little do you know // niall horan au

chapter 15; almost home

(trigger warning: mentions of an eating disorder. please read at your own discretion.)

Mona was surrounded by warmth.

It seeped into her skin and filled her from the inside out. She'd never felt so comfortable in her life.

The nightmares had stopped and now she just couldn't remember her dreams. But judging from the way she was waking up, it must have been something pleasant, because there was an unmovable smile on her face.

And then she felt it, the hands, pressed gently on her back, warm, strong arms embracing her. Her own hands were on him, one on the back of his shoulder and the other pressed to his heart, her head resting comfortably on his chest. His heartbeat was a steady thump, thump, thump against her palm and she found that her breaths matched it, even and calm, just how everyone liked her to be for these past couple of days. She sighed contentedly, shifting her head to look up at him, and for a moment, her smile grew even larger. It had been a while since she caught herself in this position with him, and all she could think about was how beautiful he was, even while asleep.

But then, reality kicked in, and the smile dropped from her face.

Damnit, she thought to herself.

As if reading her thoughts, Niall shifted, a tiny grunt sounding from his throat as he twisted his body into a more comfortable position. When he looked down at her with his sleepy eyes, Mona's breath caught in her chest, and she wondered how anyone could keep their heartbeat steady when Niall looked at them like that. "G'mornin, my darlin'," he breathed out, voice groggy and sleepy and adorable. Mona wanted to punch herself in the throat.

At Niall's shifting limbs, another voice groaned, and Harry sat up from where he was sleeping on Niall's other side, rubbing the heaviness from his eyes. He smiled at them before his eyes caught on the laptop sitting idly on the coffee table, screen dark from the battery long giving up on them, and his entire expression changed. "Shit," he muttered, slumping back into the couch to card his fingers through his hair.

Liam had begun to jostle from where he was snoozing on the loveseat and as time stretched on, Mona began to panic. "I can't believe we fell asleep," she huffed, shifting out of Niall's warm embrace and wrapping her arms around herself. "We were only supposed to watch one episode!"

Harry huffed, reaching over to connect Liam's laptop to its charger. "Well," he sighed as it booted back up, "looks like we watched an entire season."

Mona groaned. They were over at Niall and Liam's and they were supposed to be studying. How reviewing notes for upcoming midterms turned into binge watching the entire season of The Crown on Netflix, she had no idea. She wasn't sure why they had a sudden obsession with the British monarchy last night, but she was surely regretting it now, because she had an exam in a few hours and she hadn't studied nearly as much as she wanted to for it. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, her heart beating a little too fast for comfort. "Oh my god, I can't believe we did this. I really need to pass this stupid test."

Niall's fingers closed around her wrist, and while his touch stopped feeling like it burned, it still had her flinching. "Relax," he murmured as he tugged her closer to him. She'd been letting him do that for the past few days because she didn't want to draw attention to her feelings on the...incident. And as much as she loved the way it felt when he had his arms wrapped around her, it still hurt way too much. "You still have time."

She glanced at the time on Liam's laptop and realized he was right. It was 6 am. But it wasn't as if any of them got enough sleep.

Harry yawned. "I don't, unfortunately." He started to gather his books and notes, stretching as he stood up before heading to the door. "I'll see you lot later, I guess. My exam's in two hours."