Work Text:
Heads I win, tails you lose
I always play by my own rules
Women’s World Cup Quarter Final: USA vs. France
Paris, France
JUNE 2019
Louis Tomlinson’s heart pounded in her ears as she jogged up the left wing watching the ball as it moved between her teammates on the opposite side of the field.
Alex took it up the right side, but the angle was too sharp for her to shoot comfortably on goal especially when Sam was open and she was off-sides.
The screams of the crowd fell away from Louis as she watched Alex’s cross to Sam. It was never going to work. Sam had too much momentum and the pass was overshot so it would be too far behind her, she was never going to get there in time.
Louis picked up speed as she watched the ball sail towards her through an expanse of open field past Sam and her defender-shadow. The goalkeeper was coming at her with the one who had been defending Sam and none of the other French defenders were anywhere close to the ball. Her window had been served up to her on a silver platter.
Without missing a beat, Louis wound up and tapped the ball just inside the goal posts like she was running drills at home with her siblings.
Her heart lifted as she watched the net ripple with the force of the ball and she kept running toward the corner to celebrate. She felt the force of her teammates as they began slamming into her one by one. Someone ended up on her back, while others piled around them. Louis couldn’t help the yell that emanated from deep in her gut as she saw how many American supporters there were with flags jumping up and down in celebration with her.
As soon as her arms were free, she planted herself on the corner and held them open wide. They were here to dominate. On the off chance the rest of the world hadn’t gotten the message yet, she hoped they did now.
The first person to approach her in the locker room when the dust settled was the assistant coach, Megan.
Louis knew the story had officially broken before the game. The closer the team got to winning the more likely it was the subject of visiting the White House was going to come up. Though she wasn’t sure what had taken everyone so long, she had been saying the same thing for years.
Back in January, they had done a team photo shoot and there were a few reporters there from various sports publications including the soccer magazine Eight by Eight. That particular reporter made the mistake of asking Louis if she was excited about going to the White House.
“I’m not going to the fucking White House,” she had said with a grimace on her face. She never was very good at biting her tongue or hiding her emotions on the best of days. In that case she had back tracked and given them the sound bite again with no swearing. That had been her fault. She had also stood by her comments and ventured a guess that the team wouldn’t be invited in the first place.
The reporter had done their job and asked if she thought the whole team felt that way. Louis didn’t know—and made it clear that she didn’t know—the team’s voting record, and that was that.
Now that the quote had hit the mainstream media, the President, who couldn’t bear to be taunted, had responded by challenging her to win first and “finish the job” before denying an invitation. As though that had any bearing on anything.
Louis was going to have to comment on it, she knew that. She also knew that Megan was there to break the news to her.
“You don’t necessarily have to make a statement about it,” Megan said as she leaned against Louis’ cubby and crossed her arms. Megan had been the captain of the team before Louis took over, they had played together, trusted each other, knew each other. Louis knew what Megan wanted her to do, and she knew it probably didn’t jive with what the PR team wanted her to do deep in their heart of hearts.
“You think I should say something,” Louis said resting her weight on her hands behind her as she let her bare feet breathe for the first time in a few hours.
“I do.”
“They know I’m not going to apologize, right?”
Megan smirked and shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t think they ever really expected you to, but they sincerely hope you will come up with something a little more elegant than last time.”
Louis threw her head back and laughed. “Deal,” she said as she picked up her towel and headed for the showers.
The truth was, she had thought about it. She knew she was going to have to make a statement, and she had talked to her manager about it a little bit back when she had first told him what had happened. Liam had a feeling, even back then, that her comments wouldn’t go unnoticed given the press boost Louis got during World Cup season. He was excited at the prospect of riding the publicity wave.
She rehearsed a little bit of what she was going to say to herself in the shower. There were probably teammates of hers in the stalls next to her, but they had the speakers up pretty loud, so she wasn’t sure they heard her.
By the time she had dried off, changed, and was seated in front of the sea of international reporters, she knew exactly what she was going to say.
She took a deep breath and leaned her elbows on the table.
***
An unwritten law says a girl should wait
Should let the man set his own pace
But a woman in love, she's above the law
Representative Harry Styles of the Massachusetts Fourth couldn’t get her bottle of red wine uncorked. It was Friday night, there was nothing on the books for the weekend, she didn’t need to go back to her district, she could finally relax.
Or she would have been able to relax, but her phone was ringing off the hook. Only, it was the twenty-first century, so it was just vibrating really violently and clattering on her counter.
“I’m coming,” she yelled at it as though the person on the other end would be able to hear her. Whatever, it was probably Niall. He could wait. “Hold your damn horses.”
She twisted her wrist to get the little bit of cork on the end of the corkscrew off before twisting it back into the little bit that was left in the neck of the bottle. She was going to end up with weird cork crumbles in her wine. Yuck.
Finally, the last little bit popped free. Harry found a sieve in one of random kitchen drawers and held it over her very large glass as she poured her wine. Just as she suspected, weird little cork bits.
She sighed as she dug for an old cork to re-stop the bottle before crossing over to rescue her phone.
Sure enough, Niall had called her about ten times. She tapped on her Chief of Staff’s contact.
The line clicked on and Niall didn’t even let her get a word out.
“H, you know how you have the biggest crush in the world on Louis Tomlinson?”
Harry sputtered into the phone. She thought she had been pretty under the radar about the humongous, stupid, butterflies-in-her-stomach crush on the captain of the US Women’s National Team. “What? No? I mean—What?”
Niall’s maniacal laughter reverberated through the tinny speaker. “Well, now’s your chance!”
“What?” Harry asked as she put her wine glass down on her coffee table and folded her legs up underneath her on her couch.
“Alex tweeted her in support of her comments inviting her to the House instead of to the White House. I’m on my way over right now, you gotta get in on this conversation.”
“Niall,” she whined. “I have plans tonight.”
“Sitting on your couch with a glass of wine and watching The Notebook again is not plans. I’m like five minutes away.”
Harry sighed again. “It is when I don’t get to do it very often,” she grumbled.
“What was that, H? I couldn’t hear you!” Niall yelled sounding farther and farther away.
“Fine. I’ll buzz you in, text me when you get here.”
Harry let her head fall back as she snuggled into the corner seat of her couch. Niall coming over blew her Friday night plans that she so rarely got to have anymore. She was in the United States House of Representatives and all she wanted was a glass of red wine, a romcom, and some private time in the bath. Was that too much to ask?
She let her eyes close as her most recent summer playlist played softly in the background until her buzzer echoed throughout her apartment. So much for Niall texting her when he got there. Uncrossing her legs she traipsed towards her door and pressed the buzzer on the wall for a long enough time that if Niall wasn’t in by the time she let up, then he could just stay out.
Unfortunately, Niall got to her door a few minutes later.
“Niall, as your boss, I feel like it’s not outside my responsibility to tell you to get a life,” she pointed out as she returned to her cocoon on the couch.
Niall shot her a look as he threw his briefcase down and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “It’s not my fault you wanted to run for Congress. Before I ran your campaign, hanging out with you on a Friday night was my life outside work.”
“And you did a wonderful job.” Harry reached over to pat him condescendingly on the cheek. She got two in before he swatted her hand away.
“Hush for two seconds,” he said as he opened Twitter. “Did you see everything about Louis that came out the other day?”
Harry rolled her lips in and concentrated on not blushing. She was a very powerful woman who had a very important job. Not a school girl with a crush. “Other than all the game stuff?”
“No, the stuff about going to the White House?”
“I may have…” Harry trailed off.
Once again, Niall shot her a look. “You have an alert for her. Tell me I’m wrong,” he dared her.
She glared at him. Sometimes it was terrible having a Chief of Staff that had also been your best friend in high school. “I don’t see how this is relevant,” she bit out.
“Just look at this,” he said shoving his phone in her face.
There on the little screen of Niall’s phone was the incredible raw powerhouse that was Louis Tomlinson. Her hair was fluffy and only a little bit unstyled for the post game press conference and Harry got distracted watching it bounce a bit where it was pushed off her face before she realized the whole point of this was to pay attention to what she was saying.
Harry had missed a few seconds, but she got the gist of it. Louis was defending her comments about not going to the White House if they won. She apologized for swearing and made a joke about her mom not liking that part. Harry’s insides melted a bit.
They completely liquified, though, as she listened to Louis talk about the importance of her platform and not being able to stand idly by and support this administration when so many others were suffering.
Harry blinked her eyes and tried not to break down in front of Niall, because that was it. Louis got it. That was why Harry had pushed so hard to run for Congress and gain her seat in the midterms despite being an openly gay, female, Democrat. She wanted to do the best she could in a House with a Democratic majority to subvert everything the current administration had done or wanted to do in the future.
Finally, after talking about the actual game for a little bit, a reporter lobbed Louis a softball question about Pride month and if that made Louis’ contributions more significant.
“Go gays!” the Louis on the screen exclaimed. Harry giggled. She reached for her wine to take a sip as she kept watching. “You can’t win a championship without gays on your team—it’s never been done before, ever. That’s science, right there!”
Harry snorted and almost spat out her wine. She put it safely back down on the coffee table while Louis continued. “I’m motivated by people who like me, and who are fighting for the same things. I take more energy from that than from trying to prove anyone wrong. That’s draining on yourself. But for me, to be gay and fabulous, during Pride month at the World Cup, is nice.”
Harry smiled down at the screen as the clip ended.
“Alright that’s enough. Stop getting all gooey at my phone. Go get your own phone.” She threw Niall’s phone at him and it hit his chest. “Ouch.”
“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes.
Niall ignored her. “Listen, that’s not even what I wanted to show you.” He pulled Twitter up again and flipped the phone towards her—without passing it to her this time—to show her tweets from Alex’s feed.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was her fellow freshman Congresswoman and a household name. They were on Oversight together along with a bunch of subcommittees, so they had become great friends over their time in the House so far. Without actually saying anything that was technically derogatory, Alex had quote tweeted an ESPN tweet and added her invitation, “It may not be the White House, but we’d be happy to welcome @Louis_Tomlinson & the entire #USWMNT for a tour of the House of Representatives anytime they’d like.”
Harry tried to stay cool. “Oh. Well. That’s nice,” she said lightly.
“Your feelings about Louis aside, I think you should get in on this,” Niall pointed out. “You should back it up and invite them. Talk about being a huge fan or something. That way Alex isn’t hung out to dry and you get a little publicity too.”
“Isn’t that a little like riding on the back of her good PR and taking advantage of it?”
“Well, yes,” Niall conceded. “But it’s for a good cause.”
“Alright, fine.” Harry reached for her phone and opened up her personal Twitter. Ninety percent of it was campaign stuff anyway, but she at least pretended to separate them a little bit. “What should I say? And shouldn’t my social media manager be here?”
“I’m your social media manager’s boss. She’ll live.”
Harry bit her lip as she read and reread Alex’s tweet. She wanted to be original, not just throw her weight behind Alex’s invitation. She thought back to the disastrous White House visit of the Clemson football team after they won the national championship. Thank God her alma mater was never in any sort of running for that.
That was it. She wanted this amazing, gorgeous, powerful team to feel welcome. There was nothing more American than a potluck. Plus, her millennial constituents would love it.
“I’ve got it, Niall.” Harry quote tweeted Alex’s initial tweet and added hers.
@HarryStyles: .@AOC No doubt the food and the company would be much better. I’ll bring the cupcakes @Louis_Tomlinson your squad in?
Something in her chest fluttered, even just tagging Louis in her tweet. She finished with a soccer ball and American flag emoji.
“How about this?” she said, handing her phone to Niall.
“Cute. Constituent based. You know I love that.”
“Yeah?” Harry asked, looking for a firmer confirmation.
“Yeah, Louis Tomlinson will fall in love with you just from that tweet alone for sure.”
Harry made an awkward gargling sound as she shoved Niall over until he fell on the other side of the couch and sent her tweet.
The House had a vote during the semi-final against England so Harry wasn’t able to watch the game, but after she was done, she devoured all the highlight videos she could find.
Then, a few days later, she was idly scrolling her Instagram as she waited for a floor session to start. That was when she saw them.
Pictures. So many pictures from a magazine spread. But not just any magazine spread, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Harry quickly clicked through until she got to the full collection on the SI website and hid her phone under the desk in front of her as she kept scrolling.
A moment later she was glad she had because there was Louis on the beach in St. Lucia, wrapped up in ribbons of white that barely came together to make a swimsuit. Her defined abs were poking through the negative space, and her breasts spilled out, just barely covered at the nipples.
Harry had to force herself to scroll away from that, but the caption said it was number one of forty, and if the rest were anything like that one she needed to see them all.
Picture after picture featured a nearly naked Louis posing on the beach and in the clear blue waters of the Caribbean.
Harry’s favorite was one where the swimsuit was completely see through, and Louis was standing facing the camera head on with her middle fingers up in the air. It both turned her on and made her giggle.
Louis’ strong thighs danced through her head over the next few days as she sat in boring procedure meetings that had no bearing on what she was actually there to do and revisited the pictures an embarrassing number of times. Rather inappropriately, she thought about what those thighs might feel like boxed around her ears as she…
Yeah, the House floor was not the best place for that kind of thought. Harry squirmed a little in her chair and adjusted her skirt over her lap.
Louis had casually, with an effortless sort of coolness Harry could never hope to possess, accepted their invitation for the team to come tour the House. Normally, this sort of thing only happened if the team won, but Harry was sincerely hoping it happened either way. These women certainly deserved it if only for the suit they had brought against FIFA for equal pay.
Harry had not-so-casually done her best to confer with Alex. Of the two, Harry had a much lower public profile. She didn’t make the late night talk show circuit the way Alex did, and she certainly never made the news every day. Using that as an excuse, Harry judiciously offered for her office to take care of the logistics and scheduling of the team’s visit and Alex had been relieved at her offer.
Harry didn’t have any ulterior motives at all.
Normally, Harry would have been nervous watching the final match anyway, but this time she was doubly nervous. It was a beautiful Sunday in DC and she had decided to make it a little get together at her apartment as a reward for her staff.
The game was right around lunch time so she invited everyone over and she was prepping food for Niall to grill on her back deck. Her staff were all enjoying themselves with cold beer and cider even though it was only 11:00 am, but they deserved to relax and there was no harm in a little day-drinking.
Plus it helped that she could hear them respond to what was going on in the game because it meant she didn’t have to watch it through her fingers like she normally would have if she didn’t have anything else to do with her hands.
Their reactions were telling every time the US got close to scoring they would all exclaim, and Niall’s phone feed on the deck was about ten seconds behind, so he would chime in on a delay.
Harry swung her head back and forth between her best friend on the deck and her living room as she concentrated on the wonderful people she got to spend her work days with. The country was going to shit and she frequently felt defeated, but was determined for it not to get her down. The putrid decay of the White House could wait until Monday.
The US took shot after shot in the first half but nothing was connecting. Finally, at minute sixty, there was a yellow card on one of the other players and the US was given the opportunity to take a penalty shot. There was no other option but Louis, even Harry knew that and she wasn’t all that great at keeping up with the team and the individual players during the regular season.
Niall had turned off the grill and came back inside, so they were all sitting watching the TV, rapt, with fifteen or so people crammed on Harry’s sectional.
Louis on screen waited for the referee’s whistle, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and wound up. The shot sailed past the goalie’s still form. She hadn’t even tried to block it.
Everyone burst into a flurry of activity, jumping up off the couch and dancing, watching as the team celebrated. Harry’s heart was going a mile a minute and she was frozen, watching Louis and the pure joy on her face as she hit her fiftieth international goal and gave her team the lead at the same time.
Harry started to get a little hot under the collar, marveling at Louis’ strength as her teammate Alex Morgan—who was not a petite woman—vaulted up onto her back piggyback style and Louis didn’t even flinch. She was so strong. Harry felt herself starting to salivate and decided she needed to get a grip.
The celebrations calmed down for almost exactly seven minutes until Rose Lavelle scored another one for Team USA. Now that they were up two goals to none, it started to sink in for Harry that if they could get the logistics to work, she was definitely going to meet Louis.
She held her tongue and didn’t say anything until a little while later, after the final whistle had blown and everyone had celebrated enough in the moment. Only then did she call her party to order.
“Okay,” she called out clapping her hands. “You know what this means? This means we are hosting the team at the House!”
She waited a minute as her staff cheered and whooped, none louder than Niall.
“I really want to show them a good time, and I want to show them the best of what we can do, so we’re going homemade and from the heart.”
This time she held as her staff laughed at her and all the weird-unknown-potato-salad implications.
She threw her head back and laughed with the rest of them. “I’m serious you guys. I want to give them the best spread we can offer, and how long has it been since you’ve had good old-fashioned potluck food? I know we’ve been in DC for about a year now, but you can give up your sushi lunches just this once.”
Someone, Niall probably, started clapping and everyone else joined in starting to see the merits of the idea.
“So,” Harry continued. “Call your mama, call your grandma, get your favorite recipes and let’s get some lists going. Niall is going to get all the details about how many people they’re bringing, if it’s just them or their entourage and families too or not. And enlist any other delegation you can find, we took this over from Alex, so ask anyone on her staff if they want to make anything too. Let’s make this a real party!”
Finally on board, her staff cheered. This was going to be a great way to get everyone involved, and get some good publicity going at the same time. Her plan was foolproof.
The night before the team visit to the House, Harry was up to her elbows in chocolate pieces. A bunch of her staff and interns had tiny city kitchens—whereas Harry had found her apartment and rented it specifically for the huge kitchen—so there were so many people at her place it was making her head spin.
She had asked for this, she supposed, when she said she wanted to do a home cooked meal for the team. Not only the team but their entourage, and her staff, and some of the other congresswomen’s staff.
Her ovens were full and she was finally getting the chance to make her own dessert. Cupcakes with a chocolate ganache center. Which meant she had to chop a lot of chocolate.
On the one hand, she was frazzled and stressed. On the other hand, as she looked around at all the people dancing and enjoying each other in her kitchen, she couldn’t help but grin at what her life had become. She was making a real difference in the lives of real Americans at her job, with people that she genuinely enjoyed working with all the time. Her best friend was her Chief of Staff.
Somehow, despite everything that had happened to get her to this place, she still felt like the same girl who had left home at eighteen to move away to Boston for college. People around the country knew her name. She made headlines during her election because of her novelty status being a young and openly gay woman. Every once in awhile a video would circle from one of her hearings, and she would get a little bump in popularity. The people might not deify her in the same way they did Alex, but she was perfectly content with that sort of healthy mix.
Harry also knew that one day, as soon as six months from then, she might lose her seat, or she would move on into the private sector and all of this national attention would be gone. Again, that was something that would be entirely alright with her. All that mattered was that she was there to do a job and serve the people of her district while she could.
She was getting a little misty eyed thinking about it and that wasn’t what her team needed right now. They needed their fearless leader for their big day tomorrow. Also she shouldn’t have puffy eyes for the photo op. Strange how that sounded like Niall’s voice in her head.
Harry shot her best friend a look where he had his legs kicked up on her couch, flipping through channels, while the rest of them slaved away in the kitchen. She had asked him what he was doing and he claimed that the logistics and the enabling of her “debilitating” crush on Louis were his contributions to the day. Honestly, why did she let the US government pay him?
***
Louis and the rest of her teammates got off the bus on a side street next to the Capitol building. Two weeks ago, coming home from France basking in their win someone had brought up their visit to the House of Representatives instead of the White House.
Though there were two other team captains, because of her involvement in the situation online all of her teammates had looked to her.
“Is anyone disappointed if we skip the White House? I personally don’t think they’re going to invite us, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to speak up if they felt like they were missing out.”
Louis searched the elated faces of her teammates. None of them spoke up, so she shrugged. “Alright. House it is.”
She got up and walked the length of the plane until she reached Liam’s seat. “I have no idea how to go about doing this,” she said as she flopped down into the seat next to him.
Liam hummed as he took his earbuds out. “This?”
“The whole tour of the House thing. I mean they invited us, right? Do we need to do anything? This sort of feels like I need to take the lead on it.”
Liam rolled his head to look at her. “Which means I need to take the lead on it?”
“Thanks, Lima bean!” Louis cried as she grinned widely and patted him on the knee.
She looked over at him now as she dropped her sunglasses down over her eyes to protect them from the high DC summer sun. Press all around them snapped pictures of the team and cameramen mounted their equipment on their shoulders to prep for filming. Liam really was born for stuff like this. Management. They had known each other a long time, and she would be forever grateful that she always had someone to rely on who really knew her when all the cameras went away.
A brunet man wearing some nice retro looking round tortoise shell sunglasses approached Liam gesturing to the group. The two men shook hands and Liam turned back towards the rest of the team that was still milling around taking pictures of the buildings and monuments with the back drop of the beautiful cloudless day.
“Ladies,” Liam called out gathering everyone up. “This is Niall, he runs Representative Styles’ office and he’s going to be our guide for today.”
Louis and his teammates whooped and cheered as Niall waved and introduced himself. Once everyone calmed down, he started to outline their schedule for the visit. They were going to get a tour of the building with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Styles then there was going to be a reception for them.
They were all herded towards the building entrance to get out of the heat and get started with the day’s activities. Louis was excited to meet AOC, definitely, but she completely zoned out from her teammates around her as she thought about meeting Rep. Harry Styles.
She had heard of her a little bit before everything had gone down on Twitter. Louis remembered when she made headlines during her primary when she part of the movement that ousted some established Democrats in various districts. It wasn't until she had joined the conversation about the team coming to visit that Louis really started paying attention to her.
Louis would never dream of minimizing the accomplishments of a member of the House of Representatives, or objectify someone who was without a doubt a smart and powerful woman, but… Harry Styles was really hot. And gay. Hot and gay and smart and powerful.
As soon as Rep. Styles had tweeted her about cupcakes of all things, Louis had done a little more digging and had loved everything she found out about the congresswoman and her policy decisions. She looked so put together in her power suits that she wore. Louis couldn’t deny looking up any and every picture she could find and spending way too much time one night diving deep through Harry Styles’ personal Twitter as opposed to her official congressional account.
There was no way a US Representative had actually made the whole team and their crew cupcakes but the thought was nice.
Louis tuned back into what her teammates were talking about when Alex jostled her while she was trying to film their entrance into the building for her Instagram story. There was a nervous and excited energy to the group at large. They all had a few guests with them, so they made quite the crowd. Louis hoped there really were enough “cupcakes.”
The whole group was brought into the famous rotunda of the Capitol. Between them, their guests, and all of the press it was a tight fit, but there was a little temporary platform close to the wall in the middle—a background view that Louis recognized from newsreel of press conferences she had seen over the years. The dissonance of never having been in the room before but recognizing it with certainty threw her for a loop for a moment. Which meant she was entirely unprepared for the two young women that hopped up on the platform with wild, infectious smiles clapping and greeting them all.
The shutters of all of the cameras in the room started firing off faster and faster with a flurry of clicks and the flashes were blinding for a moment until they started to calm down and become more sporadic.
AOC was immediately recognizable and took a handheld mic from someone, shouting her greeting into it as Louis and her teammates once again cheered. Harry Styles stood next to her, beaming down at the team with her hands primly clasped in front of her.
From all that Liam had told Louis, it was really Niall and Styles’ office that planned this outing even though the first invitation had come through Ocasio-Cortez, but Styles looked more than content—downright ecstatic—to be standing up there in support while the spotlight fell on her colleague.
After the formal greeting and introductions were done, there was a shuffle as most of the press was escorted out of the room. Apparently there were only a few publications that would be coming with them on their tour to try and control the crowd and they were going to be split into two groups. AOC was going with one group, and Styles with the other, and each group would have a docent to give them the actual tour.
In the general confusion, Louis watched Styles where she stood waiting patiently up on the podium. Niall had hopped up with her now pointing around the room and referring to something on his phone.
Styles was wearing a flowy mustard colored skirt that cinched at her waist with a simple black top tucked into the waistband. The top hugged her figure and covered her up in an incredibly professional way, but that didn’t mean Louis didn’t notice the curve of her breast when she turned. Louis was only human.
Styles' hair was half-up, and the bottom half curled naturally past her shoulders. She looked gorgeous and radiant and Louis wanted nothing more than to muss her up.
Styles looked at something else Niall was showing her on his phone, and Louis admired the soft bridge of her nose and the hint of gold eyeshadow on her lids that had lowered as she read along. Without moving any other muscle, Styles' gaze shifted as she looked up from under her lashes and absolutely pinned Louis with her stare.
When she realized Louis was watching her as well, her eyes widened slightly and she went back to reading the phone. Niall said one more thing before throwing his head back and laughing. Despite all the noise from everyone else, the laugh reverberated around the rotunda and Louis watched as Styles blushed and hastily stepped off the platform and into the crowd.
Some of Styles’ staffers were handing out badges with different colors to indicate which group they were going to go around with, but Niall himself pushed through the crowd and handed Louis two pink lanyards for her and Liam respectively.
“Hey, thanks man,” she said as she lowered it over her head.
“Not a problem,” he answered, leaning in closer to be heard over the din. “Look, I just wanted to tell you I’m a huge fan, and I really respect how you handled all of this.” He held out his hand and Louis took it easily accepting his strong handshake and literal pat on the back.
Louis was humbled by both the praise and the bro-pal ritual. “Of course. I really appreciate you putting this all together.”
“It was a pleasure.” Niall nodded and leaned back a bit crossing his arms and smirking at Louis. “I’m, uh—I’m not the only huge fan of yours in the office,” he added cryptically before winking and walking away.
Well, Louis was flattered she supposed. She wasn’t sure why Niall didn’t just introduce her to the other fan in the office if it was another staffer or something.
Liam caught her attention to tell her he was going to hang back from the tour to make some calls and also point out a Senator who had entered the hall to say hello to the team. She kept chatting with Liam about the sponsorship calls and took in the paintings in the room as the blue group started to split off with their docent and AOC.
That meant… Louis shifted her weight to search the chamber for Styles but she accidentally bumped into a body.
There was a soft, “Oof,” and that was all the warning Louis had before she met Rep. Harry Styles.
“I’m so so—” Louis’ apology died in her throat as Styles stood to her full height. Louis couldn’t see her feet, but given their height difference, she assumed Styles was wearing some sort of heel.
“Hello,” Rep. Styles said as she held out her hand the same way Niall had. Her gesture was decidedly less bro-pal than his had been, though. She had long delicate fingers and unexpectedly short, blunt manicured nails that were painted a ballet pink.
Louis accepted her handshake with much less force. “Hi.” Her stupor lifted just enough that she remembered she had basically body-checked a Congresswoman. “I’m sorry, again, for bumping into you.”
Styles smiled. “That’s alright, there’s a bit of a crowd in here, but it should clear as soon as the other group leaves.”
“Right,” Louis answered dumbly glancing down at where their hands were still intertwined between them. They finally dropped the handshake and Styles twisted her arms back behind her so that they were clasped together out of sight. It had the effect of pushing her breasts out, and now that she was up close, Louis could see that the top was actually an extremely finely knit sweater.
“I’m Harry,” Styles said.
“God, yeah,” Louis shook her head and scoffed at herself. “Right. I’m Louis. And I’m usually a bit more eloquent than this. It’s nice to meet you, Congresswoman.”
The title was an effective dousing of cold water over Louis’ mood. Rep. Styles was a lawmaker and a member of one of the highest levels of government in the country. She was not some random girl Louis could privately and respectfully check out in line at Starbucks. Louis needed to get it together.
“Please,” Styles waved dismissively with a twinkle in her eye. “Call me Harry.”
Louis nodded.
There was another burst of noise as the blue group officially left the room with a few cameramen to accompany them. As soon as they were gone, the squat, middle-aged docent at the front of the room called them to attention and started to explain the general history of the building.
He was far enough away from them with quite a few layers of people between them, and Louis was distracted enough that she very quickly stopped listening.
She leaned in close to Harry, close enough to smell the faintest hint of mint that floated around her like a cloud. “Don’t you have more important things to do than take this tour with us?” she whispered.
Harry stayed looking straight ahead at the docent, but Louis saw the corner of her mouth quirk up and only had to wait a moment before she leaned over while trying to pretend she was still listening.
“Not really. We planned this for a day when there were no votes or committee meetings for Alex and I.”
“Alex?” Louis asked, the informality feeling like it didn’t quite fit the larger than life lawmaker. “Is she really like… that all the time?”
Harry bit down on her lip to swallow a laugh. “She is very dedicated to the American people.”
“From an outside perspective she seems a little super-human,” Louis pressed.
Harry finally turned to face her and quickly flicked her gaze up and down over Louis’ body before meeting her gaze. “You’re one to talk.”
Louis had a terrible habit, one that she’d had since she was little. When she had a crush on someone, she liked to push them, tease them, cause mischief. Get in trouble. Do anything to get their attention and keep it. It worked in the fourth grade with Jenny Miller from down the block, it worked with her first girlfriend in college. She had not expected it to work on a hot, gay Congresswoman from Massachusetts.
The group began to move, and Harry with them. It took Louis’ body a moment to catch up to her brain and she had to scramble to keep her stride with Harry again.
Louis had no idea how to respond to Harry—the Congresswoman’s—such blatant flirting. Were Congresswomen even allowed to flirt? She quickly remembered all of the ridiculous sex scandals that plagued Washington from older white men who took advantage of their power and used it to exploit women all the time. Right. If Harry wanted to flirt she could damn well flirt.
And she was choosing to flirt with Louis.
It wasn’t very often that it happened, but Louis found herself rendered speechless. The truth was, she absolutely wanted to reciprocate whatever this was so she had to say something.
The docent started up his introductions for the new room they were in, which just looked like a miniature Senate chamber if Louis had to guess.
“Are you a fan, then?” she leaned into whisper again, being purposefully vague.
“Hm?” Harry asked, still pretending that she was paying attention to the tour guide. Her cheeks reddened a bit under the lights so Louis suspected she had heard her loud and clear.
“Niall said he wasn’t the only soccer fan in the office and I was wondering if he meant you.”
Harry rolled her lips together, displacing the shiny gloss that highlighted them and shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lie.
“Ah, okay,” Louis played along. “I wonder who it could be.”
Harry was saved by the bell of the group moving on to the next stop of the tour. Louis had missed just about everything so far, and she wasn’t about to start paying attention to anything other than Harry. They were moving through a wide hallway so the group was much less squished, and as soon as there was a little bit of space around them, Louis felt her arm get jostled by a paparazzo.
The man spared a moment to snap a few pictures of the two of them walking together before he rushed ahead to try and get a few of the whole group.
Louis turned to Harry to say something, anything to keep the conversation going, but when she did, Niall had snuck up on them and was holding out a bunch of papers for Harry to sign as she walked.
“This looks like it’s straight out of The West Wing,” she quipped.
Harry snorted and her step faltered. She was wearing cute black suede Mary Jane's with a single delicate strap across the top of her foot. The heels were a medium height and pretty sturdy. Louis had a feeling that anything higher or thinner, she would have had to gallantly catch Harry in her arms when she stumbled.
She kind of wanted that to happen anyway.
Niall took the now signed papers away from where they had been in front of Harry and snuck a wink at Louis before he slowed his pace, fading away from them and disappearing.
They shuffled into the next very Federalist looking room and there was a split second where she and Harry almost went separate ways to try and fill out the room more easily. Louis’ heart sank for just a moment before Harry shifted again, subtly, against the current of the other people filing in until they were pressed close together in the small space.
Louis couldn’t hide her smirk. Until that moment, she hadn’t really been sure what this thing was with Harry. She was a congresswoman. There was something about the office that was a little bit off-putting. But she was still a woman, Louis reasoned with herself. A gorgeous, possibly single, thirty-year-old woman who may or may not be flirting with her. She had the responsibility of running a country, but she still deserved a life and to let loose and have some fun.
There was no reason Louis couldn’t be involved in that fun, because it felt like there was definitely something there.
Louis felt the soft press and warmth of Harry’s body as they squeezed together and the docent started talking again.
“This is almost over,” Harry whispered as her breath brushed across Louis’ ear. She had to forcibly keep herself from shivering at the sensation.
“Oh?” A single syllable. That was all she could manage while Harry was surrounding her senses. Everything about her was soft and feminine. The fabric of her clothes, her scent, her warmth. But she was still a politician, which meant there was power and determination and ruthlessness bubbling beneath the surface. Louis had seen clips of her in hearings where she went head to head with powerful old white men and won. It was a heady combination.
“There’s lots of food, and lots more room to move around.” Harry giggled under her breath.
Louis turned to look at her pointedly, their breath mingling over her shoulder. “You had me at food.”
Harry snorted and reached her hand up quickly to dampen the noise.
The crowd around them started to shift towards the door, and Niall was there at the entrance to the hallway directing them towards the function room where the two groups were going to meet up for the reception.
There was a flurry of activity when everyone came together, and Louis finally lost track of Harry in the crowd. Liam appeared over her shoulder out of nowhere asking how their tour had been. Even as they were talking he was checking their promo schedule on his phone.
As Liam rambled on about her schedule, Louis looked down at the silky white t-shirt she was wearing under her USWNT jacket that everyone on the team had worn.
“Hey, Liam,” she interrupted him. “Do I get to keep this shirt?”
Liam paused mid-sentence to look at the shirt, then look at his phone with a furrowed brow. “Oh, um. Yeah, I think so. Why?”
Louis fingered the silky material, pulling it away from the skin of her abdomen for a moment. “Just like how it feels, that’s all.”
“You look hot in it,” Niall said, loudly.
Louis’ gaze shot up, confused. If Louis was correct Niall had spent most of the day as a sort of wingman for Harry and all she saw was Niall standing there watching her with no heat in his gaze. Louis decided to take the compliment for what it was. “Thanks, Niall.”
Niall came closer and held his hand up for a high five. The last tiny bit of tension in Louis’ shoulders released and she met his hand for a hard slap on a laugh.
Louis spotted a few of her teammates gesturing to her, she excused herself and went to join them just as Harry began to call the room to attention. So that was where she had gone.
She and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez were at the front of the room with a spread on the table behind them.
“I hope everyone had a great time on the tour. Round of applause for our docents,” she added as she clapped in their direction. Louis tried so hard to focus on what was going on around her, but all she could do was watch Harry and marvel at how lovely she was.
“Now, after Alex here invited you, I tweeted Louis,” Harry paused as her teammates let out whooping cheers. “And promised cupcakes. I definitely brought them, and my staff worked really hard to put the rest of this spread together so I hope you enjoy.”
Harry looked down at the ground for a brief moment before holding her hands together in front of her disrupting the soft floaty fabric of her skirt.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to take an extra moment before we eat to compliment you all. I know—all of us in this room know the challenges you as a team and as an organization are facing in terms of pay disparity. It’s something that women have had to fight for for generations. Lobbyists in Washington have had no small part in aiding US Soccer to take you down, and Alex and I know more than anyone that going against them can feel like you’re helpless, standing at the back of an arena shouting your lungs out to be heard over the noise. We are with you in this fight. Even when it feels like the spotlight has dimmed after the medals—or elections—have been won, we’re here and we will fight. Women have proved, especially in the last few years, that we are infinitely stronger together than we are apart. So as your fight ramps up and you go back to your normal lives and when it eventually feels like you have been beaten down, and you can’t persevere, we are here for you.”
While everyone else in the room cheered and clapped and screamed their lungs out, Louis had to actively control her breathing as she watched the fierceness light Harry up from within. There. That had been the political player Louis knew existed within her, the one that won a primary against an old establishment incumbent.
It was the Congresswoman on full display, and despite only really knowing her for a few hours, Louis was filled to the brim with pride. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to get on her knees to worship her or find the nearest closet and kiss her silly.
Of course in that moment she did neither, because they barely knew each other.
Harry clapped before she moved to the side and put the truly impressive spread on display. There right in the middle was a platter of perfectly decorated cupcakes. Louis flashed back to the tweet and smiled.
“Don’t forget to try a cupcake,” Harry said as she approached Louis. “I made them special.”
Louis did a double take looking at the confection that she was certain Harry had ordered from a professional bakery. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, stayed up half the night,” she said with a wide, cheesy grin presenting the cupcakes like she was Vanna White.
“Harry!” Niall called out across the crowded room waving his phone. “Call for you.”
Harry grimaced. “Whoops, got to go.”
“Right,” Louis said lamely as she watched the swish of her skirt as she walked away.
***
You top my list of things to do
And I will get close to you
Before this night is through
I will have held you, I will have kissed you, I will have claimed you
You will be mine
Harry sighed as she reached for Niall’s phone. “Who is it?”
“No one,” Niall said under his breath. “Put the phone to your ear and turn away from the room.”
“What?” she asked.
“Come on, Harry, you haven’t been on a date in four years. I’m trying to help you. Put the phone to your ear.” Niall shoved the offending piece of technology into her personal space.
“Niall,” Harry hissed under her breath. “It was going well, I don’t need any help.”
Niall looked at her sardonically. “It was going just fine if you want her to get on a plane and go back to Seattle tonight and maybe call you in three months when the season is over.”
Harry started to let her arm drop, but Niall shoved her elbow to keep it up near her ear. She sputtered at him exasperated. “What purpose could this ‘phone call’ possibly serve?”
“You walked away just as it was getting good, adding to the mystery. Plus, your life is busy. All the time. It’s a lot of traveling back and forth. If she loses interest just because I take your attention away by having you sign some papers, or pull you to take a call then she’s not the man I thought she was.”
Harry stared blankly as her best friend subtly left his shoulders open to the rest of the room where he was stealing glances at what Harry could only assume was Louis. “That’s… a good point, actually.”
“I have some on occasion.” Niall finally reached up and took the phone from her. “Now, this is fun and all, but your staff worked really hard, and it’s almost summer recess, so I gave them the rest of the day off. Because we’re such nice bosses, I made sure they knew that they faced certain death if they were to return to the office after the reception was finished.”
He gave her a long look as he locked his phone and put it in his pocket. Harry looked around the room and only saw a few of her staff members loading up plates at the refreshment table.
So. That meant her office was… empty.
She turned on her heel and headed back towards where Louis was just about to bite into one of her cupcakes, unable to believe what she was about to do.
There were enough other people around to mix and mingle and give interviews. If she and Louis disappeared, two stars of the show, would anyone notice?
She watched Louis lick the leftover frosting off her strong fingers before reaching for a cocktail napkin to take care of the rest.
They were just going to have to risk it.
Harry briefly lamented the effort it was going to take to get there first. Her office was in Rayburn which meant walking a while or taking the railway, but that might be a fun thing to do. And it might be kind of impressive.
Before she lost her nerve she cut off whatever Louis was about to say. “Would you like a private tour of my office?”
Louis froze and Harry worried she might have been a little too direct.
“I mean, would you like to see the Capitol railway system, which leads to my office? It’s only private because I don’t think we would be able to fit everyone even though my office will be empty, it’s still not all that big.”
“Uh… I would love to,” Louis answered finally, putting Harry out of her misery.
“Great. How do we get out of here?”
“We slowly mingle our way towards a door and then sneak out. It might take a few minutes, but we can do it.” Louis had a determined set to her shoulders, and Harry was grateful she wasn’t alone in the desire to get some alone time away from teammates, cameras, managers, and members of the United States Congress.
There was still a chance she was misreading the situation and Louis just wanted to be her new international soccer star friend, and that was fine. She hoped it was more, though.
They weren’t stopped too much on their way to the Rayburn tram. A few people gave them some off looks, no doubt recognizing one or both of them, but it was a short walk and they were left alone for the most part. Louis was suitably impressed, too.
“Oh my—These little cars are so cute,” she gasped as the tram pulled to a stop in front of them. Harry held her hand out indicating that Louis should climb in the car, and Harry followed her inside. The outside of the cars were about chest height with no top when they were standing on the platform, but once they were inside they were high enough that the car felt like it was completely enclosed. Like they had total privacy from the outside world.
The cheap pleather seats and the way the cars were built made it feel like a carnival ride. Like this was their first date and they were teenagers about to go up in a ferris wheel together.
Maybe at the metaphorical top, Louis would hold her hand. Or do one of those stretch-and-wrap-her-arms-around-her moves. That seemed much more her style.
In reality, Louis was watching the blank beige walls fly past them. “You know, this was not how I envisioned this going all those weeks ago when I scoffed at that reporter and said I wasn’t going to the White House,” she said contemplatively.
Harry crossed one leg over the other and kicked her foot out to nudge Louis’ leg with the toe of her shoe, teasingly. “No I don’t suppose it was.”
The heat in Louis’ eyes wasn’t something Harry had made up. Louis definitely was not interested in being her new best friend. Well, maybe she was, but not just her new best friend.
As the cars pulled to a stop and they climbed out Harry started rambling on about the office building and how hard it is to pick an office and she felt so bad about putting her staff through the lottery process she brought in brownies every day for a week afterwards.
“You’re really tough to figure out, you know,” Louis said once the elevator doors had shut behind them.
“What do you mean?”
Louis gave her a slow look all the way up and down her body, and Harry felt her skin tingle as though it was a physical touch.
“You’re gorgeous, first of all.” Harry fought the urge to blush and duck her head like a school girl. “You’re very femme, but you also toppled an establishment Democrat in your primary, then absolutely tore your way through your district in a landslide. I’ve watched you in hearings. I’ve seen you rip a guy to shreds. And you baked cupcakes.”
The elevator pinged and they stepped off as Harry considered what she wanted to say. She really didn’t think Louis and all her preaching of equality and acceptance would be one to judge her for her choices. It was no real big secret she was out to the public, and Louis called her femme, but Harry was skeptical. Did Louis have a problem with her image? With her being a Congresswoman?
Harry hadn’t gotten to where she was by bowing to other people’s demands on her personality or her body. She would be vastly disappointed and shocked if Louis was one of those people.
“Is that… I mean is there something wrong with that?”
Louis stopped in her tracks in the middle of the hallway, and Harry stopped with her once she realized. “Well, no. It’s just that each one of them turns me on in a different way, and I’m pretty confused.”
“Oh.” Harry’s skin went hot and cold instantaneously. “I think we can work with that.”
Louis swallowed heavily. “Okay.”
Harry spun and started walking very quickly down the hallway while her heels clicked and echoed off the walls. “My office is over here,” she rushed out.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and she couldn’t hear Louis behind her, but the world champion athlete caught up to her quickly. The door was locked and the office behind it dark without the fluorescent lights shining. Harry pulled her badge off her hip and tapped it against the pad next to the door until it shone green.
“This is the room where my constituents come talk to me,” she pointed out, watching Louis look around, unsure whether or not she should make the first move.
“Ah, cool,” Louis nodded taking everything in for a moment before turning her attention fully back to Harry.
They were both useless.
“My office is back here,” Harry reached down and grabbed Louis’ wrist, dragging her into the smaller room and pressing her up against the door. For the first time all day, they were finally getting somewhere. “Hi,” she added.
Louis smirked at her like the cat who caught the canary. “Hi,” she repeated.
With her heels on, Harry dwarfed Louis by a few inches, but that just meant that Louis was at the perfect height to get a grip on the waistband of her skirt to pull her closer.
Their lips touched and they ignited. It felt good to hold someone, have someone hold her. To make out like a couple of teenagers sneaking around in her office of all places. Harry wasn’t even sure she did stuff like this when she actually was a teenager.
They broke apart, panting heavily as they began to paw at each other’s clothing. Harry pushed the team jacket off Louis’ shoulders, letting it drop down her arms and off into a pile on the floor.
“Full disclosure, I saw the Sports Illustrated pictures,” Harry breathed out before leaning back down to kiss her again.
Louis paused for a moment. “Full disclosure, I’ve been watching the way your sweater hugs your breasts all day wondering what they look like,” she mumbled.
Harry snorted inelegantly into her mouth. “That’s fair. That’s part of the reason why I wore this outfit.”
“Because you knew you looked good?” Louis asked as she began to pull the offending sweater up releasing it from her waistband.
“I mean. Yeah,” Harry shrugged. “Did I mention I had seen the Sports Illustrated photos?”
Louis gasped and pulled back. “You’re a minx! A minx who bakes cupcakes to lure unsuspecting soccer players off their season diets.”
She snickered. “Well it worked, didn’t it?”
Louis kissed her again, pushing off the wall to switch positions, but before she could get too far Harry lead her towards the couch on the opposite wall. Along the way Harry lost her sweater and her heels. Louis lost her t-shirt, providing Harry with a beautiful unobstructed view of her biceps and abs after they fell on the couch together and Louis did her best to hold herself up and not crush Harry with her weight.
She couldn’t help but reach her hand up to trace her fingers over a few of the indentations. “Wow.”
Instead of answering, Louis very carefully lowered herself down until her face was level with Harry’s breasts. She was still wearing her bra, plain and black to keep the lines smooth under her sweater, but she could feel the warmth of Louis’ breath like it was gossamer lace.
Louis cleared her throat. “We don’t have nearly enough time to do everything I’ve been thinking about doing to you.”
Harry groaned as she lifted her hands up to dig in Louis’ soft side-swept hair. “I know, and you fly back tonight?”
“Yeah, but I can change that. What would you say to a date tonight? Take you somewhere nice? Private?”
Harry scrunched up so she could kiss Louis again. “Sounds like a plan.” When she laid back down she could feel the feather light kisses Louis danced across her chest and she let out a heady sigh.
Some time later when they were both wearing sleepy, satisfied smiles and Louis’ phone was ringing off the hook with calls from Liam wondering where she was, they parted ways in front of Rayburn and Harry showed her where to go to find Liam again.
Harry watched as superstar soccer player Louis Tomlinson walked with an easy confidence down the street and her hands in her pockets, only looking back at Harry two or three times with a shit-eating grin.
Talk about Big Dick Energy. Harry rolled her eyes at herself. She didn’t have much time if she wanted to make it back to her apartment to change before their date.
***
PAGE SIX—Exclusive
New gal pals Rep. Styles and Louis Tomlinson spotted laughing together in DC restaurant
Hours after Louis and the rest of the USWNT went on their highly publicized tour of Capitol Hill, the Congresswoman and the feisty forward took to Marcel’s—one of DC’s top restaurants. They appeared to share the chef's seven course tasting menu and spent hours gabbing over a few glasses of red wine throughout the duration of the meal.
Harry took a sip of her coffee and locked her phone with a smirk, closing out her messages from Niall. She placed the mug back down on her kitchen counter and it jiggled for a moment before she steadied it. She looked down her very naked body, then back at the very hot coffee.
Best to let it cool down a bit first.
She left her phone where it was and retraced her steps back to her bedroom and her spacious en suite. The shower was muffled behind the door, but when she opened it she was met with a wall of humidity. Watching her step on the slick floor, she opened up the glass door and let herself be doused by the spray.
“Morning, gal pal,” she teased as she tipped her head back to dampen her hair.
“Gal pal? Are you serious? Someone actually used that phrase?” Louis stared at her blankly. She had a head start and her hair was slicked back with something like conditioner or a hair mask. The rivulets of water danced over her muscles creating trails on her skin. Harry wanted nothing more than to lick them all up one by one.
There was a… Louis had asked her a question or something… maybe. She was mesmerized by the way Louis’ body moved. This was so much better than the magazine pictures.
Right. The article.
“Page Six,” she managed to get out.
Louis snorted. “Imagine if they knew the truth about last night?”
Based on the way Harry felt about the last twenty-four hours, she wasn’t sure it would take anyone very long to piece it together. She was fairly certain Louis felt the same way.
“We’re going to have to plan something big and dramatic to avoid the gal pal thing again,” she said, testing the waters.
Louis picked up Harry's loofa and squirted some body wash in it before approaching her and dragging it in little circles across the skin of her hips. They were half-hearted at best and she needed next to no convincing to drop the sponge and wrap her arms around Harry’s neck when she stepped closer.
“Very big, and very dramatic.”