The Duo (Narry and Lilo)

Surprise.

" 'M not sure the food here is up to health code." Liam sighed, picking at his recently served burger. "Oh shut up, Li. Free food." Louis replied, attacking his, chugging a Pepsi from the cafeteria's vending machine. It was lunch time, and they sat in the middle of the cafeteria, alone. No one really cares about the new kids, and they didn't want to be noticed. They preferred to be unnoticed, even when they started battling. Not like they were, they were gonna take a while to build up to being noticed. They had to pay their dues to battle Narry. Narry. The name of the duo echoed in Louis' head. He must have heard them last night. That was them. He knows it. He just wouldn't let himself believe it. They were just so- 

Louis' thoughts were cut off as he heard a voice echo throughout the cafeteria, singing a song he learned not 2 months ago.  It was beautiful. Who was that? He sounded familiar. Louis' head snapped to the source, almost falling out of his seat when he saw Chocolate Curls, Harry, standing on his table, singing the lyrics to his latest favorite, 

I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad
Buy all of the things I never had
Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine
Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen

Louis recognized the voice as the one above the apartment when he was trying to sleep two nights ago.  He went back to writing in his journal, deciding he had to make Lilo's, (yes, he came up with the name, Liam and Louis agreed last night on it on the way home) battle plan perfect.  As the song continued, Louis  heard the crowd of students start to clap to the beat of the song. What he heard next changed his plans and thoughts completely.  

His head snapped to the source, and what he saw and heard completely stunned him. 

Harry and Niall were performing. Niall with an acoustic guitar and Harry with just his voice.  They were on the same table, performing side by side, then back to back, just rocking to it. Louis' memory flashed back to those late nights studying those Narry performances until almost 5 in the morning. Every note change, every strum of the guitar, every single breath. And now they were right in front of him, and Liam didn't know what the hell was going on. Louis looked at him as he smiled, lip syncing every word.  Louis tapped his shoulder, mouthing the words, pointing to them. "Liam. That's Narry." As he mouthed the last syllable, Liam's eyes widened and almost popped out of his head.  As the last word was sang and the final chord was strummed, Liam and Louis were startled by the uproar, almost jumping in their seats. "Let's go." they both agreed. 

***

Almost running home, cutting the rest of school, Liam yelled "THAT WAS THEM?! THEY WERE AMAZING."

 "I KNOW," Louis replied.

 "WE NEED TO PRACTICE.  FOREVER." Liam ranted. 

"THEY LITERALLY CHEERED. EVERY STUDENT. EVEN THE TEACHERS. DID YOU SEE MR. ACKLES?! I THINK HE ALMOST DID A CARTWHEEL PAST THE DAMN OMELET STATION. I CAN'T EVEN-"

 "OH WILL YOU SHUT IT ALREADY?!" Louis screamed, and stopped running. 

Liam stopped running and instantly cowered, almost whimpering at Louis' outburst. 

Louis, instantly regretting this, pulled him in for a hug. Liam instantly buried his head in his chest, as Louis said "I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to scare you." Liam knew he was being genuine, as he never used "love" except when he was calming him down, or when they were cuddling. Louis took care of him, and he secretly loved it. 

"It's okay. Let's just work on practicing for Saturday. Tomorrow's Thursday." Liam said, smiling into Louis shirt. 

"You're right. Okay. We decided on Sweater Weather, right?" Louis replied, breaking the hug to Liam's dissapointment, walking to their apartment.

"Right, and I got a text from the Battle coordinator person thing."

"And?"

"Well, we we're signed up and are starting against a new sign up. Some group called A Great Big World. They had a famous song called Say Something. No doubt they'll perform it, which is an advantage. So we need to improvise and change Sweater Weather. Make it Lilo style." Louis smirked.

"Sounds awesome." Liam giggled.

Rounding a corner, Louis dug his hands in his pockets, getting his key out of his black legging like skinny jeans. Liam ran up to the door, flinging it open for Louis. "Thank you, mate." Louis smiled at Liam. , walking into the complex. 

"Let's get started." Liam chirped to himself.

***

"Lou, it's 4 in the morning and we have to be up in 3 hours. We should sleep."

"Alright alright alright. Just one more runthrough, Li. And then we can sleep. Cuddles and all.

The last sentence made Liam smile, pulling up the strength for one more runthrough.

"Alright. Let's do it." Liam said, still smiling.

"Brilliant." Louis hummed, turning on the instrumental for Sweater Weather.

Liam started, soon being joined in by Louis.

Li: All I am is a man
I want the world in my hands
Lou: I hate the beach
But I stand
Li and Lou: In California with my toes in the sand.

***

Liam instantly melted into Louis' arms, Louis finally letting them stop for the night. Louis fell asleep, feeling better about their chances. They couldn't take on Narry, but they sure as hell could take on someone. 

Not yet, at least.