Louis can literally feel the colour draining from his face. If it wasn't painted white already, it would look like that now. He is pretty sure that his jaw is hanging open, but he can't bring himself to close his mouth at the moment. The amused sparkling in Harry's eyes tells him that this was definitely more than a lucky guess and Louis is aware that he has signalled him already that he is correct.

Harry's face breaks into dimpled grin and he shakes his head, chuckling. "Louis, did you really think I wouldn't recognise you?"

"I-... But-... How-... I could've been literally anyone," Louis basically pouts after finding his voice again.

"True... But not anyone has these mischievous blue eyes, terrible juggling skills, annoyed sassy attitude and, not to forget, undefinable accent," he tells him with a wink and a smug grin on his lips, which Louis would have liked to punch away if this weren't Harry Styles' pretty face.

Wait - did he just say pretty?

Nope, definitely not.

"Why didn't you say something right away? Did you think it's funny to watch me making a fool out of myself?" Louis asks, annoyance clear in his voice.

"Actually, yes," Harry states boldly and gives Louis one of these winning smiles that make his anger subside almost instantly. "But don't worry," he adds, whispering conspiratorially, "I won't tell anyone it's you."

"Wow thank you, I'm very relieved then," Louis mutters under his breath, rolling his eyes internally.

Harry just laughs loudly at his response, shaking his head in amusement. In this moment, someone dressed like a circus director rings a bell at the entrance, signalling for spectators to come in.

"I'd better be going now," Harry says, nodding his head at Louis. "I don't want to miss the beginning of the show," he adds with a happy childish grin.

This man is like a giant five-year-old, Louis thinks to himself and notices that, much to his dismay, he needs all his mental power to prevent the fond expression that is about to spread on his face. What the fuck is wrong with him?

"Will you still be here when the show is over?" Harry asks from the entrance.

"Actually, I was planning on running away as fast as I can when you're gone," he replies flatly.

"You probably won't be far then when I come back," Harry replies with raised eyebrows, pointing at Louis' bulky clown shoes. "I'll see you around."

Louis simply glares at him, already regretting his choice of not punching him earlier. If his shift wasn't still lasting a few hours, he would really like to leave right now. But of course, he can't, and he is also starting to realise that he probably won't be able to run from Harry his whole life, especially not as they are living in the same city, how he recently learnt. It is actually a wonder that they didn't cross paths here earlier. London is quite big, but not that big. On the other hand, Louis never paid attention.

Harry gives him a short wave before disappearing in the tent. Louis is once more left alone. He sighs deeply before returning to his actual task. Even though this show is sparsely visited, there is still a chance that he will be more successful with the next one. He has nearly two hours to advertise it. And two hours to bring his juggling to perfection. He doesn't know why but he somehow wishes to proudly present Harry his improvement when he comes back out.

Louis usually hates the expression Practice makes perfect, but he knows that it's true and he actually gets to see results from his efforts quickly. After a few more attempts he manages to juggle the balls five times before he finally drops them. He might still be bad, but this small success fills him with a kind of satisfaction he hasn't felt in quite a while. After half an hour, he receives the first compliments from passers-by and after another 15 minutes, he gets asked when the next show is going to start and if he is going to be part of it, which he has to deny unfortunately.

He is so in his element that he doesn't even notice when Harry and the little boy, Bear or whatever his name was, exit the tent and make their way directly over to him.

"Wow, that looks so cool, Mr Clown," the kid exclaims loudly, clapping his tiny hands and smiling widely. Louis can't help but grin back at him and put extra effort in what he is doing.

"He's right, you're doing great," Harry compliments when he comes to a halt next to him. Louis glances at him from the corner of his eye, refocusing on his hands quickly.

"I had a good teacher," he replies with the hint of a smile, his eyes never leaving the small red balls.

"He really must he incredible," Harry swoons, "very talented man."

"And very modest too, I've heard," Louis retorts, his lips twitching up at the corners.

Harry lets out a giggle, covering his mouth with his hand again in the way he did before. Louis' eyes are caught by the many rings on Harry's fingers, which he has noticed before but didn't allow himself to spare a thought about. To be honest, he would really like to know why Harry is wearing them all the time, what they mean – if they mean anything at all, but Louis doubts that anything that Harry does is meaningless.

"How long do you still have to work?" Harry asks after a moment.

Louis stops juggling and catches the balls, holding them to his chest. "Till six. Why do you wanna know?"

"Bear wanted to ask you something, right, Bear?"

The little boy is shyly hiding behind Harry's leg, looking up at Louis with wide eyes. He shoots Harry another uncertain look and after he receives an encouraging nod, finally dares to speak up.

"IwantedtoaskifyouwanttogointheHauntedHousewithusMrClown," he mumbles, and Louis has to prick up his ears to actually catch what he is saying. "Pleaseee?"

"Aren't you still a little to young for a Haunted House?" Louis asks in return.

"Not at all," the kid replies indignantly.

"There's one for children over there," Harry whispers at Louis, pointing in one direction. Louis nods understandingly, a smile creeping on his lips but he keeps a straight face for the boy.

"I would love to accompany you but unfortunately I am not very brave, not to say utterly anxious," Louis tells him seriously.

"But I'd be with you, you don't have to be scared," Bear replies sweetly, causing Louis to smile.

"That is very nice of you and I'm pretty sure you'd save me from all the scary stuff, but why do you want me to go there with you? You could just go with your dad."

The kid frowns at him. "But daddy's not here."

Now Louis is the one to furrow his eyebrows deeply, shooting Harry a confused look. The other man seems to get what he means and is quick to intervene.

"Oh, no, Bear is Liam's son," he explains. "You remember Liam, my cousin?"

"Yeah, sure," Louis replies, still very confused. He can't tell why, but somehow he is relieved that Harry is not Bear's father but at the same time he knows that it would be safer if he were. Right now he doesn't even know how he came to his conclusion in the first place, but it was probably because he already saw them together at the wedding. The way they interact is just so close and natural that it had to give the impression they are directly related. Bear is like a little version of Harry, which is rather weird now that he knows they are not father and son.

"We just get along very well, right, young man?" Harry says, squishing the kid's cheek softly. "I don't have own children," he clarifies what Louis already assumed.

"Right, you're still half one yourself," he is quick to retort, earning a snort from Harry.

"Come on, Bear. I don't think that this clown here wants to go to the Haunted House with you. He's probably too scared," he whispers at the kid, making sure Louis actually hears it. "Seems like we have to eat the candyfloss alone that we wanted to get afterwards."

"That's blackmailing," Louis states dryly, fighting a pout. He knows that Harry knows that candyfloss has always been his favourite. He's aware that he could easily buy himself some but somehow, this hits him anyway.

"Okay, okay, you imps, you've won. I'm coming with you. But only because Bear said 'please'," he clarifies after he noticed the smug grin on Harry's face. The kid beams at him happily, obviously proud of successfully persuading him. "But you have to wait until I'm finished here."

"Alright," Harry says, taking Bear's hand. "We'll be back soon. Let's go to the Ferris wheel in the meantime, yeah?"

"Yeah!" the kid cheers, shooting Louis one last happy look before waddling away with Harry. "See you later, Mr Clown."