#nobody says the irish should have just been nicer to the british and then maybe [insert atrocity here] wouldntve happened

[1dffsummerexchange]

Boxing Day Unboxing Day

Written For: @ktrsss1fics 

Written By:  @mancerelle

Pairing: Niall/OFC

Word Count: 3,541

Warnings: language

Summary:

“I fell asleep on your couch after a party but you didn’t complain and made breakfast for the both of us”

Vanessa woke up with a hazy memory and a terrible headache. In fact, her headache was so bad she could barely keep her eyes open for too long before she felt like she was being blinded, or keep them closed for too long before she felt like the room was spinning. She closed her eyes once more and counted to ten before she decided she was ready to grab the day by its balls or whatever a day could be grabbed by and face it. But first she had to make co-

Wait.

Where did that glass table come from? Why was it filled with red plastic cups? And why was the TV still on? Is that what had woken her up?

Vanessa shook her head. She must have still been dreaming. She closed her eyes, counted to ten again and opened them. Nope. She was not dreaming. She really was in a stranger’s house. She shrieked and covered her mouth immediately. What had she done? She looked around for clues as to where she was. She had never been inside this house for sure. She must have come back with some stranger, but what was even stranger: her clothes were all on. They didn’t look or feel like someone had tried to rip them off. The only weird thing was her bra, but it was only misplaced because she had slept on it.

She turned around, careful not to do it quickly to avoid nausea or vertigo. She watched out for any indicators of whose house this was. And then she knew. When her eyes landed on the set of guitars in the far, unlocked room beyond the living room, she realized she had slept at Niall Horan’s house.

But how had she gotten here? And more importantly, why did she wake up here?

First things first though: her phone. Texts, Snapchats, Instagram pictures, anything, once again, looking for indicators as to why she was in Niall’s, of all people’s, place and why she had woken up there.

The first notification she had was from Sam, her sister, and it was a text.

02:05 am: Got home safe.

02:06 am: Will pay for the cab once I get paid.

02:07 am: Make sure to drink lots of water, young lady. That was quite the booze you got in your blood.

Vanessa tried calling Sam but she wasn’t answering. She tried three more times before deciding that she was most likely still asleep.

So she went on Snapchat, and sure enough her sister’s and Niall’s story was full of clips from last night. One where Sam and Vanessa did shots with their arms linked, like mates, as they chugged them in one go. There was another one of Vanessa and Sam singing at the top of their lungs. Another one where Vanessa received a shot of tequila right in her mouth from Niall, no less. And finally, the last clip of her featured her and Niall dancing so close together and mouthing the song that was playing word for word. Their mouths were so close together and Vanessa felt like barfing upon seeing it. She looked back and saw no one. Maybe Niall was sleeping up in his room and maybe it was fair for her to make both of them breakfast. After all, she woke up fully clothed and warm, wrapped in a blanket.

She decided to text Sam before doing anything else.

11:45 am: Why’d you leave me here?

She shook her head, locked her phone and went through Niall’s fridge like nobody’s business. She looked for something, anything that didn’t require animal produce to make a healthy breakfast for the both of them. She couldn’t find anything, so she went through his cabinets. All she could find was cereal, whole wheat bread (what?) and some hummus. Huh, she thought, I never took Niall for the hummus type. Whaddya know?

She toasted six sliced of bread and spread hummus on all of them. Then she found coconut milk way deep in the cabinets, and much to her surprise it had not yet expired. So with that and some bananas, she made a smoothie. Apparently, the noise the mixer made was loud enough to reach Niall’s room. That, or it might have been the fact that it was now 11:55 am in the morning.

“Good morning,” Vanessa said through a grumble. It wasn’t always a pleasure seeing Niall Horan, not in the wee hours of the morning (okay, she had just woken up with a splitting headache), and hungover. “Breakfast?”

Niall kinked a brow. He looked like he was either genuinely confused by Vanessa’s offer or by Vanessa’s presence in his home. “What are you still doing here?”

“Uh, making breakfast for the both of us?” Vanessa turned around to pour the banana smoothies on glasses and slid the hummus toast across the counter.

“I can see that,” Niall said through a chortle. “What I don’t understand is why.”

“Well,” she said as she licked her top lip to remove the banana smoothie, “it’s not every day one gets a sleepover invitation to a pop star’s house. Besides, I woke up fully clothed, I always look forward to that.”

Niall chortled again. “It wasn’t a sleepover, though, your sister was gone and I didn’t feel like sending you away in a cab.”

“Touching,” she said mockingly.

He rolled his eyes. “It was only a matter of time before you said something sassy.”

“Oh, shut up. It’s too early to start bantering.” She shook her head and sipped on more of her banana smoothie, after which she munched on the hummus toast. So did Niall. “So why am I in your house, again?”

Niall spat out a bit of his toast and choked on the other bits. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Vanessa stared at him, if looks could kill.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and drank some of his smoothie. “Where should I start?”

“I don’t know, but I would like details. Besides, it doesn’t look like we could do much of anything,” she said, lifting her phone for Niall to see the weather notification. “Looks like we’re snowed in.”

“Yay,” he said sarcasm dripping of that simple word. “Well, remember that a while ago your sister directed a music video of mine and it went well and we haven’t stopped working together ever since?”

“Much to my displeasure, yes. Go on.”

Niall shook his head. He didn’t think Vanessa was actually a dick or anything. He just thought she could be a bit nicer. After all, she had just slept over at his house. “Anyway, one of those days she said she wanted to have a more British experience, and me, being Irish but having lived in London for quite some time now, I decided to throw a Boxing Day party. Secret Santa and whatnot, also quite American.” He chuckled. “But anyway, she thought it was a great idea and we started putting it together. I remember inviting you, actually.”

“I remember that, too. I just don’t remember why I agreed to come. I don’t even remember arriving at your party in the first place. Plus, why would you invite me? We hate each other!”

“I don’t hate you,” he said, shaking his head profusely. “And you don’t hate me either. You just enjoy pissing on my cheerios and I enjoy pissing on yours as well.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes and gagged at the expression. She had always hated that expression. Why would people ruin a perfectly good breakfast by peeing on it? Whether it was metaphorical, used as an expression, or an actual thing that British people did, she wished she could just wipe it off everyone’s vocabulary. It was disgusting.

“As I was saying,” Niall continued after swallowing his smoothie, “your sister was incredible. She helped me plan this entire thing without missing a bit. She tried so hard to get all my closest friends and family members to come. And then she had to convince you.”

“Wait. Why did I need any convincing at all? If there’s a party, I’m there,” Vanessa said, confused as hell.

“Yeah, well, apparently not if it’s my party,” he said, shaking his head. It was like all of a sudden he was remembering how much they actually hated each other. “As it turns out, usually with people like you-“

“People like me?”

“- you either completely forgot about it or you chose to ruin it for yourself.” Here, Niall took a deep breath as if preparing for the worst possible news. “Your sister asked me to go pick you up because she was busy setting up the decorations, and she knew I wouldn’t be super happy about it but she also knew I’m a good person.”

“Debatable.” Vanessa huffed.

“And sure enough, there you were, sobbing like a baby.” Niall started to chortle but it came out choked. It was the kind of chuckle you had to work to keep it a chuckle so as not to burst out laughing. “Poor Vanessa, drunk- crying over some lad who stood you up yet again, and you were stupid enough to agree to see again.”

“Excuse me, leprechaun boy, only my friends, my mom and my sister get to call me stupid,” Vanessa shot at him.

“No, no, these were your words, not mine, sweet tamal.”

And they were back to calling each other their nicknames. They could have come up with better, more original nicknames than stereotypical or traditional food names for their countries but let’s just say neither of them was great at bickering.

“Anyway, little Mexican, I was trying really hard to get you out of the house, and then Sam called and you were sold. I don’t know what she told you, though, so you’re gonna have to check on her for that. So, basically, in summary, you ended up at my house because some arsehole dumped you the day after Christmas and you got drunk to... for get him?” Niall noticed Vanessa’s creased forehead and quivering lip, her nose was flaring, too; and he wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or if she was going to punch him but he thought it would be a good idea to rub circles around her back. “Aw, don’t be sad, Vanessa… or whatever you’re feeling that isn’t happy. If it makes you feel any better you were the life of the party.” She looked up at him, brows lifted as if to ask ‘really?’ Niall grinned in spite of himself. “You suggested a whole bunch of drinking games, you swore to give me my present the next day, and you tore up your gift’s wrapping paper like an angry little toddler… let’s just say it all went down smoothly.”

“Wait. Who gave me the present? And what was it? Where is it?”

“It was an eye-shadow thing and Liam got it for you. I don’t know where you left it; I was only in control of putting you safely to sleep. By the way, you still haven’t given me my present.”

“Hey, I made you a perfectly vegan breakfast, I even included a smoothie. Your present’s been taken care of.”

Niall puffed and shook his head. This girl was impossible.

“Now what?” Vanessa asked. “I don’t have any clothes here, none of your clothes fit me, and we can’t get out of here, we’re snowed in.”

“Just our luck, right?” Niall said but she didn’t look too please, there wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her face. “Well, if you’re gonna act like that I think it’s best for us not to even be in the same room.”

“No, no, sorry,” Vanessa quickly added. “I just… I was really looking forward to get all my creative juices going for my plus size clothing line, but I’m stuck here with you and you don’t even like me and I’m wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday and it’s all a pain in the ass, really.”

“You need to work on finding solutions, wow.” Niall crossed his arms. “I think I have some things here that might fit you. If not, you can get them in the wash and wear a bathrobe or just not get out of the wash room before they’re done?”

“Huh, who would’ve thought. Niall Horan, hospitable and charitable. Never expected that from a super star.”

Niall rolled his eyes. He was tired of Vanessa giving him a hard time for that one moment when he was mean to her. But, in her defense, it was his first impression and he kind of blew it up. He could still remember getting angry and lashing out on her because she was grabbing all the chips, his favorite ones no less, from the bowl. She was supposed to be Sam’s invite, Sam’s guest, not the stealer of all good chips. Plus his girlfriend of two weeks had told him that she couldn’t do the whole date a super star gig. But Vanessa also had to admit she wasn’t that nice to him, either.

He gave her an Irish national soccer team jersey that she squeezed in, as well as some pants that were sure to leave marks for how tight they were. But she had no choice, she needed to get those clothes washed, she could worry about new underwear later.

Niall set up the Apple TV and tried to figure out what type of movies Vanessa was into, but after clicking on different titles, he decided to let her speak of herself. When she came back from the wash room looking like a one of the black men dressed as a girl in White Chicks, she looked positively furious.

“You don’t sleep with enough fat girls,” she said as she walked up to the sofa.

“Says who?”

“Please, you don’t think the girls you’ve slept with leave some of their things here so they can either come back later or just as a reminder of the wonderful fuck they were?”

Niall shook his head as he chortled. “Well, you don’t sleep with enough celebrities. I track their houses or leave them with a security guard in the corner. I can’t see them again.”

“What?! That’s crazy. I thought celebrities were okay with a promiscuous reputation.”

“Not this Irish lad.” At Vanessa’s eye roll, he patted the spot on the couch next to him. “Come on, let’s watch something. Any show you’re behind on or a film you’d like to watch right now?”

She grabbed the remote and surfed the Netflix feed. She decided to go to her favorite one, the one she always watched when she was in a bad mood and she needed a pick me up:

“How To Ruin A Wedding?” Niall asked, incredulous. “No offense but you look like the sort of girl who’s into action films.”

“Uh, the only action film I like is Die Hard and Fast and Furious, but just the first one. But if you don’t wanna watch this one, we can-“

“Eh, leave it. Kristen Dunst’s in it.”

Vanessa could not, for the life of her, believe that watching a movie would be a good idea. All Niall did was ask questions and laugh out loud and insert comments here and there. It was a total fail.

“It was so good,” he said, still cackling. Literally the only thing Vanessa liked about him was his laugh, so despite herself, she chortled.

“I can’t believe you talk throughout movies. You know how annoying that is?”

“I know how annoying it is to you.” At her eye roll, Niall angled his body to look at her more properly.

And then at the same time they both said, “Why do you hate me so much?” Without missing a beat, they both frowned. “I don’t hate you,” they said simultaneously. “Okay, you first.”

Niall chuckled once more and gestured with his hand. “Lady’s first.”

Vanessa took a deep breath and straightened up a bit. “I don’t hate, hate you, you know? It’s like kinda when people say they’re in like with someone else instead of love? I’m not in hate with you… it’s more like… dislike, I guess?”

“Oh, well, I’m flattered,” Niall said, touching his chest.

“I just think you’re a tad entitled and sometimes don’t use that privilege for good. Like the time I told you, when I first met you,  I was working with homeless women to give them more hygiene products than food and you made a very stupid, very sexist joke about girls’ periods. Plus you don’t take anything seriously.”

“I was just having a laugh.” He shrugged.

“I know. But period jokes suck, especially when all you mean is that girls are gross. That thing could have been a baby, you dumbass.” She tossed him the pillow that lay next to her and he tried to stop her but all he did was guffaw. “What about you?”

“What about me, indeed?” He looked at her the way he did James Corden when he hit that high note in Best Song Ever.

“Why do you hate me?”

Niall rolled his eyes so hard he even turned his head around. “I don’t hate you. You just gave me the wrong first impression.” He shrugged.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, you were noisy and annoying and I was trying to get in the mood of the video.”

She stared. “You were singing a song about getting drunk because a girl dumped you.”

“Fine but it was still something I wanted to be proud of. And I was but it wasn’t because of you. Your sister is just great at what she does.”

Like clockwork, Vanessa’s phone buzzed in the counter. While she answered Niall heard the bell from the laundry and tossed Vanessa’s clothes in the dryer without thinking about it. When she came back from talking to Sam about how she hadn’t called her, how there were videos all over Snapchat, and how she just hoped her Twitter wasn’t blowing up with people talking about her and Niall as the new power couple.

“What? Where?” Niall asked as soon as Vanessa told him. She shook her head but decided to grab Niall’s laptop and typed Niall and mystery girl on Google.

Suddenly three articles popped up all of which included the same videos and the same adjectives to describe Vanessa: latina, curvy and spicy. She most certainly didn’t love the adjectives but she was way past giving them the attention and time and energy they didn’t deserve. Niall looked at her, his brows furrowed and his mouth open. He looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it. He scrolled through the videos, a sequence of clips from Snapchat of Vanessa and he dancing to Despacito, of them singing at the top of their lungs every single song the DJ played, of them almost kissing after taking a shot.

“What the hell, Niall?” Vanessa dropped the laptop next to her and stood up, fuming. “God, this is so like you, first you pretend to be all nice and warm and then you show your true colors. Just when I was beginning to think you were one of the good guys.”

“I am one of the good guys!” Niall bellowed. He was sick and tired of her judging him and accusing him of things he wasn’t. “You just won’t give me a chance. Why are you so angry, anyway?”

Vanessa looked at him like he was crazy. “You cannot possibly be serious. I was pissed drunk and you were grinding on me and getting me even more drunk and then tried to kiss me?”

“Okay,” Niall said before she could go on, but started laughing nervously. “You’re jumping to conclusions. I was pissed drunk too, all I remember from that night is picking you up and you telling me we needed more Latino flavor on the dance floor.”

This startled Vanessa; she took a step back like she couldn’t believe she was wrong. Niall Horan, famous, annoying, entitled, white Irish boy, had proven her wrong. And worst of all, she was wrong about him.

“I know right?” Niall said, lifting his brows with a hint of a smirk threatening to curve his lips. “Hurts to be wrong, doesn’t it?”

“I… I’m sorry?”

“That’s not actually an apology.”

“Ugh. I think I like you better when we’re wasted.”

“Me too. But I was thinking we could at least try getting along sober?”

Both of their lips began to curve, and it was nothing like any of them had ever experienced before. They used to only see those smiles when the other one got hurt, or when the other one made a really good joke about the other. They used to hide their smiles from each other when the other one said something funny or sassy. Without thinking too much about it, Vanessa nodded, reaching her hand for Niall to shake.