salt and sand || narry ||

Chapter 5: A Pool Party and Movie Night

A/N: Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 will go together, but Chapter 6 will contain a soft smut scene!

*Niall's POV*

It was a few days later, now Harry's 18th birthday was only three days away, so Niall decided to invite the boys over to his parent's rental for the day to lounge by the pool. My parents were gone on a whaling excursion and Greg had to go back to work, so he had returned home to Ireland a few days ago, so I have the whole place to myself for the day. I invited Liam, Louis, and Zayn over a half hour earlier so they could discuss plans for Harry's party. They were floating in the pool as they bounced ideas off one another, "What about a beach bonfire?" Niall suggested. Louis sighed, "We need permits and such, I don't know if there's enough time, but I think that would be best." Liam stopped tossing the mini basketball around with Zayn, "Merri down at the office owes my mom a favor, I'll see if she can get us that permit," he said, grinning at Niall. "Good idea, mate, you and Harry have gotten pretty close this past month, huh?" he commented, eyeing the blond with no judgment, just curiosity. I felt my cheeks heat up at his comment, "Yeah, we have. He's a cool guy, chill, easy to get along with," I say, shrugging it off as I reach for my soda on the side of the pool deck.

Louis floated over towards Liam and tried to grab the ball from him, "We've always known that Harry seems to be attracted to whomever, really, we don't know why or how he chooses, but gender never seemed to be an issue to him. He doesn't label himself anything, but what about you? Are you gay, Nialler?" he asked, using the nickname he had come up with a few days ago. I'm sure I was beet red by now as the boys all looked at me expectantly and with a deep breath, I answered, "Listen, I've never felt a physical attraction towards a guy like this before. These feelings...they're all new to me, but I figured if I was going to explore things and test the waters, well vacation was as good a time as any. Plus, I figured I wouldn't really see you guys much again after this, meeting up would be difficult and we're all off to different schools..." I tell him, kicking the water from where I sat on the pool edge.

Zayn crossed his arms, his dark eyes squinted at me from across the pool, "Harry is a pretty sensitive guy, despite how laidback he comes across. Just make sure that you're honest with him about this being an experiment for you. We would hate to see him hurt if his feelings evolve into something more, kay? Not a threat per se, but we'd have to kick you in your shins if you hurt our Haz," he said with a simple shrug before grabbing the ball from Louis. I widened eyes, "I've definitely been honest with him that I don't understand these feelings, but I guess I should have a more honest talk with him then, later yeah?"

"What's happening later?" I hear a deep voice comment from behind me and I turn to see a shirtless Harry come waltzing through the glass sliding door at the back of the house. I blush as I look him up and down, the butterflies fluttering in my stomach at how good his tattoos looked on his tan skin. Fuck...I think to myself. I watch as he runs and jumps into the pool, splashing the other boys before coming up above the surface and turning to grin at me. "Glad you could make it, Harold, you're late!" I tease him as he swims towards me. "Yeah, yeah, things got busy at the shop, but at least I don't have to work or babysit tonight like those sorry sacks over there!" he says, which earns him a splash from each of the other boys. "Alright are we going to play pool basketball or not?" Louis yells, and I slip into the pool beside Harry as we separate into teams.

***

An hour or so later, Louis and Liam were off to work shifts and Zayn had to babysit his little sisters so his parents could enjoy a date night. It left Harry and I heading inside to dry off and chill out away from the hot sun. "You wanna watch a movie? We can grab my laptop and hook it up to the TV in the living room," I tell him, "Can you go grab it from my room and I'll put together some snacks?" Harry nodded and headed up to the room and I had directed him and grabbed the laptop and brought back downstairs and took it over to the TV to hook up to the HDMI cord. I was in the kitchen pouring some freshly popped popcorn into a bowl for us when I hear, "What the fuck, Niall?" from the living room. I come skidding around the corner to find Harry staring at my laptop screen, where the gay porno I had been watching earlier was on the screen. "Oh fuck, Harry, I-I'm sorry I didn't know I had left that open, fuck, shit, okay, just exit it out! Please!" I said, begging him after I stumbled over my words and I felt my entire face and neck flame up with a burning embarrassment.

Harry merely chuckled at my embarrassment and stood up, leaving the porno on the screen. He actually scrubbed it back to the beginning of the video. "If you wanted to watch this kind of movie, all you had to do was ask, not spring it on a guy out of nowhere," he teased, walking over to me and taking the popcorn from my hands and setting it down. He took my hand and pulled me onto the couch beside him, "I'm guessing you were watching that video as, ah, research, maybe?" Harry asked, his tone curious as he bit down on his lip. I let out a breath as I rubbed the back of neck and stared at the floor, anywhere but his face. "Yeah...yeah. I just was curious. I've been more curious since we kissed at the club, to be honest..." I admitted, shuffling my feet against the carpet. "Niall, look at me," Harry said and I finally looked up. His face showed no signs of anger, disgust, or judgment. "I've watched it too. It's hot. There's no reason to be ashamed. You're exploring yourself and that is okay, seriously," he said, his hand coming to rest on my knee.

His touch felt like it was burning into me. I was just so aware of him. Not to mention that two fairly naked men were currently still on the TV screen. "I'm just feeling really confused, Harry, and I don't want you to think I'm using you. I like you, as friend, maybe more? I don't know yet. I'm curious, but I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you because I'm trying to figure myself out, yeah?" I say, leaning back into the couch and blowing out a breath towards the ceiling. Harry ran a hand through his hair as he looked at me, "You're beating yourself up and getting in your head, mate. Listen, I like you too, I don't even know yet if it's more than friend, either. You're the first guy I've ever really felt a pull towards. I've known for awhile that gender isn't something to important to me. Let's just have fun, take it at a slow pace, and we just be honest with each other the whole way, okay? If your feelings start to change into something more or you don't want this, you just say something and we'll work it out..." Harry assured me, grabbing my chin and tilting my head down to look at him. "How's that sound, blondie?" I nod at him, relief washing over my features, "Yeah, yeah that sounds good, Harry, thanks for being so cool about all of this..."

He smirked at me before pulling me in for a brief kiss. It lasted only seconds, but my stomach did somersaults as soon as I felt his lips brush mine. He pulled back and grinned at me, glancing at the TV screen and then back to me. "So, did you want to finish that movie?"

**A/N: Awww so they had a big talk about their feelings! But things are about to heat up because next chapter will be a continuation of this scene and we'll have our first brief smut scene!!! It won't be a full sex scene, but it will be more graphic than just a kiss, so if that's not something you want to read, go ahead and skip over Chapter 6 once it is released! Thanks so much for reading!!