Dealmaker: Grumpypants

"How much longer?"

"I don't know, Niall," Bobby told his son, irritation laced in his voice, but refraining himself from snapping at her nine-year old. He quickly cut the celery stick into bite-sized pieces before throwing them into a pot of soup.

Niall huffed and crossed his arms in irritation. The brunette boy didn't like playing the waiting game and his short attention span was wearing thin. Where was his mom?

As if on cue, the sound of the doorbell rung throughout the room. Before his dad could tell him to open the door, Niall was already off the counter stool and running through the living room, his bare feet padding against the wooden floor. When the small boy made it to the front door, he quickly unlocked the door and twisted the brass knob, opening the door to reveal his mom and an unrecognizable brown-eyed boy.

The lad was clearly quite a few years older than Niall, based off of how tall he was. To match his puppy eyes, the boy had shaggy golden-brown hair that almost concealed his eyes. He had one bag slung over his shoulder and one suitcase in hand. Niall decided that the newcomer looked like a nice boy.

"Niall," Maura started, "this is Liam, your older cousin. He's going to be staying with us for a while."

Niall tilted his head, wondering why the boy was going to be staying at his house. His dad told him they were going to have a special visitor, but that was it. To look like a big boy, the Irish lad stuck out his hand and put on a big smile.

Liam looked down at the young boy, judging his goofy grin. Unnoticed by Niall and his mother, Liam rolled his eyes, before sticking out his own hand and barely shaking Niall's, making sure to plaster a fake smile. "It's very nice to meet you, Niall."

"Liam!" Niall's dad called from the kitchen, heading into the living room and to the front door. Once he reached the others, the older man put Liam in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Long time no see! Last time I saw you, you were still a wee lad!"

The teen struggled out of Mr. Horan's and when he finally dislodged himself, he scoffed and fixed his shirt and hair, but gave Niall's dad a weak smile. "Yeah, been a while."

Niall's dad nodded in a agreement. "Alright, well, I have dinner ready, if you guys are hungry."

"Actually," Liam started, "I'm going to go up to my room first, whichever one is that."

"Oh, yours is the guest room, which is the second on the left, hon," Maura informed the lad. "We'll personalize it for you later. Just come down when you want to eat."

Liam gave a swift nod, before heading upstairs, picking up his suitcase as he trudged up the spiral staircase. As he slowly made his way up to the second floor, Liam took in all the fine design and upper-class feel. The fanciest thing his family owned back at home was probably their ratty television, when it actually worked.

When he finally reached the designated room, Liam threw his bags on the floor. The room was simple a very large, giving it a feeling of emptiness. There was a double bed with a navy blue blanket that was adorned with intricate silver patterns, accompanied by two cream pillows. To the right of the bed was a bedside table, with a lamp sitting atop of it. To Liam's left was a large closet and to his right was a door, which the teen was assuming led to the bathroom.

Curious, Liam went straight to the bathroom and turned on the water to the shower. He stuck his hand into the falling water, but quickly retreated, totally not expecting the water to be scalding. The brunette adjusted the knob slightly, till the temperature was tolerable, and began to strip. The teen let out a relaxed sigh when he stepped into the shower and let the warm water run down his back. Liam couldn't remember the last time he took a hot shower. The cold water provided at his house usually left him cold to the bone.

After showering and drying his hair, Liam took one of the complimentary white towels off the rack and wrapped it around his naked waist. When the brunette opened the door, he stopped halfway in his tracks when he saw little Niall sitting on his bed, his bowl of soup in his lap.

"Can I help you?" The teen was slightly irritated that a boy his age still didn't somewhat understand the concept of privacy.

Niall bit his bottom lip, thinking about the question for a second, before shaking his head. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No," Liam said flatly. Deciding to ignore the kid, the teen began removing random articles of clothing from his bags and put them in the closet. However, the sound of sloppy slurping rang throughout the room, causing Liam to whip around in frustration. "You should probably eat downstairs."

"Don't worry!" Niall exclaimed with a toothy grin. "I won't make a mess!"

"That's not what I meant," Liam sighed with annoyance.

"Mum said that you're gonna stay with us," the Irish boy suddenly blurted out.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Liam rolled his eyes and glared at the younger boy sharply. "That's none of your business," he hissed.

Niall frowned. Why was Liam being so mean to him? Did Liam not like him? Maybe if he showed Liam something cool, the teen would like him, or at least that's what Niall thought. Setting his bowl of half-finished soup down, Niall scampered out of their former guest room and over to his own.

Liam let out a sigh of relief, finally away from the nuisance. The teen tore off the towel and slipped on some plaid boxers, followed by some basketball shorts and a tank top. He went over to Niall's lukewarm bowl of soup and went over to put it on top of the bedside table, but a sudden knock at the door surprised the lad, causing him to jump and drop the soup, spilling the contents on the floor.

"Liam!"

The brown-eyed lad turned around to see a beaming Niall standing at his doorway, some kind of medal in his small hands. "What?" Liam seethed through his teeth, the mess of soup all over his legs and on the floor.

Niall half skipped, half ran, over to the bigger boy and held up the medal. "Look! I got it for being the best player on my football team!"

Liam examined the object, noting the brass football, which was basically what the medal was made of. The cloth used was an ugly shade of green, not exactly vomit green, but close. "Oh, how old are you again?"

"I'm nine!" Niall stated, standing proud and tall.

Liam crouched down and faced Niall, looking straight into his bright blue eyes. "You do realize you're only nine, right? Everyone is a winner when you're a kid. Your award is bullshit."

Niall looked up at Liam, horrified because he didn't understand why Liam was being so mean to him, but also because Liam had used a bad word, one his mum told him not to use.

"Now, out," Liam told the smaller boy rudely, spinning him around and pushing Niall's back gently, yet forcefully at the same time, towards the door.

Niall trudged out of Liam's room, hearing the door slam shut behind him. All he wanted was to be friends with the older boy. Slowly, with his medal dangling in hand, Niall walked over to his room, shutting the door behind him.

---

"He said that?!"

"Mhm!"

"Did you tell your mum?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't grounded."

Niall and little Harry walked side by side from school to Niall's house, the curly-haired one lugging his blue roller bag right behind him. The walk was only about ten minutes, but it was something the boys enjoyed on a daily basis.

"Mum said that my auntie asked us to take care of Liam," Niall continued. "Said that she couldn't do it."

Harry looked over at Niall, his green eyes widening. "Why not?"

Niall shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Mum said it was for personal reasons. Said that Liam's dad left them and it was something about that."

Harry nodded, biting his lip, his tiny dimples appearing on his cheeks. "I wanna ask him why."

The Irish boy stopped in his tracks and grabbed the younger by the shoulders. "No!"

Harry looked at his best friend in bewilderment. "Why not?"

"Because he's really scary, Harry," Niall informed his friend. "He's probably gonna be grumpy when we get home."

Harry but his lip again and looked up at the sky, deep in thought for a few seconds. "Whenever I'm grumpy, my dad likes to tickle me till I'm not, so maybe it'll work for Liam."

"But he's always grumpy, Harry."

"Then we'll just have to tickle him longer," Harry stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Niall shook his head, not agreeing with his friend. "He's bigger than us, so he can hurt us."

"How old is he?" Harry suddenly asked.

"Um, fifteen, I think," Niall answered, giving his friend a weird look.

"Well, we're both nine," Harry told his friend, patting him on the back.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Isn't it obvious, Niall?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes. "Nine plus nine equals eighteen and Liam is only fifteen, so we'll easily beat him."

The Irish boy facepalmed, walking the rest of the way home as he listened to his dear friend babble utter nonsense.

---

Niall walked up to the front door of his house and hit the doorbell, waiting for Liam to open the door as he listened to the muffled jingle coming from inside the house. Harry stood right beside the older boy, patiently waiting to see Niall's older cousin for the first time.

When he opened the door, Liam just ignored Niall, but looked down at the over-enthusiastic curly-haired boy with sparkling green eyes. "What do you want?"

"Um, he's my friend," Niall told the older lad bravely. "He likes to come over after school."

"Nice to meet you!" Harry greeted, sticking out his hand, while showing off his million dollar smile and dimples.

Liam just quirked an eyebrow at the young lad, before muttering something incoherent under his breath and walking back upstairs, leaving the two kids at the door.

"See?" Niall started, kicking off his shoes and entering the house. "He's always like that. I don't think we should tickle him because he'll just get mad."

"Don't be scared," Harry reassured. "Everything will work out fine."

The older boy nodded, even though he didn't totally agree with Harry. The two made their way up the spiraling staircase to Niall's room, where the two shut the door behind them to make sure Liam didn't hear them.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Niall whispered.

"I need you to yell for Liam from the doorway."

"Why?"

"Just do it," Harry demanded.

Deciding not to ask anymore questions, Niall crept toward his bedroom door, peeping his head into the hall once the door was opened. "LIAM!"

After the older boy cried for the teen, Harry quickly pulled Niall back into the room. Soon enough, the two lads could hear the door to Liam's swing open, followed by muffled footsteps.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Liam muttered under his breath, walking over to Niall's room to see what the younger lad needed.

Suddenly, Harry jumped out of the room and charged at Liam, letting out a battle cry as he made a beeline for Liam. The teen didn't have enough time to react as the smaller boy latched onto his legs, his skinny arms wrapping around the toned limbs.

"What the fuck?!" Liam seethed, trying to shake off the green-eyed lad from his legs. Pulling him by his curly hair seemed like a tempting option.

"Hurry, Niall!" Harry cried out, holding onto Liam's legs for dear life.

Niall walked out of his bedroom, watching the scene in front of him and contemplating on what to do next. If he did tickle Liam, then the older boy would surely hate him. Then again, it already felt like like Liam hated him. Seeing as he had nothing to lose, Niall sprinted towards the two and leaped into the air, hitting Liam's chest and tackling him to the ground.

"Get off of me!" Liam yelled, grabbing Niall by his shoulders to throw the smaller boy off, but he felt something poke and prod at the bottom of his socked foot, causing him to gasp and freeze.

Niall took advantage of the stunned Liam and dug his fingers into the older boy's sides, causing the brown-eyed lad to let go of the Irish boy, allowing Niall's hands to roam around his upper-body more freely. For once in the past week, Niall finally saw a real smile and heard real laughter from Liam, even though they were forced, unlike the fake ones he always used around his parents.

Down at Liam's feet, Harry had moved on from the random jabs to the to scribbling all over the socked soles, watching Liam's legs wiggle like crazy. Even though he was having fun, Harry had to admit the stench wasn't pleasant at all.

"Ahahaha! Fuck! Stahap!" Liam cursed under his giggles. He was doing his best to throw the two boys off without actually hurting them because unlike cussing, Niall would be able to prove that Liam hurt him if the smaller boy had a black eye.

By now, Harry had removed one of Liam's socks and tossed it to the side, revealing the ticklish flesh underneath. Deciding to try a different tactic, he grabbed the bare set of toes and dragged a single finger up and down the sole, watching the foot twitch under his grasp. Occasionally, Harry had to swat away Liam's other foot from defending the one being tickled.

"Are you still grumpy?" Niall asked innocently, sneaking his small hands under Liam's shirt and exploring the toned stomach.

"What?! Ahahahaha! Fucking stahahahap!" Liam was totally confused as to what the two boys were referring to.

"He still is!" Harry exclaimed, ripping off the other sock and zig-zagging his fingers across the foot.

Liam yelped when he felt Harry's fingers hit his arch. The poor teen didn't even know his feet were ticklish until now, having only been tickled on his upper-body by close friends back home.

Niall, on the other hand used his nimble fingers to navigate their way up to Liam's ribs, sliding up and down the bumpy ridges, causing Liam's laughter to intensify. The small boy had trouble not being flung off by Liam's constant squirming and attempts to
knock him off, but at least Niall's cousin was laughing more in the past ten minutes than he had in the past three days.

"Guhuhuhuys! Stahahap! Please!" Liam begged, letting up his "cool kid" demeanor and hoping to be released.

"You still sound grumpy," Harry said in a formal and serious voice, trying to sound knowledgeable on the subject. The youngest of the three grabbed Liam's big toes with one hand and used the other to tickle both feet at once, raking his short fingernails along both soles. Even though Harry was on the weaker end of Liam's body, he too started having trouble holding on.

Liam didn't even know what the two were talking about. To him, the way he acted around people was normal. The teen didn't think he was mean; people just saw him as an angry person.

The oldest was soon broken out of his thoughts when he felt Niall move his hands up to his armpits, causing Liam to let out a shriek. He clamped his arms shut in order to protect his vulnerable hollows, but in doing so, only trapped Niall's wiggling fingers in his most ticklish spot.

"GUHUHUHUYS! STAHAHAP!" Liam pleaded. His vision was becoming blurry and his movements turned sluggish, but the two boys didn't slow down.

Harry, having grown bored with tickling the same spot for the past several minutes, turned around and looked to see if there were any other available ticklish spots. Deeming Liam's thighs as a good place, the curly-haired boy squeezed the sensitive flesh, causing Liam to squeal with laughter and practically kick Harry off of his legs. Before Harry could gather himself together and hold Liam's legs down again, the teen was able to push Niall off, since his legs were no longer restrained.

After the tickling was over, Liam curled into a slight fetal position, giggling as a result of the aftermath. His feet and whole upper-body were still tingling.

Niall slowly crept over to the older boy, who was still on the floor. "Liam? Are you okay?"

At the sound of his "brother's" voice, Liam immediately sat up. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

Niall nodded, looking over Liam, just to make sure they didn't hurt him. "I'm sorry, Liam. We thought that you'd be happier if we tickled you."

Liam sighed and looked up at the innocent boy, watching his blue eyes shift with nervousness. The teen crossed his legs and motioned for the smaller boy to sit on his lap.

Cautiously, Niall edged on over and planted his bum on top of Liam's legs. The young boy was surprised when he felt Liam's strong arms wrap around him in brotherly embrace. "You're not mad?"

"Course not," Liam remarked. "It wasn't that bad anyway." Liam was lying about the last part, but he didn't want Niall to think he was mad at him.

Harry stood awkwardly in front of the two, not sure what to do next. He almost puked, though, during the loving moment.

"Besides," Liam continued, "since you got to tickle me, it means I get to tickle you back!"

Niall's eyes instantly widened with alarm, but it was already too late. Liam had wrapped his muscled arms around the small boy, trapping him, while wiggling his fingers all over the boy's torso.

"Nohohoho!" Niall cried, flailing as much as Liam would let him.

Harry, having given himself the title of master tickler, decided that he was an expert and should join the fun, even though Niall would probably hate him later. He went over to the other two boys and grabbed one of Niall's kicking legs, tugging off the thin ankle sock, and helping Liam add to the laughter and squeals that rang throughout the house.