"I have an idea." My lips betray my thoughts for the tenth time ever since Christmas day, when I realized that I missed him too much to not come back to his arms like that.

I can't clearly tell you how I ended up booking a flight to Cheshire just to see Harold Edward Styles. But I can tell you something - it's really worth the risk, now that his hands are intertwined with mine, leading me to his living room's couch like nobody's watching us here. And I know Gemma is hidden somewhere in the kitchen, trying to see what we're doing, but I don't care. First, because it's Harry's home, Harry's family. They can do whatever they want.

Second, because, like I said before, I missed him too much to care about it.

"What do you have in mind?" He says, looking at me with a confused face. I put down my suitcase and relax myself on the couch, dropping his hands just to put my legs over his thighs.

"Since I had no idea if you would say yes or no to my proposal, let's just say that I'd really like to spend New Year's eve with you, my friend", I answer his question.

"Niall..."

"What? Do you have better plans?"

"No, of course not", he seems a little lost in his own words, as he tries not to look at my face while he thinks of an answer. "I just didn't expect you here. It's been almost a year since we parted ways, you know."

"I know, and I thought it would make me feel better to live on my own too", I say, taking a deep breath right after that. "Honestly, I don't know what kind of crazy idea crossed my mind to make me come here to see you. I just had to see if I really missed you, I guess."

"And you do?"

"Yep", I smirk. "Did you?"

"A lot", he says, finally looking at me and putting a tiny smile on his face. "But we didn't even arrange the guest room for you, Nialler."

"I can make up with anything."

"No, you deserve the best. Wait right here", he says, gently tapping my legs so I can take it out from his lap. "Mom!" He screams, and somehow I manage to laugh at it.

♚♚

"There's gonna be some fireworks tonight. The mayor is promoting a whole show", Harry says, while helping me carry my suitcase up the stairs of his house. "I know we cannot go if we don't want to cause a commotion, you know."

"It's okay", I answer him. "I guess we can do something fun at the backyard."

"Oh, what about a barbecue? Gemma's boyfriend can come and help us", he seems really happy to come up with this idea, and so I agree with him.

He sets up my suitcase on the guest room's bed, taking a couple of deep breaths after that.

"There it is. Mi casa es su casa... or something like that", Harry laughs at himself.

"Thank you", I say, letting out a smirk on my face. "Do you know what time is it?"

"Hum, I guess it's..." He pulls his cellphone out from the pocket of his sweatpants, checking the screen. "Four P.M. We still have a lot of time before the countdown."

"Great. I'll take a quick shower now."

"What do you wanna do next?"

"I don't know. Anything you want."

"We can watch a movie. Gemma just got an Amazon Prime account, what do you think?" He says, a little bit excited, again, with his own idea.

It seems like he was waiting for this moment, too. I can only smile at his excitement. He's always been like that, ever since the early "Take Me Home" days, when, literally, all he wanted to do was cuddle with someone and watch two, three movies per night. Since no one else was mellow like him, I ended up doing it with him on most of the free time we had.

I missed that, too.

"It seems brilliant, Haz", I say, gently poking his left cheek with my fingers. "Good boy, go choose a movie while I get ready, okay?"

He nods, leaving the room so I can do whatever I need.

Later on, we're laying down on the couch, watching some old Christmas animated movie with a bucket of popcorn on my lap and two cups of soda on his thighs. Although Harold seems way too focused on the movie - just like every time he sits up to watch something -, I'm way too focused on not smiling to myself every time I hear his laugh by my side. 

I can smell his hair from here. It's perfect. I can see him smiling from the corner of my right eye. It's perfect, too.

Harold Edward Styles is the definition of "flawless". The best friend I could ever ask. The best man I could ever have in my life, too.

But, somehow, I have been forbidding myself from any other feelings that I may have from him.