Just a Photographer (Niall Horan)

Chapter 14

We had just gone on tour again after 2 weeks off, I was glad to be back on tour as I had missed while we were off. I don't know what I'm going to do when this tour finishes, we're already halfway through! Me and Niall had our bags loaded into a car and were now on our way to the airport, it was only 4am so I was really tired. Niall must have noticed as he looked over at me and patted his shoulder, letting me know that I could lean on him and have a quick sleep.

I was awoken suddenly by someone calling my name and nudging my shoulder, I slowly opened my eyes and looked up to see who it was, it was Bas, Niall's security guard. When I tried to lift my head off Niall's shoulder, I realised that there was a heavy weight on it and when I looked up I saw that Niall had also fallen asleep with his head resting on top of mine. I chuckled quietly before tapping him and attempting to wake him up as well. I involuntarily shivered when his body moved away from mine, the sudden disappearance of its warmth affecting me more than it should in the warmth of the car.

When I had taken my seat in the first class area of the plane I immediately looked out of the window, waiting for us to take off and get a great view of the beautiful city. I then heard a familiar voice calling my name and when I looked over, I saw Niall looking at me with bleary, slightly bloodshot eyes,

"Yeah, Ni?"
"That's my seat" he mumbled with a strong accent and a deep voice that rumbled in his chest.

I just smiled at him in response and moved my bag out of the way for him. As I was looking out of the window, I suddenly felt Niall putting one of his AirPods that were playing the Eagles very loudly, into my ear. We both sat quietly looking out of the window at London and listening to the music until I felt myself becoming tired again so I asked Niall if he would wake me up when the food started came and he agreed but also lifted up the arm rest between our seats and patted his chest, indicating that I could lean against him to sleep. I gently thanked him before resting my head against his firm chest and got comfortable and instantly fell asleep.

When we arrived at the airport in the Philippines 13 hours later, we were all exhausted and just collapsed into the cars that were waiting to take us to our hotels. I normally travelled with Niall but we were in different cars this time which I was slightly upset about despite knowing that there was no reason for me to be feeling like this as I had just spent 13 hours sitting next to him. I arrived at the hotel and still couldn't see Niall, so I just said good night to the rest of the team and headed up to my room and fell asleep almost straight away.

"Niall...?" I asked, wondering why Niall was awake at 4am when he had a show the next day. He was only wearing boxers and a pair of grey sweatpants that were hanging from his skinny hips and his hair was a mess, like he had been repeatedly running his hands through it.

"Hi, I'm really sorry I woke you up"

"It doesn't matter. Why are you awake at this time?"

"Do you mind if I come in here with you? I don't really want to be on my own" Niall mumbled, avoiding eye contact with me, he seemed embarrassed about asking. I didn't hesitate to say yes to him but I was also quite confused as to why he came to me and not one of his bandmates but I didn't have long to overthink it as his warm hand was soon pulling at mine, leading me gently towards the large bed.

Niall lay down and then shuffled over to give me space to lie down next to him, as soon as I did he shuffled closer again and lay his head down on my chest, his cheek over my heart and his nose pressed between my collar bones. I didn't react straight away as I was surprised, we had never cuddled like this before, but I quickly moved my arms, so they were wrapped tightly around him, pulling him closer to me.

I had never seen Niall like this before, so helpless, and almost child-like. I wasn't sure exactly how to comfort him, but I tried my best. One of my hand rubbed slow circles onto his bare back and the other moved through his soft chocolate coloured hair, when I ran my hand through his hair for the first time he let out a low whimper, my eyebrows furrowed together but I kept doing it as I knew he liked to have his hair played with.

"Do you want to talk about it, Ni? Or would you rather I just stayed quiet?" I asked him lowly with my nose pressed into his hair, Lewis Capaldi was correct, his hair does smell amazing.

"I'm sorry. I'm so tired and I just can't be on my own" Niall mumbled so quietly I could barely hear him, he didn't go into any more detail so I assumed he didn't want to talk about it right now and he would tell me later. I rubbed gentle circles onto his bare back, hoping it would help him fall asleep. 

"You don't need to be sorry. I love you, Ni" I said and then held my breath when I realised what I had just said, we were best friends, I couldn't love him! I just hope he thinks I mean it as a friend.

"Love ya too, Ava," he said and pressed a chaste kiss to my neck before I felt his eyelashes flutter closed against my chest. I quietly hummed one of Niall's favourite songs, Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice to calm him. As I slowly fell asleep I reminded myself to make sure Niall was ok in the morning and to check that nothing serious had happened to make him react like this.