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See, here’s the thing: Niall Horan is perfect in every conceivable way. It’s very distracting. He’s perfect in the way that he always does his hair this particular way that makes it stand up but still manages to look really soft, and he’s perfect in the way that his incredibly toned shoulders stretch out the shirt of his uniform, and he’s perfect in the way that he has braces that somehow make him even more attractive. And it’s distracting because he sits in the formerly empty spot next to him in Chem, and Harry has to look past him to look at his teacher at the whiteboard, which means he doesn’t really look at his teacher as much as he used to.
Harry quickly learns that he and Niall make a somewhat disastrous team when it comes to doing actual chemistry in class. The first experiment they do together involves dissolving reactive metals in various liquids and they manage to spill it all over their bench but mostly over Niall. It stains his brand new shirt a rather lovely shade of turquoise and they spend the majority of their lunch hour cleaning it up. It isn’t a total loss though, as Niall pulls his ruined shirt off as soon as the teacher leaves them to it, which Harry doesn’t mind at all. He’s a little disappointed when Niall puts it back on, but he’s more than happy to lead the way to the uniform shop, just so he can spend a little more time with the boy. Most of their in-class experiments go okay after that, their teacher being sure to come over to them and assign roles for each step, which is a little insulting but is mostly for their own good. Niall takes it in his stride though, laughing it off and exchanging silly looks with Harry while they complete their tasks, and Harry spends a lot of time blushing and looking at his feet.
They manage to avoid any major catastrophes until the last day of term and they’re doing an experiment which involves heating a test-tube over a Bunsen flame until it reaches a specific temperature. It’s something both he and Niall have done before, but never together. Niall’s got steadier hands so he’s holding the test-tube over the flame, but it means that Harry has to bend halfway-over to be able to read the thermometer that he’s holding in the warming liquid. It’s all going okay, temperature slowly rising the way it’s meant to, when the glass of the test-tube suddenly shatters, startling both of them. He has no idea really what happens, but somehow Harry’s hair catches fire, and he’s not aware of it at all until Niall starts screeching and batting at his head with a textbook. The disgusting smell of singed hair clues him in pretty quickly, and he panics. Thankfully between the two of them they put it out pretty quickly, but Harry’s pretty traumatised.
Their teacher takes them out to the back of the science teachers office and sits them down, bustling off to get whatever it is she needs to decontaminate them or whatever. Harry’s not paying attention, he’s too upset about his hair.
“I. Am. So. Sorry.”
He’s never heard the chipper Irish accent sound so meek. Niall reaches out and touches the burnt locks, gently separating it from the rest of the curls. Harry barely manages to suppress his shiver, but he thinks he’s allowed. Not only has he suffered a trauma, but the cute guy he has a flaming crush on is touching him. He’s totally allowed.
“’S okay. Just hair after all.”
Harry’s really proud of himself for managing to make eye contact, and it’s completely worth it when Niall’s entire face lights up. He’s still stroking his hair too, and Harry doesn’t really know how to deal with the moment so he just blushes (again) and ducks his head (again). Niall goes to move his hand out of his hair but only moves it as far as Harry’s shoulder, thumb rubbing absently at his collarbone. Harry looks back up at him and is kind of floored by the way Niall is looking at him with this incredibly fond expression.
“Um, I know this probably isn’t the best moment for this, seeing as I practically maimed you a few minutes ago, but I still don’t really know anyone here. Would it be cool if you could maybe show me around a few places in the hols? Only if you want to of course, I promise I won’t try burn you again.”
It comes out pretty garbled and his accent is so thick that Harry can barely make out the words, but it’s really nice to listen to him talk. Also Niall wants to hang out with him? Harry is never going to survive this.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
His smile his directed at the ground, but he hopes Niall gets the picture anyway.