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Of all the things that Niall has done wrong in his life, tweeting at a pop star had to be the worst thing he had ever done.
He didn't know what he was thinking, well actually he did know to some extent, he was drinking with Louis and Liam for god's sake. It was a late night at the office, Louis offered to pay, which happened so rare of course he would take full advantage.
Liam shouldn't have been drinking anyways but there they were, laughing, chatting, enjoying life. Niall wasn't even sure how the topic of the super bowl came up. All he knew was that he was rooting for the Broncos, the obvious winner in his mind.
"I'd say that the Panthers have a shot," Liam blubbered, speaking like he knew the american sport. Personally, Niall loved soccer more than football, but his knee was wrecked either way.
"Yeah they have a shot of completing humiliating themselves on a national level." Louis sputtered out, laughing far too hard but then again he'd always been the lightweight in the group.
"Yeah mate I got to agree with Louis on this one, the Broncos are bound to win. And its Peyton's last year, it'll be worth it."
"What happened to rooting for the underdog?"
"There's nothing to root for when you're as accomplished as the Broncos Liam." Liam pouted, downing the rest of his beer.
Niall wasn't sure when it had happened, he was on his phone mindlessly scrolling through twitter when his phone dinged. Louis groaned and Niall smiled sheepishly. It wasn't his fault he left notifications on.
"I swear to god if it's that gay popstar I will smash your phone Niall." Louis threatened to the best of his ability but from how drunk he was, it was just slurring of words. Liam had to translate his boyfriend for what seemed like the billionth time that night. Niall shrugged.
Louis would never do such a thing. All threats he made while drunk were so empty that Niall couldn't even count the number of times he's done this in their friendship.
"If it's not then I guess you wouldn't mind me taking this," Without warning, his phone is snatched from his fingertips and Niall takes a moment to lunge for Louis. To no avail, it was in that moment and the only time in the night at all that Liam defended his boyfriend from Niall.
He had gotten away with bloody murder tonight but no, Liam just had to let Louis get his way with this one thing. Maybe his phone was going to end up in pieces by the end of the night after all.
"So stoked to see the Broncos and Panthers hash it out on Sunday #SuperBowl50" Louis read aloud, sneaking a glance at Niall who was wearing a glare that could kill.
"Ah and you already favorited it. Niall, you do realize that you have a problem right? You follow a popstar who sings for preteens for a living."
"He's an accomplished artist who sings for young adults." Niall recited from the official wiki page he once read a year or so ago.
"Obsessed," Louis coughed and Niall glared, attempting again to steal his phone back.
"Hey I know, why don't we answer Mr. Styles back. It's not like you haven't done that before."
"Lou," Niall glared long and hard at his friend, but to no avail as he began typing out a response. Thankfully, Liam seemed to realize the situation at hand and plucked the phone out of Louis' fingers and handed it back to Niall.
"Ha!" Niall laughed, but Louis just smirked. One look at his screen proved the worst. It didn't take Louis long, Niall should have known that. There was a tweet at the top of his twitter feed.
"@Harry_Styles I'm betting on the Broncos Mr. Superstar, but it's not like you would even know who's playing." Niall read out loud, face bright red.
"Louis!" His voice cracked and he watched in horror as his followers liked and retweeted the wretched message. There were already a handful of replies and Niall had half the mind to punch Louis.
Well that was until a particular one caught his eye.
"@NiallOfficial Broncos are okay, but what about the Dab King #Underdogsforthewin" Harry Styles replied to him. Well to Louis. Niall dropped his phone.
"Liam?" The brunet hummed as Louis made his move to run out of the bar.
"Is it socially acceptable to chase after Louis and punch him?" Liam sighed, but he got up nonetheless.
"Don't mar his face too badly." Niall chuckled and patted Liam's shoulder.
"I don't know what you see in him but just for you alright." And with that Niall took off after Louis.
It was crazy the next few days leading up to the Super Bowl, Niall was running around trying to gather supplies for the party he and Liam were organizing for the Super Bowl. He was in charge of the chili, and boy did he have the best recipe.
But his mind was somewhere else, and it's was all Louis' fault. His tweet had been liked and retweeted so many times, his notifications were still going wild. He had responded back to Harry too many times to count and now the public were all over them.
"@Harry_Styles Since you're so confident in winning, you can have the Panthers" He had typed out not long ago. It was crazy, considering the conversation Louis and him had that night. He wasn't obsessed, he just could appreciate good looks and a great voice. And Harry had both of those as if he was gifted them from heaven.
All too soon, Harry replied and Niall couldn't help but grin to himself.
"@NiallOfficial are you implying that I'm going to lose?"
"@Harry_Styles Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."
"@NiallOfficial Is this a challenge I'm seeing Mr. Niall?"
"@Harry_Styles are you scared Styles?"
"@NiallOfficial you got yourself a bet"
Not too long after his response, and Niall having to turn off his notification due to the pure spam, a new DM popped up.
"Just thought this would be a little more private than broadcasting our every word to the internet." Cue Niall tripping over absolutely nothing and thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have any groceries in his hands.
Because he just made a complete fool of himself in public. Harry was going to be the death of him, he swore.
"Yeah of course, I mean don't mind me with late replies and all, getting ready for the Super Bowl with some mates." Niall shifted his weight, and unlocked his flat. There was a handful of streamers on his counter, no doubt Louis' doing.
"Oooh do tell? Having a party?"
"More like a party of one, I do have to make some chili though."
"I have the perfect recipe for chili bro, my sister made me the best chili the other day. I swear that it was heavenly."
"Chill Harry chill, I already had something figured out. I mean there was a reason why Liam put me in charge of food. I know my way around food."
"Okay but if you change your mind," Harry sent him a link and Niall laughed. He pulled out his groceries and started to cook. Harry DMed him a couple of times during the process but for the most part, Niall had his work set out for him.
It wasn't until hours later and the game had just started when Niall had responded to the elusive Harry, and well he was ahead of him on the conversation.
"Get on Skype. Please don't ask." Niall read and started to sweat. What was this? What did he mean? He followed his directions and found an invitation to skype by one person.
Harry.
Niall accepts far too quickly for what seems sane, Louis would have ratted him out by now but this was just him and Harry. He could be a little excited if he wanted to.
"Hello handsome boy, I thought your profile picture was just a fake." Niall sat there stunned, of course those were the first words out of his mouth. He couldn't help but cough and look anywhere but at Harry.
"Hey I'm kidding... somewhat. That's a fancy backdrop you have there." Niall looked behind his shoulder at his kitchen, still a mess from the chili making. Liam had stopped by not too long ago to get his portion of the food.
"Oh yeah, I should probably clean that up," Niall laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding Harry's stare.
"So you still think the Broncos will win?"
"I mean they better, it's Manning's last season. What a way to go."
"You make it sound like he's going to die mate." And Niall had to admit that conversation became easier after the initial shock of everything. Niall came out of his shell far more than what he had when he first met Liam and Louis but it felt natural talking to Harry. Except whenever he grew cocky that the Panthers got some points. But it wasn't like Niall didn't do the exact same thing.
"I got three points on youuuuu," Niall grabbed a beer from his fridge while Harry pouted. The first round of commercials came their way.
"You're just getting lucky Horan. Did you see that Dorito commercial?"
"I would have been crazy not to, I mean the things I would do for a dorito."
"Even admit defeat to yours Truly."
"Not in a million years Styles," Their conversation dulls out as the game gets intense, the only words spoken was whenever the Broncos pulled some bull plays. Which always provided complaints by Harry himself.
"That was bull, absolute bull." Harry whine while Niall laughed. He shrugged and popped a couple popcorn kernels into his mouth. His attention focused on the telly where the Broncos scored a touchdown. Niall had finally taken a bit of his own chili to eat, the snacks weren't cutting it for him anymore.
"THAT'S EVEN MORE BULL. IT'S A TOUCHDOWN BASED ON A BAD CALL. NIALL STOP LAUGHING AT ME." Niall's eyes were watery as he tried to calm himself. Harry's reactions were almost too much, Niall couldn't breath. He eventually fell to the floor, out of breath and in fetal position as Harry continued to yell at the screen, calling his own fouls.
It changed as the Panthers began to catch up with the Broncos, and Niall once had to mute Harry from how much gloating the guy was doing. It was still pretty dorky and cute. Not that Niall would ever say anything out loud.
“Yeah, that is what up. Panthers are going places Niall.” Niall scoffed, watching on as said panthers got tackled after intercepting a throw by Manning. The Broncos got a penalty and refused to look back at Harry, who was probably wearing that stupid smile of his.
“Don’t you dare say another word Styles.” All Niall got was a stupid grin and the overwhelming urge to punch Harry. In the mouth. With his mouth.
“Serious question though, Is your team trying to kill my team?? Niall are you listening to me?” Niall tore his gaze from the telly, away from a new touchdown.
“Hey I’m just a fan, I don’t command them to toss another player around like a ragdoll.” Harry huffed, stuffing a chicken wing in his mouth, the two of them just continuing to watch on.
“What’s the forfeit?” Niall asked as the halftime show proceeded on to a full effect. Well that’s what happened when you combined such great artists in all one go.
“If I win, I’m taking you to a Coldplay concert,” Harry smiled, tipping back his beer bottle for a swig.
“And if I win, erm” Niall racked his mind for an idea. How could he bet against someone who had it all and how would he possibly benefit from this in the safest way possible.
“How about this, if you win, your wish is my command.” Niall blushed, he should really stop thinking about this arrangement in the way that he had been doing.
“Deal.” And if Harry’s smile got any bigger, Niall most definitely didn’t think that he was the cutest dork ever.
There wasn’t much of a game after that, the Broncos pulled ahead and stayed ahead up until the end. Harry kept complaining that the Panthers would pull something out of their bag of tricks to save the game.
“Dang he got popped like a zit.” Niall snorted and beer came spewing out of his nose.
“That is my team you are speaking about.”
“Yeah but the guy went flying. I mean he went,” Harry made a zooming noise gesturing wildly with his hands. Niall laughed, agreeing begrudgingly with Harry.
It was so close, Niall would admit that much but in the end, the Broncos took it home. Peyton Manning could have retired any better than that, Niall decided, even sending out a congratulations tweet. Harry was salty, no doubt about that. He had hung up on the call as the final seconds of the game ticked by.
Niall didn’t even know he was alone until he looked at the screen where Harry’s face once was. His laughter was loud throughout his studio, and his mind was reeling. He had won the stupid bet and made it through the night without embarrassing himself too horribly.
A couple of texts flooded his phone, most likely from Liam and Louis paying their dues. There was however a unknown number sitting at the top of his unread messages. With a little hesitance, Niall opened it to find Harry’s dorky face staring at him, smiling.
His breath hitched. How the hell did Harry even get his number? Niall suspected it was the working of Louis and groaned out loud. He was probably planning to embarrass him sometime in the new coming week, but Niall’s mind spiraled elsewhere when a new text came in.
The unspoken line of, “Don’t make me regret this,” flashed across his vision and had a wicked hold on him when the image loaded. Niall had to steady himself and breath in slowly.
It was Harry again but this picture was easily more sensual than the last one. Harry was shirtless, all of his ridiculous tattoos on display, and leading right down to that bloody happy trail of his. Niall took a shaky breath, his mind was growing fuzzy, registering that stupid smirk and groaned again.
It was captioned and Niall absolutely wanted to die and do something about this all the same.
“Your wish is my command, Niall.”