little do you know: the december drabbles // niall horan au

day 18: snowed in / blizzard (in which cuddling is the way to go)

"It's absolutely mental outside," Liam gaped, gazing out the window, expression a bit floored. "I've never seen this much snow in my life, Ni, have you?"

Niall abandoned his job of gathering stray items and walked up to stand behind Liam instead, pulling back the curtain even further to assess the situation outside, and sure enough, Niall hadn't ever seen such a storm in his life. "Oh Christ." Behind him, he felt someone's fingers—presumably Harry's—on his shoulder, peeking out the window as well. "When did the weather get this bad?" Niall asked, more to himself than anything. He couldn't decide if he was glad that it meant they had to stay in the cabin for a while longer, or slightly disappointed.

Harry sighed, and when Niall looked back, he was shrugging his shoulders, that wide smile of his spreading across his face. "Guess it means we have to stay, yeah?" No one had the chance to say anything, though, because Harry was already pumping his fist in the air and cheering loudly, whooping so loud that Harlow came harrumphing down the stairs, scowling at the lot of them.

"What the hell is going on?"

Liam shrugged sheepishly, Niall noticing that softness in his eyes appearing whenever Harlow was in the same room. "Harry's only excited because a snowstorm seems to be passing over and it means that we can't leave just yet."

Harlow's scowl softened almost immediately, scurrying across the room to join the huddle that had formed around the window. "Holy shit," she breathed, looking on with wonder at the amount of snow that had accumulated over the night. About a foot of fresh snow on top of what was already there, Niall couldn't believe it.

"Well," Liam sighed. "We'll have to wait until the snow dies down. And until the plows come around."

Niall simply shrugged, as always, spinning on his heel and heading back up the stairs, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, feet instinctively moving towards Mona's room.

"Hey," she greeted, glancing up at him quickly before returning to her battle with the zipper on her suitcase. "What's up?" He didn't say a word, instead pulling his hoodie over his head, throwing it in the general direction of Mona before flopping face first into her bed, his headache returning with a vengeance. "Ni." He felt her before he heard her voice, her fingers ghosting over the planes of his shoulders before pulling back, the absence of her warmth sending a slight shudder down his spine. "Come on now. Get up. Don't we have to leave?"

He hummed. "Nah, there's a blizzard out so we can't leave." He was surprised to hear the exhaustion in his voice, suddenly regretting not hydrating properly after all those drinks last night. He would've fallen asleep right then and there if Mona's hands weren't on his shoulders again, pressing into the skin where his shoulders met his neck. "Mo, your hands are cold," he huffed when she pressed her hands in even harder. "Mo!"

She laughed, softening her touch so that her fingers were rubbing small circles into his skin. "Your muscles are so tensed because you spend so much time hunched over with your nose in those books of yours," she tutted, working the tight knots of tension in the muscles in his shoulders loose, and he had to suppress the urge to moan out loud. She let her hands wander under the fabric of his shirt to better knead at his muscles, working her fingers down his spine and back up again. "You need to learn how to relax."

Niall sighed, feeling looser than he had in days, the tension lodged in his skin now seeping out of his pores. "You need to learn how to take your own advice," he breathed when she settled next to him, though he swore he could still feel her fingers on his skin. "You're the most tensed person I know."

She allowed him to throw his arm around her torso, instantly nuzzling into the crook of her neck. "S'not on purpose, you know." He faintly registered her reaching down to pull the comforter over their splayed out bodies, though he couldn't help but think that he didn't really need it. The warmth of her body was enough for him, really. "It just happens naturally."

He huffed out a laugh. "You have problems."

Mona chuckled, threading her fingers into his hair, and Niall decided that they could stay like this forever and he would always be content. "You and I both. Guess that's why we're such good friends though, right?" Her tone was amused but he could tell she was tired. It was as if Niall's exhaustion was contagious because he could feel her body relaxing beneath him.

"Such good friends," he echoed, wondering how he felt about the word on his tongue.

She hummed, and something shifted in the atmosphere that he couldn't quite catch, because he'd shifted slightly and then they were face to face, their noses touching a bit, and Niall swore he could've kissed her they were so close. One slight move forward, just a few centimeters, and their lips would've brushed deliciously together.

Except he was falling into that space between sleep and consciousness, faintly registering his hand curling around her hips, nuzzling into her neck again and pressing his lips to the skin there, wondering if she would feel his lips lingering on her skin for days afterwards, just like he would always think about hers on his neck the first time they'd fallen asleep in the same bed, all those days ago.