Together (Sequel to Slipping Away)

Chapter Forty-Five

It took only an hour for everyone to meet back up at Harry and Louis' house and make it to the gym. Louis stood close to Harry as the taller lanky boy looked excitedly around the gym. His eyes lit up when he saw all the machines that were lined up against the walls and his muscles ached to be put back to work like they once were when they were on tour. Liam walked up to them with a wide grin and someone walking next to him.

"Hey!" Liam said happily and everyone said their hellos softly. "This is Mark, Alice's old trainer. Mark, these are my friends." He said before introducing everyone in the group. Mark smiled and shook everyone's hands.

"It's nice to meet all of you. How do you know Alice?" Mark asked as he led the group to their seats.

"Alice is our daughter's teacher." Harry explained, motioning to himself and Louis. Mark stopped and looked intensely at the two of them before he nodded curtly. Something about Mark's gaze made Louis and Harry both feel very uncomfortable.

"Enjoy the fight." Mark said gruffly and walked away quickly. Harry watched him walk away with a frown on his lips. Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when Louis slid his small hand into Harry's much larger one and rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

"What's got you thinking so hard, Hazza?" Louis asked softly and Harry shook his head before he gently pressed a kiss to the top of Louis' head.

"Nothing baby." Harry said nonchalantly and looked up to the ring when he heard the feedback from the microphone.

"Thank you all for coming tonight. We have a few smaller fights before we get to our main event. Please enjoy and remember, no betting is permitted." The announcer said before he introduced the first boxers. Harry looked around the gym and saw a table with a sign on the front that read 'Boxing for Band'. He nudged Liam and nodded at the table.

"What's that about?" Harry asked and Liam glanced at the table before smiling.

"That was Alice's idea. Bayville's school district is losing funding for the music department so instead of paying for tickets for the boxing match people can donate money to the music program." Liam said proudly and Harry nodded slowly as he watched the minimal traffic to the table. Harry stood up and motioned for Louis to stand up as well, leading him away from the crowd.

"Did you see the table for the music program?" Harry asked lowly and Louis shook his head. Harry pointed to it and Louis glanced over his shoulder to see a small girl with black hair and a Fall Out Boy shirt on and a boy who seemed to be very uncomfortable with his surroundings except the girl sitting next him. He was thin and he had holey skinny jeans on paired with a 1975 t-shirt and a very old looking red plaid shirt. On his feet were a pair of ratty old combat boots that holes that showed the light pink socks he had on that day. He had one of the girl's hands tightly clasped in his somewhat larger ones. Louis looked away from them and back to Harry.

"Yeah. What about it?" Louis asked and Harry chewed on his lip as he looked between Louis and the table.

"I want to donate something. Money, time, anything. I can't let Adaley's school lose their music program." Harry almost begged and Louis sighed heavily as he looked at his fiancé's desperate face.

"We can donate a little money right now and we'll discuss about donating our time. Remember that I still have to work even though we're on break and we still have to worry about our daughter. She may be advanced in intelligence but she's still a child. She needs her parents." Louis told him gently and Harry sighed heavily before he perked back up.

"What about the other boys? They could donate some time! Maybe Ashton, Michael, Luke, and Calum could donate some time too. Michael's daughter does go to this school district." Harry suggested and Louis shook his head, heart breaking when he saw Harry's face fall.