Keep Me Safe (Sequel to Take Me Home)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harry chewed his lip as he looked at his smallest brother, practically swallowed by the clothes he wore as he sat in the bath tub with his knees pulled into his chest, eyes ringed with red looking up at them.

It reminded him of the first day they had met, a situation uncannily similar to this one.

He knelt down beside the tub next to Louis, smiling softly as Niall sniffed and glanced at him.

"Hey," he murmured, and Niall used his sleeve to wipe over his eyes quickly.

"A-are Dad and Papa still out there?" he asked, voice so quiet that Harry had to strain to hear it.

Louis gave a nod. "Yeah."

"Why don't you wanna talk to them, Nialler?" Harry asked carefully, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck with the question.

He was a helper, he always had been. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was okay, and his brothers were always at the top of that list of 'everyone'.

Niall stayed quiet and shrugged, and Harry glanced at Louis, who chewed his lip and looked uncertain on what to say.

He hesitated. "You know, they love you so much, Nialler. We all do. They want what's best for you," he murmured.

That got some sort of reaction at least, even if it wasn't the one he wanted because tears leaked from the blond's eyes and he shook his head. "They want me to get big again," he said and Harry couldn't help but feel confused and he could tell Lou felt the same as they both frowned.

Niall had always been the smallest of all of them. Only now, he wasn't a healthy kind of small.

"Ni, you've never been big," Louis said, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, Shorty. You're tiny but not in a good way...they're right. You'll get really sick. You could - you could die if you don't eat properly," he said softly, trying to ignore Louis' panicked inhale at that. It was the truth - Harry knew one girl in his year at school had spent almost six months in the hospital because she didn't eat.

Niall shook his head. "I won't, i-it keeps me safe," he said, and even he sounded unsure as he tried to dry his cheeks. "It'll stop people like Richard coming after me," he whispered, and Harry sighed, feeling so awful for what his little brother had been through.

"Ni...the size you are had nothing to do with Richard. He-he was messed up, okay? There are plenty of people out there the same size as you, bigger than you. He didn't go after them, did he?" Harry whispered back, tearing up a little himself when Niall broke into tears and covered his face, narrow shoulders shaking. "Oh, Nialler."

"Why won't you talk to Dad and Papa about it?" Louis murmured, leaning on the side of the bathtub.

Niall shook his head and cried a little harder. Harry couldn't help it, he reached out and put his hand on his bony back, rubbing gently when his brother didn't flinch or move away.

"I-I get scared. People who are t-tall and m-men they just - they make me think of h-him," he choked out, and Harry winced.

He remembered a chunk of conversation from when they were all younger, from the first time they'd sat in the bathroom like this to comfort Niall.

"Hey. Ni," he murmured, and Niall looked up with a heartbreaking expression. Harry managed a small smile at him. "Remember when you were little. You thought Dad and Papa were going to hurt you, punish you? Back when we called them Liam and Zayn," he asked softly.

Niall paused, then gave a small nod, wiping his nose of his sleeve as he sniffed.

Harry kept on smiling at him softly, trying his best to be reassuring. "Yeah? You remember what I said to you?"