Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’ve decided to do resolutions this year,” Harry declared to his best friend Niall. Niall looked up, surprised at the comment. First of all, it was already a week into the year and second, Harry didn’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. For the past several years whenever Niall had heard someone ask Harry about his resolutions, he said that they were dumb and people should be able to change their lives any day of the year. The new year wasn’t meant to be for temporary diets or short-term hobbies. It was just another day the date changes. At least, that’s what he’d said.

So Niall questioned him of course, raising his eye brow and looking up from his Twitter feed on his phone. “What are you on about? I thought you didn’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions.”

Harry pursed his lips and said sternly, “it’s not a new year’s resolution, Niall. I’ve just decided to make some changes in my life with on-going resolutions. Like, once a week I’m going to work on another one.”

Niall tilts his head to the side at Harry’s response. “Sooooo, basically, you just want to try new stuff all the time?”

“I just feel kind of stuck. Like, I’m not moving forward, you know?” Harry shrugged and Niall nodded at the question. He definitely understood that feeling. “I want to feel like I’m becoming an adult, making strides in my life. Doing good in the world.”

“Wow, I’m impressed Harry. That sounds really amazing. So, what’s the first resolution then?”

“Week 1. I’m going to make a list of resolutions. It may not be a full 52 for the year, but I want to have at least 30 or so. I’m sure as I go on, I’ll think of other things so they can be added when they pop up and I’ll adjust the order accordingly. Each Saturday I’ll pick a new resolution. So I have until this Saturday to come up with my partial list. Then on Saturday I’ll decide what my resolution is for next week.” Harry looked so proud of himself. There was an excitement, a glow in his eyes that Niall hadn’t seen in awhile. Now that he thought about it, Harry had looked rather dull recently. His eyes of course, but his whole body had been kind of dragging. If this was going to bring back the Harry he first met or the Harry he got to know over the past several years, Niall was all for these resolutions. Maybe he’d even join in on some of them. OK, who is he kidding? Harry would make him join on some of them he’s sure.

“What do you have so far? I’m assuming this all started with a few in mind?” Niall asks, putting his phone away and shifting over to Harry on the old, lumpy couch. He peers over Harry’s shoulder to see his phone where he’s clearly making the list but Harry pulls it away from his view.

“I can’t see it?” Niall asks confused and disappointed. Harry is an over-sharer normally. He tells Niall any and everything he finds remotely interesting so it’s odd that he wouldn’t want to share his resolutions list.

Harry shifts, turning towards Niall with his phone held his chest, while he explains. “I don’t want you making fun of any of them. I’ll tell you some of them and I’m sure you can help me with some but there are some embarrassing things on here, so I’d prefer not to share right now.”

Niall can’t help but frown at Harry’s answer. “You don’t trust me?” Niall asks.

Harry’s eyes get wider and he quickly denies the claim. “No Niall! Of course I trust you. It’s just, some things are private and I don’t even know if I’m going to do them. They’re just thoughts right now.”

Niall tilts his head again, watching Harry’s face, trying to decide if it’s worth arguing about any more. Niall is hurt and Harry doesn’t seem to be acting himself but he decides to let it go. He sighs and says, “OK, tell me what you’ve got and are willing to share then.”

Harry has a grateful smile on his face, pulls his phone back so he can see it and reads off some of the resolutions he’s already added to his list. “Go to the gym,” he starts and then immediately defends, “I know that’s like hypocritical of me because of things I’ve said about resolutions in the past but like I’m too skinny and it’s not like I’m going to go crazy with it. I’ll just go like twice per week.”

Niall is fighting the grin on his face and decides he can’t talk without laughing, so he just nods. Harry glares at him and continues his list with a huff. “Do volunteer work. Call my mum and sister more. Keep the apartment cleaner. Yes, you’re absolutely going to be involved in that one,” Harry says pointedly to Niall, not bothering to look at his shocked face. They keep the apartment just the way young 20-somethings should: not at all tidy. It’s not gross. They do their dishes (thanks to the dishwasher) and they don’t have bugs but they do tend to leave piles of things everywhere. Mail, sweatshirts, sheet music, pretty much anything that comes into the house has to stop somewhere before finding a home. Although Niall happens to think the kitchen table is a great home for their growing alcohol collection. Every time they invite friends over, they casually mention they should bring a particular type of alcohol (varying, depending on their mood and what they already have stocked) and, of course, they’ll drink some of that alcohol when they come over but they also have plenty of cheap beer to sate their guests. When those guests leave at the end of the night, or morning, the alcohol stays. Niall likes their collection right where it is.

“So, when you say keep it cleaner,” Niall puts the word cleaner in air quotes, “ you mean like ajax and shit or like less stuff laying around?”

“Niall,” Harry starts like he’s explaining how to clean to a child, “it means both. It means we need to put things away and have the apartment look like our mothers could come visit any day.”

Niall’s eyes feel like they are going to burst out of his head. “Our mothers?” he gasps. Every time their families come to visit, they spend two solid days cleaning and preparing the house for the motherly inspection. Niall takes a deep breath, frowns, and then asks, “why do I have to participate in your resolutions?”

Harry looks Niall in the eye and asks, “are you my best friend?”

Niall growls. That’s not fair.

“Do we live together?” Harry adds.

Niall narrows his eyes at his so-called-best friend.

“Then we’re in this together buddy!” Harry announces cheerfully.

“I hate you,” Niall deadpans.

“I know,” Harry confirms, patting Niall’s knee. “I love you too Ni,” he says with a small grin.

“What else am I being roped into?” 

Harry looks back at his list and again lists out some of his resolutions. “Watch movies that people claim they can’t believe I’ve never seen.”

Niall’s chin jumps up and he exclaims, “now that one I can get behind! I still can’t believe you haven’t seen Ocean’s 11! As the person being roped into this madness, it will be your first movie.”

Harry’s chuckling and agrees with a couple of nods. “Read the classics. I know that’s a long list of books that I haven’t read but I’ll figure out what some of the most important are that I really should have read already.” Niall makes a face, making it clear he wasn’t going to be participating in that one. Harry just shakes his head, clarifying that, at least right now, he wasn’t planning on forcing Niall to read with him. That could change. No need to argue it until that week came around. “Learn to cook more than chicken and pasta.”

“Thank god!” Niall blurted quickly. His eyes were big with excitement and Harry wanted to be annoyed but couldn’t help but agree. He was a terrible cook. Niall was only slightly better so they spent a lot of time eating pasta and frozen pizza. They couldn’t really afford to be doing take-out all the time, so they limited themselves to twice per week. For dinner. Unless it was a special occasion. What that really meant was they didn’t actually limit themselves. They just liked to believe they did so when they couldn’t pay their bills, they could explain it away that there wasn’t anything to be done. They just didn’t get paid enough. “Can I pick things for you to learn?” Niall asked excited.

Harry looked confused. He spoke slowly as he said, “um, you can pick things for you to learn since you will be participating!” He ended the sentence enthusiastically, making it sound like Niall would be happy to join in this resolution. He wasn’t. He knows he really should learn to cook more but he didn’t want to be told he had to do it. He just pouted and settled back into the couch, making sure the cushion was fully molded to his body.

“Save money for a new couch,” Harry said, looking down at the tear that was inching it’s way over the top of their furniture, right behind Niall’s shoulder. As he pushed himself into it further, they could practically hear the tearing.

“That could be good. So, are these all like on-going resolutions then? How will you have time to do them all by the end of the year Haz? You’re going to wear yourself out.” Niall was concerned that, like he said, Harry would do them all because he was committed and wouldn’t have time to sleep or would drop them after a couple weeks and then get depressed. As impressive a feat as this would be to complete, Niall really wanted Harry to achieve his goals.

Harry shrugged and said, “some of them are short term goals. Some of them are on-going. If they’re on-going though, they may not be an every day or every week kind of thing. Like saving money for the couch. Granted, once that one is done I can change the couch fund into something else. Like a coffee table or even a new apartment.”

Niall’s head shot up quickly. “A new apartment?” Harry wants to move out? Niall thought concerned.

Harry didn’t seem concerned at all. He was just nodding and saying, “yeah, a nicer place. Don’t you want to live somewhere we don’t have to climb two flights of stairs to get to Ni?” Niall let out a sigh of relief. OK, he was thinking about them both. They could move somewhere else together. He was OK with that.

“OK,” Niall agreed. “Just, please don’t wear yourself out. If it’s a matter of sleeping at night or doing one of your resolutions, I need you to sleep Haz. You make yourself sick when you don’t sleep.” There had been plenty of times when Harry had worked himself into sickness. In college during finals. In college during rush week. (He wanted to be in a fraternity but he really wasn’t cut out to be a frat guy so he was turned down after performing the most ridiculous stunts!) In college when he got a job. Really, whenever he got a new job or a promotion. Harry was a bit of a perfectionist sometimes. When he put his mind to something, or if he felt he had to prove himself, he would absolutely give it his all, often sacrificing little things like sleep and food. He was lucky now, he was in a company where he could actually grow so at least he wouldn’t have to job search again anytime soon. That had been a nightmare for all involved. He re-wrote his resume and cover letter daily, knew every internet hiring site, and would spend hours getting Niall to ask him interview questions. Now Harry was a Call Center Supervisor at a local tourist company. His job was listening to the other Call Center employee’s phone calls and providing feedback as well as training materials to help them do their jobs better. Because his job was in the tourism industry, he had taken Niall to twenty of so different tourist attractions when he’d first gotten the job, claiming to need the ‘product knowledge’ to make him better at his job. It turns out, he didn’t really need to see all of those attractions in his first two weeks but he still claims it was money well spent. Niall didn’t mind all that much since they were actually fun and Harry paid for his admissions and transportation. He discovered quite a bit more about their city in the process as well so he only complained when they had macaroni and cheese for dinner for the next two weeks.

“Alright, Harry. It sounds like you know what you’re doing. Let me know if I can help, OK?” Niall asked as he stood up. It was getting late and he had to work the next day. He was currently a receptionist (he hated that title) at a country club outside of town. He would greet guests and direct them to the golf course, the pro shop, the restaurant, or one of the many other activities. He also assisted the events manager as needed. He generally had pretty standard hours, starting around 10am, as long as someone else was available to open. Niall actually really loved his job. It gave him, and Harry, discounted tee times, a little bit of free food, and a chance to see celebrities every now and then. He had some decent stories to share whenever the lads got together. Harry nodding at Niall and kept typing on his phone. Niall leaned over and kissed Harry’s fringe, patting his shoulder and telling him goodnight.

Chapter Text

It’s 8pm on Saturday night and Harry is sitting on his couch again with his phone in hand, trying to think of additional resolutions. He has 25 listed so far but he wants to have another 5 to 10 before going to bed. He also needs to decide what his first week’s resolution is going to be. He scrolls back through his list and sees some he knows he needs to build up to like asking for a raise at work and planning a trip to California. It’s not that he couldn’t start planning now, but with all his spare money going to his new couch first, it seemed like something that would annoy him more than make him happy at this point. He needs to start off with something that will immediately make him feel like he is making the right decision creating these resolutions; that he isn’t just wasting his time. His eyes scan the item ‘tell Niall you love him’ and immediately passes it by. He definitely isn’t ready to confess his feelings to his roommate. He is thinking he should do that the month they have to renew their lease (May) so if it’s really awkward, they can find new places to live. So, he might be a chicken. He’s fine with that classification. Chickens are under-appreciated.

Thinking of the devil himself, Harry thought, as he heard a key turning in his front door. He looks up to see Niall’s blond hair covered by a baker boy hat. Most of their friend’s teased Niall about it but Harry had given it to him and told him how attractive he was when he wore it, so Niall donned it regularly to work. “Hey handsome,” Harry greeted his friend. Now it may seem to an outsider that his feelings for Niall were obvious. He often complemented him, cooked him dinner; they even shared bills like a married couple but the truth was that Niall is oblivious. He treated Harry the same way. That was just how their friendship worked. Goodnight kisses and pats on the butt were a normal part of their lives. Lately though, it hasn’t been enough. Harry wanted all of Niall. He felt selfish even thinking it but as he watched Niall pull off his coat, toss it over a chair and drop his wallet on the counter, he wished he would come give him a 'honey I’m home kiss.’

“Hey Haz,” Niall said dropping himself on the couch next to Harry. He looked dead on his feet. It must have been a busy day at the country club. “Whatcha doin?”

Harry reached out and ran his fingers though Niall’s hair as he settled into the couch. He looked like he was preparing to stay there for the night. “Just working on my resolutions. I’m up to 25. Got any ideas?”

Niall turned his head, still leaving it laying on the furniture, and suggested, “how about we host more stuff here? Like actual things instead of just ‘hey! come over and bring us alcohol!’ nights. You know, movie nights - oh, you could combine that with your other resolution! Or we could cook - another resolution combiner. A genius plan,” Niall said looking satisfied with himself.

“Genius indeed,” Harry agreed. “I had being more social and going out more but that could be good too. I’ll add it.” Harry pulled his hand away so he could type resolution 26 into his phone. Once he finished, he brought his hand back to Niall’s hair and continued to run his fingers through it as Niall let out a content sigh. Niall’s eyes were closed and Harry asked quietly, “did you eat?” before he could call asleep.

Niall’s blue eyes appeared slowly, as he blinked several times. “Um, there was an event so, yeah, they gave me some food there.”

“You want to go to bed then?”

A frown appeared on Niall’s face. “You want to get rid of me so you can have a wild party in here?”

Harry chuckled and shook his head. “You look exhausted love. You don’t have to keep me company if you’d prefer to be in bed.”

Niall’s response to that was to stretch his body out straight for a moment, then turn it, putting his head in Harry’s lap facing the coffee table and curling up in an almost fetal position. “But I want to keep you company,” he murmured.

“Well, then don’t let me stop you.” Harry went back to running his fingers through Niall’s hair as he felt the fair skinned boy fall asleep in his lap. It wasn’t like this was a new occurrence, Niall falling asleep in his lap, but it was getting hard for Harry to just accept it as their friendship. He knew Niall would fall sleep whether he spoke to him or not but he’d told him once he liked to hear his voice as he fell asleep, so Harry obliged. “Maybe I’ll make your suggestion the first one. We can try to have the lads over at least once per month and I’ll try out whatever resolution I have on them, if one applies. Otherwise, we’ll figure out something else. A game night or something.” He kept his voice low, so Niall wouldn’t feel obligated to listen to his words. “Now, what should we do this month? I guess it should really be this week since I haven’t committed to anything else. Maybe we can invite them over on Friday so it’s before my new resolution kicks in. We could... uuumm,” Harry pondered what they would do other than drink and play video games. “I wish you were awake to help me figure it out,” Harry mumbled.

“’m awake,” Niall slurred. “What’s the question?” His eyes were still closed and he shifted his head around for a moment like he was scratching his ear on Harry’s leg.

“Just thinking about what to do with the lads this week. Was thinking Friday.”

“Oh, you picked that one first?” Niall asked surprised. He opened his eyes and turned so he was on his back and could look up at his friend.

Harry nodded, “yeah, thought it’d be a good place to start. That OK?” He could feel his face heating up slightly as he realized he immediately chose Niall’s suggestion even though he had 25 other viable options. Well, about 20 or so other viable options.

“Course,” Niall blinked up at him with a lazy smile. “We could get started on your film education,” he teased.

“But that’s a different resolution,” Harry whined.

“Can’t start early? Kill two birds with one stone?” Niall raised his right eyebrow in question.

Harry sighed and again, agreed. “OK, fine, we can watch a movie. I’ll let you pick.” He paused and said, “so, we’re watching Oceans 11 are we?”

“And 12, even though it’s not nearly as good. Maybe 13 if I can get you to stay awake that long.” Niall turned his face back in towards Harry’s stomach and closed his eyes again. “I guess you have to learn how to cook next.”

“Ha! Guess so,” Harry acquiesced. “I’ll text them all tomorrow. Liam, Louis, Ed, Nick?” Harry questioned.

“Sounds good.” Niall once again burrowed his head a little further into Harry, this time his forehead resting against his stomach. Harry was grateful that his head was that close to his body. He was afraid as he fell asleep, his head would fall back onto his dick.

Harry continued to work on his list and came up with 30 items. He wasn’t sure he would actually do all 30 items but at least he had a good start. Knowing he wouldn’t move as long as Niall was laying on top of him, Harry shimmied his body forward a little bit and leaned back so his head could rest on the couch. And there they both fell asleep.

**********

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

“Hold onto your trousers!” Niall yelled at his friends ‘knocking’ on the door. He yanked it open to find Louis and Liam standing there attempting to look like little angels, both with their hands held behind their backs. Niall glared at them both and then pulled the door open so they could come in. “I hope you brought something other than those poor attempts at angels faces.” They shuffled in, Liam pulling out a case of beer from behind his back as his offering. Niall gladly took it and put in the refrigerator and then turned to Louis. “And you? What’s your contribution?”

“I’m here?” Louis said as though it was obvious. He didn’t feel like anything else was necessary.

Niall rolled his eyes and gestured them to the living room. They plopped down on the couch and looked around. Louis said, “your place is a pig sty. Don’t you two ever clean?”

Bad timing. Harry walked in and said, “see!? We’re gross Niall!” His pouting face looked at Niall as though pleading for him to agree.

“I think it’s fine,” Niall dismissed. “We’re a little messy. It’s certainly not bad enough for pigs to live in!”

“Honeys we’re home!” their friends Ed and Nick walked in the door without banging first. Ed was holding a cheap bottle of vodka and Nick had two pizzas in his arms. He won the friend award of the night in Niall’s mind. No one else knew they were competing but they should still want to win.

“You’re the best!” Niall exclaims, rushing to Nick, taking the pizzas and plopping them down on the coffee table. No need to put them in the kitchen when they’d be devoured within minutes. Harry brought over plates and napkins which Niall just stared at. “What do we need those for?”

Harry glared at him. “So we can stop being pigs Niall!”

“We haven’t gotten to that resolution yet so, no.” Niall continued to stare at Harry, crossing his arms across his chest to show he wasn’t taking the plates. Harry glared back but then walked around to their guests and offered each of them a napkin and plate. (They all took them and avoided Niall’s glares.)

Harry begrudgingly liked Ocean’s 11. He’s not really sure why he’d never seen it before other than the fact that it annoyed Niall. A movie with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon? It really was his kind of movie. The plot was OK. Niall was much more into the whole scheme, practically leaning into the TV when the characters were in precarious positions. The pizza was done 20 minutes into the movie and Harry planned to make popcorn but Niall refused to let him get up since the point was for him to watch it. Harry couldn’t help but feel fluttering in his stomach when Niall took over that task as well as the duty of re-filling drinks. That was normally Harry’s job when they had guests.

After finishing Oceans 12, the lads left their flat and Harry laid stomach-down on the couch. He’d been sitting on the floor during the movie so his guests could sit on the couch and the one chair they had in the living room so his back was hurting a bit. “UUuuggh,” Harry groaned, seeking sympathy from his flatmate.

“You broken?” Niall asks, less than sympathetically.

“Yes,” Harry whines. “We can’t have all of them over if we’re going to watch more than one movie. I can’t sit on the floor for that long.”

“Or you could take them up on their offers of trading off. Liam offered to take the floor for the second movie. If you weren’t so damn polite, you wouldn’t be in so much pain.” While Niall was talking, he was also getting the ice pack from the freezer. When he finished, he dropped it onto Harry’s lower back unceremoniously.

“I don’t know whether to thank you or yell at you,” Harry commented about the cold pack.

Niall shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I know you’re feeling both.” He then set about tidying up a bit, which was weird. Niall didn’t tidy unless someone was coming to their flat. Harry looked up from the couch cushion confused.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Niall looked up from his task of picking up the empty pizza boxes and bottles from the coffee table and answered, “cleaning up? Isn’t this what you wanted?” His face was blank. There was no hint of annoyance in it which surprised Harry.

“I mean, yeah, I do want a cleaner apartment but we haven’t gotten to that resolution yet Niall. You don’t have to start yet,” Harry reasoned.

Niall laughed and said, “why wait? It already bothers you. We can start little and when you get to the resolution, we’ll set more guidelines around it, right?”

Harry couldn’t help the proud and fond smile on his face. Niall listened to him and was taking action to make him happier. Harry couldn’t help the little dance going on inside himself. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Anytime pet,” Niall said as he took the trash outside.

Chapter Text

Saturday morning Harry wakes up on the couch with cold water dripping down the side of his back onto the couch. If he thought his back hurt the night before, he had no idea how much worse it could be. He slept the whole night on his stomach on his old lumpy couch. He felt pretty terrible. The light was shining through the blinds and directly into his face and all he could do was groan. His whole body was too sore to even move.

“Hey pet?” a sweet voice asked walking into the room behind him.

“Yeah?” Harry’s deep scratchy voice responded.

“You OK?” Niall asked concerned, leaning over so he could see Harry’s squished face, his eye brows seated in a deep frown.

“No,” Harry said simply, grumpily. He shifted and pushed his face back into the couch pillow.

“OK then, let’s get you up.” Niall pulled the cold, wet former-ice pack from his back and dropped it on the carpet. He then slowly turned Harry over so he was on his back. Next he wrapped his hands around Harry’s calves and shifted him so his feet were on the floor and finally he ‘hugged’ Harry and pulled him upright. He then stood, hunched over looking in his best friend’s face. “What can I do? You want a bath or something? Pain meds?”

Harry looked up at Niall and didn’t know how to answer him. He was stiff and in pain and he didn’t know what was going to help. He knew he couldn’t sleep on the floor or the couch. He’d woken up in pain enough times to know better. Or so he thought. He was also feeling exhausted since he’s sure he didn’t sleep well in that position. “Don’t you have to get to work?” Harry asked instead.

Niall sighed. “Yes, I do. So I need you to answer me rather soon so I can help you and get out of here. Unless you want spaghetti for dinner for the next week.” He was still leaned over, just a foot from Harry’s un-brushed teeth.

That comment caused Harry to offer a small smile. “I can take care of myself Ni. Go ahead. Earn our money,” he joked.

“No, pet. What do you need? You really look like crap. Do you want a bath? Medicine? Tea? Help to bed? Just tell me what you need to feel better.”

The fluttering in Harry’s stomach happened again. “Bed please. And medicine,” he suggested in a pathetic voice that had Niall’s eyes twinkling. Niall then reached down, again wrapped his arms around Harry and pulled him up. Harry let out an involuntary gasp at the pain but bit his lip to keep from any more whimpers escaping. With Niall’s arm around him, he slowly made his way to bed. Niall helped him up onto his mattress and then darted out of the room to get his medicine and some water. When he came back, Harry had his shirt off and his pants halfway down his legs. He was looking at them, wishing they’d just fall off, but since he was sitting in bed, gravity wasn’t being of any assistance.

“Oh Harry,” Niall said sympathetically as he re-entered. He immediately pulled the pants off, yanked the blanket out from under his legs and covered him. He then handed over the pain pills and water. Niall kissed the top of his head and told him, “if you need me, call, OK?”

“You can heal pain over the phone now?” Harry asked with a small smile.

Niall just shook his head and said seriously, “if it’s bad and you need to go to a hospital or something, I’ll leave work.”

Harry frowned and shook his head. “If it’s that bad, I can call Ed or Liam. They’re both off today but I’m sure I’ll be fine in a few hours.” Harry wasn’t sure but he wasn’t going to keep Niall from working.

Niall returned his frown but didn’t argue. “Well, call if you want to chat on my break or if you need me to pick anything up on the way home.” He then added, sternly, “rest! See you later. I expect to hear what your resolution plans are for the next week!” he added as waved goodbye from the doorway.

Harry takes the medicine and falls back asleep with a smile on his face, after reliving everything Niall had said and done for him that morning. 

When Harry woke up, he looked at his phone, which he realized was charging next to his bed - must be Niall’s doing - to see it was just after noon. Niall would be going to break in about two hours, Harry thought. He shifted around a bit to see how his body felt and decided it was good enough to get out of bed. He stretched a bit, finished the water leftover from his pills that morning and set about his morning routine. 

Once he felt fresh and ready to start his day, he settled at his dining room table (glaring at the evil couch as he sat down) with his phone and laptop to work on this week’s resolution. He could cheat and choose the movie resolution. Technically he’d started it the night before but he wanted to keep moving forward and that didn’t seem like an accomplishment at the moment. Niall had suggested cooking as his next resolution. Or maybe he just meant before the next lads night in. Either way, Harry decided to look into it. He wasn’t sure how he planned on improving his cooking skills so this took a little research. He could get cookbooks but they didn’t always give all the detailed sorts of information he needed. YouTube had plenty of cooking tutorials but he didn’t like the idea of starting there without any supervision. That’s what he needed. An actual cooking class. Harry checked Groupon to discover some very expensive classes in the city but with his current salary, he couldn’t really afford something like that, especially if he wanted to include Niall. Maybe he had a friend that could teach him some basics as a way to start. He went through his Facebook friends looking to see if anyone had mentioned cooking anything extravagant or if seeing any of their names jogged a memory of them cooking. He couldn’t see any friends that were actually in the area he’d be willing to ask to teach him to cook so Harry decided to look more at classes in the area. He discovered his local grocery store had cooking classes! They weren’t cheap but they weren’t nearly as expensive as the professional classes he’d found. There was one being offered on Wednesday where they were cooking a teriyaki salmon, wild rice, steamed vegetables and a strawberry cheesecake. They taught you how to make the items and then you sat down together to eat the food you’d prepared. That sounded fun. He could afford to do a little splurge, especially since they’d be getting a decent dinner out of it. 

Harry sent a text to Niall, free Wednesday night? and received a response back almost instantly with yah, y? Harry booked the class for them both. He’d tell Niall why later.

****

Niall and Harry stood outside their grocery store Wednesday night, staring at the outside in trepidation. “We’re not that bad,” Niall argued.

“It’s true. We’ve never set more than a pan, or the food in it, on fire,” Harry agreed. He looked slightly proud of himself thinking about it.

“And it’s not like we’ve ever given anyone food poisoning,” Niall added positively.

“Mostly because we looked at the food and decided it was going to give someone food poisoning and threw it out,” Harry argued.

“Minor details,” Niall grumbled. He was zipping and unzipping his sweatshirt as they prepared themselves to go to their cooking class. Niall had given in rather easily after Harry had told him he’d already purchased the class but standing in front of the store right then was scary. Strangers were going to witness whatever epic failure they’d manage.

Finally, Harry stood up straight and declared, “OK, I paid for this. We’re taking the class. We’re not going to get anyone sick. Nothing will catch fire. There are people there who will make sure everything goes well.” Harry paused, waiting for confirmation. “Right?” He looked at Niall who wasn’t confirming or denying his statement. He was just staring at Harry thinking sure, with a lot of sarcasm. He didn’t think Harry would appreciate that right now so he kept it in his head.

“OK, we’re going in now,” Niall said determined, making no move. 

“Yes,” Harry agreed, also not moving.

Niall looked at his phone and realized they had 5 minutes until it started so they really had to go now. He took a deep breath, grabbed Harry’s hand and marched inside. He really felt like he was going to battle but this was Harry’s resolution and, honestly, they really did need to learn to cook. This was a good thing.

Harry walked up to the customer service to get directions to the cooking class while Niall stood behind him watching the people around them, as though scoping out potential dangers. When Harry started walking away, Niall was so focused on everyone and everything else that Harry almost left him. He turned around, walked back, took his friend’s bicep and led them to the class. There were 10 other people in the room with them, all women. Harry pushed forward, still holding Niall’s arm, and introduced himself to the woman who appeared to be in charge. (Mostly because she had an apron and a name tag.) “Harry Styles,” he introduced himself with nervous smile. “There are two of us,” he indicated as he pulled Niall’s arm closer, not letting go.

“Ah! Welcome! I’m Silvie and I’ll be facilitating this class today with Devon over there.” Devon was placing food ingredients at each of the work stations. “You can go ahead and grab two stations and we’ll be starting in just a minute or two, OK?”

Harry nodded and turned back to see the stations were all filled except two. The two stations were on the opposite side of the room from each other. Harry’s eyes widened as he realized Niall wasn’t going to be by his side. He needed Niall by his side. He looked at the ladies as the adjoining stations to see if he could convince someone to swap with him but it appeared they were all in pairs as well. He frowned, turned to Niall and said, “um, I guess we have to split up.”

Niall’s frown was deeper than Harry’s and he said, “this isn’t what I signed up for Haz.”

Harry could only shrug, still holding Niall’s arm. He looked down at the hold and reluctantly let go and started to walk away. He heard Niall groan behind him and walk in the opposite direction. When Harry got to his station he turned to the closest lady and said quickly, “Hi. I’m Harry and I can’t cook. Like, at all. So any help you could give me would be great.”

The woman had a bright laugh and said, “I’m afraid I won’t be much help. I kind of suck at cooking too. That’s why I’m here! Luckily there are those two ladies here to help us!” She added with a softer giggle.

“Right, yeah,” Harry agreed, nodding. He was screwed. There were two women for 8 learners and one of the learners was Niall. There was no way one of them wasn’t blowing something up and being asked to never shop here again. Oh no, Harry thought. I love this store! I can’t be kicked out! In his mild hysteria, he turned and saw Niall watching him. His brows creased as he took in Harry’s face and he started laughing. Harry pursed his lips, not appreciating being made fun of from across the room of strangers. He glared at Niall and turned to his station to see all of the ingredients on his table he would need for the recipe today. Well, except the fish. Oh, and there was no cream cheese. He realized belatedly that none of the refrigerator items were out. As he was looking around to find the refrigerator, he realized the instructor was talking and he’d already missed the first part! Totally screwed, he reminded himself, trying to focus.

Devon was saying, “we’re going to start with the cheesecake since it has the longest prep time. The fish is actually a very quick dish so it will be the last thing we cook so it will stay warm by the time we eat it. Everyone, go ahead and grab the ingredients from the refrigerator that you’ll need for the cheesecake.” 

Harry saw everyone heading to the refrigerator but didn’t know what he was supposed to be gathering. He looked around the room to see if he missed something when Niall walked up to him and asked, “something wrong already Haz?”

“What are we supposed to be getting?” Harry asked in a whisper.

Niall didn’t respond as quietly, his laughter filling the room. He picked up the list in the middle of Harry’s work station that had all of the ingredients for each item they were making today. He pointed out the ‘Strawberry Cheesecake’ recipe and Harry bit his lip at his obliviousness. “Thanks,” he muttered as Niall continued to chuckle and lead them to the refrigerator. They let everyone else gather their items first. Partially to be gentleman and partially because they were the last to arrive. By the time they had their items back at the station, Devon was already talking about their first steps. Harry was having trouble keeping up with her instructions and found Silvie at his station several times explaining to him things Devon had already instructed.

The whole experience was horrifying but satisfying at the same time. The meals they cooked were decent. No one got sick. Nothing broke. They enjoyed their dinner and did learn something about cooking that night. They also vowed to never, ever take a class there again. They both felt like they were the dumbest people in the room and the humiliation outweighed the benefits.

“So, you took a class on cooking Harry. Is there more to this resolution of yours?” Niall asked as they walked back to the car.

“I, um, yeah. I think so,” Harry nodded. “But I’m not really sure what yet. Nothing next week. Can we have Thai for dinner tomorrow?” he asked sheepishly.

“Of course pet,” Niall agreed. “I’ll pick it up on my way home from work.”

Chapter Text

“Niiiiiaaall,” Harry whined. “It huuuurts.” Harry is sprawled out on the couch again, only this time he didn’t sleep on it. He went to the gym for the first time the day before. He didn’t really know how to work all of the machines and of course didn’t have the money to hire a personal trainer so he may have overdone.. well, everything. “My arms, and my legs, and my bum, even my toes,” Harry continues to whine. Niall was caring when Harry was first complaining, getting him some medicine and water but he’d stop caring about an hour earlier. He was going to snap at Harry if he didn’t shut up.

“Harry. Edward. Styles,” Niall pronounced slowly. “If you don’t quit your complaining now, I’m moving out and never speaking to you again.”

Harry didn’t say a word. He pouted at Niall with obvious puppy dog eyes, waiting for him to look at him and be given permission to speak again. He wasn’t looking. He was purposefully not looking at Harry, all of his focus completely on the TV. Harry pulled himself up from his position laying across the couch. He slowly took his legs off of Niall’s lap and turned so he could crawl to Niall. He sat perched on his knees staring at his best friend’s face, trying to force him to cave.

“Ah, silence,” Niall said with a sigh, antagonizing Harry. “This is the best sound I’ve heard all day. If only my irritating roommate could control himself so we could have nice, quiet, not annoying conversation.” Niall finally turned to look at Harry who was inches from his face, a small grin gracing his own. Staring at Harry’s pleading face, Niall’s smile got larger and he couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his mouth. Harry’s face went from pleading to annoyed real fast. The puppy dog eyes changed to a harsh glare and the silence was filled with annoyed huffs. After a few minutes of silence, Niall finally gave in. “OK pet. If you can calmly tell me how you’re feeling and what you did to yourself without sounding like a five year old, you can talk now.”

Harry let out a small growl from his throat and stood up and walked away from the couch and his roommate. “Come on now Haz. You were being right annoying. You can’t be mad at me because I reacted to it!” Harry was in the kitchen, opening the freezer and pulling out their container of ice cream. Instead of getting a bowl, he only grabbed a spoon, looked pointedly at Niall and walked to his bedroom.

Niall sat on the couch for another minute, waiting to see if Harry would come back but, of course, he was pouting in his room. Niall turned off the TV and dragged himself to Harry’s room. The door was closed but that didn’t bother Niall. He opened it and walked right through to see Harry sitting with his knees to his chest, the ice cream container perched on top. He looked sad and it immediately clutched at Niall’s insides. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“You should knock when you the door is closed,” Harry said quietly instead of responding to the apology.

Following Harry’s lead, Niall ignored his last sentence and said, “I feel like the ice cream is counter productive to your gym time.”

Harry shrugged and said, “I’m not going back. It doesn’t matter.”

Niall took a deep breath and thought about how to approach the situation. He decided to go sit next to Harry on the bed and go from there. Once he was settled, he reached over and took the spoon from Harry’s hand, digging in to get his own taste of the mint chocolate chip. Once he licked the spoon clean, he handed it back. As Harry took his next bite, Niall spoke. “You just need to build up Harry. You over did it for your first time. Maybe you should hire a personal trainer just for a session so they can help set you up with a program or something.”

Harry just shrugged in response.

Niall looked sideways at his friend and took the spoon back for some more ice cream. After a couple more minutes of silence, Niall suggested quietly, “I can get you a session for your birthday if you want. Then you don’t need to feel like you’re wasting money.” Harry’s birthday was in just over a week away and Niall had already gotten him (them) some concert tickets but he could get the session too if that’s what Harry wanted.

Harry looked up at Niall through his eye lashes. He was taller but in his current slouched position, he looked so small. He chewed his lip for a minute between bites and then asked, “are you sure?”

“I’ll even go with you if you want me to,” Niall said sweetening the deal.

“Really?” Harry asked, sitting up much more excited.

His eyebrows shot up at Harry’s change in demeanor. “Just to clarify, I meant for the one session, not always.”

Harry shrunk down a little again and thought about Niall’s offer. “Yes, please. But you don’t have to get me anything else, OK? We don’t have enough money for you to be getting me more than that.”

Niall chuckled and agreed, knowing he was lying. The tickets were already purchased and he wasn’t selling them. He also had a small birthday planned as well but Harry would find out about that the following week. It was the one day per year he was allowed to spoil his best friend and he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. “So, when do you want to do this session? We don’t have to wait until your birthday since you’ve already started this resolution. I don’t want you waiting just because your birthday is like 10 days away.” Niall put his arm around Harry’s shoulders, pulling him in so his head was resting on his own shoulder. He then propped his head onto Harry’s.

“Um, a few days? I’m too sore to go again right away. Why don’t we go Saturday when we’re both off?”

“Harry,” Niall answered calmly. “That’s 7 days away. He put his hand in Harry’s hair and gently pulled it back so he could see his face. How about Wednesday? We can go after work. Ginger is off that morning so I have to open so I’ll be home by 4. You should be home by 5, right? We can go to the gym and then grab something healthy for dinner after.”

“I guess,” Harry grumbled. He really wasn’t excited about going back but Niall was right. He should do it sooner rather than later or he may never go back. Even with the encouragement of a personal trainer and Niall. “We have to make an appointment for the trainers though. They may not have anyone available that soon.”

They did. So on Wednesday, they are walking into the gym, ready to learn to use the machines properly. When they spoke to reception, they advised them to start off with a jog to warm up while the trainer finished with his last client. They found two treadmills together and Harry got a run going fairly quickly. Running was something he could do well. He would run fairly regularly through the park so he was doing laps around Niall, not that he was competing. Niall was at a slow jog and really wishing the trainer would come out so he could stop. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself by stopping before the trainer got here when Harry wasn’t even breathing hard. On the other hand, Niall’s lungs felt like they hadn’t worked this hard in years. Maybe ever.

Niall was slowly beginning to think he was dying when he was suddenly saved. Or so he thought. A very fit man, about their age, walked up to Harry and introduced himself. Since Harry was stopping his treadmill, Niall thought he could too. Harry turned and introduced Niall. “This is my best friend Niall. Niall, this is Travis.”

“Nice to meet you Travis,” Niall said between deep breaths. He immediately didn’t like this guy. He could see his eyes traveling up and down Harry’s body appraisingly. He then turned to Niall and said, “the session is really just for Harry so you can keep running on the treadmill if you want or check out the other machines.”

“Oh,” Harry cut in disappointed. “He’s the one paying for it. He’s not going to be coming with me normally but he’s just here for moral support so he can join, can’t he?” Harry’s charm was working overtime and Niall could see the puppy dog eyes from his profile view. Of course they worked because it's Harry fucking Styles and no one is immune to those things. Except Niall and his sister, Gemma. Most of the time. Even they had to give in to the adorableness sometimes. Travis was not Niall or Gemma so he led Harry and Niall to the machines they were going to start on. 

Travis demonstrated the way the leg lifts worked first and then he had Harry sit and he adjusted the weights for him. Niall could feel the anger bubbling in his body as he heard Travis flirting. “That’s impressive for someone who never goes to the gym!” Travis claims.

Harry, the ever flirt himself, couldn’t help gushing back. “Oh, you just get paid to say that!” Niall took a seat at the next machine over and found himself pushing almost as much weight as Harry had. When Harry stood up, he looked over at Niall with a raised eyebrow in question but didn’t verbalize it so Niall just shrugged and stood to follow them to the next one. And so the rest of the hour went. Travis flirted. Harry appreciated. Niall watched. At the end of the hour, Harry thanked Travis who had offered his assistance any time Harry had questions. He ignored Niall when he said his goodbyes. 

“I’m going to join with you,” Niall declared. His eyes expanded as he realized what he just said. That hadn’t crossed his brain before his lips made the decision to speak. He was there on one of Harry’s guest passes and if he wanted to come with Harry regularly, he’d need his own membership.

Harry looked very surprised. “But you don’t care about going to the gym?” he questioned.

“Maybe I should. Like you said, I could use some muscles too. Look like a man instead of a child,” Niall said, irritated with Travis, and Harry, and himself for this whole ridiculous situation.

“Well, I mean, that’d be great Ni!” Harry cheered. Do you want to get signed up now or wait until we come back?

“Next time,” Niall said quickly. He wanted to get out of this place before he made an ass of himself. He didn’t even know what he’d do if Travis came back over to them and he shoved Harry towards the front door.

Chapter Text

“Niall!” Harry yelled across the flat. “We’re gonna be late!”

“We’re not going to be late Harry,” Niall says calmly walking out of his bedroom, slipping on his coat. “The reservation isn’t until 7pm pet. It’s only 6:15.”

“But we have to get there and it’s on the other side of town! It’s still part of rush hour! Sort of,” Harry added with a slight whine. He wasn’t really worried about being late. He was just excited. His resolution for the week was to try a new restaurant and Niall agreed for them to go for his birthday. He’d been looking forward to the nice, fancy, steak restaurant all week. It was often they spent money on extravagant things.

Niall grinned at his excited friend and complemented him, “you look hot Haz.”

“Thanks!” Harry preened doing a little twirl to show off his tight ass jeans and his black and white button up his sister had given him. They’d had dinner with his sister, mother, and step-father over the weekend so Harry had already received their birthday presents. He was thrilled at the very nice shirt Gemma had given him. It made him feel like a sophisticated, rich grown-up.. none of which he normally felt. His mother had given him a nice thick black coat for Christmas so he felt rather fancy for their posh dinner out. “Ready?” he asked after he finished his self-appraisal. 

“Absolutely,” Niall agreed, grabbing his keys and wallet and opening the door for the birthday boy.

“You look nice too Niall,” Harry said as they exited the flat. Niall was also in black jeans and he wore a black shirt with a firework pattern that Harry had gotten him for his birthday the year prior. He knew Harry always noticed, and appreciated, when he wore the things he’d given him so he made it a point to wear them on special occasions. The flat cap was on his head as proof even though they were going to see their friends that evening. Of course Harry didn’t know their friends were going to be there. He thought it was just Niall and him and that the lads would celebrate his birthday that weekend with a casual bar night out. Niall wanted to do something special for Harry though so he hoped he wasn’t annoyed that the plans weren’t what he thought. Knowing the restaurant was fancier, he’d warned all their friends to dress appropriately and to be prepared to not only pay for themselves, but part of Harry’s tab as well. He told them no other presents were necessary, that Harry would appreciate that much. Of course, he figured they’d still get him something else but he didn’t want them to feel pressured to spend extra money. He knew Harry didn’t care as much about things, even though he really, really loved new clothes.

Niall had debated about taking the tube or a taxi. It was across town so it would be expensive to take a taxi but it was Harry’s birthday so he felt like he should splurge. He bargained with himself and decided they could take the taxi home after and they’d take public transport to the restaurant. Harry was already walking to the tube station so Niall had to practically jog to keep up with his long strides. “You know I’m shorter than you, right Haz?” Niall hinted.

Harry’s head whipped around and he immediately slowed. “Sorry Ni,” he said bashfully. “I’m just excited!”

“I know, I know. I’m glad you’re excited. I hope it’s as good as those reviews you were reading!” Instead of speeding his pace back up, Harry did a couple of skips making Niall laugh out loud.

When they got to the posh restaurant, Niall put on his most dashing, charming self and made sure to open the doors for Harry and be extra polite to everyone they spoke to along the way. As they approached the host, Harry was in awe of the restaurant ambiance and decor so Niall was able to tell the host they were meeting other guests, who were hopefully already there at 6:45. He was assured they were ready for him and he’d let the guests know they’d arrived so they could surprise Harry. Niall went back to Harry a few feet away and just watched his amazed face.

“It’s beautiful Niall,” Harry said with a big smile on his face. He lowered his gaze to Niall’s face and Niall couldn’t remember the last time he saw such happiness there.

“It is,” he agreed easily. “They’re ready to seat us pet. You ready? We can come back to the lobby after we eat if you want to see more, OK?”

Harry nodded and took Niall’s hand as they followed the host of the restaurant. The intricate gold molding and all of the antique furniture kept Harry in awe for their short walk. Because he was so entranced by the restaurant itself, Harry didn’t even notice them approach a table with several of their friends. Niall had to actually pull on Harry’s hand to get his attention back. When Harry looked back down he was shocked to find Liam, Louis, Ed, Nick, Matt, Lou, and Sam sitting at their table. They quietly yelled “surprise” when they got his attention. Several of them threw their hands in the air as well, trying to add to the effect since they couldn’t properly yell in the restaurant. Harry immediately looked at Niall and stuttered a bit, “you - you set this up?”

Niall was proud he was able to surprise Harry and relieved that he didn’t seem upset. “Did,” Niall agreed with a nod. “Sit, pet. Here,” Niall said as he pulled out a chair for Harry next to Lou and then sat himself between him and Nick.

“Thank you everyone for coming!” Harry gushed several times throughout the meal. He knew he had friends and he loved his friends but he was still surprised they were all able to come out to this nice restaurant in the middle of the week. Typically half of them had night jobs so they weren’t often available for outings. He felt pretty damn special that they came out for him, especially considering the cost of their meals. 

“Like Niall would have let us skip it!” Ed teased with a drink raised in the air. “To Niall, Harry’s bestest friend in the world.”

Niall was blushing at the attention and just waived it off while Louis exclaimed, “no! I’m his bestest friend in the world!”

Everyone looked at Louis, trying to figure out if he was serious. Yes, he’d known Harry the longest but there was no doubt to anyone at the table that Niall was Harry’s best friend. The dinner was proof enough of that. Even Harry quirked an eyebrow but said nothing to Louis, instead turning to Niall and thanking him quietly.

“I’m just impressed you were all able to get the time off with such short notice!” Harry spoke to the table. 

“Short notice?” Lou questioned. “We’ve known about this for, what? 3? 4 weeks?” She was looking at the other guests for confirmation and received a few nods.

Harry’s eyebrows shot up. How could Niall have planned this a month in advance? He didn’t know that Harry would pick this restaurant for his birthday, did he? Did Niall suggest it and Harry hadn’t realized? Now he sat quietly, pondering the situation, trying to figure out who suggested what and when before Niall leaned in. “K?” he asked softly. Niall could see Harry’s ‘thinking’ face at work.

“You planned this a month ago?” he asked to get confirmation again.

Niall shrugged and mumbled, “something like that.”

“Did you pick this place? I thought I said this is where I wanted to eat?” Harry asked still not understanding how this happened.

“Yes, you said this is where you want to eat, Harry,” Niall said with a small smile. “I may have mentioned this restaurant to you a couple months ago, sent you the menu and some pictures along the way.” He shrugged again, trying to downplay the situation. He didn’t want Harry to dwell on the fact that he’d been planning his birthday for close to two months.

Harry bit his lip as he continued to piece together information in his head. Finally he turned to Niall and just said simply, “thank you Niall.”

Niall looked up and grinned. Harry had already thanked him several times but Niall just responded, “you’re welcome Harry. You deserve it.”

Harry was pleasantly surprised when their friends not only paid for his meal, but Niall’s as well. Niall was shocked by that turn of events as well but they explained that they knew Niall and Harry shared their income so really paying for Niall was also paying for Harry. Niall was very grateful. He knew the prices ahead of time and he’d been prepared but with adding a gym membership for himself and the personal trainer session for Harry, they were already going to be eating pasta and only pasta for a couple of weeks.

As they exited the restaurant, Harry leaned into Niall, letting him carry part of his weight. It was his birthday, he could be needy if he wanted. Niall just tightened his grip on Harry’s waist and didn’t complain once.

Harry wasn’t expecting a present so when they got back to their flat and he found an envelope with his name on it on the kitchen counter, he figured it was just a funny birthday card. He grabbed it while Niall was in the restroom and opened it quickly surprised to find concert tickets to Coldplay inside. His mouth was still hanging open when Niall came back out of the restroom, pulling his nice shirt off and leaving him in a t-shirt and jeans.

Niall walked up to his fish-mouthed friend and saw what was in his hand before grinning. “Think you can get the night off?” Niall asked.

Harry still didn’t say anything and he wasn’t grinning. His eyes were clowdy and his eye brows were a bit furrowed. Niall wasn’t sure why he wasn’t jumping up and down in excitement. He knew Harry wanted to see them live and he was getting a bit concerned. Did he do too much? Was Harry starting to realize how he felt about him? Niall was biting his lip, not sure what to say to get Harry back. He felt very uncomfortable, like he wanted to change out of his clothes and get into some ratty sweats. Everything felt wrong.

Finally, finally, Harry spoke. “You got me Coldplay tickets?” he asked quietly. Niall swallowed and nodded. He started to say something but Harry cut him off - “and you organized the fancy dinner with our friends?” Niall again nodded. “And you joined the gym and you got me the personal trainer session.” Harry finished but he was still just watching Niall, no expression on his face other than deep contemplation. He moved forward, crowding Niall and wrapped his arms around his neck. “Thank you,” he whispered into his neck. “I don’t think anyone has ever done so much to make my birthday great before.”

Niall finally let out the breath he’d been holding and hugged Harry back. “You deserve it Haz. I know you’ve been doing all these resolutions trying to add to your life and stuff and I’m just sorry I didn’t realize how unhappy you’ve been. I mean, I’m here, everyday. I should have realized and done something sooner.”

Harry backed off quickly. “This isn’t on you Niall and it’s not that I’m unhappy. It’s just,” Harry trailed off as he thought about how to word how he’d been feeling. “It’s just that I’ve felt not quite fulfilled I guess. Like I’ve been missing something. Like I’m not a real adult or something and I’m hoping doing this stuff will help.” Harry looked bashful, like he was telling his deepest, more embarrassing secrets, his eyes trained on the floor.

“Is it helping?” Niall asked softly, lifting Harry’s chin with two fingers so he could see his eyes.

Harry offered a small smile. “You’re helping,” he answered simply.

Niall felt his insides warm. “I’ll always help,” he responded.

Chapter Text

“Harry, I’m sweating and gross. Can we go yet?” Niall asked his friend who was currently bench pressing more than Niall could imagine picking up himself.

Harry looked up, behind the bar to see Niall looking straight down at him, a drop of sweat dangerously close to falling onto his face. “Let me finish this set and do a cool down run and then we can go,” Harry bargained. He’d been going to the gym two to three times each week and Niall insisted on coming with him each time so they had to plan their visits according to their work schedules. Inevitably, Niall was ready to leave before Harry. “You know you don’t have to come with me Ni,” Harry had told him repeatedly. “I like having you with me but if you don’t want to be here, I can do it on my own. I have Travis here to help me out if I need it,” he’d add on in a dig that only Niall knew punctured his insides. Niall was trying to figure out Travis’ schedule so they could avoid him but it seemed like he was always here. At least on the weeknights they typically came out.

“I’m going to grab some water for us while you finish this set. I’ll meet you at the treadmills,” Niall said, walking away. As Niall was filling the first paper cup he heard the voice he spent his time trying to avoid.

“I’m impressed you’ve lasted three weeks,” Travis teased. He looked entirely seriously and not necessarily pleased. “I would have thought you’d stop coming and let Harry do this on his own but you’re worried about him being around all the hot guys here, aren’t you? Not too trusting?”

Through Travis’ mini-monologue, Niall held the cup of water in his hand repeating to himself not to throw the water at this man. When he was done talking, Niall looked up into Travis’ eyes for a moment, darted them back to Harry to see him standing from his bench, then back to Travis telling him, “as long as you’re here trying to flirt with Harry, I’ll be joining him. If at any point you feel like you don’t need to flirt with your clients, maybe I’d let him come on his own.”

Travis was chuckling to himself at Niall’s obvious jealousy. “Let him. And yet you’re not his boyfriend, right?” He’d asked the first session so he knew the answer but he thought Niall needed to be reminded.

Niall just pursed his lips and answered, “he’s too good for you.” He turned back to the water, filled up the second cup and quickly walked back to his best friend.

Harry was stepping onto the treadmill and took the water gratefully. “Talking to Travis?” he asked innocently.

Niall’s eyes darted back to see Travis watching them with a secret smile and then back to Harry confirming his question. “Yeah, just for a sec while I got the water.”

“We should invite him over sometime. We can invite him to our lads night where we attempt to cook something!” Harry seemed to think this was a great idea.

Niall immediately answered, “no!” sternly.

The confusion was evident on Harry’s face. “Why not?”

“I don’t like him,” Niall clarified. He finished his water and started his own treadmill trying to change the subject. “What are we cooking anyway? Did you find a recipe we can handle?”

Harry had started his own treadmill but was jogging slower than usual. He was looking at Niall trying to figure out what was going on with him. “Why don’t you like Travis?” he asked. Niall glanced back at Harry and turned up the speed on his own treadmill so he’d be out of breath soon. Not being able to speak was a great way to change the subject. “Ni?” Harry wasn’t giving up so easily.

“I just don’t,” Niall responded gruffly. His breathing was picking up but he was still able to put the three words together with one breath.

Harry was still curious but decided to drop it. The gym probably wasn’t the best place for that conversation anyway. He changed the subject to appease Niall. “What should my resolution be this week? We just spent a lot of money so something that doesn’t cost anything would probably be for the best.”

“Umm we could do the movie thing. Give you a sort of off week?” Niall suggested. He had lowered the speed on his treadmill and was just fast walking now, hoping to end this cool down session quickly.

“If you want. I’d still like to do something new though. I guess technically it would be new because it’d be a different movie. I don’t know. Whatever you want,” Harry conceded.

“Whatever I want?” Niall asked confused why it was his choice.

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed. “You’ve been playing along with all of my resolutions and you’ve gone above and beyond with it and my birthday so, yeah, you pick.” Yes, Niall might have picked the first movie, and the cooking lesson, and the new restaurant, but Harry wanted to keep him involved. He didn’t know if he could really do any of his resolutions without Niall by his side.

“I’ve got one!” Niall said excitedly. “How about you don’t eat a single healthy thing all week long?” He glanced at Harry’s face to see it filled in horror. They couldn’t eat as healthy as Harry wanted due to budgetary constraints, but he always checked nutritional labels and tried to make sure they were getting fruits and vegetables in their meals. Niall knew in the long run it was for the best. They were probably healthier for Harry’s habits for sometimes it was just annoying. He wanted to be able to eat things that looked and sounded good without being guilted into taking a smaller portion or adding steamed vegetables to it.

“Umm, uum,” Harry floundered with a pout. “That’s not on my list.”

“You won’t let me see your list,” Niall gloated at his logic. “And you just said I could pick. So I did.” The treadmill came to stop next to Niall so he slowed his own so they could leave this awful building.

“So, what would this mean exactly?” Harry asked with a little trepidation. He liked fruits and vegetables and he was going to the gym to get healthier. Eating any foods Niall picked was going to go against all his hard work.

As they walked towards the front door, Niall threw out their paper water cups and led them out. He held the door for Harry and explained, “your resolutions are about living right? Feeling like a grown-up?” Harry nodded his assent. Niall realized Harry wouldn’t be able to eat all unhealthy food so he amended it so he’d agree. “Well, I’m not saying you can’t drink your smoothies in the morning or that you can’t have vegetables with your lasagna. I’m saying you can’t choose foods based on their calories or what food groups they have. You have to choose based on what sounds good. What is going to taste the best! And it’s just for one week, so get that scared look off your face.” He pointed at Harry’s bit lip and big round, curious eyes. “I’m not suggesting you stop trying to fit more and more vegetables into our diets all the time. Just a week Haz. What do you think? Can you do it?”

Harry took a deep breath and thought about what Niall was saying. “I guess I could do it for one week.” He rushed on, “on one condition.” Niall could feel the tightness in his chest before he heard Harry say, “we go to the gym four times this week to make up for it somewhat.”

Niall growled in his head, not wanting Harry to realize how annoyed he was by the suggestion but agreed anyway. It’s called compromise and he hated it but he’d do it for Harry. “We’re having fish for dinner still though with the vegetables. We have to use those cooking lessons and anyway it’s only Thursday so we can still eat healthy tomorrow too. Starting Saturday,” Harry took a deep breath, “we’ll eat what looks good. We’ll workout Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Does that work with your schedule?” He looked over to see Niall pulling his phone out to check.

“I have a later shift on Saturday and Monday. I can try to swap Monday but I don’t think I can get out of Saturday. We have the wedding going on.” Niall put his phone away, waiting for Harry’s response. He was hoping he wouldn’t just go to the gym without him. Maybe three times would be enough.

“We can go before you go to work Saturday,” Harry said with a smirk. He knew Niall hated waking up early when he didn’t have to and he wasn’t really a fan of going to the gym so he didn’t think he’d take the bait but he figured it was a fair request before offering to go on his own.

Niall narrowed his eyes at the sidewalk in front of them and dug his hand into his pants pockets. “I hate you,” he said simply but didn’t say no. He’ll get up early and go to the gym with Harry if it means Harry doesn’t have alone time with that gym rat.

******

Saturday morning came much too quickly for Niall. Harry was kind and got himself ready before jumping on top of Niall’s very comfortable, warm, sleeping body. He kissed Niall’s neck and yelled, “good morning sunshine!”

“I hate you,” Niall grumbled automatically. “5 more minutes.”

“I let you sleep in Ni. If you don’t get up now, you won’t have time for a full session before going to work. I assume you’ll want time to shower and have an unhealthy breakfast after so get your little ass up!” Harry smacked his bum as he climbed off the bed, still standing over it to make sure Niall got up.

Niall groaned but rolled over to see Harry in his workout shorts and one of his many Rolling Stones shirts. He was grinning brightly and Niall couldn’t help but shake his head and force himself up. There was no way Harry was going without him when he looked so fucking adorable. And those shorts were too short for him to be anywhere unaccompanied. He quickly threw on some sweats and his own t-shirt before brushing his teeth and letting Harry drag him out.

When they walked in the gym, the first thing Niall saw was his arch enemy. OK, so that was a little a dramatic but he still thought it was valid. Travis seemed to sense their presence and his eyes immediately raked Harry’s body with a sick little smile on his face. After they signed in, Niall pushed Harry towards the treadmill for their warm up. He chose the furthest two together he could hoping Travis wouldn’t cross the whole gym for a visit. He wasn’t so lucky. Harry had asked him again the day before why he didn’t like Travis but the best Niall could give him was that Travis seemed creepy. Harry didn’t seem to buy it and thought Niall was being petty and jealous. Of course Niall was being jealous but Harry thought he was jealous of Travis’ body or flirtatious nature or something. Niall let him think that rather than dig too much further into his emotions.

“Boys!” Travis exclaimed as he approached them. Harry turned to greet him while Niall continued to face forward and increased his treadmill speed. “You’re looking very good Harry,” Travis added. Niall could picture the sleazy smile on his face without having to look.

Niall watched out of the corner of his eye as Harry responded with a somewhat timid, “thank you.”

“I’m surprised to see you here on a Saturday. It must be my lucky day,” Travis flirted. Harry had started his treadmill but he was jogging at a slow pace as Travis went around the other side to continue their conversation.

“We upped our visits for the week due to what we’re eating. We’ll probably go back to two or three visits next week,” Harry explained, not acknowledging the ‘lucky day’ comment to Niall’s happiness.

“So, since you’re here on a Saturday,” Travis started then paused to offer his biggest smile before continuing. “Maybe you’d like to have lunch with me after. I opened this morning so I’ll be off in about an hour.”

Niall held his breath as he waited for Harry’s answer. “Oh,” Harry said, obviously not sure what to say. He didn’t seem to show any negative or positive reaction to the question.

“I mean, you have to eat, right?” Travis tried to influence Harry.

“What do you think Niall?” Harry asked, turning to his still-not really breathing friend.

Instead of glaring at Travis like he wanted to do, Niall kept facing forward and said, “I thought we were going for french toast.”

“Oh,” Travis said with distaste. “French toast? I thought you were here to work on your bodies.”

Niall could feel the anger radiating from his insides but instead of yelling at Travis like he wanted, he responded calmly. “Actually, we’re taking the week off and just eating what we want. We’ll go back to better eating next week. And, for the record, our bodies are just fine.”

There was silence for a moment while Travis debated on his comeback. “Harry is proper fit,” he decides. “OK, fine, I can do a late breakfast. Maybe I’ll get an omelet or something else but I’d still like to join if you’ll have me Harry.”

Harry was nervous. He liked Travis. He thought he was nice and he’d been very helpful with getting them comfortable using the machines at the gym, even beyond the first personal training session. At the same time, he knew Niall didn’t care for him. Of course Niall was going to work after they ate so really he could eat pretty quick and he wouldn’t have to spend much time with Travis. “Um, can I let you know in a bit?” Harry asked.

Travis’ eyes darted to Niall’s for a moment and they had a mini-stare-down before Travis agreed. He patted Harry’s bum on his way back to the customer service desk. “I don’t like him,” Niall said quickly.

“I know, Ni. I just don’t understand why. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s been very nice and even when he wasn’t being paid for personal training, he’s come over to say hi everyday and help us when we needed it.” Harry was slowing down his jog, getting ready to work on his arms for the day but he wanted an answer from Niall first.

“I just don’t,” Niall said petulantly.

“Well, if you don’t give me a reason, I’m going to say yes to him,” Harry said back annoyed.

Niall stopped his treadmill and turned to Harry incredulously. “Seriously? You’d pick him over me?”

“I’m not picking him over you Ni. You’d both be going. He’s OK with it. Why aren’t you?” Harry’s now glaring at him next to their treadmills.

Niall can’t say what he wants so he just says, “whatever” and walks out of the gym.

Chapter Text

Niall went home, showered and got ready for work. He didn’t bother to eat breakfast and just got out of his flat as fast as possible. Of course if Harry had followed him, he’d be back at their place by the time he was out of his shower but he wasn’t. Niall was trying really hard to not think about fit Travis having his breakfast with Harry. Probably convincing Harry he had to eat something healthy instead of the strawberry french toast Niall had planned to get them.

At work, he may have flirted with his guests a little more than he usually did. He got tips occasionally at his work, so he was used to throwing in a few complements every now and then but today everyone was getting the Horan charm. He managed to get more in tips in a day than he’d ever managed before so at least something good came from his anger and jealousy. As he was going around picking up glasses from the tables around the reception hall, he was approached by one of the guests he’d flirted with particularly hard. He was gorgeous and completely out of Niall’s league but at work he had little fear. He could always claim ‘whore for tips’ if someone said something. Of course not an actual whore. He wouldn’t sleep with anyone for money but flirt? Absolutely.

“Hey there,” the handsome boy said quietly to Niall. He had peaked his head over Niall’s shoulder, watching him as he stacked the glasses. “I’m Zayn,” he introduced himself.

Niall looked back at the man wondering if he was drunk or just related to everyone at the wedding as an explanation for why he was talking to him. He turned toward him and stuck his hand out to introduce himself, “Niall.”

“Oh, say that again please.” Zayn looked like he had a mini-orgasm for a moment, the pleasure on his face evident.

“Um, Niall?” Niall repeated tentatively.

“God you’re cute,” Zayn said. Definitely drunk, Niall thought. It’s not that he didn’t think he was attractive looking. He wasn’t joking when he told Travis that both his and Harry’s bodies were fine. He was comfortable with himself but he knew he wasn’t ‘hot’ by normal standards. He was... cute. Like Zayn said. OK, so maybe he wasn’t drunk.

“You’re.. very attractive,” Niall decided to reciprocate. “How can I help you Zayn?” He turned back to his duties and moved to the next table to gather more glasses while looking at Zayn over his shoulder so he knew he wasn’t being ignored.

“When do you get to leave?” Zayn asks. His head is slightly tilted and he looks sincere in his question. He doesn’t look like a sleaze and he was very fit. He could have anyone he wanted Niall was sure.

“Probably in about a half hour. No definite time. Once things are mostly cleaned up,” Niall explained. His tray was full so he would have to go back to the kitchen but he wasn’t ready to walk away from this conversation yet. He straightened up and walked to Zayn, waiting to see his offer.

“Sooooo, I can’t leave,” Zayn starts. “Maybe you can stick around for a bit and dance with me? My sister was the one who got married and we all road together. I’m fairly certain my mom would disown me if I left before she did. Of course, once they go back to the hotel, I could probably escape if you’re interested.”

“Interested in what?” Niall wasn’t sure what Zayn was offering. Did he want sex, a date, a hang out session? Chances are not number three given that he started off by pointing out that he found Niall cute. Probably not two either if he’s staying at a hotel.

Zayn looked down bashfully and ran his finger along the chair next to him as he answered, “getting to know each other better?” He didn’t seem sure in his answer. This kid has no clue how hot he is, Niall thought.

“Sure, why not?” Niall responded. “I’m pretty sure it’d be frowned upon for me to dance with you here but when you’re back at your hotel, we might be able to meet up if it’s not too late. I live across the city so I’m not coming back here if you’re out more than 15 minutes after me.” Niall felt confident with his answer and Zayn seemed pleased so Niall was not going to question what he was doing. Harry had lunch with Travis. He could have a drink with Zayn.

Niall picked up his tray and carried the glasses back to the kitchen and then grabbed his cell phone to check for any messages. He pulled it from his back pocket and saw some notifications but nothing from Harry. They hadn’t spoken since he left the gym about 10 hours earlier. That might be the longest they’d gone without at least texting each other in years. It definitely made Niall sad but he pushed the thought away and focused on the handsome man who wanted to get to know him better.

****

Harry was sitting on his couch at home, staring at his cell phone that had no new messages on it. Niall had walked out that morning without any follow up messages. No ‘I’m sorry’ texts. They fought fairly regularly honestly but they made up within hours, if not minutes, most of the time. Harry couldn’t remember the last time they were mad at each other this long. If ever. Maybe it was time for a new resolution. Maybe this resolution was ‘Get over Niall Horan.’

Harry went to bed at midnight and Niall still wasn’t home. He crawled under the sheets and pulled his blankets over his head. He tossed and turned, trying to sleep until he heard Niall sneaking in the front door. Harry didn’t look at the time. He didn’t want to know. Niall was quiet so he was probably alone which made Harry feel a little better. The wedding probably just ran long. He heard Niall turn the shower on and he was tempted to go sit in his room to hash out their argument but if Niall wasn’t going to apologize, neither was Harry.

The next morning Harry woke up around 9am. He got up to see Niall’s door still closed. He debated what to do. Should he wait for Niall to wake up? It probably wouldn’t be for another hour or two. It was his day off. Or should he just get out of the apartment. Maybe a workout would help him to release some of the tension in his body. He knew Travis usually worked Sundays so he wasn’t sure if that was the right decision to go to the gym since he’s what started this whole thing. Harry decided to go for a run instead. He changed into some shorts and a t-shirt and took off around the park. He came back about an hour later, completely worn out. He’d pushed himself more than he probably should have but it’d left him completely exhausted: physically and emotionally. He couldn’t be mad and hurt about Niall if he couldn’t feel anything.

When he walked back into his flat, he found Niall sitting at the kitchen counter eating cereal. He glanced up at Harry for a moment then looked back down at his bowl. They were both stubborn. Harry knew it but he couldn’t get himself to break the silence. If Niall wanted to fight, they’d fight. Harry walked past him and straight to the bathroom to shower. When he came out 15 minutes later in his towel, Niall was gone. Harry just slid his bum down the wall to the floor of their hallway. They’d been fighting for a whole day now. A whole day. He wasn’t sure what to do now. They normally spent Sundays together since it was the one day each week they were both off work. Harry knew he should get up, call another friend, get out and do something. Sitting here on the floor in a towel wasn’t going to fix anything. Luckily, his phone was ringing in the other room. Harry pushed himself up and slowly walked to his phone, recognizing the ringtone as his sister’s personalized one.

“Gemma?” Harry answered his phone. “Yeah, I’m off. No, Niall and I don’t have plans. Yeah, we can get lunch. Are you OK? Yeah, yeah, sure. I’ll meet you about 45 minutes. Love you sis.”

Chapter Text

Harry walked quickly up the street to the sandwich shop Gemma had requested they meet. She was standing just inside the door staring at the menu board over head. He put his hand on her shoulder, leaned down and kissed her cheek and said, “you OK?”

She didn’t look OK. She looked like she’d been crying all night and Harry had the sudden urge to hold her and simultaneously go beat up whoever caused her to feel this way. He’d have to wait to find out what was happening though. She hadn’t hinted at the problem on the phone. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said now. She clung to him for a minute, pulled back and said, “I’m going to get a salad and a big piece of cake.”

Harry grinned and agreed. “Me too.” He paused then said, “no, wait. I’m going to get a grilled cheese sandwich, soup and then a piece of cake. Join me?” he asked his sister. 

Gemma was frowning at him. “You’re not getting a salad? But you love their salads!” She was being kind by pointing out he often had salad at lunch, regardless of where they went.

“I do, I do but my resolution this week is to eat what sounds the best and grilled cheese sounds the best.” Harry shrugged as he realized it might sound a little silly but he was sticking to it. Gemma knew all about his resolutions but he hadn’t told her about this week’s yet.

Instead of thinking it was weird she exclaimed, “that’s brilliant! I’m going to do the same thing. I mean, not all week but for lunch. It wouldn’t be fair to see you with a yummy grilled cheese while I had a stupid salad. I’ll have the macaroni and cheese. They put like five different cheeses on it and breadcrumbs!”

Once they’d gathered the foods that looked best to them, Harry led them to a corner booth so they could have some privacy. “What’s wrong Gem?” he asked right away. He didn’t like not knowing what was bothering her for even a second.

His sister sighed before taking a giant bite of her macaroni, cheese dribbling out of her mouth. She closed her eyes to fully appreciate the flavors and then reopened them to see her brother’s mocking face, one eyebrow in the air. “Satisfied?” he asked.

“Very,” she replied with a giant smile. Instantly, he was grateful for Niall’s resolution. He put that smile on Gemma’s face. Ugh, Niall. No, Gemma. She drank some of her iced coffee before spitting out, “my job. My stupid boss keeps going to the other girl whenever he needs anything and half the time she has to come to me so I can explain what he wants. I don’t know what I did to him to make him hate me but I feel like I either need a new boss or a new job.” Gemma was working at an online magazine office. She wanted to write her own articles but right now she spent most of her time fixing people’s computers and explaining how to format the work for the layouts. Her boss is a recently promoted co-worker and it had left her feeling bitter ever since. “It’s just not fair Harry! I work my but off! I deserve for my articles to be at least looked at, if not published! At least to give me the freaking criticism so I can improve on them but no, I’m just the tech girl even though I’m really not all that techy I just have common sense and don’t stop trying solutions after one doesn’t work! ARGH!”

“That’s it?” Harry asked carefully. He wasn’t surprised that she was frustrated about her job. She’d been angry for a couple of months and it was obviously worse but when she’d called, she sounded devastated, like something terrible had happened. He realized his mistake in tone when his sister’s glare seem pierced his skin. “I don’t mean it’s not terrible Gem! I know you’re a hard worker and you’ve been there awhile. You absolutely deserve more respect and at least the chance to get your articles published. I just mean.. you sounded so, so sad on the phone. I was worried something really bad had happened. You know?”

“This is really bad Harry! I want to quit my job!” she yelled. She ducked her head down and glanced around the room when she realized everyone had looked over at her. She felt like the crazy girl in the corner all of a sudden and tried to calm herself. “I just don’t know what to do anymore,” Gemma sulked. “I needed my little brother to make me feel better. Is that so bad?”

Harry reached over and put his hand over Gemma’s that was currently wrapped around her drink. “Of course not Gem. I’ll always be here when you need me whether it’s for something big, small, or in between. Do you want to talk more about evil Jerry or do you want to talk about happier subjects?”

Gemma was pondered her options and finally turned to her brother to say, “happier options. Tell me about your resolutions. How are they going?”

“They’re going well.” Harry nodded. “Like I said, I’m eating yummy food this week. Last week was my birthday and we went to that nice steak restaurant I told you about. Niall surprised me and had a bunch of our friends waiting there for me. Oh! Oh! He also got us tickets to Coldplay!” Harry was so excited again, momentarily forgetting about their fight. 

“That boy spoils you rotten,” Gemma said with a straight face. “How do I get one of those?”

“A best friend roommate who likes the same music and shares the same friends?” Harry tests.

“An amazing man who is willing to do anything to make me happy,” Gemma corrects with a grin.

Harry shook his head and sighed. “Yeah, not so much. We’re actually fighting right now.” Gemma’s gasp make Harry jump slightly and he looked up alarmed. “What? We fight!”

“No, you don’t. You have lover spats,” Gemma clarified.

“No we don’t Gem,” Harry said tersely. “We’re not lovers. We’re friends. And roommates. That’s it.”

“Uh huh,” Gemma placated. “So, what did lover boy do?” 

Harry sighed again and twirled his spoon around his soup. “Niall doesn’t like the personal trainer at the gym and he won’t tell me why. He claims he’s creepy or something but he’s not at all. He’s perfectly nice. Anyway, Travis, that’s the gym guy, wanted to go to lunch after our gym session yesterday and when I asked Niall about it he said ‘no’ without any reason. He was being completely ridiculous.”

Gemma was just staring at her stupid, stupid brother. “I see,” she said carefully. “So, Niall doesn’t like some buff gym rat hanging around you two?”

Harry tossed his head back in exasperation. “It’s not like that Gem. He just doesn’t like him. I don’t know why.”

“I do,” she responded confidently with raised eyebrows. Harry refused to engage in the conversation any more and instead turned it back to her boss Jerry. At least they could bond over being surrounded by unfair people.

Harry took his time going home. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to walk in and find the flat empty, find Niall not alone, find Niall ready to fight, or find Niall ready to ignore him some more. When he got to his front door, he took a deep breath as he pulled his key out of his pocket. He turned the lock slowly and finally opened the door to see Niall sitting on the couch, eating Chinese food. He glanced up at Harry for a moment but turned back to the football match on the TV without showing any reaction. Harry dropped his key, wallet and cell phone on the counter and walked to the living room. He watched Niall for a moment to see if he’d look back but he didn’t. Harry sucked it up and asked timidly, “Niall, can we talk?”

Niall slowly turned his head suspiciously. He paused the TV and then asked, “about?”

Harry pursed his lips. It was obvious what he wanted to talk about but he would be patient. This was his best friend after all. “Yesterday.”

“What about yesterday?” Niall asked stiffly, raising his eye brow as though he had no idea.

“Niall, come on!” Harry exclaimed frustrated. “You know what I’m talking about!”

“So, talk,” Niall responded harshly as he tossed the remote down on the coffee table.

“You know what? Fuck you,” Harry said viciously. “I literally don’t know how we got here.” He took a breath and then spoke softer, “yesterday you were my best friend. Earlier this week you did so much to make me happy for my birthday. You've been supporting me with all of my resolutions. I wanted to say yes to have breakfast with our gym guy who has been nothing but nice to us and you completely turn on me. You walked out on me. You didn’t call or text. You came home late without telling me you were going to. You left without a word today. I just don’t understand what I did that was so terrible that you hate me all of a sudden!” Harry was sobbing now, tears dripping down his face as he stared at his feet, unable to bring his eyes up to Niall’s, unable to see the hate on his former best friends face. The crush he’d been harboring for years. Instead of looking at Niall or expecting an answer at all, Harry kept his eyes closed and turned towards his room, intending to walk blind for a moment. He took half a step before arms were surrounding him.

Chapter Text

Harry was standing in his living room with his wet eyes closed and Niall’s arms wrapped around him, holding his arms against his sides. Harry took a moment to take a breath and then opened his eyes. He found all his courage and looked over his shoulder to see Niall standing there staring at him with tears in his own eyes. “I’m sorry,” Niall whispered. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you weren’t my best friend anymore and certainly not that I hated you. I was just,” Niall took his own pause before deciding how honest he wanted to be. “I was hurt, Harry. I told you I didn’t want to invite Travis to breakfast. It’s not new information that I don’t like him but you still pushed it. You basically made it a him or me situation and you chose him.” Niall squeezed Harry one more time and then backed off. He walked around Harry and stood in front of him looking bashful.

“It wasn’t a him or you situation Niall. I was trying to make it a you and him situation. I wanted you to spend some time with him outside the gym, hopefully make you like him more.” Harry was still distressed and he just didn’t understand why Niall hated Travis. He’d done absolutely nothing to them to warrant his reaction.

“Why can’t you just accept that I don’t like him? Why do I have to like him? Hmm?” Niall looked like he just wanted Harry to understand. He was tired of this argument and he just wanted to be able to move on from this.

Harry sighed. “Fine, I won’t force you two together anymore. Maybe,” Harry paused deciding if he really wanted to say his next sentence. “Maybe you shouldn’t come to the gym anymore. I know you never really wanted to in the first place so it will just save you the hassle.”

Niall was glaring at Harry now and he didn’t understand why. Niall hated the gym. He hated Travis. Why would he keep putting himself through the torture of going? Harry was letting him off the hook. “Fine,” Niall said stonily. “I, uh, I have plans so I’m going to get out of here. See you later Harry.” Niall turned and started heading back to the front door, slipping on his shoes quickly as he added, “I’ll go by the gym to stop my membership while I’m out. You won’t have to worry about seeing me around Travis anymore.”

“Niall!” Harry growled. “I thought we were making up. Why are you suddenly mad at me again!? You don’t want to go to the gym. You went for me. Not only do you not want to go to the gym, you hate the one person I talk to regularly. I’m literally letting you off the hook, Ni.”

Niall was frozen in front of the door, faced away from Harry. His head was down as he listened to Harry and he was taking his time to respond. Quietly, he said, “I’m not mad at you Har. This isn’t on you. I just have to get out of here right now.” With that statement, Niall opened the door and walked out.

********

Niall didn’t come home until late again on Sunday while Harry sat around their apartment hoping he’d turn up sooner rather than later. Harry only left for one task: grocery shopping. Harry went and bought all of Niall’s favorite (not too expensive) foods. He had items to make burritos, white rice to be paired with a spicy chicken, potatoes (which he’d cover in butter when he cooked), and chocolate cake. He was going to take the resolution this week seriously and hopefully win Niall back.

The week seemed to drag on for Harry. Niall was working mostly night shifts while Harry was working during the day. Even the nights Niall normally went in earlier, he was closing. He must have switched his shifts to avoid him. Harry was happy to see that Niall was at least eating the groceries he’d picked up and the food he’d prepared. (Even he could make burritos and potatoes without instruction.) Harry went to the gym on Monday and Wednesday as he’d planned and found Travis working, as usual. He found it harder to chat with the man knowing Niall was mad at him for it so he generally avoided engaging in conversation. Travis never asked where Niall was, which surprised Harry quite a bit since they’d always worked out together. Maybe Travis was there when Niall quit.

When Harry got home Wednesday night, he found Niall doing his own cooking. It smelled kind of amazing and Harry found his mouth watering instantly, but even more than the food, he was happy Niall was home when he was awake. “What smells so good?” Harry decides to ask this easy conversation-starting question rather than tell Niall how lost he’d been without him.

At Harry’s question, Niall glanced up at his roommate with a quick and easy smile and answered, “chocolate chip cookies. But I’m also making dinner too. It’s just the cookies came out of the oven a minute ago so that’s what’s smelling up the flat.”

The cookies were still on a baking sheet on the stove top and Harry couldn’t help but try to steal one. He only tried because Niall swatted his hand the second it was within a foot of the hot dessert. There were a couple that looked a bit toasty but overall, they looked moist and very chocolaty. Exactly the way Harry liked. “And what’s for dinner?” Harry looked away from the cookies to see their pasta pot boiling water.

“Pasta, duh,” Niall said sarcastically. “What else can I make? It should be ready in about 10 minutes if you want to grab dishes, forks, and drinks”

Harry was happy to see Niall was including him and not planning on taking his dinner to his room or inviting someone else over to eat. He bit his lip and turned away from Niall before he broke out in a giant grin. “Will do,” he added, as though this was a normal everyday conversation. Which it used to be.

Once they were both settled on the couch with their meals, Harry reached for the remote control but Niall reached his hand out and grabbed Harry’s wrist to stop him. “Can we talk?” he asked seriously.

Dread filled Harry’s stomach. Was Niall done being friends with him? Did he want to move out? He started chewing on his bottom lip and absentmindedly twirling his pasta. He nodded without looking at Niall’s face but he heard the sigh. “Harry, I’m sorry,” Niall explained. “I’ve been a jerk this week and it’s really not your fault. It’s just that I’m - I mean, I’ve been kind of - “ Niall stopped talking to drop his head back onto the couch. Harry sat in silence waiting for more information. Speaking to the ceiling, Niall rushed out, “I’m jealous of Travis.”

That wasn’t what Harry was expecting. He’d accused Niall of being jealous but he never really thought he was. He didn’t know what was happening. The silence seemed to last for ages as Niall waited for his own response. Harry asked, “jealous of what?”

Niall put the plate down on the coffee table, twisted his body so his knee was bent and turned on the couch so he could face Harry. “You,” he answered simply.

Harry was more confused now. “Me?” His face was scrunched up trying to understand what Niall was saying. He was shaking his head back and forth trying to run over the conversation and Niall’s actions recently. “I don’t understand. Why?”

To stop Harry from panicking more, Niall reached his hand out and held Harry’s forearm. “It’s pretty simple really. You’re my best friend. My roommate. You’re kind of my everything Harry and Travis came in and you started giving him attention and I didn’t like it.”

Harry’s brow was furrowed as he asked, “so you don’t want me to have friends that aren’t you? You’re fine with Liam and Louis and Ed and Matty. Is that because you were friends with Liam first or because I knew Louis before you?”

A groan came from Niall as he tightened his grip on Harry’s arm. “No, Harry. I don’t mind you having friends. I like that you have friends even.” Niall scooted closer to Harry so he could look into his eyes for the next sentence. “I’m kind of in love with you Styles and although your resolution this week was to eat well, mine was to finally tell you the truth.”

Chapter Text

Harry is stunned. He heard Niall say he was in love with him but he must have been imagining it. There’s no way Niall was in love with him. He’d been in love with Niall for years. Literally, years. Niall shook him out of his daze with a light touch on his shoulder and a gentle, “Haz? Haz did you hear me? Are you OK?”

Looking at his best friend, Harry can see the fear building and asks, “can you repeat what you just said please?”

Niall chews his lip for a moment, as though he’s debating, and then says softly, “I might be in love with you.”

Harry leans in towards Niall with a little bit of a smirk. “You might be, huh?” He asks teasingly, with a bit more confidence now that he’s heard it twice. 

Niall backs away and says quickly with a frown, “you don’t have to be an arse about it Harry.”

Harry realizes his mistake and pushes himself further into Niall’s space. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be. I love you too, Niall.” As soon as the words are out of his mouth, his face heats up and he realizes he admitted a bit more than Niall did. He said he was sure because he was but Niall seemed to be still figuring out his feelings.

Harry looked at Niall’s face and he looked flabbergasted. “You’re in love with me?” he asked, his voice rising on the last word.

“Incredibly,” Harry confirmed. “I’m not even sure how long I’ve been in love with you but I know I am. So, um, how do we find out if you’re really in love with me?”

Niall’s cheeks are a dark shade of red and he tells Harry softly, “I’m sure. I’ve been in love with you for awhile but I wasn’t sure that you felt the same. I mean, I’ve dropped enough hints. You’re kind of daft apparently.” Although Niall’s face was still lit up, he looked happy to be teasing his best friend again.

“I guess if I’m daft, so you are you!” Harry said with a quick tickle to Niall’s side.

“Hey now! I organized a whole surprise birthday dinner at a fancy restaurant with all your friends two months in advance,” Niall reminded him.

“Are you forgetting your own birthday Nialler?” Harry asks with his eyebrow’s raised in question.

Niall’s eyes get wider as he remembers how Harry took care of him. He woke up early and made him breakfast and lunch for work. When Niall got home, he had his favorite meal cooked by his mother waiting for him. Harry would never explain how they made that happen since his mother lived in another country, but it was amazing. Harry also arranged a night out with the lads to do karaoke, which most of them didn’t actually enjoy. They did it all for Niall and Harry. “OK, I guess you spoiled me a bit. Gonna tell me how you got me ma’s cooking here yet?”

“And spoil it? Never! I prefer that you think I’m a magician,” Harry exclaims with a laugh. 

“I don’t think you’re a magician,” Niall deadpans but then adds, “OK, OK, we’re both idiots. Point taken. Sooo, where do we go from here?” Niall asks a little scared. He clasped his hands together and started to rub them with his thumbs

“I think this is the part where we’re supposed to kiss,” Harry says as he shifts his body closer to Niall on the couch, his knee touching Niall’s.

Niall swallows and says, “yeah, OK, that makes sense. Um, maybe you can, uh, yeah, do that.” As Niall finishes his mumbling, Harry leans in and closes his lips around Niall’s top one while his hands slide behind Niall’s back, pulling him closer. Harry takes it slow, not wanting to rush Niall since they’d never had this kind of relationship before but he seemed to disagree with the speed because he pushed Harry back so he was laying on the couch. Niall straddled his body and leaned down so they were chest to chest and then proceeded to dominate Harry’s mouth with his tongue, his lips, and his teeth. Harry couldn’t keep up. All he knew was that he was overwhelmed but so, so happy.

He pulled away a minute later just to tell Niall, “I have a new resolution.” Niall raised an eyebrow in question, also wondering why they’d stopped kissing. “I want to do this at least once every day. Every. Single. Day,” Harry said with a kiss for emphasis on each of the last three words.

“I can support that,” Niall agrees. “It’s way better than this whole gym thing.” Niall went back to kissing Harry until he pulled away again. Niall growled at it this time. “What now?!” he asked grumpily.

“Are you going to be OK with me going back to the gym? I don’t want to stress you out or anything,” Harry said concerned.

Niall sat back up and sighed. “I don’t like him but I trust you. Especially since I know you love me too so, yes, you can still go to the gym. Besides, I’m kind of liking this whole stronger, musclier you.” Niall offered a smirk before he realized he sounded kind of pig-headed, so added quickly, “but I love the softer you too so if you ever give up the gym, I’ll still love you. I mean, I did love you before the gym. So, you know, remember that.” Niall’s face was heating up in his rambling embarrassment. Harry leaned up with soft, caring eyes and just continued their make-out session without words.

This time Niall pulled away to declare, “we’re still eating junk for the rest of the week. I get two more days of watching you eat lots and lots of cheese and butter.”

“Really? You stopped kissing me to tell me you want me to eat more butter right after telling me you liked the stronger version of me?” Harry’s mouth hangs open a bit waiting for an answer.

Niall just nods, “yep.” He leaned back down and started running his hands under Harry’s shirt, slowly moving up and down, feeling his new abs.

“I feel like we need to stop or we won’t,” Harry says pulling away again.

The pout on Niall’s face is almost enough to pull Harry back in but they’d just confessed their, probably too strong, feelings for each other and he didn’t want to rush anything. “I guess we can eat then.” Niall gets off of Harry’s torso and slides back to the other side of the couch, picking up his dinner that he’d barely started. “What else do you have in mind for resolutions?”

“I was thinking maybe I could take you on a date,” Harry said into his own dinner.

“I’d like that,” Niall agreed with a small grin. “When do you think we could do that?”

“Well, we’ve got lads night tomorrow night and then we don’t have any other plans until the Coldplay concert in a couple weeks, right?” Harry pauses his eating to look up at Niall for confirmation.

“Right, aside from that whole working thing.”

“Eh, yeah. So, maybe Saturday night? It’ll be a new week so I can officially make it a resolution,” Harry said laughing. He might have been ready to take a break from this whole resolution thing.

“Sick of the resolutions already then?” Niall asks.

“Maybe. I mean, I still have a good list of things I want to do but maybe I don’t have to choose something new every week,” Harry said with a shrug. He could stick with the kissing Niall resolution and the date thing, but he wasn’t ready to dive back into learning something new or pick up new habits. It’s hard work to pick a new resolution each week!

“Wow, you’re lazy,” Niall teased. “What about the whole cleaning the flat thing?”

Harry considered his suggestion and didn’t know how to respond. They really should keep their home in better condition. It’s just such work to get it to a good starting place.

“How about this?” Niall suggests. “I will help you clean it tomorrow before the lads get here and then Sunday we’ll get it all nice and pretty. After that it’ll be easier to maintain, right?”

“You’d do that for me?” Harry asked with a soft smile.

“Only for you,” Niall clarified. “Only for you pet.”