NIAM STORIES (BXB ONE SHOTS)

Snowstorm

If there’s anything Niall hated more than school, it’s that even when there’s no more school for the winter vacation, he can’t do a thing with a snow storm currently in session outside and the TV and the internet are down for the foreseeable future.

What’s worse was that his parents and his brother – his only lifesaver in snow storms like this – are stranded at the airport. The streets were buried in a few feet of snow and any effort to brace the chilling winds will always be in vain…

…much like the man covered in tin foil Niall watched a few minutes ago tumble and roll around while he was trying to peer out of the window.

“I’m sorry, honey,” said his mom over the phone. “But we can’t go anywhere in this storm.”

“But mom!” Niall whined. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Watch some movies…make some popcorn…”

“I’ve already done that!” said Niall. “I’m done with all the good movies and we’re all out of popcorn!” The Irish lad put emphasis on the last part of his sentence as if the lack of popcorn would mean the end of days.

“I’ll call Karen,” suggested his mother. “Maybe they can check on you…”

“Not the Paynes!” Niall groaned.

“And why not?” asked his mother. “Karen had always taken care of you ever since you were little whenever we were out of town!”

“When I was little,” said Niall. “I’m fifteen years old, mom. I don’t need a babysitter…”

The other side of the line was silent for a while until Niall heard Maura say “Hmm” and then, she said, “Maybe you don’t need a babysitter…maybe you need something else…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” grumbled Niall.

“You’ll see,” said his mother in a tone he was all too familiar with. She was definitely concocting something, he can feel it. “Bye for now, honey.”

“Bye,” replied Niall half-heartedly. He sat back down the couch, munching through the remaining popcorn on the large bowl and watching the ending credits of his brother’s favorite movie, Home Alone.

Maybe he was home alone…

Then again, there would have to be some kind of evil duo that he had to fight off to defend the house but there was nothing like that. He turned off the TV and placed the bowl on the kitchen sink before heading up to his room and check if the internet had risen from the dead.

Sadly, it hasn’t.

Niall crashed onto his bed, pulling the covers over himself and watched the gloomy light outside mingle with the snowflakes being blown to and fro in ferocity that it didn’t look pretty at all. He close his eyes and hoped that when he wakes from his sleep, his family was back and everything was back to normal.

But that wasn’t the case when he woke up.

________________

Niall’s phone blared loudly across his room; Justin Bieber’s singing told him that he had a message. He got up grumpily and fetched his phone which had found itself under his pillow. He jumped out of bed and lazily went to his laptop.

Being disappointed by the internet once again, he checked his phone and found that Maura had left a message:

I called Karen… Liam’s going to the house any minute now. She didn’t seem to mind and thought he might as well keep you company.