Harvey
Harvey's eyes flutter open slowly as bright sunlight filters through the small gap in the curtains, he stares up at his blinding white ceiling for a moment before he let's out a loud groan pulling his duvet around himself more hoping he can drift back off to sleep and place himself back inside the rather pleasant dream he was having before he was so rudely awoken.
He isn't sure how much time has passed when he finally decides to give up on the idea of more sleep and drags himself from his warm and comfortable bed, silently mourning the loss of the dream world that is now slowly slipping away from his memory. Harvey can never remember what he dreams about once he wakes, only remembering the feeling of pure contentment that surrounds him during the small hours of the night when his eyes are closed and he doesn't have to look at the blindingly white walls of his flat.
After he's stumbled his way to the bathroom and splashed water on his face to wake himself up a little, he heads to the kitchen pressing all the necessary buttons on his coffee machine without even needing to think about it, which is a reoccurring theme in Harvey's life. He can get through whole days, weeks even, without needing to think about a single thing. Mindlessly following instructions, running trivial errands for his parents and tagging along to whatever party or social event Lee feels like attending that day.
Harvey grabs his phone and coffee from the kitchen side before heading into the living room, sitting carefully onto the white sofa his parents had provided him with when he moved into the flat a month ago, being careful not to spill coffee on the slightly rough and far to clean fabric.
He stares out of the window, staring at the clouds that cover the sky, only small glimpses of blue are visible through the wall of white and Harvey can't help but huff out a laugh as he realises his whole life is being taken over by the colour that isn't really a colour. His parents had insisted his whole flat be painted white, every wall, every ceiling and every carpet was white. At first it hadn't seemed so bad, white was a crisp and clean colour, it was bright and bright usually meant happy but he had quickly found that white didn't mean happy. White was deceptive, it was bright, clean and fresh but it was also empty. It was devoid of life and when you were surrounded by the colour it was suffocating.
Harvey shook his head to clear his thoughts as his phone sprung to life in his hand, a new text from Lee lighting up the display provoked a small smile to cross Harvey's face. Lee was Harvey's closest friend and confidante, their families had engineered their friendship at a young age pushing the boys together before they were even potty trained and their friendship had bloomed into something beautiful from that moment onwards. Lee was the only person to know Harvey inside and out and he was the only person who he knew would never judge him for the parts of himself he hid away from the rest of the world.
Come shopping today H? Parents making me go. X
Harvey chuckled at his phone as he imagined the pained look on Lee's face at the prospect of going shopping. If there was task Lee hated more than any other it was shopping. "I don't see the point of it H," Lee would whine as Harvey dragged him around the various shops occasionally consulting the list his parents had given to Lee, making sure his friend had every item that he was asked to purchase before they escaped to the nearest pub or club, drinking until they forgot how bored they been just hours before.
If I have to. Pub after? X
Harvey texts back only moments later before rising from his place on the sofa, heading to his bedroom to get ready for the day already looking forward to the moment they step into a pub and drink away their mutual boredom.
~~~~
"This is pointless," Lee grumbles as Harvey purposefully strides towards the florist that is written on Lee's list of tasks that his mother needs completing for whatever event she is being paid to organise this time. Lee is trailing along behind Harvey, shoulders slumped and his face bearing the expression of someone being marched to their death.
"Everything we do is ultimately pointless, Li. But unless you want Karen to unleash her wrath on you, you better perk up and get this done." Harvey says, waving his hand through the air in order to dismiss whatever grumbling response Lee is going to come up with next. "Get this done and then we can go have some real fun, yeah?" Lee sighs, his shoulders slumping even further as Harvey comes to a stop infront of Flora's Flower Shop. Harvey waves him on silently before pulling a cigarette from the pocket of his trousers, leaning against the pale pink exterior of the shop before lighting it up and taking a long drag, filling his throat with foul tasting smoke that makes his lungs feel pleasantly fuzzy.
"Hey mate! Can I borrow your light?" A loud voice with a thick Irish accent carries across the street as Harvey inhales more of the toxic substance, he squints through the layer of smoke that's currently obscuring his line of vision until he can make out a blonde haired figure coming his way.
"Um, yeah sure. Light away." Harvey replies, tossing the heavy silver lighter in the general direction of the man that is coming steadily closer to Harvey. He catches it easily and his eyes widen at the heavy object in his palm, its only then that Harvey registers the man's appearance. His face is dirt streaked and his blond hair is sticking up in all directions like it hasn't seen a brush in years, he's wearing a burgundy coloured jacket that looks like it needs a good wash, the pocket is hanging on by a thread and the boys faded blue jeans and scuffed white trainers are no better.
"You're not going to steal it are you?" Harvey asks, scrunching his nose a little as he takes in the man's appearance. There were only two sorts of people in this small town, the very rich and the very poor. Harvey usually made a point of ignoring the existence if the latter, not wanting to get robbed or taken advantage of by the conmen his parents had always warned him about. If it hadn't been for the smoky haze that had covered his vision he wouldn't have even acknowledged the man's question never mind actually handed him his, quite expensive, lighter.
"I'm Noah and no I'm not going to steal your lighter." Noah replied, rolling his eyes a little as he lit the cigarette in his hand before making a show of handing over Harvey's lighter, holding the cigarette between his lips as he held his hands up in mock surrender once Harvey had gingerly retrieved his lighter, wiping it on his jeans quickly before stuffing it back into his pocket.
"Well thanks for that, I better get back to my mate - promised I'd save him half of this - have a nice day!" Noah said as he slowly backed away from Harvey, waving a little and smiling brightly as he spoke. Harvey frowned for a moment as he considered the man's words, he had to share his cigarette with a friend? Did his friend not have his own? Without thinking Harvey reached into his pocket pulling out his half empty packet of cigarettes and quickly removed two.
"Hey erm Noah, take these. One for your mate and another one for you yeah? A thank you for not stealing my lighter," Harvey called out as he walked towards Noah, he may not interact much interaction with the poorer side of town but Noah seemed like an alright guy, he didn't seem like a conman although Harvey guessed he couldnt be sure of that. But something told him Noah wasn't a bad person so he handed over the cigarettes against his better judgement, receiving a bright smile and a disbelieving thank you in return before the blond haired man disappeared from wherever he had come from and Harvey was leaning back against the pink building, inhaling more smoke into his already fuzzy lungs.
"Pub. Now." Lee's voice came from behind Harvey who turned quickly to see a stressed looking Lee standing in the doorway to his mother's favourite florist. Harvey chuckled and nodded, abandoning the last of his nearly finished cigarette on the floor before following after Lee who was now marching away, scanning the street intending to enter the first establishment he saw that sold alcohol muttering about how much he hated Flora the Florist and her stupid fucking flower shop.
~~~~
It was after midnight when Harvey and Lee came stumbling out of whatever pub they had ended up walking into that afternoon, hours of drinking had left his brain hazy and slow, his speech coming out as slurred murmers and somehow his legs felt like both lead and jelly simultaneously. To heavy to get him where he needs to go yet to weak to hold his weight for any length of time. Lee was in even worse shape than Harvey, he had all but given up on walking alone and was currently relying on Harvey to keep him upright, which probably wasn't a good idea since Harvey was having enough trouble keeping himself standing, but he was soldiering on nonetheless. Letting Lee lean his body weight onto him, his arm draped over Harvey's shoulders and his other hand clinging to Harvey's jacket like it was the only buoy in the middle of a stormy sea.
"Need some help there?" A familiar Irish voice asked from somewhere to Harvey's left, the blond man from earlier swam into Harvey's line of sight and Harvey couldn't help but smile gratefully at the man. Neil? No, Noah. That was it Noah.
"Please," Harvey slurred as he transferred Lee's heavy body over to Noah and freed himself from his friends death grip, inhaling some of the cool night air into his lungs in the hopes it would sober him up enough to formulate some sort of plan to get home.
"Lou! I'm going need your help!" Noah shouted into the dark street and Harvey startled a little, his legs almost giving way at the sudden noise.
"Give me a heads up next time you are going to shout at no one," Harvey reprimanded Noah, scowling as best as he could in his inebriated state but Noah only beamed through the darkness at Harvey who couldn't help but wonder if this guy did anything other than smile. How was he always so happy? Judging from his appearance he should be miserable, even more so than Harvey. Maybe Noah was a conman afterall, maybe he had been following him, waiting for an opportunity to take advantage and now he was seizing his chance while Harvey was to drunk to take much notice.
"Are you going to rob us?" Harvey asked quietly, staring at his shoes and praying he was wrong since neither him nor Lee were in any state to defend themselves.
"Yes, we are going to take everything you own right here in the middle of the street." A voice said from behind him, he also had a heavy accent but it wasn't Irish like Noah's and Harvey's brain was to soaked with alcohol to even begin to guess where this guy was from. Harvey whirled around, well it was probably more like a half turn half stumble, to face to other man who was a fair few inches shorter than Harvey himself, his appearance was dishevelled much like Noah's but it was his eyes that caught Harvey's attention. They were the most amazing shade of blue Harvey had ever seen, blue like the ocean or the sky, the kind of blue that you could lose yourself in for all of eternity. Harvey decided there and then that if he had to be surrounded by a colour for his the rest of his life it would be this specific shade of blue he would choose, he wanted to run home right now and repaint every surface in his flat in the colour, change his furniture to match and spend his life staring at it.
"You alright mate? He was only joking, this is Louis." Noah's voice jolted Harvey out of his reverie, he blinked slowly as his surroundings came back into focus, Noah was standing in front of him now, concern etched into his features while the blue eyed man (Louis?) had disappeared from Harvey's line of sight altogether.
"Sorry, had one to many I think." Harvey mumbled to his shoes, the concern immediately dropped from Noah's face once Harvey spoke and his beaming smile returned.
"I think you both have, let us help you home yeah? Promise we aren't going to steal from you, don't fancy a night in the cells." Noah said, Harvey honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not but he nodded anyway, he was to drunk to care if these men intended to steal his things right now. He would deal with that in the morning if he had to.
It was an hour later that all four men finally arrived at Harvey's flat, it was usually only a twenty minute walk away from the town centre but Lee's inability to keep himself upright combined with Harvey's slow steps and awful directions had made it take much longer than it should have.
"Is this it?" Noah asked, his eyes almost comically wide as he stared up at the large high rise building which contained Harvey's blindingly white flat.
"This is the place," Harvey confirmed, nodding lazily as he stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. The walk had sobered him up a little and the pleasant buzz that had calmed his worries had been replaced with sheer exhaustion, Lee, however, had not sobered up during the walk so as much as Harvey would like to wave his two helpers on their way now, sending them back to wherever they had come from without actually having to invite them into the suffocating space he called home, that wasn't a feasible option.
"Will you help get him up there?" Harvey asked, gesturing up in the general direction of the fitieth floor. "You can stay for what's left of the night to if you like, save walking all the way back." He quickly added, noticing the skeptical look Noah had shot over to Louis as he spoke.
"Sure," Noah agreed nodding enthusiastically and smiling for what Harvey thought must be the billionth time that day, Louis however was glaring at Noah like he had just agreed to walk into a dragons lair.
"Not still worried we are going to rob you, rich boy." Louis sneered, spitting the words out of his mouth like a snake spits venom. Harvey couldn't help the uneasy feeling that settled into his body at the blue eyed man's words. Truth be told he couldn't care less right now if they stole every single item from his flat, he just wanted to collapse into his bed and close his eyes on the world. He wanted to fall into whatever dream his tired brain had concocted for him tonight so he could wake up and enjoy the blissful feeling of contentment for those few hazy moments before reality set in again.
"No I'm not," Harvey lied, he tried to put as much conviction into his voice as he could muster but he was almost certain he came out sounding flat and empty. A moment passed in awkward silence, Noah and Louis stared at eachother scarcely blinking, wordlessly communicating with eachother in a way Harvey didn't understand.
"Fine," Louis huffed, his face falling in defeat as Noah's smile widened and Harvey was sure if he kept it up much longer his face would crack and crumble, it wasn't natural for someone to smile as much as Noah did. No one could be that happy, Harvey was sure of it.
He isn't sure how much time has passed when he finally decides to give up on the idea of more sleep and drags himself from his warm and comfortable bed, silently mourning the loss of the dream world that is now slowly slipping away from his memory. Harvey can never remember what he dreams about once he wakes, only remembering the feeling of pure contentment that surrounds him during the small hours of the night when his eyes are closed and he doesn't have to look at the blindingly white walls of his flat.
After he's stumbled his way to the bathroom and splashed water on his face to wake himself up a little, he heads to the kitchen pressing all the necessary buttons on his coffee machine without even needing to think about it, which is a reoccurring theme in Harvey's life. He can get through whole days, weeks even, without needing to think about a single thing. Mindlessly following instructions, running trivial errands for his parents and tagging along to whatever party or social event Lee feels like attending that day.
Harvey grabs his phone and coffee from the kitchen side before heading into the living room, sitting carefully onto the white sofa his parents had provided him with when he moved into the flat a month ago, being careful not to spill coffee on the slightly rough and far to clean fabric.
He stares out of the window, staring at the clouds that cover the sky, only small glimpses of blue are visible through the wall of white and Harvey can't help but huff out a laugh as he realises his whole life is being taken over by the colour that isn't really a colour. His parents had insisted his whole flat be painted white, every wall, every ceiling and every carpet was white. At first it hadn't seemed so bad, white was a crisp and clean colour, it was bright and bright usually meant happy but he had quickly found that white didn't mean happy. White was deceptive, it was bright, clean and fresh but it was also empty. It was devoid of life and when you were surrounded by the colour it was suffocating.
Harvey shook his head to clear his thoughts as his phone sprung to life in his hand, a new text from Lee lighting up the display provoked a small smile to cross Harvey's face. Lee was Harvey's closest friend and confidante, their families had engineered their friendship at a young age pushing the boys together before they were even potty trained and their friendship had bloomed into something beautiful from that moment onwards. Lee was the only person to know Harvey inside and out and he was the only person who he knew would never judge him for the parts of himself he hid away from the rest of the world.
Come shopping today H? Parents making me go. X
Harvey chuckled at his phone as he imagined the pained look on Lee's face at the prospect of going shopping. If there was task Lee hated more than any other it was shopping. "I don't see the point of it H," Lee would whine as Harvey dragged him around the various shops occasionally consulting the list his parents had given to Lee, making sure his friend had every item that he was asked to purchase before they escaped to the nearest pub or club, drinking until they forgot how bored they been just hours before.
If I have to. Pub after? X
Harvey texts back only moments later before rising from his place on the sofa, heading to his bedroom to get ready for the day already looking forward to the moment they step into a pub and drink away their mutual boredom.
~~~~
"This is pointless," Lee grumbles as Harvey purposefully strides towards the florist that is written on Lee's list of tasks that his mother needs completing for whatever event she is being paid to organise this time. Lee is trailing along behind Harvey, shoulders slumped and his face bearing the expression of someone being marched to their death.
"Everything we do is ultimately pointless, Li. But unless you want Karen to unleash her wrath on you, you better perk up and get this done." Harvey says, waving his hand through the air in order to dismiss whatever grumbling response Lee is going to come up with next. "Get this done and then we can go have some real fun, yeah?" Lee sighs, his shoulders slumping even further as Harvey comes to a stop infront of Flora's Flower Shop. Harvey waves him on silently before pulling a cigarette from the pocket of his trousers, leaning against the pale pink exterior of the shop before lighting it up and taking a long drag, filling his throat with foul tasting smoke that makes his lungs feel pleasantly fuzzy.
"Hey mate! Can I borrow your light?" A loud voice with a thick Irish accent carries across the street as Harvey inhales more of the toxic substance, he squints through the layer of smoke that's currently obscuring his line of vision until he can make out a blonde haired figure coming his way.
"Um, yeah sure. Light away." Harvey replies, tossing the heavy silver lighter in the general direction of the man that is coming steadily closer to Harvey. He catches it easily and his eyes widen at the heavy object in his palm, its only then that Harvey registers the man's appearance. His face is dirt streaked and his blond hair is sticking up in all directions like it hasn't seen a brush in years, he's wearing a burgundy coloured jacket that looks like it needs a good wash, the pocket is hanging on by a thread and the boys faded blue jeans and scuffed white trainers are no better.
"You're not going to steal it are you?" Harvey asks, scrunching his nose a little as he takes in the man's appearance. There were only two sorts of people in this small town, the very rich and the very poor. Harvey usually made a point of ignoring the existence if the latter, not wanting to get robbed or taken advantage of by the conmen his parents had always warned him about. If it hadn't been for the smoky haze that had covered his vision he wouldn't have even acknowledged the man's question never mind actually handed him his, quite expensive, lighter.
"I'm Noah and no I'm not going to steal your lighter." Noah replied, rolling his eyes a little as he lit the cigarette in his hand before making a show of handing over Harvey's lighter, holding the cigarette between his lips as he held his hands up in mock surrender once Harvey had gingerly retrieved his lighter, wiping it on his jeans quickly before stuffing it back into his pocket.
"Well thanks for that, I better get back to my mate - promised I'd save him half of this - have a nice day!" Noah said as he slowly backed away from Harvey, waving a little and smiling brightly as he spoke. Harvey frowned for a moment as he considered the man's words, he had to share his cigarette with a friend? Did his friend not have his own? Without thinking Harvey reached into his pocket pulling out his half empty packet of cigarettes and quickly removed two.
"Hey erm Noah, take these. One for your mate and another one for you yeah? A thank you for not stealing my lighter," Harvey called out as he walked towards Noah, he may not interact much interaction with the poorer side of town but Noah seemed like an alright guy, he didn't seem like a conman although Harvey guessed he couldnt be sure of that. But something told him Noah wasn't a bad person so he handed over the cigarettes against his better judgement, receiving a bright smile and a disbelieving thank you in return before the blond haired man disappeared from wherever he had come from and Harvey was leaning back against the pink building, inhaling more smoke into his already fuzzy lungs.
"Pub. Now." Lee's voice came from behind Harvey who turned quickly to see a stressed looking Lee standing in the doorway to his mother's favourite florist. Harvey chuckled and nodded, abandoning the last of his nearly finished cigarette on the floor before following after Lee who was now marching away, scanning the street intending to enter the first establishment he saw that sold alcohol muttering about how much he hated Flora the Florist and her stupid fucking flower shop.
~~~~
It was after midnight when Harvey and Lee came stumbling out of whatever pub they had ended up walking into that afternoon, hours of drinking had left his brain hazy and slow, his speech coming out as slurred murmers and somehow his legs felt like both lead and jelly simultaneously. To heavy to get him where he needs to go yet to weak to hold his weight for any length of time. Lee was in even worse shape than Harvey, he had all but given up on walking alone and was currently relying on Harvey to keep him upright, which probably wasn't a good idea since Harvey was having enough trouble keeping himself standing, but he was soldiering on nonetheless. Letting Lee lean his body weight onto him, his arm draped over Harvey's shoulders and his other hand clinging to Harvey's jacket like it was the only buoy in the middle of a stormy sea.
"Need some help there?" A familiar Irish voice asked from somewhere to Harvey's left, the blond man from earlier swam into Harvey's line of sight and Harvey couldn't help but smile gratefully at the man. Neil? No, Noah. That was it Noah.
"Please," Harvey slurred as he transferred Lee's heavy body over to Noah and freed himself from his friends death grip, inhaling some of the cool night air into his lungs in the hopes it would sober him up enough to formulate some sort of plan to get home.
"Lou! I'm going need your help!" Noah shouted into the dark street and Harvey startled a little, his legs almost giving way at the sudden noise.
"Give me a heads up next time you are going to shout at no one," Harvey reprimanded Noah, scowling as best as he could in his inebriated state but Noah only beamed through the darkness at Harvey who couldn't help but wonder if this guy did anything other than smile. How was he always so happy? Judging from his appearance he should be miserable, even more so than Harvey. Maybe Noah was a conman afterall, maybe he had been following him, waiting for an opportunity to take advantage and now he was seizing his chance while Harvey was to drunk to take much notice.
"Are you going to rob us?" Harvey asked quietly, staring at his shoes and praying he was wrong since neither him nor Lee were in any state to defend themselves.
"Yes, we are going to take everything you own right here in the middle of the street." A voice said from behind him, he also had a heavy accent but it wasn't Irish like Noah's and Harvey's brain was to soaked with alcohol to even begin to guess where this guy was from. Harvey whirled around, well it was probably more like a half turn half stumble, to face to other man who was a fair few inches shorter than Harvey himself, his appearance was dishevelled much like Noah's but it was his eyes that caught Harvey's attention. They were the most amazing shade of blue Harvey had ever seen, blue like the ocean or the sky, the kind of blue that you could lose yourself in for all of eternity. Harvey decided there and then that if he had to be surrounded by a colour for his the rest of his life it would be this specific shade of blue he would choose, he wanted to run home right now and repaint every surface in his flat in the colour, change his furniture to match and spend his life staring at it.
"You alright mate? He was only joking, this is Louis." Noah's voice jolted Harvey out of his reverie, he blinked slowly as his surroundings came back into focus, Noah was standing in front of him now, concern etched into his features while the blue eyed man (Louis?) had disappeared from Harvey's line of sight altogether.
"Sorry, had one to many I think." Harvey mumbled to his shoes, the concern immediately dropped from Noah's face once Harvey spoke and his beaming smile returned.
"I think you both have, let us help you home yeah? Promise we aren't going to steal from you, don't fancy a night in the cells." Noah said, Harvey honestly couldn't tell if he was joking or not but he nodded anyway, he was to drunk to care if these men intended to steal his things right now. He would deal with that in the morning if he had to.
It was an hour later that all four men finally arrived at Harvey's flat, it was usually only a twenty minute walk away from the town centre but Lee's inability to keep himself upright combined with Harvey's slow steps and awful directions had made it take much longer than it should have.
"Is this it?" Noah asked, his eyes almost comically wide as he stared up at the large high rise building which contained Harvey's blindingly white flat.
"This is the place," Harvey confirmed, nodding lazily as he stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. The walk had sobered him up a little and the pleasant buzz that had calmed his worries had been replaced with sheer exhaustion, Lee, however, had not sobered up during the walk so as much as Harvey would like to wave his two helpers on their way now, sending them back to wherever they had come from without actually having to invite them into the suffocating space he called home, that wasn't a feasible option.
"Will you help get him up there?" Harvey asked, gesturing up in the general direction of the fitieth floor. "You can stay for what's left of the night to if you like, save walking all the way back." He quickly added, noticing the skeptical look Noah had shot over to Louis as he spoke.
"Sure," Noah agreed nodding enthusiastically and smiling for what Harvey thought must be the billionth time that day, Louis however was glaring at Noah like he had just agreed to walk into a dragons lair.
"Not still worried we are going to rob you, rich boy." Louis sneered, spitting the words out of his mouth like a snake spits venom. Harvey couldn't help the uneasy feeling that settled into his body at the blue eyed man's words. Truth be told he couldn't care less right now if they stole every single item from his flat, he just wanted to collapse into his bed and close his eyes on the world. He wanted to fall into whatever dream his tired brain had concocted for him tonight so he could wake up and enjoy the blissful feeling of contentment for those few hazy moments before reality set in again.
"No I'm not," Harvey lied, he tried to put as much conviction into his voice as he could muster but he was almost certain he came out sounding flat and empty. A moment passed in awkward silence, Noah and Louis stared at eachother scarcely blinking, wordlessly communicating with eachother in a way Harvey didn't understand.
"Fine," Louis huffed, his face falling in defeat as Noah's smile widened and Harvey was sure if he kept it up much longer his face would crack and crumble, it wasn't natural for someone to smile as much as Noah did. No one could be that happy, Harvey was sure of it.
