call it what you want • narry storan AU

thirty: harry

"Tokyo, I'm so happy to be here tonight. Y'all have no idea", I say through the mic, while sitting down at the piano chair to perform a song. "You know, it's our last show for 2017, but it still feels like it's the first one. It's a magical feeling."

I search through the crowd with my eyes until I find Niall's face. He's out there, a hat covering his head so people won't recognize him, and there's a security guard by his side. I literally only see him because of his dazzling eyes shining right at me - eyes I could recognize anywhere.

"It's been an incredible year. I had my single out, my album out, my first solo tour... it's all just mesmerizing to me." I say the last part staring straight at Niall, who smiles a bit. 

Of course he's the mesmerizing part for me.

"Anyway, I hope you're enjoying what we're doing for y'all tonight. I wanna sing something special." 

That's when I start playing the first chords for You & I. The crowd goes crazy, of course, because they love it when we remind of One Direction songs together, but I only have eyes for Niall fucking Horan now. And he's a bit scared, too. He will probably go insane on backstage and yell at my face something like "I thought we had a deal of no. One Direction. songs. between. us. Did you hear me?", but I don't care right now. 

I don't even know why I had this idea, if it's just because of Tokyo or because Niall is here and I know how hard it has been for both of us to keep a secret relationship in the midst of so much fame, airplanes and flashlights. Maybe it's both reasons walking along together. Maybe it's none of them, maybe I'm going crazy with the fear of losing him and this is why I'm singing this song in special, but as I said, I don't care right now.

For the entire song, I don't look in Niall's eyes, my mind doing its best to not fail with it, because I know that if I do, I'll miss the next verse. He's that distracting.

☸☸☸☸

Once the band members start playing the outro for "Kiwi" and I say goodbye to the crowd, I run off the stage, compliment everyone who worked so hard for the show and walk to my dressing room so I can take off my clothes.

Niall is already there, waiting for me, with an amused look on his face and his legs crossed on the couch.

"I thought we had a deal of..." He starts complaining, but I interrupt him by coming closer and pecking his lips softly.

"No One Direction songs between us", I complete his words, and he smirks a bit. "I know. I just couldn't resist singing that song in particular now that you're here."

"I know you had your best intentions... wait, that song in particular? What do you mean?"

"Niall, you know what I mean", I kiss his cheek, bringing him closer and closer until his body is resting above mine in the couch. "It means we can make it until the end and I won't let nothing come in between us."

I don't need to look at him to know he's smiling.

"Did I already say today that I'm really happy you're here?" I say. I think it's time. "I mean, after all the things I've been through, I thought I'd never find love. I mean, a true one."

"Harold."

"No, it's okay. I want to talk about that", I feel my entire body shivering at the thought of telling him about that shit. "I think you need to know it before anybody else tells you that. I'm sick and tired of media trying to stay between our lives... even when they don't know they're doing it, they end up making me panic all the time."

"I'm sorry if you feel that way."

"Don't be", my fingers touch his hair to calm him down. "I am the one who's sorry for being caught by that big asshole called Louis. At the time, I thought I knew why I fell in love with him. I really did. He was charming, he was hot, he was everything I wanted. The first kiss was... somewhat magical. But he did not smile. In fact, his eyes were open. Just like that line in Bruno Mars' song Grenade."

"King of references." Niall lets his lips touch my neck, and I shiver again. "You don't have to tell me, Harry, you know it too well."

"I want to." I answer him, calling back my memories of those years. "Anyways... he called me boyfriend before I could think about it a second time. I mean, I was surrended by everything he did to me in the beginning, but I still thought we should have had another kind of first step. You know, sometimes my mind goes crazy and makes me wanna do things in the right way, although my entire career is far away from that."

"I know."

"And once I was Louis Tomlinson's boyfriend, he met my family, I met his too, and they were adorable. They still are. I still talk to Lottie." We both smirk a bit. She's really adorable. "I tried to ignore the warning signs all the time when he was with me. I only had eyes for him, and I thought he was my forever. Things started going in the wrong direction during the production of Four."

"What?"

"Yeah. This is why we didn't go to the studio in the first day of recording. Is it too late to say I'm... sorry?" He shrugs, kissing my neck again. "We had a discussion. He wasn't happy with the fact that we still couldn't write the entire album, and I tried to calm him down, but it wasn't enough. He pushed me so hard that I ended up falling to the ground and twisting my left foot."

"The sling on your foot for the next two weeks. so it was... that?" I can feel the fear in his words, fear of me confirming this. 

But I have to. I nod with my head, and he holds me even tighter.