#1dficsecretsanta

It was a super cheap flight, in Niall's defense. A real deal. So what if the connection was in a tiny regional airport? In Wisconsin. Three days before Christmas. In the middle of a week of record low temperatures and snowstorms. 

Okay. In retrospect, maybe he should have expected something to go wrong. 

Niall's plane is the last to touch down in Chippewa Valley before it starts rerouting its incoming flights to airports not currently being blasted by the polar vortex. This is also, of course, when it grounds its outgoing flights “indefinitely”, leaving him and around one hundred other travelers stranded.

The whole airport has just two gates, with one shared, cramped waiting area. A line has snaked itself around that entire space, leading up to the customer service desk, where everyone is waiting for a chance to yell at a single beleaguered United Airlines employee about their flights being cancelled. 

Niall contemplates joining the line, but he’s more the type to wait until he can vent his anger by giving the lowest scores possible on a ‘how did we do?’ survey. And besides, just standing near the desk for a few minutes gives him all the information he needs to know, on repeat. 

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this is causing our loyal customers,” is the current opener every time someone storms up to the little old lady working the desk. Her reedy voice is placating and increasingly nervous as she assures everyone that United is “currently working with Chippewa to arrange accommodations for anyone whose flight has been delayed by the storm.” 

This is comforting until Niall realizes that this means they don’t currently have hotel rooms set up for travelers with missed connections the way larger airports do. No shuttles, no vouchers, not a goddamn thing. 

They’re only twenty minutes outside of the little city of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, which probably has at least a few hotels with vacancies, but the odds of finding an Uber driver to brave the storm and get him there are slim to none. 

Niall’s not really the type to just stand around in a crisis and twiddle his thumbs, but if he’s being honest with himself, he hasn’t a goddamn clue what to do right now. He flies relatively frequently but he’s never actually had to deal with a flight being cancelled because of the weather, and he’s struck by a childish urge to call home and ask his mother for advice about what to do. 

At the moment, it’s looking like he might actually need to call her anyway, because she’s expecting to pick him up from Albany International in five hours, and that’s definitely not happening now. God, he hopes he’ll make it back to New York at some point within the next three days. He’s never spent a Christmas away from home in his twenty six years of life, and he doesn’t want to start now. 

He’s well on his way to an anxiety spiral when he notices that there’s one other passenger besides him not angrily crowding around the service desk. He looks to be around Niall’s age, and he’s pawing through a backpack with a resigned expression on his face. After a minute, Niall figures that he must be searching for warmer clothes to put on; the man’s short sleeved shirt is well-equipped to show off all the strange tattoos on his arms, but isn’t exactly appropriate for December in Wisconsin. 

Niall, by contrast, is dressed and packed for two weeks of winter in upstate New York. He looks down at his own backpack, aware that it’s stuffed with four different Aran sweaters, and makes a decision. It’s the season for doing good deeds, after all. Making a stranger a little less miserable surely counts. 

“Hey there,” Niall says as he walks over to the man, who’s given up looking through his luggage and is now sitting forlornly on one of the waiting area’s cheap plastic benches. He looks up, and Niall’s breath -- well, it honest to God catches in his throat. This guy must be some kind of model, because he’s got just about the most gorgeous face Niall’s ever seen. Green eyes, red lips, the works. 

“Hi?” the guy ventures after a few seconds of Niall staring down at him like a lunatic. 

Niall can feel himself go red as he hurriedly unzips his backpack, feeling around until he grabs a fistful of wool.

“Here,” he says, pulling out a sweater at random and basically throwing it at the guy’s head. 

“You looked cold, so.” He shrugs. He watches this ridiculously good-looking stranger hold out the sweater to examine it, smiling widely for a second before his expression shifts to concern. 

“Oh, this is hand-knit, isn’t it? I couldn’t possibly take this,” he says, trying to hand it back to Niall, who takes a step backwards and shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Really, I insist,” he says. “Seriously, you’d be doing me a favor. My grandma still thinks we live in Ireland and makes one for me every year; I’m drowning in the things.” This seems to make the guy only more determined to hand it back to him, but Niall perseveres. 

“I’d feel guilty just getting rid of them, but if I tell her I passed one on to a chilly traveler I’ll be grandson of the year, so.” 

Niall narrowly avoids pumping a fist in the air in victory when this makes the guy giggle, bite his lip, and finally, reluctantly pull the sweater on over his t-shirt. It’s a sea green that matches his eyes perfectly, which is great, because what Niall really needed was to be even more distracted by a random person’s good looks. 

“I can’t thank you enough,” he says once it’s on, his chin-length hair now attractively rumpled. “I was worried I was going to freeze solid the second I went outside.”

He holds out a hand; Niall takes it. Soft palms, manicured and painted fingernails -- this guy might really be a fashion model. 

“I’m Harry,” he says. He smiles wide enough when he says it that his cheeks dimple. Niall’s heart is in some serious trouble now. 

“I’m Niall,” he replies, letting go of Harry’s hand a second later than is probably appropriate. 

He’s not sure how, but he wants to keep the conversation going somehow, just so he has an excuse to look at Harry’s face for a little longer. Before he can come up with something, an ancient intercom crackles to life and makes them both look around.

“Attention, travelers. In two hours, the storm is expected to dissipate enough to start offering shuttles into Eau Claire. Chippewa will be providing vouchers for the following lodgings.” 

The announcer rattles off a list of local hotels before repeating the entire message over again. This announcement seems to renew the stranded travelers’ agitation, and they start swarming the service desks with complaints about the wait. Harry and Niall both stay where they are, clearly on the same page about not bullying the elderly. Harry doesn’t seem any happier than the people yelling, though.

“I didn’t manage to sleep on the plane because I was so nervous about the weather and the turbulence,” he confesses to Niall. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to pass out before that shuttle actually gets here.” 

“Where are you coming from?” Niall asks. They’re making small talk! Success! 

“Well, I started out in Italy thirteen hours ago,” Harry says ruefully. “Then I had a connecting flight in Boston, and from there, I should have gone all the way out to LA, which is where I’m spending Christmas. But I had to book last minute, and the only flights left had an extra connection. So I took a chance on this one, and of course now I’m stuck here.” He pouts as he says it, and it should make him look immature but instead he just looks like he’s posing artfully for Covergirl or something. 

“So we’re heading in opposite directions,” Niall says. “I’m coming from LA, and I’m on my way to New York.” 

Harry’s eyes light up at this.

“Oh my god, do you live in NYC? I love spending time there, it’s one of my favorite cities in the world.”

Niall sighs and shakes his head in mock-disappointment. 

“Everyone loves NYC so much but they always forget about the actual capital of New York.”

When Harry just stares at him blankly, Niall relents and laughs out, “I’m from Albany. My whole family immigrated there from Ireland when I was six months old." 

Niall feels a bit awkward at first, talking about his life with someone he just met, but he quickly learns that Harry is the type of old soul who loves to make conversation with strangers. And by the time the shuttles start actually arriving he can't say that the two of them are strangers anymore. 

He learns that Harry's lived in LA his whole life, and so traveling anywhere that's cold knocks him off his feet. Niall's only lived in California since he started attending UCLA (at first as an undergrad and now for post-graduate work) but it turns out he and Harry have several mutual acquaintances, which delights Harry to no end, and he seems more interested in Niall's classes last semester than Niall was, asking questions about what he learned and whether the professors were cool or boring. 

He's in the middle of a rant about early morning lectures when the intercom starts announcing that they'll be able to start shuttling people into the city soon. Which of course means that the two of them are going to have to go their separate ways. 

Harry starts fussing with his luggage again, seeming almost shy now, and thanks Niall again for the sweater.

Niall scrambles for something else to say to forestall a goodbye. 

“How did you know it was hand-knit?” is the only question he comes up with, but it's effective.  

"Oh!" Harry exclaims, going all smiley again. 

"The pattern was really detailed, and I could see how tight the stitches were. Didn't seem likely that a machine made it," he says. 

"Wow, you've got a real eye. Do you work in fashion or something?" Niall asks, wondering if his initial impression was right after all. 

"Or something," Harry says, seeming embarrassed for some reason. "I um, do modelling work sometimes. Shoots for Gucci, mainly, but other brands too. It's why I was in Italy, actually." 

Holy shit. There’s an actual Gucci model wearing one of his grandma’s sweaters right now. What a thought. His mom is going to flip when he finally gets to New York and tells her all about this. 

"That's really cool," Niall tells him, scrambling to think of a segue into asking for his number that doesn't come off like he's just trying to hook up with a model.

As luck would have it, Harry provides one for him - by asking for his grandmother’s phone number.

“Or even just her mailing address,” Harry rushes on when Niall bursts out laughing. 

“I’d like to personally thank her for making such a pretty sweater that’s doing such a good job of keeping me warm.”

“Well, I’m going to be seeing her for Christmas in a few days, if the weather calms down. You could call me and I could just hand my phone over to her.” 

It’s not particularly subtle, but luckily Harry doesn’t call him out on it. In fact, his face goes a bit sly, and he looks Niall up and down for a moment.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Harry says, and then whips out an honest-to-god gel pen from nowhere to physically write his phone number on Niall’s hand. 

“Text me when you get a chance, and we’ll have each other’s numbers that way,” he says cheerily. 

A few minutes later, they go their separate ways - Niall with Harry’s phone number written in bright green ink on the back of his hand, and Harry with a signature Grandma Horan sweater to keep him warm. 

“Did your ring just tear a hole in my jeans?” Liam groaned, patting his own thigh to inspect any potential damage.

“If it did then I’ve improved your style.”

“Would you lot knock it off!” Niall snapped from the front seat. “I can barely hear the directions.”

“Niall, it’s embarrassing that you even need directions,” Louis grinned. 

“I’m normally the one hosting you animals, I don’t know where half of youse live.”

“Oh that’s nice.”

“In 200 metres, turn left.”

Niall caught Harry’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Are you sure Zayn hasn’t been there yet?”

Harry nodded. “Between extra shifts at work and his sister’s engagement, he’s just had no time.”

“Are you sure though?” Louis pressed, his head appearing from behind Liam’s breadth in the middle seat. “Zayn? Not going to a brand new arcade the second it opens? Seems unlikely.”

“He wouldn’t go without me!”

“And how do you know what he does with every second he has free?”

“Because he spends them all with me,” Harry winked, self-satisfaction flooding his chest when Louis disappeared back behind Liam with a, “yuck.”

Harry reached his arm around Liam to nudge Louis in the shoulder. In retaliation Louis slammed into Liam, forcing Harry up against the car door with a pained thud.

“What the hell!” Liam shouted, trying to push back against Louis, who had his arm stretched straight out against his own car door to lock them in place. “Niall, why exactly did we have to leave the front seat free for Zayn when he’s not even here yet?”

“Makes the pick-up quicker,” Niall said, rounding another corner.

“Surely that inconvenience wouldn’t be as big as this inconvenience,” Liam said, and with Harry’s added weight successfully forced Louis back against his own door. Harry smoothed down his silk shirt in the free space, leaving Liam to wrangle Louis by locking his arms inside an embrace. Zayn had picked this shirt out for him on Harry’s last birthday, he thought it was only fair he wear it for Zayn’s. 

“Yeah, Niall, you’re a terrible leader,” Louis said, wriggling within Liam’s grasp. “I should’ve been the driver.”

“Every time you drive my car it ends up at the mechanic for a week.”

“I should’ve been the driver,” Harry interjected, smoothing down his sleeves. “I’m the one who should be greeting Zayn first since this was all my idea!”

“Every time you drive I get a parking ticket!”

“At the roundabout, take the third exit.”

“If i was sitting up front you wouldn’t need your phone to give you directions,” Harry grumbled. 

“This is Zayn’s street,” Liam said in a remarkably even voice, considering the fight Louis was putting up.

Harry’s eyes traced the pavement he’d walked so many times. The pothole he’d tripped on when he was trying so desperately to make a good impression before their first date, the lamp post Zayn had kissed him up against after their second date. On the steps leading up to Zayn’s place was a slim figure with a light trail of smoke wafting overhead.

“There he is!” Harry stuck his hand over Niall’s shoulder, pointing him toward Zayn.

Niall pulled up and Harry heard the doors unlock automatically. Zayn stepped forward out of the shadows, circling around the bonnet instead of going for the passenger door. 

“Hey! What’re you doing?” Niall barked through the windshield. “Get in, this is a tow away zone!”

Zayn ignored Niall thumping on the window and instead stopped in front of Harry’s, tapping for him to roll it down. A wave of cool air washed over Harry’s face when he obliged.

“Hey,” Harry smiled, Niall’s complaints fading into utter significance.

“Hey babe,” Zayn grinned back, leaning down to peck his lips through the open window.

Harry took a moment to come back to himself, still smiling faintly. “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“Would you get in the car!” Niall’s face appeared between the seat and the car, a dangerously parental rise to his eyebrows. Zayn ambled calmly back around the car as Harry hurriedly rolled his window back up, and slipped into the passenger seat. Niall took off before he’d even got his seat belt on.

“Boys,”he greeted, turning around to the three of them in the backseat. Liam and Louis were still tangled in some kind of limb warfare, but briefly paused to wish him a happy birthday as if it were merely a side attribute to their trip, and the battle raging between them was the true purpose of the night. Zayn winked at Harry and then turned back around to face Niall.

“So why am I stuck looking at you and Harry’s trapped back there?”

“Don’t even start,” Niall snapped, and then just as tersely, “Happy birthday.”

The arcade was not terribly far from Zayn’s place - half a dozen blocks at most - but Harry still felt it an unreasonable torture to keep him trapped beside his two warring mates as Zayn sat perfectly in view but out of reach up front. It was far too long before they finally turned into a moderately sized parking lot, and Harry was out and running around to the passenger door before Niall even had the car in park.

“Hi,” he smiled, opening Zayn’s door for him. Harry had always been taller than Zayn, even when they first met, but somehow it never quite felt like it. Zayn seemed grand and towering in his eyes, especially now when he stepped out of the car and slung him in for a more satisfying kiss than their last. 

“You lads coming?” Niall called out, and Harry turned to see him halfway to the entrance with the others racing for the door. 

“They’re lagging because they know they’re gonna lose!” Louis shouted over his shoulder, trying to push Liam off course and failing miserably.