Principles of Interpretation.
Title: Principles of Interpretation.
Rating: PG-13.
Pairing: Liam Payne/Louis Tomlinson (Louis Tomlinson/Niall Horan)
Word-count: 4,000
Summary: On break from university, Liam gets his dream summer job--but not everything goes the way he'd like.
Author's notes: Written for the 3point5seats Holiday Fic Exchange for catchmelike, who wanted a real world AU with romantic misunderstandings. Major thanks to katienyc for the beta (and for suckering me into writing something for the exchange at all!) Remaining mistakes and Canadianisms are my fault.
Apologies to anyone who googled this fic's title looking for Freeman Tilden's wise words of advice. You're in the wrong place.
When Liam was offered a post at the museum, he was thrilled. He's been studying history at uni so landing a summer job giving tours to visitors for a couple of months, and getting to talk about stuff he actually cared about at the same time, was going to be brilliant. It didn't hurt that the wages were good since his bursaries weren't quite going to cover everything next term.
Liam was also excited to make some new friends, as most of his mates from uni had gone home for the summer hols, while Liam had stuck around to try his hand at finding work in the city. But he didn't tell anyone that the real reason he wanted to stay was that he planned on singing at a few open mic nights without so many familiar faces around. He hadn't quite plucked up the courage yet, but he figured maybe a job doing public speaking couldn't hurt at boosting his confidence.
Things were going so well that Liam thought it was just his continuing good luck that the lead tour guide at the museum, Louis, was devastatingly gorgeous.
Louis had been working at the museum for three summers already and will be leading their orientation sessions. It might've seemed like Liam was just really keen to learn everything about the job, taking a seat in the front row. But if they hadn’t been thrown into an ice-breaker game straight away, Liam’s not even certain he would’ve known there were other new staff in the room. Nothing can pull his focus from Louis, hair perfectly coiffed and skin glowing with a tan already even though it’s barely May. The tight khaki trousers Louis wears as part of the uniform show off his nice arse. They’re rolled up at the ankles in what is likely some sort of dress-code violation but Louis seems to get away with it.
If it were up to Liam, he'd probably let Louis get away with just about anything.
Liam doesn't usually fancy someone so easily, but it’s barely half-ten on the first day and he’s already positively love-struck. It feels like Louis is speaking directly to him, although Liam begins to regret his front-row seat somewhat as he can feel his face heat up every time Louis looks his way, which is becoming more and more frequent.
The morning goes by as slow as treacle. They leave the classroom and are led around the museum by Louis like a row of ducklings, getting shown this and that, introduced to HR and Payroll and filling in paperwork.
Liam uses this time to hang back a bit and tries to focus on chatting with the others, and absolutely not on how pocket-sized Louis turned out to be. Louis seemed larger than life when he was at the front of the room and Liam was sitting down, but now that they're both standing around listening to the curatorial assistant explain the procedures of how to properly fill in a facility incident report, he can see that he's got more than a few inches on Louis, and he's wider, too. Liam suspects he could probably pick Louis up and toss him over his shoulder.
Or hold him up, legs hooked around his waist, Louis's back pressed against a wall.
He nearly excuses himself to the closest lav at that thought, but figures running out to toss one off into the loo on his first day wouldn't be the best first impression.
Liam spends the rest of the morning hoping that when they pause for the midday break, he'll get a chance to chat Louis up a bit. He might be the team leader but he wasn't Liam's actual boss or anything, so it wouldn't be inappropriate, right? But at the end of Louis's lesson on what to do when old people fall down in the exhibit (keep calm and call security), Liam watches with some horror as he bounces out of the classroom to meet up with an attractive blond boy in a navy polo. This new boy beams a metallic grin and holds up a lunch tray laden with food, and Louis smacks a kiss to his cheek in greeting.
"Only research and gift shop wear the navy polos," Louis had told them earlier when they were being kitted out for the season. "We guides get these snazzy light blue button-downs, so that we stand out a bit. Doesn't mean we can't all be friends, though! Just makes it easier for tourists, and easier for you lot to recognize one another." Liam was a bit sad about this news because he was pretty certain he'd look much better in a polo, but this was overshadowed now by the crushing realization that Louis already has a boyfriend.
This is going to be a long summer.
Louis probably doesn't mean to pick on Liam, but seeing as he still hasn't moved away from the front row, Liam becomes a natural target. Each time Louis comes up with a hypothetical situation, he asks Liam for the answer before giving anyone else a chance. It feels like he's aping some kind of wacky game show host, putting on voices and sometimes using a biro as a microphone, except this is actually serious stuff they might have to contend with at some point.
("What do you do when a visitor argues with something stated in the tour? Liam?"
"Says something incredibly racist? Liam?"
"Complains about something in the video? Liam?"
"Shits on the escalator? Liam?"
"Does what to the escalator?!" he'd squawked, a bit scandalised.
Louis looked deadly serious. "I wish I was kidding about that one. Bloody tourists, mate. They don't know where the hell they are most of the time.")
All of the scrutiny begins to make Liam a bit uncomfortable, though. As it turns out, Louis also has a smile like fucking sunshine, and maybe he just likes the rapt attention that Liam is giving his lectures and how well he’s putting up with the teasing, but he’s smiling at Liam a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
It makes Liam feel hot all over and incapable of answering the questions properly after a while, turning him into a stammering idiot. It isn't fucking fair.
In addition to the five new tour guides, there are seven returning, Louis included. A lot of the previous year's staff had finished uni and went on to other jobs, so there were a lot of open spots in Visitor Experience. Everyone's really nice. The two new girls were already friends before starting at the museum, so Liam is paired up with the other new lads for training exercises. There's Harry, a skinny guy with an impossible mop of curls, and Zayn, who doodled all through their training sessions. They're both stupidly attractive as well, and Liam begins to wonder idly about the management's hiring criteria.
Harry's picked up on it as well and brings it up between bites of his lunch. "D'you suppose that all museums are like this?"
Zayn looks up warily. "Like what?" He's been picking at Liam's plate of chips like they've known each other longer than 3 days, but Liam doesn't really mind at all.
Harry grins. "Fill the front-of-house staff with fit young students to get visitors in the door?"
"We're not a fucking H&M, Harry."
"I'm right, though, aren't I? Just look at our Liam, here."
Liam chokes a little on his Coke, but smiles, blushing. “Thanks. Um, same to you.” At least he won’t need to have the ‘hey, just so you know, I am into blokes’ conversation with Harry, evidently. Harry just looks pleased to have someone on his side. "I reckon there's some sort of policy," Liam supplies helpfully.
“There seem to be policies on all sorts of things here.” Zayn muses. “Like what Louis was saying about it not dating amongst the staff, or at least, like, being quiet ‘bout it. No PDA at work or whatever. Bit of a shame if they’re serious about it, considering.”
Liam has been thinking about that one a lot. It certainly explains why he didn’t see Louis and the blond boy, apparently named Niall, acting as loved-up as he’d expect from handsy Louis.
“Why, Zayn, you could at least ask me out properly,” Harry jokes, batting his eyelashes.
“Oi, you know that’s not what I meant,” Zayn pulls a face and throws a ketchupy chip across the table, but there’s no heat behind it.
Harry's pulling away his plate of chips-- out of Zayn’s reach, but also out of Liam’s. Despite what is evidently now open-season on his lunch, Liam decides he quite likes these lads.
It’s day four of orientation and Louis has eaten lunch with Niall everyday so far. Niall's always got a pile of sandwiches and crisps and a thermos of tea. And to Liam’s disappointment, Louis is always delighted to see him, greeting Niall with an arm thrown over his shoulder, or sometimes blowing a raspberry against his cheek. They sit at the same table every day, over by the windows, overlooking the water. Sometimes they're joined by a few other staff (some polos, some button-downs, all girls returning for their own second or third summers).
It was encouraging to Liam to think that he might get to come back next year and the year after, and maybe even get shifts through the school year, if he can manage his schedule. Although his hopeless crush persists, the notion of continued employment spurs him on and he tries to push his increasingly filthy thoughts about Louis aside long enough to actually learn his fucking tour.
Liam wanders around the exhibits with Harry and Zayn, scripts in hand, as they try to get their timing down. The guided tour has to be half an hour in length and they have to recite a massive amount of information in that time, all the while being charming and funny and interesting. Liam forces himself not to worry about the pressure. He knows the history, knows enough that if he were to lose his place, he could probably just start rabbiting on about whatever interests him about that exhibit-- but he learns the script all the same.
Harry speaks too slowly and Zayn a bit too softly, so Liam is feeling quite chuffed when Louis comes round to give them pointers, but just gives Liam's shoulder a squeeze and nods his approval. His hands are warm, and Liam feels something twist in his stomach, stumbles a bit on his next line. Louis grins, apparently pleased, and moves on to the girls.
Things only get worse when they sit in on their third screening of the multimedia show. The tech is clever, with staggered screens layered over real bits of furniture on the stage, making the projected actors seem like ghosts performing a play. They need to memorise the show's content so they can answer visitors' questions about it, but at least it's a bit of a break from learning the tour. And it's nice in the theatre-- dark and air conditioned, a sharp contrast to the museum exhibit space, which has begun to heat up in the afternoons like the days outside.
Louis sits next to him in the black theatre, and their knees knock together as they settle in for the show. Louis doesn't move his leg away, and Liam can't think about anything else for the entire presentation.
It's as though he's doing it on purpose.
It's Zayn who suggests that they go sit with the older staff on the last day of training. Feeling a blush creeping up, Liam panics internally a bit, wondering if he's been too obvious and Zayn is trying to force him to face Louis... until Harry leans over a second later and mumbles in his ear: "Zayn's trying to get off with the pretty lavender-haired girl from the shop, except he hasn't quite worked up the courage to speak with her yet."
Liam can hardly argue with that.
They're welcomed cheerfully by the group, many of the girls giving Harry in particular appraising looks as he smiles wide, dimples showing. They shuffle around to make room for them at the table, and Liam finds himself sat next to Niall, who immediately asks what he’s brought for lunch, despite the mountain of food on his tray.
Begrudgingly, he can see what Louis finds so appealing, even when Niall's braying with laughter through a mouthful of lunch. It turns out Niall is pretty hilarious (and Irish, and quite cute), so Liam has a hard time continuing to casually hate him. Niall cracks jokes and looks around at everyone for their reaction, but it’s not arrogance--he genuinely seems to want everyone at the table to be having a fun time, not just Louis. It’s almost like they’re trying to one-up each other, though, as Louis is even louder and funnier in a casual setting, that sunshine smile shared with everyone, which twists the knife further. Everyone else at the table is having a good laugh at the pair of them, but Liam feels a bit sick about it all, really.
After a few stories about summers gone by, they learn that there's an unofficial Friday night tradition of going out and getting pissed with as many of the team as possible, and they are naturally now invited to come along.
Liam waffles a bit as he doesn't really drink much, but as soon as he opens his mouth to decline, a shooting pain causes him to wince. He glances under the table and evades Zayn’s attempts to kick his shin a second time. He looks up to glare, but Zayn's pleading look has him swallowing his excuses.
"Yeah, alright. We'll be there."
Louis smiles even wider, staring straight at him. "Brilliant."
It's not that Liam doesn't go out at all, but his mates at uni are all pretty bookish save for Andy. He's the only reason Liam's been out at all, really, but Liam wouldn't say that the local nightlife has impressed him much.
Turns out, though, it's just the places that Andy has dragged him to that are shit, because the club that Louis herds them into that night is actually quite cool.
It only takes him a few minutes to get used to the low light and the blaring volume of the music, and the shots that seemingly materialize out of nowhere don’t hurt either. He then nurses a beer as the group loops around the bar, looking for an empty booth they can all pile into. Once they find one, Liam makes himself at home in it, letting the others crowd in beside him and jostle him about. His eyes slip shut for a moment, allowing the bassline to thrum through his body, although he doesn’t recognize the song. In fact, he doesn’t recognize any of the music, all dancey and electronic, but it doesn’t really matter.
Everyone is chatting loudly and Liam feels comfortable in this group, despite not really knowing anyone, not yet. He doesn’t find himself saying much, but Harry more than makes up for it, flirtatious and charming. It’s weird to think that these are going to be the people he spends the most time with over the next few months. Even Niall, he suspects, will be someone he’ll miss by the end of the season. He’s a good man to have around for a night out, by the way that he’s shuffling his feet in a weird little jig and chugging another beer like his body doesn’t know what to do first.
It’s only when Liam’s dragged onto the dance floor by some of the girls that he begins to wonder if he’d made the right choice in coming out tonight. He did not expect that there would be dancing, not even when he’d spotted the giant rainbow flag hanging over the doors on their way inside and realized they were at a gay disco (hence why he’d never been here with Andy). He would not categorize himself as a capable dancer, and he hadn’t had enough to drink to feel confident in his skills. But suddenly Louis is beside him, shaking his shoulders to the beat, and Liam allows himself to be distracted from moving his own limbs to watch Louis flail around, totally ridiculous, and still somehow completely owning the floor.
He’s so focused on Louis’s mad dancing that Liam doesn’t quite realize how close the person behind him had begun to press, until hands are firmly on his hips. He twists around in the arms of this stranger to find a tall nice-looking bloke with a floppy quiff, still dancing as though nothing had changed. “Hiya,” he leans and shouts into Liam’s ear. “I’m Nick. Can I buy you a drink?”
Liam blinks, not sure if he’d heard him correctly. “Sorry, what?”
“Can I,” Nick repeats himself, “Buy you,” he moves in closer, nose brushing against Liam’s jaw. “A drink?”
Oh. Liam knows when he’s being chatted up, he’s not a complete idiot. He’s pleased to say that he at least considers it before refusing. He presses against, hmm, quite nice shoulders until he can see the man’s face. “Ah, no thanks. I’m just here with some friends from work.” The guy, Nick, looks a bit heartbroken, so Liam follows it up with a smile and “but if I see you here again, yeah?” because Louis is just a crush and unavailable and Liam’s not a monk.
Except when Nick gives him a little wink and dances away, and Liam turns back to the group, the first thing he sees is Niall holding a beer bottle in one hand-- and grabbing some girl’s arse with the other. Niall and this girl then start snogging in the middle of the crowded dance floor. Liam immediately flicks his eyes to Louis, who is smiling and laughing and dancing like nothing unusual has happened, until he catches Liam’s stricken expression and pushes through the crowds.
“What’s wrong, mate?” Now Louis was the one curled in, shouting in Liam’s ear. ”Was that guy being a prick?”
He’d noticed Nick but not Niall?! “No,” Liam shouts back. “He was nice! It’s just, I’m not--”
“Gay?” Louis interrupts, leaning back a bit to see Liam’s reaction. “Because Harry and I thought--”
Oh, fuck. “No, I am! But, sorry, Louis-- Niall!” Is the music getting ever louder? Liam’s stumbling over his words in order to be heard.
Louis blinks, and starts to laugh. “What? You have a thing for Niall?” He looks over his shoulder where Niall is grinding up against his female companion. “I don’t think that’s gonna work out!”
Liam’s waffling now. “No! But, I thought...!”
“Thought what?” Louis’s eyebrows are raised comically high, and he grabs the bottle Liam hadn’t even noticed he’d still been holding and takes a sip. They’re also still dancing, just slightly, to keep from looking awkward in the middle of the busy dance floor. Liam can feel Louis pressing closer, but he can’t tell if it’s intentional or if he’s being pushed about by the tight crowd.
Liam is suddenly shoved forward by a train of girls tottering past, arms linked. When he rights himself again, he finds himself face to face with Louis. No escaping now. “Aren’t you and Niall together?” he manages at last, trying to keep the hope from his grin.
“Liam!” Louis hoots with laughter as he loops his arms around Liam’s neck, still somewhat keeping time with the music. “That’s hilarious!” He swings them around, shouting over the music. “Niall! NIALL!”
Niall breaks free from the girl, looking around wildly to see who’s calling him. “What?!”
“Are we shagging?” Louis shouts back at him.
The girl in Niall’s arms looks a bit startled, her eyebrows shooting up. They are in a gay bar, after all. It’s not completely out of the question. Niall looks at Louis, then back at the girl with a cocky grin. “Believe me, you’d know if we were!”
Louis reaches across the distance and slaps Niall five. Liam feels like his face is going to crack clean in two, he’s smiling so hard. “I think we should get another drink,” he suggests. “If you want.”
The song ends, and Louis tips his face up to look at Liam. “Dance with me a little longer.”
A little longer turns into five, six songs. Liam looks around once or twice to see where their group has fanned out. He’s pleased to see Zayn dancing with Perrie, the gift shop girl, and somewhat surprisingly he spots Harry laughing over by the bar with Nick, the fellow from earlier.
Mostly he’s aware of Louis and Louis’s arms around his shoulders and Louis’s warm body pressing against him. Not obscenely, although Liam has to make a conscious effort not to get hard when Louis’s fingers graze a sensitive spot behind his ear, sending tingles down his spine. But they’re being pushed together by the crowd, and while Liam’s not entirely sure what they’re doing would be called dancing by anyone else, shaking and shimmying around, he’s not letting go of Louis now that he’s found him in his arms.
The track changes again; the tempo slows down to something a little softer, and while it’s not a ballad, people begin streaming off the dance floor to the bar. Louis still doesn’t pull away.
Liam shuffles his feet, sways a bit, uncertain of how to move to this new beat. He looks around and sees that the other couples around them are kind of, well, grinding up against each other. Liam suddenly feels a bit flustered, hands slipping down to Louis’s arse, but not really coordinated enough to look smooth.
Louis snorts with quiet laughter. “I hope you’re better in bed than you are at this.”
“Oh, I, uh,” Liam bites his lip and smiles. Yeah, very smooth. “Is that, er, an option?”
“It’s getting pretty late,” Louis shrugs, ignoring the question. “We should be heading home.”
Shit, he’d thought this was going well. Liam begins to pull away. “Guess you’re right.”
“Liam, for someone so clever, you can be pretty thick.” Louis rolls his eyes and grabs Liam’s hands in his. “What I meant was, mine or yours?”
Oh. Ohhh. “Um, I guess my flat’s only about a 15 minute walk from here? We’re pretty close to the university.”
“Any kebabs en route?” Louis asks. “Wait, stupid question. Of course there are, there’s students around.”
Liam nods. “Open til three.”
Louis seems to consider this for a moment, and deems it acceptable. “Excellent.” And then suddenly he’s pressing up on his toes and kissing Liam, hard. He’s surprised initially, but Liam quickly responds, kissing Louis back with everything he’s got. He melts into it, ignoring that they’re standing still in the middle of a dance floor that’s filling up again as the music changes. Liam doesn’t care. Louis’s tongue tastes precisely like Liam imagined he might-- like alcohol and sunshine.
To tell the truth, Liam’s a bit out of breath when Louis settles back on his heels. Louis smiles that same fucking radiant smile, grabs Liam’s hand and pulls him through the bar. “Night, ladies!” Louis shouts obnoxiously as they pass a few girls from work slumped against each other in their booth. He gets rude gestures from the lot of them in return.
They make it to the door and spot Zayn smoking out on the pavement. He grins and winks at Liam when he sees their fingers tangled together. “Heading home, are we?”
Liam nods. “Seen Harry in a while?”
“Just left in a cab with some tall guy, dunno who he was.” Zayn crushes what’s left of his smoke under his shoe. “He didn’t drink too much, though. I’m sure he’s alright.”
Liam nods, tries not to worry. “And how’s Perrie?”
“She’s alright, too.” Zayn chuckles softly, looking at the ground.
Louis tugs on Liam’s hand a bit impatiently, backing away from the conversation. “Shall we then, love? I fancy a cuddle,” Louis grins cheekily. “And maybe a blowjob.”
Oh. Well, that's alright, then.
Louis guides, Liam follows.
Also posted at A03. Comment or kudos there, if you'd like!
Rating: PG-13.
Pairing: Liam Payne/Louis Tomlinson (Louis Tomlinson/Niall Horan)
Word-count: 4,000
Summary: On break from university, Liam gets his dream summer job--but not everything goes the way he'd like.
Author's notes: Written for the 3point5seats Holiday Fic Exchange for catchmelike, who wanted a real world AU with romantic misunderstandings. Major thanks to katienyc for the beta (and for suckering me into writing something for the exchange at all!) Remaining mistakes and Canadianisms are my fault.
Apologies to anyone who googled this fic's title looking for Freeman Tilden's wise words of advice. You're in the wrong place.
When Liam was offered a post at the museum, he was thrilled. He's been studying history at uni so landing a summer job giving tours to visitors for a couple of months, and getting to talk about stuff he actually cared about at the same time, was going to be brilliant. It didn't hurt that the wages were good since his bursaries weren't quite going to cover everything next term.
Liam was also excited to make some new friends, as most of his mates from uni had gone home for the summer hols, while Liam had stuck around to try his hand at finding work in the city. But he didn't tell anyone that the real reason he wanted to stay was that he planned on singing at a few open mic nights without so many familiar faces around. He hadn't quite plucked up the courage yet, but he figured maybe a job doing public speaking couldn't hurt at boosting his confidence.
Things were going so well that Liam thought it was just his continuing good luck that the lead tour guide at the museum, Louis, was devastatingly gorgeous.
Louis had been working at the museum for three summers already and will be leading their orientation sessions. It might've seemed like Liam was just really keen to learn everything about the job, taking a seat in the front row. But if they hadn’t been thrown into an ice-breaker game straight away, Liam’s not even certain he would’ve known there were other new staff in the room. Nothing can pull his focus from Louis, hair perfectly coiffed and skin glowing with a tan already even though it’s barely May. The tight khaki trousers Louis wears as part of the uniform show off his nice arse. They’re rolled up at the ankles in what is likely some sort of dress-code violation but Louis seems to get away with it.
If it were up to Liam, he'd probably let Louis get away with just about anything.
Liam doesn't usually fancy someone so easily, but it’s barely half-ten on the first day and he’s already positively love-struck. It feels like Louis is speaking directly to him, although Liam begins to regret his front-row seat somewhat as he can feel his face heat up every time Louis looks his way, which is becoming more and more frequent.
The morning goes by as slow as treacle. They leave the classroom and are led around the museum by Louis like a row of ducklings, getting shown this and that, introduced to HR and Payroll and filling in paperwork.
Liam uses this time to hang back a bit and tries to focus on chatting with the others, and absolutely not on how pocket-sized Louis turned out to be. Louis seemed larger than life when he was at the front of the room and Liam was sitting down, but now that they're both standing around listening to the curatorial assistant explain the procedures of how to properly fill in a facility incident report, he can see that he's got more than a few inches on Louis, and he's wider, too. Liam suspects he could probably pick Louis up and toss him over his shoulder.
Or hold him up, legs hooked around his waist, Louis's back pressed against a wall.
He nearly excuses himself to the closest lav at that thought, but figures running out to toss one off into the loo on his first day wouldn't be the best first impression.
Liam spends the rest of the morning hoping that when they pause for the midday break, he'll get a chance to chat Louis up a bit. He might be the team leader but he wasn't Liam's actual boss or anything, so it wouldn't be inappropriate, right? But at the end of Louis's lesson on what to do when old people fall down in the exhibit (keep calm and call security), Liam watches with some horror as he bounces out of the classroom to meet up with an attractive blond boy in a navy polo. This new boy beams a metallic grin and holds up a lunch tray laden with food, and Louis smacks a kiss to his cheek in greeting.
"Only research and gift shop wear the navy polos," Louis had told them earlier when they were being kitted out for the season. "We guides get these snazzy light blue button-downs, so that we stand out a bit. Doesn't mean we can't all be friends, though! Just makes it easier for tourists, and easier for you lot to recognize one another." Liam was a bit sad about this news because he was pretty certain he'd look much better in a polo, but this was overshadowed now by the crushing realization that Louis already has a boyfriend.
This is going to be a long summer.
Louis probably doesn't mean to pick on Liam, but seeing as he still hasn't moved away from the front row, Liam becomes a natural target. Each time Louis comes up with a hypothetical situation, he asks Liam for the answer before giving anyone else a chance. It feels like he's aping some kind of wacky game show host, putting on voices and sometimes using a biro as a microphone, except this is actually serious stuff they might have to contend with at some point.
("What do you do when a visitor argues with something stated in the tour? Liam?"
"Says something incredibly racist? Liam?"
"Complains about something in the video? Liam?"
"Shits on the escalator? Liam?"
"Does what to the escalator?!" he'd squawked, a bit scandalised.
Louis looked deadly serious. "I wish I was kidding about that one. Bloody tourists, mate. They don't know where the hell they are most of the time.")
All of the scrutiny begins to make Liam a bit uncomfortable, though. As it turns out, Louis also has a smile like fucking sunshine, and maybe he just likes the rapt attention that Liam is giving his lectures and how well he’s putting up with the teasing, but he’s smiling at Liam a lot.
Like, a lot a lot.
It makes Liam feel hot all over and incapable of answering the questions properly after a while, turning him into a stammering idiot. It isn't fucking fair.
In addition to the five new tour guides, there are seven returning, Louis included. A lot of the previous year's staff had finished uni and went on to other jobs, so there were a lot of open spots in Visitor Experience. Everyone's really nice. The two new girls were already friends before starting at the museum, so Liam is paired up with the other new lads for training exercises. There's Harry, a skinny guy with an impossible mop of curls, and Zayn, who doodled all through their training sessions. They're both stupidly attractive as well, and Liam begins to wonder idly about the management's hiring criteria.
Harry's picked up on it as well and brings it up between bites of his lunch. "D'you suppose that all museums are like this?"
Zayn looks up warily. "Like what?" He's been picking at Liam's plate of chips like they've known each other longer than 3 days, but Liam doesn't really mind at all.
Harry grins. "Fill the front-of-house staff with fit young students to get visitors in the door?"
"We're not a fucking H&M, Harry."
"I'm right, though, aren't I? Just look at our Liam, here."
Liam chokes a little on his Coke, but smiles, blushing. “Thanks. Um, same to you.” At least he won’t need to have the ‘hey, just so you know, I am into blokes’ conversation with Harry, evidently. Harry just looks pleased to have someone on his side. "I reckon there's some sort of policy," Liam supplies helpfully.
“There seem to be policies on all sorts of things here.” Zayn muses. “Like what Louis was saying about it not dating amongst the staff, or at least, like, being quiet ‘bout it. No PDA at work or whatever. Bit of a shame if they’re serious about it, considering.”
Liam has been thinking about that one a lot. It certainly explains why he didn’t see Louis and the blond boy, apparently named Niall, acting as loved-up as he’d expect from handsy Louis.
“Why, Zayn, you could at least ask me out properly,” Harry jokes, batting his eyelashes.
“Oi, you know that’s not what I meant,” Zayn pulls a face and throws a ketchupy chip across the table, but there’s no heat behind it.
Harry's pulling away his plate of chips-- out of Zayn’s reach, but also out of Liam’s. Despite what is evidently now open-season on his lunch, Liam decides he quite likes these lads.
It’s day four of orientation and Louis has eaten lunch with Niall everyday so far. Niall's always got a pile of sandwiches and crisps and a thermos of tea. And to Liam’s disappointment, Louis is always delighted to see him, greeting Niall with an arm thrown over his shoulder, or sometimes blowing a raspberry against his cheek. They sit at the same table every day, over by the windows, overlooking the water. Sometimes they're joined by a few other staff (some polos, some button-downs, all girls returning for their own second or third summers).
It was encouraging to Liam to think that he might get to come back next year and the year after, and maybe even get shifts through the school year, if he can manage his schedule. Although his hopeless crush persists, the notion of continued employment spurs him on and he tries to push his increasingly filthy thoughts about Louis aside long enough to actually learn his fucking tour.
Liam wanders around the exhibits with Harry and Zayn, scripts in hand, as they try to get their timing down. The guided tour has to be half an hour in length and they have to recite a massive amount of information in that time, all the while being charming and funny and interesting. Liam forces himself not to worry about the pressure. He knows the history, knows enough that if he were to lose his place, he could probably just start rabbiting on about whatever interests him about that exhibit-- but he learns the script all the same.
Harry speaks too slowly and Zayn a bit too softly, so Liam is feeling quite chuffed when Louis comes round to give them pointers, but just gives Liam's shoulder a squeeze and nods his approval. His hands are warm, and Liam feels something twist in his stomach, stumbles a bit on his next line. Louis grins, apparently pleased, and moves on to the girls.
Things only get worse when they sit in on their third screening of the multimedia show. The tech is clever, with staggered screens layered over real bits of furniture on the stage, making the projected actors seem like ghosts performing a play. They need to memorise the show's content so they can answer visitors' questions about it, but at least it's a bit of a break from learning the tour. And it's nice in the theatre-- dark and air conditioned, a sharp contrast to the museum exhibit space, which has begun to heat up in the afternoons like the days outside.
Louis sits next to him in the black theatre, and their knees knock together as they settle in for the show. Louis doesn't move his leg away, and Liam can't think about anything else for the entire presentation.
It's as though he's doing it on purpose.
It's Zayn who suggests that they go sit with the older staff on the last day of training. Feeling a blush creeping up, Liam panics internally a bit, wondering if he's been too obvious and Zayn is trying to force him to face Louis... until Harry leans over a second later and mumbles in his ear: "Zayn's trying to get off with the pretty lavender-haired girl from the shop, except he hasn't quite worked up the courage to speak with her yet."
Liam can hardly argue with that.
They're welcomed cheerfully by the group, many of the girls giving Harry in particular appraising looks as he smiles wide, dimples showing. They shuffle around to make room for them at the table, and Liam finds himself sat next to Niall, who immediately asks what he’s brought for lunch, despite the mountain of food on his tray.
Begrudgingly, he can see what Louis finds so appealing, even when Niall's braying with laughter through a mouthful of lunch. It turns out Niall is pretty hilarious (and Irish, and quite cute), so Liam has a hard time continuing to casually hate him. Niall cracks jokes and looks around at everyone for their reaction, but it’s not arrogance--he genuinely seems to want everyone at the table to be having a fun time, not just Louis. It’s almost like they’re trying to one-up each other, though, as Louis is even louder and funnier in a casual setting, that sunshine smile shared with everyone, which twists the knife further. Everyone else at the table is having a good laugh at the pair of them, but Liam feels a bit sick about it all, really.
After a few stories about summers gone by, they learn that there's an unofficial Friday night tradition of going out and getting pissed with as many of the team as possible, and they are naturally now invited to come along.
Liam waffles a bit as he doesn't really drink much, but as soon as he opens his mouth to decline, a shooting pain causes him to wince. He glances under the table and evades Zayn’s attempts to kick his shin a second time. He looks up to glare, but Zayn's pleading look has him swallowing his excuses.
"Yeah, alright. We'll be there."
Louis smiles even wider, staring straight at him. "Brilliant."
It's not that Liam doesn't go out at all, but his mates at uni are all pretty bookish save for Andy. He's the only reason Liam's been out at all, really, but Liam wouldn't say that the local nightlife has impressed him much.
Turns out, though, it's just the places that Andy has dragged him to that are shit, because the club that Louis herds them into that night is actually quite cool.
It only takes him a few minutes to get used to the low light and the blaring volume of the music, and the shots that seemingly materialize out of nowhere don’t hurt either. He then nurses a beer as the group loops around the bar, looking for an empty booth they can all pile into. Once they find one, Liam makes himself at home in it, letting the others crowd in beside him and jostle him about. His eyes slip shut for a moment, allowing the bassline to thrum through his body, although he doesn’t recognize the song. In fact, he doesn’t recognize any of the music, all dancey and electronic, but it doesn’t really matter.
Everyone is chatting loudly and Liam feels comfortable in this group, despite not really knowing anyone, not yet. He doesn’t find himself saying much, but Harry more than makes up for it, flirtatious and charming. It’s weird to think that these are going to be the people he spends the most time with over the next few months. Even Niall, he suspects, will be someone he’ll miss by the end of the season. He’s a good man to have around for a night out, by the way that he’s shuffling his feet in a weird little jig and chugging another beer like his body doesn’t know what to do first.
It’s only when Liam’s dragged onto the dance floor by some of the girls that he begins to wonder if he’d made the right choice in coming out tonight. He did not expect that there would be dancing, not even when he’d spotted the giant rainbow flag hanging over the doors on their way inside and realized they were at a gay disco (hence why he’d never been here with Andy). He would not categorize himself as a capable dancer, and he hadn’t had enough to drink to feel confident in his skills. But suddenly Louis is beside him, shaking his shoulders to the beat, and Liam allows himself to be distracted from moving his own limbs to watch Louis flail around, totally ridiculous, and still somehow completely owning the floor.
He’s so focused on Louis’s mad dancing that Liam doesn’t quite realize how close the person behind him had begun to press, until hands are firmly on his hips. He twists around in the arms of this stranger to find a tall nice-looking bloke with a floppy quiff, still dancing as though nothing had changed. “Hiya,” he leans and shouts into Liam’s ear. “I’m Nick. Can I buy you a drink?”
Liam blinks, not sure if he’d heard him correctly. “Sorry, what?”
“Can I,” Nick repeats himself, “Buy you,” he moves in closer, nose brushing against Liam’s jaw. “A drink?”
Oh. Liam knows when he’s being chatted up, he’s not a complete idiot. He’s pleased to say that he at least considers it before refusing. He presses against, hmm, quite nice shoulders until he can see the man’s face. “Ah, no thanks. I’m just here with some friends from work.” The guy, Nick, looks a bit heartbroken, so Liam follows it up with a smile and “but if I see you here again, yeah?” because Louis is just a crush and unavailable and Liam’s not a monk.
Except when Nick gives him a little wink and dances away, and Liam turns back to the group, the first thing he sees is Niall holding a beer bottle in one hand-- and grabbing some girl’s arse with the other. Niall and this girl then start snogging in the middle of the crowded dance floor. Liam immediately flicks his eyes to Louis, who is smiling and laughing and dancing like nothing unusual has happened, until he catches Liam’s stricken expression and pushes through the crowds.
“What’s wrong, mate?” Now Louis was the one curled in, shouting in Liam’s ear. ”Was that guy being a prick?”
He’d noticed Nick but not Niall?! “No,” Liam shouts back. “He was nice! It’s just, I’m not--”
“Gay?” Louis interrupts, leaning back a bit to see Liam’s reaction. “Because Harry and I thought--”
Oh, fuck. “No, I am! But, sorry, Louis-- Niall!” Is the music getting ever louder? Liam’s stumbling over his words in order to be heard.
Louis blinks, and starts to laugh. “What? You have a thing for Niall?” He looks over his shoulder where Niall is grinding up against his female companion. “I don’t think that’s gonna work out!”
Liam’s waffling now. “No! But, I thought...!”
“Thought what?” Louis’s eyebrows are raised comically high, and he grabs the bottle Liam hadn’t even noticed he’d still been holding and takes a sip. They’re also still dancing, just slightly, to keep from looking awkward in the middle of the busy dance floor. Liam can feel Louis pressing closer, but he can’t tell if it’s intentional or if he’s being pushed about by the tight crowd.
Liam is suddenly shoved forward by a train of girls tottering past, arms linked. When he rights himself again, he finds himself face to face with Louis. No escaping now. “Aren’t you and Niall together?” he manages at last, trying to keep the hope from his grin.
“Liam!” Louis hoots with laughter as he loops his arms around Liam’s neck, still somewhat keeping time with the music. “That’s hilarious!” He swings them around, shouting over the music. “Niall! NIALL!”
Niall breaks free from the girl, looking around wildly to see who’s calling him. “What?!”
“Are we shagging?” Louis shouts back at him.
The girl in Niall’s arms looks a bit startled, her eyebrows shooting up. They are in a gay bar, after all. It’s not completely out of the question. Niall looks at Louis, then back at the girl with a cocky grin. “Believe me, you’d know if we were!”
Louis reaches across the distance and slaps Niall five. Liam feels like his face is going to crack clean in two, he’s smiling so hard. “I think we should get another drink,” he suggests. “If you want.”
The song ends, and Louis tips his face up to look at Liam. “Dance with me a little longer.”
A little longer turns into five, six songs. Liam looks around once or twice to see where their group has fanned out. He’s pleased to see Zayn dancing with Perrie, the gift shop girl, and somewhat surprisingly he spots Harry laughing over by the bar with Nick, the fellow from earlier.
Mostly he’s aware of Louis and Louis’s arms around his shoulders and Louis’s warm body pressing against him. Not obscenely, although Liam has to make a conscious effort not to get hard when Louis’s fingers graze a sensitive spot behind his ear, sending tingles down his spine. But they’re being pushed together by the crowd, and while Liam’s not entirely sure what they’re doing would be called dancing by anyone else, shaking and shimmying around, he’s not letting go of Louis now that he’s found him in his arms.
The track changes again; the tempo slows down to something a little softer, and while it’s not a ballad, people begin streaming off the dance floor to the bar. Louis still doesn’t pull away.
Liam shuffles his feet, sways a bit, uncertain of how to move to this new beat. He looks around and sees that the other couples around them are kind of, well, grinding up against each other. Liam suddenly feels a bit flustered, hands slipping down to Louis’s arse, but not really coordinated enough to look smooth.
Louis snorts with quiet laughter. “I hope you’re better in bed than you are at this.”
“Oh, I, uh,” Liam bites his lip and smiles. Yeah, very smooth. “Is that, er, an option?”
“It’s getting pretty late,” Louis shrugs, ignoring the question. “We should be heading home.”
Shit, he’d thought this was going well. Liam begins to pull away. “Guess you’re right.”
“Liam, for someone so clever, you can be pretty thick.” Louis rolls his eyes and grabs Liam’s hands in his. “What I meant was, mine or yours?”
Oh. Ohhh. “Um, I guess my flat’s only about a 15 minute walk from here? We’re pretty close to the university.”
“Any kebabs en route?” Louis asks. “Wait, stupid question. Of course there are, there’s students around.”
Liam nods. “Open til three.”
Louis seems to consider this for a moment, and deems it acceptable. “Excellent.” And then suddenly he’s pressing up on his toes and kissing Liam, hard. He’s surprised initially, but Liam quickly responds, kissing Louis back with everything he’s got. He melts into it, ignoring that they’re standing still in the middle of a dance floor that’s filling up again as the music changes. Liam doesn’t care. Louis’s tongue tastes precisely like Liam imagined he might-- like alcohol and sunshine.
To tell the truth, Liam’s a bit out of breath when Louis settles back on his heels. Louis smiles that same fucking radiant smile, grabs Liam’s hand and pulls him through the bar. “Night, ladies!” Louis shouts obnoxiously as they pass a few girls from work slumped against each other in their booth. He gets rude gestures from the lot of them in return.
They make it to the door and spot Zayn smoking out on the pavement. He grins and winks at Liam when he sees their fingers tangled together. “Heading home, are we?”
Liam nods. “Seen Harry in a while?”
“Just left in a cab with some tall guy, dunno who he was.” Zayn crushes what’s left of his smoke under his shoe. “He didn’t drink too much, though. I’m sure he’s alright.”
Liam nods, tries not to worry. “And how’s Perrie?”
“She’s alright, too.” Zayn chuckles softly, looking at the ground.
Louis tugs on Liam’s hand a bit impatiently, backing away from the conversation. “Shall we then, love? I fancy a cuddle,” Louis grins cheekily. “And maybe a blowjob.”
Oh. Well, that's alright, then.
Louis guides, Liam follows.
Also posted at A03. Comment or kudos there, if you'd like!