A/N: I dedicate this to my sister hooliganbaby because she is always there and supports me and I love her💜

HHHHHHHHH

In the second break, Harry received a message from his father.
Come to my office after school, it said. Bring Louis.

Harry gulped and showed it to Louis, who looked at him a bit frightened.

"What's there?" Niall asked ever so noisily, trying to get a look at the phone.

"Just the headteacher." Louis said. "He wants me and Harry in his office after school."

"Why?" Niall asked. Thankfully, he was aware that Harry was his son so there were no awkward questions why the he had the headmasters' number.

"I bet it's about yesterday when we were not listening to his speech." Harry said.

„Well, then it shouldn't be a problem." Louis said. „We just tell him that some girls distracted us. That's how it works nowadays, doesn't it? Girls and boys distracting each other." But Louis did not feel so sure himself.

Harry was right.

Mr Styles, or Desmond as Louis was allowed to call him in private life, was furious. "I'm really disappointed in you. Especially you, Harry. As my child you should be a role model to the other students. Not distracting each other and other students as well. That's very irresponsible."

Louis saw how Harry's head was hanging low, ashamed, and he felt the huge desire to protect the boy. "It was my fault, Des. We got distracted by... girls."

"By girls, yeah?" Mr Styles taunted. "Well, if girls distract you so much then you can't work with them. This is your punishment. I will tell Mrs Wanke and Mr Busse immediately that you're not allowed to work with a girl. Because you seem to have so much fun with each other, you'll have to work together."

He grabbed his phone and told his secretary to send the two PhD students up. Louis and Harry looked at each other excitedly but silently agreed to school their expressions into regretful ones.

Mrs Wanke and Mr Busse came in not too much later, looking a bit worried. "What happened?" Mr Busse asked. "Did we break some rule?"

"No, no." Mr Styles assured. "I just wanted to inform you that I put these two together. They won't be allowed to work with girls."

"Oh." Mr Busse said. "Well then we have to exclude them from the whole experiment or else the results will be inaccurate."

"Names please?" Mrs Wanke asked.

"Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson." The headteacher said.

"...Styles..." Mrs Wanke murmured distractedly, looking for the name on the list. "Here. And who?"

"Louis Tomlinson."

"Oh, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson?" She inquired. "They were put together anyways. They're the perfect pair. I'm really excited to see how their project will work out."

Louis and Harry grinned at each other. Mr Styles cleared his throat, making Louis and Harry put on regretful expressions again. "Well then. Thank you for your time."

The PhD students nodded and left the office. Mr Styles turned to the pair again, eyeing them curiously. "Well, it seems like you would have not gotten any girls either way. I'm just questioning if your relationship is healthy like this. Maybe a better punishment would be giving you separate rooms."

"NO!" The boys yelled at the same time.

"No, dad. Please don't do that. Everything but that." Harry begged.

"And I promise to never get your son in trouble again and I will always listen to you speeches." Louis agreed.

Mr Styles watched their tense postures for a while before relieving the tension. "Okay. But one more mistake and you will be separated." The boys nodded. "Good. You can go."

Louis and Harry stood up and walked out. As soon as they were around the corner they started grinning like mad, looking at each other and finally hugging tightly. Louis was the first to let go and grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "We're natural project partners. Isn't this crazy?"

"I know." Harry was grinning back madly. "Mrs Wanke said we're the perfect pair."

Louis' grin somehow softened into a smile. He took Harry's hand and pulled him along, planning to tell their friends the great news.

Before they could get to the dorm room though, Louis literally ran into Nick at a corner. Louis just wanted to round him with a curt nod but Nick held him back. "Holding hands with your boyfriend, eh?"

Louis looked back at Harry. "He's not my boyfriend." He defended and let go of his best friend's hand.

"Shouldn't have expected anything else." Nick continued like he had not heard Louis. "Gays are weak. And you both are weak. Especially Harry. Always runs with the slow girls in PE and not even able to properly throw a ball. I bet he doesn't even have balls, that pussy. Maybe we should try- ughff..."

Louis had cut him off by boxing him into the gut. "Don't talk about Harry like that!"

"Standing up for your boyfriend, eh? Oww."

Louis shoved him so Nick landed on his bum. "We're NOT boyfriends, you stupid asshole."

"Wow, creative." Nick said sarcastically. "Can your gay weakness not handle stronger words?"

"You're very mouthy for someone who's laying on the ground." Louis went to kick him but Harry held him back.

"Louis, leave it. He's not worth it."

"Yeah, better listen to your weak, little boyfriend."

Louis glared at him. "He's not weak. And he's not my boyfriend. Stop talking shit before you embarrass yourself." The only thing that was holding him back from jumping at Nick, who was standing up again, was Harry's calming hands on his arm and shoulder.

"Come on." Harry said softly, leading Louis away.

"Yeah, go and let your little boyfriend show you some love. You're not gonna find someone else who would want your fat arse." Louis tensed but was about to ignore it.

But apparently Harry wasn't because next thing he knew was Harry lunging at Nick, sending them both to the ground.

"What. One boy in this position isn't enough for you?" Nick taunted, which he had to pay with a punch on his cheek.

"What is going on here?"

Harry froze. He felt a familiar, gentle hand on his shoulder, helping him stand up. Cuddling into his best friend in fear, he looked up at his angry father. Not even ten minutes and they had already broken their promises.

Nick gave them an evil smirk before he held his cheek and rolled on the ground in faux-pain. "Dad, he..." Harry tried, but it was hard for him to stand up to his father, especially since he did not know how to explain. He was not a violent person. But when Nick degraded Louis like this he could not hold himself back.

"I think you should punish Nick, not those two." Another voice stepped in. Harry vaguely remembered that dark haired guy from the football team. "Nick was asking for it."

Mr Styles looked like he wanted to yell again, then took a deep breath. "Explain." He just said.

And suddenly everyone in the corridor was talking. Harry tried to explain that Nick had said that Louis was fat and would never find love, which is bullshit because Louis was the most loveable person Harry knew and he was not fat at all.

He vaguely heard Louis talk something about Nick insulting Harry and the word gay but he was too busy trying to explain himself.

"Silence!"

Everyone went quiet at once.

"Mr Grimshaw, Mr Styles, Mr Tomlinson, Mr Hood. To the office. Now." Mr Styles said sternly, not leaving any room to argue.

HHHHH

After they had explained the situation, Mr Styles looked at them thoughtfully for a few minutes.

"Daddy?" Harry broke the silence. Mr Styles looked at him, urging him to continue. "I don't want to be separated from Lou."

"Cough, gay." Nick fake coughed, but put on an innocent expression when Mr Styles looked at him angrily, then he turned to Harry and Louis again.

"I hope you know that violence is no solution, not matter what the provocation is. BUT." He said loudly to interrupt any protests. "I don't think it's a good idea to separate you now. You have really much to figure out. So the three of you," He pointed at everyone but the football guy, Calum as Harry had learned, "will be cleaning the cafeteria after school tomorrow. And none of you will leave before it isn't spotless, got it?"

The three nodded.

"Good, now another thing. Please listen carefully." Mr Styles leaned forward in his seat. "I want you all to know, there is nothing wrong with being gay. Gay is not an insult and even less a reason to bully people. And if I hear one more word about you insulting people for loving someone, Mr Grimshaw, I shall think of a more severe punishment, got it?"

Nick looked at him, a bit confused, but nodded.

"Good, you can leave now."