A few days later, Niall and Harry had just gotten off school and Harry had driven Niall home because he was still in a cast and couldn't drive well.
"You know you don't have to drive me home everytime, right?" Niall asked when Harry was parked in his driveway.
"I know, but I want you to quickly heal without any complications so until you are properly healed, I'm not letting you drive." Harry smirked and Niall rolled his eyes playfully.
"Alright chauffeur, I'll be going now." Niall said and laughed loudly when Harry rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you don't wanna come in?"
Harry smiled at Niall before he frowned and shook his head lightly.
"I wish I could, but I have to run a few errands for my mum." Harry said and Niall nodded.
"Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" Niall said and leaned over the console so that he could kiss Harry.
Harry met him halfway and pressed their lips together in a slow passionate kiss.
Just as it was getting heated, Harry tried to shift his body to the side so that he could kiss Niall properly but he pressed his hand on wheel and honked loudly.
That instantly broke them apart.
Niall looked at Harry and they both laughed because that was so like Harry.
"Bye babe." Niall said and opened the door then he picked up his bag from the floor and got out of the car.
"Bye, baby. Love you." Harry said and smiled then he slowly backed away from Niall's driveway.
Niall stood on his door steps for a few moments just looking at Harry's retreating car.
It hurt him to hear Harry say the L word and not be able to say it back. But Harry didn't seem to mind. He had given him all the time in the world.
He knew that he was falling for Harry and it would only be a matter of time before he was completely head over heels for his curly haired boyfriend.
Either way, it was a good feeling and as long as he had Harry in his life, he was okay.
With a smile etched on his face, Niall turned around and tried to unlock his door but he realised that it was unlocked.
He mentally face palmed because once again, he had forgotten to lock his door.
But it was all Harry's fault. His boyfriend had gone to pick him up earlier than usual and Niall had slept through his alarm so he had been rushing to prepare for school that morning.
He placed his keys on the entrance table and smiled when he smelled something delicious cooking.
But his smile turned into a frown because he remembered that he lived alone and he had been at school.
He grabbed the bat that was beside the door, ready to march to the kitchen and confront whoever the intruder was.
Slowly, he approached the kitchen and the delicious aroma filled his nostrils more.
"Mum?" He called when he saw the small blonde woman slaving over his stove.
She turned around and smiled then raised her eyebrows at the bat in his hand.
"Welcome back, baby. I was just finishing up, didn't know you would be back so soon." She said and Niall placed the bat down then scratched his head sheepishly.
"How long have you been here?" He asked her instead and took a seat on a stool.
"Since morning, I came to do your laundry but I realized you didn't have any food so I went food shopping and decided to make you some meals." She quickly said and turned around to stir the sauce that was cooking.
Niall was amazed, she was really trying, wasn't she?
She remembered that he hated doing laundry and went all the way there to take care of his dirty clothes?
Even though, she had intruded his home, he wasn't mad because it was for a good cause and at the end of the day, she was still the woman to gave birth to him. She was his mother.
"Meals?" He asked with raised eyebrows and she turned back around to look at him.
"Yeah. I have made you different meals that you can freeze up and just heat them up when you wanna eat." She explained and Niall smiled at that.
"Thanks." He said softly.
"It's no problem, Ni. I haven't been around for you a lot and that drove you away from us, but I wanna try my best. You are my baby and it kills me to know all you had to go through while we were busy working. I love you, both your father and I love you and your brother so much." She said and caught a small tear that escaped her eyes.
Niall felt awkward talking about that. He wanted to forgive his parents and move on but it wasn't easy to forget that he had to basically grow up on his own without them when they were always so close to him.
So he kept quiet and fixed his gaze on his casted hand.
After a few awkward moments, his mother cleared her throat.
"Okay, so this is done." She placed the last meal she'd been making in the fridge with a lable on it, along with everything else she had made.
Then she placed pasta, sauce and meatballs in the microwave and told him that it was for his dinner.
"Would you like some cookies? I made some for you too." She asked and Niall nodded with a smile.
She placed a plate of cookies that had been cooling all along infront of Niall and poured him a glass of milk.
Niall thanked her and went over to wash his hands then he sat back down and started eating as she cleaned up his kitchen.
There was a silence that surrounded them. But this time, it wasn't awkward. It was a comfortable silence and both of them were lost in thought.
"I'll take my leave now." Niall's mum broke the silence and Niall looked up to see that everything was clean. "Don't leave your door unlocked, Ni." She scolded.
"I was in a hurry." Niall smiled because she was smiling at him too.
"Oh and here." She took a key from her bunch and gave it to him. "It was the one we kept for your house."
Niall looked at the key in his mother's hand then back at her face.
"Keep it. Incase you come here and find that I didn't forget to lock my door. You can use it." He smiled lightly as she did.
She put it back and grabbed her hand bag. "Alright, see you, baby. I'll be on my way now."
Niall nodded and remained seated and waved to her as she saw herself out.
Suddenly, he was on his feet and rushing out. He found his mother on the phone, probably about to call the driver.
"Mum." He called her softly so as not to startle her.
"Hmm?" She turned around.
"Would you uhm... like to stay for dinner?" He asked with a small smile and she smiled back at him.
"I would love to, thank you." She said and he lead her back inside.
****
"I feel great." Niall said to Zayn as they made their way to the cafeteria during lunch.
His cast had been removed the previous day and he felt good because he would be able to practice his favourite sport that day.
The last few weeks had gone by quite quickly. He been with Harry and his friends most days but he had also popped up at the mansion to vist his parents.
They were trying so hard to be there for him and he was slowly letting them in his heart. It felt good to have them care about him again.
He had also been talking to his older brother a lot which was nice.
"Can't wait to have you back on the team again." Zayn said and ruffled up Niall's hair as they got into the lunch line. "Where's Harry by the way?"
"He went to pee. Should be here soon." Niall replied and looked at their lunch table to see Liam and Louis already seated and laughing.
Soon, Niall was sat on the lunch table with two trays infront of him. He then felt someone cover his eyes and Harry's scent filled his nostrils.
"Hey, babe." Niall lifted up his covered face and smiled when he felt Harry place a small peck on his lips.
"How did you know it was me?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Niall.
"I know my boyfriend." Niall said with a cheeky wink making Harry smile.
"You are too cute." Harry commented and Niall smiled, laying his head on Harry's shoulder as they stated eating.
Niall turned to look at his friends and saw all of them in conversations, with Liam and Zayn holding hands on top of the table while Louis seemed to be smiling at his phone, probably texting his new girlfriend.
The rest of the day went by quickly.
Niall got out of the shower after football practice and he was really feeling beat. It had been a while since he played that hard but he was glad to be back on the pitch so he wasn't complaining.
"Are you done, babe?" He asked Harry and the latter nodded.
He stuck his socked feet in his boots and grabbed his bag from his locker then he turned to Niall. "Done, shall we?" Harry smiled at Niall.
They walked out of the changing room and out in the hallway.
Niall held onto Harry's hand when they realized that the halls were empty and Harry smiled because he knew that empty hallways creeped out his boyfriend.
He found it cute that Niall, a lad who could beat up guys double his size and age was scared of the empty hallways.
Finally, Niall's grip on Harry loosened when they were out in the car park.
The place was almost empty with only a few cars and a few students here and there.
"I hate being the last one to shower after practice." Niall whined and Harry hugged his waist, ruffling up his hair.
"You had no choice today, baby. What with coach hoggig you after practic-" Harry started but was cut off by Niall who abruptly stopped walking.
"Bab-"
"Shhhh, I heard my name." Niall said and Harry looked at him crazy because why would it be a surprise for Niall to hear his name in the school car park?
"If it's Horan. I would do it again so don't even come here to say crap."
"You heard that?" Niall asked Harry who nodded.
The voice they heard belonged to none other than Tyler. He seemed to be in a heated conversation with someone but they couldn't see who it was because they were behind a car.
"I fucking told you to scare him a bit so that I could come and rescue him. I didn't tell you to touch him and beat him up like you did."
The other person said and Niall's eyes widened because he knew that voice.
"I couldn't help myself, okay. Teaching that brat a lesson was top on my to-do list so I don't regret it. And you actually rescued him so just fucking give me the remaining money and we'll never speak of this again."
Niall was angry, these people were definitely talking about him and the attack he had. He angrily started to storm in their direction but Harry held his hand, stopping him.
With his eyes, Harry told Niall to wait for a bit and Niall sighed but listened to Harry.
"I'm not giving you shit. The money you received was enough and I had to miss football practice to come here and tell you that if you ever touch Niall again, you will have me to deal with."
"A deal is a deal. Just pay me up or else I'll definitely give him a good beating and it will all be because of you."
"Shut the fuck up. I didn't pay you to beat him up so you broke the deal."
The person who had supposedly paid Tyler to give Niall a fright said and then walked around the car.
Niall tensed when he came face to face with his ex boyfriend Shawn.
It was now Harry's turn to storm out but Niall held him back and looked at the slightly scared lad infront of them.
"Oh look at that, there's your person, Horan." Tyler joined them and smirked at all of them then left.
"Shawn..." Niall trailed off. "Please explain."