#btw have i mentioned my obsession with the soup man yet? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

lilacharry · 8 years ago

Note

Hey could u please write me an imagine where me and niall are best friends but secretly love each other, btw my name is Emily, thanks x

So, so, so sorry for how late this is coming! I’ve literally had this in my drafts for months but I just didn’t know how to end it! It’s not edited but I hope it’s not too, incredibly cheesy. I hope you genuinely like it! Have a lovely rest of your day/night!

Black and Blue Y/N’s in a pickle and Niall has a secret infatuation with a special lady.

Black and Blue“How’s Fred?” Niall absentmindedly inquired, chewing the nail of his thumb as the two of you stared at the screen of his living room television. You snapped out of previous thoughts concerning the perfume being advertised as his seemingly innocent question took you by surprise. Niall was one of the very few people that knew of your latest love affair. It wasn’t exactly something you could tell all your friends about as the bloke was a married man; it was shameful, yet you couldn’t break things off with the man to save your life. Niall hadn’t approved of such circumstances, obviously, but even his opinion couldn’t shake you from the poison of such an affair.

You had met Niall through mutual friends at the very gathering your affair with Fred had commenced. You had been introduced to some man that was sat in a more secluded corner of the room, playing guitar and laughing at something his companion had said. Before too long, the two of you became close friends over the shortest period of time. It seemed the two of you bonded over music taste and a similar sense of humor. The relationship was odd, at least for you it was. You had never really had really close friends; let alone many male companions. Somehow, this random chap just appealed to you. He was cool, calm, and collected; he just made things seem simple and that was something you thought you would want in a friend. It wasn’t long until he became the one you would run to with the various problems you encountered. Niall was often the one you would seek out whenever you first started slipping up with a married man and Niall was the one to constantly remind you that such a relationship was completely toxic for your mental state. He would always respond to your pleas for help with a calm scolding that you never took as a scolding before he would assure you everything would turn out fine if you came to your senses and started distancing yourself from Fred. Even through his constant negativity toward the subject of Fred, you never felt as if he was judging you. He always seemed to have a reassuring tone to his voice that didn’t shame or look down on you and you really appreciated that.

You wouldn’t listen to his logical reasoning, though. Though you knew Niall was right about the affair, you just couldn’t help yourself when it came down to it. Life just seemed to become better when Fred waltzed into it and you couldn’t seem to let that slip away; wife or no wife, unfortunately. Sure, from time to time, you would think about the reality of it all and come to feel guilty. You were trifling with a married man’s family and that was no casualty. The whole ordeal was beyond complicated, as you couldn’t bring yourself to leave Fred alone. At times, you thought you were insane or simply obsessed with the man. You were convinced it was because he had sort of become your first love. He did things for you that no other man had ever done. He brought you soup and would take care of you if he knew you were sick. He killed spiders when you were feeling too much of a wimp to kill them yourself. He opened doors for you. He had the rare ability to make you feel like a loved lady and you supposed that was why you had fallen in love with him. Such information had been what eased your mind in times of doubt. You wished you could do the right thing and just abandon the idea of loving a married man but Fred had a certain control over you that would not allow you to do so. It was your weakness toward Fred that seemed to push Niall further and further toward loathing the very mention of Fred’s name. So much, in fact, that you had eased away from bringing up the man while conversing with Niall. You knew he would roll his eyes at whatever sappy thing Fred did for you before rushing to change to the subject to how your cat was doing. So, when Niall wanted to know how Fred was doing, it surprised you that he wanted to know anything about whom he had called a “life ruiner”.

“Alright,” you casually answered, shrugging your shoulders as you kept your gaze focused on the television in front of you.

“Jus’alright?” Niall’s brows rose as he turned his head to look at you, his thumb resting on his bottom lip as he stared at you, “Used to talk ‘bout him all th’time. What gives? He leave you alone?”

“No,” you puffed out in laughter, slightly shaking your head as you tried to keep such a conversation as short as possible. You felt awkward talking about your relationship anymore and you just didn’t feel like talking about Fred. As of late, he had not been your favorite person in the world. The two of you had been fighting a lot more frequently. You had just been informed that Fred and his wife had found out about a new addition to their family and that seemed to make you come to your senses. He could deny his love for his wife all he wanted but the fact of the matter is that the two had joined bodies to make another and it sickened you that you had believed his comments indicating otherwise. You had threatened to leave, even though you knew you couldn’t, and it didn’t seem to bother Fred when you said such things. You hated how much you loved him and you hated how weak it had made you. You didn’t want to live with yourself, knowing what you knew.

Things had gotten particularly serious the previous night. He had had one too many shots of whiskey when he had waken you at three in the morning, pounding on your door and demanding to be let in from the drizzling rain. After screaming at him to go home for a few minutes, you gave in and opened the door to let a very wet Fred in from the rain. He stumbled in and you knew he had been fighting with his wife as he sloppily tried planting kisses all over your face within seconds. Disgusted with his antics, you shoved him away and told him to sober up or you’d throw him out. After sitting him down with a mug of coffee and iced water, the two of you discussed your relationship. He had cried a lot and you had rolled your eyes a lot but not much seemed to change between the two of you. He was still promising empty promises and you were still fighting the urge to screw it all and let Fred have his way with you.

You did your best to refrain from falling back to Fred as you told him that he had better stop contacting you unless he wanted his wife to find out about the two of you. As the hours rolled by, he began sobering up and became angrier that you had threatened to expose him to his wife. It wasn’t his fault you had decided to sleep with a married man; his words not yours. The two of you continued chatting, things starting to come to somewhat of a resolution before you had made an unnecessarily sarcastic remark. Uttering those very sarcastic words had earned a slap to the face from the person you had been so secretively seeing and falling in love with. After threatening to call the police, Fred was up and out of his seat within seconds. He had taken your small frame by the shoulders and shook your body as he threatened to end your career if you so much as breathed a word about your affair or incident to another human being. After screaming for him to leave, he finally complied by storming out of your apartment and you were left to ponder the meaning of your relationship with a person as violent as Fred had just proven to be. You had reasoned that you had instigated the argument and you had said some pretty harsh things but that was no reason for a 6′2″ man to backhand a petite female. You were starting to doubt yourself and your relationship with Fred; you were so confused, the last thing you wanted to do was talk about such a situation.

“Then?” Niall shrugged his shoulders as he went back to watching the television.

“Then, what?” You sighed as you cocked your head to the side to scratch at your shoulder blade.

“Why aren’t ‘cha talkin’bout him lately? Are ya done with him, yet?” Niall questioned, making your chest ache with the tension he was bringing back with his questioning. You didn’t get why he was pushing the subject so much; you thought he would have wanted to keep the Fred talk to a minimum. He was such a close friend, though, you guessed it was just his eerily accurate intuition.

“I don’t know,” you sighed as you shook your head at the glowing television; you weren’t in the mood and you wished Niall would get the hint, already.

“What d’ya mean you don’t know? That’s absurd; ya either know or ya don’t, you know?” Niall laughed out at your vague answers before something instigated further questioning. You had made a mistake as he leaned forward and raised his hand to playfully nudge at your shoulder. You flinched and he noticed. His body froze as you could sense his confused gaze fall upon you. You fought the urge to roll your eyes at yourself as you thought yourself to be a little too dramatic. It had been one time; your case was nothing compared to those women who had lived every single day, fearing their spouse coming home due to how often they were abused. Fred had never laid a finger on you before; he was usually a complete gentleman… You supposed some part of you wanted to validate Fred but what happened, happened and there was no hiding that.

“Why’d ya flinch? Ve’never hit you,” Niall reasoned behind furrowed brows.

“No, it was nothing,” you quickly shook your head as you pulled up the hem of your sweater. You refrained from grimacing at the fact that the falling piece of cloth had exposed the bruises Fred’s hold had left on your skin.

“Jesus, you’ve got marks on your shoulder,” Niall’s accent seemed to thicken as he moved to closer inspect your bruised skin. You just as quickly shoved away his fingers as you shook your head at his invasion of privacy.

“Niall, it’s nothing,” you sternly stated as you continued to ignore his worried features to focus on the advert for shampoo. It was odd; the woman on the television looked happy and you wondered if she had ever had an affair with a married man. You never would have thought you’d be a mistress but here you were — twenty-three and being abused by a man with a wife and children. How stupid could you have been?

“Y/N,” Niall began, shaking his head as you were sure he was about to deliver another one of his lectures about how you shouldn’t bottle things up but you just weren’t feeling it.

“It’s nothing; leave it alone,” you almost yelled through clenched teeth, angry that Niall had brought it up to begin with. You felt a pang of guilt at your heart but you knew it was because Niall had made you feel guilty about what you had done to yourself. You knew you were at fault for what had happened and you knew you would be at fault for continuing an affair with such a violent man. You knew all of this and you didn’t want to hear Niall tell you all about it. You had been giving yourself the guilt trip of a lifetime, already. You wished he would stop instigating the conversation and go back to mindlessly peering at the glowing television screen before you. This way, at least, you could ignore reason and continue living blindly with your mistakes. You knew things would only get worse if you stayed any longer by Niall, so you made the decision to get the hell out of there before any other damage was done. You couldn’t stand to burn your friendship with Niall because of some fling you wanted to partake in so badly.

“Look, I didn’t mean to offend,” Niall started before you interrupted with a shaking head.

“Never mind, I’ve… I’ve got to be going,” you cleared your throat as you started inching your way off the couch, hoping Niall would let you leave without making it any more awkward than it had already been.

“Y/N,” Niall’s brows furrowed as he watched your every move, your eyes avoiding making eye contact with the person you had already told too much to.

“Niall,” you reciprocated, carrying his exact tone as you shuffled your feet to fit back into the slippers you had brought, “it’s nothing… Drop it.”

“Oh, so I see little Y/N with bruises on her shoulder and I’m supposed to just drop it?” Niall huffed out, his features displaying his dissatisfaction with the conversation.

“I don’t know what you want me to say; it’s really none of your business,” you coldly laughed out as you shuffled to the edge of his plush couch. You had no idea why you were being so nasty toward Niall. He had done nothing but show concern for you well being and you had just met his concern with a defensive disposition.

“What do you mean it’s none of my business? You’re my friend,” Niall raised his voice as he straightened from his plastered position on the couch.

“I don’t feel like talking about it right now, okay?” You finally looked over your shoulder to meet Niall’s worried gaze.

“Look, I’ll start assuming the worst,” Niall shook his head, his gaze dropping before he straightened in his seat, “I’ll call the officials on this Fred figure if you don’t start explaining yourself.”

“You’re not my father, Niall. You’re really overstepping a boundary, right now,” your brows pinched together as you were becoming more and more irritated with Niall’s demands.

“Why aren’t you telling me what happened? We tell each other everything,” Niall’s shoulders sank as his features displayed his disbelief at your secretive nature.

“Because it’s embarrassing, Niall,” you finally blurted, feeling so ashamed and exposed all at the same time. You didn’t want to tell Niall your sob story and you didn’t want to have him pity you because you knew you were at fault. You knew you deserved what you got. It was what you got for being a part of such an affair.

“What? D’ya trip over nothing and fall over?” Niall laughed out, shaking his head as he did so.

“No, not like that,” you almost huffed out of laughter as you closed your eyes and shook your head. You really didn’t want to tell Niall. You didn’t want him to think of you as some weak being who was being dragged around by some man. You were better than that and you didn’t want anybody knowing of how weak Fred could make you.

“Then what? I’m not gonna judge you; I’m the most embarrassing person in the world, ya know,” Niall offered you a sincere smile as he waited for you to tell him why you were all black and blue.

“I would know,” you laughed in memory of all of the stupid things Niall had done and told you about throughout your friendship. You supposed he had a point, there.

“So, out with it? What’s goin’ on?” Niall cocked his head at you, one of his brows arched in confusion. A silence came over the two of you as you just stared back at each other. You shook your head as you were at a loss for words. You weren’t sure how to confess such a thing.

“It’s just that… I’m not weak, okay,” you began, your nose starting to sting as that feeling of shame and embarrassment washed over you.

“Yeah, I know,” Niall slowly blinked along to the nod of his head. You stared at Niall for a few moments and you didn’t know why but something about his features made you feel at ease.

“Fred was… over last night,” you paused, audibly gulping back the lump in your throat, “and he was… drunk.”

“Alright,” Niall finally said after you paused once more, afraid of admitting what had happened. You never, in your twenty-three years of life, would have guessed you would be telling the story you were about to tell.

“And he… kept talking about how his wife… knew,” you looked away from Niall as you knew you were going to lose it if you kept looking at his warm features. He had warned you about the consequences of being with someone who cheats on their wife but you hadn’t listened. You could already hear the sermon he was going to deliver once you told him what had happened and you knew how much you deserved it.

“About the two of you?” Niall questioned, hanging on to every word that came out of your mouth. He earned a nod from you before you gulped once more, trying to muster up the guts to carry on with the happenings with Fred.

“He was calming down but… Me and my big mouth,” you laughed as your sights dropped to your hands settled on your lap, “I said something sort of mean… and he didn’t like it…”

“What happened, Y/N?” Niall asked after you stopped speaking for more than a few minutes.

“Slapped me and grabbed onto me… and threatened me,” you pursed your lips as you tried to refrain from becoming a crying mess on Niall’s couch; you smiled up at Niall before you continued, “I know; it’s my fault.”

“For fuck’s sake, Y/N,” Niall’s enraged features met your gaze, “what the hell? How did you not call me when this happened?”

“I was embarrassed; I didn’t want you to think worse of me,” you sobbed out, breaking eye contact with your closest chum.

“I would never—and what the hell is this all nonsense about this being your fault? Fuck that, Y/N. None of this has to do with your decisions or actions. The son of a—he slapped you, Y/N! Your shoulders bruised! T’isn’t okay; it isn’t right. He’s a man, not a child. That’s abusive behavior and you don’t deserve that,” Niall ranted squinting his eyes and shaking his head in the process.

“But it’s just like you said, there comes consequences with being with a husband who isn’t your own,” you cried, looking up from the carpeted floor as you tried to explain where you were coming from, “this is all my fault. If I had just listened to you, I wouldn’t have even have dealt with this. I’m weak and I know that I screwed up big time—”

“Y/N, Y/N, you’re not fully comprehending what just happened. Would you let your father hit your mum or bruise her? Would it ever be her ‘fault’?” Niall grabbed your trembling hands as he tried to calm your sudden wave of hysterics.

“No,” you sniffled and shrugged. You would go crazy if any man laid a single finger on your mother.

“Then what makes it okay for your significant other to hit and bruise you?” Niall tilted his head at you, worry strewn within his expression.

“I said something stupid—” you shook your head, disregarding Niall’s reasoning.

“No, no, would you ever, in your right mind, hit your mother, or anyone, for saying something stupid?” Niall asked, making you realize that perhaps he had some sort of logic behind what he was saying.

“No,” you finally choked out, shaking your head, “but I put myself in that position.”

“Okay; you made a mistake. Everyone does. You do not deserve abuse for making a mistake, though,” Niall shakes his head as you suddenly felt his thumbs rubbing circles on the backs of your hands.

“Niall, I don’t know what to do,” you finally wept out, your palms flying up to cover your pinched expression. Niall had seen you cry throughout many of your late night conversations about everything ranging from opinions on peaches all the way to how deaths in the family affected each of you. It was nothing he hadn’t seen, yet, all you wanted to do was hide away from the world. You hated this feeling and there wasn’t anything you wouldn’t do to make it go away. There came a thick silence between the two of you as you hid your face from Niall. You didn’t know what to expect from Niall. You were usually pretty confident in being able to predict his reaction to certain events but this was the exception. You definitely thought you would be getting the scolding of a lifetime.

“Hey,” Niall reached over to gently grab a hold of your arm to pull you closer to where he sat.

“He’s such an arsehole,” you openly wept as you let Niall wrap his arm around you, your head being pushed to rest on his shoulder.

“I’ll go murder him; ya want me to?” Niall offered, squeezing your body momentarily.

“I love him, Niall. I hate it,” you breathed out, your chest convulsing as you tried to calm yourself down.

“I know it,” you could feel Niall shake his head above you, “but he’s not a good man.”

“I know,” you sighed, coughing to relieve the itch in your throat, “but we’ve had so many good times, you know?”

“I get that,” Niall cleared his throat, his thumb starting to rub at your shoulder, “but that’s no reason to make excuses for him. He hit you. He doesn’t deserve the love of any good lass.”

“You must think I’m pretty dense,” you dryly laughed, shaking your head as you rose from leaning on Niall’s body.

“I would never,” Niall shook his head, his brows furrowing as he straightened from his previous position, fixing the hem of his sweater as he did so.

“You don’t get it, though, Niall,” you spoke, your hands moving with your words, “everything he does, I love. He’s this… glorified thing in my head and I hate that I can’t shake that image. I want to see him as the monster he is… I really do but… He has this weird power to make me think differently. He’s this perfect human being in my mind. I look back at what he did… and I can’t accept that that was him. I keep trying to make excuses; I keep saying he was just drunk and I hate that. I don’t want to have to make excuses for that kind of behavior, just like you said. You just wouldn’t get it.”

“No, no; I get where you’re comin’ from,” Niall huffed as you were stopped from wiping your nose with your sleeve as Niall handed you the box of tissues he kept on his end table, “I’ve been there.”

“You’ve never told me of anyone like that,” you furrowed your brows in confusion, looking up at Niall’s comforting features.

“Yeah, well, there are some things I don’t tell you,” Niall laughed as he put the box of tissues back on the end table, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Who was she? Did I meet her?” Your brain suddenly switched gears as you started feeling a bit offended. You thought the two of you told each other everything. How could he not tell you about some sort of kryptonite in his life?

“Eh, not exactly,” he nervously laughed once more, his hand going to scratch at the back of his neck as he continued to avoid eye contact with you. He’d better try and play it off, you thought. How dare he keep secrets from you!

“Who was she?” You narrowed your eyes, the first signs of a smile coming to tug at your lips.

“Just this lass that had me wrapped around her little finger,” Niall shrugged the conversation away, “but you really do need to think long and hard about this, young lady.”

“Stop,” you whined out before you let yourself fall back on the couch, “I was just starting to become distracted.”

“I don’t want to tell you what to do,” Niall started before you raised your index finger to speak.

“Then don’t,” you cut Niall off, earning you a glare from Niall.

“But you’ve gotta deal with this. S’not healthy to,” Niall began rambling as you repeatedly shook your head, clutching one of Niall’s pillows to your chest as you did so.

“So, when were you seeing this girl? Do you still see her around?” You began questioning Niall in attempts to get him to stop reminding you about your ruined love life.

“Live like you don’t have to deal with your problems,” Niall continued his little rant as you rolled your eyes and sat back up, dully looking at Niall as he continued his paternally accurate lecture.

“Have you dealt with this girl? Have you told her how you feel? Is she still manipulative?” You continued your inquiry, your brow arching in feigned interest.

“She wasn’t manipulative,” you successfully distracted Niall, a smile taking over your features as you had achieved your goal. It would be nice to turn the tables for once. It was well known within your group of friends that Niall was the smarter one out of the two of you, when it came to relationships. He was never rude about it but whenever you would tell Niall about your problems with men, his mature instincts would kind of kick in. He wouldn’t so much chastise as he would make you work out your problem. He would try and get you to think the situation through. It wasn’t that you didn’t appreciate his help but sometimes you just wanted to vent and forget. This one flawed relationship you had never heard of was your chance to give Niall a taste of his own medicine.

“Well, how should I know? You’ve barely spoken two words about her and I feel as though I don’t even know you,” you spoke as you settled into a criss-cross-applesauce position upon Niall’s couch.

“She isn’t something I like to talk about,” Niall shook his head as his gaze dropped to his hands.

“Well, here’s your chance,” you offered Niall a wide grin, hoping he would tell you about this mysterious lady. Your demand for a chance to make Niall feel the way he made you feel about flawed relationships was starting to fade away. It was starting to fade into actual curiosity as you realized this female must have really been something for Niall to keep her a secret from you. That, and you were happy to be speaking of anything other than your own problem at hand.

“Where’s this sudden interest coming from, huh?” Niall looked up from furrowed brows, suspicion strewn within the tone of his words.

“I don’t want to talk about Fred, anymore,” you wrinkled your nose, your eyes starting to burn from your previous sudden burst of tears. You were hoping Niall would take pity on you and let yourself take your mind off of your problems.

“You sure do know how to twist someone’s arm, huh?” Niall laughed as he broke eye contact with you once more.

“C’mon, you’re not gonna let the crying girl cry again, right?” You smirked at your abruptly uncomfortable friend.

“Well, when you put it that way,” Niall laughed once more as he shook his head before his features suddenly became stern, “she’s uh… she’s just; I don’t know, what do you want to know about her?”

“What’s her name?” You blurted, desperately wanting to know if you knew the lass Niall had become so shy about.

“I can’t tell you that,” Niall sternly shook his head at you before raising a fist to his mouth so he could clear his throat.

“Okay, do I know her?” You vaguely shook your head as you searched for more questions you could ask Niall about his mystery girl.

“I can’t tell ya that, either,” Niall shook his head once more, still avoiding eye contact with you. You really didn’t get why he was so shy all of a sudden. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know how many daft relationships you had been a part of.

“Well, what can you tell me?” You cocked your head at Niall’s nervous features, really hoping he would give you some kind of information you could work with.

“I dunno,” Niall glanced up at you before checking the time on his phone, “what’s something else you want to know?”

“You’re not gonna make this easy, are you?” You narrowed your eyes at Niall as he reached over to grab the bottle of water he had on his coffee table.

“No, because I don’t wanna talk about her, either,” Niall chuckled before taking a swig of his water.

“Well, this isn’t going to be very informative!” You pouted as your hands went to rest on your hips.

“Alright, alright; think of some more questions,” Niall slowly blinked as he nodded his head for approval, making you look up at the ceiling of his home for some type of inspiration.

“Okay, when were the two of you together?” You finally conjured, looking back at Niall’s kind features.

“Eh, we were never technically together,” Niall squeezed one eye shut as he looked up to the ceiling.

“Ooh, sexy,” you teased before continuing your investigation, “do you still see her around?”

“Uh, yes,” Niall nodded before he went to take another sip of his water.

“What was she like?” You smiled as you wiggled in your seat, ready to hear all about this lady Niall was so reluctant to give you any details about.

“Uh, well,” Niall laughed as his quizzical features gave you the impression he was thinking about the best possible way to describe this woman without giving out too much information, “she was very kind.”

“I thought you said she was manipulative?” You scrunched your nose as you tilted your head in confusion.

“No, you said she was manipulative,” Niall huffed with mirth, “I just said she had me wrapped around her finger.”

“Ah, that’s where my wires crossed,” you smiled as your fingers crossed before continuing, “so she was kind. What else?”

“Eh, she was… I dunno, she was kind… She’s the kind of person that puts thought into gifts,” Niall’s example instantly confused you.

“Well, who doesn’t?” Your brows pinched together as you didn’t get what kind of person would do otherwise.

“Well, you know how there are some people who give you Calvin Klein towels because they’d be considered to be generally useful? This one would you an exact replica of the ones she’d heard ya talkin’bout how ya had a towel with ducks and cows on it when you were a boy. That sort of stuff, ya know?” Niall squinted as he finished his ramble with another drink of water.

“Hm, I thought everyone just kind of put effort into their gifts. Now I’m gonna spend the rest of the drive home thinking about what gifts people just got me for the general usefulness,” you tittered, “alright, so she’s thoughtful. What else? What first drew you to her?”

“Eh… Well… I s’ppose… Her laugh,” the corner’s of Niall’s mouth crept into the slightest smile as he stared down at his fingers.

“Yeah?” Your own smile made an appearance as you thought it such a genuine answer.

“S’not like any other, ya know?” Niall laughed, perhaps in the memory of his lover’s laughter.

“So, what happened?” You carefully asked, knowing you were overstepping a boundary but you thought it only fair since he had completely excluded an entire relationship from all of your “deep” conversations.

“Thing’s don’t always work out, the usual,” Niall shrugged before clearing his throat once more, “so what are we gonna do about this whole Fred thing. I mean, I know I’m not quite entitled or anything—”

“No, no, it’s fine,” you shook your head, snapping out of the intrigue of the tale of Niall’s ex-lover. You wanted to keep listening to Niall speak about this girl but you didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable than he had already been.

“I just don’t want ya to be in some kind of abusive relationship,” Niall quickly explained himself, “because if ya are, I’ll most likely have to take a few punches from this guy. I know where the arsehole lives.”

“You’re not going anywhere near his house,” you head started throbbing at the very thought of Niall marching himself over to Fred’s residence.

“And what’d be so bad about me goin’ over and givin’ him a piece o’ my mind? I don’t tolerate brutes who hit ladies,” Niall’s expression swiftly displayed his anger as he took another drink from his bottled water.

“He has a wife and kids that live with him, too,” you deadpanned, “I don’t want to drag them into this. He loves his girls more than anything in the world.”

“I just hope he isn’t like that to those poor babes,” Niall reasoned with a little shake of his head.

“Don’t say that,” your eyes widened out of fear. You really hoped that wasn’t the case. His girls were so young and precious; you couldn’t imagine Fred doing anything so horrid to his own flesh and blood.

“I’m just saying,” Niall replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“No, I’m not,” you shook your head as you pushed your hair behind your ears, “I’m not going to do anything about this.”

“What?” Niall almost choked on the drink of water he had taken, making you whip your head around to make sure he was alright before responding.

“I’m not going to contact him or call the authorities because if I did, I know it’d be so easy for me to fall back into old habits and I’m not about to put up with a weak version of myself just because of some guy,” your head involuntarily shook at the very thought.

“What do you mean? By not doin’ anything, you’re becoming that weaker version of yourself!” Niall exclaimed, his palm going to move with his sentences.

“I don’t want to face him, Niall. That doesn’t make me weak,” you furrowed your brows as you turned to face Niall, surprised at his remark.

“How does not wanting to face some bloke not affect your power?” Niall huffed out, as if that were the most ignorant statement in the world.

“I’m controlling what happens by not going to see him,” you blabbered, ignoring what Niall was saying as you refused to see his reasoning.

“Y/N, you’re not controlling what happens, you’re hiding from your problems,” Niall finally interrupted your lines of self-defense.

“I’m not controlling what happens? Don’t do this, Niall. The same could be said for you and whoever the hell this girl is,” you narrowed your eyes and shook your head.

“See? This is why I didn’t want to tell you!” Niall widened his eyes, his tone showing his annoyance with your comments.

“Well, I really don’t get it! You just said we tell each other everything, yet, here I am, clueless about this mystery woman who’s ‘had you wrapped around her little finger,’” you reasoned, shrugging your shoulders. You didn’t know why you were bringing her up, again. It wasn’t like you should care but he was one of your best friends! You felt it was a given that that sort of information was to be exchanged between such close friends.

“Why do ya keep steering this back to me? I’m not the one who just got sucker punched by her boyfriend,” Niall dryly cackled, making you scoff in disgust.

“That was mean,” you almost squealed, “not to mention uncalled for.”

“I know, I know. M’sorry,” Niall rolled his eyes, “but I just don’t get why you’re not going to take action. He could spend the night in jail or something? Don’t you want some kind of revenge?”

“No, I’m not that kind of person,” you shook your head as your arms crossed over your chest.

“Then do it for the safety of his family!” Niall almost shouted at you, making you scoff once more.

“His family is none of my business,” you shook your head as you slouched in your seat, knowing that reasoning was quite faulty.

“I can’t believe you, right now,” Niall gaped at you, flabbergasted by your attitude toward the problem.

“I’ll just make things worse for us,” you mumbled as your gaze dropped on you twiddling fingers.

“Or you’ll make some sort of impact that’ll teach him you don’t hit other people when you’re angry,” Niall reasoned with a nod of his head.

“Someone else can take time out of their schedule to teach him because I’m done. I don’t want to take any chances,” you shook your head once more, looking up to stare at the doorway that led into the hallway of Niall’s home.

“So you’re not gonna do anything?” Niall raised his brows at the very idea.

“I’ll cut you a deal—the day you tell your little lover girl how you really feel about her will be the day I do something about Fred,” you grinned, happy that you were able to make such a connection.

“S’not the same,” Niall piped down, at that point.

“How so? Both circumstances are circumstances that make us feel ashamed and vulnerable,” you shrugged your shoulders, thinking you were making perfect sense of the situation at hand.

“That’s the thing, though. I’m not ashamed of loving this girl,” Niall shook his head at you before he seemed to realize what he had just said.

“Oh, love, say you?” You could feel the crease your forehead makes when you receive shocking news.

“Whatever,” Niall rolled his eyes as he went to fiddling with the edge of one of his oldest blankets.

“Once again—you tell your girl you love her, I tell Fred to sought off,” you leaned back into your seat, knowing how difficult that would be for Niall.

“You know what? Fine. Soon as you find the door, I’ll call this girl up and tell her,” Niall threw his hands up in the air, out of frustration.

“Then how will I know you really did it and that you didn’t just say you did?” You narrowed your eyes at your companion, suspicious of how easy that came. You weren’t prepared to stand up to Fred but if Niall was doing practically the same… Well, you didn’t feel as alone doing it.

“I’ll text her and send you the screenshot, then,” Niall rolled his eyes at your antics.

“How will I know it’s really her and not just your friend you can explain all of this to later on?” You tilted your head at Niall, trying to find some way out of this. You really didn’t think he would actually follow through; you wanted to believe he’d back out last minute.

“Well, you’re not gonna watch me do it, that’s for damn sure,” Niall shrugged his shoulders, “you’re just gonna have to trust that I’ll do the honorable thing.”

“I don’t think you’ll do it,” you narrowed your eyes at Niall, a smile tugging at the corners of your lips.

“Just gonna have to trust me,” Niall pursed his lips at you, his foot noticeably shaking out of nerves.

“Well, then,” you cleared your throat as you started shuffling to get out of your seat, “I can’t wait to see the screenshots when I get home.”

“Oh, you’re leaving?” Niall asked as you stood from his couch.

“Oh, should I stay? I just figured that the sooner I get those photos, the sooner I confront Fred but if you’re cool with it. I’ll stay for the show,” you shrugged as you sat back down.

“You want me to tell her right now? It��s so late,” Niall’s brows pinched together.

“Well, my offer’s only good through midnight,” you commented after glancing at the clock to see that it was approaching the witching hour.

“That wasn’t a part of the original offer!” Niall barked out, clearly frustrated with your ways.

“Hey, I’m cool with leaving this alone,” you raised your palms in self defense, “if you’re cool with not meddling, you don’t have to do anything and we can go on watching television like nothing ever happened.”

“You’re evil,” Niall huffed, crossing his arms as he appeared to be in deep thought. He was probably weighing out his options. You didn’t get why Niall wanted you to talk to Fred so much. You’d think he would be fine with you just never speaking to him again.

“I think I’m being pretty fair, considering that this is something we can just drop,” you shrugged your shoulders as your attention was slowly pulled back in by the water-boat commercial playing on the television—you had the sudden urge to go bathing suit shopping.

“Alright,” Niall jumped to his feet after the two of you seemed to sit in an awkward silence, “don’t let the door hit ya on your way out.”

“Oh, so we’re doing this?” You smirked as you slowly rose to your feet, hoping that the slower you moved, the less time Niall would have to meet your deadline.

“Oh, yeah. And as soon as you get those receipts, you’re gonna tell Fred you want to speak to him,” Niall stated as he turned to walk you out.

“That wasn’t part of the deal,” you pointed out as you followed Niall to his front door.

“That’s a sad story,” Niall smiled as the two of you passed the rooms Niall’s hallway passed before you entered the foyer. You didn’t know why but you were suddenly all too invested in the pact the two of you seemed to make earlier. You couldn’t wait to see how Niall’s love-interest would respond. Honestly speaking, she would most likely be thrilled. Niall was just a great person all around—it’d be impossible for anyone not to like him.

“Well, can’t wait to the screenshots, buddy boy,” you pursed your lips as you took the steps to his front door.

“Can’t wait to hear about you cursing out Fred over a cup of tea,” Niall responded as he went to retrieve your coat from his closet.

“I don’t think you’ll do it,” you broached as Niall went to help you into your jacket.

“You’ll just have to wait and see, suppose,” Niall’s tight smile greeted your eyes as you stepped back from adjusting the sleeves on your coat.

“I guess so,” you sighed as you pulled your hair from the back of your jacket before you went to hug Niall goodbye, “but I highly doubt it.”

The two of you kept going back and forth throughout your entire time leaving Niall’s home. Once the two of you could no longer physically hear each other going back and forth, the conversation commenced over text. A lull in the conversation occurred when you finally got into your car. Though you had texted while driving before, you weren’t too keen on doing so when it was so dark out. You could hear your phone’s vibrations from the passenger seat and you had an inkling Niall had, for once, followed through on one of your little “bets”. You tried consoling yourself as you kept saying he’d be too chicken to do so but the little shrivel of fear at the back of your head kept telling you otherwise. It was a long drive home and you stopped hearing the vibrations of your phone. You seemed to have even forgotten the situation as you had switched on the radio and tuned into one of your favorite radio shows. It was when you were already settled in the comfort of your home that you remembered Niall and your pact. You had just jumped into the fresh sheets of your bed when you almost choked on your spit, remembering the many alerts your phone had previously gotten. You quickly went to switch on your phone to see various notifications until you got to Niall’s messages—he had sent photos. You nervously unlocked your phone, hungry for the details of Niall’s personal life. Your brows furrowed at the image, though, as you realized Niall had sent you screenshots of a message feed with your contact name at the top. Realization suddenly set in as you read the messages it contained. Underneath your little back and forth about whether or not Niall would have the guts to confess his love was the little message, itself:

Taking it your driving? Well, hope you get home safe . Aaaaaaannnnnd. I guess I love you or whatever. You gotta call Fred, now. :)

#request #niall #niall horan #imagine #niall horan imagine #black and blue #not edited #send me more requests

25 notes · View notes