Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Eighty-Five

Niall/Liam

"So, Mum, Dad, lovely to see you. We have some news, by the way. Niall's pregnant, again. Bit of a surprise, we know. My fault, really, but you won't want to know the logistics. Your thoughts on this joyous, joyous news?"

"Nope."

Struggling to hide his smile as he looked over at Liam, Niall shook his head, trying to seem resolute and unimpressed with his dramatics, though the facade slipped away as he considered the potential reactions such a speech would receive. Not definitely disastrous, but bad enough that all potential family occasions for the foreseeable future would be awkward as hell.

When Liam made to protest, Niall repeated himself. "Nope. Just...No, Liam."

An hour ago, he would have expanded on his rejection a little but they'd been sat there for what felt like an age, trying to figure out how they were going to tell Liam's parents the news. He would have also given him a speech about how it was no one's fault, but by now, he could appreciate that Liam was more or less joking, even if he couldn't allow Liam to actually consider the idea.

An hour ago, he might have explained that using actual sentences and reasoning, but that was an hour ago, and since then he'd heard maybe six different ways of telling his parents about the baby, including one that was basically Liam taking a coming out speech and slotting the words 'about to be a dad, again' in wherever 'I'm gay' had been. The other speeches had been similarly shit and Niall was at the end of his rope, ready to give in and let Liam break the news however he wished to.

They'd jumped the gun on telling people; firstly by not waiting until Niall was well out of the first trimester as most people did, and secondly by telling Louis, Harry, and Zayn first, even before their families, despite their initial plans otherwise. Telling the boys had been one short conversation made easier by the presence of alcohol that had ended with congratulations and the casual acceptance that friends could be counted on to give but family wouldn't always.

To be honest, Niall thought they'd taken it remarkably well, given that all Niall and Chloe had ever brought to Liam's life (and by extension their lives) was drama, and another baby would only add to that. Also, they had all been away rather a lot, so the timing was probably...odd to them. If it had even occurred. But they'd taken it seemingly in stride, and Niall was reminded of the fact that he did actually like Liam's bandmates when he spent time with them.

Niall smiled again as Liam huffed out a sigh, giving him a sympathetic look. "We can tell them like that, if you really want, but if you're going for shocking, you could actually mention the fact that we didn't use a condom. That would really scare them."

"That would be...interesting. I'd actually like to see that, if only to cause my dad to have a stroke." Sighing again, Liam closed his eyes, leaning back against the sofa and stretching out as much as he could without disturbing Niall, keeping them closed as he said, "Or we could not. Let them find out from social media or just show up one day with Chloe and an extra baby in tow."

"Ah, yes. And give your mum a heart attack as well." Snorting, Niall shifted so that he was laid down, his head in Liam's lap, causing him to open his eyes, surprised, almost, by the gesture. His surprise faded into a smile, a genuine grin that Niall returned, if only for a moment before his thoughts went back to the matter at hand. "We could, Li, invite them up here. You invite them up to London for a weekend and we just tell them over dinner. No big speech, just drop it in there. That way, they get to see Chloe, there are multiple escape routes if things go awfully and we could do it before you leave."

"Yeah. Just tell them like that. It would work. Though, honestly, I can't think of why we'd need an escape route. My mum was so happy to find out about Chloe. Well- Not happy with me, but happy that she was a someone's Nan. My dad'll be my dad. Ruth and Nic will be just as pleased, it takes all the pressure off of them." Liam ran his fingers through Niall's hair absentmindedly, glancing down to gauge Niall's reaction as he asked, "How do you think Greg will take it? I know you're not gonna tell your mum, so it's just him, right?"