FOUR §
"Hey," I say an hour later when Theo wakes up, taking a seat at the foot of the couch where he isn't taking up space. I cast a worrying look at him, at the dried tear tracks crusted into his cheeks. I massage his tiny toes a little. "How do you feel?"
"Okay." His voice creaks, cracking some, and then a tiny giggle rushes up his throat. "Tickles," he says, smiling idiotically down at me with those cute crooked teeth as he wriggles his foot.
I grin. "Yeah?" I lean down to blow loud, airy kisses into his neck and he squeals. (His neck smells like oranges from the soap he uses.)
"S-stop Uncle, s-stop!" he laughs, tries to press his chin into the hollow of his neck to stop my assault but I don't listen to his jumbled words, don't heed. I drink in his laughter and hear the earlier events fading from his voice. His tiny fingers tug at my hair, which I guess is tickling him even more. I laugh against his skin. "T-tickles!"
I finally relent, laughing, looking down at his flushed face. Small remnants of giggles tumble past his lips. "You're delicious."
"YOU'RE MEAN!" Theo proclaims, giggles.
"Am I, now?" I ponder aloud. I start to lean down again, teasing, grinning mischievously at him.
"Stop! Please!" he begs. He starts laughing again even though I'm a good one meter away from his neck.
Grinning, I stand up. "Okay then. Let's have breakfast."
Theo heaves himself into a sitting position, his hair tousled from where they've been pressed into the pillows for an hour, cheeks flushed. "What's for breakfast?" he asks, looking up at me. "Chocolate?"
"No," I say. "Eggs and bacon.
His face scrunches, nose wrinkling. "I don't like eggs."
"Yeah," I say, my voice teasing. I force a tint of firmness into it. "Well, you're still going to eat them unless you want another tickle bomb. Do you?"
Theo groans. "But Uncle--"
I raise my brows. "Tickle bomb?"
He frowns, slumping his shoulders. "Fine." Then his voice lightens, hopeful as he looks up at me again. "Chocolate after?"
I smile. "Sure."
"Okay!" He grins and scampers off into the kitchen with me quick in his heels. (It's really just a short walk fron the living room to the kitchen).
Liam is sat at the table, munching quietly on a plate of scrambled eggs and a strip of bacon. He smiles when Theo enters and takes an eager seat in front him. "Good mornining, bud," he says as I scamper off to the dish wrack to take out a plate for Theo.
"Good morning, Lili." My back is turned to them but I feel the grin in Theo's words.
"What's with all the laughing and squealing?" Liam asks curiously.
"Uncle was tickling me."
Liam fakes a gasp just as I turn around, his face filled with feigned shock. "He didn't. How evil of him."
"Yeah," Theo agrees, nods, then says, "but he allowed me to eat chocolate after 'cause I don't like eggs."
Liam looks my way and smirks knowingly. I roll my eyes at him, placing an empty plate in front of Theo and filling it with eggs. "Just a little bit, please," Theo says.
I smile at him. "Sure. But you better eat all of it or no chocolate, okay?"
He nods. "Okay."
I ruffle his hair a little after I've a put a decent amount of food on his plate (which is like five spoonfulls and a strip of bacon). Walking over to the fridge, I fill a glass with orange juice, pocket a minibar of chocolate Greg had lying around in his fridge, and walk back to set the glass of juice beside Theo's plate as he eats. "Close your mouth while you chew," I remind him. "And slow down, sheesh. Your chocolate isn't going anywhere, champ."
Theo just nods although it's obvious he isn't listening to me, continuing to scarf down his food in quick chews.
Liam finds this funny, laughs a little. His plate is already empty. "Go, buddy, go!"
I glare at him and mouth, "Don't make him think this is okay."
"What?" He acts like he's done nothing wrong, shrugging. Idiot. I decide to ignore him.
I place my hand on Theo's shoulders, making my voice as soft as I can muster. I wouldn't to chastise him too hard. "You've got to slow down, Thei, or you might just--"
"Finished!" Theo exclaims, taking a quick swig of his juice before smiling expectantly at me. "Chocolate?"
I sigh and retrieve the bar from my pocket. Before he can reach for it, though, I crouch down so I'm face to face with him and say, "Next time don't eat really fast just because of chocolate or something, okay? In fact, because of anything! Chew your food thoroughly or else you might choke on them. Got it?"
"Okay," Theo nods, flashing an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Uncle."
I smile and hand him the chocolate. "Great. Here."
"Thank you!" His fingers clasp tightly over the bar and he clambers out his chair, out the room. I hear his footsteps pounding into the stairs (he's running) and fading quickly into what I suppose is his room.
I turn around to tuck the chair neatly under the table again and take his plate to put into the dish washer, Liam following quickly. "See that?" he asks as he places his plate into the washer as well.
I turn around, facing him. "See what?"
Liam smirks at me. "He hates eggs too. He totally idolizes me. I think he'll fill in my footsteps."
I scoff out a tiny laugh, rolling my eyes at him, at the stupidity of his thoughts. "Yeah, sure, okay."
"What?" He laughs a little too, knows how ridiculous his assumptions are with his lips quirked at one side. Knows how amused I am so he presses on. "You think I'm wrong?"
"Yes." I don't miss a beat. "He's a child, Liam. He's like entitled to get picky over things, most especially food. And just because he dislikes the same food as you doesn't mean he's a junior version of yourself, okay? So quit it."
"If that's what you say..." He shrugs and walks over to the fridge, leaning back to look at the full contents. Frowns. "Where's the chocolate?"
I smirk a little and reach for my pocket, hooking my thumb at the rim and pinning the last mini-bar of chocolate between my fingers. I pull it out slowly. "Huh?"
"You gave Theo chocolate. Where are the others? There has to be more, or this just su--" He looks back at me and stops.
I had peeled off the wrapping already by the time he'd finished talking. I take a small bite. "What? You mean this?" I raise my brows.
"There... has to be others..." His voice falters. I watch as he eyes the chocolate dip past my lips again, slowly just to tease him. He doesn't even blink and I blush when it really dawns on me what the hell I'm doing, what he's looking at. What he might be thinking.
What he hell?!
"This is the last," I say, just to snap him out of it.
"Give me some," he orders, his eyes falling back on mine. He closes the fridge.
"Nope." I make the 'p' pop, my voice dropping to a whisper. Casual. I want to make it casual, natural, that I still sort of hate him and I didn't just realize that my earlier teasing might have been a little bit sensual. "Never."
He stalks closer and my breath hitches when he reaches for my hand in a quick jab, making me pull back quickly, out-of-instinct. It hits me that he's just trying to snatch the chocolate. "Oh, come on!" he exclaims. "Just a bite."
I make my voice firm, unwavering. "No. This is mine. I didn't eat breakfast so I should at least have chocolate!"
"Well, why don't you eat eggs?" Liam asks.
"'Cause I hate eggs!" I admit. The chocolate is melting under my fingertips.
"What?" Liam looks at me like I've just lost it. "Then why did you cook it?"
"'Cause you hate eggs," I whisper.
"Oh, I get it now." Liam nods, his lips forming a straight line. "Yeah, I totally get it. You hate me so much you decide to go against your preferences just to prove it, right? What I don't get is why you're so intent, so insistent on hating me. Why is that, Niall?"
The edge of the sink presses into my bum, stops me from backing up any farther. He's right in front me now with only millimeters of thick, tense atmosphere separating us. "Uh..." I gulp, feeling small, cornered. I have no answer. Can't. I'd never seen Liam so cold, his eyes so reserved of emotions.
I freeze when he leans down right beside my ear. His breath is warm on my skin. "I think I know. I think, secretly, you--" I feel his fingers slip between mine so fast I don't register for a moment that he'd just snatched the chocolate from me. He leans back, smirking triumphantly as he stuffs the bar in his mouth. "-- are so desperate to annoy me just because I annoy you so much, too."
"Hey!" I scowl at him, hot blood licking beneath the skin of my cheeks. "You git."
He grins, laughs a little at me. "I can't stop myself! You're so reactive and cute when you get mad at me, it's just impossible not to at least be tempted to shove you over the edge."
"Fvck you, you arse."
"You know," he says calmly, taking a glass of water and swallowing it along with my chocolate, "you shold learn how to handle your cussing. I mean, it's hot and all but you've got to taper it down because this is a kid's zone. Maybe in the privacy of our bedroom--"
I step hard on his foot, unravelling a long line of curses from his tongue.
"You should learn to handle your cussing," I mimic obnoxiously. My glare doesn't falter.