Chapter Text
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Louis stares at his phone, eyes squinting at the bright screen.
Fuck.
He has to get up.
He groans, rubbing his eyes for a bit, before sitting up in his bed and sighing. It’s been a while since he’s been up this early, and the fact that it’s for work is even more of an oddity.
He’s definitely not one to be picky, though, especially considering where he is in his life. As a twenty-something college dropout with not a cent to his name, he was definitely in no position to pass up any job opportunity that came his way, even if it was to be--and Louis shudders a bit as he thinks about it--a maid.
It’s a good thing he has such great friends who were willing to pull enough strings to help him survive. Hell, if Louis had never met Niall, he’d probably be living on the streets instead of the Irishman’s apartment. And even though he doesn’t take his living arrangements for granted, he wants nothing more than to make enough money to be able to move into his own place, or at least somewhere large enough to house two grown men without the pair having to share a bed, a bathroom, and everything else in between.
He looks down at his phone again, where the small black numbers on the screen are notifying him that he’s spent the last half hour staring off into space. He lets out another sigh and lifts himself off of the bed with a groan.
Half an hour later, he’s showered, brushed, shaved, and out the door with a slightly-burnt piece of dry toast in hand. He slings his small duffel bag over his shoulder as he makes his way to the bus stop, crunching through his miserable excuse of a breakfast. As the bus pulls up, he catches his reflection in one of its windows.
He looks tired, pissed, and old. His hair, though combed, is still wet underneath his grey beanie, and there are large, dark bags underneath his eyes.
He scowls. This job better be worth it.
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The first thing Louis gets once he’s been given a tour of the Minute Maids building is a key to his own locker. It’s been ages since he’s had a key to his own anything, and he almost chokes up until he realizes that the woman who’s handing him his key is giving him a strange look. He clears his throat, pastes a smile onto his face, and quickly sets off for the locker room, silently berating himself for almost crying in front of a total stranger.
The locker room is large and moderately confusing, with row after row of identical silver boxes arranged neatly inside. It takes Louis a while to find his assigned locker, but he’s pleasantly surprised to find that he’s been given two sets of work clothes--each consisting of a monogrammed white polo shirt and creased black slacks--along with a somewhat cliché black half-apron.
He quickly changes into his uniform as some of his other coworkers begin to file in, and Louis is relieved to see that most of them seem to be as tired as him, although he curses himself upon realizing that he forgot to grab a mug of coffee before coming to work.
“Lou! You’re here already?” A familiar voice calls, and Louis turns to see his friend Liam, smiling and already in uniform, walking up to him with a cup of coffee in each hand. He looks down expectantly at the drinks and Liam chuckles as he nods and hands one of them to Louis.
“God bless you, Liam,” Louis says, taking a long swig from his cup and wincing as the hot liquid burns his throat on the way down.
“Whoa! Slow down there. I got yours extra hot because I didn’t know when you’d show. But this is a pleasant surprise.” Liam replies, his brows raised.
Louis sticks his tongue out at the other boy. “I know, I know,” he starts. “I’m always late for everything, but this...this is a new job. I’m not going to fuck this up. I won’t allow myself to. I need this too much.”
Liam smiles at that, his eyes crinkling. “Well I’m glad to see you’ve showed up with the right attitude.”
“Christ, Liam, I wouldn’t even be here without you. Thanks so much for getting me this job, I really, really needed it.”
“I know, I know! Don’t worry about it! Maybe I’ll let you treat me to dinner one day.”
Louis wiggles his eyebrows, leaning back against his locker and smirking. “Why Liam...I didn’t know you swung that way.”
Liam rolls his eyes. “Platonically,” he adds. “Now hurry up, I want to see which sorry sap is going to end up with your disgustingly messy ass as their new maid.”
“Hey!” Louis calls after him, quickening his pace to catch up with the other boy. “I’m not that bad.”
“Really? Because Niall called me about a week ago, asking if it would be possible to hold an intervention for being a filthy slob.”
Louis opens his mouth in protest, but before he can retaliate, they’ve already arrived at the assignment board. Liam runs his finger down the K-P list, stopping at his name and immediately smiling. “Yes! I got her again!”
“Who?”
“Peazer! Danielle Peazer!”
“Wait, that dancer girl you’ve been talking about? Really?”
“I mean, the assignments are usually random, but if your client really likes you, they can ask for you to be assigned to them again.” Liam turns to Louis and shrugs, smiling. “I guess I must’ve done a good job cleaning her place.”
Something twinkles in Liam’s eyes, however, and Louis has a feeling that it’s not just Liam’s cleaning skills that Danielle’s after. He keeps his mouth shut, though, and turns towards the Q-T list, searching for his name.
“T...Tomlinson!” Louis exclaims, his eyes scanning the sheet. “Styles/Malik?” He reads out, his brow furrowing. It takes a second for his brain to kick in, and then he’s staring at Liam, mouth agape. “Wait...like Harry Styles and Zayn Malik? They use Minute Maids?”
“Stop acting so surprised,” Liam says, rolling his eyes. “We have a lot of celebrity clients. These two must be new, though. I don’t think I’ve seen their names on the client before...”
“Fuck, Liam!” Louis says, practically shouting. “This is my first job. And I get fucking Harry and Zayn?!”
“Like I said, the assignments are random,” Liam says, shrugging. “I don’t see what the big deal is. They’re not like super-famous or anything.”
“Uh...yeah they are! Do you not watch any TV? I mean, I know you live under a rock, but really?”
Liam rolls his eyes. “They’re just two rich kids, traipsing around, doing nothing that contributes to society. Why should I care about them?”
“Um...because they’re hot?!”
“My, my, how shallow we’ve become, my dear Louis.”
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit. How am I going to pull this off?” Louis says, pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair nervously. “If I see either of them, I know I’m going to faint. Or pee my pants. Or both.”
Liam reaches out and steadies Louis, placing his hands on the smaller boy’s shoulders. “Lou. You’ll be fine. Just do your job. Plus, chances are, they won’t even be at home.”
“...you think so?”
Liam snorts. “Please, Louis. It’s barely 8 am on a Monday morning. Do you think either of these boys will wake up before 2 pm?”
Louis smiles, relaxing a bit. “I know I wouldn’t.”
“Exactly,” Liam replies, smiling back and slinging an arm over Louis’ shoulders. “Now grab your stuff and let’s go, you’re in my carpool!”
Louis gathers his supplies and finds Liam waiting in the Minute Maids car. He gets in, a hopeful smile on his face. Hopefully he won’t make a complete ass of himself today.
Hopefully.
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