Breaking The Ice

The Hype

TJ'S POV

I slammed my third shot glass down on the bar as I looked over at Harry, who was already calling the bartender over for more. I took a sip of my beer as I looked around, feeling the excitement bubbling in my stomach as I realized the show would probably be starting soon.

I'd been waiting months for it, and the fact that I knew Harry was just as excited as me was only making it better. Since Atmosphere wasn't exactly well known, most of the venues for his shows were usually in smaller spaces, dive bar type establishments, and this one was no different. Everyone was crammed in as they tried to get a good spot to watch from, and Harry and I had spent most of our time at the bar since we'd arrived an hour earlier.

"How you doing, Spaz?" Harry smiled as he nudged me with his shoulder, looking down at me as the bartender brought our next round of shots.

"I'm great." I smiled back.

"Uh huh." He nodded as he took a swig of his beer. "So we're gonna just pretend you're not keeping a mental tally of how much money I've spent so far?"

Fuck, I hate how well he knows me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I laughed.

He grabbed the shots off the bar and handed me one, tapping his against mine before we threw them back and slammed the empty glasses down on the bar.

"Alright, I think that's enough shots." I laughed, already drunk and feeling the alcohol sitting in my stomach. "I'm good for now, I wanna actually make it until the end of the show."

"Let's just grab another beer and go get a spot." Harry nodded as he ordered two more beers and we polished off the ones we had going.

I caught a couple of girls eyeing him up from across the bar, and for some reason I found myself looking at him to see if I could try to figure out what my first impression of him would have been had I not met him the way I did. I wondered what I would have thought of him if I'd met him in a bar, or in some other circumstance and he hadn't spent the last three months driving me insane.

He was wearing a white t-shirt that was tight around his biceps and torso, the muscles of his back and chest visible as he leaned against the bar. Harry was in great shape, and I'd seen his body in much less than a t-shirt multiple times, but as I stood there I was actually able to appreciate just how attractive he was. There wasn't a single guy in that bar with a body as nice as Harry's, and I allowed myself to appreciate it as my eyes roamed over him.

The tattoos inked into the skin of his right arm were visible, scattered around without any type of order, and I realized I'd never really looked at them in any detail before. His hair was the same way it always was, slightly longer as the curls framed around his face, coming down just past his ears, and he would periodically run his fingers through it and pull it back off his face. His skin looked soft and slightly dewy due to the temperature in the room with so many people crammed into such a small space. He was smiling, and the dimple in his cheek was visible as he chatted away with the bartender, before his green eyes shifted to look at me and I suddenly realized I'd been holding my breath.

"You okay?" He laughed lightly as he looked at me.

There was something about allowing myself to look at him in a different light that opened my eyes to how attractive he was, and for some reason I just couldn't seem to stop looking at him. His green eyes were burning into mine, his soft smile turning into a familiar smirk before he reached up and placed his hand to the side of my face, gently rubbing my cheek with his thumb.