(almost) famous ♪ narry au

x. a word-vomity introduction.

By the end of the concert, Niall's whole body was thrumming with an electric pulse. The band had sounded especially good tonight, and Niall was vibrating off that alone. Seeing Harry preform always lit his insides on fire, but the fact that he was less than five minutes away from meeting him was driving him mad.

"Niall, calm down, would you mate? You're gonna rupture an artery." Louis commented, but it was generally half-hearted. He knew that this was something Niall had been waiting for for a long time.

Liam led both Niall and Louis backstage like a seasoned pro, but neither of the two questioned it and instead just went with the flow of things. Niall wasn't in any condition to question anything anyways. He was far too excited about his proxmity to Harry to let any other thoughts enter his mind.

Niall peered around backstage desperately, looking for the raven-haired savior who was going to make all of his dreams come true.

"Liam!" Zayn called out, a bit too excitedly. He cleared his throat.

"You two know each other?" It was Louis who asked, as Niall was too far gone to have even noticed.

"We met-" Zayn began

"I met him in the bathroom tonight." Liam finished quickly, praying that he was able to trick Louis. Louis squinted at the both of them, but didn't say anything else. Liam took that to mean the two were in the clear.

"Where's Harry?" Niall asked excitedly, ignoring the slight tension that had developed.

"Right then, come on. He should be in the dressing room." Zayn said, motioning for them to follow.

Niall was so close to Zayn that he might as well have gotten onto his shoulders and steered. In fact, it seemed like Niall was the one who was leading.

Zayn came to a closed door with a sign saying "In-Debt" on it. He pushed it open to reveal a brightly lit room with multiple mirrors and clothes thrown around in random places. Ed was laying back on a couch, a guitar in his grasp as he plucked out a few random chords, while Josh was sitting in one of the lounge chairs twirling his drumsticks. The two both looked up to see who'd came in.

"Looking for Harry, yeah?" Ed asked. Niall nodded in reply for all of them.

"That lad. I told him to stay. He never bloody listens. Didn't I tell him?"

Josh stopped twirling the sticks and rolled his eyes, looking to Ed. "You always do."

"I always do. You're damn right. I tell him and I tell him and he never listens. It's like talking to a brick wall with that one. I-"

"Ed. Enough of the rant. Where did he go?" Zayn asked quickly, seeing the sad puppy look in Niall's eyes.

"He said something about being tired. Maybe he went home?" Josh offered. Zayn sighed, turning and running a hand through his hair as he stormed out the door.

"Niall, come on mate." Liam said, grabbing Niall's wrist and attempting to pull him along.

Niall's bottom lip started to quiver and his eyes welled up with tears. He was starting to think that he was never going to meet Harry.

"I'll catch up with you guys." He said sadly, walking out of the room and down the hall. He decided to go the opposite direction as Zayn, seeing as there was a good chance they wouldn't find him either. Niall just wanted to go outside. He doubted that Harry was even there anymore, so he found the idea of looking for him pointless.

He kept walking until he found a set of doors that led outside to the back. It was pretty much just a parking lot, nothing fancy or anything, but Niall just needed a place to clear his mind.