The Way It Is ! ** Ziam

Part 3

"So how are you liking the city?" the interviewer asks. "You didn't stop here on your last tour, right?"

A microphone is shoved fairly close to his face, which isn't even necessary, given the tiny one taped to the inside of his shirt. "It's great here," Harry answers, and the interviewer's face lights up when he starts going on and on about where he ate dinner last night, and what he ordered. Harry could spout on about the last shit he'd taken and interviewers would let him go, eating up every word.

Okay, that's not really fair to Harry. He's just irritated. It's really freaking hot on set, whatever makeup that girl had put on him practically melting off his face; there's a bright light that seems to hit just the corner of his right eye, no matter how many times he shuffles in his seat and adjusts his position; Louis is irritated too, jiggling his leg, and since he's right beside Zayn, it's jiggling Zayn's leg. Oh, and a group of girls in the far left corner of the audience keep shrieking every time Niall says anything.

So it's just a typical daytime TV appearance, and he hates it. Not that he doesn't love his job; he loves being on stage, singing his heart out. God, that's all he wants. Just to sing. The rest of it — sometimes it's not as enjoyable.

"Do you see that?" Louis whispers in his ear as Niall and Harry relay some story from their outing last night. "To the right, third row, holding the sign." Zayn looks, reads the words… he doesn't really want to even think them. "I swear to god, if one more twelve-year-old asks me to do unmentionable things to her, I'm going to quit. I didn't even know what a threesome was when I was twelve."

"Liar," Zayn says, but he agrees.

"Okay, but it wasn't like I was going to Spice Girls concerts and begging them all to have an orgy with me," Louis hisses, hand discreetly covering his mic.

"Spice Girls? Really?"

"What? Scary Spice is hot, don't even tell me you wouldn't go there."

Zayn rolls his eyes but he's smirking anyway. That's the usual response to Louis. He's exhausting, but lovably so. Even if sometimes Zayn wants to punch him in his sarcastic-looking face.

"Okay, boys, I have to ask," the interviewer says, and they all groan before she even gets it out. "Oh, come on, play along. Which of you are still on the market, and which of you are breaking hearts and settling down at the moment?"

Louis, bless him, fields the question. "Zayn and I," he points between them, "are in pretty serious relationships. Our girlfriends are really great." There are both boos and awing from the crowd. "The rest of the lads are on the market, though. We should have a dating show, actually. The Direction of Love or something."

The interviewer laughs. "So you three," she says to Niall, Harry and Liam, "are single. But are any of you actively looking for a relationship at the moment, or are you just enjoying the single life?"

"I think I'm just, um, you know, a little busy with work and everything right now," Harry says. "Definitely not looking for anything in the near future, not until my life settles down a bit, you know? Until then, I've got all our lovely fans to stop me from being lonely."

Louis snorts loudly, so loud that all the camera focus on him for a moment. Quickly, Niall says, "Yeah, me too." And then he goes on to spout a bunch of bullshit, while Louis glares at nothing in particular.

"I'm sort of dating," Liam says, and Zayn sits up straighter, tuning back into the conversation. He almost blurts a loud "What?" but he stops himself as Liam continues, "Nothing serious yet, but who knows, right?"

Who knows, right? Zayn sneers before he catches himself, remembers that millions of people watching this show right now will catch it, too. He smoothes his features back into a bored look and picks at the material of the couch they're all crammed into. It's meant to sit, like, three. Why are they always crammed into a tiny little space? They're like sardines, always piled on top of each other; a package deal, no room for individuality, not really. Not even when it comes to seating, apparently.