Chapter Text
Liam Gallagher was having a week like any other. On Monday, he went to the pub with Debbie for frozen margs. On Tuesday, Liam walked Buttons, watched TV and scrolled Twitter. On Wednesday, he went to a few meetings with Noel and the Oasis management, which went wonderfully smooth.
But on Thursday, nobody could have predicted what happened.
6:12AM, Liam is awoken, but not by the usual blaring of his alarm, nor the tweeting of the birds, nor the rising of the sun. Instead, the bedroom door creaks open, and Debbie taps him on the shoulder, as if she’s been awake for a while already. How strange.
As Liam’s eyes flutter open, they land on his fiancee’s face, which is twisted into a strange expression, something between guilt and pity showing from beneath a half-hearted smile.
“Liam, honey, good morning.” Debbie speaks, her voice thin and careful, as if talking to a stray dog or a scared child.
He looks up at her, blinking the sleep out of his eyes blearily, as a confused expression washes over his face.
“Alright, Guru, what’s goin’ on? Fuck are you doin’ up at this time?”
Debbie’s lips form a thin line, her eyes darting around rather than settling on his.
“Uh…”, she starts, before sighing softly. “You need to get up and pack a bag, okay? All the important stuff, like, anything you’d wanna take with you if you were going away for… a while.”
A while? Liam’s eyebrows, thinned with age, furrow with concern, and he hurriedly sits up in bed.
“Eh? ‘Fuck are you talking about? Wha’dya mean ‘going away for a while’?” his voice raises higher and louder, hands flailing as a feeble attempt to get his little brain to understand the situation.
Debbie purses her lips again, before speaking up in a firm tone,
“Just pack, Liam, I’ll explain when we get downstairs.” She pauses, eyes darting to to the bedroom door as if remembering something important, “and hurry, there’s people waiting downstairs for you.”
After many more desperate but unsuccessful attempts to question Debbie, Liam huffs and stands up out of his bed, digging through his wardrobe and putting his clothes into a conveniently laid out suitcase. He notices that there are a few things already packed in there, like his toothbrush, toiletries and phone chargers. He chuckles, shaking his head fondly. Always prepared, is his Debbie.
Once the bag is packed, Liam reaches for a pair of black jeans, and his old faithful CP company jacket, throwing them on naturally without a second thought to the blistering July heat outside. He runs a hand through his short, greying hair and puts on his favourite pair of sunglasses.
Alright, he’s ready.
Liam rolls his shoulders back, puffs his chest out and swaggers his way down the stairs, suitcase loudly bumping down the steps behind him.
As he gets towards the bottom of the carpeted steps, he suddenly pauses, pressing his ear up to the railing, seeming to forget that the gaps are easy to see through. He hears Debbie’s voice, of course, but the main thing that catches his attention are the other voices. Multiple voices, all male, but too far away to tell much else. What on earth is going on?
“Liam? Don’t go getting all shy now, come to the kitchen.”
Debbie’s voice cuts through his focus. He must’ve got distracted and not noticed her walking over. At this point, Liam has given up on asking questions, instead heaving his overfilled suitcase down the last two steps and trailing behind his fiancee towards the kitchen, his previous swagger toned down a bit, now.
When he steps through the door and into the kitchen, what he sees is so bewildering that he actually has to do a double take.
Standing around his kitchen island are four boys, probably in their 20s, all donning skinny jeans and flannels, with some very interesting heartthrob-esque hairstyles sitting atop their heads.
But these aren’t just any boys, not at all. Liam has seen them before…
One Direction.
Like, the boy band, One Direction.
Before Liam’s mind has a chance to start racing with questions, one of the boys steps forward, speaking in a thick Irish accent.
“What’s up, Liam. I’m Niall.” he says, voice kind but laced with a type of arrogance that only comes from being in a boyband.
“And I’m Harry!” The next boy steps forward as if on a cue, flicking his long hair out of his face, dimples forming as he smiles with his blinding white teeth.
“And I’m Liam.” Alright, no, this is getting too much now, Liam thinks. First theres a boyband in his bloody kitchen, and now one of them stole his name. Absolutely not on.
“I’m Zayn!” The dark haired boy steps forward, joining their weird, synchronised pose.
“And I’m Louis!” The last boy finally steps forward, hands clasped awkwardly infront of him. Oh well, at least this one seems a bit more normal.
“AND WE’RE ONE DIRECTION!”
Liam flinches as all of the boys shout out the band name, comically in sync and all grinning in copy-paste expressions that make Liam feel a little uneasy.
He pauses, eyes drifting over all the boys, before crossing his arms and furrowing his eyebrows.
“Right. So care to explain what the fuck yer all doing in my house?”
He demands, voice sharp and expectant, but the silence is deafening. The boys - One Direction, he supposes - look at each other awkwardly, one of them, he thinks Harry?, clearing his throat, but not actually speaking.
“Well? I ain’t got all fuckin’ day lads.” Liam snaps, huffing exasperatedly.
The band look over to Debbie, clearly wanting her to explain rather than them, and she sighs, eyes casting over to meet Liam’s, expression unreadable.
“Alright so… well, we both know that Definitely Maybe money isn’t gonna last forever, love.” She starts, speaking carefully as to not say the wrong thing.
“So I sort of… took matters into my own hands?”
“Fuck is that supposed to mean? Our money ain’t running out any time soon.” Liam argues, but he knows it’s true. I mean, with his excessive spending and the large cut of profits that Noel gets, money has been a little more tight lately…
Debbie ignores his comment, just shooting him a warning look, before continuing.
“Liam, I um… I sold you to One Direction.”
Liam’s face twists, seeming to go through 100 different emotions in the space of 5 seconds. He splutters, but no real words come out.
Suddenly, all the eyes in the room feel heavy, and Liam darts his own eyes between Debbie and the group of 5 tumblr looking boys.
“You… SOLD ME? TO ONE DIRECTION?” Liam shouts, eyes wide in confusion. “Can you even do that? How on earth did you SELL me? I’m fuckin’ Liam Gallagher, you can’t just sell me to a bunch of teenagers?!”
“Well, we sorted out an agreement… and the money is good. Like, really good. I mean, you said it yourself, you’re Liam Gallagher. People pay good money for you, y’know?”
Liam stares at Debbie incredulously, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“You’re gonna go live with them, okay? I’m sure they’ll still let you see me and Noel, okay. Plus, you did say you fancied a change…”
Despite the outrageous nature of the situation, Liam can’t find it in him to argue. He always has been bad at saying no to Debbie. As her eyes gaze into his, full of warmth and honesty, and her voice, the same voice that he can never argue with, drifts through the large kitchen, he sighs.
And nods.