16 Times(Ziall oneshot)

A/N- So this is a oneshot based off of the poem the man reads on the side. Please go watch it before you read this(: Niall has OCD in this oneshot and i am so sorry if i get any information wrong, i do not nor has anyone ive ever known had OCD, i am simply going off what the man describes. I really hope you like it, thank you wouldntlast_1day for the beautiful cover! x And this will be dedicated to _BoyDirectioner for helping me sort out some ideas for this. Love you all, enjoy! 

             ~Anti Spoon Girl! <3 

16 times. 16 times. 16 times. 16 times.

Niall flipped the lock to his front door 16 times exactly, always 16 times, before padding his way towards his bedroom where he flipped the light on and off, on and off, on and off. He clenched his eyes shut in frustration and clenches hair as he kept flipping the light on and off because one time wasn’t enough and neither was 5 nor 7 times.

No, 16 times was enough.

When Niall was finally able to pad his way over to his bed where the corner of his covers were neatly folded down at the corner, he bent down to squirt hand sanitizer in his palm, rubbing his hands together even after they were dry, before slipping underneath the covers.

It was warm, the room dark and silent with only the soft tip tapping of the rain hitting the windows, yet he could not sleep. His mind racing with ‘did I lock the door yet, lock the door yet, lock the door yet’ or a constant babble of a coursing mantras of worries.

And Niall’s not quite sure when exhaustion becomes too much, pulling him into sleep and away from the mantra.

But when his mind flickers on and his eyelids flutter open as the shrill ‘beep’ ‘beep’ of his alarm clock goes off at exactly 8:24 he almost wishes he could go back to sleep and fall back into the place where the nagging becomes a dull pull. But he doesn’t dwell on the fact to long because his hands are itching, twitching with the need to shower, scrubbing his body clear of the germs that are crawling along his skin.

Niall spends 30 minutes in the shower, using exactly 10 minutes for each task before getting out and putting on his clothes, making sure to put his left leg in his pants first and to put his left sock on before his right, same with his shoes.

Its 9:30 before Niall leaves for school, spending the last 30 minutes having to turn off each of the lights until he felt that it was enough.

The streets were crowded on the short walk to the small coffee shop, people weaving around Niall as he had to stop at every crack in the sidewalk. But eventually he got to the coffee shop, the door chiming as he pushed open the glass door. Chatter filled his ears, a few people littered around the small tables around him.

Niall’s eyes caught with the soft brown eyes behind the counter and it was as if his brain went silent. All the ticks, all the constantly refreshing images just disappeared. Floated away from the loud nagging, to a dull pull to just nothing.

And as he walked up to the counter, the boy who Niall had seen every morning that he came in here just smiled at him, and all Niall could think about was the slight curve of his lips and the eye lash on his cheek, the eye lash on his cheek, the eye lash on his cheek.

“Here’s your coffee,” the boy’s voice was smooth with just the little bit rasp that made Niall’s heart jerk and tug. Niall never had to order because Zayn, as he had learned by the name tag on his shirt, knew that Niall always got his coffee black with 2 shots of espresso at the same time every morning.

Niall handed Zayn a few pounds as the boy gave him his coffee. “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Niall kept muttering, hating himself for it oh so much but the smile that Zayn gave him let him know that the boy didn’t mind. The boy never minded.