Harry stirs in his sleep at the faint buzzing noise only meters away from his ear, body jerking up when it intensifies and is accompanied by an obnoxious ring. He blindly grabs for his phone, finally finding it in the midst of darkness and answering it before it goes to voicemail.
“’Ello?” he says groggily into the speaker, falling back into the warmth of Niall’s bed.
“It’s about time that you answered your damn phone,” shrills a voice on the other end.
“Oh my, God, Gemma,” he groans in realization, “’m so sorry, I—”
“I do not want to hear your excuses Harry Edward Styles! I cannot believe that you could forget about me and leave me in the cold!”
Harry groans again, knocking the palm of his hand against his forehead until he feels his phone slipping out of his grasp.
“Hello, Gemma! This is Niall, and I want to apologize for yesterday. Was my fault that you were outside for so long, a bit of a distraction I was for Harry,” Niall says into the phone, winking at him. “Uh huh, yeah, okay. I’ll make sure to tell him. All right, have a wonderful day. Bye.”
Niall hangs up, tossing the phone to the end of the bed with a smirk.
Harry shakes his head. “How do you do it? She’d give you a million pounds if you asked for it,” he mutters with a pout.
Niall jostles around in the bed until he’s finally unraveled from the cocoon of blankets wrapped around him, body lazily rolling to the side so he can reach out and grab Harry by the waist. Harry makes this odd noise in the back of his throat in an attempt to say no because he has class and a job to work at, but truthfully all he really wants is to cuddle with Niall and sleep.
Niall wraps his arms tightly around Harry and nearly moans at the warmth that’s practically radiating from him, the cold contact of Niall’s skin against Harry’s makes goose bumps appear. Harry tucks his head underneath Niall’s chin and sighs contently because they fit so perfectly together, like a jigsaw puzzle. And when Niall’s fingers find their way into the soft curls atop Harry’s head and rub gently into his scalp, Harry hums, but really, it sounds more like a soft purr.
“Need ta finish packing,” Niall murmurs into Harry’s ear, the statement so useless because they both know that it won’t happen today.
Harry makes another noise in acknowledgement and presses himself closer to Niall, arms slowly lifting to wind around Niall’s neck loosely. Niall follows suit by toeing his socks off, their legs then intertwining by messily hooking together. They finally both still, their chests pushing against each other as they take deep, languid breaths.
“We got two days ta get to LA,” Niall murmurs pointedly, but Harry is already fast asleep.
***
Zayn walks into his and Niall’s dorm, met with the sight ofNiall and Harry cuddling in their sleep – but really, it’s more of a tangled mess of limbs and blankets and cuteness. It makes Zayn want to puke at how adorable they look, as much as he hates to admit it, and strangely he finds himself wanting to take a picture of them. So he takes Niall’s phone from the table set off in the corner and snaps a quick photo, setting it as his phone background with a devious smirk. It’s really such a pity that Niall isn’t on any social media website because that photo sure as hell would be all over the place. But since that’s out of the question, Zayn proceeds to forwarding it to all of his contacts.
It’s really boring Zayn finds out minutes later, the silence – aside from the loud snores from Niall, which the Irishman always denies producing – starting to bug him so he shoots Liam a quick text asking if wants to hang out. He gets an immediate response of: why don’t you hang out with Louis since you’re so fond of him and it isn’t what he’s expecting back, not even in the slightest.
Z: What’s your problem?
L: Piss off Zayn
Zayn scoffs down at his phone screen, and yeah, maybe he should hang out with Louis instead, so he does.
***
Turns out he doesn’t hang out with Louis, because its already noon and Zayn’s stomach is growling, so he heads to the campus cafeteria. The food being served though looks anything but appetizing, and the smell coming from whatever the hell it was kills his appetite, so he settles with buying a bag of potato crisps and sits off in the far corner. He gets a few crisps into his stomach when he sees Liam walking past with an empty plate, all smiles and giggles as some guy Zayn has never seen before walks with him, nearly hip-to-hip.
Now Liam’s eyeing the kid like he’s a piece of meat, and for some reason there’s a deep twinge of jealously in Zayn’s chest. He can’t explain it because yeah, he likes Liam, but he doesn’t like likehim. He doesn’t really like likeanyone for that matter. He’s just so use to the quick glances Liam gives him, the bashful smiles when Zayn touches his skin, the way he bites his lower lip and squirms in his seat when Zayn teases him with sexual banter.
But then Zayn keeps staring at Liam – which is a huge mistake – because then Liam turns around and locks eyes with him, a lopsided smirk forming on his lips. He turns back to the mystery guy and leans in so he’s right up against him, whispering something in his ear with a dirty grin. The guy’s cheeks start to burn like the burn in Zayn’s chest, turning bright pink as he looks down shyly, trying to avoid Liam’s gaze.
When Liam turns back around, all he sees is a crumpled bag of crisps lying on the table.
***
By late Monday afternoon, all of Niall’s belongings – which isn’t much – are packed in boxes along a wall in the dorm hallway. He only takes what he needs (a couple of pairs of clothes, his phone, etc) and packs it into the suitcase he’s sharing with Harry.
Harry still doesn’t know what he’ll do about the courses he’s taking, all of his advisors telling him to switch to online college so he’ll still manage to keep his grades and graduate successfully while he’s gone, and the choice is slowly starting to become an only option.
Niall calls back the woman named Janice to confirm that he’s coming to the meeting, and Niall nearly chokes on his own spit when she tells him that he’ll be flying out to LA in a private jet.
“Its all thanks to Mr. Smith, he always wants the best for his clients,” she says cheerfully on the other end of the line, Niall can practically hear the fake smile in her voice.
“Well uh, tell him thanks, I guess,” Niall mumbles, following Harry out to the car.
“Will do, Mr. Horan! Have a wonderful flight!”
Click!
“Yeah, bye to you too,” Niall mutters back, shoving his phone into his pocket.
He feels Harry’s arms slip around his waist and he automatically melts into him, taking in his warmth and smell and everything that’s just Harry. He feels him place a soft kiss on his shoulder, and so he returns one back on Harry’s cheek.
“Thank you,” Niall says, dipping down to kiss him on the lips.
“For what?” Harry asks, giggling as Niall leaves little kisses all over his face.
“For falling in love with me.”
—
A/N: Hiiii! Just wanted to let you know that the next two or three updates might take a couple more days than usual to be posted because I’m in the middle of moving into a new house, which really sucks because its taking away a lot of my writing time, and I’d hate to disappoint you guys. But anyway, make sure to vote and comment! Love you all so much :) x