Work Text:
The door of the café opened. Niall looked up from where he was serving a man some coffee and he saw a mop of curly brown hair and green eyes walking into the café. He was wearing an army uniform. He made his way to a booth in the corner.
Niall walked over to the boy looking down and he offered him a small smile. The boy seemed to be a little shy, but he spoke up.
“Would you mind sitting down for awhile? I’m all alone and could really use someone to talk to.” The boy said shyly.
Niall looked at the boy and he looked really sad. Niall offered him a small smile again before he answered.
“I’m off in an hour, we can talk then.” Niall responded and the curly headed boy gave him a smile before placing his order.
*-*
An hour later Niall and Harry as Niall found out, were sitting on the edge of the pier. Harry had hardly said anything, but Niall was there to listen to him anyway.
Niall learned that Harry had only turned 18 a few days before and had immediately signed up for deployment into the war.
“So I bet you got a girlfriend but I don’t care, I got no one to send a letter to, so would you mind if I sent a letter to you?” Harry asked him.
Niall just smiled and nodded his head. He wrote down his address on a piece of paper and gave it to the cute curly haired lad.
“And by the way, I don’t have a girlfriend, not into girls,” Niall told the boy.
Harry smiled at him and hid a blush that was creeping up on his cheeks.
*-*
Niall got a letter in the mail a few weeks later, it was from an army camp in California. Niall quickly opened the letter to see what it said.
Dear Niall,
I’ve been at this army camp for a few weeks now and I am already missing home. I ship out soon to the war and I can’t help but think that I may have fallen for you that day that we met. Every time I close my eyes, I see you there and it gives me strength to think that someone back at home is waiting for me. Please write back to me Niall!
Harry.
Niall smiled as he read the letter and his heart fluttered. He quickly took out a pen and paper and started writing a letter in response to Harry.
Dear Harry,
Thanks for the letter! I wanted to let you know that I may have fallen for you as soon as you walked into the café that day. I eagerly await your return and hope to hold you in my arms some day soon.
Niall
*-*
Harry and Niall wrote each other back and forth for months and quickly discovered how much that they were falling for each other. Then came the day that the letters stopped coming to Niall and he got a letter in the mail.
We have sent this letter to inform you that your dear friend Harry Edward Styles was shot in the line of duty today and didn’t make it. He has no family or next of kin, so his body will not be sent back home. He will be cremated and the ashes will be sent to you. We are sorry for your loss.
Niall collapsed on the ground as the tears starting to fall from his face. Harry was gone. His boyfriend, yes boyfriend, was gone and wasn’t coming back to him. He wouldn’t be able to hold him in his arms. He was only left with the memories of that day at the pier before Harry left.
Niall cried, knowing he wouldn’t hold the hand of another guy.
*-*
It was a Friday night during a football game. The Lord’s Prayer was said and the Anthem was sung. The principal told folks to bow their heads for a list of the local Iraq war dead.
Crying all alone under the stands was Niall, who was a flute player in the marching band. Harry’s name was read but no one really cared except for a blonde boy with tears in his eyes.