Yeah...

First, the fact that Daniel goes there, and that he wants Armand to prove that he loved him. The way Armand goes straight to 1990, conveniently skipping over all of the 70s and 80s. A love confession didn't work last time, it clearly scared Daniel off. But the following (chase)? The stalking? In the context of "past DM real", that worked last time. That got Daniel to fall in love with him in the first place. Maybe it will work again?

Then the face journeys they're both going on. They are dancing around each other like crazy. Both playing their cards way too close to their chests. Daniel's "yeah?" feels so much like he's waiting for that fanfic favourite "yeah" reply. A return to that verbal sparring of Dubai because he likes that and it's comfortable, but he doesn't get it. Instead he gets "love between vampires..." and he fights it with "I will never love—" and then Armand changes tack. Another self-preservation tactic.

No, it's not about them. Not at all. It's about Lestat and Sofia, because Armand knows Daniel loves a good journalistic takedown. Loves to lob a bomb. He'll want this and maybe it'll make him want Armand too. And Daniel looks disappointed that maybe Armand doesn't want him, doesn't want to love him anymore after all.

Meanwhile, Armand looks like he wants to say so much more but he's being so careful because last time it went badly, and every time he loves, every time he hopes to be companions with somebody they shoot him down. So it's safer to say that he wants to be Daniel's maker. That's safe. That's less vulnerable.

The entire scene Daniel is vibrating out of his skin, looking like he's fighting for his life against the instinct to go to Armand. Does he want to kill him or kiss him? He doesn't know. He's about two seconds from folding and if you held a lit match next to those two they would both fucking explode.

That's the face of a vamp who's getting good dick on the reg. Buddy's got some vitamin D of both kinds.

"...and Armand had been so delighted, laughing and laughing like a schoolboy as he sat watching, with folded arms. It was the first time Daniel had ever heard that soft, silky laughter. So seductive. He got drunk as fast as he could."

" Armand would smile, sometimes even laugh. Armand had a rich, beautiful laugh,

always eloquent of gratitude as well as humor. He looked and sounded mortal when he laughed.

"Calm yourself, Daniel. Your heart's racing. It frightens me."

Small crease to the smooth forehead, the voice for a moment deepened by compassion.

"I know you call me Dad derisively, but... if you do think of me as a parent, we could still fuck. It's not that weird, your good friend Lestat does it all the time. Things are different for vampires."

but also

"Haven't I given you such a juicy treat? Entirely without prompting? See how there can be journalistic benefits to our continued relationship?"

but also

I think about this moment when I eat, when I close my eyes, when I am working, it just haunts me 😭😭

he panicked, for one, because he was forced to re-examine a good chunk of his most recent years through the lense of Actual Love—not fascination, not attraction, not amusement, not interest, love. i do believe his falling for daniel was gradual and happened in the past just as much as it continued in dubai, but i don't think armand realised then what he came to understand when he turned daniel and it must have pulled the rug from under him in a significant way.

for two, he wanted to see how daniel fared on his own. he believed daniel would take to the gift quite naturally and easily, knew he wouldn't reject it and that the gift would not reject him. he was so sure of that, in fact, that he was content with watching over him from afar as daniel learnt to walk on his own two feet. might not have felt like a blessing to daniel, but it was a compliment.

this brings me to the third reason—he's a watcher. was a watcher, of daniel specifically, for 52 years. he is used to providing from afar, interceding directly only when truly needed. daniel stumbled and fumbled his way through adulthood and armand was there, making sure he didn't stumble into an early grave but also letting him fumble enough to be primed for the gift should the need arise. whether armand realised that or not ('the idea repulsed me—repulses me' suggests that he might have changed his mind on the fledgling thing after he first met daniel), i think part of him always wanted to make a vampire out of daniel someday, and that required daniel to be at his core a very specific kind of person for him to survive the turn. he's used to watching and assessing, calculating and considering. he has no experience in the more practical aspects of being a maker.