Coalesce

SEVEN

Liam takes a breath, walking towards the entrance to the living room and kitchen space and then back to his bedroom door multiple times, trying to build himself up for what he's about to ask. Eventually, he plucks up the courage and tries to ignore the churning of his stomach, stepping into the kitchen.

Nobody notices him at first. Louis is sitting on one of the stools with Harry sitting on his lap, the nine year old looking a little less pale than the past couple of days, actually eating his toast without whining that he can't breathe through his nose right. Niall is sitting at the island too, hunched over a textbook like usual, almost missing his mouth as he lifts a slice of apple to it.

His Papa is by the coffee machine, strumming his fingers against the countertop as he waits for the drink to brew, puffing his cheeks out. To say he looks stressed is an understatement. It's a different expression to the angry one he'd sported the evening before when Liam had finally told him about the texts and everything.

"Um. Morning," he says, alerting everyone to his presence. Niall offers a concerned sort of smile, Harry just continues to crunch on his toast.

Louis gives a small wave. "Morning kiddo."

"Hey, bud. How you feeling?" Papa asks softly.

Liam shrugs, shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. "Fine. Um, can I talk to you though?" He asks, glancing around at the three other occupants in the room. "Like, privately?"

Papa looks a little surprised but nods immediately, pressing the button that halts the coffee machine and following him into the hallway, turning to look at him in concern when they stop outside his bedroom door.

"What's going on? Is he still messaging?" He asks instantly.

Liam winces, shaking his head and then sighing. "Well, yeah, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I — I was thinking about it, when I woke up. Last night too. For a while, I guess, but it wasn't really an option before because you didn't know about all this so I couldn't ask —"

"Kiddo, breathe," Papa says softly, holding a hand up to him. Liam follows the instruction and takes a long breath, releasing it slowly in the hopes of calming down the staccato rhythm of his stuttering heart. He swallows.

"What — what I wanna ask is...please don't be mad," he says instead.

Papa just looks plain worried now, brows drawn together as he scans over the boys face with gentle eyes. "I won't be, bud. What's wrong? You can tell me anything," he assures in the softest of voices, hand lifting to rub the top of Liam's arm comfortingly.

The contact relieves him a little and he finally manages to build himself up just enough to get the words out.

"I want to see him," he blurts, finally looking up at his Papa properly to see the man simply staring at him in shock for a moment before he blinks a couple times then frowns. He carries on before the man can object. "Not — not for long. Just, just like an hour or less, here, with you and maybe Haz. I want to speak to him and hear whatever he has to say so that he can quit with all the messages and stuff. And then I never wanna see him again."

Papa pauses at that, looking more confused than anything else. "You...want to see him for an hour today and then never again? Kiddo, I don't think —"

"Please, Papa. I — I need to see him," he urges, words tinged with desperation.

He'd spent hours tossing and turning last night thinking about this. It's crossed his mind a couple times before as well. A supervised visit, of sorts, to finally get answers from the man who abandoned him all those years ago because he's been deprived of such things for this long. He deserves to know why he left and never bothered coming back. He wants to sit down, talk to the man, and then make sure he understands that he no longer has any place in their lives. Then, he never wants to see him again.