larry smut

hello darling

His plans are halted the moment he opens his sideboard cupboard to an empty tea tin. And the second one a shelf below it is abysmally vacant too. It's not the biggest misery, all it takes is a run to the staff kitchen to pilfer a stack of tea sachets. Still, Louis savours the chance to act out in a way he never does in public and makes a childlike whine at the cruel delay of his blanket bundle time.

After his short strop, his fingers tap softly against the lid of the empty tin as he crosses through the dim room and pulls open the door to greet the world outside his bubble. Besides the financial shares he has invested in it, or even the title next to his name, there is an unmistakable feeling of ease in this building made of glass and steel Louis is hard pressed to find elsewhere.

Little pools of light litter the otherwise dark bullpen of desks, lamps his colleagues forgot to switch off in their haste to begin their holidays. The thought of them home with their families makes Louis smile fondly. The women with shimmering hair and painted lips have become his friends, the men in crisp suits people he can hold steady conversation with over pints. His younger skateboarding-and-ripped-jeans self would have spat in the face of these people, assuming the worst of them. Years here have shown him behind the gloss and glamour there are real people, some more vapid and vacant than others just as anywhere else, but also a few genuine gems kept in his close circle he's happy to trade jokes and stories with every day of the week.

There's not a sound as he slips through the corridor, the cozy socks he tugged on barely making a sound as he pads over the glistening floors towards the break room. Hopefully someone's left the milk in the fridge. Last time someone tossed it assuming he'd be out of the office and he'd been forced to have a stern word with everyone about the significance of scrawled penmanship on waxed cartons and the meaning of 'MINE - no touch'. Tea without milk may as well be dumped down the drain. Not that Louis would waste tea like that, he'd still drink it, but he wouldn't enjoy it.

He's still pondering the chances of a milky Christmas miracle when he turns the corner at the end of the hall and collides with something warm and solid. The empty tea tin slips from his hands and clatters to the floor.

"Holy fuck!"

Louis defensively raises his arms at the quick flash of movement. Once the moment has settled he makes out the shadowy silhouette of curly hair and broad shoulders, the figure swearing richly in mirror surprise.

"Hello, darling," slips from Louis' tongue once he's recognized the lad.

It's the intern. Not some pimple faced kid earning credit, an actual paid graduate on track for full placement after the holiday break. Louis shook hands with him in some vague memory a few months back when they'd brought him on, and he doesn't need the light to know the exact shade of brown the silky curls on his head are and the light shine of green in his irises. Both make an impression.

"Louis, I'm sorry. Didn't see you," Harry says in a subdued tone Louis' heard on the other side of his office walls for weeks now.

In the dark Louis can't tell if there's a flush to Harry's cheeks, which is comforting because he can feel the heat of his own.

"It's okay, love. What are you doing here so late?"

A hand ruffles through the curls and Louis' tempted to reach out and brush a fallen one from his face. He crosses his arms instead, attempting to seem professional in socks and cotton. His toes wiggle in their knit homes.

"Got caught up in something," Harry mumbles without looking at him and Louis doesn't know what the hell could have kept a bloody intern in the office so late but he's eager to cut this interaction short so they can pretend this mortifying moment never happened. "Weather shut down my ride home."