- who’s most likely to go in for the kiss? Aquarius

- who takes the longest to get ready?  Pisces

- who takes the most risks? Aquarius

- which of them is the most adventurous in the bedroom? Aquarius

- whose parents to they meet first? Pisces

- who is the neediest in the relationship? Aquarius

When Harry is five hismom dies. It’s pretty tragic for him, because he’s always been such a mama’sboy, but he turns out okay, he thinks. At least, until his dad decides to marryagain, to this awfully gorgeous but kind of awful woman who Harry doesn’treally like. He doesn’t tell his dad this, though, because his dad seems so happy, for the first time since his momdied, and he hates ruining people’s happiness, especially people who he’s closeto.

When he’s fifteen, justa couple of years after he gets a stepmom, his dad dies. Harry feels like it’sa bit sketchy, his death, but nobody really believes him, and because he’s leftwithout any sort of family, he ends up being put into the custody of hisstepmom. Who, with her daughter Kristyn, is kind of awful to him; they make himdo all he chores around the house, all the cooking and cleaning, and along withthe house and Harry his stepmom also inherited his Dad’s prized diner, so shemakes Harry work there long hours, too. All in all, he doesn’t have much timeto do anything besides go to school, work, do his chores at home, do homework,and sleep.

So all in all, when he’ssixteen years old, he doesn’t feel like there’s much to look forward to. Except– except maybe Niall Horan, who’s co-captain of the football team (he knows; cliché,but Niall Horan is so much more than someone who plays footy; he’s kind of likethe sun, in that he’s so bright and his very presence lights up a room). Harry mayhave a little crush on him (huge crush more like, Harry’s best – and only –friend would say), but there’s a couple of big problems with that; he’sstraight, Harry’s pretty sure, though he’s always careful not to assume anyone’ssexuality. And number two, most importantly, he’s dating Kristyn, Harry’sstepsister. Who totally knows that Harry has a crush on him, and totally rubs it in Harry’s face.

So he has that brightspot in his life. The only other one he has is this pen pal he sort of startedwriting to when he was fifteen, just after his dad died; he’d neededfriendship, and Liam was great but also busy and lived on the other side oftown. So he’d found this pen pal website, which had set him up with somebodywho went by the username of 4ever_irish (he swore to Harry once that he wasonly thirteen when he came up with the name, can you blame him really), andthey emailed each other on the regular.

4ever_irish was his onlyother friend besides Liam, and the only things he really knows about the personis that he lives somewhere near the Manchester area (where Harry lives), thathe’s originally from Ireland, and that he’s somewhere about Harry’s own age.

When Harry is seventeen,in Year 13, Kristyn and Niall break up, and it’s a great day that’s only beatenby 4ever_irish accidentally revealing that he goes to the same school Harry does.When Harry hurriedly emails back with “no way me too” (among a few otherwords), they decide to meet up at the masquerade school formal that’s happeninga few weeks away and overall, it’s a verygood week for Harry.

That’s shattered whenhis stepmom forbids him from going to the formal, stating that she “needs himto work at the diner that night, it’s on the schedule”.

Except – except that whenhe thinks about it, he can’t think of a good reason to listen to her and not go. Liam agrees with himwholeheartedly, the only person who knows how awful his stepmom can be, andtells him to get ready anyway, he’ll pick him up, they are going to that formal (Liam is also the only one that knows about4ever_irish and their plans to meet up, and though he worries his lip with a “buthow do you know he’s not a creepy oldman or something” and Harry only gets him to calm down with “you’re going to bethere we’re going to be in the middle of a crowd of students they’re not gonna let a creepy old man into a school formal”).

As soon as they hit theschool Harry’s looking for 4ever_irish (“ok i’ll wear a suit w/ a white and redrose and a red mask”). Liam laughs as he gets frustrated, looking over the seaof people, until – he sees him, and his stomach drops, because he swears to god he knows that hair fromsomewhere.

“Found him,” Harry tellsLiam, pointing, and when Liam sees him he looks at Harry with the sameexpression – he knows who it is, too. Harry takes a deep breath, then shoves atLiam.

“Go find yourgirlfriend.”

Liam laughs again butdoes, leaves Harry to go – he fights through the crowd to wear 4ever_irish isstanding, looking over the crowd himself from a corner, takes a deep breath ashe approaches him and is about to speak when the other boy asks, “Ganymedeofros?”,which was Harry’s username (shut up, he was a nerd, he loved Shakespeare, sowhat), and now he was sure who it wasbecause the voice.

“Niall?” he asks insteadof “4ever_irish?”, and Niall's eyebrows shoot up above his mask.

“Ya know me?”

Harry reaches up to pushhis own mask off, and Niall's face shows his shock.

“Harry?”

“Nice to meet you,4ever_irish,” he nods, heart beating in his throat, and he’s totally notexpecting Niall to say “thank god” before kissing him, because – wait, what.

“Y’know, for most o’ myrelationship with Kristyn you were on my mind,” Niall confesses when he pullsback, “Dunno why I didn’ break up with her sooner. Didn’ think you were intome.”

“Um,” Harry says a bitstupidly, “Yeah, I was.”

Niall laughs, Harry’sfavourite laugh, and pulls off his own mask.

“Glad you’re Ganymede, wasa bit scared, to be honest.”

“Same about Irish,” Harryresponds, still a bit in shock, then embarrassingly asks “Can you kiss meagain?”

Niall just laughs,though, and does as requested.

***

okay so I changed it up a bit to shorten it up a bit but also bc I mean like Harry’d be able to keep it a secret once he realized who 4ever_irish was.