Work Text:
This is the best job ever, Liam thought. It hadn’t been the first time that the thought had crossed his mind since he was hired a month ago, but as he shook hands with David Beckham he was sure that this had been the best thing to happen since becoming Harry Styles’ personal bodyguard.
It had only been a few weeks ago that he’d gotten a phone call from an old friend that had a security job open he thought Liam would be good for. Some security vulnerabilities had been brought to life when concerning letters had been sent to Harry’s home address. Harry’s security team thought it would be best to hire a bodyguard that would be able to live on property with him and be available to accompany him wherever he went. Since most of Harry’s team were middle aged men with families and obligations outside of work (bedtimes, football games or doctor’s appointments) they had to hire someone new to the team.
That’s where Liam came in. As part of his job description, Liam was to meet everyone that stepped foot onto Harry’s property which is how he ended up shaking hands with David Beckham. Some movie premiere was taking place that night and Harry and David had both been invited. When Harry heard that Victoria and the kids were in New York while she worked on her fashion line, he invited David to join him at the event. Especially since it had been ages since they last got together.
“Hey, man,” Harry greeted with a hug when David entered the room after being cleared by Liam. “How are the kids and Victoria?”
“Good. Everyone’s good, thanks,” David said. “I see that your security’s been increased. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, been some worrisome letters sent to the house so more guards have been added as a precaution and the lovely Liam is here 24/7 just in case,” Harry explained.
“Better safe than sorry in those situations.”
“Exactly,” Harry smiled.
“How is the infamous party boy coping with 24/7 supervision?”
“It’s been fine. Liam is really cool, really chill. If I don’t go out it’s usually because I don’t want to. Liam and I have been working our way through our Netflix queue together.”
“Oh, nice,” David said. “Shall we make our way to this movie premiere? Thanks again for inviting me out tonight. I’ve been losing my mind without the kids around. Nothing to do.”
“I thought that was the whole point of retirement,” Harry joked.
Liam held the door for them as they left Harry’s house to get to the car waiting outside. When David passed Liam, Harry stopped.
“Geez. It’s like there’s two of you,” Harry said pointing out the resemblance between David and Liam.
“I guess so,” David laughed. “Who would win in a fight you reckon?”
“Liam.”
“What?” they both half yelled at him.
“You don’t think so, Liam?” Harry said. “You are a bodyguard after all.”
“Yes, but he’s David Beckham.”
“Ah, too afraid to hit that pretty face of his? Can’t fault you for that.”
“Only when he’s not a danger to you, Mr. Styles.”
Harry took a deep breath and released it harshly. “Harry,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, Harry,” Liam said with a smirk while opening the car door for them.
“Wait, Liam stand next to David,” Harry said while fishing his phone from his tight pant pockets.
When Liam realized what Harry was trying to do he groaned and moved to get into the car. Surprisingly David reached out and grabbed him before he could get away. “You’ve met Harry before, right?” he asked. “He’s just going to keep at it until he gets his way.”
Liam sighed, shoulders slumping. “I know,” he said as he grudgingly posed for the picture.
Things had been rather quiet after the movie premiere. Too quiet if you asked Liam, but just perfect according to Harry. There hadn’t been any new threats, no new letters. Harry was starting to think the stalker thing was behind them. Probably a joke someone played after finding out his address somehow.
When Harry brought it up to the head of his security team they agreed and suggested cutting back on the number of guards they had. The number of guards on property at a single time was cut from 4 to 2 but Harry insisted that Liam stay. He felt safer having the guard with him whenever he went out and he had to admit they were actually friends now.
He didn’t chill out and watch several hours of movies and shows in his living room with just anyone.
He even did something he never did and complained to Liam about some of the things going on in his life. He didn't like to dwell on the negative things, he usually just brushed them off and moved forward like it didn’t bother him. Every once in a while, however, he was left wanting to gripe about the unfairness of it all. How the media expected him to act, how his manager sometimes signed him up for things he wasn’t thrilled about, how people treated him because of his money and fame. So when Harry ended up drunk at the end of an event he was contractually obligated to go to, Liam knew why.
It was mother’s day and Harry wasn’t even on the same continent as his mum. It was the first time he missed the holiday with her. He always planned his schedule around his family and the dates he wanted to spend with them, however this one was out of his control. Because some contract he had been signed to a few months ago stated that he had to attend four of this organization’s events during the year, he had to show up and speak at the event that he would give anything to get out of.
His only comfort was that his sister was able to go back to visit since she had moved to LA pretty recently too. She was even taking her boyfriend, Richard, back to meet the folks.
He knew that they would all have a lovely time and that his mum wouldn’t give him any grief for not being there but he still felt absolutely awful for missing the day with her. When the portion of the evening that required his attention was over, he took his sorrows to the open bar.
Why not? He thought pounding back drink after drink.
Liam kept his distance but had a watchful eye on Harry as person after person came up to talk with him, or take a picture with him, or flirt with him. When girl number five had draped her arm around the singer, Liam decided that he definitely wasn’t jealous. He was just feeling protective because that was his job. Yeah, that was it.
When the number of drinks Harry consumed got dangerously high, Liam stepped in to cut him off. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to or how Harry would react but he gave a sigh of relief Harry went with it without a fight.
Harry stood up and swayed. He must have found the sensation funny because he let out a giggle that compromised his balance even more. Liam placed an arm around him to keep him upright and helped him towards the exit.
He could tell Harry was wasted but he had to give him points for trying to walk as normal as possible. Even if he was failing miserably at it.
Outside, dozens of flashing lights greeted them. Unfortunately, Harry’s car was being blocked by another vehicle so they had to wait for it to move before they could get away from the lenses focused on them.
Harry turned his face into Liam’s shoulder to avoid the flashing lights. The sound he gave out, a sigh of sadness and frustration, had Liam running a comforting hand down Harry’s back until they were able to get to the car. He helped him get the few feet to the curb and lead him to the backseat before climbing in after him.
He asked Harry to buckle up nicely, but when he didn’t do it Liam reached around to make sure Harry was secured in the car.
Harry closed his eyes and leaned a head on the window to watch the lights of the town pass by until he drifted off to sleep.
Liam had other ideas though because he nudged Harry awake.
“What?” he groaned sounding almost like an angry toddler. Liam most definitely did not find it adorable thank you very much.
“Here, drink this,” Liam said holding out a bottle of water to Harry. Thinking twice, he removed the cap and handed it back to the singer. “It will help you feel better.”
When they arrived back to Harry’s house he was glad to see that the bottle of water was now empty.
Liam helped him get out of the car and inside. The stairs were their own special challenge and Liam made a note to bring up the possibility of installing handrails to Harry the next day.
Harry stripped himself down to his boxers and fell into bed as Liam went to grab a couple more bottles of water. He made Harry drink one more before he placed a full bottle and some aspirin on the nightstand for him in the morning.
“It’s not fair,” Harry said once he was tucked in bed before Liam left the room.
“What’s not fair?” he asked.
“Aaron and I have been friends since we were kids. He knows how important it is to me to be home for Mother’s Day.”
“So that is why you drank so much tonight?” Harry nodded.
“And you know what? He went back to England to see his mum!”
“You’re right, that’s not very fair. Maybe you should talk to him about it in the morning.”
“Yeah,” Harry said turning over in bed. “I will.”
The last thing Liam did before making his way to his own room was put a trashcan next to Harry’s bed in case he got sick in the middle of the night.
Liam was drinking a cup of coffee when his sister called to tell him that his face was all over social media. Apparently everyone was talking about Harry’s “hot” bodyguard.
It wasn’t long after Liam hung up with his sister before Harry returned to the land of the living and ventured into the kitchen for breakfast.
“Hey, how’s last night feeling?” Liam asked when Harry came in.
“Not too bad actually. Thank you for making me drink that water and taking care of me.”
“No problem, Mr. Styles.” Harry sends Liam a glare as he pours himself a bowl of cereal and Liam laughed. Now Liam just calls him that to get under Harry’s skin and they both know it.
Harry pulls out his phone to check twitter like he does every morning. He replies to a few people that mentioned him in things and sees what everyone is saying about the night before and the photos that came with it.
“So it looks like everyone wants to know who my hot bodyguard is,” he said to Liam. “One magazine even has an article called: Hottest or Hot Mess.”
“Yeah, I saw that.”
“Wait, are you on Twitter?”
“Yes,” Liam said slowly.
“Am I following you?”
“I don’t know, probably not. It’s not like I’m on a lot. My sister was the one to inform me of today’s gossip news.”
“What’s your handle?” Harry asked.
“If I give it to you,” Liam said seriously. “You have to promise not to tag me in anything.”
“Okay,” Harry sighed. A second later, Liam’s phone dinged quietly with an alert that @Harry_Styles had followed him.
Harry may have also taken a moment to go through some of Liam’s posts. A lot of them were about working out, some were responses to his friends, and a lot were about his family. It was all very endearing to Harry.
Harry scrolled past a reply that read, “Jealous?” Harry knew that they were referring to the attention being away from him, but his mind screamed yes. Not because the attention wasn’t on him, in fact he was happy to let it shine on someone else for the time being, but because people were praising Liam and commenting about Liam and making Liam laugh.
Harry was constantly being shown some of the comments that Liam found funny and had to laugh along like he wasn’t seething a bit inside. It was ridiculous because he definitely didn’t have feelings for Liam.
It didn't take Harry's fans too long to find out Liam’s name. It was weird for Liam, especially since people were giving him attention while he was out with Harry. It made it harder for him when he had to be the bad guy.
The days when he had to be the one to tell Harry’s fans that pictures weren’t allowed were the worst. He was always very polite about it and would compromise whenever it was possible. If they had the time, he’d let Harry stop and then snap a group photo of him with all the fans that were there.
Harry even did something he never did and gave Liam the password to his twitter account so that he could post the photos for the fans.
Liam even had each group come up with a team name that he’d hashtag the photo with so they could find it and other stuff the people in that group posted.
It was the nicest any of Harry’s security team had been to the fans. Every time he saw one of the group photos on his twitter page it made him smile.
“I get them,” Liam shrugged one night when Harry brought it up. They were sitting down to watch a movie at the house and share a few beers.
“They get a bad rep but it’s only because they love you so much that they sometimes struggle with the best way to show it.”
“Are you a fanboy at heart, Liam?”
“With somethings…Harry Potter, Batman…I guess I can see the appeal with you too.”
“You find me appealing?” Harry asked knocking his shoulder against Liam’s.
“Only when you’re not being annoying which is kind of rare.”
“Asshole,” Harry laughed.
“Seriously though, you are a very lovely guy. Not at all the partying heartbreaker the media portrays you as.”
“At least they’ve got you down. I mean, you are as hot as they say you are.” Liam shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.
“What? You don’t agree?”
“I think the media shouldn’t even know I exist. My job is to blend in. I’m supposed to be able to stand a few feet away and keep an eye on the situation but now people get in between wanting pictures of you, wanting pictures of me. It creates a safety hazard. If something were to happen you’d be farther away and harder to get to and why? Because they like my face? It’s not worth your safety.”
“That makes sense, but what if you didn’t fade into the background? What if you stood next to me in the limelight?”
“Harry,” Liam interrupted.
“No, hear me out. You could be next to me and that way I won’t be far if anything were to happen. Plus, I’d feel safer having you close by,” he explained.
“Well, when you put it that way,” Liam sighed. “I’d still want to avoid attention to myself as much as possible.”
“That I can’t promise you. That pretty face of yours demands attention. The people and the camera love you,” he said reaching up to pinch Liam’s cheeks.
“You’re ridiculous, I should stop hanging out with you when it’s not required.”
“You love it, Payne!”
“Maybe,” he whispered into his beer bottle as he took another sip.
There were more paps around than usual. Harry had just finished writing a new song with another singer last week and now there was a rumor going around that the two of them were dating. Everyone was fighting for the exclusive sound bite on a possible new relationship for Harry Styles.
It was probably Aaron’s doing. Liam didn’t like the guy but he was Harry’s manager so he had to put up with him. One small blessing was that he wasn’t around much.
Liam had to call in some extra hands to clear a path from the exit of the shop Harry wanted to stop at to the car. When the team was in place, Liam put a hand on Harry’s back to lead him through the narrow opening that had been created. “Right this way, Mr. Styles,” he said.
“Although I have to admit it’s quite hot to hear you call me Mr. Styles, I might have to fire you if you don’t start calling me Harry,” he said as they walked through the cameras. The questions being shouted at him changed from the singer he was rumored to be with to his bodyguard. It may have been a little too close to home for Harry’s liking.
“You did it again,” Liam said when they both got into the car.
“Did what?” Harry asked feigning innocence. Liam just sighed and resigned himself to being the subject of gossip sites in the morning.
He was right. There was a story on some entertainment program about the whole thing that night when they were watching tv with some Chinese takeout.
"I hate you," Liam mumbled as he ate his spicy chicken.
"You do not," Harry said with a smile.
"Well I want to," he told him.
A few days later, Liam was sick and stuck in bed. Luckily Harry didn’t have anything that he had to attend so he stayed home and looked after him.
They both assumed it was the flu but when Liam started seizing, it was obviously something much worse. Harry robotically went into action calling 911 and doing whatever he could for Liam while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
The doctors at the hospital wouldn’t tell him anything, but Liam’s mom stopped by and gave him a rundown of the situation.
Liam was doing okay. That was what Harry tried to focus on. They hadn’t known what caused it, but they were still running tests to find out.
She told him about how Liam was very sick as a child and her fears that maybe he was ill again.
Harry reassured her that he’d be fine, that Liam was the bravest guy he knows and that he’d win any fight he went into, including with some lousy illness.
Liam woke up to a phone going off and opened his eyes to see his mom on the phone with someone.
“You want to talk to him? He just woke up” she asked. “Just a moment. Liam, it’s your sister,” she said handing the phone over to him.
“Liam, you jerk!” She yelled in the phone at him. “You need to get better. My wedding is in a few weeks and we can’t get married without the best man. My future children will need their goofy uncle Liam to teach them how to fight off bullies.”
“You do realize I’m not dying, right? I’m just really sick and need tests to figure out what’s going on.”
“You better not be dying or I’ll kill you.” Liam laughed and let his sister send him some well wishes before he hung up and handed the phone back to his mom. She gave him a hug now that he was awake and a synopsis of what the doctors were saying.
“You can only have one visitor at a time, but I’m going to run and get some lunch. Harry’s been waiting outside since you got here so he’ll come in for a bit if that’s alright. He’s a really nice boy, Liam.”
“Yeah, he is. Thank you, mom.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” she said before kissing him on the forehead and making her way out of the room.
A few seconds later, Harry walked through the door.
“I don’t know if it’s normal for popstars to come visit their bodyguards at the hospital when they’re sick,” Liam said in lieu of a greeting.
“You know you’re more than a bodyguard, right?” Harry asked.
“I know,” Liam nodded. “And I know that you make it incredibly hard for me to do my job.”
“By putting you in the spotlight?”
“Yes,” he laughed. “But also for being so distractingly good looking and for making me care so much about you.”
“You must be on the good stuff,” Harry laughed.
“Maybe I am,” he said. “Or maybe I’ve felt that way for a while and came to the realization that I should probably let you know that when I was being loaded into an ambulance this afternoon.”
Harry leaned closer and Liam fought hard not to move closer and touch his lips to Harry’s. Instead, Harry moved to close the space between them so Liam shifted his head causing Harry's lips to fall on his cheek instead of his mouth.
Harry sat back quickly looking hurt and embarrassed. He brought a hand up to his mouth and a “Sorry,” passed through his lips.
“We don’t know why I’m sick yet. The last thing I want is for you to get whatever this is,” Liam explained before taking Harry’s hand in his own.
“Raincheck?” Harry asked and Liam nodded enthusiastically. He planned on cashing in that raincheck the second he knew it was safe to kiss Harry.
“I am so screwed,” Liam said.
“Not yet, but hopefully soon,” Harry joked.
“Lord help me. I am falling for a child.”
Harry ended up sitting in a chair next to Liam’s bed for an hour or so. They watched tv on the screen perched from the ceiling of the room and held hands thankful that despite the circumstances that they were together.
They had both started falling asleep when Harry’s phone started going off.
“It’s Aaron, just a minute,” he told Liam before answering the phone.
“I’m not going,” Harry said and Liam wondered what the conversation was about.
“Liam is in the hospital, Aaron. I think this qualifies as an extenuating circumstance.”
“Liam is my friend.”
Liam reached out a hand to touch Harry’s.
“Hold on,” Harry said into the phone.
“Go,” Liam said. “There’s really nothing you can do here. If you have some place you need to be I’ll be fine. My mom’s here, I’ll be looked after.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying,” he said. “I prefer it actually,” he leaned down and whispered.
“I’m sure, Harry. Thank you though. I appreciate it,” he smiled.
“Fine, I’ll go,” he said into the phone.
Harry hung up the phone with a sigh. “Fucking dick,” he mumbled.
“Why are you working with him then?” Liam asked.
“He wasn’t always like that. We used to be the best of friends believe it or not. We were in a band together back in school. We were trying to get signed as a band, but they wanted me as a solo artist. Aaron said I’d be a fool not to take it so I had him join me as my manager. He started changing once the money came in. He barely talks to anyone from home anymore and he looks down on those without money or status. He’s become the person I’ve always tried not to associate with.”
“Is that why you guys never hang out?” Liam asked. In the months that he’d been guarding Harry, he’d only seen Aaron once.
“Yeah, our relationship is pretty much only professional now and usually only via phone and email.”
“I’m sorry, Harry.”
“It happens. I just never thought it would happen to us.”
A few more tests had to be done, so Harry left to get ready for the movie premiere he was set to attend that night. Another security guard was brought in for the night and Harry promised to come visit again in the morning.
At 2AM, Liam was woken up by a nurse that came in to take him for one more test. Some blood was drawn and a few seconds after the nurse left there was another knock on the door.
Harry was standing there with a police officer. It looked like Harry had been crying and Liam’s immediate thought was that something had happened at the movie premiere when he wasn’t there to stop it. Liam’s stomach dropped and the beeping sound from his heart monitor increased. “What happened?” he asked.
Harry and the officer came into the room and Harry sat down next to Liam, taking his hand. Liam could feel Harry’s hand shaking.
“Someone in the crowd tonight handed me a package,” Harry said. Liam’s mind started racing wildly until the police officer spoke up.
“Mr. Payne, we have reason to believe that someone poisoned you.” For some reason, hearing that calmed him a little.
“So you’re okay?” Liam asked turning to Harry.
“What?” he shouted. “Of course I’m not okay! Someone poisoned you because of me, Liam.”
“Harry, look at me. I’m fine. I’m at a hospital and they’re going to find out what’s wrong with me and fix it, okay? They could have hurt you instead, or hurt you while I was stuck in here not able to do anything.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better, Liam.”
“It makes me feel better and I’m the sick one so you have to deal with it,” he said poking his tongue out at Harry.
“And I’m the child?” Harry muttered.
“Were there any clues as to how I was poisoned?” Liam asked the police officer.
“It was in the take out we ordered a couple of days ago,” Harry answered.
“The letter Mr. Styles received said: I hope the Chinese was to die for,” the officer told him.
“What else did the letter say?”
“Liam,” Harry warned.
“Harry, I am your bodyguard. I think I need to know.”
Harry sighed, “That things would be better with you out of the picture and they could finally be with me once they got rid of you. That they love me. The usual.”
The way the police officer looked at Harry, Liam could tell that he wasn’t telling him everything.
Apparently Harry had been given the package on the way into the movie so it caused quite a stir when he left ten minutes in and was seen crying and upset when he exited.
Everyone was speculating on what had happened. Rumors were flying every which way and one of the more popular theories was that something had happened to his mum or sister. Both of them knocked those down with tweets that they were okay and that no family members had died.
They were all shocked when the results of Liam’s tox screen had come back. It was a nasty poison that could go weeks without being detected, but often caused organs to shut down the longer it was in your system.
They started Liam on some very strong antibiotics and kept him for a few more days to make sure there wasn’t permanent damage done to his organs that would cause lasting effects. Gemma and Richard stayed with Harry while Liam was in the hospital which Liam was grateful for. Harry was pretty shaken by the whole thing and immediately called for more guards to be sent to the property.
He even called the police every day to see if there was any new information on the case. The police had interviewed every one that worked at the Chinese restaurant they ordered from but came up empty. They even pulled the security footage from Harry’s system and watched from the moment the food was dropped off to one of the perimeter guards to when it was handed off to Liam at the house. They didn’t have any leads.
The attempt on his life made Liam paranoid. He couldn’t eat anything he didn’t buy and prepare himself and he never wanted Harry to be out of his sight. Whoever was behind all of this was able to get a package to Harry when Liam wasn’t around and he already knew they were okay with committing murder.
Harry, however, wanted as much distance as possible between him and Liam. Well, he didn’t really want it, but he didn’t want Liam to get hurt again because they were together. Yeah, he felt safer with Liam nearby but his sense of safety wasn’t worth Liam’s life.
The letter he received had said as much. They had gone into detail about how much they wanted to hurt Liam for coming in between them and Harry. They explained how they’d lure him on his own and all the ways they would torture him before his body would shut down. They talked about how they were sparing Liam a painful death because they knew he was a good friend to Harry. That he wouldn’t know what hit him, but that they could finally be together without him getting in the way.
It made Harry sick to his stomach every time he thought about all the things the letter said. He still hadn’t let Liam see it. He knew he should but he couldn’t bear to watch as Liam read all the vile things written in it. No, instead he would try to protect Liam by keeping his distance.
“My sister’s getting married in a couple of weeks. Would you come with me as my date?” Liam asked.
He’d been back home for a few days but was still resting as much as possible. Harry had cancelled all the events he was supposed to attend to take care of him and didn’t feel even slightly guilty about it even though Aaron was pissed.
“You don’t think having a celebrity guest would steal your sister’s shine? Because that’s the last thing I want to do on her big day,” Harry said.
“No, it’s all good. I cleared it with her first and she’d love to have you.”
“I assume your parents will be there too?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, you’ve met my mom before.”
“I know but now they know they almost lost their only son because of me. It’s different.”
“Hey,” Liam said grabbing Harry’s chin softly and forcing him to look up at him. “How many times have I told you not to blame yourself. It’s not your fault and you had no control over what happened. I’m fine so everything is fine.”
“Sort of,” Harry mumbled.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I know how freaked out you are by it. I know you can’t eat anything you didn’t make yourself. I know that you’ve practically been sleeping outside my door because you’re scared they’re going to do something to me if you’re not close.” Liam wanted to deny that, but he had been sleeping on the couch in Harry’s living room. It was closer to Harry’s room than his, and anyone trying to get to it would have to pass him.
“Okay, the same way you’ve been avoiding me since I was released from the hospital?” Liam questioned.
“I have not,” Harry said crossing his arms over his chest.
Liam gave him a pointed look. “When’s the last time we hung out together?” he asked.
Harry didn’t say anything.
“I’ll tell you. The last time we actually talked to each other was when I was in the hospital and you were going to kiss me.”
“Liam,” Harry sighed.
“No, please let me know if you feel differently now, I’m a big boy and I can take that. But don’t let whatever was in that letter that you’re hiding from me come between us.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” Harry said.
“Can you at least respect me enough not to lie to me? I can tell that you read something in that letter that you don’t want me to know about. It might be killing me, especially since I’m your security guard, but you’ve always made my job difficult so what else is new.”
“I’m sorry,” Harry sighed. Liam wasn’t demanding Harry tell him what was in the letter even if he knew Harry was hiding something and that sent a flood of relief through him.
“I’m scared,” Harry said quietly.
“I’m scared too,” Liam said taking Harry’s hand in his. “At least let us be scared together. We can have each other’s back. Safety in numbers and all that.”
Harry looked at Liam and smiled, “Okay. So can we cash in that raincheck now?”
“Does that mean you’ll be my date to the wedding?” Liam asked.
“Like I’d say no,” he laughed before Liam leaned in to press his lips to Harry’s.
Harry didn’t go out much anymore. He was much more content to sit at home and spend time with Liam where it was safe then to go out to a party where there were people he didn’t know and places he wasn’t familiar with.
Honestly, Harry was scared. The only people he allowed at the house were Liam, Aaron, Gemma, Richard, and some of the people on his team that he trusted. Sometimes he wasn’t able to sleep because of the fear and the nightmares it brought him.
It was a night that he couldn’t sleep that he found himself in the living room eating a pint of ice cream and watching a movie. He had finally convinced Liam to stop sleeping on the couch although now he was regretting not having him close by.
A hand landed on his shoulder and he screamed. The ice cream fell from his hands and Harry jumped away from the person holding him. He landed on the floor, his heart beating fast and his mind racing to find a way out of the room to safety. To Liam.
“Harry,” he heard Liam say. He looked up to see him with his hand outstretched to reach for him but he was hesitating. Harry didn’t blame him after the reaction he’d just had to the touch.
His heart was still racing but at least he felt like he could breathe again when he took Liam’s hand. He helped him off the floor but sat him on the couch to calm down as he went to clean up the spilled ice cream. When he was done, Harry’s pulse was back to normal and he sat there feeling like an idiot for freaking out like that.
“You okay?” Liam asked sitting next to him. “Sorry, I scared you.”
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Harry said.
“Want to talk about it?” Liam asked.
Harry shook his head so Liam sat back on the couch and put an arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry leaned his head on Liam’s shoulder and the two of them sat there for a little while watching the movie Harry had on.
“I’m scared,” Harry whispered after a few minutes.
“Because of the letter?” Liam asked.
Harry nodded, “I can’t sleep. All I can imagine is him getting to me and the things that he wrote he’d do.”
“Nobody’s going to get you while I’m here, okay?” Liam said sincerely.
“That’s the thing. He wrote all the ways he wants to kill you in that letter too,” Harry said his breath hitching. “It was awful.”
“Hey, he tried once already and it didn’t work. I’m a hard sonofabitch to kill. I won’t go easily.”
Harry chuckled and Liam pulled him closer.
“Will you sleep with me tonight? I always feel safer with you next to me.”
“Of course,” Liam said before they made their way up to Harry’s bedroom. It was the best night’s sleep they’d had since their sense of security was shattered while Liam laid in a hospital room.
“Let’s go out,” Liam said one morning over breakfast. He let Harry cook it as he tried to get past his poisoning. It had taken a couple of weeks to get to that point but he was ready to try a restaurant and he wanted to take Harry out on a date.
“Right now?” Harry asked with a mouthful of food.
“No,” Liam laughed. “For dinner tonight. You know, like a date.”
“Okay,” Harry said with a smile. “I’d love to.”
“Where would you like to go?” Liam asked.
“Somewhere we won’t get mobbed.”
“Sounds good to me,” Liam said.
The cat was out of the bag so to speak. Neither of them minded too much, they had bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that while they were on their date, Harry’s stalker had broken into the house. It freaked both of them out. Liam immediately packed them up. He didn't want them to be in the house another second longer so he checked them into a hotel for the night. They'd make their trip to Liam's parent's place a little earlier and spend time there until his sister's wedding.
They laid in the hotel bed in silence, both staring up at the ceiling and thinking about the break-in. The door was still locked when they got home. There was no sign of forced entry according to the police and yet “soon my love” was written on Harry’s bedroom walls.
Harry saw the message on the wall and screamed for Liam. He jumped into action and made Harry sit in the bathroom with the door locked and call the police while he checked the rest of the house for the intruder. When he determined that it was clear, he sat Harry on the bed and began packing a bag for them.
“Why is this happening to me?” Harry asked, breaking the silence of the hotel room.
“I don’t know,” Liam said. “There are some very sick people in this world.”
“The letter they wrote, they talked about doing horrible things to me. Wants to show me how much they love me.”
“They won’t lay a finger on you, I promise,” Liam said pulling Harry close to him. They stayed like that until they were both too exhausted to stay awake any longer.
Liam’s family were the most welcoming family Harry had ever met, not that he expected anything less. They had a home in the desert that Harry quickly fell in love with. He was even thinking about asking if he could move in.
The events of the week seemed to fall away as Harry and Liam sipped on mixed drinks by the pool. There was craziness surrounding them as last minute wedding preparations were made, but it was the kind of craziness they could both live with. When Harry asked if there was any way he could help out, the Payne’s had all but yelled at him to relax and enjoy his time away from the hectic Los Angeles city life.
“You boys deserve it,” Karen had told him before she sent them off to the outlet mall. “Liam likes shopping more than either one of his sisters. Go out, have a good time together.”
They came back with a few bags each of new clothes and Harry might have bought Liam a couple of things he thought he would like. He knew he'd get an earful about it later, but it made him feel normal to just spend the day with his boyfriend at the mall and get into an argument about spending money on him.
“We should go golfing,” Liam said turning to face Harry in bed the morning before the wedding.
“You hate golfing,” Harry pointed out.
“I don’t hate golfing, I’m just no good at it which is frustrating and puts me off trying to do it,” Liam explained. “Maybe I’d like it more if I had a good teacher.”
“So who else were you planning on inviting?” Harry laughed. They both knew that despite the many times that Harry’s played, he wasn’t very good at the game either.
“My dad? Thought it could be a fun guy’s day,” Liam laughed.
“That sounds nice. We could go down to the driving range. Maybe your dad can teach me a thing or two too.”
The day of the wedding arrived and Harry was surprised by how uncomfortable he was with all of Liam’s sister’s guests that he didn’t know. The uneasy feeling brought him back to the reality of why they’d been spending their time with Liam’s family for the past few days.
On the plus side, most of the wedding guests didn’t pay Harry any mind. A few shook hands with him and commented that they were a fan of his music but for the most part they let him be. The ceremony was beautiful with palm trees everywhere and the rolling hills surrounding the country club it was being held at running off in every direction.
At the reception, Liam took a song to dance with his newly hitched sister while Harry sat out and enjoyed the champagne being passed around.
“So you and my brother,” Liam’s other sister said as she sat down next to Harry, her own wine flute in hand.
“Yes?” he said. He wished he could blame his heated cheeks on the drink in his hand.
“You better not hurt him. He’s had a rough go at things and deserves only the best.”
“I’m not disagreeing,” Harry said.
“I don’t care how famous you are, I’ll come after you if you don’t treat him right.”
“Please do. Your brother is one of the nicest, most loyal, bravest guys I’ve ever met. It already kills me that he got hurt because of me. Can’t imagine how much worse it’d be if I was ever the cause of his pain.”
“You know that wasn’t your fault, right? Liam told us what happened. He cares about you and he puts it all on the line for those he cares about and you seem like a decent enough guy. You don’t deserve bad things to happen to you either.”
“Thanks,” Harry smiled.
“You guys should take advantage of the photo booth set up. Liam’s been looking at me like he’s going to kill me since I sat down. Help a sister out and take his mind of it,” she said with a wink before getting up as Liam came over to sit next to Harry.
“So what was that about?” he asked.
“Nothing, want to have some fun?” Harry asked standing and taking Liam’s hand before dragging him over to the photo booth.
If Harry had Liam pushed up on the wall behind the curtain for a few minutes before they settled down to take pictures, then no one had to know.
Going back to LA was harder than either of them imagined. The tension in the air as they arrived at Harry’s house was palpable and almost unbearable as they unlocked the door to go inside. Liam had hired someone to clean the message off of Harry’s bedroom wall while they were in the desert, but they could both see the invisible words still seared into their memory.
Although guards had been stationed around the house the entire time they were away, Liam still had Harry wait outside for a moment while he made sure there wasn’t anything waiting for them on the other side of the door before he let Harry come in.
They wondered if coming home would always feel this stressful to them or if they would get over the break-in eventually.
Liam was in a meeting with the head of Harry’s security team and Aaron. They were discussing Harry’s plans for a new album release. The album was in the final stages of creation and they needed to make a game plan for promotion and a tour that would make sense with the current security concerns.
Liam wanted a crew that was big enough to cover every position without needing personnel from the venues to cover security. That way extensive background checks could be run and Liam would know who they were entrusting Harry’s safety with.
Aaron however wanted them to run on a skeleton crew to maximize profits. Liam was finding it extremely hard to stand in a room with the man without punching him in the face.
With Aaron outnumbered two to one, it was decided that Harry’s safety was the top priority.
“If something happens to him, there would be no more profit period.”
When Liam got out of the meeting he went out to the backyard to join Harry, Gemma and Rich. They were lounging by the pool, drinks in hand, laughing. Liam walked over and sat on the end of Harry’s chair, nudging the singer’s legs out of his way.
“Before promotion starts and everything gets crazy, how would you feel if we went to visit my mom?” Harry asked once Liam was sat down.
“I think it sounds like a great idea,” Liam said taking the beer Harry had been drinking and chugging the rest of it.
“Meeting go that well?” Harry asked sitting up and lifting up his sunglasses.
“It’s a miracle I haven’t killed Aaron yet,” he told him.
“We all feel that way,” Gemma said raising her own glass before taking a sip.
“Security will be tight for the tour,” Liam warned. “Pretty much everyone is going to have to be escorted by a guard if they’re coming anywhere near you. You can make a list of people who are okay though obviously. You know, like your mom, family and friends you trust, etcetera.”
“Whatever you think is best, love,” Harry said leaning over to kiss Liam on the cheek as Liam handed over the notebook he kept in his pocket and a pen so he could start making the list.
“Can you guys tone it down on the coupleyness? Gem and I try to hold back around you two,” Richard whined.
“Sorry, Rich,” Harry laughed.
“Just so you know, I wouldn’t put Aaron down on the list. I know that you two used to be really close, but he’s acting really questionable, Harry. He wanted to do everything on a skeleton crew to make the most profit despite the safety risks, or so he claimed. We had to convince him that a lot of security would be best for the profit in the long run.”
“Okay,” Harry nodded crossing Aaron’s name off the paper in his hands.
“So when would you like to go to your moms? I’d like to have another guard available at least at the airports or if you want to go out.” Liam said.
“Next week okay?” Harry asked.
“Fine by me. Gemma, are you guys joining?”
“Still waiting to see if I can take the time off work, but I should know in a few days,” she told him.
“I can’t,” Richard said. “I’ve got an important meeting at work that week.”
“That sucks,” Harry said.
“Yeah, but good things should come from this meeting meaning a raise for me,” Richard laughed.
“If you can go, Gem. Just let me know so I can get a guard for you too, okay?”
“Sure thing, Li,” Gemma smiled.
Liam leaned back on the lounge chair squeezing himself next to Harry. Harry lifted his arm and draped it over Liam to give them both more room, Richard sending them a glare from the corner of his eye.
“Sweetie, will you hand me the eggs,” Anne asked Liam. Harry was still asleep, but Liam and Anne were in the kitchen making breakfast.
He walked over to the refrigerator and picked up the carton of eggs inside handing them over to Anne.
“Thank you, dear. Did you sleep alright last night?” she asked.
“Yes, thank you. Most comfortable bed in the world. Not surprised that Harry’s still sleeping,” he said.
“He always sleeps like the dead when he’s here,” she laughed. “Comes around every time one of his tours ends so he can catch up.”
“There’s nothing quite like being home with your mama,” Harry said coming down the stairs to join the two of them in the kitchen. He walked over and kissed his mum on the cheek before he walked over to where Liam was and wrapped his arms around him. Liam leaned back into him, enjoying the embrace.
“Where’s Gem?” he asked.
“She went out for breakfast with some friends. Said since it’s our last day in town that we can’t get out of going out tonight,” Liam relayed.
It had been a nice week at Harry’s childhood home. Anne had welcomed Liam with open arms and an open heart.
“Thank you for looking after my baby,” she told him.
“You’ve raised an amazing man, Mrs Twist. I’d look after him even if I wasn’t getting paid to,” he told her.
“Call me Anne, sweetie. Or mum even,” she told him.
Harry leaned into him and whispered, “She adopts everyone that’s important to me and Gem. Welcome to the family.”
Later that night, Harry and Liam were sitting at a local bar with Gemma and her friends. They were telling them all sorts of stories about Harry growing up. At this point, Liam was going to have years’ worth of embarrassing stories to tease Harry with.
Their flight back home wasn’t until the afternoon the next day, so Harry spent as much time as he could with his mum the next morning. He watched the sunrise over the back garden and rested his head against her shoulder. It was hard living so far away from her, but he loved LA and all the things he could do there. Since it had been a particularly hard year, however, he really wished his mum lived nearby.
“Miss you too, my love,” she said kissing the top of Harry’s head as If she was able to hear what he was thinking.
Harry didn’t want Anne to drive them to the airport where he'd have to say goodbye in front of cameras and fans and be forced to smile when he wanted to cry, so they hired a driver to take them and Harry said his goodbyes before loading into the backseat of the car with Liam and Gem.
As they drove away from the house, Liam put his arm around Harry who leaned into him. The car ride was silent, the only words spoken were Liam’s instruction to the driver on where to drop them off when they arrived at the airport.
Harry didn’t say a word until a few hours into the trip back.
“It wasn’t always this hard to say goodbye,” he said. “I used to love going to LA so much.”
“And you don’t anymore?” Liam asked.
“No, I do. It’s where my friends are. It’s where I met you. There’s a lot I still love about it, but now there’s this sense of dread going back. It doesn’t feel like I’m going home. It used to, but now it’s the place that someone tried to kill you and the house they broke into.”
“Would you like to stay at my place for a bit? There’s less security, but they won’t know where you are,” Liam suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Harry said. “I didn’t know you were still paying rent since you got the job.”
“I have a roommate. He’s been my best mate since we were kids and he's still in school so I couldn’t suddenly stop paying my half of the rent,” Liam explained.
“Of course you couldn’t,” Harry smiled because that was so Liam. “Is your roommate this Zayn bloke you talk so much about?”
“The one and only,” Liam smiled.
“So I’m probably gonna be subjected to nerdy conversations about Batman or something,” Harry said.
“I can’t say it’s not a possibility,” Liam laughed.
Later that night, Harry and Liam landed at LAX and were surrounded by cameras when they got out of the terminal. Word had spread that Harry was flying back from England so they were waiting for him when the plane touched down. Liam put an arm around Harry and led him through the chaos to the car waiting for them. He went back inside once Harry was loaded up and helped Gemma through the sea of photogs that were quickly thinning out now that the star was behind tinted glass.
They dropped Gemma off at her apartment and said hi to Richard before making their way to Liam’s. They were exhausted from the long flight and decided to wait until the next day to pick up their clothes from Harry’s. Liam texted Zayn to let him know that he and Harry would be staying for a little bit when they got to the apartment and Zayn was nowhere to find. Then the two of them fell asleep before Liam’s roommate ever made it home.
Harry woke up from a nightmare, when he looked over to see Liam sleeping peacefully beside him he breathed out a sigh of relief.
He watched Liam's chest rise and fall with his breaths for a moment and drew comfort from it. However, the dream was enough to shake him up and keep him from returning to sleep for a bit so Harry made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water. His heart rate started to pick up a bit when he saw someone in the kitchen, but when the guy turned around Harry realized it was Zayn from the pictures of him and Liam that Harry had seen filtered throughout the apartment earlier.
Zayn looked up and saw Harry coming into the kitchen and smiled at him, “Hey, roomie.”
“Hi, sorry to invade your space like this,” Harry said.
“No, don’t worry about it. I’ve missed having Liam here so I’m glad to have you guys staying for a bit. Nice to meet you by the way,” Zayn said reaching his right hand out to shake Harry’s hand. “I’m Zayn.”
“Harry,” he greeted returning the handshake.
“Can’t sleep?” Zayn asked.
“Nightmare,” Harry responded getting a glass from the cabinet Liam showed him earlier and walking over to the sink to fill it with water. “What about you?”
“Just got in. Had a meeting with a study group earlier, but then we ended up going to a bar afterwards for a few drinks,” Zayn said.
“That sounds fun.”
“Oh, it was. There was karaoke and one of my group members actually sang one of your songs,” Zayn laughed. “It was terrible.”
“Did you film it?” Harry asked with a laugh chugging down his water.
“Sure did,” Zayn said pulling his phone out to show Harry. Harry walked over to stand behind Zayn and watch the video as it played over his phone. Every single note was off key but the guy looked really into it. Harry was struggling to breathe with the force of his laughter by the time it ended.
“Please tell me he was singing it like that on purpose,” Harry said once he was able to calm down.
“I hope he was,” Zayn laughed. “He was our designated driver so that was a sober rendition.”
Zayn let out a loud yawn which had a domino effect with Harry and caused him to yawn too.
“I’m beat,” Zayn said. The stool he was sitting on in the kitchen screeched against the tile floor as he stood. “Best head off to bed. It was wonderful to finally meet you, Harry. Liam’s so far gone for you, I feel like you’re all I hear about from him.”
Harry’s face heated up and he was glad Zayn was leaving the room so that he couldn’t see the blush on his cheeks.
“Nice to meet you too, Zayn,” he said before he figured he’d try to give sleep another shot and climbed into bed with Liam.
Zayn was really busy with his last year of grad school on his way to becoming an English teacher so Harry didn’t get to know him that well in the week that he stayed at Liam’s, but they always had a friendly chat when they did spend time together. Most importantly Harry knew that he could trust him because Liam trusted him and that helped him sleep better at night. Well, that and Liam’s protective arms around him. He always did love how safe he felt when he was the little spoon.
On the last morning they were spending at Liam’s, Harry’s phone rang. He saw Gemma’s picture appear on his phone so he ran his thumb over the smooth glass surface to answer her call.
“Hey, Gems! Li and I are just packing to head back to my place, what’s up?” he greeted. Gemma’s voice didn’t greet him, just dead air.
Harry shrugged and put the phone back in his pocket after ending the call.
“What happened?” Liam asked, folding one of his shirts that Harry had kidnapped while he was staying.
“Nothing, it was silent. She must have butt dialed me or something,” he said, adding his toiletries bag to the suitcase.
Harry was nervous as they drove through the gates in front of his house. He hated how some random psycho had changed how he felt about his home. He didn’t know if he would ever feel truly safe there again. He’d have to start looking for a new place to live once he got back from tour in a few months.
Liam parked the car and he and Harry started grabbing their bags from the back seat. They were walking up the stairs to the house when Liam dropped his bags nearly causing Harry to trip over them.
“Liam, what the h--”
“Shhh,” Liam said putting his hand over Harry’s mouth. He pointed at the front door which was open slightly and Harry’s eyes grew with recognition and fear. Someone was in the house.
He removed his hand from over Harry’s mouth and walked them back to the car. He opened the driver’s seat and told Harry to get in.
“Lock the doors and don’t open them for anyone but me, okay?” Liam said. He moved to head towards the house but Harry reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Liam, no! Get in the car with me,” Harry pleaded.
“Call the police, Harry,” was all he said before he pried Harry’s fingers from his wrist and ran towards the house.
“I think they have Gemma,” he muttered to himself after he heard the car door close and lock behind him.
Liam took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped foot into the house. It was quiet but there had definitely been someone inside. Things were broken and lying in pieces all over the floor. He saw pictures of Harry with his family in ruins at his feet and the cases holding Harry’s platinum records shattered on the walls.
He made his way through the house but he practically stopped breathing when he entered the living room to see Gemma sitting on the couch. Her hands were tied in front of her and a piece of tape was covering her mouth. Liam ran to her side and balled his hand into a fist when he noticed the bruises on her neck and tears mixing with blood from a cut on her cheek.
“Richard,” she cried as soon as Liam had removed the tape covering her mouth.
“Is he okay?” Liam asked as he worked on removing the rope from her wrists.
Gemma shook her head letting out a sob. “No,” she cried. “It’s Richard.”
Liam’s blood ran cold as he thought of all the time they’d spent with Richard about how much Harry trusted him and accepted him into his family.
“Is he still in the house?” Liam asked.
Gemma nodded.
“Let’s get outside then. Harry’s in the car out front calling the police.” Liam helped her stand up but then he was yanked backwards and fell to the ground. He looked up to see Richard who was now standing in front of Gemma. Liam lunged forward and grabbed Richard’s legs, bringing him to the ground next to him.
“Run!” Liam shouted to Gemma and she took off for the front of the house. Liam was glad she didn’t look back as Richard grabbed onto him.
“You took him away from me!” Richard shouted as he got to his knees. He raised an arm and swung forward getting a knock into Liam’s face.
He breifly registered the pain flaring in his cheek, but pushed it aside as he scrambled to get away from the man in front of him.
“He was never yours in the first place,” Liam shouted back. A little pocket of space was between him and Richard, so Liam took advantage of it and got to his knees. He quickly lunged at Richard, hoping to take him by surprise and landed a hit to his face. It was enough to allow him to get to his feet, but Richard wasn't far behind.
“He was,” Richard said trying to punch him again, but Liam blocked it. Liam was the stronger of the two of them, but Richard was quicker. Before he was able to stop it, Richard had grabbed one of Harry’s awards off the wall and brought it down on Liam’s head.
The blow brought Liam to the ground once more as Richard stood over him. “He always will be,” he told him, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pocket knife. Liam’s heart started beating wildly. He was scared. His blow to his head had made his vision fuzzy and he was trying his hardest to concentrate, trying his hardest to fight back. He didn't want this to be the last thing he saw. He didn't want Harry begging him to stay with him be the last moment he spent with the person he loved.
“Because if I can’t have him,” Richard continued crouching down over Liam. He ran the flat side of the knife over Liam’s neck and chuckled as he continued to trail it down Liam’s chest. He tried his hardest to push him away but his strength felt as if it had been zapped from his body.
“No one can,” Richard said with a smirk as he pushed the knife through Liam’s skin. Liam let out a strangled sound as the pain ripped through him. Richard removed the knife and ran his fingers over the blade to clean it of Liam’s blood. Liam could feel something dripping down his side where the knife had been, but the only thing he could focus on was the pain as everything became even fuzzier around him.
Harsh fingers left a sticky trail on Liam’s face as Richard laughed. Liam’s eyes were closing as he fought to stay conscious. He didn’t want Richard’s laugh to be the last thing he experienced before he died. A selfish part of him wanted Harry next to him, holding his hand and muttering words of love and reassurance.
As his eyes closed he settled for the reassurance that Harry and Gemma were okay and that the police would be here to take Richard to a place he wouldn’t be able to ever hurt Harry from again.
His head hurt. There was an incessant beeping that was not helping the pain in his head any and he was annoyed. He let out a huff of air in frustration and felt a hand wrap around his at the sound.
“Liam,” he heard someone whisper.
He tried to open his eyes but they felt so heavy he couldn’t get them to cooperate with him.
“I love you,” he heard as lips touched the back of his hand. “Come back to me when you can.”
The next time Liam woke up, the pain in his head had gone away but there was a soreness throughout his body that he felt in his bones.
He opened his eyes to see Harry sleeping in the chair next to him, his hand still on top of Liam’s. He took in his surroundings. A hospital room. He remembered the fight with Richard and the knife going into his side. He looked down but everything was covered under a hospital blanket and he wasn’t able to see the damage.
Liam moved a little to look around the room to see if a glass of water was nearby. He didn’t see any, but he did see plenty of flowers and balloons wishing him a quick recovery. The movement caused Harry to wake up and he looked to see Liam awake for the first time in what felt like weeks but had only been about a day.
“Hey,” he smiled squeezing Liam’s hand.
He tried to speak but nothing came out so Liam motioned to his throat and Harry understood what he was asking for, standing and going over to a small pitcher of water on a table at the end of the bed and pouring Liam a glass.
Liam took small sips until he finished what was in the cup.
“Hey,” Liam said as Harry poured him a second cup and came back to sit next to him. “How’s Gemma?” he asked.
Harry sighed, “She’s okay thanks to you. Pretty shaken up, but she’ll be okay.”
“And you?” Liam asked.
“Christ! You’re the one in the hospital bed, Liam,” Harry shouted. Liam shrunk back in the bed a little at the harsh tone and Harry deflated with a sigh.
“And you?” Liam asked again.
“I’m fine. I was sat in a car while you almost died, remember?” Harry said with a huff. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before asking, “How are you feeling? Does it hurt?”
“A little, but I think I’ll be just fine, Mr. Styles,” Liam said with a wink giving Harry’s hand a squeeze. “And I love you too.”
Harry’s eye grew wide and he opened his mouth to speak but closed it a minute later before he finally came up with some words. “You heard that?” he asked.
“I did, now stop talking and kiss me,” Liam said before Harry leaned down to kiss him. Liam felt a lot of things in that kiss; anger that everything that had happened, relief that they were all okay, but most importantly he felt all the love Harry had for him. He didn’t think he’d mind kisses like that for the rest of his life.