seasons of love | Narry Storan AU

chapter 16.

2015

"What are we gonna do with him now?" Liam impatiently asks, trying to calm down his nerves in the middle of NYU's bedroom hallway.

"You're being annoying at this point, Liam." Louis rolls his eyes, still carrying Niall's sleeping body by his right side, while his roommate helps him with the task. "It's okay. He won't wake up until 10 in the morning, and all we gotta do is put him back into his own bed. No big deal."

"What about his roommate? What about Harry?"

"Oh, I guess he won't care about our little Heineken." The Doncaster guy stops walking for a second, while thinking about the topic that his friend brought up to the conversation. "He won't mind. He never does, anyway."

Suddenly he takes another step, making Liam try to keep pace with him. The three friends – two of them alive, one of them passed out in their arms – slowly reach the doorknob of Niall's bedroom. Lou checks if it's locked or not. When he realizes the door is actually unlocked, Liam is the one who basically kicks the door with his right foot, opening it in a sudden.

Harry jumps out of the bed, his body completely naked and his eyes completely shocked with the sight.

"What happened, for fuck's sake?" He screams, before realizing that someone could still hear them and report it to the authorities.

"So, there's this thing that happens when he drinks too much." Lou starts telling his version of the events. "He passes out."

"And you're telling me to take care of him or...?"

"No, I'm not saying you should do that, you asshole", Liam fears for his friend's life the second he explodes in anger with his words against Harold. "I'm aware that you would never, not in a million years, do that for him or for yourself. So just... just don't wake him up. It's always a terrible idea."

"You were supposed to treat him better." Harry says, with a lower tone in his voice. "Aren't you his best friend or something like that?"

"Oh, so you think my bedroom has space for another man to sleep in there? So bold of you to think I've got privileges around here."

"Lou..." Liam touches Louis's shoulder. "Don't."

"I'm not afraid of him, Liam." The Tomlinson one quickly replies, his eyes still focused on Harry's annoying face at the moment.

"But you two shouldn't be fighting. Not when Niall is basically sleeping on the floor because you just dropped his body there."

It's only after listening to Liam's words that they realize the scene: a very drunk, very faint man laying down on the cold wooden floor, his blond hair totally messed up and his face looking like he hasn't slept in ages.

For everyone's surprise, however, it's Harry who bends to pull Niall's body to his respective bed. Without a warning. Without a complaint. Not a word being said about it. Once he covers his roommate's arms with his gray blanket, he goes back to his side of the bunk bed. Staring at the ceiling, wondering why he did that – I technically didn't have to, right?, Harold thinks.

"What happened to him?" He finally asks, still looking at the walls and finally reminding himself that Louis and Liam are still on the room.

"He saw Mr. Mendes", Liam is the one who answers first, "and he freaked out. He thinks he's falling for the professor, but he believes he shouldn't because student falling in love with a teacher is always a tragic story for him. Or something like that."

"Then he started drinking more to forget the feeling." Lou completes Liam's words this time. "He's kinda drastic with those things. He never really felt loved in a romantic way. He knows family love, he knows friendly love, but he doesn't know love... the love, you know?"

Harry doesn't say anything at first. He's thinking about everything and nothing at the same time.

"I get it."

2032

"Wait. Wait, wait a minute", Taylor blinks faster than the usual. "If you were basically fainted on your bed, how can you know about this part of the story?"

"Wow, it took a very long time for you to think about this. I was waiting for that." An older Niall Horan lets out a weak laugh, his smile coming up and down in less than three seconds. "But it was actually Liam who told me that in the next morning. Lou didn't want to look at my face for that entire day because of the scene that I made back in the karaoke bar, so it was Liam who actually brought me a proper breakfast and took me out to the movie theater so we could think about something else."

"Like a date?"

"Oh, no, definitely not a date!" He screams in a funny way. "I actually had to hear him ranting out about Lou's lifestyle or something like that. It was good to know he was thinking about Louis as much as Louis was thinking about him, too."

"I wish I could know about their romance, too." Chloe says, her eyes looking up to the ceiling. "We haven't heard of them in a while, right?"

"They'll come back when it's the right time, honey", Niall comforts his daughter verbally. "I don't even know if they're together, in fact."

"What? You have to ask them!"

"It was such a long time ago, Chloe", Taylor rolls his eyes and sighs, "I think they got tired of each other. Just like I'm sick of you right now."

"Shut up, Taylor."