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Everytime Harry sees Niall, his heart does this weird flutter thing, his stomach flips over and over, and he feels like he’s floating in midair. His throat dries up and he’s unable to speak and his eyes never leave Niall because he looks like an absolute angel to him. Harry finds Niall so, so adorable yet incredibly hot at the same time and he thinks he possesses some kind of dark magic to be able to pull that off.
When Harry thinks of Niall he thinks of how soft he is, how cuddly he is, and how smooth his skin must feel. He compares his skin to a baby’s, maybe with some bumps and small scars, but either way he was perfect to him. He imagines his fingers running through his dyed blonde hair and how fluffy it is. He imagines kissing him—and oh, it’s the worst because Harry feels a physical pain to his chest whenever he dreams of his lips against his own. Harry often thinks about getting on his knees in front of him with his mouth around Niall. He is positive that Niall tastes sweet, maybe like red velvet. Harry loves red velvet.
For the longest time Harry has had a crush on Niall. It all began in sophomore year of high school in English class. Harry was sitting alone in the corner with his face buried in a book until he heard the thud of a backpack dropping next to him. He lowered the book and turned his head and for a moment Harry thought he was dead because the angel Niall was standing beside him, shining brightly with an imaginative halo hovering over his head and white angel wings attached to his back. His mouth moved to say, “Is this seat taken?” Harry slowly shook his head, unable to speak. Niall’s mouth turned into a smile and that’s when Harry decided that his smile was the most beautiful one he has even seen in the entire world.
Harry and Niall become friends after that and they spend a lot of time together, including their three other friends, Liam, Zayn, and Louis. No one knew about Harry’s undying crush on Niall until one day, Zayn, who was deemed the smart one of their group, went up to him and asked him about it.
“You’re always looking at him like you wanna eat him or something,” Zayn reasoned when Harry asked him how he knew.
Zayn has been encouraging Harry to ask him out, but the curly-haired boy had always chickened out. His worst fear was Niall laughing and teasing him, rejecting him and saying, “I would never go out with you.”
“He would never say that, Harry,” Zayn said with his eyes rolled.
“You never know,” Harry replied, sighing.
“You also never know if he’ll say yes unless you actually ask him out.”
“Whatever, oh-smart-one.”
Zayn grinned. “You know I’m right. I’m always right.”
Unfortunately for Harry, Zayn was right.
Now they’re in their twenties’ and it’s a miracle that they’re all still close friends. Liam attends college in the next town and he always comes by to hang out with them, even though the drive was a pain in the ass. Zayn goes to the small art school near the college Louis, Harry, and Niall go to and life is great for all of them (Except for Harry because he’s still pining Niall).
“I’m gonna take Sophia out for a trip this Valentine’s Day,” Liam says to his group of friends one day. It’s a week before Valentine’s Day and they’re all at a small café. Louis, Liam, and Zayn all have girlfriends and they have their Valentine’s Day all planned out, but Harry and Niall are both still single (Harry wonders how Niall is still single because well, it’s Niall. He’s great and he’s beautiful and he’s awesome and he doesn’t deserve to just have hookups or whatever. He deserves someone equally as perfect as him and Harry wishes that he was that person).
“Aw, how cute,” Niall coos, grinning. Harry looks at Niall with such fondness and it’s amazing how he’s not blind yet from staring at the bright light Niall always has around him.
“Eleanor and I are gonna stay home. Chill,” Louis shares.
“Perrie and I are going on a trip too,” Zayn says. “Paris.”
The other four look at Zayn with wide eyes. Louis almost spits out his tea.
“Paris?” Liam questions.
Zayn grins like he’s proud. “Paris.”
“Well fucking shit.” Louis throws his arms in the air. “Here we go again. Zayn spoiling Perrie and our girlfriends are gonna hear all about it from Perrie herself and ask us, ‘why don’t you take me out like Zayn does with Perrie?’” He frowns at Zayn.
Zayn lets out a laugh and shakes his head. “Sorry.” He turns to Harry and Niall. “What are you two going to do?” He glances at Harry, and even though it was a quick glance, Harry knows it’s the “hurry-up-and-ask-Niall-out” look.
Niall is the first to answer. “Dunno. Definitely not going to Paris.” He chuckles. “Probably gonna stay in. Have some beers. Watch T.V.”
Harry chews on his bottom lip. “Yeah, same.”
Then Zayn says something unexpected. “Why don’t you two hang together?” He gives Harry the “I’m-doing-you-a-favor” look.
Harry frowns and is about to say something but Niall speaks instead. “Yeah! Harry.” He nudges his arm. “Let’s hang together. We don’t need girlfriends or whatever to have fun on Valentine’s Day.”
Harry looks at Niall and nods. He tries not to stammer but he fails. “Y—yeah.” He clears his throat. “Good idea.”
Niall throws his arm around Harry and laughs for no reason before taking a sip of his coffee. “Yeah! Harry is my Valentine this February,” he says as a joke, but Harry wishes that it was something more.
➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳
It’s five days until Valentine’s Day and Harry has dreams about asking Niall to be his valentine. One dream showed Harry carrying a bunch of red heart balloons and a big heart box full of chocolates and Niall squealing with excitement before saying yes and kissing him (Sadly, for Harry he can only dream about Niall kissing him). Another dream was Harry showing up at his doorstep with a big bouquet of flowers and a large white teddy bear holding a big heart with “Will you be my Valentine?” sewn to it and Niall gives him a big hug and says “yes” before kissing his cheek.
Harry has so many dreams about Niall he feels like he’s going to die because these are just scenarios and they’re never going to happen.
“Do it,” Zayn tells him one day while they’re walking down the street towards Harry’s flat. “Just ask him out.”
Harry whines and shakes his head. “I don’t know how! I don’t wanna be cheesy. I’m gonna be too cheesy. And he probably think I’m lame. God, Zayn. Maybe I’ll just hang with him with beers and T.V. and I’ll wait next year—“
“No.” Zayn stops him and places a hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to ask him. You’re going to ask Niall to be your Valentine and you’re going to do it this year. You’ve waited far too long, Harry. Jesus.”
It takes a while for Harry to collect his thoughts and realize that he has waited too long for this. He’s waited too long to ask Niall out on a date and he’s lucky that Niall doesn’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend yet. Harry realizes that it’s his chance, it’s his chance to do something and even if Niall rejects him, at least Niall knows that Harry’s been head over heels for him.
“Yeah. Okay.” Harry nods his head. “Yeah. I’ll do it.”
Zayn grins like he’s proud and pats Harry’s back. “You go, Harry. You go.”
Later that night, Niall texts Harry to ask to hang out on Valentine’s Day.
we can hang at my place w beer and stuff ! watch some tv and cuddle too
Harry reads the text and wishes that they can cuddle and make out. He texts back, “yes, I’ll be there. x” and lets out a groan as he plops himself on top of his bed. Asking Niall out was probably one of the hardest things he was ever going to do.
➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳
It’s three days until Valentine’s Day and Harry is staring at his calendar hanging on the wall of his bedroom, deep in thought about how and when to ask Niall to be his valentine. He contemplates on getting a big bouquet of flowers and just ask him like that, but he feels that’s too ordinary. He wants to do something extraordinary, something unexpected, and something that would be memorable.
He doesn’t want to set up a huge flash mob or something to ask him, because that’s quite embarrassing and he doesn’t want to pressure Niall into saying “yes”.
Harry finds himself scrolling through Buzzfeed and he finds all these cute Valentine’s Day DIY projects and he finds one that completely screams out “Niall” to him. Harry grins widely and quickly heads over to the liquor shop at the end of his street to purchase what he needed for his valentine proposal to Niall.
“A liquor bouquet?” Harry can feel the judgement from Zayn over the phone. “You made him a fucking liquor bouquet?”
“What?” Harry pouts and whines. “I found it on Buzzfeed! Niall likes alcohol so I got him a bouquet full of it. I thought it was unique and funny and he would like it—“
“Harry, you’re asking him to be your valentine. Kinda mocking him, don’t ya think?”
Harry furrows his brows and glances over at the tiny bottles of liquor he has set on the table. He lets out a sigh and groans before plopping down on his bed, his head hitting the headboard. “Ow.” He groans again and rubs the back of his head. “Fuck. Then what do I do?”
“I dunno, Harry. Don’t think too much about this. You’ll know what to do soon.”
“Alright. Thanks, Zayn. Bye.”
Harry hangs up his phone and tosses it on top of his nightstand. He stares up at the ceiling and lets out a frustrated sigh. Why is this so damn hard? He closes his eyes and decides to take a nap. Maybe sleep will clear his head.
➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳
The next day, Harry is at the library with Niall. They’re supposed to be studying for their tests but it really is just Niall reading and scribbling notes down while Harry watches him fondly. He bites his lip and admires the shape of Niall’s face, his pale skin dotted with light freckles, his ocean blue eyes, and the way his brows slightly furrowed whenever he read something that confused him.
Harry looks at Niall like he’s a piece of art in a museum. He looks at him with admiration and endearment and when he moves closer to him he’s careful not to be too rough with his movements because he treats Niall like a piece of glass, fragile and delicate.
He realizes that this was the perfect setting to ask Niall out. They’re alone together in a quiet room and no one could bother them. Harry looks around and sees a girl on the other side of the room looking through a shelf of books and the librarian at her desk flipping through papers. He glances at Niall and the blonde still has his face buried in his book with his hand furiously writing down notes.
Harry leans towards him and whispers softly. “Niall?”
Niall lifts his head up and looks at Harry with wide eyes. “Yeah?”
Harry’s throat dries up and he’s unable to speak. He thinks that Niall looks best like this: big, blue eyes and a small pout that adds up to an innocent expression that Harry finds so adorable and cute.
“Harry?” Niall raises a brow. “You okay?”
Harry clears his throat and his words begin to fumble. “I—uh. Do…do you—um. Fuck.” He sighs and bites his lip. “Uh, nothing. Nothing. Just was, uh—gonna ask you something but I already know the answer.” He frowns a little at the excuse he made up because something inside of him tells him that Niall will reject him, but another part of him keeps telling him to try.
“Oh, uh. Okay,” Niall nods his head and continues reading his book.
Harry closes his eyes and sighs. He looks at Niall again and swallows thickly as he feels butterflies in his stomach fluttering around. He wishes that things could be easy and Niall would be the one to ask him, but he knows that life wasn’t going to go easy on him.
➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳
Before Harry knows it it’s a day before Valentine’s Day and his head didn’t clear out like he thought it would, but instead it got emptied.
He goes out with Louis and Liam to the park, hoping that they have ideas (probably not because those two are right idiots, but Harry is desperate for any suggestions).
“You’re finally gonna ask him out!” Louis huffs, shaking his head as the trio walk down the park path.
“What do you mean, ‘finally’?” Harry asks with his brows furrowed.
“Because we all know you’ve been all googly eyes over Niall since high school! It’s not a secret. Only Niall doesn’t know because he’s an oblivious idiot,” Louis answers, scoffing and laughing a bit.
“Hey.” Harry frowns and pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.
“So how are you gonna ask him?” Liam asks as he suddenly pulls out a box of Girl Scout cookies from his coat. He opens the box and doesn’t notice Harry and Louis watching him in awe when he takes a cookie and bites into it.
“Do you just—do you just keep Girl Scout cookies in your coat pocket all day?” Louis reaches over to grab one. “And you know I fucking love Thin Mints!”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Liam pulls the box away from Louis. “You didn’t even ask!”
As Louis literally climbs on Liam’s back to retrieve a cookie, Harry walks alongside them in silence, his mind suddenly filled with ideas. He glances back at the cookies, which is now in the possession of Louis. An imaginary light bulb goes off on the top of his head and he grins because he has found the perfect way to ask Niall out.
“Thanks, guys.” Harry quickly walks ahead, leaving Louis and Liam alone.
The two watch Harry in confusion and try not to laugh when the tall boy trips over air and stumbles a bit. “You think he’s gonna succeed?” Liam asks.
“Of course,” Louis says, chewing on a cookie. “If Niall says no, I ought to sock him, yeah?”
Liam lets out a laugh and grabs a Thin Mint. “Nah, Niall will say yes.” He grins. “I know it.”
➳ ➳ ➳ ➳ ➳
It’s the day.
It’s February 14th and Harry is ready. He wakes up early in the morning with a smile beaming on his face and there’s a skip to every step he takes. It’s a Saturday morning and the sun is shining, the skies are clear, and Niall is going to be Harry’s valentine.
At least, he hopes he will be.
Harry grabs the box of Thin Mints with small Post-It note on it and reads his own handwriting.
Will you be my valentine? X
He lets out a shaky breath and sets it down, mentally noting to himself to remember to bring it with him when he heads over to Niall’s place. He takes a shower and dresses comfortably but nicely at the same time (he didn’t want to look like a slag with Niall). Harry quickly leaves towards Niall’s with his head held high and a smile on his face. He was confident, determined, and he knew what he had to do. All he had to do was give Niall the box, get him to read the note, and wait for him to say something (hopefully a yes).
That was only if Harry actually had the box of cookies.
He is already almost at Niall’s home when he realizes that he had forgotten the box. Harry feels himself panicking and he contemplates whether to sprint back to his place to get it, but then he would be late to Niall’s and he was afraid that he would disappoint him. “Ah, fuck.” Harry rubs his head and rakes through his brain for new ideas. Suddenly, he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket and he pulls it out, seeing a text from Niall.
U comin?
Fuck. Niall was already expecting Harry to come. Harry sighs and texts him back a “yes” before hurrying towards his place. He knocks on the door and after a short moment of waiting, he sees Niall standing in front of him in a jeans and T-shirt. The boy could wear something so simple and it would make Harry’s mind go crazy.
“Harry!” Niall grins and greets him with a hug. Harry grins as well and embraces him, softly rubbing his back.
“Hey.” Harry pulls away to look at him. “So, what do you have planned for me and you?” He wiggles his brows and he wishes that Niall didn’t take what he said as a joke.
“Well, just sitting around and talking with alcohol and stuff.” Niall shrugs. “Nothing too fancy. Maybe later we can go out or something.”
Harry nods his head. “Sounds good.”
Niall gives him a big smile and holds his hand to lead him inside and Harry almost faints right then and there. They sit down on the couch and Niall coddles up to Harry, his head rested on Harry’s chest and Harry’s arm wrapped around Niall, softly stroking his arm.
The two talk about memories back in high school, what’s going on in college right now, family, some shit talk about their friends, and other random things that makes Niall laugh and Harry happy to witness his contagious laughter. Their conversation lasts for about an hour and Niall gets up to stretch his arms out. Harry feels empty without Niall right beside him. He pouts a little, but stands up as well to stretch.
“Wanna go out now?” Niall asks. “Let’s get food or something. Starvin’.”
Harry nods. “Sure.” He smiles. “What do you want to eat?”
“I want a sandwich. Let’s go to a café,” Niall suggests and Harry agrees. The two walk out and go into the main part of town before entering the small café. They sit at the booth and quickly order their food.
“Fuck Valentine’s Day,” Niall says. “Have you heard? People are calling this like, Single Awareness Day. And the acronym is S.A.D.” He chuckles. “Isn’t that funny?”
Harry laughs a little and nods. “Aren’t we all sad that we don’t have a valentine?” I know I am.
Niall shrugs his shoulder. “Eh. It would be nice. Would be cool if like, Cupid could just come and shoot our asses with arrows and we could fall in love with each other. Wait, but that would hurt. Never mind.”
I wish Cupid would just shoot us both in the ass. Harry laughs loudly and shakes his head. “God, Niall, you’re really something.”
The blonde blushes and Harry almost coos at the sight. “Shush.”
Their food comes and Harry watches as Niall scarfs down the sandwich he ordered. Niall notices and looks up at him with a string of cheese hanging down his lip. “What?”
Harry smiles and points at his own lip. “You got a little something. Here I’ll help you.” He gets his napkin and reaches over to wipe the cheese off Niall’s lip. As he does so, his movements become slow and he sees that Niall is staring at him and his mouth is slightly open, which makes Harry want to lean over and kiss him.
“Uh.” Harry clears his throat and smiles. He feels a bit shaky and he quickly wipes his palms on his jeans. “It’s gone now.”
Niall smiles softly at him and nods. “Thank you.”
The curly-haired boy starts playing with his food. All he’s thinking about is what had just happened and it makes him feel all giddy yet nervous at the same time. He glances up at Niall, who is still eating, and he places his fork down, trying to grab his attention.
“Um, Niall?” Harry begins. “You know how uh, it’s Single Awareness Day?” He chuckles softly. “Well, uh, I was wondering if—“
“How are you two doing today?” A waitress is standing beside them with a smile plastered on her face. Harry tries not to look annoyed so he smiles as well.
“We’re doing good.”
“Would you like anything else? Oh, are you two on a date?” She asks, grinning.
Harry’s mouth drops open and he looks at Niall, who seems to be amused. “I, uh. We—“
“Yes, yes we are,” Niall says. Harry almost chokes on his spit. “In fact, we’ve been together for a while.” Niall suddenly reaches over and holds Harry’s hand and Harry can’t believe this is happening right now.
“Aw!” The waitress coos and giggles. Niall grins and looks at Harry. Harry looks back at Niall with a confused expression, but he likes that he’s holding his hand.
“Well, I hope that you two have a wonderful Valentine’s Day.” She walks off and Niall pulls his hand away.
Harry feels empty and incomplete without Niall’s hand around his. “What was that?” he asks.
Niall shrugs. “Dunno.” He takes a sip of his water. “Didn’t want her to feel embarrassed that she assumed that we were together, so.”
Harry nods his head, understanding where Niall was coming from. “Oh. Okay.”
“So what were you saying?”
“Oh. Um, nothing. Nothing important.”
Niall looks as if he’s about to say something but Harry quickly asks for the check. They end up both paying (more like Harry begging Niall to let him pay for the whole thing, but Niall refused) and walk out down the street.
They pass by a bakery and Niall goes over to the window, his eyes glued to a setting of cupcakes topped with various colors of frosting. Harry notices that he’s staring at them and he chuckles. “We just had lunch, Niall.”
“We got room for dessert,“ Niall replies, grinning. “Let’s go inside.” He walks into the shop and Harry follows.
“Look at these cakes!” Niall exclaims, pointing at a tall purple cake. “This is huge! I want one for my birthday.”
Harry laughs a little and goes over to a display of cupcakes. He sees two red velvet cupcakes with a small red heart-shaped decoration on top of the cream cheese frosting. He glances back at Niall, who is still staring at the cakes, and he turns back to the worker behind the counter.
“Two red velvet cupcakes please.” He points at the cupcakes inside the display.
The worker takes out the cupcakes and places them inside a small white box with a red heart printed on top of the lid. He pays for them and takes the box before walking towards Niall. “Hey.”
Niall turns around and his eyes land on the box. “What’s this? What did ya get?”
Harry bites his lip and takes a deep breath. “Um.” He clears his throat. “Niall. Um, for a while now, I’ve uh, had a crush on you.” His voice begins to turn shaky. “Like, since sophomore year.” He notices Niall’s mouth drop open and he can feel his cheeks turn pink. “And um, I was wondering if you could be my—“
“Valentine,” Niall finishes for him. “Your valentine?”
Harry looks at him and he feels his heart beating in his chest, as if it wanted to escape from it. He nods his head a little and smiles. “Yeah. My valentine.”
Suddenly he finds Niall’s arms wrapped around him and he feels his lips against his for a quick second. Harry blinks and he sees his blue eyes looking up at him and his face is only centimeters away from his own. Harry thinks that he’s dreaming right now because Niall has his arms wrapped around his neck and he had just kissed him. It takes a moment for Harry to process it all until Niall leans in and kisses him again, but this time it’s longer, sweeter, and more passionate. Harry places a hand on Niall’s waist and tentatively moves his own lips against his. They both pull away to breathe and Niall runs his hand down Harry’s chest, feeling his quickened heartbeat pumping inside.
“I’ve been waiting for a long fucking time for you to ask me that,” Niall says, laughing breathlessly.
Harry bites his lip, grinning and leans in to kiss him again. “So is that a ‘yes’?”
Niall laughs and shakes his head. “Of course.” He places a finger against Harry’s lips to stop him. “But first, I want to eat my cupcake.”