little do you know // niall horan au

chapter 7; heard it through the grapevine

Zayn laced his hand within hers and tugged, humming under his breath in agreement. Zayn was a sleepy drunk, all soft and sated and clingy. He sent her the tiniest of grins and a lazy punch to her chin with his other hand. "Love you lots, Mo."

The three of them were pressed closely to her body, cuddling into her like her own personal support system, and Mona felt the love seeping into her skin from their own. Maybe she was just too tired to function properly but her throat closed up with it, with how much they all cared and how much they loved. She'd never seen something like it in her life let alone felt it as hard as she did just then. "Aww, guys," she got out through the lump in her throat and the telltale burn in the corners of her eyes. "I love you, too."

A chorus of "Oh Mona darling" reverberated throughout the apartment and Mona had to bury her face in Liam's chest to keep from tearing up because she hadn't felt such a strong sense of belonging in her life, hadn't ever really found family apart from Harlow and her sisters. Mona couldn't help but sniffle a little bit to keep the impending tears at bay and the boys, like a bunch of puppies, only held on tighter.

The moment dragged on lazily, only being semi-interrupted by Niall switching channels for a bit before finally settling on just putting in a movie, and as the opening credits to Despicable Me began to flash on the screen, the boys got distracted by the buoyant, yellow creatures bustling about on the television yammering on in gibberish. Zayn yawned lazily and crawled over to Niall to cuddle into his neck and Harry joined them. They were whispering something to Niall, who only rolled his eyes in response, and Mona decided it was probably best if she went back to her own apartment.

Liam held on to her, though, stroking her shoulders in soothing lines and hugging her close to his chest. "Alright, Mo?" he murmured into her hair, and Mona nodded against his shirt. He hummed quietly and when Mona looked up at him, his eyebrows were quirked in thought. "Are you and Niall still fighting? I thought you two made up?"

Mona simply shrugged, not because she didn't care, but because she truly didn't know what the hell was going on between them. She didn't know if she'd done something else to offend him or if he was simply getting tired of her.

Liam dropped the topic and settled with simply watching the movie. About halfway through, the boys had all fallen asleep. Zayn, Liam, and Harry were snoozing with their limps sprawled out over each other's on the floor and Niall was on the couch. Before Mona left, she retrieved two blankets from Harry's room and spread one across the three boys on the floor along with placing a few pillows under their heads before covering Niall with the other one. Niall always looked so relaxed when he was asleep, shoulders less tense and sated in the best way, and because Mona was Mona and she couldn't help herself, she smoothed back the hair covering his forehead to press a lingering kiss along his hairline.

"Night, Ni," she murmured, pressing another kiss to his nose, delicately trailing her fingers over his jawline. And when she turned down the lights and made sure to lock the door behind her, well, that had been that.

Mona wasn't counting but that made a week and a half of no physical contact whatsoever save for that little incident at Harry's and Zayn's, which she really didn't understand because she wasn't sure if that meant he was still upset with her.

Which was why she definitely wasn't expecting him to stroll into her room as she was making up her bed today, as coolly as ever, hands shoved into his pockets and messenger bag slung across his lean torso. He wasn't wearing his glasses and the sweater he had chosen for the day stretched across his broad shoulders in the best way, the splattering of freckles dotting the expanse of the thick column of his neck brought out by scarlet colored material of his clothes.