn't recognise, such as History, which opened the concert, Don't Forget Where You Belong, Home, and Ready To Run, were pointed out to him by Gemma.
Niall almost dropped Chloe, almost but just about managing not to, as the lights dimmed on stage with only a spotlight focusing on Liam, who, after the crowd finished screaming, began to speak, reading out a few of the signs being held up by fans before he actually addressed the crowd. "All right, well, I have to say, I think this is going great, this being back on stage thing. You're an amazing crowd, amazing fans, and we couldn't do this without you guys, but there are people I feel like I should thank as well. So this next song, when we get around to it, is dedicated to our families, and for me, to my own family, and to the guy I am going to miss incredibly while we're away. Couldn't do any of it without you."
Smiling, Niall gasped a little as he realised what Liam had just said, getting lost in his own thoughts throughout the next song they began to perform after the other boys had also spoken, the stupid grin on his becoming impossibly wider as he looked up at the stage.
Chloe cheered up around halfway through the concert, clamouring to be put down and pointing over at Liam in disbelief, a shriek of delight escaping the little girl as, halfway through a song Gemma had declared to be 'Girl Almighty', Liam stopped singing, waving down at a few fans before he glanced in the direction of the roped off area families were sat in, and shouted, "This one's for another special person, as well as all of you incredible people; I'm so glad you're here, poppet."
Niall could only grin, his gaze firmly fixed on Liam, almost overwhelmed with a similar feeling to the one he'd felt when Chloe came first in her first competitive race, beating every other child in her group and prompting her to be moved up a swimming group.
Liam, at least from Niall's perspective, seemed alive, buzzing, singing up there, looking like he was home up there, just him and the boys, his brothers, and seeing him as such made Niall feel, not for the first time, like he'd missed out, by not fighting harder to keep Liam around. He was still proud, though, of him, and he wouldn't have missed that moment, standing there and watching Liam for anything.
He said as much, muttered it in Liam's ear after the concert when Paddy found him and Chloe and took them back to the dressing room where Liam was waiting, a grin on his face and a wild look in his eye that suggested he was so high up he'd never come back down. Chloe flung herself at Liam again, letting herself be hugged before she wanted to be put down, staring up at Liam, almost starstruck, as he pulled Niall close to him.
___________________________________
Here we are again.
This was written way before Count On Christmas was, but you do get to see a bit of Liam's past here, which is something the lovely LauraLizzyLoop mentioned, and maybe oneday I'll write some more about Liam and the years before he re-met Niall.
The part where Liam dedicated Girl Almighty to Chloe was shamelessly written in and stolen from the comments of Blank1980 and kadiebmore and I'd apologise for the theivery except it was a glorious idea and I'm a shameless theif.
Anyway...
Thoughts on the chapter?