Finding You Was So Hard

Chapter 6

It only took a few days after the first time Niall had been little over at Harry's house before he started to miss Harry, like, a lot. They had of course texted and talked on the phone once or twice, but since they were both busy with final exams and everything, they couldn't get together for very long. It was now Friday, and Niall was waiting for Louis to pick him up to go for their usual Friday night outing with Liam and Zayn. Louis texted Niall to let him know that he was sitting in front of his building, and Niall quickly grabbed his coat and keys before going downstairs to meet Louis.
"So, how's Harry?" Louis asked as soon as Niall got in the car.
"I'm fine, thanks. How are you, Lou?" Niall said sarcastically.
Louis sighed. "I know you're fine, Niall. You've never been as happy as you are now, and you know it," Louis pointed out.
Niall rolled his eyes, but responded to his initial question anyway. "Harry's good. We're good, I mean. I had my English and Math exam this week, and Harry had a few as well, so we haven't seen each other since the last time I went to his house."
"You're no good. I wanted more stories and details," Louis mock pouted.
"Sorry my life's not interesting enough," Niall said half-jokingly.
"You should be," Louis said, pulling into the pizza place and parking next to Zayn's car. They both walked into the restaurant and quickly sat down in their usual booth.
"So, how's Harry?" Zayn asked after they sat down.
"Not you too," Niall groaned, and Louis just laughed.
"Harry's just more interesting than you," Louis teased.
"No, it's just the first person you've been with since high school," Liam said after Niall gave Louis a dirty look.
Niall blushed. His dating life was a touchy subject. He hadn't dated anyone in so long because the last boyfriend he had found out about the "baby thing." He freaked out, but Niall begged enough for him to promise not to tell anyone. Surprisingly, he'd kept his promise, and as far as Niall knew no one else had found out.
They all decided to drop the subject, and Niall sighed in relief. His phone vibrated, giving Niall an excuse to look down.
How about coming over tonight? xx -Harry
Niall smiled widely and quickly tapped out an answer.
Love to. :) Be there after dinner :)
He put his phone down, but picked it up again when Harry texted back.
I can't wait to see you. :)
"Who are you texting?" Louis asked, leaning over to look at Niall's phone when he saw him smiling down at it. "It's Harry!" Louis shared with the other boys, quickly snatching the phone from Niall's phone. Niall paled and desperately tried getting the phone back from Louis, knowing that there were more secret details of their "relationship" in the text messages.
"Louis, seriously give it back," Niall whined, reaching around Louis again as he continued to scroll through the messages.
"Aw, you're going over tonight. How sweet," Louis grinned evilly.
"Louis, stop torturing him," Zayn laughed.
"I'm counting down the seconds till I see your sexy face, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss," Louis narrated the text he was sending to Harry as Niall blushed furiously.
"Louis, seriously," Niall said, holding out his hand expectantly.
"You're no fun," Louis grinned, putting the phone in Niall's hand after sending the message. Niall grumbled and quickly texted Harry, explaining that it was Louis that had sent the last text.
The rest of dinner passed more uneventfully, much to Niall's relief. After Liam paid, they headed their separate ways for the week. Niall climbed into Louis' car and waited, dreading the fact that he had to ask Louis to drop him off at Harry's. Louis finally got in the car and started it, beginning to turn out of the parking lot like he was going back to Niall's.
"Uh, Louis," Niall interrupted.
Louis looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Can you, uh, take me to Harry's?" Niall asked. He was thankful that it was dark enough that Louis couldn't see how red his cheeks were, but there was no missing the wide, mischievous grin on Louis' face as he quickly switched the turn signal the other way.
"Of course, Niall," Louis said happily.
Niall turned up the radio so that Louis didn't have an opportunity to say anything else, but he could still see Louis' smirk. He tried to ignore him and relax before he got to Harry's. He wanted to be able to slip into his headspace as soon as possible once he got there. It had been too long in his mind since he'd been little. He hadn't been able to relax as much as he needed to at night because school had him stressed, and he couldn't seem to shut his mind off. He just couldn't wait to be with Harry so that he could finally relax and not have to worry about anything. He texted Harry to let him know that he was just down the street, and looked back out the window as the complex came into view.
Louis pulled in the lot and up to the door. "Have fun, Niall," Louis called obnoxiously as Niall got out of the car.
"Thanks, Lou," Nial smiled a little, already feeling calmer. If this were an hour ago he would've rolled his eyes at Louis, but now he felt much better just standing in front of Harry's building. He shut the car door behind him and walked into the apartment building, walking straight to the elevators and hitting the floor number. He got to Harry's place quickly from there. He knocked on the door and stood impatiently outside, wishing Harry would hurry. He could feel himself slipping a little bit, but he fought the urge for a while longer.
"Hey, babe," Harry said when he opened the door.
And with that, Niall was done. He walked in and hugged Harry, laying his head on his chest and sighing as Harry's arms came around him. Harry kissed the top of his head and shut the door behind them, walking Niall over to the couch. He sat down and put Niall in his lap, smiling at him.
"How are you?" Harry asked, brushing Niall's hair off his forehead.
"Better now," Niall mumbled, putting his face back into Harry's chest.
"Good," Harry said. "How about we get you changed, hmm?"
"Yeah," Niall said, wrapping his arms around Harry's neck. Harry smiled and stood with Niall in his arms to head towards the nursery. He laid Niall on the changing table once they got there, sticking his finger in the side of Niall's diaper, making him squirm and whine.
"Don't need changed," Niall whined.
"Okay, just checking, Ni," Harry said, going to the dresser to get out the pajamas Niall had worn last time. He dressed Niall in them and picked him back up with a little less struggle. He was starting to the the hang of it now.
"What do you want to do? Are you tired?" Harry asked, looking at the clock. It was well past 9:00, and he knew Niall'd had a long week as it was.
"Not sleepy. Wanna stay up with you," Niall said, biting back a yawn and hoping Harry hadn't noticed. But, of course, Harry did, though he didn't let on. He just walked toward the kitchen and pulled a bottle of milk that he'd thought to make earlier out of the fridge.
"Cold or warm milk, love?" Harry asked the tired boy in his arms.
"Warm," Niall mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open.
Harry put it in the microwave for a little bit and pulled it out when the timer went off. Niall jumped a little in Harry's arms when the microwave beeped as he had started to fall asleep. Harry shook the bottle as he walked them both back to the couch. He sat down and adjusted Niall on his lap, slipping the bottle into his mouth. Harry allowed himself to relax for the first time that week as well. He watched Niall fight the drowsiness as he drank down the bottle of milk. Harry sighed when it was all gone and Niall was still refusing to sleep. He could see how tired he was and he knew Niall had just as long of a week as he had.
"Why won't you sleep, babe?" Harry asked him.
"Not tired," Niall said stubbornly.
"I know you are," Harry said gently. "Do you want to watch a movie or read a story until you fall asleep?" Harry asked, knowing that either would put Niall to sleep in minutes.
"Watch a movie," Niall said, and Harry stood up to put in some random animated movie he had for whenever he babysat his friend's kid. Niall smiled when he saw it was The Lion King. Harry sat back down, and Niall immediately cuddled up against him. Harry waited patiently for Niall to fall asleep, and he almost did a few times before shaking himself awake. As it neared 11:00, and the movie was almost over, Harry tried again.
"Why won't you just go to sleep, baby?" Harry asked again.
"I want to stay up," Niall pouted, getting grouchy from how tired he was. He didn't know why Harry didn't understand that he didn't want to go to sleep; he wanted to stay up with Harry because he had missed him.
"But why? I know you're sleepy," Harry said as gently as he could.
What he wasn't prepared for was Niall to burst into tears. "Want to stay up," Niall cried, moving away from Harry and throwing himself back against the couch. "Don't wanna sleep, miss Daddy," Niall sobbed into his knees.
Harry looked at him in shock for a moment. He didn't know what to do or say, and he was panicking a little. He wasn't expecting Niall to have a complete meltdown. Everything seemed to click in his mind, however, when he registered that Niall said that he'd missed him. It made sense that Niall wanted to stay up with him as long as possible.
"Okay, shh, Niall, calm down," Harry cooed, moving toward him. "I missed you, too, love. But we have all day tomorrow, yeah?" Harry said, rocking Niall in his lap. "We have all day to have fun. And I don't want you being too tired to have fun with me," Harry continued as Niall calmed down.
"Kay," Niall sniffled, moving so that he was straddling Harry's legs with his arms around his neck and his face in Harry's neck.
"Okay," Harry repeated. "Are you ready to go to bed now?" Harry asked, standing up before he answered. Niall nodded into his neck, feeling much better about everything. He was glad that Harry was planning on letting him stay tomorrow as well.
Harry carried him into his nursery and laid him down in the crib. Niall finally allowed his eyes to start to close, and Harry sat on the bed next to him, rubbing his stomach and occasionally stroking his hair until he was sure Niall was asleep.
Harry sighed, but smiled at Niall.

He had no idea what he was getting himself into, but he loved it anyway.

A/N: finally updated :D tell me what you think!!! :)