Undercover [Narry]

Chapter 21.

Harry coughed and spluttered, feeling more awful by the minute. He shuffled around on the sofa, trying to get into a comfortable position but it was just no use. He groaned weakly, whimpering a little as he rolled on to his back for what seemed like the one hundredth time. Niall was by the kitchen, cleaning up Harry's empty dishes. Harry's eyes were on Niall, who had his back to him and humming tunelessly. With his breathing hard, he stared longingly at him, wanting to call him over but not having any energy to do so. Niall must've sensed his temptation because he abandoned the wet and soapy dishes and the bright marigold gloves and walked over to Harry.

Niall knelt down, pressing his palm to Harry's damp forehead. Harry couldn't help the lazy smile that stretched on his lips at the gesture and Niall smiled back, pulling his palm away. He automatically bent down to kiss Harry but Harry reluctantly pulled away, placing a hand on Nialls shoulder. "I'm not kissing you until you're better." Harry vowed as Niall rolled his eyes.

"It's only a cold." Niall protested and Harry shook his curls, smacking his dry and chapped lips together. "Nope. I'm not risking it. Besides, you have work to go to." Harry reminded him and Niall huffed, feeling disappointed. "I'm still open for cuddles though." Harry added hopefully and Niall beamed, scooting closer to Harry under the blanket and burying his face into his chest, closing his eyes and feeling safe.

Harry smiled contentedly, resting his chin on Nialls hair and wrapping his arms around the smaller lad. "That's just typical of Gemma." Niall said suddenly and Harry frowned in wonder. "What is?" he asked.

"Gemma said that she'd give anything to look after you while you were ill back home but now that you're together and you're ill, she sends you off to me." Niall explained with a chortle and Harry couldn't help agreeing with him. "Yeah, that's just Gemma. She probably that you knew me better than anyone and you'd know how to take care of me." Harry replies and Niall felt guilty at the thought. It should've been the other way around. Niall had only known Harry for a few months now. Gemma had known Harry all her life (not properly) yet still, she knew nothing about her younger brother. His likes, dislikes and vice versa. It was terribly tragic and Harry was just glad that Niall was the one that reunited them, of all people. Harry was grateful for that but Niall promised himself to make sure that Harry spends some well-deserved quality time with his sister.

"What are you doing for Christmas?" Niall asked curiously, another plan plotting incredibly in his head. Harry thought hard, his hand caressing Nialls back. "Most of the time I just spend it with Dan but because he's married now, I think he'd want to spend it with his family and I don't want to intrude." Harry admitted and Niall smiled.

"Why don't you spend it with Gemma? I'm sure she'd like that." Niall suggested and Harry beamed at the thought. "Yeah, I'll give her a call later on." Harry agreed and Niall smiled, kissing Harry cheek quickly before getting up. "What are you doing?" Harry sighed, yawning widely. "Uh...normally my family come home from Ireland with my brother for a few weeks and I spend it with them, Zayn and Liam." Niall shrugged and Harry nodded. “There’s gonna be a new addition this year.” Niall smiled thoughtfully and Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” he grinned and Niall nodded. “My nephew was born not long ago. I don’t get to see him much but he’s a month old now.” Niall beamed and Harry chuckled. “Aw, cute.” Harry cooed and Niall smirked, humming an approval. Niall freed himself from Harry’s grip, leaving Harry cold and lonely. “Where are you going?” Harry frowned, pouting at the loss of contact. “To shower. Like you said, I have work to do.” Niall shrugged, heading into his bathroom. Harry stared blankly at the closed door, feeling disappointed at the loss of contact.

Gnawing on his bottom lip, he finally decided to push himself up the sofa (which took a lot of effort and energy) and slouched into Nialls bedroom. He could hear the shower running from the other side of the door and hot steam coming out from the gap so he sat on the edge of Nialls bed and waited patiently just out of sheer politeness. He started to get impatient after five minutes though but by then, the shower had stopped running so he went to investigate. Smirking a little, he pushed down on the knob and stood in the doorway. Niall had just literally came out of the curtain and he jumped with fright when he saw privacy. “Jesus, Harry! Have you ever heard of something called knocking?” Niall spat, wrapping a white towel swiftly around his waist before wrapping another one round his top half. Harry frowned, wondering why Niall was being so insecure.