The Night is Changing Overhead- Larry

Here Comes The Rush Before We Touch

Harry left Menchies with the coffee cup tightly gripped in his hand. His head snapped left then right to see if the little coffee thief Louis, was already gone. Unsure if he was pleased or a bit disappointed, Harry didn't see him. He was absolutely perplexed by an exchange that didn't even last three minutes. It wasn't that he was confrontational man by any means, usually described as the kind of guy who "goes with the flow."

Regardless, Harry wasn't ready to let this one go. Not yet, at least.

Taking a left down the street towards the parlor, Harry lightly blew against the lip of the coffee lid, waiting a moment before he took a sip. He wasn't sure why he was surprised that it tasted like his average morning order.

Slowly walking down the cobble path, Harry re-ran the exchange over and over in his head. He thought about the quickness of Louis' tongue and how obscene of a humanbeing he was. Trying to think back to the other mornings at the shop, he debated if he had ever seen Louis before. Everyday, Harry was at that shop. So, he felt like he had a pretty good grasp of who the other regulars were. That only led Harry to believe that Louis had never been there before. Well, at least not early in the morning.

By the time Harry made his way to the front of the shop, he still hadn't made any progress with the mess of thoughts that tumbled around his head. Louis was a frustrating anomaly and Harry had only spoken to him for a handful of minutes.

Harry wasn't all too surprised that when he turned the worn door handle, it was already unlocked. Stepping into the shop, Harry pushed past the glass door and strode into the reception area. Niall was already sat behind the reception desk, his forehead pressed flat against the surface.

Without looking up, Niall groaned, "Why am I here before your lazy arse when I was the one drinking last night?"

Harry laughed, quickly quieting himself when Niall groaned at the noise. "Sorry about that. I had a, um, weird encounter at this morning."

Niall perked his head up. Eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep and his blonde tuffs of hair stuck out sporadically. "Is that code for a gay thing?" he seriously asked.

Harry busted out into a full belly laugh, doubling over so his palms were pressed against the tops of his blue jeans. He collected himself when he saw that Niall not nearly as amused as he was. "No, Niall," He choked out. "That's not code for anal."

Niall slumped his head back down with a thump and faced his palm towards Harry, "It's too early for anal talk, Harry. Too early."

"You started it," Harry shrugged. "Really though, some little bugger took my coffee this morning."

Niall lifted his head and rested his chin on the desk, his eyes narrowed, "You have coffee in your hand."

Harry turned the cup so Louis' name faced Niall, "The culprit's."

"Louis," Niall slowly enunciated as if he was testing the name out. "Well, why the hell did he take yours?"

"I guess we both ordered the same thing," Harry gestured towards the coffee. "When they called out my order, I went to reach it and he grabbed it first. I told him that it was mine, he just said he was in a hurry and snatched it."

Niall looked as confused as Harry felt, "Did they mix it up and just write his name twice or summat?"

"No!" Harry exclaimed a bit too loud judging by Niall's grimace. "Sorry," He quickly amended. "He took a sip from it and was all like, 'this is mine.' Niall, he literally stood there and drank it."

Niall chortled, "The fuck?"

"I even told him my name was on it!" Harry chimed in, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. "When he finally looked, he just said something like 'shit, well, thanks Harry' and left."