None But You (1)

Harris took a deep breath, transferred the bouquet of flowers to his left hand, and knocked on the door.

He was running late- which he almost always was now that he no longer had the ability to simply appear wherever he needed to be whenever he needed to be there- and Joshua had just sent him an apologetic text, explaining that he had been sent to the other room to check on Eliza, most likely because his mother wanted to let Harris in herself.

Since Harris had been invited to this party specifically so he could meet Joshua's mother, it was a forbidding prospect but not an entirely unexpected one.

Harris took another breath, and the door opened.

"Ah," Michelle said when she saw him. "It's you."

She looked good. Her hair was cut back to the length it had been when Harris first matched her to Lee Alcott, and she seemed happy in all the ways that she hadn't when Harris first met Joshua. It was wonderful to see her that way.

Harris used his free hand to shake hers. "I'm Harris Harper."

"And I'm glad to meet you at last, Harris Harper."

Harris cleared his throat. "And I you. I know it should have been sooner."

Her eyebrows lifted, but she didn't disagree. Harris had been far too close to Joshua for far too long to easily explain why he had not introduced himself to her before now without also explaining why it had been impossible. 'I used to be a cupid; it was my job to match your son and you didn't really notice me even when he was asleep in my lap because of magic' probably wasn't something any mother expected to hear, or would readily believe.

Harris and Joshua had ultimately decided that Joshua should tell his mother that he and Harris had only recently made things official between them, which despite their long acquaintance was technically the truth. It wasn't a truth that made Harris look very good, but he knew he deserved that. After all, it was his own fault that nothing had happened between them earlier. Joshua wouldn't soon let Harris live down how long it had taken him to see that Joshua was in love with him, and Merlin and the rest of Harris's fellow cupids wouldn't soon let him live down how long it had taken him to see that he was in love with Joshua.

In all the time since Harris had been dating Joshua- taking Joshua back to his own bed most nights, kissing him goodbye those times that he delivered him home, giving him flowers and kissing his hand and holding him close while they watched a movie without making excuses to himself about how very logical and 'platonic' it all was- he had known this meeting was coming. He hadn't actively avoided Michelle; it had simply fallen out that he had some time to get used to his new life- and to being with Joshua- before Joshua finally decided to intervene. The words 'do it properly, Harris,' had been involved and Harris had known he was right. Harris had been thinking about asking Joshua to move in with him, but given the unusual progression of their relationship thus far he hadn't been able to decide if it was too soon. He had been sure, though, that his meeting Michelle would have to come first. So he had started rehearsing his speech.

As he stood there in the doorway, Harris supposed that now was as good a time as any to begin. "If I might… preempt you," he said. "I do love your son." He was relatively sure that part of doing it properly was receiving a dire warning about the horrors that would befall him if he ever broke her son's heart, but while Harris supposed he would deserve that too he didn't want to stress Michelle unduly. "I love him very much indeed. And I am so terribly sorry for any pain I may have caused him by taking so long to realize that. My only excuse is that I genuinely never thought he could feel that way about me. At any rate, I will atone for it for the rest of my life, if need be. I don't want to spend that life anywhere but with Joshua."

Michelle cocked her head to one side, perhaps measuring his sincerity. "Fair enough," she said at last. "Come in." She patted him on the chest lightly and took the flowers. "I should put these in water."

She turned with them in her hands and headed towards the kitchen, but she only got a few steps before she stopped and looked at Harris again.

"I knew there was someone, you know," she said. "Joshua only ever talked about you casually. You know- Harris's picking me up at five, Harris says that's a good movie, Harris bought me that, do you like it? That kind of thing. He never actually told me that he was seeing someone, never said he was falling in love." She fell silent again, toying with the flower stems.

Harris waited for her to continue.

"For a while I tried to convince myself that he didn't talk about it- about you- because he wasn't sure it would last, but he was too happy for that. My boy was never the kind to be so contented in something he didn't think was serious. I always knew that when he fell, he'd fall hard, and I was afraid that when he did it would 'hurt.' But he always was, you know. Just… contented. And that wasn't something he got the chance to be a lot, before you. So then I figured maybe he just didn't want to talk too much about himself because he wanted me to focus on building a new life for 'me.' And I thought maybe he was right to, because I could never seem to keep you- the idea of you- in my head even when I knew that I ought to. So there was just this Harris shaped hole in my picture of my own son. And of my daughter too, eventually- I'm sure you know how much she adores you. I thought about resenting you for that, but you've made both of my children so happy. Now, I don't know how it's possible that you and Joshua only made it official a little while ago, but I don't think any of what happened would've happened if you weren't serious. So. Whoever and whatever you are, Mr. Harper, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

There was a weight in Michelle's voice when she said 'whatever you are' that made Harris wonder whether, like her son, she had an intuition that Harris was more than he seemed. It was just as well, Harris supposed, that she had decided not to ask for an explanation. It wouldn't be much longer before he was almost completely human. "Thank you," he said, meaning it earnestly.

Her lips ticked upward into a small smile. She added, "You don't strike me as the heartbreaker type, anyway."

"I think you're right," Harris said.

"Don't prove me wrong."

Harris bowed his head seriously. "I don't intend to."

She appeared satisfied. She said, "Come along then," and jerked her head towards the kitchen.

Harris obediently followed along behind her.

"Joshua's still with Eliza, getting her tucked in," Michelle explained over her shoulder as she walked. "He should be here soon."

The kitchen was filled with finger foods that all looked very appetizing. Harris watched Michelle as she filled a vase with water and then put the flowers in it before carrying it into the living room to set it on the table by the couch. The living room had a few people in it already, mostly chatting together with glasses of wine or water in hand. There was a man a couple of years younger than Michelle who Harris didn't need his old aura sense to know was interested in her, another man about Joshua's age and a woman about Michelle's age. These people were introduced to Harris as Greg, Mike, and Sally respectively. Harris privately vowed to keep an eye on Greg in particular. He might not work as a cupid anymore, but he did still have some pull even now that he was just a tailor; he could learn more about Greg if he wanted to. Michelle deserved to be happy. It was worth discovering if Greg was likely to help or hinder that end.

Harris was a bit distracted by these thoughts, and so he missed most of what Sally- who was apparently Mike's mother- said to introduce him. "Forgive me," Harris said when Sally and Greg went to talk with Michelle in the kitchen and he found himself alone with Mike. "What do you do again?"

"This and that," Mike said, which Harris took to mean that he wasn't strictly employed. Harris struggled to remember most of what Joshua had told him about these people. Sally and Greg were those among Michelle's neighbors that she had become close to, and Mike had recently come back from university to live at home.

Harris nodded politely. He was sure he had made a good enough impression on Michelle to at least start making up for the past, and he didn't want to ruin it now by being rude to her new friends. More than that, Harris knew it would be to his benefit to meet more people. He hadn't realized just how many hours there were in a day before he lost the ability to simply fade out when he wasn't required. The tailor's shop kept him busy enough, and Harris was more than willing to spend every other free moment with Joshua- but he knew it would actually be better for both of them not to be too much in each other's pockets, especially if they were going to live together anytime soon. Joshua had his work and his friends and Harris was happy for him- but he needed to expand his own horizons as well. Unfortunately, making small talk was a skill Harris had rather lost in his years as a cupid- if indeed he had ever had it at all.

Still, Mike had a broad, white-toothed smile and friendly manners, and Harris knew he would never get better at these things if he didn't at least try.

"What about you?" Mike was asking. "What do you do?"

"I'm a tailor."

"So you must be good at taking a man's measure, eh?"

Harris hesitated. "I… suppose?"

Mike gave a little wince and laughed- at himself, Harris thought, though he wasn't sure. "Sorry, sorry, that was so cheesy. I'm not that good at this. I never have been."

"Good at what?"

Mike laughed again. "You're adorable. Do you live around here?"

"Oh." Harris blinked. "No."

"Then how do you know Michelle?"

Harris blinked some more, a little surprised that his particular status wasn't already common knowledge at this gathering. "I'm-"

He didn't get a chance to finish, because he heard a voice say his name. Harris turned, and there was Joshua at the other end of the room.

Before Harris even got a proper look at his face Joshua was pressed up against him, kissing him.

Harris kissed back, because now that he was permitted to, now that he could have Joshua, he had forgotten how not to. But he did wonder at it.

Though Harris had cured Joshua of any discomfort with public displays of affection back when he still had himself convinced that those were friendly gestures only, Joshua rarely kissed Harris on the lips in public- and never quite so deep and fierce and needy. He kissed Harris like Harris's mouth and not oxygen was what he needed to live. He kissed Harris like he was worried his lips might have fundamentally altered since the last time they did this- which had been only that afternoon, when Joshua paid Harris a visit at work before leaving to help his mother set things up for this party.

Joshua had only kissed him safely tucked away in one of the dressing rooms then, despite the fact that everyone Harris worked with knew they were a couple. Harris softened the kiss, gentled it, cupping Joshua's face in both hands and being extra careful with it.

"Is everything all right?" Harris asked when Joshua finally broke the kiss. He stroked Joshua's cheeks gently with his thumbs.

Joshua nodded, rubbing his forehead against the side of Harris's face. "Can we talk?"