It was a total accident on your part. Moving in with a significant other was something you were new to with Niall. Though it had been nearly three years, sharing space and belongings was a big thing. And there were many things that either of you might have held sentimental value for without the other knowing. Like how Niall inquired the stuffed animal cow upon removing it from one of the boxes.
"One of your fans gifted it to me when I lived back home since we were both from the same town. You were away for a few months when she gave it to me and...I don't know. It was comforting." Niall brought the plushie up to his nose and scrunched his face.
"What is that smell?"
"That would be your old cologne." He furrowed his brows. "Yeah I wasn't the biggest fan of it either, but it made me sleep easier." You flushed red, taking the cow from him and placing it somewhere easily accessible in Niall's—your, shared closet.
Despite the slight offense (and agreement), he felt toward's his past fragrance choices, it brought both of you closer together. Now it's been roughly three weeks since that day, and you were trying to look presentable for a meeting you were attending that day. The bedroom was still catastrophic, but you were not the only one to blame for this. Upon the labeled boxes, some still enclosed with tape and untouched since removing them from your car was Niall's suitcase. Clothes were strewn about the room belonging to both you and him, but he was procrastinating the most to sort through his. In only a few days, he would be departing you for two months to tour.
It was nothing unfamiliar to both of you. The heartache of leaving each other for more than a few days still pained you, none the less.
After scavenging through your limited choices in jewelry, your eyes wandered across the dresser's stop and screeched at the chained coin. The gold glimmered in the light and daunted your eyes with the beautifully engraved horse displayed. Biting your lip, your curiosity got the better of you as you lifted the chain and cast it over your head, letting it drop comfortably against the back of your neck. The cool links sent chills through you, but the addition to your scholarly look, and, dare you say it, made you appear both sophisticated and simple-minded. It was just what you needed to complete the look, but it also did not belong to you.
The guilt of not receiving Niall's approval was washed away quickly in your mind. Dating three years had given you numerous opportunities to swipe—and sometimes return—Niall's things. After all, it would only be for the day, you thought. However, due to your forgetful mind, it was much longer than that. Your mind still blames how unobtrusively the metal sat on your neck, and how that was the main reason Niall's desperate flinging of items around your room the following week left you appalled.
"Babe, calm down. What are you even looking for?" Your hands flew to take hold of his flailing biceps, even more clothes tight in his grip and ready to be launched against the bedroom wall.
"M' necklace. Been lookin' for it all week, have you—" His eyes pause as the afternoon light peeks through the bedroom curtains, catching your awaiting expression, and also the linked chain dangling from your neck. The two ends travel down to your collarbones but stop abruptly at the beginning of your tee-shirt, which Niall hopes is hiding the remainder of his necklace. "Your wh—" you are cut off by Niall's large hand placing itself against the side of your neck. Slowly, he drags a finger down to wind beneath the links and tugs it up and away from your chest until it is taut, and the pendant was resting against the front of his hand.
"This. How...where did you find this?" Niall's tone was not aggravated, rather muddled by the sight of you donning his jewelry.
"I-it was sitting on the dresser the other day. I thought it looked good with my outfit. I meant to bring it back I just...f-forgot. I'm sorry if I scared you, Ni." Quickly, your hands became fumbling the eradicate the necklace from your person, but Niall's hands blanketed yours before they could. The necklace falls against your chest once more, Niall taking in the sight for himself.
"No. S'alright, princess, it uh...it looks gorgeous on ya. I just thought I'd lost it. But...maybe you should keep it on." You glimpse up at him as his hands lead yours down back in between the two of you. "Glad to know it's in safe hands, ya know?" He mumbles, cheeks growing a light pink color.
"Really?" You feel a smile growing on your face, thumbs rubbing the back of Niall's tanned hands which were gripping yours comfortably. He licks his lips and nods at you, and the sight of his Adam's apple bobbing up and down did not go unnoticed by you.
"So...it's just gorgeous on me? Nothing else comes to mind seeing me in your chain?" You lowly question, eyebrow quirking in the challenging gaze you and Niall share for a few seconds. In a moment of courage, you step forward to connect chests with him and feel his breath hitch by the cool metal prickly against his bare torso.
He answers, tone gruff, "I want everything off of you, but that necklace. Now. I've got a flight in two hours."
