Whispers

“What is that you want?” Harry hadn’t moved. Rae flicked her eyes back and forth between Anderson and Harry. Anderson had a lazy posture, leaned against a pole on the dock. Everyone else stood around, unsure if they should be moving or standing still. “If you don’t mind explaining in front of everyone here, of course.”

“You never were the type for intimate parties, were you?”

Harry didn’t laugh with the other man. “I believe in openness.”

Anderson glanced between Rae and Harry, raising a single brow. “Are you swingers?” Rae’s eyes bulged and she heard Niall burst into laughter. She whipped her head around, glaring at him. He shrugged his shoulders as an apology. “Okay so maybe not. Anyways, I see you and you’re little swat team here have clearly been up to something. I’m hoping it has something to do with making an ass out of the king ass himself.”

It was Rae who spoke then, even though Harry threw a glare at her. “Are you talking about Leon?” Harry shifted an inch, so that he was standing extremely close to her, their wrists touching. She could feet the static between them; it was always there, pulsing. “Because not everything we do revolves around him. Some of us try to live normal lives.”

“You look like an inch eye private eye team. You mean to tell me this has absolutely nothing to do with him?” No one answered. Rae and her friends were not liars. She had no idea if this lad was an enemy, but Harry wasn’t moving to speak so she didn’t either. “That’s what I was thinking. As it happens,” he said, pushing himself away from the pole. “He has treated me with particular distaste.”

“See a therapist about it,” Harry said. He took Rae’s hand and began to lead her away. His face was set in stone, a mask that hid whatever he was thinking and feeling. Rae understood that this meant he didn’t think Anderson as an enemy, but he didn’t want to associate with him. “My rates are a little expensive.”

“Haven’t you heard the expression ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend?’”

“Yes, but I don’t have friends.”

“I can get you both of them in under a week, ” Anderson said. Harry sighed, stopping and looking at Anderson. No one else seemed to be moving either. They were all interested. “You’re probably compiling all sort’s of information and stuff to try and nail him, but you think he cares if his dealers and shit gets taken out? He doesn’t. Sure you can make him lose a lot of money, make him mad. But you want a quick and short way to execute him?”

“I don’t want to execute anyone,” Harry said firmly.

Anderson rolled his eyes. Rae got the sense that he was someone who was rarely serious. “I didn’t mean literally, Hazza.” He spread out his hands, trying to reason with Harry. “No one is team Leon Sucks more than I am.”

“Come up with that yourself?” Rae asked.

He smiled at her. “I like you. Leon doesn’t like you, so it’s a problem. Listen, you guys are smart, trying to take down his empire and all that and go in for the kill, but it isn’t going to work. Weaken it all you want, but it isn’t just going to collapse on itself.”

“So what do you want?” Harry seemed tired of Anderson beating around the bush, “Get to it. It’s late, we’re tired.”

“I can get you into Leon's house.” Harry shrugged as if to ask the kid why that mattered. Anderson smiled really big. Rae thought that he looked like a kid who had been waiting to reveal something for days. “Leon has got enough in that house, weapons and drugs to get put away for life. You just have to know where to look for it. And I think that we may find not everything he has little brother knows about.”

“And you do?”

Anderson shrugged. “I’m Anderson fucking Maxwell.”

“Oh really?” Louis asked, clearly annoyed. It was the first time he had spoke since they got off the boat. His eyes were narrowed. “Is that your name? ‘Fucking’ is on your birth certificate? That sounds great, mate.”

“Good to see you too, Louis. Don’t think I forgot about hour friendship. I know you’re smarter than everyone thinks you are. You know I’m right about Leon. He doesn’t just collapse like you guys want him to. He’ll patch the holes and he’ll see you coming.”

Louis shrugged. “So what is it you want us to do? We aren’t the bloody police.”

“No, but you’ve got a computer genius,” Anderson nodded in Niall’s direction. “You’re telling me you can’t get footage of the house, pictures and all that on top of whatever you’ve dug up?”

Everyone looked at Niall. He looked at everyone, hands shoved in his pocket. “Sure,” he groaned. “Leave it up to the Irish.” He started walking to the car. “Being friends with the lot of you gives me stress, I’ll tell ya.”

Harry smirked slightly. “That’s an agreement.” He looked Anderson up and down. “Why don’t you come with us? We’ll talk in depth.”

*

Harry was fast asleep next to Rae. His arm was thrown over her stomach, his curls a mess on his forehead. His mouth was open, small breathes coming in and out of his pin lips. His lashes looked long against his smooth cheeks. Rae looked down at him, smiling as she gently brush his curls off of his forehead. They were silky beneath her touch, falling back into place no matter how many times she brushed them back.

They were in the spare bedroom, grey light of morning falling through the window. Rae hadn’t slept well, coming in and out of sleep. Every time she woke up, Harry was there, fast asleep and undisturbed. Seeing Harry asleep was one of her favorite things. It was one of the few times where his lips weren’t screwed up, or his brows weren’t creased in thought.

On the nightstand next to the bed, was Harry’s worn copy of Catcher In The Rye. He was rereading it like he did with all of his books, a ink pen with the cap missing sitting next to it, resting from marking up his pages. Rae thought it was nice, to meet someone who was as obsessed with books as he was that marked up the pages instead of keeping them precariously clean.

A soft sound escaped Harry’s lips as he pulled his arm away from her, rolling over and tucking them under his face. He looked like a cherub angel like that, his cheeks slightly full from being pressed by his hands. There were no signs of violence in his sleep. He pushed himself further towards her, so that Harry’s back was pressed against the curve of Rae’s side. He liked to sleep like that, some part of him pressed against her. She knew it was to keep away nightmares of her being gone.

Leaning over, she gently pressed a kiss to the top of his head. It was roughly six in the morning and she knew she couldn’t sleep anymore. Gently, she slid from the bed, grabbing the pillow that had been under her head and pressing it against Harry’s side. Not only did it smell like her shampoo, but it was warm. It would serve as a comfort for him while she slipped to the kitchen.

Closing the door softly behind her, she crept down the hall, taking care to remain silent as she passed Zayn and then Liam’s room. Liam’s room was open, his figure tossed across his sheets, asleep. He liked to sleep with the door open. He said it made him feel like he could reach someone if he needed to without the door being in the way.

Glowing light was already coming from the kitchen. Rae frowned, wondering who was up this early. Peeking around the corner shyly, she was surprised to find Niall sitting at the table, his laptop out and a cup of coffee next to him. He looked up to see her and smiled cheerfully, no sign of exhausted on his face. She returned the smile as he gently pushed out the chair next to him with his foot.

Sitting down, she stole a sip from his cup of coffee; he liked his black, like hers. Harry had to add all sorts of sugars and creamers, something Rae blamed on working at a bakery.

“What are you looking at?”

Niall shrugged slightly, looking down at the computer keeps. A frown tugged at Rae’s lips. Niall suddenly seemed very uncomfortable before he sighed and looked at the door. “Can I talk to you about something? I’ve been wanting to, but I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to you alone.”

“Yeah, of course.” Rae pulled her knees up on to the chair, pulling them into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Harry’s sweater was falling loosely off of her shoulder as she set her chin atop her knees. “What’s up?”

He rolled his shoulders, looking down in his lap as he said, “I got a really good job offer as a Software Engineer for Apple.”

Rae’s mouth popped open. “Niall! That’s huge! Congratulations!”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Rae was concerned. There was no tone of excitement in his words, and he only ever rubbed the back of his neck when he was nervous. When he didn’t continue, she reached across the table and tapped him. “Oh, sorry. I got lost in my thoughts. Yeah, it’s great. I get my own office and everything and I’ll be huge.”

“What’s the problem? You don’t seem very excited about a great opportunity.”

“It’s in the Manchester office.” Rae made an ‘o’ with her mouth. “It means I’ve go to move. Leave you all. I know that sounds like a bit of rubbish, to be upset that I’ve got to leave but I don’t know.” He shrugged, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “It’s just that with everyone here, it’s like we’ve all got something. I don’t know I’m not making sense.”

“Yes you are,” Rae insisted, leaning forward. She grabbed his hand on the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He gave her a half smile. “You always make sense, Niall. Maybe sometimes we don’t understand, but someone out there would. I get it, you’re comfortable here. You like comfort.”

“That obvious?”

“You live in a one bedroom flat that requires little maintenance, you work as an Apple Specialist even though you’re abilities are beyond that, and you refuse to get a real girlfriend that requires you to work hard. Yes, I should say it is obvious.”

He chuckled lightly. He took a sip of his coffee, clearing his throat a bit. “I just like simplicity. The only thing I like to be a challenge is computers and software. Trying to figure it out is the only type of complication that I need. Everything else… it doesn’t have to be so complicated.”

Rae giggled. “How did you ever become friends with Harry, if simplicity is what does it for you?”

“Harry isn’t as hard for me as he is for you. There are two settings Harry has in our friendship: good mood, bad mood. On the days that he is in a bad mood, I try to be light and friendly. On the days that he’s in a good mood, I don’t worry about annoying him. Simple, effective.”

Leaning back, Rae smiled at him oddly. She had never realized how right Niall was sometimes. She had also never realized how simple he was. She had always thought of him as a complex person, but he wasn’t. He liked to laugh, eat and work on computers. He never got involved with girls because they were difficult, and he liked to live alone because roommates could be complicated. She hadn’t ever noticed before.

A lot of times she took him for granted, Rae realized. Here Niall was in the middle of quite literally a strange war between his friends and enemies of his friends, doing all he could to help, when really all he wanted to do was mind his own business and carry on through like picking up takeout, doing his job and making a bunch of people laugh while doing it.

“I’m so sorry,” she blurted, unable to stop herself. He looked at her strangely. “I’m really sorry how everything always turns out, with me, you know? I make things complicated. Sometimes I swear my life is like some really badly written movie or romance novel. Girl meets boy, has issues, solves them. Girl and boy have even worse issues because of psycho. Girl drags a bunch of friends into it.”

“I’ve never seen it that way,” Niall said quietly. “We’ve got a system here,” he insisted, using his hands to explain. He was animated as he did it. “We’re all here and we’ve got a purpose, and even though this stuff with Leon and Sean and all that rubbish is insane, it still works like a system. I’m a vial part to that system running, and I don’t want to leave that.”

Rae nodded. She understood. Niall had a purpose here. He was the one who made everything better. He was the unsung hero who was a genius, who made sure that no one was too serious, and who always somehow solved something. “I think you should go,” she said gently, forming a firm line with her lips. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity, and it isn’t like Manchester is far, Niall.”

He nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Are you sure? Thinking is complicated, yes or no is easy.”

A door opened down the hall. Niall looked at the doorway, quickly saying, “Don’t tell anyone. I haven’t said anything yet. I wanted to talk to you about it. You always seem to know what to say.”

She felt touched. “What if I told you fuck the job and become a stripper?”

He wagged his brows. “I love stripper glitter.”

Louis walked into the kitchen then, looking at Niall strangely as he went straight for the kettle next to the stove. His hair was sticking up in different places, a soft shadow on his jaw line. “Why the fuck do you need stripper glitter?”

“For reasons, Louis,” Niall replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head and kicking his feet up on the table. “Tell me what sounds better, Lou: Irish Stallion or Sexy Shamrock?”

Louis stared at him. “I’m going to need you to never put that image in my head again, mate.” Rae burst out laughing, Niall grinning widely. “Seriously, I do not want to see your shamrocks or your frosted flakes.”

“Frosted flakes,” Niall groaned. “Do we have any?”

“No, you ate them all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Niall,” Louis and Rae said in unison.

Sitting there in the kitchen, Rae wondered if maybe what she needed to do with Leon was be less complicated. She needed a simple answer. Anderson was right. Cutting to the chase was the best option, a clean, simple takedown. Rae never thought she would see the day she learned something from the ever brilliant Niall.