Work Text:
It's Friday, Harry is pretty sure it is, which means Louis will be arriving at their house in a few hours, maybe long enough for Harry to take a shower and order something healthy from the restaurant next door.
At least that's what he thinks as he opens the dressing room door hoping it's someone from the Late Late Show crew to let him know that the show is almost starting. Usually, the Late Late Show is a program recorded to show on the channel's prime time, but today they decided to do something different in honor of the brand's anniversary, everyone there will participate in live scenes from Los Angeles.
This increases the pressure even more. Harry had just released his second studio album entitled Fine Line, he got a good reception, but the point is that he needs his entire press tour to take place in a hauntingly glorious way so the world tour would make him stand out enough to at least be nominated for a Grammy. On the previous album, he had come so close that for the first time in his career an awards scout had come to one of his concerts, but it was only to give him a false hope since, for once again, he hadn't been nominated.
It was a little frustrating, to be honest, and the pressure made him nervous, and this time there was no one in the dressing room to distract him from that feeling.
"I figured you'd be here." the familiar voice makes Harry snap out of his own thoughts and stare at the person in front of him with all the surprise in the world. "Jeff texted me that this would be your dressing room, and the whole team knows me well enough to let me sneak in here."
Harry wants to cry with relief, because yes, having Louis there makes everything better.
"Lou," Harry says slyly, throwing himself at his husband, sipping on his warm, familiar scent, "I thought you wouldn't be here for a few more hours."
"I canceled some appointments to get here early, you sounded really nervous on the phone yesterday."
Harry nods, because it's true, and it seems his nervousness is only increasing.
"Hey..." Louis calls him. After years together, it's easy to read each other's body expressions, sometimes Harry thinks they can even decipher thoughts for so much intimacy, but automatically Harry's whole body starts to relax when Louis wraps his arms around him. Glued bodies make his pores sigh with relief, and then Louis kisses him through each tense part until he gets to his lips.
Oh, Harry missed those kisses so much, it didn't even feel like it had been two weeks, it felt like almost two centuries. Louis kissed him in a way that made his head spin and everything got soften in his body, and it was easy for them to let everything around go up in flames because they were in love and they were so young... Louis kissed him like he was the dearest diamond of all, and he was treating him like a delicate flower, his hands roamed Harry's spine until they were positioned on top of Harry's ass, squeezing it heartily and making Harry sigh a soft 'I love you' against the thin lips of Louis.
And then someone seems to clear their throat.
"Do I interrupt something?" It's James, his voice echoes throughout the room and Harry immediately lets go of Louis, trying to get as far away as possible to get himself together, his hair must be messy and his clothes wrinkled, but maybe Louis can still tell that they just were bantering with each other, right? Like in that interview he said he lost his pants or something and was constantly reminded by his fans about it,.
"Hi James, I'm on my way to the stage." Harry says in a tone of shame.
"Actually, Harry, I imagine you wondered why your band stayed in another dressing room, right?"
"I thought Mitch and Sarah wanted privacy…" he whispered.
"Well, that's half true, because in reality, you are in the... Late Late Escape Room!" James yelled, "Your band is already on stage and if you manage to escape your dressing room in less than thirty minutes, you can perform your new song, otherwise we took your picture for the hall of failure. Ready to start the challenge? Have your good luck kiss already, hm?"
And it's too much for Harry to absorb. Damn, how long have the cameras been filming? Were the microphones turned on too? How much of his moment with Louis was televised live across the country?
"Did you see this, huh?" Louis says in a playful tone, and as much as it sounds like it's nothing, it's all it takes to give Harry time to concentrate. "I didn't know you had fetishes for couples in love."
"And I didn't know you were in the dressing room too, how did you manage to show up right there?"
"I have my tricks, but the thing is, apparently I'm going to have to escape from here with Harry, right?"
"Well, lovebirds can be together, for sure." James teases, but Harry can see that the presenter seems to be as surprised as he is that Louis is there and that he has just televised Larry Stylinson's confirmation, a couple sometimes posed as real as Google's iPhone conspiracy theory.
"How do we get out of here?" it's the first time Harry actually speaks on the show knowing he's actually on live TV.
This seems to give a little more clarity to follow the initial script, James' voice becomes more serious and he explains that there are clues hidden throughout the dressing room relating to the other televised episodes of the show, the idea is that Harry and Louis can sort it out each one of the tracks so they could make their way to the main stage and Harry could sing his new single with his band.
Louis holds his hand and Harry knows that everything will be fine, they will calmly resolve the whole issue of the unplanned kiss, but for now, they should focus on getting out of that room.
"Go!" That's what James yells and a suspenseful song starts to echo off the walls, it doesn't help them much to maintain their rationality, but they agree to split up and take the room down if necessary.
And then a big mess happens, and clearly, Louis is the biggest part of it, as Harry searches for things gently and doesn't wanting to mess anything up, Louis goes tossing things around hoping gravity will put them away. It's an ordinary dressing room, it seems to be the same as Harry was when he came there other times with One Direction and in his solo career. What should they really look for?
Louis finds a door behind a curtain, the door is transparent and he can see that on the other side there is a table full of disgusting foods.
"Spill your guts or fill your guts!" Harry yells, "I had to eat half of this shit with Kendall, remember?"
Louis rolls his eyes, there's fond jealousy about it that has just become theirs, it's not about romanticizing insecurities, it'd be more like "I wanted to be there with you", just like Harry knows he feels the same when Louis walks out hand in hand with Eleanor around and brings him a coffee and tells him about what's new at Starbucks.
"How could I forget about the day I couldn't kiss you for two days because your breath was horrible?" Louis counters.
"You know we're on live, right?"
"Right, and this is a great opportunity to let them know that I'm the one who kisses you most nights before bed."
"I think they already know...." Harry ponders, then snaps back into focus, "How do we get through that door?"
"With a key maybe?"
"And where could this key be?"
"I don't know!" Louis responds already back to further disorganize the big mess the dressing room is in, "Think like James' childish and nostalgic mind, where would he put it? You spend hours talking to him on the phone."
"Hey!" is James' voice that echoes offended all over the walls, "And to think I'd tip you guys..."
"I take it back." Louis hurriedly says to the cameras in the corners of the ceiling, "What's the tip?"
"In case you can't find a key, how about just trying to break the glass?"
"You're crazy?" is what Harry yells, but Louis is already looking for things to shoot there. It's amazing how everything seems to be made of light, crumbly or plush material with the exception of some fresh fruit that someone has placed on a tray for him.
Louis seems in awe of the fruit, which Harry wonders why, since Louis isn't such a fruit fan, he would look for tea to think about. But there is Louis, analyzing an orange with his touch and smell, tossing it from one hand to the other, and just below the orange is a tomato and an apple. Harry thinks that someone will be in trouble for putting a tomato among the tropical fruits, although tomatoes were also considered a fruit in some places and...
"That's it!" Louis exclaims.
"That what?"
Louis walks up to him, bringing the fruit basket with him, it doesn't make sense, are they going to eat that?
"Think Haz, the door is transparent and has no key, we have to throw things at it to make it break, dodge, retreat..." Louis comments, "Like Flinch's sket!"
Harry continues to look at him, he tries to remember this picture, but nothing comes to mind, at least not what he thinks has to do with a transparent door and fruit.
"In the sket, we catapult fruit against someone behind the glass, whoever doesn't flinch the shot wins, as I don't see anything like a catapult here, I think we shoot it with our hands anyway."
"Right."
"You first." Louis directs you.
Harry picks up an apple and throws it at the door, the fruit shatters into pieces, but nothing happens, the door doesn't take a single scratch.
"Your turn, I think." Harry points.
Louis takes what appears to be a pear and throws it against the glass, again they see the fruit shatter and smear the door with its juice, but nothing else happens.
"Maybe we should try shooting with harder fruits,..." Harry suggested.
"Well, we have two oranges, a pineapple and an avocado."
"Maybe I should try the avocado."
"The honors are yours."
And when Harry shoots, what appears to be a small plastic bag falls to the ground. It comes from inside the fruit, they realize. The message warns that the fruit with the key clashes with the others.
Harry and Louis believe that the clumping is related to the weight of the fruit, as they thought at first, so one by one, each heavy fruit is thrown against the glass, each containing the same note that was found inside the avocado.
"Okay, now what?" Harry mutters worriedly.
"Hello guys, not wanting to put pressure on, but Harry only has 20 minutes left before he misses his performance." James' voice beckons and is gone, all of Harry's nerves start collapsing and he wants to scream a lot of curses at the same time. His expression should indicate how upset he looks, as Louis hugs him tight.
"We gonna figure it out, love, I swear we will." He mutters against Harry's curls, when the hug ends, Louis reaches for the fruit tray and starts tossing fruit after fruit until all that's left is the tomato.
Louis indicates that Harry should be the one to shoot, and when Harry does, the jingle of the key echoes off the ground.
"Finally!" Harry sighs running to unlock the damn glass door.
Unlocked at last. That's what he thinks when he can sit in the chair in front of the table of exotic foods that turn his stomach.
It's not heaven, heaven would be if he didn't have to go through it, eating or snorting those dishes made him more wanting to vomit than when he was still on The X Factor and suffering from anxiety attacks before going on stage, not because they were really bad, but he was the kind of person who was picky with his food.
The first thing he noticed when he sat down in the chair was that along the sides of the round table were a series of randomly numbered plaques. If it was there, it was because it should have a meaning, but what would be the key to understanding that meaning?
It was when Louis said there was a small chair under Harry's chair that the curly one noticed an envelope with the cards on the board, but instead of the questions, there was the name of each of the exotic foods.
"It might sound crazy," Harry began, "But I think maybe it's about putting it in order?"
Silence.
"It doesn't really make sense, but I think if we put the foods in the order they appear on these cards, maybe we can find a clue."
"Ok, it's worth a try, looks like something James would consider doing."
"Okay, read it to me," Harry said handing the cards to Louis.
"A thousand-year-old egg." Louis dictates and when Harry places the plate just below the number one plate, the lights in the dressing room they were in previously go out completely.
They don't want to go there and check what's going on, they still have three dishes to order.
"The next," Harry whispers to Louis.
"Cod sperm."
Harry moves the plate to plaque number two, and that's when they notice an alternate light coming from the next room, Harry is tempted to check, but he knows it won't be conclusive until he's done with the plates, James wasn't the type to make four dishes to use only half of them.
"Chicken feet." Louis continues to dictate, and Harry's next move causes a click to be heard as if something is unlocking. "And finally bird saliva." Again Harry rotates the table until the plate is below its corresponding number, and that's when the light on the other side gets dimmer.
They look at each other, and it's easy to understand that they're talking with glances to finally go check out the room. Louis takes the lead, as always, intent on protecting Harry from whatever the lighting is, Harry knows there can't be anything dangerous in the dressing room, but it's still cute how Louis seems to always treat him like Harry's the most precious thing in his life, even after so many years.
"See something different?" Harry whispers, he's taller than Louis, but at that moment he curls up enough to have his face hidden against the back of his husband's neck.
"I think there's some clue in the dressing room lights, but I don't have my glasses on, I need to get closer to read."
"Alright... I'm also without my glasses."
"We look like an elderly couple that way."
"Your gray hair gives you more charm."
"Oi! What gray hair?" Harry wants to talk about how Louis doesn't have to deny his age and start stepping into that bubble of love and teasing of theirs, but the truth is that time is running out and together they end up losing track of it. Harry isn't even sure how much time has already been lost.
"You weren't going to come closer to read what was in the lights?"
Louis grumbles aloud, but when he says the name of the Carpool Karaoke sket aloud, one of the mirror's drawers with lights opens by voice command, or perhaps by a team intern with remote control, the fact is that inside the drawer of wood has a microphone ready to be used.
Harry thinks they'll be able to choose which song to sing, but when Louis hands him the device, his fingers feel a personalized recording word. It takes a few more minutes for him and Louis to take turns looking closer and further away from the microphone so that they can read the tiny inscription in a low-light environment. Yes, there will be memes of it running all over the internet in seconds, it's something he can already feel happening after the experience his career has given him.
"Total eclipse of your heart?" Louis finally manages to read clearly, "Well, putting this inscription and the trail of lights together, I think you should be the one to sing that."
"You could sing with me, right?"
"Love, I wasn't even supposed to be here, come on sing, I love listening to you sing." Louis encourages.
And Harry wants to sing the entire song, but something in his head tells him that he better sing all the lines of the structure in a new arrangement so that it goes faster. He finds himself singing two or three lines and repeating the chorus twice before finishing the song, and he feels proud of what he did, it was an improvised arrangement but few would really recognize the change. At least by professional musicians. If they were in a singing competition, he would be tempted to drop the microphone on the floor as a sign of pride.
Louis is applauding him and smiling like he is the sun. Harry really wants to drop the microphone on the floor.
"Oh." he finally notices. Harry drops the mic, the move he does opens a side door.
"Let's go?" Louis says offering his arm, and Harry accepts because he loves Louis and everything about him, especially the shapely biceps that give shivers down his spine.
The couple walks into the room, all the walls are yellow, and there are no decorations other than the vault and the paper above it.
Louis is the one who evaluates the role.
"What does it say there?" Harry questions.
"It says here this is an Into The Woods setlist, so I guess it's something like what we did at the Spill Your Guts' table, let's just try put the songs in chronological order and then see if we're doing it right, okay?"
"It works for me." He's tired, never performing on TV has been so exhausting, "How many songs are there?"
"Five, at least it will be quick."
"Right," Harry agrees, "at least we know the prologue song is the first one, which makes number 1 the third number in the vault password."
"And 'She Won't Get Far With One Shoe' is the last one," Louis adds.
"'It takes two' is the one James sings with Emily Blunt in the movie, right? I'm pretty sure it comes before the John cuts the beanstalk song, so it comes before the witch song too."
"And 'Hello, Little Girl' is the second one, because it's at the very beginning that the wolf appears talking with the little red hood."
"Okay, so the order is 24165," Harry speaks holding the paper, the thin sound indicates that Louis is typing the password, and when his husband finally gets up, he has a paper in his hand.
"Congratulations! You've just successfully completed Into The Woods by Crosswalk: The Musical crew, time to celebrate with champagne!" Louis reads.
"I'm about to stuff this champagne somewhere else," Harry mumbles more to himself than to the show, and he hopes he won't be misunderstood because he honestly is tired, James is going to owe him something for that.
"Let's just get the champagne, I think it must be in those mini-fridges by the paintings."
"Right."
The fridge is near the transparent door that he and Louis have smeared with crushed fruit, he feels a little sorry for the cleaning crew as they look around. Louis is getting the champagne for them from the fridge so Harry feels obligated to look for the glasses, they have a few glasses of champagne on a richly decorated tray near the sofa where he was sitting before all this craziness started, thinking now it almost feels like it wasn't real life those brief moments of peace.
It's only when he takes the first cup off the tray that he realizes that the protective paper at the bottom is not protective paper, but a red envelope.
"Lou, wait a minute, I don't think we're going to drink the champagne right now," Harry screams without taking his eyes off the envelope, his fingers are investigating the material as he waits for Louis and, sensing his close presence, he opens the paper finding a thin silver key.
"The key to the door," Louis sighs in relief. And when they try to open the main dressing room door with it, it works. The two race to the stage of the Late Late Show as James shouts an announcement of their victory and the performance that is about to take place.
[...]
And Harry ends Golden looking at Louis because it's about him, all the songs are about him and always will be.
"You just heard 'Golden' by Harry Styles and his wonderful band, a round of applause for them guys!" James exclaims excitedly, with a gesture, someone directs Louis to the stage they are standing on and Harry is confused, "It's a great song, it's about him, isn't it? The both of us already know the answer, but I think it's time for everyone to know."
Silence. Harry can feel his heart beating faster, but Louis' equally nervous look also tells him it's time.
"Golden is about him, about Louis William Tomlinson, all my songs are."
"And you two are a couple," James pointed out, "What level of relationship specifically?"
"Husbands." It's Louis who says, "Harry has been my husband for nearly ten years and we've loved each other since 2011, it's mutual."
And Harry wants to cry because it's all true and it's finally great to be able to be who he is with Louis. Because they're all that matters right now.
"Oh yeah," James adds, "I vaguely remember being present on that occasion... It's good to see you still keep the flame burning inside you guys, at least that's what we got to see during the escape room frame."
And honestly, Harry wants to look red and shy, but the truth is that he starts to laugh at the situation because several times he and Louis had to look for excuses at the last minute to justify their behavior without denying their relationship, but here and now, they don't need it anymore, and it seems that Louis comes to the same conclusion when he laughs as openly as Harry.
"Oh, that?" Louis blurts out provocatively, "It was just a bit of a banter really, you know?"
"I'm sure it was," James said, "Last time I tried this I was a lot more truthful than I wanted to and slept on the couch."
The three of them laugh because there's more to add to the story, like the fact that he was drunk and accidentally peed on the bathroom rug, but none of them are going to add that, just laugh and feel free.
"Thanks for watching The Late Late Show today guys, we had amazing skets, notable appearances, and secrets being revealed! I'm James Corden with Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson taking on Larry Stylinson for the first time, see you next Thursday night!"