Under My Skin

Niall is the centre of attention at the office today.

The article he wrote for the special issue has just been published both for online readers and physical readers early this morning. It’s usually released a week before Christmas but this year it’s released three weeks before.

Brooklyn likes to think that she’s the first one to read it on their company’s website unless he has a much bigger fan than she is, then she isn’t the first one. She refuses to entertain that possibility as she watches Niall step out of the lift, his face lighting up when everyone surges forward to congratulate him. Some shake his hand, some pull him in for a hug and pat him on the back.

All the while, Brooklyn can feel his eyes on her. Instead of making her way to him, she waits by her desk. She’s congratulated him earlier this morning via text messages as soon as she finished reading his featured article so she’s going to let other people commend him for his remarkable piece. She might be a tad biased but she thinks his article is the best amongst the rest.

Brooklyn has always known that Niall’s a great writer but after reading what he wrote? She’s pretty sure that just took him to another level. One step higher than her. Back then it would bother her, but now not anymore. They’re not in competitions anymore. Not since the day she lost the bet or maybe not ever.

“Hey stranger,” Niall whispers in her ear as they embrace each other.

“Hey hotshot,” Brooklyn whispers back and that earns her a hearty chuckle. A smile touches her lips. “How does it feel like to be adored by everyone?” She asks once they’ve pulled away from the hug.

“You can’t even imagine my suffering,” he says with a serious face. Brooklyn rolls her eyes at him, though the corners of her mouth are twitching, laughter threatening to escape her throat. Dropping his voice a little, he adds, “But you know I only care about this one person’s opinion.”

“Is that so?” Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at him.

“Mhmm,” he nods as he leans against the side of his desk. He tilts his head. “We’ve known each other for years and I think she’s only complimented me like-“ he pauses to count with his fingers, stops when he reaches his middle finger. “Three times. I’m trying to round the number up to five, but it’s hard. She’s a tough person to please.”

Brooklyn tilts her head as well to match Niall’s posture and expression. His eyes light up with amusement. “Sounds to me like she’s just trying to keep you grounded. Can’t risk inflating your ego and your head.”

“Huh.”

“Also I’m pretty sure she texted earlier to sing her praises to you,” Brooklyn continues. “And she woke up really early so she could be the first reader.”

Niall’s lips stretch into a huge smile, clearly pleased by that piece of information. “’m afraid she’s not the first reader. I was.”

“That’s a pretty conceited move,” Brooklyn comments – she doesn’t mean it, though, and Niall knows that.

“I’d say I was proofreading it.” Now he’s speaking her language. Or he’s making fun of her – she has no way of telling – and even if he is, she doesn’t mind. “Had to make sure that all of the spellings and punctuations are right ‘cause y’know, I was trying to impress that person. She’s very particular when it comes to those things. Very, very particular. Once she was angry with me because I submitted an article that was only proofread twice.”

Brooklyn can’t fight the smile anymore. She lets it take over her face and in her mind, she imagines herself holding up the white flag. He wins. “Well, if that’s the case… I can say on her behalf that she’s impressed.”

“That’s amazing news,” Niall beams. He looks like he wants to kiss her because for a split second, his body gravitates towards her but upon realising that they’re not by themselves, he clears his throat and pushes his hands to the front pockets of his jeans, restraining himself from pulling her to him. “Thank you, Bee. You’ve no idea how happy I am to hear that.”

“You deserve it,” she smiles softly at him and that only makes him happier. Without taking their eyes off of each other, they take a seat on their respective chair. An idea pops into Brooklyn’s mind when she sees a text message from Oliver and she doesn’t waste any time in voicing it out. “So, what do you feel about celebrating it with my siblings and I at the sushi place we went to the other day?”

Niall rests his elbow on the desk and his chin on the palm of his hand. “Oliver, Beck and Nadine will be there?”

“That’s what I meant when I said my siblings, yeah.” Brooklyn nods. Niall stares at her, eyes unblinking, so she throws a pen at him, one that he catches with his left hand. When he continues to look at her, she asks, “What?”

He hands her pen back to her before he says, “Nothing. I just love your smart mouth.”

“Smart mouth?” Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at him as she takes the pen from him and puts it on her desk. He nods. “Well, that’s rich coming from the smart-mouthed man himself.”

Niall chuckles. “Hey, as long as you consider me a man, I don’t mind being called smart-mouthed.”

Brooklyn rolls her eyes. He can be ridiculous sometimes. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“I haven’t, have I?” Niall leans forward, tapping his fingers against his desk. Brooklyn doesn’t want to come across as cocky, but she knows he can’t say no to that. Even when they’re not together, he couldn’t turn down an offer to have dinner with her and her siblings. “Well, I can’t disappoint my fans by not showing up so the answer is yes.”

Brooklyn throws a pen at him again and this time it hits him on the nose. Whereas a smug grin adorns her lips, laughter escapes Niall’s throat. “You gotta stop doing that.”

“You gotta stop being annoying,” she deadpans.

“I thought it’s part of my charm?” Niall quizzes with a raise of an eyebrow. Brooklyn doesn’t deny it so he grins. It is part of his charm. “Anyway, I’d love to have dinner with you and your siblings, Bee. I wouldn’t want to celebrate today any other way.”



It’s obvious that Niall’s looking forward to the dinner because before the clock can hit 5.30pm, he’s already out of his seat. Normally he wouldn’t budge because he prefers to stay for a few more minutes, say goodbye to their colleagues or chat with those who have to stay late to get some work done and only then he’d leave but not today.

At 5.30pm, he’s already leaning against Brooklyn’s desk, tapping his foot every now and then and looking restless. She wouldn’t say she enjoys seeing him like this, but she kind of does.

“Is it bad that I’m nervous?” Niall asks as he unrolls the sleeves of his shirt only to roll them again until they hit his elbows.

“Why’d you be nervous?” Brooklyn frowns, confused.

He’s met them before and he didn’t seem nervous back then. In fact, he got along so well with her siblings, so much so that she wondered if there’s anyone out there who didn’t like him.

Brooklyn has witnessed Niall charm almost everyone he meets so she supposes that’s why she decided to take one for the team. She refused to let Niall charm her the way he does everyone. She wanted to see how would he deal with someone who’s indifferent to him and she did it for three years before he creeps under her skin and changes her mind about him. So if there really is a team of people who hate Niall, they must disappointed right now because she is far from hating him.

“You know why,” Niall gives her a look and it’s then she realises that this dinner would be the first time she’s bringing him as her boyfriend. Boyfriend – still a strange word to her, especially when it’s put in the same sentence as Niall Horan.

Niall Horan: Brooklyn Cooper’s boyfriend. So strange yet so fitting.

“Well, there’s nothing to be nervous about,” Brooklyn tells him as she gets up and takes her coat from the chair.

So far, Beck’s the only one who knows about them and whilst he’s dying to tell Oliver and Nadine about it, he’s promised to keep his mouth shut. Besides, this is Brooklyn’s story to tell. She’s pretty sure she’d be receiving an awful lot of “I knew it” and “I told you so” from Nadine and Oliver – Beck would definitely join in too because it’s what he’s wanted to do since day one. They’d make fun of her, that’s for sure, but she hopes to God that they’d wait until Niall isn’t around to do that. But then again, when has God ever listened to her when it comes to her annoying but very loveable siblings?

“Do you think Oliver will give me that protective brother speech?” Niall asks as they make their way to the lift. He doesn’t sound scared at the thought of that.

“You want him to give it, don’t you?” Brooklyn asks, brows raised. Sometimes she, too, can see right through him, which is something that she’s tremendously proud of.

“Kinda,” he admits sheepishly, his neck and ears flushing red. “No one’s brother has ever given me that speech so I’m curious. I want to know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that.”

Brooklyn shakes her head. “You’re a weird man, Niall Horan.”

He shrugs. No comebacks for that.

The lift stops at their floor a few seconds later, but since it can only fit one of them unless they want to squeeze in the middle of everyone else, they decide not to get on it.

“Has Oliver given that brother speech to the boys you dated?”

“Once,” she answers. Niall cocks an eyebrow like he’s surprised. “My first boyfriend, Jason. From what he told me it was pretty… brutal and Ollie refused to tell me what he said to him so up until today I don’t know if Jason’s telling the truth or not.” Niall winces at that and she laughs. “Still want him to give him the protective brother speech?”

Niall mulls over her question. He’s curious, he is, but he’s already intimidated by Oliver without having to hear the big brother speech. However, before he can answer it, someone walks up to them: Dominic.

“Hey, you guys heading somewhere?” Dominic asks, though his eyes are only fixed on Brooklyn like the question is only meant for her despite the usage of ‘you guys’.

Brooklyn’s eyes dart from Niall to Dominic whilst she tries to decide if she should tell the truth or come up with a lie. “We’re, uh, meeting my siblings for dinner.”

“That sounds fun,” Dominic replies and it doesn’t sound like he’s only saying that because he’s trying to be polite; he does think it sounds fun to have dinner with her siblings . Brooklyn holds her breath as she waits for what he has to say next. “Can I join you guys? I just moved here recently so I don’t really know anyone and I’d love to get to know more people. Not to mention, I’m very hungry right now.”

Despite the chuckle that leaves her mouth, Brooklyn’s heart is at the pit of her stomach, she’s sure of that. On one hand, she’d feel bad if she denies him the chance to go out and meet more people even if those people consist of her siblings, but on the other, he’s not supposed to be there. No one from the office is supposed to be there.

Niall must have seen the conflicted look on her face because he’s the one who answers Dominic. “If you like sushi, then yeah, why not?” It’s either he’s a really good actor or he does mean that. Brooklyn selfishly hopes it’s the former. She looks forward to spending time with him and her siblings. Not him, her siblings and Dominic.

Dominic grins, his eyes glinting with delight, and Brooklyn immediately feels bad for having that thought. “Sushi’s my favourite.”

Shit. Brooklyn looks at Niall, helpless. There’s this one part of her, the one that constantly wants to please people, that can’t tell him that he can’t come with them even though she so desperately wants to. But if Niall says Dominic can come with them, who is she to deny that. Besides, this dinner is Niall’s celebration so he can invite whomever he likes even though he did say earlier that he wanted it to be between her and her siblings.

“Great, so it’s settled, then. You’re coming with us.” Niall says as he pats Dominic on the back, a smile on his lips.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s eyes move from Niall to Dominic and back to Niall and she wishes they’d gone on the lift even if they had to squeeze themselves.



Oliver is being held up at work so when Brooklyn, Niall and Dominic got to the sushi place, Nadine and Beck are the only ones there.

Beck has saved a spot next to him for Niall and since Brooklyn forgot to inform them that Dominic is joining in the last minute, they’d have to ask for one more chair for him, which he places between the empty seat and Brooklyn’s seat. The entire time he’s doing so, Brooklyn can feel Beck and Nadine’s eyes on her, probably wondering what the hell is going on.

“Beck. Nadine. This is Dominic, our colleague. He started last week.” Brooklyn introduces once they’re all seated.

“Pleasure to meet you both,” Dominic grins as he unbuttons the second button of his shirt and leans back into the chair. “And please, just call me Dom.”

“Hi, Dom…” Beck trails off before he presses his lips together – it’s obvious he’s holding a laugh back. Beside her, Nadine waves at him, a smile on her lips. She hasn’t removed her eyes from Dominic since he walked in and Brooklyn’s not sure if it’s because she’s attracted to him or if it’s because she’s still trying to figure out what’s going on. “I think Bee’s mentioned you before.”

“Is that so?” Dominic replies before he cocks his head to the side to look at Brooklyn. “I hope it’s not anything bad.”

“Bee would never say anything bad about anyone,” Beck says defensively and Dominic looks pleased as he casts a smile to Brooklyn. Although she smiles back, Brooklyn secretly hopes Beck would keep his mouth shut soon before her colleague starts thinking that she likes him. God, that’d be embarrassing.

“So, do you do this often?” Dominic asks, looking around the table. “Is this like once a week thing?”

“You could say that,” Brooklyn answers for her siblings. Beck’s gotten into a pretty heated discussion with Niall about God knows what whereas Nadine still looks like she can’t utter a word. Maybe there’s an invisible cloth over her mouth – who knows? “We try to see one another when we’re not busy and we try to do it as often as we can.”

“That’s nice,” Dominic says. “My sister and I hardly talk to each other because she’s busy with her little family and I’m busy with, well, work.”

“So, you’re a workaholic.” Nadine finally finds her voice.

Dominic looks at her. “I guess I am.”

“Just like Bee.”

Brooklyn rolls her eyes. “I’m not a workaholic.” They’ve had this argument a while ago and she thought they’ve buried it under the bridge.

“Think Brooklyn and I have lots in common,” Dominic mentions.

Brooklyn shifts in her seat, uncomfortable. She refused to believe Niall when he told her that Dominic likes her, but now, she’s starting to see it. The looks he gives her, the smiles he throws at her, and the things he says to her… That’s him flirting, right?

Niall must have sensed her uneasiness – bless him – because he disengages himself from the discussion with Beck to come to her rescue. Under the table, he reaches for her thigh and gives it a gentle squeeze. “So, Dominic, have you tried the coffee shop a block away from our office? Heard they serve great coffee. You should go there soon.”

“I haven’t, no.” Dominic shakes his head. “I’d love to try it someday if it’s as great as you said, but only if Brooklyn would come with me.”

“Shit,” Brooklyn hears Niall mutter under his breath. This guy is smooth, she’d give him that.

“What do you say?” Dominic turns his attention to Brooklyn. She wants the ground to open up and swallow her whole right now so she doesn’t have to answer his question. “Tomorrow?”

“I-uh-“

“Dean. What do you think of him?” Niall asks, interrupting them.

Dominic lifts his gaze to look at Niall and shrugs. “He’s a good man, I think. A bit lenient for my liking but I suppose that creates a good working atmosphere.”

“Lenient?” Niall kinks an eyebrow at him. So far, no one has ever described Mr Storm as lenient.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I see some people coming to work late everyday and they don’t get penalised or anything. You don’t get away with that in my previous workplace.”

Brooklyn feels the need to defend Niall because in a way, she feels like that’s a jab to him. ‘Some people’ is an exaggeration because there are only about five people who usually arrive late and one of them is Niall. “Well, as long as you get your work done on time, I think it’s fine if you come in late.”

Niall squeezes her thigh again and this time, it’s to thank her. She places her hand on top of his and entwines their finger: you’re welcome.

“So, whilst it’s interesting to see you two discuss about your workplace, can we talk about something else?” Beck interrupts. Nadine agrees with a nod. These two hate it when they can’t join in the conversation. “Ah, finally. Ollie’s here.”

Oliver waves at everyone at the table and mutters his apology. He is about to get to his seat when he suddenly stops in front of Dominic. He squints his eyes a little and a few seconds later, a look of recognition crosses his face. “Dominic Temple?”

“Holy shit,” Dominic whistles as he gets up from his seat and stands in front of the older sibling. “Oliver Cooper?”

“The one and only,” Oliver grins.

“You two know each other?” Brooklyn chimes in. The two of them turn to her and nod. Apparently they went to the same uni and he lived in the dorm next to Oliver’s during the first year. What a small world.

“Shit how did I not put this together? Oliver Cooper, Brooklyn Cooper.”

“Your facial hair makes you a bit slow, I guess.” Oliver teases. Brooklyn’s positive that much like her, Beck and Nadine are surprised to see this side of him. They haven’t seen this Oliver since he starts working and they’ve come to a conclusion that he’s sold his soul to Satan when he accepted the job. But it turns out, it’s just been buried – not gone.

“At least I’m not afraid to give it a try,” Dominic rolls his eyes. This must be their inside joke. “I see you’re still a chicken.”

Oliver shakes his head as he lets that comment slide. Unfair, Brooklyn thinks. If any of them were to call him chicken, he’d make them take it back. Dominic, however, can get away with it.

“Wait, so when you told me about your sister, you’re talking about this Brooklyn, weren’t you?” Dominic asks once they’ve taken a seat.

When Brooklyn shoots a questioning look at Oliver, his cheeks warm up and he avoids her eyes. “Yeah.”

“He talked about me?” Brooklyn asks. She’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Dominic turns to look at her. “He did, yeah. Told me he has two sisters and one brother.” He stops suddenly as his eyes dart to Beck and Nadine, and back to Brooklyn. “You and Beck are twins, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And Nadine’s the youngest one.”

Nadine sheepishly nods.

“Did he tell you how much he loves us?” Beck asks, seeing this as a chance to dig up as much as he can about Oliver from someone that seems to know him quite well.

Dominic glances at Oliver who’s giving him a threatening look. He simply chuckles. “When he’s homesick, yeah, he talked about you guys a lot. He missed all three of you everyday. Said he felt lonely cause you weren’t around to annoy him.”

“That’s sweet,” Nadine coos.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Oliver steps in with flushed cheeks and neck. “Shall we order now?”

So they order their sushi and drinks, and as soon as their orders have been taken, Brooklyn turns to her brother. “Just out of curiosity, what exactly did you tell Dominic about me?”

“You… don’t want to know about that.” Oliver says as he plays with his phone.

“I kinda do now that you’ve said that.”

“Me too.” Beck interrupts.

Followed by Nadine, “Me three.”

Sometimes, curiosity can be good. Some people even claim that curiosity leads to success and as a writer, Brooklyn learns to agree with that. Without curiosity, she wouldn’t be able to come up with even half of the articles she’s written. That being said, curiosity can also be one’s downfall; it can lead to unpleasant outcomes.

Instead of answering her inquiry straightaway, Oliver looks at Niall, who tenses up a little. Brooklyn’s about to wonder why her brother is looking at her boyfriend when a second later she gets her answer: “I was supposed to set you up with Dominic. It was a few months after you and Jason broke up and Dom wasn’t seeing anyone at that moment so I thought it’d be a, uh, great idea to introduce you two to each other. But then you told me you’re not looking for a relationship so I called it off.”

“And now we’re here,” Dominic interjects, smiling. He’s the only one who’s smiling right now. “It’s fate, don’t you think?”

No, it’s not fate. It’s purely coincidence. Fate has nothing to do with this.

That’s what Brooklyn wants to say, but what she does end up saying is, “Ha, maybe.”

Niall clears his throat. “Excuse me, I need to use the loo for a moment.”

Stupid – that’s what she is. Why is she so stupid? Why can’t she just say what’s on her mind?

As soon as Niall gets up and makes his way to the bathroom, Brooklyn turns to Beck and hopes that he gets her message: please check on Niall. He does get it as he nods and follows after Niall.

Brooklyn doesn’t have to properly introduce Niall as her boyfriend to her siblings now because both Oliver and Nadine know what that meant. The apologetic look on Oliver’s face says it all.

&&

With food and drinks on the table, things return to normal. As normal as it can be after the bomb Oliver dropped earlier. Brooklyn can tell Oliver feels bad because he tries his hardest to steer the conversation to something a little less controversial.

“Hey Niall, Bee told me your article was recently published for the special issue so congratulations,” Oliver says. “She also sent me the link early this morning for me to read at work-“

“Wait, you got the link too?” Beck asks, interrupting Oliver midsentence. He nods. Nadine interjects to let both her brothers know that she also received the link from Brooklyn. Beck turns to his twin, a shit-eating grin on his face. “You’re really out here promoting your bo- I mean, best friend’s article, huh?”

“I wouldn’t want it to flop,” Brooklyn replies with a shrug. That’s a lie because she knows it wouldn’t flop. She just wanted to share it with her siblings and let them see how much of an amazing writer he is.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I did read it at work and I really enjoyed it,” Oliver finishes his sentence earlier.

Niall’s mouth hangs open for a couple of seconds before he composes himself and pulls his lips into a smile. “Thank you. I-just-wow. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Oliver chuckles to himself. Brooklyn looks at her brother and knows straightaway that he likes the effect he has on Niall. He feeds off of people’s intimidation, she swears.

“You know, once in a while you should compliment my articles,” Brooklyn mentions as she puts down her chopsticks to pick up a glass of water.

“I don’t want your head to get bigger than it already is,” Oliver responds. Brooklyn throws her middle finger up and everyone round the table laughs. “Did you know that-“

“Oh Jesus, don’t open up any old stories, please.” Brooklyn begs to her older brother. Unlike Beck, he’s a bit nicer and he usually listens to her so she hopes he’d clamp his mouth shut instead of continuing whatever it is that he wants to say.

“Oh c’mon, Bee, live a little!” Beck exclaims and that earns him a glare. He doesn’t cower. “I’m sure Niall would want to know more about the person he’s da-dealing with everyday.”

Brooklyn continues to glare at her brother, but this time not because he refuses to keep his mouth shut. It’s because this would be the second time where he almost slips up.

“I know I’d love to hear more about young Brooklyn Cooper,” Dominic butts in. “Has she always been this interesting?” He glances at Brooklyn, then, and adds, “Has she always been this amazing?”

Brooklyn laughs nervously. “Uhhh, I don’t know.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Niall mumbles.

God why is she so bad at this? Why can’t she just straight up tell him to stop flirting with her? Oh, she knows why: somewhere in her complicated mind, she doesn’t want to embarrass Dominic. And that’s stupid because whilst she’s focused on not wanting to embarrass one person, she unintentionally hurts the other person that she cares more about.

Brooklyn looks around the table to see if anyone else hears that and when no one seems to focus on Niall, she turns to him. He doesn’t look at her but she can see the annoyed look written all over his face. She doesn’t like seeing that look on his face so wanting to wipe it away, she reaches for his hand under the table and gives it a squeeze. He reciprocates the move but pulls away a few seconds later.

Pushing his chair back, he clears his throat and announces that he has to leave, “I have something that I need to get done so I should go. Thank you for this lovely dinner.” He gets up and pushes the chair forward. He turns to Brooklyn and a strained smile touches his lips. “I’ll see you at work.”

With that being said, he heads for the exit. When Brooklyn returns her attention to the table, she realises that all eyes are on her. They are all saying the same thing apart from Dominic, that is. They are all telling her to go after him and that’s what she does.

Niall is running his fingers through his hair out of frustration when she catches him outside. He’s mumbling something under his breath and when he sees Brooklyn making her way to him, his brows furrow in confusion. “What’re you-“

Brooklyn doesn’t let him finish his sentence. She crashes her lips to his, knocking the air out of his lungs, and she pulls him closer until she can feel the beating of his heart.

The kiss is soft and slow, comforting in the ways that words could never be. She wants him to know that she’ll always choose him. She can be stupid at times but at the end of the day, she has her eyes only on him. It’s been that way since the day she met him.

“I think everyone saw that,” Niall says, out of breath.

“I know,” Brooklyn nods.

“Everyone.” Niall repeats. “Including Dominic.”

“Good. I should’ve done that sooner.”

Niall lets out a laugh and the sound sends shivers down her spine. “We’re not going to walk back in there, are we? ‘Cause I’m kinda embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed?” Brooklyn kinks an eyebrow at him.

“Well I did storm out…” he trails off, his cheeks turning red.

Brooklyn laughs. “Dramatic exit is kinda your thing, don’t you think?”

“Shut up,” Niall chuckles. “And please kiss me again.”

“Thank you for asking so nicely-“

This time, Niall’s the one who doesn’t let her finish her sentence.