Stand By Me

Chapter Seven

Niall doesn't return to school for the entire week; the first thing he does when Harry spots him outside the front gates the following Monday is shoot him an apologetic look.

Harry isn't mad; why would he be? It isn't Niall's fault for being sick again, even if he does doubt that that's the entire truth. All he is is bummed that he never got to spend the day with his best friend.

"I'm so, so, so sorry for being gone, Haz," Niall says quickly as soon as they meet each other in the middle of the playground.

He just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, simply going in for a hug instead and feeling relieved to see his friend — it had been a long week of making dull conversation with people he wouldn't usually speak to, so he's more than glad that he isn't going to be subject to that for any longer.

However, the moment he throws his arms around the smaller boys shoulders and gives him a squeeze, Niall lets out a hiss and pulls back a little, expression pulled into a wince for a moment that he replaces with a grimace of a smile when Harry frowns questioningly at him.

He definitely isn't strong enough to hurt anybody with a hug, but Niall looks pained. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? I thought you said you were sick?" He asks quickly, growing concerned.

Niall dismisses it quickly, shaking his head. "I got you a card," he says instead, holding out an envelope and a plastic tupperware. "And Paul went out last night, so Mum helped me make you a cake in the kitchen. It probably tastes bad but — I tried," he rambles, grinning.

Harry frowns at the sudden change in subject, but is temporarily distracted by the unexpected gifts. He takes them from his friend, opening the tub and smiling at the oversized cupcake with runny red icing on top; it's crumbling apart but it fills him with warmth nonetheless at the thought behind it.

"I love it," he says, looking up with a grin to match the other boy's, who looks pleased with himself as they begin to head towards the school building.

"It's okay if you wanna chuck it away, though. Mum doesn't bake much and we didn't really stick to a recipe. Also, I did accidentally drop some egg shell in there," he adds with a wrinkled up nose, making Harry laugh, taking a moment to just feel glad that his best friend is here with him.

"I mean...I'll scrape the icing off it?" He appeased, glad when he hears the other boy laugh for the first time in what he comes to realise has been a long time.

Niall turns to him when they reach their lockers, and Harry doesn't miss the slight wince when he moves his bag from his shoulder to shove it into the metal container instead, taking out the books they need for their first few classes and nothing else. He puts his gifts into his own locker before closing it and turning to face the other boy.

"You don't have to open the card yet. It's not a very good one, I only had, like, seventy p, and there weren't many that cheap," Niall says apologetically, though Harry shrugs it off without much care for the price of the gifts. Niall smiles at him, eyes creasing. "Did you have a good birthday though?"

Harry smiles back for a moment, brows furrowing when he notices the small patch of green just below the other boys left eyes. Squinting a little, he can see that the colour rings his entire eyelid and some of his cheek too, though it's faded more in places as if it's been covered. "Yeah, uh, it was good," he says distractedly, then crosses his arms around his middle to try and quell the discomfort forming there again in a way that has become far too familiar for his liking recently. "What happened to your face?"

Someone knocks into them as they walk past, muttering a 'sorry' before they walk away, and when Harry turns his attention back to his friend, Niall's smile is gone, replaced by a look that Harry can't read.