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It was Louis’ idea to get jobs at the Dairy Hut, and right about now Harry was re-considering their four years of friendship. It was the summer after graduation, and Harry’s original plan had been to lie around beside his parent’s pool, getting tan and reading the sort of books that would make his future college classmates raise an eyebrow and nod thoughtfully at him, all the while wishing they were as cool and worldly as he was. That plan? That was a good one. This was not.
“Alright, so picture this: it’s a hot day, and we’re standing inside with the cool air conditioning blowing over our heads, each of us with a Mooze Frooze in hand. We haven’t had a customer all day, and we’re basically getting paid to hang around and talk to one another. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had.” Louis had a faraway look in his eyes as he spoke, and Harry watched him nodding to himself, picturing the whole thing.
“It’s our last summer before college, Lou. Don’t you think we should spend it being kids and having fun?” He kicked at the toe of Louis’ Vans with his bare foot. “And isn’t the Dairy Hut kind of awful?”
At that, Louis sighed dramatically, falling back onto Harry’s bed. “You have no idea how awful it will be,” he yelled, throwing his arms in the air and then letting them flop down as he continued, “if you aren’t working there with me.” He stretched out his feet until he’d hooked them around Harry’s ankle. “Pleeeeeaaaase Hazza? Come work at Dairy Butt with me. I’ll make it fun for you.”
“Promise?” Harry wrapped his other foot around Louis’ so that their legs were locked together.
“Promise.”
That promise? It had been broken on day one, when they were thrust behind the counter after watching a ten minute training video and being given their uniforms. Every shift since that first one had felt like non-stop customers; it was a blur of oddly named frozen desserts and jammed ice cream machines that needed constant cleaning. And right now, with Louis away on his first ten minute break of the day, Harry was seriously considering turning in his ice cream shaped hat and walking out. The man in front of him was one of his least favorite customers-- a regular who always ordered the same over-complicated treat and who always had a complaint about it afterwards, no matter how much care Harry or Louis took in making it.
Fortunately, the bell above the door rang and Louis stepped in, pulling his own ice cream hat down and tying his apron around his waist quickly. He bumped Harry’s hip and slid in front of the register smoothly. “Welcome to Dairy Hut, where we make your Icies nicely and your Whippy Creams out of dreams, what can we get started for you today?” Harry turned around and rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what the customer was going to say as he moved to the Whippy machine to get the next order going.
“It’s taken you long enough,” the customer said loudly, “and you know what I get, Lewis. It’s the Razzlebunny Whippy Cream Waffle Bowl with extra Bunny Bits, two cherries, and Choco-Nut Hut Powder.”
“Right you are, sir. I think my compatriot is making it right now.” Louis turned around and cleared his throat lightly. “All good there?”
“Hut-tastic,” Harry said, giving an exaggerated salute before turning back to the machine and with a frown. He finished the order, and within minutes the customer was back, claiming Harry had given him only the typical amount of Bunny Bits, the wrong kind of cherries, and Choco-Love Hut Powder instead of Choco-Nut.”
“I don’t want it remade,” the man said when Louis tried to take the treat from him. “I just want you boys to know that if you keep this up, you’re going to have some pretty terrible Yelp reviews to show for it. And you know what that means.” Harry watched as he gave Louis a significant look, Louis staring back at him with a half smile.
“I don’t have any idea, actually. Care to tell me, sir?” Louis’ smile grew as he looked at the customer until it looked positively wild.
“Bad reviews are bad for business. You’ll lose customers.” He set his treat down on the counter. “And losing customers means losing your job, young man. Fired. F-I-R-E-D.”
“Ooh, alright. Thank you so much for the tip, since you’ve never given a monetary one. Hope you have a dairy good day!” Louis turned around and walked into the back employee area, ignoring the indignant huffs of the customer as he grabbed his frozen dessert and stalked out of the Dairy Hut, already pulling out his phone as he went.
The other customers who were eating inside stared, the whole Dairy Hut gone quiet except for the awful ice cream truck music that the store played non-stop. Harry waved his hand and nodded, laughing nervously until the customers started looking away. He went to the back and found Louis leaning against the walk-in door, shaking his head and laughing. “Umm, Louis? What the fuck?”
“I lost it, m’sorry. I couldn’t take him any more,” Louis said when he’d finally stopped giggling. “We’ve been working here a month and somehow we’ve never once gotten his order right? We manage to handle stupid rushes all stupid day, and his stupid fucking order we can’t get? No, he’s a dick. A DICK, Harold. Not the good kind.”
Harry glanced toward the front of the store and noticed most of their customers had moved to outside tables. They might get a few bad reviews today.
“Look, maybe it’s not so bad. He might not post anything. And if he did, it’s not like Ben does shit around here. He probably doesn’t even care about the reviews.”
Louis raised his eyebrows at Harry. “You think?”
“Yeah, I mean he left us with almost no training on our first day and didn’t come back until it was time to lock up. He doesn’t even like this place.” Harry glanced toward Ben’s derelict office, which was nothing more than a rickety rolling chair and a table top balanced on a couple of filing cabinets. He wasn’t there more than a few hours a week.
The bell above the door dinged, signalling another customer coming in. “Well, guess we’ll find out soon.” He pushed off and went back to the counter, not mentioning anything about it for the rest of the day.
At home that night, Harry checked the Yelp reviews for the Dairy Hut and found that the top review was a one star review from that day. Reading it over, it was obvious that it came from their angry regular customer. He took a screenshot and sent it to Louis.
Harry: Did you see?
Louis: Yeah
Louis: I think I have a brilliant idea but I need to wait a couple days to tell you about it
Harry: ???
Harry: You can’t do that! I need to know.
Louis: Patience Harold
They kept chatting for a bit before Louis had to go help his mom give the twins their bath, and then Harry was alone with his thoughts. He looked over the review again and wondered if Ben might think it was for one of the other employees. The only other boys who worked there were Evan and Chris, and both of them worked the busier weekend shifts. And of course there was Paul, but he was much older and had been at Dairy Hut since Harry was a kid. He only worked morning shifts when it was really slow, and nobody would dare to complain about him. All they could do was wait.
And wait.
And wait.
A full week after the incident, Louis turned to Harry during a lull with a wicked gleam in his eye. “Meet me in the back,” he said, snapping a rag at Harry as he walked past. Harry giggled, a tendril of excitement reaching out to curl around his insides at the look Louis gave him.
“What’s up, Lou?” Harry leaned against the walk-in, trying his best to appear casual and failing as he shifted his posture while Louis watched him, biting back a grin.
“I can wait for you to settle, babe. We’ll hear if someone comes in.” He smiled suggestively and then burst into laughter, giving Harry a light tap on the arm. “Kidding, Haz, kidding. But I’m NOT kidding about the brilliant idea I had.”
As he explained it to Harry, a few things became clear: 1) Louis was an absolute idiot who wanted both Harry and himself to lose their jobs; 2) He was also a complete genius who had a plan to lose them their jobs in the most epic way possible; and 3) for the first time in his long, mostly boring life, Harry might actually have a crush, and that crush was on his best friend, Louis.
“It’s not going to work,” Harry said, still processing everything he’d realized over the past few minutes of Louis talking. “We’ll get fired right away; Ben’s bound to catch on after the first couple of reviews.”
“Harry, Harry, listen,” Louis put his arm around Harry’s shoulder and led him toward Ben’s office. “When was the last time you saw Ben here to actually do work or speak to either of us?”
“Our second day, maybe? Other than, like, passing him as he came to lock up a few times.”
“And he still hasn’t done anything about my terrible review, has he? The one that man posted?” Harry shook his head as Louis turned him around and led him up to the front counter, where the Dairy Hut sat empty in its midday lull. “So the worst that could happen is that he reads the reviews and has to come in and fire us, yeah?”
“Yeahhhh…”
“And the soonest that’ll happen is at least a few weeks. Think of how fun it’ll be!” He gave Harry’s shoulder a squeeze and Harry ducked his head and chuckled at the little wave of happiness he felt over it.
“Might be fun,” he said, turning to look at Louis. “And then we could sit by my parents’ pool once we’re out.
Louis bounced in place, a massive grin on his face. “Ahh shit, we’re gonna have so much fun! We’ve gotta make it a contest-- see who can get the worst review. Winner gets...ummm. Ha! Ice cream from anywhere but here.”
Harry laughed, pinching Louis’ side playfully. “Deal. Can’t believe I took this job because of you and now I’m gonna get fired because of you too.”
“That’s how I know you care,” Louis said, taking out his rag and wiping the front of the Icie mixer where the Super Frooty syrup had spilled. “That and the fact that you agreed to wear an ice cream hat with me. Only a true friend would do that.”
The door jingled, signalling the arrival of an entire little league team, and Harry and Louis exchanged a look with one another, silently agreeing to start their game on their next shift and not ruin the Dairy Hut for a horde of children.
That night, instead of thinking about all the ways that he was going to irritate customers into leaving their worst reviews as he and Louis had agreed to do, Harry laid awake thinking about Louis-- and his crush, in particular. The thing was, Louis had admitted to having a crush on Harry a long time ago. They were 16 and Louis had just come out a few months before, the excitement of being openly gay still completely fresh for him so that he often brought it up during lulls in the conversation. He and Louis had been sharing a bottle of Boone’s Farm one night, passing it back and forth and just talking about nothing in particular, when the subject of crushes came up.
“I liked you,” Louis had said, smiling around the lip of the bottle before taking a long pull from it. “Last year, mostly. And some of this year, too.” He passed the bottle back to Harry and leaned back on his hands to study him. “How ‘bout you?”
“I’ve never really like-liked someone, I think,” Harry had said, letting the words fall out even though he worried that maybe he shouldn’t.
“Nobody?” Louis asked. “It’s fine if that’s true, or if you don’t wanna tell me. But you could tell me if there was someone. Like, anyone.” He’d bitten his lip and not been able to look at Harry for a moment, and it was all a lot, maybe too much, but Harry was a little drunk and Louis was his best friend, so he’d just blurted it out.
“I think maybe I’m asexual, or something. Demi? Demisexual, demiromantic? I read about it a little, um,” Harry said, taking a swig from the bottle to give himself something else to focus on. A moment later, he’d felt Louis’ hand on his knee.
“That’s fine, Haz. I know what it means.”
He’d been a good friend in that moment and every moment since, not questioning it when Harry took a date to Homecoming or went solo to Prom and asking before talking about his own dates and occasional makeouts with Harry, in case it was just something he didn’t want to hear about. And now Harry liked him. Probably. Maybe. He might need a little more time to figure it out.
“Are you ready to do this with me, Harry?” Louis had his ice cream hat turned backwards and a serious look on his face as they stood out back behind the Dairy Hut. Harry nodded, trying and failing to keep a straight face.
“Not with your hat like that, I’m not,” Harry said, batting at the swirl of ice cream til it fell off Louis’ head.
“That’s a good attitude!” Louis clapped Harry on the shoulder and led him inside, both of them grabbing clean aprons and tying them on before going behind the counter. The shift change took no time at all, and pretty soon they were alone, dealing with their usual flow of customers. And then their first target walked in.
She wasn’t much older than them, but she was absolutely terrible: rude, demanding, and constantly talking on her phone and getting angry when they couldn’t tell she was speaking to them. To top it off, she’d also been one of Harry’s sister Gemma’s worst bullies in high school, and she seemed to particularly enjoy treating Harry badly. Harry exchanged a look with Louis and they switched places, Louis stepping behind the register and Harry moving to the ice cream machines.
“Oh my god, shut up. He did not say that.” The girl locked eyes with Louis and mouthed, “the usual,” as she listened to her friend on the phone. “Ew. No. No. What did you say?”
Louis cleared his throat before speaking, putting on his best announcer voice. “Hiiiii, welcome to Dairy Hut where we’re nuts for Bunny butts, care to try our Chilly Willy Choco-Nuts?” The girl stared back at him, blinking slowly and shaking her head for a moment. “Hmm, you look like you might be one who enjoys a boozy Mooze Frooze with a double shot Whippy Cream gas dream. Did you want extra farts with that?” Harry could barely contain his laughter.
“Um, hold on a sec, Manda, I’ve gotta yell at a fucking loser creep.” The girl lowered her phone and took a breath, clearly about to go off on Louis, when Harry turned around and presented her with a waffle cone full of straight Whippy Cream mix and topped with bright candy sprinkles. He took another shuffling step forward and let the cone go, splattering her with a warm, sticky mix of chocolate and strawberry flavored dairy product.
“Oops, guess I’m, like, the clumsiest piece of shit.” Harry tried his best to look pouty and innocent even as he mocked her voice. “Sowwy.”
“Ahh, that’s too bad, babe.” Louis shook his head sadly. “But don’t worry, it’s on the house.”
“You little fuckers are going down. I’ve been coming here for ages and you just lost a customer. I am gonna call your manager tomorrow and--”
“You should go on Yelp!” Harry said, clapping his hands together and giving her a bright grin. “Make sure you mention us for our excellent service!”
She didn’t say another word to them, putting her phone (which, Harry noticed, was also covered in ice cream) to her face to tell her friend to “go online RIGHT the fuck now and write a review for Dairy Hut. Ugh.”
“Byeeee,” Harry and Louis said together, turning to look at one another and dissolving into a fit of unfettered laughter and momentarily ignoring the two other customers who’d come in behind the girl they’d just served. When they finally caught their breath and stood up, Louis quickly explained what they were doing and who they were targeting, and got nothing but sympathetic nods from the customers in front of them. The plan was off to a great start.
They ended up getting three more people with Harry’s trip and spill trick and a couple more who simply got annoyed with Louis’ nonsense ice cream names and refusal to actually listen to their orders. They also walked out with their best tips yet and matching smiles on their faces as they shared late night Taco Bell out by Harry’s pool.
“We should look at Yelp tonight,” Harry said, grabbing one of Louis’ nacho fries. “See how we did.” Those results were even better than they could’ve imagined, the girl they’d gotten first having recruited several friends to write scathing reviews that mentioned them both by name.
“None of this would be possible without you,” Louis said, nudging Harry with his shoulder. “If I were working there alone I’d just be slogging through it feeling sorry for myself.”
The next few weeks passed by in a blur of over the top customer interactions and increasingly terrible Yelp reviews mixed in with a few very amused reviews from people who’d watched Harry and Louis playing with rude customers and gotten a kick out of it. At one point, someone filmed them and put the video on YouTube, promising that if it went viral he’d find a way to share the fame with them. In other words, it couldn’t have been going better.
That all changed on one Friday afternoon on the hottest day of the summer so far. The Dairy Hut had been busy all day, mostly with families coming in ordering their ice cream to eat there, haggard parents and lobster-faced, sweaty children doing their best to slide into the old plastic booths while the AC blasted them with cold air.
Louis and Harry had made a sort of silent agreement with one another not to do any of their pranks on families with children present, so other than serving what felt like a record number of Chunky Bunny Baby Bowls and Super Frooty Icies, the day had been a lot like what a typical day should be there: boring. They had thirty minutes left in their afternoon shift when Tripp walked in.
Tripp Lawson was a boy who’d graduated from their high school two years earlier and stuck around to try to stew in his old glory days, and he looked the part. He still wore his football jersey more often than not, paired with a snapback that might as well have been glued to his head. He wasn’t much taller than Harry, but he was built thick and he liked to use his strenth in the most obvious and obnoxious ways he could. And one of his favorites passtimes when they went to school together was bullying Louis and Harry.
“Well if it isn’t Little Lewis and his hairy sidekick. Did they change the name of this place to the Loser Hut?” Tripp laughed at his own attempt at a joke, not caring that neither Harry nor Louis joined him. “I need two Choco-Nut Whippy Creams with Choco-Love sauce drizzle. One in a cup and one in a waffle bowl.”
Louis and Harry shared a look, and then Louis gave a slight nod before turning back to the register. Harry waited, needing to watch how Louis proceeded before he could really believe that they were going to prank Tripp.
“Yesss, alriiiight,” Louis drawled. “Let’s see if I got all that. You want someone to whip your nuts, add some Choco-Love sauce, and then...one in a cup and one inside your balls, does that sound right?”
“The fuck you say to me?” Tripp leaned forward, staring at Louis with disbelief.
Louis shook his head a bit. “Sorry, sorry, you want someone else’s nuts? We’ll have to see what we can do, won’t we, Haz?” He bit back a smile as he turned to look at Harry, and Harry couldn’t help but grin back.
“Yeah, um, I think there’s extra nuts in the back. Not sure whose, though. They’ve been around since before we started here.” Harry shrugged and waited for Tripp’s response.
Tripp clenched his teeth. “Not sure what you dumb little fags are trying to say, but I want my fuckin’ Whippy Creams.”
The slur made Harry’s muscles tense automatically, any jokes he might’ve made forgotten. It wasn’t as though it was something he hadn’t heard before, but it was usually said in a whisper that he could almost ignore. Not like this. He didn’t consciously think before responding, stepping forward so that he and Louis stood shoulder to shoulder. “You need to leave,” he said, his voice coming out in a deep and serious rumble that sounded unfamiliar even to his own ears. “Now.”
“Yeah, right.” Tripp rested one hand on the register and leaned forward. “Ice cream first.”
“Nah, Harry’s right. Leave.” Louis puffed up his chest as he looked at Harry. “The Dairy Hut doesn’t serve homophobes.”
Tripp shook his head with a look of disgust. “Uh-uh. You think you and your boyfriend can talk to me like that?”
Louis started to speak, but Harry nudged him, linking his arm with Louis’. “Me and my boyfriend will talk to you however we’d like. And if you don’t get out, we’ll have to call someone to show you out. Right, Lou?”
“Absolutely, Harry.” Louis pressed against Harry’s side for a moment, the gesture filling Harry with warmth.
“You little fucks are gonna be sorry,” Tripp said, pushing away from the counter. “Just wait and fuckin’ see.” As he shoved through the door, Harry realized for the first time that many of the patrons were watching, looks of confusion and discomfort on their faces. A family got up from their booth in the corner and approached, the children still eating their ice cream when their father reached the counter.
“Are you boys alright? Can’t believe what he said to you two, it was uncalled for.” The man rested one hand on the backs of each of his children. “We’re glad to support a place that doesn’t let his kind stick around. Don’t need that kind of hate in this community.”
“Thank you, sir.” Louis unlinked his arm from Harry’s and reached beneath the counter to pull out a coupon. “We appreciate the support. Have a free Mooze Frooze coupon?” The man started to decline, but the taller of his two kids reached up and closed her fingers around the coupon before he could get out his no, so he took it, giving Harry and Louis a smile before he left.
Their shift ended soon after, both of them climbing into Harry’s car and rolling down the windows as they blasted the AC, trying to get the temperature to drop to something bearable.
“You didn’t have to say you were my boyfriend in there,” Louis said once they’d finally gotten the car to cool down and rolled their windows back up. “I mean it was nice that you did. Felt like we were really facing him together. But I don’t want you to feel like you have to do that for me or anyone, you know; we’re close, and that’s enough, but a lot of people will assume shit, and, um. Anyway, thank you.”
“Yeah, of course, it really wasn’t anything.” Harry gripped the steering wheel for a moment and then released it, letting his hand fall to the gear shift as he looked over at Louis, studying his face. Maybe now was the right moment to say something. Take the chance. “You know, I was thinking it actually might, um, not be so bad if we were b--”
A sudden knock at his window stopped Harry from finishing his thought. Louis stared past him, mouth hanging open, as Harry turned to find who was outside his car. He rolled his window down.
“Hi, Ben.” The manager of the Dairy Hut was sweating profusely, his face red and twisted with anger. “Louis and I are off the clock.”
“You two aren’t just off the clock,” Ben bit back at him. “You’re fired. And with the shit you pulled, it’s lucky you aren’t in even more trouble than that.”
Harry turned to look at Louis, hoping he might have some idea how to respond. Louis just shrugged back at him before speaking.
“What was it that we pulled? Just...want to be sure we’re on the same page here, Mr. Winston.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “As if you two don’t know what you did. It was less than an hour ago, Jesus. Telling one of my best friends he’s not welcome here? Trying to embarrass him in front of a room full of other customers? I’m not sure how you thought you’d get away with it.”
Harry burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth when he saw that it only made Ben angrier.
“You’re seriously firing us for that ?” Louis shook his head, incredulous. “Have you even been paying attention to-- actually, nevermind, yeah. Of course. We’re fired.” He reached into the back seat, pulling out their ice cream cone hats and handing them to Harry, who in turn handed them off to Ben. “Send our checks in the mail, Benston.” He leaned over and pushed the automatic roll up button on Harry’s window, whistling as the window went up, shutting out any response Ben might have.
“Holy shit, can’t believe he--”
“Umm, Harry, maybe start driving? Ben looks like he wants to punch your window in.”
“Oh! Right.” Harry reversed the car and drove out of the parking lot, happy they wouldn’t have to go back for the rest of the summer. “Taco Bell?”
“Obviously, Taco Bell.” They drove in silence for a moment before Louis spoke again, this time with a bit less confidence. “What were you about to say before Ben knocked on your window? About it not being so bad if we were...something?”
Harry stared forward, biting his lip as he considered not finishing his thought from before. Maybe it was the wrong time? Or the wrong way to say it? Fuck it. “Boyfriends?” It came out a lot more like a question than he intended, but at least he’d said it.
“You might want that?”
Harry desperately wanted to look at Louis and gauge his reaction, but he was waiting for a turn and needed to look at the road instead. “Yeahhh?” He said it hesitantly, hoping that Louis’ response had been as positive as it sounded. His turn made, he pulled into the parking lot at Taco Bell and finally turned to look at Louis. “Is that okay? I know your crush was ages ago and you’re probably over it completely, but I just--”
“Whoa, Harry, yes! I didn’t stop having a crush on you, I just kind of, I dunno, pushed it aside? I like being with you no matter what our relationship looks like. We could be friends or boyfriends or whatever label fits. I just wanna make sure that you’re not just doing this for me or anything?” Louis was uncharacteristically quiet, looking up at Harry through his lashes.
“No, it’s not like that. I just sort of realized that spending time with you was starting to feel different. Like some of the ways I’ve always felt about you sort of solidified in this way that I just-- I can’t explain it. And, I mean, I don’t know what it’ll be like, but I’d like to try it out. The boyfriend thing.” Harry reached over to give Louis’ hand a squeeze. “See if we like it?” Louis put his free hand over Harry’s, smiling back at him fondly.
“So maybe I can take you on a date sometime? Think we’ll have some free time for the rest of the summer.”
Harry giggled. “Yeah, of course. Anywhere but Dairy Hut.”
Several Months Later…
Harry pulled up at Louis’ house having driven right there after dropping his bags at home. They’d done a good job of keeping up with one another over the semester, but it had still been nearly three weeks since they’d seen each other face to face. Louis jumped into the car and stuck his hands against the heater vents to warm his fingers. “Hi boyfriend,” he said, scrunching his nose against the cold.
“Hi boyfriend.” Harry watched as Louis wiggled his fingers and stomped his feet. “Sorry if I kept you waiting.”
“You didn’t. I just hate the fucking winter. Kiss?”
“Not right now. But hold my hand while I drive?”
Louis tsked but reached over and took Harry’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “A few months of college and he’s a dangerous rebel, driving one-handed through the streets.”
“Holding your hand is worth the risk,” he said, just to watch the slight blush that rose in Louis’ cheeks in response. “Where’d you wanna go?”
“Drive the strip, then see the lights in that one neighborhood?”
They set off, catching up with one another and noticing the small things that had changed in their hometown while they’d been away at school. It was amazing how even a few months of absence made every difference more obvious.
“Moooo, Dairy Hut! Mooooo!” Louis said as they approached their old work place. They’d started the tradition of booing at Dairy Hut after getting fired that summer, but Harry quickly decided mooing was funnier, so they’d switched to that instead. “Mooo-- wait! Pull in, pull in, look at the sign.”
Harry turned in quickly, not even trying to signal, and pulled into the parking spot closest to the sign. “Under new management, come give us a try,” he read, turning to look at Louis, who was still staring up with a massive smile on his face. “Should we?”
“It’s too cold for anything, but yes. We’ll split a Choco-Minty Mooze with double Peepermints. Holidays-y.” Louis poked at Harry’s thigh. “And it’s our first date at the Dairy Hut. The place that brought us together.”
“The place that brought us together,” Harry said, unable to contain the fondness he felt for his best friend and boyfriend. “Let’s go in, and then leave whoever’s working a really, really good Yelp review.”