Chapter Text
"Good morning, sleepy boy."
Liam mumbled incoherently and rubbed his eyes with his fists.
"Can you say 'Good morning, daddy'?" Noel asked, pulling Liam closer to him as he approached the table. He positioned Liam between his spread legs and scrunched his nose at him as he looked up at the younger man. Liam shook his head and tried to hold back a giggle. "No? You can't tell Daddy good morning?"
He pretended to feel hurt, and he clutched his chest in a dramatic way.
"G'mornin' daddy," Liam finally said between giggles. It didn't come out very well, and it sounded more like a collection of garbled letters as opposed to actual words, but Noel was skilled in the art of deciphering baby talk.
Noel pulled him into his lap and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you hungry, darling? I can make some toast."
Liam shook his head and buried his face into Noel's neck as his daddy ate, and he rambled about the dream he had and what he wanted to do during the day. He wanted to go play football in the back garden, and he wanted to adventure on the trail that stretched out along the property, if Noel said it was okay, of course.
He didn't.
Liam was far too young to go out alone, and Noel had far too much unpacking to do. They had already been in the house for four days, and Noel still hadn't unpacked any of his belongings except a day's worth of clothes at a time or most of the random little trinkets they had brought from the flat.
"Li," Noel said softly, not wanting to start the day on a bad note. He decided a small white lie wouldn't hurt. "It's supposed to rain out, darling. It looks like we're gonna have to stay in and maybe watch some movies after Daddy gets done unpacking."
Liam's face dropped, and he buried his face even deeper in the crook of Noel's neck. Even when Noel offered him a bite of toast with strawberry jam, his favourite, he still didn't pull his face away, shaking his head every time Noel asked him to look at him.
Noel hadn't even been lying, really. It was supposed to rain, just much later in the day.
"Come on, Liam," Noel said gently. He pulled Liam away from himself by his shoulders. "We have so much time to live here, yeah? We've just got a lot to do today, that's all."
Liam gave a small nod, not moving his eyes from where he was staring at Noel's collarbones. He bit the inside of his cheek and tried to hide back in the solace of his daddy's embrace, but Noel didn't let him.
"What's wrong, love?"
Liam began crying, and he would have caved in on himself as much as possible if Noel hadn't been holding him by the shoulders.
"I don't know," Liam said between choked sobs.
Noel pulled him into his chest and rubbed his back, letting Liam's tears dampen his shirt. He bounced his leg slightly, just enough to soothe his boy. He hummed quietly, like Liam liked him to do, and let Liam feel the vibrations of his chest as he hummed to the melody of Penny Lane. It was Liam's favourite song when he was regressed.
He figured that Liam was overwhelmed by the move. It was a lot to handle, and he wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of big changes in life to begin with. He was happy with his bedroom, both of them, and he liked the large television that they planned to watch tonnes of movies on, but it was still a lot for a boy of his age to handle.
And, Noel thought, he was probably also just hungry.
"I know it's hard, baby," Noel whispered. "But it's gonna be fine, yeah? We're gonna be so happy here, and we can play so much football and go out walking all the time. How's that sound?"
Noel would be lying if he said the seclusion that the house afforded wasn't the biggest reason he had been so dead set on purchasing it. He thought that if there wasn't a risk of anyone seeing, Liam would be much happier running around outside like the silly little boy he was.
Liam's sobs had quieted after a few moments, but he still sniffled quietly as he gave Noel a small nod. Noel continued to rub his back and hum to him, giving him little kisses on the head every few minutes. Once Liam had calmed down enough, Noel suggested the idea of him having something to eat and then helping him unpack his things. He even told Liam he could lie on the bed and colour in his colouring books if that was more interesting.
He made Liam some toast and chocolate milk, and deciding he needed at least a little bit of protein, some eggs.
"No, Liam, let Daddy carry the plate, please," Noel said as Liam tried to take the plate from his hand. "Go get a towel from the bathroom, and you can come eat with Daddy, yeah?"
Liam did as he was told and met Noel in his room, watching him spread the towel across the bed to protect the duvet from any crumbs Liam might drop. His colouring books and crayons were already laid out for him for after he finished eating, and he took a sip of his chocolate milk before lying on his stomach on the bed to eat his food.
He slowly picked apart his toast and ate bits and pieces between bites of eggs that he picked up with his fingers, completely ignoring the fork Noel had placed on the plate for him.
As Noel looked back to check on him as he was hanging clothes in his closet, he figured there were worse things in the world than Liam eating with his fingers, and he gave little quips whenever Liam would stop talking, with his mouth full of food, long enough for him to get a few words in.
There was a long pause, and Noel turned around once more to check on Liam.
"Daddy?" the younger man asked meekly.
"Yeah, love?"
"D'you think the album's gonna do good?" Liam asked. Noel could tell he was beginning one of his little anxiety spirals that he did his very best to hide from anyone and everyone that wasn't his daddy. His fingertips were in his mouth, and Noel could tell he was trying his very best not to gnaw his nails down to the quick. "D'you think people are gonna like it?"
"It's gonna be fucking amazing, darling."
Noel truly believed it. He thought everything he did, and more importantly, everything Liam did, was the best that anyone could ever do. He portrayed that publicly, at least, and despite the insane level of self-criticism he tended to feel about what could be considered his weaker songs, he really did think that after the mixing was finished, the album truly was going to be fucking amazing.
Liam gave a little smile.
Noel figured it was best to change the subject before Liam started worrying again. But first, he sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing soothing little circles on Liam's back and shoulders.
"Fuckin' amazin'," he heard Liam whisper. Liam knew he wasn't supposed to swear, but Noel figured he'd give him a pass just this one time.
With his free hand, Noel gently pulled Liam's hand away from his mouth, giving him a slight head shake.
"Hands out of your mouth, please," he said gently. He noticed Liam eyeing his colouring books on the foot of the bed, and he moved them closer to the younger man. "Can you make a really pretty picture for Daddy while he finishes with his clothes? Then I'll take a break, and we can watch some telly for a bit."
While Noel finished unpacking the last of his clothes, Liam did his very best job colouring a page with a forest with a cute little fox at the forefront of the scene. He coloured outside of the lines, as any child of his age would, and right as he finished, he wrote his name in big, bold letters at the bottom in all capitals.
At the top of the sheet, he wrote "To: Daddy" with a little heart beside it. Although horribly misspelt, Noel gave him a grin and a gentle caress on the side of his face seeing what he had done.
"You did so good, baby," Noel said. He genuinely meant it. "I think it's going on the fridge, that one is. It's perfect. And you did it all for me?"
"It's all for Daddy," Liam giggled.
He looked so proud of himself, as he should have been.
They cuddled on the couch as they watched whatever little movie Liam had recently picked out a physical copy of the last time they had gone out to the shops. There was a blanket draped over them, and Liam lay on top of Noel, chest to chest with his daddy. They watched it the full way through, and Noel rewound it so Liam could watch the beginning few minutes while he prepared another meal for them.
Although Liam had grown quite bored of doing a whole lot of nothing as Noel finished unpacking, he never stopped talking Noel's ear off with every single thought that ran through his head. Over the course of a few hours, he had managed to go from talking about football to asking questions about the world that Noel didn't think a child as young as he was could handle the answers to.
It was charming, really.
Liam was such a curious little lad.
As the rain began to hit the windows, Noel decided it was time for Liam to be getting to bed. He had skipped his midday nap in lieu of watching another film, and he knew that if he let Liam stay up any longer, he was taking the risk of having a very grumpy little boy to deal with.
"Liam," he said softly. "It's time to go up and get ready for bed. We've got to go brush your little teeth and get your pyjamas on."
Liam gave a little whine.
"Oh, none of that, darling. Good little boys don't get fussy about bedtime, do they?" Noel asked. Liam shook his head. "Off to the bathroom, then."
Noel brushed his teeth for him, as much as Liam hated having his teeth brushed. He didn't like flossing between his teeth; he felt like they could all be ripped out as easily as one could tear a piece of paper, and he didn't like the mint flavour of the toothpaste. He whined the entire time, which Noel ignored, knowing that Liam's teeth had to be cleaned either way, and he could handle Liam whining as long as he was still able to fit the brush in his mouth.
"D'you want Daddy to carry you up to bed?" Noel asked.
Liam immediately wrapped his arms around his daddy's neck and let himself be picked up and carried off to his room, where he was to be dressed in his pyjamas.
It was a cute little set Noel had picked up at some shop.
It was just a pair of dark blue sleep trousers and a matching light blue shirt with little yellow stars on the torso. Liam looked quite adorable in it, really.
"Give Daddy a goodnight hug," Noel said as he pulled back the covers of the bed.
Liam gave him a hug so tight that he felt like his ribs could crack at any moment and then pressed a little kiss on his lips. "A night-night kiss for daddy."
"Yeah, you gave Daddy a night-night kiss?" Noel asked. He was fully babying Liam at this point, and he was unsure of what age he had regressed to, but he was fairly sure it was quite younger than he had been all day. "D'you want Daddy to lay with you while you fall asleep?"
Liam nodded as he crawled into bed, letting Noel climb in beside him.
Noel clicked the lamp off before wrapping an arm around Liam's shoulders and giving him a kiss on the temple.
"Goodnight, sweet boy."
"G'night, daddy. Love you."
"I love you more. All the way to the moon and back."