seasons of love | Narry Storan AU

chapter 19.

2015

"Styles? Horan? It's time for you two to come here and show us what you've done." Shawn calls for his two students, after, basically, every other student in the class was done with presenting their homework song.

"I'm nervous." Niall mutters to his newfound friend.

"Let's just finish this and soon you won't be nervous anymore." The Irish lad gets surprised by Harry's gentle words. It happens until two seconds later. "And I won't have to deal with the nervous side of you that gets in my nerves, too."

"Of course you're thinking about your own sake."

"Why would I think about you instead?"

"Harold."

"Boys?" Their professor calls them out, again, and they reach the table in five seconds. "Who's going to introduce the homework?"

"I think Niall should do it", Harry gently pats his roommate's shoulder. "He came up with this idea first."

Niall's heart is about to explode the second he faces the other students in front of him. He always had some internal troubles with talking to crowds or any reunion of people that could remind him of a proper crowd — just like in this moment —, but, back in high school, Louis was always there to help him overcome that little fear. It happens that Lou is not here anymore, and Harry has no idea of his insecurity.

So, yeah. Just go with it, Niall mutters to himself, before opening a shy smile for Mr. Mendes.

"Huh, good morning, everyone." The Irish man starts talking, while his eyes still avoid the other people in front of him — he's specifically looking at the walls behind them. "Harold and I, we had already spent three to four hours trying to come up with a cool song and just impress everyone, because it's our first work together and... you know. Then I came up with this ironic idea of writing a song about... writing a song, in fact."

"I had a good laugh that day because of that." Harry completes his new friend's sentence.

"It felt too good to be true. But then, we started helping each other, which was really a weird thing because..."

"We used to hate each other in the beginning of the semester." Niall's words are, once again, finished by his team mate.

"So, this is called... I Want to Write You a Song."

Harold picks up his guitar, his fingers quickly getting familiar with the strings before playing the first chords of the composition they had made together.

Niall sings first, just to lead Harry to the right way the song should be done.

"I want to write you a song, one that's beautiful as you are sweet... with just a hint of pain, for the feeling that I get when you are gone. I want to write you a song."

The Styles lad decides to step into the lyrics, singing what he remembers of what they did before.

"I want to lend you my coat, one that's as soft as your cheek... so when the world is cold, you'll have a hiding place you can go. I want to lend you my coat."

The chords get musically bigger when both students reach the chorus of the song.

"Uh, uh-uh, everything I need, I get from you... and giving back is all I wanna do, uh, uh."

Niall barely notices when his eyes are completely closed, his heart just feeling the lyrics that he had written with Harry. It started as an internal joke, but once they were finished, Niall remembers, they had that kind of feeling — they did what they had to do. His mind pulls him back to Earth just before his turn to sing the final verses.

"I want to write you a song, one to make your heart remember me... so any time I'm gone, you can listen to my voice and sing along. I want to write you a song."

Harold is tempted to take a quick look at Niall, just to see how he's doing with his stage fear — something that was actually noticed by Harry the moment he heard his roommate start talking, but kept to himself because he did not want to ruin the presentation. Once the song is finished, he jokingly dares himself to take that damned look at the blond guy. For a second, the entire world around him disappears; the entire rivalry between Niall and him is also gone with the wind; and he knows he is the damned one there.

There's something about Niall James Horan that scares him. It's the same thing that pulls him closer to the man with the heavy Irish accent, and it's the same thing that keeps him from going further into their weird relationship. It scares him, but it also fascinates him. He does not know what it is.

And he does not know if he wants to know about that.