Before We Knew

Chapter 1

"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine."

-- MAYA ANGELOU 

Louis bites his lip, shamelessly ogling the man currently seated at his own office diagonally across from his. As their publishing agency is pretty small and more local, they only have one large open floor plan with about eight open offices set up for editors. Louis doesn't mind it since he likes the encouraged camaraderie it promotes. Not to mention how it makes it easy for him to admire fellow coworkers, specifically one coworker.

Said coworker is concentrated on his own manuscript, scrolling and occasionally pausing to write down some notes or make an edit. Simple movements yet they entrance Louis like they always do and always have since he started working at the firm two years ago and first met his sexy coworker who immediately caught his eye.

His eyes trace over the man's broad back and big biceps, shivering a little. He shakes his head in wonder- how can someone be this attractive?

He sneaks another quick (longing) glance before sighing and turning back to his laptop. He's supposed to be editing his own assigned manuscript. It's a lit fic, the third one he's done in a row and he's getting kind of tired of them.

At least this novel has better prose than the previous one. Much less for him to sift through which means much less of a headache to read and edit.

He pauses to take a sip of his usual Yorkshire tea that the intern, Maisy, brought for him a couple of minutes ago. She's a sweet girl and she always makes Louis' tea just right so he's extra careful to be gracious when he sees her.

By the time lunch rolls around, he's managed to get through another three chapters, a full page of extra notes made on a sheet of paper in front of him. He unpacks his homemade lasagna and eats quietly, slumping back in his chair.

Some of his coworkers call out greetings as they leave the building to go out and eat and he chats for a little bit with Jem, one of the newer recruits before she leaves too and he's alone.

He doesn't always stay at the office to eat- in fact, he used to go out for lunch every day with the others or with Zayn if he's free at the same time, but...

Out of the corner of his eye, he spies someone getting up from their spot and stretching a little bit. He smiles a little bit. There is definitely a reason he's now started staying at the office to eat. He waits a second before carefully getting up to subtly follow as the man of his affections heads to the break room. He grabs his empty tea mug too, aka his usual excuse.

When Louis enters, he's already there- making coffee in the beloved company coffee maker.

He stops to let his eyes wander over the man's outfit: a nice button up and slacks that show off his tall frame and lean build excellently. Louis swallows. He's so hot, for fuck's sake.

Shaking himself out of it, he carefully approaches the counter, fumbling around for the tea packets and trying to appear blase and natural. He messes with his fringe, not wanting to appear anything less than put-together. His heart races.

As per usual, it only takes a few seconds for him to be detected.

"Hey, Louis," says his future husband, smiling as he glances over at him. Louis' heart flutters like it always does when he hears his name spoken aloud in that delectable accent.

"Hey, Luke," he says, flashing him a smile. He hopes it doesn't come out as breathless as he feels. "Good day so far?"

"Yeah, 'm reading a good one right now," says Luke with a small shrug. He grabs his finished cup of coffee, sends Louis another smile, before backing away. "Have a good day."