Archive of Our Own

Niall is sitting on the couch in the tour bus listening to music on his phone when Eleanor comes in. He’s got his headphones in so he doesn’t notice immediately that she’s come in until she’s standing right in front of him. He startles upright, bringing his feet to the ground with a thud.

“Hey, Eleanor. Were you calling me?” he asks, pulling out an ear bud.

“Just wanted to know what you were up to?” She sits down beside him, peering down at his phone. “What are you listening to?”

“John Mayer,” he says, tilting the screen towards her.

“Can I listen with you?” she asks, holding out her hand for an ear bud.

Niall hands over the ear bud, restarting the song from the beginning.

“I love this song,” she says as the opening notes to Slow Dancing in a Burning Room start to play.

They listen in companionable silence for a while, Niall skipping around between albums, playing his favorites. When he can’t stand asking, he says, “Where’s Lou?”

“With Zayn somewhere. I think they were gonna ride their bikes around the stadium.”

Niall nods. He figured Louis was off with Zayn.

He’s played through most of Continuum by the time Louis bursts through the bus door. He’s sweaty, clothes sticking to his skin in soaked through patches, hair windswept and disheveled. Niall looks away quickly.

“There you are, love,” Louis says, bouncing his way over to them and plopping down onto Eleanor’s lap drawing an ‘Oomph’ from her as he sits down.

“Babe, you’re all sweaty and gross,” Eleanor whines as Louis wraps his arms around her shoulders and rubs his sweaty face and hair all over her in response. “Louis,” she half shrieks, half giggles, playfully trying to push him off.

Louis’ shin is pressed firmly to Niall’s calf, his leg hair scraping along Niall’s. Niall stays very, very still.

“What are you two up to? Not having fun without me, are you?” Louis asks.

“We’re listening to Niall’s phone,” Eleanor says, handing the ear bud to Louis.

“John Mayer, Niall, really? And not even his newer stuff either,” Louis says after listening for a bit.

“Yep,” Niall says.

“Me and Niall love John Mayer, don’t we Nialler?” Eleanor says.

“You do, do you? Love him more than me?” Louis says with a pout.

“Loads more,” Eleanor says with a completely straight face.

Louis squawks indignantly, turning on her lap to tickle her. “Take that back.”

Eleanor tries to catch Louis’ hands but being sneakier, Louis manages to evade her restraining hands and continues to tickle her mercilessly.

“Niall help me,” Eleanor yells. “Niall?”

During the ensuing tickle fight, Niall had stood up, needing to get away.

“I’m going to find the band. See if Sandy or Dave want to have a kick about,” Niall says from the doorway.

“We were going to put in a film. Stay and watch it with us,” Louis says. They’ve pausing their tickle fight, Louis’ hands caught in Eleanor’s firm grip. Both of them looking at him with expectant expressions..

“Nah. Need to stretch my legs. Been sitting too long. Have fun.” He steps outside but doesn’t go in search of the band like he said. Instead, he walks in the opposite direction.

He puts the ear bud back in his ear and turns up the song, the sound of Dreaming with a Broken Heart coming loud through the tiny speakers. He walks a lap outside the stadium, careful to steer clear of anywhere there might potentially be fans. He walks until his feet hurt and he knows he’s going to be uncomfortable during the show that night.

He lets his thoughts wander, fingers skittering at his side as he unconsciously fingers the chords to the song.

He hates feeling jealous. The emotion ugly, curdling in his stomach like sour milk. Hates it even more because Eleanor is so great. She’s perfect for Lou; smart and funny and gorgeous. Louis obviously adores her, spending as much time with her as he can with their busy schedule. He suspects that if Eleanor were to ever break up with Louis, Louis would fall apart; that’s how dependent he is on their relationship.

Niall knows all that and yet, he can’t help feeling jealous. Especially when they wear their love so plainly, silly, stupid grins plastered on their faces whenever they look at each other; soft, tender touches whenever they’re near one another. He’s happy for them, he is, in spite of his jealousy. He wishes nothing but happiness for them but sometimes he needs a break from their fountain of domestic bliss.

So he keeps walking, feet carrying his forward. And if he listens to Dreaming with a Broken Heart on repeat nobody is around to notice.

~*~

A couple of days later the band has the morning off in Sunderland. Niall wants to get in a bit of golfing with his time off. He invites his cousin, Willie, and his girlfriend, Jordan, who are traveling with them, to come along. They’re talking about it at the venue that night, discussing wake up times and car service arrangements. Eleanor overhears and asks if she can come along.

“You golf?” Niall asks, surprised.

“Since I was little. My dad taught me,” Eleanor tells him.

He says that she’s welcome to join them and let’s her know that she should meet them at 7 the next morning in the hotel lobby.

“And be sure Louis knows that we’re leaving at 7 am sharp so he better not be late.” He knows how Louis is.

“Louis’ not coming,” she says.

“He’s not?”

“Lazy sod wants to sleep in. Besides, I’m sure you know how he feels about golf,” she says with an exaggerated eye roll.

He does know how Louis feels about golf. According to Louis golf is only for old, rich snobs. Whenever Niall refutes his claim by saying that there are a lot of young people who like to play golf, including himself, Louis calls him a young, rich snob but still a snob. Apparently so is his girlfriend . Still, Niall would have thought Louis would give the sport a chance, no matter how posh it is, since Eleanor likes to play.

“It’s ok if it’s just me, right?” Eleanor asks, unsure.

“Happy ta have ya,” he says, thick accent masking his surprise.

The next morning, he comes down to the lobby to see Eleanor already waiting. Decked out in golf attire from head to foot, she looks like a proper golfer. She’s wearing a yellow polo shirt with white khaki shorts and a matching white visor, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. He’s impressed, although he is curious why she packed a complete set of golf clothes when Louis hates to golf.

The four of them set out to the golf course along with Basil, his bodyguard. Thankfully the weather is perfect for golfing, fair but not too hot.

Niall thought it might be awkward having Eleanor along without Louis. He figured she would be uncomfortable since she didn’t know Willie or Jordan. But she wasn’t; her and Jordan find out that they went to the same hairdresser in London and she quickly charmed Willie by complimenting his swing. Overall, they all have a great time.

Later at the venue, Louis finds them. Niall and Eleanor had left Willie and Jordan back at the hotel. They would come later, closer to the start of the show. Niall had to get to the venue early for soundcheck with the rest of the boys and Eleanor had come along with him. They’re backstage talking about their morning of golf, recounting Niall’s slip up with his club, causing him to go well over par.

“How did golfing go? Who won?” Louis asks, walking towards them.

“We weren’t really competing,” Eleanor says with a shrug.

“What’s the point if no one wins,” Louis says, sitting down on the arm of the couch. He leans down to kiss Eleanor hello. Niall can see inside his vest, his shirt falling away from his body to reveal the sharp cut of his collarbones.

“She’s just being nice,” Niall says, bringing his eyes up to Louis’ face. “She won, by a landslide. Came in 2 under par. Way better than the rest of us.”

“Well done, love,” Louis says, smiling down at Eleanor. “This is cause for celebration. What do you say, drinks after the show?”

Eleanor nods, smiling up at Louis. Then they turn to look at him, looking hopeful.

“Well, Niall. Drinks after the show. On me,” Louis says.

“Mate, I’m knackered. No way am I doing anything after the show except going to sleep,” he says.

“Ah come on, Nialler. Where’s that Irish spirit? It’s practically unheard of for an Irishman to turn down a free pint.”

“Don’t tell me da. He’ll disown me if he finds out.” He takes a lazy sip of his water, refusing to give in to Louis’ wheedling.

“We don’t have to go out if you’d rather have drinks in the room,” Eleanor says.

“Great idea, El. Come to our room after the show. We’ll raid the mini bar,” Louis says.

“Ask one of the other boys. I’m sure they’ll go out with you. Maybe not Zayn. I think I heard him mention wanting to skype Perrie tonight.” He’s not lying, he really is tired. It might not have been very hot but four hours of golf in the sun is more than enough to tire him out.

“You’re no fun,” Louis says, a petulant frown on his face.

“If you do change your mind feel free to come round to our room later,” Eleanor says, offering him a small smile.

Niall nods his head but he has no intentions of joining them.

~*~

Eleanor leaves a couple of days later. One of her cousins is having a birthday party on Saturday and she’s promised to be there. She’ll be with them again in no time, meeting up with the tour in London for their weekend of shows at Wembley.

It’s a slow afternoon; him and Louis are on the bus playing video games. It’s a rare occurrence that the two of them hang out just the two of them. If Louis isn’t with Eleanor then he’s usually with Zayn. Running a close third is songwriting with Liam and their team of songwriters.

The point being that one on one time with Louis follows closely behind group movie nights and band interviews in terms of how often he gets to spend time alone with Louis.

A perfect storm of events lined up to make it possible. Zayn was sleeping, Liam was with Sophia, and Harry was with Lou. The band and crew were busy setting up. That left him and Louis to entertain themselves.

He’s having trouble focusing, hardly pay attention to the game they’re playing, too busy savouring the moment. Not to mention every time Louis touches him he completely loses his concentration. Currently Louis’ elbowing him and kicking at his feet, attempting to mess up his game. He half heartedly tries to move away, soaking up the attention.

Niall had unleashed a slippery banana in front of Louis’ player, causing Mario to go careening off the road on screen. In real life, Louis retaliates with a swift poke to Niall’s side. On screen Niall’s player, Princess Peach, swerves sharply to the left.

From his back pocket, Louis’ phone starts ringing. He pauses the game to pick it up.

“Hey, babe. How’s it going?” Louis says.

Eleanor.

“Wish your cousin a happy birthday from me.” A pause as Eleanor replies, then, “Playing Mario Kart with Niall. I am not losing. How little faith you have in me. Besides, Niall’s a cheater.”

Niall tunes out the rest of their conversation; they can go on for hours. He takes out his phone, opening up his twitter. He thinks maybe he should leave Louis to talk with Eleanor in private, go lay down in the bunks, maybe take a nap. He doesn’t though. If Louis wants privacy he can step outside.

He tries not to be too bitter that Eleanor has intruded on his time with Louis. She’s not even here and Louis seems to spend more time with her than Niall. He knows he’s being unfair; Eleanor’s his girlfriend and they barely get to see each other with all the touring Louis does. Of course they want to make up for it any way they can.

Niall shouldn’t complain. He tours with Louis all over the world and plays sold out stadium shows full of thousands of fans. He should be thankful that he’s able to share this amazing experience with him but it’s hard not to feel jilted when he shares that experience with three other band members. It’s selfish of him but Niall just wants a piece of Louis that’s just his and his alone.

A little over twenty minutes pass before Louis hangs up the phone.

“Sorry, Nialler. El was just checking in. She says hello, by the way.” Louis puts his phone away and picks up his controller. “Best 2 out of 3?”

“More like 4 out of 7. You need to step your game up, Tommo.” He picks up his controller. No use having a strop about it.

“Watch it, Neil. You’re going down this round.” Louis unpauses the game without a warning, using Niall’s surprise to pull ahead of him.

It’s not much but Niall will take what he can get.

~*~

They have a little break between the end of their UK tour and the start of their European tour. It’s been a long tour already and it’s not even half way over yet. They’ve already played South America and the UK but there’s still the European and American legs of the tour left to go. This two week break could not come sooner; Niall is planning on doing a whole lot of nothing and he can’t wait to get started.

And he does exactly that; he stays home, orders a bunch of takeaway from Nandos and plants himself down in front of the telly. He and Willie catch up on the World Cup, watching all the games they missed and rewatching the best ones so far. He marathons episodes of his favorite shows, watching eight hours of Modern Family all in one go. Overall he spends a nice couple of days just chilling out on his couch and eating crap junk food.

He’s in his living room, a beer in one hand and nachos in the other, when the doorbell rings. Willie is out with his girlfriend so Niall has to get up to see who’s at the door. To his surprise, Louis is standing outside his door.

“Hiya, Nialler. Fancy having a pint?” Louis asks, holding up a case of beer and stepping inside.

“Might do,” Niall says, closing the door behind him.

He follows Louis into the sitting room where he sits down and eats the rest of Niall’s nachos and finishes off his beer.

“Make us some more nachos, then, shall I?” He says, watching from the doorway as Louis helps himself.

“Ta, mate,” Louis says through a mouthful of cheese and chips.

He goes into the kitchen and comes out with two large plates of nachos and a bottle opener. They pass a pleasant evening that way, drinking beer and eating greasy nachos while watching footie. He’s full and a bit tipsy and he’s never felt more content.

Beside him Louis is picking off bits of his beer label, rolling the damp paper between his fingers then flicking away the tiny balls. He looks deep in thought and a little anxious but Niall has no idea why.

“Niall,” Louis says, clearing his throat.

“Yeah, Lou?” he says.

“What do think of Eleanor?”

Niall goes cold all over, heart lurching in his chest.

“Oh my god, you’re going to propose.”

“What?” Louis’ brow is wrinkled into a little puzzled frown.

“To Eleanor.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Now Niall’s the one who’s confused.

“No,” Louis says, drawing the word out slowly as if this will help Niall understand better.

“Oh,” he says.

A beat goes by where neither of them says anything. Niall’s heart finds its regular rhythm, heartbeat returning to normal, but he still feels clammy and unsettled.

“Right, so what I was going to say was,” Louis starts then stops, running his hand through his hair, plainly nervous about something. “What I was trying to say was,” he says then pauses.

“Oh fuck it. Do you want to have a threesome with me and El?” Louis spits out.

“What?” The word threesome rings out in his head, echoing in the empty space of his thoughts.

“Niall,” Louis whines. “I had this whole speech prepared and you completely ruined my plan.”

“Sorry?” he says, not really sure what he’s apologizing for. He has no idea what’s even going on. He’s almost positive he blacked out for the last 30 seconds.

“You should be.” Louis runs his hand through his hair again, giving a rough tug to the strands before huffing and straightening out his shoulders.

“Look, El and I were talking and we wanted to know... if you wanted to have sex. With us.”

“With Eleanor...and you?”

“Yep. You, me, and Eleanor. The three of us. Having sex. Sort of where the name threesome comes from,” Louis rambles in a sarcastic tone but Niall notices that he's twitching his leg up and down a mile a minute.

Niall’s mind is stuck on the part where he might get to have sex with Louis. Maybe not with him, with him, since he doesn’t think Louis is interested in men but he would definitely see Louis naked. And hard. He covertly shifts his legs, attempting to adjust himself without touching his dick.

“So, what do you think?”

“Have you ever had a threesome before?” He asks, ignoring Louis’ question but also genuinely curious.

“No,” Louis says, a long, drawn out negative, then, “Have you?”

“No.” The thought had never really crossed his mind. Of course the lads have joked about it, the sort of off hand comments not to be taken seriously. Now, though, Niall can’t help but imagine it. Mouths meeting, skin touching skin, hands exploring each other’s bodies.

“Oh.” Louis frowns a bit as if he was expecting Niall to say yes.

“Does that mean you don’t want to?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s clear as mud,” Louis says with a snort. Niall looks at Louis and they both start to giggle at the ridiculousness of the situation. Their giggles soon turn into full on laughter, the both of them clutching at their stomachs from laughing so hard.

“Look, come over tomorrow, we’ll have dinner, hang out and go from there,” Louis offers, voice calm and friendly. “No pressure, ok?”

Niall knows Louis is trying to be reassuring but inside he’s freaking out even if outwardly he only says, “Yeah, ok.”

They go back to watching the football match after that but the moment’s been broken, tension thick in the air. Louis excuses himself not long after, setting his empty beer bottle down on the table.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” Louis asks at the door.

“Yeah,” Niall nods, seeing him out.

He gathers the empty beer bottles littered on the coffee table and their dirty plates with congealed cheese and carries all of it to the kitchen. He rinses out the brown glass, throwing them in the recycle bin, then gives a quick swipe to the dirty dishes before placing them on the dish rack.

Kitchen clean, he heads to his room, calling it an early night. He wonders if he should talk to one of the lads about this but doesn’t know who to ask much less what he would say.

If he had to put money on which of the boys he thought would be most likely to have a threesome, Niall would have bet on Harry or Zayn. But then, he also would have bet good money on Louis being the least likely and well, that obviously wasn’t true.

Even if he did approach one of them, Harry probably, what would he even say? Any advice for a guy about to have his first threesome? With who? Oh, no one that you’d know.

No, he won’t say anything. He might not know what he’s doing but he knows enough not to ask Harry for threesome advice.

He’ll just go and see what happens. It might not even work. They could change their minds, decide that a threesome isn’t going to work or that they made a mistake choosing Niall as their third person.

Niall frowns at that thought. No use worrying about what might happen. He fluffs his pillow and goes to sleep.

~*~

Standing outside Louis’ flat, a bottle of red wine in one hand, Niall rings the doorbell. Eleanor opens the door, barefoot and looking warm and cozy.

“Louis’ in the kitchen cooking,” Eleanor says, leading Niall into the room.

“Is he?” Niall asks, surprised. Louis doesn’t cook much, a little known secret that only about half the world knows.

“He is. Wine, beer? I suggest alcohol to kill the taste.”

“I heard that,” Louis shouts from somewhere in the flat Niall can only assume is coming from the kitchen. Niall walks in to see an apron tied around Louis’ waist and a large wooden spoon in one hand.

“Hiya, Nialler. Alright?” Louis pulls Niall in close for a hug, taking the bottle of wine from his hands and searching for the bottle opener.

“Good, yeah.” He watches Louis twist the cork, filling the glasses Eleanor has taken down from the shelf. Neither of them are acting any different than usual, their easy banter and comfortable demeanor familiar to Niall.

Yet, their relaxed manner only serves to highlight how awkward and out of place Niall feels. The reason for his being there keeps flashing across his mind despite how hard he ignores it.

“Hope you don’t mind spag bol,” Louis asks, breaking Niall out of his reverie. “And despite what Eleanor might have told you, I make a decent pasta.” He sticks his tongue out at Eleanor who sticks her tongue out right back at him.

“You know me. Never been a very fussy eater.”

Around him Louis and Eleanor banter back and forth in the same vein through the rest of the dinner preparations and keep it up through dinner. Niall gets roped into taking sides, Louis and Eleanor pitting him against the other. Gradually he unwinds, tension slowly seeping out of his shoulders as he sips more wine and listens to their teasing. After they eat they move into the living room to finish their wine and continue talking.

Eleanor rests against Louis’ side with his arm thrown over her shoulders, Niall sat across from them on the other couch. The scene is familiar and Niall starts to think he made the whole thing up. In a little bit he’ll say his goodbyes and go home to his own bed for the night.

Eleanor moves her hand down to Louis’ thigh, finger running along the inseam on his jeans. Niall’s eyes follow the movement of her hand, his gaze drawn to Louis’ crotch. There’s a noticeable bulge in Louis’ jeans. He’s hard, Niall realizes. He quickly looks away, eyes catching Louis’ own. His stare is challenging, daring Niall to keep looking.

Louis stands up, grabbing Eleanor’s hand and bringing her to her feet. Eleanor reaches out with her other hand for Niall’s. They wait, gazes pinned on him, unwavering.

He had resigned himself to pining after Louis from afar, given up his crush as a hopeless cause. But here was his chance to be with Louis even if it wouldn’t be like how he had imagined. This was his one opportunity and he might never get another one again.

Niall takes her hand and follows them into the bedroom.

Louis stops them in the middle of the bedroom, turning towards them, hands on Eleanor’s hips from behind. Eleanor pulls him in, hands on his shoulders. “Is this ok?” She asks, leaning forward to kiss him but pausing before her mouth touches his.

Niall leans the rest of the way forward in lieu of an answer. Her lips are soft against his, warm and gentle against his own slightly chapped ones. He hears the sound of Louis unzipping eleanor’s dress, the fabric falling away beneath his hands until he’s touching the bare skin of her hips. He breaks away from the kiss to see Louis without a shirt and jeans unbuttoned. A touch at his hip alerts him to Eleanor working on the button to his own jeans.

A second pair of hands lift up his shirt, pulling it off over his head. The hands, larger and rougher, sweep up his now naked sides. Niall shivers hard, fit to fall apart at Louis touching him. His hands feel so good on his body. Louis kisses his neck, his stubble rasping over the sensitive skin behind his ears. He gasps, head thrown back, static filling his head as he sees white, his nerves on fire.

He needs to calm down, get himself under control or else he’s going to give himself away.

Eleanor pulls him forward, onto the bed with her, Louis following. Eleanor lies in the middle between them, turned slightly towards Niall as they continue kissing. Louis is turned the other way, riffling through the night stand draw. He tosses a couple of condoms and lube on the bed.

Niall’s heart skips a beat when he see’s the lube and something must show on his face because Louis says, “El likes it really wet.”

“Don’t lie. So do you.” Niall watches as Louis leans down to kiss her. He's hard, uncomfortably so. He had worried he might have a problem getting hard, nervousness causing him to stay soft. Turns out that’s not going to be a problem.

The planes of Louis' body are in front of him, the sweep of his legs rising to meet the fullness of his hips and thighs. Niall drags his gaze from Louis thick, flushed cock up the lines of his torso and arms, tattoos dark against his skin. He's never been more turned on in his life.

Louis rolls a condom on, pouring lube over himself and kneels between Eleanor's legs. He enters her, slowly, the effort of holding back a visible struggle. They both gasp as his hips come flush to hers.

Niall startles when he feels a hand on his chest. He had been so immersed in following the motion of their bodies, the glimpses of Louis' cock as he thrust in deep that he hadn't realized Eleanor had been staring at him. He blushes, a hot burn of shame enflaming his face and neck.

She brushes her hand behind his neck, "Hey, c'mere." She pulls him down, kissing him, a dirty, wet slide of lips.

Above them Louis gasps and comes, collapsing on top of Eleanor. He ties off the condom and tosses it into the bin by the bed.

"That was quick," Eleanor teases, breaking away from Niall.

"Sorry," Louis nuzzles into her shoulder. He laughs, giddy and breathless from coming, and rubs a hand over his face, pushing his sweaty fringe to the side.

"You're up, Nialler. Hopefully you'll last longer than I did."

"Not gonna be hard, is it?" Eleanor says, giving him a playful smirk.

Louis tickles her in retaliation, causing her to kick and scream, which turns into kissing. NIall lays there, hard and forgotten. Then Eleanor pushes Louis away and rolls to her knees.

"Enough of you. It's Niall's turn." She throws her knee over his legs, straddling his thighs.

“This position ok for your knee?” Louis asks, sliding a gentle touch over Niall’s knee, thumb following the jagged line of the angry, red scar.

He has to swallow a couple times before he can speak, his mouth dry and his voice comes out croaky when he says yes.

“Good.”

Eleanor takes one of the condoms and rolls it over Niall. Louis opens the lube, spreading a handful over Niall for a few glorious seconds that's over way too soon.

Eleanor sets a slow pace, thighs straining as she does most of the work. He lies there trying to concentrate on the rhythm of their bodies, the clench of her muscles around him but he can’t. He’s too distracted by Louis lying next to him, their bodies touching all along Niall’s side.

“Here, give me your hand,” Louis says, laying his hand over Niall’s and bringing it up to cover Eleanor’s breast.

“She likes having her nipples played with.” He guides Niall’s hand, moving his thumb to roll over the hard nub he finds there. Eleanor moans, chest straining forward to push her breasts harder into their hands.

Louis takes his hand away, leaving Niall’s in place. He slides his hand down to where Eleanor and Niall are joined, fingering her clit.

Eleanor picks up her pace, working to get herself off. Niall keeps thumbing at her nipple, other hand on her hip keeping her steady. He watches Louis’ fingers moving rapidly over her clit, the muscles in his forearm straining from the effort.

"She's close, gonna come," Louis whispers into his ear, and hearing him say come is enough to push Niall over the edge. He thrusts his hips a couple more times and comes. Eleanor clenches tight around him as she comes, too.

She falls to the side of him, long hair fanning out around her as she twists onto her back beside him.

Louis immediately latches onto her mouth, running his hands over her sweat slick skin.

Niall waits for his breathing to calm down, sweat drying slowly on his skin and sticking to the bedsheets. Once he’s got his breath back he heaves a huge sigh and rolls over. He picks up his discarded boxer briefs from the floor and pulls them on.

“What're you doing?” Louis asks, looking up from kissing Eleanor, frowning at him getting dressed.

“Putting my trousers back on.” He doesn’t glance up.

“I can see that. Why are you putting your trousers on?”

“Going to head out.” He says as he finishes dressing.

“What? No. Stay the night.” Louis has half sat up at this point, tone upset. Eleanor has sat up as well, wearing the same confused frown as Louis.

“Can’t. I’ve got an early morning session with Jarvis.”

“So? Just text him and reschedule.”

“It’s too late to reschedule.”

“Suit yourself.” Louis shrugs, sounding put out. “El promised to make a fry up in the morning. You’re gonna miss out."

Niall hovers, unsure what the etiquette is after having sex with your bandmate and your bandmate's girlfriend. Finally he decides to treat it as he would any one night stand. He walks towards the bed, bending down to give Eleanor a polite kiss on the cheek goodbye.

“Are you sure you won’t stay?” She asks. Niall shakes his head and stands up, moving to leave.

“Where’s my kiss?” Louis demands with a cheeky smile and points to his cheek.

Niall blinks, perplexed by Louis’ request but obediently leans down again. At the last second, Louis turns his head, Niall kissing his mouth instead of his cheek.

He startles, pulling away flustered. Louis smirks at him, wrapping his arms around Eleanor and dragging her down to the bed.

“Night, Nialler.”

He leaves them cuddling on the bed, too speechless to say goodnight back to them. He lets himself out of the flat, making sure the door closes all the way behind him, automatically locking. He drives home in a daze, surprised to find himself turning onto his street, unaware of how he made it home.

He walks into his flat as quiet as he can be, careful not to wake Willie up. He had told Willie he was going over to Louis’ place and it’s not unusual for him to come home late after hanging out with one of the boys. But he’d rather not have to explain why he looks freshly shagged coming back from Louis’ place.

Tiptoeing to his room he discards his clothes in the hamper, he brushes his teeth as quietly as he can and gets into bed.

He wonders what Louis and Eleanor are doing right now. Maybe they fell asleep after he left, tired from their joint sex adventure. Or maybe they continued kissing, picking up when they left off, unimpeded by Niall’s presence. He stops his thoughts there, not needing to torture himself with images of Louis and Eleanor, naked and alone in their bed without him.

He can't stop remembering the way Louis had looked naked and hard. The sound he made when he came. He doesn't think he'll ever forget how it felt to be touched by him.

It had been different than he expected. He figured he would most likely be interacting primarily with Eleanor with him and Louis taking turns having sex with her. He was prepared to not touch Louis at all, except for the occasional unavoidable brushing of limbs.

He had been wrong. Louis had caressed his skin, kissed his neck, had even touched his cock. It had almost been more than he could handle, the reality of having his long hoped for desires fulfilled overwhelming.

Yet, aside from being willing to touch another man’s cock, Louis hadn’t gone farther than rolling a condom on Niall’s dick. And his focus had been on making sure Eleanor came rather than on Niall. He’s doesn’t think he should interpret Louis lack of aversion to his dick as a sign of interest.

He keeps getting stuck on the kiss Louis had given him goodnight. Afterall, Louis had been the one to turn his head so that Niall would kiss his mouth and not his cheek. Louis had smirked afterwards, did that mean he was making fun of Niall? He can’t figure it out.

The whole night had been a bit unsettling. Watching Louis and Eleanor together, seeing them together had only driven home what Niall had already known which was how strong Louis and Eleanor’s relationship was. Niall had no idea why they would even ask him to join them when it didn’t seem like anything could be missing between them.

The only possible explanation that he can think of has to be that they’re trying to spice up their sex life. Maybe having a threesome was something Eleanor had always wanted to try and that was why they chose Niall. The more he thinks about it, the more sense it makes. He’s a close mate and just as famous as Louis so he would have just as much to lose if anyone ever found out.

He turns over in his bed, twisting the duvet around him. It’s not a comforting thought, to think that they would use him to spice up their sex life and only because he won’t tell anyone. He can’t bring himself to regret it, though, since he did get to have sex with Louis, albeit not directly.

Eventually, he drifts off to an uneasy sleep, wondering if things will be awkward between them come the start of the European tour.

~*~

For the most part, things between them are awkward. But it’s mostly awkward because of Niall. He doesn’t know how to go back to being just friends with Louis. He feels unsettled in his skin around him. Louis will move a particular way and Niall will be reminded of how he moved that night; fluid and sensual but always playful.

Eleanor flies out to meet them in Germany. Niall avoids them. Thankfully Willie has come out and acts as his shadow.

His strategy proves faulty a few days later when Willie leaves the tour and Niall no longer has a convenient chaperone. He’s cornered by Eleanor, who finds him having a kick about with the band lads in the venue parking lot.

“Hey, Nialler,” she says, handing him a cold bottle of water. It’s hot out and he’s sweating quite a bit, mopping up the sweat on his forehead with the edge of his shirt.

“Thanks,” he says, taking the water and twisting the cap off. He drinks almost half the bottle, more to have something to do than from any thirstiness.

Niall doesn’t quite meet Eleanor’s eyes. He feels shitty. He’s not usually like this with people he’s had sex with, prefers to remain on friendly turns with people he’s slept with. He keeps having to suppress the urge to apologize for wanking to thoughts of her boyfriend. Not a great conversation starter, that.

“How’s your family doing?” Niall asks when he can’t stand the silence any longer. It’s such a banal question since he’s met her parents maybe twice but he can’t think of anything else to say that isn’t ‘Hey remember that time we had sex. I think about it a lot. Specifically how your boyfriend looked coming’. “It was your cousin’s birthday a couple weeks back wasn’t it.”

“Yeah, my cousin Emily’s. She turned 12,” Eleanor says, not offering anything more. She looks as awkward as he feels and he wonders why she sought him out.

He nods. He looks around to see if any of the boys are nearby and can save him from this awkward situation. All of the lads seemed to have disappeared, only the occasional venue security roaming around.

“How are your training sessions with Jarvis going?” she asks.

“Fine, yeah. Lots of biking cause of my dodgy knee. But good, yeah.” He drinks more water; anything to keep his mouth occupied and to stop him from saying more dumb stuff.

“Biking is fun.”

“Yep.” He looks around again. God, where is everyone.

“Niall,” she says. “I was wondering…”

He sees an embarrassed flush come over her face, the tops of her cheeks turning cherry tomato red. She knows. She’s somehow figured him out, he’s given himself away, wore his emotions too easily on his body and now she knows. He braces himself for the worst.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come back to the hotel with us tonight?”

Out of all the things she could have said,he was not expecting her to say that. He didn’t know what to say. On the one hand, his body very much wanted his mouth to say yes. On the other hand, his head told him that there was still a chance for him to get out of this unscathed.

“Yeah, ok.” In the end, it was never really a question.

She smiled at him, eyes crinkling in the same way Louis’ did. “Great, Nialler. So I’ll see you tonight?” She quickly glanced around. Seeing that there was no one to see them, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, a warm imprint that stayed on his skin even after she had walked away.

After the show that night, he goes to his own room to take a shower. He quickly towels himself dry but pauses when he realizes he doesn’t know what to wear. He stares at the contents of his drawers, tossing the contents around.

He always unpacks his suitcase first thing when they stay at a new hotel, carefully folding and putting away his clothes all tidy and organized. The boys take the piss out of Niall for it but he can’t be bother to care.

In the end he picks out a comfortable pair of jeans and a plain shirt. No use overthinking what he’s wearing when he’s just going to take them off again in a bit.

He thinks about changing his mind, texting Louis that he’s poorly and can’t come. But he doesn’t. He grabs his phone and key card from the side table and heads down the hall.

They’re all on the same floor, the band along with everyone who works with them taking up almost the entire floor. He’s glad he doesn’t encounter anyone in the hall, the few feet to Louis’ room deserted.

Niall knocks at his door, the tap tap of his key card flapping against his leg as he waits for one of them to let him in.

This time it’s Louis opening the door for him, a glass of wine in one hand as he gestures him into the room with the other.

“Nialler,” Louis says. “Finally. We’ve opened the wine already. Pour him a glass, would you El?”

She does, taking the third, until now, unused wine glass from the table and pouring out a little less than half a glass of wine. She doesn’t bring it to him, just holds it out for him to fetch.

Niall moves closer into the room, taking the glass from Eleanor’s hand, and sits down beside her on the couch when she pats her hand on the cushion. Louis seats himself on the other side of him, effectively hemming him in on both sides.

“Do you like it?” Eleanor asks, bringing him out of his thoughts. He’s been staring at the crimson red liquid swirling around in his glass and missed her question.

“The wine? Do you like it? I bought it yesterday in this cute little winery I went to with Sophia. It’s suppose to be really good.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s good,” Niall says, sipping a bit for effect but not really tasting it. Louis suddenly hunches forward excitedly.

“Mate, did you see the score from today’s match? I can’t believe Germany won.” Niall nods, watching as Louis breaks out into a dramatic retelling of the footage he saw of the game.

Louis talks a bit more about football and the World Cup, with him and Eleanor chiming in whenever Louis takes a breath. Then Eleanor remarks how crazy the show was that night and him and Louis agree, saying how amazing the crowds have been. It’s all really relaxed and normal and Niall eases back into it.

He tilts his glass for another sip of wine but only a drop tips out. He puts down the empty glass and notices that Louis and Eleanor have also finished their glasses of wine. The bottle of wine is sitting on the table not even half empty but neither Eleanor nor Louis move to pour out more wine.

He slowly becomes aware that a hand has been running up and down his forearm, and another hand on his leg has been tracing the scar on his knee through the hole in his jeans. The hair on his arm stands up straight, goose pimples rising on his forearm. His knee tingles, and he barely suppresses his reflex to kick out, his knee twitching with the effort.

Despite his nervousness, the casual conversation and glass of wine had relaxed him, lulled him into a false state of calm. Like last time, he had begun to think that this was a regular hangout and that he would go back to his own room after a few glasses of wine.

He had almost forgotten why it was they had invited him here in the first place. He has no idea how he had missed the gentle yet suggestive touches. Now that he’s conscious of their touches, the tension he had felt at the beginning of the night comes rushing back, flooding his whole body with nerves.

Eleanor leaves kisses along his neck, soft, warm presses of her lips beneath his ear that cause Niall to shiver. Louis trails his hand higher up Niall’s thigh, the hard, biting press of his fingers eliciting a moan from his lips.

He hardens inside his jeans, the rest of his body frozen, unable to do anything against the onslaught of sensations.

After what feels like an eternity, they move to the bed, undressing as they go.

Niall sits up against the headboard as Eleanor gets onto her knees in front of him. She rubs her hand over his cock, thumbing the spurt of moisture at the tip and spreading it along his cock.

She repeats the motion with her tongue. Behind her, Louis has lifted her hips so that he can better reach her. Niall can't see but he feels Eleanor moan when Louis puts his mouth on her.

Louis must be doing a good job because Eleanor keeps moaning around his cock, occasionally breaking off to gasp wetly against his thigh. Between her moans he can also make out muffled moaning coming from Louis, deeper in tone; he can just make out the rhythmic motion of Louis' arm as he works himself over.

With an out of breath gasp, Louis pulls away, moving to a kneeling position. He tears open a condom with his teeth and rolls it on.

NIall watches as Louis grips Eleanor's hips and slides forward. Eleanor moans, causing the most exquisite vibrations along Niall's cock that his own hips thrust forward without his permission.

She pulls off, coughing a bit.

"Sorry, sorry," he says, smoothing his hand soothingly over her face and hair.

She wipes her hand across her mouth, giving him a small smile to let him know he's forgiven and goes down again.

He plays with her hair, being extra careful not to pull and to keep his hips still on the bed. Above them, Louis continues to fuck into Eleanor. He's built up a sweat, a light sheen of moisture covering his chest and arms. Niall wants to lick his skin.

He's close; the obscene sight of Louis before him and the dirty, slick slide of Eleanor's mouth around him too much. He gives a tiny tug to Eleanor's hair to let her know he’s about to come.

She speeds up her pace and he comes, closing his eyes against the lewd image of Louis rutting hard into Eleanor.

She pulls off once he's done, resting her head on his stomach as Louis thrusts faster. He's got a hand beneath her, working to bring her off with him.

She inhales, a quick intake of breath against Niall's skin, and then she's coming, Louis following close behind.

Niall touches her face. She's got her eyes closed, lips parted as she pants for breath, Louis' slumped over her, sweaty fringe sticking to his face, a hectic flush over his cheeks.

Niall helps maneuver them to the bed, both of them collapsing into a tangled heap beside him once Louis’ got rid of the condom. Eleanor immediately latches onto him, arms and legs attaching herself to him with purpose.

"What?" Niall asks.

"You're staying here tonight,” Louis says as his arm reaches over to cover Eleanor’s on Niall’s stomach.

Niall huffs in defeat. The determined looks on their faces tell him he doesn't really have a choice. He resigns himself to sleeping over.

He used to sleeping alone, limbs spread starfished over his queen sized bed but it doesn’t feel as foreign as he expects to share a bed with two people. It sort of reminds him of being at the bungalow, when they would lay out blankets and pillows in the sitting room, sleeping all smushed together. The memory is comforting and he eases into their embrace, drifting to sleep.

In the morning, Niall wakes up to see Louis already up. He's dressed and drinking tea, his laptop open on the table in front of him. Eleanor lies next to him, still asleep, tucked securely into the crook of his arm.

He blushes, unexpectedly embarrassed to be caught in bed with his mate’s girlfriend. A strange thought given that said mate was in the bed with them.

He extracts his arm from beneath Eleanor's neck, careful not to wake her as he moves to get out of bed, belatedly realizing he's naked from the night before. He can feel Louis' eyes on his body when he stands up, the scrutiny causing his blush to deepen. He bends down to pick up his pants, back turned towards Louis.

"Want some tea?" Louis whispers, pointing to the kettle and the tin of tea he carries in his luggage at all times.

He shakes his head, gathering up his clothes from the floor.  "Need a shower and a fresh pair of pants."

"Meet you downstairs for brekkie? I'll wake this one up," he says, pointing to Eleanor’s sleeping form, "and we'll meet you in the lobby in half an hour."

He agrees, dressed except for his socks and shoes which he carries in his hand as he leaves the room.

He’s worried about being caught slipping out of Louis’ room, hair mussed and clothes rumpled. So he hurries to his room, bare feet scurrying along the carpeted corridor until he's swiping his key card and opening the door to his room.

Safely inside, he hops into the shower, rinsing off and dressing in order to meet Louis and Eleanor for breakfast.

Downstairs, he moves into the hotel's dining area with Louis and Eleanor. It's not too crowded, mostly other hotel guests and such but there are a couple of people from their management team and production assistants eating breakfast.

They order, tea and eggs and toast, talking about their plans for the day as they wait for their food. Eleanor has made plans with Sophia to do a bit of sightseeing in Milan, and eat lunch at this café one of her friends from uni had recommended.

"What are you boys up to?" Eleanor asks.

"I've got a bit of work to do in the studio, what about you, Niall?" Louis says.

"Suppose to be working out with Jarvis after breakfast." Niall says.

"Maybe tomorrow the three of us can all go sightseeing together," she suggests. “There’s suppose to be this great bistro nearby, what do you think?”

Tonight is their second and last night playing in Milan. They've got a day off tomorrow before they have to be at the next venue. Niall didn't really have any plans but he doesn't know how he feels about spending the day in Italy, the romance capital of the world, with Louis and Eleanor. He’d hate to intrude.

Before he can answer, Liam comes up to their table, sitting down in the fourth empty chair. He's in workout clothes, a white vest and black trackies, the underarms soaked through with sweat.

"Morning," Liam says.

"Why are you all sweaty?" Louis asks, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

"I was doing my morning workout with Jarvis," Liam replies, oblivious to Louis’ mocking tone.

"And you decided to come down here all sweaty and stinky? You could have at least taken a shower."

"I was on my way to take a shower but I saw you guys and decided to say hello.”

"Eh,” Eleanor says, interrupting Louis’ reply. Louis and Liam have a tendency to go back and forth like this for hours if left unchecked. “Where's Sophia?" Eleanor interrupts.

"Sleeping. Surprised you lot aren't as well."

"This one," she says, poking at Louis, "wouldn't stop jumping on the bed until I woke up."

"Don't blame me. Niall was the one who wanted breakfast."

Niall freezes in horror, waiting with baited breath for Liam to ask why Louis was hanging out with Niall so early in the morning. But Liam doesn’t ask, he barely even blinks at Louis' comment, apparently unperturbed with Niall being involved in Louis and Eleanor’s breakfast plans.

"Going to go wake up Soph. Catch up with you guys later,” Liam says, getting up from the table.

Liam’s lack of reaction gives Niall pause; he thought they were being obvious but he must just have been feeling paranoid.

Their food comes and they eat and talk for awhile longer. Finally Niall has to get going in order to have his workout session with Jarvis.

He says his goodbyes and stands up from the table.

"We'll see you tonight, yeah?" Louis asks. "Come over again after the show. Babe,” he turns to Eleanor, “do you have the spare key?"

Eleanor pulls out a white, rectangular card from her back pocket and hands it to Niall.

"That way you don't have to knock," she says with a smile.

Niall looks around to see if anyone’s noticed their exchange but no one seems to be paying them any attention. He takes the card and puts it in his pocket.

Later, after the show is over, and he’s had a chance to shower and change, he goes over to their room, using the key they gave him.

There's no wine this time. Instead it seems that they’ve started without him, entwined on the bed, already half undressed. They pause once he steps inside, motioning him to join them.

The rest of the tour follows a similar pattern. Usually he’ll shower in his own room after a show, if they have one that night, or just follow them back to their room after having dinner together. They don’t spend every night together, of course, sleeping separately on the occasional nights they have to sleep on the buses. But those are few and far between.

Niall gets used to the way Eleanor likes to sprawl in her sleep, grows accustomed to the creative ways Louis chooses to wake them up.

It threw him the first time Paul handed him a second key card along with his own.

“What’s this?” Niall had asked with a puzzled frown.

“Louis told me to give it to you,” Paul answers.

“Uh,” Niall starts to explain.

“No,” Paul says, holding up his hand, “don’t tell me. It's better if I don’t know.”

He’s glad Paul stops him, he doesn’t know what he would have said to explain why he would need an extra key to Louis’ room. He walks away with the key card in his hand and a hot flush of embarrassment on his face.

They’ve been falling into bed together for weeks now and he’s still no closer to understanding what they’re doing. Every once in a while would have made sense to Niall. He could see how the addition of a third person might break up the monotony of a monogamous, long term relationship.

Although he personally didn’t understand how there could be anything monotonous about sex with either Louis or Eleanor, who were both devastatingly beautiful naked and indecently good at sex. But, as he experienced first hand, they were both the adventurous type, open to trying new things so it didn’t surprise him that they’d wanted to have a threesome.

But this was more than every once in awhile. This was almost every other night, depending on their concert schedule. He’d have thought the shine would have worn off by now. He wasn’t sure if he should be flattered by the continued interest or anxious that his appeal would soon wear off.

They're backstage at the venue, hanging out. It’s close to the end of their European tour, only two more shows left to go. Niall is sitting next to Louis, who’s got Eleanor on his lap. Liam and Sophia are on the other couch, and Zayn and Harry are on the third couch.

"You two are so cute," Sophia says.

"Thanks. I know I am," Louis replies.

"She was talking to both of us," Eleanor says with a pinch to Louis' side.

"How long have you been dating again? It's like three years now, yeah?"

"Almost three and a half," Louis says with pride.

"How did you manage to put up with him for that long?" Liam asks.

"Oi, fuck off Payno. I'm an amazing boyfriend." Louis flips Liam two fingers. “Tell ‘em, El.”

“Eh, you’re alright.” Eleanor sticks her tongue out at him and he makes a funny face back at her.

Everyone laughs at their exchange but Niall, who’s gone quiet beside them. He feels a sudden and deep loneliness, left out of their teasing.

He might have been having sex with them for however many weeks he’s not part of their relationship. They’re only using him to spice up their sex life.

And it hits him then that he wants to be, had begun to believe that he was.

It’s probably a good thing they have a break coming up. He’ll be able to use that time to clear his head and put some distance between him and them.

~*~

After the last european concert in Portugal, the band is scheduled for a month long break before starting the last leg of the Where We Are Tour.

He resolves to use this time to sort out his feelings and hopefully get over his silly little crush. He’ll go home, spend some time alone figuring himself out and then when they fly out to America he’ll be ready to face them again.

And he does just that. He holes himself in his house and hangs out with Willie a lot. It’s fine at first, with everyone enjoying their much needed break he doesn’t hear from any of the boys until a couple of days later.

He gets a text from Louis asking if he wants to come round. Niall stares at his phone, unsure of what to text back. He’s not ready to see him or Eleanor but he’s not used to telling Louis no. He finally manages to type out a text to Louis that he’s busy.

He hopes that’ll be the end of it but the next day Louis texts him again. Apparently him and Eleanor are going to see the new Marvel movie and want to know if Niall wants to come. Again Niall makes up an excuse claiming that he already watched the movie but thanks them for the invitation anyway.

Crossing his fingers that Louis will take the hint, he is relieved that he doesn’t get a text from Louis the next day. He holds his breath and when a couple more days go by without a message from Louis he breathes out in relief.

A bit prematurely it turns out because the next day he hears his phone ringing and when he checks the caller id Louis’ name pops up. He ignores the call, letting his phone ring, hoping Louis doesn’t leave him a voicemail.

Louis doesn’t leave a voicemail but he does call back. By the time Niall relents and answers his phone, he has ten missed calls from Louis.

“Mate, sorry I was watching a movie. What did you need?” Niall says, lying on his couch, fiddling around on his laptop.

“Nialler! Where have you been? It’s been crazy trying to get ahold of you,” Louis says on the other end of the line.

“Here, there. What’s up?”

“So mysterious.” When Niall doesn’t offer an explanation, Louis goes on. “Have it your way. Listen, El and I want to have you round for tea and since you always seem to be busy I thought I’d call you to see when you’re free.”

“I’m not sure,” Niall says. He’s racking his brain for a plausible excuse that would work. What could he say that would keep him sufficiently busy for the next two weeks of break.

“Well, what about tomorrow? Or Sunday? Or literally any day next week.”

“This weekend’s no good. Got plans with Eoghan. Next week I'm suppose to go for a pint with Bressie but not sure what day. Let me check with Bressie and get back to you."

“Nialler!” Louis whines. “When did you become Mr. Popular?”

“When you’ve got it, you’ve got it. What can I say.”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. But I’ll be waiting for your call. And don’t forget I know where you live.”

Niall flinches when he hears that. He really hopes that Louis won’t go through with his threat.

“Sure. Willie just walked in. I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, alright? ” He says his goodbyes and listens as both Louis and Eleanor shout their goodbyes down the phone.

A little while later he texts Louis that he made plans with Bressie and a couple others of the LIC for the coming Tuesday and tells him that he can go over Wednesday. But when Wednesday rolls around he tells Louis that there was a mix up and they were actually going out that night hoping to get out of going over to Louis’.

His plan backfires when Louis invites himself and Eleanor along on his pub date with the LIC. At least if he’s going to be hanging out with Louis and Eleanor he won’t be alone with them.

It’s been a long time since he's had a chance to get together with his London-Irish mates so he doesn’t feel too conspicuous about ignoring Louis and Eleanor in favor of hanging out with them.

People start heading home a little after one but Louis and Eleanor are still there. Niall thinks they might be waiting for him to invite him back with them.

Panicking, he grabs Laura and asks if she wants to share a cab home. They're kind of going in the same direction. She agrees and they say their goodbyes.

Louis and Eleanor both give him a strange look when they see he's catching a cab home with Laura but Niall ignores their looks.

He tells the driver Laura's address first and waves away her cash when she offers to pay half. He hugs her and kisses her goodnight then gives the driver his own address.

He crosses his fingers that Louis will stop pestering him to come over now that they’ve hung out. Except Louis doesn't stop texting or calling. He's running out of excuses. There's only so many times he can claim to have eaten bad curry before it becomes suspicious.

After the fourth call, Niall takes to ignoring Louis' calls altogether. He's out of excuses and he's too afraid to admit the truth so he's taken to sending Louis' calls straight to voicemail. Eventually Louis stops leaving voicemails too.

He's watching football with Willie one night when Willie's phone rings. Willie gives him a strange look when he sees the name on the caller id.

"Hello?" Willie says.

Niall turns down the volume on the telly and mouths 'who is it?'. Willie mouths back 'Louis'. Niall makes frantic hand gestures signaling to Willie that he's not here.

"Sorry, mate. He's not here. I'll tell him you called. Alright. Yeah, you too. Later, mate."

Niall turns back up the volume on the telly, ignoring the frown on Willie's face.

"What was that about? Why didn't you want to talk to Louis?"

"Nothing. Just didn't feel like talking is all." Niall hopes that's the last of the conversation but of course it isn't.

"Did you guys have a fight? He said you've been avoiding him for days and won't answer any of his calls."

"We didn't fight," Niall says slowly, stalling for time. He doesn't have any excuses ready. He didn't think Louis would resort to calling Willie when he couldn't get a hold of him.

Willie looks at him expectantly, waiting for the rest of his explanation.

"It's no big deal. He's been bugging me about one of the songs on the new album and I've been putting him off." Niall aims for nonchalant, wanting it to seem like it's nothing, just a little band dispute but he's not sure if he pulls it off.

"Uh huh. Well, he seemed pretty worried for an argument about a song. Maybe you should call him back."

"Yeah I will. Gonna let him cool down first."

Screams erupt from the speakers, someone having scored a goal, and they go back to watching the game.

He knows he should call Louis back and explain why he's been ignoring his calls and text messages but he's not ready to confront him.

He thinks it shouldn’t be that hard to tell Louis the truth, that he wants to stop having sex with them but everytime he psyche’s himself up to call Louis he chickens out.

He never lets himself imagine what it might be like if Niall told them whole truth, the real reason why he wants to stop hooking up with them. Even if they felt the same way about him, it would never work out. Having a threesome was one thing, but who ever heard of having a relationship with more than one person.

Eventually he manages to type out a text to Louis that just says, 'Hey. Sorry I haven't been around. I've been trying to catch up with family and friends. Don't think I'll have time to come around next week. See you back on tour'.

Louis doesn't text back after that. He tries to ignore the ball of anxiety in his stomach when he thinks about it.

~*~

Back in America for their third tour, the band settles in for a long couple of weeks. Niall loves touring, loves seeing new places and meeting new people, never one to feel homesick. It helps that he’s got the boys with him and his family often comes out to join him. They make for good distractions since he's still avoiding Louis and Eleanor.

Eleanor's on tour with them, has been since their first concert of the American leg of the tour. Of course Niall can't avoid them altogether. It's a big tour with a lot of people but limited places to escape to between the venue, buses, and hotel. So he acts normal, always replies when Louis or Eleanor talk to him, never leaves the room when they enter. But he doesn't seek them out and he makes sure to always be in a group.

What he doesn't count on is Louis dragging him out of a FIFA tournament with the lads in order to confront him.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Louis asks, blunt like the wrong side of a knife.

“No,” he says, not liking where this is going.

“Do you not like Eleanor?” Louis steam rolls on.

“No. Eleanor is great.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” He can feel Louis’ gaze on him, searching for the truth. He keeps his expression neutral.

“You didn’t come over during the break,” Louis says when he fails to read anything in his face. “Eleanor thinks you don’t like her.”

“Louis," Niall huffs in exasperation, not knowing what to say. It’s just like Louis to try to guilt him into telling the truth. But he refuses to give in to Louis’ emotional manipulation.

“Niall. Nialler. Neil," Louis wheedles, grabbing Niall's shoulders and giving him a friendly shake. "Come over tonight. I promise you're not getting in the way."

"Unless,” Louis looks at him, a slight frown clouding his expression, “it's me that's the problem."

Niall shakes his head. “Course you’re not,” he says, squeezing Louis' forearms where they're hanging from Niall's shoulders. Louis makes it difficult to say no and since Niall can’t tell him the real reason why he doesn’t want to join them for a threesome, he agrees.

He doesn't get it. Shouldn't Louis want to have his girlfriend to himself again?

~*~

Niall goes to their room that night. He has their key, Louis having slipped it to him earlier, so he just opens the door.

Louis and Eleanor are already naked, kissing on the bed with Louis' hand hidden from view between them.

He quickly comes into the room, shutting the door behind him. They don't look up when he enters. He feels awkward just standing there watching them kiss.

Eleanor has started to make high pitched moaning noises and as he watches her tilt her head back and gasp, he has to adjust himself in his jeans. Louis' hand is moving rhythmically between them and it's not long before he has her coming.

After giving Eleanor a quick kiss to her throat, Louis finally looks over at him.

"Hey. Come over here. Take your kit off."

He sheds his shirt and trousers but leaves his pants on. He's hard because of course he is. But he doesn't feel like doing anything about it, doesn't feel like putting on a show like everything is ok.

He gets on the bed, near Eleanor's knees, pushing out her thigh to lay between her legs. She's still out of breath from coming but he knows she can come again.

He licks a strip up her lips, getting a taste of her on his tongue. He's come to love the taste of her, the strong bitter flavor a reward in itself.

He's done this before, has learned the rhythm she likes best. He feels a hand in his hair and looks up only to see that it's Louis' hand in his hair. He shivers, his hips pushing down into the bed.

Above him Eleanor shivers, too, her thighs clenching as she comes a second time.

He lifts his head, wiping away the wetness on his mouth and chin. Beside Eleanor, Louis is hard, a small bead of moisture at the tip. Without thinking, he wraps his hand around Louis' cock, thumbing the slit, spreading the precome around the tip.

Louis' hips give a jerk, pushing further into Niall's hand.

"Here," Eleanor says, moving herself out from under Niall to give them more room. The movement breaks through the spell Niall was under as he realizes what he's doing.

In all the times the three of them have had sex, he’s never done this, never gotten Louis off with his hands or his mouth. Never had the nerve to do more than look. He looks uncertainly up at Louis to gauge his reaction; Louis gives his hips another thrust.

Niall takes that as assent. He starts moving his hand up and down, twisting at the upstroke when it makes Louis moan. Even with Louis' precome, the slide is too dry, a rough rasp of his hand that he knows is uncomfortable since Louis likes it really wet.

He considers his options for a second then thinks 'to hell with it' and licks the tip. Louis groans, so he keeps going, taking more of his cock into his mouth.

He feels hands in his hair and on his shoulders, too many to just be Louis. He sucks harder, bobbing his head up and down.

A thumb on his jaw tilts his head up and he sees Louis looking down on him with a hot, heavy look in his eyes that makes Niall’s hip stutter into the bed. Louis rubs his thumb over Niall's lips where they're stretched tight and slick over his cock.

To the side he can see Eleanor watching. She follows their movement languidly, body spent after coming hard twice in a row. She doesn't seem to mind that Niall's got his mouth on her boyfriend's cock.

Louis is close, the twitching of his hips turned sporadic letting him know that Louis' about to come. He takes a breath then goes down, taking Louis deep into his mouth. He gags a bit, but keeps going. He could never quite figure out how to control his gag reflex but he's never let it stop him before.

Louis comes and Niall swallows, using his hand to wring the last tiny drop. Louis pushes at his head, the stimulation getting to be too much. He pulls off and wipes the back of his mouth, this time his hand comes back wet with Louis' come.

He slumps down on the other side of Louis, feeling tired and worn out. He's still got his underwear on, covering his hard dick, but he doesn't touch himself.

Once he's calmed down he glances over to where Louis and Eleanor are and finds them fast asleep, Eleanor curled up on Louis' shoulder.

Niall stares for a minute, watching the steady rise and fall of their chests then gets up. He gathers his clothes, changing quickly, and softly tiptoes out of the room.

When he's back in his room he collapses onto his bed, clothes and all, barely bothering to kick his shoes off before he falls asleep.

~*~

The next day Niall stays in his room for as long as possible before he has to leave for the venue. He messes around on his phone, tweeting, texting friends back home. He updates his spreadsheets of all the new places they've played at this year. But in the end he has to head down to the lobby where a car is waiting for him.

At the venue, he heads to the stage to do sound check. Everyone's there except for Zayn which even when Niall is late he can still count on Zayn to be later.

He meets Louis' eyes, briefly but turns away before he can dissect the look in his eyes. He doesn't want to know what Louis thinks about last night.

He's been berating himself all morning for giving himself away like that, for losing control. He might have ruined their whole friendship, and for what, a blowjob? He can't believe he let himself get carried away like that.

After soundcheck, Niall sticks close to Harry, following him offstage.

"Hey, want to have a practice session? I think you've almost got the chords down to Little Things." He's been trying to teach him guitar for the past couple of weeks but it's slow going. Harry's a good listener and he tries really hard but he still needs loads of practice.

"Yeah, great. Let me go grab my guitar," Harry says, rushing off. "Meet you backstage."

Niall heads there now but he's intercepted by Louis who pulls him along to the stadium seats. He pushes him onto the retractable plastic seat and sits down next to him.

"So, look, about last night."

"Can we not talk about this."

"Why not."

"I just don't want to talk about it."

"Have you ever done that before?" Louis asks, finally looking over at him.

Niall nods his head. "Yeah, I have," he says. He’s gone home with boys and girls. A friendly handjob or blowjob between mates is what he prefers, doesn’t really matter if the friend is male or female.

"Are you," Louis trails off. "I mean, was it not."

"No, it was." He's come this far might as well go all in.

Louis nods. "Good."

They sit there for a little longer; both of them staring around at the empty stadium. It always leaves Niall speechless how far they've come. He never in a million years would have guessed they would be playing stadium shows. It amazes him every single time he looks out at the crowd, his four boys on stage with him.

"We've got a couple of days off coming up. Have you made any plans yet?"

"Listen, Louis," he begins to say, wanting to put an end to this. He's been a coward about this too long. He's already admitted to liking guys and he's pretty much admitted to liking Louis. It shouldn't be this hard to say no. "What are we doing?"

"Well, I was thinking we could go out to dinner, maybe go out to a club."

"No I mean like us, you, me and Eleanor. What are we doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean why do you guys keep inviting me to have sex with you?" He blurts out, frustration getting the best of him.

"What? Niall, what are you talking about?"

"I just need to know? What is this?"

"Are you serious?" Louis searches his eyes but when Niall continues to look at him blankly the incredulous smile slips from his face.

Louis shakes his head in disbelief. "We can't talk about this, not here, not without El. We’ve got a day off tomorrow. Come to dinner with us and we'll talk then, alright?"

Louis waits for Niall to agree and when he does he says, "Good. Come on. Harry's probably wondering where his guitar tutor ran off to."

So they head backstage, finding Harry waiting with his guitar. He helps Harry practice, reminding him what chords are what when he gets stuck. In that way they pass a relaxing afternoon before the show helping him take his mind off the conversation he had with Louis.

He's tense the next day, anxious for dinner with Louis and Eleanor. He doesn't understand why Louis couldn't have answered his question right then and there. He also doesn't understand why Eleanor has to be there. He's given them more than enough opportunities to break it off with him, they don't need to take him out to a fancy dinner to let him down easy.

After settling into his hotel room in Texas he gets a text from Louis telling him to meet them in the lobby for dinner, a car will be picking them up around 7, and that he should 'dress to impress'. He wasn't sure what that meant exactly since Louis' version of dressing up was to put on his least scruffed up vans. He put on a buttoned up collared shirt and some black slacks just in case.

He's glad he does when he heads downstairs and sees Louis dressed similarly with a black blazer over his collared shirt and Eleanor wearing a slinky blue dress and heels.

He notices them giving him appreciative looks that do nothing to ease his confusion. "You look lovely," he says as Eleanor pecks him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, love," she says stepping back.

"Don’t you clean up nice," Louis says to him leaning in to peck him on his other cheek which makes him flush. He blushes at the comment and even more at the kiss.

"So where are we going that I had to bring out my fancy clothes?"

"A fancy restaurant," Louis says with a smirk as if that should be obvious. "Come on. We've got reservations."

Louis takes his hand and Eleanor takes the other one and they pull him along to the car. It's a short drive, only ten minutes away. It feels like longer squished between them.

At the restaurant they've got a table near the back of the restaurant. The lighting is dim with candles on the various tables giving off most of the light. They take their seats, Louis and Eleanor putting him in the middle again.

The food is delicious and Niall stuffs himself full, almost groaning when the last plate of dessert has been taken away. Throughout the meal he keeps expecting Louis or Eleanor to bring up the reason why they're here, to tell him what it is they brought him to a fancy restaurant for, but they don’t.

Louis reaches over to take Niall's hand and Eleanor does the same. He looks down at their clasped hands, Louis' fingers tan and rough against his, Eleanor's long and slender fingers around his more thick and stout ones.

"Niall," Eleanor says.

"Nialler," Louis follows unable to remain serious for long.

"Louis told me what you said. I guess we haven't been very clear about what we wanted so we're sorry."

"You'd have thought the naked, sex part would have been clear enough," Louis snarks but quiets with a look from Eleanor.

"What Louis means," she says, giving Louis a domineering look, "is that we assumed you knew what we wanted when we asked you to join our relationship."

"Because you wanted to spice up your sex life?" Niall says, not understanding where she's going with this.

"No, we weren't trying to spice up our sex life," Louis replies. His other hand, the one not clasped firmly with Niall's, twitches under the table making a clunking sound of disturbed glassware as he bangs into the table.

"Then why?"

"Because we like you. You're sweet and funny and smart and we like you." Eleanor tightens her hand on Niall's, a gentle squeeze to let him know she means what she said.

"I like you both, too."

"Oh for fuck's sake. We're asking you to be our boyfriend, you numpty," Louis says in exasperation tired of Niall's continued obtuseness.

"But. You're her boyfriend?"

"Yes, and she's my girlfriend and you're our boyfriend." Louis' tone suggests that any idiot should be able to work that out.

"If you want," Eleanor says in a much more reasonable voice.

"You're serious?" They both nod their heads. "But how does this even work? You can't just add another person to your relationship, that's not normal."

"Normal's overrated," Louis replies.

"We just keep on like we have been," Eleanor says. "I hate to break it to you but you've kind of been our boyfriend for the last two months."

That stops Niall in his tracks. He thinks back over the last couple months. How could he have been their boyfriend? Couples went on dates; they talked about how their days went; they made plans to see each other. The only relationship activity he participated in was the sex.

Looking back he realizes that he did hang out with them outside of the bedroom quite a bit. He wouldn't have considered their hangouts dates, though. They mostly hung around the hotel or the buses. They hardly ever went out but then, Louis and Eleanor weren't the type to go out a lot. They tended to stay in more often than not.

Had he really been dating them without even knowing it?

But no, he can't have been. He's not that oblivious. He would have known if he was in a relationship with Louis and Eleanor. There's no way he wouldn't have noticed if he was dating someone, especially two someones, right?

"Mate, I told you. The sex should have been your first clue. I'm not the type of person who has sex with their friends without it meaning something and neither is Eleanor," Louis tells his still disbelieving demeanor. "You've been our boyfriend from the get go. So you better get used to it."

"But only if you want to be our boyfriend," Eleanor repeats, ever the voice of reason.

Niall can't believe this is happening. He might have hoped and wished for more but he never actually thought it would happen.

"I do," he says, softly but sure of his answer. He's not quite sure it'll be as easy as they say but he's willing to give it a try.

Eleanor smiles at him and Louis bumps his knee into his under the table.

"Now that everyone's on the same page, let's get out of here." Louis stands up, pulling Niall along with him and Niall pulling Eleanor with him. Louis’ already paid.

They go back to the hotel, the car ride back much more enjoyable now that he knows where he stands. Eleanor keeps shooting him cheeky smiles from beneath her eyelashes and Louis' hand won't stop rubbing over his knee in a possessive manner. He shifts to make himself more comfortable, the attention creating an unmistakable bulge in his trousers.

Back at the hotel they move up to Louis' room, discarding clothes and shoes before the door has even shut properly. It feels different this time, at least for him it does.

There's none of the uncertainty that had been an underlying constant of the times before. None of the doubts that he was only being used as a human sex toy.

Despite all that, he's hesitant when he turns to Louis, breaking away from kissing Eleanor. He wants Louis and he’s pretty sure Louis wants him too but it’s one thing to hear him say it and another to do it.

Louis makes the decision for him, stepping towards him and bringing his mouth to Niall's. The kiss is slow at first, a simple joining of their lips, their stubble rasping over the other’s skin. Niall groans when he feels Louis tongue slide over his bottom lip, silently asking permission to enter.

He opens his mouth to let Louis' tongue in, losing himself in the rough, lip bruising press of their mouths. They tumble onto the bed, never breaking the kiss, and Niall feels Eleanor lay down behind him.

Louis' bites Niall's bottom lip before pulling away, "Do you want to fuck me?"

He nearly chokes on his tongue he's so turned on by Louis' words. "Have you done that before?"

"Mostly just fingers. Once in awhile a dildo." Niall swallows, rubbing a hand over his sweaty face, overwhelmed by the onslaught of images Louis’ words conjure up.

"He really likes it when we play with the dildo. Always comes really hard when we do." Eleanor whispers the words into his skin, finger tracing a path up his stomach, the touch lighting him up from the inside.

When Niall continues to lay there speechless, Louis huffs and reaches over to the nightstand for lube and a condom.

"You've done this before, yeah?" Louis asks, more an assumption than a question. But he’s right, Niall has done this before.

"Will it be ok for your knee if I lay on my stomach?" Niall sits up, moving to kneel behind Louis who's gotten on his stomach, head pillowed on his folded arms.

So far his knee has been fine during sex. He's always careful of course, but it should be ok.

"Are you sure?" Niall asks, more worried about Louis’ comfort than his own.

"Yes. Now get on with it." Niall looks over to Eleanor but she only shrugs in a ‘you heard the man’ way. Well, alright then.

He picks up the lube from the bed and pops the cap open, squeezing the liquid onto his fingers. He takes a moment to stare down at Louis. He follows the line of his shoulders down to the gradual rise of his ass, his hole on display, lewd and inviting.

He runs a lubricated finger down his crack, stopping at the puckered skin of his opening. He gets him ready slowly, one finger at a time, being as gentle as he can.

Beside him Eleanor looks on, running her hand soothingly over Louis' back and shoulders. She leans over to kiss him, the unhurried tangling of their tongues enthralling Niall.

Louis pushes back into him, calling his attention back to what he was doing. He grabs the condom from the sheets and rolls it over himself.

"Tell me. Tell me if it's too much. It can be a bit much the first time." Louis nods his head.

Niall leans down to kiss him, a short meeting of tongues and lips before he lines himself up and starts to push.

Louis lets out a pained gasp and Niall immediately pauses, letting him adjust. After a moment he pushes on until finally his hips are flush against Louis' ass.

Again, he waits, watching for Louis to signal that he's ready. “Keep going,” Louis murmurs and Niall starts to move.

He keeps his thrusts steady, shifting his stance, trying to find the right angle. He knows he's found it when Louis' eyes fly open and his mouth opens wide on a gasp.

He watches as Louis shoves a hand beneath his body, arm working furiously as he wanks himself off. He picks up the pace but keeps his position.

He looks over to see Eleanor propped on her side watching them, lip caught between her teeth as she moves her hand between her legs. Niall groans, the sight of her touching herself, getting off to Niall fucking Louis, is too much and his rhythm turns erratic.

He feels Louis tense and then he's squeezing around him as he comes, his hole spasming sending Niall over the edge as well. He gives a couple more dirty thrusts before collapsing to the bed.

He tosses away the condom, leaning over the side of the bed for the bin, then scoots closer to Louis on the bed. He reaches his arm over Louis' back, resting his head on his shoulder blade. Across from him, on Louis' other side, Eleanor has draped herself in the same position.

"How was it?” Eleanor asks in a loud whisper. “Do you know he's been wanting to do that since you first joined us."

"I'm still here, you know," Louis murmurs but his voice comes out muffled, face buried in the pillow.

Eleanor rolls her eyes so only Niall can see, then pulls back to look at Louis' face and says,"Sorry, love. Did you like it? You looked like you enjoyed it."

"Mmhmm. Bit sore. Don't know how I'm gonna perform tomorrow. You'll have to carry me everywhere Niall."

Niall laughs into the skin of Louis' back, relief that he liked it making him giddy. "Sure. I'll strap you on my back."

"Will you?" Louis says, turning over onto his back finally with a small wince when his bum comes in contact with the bed.

"Yeah, piggy back rides all day," he tells him, smiling softly. He'd do a lot for Louis if he asked. Although it probably wouldn't do to let Louis know that.

Louis looks pleased and very self satisfied. "Will you make me tea whenever I want so I don't have to get up?"

Niall nods. It seems like Louis might already know how far he can push him. "What about-"

Louis' cut off before he can finish by Eleanor putting a hand around his mouth. "Niall's not your servant. Niall don't let him take advantage. He'll have you waiting on him hand and foot."

“I’m not bothered,” Niall says, affection for them both swelling inside him until he feels like he’s fit to burst from happiness. “Bring you tea, too, whenever you want.”

“See El, Niall’s not bothered.” Louis licks at Eleanor’s hand, pretending to bite her fingers and she moves her hand away.

“You’re going to regret those words tomorrow, babe. He’ll have you running all over the place.”

“‘s ok,” he says, snuggling into Louis side. And it is, it really, really is.

~*~

Niall's in the venue break room making tea when Zayn comes up behind him and scares the shit out of him.

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya," Zayn says, rubbing Niall's back in soothing circles. "Only came in to get a snack. Thought you heard me."

"'S’ok. Was caught in me head is all." Niall had been staring hard at the kettle as he waited for it to boil, remembering last night. He blushed, wondering if Zayn could sense his thoughts.

"Is that for Louis?" Zayn asks, pointing to the mug on the counter with the yorkshire tea bag inside. It's Louis’ mug, the red and white of the Rovers insignia a dead giveaway.

"Yeah," he replies. Niall shouldn't feel like he's been caught doing something he shouldn't but his blush deepens anyway.

"How's that going, by the way?"

"What?"

"Louis told me.” Niall chokes on air, eyes widening in alarm. Zayn puts a comforting hand on his neck. “Was I not suppose to know?"

"No.” Niall shakes his head, allowing himself to be slowly calmed by Zayn’s soothing hand. “I just didn't know he had told anyone. Does everyone know?"

"I don't think so. At least no one's said anything to me about it."

Niall nods his head trying to wrap his head around the fact that Zayn knows, has known all along.

"Listen, if you need to talk..." Zayn trails off, leaving the invitation to confide in him an unspoken one.

After a pause, Niall asks, "You don't think it's weird or anything?"

"No. Do you think it's weird?"

"Not sure. I mean it’s not a proper relationship, is it? ‘s not like we can tell people.”

“Why not?” Zayn asks, brow furrowed in confusion.

“What? And tell people we’re in a threesome?” Niall retorts, incredulous.

“Yeah.”

“Come on. Be serious. What would the fans think?”

“You don’t have to tell the public. Only like us, and your friends and your family.”

“Oh, great idea. Give me a second to call me da. Yes, hello da, guess what, your son’s got himself a girlfriend. Funny that, she already had a boyfriend and now all three of us are dating.” He shoots Zayn a sarcastic look.

“Why not?”

“Did you not hear the sarcasm in my voice? No way am I telling my family.”

“Alright, no pressure.”

“You really don’t mind?”

“No. Why should I? You all seem really happy together. None of the other lads will mind either.”

“I guess,” Niall says. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, honestly. But he thinks Zayn’s probably right about the boys not minding. Doesn’t mean he’s ready to tell them. “I don’t know. I’ll have to talk it over with Lou and El first.”

“Communication is key.”

“Oh yeah, is that how you and Perrie make it work?” He says, changing the subject. He’s not very subtle about it but Zayn lets him get away with it.

“We talk all the time. It’s hard with time zones but yeah communication.”

Niall teases him a bit, good natured ribbing that Zayn endures with a self satisfied smirk of the happily committed. The kettle boils then, reminding him that Louis is waiting for his tea.

He goes about pouring the water, letting the tea bag steep, all the while thinking about what Zayn had said. He’s definitely not ready to tell his family that he’s in a three person relationship but Zayn is right about one thing. Communication is important and he still has a lot to talk about with Louis and Eleanor.

~*~

“Niall, they’re about to bring out the cake,” Willie tells him, politely butting into Niall’s conversation with Eoghan. “Best to come inside now.”

“Wicked,” Niall replies, following Willie into the restaurant along with Eoghan.

The restaurant is packed; his family and friends all gathered to celebrate his birthday. It seems like everyone Niall knows is here. His whole family present as well as uncles and aunts and cousins. Not only his family are here but all of the LIC are as well, some of his friends flying over from Ireland just for the occasion. And of course, Louis and Eleanor.

None of the other boys were able to make it but that’s ok. Niall will see them when they go back on tour. Liam and Niall have plans to celebrate their birthdays in Vegas so he’s not too sad they couldn’t make it.

He’s really glad Louis and Eleanor are here. He thought Louis might not have wanted to come since there were sure to be paps since it was a party for his birthday. But Louis said he didn’t mind, said he wouldn’t miss Niall’s birthday for anything which had warmed Niall from his head to his toes.

Things with them had been going really well. Not too much had changed after they had had their talk. They still hung out like usual, watched movies in their hotel room, ate meals together at the venue, all the stuff they had done before but now Niall knew it meant something.

There had been a couple more relationship talks. Together they had decided to tell the rest of the boys. Even though Zayn already knew he still acted surprised when they told Liam and Harry, putting on a very convincing show. Harry and Liam had taken the news well although there were a few confused looks from Liam, who wasn’t sure how a polyamorous relationship worked.

Niall had done some research, found out the term for what they had, and explained to him how it was possible to romantically love two people at once. Liam had still seemed a bit confused but he was happy if they were happy.

Harry had mostly just sent him knowing looks and waggled his eyebrows a lot. Louis had shoved his face away and told him to stop bothering his boyfriend. To which everyone went ‘ooohhh boyfriend.’ Niall was in a band with a bunch of assholes.

Niall hasn’t told his parents, though. During one of their talks he had brought up the subject of telling their families and Louis had revealed that he had already told his mum about Niall. He wasn’t surprised really. Afterall, Louis was the biggest Mamma’s boy out of all of them, talking to his mum at least once a day. He was a little surprised to learn that Eleanor had told her mum as well. In hindsight he really should have caught on to how serious they were about him from the beginning.

Still he wasn’t ready to tell his parents and Louis and Eleanor hadn’t pressured him. He’s confident about their relationship, is sure that he wants to be with them but he’s not sure his parents will understand. They’re a bit traditional, not unlike most of their generation, and he’s not sure how to explain it to them in terms they’ll understand. Doesn’t know how to tell them it’s an us thing.

So even though Louis and Eleanor are here tonight as his significant others and even though most of his friends know, they haven’t shown each other any public signs of affection just in case his parents were to see. He still makes it a point to walk by them on his way in, leaning in to the hand Louis clasps on his shoulder and brushing his fingers along the tips of Eleanor’s.

Everyone joins in to sing him Happy Birthday as they bring out his cake, baked in the shape of his grill which is wicked. He blows out his candles, a mad rush of happiness flooding him as he looks out at the crowd of his family and friends.

Once his candles have been blown out and his cake cut up and passed around, Niall opens his presents. He’s got a table full of them, opens every single one and reads each card carefully. He’s especially excited about the photo album Eoghan had organized, an amazing montage of the adventures of the LIC in picture form.

He picks up one of the last remaining gifts, just a birthday card with his name written on the back. But he knows that handwriting, could tell right away that it was written by Louis. He tears open the envelope, pulling the brightly colored card that had to have been Louis’ pick out of the sheath.

On the front it says in big bold letters ‘Don’t Lose This Card’ and when he opens it up, the inside says, ‘Because it’s your present.’ Niall smiles, unerringly fond of Louis’ silliness. Underneath that Eleanor’s written ‘Only joking. You’ll get your present later ;)’ and she’s signed it ‘XOXO’. He looks up, searching for them in the crowd, catching their gaze already on him. Louis winks at him, a ridiculous exaggerated gesture that has Niall laughing then blushing when Eleanor blows him a kiss.

He’s not sure what he did to deserve such an incredibly dorky boyfriend and an equally incredibly ridiculous girlfriend but he’s grateful all the same.