Oh, To Be Vulnerable || l.s.

Chapter 1

He was tired. Working overtime at the hospital was doing him in, trying to afford his shitty little apartment and have some money to afford food beyond instant ramen. So, when his overly chipper coworker Niall wants to go for a drink after their shift that consisted of multiple psych emergencies and two instances of giving involuntary medications by injection, Harry wasn't really in the mood.

"Come on H, you spend all your time here at the River, you gotta have some fun every once in a while!" Niall encourages, leaning on his forearms next to Harry's desktop as he charts on his patients.

"I quite like spending my time at the River, since I enjoy living somewhere with heat. Why are you so adamant about going out on a Thursday night?" Harry asks, never looking away from his computer, typing event notes with such velocity the keyboard shifts and hits the table with each keystroke.

Niall smirks at Harry's reluctance, a workaholic as ever. "One, it's our Friday, and two, I'm getting together with some of my old friends, and I think you would really get along with them. If you try, you might even, dare I say, have a good time!" He insists, inching closer and closer to Harry as he presses the issue.

"If I say yes, will you let me type my notes in peace?" Harry surrenders with a sigh, finally shifting his gaze over to his friend.

"I'll even pass your meds if you say yes." Niall stands and begins to lean on the back of Harry's chair.

"I'd do anything to not have to pass the rest of my meds so you're on." Harry even starts to crack a bit of a smile.

Harry has been a nurse for 4 years now, starting out at Riverbrook Psychiatric Center at the ripe age of 23 as a new grad. Throughout nursing school, nothing felt right. After some contemplation of dropping out, but realizing he was too far in, by the grace of God he actually enjoyed a class at university. Mental health nursing was no joke, and majority of his peers hated it. They much preferred the adrenaline rush of a bloody critical care scene than the calculated and methodical de-escalation of a situation involving a patient becoming violent about missing their turn with the TV remote. Most don't have the patience for it, but not Harry. He found the human brain incredibly fascinating, and enjoyed the challenge and creativity needed to reach his patients and help them heal. To Harry, he was as fulfilled with his work as he could be.

And that's where his fulfillment stopped.

Harry had been so invested in his career and making something of himself, that once he reached the finish line with a degree in hand, an apartment waiting for him in the city of his dreams, and a job in the field that he found most palatable, he found he was standing alone. So, when he moved to Boston on his own and started over, he just kept doing what he has always done; put his head down, worked hard, just to do it all over again the next day.

Niall had been his preceptor at his job at the River when he was first starting out, and considering both boys were UK natives and had somehow both ended up here, they were the obvious match up. The boy was just as excitable and chipper then as he is now, and Harry is still shocked that Niall took a liking to him. Harry was quiet, and usually appeared more irritated than he actually was. This didn't make it easy to make friends sometimes, but once someone was able to crack him open a bit, he usually had very strong relationships with those around him. They just had to work hard enough to get him to open up. Harry worked one on one with Niall for three months, which Niall did his very best every day to get Harry to indulge him. Harry knew from the beginning that Niall would be a good friend of his, but he just couldn't get himself to show it until they had known each other for two months and Niall forced him to go out to dinner, got a drink or two into him, and got him to spill his guts. They've been the dynamic duo at the River ever since.

Niall was scurrying to pass medications on both his and Harry's patients as Harry finished his multiple event notes from the shift. Once he was done, Harry couldn't help himself but relieve Niall of his duties. It wasn't like him to let anybody else work harder than they had to. He felt a responsibility to make sure that everyone else was taken care of, even if he was running ragged himself. He had learned how to be cool and collected so nobody would know he was drowning in his work, but he always managed the chaos well. He was a damn good nurse, and he knew it. To finish off his shift, he rallied his troops, AKA his patients, met them at the half door of the med room, gave them their medicine, and wished them a good night.

The clock strikes 7, and Harry gives his report to the oncoming nurse. He sneaks out once his patients have been passed along, and meets Niall in the break room. "I didn't bring any other clothes, what kinda gig is this tonight?" Harry asks Niall. Harry hates going in public in his scrubs, people always love to ask questions and he just cannot handle the conversations where people tell him, oh, I could NEVER work in psych! Harry brushes it off, but in his head always thinks of how they would suck at it anyways.

"Nothing fancy, I'm not changing so you'll be fine. We're gonna go to that pub down the road so I figured we would just walk there to meet the guys." Niall suggests. Harry nods, but in his head he's thinking about how it'll be a great first impression of these new people, pit stains and his laundry-day scrubs that don't fit quite right.

He and Niall exit the building and fling their break-away badge lanyards into their bags. As they make their way to JJ's, the only pub near the hospital that actually has good drinks that don't cost a fortune, Niall begins to chat away. "So, you know, one of my friends that's coming tonight, I think you guys would really get along, if you catch my drift." He says with a little shove to Harry's shoulder, eyes glimmering.

"Oh yeah? How so?" Harry says skeptically. Niall has tried to set him up with people before, and to be frank, Niall's crowd doesn't really align with Harry's. His friends are all big into football and going for pints. Harry's a little more interested in some of the finer things; museums, live music, taking long walks to Boston commons simply just to read and bask in the sun.

He had fun with Niall's friends, he did, but he never felt that click with them that he really belonged. "Just trust me on this one. Just another fine English bloke like yourself," Niall says with a smirk.

The pub is quiet, as it usually is on the weekdays with typically a crowd that look quite like Harry and Niall, still in their scrubs from their shift at the hospital. "Let's get a table, I'm starving." Niall puts forward, and Harry is okay with that. He hates when you have a large group and your sat at a bar, conversation is awkward, and if you don't like the person next to you, you're screwed for the night. They sit a table fit for 5, and Niall informs Harry that his friends should be there any minute. Just as quickly as Niall gives the info to Harry, three men come rumbling in and Niall lights up, waving them over. One man is dressed in casual clothes, the other looks as if he just got off of work still dressed in his business casual. The last is in a matching set of trendy crimson scrubs that Harry hates, with the clunky Hoka shoes that Harry hates.