[Narry One Shots]

All these stars above our heads

Request:

Can you write one where Niall loves the stars and planets? Harry visits Liam and that's when he meets Niall. After that Harry takes Niall on a bunch of dates relevant to the sky. (Star gazing, observatory, etc...) Niall eventually tells Harry that he loves him more than the sky and all that cute corniness

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In which Niall is kind of special and Harry is kind of a prat, who promises to change

All these stars above our heads

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And it's not even midnight when he lays there on the empty field, so he can't even pretend to be deep, to be a poet, to be a thinker. He is none of that, he is just a guy laying on a field at night, - is it three o'clock? - staring at the wide sky above him and he blinks and thinks, yes he thinks anyway, little thoughts, rushed ideas, big cogitations for such a small human, such a small body, such small cells. 

This is all he is, he is one small human being with one small life and when he gazes at the stars, when he lifts his hand and tries to reach one of those planets, he feels lost and whole at the same time because that's what the big space, the big emptiness makes you feel: everything and nothing at once.

People tell him he should grow up, that he's twenty and not two, that he should finally get up from the field and begin a real life, that he should stop dreaming and start living because that is what everyone else does, that's what they expect from you and if you don't meet expectations, you're not accepted, you're different.

Sometimes he wishes they would just stop talking to him, that he can manage his life on his own pretty well, that dreaming is nothing bad. He knows he isn't a child anymore, he knows he should get a proper job but all of this wisdom doesn't make his heart feel any lighter. 

His heart is beating heavily in his chest and when he tells people that he only feels free on the field underneath the stars, they chuckle at him and shake their heads. 

Of course, they say, we understand, sweetie, you're only a boy and you've still got all your life in front of you but it's time to begin living.

Isn't he living? Isn't what he does living? He knows what identifies life, what the essentials of life are, he learned it at school: homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, reproduction, adaption and response to stimuli and as far as he is concerned, he meets all of these expectations. He isn't dumb, alright, he knows he isn't, he is just not ready for life to catch up with him.

He stares at the stars on the night sky. Long time ago, when he was younger, he tried to count them but eventually he gave up and the day he stopped counting stars, he realised that adulthood had reached him at last. He realised it with a silent shock which led to silent tears and eventually to a silent scream into the silent night. 

And even though he can't say that the stars have helped him cope, he still can say that they were there for him and that's enough. He knows that the stars never leave, not like humans do at least. Stars explode but you still can see their light shining years after and when a human dies, said human is dead. 

He likes to believe that the dead humans still shine in other peoples hearts, that they leave a light there, a tiny spark and it makes him feel happy enough but he wonders why his heart beats so heavily in his chest when there should be his dead grandpa keeping it light, keeping the spark alive.

It's not even midnight when he crosses his arms underneath his head and keeps his gaze on the planets above him and feels kind of lonely. He knows nothing about the universe, he likes its secret and he keeps dreaming.