(a/n: I am so so so so sorry for how long it took me to update this chapter but I made it a whole lot longer to hopefully make up for it! I usually aim for 3.5k words and this ended up being nearly 5k words! xx :) -s )
Waking up always seems to be enjoyable with Niall. Being able to just lie there and hold him is kind of a happy feeling all by itself. It's like I'm actually accomplishing something meaningful; I'm helping him in a way that no one else has (to my knowledge, anyway). I love the way his eyelids flicker slightly as he starts to come out of his deeper sleep and I love the little freckles that span the entirety of his cheeks, but I shouldn't. There's some part of me that simply screams back at me every time I think something like that. Niall's placement in my arms has nothing to do with any sort of relationship between us; it's just two friends helping each other out. He's my friend, just my friend, and that's all I want. However there's two different voices in my head willing to debate about that one.
After Niall fell asleep last night, I noticed another one of his small habits. He repeatedly clenched his hands and opened them again, even stretching out his fingers sometimes. After a few repetitions of this little routine, I started to notice the crescent fingernail marks on the inside of his palm, pink from the constant clenching of his fist. I couldn't imagine why he might do this to the point of actually injuring himself in his sleep, but I felt as if waking him up wouldn't remedy the problem.
I managed to find a solution to this habit of Niall's after only a few more minutes of watching him clench and unclench the fist that was not pressed up against the small of my back. I gently slid my hand into his, hoping not to wake him. His hand immediately started to clench like before, but simply stopped as his fingers laid flush against my hand. His grip wasn't as tight as I had previously expected, and it wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be to fall asleep with his hand in mine.
It seems as if I'm only able to enjoy my morning with Niall for seconds because small cries can be heard instantly through the baby monitor to my right, Niall immediately stirring. His eyes groggily open as his muscles tense and stretch, a quick yawn emitted before he's pulling his hand out of mine and clumsily rolling off the bed, almost landing face-first on the floor.
"I'm coming." He says quietly (and still completely asleep most probably), as if that will immediately stop his child's tears in the other room. I can hear the faint sound of his feet shuffling down the carpeted hallway, and then the screams emitting from the baby monitor only seem to grow as I hear Niall talking softly through the baby monitor.
"It's alright, monkey." Niall mumbles, his voice thick from sleepiness coming through the speaker. There's a small clicking noise, and the baby monitor immediately goes quiets, which leads me to think Niall must have turned it off.
I find it incredibly odd that Grayson continues to scream for a good five to ten minutes after Niall has most likely picked him up and is attempting to comfort him. It just seems out of the ordinary that Grayson would react this way even with Niall in his presence. His cries soften but carry on gently for a few minutes after, but soon enough I can hear his sweet little hiccups as he attempts to stop his own tears.
There's slight shuffling and then Niall appears in the doorway, a sleepy, little toddler on his shoulder. Grayson's eyes are red and his cheeks are streaked pink from his tears, the remaining few still in his eyes, unshed. His little dinosaur pacifier that he never seems to be without definitely accents the clear pout on his face as he hugs his favorite pale green blanket. He looks absolutely adorable in his pajamas and his messy bed head and manages to look more like Niall every time I look at him.
"He usually watches some cartoons in the morning, but there's a drunk teenager passed out on the couch. D'you mind?" Niall smiles softly, motioning to the TV with a nod. I shake my head softly; it's his apartment after all.
YOU ARE READING
Without a Clue {Diall}
Fanfiction"It never leaves. It never goes away. Why won't it go away?" Niall's secretive, always has been, but no one could've ever guessed that he would hide something this big. It turns out trying to cope with your past is a lot harder when you're hiding fr...
