Chapter Text
“Come on, let’s go to the park or summat, Noel–”
“It’s late. And I’m far too knackered for that anyway, our kid,” Noel replied. He was home now since leaving Burnage to tour with the Inspiral Carpets for the first time. The tour hadn’t even lasted that long, but it had been the longest time he’d ever spent outside his hometown all the same. Then out of the corner of his eye, Noel noticed the way his brother scowled at him as he set his bags down and took a seat on his bed. “What’s that look for?”
“You’re a wanker.”
A cheeky grin found its way onto the older’s lips and he laid down on his bed, covering his eyes with an arm to block out the ceiling lights in the process. “What for?” he asked, amused. “Because I don’t want to play with you?”
Liam folded his arms and looked away though Noel couldn’t see through the limb over his eyelids. “You’ve been away for so long that I thought you might come home and actually want to see me or summat.”
Was that poutiness in his kid’s voice? Noel chuckled at the thought. “I did, you twat. And I got you a souvenir and everything.”
Then Liam’s eyes widened slightly and he looked a bit more alive, and then Noel straightened up on the bed to produce a little necklace from his pocket. “Got it in Cardiff at a shop. The metal is harvested from some sort of magical mine or summat, or at least that’s what they say to the tourists.” The necklace was silver and there was a little key on the end of it, and it was quite pretty. Noel then reached for his brother’s hand and dropped the jewelry into it easily. “It’s probably not from some magical mine, though. But I just had to get the necklace anyway because the shopkeeper was such a sweet old lady and I didn’t want to say no to her.”
Liam admired the little piece of silver in his hand and then inspected the key charm. “What makes it magical, do you think?”
“The mine?”
“Did they tell you?”
Noel raised a brow and looked his kid over. “Dunno mate. It’s bollocks though, I reckon.”
Liam rolled his eyes and slipped the necklace into his pocket. “Fun to imagine though, yeah?”
“No point in entertaining fantasies about magic, I think. And aren’t you too old to believe in things like magic anyway?”
“Am not a miserable twat like you.”
“You have a funny way of saying thank you to your older brother for getting you a gift, our kid.”
The younger boy rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Don’t need to say thank you when you should be getting me this sort of thing, anyway. I’m your brother and all.” To his surprise, Noel didn’t retort with anything, rather, he simply sighed. He was knackered after all and sleep sounded far more appealing than arguing.
“Right then, I’m exhausted and I want to go to sleep now.” His brother stared dumbly at Noel, clearly too thick to get the hint. “So go away and turn out the light or you can sit here in the dark.”
Then Noel laid back down and returned his arm to shield his eyes from the blinding light shining down on him and not a minute later did the light go out. He hummed in satisfaction and he could feel his drowsiness begin to overtake him. He’d been out on the road for so long and he’d missed his bed at home in all that time. But it seemed someone else missed his bed too because Noel felt the bed dip beside him and his eyes shot open to catch his little brother curling up next to him.
“Liam–” Noel sputtered, dumbstruck. “What the hell–”
“Shut up,” Liam muttered as he made himself comfortable. Noel scowled and pushed his brother, but the kid had put on some weight and height and… a little bit of everything, actually. Liam didn’t immediately roll off the mattress as Noel had expected and the boy was glaring at him now.
“Get out of my fucking bed, Liam,” Noel bit out. He didn’t have the energy to fight the boy but he’d suck it up and go sleep on the couch downstairs if it came down to it. Honestly whichever would lead to him being able to sleep sooner.
Liam didn’t respond and instead wrapped his arms around Noel and the older tried to sit up now, but the boy’s now slightly muscular arms trapped him. A fury was building inside Noel as the teenager continued to annoy for seemingly no reason.
“Liam, let go of me right now you fucking–”
“Just shut up, am not hurting you or nowt, am I?”
“Why the hell are you doing this?” There was silence on Liam’s part and Noel’s eyes narrowed in irritation. “If you think you’re being funny–”
“I really missed you,” the boy admitted. The words died on Noel’s tongue and suddenly he forgot what he was even going to say. Then the arms around his middle loosened and Noel would be able to escape now if he wanted to, but the exhaustion he’d been feeling earlier seemed to hit ten times harder now.
It wasn’t like Liam to be so… vulnerable, for lack of a better word. And for some reason Noel couldn’t find it in him to continue fighting or to wander downstairs with a blanket and pillow so instead he relented. His muscles relaxed and he let his head fall on the pillow comfortably, his own face just inches away from Liam’s. If Noel were not so tired, he might have taken the opportunity to notice the difference in the kid’s bone structure and the telltale signs that he was growing up now, but then again, maybe he would hate seeing how Liam was getting older and he was missing it.
“Noel?”
The kid’s eyes were open and staring at him now and Noel closed his own eyes in response.
“Go to sleep, our kid.”
Liam cuddled closer and let his head find Noel's chest. An arm wrapped around Liam instinctively and pulled him closer. “Noel?”
There was no response from the older man who was too exhausted to entertain even a word of conversation now.
…
Morning light spilled into the room between the folds in the blinds. Everything felt heavenly for Noel who was just barely awake, not having even opened his eyes yet. He was warm, though, and he was in a real bed instead of some crappy motel bed. And then Noel felt arms around his torso and he grinned.
“Love…” He hummed, a hand coming up to tangle in thick locks of hair. The arms tightened around Noel and he snuggled closer. “Louise, you–”
“Am not that fuckin’ bitch.”
Noel’s eyes snapped open and he stared back into his brother’s. Their faces were too fucking close and–
“What the fuck–” Noel tried breaking away from his brother but Liam held him in place. “Liam, what the fuck are you doing?”
“What the fuck are you doing, calling me fucking Louise and shite?” The anger and hurt in Liam’s eyes was evident but Noel was far too focused on trying to untangle himself. Then he realized his legs were entwined with Liam’s too, and what the fuck–
“Liam, what the fuck is going on right now? Why are we–”
“Were you fucking drunk last night or summat?” The boy questioned with a raised brow. Noel tried to remember if he was, since he was usually on some form of substance, but he didn’t think so. “You can’t remember a fucking thing? Are you fucked up from all the drugs you’ve been on with the Carpets or summat?”
“I can’t remember any sort of situation that would lead to this,” Noel replied with sarcasm. “You snuck into my bed while I was sleeping or summat?”
Liam rolled his eyes. “You were awake when I climbed in.” That sounded familiar but Noel couldn’t imagine himself being okay with something like that. “You were giving me a problem about it too, and then I told you I missed you and you folded like paper.” Ah, that was right. Noel raised a hand to drag it along his face.
“Right, I fucking remember now.” Then Noel noticed his kid’s grin and the boy snuggled closer to him. The older brother huffed but didn’t shove him off. “I reckon we should get up now though, yeah?”
“For what?”
“For fucking…”
“You’ve got the day off, haven’t you?” Liam’s voice held amusement and something close to giddy in his tone. “You’ve got all the time in the world off until you go away again. You don’t have shite to do today so don’t fucking lie to me.”
“No, there’s a football match this morning. I came home last night so I could watch it here today.” The boy started laughing and Noel would have given him a clip behind the ear if his body weren’t in such an awkward position to do so. “Stop laughing and let me go, you twat.”
“The match was hours ago,” Liam replied through his laughs and Noel scoffed.
“Bullshite, it’s this morning.”
“It’s past noon, our kid.”
Noel then glanced over at the clock at his bedside table and his jaw fell open at the display reading 12:27. “Fucking hell…”
“You had a good sleep, then?”
Noel groaned. “Summat like that.”
It had been the best fucking sleep of his life.