"Do you guys just get freaked out about time?" Harry asks Niall and Liam. He also realized earlier that they don't have to hide anything anymore. His friends know everything about him, and it makes hanging out much more fun.
Niall throws a football at him. "What are you on about?"
He sighs, picks up the ball, and lunges it back. He lays back down on Niall's bed, looks up, and sighs again. "I don't know. I'm just nervous about things. About graduating, and University. It's a lot of change in such little time."
"Zayn has the most wonderful mouth," Liam adds, who apparently, is too wrapped up in his own head to realize what they're talking about. "Like, it's incredible."
Harry and Niall both laugh. "Liam, we know. You tell us all the time."
"Well," Liam says with a sigh. "It's true."
"Louis' is better. Silky smooth. Always minty fresh. Knows how to work it," Harry dreamily says. "It's addicting."
"Well, Zayn does this thing with his tongue—"
"Stop!" Niall shouts. "I don't want to know about Zayn's tongue, or Louis' silky mouth, ya wankers. Bloody hell. Want me to go on about Lily's boobs? Her heavenly mouth? Would you two like that?"
Harry's nose scrunches. "Not really."
"Then shut it, yeah?" Niall speaks with a huff.
"You okay, Niall?" Liam asks. He's sitting in the sofa chair in his room, but Niall remains beside Harry.
"Yeah, fine. Just don't want you two to go on a 'my boyfriend's better than yours' argument."
"Well, Zayn's not my boyfriend," Liam mutters. "I'm just happy, is all. Harry, you didn't talk about how incredible it is to be with someone you're actually attracted to. I feel like I could explode with all of these new emotions."
Harry grins and leans up on his elbows to stare at Liam. "Yeah, it's nice. Doesn't really go away. Wait until you fall in love. Turns all the emotions up by a thousand, no less."
"Goddamn it, guys. Talking like life's a romance film or some shit," Niall groans. "Let's talk about—" He picks up the football. "About football. Sports. Yeah."
Harry snorts. "I'm shit at sports, Niall."
"Yeah. Same," Liam agrees.
"Christ," Niall mumbles, throwing his football down to the carpeted floor in defeat. "I'll call Louis, then, since he loves sports. Including football."
Harry fully sits up at that, his brow furrowed, as he stares at Niall. "You're joking."
Niall shrugs and stands, avoiding eye contact with Harry. "Yeah. We talk sometimes about the football games on the phone when they're on."
He narrows his eyes in on his mate, watching as he aimlessly kicks the ball around until it hits the wall and rolls back. "What are you on about? You trying to make a move on my boyfriend?" he jokingly asks, but he couldn't help but be curious. He didn't know Niall and Louis were that close.
Niall turns his head, but once his eyes fall on Harry's face, he laughs. "Absolutely not. My relationship isn't a sham, unlike your boys' were with your ladies. Lily and I are perfectly happy together, thank you."
"Well, actually," Liam says, voice turned serious. Harry stares at him, notices how he suddenly looks nervous with his gaze drawn downward, and starts feeling nervous too. "I have to admit something." He looks up, eyes dead-set on Niall. "It really was all a sham. Everything. Even with Zayn. Because I love you, Niall James Horan. Always have and always will."
Harry snorts, but turns to Niall to see his eyes were blown wide in shock. He can't help but laugh harder.
"Liam!" Niall yells out.
Liam starts to cackle, and soon, it turns into a full-on laughing fit. He's hunching over and clutching his stomach, head bowing as his whole body shakes. All while Niall looks as if he was nervously sweating with relief, as he's walking over to sit back on the bed slowly.
"I'm messing, mate," Liam says through his hyena-like laughter.
"Fuckin' hell," Niall groans. "Not funny. 'Cause I'm not, you know..."
"Niall," Harry says, reaching over to pat him on the shoulder. "We know."
Liam and Harry continue laughing, and Niall just rolls his eyes. "Call your boyfriends over, have the time of your lives. I'll just be sitting it out, it's fine."
Harry breathes a laugh out of his nose, glances at Liam, before looking back at Niall. "What do you mean?"
Niall turns his head to stare at him. "Your boyfriends are, like, your new best mates. I mean, they're guys. You don't need me. You get to kiss your best mate and talk about all the things we do, too. Think about it. I'm—I'm happy for the both of you, but I just don't want to—to be forgotten. Especially with high school ending. I don't know, it's dumb."
It's quiet after those words are in the air. Liam and Harry exchange looks, because they know they feel terrible that Niall's been feeling this way.
"Niall, you know no one could replace you," Harry tries to reassure him. "Being in a relationship and having a friendship are different. We need you. You're our best mate."
Liam nods in agreement. "Yeah, exactly. We'd lose our minds without you. Just because we like, uh—guys—doesn't mean we don't need you."
Niall huffs loudly. "Didn't want a bonding moment. I'm fine, really, just don't like thinking about us all moving away. Harry, you want to go to London; Liam, you want to go to bloody Italy, for what—literature? And I want to be a fucking doctor like Dad. We're all following different career paths. Different Universities. After graduation and summer, we probably won't see each other for years."
Harry looks down with a huff. He'd been so in his own head about his future and what it means for his love life, that he hadn't quite stopped to think about leaving Niall and Liam behind. Leaving them while they all figure out their own futures. It's terrible to think about; they've been friends for years, and could always depend on each other for the stupidest things. And vice versa—like jumping out of his window to ride his sisters bike for moral support for Liam. Now, looking back on those times, it's weird to think about how much he didn't know about himself. How much Liam's changed. How much Niall's grown and evolved into this confident guy, and a lovely boyfriend to his Lily.
"Well, we just have to make this time last," Liam says with a tinge of sadness to his voice. "Maybe we can go away somewhere. A holiday, perhaps?"
Harry perks up at that. "A trip after graduating, yeah! We should totally do that."
Niall nods slowly. "Yeah, that'd be nice. We should do that. Bring our, like, lovers and shit along. Get away from this town. Yeah, that'd actually be great."
Harry smiles, perks up from the soured atmosphere that had been created, all because a trip truly sounds lovely. Especially if it's with all the people he adores. And even if it's an idea that'll never happen, he still goes to Louis' that evening with a pep in his step. He just loves that his mates know absolutely everything about him, and that they can plan trips with their boyfriends, without a judgmental thought. He's just realized how far he's come from the beginning of all of this—how much he's grown.
