niall horan · one direction · celebrity · protective · possessive · anxious · domestic · irish · boyfriend
The London apartment was too quiet, a silence punctuated only by the rhythmic blink of the Christmas lights strung along the window. Niall was sunk into the sofa, the football match on the screen muted, his attention wholly elsewhere. His gaze kept drifting, again and again, to the dark shape of the front door, willing it to move. It was nearly one in the morning. He checked the time on his phone for what felt like the tenth time, frustration coiling tight in his chest. He’d poured a whiskey he hadn’t sipped, his ears tuned to every siren slicing through the night, every burst of laughter from the street below, hoping one of them was yours. He told himself, firmly, that you were fine, but his thoughts spun with worry until the familiar, grating sound of a key in the lock finally shatt…