If someone off the street asked Niall who his best friend was, he wouldn’t even hesitate before saying Anna Katherine Tran. If someone from his friend group asked, he’d say Harry Styles, mainly because he didn’t want to listen to his friend whine if he said anyone else. And it is true – Harry is a close friend and one of the best, but no one comes close to Kit. Which was why it made complete sense to him to marry her to get out of this mess he found himself in.
When Harry came over for a guys’ night, the first thing out of Niall’s mouth was, “Apparently I forgot to renew my visa.”
Harry froze, and then very carefully placed the six pack he brought with him on the counter, “What do you mean? I reminded you every day for a month.”
“Yeah, well, y’know…” Niall trailed off before walking over and putting the beer in the fridge, “It’s all a real mess right now. Unless I figure something out, which I think I have, I’m getting deported.”
Harry blinked once and furrowed his brows, “And what mad plan have you come up with now?”
Niall turned around to face Harry and whatever reaction he was about to have, “I asked Kit to marry me.”
Or a story of first loves, broken hearts, misunderstandings, and friendship.
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I’ve been more involved with the writing of this fic than any other of @thefangirlingbarista‘s masterpieces. Therefore, my love for this fic is constantly bubbling over. Your feed is now my outlet.
Here are my chapter 1 highlights in no particular order:
1. Kit keeping Niall in the “divorce” from Jonah.
2. Kit’s inability to say no to Niall.
3. Harry: Another blink and then, “Mate.”
4. Soft, teasing texts
5. Harry, Nat, and Alex are all equal parts me and give me so much life.
6. Harry + Alex are everything.
7. Harry + Nat are the co-parents we all need.
First Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Drinketh From The Carton.
Anna Katherine slouched on the stool, “If we’re going to do this, we need a list of rules.”
Niall nodded, “Yeah, totally. I’m with you on that.”
She was confused when he disappeared, but when he came back with a pen and paper she understood and started laughing when she saw him write The Ten Commandments of Our Fake Marriage.
“I’m coming up with the first one, and don’t even try to argue with me or I’m taking back my agreement,” Anna Katherine expected him to complain, but Niall just rolled his eyes. She thought for a moment, but when she saw him go to the fridge and grab the milk, she knew exactly what the first commandment was going to be. “You can’t drink milk straight from the carton.”
Niall’s eyes slowly met Anna Katherine’s over the rim of the milk jug before carefully placing it on the counter. “That’s cruel.”
“And you’re gross.”
“This is such a beautiful start to our marriage, Kit.”
The envelope with the letter telling him he was approved for citizenship felt heavy in her hands. The words she practiced for when she first saw him disappeared, and all she could do is stare at him and Vivian.
“What’s going on out here?” Louis appeared next, and the humiliation had never felt so real for Anna Katherine. She hadn’t been expecting an audience when she arrived, but when Louis saw her, he smiled, “Kit! What are you doing here?”
He squeezed past Niall and Vivian to give her a hug, and she welcomed the touch. She leaned into it, and when he stepped away he eyed her curiously.
catch up here
Chapter 10 will be posted on Thursday :)
The Ten Commandments of Fake Marriage Epilogue Preview
She rolled over and draped her arm over his stomach, “Thanks, Niall.”
He gave her a questioning look, “For what?”
“For always trying to take care of me even at the risk of me yelling at you.”
“You don’t make it easy.”
She gave a half-hearted shrug, “If I made it easy, anyone could do it.”
He chuckled, “Right. Lucky me.”
She smiled, wide and all teeth, “Lucky you. Now, I think we should make a new list of commandments.”
She rolled on top of him to grab one of the pens he always kept at his bedside table and a paper from his drawer. She leaned against him, and hummed when he wrapped an arm around her. She clicked the pen, “Ten Commandments of Our Actual Marriage.”
“You didn’t have to do this, you know. It’s late and you have work in the morning.”
He reached across the table and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, “When are you going to learn that I’d do anything for you? Bringing you food is nothing.”
The light out back flickered, and the shadows danced across his face. She turned her hand over and laced their fingers togethers. She was struck by how different he was to Jonah. Where Jonah was all sharp angles and piercing stares, Niall was gentle smiles and soft glances. She wondered when she started preferring Niall’s smoothness to Jonah’s roughness. She didn’t think she actually wanted to know.
Chapter 8 will be posted on Thursday :)
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Natalie liked for things to be in neatly labeled and organized boxes. This was how she kept her classroom from being cluttered. This was how she organized her closet and all her holiday decorations. It was how she kept up with all of her important papers and memories she wanted to cherish forever. It was also how she compartmentalized nearly every aspect of her life.
Her family was in a box. Kit had a box all her own, because she was so much more than just a friend, but wasn’t blood. Niall, Mack, and even Louis and Liam were in a box. She was never quite sure where to put Harry, and it never failed that whatever box she placed him in, he somehow escaped.
She thought that might be why she felt so hostile towards him. Her life was easy and simple and organized, but then during her third year of college he came prancing in like Bambi when he first got his damn antlers. And he never left.
She knew that he’s not bad. He’s in fact quite a good person. She saw it in the way he took care of Niall or when he took care of Kit when Niall wasn’t around. She even saw it when he took care of her, on the rare occurrence she allowed this to happen. But he had a smile that made you forget why you were mad just five seconds ago. He had hands that made you wish he would hold onto you and never let go. And his voice was one she could listen to without ever growing restless. And all of those things were what made him so dangerous. Unpredictable. Her own personal archnemesis.
They began their friendship, if you can call it that, with bickering. Snarking and snapping at each other with ease, and it never once transformed to anything more or less than that. Even five years later, they could barely be in a room together without one of them – usually her – starting an argument.
She didn't think it was her fault, though. It was his, because his love was the ocean. Beautiful and calming from a distance, but the unknown was scary the deeper you go. And when a storm came, the waves and current didn’t have favorites. They destroyed anything in their path. She didn’t want to be destroyed. She quite liked being whole all on her own without the storms of the unknown.
And then somehow they became a team when their two best friends made the most idiotic decision of their lives. Harry and her knew that they needed to step up, put aside their differences if only for a while, and be the anchors their friends needed. She never expected for Harry to somehow become her anchor, too. And when they started getting along, started talking more than bickering, Nat began to rebuild her walls. But no matter how quickly she laid the bricks, Harry came and dismantled them twice as fast. It wasn’t long before her chest was laid bare, and the ocean was lapping at the foot of her heart.
She was afraid the tide of his love would be too strong and pull her away, but he calmed the storms and lulled her into contentment. She felt safe sitting on his shores and letting his love wash her clean. The waves never threatened to pull her under, but instead gently prodded her to be brave one tiny step at a time.
When he took her hand in his, she was reminded how he grounded her in a way no one else ever could. She remembered how easily he can set a wildfire ablaze in her chest, but never allowed it to burn her to ash. When she looked and saw his green eyes already looking at her, the fire started in her toes and spread across her skin, up her stomach, threatening to envelop her whole, but then he smiled and it made itself at home in her chest.
He’s the wind that threatened to drift her soul away, and the earth that softly caught her when she inevitably fell.
He spun her out, only to pull her back against his chest. His dimples were clear as day when she looked up at him.
“You said you loved me today.”
She expected his smile to falter and the dimples to hide, but they stayed ever present. “I did.”
She untangled their fingers only to wrap her arms around him, “It was quite out of the blue.”
His eyes danced over her face, “You think? It was a little past due for me.”
She rested her head against his chest and breathed him in.
“I meant it, you know. I couldn’t love you more if I tried.”
She pressed a kiss against his chest, over his heart. “You weren’t mad that I haven’t said it back.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a fact. She saw it in the way he still continued to look at her after he said that four letter word she had dreaded most of her life. She saw it in the way he took her to the park afterward, bought her a hotdog, and never let go of her hand.
“Of course not.”
She stayed quiet, listening to the steady beat of his heart, and thinking of the way he calmed the ever growing restlessness underneath her skin. She thought about the way he never pushed her, never made her feel unworthy or beneath him. He lifted her up. He encouraged her. He was patient with her. He loved her. He loved her. He loved her.
“Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
She felt his arms tighten around her and his chuckle reverberating in his chest. Happiness swelled up in her and threatened to spill over.
“You’re something else, Natalie Thompson.”
She thought that maybe Harry never stayed in one box because he had too much love, too much life to fit into just one. And somehow, along the way, she found him in every crevice, every corner of every box.
Later, when he hunched over to kiss her goodnight, she smiled against his lips.
A/N: I promised this yesterday, but Tumblr had other ideas. It somehow deleted the entire thing save for the title after it posted it from the queue, and I was out of town visiting a friend for my birthday so... long story short. life happened and i’m just now getting around to posting it. sorry, guys.
i hope yall enjoyed this little insight to Nat and Harry. I certainly enjoyed writing it. And, remember, one more chapter and then TTCOFM will officially be complete. So bittersweet.
As promised – or at least mentioned – here is the sneak peek. I briefly tried to make a mood board for it, but uni classes started back and, well, i just didn’t.
enjoy this lil preview, ch 7 will be posted on thursday :D
“Why do you continually try to end my life early?”
Anna Katherine shrugged as she dumped her purse and jacket on Alex’s floor and sat on the other end of the couch, “It’s fun.”
“You’re evil.”
“Enough banter. Back to the topic at hand. Niall and me and sex.”
Alex squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t you have Nat for these types of talks?”
“But you’re my big brother. You’re supposed to give me advice. Lead me through life. Let me step in your footprints.”
“Yes. And I do. I showed you how to do your taxes by yourself, and I helped you learn how to change a tire and check your oil. Sex is not on the list of things siblings should lead each other through.”
Anna Katherine pouted, “You’re no fun.”
Alex slowly, as if worried she’d say something else, took another sip of water. “That being said, I do want all the latest gossip of this little romantic comedy you two have going on.”
I just want to say real quick that when I started writing TTCOFM during quarantine, I wasn’t even sure I’d ever post it. I thought it might just be a story that @fangirlinglike and I enjoy together. I’m glad I did post it, though, because sharing it with you guys has been such a fun experience for me.
I didn’t think I’d be nominated for anything, and I didn’t think I’d win once I realized you guys had nominated TTCOFM. But here we are. So thank you for that, guys.
1dff community is a good one, and one I’m proud to be a part of. Thanks for welcoming me back every time I decide to reappear after going MIA for a bit.
if you guys haven’t checked out all the nominations, i highly recommend heading over to @1dcraftawards and checking them out. As soon as I’m not drowning in work, I plan to check them all out. sooo many beautiful fics and talented people were nominated.
thanks to everyone who put this together, and a special shoutout to @verorax bc i genuinely believe rory believes in my writing before even i do. she’s someone anyone would be lucky to have in their corner.
