seasons of love | Narry Storan AU

chapter 5.

2015

Niall takes a deep breath before opening the door to his bedroom. He knows who's waiting on the other side of the door, and he doesn't want to face him again. At least, not while he's still aware that his new roommate hates the entire idea of having a roommate.

He can't lie to himself, though — the guy has some kind of charming aura. Ever since Niall started accepting his own sexuality, the thoughts of desiring other men came out to be just as natural as the light of day, and the thought of "Jesus Christ, what a man" came into his mind the second he saw Harry Styles peacefully sleeping.

However, the man seems to be a dickhead.

Once he enters the room, Niall figures out that, actually, no one is there. Harry's things are still standing in the exact places he left before, but there are no signs of the student himself. The Irish lad, then, lets out a silent breath before opening the wardrobe to choose other clothes before taking a shower. Once he does it, Niall goes straight to the bathroom, quickly getting undressed and reducing all of his haunting thoughts to a blur inside his mind, while he lets the water wash it all over him.

He can survive.

He will survive.

He had been through worse things before.

His father said it's just a matter of time.

He's going to be alright. A roommate will not ruin his dreams.

He has a hundred things to study about in the next years. 

He can survive a shitty man, right?

Right?

A few mintues later, Niall is already dressed, ready to go out and find Louis again so they can — along with Lou's roommate — have dinner together. When he leaves the bathroom, Harry is still not back to his side of the bed, his things are still barely unpacked and the Horan guy feels like this should be his routine.

Living alone would be such a dream right now.

Three knocks on the door. Niall already knows who is waiting for him, and opens the door just to see his friend Louis, along with another young dude with the same hair color as Lou's.

"Your roommate is a copy of you." It's the first thing that he says.

"Be kind, Heineken. This is Liam. Liam, this is Heineken."

Louis seems to be a little nervous to let Liam shake hands with Niall, but they do it anyway.

"It's Niall. I bet he already told you this story." The blond student says.

"He did." Liam confirms this, and the three of them laugh at the same time. "I'm so sorry for that."

"It's okay, let's just keep it in the past", Niall shrugs.

He is quick to notice the nervous look Louis is giving them while they chat and walk to the university's cafeteria, and makes a mental note to ask him later why he's acting like that. For the entire moment of the dinner time, Niall discovers some facts about Liam Payne. Born in the United Kingdom — with a speaking accent that strongly resembles Harry's. A good fan of music — just like Niall himself. He also likes to sing — in the shower, and does it pretty well, as Louis points out in the middle of the conversation.

For five seconds, the Horan one thinks about writing something so Liam can record it and see how far it goes. However, the thought of "you literally just met him!" screams inside his mind, and he shakes the idea away for a moment to focus on getting to know Liam better before anything. He is just like Lou described: he's kind, gentle, laughs at every single joke you tell him and he listens to anything you say before giving his honest opinion about it.

No wonder why they got along so fast, Niall thinks.

Once they share their goodbyes, he goes back to his bedroom. However, before he turns the doorknob, his ears pick up an unusual sound coming from inside the room.

The bed seems to be... creaking. Someone is moving hard on it.

"Wait a motherfucking minute." He says, before opening the door without thinking twice. "Oh, shit, no. Not on the very first day, Styles."