Is this seat taken- lainy122 on Archive of our own

Chapter 8

That night felt like the longest of Louis' life.

The theatre production ended up being some new age interpretation of...something, Louis still wasn't quite sure what, and it was atrocious. He was pretty sure the lead had forgotten his lines more than once, but it was hard to tell when the dialogue was so disjointed and difficult to follow. The costumes were hideous and the set dressing only looked half finished, probably supposed to be minimalistic and "raw" but really just crappy and half-done. The lighting guy kept missing his cue - unless there was a thematic reason for the cast to be acting in the dark for a few minutes at the start of every scene, only to be flooded in lights a moment later.

Maybe there was. Louis couldn't understand what he was even watching, so who knows if it made sense thematically?

The whole time the only thing Louis could think about was that he could be home right now, wining and dining Harry Styles. His phone was like a phantom limb in his pocket he was so aware of it, able to feel it vibrate almost continuously with messages from Harry like it had been for the entire day. He waited desperately for intermission when the house lights would come up and he could read them without shame.

When the break finally came Louis spent it reading them all greedily with a huge grin on his face, wondering if he could duck out early with no one the wiser. Unfortunately when El had told him he was needed front and centre she had meant it quite literally - Louis was seated in the very middle of the front row. Not only would the empty seat be embarrassingly obvious, several people had approached him before the show had started, apparently recognising him from the gossip columns.

That Louis was even in the gossip columns at all was a source of much bemusement to him, but it still meant that people would notice if he left. This was the easiest well-paid job he had ever had, and he was proper good at it. He didn't want to lose it, no matter how much Harry texted him.

Finally the cast took their final bow and the curtain fell. Louis was out of his seat like a shot, weaving his way through the lingering crowd. Maybe if he caught the first cab, he could get home with enough time to convince Harry it was worth his while to still come over.

He was looking down at his phone when he left the building so the first warning he got was a slow drawl next to him, "How was the show?"

Louis nearly fell over he turned around so fast. Sure enough, there was Harry Styles standing in front him as though he had been summoned by Louis' thoughts alone.

"What are you doing here?" was all Louis could think to ask with his brain on autopilot from surprise, moving to catch Harry up in a tight hug anyway. Harry hugged him back just as tightly before letting go and stepping back as the rest of the audience began to stream out of the building. "How did you even find me?"

Harry grinned, showing Louis his phone. On the screen was a photo on instagram that someone must have taken from the audience. It showed Louis' face in profile, looking immensely bored by the action on stage in front of him. Louis flushed, embarrassed he had been caught out but incredibly pleased Harry had apparently put effort into looking for him.

"Proper detective work," Louis complimented him with a grin.

Harry smiled back, but his eyes flickered around them. People had started to notice Harry and the crowd had parted slightly around the two of them, as a number of younger people were trying to stealthily take photos of him on their phones.

"Did you drive?" Harry asked politely. Although he looked nothing less than completely casual, Louis could see there was a tightness around his jaw that hadn't been there a moment ago, and he obviously didn't want to linger.