Five years and three months ago
"Call me whenever you're ready to go back home, Niall." An annoyed Greg hissed into the phone while talking to his younger brother.
"I won't be going home." Niall said while covering his mouth a bit and exiting his living room, so his boyfriend wouldn't hear this conversation. He went into his bedroom and closed the door.
"Niall, stop kidding yourself or me, for that matter." To say that Niall was annoyed at his older brother was understatement. "I know that parents are super supportive of your choice to be a grown up and bla bla bla. But I know you. You are dependent on their support and you will want to come back home when that weird boyfriend of yours screws you over."
"stop saying that!" Niall practically screamed into his phone. "You don't even know him."
"So do you." Greg screamed back at Niall. "Believe me or not, but I care about your well being. And I don't think that moving to a different country, to one of the biggest cities in the world is a smart thing to do. Especially when you are alone."
"I am not alone." Niall sadly looked down to his feet. "I have Louis. He is helping me."
"Niall, you have an illusion." Greg really wanted for his little brother to see where he was coming from. He was just worried for Niall. "You met him online. You have been online "dating" for almost a year and when you move country's to be closer to him, he doesn't even want you two living together. You have to rent a room and find two jobs to support yourself. You are missing out on uni, because you don't have time with your jobs."
"It's normal Greg. We will move in after some time." Niall tried to defend Louis, because he knew him. He knows him. "We hadn't had real interactions so it would be a strain on our relationship. We talked through this. I am taking a gap year and saving some money and then we will start to live together and I will stay with just one job and start uni."
"Ok. I know that I can't change your mind, but..." Greg really wanted for Niall to think through all of this. "Remember that you won't be 18 forever. You have to be a grown up already, you can't be a kid. So you have to understand that life comes with a lot of challenges and being with a person who either treats you like you put the stars in the sky or mistreats you, is very important. And baby bro, you deserve to be carried around on somebody's arms. Remember that."
Two years and five months ago
"Pet, stop fidgeting." Niall laughed and squeezed Harry's hand in his. He moved a bit in his seat and put his head on Harry's shoulder as comfortable as he could, while sitting in a uncomfortable plain seat. "They will adore you. They really will."
"But, but what if they don't?" Harry suddenly shifted in his side, so he could face Niall and Niall's head fell down, but Harry caught it. "Sorry, baby. I just really want to get well with your family."
"Harry, love, look at me." Niall linked his and Harry's fingers together and looked Harry deep in the eyes. "My family already adores you. They are always so happy when you join in on Skype calls, even if it's just for a second. Greg is very excited to meet you and give you the older brother talk. And you will get it, but it will be a nice talk, believe me. My mom loves you and my dad said to me that he is proud of his future son-in-law. They already can't get enough of you, so don't stress it. Just be you. Because that's the best you."
Harry leaned closer to Niall and let their foreheads gently touch each other, before he nuzzled their noses together. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Niall's eyes were already looking at his, with so much adoration that it made Harry feel so warm in the pits of his being.
"I love you, pet." Niall whispered and pressed his lips against Harry's ever so lightly. "But it's weird that you could confidently ask me out for two years straight, but are shitting bricks when it comes to meeting my parents. Where did all the confidence go?"
"It flew out the window, baby." Harry chuckled and sat back in his chair. He patted his shoulder, motioning for Niall to put his head back there. "This is very important for me, Niall. Your family, hopefully, will be my family later in life. And I want them to root for us. I want them to invite us over. Us. Not just you. I want them to want me there with you. I want to be able to go up to your dad one day and ask for your hand in marriage and I want him to give me his blessing. I want to be Theo's uncle for forever, not just some time of his life. I want to be with you for forever and I want them to know that."
"You are the biggest sap ever, Harry." Niall nuzzled closer to Harry and Harry shifted his hand, so it would slide behind Niall. "But I love you so much for that. So very much."
"Hey, that's my line." Harry laughed and gave Niall's body a soft squeeze. "I love you SO VERY MUCH!"
Few hours after the accident
Harry's head was spinning. His suit was drenched in blood. In Niall's blood. His mind couldn't comprehend what happened. Just few hours ago everything was fine, they were going to celebrate Harry's birthday and then boom. Everything changed.
"Mr. Styles?" A very small and delicate nurse tapped on Harry's shoulder and as he turned around he saw here eyes. They were very blue, but not as blue as Niall's eyes. What if I never see his eyes again?
"Yes?" Harry snapped himself out of the trance and tried to calm himself down.
"Mr. Horan will be in the surgery for few hours at least. Maybe you should go home and change. We will call you." She looked so sad. Harry could tell that she didn't like to talk to victims families. It's a hard thing to do.
"No. That's fine." Harry tried to smile through tears. She was really nice towards him, he needed to be nice too. "I will just wait here. Either way, I have to make a lot of phone calls."
The nurse smiled politely and guided Harry to the waiting zone. Everybody who was sitting there, eyed Harry up and down. Even though his suit and dress shirt were black, the dirt and blood was very visible. His hands and almost every inch of his body that could be seen, was dirty. His hair was all over the place. He looked as if he had been in the car with Niall.
Harry sat down on a plastic chair and sighed. With trembling hands he pulled out his phone and found Maura's number. How am I even supposed to inform her about this?
Harry started to call her and with every beep in his phone, he grew more and more anxious. Tears welling up on this eyes.
"H-Harry, dear? Why are you calling so late?" Maura's voice was filled with so much love and concern that it broke Harry's heart even more. "Is everything fine?"
"Mom, it's Niall." Harry and Maura had very good relationship, he really could call her 'mom' and he did see her as a second mom to himself. "He got in a car accident."
There was silence from the other end. Only thing that Harry could hear was a shallow breathing coming form the other end. He knew Maura, she would not let herself cry while talking with Harry.
"I-is he?" Maura couldn't complete her sentence.
"He's in surgery." Harry stopped sniffling and put a brave face for Maura's sake. "They said that it would be few hours. They haven't really told me anything."
"Well, you hold on. And give us a call when you get any new information." Harry could finally hear cracking of Maura's voice. "We will fly out as soon as possible."
"Ok. I love you." Harry whispered and was about to end the call.
"Love you too, son." Maura said with a small sob escaping her lips as she ended the call.
Harry found himself crying. His heart was breaking in so many different ways. He couldn't explain it. Speaking with Maura and hearing her broken voice, broke him even more. He managed to calm himself down, before he called Greg's number.
"Hey, bud. It's quit late to call for a chat, innit?" Greggs sleepy voice sounded cheerful. Harry really didn't want to hurt him.
"It's about Niall. He got in a car accident." It was quite on Greg's side. He didn't say anything. "He's in surgery right now. I don't know how long it will take for it to be over. They haven't really told me anything."
"Does mom and dad know?" Greg said in a low whisper. Harry nodded, but then understood that Greg can't see him.
"Yes. I just got off the phone with Maura." Harry whispered. Feeling the tears returning. "They said that they will fly in as soon as they can."
"Ok. I will talk with Denise and see when we can get there. We need to make arrangements with Theo. I don't want him to see Niall like that." Greg sounded so mature. Well, he was way older then Harry is, but still. Greg's composed attitude helped Harry to calm down. "And Harry. Don't worry. Niall here is a fighter. He will never give up on life when he has you in it."
"Thank you, Greg." Harry whispered. "I am trying to hold on, but it's hard."
"I understand, Harry." Greg reassured Harry. "But you have to be strong, so when he get out of the surgery and wakes up, he can have you taking care of him. So be strong, ey'? We will come as fast as we can."
AUTHORS NOTE 🌺
Hello, my lovely and beautiful people 🌺
I feel like I will cry while writing this book. It's so sad.
I hope that you notices that in this chapter I tried to show parallels of Niall's and Harry's relationship with Niall's and Louis and how Niall's family feels about both lads.
Any thoughts on how the book is going so far?
Lots of Love - M🥀