Earn Me (Niam)

Fifteen Years Earlier

There are mixed emotions in the Payne household about the start of this slightly cold February morning. Geoff and Karen Payne are slowly bustling around the kitchen to make their children's very special and most favorite breakfast, especially on this specific day: hot chocolate and red velvet pancakes. The two adults share fleeting and doting looks at the other when they think their counterpart isn't looking, but of course husband and wife catch each other almost every time. And with every time they catch each other in the playful and very immature act, they just silently chuckle to themselves. And on top of that, the humor of what they found prepared in their son's room is still fresh in their minds. Both Geoff and Karen Payne could only roll their eyes and take a little picture to send Niall and Zayn's parents. And they immediately receive the same reaction as their own from the Malik parents: a roll of the eyes with a silent chuckle. Large soft smiles light up all four adults' faces when they think of the shy little blonde's reaction to Liam's spectacle.

Speaking of the children, Ruth Payne rushes inside of the kitchen and greets her parents with a bright smile and warm hugs. No words are exchanged between daughter and parents because all three know the routine. Starting from the year before, Ruth has grown to have an affinity for baking. So for almost every type of special event - whether it ranges from a major holiday to someone's birthday - she would bake something to share with her closest friends. And this time for this very special cloudy February morning, she opens the refrigerator door and relishes in the slight mist that brushes over her face. She sighs in relief when she still sees all twelve strawberry cupcakes iced with vanilla bean buttercream frosting standing like little soldiers on the baking sheet. Satisfied that none of her siblings came in the middle of the night for a delicious midnight snack, she pulls the baking sheet out of fridge and proceeds to open and close more pantry and cupboard doors to properly pack the petite pastries.

Only moments after, Nicola elegantly walks through the kitchen entrance and greets her parents and the only other sibling in the kitchen. She plants a kiss on Geoff and Karen's cheeks and grabs a plate of pancakes and a steaming mug of hot chocolate. For some reason, Nicola just feels in the pit of her stomach that something good is going to happen; she doesn't know what is going to happen or who it is going to happen to, but she just has that feeling. Unfortunately, the feeling leaves as soon as it arrives. But Nicola would never admit that in that moment she is more preoccupied with how delicious the pancakes and hot chocolate taste together. Just the perfect mixture of vanilla with a slight hint of cocoa and the creamy rich smoothness of chocolate with the frosty bite of whipped cream is impeccable.

After Ruth is done being a perfectionist with her cupcakes and Geoff and Karen turn off the stove, everyone else in the Payne family join Nicola at the dining table and proceed to indulge themselves with the very special and very delicious February morning breakfast. Well, everyone except one person. One person who needs to make sure everything is right and perfect. And everyone, parents and siblings both, can only laugh and chuckle to themselves. Because Liam Payne has publicly made it his mission to make sure that Niall Horan-Malik is the happiest little boy in the world.

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Something about Niall just makes Liam giddy. And that's saying something because in the brunette's exciting and long nine years of life, Liam has experienced the feeling of "giddy" multiple times. Like the time his parents took him to his first ever football game. Or the time Ruth allowed him to help her make some chocolate chip cookies. Or the time he finally learned how to whistle after days and days of futile and failed attempts. But none of those memories and situations even seem to come into comparison to the wave of emotions that hit Liam when he's around his small eight year-old best friend. Now there were a few complaints about that revelation. Harry and Louis, as much as they love Niall because Zayn would've thrown a fit, weren't too keen with the fact that their so-called best friend quickly replaced them with someone who he barely met a few months ago. But they quickly came around to the idea after seeing how invested Liam was during conversations with Niall. Zayn, however, never warmed up to the declaration. And no one, not even Zayn, can fully understand why he has this sudden discontent with Liam hanging out with his younger brother. Maybe it is the fact that Zayn is super protective of his brother because the adoption of the little blonde happened right after the desire for a little brother formulated in his head. Maybe it is because Niall is so small compared to everyone else in school and Liam is a little bigger than most and the brunette doesn't necessarily know how to control his actions. Maybe it is because Zayn just doesn't like the idea of the two together and Zayn doesn't want to share his little brother. Regardless, Zayn and Liam always seem to butt heads whenever everyone is together. All because both boys want to have sole custody of the blonde's attention.