Bonded

Chapter Fifteen

Louis lined the four nail polish colours up on the end of the table. He twisted the bottles so that the labels faced him while Harry got a clear veiw of the colours inside. Louis leaned back in his chair, at the head of the long conference table, to look over all the bottles.

"We each have two colours so I was thinking, maybe we could do the same pattern. You know, to kind of match or something." Louis suggested with a shrug while glancing at Harry, who was sitting beside him, along the long side of the table.

"Sure," Harry readily agreed. He had made tentative peace with the thought that his partners would see him with his nails painted. If they got mad he would simply tell them the truth. That it was Louis's idea and something Louis wanted them to do together. Since the promotion was for Harry to do things with Louis, he didn't feel comfortable telling him no, but if they still really hated it, he could, then, pick up some remover to clean his nails. Hopefully they would be understanding though, as Harry worried Louis would be hurt if he showed up tomorrow with all the polish gone. "What kind of pattern were you thinking?" He asked, a slight excitement growing in him at the thought of finally doing something he had always wanted to try.

"Well, we could do each hand a different colour, or we could do all our nails in one colour except maybe our ring finger, which we could use the other colour on, or we could do all our nails in one colour and do some stripes on top with the other. I dunno, what do you think?"

"I'll do whatever you want, but I don't think I could do nice stripes." Harry was worried that he would make Louis feel bad if he wasn't able to do an at least halfway decent job.

Louis thought about it for a moment, looking down at his own nails, before his face lit up. "I've got a good idea!" He said. "We can paint our nails all one colour except the index and ring fingers, those we will split right down the middle, half and half. The colour on the outside can be the other colour, and on the inside will be the main one, it'll look really cool!"

Harry couldn't easily invision it but he trusted Louis's excitement. "Sounds good," he said with a nod. "Which colour are you going to use for your main one?" He asked.

"Green," Louis said with a smile, as he licked his lips in anticipation. "The pink will be a nice accent. What about you?"

"Maybe I'll do mostly black?" Harry answered, unsure about his choice.

Louis nodded and looked up at him. "I think it would look good." Louis said as he squinted and gave Harry a one over. "You know, you'd look really good in that gothy punk sort of style that you seem to like."

A smile spread across Harry's face as he accepted the compliment. He always liked darker, tighter clothes but his parents and his partners all preferred him to dress like a typical business man. He didn't mind, but it felt good to hear someone approve of his preferences.

"Thanks," he said as he gripped his knees, "I do like that type of look, it just wouldn't be very appropriate in this kind of workplace." Harry didn't want to make his partners look bad so he offered their reason as his own.

"Do you dress like that at home then? Like on the weekends and stuff?" Louis asked as he shook the black bottle. He held out his hand towards Harry, "I'll do your dominate hand for you since it's your first time, it'll be easier for you to do the other yourself."

Harry nodded in compliance as he placed his hand on top of Louis's. The touch felt warm and inviting as Louis manipulated his hand to work on one finger at a time. Harry hadn't realized how much he needed and missed casual touch. The only time he ever really touched someone or was touched himself was in the bedroom.

Harry swallowed down his need as he tried to clear his head. "No, I dress similar to this at home, just causal." Harry said. He thought he dressed very normal. Quiet colours, loose clothing but nothing baggy. Just the same boring, plain, regular old clothing.