plaid shirt days & nights (when you made me your own) // niall horan au

part v

"Ohhh," Jaya draws out, and Zoe'd forgotten she's been standing there this whole time. "You're Zoe! Like the Zoe!"

Zoe finds herself huffing out a nervous laugh as she follows Jaya and Niall up the stairs and she hopes that it doesn't sound as strained as she thinks it does. Her throat feels tight with discomfort, but she pushes forward because while this isn't exactly the situation she'd imagined, she's a woman on a mission and she's not going to let something as trivial as a little awkwardness stop her. "Uh, that's me, I guess."

Jaya laughs, and the sound is just as pretty as her smile. "You know, for all the bitching Niall's done about you, he's never quite mentioned how beautiful you are."

Zoe flushes in embarrassment and Niall groans from the top of the stairs as he opens the door leading into their apartment. "Jaya."

"What?" Jaya turns around to send Zoe a smile and help her get her soaked jacket off. "Niall, she literally got caught in the rain and still looks good." Then she turns to Zoe. "A natural beauty, you are!"

Zoe thinks she might just evaporate into smoke despite the fact that she's still shivering. She presses her cold hand to the back of her heated neck in an effort to tamp down her blush. "Um, thanks?"

She looks over in time to see Niall roll his eyes. "Jaya, stop harassing her. She needs to get out of those wet clothes or else she'll get sick." He steps into a room for a moment and reemerges with some clothes and a towel. Zoe startles when he tosses it at her, but when she meets his eyes she can see how hard he's trying to cover up the apologetic look that threatens to break through his features. "The bathroom's the second door on the left," he says curtly, flicking his head in its direction, and Zoe excuses herself with a quiet murmur of appreciation.

When she closes the door of the bathroom behind her, she slumps against it, heaving a deep sigh and scrubbing her cold hands over her overwhelmingly warm face. She pulls herself together with a chant going I'm not going to give up I'm not going to give up I'mnotgoingtogiveup playing over and over again in her head, splashing cold water over her face before pulling on the clothes lent to her by Niall. As she runs the towel through her hair, she realizes that the dry clothes immediately have her feeling less overwhelmed and she's able to breathe a little better. When she finally works up the courage to open the door, she realizes that the shirt she's wearing smells like Niall.

He's laughing when she finds him. Like really laughing—a true Niall laugh that starts from his gut and expands outward until it's bouncing off all the walls and entrancing everyone around. He's got an arm slung over Jaya's shoulders as they stand in front of the stove in the kitchen, and his laugh reduces to cute giggles when he brings both his arms around her to squeeze her in a one-sided embrace. Zoe watches as he ducks down to say something in her ear, laughing all the while, and Jaya shoves him away as she tries to suppress her own chuckles. Zoe can't help the way her face burns at the sight.

Niall's eyes catch hers and she freezes. He huffs through his lingering giggles and swipes a thumb along the laughter-induced tears that've caught in his lashes. His eyes soften at the sight of her and Zoe smiles timidly. "Zo, Jaya's making lasagna if you want some. It's vegan though so it might be shit."

Jaya swats at Niall's chest in response to his jab and even Zoe can't help but grin at their playfulness. She wonders who Jaya is to him; Maura's slipped her a lot of information but she failed to inform her of this. "You're such a little bitch," Jaya's saying to him, a scowl visible from what Zoe can see of her face. "You always talk shit about vegan food but I don't see you complaining when you're stealing the leftovers from the fridge."

Niall laughs but he doesn't bother responding, instead meeting Zoe's eyes again, his brows lifting as a reiteration of his previous question. Zoe understands then. It's a peace offering, a silent apology for his behavior earlier, and she smiles at him in answer. "I'd love some," she says, grinning at Jaya when she turns around. "I bet Niall's just a little jealous because his cooking's always been a little shit."