(no subject)

[palaceharry.livejournal.com]

(This takes place a few hours after David arranges a room for Harry.  It also follows Sean and Harry's comments to each other on Harry's post about having left McKellen's.)

Harry sat alone in the room, surrounded by boxes of his things from McKellen's. There wasn't that much, and for some reason this makes him feel even worse. Almost twenty years of his life, and all he had to show for it was the ability to rugby-tackle a guy, and a couple of cartons of things. Fucking pathetic.

Sean had managed, he thought, to finally track Harry down. That he was in the building was no surprise, Harry was almost always here, but that he was in a room here, apparently *staying* here, was. It had to be something to do with McKellen's but beyond that, Sean hadn't a clue. He was, however, worried. Coming to a halt before the door, he slipped his com back into his pocket turned off and tentatively rapped on the door. "Harry? It's me."

Harry starts at the knock. *Sean.* "S'not locked." He doesn't move from where he's sitting, on the floor in the middle of his boxes of things.

*Oh shite*! Sean opens the door and peers around the corner, seeing Harry sitting alone on the floor surrounded by boxes and bags. "Hey." he greets, weaving his way closer through the detritus and finally crouching down by his mate's side. "What's up?"

Harry snorts quietly. "Absolutely nothing at all. Never had more nothing to do in my life."

"Not what I asked, Harry." Sean sat himself down cross-legged on the floor, dignity-be-damned and looked intently at his oldest friend. "I asked what's up? What happened, Harry?"

Harry looked up at Sean. "Did you read the post I left unlocked? The one you emailed me about?"

"Yeah, course I did." Sean gave a weak grin. "Nosy bastard, me. Tell me, Harry. C'mon. Gimme more."

Harry smiles at Sean, but the smile doesn't reach his eyes. "Remember how I said that when McKellen left, I would inherit the business? Turned out to be not so much the case, unless inherit means getting first option on paying full fair market value."

"You are shitting me." Sean said succinctly, before going off into a short burst of colorful swearing. "That old . . . Jeezus Harry." He didn't know what to say. That old fucking buzzard! "So you walked?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. Didn't know what else to do. Told him I wanted Elijah's contract signed over to me as severance, packed, made Lija pack, and left. I didn't even think about where I was going to go until Elijah asked." Harry's voice is quiet, and he sounds a little bewildered. He doesn't react to Sean's outburst.

Uncomfortable only because he's not sure of himself in these situations, Sean slides around so that he can sling one arm around Harry's shoulders. "Well coming here was a good idea." he said. "You know you can stay as long as you want. Sort things out."

"I don't have a home, Sean. I sold the family home years ago- didn't need it when I was started staying full time at McKellen's. I don't have a home, and I don't have a job. And when I wrote that post, I complained about being bored. What the fuck am I going to do now?" Harry has been trying to figure this out for the past couple of hours, and he hasn't gotten any closer to a solution.

"Take time to calm down and think it through. That's what you do. It's what you're always telling me to do." Sean squeezes Harry's shoulder briefly. "And you're not fucking homeless. *This* is home as much as anywhere else, isn't it? Your friends are here, Orlando's here. As for a job, mate. You're one of the best there is and there's . . ." Sean's mouth snaps shut. He's just thought of something relating to Harry, Palace and the contract with McKellen's, but he wants to check and make sure he's right before he says anything. To distract Harry from the interrupted thought, he quickly goes on. "Hey, wait. Speaking of Orlando, what the fuck are you doing in here anyway? You should be up with him, not down here."

"I- " Harry stops to think for a minute. Why did he need his own room? "I couldn't just show up at his door, no job, no home, all my stuff in cardboard boxes out in the hallway asking for him to take me in like a stray dog."

Now *this* Sean can deal with. He gets to his feet and hauls Harry up beside him. "Well, the boxes are taken care of. This is bloody expensive storage, but you can afford it." He grins. "As for the rest," he shrugs "you know Orlando. You were a stray once before and he took you in. No reason to think he won't do it again." He lifts his hand and rubs the top of Harry's head, something he knows Harry hates and says, "C'mon Fido. Let's get you upstairs. I'll walk with you, make sure you don't pee on the carpet." The arm he wraps around Harry's shoulders as he moves him inexorably toward the door, gives lie to the tease.

Harry lets himself be pulled up and grins a little and swats at Sean's hand as he rubs at Harry's head. "Stoppit! Crazy old man. Leave the hair alone. And if I haven't peed on the carpet after leaving the pub at four in the morning, I think it'll stay safe now." Harry's willing to be taken to Orlando's, as long as it means he doesn't have to make any decisions right now. He double checks his pocket to make sure he's still got his com, and lets Sean direct him out of the room.