think about summer | 1/5
Pairing: Liam/Harry
Rating: PG13 (for now)
Word Count: 1353
Summary:
“My name’s Liam Payne and I’m here on behalf of Miller’s Pool company to clean your pool,” Liam Payne of Miller’s Pool Company announced.
Harry Styles looks forward to summer, and has since the year he was fourteen and Robin bought that bungalow down the road from their actual house, the one with the game room and the big flat screen telly and the long bar and the waterbed in the guest bedroom and the inground pool in the backyard.
What came along with said inground pool was weekly cleanings. Robin and Anne were both busy with work, and Gemma usually laughed in the face of manual labor, and Harry attempted to clean the pool but accidentally put too much chlorine in that one time he tried and then he only got out about half the bugs and leaves and grass before he decided it was a job well done and it was time to go swimming.
Anne just patted Harry on his curly head and called him "pet", and then pulled out the phone book and dialed up Miller's Pool Company.
And so a weekly appointment was set up for the summer time months, followed by bi-weekly appointments for the colder parts of the year, and Harry was put in charge of being at the bungalow while Miller's pool boy was doing his work.
*
"It's Tuesday, Harry," Anne's voice sounded against Harry's ear.
"Thanks?"
A sigh. "The pool boy should be arriving in the next half hour. Are you at the bungalow?"
Harry looked down at himself, naked and in his bed, game console controller in his lap. Anne took his silence as an answer.
"Get down there, now," she said.
The call ended and Harry saved his game (because that was of the upmost importance) and glanced at his floor, surveying which articles of clothing looked the least frumpy. He decided quickly that none of the underwear would do, he would simply have to find a new pair to wear, but his black basketball shorts and blue t shirt would both be perfectly acceptable.
After he finished dressing Harry left the house and walked the three minutes it took to arrive at the bungalow. It was as he was fishing out his key that a boy that looked about his age on a bicycle pulled up the drive and stopped. Harry glanced at the boy confusedly.
"Hullo," he called to him. The boy glanced up from where he was setting up his kickstand and paused for a moment before smiling and waving. Harry furrowed his eyebrows. He hoped he wasn't selling some type of goody, like sweets or biscuits, because Harry was out of money and he had a terrible time of telling people no.
But the boy pulled out a folder from the basket attached to the front of his bike and marched right up to Harry and stuck a hand out. Harry cautiously took the hand and shook it.
"My name's Liam Payne and I'm here on behalf of Miller's Pool company to clean your pool," Liam Payne of Miller's Pool Company announced.
"I'm Harry," Harry said, "and I have a pool."
Liam's brown eyes squinted for a quick second before they opened up widely again. "Well, as was discussed on the phone, I'll be using the equipment you already have here to clean out any debris and to scrub the waterline, and then I'll put in a new chlorine tablet which I brought, and that's it. Any questions?"
"How old are you?" Harry asked without thinking, and then backtracked when Liam looked affronted. "It's just, you can't be much older than me, and no where I've heard of will hire if you're under sixteen. Also you're riding a bike."
"Um," Liam said, "my uncle is the Miller of Miller's Pool Company. I'm fourteen. Fifteen at the end of August, though."
"Oh, that makes sense," Harry agreed, and then, "well, here, let me show you to the backyard."
And Liam followed Harry through the bungalow and into the yard where he immediately got to work. Harry sat at the little table set up on the patio and watched.
"Um, Harry," Liam said, after he finished fishing out a particularly large dead bug, "do you think maybe you could not stare at me so much? Or you could talk to me. Staring makes me uncomfortable because of the-"
Harry waited for Liam to finish but he didn't.
"Sorry, mate, didn't realize I was doing it, to be honest. We can talk. Where are you from, Liam?"
"Well, I live in Wolverhampton with my Mum and Dad and two sisters, but Dad lost his job last month and has been working too hard for not enough money, so I offered to stay with my Aunt and Uncle here in Holmes Chapel, in order to save them money with one less mouth to feed, and to make some money to bring home at the end of the summer," Liam explained. He continued dragging the long net through the water, catching leaves and grass as he went.
"That's really good of you," Harry told him genuinely. "I dunno if I'd be able to leave my family like that. Not quite independent enough yet, really."
"I've only just arrived last week and it's already difficult, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. I'd do anything to help my family when they need it."
Harry shook his curls out of his eyes. "You're a really good person, Liam Payne."
Liam blushed and shook his head. He muttered something, but Harry was too far away to hear. It didn't seem to be meant for his ears, anyway.
After their first encounter, Harry found himself excited for Tuesday afternoons. He would wake up early and count the minutes until Liam would show up at the bungalow, chlorine tablet in his pocket and grin on his face. The two became fast friends, Harry sitting at the table and Liam doing his work, chatting about anything and everything.
"Harry," Liam said, as he began working on the fourth Tuesday that summer, "have you ever had a girlfriend?"
Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Sort of? I mean, we said we were going out, right? But we never did anything, never saw each other outside of school. I walked her to class for a week, and then she said she liked Johnny McEntire better."
Liam snickered. "That's unfortunate, mate."
"Nah, not really," Harry answered truthfully. "Wasn't really into it, myself. Felt weird. Maybe ten was too young for a relationship, anyway."
Liam laughed even harder. Harry grinned widely.
On the eighth Tuesday, Harry asked if Liam could stay after he finished his work, just to hang out.
"Oh!" Liam exclaimed, as though this came out of left field. Harry just stood, waiting, hiding the nerves bubbling in his stomach at the thought of what he thought was a new friend rejecting him. "Well, I can't, because I've got another job to go to, but... I'm off on Sundays?"
Harry smiled and said, "You should come over Sunday. You can actually swim in the pool without cleaning it, and we can play video games and eat junk food. Sound good?"
Liam nodded, smile so big the corners of his eyes crinkled up.
On the last Tuesday before the end of summer, Harry sat glumly and quietly while Liam scrubbed the water line of the pool. They were usually quiet while Liam did this, his efforts making it hard to speak.
"So you head back Friday, then?" Harry asked, once Liam had finished and was putting in a new chlorine tab.
"Yeah," Liam confirmed sadly, staring at the ground. "Mum's coming to get me, and I start school on Monday."
"I'm starting a new school on Monday," Harry said, effectively changing the subject. "Gemma and I've always gone to private school, but Gem wants to try out public school, so..."
"Wow," Liam commented. "Are you nervous?"
Harry shrugged. "Guess so. I'll have to make all new friends."
"But you're good at that," Liam laughed, "you made me your friend right away!"
Harry shrugged again. "We'll see. Anyway. Are you coming back next summer?"
"Dunno," Liam answered quietly.
"I hope you do."
"Yeah," Liam agreed. "Me too."