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Noel hadn’t realized Liam was watching him.
He was in the villa’s spacious, sunlit living room, stretched out on the rather large couch with Buttons nosing at his face. Her whiskers tickled, and he found himself giggling as he scratched behind her ears.
“Who’s a good girl?” He said, his voice pitching up into the universal Pet Voice. She wagged her tail and snuffled against his skin.
He was almost 100% sure that Liam allowed her on the furniture—Noel would bet his left nut on that, actually—so he patted the pillow and invited her up to join him. She gladly accepted and laid down beside him, making a happy little noise as he cuddled her into his side.
Noel wasn’t usually a big fan of dogs. They were loud, and stinky, and needy, and slobbery, nothing like cats. Cats were clean. Cats were independent. Even when they were needy, they were dignified about it. Noel loved cats.
Buttons was different. She didn’t smell, and when she did lick him, it was warm and not so slimy. She didn’t even bark all that much. Best of all, she was small enough to fit nicely against the curve of his body, making him feel warm and soft all over as he stroked her silky coat.
He could fall asleep like this, and he was close to it when Liam made his presence known.
“Thought you hated her,” he said, sitting on the edge of the couch. Buttons twisted her head back to lick at his hand before turning back to licking Noel’s stubbly neck.
“I never said that.”
“Act like it though, don’t you?”
If they were young, and stupid, and high, Noel would have assumed Liam was looking for a fight. But they were old together, at Liam’s beautiful French villa, sober, after 15 years of hell. There was no bite to Liam’s words and the gentle way he rested his hand on Noel’s shoulder proved that he meant no harm.
“Shut up,” Noel said.
“You love her.”
“Shut up.”
“You love her!” Liam said again, voice full of glee. “You love her and you love me and we all love each other, love love love love-”
Noel cut him off with an exaggerated groan. Liam was such a fucking child sometimes, even at the ripe age of fifty-two.
“Please shut up,” Noel said, grabbing Liam’s arm and pulling him down so that he was laying with Buttons sandwiched between them. She made a pleased little huff when Liam kissed her nose.
“I love you,” Liam said, his bright blue eyes staring into Noel’s faded ones, full of hope and happiness. Noel wondered how the hell he’d gone without Liam’s all-consuming warmth for so long.
“Love you too, kid.”