Chapter Text
Liam woke up well rested and very happy that it was Sunday. Even though he didn’t have a rigid schedule like school, waking up on Saturday or Sunday still made him excited to get up. Although it was quite cold outside and he was very warm and comfortable. The alarm clock flashing green numbers from his bedside table told him it was 7. Usually, he’d get up a little later but recently, the mornings had been ‘calling to him’ as he put it.
The band were staying in a hotel whilst playing the odd gig and recording their first album which was set to be released in a couple days. They also spent far too much time talking about boring logistical nonsense with the record label. Liam loved music, but honestly all this branding and selling and money stuff pissed him the fuck off. He just wanted to be paid a good amount of money, play music and do a shit load of dumb crap. All this proper working nonsense and paperwork made him feel much older than 21.
By the time he got out of bed, changed and made himself a good supply of tea, it was already 7:30. Surely it wasn’t too early to wake Bonehead up? He really wanted to have a good old chat about something. Liam hadn’t uttered a word the whole day which feels criminal, his greatest skill is talking and there was absolutely no time to waste exercising his fabulous skill. So he made another cup of tea and made his way to Boneheads room and knocked tentatively on his door with his elbow, both his hands preoccupied. He was half regretting his decision, maybe it was a little early.
After 20 seconds of Liam swirling his 2 cups of tea, Bonehead came out looking vertically asleep. Liam couldn’t help but plaster a sloppy mischievous smile on his face, it was just too funny.
“Wanna talk about the footy? I made you tea.” He asked as if he were a child begging their mother for sweets. Liam watched Boneheads expression turn from confused to annoyed to some sort of melancholic something Liam couldn’t quite describe. Nevertheless, it was time to argue about the two Manchesters.
...
The two of them were sitting on the couches of the lobby sipping tea and Liam was so awake Bonehead had half a mind to confiscate the tea off of him, he certainly did not need any more energy.
“We are absolutely going to fucking destroy United man, you watch.” Liam announced, his tone full of confidence and wonder. It was truly amazing how much men kicking around balls meant to people.
“Yeah, ok but City’s only won 3 games all season, you’re fucking shit is what you are, just accept it man.” Bonehead replied, glad to have the upper hand for once.
Liam put his cup of tea down and stood on the coffee table, pointing at bonehead like an angry mother lecturing her kid. “Never. We never lose, even if it looks like we are losing, we are actually winning because we have telepathic, mind reading, future predicting powers and we can’t make it too obvious to you low lives that we are magical beings.”
“You’re not even on the team mate, give it a rest.”
“I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together! We are all interconnected, without me, there is no Man City, they have to get their Godliness from somewhere” Liam exclaimed whilst wildly gesturing with the aid of his teaspoon and walking over the table, almost kicking over the pot of tea.
Both of them heard a door open and Liam jumped off the table and sat down next to Bonehead, almost falling on him in his haste to remain unnoticed trailing his shoe crust on the table. Liam grinned mischievously and went to grab his tea again.
“You’ve really been up with the big words today. Do you even know what Interconnected means?”
Liam took a big gulp of tea his eyes staring wide at Bonehead over the mug before he continued. “I finished school man, I’m practically a genius. Most of the time I have to hide my intelligence so you lot can understand me.”
“We don’t understand you at the best of times mate, are you telling me this whole time it’s just been your smarts sailing over our heads?” Bonehead asked playfully.
“Yeah man, twat actually stands for ‘trigonometry, Walgebra, algebra and ahhhh, trigonometry.”
“Ok, what about cunt?”
“Car, Uranium, Neptune and ahhh... trigonometry.” It wasn’t even that funny and the two of them were cackling for minutes.
They sat there mindlessly chatting for another hour, their conversation transforming from the ranking of album covers to which insect looked the most human. Then, a receptionist came up to them, Liam totally thought she was going to complain about their decibel level, it was 8:30am on a Sunday after all. However, she just told them that someone wanted Liam on the phone. So, he got up and made his way over to the front desk.
“Hi, who’s this?” Liam asked, genuinely confused who would be calling him up at 8:30am. Surely they must have gone to a lot of trouble to find him as well, because usually the staff would just redirect the call to his room and if he didn’t pick up, bad luck.
“Hi, Liam, this is Creation, we were wondering if you could come in today? We have some ideas we’d like to pitch.” It was a woman, presumably the secretary.
“Yeah sure, I think we’re free, when you want us there?” Liam was already getting excited to wake up his brother. He was always a grump in the morning and hated being woken up abruptly by Liam, but he was always far too tired and delirious to inflict any real pain on his brother. Which made it very very fun for Liam.
“Oh, no it’s ok, we just need you.” She replied, taking Liam aback.
“You sure? Y’know me and my brother own the name, so it’s like both of us.”
“It’s nothing formal yet, so we’d like to just speak to you.” Liam was getting a bit confused, but she said it was nothing formal so it shouldn’t hurt.
“Ok then, whatever. When should I come round?”
“As soon as possible if that’s ok.”
“Ok”
…
About 20 minutes later Liam arrived, it was still before opening hours so he wasn’t sure if he should just walk in or not. It was cold and his jacket could only do so much. Luckily, the receptionist opened the door for him and invited him in. Weird. She directed him into Alan McGee’s office. He wasn’t there yet so he just sat there spinning on the chair and looking around.
It was oddly cold and bright, feeling more like an operating room than office. All the other record label offices he’d been in whilst trying to get signed all looked like a teenager's room, decorated from the floor to ceiling with records and posters. But this one felt terrible, it had an absolutely terrible vibe. And its not like they didn’t have any successful records to put up, My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain where just a couple of their big bands.
Suddenly the door shut behind him and Alan made his way to his desk holding a heap of paper in one hand and a coffee in the other. He took a sip then spat it out everywhere.
“It’s cold!”
He sat down and scrambled for his glasses, taking a good 10 seconds to get comfortable before leaning over the desk and staring straight into Liam’s eyes. He gave off a gross sort of Aura, he also looked like he had run a marathon in 40 degree heat although it was at most 7 degrees.
“So, I have an idea.” He whispered, very excitedly. The sweat dripping off his forehead in massive clumps, his breath rugged.
“Okay, go on.” Liam replied, very enticed but confused.
He pushed his wheely chair back and gestured to an imaginary billboard on the wall. “Tragedy strikes as Liam Gallagher, frontman of emerging Manchester rock band ‘Oasis’ goes missing.”
“I’m not following, I’m not missing?” Liam was confused.
“No, you’re not missing, but we can get everyone to think you are, y’know like a publicity stunt. It’ll get the band some traction and then when you come back, everyone is going to want to know what happened.” Liam couldn’t work out if it was a joke or not.
“I dunno, it seems a bit unethical y’know. Also I’m terrible at lying.”
“Who cares about unethical!, It’s the music industry, it’s all fucked anyway there’s nothing wrong with fucking it up just a little bit more. And don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of lying soon enough, you’re going to have to do a lot of that from now on.” Liam could tell he wasn’t happy that Liam was already skeptical.
“Okay then… but the band and my family will know, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, they will totally be in on it, trust me, I’m not that evil.”
“And where would I go? And when?”
“Probably a few days after the album releases. And as for where, I was thinking this estate up in the Scottish highlands, we’ve been set up there a while and no one’s noticed.”
“You’re not supposed to be there?” Liam was quite surprised, yes Creation were independent but they were pretty well known and as far as he knew, not very dodgy.
“Well technically we know the owners, let’s just say we overstayed our welcome just a tiny bit. But anyway, that’s all I wanted from you today, you like the idea?”
“Well, I dunno, I’ll have to think about it and talk to Noel and the band about it I guess.”
“Oh, no, no, we are only going to tell them if it actually goes ahead. This is your first test in lying, because if you can’t lie, well I just don’t think the music industry is the right place for you. We are going to keep this between you and me.” His eyes were looking a little but crazy and Liam couldn’t quite place what he smelt of as he leaned closer to Liam over the desk, his voice diminishing to a whisper.
He paused for a few more seconds before continuing, the same feral look in his eyes. “And you don’t want to go back to Manchester and work a minimum wage trade job, do you?”
“No, no I don’t.”
“Then lie.”
…
Liam spent the rest of the day contemplating whether or not to tell Noel. Yes, Alan said he would end his career if he did, and subsequently the career of the rest of the band. However, how the fuck would he know if he told someone? Unless he’s gotten rooms bugged or something. He suddenly got a little paranoid, maybe he was watching them.
Liam decided not to tell anyone, and it was hard. It was especially difficult to convince Bonehead that he was simply at the office for a ‘consultation for vocal stuffs’. Bonehead had a way of being very perceptive of Liams behaviour and very concerned for his friend, which was an admirable quality that Liam loved him for, however, it was not helping him in his current situation. It made him feel like shit to lie to his face.
Liam had never lied much, he always told it how it was and now, he might have to lie to the whole industry after ‘being found after weeks of disappearance.’
Liam simply avoided his brother instead of lying to him, because unlike Bonehead, Noel would just squeeze the truth out of him. It was impossibly difficult during release parties and interviews to keep his mouth shut. But nevertheless, Liam did a pretty good job and managed to avoid Noel for many days before he suspected something weird was going on.
Just before dinner on the third day since the release, Noel had practically bashed Liam’s door down and berated him about the whole ordeal. Liam felt absolutely terrible and terrified, lying straight to his face about how ‘he wasn’t feeling very well and wasn’t talking much to anyone.’ Which was an absolute lie and Noel knew it, he’d been hanging around Bonehead like the plague.
But, Alan must’ve either trusted Liam or listened in on all his conversations and deemed his lying skills up to scratch, because that night at 11pm he got a call at the front desk asking for him to go to the office. Liam wouldn’t have gone if he wasn’t so drunk off his face, it was the Friday night after their first album’s release for fucks sake. But, whilst his decision making skills were at their lowest, Liam told his friends he had to go the bathroom whilst at the hotel bar and just left.
…
It was very dark even inside Alan’s office. The lights were bright but didn’t have much distance capabilities, as in Liam looked up at the light fixtures to see if they were on and got blinded, but he couldn’t actually see his hands.
“So, have you told anyone?” Alan asked in full knowledge that Liam was absolutely pissed. His face was very poorly illuminated, only his eyes standing out as if they were their own light source. Liam’s eyes must also look even more insane than usual.
Liam took a few seconds trying to understand the question before answering. “No, I haven’t, no one knows.” He slurred, it was surprising his sentence made sense. Liam had been so fucked that even after riding in a taxi for 20 minutes, he hadn’t sobered up in the slightest. And now, he was sitting very uncomfortably in his chair after practically falling into it. Alan stood up and approached his mini bar.
“Would you like some whiskey?” Liam was in complete disbelief, even his friends wouldn’t offer him any more drinks at this stage of drunkenness, let alone his employer.
“No, I’m good, I think I’ve had a bit too much already.” Alan poured him a glass anyway. And it wasn’t like Liam was going to just leave it there, the stuff looked expensive. So, he drank it in one gulp, it must’ve burnt his throat, but he couldn’t feel it, his senses far too dampened by the alcohol already fucking up his system.
“Anyway, have you put anymore thought into the idea?” Alan asked, his back turned as he poured his own glass. Liam was actually not seeing straight anymore, the wall was warping and changing colours.
He was slightly surprised that his ‘publicity stunt’ was what the visit was about. Liam had assumed Alan had either forgotten or dropped the idea after not mentioning it for almost a week. Liam had assumed he just wanted to congratulate him for the album. Although in hindsight, it was weird for him to invite only Liam, but in his drunken haze he hadn’t thought that critically.
“No, I’m still not sure about it. Um, ask me tomorrow… night?” He responded, not entirely certain what he conjured in his head came out his mouth.
“Great! So I’ll send someone up to Manchester to pack your stuff and they’ll meet you in Scotland!” Alan exclaimed. Liam was confused yet again, and a bit paranoid. He didn’t say that, he said he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to leave so soon.
“N-No, no I meant I’m not sure yet, I’m gonna uh… think about it um more tomorrow” He responded a bit desperately, stammering and stumbling over his words. “And I’ll go to Manchester I wanna say bye to my Mam.”
“Don’t worry we will bypass it on the way up.”
“Okay.” He responded. Shrivelling into his chair, his eyes watching the second hand of the clock flick at least 20 times.
He suddenly sat up straight again. Fuck, was he agreeing to this? No, he didn’t want to go yet, he had to think about it!
“But, can you still wait for me to think about it tomorrow?” He exclaimed, a little shake in his voice. Liam was definitely going to ask Noel about it now, this was getting weird.
“This time tomorrow, you’ll be living the highlife in a massive Scottish castle! Isn’t that cool!” Liam didn’t say a single thing that would’ve warranted that response! What the fuck was going on. Alan poured some more whiskey and Liam didn’t even think twice before pouring it down his throat.
Was Alan twisting his words or was Liam legitimately not able to say what he meant? Paranoia was bubbling up quite quickly in his stomach now. He had the sudden feeling that he needed to get the fuck out. But his legs were feeling like jelly as he tried to stand up. Making it to the front door was probably not on the cards, so he tried to explain again.
“I want to think about it, can you please just ask me tomorrow, please?” Liam said very slowly, making sure to articulate everything as coherently as he could, even watering down his accent to match the southerners, momentarily forgetting that Alan was in fact Scottish. His head was spinning and he could only just make out Alan’s grinning face in front of him, his eye contact slipping lazily every couple of seconds.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be plenty of food.” Alan responded. Liam was completely convinced there was something sinister going on, there was no way he was communicating that badly. In a last ditch effort, he made his way to the door, Alan calling after him acting all confused.
“Where are you going?” He asked forcefully, blocking the doorway and grabbing Liam’s wrist.
“I’m going to go home, please just can we talk tomorrow, I don’t know what’s going on and nothing I’m saying is making sense. Please just let me out, I’m too fucking drunk for this shit.” Liam was unable to keep the desperateness out of his voice. All he wanted to do was sleep and find his brother but he was so far away.
He tried tugging out of his grip, usually he’d be able to but the alcohol was making him weak. He’d probably end up falling over if he tugged harder. Alan tightened his grip.
“What the fuck!, let go.” Liam yelled in his face. He retreated to wiggling and twisting his arm around but nothing was working. He still had his feet though so he stamped on Alans toes. Instantly, Liam regretted it. He could feel the anger radiating off of Alan in waves of flaming fire.
Liam pulled his eyes back up just in time to witness his hand flying full force into his cheek.
Alan fucking slapped him.
What the fuck.
It burned, Liam brought up his free hand to touch his cheek, fulling expecting blood to smear on his palm. His eyes bored into Alan's in utter disbelief and he stopped struggling to get out.
Alan’s face was hard to read, he looked a bit crazy, but also like he was thinking very hard. His eyes were glued to Liam’s like his face had something to do with the decision he was making, hopefully he wasn’t thinking of slapping his again. It was making Liam very uncomfortable. He felt a little stupid with Alan was just calmly staring at him like that.
Suddenly, Alan loosened his grip and his expression changed.
“Okay, fine, by all means, go home, but remember, your career will be over.” He said, his tone calm and thin as he cleared the doorway. Liam stared thinking for a few seconds. It was a bit unfair for him to put Liam on the spot like that whilst drunk off his face.
Did he stay put and go to Scotland or, did he go home and ruin the lives of the whole band?
With as much brainpower as he could muster, he tried to imagine his future. Either he took the selfish option, running back home to his brother, losing their whole career. No one would ever forgive him for being such a baby. Or, he went to Scotland and well, just would live alone for a couple months. But, is that really what would happen? Liam was skeptical.
Surely, they could just get signed by someone else? What were Creation gonna do? Unrelease the album? Liam wasn’t sure if they could do that.
The scenarios he cooked up were probably flawed, but one thing he was sure of was that Oasis had too much potential for Creation to just drop them. Or maybe they could find a new label. It was a bit dramatic for Alan to drop them because Liam wanted to go home. Also, this whole Scotland publicity stunt ordeal was starting to feel a lot like a calculated kidnapping. Did they really want to be with a label that even brought up such a weird stunt? Not to mention, the owner just fucking slapped him. Liam was feeling stupid for not mentioning this to Noel earlier.
“I know my career will be over, please I just wanna go home.” Liam was getting very tired, he had a funny feeling that Alan was trying to stall his departure. Psychologically trapping him instead of physically.
“Okay, you let your lot know that it’s over then.” Everything he was saying was making Liam think harder than he ever had. Everything was coming off as so manipulative that even in his drunken state he could spot it.
“I’m gonna go.” He said. He slowly walked out the office then made a beeline for the front doors, trying very hard not to knock anything over.
Liam was absolutely so surprised that he was able to get a taxi. It was 12 now so the streets were scarce, hardly anyone driving past and Liam didn’t think he could navigate a bus in his current mindset. Luckily he managed to stumble a couple blocks to the main road and flag down a taxi. It was a 20 minute drive back to the hotel, but Liam was sure it was only 3. He payed and left.
He fell through the front doors of the hotel feeling absolutely lost, paranoid and scared even though he was technically safe now. Across the bar he spotted his brother and Bonehead, both of whom were looking concerned, probably because Liam had fucked off unannounced at 11pm. It wasn’t that out of character for him, but usually he’d drag along a friend to his midnight escapades or at the very least make his departure known.
They spotted him walking through the door, presumably because he was making an absolute racket stomping unevenly and crashing into tables left right and centre. His knees were going to be bruised like crazy by the morning.
“Where the fuck have you been? You look like shit. And what happened to your face?” Noel asked.
“Water”
“Yeah, ok, you gonna answer my question?”
“Can you take me to bed?” Liam wasn’t actually hearing what Noel had to say. All he wanted was sleep, he’d explain everything in the morning. It wasn’t like he was making a lot of sense anyway.
“Yes, I can, but where the fuck have you been?” Noel spoke a little slower, the confusion evident in his tone. Liam looked up at him with lazy eyes, usually he’d be looking down at his brother, but at that moment he was almost fallen over and leaning on the barstool, diminishing his height significantly. Noel must’ve noticed that Liam was about to pass out, so he grabbed his arms and hauled him up towards the lift, Bonehead helping him.
By the time they got to Liam’s room, he was completely out of it, the only reason he was still awake at all was probably because his brother and best friend kept bashing him into railings and doors. Noel practically threw his brother on the bed before sighing and leaving. Bonehead stayed a little longer though, actually wondering what the fuck happened.
“You going to tell me what’s going on?”
“They wanna take me to Scotland.” He mumbled, not quite sure if Bonehead heard him or not.
“Who?”
Liam really wanted to answer, but he just couldn’t stay awake anymore so he succumbed to a very welcome sleep.
…
It was bright as day when he woke up and he felt like he was amidst an earthquake, startling him out of his stupor.
Fuck, he was on a train.