relief next to me (by dolce_piccante on ao3)

17

Niall opened the door to his flat, two full bags of groceries balanced in his arms. He kicked the door shut.

"Hello, muffin," he said, smiling at Harry's back. His eyes flicked down and up Harry's body, noting his oversized black athletic shorts and loose white v-neck tee. "You're looking comfy tonight."

Harry glanced over his shoulder and smiled, spinning to face him.

"Hey," he said, closing the refrigerator with his bum. He had two bottles of water in one hand and a bowl of grapes in the other. "What's up?" He put his items on the table and took the bags from Niall, placing them on the kitchen counter. "Why so much food? We just went shopping."

"I'm going to attempt to cook for Claire at her place, but I think I bought too much. Need to reorganize."

"Fancy," Harry said, nudging Niall in the ribs with his elbow. "Very romantic."

"What are you up to?"

"Oh, uh, doing laundry and," Harry's smile widened, "just watching stuff on my laptop. I need to go to bed soon."

"Cool. I need to figure out what I'm creating from all," he gestured at his bags of groceries, "this." He squinted at his flatmate. "Do you think Claire likes mac and cheese? Everyone loves mac and cheese, right?"

Harry wandered over, peeking inside one bag. He folded the top open on another bag, slipping his right hand inside.

"Mac and cheese is always a good choice, but," he pulled a box out and peered through the plasic front, "I'd go with a quick pasta primavera, instead."

"Primavera?"

"Primavera, like, very veggie. Boil water, throw pasta in, saute these," he lifted and surveyed a bag of yellow zucchini, "in a bit of oil and salt. These, too." Out came a bag of tiny tomatoes. "Then just heat up this," he pulled out a jar of pre-made tomato sauce, "throw the veg in, and pour over pasta. Colourful, hearty, easy."

"Colourful, hearty, easy," Niall repeated, nodding with each word.

Harry continued, "You can use this," out came a bottle of balsamic dressing, "and just baby spinach as a side salad. Dress up the presentation a bit with the green. If you want to be really fancy, serve this," he opened the refrigerator and pulled out an unopened package of fresh mozzarella, "on the side with the balsamic and tomatoes. Caprese is always a winner. And, oh, I just brought this home."

He opened a drawer and a fresh loaf of Italian bread appeared.

"You could use this for the Caprese, too. Or just slice it up and dip in oil." Harry tapped his fingers on top of the thin paper wrapper of the bread. "I could eat one of these with oil every day, I swear."

Niall squinted at the neat line of ingredients Harry laid out on the counter. He put his hands on his hips.

"Is it sad that I bought all these things and had no idea what to do with them?"

"Nah," Harry said, packing Niall's items in a cloth grocery bag. He switched the bunch of zucchini with the loaf of bread, angling items in weight order. "You picked all the right things and your vegetables are all perfect. Good eye."

"You taught me well."

Once complete, Harry held out Niall's ingredients with a big smile, the bag swaying in the air.

"Off you go. You've got pasta to cook and Claire to woo."

"Woo," Niall snorted, taking the bag from him. "Yeah. Right. I don't know how we're still even dating. I'm almost one hundred percent positive she can't stand me."