Always You |harry styles| - completed

FORTY

"People always judge, they make assumptions and have opinions on how you're living your life. I'm very thankful that you are honest but not meddling.", I squeezed her hand while we waited for Harry to fill her plate up and she smiled at me warmly. "I've got your back, even when the world doesn't, don't worry.", Gemma's words made me feel a certain safety for the future, whatever it may be.

The two weeks went by very quickly, we moved my stuff to Harry's and it felt like I'd always lived there. It was essentially the same as when we weren't officially living together, since we were used to spending the night at his or mine, having coffee and breakfast together and picking up groceries for dinner. Nothing changed, we only grew closer. I didn't know what it was like waking up without Harry and by week four I'd already decided I'd surprise him by moving all of my stuff into his house and giving my flat away, which obviously made Harry very happy. He did some travelling during March and the beginning of April, but he was back right in time for the first anniversary of our kiss. Harry reenacted the whole thing for me, even brought out his newsboy cap and sat on the stairs in his garden to make it seem more realistic. We exclusively listened to U2 that entire weekend, remembering the concert and New York. May felt different... Harry was in the studio a lot, writing and recording bits and pieces of the new record. He was home, but he wasn't really present that much. Work wasn't that great, still no big gigs and Rodney was very close to closing the whole company a few times. We managed to talk him out of it, but I wasn't so sure we had anything to fight for. The market for production was extremely different here in the UK than it was in the US, maybe because of the sheer size of the market, maybe because of its demands. I'd gotten a job offer from Choice Productions, which is a good company that's been around for a long time here in London and definitely gets more jobs. I went for two rounds of interviews and then told them I wouldn't be able to leave my job just like that and that I hoped they'd still have a position for me when I did decide to make the transition. I didn't tell Harry any of it mainly because he wasn't around that much when it happened, but also because I wasn't sure what he'd tell me and I didn't want to fight about my job with him.

"You are not going to believe this! We got a concert gig for the end of June! Harry Styles is apparently doing a weekend festival thing, with lots of different artists and surprise guests and he wants us to produce the entire thing!", Ben came bursting into my office and I stopped listening after I heard Harry's name. This was no accident. 

"That's great Ben. Listen, we'll make a battle plan tomorrow, I've got to run now.", I collected my things and texted Harry from the elevator to check if he was at home or in the studio. I hoped for his sake, he was home. I didn't want to have that fight with him in front of other people. When I got home he was sitting at the kitchen island, snacking on some healthy shit he'd been really into lately.

"You're home early, teacup. Did you have a good day?", he didn't seem to notice my stern face filled with rage.

"When did you plan on telling me you were hiring us for the HS festival weekend?", I cut right to the chase and his demeanor changed immediately.

"Teacu-", he started, "Do not teacup me! How could you do this? You know how hard I tried not to get frustrated by the lack of jobs we were getting and you went behind my back, hired Rod's company for this event without even mentioning it to me! Did you think I would somehow stay out of the loop? That they wouldn't tell me we got a new gig and who it was for?".

"First of all, I didn't think you'd get this angry with me. In my mind I was doing you a favor while helping my event be the best it can be, at the same time. What's the problem with that?", I couldn't believe he didn't see anything wrong with his actions.

"Are you kidding me? For starters, it's nepotism and it shows clear partiality towards our company! Nobody will ever take us seriously after they do a simple Google search and figure out you're my boyfriend and my company produced your event. It's fine when friends recommend something to you but it is not fine when you do this behind my back without thinking about the consequences. I cannot believe you.", we didn't fight a lot, so this was a very new situation for me and I didn't know how to act. I knew that I needed to cool down, because I'd said what I wanted to say and if I stayed in the same room as him for a second more I might've said something I'd surely regret later. The bathroom turned into my safe space for the next thirty minutes and Harry gave up trying to get me to let him in after ten minutes. He quickly became aware it wasn't going to happen, which made me calm down a bit. We never used to have issues that revolved around our work, he'd do his thing and I'd do mine, occasionally we'd maybe talk about ideas and brainstorm a bit... but we never meddled like that. After taking a shower I decided it was time to leave the no-war zone and talk things over, staying mad wouldn't help either of us.

"Harry, can we talk?", he sat on the sofa with his guitar, strumming a little, he barely looked up at me and simply nodded. I couldn't tell if he was mad or disappointed or embarrassed or something else.

"My intention is never to yell or blow up on you like that, you are not a child that I have to bring up, you're my partner and I should treat you as such. For that I am sorry.", I sat next to him and crossed my legs on top of the sofa, taking one of his hands into mine, "That being said, I really don't feel comfortable with what you did.".

"But why, teacup? I didn't mean to offend you... I only know I'd love to work with you cos I believe you have a brilliant mind and we could do incredible things together. Is there anything wrong in that?", I felt extremely bad for getting so mad at him, but I couldn't contain myself when I heard what he'd done.

"There's nothing bad in it, Harry. I just don't know if working together would be a smart idea and there's a whole thought process that went into my decision about this. I want separation of church and state when it comes to our work and our relationship. We live together, love together and share our life – that's church. Our work is something else, it's personal for each of us and it gives us enough time each day to spend apart, doing something we love but something that doesn't involve both of us together. That's state. I think it's fine we ask each other for advice and I probably would've gone to the festival thing with you anyways... maybe even helped with the production of it, as my own person and not as an employee of my company. What I am trying to say is that we would spend too much time together if I were to work on the production of your events, and we are way too close for you to tell me if you dislike an idea or for me to respectfully and professionally disagree with one of your decisions. Do you see where I'm coming from now?", he quietly listened to all I had to say and I could tell he saw the reasoning behind my decision, but this discussion was far from over... it was written in his eyes that he had something to add.

"I do, but I also remember you saying once that you wouldn't mind working on Niall's events... how come you'd work with him and not with me?", he wasn't giving up.

"That's because Niall isn't my boyfriend, love, you are. My relationship with him isn't as emotionally charged as ours is and I wouldn't have trouble with telling him something does not sit well with me. With you, on the other hand, I'm afraid we'd take things too personally and end up in unnecessary arguments all the time."

"Fine, what do you want to do about the festival weekend then?", I thought about that while showering and there was no point in cancelling... not that I could, anyway.

"We'll do the event, only because Rod really needs a push in the right direction and I'd feel really bad if we had to say no only because of our relationship. But, it will have to be strictly professional, you'll work mainly with Ben and I'll stay on the sidelines. Is that clear?", he nodded.

"Yes ma'am! I hate it when we fight.", his arms wrapped around my waist and I nuzzled into his neck, "I do too. It's a normal part of every relationship, though, love.". 

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A/N: Thank you so much for 10K!!! 

See, as much as teacup loves Harry, she does not want him butting in when it comes to her work and I fully support her on this. He meant well but it turned out a mess :P 

TPWK, always.

T.