Niall
He was drunk.
Actually, properly, thee-shots-too-many-of-some-green-thing-Louis-kept-handing-him, drunk.
For what was probably the first time since he was sixteen and he and Liam had snuck into a party Ruth had banned them from attending and raided the drinks before taking off, Niall was finally letting go, not worry about the consequences or tomorrow's hangover, and just taking a moment to see what most other twenty-somethings had spent their time doing instead of making up Princess Flora stories or worrying about swim practices and PTA meetings.
It hadn't been his intention to end up in such a state, end up at the point where he could no longer tell how much he'd had and was worried about standing up lest he fall over, but somewhere between them finding Liam backstage, Chloe saying her goodbye, and them leaving for the night out, something had changed in him and suddenly getting this drunk hadn't seemed like a bad idea.
The decision to let go for once was probably made when Chloe was about to leave, to be taken home, to Niall's flat by Paddy, to spend the night with Jessica watching her, and she'd refused to say goodbye, clutching at Liam as though that might make him stay. Liam had let her refuse for a while, let her cling to him, and he'd clung to her too, pressing kisses to hair, and promising she'd see him soon, but, eventually, he'd had to let go of Chloe, sharing guilty looks with Niall as Chloe started to cry.
Niall had managed to get her to stop crying eventually, and Paddy had taken Chloe back, letting her talk to him about any Disney film; leaving Niall and Liam both feeling like crap, moments away from deciding to cancel the evening and spend it with the little girl when Louis collared them, ushering them into the cars waiting outside the venue. From that point on, Niall had abandoned his responsible parent attitude and decided let Louis ply him with enough alcohol to make everything seem slightly less catastrophic.
Liam had one arm wrapped around his waist as almost a permanent fixture, and after a while, he stopped Niall from accepting many more of the drinks Louis sent his way, pressing a kiss to Niall's temple and stifling a grin when Niall protested. "Trust me, love, you'll thank me in the morning."
In all honesty, the rational part of Niall knew Liam was right, though, at that moment, it was losing a battle with the less rational part of him that really wanted to forget for a few hours that: a) Liam was leaving in a rapidly decreasing amount of time, and b) Chloe had looked absolutely distraught as she'd left and he, shitty parent that he was, hadn't done anything to placate her. The rational part, however, went ignored and Niall accepted the drink sent his way, ignoring Liam's slight sigh as he took a sip and not noticing as Liam downed the rest of his own drink in an attempt to keep up with him.
That was really the last thing Niall remembered, the fond yet exasperated look on Liam's face, and the disgusting taste of whatever it was he was drinking. Anything after that was kind of a blur. Which was to be expected, not having been a heavy drinker before and having chosen to throw himself in at the deep end. He only really remembered Liam laughing with him, at what, he had no idea, and there were vague memories of the car ride back, but he didn't really remember anything concrete, so it was more than a little surprising from him when he woke in a hotel room somewhere, light streaming in through the open blinds, and someone asleep next to him.
Opening his eyes, Niall closed them almost immediately, wincing and regretting the decision to open them again as he squinted in the sadly sobering sunlight of the morning, trying to take in where he was. The weight of the arm around his waist and the familiarity of everything were enough for it to be obviously Liam, but the hotel room confused him for a moment before he figured it was Liam's hotel room, booked for him by his management, yet another reminder of how quickly the time left before Liam went was slipping through his fingers.
That realisation, however, wasn't enough to jar him fully into consciousness, and he closed his eyes again, leaning back into Liam's embrace, more than happy to lay there and ignore the warning signs of what would surely be the worst headache he'd ever had in his life. That plan was derailed after only half an hour when Liam woke, doing his best to disentangle himself from Niall and get up as quietly as possible, disturbing Niall anyway.
Moaning and mumbling incoherently as he felt Liam get up, Niall hid his face further into his pillow, spreading out a little and invading what had been Liam's space, protesting as the lights were turned, making the room seem even brighter. Opening his eyes again, Niall blinked a little, once again regretting his decision to join the world of the living as he winced, raising an eyebrow as he noticed Liam, who happened to be standing in the bathroom doorway, a glass of water in one hand and paracetamol in the other. It took a lot of effort, more than it really should have, but Niall managed to sit, running a hand over his face and yawning, becoming more and more aware of the pounding somewhere in the back of his head as he managed to mumble, "You're staring."
"You're something to stare at." Smiling a little as Niall shook his head, the flash of pain across his face making clear that even an action as simple as that too painful, Liam moved so he was sitting at the foot of the bed, offering the drink and painkillers over and smiling again as Niall took them as he muttered, "You're a bad liar."
Taking the box of paracetamol back once Niall was finished with them, Liam couldn't help the wistful look that overcame his features as he looked over at Niall, the faint smile on his face fading a little as he said, "I'm not lying. You're really something, you know?"
Niall chose not to answer that, more focused on drinking his glass of eater and not dying from his hangover than enabling Liam's attempt at involving him in the fluffy, mushy romantic stuff that usually made his heart beat a little faster and softened even the harder parts of him. That didn't stop Liam, though, and he chose to carry on, maybe breaking the promises they'd made about the things they weren't going to say, promises they'd already broken anyway, watching Niall intently for a moment before he spoke. "I'm going to miss you. Miss this. It's why I don't want to leave."
This time, however, Niall was more resolute in keeping those promises, all the words he wanted to say, ways he wanted to make Liam stay, were locked away or had been said before, and he simply shook his head, a wry smile tugging at his lips as he managed to say, "You're gonna miss this? Hungover, near death me?"
That, in turn, made Liam smile, more genuine than his earlier attempts, and he sat closer to Niall, taking the empty glass from him and leaning in a little before he grinned. "You're not near death You're not dying. I forbid it."
Niall grinned back, in spite of his headache and the increasing feeling of unwellness, trying to keep the fondness out of his voice as he asked, "You forbid it? What if the hangover gods have other plans?"
"Then screw the hangover gods. I forbid such a thing." Leaning in, Liam gently kissed Niall, a laugh escaping him as Niall leant in and hid his face in Liam's shoulder, his fingers tracing over the tattoos on Liam's arm, distracting them both for a while before Niall dared to ask, "How much did I drink? I remember it was a lot, but Christ."
"Not as much as Lou or Harry. Still more than was probably a good idea." Pressing a kiss to the top of Niall's head, Liam was aware of the snort Niall made, obviously in response to his more than generous answer, both of them smiling a little before Niall let out a little whimper, the effort apparently making his head hurt more. Liam ended up laying back down with Niall, pulling the covers over the both of them and shifting a little so Niall's head was still resting against his shoulder, not complaining as Niall pulled the duvet over both of their heads.
The two of them laid there like that for a while before Niall asked, "Shouldn't you be getting ready or something?"
"Not yet. We've got time." Reaching and taking hold of Niall's hand, Liam shook his head gently as he did so, tracing patterns into Niall's skins as he linked his and Niall's fingers together, meaning every word as he said, "No place I'd rather be, anyway."
That answer seemed to satisfy Niall as he freed his hand from Liam's and wrapped an around him, anchoring him in place before he reached up, pressing a kiss against the underside of his jaw and mumbled, "Good. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, either.."
Eventually, they both had to get up, their good mood soured by Liam's impending departure; the lingering kiss Niall pulled him into before he'd let him leave the bed lasting longer than it really should've and making everything feel more like a goodbye than it had a half hour ago. The kiss Liam pulled Niall into, when they really should've been showering, packing or getting dressed, left them both holding onto the other, not quite ready to let go. Somehow, though, they both managed to muster the determination to get ready and leave, the hotel door swinging shut behind them, the lack of time left making Niall want to pull Liam away, take him by the hand and run, somewhere, anywhere.
He didn't, though, and, instead, he followed Liam down to the hotel lobby, pasting a smile onto his face as they got near to the busy, near-frantic bustle of people who were all there to ensure Liam made his way onto the tour bus and actually left. It was only after Liam had dropped his stuff off with one person and had checked in with another, ensuring that the car to take Niall home was there and waiting, that they got to their proper goodbye and Niall's smile began to slip.
He did his best to keep smiling, though, looking up at Liam and fighting the urge to wipe away the facade as he said, "I'll miss you. You know that, though. You're gonna have to call, don't think you'll get away with anything less than twice daily updates, Chlo won't accept anything less."
"Twice daily. Got it. That's a promise." Liam huffed out a laugh, pulling Niall closer and not caring how exposed the two of them were out there, blinking and fighting past the tightness in his throat as he said, "You're gonna have to keep me updated on everything. Her swimming, school, everything. Customers, bitchy or annoying, just...keep telling me this stuff."
"Deal." Niall couldn't think of anything else to say then, so he reached up and kissed Liam for longer than was probably decent, pulling away and sniffling a little before he shook his head at the two of them. "God, look at us. You're going away on tour, not dying. Christ."
Liam laughed then, a proper, genuine laugh, and he leant in and kissed Niall once more, softly, briefly, before he let go of him, a smile ghosting over his features as Niall turned to walk away, looking over his shoulder as he headed toward the door, calling out, "Laters, Li."
"Laters, Ni."
******
Letting himself into his flat, Niall sighed and leant against his front door for a moment, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to seem more composed than he felt before he made his way into the living room, the forced smile on his face slipping a little as he noticed Chloe, the seven-year-old curled up on the sofa with Jessica, tired circles under her eyes, and a film playing on the TV that she didn't seem to be really watching.
Jessica got up when she noticed him, shushing Chloe as she huffed and tried to cling to her, prising herself away from Chloe and giving Niall a questioning frown before she shook her head at him, not caring that Chloe could probably hear her as she said, "She's okay. Finally stopped crying around midnight, by the way. Kept asking for you and her papa."
Nodding at that, Niall looked past Jessica to where Chloe was curled up, trying not to feel even shittier than he already did and failing miserably. "Right. Thank you, for looking after her."
Jessica shrugged at that, her steely expression softening a little, and she and Niall fell back not their normal pattern of easy conversation for a while before she left, giving Chloe a lingering hug and raising her eyebrow at Niall. Waiting for the door to click shut behind Jessica, Niall shook his head a little at his daughter, still remembering how she'd refused to allow Liam to leave and had clung to him as he slid onto the sofa next to her and pulled her in for a hug, letting her hide her face in his chest as she sniffled.
"Oh, Chloe."
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Ta-daah.
This chapter and the next few feel kind of random to me, but that could be because they're all written out of sequence.
Next up is how Niall and Chloe manage without Liam and life on tour. If I pull my finger and write properly. I currently have so many half chapters that form an entirely weird book of their own.
But whatever.
I hope you guys had a lovely festive season(?) and a happy new year, if any of that applies.
Thoughts on the chapter?