Anya was awaken the next morning by the gentle brush of soft lips against her temple. When she opened her eyes, she saw Niall lying beside her, propped up on one arm, beaming down at her. He reached down and pecked her lips when she smiled back up at him. Anya noticed she was lying back in her old bed, tucked under the sheets in the same thing she was wearing last night, and Niall was positioned on top of the bedspread. The only thing he'd changed was that he swapped his heavy zip-up for a simple, more comfortable tshirt.
     "I vaguely remember falling asleep on the COUCH last night..." Anya said.
     "Yeah, you did, but I couldn't fit next to you without accidentally rolling you off so I moved you in here-" Niall shuffled under the covers. "-so I could be with you."
     A grin spread with ease across Anya's face. "Well, thanks."
     Niall let out a single chuckle in reply. He pulled Anya toward him until his chest pressed tightly against her back, and he wrapped his arms around her securely, tracing tiny circles onto the back of her hand with his thumb. His chin was tucked between her head and shoulder, as he slowly exhaled. The warm breathy air glided across Anya's skin, sending chills down her spine, and the flutters errupting in the pit of her stomach. Niall never failed to make her feel this way.
     Realization struck that this moment had to end soon when Anya glanced up at the clock and noticed they had less than three hours before the boys' photoshoot at noon. Anya sighed and spun around to face Niall. "We gotta get going. You guys have an appointment with Teen magazine at noon."
     Niall lifted his head to look at the clock himself. When he dropped his head back on the pillow, his eyes wandered around shyly before he spoke again. "Two and a half hours... Think that's enough time for you to move your things back down here?..."
     Slightly taken aback but pleasantly surprised, Anya replied, "Really? Are you sure?"
     "Am I sure?" Niall lifted his hand to Anya's cheek and locked his eyes on hers, which were now serious, but still sweet and loving. His voice dropped a few notches, "I've hated myself the past few days. I absolutely loathed myself for suggesting you leave, for letting you drift so far away from me. Everything I felt when you left- I don't want to feel that ever again... I've never been so sure of anything in my life."
     Anya kissed him, feeling him smile beneath her lips. "We better get going then," she said, pulling away and climbing out of the bed. Niall groaned in protest but followed her out and went off to check his phone.
     Before joining the boys in the kitchen, Anya ventured to the bathroom. She flicked the sink on and splashed cool water on her face to wake herself up, letting the wet droplets slide down her cheeks and neck soothingly. When Anya took the towel down from drying her face, she looked up into the mirror and saw Harry leaned up against the doorway behind her, and a gasp escaped her lips.
     "You're welcome," he said, his voice still raspy from the early morning.
     Anya threw the towel down next to the sink and spoke to Harry's reflection. "For what?! Nearly giving me a heartattack?"
     Harry shook his head. He shuffled up beside Anya and leaned on the counter next to her. "We were gonna order from that new chinese place uptown, but I figured you'd prefer Nando's anyway."
     All Anya did was stare suspiciously up at Harry, speculating everything about the cheeky grin on his face that mocked her. "What are you trying to say?"
     "Well... We needed Niall to go pick up SOMETHING in order for me, Zayn and Lou to get outta there..." Harry said, tossing a tube of toothpaste between his hands.
     Suddenly, it clicked in her head. "Are you telling me that... that you guys ditched Niall so he would come over to see me?"
     Harry shrugged, "...Ditch is such a harsh word. I like to say we... gave him a gentle nudge to where we knew he really wanted to be by leaving him." A toothy grin flashed across his lips, which made Anya giggle.
     "Well...thanks for the nudge," Anya replied softly.
     Harry gave her forearm a gentle squeeze. "He would've gotten there eventually. I just thought I'd save us all the misery."
     Tears collected in Anya's eyes and she wasn't really sure why, but she refused to let them fall, or let herself go in front of Harry again. She reached up, planting a kiss on the dimple of her best friend's cheek, and pulled him in for a tight hug. Harry ran his hands through the back of her hair once and then spoke softly into the side of her head, "It was torturous for me to see you that way, Bon. I wanna do everything I can to never see you hurt like that again."
     The tears burned at the edges of Anya's eyelids, threatening to roll down her cheeks. It seemed the only way she could speak without letting her guard down was to whisper. "You know I'd do the same for you."
     Stepping out of the hug, Harry's eyes fell to seriousness when he saw Anya's tear-filled expression. He nudged her shoulder and pointed a warning finger at her, "Don't you dare! You know I hate to see you cry."
     Anya laughed and swatted his hand down to his side. Seconds later, Niall stepped through the open doorway in a fresh pair of jeans and a sweater, but hesitated slightly once he noticed it was occupied. "Hey- oh, 'sup Haz?"
     "Mornin'. Hungry?" Harry asked, making his way to where Niall was at the door.
     Niall let out a breathy chuckle. "Stupid question."
     In the den, Lou was lounging on the couch, pecking away at his phone, and Zayn was stretched across the big chair, flipping through channels. Behind them in the kitchen, Kelley was stirring what looked like pancake batter as Liam hovered over her with a spatula in hand and an apron tied around his waist. Harry strolled out to the den and kitchen area with Anya and Niall following closely behind.
     When Louis noticed the couple enter, he sprang off the couch and waved his arms back and forth in the air dramatically. "Reunited and it feels so gooood!" he sang loudly.
     "Sit down, Lou," Anya responded behind a laugh. Harry gave Louis a high five and sat down next to him with a cheeky giggle. Anya yelled to Liam over her shoulder as she lowered herself to the couch next to Harry, "Do you guys need any help?"
     Liam shook his head. "I'm good but I dunno- Kelley's been demoted to stirring but she's still seeming to struggle a bit..."
     Kelley stabbed at the bottom of the bowl with her wooden spoon. "I'm trying!" she cried in her defense. Liam smiled down at her, and licked his thumb to wipe the bit of flour and egg off of the underside of Kelley's chin before going back to flipping his pancakes on the stove.
     Niall had meandered into the kitchen and was nosing his way into Liam's cooking space. With an elbow to Niall's side, Liam said "Excuse me!" He tried to sound irritated but he was obviously amused by the hungry little scavenger.
     "Jeez, hurry!" Niall replied, and strutted to the couch, plopping down on the same cushion as Anya.
     A sigh came from Louis' end of the couch. "Zayn, I think I've seen the same set of channels about twelve times now, go on and pick one, any day." Harry chuckled, and when Zayn didn't respond, Louis added, "Or just turn it off- You're always looking at yourself in the reflection there." Harry laughed even louder, throwing his head back, his curls dangling freely about his cherubic face.
     Zayn spun around on the chair to face Louis, a guilty smile playing on his lips and in his chocolate brown eyes. "So what if I do?!" he said with an undertone of his angelic laugh.
     "Breakfast is pretty much done!" Liam yelled fron the kitchen. He finished flipping his last few pancakes, his tongue peeking out one side of his mouth in concentration.
     Kelley carried a large plate of pancakes to the coffeetable and Liam followed with separate plates and silverware. Niall made a plate big enough for four and drowned the entire thing in syrup, handing Anya a fork. Harry reached across Anya bringing an entire sticky pancake to his mouth with his bare hand, and dripping syrup on Anya's bare thigh on the way. "Harry, ew!" she cried, but Harry just let out another giggle and rested his head against Anya's arm, licking his messy fingers clean.
     When Liam had finally finished cleaning the kitchen, he came into the den with everyone else, and Kelley pulled him down to a spot next to her on the floor by the coffeetable and a plate she had made for him. A chuckling vibration rang through Anya's arm, as Harry laughed hard at the story Louis was telling about a fan at the signing yesterday. Anya felt a strong back lean back against her legs, and noticed Zayn had scooted across the floor to more engage himself in the conversation. He chowed on a pancake with his bare hand, crumbs falling from his fingers, and Liam tossed him a napkin to eat over. Fighting against Kelley for the last bite of pancake, Liam slung his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close with a smile.
     The room errupted in laughter in response to Louis. Anya looked up at Niall, his eyes appearing bluer and brighter than ever, and his laugh more contagious than usual. He slid his arm around her back and squeezed her side. Anya took his other hand in hers and clasped it in return, hoping to send all the bliss running through her veins into him. More chuckles filled the air and this time Anya let out a giggle of her own. She hadn't been paying attention to what Louis was saying, but she didn't need to hear any of it to know how happy she felt.