"I need the ten outfits done and ready to go by 10am sharp!"
"Chill out Kat, I've got this."
"Don't back chat me Grace, Mr Styles is going to flip out if we're not ready for the shoot today."
I rolled my eyes.
"Will you girls stop arguing for the love of god? It's not going to make you work any faster so shut up and just get on." I snapped, putting down the latest issue of Prestige hard on the table, making them both look up at me.
"Sorry Niall." Kat mumbled, looking down at her suede boots as I sighed.
"Stop apologising and work." I picked up the magazine again, glancing over the small picture of him on the contents page.
Mr Harry Styles.
Owner and director of Prestige, the biggest fashion magazine in the world.
No one could deny how good looking he was, and I swear the man could pull of anything and everything, and still look like a god. But we also all knew that he had the fieriest temper most of us had ever seen. If you were even a minute late for a meeting or a shoot, it was one more strike before you were out. Me, being the model employee I was, had never been late for anything, in fact, I was usually early, but it had never been praised by anyone, least of all Mr Styles. He always just looked at me, nodded, and made a sarcastic comment about everyone else being late so he'd have to start hiring again.
Everyone wanted to be friends with him, but no one was. No one from work anyway.
"Niall? Could you help us a second?" Grace called me, pulling me out of my little trance staring at his picture.
I put the magazine down, much calmer this time, as I turned to the girls in the large office space we occupied. I was head of this department, so they always asked for my advice on the final outfits before taking them to Mr Styles; we dealt with the design side, planning outfits and shoots, doing mock ups of every issue months in advance just so everything was right for the big boss man. He was very particular, and I think other people who worked for Prestige forgot how important me and my team were to the upkeep of this magazine.
"I'm not sure about the gloves." I observed, tapping my brogues on the floor as I eyed the 8 outfits they'd completed so far. It was only 9.30am and I knew they had time to do 2 more, but they had a habit of stressing each other out.
"Oh shit, you're right." Grace nodded in agreement as Kat rushed to grab the gloves off the mannequin they were using to base model the outfit.
"Better Niall?" Kat glanced at me hopefully, as I hummed to myself.
"There's something missing." I shook my head, glancing around the small selection of what they had to add to the outfits. They both watched me nervously as I walked over to their box of accessories.
It was May, and for this particular June issue shoot, Mr Styles had decided he wanted to revisit the biker theme, but in a more retro way than before.
"Try this." I handed Kat a black leather studded belt, and she frowned.
"You sure?" She asked, clearly uncertain.
I rolled my eyes; as you can probably gather, I roll my eyes at her and Grace a lot. And everyone else working in my department for that matter; I'd been here longer than all of them, and I knew my way around the field.
"Of course I'm sure." I grumbled, gesturing for her to put the belt on the mannequin in front of us. She nodded quickly as Grace laughed.
"Yeah he wouldn't want to ruin his no strike record with Mr Styles." She chuckled, winking at me. Yet another eye roll.
"Speak for yourself, both of you have a strike each already, and I really don't want to have to go about having him hire me yet another team."
I'd had some bad luck with my design team in the past few months. It wasn't even the people who were hired, it was Mr Styles' lack of patience with them. I mean, in all honesty it probably didn't help that I was always early and so, in turn, showed them up, but I wasn't about to risk losing my job. I loved my job, even though it wasn't what I'd planned as a career for myself at all. I'd always wanted to be an artist or a photographer, but when I saw an opening for head of design at Prestige just a week after finishing my masters degree in fine art, I took a shot and applied. 6 years later, I was a highly respected member of the team and someone Mr Styles deeply trusted. I didn't know this because he told me so, because he wouldn't dream of it, but because he put me in charge of every single shoot preparation, of every single outfit line, and he always took my advice in meetings and included at least one element suggested by me in each issue.
My other colleagues liked to tease me about us being friends, but I knew that would never happen, although from the looks of it I was the closest person he had to a friend in the business.
"It actually looks pretty good." Kat mumbled when she'd finished buckling the belt, glancing at me sheepishly.
I gave her the smuggest look I could muster.
"Damn right it does." Grace nodded, grinning at me as Kat blushed a little.
"Next time, don't question me, yeah? I am your manager after all." I wagged my finger at her, only half teasing as she nodded furiously, mumbling an apology as I moved back to my desk to finish my cover shoot mood boards and the two of them made a start on the next outfit.
It was going to be a long day.
--
I knocked firmly on the door of meeting room D where our pre-shoot meeting was taking place. There was supposed to be 12 of us from the design department attending, but only 3 of us currently stood outside the door. I'll already had to shout at the 8 others in my team countless times this week and I'd given up on them today.
"Enter."
I didn't even glance back at the girls as I opened the door and strolled in, the two of them scuttling in behind me with the clothes rail and shutting the door.
"Ah, my design team. Early, as usual."
He didn't even smile.
He was sat at the head of the table, his personal assistant, Bella, sat to his left.
He was wearing a white, double breasted suit jacket over a button down pale blue shirt. His hair was styled perfectly, as usual, but he had a hint of dark facial hair on his chin and upper lip, creating a sort of shadow on his face.
Still, hands down the sexiest man I'd ever seen.
But he was my boss, and that was weird.
I just called it an appreciation for good fashion sense; yeah, that's what it was.
"Bella, please call Janie and tell her to inform the rest of the design team that they are to be out by tomorrow morning. I don't have time to be waiting around."
There he was, back at it again. A small part of me was relieved that he was firing the other 8 members of my team who were supposed to also be here; completely useless, every single one of them.
Bella nodded quickly, picking up the phone from the desk in front of her.
"Janie? Please can you inform the design team that they're all fired and have to be out by tomorrow. Great, thank you."
She hung up as I heard Grace gulp from beside me. I knew not to speak, and to just sit and wait for Mr Styles to begin the meeting in his own time, but Kat, as the newest member of my team, hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet.
"Mr Styles we have the finished outfits all ready to go and-..."
He raised his hand, his dark green eyes glaring right through her, but his face stayed in the same emotionless expression as I took my seat one down from the seat next to him on his right. I knew she'd fucked up, but she was oblivious, just shutting her mouth and staring back at him.
"Strike two, Miss Higgins." He shook his head, moving his hand to point towards the door.
She didn't move, just glancing down at me for help.
I did my thing, rolling my eyes and looking away. This was nothing new, and there was nothing I could do.
I'd given them both plenty of warning about how Mr Styles was, but no doubt they'd thought I was exaggerating.
Spoiler alert: I wasn't.
"He means you're fired." Bella spoke up, also pointing to the door. I glanced up again as Kat's face dropped and she began to look embarrassed and flustered, her cheeks slowly going redder as she turned away and walked towards the door.
"Please shut it behind you, Miss Higgins." Mr Styles said loudly, looking down at his messily scrawled notes on the pad in front of him, waving her away. I heard the door slam as he looked up at me. Grace had gotten the message and sat down silently next to me, leaving the clothing rail we'd brought in with us a little way behind our seats, so she could demonstrate the outfits when instructed by him.
His eyes softened into an almost smile, but his face didn't change at all.
"So, Niall, I trust you and the rest of the team have put together everything for the shoot?"
It was barely a question, more like a statement.
I nodded, pulling my sketch ideas from the confines of my art folder. Before any sort of outfit making started, I always drew up base ideas, and ever since the first meeting I'd had with him, Mr Styles always wanted to see them. He didn't even ask anymore I just handed them over and that was that. He nodded at me as I handed them to him, trying not to smudge the graphite shading as I did so.
I watched, a little tense in spite of myself, as he looked over them carefully, humming a little. Grace was starting to breathe more heavily beside me, so I shot her a reassuring smile before glancing back to my boss.
"Suffice to say I have high expectations." He raised an eyebrow at me as he handed the drawings back and I put them safely back in the folder. It was the most expression in his face, besides anger, that I'd seen in months.
"Hopefully we won't disappoint you." I smiled, not expecting him to return it, and he didn't, as I got up and stepped towards the rail.
"You never do, Niall." He said softly, his wild, jade eyes smiling at me again.
I could tell Grace was nervous in his presence, but I was more than relaxed. I'd done this far too many times to be worrying about why he never smiled, why he spoke in statements, and why true compliments from him were few and far between. I smiled as Grace picked up the first two outfits, shakily explaining them to him. He just nodded, occasionally glancing at me as I stood beside her, tapping my foot a little. Once she'd gotten through all of them, I turned back to him, sitting down again and handing him the mock up I'd done of the double page spread for this shoot.
"I want it exactly like this," he said suddenly after a long silence,
"this is exactly what I want the spread to look like. You've hit the nail on the head here, Niall."
He looked up at me, his mouth twitching a little.
Was he going to smile at me?
Of course he wasn't.
But that was the closest I'd gotten to receiving a classic and super rare Styles smile.
I counted myself damn lucky.
"Your word is gospel, boss." I nodded, taking back the mock up as he stood from his chair suddenly. Bella stood too, so quickly I could've sworn she almost tripped, but she re-balanced and smiled at Grace, who was still shitting herself a little. It was almost funny to me now, how nervous everyone was when he was around.
"That'll be all. I'll see you both in an hour. I've got a car ready for you downstairs when you're ready. Take your time. It'll wait." He picked up his notes and walked out without another word or glance, with Bella hot on his heels.
Once the door had closed behind him, Grace exhaled heavily, putting her head in her hands for a second before glancing up at me from between her fingers.
"Poor Kat." She half whispered, moving her hands down and helping me gather up the stuff so we could leave and be ready to head down to the car.
"I hate to be that guy, but I did warn both of you. I'm just glad one of you actually listened. It means I have at least one good worker left in my rapidly diminishing team." I sighed, holding my art folders against my chest with my right arm as I helped her push the clothes rail towards the door with my left.
"But still, that's got to be pretty humiliating," she shook her head slowly as we left the room, heading back through the corridors to the design offices,
"although you probably don't empathise. You are basically his favourite employee after all."
"What?" I frowned at her as we got to the main design office and she shut the door behind us. The head photographer, Krissy Matthews, and her team were all sat around one of the tables, clearly waiting for us.
"Well, think about it. You've been here for 6 years, and no one else lasts more than a few months here. I think Krissy is in second place with a year and a half," she gestured over her shoulder at Krissy who was suddenly interested at the mention of her name,
"and, I mean, he always does things you suggest, and you heard what he said about your double page spread back there." She gestured in the vague direction of the meeting room. Krissy and the others were now staring at us as we talked.
"What did he say about it?" one of her assistants, Dylan Edwards, spoke up, frowning softly at me. He was young, probably about as young as I was when I'd started here.
Grace turned to face him before I could get a word in edgeways.
"He said it was perfect, and not to change a thing about it for publication." She was talking fast, like she was getting excited, but I gave up, tutting under my breath.
They all carried on talking about me and Mr Styles as I moved the rail over to my desk and started to put the outfits into their bags, ready for transport. Even when I was done, and I had everything else I needed for the shoot stuffed into my brown leather shoulder bag, they were still talking about how I was Mr Styles' favourite.
It felt good to hear it.
I wanted him to like me.
And, fuck it, I was determined to get a smile out of him one of these days.
"You lot coming?" I raised my eyebrow at them, as Grace turned to look at me, slight shock on her face. She walked quickly to where her stuff was, gathering it up in a hurry; clearly, she wasn't ready. The photographers started to stand up too.
"I'll wait in the car." I rolled my eyes, leaving the office quickly and heading to the elevator. After riding it down alone, I walked out of the building onto the sidewalk where Mr Styles was about to climb into his car.
"Mr Horan." A tall, broad man, part of the security team, opened the door of the car behind Mr Styles' for me. I smiled at him, stepping towards it.
"See you there, Niall." I glanced up to see that Mr Styles had paused, staring at me before ducking into his own car, as another member of security closed the door for him.
The camera flashes were already starting so I climbed quickly into the back of my car, hoping Grace, Krissy and the others would hurry the hell up.
I fucking hated the paparazzi.
After what felt like forever, the car door opened again and they all piled in, shuffling up so we could all fit in the large leather interior of the Rolls Royce.
"Go." The security guy tapped the driver's side window and the car rumbled into life before pulling off.
The chatter was somehow still going, but I blocked it out, just gazing out of the tinted windows, wishing I was important enough to get my own personal car so I didn't have to be stuffed in here with them.
I wasn't the most friendly or sociable person, as you can probably tell, but you had to be a bit of an unfeeling sociopath to make it in a business like this, and I knew that now.
As soon as the car stopped, I got out myself, much to the distain of the on-set security member who was about to open the door for me, and so got a car door to the face. I just walked right past him, carrying the clothes bags like you'd carry someone bridal style, heading for where I saw Mr Styles standing with Bella, in the shade of a large tree.
It was bright and hot, the sun beating down on me and making me sweat. But I couldn't even deny, he looked so damn good in the sunshine; the way it glistened off his perfectly styled curls was just so appealing.
No Niall, be professional.
"There's a rail just over there, all ready for you." Bella half smiled at me, gesturing to a small undercover area where there where a few clothes rails. I walked under the marquee, thankful for the shade so the back of my neck was burning less, as I hung up the clothes and sighed.
"Hey Niall, long time no see!"
I heard the familiar voice and turned around.
"Good to see you mate, you're looking well." I smirked at my friend as he pulled me into a one-armed hug, smiling widely at me with his pearly white teeth.
"You too man. I trust you've got a banging outfit for me today?" he chuckled, trying to look round me at the bags on the rail. I laughed, thumping his shoulder gently; I much preferred being in the presence of people like him. I couldn't stand gossipers.
"As always, Zee," I nodded, giving him a gentle shove as he tried to walk around me and start opening the bag,
"patience though, buddy." I raised my eyebrows at him as he boomed with laughter.
"Fine, fine. You're the boss." He raised his hands in mock surrender, the corners of his dark brown eyes creasing in amusement.
"Well, no. But I am in charge of what you wear and that's a pretty powerful position, so I'll give you that." I nodded, chuckling a little.
He was suddenly called from the direction of the makeup tent. I smiled as he glanced over his shoulder before looking back to me and fist bumping me.
"Catch you later, bro." he grinned before walking off, swinging his hips a little; he was a model after all. A model for Prada at that. He'd wanted Gucci, but Gucci were picky mother fuckers and they hadn't been interested.
I spotted a desk next to the rail with a tea service set up on it. I approached it, seeing a card taped to the front of it.
"Niall Horan"
I smiled to myself; I'd actually been allocated my own desk space and tea service at a shoot. As much as I was big in the company, this had never happened before; I almost felt a little faint with happiness.
"Is everything ok for you, Niall?"
I turned around, seeing Mr Styles standing a little way behind me, his hands in the pockets of his white suit, his cross necklace resting on his broad chest, a pair of sunglasses hanging through one of the button holes on his jacket. Smiling at him, I nodded, placing my bag down on the table before properly turning to face him.
"Yes, thank you." I said softly, seeing the hint of a smile flash through his eyes. He nodded once, pulling one hands from his pocket to itch his chin and rub his nose a little.
"I thought you'd appreciate a space to yourself on a project that was designed almost fully by you." He was talking much more quietly and gently than usual, his tone much raspier. Normally his voice boomed, full of confidence, but he seemed almost bashful at that moment.
"I really appreciate it."
I knew this was probably the closest I was going to get to him actually acknowledging my work value, and I was revelling in it.
My chest felt like it was going to explode as it swelled with pure happiness; I'd fucking made it.
"Good," he nodded again,
"we'll start in 10. I'll have the models and the wardrobe team sent over, so you can direct them. Work your magic, do me proud."
I swear he almost smiled again. His lips twitched a little and his jaw clenched, rippling his skin.
"Yes boss." I tried to suppress my enormous smile, but I knew he could see how happy I was.
Once again, he didn't change his facial expression at all, only turning around and walking back to Bella, talking quietly to her before she walked off towards the makeup tent.
Well, fuck me up Mr Styles.
---
A/N Hey guysss
idek why I've got so many new fanfics atm but like, who's really complaining pahaha
Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of Gucci Suit - trust me, it's gonna get good ;)
Also, idk about you guys but that last line is ME AF
Anywaysss, love y'all, let me know what you thinkkk
All the love
H x