Harry's trying to find himself, Niall's trying to chase his dream. They meet alone on Christmas Eve by chance.
For disequilibrium
(A/N: So I tried to be really sly and act like I hadn't gotten you for my pinch hit (idk how successful I was at that??)... but this prompt was adorable and I hope I did it justice. You've been so terribly patient and I didn't want you to have to wait any longer than you had been and I love yooou <3
“At home, we sleep on the,” he points at the ceiling. “The top, so we don’t float away.”
Niall laughs. “The ceiling, you mean?” He traces the line of Harry’s dimple. “I figured you slept inside a castle, like in the pictures of what Atlantis looked like.”
“I doubt that’s accurate,” Harry says. He palms Niall’s thigh, running his hand down to his knee, where he pauses to feel out the unfamiliar bones with his fingertips. “Otters sleep holding hands so they won’t drift apart, did you know that?”
“What, are you an otter?” Niall asks.
“No, but it might not be too bad,” Harry says. He lays his head to rest on Niall’s chest, over his heart. His fingers tangle with Niall’s in the sheets, his skin tanned and smooth, Niall’s pale and scarred.
"Eh,” Niall says. “It’s not too bad, I guess.”
for baloonflies
(A/N: thanks a million to arwa for the title, which is from walk the moon's "aquaman." fic is based on the merman prompt given, although i changed a few things - hope you don't mind. all the creatures mentioned in the fic are from real legends and are super interesting to read about.)
Below you will find gifts 1-12 of this years exchange. Happy reading!
“And days gone by” – by outwardbound93 for magicalxunicorn
Niall catches himself glancing at Harry in the backseat. The tops of buildings are lined with Christmas lights like the iced piping on a gingerbread house, and the crisp sharp light of a winter night makes Harry’s skin look warm and soft. (University AU)
“For the time being” – by magicalxunicorn for acastle
(Just read and enjoy!!)
“You okay.” Louis asked with concern in his voice
“Yeah I’m okay, it just I’m hurting.”
“Listen mate tomorrow is the last night we all go out as unmarried men.”
“Yeah I suppose your right.” (AU)
“where the love light gleams” – by beetheauxven for ICantThinkStraight
Niall looks at Harry, bringing their faces closer as he watches the light reflect in the green of Harry’s eyes and he’s lost it, right then, when Harry blinks slowly and the blood in Niall’s head rushes around like a hurricane.
“Can you still read my mind?” Niall asks slowly, bringing his hand up to touch on of Harry’s curls that rests just past his shoulder, bumping a tree branch on the way causing glitter to fall into Harry’s hair. Niall almost laughs at the image of Harry stringing glittery garland around the tree, his hands covered in it, certainly loving it.
Or, Niall and Harry and broke uni students who couldn’t afford to go home for Christmas and end up spending it together in Harry’s flat. (University AU)
“A Cup of Kindness Yet” by cookiesandcream for outwardbound93
Niall and Harry meet at a Christmas party, and they lose each other by the end of the night. Niall makes it his life’s mission to find him again to kiss for New Year’s and start the New Year off right. (AU)
“a love that is homeless” – by disequilibrium for icanwriteanything
“I didn’t do it on purpose! I told you it was a disaster. I kept ending up with everyone except you. It was awful.
Or the one where Harry really wants to kiss Niall, but his plan never quite works out.
“A Lot like Christmas” – by SolariaLunar21 for arcticsound
Harry and Niall’s adventures decorating their house together in preparation for Christmas. (Canon Compliant)
“I’ll go by you” – by from for rayvans
There’s no complaining about farts and checking phones because by the time Niall gets in bed, Harry is falling asleep. All he remembers when he wakes up alone is that Niall was hugging him, telling him he could see snow outside, and that he’s sorry they couldn’t see it before. (Canon Compliant)
“this one’s not pretend” – by acastle for SolariaLunar21
They look at each other, and Harry glances at his watch, letting out a chuckle as he says, “12:14.”
“Well,” Niall laughs, has to, and Harry joins him. “Fuck me. Happy Christmas, Mick.”
“Merry Christmas, Keith,” Harry says to him easily, pretentious Californian arse that he is using ‘Merry’ instead of ‘Happy’, and they eat the desserts in small bites between mindless chatter, fighting over the sorbet with fork tussles and it feels like hime, even if he’s seven hours away.
(Christmas, 2019, stuck in a posh Italian hotel because of the weather. Many mistakes are made.)
“everything stays, but it still changes” – by jamesniall for cookiesandcream
They’re completely covered in flour, and by the time Niall manages to calm down his face is streaked with tears of mirth. Harry finally rolls off of him, though he never makes the move to pull himself up, looking Niall over instead. “You’re all red,” Harry giggles when he turns to look up at him, “ all red and white from the powder.”
“Like a candy cane,” Niall laughs, and Harry snorts beside him so hard it sends a puff of flour into the air. Niall dissolves into another fit of hysterics, rolling onto his side to clutch at his stomach. Harry looks down at him with the biggest and findest smile, and suddenly Niall realizes how close they are – how he’s practically curled into Harry’s side. How, if Bobby would have appeared in the kitchen right at that moment, Niall could have reached out and kissed him.”
“I sing you like a song I heard when I was young” – by disequilibrium for balefully
Niall never thought he’d find his way back home. But then, the wind works in mysterious ways: a stranger at the door, an impossible escape. A whisper that changes everything, forever, again. (Witchcraft AU)
“We Could be Enough” – by balefully for jamesniall
One Direction reconvenes after two years at Niall’s cabin in Connemara for Christmas. Niall and Harry haven’t spoken during the break, but the relearn each other and fall into something they never expected. (Canon Compliant)
“too good to be good for me” – by rayvans for lipszarry
Niall’s never hired an escort before, never paid for sex, and if he’s honest, never really thought he’s need too. So he’s not exactly an expert on how all of this works, but he’s sure one of the first rules to this should be “don’t get attached.” He’s having a hard time with this though, and he blames Zayn for it, for inviting Harry to have a drink with them last night and then ditching them in the middle of it, because for a moment as he’d made Harry laugh and as Harry asked more questions about Niall’s life, it had felt like some sort of date, and Niall had to tell himself it wasn’t suck. If anything it was solely business—for Harry at least.
Pre-hiatus, 2015. Harry can feel it. Soon there won't be any more Harry and Niall, not like that. Especially not with Selena in the picture. Niall thinks Harry might change his mind. Harry knows he bloody well won't. Somehow he ends up inviting Niall over for Christmas anyway.
First and foremost, we want to thank everyone who participated in, encouraged, and/or shared this exchange and the works involved this season. We are absolutely grateful for every single one of you, this exchange wouldn’t even be possible without the effort that many of you put into your involvement and promoting the exchange. A special thanks to the betas that helps the writers this year, we appreciate everything you guys did to help ensure that writers finished and were proud of what they wrote.
Second, we would like to apologize to the few of you that have not received your gifts yet. We have pinch hitters working on them now and they will be posted as soon as we can get them done. Please be as patient with us as you can, as many of the pinch hitters are currently starting school/university back up for the semester, so it may take a little longer than you might normally be happy with. We understand that you all have been waiting quite some time, and we’re doing everything we can to rectify the situation as quickly as we can.
Lastly, a masterpost of all of the finished exchange pieces will be posted this upcoming Friday, January 22nd. Be on the lookout so that you can shar and spread your thanks to the authors that participated during these last few months. Again, thank you to all of you for your support and love and keeping us with everything we’ve done. Who knows, maybe we’ll do another exchange in the future.
Niall’s never hired an escort before, never paid for sex, and if he’s honest, never really thought he’d need too. So he’s not exactly an expert on how all of this works, but he’s sure one of the first rules to this should be “don’t get attached.” He’s having a hard time with this though, and he blames Zayn for it, for inviting Harry to have a drink with them last night and then ditching them in the middle of it, because for a moment as he'd made Harry laugh and as Harry asked more and more questions about Niall’s life, it had felt like some sort of date and Niall had to tell himself it wasn’t such. If anything it was solely business—for Harry at least.
X
Escort Harry, and Lawyer Niall au.
For lipszarry
(A/N: Finally finished! And like most things i turn in, it's a few minutes before the deadline. Sorry! But i really enjoyed filling this prompt for lipszarry, i really hope it's what you wanted and that you liked it. Thank you so much for the prompt! And thank you to Nyck & Sam for being so patient and for organizing this exchange. All mistakes are my own. Enjoy! (See the end of the work for more notes.))
When the leaves whisper away across the earth, the pitter-patter feet of the frost cold on their trails, and the sun spirals down until it’s little more than a memory on the horizon... when the stars become commonplace, hovering behind the Arctic winds, and the frost nibbles your fingers and nips your toes, and you ache for summer but you know you can’t think of summer for long. Or else the winter will creep in and snatch you. Here, visitors are few and far between, and you find yourself lonesome, aching for another soul. Wishing you hadn’t done what you’d done to end up here. Knowing you’d do it the same way again, given the chance.
Niall never thought he’d find a way back home. But then, the wind works in mysterious ways.
for balefully
(A/N: I am so INCREDIBLY IN LOVE WITH THE FIC which is the reason that it is yet unfinished. So, I give you “part one”, with a very hopeful promise that part two WILL follow. Thank you so much for giving me a reason to write fantasy again. I’ve missed playing with my worlds. I apologize for the rough bits; I didn’t have time to fully edit this piece, so things probably get a little rushed toward the end. I hope you enjoy what I’ve managed to put together <3)
There are still six (6) fics left that need to be submitted for the exchange! Remember all fics are due at 11:59PM EST tonight, no more extensions! So please make sure you post what you have! If your gift was not posted, we have pinch hitters that are going to be working on filling unfinished prompts through the end of the week, so do not worry, you WILL get something it will just take a couple of days to be posted.
Thank you to everyone who has shared, liked, and posted fics and supported us throughout these last couple of months. It has been an absolutely amazing journey and we appreciate every kind word and the patience you all have given us. We know its been pretty crazy, and seemed unorganized at times but thank you to all of you that stood by us through it all and didn’t give up on us. We appreciate all of you, and hope you enjoyed this exchange as much as we did! -- Nyck&Sam x
