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Niall opens his eyes and starts to stretch as he yawn loudly. He feels like he is waking up at the right side of the bed because he feels happy. Smiling to himself, he stands up and heads to his window, pulling the curtains open and his smile goes wider. The weather is so shiny it makes Niall feels like he wants to bask under its warmth. He opens his window and his eyes glance over to his backyard. Suddenly, he gets an idea. He races to his kitchen and opens his fridge. He fist pumps towards the air as he looks inside the fridge and finds lot of foods there. Happily, he finds his cellphone and starts to text each of the guys.
BBQ, my house, 5pm? -Ni
Niall waits and few seconds later he gets his first reply.
Brilliant. I’m on. Anyone helping you out? –Li
Niall rolls his eyes. Of course Liam would ask that question. This is the reason why Niall texts all of them privately and not in their usual group messages because for once, Niall wants to do and prepare for the barbeque thing by himself. Sometimes, his bandmates are a little too overprotective and Niall is tired of it. He wants to prove to them that he can do things by himself for once.
Yeah. Lou is helping me out.
It takes Niall couple of hours before he realizes that the things for the barbeque are in his basement and he has to carry all the stuffs to his backyard, by himself. He is on half way of carrying the starter chimney (who the hell had moved it from the yard to the basement is remain mystery) when Niall feels a sharp of pain in his left knees and he stumbles before he puts down the chimney. He sighs as he pops his knees and whines quietly to himself, wishing for Liam to be there because without a doubt, Liam is stronger than him to carry all heavy things. But then Niall scratches the thought off because he is the one who wants to be independent, right? After a few seconds, Niall lifts the chimney carefully and lets out a victory shout when all of the things had been placed properly at his backyard.
Once Niall had filled up the starter chimney, he then try to lit it up, only to end up almost burning himself in progress. He curses loudly as he tries again and really really hoping for Zayn to help him because anything with fire can be done easily by Zayn. Niall quickly shakes his head and keeps telling himself that this is what he wants to do all along, alone.
Niall hums to himself as he glances over at his watch. He feels bored with no one to talk to and at times like this he admits that he really needs to talk with Louis. Because Louis is a restless bunny like himself and they both always chatter around to kill the time. Niall fiddles with his cellphone, debating whether to call his bandmate or not but then decides to shake the idea off. He will prove to them that he can survive doing thing by himself and he couldn’t wait until he would see their look of surprises.
**
Liam waits until the phone rings for the third time before Louis is finally pick it up and he smiles through the receiver. “Hey, Lou! Busy helping Niall?” Liam asks as soon as Louis says hello.
“Nialler? Nah, I just dropped Eleanor off. Niall said that Harry would help him out.” Louis says and Liam raises his eyebrows.
“Really? I’m pretty sure he said he was with you. Never mind. I’ll ring Harry. See you later, mate.” Liam says and starts to call his other bandmate.
“Li Li! Miss me already?” Harry answers cheekily when he picks up the phone and Liam laughs. Leave it to Harry to be cheeky all the time.
“You wish!” Liam says and Harry laughs. “So, how’s it going there?” Liam asks.
“Nothing much. Nick and I just smashed around playing video games.” Harry replies and Liam frowns. Didn’t Louis say that Harry would be with Niall?
“You’re not with Nialler?” Liam asks.
“Huh? No. He told me he was with Zayn.” Harry says and Liam falls into confusion. “Why? Is something wrong?” Harry asks after Liam doesn’t say anything.
“Nah. I just got confused. I thought he was with Louis then Louis said Niall told him that he was with you. And then you said Niall told you that he was with Zayn.” Liam explains.
Harry hums for a second and Liam can imagine the look on Harry’s face as he does that thing. “Hurm, sounds fishy to me. Never mind, just call Zayn and let me know about it, yeah?”
Liam nods before suddenly realizes that he is on the phone and replies with a quick “okay” to Harry before he starts to call for Zayn.
“..’lo…” Zayn’s sleepy voice greets Liam as he picks up the phone and Liam frowns again.
“You’re still in bed?” Liam asks as he looks at his watch. 4 pm.
“Just taking a nap.” Zayn replies as he yawns and Liam shakes his head disbelievingly at Zayn’s ability to sleep for the whole day.
“So I take it you’re not at Niall’s then?” Liam asks, knowing the truth already.
“No. He said to be there by 5, right?” Zayn asks, his voice is confused. Liam hums in response.
“Yeah, figure.” Liam mutters silently.
“Wait. Aren’t you supposed to be at his house, helping him out? Thought he said you would help him there when I offered myself.” Zayn says.
Liam sighs. “He lied to all of us.” Liam says goodbye to Zayn and tells his bandmate to get ready because they will head to Niall’s party earlier. He then text Louis and Harry the same thing. Niall has an explanation to do.
**
Niall crouches down to pick up the leaves and throws it into the bin before he heard voices behind him. He turns around and grins when he spots his bandmates.
“Guys!” Niall greets happily but his smile fades when four pair of eyes are glaring at him. Uh oh, they know.
“You lied to us.” Zayn first says and Niall sighs.
“I know. I’m sorry. I just, I want to prepare all of the things by myself.” Niall explains.
“For what? We could help you with all of these if you said so.” Liam says, points out to the things at the backyard.
Niall throws his hands on the air, frustrated with the situation. “That’s the point. I don’t want the help from you all. I can do this by myself just fine, thank you very much.”
“You call all of these just fine?” Louis retorts as they look at the mess around them.
Niall feels something snaps inside him and he huffs in annoyance. “Fine! I know it’s a mess! I didn’t know how to marinate and prep the frozen foods! I didn’t know how to lit up the starter chimney and I even failed to prepare the sauce! Thanks for pointing that out! Happy now?!” He snaps and storm off passes his friends to his bedroom.
The other four look at each other in confusion. “What the hell?” Zayn asks and they make a beeline to Niall’s room.
**
Niall buries his head further under his comforter when he hears his bandmates shuffle into his room. He feels someone sits behind him and pats his arms gently.
“Nialler, what’s wrong?” Harry asks softly. This doesn’t seem like Niall that they know. Yes, he has his dramatic moments but not like this.
“Nothing.” Niall replies shortly.
“You’re lying again.” Louis accuses from the other side of the bed.
Niall is still unresponsive and Liam sighs before he speaks up. “Why didn’t you want us here earlier? You don’t like us to be here?”
Niall remains silence and Louis finally snaps. “What the hell Niall! Stop acting like a child!”
That gets Niall’s attention as he sits up quickly and throws his comforter away and glares at the other four boys. “Oh, now you’re mad I’m acting like a child? Have you guys even thought that you all always treat me like a child?!”
“What?” Zayn asks, raising his eyebrows in confusion. By the reaction of Louis, Harry and Liam, Zayn knows they are also confused.
“What? Everytime I try to do something, everyone is acting like I’m not capable of doing that and offers themselves to help me like I’m a fucking child. It’s tiring! Just because I’m claustrophobic and small and short doesn’t means I’m a freak!”
“Niall, you’re not a freak..” Harry probes gently as he finally understands Niall’s point.
“The hell I’m not!”
“So what? You’re mad at us because we always protect you and don’t let you do things by yourself?” Louis asks as he stares at Niall’s eyes, challenging the Irish boy to answer his questions.
“I don’t know. Maybe!”
“Then maybe then you should fucking do whatever that you want without messing things up, so then we know that we don’t have to help and protect you for all the freaking time!” Louis snaps and regrets it as soon as the words come out from his mouth when he sees the crestfallen look upon Niall’s face.
Niall feels his eyes filled with tears and looks away from all of his bandmates. “I know I’m a failure. Hell, I didn’t even manage to do a simple BBQ by myself.”
“Ni…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Louis tries to apologize and reaches Niall but Liam stops him. Niall rolls on the bed, facing the wall instead of his friends and Liam shakes his head at Louis. Louis sighs. He knows Liam is right. Niall would probably ends up snapping at him again if Louis tries to touch him.
“Go away.” Niall says, his voice thick with tears and he doesn’t want any of them to be there at the moment.
**
Zayn opens the door quietly and makes his way towards Niall’s bed. He looks at Niall’s face and smiles slightly at the scene. He notices a dried-tear streaks on Niall’s cheeks and runs his thumbs over it softly.
“Ni, wake up..” Zayn calls out and Niall’s eyes flutter open.
“Zayn?” Niall asks in confusion as he rubs his eyes from the sleep. He thought all of them had left his house earlier.
Zayn helps Niall to sit up and leads him to the bathroom, telling Niall to watch his face and Niall follows sleepily. His mind isn’t function properly yet and he just follow whatever the hell Zayn asks him to do, including blindfolding his eyes as Zayn leads him downstairs.
“Where are we going?” Niall asks and Zayn remains silent.
Once they reach their destination, which is Niall’s backyard apparently, Zayn opens the blindfold and Niall blinks his eyes as he looks at his other three bandmates. Louis, Liam and Harry are smiling at him and Niall notices that all of the BBQ things are organized. Niall follows their steps as they lead him to the small blankets that had been thrown on the ground near the fire pit that they had been set up.
They get into a pile of cuddles as they always do and Niall feels himself settle between Liam and Harry, with Zayn and Louis tangles around besides them.
“Niall, we don’t think you as a failure or a child.” Liam starts. Niall raises his eyebrows at that comment and Liam chuckles. “Okay, maybe as a child but not because you’re useless. It’s because you’re our sunshine and we don’t want our sunshine to lose its shine so we protect it. We protect you from everything. We want to see you happy all the time. And we hate if there is a single frown on your face. That’s why we help you a lot, so that you’re happy.” Liam says. Louis, Harry and Zayn nod, agreeing with Liam. Obviously they had talked about this and Niall really appreciates it.
Niall nods understandingly. “It’s just..sometimes, it is so frusfrated.” Niall admits. “Plus, I’m not the youngest, Harry is. Yet everyone always think I’m the youngest one.”
“Well, like I said, it’s because you’re cute and Harry is pervert.” Louis teases, earning an indignant “hey” from Harry. Niall rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless.
“Okay. But just, cut me some slack after this, yeah?” Niall asks as he glances over at his bandmates.
All of them nod and smile fondly at Niall. “Anything to make you happy, Nialler.”
Niall chuckles fondly at their choruses and sits up properly. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry. Can I be ‘Chef Niall’ for the day?” Niall asks as he starts to stand up.
“Yes, you can. Here, put this on. I want to take a picture of you in it.” Harry says as he tosses Niall the apron.
Niall puts on the apron and smiles widely. “Make sure you put it in your instagram, Hazza!” Niall teases and Harry laughs and nods, already uploading the picture into his account.
Chefstagram
