Imagines with Niall Horan

76. Christmas

"I really shouldn't even be involved in this gift exchange," You tell Louis, even as you sit on the couch in his living room. "And neither should Niall, for that matter. We have a plane back to Dublin."

"Are you seriously saying no to presents?" Niall asks you, his eyebrows raising. You huff and open your mouth to speak but he stops you. "Never mind. We'll be out in no time."

You roll your eyes but don't say anything more. Louis goes to the small Christmas tree and goes gift by gift, passing them out to their receivers.

After everyone's gotten their present, Louis tells you to start opening. You peel back the wrapping paper covering the small rectangle box in your lap slowly. Inside the box you find a necklace with a golden heart pendant. You can't help the smile that breaks out on your face before you realize there is a letter under the necklace.

You tear open the envelope (carefully, of course), and pull out the paper.

Y/N,

I love you. I've loved you since you acted super weird the first time we met and I loved you when we were together and I'll love you when you're all successful and up there. But I'm not in love with you anymore. And I know you're not in love with me either. I know that we're not supposed to be together and that's okay. We'll always be okay, and we'll always be friends, but I know you're holding yourself back because of me. When we broke up, you were really sad, and I think you just don't want me to feel the same way when you date someone new. I won't. It's okay for you to move on, I promise.

I know how you feel about him 'cause you've always felt that way about him. You just look at him like he's the best thing you've ever seen since that version of Wizard of Oz or whatever that you made me see. And I know you're keeping yourself from him because you don't want to hurt me. Well, the only thing that hurts me is knowing you're not happy. He will make you happy. Go for it. I'll be okay.

Love,

Harry

Your eyes were swimming by the time you'd reached the end of the letter. When you glanced up, everyone was laughing and talking and happy. You caught Harry's eye and he gave you a smile, a hopeful smile, that brought you to tears. You stood up and rushed toward him, engulfing him in a hug.

"Thank you," you whispered into his neck. "I really needed to hear that."

Harry pulled back and looked at you. "I know, that's why I wrote it."

You laughed at his obvious statement. Harry was looking at something over your shoulder, though, and you turned to follow his gaze.

Niall was walking out of the room. You looked back to Harry, eyes wide, and he smiled softly at you. "Go."

You rushed away from your ex-boyfriend, from your past, and pushed open the door to meet your future.

You spotted Niall right away, sitting down one of the steps on the stairs. You walked slowly to him. He had his head in his hands and his knees bent, feet flat against the ground. You sat next to him, shoulder against his.

"Hey," you whispered to him. This was it, you knew it was, the moment you had been leading up to since your first kiss. The dance you'd been doing around each other for three years was finally coming to an end.

Niall didn't look up when he spoke. "I guess you and Harry are back together."

It wasn't a question. His voice was resigned. You had expected anger, not the sad acceptance you were seeing. You didn't like it.

"No, we're not," you told him softly. You finally picked his head up and met his eyes. "Harry and I are never going to get back together. We're not in love with each other."

"Then what was that?" He didn't have to explain what he meant, and his question was followed by a sigh. Your heart clenched and you grabbed his hand.

"Harry wrote me a letter and-"

"Of course," Niall muttered, shaking his head.

"Let me finish, okay?" Niall, eyes closed, nodded. "Harry wrote me a letter that said something I've been needing to hear since... God, since the very beginning. Harry and I were never a good match. We only hurt each other and it wasn't healthy. I've been afraid of hurting him again, because that's all we've ever done to each other, but he told me that he was okay. Harry gave me the closure I've been needing and now I can do what I've wanted to do for so long without the fear of hurting one of my very best friends."

Niall didn't say anything, just stared at you. His expression was unreadable and you realized you would have to spell it out for him.

"Niall, I love Harry," you paused when he turned his head away from you and pulled his hand from your grip. You fought back tears as you reached for his cheek to pull his focus back to you. You almost broke when you saw wetness mirrored in his eyes. "I love Harry," you repeated, "but I'm in love with you."

Your tears began falling a moment after his. He didn't hide his face, simply leaned into your touch. You pulled his face close to yours and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. "He always gets what I want. Thought he was gonna get you, too."

You shook your head quickly, trying to get as close to Niall as possible. "You have me, okay?" You kissed him again. "You have me."