Larry One Shots

The Verge Café

There are many things humans don't know about their lives. How it really begins, how it really ends, how it really works. There are many roles that need to be filled by many entities; some guide, some take, and some comfort. This is the story of a comforting place for human souls on the verge of life and death. 

*.*.*.*.*. 

In a void with no physical location nor a coherent look, a building existed. In this building- a cafe- the only consistency was the location of the furniture, the baristas, and the fact time does not exist. The aforementioned baristas were souls themselves having made deals with Life and Death that allowed them to be there eternally. The four souls had all tragically passed before working in this cafe but pleaded with Life to not allow them back, and with Death to not take them from this place. They all had their reasons. Whether they came here while briefly separated from their earthly body and liked it too much to leave, or if they just didn't want to go, all four of them ended up working here. All four had lost track of how long they had been in this place, but they didn't mind. They loved serving the lost, hurting, and usually confused souls and giving them a piece of mind, which more often than not included a hot drink and a bit of food. 

Now was no different from any other point in the last what seemed to be a number of years.

Louis was handling the drinks with Liam, Zayn was handling the food, and Niall was on the floor talking to customers when a young soul wandered in and started looking around frantically. Souls mimicked their body's look at the age which it separated which made it easier to see their big green eyes welling up with tears and their chest heaving in panic. Niall carefully walked over to the new soul while glancing back at his "coworkers" to see if any of them had any opposition to his approach.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe here. Let's take a breath and calm down, yeah?" Niall said calmly as a means to draw the panicking soul's attention. Niall holds out his hand for the soul to take; after accepting, he leads the new person towards a quiet room away from others' prying eyes. Niall had Louis bring a cup of cold water to help them calm down and the two gave the soul space to regulate their breathing and stop the tears from falling down their face.

"T-thank you." They said once they found their voice.

"It's what we do. We're just glad you're calm." Niall said sitting on the carpeted floor a little bit in front of the soul.

"What is this place?" 

"Let's start with names first. I'm Louis and I use he/him pronouns." Louis spoke up.

"I'm Niall and I use he/they pronouns." Niall said with a smile.

"My name is Harry. My pronouns are he/him." Harry said and picked at his fingers.

"It's nice to meet you, Harry. Welcome to The Verge Cafe, a little coffee shop... well, on the verge. As in the edge of life and death. That doesn't mean you're dead, but you're not necessarily alive either. As of now, your body is alive back on earth, but your soul is here." Louis sat on the floor as well as he slowly explained the current situation. Harry's eyes widened again as the reality set in.