Something Beautiful
Chapter Three: Gay? Me?

Harmony had heard the rumours long before she started to care. Spiteful whispers when they couldn't be sure if the object of their gossip would walk in on them. Crude, laugh out loud jokes when they were sure he wouldn't walk in.

Harmony, unliked and generally shunned by most of the other people in the building, could eavesdrop without being noticed. Which was what she did now. She pulled a nail file out of her purse and stared intently at her nails as she filed them. But she was listening to the conversation going on behind her, barely stifling her anger and only just holding her tongue.

"It's such a shame," one woman moaned. "Such a gorgeous man, so very, very gay."

"You know, I never believed he was gay," her companion answered. "He never dressed like a gay man. But now… Now he dresses great and only gay men dress that well."

Harmony winced when she heard that. That would be her fault. A straight man only dresses like a gay man when he's got a brilliantly fashion conscious female friend to help him. She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them, listening intently.

"I knew he was gay the first moment I saw him," the third woman said, a woman with a face like a horse, who went by the name of Janet.

"Yeah, right," her friend snorted.

"I did!" Janet protested. "You can just tell."

Harmony almost growled, then she thrust her nail file into her purse and stood up, chair squealing loudly across the floor. The conversation behind her came to a shuddering halt and Harmony gave them all a withering look as she made to leave.

She reached her desk, lips still pursed in annoyance and drummed her fingers as she opened up a computer file and got to work.

"Harmony," Angel leaned over the desk and recoiled a little at the fierce glare he received. "You, uh, you ok?"

"Angel, does -" she stopped, glancing round, then lowered her voice so that Angel leaned forward a little more. "Does Wesley seem a little… gay, to you?"

"Gay?" Angel blinked. "No, he's had girlfriends and crushes on girls. He's in no way gay."

"That's what I thought!" Harmony crowed victoriously.

Angel stared at her in confusion, then, having decided long ago not to even attempt to fathom the workings of Harmony Kendall's mind, he shook his head.

"Could you set up a meeting with the Kun Gai clan in Santa Monica?" he asked.

"What?" Harmony asked, frowning in confusion.

"Kun Gai clan," he repeated impatiently. "Santa Monica. A meeting with."

"Ok, ok," Harmony said, grabbing the diary and flicking through it. "You're free at one today. Is that all right?"

"Yeah, let Gunn and Wes know, will you?" he asked and Harmony nodded. He was half way to his office when he paused and turned back to her. "And don't mention what you said to me to Wesley, will you?"

"Do I look stupid to you?" she asked.

Angel didn't answer.

"Hey, Angel."

"What?" he asked, turning round to face her again.

"Ever thought about wearing more red?"

"Set up the meeting, Harmony."

With the Fang Gang in their meeting, no more work to do and the phones blessedly quiet, Harmony slipped away. She headed in the direction of the staff break room where the clouds of cigarette smoke curling out from the door and the hoarse laughter told her that Janet and her pals were in residence.

She didn't give them a second glance as she swept past them and opened the fridge, grabbing her thermos. She sipped from it slowly and watched the group through narrowed eyes.

"Mr Gunn?" one of Janet's friends howled with laughter. "It's so not Mr Gunn! He's totally head over heels for Angel. Haven't you guys seen the way he looks at him?"

"Have you guys got nothing better to do?" Harmony burst out suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Janet asked, sounding spookily like Harmony in her days as Princess of Sunnydale High.

"You people work at Wolfram and Hart, hotbed of scandal and deceit and here you are talking about whether Wes wants to bone Gunn or Angel more. Hello, more interesting things are happening right now!" she snapped.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Janet asked.

"Angel's in a meeting right now with the Santa Monica Kun Gai clan!"

"And this is interesting how?" the blonde woman asked.

"Well, ok, maybe not," Harmony admitted sullenly. "But take it from me, Wes is not gay."

"Of course not, honey," Janet sneered. "And you'd know."

Harmony stared at her, furious and for once, completely speechless.

Harmony hesitated outside the door of Wesley's office. She stepped backwards, then forwards, twisted her fingers together, backed up then forward again.

She glanced through the glass wall of his office and watched him for a moment. He was bent over a pile of paperwork. Translating, she decided, noting the selection of books set out before him. His PA, Louise was flicking through a pile of paperwork as she came toward the door. Harmony stepped back; staring intently at the floor as Louise came out of the office.

"Hey, Harmony," she said with a smile.

"Louise, hi. Wow, I so didn't see you there. I was just… looking at this carpet. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Yeah," Louise replied with a slight frown. "Did I ever than you for getting me this job? It's great. Wes is a really cool guy to work with."

"Wes?" Harmony repeated, frowning as Louise averted her gaze, shifting slightly. "That's… friendly. You should not lose the friendliness by not doing that," she waved at the stack of paperwork in Louise's arms.

"Yeah, you're right," Louise nodded. She was halfway down the hall when she turned and gave Harmony a shrewd look. "Harmony? He can see you through the glass wall."

"What?" Harmony frowned, then glanced at the glass wall. "Oh. I knew that!"

Louise raised her eyebrows as she left and Harmony stuck her tongue out at her. When she turned to the door, Wes was standing there, an amused smile on his face.

"Should I be worried?" he asked. "Are you on your way to a cat-fight with my PA? Do I have time to sell tickets?"

"You're such a perv, Wes," Harmony rolled her arms, pushing past him into the office. "I don't know how the girls can think you're -" she stopped, "a gentlemen."

"The girls think I'm a gentlemen?" he looked pleased with himself.

"And gay. Oh, how's Louise doing? She looks super efficient!"

"Gay?" Wes repeated, then his eyes widened, his mouth dropped open and he stared at Harmony in horror. His voice climbed to a high pitched squeal as he asked. "Gay?"

"Ok, now I can hear why they thought you were gay."

"But I'm not gay!" he cried.

"I know that," Harmony replied. "But it's your own fault."

"How?"

"You took my advice on dressing well!"

"You made me!"

"You didn't check Janet out!"

"What?"

"Janet," Harmony said again. "Little brunette, calls herself curvaceous, but it's really just fat. Wears make-up like it's cement and doesn't know that cigarette smoke isn't Chanel. I saw you hold the door for her yesterday. You didn't check out her ass or her cleavage. On her gaydar, you're Will and Grace all in one."

Wes sat down heavily on his couch, his face creased in thought. He was silent for a moment and Harmony watched him closely, trying to decide how this news had affected his mood.

"Oh," he said suddenly. "Janet! The one with the war paint."

"Yeah. Only she calls it blusher."

There was a silence and Harmony settled down on the couch beside him and patted his knee gently.

"I am not gay!" he burst out suddenly.

Harmony jumped, snapping her hand back and glared at him.

"Ok, see that was Jack from Will and Grace. You're on a whole new level, buddy."

"You're not helping, Harmony," he gritted out.

"Look, Wes, because you're like my new best friend or something, I'm gonna help you out here. Just carry on as normal, k?"

"And by normal, you mean gay, I suppose?"

"You're not gay, sweetie," Harmony replied, standing up. "I've seen you work out."

She left the room and Wes sank back on the couch.

"She's seen me work out?" he asked aloud. "When?"

Harmony wasn't surprised to find Janet and her two friends at their usual table in the staff break room. It wasn't like they ever did any work because that would get in the way of the fun gossiping.

"Hey, Harmony?" Janet's blonde friend said. "Are there any more interesting meetings going on? Like, the vampires and the werewolves, can we get front row seats?"

They sniggered and Harmony rounded on them.

"No, but I do have other news. But it's about Mr Gunn, so you wouldn't be interested."

She turned away and counted.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

"Mr Gunn?"

"Mmmm," Harmony replied casually, retrieving her thermos from the fridge. There was a long pause while she took a sip from her thermos. "Let's just say, you guys were right about Angel being the main attraction. But you were wrong about who was attracted."

"You mean… Mr Gunn?" Janet gaped.

"You mean you didn't guess?" Harmony asked innocently, taking a seat at a table opposite and pulled out a magazine.

She glanced up at the doorway, saw Wes hesitating just out of sight and inclined her head a little. He peeked into the break room, saw Harmony point subtly but firmly at Janet and her friends, and straightened up.

He strode into the break room and ignored everyone as he made his way to the coffee machine. Harmony pretended not to have noticed him and continued scanning her magazine. Janet and her friends were giggling and nudging each other, but they stopped immediately when Wes turned around, holding his mug of coffee. As he made his way out again, he slowed as he drew level with Janet's table.

"Ladies," he said, in a low, charming voice, complete with flirtatious smile and lifted eyebrow. They smiled in reply and he moved on, pausing by Harmony's table. "Harmony, you look lovely today."

She glanced down, placing a hand on her chest lightly.

"What, this old thing?" she laughed.

"See you later," he said, smiling at her and leaving the break room.

As soon as he disappeared, Janet let out an audible sigh.

"Thank God that man isn't gay," she said.

Harmony smirked, gathering her thermos and magazine to leave the break room, unnoticed, as usual.

She saw Wesley halfway down the hall. She ran to catch up with him and grabbed his elbow.

"You did it!" she cried. "And where the hell did you get that James Bond flirt from? That's what swung it for you."

"It's a natural talent," he replied. "So, did you say someone else was gay in my place?"

"I might have," Harmony answered evasively.

"Who?"

There was a pause in which Harmony wondered whether to come clean. She was about to (honestly!) when she saw a certain Mr Charles Gunn up ahead and decided against it.

"Oh, just Joe from Accounting," she said.