Louis was nervous.

After school he had to meet up with Harry and he wasn't sure what to answer to the inevitably upcoming questions. The time went by faster than usual, it seemed. And by the time the school bell rang for their last lesson to be over Louis wasn't ready. His heart was beating with an unnormal pace and it felt like he had huge stones in his stomach.

"I can come with you." Niall offered, walking next to him towards the exit, noticing Louis' obvious uneasiness.

"Thanks Ni but you have tennis and you know that you can't come with me."

"Yeah but... some things are more important. Do you need someone for mental support?"

Louis smiled at him, stepping through the door leading outside, "Aww, thank you. But don't worry about me, really. You love tennis and I think I have to do this alone."

"I still can't believe you've liked him for that long and never told me."

Louis rolled his eyes, "It's fucking embarrassing. He wouldn't like me anyways."

"That's bullshit. You're great. Why wouldn't he-..."

"He's straight. He fancies that Jesy girl."

"Yeah, but-..."

"Nothing but. It's okay. It doesn't bother me. Just drop it."

Niall gave him an unsure glance but nodded, "Okay."

They had almost reached the bicycles, Harry already there, waiting. "Should I go then?" Niall asked.

Louis smiled and hugged him, "Yeah, thank Ni."

Niall pulled back to look at him, "Good luck, Lou. And tell me everything that happened afterwards, yeah?"

Louis smiled softly, "'Course."

With that they separated. Louis took a deep breath before turning to Harry, hoping to seem normal, calm, collected.

"Hi." He said softly as he approached him. Despite the big (really cute) grin on Harry's face he was afraid of his reactions. He was now at least three times as nervous as before. He didn't even know what to say. And on top of that his brain was not helping with coming up with explanations. It was just empty.

"Hey." Harry answered.

"Hi."

"Hi." Louis couldn't help but let out a giggle. They were so awkward.

"Okay, erm... Why... what was that?" Harry asked, and for some reason he didn't stop smiling at Louis.

The shorter boy inhaled sharply, "Okay, so... I kind of... It was a misunderstanding. I-" He paused, trying to figure out what to tell him.

Harry beat him to it though, "You don't have to explain anything if you don't want to."

Louis looked at him, surprised, "Really? I... I thought you... I don't know, would be angry or something." Harry just shrugged, smiling so Louis continued, "Thank you, though. Really. Those guys were intimidating."

Harry chuckled, "Yeah, I've noticed."

Louis frowned, still confused, "But, aren't you bothered or something? I made some people think you liked boys. In front of your friends."

Harry laughed again, "They still think I'm gay."

"What? Why didn't you tell them it was fake?"

Harry smiled softly, looking a bit unsure, "Errm... Can I ask you for a favour?"

Louis nodded, "Of course, anything. You really helped me out of this hole I was digging myself." He chuckled.

"Okay," Harry grinned, a bit more confident, "This needs to continue."

Louis frowned, a bit unsure what he meant, "What?"

"This." Harry motioned between themselves, "We need to continue acting like a couple."

"Why?" Louis hadn't known how this talk would go but this was definetely not what he expected.

"Well, first. Those guys are still going to this school so they'll see us." Harry reasoned.

"Yeah but they won't look that closely. They could think we're just not like those couples hanging together all ther time or we broke up." Louis protested. He didn't think acting like Louis' boyfriend was something Harry really wanted.

He was proven wrong though as Harry explained further, "Yeah but..." He let out an uncomfortable breath, "Have you seen the way Jesy looked at me? I could be her gay best friend and get her to like me more. The girls seemed to love the idea of us being together."

Louis looked at him disbelievingly, unsure, "So you want us to lie to the whole school?"

"Well..." Harry looked uneasy but also determined, "Liam knows the truth. And we would be like, the star couple or something. What do you say?"

Louis had so many argumets against the idea and also, he had a really bad feeling about this plan... but, Harry was grinning like he just found a way to cure cancer and he looked so hopeful like all he needed was Louis' approval, like Louis was important to him. And his smile was wide and his perfect teeth showed and his dimples and his wide green eyes and he was so close and... Damn it, Louis couldn't get over his crush.

"Okay."

Louis wasn't sure if he regretted his decision when Harry's smile widened and he patted Louis' shoulder, "Wow, that's great. Good, let's act all gay."

Louis rolled his eyes, "I don't know if you noticed but I am actually gay."

"Oh yeah, sorry." Harry dismissed. "Well, I need to go home before my mum calls the police." Harry laughed. "See you tomorrow then."

Louis nodded and watched him leave. He still had a million questions like, how will they act as a couple? A second ago they were awkward as fuck and now they would act couple-y? And how do you even act couple-y anyways? Louis never had a serious relationship except for that one when he was like fourteen or something and Louis was uncomfortable and didn't know what to do so he just avoided him until... he didn't even know, it was just done.

And what did Harry want to achieve with this act anyways? This Jesy girl would want to be his best friend but... then? She thinks he is his boyfriend and maybe didn't even like girls. Of course he could "be bisexual" but that's not what she wanted from him if he was her gay best friend.

You do crazy things for love/crushes, Louis guessed. He agreed to be Harry's fake boyfriend... That wasn't much better, was it?

Oh dear, what did he get himself into?