"Alright, I got to get to class. See you later Lou." Niall, Louis's best friend says smiling.
"See ya," Louis says, smiling back sweetly.
Niall is one of the few people Louis can hold an actual conversation with, without becoming uncontrollably quiet.
They met nearly four years ago when Louis first moved to Doncaster, and Niall was assigned to show Louis around the school. Louis was shy at first but eventually opened up a bit when he realized the Irish boy utterly hilarious and they've just been close ever since.
Louis waves goodbye to Niall before heading over to his second-period class, already missing his blonde-haired friend.
But Louis is used to being alone, not just in school but always.
Louis's mom left him and his dad when he was young, so young that he doesn't even remember a single thing about her. But he still misses her and being alone with his dad was a true nightmare, to say the least, it was constant emotional and physical abuse. His dad was the kind of guy never seen without a drink in hand. And anytime he wasn't hurting Louis in some way, he was just completely neglecting him and pretending he doesn't exist.
His entire childhood was getting beaten and screamed at for no reason. The countless sleepless nights he had, afraid his dad may come into his room and try to do something to him while he was asleep.
Or the days he spent passed out on the floor, too beaten and bruised to be able to stay conscious for more than two seconds.
Louis hated his life with every fiber in his body and was fed up with the constant pain and suffering, so around the age of fourteen, he did the only thing he could do. Run and never even dream of looking back.
He had just enough money to get him started with his old birthday cash and the few hundred pounds he stole out of his father's wallet while he was passed out drunk.
He took a train to Doncaster, where he moved into a small one-bedroom apartment on a run-down street, using every last penny of his money.
It only took him about a week to get himself enrolled in his local public high school and find a minimum wage job at a coffee shop a few miles away from his house. Money has been tight to say the least ever since. Ten pounds an hour doesn't necessarily pay the bills perfectly but anything is better than staying with his dad.
The only person who has been there for him was Niall, well at least there for him at school. He never really lets anyone come to his house, not wanting to have to tell anyone about his past life.
He keeps his eyes on his shoes as he walks into the class full of students, already feeling a bit miserable about being in school.
"Good morning Louis." His teacher Mrs.Clark greats once she sees him walk through the door frame.
"Morning" He whispers politely, sitting in the seat near the back of the class.
A dizzy spell begins to wash over Louis as he turns to pull his books out of his backpack to get ready for class. He blinks his eyes harshly, awaiting for the feeling to pass. But it just seems to get worse as his mind starts to feel fuzzy, he shakes his head out a bit, trying to clear his mind.
"You okay bud?" Mrs.Clark asks, noticing Louis.
Mrs.Clark has always liked Louis, she knows he's a sweet boy and knows he's a bit on the shy side, so she watches out for him and make sure he's alright, knowing the boy doesn't have too many close friends.
Louis just simply nods in return, for some reason, not wanting to talk as the fuzzy feeling grows in his mind.
Mrs.Clark crouches down next to the small boy and begins to assess him with her eyes, she has seen this kind of behavior before. She can tell that Louis is slipping into his little headspace but he can't be a little, it's not possible.
There are three classifications that everyone can fall into; littles, middles, and carers or caregivers. A Little, is someone who naturally falls into a younger headspace and their first headspace tends to happen around the age of fourteen, and in some rare cases fifteen but never any older. They typically find their permanent carers around the time of their first or second little headspace.
Carers are the classification that takes care of littles and keeps them safe while in their headspace. Lastly is middles, which are neither carers nor littles, they are part of the classification that grows up to have children of their own while the other two classifications aren't able to.
Louis is slipping into his first headspace so fast he isn't even comprehending that it's happening but Mrs.Clark is. His mind just feels all fuzzy and tingly, as he begins to feel younger and younger by the second.
"Louis, just stay here alright? I will be right back." Mrs.Clark whispers, not wanting to get the attention of anyone else in the class.
Mrs.Clark herself is a middle along with everyone else in the class so she isn't completely sure how to handle this. Once littles find their carers, they both typically stop coming to school so his high school is practically made up completely of middles.
Littles are very very vulnerable especially in their first headspace and carers are the only people who know how to properly help a little feel safe and loved, it's just in their nature.
She knows that a little can be scarred if their first time in their headspace is negative, so she also knows she needs to find a carer that can help Louis.
She tries to push aside the panicked feelings she is having right now for him as she pulls out her phone and texts the only two carers she knows that are in this whole school. Harry and Edward Styles, both teachers of Louis.
She quickly alerts them of the situation without going into any form of detail about Louis.
She sets her phone back down on her desk before walking back to Louis who is now fully in his headspace and looking around the room terrified. The tiny boy now having tears in his big blue orbs.
"It's okay little one." She tries to calm but he just looks at her frightened.
Louis is confused and doesn't understand why he is feeling the way he does as he slowly let's go. He feels all spacey and isn't used to the new feeling.
His tears begin to run down his rosy cheeks as his bottom lip wobbles, making Mrs.Clark's heartbreak for the poor little boy.
"No don't cry Louis, everything is okay." Mrs.Clark tries but it just comes out in a panicked voice, scaring him even more.
The classroom door then opens, causing everyone in the class's attention to turn.
—
Harry's POV:
Edward, my twin brother, and I both gasp loudly when our eyes meet with the beautiful baby blue eyes that belong to the one and only Louis Tomlinson, filled with tears.
We look at each other worried, knowing that Louis usually doesn't let himself get upset in front of other people. What happened to our Lou?
Well technically not our Lou, but that's beside the point.
We met Louis nearly four years ago when we had him in our classes on his first day of school. Edward teaches his history class while I teach his English class.
We both are carers and have been looking for our little for as long as I can remember. But once we met Louis, we both were immediately smitten and wanted him to be ours.
We both agreed that we wanted him and would wait until his classification was presented.
We thought that Louis was going to be a little, well it seemed like he would be at least. He was tiny and adorable, not to mention that he was just utterly gorgeous.
Before we met Louis, we began to lose hope that we would ever find a little with us both being nearly thirty but when we found Louis, it was like all hope was found and we were so glad we waited.
But Louis has had absolutely no idea about how we feel about him, I mean bringing up the idea of us being his carers before he even dropped into his first headspace would probably overwhelm him, to say the least, and as carers, that's the last thing we would ever want to do.
So we waited, but he never slipped into his little headspace, slowly breaking our hearts. And once Louis turned sixteen we lost practically all hope, knowing that he wasn't going to be a little. We thought that maybe we were just destined to be without a little.
But just because it turned out that Louis isn't a little, didn't mean that we couldn't just watch and take care of him from afar. I mean yes there wasn't too much we could do but just little things we could do for him here and there helped softened the blow a bit for us.
He was just perfect and we wanted him to be ours so badly but eventually, we had to come to terms with the fact that he would never actually be ours. This just resulted in many pointless fights and depressing days between Edward and me.
By the time Louis had turn seventeen, we had mostly excepted the fact that we would never be able to be Louis's careers and that we were just his teachers.
"Oh my god boys I'm so glad you're here I need your help." Linda, Mrs.Clark as the students call her, tells us as she runs over with her face full of panic.
Linda is one of our closest teacher friends at the school, she is the kindest old lady you will ever meet. She's a bit like a mother figure to us, just out of her loving nature and being older than us.
"Linda, what happened?" Edward asks quietly, his concern still evident.
I don't wait for a response from her before I run over to Louis. Why is he upset? Did something happen to him? Someone better not have hurt him. I would kill them if they did.
"Louis, what's wrong kiddo?" I ask, my tone still hushed due to the other people in the class who are still somehow yet to notice Louis.
I crouch down next to him as he looks up at me adorably and I have to hold back from pulling him into my arms as I wait for a response.
I furrow my eyebrows when the only response I get is a small pout followed by more tears.
I turn around, looking to find Edward to get some incite about what Linda may have said happened to Louis to make him so upset that he isn't even talking to me.
When my eyes land on Edward, I see that his eyes are moving back between Louis and Linda, a look of shock and confusion covering his face.
I give him a little 'what's up?' Look before turning back to Louis.
"What's wrong Louis, talk to me bud." I say, concern audible in my voice.
He whimpers sadly before breaking eye contact with me and returning to looking around the room frantically.
What the heck is going on? I've never seen him like this. I mean he's always a little bit on the quiet side but he never just doesn't respond.
I hear a pair of footsteps the belong to Edward run over to me before he squats next to me and Louis. When I turn to him, I see that his face is still plastered with shock but now with a smile on top of it. How could he possibly be smiling when Louis is upset?
"M'scared." A small voice whispers grabbing our attention before I can say anything to Edward.
My face frowns deeply, he's scared? What happened? He should never have to feel anything but happiness.
"What happened-." I start but Edward cuts me off.
"He's in his headspace Harry," Edward whispers astonished causing my head to jerk over to Edward.
My eyes nearly pop out of my head. He has to be lying. Louis is seventeen, no little has ever dropped into their first headspace that late, it's impossible.
"I'm serious Harry. Look at him." Edward says, sensing what I'm going to say before I even say it.
I turn to Louis. He has his knees crunched up to his chest and his lip pouted sadly. Can he be in headspace? It would explain why he is so upset but how is this possible? My Louis is a little?
I feel slight tears of joy wash into my eyes and notice that Edward's has the same. I can tell that we both want to celebrate but Louis is our priority right now.
"Oh my god." I whisper under my breath as I smile the biggest smile I have ever had.
He's a little.
"I know this is all scary little one, but everything is okay I promise, you're doing so well. Edward and I are here to take care of you." I say in the very slow and gentle voice I use anytime I talk to littles.
Louis then turns back towards Edward and me, seemingly letting my words run through his head before once again looking around the room scared.
"Sweetheart is it okay if we take you to a different room? There will be a lot fewer people, just us okay? I promise." Edward joins in, wanting to make him feel better.
"Alone?" Louis asks quietly, confirming adorably.
"Yes baby." We say in sync.
He then takes a second to think before slowly nodding his head.
This is a lot for a little, to just drop into their first headspace in the middle of the school day, especially when they aren't expecting it.
But I'm actually extremely thankful that he slipped for his first time in a place where Edward and I could get to him first. We should be the only ones to take care of him.
I'm also glad that none of the other students are paying much attention to us. When littles are in their headspace they are naturally sensitive and I don't want anyone upsetting my Lou.
The first few times that littles drop into their headspace, it will typically be shorter periods of time and it's easy for them to get triggered out of it by someone or something, which can be very dangerous for a little's health.
"Okay love, we are just going to go to Harry's classroom. It's just right next door." Edward says.
Louis doesn't respond, just looks at us nervously, probably feel much too confused and scared to even think properly.
"It's okay bubba, we are right here. Everything is okay." I say, hoping to calm his nerves.
Edward and I both stand up and hold our hands out to Louis for him to hold. I'm not sure what he's comfortable with yet but I still want to offer.
He flinches a bit when we reach our hands out causing both of us to immediately be ridden with concern as we retract our hands. Why is he flinching? Did someone hurt him?
The thought of anyone laying a hand on him nearly makes me break down in a rage fit but I will never get mad or show any kind of anger anywhere around Louis. That's not the kind of carers Edward and I are.
I take a few slow deep breaths knowing that I need to keep my priorities straight right now but that doesn't mean I won't be looking further into this later. No one flinches when someone simply holds out their hand unless something has happened to make them think that someone would hurt them.
Edward and I have always been protective people in general, it's just in our nature but it's a whole new level when it comes to Louis and so help me god if someone laid a hand on him.
"Louis we would never hurt you." Edward tells him, his tone serious but still gentle.
Louis looks up at Edward nervously before reaching both of his hands out towards us shyly, seeming a little unsure.
We both smile at him before engulfing his tiny hands into our own.
"Good boy Lou." Edward praises when he sees that Louis still looks a little nervous.
We then help him up out of his chair, making sure he lands on his feet safely before getting ready to walk, wanting to get him out of here as soon as possible.
Luckily he isn't fully into his headspace yet so he is still able to walk. I would be glad to hold him otherwise but I know big Louis wouldn't want his classmates to see that.
Louis is significantly shorter than both Edward and me, we have always been on the taller side but Louis is just tiny, he is nearly a foot shorter than the both of us, he's the size of a child. He has been since we met him, and we've always found it cute.
We hold his hands tightly as we begin to walk. Louis's steps and slow and as if he is just learning to walk, he looks utterly adorable and I have to stop myself from cooing at him.
Once we get to our classroom we will be able to comfort him probably and be able to let him be in his headspace without him being worried about other people being around.
But it will still take him some time to get fully comfortable around us and for him to let him be his little self and let him take care of him.
Eventually, we make it out of the classroom, both Edward and I keeping our eyes glued to Louis the entire time.
I'm sure Louis won't be in his headspace for very long, it's rare for littles to be in their first headspace for more than an hour but as time goes on their times of being in their headspace will get longer and longer until it's permanent.
But when he does come out, I already know he is going to be scared and confused and probably will want to be alone. Of course, Edward and I will do our best to help him, we want Louis little or not but he doesn't even know that we want him at all yet so we'll see how it goes.
We can only hope that once we tell Louis that we want to be his carers, he will accept us and be ours but I can't even begin to imagine how confusing this will all be for him. My poor baby.
"This is the classroom little one, it's just us don't worry," I reassure as we walk into my room.
He grips our hands as he scans the room, seemingly checking if my words are true but he still just looks so so scared.
"Louis everything is okay baby, we will never let anything happen to you. You're so safe with us." Edward says, obviously seeing the same thing I am.
Lou just carries on looking around the room frightened, making Edward and I look up at each other both feeling terrible for him.
"Louis, look at us sweetheart." I say, pulling my hand away gently and turning him towards us.
He looks at me with his deep blue eyes which are still washed with tears.
I do the only thing I can think to do to make him feel better. I slowly reach down and lift his small body off of the floor and bring him up into my arms.
I make note of the fact that he is much too light for it to be healthy as I lift him. I mean yes he is just tiny but his weight seems extreme.
I bring him up against my chest and wrap one of my arms around his waist and my other one under his bum while his legs drape loosely.
He stiffens a bit at first, seeming unused to the feeling but begins to relax in my arms when Edward stands next to me and starts rubbing Louis's back, helping to soothe him more.
He rests his head on my shoulder lightly and snuggles into both Edward and me more. Edward uses the pad of his thumb to whip the tears off of his rosy cheeks.
"Shh, it's okay little one. We're here now."
——
Hello my lovelies!
Here is the first chapter of my new story!
I hope you all liked it.
Thank you so much for reading.