Five Steps Into Your Heart [Nouis]

.17

C H A P T E R  S E V E N T E E N
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       Harry shakes his leg nervously as he sits on the living room sofa of he and Niall's shared apartment, awaiting the familiar knock on his front door. His weariness of the meeting definitely shows; his nails are bitten down to the skin and his eyes are completely red due to him being so tired and fidgety. He can feel his body trembling as he sits in the familiar, yet daunting building, and it makes him want to stand up and flee back to Liam's flat.

It definitely does not help that Harry has so little energy that his brain cannot focus on coherent thoughts either. Sleep has been a stranger to Harry the last couple of days. When he failed to fall asleep for the third night in a row, Harry had ultimately resorted to lying awake in Liam's guest bedroom and preparing his words for this particular day.

However, even after all of the rehearsal, he still feels as though his planned speech is not anywhere near sufficient after what he did to Niall.

The apartment is extremely silent around Harry as he replays the words he wants to say in his head. There has always been at least a little bit of noise in the place, and the lack thereof makes the lad uneasy. Harry wishes he could hear Niall stumbling around upstairs, or maybe even the sound of Annie's light panting as he watches tv. He wishes he had something to drown out the whispers in his head and the deafening silence of the apartment.

However, Harry is afraid to turn on the tv, or even the AC unit, which has a rumbling sound that used to annoy him, but that he now finds comfort in envisioning. He does not want Niall to walk in and think that these last few days have been easy on him. He refuses to give off the impression that he can even tolerate doing mundane things since the whole commotion took place. Harry wants Niall to know that he is hurt and terribly sorry, and that he can not properly function without the blond in his life.

He has given up on any hope of them becoming anything more than friends. He knows Niall is happy with Louis, even though it kills him to see them together, and he has screwed up too bad to ever win Niall's heart in the first place.

Harry knows he never should have taken Zayn's advice. Harry was desperate, but he did not have to risk he and Niall's friendship and, furthermore, the blond's happiness. He feels like a massive idiot and he wants to make things right.

Hopefully, Niall will understand what he has to say.

Harry looks down at his watch and feels his heartbeat quicken even more. It is one thirty, so Niall should be arriving at any moment. The thought has him going back to biting his nails, even though there is not really any accessible length left to bite.

When Harry hears a faint knocking sound through the thick wood of his front door, his eyes immediately dart up. He stands with shaky legs and begins wobbling over to the entrance. He is a little thrilled at the thought of seeing Niall again, despite the ache in his stomach.

When he opens the door, his heart does a little skip in his chest. Niall stands before him, his blue eyes trained directly on Harry's green ones. After so many years of knowing each other, the blond is pretty keen on where to look when speaking to Harry.

The brunette observes how healthy Niall looks. He no longer has purple bags underneath his eyes and his skin is practically glowing. Harry wants to frown at the faint bruise he can see on the underside of the lad's jaw, but forces himself to ignore it. It is not his place to say anything. If Louis has made Niall this much happier in a short few days, then Harry should be thankful.