~Everybody's got somebody,

I just wanna be alone~

Niall Horan stood in the back room of his high school graduation, squirming so much that the cap kept slipping in front of his eyes and messing up his already messy brown hair. His nature was one of friendlinesses, so he was talking to anyone and everyone around him about well, anything and everything. But the one thing he brought up in every conversation he started was how excited he was to be graduating and moving on to the next part of his life.

"I'm going to get a psychology degree in two years!" He exclaimed, pushing the cap back once more.

The girl he was talking too, Jessica Ichman furrowed her brows. "Niall, you'd have to be insane to do that."

He shrugged. "I am."

"The stress will kill you," She told him, trying to get her point across. But Niall did not understand, because he had a thick skull and most things people said to him went in one ear and out the other.

"How's your fish?" He smiled, trying to keep up the conversation. The extrovert in him was happy to be surrounded by these people, most of which he was amicable with. But Niall Horan never had any friends in high school. His goals were always to finish high school and move on, graduate college and move on, get married and move on. And so on and so on. A traditional life plan, but in half the time as everyone else. Niall's parents, Maura and Bobby had fought tooth and nail to get him to follow a traditional four year high school plan.

Now that he was an adult, however, his destiny was in his hands.

It didn't take long for the procession to start - of students walking to their seats to begin the Thomas Kelly High School graduation. "I can't wait to get out of here!" Niall kept saying brightly, a smile on his face. The students on either side of him were pretty tired of his antics, since no one sounds that fake except the cheerleaders, and Niall was definitely not a cheerleader. Most people were thinking - hey, that's just Niall being Niall.

As he walked across the stage, shaking the hands of people he had never met. The very last person, the principal, smiled back at him. "You're a smiley kid."

Niall bounded down the steps and back to his seat, feeling the case that held his diploma - the wax seal on his younger self. His ticket out of the suburbs of outer Chicago, Illinois. It felt good. The only thing that felt better was running out of the back doors a couple minutes later into the arms of his nuclear and extended family. Greg ruffled Niall's hair and danced excitedly, then moved out of the way so more people could hug his brother, give him gifts, and of course, take pictures.

The Horan family had emigrated from Ireland when Niall was five years old, meaning that Greg was 11. Old enough to remember where they had come from, but not much else. The accents had faded over time, but there was still pride and nationality with where he had come from. Over the years, other members of the Horan family - on both sides - moved to be closer to them. Niall had been looking forward to the party that was about to happen at his house for several months.

Smothered in hugs, hearing the accents of his family, he felt safe. But so so ready to leave them all and start his own life, just like his brother had done.

---

Greg Horan sat next to his brother at the dinner table, which was stocked with foods of all kinds. Niall kept up a constant chatter to everyone who would listen, and Greg shook his head. Always moving fast - never slowing down. The teenager hadn't wanted to hang out with friends after the ceremony, which alarmed his sibling. When he graduated, there wasn't anything that kept him from hanging out with his pals. Not even all of this extended family.

The two were very different people, it seemed. And that was okay. Greg had long come to terms with the fact that him and his brother preferred different experiences out of life. That did not mean he was alright with him pushing through life so fast that he had a heart attack in his early twenties.

Once Niall had stuffed himself to the brim with food and dessert, Greg snagged a beer from the kitchen and herded his brother outside. It wasn't like their parents would care - in Ireland, kids could drink way before eighteen. And the two of them had been sneaking these out of the fridge for years. Mom and Dad had to have noticed by now.

The two of them sat on a bench in the park, keenly aware of how late it was. Greg popped the bottle cap off and passed it to Niall first, who drank a couple sips before passing it back. "So."

Niall sighed. "Is this some sort of pep talk? Because you're my older brother?"

"I'm worried about you, buddy," He said, angling his body towards the younger boy. "Why do you want to do college in two years?"

His eyebrows furrowed and his face grew red - from anger, not embarrassment. "Leave me alone, Greg."

"You're shaping up to be one of those people that looks up at 30 and hates their life!"

"Like you?" Niall said, rage evident in his voice. The alcohol hadn't hit that fast, had it?

"I love my life! Because I didn't rush to do anything! I'm doing everything as it comes." Greg always had to be the voice of reason. The curse of older siblings. He hated it, if he was honest.

"I can't wait to do stuff!" Niall complained, ignoring his rude comments to his brother. Greg rolled his eyes at his idiotic immature sibling and dropped it. How they could turn out so different from each other when one practically raised the other blew his mind. "Finish that off. I've got to get to bed. I head out early."

Greg grit his teeth and followed him in the house, watching from the doorway as Niall checked his bags to make sure that he had everything for his move to college tomorrow. The younger boy seemed to be moving down a checklist in his head. The older one had never seen him so analytical.

What happened to the carefree kid who was always getting into trouble for his big mouth? Because this one was growing up too quickly, and not in the typical way that one might think.