Is this seat taken- lainy122 on Archive of our own

Chapter 11

Jay was happy to let Louis puddle around with her on Sunday helping out with bits and bobs, but by the time the girls went back to school on Monday, she started to push him to get out of the house.

"Everyone's heart heals differently Louis, and I know you well enough that yours will do no good stagnating in your chest," she said gently when he scowled into his cereal. "Go out and visit your mates, or pop down to the store and have a chat with the lass behind the counter."

It was no small chance Louis was great at small talk with strangers - his mum had been a master teacher, always leading from example.

In the end Louis compromised by taking the babies with him to the park, swaddled up against the cold weather. He still didn't feel up for company outside his family (although he had started sending Zayn texts so that he wouldn't worry), and the quiet stroll around the small park worked to both give his mum a bit of a break and to ease his mind.

It became part of his daily routine; feed the twins while Jay made breakfast for the girls, then help pack them lunches and see them off to school. He would help his mum around the house in the morning, and then head to the park with the giant double pram in the afternoon. By Wednesday he had even started to look forward to it, the peace it gave him to sit on the park bench with his youngest siblings napping in front of him and to watch people go by.

That's why it was such a shock to look up on Friday afternoon and see Harry Styles making his way across the park towards him.

Louis froze, not sure if his heart was playing tricks on his eyes, unable to believe Harry was really there until he was standing right in front of him, watching Louis with a cautious but hopeful expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Louis finally managed to say when it seemed as though Harry wasn't going to do anything but stare at him.

"Liam told me you'd gone home to England, and your mum said you might be here." Harry's shoulders were hunched as he watched Louis' face, not making any move to come closer as though he wasn't sure of his welcome.

Harry had flown to England in the middle of his album promotion, all the way to Manchester, to see Louis. To...what? Apologize? Explain?

How the fuck did he find out Louis' mum's address?

Doris began to sook in her side of the pram, crying softly. Louis welcomed the distraction, picking her up and bracing her against his shoulder, cupping her butt with one arm and running a soothing hand up and down her back with the other.

"Why are you here, Harry?" Louis asked quietly, not looking up from where his sister was tucked into his arms. He couldn't see Harry's face this way, but he heard the shaky breath he took.

"I didn't sleep with Cara, Lou, I swear," he said, his voice quiet but urgent. "I wasn't lying when I said I had to work, but I should have told you what that meant."

Louis didn't say anything, Harry's words echoing around in his head.

"My publicist told me that with all the rumours going around about us I needed to try harder, to be seen with more women, but I didn't...I wanted to to protect you from all that. I didn't want you to see it."

Harry sounded anguished but Louis still couldn't bring himself to look up, trying to process what he was hearing. Harry hadn't slept with that model, had been following a media narrative like Louis had been hoping for when he was trying to justify Harry's behaviour.

"I wish you hadn't seen it," Harry continued, quietly. "Charles told me what you wanted to do, like, why you were there at the hotel. I've never even seen him angry, but he could hardly speak to me. I'm so sorry, Lou."

A film of tears was filling Louis' eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Harry stepped closer like he couldn't help himself, reaching towards him from the corner of Louis' eye but holding himself back at the last moment.

Louis had never wanted Harry to hold back from him, had never wanted to be the one holding him back.

"I really loved the shirt," Harry confessed, low and intimate and fuck, why did this have to be so hard?

"I can't do this, Harry," Louis said, knowing his voice was wavering but unable to do anything about it.

He settled Doris back into her seat and finally looked up to meet Harry's stricken gaze.

"I can't...if you don't want to yell from the rooftops that we're seeing each other, fine, I could live with that, but I can't...I can't watch some woman hang all over you and not..." He took a deep breath and shook his head, knowing he was showing his hand but not having much else to lose by this point. "I just can't do it."

"Louis," Harry breathed, tears in his eyes. "You won't have to, I swear. When I realised you were gone-" his voice broke, cutting him off.

He wiped the tears from his face impatiently, trying again, "When Liam told me that you had left, I thought I'd lost you for good. I couldn't bear it! I told my team no more, and I followed you. Please."

Harry held out his hand, reaching for Louis' hand but not taking it, waiting.

"I don't care if the whole world knows we're together or nobody does, I just want to be with you," Harry implored. "Please."

Louis stared at Harry's hand, reaching for him.

Could he trust what Harry was telling him, or was it only what he wanted to hear? Could he risk his heart again or was it better to play the safe route, and turn away?

When it came down to it, Louis knew deep down that his choice had already been made. He had made it when he programed his number into the phone of a drunk popstar who thought he was dreaming and wouldn't have known any different the next morning.

He reached out and took Harry's hand, letting himself be pulled into a rough hug. Harry threaded their fingers together, his other arm wrapped so tight around Louis' waist like he would never let go.

"Thank fuck," he whispered into Louis' hair, so softly that Louis suspected he wasn't meant to have heard. He chuckled wetly, overcome by emotion.

"In the interest of full disclosure," Louis said, pulling back just enough to look into Harry's eyes, "I am completely arse over tit in love with you."

Harry's breath caught and his eyes widened as though this were somehow news, as though Louis fleeing the fucking country when he thought Harry had been unfaithful wasn't a pretty obvious indicator of his feelings.

"Then in the interest of full disclosure, I have to let you know," Harry pressed the same sweet, chaste kiss against Louis' lips that he had in the front hallway of Louis' house, "I am completely in love with you too."

Louis was pretty sure he was going to explode from the sunshine bubbling through his veins. He pulled Harry close to kiss him again, deepening it like he had all the time in the world to learn his mouth.

When they made it back to Jay's house, she lifted her eyebrows at their joined hands in question. Louis gave a slight nod and a shy smile and just like that Harry was welcomed as family, much to Harry's delight. When Louis' sisters came home from school it was hard to tell who was more excited, Harry or the girls.

Harry insisted on trying to help Jay prepare for dinner despite her protests that he was a guest, and as they sat down to eat once it was ready, he slid his hand into Louis' under the table. Louis couldn't stop smiling at him, his heart so full it felt like it could light up the world.

There was no place he'd rather be than right in this moment, with his family and with his boy.