Niall is walking through the cold streets of London with Ellie's arm looped through his, barely listening as she tells him about what she's planning to get Kiara for her birthday.
"She's always going on and on about how she'll like to go see a Broadway play for her birthday" Ellie's saying, walking perfectly in-step with him. Been in perfect sync for a long time, the two of them, but Niall feels like it's more of a mechanical thing, not as natural as he'd like, but. He loves her, loves her so. "But I know, like, there probably won't be any broadway plays when we go to our girls trip to Bali, like she'd always wanted-"
"Wait," he says slowly, lets her lean on him a bit for warmth as he pauses, gets his thoughts together. "Was that for this month?"
"I have tickets booked for the twenty-first, so. I'd hope so," she replies, glances up at him. Her eyes are bright today, her lips the slightest bit matte from the nude lipstick he'd given her a few weeks back. Thought it would suit her, and he was right. "Did you forget?"
"No, I just thought. I could have sworn that was for next month," Niall sighs, his glasses fogging up a bit. "I'm sorry, so does that mean we're not going on a trip together?"
"Ni," she forces them to a stop, steps in front of him. Her hands are a little cold on his neck, but he forces himself not to shiver. "Ni, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you thought-"
"It's fine," he shakes his head "it's fine."
"Niall."
"El, love, it's fine," he says, gives her a small smile and gives her a short, brief kiss. "I'll be fine. Just thought we'd go on a trip, this year. Remembered when you said a few months back you wanted to go skiing? Got you tickets to Italy. Cortina d'Ampezzo, some of the best slopes in the world, I thought we could go."
"Niall, I'm so sorry," she says, and she rubs his cheeks, tries to get him a bit warmer. People walk around them, some looking a bit short with them being in the way, in the middle of a busy street.
"It's not your fault, I didn't ask if you had plans with the girls," Niall says with a shrug, but it makes him a little uncomfortable. "It's fine, I get it. You'd been spending too much time away from her anyway, always with me. Must get boring sometime" he says with a chuckle
"If there's anything I disagree with more," she says, trying to sound stern, but she gives it up when he leans down and offers a kiss, which she returns easily. Like clockwork.
***
"Which one?" Ellie's asking him, waving two swimsuits in front of him. "I like how the white one looks really good in pools, but the blue one is more comfortable."
"Bring both," Niall tells her, a little bored as he had tried to help her pack, but she sat him down early on when he folded one of her dresses the wrong way. He knows how to pack, he's a pro at it, can fit a month's worth of shit into one carry-on if so needed. Just not for women, apparently. He's seething, a bit. "I think you'll need more, anyway."
"Hmm, yeah, you're right," she agrees, goes to pack them in her luggage, open on the floor and almost full. "More than two weeks planned for this, maybe I should get more-"
"More than - El, when exactly are you getting back?" Niall asks her, a little alarmed now. "Is there enough to do in Bali for a trip that long? Thought it was just spas and infinity pools over there."
"Oh my god, Niall," she shakes her head, "I thought you were the traveled one, babe. There's so much to do there, yoga, temples, elephants, scuba diving-"
"I'll be completely honest, I stopped listening at 'yoga'," he says frankly, and he hardly reacts when she throws one of her bras at him playfully. He catches it deftly, and grins when she rolls her eyes at him.
"I'm getting back on the fifth," she answers, and he sighs a bit. "A few days after you, right?"
"Yeah," he replies, thinking of what he's going to pack already though he's not due to leave until the twenty-third. "I get back on the third."
"So you're really going?" she asks him, frowning a bit as she stands back up from where she had been organizing her makeup on the bed. "Going to go on a ski trip alone?"
"Don't wanna waste the ticket," he tells her, and he sighs again when he sees her begin to tear up the slightest bit. "No, El, come here-"
He pulls her to him, makes her sit on his lap and kisses her cheek sweetly. "Don't feel bad about it love, I'll be fine. Would be nice to have a trip by myself, just this once."
"Niall, fuck, I didn't - why are you going alone?" she stammers through her words, and he feels a bit more worse off. Doesn't want her to feel bad. "Didn't you ask your family? Liam?"
"You know them," he shrugs, patting at her thigh helplessly. "Ma and Da, Greg and everyone, they've got their own plans. Been planning to go to that Derby match in Dublin, been excited for it for months. I can't just make them give that up."
"Then what about-"
"Liam is busy,he has some marking to do and I don't want to stop him from that" Niall answers quietly.
She must understand because she just brings his face up to hers, kisses him quietly, wetly. "I don't like the thought of you being alone."
"I'll be fine," he tells her. Tries smiling again, hopes it doesn't look too forced. "Snow, mountains, and dangerous winter sports with high chances of injury. Perfect for me, yeah?"
She snorts, and he sneaks a small kiss to her chest, somewhere over where her heart should be, lips just skimming lightly over the swell of her breast, and it's comfortable. Has always been comfortable, and calm, when he's with her.
Can't ever find it in himself to be brave enough to call it home, because it doesn't quite feel that way.
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