Work Text:
Level 24B
Louis read them number off to himself once more before folding the yellow sticky note in half and stuffing it into his jacket pocket. He squeezes down on the leather band of his bag and breathes in once, letting it drag out a moment later as his eyes travel the expanse of the glass skyscraper, gleaming in the early day sunshine.
He crosses the street and heads straight for the two glass doors at the entrance of the building, BANET COMPANY, tapered to the glass doors in big white lettering. He steps aside, holding the door open for a young woman exiting, giving her a tiny smile as she thanks him on her way out.
He comes around the door and hesitantly lets his feet fall onto the marble flooring, a fuzzy mirroring back of his nervous expression as he glances down. He takes another deep breath and looks straight ahead.
Schooling his features, he presses a calm smile to his face as he approaches the front desk, giving a little 'hello' to the young girl behind it as she looks up at him from her computer. She gives a little smile back.
"Hello, Welcome to Banet Co, how may I help you?' She rehearses, folding one hand over her computer mouse, ready for a course of action. Louis squeezes the leather band again and smiles tightly.
"I'm here to see Ms. Banet? I have an appointment with her for 8:45 - Louis Tomlinson." He looks around the large space as the girl nods to herself, clacking away at her computer keyboard.
"Okay, yes, I see you here Mr. Tomlinson, you can head up to see Ms. Lanet, I'll notify her that you're waiting. Floor 2, room 4B." She instructs, pointing with a pen to the bank of elevators on the far left. Louis nods and turns away with a quick 'thank you.'
There's a legend written on the adjacent wall to the elevators, listing each floor and their board director and business class.
Ms. Banet, CEO, Advertising and Marketing Branch. 24B
Louis presses the up arrow for the elevator and waits, idly scanning over the other floor names and numbers. The elevator dings upon its arrival and Louis turns to face just as the doors open, stepping forward to enter and - oh.
He comes face to, well chest, with another figure, a man, or…He looks up, and meets eyes with a pair of green ones, shielded behind big, thick-rimmed glasses set in place with a strip of tape over the bridge. He steps back.
"Oh uh.." he takes in the others full figure, it's not a man, or well, he is a man but not some hoity-toity big-wig Louis expected himself to collide with in these sort of dwellings. The figure before him is obviously male, but young, possibly younger than his 24.
He's quite a bit taller than Louis though, and with long, skinny legs that are hidden under a pair of burgundy..corduroy? Is this man-boy wearing corduroy..in 2013?
"Uh hi," he says suddenly and Louis blinks, looking up to meet his eyes again. He looks sheepish, nervous, but his voice his oddly deep, quite the opposite to what Louis expected.
"Hi," he responds, blinking again. "I'm sorry for hitting you, I-" The man-boy, with his perfectly sleeked back head of hair, shakes his head furiously, and Louis' really not surprised when not a hair moves out of place.
"I should apologize, I was not looking where I was going, I uh," he blushes, trailing off and Louis blinks again, the man-boy is turning a generous shade of bright, bright red and Louis realizes it's because he hasn't stop staring the boy dead in the eye since he spoke. He looks away quickly, feeling a blush rise to his cheek too.
He really doesn't have time for this, he has a meeting with actual big-wigs who are sparingly, giving him a moment of their time from their precious day.
So Louis moves, speaking as he does, going around the man-boy and into the elevator.
"No, don't worry about it, I was really just in awe of this building, so gorgeous right? Yes, okay well bye!" He presses the butting for the second floor and waves quickly to the other, who's watching him, still stammering away, from just outside the doors.
Then suddenly he is moving, just as Louis is pressing the button for the doors to close upon command, the man-boy springs into action, jumping into the elevator just next to Louis. Louis moves back, startled, but the elevators are closing shut before he has time to decide if he's willing to ride in this metal box with a possibly insane Man-Boy.
The man-boy breathes what seems to Louis as a sigh of relief and turns to face him with an, admittedly adorable, dimply smile.
"Sorry to follow you but uh, you can't..," his smile drops as he looks around the elevator nervously, taking into account their situation,"shit," Louis hears him mumble under his breath.
But the elevator is moving then and his attention is deterred because finally, his time is cutting it close.
"I don't think this elevator is in working condition," Man-Boy says then and Louis turns to him, tilting his head slightly in confusion.
"What why?"
"Well, I just took this one and it made a--" Harry cuts himself off as the elevator suddenly jerks violently, throwing Louis into the taller figure. His mind quickly escalating into panic.
"What's happening?" he asks, subconsciously gripping the other man's arm as his eyes size-up their situation.
Man-Boy glances down at Louis with a similar look of concern, "I'm not sure…" he lifts one hand to press the emergency call button and...it does not move, the button is stuck. Louis swears under his breath.
"Really? A fancy building like this one couldn't place in a decent emergency call button?!" He knows he's close to having a panic attack, his hands are sweaty and his pulse is steadily rising in his chest, echoing in his ears. Man-Boy comes into his vision as he stands tall in front of him, gripping Louis' shoulders tightly.
"Please remain calm, I'll get us out of here okay?" Louis just nods along, not really processing Man-Boy's words, he tries to speak, but his own words come out in a jumbled, jittery mess of nonsensical's so he zips his lips and nods again curtly.
Harry nods back and lets him go, he looks around the elevator for something, Louis not sure what. He watches the tall male skim his long fingers over the floor buttons. Stopping suddenly, setting his large palm down flat on the steel surface and pressing down. Louis blinks, eyes falling on a sleet of metal that pops out of the elevator wall, falling into Man-Boy's large hand.
"Uh…" Man-Boy looks over at him with a quick, reassuring smile and focuses back on his task at hand. Louis stands back against the opposite wall, hands gripping firmly to smooth surface.
"Should be right…" Louis hears him mumble, probably to himself, "here."
There's a thunk from above them and Louis jerks his head up, spreading his legs just slightly for firmer ground. Another sound follows, a whir, like the elevator is spinning back to life and his eye flicker to the console as the buttons light up and the entire compartment jolts to life, climbing the floors once again, as if nothing had ever happened.
Louis' stunned.
"You fixed it.." he's in complete awe, not only did this Man-Boy manage to stay incredibly calm, but he saved them, fixed the problem. Man-Boy turns to face him, his meek demeanour instantly back in place.
"Yeah…I, I helped design this building, actually," he closes his hands together behind his back, "I don't know much about elevators, but I picked up a few things from the engineers when they were here." Louis blinks, completely amazed by this one individual for the third time in one morning.
"You designed this building?" Man-Boy nod, smiling, "yes, I'm the architect for the building, it's still new though, so we're still in the working process." The elevator dings upon it's arrival to the second floor.
Louis steps around the taller male, "I uh," he looks at the floor, and then back up at Man-Boy, who smiles so honestly, lifting one long finger to readjust his glasses.
"Thank you," Louis finally manages out, ignoring as the elevator doors slide open behind him, "really." Man-Boy just smiles brighter, his cheeks turning an endearing shade of pink, and the combination of this incredibly shy side and the chill-superhero, elevator fixing genius, makes something in Louis belly flip-flop. He's intrigued.
"How about I return the favour?" he's already pulling out a pen from his bag, and reaching for Man-Boy's strikingly large hand, "we go out for coffee? My treat." He writes down his name and number. Man-Boy takes his hand back, bringing it to his face, he reads it, "Louis," he says with a small smile. Louis smiles back, pressing the button to open the doors again, and stepping out backwards. He waves as he steps onto the carpeted floor.
"Bye…?"
Man-Boy waves back still smiling, answers.
"Harry."
Louis lets the name settle, before he grins widely.
"Bye Harry."