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“Got everything packed, Ni?”
“Mostly,” Niall replies from where he’s kneeling beside the sofa, trying to get a beanie that fell under it over a year ago but that he never bothered to pick up because it was the end of winter and he figured he didn’t need it anymore.
“What are you looking for?” Harry asks with a laugh, footsteps feeling closer to Niall than before, “Tell me it’s not your driver’s license because we’re going to need that.”
“’Course is not, I keep all my documents neatly organized,” Niall scoffs.
“Is there an ‘unlike you’ in that sentence that you’re not saying but I’m hearing anyway?”
“You said it.” Niall laughs, finally grasping the soft fabric of the beanie with the tips of his fingers and pulling it out. Once he knows he’s thrown it on top of the sofa he sets back on his haunches and reaches a hand out towards Harry. “Help me up.”
“Demanding old man.” Harry jokes, taking Niall’s hands in his and helping him get back on his feet without hurting his knee.
“Who’re you calling an old man? Me? When it was you who complained all night about his back hurting after putting up the Christmas tree?” Niall teases, an amused smile on his face when Harry pouts at him.
“You always make me put the decorations in the lower part of the tree even though I’m taller than you.” Harry whines.
“That’s because it’s easier for you to kneel for extended periods of time,” Niall says, kissing Harry’s pout away, “I only reserve kneeling for special activities and I know you prefer that.”
“Put the blowjob talk away, we’re leaving in like ten minutes.” Harry says, “Unless you’re willing to spend those ten minutes doin-“
Niall interrupts him with a kiss before he can continue.
“There’s only so much inappropriateness you can pull off before eight in the morning on Christmas Eve Eve.”
“Alright then,” Harry says with a grin, “we can just snog for ten minutes if that’s more up your alley.”
“Did I ever tell you how the holidays bring the weirdness out of you more than usual?” Niall says with a giggle, “and as much as I’d enjoy some snogging, I still have to pack my charger and this beanie that you never helped me find like two years ago.” He continues, bopping Harry in the nose with the fluffy pompom on top of the beanie, “you can go warm up the car if you’re all ready to go.”
“So much for being neat, uh?” Harry grins, “I’ll wait for you in the car, then. Lock the doors and blow all the candles and you should check if I didn’t forget to pack anything,” he giggles, kissing Niall’s cheek before leaving towards the garage.
“Bet you five pounds I’ll find your phone still on the bedside table,” Niall yells after him and laughs when Harry does as well.
He quickly checks every room in the house. There’s no boiling water in the kitchen, the TV in the lounge is properly turned off instead of being in stand-by. The candles Harry keeps on the tiny table beside the staircase are all off.
Upstairs he checks the small office they have. There’s no left over tea cups that they’ll find rotten and un-washable when they come back. Harry’s piano is closed and safe from dust and the guitars they both own are in their place.
On the bedroom he finds Harry’s house keys in the bed and his phone on the bedside table. He laughs softly, shaking his head and pocketing both. He checks their closet and sees that their warmest jackets aren’t there, which tells him they packed the right things.
After checking the candles on the bathroom and blowing off the one he had lit up when they took a warm bath just an hour ago he closes the door, unplugs his phone and takes his bag, putting on the slightly dusty beanie to avoid opening his bag and making a mess again.
They’re only leaving for a week, five days exactly, but it’s always a struggle to close the bag even if he just packed for an overnight stay.
He checks the time to find it’s already 8:30. They had promised Anne and Gemma they’d leave exactly at 8:30 so they’d beat traffic and get to the Styles Family cabin just in time for lunch.
When he’s back downstairs and the house is locked he finds Harry already has their car on the driveway and he’s putting his suitcase on the trunk.
“You owe me ten pounds,” Niall says when he walks over to him and sets his bag inside as well.
“Didn’t you say five? What else did I forget?” Harry complains, closing the trunk and walking around the car to get in the passenger seat.
“Found your keys on the bed,” Niall says, putting on his seatbelt and checking if there’s enough gas for the four hour drive.
“But I don’t need them! You have your copy and I’m gonna come back home with you so I didn’t need mine.”
“You have the copy of the cabin’s keys there as well.” Niall deadpans, “and you know there’s a big chance of us getting there before your mum and sister.”
“Need to give you a copy of those, then.” Harry shrugs, looking at Niall with a soft smile.
Niall turns to look at him before starting the car, his eyes oddly focused for such a banter-y conversation, “I don’t know if that’s incredibly sweet or just lazy of you.”
“I like the sweet option better,” Harry replies, “you’ve been in that cabin almost as many times as me and I’ve been going since I was a child.” He explains, turning to look at the window when Niall finally pulls away from their house to find the main road, “I honestly should have given you a key before.”
Niall is silent for a while, at first, Harry assumes he’s just focusing on getting out of their remote neighborhood, since the streets all look the same and there’s so many turns it’s terribly confusing, but after five minutes pass and he hasn’t said anything Harry turns away from the pretty and snowy picture the outside world makes and looks at Niall.
“You okay with that?” Harry asks carefully.
“I was just thinking about the first key we gave each other.” Niall replies, voice soft, and even though Niall is the most responsible and focused driver Harry knows, he also knows he’s replaying and reminiscing over that behind his eyes.
“You gave me your dad’s house key,” Harry muses, “told me it’d be handy if I ever needed somewhere to stay in Ireland.”
“We were fresh out of the X-Factor,” Niall ponders, “and Simon had just told us we’d start a tour soon and that it’d be better to find a location in London but my first thought was to give you my house key, outside of the fucking country, just in case you ever needed it.”
“I just gave you my hotel key the night we hooked up for the first time!” Harry laughs.
“We’re ridiculous,” Niall snorts, finally finding the main road and officially starting their Christmas eve eve road trip.
It’s something they’ve done for the past 3 years. They spend Christmas with Harry’s family in their cabin in the woods and then go to Ireland for the New Year celebrations.
“Wanna put on some radio?” Niall asks after half an hour of idle chatter has gone by.
“I’m actually feeling up to some Christmas tunes,” Harry says, aux cord already in hand and his phone in his lap with his Spotify Christmas playlist ready to play.
“You’re not serious,” Niall complains, “you put that playlist for 3 hours on repeat yesterday when we were decorating the house, you can’t possibly want to listen to it again!”
“It’s Christmas eve eve, babe, you have to always be up for some Christmas music.”
And with that he hits play and Baby it’s cold outside starts playing.
“I really can't stay,” Harry sings, turning his body sideways and making a fist to make it so like a microphone, putting his hand close to Niall’s mouth and wiggling his eyebrows, signaling at him to do the duet with him.
Niall reluctantly sings back. “But baby, it's cold outside.”
And so, for the next three minutes they sing back and forth, Harry making his voice way too high and Niall’s deeper the more they get into the song, making each other laugh.
Despite Niall’s initial reluctance at the Christmas music, the four hours of the trip go by really quickly when you have your boyfriend belting out into song when Let it snow comes on shuffle and they giggle through Michael Bubble’s version of Santa baby, not without screaming out in a really bad pitch the entirety of Last Christmas and All I want for Christmas is you.
When Niall pulls over at the cabin he’s breathless with laughter, face red despite the cold and his cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.
Harry’s hair is still a mess from where he whipped his hair back and forth during Rockin’ around the Christmas tree.
Luckily, they seem to be the first ones to arrive, which gives them time to unpack calmly and get themselves decent enough to meet with Anne and Gemma.
“Told you we’d be the first ones to arrive, didn’t I?” Niall muses, “what would we have done if I hadn’t found your keys before we left.”
“I think the real question is, what would we have done if I hadn’t made you go check that we weren’t missing anything,” Harry replies, a wide grin on his face.
“Oh, well if you’re gonna be like that, I wonder what would be of you without me.” Niall says, trying to look serious by crossing his arms but laughing anyway.
“Now, that’s a life I wouldn’t even like to imagine.” Harry replies, sobering up a little and winking at Niall.
“Sap,” Niall says, crowding Harry into the sofa so he sits on the arm of it and Niall settles between the v of his legs. “wanna put on some tea or wanna unpack?”
“Woah, you’re making me choose instead of making me do both things?” Harry teases, squeezing Niall’s hips and dragging him down for a kiss.
“You say that as if I don’t ever help you.” Niall says when they pull back.
“Do you ever? Last time you just gossiped with my mum about my antics in the snow when I was a child instead of helping me put away our things in our room.”
“That was just one time,” Niall whines, “and I would rather hear about your mischief as a child than fold all your clothes.”
Harry squawks when Niall pushes him and he falls back first on the sofa, legs dangling over the arm and Niall on top of him on his lap, arms braced around Harry’s head.
“Okay, I accept defeat, I’d be useless and my closet would be a mess without you.” Harry whispers softly. The house is quiet, it’s snowing outside but they haven’t turned on the heat so there only sounds are coming from their breathing and their soft talking.
“I’m glad you know that.”
“I’ve always known that.” Harry states, “gonna need you by my side forever.”
“If I didn’t think we’re in a pretty ridiculous position for it, I’d think this is the start of a proposal.” Niall jokes.
Harry laughs, then, a bit too breathy and wide eyed but he manages to get himself under control.
“Oooh did I bust you?” Niall laughs at Harry’s expression.
“You know I’d take you to the fanciest place to do that,” Harry covers up, “definitely not in the sofa I was probably conceived on.”
“Harry!” Niall shrieks, letting all of his weigh fall on top of Harry and laughing against his chest. Harry wraps his arms around Niall’s waist and laughs softly against Niall’s hair.
They stay like that for about ten minutes, softly whispering and bantering to one another, keeping themselves warm. It’s only because Harry’s phone rings from where’s still inside his suitcase that they force themselves to move.
Harry picks up just in time before he misses the call and takes his suitcase in the other hand, going upstairs as he speaks.
When he comes back a couple minutes later he’s no longer smiling.
“Gemma called.” He starts, “apparently there’s a huge storm up north that has most of the main roads closing and they couldn’t make it out of Holmes Chapel before it fully hit.”
“Are they alright, though?”
“Yeah, it’s mostly just piles and piles of snow and really strong chilly wind. The reports say it should clear up in a day at most, but that it’ll keep moving through the U.K up until the 26th.”
“You mean is gonna affect us here too?” Niall asks.
Harry nods, “It’s apparently getting stronger or something, Gemma told me we should keep an eye out on the weather reports.”
“Nothing wrong wrong could happen, though, right?” Niall asks, a finger making its way to his mouth to chew on it without him noticing.
“Nah, mum said at the most we’d lose electricity for a bit if it gets really bad, but the walls are sturdy and they have a bunch of shovels in case the car gets stuck in inches of snow.”
“Will they be here in time for Christmas, you think?”
“They said they’d try the very best to make it, but if not, they just said we should enjoy our pre-honeymoon in a winter wonderland.” Harry says with a shake of his head. ”Gemma’s words, not mine.”
Niall laughs before he stands up and makes his way to the kitchen. “Well, if the only thing to do is wait we might as well get comfy.” He states, “gonna turn on the heat. You go and get our warmest PJ’s and your laptop out of our bags and I’ll check if there’s pop corn.”
“Christmas movie marathon? I like the sound of that.” Harry says, wiggling his eyebrows, “I’ll bring a blanket, it’s really starting to get cold.”
Half an hour later they’re sat in the lounge watching Home Alone, wrapped up in each other, a couple blankets and the fluffiest pajamas they own.
They’re halfway through the movie when the power goes out.
Harry goes to check if there’s any candles or flashlights lying around so they don’t have to use up their phone’s battery when it gets darker, while Niall checks that all the doors and windows are shut so no warm air leaves or cold air gets in.
“Well, what now?” Harry asks, “I think there are some logs in the basement. Hopefully they’re dry enough for us to start a proper fire in the chimney, yeah?”
-
Harry finds nothing.
It’s just past 4pm so there’s still a bit of light outside. They decide to go out and cut a couple logs to start a fire and try to no freeze to death during the night.
Even though the goal is to stay warm, Harry accidentally throws snow at Niall when he’s picking up the last couple of logs. Niall, of course, thinks Harry did it on purpose and so he bends down, makes a snowball and throws is straight at the back of Harry’s head.
He stumbles a couple steps and turns around, mouth wide open but eyes sparkling with half-contained laughter.
“Did you just-“
“You started!” Niall laughs, bending down again to throw another ball at Harry, this time hitting him in the chest.
“Oh you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Harry shakes his head, letting the logs fall down to the snow without a care of them getting wet and therefore becoming useless to start a fire, “I always destroyed my cousins and friends at snow fights, Niall, you’re going down.”
“Have mercy!” Niall yells through his giggles, covering his face with gloved-hands, but Harry is a rapid shooter and soon there’s a pile of snow all over his hair and coat. He chases Harry around, trying to get a good shot at his face but Harry grabs him from behind and lifts him off the ground.
He shrieks, laughing and kicking his feet trying to set free, but before he can, Harry lowers them both to the ground, Niall ending up with his back on the pillows of snow and Harry on top of him.
They’re both flushed all over, both from the brisk air and from running around in layers of warm clothes. “Admit it.” Harry pants, a triumphant grin all over his face, “complete annihilation.”
“I’m sure I have snow in my underwear, is that defeating enough for you?” Niall giggles, trying to tickle Harry to get him off of him.
Harry laughs and hides his face in the scarf that’s covering Niall’s neck, the warm air from his breathing filters through the layer of cloth and makes Niall shiver all over.
“If we get pneumonia on Christmas your mum’s gonna be mad.” Niall says after they’ve both calmed down.
Harry finally lifts his head and starts to lift himself off the ground, just when Niall’s about to put his hands up for Harry to help him up, though, he jumps away from Niall and smiles. “Make a snow angel.”
“You can’t possibly want me to lie down on snow for a second longer,” Niall scoffs, shaking his head. Despite his words, he opens his arms wide and moves them along with his legs, “why can’t I ever say no to you?”
“I’m irresistible.” Harry says, “I also don’t think we’re getting out of the house in the next couple of days so we might as well have all the fun in the snow while we’re outside.”
“I have snow all over my body, this isn’t fun in the snow.” Niall says with a pout, “there’s your snow angel, now pick me up and carry me inside.”
“You’re my snow angel,” Harry whispers in Niall’s ear when he has lifted in him up the ground.
“What’s with your sappiness today, Styles?” Niall laughs, covering his blush against Harry’s shoulder as Harry gently walks them to the house. Niall’s tip toes are on top of Harry’s so it feels like he’s walking backwards, except Harry’s doing all the job.
The fact that they don’t fall it’s a real Christmas miracle.
“It’s probably the snow,” Harry says, “makes everything look hazy and soft and you fit perfectly into the winter wonderland aesthetic.”
“Remember when I said you get weird during the holidays?” Niall ponders are they finally reach the front door of the cabin and get inside the warm place, “the cold makes it worse.”
“I know by that you mean you love me and my cheesiness, you can’t get enough of it,” Harry teases, closing the door with his bum so his hands don’t have to leave Niall’s waist.
“Is there any way to shut you up?” Niall asks, smiling up at Harry. “Apparently stepping on your toes and making you carry me inside wasn’t enough.”
“This morning you also mentioned special activities to do on my knees,” Harry says with a wiggle of his eyebrows, which are still covered in tiny snowflakes.
The fondness that spreads through Niall’s body is enough to warm him right up.
“Well, take me to our bedroom and we’ll see about that.”
Harry smiles, dimples making a proud appearance on his cheeks. Niall can’t help the urge he feels to kiss his nose.
“This is gonna be the best Christmas ever.”
-
Harry wants to take that statement back an hour and a half later.
They’re naked-cuddling in the middle of the bed, drowsy and sated and not as warm as he wishes they were.
“You think the power is ever gonna come back on?” Niall asks, voice still a bit raspy and slurring with sleepiness.
“I sure hope so,” Harry replies, wrapping both arms around Niall and kissing his forehead. “You have goosebumps all over, do I take the credit or are you cold?”
“I’m really fucking cold,” Niall nods, “did we bring any more blankets?”
“Think we left one in the sofa from when we were watching the movie,” Harry says, “probably should go down there, start the fire and make something for dinner.”
“We bought a bit of bread and ham, could do with some sandwiches and hot chocolate.” Niall whispers against Harry’s skin, “want me to start on that while you go start the fire?”
“Gonna call my mum before, but sure.” Harry says, untangling himself from Niall and shivering when his bare feet touch the floor, “I bought a bag of marshmallows, you can use that in the chocolate.”
“Sounds good,” Niall yawns, “say hi to them for me, hopefully they’re already on their way.”
-
Niall is shivering by the time Harry gets off the phone and has a good steady fire going on the chimney.
Harry can hear his teeth clattering from where he’s warming up the milk on the stove, his hands are shaking slightly and his lips look as white as a sheet despite the two sweaters and the parka he’s wearing. Harry takes one look at him before he wraps his arms around him and tries to warm him up with will power alone.
“We’re gonna be really cold tonight if the power doesn’t come back by the time we go to bed.” Niall says, voice soft and shaky, he snakes his arms inside Harry’s jacket and keeps his hand in the warmest spot on Harry’s back. “What did your mum say?”
“They’ll try to get in the road tomorrow afternoon,” Harry explains, “the storm is still pretty bad.”
“As long as they stay safe, we can be alone and chilly for one night.” Niall says, and Harry wraps his arms tighter around him.
They sleep on the sofa that night, they move it closer to the chimney after drinking the hot chocolate and eating a sandwich. Leaving a bit for tomorrow in case the storm hits and they can’t drive to the closest town to get some more groceries.
-
The morning of Christmas eve is bleak, cold and grey.
Harry wakes up first, he’s not as cold as he was last night, probably due to the fact that Niall is pressed up basically on top of him with about five blankets and the fire still going.
He slowly stands up to check his phone, call his mum again and check-up the weather reports, though just by looking at the window he knows the storm it’s definitely getting closer to them now.
He can see their car is halfway deep in snow.
There’s a thick layer of snow all over the windows and at the front door which makes it impossible to even try opening the door.
His mum and sister are still in Cheshire. There’s no electricity, they only have sandwich leftovers, tea and a couple fruits. His phone is at less than 30% and he has a ring in his backpack pocket he’s supposed to give to Niall tomorrow. In front of the family that’s apparently not going to make it on time.
“I think I’m coming down with something.” Niall says from behind him, startling him from where he’s still looking out the window. He hears him sniffing and when he turns around he finds him paler than yesterday, he looks miserable as he wipes his nose with a napkin. “Probably from when we went for the logs yesterday.”
This is the last thing they need right now.
He frowns and makes his way over to Niall, putting his hand on his forehead and finding it way too warm for the coldness of the place. “What are you feeling, babe?”
“Just a stuffy nose and a headache, nothing to worry about. Just thought I should tell you so you don’t kiss me tomorrow on Christmas and get sick as well.”
“You know damn well I’ll kiss you whenever I want to, consequences be damned.” Harry says with a smile, then turns to look seriously at Niall, “did you bring anything from out med-kit?”
“I bought the last four ibuprofen pills that we had, already took one. Hopefully I’ll feel better by tomorrow or I’ll be screwed.”
Harry gives him what he hopes is an encouraging smile, “go lay back down in the sofa, I’ll put more wood in the chimney after I put the kettle on to give you some tea.”
-
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful,” Harry sings, a tray with two cups of tea in his hands as he makes his way to where Niall is buried in all the blankets in the sofa, “but the fire is so delightful, and since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”
“Don’t encourage this shitty weather.” Niall rasps out, his voice deep from how congested he is. “Come here and warm me up.” He demands, patting the space beside him, where Harry sits after giving the tray to Niall.
And so, the day passes slowly.
There’s no Wi-Fi and they’re so far from any main road that they don’t have enough signal to use their data for some Netflix.
Harry’s laptop dies at midday and Niall’s due another dose of ibuprofen, if the way he keeps massaging his temples is giving Harry any clues.
“How are you doing?”
“My whole head hurts,” Niall whimpers, sniffing as he’s been doing since he woke up despite the fact that he blows and blows his nose with nothing coming out.
“You think it’s a sinus infection again?” Harry asks, frown deep etched on his forehead.
“Probably,” Niall shivers, because despite the fact that he has a fever and he’s warm all over, he feels cold still, “me whole face hurts as well.”
“I’ll bring you more ibuprofen, and afterwards I think we should try some steam, yeah? That’ll be warm and it’ll also help.”
At around seen at night Harry is warming up the second pot full of water. The first time it helped a lot, so much that Niall fell asleep peacefully, despite a bit of snoring, and napped for five hours straight.
When he’s carefully got the boiling water in front of the sofa he helps a groggy Niall sit up, covers him with a blanket so all the steam goes towards his face and helps him prop him up with pillows and his own body.
“How are you doing, love?”
“Ready for another pill,” Niall says, “but better, I feel less congested and I think the fever is going away.”
Harry nods and reaches a hand around to take one of Niall’s, squeezing gently.
“Can’t believe we’re spending Christmas Eve in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, our family stranded in the other side of the country and you with a sinus infection,” Harry says, laughing softly when Niall moans.
“Sorry I’m ruining it.” Niall says, clutching Harry’s hand back.
“You’re not,” Harry assures him, “the weather caused this. And you know I like taking care of you.”
“Sap,” Niall says softly. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
-
On Christmas morning, Niall wakes up feeling not as bad, he doesn’t seem to have a fever, his nose is stuffy but at least when he blows it there’s stuff coming out, finally. The steam helped. Harry helped a lot. He’s finally somewhat warm with Harry pressed up against him.
They laze around until ten am, when Niall, headache finally gone, says they should exchange gifts, “might as well do it, if it’ll be only the two of us today.”
Harry gets incredibly flustered and nervous about it but agrees.
He should have had a back-up plan, he realizes now. Should have bought Niall another gift instead of just bringing the ring. A plan B is always necessary, no matter how sure he is about Niall saying yes.
Niall rummages through his backpack until he gets a somewhat big box out wrapped in Christmas paper.
He hands it to Harry with a small shy smile on his face, “I know we usually exchange about two or three small and silly gifts, but this time, when I saw this at the mall I just thought this was the perfect gift for you, it’s just the one, but it was a tiny bit expensive and I just hope you like it.”
Harry opens it with the excitement he remembers feeling when he was eight and Christmas morning was the best day of the year.
It’s a box of scented candles, a Tom Dixon box of scented candles.
He actually tears up when he gets one out. The pot is made out of marble and the scent is so incredibly amazing he has to close his eyes in case he actually starts crying.
“So, if you don’t like it they told me to keep the receipt so they can change it to a coupon and you can find something you like or maybe I can just-
Harry decides to end Niall’s rambled suffering with a hard kiss on the lips. He deepens it when Niall unexpectedly moans and sets his hands on Harry’s cheeks, bringing him closer.
Niall’s hands are cold, and his nose is red and he has a sinus infection, they have no electricity and are snowed in in the middle of nowhere, spending Christmas morning just with themselves instead of family but despite all of that, it’s perfect.
Maybe it’s not going how he planned it, but the warm feeling of rightness, of home he feels with Niall pressed against him kissing him softly despite both their dry lips, it’s the same feeling he got last year, in this very sofa, when he decided he wanted to ask the big question.
They pull away breathlessly, Harry giggling and wiping at his eyes with a blush. “I love it. I love that you know me so well, this is the best present ever.”
“Love you,” Niall says, eyes shining from happiness instead of fever and Harry, eyes still wet and hands still clutching at his box of candles, decides now it’s the time.
He had shoved the tiny box in the pocket of his pants when Niall went to get his present. He realizes he definitely doesn’t want to untangle himself from Niall arms and the nest of blankets around them, keeping them warm and especially helping Niall feel better, so he decides, fuck it.
If any other detail went to hell, he can propose without kneeling down and making it like in the movies.
“Mine is a bit smaller than yours,” Harry starts, setting his gift on the table in front of them and taking Niall’s cold hands in both of his. “And it’s also just the one.” He continues, clearing his throat and lifting his gaze to meet Niall’s. “Niall when I met you, I could have never imagined we’d be here today. Not stranded in my family’s cabin alone on Christmas morning, but here, you’re your hands in mine and a bed to share and a house we own and all the plans we have made for our future.
We had something amazing with the band, but nothing will ever, ever compare to the feeling I get when I come home to you. And life is so uncertain, just take this holiday trip as an example,” he laughs softly, squeezing Niall’s hands and caressing his knuckles when Niall giggles as well, “ten years ago I didn’t know what was gonna happen if I tried out for the X Factor, three years ago I didn’t know what would be of us without the band and just a week ago I wasn’t sure I’d have the guts to do this today,” he sees and feels Niall shiver, “and then I realized, no matter how life goes tomorrow, I know it’ll be fine because you’re here, with me, mine and I yours and if you allow me, it’ll be like that for the rest of our lives.”
He lets go of one of Niall’s hands to get the tiny velvet box out of his pocket and opens it, showing Niall the ring inside. He sees Niall’s eyes fill to the brim with tears and he knows when he speaks it’ll sound choked up and shaky but he goes for it anyway, “Niall, the love of my life, my best friend, the sweetest, funniest, most loyal and beautiful and patient person I’ll ever get the fortune of knowing, will you marry me?”
Niall is silent for a long minute, and when he blinks and takes a deep breath the tears spill from his eyes and he shudders, “yes, Harry what the fuck, oh my god, yes, I love you, yes, yes yes, yes, a million and one times yes.”
Harry lets out a disbelieving and wobbly laugh before he closes the box and without thinking takes Niall into his arms, still giggling and breathless with his face pressed against Niall’s neck.
He feels Niall sobbing into his shoulder, gripping his waist so tight he knows from experience his fingers are turning white. “I love you, I love you so much, I cannot believe you had this planned, there’s no way, no way you’re doing this right now, last week I got an appointment at a store to buy you a ring, you can’t be serious, Harry, god, I love you.”
“Shut up you nutter,” Harry laughs, pulling away slowly and opening the box again to put the ring on Niall’s finger. “The plan was to do it with our families here,” he explains, taking Niall’s face in his hands and wiping away the tears that are still falling, “I actually talked to you mum and dad and they had a flight scheduled for yesterday, the weather stopped them, though, same as my mum and Gemma.”
“It was perfect,” Niall says, lifting his hand to take Harry’s and kiss it gently, “I’m actually sweating right now, I was totally not expecting this at all, Harry, jesus Christ, you’re crazy.”
“I decided to do it when it felt right instead of doing it all according to plan,” Harry smiles, giving Niall a peck on the lips, “also, if I had known proposing was good for producing body heat I’d have done it so much earlier.” He jokes, and Niall’s laugh comes along with a sob and he throws himself at Harry, kissing his nose, his cheeks, his ear, his neck, and finally his mouth.
“I would not have it any other way,” Niall says after he stop blubbering all over Harry, “can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
-
The power comes back on the 26th, when they are packing and the sun is finally visible despite the clouds. They open the door to find it’s not snowing anymore and Harry shovels snow away from the car for almost an hour until he can see the tires again.
Just when they are about to leave, the microwave chimes and the lights they never turned off come back on, the buzz from the heater starting filling the silence of the house.
“I cannot believe this.” Harry mutters to himself.
“So, that’s how life treats you, eh.” Niall laughs, slapping Harry’s ass playfully and turning his pout into a small smile. “Come on, just turn everything off, I’ll wait for you in the car with the heat turned all the way on,” Niall says, kissing Harry’s nose and grabbing their bags.
“Did you check all over the house to see if I left anything?” Harry calls out before Niall closes the door.
“You can do it this time,” Niall says with a wink.
When Harry goes upstairs he finds a small note with Niall’s handwriting and on top of it, his phone with his earphones plugged in.
I’m not good at speaking out like you are, but with lyrics and a guitar I’m slightly better. The day I went out with the idea to buy you a ring I also wrote you a song. The first draft it’s in your files now, you can listen to it now or you can remind me to play you this one at home. Love you.
PD: you don’t owe me 10 pounds anymore. Guess life made you paid for it in its own way :)
He smiles, pockets the note and unlocks his phone.
Sure enough, a file in his downloaded files called you and me is there, ready for Harry to press play.
He’d rather hear it first coming from Niall, so he pockets his phone and goes back downstairs to lock up the house and get in the car.
“Gemma just texted me,” Niall says when Harry opens the door and gets in, “they are almost in London and my mom say they’re at the airport already. The plan is to spend New Year’s at our house, and she said they’ll expect us to reenact how everything went down with the proposal.”
“Hope you’re ready to play sick in front of them,” Harry teases.
“I’m sure we can skip that part, I’m already feeling loads better.” Niall says.
“I’m glad,” Harry says softly, “I’m gonna make you play the song at home, though.”
“You didn’t listen to it yet?” Niall asks, mildly shocked. “Thought you’d be more impatient about it.”
“Oh you don’t know how much I want to put it on right now,” Harry laughs, “but I’m sure it’s an special and lovely song that deserves to be heard live instead of through headphones.”
“If you say so,” Niall shrugs, trying to downplay the blush that’s taking over his face.
“I love you.” Harry tells him, unable to keep his hands to himself any longer and reaching out to Niall to kiss him.
“Love you back, so much.” Niall mutters against Harry’s lips.
And well, if they are slightly late and they have their families waiting for them outside the house when they finally arrive home, they don’t have to tell anyone they spent half an hour kissing and kissing and kissing until the widows were fogged up and they had to open the windows a bit to cool down, giggling and red faced and finally completely warm inside and outside.
Harry was right at the beginning though, it was the best Christmas he could have asked for.