lonely hearts club | zianourry au [COMPLETE]

nine

"calum. you have to hide me," niall says urgently as soon as he gets to school. calum, who is sitting at a teacher's desk in an empty classroom, is frantically trying to finish his homework.

"hide you?" he asks semi-distractedly. after he finishes the question, he snaps his head back down to his calculus worksheet.

"yes. hide me," niall states. calum doesn't say anything, immersed in his schoolwork, and niall angrily snatches it away from him. "pay attention to me!"

"niall!" calum yelps, trying to grab it back. "give it back!"

"no! you aren't even listening to me!" niall wags the sheet out of calum's grasp.

calum stops reaching for it and crosses his arms over his chest, glaring. "fine. what do you want?"

"hide me."

calum rolls his eyes. "hide you where, dumb dumb?"

"i don't know!" niall stomps his foot. "harry and liam and louis and zayn are gonna ask me to be their boyfriend today and i need to hide."

"i still don't understand why you're hiding. you liked them. all of them," calum says. he lunges for his worksheet while niall is distracted, but niall yanks it out of his grasp too quickly. "i'm friend breaking up with you. i hope you like being best friend single."

"you're the worst best friend ever!" niall yells in response.

"i'm the worst best friend because i don't have any available spot in our high school to hide you?"

"yes! you --"

calum slaps his hand over niall's mouth, not even attempting to be gentle. niall glares at him, but calum hisses for him to shut up. when niall finally goes silent, he realizes he can hear harry and liam's voices from the hallway, coming towards this classroom. niall's eyes go wide with panic, and right before the door to the room opens, calum shoves niall behind the teacher's desk. niall scoots his way underneath and calum plops in the seat, snatching his worksheet from niall and continuing to work on it.

"you wrinkled it, jerkface," calum mutters, and niall kicks his ankle because he hears the door open.

"oh...hey, calum," harry says, sounding confused.

"hi," calum chirps back, somewhat shyly, and turns his attention back to his worksheet.

"have you seen niall?" liam asks.

"no, i haven't...i think he's, um, sick?" calum is a bad liar, but he's doing his best.

"sick, huh?" harry asks slowly, smiling.

calum nods. "yup...sick. super, duper sick. it's a shame. he's probably, like, throwing up and -- ow!" calum yelps as niall kicks his ankle way too hard.

harry and liam both raise their eyebrows, and calum shrinks into himself a little, embarrassed. his cheeks are an adorable shade of red.

"stubbed my toe," he mumbles, serving niall a kick in response.

"ah, okay," harry nods.

"what're you working on?" liam questions, coming closer to the desk.

"c-calculus," calum stammers. it's not liam's proximity that makes him nervous, it's the fact that he's so close to seeing niall under the desk. he scoots the chair in closer to the desk, hiding niall perfectly. niall is so nervous that he wraps his arms around calum's leg.

"are you having trouble?"

"no...i'm a little stuck, but i'll figure it out," calum answers somewhat confidently.

liam nods. "well, if you have any trouble, i can help you out." he smiles at calum, and calum grins back.

"okay. thanks," he smiles, and liam is just walking out the door with harry when niall sneezes, loud. liam turns back, eyebrow raised.

"what was that?" liam asks.

"uh...bless me?" calum responds.

harry laughs. "bless you, calum," he says, but niall sneezes again. calum kicks him under the desk. "that wasn't you," harry notes.

"...bless me again?" calum tries.

"give it up, fucker. our cover's blown," niall huffs, pushing calum so the chair slides back.

"don't call me that! that wasn't even my fault!" calum responds. he sounds hurt.

"were you under there the whole time?" harry asks, awed.

"yeah. i made calum hide me." niall stands up, brushing off his jeans.

"i tried my best! you know i'm a bad liar," calum replies.

"yeah, you are," is all niall says in response, totally brushing off the fact that calum's feelings are genuinely hurt.

"we're still broken up," calum huffs, actually upset. he stands up from the desk and leaves the room, only to pop his head back in a second later. "and i want my n'sync cd back!"

"he broke up with you?" liam asks.

"you were dating?" harry asks.

niall rolls his eyes. "no, he's just a drama queen. every once in a while, when i piss him off, he tells me he's friendship broken up with me and that he wants his cds back."

liam laughs. "he's a cute kid. he'd do anything for you, huh?"

niall just shrugs. "well...this has been great, but i should get to class. see ya!" he fully intends to make his way out the door and disappear, but harry catches him by the handle on his backpack.

"not so fast," he chuckles. niall slumps. "i'm sure you know what we're gonna ask, yeah?"

"yeah," niall says, voice nervous.

"no need to look so scared," liam says gently, putting an arm around niall's shoulders. he can't help but to feel safe in his hold. "c'mon, let's go find the others," he says, and leads niall out of the room.