Niall
There was one thing no one ever wanted you about when it came to pregnancy. Everyone liked to bitch on and on about stretch marks, sleep loss and back ache, but no one, no one, ever really straight up told you that you'd spend months feeling like shit.
It was like everyone just glossed over the period of time they'd spent puking every fucking day and feeling more run down than at any other point in their lives and lied through their teeth about it when they were asked, as though they were all part of some big conspiracy.
When he'd been pregnant with Chloe, it, like so many other things, had come as a surprise to him and he'd spent months feeling worse than he would ever have thought possible, clinging to Missy like she was a crutch, and he'd almost been relieved when he got to his third trimester and he began to feel somewhat human again, despite being the size of a fucking house. Even now, despite technically knowing what it had been like, he was still surprised when the waves of nausea hit, catching him at the worst moments and forcing him into an over familiarity with the bathroom floor and toilet bowl.
Liam, apparently, hadn't known about this, either. Until now, he'd been living under the false illusion that everything was fine and there would be no unpleasant effects and that lovely, rose tinted vision had been shattered when he'd stumbled out of bed to find Niall throwing up the remains of last night's dinner. To his credit, he had tried to be somewhat comforting, though when he'd tried that he either hadn't known or realised that this would be a common occurrence for weeks.
His naivety had surprised Niall just a little, as it wasn't the very first instance of morning sickness induced horror, but then again he too would like to forget about the morning when he hadn't quite made it to the bathroom and had been forced to turn to the kitchen sink instead. But still, naivety aside, Liam had at least tried to be somewhat comforting, and for that Niall was grateful.
That was actually how they'd ended up sat together on the bathroom floor at half past six on a Friday morning, not really that long before Liam's parents would arrive in London. And that was a prospect that made Niall feel more nauseous, simply because them being in London meant there was no avoiding telling them, no matter what his words to Liam on the matter had been.
But still. His parents had to know, even if it. Was. A. Fucking. Lot. To take in. They couldn't not tell them; it wasn't fair not to tell them, not now that they were supposedly part of each other's lives.
It was with the ever helpful reminder that they had less than four hours before Liam's parents descended on them that Niall hauled himself up from the floor, willing himself not to puke again, and turning down a mug of coffee in favour of cleaning his teeth. There was a minor exchange between him and Liam -- and that's all it was, most definitely not an argument because there was no way in hell that they were actually arguing over whether Niall ate breakfast or not -- which ended with Niall getting his own way, leaving Liam to get Chloe fed and dressed as he avoided anything that might make him puke.
He was left listening in every so often to the sounds of Liam and Chloe laughing to the radio and burning toast, along with a half-hearted explanation on Liam's part as to why Niall wasn't joining them. The sounds of that discussion left Niall briefly reconsidering his stance on their 'waiting to tell Chloe' deal but picturing how that might go left him hesitating.
Hiding forever wasn't an option, though, and he eventually appeared, helping Chloe with her hair and listing to her chatter on about the things she wanted to do while Liam's parents were up.
"Can we go that cafe, the one you and Papa took me to? The one where they do those awesome pancakes? And Papa said we might go shopping or something, if so, can we go to Build A Bear? And, and Disney Store. Jessica said they had new Star Wars toys in and I wanna go see."
Keeping up with Chloe's chatter took an extraordinary amount of effort and before Niall could even comment on any of the things she wanted to do, the topic had changed to the summer holidays which were rapidly approaching, even if she hadn't attended school normally for a while.
"Toby's invited me over to play pretty much whenever, he asked when we were at swimming and his mum said she didn't mind. And Jessica said we could have a Harry Potter marathon at some point, and Sam was invited. I think Jessica might actually like Sam, the way she used to like the girl who we used to live above, you know, her friend. Oh, is Sam coming with us today?"
"He is, Chlo. Paddy is too, just in case. But really it'll just be us three and my parents, though, today and tomorrow are really just us." Answering before Niall could, Liam popped his head around the door to Chloe's bedroom, giving them both a smile and nodding his head approvingly when he saw Chloe's hair in the plait Niall had managed to tame it into. "And then, Chlo, you're hanging out here with Jessica tomorrow evening, like we talked about, yeah?"
"Yep." Chloe reached a hand up to tighten the bobble and gave Niall a shrug that he interpreted to mean thank you, and both he and Liam suppressed smiles as Chloe checked her appearance out in the mirror, the eight-year-old painstakingly straightening out her shirt collar and playing with the sleeves until she was asked, "Ready, poppet?"
Liam chose to believe that her rushing past them into the hallway to grab her shoes was a yes and he and Niall followed her, the wrinkle in Niall's forehead as he took in the carnage that was Chloe's room fading as Liam wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him in for a kiss, making the most of Chloe's struggle to find her shoes and using the moment as an opportunity to murmur, "You look stunning, by the way."
"Really?" Despite one side of his mouth quirking up into what could almost have been a smile, Niall tried his best to give Liam a quelling look that clearly wasn't successful at whatever he'd intended it to convey and he gave in, leaning into Liam's touch and relaxing almost imperceptibly. Almost. The smile Liam gave him told Niall that there was no hiding anything from Liam and, any other time, he would have rolled his eyes but it was actually kind of nice. That Liam could tell.
The smile, that stupid, slow smile he had going on, didn't stop Liam from nodding and hooking his fingers through the loops on Niall's jeans as he said, "Oh, definitely. You always look stunning, but these jeans..."
His words had the effect of making Niall laugh, shaking his head at Liam before he pulled away and went to find his own shoes, suggesting that Liam do the same when he realised the time and saw that Chloe was now waiting somewhat impatiently for them by the front door.
In the end, as a result of Paddy's impressive driving and seemingly innate knowledge of the London traffic, they were only ten minutes late to meet Liam's parents, rushing into the lobby of their hotel to find them sat around calmly, unbothered by their delay. It was Chloe that they greeted first, if only because she ran over to them the second she'd spotted them and hadn't heeded any of Niall or Liam's attempts to restrain her.
By the time they caught up, Chloe was hugging Liam's mother, remembering to call her Nana as they'd agreed the last time they'd seen each other, and half the people in the lobby were looking around, glaring at the cause of the commotion that had disturbed the silence. Liam was next, and he was pulled in for a hug that almost made Niall jealous as he couldn't remember a time his own mother head ever greeted him like that way, at least, not since he'd been led enough to know who he was supposed to be. That train of thought was short lived, though, as Karen gave him a hug that was almost as warm as Liam's and made Niall feel shitty for ever having dreaded seeing Liam's parents again.
It was slightly more awkward with Geoff but, then again, it was always going to be, and Niall wasn't exactly surprised. Chloe got a warm hug from him, though, and Niall was glad then that she at least had Liam's parents. If he was honest, he was grateful to them, that they had opened their lives up to include him and Chloe, and that thought tempered the unease and awkwardness he felt and meant that his smile felt a little more genuine as he joined in with the obligatory small talk.
Chloe was the focus of a lot of the conversation, and she continually groaned and rolled her eyes whenever it was brought up how much taller she was compared to last November and how grown up she seemed. She didn't really look that put out by the comments, however, and Niall caught Liam's eye at one point, the two of them sharing a look that more or less agreed that they'd been right to keep the focus solely on Chloe for as long as possible.
The whole day ended up revolving around what Chloe wanted to do, filled with touristy activities and shopping as planned for Liam's parents, but only at places Chloe wanted to go to, which was how Niall found himself watching as Chloe led Karen and Geoff into Build A Bear to see the new Star Wars themed section, followed by Paddy, who seemed resigned to his fate.
That trip to Build A Bear wasn't all bad, though. Not in Niall's opinion. Even if Chloe would walk out of there with yet another bear and fourteen million accessories for it, she and Liam's parents would be busy for at least half an hour, meaning that he and Liam were presented with a little bit of time to themselves and Liam seemed to have an idea as to how they were going to spend it. If the purposeful manner in which he'd taken Niall's hand and was leading him away in was anything to go by.
Okay, so Liam's plans probably amounted to little more than dragging him off to a department store and they weren't actually alone (Sam was following them as always, keeping a respectful few paces behind, but he was there, right in the periphery of Niall's vision), but Niall settled into it, matching Liam's pace and linking their fingers together, barely blinking when Liam lead him into John Lewis.
He indulged Liam as he lead him slowly through the various departments, under the guise of window shopping and he tried very hard to sound enthusiastic when Liam tried to make him actually pick stuff up to buy, stuff he didn't need, clothes that wouldn't fit him in a few months, and it didn't surprise Niall when they ended up stood in front of a display of cribs, surrounded on all sides by onesies and toys and blankets.
And it wasn't like he didn't appreciate what Liam was trying to do, or that he didn't want to entertain him, that he didn't want to run his fingers across the wood bars of the crib they stood in front of or feel how soft the knitted blankets would be, but he was trying to be realistic. They still had months before this stuff would become necessary and they were out with Liam's parents and it would seem a little odd if they were caught buying baby clothes before they'd even told them.
By the time Niall found it within him to voice the reasoning behind his refusal to pick up the pair of the smallest sneakers he'd ever seen -- adorable soft felt shoes that he wished he'd had for Chloe -- Liam was looking more determined than Niall had ever seen him, including the first few times they'd met the year before. It was that look that made Niall want to hesitate but the vision of them leaving with carrier bags of baby clothes that they did not need at that point in time was enough to steel his resolve. "No, Li. We're not doing this today. Step away from the blankets."
"But-" Any protest Liam might have made died on his lips as Niall took the blanket he'd been holding and set it down firmly, giving Liam a look that he usually reserved for Chloe when she was at her most petulant. He would have tried again, but Niall seemed resolute. "No. Li. Not today."
"Not even just one little thing? One blanket? Those shoes you were looking at?" Liam threw a weighted glance over Niall's shoulder to the display he'd been stood at and gave Niall a look that generally worked when Chloe used it, but on him, Niall managed to resist. Not entirely, though, as he did move closer to Liam, pressing against his side and staring down at the blankets, looking as though he was seriously reconsidering even as he shook his head. "No. How would you explain why you'd bought a baby blanket to your parents or Chlo if they saw, anyway? Not today...Speaking of your parents, we should go and rescue them before they end up buying Chloe the contents of the shop."
After a few moments, he followed Liam out towards the exit, both of them very pointedly not looking at Sam, who was pretending not to have witnessed anything in a kind attempt at allowing them to have some semblance of privacy, a strange sort of silence settling over them as they went to find Liam's parents and their daughter.
In a predictable turn of events, Chloe was carrying a large cardboard box that Niall just knew contained yet another bear and Liam's parents were looking like they were in dire need of a sit-down and a coffee to recover, which Niall could only relate to. Going for a coffee, though, was apparently not what the baby wanted, and he sat there quietly as Liam and his parents drank coffee and indulged Chloe with a hot chocolate she would never finish, trying not to look as nauseous as he felt.
For the rest of the day, Liam seemed willing to drop whatever the trip to John Lewis had been about, and Niall was hoping that that would be it, however he proved himself wrong when he dared to ask later that evening, once Chloe had been put to bed and Karen and Geoff were back in their hotel, when it was just him and Liam sat together on the sofa, a film they weren't watching playing on the TV and their legs comfortably intertwined. "Spill it, Li. What was with you wanting to buy the contents of John Lewis?"
"I don't know what you mean." Sighing as he spoke, Liam didn't need to look over at Niall to know that his answer wouldn't be accepted and that Niall definitely knew his answer was complete bullshit, and he spent a few moments trying to string together an answer that was actually honest. "We might have months to get ready, but I'm about to leave again, and when I get back, there won't be that long. I- I just didn't want to miss out on that. I guess, I guess I got carried away just a bit. You were right that we shouldn't have bought anything, but I- I don't want to miss out on that."
Niall reached out to take Liam's hands, falling into a momentary silence at the weight of his words as he tried to figure how best to say what he needed to, squeezing Liam's hand gently as he slowly said, "I get that, Li. And you won't. I swear. We'll sort everything together."
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And I'm dragging this out anywayyyyyy
I swear, I do have a plan for this fic, I just keep ignoring it and writing chapters that weren't originally planned.
But it's looking extremely likely that this will actually get to one hundred chapters. And I remember when I said this would be thirty. Ha.
For some reason, today I'm going to ask you what your favourite shop is.
Mine is actually John Lewis because it sells everything you could ever need, from Macbooks to scented candles to really nice shoes.
Oh, and who here wants to predict how the dinner with Liam's parents next chapter is going to go?
And, I'm going to start asking you for names, either for a boy or girl, but boy names would be especially useful...
Thoughts on the chapter?