Chapter Text
- 1:03 AM, Naoise’s House, Somewhere in West Belfast -
It was a dark January Friday night towards the end of the month, and the rain was pouring down heavy as per usual Belfast weather. The day prior hadn’t been very exciting to Naoise’s standards. He had spent the day doing a clean of his house and doing some food shopping, and ended up finishing off the day with his beloved Liam Óg coming for dinner and to stay for the weekend.
Dinner had been one of Naoise’s best works of art in the kitchen. A nice steak pie. JJ liked to say Naoise hadn’t the faintest clue how to cook, and often jokes that the man burnt pasta to the pot. However, Naoise had simply never invited JJ for dinner - and wouldn’t, until he stopped slandering his cooking skills.
Liam Óg loved Naoise’s cooking, and made sure to express this fact every time he ate something Naoise had made.
Back before Kneecap started, Naoise suspected Liam Óg had an eating disorder, spending everyday watching the man push food around plates and fuel himself with water, coffee, and energy drinks. He had googled how to support friends in that situation, but every answer just didn’t necessarily fit their way of life. So, instead of words of encouragement, Naoise just started showing up at Liam Óg’s door with homemade food.
And ever since then, Liam Óg would almost jump for joy when Naoise mentioned cooking something. It made the older man happy when he seen Liam Óg start to put weight on and keep it on, but it also encouraged him to spend more time in the kitchen. Before his mother passed away, she had taught him some recipes, one of which was steak pie.
So now, every time he felt upset remembering his mother, he took himself to the shops to buy ingredients and make himself steak pie in a small way to commemorate her - and also sort his dinner for the next two to four days, depending what dish he made it in.
Dinner was followed by a quiet night in front of the TV, where Naoise sat with his feet up and Liam Óg lay stretched across him as they watched whatever TV show was on, not paying much attention to it as they discussed their upcoming trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. Liam talked about the clothes his stylist had sent him photos of, and Naoise talked about all the sights he had seen on Instagram that he insisted they see during their four-day visit.
Now, Naoise was lying alone in bed, staring at the ceiling as he listened to the faint sound of TV channels being flicked through downstairs.
Cocaine Hill had been written by Liam Óg, based off his chronic insomnia. It was a good song, but the actual issue itself wasn’t. When the trio shared hotel rooms on tour, Naoise and JJ usually had pretty awful sleep experiences due to Liam Óg sitting up half the night either on his phone or watching TV. Safe to say, Dan their manager had ordered they all get separate rooms for the FENIAN tour, despite knowing Naoise would still go and sleep in Liam Óg’s room.
As another minute passed, Naoise turned his head to look at his alarm clock again. ‘1:04 AM’ looked back at him in red light, reminding him it was way past his usual bedtime. He sighed and went back to looking at the ceiling, but with every second that passed, he got more restless. Eventually, he sat up and threw the duvet off himself, shivering as the cool air touched his almost naked body. He mumbled some absolute nonsense to himself as he got out of bed and shuffled to the top of the stairs, looking down at the faint light coming from the living room door.
Liam Óg looked away from the TV as Naoise came around the doorway, standing there in his boxers with his hair slightly fucked from lying in bed. “Y’ okay?” Liam Óg asked, toying with the remote in his hand. “Come ‘d bed” Naoise murmured, jerking his head to the side. Liam Óg sighed, “I don’t want to disturb you” He replied. Naoise sighed, “ ‘S more of a disturbance to me if you’re not in bed, hon” He said. Liam Óg stared at Naoise for a minute before turning off the TV, sending them into darkness except the faint light from a street light outside the window.
Naoise climbed back into bed as Liam Óg peeled his clothes off, leaving them in a pile on the floor. Naoise never minded where Liam Óg left his clothes, considering if he ever left something behind it would be worn by Naoise then washed, folded, and put away with his own clothes until Liam Óg came back to retrieve it - and that last bit ever rarely happened unless it was expensive.
Liam Óg slipped in beside Naoise, who shuffled over and grabbed Liam Óg by the waist, pulling him flush against his own chest. They lay in silence as Naoise gently dragged his nails up and down Liam Óg’s bare back, occasionally humming a short tune from his childhood. After twenty minutes or so of this, Naoise smiled when he heard light snores from his chest. He glanced down and found Liam Óg fast asleep, leg hooked around Naoise’s hip and his arms curled to his chest.
Naoise shifted slightly and closed his eyes. Some nights were fine, but most were a struggle to get Liam Óg into bed, never mind lie down and try to sleep. Tonight was one of those easy nights, where Liam Óg hadn’t slept properly in his own house for God-knows how long, and could only sleep peacefully with Naoise.
Naoise had noticed that in the past few months.
Liam Óg tended to actually sleep when he was in Naoise’s house, or in any bed where Naoise was beside him. It wasn’t like he slept every time he was in bed with Naoise, because most of the time he would stay until Naoise fell asleep then return to sit in front of the TV until the sun came up. But some nights he would give in and follow Naoise to bed, and eventually fall asleep once he knew he wasn’t going to wake up alone.
But those nights were the best for Naoise, when he got to fall asleep with Liam Óg in his arms and not have to worry about what he might be thinking of downstairs. But he would never tell him that, even with a gun to his head. In true Móglaí Bap fashion, he would rather die than admit he worried so much about his friend.
But for now? He was happy to drift off to sleep with Liam Óg in his arms, and not worry about anything else in the world.