"So Niall," The king spoke up and Niall's heart skipped a beat because it was the first time that the king had spoke to him directly since the start of dinner. "How did you and Harry meet?"
Niall looked at the king nervously and quickly averted his gaze to his plate when he found the man looking at him.
"Um..." Niall looked at Harry. "I met him through Mr. Malik, he's one of my professors." Niall said and mentally hit his head on the wall for giving such a lame answer.
"Yaser?" King Desmond looked between Niall and Harry who were seated next to each other.
Now, Niall had no idea who Yaser was so he looked at Harry hoping the prince would answer that.
"No, Dad. It's Zayn." Harry replied after he'd swallowed his food.
"Zayn? He's a professor?" Gemma, Harry's sister, who was seated directly infront of Niall and next to her husband, asked.
"Yes. He's a junior professor at Oxford." Harry answered with a smile and Niall could see just how good of a friend Zayn was to the prince.
"That's wonderful! So you are at Oxford, Niall?" Gemma's husband asked with a smile and Niall nodded, spotting one himself.
"Thank you." Niall blushed and the queen cooed.
Niall was amazed by family. It felt like he was just having dinner with a regular family. What with the normal dinner conversation they were having. It put his mind at ease.
The only thing that Niall could do without was everyone's maids and bodyguards standing far off waiting for their masters and mistresses to finish eating.
"And where exactly are you from, Niall? Your accent screams Irish but I don't want to assume." The queen asked with a warm smile.
"You are right, I'm actually Irish. Born and bred until two years ago when I started at Oxford." Niall explained respectfully.
"How nice. Irish huh? How good are you at holding your liquor?" The king asked with a barely there smirk.
"Ah! I'm absolutely shit at holding my-" Niall's eyes widened when he realised that he had just cursed infront of their majesties. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to curse. Please have mercy on m-"
"It's okay, son. Take it easy." King Desmond's face lit up with an amused smile.
Niall looked at Harry and saw him sending a glare his way. Harry had told Niall to bite his tongue and not curse in the presence of his parents. But Niall had done just that, and he knew that Harry would have somethings to say, later.
"What about your parents, are they also in England or back in Ireland?" The queen asked and as much as Niall wanted to sigh in relief at the topic change, he stiffened.
"They uh, they are late. My elder brother and my parents died when I was eight." Niall said biting his lip to stop tears from spilling but he didn't wanna stop talking because he wanted to tell them once and for all, to avoid having to speak about it again.
So he continued. Surprised with himself for having the confidence to speak about it, because it was one touchy subject.
"I stayed with my nan till I was twelve and when she too passed, I was taken into a foster home but my foster parents weren't the nicest of people so I ran away and stayed on the streets until I saved up some money and moved into a little flat, with two of my mates, that was near my high school. And now here I am." Niall finished, he even smiled despite telling the royals one of the topics that always brought tears to his eyes.
Maybe it was because he hadn't gone into detail, either way, he was glad he had held in his waterworks.
The first thing he heard was Gemma's sniffles and when he looked up, he saw that she was indeed crying and her husband was rubbing her back trying to calm her down.
He felt bad that he'd made princess Gemma cry. He was just telling his story. He didn't mean to make anyone sad or cry. No.
Niall was about to open his mouth to apologise to the princess but the queen spoke up.
"Oh you poor child. You may not have had a home or family for the past years but you have Harry now, and us. This is your home now and feel free to do anything you want." She spoke in a kind voice.
Niall admired her strength and bravery, because he could see her glossed eyes but she refused to let them tears fall.
"Thank you so much, your majesty. I really appreciate it." Niall said timidly and glanced at Gemma who had stopped crying. "I'm sorry for making you cry, princess Gemma."
Gemma flashed him a smile and told him that it was okay.
"Son. Like the queen said, you are now one of us. You have us to go when you need anything and I mean anything. Be it good or bad news, advice on something, to share a celebration and of course parental guidance. Welcome home, Niall." King Desmond said with a wide smile and he looked at Niall then at Harry.
Both parents smiled big at their youngest son's choice. They really adored Niall.
"Thank you so much. I can't begin to thank all of you enough." Niall said and Harry held his hand on the table.
Everyone on the table glanced at Harry's and Niall's hands but said nothing.
And without warning, Harry placed his lips to Niall's temple.
They continued eating and talking about other random topics until they were done and the last course of the meal was served.
As soon as Niall took a forkful of his desert, the queen cleared her throat.
"So, Harry, Niall. Have you decided on a date yet?" Queen Anne asked.
"Not exactly, I mean we haven't even announced to the public that we are engaged and so we'll have to think about that after the coronation." Harry answered and Niall nodded along.
Niall had no ring on his finger yet, because Harry had to properly engage him with a ring on or after the coronation. It was their tradition.
"Well, we'll support whenever you two decide to get married." King Desmond said.
The rest of dinner went by fairly quickly with Niall having a great time and just loosening up.
*
"Why are you so down?" Harry asked Niall as they stood outside Niall's flat when Harry took Niall back to his flat after the dinner.
Niall thought of lying to Harry but he figured talking it out was the best solution so he cleared his throat.
"I just feel bad that we are gonna be lying to your family when they were so nice to me. They practically welcomed me into their lives with open arms without knowing anything about me." Niall said, it had been bugging him.
Harry rolled his eyes.
"And here I thought you had something troubling you. Goodnight, Niall. Dont think too much about things, it's not good for you." Harry said and turned around to leave.
"Jerk." Niall said under his breath and opened the door, going inside his home.
*
A week later, Niall was at the bar working his shift.
He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was just go home and lay down in his cozy bed and sleep for a week.
But he had to work and so he tried his best to look alive as he did his job.
The only thing that made it a little bit bearable was the fact that Louis was seated on a stool infront of the counter, talking to him and waiting for his shift to be over so that they could walk back home together.
Niall had told Louis that he could go home and get some rest but the latter had insisted on staying as he sipped on a glass of water.
Niall had had a tiring day, after Uni, which was annoying because people kept asking him how he knew the prince, he'd been picked by Harry and they'd gone to the palace to be measured for their suits to wear on Harry's birthday.
"Hi handsome, can I get a martini and your digits?" A short girl with dark hair said in seductive voice.
Niall heard Louis snort and he sent him a glare because flirting with customers was actually part of Niall's job description.
Luckily, she didn't seem to notice because one, the music was blaring and two, she was drunk.
Niall winked at her and proceeded to make her drink then he slid it over to her skillfully.
"Your drink, beautiful." He said, purposely ignoring the fact that she'd asked for his number.
"Thanks sexy," she paid, winked and stumbled away from the counter.
Louis was about to open his mouth and say something but another customer beat him to it.
"Hi can I get four shots of vodka, straight." A male with blond hair smiled and Niall smiled back, nodding.
"Right away." He quickly poured the lad four shots and slid them to him. "Here you go."
"Thanks," the lad said and paid then grabbed the four shots and stalked away.
"This Kent lad is such a pain." Louis said to Niall as he glared at his phone.
"Literally." Niall smirked and Louis directed his glare to his bestfriend. "Jeez. No need to bite me head off." He raised his arms in surrender.
"He doesn't fucking understand the meaning of a one night stand. I don't know how I'll ever get rid of him." Louis groaned still staring at his phone.
"What has he done now?" Niall asked, looking around to see that no customer was waiting for service before he fully turned his attention to Louis.
"He was asking if I'd like to have breakfast with him tomorrow." Louis said rolling his eyes.
Niall sighed, he knew that Kent had been bugging Louis ever since they'd had a one stand a month prior and Louis had tried to talk to the lad but he'd failed. Key word tried.
"Lou, I think you should sit him down and have a proper talk." Niall raised his eyebrows and Louis sighed.
"I can't, Ni. He's way too nice plus he does the best puppy dog eyes. I can't bear to crush him." Louis answered and Niall frowned.
"Then date him." Niall said, smiling at a customer and quickly making the drink that had been requested.
"What! No, I'm kind of seeing someone." Louis answered and blushed slightly. "And don't ask who it is, I'll tell you when I see us being stable." Louis added and Niall nodded.
He knew that Louis was gonna tell him so he wasn't going to push but that didn't mean he wouldn't tease him about it, later.
"I can talk to him if you like." Niall offered and Louis' eyes widened.
"You could?" He asked and Niall nodded.
"Course. Just to you know make things clear on your behalf because god knows you won't do it."
"Thanks, Niall. Really, but I don't want to drag you in my crap. I'll handle it." Louis said.
Niall rolled his eyes.
"Oh please. I always drag you in my crap, its only fair I do this for you." Niall smiled and Louis did too.
"Thanks, Niall. It means a lot."
"Any time, babe," Niall winked, "I'll talk to him tomorrow."
The two friends continued talking as Niall worked.
Suddenly, Niall felt like he was being watched but that was weird because he was in a bar and that particular night was packed.
He shook the weird feeling off and continued listening to Louis talk.
It was more intense now and when he tried to scan the crowd, his eyes landed on a pair of eyes boring right into his soul.
It wasn't bright enough for Niall to determine the colour of them eyes but they looked between grey and a dark shade of green.
"Niall!" Niall snapped his eyes to Louis who had been calling him while he was in a staring contest with the strange man. "Are you even listening to me? Who were you staring at?" Louis asked, looking over his shoulder to see if he could spot anyone, to no avail.
"No one, what were you saying?" Louis rolled his eyes and took out his phone which had buzzed with a text message.
Niall looked back at the man to find the spot empty.
"Looking for me?" Niall almost jumped at the voice that managed to frighten him even with the music that was blaring.
"What can I get you?" Niall asked, looking to see if Louis had seen but he was smiling at his phone and texting.
"I don't want you working, I think I told you. And especially not in an environment like this." The man said and Niall frowned.
Who the fuck was this dude to say where Niall could and couldn't work.
"Excuse me? Who the fuck are you anyway?" Niall glared at the man. He knew that he'd get in trouble with his boss if he was seen but he didn't care.
The man rolled his eyes and looked around then took off the clean shaven beard he wore.
Niall's eyes widened in shock.
"Harry?"