Fatherly Love

Birthday Girl

"Happy birthday, Bannu!"

Bannumati groans and rolls over in her bed, grabbing her blanket and pulling it over her head. Today was her 18th birthday, thank god, she thinks to herself. I've been a kid for too damn long.

Her father, Harry Styles, barges in her room and tears the covers off of her. She shrieks as a shiver drapes her body. "What the fuck, dad!" she screams, trying to grab her blankets from him.

He gasps, in shock. "How DARE you talk to your daddy like that! Shame on you." He thinks for a minute. "You're the birthday girl after all, finally an adult," he says with a smirk. "I guess I'll let it slide, love."

He leaves the room and lets Bannu get dressed. He walks to the kitchen to prepare the cake and gifts he got her. He runs into the boys, who somehow got into the house while he was gone.

"'Ello Harry!" Louis yells, setting his cup of tea down on the counter. The rest of the boys wave while Harry looks in confusion.

"How'd you boys get in here?" he asks demandingly, but also with a smile. 

"Does it matter?" Niall says. Harry shrugs and they all laugh.

"Should we decorate the place a bit more before Bannu comes out of her room, or should we leave it as is?" Harry asks, glancing from streamer to streamer, from balloon to balloon, and eyeing the candles on the cake; he counts the candles silently, making sure there are exactly 18. There are.

"I think it looks fine, love," Louis says. "We invited Luke, Ashton, Calum, and Michael too if that's alright?" He chuckles. "Even if it's not alright, they're coming anyway, love."

They all laugh, and almost as if it were timed like it would be in some weird fanfiction, Bannu comes out of her room. She was wearing her shortest mini skirt, her One Direction shirt that was signed by all the boys, and a pair of black heels she got on her last birthday. 

Harry sees her and greets her with a big hug. "You look gorgeous, my darling," he says, burying his head in the crook of her neck and breathing in a whiff of her watermelon shampoo for a split second. He pulls away, slightly embarrassed but he doesn't show it. 

Liam comes over to her and pulls a little crown out of his back pocket. It has "18" on it in golden letters. He places it upon Bannu's head and says, "There we go! Absolutely perfect, love." Bannu giggles and they all sit down at the kitchen table.

The clock strikes 1pm and the 5SOS boys barge in, almost as if they'd been waiting outside to time it perfectly. How funny would that be?

Harry goes to greet them at the door and leads them to the table, where they take seats around it as well. It's quite a big table.

Niall goes to the cupboards behind the counter and cracks out the alcohol. Lots of whiskey, rum, red wine, beer, vodka, tequila, and even absinthe? Absinthe? Bannu thinks to herself, a confused look on her face. Where the fuck did Uncle Niall get that? Oh well, whatever. Niall sees her confused face and laughs. "We're getting FUCKED tonight!" 

Harry looks at him angrily. "She just turned 18! She doesn't need to get wasted today!"

Bannu rolls her eyes at her dad's opinions. "Whatever dad, it's legal here in London anyway. Why do you care? I'll be fine." Niall comes over and hands her the bottle of vodka and she starts drinking, wincing at the burning sensation going down her throat. Niall laughs. Harry frowns.

Before you know it, everyone's drinking and getting drunk. Time feels unreal, nonexistent... fuck time. Time doesn't matter when you're having fun.