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“C’mon daddy, we have to get up early!” Niall groans as he slowly wakes up, and opens an eyeball to peer as his daughter Olivia jumped on his bed one morning. Her dirty blonde hair was wild and he was tempted to run a hand through it to tame it.
“I’m getting up,” he says as she jumps in excitement, nearly missing his groin by an inch. In one swift moment, Niall grabs his daughter and throws her over his shoulder. The six year old squeals, pawing at his back to make him put her down but to no avail. Niall stomps down the stairs of their little flat and lays Olivia on the couch in the living room so that he can start breakfast.
Olivia scrambles and watches her father cook, eyes wide in fascination like it was the first time she’s ever seen him cook. Mind you that before Niall even knew he was a father, he had been in culinary school, following his dream to become the best chef in all of London.
Niall looks down to see Olivia making grabby hands at him and he smiles. He honestly loved his daughter to bits, even though he hadn’t known she existed until some girl invited herself into Niall’s flat when she was only a couple months old.
Long story short, Niall got custody of Olivia and it was quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to him. He loved little kids, and he loved Olivia so much.
“Daddy can I have pancakes?”
“Regular darling?”
“Blueberry please.” Olivia yawns almost like a kitten and Niall has to resist the urge to pinch her cheeks to keep the pancakes from burning.
“Alright darling.” Niall adds he blueberries to her pancakes and chocolate chips to his. They take a seat at the kitchen table, and Olivia just about makes a mess with the syrup. Niall cleaned the stickiness off of her face and the girl ushered Niall to get ready. When asked why, the girl only responded with, “girl scout cookies.”
So nearly an hour later, Niall was clutching an umbrella in one hand and his daughter’s hand in the other while she pulled a wagon full of cookie boxes. It was drizzling lightly and before they left the house, Niall put a tarp over the wagon to protect the boxes from damage. They walked slowly through the streets of London, Olivia intent on splashing in every muddy puddle they came across.
She was starting to make a mess of her stocking and Niall was just about to reprimand her for jumping when Niall remembered how proper his parents raised him and how furious he rebelled against them when he grew into his teenage years. That was the last thing he wanted for Olivia so he remained quiet.
“Daddy is there something on my face?”
“No sweetheart you’re okay.”
“Daddy can we go get ice cream after we deliver the cookies to the nice people?”
“Of course sweetie. Let’s just hurry along before it starts raining too hard.” Olivia nodded and proceeded to drag Niall along for the ride. He laughs as they start their deliveries.
They go well for the most part, most of the customers included little old ladies with a righteous sweet tooth. Most of them would coo and awe at the sight of Olivia, saying that Niall was a lucky father to have such a little angel. Niall held back a snort but smiled all the same at everyone who complimented Olivia.
A handful of them would smile at them sadly, and Niall had to hold everything back as one tried giving him a generous check, more than what she had originally paid for her cookies.
Between his two part time jobs and Olivia’s daycare pricing, they were slowly running out of money. Niall had already gone into his savings account for last minute expenses, and it was hurting them.
He sighed, they were already on the next address, just one more house before they could go home and Niall could take a well earned nap before he went off to work. Olivia was just as excited as she was when they started, spouting random facts she had learned the previous day at daycare as Niall smiled.
When they arrive to the door, Niall lets Olivia knock but he ends up knocking anyways because she always knocks so softly. She was spinning around, clutching the final box of cookies when the door opens, revealing their final customer.
If Niall was alone, he might have fainted. But he still felt heat rise up to his face as the stranger, most likely fresh out of bed, stood in front of them in only their boxers, rubbing an eye slowly. Niall remembers that there’s a child in the area and quickly slapps a hand over Olivia’s eyes, and the girl squeals.
The squeal wakes up the stranger ever more and Niall gulped nervously. He knew his preferences in a partner and this was proving to be near impossible to be in the same room as this extremely hot stranger. He smiles.
“Hello,” he drawls out slowly and Niall feels his ears burning.
“Hi, were you the one who ordered thin mints?” The stranger straightens up and looks down at Olivia who’s struggling to get out of Niall’s grasp to greet the stranger. He seems to notice the dilemma, and without much thought, slams the door in their face.
Then and only then does Niall release Olivia.
“Daddy why’d they do that? Don’t they want their cookies?” Niall couldn’t properly respond, for the stranger opened the door again, this time wrapped in a robe and a small smile on his face.
“Uh yes that would be me,” He answers the question that Niall had asked before and Olivia marches herself right up to him and smiles with her missing toothed grin.
“Here are your thin mints sir and thank you for supporting me and my troop! Daddy we’re done!” The man looks over at Niall, an eyebrow raised. Niall shrugs, and allows Olivia to skip around him giggling.
“She’s adorable.” The man notes, and Niall can’t disagree.
“Thank you ...” The stranger holds out the hand that wasn’t holding his box of cookies. Niall reaches forward and grasps his hand.
“Niall Horan.”
“Harry Styles. I’ll be sure to be supporting this troop more often.” Harry winks and Niall feels like he was burning everywhere. Olivia thanks Harry again and he squats down to be eye level with the girl, and saying, “Thank you for bringing me a little brightness to my day.”
And if he was looking at Niall when he said that, Niall would have denied it, his face was far too red and yet he didn’t care.