The Weekend (Narry)

seacht

"Try to love yourself as much as you want someone else to."

"What are you doing?" Harry snaps at Niall's distancing back.

"I'm walking."

"Where?"

"To the next town." He says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Come if you want. Don't come if you don't want to. Frankly, I don't care."

"Wait." Harry goes to the broken down car and grabs his luggage. "Wait for me."

"Nope."

"For Christ's sake..." Harry mutters under his breath, making sure all of his luggage is out of the car and in his hands. He puts his backpack on his back, and the suitcase on the ground, pulling on the handle. Niall is about one hundred yards ahead of him now, and Harry is over his unhelpful attitude.

By the time Harry manages to catch up to his ride, the Irishman has taken up whistling and kicking rocks. The slow, relaxed speed at which Niall is walking upsets Harry. He picks up the pace, hoping that his quicker pace will clue Niall in on the fact that Harry would appreciate it if he'd walk faster.

"Goats."

Harry turns to face Niall, but continues walking. "What?"

Niall nods off to his left. "There's goats over there."

Harry huffs, looking in the direction Niall nodded. Sure enough, several goats stand there, chewing on the grass beneath their feet. "Wow," Harry says. "Farm animals."

"Do you not like farm animals?"

"What? No. Farm... farm animals are fine. What I don't like is you lolly gagging. Could you please walk a little faster? Pretend to care?"

"Just relax. We'll get to Dublin. Don't worry."

"There is a difference between getting to Dublin sometime this weekend and getting to Dublin in five years. The speed you're walking will get me to Dublin in five years."

Niall laughs, and Harry rolls his eyes. "What's so important about Dublin again?"

"I have to propose to my partner. Remember? The stupidest idea you've ever heard, if I remember correctly." Harry's tone is biting, but Niall has caught up to him, walking by Harry's side.

"Oh, right. The wannabe spouse." Niall sticks his hands in his jacket pockets.

"I'm not some wannabe anything, alright?"

"If you don't want to be anything, then why are you here? Why would you be proposing if you didn't want to be a husband? If you didn't want to have a husband?"

"I have a husband." Harry states.

"But you're proposing?" The Irishman is thoroughly confused, and Harry braces himself to tell the story that has left his lips nearly a thousand and one times.

"Louis and I have a civil union. We are everything a married couple is, except. Well. Married."

"Then why do you need to be married?" Niall asks. "The benefits?"

"I want a baby."

Niall lets out a small chuckle. It soon turns into a full laughing fit, and Harry is put out.

"What the hell are you laughing at that?"

"You? With a baby? I can't imagine."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You couldn't even work my telephone at the pub. What makes you think you could handle someone's life?" Niall doesn't sound nasty or rude, just curious. Harry is unsure of what to say. Niall isn't right, of course.

"You're wrong."

"I beg your pardon?" Niall eases up on his laughter. "Tourist?"

"I said you're wrong. I am fully capable of taking care of a baby. I know what I want, and I know how to handle it. You don't know me, or anything about my relationship and my abilities. I am paying you to get me to Dublin, not to add your commentary on my life. So, please. Just get to where I need to be."

Niall yawns, kicking at another rock on the road. "Anything you say, Tourist."