Prompt: As per the rules of the tournament, I am granted one wish: I wish to marry your son.
Summary: Harry wins an archery tournament, and the prize is one wish that cannot be denied unless it's illegal. The one thing Harry wants more than anything in this life or the next is to be able to be with his secret boyfriend Prince Niall James the son of the king and queen.
It was a perfect summer day. The sun was shining bright and there was no cloud in sight. Today was a very important day for two people from two very different worlds.
Niall was 17 years old and the son of the king of Ireland. He lived the life of luxury, having everything he could ever want, with his best friend Liam and Liam's husband Zayn who lived in the castle at Niall's request. Liam was 3 years older than Niall but had been his best friend growing up.
Liam married Zayn when they were both 19, and had been married for almost a year. They were looking into getting a surrogate, and have a baby together. They were both ready to be parents and couldn't be happier together.
Niall was very happy for them but often found himself jealous that they could be together. Niall had a lovely boyfriend who he had met in London when he was 15 and his father took him on a trip for royal duties. Harry was working in a bakery and Niall was there to pick up a massive order for the royal court, and Harry had helped him carry the boxes of pastries to the car when he couldn't see and almost dropped them all.
Niall continued to go back to the bakery for various small requests just to see Harry until finally, Harry asked him on a date. They went out as much as possible until Niall had to leave for Ireland. They kept in contact as much as possible and Harry was saving money to come to stay in Ireland for a month or two, to see Niall.
Niall's parents gave him anything he wanted from a donut every morning to dinners with celebrities he likes. Even though he had everything Niall was anything but spoiled and often gave thousands of pounds to local charities that needed support. Niall's parents give him anything, with one rule. He had to marry someone with a royal title or enough money for him to live comfortably with them for the rest of his life. They didn't care if it was a boy or girl, as he had come out as bi.
Niall knew being out with Harry was out of the question while he was still under his parent's rules, and even then he knew it would still be hard to get their approval, and he was someone who strived to have approval from his parents.
One morning almost 2 months ago Bobby, Niall's father announced he wanted to host an archery tournament since he saw Norway have a dog sledding contest, and it attracted many wealthy people, and a lot of money was donated to charity and their daughter was married off to one of the suitors.
Plus Norway and Ireland were competitors in a lot of ways. It was mostly friendly but they liked to challenge each other.
Niall knew while his father would raise money for charity, his main goal was to find Niall a suitable partner.
Bobby decided to grant the winner one wish, that couldn't be denied unless it was illegal, as well as £100,000, and opened up the invitations, to anyone willing to pay the price of entry, and the flight to Dublin.
Two Days After the Invitations are sent in London at Tomlinson's Bakery
"Hey Haz! I think you'd be interested in this!" Louis Tomlinson yelled as he grabbed the mail from the back mail slot.
"Lou, I'm making cinnamon rolls, can it wait?" Harry Styles called back as he rolled out his famous homemade dough.
"It might involve your lover boy!" Louis called coming into the kitchen.
Harry immediately dropped the rolling pin and wiped his hands on the damp towel next to him as he raced to Louis' side.
"What?" He asked looking over the invitation.
The king of Ireland is hosting an archery contest, where the winner will be granted one wish of anything of their choosing and £100,000. Please RSVP to this envelope along with the entry fee and come to the Dublin Hotel at the airport. On the 3rd of March, you will be escorted to the archery field where you will compete in 3 contests.
1. Distance
2. Blindfolded
3. Moving Target
The entry fee is £25,000 to filter and find people who are serious about archery.
Harry finished looking over the letter.
"Lou I don't have £25,000 and March is our busiest month, I couldn't leave you. Plus I wouldn't be as good as most of the people who will be participating. If you pay that kind of money you must be really good at archery." Harry sighed sadly. He wasn't terrible at the sport and was actually really good but he knew he'd be no match to the other people who were competing.
He of course knows what his one wish would be but he couldn't afford to pay that much money just to lose, even if he was able to see Niall.
"Haz that's ridiculous, I've seen you do all three of those skills flawlessly, and I'll pay for you to go. You've worked here for almost 3 years, and ever since you've come in and started making those cinnamon rolls of yours the Bakery's profits have almost doubled, I'm sure you've made me close to £25,000. Plus if you win you'd be taking home more than that! Also, I'll get El to help out with the bakery so you have no excuse to not go to Dublin and at least try to win your boy." Louis argues, and Harry started to tear up and hug him.
"You'll be the best man at my wedding if I win." He whispered getting emotional at the thought of marrying the love of his life.
"Stop being so sappy, and it's when you win."
Tournament Day
Niall was sitting very bored in his chair, as Liam sat next to him as he had begged his father to let Liam join him.
They both scanned the area for anyone decent to root for since they both knew Niall was going to get a marriage proposal, and Niall at least didn't want to live the rest of his life with someone who repulsed him.
"Hey, Niall do you think there will be anyone you will find an interest in?" Liam asks looking for a second time at anyone who looks decent.
Niall shrugged not caring too much, as he was thinking of his Harry who would've loved to watch this with him, or even participate as he liked to shoot an arrow here and there. Niall knew there was no chance Harry could've paid the entry fee, but he imagined seeing Harry's face in the line on contestants.
Liam sighed knowing how much Niall had been missing Harry recently. They hadn't been talking much since the bakery was going to be getting busy and Harry had to stay for more hours to prepare.
The tournament had begun and the first challenge was to hit a target 200ft away. All the archers looked nervous at the challenge except the arrogant prince of Sweeden, Prince Adrian. Niall had met him once at a royal party held in Norway. He kept hitting on Niall, and would always try and touch him in weird ways, even if he was only 14 or 15. He was disgusted by the man who was almost 25 years old but was afraid to do anything because of his bulky build.
He easily hit the target but cursed when it was announced it was in the yellow, and he didn't hit the bullseye. Niall let out a sigh of relief. He doesn't want to be married off, but he really doesn't want to be married off to Adrian.
"Hey Niall, is that the guy from the party ages ago?" Liam whispers in his ear anger in his voice. Niall nodded and Liam growled.
Liam has always been protective of Niall, since he saw him as his baby brother, and wanted him to be happy always.
Most people missed the target or hit the outer rims. A cloaked shooter also had shot his the yellow but was about 3 centimeters closer to the bullseye, which put him ahead of Adrian.
Adrian's face contorts into a frown, as he has seen someone best him.
Niall cheered for the cloaked man, as anyone was better than Adrian. The shooter turned to him, and while his eyes and most of his nose were still concealed, he flashed a smile right in his direction, and Niall felt his heart flutter.
Immediately he mentally beat himself up for feeling attracted to this mystery person, while he had a loving devoted boyfriend in England, saving every penny to come see him. Liam saw the conflict on his best friend's face when the mystery shooter smiled at him.
Liam growled internally at the mystery man, as he didn't like people looking at Niall with wolf-like grins. He didn't really see the way the person looked at Niall, but he's seen enough men look at his best friend that he doesn't really meet people who look at Niall as something other than a piece of meat.
The next round is blindfolded.
They can see the target for 2 minutes before a black cloth is placed over their eyes. Niall always enjoys this part of the tournament, when he sees archery matches on the tv. He thinks it's a good skill to have, and it's always interesting who can even hit the target without being able to see it.
Aiden is the first to shoot, and as the servant who places the cloth, he doesn't double layer it like it's required. Niall squints at the action and as the servant walks away Aiden slips something in the servant's pocket, which Niall immediately turns to his father.
"Father, Aiden's cheating! The servant who placed the cloth didn't double layer it, and he slipped him something for it!" Niall hurriedly tells his father.
"I know Niall, I saw." He replies and keeps his eyes on the contestants.
"But father... why aren't you doing anything about it? He cheated!" Niall continues to push.
"Patience little one."
Niall frowns at the nickname, as he was always a few inches shorter than the other kids he took private lessons with, and he hated it.
Niall slouched in his seat, upset his father didn't call out Aiden. He wishes he could protest, but no one would believe him, and his father didn't seem like he would back him up if he did try and prove the prince was cheating.
"You okay Ni?" Liam asks seeing Niall's fallen face.
Niall grumbles in response.
Aiden starts to raise his bow, and in concentrated thought, he lets go of the arrow, and it's a near bullseye, and everyone cheers in the crowd.
The mystery archer is up next, and he shoots quite quickly, and only makes it to the outer rim of the target, just barely making it on.
Niall could see him sigh at the sight of where his arrow went, and Niall felt like sighing as well. The with Aiden so close to the bullseye would give him a lot of points.
The rest of the archers shoot and only 2 others make it on the target, with one close to the edge, and one in the middle ring.
The final challenge is moving targets, and what is said to be Prince Aiden's specialty. Each archer was assigned a colour of arrows that would show which disks they hit. They had 7 minutes to hit and spear as many targets as they could.
Soon the disks were blasted out of the machine 5 or 6 in just a few seconds and arrows of different colours were flying everywhere trying to pierce as many disks as possible.
Niall watched as Aiden hit disk after disk, hitting 3 out of every 5 he attempted. Some of the other archers were able to hit 1 or 2 out of every 5 they attempted, and the mystery man was able to hit 2-3 for every 5 he attempted.
Niall knew Aiden was in the lead, with the only challenge he had lost was the first one, and he could easily make it up with the last one, and then this one would be the cherry on top.
"Ni? Is everything alright?" Liam checked in again and Niall shook his head.
"I should just go pack my bags for Sweeden now," Niall said sadly. Liam sighed knowing his friend was probably right. As much as he didn't want Niall to have to marry that scumbag, he knew the odds weren't in his favor.
"I probably won't be able to see Harry before Aiden drags me across the ocean. I-I'll p-prob-baly have to b-break up with H-harry." Niall states, starting to stutter at the end of his sentence, with a few tears falling at the thought of breaking up and leaving his beloved boyfriend.
Liam pulls Niall into a hug and he can feel his dress shirt moisten with his best friend's tears. The king looks over at his son crying into Liam's shoulder, rubs his back for a moment, and tells him it'll all work out.
Soon the 7 Minutes are up and Niall is forced to look at the scores, and like a nightmare coming true he saw Prince Aiden of Sweeden in number #1 and Henry Calder in #2. The mystery person was so close to winning only about 10 points behind Aiden, and Niall could see him kicking himself for coming up short. Even under the hood, he saw how upset he was, and Niall felt sorry for him.
Aiden came up to the thrones where Niall's family and Liam sat, bowed down but eyed Niall in the process with an evil wolf-like grin.
Bobby beckoned him to stand up and looked out on the field of competitors, and people who came to watch.
"As you saw young Aiden has won the tournament." He announced and all of the people who traveled from Sweeden cheered loudly, and other people clapped, but out of niceness.
"However-" Bobby continued and Niall looked up at his father.
"I know he cheated in the blindfolded round and therefore disqualifies him. So Mr. Henry Calder is the real winner." Niall and Liam both jumped up and Niall ran up to his father and hugged him, thanking him over and over and over again.
Henry looked up and realized he actually won, ran over, and bowed before the royal family.
"Now son, what do you want," Bobby asked and Henry took off the hood to reveal Harry Styles (A.N. I know, not very dramatic but take what you can get)
"Hazza!" Niall exclaimed, not thinking about anyone else, ran up to his boyfriend, and kissed him in front of thousands of people.
Harry held Niall close running his fingers through his soft blonde hair.
"Sir, As per the rules of the tournament, I am granted one wish: I wish to marry your son." Harry requested, and Niall gasped and looked up at Harry still embracing him.
"I don't have as much money as you probably would want, and I live in London, and would want Niall to live with me. I have a 1 bedroom apartment, and there's a mouse I've named Lucy. I work in a bakery, and I sometimes don't do grocery shopping when I'm low on money, but I love Niall more than anything, and would do anything for you to let me marry him." Harry continued.
Bobby looked astonished and the speech and smiled.
"Even if I wanted to, I gave you one wish I have no reason to revoke it. Plus how could I say no, when clearly my dear Niall is so in love with you as well. I don't care about your wealth, and if you and Niall ever need assistance with anything, you will be soon part of the family and can ask for anything you need."
Niall's smile was bigger than he had ever smiled, let go of Harry to hug his father once again, tears streaming down his face.
A few hours later
"I'm going to marry you Haz," Niall said for the 20th time that day.
"You've said that a lot recently love," Harry teased.
"Yeah, well how can I not? I got my one wish."
Ooooooh first one is done! I don't know when the next one will be, but I'm super proud of this one!
-Wolfie