KINGS & QUEENS - LARRY STYLINSON FANFICTION

THE CALL

Around nine o'clock in the morning Louis wakes up with a slight headache. Luckily, he has two days off and he has planned to not leave the house at all. He stays in bed until lunchtime, gets up and takes a quick shower. Louis decides to skip breakfast and order himself a huge pizza from Domino's since that's what he craves to eat. Then he flops down in front of the TV and switches to the sports channel. He messages with Matt, his friends, talks to his mum on the phone. She tells him about the newest developments at home in Doncaster and plays some video games until he nearly falls asleep on the sofa.

He suddenly wakes with a start because one of his phones won't stop ringing. It's the annoying melody of the phone he needs for work and of course there's a rule for it too. There's a rule for everything in this business and many of them also affect private life issues. Louis has to answer every call or message on that phone, no matter where he is or what he's doing. There're only a few exceptions where Louis is allowed to not pay attention to the phone such as holidays or family festivities that are declared to the management. In those cases, Louis can leave the phone at the office but usually, he has to carry it with him. In case if he can't answer, he needs to call or message back contemporary. Louis doesn't know the phone number on the display but since he has to answer the call, he accepts it as he wipes the button with the telephone receiver to the right.

"Hello?"

"Louis? Harry here." His low, raspy voice is unmistakable.

"You woke me up."

"Oh . . . uhm . . . I'm sorry."

"Too late. Who gave you my number?"

"Mr. Sia. Also, his assistant Sophie called me. She gave me some more instructions and told me to meet you before we start working together."

"Why am I not surprised. You've become friends with Sia and his servant quite fast."

"He's my boss, not my friend."

"Oh really? My bad," Louis says mockingly.

"Have you checked the list?"

"The list?"

"The stunt list Mr. Sia has added to the contract."

"Ah yeah, I have," Louis answers casually. Why does he have to talk about this on his day off? "Listen, Harold, I-,"

"My name isn't Harold."

"Harry," Louis says with a slight sarcastic undertone. "Anyways . . . maybe your friend Sia hasn't told you yet but today and tomorrow are my days off. I'm not in the mood to start working with you now."

"Far be it from me to steal your free time, Louis, but as you might have noticed, the first job is going to be in a few days so I thought being prepared would help us since we don't know much about each other. I've done this years ago for another client so you can trust me it's not my intention to annoy you. I'm just doing what has to be done."

"Wait, what? You have already done this before?" Louis almost yells into the speaker.

"Yes, I-,"

"Jesus, you're devious."

Harry sighs. "How can you say something like that? You don't even know me. I did it for a friend who is also in the business. She didn't want the public to know about her sexuality so she asked me if I could pretend being her boyfriend for some events and stuff."

"And now? Do you want me to praise you for doing a good deed?"

"Louis, the only thing I want is to fulfil the job and unfortunately your engagement is required in this, too. I can't manage it on my own."