Nerd Alert! [Narcel]

13.

MARCEL.

Louis sure do loved his coffee, as he was currently dragging a half-asleep Marcel through the busy New York sidewalk to their destination; the cliche Starbucks.

"I swear to God, Louis. You're worse than a white girl!" Marcel snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up Marce! You know I can never function without my Sunday coffee," Louis whined like a proper white girl, further proving Marcel's point. Now every week, Marcel found no point in objecting to his best friend's weird routine. But that didn't mean he enjoyed being woken up at 9 AM on a Sunday morning for an unwanted coffee run.

The boys finally reached the place, and the rich, musky smell of cream and coffee greeted their sense of smell the second they stepped through the glass doors bearing the famous green logo.

Louis instantly made a beeline for the counter, ordering up his and Marcel's usuals while the latter secured a booth in the crowded shop.

Minutes later, Louis slipped into the seat in front of Marcel.

"So," Louis yawned. " How's that 'project' of yours going?" he air-quoted, making Marcel roll his eyes.

"No need to use air-quotes, we're just friends," Marcel affirmed. "Though he does have a fit ass..." he trailed off thoughtfully, but then snapped out of it by the sound of Louis' laughter.

"And Marce the Pervert is back!" Louis crowed and clapped slowly, while Marcel scowled.

"What? Niall doesn't know that! I'm only a perv around you!" the spectacled boy defended himself, pouting.

Louis chuckled, adjusting his grey beanie over his feathery chestnut hair. "And I feel strangely proud in being the only one to know how much of a pervert you are."

"Haha. Now enough about me. What about you Techie Guy? How's that computer job going?"

Louis' smile flickered, as he shifted in his seat, which Marcel didn't notice. "Oh. Um. It's great! The guys paid me good cash! And I got a rep around campus," Louis pushed up his glasses with a cocky smirk, and Marcel rolled his eyes fondly.

"And, er, yeah. I changed their grades. But the college computers are owned by the government so I thought it'd be impossible, b-but I managed to do it! But then the weirdest thing--" Louis cut himself off in time, not wanting to tell his best friend about the warning the government computer's databases had shown him when he had tried to hack them. They had threatened the hacker with imprisonment and lawsuit, but Louis didn't want to worry Marcel.

It was probably not a big deal as Louis had used an alias while doing the deed. He wasn't a noob in this game. And he didn't want Marcel to overthink, as he always thought his feathered friend was a magnet to danger.

Louis looked up at Marcel, who thankfully hadn't noticed Louis trailing off, and was frowning at something or someone behind Louis.

"Um. You okay Marce?" Louis asked tentatively, and he snapped out of it.

"Er, yeah. Thought I saw somebody," Marcel shrugged, pulling at the sleeves of his button down shirt. "Now what were you saying about the government computers?"

Louis paled. "Uhm. Yeah. I was saying it went slick and yeah... the guys paid good money," he rambled, twiddling with his thumbs.

"You okay, Lou?" Marcel asked, noticing Louis was twiddling his thumbs, which he did when he was nervous.

"Fine, fine," Louis reassured Marcel, and then himself. It was okay. It wasn't a big deal. He used an alias. He didn't do anything wrong. Okay, nothing jail-worthy wrong. Louis took a deep breath, and felt calm.