author: LarryAf

Summary: It's not very difficult to bring out Harry Styles' protective side, especially when it comes to the media hassling his boyfriend, university student Louis Tomlinson.

Name from: They Don't Know About Us by One Direction

The light in the studio was bright, but it was nothing new to Harry. He sighed and put on a smile before he walked through the entrance and was instantly greeted by a cheerful interviewer.

"Hello, Harry. It's so nice of you to join us today."

Harry hummed and mumbled something in reply as he took seat on the couch facing the interviewer. Amanda was her name. At least his stylist had told him that it was her name.

The interview started just as every single one before started: questions about his new album, his tour, his plans for the future. Harry answered them politely until she came to the question he knew he would be asked.

"The fans wanted me to ask you about your boyfriend," she said.

I'm sure they did, Harry thought.

"What do you want to know?" he asked instead, trying to keep the spite out of his voice.

"I've heard about some things between him and people you know. He's quite harassed by everyone?"

Harry sighed. "Paps follow him into uni and ask him things that aren't appropriate. Some of the people I know treat him like a toy. He has feelings, for god's sake."

"It's hard for the two of you, isn't it?" Harry was surprised to hear her genuinely sympathetic.

"Louis is really strong and he doesn't let it get to him, but what people say to him is just unacceptable." Harry dropped his gaze on his hands. "I feel like it's my responsibility to protect him from all the negativity."

Harry's voice was growing sadder, so the interviewer decided it was time to change the topic. They talked about other things in his private life, but Amanda pointedly avoided any topic that had something to do with Louis.

Harry was relieved when the interview finally ended and he sat in his car, ready to drive to meet his boyfriend. Harry had told him he'd come to the small hole-in-the-wall café Louis worked at and where the two of them met.

Harry smiled at the memory.

~Flashback~

Harry was late. He was supposed to meet with some friends ten minutes ago, but the traffic was murder and Harry decided to leave the cab and make his way by foot. It was cold, it being late December a few days before Christmas.

Harry walked by a café and stopped, looking at the boy putting up a few fairy lights, dressed as a Christmas elf minus the tights. The boy looked so cute and Harry really wanted to talk to him, so he decided to go into the café.

He sat down at a table and waited for the cute boy to come in. He did and when he spotted Harry at the table he called, "I'll be with you in a sec!"

Not a problem, Harry thought smiling.

The boy bounded over. Harry saw the small name plate sticking to the boy's uniform. Louis.

"Hi, my name is Louis, welcome in Sweet Home. What can I do for you?" the boy - Louis - said in a voice, high and melodic and kind of fitting to his costume.

"Can I have your number?" Harry blurted before he slapped his hands in front of his mouth.

Louis let out a surprised laughter and smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Cute.

"Pretty fast forward, aren't you?"

"Well, I mean, you're cute and I wanna ..." Harry started rambling awkwardly.

"Hey, that's okay. How about after I end my shift, we go somewhere?"

"I'd pretty much love that," Harry smiled.

Harry ordered a blueberry pastry and some cinnamon biscuits and sat in the warm café until Louis' shift ended, his friends long forgotten. Maybe he should have cancelled them, but his mind was circling around the pretty boy and nothing else. Really, everything should circle around Louis.

When Louis finished and told his co-worker he'd leave now, Harry stood up and waited until Louis had changed his clothing and walked out again, now in tight black jeans and a white t-shirt. But still as cute as ever.

"Let's go?" he asked shyly.

This evening, Harry learned that Louis was a fan of his music, but didn't start screaming or flipping because he thought Harry'd be annoyed by him. He learned that Louis was almost nineteen and in his first year of university, his birthday was on Christmas Eve and he loved oversized jumpers. He told Louis about things he loved to do and things no fan ever knew about. The soon-to-be twenty year old kind of trusted Louis.

Harry was in love.

~End of Flashback~

They started dating a month after getting to know each other and it's been almost a year now. But, when they came out it hadn't been that great. The media flipped.

Louis had told Louis how a pap had followed him into the university building and asked him how it felt to be Harry's "fling of the week". Louis' answer had been, "Yeah, we'll see about that."

Louis was so much more than a fling. Or a "cutest little twink on his arm" as Perez had put it so nicely. After Harry read the tweet and answered it, he'd been so furious that he threw his brand new mobile against the wall.

When he had seen Louis the next time he'd cuddled him the whole time and told him how much he meant to Harry. Louis was content and he thought maybe he could ignore the negativity with his boyfriend at his side.

But now, a year later, it still hadn't changed. People still jumped conclusions, still thought that Louis was just a game to Harry. Still thought Louis was a twink, a slut, a whore or whatever insult they could think of.

Upon entering the café, Harry could hear Louis talking to one of his co-workers. He was laughing with her and it made Harry happy. It was good to see Louis smiling, even if the media gave him so much shit.

When Louis spotted Harry by the door, the blue eyed boy jumped over the counter to race to his boyfriends, practically jumping into his arms. Harry caught him quickly and looked at Louis' happy face that was smiling brightly up at him.

"I passed!" he exclaimed.

Harry instantly pulled him closer. Louis had studied hard for his exam that he was sure of he'd fail. Harry was so proud of him and kissed the top of his head, wishing he could express better how proud he was right now.

"That's fantastic, I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, love. I'll be ready to go in a sec."

With that Louis bounded off to get his things out of the small room behind the counter. Harry smiled to himself and waited patiently for his boyfriend to come out of the room again.

"Where are we going?" Louis asked happily when he came back to Harry with his bag thrown over his shoulder and now wearing that one denim jacket he stole from Harry.

"How about we get some Chinese and eat at my house?" Harry asked, slipping his hand in Louis'.

Louis beamed happily and nodded. "Sounds lovely."

But luck wasn't on their side. A fan must've seen them or something, but when they got closer to Harry's home, with bags of Chinese food in their hands, they could see fans and paps alike all over the place.

Harry knew he should've taken his car. But he thought maybe, maybe they would be lucky. They weren't. Harry quickly let go of Louis' hand and wrapped his arm around him instead, pulling him closely into his side.

"Stay with me, sweetie," Harry told him and Louis nodded, burrowing deeper into his taller boyfriend's side.

Louis hated the shouting paps and the screeching fans. Harry learned that the hard way when Louis once got an anxiety attack on the street. The paps and fans had not felt the need to tone it down back then and Harry almost sued them. Louis didn't like loud sounds ever since he was young and his parents would fight a lot and very loudly.

The paps were shouting louder the closer they got, cameras going off, the lights flashing. The fans screamed and held out their phones or pens for Harry to sign something. Harry ignored them, his only task right now was to get Louis to his house safely.

But that wasn't really in the interest of those people, as usual. A fan squeezed forward and tried to get Harry to take a picture with her, another fan was pulling on his sleeve, a pap was grabbing for Louis.

Louis jumped out of Harry's embrace and raced over the pavement. He pushed himself through the crowd of Harry's fans, even knocked a few on the ground and ran down the pavement until he arrived down the street where Harry could see that he opened the gate and quickly fled into the yard. Harry would've followed, but he was still held back by fans and paps until he pushed them away and approached one of the paps.

A girl put her phone in front of him, trying to take a picture with him, but he pushed her away a bit, as gently as possible, of course.

"I don't mind you guys, but if you harass Louis again, you're done for," he told them before he turned and quickly followed after Louis.

He quickly made his way inside, seeing a few brave fans still following him. Don't get him wrong, he loves his fans. But they weren't exactly kind to Louis, most because they were jealous. He didn't like the way they treated him, he never did something wrong to them.

When Harry closed the door, he toed his boots off, threw his coat on the floor and dropped the bags with the food before making his way further inside to look for Louis.

He found Louis inside, burrowed under the fluffy duvet of his huge bed. He was curled up as if he tried to make himself look smaller than he was, tried to hide himself as best as he could.

"Oh, baby," Harry said sadly and crawled into bed, under the covers to cuddle Louis.

"I'm sorry, Haz," the younger boy muttered after he placed his head on Harry's chest, his steady heartbeat soothing him.

Harry pulled him closer and shook his head, pressing a soft kiss on the top of Louis' head. He kept his nose buried in his hair, the soft feathery stands tickling his cheeks and the sweet smell of his shampoo filling his nose.

"No, no, Lou. It's not your fault that those paps don't know what private life is. It's not. It's theirs, I'm gonna go back and punch that asshole."

Louis stifled a laugh and looked up at Harry, the all-too-known mischievous light back in his electric blue eyes. "Harry, stop acting angry, we all know you can't be. You just end up looking like a kitten that was woken up."

"Oh, is that so?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows and when Louis nodded, he grabbed his wrists and turned them over so Louis was lying underneath him. He caught Louis' hands in his huge palm while he poked Louis' sides with the other one, just to see him laughing. Louis was squirming and kicking, tears starting to form in his eyes from laughing.

"For real, Harry, let go or I'll kick your penis!" Louis shouted and Harry stopped, staring down on the smaller boy.

"I love you," he told him.

"I love you too," Louis replied and leaned up, attaching his lips to the curly haired boy's, slowly wrapping his arms around his neck.

Harry rolled over with one arm wrapped around Louis' waist, the other on his cheek so they ended up with Louis lying on top of Harry. When they pulled apart they were both out of breath and Harry slowly let his large hand wander down to Louis' thigh.

"Love you so much," Louis said and Harry could barely say, "Love you too," before his lips were closed by Louis'.

******

It has been three months since the last encounter with the paps. They've given them some space, as well as the fans and Louis and Harry were both very grateful for that.

It was way past Harry's 22nd birthday that he spent with Louis, of course, before he took him home to Holmes Chapel to spend a few days with his mum and step-dad, even Gemma came to visit. His older sister was very fond of Louis and even though he was much younger, he got along with her greatly.

Harry loved to see Louis with his family. It was good to see that there were actually people who accepted them. They didn't stay long because of Louis' classes and Harry's oncoming tour.

Once at home, Harry had to leave soon again, though, because he had an interview. Louis kissed him goodbye and they made a promise to meet each other at the café. Harry really didn't want to attend to another interview where people would assume the worst things possible.

He still put on a smile when he greeted the interviewer politely. This one was a male with the name Jonathon.

The questions were pretty harmless at first. They talked about his birthday, his oncoming tour, about the album he released a few years prior. But then, it finally came.

"Harry, you've become a bit of a 'sugar daddy', huh?" Jonathon asked.

Harry furrowed his eyebrows angrily and snapped his gaze towards the interviewer. Was he serious? Only because he bought Louis a present for Christmas and his birthday, it didn't mean he was a sugar daddy. Louis didn't pay him with sex. Louis didn't call him daddy. Louis actually hated it when Harry bought him stuff because he didn't want Harry spending money on him.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked. "This is ridiculous. How can you even say that?"

The other man stuttered out an apology, but Harry wasn't having it.

"Seriously, how could you even believe that? Louis doesn't even like it when I spend money on him. And the age difference between us is certainly not big enough for me to be a 'sugar daddy'."

Okay, this interview was just another bad one. Why couldn't people understand that Harry actually loved Louis and Louis actually loved Harry? Was that really so hard to believe? For two people to be in love?

After the interview, Harry made a decision. People would just see how serious they were.

******

When Harry arrived at the café, it was already starting to turn dark. Louis was leaning against the door, looking everything but pleased.

"Oh, there you are!" he exclaimed and walked over to Harry. "I expected you half an hour ago! You're late! Where the hell were you!?"

"Can't tell you. Surprise," Harry told him. "But I'm sorry. Let me wine and dine you as an excuse?"

Louis smiled a bit and slipped his hand in Harry's as he pretended to think about it. "Hmm ... will you take me to the new China restaurant?"

"Sure I will," Harry laughed and pulled him into a soft kiss.

Harry and Louis decided to walk since the night wasn't too cold even though it was still late February. Louis swung their hands between their bodies and smiled up at Harry, his eyes shining bright in the starry night.

The new china restaurant was warm and cozy, not too many people were there since it was new. The walls had Chinese words on them and here and there were a few dragon statues or china dolls. A huge aquarium with about five or six kois was in the middle of the room. The restaurant smelled pleasantly of something sweet.

Harry and Louis ordered lo mein and fried rice with chicken to share and baked peaches and chocolate banana for dessert. They did have a small fight about who should pay. Louis hated to let Harry pay every time they went out, but Harry said that he took Louis out, so he should be the one to pay.

They decided to split the bill in the end.

When walking home, Harry started growing nervous. Louis seemed to catch on, he just knew Harry that well.

"Are you alright, Hazza?"

Harry nodded and smiled a bit. "I'm perfect."

"When are you gonna tell me why you were late?"

"Soon, baby, soon."

Louis clearly wasn't happy with that answer, but he decided not to keep asking. Harry was thankful because if Louis would ask a few times more, he would definitely tell him.

He bit his lip until they arrived at his home. Louis was about to open the door when Harry stopped him and dropped to one knee.

"Shouldn't you wait until we're inside?" Louis asked.

A laugh blubbered out of Harry's mouth. This statement eased his mind a bit. "Louis, shut up. This is probably one of the reasons I love you so much, you make me laugh and you support me and through all the shit the media is giving you, you're still there. Here, with me. You're still by my side, still hold my hand in public. You're so strong, Louis, and you don't even know it. People think we're a fling - right, that's why we're together since over a year - or that you're something like my sugar baby. I want to show them just how serious I am." Harry slipped a hand into the pocket of his coat and got the white box out, opening it with a fluid hand motion. "This is why I was late. I asked your mother for permission - over the phone, of course - and got this. So ... Louis Tomlinson, will you do me the honor to call you my husband?"

Louis shrieked out a, "Sure," after a few seconds of silence. "Oh my god Harry, of course I will!"

Harry took his hand and slipped the ring on. It was a thin, delicate ring out of shining, polished silver. The band had an elegant twist getting closer to the prongs that held an oval blue topaz. The prongs were assembled with small diamonds.

"I took blue topaz because it's the December birth stone. Your birth stone," Harry told him and got up.

"Oh my god, Harry, what did I do to deserve this!?"

"That's what I wonder every time I see you," Harry answered and let his lips connect to Louis'.

******

It took a day for the media to catch on the new ring on Louis' finger. Harry confirmed their engagement on radio and everyone - interviewers, fans, paps - had to get along with the fact that Harry didn't use Louis or the other way around. That they were really just two boys in love. That they didn't know what they felt for each other. That they were wrong.