The Power Within [Narry]

--Chapter 18--

Holy god. I haven't been on in ages. I SWEAR that the juicy action will pick up soon.

Feeling the warmth radiating from the hands on top of the towel, Niall numbly looks up at Harry's face.

Harry's breathing heavily and he doesn't know if it's from the exertion of pulling up a body from the pool's deep end or from the gripping fear of nearly losing Niall. He tries to blink away the water trailing down his wet, long locks and offers the boy he's looking down at a small smile. When all he gets in return is another blank expression, he tries to soothe Niall by rubbing his shoulders through the soft fabric of the towel.

Niall's brain still seems to be about ten paces behind, unable to command his vocal chords to express a thank you. All that manages to come out is a garbled whimper. Concerned, Harry kneels down from his hunched position and asks, "Do you want to head back inside?" Niall merely nods in appreciation.

After the embarrassing feat of righting himself onto two legs, Niall hastily retreats into the nearby recreational building where he can attempt to collect what's left of his dignity. The building isn't lit, which gives him veiled privacy to let out his frustration. Harry is a few steps behind and decides to just stand by the doorway, unsure of what to do next as Niall curses his Irish heart out. When Harry sees that Niall's clutching tighter onto the thin towel wrapped around his torso, Harry moves over to him in a flash.

"Here, let me," Harry says and places his hands onto Niall's bare sides, eliciting a small squeak from the boy. The noise makes Harry's heart flutter but he pushes away any further thoughts in order to avoid an awkward pop-up. He instead focuses on keeping Niall warm, feeling a familiar blanket of energy arise and seep through his fingers and into Niall's soft skin.

Harry doesn't miss the way Niall relaxes under his touch and he slowly pulls away after a few seconds' worth of contact. He's almost embarrassed to see Niall's reaction because he's never told the Irish boy what he's capable of.

"Harry, you're a human furnace." Niall stares at Harry, completely awestruck at both the discovery and the god-like set of abs displayed for all to see through a soaked t-shirt. But luckily, Harry's unaware of the latter reason for Niall's oogling.

Harry shuffles a step to the right and chuckles. "It makes me the perfect cuddler."

"What else can you do?" Harry doesn't know if Niall's asking about his powers or about his cuddling self, but he goes to answer the safer option. "I can control kinetic energy and am, uh, telepathic."

Niall wants to question him more about that but just then, Liam stumbles in with a spare t-shirt. Liam hands it over to Harry before going over to dry the last drops of water from Niall's chest. Niall almost laughs at Liam's motherly instincts.

Once Liam moves behind the blonde and removes the towel from his friend's shoulders, his breath is instantly knocked out of his lungs. Crisp black swirls boldly stare at him as they expand across Niall's back. Liam can't wrap his head around the idea of Niall having a tattoo, much less one this big, even though the evidence is in plain view. His heart sinks even further thinking about all that he had missed within the few months out of Niall's life.