little do you know: the december drabbles // niall horan au

day 23: putting up the lights (in which mona keeps stumbling over her words)

Saint Mary's hospital was small. Like, really small, and it was the size of the place that Mona first noticed. The second thing Mona noticed was that there were more children admitted than there were adults, and she was suddenly wondering whether they had enough gifts for all of them, despite the fact that Harry had filled two huge boxes with presents.

Her fears were resolved, soon enough, because when Niall had begun distributing the gifts to the kids, there were actually more than enough toys for all of them.

Niall was a hit among the kids, and if she weren't currently witnessing the sheer light that exuded out of that boy when he smiled with his whole heart, then Mona would have thought it had to do more with his Olaf sweater than anything. The kids loved him, with his bright smile and contagious laugh. It was quite a sight, really. He stopped by every bed, chatting amiably with every child before handing them their gift. She hadn't ever seen him so at ease. It was as if every bit of tension that was always lodged within the muscles in his shoulders had all but vanished, Niall's sunshine personality shining though.

She wished he sported that side of him more often rather than the indifferent side she'd been so used to seeing. Except for the last couple of days, though. During the past week, he'd let loose a little, especially around Mona, and she was glad that she was able to crack though his rather cold exterior, even if it was only a little bit.

She had been stringing some fairy lights along the windows when she was approached by one of the nurse's aides. Niall's laughter was still reverberating off the walls around the hospital, and Mona was wondering how one person could laugh so much when the girl tapped her on her shoulder.

"Hi!" she greeted, a friendly smile on her face, and, naturally, Mona returned the gesture. "That guy giving out the presents...you came with him right?"

Instantly, Mona's eyebrows went up. This wasn't her thing. She usually watched people from afar, she didn't indulge in conversation. Especially not conversations about other people. "Uh. Yeah?" she replied, faltering slightly. She figured that introductions were always the way to go with first encounters, so she held out her hand. "I'm Namona."

The girl smiled, shaking Mona's hand. "I'm Cleo. You guys are Harry's friends, right?"

Mona tried to chuckle but the sound left her lips a bit nervously, a scratchy tone that she hoped Cleo didn't notice. "Yeah, um. Harry went back home to, um, England. And he forgot to drop the gifts off before he left so, he sort of, asked us to do it."

Cleo nodded, glancing at the children again, except when Mona followed her gaze, she found that it was directed at Niall. "And," Cleo looked at Mona again, "what's his name?" she asked, gesturing towards the source of all the laughter.

"Uh." Mona's hands were fidgeting with everything, and she haphazardly shoved them in her pockets. Another thing she wasn't particularly good at was being a wingwoman, mostly due to the fact that she could be quite blunt at times. "That's Niall."

"Niall," Cleo echoed. "And you're his girlfriend?"

Mona's eyes widened. "No! Uh, no. We're, um. We're just friends." Cleo nodded understandingly, though Mona knew what her question implied, and she was wondering if she'd just turn around and leave now that she had the information she wanted. Except she didn't, instead staying behind to assist Mona with the lights and good naturedly carrying on a conversation, which Mona managed to fumble through.

Eventually, Cleo had gone to tend to one of the kids and Mona made a beeline for Niall, squeezing in next to him on the chair he'd been sitting on as he chatted with a little girl named Rachael, which Mona knew because she'd arrived just in time to hear her introduce herself.

"So, Rachael," Niall started, handing her a gift before beginning a conversation. "How're ya doing tonight?"

"Fine, I guess," the little girl responded with a rather dramatic shrug of her shoulder, and Mona had to hold back a smile at her antics. Niall, on the other hand, laughed loudly, and Rachael had to crack a giggle as well. "I'll be better when my Mom comes to pick me up."

"Yeah?" Niall looked genuinely interested, and Mona wondered why she didn't see this side of him more often. "Where's your Mum right now?"

Rachael grinned. "Work. She works in the Empire State Building!"

"Really?" Mona piped up from where she was sitting, pressed against Niall's side, and it was only then that she realized that his hand was resting on her lower back, thumb soothingly stroking her over the ugly Christmas sweater. "I've always wanted to go there." Talking to little kids was much easier than talking to adults, in Mona's opinion, because carrying on a conversation with Rachael was much less stressful that it was with Cleo. "Have you ever been?" Rachael shook her head. "Oh. I've always wanted to go to like, the very top, you know? It must be so cool, being up there."

Rachael smiled. "Yeah! It'll be like you're on top of the world!"

Mona laughed. "Exactly!"

Rachael fell asleep soon after that, and because she was the last person they were to give a present to, Niall and Mona remained seated for a while, eyes trained on the window beside Rachael's bed. Niall looked at Mona then, that small smile still curved along his lips. "You good?"

Mona grinned. "Yeah," she said quietly, not wanted to wake the little girl who was now sleeping soundly. "This was fun."

Niall hummed, rising to his feet and bringing Mona up with him. "Yeah," he chuckled. "It was."