Larry Stylinson ~ Poor Little Rich Boy AU

20. :-)

After a pause, where they both waited for her words to sink in, Niall’s jaw dropped so far that it hit the water with a splash, his chin sending droplets of water flying back up to hit him in the face. “I – you – we – you mean –” For a few more seconds, he struggled to process the announcement, then came the incredulous, “you’re not telling me you wanted me to do it? Like… you don’t fancy me too.”

She snorted and dropped a hand into the water to splash him playfully. “Trust me, matey; if you’d planted one on me and I didn’t fancy you too, we’d be going on our first date to A&E after a lovely dinner consisting of a knuckle sandwich.” Leaning back a little, she said, “of course I fancy you. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Wh – no!” Niall cried, “no it is not obvious! For God’s sake, why didn’t you say something? You know I’ve had a crush on you since Louis first introduced you, everybody does!”

“I wasn’t going to ask you out! I’m a girl! I absolutely refuse to do the asking. God, why do you think I make an idiot of myself every time there’s another guy around, did you think I did it for kicks? I knew it was the only way to get you to make a move, now shut up and kiss me, you idiot!” She leaned even further over the side in an incredibly precarious position, and that was when Niall seized the opportunity – and her wrists – and instantly yanked her in after him so that she crashed into the water with a shriek and a splash.

He caught her firmly by the waist as she tumbled in, so that she wasn’t even fully submerged in the water before she’d steadied herself (using his grip on her as an aid) and was expertly treading water, doing her best to look displeased but grinning in spite of herself. Niall pressed his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes until their close proximity meant that her blue irises blurred into one unsightly blob and his vision started to go fuzzy, making his eyes hurt, then he kissed her again, fiercely and unhesitant, pausing only to mutter,

“You are so going to regret making me wait, Hannah Walker.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, raising her eyebrows and grinning wickedly at him, “I know.”

~*~

“Have you got everything?” Louis asked as he lifted his third and final suitcase into the boot of the car, then reached absentmindedly out to curl an arm around Harry’s waist – but when no reassuring warm, slender body fit itself into the curve of his arm, he looked up to find that Harry  was stood hugging his mum again. Tactfully, Louis dropped his gaze, feeling horribly intrusive. He’d only briefly been introduced to Harry’s mum, in fact, he was surprised she was consenting to allow her son to go on holiday with someone she’d only spoken to once or twice, but perhaps she’d seen them hanging around each other all holiday and knew that Harry would never go near someone he didn’t know he could trust implicitly. Maybe she was just relieved that he was finally being brave enough to go somewhere and do something by himself. Well. Not completely by himself.

Harry gave her a gentlemanly kiss on the cheek, which made Louis feel ever so slightly wobbly (not because he was thinking of being on the receiving end of it; because he was a little bit caught off-guard by just how sweet Harry was to his mother) and then ambled over to the car to join Louis. He surreptitiously brushed the back of his hand against Louis’ fingers and made a point of thoroughly examining the contents of the boot. Anxiously, his mother watched him with her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach, probably a motion reminiscent of her pregnancy; she still longed to protect Harry even though he wasn’t inside her any more. Even though he could, to some degree, now protect himself.

“Is she gonna be all right?” Louis asked quietly, pretending to check the fastenings on his suitcase. “She looks kind of freaked…have you ever actually gone anywhere without her before?”