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Looking back on it, Niall should have seen it coming.
He should have seen it coming after four years of being surprised, of being granted the unexpected. Everything that Niall thought his life would be was trashed in favour of something amazingly wild, a chance to become what nobody expected him to.
Still, however, he didn’t see it coming.
He had asked Harry to come over while he was fetching some groceries at Tesco’s. They’re on a momentary break until they start the North American leg, so it’s not much sense for Niall to buy food that will spoil after he leaves, but Niall’s never been one for logic.
He pulls up in his driveway, Harry’s car already parked in front of his own. He figures Harry must have let himself in. He gave all the boys a key to his home, just in case.
He makes it the front door, ready to turn the knob, when he feels a solid weight on his left foot.
Niall looks to the ground to see a small, white rabbit with brown splotches resting on the toe of his sneakers. It stares back at him, its nose twitching pensively.
Niall rolls his eyes at himself. He’s giving this rabbit a human trait.
“Fucking rabbits,” He grumbles under his breath. “Pointless. Do nothing.”
He carefully slides his shoe out from underneath the rabbit, opening the door and stepping over it. He sets the grocery bags to the side and turns to close the door, only to find that the rabbit has followed him into his house and is now sitting beside the entryway.
“What do you want?” Niall demands, throwing his hands up in exasperation. The rabbit flicks its ear. Niall glowers.
Niall leans down, prepared to pick up the rabbit and toss it out the front door, only for it to immediately dart to the right. Niall tries again, faster this time, but the rabbit moves to the same spot he was in before. Niall shouts in anguish as he tries one last time. The rabbit shoots between his legs and bolts to his living room. Niall can’t stop his inevitable fall and hits his head on the doorknob.
“Fucking rabbits!” He screams.
Niall spends most of the afternoon searching for the rabbit. He checks underneath all the couches and chairs, behind all the dressers, even opens a few cupboards in the kitchen.
He eventually collapses on his bed, groaning quietly. He’s got a wild rabbit in his house and he’s leaving for a stadium tour across North America in twenty-four hours. Fan-fucking-tastic.
Suddenly, Niall’s hearing picks up the sound of nibbling. Rapid, irritating nibbling.
Niall leans over the edge of his bed and looks to the floor. There, among the piles of miscellaneous shit on his floor, is one of the promotional tour posters. Nibbling on the promotional tour poster, right where Harry’s hair touches the edge, is the fucking rabbit.
Niall is prepared to call Animal Control to remove the furry Dennis the Menace from his home, when he notices a strange splotch on the rabbit’s shoulder. Niall leans closer, peering at it until it forms a shape. The brown spot almost looks like a cartoon heart.
Niall begins to look at the other splotches. On the rabbit’s left paw there appears to be a small four-leaf clover. Right underneath its neck there are two spots that angle towards each other, and what appear to be wings emerging from each.
He picks up the rabbit quickly and lifts it to the level of his eye.
Niall feels as though he’s about to cry.
There, in the middle of the rabbit’s belly, is a small, brown butterfly.
Niall takes the rabbit—Harry—into the kitchen. He places it/him on the table and takes a seat in front of him.
He opens his mouth, and then closes it. A blush creeps onto his cheeks. He’s about to address this rabbit as one of his closest mates, fellow band member, and one-fifth of One Direction.
“Harry?”
The rabbit stares at him, barely moving a whisker, before he begins to hop towards Niall. He reaches Niall’s hand resting on the table and promptly headbutts his knuckles.
Niall groans.
“What do you mean you can’t go on tour tomorrow?” His manager demands when he phones him.
“I know it’s sudden, but I really don’t think we’re prepared.” Niall says. Harry rests in the crook of his arm, occasionally nibbling on the fabric of his sweater.
“You’ve been rehearsing for months—Jesus, Niall, what’s the matter? Are you ill?”
“No, I’m not ill, it’s,” Niall pauses. “It’s Harry.”
“Harry?” His manager asks incredulously. “What’s wrong with Harry?”
“I don’t . . . I don’t think he’s in the best state right now.” Harry squirms in his arms.
His manager sighs loudly, his tinny voice crackling through the receiver. “What did he do last night?”
Niall scoffs. “He wasn’t clubbing, have some faith, man. He’s just . . . acting a bit strange,” Harry kicks him. “Ow!” Niall yelps.
“Are you alright?”
“Fine,” Niall growls before pulling the phone away from his mouth. “I could drop you right now, Styles. Watch it.” Harry stills, but he manages to look annoyed. Niall doesn’t think he’s ever seen a more emotive rabbit.
“Look,” Niall continues. “Could we please just push it back one more day?”
“We can’t just push it back one more day!” His manager cries. “This is the North American leg; you’re expected in Toronto in less than a day! I really don’t know what the problem is, but please figure it out yourself. I’ll call you back.” The phone beeps to signal that his manager has hung up.
Niall sighs, tucking his phone into his back pocket. He looks down to Harry, who appears to be worried.
“You better sort yourself out, mate.”
Niall realizes he hasn’t fed Harry when Harry takes an actual bite out of his sweater.
He picks Harry up and carries him to the kitchen, setting him on the kitchen table. “I’ll find you a fucking carrot or something,” Niall says. Suddenly, he perks up a bit. “Louis would be pleased, eh?” He laughs.
If looks from a bunny could kill, Niall is sure he’d be in his grave at this point.
He rummages through the refrigerator until he manages to find a lonely bag of baby carrots. He turns around to present them to Harry, only to find Harry nibbling at a banana in the fruit basket positioned at the centre of his kitchen table.
“Why do I even bother?” Niall grumbles.
He feeds Harry chunks of banana whilst sitting on the couch watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Occasionally, Harry will press a calculated foot on the remote so the channel changes to The Food Network, but Niall maintains his composure. Harry must think he’s the cleverest shit, pulling these stunts on Niall.
Joke is on him, however, for Niall will promptly beat the shit out of him as soon as he’s human again.
“I’m going to bed,” Niall states at midnight. Harry’s whiskers twitch. “Are you going to sleep with me?”
Harry immediately hops happily into Niall’s lap. Niall struggles not to smile.
“No homo, though.”
Harry kicks him in the stomach.
Niall settles into bed, placing Harry beside his head on the pillow. “I swear to God,” Niall says as he switches off the lamplight. “If you poop on my head, I’ll kick you out of the band.” Harry merely snuggles deeper into the pillow.
A few silent minutes pass until Niall speaks again. “You know, you aren’t that annoying. Sometimes you’re kind of cute. Sometimes,” Niall repeats, knowing that through his dumb rabbit face Harry is smirking to himself.
“Maybe rabbits aren’t so bad.” Niall murmurs to himself before he falls asleep.
The next morning, Niall wakes up with a solid weight on his chest and mouthful of hair. He grunts unhappily, struggling to sit up. His eyes begin to focus to the light of the morning, and Niall soon finds that it’s Harry sleeping on his chest.
“Harry!” He cries, grabbing the boy’s shoulders and bringing him into a tight hug. Harry mutters something incoherent, still limp in Niall’s arms. “You would not believe how happy I am to have you back.” Niall says, pulling away to look at the man in his arms. Everything appears to be in order; human ears, nose, and sans fur. Harry is completely human once again.
Harry begins to wake up in Niall’s arms, slowly gaining control of his joints. He brings a lazy hand around Niall’s back, giving him a weak hug in return.
“Is everything alright?” He asks, his voice scratchy with sleep.
“More than alright, mate,” Niall replies happily. “Thank you for not being a rabbit.”
“Yeah, that was a bit weird.” Harry says into his shoulder.
“On the bright side, we won’t be fired now that you’re back to normal.” Niall says as he pulls away.
“I didn’t think there was a downside to bothering you for a day.” Niall pushes at Harry’s shoulders, laughing all the while.
“Anyways, are you hungry? I’ll make us some breakfast.” Niall rises from the bed and hurries to the kitchen. He fetches two plates from the cupboard and sets them on the table before turning to the refrigerator. He’s leaning down to grab the cheese on the bottom shelf when he sees a collection of small, circular—
“Harry fucking Styles, did you shit on my floor?”