Harry's POV
Never in my life would I have ever expected to know that Niall Horan was in love with me. The thought honestly sent shivers down my spine but in the best way possible. It was almost as if it wasn't real, but it was. Niall Horan was my boyfriend and he loved me.
Things seemed too good to be true.
Almost.
Liam, Zayn and Perrie seemed to think that the news was the best thing to ever happen to me and considering I was practically a sex-crazed and arrogant prick when I didn't have Niall in my life, I couldn't necessarily blame them.
The four of us were sat in my living room, Liam insisting that we watch some football game in which I really didn't have much interest in. Thankfully, Perrie also seemed to have zoned out from paying attention after the first ten minutes.
I could vaguely hear the conversation shift to mine and Niall's relationship, which was something I was more inclined to pay attention to. After zoning back in, I was able to hear the three of them seemingly invested the topic of me and Niall.
"You're good together. I'm proud of you," Liam grinned, causing me to roll my eyes in a rather playful manner.
"Yeah," I let out a sigh, feeling happier than I think I had ever felt.
"I can't exactly say that I'm surprised," he added when I didn't say anything else.
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow, wanting him to elaborate when I saw the look on his face.
"You know what I mean. You've practically been in love for ages. You've been inseparable for months. Nearly a whole year at this point," he shrugged.
"My guess was a lot longer than that," Perrie shrugged.
I frowned at her, watching her lips curve up into her familiar smile, her eyes practically glowing as she looked at me with an almost knowing look.
"Well, there's always been this tension surrounding you both. The whole time I've known you, you just seemed to gravitate towards each other in a way that I've never seen before."
"What, you mean back when we hated each other?" I questioned, my frown deepening as she nodded.
"Well, regardless of how long you've been pining over each other, you've been in a relationship for a while now, and even after separating for a little, you've made your way back. I'd say that's a sign," Liam cut in.
"Oh...right. We weren't actually together at the start," I admitted, blushing when Liam frowned. "We were kind of fake dating for a while. Niall had this weird plan to annoy his parents and well...here we are," I added awkwardly.
Zayn let out a laugh, not seeming even the slightest bit shocked or confused.
"I've know that since the start," he explained, grinning almost smugly in response to my questioning look. "I spoke to Niall about it ages ago. Told me that the whole relationship was fake but I guess I knew that you both had these weird unexplained feelings for each other."
"He told you?" I frowned.
"Well, he didn't actually need to. I figured it out for myself. Sorry to tell you...but you're both rubbish at acting."
"I believed it," Liam frowned.
"So did I," Perrie added, looking between me and Zayn with an adorably confused expression.
"So did everyone else. Zayn's just a stalker with a little too much time on his hands," I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, well. You're just annoyed that I'm smarter than you give me credit for," he grinned.
"Alright, whatever. The point is, Niall and I are both stupid but I guess we're now stupidly in love and I can forget about all the stupid crap we both did to get here."
"It's all thanks to me that this development happened," Perrie said, her bright smile now back on her face. Strangely, she didn't seem overly smug about it, instead genuinely happy.
"You're not going to boast about that?" I questioned her.
"This is a special time for you, I guess. And although I'm an amazing friend with incredible advice, you're the one who told your boyfriend you love him. I don't need to boast, My work here is done," she shrugged, causing me to grin.
Where the fuck would I be without her?
Niall's POV
"Please don't tell me that you're the sappy kind of couple that can't go five minutes without saying you love each other," Jade murmured.
"Coming from the girl who fell in love after like two months," I retorted.
"It was not two months. There's a difference between love and infatuation, I hope you know that," Jade replied defensively.
"You're the one that was so invested in mine and Harry's relationship in the first place, so there should be no reason for you to criticise us," I told her. "If anything, I'm surprised you haven't started planning a bloody wedding."
"Honey, I can barely plan my own relationship. As if I have the time or patience to fuss over yours."
She really was way too dramatic for her own good.
"Alright, so you're going to butt out of my romantic life?" I questioned her.
"Of course not. I just don't want to see you act like that annoying couple in front of me," she rolled her eyes.
"Trust me, the only time I will ever be sappy with Harry is if my parents are in the same room," I said, trying not to think of all the stupidly disgusting and sappy things I had said to Harry since we started dating.
"Would you be mad if I said 'I told you so'?" she questioned, a smug smile on her face.
"What?"
"You know what. I told you this would happen. I said that this whole fake dating thing was going to lead to you being in love. What did you say when I said that?"
"Jade--"
"If I remember correctly, you said you would 'never love someone like him' and that we was an 'arrogant jerk', am I right?"
"Okay, to be fair, he's still an arrogant jerk. But you were right, as much as it pains me to admit it."
"Thank you."
~
"I've had enough of this, Niall. Dating that boy is going to get you nowhere in life. It's just...wrong. How would you even have kids?" dad asked, his eyes narrowing at me angrily.
"Adoption," I rolled my eyes.
"They won't really be your children," he replied bitterly, seeming almost completely disgusted by the thought.
"Because you really know so much about raising children. When was the last time you gave a shit about me? In case you've forgotten, we are blood related."
As much as I'd hate to admit it.
"That's not the point, Niall. Being with another man isn't normal," he continued to rant, seemingly getting more and more angry with every word that was spoken.
"So me being in love is something abnormal?" I snapped harshly, narrowing my eyes at the man who claimed to be my father. "Is it so bad that I'm happy and for once in my life I feel like someone cares about me?"
My mother was unusually quiet, simply sitting on the couch, almost as if she was ignoring everything that was happening around her. Though if I knew her well enough, I would say that she was taking in everything that my father and I were saying, most likely thinking of some kind of lecture to give me once I shut my mouth.
"Love? You don't even know what that means," he hissed.
"Clearly you don't either," I muttered.
"I will not accept this."
"Good thing I don't need your approval. I love Harry and I could not care any less about what you or mum has to say about it," I hissed, turning around and rushing up to my room before either of my parents could call me back.
For some reason, his words really got to me. They hadn't for quite some time, as I had gotten used to their constant critical comments of disapproval but now I was suddenly left feeling like shit.
How on earth could he tell me that I knew nothing about love when he clearly had none when it came to me?
I didn't know why I suddenly cared so much, I really shouldn't bother. Their attempts to stop me from being who I was would never completely get rid of the 'issue' and so I really had nothing to worry about. I guess I just wished that I could have better parents, ones who would be happy because I was happy.
It had been completely silent since my latest argument with my father. I had not spoken a word to anyone since I had entered my room, not even to talk to one of my friends.
There was also a significant lack of noise from my parents. Usually after I did something that they disapproved of, the large house would be filled with the sounds of my parents loudly talking about how much of a problem I was.
It was dead silent.
Well, until I heard the sound of a loud and heated argument. About what, I couldn't say. I had been training myself to block out their voices unless they were talking directly to me. Not only that but their voices sounded incredibly muffled from where I was.
I didn't really know why they would be fighting, considering what had just happened was something that they both agreed on, there wasn't exactly a whole lot of conflict between them towards the issue they believed I was.
~
"Niall? Can I talk to you for a minute?" I heard my mother ask from my doorway, not even glancing up to look at her.
Her voice sounded surprisingly gentle compared to the way she had been talking to me for my whole life. I had never heard her talk like this. Especially not to me.
"If you're here to force me to break up with Harry, I don't want to hear it," I rolled my eyes.
"That's not why I want to talk. I understand that you most likely hate me and I can't say that I blame you. Niall, I'm sorry," she sighed.
I looked up from the book I had been reading to look at her, surprise clear on my face.
"I admit that I had not approved of your relationship in the past but I don't want to be like that anymore. You're my son and as strange as it feels to see you as a gay man, I want to grow and accept it."
"Well, that's bullshit, considering I've been gay for the entire time that you've known me. Nothing has changed and you shouldn't have to learn to accept me for something like this," I let out, trying to keep my voice steady.
"I know. I just--"
"After everything you've said to me, you expect me to believe that you've changed because you apologised? You expect I'll forgive you for causing me so much shit?" I asked, trying not to raise my voice.
"I don't expect you to forgive me for anything. The things I have said about your personal choices were incredibly wrong of me. Although I've been horrible at showing it, I really do love you, Niall," she murmured.
I had never heard her say that to me, it felt incredibly foreign. I never would have expected for this to occur. I didn't even dream about something like this happening. This had been one of the weirdest moments in my life.