The air surrounding them thickened and solidified as moments slowed to a lethargic beat; the music and voices of the crowd slurred to incoherence in the numbed, motionless intensity of the vacant hallway.
"Let go of him," Harry snarls through his tightened expression.
His eyes were locked with Zayn's; his stolid determination pulling the guilt from inside of the smug model, not being able to look at Niall under his cold, unwavering grasp.
After a moment of intense silence, feeling the tangible staleness in the air between Harry and Zayn's shared gaze, the dark haired boy smirks another time at the younger brunette and scoffed.
"Eat your heart out mate," Zayn croaked, and then seizing Niall by the lips once more, he aggressively pushed his face into the wall as a deliberate attempt to yield a strangled response from the curly haired boy.
Seconds turned to hours and hours turned to decades as Harry watched in throat clogging horror at the sight of Zayn kissing the life out of Niall right in front of him.
And what twisted the knife already plunged into Harry's heart was seeing Niall defenseless, having no choice but to conform to the model's feverish advances.
Do something, do something, do something goddamn it, Harry inwardly yelled at himself as he ran towards the two boys, rolling up his sleeves before reaching them.
"Don't ever fucking do that again, Malik," he growled furiously, wrenching Zayn off of Niall and shoving him to the side.
Zayn reacted with another one of his throaty chuckles, blatantly wiping his lips as to get another steamed response from the green eyed boy, but before his eyes could refocus, Harry had materialized next to him and sent him stumbling backward with a painful jab on his cheek.
The model cupped his face a second time, feeling his blood rush beneath the throbbing, sensitive skin as he leaned against the wall with his other hand to steady himself.
Harry, his heart thumping sporadically against his rib cage, turned to Niall who was still slumping against the wall, his eyes blown wide and staring directly at the green eyed brunette.
"Niall-" Harry hurried, feeling the wind being knocked out of him.
He stood close to Niall, making sure the blonde felt that sense of security they had built in their time together, because nothing felt more like protection than Harry actually being there.
The smaller boy only looked up at him, grabbing Harry's waist and pulling him even closer as he held him in a trembling embrace.
Niall lifted his head up again and Harry sited the drying blood on the corner of Niall's lips, right where his two lips met.
"Hey," Niall whispered, smiling as best as he could without his skin hurting.
"Hi Sweetheart," Harry responded, bumping their noses together.
But as quickly as Harry felt like he wanted to swoop Niall away and leave Zayn with what he deserved, his diluted green eyes immediately dart to the marks on the blonde's face.
"What happened," Harry breathed out, his finger gently tracing over the bright red burn stripes on Niall's cheeks, "He didn't do this; tell me he didn't do this, did he?"
He then lowered his expression with his eyebrows furrowed in frantic concern, balling his fists against Niall's shirt as he separated from him, "He hurt you."
The curly haired boy suddenly turned around and zoned in on Zayn, who was gathering himself up as he watched the other two on the other wall.
"You hurt him," Harry hisses as he stormed right up to the model again, his intentions clear on his face.
