The evening had been a long one. Zayn had been chatting away to clear some of the tension, Liam had tried to relax, but the only time he felt like he could breath again was when they left the pub. Louis had chosen to smile politely at Harry and Niall while he refrained from any conversation that the two tried to start with him. Niall had been his merry self and Harry had just tried his best to act and work like normal.

The next day, somewhere in the afternoon, Louis was in the park with his siblings. His mind in turmoil due to the thoughts of the night before. He hadn't been able to sleep, too occupied with thinking what the best way to execute his revenge. Louis was a businessman, a successful one at that. Making plans to be better than the competition was almost a second nature for him. Coming up with techniques to get more costumers was as easy as breathing. So, if someone got on his bad side in the business world, it would be almost the same thing as signing a death certificate. But now he had to try and apply all those methods to his personal life. If running a rival into the ground was child play, how hard could manipulating one man be? Louis had to tweak his ways a bit, but the overall intentions would be the same. The only thing that could sabotage the plan was if past feelings Louis once had for green-eyed man returned.

"Louis, what are you thinking about? You promised to play with us!" Phoebe yelled from where she was sitting on a swing next to Daisy.

Louis huffed playfully and walked over, "Don't you think that a twenty-six-year-old man is a bit too old to play on the swings?"

"Alright, why don't you play in the sandbox with Ernest and Doris then?" Daisy suggested with a sickening sweet voice.

"You guys... Fine, what do you want me to do? I'm up for anything."

And really, that's something no brother should ever say to his sisters. Suddenly, Lottie and Fizzy were demanding he'd take them out shopping while Phoebe and Daisy wanted to eat ice cream in the new shop. Only Ernest and Doris were too busy playing to ask for something.

In the midst of Louis trying to save his own skin, a familiar voice picked his interest. When Louis turned around, he saw the blond Irishman from the pub 'Pot of gold'. Surely, the man had given his name to them somewhere during the evening, but Louis couldn't care to remember. Not that the guy was dislikeable, but there had been something else on Louis' mind during that time.

The blond wasn't the only person who had Louis' attention though. It was the tall, curly-haired brunet who was laughing freely at whatever his friend had said that took Louis' focus off his sisters. And it wasn't like they didn't notice either. Lottie immediately turned her head to check who had dared to take her brother's attention from her.

"Isn't that Harry?" She wondered, "Did you know that he's out now? Not long after you took off, he broke it off with almost all his friends and told everyone who wanted to hear it that he was gay. I wonder why he did that so suddenly... maybe because of something, or better, someone." She tried to sound casual, but her voice betrayed how tense she was, "Are you fine with seeing him here? Can't imagine that you forgot how he hurt you. I'll let you know that I behaved and didn't attack him whenever I saw him."

Louis let out a laugh at that and looked at Lottie with adoration in his eyes. He had told Lottie everything a few years ago and he remembered the conversation they had; Lottie screaming profanities and promising she'd get back at Harry for hurting her brother. Louis had a hard time talking her down from that. But what she said surprised him; Harry came out of the closet. Harry had always avoided telling others except his family and Louis', so it was unexpected that he was out and proud now. Maybe he changed, but even if he did, Louis didn't care. He was betrayed, thrown away, humiliated and more by the man. If the younger of the two really did try to change, surely Louis would've received a phone call from Harry full of apologetic words?

Instead of showing his bitterness, Louis just smiled at Lottie, "Wanna go say 'hi'?"

"You're okay with that?" Lottie sounded sceptic. She threw a glare at the man who stood further away, and Louis laughed. God, he loved his sister.

Fizzy laughed at the exchange, "Why wouldn't he? Harry and Louis used to be best friends!"

"Indeed," Lottie snarled, "Used to be."

Louis just smirked at his sisters and walked off towards Harry and the latter's friend. It felt idiotic and ridiculous that Louis walked up to them with a smile. Almost as ridiculous as Harry who tried to pretend nothing happened last night. However, even with all his anger he couldn't help thinking 'fuck, he looks good'. Harry always had a way to make whatever he was wearing seem fine as fuck. If only the man wasn't as good-looking, it would tremendously help Louis. Shaking his head to get rid of the thought, Louis approached the other men, but he stopped once he was able to overhear their conversation.

"I don't know Niall, I just froze!" Harry yelled and for a second Louis thought the two had spotted him, but the conversation kept going on leisurely without any form of hesitation.

"I get that he's your type, but you didn't even speak to him to get his order, H. Don't you think that was rude? He was fit too. Really missed your chance there."

"Since when do you look at guys that way?" Niall snickered at Harry's bewildered reaction, "Besides, I don't think he wanted to be bothered. He kept to himself most of the time."

The blond shrugged, "Mate, I'm not blind. Zayn and Liam are hot too, hell, I even think you're pretty good looking. Doesn't make me gay though." Niall smirked, "Though I wouldn't mind dancing around on rainbows with that guy. One more beer and I swear I would've tried pulling him."

"You can't," Harry panicked, once again failing to notice Niall's teasing undertone.

"Why?"

"I just-... he's-... I mean it, you can't!" Harry sighed and leaned in closer to Niall, almost embarrassed to continue the conversation, "Remember when I told you about my first love?"

Niall grunted, "That doesn't explain shit, H. Quit prancing around the subject and answer the question already otherwise I'll assume I can ask the lad out on a date."

"Even though you're handsome, I would have to decline." Louis winked at Niall before he looked up at Harry, "I thought I'd come and say hi. We didn't have a chance to chat yesterday."

At the unexpected arrival of Louis, the two men sprung up, Harry with flushed cheeks and Niall with a huge Cheshire grin.

Niall laughed "Hey, mate, nice timing. We were just talking about you."

Louis nodded in acknowledgment, "I noticed." There was no malice in his voice and he even smiled at Niall. There was no need to be rude to the blond, Louis' only target was Harry.

"Louis, hi, how are you?" Harry smiled timidly.

"Yeah, I'm fi-"

"D- did you hear what I was-... I mean, the conversation? How much of it? I didn't mean to sound rude if that's what you thought! Niall brought the topic up and I just, I-... I don't know... I-... Sorry-... Hi?"

"We've exchanged greetings already, Haz." Louis rolled his eyes, but he had to fight back a smile. Even though he was supposed to only feel anger and hate for the lad, the way Harry stuttered and struggled to get words out pulled on Louis' heartstrings. Louis pressed his lips together to collect himself. If anything, Louis had faith in his acting abilities, so he was confident that he could pull off his act without letting his expressions slip.

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Niall interrupted before the former could start, "Wait, the two of you know each other? That's a plot twist! You're looking at each other like Liam and Zayn do. If I didn't know better, I'd say you guys are flirting with each other."

Niall laughed at his own idea, but Harry's cheek turned a shade darker, which made Niall close in and glare at Harry, "There's no way, right H? You wouldn't have kept it a secret that you finally had a real crush on someone, right? You wouldn't keep such a juicy detail from your best mate, right H? ...Harry? ...Hazza?"

"No! I mean-... No. No, of course I wouldn't? I guess? I wouldn't flirt? I mean- uh, I- I am not flirting?"

"Why does that sound like a question?" Niall half-cried dramatically. The blond wanted to push the topic more, but his phone decided on that exact moment to get rowdy and ring at highest volume, "Shit, that's me mum. Gotta go, but don't think you escaped Harry."

Niall ran off to take his call and Harry could finally breath again... or could he?

"So..." Louis smirked, getting closer to Harry slowly, making the latter fluster, "Are you flirting with me?"