Niall/Liam
"Li. I swear to God. Stop fidgeting. Christ, you're worse than Chloe would have been. It's nearly my appointment, just give it a minute."
Rolling his eyes, Niall glared over at Liam and sighed as Liam looked back at him with a petulant frown on his face. He resisted the urge to stand up and sit somewhere else and instead glanced around the doctor's waiting room and noticing for the first time how empty it was, probably a result of Liam pulling strings for them, despite Niall telling him not to.
That had been Liam's offer, brought up over dinner last week at a restaurant they'd picked at random, a smart jeans type place, and Liam had ordered a bottle of wine before he'd realised and asked the waitress to bring over two waters instead. He'd made the offer when Niall asked if he wanted to accompany him to the doctors, at least for the first appointments and the ones he'd be home for, only Liam had somehow started talking about private doctors and shorter waiting times and total discretion, and there they were.
Comfortingly, though, a private clinic had very similar decor and staff as a regular NHS GP's surgery did, down to the ancient magazines, dubiously stained chairs, and bored receptionists. It was so familiar Niall was taken back to the moments seventeen-year-old him had sat in very similar places, waiting for appointments for the same reason they were there now. Only now, he wasn't sat alone or with Missy, but with Liam, even if Liam was behaving like a child.
He couldn't really blame Liam, he'd fidgeted similarly the first time he'd done this, nervous and unsure of what would happen, and this was all new to Liam. It was, he might have wanted this, but the reality was different. He'd mentioned to Niall over breakfast that he thought today would have been an abdominal ultrasound scan, like it was on TV, and Niall had then had to enlighten him that no, it wasn't nearly as nice as that.
This appointment was the twelve-week scan, though he wasn't quite that far along, known as an NT scan and, for him, couldn't be done as a transabdominal test. Liam had paled when Niall had told him why they did the test, to test for genetic deformations and conditions such as Downs syndrome, and he'd looked like Niall had felt aged seventeen and having all this information thrown at him. Only, Liam didn't suit looking haunted and terrified, so Niall had kissed him and then pointed out how rare the odds were of the scan detecting anything, and mentioning that Chloe's test results had been abnormal but she was fine.
The appointment was the only thing either of them had to do, Niall having taken the day off of work, and there were tentative plans of going out for lunch afterwards, continuing the trend of making the most of the time they had until tour started up again. It meant that they'd spent the week slacking off from life and managing to fit more into a week than was probably possible, but they'd done it. Asides from taking Niall on actual dates, Liam had visited him at work, at first sneaking him away, then sneaking into the back room to surprise him, putting the battered old couch to good use.
It was the most...reckless Niall had been for...well, ever. One could argue that this particular branch of recklessness was in a roundabout way the reason they were sat there, in the doctor's waiting room, but they were overlooking that fact.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, they were called into an examination room, where they were met by a doctor who looked a lot less stressed, over worked and exhausted than your typical NHS doctor might. She introduced herself as Doctor Jones and didn't seem at all surprised by Liam, which Niall figured was what they were paying for.
Since this was technically Niall's first appointment, they also ended up covering all the basic details, such as 'was this his first pregnancy?', 'had he experienced any nausea, hormones, etcetera?' and 'how far along did he think he was?' the answers to which Niall gave whilst Liam looked like he might have done back when they were kids and he'd walk into exams having done no revision whatsoever.
Niall's answers seemed to be exactly what the doctor wanted to hear — no, it was not; not yet, thankfully, though with Chloe, the nausea had come in his second trimester, not the first; and he should be about ten weeks — and Liam relaxed for a moment until the doctor asked Niall to change into a sterile gown so they could do the test. Liam paled even further when it was explained how the test would be done, and even Niall looked slightly uncomfortable, but he managed a weak smile for Liam's sake, given that it was just a quick test and wasn't really a big deal.
The whole ordeal was over in less than five minutes but Liam, despite having been told what to expect, hadn't expected Doctor Jones to ask Niall to spread his legs; given that male biology was obviously different to female biology and they couldn't reach the uterus to draw the fluid needed via his abdomen as they otherwise perhaps could.
She also explained to Liam that whilst a heartbeat may be audible at this stage in the pregnancy, it wasn't always the case, which was why they tended to leave ultrasound scans until twelve to thirteen weeks, to avoid upsetting parents for no necessary reason. She did promise, when it was explained that Liam wouldn't be around for the thirteen-week scan, that they could send the footage straight to him after the appointment, going a long way to mollifying him, though Niall again figured that the extra effort was again what they were paying for.
Liam wrapped an arm around Niall's waist as they left and pressed a kiss to the side of his head, waiting until they were back in his car to murmur, "This is really happening."
"Yeah. It is." Niall looked up at Liam to try and gauge his reaction, giving him a soft, slow smile that Liam was quick to return, his words to Niall clearly a statement and not a question, meaning that there was still no doubt, something that made Niall's heart feel lighter. He leant in, kissing Liam, grinning into the kiss when one of Liam's hand rested against his stomach, feeling for the barely there baby bump that was just noticeable, if you knew where to look — which Liam did. He'd noticed it when he and Niall were ensconced in their own little world, making the most of Liam's large bath and exploring the merits of bubbles and candle light, and they'd both grinned.
On anyone else, or at least most people, there'd have been no sign of anything for a while longer, but Niall's frame, the slight softening of muscle and the new curve of his hips made it more obvious and the image had stuck in Liam's mind.
They'd escaped Paddy and Sam for the day, even though they were both still technically on high press alert, and they made the most of the privacy, going from the doctor's to lunch and a restaurant Harry had once recommended to Liam, one that had a strict privacy policy, meaning they didn't have to hide. It also meant that they could be as disgustingly soppy as they liked, within reason, with no one around them bothering to stare.
No one raised an eyebrow as Liam held Niall's hand over the table or leaned in and kissed his cheek or called him love, even in front of the waiter, who merely looked slightly bored. The pet name was a new thing, not brand new, but was something Liam hadn't used all that often, and it made Niall smile helplessly every time he did. Which may have given Liam more incentive to call him it, if he was honest.
Lunch also gave them an opportunity to decide on what they were going to do, telling people wise. Liam was pretty sure he was legally obligated to tell his management, but he didn't want to do that until their families had been told, though he might not have much of a choice. Liam's parents were on the list, along with his sisters, and the boys, whilst Niall had Greg and Denise, and Jessica. There was also the matter of telling Chloe, which could be interesting.
"It could either go one of two ways. Either she's delighted with the prospect of a sibling, or not. Sounds obvious, but you never know. She's never seemed all that bothered about being an only child, though she might be excited. God- What if she's not, though. What if there's a repeat of when you left and she thinks we're replacing her or something. And what do we do, if she's not excited about a sibling? There'll be one hell of an age gap, not like us with our siblings. Fuck, we can't make her like them, and she-" Niall's rambling was interrupted then by Liam, who cut him off by kissing him, which Niall would have found rather rude had it not been Liam and had he not returned the kiss.
Liam tried very hard to sound sure and certain, mostly for Niall's benefit, but also partly for himself as he said, "It'll be fine, Ni. It's Chlo, you once told me yourself that she can never hold a grudge. Even if she's not excited right away, she will be. Things will be fine. Louis has massive age gaps between his siblings, and they all get along great. As well as siblings can, anyway. You met Ernest and Doris, remember?"
Taking a few deep breaths, Niall nodded, trying his hardest to believe Liam as he let him take his hand once more, linking their fingers together and distracting Niall sufficiently for him to not mind as Liam took a picture of their hands, muttering something posting it to his Instagram.
Brief moment of panic over, they spent the rest of lunch in a comfortable state of half silence, making small comments mostly about the view of the city and tentative plans for after, ending up taking a walk through the backstreets and stopping for ice creams before they headed home, where Jessica was ostensibly watching Chloe, who'd given up on the reading comprehension she was supposed to have done and was instead playing in her room.
They were given hell by Paddy later, after a call from Liam's management revealed that fans, or stalkers, had taken photos of them from a distance when they'd been wandering around the back streets of Chelsea, but an apology soothed things over and the photos weren't even that bad. They were just slightly blurry shots of them holding hands, peering into boutique windows and laughing. Really, it was the standard photos to be expected when a couple went out together, Liam had let it slip that there were photos of Harry and Louis doing way more in far more public places, which made Niall laugh. Compared to whatever his bandmates had been caught doing, this was far tamer. Really, they'd done nothing controversial at all.
Niall pointed out as much to Liam, mentioning that they could be of them leaving the clinic, far more difficult to explain, or they could have captured the moment Liam pressed Niall against the side of his car and had kissed him until Niall had lost the ability to think coherently. It earned him a laugh and Liam pulled him in for another kiss as he agreed. "Very true, love."
______________________________
And here we go again.
Full disclosure, like 80% of this chapter was written when I was drunk. Well, not like, really drunk, but enough to come up with this, apparently, but whatever.
My search history is a mess after writing this and my amazon recommended purchases now suggests that I would like to buy, amongst other scary things, a self-rocking crib.
I can't think of any chapter related questions this time, so instead, I'm going to ask you guys to tell me your favourite TV shows instead. And you're encouraged to tell me about your OTP. (but be nice, please...)
Who watches Shadowhunters?
Riverdale?
Teen Wolf?
Something else entirely?
Oh, and thoughts on the chapter?