salute [h.s]

december 9 - ruining the holiday dinner

He'd come in to the recording room to talk to the recording engineer working behind the glass and he didn't stay long. He didn't even spare Niall a glance, sitting in the booth, but Niall still found himself sitting up straighter, trying to look cool or... something. Just something. He felt like he didn't take a breath until the door had shut behind him.

"That's Harry," Louis, a studio writer and Niall's first friend there, had told him when he relayed the story back to him in the lunchroom. "He's a huge name in the music world. He's a producer but he sits in a lot. Even does his own sound engineering sometimes. He's, like, a producing god."

"Didn't know Harry was your taste, Louis." Niall's eyes had widened as his boss, the studio manager Liam, walked up behind Louis and clapped him on the shoulders. "Something you want to tell me?"

"Not me," Louis scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "Niall here's the one with the questionable taste."

"A bit of a crush then?" Liam had asked with a cheeky smile as he pulled out a chair at the table and sat down languidly. Niall was still trying to get around the fact that his boss was sitting with them at lunch like it was no big thing so his answer was a stuttered mess.

"I don't — what, but, no — I, um, no."

"That was almost a full sentence Niall," Louis said condescendingly as he reached over to pat Niall's hand. "Good job." Niall flipped him the finger in response.

"I could give you his number if you'd like," Liam offered. "He's a really great guy. You two would get on."

"No," Niall said immediately, shaking his head furiously. "I — no, no it's okay. Thanks anyways." He jumped to his feet and practically ran off before the conversation could go any further.

He'd seen Harry exactly four times since then. The first time had been, embarrassingly enough, in the loo. Harry had been leaving while he'd been going in and they'd ended up in a tangle in the doorway. It had been the first time Niall had heard Harry speak, just a simple "sorry" before they went their separate ways. He'd dreamed some things he would never admit to out loud that night, that one word coursing through his mind.

The second time, Niall had been rushing around, trying to find the pack of strings for his guitar because he'd just snapped one and they were in the middle of recording the last bits of an album that Niall had been asked to play on. He'd been chucking things around in the break room where his stuff was stashed when Liam's voice behind him had said, "And have you met Niall yet?" Niall had craned his head around, sheet music held between his teeth as he searched frantically for his extra strings. That was the image Harry had of him — bent over, arse in the air, mouth full — when they met for the second time. "We had a run-in in the toilets," Harry told Liam with a chuckle that did bad bad things to Niall. "It's nice to meet you properly Niall." They were gone before Niall had a chance to say that this wasn't exactly proper.

The third time, Niall had stumbled upon Harry entirely by accident, hiding out on the roof of the studio looking over Oxford Circus. Sometimes Niall went out there to think when the weight of the world was too much. Apparently he wasn't the only one because Harry was sitting right near the roof's edge, head in hands. It was clear from the way he was hunched over, his shoulders tense, that something was on his mind. Niall was going to just step away and pretend he hadn't seen him but Harry must have sensed him. He craned his head around and frowned in Niall's direction. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you," Niall said with a shake of his head, his cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment.

"No, you didn't," Harry said quickly. "Don't go on my account."

"You just look like you needed some space."