Work Text:
“We should get a dog.”
Niall looks down from his phone to where Harry is lying on his chest, hair flopping in his face as he squints up at him. “We what?”
Harry blinks at him. “A dog,” he repeats slowly, like Niall hadn’t fully heard him the first time. “We should get one.”
“Haz, you know we can’t,” he sighs, as gently as possible, but Harry’s hopeful expression slips into a frown anyways. “We’re barely here half the time, and we travel too much.”
“So we stay here,” Harry pouts stubbornly, rolling over until he’s splayed out on top of him, chest to chest. “Not a big deal.”
“One of us might go on tour,” he points out, and watches as Harry’s eyebrows knit closer together, expression getting cuter the more frustrated he gets.
“We can bring it with us.”
“It’s a big responsibility, Haz.”
“So? We’re 28 years old, Niall, I think we can handle one dog.”
“You’re not 28 yet,” Niall reminds him, and Harry rolls his eyes. “Besides, it’ll be shedding fur everywhere,” he tacks on, trying a more drastic tactic. “All over your clothes.”
“Lint rollers.” Harry replies instantly, staring up at him through his eyelashes. “Next.”
“It’ll chew up your shoes. Even the Gucci ones.”
“That’s okay. They were getting kind of old anyways.”
Niall frowns; that certainly hadn’t been Harry’s reaction when Niall threatened to throw them away because Harry had been wearing nothing but those butt-ugly yellow things for at least three years now. For a moment, he has a flash of irrational jealousy- Harry minds Niall throwing them away but doesn’t mind a dog slobbering over them and chewing them up- and then realizes he’s getting jealous of an hypothetical dog, and shuts down that thought quickly.
“Well?” Harry prompts, eyes bright. “Can we?”
“We’ll have to think about it, pet,” Niall sighs eventually, running a hand gently through Harry’s hair. He’s cut it just recently, and the ends are still soft, free from tangles as Niall’s fingers card through. “It’s a big commitment.”
He means that in more ways than one, really. Even though the prospect of adopting a dog is daunting, he can’t help but be a little giddy about the fact that Harry wants to do this. It means that Harry’s in this- their relationship- for the long haul. That he plans on sticking around. In all fairness, Niall’s a bit silly for thinking this is some big sign of Harry’s commitment; they’re coming up on two years now, and Harry’s never- not once- shown any sign of cutting out on him the way he did when the band ended. But still.
Anyways, it’s not like Niall’s actually set against getting a dog. They’re cute little buggers, if a bit messy, and it’ll be good for Harry to have a partner when he goes on those early morning runs. He’s just taking the piss out of Harry protesting against the idea, trying to see how far he’ll go to convince Niall.
He’s not disappointed.
Harry convinces Louis to let them dogsit Bruce one night, as if to prove a point- we can handle this, see Niall? He bribes him with sexual favors, gives him a mindblowing blowjob and then takes advantage of Niall in his post-coital haze, cuddling up to him and whispering so how about that dog? He leaves the TV on those stupid dog show channels so Niall is forced to watch ridiculously shaved poodles strut around- isn’t that one cute, Niall? He sends him just about forty texts in one day with links to articles like, “Ten Ways a Dog Can Improve Your Heart Health!” and “25 Reasons Dogs are the Best Animals On Earth” with a slew of dog and heart emojis right after.
He’s relentless, to put it lightly - and it’s hilarious, because by just the end of week one of the Get Harry a Dog Campaign, Niall’s already gone down to the local shelter to work out the details of adopting one while Harry was busy having lunch with Jeff.
Week two rolls around, and Harry’s resorted to taping pictures of puppies on the bathroom sink. Niall, meanwhile makes a trip to PetSmart and buys all sorts of things- a dog bed, a leash and a collar (pink with little white hearts dotted all over, because Harry would fucking love that), to name a few, and gets a dog tag engraved. He keeps the stuff in the basement, for now, because Harry never goes down there (“it’s so dark and cold and spidery, Niall!”) and won’t find it.
Week three comes, and Harry still has no idea.
---
“Niall,” Harry whines, rolling over onto his back on the bed and covering his face with a pillow. It’s nearly a month since he first brought up the subject, and Niall hasn’t wavered remotely. “Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t get a dog.”
“Get your arse up,” Niall says evenly, like he hadn’t said a thing. “You’ve got a meeting at the studio in half an hour.”
“I don’t wanna go,” Harry groans.
“What was that?”
Harry removes the pillow and glares at him. “Fuck you,” he mutters, but there’s no heat to it.
“Later, pet,” Niall says, and Harry frowns and sticks his tongue out at him. “It’s already 10 AM, you’ll be late if you don’t hurry.”
Harry sighs longsufferingly, sliding off the bed and collapsing onto the carpeted floor. “Niall.”
“Yes?” Niall looms over him.
“I really want a dog.”
“I know. Get off the floor and get dressed.”
As it is, Harry barely makes it to the meeting on time, which earns him another reprimand from Jeff about punctuality and sticking to a schedule and blah blah blah. He’s in a bad mood for the rest of the day, and it’s not about the dog, because he’s not that bratty, it’s just- he’s yet to finalize plans for his birthday tomorrow, even though he doesn’t especially want a party, and he’s still got to go grocery shopping when all he wants is to drive home and collapse in Niall’s lap for the rest of the evening.
Which is what he does, eventually, after they finish dinner and they’re halfway through Love Actually. He knows Niall is probably bored out of his mind because they’ve watched it about a hundred times, but he’s doing it anyways- and he’s so lucky, Harry thinks, to have found someone who knows him inside and out. Who’s willing to suffer through a rom-com for the hundredth time, and give him shoulder massages and not ask about his bad day because he knows Harry isn’t in the mood to talk. Who loves him as much as Niall does, really.
---
Niall is not a morning person. Being up early is his own personal hell, and he’s never hated it more than he does right now, speeding home with a dog in the back of the car to make it home before the birthday boy wakes up. He’d made sure last night that they went to bed late so that Harry would sleep in a bit longer than usual, but he’s still cutting it close.
He pulls into the driveway a few minutes before 9 with Ace poking his little nose through the gap in the wire of his carrier. He’s small at five years, some sort of a mix, though he just looks like an undersized Golden to Niall- point is, he’s not big enough that Niall can’t carry him in, so that’s what he does. Ace is wriggling about in his arms, licking his face while he unlocks the garage door and steps into the house, and Niall is praising himself for having such a good idea when he hears the soft sound of footsteps coming down the hallway.
“Niall?” he hears Harry call, voice still rough with sleep. Niall freezes in the entryway, arms tightening around Ace, who starts barking instantly. Harry rounds the corner, one hand rubbing his eye, the hem of his shirt rucked up around his waist- and goes stock-still when he sees them. “What the fuck?”
“Uh,” Niall smiles awkwardly, hefting Ace up in his arms, his tail thwacking against his arm as it wags back and forth. “Happy birthday?”
Harry blinks at him, face blank as he moves closer. “Did you steal someone’s dog?”
“No,” Niall laughs. “No, he’s- he’s ours, H.”
“What d’you mean ours,” Harry frowns, and Niall watches as his expression smooths into one of shock as he seems to finally understand. “Niall,” he breathes, hands coming up to cover his mouth. “You didn’t.”
“I did,” Niall says.
“I thought you didn’t want-”
“Was joking. You did want a dog, right? ‘Cause it’s kind of late now.”
“No- no, I did,” Harry says breathlessly, still looking hilariously thunderstruck.
Ace is squirming around in his arms now in his eagerness to get to Harry, so Niall bends down and lets him go, watches as he barrels towards Harry and collides with his legs, tail wagging so hard his whole body moves with it.
Harry sinks down to his knees and sits back on his ankles, surprised laughter bubbling out of his mouth when Ace jumps into his lap and starts licking his face. Ace being so friendly is what drew Niall to him in the first place, and honestly, he has to commend himself again for making such a good decision- and there’s no way it could be anything else, not when Harry looks so bloody happy.
“How?” Harry asks, tilting his head up to look at him while Ace squirms around. “How the hell did you get him?”
Niall just shrugs. “It wasn’t that difficult. I dropped by the shelter that day you were out with Jeff, and then I had it arranged so I could pick him up today. I was gonna surprise you, but you woke up a bit too early.”
Harry glances down at the silver tag on Ace’s collar, where Niall had Ace’s name engraved on the front, and on the back, If lost, please return to my dads! with their home phone number below. Harry stares at it for a long while, so long that Niall gets a bit concerned.
“Is there a typo or somethin’?”
Harry shakes his head, and Niall can’t see his face, so he gets down to his knees even though he’ll have hell to pay for it later- and that’s when he sees the tears.
“Harry? Are you crying?”
“No,” Harry blubbers wetly when Ace starts licking the tears off his face. “I mean, yeah, I guess. I’m- I’m just really, really happy. And I love you,” he says with a watery smile. “Like, a lot.”
“I love you too,” Niall beams, relieved. “A lot.”
“C’mere,” Harry mutters, and takes Niall’s face in his hands, kisses him gently. Niall’s hands come up to brace himself on Harry’s shoulders, fingers curling in the soft material of his t-shirt, and they only break apart when Ace starts barking, clearly unhappy with the lack of attention. “Alright, alright,” Harry sighs, planting a kiss on Ace’s little forehead. Niall’s smiling so hard his cheeks hurt with it.
“Thank you for getting him,” Harry says, eyes still shining.
“You’re welcome. Happy 28th, pet.”
“God, I feel old.”
“You get used to it.”
“Sitting on the floor isn’t helping. I think I can hear my bones creaking.”
“I don’t think I can get up either,” Niall admits.
“I guess we’ll just stay here, then.”
“Fine by me,” Harry murmurs, scratching his fingers through Ace’s fur.
“Fine by me,” Niall echoes, laughing as Harry’s hand comes up to the back of his neck, fingers warm against his skin as he reels him in for another kiss.