Chapter Text
2015.
someone told me, always say what’s on your mind
and I am only being honest with you, I
I get lonely, and make mistakes from time to time
(if things aren’t working out)
(everything will be alright)
The best thing about Harry’s job is that he works with Louis.
Because, okay. It’s not like he hates his other co-workers. His job’s actually fairly pleasant - the pay’s decent, the work’s easy, there are only a few people he doesn’t get on with, and his fiancé works downstairs - but by far the biggest highlight of every day is Louis.
Like. Having his fiancé work in the same building is awesome, but Xavier’s down in the warehouse. He’s not up here every day suffering through Ben’s horrible jokes and general incompetence. Louis is. And if it weren’t for Louis, Harry thinks he probably would’ve quit a long time ago.
Ben isn’t the world’s worst boss, but he certainly isn’t the world’s best either, despite what his favourite mug - the one Harry’s pretty sure he bought for himself - proclaims. He seems to genuinely care about everyone in the office, or at least he cares about what they think of him, but he’s not a hard worker at all. He’s easily distracted which then distracts everyone else, and he’s honestly just not very good at his job. Harry sometimes wonders how the branch manages to stay afloat. Worst of all, though, are his constant, insufferable, rarely funny, always at least slightly offensive jokes. Ben’s the kind of racist, sexist homophobe who doesn’t think he’s racist or sexist or homophobic but is quite happy making jokes that are. Harry simply can’t stand it.
If it weren’t for Louis making faces at him every time Ben opens his mouth, Harry wouldn’t’ve made it a month in this place.
As it is, he’s been here three years, since he was eighteen. He spends the days with his best friend, and then he gets to meet up with his fiancé and go home. It’s a pretty good deal.
***
Louis’s quite good at pranks. It’s one of the things he does that brightens up Harry’s day. Obviously he can’t play tricks on the boss, who deserves it, but there’s usually another target: Liam.
Liam is probably the biggest stick-in-the-mud Harry’s ever met. He’s uptight, he’s a know-it-all, he’s a stickler for the rules, usually his own imaginary rules, and he has far too much ambition for a mid-range software company. This job means the world to Liam, and maybe that’s something that should be admirable, but it’s also something that Harry just can’t wrap his head around. Because this job sucks.
In any other situation Harry would just ignore him, let him live his life, but the thing is that Liam’s in the same desk clump as Louis, which happens to be the desk clump closest to reception. So all day Harry has to hear Liam nitpick different things Louis does, as well as his suggestions for how Harry could make reception more efficient. By midday he’s usually had enough.
That’s why he loves Louis’s pranks. They’re often thoughtful – he puts more work into them than he does into his actual job, Harry’s sure – but even when they’re not, they’re entertaining. He has this ongoing one, where once a week he makes a plate of jelly with one of Liam’s belongings suspended inside. Liam is always surprised and outraged; somehow he never sees it coming.
In a way, neither does Harry, in that he never knows when Liam’s going to reach into his desk and pull out a plate of jelly. Like right now.
Liam’s talking to Ben and the new temp Zayn about the latest sale he closed. He’s clearly bragging, talking it up because the temp has no clue what he’s talking about and Ben barely does either. Liam opens his desk drawer to get a copy of his customer feedback form, which is apparently glowing with praise, and then he yells, “Oh, Goddamn it Louis!”
“What?” Ben asks, immediately concerned. “What is it?”
Liam pulls out a plate of orange jelly with his Batman mug inside. Harry bursts out laughing.
“He keeps doing this!” Liam cries. “Ben, you need to do something!”
“What?” Louis says, and oh wow – is he eating a pot of jelly? Oh, he’s a genius. “How do you know it was me?”
“Of course it was you,” Liam says. “It’s always you.”
Louis frowns. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says. “Do you have any proof?”
“Well, I – no, but I – Ben!” Liam sputters.
“Gotta say, he’s right,” Ben says. “If there’s no proof then there’s nothing I can do. Plus this is pretty harmless.” He laughs.
“It’s annoying, and disruptive, and I know it’s him,” Liam argues.
“Get back to work,” Ben says. “Try and lighten up.”
He goes back to his office and Zayn goes to his desk. Liam stands and picks up the plate of jelly. “I know it was you,” he hisses to Louis. “One day, I’m gonna prove it.”
Then he storms off towards the kitchen.
Louis looks over at Harry with his eyebrows raised. Harry grins and gives him an air-five, which Louis returns.
It could be considered mean, Harry guesses, but it’s this thing Louis and Liam have. Liam antagonises Louis, often on purpose, by doing things like shredding documents while Louis’s on the phone, or eating smelly food at his desk, or stealing Louis’s clients, or keeping track of how much time Louis takes for lunch to put in a report he gives Ben at the end of the week. And whenever he and Louis start to get along, and Louis eases up on the pranks, Liam takes it up a notch. It’s like he needs Louis to keep him in check.
Harry supposes it might sometimes be mean, but he thinks it’s also necessary for the stability of the office. He’s not sure what Liam or Louis would do without one another.
***
The biggest issue in Harry’s life right now is that he knows Louis and Xavier don’t get on. He’s actually not quite sure what Louis’s opinion of Xavier is; just that he gets all awkward and uncomfortable when he’s around. It’s weird because it’s pretty much the opposite of how he is normally, with literally anyone else, so Harry doesn’t know what it is about Xavier that makes Louis feel that way.
He knows for sure, though, that Xavier doesn’t like Louis. He’s never said why, but he makes no secret of openly disliking him - whenever Harry mentions him when talking about his day, which is almost impossible not to do since Louis is usually the best and funniest part of every day, Xavier grimaces or mutters something under his breath. Harry’s never really hung out with Louis outside of work because of Xavier; Louis offers, has in fact been offering every Friday since Harry can remember, for them to join a few of the lads from the office at the pub for a pint. Xavier always begs off, says he’s too tired, which makes Harry feel too guilty to go. But Xavier’s not even tired, is the thing. Sometimes, like last weekend, he’ll end up going out with his brother or something anyway, leaving Harry at home with Gogglebox and his mum on the phone.
So. Harry really wishes they got on. He’d love to spend time with Louis over the weekends. Louis always does something fun, even if he’s just hanging out at home - he watches all the same shows as Harry, and they have the same taste in films and footy teams, so Harry would love to join him. And sometimes, the space between Friday and Monday seems so long and depressing and empty.
But he can’t see Louis outside of work if it’s going to make Xavier unhappy. Harry doesn’t even know why he has a problem with Louis, but he knows he wouldn’t want Xavier spending his weekends with someone he didn’t like, so he supposes it’s fair.
Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t see Louis from nine to five every workday. Just. It’d be nice to see him outside of it, that’s all.
***
Harry likes a lot of the people he works with. He likes Lou in Supplier Relations. He really likes James and Jesy in Sales, and obviously Louis. Ed in HR is one of his closest work friends. He really likes Niall and Perrie in Customer Service. He likes Julian in IT and Caroline in Quality Control. And he likes Jade and Leigh Anne in Accounting.
That’s most of the office. It’s really just four people who make Harry’s job difficult, and that’s Ben, Liam, Oli, and Dan.
Oli in Accounting hates Harry, and Harry doesn’t understand why. He really doesn’t like it when people hate him. He thinks if they got to know him, they wouldn’t hate him. So he’d like to make an effort with Oli, but Louis always tells him not to bother.
Because that’s the weird part. Oli and Louis are childhood friends. Nobody would guess it, given that they barely talk now, but they met when they were about twelve, and they still have the same group of friends. Harry thinks Louis sees Oli quite a bit outside of the office. They were definitely friends when Harry started working here, but then something happened after a few months. Harry doesn’t know what it was, but Louis and Oli weren’t getting on, and Oli started being really horrible to Harry. He’s never really stopped, he loves making these snide comments. Harry is quite hurt when he thinks about it, that someone dislikes him so much that they go out of their way to be mean to him.
But Oli’s a wanker. That’s what Louis says. He says Harry should just ignore him, that his opinions don’t matter.
It’s just really hard for Harry to ignore it when people don’t like him. Maybe that’s narcissistic. He’s not sure.
So. There are some people in this office that Harry really likes, and there are some he doesn’t like, and then there’s Dan Wootton. He works in Supplier Relations with Lou Teasdale, and Harry really does like Lou, but he can’t stand Dan. Harry doesn’t like to say he hates people, but Dan really tests his resolve on that sometimes.
He’s a pompous dick, for starters. He treats Harry like a servant, always shooting him emails demanding he drop everything to fax or photocopy something. He’s the kind of person who thinks the world revolves around him, that anything he needs done is top priority. Harry technically isn’t even required to fax or photocopy things for his coworkers, only Ben; he just does it to be nice. He’s not sure why Dan thinks Harry’s his own personal assistant.
He’s also weirdly, creepily obsessed with Harry’s relationship with Xavier and his friendship with Louis. He’s always asking Harry invasive questions, and he loves insinuating that there’s something between him and Louis. Sometimes he also comes up with these stories of Louis or Xavier having chemistry with someone else, and jokes that Harry’s being replaced. He loves to stir up shit, is Harry’s impression; he’s honestly just a toxic person and a self-important weasel.
Actually, that’s not fair. Weasels are cute. Harry likes weasels. They shouldn’t be associated with Dan.
“You know you don’t actually have to do anything he says, yeah?” Louis asks as Harry's scanning a thirty page supplier contract.
“I know,” Harry says. And he does know. But he’s also terrible at letting people down. “I just want to be nice, that’s all.”
Louis shakes his head. “You’re too good, Styles,” he says, and he goes back to his desk.
Harry scans the rest of the contract with a happy smile on his face.
***
Harry’s favourite thing about his job, aside from Louis, is his perpetual to-do list. Part of him thinks that might be weird, because he thinks that there are a lot of people who don’t like to-do lists, especially when they know they’re never going to accomplish everything on them in one day. But Harry thrives on routine, and he loves that when he comes into the office every morning, he has his day essentially outlined for him. He even likes when he doesn't get everything done, because it just means that he knows what he’ll be doing tomorrow.
Louis hates to-do lists. He barely uses them – instead, he has sticky notes plastered all over his desk to remind him of what he needs to get done. (Harry doesn’t quite see the difference – to-do lists are a bit more organised, that’s all. He doesn’t say so to Louis.)
Whenever Louis comes over to reception when Harry’s got his list out, like now, he makes a face. “Ugh, this again?”
Harry smiles as he crosses ‘– Faxes for Caroline’ off his list. “Remind me to never show you my bullet journal.”
“Your what?” Louis frowns, looking endearingly confused. “You have a journal about bullets?”
“No,” Harry giggles. “It’s… I guess it’s like a personal diary mixed with a calendar-type diary? I have monthly to-do lists in there, and weekly, and sometimes daily.”
Louis looks appalled. “I’m not sure you’re human,” he says.
Harry laughs again. “It’s a pretty common thing, actually, I think,” he says. “I just like being organised.”
Louis shakes his head. “That’s definitely not normal,” he says. “God. I’ve forgotten what I even came over here for.”
“Good,” Harry says, glancing back down at his to-do list. “I have a few emails to reply to before Meredith comes in for a supposedly important meeting with Ben, so. Shoo.”
Louis looks comically offended. “Rude, Styles,” he says. “See if I bring you anything back from the vending machines later.”
“Salt and vinegar crisps please,” Harry says with his most charming smile as Louis walks backwards to his desk.
Louis shakes his head but he’s smiling. Harry turns back to his emails.
*
In the meeting with Meredith, she says that the company’s not doing well. Harry doesn’t think it’s a huge surprise really, but for some reason Ben is shocked. Though he’s always had an inflated sense of self-importance, so Harry supposes it makes sense that would extend to his job as well.
The thing is, Syco Software is essentially just anti-virus software. It had a huge boom like ten years ago, but when Harry started working here three years ago, sales had begun to decline. And now, anti-virus giants like McAfee have taken over the market, and it’s gotten much harder to make cold-call sales due to the increase in computer-based telemarketing scams. Harry watches the sales staff hang up their phones in frustration all day because they’ve spent fifteen minutes trying in vain to convince someone the company’s legit.
Their main business now is in renewing contracts with pre-existing clients. Harry’s pretty sure most people haven’t heard of them. When he tells people he works for Syco Software, most people assume it’s a video game company. So he’s really not surprised when that’s the reason Meredith, their boss from the Corporate office in Sheffield, came in today – to tell Ben that they’re thinking of downsizing the branches, and closing either this branch or the one in Leeds.
Ben’s inconsolable. Meredith tells them both not to tell anyone, but Harry tells Louis after the meeting when he brings him crisps from the vending machine. Louis’s quite happy about the possibility of severance and being forced to find a new career, and so is Harry, but he’s also not thrilled about the prospect of working somewhere without Louis.
Ben holds a one-man pity party for the rest of the day, and by the end of it, he’s told everyone the news.
***
Harry installed The Sims 3 on his office computer a few years ago, and he plays it whenever he has some downtime. He made himself, Xavier, Louis, and Liam, and they all live together in a cute little house. Liam doesn’t get a bedroom, just a single bed in the corner of the living room, because Harry was annoyed with him when he put it together. The Harry and Xavier Sims are engaged, just like in real life. He plans to marry them at some point and build a little family, but for now he likes that they live with Louis. Sim Harry and Sim Louis are best friends, of course, but so are Sim Louis and Sim Xavier, because it makes Harry happy to see them getting along. Liam is the breadwinner of the house – he works all day and Harry gave him the Neat trait as well so when he comes home, Harry makes him clean the entire house. He often goes back to work hungry, tired, or with poor hygiene. It’s sadistic, but it’s good stress relief. He should definitely make a Ben Sim as well.
He’s playing it when Louis comes and leans over his desk.
“Ooh, what are we up to now?” Louis asks, because of course Louis knows all about their Sim counterparts.
“Well, Liam and Xav are at work,” Harry says. “I’m cooking us lunch, and I think you’re – ” he switches over to Sim Louis’s POV – “yep, you’re flirting with some random.”
The random is a brunette woman who was probably taking a walk and got charmed by Louis. He has the Social Butterfly and the Good Sense of Humour traits, so he makes friends easily.
“I don’t think so,” Louis says, reaching over and cancelling Sim Louis’s current action. “C’mon, Curly, you can’t have little me flirting with girls.”
“I’m sorry,” Harry giggles. “I didn’t know what he was up to.”
“Well, you’ve got to keep a closer eye on him,” Louis says. “He doesn’t know any better.”
Harry laughs. “I’m sorry,” he says again. He gets Sim Louis to come inside and eat lunch. Soon Sim Louis and Sim Harry are chattering away while they eat. “There, is that better?”
“Much,” Louis says, poking Harry’s dimple.
It says a lot about how boring Harry’s job is, that that’s the highlight of his day.
***
They have Diversity Training every month, almost like clockwork, always because someone’s complained to Ed in HR about Ben. They’re all very well-acquainted with their Diversity Officer from Corporate; her name is Emma, she’s twenty-five, she has two cats and she loves fashion as much as Harry does. She and Harry are on quite good terms. Ben, on the other hand, constantly disrespects her because she’s young and white and straight, so she clearly doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Harry thinks it’s also because she’s a woman; Ben definitely has an issue with women telling him what to do. It’s a real marvel that Meredith from Corporate hasn’t fired him after his countless tantrums.
Ben also refuses to accept that he’s the reason they always need Diversity Training in the first place. After Emma finishes her seminar and leaves, Ben always gives his own presentation. It’s always offensive and almost always ends with Emma coming back the next day, which means a good day and a half wasted in the end. No wonder the branch is in trouble.
***
Harry sometimes hates that Ben forces him to sit in and take notes on every meeting he has with Meredith. Sometimes it’s good, in that he gets access to all the news first hand without hearing Ben’s garbled version, and then he can talk about it with Louis. But when he has to sit and watch Meredith berate Ben, it’s just uncomfortable.
Ben’s supposed to pick a new healthcare plan. He was supposed to do it by yesterday, which is why Meredith is cross with him. They need a cheaper one, apparently, because they’re trying to cut costs. This is bad news for Harry, as somebody who will use the healthcare plan, and for Ben, because he has to break the bad news to the office, which is not his strong suit.
Once Meredith leaves, telling him to let her know which plan he’s picked by the end of the day, Ben turns to Harry. “How do you feel about going through these books, finding a plan within our budget and then telling everyone?”
“I… don’t think I’m qualified to do that,” Harry says.
“Okay,” Ben says. “How about I pick a plan and you just tell everyone?”
“I don’t think so,” Harry says. “You can do it, Ben. You’re really good at this.”
Sometimes Harry distracts Ben with praise. It’s easier to slip out of his office that way.
*
A few hours later and Liam’s gone mad with power. Ben put him in charge of picking the healthcare plan, and he is determined to pick the absolute cheapest one. Harry regrets turning Ben down – he should’ve guessed Ben would’ve eventually palmed it off.
“That may be partly my fault,” Louis admits to Harry over lunch. “Ben asked me to do it first, and I told him Liam would do a better job.”
Harry stifles a smile, because that’s his immediate reaction to anything Louis-and-Liam related, but Liam’s really shredding their plan. “Why?” he asks. Maybe it’s hypocritical, because he turned Ben down himself, but this is something Louis would’ve done well. “You had to’ve known he’d go Draconian with it. You would’ve actually picked something decent.”
Louis sighs. “Yeah, I know,” he says, and pauses. “I just - I dunno. I don't want to put in any extra work, Curly. What if I get a promotion?”
Harry snorts. “God forbid you get recognition for your work.”
“Exactly,” Louis says seriously. “Then it's not just a job. It's my career.” He shudders.
“So you’re basically in complete denial about this being your career,” Harry double-checks. He’s torn between endeared and frustrated. If Louis wants more out of life, then why doesn’t he just take it? Harry’s pretty sure he could do anything.
“Yeah,” Louis says, and sighs again. “I mean, it’s just always been, like, my rule, to keep myself from spiralling into a quarter life crisis. I should’ve broken it this time, though. Should’ve realised Liam would gut our healthcare.”
“Yeah, we’re gonna have to do something about that,” Harry says. Then he tells Louis what he knows, about the budget and how they do have to have a cheap plan.
“But not one so cheap that it may as well not exist, got it,” Louis says.
They go to Ben and talk him into letting them help Liam. It’s not hard, Harry just says, “It’s way below budget, and everyone’s blaming you, not Liam.” Ben’s horrified that everyone still thinks he’s at fault, and he tells them to fix it immediately.
“No,” Liam says when they walk into the conference room. “This is my task. Get out.”
“Ben said we have to help,” Harry says. “C’mon, Liam, surely you’ve noticed this isn’t going over well.”
“I don’t believe you,” Liam says, and marches out to check with Ben. While he’s gone, Harry and Louis get stuck into reading over the plans.
Liam comes back, grumbling to himself. He sits down and picks up a plan.
“Mine was more cost-efficient,” he says. “It could have saved the company.”
“Everyone would’ve revolted,” Louis says. “I’m pretty sure James is out there sharpening his pitchfork.”
“Some of our coworkers have kids, Liam,” Harry says, trying to sound reasonable. “They rely on the healthcare plan.”
Liam sighs. “I suppose I want what’s best for the kids,” he says, like it pains him to admit it. “Let’s do this, then.”
***
Ben becomes mildly obsessed with the idea of a football match against the warehouse guys in the small vacant lot next to their building. Nobody wants Harry to play because they all know he’s like Bambi learning to walk on his best days, but Xavier’s into it because he played in secondary school, and when Harry gets to work Louis’s excited for the same reason.
“You’d’ve been so impressed by me in secondary, Curly, I’m just saying,” Louis says, and Harry giggles. “Like, I don’t want to toot me own horn, but I was by far the best in my school.”
“Well, I’m just saying,” Harry grins. “Xavier was the best in our school.”
Louis scoffs. Then he balls up a piece of paper and kicks it at Harry.
“When’s the last time you played a proper game, Lou?” Harry says, still grinning.
“Probably six months ago, what’s your point?”
Harry giggles again. “Xavier plays every weekend.”
“Wow, what a busy life Xavier leads,” Louis muses.
No wonder he doesn’t have time to plan a wedding. Louis doesn’t say it, doesn’t even imply it. That might not even be what he’s thinking at all. But Harry thinks it, and the smile drops off his face.
“What’s wrong?” Louis asks, instantly concerned, but Harry shakes his head, and then Ben calls them all outside.
*
The team from the office are skins, Ben decides. Harry’s like ninety-nine per cent sure it’s for vanity reasons. And then Louis rolls his eyes and pulls off his shirt, and Harry’s vision tunnels out.
He can’t keep his eyes off Louis for the rest of the match. He tries, he tries to watch Xavier and he cheers for Xavier, but his traitorous eyes keep narrowing in on Louis’s lithe, tanned, curvy body. He tells himself it’s okay to be attracted to someone else. It doesn’t have to mean anything.
Might not be okay when his fiancé’s right fucking there, though.
It gets easier when Louis and Ben switch positions for some reason and Louis’s guarding Xavier. At least they’re in the same place, so Harry can pretend he’s not being a complete arsehole. He’s totally watching his fiancé. It’s not his fault Louis’s also right there, looking all tanned and gorgeous. Harry can’t help looking if that’s where his eyes already are.
Then things start getting aggressive. Well, it’s football, and Ben’s been trash-talking the warehouse guys all day, so everyone’s riled up, but something extra seems to be happening between Xavier and Louis. There’s more shoving than Harry thinks there has to be, and then Xavier trips Louis and he goes crashing down, his face hitting the ground hard.
Harry jumps to his feet and is halfway to him before Ben’s even called time-out.
People are shouting things like ‘what the fuck’ and ‘are you okay’, and Niall’s already helped Louis up. He turns and there’s blood everywhere. So much blood.
“Oh my God, Lou,” Harry says, finally making it to him. “Are you okay?”
“S’just my nose,” Louis says, his voice nasally and weird. “But I don’t think it’s broken.”
“Oh my God,” Harry says, and he looks around, trying to find Xavier. He pops up beside Harry and at least he looks remorseful.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Shit. I didn’t mean to.”
He sounds like he means it, but here’s the thing. Harry was watching, rather intently if he's honest, and he saw it. Xavier definitely did it on purpose.
“Okay,” Louis says, and then he tries to walk, presumably off their makeshift field, and he winces. “Fuck, I think I twisted my ankle.”
Harry shoots Xav a dirty look and loops his arm around Louis’s shoulders. “Here, c’mon, lean on me,” he says. Louis does, and they hobble over to Lou Teasdale with the first aid kit. Harry is absolutely not a giant perve about having Louis’s naked, sweaty, dirty skin so close. Not at all.
Harry gets him seated and Lou opens the first aid kit. The match starts up again, but Harry’s not paying it a bit of attention.
“We need to apply pressure to your nose, first off, to stop the bleeding,” Lou says. She and Liam are their trained first aid officers, and Harry’s pretty sure he heard Ben yell at Liam to stay in the game. It’s probably for the best; Louis definitely likes Lou more than Liam.
“Right,” Louis says, taking the cold compress Lou gives him and holding it to his face. “Should I tilt my head back?”
“Just keep your head high,” Lou says. “Above the rest of your body.”
Harry flutters his hands, feeling a bit useless. “How’s your ankle? We should take your shoe off, see if it’s swollen,” he says.
“I just rolled it, Harry, it’s not even a sprain,” Louis says with an eyeroll, his voice fond. There’s so much blood on his face. It’s mixed in with his scruffy facial hair, still trickling down his neck. Harry is pointedly not looking any further than that.
“We should have a look anyway,” Harry insists. “You can’t bend over if you’ve got to keep your head elevated, but I can do it?”
Louis sighs, and then winces like it hurt his face to do so. Harry’s heart twinges. “Go on then.”
Harry crouches down and unties Louis’s laces, then gently slips off his shoe. Louis’s wearing socks for once, and Harry rolls that off too. It feels weirdly intimate, and when he looks up to see Louis looking down at him, down over the compress with his chin tilted up, he flushes and looks back at Louis’s foot.
It doesn’t look very swollen, he doesn’t think. His skin is a bit pink.
Louis has cute ankles. Shit.
“I have another cold pack, we should put it on that,” Lou says, and Harry starts. He didn’t even realise she’d crouched down beside him.
She gets up and busies herself wrapping the other compress onto Louis’s ankle. Harry stands up and watches Louis with the compress on his face. Harry's hands twitch, desperate to wash the blood off his face.
“I think you two are going a bit overboard,” Louis says, muffled under the compress.
“You’re covered in blood,” Harry says.
“I’m alright, Curly,” Louis says. Harry thinks he’s smiling. “I think the bleeding might’ve stopped.”
“Has it been five minutes?” Lou asks. “It usually takes five to ten minutes.”
“Dunno,” Louis says. “I just don’t feel it anymore.”
“Well, it’s a cold compress,” Harry points out. “You’re probably numb.”
“Oh,” Louis says. “Right.”
“I’m gonna get some warm water from the warehouse to wash the blood off,” Lou says. “Hold on a tic, and don’t take the compress off your face.”
Harry sits down beside Louis, because there’s not much he can do until she comes back.
“Do you really feel alright?” Harry asks.
“Well, I don’t feel like I’m critically injured, Curly, which is how you’re acting,” Louis says.
Harry pouts. That’s not an answer.
“Yeah, it hurts,” Louis says. “Obviously it hurts. But nothing’s broken, and I’ve had worse.”
“How’s there so much blood if you haven’t broken your nose?”
Louis shrugs. “Noses are weird. And I think I fell on some rocks in the dirt, probably cut up my face a bit.”
Harry breathes in sharply. “Fuck, Lou, I’m sorry.”
Louis looks confused. “Why on earth are you sorry?”
“I’m sorry on Xavier’s behalf,” Harry says. “I don’t know what came over him.”
“It’s alright, love,” Louis says. “It was probably an accident.”
Harry looks back at their makeshift field, where Xavier’s attention is on Harry and Louis, not the match. He doesn’t look remorseful. Harry’s not quite sure how to read his expression.
“Yeah,” Harry says doubtfully. “Well. He was still playing really aggressively.”
Louis hums. It sounds like a laugh. “So was I,” he says. “It’s okay. It’s just footy.”
It felt like more than that, but Harry doesn’t say so. He’s not sure how to, especially if Louis doesn’t see how weirdly Xavier acts with him. Maybe Harry’s making a big deal out of nothing.
He finds a small bottle of hand sanitizer in the first aid kit and rubs it into his hands, mostly for something to do.
Lou comes back with a mug of hot water. “I boiled the kettle, then added some cold water,” she says. “Shouldn’t be too hot. Harry, can you get out the cotton pads?”
Harry gets up and finds them right at the top of the kit.
“You can take off the cold pack now,” Lou says. “Should be right, if you’ve been holding it tightly enough.”
Louis takes away the compress, and holy shit. There’s much more blood than before, a huge heap of it congealed around his top lip. Some of it hasn’t congealed and it spills down his face as soon as he moves the compress, like something out of a horror movie. Harry’s stomach turns.
The bleeding does seem to have stopped, at least.
“Can I have the pads, Harry?” Lou asks. Harry realises how tightly he’s holding them.
“Um,” Harry says. “Can I do it?”
“Er, okay then,” Lou says. “Just be really gentle in case there are any cuts.”
Harry takes out a cotton pad and dips it in the mug of water. It’s warm, but not hot, so he thinks it’ll be alright on Louis’s skin. He steps a bit closer and swipes the pad down Louis’s cheek.
Louis’s been watching him with wide eyes, hasn’t said anything. When the warm pad touches his skin, he swallows and closes his eyes. Harry passes the pack of pads to Lou so she can wet them for him, and gets to work.
He goes through so many cotton pads, and it’s sort of alarming how much blood there is, but Harry goes slowly and gently. Louis keeps his eyes closed, sometimes wincing when Harry goes over a cut. There’s something so intimate about it, which is fucking weird, Harry thinks, because he’s cleaning blood off Louis’s face. It should just be gross. He doesn’t know why he feels so weird today.
He’s definitely ignoring Louis’s shirtlessness while they’re so close. It just seems like recipe for disaster. God, Harry’s not an idiot, he knows he finds Louis attractive – he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that – but usually it’s not something he thinks about. They’re friends, and Harry’s engaged. But right now, Louis’s shirtless and Harry’s so close, wiping his face, and he just wishes Louis were a tiny bit less hot. He doesn’t think that’s too much to ask.
He’s extra careful with the clotted blood on Louis’s top lip, unsure if it will burst, but it doesn’t; eventually he just wipes it all off. He’s trying to be clinical about it, but it’s hard.
“There are cuts,” he confirms to Louis, even though Louis probably knows that. “And your nose looks a bit swollen, maybe. Around the bridge.”
“S’fine, don’t think it’s broken,” Louis says. “’ve always had a squidgy bridge.”
Harry’s stomach flips. Sometimes Louis is just so cute, and Harry gets really confusing feelings about it. This whole day has been confusing.
“Okay,” Harry says softly, and wipes the last of the blood off.
“Okay,” Lou echoes, much louder. She puts down the almost empty mug. “We’ll have to put on antiseptic now, to clean the cuts. Sorry, Louis, it might sting.”
“That always means it will sting,” Louis groans.
Lou passes Harry a cotton ball she’s dipped in peroxide, and Harry dabs it onto Louis’s cuts. He’s glad he didn’t have to ask to do it, this time; he’s feeling a bit embarrassed by how desperate he’s been to help.
“Make sure you wipe it all over the cuts,” Lou says. “Have to make sure they’re clean.”
Louis groans again, and hisses when Harry dabs the biggest cut. But there’s not many, and he’s finished much faster than he was with the blood.
“Now what?” Harry asks as he drops the last cotton ball into the plastic bag they’ve been using for rubbish.
“Should put some ointment on, I reckon,” Lou says, rummaging through the kit to find it. “Then you ought to be right.”
“What about his nose?” Harry asks, still concerned.
Lou shrugs. “It was a nosebleed, Harry,” she says. “It’s stopped bleeding, so he’ll be alright. If it was still bleeding or if he was having trouble breathing, then there’d be a problem, but there isn’t.”
Harry feels like he can finally breathe. “Okay,” he says.
“Told you I’m fine,” Louis says with a smile. There’s yellow patches around each of his cuts from the peroxide, which really makes them stand out. Harry wouldn’t say he’s fine.
He takes the ointment from Lou and dabs little amounts on each cut. He tries not to use too much, because with Louis’s face all cut up he can’t really rub it in.
It’s so much worse, though, because before he’d been using cotton pads and cotton balls. Now he just has his fingers and Louis’s skin, and Louis has his eyes closed again. Harry’s stomach is turning and his head is full of thoughts that he tries very hard to ignore.
It’s probably just because he’s upset with Xavier for hurting his friend. That must be all it is.
When Harry’s finished, he wipes off his hands with some anti-bacterial wipes and sits beside Louis. Lou takes the cold compress off his ankle and asks him to move it. She decides he’s probably alright to walk on it, but he should sit here for the rest of the match just in case.
It’s alright. Harry and Louis commentate the rest of the game to each other, which makes it much more fun than before. Harry tells himself that Louis is his best mate, and that’s all. He was just upset because his best mate got hurt, and it turned his head a bit topsy turvy.
*
Harry’s dreading the car ride home. He’d blown Xavier off after the match in favour of helping Louis inside. Xavier’s sent him a few texts apologising and asking if everything’s okay, and Harry hasn’t replied.
He stalls, helping Louis to his car even though he’s barely even limping.
“Harry, I’m fine,” Louis says with a laugh.
“Are you sure you can drive?” Harry asks.
“It’s my left ankle,” Louis points out. “And even if it wasn’t. I’m fine.”
“Alright, alright,” Harry says with a smile. “I believe you.”
“Good,” Louis says, and then Harry hugs him.
“’M glad you’re okay,” Harry says into Louis’s shoulder.
They don’t hug often, and this one isn’t long, but it’s good. There’s something about Louis that just makes Harry want to hug him, so whenever he gets the chance to, it’s just. It’s really good.
Louis pulls back and smiles at him. "Thanks for looking after me, Curly,” he says, his voice soft. “It was nice. Unnecessary, but nice.”
Harry beams back at him. “Anytime, Lou,” he says. “Get home safe, okay?”
“I’ll do me best,” Louis says. “See you tomorrow.”
He gets into his car, and Harry steps back and watches him go. He knows he’s still stalling. Louis’s car leaves the parking lot and Harry sighs and walks up to where Xavier’s parked. He’s beside James’s SUV, so he probably hasn’t seen Harry until now.
“Hey,” Xavier says as Harry gets in the car. “Are we – is everything okay?”
“I dunno,” Harry says, crossing his arms. “You almost broke my best friend’s nose.”
Xavier scoffs. His hands tighten on the steering wheel, but he obviously doesn’t want to fight.
“I didn’t mean to,” he says.
“You were playing so aggressively, though,” Harry says. “I saw you.”
“Did you?” Xavier says mildly. “I didn’t think you were watching me at all.”
Harry’s face flushes. He wishes it wouldn’t, it makes him feel guilty. “Well, I was,” he says.
“I didn’t want to hurt him,” Xavier says. “I mean, I know I wasn’t playing friendly, but I didn’t actually want to break his nose or anything.”
Harry does believe that. “Yeah,” he says. “Okay. It’s just, you know. It sucked.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, Haz,” Xavier says. “Believe me, it was the last thing I wanted.”
“Okay,” Harry says quietly. He doesn’t want to fight about this. “Can we go home now?”
“’Course,” Xavier says, starting up the car. “Haz? Are we okay?”
Harry pauses. “Yeah,” he says. “We’re okay.”
He’s not sure if he really means it.
***
Nobody knew about Harry and Xavier for the longest time. Xavier had been working at Syco before Harry, and he’d warned Harry that he’d never come out at work, that Ben loved making jokes at the expense of the queer community, and when Harry started work he’d quickly decided to just avoid that whole issue. He had no real inclination to talk about his love life at work, anyway, so did it really matter?
Harry was coming up on his one year anniversary with the company when it happened.
By that point Ben was convinced he was a real ladies’ man, and he had seemingly the whole office convinced too. Harry hated it; whenever he so much as talked to a woman, rumours flew around the office, even when it was just the girl from the building’s post office dropping off a package. Especially then, sometimes.
It made Harry so uncomfortable, having this compulsory heterosexuality thrust upon him, and he was confused, because it didn’t seem to happen to anyone else. It seemed to make Louis uncomfortable, too - whenever rumours started to circulate, he’d avoid Harry for a couple hours, always ‘on an important sales call’, until Harry had a chance to say dispel them. Which was very weird, but since the whole thing made Harry uncomfortable too, he didn’t question it.
One day, Ben made a lewd comment about one of the girls in accounting after she’d given Harry some files to scan, as well as a homophobic joke seconds later, and Harry lost it. He went to Ed, the HR guy, and told him everything.
“Wow,” Ed said. “Fuck, man, you should’ve come to me sooner. I thought he was bordering on inappropriate, but I didn’t think you were bothered. I’d’ve stopped this ages ago.”
Harry sagged into his chair. “I know,” he said. “It’s just, it was a weird little bubble, you know? I’ve never wanted to go back to the closet before now, but some of the attitudes here are so close-minded, I just didn’t want to have to deal with it.”
“Yeah, absolutely fair enough,” Ed said. “Although… should we tell Ben, do you think? That’s honestly the best way I can think of to shut him up.”
Harry was doubtful that that would stop him - he said blatantly racist and sexist comments to the people of colour and women in the office - but he told Ed that if he saw no other option, then it was okay. They had a meeting with Ben, and Ed tried to explain that his behaviour had been inappropriate and was making Harry uncomfortable. Ben just didn’t understand.
“All I’m doing is congratulating him on his game,” Ben said.
“It’s not a game,” Harry objected, frowning, and Ben looked even more confused.
“Your skills, then,” he said.
“Those comments are not acceptable in the workplace,” Ed said. “And the homophobic jokes have got to stop as well.”
“What? What’ve I said that’s homophobic?”
“You said today that I looked like a - a fag,” Harry said, hating to say the word.
“I said it like a compliment!” Ben cries.
“Didn’t you say, I quote, ‘yeah you can scan Jade’s files, that’s not all you can scan, even though you look like a fag’?” Ed reads off Harry’s complaint form.
“Yes, but it was a compliment,” Ben insisted. “Like, in spite of how he dresses, he can still get with hot girls. That’s not homophobic.”
Harry rubbed his palms into his eyes to stop from screaming. He was so frustrated. “Tell him,” he said.
“You using that word is homophobic in any circumstance, first of all,” Ed said. “Secondly, it’s doubly inappropriate to use it while referring to Harry. And thirdly, forcing heterosexuality on Harry is not a compliment because Harry is gay.”
“What the hell,” Ben said. “How can you tell me it’s offensive to say fag and then call Harry gay?”
“Because he is,” Ed said.
“That’s more derogatory than what I said!” Ben cried.
“No it isn’t,” Ed said.
“Fuck’s sake, I’m literally gay,” Harry said. “I’m engaged to a man!”
Ben’s eyes boggled out of his skull. “What. You. You’re actually. A homosexual? You don’t… You don’t like girls?”
“I don’t like girls,” Harry confirmed.
“But,” Ben said. “I could’ve sworn you’ve slept with like fifty girls while you’ve worked here.”
“Never in my life,” Harry said.
“Okay,” Ben said. “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, then, Harry. I didn’t know. Although in my defence, I think it’s pretty normal to assume someone’s straight until they say otherwise. Isn’t that the least offensive thing to do?”
Harry grit his teeth and screamed internally, and considered quitting on the spot.
By lunch, everyone knew.
After lunch, Harry told Ed he was thinking of quitting. Everyone was talking about him and while they weren’t all horrible, more disbelieving than anything else, he still couldn’t stand it. Ben was telling anyone and everyone that it’s completely acceptable to have assumed Harry was straight, because that just made sense. Even Louis seemed uncomfortable around him, like, moreso than he was with the other rumours. Harry couldn’t fucking take it.
Ed must have said something to Ben because Ben called a meeting. Ben spent twenty minutes trying to convince Harry that he wasn’t homophobic, in kind of the most homophobic way Harry had ever seen. He was just so fucking clueless.
The meeting collapsed into everyone discussing Harry again, and Harry was about to walk out when Louis stood up. Harry was the only one who noticed, so Louis climbed up onto his chair.
“I’M GAY TOO,” he yelled over the noise, and everyone immediately shut up. Harry stared, and Louis shrugged. “I had no reason to come out before, but you’re all being such insensitive twats, acting like you’ve never met a queer person. Well guess what, you’ve known one for three years! We’re just fucking normal people, there’s no need to make Harry feel like a zoo animal over it.”
The rest of that day was full of the office gossiping about the two of them, because obviously two gay men couldn’t be friends without shagging, but Harry didn’t even care. He was sharing the brunt of it with Louis, and it was okay.
Xavier came out the next day, anyway, and that was that. But Harry will always remember his office coming out as the day Louis saved him.
***
Ben calls a meeting and Liam stands by the door to usher everyone in and tell them where to sit. He does this every single time there’s a meeting in the conference room; he seems to think that as the Manager's Assistant (which is very different to being the Assistant Manager, no matter what Liam says) it’s his right to order people into certain seats. Ben lets him, probably because it makes him feel important to have someone directing others on his behalf.
Louis always ignores Liam and sits next to Harry. Liam is always infuriated.
Today’s meeting is essentially a very transparent brainstorming session on ways the company could save money. Liam suggests they turn off the lights to save on their electricity bills. Dan suggests they let some people go and hire fourteen year olds to replace them. Oli suggests they stop paying taxes. Ben writes these ideas on the whiteboard.
Harry suggests they start buying recycled ink cartridges for the printers. Zayn suggests they finally go completely digital, to stop wasting so much money on paper - it is 2015 after all. Jesy suggests Ben gives up his Corporate credit card. Ben tells them to make realistic suggestions.
In the end, it’s a waste of time. Ben has a list of nonsensical ideas that he says he’s going to send to Corporate. He asks Harry to type them up.
After Harry’s finished that, he has a fax confirmation to take to Niall, and then he gets caught up in the annex talking to Niall and Ed.
“Do you think we’re actually going under?” Niall asks.
“Doesn’t look good, does it,” says Harry.
“The chatter I’m hearing from Corporate is that they’re going to shut down a branch by the end of the year,” Ed says. “Maybe sooner.”
“Maybe we should start looking for new jobs,” Harry says, making a face.
When he gets back out into the main part of the office, Louis’s waiting for him at reception. He’s got a stack of paper in front of him that he’s pretending to look through.
“Where’ve you been?” Louis asks, his eyes glittering.
“Talking with Niall and Ed,” Harry says. “Why? What happened?”
“Liam asked me to be in an alliance with him,” Louis says, quietly but gleefully. “He thinks there’s a strong chance people will be getting fired soon, and he wants us to band together to convince Ben to pick other people. He said, seriously, he said, that even though I’m his worst enemy, I’m the only salesman ‘even close to his level’. So I’m his only choice.”
Liam’s sitting at his desk, so Harry tries really hard not to laugh and get his attention. “What does he think this is, Survivor?”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Louis says with a grin. “So this’ll be what I’m doing today.”
Harry grins back at him. “Let me know if I can help.”
*
By the end of the day, Louis has Liam convinced that most if not all of their coworkers are a threat. Accounting in particular are conspiring with Jesy and James to take Liam and Louis down. Liam is suspicious of everyone, to everyone’s utter confusion, and he starts monitoring the breaks people are taking. Louis says he’s made notes on who’s talking to whom.
“I don’t know how to convince him that his job’s safe,” Louis says. “Like, he’s the top selling salesman in the whole company. If he doesn’t feel secure in his job, what chance do the rest of us have?”
“He’s just making it a bigger deal than it has to be,” Harry says. “And he doesn’t trust anyone. Typical Liam, really.”
“Oh my God, I just got an idea,” Louis says, and then he heads back to his desk, whistling shortly as he goes. It’s the signal Liam had come up with to sign they want a meeting; he and Louis have been whistling all day.
Liam and Louis disappear, leaving Harry antsy. That was cruel, to leave Harry out like that. He pouts at no one for a minute or two and then goes back to work.
*
Harry's startled as Louis bolts behind his desk and grabs him by the shoulders, giggling madly.
“He’s going to go to Leeds,” Louis says, crouched down and leaning into Harry as he laughs. “I told him he should spy on the other branches.”
Harry lets out a surprised bark of laughter. “No way,” he says. “Does he have a disguise?”
“That’s the best part,” Louis gasps. “He says he’s going to pick up some hair dye on the way home and dye his hair red!”
Oh no. Ohhh no. Harry can’t breathe for laughing, his stomach hurts. He grabs onto Louis’s hands, still on his shoulders, for leverage. He’s close to sliding off his chair.
“Hey,” says a voice. “What going on here?”
It’s Xavier. He’s just walked in, probably because it’s past five and Harry still hasn’t met him downstairs, and he looks angry. Harry stops laughing instantly and drops his hands from Louis’s.
“Are you actually feeling up my fiancé?” Xavier demands, and Louis lets go of Harry and backs away a step or two.
Harry raises his eyebrows at Xavier, surprised. What the fuck?
“No,” Louis says. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Liam come out from the kitchen. “No, oh my God. This was – we were just laughing about – Liam asked me to be in an alliance with him, like Survivor, and I got him to – he’s gonna dye his hair red. We were just having a laugh.”
“What? Alliance? Survivor?” Now Xavier looks angry and confused. He looks at Liam. “What’s he talking about?”
Liam makes a confused face. “I have no idea,” he says, completely convincingly. “But he’s been giggling with Harry all day.”
Harry’s mouth drops open.
“That’s not true,” Louis protests.
Xavier casts a disgusted look from Liam to Louis to Harry. “Ugh, c’mon, we’re going home,” he says, and he turns and walks out without even waiting for Harry.
“I’m sorry,” Louis says as Harry picks up his coat and bag. His hands flutter like he doesn’t know what to do with them. “I don’t know – I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine, it’s not your fault,” Harry says quickly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” And then he hurries out.
Xavier’s pissed off and silent the whole drive home. Harry’s upset that he’s upset, but he’s also kind of annoyed. He doesn’t know what it looked like but fuck, he and Louis are friends. It shouldn’t be a big deal.
Xavier waits until they get home and they’re inside before he blows up. “I can’t believe you,” he says. “If you’re going to flirt with him, could you not be so blatant? You know how stupid that makes me look?”
“What?” Harry says, genuinely surprised. “I don’t flirt with Louis, I don’t even under—”
“Oh please, you think I don’t have friends in that office?” Xavier spits. “I hear shit all the time, you know, about how close you and Tomlinson are. How he’s at your desk all day, you’re always giggling together over something. Like, fuck, Haz, if you’re gonna cheat on me, at least be subtle about it!”
“What?” Harry gapes at him. “You can’t seriously think I’m cheating on you? Are you fucking joking?”
“Well, I dunno, do I? We never fuck anymore, so you’ve must be getting it from –”
“Our sex life has nothing to do with Louis,” Harry says, furious. “I can’t believe you would honestly think –”
“What am I supposed to think?” Xavier cries. “You’re not happy at home, but I hear at work you’re always happy, and the difference is either him, or a lack of – you know, of me.” His voice dwindles into a sad tone, and Harry deflates.
“I love you,” Harry says dully. “I don’t get where this is coming from. Louis’s my best friend, of course he makes me happy – but so do you. I love you and I’m marrying you. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.”
Xavier seems to deflate as well. He looks like he really wants to believe Harry. “Really?”
“Of course,” Harry says. “I’m marrying you,” he says again, and Xavier gives him a sorry look.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Can I hug you?”
Harry smiles. “C’mere.”
When he has Harry wrapped up in his arms, which is always solid and comforting, Xavier says, “I’m sorry. I just love you so much, I get stupid.”
Harry forgives him and they have make-up sex, which is the first time they’ve had sex in about a month, Harry realises. And it’s okay. As Xavier falls asleep next to him, though, Harry lies awake and wonders if he really is unhappy at home but happy at work, and what that actually means.
***
Things are weird at work the next day. He feels like Louis is avoiding him, and Liam seems very pleased with himself, like this all worked out according to plan. Harry’s still stuck on the things Xavier had said, and how Harry felt when he said them.
He tries to busy himself in work, but there’s only so much he has to do, and he breezes through it without Louis distracting him.
Midway through the morning, Xavier comes upstairs with a coffee for Harry. He used to do that all the time; there’s a café downstairs, and Harry’s always liked their mochaccinos. Xavier used to bring him up a coffee every day, then it was every few days, and now Harry’s pretty sure the last time was a few weeks ago.
So this is clearly an apology mochaccino. Harry appreciates it anyway, and he smiles at Xavier and takes the cup from him. “Thank you,” he says.
“Anytime,” Xavier says. “You know, I realised it’s been a while since I did this. Sorry about that.”
Harry’s surprised. “That’s okay,” he says.
“It’s not, not really,” Xavier says. “I mean, you do so much for me. What do I do in return? No wonder you’re not happy.”
Harry frowns. “I am, though,” he says, and Xavier smiles sadly.
“Alright, Haz,” he says, and then he raps his knuckles against the desk. “S’pose I’d better go back.”
Harry starts to say goodbye, and then he sees Louis approach in his peripheral.
“Hey Xavier, wait a sec,” Louis says. He looks nervous. Harry twitches in sympathy. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for whatever that looked like yesterday. I promise I’m not trying to do anything – Harry’s just my best mate. That’s it.”
Xavier nods. He doesn’t exactly look happy, but he’s not angry either. “I’m sorry too, I overreacted,” he says. “I know you’re just friends.”
Louis nods. “I promise there’s nothing else going on. I’d never.”
Xavier nods too and holds out his hand, and Louis shakes it. Then Xavier says goodbye to the both of them and goes back to the warehouse, and Louis turns to Harry with a smile.
“So,” he says. “How’s your morning been?”
They chat for a while, and everything feels normal again. And Harry should be happy, he knows. It’s good that Xavier and Louis have mended things, and it’s good that Louis’s back to his usual self. Harry’s just. He just feels off, for some reason.
***
The travelling salesman from the Leeds office pops in to pick up some extra CD-Roms, and the whole office implodes. Everyone falls in love with him – he’s witty, and funny, and exceedingly kind. He’s also quite handsome. All the girls are fawning over him, even Jesy, who’s in a serious relationship. It also seems like all the guys are hanging off his every word. He has the entire office eating out of the palm of his hand.
His name’s Greg. Harry and Louis both hang back, they’re not really in the habit of getting involved with the shiny new toys of the office. Harry’s kind of glad Louis hasn’t been sucked in by Greg. As the only other gay guy here, as far as Harry knows, he was a bit curious to see if Louis would be interested. It’s almost a relief that he’s not. Harry doesn’t know what it is about Greg, but he knows that he doesn’t want to lose Louis’s attention to him.
Louis must chat with Greg at some point, though, because after lunch, after Greg leaves, Louis hangs by Harry’s desk and says that he has a date with Greg for that night.
“He won’t be in Manchester long, so we thought there wasn’t much point in waiting,” Louis says.
“Right, good plan,” Harry says faintly. He feels sick, and it takes him all afternoon to identify the feeling as jealousy.
***
Every so often, Louis dies of boredom.
He drops his head on his desk and can’t work anymore. And their deal is, it’s up to Harry to revive him.
Everyone in the office has to fill out their expense reports from the last quarter by the end of the day. Harry’s pretty sure that’s what’s killed Louis. Also, Ben and Liam are out today, which has taken away Louis’s two main sources of distraction. Alright. What can Harry do.
He pulls up the Word document he has, titled ‘cures for office boredom’, which is basically a huge list that he’s compiled over the years. Every now and then he searches the internet and adds to it, so there’s a lot there they haven’t done. Harry skims through the list, and then he smiles. That’s it. Office Olympics.
Harry picks up the phone and dials Louis’s extension. Louis, still with his head on his desk, jumps when his phone rings. Then he picks it up.
“Syco Software, this is Louis.”
“Guess what time it is?” Harry asks.
Louis looks over at him, his eyebrows raised. “What time is it?”
“It’s time for the Office Olympics,” Harry announces.
Louis’s face completely lights up. “Yes,” he says. “You figure out the teams – sorry, countries – and I’ll organise the events.”
Office Olympics is something they came up with a while back, so they already know exactly what they want to do. They’ve even run it by most people in the office before now. They’ve just been waiting for the perfect storm – a day when both Ben and Liam are out of the office, and there’s nothing but boring busywork to do.
Harry decides there’ll be five teams, so he gets out a piece of paper and writes down the first five countries that come to mind: Ireland, USA, Australia, Japan, and France. Then he randomly assigns people to countries – except he puts Niall in Ireland, and Julian in USA, because that’s where they’re from and he knows there’ll be complaints if they’re not in the right country. He also purposely puts himself and Louis in the same country – Australia – because what’s the point if he’s not on Louis’s team? He ends up with three people in each country, which is actually perfect. He’s really pleased with how that turned out.
Harry writes out an email outlining the teams and sends it to everyone. Within minutes, he has the attention of the entire office.
Turns out everyone’s on board. There’s twenty minutes to go until they start, since Harry said opening ceremonies will be at 10:30, so Harry decides to make some gold, silver, and bronze medals using string he found in the supply cupboard, tin foil from the kitchen, and some metallic Sharpies.
*
Louis finishes setting up right before 10:30, and he and Harry gather everyone in front of reception. Harry has a stash of scented candles behind his desk that he puts in the bathrooms, so Louis lights one of those and makes a speech about the eternal flame of the office.
Louis’s come up with four events. The first one is a trivia game, with questions about their office, company and coworkers. Ireland (aka Niall, Ed, and James) wins that one – France comes second, and Australia, Harry’s team, comes third.
The second event is Paper Wad Basketball. Louis’s put a bin at the end of the hallway leading to the lifts, and he’s made a stack of paper balls. The idea is that everyone has to stand three meters away, and each team gets ten balls to throw into the bin. Japan wins that one (so Jesy, Leigh Anne and Oli), Australia comes second, and USA comes third.
The third event is a relay race up and down the stairs – holding a mug of hot tea or coffee. The key is speed, and a lack of spillage is important, so each spill amounts to five seconds deducted off the time. It takes ages, each team going one at a time, and results in several sore hands. Harry finds it extremely difficult. France comes first this time (Jade, Perrie, and Lou), with Japan coming second and Australia coming third – purely because of Louis and Zayn, no thanks to Harry.
Going into the final event, it’s anyone’s game – except Team USA (Julian, Caroline, and Dan, who’s gotten more and more pissed off as the games have gone on). Japan and France are on five points, Australia is on four, and Ireland is on three, so technically any one of them could win it. Harry feels himself getting competitive all of a sudden, and he gets the same vibe from Louis.
The final event seems to take as much skill as it does luck. Louis calls it Rubber Band Archery, and the goal is to flick a rubber band at the centre of a target Louis’s pinned to the wall. Each team member gets five attempts each, and the team with the most successful attempts wins.
It’s hard. Harry practises before it’s Australia’s turn, but he keeps snapping his fingers. Louis’s a pro at it, but both Harry and Zayn only hit the target twice. And then France takes a turn, and Jade’s incredible; she hits the target every time. France wins. Australia comes second, and Ireland comes third.
That leaves them with France on eight points, Australia on six, Japan on five, Ireland on four and USA on one. Harry goes back to his desk and makes a string of paper doves for the Closing ceremonies.
*
It’s such a fun day. They’re not finished until three, but two hours is plenty of time to finish the expense reports when Ben isn’t there bothering everyone. Harry and Louis are talking after the ceremonies about how they have to do it again – Louis wants to talk to Ben about making it an actual thing, across several days. He says he has tons more ideas and he thinks it’d be good for morale.
When Louis walks away, Dan comes over to Harry’s desk. Immediately. Like he was waiting for the moment Louis left.
“What a surprise the two of you came second,” Dan sneers. “What with you organising it. I’ll bet you rigged it.”
Harry frowns, confused. “If we rigged it, why didn’t we win?”
“To shake suspicion, obviously,” Dan says, rolling his eyes. “Come on, Harry, you two chose the events. I’m sure you chose ones you knew you could do.”
Harry tries to bite his tongue. He knows Dan’s just upset because it took him so long to get up the stairs with his cup of coffee. But he can’t help asking, “What events would you have come up with, then?”
“Oh, I have a great game, actually,” Dan says. “I play it every day.”
“Really,” Harry says. “You should’ve suggested it then.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’d have liked that,” Dan says. “See, my game is, I keep a tally of the amount of times Louis gets up from his desk and comes over here, to talk to you.”
Harry’s mouth drops open slightly. “What are – what d’you mean by that?”
“Nothing,” says Dan. “Although I probably shouldn’t show it to Xavier, should I. He might get the wrong idea.”
Then he turns and walks away as Harry fishmouths after him. He’s such a smug, smarmy bastard. He’s always trying to rile Harry up, and he always succeeds. Harry hates that so much.
He tries not to think about it, tries instead to focus on the perfectly lovely day he's had. But Dan's insinuation snakes its way into Harry's mind, like they always do, and it makes him feel off-kilter.
***
Ben’s been acting weird all morning. Harry’s been keeping an eye on him. He’s stayed inside his office, which is unusual, and periodically he’s been letting out these really loud groans. It’s the way he gets when he has to look over something he doesn’t quite understand, but he doesn’t have anything pressing to do today, Harry’s checked.
It’s very weird.
Eventually he notices Harry looking at him and beckons him into his office. Harry gets up.
“Shut the door,” Ben says, and Harry does. “I have a hypothetical question. Who do you think is the worst in the office? Like, at their job?”
Harry frowns. He can maybe guess where this is going. “I… don’t know,” he says.
“C’mon, Harry,” says Ben. “Think! I won’t tell them.”
That’s not really Harry’s issue. “What’s going on, Ben?” he asks.
Ben drops his head back and groans again. “Meredith said I had to fire someone by the end of the month.”
There’s two days to go until the last day of August. What the fuck. “Why did you leave it so late?” Harry asks, even though he knows the answer.
“Because I don’t want to do it, Harry,” Ben cries. “Help me. Can’t you just pick someone? Who’s your least favourite person here?”
Wow, Harry really does not want that responsibility. Even though part of him’s tempted to say Dan, or Oli, or even Liam, he can’t be responsible for someone losing their job. No matter how much he dislikes them, or how much easier it would make his life.
“I like everyone,” he lies.
Ben lets out a long sigh. “That’s completely useless,” he says. “Maybe I’ll just fire Ed. He’s always getting me in trouble with Corporate.”
Harry bites his tongue, because no, Ben’s always getting himself in trouble with Corporate. But he really likes Ed, so he has to say, “You’d have to get another HR person, and they’d do the exact same thing. Plus, Ed’s good for morale. Who would play guitar at our parties?”
Niall would, probably, but Ben just sighs again. “Yeah, okay,” he says. He looks so defeated, Harry has to try to help.
“Do you want to know what I would do?”
“Yes,” Ben says, perking up like he actually thinks that now Harry’s going to say who he’d fire.
“I’d make a list of all the departments and all the people in them. Figure out which department has too many people, and who in it is least essential. If you have to fire someone, you can’t be emotional about it. You’ve gotta look at it as a logistics thing.”
Ben sighs for the hundredth time and drops his head. “Okay, thanks Harry,” he says. “You can go.”
*
“He has to fire someone,” Harry tells Louis at lunch. Louis looks thoughtful for a minute, and then his eyes sparkle.
“What if… we get someone to quit instead?” Louis asks, and Harry smiles.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I’ve been thinking about this one for a while,” Louis says, leaning forward and clasping his hands together on the table in front of him. He looks like a proper businessman pitching a million pound idea. “We make up a really impressive resume. For Liam. And apply for jobs. Preferably ones quite far away.”
Harry cackles. “I’m in.”
*
Louis joins Harry at reception after lunch, and they come up with a resume. It’s kind of hilarious, turning all of Liam’s traits into something desirable. They make Ben his only reference, with Louis explaining that Harry can redirect the call to Louis’s extension.
“He’s either going to actually get the job and then he’ll leave, or he’s going to blow it and it’ll be hilarious,” Louis says gleefully. “Either way, it’s a win-win for us.”
Harry spends the rest of the day in a state of excited anxiety, his heart jumping every time the phone rings. Logically he knows they’d only just put in Liam’s applications, so he probably wouldn’t be phoned yet. Harry just can’t wait for it to happen.
He pouts at Louis when they’re heading to the lifts at the end of the day, and Louis laughs and ruffles his hair.
“Patience, Curly,” he says. “Sometimes the payoff is even sweeter if you’ve got to wait for it.”
*
The next day, as soon as Louis gets in, he asks Liam if anything interesting happened to him after work yesterday. Harry smiles.
Liam makes a face. “Not really,” he says. “I watched the new episode of The Flash. It was good, can’t wait for next week. Is that what you mean?”
“Uh,” Louis says. “Yep. Definitely. I didn’t see it, what happened?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” Liam says, scandalised. “You have to watch for yourself!”
“Right,” Louis says, and then he winks at Harry when Liam stops paying attention to him.
*
It happens at 11:23. Liam’s mobile rings and Harry perks up.
“Yes, this is Liam Payne,” Liam says, and then he listens to whoever’s speaking with a slight frown on his face. “McAfee? Really?”
Harry almost squeals. He and Louis had applied for a bunch of British companies, but they also thought they should go for the big guns too. He’d never actually dreamed that McAfee would call, let alone be the first.
“Can I ask how you got my resume?” Liam asks, and after a minute his eyes slide to Ben in his office, playing with the camera on his desk. The look on Liam’s face is priceless; Harry knows the McAfee person has said that he was recommended by his employer, and now Liam’s sending Ben a look of smug gratitude. Like he knows this was due to his own merit, but he’s thankful Ben did it.
And Ben’s just wasting time taking pictures of the wall in his office.
Harry and Louis exchange a smile. Harry’s trying so hard not to laugh. He really wishes he could hear the whole phone call, not just Liam’s end of it.
“Oh, that’s definitely correct,” Liam says. “I’m definitely the best seller at my current company. I can send over my sales record if you’d like – yes… well, I’m not sure about that – but yes, I’d absolutely be willing to relocate. Oh, I think I could really be an asset to you also.”
Harry bites his lip. McAfee definitely think Liam is a million times more qualified and extraordinary than he is. While Liam is actually the best seller at Syco, and the most committed, Louis had made it seem like he was essential to the operation of the company. He’s sure McAfee think they’d be getting a sales wizard.
“Oh,” Liam says, and his cheeks pinken. “Well, thank you. I can see why you’d think so… hm, is that so? I think you may have an old copy of my resume, I should send you over a new one – I’ve moved up a class in boxing, you see… Of course that’s relevant, what do you mean?”
Harry snorts, and Louis widens his eyes at him. Liam’s not paying any attention, though, clearly frustrated with whoever he’s talking to.
“It makes me the most valuable part of any office,” Liam says. “If we’re attacked, I’m positioned to defend – no, well, it hasn’t, but if it did – ”
Harry ducks his head under the bench part of his desk and silently laughs into his hands. Fuck.
“How could you say that?” Liam cries, his voice getting shriller. Harry presses his head against his desk, almost in tears. “It not only makes me a more valuable asset, but it’s an important interest of mine! Isn’t that included in resumes? Hobbies and interests? … It is relevant! How dare you?!”
When Harry peeks above the bench of his desk, Liam’s voice has risen so much that everyone is staring at him.
“Well, I’m not sure I want to work for a company that would belittle my skills like that! If you can’t see how valuable it makes me – of course I know other words, that’s just the most fitting one – ”
This time Louis makes a strangled sort of noise. When Harry looks at him, he’s looking back with wide eyes, his lips pressed together. Looking at him makes Harry want to laugh even more.
“What?” Liam screeches. “How dare you question my sales record?!”
Oh, Harry can’t take it. His stomach hurts from holding in his laughter.
“That’s it! I wouldn’t work for you in a million years! I will, it’s a better company than you by miles! Yeah, same to you mate!” Liam pulls the phone away from his ear and viciously presses the end call button. He slams his phone onto his desk, breathing heavily.
The office is silent for a moment, everyone looking around warily.
“Everything okay, Liam?” Jade asks tentatively.
Liam lets out a whoosh of air. “Yeah,” he says. “Just some wanker at McAfee trying to offer me a job.”
“Are you sure that’s what was happening?” Louis asks.
“Yes,” Liam says, and then he looks at Ben’s office. Ben’s still playing with his camera, totally oblivious. “Actually…” Liam gets up and marches into Ben’s office.
Louis stands too and comes over to Harry.
“How much d’you wanna bet he’s trying to leverage a non-existent offer from McAfee?” Louis asks.
Harry lets out a surprised laugh, then Louis turns and they both watch Ben and Liam. Ben’s face absolutely lights up for a moment, and then Liam says something and his expression drops. Then he says something angrily and yells for Liam to get out.
Liam does, and heads back to his desk looking disappointed. Louis whirls around, grinning at Harry.
“That was amazing,” Harry says. “I almost feel bad for him.”
“Don’t,” Louis says. “He nicked my contract renewal with In Touch on Monday, when Ben had me stuck in his office.”
“What?” Harry says. “But that’s like a quarter of your yearly commission!”
Maybe Harry shouldn’t know that, but In Touch Networks is one of their more important clients. Louis always looks forward to their contract renewal.
“Yes, Styles, I know,” Louis says, both exasperated and amused. “So. He deserved it.”
“You don’t deserve that,” Harry says. “I know he’s pinched clients from you before, but never anyone that important…”
“I think it was partly by accident,” Louis says. “We’d been trying to get in contact all day and kept missing each other. Then, when I was in with Ben, apparently they called Liam’s extension instead of mine by mistake.” Louis shrugs. “He said he thought it would be unprofessional to correct them. And that he worked the sale, so he should get the commission.”
“Fuck that,” Harry says. “Fuck, Lou. You deserve so much better than this place.” An idea strikes him, then. “You should be the one applying for those jobs.”
Several weird, unidentifiable expressions flit across Louis’s face before he huffs a laugh. “Are you forgetting the part where we exaggerated Liam’s – everything?”
“Well, but you still should,” Harry says. “You’d be such a good fit for some of them, I’m sure. You just – you shouldn’t be stuck here.”
Louis gives him a funny look. “Right, yeah,” he says. “Okay.” Then he turns and goes back to his desk. Harry doesn’t quite understand what just happened.
*
Louis doesn’t talk to him for the rest of the day. It’s horrible and Harry still doesn’t really get why. Louis does say goodbye on his way out, his voice detached and weird, and Harry gets up quickly and follows him out.
“Hey, Lou, wait,” he says once they’re out near the lifts. Louis stops and turns around. “I’m sorry about what I said, about the jobs.”
Louis shrugs. A corner of his mouth is still down-turned. Harry hates that.
“I was being stupid,” he continues. “I mean, yeah, I do believe you deserve better than this place. But if you left I don’t know what I’d do. I’d have to follow you.”
Louis’s mouth quirks into a smile. Harry relaxes.
“What, Styles, d’you plan to get a reception gig wherever I work?” Louis asks, and Harry smiles.
“Exactly,” he says. “That’s exactly my plan.”
“Well,” Louis says. “I don’t think McAfee’s hiring for reception. I guess we’ll both have to stay here.”
Harry’s grin widens. “I guess so,” he says.
*
Harry starts the last day of August with Dan dropping a stack of folders on his desk.
“These are all of our suppliers,” Dan says. “From program design to production. I need you to go through each of them and photocopy the pages that say when our contracts end and how much we’re paying them.”
“Good morning to you too, Dan,” Harry says, sitting down at his desk. “And… what? Why?”
He’s never had to do that before. And why is he the one doing it? Harry’s starting to wonder what it is Dan even does here. It seems like Harry does all of his work.
“Because I need it done,” Dan says with a roll of his eyes. He pushes the stack of folders closer to Harry. “By midday.”
“Right,” Harry says dully. “Yeah, okay.” He’s going to have to move things around on his to-do list.
“Oh, also,” Dan says before he goes, leaning closer to Harry’s desk. “Was I seeing things yesterday or did you and Louis have a lovers tiff?”
Harry frowns. “What? We’re not – ”
“Spare me,” Dan spits. “Everyone knows you’re fucking him.”
Harry’s mouth drops open.
“What was it yesterday? Was he upset you still haven’t left your dropkick fiancé?”
“Xavier is not a dropkick,” Harry fumes, his fists clenching. “And Louis and I are friends.”
Dan laughs. It’s not a pleasant sound. “Uh huh,” he says. “By midday, Styles.”
Louis comes back from the kitchen as Dan walks away. He’s holding two cups of tea, and he sets one on his desk before bringing the other over to Harry.
“You alright, love?” Louis asks.
Harry feels like he’s snapped out of a daze. “Oh. Yeah. Thanks.”
“Of course,” Louis says. “What happened, what did that dickhead want?”
Harry frowns. He never tells Louis about the insinuations Dan makes. He doesn’t know why, exactly; it feels like the sort of thing they should be able to laugh at together. But Harry just doesn’t find it very funny.
“He wants me to go through those,” Harry gestures to the folders. “And photocopy the pages about payment and the end of contracts.”
Louis looks down at the folders, his nose scrunched up in confusion. “These are our suppliers,” he says. “That seems… shady.”
“Yeah, I thought it was odd,” Harry says.
“And why couldn’t he do it himself? Or get Zayn to do it? We have a temp for a reason.”
Harry shrugs.
“He walks all over you, sunshine,” Louis says gently. “You don’t have to take it.”
“I know,” Harry says. “But I don’t want to upset anyone.”
Louis studies him, his expression calculating, and then he picks up the stack of folders and marches over to Dan’s desk.
Harry blinks after him for a moment. Then he follows, although he hangs a desk clump behind. He wants to support Louis, especially when he’s acting on his behalf, but he doesn’t want to be yelled at.
Louis drops the folders on Dan’s desk, making him jump. “Do your own dirty work,” Louis says. “Or get Zayn to do it, it’s more his job than Harry’s. Harry isn’t your fucking personal assistant. He doesn’t have to do any of the shit you demand of him.”
Dan looks shocked for a minute, and then a shit-eating grin spreads across his slimy face. “Can’t handle anyone else telling your boy what to do, eh, Tomlinson?”
Louis doesn’t reply for a second. Harry can’t see his face, and he feels sick. Half of the office is watching; Harry really doesn’t want Dan to start insinuating anything.
“Fuck you,” Louis says, then he spins on his heel and heads straight to Ben’s office.
Dan’s still grinning after him, and then his eyes land on Harry and he sneers. “Can’t fight your own battles, eh, Styles?”
“I, no,” Harry says. “I don’t… mind. But he’s right.”
“Of course you’d say that,” Dan says. Then he waves a hand. “Fine. If you can’t handle the simplest of tasks, I’ll ask Zayn. Always knew you were rather slow.”
Harry breathes in sharply. He doesn’t know if he’s more offended or angry. He forces himself to go back to his desk before he does anything to get himself fired.
Nobody comes over to comfort him, and Louis is still in talking with Ben. It’s one of the things Harry dislikes most about this office; the lack of compassion. They all love watching shit go down, but nobody has a kind word to say afterwards.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Ed and maybe Niall would be comforting him if they weren’t over in the annex. And Jade’s not in today, she’s usually quite kind. So it’s not everyone. Just most of them.
*
Ben calls Dan into his office only a few minutes after Louis leaves it. Louis shoots Harry a quick little smile, and Harry suddenly remembers that Ben’s supposed to fire someone today.
He doesn’t want to get his hopes up, because this might not even be related to that, but then Dan starts yelling. It’s muffled, due to the closed door, but it’s pretty clear he’s angry.
Louis raises his eyebrows at Harry, looking pleased with himself. Harry has to smile back.
Ben’s door is wrenched open with a loud rattle and Dan storms over to his desk. He upends the box he and Lou use for recycling, all the paper inside tumbling to the floor, and starts shoving his belongings inside.
“You don’t have to leave just yet,” Ben says. “You can stay until the end of the day.”
“Why the fuck would I do that,” Dan says through gritted teeth. As he finishes throwing his stuff in the box, a sick sort of satisfaction is curling through Harry’s gut. Jesus. This is really happening.
Dan picks up his box and starts to walk towards the door, and then he drops his box onto the cabinet beside Louis’s desk clump.
“You,” he says. “This is your fault.”
Louis tilts his head to the side. “Me?” he says, blinking up at Dan innocently. “What did I do?”
“Fuck you, you insolent little shit,” Dan growls. “You’re so fucking incompetent it’s laughable, you’d think you were getting paid to moon over Styles, that’s the only thing you actually do well around here!”
Louis looks a bit pale, and yeah, Harry fucking hates Dan. How could he say that about Louis, who’s anything but incompetent, who when he puts his mind to it is the brightest person in this office?
Then a slow smile spreads across Louis’s face. “Remind me, Dan, what is it you do here?”
“I’ll fucking ruin you!” Dan bellows.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Ben says. “If you’re going to leave then leave. Don’t make me call security.”
“I’ve worked here for eleven years,” Dan yells, rounding on Ben. “I’m close personal friends with Simon! You’ll regret this!”
“Are you really?” Ben drawls. “I wonder why he’s never mentioned you.”
Dan splutters. “We’re good friends,” he insists. “I’ll see that he punishes you for this.”
“I was told to let someone go,” Ben says. “That didn’t come with an asterisk saying Not Dan Wootton. Think it’s safe to say Simon doesn’t care about you.”
Dan visibly shakes with rage, then he picks up his box of stuff and storms towards the door. “Fuck you Ben, and fuck the rest of you too,” he yells before he slams the door behind him.
The office is silent for a moment. Ben takes a deep breath.
“Thank you, Ben,” Harry says. He never thought he’d say it, but Ben actually did the right thing.
*
“I owe you,” Harry says to Louis later.
Louis shrugs. “He made you miserable,” he says. “And he’s a bastard. I hated him too.”
Harry smiles. “Still. Name your price.”
Louis chuckles. “Dunno. Have lunch with me?”
“I’d’ve done that anyway,” Harry says with a laugh.
“Well,” Louis says, tapping his finger against his chin. “We could go to the café next door.”
Harry nods. “Yeah, alright,” he says. “And it’s on me.”
“If you insist,” Louis says, grinning. “Was as much for me as you, Curly. We’re all better off without him.”
“Okay,” Harry says. He can’t stop smiling; he knows it was mostly for him.
“But I’ll take a free lunch,” Louis says, and Harry laughs.
“He was wrong, by the way,” Harry says after a minute. “You aren’t incompetent. You’re amazing.”
Louis smiles at him softly, his eyes fond. “Thanks, love,” he says. “I tend to assume Dan’s wrong about everything, but that’s nice to hear.”
“Anytime,” Harry says. He taps his fingers against Louis’s desk. “Okay. See you at lunch.”
Louis’s laugh rings out behind him as he walks back to his desk. Harry grins at him once he sits down.
*
Going down to the café for lunch is so, so much nicer than eating sandwiches or leftovers in the breakroom. If it weren’t a question of money Harry would suggest they do this every day.
“What’d you end up saying to Ben, anyway?” Harry asks.
Louis shrugs. “The truth,” he says. “That Dan’d been bullying you, that nobody'd care if he left, and that I had reason to believe he might be doing something shady with our suppliers.”
“And Ben believed you?”
Louis shrugs again. “Must have,” he says. “I dunno, Dan probably said something to incriminate himself. He’s a fucking moron after all.”
Harry snorts. “Yeah,” he says. “Well, I’m glad you did. Say something, I mean. S’gonna make work a lot more pleasant, I think.”
Louis smiles. “Honestly, it was my pleasure.”
***
September begins with Corporate sending out a memo to say that the company will be instituting a Take Your Children To Work Day. Ed holds a meeting to tell everyone and answer any questions, since Ben is woefully uninformed on the subject. (Harry knows he got several emails about it. He just ignored them.)
The whole concept is pretty weird, and it’s definitely not a British thing – Harry Googles it and finds out that it’s only done in the States, Canada and Australia – but Ed just shrugs when that’s pointed out.
“Dunno what to tell you,” he says. “Dunno why we’re doing it, exactly. I heard something about Simon wanting to copy American businesses – but your guess is as good as mine.”
In the end, Harry’s pretty excited. It’s only a week away, and Harry loves kids. American or not, he thinks this is a fun idea.
*
Harry comes into work early on Take Your Children To Work Day. He’s bought extra sweets for his desk – a lot of extra sweets, maybe too many, if he’s honest. But he really wants the kids to like him, and if you can’t bribe kids with lollies, what can you bribe them with?
Okay. That’s a thought he’s not going to be repeating out loud. But the point stands.
Slowly, people start trickling in with their children. Lou brings her three year old Lux in, and Caroline brings her two year old Brooklyn. James has two kids, four year old Max and baby Carey. Harry’s met all of these kids before, has even had dinner at James’s house once, but he definitely doesn’t think any of them will remember him.
They don’t. Carey barely acknowledges him. Max takes a handful of sweets and says thank you, then waddles off behind James. Brooklyn doesn’t even look at him, glued to her mother’s side. Lux is the only one who actually says hello.
“Hi,” she says, big blue eyes staring up at him. “I’m Lux.”
“Hi, I’m Harry,” Harry says.
“Nice to meet you,” she says formally. Harry tries not to laugh.
“Very nice to meet you too,” he says, then tips one of his sweet bowls in her direction. “Would you like a sweet?”
Lux looks at her mum first, who nods, and then she takes two lollypops. “Fank you, Harry,” she says.
“You’re welcome,” Harry says, beaming. “You can come back anytime.”
Lux nods seriously, and then Lou ushers her over to her desk.
So, not an overly encouraging start. But Harry isn’t going to let it get him down.
He’s just looking over his to-do list for the day when the front door opens and he hears two more squealing little voices. That’s odd. Nobody else in the office has kids. And then he looks up.
Oh. Louis’s come in the door, and he’s got two toddlers with him, one with bright red curls and the other with long blonde hair. He’s smiling at them and shushing them, and Harry’s heart is slamming in his chest. Louis doesn’t – okay. Louis doesn’t have kids. Harry vaguely remembers something about young twin siblings and calms down. This must be them.
He’s confused for a moment, only because he thought Louis’s family lived in Doncaster, but then he remembers that Louis’s new stepdad is from Manchester. Maybe his family are out here for a visit.
“Hi,” Louis says when they get to reception, grinning at Harry. He hoists the blonde kid up onto his hip. “You guys wanna meet someone special?”
The blonde one nods while the redhead shouts yes.
“Shhh,” Louis says. Harry gets the feeling he’ll be saying that all day. “Okay, munchkins, this is Harry. Remember that. Harry.”
The redhead looks impatient. “I’m Doris,” she says. “And that’s Ernie.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Harry says, like he had with Lux.
“Harry’s a lovely person,” Louis tells his siblings seriously. “And if you’re very good today, he’ll give you some sweets.”
“Oooh,” Doris says, noticing the bowls on Harry’s desk. “Now?”
“No, I said later, if you’re good,” Louis says. Ernie unlatches his face from Louis’s neck to see.
“Please, Achoo?” Doris says, pouting a bit. Harry’s heart swells, it’s too cute. She called him Achoo, for Chrissakes.
“Don’t give me that face, little miss,” Louis says. “C’mon, let’s get you to my desk.”
*
Harry, Jesy and Jade, as The Party Planning Committee, have blocked out the entire day for activities with the kids. There’s a good thirty minutes at the start of the day free, though, to give the kids some time to settle in and get used to the office environment. Harry uses the time to check his phone messages and reply to some emails, but he can’t help shooting glances at Louis and his adorable brother and sister. He’s pulled a chair out from the conference room and put it beside his desk for Doris and Ernie to share. They’re asking him to explain everything on his desk. Harry keeps finding himself smiling fondly.
Ben comes out of his office a few minutes before 9:30.
“Is everyone here, then?” he asks, and Harry nods. Everyone’s been here for a solid thirty minutes at least. “Good. Hello children,” he booms grandly, spreading out his arms. “Welcome to our little kingdom! This is where your mum or dad comes every day, and these people are their family away from home. That makes us your family too.”
Harry catches James shaking his head at his kids.
“Welcome! We’re very happy to have you,” Ben continues. “I’m Ben, and I’m the big boss here. That makes me like the daddy of the office.”
Wow. Harry really wishes he’d never heard that. He exchanges a horrified look with Louis.
“Please feel free to wander around and talk to whoever you’d like. Just don’t touch anything without asking first. And, without further ado, let me introduce you to today’s coordinator – Harry?”
Harry stands up.
“Harry’s in charge of you, so I’ll leave him to it,” Ben says, then he disappears back into his office.
“Right,” Harry says. “Erm, well, actually, Jade and Jesy are in charge too.” He gestures for the girls to stand up, and they do. “That’s Jade, and that’s Jesy, and I’m Harry. We’ve got some fun stuff planned for you today, so you hopefully won’t be bored sitting in our stuffy office.”
Harry looks around, seeing that each child is staring at him with wide eyes.
“Um,” he says. “Right. Time for our first activity, I think. Kids follow me, and anyone else who’d like to join.”
He leads everyone into the conference room, which has been more or less set up to look like a preschool room. Harry thinks it looks pretty good. They’ve collected a bunch of toys and colouring books and games, as well as pillows and blankets to make the space more comfortable.
Luckily, they’d bought extras of everything, so there’s enough for Doris and Ernie too. The first activity doesn’t require anything anyway.
“I hope it’s not a bother, having two extras,” Louis says quietly to Harry as everyone’s getting seated. “Mum and Dan are out here visiting his family, but they have tickets to some expo today and it’d just be a hassle to bring the kids. I asked Ben if I could bring them rather than bother with having them minded, he said we barely have any kids in this office so may as well. I gather he didn’t tell you, though.”
Harry makes a face. “He didn’t, but it’s fine,” he says. “We’ve got extras of everything. And it’s wonderful to meet them.”
Louis smiles, his whole face lighting up. “I’m happy you’re meeting them,” he says, earnestly but unnecessarily. It’s pretty obvious. Harry finds it quite endearing.
The first thing planned for today is just a meet and greet sort of thing. More people had come into the conference room than Harry had expected, so there’s more than just the children and their parents, but that’s fine.
“What we’re going to do is just go around the room and introduce ourselves,”: Harry says. “If you work here, you can explain what it is you do, and if you’re one of our young visitors, maybe you can tell us what you want to do when you grow up.”
It goes smoothly, the first activity, and it's very cute, watching the kids talk about their dreams. Harry's looking forward to the rest of the day.
*
At the end of the day, they gather the children in the conference room again for a bit of a jam session.
Ed’s sat in the centre with his guitar, and each of the kids has a percussion instrument, borrowed from the school Jade’s mum works at. Niall’s leading them in a song that he seems to be making up as he goes along. Harry watches Louis singing with his brother and sister and can't stop smiling.
It's been such a lovely day. Harry's bonded with Louis's siblings especially, which makes him happy. And he's loved watching Louis with them. Louis clearly loves them so much, and they love him, and he's so good with them, it tugs on Harry's heartstrings. Harry is so, so hopelessly endeared, and it feels weird, how much he loves that Louis is good with children. But he thinks that anyone would find it heartwarming, watching Louis with Doris and Ernie. It doesn't mean anything.
That's starting to feel like Harry's life fucking motto.
***
Harry knows he thrives on routine.
He and Xavier have a steady one at the moment. Have done for years now. They get up, Harry makes coffee and breakfast while Xavier showers, they eat, Harry showers and dresses, they drive to work. At work Harry has his to-do lists and Louis. He and Xavier drive home after work, and Harry puts tea on, and then they watch telly together while they browse Facebook and Instagram until bedtime. Or Xavier goes out. And that’s how it goes, every day.
And Harry should be content with it. He knows he used to be.
Harry thrives on routine. He’s not sure why his current routine makes him feel so empty.
*
Sometimes when Harry plays the Sims, he just lets them do whatever they like. Sometimes he gets busy work done while they go about their lives in the background. There’s something kind of soothing about it.
That’s what he’s doing today. Liam’s at work, and Xavier’s watching TV, and Harry and Louis are in the same room as him, both very invested in the conversation they’re having. They’ve been giggling and swaying towards each other for ages; Harry’s been looking up periodically, expecting one of them to get bored and do something else, but it hasn’t happened.
They’re kind of flirting, but they do that sometimes of their own accord. Harry just ignores it; his Sim is happily engaged after all. And then Harry looks up again, and Sim Harry and Sim Louis are kissing.
Sim Xavier stops watching TV and jumps up, yelling. A notification pops up to say that Harry’s relationship with Xavier has suffered, but his relationship with Louis has improved.
Harry stares at the screen, dumbfounded. He never, ever expected that to happen.
He thinks his Sim self will be upset that his relationship with Xavier has been affected, but instead a new Wish pops up: Harry wants to kiss Louis. What the fuck.
Harry cancels the wish, and in the time it takes him to do that, Sim Harry and Sim Louis are making out again. Harry cancels the action and hurriedly quits the game.
The awful thing, though, is when it asks if he wants to save his progress, he clicks Yes.
Or maybe the truly awful thing is that he kind of, sort of, maybe understands why Sim Harry did what he did.
*
Harry’s not unhappy. He’s not.
Part of him thinks that if he has to keep telling himself that, it might not be true.
He and Xavier are just in a rut, that’s all. It’s perfectly normal. They’ve been together for five years, it makes sense that their relationship would hit a lull.
That’s what Harry thinks when he’s being optimistic. When he’s not, he wonders if he’s only with Xavier because it’s been five years, because he’s already committed so much time. Harry believes in fairytales, in true love and happily ever afters, he wants to be married with kids before he’s thirty. He wants that so badly that he wonders if he’s only with Xavier because they’re on track for it and being with him is easier than starting over with someone new. It’s better than being alone.
When Harry was growing up, he watched his mum leave two unhappy marriages. Then he watched her search for her happy ending, not settling for anything less. And she met Robin, and she got her fairytale. Harry watched her and thought he’d be the same, except he’d wait to have kids until he met his soulmate. He remembers feeling a deep sadness when he realised that his parents weren’t right for each other, they weren’t each other’s happy endings. He vowed to only have kids with his soulmate, and to never settle for anything less.
His sister Gemma fell in love with her childhood sweetheart, and they're still together. They're the definition of soulmates, Harry thinks. And when he got together with Xavier in secondary, he thought they were a similar story. It had felt right, back then.
Now, it feels like everything's changed. Sometimes he wonders if he’s settling. If Xavier really is his soulmate. Sometimes he thinks they’re all wrong for each other, that they’re only together because they always have been, that if they met now they wouldn’t fall in love. He thinks the mere fact that he’s questioning it is a bad sign.
In his darkest moments, he wonders if what he feels for Xavier really is love, true love, or if it’s just what his mum felt for his dad. If his true love is really out there, if there’s someone else who could make him feel so, so much more.
***
The Syco Spheres are coming up. Harry’s completely dreading it.
It’s an awards ceremony Ben made up. Harry thinks the name is supposed to be inspired by the Golden Globes. It happens once a year, and Ben MCs, so it’s full of insulting jokes and insulting awards and every year Harry wins the Longest Engagement Award, which is always a slap in the face. He hates it.
Harry’s positive they’re the only branch to have an awards show. The other branches don’t know how lucky they are.
This year, Ben has Harry set up in the conference room, watching old videos of past Spheres to get inspiration for his speech and the awards. So not only does he have to get an award very soon that makes him feel terrible about himself, he has to watch his past self get the award over and over again.
The third Spheres is the worst to look back on. It's Harry's second Spheres, he'd been out for only a few weeks, and had been engaged for a year, at that point. They’d actually had vague plans for the next spring. He’d laughed as he’d accepted the award, and he’d said, “Not for much longer!”
He looks so young, so sure of what he wants. It makes Harry’s heart ache.
Ben stops in after Harry’s finished watching the third year. “Oh good, you’ve only watched one,” he says, completely inaccurately. “I was thinking, since this is the fifth Spheres, it’s pretty special, yeah? We should have a highlights reel. Do you think you can mark down timestamps of the funniest moments?”
“As well as keeping track of the awards and writing down your best jokes,” Harry says, already tired.
“I’ll put together the highlight reel myself, don’t worry about that,” Ben says. “I studied film at uni, you know.”
Yes. Harry knows. He sighs. “Sure,” he says. Ben leaves and Harry restarts the first video. At least he's not in this one.
“Hey,” Louis says from the doorway. “You okay?”
“Not really,” Harry says. “I’m basically cataloguing a trainwreck, right now.”
“Plus, you know, having to watch yourself get the same award over and over again really builds up the suspense for Friday,” Louis says.
“Yeah, that’s the worst part,” Harry says, and sighs. “It just gets sadder with each year, you know? I’m just watching myself, like, I’m getting older but I’m standing still.”
“You’re not,” Louis says with a sympathetic frown. Harry kind of wishes he’d come inside and give Harry a hug, but he gets that that might be weird in the middle of the office. “There’s nothing wrong with having a long engagement. You’re not standing still.”
Harry begs to differ, but he doesn’t. He just sighs for the millionth time and says, “Yeah, okay,” and starts up the video. Louis makes a noise, but when Harry looks back over, he’s gone.
*
Ben insists every year that they dress up for the Spheres, and if they don’t, he roasts every aspect of their outfit from the stage. So Harry’s wearing one of his nicest shirts, which is made of silk and a creamy colour, unbuttoned to let his chest breathe, with tight black jeans and his most expensive hat and his gold glitter boots. He thinks he looks quite nice.
Xavier wears a light blue button-up and black jeans, saying that he’s just worked all day and he’s tired, he’s not going to put in more effort than that. He looks nice enough, though, so it’s not like Harry’s bothered. He always rolls up the sleeves when he wears a button-up and it makes his arms look good.
Every year, Ben rents out the back room of the same pub. When they get there, Xavier goes straight over to the boys from the warehouse, and Harry sighs and joins him. He spots Louis from across the room, and can’t help noticing that he looks better than usual – his usually shaggy hair is in a quiff, which makes him look sophisticated, and he’s wearing a blazer over a white button-up. It makes his shoulders look broader. Harry needs a drink.
Ben starts with butchering the lyrics to Pharrell’s Happy, and then he has an opening monologue where he ‘playfully’ insults half the people there. He has a pretty harsh dig at the warehouse guys, something about them being lazy, and after the first award, Ashton and Michael are muttering about leaving. The next thing Harry knows, the whole warehouse group is leaving and Harry’s taken along with them. As he goes, all he sees is the matching disappointment on Louis and Ben’s faces.
“Wait, stop,” he says to Xavier once they’re outside. “I don’t want to go.”
“What? But you hate this whole stupid thing,” Xavier says.
“I know, but – I don’t know, I think I have to stay,” Harry says.
“God, Harry, you’re such a fucking pushover,” Xavier says. Harry’s blood boils immediately. “You don’t have to do anything. Why don’t you come out with the boys, we’ll have a good time.”
“No, you know what, I want to stay,” Harry says.
“Haz, c’mon,” Xavier says.
“No, you know, I’m just doing what you wanted, I’m just not being a pushover,” Harry says.
Xavier sighs. “Get in the car, Haz.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Harry says. “I said I’m staying. So I’m staying. Go have fun or whatever.”
“Fine,” Xavier snaps. “See you later, then.”
“Fucking fine,” Harry says, and valiantly does not flip him off as he walks back into the pub.
Stupid fucking arsehole fiancés. He’s fuming by the time he gets inside and over to Louis’s table. How dare he assume that because Harry’s apparently a pushover, he’ll do whatever Xavier wants? Ugh.
“You’re back,” Louis says, surprised.
“Yep,” Harry says, and reaches over and steals Louis’s beer.
“Sure, you can have that,” Louis says with a grin as Harry drains half of it.
“Thanks,” Harry says. “My fiancé fucking sucks.”
Louis laughs. “Okay. How are you getting home?”
Harry shrugs. “I’ll go with someone. Get a tacky.”
“Taxi?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Okay,” Louis says, laughing again. “I’ll look after you.”
For some reason that makes Harry feel warm and pleasant. He can’t help smiling to himself, and wow. He might already be quite tipsy.
“And next we have the award for Most Annoying Ginger,” Ben says. “Tell you what, there was some stiff competition this year. On the one hand, Oli’s a giant prat, but on the other, Ed’s a major buzzkill.”
Harry meets Louis’s eyes and they crack up, saluting each other and saying “Major Buzzkill.”
Ben shoots them a confused look, but continues, “In the end, the committee had to go with their guts, and so the award goes to – Ed Sheeran!”
Ed rolls his eyes and reluctantly gets up to accept the same award he’s gotten for the last five years.
“Speech, speech,” Harry yells.
“Uh,” Ed says into the mic. “I’d like to thank Corporate, and employment equality law, and Ben for ignoring the rules, the law, and common sense.”
Ben makes a face, but he gets back to the mic as soon as Ed leaves. “Next up, we have Most Prattish Ginger – ”
*
After Jade’s won the Bluest Hair Award, and Jesy’s won Sneakiest Salesperson, and Perrie’s won the Bubbliest Blonde Award, and Harry’s stolen drinks from everyone around him, Ben announces that the next award is for the Sunshiniest Smile.
“This goes to the person in the office with the best, most infectious smile,” he says.
“Oh,” Harry says, sitting up and nudging Louis. “If you don’t win this, I’ll stage a protest. I’ll start heckling.”
Louis giggles, going to fidget with his fringe and then just touching his forehead. Harry thinks he looks flattered and a bit bashful, which is very cute.
“Louis Tomlinson!” Ben says, and Louis flushes and stands up. Harry whoops loudly and gives him a standing ovation.
“Sit down, Curly, for God’s sake,” Louis says into the mic with a laugh. Harry does. “Um, I s’pose I’d like to thank me mum for me genetics, and I’d like to thank Harold for giving me somethin' to smile about.”
Everyone coos and Louis flashes a cheesy grin, and Harry is so, so warm. He feels sparkles spreading from the centre of his back to his fingertips. Louis comes back to their table and Harry tips into his side.
“Nobody more deserving,” Harry says seriously.
“Thank you, darling,” Louis says, and Harry buries his flushed face in Louis’s arm.
*
“Next up we have the Hottest In The Office Award,” Ben says, and Harry hears groans. Harry agrees. Every year this goes to one of the girls, and it’s always at least a little bit gross. “And the winner is… Zayn Malik! Get that beautiful face up here!”
Harry spins around to look at Zayn, who looks stunned. There’s only a smattering of applause, as if everyone else is surprised too, and then Zayn gets up. He takes his award and goes back to his seat as fast as he can. He looks vaguely horrified, it’s very awkward.
“Well, we’ve found out something new and interesting tonight,” Louis says with a laugh. “I think Ben has a tiny crush on Zayn. A very heterosexual crush, I’m sure.”
As the night’s gone on, as Harry’s gotten drunker, he can tell he’s paying less and less attention to Ben’s skits and weirdly not as insulting as usual awards, and instead he’s watching Louis. But Louis is just. He’s just. He’s fascinating.
“Yes?” Louis says. He’s watching Harry too, with one of his sunshine smiles. “Are you giving me that intense stare for a reason, pet?”
“You’re just,” Harry says. He blinks, slowly; he thinks he’d forgotten to do that, maybe, because his eyes kind of burn. “Good. To, like. Sit and admire.”
Louis giggles. He’s pretty drunk too, now, Harry thinks. Maybe. “Thanks, love,” he says. “’m glad you’re admiring me.”
Harry smiles. “Always, Lou,” he says. He means it.
*
“And now, the award you’ve all been waiting for,” Ben says.
Oh no. That’s the way Ben announces Harry’s award every year. He says it’s funny because they’re all waiting for Harry to get married. Harry downs the rest of his drink and prepares himself.
“This is the most obvious award of the night,” Ben’s saying. “Nobody else but this person could win this particular award.”
Harry rolls his eyes. For fuck’s sake Ben, get on with it.
“And so the award for Deepest Dimples in the office goes to our very own Mr Harry Styles!” Ben booms into the mic.
Harry’s jaw drops. He knows he’s already been swaying quite a bit in his chair but he feels like he could fall off it. He’s simply stunned.
Louis nudges him. “Go on, Curly, get your award.”
Harry stumbles to his feet and over to Ben. He takes the award, and then he takes the mic, mumbling about wanting to make a speech. Ben’s surprised by that; Harry doesn’t think many people have given speeches. Most people just begrudgingly take their awards and hurry back to their seats. But Harry is overwhelmed, and he needs to share it.
“I can’t thank you all enough for this award,” Harry says into the mic, then recoils at how loud his voice is. “I’m so, so happy to be getting this award. I’d like to thank my mum and dad, because without them I wouldn’t have dimples. And I would like to thank all of you for noticing them.” He beams to show them off, and then he yells, “Woo!!!” because he doesn’t think he’s celebrating enough.
“You should thank Louis, he’s the one who noticed,” Ben says as he takes the mic back. “It was his suggestion.”
Harry feels like his heart is trying to fly out of his chest. Louis what? He what?
Harry almost trips over his own feet trying to get back to his table, but he barely notices. He’s high off the euphoria of not getting the same mortifying award, and knowing that it’s because of Louis, and the many, many drinks he’s had tonight.
He flies into Louis’s arms, still whooping, and Harry’s just full of so much happiness that a mere hug doesn’t do it justice, no matter how good Louis’s hugs are. He presses his mouth to Louis’s so quickly it barely happens, but it’s enough, enough to share all the joy and love he’s feeling.
When Harry pulls back, though, all he sees is shock on Louis’s face. Harry bites his lip, worried he’s done something wrong, but he can’t think of what that might be. He loves Louis, he wanted to kiss Louis, what’s wrong about that?
Then Louis smiles and all Harry feels is happiness once again.
“Congrats,” Louis says. “Proud of you.”
Harry grins. “Thank you,” he says, and he hopes Louis knows he’s thanking him for more than that. He’s thanking him for everything.
*
Ben’s doing a one-man skit impersonating different people in the office. It’s mostly insulting, but Harry can’t help laughing when he mimics Oli’s perpetual sucked-lemon scowl.
Harry thinks the night might be winding down. He’s very drunk, so he’s not sure, but he thinks there’s only a few awards left. Maybe only one. Maybe only Top Salesman, which goes to Liam every year and is always an anti-climatic ending to the evening.
Harry doesn’t want an ending. He doesn’t want to go home.
“Let’s get a snatchi,” Harry says. He frowns. That’s not right. Louis looks as confused as Harry feels. “A snacky? A tacky?”
Louis giggles. It’s very cute. “Are you trying to say taxi again?”
“What was I saying?” Harry asks. He doesn’t even know.
“Snatchi,” Louis says, bursting into more giggles.
“Let’s get one of them,” Harry says. “Then we can keep drinking and we don’t have to worry ‘bout getting lifts home with people.”
“Okay,” Louis says. “I think the Spheres are almost over, though.”
Harry frowns. This feels like bad news. “Does that mean we have to go home?”
“No, we can stay, like you said,” Louis says. He doesn’t seem drunk enough, Harry thinks.
“You’re not drunk enough,” Harry tells him. He pats Louis’s face. “Get another drink.”
Louis laughs, and he says okay and gets up and stumbles to the bar. Harry watches him go, a happy smile on his face. Louis’s the best. Harry loves him so much. Doesn’t want to be anywhere without him.
*****