Harry's solely focused on the fact that Louis' sitting on the other end of the couch and he's not supposed to look over because if he does he'll linger. Always linger. As a result he's staring at the interviewer as if he's trying hard to get him to spontaneously explode and the poor man keeps glancing at him nervously as he's asking his questions. Harry only snaps out of his trance when Liam pours him a glass of water and nudges his arm.
"Now boys, any special plans for Valentine's day?"
Harry's heart skips a beat and he has to hold the water in his mouth for a moment before swallowing to stop himself from choking. Valentines day. He's so excited at the thought that he can barely contain himself and a smile stretches across his face.
"Louis, are you planning on taking your girlfriend away. A romantic vacation, perhaps?"
Harry's heart skips a beat again, but it's significantly different from the one a second ago. This one leaves a dull pain in his chest, as if an old wound had just been re-opened and begun bleeding. He feels the smile drop from his face and resists the urge to get up and leave the stage. There are nearly a dozen different cameras in the room focused on him and he's positive his facial expression has just been caught from every angle possible. Harry knows he's a rubbish liar. Can't hide an emotion from creeping onto his face if his life depended on it – and it basically does. Basically. Louis says that's one of the things he loves about him. His honesty. Harry always scoffs when Louis says that, and then his cheeks heat up and Louis just smiles. He takes another sip of his water.
"We're actually coming in to work in the studio, so something like a dinner in the evening."
Louis' better at hiding his emotions but he's no good at feigning them and Harry almost winces at the plain indifference in Louis voice.
"A romantic dinner," the interviewer adds with a suggestive wink before he looks over to Zayn.
Zayn mumbles something fairly standard about spending time with Perrie and the interviewer moves on to Liam, hoping for some liveliness, practically imploring him with his eyes. Naturally, Liam's heart goes out to the man and he babbles on about trying to avoid stereotypes of Valentine's day and then somehow gets to the subject of the origin of the day itself. They go off on a tangent, though not completely unrelated – St. Patricks day and Halloween get mentioned as well – but the interviewer tactfully brings the conversation full circle and ends with Liam saying that he's got something special planned for Danielle.
Harry's spirit lifts a bit after Liam's finished talking and he grins at him and shakes his head. Liam's sitting to the right of him and so is Zayn and Louis, and the temptation is just too much so Harry lets his eyes leave Liam's face and settle on the figure hanging off the edge of the couch. Louis' already looking his way and gives him a quick smile, so subtle that it could have been mistaken for him merely sucking in a breath or nodding his head.
"Now our two single boys, do you have hot dates or are you crying into a tub of ice cream?"
Niall chuckles and shakes his head. "I'm ordering take-out and lying in bed, I think."
The interviewer nods and shakes his head solemnly. "Crying into a tub of ice cream, then."
Niall bursts out laughing and shrugs his shoulders. "I suppose so, yeah. Not bad company, though."
"And you, Harry?"
Liam tenses next to him and Harry stiffens in response. He thinks about saying that he's going out to dinner with a friend, but really he's going to be home with Louis and he's got a delicious meal planned that he's hoping will be perfect. He can't say he's bought candles to light because then he'd have to explain for whom he's planning on lighting them. "Uhm." He probably shouldn't mention that he's ordered a rather obscenely large bouquet of roses, one for every kiss he plans to plant on Louis throughout the day. They'd never be enough. "Well, you see..." Harry definitely can't mention that he's bought Louis a Patek Phillipe wristwatch with a silly inscription on the back that's actually probably more of a stain on the beauty of the watch itself. "I think..." Harry swallows harshly, and looks up at the interviewer struggling to decide how he should handle this.
"I think Harry's sobbing into a tub of ice cream as well," Liam interjects with a nervous chuckle. "Maybe him and Niall will spend Valentine's together."
Harry looks over at Liam and then at Niall and smiles. "You know, I think I'm just going to have a quiet night in." Then his eyes find Louis' and his features soften, his gaze and smile now tenderly focused on him as the rest of the room fade away. Harry breathes in, like a small sigh, and he's only half-aware that Liam has jumped in to distract the interviewer with a comedic story about his trying to impress past girlfriends. Louis shakes his head and his face contorts as if something has pricked him on the cheek and Harry's smile widens as Louis tries to avoid one from forming on his face. Harry only looks away when he spies a tinge of pink creep into Louis cheeks. The smile drops from his face when he focuses back on the actual interview and he's acutely aware that, though for a moment he had imagined the world contained him and Louis, the rest of the world was sitting just as he'd left it. He'd looked and he'd lingered and there were twelve cameras in the room recording every second of it.
As the interview comes to a close, the interviewer cues the boys with a quick hand motion and they all blow kisses at the cameras exclaiming "Happy Valentine's Day!"
The live audience, mostly made up of teenage girls, erupts into cries and wails, hands clutching at their hearts. The cameras shut off promptly and the boys wave and smile at the girls as they leave the stage. Louis hangs back to wait for Harry.
Amid the general noise, cries of "Harry! Harry we love you!" surface over the din and the security guards tense and brace themselves against the pushing crowd.
Harry waves and blows a few kisses to the fans, making his way over to Louis, understanding him fully when a hand curls around his wrist and he's pulled out of the room. Harry lets Louis lead him through the hallway behind the other boys and he gently pulls his wrist free and briefly touches his fingers to Louis' hand.
"You need to stop doing that," Louis says under his breath, keeping his eye's straight ahead.
Harry rolls the words around in his head and then glances at Louis, eyes dropping to scan his profile.
"Do what?"
Louis scoffs and looks up at Harry, eyes looking down at him with unconcealed adoration then quickly looks away. "That. Don't do that."
Harry smiles and leans over, pressing his arm against Louis'. He closes his fingers into his palm and sticks his thumb out, tapping his knuckles against Louis' wrist.
Louis briefly looks down and then rolls his eyes, a smile playing upon his lips. He mimics Harry's hand and gives him a thumbs up, to which Harry answers by angling his thumb to connect with Louis'. The gesture is brief, but the message clear.
I love you.
