Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

O N E H U N D R E D A N D E I G H T

As they finished their first set upon the GMA stage, Harry felt his heart race. He was giddy. Never had he been so excited to announce something to the world. Whereas Louis, well, he was a completely different story.

"You okay?" Harry asked as he fiddled with his earpiece.

Louis nodded, he was about to say something when they were directed to their seats. Louis went through the motions, shaking hands, making mindless chatter, smiling and waving at the fans below the stage, but his mind was far, far gone. He just wanted to get this over with, but at the same time, he knew it was only the beginning.

Cleverly Reagan had managed to leak some hints about him potentially being a father only a few hours before the show. It gave them enough time to evade Lydia and to slowly take over the trending sections as well. He knew that the story was gaining traction though, could tell by the looks on the faces of some of the fans. But soon enough that would be over. Within the cue cards that had approved questions for the show was the question that would change everything. He had gotten lucky that Reagan was the one in charge of approving the questions for the interview, and that Lydia had been suspiciously busy. Perhaps the baby rumor was too far fetched for her to believe. Perhaps she was trying to prevent it from gaining more momentum. That would explain why she had been MIA for the past few days. But Reagan hadn't even heard from her, nor had the boys. Something was definitely up.

"We're live in two." Someone shouted.

The boys began fixing their earpieces and Louis tried to keep calm. He had gotten Briana's blessing after all. She had said that the sooner they reveal it the better. So it was going to be fine, right?

"It's going to be okay." Harry muttered as he passed Louis and sat to the right of Liam. Their names had been taped to the back of their seats, and unsurprisingly Harry was not allowed to sit next to Louis. Reagan could only do so much. And although it had been about two years since Louis and Harry were not allowed to interact with each other, it hadn't ever bothered them until recently. Maybe it was the fact Zayn had left and Louis became a different person because of it, or because both of them were going through some serious shit and were depending on each other much more, but it really irked Louis right at that moment that his friend couldn't sit next to him. After this whole baby thing was over, he was going to make sure that he and Harry could sit where they please during interviews. No, more than that, he was going to make it clear that he and Harry are friends and that they were going to do as they pleased from now on. No more following management's instructions to keep appearences, those days were fucking over.

Louis could see they were about to start. He wasn't a religious man, but he prayed that everything would work out for the best, and that above all he was making the right choice. He watched as the producer began counting down, and cleared his throat nervously.

"Alright we're live in five, four, three, two..."

It's showtime.

—✴—

Reagan, had of course, turned on the TV since the moment she woke up—about four hours before the boys were about to be on. She hadn't slept, instead she had spent all night on twitter and Tumblr, making sure she had the right pictures being posted and the right information being leaked. Lydia was going to murder her, she had no doubt about it. But, at least she had taken on her first PR clients and made sure that she did what they believed was right for them. Not many PR agents could say that, could they?

She knew how nervous Louis was, could tell by the way he wasn't hitting his notes in the first set they put on, and by the fact that he kept looking to Harry. Yeah, she knew that was going to be a problem. How those boys had managed to live through the speculations and ridiculous labels she had no idea, but she had to give them props. She hoped that going foward he and Harry could certainly be more public about their friendship, she was going to make sure of it, actually.

But right now she was a tad more concerned with the fact that it had been reported that Zayn had ended his engagement with his fiance, Perrie Edwards, from Little Mix. She knew what it was going to look like. It was going to look like Louis was trying to overshadow Zayn's news (and obvious tactic to get into the headlines and stay relevant) just to spite him. For once that just wasn't the case.

"—And we are here with One Direction! Let's here some noise!"

Reagan turned around sharply to face the TV. Her legs were shaking as she jumped for the remote and turned the volume up all the way.

There before her were her boys, her boys. The past few months had made them all so much closer than she had ever imagined they would be. Not just with Harry, but with all of them. That's why now she so fiercely wanted to help them. She needed to know that they would make it out alright. Maybe then she would believe she would as well.

"Now the last time you were here, there were five of you." Began the male host right away. But the boys were ready to answer the Zayn questions, Reagan wasn't worried about that one bit. They were even quite charming about the whole questioning around dropping "Drag Me Down" in the middle of the night. It was when she heard the interviewer start saying,"Well, Harry." a few minutes later that her head snapped towards the screen once more, and she was faced with the beautiful female host batting her eyelashes at Harry a little too much for Reagan's liking. "We're all a little confused."

"About what?" He said innocently.

"Well, according to my daughter you have a girlfriend." She said, trying to sound ever so endearing. Yes, her five year old daughter was keeping her in the loop, Reagan totally believed that.

Harry laughed, "A little young to be keeping up with the gossip, isn't she?"

The host laughed, "Well, I was surprised when she pointed her out to me in a picture because it wasn't the girl you've been recently pictured with, is she?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm photographed a lot, you might need to be a little more specfic." He answered coyly.

The host signaled off camera and before Reagan appeared a picture of Hailey and Harry, but with her in the background writing something on her clipboard.

"Now, my daughter said you were dating the girl behind you and Hailey Stone. But we all thought you were dating Hailey."

He laughed, "We're good friends, is all. Sweet girl, really."

"But you do have a girlfriend."

"I reckon I do."

Reagan flushed, knowing what was coming next.

"Is she the other girl in the picture? Reagan Bailey, your Campaign Manager, am I right?"

He nodded, "Yes."

The crowd went wild as the host smiled smugly, thinking as if she finally got an exclusive out of the band. The other host quickly intervened though, seeing as they were runing out of time and still had other pressing matters to continue asking about.

"So we have one One Direction boy off the market," He said motioning toward Harry, "But we're hearing there's a second one as well."

Louis nodded and smiled nervously, making the crowd "Awww" as they looked upon his embaressed face.

"But there's more to this story. Louis, from one father to another, I personally want to congratulate you on your upcoming fatherhood. How are you feeling about all of this? It must be so exciting."

There were screams, so many screams. Louis' face froze, but he quickly managed to compose himself, "Thanks, mate. I know it may come as a shock to many of our fans, but yes, I am going to be a father. It's been wicked, really. I'm completely in disbelief."

Reagan prayed that he would be able to hold it together, if only til the end of the interview. But just as she was going to continue watching, she heard a knock at her door. She figured it must've been Michael coming to pick her up to take her to the airport to meet her father, so she quickly went to the door and opened it without bother to check who it was because she was in such a rush to not miss anything the boys were saying. She regretted that decision instantaneously as she was faced with her father.

"Hi, dad." She said, gulping.

He pushed his way past her and entered her room angrily, "We need to talk."