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Becoming best friends with Louis was like being hit by a train. It was fast and there was no way you could miss it. With his loud mouth and fuck it attitude, the boy was a force to be reckoned with. On his very first day of school Louis bit someone for making fun of his oddly colored trousers. Louis had a large personality that made up for his tiny stature, but somehow still gave him the rights to tease Niall for his own height. Since the gap between their heights has lessened amazingly enough the amount of teasing hasn't.
Nevertheless Niall doesn't mind, in fact he finds it all rather humorous. Louis' the only one allowed to make fun of Niall once he claims that they are best mates. It's a fact he proves after giving a boy in their grade a black eye for saying that Niall needed to stop flowing Louis around like some heart eyed puppy because it was creepy.
Louis stayed over at Niall's house that night cuddling as they watched reruns of old TV shows, and after that day it seemed like the two boys were always together. It got to the point that people claimed if Niall was a girl (because for some reason he was always the girl no matter how much he protested) that the two would be dating. No one was quite sure why or how, but it was like a switch was flipped and their relationship was no longer tolerated. However, it took Louis weeks to figure this out, (people were still wary around him after his biting incident).
Niall was never big on standing up for himself, a bit too passive, physically at least. He was sharp tongued and he had Louis' attitude that had worn off on him to thank for that. The harassment had been made up of snarky comments, tripping, and body checks into the lockers. That is, until Niall made the claim that one of the boys were just insecure about their sexuality.
That was the second time Louis had to come to the rescue (he still refuses to admit how he knew what was happening). That was also the second time Louis and Niall spent the night cuddling, but it was the first night they kissed and the first night Niall ran.
One month was the time they spent apart before Louis cornered Niall. It took some unintelligible babbling from both parties before they were falling back into a familiar routine. Everything seemed to just go back to normal after that. They spent their free time annoying Niall's older brother with their 'childish antics' and Louis' little sisters with their stupid pranks.
Niall didn't wake up one morning and know; it didn't hit him head on like a train. It felt like it was always there just dormant or maybe always there, in subtle gestures. At first Niall didn't know what to think, mostly a bit scared over his new mindset. Maybe if he had just spoken to Louis in the first place things would have been easier, but that would have just been far too easy, and Niall has always been on the stubborn side. He began catching himself noting things about Louis that he never noticed before, things that never mattered before.
Just like how Louis would bite his lip when he was concentrating or pull at the ends of his hair when he was frustrated and how his voice would always rise a few octaves when he was trying to keep control over his emotions for whatever reason. Whenever Louis got sad he always got louder and more obnoxious, it was things like these that maybe Niall already knew, but never really noticed or actually paid attention too. It was simple things like that, that made Louis who he was and at one point Niall would have used words like funny and crazy to describe him, but now could only think of words such as endearing and lovely. Niall was never quite sure when the change happened or when he actually noticed the change.
But Niall wouldn't have had it any other way. It was slow and steady while Louis moved like a whirlwind. Falling in love with Louis is like autumn leaves falling. No one ever notices until it's already hit the ground.