puzzle pieces

prologue

Harry Styles wasn't exactly known for being an emotional person. Sure, he had his times when he would break down and cry, but other than those rare occasions, he liked to keep himself locked up. He was a gold vault that only one person had the key to, and that person threw the key away without a second glance to see where it landed.

The philosophy Harry lived by after the Incident was pretty simple: don't let others in and you won't get hurt.

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Harry had trusted her with his heart.

And she crushed it with an evil smile on her face.

It was heartbreak that caused Harry to become closed off. It was heartbreak that made him draw away from those around him. It was heartbreak that ensured that Harry would never ever trust anyone again.

He thought that it would be better this way; it would be better to be an emotionless mask than to be a transparent window. People tended to leave him alone when he oozed indifference and treated others with a cold attitude, and that's exactly what he wanted-to be alone.

Harry drew himself away from his band mates and his family slowly but surely, and soon enough he only relied on himself. This was good. This was great. This was exactly what Harry wanted and needed. No one could break down these walls that he had built up so high and he didn't want anyone to try. He needed to be alone and to wallow in his self-pity, completely shutting out everything. This was his way of coping, his form of self-punishment. Harry hated himself for letting the best thing in his life slip away, and now he decided that he would never let anyone get close to him again. He was scared. Scared of getting his heartbroken again. There's only so much pain someone can take.

So Harry had withdrew from everything, only going out to go grocery shopping or do an interview or recording session with the band, along with the occasional show. He never went out clubbing with the boys anymore, and he rarely swung by their flats, just to chill and play some FIFA. Gone were the sleepovers and the movie marathons with all five of them. Forget about including Harry in a game of truth or dare. There was no chance of getting the youngest boy to go to an amusement park or a carnival. Harry had sequestered himself from absolutely everybody and it was killing his close friends and relatives. They wanted the old Harry back-the fun-loving, cheeky chap that they all knew was still inside of him, but was suppressed behind his new cold demeanor. But they didn't know how to deal with this new Harry, so they didn't. They separated themselves from Harry just as much as Harry separated himself from them. It was a two way thing; it was like an unspoken concurrence had been made by both parties, agreeing to not bother the other. There was one exception to this compliance, as there always seems to be, and that exception was one of Harry's best friends and band mate who refused to give up on the Cheshire boy. His name was Niall Horan.

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Niall was the type of person who was always positive, no matter what the situation may be. The world could be ending, yet the Irish boy would find the good in the situation and cause everyone to have a good laugh right before they all died. If his friends were to be asked what they envy most about Niall, they would reply that they wished they had his care-free attitude. Niall had this special outlook on life that not many people have; he marveled at the luck he has had and is thankful for the breaks he has gotten. He looked upon the world with a child-like innocence, completely enthralled by the simplest of things. Niall often found himself wondering how he, a boy from the small town of Mullingar, Ireland, could have become an international pop star. It never failed to amaze him when teenage girls came up to him, crying, saying that he was their idol and that they loved him. Why would anyone ever look up to him? He's not all that smart, in fact if he didn't make it through the X-Factor, there would be a high probability that he would've failed his GCSEs. He wasn't that...well, he wasn't that anything. Not particularly handsome, or funny, or intelligent. Niall didn't consider himself talented either. Sure, he could maybe hit a note or two while singing, and he loved to play his guitar, but that didn't mean that he was good at either of those things. He just had a bit of luck, that's all.

Niall embraced his good fortune, learning to enjoy what he'd been given and just go along with the ride. Life was too short to second guess anything, and if something happened, there was always a reason behind it. He was often described as being a care-free lad, and Niall actually thought that that description fit him perfectly. He truly didn't have any major cares. He just let the chips fall where they may.

But when Harry changed, Niall knew that he couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore. He couldn't let fate play its vicious hand without at least trying to fix everything. Everyone else, it seemed, had given up on Harry. No one could be arsed to spare the broken boy a second glance. It was too inconvenient for them to help out the boy, because apparently, their problems were so much bigger than Harry's. They were so much more important than the younger boy. That was one of the things that angered Niall; humans' tendency to back away and quit when times get tough. They never stuck it out, no, they would rather take the easy way out and just quit. Give up. If there was one thing about Niall that he actually liked about himself, it was that he wasn't a quitter. He stuck through with everything he started, and he never gave up. Ever. So Niall decided that enough was enough. He decided that he would fix Harry.