lovefool // niall horan spy au

vi. lay down with me, tell me no lies

Sameera's feeling strange today.

She's in the dance studio just standing in the center, blasting Adele at top volume and feels the thrum of the bass washing all over her, bouncing around in her bones. Her eyes are closed, and she guesses that she was kind of hoping that the loud music would drown out all of her thoughts, but it's not really working.

Since they found out they've been bugged, she's been feeling on edge. The banquet where they plan to intercept O'Connor is happening in a few days and the fear of failing is overwhelming her.

Suddenly, the music stops, and she turns around only to see Niall sending her an annoyed look. It looks like he yanked the plug out of the wall because he's tossing the wire down to the ground now, watching her warily. "What the fuck?" he says, voice groggy. "You're waking the whole fucking neighborhood up, what's wrong with you?"

"Sorry," she starts to say, but he's not having any of it. He crosses the room to grab her hand, grumpily pulling her out of the room and hitting the lights on the way out.

He drags her up the stairs to their room. Yes, it's their room now, because they have to convince Louis and Karla that they're actually a married couple and not just a couple of spies. Hodges insisted that they make the change once Sameera accidentally let it slip that Louis and Karla could see right into the master bedroom from the office in their house.

"Go to sleep, please," he grumbles, climbing back into bed and holding the blanket up for her to do the same.

She quietly shuffles in, not saying a word when Niall drapes the blanket over her and makes himself comfortable again. She turns around so her back is facing him, eyes trained on the wall ahead of her. The whole reason she got out of bed in the first place was because she couldn't sleep. Now, her eyes are wide open, even as she listens to the pattern of Niall's breathing start to slow down behind her.

"Sameera," he groans after a while, and she flinches. "I can literally feel you thinking. Stop."

She sighs quietly and begins to shift out of bed. She doesn't want to bother him. He hasn't been sleeping well either and she doesn't want her own insomnia to disturb him.

"Where're you goin'?" he asks before she can get too far, and when she turns back to look at him, he's watching her carefully.

"The couch." Her voice is barely audible, despite the fact that it's completely silent in the room.

Niall frowns. "Why?"

"I don't wanna bother you."

He sighs, gesturing for her to lie down again, and, because she doesn't want to start an argument, she complies, resuming her position of facing the wall. "I don't want you to bother me either, but I want you here." His voice is as soft as the blanket covering them, and she immediately relaxes. He drapes an arm over her waist and tugs her into him, tucking his head in between her shoulder blades. "What're you thinking about?" he murmurs, fingers finding hers under the blanket.

Sameera doesn't know what to say. She's so tired and terrified at the same time, and she doesn't want to dump all of her thoughts on him when she's not even sure how to tie them all together. He squeezes her hand to let her know that he's still there, and she realizes that only Niall will understand what she's thinking.

"I'm scared," she breathes out. Behind her, Niall tenses. "These people are more dangerous than we've ever even thought and—" She sighs, pressing her face into her pillow. She's read O'Connor's file back to front and each word had her feeling more and more anxious. He's a very dangerous man that she doesn't want to get involved with. "I don't wanna mess up."