Chapter 40

Chapter 40 — You Need To Calm Down

Liam cannot sleep that night. Instead, he is sitting on the floor, staring at a scribbled notepad, a calculator and his phone by his side. Although he is alone in the room, technically he is not alone — both Aaron and Jason are connected on the video call on his phone.

"You're seriously messing up my sleep schedule here, Liam," Aaron complains.

Lima rolls his eyes, "How very supportive of you. Especially after you told me that I'm out of job in a month,"

"Hey, that's not fair,"

"Really, guys. Do you have to bicker over call too?" Jason interferes, shaking his head, "And Liam, darling, it's been an hour. What exactly are we doing right now?"

"So, I have calculated my back balance, added my personal savings too — hopefully it'll be enough for me to pay deposit and rent a place. Now I need to find potential places for me to rent and also job propositions,"

Aaron yawns, rubbing his eyes, "And we have to do that at 1 am — why?"

"Because I don't think I have enough time,"

"Isn't this how your sister was a few hours ago?" Jason questions.

"Totally different situation,"

"Sure," Jason nods seemingly agreeing but not really, "Get up," he says suddenly.

"What?"

"You heard me — get up from the floor,"

"Do I have to get up too?" Aaron mumbles from the other end, his voice gradually growing lower and he is really struggling to even keep his eyes open.

Jason smiles lightly at the sight and shakes his head, "No, you stay in your bed. I'm just going to get this baby in his bed too,"

Liam scowls, "I'm not a baby," but still proceeds to get in his bed, pulling the covers over his body up to his chest, "Are you going to read me a bedtime story now?"

Jason shrugs lightly, "I thought you said you weren't a baby?"

They hear a soft snoring sound and see that sleep has finally won over Aaron. Both of them chuckle, and Liam sighs, "Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I say something?"

"You know you can,"

"Although I'm super stressed right now, I'm actually quite happy too,"

Jason smiles, "That's good, isn't it?"

He nods, "I never thought I could feel this way," he admits, and then with a smile, he adds, "But because of you two, I'm happier than I could have ever imagined,"

"I know. I love you,"

Liam's smile grows wider, "I love you too,"

"Now, go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow,"

"Okay, mommy. Goodnight,"

Jason simple rolls his eyes, shaking his head, before ending the call. And before long, sleep wins over Liam too.

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Liam is woken up by his sister that morning with a steamy mug of coffee in her hand. "Good morning," she greets him.

Liam rubs his eyes before sitting up, yawning, "Good morning," he greets back, graciously accepting the mug.

"I thought about it," she gets straight to the point.

It takes a minute for Liam's sleep-ridden brain to catch up, but he does recognise what she's talking about. He nods, gesturing for her to continue.

"I love this place. I have always loved this place — from the first moment I stepped into this house with him, I just knew this was it. This was my dream house," she took a big breath in before continuing, "But things changed. He's not here anymore. And I don't know — this place doesn't quite feel the same anymore. It doesn't feel right,"

Liam nods, "You want to move,"

She lifts her shoulders lightly, "I have to,"

"Okay, I understand. I'm here for you — whatever you need,"

She gives him a watery smile, "How above just a hug for now?"

Rolling his eyes, he places the mug on the bedside table and opens his arms, "Get over here you,"

In his arms, she sighs, her muscles loosening up. Liam rubs her back up and down and places a small kiss on the crown of her head. A few moments later, she pulls back, and furrows her eyebrows a little.

"Maybe you can still stay with us," she suggests.

"What?"

"Instead of looking for a new place all by yourself, maybe we can all live together under one roof. It'll be fun, don't you think?"

Liam purses his lips in thought. It is a good suggestion; he won't deny that, but–

"Can I think about it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure," she nods and then proceeds to stand up, clasps her hands together, "I'm going to go talk to the kids now. There's a lot of explanation to do on my part. Here's to hoping they don't hate me," she grimaces at the last part, and although she says it lightly, it is very apparent just how worried she's about it.

"You're a good mom, Rylee," Liam assures.

"Not lately,"

"Talk to them. They're smart kids. I'm sure they'll understand,"

She nods once, giving him a tight smile before leaving. Liam, sighing, plops back down on his bed. He has a lot to do.

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"A park," Liam deadpans, "Why are we in a park?" he turns towards Jason, accusingly.

The other man simply smiles at him, getting out of the car. Liam makes no move of doing so, simply crossing his arms adamantly. It does not matter however since Jason has made his way over to his side and opened the door for him. Liam can only sit for so long without responding.

Huffing, he gets out of the car and shrugs his boyfriend's arm off when he tries to sling an arm around his shoulder.

"I told you I have a lot work to do," he exclaims, "What are we doing here?"

"Thought we could take a walk," he shrugs, inserting his hands into his pockets, walking beside Liam, making sure to keep a little bit of distance between them, mainly because of his boyfriend's scowl.

"Now?" and then he repeats in a more high-pitched voice, scoffing, "Now?"

"Yes, now," Jason nods, "Any problem?"

"I have been telling you since this morning I have so–"

"–much work to do," Jason completes his sentence, barely controlling the urge to roll his eyes, not wanting to vex the man any further, "I actually wanted to talk to you about that," he adds quickly.

"What?"

"Let's take a walk first,"

"Why can't you just tell me? Save some time,"

"You need to calm down,"

"Do not quote Taylor Swift to me right now,"

"I wasn't, but good to know further about your music tastes,"

"What is wrong with Taylor Swift?"

"Hey, I never said anything's wrong with her," Jason raises his hands in mock surrender, "Let's just take a peaceful, quiet walk,"

"Okay," Liam finally agrees, but not even a minute in, he starts talking again, "Where's Aaron? Why isn't he here?"

"He said he had some important meeting with Daniels,"

"He can do his work, but not me?"

"Remember when I said peaceful, quiet walk?"

"Fine," Liam huffs, and starts walking ahead of Jason.

Jason shakes his head lightly, laughing under his breath. He follows behind Liam. About ten minutes later, Jason spots an empty bench nearby and calls after Liam nodding at the bench.

"What now?" he drags out the word, slumping down beside Jason.

"Let's talk now,"

"So, I've calmed down now?"

"Or we can continue walking. I have nothing against it," Jason leans forward about to stand up, but Liam quickly grabs his shoulder, pushing him back.

"Okay, okay. I'll shut up. You say whatever you have to say,"

Jason bites back a smile, and takes in a deep breath. As amusing as it is to see Liam so worked up, what he has to say is something rather nerve-wracking as well. He has discussed the matter with Aaron earlier, and he seems very much into the idea but he cannot guess what Liam will think or how he will react.

This idea only occurred to him the previous night when they were all on a rather long video call. He thought that maybe because he was sleepy he wasn't really thinking right but he woke up this morning, and the idea only seemed very much more appealing.

"I'm still waiting," Liam whispers close to his ears, and that's when Jason realises he's been staring off, lost within his own thoughts, instead of actually speaking.

"Oh, um, yeah," he clears his throat, "I was thinking... You are looking for a new place to either rent or buy right?"

"Yes. Do you know any good places?"

"Sort of," Jason furrows his eyebrows.

"Sort of?" he prompts him, when he does not get an immediate response from the boyfriend, he adds on, "Oh, actually my sister suggested that maybe we could live together. I'm still thinking on it, but–" he drawls off.

"Do you want to live with your sister?"

He considers his response for a minute or two, "I do like staying with her and the kids, and maybe it would be cost-effective us staying together, but... I don't know," he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, "I think it would feel weird,"

"If that's weird..." Jason raises his eyebrows cryptically, forcing Liam to give him a very inquisitive look.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just I'm going to suggest something that's... I honestly don't know how it's going to sound to you, but hear me out first,"

"Okay..."

"How would you feel about having me around all the time?"

Liam shrugs, "I don't know. I guess it would be nice. Wh–" it strikes him a second too late what exactly Jason is insinuating, and even then he's not going to believe until the actual words are out of his mouth, "You're not saying what I'm thinking, are you?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Jason," he asserts.

"Okay, okay. Yes, that's what I'm saying,"

"Oh, wow," he lets out a sharp breath and then a short awkward chuckle, "Um, what about– what about Aaron? Is he going to–,"

"No. And I did discuss this with him and he's cool with it. He's the one who actually pushed me to ask you today itself,"

"Really?"

Jason nods.

"But...,"

"If you think the three of us are ready to live together, then sure I can ask him too,"

"No, no," Liam stops him before he can pick up his phone.

Their relationship with Aaron is still fairly new and Liam does not want to rush any aspect of that. But with Jason...

He looks at him. He really looks at him. His glasses have slid down the bridge of his nose a little, and he helps push them back and gives him a smile back. Jason smiles back, and the dimples on his cheeks are something no one can possibly say no to.

It does not feel weird, this possible transition. Is Liam ready for it? He doesn't know. Does he want to do it? Well...

"What are you thinking?" Jason bumps his shoulder lightly against his.

Liam simply shrugs, "Maybe you should ask me again what you actually want to ask me,"

There's a beginning of a small spark in his eyes, although he doesn't voice out his assumptions yet, and Liam really appreciates it. There's a good chance of him backing out at the smallest twinge.

"My dearest Liam, will you move in with me?"

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