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buck-nialled · 2 years

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Matchmaker, Matchmaker - N. Horan + S. Mendes + Lewis C. Imagine

NOTE: this one features Lewis (in case you didn't catch it in the title) as reader's love interest in this imagine. If you're not into that, don't worry. Like my other platonic fics this can be read as a separate piece and with the others. warnings, this is not my best writing and niall is not the best wingman. lewis is also a cheeky shit. here we go!

TAGLIST: @sinceweremutual @theshyspy @sunriseholland @swiftmendeshoran @fedorable-killjoys @littlekidsteve @treadinglifeorslowlydrowning @mendesblurb

SUMMARY: in which your roommate discovers a secret relationship conspiring between you and your other roommate's BFF

It was another slow afternoon in the apartment. Shawn languidly strolled through the front door following his gym session, bare-chested and clad in sweatpants with slip-on shoes he had grown accustomed to sliding against the welcome mat upon entry. After sending Niall a small greeting when he entered the living room, he paused.

“Hey, you haven’t seen my speaker anywhere have you? The small, red one?” Niall’s concentrated stare peels away from the flat screen mounted to the wall, and the strumming of his calloused fingertips on guitar strings halted.

“Didn’t you lend it to Y/N a few days ago?” Shawn’s eyes flicker around in thought before his pointer finger and thumb meet in a snap. He points at Niall victoriously.

“I did. Thanks, man.” His pace is now eager when he reaches your room. So eager for the portable speaker you kindly borrowed for a beach day earlier in the week, Shawn forgot to knock on your door. Little noise could be heard on the other side as he approached your bedroom door, other than an R&B mix playing on low volume.

“Hey, Y/N are you through with m–MY EYES, HOLY SHIT!” Shawn turns to face the bedroom door he just entered through as you attempt to shield the sight of your nude body, as well as your boyfriend. Thankfully, your boyfriend’s ass took up most of Shawn’s vision, leaving the image of your naked frame–mostly–up for interpretation.

“Shawn!” You squeal, before biting. “We talked about knocking.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you had company. At least warn me and Niall next time you have someone over. A text, a sock on the door, something!” The man pleads.

“Niall’s here?!” Shawn catches a hint of fright in your voice, overlapped by a deeper exclamation demanding the same question. One that sounded familiar to Shawn.

“Yeah…he came home early. Why is…” He turns around and is blanching all over again at the sight of Lewis’s face, reddened and dazed beside yours which is holding the same expression. Everything below your collarbones is decently covered by a white sheet.

“Lewis–wait a minute. You two?” Shawn’s finger raises accusingly and wags back and forth between you and Lewis. Embarrassed by being caught, you find yourself sinking further down below the top sheet. “How long has this been happening?”

You and Lewis share a look, before turning back to face Shawn. “You remember the night we went out for drinks and Niall invited Lewis so I could finally meet him?” Niall thought it only fair to introduce you to one of his best friends since you are responsible for showing him Lewis’s music. Shawn nods, but still has difficulty putting the pieces together.

“Yeah, but Lewis left separately and the rest of us took a cab home.” Shawn recounts unless he had too much to drink. But his memory from that night near a year ago remains pretty clear.

“Right, well later that night…”

☆★☆★☆★☆★

Normally the amount of alcohol you consumed hours prior would be enough to put you to sleep, but you were restless in your bed. Counting sheep was useless, and you were in a drought of sleeping medication. Of course, you could go knocking on Shawn and Niall’s bedroom doors but something told you that the pattering rain outside sang them lullabies as soon as they crawled into their beds.

You resorted to a quest into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Luckily, there were still some packets of a lavender chamomile blend begging for some attention, and a new tea kettle you needed to test after your old one had become too retired. Amidst the kettle aiding to heat the water, you reached up into one of the cabinets for a comfortable-sized mug. Halfway through bringing it down from the shelf, it practically tumbles out of your grasp as three loud knocks are deposited onto your front door.

“Jesus,” you breathe out, resting a hand against your chest. You turn to eye the clock on the stove and spare a suspicious look back towards the door. “Who could be here at eleven at night?” You creep towards the front door and bravely stand on your toes to take a look out of the peephole. Standing outside of your door is the prime reason you haven’t been able to sleep, you just haven't realized it yet.

You pull the door back to reveal Lewis, dripping wet onto the carpeted flooring of your apartment building and clutching something in his fist.

“H-hey Lewis…whatcha doin’ here?” You eye him up and down, and truthfully–you don’t mind taking your time while you do it.

“I came to drop this off. Seems important…” He lifts a hand to offer you a closer peek at your purse. A gasp leaves you as you snatch it from him in a haste and dig through it. Your wallet, sunglasses, lip gloss…everything you carried with you is still in its rightful place. Before you can think about it, you are then grappling Lewis’s body to embrace yours with a grateful exclamation being muffled into his dripping wet t-shirt.

“You’re soaking…did you walk here?” Your eyebrows shoot up as he looks down shamefully at his damp, lace-up sneakers.

“Yeah, I don’t know how to hail a cab…but I did know Niall’s address so I figured he could drop the bag off to you when he got the chance. I didn’t realize you lived here as well. Niall never told me you two were…”

He trails off before your conversation is interrupted by a whistling tea kettle pouring out steam.

“Here, come in and let me grab you a towel.” On your way to fetch a towel for Lewis, you also turn off the tea kettle from the stovetop and call out to him, “feel free to help yourself to a cup. I added way too much water, anyways.”

When you return with the fluffiest towel you could find, Lewis is warming himself up with a cup of tea in a mug, while simultaneously filling the mug you brought down with a glass. When you offer him a towel, he slides your mug towards you, with a small “thanks” leaving both of you.

“Jinx,” you say. “I’d say you owe me a soda but I’m trying to cut down on my caffeine.” You murmur through a sip of chamomile. Lewis wraps the towel around himself and chuckles.

“A tea, then, whenever I see you next.” He proposes. You hold up your mug to clink it against his, sealing the promise.

“Yeah, where’s your next stop on tour?” You silently lead him to the couch where the two of you continue to jabber. About his life, about yours, and about the two men you clarify, later on, are just your roommates.

“It’s purely platonic with us. In fact, there is nobody on my radar right now.”

“Oh,” Lewis mutters.

“Oh, what? Is that good or bad?”

“Oh as in…I hope we see each other again soon.” You tilt your head at him. “If no one’s on your radar right now I at least have a fighting chance with that cup of tea I owe ya.” He admits while a harsh red fire overcomes the apples of his cheeks.

“I think this cup of tea may have just put you in first place for potential suitors, Mr. Capaldi.” His eyebrows shoot up, interested. Invested. Determined.

“Well damn…now you got me wishing New York was my last stop.” He shakes his head, while you giggle and hide back an excited squeal all at once.

☆★☆★☆★☆★

“Awww….” Says Shawn, before his face morphs back into semi-disgust. “Wait, don’t tell me you two did it on the couch.”

“No!” You answer, slightly offended. “We decided we wouldn’t act on anything until he came back to New York. So, we didn’t see each other again until the interview he and Ni did a few months ago at Vanity Fair…”

☆★☆★☆★☆★

“Boo.” A voice behind your ear startles you away from the poppy seed muffin you were devouring with glutton. The sandy hair and freckles, after washing over you like an old song almost caused you to choke.

“Lewis!” Crumbs creep out of your mouth and latch onto your cheeks as you fly into his chest for a long-awaited hug. Keeping things friendly until his return was a difficult request for both of you to follow through with. Especially after trading numbers and sending several texts back and forth weekly, then daily. And some of those texts did not hold the most innocent intentions…

“Easy, dear. You’re gonna make me drop your prize.” He offers a loose hug in return, to not tip over the piping cup of tea occupying one of his hands.

“The tea…you remembered.” Part of you was impressed, as the two of you were fairly tipsy the night the promise was made. The tea is transferred from his hand to yours.

“How could I not? I needed some way to keep my first place in line for your potential suitors.” One of his eyelids droops lazily into a wink. “Speaking of which…” His palm, still warm from the tea and callus from guitar strings gently cups your chin, and his thumb comes up to sweep crumbs from your face. “Where do I currently stand?”

Before you could answer, the two of you were rudely interrupted by a familiar Irishman skipping over and reaching between the two of you to grab a tablet off the table.

“So, Assistant Producer Y/L/N, what activities do you have lined up for us today?” Niall quirks an eyebrow smugly, attempting to unlock the tablet holding the agenda for the video. Still flustered from Lewis’s previous actions, it takes a few seconds for you to clear your throat and muster a response.

“Nothing you need to know about until the cameras start rolling. But keep using the title, I like the sound of it.” You grin, embracing your new promotion to Assistant Producer at the Vanity Fair Studio. It was a long-awaited step-up, but so well worth it.

“Congratulations,” Lewis says, attempting to appear friendly. Neither man knew, but the day you got promoted, Lewis was the first person you called to break the news to. Niall and Shawn followed shortly after since they were concerned about the amount of screaming coming from your room for ten minutes straight. Once assuring your roommates your hollers were all out of excitement and sharing your new position with them, the three of you screamed for ten minutes more.

“Thanks,” Niall and Lewis were called to be in front of the cameras shortly after, while you followed with the tablet in your hand. You looked around for Laura, who typically allows you to follow and observe how she produces. When she is nowhere in sight, you immediately felt lost.

“Um…” you turn to whisper to the director. “Where’s Laura? She’s always on time.”

“She didn’t tell you?” The director inquires, shock covering his face. “She’s out with food poisoning. You’ll be filling in as head producer.” If you had any poppy seed remnants left in your mouth, now you would be choking on them.

“Me? A-all by myself?”

“Yeah, you’ll be fine. You’ve seen her do it a million times.” This is true. Laura’s even let you take the lead on some occasions, like giving the interviewees a run-down of the video and its purpose. She’s allowed you to call out some questions to the guests too. But running an entire interview on your own without her correcting you every step of the way is pressuring.

“O-okay,” is all you can utter before approaching Niall and Lewis. The sound guy has finished taping the mics to the two of them. You follow sound check procedures as well as give them a rundown of what the video entails. It is easy for Niall to grasp the concept, as he has seen Zac Efron’s and Lily Collins' videos with similar activities to the ones they’d be performing today. Throughout the video, you become paranoid that Niall is somehow catching on to you and Lewis being flirtatious with one another. You are unsure what drove him to talk you up to his pal, but he was taking every opportunity.

“So, how did you two meet?” You ask Niall, while Lewis stands behind the camera in comfortable proximity to you. A devious smirk crawls onto Niall’s face as he answers.

“My roommate introduced me to his music…I DM’ed him…and the rest is history.”

There was more to Niall’s answer than that, but that was all your ears could catch from Lewis’s stare burning into the side of your face.

One of Lewis's hands shields his mic as he leans close to your ear. “I’m guessin’ he isn’t talkin’ about Shawn.”

And when it came to trading compliments, Niall credited you for being the main interior designer for your shared apartment when Lewis acknowledged how he liked the inside of “Niall’s flat”

Lewis was no better in hiding his flirtatious nature from you.

“I’m not talkin’ about the furniture.”

And when it came time for the two men to share a long embrace, Lewis gave up completely on hiding his cheeky side.

“Tell me how the hug is for you.” You request.

Lewis replies without hesitation. “Yours is better, I can tell you that.”

☆★☆★☆★☆★

"You do give really good hugs." Shawn agrees with a thoughtful nod.

"Right?" Lewis pipes up from beside you.

“Anyways, after he left that second time, we decided a couple of weeks later that we didn’t want to stay just friends. Now that he’s back in town–”

“You could say we’ve been catching up,” Lewis interjects with a sly wiggle of his eyebrows. While you find it endearing, it makes Shawn hold back a gag.

“Yeah, I got that part.” He mutters distastefully. Right at this time is when heavy footsteps begin approaching your bedroom door, and send you and Lewis into a panic.

“Oh no.” You and Lewis mumble, clenching each other’s hands beneath the sheets.

“Oh no? Wait, you haven’t told Niall yet?” Shawn whispers, jutting his thumb back towards your cracked door.

“OF COURSE NOT!” You whisper back harshly. “I’m his roommate. He’s his best friend. If things don’t work out it’s gonna be awkward.”

“What’s going on here? Some secret meeting?” Niall’s voice becomes louder as he peeks his head through the doorway to see the back of Shawn’s head, and to the right of it, you and your boyfriend’s cowering figures beneath your bedsheets.

“Lewis…wait a minute–you two?” Niall points back and forth. You nod your head hesitantly, before Niall’s finger curls back into a fist that he pumps into the air victoriously. “YES! FINALLY!”

You and Lewis exchange a look of surprise. “You’re okay with this?” Lewis asks.

“Okay with it? I’m over the moon! I’ve been wanting this to happen since the two of you met at the bar. Why do you think I talked her up to ya so much over the phone before ya came?”

“Wait, you talked me up?” You look over to Lewis conspicuously, before turning back to face Niall. “What exactly did you say?”

☆★☆★☆★☆★

“So it’s just you and Shawn?” Lewis’s voice crackles over the phone pressed against Niall’s ear.

“Yup! Oh, and Y/N. You’ll like her. She’s nice.” Niall chuckles as he finishes buttoning up his shirt.

“Alright, mate. See ya in a bit.” The two depart from the phone call, and Niall looks at himself in the mirror, satisfied.

“Yes, you will.”

THE END

☆★☆★☆★☆★

remember to reply or message me to be added to the “purely platonic” taglist, and also send me any roomie concepts you’d like me to write about! :) <3

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1d1195 · 2 years

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Okay so Normal People continues to be a struggle. So we'll have to put that on hold again until I have a little more time to focus. Take this small blurb about Niall instead.

It was the first day of classes of their junior year. Niall has said a lot of things in his life about how it was the best day ever to meet her, but nothing would have made him happier if he could have met her years before. He literally bumped into her, sending her tripping into a bench and she scraped her shin.

“Christ,” he muttered under his breath, and he fluttered his hands over her trying to be helpful but not sure what to do. “M’so sorry,” he said, and his cheeks felt flush as he steadied her from falling flat on her face with the weight of her book bag on her arm.

“Oh please,” she said with a gently smile. “At least I have a reason for tripping this time; normally I just fall over the thing air and that’s enough,” she giggled, and she dropped her bag on the bench and pulled out an entire box of bandages. “I’m no rookie, don’t worry,” she said with a wink to him.

Niall smirked and still felt bad. “M’Niall,” he said.

“Hi Niall,” she said stuffing the bandage wrapper into her short’s pockets. She hiked her bag back on her shoulder and held her hand out to him. As she introduced herself, he nearly missed her name because all he could think about is how nice it was to hold her hand in his. “I’m headed to an accounting class, where are you off to?” She wondered.

“Erm…accounting,” he said nervously. “I jus’ transferred s’I guess m’goin’ the wrong way, huh?” He scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk. She hooked her free arm through his.

“Come on,” she said and started off in her original direction. “This way I won’t run the risk of tripping over a cute boy either,” she said sweetly and pushed the sunglasses that were previously on top of her head down over her eyes.

Niall felt his cheeks warm again.

It was instantaneous how well they clicked. It was too good to be true. She introduced him to all her friends. They were all so lovely and clearly adored her (especially the boys). She got him an on-campus job at the library where she tutored. The people that walked in called her mom as she always had snacks, a stain stick, and a mini-sewing kit for emergencies. He watched her from afar as she tended to others academic and personal needs. She offered advice that was sagely given beyond her years, and it was incredible to be a part of her life. She invited him to the gym every day.

“I don’t really like going to the gym,” she informed him. “I just like being busy and having a routine.” If he was part of the routine, then he was down for whatever mental itinerary she had going. He noted the boys that ogled her there, he didn’t like it. But every time he thought of saying something to her, she would turn to look at him with a smile and he remembered that no matter how nice she was to everyone, she was there with him.

It was a combination of Niall drunk off her intoxicating smile and presence (she was an angel after all) and a bit of rum. He managed to tug her away from a conversation and pulled her and himself to the dance floor while they swayed to the music playing live from the band area. “You’re a bit unsteady here, Ni,” she noted and held him up as best she could with a giggle.

“I think m’in love with you,” he said in her ear and then managed to still her face long enough to kiss her squarely on the mouth.

Immediately after he threw up on the floor which sent her into mom-mode, so she didn’t have time to respond to the fact that he threw up immediately after kissing her, and that she was also very much in love with him too.

He woke up with a screaming headache, but the lovely girl had anticipated such. The blinds were drawn tight, there was no sound coming from anywhere in his apartment and there was a tall glass of water and two little white pills beside it. A sticky note was next to them: Take me and a little squiggly heart was written there.

He was never one to disobey the rules, so he did as he was instructed. He wondered where she was, but he knew she wouldn’t just leave him here. He headed for the bathroom. Another note was there on the mirror that he read as he slowly brushed his teeth so as not to upset his stomach. I’m studying in the bedroom, quietly and a cute little smiley face adorned the bottom of the note.

As he entered the bedroom, his head felt foggy. He remembered very little from last night. However, the way his body reacted to her presence he felt like he royally messed up. “It’s pretty impolite to tell a girl you love her, kiss her, and then immediately throw up and ruin her best wedges,” she said knowingly as she set her notebook aside.

Niall felt clammy all over as if he was going to throw up again. “It’s a good thing I’m in love with you too and you’re pretty cute,” she said softly gazing at the very tired boy in the doorframe.

#niall #niall horan #niall horan writing #niall horan fluff #niall horan blurb #niall horan blurbs #niall horan imagine #niall horan imagines #niall horan fic #nh fic #one direction #one direction writing #one direction blurbs #normal people

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ifancyharry · 8 months

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Northern attitude (1)

in which YN moves to a small town in the Alps and Harry is her grumpy neighbor

word count: 8k

When YN got called to her boss’s office, that Friday morning, she was absentmindedly registering the data she’d gathered the day prior from the soil of a closed wildlife zoo. She had gotten so nervous, she accidentally tapped an extra zero on the computer and she had to do it all over again at home once she’d gotten an email from her supervisor telling her the numbers didn’t match. To say she was embarrassed was an understatement, and she’d gotten right at it, eager to correct it, despite her coworker telling her she could easily do it the following work day.

As she had paved the short walk from her desk to her boss’s office she tried to think of something she’d done in the past days that would require such an odd behavior on her boss’s part.

Of course her boss couldn’t possibly have known about the extra number error, unless Dante — her boss, who was a rather nice one and wanted his employers to call him by his first name, because it was such a unique name he couldn’t possibly answer to such a simple and common thing as ‘boss’ — was some kind of supernatural being able to foresee the future. She frowned as she tossed the thought from her head. She likes to think she would’ve noticed if her boss was not human, but despite his uncommon name, he was a pretty normal guy, somewhat laid back and kind of understanding with his employees, so nothing stuck out in that sense.

There was another thing that came to mind when she tried to find a reason for his unpredicted call, probably much more possible than her starring in an episode of Supernatural with Dante, and that was, maybe, that her break up had finally caught up to her. She’d tried to keep it as low as possible, not that she had a lot of friends at work, but one coworker of hers was particularly noisy and would ask once in a while how her boyfriend, Aaron, was doing. So when said coworker had asked, she’d just shrug it off with a ‘he’s all right,' without mentioning how she’d found him in bed with her best friend only a week before.

She’d kept her crying to a minimum, excusing herself to the bathroom every once in a while when the image of her boyfriend on top of her best friend crept inside her mind when she wasn’t busying herself with work.

So she really can’t understand how Dante figured it out. Her work had been impeccable, and despite her many bathroom breaks, she swore nothing had changed in her demeanor.

YN doesn’t know why when something unexpected happens, she always thinks about the worst possible scenario. Her mind fogged with images of Dante firing her, Dante being a supernatural something, biting her head off because he predicted she’d type the wrong number and probably make his company go bankrupt, ruining a life’s work — of course YN didn’t have such responsibility (she was supervised in everything she did) and her job was rather dull, just a lot of bureaucracies and not as much research as expected.

She certainly hadn’t imagined Dante’d called her in his office because he wanted to offer her a promotion. She honestly couldn’t believe her ears and she’d almost asked him to repeat himself had it not be for his endless monologue about the importance of team work and how she had to take one for the team, besides, moving to a small town in the Alps was nothing, and it was only for two years, so why would she decline?

Wait. Moving? To the Alps? (She honestly doesn’t even know where the Alps are, but is too embarrassed to ask him, and promises herself she’ll google it once she gets back to her desk.)

Turns out, the position was vacant because her coworker Anais had just found out she was expecting a baby, so she couldn’t move anymore (especially to the Alps!, he’d said), and Dante had immediately thought of YN, because well, as he said, she was young and didn’t have anything holding her back. YN remembers she frowned at that, because she really didn’t have anything keeping her there, if not the possibility of running into her ex at the supermarket hand in hand with her friend.

With that in mind, she kind of accepted before really taking the time to think about it, desperate to get out of a place that felt suffocating all of a sudden.

Dante had been ecstatic to hear that, going on and on about how they recently found out traces of a wild grizzly bear that had been thought extinct for many years, and how she’d love working in the field as opposed to her office job.

He explained how her living situation was already sorted out (and paid for by the company), she figured probably because Anais had done the house hunting prior to finding out she was pregnant and couldn’t go. Dante had told her she’d be leaving in two weeks, and the plane was non refundable so she couldn’t just change dates. Plus, he said, they were expecting her, so she better pack fast! (YN had felt ravish at that, because she never truly felt indispensable for her actual coworkers.)

She’d managed to pack all her and her dog’s — a one year old dachshund named Baguette — stuff in ten days, making sure she had enough warm clothes to last her at least all winter, because as it turns out, she had googled where the Alps are, and they’re really, really, cold. Temperatures dropping below the zero in March cold.

YN, who, she’d like to think, wasn’t someone scared of changes and adapted to situations rather well, was kind of excited as she had gotten on the plane, ready to leave her life behind, because, really, how bad could it be?

. . .

Turns out, it was pretty bad. And when YN says bad, it means bad, because she isn’t one to use words lightheartedly. When she says bad, she means her suitcases got stalled at the airport because of custom checks bad. Gets dark at four in the afternoon bad. Had to walk in the freezing March weather (along a steep climb!), because there wasn’t any kind of public transportation kind of bad.

So, yes, it was pretty bad. Not to completely drain her of her enthusiasm, but definitely enough to dim it.

When she reached the gate of the house, she took her phone from her pocket and unlocked it, opening the mail’s app and looking for the one her landlord had sent her with all the details (he technically hadn’t sent it to her, but to Anais; Dante had forwarded it to her and assured her the landlord — a certain Mr. Styles, knew about her arrival and would greet her in his house — more like his garden — with open arms).

She nodded to herself once she finished reading the instructions, opening the gate with the code Mr. Styles had written in the email. She repeated the combination of numbers a couple of times in her head, so she could remember it better in the future, and once she heard the gate had been unlocked, she pushed it open with one hand, looping her fingers around the embroidery on the metal.

“C’mon, Baguette!” She said, lowering to the ground and picking up her small dog. Baguette got extremely tired from walking and she certainly couldn’t blame her. She felt pretty tired too, almost enough to get already in bed at five in the afternoon and sleep though the night, and she let herself gleam in the cozy daydream while she paved the way to the small house she’d be staying in, annex to a much bigger one where she figured Mr. Styles (and probably his wife? His family? She didn’t know) lived in. She felt herself grimace once she realized she didn’t even have her pajamas, so before she could fulfill her little dream, she had to at least stop at a supermarket to get something to sleep in.

She prayed in her mind it was close, because really, she didn’t know how long she had before her feet would give up on her.

YN wasn’t one to pry on people’s personal spaces, never had been (not even when she passed her crush’s house in 8th grade and her mind begged her to take a quick peek inside to see if he was home) and she regarded houses as very personal, intimate, spaces, so she doesn’t know why, on her way to her own house, she stopped to get on her toes and look inside what seemed to be a kitchen window. The house seemed empty, the lights turned off expect for a small lamp in the corner, and she possibly couldn’t have known that Mr. Styles had just gotten out of his car and was walking towards her with a look that, had she seen it, probably would have scared her.

“What the hell are you doing?” He snapped, making her jump. She turned toward him right away, watching him shut the car door loudly, a stern look adorning his otherwise gentle features.

“Uhm… hello?” She questioned, furrowing her brows at him, “I’m YN, the — she cleared her voice and pointed with her thumb in the direction of the small house — the new tenant. Who are you?”

YN tried to rattle inside her brain if Dante had mentioned a flatmate she’d be sharing the house with, but nothing came to mind. So who was he?

“YN?” He asked, the furrow in his brows only deepening. He had gotten incredibly close to her and YN felt unease at having her personal space involved like that, which is kind of ironic, must she say.

She nodded, mumbling a small yes along with it.

“I thought Anais was supposed to come?”

Did he know Anais? How did he know her?

Oh!

Oh.

Could he be?

He certainly couldn’t!

He was much younger than she’d imagined!

She thought Mr. Styles would be an odd, off putting kind of elderly person, who maybe had a wife or an old dog Baguette could play with. She certainly couldn’t have imagined Mr. Styles was this handsome (yet scary), tall guy, with a mop of chocolate brown curly hair down to his shoulders, eyes as green as the deepest forest she dreamt about while reading fantasy books when she was younger, broad shoulders and… were those swallows she could see from the low collar of his white cotton shirt? And who wears only a shirt in this weather? He must be mad!

“Oi!” He waved a hand in front of her face to catch her attention, “i’m talking to you.”

She mumbled something incomprehensible and then she gulped before nodding her head, “sorry. Anais couldn’t come anymore, Dante told me you knew.”

She watched as Mr. Styles scoffed, muttering a ‘what a prick’ before shaking his head, a strand of curly hair falling in front of his eyes, which he pushed out of his face with a couple of gentle fingers. YN noticed the various rings adorning his hands, and she wondered for a brief moment wether they were a gift or if he’d buy them himself.

He looked over her briefly and YN shifted her weight from foot to foot, thinking he was probably wondering why she didn’t have any bags with her. She was getting ready to explain how the airport security had detained them, but the words haltered in her throat when she saw him raise a hand and letting the sleepy Baguette in her arms sniff it, before scratching his ear.

“What a cute doggy” he said, lowering himself to be face to face with the small dog, “what’s your name?” He asked directly to Baguette, and YN felt as if all of a sudden she was the dog and Baguette was her owner, and she blushed at that thought.

“This is Baguette!” She chimed awkwardly.

“Ha” he snorted through his nose, “cute name. Baguette” he repeated, and the name rolled off his tongue so sweetly YN imagined what hers would sound like coming from his lips. Probably much more stern and less saccharine.

“Okay, I have to go.” He raised himself, making her jump a little in her place. He straightened his shirt and looked at her with a crossed look, “you know how to get in, right? Or do I have to explain that too?”

YN couldn’t possibly know what other things he had explained, but she wasn’t clueless and had realized Mr. Styles didn’t particularly like her, so she figured it was best to say she did and figure it out on her own. So, she nodded and he gave a short nod back, walking past her towards his own house.

She watched him unlock the door with a set of keys and then disappear behind the front door, her gaze fixed on his broad shoulder covered only by the thin fabric of his shirt. She felt Baguette wiggle her tail from where she was holding her between her arms, and YN rolled her eyes at her dog, “of course you like him already! Traitor!”

. . .

YN didn’t knock on Mr. Styles’s door with the intention of bothering him.

She just wanted to ask him where she could buy something to sleep in and perhaps something to eat, an overpriced airport sandwich being the only thing she’d eaten all day. So, she thought, her intentions were pretty harmless, and it’s not like she was expecting an invite in for dinner or something like that!

She truly didn’t mean to be a bother, but her stomach had started to grumble half an hour ago, and she dreamed of the hot shower she’d take after, which she couldn’t possibly take if she wasn’t certain she’d have something to sleep in comfortably.

When a couple of minutes had passed and there was still no trace of Mr. Styles, she wondered whether he was even home. Her mind lingered just a second on the possibility that he was actually avoiding her, but YN was one of those people that always chose to see the good in others, so she got rid of the thought as quickly as it had come.

She knocked on the door again, this time harder and firmer, and she waited patiently. She was almost about to give up, when the door opened before her with a swift movement that caught her off guard.

Mr. Styles looked displeased once he set his scrutinizing gaze on her figure, and YN could almost feel his eyes touch her.

“What?” He asked, his brows furrowed on his forehead.

“I was just wondering if you knew a place where I could…like… it’s just that… I think you probably noticed, I don’t have my suitcases. And it’s honestly fine, the airport was packed so I don’t really blame them, and the hostess was so nice! She offered to refund me for the problem, but I didn’t want to go through all that… but now I really need my clothes so I don’t… ugh” she sighed frustratedly. YN tends to kind of talk really fast when she’s nervous. She’s always been like that, especially in front of boys, and her ex boyfriend always used to get mad at her for that — said it was embarrassing and made her look dumb; she’d tried many times to explain it wasn’t something she could control easily, but he’d suggested she’d fix it fast (especially if she wanted to meet his friends).

“Sorry” she exhaled, closing her blabbering mouth in a straight line.

Harry waited for her to continue what she was saying, his face stoic and impossible to read, which didn’t help soothe her nerves.

“Is there a place where I can get some clothes?”

“You moved across the country without clothes?” He asked, his brows closed in a furrow across his face that made YN even more nervous. She felt dumb. She wanted to explain what had happened without sounding silly.

“Ughhh, nooo. They kept my bag at check-in, so I don’t actually have any clothes, apart from these” she pointed towards her flimsy cotton sweatshirt that was definitely inappropriate for the cold weather.

YN tried not to pay too much mind to the grimace of what seemed like disgust when Mr. Styles looked at her clothes, and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet while she waited for his response.

“It’s almost six in the evening. Everything’s closed.”

YN felt her heart fall into her stomach as her brain registered the words that came out of his mouth.

Six. In the evening.

Everything. Closed.

“What?”

Harry rolled his eyes at her surprise, “everything closes at five here. You didn’t know?”

YN felt hopeless because how could she have known! She’d literally been on a plane for ten hours!

She looked at Mr. Styles with her big, widened eyes, and Harry didn’t have to wait for her to say it to know the answer.

YN felt like crying, right there in front of this man she didn’t even know the full name of. Her boyfriend had been right when he’d call her dumb. Because she was dumb. Who moves across the country this unorganized?

“Look, I really need to go right now.” Mr. Styles broke the tense silence that had fallen upon them, and he watched as she nodded her head slowly, seeming lost in thought.

“Okay.” She muttered, and it felt weird seeing her so quiet, but honestly, it wasn’t Harry’s problem. Her douchebag of a boss should’ve warn her, or at least she could’ve researched a bit on the place she was moving to!

He cleared his throat and YN woke up from her trance, she swiftly moved to the side to let him out. Harry closed the door behind him and locked it with his keys.

He shivered as a gust of cold wind fell upon them, and he watched with the corner of his eye how YN tried to squeeze herself in the flimsy sweatshirt she was wearing. Ha. She didn’t even look up the weather first!

He kind of felt bad for her, in a remote part of himself, but he also judged her for her carelessness.

“Bye” she waved gently from beside him, and he nodded towards her in a form of greeting.

He pretended to busy himself with his phone, not feeling like talking to her anymore, but when she started walking towards her own house, he looked up in her direction, his eyes on her back.

Her shoulders were sagged and she displayed a very different demeanor than she did this morning. Harry shook the feeling of her sadness from his gut and walked towards his gate, ready to meet his friends.

. . .

YN was hungry. And she felt gross. And the combination wasn’t the best.

She wanted to shower and lay down on her bed, that looked extremely comfortable and clean, but she was still wearing her airport clothes, and there was no way in hell she’d sleep in those.

She debated whether she could sleep naked, but it was way too cold for that, and she had work in the morning, so she didn’t want to call in sick her first day.

She was hopeless.

For a minute, she was so hungry that she contemplated eating some of Baguette’s food, but then she felt so disgusted by the idea she felt like throwing up, so she decided it was probably better not to. She couldn’t afford to throw up the only meal she’d had all day. So, she waited.

Her original plan was to stay up until 5 in the morning, go buy some pajamas and then nap for an hour until she had to wake up at 7.

But the combination of starvation and exhaustion didn’t really go well, because she was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She wondered for a moment if the ground was comfortable, and just as she was about to lay down and test it, she heard a knock on her door she almost believed she’d imagined at first.

She walked slowly to the door, her brows furrowed, and when she opened the door, she swears to god she was about to pass out.

At her feet lay a tray with takeout boxes, she couldn’t see what was inside them, but she figured anything was better than eating Baguette’s food. Next to the tray was a grocery store bag, closed with the handles tied in a knot, and she picked it up curiously.

She bent down to pick up the tray and she closed the door behind her with her foot.

She opened the yellow grocery bag first, and she still remembers the sigh of relief she let out as she saw what was inside: a clean long sleeve t-shirt and a pair of blue plaid pajama pants. She could smell the sweet and clean smell of the fabric softener, and she inhaled the scent in deeply.

She put aside the clothes and opened the take out boxes, eager to eat something. She grabbed a fork from the pantry and opened the first box, which contained what seemed to be a homemade meal, some kind of pasta with tomato sauce and meat. She scooped up a big bite and she felt better already, her brain finally being fueled after a really tiring day.

. . .

When she lay in bed that night, fresh off the shower and her tummy full with the best pasta she’d ever eaten, she cuddled with Baguette next to her and her mind wandered off to Mr. Styles. Maybe, she hadn’t really bothered him that much after all.

. . .

Harry hates people. And, therefore, he hates places full of people. Especially supermarkets. He hates supermarkets.

All those people in line, carts crushing into each others because of the carelessness of their owners, the annoying, commercial music coming from the speakers insinuating itself into his ears, the loud echo of voices commuting in one big buzz.

He hates supermarkets and most especially waiting in line. The self-check out was the best addiction to the small town’s supermarket, and ever since he’d found out how to scan his items by himself, he’d never, not once, gone back to the served check out. Apart from today, that is. Because the other registers appeared to be broken, and they couldn’t have picked a worse day to be, in his opinion. Rush hour, in a small town, is around 4 in the afternoon, and Harry knew that, and he had always tried to avoid the supermarket at that hour, but Niall had called, and he needed some kind of special sausage they only had at that particular supermarket, and when Harry had groaned, he’d swat at his arm playfully and he’d said: “you should thank god I feed you!”, and that was true in all its entireness, so Harry couldn’t really find it in him to argue with that. So, that’s what he was doing, at 4 in the afternoon, rush hour, holding a pack of a dozen sausages because his friend needed it.

He was lost in his thoughts when he heard her. That sweet voice that had taunted him the night before, so much he had asked Niall for some of the pasta he’d prepared “in case he got hungry later”, of course, that wasn’t entirely the reason. The reason being the cute and annoying girl standing in line a person before him, and the thought of her starving and with nothing but a cotton sweatshirt to shield her from the inevitable cold of the night.

“I’m so sorry it’s taking me so long,” he heard her say, as she let out a nervous chuckle through her mouth, “I just can’t find my card”.

“Only cash with this register, lady. There’s a sign right there” the cashier pointed towards the sign and YN felt herself get red with embarrassment. Eager to get it over with, she had run to the first opened register she could find, not paying much attention to her surrounding, which, she then realized, she probably should’ve.

“I just flew in last night, I still haven’t got time to…” she shook her head as she realized the cashier didn’t care. Of course she didn’t. Once again, she felt silly and alone.

“Okay” she whispered to herself, “i’ll just leave it all here and come back later?”

Harry, that was standing in line just a person from her, had listened to the exchanged quite attentively, and he’d rolled his eyes at her.

He cleared his throat and she snapped her head in his direction, and he didn’t miss the way her cheeks had turned pink once she’d recognized him.

“I’ll pay for her things” he offered, and the person in front of him, a middle aged man, breathed out a sigh of relief and whispered a “thank god” that YN didn’t miss. She smiled apologetically at the man, who didn’t even as much as throw a glance at her, and she watched as he stepped to the side to let Harry pass before him.

YN started packing her bags and she refused to look at Mr. Styles as he paid for her groceries and his own, too embarrassed to acknowledge the encounter that had just happened.

When he passed her, he grabbed one bag from the floor and started walking towards the exit of the supermarket, and YN watched as his bicep flexed under the weight of the bag.

She hurried to pick up his pace, and once she found herself walking at his side, she opened her mouth to thank him: “thank you so much, Mr. Styles. I genuinely didn’t know, otherwise I never would’ve chosen that register! The sign was just so small and I never pay attention to my surroundings so it was an honest mistake, I swear!”

Harry rolled his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time, “will yeh stop calling me Mr. Styles? ’s not like I’m bloody fifty years old!”

“Sorry” YN blushed embarrassed, as she tried to walk quickly beside him. His legs were very much longer than hers, and he walked pretty fast despite the added weight of the groceries.

“What should I call you?”

“Harry.” He groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Ok. Harry.” She said, nodding her head, liking the way his name sounded rolling off her tongue. “I will send you the money right away, I’m so sorry you had to do that for me”

“’s fine. Don’ worry ‘bout it.”

YN cleared her throat and nodded, looking down at her shoes as she kept walking beside him. Every once in a while, she would lose her balance due to the weight on her hands, and her arm would brush against his, the contact not going unnoticed by her. She wondered if he noticed too and if he cared, she knew he probably didn’t, but it was nice.

“Oh!” She remembered as they walked their way back to his house, “thank you for the food, too. And of course the clothes!!! You didn’t have to, but thank you. I was so hungry you have no idea. And the food was so so so good! Did you make it?”

“No.” He answered briefly.

“Well… it was really yummy. I’ll have to meet the chef!” She joked, and because she felt her arm get tired, she switched the bag to her other hand, trying to balance the weight, “are they from around here?”

“Yes.”

YN nodded understandably, “You know, I was a little scared to come here because I’d be all alone. Well, not entirely alone because I have Baguette, but… I’m so happy you’re my neighbor! You’re so nice”

Harry snorted through his nose at her words, “tha’s a first”, but YN, even if she heard him, didn’t say anything.

When they finally reached the house, Harry walked her to the door and placed the bag on the ground, massaging his arm that had gone a little bit sore.

“Thank you” she repeated, smiling warmly at him.

Harry shrugged and was about to turn around, when he heard her say “wait! Do you want to see Baguette?”

. . .

Harry left her house about half an hour later, incredibly late and with his phone blowing up from Niall’s calls.

He had looked around quickly once he’d walked inside, and he noticed some of her belongings scattered around the living room, some pillows that he didn’t recognize as his own lying on the couch. He wondered for a brief second what her room looked like, not regarding the furniture (that he had picked a long time ago with his mother), but what it looked like with her living in it. Did she change the sheets or did she keep the ones he chose? Was it tidy or messy? Did she sleep with Baguette?

It was weird to him, thinking this way about her, because never would he have thought of her as more than an annoying girl. But, he could admit she was kind of cute. Annoying, but definitely cute.

He had played with Baguette while YN put away the groceries, and they didn’t talk much because he didn’t feel like talking. He’d never given much confidence to people he didn’t know, and, despite YN calling him ‘nice’, he didn’t really know much about her.

He had excused himself after about twenty minutes of playing with Baguette, and after a quick rub on the dog’s belly, he left her house without muttering more than a ‘bye’.

He didn’t care if he came off as rude, he’d always been that way, and he certainly wasn’t about to change for this girl he met just the day before!

. . .

YN loved her work.

Since she was little, she’d always loved wild animals, and she’d dreamed one day of doing the job she’s supposed to do now: gather sources about this rare bear that had been sighted and write a report about it to send to Dante. If the report was good, she’d be published on Dante’s scientific magazine, which was a great opportunity for YN to get her name out there and be regarded in the scientific community.

All this was, honestly, easier said than done, because since the moment she stepped foot inside her new office, she received nothing but glares from her coworkers. Apparently, everyone was gutted about Anais’ replacement, and she tried really hard to be kind and explain that “no, Anais isn’t coming! But it’s a beautiful thing because she’s pregnant!!!! Dante sent me, I’m no Anais but I can try”, but, despite her big efforts, she was met with the indifference of the others.

She thought once on the field, the interviews would’ve gone a little better, because she was nice and she figured people loved nice, but as soon as she tried to talk to someone about this sighting, they recognized her immediately as a non-local (which apparently was a big deal) and refused to talk to her, feigning ignorance at her questions.

She felt defeated. And she started questioning for a bit whether moving to this small town was even a good idea in the first place.

Of course, she’d escaped from her ex and from the possibility of ever meeting him again, but was it worth it? In that moment, she couldn’t say.

When she returned to her office that Thursday afternoon, she tried to gather the little information she had gotten, but it wasn’t even close enough to write the introduction!, so she closed her laptop with a heavy sigh, full of her disappointment, and she promised the day after she’d do better.

The day after, YN decided to do what she did best back at her previous job, figuring maybe that the excessive responsibility had influenced her work. She decided she’d take a walk on the reserve and try and gather as many sources from the territory she could.

The bear had been spotted inside a terrain one hour down a three hour long pathway, which, for a wildlife animal, was pretty dangerous. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if someone stumbled across the bear, and she truly feared for the animal’s life, knowing all too well human’s cruel nature.

The walk was tough, and the muscles in her legs were burning with fatigue. After about forty minutes of walking, she decided she’d stop at the first refuge she’d find, drink a little water and maybe even grab something hot to drink to warm up her freezing hands.

She spotted a cabin after a couple of miles, and she felt her heart jump happily in her chest at the thought of finally resting for a bit. She tossed her backpack into the ground and put away the little journal and pen she’d kept in handy to scribble down things she observed along the pathway.

Once inside the small cabin/cafe, she immediately felt her insides warming up. Everything was made out of wood, including the ceiling, and she observed how every chair had cute, fluffy blankets draped across the backrest.

The place was just what she needed after a really long and tiring walk, and she regarded with contentment how she was the only customer.

“Hello!” A shrilling voice called behind her, and she jumped in her place a little at the sound. She turned around immediately and she smiled at a blonde guy that was standing behind the counter. He was tying a blue apron behind his back and once he’d secured it, he cleaned his hands on its front, smiling warmly at her once their eyes met.

“Hi” she said, shyly, “could I get some hot cocoa, please?”

“Yes! Of course!!” He beamed, and YN wondered if she was maybe the first customer of the day or if he acted this way towards everyone that came in.

“Here or to go?”

“Here, thank you.”

“Okay! Just take a seat and I’ll bring it to you in a moment”.

YN nodded her head at his words and took place at a small table near a big window that overlooked the entire valley.

She’d been to the mountains just once with her family when she was very little, but she’d always dreamt of living in a slow-paced, small town, as opposed to the big city she left behind.

She loved the green and the sun shining high in the sky warming her skin, and she loved drinking hot drinks in spring. She wasn’t really a fan of the snow, though, that had always seemed to scare her, and she was happy she had both spring and summer to get through before the winter, and she figured she’d probably be accustomed to the place once it’d start snowing, so she decided not to worry too much about that now.

She fished out of her backpack her journal and started reading through her notes to see if there was something remotely good to start with.

unusual path for a bear

too many houses in proximity of the sighting

not much food can be found on the trail

(…)

She figured it was not much but a start nonetheless.

She was so engrossed by her notes she didn’t even hear the nice blonde guy approaching her, so when he placed the cup in front of her she jumped a little in her place.

“Woah, easy there! Yeh’re a jumpy thing, aren’t ya?” He giggled, pushing the cup in front of her as soon as she cast aside the journal.

She blushed immediately at his words, “sorry” she muttered.

“’S fine, didn’t mean to embarrass you”

She threw him a quick smile before glancing down at her hot chocolate, and she noticed happily that he had topped it with a big amount of whipped cream.

“Wait!” He chimed before she could take a sip of her drink, “forgot something.”

He ran back towards the kitchen and came out as quick as he went, holding a small, ceramic, plate in his hands.

He put it on the table in front of YN and smiled warmly at her, “Freshly made ginger biscuits!”

YN felt like crying.

This was the first time someone was so nice to her, and after the fiasco she went through with her interviews, she really could use someone that at least acknowledged her.

Of course, Harry had been nice, too, but in the days that had come, she’d seen less and less of him, and she’d started to wonder whether he was actually avoiding her.

“This is so good!!! Thank you” she beamed, finally feeling relaxed after what seemed like a long time but was actually just less than a week.

“Do you want to sit? If you’re not… busy?” She gestured to the empty seat in front of her and watched as he sat immediately in the chair, placing his elbows on the table.

“Usually there’s more people around but… you know, ’s rush hour, so…”

YN threw a glance at the clock on the wall, that ticked 3.58 pm. “Rush hour?” She asked, curiously.

“Oh! Yeah. I don’t where you’re from, but here, rush hour is at around 4 because everything closes at 5.30” he shrugged, stealing a cookie from the plate on the table between them.

YN nodded and took a sip from her drink, “shouldn’t there be more people if it’s rush hour?”

He furrowed his brows and cleaned his mouth from the cookie’s crumbles with the back of his hand, “no”.

YN nodded understandingly once again, even if she didn’t truly understand his thought process. She figured in small towns people lived differently.

“Are yeh here on vacation?” He asked her and she tried not to feel too disappointed that he understood right away that she wasn’t a local.

“No” she shook her head, “I moved here last Monday. I’m here for that bear sighting”

“Oh” she noticed his eyes widened, “nasty stuff that was! I hope that bear ’s long gone by now!”

She frowned at his words; she really would have liked seeing a real-life bear.

She chatted with him — she’d found out his name was Niall — for what felt like minutes but was actually an hour, and once she’d realized how late it had gotten, the sky had turned dark and gloomy, and she’d hurriedly collected her things and payed for her order, saying bye to Niall with the promise of coming more often. The clock ticked 5.13 pm and she figured it wouldn’t really be that dangerous to walk back home. It wasn’t late in the night, and despite the dark sky, it was still mid afternoon. So, after saying goodbye to Niall, she threw her backpack across her shoulder and started walking back.

Five minutes in her walk and she was already feeling uneasy. She hadn’t noticed at first but on the pathway there weren’t any lights, so she couldn’t see more than her own two feet; any little shadow or sound seemed to scare her, and it took her a lot of convincing to not just go back and ask Niall to take her home. The option had seemed tempting, but what could he really do? Close the cafe just because she was scared of the dark? and, despite talking his ear off all afternoon, who even was he? YN had a reputation for being easy going and able to make friends with pretty much everyone, but time had taught her that not everyone wanted to actually be her friend.

That thought made her think about Harry, and how she hadn’t seen him in almost five days. After he had played with Baguette in her home, she thought she had found if not a friend at least someone to hang out with, now that she was in a new place completely alone, but maybe, she’d figured, it was Harry that didn’t want to hang out with her. He had seemed pretty grumpy, but she’d seen through his facade pretty quickly, and she had thought he was actually nice. Now, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a one time thing.

She clutched the strap of her backpack extra tight as soon as she heard the sound of a car behind her, the headlights of the car illuminating her and the path before her. She shivered as the sudden thought of being alone on a street with no way of escaping came to her mind, and she picked up her pace to walk quicker. Beside her fear, there was also the question on how could someone drive in this particular pathway that, as she knew, was actually closed to cars.

She was wondering if the driver had some kind of permit, when the car — that actually seemed more like a pick up — stopped beside her. She unintentionally turned her head to look inside, and before she could say anything to the guy inside, he beat her to it: “what the hell are yeh doin’ here alone?”

She looked at Harry with wide eyes, her face half hidden behind the darkness of the sky, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was him and not someone who wanted to hurt her.

“I lost track of time” she said shyly, chewing on her bottom lip anxiously.

“Get in.” He ordered, and she saw him unlock the car doors with a button on the steering wheel.

“No, it’s okay! I can just walk, it’s not that far…”

“Get in!” He stressed, but, “please” he added, once he realized his tone may have come out a little too sternly.

“Okay” she whispered, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the car door and opening it. She threw her backpack on the car mat at the end of the seat and placed a hand on the car door to balance herself. The pick up was a little tall, so she had to literally climb inside the truck with her legs. She hoped she didn’t make too much of a fool out of herself.

He grabbed her arm to help her, and once she was settled in the seat, he let it go quickly, almost as if he was uncomfortable with touching her.

He didn’t say anything for a while, but YN noticed how he turned on the heat as soon as he saw her hugging herself against the cold.

The pickup was big, but she could still smell his perfume — or cologne? She didn’t know — lingering in the air.

YN stayed silent, not wanting to bother him, although it proved to be kind of difficult for her, because she wanted to ask him a lot of things.

She remembers thinking he was mad at her. She still doesn’t know why, and why in the world could he possibly be mad at her, but, still. Aaron used to get angry over the most silliest things, so she figured every guy was the same.

She almost caught herself asking him, but she remembered pretty quickly Aaron’s words: “not everyone wants to be your friend”.

She still had a little trouble understanding that.

She heard Harry clear his throat, and she wondered if he was about to talk, so she patiently waited. He didn’t. He seemed antsy, and YN noticed how tightly he was gripping the wheel, so, she decided to ease the tension between them with the thing she did best: asking questions.

“How are you allowed to drive here? Do you have some kind of permit? Because I researched the territory for my article and it strictly said ‘no cars allowed, must be on foot’, sooo… how can you? Are you some kind of… I don’t know — she shrugged, pouting her lips thoughtfully — are you some kind of boss, around here? That’s why people cook for you?”

Harry closed his brows in a furrow and brought his left hand up to massage his temple, “no” he simply said.

“What does ‘no’ mean?”

“It means no.” He said matter of factly.

“Ugghh — she huffed — I know what ‘no’ means! I was asking figuratively. Are you always this grumpy?”

“Thought yeh said I was nice” he grinned, a dimple denting his cheek.

“Forget it” she mumbled, turning her head to look outside the window; there wasn’t much to see, with all the darkness, but anything was better than looking at him.

“I’m not ‘some kind of boss’” he mocked her amused, glancing at her quickly before averting his gaze back on the road, “I own the terrain, so I can do whatever I want on it”.

YN turned her head to look back at him, wondering if he was making fun of her or if he was actually serious. He seemed serious.

“You own it?”

“Yeah” he nodded, amused by her reaction.

“I can’t believe it”

“Why?”

“This was were the bear was spotted! I could have asked you all along instead of interviewing people who closed the door in my face!” She pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“They really closed the door in your face?” He asked, furrowing his brows, the smirk disappearing from his face quickly and his lips closing in a tight line.

“Yeah” she huffed, “but it’s okay. I mean… I get it if they don’t want to talk to me but… I really need to do my job! I really wouldn’t bother them if it wasn’t necessary”

“They closed the door in your face. It’s not okay.” He said sternly, back to his old grumpy self, “who did you talk to?”

“Oh… that woman that lives in the first house right after the cafe. Wait. Do you know the cafe?”

Harry snickered at her question, “yeah, I heard of it”.

“Just her?” He added.

“No” she shook her head, “I talked to Mr. Donovan too. I remember his name because Matt Donovan is a character in one of my favorite series! So… pretty easy to remember. He was actually nice before I told him I was writing an article for a magazine. He closed the door without even saying bye” she shrugged.

“That’s not okay” he repeated.

“Well, it’s no problem at all now!!!! Because I can just ask you” she beamed, clapping her hands excitedly.

“No. I wasn’t here that weekend”

“What?” She asked, looking at him with big eyes.

Harry refrained himself from laughing. “Yeah.” He nodded, “i wasn’t here. Sorry”

“Great.” She groaned, tossing her arms in the air, her enthusiasm quickly dissolving.

She heard him laugh through his nose, “i’m taking the piss out of yeh. I was here”

“Oh thank god!” she sighed relieved, finally seeing some ray of sunshine coming her way, “you’re cruel! don’t ever do that again!” She pointed her finger at his face and then swatted his arm when she heard him chuckle.

thank you for reading!!!! i love you all, let me know if you'd like part 2 and what you want to see happen 💖

566 notes · View notes

ameliora-j · 9 months

Text

— favorite girl 𐐪𐑂 niall horan

𐐪𐑂 summary -> you accidentally push yourself too far into subspace and soft dom!niall takes over

𐐪𐑂 content -> fem!reader, smut, masturbation [f!receiving], overstimulation, squirting, subspace, toy use, dominant/submissive themes, personal assistant!reader, crybaby!reader, soft dom!niall, daddy kink, praise, casual dominance, lots of pet names [pet, petal, princess], tooth rotting fluff and a bit of domesticity, basically an aftercare fic, 18+ ONLY MDNI

𐐪𐑂 words -> 2.6k

The sexual frustration had been bubbling in your core for as long as you could remember. Niall didn’t mean to neglect you, truly… But with The Voice, and then his album release, and merch, and tour dates bleeding together with festival dates, his schedule had become hectic. And as his assistant, so had your’s. It’s not like you could put ‘dick me down’ into his calendar either.

Well, you could… But you felt that it’d be quite immature. So now here you lay, sprawled across the bed you shared with him, a thick toy plunging into your g spot over and over. You’d lost count of how many times you’d made yourself tip over the edge, each orgasm bleeding together with the last. Tears of overstimulation prickled the corners of your eyes and you were nearly ready to give up.

The problem isn’t that you needed release—clearly that had already happened more than enough. However, no matter how big or thick the toy is, or how many times it plunges into that spot that makes you see stars… Nothing is Niall. Nothing would ever compare to the way that he made you feel, thus you were now bordering along orgasm number six and still weren’t satiated.

Not for lack of trying, however. You’d been at it for the better part of three hours, starting off slow and teasing yourself the way Niall always did, then slowly picking up the pace until you were blindly overstimulating yourself, your hips chasing the toy subconsciously in search of that spark Niall ignited inside you. Unfortunately, it never came. And that’s how you became a mess on the bed.

Tears streaked down your cheeks as you gasped and wheezed for breath. The stimulation of your cunt was beginning to hurt. Slowly bleeding in from pleasure to burning pain. You wanted nothing more than to get away from the overstimulation, but your hips couldn’t help but chase the feeling as you searched for something only Niall could give you.

For a moment, everything stopped. Your leg was lifted in the air, arm beginning to cramp as you continued to shove the toy into your cunt. The world began spinning slower, and your vision slowly faded until it was completely blocked by a milky white cloud of euphoria. Your legs shook violently, your body convulsing as the toy slipped from your hand.

You lay in the middle of the bed, panting quietly as you tried to catch your breath while your body shook atop the comforter. Beneath you was a puddle of your own arousal and sweat, and only when you noticed how wet your body had become did the reality of the situation begin to daunt on you.

You just touched yourself. You just used a toy. You just made yourself cum… Multiple times—all of these without Niall’s permission. You broke so many rules. He’s gonna be so mad at you. Your heart began beating faster in your chest, now out of fear rather than exhaustion. You bolted from the bed, quickly getting yourself cleaned up and into one of his shirts before taking the sheets down to the laundry.

Your legs were unsteady as you walked around the house, and your mind unfocused. Niall would be home soon, and likely expecting dinner on the table the way you’d always had. So, that’s what you did… Or rather, that’s what you attempted to do. Your mind was so fuzzy, and your brain so unfocused that you ended up burning the pasta for your chicken fettuccine. The chicken baked improperly, and ended up tasting rubbery, and the garlic bread was too garlicky.

Nothing came out right, and you were so overwhelmed that by the time Niall was opening the front door, tears had begun spilling over your visage. “Hey Pet. I’m ho…” Niall cut off his own sentence, freezing in his tracks as he saw your state. “Pet? What happened?” He asked, panic and worry laced in his voice.

“I’m sorry” you whined out quietly. “I’m sorry Daddy, I burned dinner. And I messed everything up” you hiccuped out. “I was so bad I’m sorry, I’m sorry” you rushed out, now borderline sobbing.

Niall’s heart cracked, and his arms wrapped around you tightly. “Oh baby, it’s okay” he murmured. “It’s okay, princess. We can just order a pizza, yeah? Daddy’s not mad” he whispered softly, gently stroking your hair. “Not mad at you, jus please stop crying. Hate it when you’re so sad” he frowned softly.

“No, I broke the rules!” You sobbed roughly. Niall’s frown turned to one of confusion now, rather than pure sadness. He rubbed your back gently, pulling back a bit to gaze properly at you.

“What are you on about, Petal?” He hummed gently, squeezing lightly at your hip. He did everything he usually would, working to calm you down so that he could fully understand what was going on and why his girl was so distraught.

You took a deep breath, wheezing a bit as you struggled through your tears. Niall cooed at you in encouragement as you did your breathing techniques. Once you had calmed down, you began to divulge how you'd been so bad, breaking his rules. “I’m sorry, Daddy” you sniffled. “I was so needy and you were so busy. Know ‘s against the rules but I used my toy. Came so many times but it wasn’t the same. Needed you” you whined quietly, knuckling at your eyes. You took another breath, attempting to keep your tears at bay. “Touched myself, used my toy, ‘n made myself cum. Didn’ ask Daddy if I could, that's bad,” you finished. “I’m sorry for being a bad girl, Daddy… I’ll take whatever punishment you give me” your whispered.

“Oh, Petal…” Niall whispered softly. He pulled you closer, gently running his fingers through your hair. He lifted you then, carrying you to the couch and sitting with you on his lap. He pulled you to his chest, rocking gently with you in his hold to aid you in relaxing. “Daddy’s not been good to you lately, has he?” He asked softly, gently moving your hair away from your face.

You stayed quiet, afraid that he was taunting you after you’d broken so many of his rules. Nervous that he was trying to trap you into making your own punishment worse as he so often did. But you couldn’t handle that right now, you were too soft. Niall, being the oh so attentive and loving dom that he is, recognized that. He saw the unfocused and glossy look in your eyes, the distraction and frustration the moment he stepped into the door and watched you cooking dinner. Only, he didn’t realize how bad it was until you finished explaining what had tipped you to this point.

“‘S okay Pet, you can be honest” he hummed. “Been ignoring you, haven’t given my Princess the proper attention she deserves” he continued on. “Wasn’t a very good Daddy, was I?” He asked gently.

“No, Daddy…” You whispered shyly, gently nosing against his neck in search of more comfort. He squeezed your hip lightly, humming as he held you closer. You sighed in content, closing your eyes as your body fully relaxed against him.

“There’s my girl” he whispered, stroking your hip with his thumb as he felt you become malleable in his hold. “I’m sorry I haven’t been payin’ attention to you, sweetheart. I’ve been so distracted by work. That’s no excuse though, is it?” He asked. The question was rhetorical, and you knew as much when he continued on to answer it on his own. “Should always have time to take care of the prettiest girl in the world” he smiled softly, gently kissing your nose. “I love you, sweet girl. My good girl” he smiled softly.

“Good girl” you echoed quietly, nodding as you held him tighter. He smiled softly, pressing another kiss to your head.

“What do you say we have a bath and then cuddle a bit, hmm?” he asked softly. “I’ll get your hair all done, get you nice and comfortable for bed” he murmured, kissing across your shoulders. “Can order a pizza and put on that show you love so much, that sound good baby?” He asked softly.

“Sounds good, Daddy” you whispered, bobbing your head gently in a nod.

“It’s okay princess, ‘s just Niall now, hmm?” He smiled softly, kissing your head. “Think you’ll be okay if I go and clean up the kitchen?” He asked softly. You nodded once more, and with that he stood. He tucked the throw blanket around your slightly-shivering form and went to the kitchen. He was quick to clean up the mess before coming back to carry you into your shared master bathroom.

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ

Once in the bathroom, Niall set you down on top of the counter. He kissed your head before he turned and ran the water, making sure that it was the right temperature for you. He shot you a charming smile as he went back over to the cabinet you were sitting on top of. “What kind of bubbles do you want, Pet?” He asked softly, planting a gentle kiss to your calf as he kneeled between your legs in front of the cabinet.

“Um…” You hummed softly as you thought, chewing gently on your nails. “The lavender one” you finally decided, looking down at him with a shy smile.

“Take your fingers out of your mouth, beautiful” he mumbled, kissing the inside of your knee as he said it. He was firm in his words, but gentle in his kiss—speaking to you in the way he always did in this state of mind. This way, you knew it was an order, but you also knew he wasn’t mad at you. You murmured a quick apology, pulling your hand away from your mouth. He simply kissed your leg once more, letting you know all was okay before grabbing the lavender bath salts and bubbles.

He stood again, kissing your gently puckered lips and causing a giggle to spill past your lips. The sound was music to his ears, especially after hearing your heartbreaking sobs just minutes ago. He couldn’t help the smile that broke out onto his face as he saw your happiness return. “I love you, Pet,” he smiled softly.

“I love you too, NiNi” you whispered. The nickname let him know that you were slowly returning to your usual self, though the fog in your brain hadn’t fully cleared up yet. He turned, pouring the bubbles and salts into the water before returning them back to their rightful place beneath the sink.

Once the bath was full, Niall turned to you. He saw you nod, and knew you wanted him to undress you rather than do it yourself. He smiled in adoration, walking the short distance to you once more. He kissed your head, unable to stop himself from adorning your skin with his gentle lips for what felt like the hundredth time since he got home. Niall was soft as he unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it from your shoulders to leave you bare before helping you out of your underwear. “Do you want me to sit in with you or stay out here, Petal?” He asked you gently, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear so he could get a better look at your pretty face.

“In please” you answered softly. And Niall would never say no to you anyway, but with that pretty pout and those wide eyes, he was already a complete goner; unbuttoning his shirt and pulling it off of himself as he got ready to bathe with you. Once he was bare, he lifted you from the counter and sat in the bath with you in front of him, between his spread legs. When buying a house, Niall had taken into consideration your love for baths after he fucked you into oblivion—and right now he was thankful he remembered so as the two of you sat comfortably in the hot water.

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ

The bathing part of your bath was over quickly, washing you off always being the first thing Niall did. He noticed how sweaty your body had become from your overstimulation earlier on through the thin cotton of his white shirt you wore—thusly, he washed your hair for you as well. Even with Niall washing your hair, and cleaning your body of your sticky arousal and multiple orgasms, the bathing was over within fifteen minutes.

Your body still wasn’t fully calmed down by then, and therefore when Niall asked if you were ready to get out yet, you simply whined in protest. It had now been at least forty minutes since Niall had put the two of you in the bath. The water had begun to cool, slowly losing its relaxing aura the colder the water became. This time when Niall asked you if you were ready to exit, you nodded sleepily and yawned quietly.

Niall gently moved you, climbing out first and wrapping a towel around his hips. He unplugged the bath, grabbing your fluffy towel and lifting you from the water, wrapping it around your body. “Want me to brush your teeth for you, Princess?” He hummed softly.

“No, I can do it” you nodded softly, smiling at him. “Thank you, Ni” you murmured. He smiled, kissing your nose as he grabbed your toothbrush and toothpaste for you. He let you know that he was going to get new sheets on the bed while you brushed, and you nodded in reply. While Niall made the bed, you brushed your teeth and got your skincare done. By the time you were walking out of the bathroom, Niall was putting the pillows back on the bed.

“Hi, pretty girl” he smiled softly, walking over to you. He wore sweatpants now, foregoing a shirt as he wrapped his arms around you in a hug. “Feelin’ better now?” He asked softly.

“Yeah, Ni” you whispered, nodding softly. You puckered your lips once more, and he obliged your silent request, leaning down and kissing you softly. “I love you” you whispered as the two of you pulled back.

“I love you, Petal” he echoed, kissing your head. “Let’s get you comfortable, hmm?” He smiled, carrying you over to the bed. He sat you down, going to your drawers to grab panties and one of his white t-shirts. He gently put them on you, helping you to put lotion on before detangling your hair.

He finished getting you ready for bed and got you beneath the covers, climbing in with you and pulling you close. He reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the remote, handing it to you. “Thanks, Ni” you whispered, turning on the TV and flicking to your favorite show as he took out his phone to order a pizza.

“Food’s on the way, baby” he murmured after a while, kissing your temple.

“You’re so good to me, Ni” you whispered softly, gazing up at him from where you were cuddled into his side.

“Only the best for my favorite girl” he smiled softly, kissing your nose gently.

° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ ° 𐐪𐑂 ♡ 𐐪𐑂 ₒ

[follow my library blog and turn on notifications to be notified when i post a new fic!]

#nsfw.nani #niall horan #niall horan fanfiction #niall horan fanfic #niall horan fic #niall horan x reader #niall horan x personal assistant!reader #niall horan x you #soft dom!niall horan #dom!niall horan #niall horan blurb #niall horan drabble #niall horan dialogue #niall horan headcanon #niall horan smut #niall horan fluff #niall horan angst #niall horan x y/n #niall horan x yn

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sparkrls · 3 months

Text

Youtuber!Y/N x Harry Styles

MASTERLIST

Summary: Y/N is a Youtuber who does videos on celebrity gossip, then gets cancelled for the unethical nature of her channel. And finds her way to Harry to be better and learn from her mistakes.

Author’s Note: Tumblr exclusive! We’re feeding the girlies 🤪

•••

THE DEVIL HAS FALLEN: Y/N Y/L/N FEUD WITH AMANDA MCADAMS FINALLY OVER?

After months of a brutal and relentless feud between Youtube influencer Y/N Y/L/N and actress Amanda McAdams, it seems that Y/N has finally disappeared

After deleting all social media posts, and wiping her accounts clean, Y/N released a statement on twitter, declaring:

Y/N Y/L/N started off as a Youtube creator, filming videos of her singing covers of her favorite songs. After finding no success, she began to venture into creating videos about the one thing she knew everything about: celebrity culture.

Y/N found rapid success and her videos soon became viral, with her first series, ‘Internet Gossip’, explaining various cases of infamous celebrity deama. With the rise of social media and a wave of consuming media based on celebrity drama and gossip, Y/N found her place among an audience of mostly young women.

Soon becoming very successful with her videos, she branched out, beginning a few series, among them, ‘Salty Scandal’, focused on celebrity feuds and ‘Radical Romance’, about ongoing or previous famous relationships.

Although Y/N had a large fanbase, her rise to celebrity status was her first red carpet at the People’s Choice Awards, where she participated as an interviewer. It didn’t take long for her to become viral, as she was abrasive and blunt with her questions, not wasting time by beating around the bush.

Among fans and watchers, she was known as someone who searched for truth. Among those questioned, she was thought of as a person who dedicated their life to exposing others and invading privacy.

Y/N began to see the results of her fame. Her community grew and she hosted countless red carpets, interviewing the most famous people on the planet. And just as she seemed on top of the world, her downfall came from her own creation.

With the video, ‘Amanda McAdam: Actress or Victim?’, Y/N claimed that McAdam’s had dramatized her experience with a verbally abusive director, and that it was all for ‘a pity party’.

Following this video, McAdam’s and Y/L/N began a long feud, including several Twitter arguments and subtle shade thrown at each other in interviews or Instagram posts.

It culminated in what seemed to be the final blow; McAdam leaking Y/L/N's address. People and paparazzi alike stood outside of Y/L/N's home, with signs and hollers to let her know what they thought of her. This caused the Youtuber to have to hire private security to escort her as she moved to an undisclosed new home.

Everyone is glad to see Y/N, the devil of the internet, finally gone from the public view. Hopefully forever.

liked by y/nstan07 and 188,242 others

celebrityupdates Y/N Y/L/N spotted for the first time in THREE MONTHS out in LONDON today!

view all 2,541 comments

username1 wtf? who wants to see her?

username2 Did I miss something? Since when is she in hiding? And didn't she use to live in LA?

-> username3 Since her address was leaked by Amanda

-> username2 omg, that’s so fucked up

-> username3 Y/N had it coming after all the shit she said about Amanda

username4 idc what y’all say, y/n is still an icon and that b**ch

username5 I don't agree with anything that Y/N does, but her having to move to another CONTINENT to avoid stalkers and death threats is too far

username6 she should’ve stayed in hiding

username7 Y/N is so fake, she deserves all the hate, tbh

liked by yourinstagram and 5,927 others

ynisthatbitch Y/N for her newest interview with Variety

view all 1,876 comments

username1 WTF? Isn’t she cancelled?

username2 I really don’t care how much she claims to have ‘changed and improved’. Once a devil always a devil

username3 Y/N does NOT deserve a redemption arc after all the shit she talked

username4 Does Y/N seriously think that she can disappear a few months, claim to have gone to therapy and done self-reflection and everything will be fine?

-> username5 I think she just craves attention

-> username6 LMAO fr, Y/N just wants to be famous again. TOO BAD!

username7 Honestly y’all, if you took the time to read the article properly, you’d understand that Y/N was just a teenager!

-> username8 Y/N was literally fifteen when she started making those videos. Every 15-year-old makes mistakes

-> username9 Y/N is no longer 15. She’s now 21 and should know better.

-> username10 Or maybe it took a reality check to burst Y/N’s bubble and make her realize that she’d normalized things that shouldn’t be normalized?

-> username9 That sounds like excuses to me

liked by sparkrls and 107,187 others

harryflorals HARRY AND Y/N Y/L/N LEAVING THE SAME GYM TODAY IN LONDON!

view all 15,678 comments

username1 WHAT THE FUCK???

username2 this cannot be real

username3 why would harry associate with the devil?

-> username4 lmao fr fr

username5 It has to be a coincidence

-> username6 Did Harry conveniently forget that Y/N once made a whole video about his relationship with Kendall Jenner and called it a 'wretched PR stunt’???

-> username7 I find it crazy to believe that THIS isn’t a PR stunt

username8 Maybe y’all shouldn’t make assumptions about people you haven’t met? Harry clearly knows Y/N personally and has good judgment.

-> username9 stfu, no one asked for your opinion

username10 Is it so wild to believe that people can change (Y/N)?

-> username11 once a devil, always a devil

liked by gemmastyles and 833,384 others

annetwist It was wonderful to meet the lovely @yourinstagram and finally hear her perspective on her life! Read the article, written by yours truly. Thank you, Y/N, for your well-thought and introspective words ❤️

view all 22,864 comments

yourinstagram Thank you for giving me the chance to talk to you and share my side of the story 🫶

-> annetwist 💕

username1 Y/N is Anne-approved. That’s all I need to know.

username2 what is wrong with the world?

username3 I expected better of you. I thought you had common decency than to associate with the devil

-> annetwist I believe that God is all about forgiveness and Y/N has found her way to kindness and forgiveness ❤️

username4 say it with me, 4+4=

-> username5 ATEEE

username6 Thank you, Anne, for interviewing Y/N and giving us such a fresh perspective on everything that happened in her life. Loved the article 💕

-> annetwist Thank you, love

liked by gemmastyles and 2,194,801 others

yourinstagram Hell Is My Birthplace. New Single. Jun 1, 2022.

view all 7,657 comments

annetwist Can’t wait to hear it

harrystyles 🔥

-> username1 EXCUSE ME?!?

taylorswift WOW. Loved the preview 😉

-> username2 MOTHER?

-> username3 nothing is more iconic than y/n’s once greatest rivals now becoming her biggest supporters

username4 Y’all doubting if Y/N changed, but if Taylor and Harry can forgive her, so can I

username5 ICON. MOTHER.

username6 you don’t get it. y/n was called a devil and now she’s saying hell is her birthplace. and it was announced on the anniversary of her cancellation. you just don’t get it.

username7 no one will ever love y/n and her cunty moves more than me

username8 I LOVE YOU

username9 I hope your address gets leaked again

username10 ONCE A DEVIL ALWAYS A DEVIL

-> username11 stfu

liked by ynstan07 and 15,768 others

ynupdates INSIDER INFO FROM DEUXMOI!

view all 1,656 comments

username1 I can’t imagine Harry with someone with Y/N

username2 Honestly, I get it. As an ‘I can fix him’ girlie, I understand Harry 😔

username3 not my husband with the devil!!!

username4 Speechless

username5 they lowkey seem cute together

username6 I'm happy if Harry is happy

username7 If Harry is dating her, then Y/N has definitely changed

liked by harrystyles and 1,646,410 others

yourinstagram Paint the Town Red. 2nd Single.

view all 2,678 comments

username1 not harry liking all of her posts 😭

-> username2 man is WHIPPED

username3 MMM SHE THE DEVIL

-> username4 obsessed with y/n leaning into the devil image during her comeback

username5 is anyone concerned that she’s being so provocative?

-> username6 y/n has been laying low and keeping her life to herself. i’m not concerned

-> username7 i think she’s the happiest she’s ever been, tbh

username8 that line "You can't talk no shit without penalties" DAMN

-> yourinstagram I said what I said

liked by harrystyles and 1,121,107 others

yourinstagram dancing with our hands tied. a good metaphor and my 3rd single. out now <3

view all 3,787 comments

harrystyles 💕

-> username1 harry KNOWS this song is about him and y/n

-> username2 He’s a proud boyfriend and we stan

username3 omg the soft launch

username4 PARENTS 😭

username5 lowkey concerned about the two together

username6 am i the only one who doesn’t like the two of them together? it feels icky

-> username7 good thing it’s not your relationship

-> username6 y/n is a terrible person

-> username8 you’ve never met her. don’t make assumptions

username9 awww my babies 😭

username10 I LOVE YOUR MUSIC AAAAA

liked by yourinstagram and 5,677,207 others

harrystyles Grammys. February 2024.

view all 87,567 comments

yourinstagram thanks for being my date <3

-> harrystyles always xx

username1 not my parents flirting in the comments 😭😭😭

annetwist cuties 💕

gemmastyles love you both ❤️

username5 THE FAMILY APPROVAL

username6 Y/N is officially the first gf to be on Harry’s IG feed

username7 tbh, I think that Harry really helped Y/N at her worst and allowed her to redeem herself

-> username8 FR. look at her smile. She’s never seemed so happy. I think Y/N is finally being herself

-> harrystyles Y/N did all the work herself, I was just along for the ride x

-> yourinstagram Don’t be fooled no matter what he says, he saved me.

username10 WAR IS OVEEERRRR

username11 I love seeing Y/N grow so much in her life

-> username12 I don’t think she ever liked who she was before. She seems so happy now

-> yourinstagram Funny how being yourself can fulfill a person. Become a version of yourself that you can love and love will surround you

169 notes · View notes

adoringhrry · 1 year

Text

“She’s mine!”

“Tell me why,” Harry exclaimed from the bathroom, his voice drifting into the paired bedroom. “we always hang at my room?”

Y/n looked towards the door, abandoning the page of her book she was reading. “Because your bed is comfortable! And smells like you.” She mumbled the last part, but knew he could hear it.

She knew because of the giggle that erupted from the other room.

Harry spit out his toothpaste and walked out to greet his partner. He looked over to their white duvet, where she was snuggled under in his t-shirt. Although she didn’t think the same, Harry believed that his things was as much hers as it was his.

“We’ll don’t you smell good now!” She smiled, brushing her brunette hair out of her face.

“Do you not like my after-show smell?” He smiled, walking towards her.

“Sweaty teenage boy? Pass, respectfully.”

Harry flopped onto the bed which a humph, flickering his eyes to meet hers. “I think that smell makes me feel quite manly.” He shrugged his shoulders and moved to his hands and knees. “The shower washes that away.”

Y/n giggled at him, opening her arms to welcome any cuddles he wanted. “I think the soap smell mixed with your cologne is pretty sexy.”

Harry’s eyebrows rose, and a shit-eating grin enveloped his features. “Really? On a scale of sexy, what are we talking? Like Johny Depp sexy or Brad Pitt sexy?” He asked, crawling over her.

A laugh bellowed from her throat, arms hooking around his neck. He was such a goof, it amazed her. “Ryan Reynolds sexy.”

Harry’s jaw dropped, eyes going large like he saw the lord himself. “Really? Are you joshing me?” He waited for a response and when he didn’t get he attacked her with kisses. “I can’t believe you called me a god!”

“Don’t let that go to your head though, boy.” She said, playfully slapping his cheek. She craned her neck to kiss him, relishing in his presence.

“Yes, my queen.” He smiled.

“Oh my god!” She shouted, pointing behind Harry’s head.

“What?” He squeaked, head whipping over his shoulder. “The cat?” He asked.

Harry’s cat, Midnight, wasn’t seen very often. He was a cat who hated being interrupted in his own element. The night the band had filmed the video for Midnight Memories, they wandered into the pet store on their break.

Niall bought the first cat he saw, which was a little kitten who was all black except for a patch of white fur in the shape of a heart on his head. He bought the kitten and decided it was the perfect gift for Harry’s birthday.

Harry has brought that cat everywhere.

“Fur baby!” She beamed, pushing Harry away from her.

Face down into the comforter, Harry grumbled out a response of how much he wanted her to stay in bed.

“Midnight stealing my woman. She’s mine goddamnit!”

“Midnight is gonna be my lap cat, watch!” She swore, running over towards the ‘Kitty baby’.

#harry styles writing #harry styles x reader #harry blurb #harry styles #harries #harry edward styles #my writing #harry fic #fanfic #harry styles au #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fluff #harry styles gif #harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #one direction #niall horan

530 notes · View notes

horansqueen · 8 months

Note

i read your “spitting & bj” oneshot all the time 😅 i would love if you could write some more oral (m receiving) with niall! love your writing!

thank you! i havent written in a year. so im sorry i know this isnt really good but it was about time I got back to it! hopefully some of you enjoy this! 1.4k smut!

"This traffic jam is fucking annoying." my boyfriend mumbled with a groan. "I swear it's like that every fucking afternoon."

I turned my head slightly to look at him, my eyes roaming up and down, from his face to his thighs before a small smile drew itself on my lips despite myself.

"Okay grumpy."

He groaned once again and I chuckled before moving closer to him and grabbing the side of his face, my palm rubbing gently on his growing beard as I imagined how it would feel on the inside of my thighs if he would eat me out.

"Baby, calm down, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we're together, don't you think?"

Slowly, he turned my way and his eyes met mine, making my smile grow bigger immediately. I could never be tired of watching him, and as cliché as it could sound, every time our eyes met, I would feel butterflies hit the inside of my stomach, threatening to escape.

I leaned my head against the seat, my eyes never leaving his, and let my hand slip from his face to his neck and down his chest. I had to move a little closer to reach between his legs and it made him raise his eyebrows, a smirk appearing quickly on his face.

"You seem surprised." I pointed out with a chuckle as I moved my upper body even closer. "We're stuck in traffic, the car barely moved in the past 10 minutes, perhaps you need something to entertain yourself?"

"You're my favorite entertainment, petal, you know that." he laughed a bit. "And if you want to distract me with your hands, I'll never say no."

I licked my lips and held my bottom lip with my teeth as I carrssed his cock over his pants, something moving down to his balls. I could feel him get harder and harder the more I touched him and it turned me on too. I let out a short whimper, making him thrust his hips up despite himself. I pressed my thighs together, trying to resist the urge to touch myself and when someone behind us honked, we both jumped and I took my hand back.

"Fookin' asshole." my boyfriend muttered, moving a bit on his seat before driving the car over the few feet separating us from the car ahead. "It's not like it changed anything."

Without wasting time, I brought my hand back to his dick and my heart jumped on my chest when I realized he was still hard. Immediately, he moved on his seat to get a better position and I kept touching him gently.

"You know it's literally impossible to concentrate on anything else but your hand on my cock, pet, don't you?"

"Mmhm." I admitted, biting my bottom lip again. "What would you say if I used both hands?"

"I'd say I'm all yours, you can do anything you want, angel."

My other hand reached for his zipper and without thinking, he moved his ass up to help me. I could feel my pussy throb as I took his hard dick out of his pants without even caring who could see us. I was turned on by the fact that I could easily arouse him and quickly grabbed his cock with both hands, stroking him gently. He let his head fall against the seat, his eyes closed and I glanced at the windshield to make sure we didn't need to drive again.

"Petal, you're such a tease."

I felt his fingers run in my hair and suddenly, he grabbed it and brought my head closer to his cock. My lips brushed on his tip and that simple contact brought my whole body on fire. He seemed to enjoy it too as he let out a moan.

"Use your lips and tongue baby, be the good little slut I know you can be."

I didn't even think a second about protesting. When Niall asked me something like that, there was nothing I wanted more than to please him. I stuck my tongue out slightly, running it on the soft tip of his dick, trying to resist the urge to suck on it right away. I loved teasing him but most of the time, I was even more impatient than he was to taste him, and I couldn't stop myself.

This time, though, I took my time, licking the head of his cock slowly and gently as his fingers slipped in my hair again. I pulled the skin of his cock down, running the tip of my tongue right around the base of his head and his hand gripped my hair so tight I felt tears in my eyes. My pussy started throbbing harder and I whimpered again.

"Just take it in your mouth now, or I swear you're going to regret it when we get home."

This time, it took me a second to react. I wanted to know how exactly he would punish me when we'd get home, but I was also avid for the taste of his precum on my buds. He pushed on my head and I just opened my mouth, feeling my lips slide around his cock, pressing them on his length to turn him on even more.

"Mm, fuck, stay there."

I tried to breathe from my nose but gagged a few times before choking and when he let go of me he pulled again on my hair, his eyes meeting mine this time.

"D'you think you can make me cum before I need to focus on the road again, petal?"

I nodded quickly, more eager to please than I had ever been, and it made an other smirk take shape on his lips. I was expecting him to bring my head back to his hard cock but instead, he moved his hand between my thighs, rubbing my pussy through my pants with the side of his hand. It didn't seem to satisfy him and in a swift movement, he slipped his hand in my pants, over my panties, and gently pressed the tip of his middle finger on my clit.

"I love how wet you get from sucking my cock." he whispered, moving his finger so slowly that it made my body tremble. "If you make me cum good, I promise that when we get home, I'll suck on your cunt until you beg me to stop."

"What if I never want you to stop?" I asked innocently, tilting my head.

"Then I'll never stop."

Quickly, I undid my seatbelt to be more comfortable and moved back down on his cock, taking it completely in my mouth and running my tongue on it at the same time. He kept moving his hips up and down, fucking my mouth the best he could, and when I felt his dick twitch in my mouth, I knew he was close. I moved my head away and closed my eyes, feeling his warm cum spurting all over my face, landing on my lips, cheeks and even some in my hair.

"You're such a fucking little minx, I swear." He complained with a grunt. "I wanted to cum on your mouth and you knew it."

He pulled me up by my hair and our gazes met again. His eyes roamed on my face, probably looking at his cum covering my face, and he shook his head slightly. I licked my lips, finally tasting him and moaned low, making the left corner of his lips raise up. He brought one of his fingers on my cheek to gather some of his cum and brought it back to my lips. I quickly sucked on his finger until he took it back and he smiled more.

I brought the bottom of my shirt up to wipe the rest of his orgasm off my cheeks but he stopped me.

"Don't. Keep it." he ordered. "That's the price to pay for not doing exactly what I wanted. And buckle up, we're finally moving."

I remained silent and did what he told me to do as I started to remember where we were.

"Do you think anyone saw us?" I asked, not daring to look by any windows.

"Probably. I hope they enjoyed the show." he laughed, putting his dick back in his pants and zipping them again. "Too bad for them, they won't say what I'm gonna do to you when we get home."

#anonymous #niall horan #niall horan smut #niall horan oneshot #niall horan blurb #my fanfics

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loversipod · 1 year

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Zoom Call

Summary: Niall and y/n are in a long distance relationship and call every night, but one time he got caught up in work and forgot how late it will be by her when he finally does.

Pairing: boyfriend!niall x reader

Wordcount: 550

Trigger warnings: none

Y/n waited all day for Niall to call her. But he didn't, maybe he forgot it. They are in a long-distance relationship, and she is still waiting for a proposal, but he said he waits a bit more until they can live together again.

Instead of sitting the whole time before the laptop and waiting, she decided to do her skincare and get herself ready for bed. Niall is living in another time zone due to his job. He loves his job, but sometimes all he wants is to spend more time with his girlfriend instead of traveling around the world and doing concerts.

He hates to be apart from her. And she does too.

After two hours he still hasn't called and y/n falls asleep. She’s too tired to stay up and wait. Y/n hates time zones. She hates that she can’t be with him or see him whenever she wants, but breaking up isn’t an option; they're both too much in love.

Niall is the love of her life.

Her phone started ringing, she opened her eyes a little bit and searched for the phone, but it wasn't the ringing that came from there. It was Niall calling her.

It took her a while to open her eyes properly and adjust back to the light. She answered his call and he saw the dreamy look on her face. The dreamy look he loves so much. He loves the way her eyes look at him and her lips in that small smile. “Hey, did you sleep well?” He whispers, he doesn't want to be too loud and wake her completely up. She nods, “sorry I got caught up in work.” The dreamy look on her face is so beautiful. He already took a picture.

“Did my skincare and couldn’t stay up,” she spouts. “It's so late here.”

“I know and I am sorry,” he apologies to her, “soon.”

She smiles shortly. “Promise?”

He showed his finger and it made her giggle, “pinky promise,” They talked about everything, from what they had for lunch, to what was the best part of their day (the call). How much they miss each other and how much they love the other person more everyday.

They are perfect for each other.

Y/n mentioned that she loves him and wants to start a family when he’s back and he has the best reaction she saw.

Her boyfriend was so adorable she had to take a picture.

They talked for so long that y/n couldn’t keep her eyes open. She tried her best to stay awake, to talk more but her body didn’t allow her. One thing she didn’t hear was that he’ll come home in two weeks, her eyes were already closed and her eyes shut down. So it will be a perfect surprise for her.

He sang her to sleep and ended the call with a big grin on his face. He’s so happy to see her every day, even when it’s just on the screen of his laptop or phone, but better than not seeing her at all. He loves her too much to only call once in a while. They both need those calls.

After every call, they feel better and more loved by the other one.

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justmeinatree · 10 months

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switchin it up todaaayy … niall x reader blurb later ✌️

and probably the beginnings of a masterlist if i work up the inspo

#when i said i was sitting on tons of unreleased blurbs i wasnt kidding #and i do write for a few different people #harry styles blurbs #niall horan blurbs #louis tomlinson blurbs #fanfics #one shots

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cc-horan28 · 4 months

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ANNOUNCEMENT

OKIE SOOOO!

I'll release chapter 1 and 2 of my Niall x OC fic Let Fall on Christmas Eve, because... Well why not

EDIT: I ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT WAIT (READ: SAY NO TO BELLS) SO ITS OUT ON AO3 WATTPAD AND HEREEE! (see my intro post for masterlist)

It'll be on Tumblr, ao3 and Wattpad! (Same @ but I'll link them for every chapter so dwww)

And here's the lil moodboards for them

It's a reverse grumpy x sunshine fic!

Can't wait to finally get it out after MONTHS of procastinating! Ilyyy all!

Please reblog if you can mwah!

so yeah to clarify there's about 3 hours left for me for it to be 24th so IN THREE HOURS YALL!!!!

Also HUGE THANK YOU to @niallermybabe my darling baby sis who kept me so ultra motivated and made these moodboards 🥹 ilysm bells. This one is for you!

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buck-nialled · 2 years

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☀︎ PURELY PLATONIC MASTERLIST ☀︎

[a list of my platonic roomie posts in a *sorta* order]

1. how it happened

2. purely platonic pt. one

3. beverage of champions

4. purely platonic pt. 2

5. leftovers

6. purely platonic pt. 3

7. purely platonic pt. 4

8. to be so horny (sniffles)

9. purely platonic pt. 5

10. can’t handle the heat

11. spoiler alert

12. podcast pals

13. the first snowfall

14. matchmaker, matchmaker

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1d1195 · 2 years

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Help me write!

Does anyone have a suggestion of what they want to see next? I have several storylines all over the place.

Here are some of the things that are all half finished if you want an idea of what I’m thinking about:

1. Niall blurb: fluffy drunken love admission, college-level, very short, minor edits needed but could be posted soon. 2. Niall song writing: Broken by lovelytheband (been trying to piece this together since the song came out 4 years ago, still in very early stage and ROUGH) 3. Louis song writing: State Lines by Novo Amor, college-alumni weekend, haven’t seen each other in five years, yada-yada-yada 4. Harry blurb: girls night out, guy openly flirts with her, Niall to the rescue, very fluffy and cute, fairly short, needs a bit of editing before posting 5. Niall blurb: best man at Louis and Eleanor’s wedding. Maid of honor. Used to date, yada-yada-yada... (this is very rough, please don’t pick this one, lol) 6. Harry writing: beach vacation, next door air bnb, beach friends (might contain something sexy, haven’t decided yet) needs quite a bit more but would probably be good given it’s summer where I am. 7. I do have 5 completed check-in blurb extras from my Therapy series. (and one half-finished one) But where I just finished that mini series I feel like it’s too early for a check-in; but you lmk 8. Harry writing: VERY sad context, best friend Harry, comfort, etc. (probably like a quarter finished and could be a two-parter) 9. Harry writing: If you ever read or saw Normal People I recently binged it during my depression episode this month and it’s 100% based on that with some significant departures from the show (I have not read the book so don’t @ me if the show sucks, I still found it moving). This is not even a little done and very disjointed right now 10. Harry writing: teacher Harry, hall neighbors, will be multiple parts, don’t want to give a lot away as I’m trying to work in a little magic that I’ve never really done before. Not done, probably will be multi-part 11. Harry writing: I can do another part of the Physics tutoring series in between something else. 12. Song writing: Louis, Niall, Harry. I’ll keep it a surprise about the song but it would take place in like the 80s/90s or something (not a lot of tech) 13. “Enemies” to lovers: Been watching a lot of these on TikTok lately :)

So let me know what you think. You can drop an ask, send a message, or reply below (but since this is my secondary blog, I can’t reply back directly). I’d love to hear from you all :)

xoxo

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cherryjuiceblues · 1 year

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𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐄 | 𝟐

➯ Y/N DOESN’T FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS AND HARRY IS WORRIED ABOUT THEIR CONNECTION. ✰ demon!harry no warnings. 𝑤𝑐 8.6k ッ vanilla lime masterlist

Y/N spends the weekend suppressing her urge to search for information on demons. Not only because it will further confirm that they exist (and/or that her mental health is rapidly declining) but also because she can’t get Harry’s parting words out of her head:

I’ll know if you break your promise.

Y/N still doesn't know how and is unsure if finding out will make things better or worse. But if he really does possess some sort of omniscience then what was to say he wouldn’t know of her anxious probing? It was safer not to test that theory, she thinks. So why were her fingers itching so severely?

From the moment she wakes up, ridiculously early thanks to Harry’s two p.m. bedtime, there is nothing else she can think about. At first, she carries on as normal, finding out once again that she is still out of her favourite cereal and immediately shoving her shoes on angrily; making the trip to her local shop just to buy a box of Frosted Wheats. Although she doesn’t spend longer than fifteen minutes outside her house, it is the most paranoid journey of her life. Every corner seems darker, and every person feels suspicious. Ever since finding out demons are roaming around, previous day-to-day activities feel somewhat feeble to Y/N, like life itself is even more insignificant than she already thinks it is. She knows dwelling on that for too long is never a grand idea, but it is difficult not to when she feels so exposed and defenceless. Because who ever prepares to deal with demons? There’s no crash course on what to do if you run into one, and she already has! Not to mention, she’s sure her experience was an abnormal one and she should probably be sending a thankful prayer to someone.

So Y/N makes her way home in a far from relaxed manner, trying to avoid suspicion and breathes a sigh of relief through her nose once she has her first mouthful of cereal. She continues to plod along mindlessly following her routine of breakfast, showering, and cleaning; finding solace in the music she puts on to drown out her thoughts. Though they soon catch up with her whilst she is making her bed; laptop glaring at her from across the room, taunting her to open it.

So she does. She stomps over to it and wastes no time in turning it on and typing demons into the search bar. There, she thinks, not such a big deal anymore, is it? The results load instantaneously and are just as disappointing as she knew they would be. Music videos and definitions clog up her screen, and Y/N nearly closes the tab immediately, feeling silly at the sliver of hope she’d had—but a picture catches her off guard. Without overthinking it, she clicks on the image results and feels an intense, internal discomfort at the sight of the different depictions, all haunted and pained. They’re blurry around the edges, painted with murky colours—creatures with morphing faces and sharp teeth looming over helpless figures, feeding off of their discontent, draining their life force, ending their existence. Y/N attempts to picture Harry as one of these beasts and falls short. He’d looked so human. Acted so human—despite the obvious sorcery he possessed. She glances at her ankle, the bruise and the swelling still ever present but the pain nonexistent. He couldn’t be whatever those photos try to depict. He took her pain away; he didn’t desire it. But why is she trying so hard to make him innocent? He told her he was a killer, and that he could kill her if he wanted to. That was far from the definition of innocence.

Y/N groans and wipes her hands down her face, “What the fuck are you doing?” She mutters to herself, slamming the laptop shut and pulling her phone from her back pocket, opening her messages to type one to her friend Sarah.

are you free for drinks later?

She sincerely hopes she is.

Harry has never had a problem that he couldn’t fix. Ever since he could remember, things just seemed to go his way. As a child, he reaped the benefits of being the younger sibling, his parents wrapping him up in the softest of proverbial cotton wool which is something his sister, Gemma, never fails to hold against him. She’s constantly going on about how Mum and Dad handed everything to you on a plate. Personally, Harry doesn’t think that is his fault, but he understands her frustrations—he never needed to worry about a single thing.

That was until he hit puberty—an intense transition for the best of people but something catastrophically awful for a demon—and experienced every emotion tenfold. He started acting out, unnecessarily picking on Gemma, verbally hitting where it hurt and talking to his parents with an acidic tone. He was angry all the time, for no apparent reason, which made him even angrier until he’d built up a reputation for it. Despite popular belief, not all demons are the very definition of evil itself and where Harry grew up (on a small chunk of Earth that Lucifer had assigned demons to centuries ago, that no one knew existed), he was an anomaly for his behaviour. He was steered clear of, whispered about and gawked at for years as he shrunk further and further into himself until he was no more than an irate vessel.

Typically, Harry wouldn’t act on his feelings, letting them stew and bubble underneath the surface usually until he had sex (with one of the small handful of men and women that weren’t deterred by his personality, but allured) or found something to punch—which was more often than not a wall. But after years of hating his life and experiencing everyone else hate it too, he’d had enough.

He had been taking a walk after successfully upsetting his family for the umpteenth time, trying not to break his knuckles, when he’d heard jeers clearly aimed at him. It’s the resident saddo! Come to kill the mood, have you? He ignored them as if they’d bounced off him, which they never did and never had done, but he carried on walking because that’s what he always did. And he was doing so well, even tuning some of it out until he heard words that no one had ever said to him before. Why don’t you just kill yourself? dripping in venom, and that caused Harry to stop—dead in his tracks as he tried to process what he’d just heard. But no amount of time would have changed his mind right then and there as he turned around and stormed over to the voice with a purpose he’d never quite felt before. He faintly recognised his taunter from school, (knowing he was a bully then, and a bully now) and he felt like what he was about to do had been deserved for quite a while as he swung his arm back. The look of panic on the guy’s face was rewarding in more ways than one, but Harry thinks wiping the look away as his fist collides with his nose was a much better feeling.

That was the first time he’d ever hit someone, and he probably had gone a bit overboard, as he sat down in front of his crying mother with bloodied—but not broken—knuckles. “You nearly k-killed him, Harry,” she says through quiet sobs. She had tried so hard her entire life to prove demons weren’t all bad and he’d embarrassed her, scared her and tainted her reputation (even more so than he already did just by existing) all in one day.

“He deserved it, Mum. I’m sorry but it’s the truth.” Harry picks at the blood underneath his nails.

His father clears his throat from across the room, as he stands with his hands braced on the back of a dining chair. “Son, you’re nineteen. You’ve only got a few years until you stop growing and remain the person you are forever,” he walks over to perch on the arm of the chair his mother was sitting in, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Your mother and I have been talking, and we’ve decided… that you will go and live among the humans, to build yourself a life away from here where you are so unhappy so that hopefully you can turn your life around before it’s too late.” The words wind Harry as he sits there shocked, watching as more tears fall down his mother’s face and looking towards the doorway when he notices Gemma is standing there, despair apparent on her own face. And he suddenly wishes he could take back every bad word he has ever said as she looks at him with an expression only someone with unconditional love for a person could have. He hopes she understands as he mirrors her face on his own, a silent communication of I’m sorry. I love you.

“Harry⁠—” His mother starts but he’s on his feet, hands shaky as he nods, suddenly recognising what was happening.

“Okay,” he says. “When do I go?”

“Tomorrow morning,” his father says. “and Harry, if you’re going to hurt people that deserve it, at least make it worth your while.”

And Harry did (dabbling in other things here and there but always going back to what he knew best). He found his purpose in culling his new home from demons and humans alike much worse than the one who told him to kill himself, and Harry often laughs at how mild that now seems, in comparison to what he does—a violence that his mother will never accept, one his father acknowledges and his sister ignores.

The transition to human-inhabited Earth was much smoother than Harry had anticipated. He chose to go to northern England, where his parents had picked their accents from and found a quaint flat—albeit using his parents’ money but he hadn’t taken advantage of his mind compulsion which had felt wrong to do so early on. He worked hard, learning how to make himself available for summonings; building up his repertoire, honing the skills that made him desirable and collecting souls in return.

And he’d been going nearly eighty years now (his physical age ceasing once he turned twenty-five) and managing to find his own sort of peace of mind like his parents’ hoped, still facing no problems he couldn’t overcome.

Until Y/N.

He knows she’s the reason he feels a very sudden urge to get to the bar that’s closest to her house. It’s a deep-rooted feeling of dread that makes him gasp and his skin prickle, an unfamiliar feeling that he immediately knows he hates. And he wishes he could ignore it, pretend it is a fluke and everything is fine and run himself a nice bath—but instead he’s pulling on shoes and closing his eyes, mapping out the journey from his house to Y/N’s and then the bar before he’s evaporating and reappearing in the alleyway a jog away from the entrance. The sense of unease is crushingly strong now and Harry swears he can feel a weight on his lungs; he thinks this must be what panic is like, but he’s never known it to be so unbearable.

He wastes no time, marching into the bar as inconspicuously as a man like himself could and scanning the room. She sticks out to him straight away; sat at a table across from a woman with an easy smile on her face and a half-empty glass in her hand. Harry furrows his brows, wondering what the false alarm was all about; she’s happy (which is something he’s not seen yet) but the pounding in his chest hasn’t stopped—and he’s ready to turn around, thinking about that bath he should be in right now when out of the corner of his eyes sees someone saunter over to their table. There’s a darkness surrounding him that only Harry can see and suddenly the dread disappears—Harry breathes a sigh of relief once he knows it’s nothing he can’t handle and relaxes against the wall. But then Y/N is standing up from her chair and pointing an antagonising finger towards the demon which has Harry tuning into her voice and the worry rising once again; he is on his way to getting emotional whiplash.

“I asked you to leave us alone.” She snaps and Harry rolls his eyes muttering a fuck’s sake under his breath, but staying put, giving her the chance to not go too far. The demon smiles and despite Harry only being able to see the side of his face, he knows it’s sickening.

“Thought you pretty girls might have changed your minds.” He steps closer to Y/N and she tries to take a larger one back but her chair is in the way so she stays put. Just fucking sit down, Harry thinks, but it’s safe to assume she’s refusing to back down.

“Well we haven’t, thank you, so kindly fuck off.” This has Harry pushing away from the wall and slowly weaving his way towards her, endeavouring to stay calm. As he expected, the demon loses his attempt at charm, a snarl curling onto his lips as his hand shoots out to grab Y/N’s wrist. She gasps and tries to pull away but he doesn’t let go and the woman Y/N is with is standing up, ready to intervene but Harry gets there first.

“There you are. Been looking everywhere, thought you’d left without me,” Harry tries to smile at Y/N, attempting to communicate with his eyes to play along before his gaze hardens as he looks down at the demon. “Let go of her.” He swiftly does but Harry notices the look of recognition pass between them as they simultaneously think: I know what you are. “When someone tells you no, they mean no,” he wastes no more time on him, turning back to Y/N, “You two still want me to take you home?”

Y/N misses a beat, slightly tipsy Harry realises, before she catches on, “Oh yeah, yes please, thanks.” Grabbing her bag from the back of her chair and pushing past the demon who is still standing too close for comfort—her friend hastily following along wordlessly. “Fucking creep,” Y/N mutters under her breath but Harry grabs her arm quickly as they make their way out.

“He can still hear you,” he warns and she shrugs him off with a sigh.

“Oops,” she deadpans, speeding up so she can walk in front of Harry and out of the door.

He introduces himself once they’re outside, turning to the woman with his hand outstretched. “Hi, I’m Harry. Sorry to cut your night short.”

She accepts his handshake with a small smile, “That’s okay. He was really gross. I’m Sarah—”

“It’s not okay. Are you following me?” Y/N cuts in, hands on hips.

Harry sighs, “No, I’m not following you, it was a coincidence. I’m sorry for intervening but I needed to talk to you anyway so—”

“So what? You think it’s okay to exert your weird powers and make us leave? I was handling it just fine.”

“Uhh, Y/N, I’m going to phone Mitch,” Sarah rushes out, gesturing with her phone awkwardly as she walks out of earshot.

Harry frowns at Y/N, observing the way she reaches out for support from the wall. “Don’t look at me like that,” she snaps.

“What the fuck were you thinking? What did I say yesterday, for fuck’s sake?” He crosses his arms and his biceps strain against the short sleeves of his black t-shirt.

“About what?” She scoffs before it clicks, “Wait, was he—That was a demon?” Her eyes widen and her brows crease. Harry watches her as the realisation hits and she covers her mouth with her hand, the other still bracing against the wall. “Is he going to kill me? Oh God, what is happening?” she whispers. Harry’s gaze softens a bit as she starts to panic.

He takes a step towards her, “Y/N, look at me,” her eyes flit up to his, “He’s not going to kill you, okay? Won’t let that happen… Are you okay?” He asks.

She shakes her head, “Not really,” as she slides down the brick wall. “Is that why you said he could still hear me when I called him a creep?” Harry nods. She seems to ponder for a moment, eyes unfocused and Harry glances at Sarah who’s still on the phone. Y/N gasps, “Is that why the light around him was all murky?”

Harry snaps his head back towards Y/N, “What? You could see that?”

She nods, “Is that bad?”

Harry lets out a humourless laugh, “It’s not exactly… good. Ah fuck, I’ve been trying to ignore this shit,” he sighs, rubbing his hands down his face and scratching at his jaw.

“Ignore what shit? Start telling me stuff,” she huffs.

“Careful...” he looks at her, shaking his head, “but I suppose I’ll tell you something.” She sits up slightly, intrigued and pleasantly surprised that he complied. “I think I can sense when you’re in danger… That’s why I was here tonight. And when you were at work and I came to get you, I could sense that you were anxious. I think you were on the verge of a panic attack.”

“Are you being serious?” She was hardly expecting that.

“No, I’m making all of this up, actually,” he lowers his head in mock surrender.

“Oh fuck off, Harry, that’s not funny,” Y/N stands up from the wall to get a closer look at him. “You really could be making it all up for a laugh. Could’ve drugged me and pretended you could teleport, or whatever,” she squints at him, analysing his face and scowling at him when his lip curls. “Why have I been so willingly believing you?” As soon as she asks the question, he leans down to her height and she watches his eyes cloud over with swirls as if someone has spilled a pot of black paint right into his waterline.

“Think these are contacts?” He asks, smirk ever-present. Right. She’d forgotten about that.

“Probably not,” she grumbles.

“What was that?”

“No! They’re not contacts.” He grins and leans back, eyes clear once again.

“You back to believing me then, Bambi?” She rolls her eyes but nods, “Because trust me, there are much better things for me to be doing than pulling an elaborate prank on a human—”

“Y/N!” Sarah calls as she walks back over. She flinches slightly at the abrupt sound of her voice. “Mitch is going to be here soon, do you want a lift?”

“Uh—”

“That’s okay, I’ll take her home. We’ll still need to clear some stuff up,” Harry answers.

“Are you sure?” Sarah directs towards Y/N, and Harry realises that she has every right to be suspicious; having briefly witnessed an argument—not the most stellar introduction.

“Oh yeah, yeah I’m sure. I… I trust him,” Harry feels a little zap of warmth go through him at her confession. It was hard for her to say, made obvious by the way she won’t look at him, and he represses a smile.

“I really am sorry about earlier, Sarah. Isn’t my preferred way of introducing myself, I’ll admit.” Harry feels Y/N look at him then but his eyes stay on Sarah, who gives him a smile.

“That’s okay, I’ve seen worse, honestly. How did you two meet? Y/N hasn’t mentioned you.” She gives a pointed look to Y/N who glares back at her.

“Oh, I wouldn’t have expected her to,” he smiles. “We just started working together. Safe to say we butt heads sometimes,” he looks at Y/N and only grins wider at her scowl. “Just needed to ask some questions about work and I can’t log into the system to input some data, s’all.”

“That sounds like a fun Saturday night!” Sarah laughs slightly, enjoying the look of dissatisfaction on Y/N’s face, just as Mitch pulls up beside them. Y/N gives him a small wave which he returns with a nod. “Text me, okay?”

Y/N nods, “Yeah, I will,” as Sarah gets in the car. “Shouldn’t trust you. You’re a world-class liar,” she mutters under her breath, a fake smile plastered on her face as she waves the car off.

“You do trust me though,” he nudges her, far too amused for her liking. “I’m honoured, Bambi, to be bestowed with such a precious thing.” He places a hand over his heart and she flips him off, pivoting on her heel and walking in most likely the wrong direction to her home. “Oi!” He calls, “not wise to be on your own with a demon on the loose.” This stops her, words intended to be teasing hitting harder than either of them thought they would.

She lets herself think, really think, about it for a few seconds. What could have happened? “Harry?” She breathes, back still turned. “Was he really going to hurt me?” He’s in front of her in an instant; literally appearing, a pinch between his brows and lips downturned.

“I don’t know what he wanted to do and I don’t want to think about it, okay? Neither should you.” His tone is harsher than he means it to be and he feels like an asshole when her eyes well up, glimpsing up at him with a look reminiscent of the first time he saw her. He’s reminded of the alcohol in her system when her lip wobbles—feeling like he’s witnessed enough of her anger to know she’d prefer to showcase scowling over crying—and he’s trying to stay composed. “Don’t cry, little thing,” he sighs, “I forget how delicate you are,” Harry brings a tentative hand up to her bare shoulder and cringes at the ice-cold skin that greets him. “You’re freezing,” he whispers before he strokes down her arm slowly and closes his eyes, concentrating as warmth trails out of his fingertips and into her skin.

Y/N gasps as her body fills with heat; she feels as though she’s stepped into a log cabin with a roaring fireplace, or snuggled under a mountain of blankets, or submerged herself in a deep bath. Her eyes flutter shut, displacing a tear from her waterline, and a loosened breath escapes her mouth; refusing to mention her below-comfortable body temperature feeling silly now with the newfound intense warmth she’s experiencing. Despite the earlier drinks that had poured a pleasant coating along her throat, Y/N’s sure she’s tipsier currently than she had been thirty seconds ago. And when she feels Harry’s thumb wipe the droplet away she very nearly melts into his touch but she blinks her eyes open instead, hoping to clear some of the fog that had conveniently steered her thoughts in a much nicer direction. “I want to go home.”

Harry nods, hand trailing down to meet her own—eyes never straying from hers, still filled with unshed tears. “Hold my hand, yeah? I’ll take you home,” she lets him intertwine their fingers, hers swallowed by his much larger ones. “No one can see us,” he assures. And then they’re gone.

Y/N doesn’t like how nice it feels to hold Harry’s hand. She thinks she must just be touch-starved, but it’s hard to deny that the warmth he emits is addictive. And with the way he’s squeezing her she almost thinks he feels the same way, but he then keeps squeezing and the bones in her fingers are seconds away from shattering. “Ouch!” He looks at her briefly and then back towards her front door, relaxing his hand, but his face is far from tranquil. “What’s wrong?”

“Something’s not right. Stay here.” Y/N feels her heart drop, dozens of possibilities running through her head in a matter of seconds, watching as Harry steps up to her door and wiggles the handle. Still locked. Y/N releases a breath. “Gimme your keys,” Harry sticks his palm up and twitches his fingers impatiently as she rummages around in her bag. “Stay here,” he repeats once she puts them in his hand. “Do you understand me?” His eyes burn through her own as she nods silently. “Say it, Y/N.”

“I understand.” She doesn’t argue. Her eyes flicker around as he enters her home, checking behind her, entirely paranoid. The clothes she’s wearing are suddenly itchy and hot, and her necklace is digging in, and God does Y/N hate waiting. Every second drags on for what feels like an eternity as she stands in front of her door, hands sweaty and grasped together for dear life.

She thinks she hears Harry groan and nearly reaches out for the handle but before she can, he’s swinging the door open looking far more relaxed than he had mere minutes ago. “You can come in. It’s safe. Just my stupid mate, Niall.”

Y/N flinches, “What? There’s someone in there?” Harry nods, resigned.

“Said he tried to go to my house but ended up here. He’s a pain but he’s friendly, come on.” He ushers her with a wave, “Want me to hold your hand?” Y/N glares at him and bats his hand away—his unapologetic grin annoyingly contagious as she averts her eyes and steps past him. Sure enough, there’s a man in her living room sitting on her sofa, who stands up as soon as Y/N enters. He has a sheepish grin on his face as he extends a hand.

“Hi, I’m Niall. Sorry.” He scratches the back of his head.

Y/N is hesitant but accepts the handshake, aware of her clammy hands, “Y/N,” she replies, “Why are you in my house, Niall?” Her heart is beating out of control.

“Not so sure myself, to be honest with you! Swear I was going to Harry’s,” he nods towards Harry who has taken his place next to Y/N.

“You’re a—You’re a demon as well then,” Y/N concludes, but Niall nods anyway.

“I am. Promise I’m nice though, don’t want to cause you any harm,” he holds his hands up and Y/N glances at Harry to find him already looking at her.

“He is, I told you already. Didn’t lie,” Harry encourages.

“This is—I don’t—” she stutters, putting a hand to her forehead. To say she is overwhelmed would be an understatement; the night’s events have yet to be processed but they’re still being piled on.

“I need to talk to Niall, okay?” Harry rests his hand on her back when he notices her shallow breathing. “Let’s calm you down, yeah?” She looks up at him but her eyes are absent and Harry can tell she’s not really in the room anymore, “Okay?” pulls a short nod from her as he guides them to her bedroom. He glances behind him to give Niall a look and he takes a seat on her sofa again.

Y/N stands by her bed and stares at her hands as Harry shuts her door. Her voice is quiet as she calls his name and he faces her immediately, “This is too much,” she whispers, “Why is he in my house?” The huffed laugh she lets out is humourless.

“I’m going to talk to him, figure it out,” Y/N’s hands are jittery, scratching at her arm until the skin starts to sting. “Stop that,” Harry pulls her wrist away gently, thumb on his other hand stroking over the spot as he takes away the pain instantly. “I’ll run you a bath, okay?” She doesn’t object so he walks over to her en-suite and turns the light on. “Come sit,” he pats the toilet seat lid.

As Harry kneels down and turns the tap on he can’t help but sigh, wishing this was his bath he was drawing, getting lost in the swishing of the water as his hand makes little patterns. Y/N has an array bubble bath that he generously pours in, turning the water a pretty lilac. The warmth of the liquid lulls him into a distracted state as his thoughts escalate, about Y/N mainly. About what he’s going to do with her; with their connection. What can he do—when he doesn’t even understand it? He can feel her watching him but he’s so zoned out it doesn’t fully register, not until she gently nudges him with her foot. “Harry, that’s too hot.” He hums in confusion before looking at his red hand and realising he was only running hot water.

“Oh, ‘m sorry.” He turns the cold on. He feels uneasy about letting his guard down—even for a moment—his tired expression clear as day to Y/N. Sweat beads at his forehead as the steam from the water catches up with him and he takes a moment to stand up, coughing slightly as if to diffuse the non-existent tension he’s convinced himself of. Y/N stays where she is, looking up at him with something akin to concern on her equally-as-tired face. She thinks this is the first time she’s felt not even an ounce of anger towards him, not even subconsciously, and she finds herself reaching out. Her hand stops before her brain does, refusing to touch his elbow as she’d thought to. It stays suspended in mid-air before she clears her throat awkwardly.

“Thank you, Harry, I can do it now.” He gives her an absent nod, scratching at his jaw before leaving the bathroom and she exhales shakily, getting to her feet and testing the water with her hand. It’s not her perfect temperature and the tub isn’t full yet but she doesn’t care, as she removes her clothes haphazardly and sinks into the still-running water. Y/N feels her muscles unclench at the sensation of near-molten liquid swimming around her, letting out a tiny involuntary moan that she immediately hopes Harry doesn’t hear.

He does. He stops mid-sentence when it hits his ears and narrows his eyes at Niall when he giggles slightly. “Don’t be gross, Niall,” Harry scolds.

“Me? It caught you off guard, did it not? Almost as if you’re trying to hear her,” he smiles knowingly.

“Stop being childish. I’ve been fucking running around after her for two days. I have to be alert.”

“No wonder your scent is drenched here then.” Suddenly Niall’s eyes light up and he clicks his fingers, “Ah! That must be why I ended up here! It reeks of you, must’ve confused the ol’ brain.”

“Yeah sure, the century-old-very-experienced-never-teleported-to-the-wrong-place-before brain. That makes sense.” Harry huffs, “There’s something going on, man. I dunno what to do.”

Niall guffaws, “Are you asking for my help? No way!” He laughs again, much to Harry’s displeasure.

“This isn’t fucking funny,” he crosses his arms across his chest, voice deadly steady.

“I’m not helping unless you explicitly ask,” Niall’s grinning, completely overjoyed by having the upper hand—a rare occurrence in their friendship.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harry’s arms tense.

“Come onnn,” Niall drags out, “Come on, just ask and I’m all ears.”

Harry is reminded of how much he can dislike Niall (which always makes him feel a bit guilty because it’s just Harry being grumpy that causes the dislike and nothing genuinely wrong with Niall) as he sighs and sits down on Y/N’s sofa. Clearing his throat, he starts, “Niall, dearest Niall,” he smiles mordaciously. “Please will you help me?”

Niall claps his hands together, a broad and satisfied grin on his shameless face, “Nothing would make me happier, old friend.”

“I loathe you.”

“Now now, what’s up? Are you having trouble keeping tabs on the sweet-looking human?” He sits next to Harry, turning his body to face him and pulling his ankle over his knee.

“No, of course not,” Niall only smiles further. “She’s an angry little thing,” he admits, debating whether he really should feed him the whole story, before deciding fuck it and recounting his last two days in full.

Niall is sat back in disbelief by the end, but also clearly still amused. “So she was just crying? And that summoned you? Are you getting soft?” He laughs. When Harry’s gaze darkens and his eyes start to turn black, Niall holds his hands up, “Okay, sorry! It’s not funny. What are you gonna do about it?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Harry throws his hands in the air, hair mussed from ruffling it so much. Niall has never seen him so distressed—it’s the first thing that makes him furrow his brows in realisation that the situation is serious. “I hate worrying about her, it’s not natural. I don’t even know her and all of a sudden I can tell when she’s in danger? I can feel it in my stomach, in my bones. It’s fucking torture, Niall.” Harry rubs his hands down his face.

Niall is stumped. Harry’s never really needed his help before, and for it to be about something neither of them has any clue about. It’s worrying for two senior demons to be out of their depth. Unheard of, even. “Why don’t you get to know her then?” he finally comes up with.

Harry looks at him through his hands. “What? How does that help me?”

“Well, maybe you’d be less angry about it if you started to like her,” Niall shrugs.

“That would definitely make things worse. You’re fucking useless!” He stands up.

“Hey, that’s not fair. This is new to both of us, Harry.”

“I know. Sorry.” He sighs, sitting back down. “But getting to know her… She’s a human, Niall.”

“And?”

“It makes everything more complicated.” They stare at each other, unsure of what else to say.

“Well, she’s not going anywhere, is she? And whilst we figure out a better plan, you can help me out.” That grin is back.

Harry sighs but welcomes a distraction, “What with…?”

“Ah, you know me—”

“Niall.”

“I may have upset a human in a very high position who may have threatened to start some sort of war—It’s nothing to worry about really, I just need someone with mind compulsion to help it go away,” he smiles at Harry, eyes teasingly beseeching.

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that? You’re no better than the human,” but by his words, Niall knows he’s got him and he lets out a quiet cheer, patting Harry on the bicep.

“Thanks, man. We should probably do it sooner than later, though,” Harry rolls his eyes. It was never easy with Niall.

“Fine. Let’s go now.”

“Aren’t you gonna—” Niall trails off, pointing towards Y/N’s bedroom.

Harry sighs, “Oh yeah. I’ll be a second.” He tousles his hair, trying to hide his dishevelled state as he knocks on the door. When he receives no reply his hand tentatively turns the door handle, sincerely hoping he isn’t about to make things worse. An empty bedroom greets him and he breathes a sigh of relief which quickly hitches when he hears it; a watery intake of breath that anyone with lesser capabilities would miss. Harry’s hesitation vanishes as he knocks on the bathroom door. “Y/N? Can I come in?”

Y/N gasps, coughing quickly to cover it up (although Harry still hears it), “Uh, yeah!” She tries to sound upbeat—which even if she wasn’t crying would still be odd considering she’s never been excited to see Harry—but it only sounds unstable. Harry opens the door slowly and catches the panicked wiping of her face as she tries to brush away the tears before her hand disappears into the tumultuous clouds of bubbles that rest around her. He feels that steady throbbing in his gut; the desire to make it all better fighting with the frustration of feeling that urge in the first place.

The frustration wins as a condescending comment claws its way up his throat, “Oh Bambi, you’re all tearful. You feeling overwhelmed?” Harry’s brows pinch together and he frowns, which Y/N visibly reacts to as another tear falls down her face. “You’re a little crybaby, aren’t you? Been crying so much.” She doesn’t say anything; just watches him with big, wet eyes and hot cheeks as he takes a seat on the toilet seat lid.

“Did you want something?” Y/N asks, voice congested.

“I’m leaving with Niall now. Needs me to sort something out.”

“You’re leaving?” She squeaks before she can help it.

“Don’t you want me to?” He smirks, trying to ignore the fear in her eyes. They well up again and she turns her head away, scrunching them shut. She rests her head on her knees that she’s hugging to her chest, hiding as much of her face as she can. Harry’s guilt starts to overpower his pride and he swears he can feel every single tear as they fall. “I won’t be long and then I’ll come back, yeah?” But she doesn’t look at him, acknowledge him even. “I’ll come back,” he whispers one last time before hesitantly standing up and walking towards the door, keeping his eyes on her. Once the door clicks shut he hears her quivering exhale and makes a swift exit to find Niall.

“Okay, let’s go,” he breathes, taking in Niall’s expression.

“That was mean of you, Harry,” he says.

“Yeah.” His hand finds Niall’s shoulder and he gives him a nod before they vanish from Y/N’s living room without disturbing as much as a follicle of dust. But Y/N’s sure she feels a draft rattle the bathroom door as she lets out a sob and buries her head further into her knees. The water grows cold but she can’t make herself move—wallowing in her own despair for as long as she can cope with the shivering. She hates how conflicted Harry is making her feel. She’s angry at him for disrupting her life but is unsafe without him. Dependent on a man she does not know, a man that is not human, a man that she can’t believe she told she trusted. And yet she feels every single second that he is gone.

The cold breeze whips around Harry’s neck as he steps out of the Scottish Parliament Building; the feeling welcome as he breathes in deeply. Niall trails out behind him, wise to stay quiet. Harry’s guilty conscience is weighing heavily on him—the woman’s memory he’d just manipulated most definitely undeserving. But Niall was adamant that it had to be done and for once, Harry didn’t have the energy to fight him on it. “What was it this time?” He sighs as they walk towards a nearby bench.

“Broke her heart, didn’t I?” Niall tries to joke but Harry doesn’t entertain his attempted grin. “Comes with being a demon, you know as well as me. And of course she wasn’t best pleased and it all got blown out of proportion really. So thank you for your help. Didn’t much fancy going to war... We weren’t even really seeing each other—” Niall rambles on but Harry’s distracted; eyes focused on the disgruntled looking man who is squinting rather intensely at the pair from across the street. He attempts to ignore him but then the man raises his hand in an accusatory point and begins storming his way over.

“Niall,” Harry starts, whacking an arm out and into Niall’s stomach. He stops with a huff—hasn’t even seen the guy yet, oblivious as ever in his own world.

“What?” He looks at Harry and follows his eyes towards the angry civilian. “Shit.”

“Niall, what the fuck do you do with your life?”

“Let’s not get into that now, eh! Big smiles!” He says just as the man starts shouting.

“I know you! You stole my girlfriend!” He spits, stocky neck turning red.

“Ah, I believe I actually helped her, sir—”

“Don’t bullshit me!” He stops at Niall’s chin, fronts near touching, and Harry is disappointed he doesn’t find this more amusing. “You fucking convinced her to leave me.”

“I think she probably left you using her own intuition.”

“You getting smart with me?”

“Why? Are you struggling to understand?” Niall smirks down at him, not even flinching when he watches the man swing his arm back and punch him square in the jaw. His neck snaps to the side but the hit barely tickles him and Harry watches the man’s eyes widen slightly at the lack of reaction he pulled, taking a step back. Niall needs only to glance in Harry’s direction before he’s stepping up to the man himself and staring him in the eyes.

“You don’t recognise either of us. Your girlfriend left you because you are a shit person. Now go home and construct a long apology,” he nods dumbly, eyes absent as Harry strips away his freewill and gives him a little condescending pat on the head. The man stumbles away and Harry turns to Niall, wholly unimpressed. “If there’s anyone else you’ve fucked off you need to tell me right now.”

He scoffs, “Life is much easier when you can choose what you want people to remember.”

Harry just shrugs, “You could have learned,”

“Yeah well I didn’t, which is why I’m so nice to you,” he’s smiling again, completely brushing off the sour interaction.

“Right…” Harry scowls, crossing his arms. “I’m going home before someone else recognises you.”

“To your home or...” he trails off.

“I said I would go back,” Harry sighs, feeling the thump in his gut and he panics for a second, thinking she’s in danger but it settles down again. “To see if she’s alright,” Harry clarifies.

Y/N wouldn’t say she feels particularly alright, wrapped in her dressing gown and sinking into her sofa, pulling the material around herself in an attempt to feel shielded. She didn’t much want to go to bed after her bath, far too sad and nervous to try to sleep—and also aware of Harry’s words: I’ll come back. It feels silly but she is somewhat holding him to it; she doesn’t want to seem too eager but being in bed and having him appear seems like something that would only freak her out more, so the sofa feels safer. Her TV is on but she is paying it no mind, the anxiety sending her into a sort of incoherent daze as her eyes unfocus on the screen. It’s late and her head is screaming at her to go to bed but she’s stuck in her spot with her body slowly slumping further and further into the cushions until her eyelids are fluttering shut and she finally stops thinking.

When Harry arrives at Y/N’s house again, he nearly makes a beeline for her bedroom but does a double take when he sees the Y/N-like figure on her sofa. A quiet sigh escapes his mouth, frowning at the uncomfortable position she’d fallen into and wondering if she had waited for him. With tentative steps he makes his way over, near tiptoeing for the first time in probably over fifty years, and observes the way her breaths tremble the hairs that have fallen in front of her peaceful face. His fingers reach out before he can stop them, brushing the strands away from her forehead, lip twitching when she unconsciously leans into his touch.

With little deliberation, Harry tucks one large hand underneath Y/N’s knees and the other sneaks around her back, lifting her up with no effort. She whines a bit but doesn’t stir, resting her head comfortably against his shoulder as he takes her to her bedroom. He nudges the covers back with his knee before gently laying her down and pulling them over her. She must be exhausted, he thinks, as a yawn of his own overtakes him. It would be so nice to go home now; to snuggle down in his own bed, surrounded by his own smell and his own things, but he replays the look on her face when he left her and can’t bring himself to be the cause of that again. So with a sigh, Harry makes his way to the chair he was first acquainted with in her room and takes a seat, leaning back and stretching his legs out, bum close to the edge. His eyes close easily, as if weighed down by magnets. The moon shines through a gap in Y/N’s curtains and he can feel it on his face but Harry’s legs have turned to lead and he is being pulled further and further away from consciousness as he focuses on the soft sounds of Y/N’s breaths and her steady heartbeat until he too joins her in sleep.

Y/N has never been one to have many nightmares, dreams mainly uneventful. Usually she wakes with no recollection of dreaming at all which has been somewhat of a bummer in the past when her imagination had been running wild and there had been a level of excitement that she might experience a rousing dream that she’d wake up and be thinking about all day. But to no avail, her nights are always peaceful—so much so that Y/N had researched lucid dreaming when she was particularly bored one evening, not hopeful that it would work but intrigued nonetheless. The idea that anyone could make genuine decisions whilst they were unconscious was fascinating and she cursed her brain for being so intent on just sleeping.

However tonight, it seems, is an anomaly. Just like the last two days of her life. Her heartbeat picks up and Harry feels himself pull away from his deep unconsciousness slightly but he stays asleep, readjusting on the chair in his less-than-ideal position. Y/N, on the other hand, is restless as her mind pins her down and forces vivid images upon her. Dark eyes that don’t belong to Harry, but a looming figure with teeth sharpened into points that look like they would penetrate skin with just the slightest of touches. The thing corners her in the box-like room they’re in, leaning closer and closer until Y/N can see that its eyes are billowing smoke as it falls down deathly gaunt cheeks. There are no windows in this dream, no indications that it might not be real, no escape route, just the claustrophobic feeling of trying to push herself as far as possible into the wall. Her hands in the real world are clutching onto her sheets impossibly tight, having pulled them out from under the covers to cool down, but no amount of air would stop the terror sweats that have started. And it only gets worse when what she (unnaturally quickly) assumes is a demon squeezes her skin tight and pulls her up the wall by her waist, claws pinching her and she makes a noise in her dream that also echoes around her bedroom.

Harry’s ears are alert now but his eyes are yet to catch up with them, eyelids moving slightly. It’s not until Y/N cries out that he is sitting up hastily, looking over at her to see that she is also sat up, arms tight around her knees and tears streaming out of her wide, scared eyes. To Y/N, he is just a shadow—a large, dark, looming shadow much like the one she’s just been forced to encounter. When he leans forward with a small, “Hey, it’s me,” and Harry’s face is revealed in the moonlight, she lets out a loud sigh; a whimper of relief following before burying her face in her hands and trying to tame her thumping heart which is making her feel nauseous.

With shaky hands, she rids herself of the dressing gown Harry had left her in—skin uncomfortably warm, shoving it to the floor and leaving herself in her oversized pyjama shirt. Harry stands up slowly and moves to the end of her bed. “Please don’t just stand there. You look like a monster that lives under my bed,” she whispers.

Harry smiles, “I kind of am,” he chuckles but doesn’t move, unsure of what she wants.

“Can you—” She pats the space next to her, eyes watching him with uncertainty. “I had a dream—” Y/N rubs at her lip nervously as Harry makes his way round and brings his knees up onto her mattress, keeping his distance. “—you came back,” he nods, following her shaky fingers as they pick at her skin. He brings her wrist down gently. “It was really scary,” she frowns. “Could you make it go away please?”

Harry doesn’t understand for a moment, wondering how he could even possibly make her feel better, and then it clicks, “I don’t know, Bambi… I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you,” he tries but Y/N starts shaking her head.

“You won’t be. I’m asking you to do it,” she insists, looking down at his knees. “I don’t want to feel scared anymore, I want to sleep.” Harry feels his heart squeeze, guilt trickling through his veins. He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to. Her eyes meet his when she smells it; his signature scent, the telling sign that he’s doing something. Y/N’s body relaxes and her eyelids droop slightly and Harry can feel her demeanour shift. She moves to lie back down, turning on her side and when Harry starts to get up she shoots her hand out, “Please, stay,” her eyes are barely open and he wonders if she really means it, but he doesn't rather fancy going back to his chair. So he slowly lowers himself down next to her, elbow folding underneath the side of his head as he looks at her drift off again.

Just as he thinks she’s gone, her fingers reach and grip onto the front of his shirt lightly and she whispers, words jumbled, “You’re a nice demon, Harry. You’re not scary.” Her breathing evens out after that and her hand stays attached to the fabric of his top but Harry is trying too hard to ignore the warmth bubbling in his chest at her confession to care. Sleep doesn’t find him as easily as his head swirls with thoughts and he keeps an eye on Y/N to make sure she’s still okay. Harry’s mind only get louder when she rolls towards him and onto her stomach, head manoeuvring onto his pillow so close that her breaths hit his chin and he knows he should probably move away but she’s right there and she’s soft and she’s warm, and his resolve seems to crumble around her anyway. So he lets himself trace her nose with his forefinger, and across the apple of her cheek, down her jaw and back up to her temple. Harry’s sure their heartbeats have synced up and it makes his beat harder and his touches longer, keening at the way she shuffles even closer. He knows she would recoil at the thought of doing this in a right state of mind and would’ve preferred anyone else to stay with her, but Harry does his best to hope that he can bring some sort of comfort, calming abilities aside.

Seeing her crying in the bath earlier had hurt more than he’d realised, relishing in the distraction of helping Niall and tucking it away for later. Now that it was later Harry hates himself for talking to her like that, in aiding in her tears, in letting his anxiety of their situation overpower her obvious need of solace. He’d felt nineteen again; he’d felt mean.

And looking down at her now, as he places a tentative hand on her back, he sincerely hopes she doesn’t wake up angry at him in the morning—even though he most definitely deserves it.

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