Archive of Our Own

-----
It’s Monday, and Liam’s running late for work. He’s late and it’s his second week as a real lawyer and he hates being late for anything. Liam had woken up almost 30 minutes after his alarm had been set. He woke up and figured he still had time to sleep as his alarm hadn’t chimed and as he checked his phone he realized that was not quite the case. “Oh fuck,” He said sitting up slightly, his voice quiet and full of sleep and turned to where his boyfriend had been curled against his side still sleeping and attempted to wake him despite his well-founded aversion to waking Louis ever. He laid down and faced Louis and rubbed his shoulder lightly “Baby, Louis, I think we slept through the alarm so we’ve got to get up so we can make it to work on time.” Louis didn’t respond or open his eyes but Liam could tell he was waking up. His eyes were closed but they were moving as if Louis was trying to make himself open them. And open him he did and Liam was greeted with his favorite pair of baby blues and he smiled softly at the still half asleep boy beside him. “Babe, we’ve got to get up now we slept through the alarm.”

Louis hummed and closed his eyes before he spoke “How late are we gonna be if we lay here for ten more minutes?”

“Well if we get up now we’ll have time for a shower and not be late or we get up in ten minutes skip the shower and not be late and it will be perfect punctuality.” Liam tries to telepathically tell Louis to be grown up and wake up and take a shower before he goes to run around with his students at the primary school he works at but he knows it won’t happen.

“Honey, I think we both know what’s gonna happen right now.” Louis yawns.

Liam sighs “Alright but we have to get up in 10 minutes or we are both gonna be late.”

“Mmmkay” Louis is practically back asleep already as he cuddles impossibly closer to Liam who wraps his arms around the smaller boy. Liam is almost fully awake now and is thinking about the appointments and clients and meetings he has to get done today. He had just finished his internships required to be and actual defense lawyer and with a kick-start from his father he had been able to start his very own firm. Well not quite his own with the firm had 3 partners consisting of himself, Harry, and Niall. His father’s investment had helped them put their dream of having their own firm into reality. The boy’s had been dreaming of cofounding a firm for themselves ever since they became friends. All through their Uni they talked and talked about starting one and as graduation got closer and closer they realized it was actually something they all wanted to achieve together. His thoughts are interrupted though when Louis yawns and asks “How much longer?”

Liam checks his phone managing to not move Louis “Sorry, babe it’s time to get up. It’s been eleven minutes.” Louis pouts a little and cranes his neck back and puckers his lips for a kiss which Liam immediately provides. “Good morning, baby.” Louis only grunts his reply but kisses Liam’s lips again before stretching.

They rush through their regular morning routine minus the usual shower and head down the stairs of their building hand in hand. Once they get outside the front door they untangle their hands, share a chaste kiss, exchange their “I love you’s” and head their separate ways. Liam goes to take his usual route to work and finds that it is completely closed off for construction and he must walk almost 6 blocks around to get to the office and is running by the time he gets to the building.

He runs into the office almost a half hour late and is visibly winded due to his lack of gym time recently. The front desk is occupied by Zayn, the only person with enough time to help them out until they could find a permanent secretary. Zayn was a recent art graduate and had enough spare time and enough cash flow from his most recent art showing (that did crazily well) that he could spare a few hours a day at his boyfriend’s office while in the process of preparing for his next show.
When Liam bursts through the door of the lift, Niall, who had been apparently distracted by Zayn’s presence at the office, cackled at his appearance. As he caught his breath, and Niall caught his after his laughing fit, they stood by the desk and Liam tried not to audibly ‘awwww’ at Zayn stroking Niall’s hand as his boyfriend continued to pretend to be winded, clearly endeared and extremely fond.

There were three offices set up behind the round desk, a conference room, and a small kitchen/dining area attached; there were also chairs and a couch set up in a waiting area by the wall of windows showing the great second story view of London they had in this building of offices. This building had been a godsend to the boys who were fresh off of their last requirements before becoming actual lawyers. They knew they had to get this office or risk not having an office at all and it helped that the set up was nice for their needs despite having previously being used for some other business. Liam met Harry in his econ class his first year of uni, and met Niall and subsequently, Louis. After being introduced to Louis they were all introduced to his friend Zayn who quickly became a part of their little group. The boys went all through uni together; Liam, Niall, and Harry doing law, Louis studying to be a teacher, and Zayn for his art degree. They had never anticipated when they met in their first year that they would end up living in walking distance of each other and the firm they would run together. Liam shakes himself out of his own thoughts when Niall starts talking. “Well, well, well, can ‘Mr. Make sure to give Louis shit because he was late’ not even manage to show up to his own shit on time?” he teases at Liam’s expense. And really, Liam can’t argue because he had said that to the boys when Louis was late to his first day of work.

“That was different. Louis is late to anything and everything. I’m not even sure he was on time for his birth,” Liam retorts weakly but the fond breaking through in his voice anytime he talks about Louis gives him away.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just don’t let it happen again or you’re out of here.” The fake authoritative tone in Niall’s voice makes Liam giggle out his reply.
“Okay boss,” he says jokingly as he mock salutes the blond and marches to his office.

His office is the same size as Niall’s and Harry’s, but he had decided on a much simpler look - a minimalist desk organized well with only a few knick-knacks on the three floating shelves behind his desk chair the only significant pieces of furniture, other than the two chairs he has in front of his desk. He’s also got the picture Louis gave him as an office-warming present, a simple silver frame that matches the other accents of the office, but inside is his favorite picture of the two of them, maybe his favorite picture ever. It was his law school graduation, and he has his gown on and the cap and diploma in his hand and Louis attached to his side, both unaware of Liam’s mum’s camera pointed at them. Liam is looking at Louis with so much love, and Louis is looking at Liam like he could never be more proud of anyone ever. He can just feel their love seeping through the picture and he knows Louis loves the photo just as much as he does, if not more. Louis had printed it for both of them and got them both a frame for their new offices. It’s the only thing other than documents and actual office supplies on his desk.

Liam sits for a moment looking at the picture and thinks about how he is still not entirely used to that look that Louis gives him when he’s teasing him or after they have sex or even when Liam is confused by some word he hasn’t heard before. He wonders if he’ll ever get used to this love and when he’ll stop feeling like he’s been in the relationship for a week. He hopes he never does. It’s been almost five years now and he still feels just as in love with Louis as he did when they first got together long after the football match that Niall had dragged Liam to saying, “you’re gonna fucking love Louis, bro, he’s the funniest”. Liam hated him the first time he met Louis. And after hanging out with all the boys together he really hated him. Louis was trouble and made a mess wherever he walked but no matter how much Liam disliked the boy he couldn’t stay away. At first he thought Louis and Harry were together and even when he was telling himself he hated Louis, Liam felt jealous and of course he wouldn’t let himself admit that then but he knows now. After months of telling himself he didn’t like Louis in any way, not as a friend and definitely not as more than a friend the boys all went to a club. While Liam was sat in a booth with Zayn trying to give him Niall advice when Louis caught his eye. Louis was dancing with some tall boy with a quiff the size of Everest and he felt a bubbling of something he could only call extreme jealousy in his stomach. He still doesn’t know what made him go for it but he’s glad he did. Liam rushed to Louis turned him around took Louis’ surprised and slightly aroused and sweaty from dancing face in his hands and kiss him there in the middle of the dance floor. And Louis kissed him back. Louis’ hands found Liam’s body and he kissed him back full force. And they had been together since.

He thinks about how they have been together so long and even though they have always talked about getting engaged and married, they agreed to wait until they were both graduated and had steady jobs. And it hits him then that they both have steady jobs and just enough to put the down payment on that beautiful flat with three bedrooms they looked at weeks ago. It hits him that they both want the same thing with each other, and they both know where they are and where they are going. It hits him that the next logical step is something they’ve talked about here and there. It hits him that he’s going to propose to Louis before he gets any ideas himself and pops the question first. “Holy shit. I’ve got to do this perfectly.” He mutters to himself.

It’s then that the universe decides to fuck him up.

His phone rings, knocking him out of his trance. It’s Zayn starting off with, “Bro, it’s not my fault but I think I ordered a few too many office supplies.” Liam thinks back to asking Zayn to make the order he had written out for him online through their supplier. He also remembers reassuring Zayn that the order would be perfect. He is slightly annoyed that there was a mix-up but he assures Zayn it’s nothing and could be handled quickly.

What Liam wasn’t expecting was the explosion of office supplies he’s greeted with when he walks out of his office. There are a couple of delivery people, the same ones that came the first week to get the information and to make sure the boys knew how to order through their company which provides supplies for every office in the huge building. There are boxes on boxes on boxes, and the lift dings to signal yet another load of boxes.

It takes the entire day to get the mess sorted, and in the end it was discovered Zayn had accidentally submitted the order more than twice. It was one bad day and Liam’s not going to let it get him in a bad mood, especially this week with his and Louis’ anniversary approaching soon, and his thoughts circle back to his thoughts of the morning and how he knows for sure how to make this anniversary memorable.

By the time Liam gets home he’s almost forgotten the realization that hit him hard that morning. Almost. He tells Louis about his day, not only including the office supply fiasco, but also him slipping on something wet in the kitchen area and burning his hand with his tea. He blames Harry and his incapability to clean up after himself for the tea situation entirely.

“I’m sorry love, at least you got the supplies sorted and look, now you’ve got a ton of everything. Instead of bringing home the bacon, you’re bringing home the office supplies.” Louis laughs at his own joke before asking, “How is your hand now, and how was the tea? Was it worth burning your hand over?” as he tries to scoop their Chinese takeaway onto chopsticks so he won’t have to get up for a fork.

“Hey, just think if we need any extra cash we can sell staples and post-it notes on the black market, we’ve got plenty,” Liam jokes as he grabs Louis a fork and a bunch of napkins for when Louis inevitably spills rice all over himself. “And no, the tea wasn’t even good; we didn’t have enough sugar.” Liam pouts at Louis.

“Thanks, baby,” Louis says offhandedly as he grabs the fork and napkins from Liam and puckers his lips for a kiss that Liam happily gives him. As Liam sits, Louis tells him, “And do not get me started on how much sugar you put in your tea. Nobody needs that much sugar. I’m surprised you haven’t had a heart attack yet. Ruining the flavor is what you’re doin’. Perfectly good with no extras and you sweeten it up. Practically syrup.” Louis is mumbling his rant about Liam’s tea preferences as he gets onto the couch and gets as close to Liam as he can manage while trying to eat rice, hanging his legs over Liam’s thighs. Liam laughs at Louis’ little rant and sets his box on top of Louis’ shins and subconsciously rubs his leg between bites. After their meal and a nice viewing of The X-Factor, they cuddle tangled in their bed and drift to sleep with Louis half on top of Liam, his head on Liam’s chest.

Before Liam sleeps, he realizes how just having Louis’ touch there can make him feel a thousand times better and completely change his mood from a completely shitty day to bearable and nice, and it hits him that he’s going to do something about it.

Tuesday and Wednesday are not much better, to say the least. Liam had barely any time to think to himself, none the less plan a proposal. They had been sent a secretary Tuesday from the website guaranteeing highly qualified secretaries, but Liam still had to spend an hour with Eleanor getting her familiar with their programs and making sure she knew how to make the appointments and schedules according to the outlines the boys would send her.

He wished they had been sent Eleanor a lot sooner due to the fact that Zayn should not be in charge of booking or organizing appointments. His schedule Tuesday had been actual shit, it was overbooked and he had to reschedule 3 appointments. Liam thinks to himself that he will tell Zayn off (but he knows he would never and that Zayn had just been doing his best). Liam had met with the clients he didn’t have to rebook. And Wednesday he had to basically sprint to the courthouse between some rescheduled meetings to stand in front of the judge on time with a client who seemed to be dead set on not listening to his counsel. The man pleaded innocent when he should have pleaded guilty to take a lesser sentence. He claimed he was not liable for the fight and for any of the damages to the property when he was “blackout drunk”. Liam tried to avoid the judge’s eyes as his client kept spitting out synonyms for being intoxicated. Eventually, after Liam got his client to shut up, the man was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum time and fine on his charges, much to Liam’s chagrin and simultaneous relief.

After apologizing to the judge, Liam made his way back to his office. Running into Harry in the lobby shouldn’t have been surprising at all seeing as this was his office as well, but it kind of was. Harry had been shut in his office for almost the entire time their firm had been open. “Liam,” Harry reached out for him as if he had been craving human contact “you would not believe this client I have, Li. This case is insane and so fucking complicated. I kept getting distracted so I just had to lock myself in my damn office.”

“How close are you to being done with the case?” Liam was genuinely a little concerned for his friend who was never one to avoid people.

“We go to court tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll be in court less time than I spent preparing for it. And then I’m free, Liam. Free.” He spoke a little dreamily toward the end as if dreaming of the day he would be able to escape the office “So I’ve decided to take a break today!”

“It seems like you need it, H, you’ve been working really hard. I’ve missed seeing you around, it’s like you’re a hermit now,” Liam joked.

“Well, I very well am a fucking hermit, Li. That’s why we gotta get out of here, go eat lunch or coffee or something. I’m dying to see the sun.” Harry was already dragging Liam along and toward the lift.

They decide to stop at a tiny coffee shop on their building’s block. Liam gets his tea and Harry gets a sickeningly sweet hazelnut latte.

“Tell me the news. What’s been happening? What are the kids up to these days?” He’s rambling at the end but Liam won’t fault him for it, he knows Harry has had a long couple weeks.

“Well grandpa…oh it’s Louis’ and I’s anniversary next week. I mean you probably knew that, but I guess that’s new.” Liam rarely keeps secrets from his friends but he’s going to try to keep this proposal under wraps.

That is until Harry says, “So you’re proposing?”

Liam lets his jaw drop a fraction of an inch before trying to make a blank face. For a split second he lets himself believe that Harry read his mind and not that everyone thinks they’ve been waiting too long to get engaged. He tries to keep his voice calm, “well- I-,” it wouldn’t have mattered if his voice was level as Liam had apparently taken too long to respond because Harry interrupts him.

“Holy shit,” Harry’s almost yelling in this tiny, quiet coffee house. “I was just joking ‘because, like, you know, you two have been dating for five years and neither of you have popped the question.”

“Hey,” Liam responds a tad defensively “We’ve talked about it. We both decided to wait until everything was stable, and I was thinking about it the other day and realized that everything is kind of stable now.”

“Holy shit,” Harry states again as if that actually means anything. “Well, tell me everything; how, when, where? Is he expecting it?”

“I’ve only been thinking about it for three days. I haven’t really been able to focus though as my week hasn’t been the best.” He sighs.

“Liam,” there’s a very serious tone to Harry’s voice, “let me help you, please. It will give me something to think about other than this damn case I’ve been stuck with.”

“H, I really appreciate it but I don’t want to burd-“Liam tries to start but is cut off by Harry busting out the puppy dog eyes. “Fucking,” he sighs under his breath, “fine.” And at that Harry is doing a little happy dance in his seat.

“Okay, let’s start now,” Harry says excitedly. “Tell me every idea you’ve had and don’t hold back.”

They spend another hour at the coffee shop exchanging ideas and they think they’ve narrowed it down and have a pretty solid outline of a possible plan. On their way back to the office, Harry asks Liam if he will tell Zayn and Niall and they agree to tell them but not reveal all the details.

As it happens Zayn is just leaving from the office after having brought Niall his daily lunch of some restaurants entire menu. “Hey.” Zayn greets them as they enter the office. “Glad to have me out of the office?”

Liam claps his hand on Zayn’s back “Nah, mate, I miss you already. At least I have tons of office supplies around to remind me of you.”

“Ha ha ha” Zayn fake laughs at Liam’s joke.

“Liam is proposing!” Harry exclaims before covering his mouth clearly not meaning to announce it in such a way.

Liam shoots Harry a look as he hears Niall holler something at them from where he is walking out of his office. “Oh my god, bro!” Niall exclaims as he reaches Zayn’s side. He wraps Liam in a big bear hug and Zayn is not so subtly wiping the corner of his eye behind him.

“I am so happy,” Zayn says softly, “it’s about time,” he finishes not so softly hitting Liam’s shoulder.

“I know, I know, but this is the time both of us are really ready and I’m glad we waited so I can make it special without having to break the bank over it,” Liam defends. “Now if you all will excuse me, I have some phone calls to make and a client coming in- Oh shit, like actually right now,” he exclaims as he looks down at his watch.
His newest client is a fairly easy case and it doesn’t take long for them to decide where they want to go in the way of defense. After walking his client to the lift, Liam makes his way to his office to see to those phone calls. The first on the list of calls is to Louis’ mum then Liam’s own and third on that list is their realtor.

-----

“Baby,” Louis calls from their kitchen as Liam tries to pick a movie for them to watch. “Babe listen, Sandy called me today and asked me something about the flat we looked at. You know the one with three bedrooms and the wood floors?”

Liam wills himself to not let his head shoot up from where he’s looking down at the boxes of the three Iron Man movies. “Yeah, Lou, I remember it. What did he ask?”

“Oh well, he just told me that someone else was interested in the property and if we wanted it, we should make a move on it.”

Liam manages to keep his face even and not let it slip to Louis that he had actually talked to Sandy the realtor after his call to Louis and before the other interested party could put in an offer. He schools his face and goes into the kitchen to Louis with Iron Man 2 in his hands. Louis is putting their favorite stovetop noodle dish into a skillet and Liam takes a minute to take him in. Louis is wearing his favorite speckle sweatpants tucked into his socks and one of Liam’s Henley shirts hanging a little off his shoulders. Liam drops the movie onto the island and comes behind Louis to wrap his arms around Louis’ middle and rest his head on the slightly shorter boy’s shoulders. Louis turns in his arms and joins their lips in a kiss. Liam doesn’t know if he will ever be able to get used to the feel of Louis’ thin lips intertwined with his thicker ones. Subtly, he moves Louis to the counter adjacent to the stove and places him on top, while Liam stands in the V of his legs without dislodging their lips. They are cut short though by the smell of burning noodles, and Louis gives a little whimper and jumps off the counter to take the skillet off the flame. The noodles are salvageable and they decide to eat on the couch again and watch the movie Liam has picked out. “Baby,” Louis gives Liam a look that says ‘again?’ “Haven’t you watched this enough times to be able to quote it?”

“Well, we could always watch one of the non-Marvel movies we have,” Liam starts, “oh wait, honey, all you buy are Marvel movies. We have the entire Marvel collection, Titanic, and Grease.”

“Love, it is not my fault that those are the greatest movies of all-time,” Louis defends his purchases.

“But babe, we haven’t watched this Iron Man in a long time and it’s my favorite.” Liam pouts to Louis who rolls his eyes but gets the movie from the kitchen and puts it into the player.

“You’re lucky I love Iron Man almost as much as I love you,” Louis says once they’re comfortably cuddled, tangled together on their couch.

“Replay,” Liam decided he liked the sound of that and initiates their long-running game.

“You are lucky I love Iron Man almost as much as I love you,” Louis repeats lovingly.

“Well, this may get awkward ‘cause Tony and I have a little side action. I hope you don’t mind,” Liam teases Louis.

Louis lightly slaps Liam’s chest. “Don’t joke about that. Tony wouldn’t treat me this way.”

“Sorry baby,” he drags the word out as he puckers his lips obnoxiously asking for a kiss, “I love you so much more than Iron Man.” Liam is leaning closer into Louis and making him giggle into his hand.

“Liam, stop,” he laughs, “Babe, I hate you.” Liam stops and pouts and it’s then that Louis indulges him and leans in for a chaste kiss to his lips. “Oh hey, before the movie starts what do you do want to do Monday? There’s something that day, right?” he makes a face as if he’s trying very hard to remember something. “A very important date.” He accentuates each word with a kiss to Liam’s lips between them.

Liam pulls him impossibly closer and says, “A very important date is right.” He kisses Louis’ hairline before finishing. “I was thinking we could go eat at the Italian place we like and then come back here and take care of business.”

Louis gives Liam the same look he always does when he says stupid things and chuckles a little. “That sounds great, baby.” And then says almost obnoxiously lovingly, “As long as I’m with you.”

“Replay last part,” Liam says cheekily.

“As long as I’m with you!” Louis exclaims loudly while rolling his eyes fondly.

They lay tangled watching the movie until neither can keep their eyes open and eventually work their way to their bedroom, undress, and fall into bed just as tangled as they were on the sofa.

-----

It’s Friday and his week hasn’t been all bad except for the construction, the office supplies, the now blistered burn on his hand, his fuck up in the schedule on Tuesday, Wednesday with the awful court case; and Thursday consisted of him realizing they had accidentally messed up the new business cards and got each of the boys’ numbers on a different boy’s card. People had been calling him all day meaning to speak to Niall and he almost cried when the printing place would fix it but they would be charged again. So maybe it has been all bad. But going home to Louis and having him make his day a hundred times brighter made it not quite so bad. But now it’s Friday and that’s T-Minus three days until Operation Proposal (which maybe wasn’t the cleverest name, but it would do).

The first thing he encountered upon reaching the office was one Niall Horan rushing to him with a much stressed look on his face. “Li, prepare yourself.”
“Oh fuck,” Liam was trying to think of how his week could get any worse.

The entire conference room was covered in what had previously been the ceiling and a brand new coat of water. When Liam looked up, he could see through some places of the trashed ceiling and into the office above them. He thinks it’s a private doctor’s office.

He finds out that a sink had somehow been left on full blast and it flooded their bathroom and in turn, the boy’s conference room. It’s one of the longest days Liam has ever had and by the end of it, the mess is mostly sorted. The office building will be covering the damages, but the construction to fix the ceiling and the subsequent bathroom and conference room will take weeks. And even though he should be thankful it’s Friday because that means the weekend, he’s thankful that it’s Friday because that means this hell hole of a week will finally be over and his life can return to normal before his anniversary with Louis will be here and hopefully everything will go according to plan.

-----

“The plan. Right.” It’s Saturday and Liam snuck off to walk with Harry to Niall and Zayn’s to retrieve a camera from Zayn. Louis stayed home to work on lesson plans for the week when Zayn texted Liam to tell him he had found his camera from the photography course he had to take a few years back. Liam told Louis he would go on a quick jog to get some air and leave him alone while he worked. He met Harry at the corner of their block halfway between his flat and Harry’s flat, and just a few blocks from Zayn’s. “Okay, so we go eat at that Italian place he likes and when we get ready to leave, we’ll get in the cab that picked us up from the flat and it will take us to the one I’ve just bought. We’ll get there and open the door and I want to have like hundreds of candles lit up and then the box in the middle of the circle of candles.” He has to stop because he’s legitimately concerned that Harrys face is going to fall off from how twisted it is at him trying to keep his emotions in check.

“Liam,” Harry chokes out. “That’s amazing. I mean he’s gonna love that. He really loved that flat and I know he’s gonna be so surprised and it’s going to be per-“Liam stops him with a hand on his mouth.

“Harry, do not say the p word. This whole week I’ve been in charge of something and that word has been spoken, something fucks up and that will not happen. Not this time.” Liam levels Harry with a very serious face.

“Okay,” it’s muffled behind his hand but he hears Harry promise not to say it.

“Can I finish now?” Liam asks a little put off by the close call. Harry nods. “I’m gonna wait for him to walk further in to inspect it, and then when he turns around, I will be on my knee and I’ll say my little speech and ask him and hopefully he won’t say no and run away.”

Harry looks at him like he is the most stupid person in the world. “Yeah Li, because the person that loves you most in this world other than your damn mother will say no to your proposal after being together for five years.”

“I know, I know. I was mostly joking. I’m still allowed to be nervous, it’s a big deal!” He is getting slightly more nervous after finalizing the plan; it’s like he realizes that this is actually happening. He’s made all the calls to the restaurant, the taxi service, and the realtor he tells Harry as much. But he keeps to himself how he knows exactly the words he wants to say to Louis while he’s on his knee. He may or may not have been practicing in his alone time and while he knows if an outsider were to see they would think he was crazy. Liam is knocked out of his thoughts by Harry asking if he will be recording it somehow. “Zayn’s letting me borrow his nice camera from when he took that photography class, and I was wondering if you could set it up to record when you light the candles.”

“Yeah, of course. Liam, I know you’re nervous but this is so great. You’ve planned everything so well and it’s going to be great I promise,” Harry reassures him.

“Thanks, Harry.” Liam can’t even begin to thank Harry for his help, not only in planning but for keeping his head on straight for the entirety of a really shitty week. “I really appreciate your help. I’m so glad you guessed about my proposing the other day. I don’t know if I could have planned everything like this without you.”

“No problem, bro. I’m so glad to have helped you out. Maybe if I wasn’t a lawyer, I’d start a new business helping people plan proposals. Do you think that kind of job exists?” At first Harry had been joking, but it seemed as though he became genuinely interested in the idea of planning proposals for strangers.

“I don’t know Harry, but I’m going to need you to stay a lawyer. I don’t think the firm could take any more shit this week.”

“Okay that is very true. Man, this was the worst week for you to have a shitty week.” Harry tries for joking but it is actually such a true statement that neither of them laugh about it.

They make their way up the steps to Zayn and Niall’s, and walk in the door. “Why are you wearing workout clothes?” Niall asks him as he toes his shoes off his feet to walk into the flat.

“I told Lou that I was going for a jog so I can’t stay long.” He had been out for a little longer than his usual jog already and needed to hurry up.

“Here it is,” Zayn holds the camera out to him as he walks from his and Niall’s bedroom. “I’ve wiped everything from the class I took so it’s all clear and good to go.” Liam listens to Zayn explain how to set it up to automatically record at a specific time and makes sure Harry can operate it and they decide for Harry to keep the camera with him until the day. Liam stays and talks with the other three boys for a while just chatting. Eventually he sees the time and excused himself. It was much later than he had anticipated returning so he was going to have to think of something to tell Louis if he asked. He decides to run home to make it look like he had actually jogged at some point.

-----

His run home had cleared his head a little and he worked some excuse for why he was later and he basically finalized his speech but he knew he would be adding or changing when the actual time came. When he finally gets home he walks in the door to the sight of Louis curled up on the couch napping to the credits of some rom-com that had been playing on TV. He looks on for a moment to appreciate Louis’ soft even breaths and the way he is almost fetal, facing the back of the couch. He’s got a pair of Liam’s basketball shorts on and his favorite baseball tee. Liam loves watching Louis sleep because it’s the only time Louis is still enough to just watch. He tells himself it would only be creepy if they weren’t in a relationship, so he allows himself to do it. He slowly walks to the couch and slides behind Louis and wraps his arm around his waist and breathes the back of his hair in. Louis must have woken up because he turns in Liam’s arms and kisses his lips.

“Sorry baby, I didn’t mean to wake you up. How long have you been asleep?” Liam whispers as Louis continues to wake up.

“Since the first kiss.” Louis says referring to the movie he’s yawning but he’s mostly awake now. “What took you so long? I finished the lesson plans ages ago.”

Liam hates lying but he especially hates lying to Louis, but he thinks he can make an exception for this “The office building called me to discuss the insurance while I was making my way back from my jog. So I had to run up to the office.”

Louis seems satisfied but asks, “What did they have to say? I thought you got it all handled that day? I’m sorry this week hasn’t been the greatest, baby.”

“They needed to make sure I knew the paper work was going in and I had to sign something else, and I had to read through it before signing and it took a while,” Liam lies out of his ass before he pouts. “Babe, literally the only part of this week that hasn’t absolutely sucked has been coming home to you.” He knows sucking up to Louis will make him either want to talk about himself more or make Liam say it again.

“Replay the last part of that,” Louis says as though he could read Liam’s thoughts.

“Baby, literally the only part of this week that hasn’t absolutely sucked has been coming home to you,” Liam easily repeats the statement while squeezing Louis into himself, thankful that Louis has a few consistencies.

“Amazing. Let’s make cookies!” Louis exclaims and sits up quickly causing Liam to almost fall off of their sofa.

The cookies were burned almost to a crisp as they had become slightly distracted washing the flour Louis had thrown everywhere off themselves in the shower, which predictably ended in Liam fucking Louis against the wall of their shower.

Liam tried to take his mind off the quickly approaching date by spending the time they weren’t baking or fucking trying to read through a stack of prospective clients, but in all honesty nothing was really working. He didn’t think Louis could tell, but by the time they were getting ready for bed, he found Louis looking at him questioningly.
“Baby, do you need to tell me something?” Louis asked while taking his socks off and climbing into the bed.

Liam is sure his face is completely flushed and he stutters, “Wha- babe, no. Why would you ask that?”

Crawling under the covers and practically onto Liam’s side, Louis says, “Well, you’ve just been super distracted today, but not just today like. It’s been all week and I thought it was just ‘cause of how stressed you’ve been, but I don’t know, it seems like something else.”

Liam wraps his arms around the older boy’s waist. “Baby, I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted. I’ve just been so stressed about this week and I keep thinking about everything that has gone wrong and I’m just hoping it was only this week. But I didn’t realize I was still in my head today. I promise I’ll be better tomorrow. Okay? I love you.”

Louis accepts his answer with a simple nod and a little yawn. “Replay the last part louder.”

“I love you!” Liam repeats loudly.

“Replay louder.” Louis giggles.

“I love you!” Liam exclaims even louder than before and they both fall into a fit of giggles.

“You know I just want to make sure you’re okay. I love you.” Louis says quietly after their giggles have subsided.

-----

It’s Sunday and T-minus one day until the proposal, and Liam is trying not to show his distraction as his mind is working a mile a minute to make sure everything is going to go according to plan. But it seems as if the universe hates him, because Liam gets a call from his realtor while sat with Louis on the kitchen floor enjoying a cuppa and the breakfast sandwiches Louis had made for them. Louis had claimed to be so hungry that as soon as the sandwiches were complete, he dropped to the floor and began eating, so Liam followed suit. Liam jumps up, startling Louis who looks at him with a confused look. “Work,” Liam mouths out to him and rushes to the bathroom. “Sandy-“he’s interrupted by the man spewing information at him “what do you mean the flat won’t be available tomorrow? It has to be open tomorrow. I thought we had closed the deal?” He’s rushing his words and it’s probably not Sandy’s fault but Liam’s got a little bite to his voice that he hadn’t intended.

“Listen, man, the building had a fire on the same floor-” but before Sandy can explain further, Liam cuts him off.

“This has got to be a fucking joke. Why is this happening to me? So like, is it bad? Is the flat just fucking burned?” Liam is on the verge of tears.

“It wasn’t a flat anywhere near yours, but they have to close it off for a couple days to inspect the floor.” Sandy is explaining it calmly even though he knows how much this affects Liam. “I have called my inspector to try to put a rush on it but there are no promises. I’m sorry.”

Liam slides down the door of the bathroom and wills himself not to cry. “Sandy, this is so fucked. Everything is fucked. What did your inspector say?”

“He’s really going to try Liam, but like I said, he didn’t make any promises.” Sandy sighed.

“I just can’t believe this is happening. Like, again? This is how my whole week has been. I shouldn’t be surprised.” He doesn’t think he’s going to cry but he may end up punching the wall.

“I’m very sorry Liam, I know how much this mea-” Sandy stops mid-sentence, “My guy is calling me about the inspection. I’ll talk to him and call you back.”
“Thanks, Sandy,” Liam says before he hangs up the phone and rests his head on the door.

Liam hears Louis calling from the kitchen, “Love, what’s going on?”

“Just some new witnesses are being called on this week that I didn’t know about. Nothing big but still a pain,” Liam lies through his teeth. “I’ve just got to call Harry ‘cause he’s been helping me with this case. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Harry reacts just as Liam thought he would but before they can think of any ideas for other locations, Sandy calls him back and tells him that the inspection has been put on rush and will actually be done a little before Liam has the reservation set at the restaurant. He texts Harry, who had probably come up with at least three back up locations by then, to let him know the plan was back on track, but he wouldn’t be able to get into the flat until the time of the dinner to set everything up.

After Liam finally comes out of the bathroom, he walks to the kitchen where Louis is still sat on the floor but has finished his sandwich and is now playing some zombie game on his phone. Louis looks up at Liam from his spot on the floor and pats the empty space next to him. Liam sits immediately and rests his head on Louis’ shoulder and watches him finish the level he’s on. “Do you have to go to the office now, baby?” Louis asks after he closes the app and drops his phone to his lap and grabs Liam’s hand with his now empty ones and plays with his fingers.

Liam checks his watch and realizes he has to leave to be able to pick up the rings he had bought earlier in the week between one fiasco and another. He sighs as if he is being forced to leave for the office. “Yeah, I’ve got to go pick up the information I got sent about the new witnesses and then run them over to Harry’s.”

“Well, I’ll come with you. We can run to the store on the way back. I want to make cookies again and not fuck them up this time.” Louis laughs out.

“No!” Liam accidentally exclaims and gets a confused and hurt Louis looking at him. “I mean like, I’m not gonna be gone that long and I wanted to use it as an excuse to run a little. I’ve not been able to make it to the gym while we’ve been getting the firm set up.”

Still a little hurt looking, Louis nods and makes Liam promise to pick up his favorite cookie dough from the store on his way back. Liam assures him he will hurry and be back in no time flat. He changes into his running gear and pecks Louis’ still pouting lips as he heads out the door.

-----

He makes it to the jewelry store on time to pick up the two rings he had ordered and makes sure the sizes are right and they look perfect. He and Louis had talked about rings before and had wanted to get matching simple bands that hold an inset stone of each other’s birthstone. Louis’ silver band contained the Peridot stone for Liam’s august birthday, this particular stone had a deeper color than usually seen. Liam had chosen to take the Tanzanite stone out of the three possibilities of stones for Louis’ birth month of December, the deep blue almost purple hue went well with the simple silver band. The small stones were in the center of the band and were almost flesh with the rest of the band, the 1 karat stones didn’t make a huge statement and made it where the rings were both very simple and elegant looking, on either side of the stone on each ring were 4 engraved arrows that went down the ring facing away from the stone. Liam loved them and was so excited to show Louis his ring. He wouldn’t have gotten his own ring if they hadn’t previously had a heated debate over the rings themselves and basically deciding on each element together so he had known exactly how to get them made.

Liam puts the rings into his pocket as he exits the shop after paying and thanking the jeweler. He runs to the store for Louis’ cookie dough and makes his way home. After hiding the boxes in a shoe box in the closet while Louis is distracted making sure he’s hidden it where Louis won’t find it. They spend the night eating not burnt cookies and playing Fifa on their X-Box. As they lay in their bed cuddled almost asleep Liam thinks about what tomorrow holds and feels as if he has never been more ready or nervous about one thing in his entire life.

-----

It’s Monday and Liam wasn’t late to work. All of his appointments were on time and organized. The clients had been fairly uncomplicated and all agreed with his decisions as their lawyer, signed all papers easily and were basically ideal clients. There were no office disasters and Sandy had called confirming that his inspector would be completed with the inspection at 10 to 7. Liam had called to confirm the reservation probably for the fifth time since he made it and it was confirmed once again. His day had gone perfectly and by the end of the work day he was weirdly on edge and jumpy. He was almost waiting for the shoe to drop and for something to go wrong. Liam’s head had been spinning all day long while thinking and running over the whole proposal over and over again in his head. He talked with Harry and confirmed everything at least twice and Harry had been happy to reassure him multiple times.

“Li, everything is going to be great.” “Liam its fine everything is going to be fine and it’s all going to work out.” “Liam I swear to God if you don’t make me your best man after this shit I’ll kill you.”

Liam manages to get home by five to add to his perfect day with an early day. Louis greets him at the door with a toothpaste kiss as he got home from work at four and decided to shower and get ready for their date. “Hi, baby,” he drags out the last word as he walks back to the bathroom to rinse his mouth. Liam is still standing by the door taking his shoes off when he hears “what should I wear? I was hoping to decide before you got here. What are you wearing?” and before he can answer Louis comes out in his towel and wraps his arms around Liam’s waist.

They kiss before Liam finally responds to Louis’ previous questions “You should wear either the black button up or the black turtle neck those both look very good on you, babe. I don’t think I’m going to change a lot from what I wore to work is that okay?”

“No, Liam you aren’t allowed to wear what you want to wear to this dinner. I’m sorry I just can’t allow it” by the end of his sentence Louis is walking back towards the bedroom and the closet.

By the time Liam showers and fixes his hair Louis is lounging on the bed ready to go. He decided to wear a nice black long sleeve button up buttoned all the way up, black jeans and his all black vans and his hair quiffed and swirled to absolute perfection Liam is so in love with this beautiful man. Liam wears his white button up and a black tie with dark jeans and decides to wear his nicer leather jacket to go with it almost zipped to the top and he quiffs his shorter hair as much as it will go.

They make it to the reservation on time and as Louis heads into the restaurant Liam talks to the driver of their cab and asks him to go and retrieve the flowers he arranged for pick up and then asks that he pick them back up and drive to the address he hands to him and what the situation is he also lets the man know that he will be tipped very well for his help. After clearing everything with the driver he shoots a text to Harry telling him his “status” as they decided to code text in case Louis saw his text messages. Liam catches up to Louis and places his hand on the smaller boy’s lower back and is greeted with a quick kiss. “What took so long, babe?”
“Oh nothing I just got an email and I wanted to just check it before we got sat or anything.” Liam lies.

Louis seems to accept it as he gives the name to the hostess and they get led to their seats. Once they get sat and get the wine Liam had arranged for the table they look at their menus. “What are you getting? Should I even ask? You always get the same thing.” Louis laughs out at Liam.

“Hey I got the chicken parm once” Liam tries to defend himself but he knows that he is very predictable but he thinks and hopes to himself that tonight will be the opposite of predictable. Their waitress comes back and takes their order and much to Louis’ amusement Liam orders his usual. Liam can feel himself checking his pocket repeatedly making sure subconsciously that the ring box is still there and he can see Louis noticing his constant checking so he makes a note to stop. “So how was your Monday, darling?” he tries to distract Louis by grabbing his hands across the table and it seems to work.

“It was fine actually except you know that annoying kid Avery I was telling you about?” Louis begins and Liam nods “well he bit a little girl today, Molly? Yeah I know she is so quiet and I’m not saying its okay to like assault people with your mouth but maybe if he had a reason I wouldn’t be confused but yeah he just leaned over and bit her! I watched the whole thing!”

“Why wouldn’t you stop him when you saw him leaning to bite her?” Liam is laughing now at the way Louis had told the story with big motions and his intense faces.

“Well, Lee-yum, don’t you think if I knew he was going to bite her I wouldn’t have stopped him?” They’re both laughing now as Liam raises his hands in surrender and Louis reaches and pulls them back into his own.

Louis talks about the rest of his day then Liam tells Louis about how perfect his day had been. “Babe, I swear after this last week I thought my life was just permanently in the shitter.”

“Well let’s hope your good luck lasts. And your life is perfect.” Louis says casually before he adds “because I’m it. Huh babe?” he’s fishing for some type of compliment but the statement just makes Liam nervous. He chuckles a bit nervously and nods his agreement as their food arrives and Liam is very grateful. He excuses himself to the bathroom twice checking in on Harry. The first time is about 30 minutes into their meal and Harry says he got into the flat fine after the inspector came down from their floor. He lets Liam know that he got the candles arranged and set the camera up and will light them when they’re leaving the restaurant. The next time he calls him is almost 30 minutes after the first time and he says everything is fine and that he’s sat in the flat waiting for Liam’s text when they are on their way and that if Louis says no he will be glad to move in with him.

Liam’s nerves are basically shot and he thinks Louis is starting to notice. Louis keeps sending him weird looks and opens his mouth already forming a question and Liam thinks quickly and says “Babe, let’s get dessert we don’t usually get dessert here. Doesn’t dessert sound good? I think they have a really fancy chocolate cake we could get.” By the end Liam is just rambling.

Louis still has a vaguely questioning look on his face when he agrees on the chocolate cake and when Liam grabs his hand and they start a new conversation it seems he forgets his question. Liam wills his hands to be still so that Louis doesn’t notice him shaking. They order their cake and pay the waitress and head out. As they walk out Liam makes himself send Harry the text and he can feel himself almost unravelling from his nerves and he prays that Louis can’t tell. He thinks that he had been mostly normal during dinner only zoning out twice and running to the bathroom the same amount. Liam takes a deep breath as his plan begins.

The cab driver pulls up to them and Louis is surprised to see the same driver behind the wheel and a bouquet of red roses set in the back seat. He turns to Liam with a surprised but fond face as Liam picks the flowers up and hands them to him and kisses his lips. “I love you so much Louis. Thanks for being so amazing for these five years.” Liam tells Louis before he kisses him again and gestures for him to step into the car. Before has a chance to get in the taxi Louis is jumping up and wrapping his arms around his neck the flowers still in his hand and Liam wraps his arms around Louis’ waist.

“Baby, I can’t even believe how perfect you are. I cannot believe I’ve got to call you mine for five whole years and hopefully one hundred and five more.” Louis whispers into his ear as they hug. They kiss once more and finally get into the cab and Liam and driver have eye contact as they pull from the sidewalk and the cab driver turns on some very romantic love songs and he makes a note to tip more than originally planned. Liam tries to keep Louis distracted on the way to the new building they will be living in and tells him that he planned for the driver to get the flowers which is why he took a little longer to get into the restaurant. It doesn’t work for long because Louis notices they are driving away from the direction their flat is. “Babe, where are we going? I want to get you home after that little surprise. I mean I wanted to get you home anyway but I’m especially keen now.” Louis says cheekily.

It’s right then though that they pull up in front of the new building. “Lia-,” Louis begins but then he gets very quiet and is almost whispering when he says “Liam, is this the building I think it is.”

Liam is holding back a smile when he nods and opens the door for Louis and holds his hand out for him to help him out. As he steps out Louis turns to Liam wide eyed and opens his mouth to ask something and Liam kisses his cheek and says ”No talking right now, Louis.” His usual attitude about being told to not talk is nonexistent as he gets led into the building. They take a lift and Louis’ bouquet is making noise because he is actually shaking. “Babe, why are you shaking?” Liam laughs a little at him.
Louis looks at him incredulously and the lift opens and Liam is just as surprised as Louis. Harry had outdone himself. There are red and white rose petals leading to the door of the flat. Liam steps out and reaches back to Louis to take his hand and Louis is still standing in the lift clearly still taking the situation in. Louis sees Liam’s hand though and reaches for it and pulls until he is holding onto Liam’s arm for life as he walks out of the lift doors. When they reach the door Liam reaches into the pocket he knows the key is in and produces it and holds it out to Louis. Louis slowly releases Liam’s arm and takes the key from Liam. He pushes the key in and opens the door. As they step in Liam can feel his own tears prickling in his eyes and he can see Louis’ eyes watering as well. Louis steps in further and he seems to be in shock.

There are hundreds of candles mostly set in the floor, some on the island of the open kitchen and a few on the fireplace on the opposite side of the kitchen across from the circle of candles. The candles are all white and red and varied in size, they are arranged in a mostly formed circle as there is about 3 feet missing from the circle for them to step through. The arranged circular line of candles is surrounded by candles fanning out making a sun like effect and the contrast of the dark room is almost magical. Louis steps into the round space to the small table set up in the middle that holds a second bouquet of flowers and their favorite photo from Liam’s own office and 5 small tea candles. Standing right in front of the table Louis places the first bouquet of flowers next to the other set and turns to face Liam. Liam had been right behind him and while Louis looked down at the table Liam knelt to his knee and pulled the ring box out of his pocket and took the rings out before he set the box to the floor. When Louis turned to face him Liam saw tears streaming down Louis’ face and knew there were definitely matching streaks on his. Liam wipes his face and wipes them on his pants and reaches for Louis hands that now only held the key, Liam places the rings in Louis’ hands that he’s now holding. Both holding onto the rings.

“Louis, nobody knows me and nobody loves me the way you do, and nobody saves me the way you do. Every day I come home to you and you just make me strong and I’m not scared to say that I need you and that I love you more than anybody else. Baby, we are strong and we are fireproof. It’s been so long that I’ve got to call you mine and love you and have you and I hope it lasts forever. Louis William Tomlinson you are my forever. Will you marry me?”

He looks into Louis’ eyes and they are both outwardly crying now. Liam thinks to himself that he didn’t think he would feel so nauseas when he was proposing. Louis hasn’t said anything yet but his face is looking almost strained as if he doesn’t want to open his mouth. When he does open his mouth he immediately shuts it and places it over his lips thinking Louis is saying no Liam gets a wave of actual nausea and moves his hand to cover his mouth. Louis seems to have gotten an equal hit of nausea and he runs past Liam almost pushing him over and Liam starts to turn to watch Louis run out the door and out of his life but sees him run to the kitchen sink instead. Liam then watches Louis vomit in said sink and a second wave hits him, he places the rings on the floor before rushes to the bathroom and he luckily makes it to the toilet before he blows chunks as well. He can vaguely hear Louis continue his sick spell in the kitchen as he prepares to be sick again. It’s almost fifteen minutes later that Liam emerges from the bathroom and shares a grim look with Louis before they both start laughing as much as they can after being sick at the actual absurdity of the situation.

“Holy shit.” Louis starts to say.

“This is fucking perfect. If anyone was going to get food poisoning during a proposal it would be me.” Liam says as he walks to Louis and into the circle of half lit candles. They sit in front of each other and Liam holds Louis’ hands. “Louis, I cannot believe my life is actually such shit that we both have got food poisoning for tonight but what I said still stands” Liam continues and chuckles a bit as he says “and actually instead of answering me you kind of were sick in the kitchen sink so.”

Louis is laughing a little when he grabs Liam’s face says “Baby, of course I’ll marry you. There was never any other answer than yes.”

-They each have a second sick spell, blow out the candles, place the rings on their fingers and head home to their old flat. When they watch the video later they decide to keep the footage and the actual proposal to themselves and tell a story about a perfect proposal that the camera had malfunctioned for.