The Short Stories of Harry Styles

A Feast of Flowers: Part 1

London, 1914

Danny wasn't sure about this drive. He wasn't sure about this trip if he was being honest. His father, Baron Forsythe, had demanded all of his children come home for the holidays and make a great spectacle of his family one last time. With the youngest Forsythe, currently making eyes at his strange friend in the backseat, turning 21 soon it meant that their father was losing them all to adulthood. 

Danny was fine with that part really. He supposed his father needed one last hurrah to send Henry on his way. One last time opening gifts together in this magnitude, with this many people surrounding them. But it was the part where the Baron was to invite every friend and acquaintance to this party that made him unsure and the only thing that kept Danny sane was wondering whether Annaleise was finally going to bring the gentleman, with whom she was becoming acquainted, home with her from Oxford. Her letters had lately grown emptier and emptier of their usual page long musings and Danny knew his sister had to have become invested in the young professor she had mentioned once or twice.

Danny smirked despite the chill in the car, despite the fact that he was currently chauffeuring his brother and his odd friend to their home in London. Danny peaked once more in the rearview mirror and could only see Henry staring into shadow but Danny knew there was someone there. 

He'd felt strange when he'd rounded the corner where he was to pick up his youngest sibling only to find him standing next to a tall gentleman he'd never seen before. Henry, who was usually mild mannered, had been adamant, jittery even. He practically begged Danny to allow this stranger to join them and against Danny's better judgement, he'd sighed and agreed.

It wasn't that Henry's friend looked to be anything less than amiable. He did. He was a handsome man of similar age, he wore a black suit of the latest fashion, expertly tailored so he had to come from money, and he shook Danny's hand upon introduction. All qualities that should have set Danny at ease.

But there was something...off. Something not quite right about the gentleman that Danny couldn't quite place, couldn't quite put a finger on. As Danny stared into the shadowed corner with which the stranger sat, he couldn't help the chill that escaped down his back.

"So, Danny, do you think sissy will be there with her new beau?" Henry's eager voice chimes from the back, his gaze still very stuck on the gentleman beside him. Danny manages a shrug.

"Possibly. I'd like to meet the man who has captured our Annaleise's attention just so that I can get a good read on the situation. If he isn't agreeable and comes off as a pompous ass I'll have to throw the tosser out and I'm not sure Annaleise will ever forgive me for it." Danny's deep voice permeates the small cabin and once more glances to the back to see Henry not even responding, though he'd been the one to insight conversation. 

"So," Danny lifts a brow at his brother before turning his focus back to the dark road ahead of them, "where is it you said you met this friend of yours Henry? You haven't really explained." The cabin is silent for a moment and Danny peels his eyes from the road to his brother in the mirror once more. 

Henry is smiling but his attention is still on his friend and when there is a break in the trees, the moonlight washes the car in blue and Danny finally sees the young man seated behind him. 

His eyes are directly on Danny and in the flash of moonlight, they look almost translucent. That feeling of uncertainty drops low in his belly. The moment had to have lasted all of a few short seconds and yet, it feels like an eternity before Danny's attention goes back to the road. He can't help that his heart rate has escalated slightly. His heart pounding in his chest irrationally but...something isn't right.