The Love We Share: L.S one-shots

Black, White, and Read All Over

By: EmmylouWho

3,842 words

Summary:

Louis is an author, heading out on his first promotional tour. On the plane, he ends up sitting next to a gorgeous stranger who is reading his book.

Start:

Louis hated airports. He knew some people loved to romanticize them, go on about how they were a place of love and reunions and happiness, and yeah, okay, he had seen Love Actually too, thanks. The thing is, those people conveniently glossed over the endless sets of queues, the food options that were poor at best, and the fact that all airports were stupidly big. The latter was currently of particular annoyance to Louis, as he tried to get from one side of Heathrow to the other in time to catch his flight.

"Attention passengers, this is your final boarding call for British Airways flight 1386, from London Heathrow to Manchester. Any passengers wishing to board this flight, please make your way immediately to gate 3."

At the sound of the cool voice over the speaker, Louis quickened his pace to the absolute fastest walk he could manage without actually breaking into a run. It didn't matter how late he was, he categorically refused to be that person running through an airport and looking ridiculous.

Carry-on backpack swinging over one shoulder while he juggled his phone, passport and boarding pass in his other hand, Louis swore to himself that his would be the last time he ever accepted a ride from Niall. Without fail, despite Louis' best efforts to leave on time, something always went wrong. Today Niall had forgotten that his car was nearly out of petrol until they were already halfway to the airport and had to double back, costing them valuable time. One of these days he would actually miss a flight. Maybe then, Louis thought to himself, he would actually learn his lesson.
Luckily for him, today he reached the gate with a solid ninety seconds to spare. He handed over his boarding pass to the waiting attendant, and smiled at her as she waved him though the gates.

He paused in the walkway to take a moment to catch his breath and to comb his fingers through his hair, which was disheveled from his jaunt across the airport, and not in an attractive way. Now that he was actually here, and wasn't worried about missing his flight, Louis could actually start to feel excited for this trip.

Thinking about it still sent a shiver down his spine, the idea that he was being sent out by his publishers on his very own book tour. Sure, the tour was only a few dates booked in bookshops around the UK, and it wasn't exactly an international takeover of the literary world, but this was way beyond the realm of anything that Louis could have imagined ever happening to him.

He had never really intended to become an author, it had just sort of happened. During his second year of studying economics at uni, he'd been required to pick an elective subject from a different faculty. Louis had chosen a class called Creative Writing For Beginners solely because it didn't have an exam and the lectures never began before 11am. He had surprised himself more than anyone when he actually enjoyed himself. Compared to his economics classes, which involved endless dull readings, Louis found his Creative Writing lectures fascinating and he was soon excelling at his assignments, getting properly good grades for the first time in his university career.

When he decided to change his major at the end of term, his mum had been concerned, but the fact that he would have to spend an extra year studying due to the switch or that his prospects of finding a job after graduation had significantly reduced did not deter Louis. He had finally found what he was good at, and most importantly what he actually enjoyed studying, and he was pursuing it no matter what.