DISCLAIMER: Neither the text nor the author of this story seeks to imply the sexualities of those involved. All events are purely fictitious. Any copyrights or trademarks belong to their respective owners.

This story contains homosexuality, so if you are offended by such material or legally prohibited from viewing it, do not read this. If you are under the legal age to view such material in your locale, do not read this.

Comments, questions etc to finn0538@gmail.com

PART THREE

"A follow-up DMC was it?" Louis asked, gently punching Harry on the shoulder.

"Yeah, we needed to make sure we got the full dose out of each other." Harry smiled. Ironic how the gay banter is actually true now...

"We were just saying that we hope you and Niall use protection, we don't want you catching anything." Liam snorted.

"Or getting pregnant," Zayn added.

"Neither of you would really suit maternity clothes, y'know" said Louis.

Niall stretched out on his chair, putting on a pair of sunglasses. "At least he's getting some, boys," he noted with a wry smile. This was followed by a chorus of `oooh!'

"If it was me, Ni, I'd stick with my hand rather than you," Louis teased.

Liam chipped in with: "To be fair, I've always thought Niall's hand would be better than mine." This was followed by "What?", "Gayyyyy!", "Sorry?" and "Too far!"

"Uh, why?" Harry asked.

"All the Irish are potato farmers, right, so they're all good with their hands!" Liam doubled over, laughing, as did the rest of them. Potato jokes already? Niall thought, It's barely even gone midday...!

The teasing and banter continued under the blazing sun, until the rest break was suddenly over. The band trooped back onto the bus, settling themselves into their seats, grateful for the air conditioning. Harry was sat diagonally opposite Niall this time, on the same table, and throughout the journey he tried to avoid looking over at him too much. Niall must have eventually realised what Harry was doing, and so decided to play a game with him. He fixed his eyes on the boy, staring intently at him.

It took Harry a minute to notice Niall looking at him. The Irishman gave him a cheeky wink. Harry took a sneaky look around, and then stuck his tongue out at Niall. A characteristically broad smile formed on his friend's face. A leg leisurely snaked out under the table and nestled itself next to Harry's. Niall raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly, signalling to Harry to up the ante. You would have to do this when everyone else is around, wouldn't you Ni... Harry thought to himself. He thought for a few seconds, and then an idea came to him. He leaned forward slightly, resting one hand on the table between them.

Niall's brow furrowed slightly, puzzled by Harry's move, but copied the movement. Harry then leaned forward further, and casually stretched out his arm a little further. Oh. Now he understood. Niall did the same, then achingly slowly ran the tip of his tongue over his top lip. Harry felt his cheeks heat up. He took another glance round at the rest of the band, sitting on the other table; Zayn was fast asleep, mouth open; Liam was nodding his head along to the music playing through his earphones, looking out of the window; and Louis was concentrating intently on the game he was playing on his phone. Harry returned his gaze to Niall's, already knowing his next move. Still looking straight into the blue eyes opposite him, he shifted his other hand onto his chest, moving it down across his torso and over his belt buckle. Harry's eyes moved down to look at his hand - and so did Niall's - finally resting it on his crotch. Harry delicately closed his eyes and squeezed his dick, his features changing into a look of deep pleasure. Niall felt his jeans crotch begin to tighten.

Harry's eyes opened again, a sly grin making the dimples in his cheeks more prominent. Not that easy, Styles. Niall gradually closed the gap between the two's hands – until barely an inch, and then just a centimetre was left. Niall's eyes connected with Harry's again, and they could both see the blushing of each other's cheeks. Niall swallowed and his fingertips made contact with Harry's. Harry had to fight the temptation to pull his hand away. His palm was sweaty, and he could feel his heart rate steadily climbing. He wasn't going to lose though.

A snort from Zayn as he woke up startled them, both boys disentangling themselves in the blink of an eye.

Shiiiiit.

No one had seen what the pair were up to though. Niall's eyes turned back to Harry's after making sure none of the other three were looking over. They shared an awkward smile, before Harry moved his gaze away. He pulled out his phone and quickly tapped something out on the screen.

Niall felt his phone vibrate a couple of seconds later. Slipping it out of his pocket, Niall read that was close.

Yup, he replied, then added but not as close as you were to losing.

Dream on! And anyway, what was that about coming on to you? I think you lost pal :P

Ahaha so funny. Just watch for round two

Ok, just in private next time?

Don't like the danger? ;)

Danger is my middle name

Niall looked up at Harry. Another display of the tongue from the darker-haired boy.

We'll see...

The bus was slowing now, the scenery having become decidedly urban in the last few minutes. Zayn yawned: "Time to go and dazzle yet another interviewer," he said as he stretched his arms out.

"Make sure you don't fall asleep then," Liam said, yawning himself. "That yawn is bloody contagious."

"Maybe even as contagious as the love for me is gonna be," Louis boasted.

"Why's that Lou?" asked Niall.

"You'll see." Came the reply.

Leaving the bus, a familiar cheer went up, assembled fans beaming at them, waving and asking for autographs. A few minutes of photos, scrawls and the occasional hug later, they were heading into the fan-free studios. A twenty minute wait followed, in which the boys decided to see who could hold their breath the longest. After Zayn nearly passed out, management had a quiet word. "In hindsight, going that colour was probably not a good sign," was Harry's take on it.

Eventually they were shown into the interview room, a couple of sofas for the band and an armchair for the interviewer. Harry usually liked to sit with Louis, but still not sure what Louis was going to do to `impress' the interviewer, he decided to sit next to Niall instead. Very quickly the questions were being fired out, and all the boys as usual took it in turns to give their answers and opinions. About halfway through, they were asked which artist they were currently listening to the most. Louis, sitting next to the interviewer, flashed a wink at the rest of the band then turned to her; "Funny you should ask that..." as he pulled off his shirt to reveal a shirt for The Wanted underneath.

"Wow!" was all the interviewer could manage. She looked down briefly, eyes furiously scanning notes in front of her. "So the feud has gone then?"

"Oh definitely. I mean, if anything, we think we could be good friends, y'know," he said, beaming. Lots more questions were centred around this rather unexpected development, which Louis delighted in answering in excruciating detail, with occasional help from someone else. Liam whispered in Niall's ear "What's all this? I thought Lou was going to be funny or something. This is just..."

"Him being different as usual?" Niall offered. Liam nodded, smiling.

Once Louis had exhausted any curiosity the interviewer had about their relations with the other boy band, they fell onto the ever-popular question of who the boys were romantically interested in. Louis, Zayn and Liam were all accounted for, so the question was targeted towards Harry first.

"So Harry, we know you're the ladies' man of the band. Who've you got your eye on at the moment?"

Harry's mouth opened, but for a couple of seconds no sounds came. "No one really." He mumbled eventually. He was making a conscious effort not to look at Niall. "Sure? Not another older woman on the horizon?" Harry smiled a little but shook his head. "Okay then Niall, what about you?"

Niall had had a few seconds to think about the question, so his answer came more easily. "Well, there is a certain someone. I think we're pretty close already but I'd like to get to know them better." The interviewer cleared smelled blood and wanted to press Niall for more information. "Who is the lucky lady?"

"I can't really say at the moment, you'll just have to wait and see," he answered cryptically, while stealing a glance at Harry. His expression was unreadable...maybe a hint of something in his eyes, but Niall didn't know what. "I'm sure we'll all be watching very closely anyway," said the interviewer, a slight hint of disappointment in her tone.

The questioning quickly moved on, and Zayn managed to work in a story about how Harry had recently walked into a streetlight, which got laughs from all the studio personnel as well as the boys. Niall was still glancing at Harry, whose face had only become more confusingly set. He wondered what his reaction would be after they were done. A further ten minutes of questioning followed, and by the end, Niall was desperate to talk to Harry. He'd imagined several scenarios of awkwardness already while the others were talking. "And I guess that just about wraps it up." The interviewer finally said, looking pleased that she'd got some fairly constructive responses. Thank yous were exchanged and hands shaken (Louis completing his act by kissing their host's hand), and then it was time to leave. Louis, Zayn and Liam went back outside to see the fans, while Harry headed to the bathroom. Niall was still anxious to speak to Harry, so he told the rest of the band he'd be taking a leak too.

He walked into the room about ten seconds behind Harry. Turning the corner to the urinals, he saw his bandmate. The room was empty apart from them. Niall stood a couple away from Harry, who gave him a nod of acknowledgement. He licked his lips, and nervously swallowed. Niall could feel his throat tighten slightly. "Um. I...uh. What do you think about what I said?"

There was the briefest of pauses, but what felt like an unbearably long time to Niall. The deep voice came back with "It's cool. You didn't actually say anything obvious. I just, I, well...I didn't think about this seriously." Harry was zipping up his fly now, turning around to the basins behind him. Niall quickly did the same. "But you're not upset?"

"No."

"And do you want it to be...serious?"

Harry glanced up at Niall in the mirror. "I don't know."

"Okay...so-"

"Niall. Calm it." Harry shook his hands dry, and took a small step towards him. "I don't know what we're doing, okay? But we can talk about it tonight."

Another pause, as Niall finished washing his hands. "So-"

Harry took another step towards Niall, and pulled him around so that they were facing each other. He leaned in, putting his mouth level with Niall's ear. "Ni, shush." The warm breath floated across Niall's neck. "Everything's fine." Harry nuzzled his nose against his neck, and then planted a light kiss. Harry gently turned Niall around, and gave him a push on the bum. "Now let's go."

***

The band had taken another bus ride to their second and last interview of the day. Nobody seemed to have picked up on Niall's romantic interest, but as the interview was going out tonight, it was a safe bet that someone would call him out on it soon. The short hop to the next venue had thankfully been filled with conversation, forcing the youngest two band members to dwell on other things. The second studios they arrived at didn't have the hordes of fans they'd encountered earlier, but that was because this interview hadn't been publicised; it was a last minute arrangement. The usual routine of q & a followed, with a few slightly unusual twists on some "If you were on a desert island..." questions that Niall found himself quite enjoying. His earlier misgivings about the whole situation seemed to have been forgotten.

Harry, sitting at the far end next to Louis, had an ample view of Niall. His eyes slowly studied him, from his light blond locks, to his bright blue eyes, to his cheeky smile, his strong arms, his nice ass. Not bad...Harry thought to himself, appreciating his friend's physique. While he'd obviously looked all of the band up and down, he'd never looked at one of them in quite the same way. Now he was `fully aware' of Niall, he noticed what it was that made him so popular amongst the fans. It was like a weird sort of epiphany. The more Harry observed, in manner as well as looks, the more he liked.

The discussion with the host came to a close surprisingly quickly, and the boys broke for lunch. The meal passed equally speedily, after which there were a couple of hours to kill. The band decided on a movie, and picked out Red Dawn as the light entertainment for the day.

Niall and Harry found themselves sat together at the end of the row, but other than a few brushes of hands while fumbling for popcorn, nothing eventful happened for most of the film. Towards the end, Niall needed to get out for a pee, and so stood up. The gap between the rows of seats was ridiculously small, causing his ass to brush against Harry. When Niall came back from the bathroom, Harry made sure to deliberately brush up against him. Niall turned his head to look at Harry, who was smiling at him. Once he'd sat down again, Niall leaned over to Harry. A casual observer would have thought he was whispering something to him, but Niall had actually given him a long kiss on the neck.

The film was over too quickly for the pair, who had enjoyed a sneaky cuddle after the kiss. Rehearsals followed, which were predictably full of more mucking about by all of the band, until seven o'clock rolled around and they were finished for the day. Arriving at the hotel they were staying in, they all separated briefly for some alone time in their respective rooms. Each of the band had picked up some more clothes from the wardrobe girls for the next few days, and Niall was just putting away some of his when he got a text from Harry. Want to have that chat now?

Sure. Be there in 2

Niall was suddenly nervous again, thinking about what he would say. He couldn't believe how much this was getting to him. He'd been the one laughing and joking at the start, but it all seemed a little too real right now.

Harry's room was all the way at the end of the corridor. Halfway there, a door opened and out came Louis. "Where're you off to Nialler?" Louis asked in a friendly tone.

"Just to Harry's room," he said, as nonchalantly as possible.

"What for?"

Niall's stomach sank. "Uh..." No excuse came to mind. Luckily Louis inadvertently saved him.

"Oh, round two of fun in bed is it?" he said, winking at Niall. "We'll make sure to give you some space!" Louis walked off chuckling to himself. Thank fuck for bromances, Niall thought.

He knocked on Harry's door, which opened almost immediately. Harry had also been getting nervous. "Come in." Niall silently followed Harry into the room, and then sat down with him on the end of the double bed.

"So..." Niall started.

"So." Harry replied.

"Um... don't really know how this goes." Niall confessed.

"Me neither. I've never slept with you before Ni," Harry said, a small smile curling the edges of his mouth. Niall bit his lip, smiling too despite himself. "But seriously..."

"I know. This is serious. And I am serious about this."

"Serious like...?"

Harry gently took Niall's hand, and looked into his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said what he'd been practising in his head for the last few minutes. "I've been thinking about this all day. I really like you. Being with you actually feels really good. It's just the whole gay thing that's weird y'know? This feels so right, but I'm just not used to it yet. But hopefully we can get used to it together."Harry

Niall's heart did a backflip. "Couldn't be much cheesier could you?" Niall said with a small grin. "But really sweet too. C'mere." They hugged, and then loosened the embrace. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, and then slowly came together again for a long, slow kiss.

"Kissing you is really bloody great." Niall told him, once they'd broken off. Harry blushed.

"I like kissing you too Ni."

"So does this mean we're...boyfriends?"

"Yeah." Harry said, starting to feel a little light headed.

"Cool...and...like, do you think you're gay?"

"Um, no. Bi. Are you?"

"Yeah." Harry could see Niall's eyes watering slightly as he answered.

"How come you never told any of us?" he asked softly.

"I...I haven't told anyone. If I hadn't been so drunk that night, I still wouldn't have. I-" Niall's voice cracked, as a tear started rolling down his cheek. "Ni!" Harry murmured, pulling him into a hug.

"I just-I just." Niall gave up and just cried. Harry felt his own eyes welling up slightly. He hugged Niall tighter. "It's okay, it's okay." he whispered, stroking his back. Niall's body trembled against his as the tears poured out.

"I-"

"Shhhh. Don't worry. Just let it all out."

Niall continued to sob for a while longer, until he felt the tears running dry. He lifted his head off Harry's shoulder. "Thanks," he said, sniffling a little.

"That's what a boyfriend is for, right?" Harry replied. He brushed a tear away from Niall's cheek. "I'm here for you." Niall managed a tiny smile, his eyes very red and nose running slightly. "So do you want to discuss it, or...?"

"Yeah." Niall took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "Yeah, I don't know why I'm crying so much. I just...I've never been able to, to say anything. Like," -he sniffed again- "I wanted to tell someone, but I just couldn't. I didn't want to be gay."

"I...and then when I got to know you, I just wanted to so much. Like, at first I just liked you as a friend, but..." Niall was holding his head in his hands, trying not to cry again. Harry rubbed his back tenderly. He didn't like seeing Niall like this. He wished he could do something to make his pain go away.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, we'd all support you anyway," Harry told him.

"I know, I know. I just...what if people didn't? What if I didn't have any friends left, what if no one liked me anymore?"

"Niall, that's not going to happen. I can guarantee you that all of the boys will be absolutely fine with it. And anyone else that's not, isn't worth being around. Okay?"

Niall nodded. "Okay." There was silence for a few seconds, but it was a comfortable silence. "Why did you never tell us you were bi?" Niall asked.

Harry thought for a moment or two. "I was never sure. I'd thought about boys, but I didn't know whether I was just curious. But then that night with you...I knew."

Niall nodded again. Harry pulled him in for another hug. "If you weren't such a drunk then this would never have happened," he told Niall jokingly. A weak chuckle told him Niall wasn't so upset any more. They pulled apart again, sitting side by side.

"When do you want to tell the others?" Harry asked, puncturing the moment.

"Well, judging from my reaction then, not too soon."

"Okay. We'll keep it a secret for now. But don't worry about it. We're both in it together."

Another nod. "What do you want to do now?" Niall asked.

"Well...I had an idea, but if you're upset..."

"No it's okay. I need to do something fun."

Harry blushed. Who knew that this would be the hardest part. "Um, well, did you wanna...?" he said, not quite being able to say the word.

"Want to what?"

"You know..."

"Oh." Niall grasped what it was that Harry couldn't bring himself to say. "Ohhhhh. You can just say it y'know." Niall felt himself smiling when he saw how red Harry had gone. Harry shrugged bashfully. Niall turned his body towards him, and put his hand on the top of Harry's thigh. "I'd love to."

"Sure? We can wait-"

"Harry, I'm a teenage boy. Of course this is going to be fun," Niall told him.