Matilda Moore has always been good at pretending. Pretending she's fine. Pretending she's in love. Pretending her world isn't crumbling behind carefully kept secrets and forced smiles. But the truth catches up to her the night she tries to end things with her boyfriend. What should have been a quiet goodbye turns into something violent-something that leaves Tilly bruised, broken, and barely breathing. In the aftermath, she's forced to face the reality of everything she's been hiding, not just from the people who love her, but from herself. As Tilly begins to piece together what survival really looks like, her best friends rally around her. And Niall Horan-the boy who has always seen her, even when she couldn't see herself-becomes the one constant in the chaos. Steady. Protective. Breaking under the weight of loving someone who doesn't know how to be loved. But healing isn't simple. And when Niall offers her the one thing she's never believed she deserves-unconditional love-Tilly is faced with an impossible choice: Let him in... or let him go. Because some love stories don't start with a kiss.
Some begin after everything else falls apart.

"So here's the thing," he starts. "I didn't mean what I said a few weeks ago to like, hurt your feelings or anything. If you like painting your nails, then you should do that, and not like, care if anyone else doesn't like it because their opinions shouldn't matter, you know?" Louis takes a breath, finally glancing over to see the boy wide-eyed and pink-cheeked. On a whim, he adds, "And like, I noticed you scraping it off and you haven't been wearing any and I think you should because that's what you like." or an au where harry paints his nails and drinks strawberry milk and is too nervous for it to be nothing and louis' just trying to figure out whats wrong with him. {Ao3 wankersville}