Archive of Our Own ^beta

Louis banged his head against his forearm where it was resting on the table of the break room.

“Why is this happening?” he groaned.

“It’s really not the end of the world, Louis,” his decidedly former best friend Niall said with an air of implication that Louis was being ridiculous.

And he was being ridiculous.

The Warren family had cancelled their plans to attend his mother’s birthday party, which was the height of betrayal. For any other year it wouldn’t have mattered, but this year was her fiftieth birthday, and she had been so excited and wanted to do something special. She had read about a murder mystery party in a novel and had completely latched on to the idea.

“Wouldn’t it be fun, Boo Bear?” she said. “It’s so creative!” she said. Louis was the oldest and most responsible (thank you, Charlotte) of all his siblings, but he was also the most likely to cave to her demands. He was weak against her wide eyed smile, he would give her the world if he could.

Which landed him on the internet at an ungodly hour researching the different stories you could choose from, and which characters fit best. They had limited the character list to closer family friends, but they were still inviting as many people as possible. Only some would have parts. Some very specific people, playing very specific parts.

That brought him back to the problem at hand. Louis groaned again.

The Warrens. They were dead to him. Officially. All four of them were supposed to show up as characters, and all four of them had been given their information ahead of time.

The party was two days away and now his mother’s fiftieth birthday was ruined .

When he reminded Niall of that, his best friend had just looked at him in a mildly pitying way and just said, “Don’t know what to tell you, Tommo.”

As soon as this godforsaken party was over with, he was holding auditions for a new best friend.

“Why is her birthday ruined?” A new voice popped up from the other side of the break room.

Harry. Harry who had just started working with the company two months ago. Harry who had dark curly hair, and sparkling green eyes. Harry who had a deep monotone voice that Louis could listen to for hours.

Louis hadn’t even heard him come in, but he could not handle the blushy mess he turned into when he interacted with Harry right now.

“Oh, it’s probably nothing. I’m just being dramatic,” he tried to downplay his inner turmoil with a smile, but somehow, Harry saw right through him.

“Come on, Louis. I know I don’t know you that well, but I like to think I know you a little, and you seem genuinely upset about something.” The microwave beeped, and Harry retrieved what looked to be some kind of rice dish, making Louis’ mouth water.

Niall scoffed, “Be careful what you wish for, mate, he’ll talk your ear off about it.”

Louis gave him a slight nudge with his foot under the table, which had Niall wincing as he immediately pushed his chair back and limped away. Well, it served him right. Niall knew how big of a crush Louis had on Harry.

Harry elbowed him as he went to scoop some rice out, parting his sultry pink lips before he shoveled the bite into his mouth. God, he was so pretty. Louis was one heartbeat away from resting his chin on his hand and sighing, before he realised that Harry was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain.

“My mum is turning fifty. She wanted a murder mystery party. Which was fine and I had it all planned and everything, but now the Warren’s can’t come.” Louis ended on a huff.

Harry continued to look at him expectantly before he realised that Louis was finished. “Wait, that’s it? Just that one family can’t come?”

“Yes, technically, but they’ve already been given their character assignments, and I’ve combed the whole guest list trying to find people that fit, but no one else does! They’re either too old, or too young. Plus the older characters are a couple so they would need to be with each other so I can’t just assign it to random people because then it would be awkward.”

Harry swallowed before studying his rice carefully. “You said the ‘older characters,’ what are the other characters you’re missing?”

“I’m missing an older married couple that I told you about, and then a brother and sister of marriageable age. Where the hell am I supposed to find that?” Louis groaned and dropped his forehead back down onto his arm where it was still draped across the table.

“Well,” Harry cleared his throat, “That kind of sounds like.” He paused. “I don’t want to presume or anything…” his sentence trailed off.

“Harry what are you getting at?” Louis asked, skeptically.

“It just, I realise it’s your mum’s birthday and all that, but that sounds like my family,” Harry blurted out in a rush. “My mum and stepdad could be the older married couple, and I have an older sister.”

Harry blushed and devolved into a mumble the longer Louis stayed silent. In truth, Louis was only quiet because he could barely believe his luck.

“Harry. Are you serious? Your family would be willing to do that? I can’t possibly ask that of them.” He tried as hard as he could to downplay his desperate need for them to attend.

“Of course,” Harry replied, his own eagerness slipping into his tone, “I haven’t checked with them to see if they’re free, but the one most likely to bail is Gemma, and I have a roommate to take her place.”

Louis couldn’t help it and threw his arms around Harry’s neck in a tight embrace. As soon as he felt his forearms cross at his nape, he immediately regretted the impulse. Harry just smelled so good and his curls were so soft where they brushed Louis’ arms, and he was warm and comfortable, and Louis never wanted to let go.

“Oh. Oh, wow. Louis. Really, it’s no trouble at all, I promise.”

Louis allowed himself one last squeeze and began to untangle himself from Harry when Niall came back into the break room.

“Am I interrupting something, boys?”

Louis laughed to cover up the fact that he was planning Niall’s slow and painful death in his mind, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Harry blush again and dig back into his tupperware.

“Harry and his family are going to fill in at the party on Saturday, Niall. My problems are solved, no thanks to you,” he said, pointing a finger at his former best friend.

“Perfect, man. This will be so much fun, now.”

Louis really needed to learn how to shoot lasers out of his eyes. He resented the implication that it wouldn’t have been fun before Harry signed on.

“What are the characters like?” Harry piped up, saving Niall’s life. For now.

“It’s called Murder of a Millionaire. My mum wants to be the dead body so that she can die and then watch everyone try to figure it out. We’re missing the butler; his wife, the housekeeper; their son, the chauffeur; and their daughter who runs the stables.”

Harry blanched at that, “Oh, God. Please do not let my sister anywhere near a riding crop.”

Louis giggled, “Fiesty one, is she?”

“You have no idea,” Harry replied solemnly.

“Is she single?” Niall asked eagerly, before Louis swatted him on the back of the head. Harry let out a honking laugh and slapped his hand across his mouth, and Louis decided it was the cutest thing he had ever seen him do.

They packed up their lunches as Harry told Niall taller and taller tales of the kinds of trouble his sister constantly got them into while Louis hung back for a moment. He was a little worried about how much he had already blabbed about Harry to his oldest sisters Lottie and Felicite, but if he gave them enough warning it should be fine.

They could definitely play it cool.

***

Time felt like it was slipping through his hands the second he woke up on Saturday morning. He was in constant motion all day making sure that everything ran smoothly and that his mother didn’t lift a single finger.

All week he had been avoiding her questions about what would happen now that the Warrens had cancelled, and all week he had been successful at deflecting, or just running away from her questions, but his luck couldn’t hold.

He was cutting and arranging the fresh flowers that would be placed around their living room for the party when his mother finally cornered him.

“Boo Bear?”

“Yes, mum?” He replied distractedly as he tried to gauge the stem lengths of the gerbera daisies. The brightly colored flowers didn’t exactly scream nefarious murder plot, but they were his mum’s favorite.

“What do we really know about this family that’s filling in tonight?” She idly played with a leaf, and Louis smelled a trap. “What was their son’s name again?”

“His name is Harry. He works with me.” He kept his tone as light and innocent as possible.

“Ah, I see. This wouldn’t be the same Harry that you, Lottie, and Fizzy have been whispering about? Hmm?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, mum. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to go check the oven.” He made his escape as quickly as possible. The last thing he needed was his mum interfering.

He thought he had gotten away with it, but as soon as his feet hit the tile of the kitchen he heard her voice echo behind him, “Nice try, baby. I know you don’t know how to work the oven!”

Louis distracted himself from the impending disaster of having Harry around his family by micromanaging absolutely everything. He taste tested, he adjusted and readjusted the pennant strings that spelled out “Happy Birthday Jay!” on three artistically spaced out levels, he asked his sister Lottie if there was enough food spread out on the island in the kitchen at least five times, he counted the character name tags over and over again. He was driving himself mad.

When the doorbell pealed announcing the arrival of the first guest, Lottie hurriedly reminded him that he hadn’t gotten into his own costume yet. They had spent so much time putting together all of the extra details to go with the party that he hadn’t spent much time on his own character.

Everyone, except Harry and his family, had been mailed their character description and a general outline of what would happen ahead of time along with the invitation. Louis had emailed Harry a copy of his family’s descriptions, and Harry had responded promptly with his phone number to make sure he had a way to contact him in case any emergencies arose.

So, he had Harry’s phone number. Louis was being very zen about it. Truthfully. He was. In his weaker moments he may have contemplated if a severe case of; “I might die if I don’t kiss you because you look so adorable when you get angry at the photocopier,” was an emergency, but he hadn’t given in yet aside from texting him the address for the party.

The company that had developed the party game provided everything; character names, backgrounds, motivations, extras, and all of the materials he would need as the de facto host. When the guests arrived everyone would get a second envelope detailing what they would be doing during the game, and one of those people would find out they were the murderer.

Technically, the game said the victim shouldn’t know that they’re the victim either, but his mum had been so excited about it that they had rigged it a bit.

His mum would be playing Rita Rochester, a millionairess who was to be murdered at her own estate. The inspector would “arrive” and everyone would investigate. Part of the reason he had chosen this narrative was the sheer number of daughters Rita had already written into the gameplay, including a set of twins that Daisy and Phoebe would be playing. Lottie would play Rita’s sister, and Fizzy was the oldest daughter. He was to play Fizzy’s husband, Rita’s son-in-law. Dan, his mother’s husband, was quite excited about playing the dashing widower.

The door to his old room clicked shut behind him against the chaos raging as the guests arrived. He didn’t stay the night very often anymore because his own flat was only twenty minutes away, but his mother loved to remind him that he had the option. Smiling to himself, he unzipped his garment bag where he had stashed the suit he would be wearing for the evening. He had picked out a tie but Fizzy insisted that her husband would never be dorky enough to wear a tie, so he went without, letting the top button stay open, showing off the top of the curling letters of his chest tattoo.

He double checked the security of his quiff in the mirror one last time before he secured his name tag over his chest and headed back out into the fray.

Things had progressed in the fifteen minutes or so that he had been gone. Guests continued to pour in; Niall had already arrived and was scoping out the second envelope Lottie had given him.

“Oh, hey, Lou. How do we know if we’re the murderer?” he asked waving his information sheet in Louis’ face.

Louis batted it away, “You’re not supposed to show anyone else what your sheet says. Also, it would tell you if you were the murderer at the top of the page. Does yours say that you’re the murderer?” Louis knew it didn’t. As the host he already knew who the murderer was, he was given several different options when planning the party and he hoped he had chosen correctly.

“I can’t tell you that!” Niall gasped, pulling his sheet back in towards his chest, affronted.

“Ni, I already know it doesn’t. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.”

“Louuuu you’re cheating.”

Louis looked at him for a moment before saying, “Yep,” curtly and walking away. He just needed to double check the hummus dip one more time. Maybe he should make a second batch.

Before he could make it out of the foyer he heard the bell ring. Lottie was trapped in a conversation with one of their mum’s random cousins, no doubt being asked when she and her boyfriend would be getting married, so Louis turned to answer it.

He pasted on a smile ready to have his cheeks pinched by an aunt, but instead when he pulled the heavy door open, he was met with the three almost identical faces of Harry, his mum, and his sister. They looked like they were cut from the pages of one of those unattainable house magazines where the family probably artfully lounges around all day and the photographer just happened to walk by and capture it.

Harry looked every inch the chauffeur wearing a sleek black slim cut suit over a crisp white shirt, and actual black leather driving gloves on his hands. Louis looked away from the luxury detailing on the gloves quickly, cheeks heating up with the images that Harry in leather brought to the forefront of his brain.

“Louis!” Harry exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

When they had worked out the details of the party, Louis had insisted that his family was in no way required to do anything regarding costumes on such short notice, but it looked as though they had embraced it. Harry’s sister looked hauntingly androgynous in a forest green Barbour vest lined with a crimson and cream plaid over a black long sleeved shirt and denim tucked into tall brown leather riding boots.

His mum was the least costumed. She was wearing a black cocktail dress and heels, but the shape of her dress was adorably covered up by a chintzy apron covered in a Provencal pattern of blue and yellow flowers. Her smile had widened when Harry had said Louis’ name, and she looked positively radiant.

Louis was completely blown away by the picture in front of him.

“Harry,” he breathed out, eyes wide. “You’re here!”

“We’re here!” Harry lifted his hand as if to present his family, still beaming; his dimple more pronounced than Louis had ever seen it. “Well, three of us, Robin is trying to find a place to leave the car, then your butler will arrive.” Harry winked at him.

Louis’ throat was completely dry, and he could only let out a noise that must have sounded like some kind of assent.

“Harry,” his sister hissed with an elbow to Harry’s abdomen, finally breaking the eye contact he and Louis had been holding.

“Right, so sorry,” he turned his body back towards his mum and sister. “This is my sister, Gemma.” Gemma held out her hand to give his a firm shake, smiling kindly at him for all that she seemed to be rather intimidating. “And this is my mum, Anne.”

“Hello, darling,” Anne reached between her two children to give his hand a shake as well. At least that was what Louis had expected. Instead she got a firm grip on him, and pulled him forward with a little jolt so she could kiss his cheek in greeting. Louis was still a little dazed, but leaned into her half embrace easily. Her perfume smelled faintly of lemons and lavender, and it occurred to him that she had probably matched her perfume to her apron. He loved her already.

“Aren’t you handsome, love!” she added as soon as they had both leaned back away from each other.

Louis’ cheeks heated up and as he looked up to meet Harry’s gaze, there was a matching blush on his face as well.

“Lou? Who’s here?” His mum called from inside the house behind him, startling Louis out of his Harry induced stupor.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry,” he rushed out, “Please, please come inside! Meet my mum.” He stepped aside in the foyer, allowing them to pass by him into the house.

“Mum, this is Harry and his family; Anne and Gemma.” Just as he finished, an affable looking man dressed in a suit let himself in the still partially opened door, introducing himself as Robin, Anne’s husband.

The greetings went around again, but as quickly as they had come in, Anne had handed Jay her birthday gift of a nice bottle of Riesling, and they were already gossiping like they had been friends for years.

Louis and Harry watched the birth of their friendship play out, equally mystified as their mums linked arms and headed farther into the house.

Robin slapped a hand on each of their shoulders with a laugh, “Well, that’s the last we’ll see of them for awhile. Care to show us around?”

Louis gave a chuckle as well, double checked to make sure that Lottie was back on door duty, and led them into the kitchen and living room where the party was in full swing. They stopped by the table to grab their character name tags and information sheets, and Louis explained the logistics of how the night would work while they all began to peruse the food.

Gemma broke off from their group to check up on their mum, and soon enough, Niall bounded out of nowhere throwing his arms around Harry. “Hazza, you’re here!”

Harry greeted Niall and the introductions went around once more. This was the only part of throwing a party that drove Louis crazy. He was the host and therefore had certain things he was required to do to get the game going, but all he wanted to do was lead Harry out to the porch and sit with him under the fairy lights.

There were too many people. Why had he thought this was a good idea?

Just as that thought passed through his mind, Lottie signaled to him indicating that all of the main characters required for the game had arrived and been given envelopes. He would give the last guests a few more minutes to get some food and drink before he started the festivities.

An hour later, Louis had decided that he was never listening to his mother ever again. Ever. Getting everyone corralled in the living room to go through the necessary parts of the game was a disaster.

If his sisters that were participating weren’t running off, the youngest set of twins Doris and Ernest were.

When everyone had finally gathered, Harry caught sight of the two toddlers, and promptly went mad. Hearts were popping out of his eyes as he crossed the room to meet them in the midst of everyone standing around chit chatting.

Louis was so endeared he almost forgot where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. He let himself watch Harry for another moment as he leaned down and gathered Ernest, who had previously been squirming out of Daisy’s arms rather violently, up into his arms and calmed him down immediately.

He strained his ears and could only just hear that they were talking about how they both had long hair. Louis’ heart burst.

Once the twins were calmed down and Louis gave out all the directions, the party got under way. The first thing that had to happen was the murder. While he was giving his speech, Lottie turned all the lights off, signalling their mother. He had decided against a cap gun like the instructions suggest because of the youngest twins. They knew the lights were going to go off so they weren’t scared of that, but he eliminated the extra startling noises.

When the lights came back on, Jay was lying down on the area rug in the middle of the living room rather dramatically for someone who had just gotten “shot”. For all her acting , she had propped her head up on a cushion and still had her hand fisted around her glass of white wine, arm out holding it upright.

Louis couldn’t help but break character as he fought his fond smile from peeking through. He really loved his mum. She was the best kind of person, sitting there playing the murder victim, drinking her wine.

The first round of mingling was so everyone could be in character and complete the first set of objectives listed on their sheet, but Louis was at a loss. As the host he didn’t really need to mingle; he was thoroughly prepared, so he knew the whole story backwards and forwards. Maybe he could relax? Let the party run it’s course? He blew out a breath. Relax. Right. He poured himself a shot of tequila and threw it back.

He began to pour himself a pre-mixed icy margarita that he could enjoy a little more slowly when he felt a body move up next to him.

“What looks good?” Harry asked, teasing tone coloring the deep lilt of his voice.

“You,” Louis blurted out before he could stop himself. The tequila had only been in his bloodstream for ten seconds, so he couldn’t really blame that for his lack of filter. Harry kept studying the labels on the different wines, but his smile was wide where his teeth were biting his lower lip. Louis cleared his throat and decided to push through his buckets of embarrassment.

“Seriously, Harry. I’m not sure I can ever begin to thank you for how much you and your family have helped me out of a tight spot. I don’t know what I would have done. And you see how happy my mum is.” He gestured towards the living room where Jay was still on the rug, but her wine glass had been refilled and she was propped up against the plush ottoman with even more cushions, holding court. “Worst dead body, ever,” Louis shook his head fondly.

Harry twisted his torso around to see her, and then broke into giggles himself. “If your mum is the worst dead body ever, my mum is the worst fake housekeeper ever.”

Louis looked again and saw that yes, Anne had joined Jay on the floor and they had both kicked off their heels, still gabbing away.

Their mothers stayed like that all through the reveal of the murderer, Anne didn’t even try to solve anything, preferring instead to stay on the floor with Jay while Robin, the butler, brought them more chilled white wine, topping off their glasses.

Louis decided to stick  to the cliche of having “the butler do it,” and Robin was beside himself with glee at the chance to have his villainous moment in the spotlight. Anne was proper scandalised with her husband and his ability to keep the secret the whole time.

The rest of the guests were overjoyed, and one group; Gemma, Harry’s sister in cahoots with Fizzy and Lottie, had actually figured it out with the clues given.

Mystery solved, Louis smiled to himself.

Louis was straightening up once the guests began mingling again and it took Harry no time at all to find him.

“So, that was why you needed my family so desperately. You needed a murderer. You have brought shame upon my household!” he pointed his finger at Louis dramatically.

Louis bit his lip to try and keep his smile contained, “I have no idea what you’re referring to, Harold.”

“We have been used!” Harry continued in his dramatic tone. As if on cue, his mother, who had migrated with Jay to a rather more comfortable spot on the couch, let out a peal of laughter. She barely managed to breathe as Jay made more and more expansive hand gestures.

At the sight of their hysterics, Harry dropped his act and turned to Louis, “Can you believe the two of them? Who could have known they would hit it off like this?”

Instead of answering, Louis scoffed and looked back at their mothers huddled together like the oldest of friends. “Yeah, who knew?”

Internally, Louis’ pulse was racing and his heart was doing backflips thinking about how much easier it would be now to integrate their families when he and Harry eventually got married and had four kids, three cats, and a dog together in a cute little cottage at the end of the lane. He had to forcibly lock his jaw to keep all of those deep dark secret fantasies from spilling out.

To distract himself, Louis signaled to Lottie over Harry’s shoulder indicating they were all ready for the beautiful cake they had bought at the local bakery in town. The lights were dimmed and the whole party sang “Happy Birthday” and Jay was radiant as she cut the first slice, giving it a quick taste before smearing a big blob of icing on her husband Dan’s cheek.

Louis let her go on her merry way and followed behind to try to cut and distribute the rest of the slices of cake. As he was concentrating on making the pieces even, he felt the air shift as Harry approached him.

“I used to work at that bakery, you know. Before I went to uni.”

Breathless with how close to him Harry was standing, Louis had to clear his throat to regain some control. “Really? How was that?”

“Alright, I suppose. Makes me useful in situations like this,” he replied as he deftly deconstructed the top tier of the cake, placing it off to the side. Louis gaped at the cake in front of him that was now infinitely easier to manoeuvre with the top tier removed.

“Thanks!” Louis gasped, as he immediately began slicing again with much more ease.

“Lots of people like to freeze the top tier of cakes. That’s more for weddings, but it might be fun for this one too. Do you have a box or something?” Harry asked as he began opening up kitchen cupboards.

“Oh yeah, top one. Up there,” Louis gestured with his frosting covered hand. Not thinking anything of it, Louis popped his finger in his mouth to lick the frosting off. He concentrated on getting his hand at least a bit clean until he could actually rinse off, before turning back to the job at hand.

When he didn’t hear any movement he looked up at Harry again, standing in the middle of Louis’ mother’s kitchen holding the bottom half of a container in one hand and the lid in the other, staring at Louis.

Harry was pink cheeked and a little stunned.

“What is it?” Louis asked, concerned, “Do I have frosting on my face?” His question seemed to snap Harry out of his trance.

“Err, um, no. No, you’re good.” He was still blushing and refused to meet Louis’ stare as he busied himself with preserving the smaller cake layer.

Louis shrugged and went back to distributing slices on plates. He unwrapped the ice cream and announced that everything was ready as guests began piling back into the kitchen area.

Dessert was his final official duty, so he, Harry, Niall, Gemma, Lottie, and Fizz all stole a few bottles of wine and snuck out to the back garden. It was a bit chilly for the end of March, but they sat in rickety old chairs and passed around the open bottle, warming themselves up from the inside out.

Harry sat between Louis and Gemma, with Niall on their other side. As the night went on he and Louis continued to shift closer and closer together. Louis’ plan had been to try and keep his feelings in check, but the lights were dim, and Harry’s eyes were bright and enticing.

By the time they had collectively emptied two of the bottles, Louis barely had to move his lips to talk to Harry. He wanted to make his move, he wanted to more than anything , but they were surrounded by their siblings, at his mother’s birthday party, and there wasn’t really anywhere they could sneak off to unnoticed. So Louis was content. He was content with breathing Harry in, lingering in the possibilities that came with a new flirtatious relationship.

And that’s what this was. Louis had to be blind to miss the signs. Harry was into him, he could feel it, but there was still something holding Louis back. This was the first time he had ever seen Harry outside of work socially. There was always the possibility that he was just naturally this flirtatious with everyone. Granted, his attention had been trained on Louis since he arrived, but that was still inconclusive.

“Harry? Gemma?” They all turned their heads towards the voices that floated out into the night.

“Yeah, mum. Out here,” Gemma replied when she saw that Harry wasn’t going to say anything.

“Time to go, darlings!” Anne called back. Gemma smirked at her brother, and when Louis turned to see why, he saw the barest traces of a frown on Harry’s face.

“Alright, lads,” Gemma addressed the circle, “This was the most fun I’ve had in awhile, but it seems as though it’s time to call it a night.”

Louis sighed, but began the process of gathering the wine bottles.

“Here, Lou, why don’t I take those,” Niall offered, helpfully, making exaggerated expressions indicating that Louis should walk Harry out. That, or that he was having a stroke, Louis really couldn’t tell.

“Oh, sure. Hey, um, Harry, want to walk with me?” Louis asked, feeling how thin his own voice was in his nervousness.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Harry nodded and they stepped down into the garden together, Louis leading him to a relatively private path.

As they rounded the side of the house, he could hear Lottie’s indignant voice scolding Niall; “You shouldn’t have offered to take them if you were just going to give them to me!” Followed by a violent hushing noise that was much more noticeable.

They made it halfway round the house before Louis realised this was the first time they had ever really been alone together. He had no idea how to start this conversation.

“So… Harry…” Louis trailed off.

“Yes, Boo bear?” Harry replied. Killing any and all hope of Louis surviving this night.

“Oh my God, I should never have brought you here,” he groaned and lifted his hands up to cover his face in embarrassment.

Harry reached up and grabbed onto Louis’ wrists to pull his hands away. When his face was uncovered, Harry didn’t let go of him, warming his insides more than the wine.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Lou. It’s cute.”

“Cute wasn’t exactly what I was going for,” Louis replied ruefully.

“I know.” Harry said, letting the words die off in the small space between them.

They were standing so close together, Louis had to crane his neck slightly to meet Harry’s expectant stare. Harry’s fingers seared his skin where they were still casually gripping his wrists.

This was where Louis did it. This was where he made his move. He took a deep breath, and let it out again.

“Harry? Is that you?” Robin’s voice was slightly stronger than Anne’s had been on the evening breeze.

Harry looked into Louis’ eyes, boring into the depths of his soul, before he blinked and turned his head towards the street where their car was parked. “Yeah, it’s me. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Their gazes met again, but the moment was gone. Between Louis' own doubts, and the pressure of time, and lack of privacy, Louis was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed, so he shifted his body back slightly, creating more distance between them.

Harry’s light grip gave way and Louis immediately felt the lack of heat.

“Hey, thanks again, Harry. I definitely couldn’t have done this without you and your family. Truly.”

Harry nodded, “Of course, Lou. We had an amazing time.” His words sounded sincere, but there was a frown pinching at the corners of his mouth and between his brows. His shoulders slumped as he turned his body and walked towards the sound of Jay and Anne saying goodbye to each other.

All Louis could do was watch him go.

***

“You didn’t make a move? I set it up perfectly for you and you didn’t make the move!” Niall’s incessant chatter first thing Monday morning was exactly the opposite of what Louis wanted to hear.

“Yes, I’m aware of that, thank you Niall.” Louis closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cool metal of the lift wall.

Niall barreled on like he hadn’t even heard Louis complain; “All you had to do was kiss him.”

“Thank you, Niall!” Louis repeated, with even more volume, and even more irritation in his voice.

The lift dinged softly on the ninth floor, before opening with a hush.

“Harry!” Niall’s tone had changed, and Louis knew he was having him on.

“Like I’m going to fall for that one, Horan.” Louis griped, still trying to get a mini nap in before they got to fifteen.

“Is everything alright, Lou?” Harry’s soft deep voice melted with concern.

Louis’ eyes shot open and he scrambled to stand upright. “Harry. Hi. Yeah. Yes, I’m okay.” He sounded breathless and disjointed, but thankfully Harry understood what he meant.

Niall slammed the button for the eleventh floor, successfully interrupting the way Harry and Louis’ eyes had locked on each other.

“Well this looks like my stop. See ya, boys!” Niall gracefully slid out of the doors on eleven.

They were silent for a moment after the doors closed behind him before Harry broke the silence. “He knows that floor doesn’t belong to our company, right?”

Louis snorted in his attempt to hold back his laugh, but couldn’t help it and let go completely. Soon he and Harry were both doubled over laughing in the lift when it finally landed on the fifteenth floor.

Harry worked in Human Resources and had his own office while Louis worked in sales and had a cubicle in the bullpen. Louis wanted to be a gentleman and invite Harry somewhere private so they could talk and maybe Louis could make his move - thank you, Niall - so he just had to go with it.

“I can, um, walk you to your office?” Louis said, not really knowing why, but asking permission anyway. 

Harry smiled and brought his thumb and forefinger up to his lips to play with them. “Yeah, okay.”

When they finally made it to Harry’s office door, Louis bit the bullet; “There’s a really nice restaurant the next block over. Would you like to maybe go there one day this week? For lunch?”

The grin that broke over Harry’s face was blinding as he nodded, “Yeah. That would be nice.”

Louis let out a sigh of relief and Harry just giggled.

“Took you long enough, Lou,” he said cheekily leaning up against his door frame.

“Oh come off it,” he replied, pushing at Harry’s shoulder. “You know I wanted to the other night.”

Harry cleared his throat, “Actually, I didn’t know. But it’s nice to have it confirmed.”

As subtly as he could, Louis reached down and took Harry’s hand in his, running his thumb over Harry’s knuckles. “I’ll, um, text you? When I have a reservation?”

“Styles! You’re back. Good.” Louis dropped Harry's hand with one last squeeze as Harry's boss approached them. “I would like to go over this interview schedule with you.” Her authoritative voice brooked no argument, and Louis faded away, giving Harry one last wink over his shoulder.

As he crossed the floor over to the sales half, he took a few deep breaths to calm his pounding heart.

Now all he had to do was make a reservation. For his date. With Harry. The restaurant his mum had told him about was posh with a wine list and everything. Perfect for a long lunch in the middle of the week. No pressure. Harry was special, and Louis could feel that, deep in his bones. That made him want to take things slower than he normally would. Operation Woo Harry was officially underway.

Every step towards the restaurant was a study in bliss for Louis. As soon as they exited their office building, Harry had reached down to grab his hand and now they were walking to the restaurant and Louis was fine. He was fine . Just out. Holding hands with the cute boy from work that he had a crush on.

Harry kept looking over at him, making eye contact, and then looking away with a blush dusting his cheeks and Louis was certainly going to die before they even sat down.

By the time the door of the restaurant was in sight, he thought he had acclimated to holding Harry’s hand. Had gotten used to the adorable blushing. In truth, he had finally calmed himself down. Until, they got to the hostess stand in the restaurant, and the lovely woman working it asked if they had a reservation. And Harry was the one who chimed in saying, “The name is Tomlinson,” all charming smiles and cratered dimples like he used Louis’ last name every day.

Louis was pretty sure he blacked out after that because he definitely didn’t remember getting to their table.

They were in a corner booth, and while they didn’t sit on the same side, they were cuddled up mighty close where the bench formed an angle. The whole meal was lingering touches on the arms and outer thighs, and feeding each other bites from their own dishes. Louis was in absolute tactile, carnal bliss.

Louis paid, after a brief scuffle, insisting that because he asked Harry out, he should be the one to pay and they could swap next time. The promise of next time had Harry’s eyes shining a little brighter as he leaned over to barely brush his lips over the air next to Louis’ ear. “Next time will it be dinner? So you can take me home afterwards?”

“Y-yeah,” Louis replied letting his eyes drift closed over the images projecting on his eyelids.

They both stood up and gathered their blazers to head back to the office, though Louis had no clue how to go on with his day after this.

He was eyeing the front door of the restaurant, trying to decide where the closest exterior wall with privacy was where they could sneak a snog in with relative privacy when he saw a flash of familiar chestnut hair.

What?

“Harry!” Anne cried out excitedly across the dining room.

“Mum?” Harry replied.

Louis gaped at his own mother as well where the two women had just approached the hostess stand. “Mum?!”

“Lou!” Jay threw her arms up so she could pull him into a hug, “What a nice surprise! What are you doing here?”

Louis could only stand there, frozen.

Anne was the one who caught on first. “Oh, Jay ,” she said in a barely hushed (completely decipherable) whisper, “I think they’re here on a date .”

Both Harry and Louis were bright red from the tops of their heads to the tips of their toes. They hadn’t even kissed yet. Louis had been trying to kiss Harry for basically a week at this point. That was all he wanted to do. He didn’t feel like it was a lot to ask.

Suddenly, he couldn’t wait a second longer.

“Mum,” he began in a finite tone, “I will call you later. Anne, it was so lovely to see you again. Harry, let’s go.” He grabbed Harry’s hand and yanked him out the front door of the restaurant. “For fuck’s--”

That was all he got out before Harry was pushing him against the front of the restaurant slamming their mouths together.

“I swear--” Harry cut off to kiss him again, “If one more person interrupted us before this could happen--” This time when he dove back in, Harry licked into Louis’ mouth, setting off sparklers at the base of Louis’ spine, “I was going to scream.”

“I know what you mean. I don’t think I could have taken it.”

They kissed against the side of the restaurant for a few more minutes before Harry pulled away. They really did have to get back to work.

Kiss drunk with glassy eyes and swollen lips, they joined hands again for the walk back to the office.

They made it to the front door of their building before a thought occurred to Louis, “Were our mum’s having lunch together?”

Harry looked equally dumbstruck by this realisation and turned his head to look back in the direction of the restaurant as if he could somehow peek in the window from a few blocks away. “I think they were.”

“This cannot end well,” Louis replied as they pushed into the main lobby.

“Yeah, but it will sure make things a lot easier later on.” Harry winked at him before tapping his badge, leaving Louis stunned on the other side of the security gate.

Maybe their mums becoming friends wasn’t so bad after all.