The Water Boy (Narry) [Alternate Version]

Prologue

He knows the fingers that twirl the bottom of his shirt, trapping themselves within the cotton material and pursuing small tugs every now and then. A hot and wet mouth glides along with his, a tongue pushing it's way through to get to his own. The pair of hands that have become quite use to his timid body pull him in closer. The muscles in his stomach jump when the cool fingertips start to ghost over his skin.

Suddenly, there's a loud banging on the metal door that keeps them closed off from everyone else. Both boys jump, the more controlled of the two letting go of the other. The taller, yet more fragile boy, isn't quite ready to go back to what is supposed to be normal.

"Niall, Coach will be brutal on us if you're late for practice again, mate!"It's the voice of Louis Tomlinson, one of the best friends of Niall Horan; the boy that Harry Styles' has been secretly snogging in the washing room for a couple of weeks now.

"I gotta go." His whisper is hushed against Harry's lips, who can only swallow his own heavy breathing.

His curls tickle at his forehead when he looks down, a little bit saddened that he can't be with Niall the way he desperately wants to. Green eyes slowly look back up to Niall's blue ones, asking for a promise that they'll still make time like this for each other.

Niall's hands come up, one cupping Harry's cheek and the other resting in the soft nape of his neck. "I'm sorry I got here late. I wish we had more time, too. You know that I do." His thick accent is pretty convincing.

Harry slowly nods, feeling weak as if he is actually going to cry. He's just never imagined the moments they've shared to ever happen to him. Losing Niall over this would break his heart.

"I'll be seeing you." Niall says before resting his forehead against Harry's, rolling his head back and forth slowly along Harry's before leaning down to catch his lips in a quick kiss.

"Oi, come on already!" Louis' voice is slightly muffled from the barricading door.

Niall turns his head towards the door. "Get your knickers out of your arse, Louis! I'll be there in a second, yeah?"

A deep, yet soft, chuckle falls from Niall's lips. "'m sorry about him. Best get out there before I get into trouble though." Niall reminds him.

"I don't wear knickers, you twat!" Louis recoils moments later.

"Y-yeah, that's all right. You should go." Harry says, almost inaudible.

Niall's hands fall from any form of touching Harry before he turns to pull the door open. He walks out the door, the light from the hallway creeping into the washing room like an unwanted spotlight.

Once the door is closed Harry quietly creeps over to the door, pressing his hand against the cold metal that Niall's palm couldn't even warm up. He wants to press his back against it and sink to the floor.

He hears Louis let out a chuckle. "Just because you're the captain, doesn't mean you get special treatment." Then there's a pause, followed by a joking tone. "Best be careful what you're doing."

"Careful? What do you mean by that?" Niall's voice asks, no signs of vocal shaking as he speaks.

"There's nothing wrong about chatting with Harry. "I mean, yeah, he's shy and all but you do know he's a poof."

"Yeah, I know he is, Louis." Niall says.

That's when Harry's decided that he's heard enough. He should probably be getting started on his work anyway. Plus, it would be weird if he stayed in the washing room and left after everyone else has gone. He doesn't want anyone to figure out what's been going on behind the closed door. Harry also knows that Niall would upset and devastated if anyone in the school found out he's been snogging with the team's water boy of all people.

Niall and Harry don't come from the same social world. Niall's much more popular than Harry is. The outgoing lad's laugh could fill an entire room, where Harry's is smaller and he practically has red cheeks from how embarrassing he thinks his own laugh can be at times. Niall talks to almost anybody he ever meets, always seeming to find common ground with others. Harry The two could never

Niall Horan's the star player and Harry Styles' just the water boy. Well, at least that's what everybody thinks. The two have no reason to be seen together, other than at practices or matches. There's also the terrifying fact that Harry's homosexual and Niall's just trying to figure out where he belongs on the scale of things.

At times, Harry's sexuality is a joke to people. Some students making worse jokes than others. For example, Louis Tomlinson's jokes are more aimed to try and include Harry in things with the team. There's a few guys on the team that would rather have nothing to do with Harry and are often a bit more cruel.

For the most part, regarding the gay jokes, Niall stays quiet about it. It's odd to someone on the outside because Niall's always been loud but to Harry, who knows his struggles, he just wishes Niall would stick up for a him a little bit more than he does. Sticking up for him doesn't make Niall the next target for a quick punchline.

He slowly pushes the door open, hoping that Niall and Louis weren't still too close by. He glances down the hallway and watches as Louis lets out a laugh and slaps his hand between Niall's shoulders. There's almost to the doors that lead outside.

Harry ducks his head down and walks across the athletics quad, over to where all the equipment is. He digs in the pocket of the tan trousers of his school uniform to retrieve the key to the equipment room

He takes in a deep breath, arching his back and bringing his chest forward. Then he slowly lets it out before climbing over metal poles for the volleyball nets, along with the nets themselves, that people have carelessly thrown in from previous P.E. classes. He's tripped in this room quite a few times because of how messy it is.

Somehow the cart he pushes to the field in back almost everyday is almost completely buried. He shakes his head as he begins to clear a path for himself. Luckily, nobody's taken anything off of the cart since he's last put it away. The extra equipment is either tied to it or resting on it's shelves. the only thing he needs to do is refill the bottles of water with fresh water. Most of the boys on the team bring Gatorade to hydrate themselves, but Harry fills them all anyway because he enjoys being helpful towards other people.

Do the guys take advantage of Harry's kindness? Usually. For the most part he does his best to look past it. Some of the things the team does to him makes him feel a little less valued, but he does his best to keep his emotions bottled up until he's out of their sights. If he ever cried in front of the boys, they'd have a proper laugh at him and call him even more names than

Not all the lads are like that, which Harry does appreciate. He wishes that Niall could take the stand and shut them up once and for all. He knows that Niall doesn't like to see him hurt and go through the obvious bullying because Niall tells him when they're seeing each other privately. Harry's not the most confident boy in the world so telling the team captain how to keep his team in line is something he can't gather up the courage to do.

Niall's not ready to bring their worlds together and Harry can be happy with what he gets from Niall for now. But as fulfilling as the secret feels now, how long will Harry actually let himself stay in the dark while Niall's out there shining bright to everyone else around him?

Maybe someday, is all he has.

Here it is! This is the first thing I ever planned about a water boy AU in my head. It's quite different than how the story turned out to be but sometimes greater things come from having no plan at all.

If you decided to read this one, I hope you enjoy it. I'm still being asked if this is a replacement for the original. It is not! It will not be deleted either. I could never do that! The alternate version is just a different way the story could have gone.

If you like the original one better, that's totally fine! It's your preference and life goes on :)