To Begin Again (narry)

lobster

"It's a lovely day out, so we thought we'd go over these contracts outside— what the fuck?" Curtis says with wide eyes stopping abruptly.

Harry had his eyes glued to the screen of his cellphone as he follows Curtis and the other three people he had invited over for a business meeting, until he hears Curtis splutter out an apology and loud gasps. He is met with a very naked Niall swimming in the pool.

"Let's uh... let's head inside instead, yeah." The blond man clears his throat and looks over at Harry who was too busy gawking at Niall to even notice they were all heading back inside.

"Jesus! Harry, you gave me a fright." Niall swims closer to the edge to look up at Harry with wide eyes and flushed face.

"You're naked." He points out the obvious, making Niall giggle and nod.

"Have you ever swam in a pool like this? Naked?" He smiles up at him, holding back giggles. "It's so liberating." He throws his arms up.

Harry swallows thickly as he looks away. "Someone might see you." He dumbly points out, realizing people had already seen him.

"Like you?" Niall sees how red his face has become, he finally lets out a loud laugh. "Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?"

"I uh... no, course not." He clears his throat and stands straighter. "I'm... sorry." He turns on his heel to leave but just as he was going to walk away Niall calls out his name. "Yeah?"

"Will ya hand me my towel, please?" He points to the purple towel on the lounge chair.

Harry takes this time to calm down, to breathe and collect himself. He picks the soft towel up and slowly makes his way over to Niall who had gotten out of the pool and was now sat on the edge of the pool fully nude. "Here," He turns his head to look the other way as he handed it to him.

"Thank you." Niall stands up and dries himself, he wraps the towel around his slim waist tightly. "I'm sorry, H. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not, really, I'm not." Harry looks at him. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay-"

"Harry, we need you in here." Curtis says, looking anywhere but at them. Not risking seeing Niall naked once again.

"Right, I've got to go. Enjoy your day." He tells Niall, he quickly leaves letting out a heavy sigh.

"Did you tell him off?" Curtis asks as they make their way to the sitting room.

"No, why would I?" Harry gets pulled back, he raises his brow at the blond man.

"They saw him naked, Harry." He says with a frown. "How will you explain that to them?"

"I don't need to explain anything to anyone." He puts on a smile as he goes to join the others.

......................................

"What are you watching?" Niall slowly approaches Harry, he sits right next to him on the sofa.

"Friends." Harry loved nights like this, where he could just binge watch his favorite tv shows and not worry about any emails or important phone calls he needs to make.

"Can I join you?" He asks softly, he didn't want to disturb him.

"Sure." He keeps his eyes on the telly, ignoring the way his heartbeat fastens when Niall sits so close to him.

"I wanted Rachel to stay with Joey." Niall says after a moment of silence. "I don't understand why they didn't, Ross had his chance and he fucked up."