Take My Breath by AwayRealityBetterThanFiction on a03

Chapter 2

Harry had a hard time imagining a place less likely to provide home to the UK's most elite flight school. Thurso, Scotland was little more than a blip on the map, a remote and isolated little sea village that would be a ghost town if it wasn't for the regular flow of hot-shot fly boys pumping into the area to boost local business. It was nothing like in Cornwall at the RNAS Culdrose. There, the sleek buildings of the base and the surrounding bars and restaurants catered to the military men, the place to be for the young, eligible and desperate looking to hook a Naval officer. Harry had always felt lost there, just one among many wearing a patch covered bomber jacket and a pair of aviators.

This place, however, was the polar opposite. Thurso felt like home. The cobblestone streets, weather-worn cottage style houses, and general sense of old world character welcomed all, not just those with a rank in front of their name. It didn't have much to offer in the way of entertainment - probably a good thing, really, considering the rigor of 1D's program - but the amenities it did have were quaint and warm, giving the impression that they had been there for as long as this little town had been around. Harry and Niall were currently stationed at one such establishment with the rest of the new 1D recruits, the only local pub in town per Niall's sources. It was small and stuffy with sticky floors and a heavily scratched wooden bar that had seen better days about a century ago, but it had a functioning juke box and a bottomless supply of Guinness, so it did the job just fine. For a Sunday night, it was completely jammed from wall to wall. It seemed that everyone in town was eager to welcome the new class of the Navy's finest airmen. Harry absolutely loved everything about this place.

"To flying with a hangover tomorrow! Let's hope our pilots take it easy with the barrel rolls or we'll be tossing our cookies all over the cabin," Niall announced, raising his freshly poured pint to the rest of the pilots seated with him at the end of the bar. A raucous cheer went up around him as he finished the entire pint in ten seconds flat. Niall had been in Thurso for about eight hours now and was already a local hero, holding court at the bar. Let Niall loose in a room full of people, and in no time he would be privy to everyone's deepest, darkest secrets. Already he was working on figuring out the inner workings of their recruit class, and judging by the number of them that were orbiting Niall like he had his own gravitational field, he was doing a damn good job of it. He probably missed his true calling in the military - he would have been a bloody ace interrogator. Harry attributed Niall's way with people to his baby blues, shock of sunny hair and ever present grin. Niall attributed it to his Irish charm and frighteningly high alcohol tolerance. He could out drink a fish, and alway claimed that people were more willing to divulge their demons when under the influence. Niall just stayed sober long enough to listen. Tonight, though, Harry was a little worried that Niall's sobriety was quickly reaching the point of no return.

Harry gave his RIO a stern glare and swore to himself that he would fly Georgia Rose upside down for their entire first hop tomorrow if Niall so much as hinted at being hungover.

"And here I was worried about you being a wallflower," Harry muttered.

Niall winked at him with mildly bloodshot eyes. "Oi. Lighten up, Lieutenant Love Handles. We're just sampling the local culture." He looked down at his empty glass with wide, tragic eyes, and then looked to Harry. "Hey, RIOs don't pay, right? Those are your rules? Looks like I'm in need of a little more culture. Be a mate?"

Harry shook his head but was powerless to resist when Niall's bottom lip pouted out like it was currently doing. He really needed to get better at telling Niall, "No." The lad would be incorrigible if Harry always indulged his every whim. Tonight, sadly, was not the night to start that little war of wills. Harry didn't have the heart to end Niall's bid as the next King of Scotland.