Imagines with Niall Horan

88. He sleeps over

You groan as you attempt to lug Niall out the door of the party. Niall whines, clutching at the doorframe. "But I wanna stayyyyyy!" he whines, digging his heels into the ground. "Liam gets t'stay."

"Yes, that's because Liam 'forgot' he was a designated driver and had some drinks and now he can't drive." There's a thud from inside and Harry starts giggling. "And it sounds like he just passed out anyway, and he's a deadweight when he's out so he can just stay here and fend off anyone when he wakes up."

You finally manage to detach the drunken boy from the doorframe and begins to tug him none-too-gently towards your car. Niall is about to start complaining again when he sees the moon and begins to try and catch it. You roll your eyes and manage to drag Niall to the car where you fumble with your keys. Unlocking the door, you turn back to Niall to find him trying to take off your shirt, again. "No, Niall," you say sternly, tugging his hands away from your shirt. "My clothes stay on. So do yours."

Niall pouts but allows himself to be led into the car and have his seatbelt strapped on. You kiddy-lock his door before shutting him in and walking over to your side. There's a crash from inside the house and Louis's voice can be heard yelling something about monkeys. You shake your head and, not for the first time tonight, pat yourself on the back for not drinking. You slip into the drivers seat and look across at Niall who is poking the dashboard with too much interest considering it isn't doing anything in response.

You wind down the passenger window as you put the car into gear. "Niall," you say sternly to the giggling boy beside you. "That window is down so you can be sick. If you feel like you're going to be sick, stick your head out the window. I will not be stopping so you can have the opportunity to try and fall out of my car. I am also not above throttling a drunk person if any vomit lands inside my car. Understood?" And Niall nods like the petulant three year old he appears to be.

Of course, the first time Niall sticks his head out the window, you pull over instantly to make sure he's okay, wrinkling your nose as you pat the back of the vomiting boy.

-

You turn off the engine and check the time. 1:14. Okay, if your parents caught you coming in at this time, you'd be in trouble. If your parents caught you coming in with a drunk person, you'd really be in trouble. If your parents caught you coming in with a drunk person of the opposite sex, well, you probably wouldn't be allowed out of the house until you turned 25. This required subtlety.

"Niall - Niall!" you say to the boy beside you who has been staring vacantly out the window muttering something about cotton candy under his breath. "We're going to play a game, okay?"

And now you have the drunk boy's full attention. "I love games!" he exclaims enthusiastically. "Is it pass the parcel? Cause I'm good at that!"

You sigh and wonder again why you love this idiot. "No, it's not pass the parcel. It's - " you search wildly for a good title and settle for the truth. "It's called 'keep away from the big scary sleeping man with a shotgun.' We have to be really quiet so he doesn't wake up and shoot you, okay?"

Niall nods repeatedly until you reach over and stop him. "Okay," you say, hopping out of the car and opening his door to unbuckle his seatbelt for him. You cross your fingers and hope it works.

By some miracle, Niall is better at being quiet when he's drunk than sober - possibly because he's not jumping all over the place. You make it to your room without incident and you shut the door behind you after quickly checking down the hall to make sure your parents' door is shut. You turn around to find Niall jumping on your bed giggling his head off. You just smile and sit on the couch to watch him. It was times like these that you really want to see videos of Niall as a child.

He eventually gets sick of being a three year old and turns serious. He lies back on the bed and beckons for you to join him. You reluctantly get up and sit on the bed beside him. "Can we play truth or dare?" he asks.

You wrinkle your nose. "No, honey, we played enough of that at the party -"

"You called me honey." Niall looks far too pleased with this term of endearment. "I think you're like honey too. Sweet and soft and - and beautiful."

You feel your breath catch in your throat because did Niall just call you beautiful?

He must see the look on your face because he sighs and sits up unsteadily, clutching your shoulder for balance. And Niall may be off his face drunk, but there's something in his eyes that you can't quite read, something that tells you that the boy is more aware right now than he is sober.

"I'm not g'na remember any of this tomorrow. 's just the way I am. So - so I need to tell you this now because I know how sad it makes you when I don't seem to notice you being totally 'n love with me." You hiss in a breath. "D'worry, I don't notice when I'm su-sober. Just like I don't notice that I'm in love with you too."

And you think someone must have spiked your punch after all because there is no way Niall is lying in your bed telling you he loves you. No way.

"So I'll wake up tomorrow and won't remember any of this. And I'll probably keep being an idiot and not being can-cin- won't think about your feelings. But I need you to know that the Niall in here," he pats his chest unsteadily, "loves you. A lot. And some day, some awesome day, he's gonna wake up and realize and you two are gonna be so happy. But until then, you need to have courage."

And before you know what's happening, Niall is leaning towards you and oh God, he's going to kiss me -

Your lips touch. And you want to cry because this isn't how you imagined you wanted your first kiss with Niall to be but at the same time it's so perfect. And when he finally gets his act together, you'll have another chance at it and you will make damn sure that it's real perfection.

Niall pulls away, smiles goofily and passes out.

You just blink. Once again, not quite how you'd imagined it. And not how you'd planned the night to end up; you were going to put Niall on your couch but he looks so adorable lying there in your bed that you can't resist. You deliberate for a long moment whether to just curl up next to Niall and damn the consequences in the morning ... but no. With a reluctant sigh and one last look at the sleeping boy, you flick off the light and makes your way to the couch.

The room is quiet except for the sound of Niall's breathing and you imagine that some day that same sound will be repeated in a room of their own, except you actually will be cuddled up next to Niall. Until then, you can only wait until the oblivious boy finally gets his act together.

Maybe someday, you will tell him what went on tonight. For now, you can just let Niall sweat over whether he did something really embarrassing or not.

And you slip off to sleep with a small, hopeful smile.