"Hi ma, hi dad." Niall hugs Maura then Bobby.
"How are you son?" Bobby smiles, he was happy to see his youngest son.
"I'm good, how are you? How was the flight?" Niall takes their luggage and leads them to his car.
"It was alright, and we've been good. We've missed you lots." Maura rubs his back.
"Yeah it's been a while since the last time we saw each other." Niall places the luggage in the back seat of his car, leaving space for Bobby to sit.
"Baby?" Maura asks after getting in the front seat and Niall starts driving.
"Yeah?" Niall side glances her.
"Where's Corey?" She asks the one question Niall was dreading the most.
"He's uh in Los Angeles," Niall chews on his lower lip, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"What is he doing over there?" Bobby watches his son start to fiddle a lot, he knew something was up.
"Work. So, how's Greg? Theo? Denise?" Niall changes the subject. He couldn't tell them well not now at least.
"They're all okay, you know, Greg wanted to send Theo so he could see you but he's got nursery." Maura laughs.
"Aww I miss him. I miss all of them," He smiles sadly.
"They miss you lots as well. You should come and visit more often, it's almost been a year since that photo shoot you had over there. Since then you haven't come home." Maura sighs upset.
"I'm sorry ma, I've been so busy lately I haven't had any time." He instantly feels guilty.
"Oh it's alright son, we know how much you've been working. No worries, we have missed you s'all." Bobby pats his shoulder which made Niall feel slightly better.
..................................................
Once they arrive at Niall's flat he shows them the guest bedroom and gives them space to settle in, he tells them he'll be waiting in the lounge room. He waits patiently but his nerves get the best of him, he couldn't help but pace back and forth.
He had to tell them that he and Corey were no longer together. He starts getting annoyed at himself for being this nervous, it wasn't as if he was engaged to him or something, they were only dating and many relationships don't last. It wasn't that serious. They should be fine.
"What do you want me to make for dinner?" Maura asks as she walks into the room with Bobby behind her.
"Ma, you're my guests, I make dinner for you. Plus I don't have any food in the fridge." He blushes, he hasn't gone grocery shopping in so long.
"Oh honey," She shakes her head. "Takeouts aren't good for you bub, you need home cooked meals."
"I say we order some pizza," Bobby plops down on the sofa receiving a glare from Maura.
"I can do that," Niall chuckles and goes to find his phone. He asks his parents what toppings they wanted on their pizza before ordering it.
"When is Corey coming back?" Maura asks after Niall was done ordering.
"I'm not sure." Niall looks away from her. It's now or never. "Actually—"
"Go pay him a surprise visit, I'm sure he'll love that." Bobby winks.
"Oh uh.. no." He has to tell them now.
"No? Baby, I'm sure he would like that." Maura frowns.
"Eh well... he and I, we.." Niall takes a deep breath then let's it out slowly. "We're not together anymore." He shuts his eyes not wanting to see their reaction but when he hears a sob he immediately opens his eyes to see his mum crying.
"Please tell me you're joking." Bobby rubs Maura's back trying to comfort her.
"H-he broke up with me... I.. it's," Niall couldn't form a sentence without breaking down, he didn't want to cry in front of them. So he stopped talking and only looked down at his lap.
"Why would he breakup with you? That doesn't make sense, he loved you so much. He asked us for your han—"
"Maura, let Niall explain." Bobby looks at his son who seemed like he was lost in his own thoughts.
"You two were perfect for each other." Maura sniffles.
"He was following his dreams." Niall almost chokes out, he needed fresh air.
"What do you mean?"
Niall was thankful for the knock on his door, he was fast to excuse himself to go open the door. He swings the door open thinking maybe it was the pizza or someone else but when he sees Harry standing there he almost cries out. No, he can't be here.
"Hey," Harry smiles.
"Hi, uh what are you doing here?" Niall frowns.
"Brought you some food, Chinese, your favorite." He holds the bag up to let Niall see.
"You can't be here, this is not the right time. I'm sorry." Niall steps back ready to shut the door but Harry stops him.
"What's wrong?" Harry was taken aback and slightly hurt but ignores that feeling.
"It's just not the right timing," Niall shuts the door, he starts walking back to his parents. He stops in the middle of the hallway feeling like utter shit for shutting the door on Harry. He turns around and runs out of his flat to get Harry. He was relieved when he sees Harry about to walk into the lift.
"Harry!" Niall yells.
"I was leaving, don't worry." He turns to look at him, almost losing his balance when Niall crashes into him, hugging him tightly.
"I'm so sorry, please don't leave." Niall buries his face on his chest.
"I won't." He hugs him back tightly making sure he didn't drop the bag of food.
"My parents, they came to visit. I just told them about Corey breaking up with me and well I don't think they're taking it well, I feel so bad because my mam even cried. They fucking love him—"
"Gorgeous, breathe. It'll be okay. They were probably not expecting that but I'm sure after they let it sink in, they'll be fine." He kisses the top of his head.
"You're right. Thank you." Niall looks up at him and smiles. Grateful to have him here with him.
Harry looks down at him and almost leans in to kiss his lips but decides against it since he wasn't sure how Niall would react, he kisses his forehead instead.
"Come meet my parents." Niall pulls away, reaching for Harry's hand.
"Are you sure?" Harry asks warily.
"You'll eventually meet them, so why not now?" He pulls him towards his flat, letting go of his hand when he shuts the door.
"Is the pizza here?" Bobby asks, looking up to see Niall and a tall lad walking behind him with a blush on his cheeks.
"No not yet," He shakes his head.
"Who's he?" Bobby raises his brow.
"I'm Harry Styles, sir. Niall's boy- mate." Harry feels his cheeks heating up, he steps closer and sticks his hand out for him to shake.
"Ah nice to meet you Harry, I'm Bobby his dad and this is me wife Maura." He shakes his hand giving him a somewhat friendly smile.
"Hi dear," Maura stands up to give him a quick hug.
"What is a boymate?" Bobby then asks cheekily.
"Dad," Niall glares at him. "Be nice to Harry."
"I am being nice, it was just a question." He defends.
"What's in the bag, love?" Maura wipes her eyes, feeling a bit ridiculous for crying over her son's breakup.
"I brought food, Chinese." Harry smiles, hoping it was going to be enough for the four of them.
"Oh awesome! We also ordered pizza, let me take this to the kitchen and get everything set up." Maura grins taking the bag from his hands to take it to the kitchen.
"So Harry, how did you meet my son?" The older man asks, patting the seat next to him.
"The photo shoot in Ireland, I was there as well." He sits besides Bobby, looking at Niall for a brief second.
"So you're mates, ey?" Bobby eyes him carefully.
"Yeah just mates." He presses his lips into a thin line. Just friends who make out.
"Did you get to meet Corey then?" He asks. "Or were you two not together anymore?" He switches his gaze from Harry to Niall.
"I did meet him." He says awkwardly.
"Alright dad, you should go ahead and go to the kitchen with ma. I'm sure the pizza will be here any minute now." Niall cuts in.
"Okay, okay. Harry we'll talk over dinner." Bobby pats his back before walking away.
"Oh god!" Niall covers his face with his hands. "They're definitely not going to let this go." He mumbles against his palms.
"Give them time, love." Harry gently pulls Niall down onto his lap.
Niall lays his head on Harry's shoulder feeling quite comfortable. He knew if his parents were to see them in this position there would be tons of questions they'd had to answer, but he was just too comfortable to care at the moment. Unfortunately he had to get off when there's a knock on the door meaning the pizza had arrived.
.....................................................
"Are you dating anyone?" Bobby asks Harry.
"Not at the moment," Harry clears his throat.
"Why's that?—"
"Dad, can you please stop interrogating him?" Niall groans feeling bad for Harry.
"Well son, I don't know what you want me to do then. You obviously don't want to talk about what happened between you and Corey so getting to know your boymate seems to be the next best thing." Bobby shrugs placing his fork down.
"What do you want to know about Corey and I?" Niall sighs, he'd rather talk about him then sit here and let his father pester Harry. Only for you Harry.
"Why did you breakup? What happened?"
"He inherited a music studio from his uncle who passed away, and well, he uh took the decision on moving to L.A." Niall pauses as he waits for his emotions to calm a bit. He feels Harry's hand on his thigh, he immediately places his hand on top of his wrapping his hand on his forefinger. "He thought a break would be best."
"Aww baby, I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved him, this must've been hard on you. Why didn't you call me?" Maura looks at him with sad eyes.
"I needed some space." He shrugs.
"Hang on, a break doesn't really mean you're broken up. You're technically still with Corey, if he didn't say that he was breaking up with you that is." Bobby points out, trying to make his son feel better about all of this.
"W-what? No, we uh we're not together.." Niall squeezes Harry's finger tightly. Oh god.
"Have you talked to him? About this so called break?" Maura watches as her son shakes his head vigorously.
"No, we're done. He doesn't want me. He hasn't tried talking to me," He doesn't want me.
Harry falters his gaze to their hands resting on Niall's thigh. He remembers the text Corey had sent Niall saying that he loved him and that they'd be together soon, he remembers how it bothered him a lot, so much that he had deleted it. Corey did want Niall.
"Maybe because you won't talk to him, he's giving you space." The older man says as he takes sip of his beer.
"I..." Niall couldn't believe this, were they right? Was he and Corey still together? Did he not understand what Corey actually meant?
"You still love him, don't you?" Maura waits for her son's reply.
"Yeah, I guess I do..." He mumbles letting go of Harry's finger.
"Then talk to him," Bobby exclaims. "Clear things up between the two of you."
"What if you're wrong? I don't want to look stupid." Niall furrows his brows in thought.
"Sorry for interrupting but I should get going. It's getting pretty late," Harry couldn't stand hearing Niall possibly going back to Corey, what would happen to him? Would Niall just forget about what they had? Whatever that was.
"Oh honey, it was lovely to meet you. I hope to see you again," Maura gives him a smile.
"It was lovely to me you too, I'll try to stop by soon." Harry stands up giving them one last smile before walking away, not even waiting for Niall to walk him out.
"Harry, hold on!" Niall walks faster to catch up.
"You didn't have to walk me out, I know the way out." Harry snaps his head back to give him a glance with a slight glare.
"I wanted to apologize, for all that—"
"It's fine, Niall. I really need to go now," Harry steps out of the flat.
"Harry?"
"What?" He turns around.
"Thank you, for being here. You're the best boymate I've ever had." He giggles when he hears the taller lad groan. "Were you going to introduce yourself as my boyfriend?" He asks shyly.
"N-no, I didn't know what I was to you." He looks away from the piercing blue eyes.
"You're my Haz," Niall leans up to kiss his cheek but ends up kissing his lips instead since Harry had moved. Even if Niall was confused about all this Corey stuff and knew kissing Harry wasn't the best idea, he felt comforted. He felt calm. He loved it.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were gonna lean in to kiss my cheek," Harry freaks out as he pulls away.
"It's not like it's our first time kissing." Niall smiles up at him.
"Yeah but..." Harry trails off.
"I'm not gonna talk to Corey, I can't.... After all this is what he wanted. Also he knows where I live, whenever he wants to talk about us, I'll be here. For now I'll be doing what feels right to me." Niall wasn't going to chase Corey down.
"Do what you think it's best for you. I'll see you around, goodbye Niall." Harry walks away, he didn't know what it was but even if Niall has just told him he wasn't going to speak to Corey, something deep down he knew Niall was eventually going to go back to him.
"What took you so long?" Bobby was helping his wife clean up.
"Saying bye to Harry." Niall starts helping them out.
"Maura why don't you go get ready for bed. We'll finish cleaning up here." Bobby kisses her cheek.
"That sounds lovely, goodnight boys." She hugs Niall before walking out.
"So this Harry lad is just a mate, huh?"
"Yes, dad." Niall starts wiping the table.
"You know, I never locked lips with my mates. Must be something kids nowadays do, no?" Bobby turns to him with a raised brow.
"You saw?" Niall didn't even try to lie, what was the point? Bobby saw them kissing.
"I did, is Harry your boyfriend?"
Niall blushes not really knowing what to say, he and Harry were definitely more than friends but were they boyfriends? Neither of them had asked. What exactly were they?
"I thought you were still in love with Corey?" Bobby then asks after not getting an answer.
"I.. I am. But he isn't here, we're not together." Niall almost cries out of frustration.
"Look son, I want you to be happy wether it's with Corey or Harry, I don't care. But also I don't want you to cheat, I get that you're both apart but are you two done done?" He asks before he walks away, leaving a confused Niall behind.
Niall freezes at that, he didn't expect hearing this from his dad. He surely wasn't cheating. Was he? Am I that big of an idiot that I'm cheating on Corey without even knowing?
Shit, I need to talk to him.
...........................................................................
Such a roller coaster of a chapter lol.
Thank you. 💕
✖️✖️