Show Me Your Heart [ A Niall Horan OU ]

Prologue

Niall shifts the guitar in his arms while letting one of his legs lower to the floor from its previous spot where it was perched on the stool. Niall's fingers brush against the strings tentatively, letting out a low hum that reverberates through the nearly empty room. He's decided not to use a pick today, in an effort to really get close to the instrument and hopefully- pull out something from his vacant mind.

He rolls his tongue across his bottom lip, finally getting repositioned. His deep blue eyes glance at the notebook sitting in front of him, lines and lines of crossed out black ink stares back at him mockingly. Niall clears his throat and nods at Julian who is seated to his left in front of the never ending board of switches, knobs, and dials.

"Let's run it one more time, yeah?" Niall asks, furrowing his brows in determination.

Julian gives him an encouraging nod and scoots forward in his chair, hands hovering over the board and with a few taps, he's brought the studio to life with the familiar tune that Niall has had in his mind for a long, long time.

Niall nods his head along with the beat, eyes closed as his own fingers expertly pluck at the strings. He hums along with the dozen or so words he does have so far, but once those have fallen from his mouth- he goes blank. The beat continues on and Niall's fingers slowly come to a stop, calloused tips resting against the elegant wood. His eyes are still shut, squeezed tight, as Julian slowly lowers the volume and fades the track out.

Niall can hear the small, but audible sigh that Julian makes before he leans back in his chair, it's wheels rolling on the hardwood floor of the studio. Niall lifts his hand from the guitar to slide down his face, slowly, before lifting his head. His eyes are hard as stone and his lips are pressed into a deep frown.

He meets Julian's gaze, his longtime friend and mentor's eyes are weary too, but there's a trace of urgent concern in them as well.

Niall grunts, pulling the strap off his shoulder and settling the guitar in his lap. "M'sorry mate, I don't know what's going on. I just can't think of the words."

Julian lifts his arms and joins his hands at the back of his head, nodding at Niall. "Niall, it's fine-"

Niall stands up abruptly, putting his guitar in it's stand roughly and curling his hands into fists. "It's not though. I have a fucking album to put together, don't I? How the hell am I supposed to do that when I can't get the lyrics written?" His yell echos harshly off the surrounding acoustic walls, drilling into the silence that was previously there.

Niall rarely loses his temper, something he's learned to manage over the years in his lifestyle, but he's no good at it when it comes to being angry at himself. He's got a 13 track album set to debut in less than a month, and only half the songs on it completed. It's been weeks upon weeks of scribbled pages and late nights, pleading with himself to get the words that he knows are inside him out and into the world.