forty-one: meet the parents

I wasn't really sure if I was breathing anymore by the time we walk into Niall's house. My hands were shaking, my throat dry and my heart beating so quickly I was certain everyone could hear it. Niall practically drags me into the kitchen where his parents were, his mother standing at the stove finishing up dinner while his father unloaded the dishwasher. They stilled when they heard Niall clear his throat, both of them looking at me and I was certain I was about to shit my pants.

I couldn't breathe now, gulping and trying my best to act like I wasn't about to have a panic attack.

"Mum, Dad, this is Harry." Niall says, hanging onto my arm as he looks at his parents excitedly. Niall's dad clears his throat, taking a step away from the dishwasher and towards us. He holds out a hand for me to shake, which I do despite the fact that I was certain my hands were about to fall off. 

"It's nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Bobby and that's my wife Maura." Bobby says, smiling softly at me and I feel the nerves slowly start to calm. I couldn't bring myself to speak yet, unsure of what to say besides the fact that it was nice to meet them as well. Even when I did go to say something, nothing came out in fear of making a complete ass of myself. 

"I uh... It's... I..." I try, cringing as I take my hand back and silently chewing myself out because shit, I couldn't even form actual words. 

"Well, who's hungry?" Niall asks after a few seconds of complete silence, looking at everyone with a smile on his face. He earns nods from all of us, Niall's parents heading into the dinning room but Niall stops me before I get the chance to move. 

"You doing okay?" Niall asks, earning a shaky breath from me as I nod my head.

"Doing just fine..." I whisper, faking a smile as I risk a glance towards the dinning room. Maura and Bobby were already sitting at the table, talking to each other quietly. 

"H, they're not sharks. They're my parents and there's no need to be nervous." Niall says quietly, reaching up and moving my gaze back to him. I bite down on my bottom lip for a moment, letting out another shaky breath. 

"I know, it's just that I need them to like me..." I say, my voice still barely over a whisper.

"Why?" Niall asks, keeping my gaze as I took a step back from him. 

"Because if they don't like me, you're gonna break up with me and I really don't want you to do that. I love you, I love you so fucking much already and it's terrifying that if I don't make a good impression with your parents that this is the end of it. I can't lose this... I'm not rea-" I started to ramble, only to be cut off by Niall leaning in and pecking my lips softly. 

"Darling, you're worrying over nothing." Niall says once he pulls away, wrapping his arms around my neck and his fingers playing the hair at the nape of neck. 

"How do you know that? Can you honestly tell me right now that you won't break up with me if your parents don't like me?" I ask, my eyes wide and my heart once again beating rapidly. 

"I can honestly tell you right now that if my parents don't like you, I won't break up with you. They'll just have to learn to love you, just like I did... Now c'mon, dinner is gonna get cold." Niall says, placing a kiss to my cheek before letting go of my neck to reach for my hand. Together we walked into the dinning room, smiling softly at his parents before I pull out Niall's chair for him. Niall thanks me softly as he sits down and I'm quick to sit down next to him. 

"So how long have you guys been dating?" Bobby asks right off the bat, taking me a bit by surprise. 

"A few months... I just got out of a really rough relationship a year ago." I said, flinching again because dammit... he didn't need to know that.

"Oh? What happened?" Bobby asks and I swallow thickly as I look down at my plate. 

"Dad." Niall says, glaring over at his father. 

"It's just a question, Niall. I'm trying to get to know your boyfriend and make sure he's not like that Jamie kid you dated not that long ago." Bobby says, returning Niall's glare.

"It's okay, Ni... It ended because cheated on me." I said, and a guilty expression crosses Bobby's face at that. 

"Sorry I asked... So uh Harry, tell us a little bit about yourself." Bobby says, clearing his throat before passing down the salad to Niall as he looks over at me. 

"Where would you like me to start?" I found myself asking, taking the salad from Niall as he passes it to me. 

"Well how about you start with what you do for a living." Bobby says, looking up from his plate as I nervously passed the salad to Maura. 

"I work at the bar, I help Liam run the place." I say, biting on my lip as I feel like Bobby is looking at me with a little bit of judgment. Sure, working at the bar wasn't my dream, but it paid good and I enjoyed it for the most part...

But I knew I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life there. 

"It's just a temporary thing, until I figure out what it is I wanna do... I know I'm twenty-four and should have that figured out, but yeah..." I started to ramble, trailing off and casting my eyes down at my plate. 

"Harry does more than just work at the bar, Dad. He also provides live entertainment every other night for the place, he's actually very talented." Niall says proudly, earning a thankful grin from me as I glance over at him. Niall grabs my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. 

"Oh that sounds just delightful, we'll have to stop by the bar sometime to watch. Bobby dear, can you pass the peas?" Maura asks, smiling thankfully at her husband as he does what she asks. The next little while is filled with Niall's parents asking me questions, me giving answers that I was less than pleased with, but it didn't matter because Niall kept holding my hand, letting me know he was there. 

As the night drew to a close, I felt more comfortable around Niall's parents, opening up to them a little more but that didn't mean I wasn't still nearly shitting my pants. Niall walks me out once I exchanged my goodbyes with his parents, linking his fingers with mine as the door closes behind us.

"You better be wearing shoes..." I grumbled, glancing down at his feet and giving a nod of approval when I see that he's indeed wearing shoes. We walk to Liam's car, leaning against the hood as Niall grins at me. 

"Told you were freaking out over nothing." Niall teases, glancing at his house for a moment before looking back at me. 

"I dunno about that... Your dad still seems a bit... I don't think he likes me all that much yet..." I said quietly, biting on my lip for like the millionth time that night because that's what I did when I was nervous. 

"He's just protective is all, give him time and he'll love you as much as Mum does. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I have some competition." Niall says, earning a soft laugh from me as I lean over to kiss him. 

"You're the only Horan for me, Princess."

"Good, I fucking better be." Niall says, grinning at me before letting out a sigh. 

"You're probably maxed out for the night... so I should let you go." Niall whispers, looking a little sad. 

"Eh, I probably won't go straight back home... If you wanna do something, I'm all yours." I said honestly, not wanting to leave either. The only reason we were outside was because Niall's parents were getting tired. 

"Okay, if that's the case... There's something I wanna show you." 

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lol

this was supposed to be way more dramatic but fuck i'm sick of bad guy parents so FOR ONCE IN CONNIE'S HISTORY WE'RE GONNA HAVE A FUNCTIONAL FAMILY DYNAMIC.

okay.

also, someone send help. i've listened to back to you all day, i can't stop CAUSE I KEEP COMING BACK TO YOU.

fr, send help 

QOTC: what do you guys think Niall is gonna show Harry?? (it's not his penis you dirty bastards)

dedication goes to sweetcreaturenarry

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connie xx