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It started with a little knock on his front door. Two days had passed by and no one knocked on his front door as usual. Liam missed on how the blonde will knock on his door twice before barged into his flat just looking for foods. Not that Liam had a lot of foods, but his house had never ran out of supplies, well unless Niall finished it. And for that reason, being the sensible one, Liam always made sure that his kitchen would never ran out of foods because he did not want Niall to pout and complained about the lack of foods at Liam’s house. And as Liam opened his fridge this morning, he couldn’t help but felt a pang in his heart when the amount of foods in his fridge was still the same as it was two days before.
Liam ignored about the foods matter and get ready for his trip to the gym. He was about to shout and asked whether Niall wanted to come with him to the gym when he realized that Niall was not there as usual. Of course, Liam thought. Usually, Niall would eat all his foods and lazily slumped on the couch while Liam was busied getting ready with his tracksuits and sport shoes. Then Liam would ask Niall if the blonde one wanted to come along and Niall’s favorite answer was always, “You go first, I’ll go later.” And unless Niall was hidden behind the 40pounds heavy lifting equipment on the gym, Liam never saw Niall showed up to the gym once. And when Liam was back to his flat, he always found the blonde slept on his couch and Liam couldn’t help but shook his head and smiled. Only Niall. Then Liam would wake Niall up and lectured him about his sleeping habit and Niall just shrugged and gave his puppy eyes (damn those eyes) and smiled at Liam and the older one would crumbled under Niall’s charm. It was amusing really how Niall can manipulate his innocent-little-brother-don’t-be-mad-at-me-look to Liam every time and yet Liam fell into it.
But not that day when Liam was home and found no one on his couch and he sighed. He knew it was ridiculous but he wanted the familiar situation and routine. Liam went to the couch and sat silently. And after that he pouted by himself. He knew what he was feeling at that moment. He missed Niall.
*****
Harry nodded eventhough he knew that his mum couldn’t see him through the phone. It has been an hour and his mum still didn’t stop her nagging. It was his fault really but he just wanted to have fun. Who would have thought that those paparazzi would catch his picture with someone that he wanted to have fun for last night. He knew his mum was worried but he was just a teenage boy. He got horny sometimes. Try asking other teenage boys, they would have the same answer with him. Ask Niall. The Irish guy would know since he and Harry had always sneaking out together. They both can be quite cheeky and miraculously, Niall always got away with it. Harry knew if Niall was with him at the moment, his mum would stop nagging instead. It was amusing to Harry on how Niall can charm everyone and always got the mums around his finger. Harry figured because the blonde one was just so damn adorable and cute that no one had the heart to be mad at him. He remembered when he had the fling with Caroline way back (okay, maybe just last year but whatever), Niall was the one who saved him from being under Anne’s wrath. He went back home with Niall and amazingly, he didn’t get yelled by his mum at all since Niall was beside him all the time. And by the time Anne started her lecturing, Niall gave her his famous pout and wrapped his arms around Harry, “don’t be mad at Harry, please Anne?” And yes ladies and gentlemen, Harry was saved. It was a bonus being around Niall and being cheeky together because the blonde one always saved him with his charm. But Niall had been gone for two days and Harry had no one to save him over his own late night trip to the club. He knew it was his own fault but he needed his partner-in-crime.
When Harry hang up, he went to his kitchen, (well it’s also Louis’ since they shared the flat but whatever) and found no foods were left. Typical. Harry sighed and sat on one of the stools. He was slightly hungry but he was too lazy to go out and even to order in. He considered going to Liam’s flat because he knew Liam was never ever ran out of foods but he just realized that he just missed eating or more accurately stealing others’ foods. Not because he was lazy but it was fun to see the other boys’ faces when Harry cheekily stole their foods, and Harry loved to see Niall’s expression the most. Being the eater in the band, Niall was always making an annoyed face and his cheeks will flushed and he would glared (or most likely attempting to glare cause it’s Niall and Niall didn’t know how to be mad or glared at people) at Harry and it was entertained to watch. Lazily and feeling quite down, Harry dragged his feet and went to his bed, decided to go to sleep instead. And by the time he put his head on the pillow and stared blankly at the ceiling, he knew why he was feeling down. He missed Niall.
*****
Zayn draped his arms on the couch and sighed. He just got back from anti-smoking campaign (yes, he did stop smoking after all) and went home only to find out that it was empty. Usually, he would be bombarded by questions from Niall since the blonde one always waited for him. The younger lad knew how it was really hard at first for Zayn to give up smoking and wanted to support Zayn, well at least that was what he told Zayn and of course Zayn believed Niall. Who wouldn’t? And when Zayn finished talking about his day, Niall would start rambling about anything and Zayn just listened with smile plastered on his face. He knew if anyone other than his bandmates saw both of them, they would say that Zayn was the quiet one. The thing was, Zayn was not the quiet one, it was just that once Niall started to talk, he really didn’t stop unless someone offered him foods. And Zayn didn’t mind that. He loved hearing Niall talked. Niall always being so carefree and innocent (maybe not so innocent but Zayn loved him anyway) and Zayn couldn’t helped but feeling protective over the younger one. That was why he liked to ruffle Niall’s hair and wrapped his arms around the blonde one because he just felt like Niall was his little brother that he wanted to protect from the evil of the world. It’s not that he didn’t felt protective over his other bandmates but with Niall, he became overprotective. And at that moment, Zayn felt lost since he didn’t get to protect Niall as Niall was not in front of his eyes as always.
He pulled out his cellphone from his pocket and thinking of tweeting something deep (as he always did) about brotherly friendship and all when he came across Niall’s tweet. Zayn chuckled as he read the blonde’s latest tweet. Niall and his randomness always made Zayn smiled. It was like Niall always knew how to put a smile on Zayn’s face when he was down and in his moody days as the others would like to call it. He scrolled over his twitter timeline and found nothing interesting other than Niall’s tweet and he couldn’t help but slightly pout. He knew it was ridiculous for 19 years old boy to pout over his friend’s absence but he just couldn’t help it. He missed Niall.
*****
Louis huffed in frustration when Harry didn’t even smile at his latest joke and just dismissed him instead. He pouted as he watched Harry retreated to his own room and left Louis alone at the living room. His joke was funny, at least Niall used to think it was. He knew if he told Niall about his latest joke, the blonde would laugh and Louis would felt warm inside. He liked when he can made someone laugh especially Niall. Niall was like a ball of laughter where he can laugh at everything. Louis liked the fact that Niall always laugh at his jokes eventhough he himself knew sometimes it was lame. It just that the way Niall looked up to him was overwhelming and made Louis felt important. He used to be worshipped by his sisters and when Niall being like one of his sisters, Louis felt like he was home. It lessened his homesickness and that was why he always tried to make Niall laughed.
As Louis switched on the television and stumbled upon some singing competition, it reminded him about Niall too. Louis used to think that his voice was not good enough, and he was never felt confident to have a solo in front of people but Niall changed that. Every time Louis had those thoughts, Niall would always said that it was not true and the blonde would always messing up his solo and winked to Louis and laughed it out because it’s Niall. Niall didn’t care and somehow his carefree rub off on Louis and the older lad felt confident again. He liked hanging around Niall because Niall always brought positive energy and that moment, Louis really needed one. As he glanced on his calendar, he sighed. Niall had been gone for two days and Louis couldn’t help but feeling negative for these past two days and he just needed Niall around him. He knew what he felt at that moment. He missed Niall.
*****
“So what movie for tonight guys?” Liam asked as he crouched in front of his DVD collection and trying to pick a movie for their usual movie night.
“Anything can do.” Zayn replied as he shrugged.
“Sorry mate, never heard of that title.” Liam replied cheekily and Louis and Harry chuckled behind him.
Liam’s eyes caught one DVD and he picked it out.
“What about this one?” Liam asked as he turned around and waving the DVD in front of his other bandmates.
“Finding Nemo? Yeay!” Harry clapped cheerily, followed by Louis and Zayn. Liam shook his head but couldn’t help but feeling proud of his choice.
Halfway through the movie, everybody was fidgeted on their seats. Every part of the movie reminded them of Niall and how would Niall reacted over certain scenes on the movie. And all of them expected to hear sniffles because Niall always cried when he watched the movie but only silence filled the room. It was not an awkward silence but it wasn’t a comfortable one either. Few moments passed before they all started talking at once.
“I miss Nialler.”
“I miss our leprechaun.”
“I miss Ni.”
“I miss him.”
Four of them looked at each other for a second before broke into laughter on how ridiculous they were sounded. They laughed and talked about how they thought that they were the only one who missed Niall and didn’t want to talk to the others about it because it was ridiculous. Niall had only gone home for two days and they missed him already. When their laughter subsided, it was Louis who stood up first and announced that he will pack his bag because “We’re going to Ireland!!” and the rest of them followed his steps.
*****
Niall yawned and sat up on his bed, looking at his clock and groaned at how early it was. He tried to go back to sleep but his eyes snapped back open and he sighed. Rolling to his right, his eyes caught on one of the pictures on the wall. It was picture of his and his other bandmates during the X-Factor time. He smiled as he remembered how far they had gotten and how their friendship was stronger days by days. They didn’t have enough free time and couldn’t even go home due to their busy schedule so when they had a week off, Niall decided to go back to Ireland. But what he didn’t expect was to have the feeling of being alone and lost at home. He was so used to be around the other four guys that he felt like he started to miss them already. Only 5 more days, Niall thought to himself as he pushed off his duvet and stretched before he made his way to downstairs.
What Niall didn’t expect was Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn sat at the table having breakfast with his parents and nobody had noticed him, yet. Niall rubbed his eyes because he knew it was just imagination. He missed them so it made sense that he saw them were grinning at him when they noticed him. He closed his eyes again as he thought he was still asleep and dreaming. When he opened his eyes, they were still there, at his parent’s house, in Ireland. It was then Niall realized that they were all there for real.
“Urm..guys? What’re you doing here?”
Niall’s question was never answered as four boys ran towards him and pulled him into a massive hug. Niall was squished inside the hug as he heard few mumbles came from his other bandmates. He couldn’t help but laughed and said, “I miss you guys too.”