Beanie [Louis/Luke]

Nine

Nine: Next time.

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Luke.

Steadily, they were entering the second week of their rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing. After running through their dialogues and cues, all the cast and crew devoted a few hours to working on the set, which they were all in the process of doing right now.

Luke had been assigned the task of helping with constructing the faux table top and counters, or more specifically, he was to nail some wood. He had no idea why they gave the scrawny kid this job.

During the rehearsals, Luke hadn't talked to Louis much apart from when they had to run their lines and interact in character. But the older boy had given him a bright smile when he'd arrived in the auditorium, and that gave Luke hope that yeah. Maybe this friendship thing can actually work.

And he had no idea when this had progressed so much. While working on the set, Luke, more than once caught himself concentrating less on his work and more on Louis' side profile as he was painting the props a short distance away, and Luke more than once almost bashed his fingers with the hammer, and okay, this was going way too far.

He knew pretty well what was going on with him. He had a huge crush on Louis Tomlinson. There. He accepts it.

The one where your stomach drops in a good way and your heart skips a beat whenever they enter your line of vision. The one where all you can think about is how cute they are and how beautiful the look doing the most mediocre thing and you are willing to embarrass yourself in any way just to find a simple fact about them.

Yes. That kind of crush.

It had just happened. And Luke frankly had no idea what to do besides be Louis' friend because him and Louis was a ludicrous idea. And apart from that fact, Luke knew better than to get attached to anyone or anything in this country. He was a foreigner, a visitor. An exchange student who had to go back to Australia as soon as the first half of the semester concluded.

"That's pretty sick mate," Luke was distracted from his work when he heard Louis compliment a boy with jet black hair who was spray painting a part of the backdrop, right next to Louis. And okay, wow, now Luke had resorted to eavesdropping.

The boy smiled up at Louis from his fringe, and wow, okay, he was really gorgeous. Luke saw Louis visibly taken aback by the boy's beauty and he doesn't blame him. Luke can't even be jealous because no one can ever compare to that boy.

"Thanks bro," the boy smiled with his teeth. Louis said something to him in a quieter tone, making the boy laugh heartily as a few girls and even guys stopped what they were doing and stared at the sight of the cute guy laughing.

"You're Louis right?" He asked and Louis nodded with a smirk, and then said something along the lines of "It's a shame that I don't know your name yet. You're not in Drama class though," to the boy which made him shake his head with a laugh.

"No no. I'm from the Art department. Ms. Jameson needed extra hands so," he shrugged. "'M Zayn," he supplied, offering Louis a hand which he shook warmly and Luke felt his stomach churn and wow okay, since when did he become possessive? This was an all time low for him.

The boys dipped back in casual conversation while working, which he couldn't hear, and Luke shook his head at his nosiness, getting back to his own work.

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Finally their rehearsal and working session had ended. Luke rose up from his spot, cracking his sore neck and back muscles, unconsciously shuffling over to Louis who was gathering his stuff up.