lonely hearts club | zianourry au [COMPLETE]

three

"oh my gosh," calum gushes, stumbling his way over to niall after luke and harry leave. niall is pale, but smiling. "oh my gosh. what just happened?"

niall laughs. "i think he liked you, c-pop," he responds, nudging calum affectionately.

calum goes pink. "no, he didn't, ni! shut up!"

"you're right. most people call each other cute when they don't find each other attractive," niall replies sarcastically.

calum goes even pinker somehow. "i hate you," he mumbles, mostly to get the attention off of him.

niall laughs, kisses his best friend's temple. he laughs harder when calum shoves him away.  "i'd say the first meeting was a success, huh?"

"yeah, i'd say so, too." calum shrugs his backpack. "well, i should get going so i'm not late. i'll meet you at the doors when the bell rings, right?"

niall nods, and he waves at calum as he makes his way off to class. 

"niall," the teacher calls as he makes his way into the classroom. niall snaps his head up. "i've switched your seat."

"why?" niall whines. he used to sit in the middle row on the left side of the room, which was perfect, because the teacher couldn't see when he was on his phone. it gave him the perfect opportunity to text wholesome memes to calum.

"because someone just switched into the class, and there were three people at your table. go on, you sit in the front row now."

niall groans loudly, trudging his feet so that his displeasure is obvious. he drops his stuff and glares down at the desk, not even bothering to introduce himself to the person he's sitting next to.

"looks like i've ruined your day," the person says.

"you're making it worse by talking to me," niall huffs, and to his surprise, the person laughs. niall looks up and over at him. this guy is hot, too. what the fuck?

"i'll be sure not to talk much then," he replies.

niall doesn't even reply, he just stares. he honestly has no idea why there are so many attractive men in his classes, but he did not sign up for this. like, at all.

"i'm liam," the guy says after niall doesn't reply.

"i'm niall," niall finally manages to say back. something flickers across liam's face at niall's introduction.

"so you're niall," he says.

niall raises an eyebrow. "yes..."

liam just hums and nods. the smirk is still on his face, and it's starting to piss niall off. the teacher is talking and niall can't even focus.

finally, he whips his head over to face liam. "why are you smiling like that?"

"i've just heard about you, that's all."

niall narrows his eyes. "...from who?"

liam's smirk turns to a smile. "my boyfriend, harry."

niall feels like someone dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt. boyfriend. he's harry's boyfriend. the word whirls around and around in his brain. he suddenly feels sick when he thinks about his interactions with harry from earlier.

- - -

"you have a boyfriend," niall spits at harry the next day when he sees him in class. he got to school early just so he could bitch at him.

"hello to you, too," harry responds, not looking up from his notebook.

"oh, go fly a kite," niall snarls. he scoots his desk away from harry and sits down in it, still glaring at him.

"...are you jealous?"

niall snaps his head over. "what?!"

"i said, are you jealous?" the corners of harry's mouth are twitching into a smile.

niall looks disgusted. "no! i think you're a massive asshole who hits on me and is cheating on his boyfriend! i can't believe i thought you were hot!"

harry is trying not to laugh. "yes, liam's my boyfriend," he answers. "but we have an open relationship?"

niall wrinkles his nose. "what does that mean?"

"it just means our relationship is more complicated than i'd care to explain right now. however, it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with me finding you adorable and going to your little singles club or whatever."

niall doesn't know what to say. "i don't know what your boyfriend would think about that."

"liam is fine with it. trust me. but that's not what i'm interested in right now."

niall finally looks over. "what?"

harry is smirking, too, goddamnit. "so you think i'm hot?"

niall's eyes widen, and the blood rushes to his face so quickly he feels dizzy for a second. "i -- uh --" he can't even think of anything snarky to say in response. he just has to look at the annoyingly satisfied smirk on harry's face.