Ding Dong
Harry stands in front of the giant house, feeling out of place. The door opens to a balance with blue eyes.
"Oh, you must be Harry," she said and turned into the house. "LOUIS, YOUR HUSBAND IS HERE!" She yelled, and Harry raised his eyebrows.
"IT'S FOR A MATH PROJECT SHUT UP, LOTTIE!" Louis yelled back, and whom Harry assumes is Lottie rolls her eyes. She steps back, allowing Harry in, and he walks in and takes off his shoes just as Louis walks down the staircase.
"Hey, so you are just in time for lunch," he said. "But you can drop your bag in my room," Louis walks back up the stairs, and Harry follows him upstairs. They walk into a big room with ball walls with football jerseys hung up and posters. The room is a mess, and Louis is kicking things to the side as he goes. Harry places his bag neatly in the corner, and Louis grabs his wrist to pull him out of the room, only for Harry to wiggle his wrist free and walk out of the room but stops in the hallway waiting for Louis to lead the way.
Louis walks down, and they walk to the kitchen, where Hary sees a brunette girl talking to an older woman but more like arguing.
"But mum, I'll fail," she whined.
"Fizzy, I am trying to help you, but there aren't that many tutors out there that teach both math, English, all the sciences, history, and geography. If you want a tutor for all those classes, you will need more than one, or you to get your older siblings to help you," the older woman said with a sigh.
"Like they can help. Louis is about as smart as a couch, and Lottie is smarter than Lou but has her dumb blonde moments," Fizzy whined.
"OI!" Lottie and Louis shout, and Fizzy looked over, obviously not seen or heard them walk into the room. The older woman walked in and chuckled, turning around with food but stopping in her tracks when she noticed Harry.
"Well, I was going to offer a friend to help you, but now since you've insulted me, I will keep him to myself," Louis said sassily, and Fizzy rolled her eyes but gave Louis the puppy dog eyes.
"Please, Lou," she begged.
"Lou helps your sister also; who is this?" She asked, pointing to Harry.
"Fine, this is Harry. He and I are working on a project together, and you will have to ask him if he wants to tutor you," Louis said. Harry slowly turned to Louis blinking at him, and he gave Harry the puppy dog eyes. Harry internally cooed at sight, and it was the first time he took in Louis's features properly and realized how pretty he was.
"Wait, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but are you even smart?" Fizzy asked, and Louis scoffed.
"He is sixteen in senior classes. What do you think?" Louis answered, and Harry turned to him once again. "Niall," he explained, and Harry nodded, now know how he knew his age.
"Okay, I'm Felicite. Can you help with all those subjects?" Fizzy asked, walking up to Harry, now giving him the puppy dog eyes. Harry stood there stunned and looked around and realized the other people in the room. There were two sets of twins in the room. One group looks about five or six years old, and the other is about two years old. Harry wonders how big this family really is.
"Can I see what you are doing first?" Harry asked, and Fizzy nodded and ran out of the room to grab her laptop.
"Hello Harry, I'm their mum, Johanna, but you can call me Jay," Jay said with a warm smile and walked over and pulled Harry into a hug, but Harry didn't reciprocate. He stood there, too shocked to even move. Louis saw and gently pulled them apart, and Jay looked at him confused, and Louis just shook his head.
"Hey," Fizzy came back a bit out of breath and handed her laptop to Harry. Harry was a bit overwhelmed by everything but scrolled through all her work, and after about ten minutes of skimming through everything, he looked back up.
"I will pay you by the hour, sixty pounds per hour if you accept," Jay said, and Harry's jaw dropped. Louis beamed, seeing another expression that Harry's face makes and feels confident that Harry may be letting his guard down or just getting to know him better.
"That is too much, Mrs. Tomlinson," Harry said quickly.
"You will be tutoring her for basically all her classes. It is too little," Jay said with a soft smile, and Harry turned to Fizzy, who was looking desperate.
"Okay," he said, and she cheered and once again went to hug him, and Harry froze once again.
"You really hate hugs, don't you," Louis commented quiet enough for only Harry to hear as he unwrapped his sister's arms from Harry. Fizzy unlatched herself from Harry, and he handed her laptop back to her, who took it and ran back to put it away.
"Eat," Jay said, and Louis moved Harry into a chair.
The family talked and tried to speak to Harry, but he was spaced out the entire time and didn't even hear what they were saying. He hated the warm family atmosphere that this meal was causing him and wanted nothing more than to run back to the abusive, cold, tense house. The environment he is used to. This environment is foreign and weird to him.
He didn't mean to space out, but he felt so out of place in the conversation that he just slipped and was staring at a random spot on the wall.
Harry and Louis continued on their project when lunch was over, mostly silent. Harry would ask a question about how they wanted to do it, and he would guide Louis through his equations to solve all the problems and Louis appreciated the fact that Harry didn't get frustrated with him or make him feel dumb.
After about six hours of working, they finished their project, and Harry was about to leave Louis's room when Fizzy came bursting in.
"Can you come tomorrow? Same time? Or after lunch, if you want," Fizzy asked, and Harry nodded.
"sure," he said with a shrug, and Fizzy pulled out her phone and handed it to Harry.
"You don't mind if I sometimes ask you questions during the week, right?" She asked, and Harry shook his head as he put in his number. "Thanks," she said before walking out and shutting the door. Harry saw the time, and he was going to be late for dinner, and he knows that that means no food and he hasn't eaten all day.
"I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," Harry said and scanned the room to make sure he didn't forget anything and walked out with Louis following.
"Want me to drive you?" Louis asked, but Harry shook his head. "Too bad, I wasn't asking," he said and walked by Harry, who rolled his eyes. He doesn't understand why Louis is acting this way.
"He's stubborn. He will literally drag you into that car if you protest," Lottie says from beside Harry, who sighs and nods and follows Louis. Lottie laughs lightly, seeing how eager Louis is and Harry's sluggish.
Harry puts in the address into Louis's car, and the first half of the ride is silent.
"Hey, thanks for helping Fizzy; it means a lot to us," Louis said, and Harry nodded. "I know we just met, but I want to get to know you. I hope you will let me in just a little bit, and if not me, then Niall at least. He really misses you, and from the stories he's told us, you're a really cool lad." Harry didn't comment. He just looked out the passenger window.
The rest of the ride was dead silent. Louis mentally cursing himself for saying the wrong thing and HArry pushing his feelings back down.
---
The next day Harry goes to Louis's house with a sore back since the night before. They had tied Harry to the legs of the bed on the ground and left him there for the night, so his back was sore. His body is completely scared over from Thursday night's events where he had blood all over his body and was glad that all they did was tie him up and beat him a little. No raping.
He gets to the Tomlinson house to find Niall, Louis, Liam and Zayn sitting out on the porch laughing while Louis and Zayn are smoking together, sitting a bit further from the other two boys.
"Hey Harry," Liam waved, and Harry gave the nod.
"Fizzy is waiting in the living room," Louis informed, and Harry nodded and tried the front door, and it was unlocked. He walked in, took off his shoes and wandered around the house looking for the living room since he barely remembers the house's layout from yesterday.
He and Fizzy worked together for eight hours since Harry needed to go back to some basics before jumping into what Fizzy was working on, but Harry didn't mind. Harry found out that she had dyslexia, and she had a tough time with letters and numbers. So he created an outline for all the subjects and wrote down the steps as simple as possible. He also added pictures where he could help explain. He taught her through visual learning instead of words and explained things audibly, which seemed more manageable for her. Harry ended up telling her exactly how to do her current work because she couldn't understand the basics, and Harry promised her that he would create a digital workbook for her since he likes working on a computer better.
For the first time, Fizzy didn't feel like she was an idiot and liked the way Harry explained everything. Although Harry didn't really show any signs of emotion and his voice was pretty monotone, but Fizzy felt like he really wanted to help. He never got frustrated or annoyed with her, and when one way of teaching didn't work, he just re-explained differently until a strategy worked.
When they were done, Jay handed Harry four hundred-eighty pounds in cash and Harry was shocked. Jay did say that he would e-transfer Harry the money next time because it would be easier, especially if Fizzy would continue to ask for help during the week. Harry gave her his email and said bye, and walked out to see the boys still out there.
"Hey, how did it go?" Louis asked.
"Good, she's smart, just needs another way for someone to teach her the material," Harry said truthfully, and Louis smiled widely at Harry.
"Thanks, Harry, again this means a lot. I can't say much, but Fiz has been through a lot and getting back on track has been hard for her, so if you can help, it means a lot," Louis said with a soft smile, and Harry gave a small smile back and nodded before walking away. "Wait, I'm driving you. You live far, and I'm not letting you walk or take the bus. I can drive you here every Sunday, you know, save some bus money."
"Louis, you don't have to seriously. Plus, I'm not going back to Simon's," Harry said, and the boys frowned.
"Who's Simon?" Liam asked.
"The owner of the house," Harry said and saw Niall look down at his shoes sadly.
"The owner of the house?" Zayn asked confusedly.
"It's a group home for orphans," Harry said, and the three boys' eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Niall looked up in shock that Harry actually said it but said it like it meant nothing. As if it didn't hold any heavier emotions tied to it. He remembers how much Harry hated being an orphan and the look on the people's faces when they found out.
"Oh, well then let me drive you to wherever you need to go and then back home," Louis said, and Harry shook his head.
"Nope," Harry said and started to run. Louis was about to go after him, but Niall caught his arm.
"Leave him. He is about as stubborn as you," Niall said, and Louis sighed.
"Did you know?" Zayn asked, and Niall sighed and nodded.
"We practically grew up together. Of course, I knew. Trust me; there's a lot more to Harry. He has a very traumatic past, and I don't know what is going on now, but it wasn't good back then. That's all I can say," Niall said, not wanting to cry. He remembers finding Harry unconscious and Desmond beating the shit out of his own son, and seeing the blood that HArry was laying in still gave him nightmares. That memory always comes back on Harry's birthday. Although it is better now and not as intense, he still hates it and wishes he could just forget that night altogether.
"Well shit," Liam said, and Niall and Louis snapped their heads to him. "I don't mean that in a bad way, but I just feel bad for him."
"Well, at least he isn't yelling and being disruptive," Zayn said, and Niall shrugged.
"At least then he is showing emotions. This is scary. He is too calm," Niall said. "I wish I knew what was going on in his life. I want to help him, but my parents said that we have to let him come to us and not the other way around."
"Thanks, Maura but nope. We do that, and then Harry would just assume we gave up," Louis said.
"Still on that annoying him into being your friend?" Zayn asked, a bit annoyed and Louis nodded with a smile, and he sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Let's go in now that we won't distribute them," Louis said, and the four boys walked in.
---
Come Monday and Harry and Louis hand in their assignment. After leaving Tomlinson's house yesterday, Harry went to the post office and picked up his package. He bought a laptop a while back online, and now he finally got it. He also went to the bank and put the cash from Jay into his account, knowing having that much cash lying around is risky with being in the system. His social worker is the only one who knows that Harry has a job, but no one else does, and Harry would like to keep it that way.
Now during Math class, Harry was working on his workbook for Fizzy. He had written down the topics Fizzy needed to know before she got to her current work and what she needed to know for what she is now learning.
He had turned it into a small game to help Fizzy feel like it is less homework and make it more fun. He turned each subject's workbook into a big mystery game. Every time she fully completes a worksheet. Ideally, she will receive a clue that brings her one step closer to solving the mystery. Harry had found out that Fizzy loves detective work and mystery and solving crimes, so Harry did. He did a murder mystery, a serial robbery, kidnappings, supernatural-related crimes, and even a school crush (he ran out of ideas for the last one).
Harry made sure to keep it simple and have visuals to help explain things further when she couldn't understand them. He even had a program read it out, and he recorded it and put it at the top of the section, so Fizzy could hear it and read at the same time.
Harry had put it in different folders, so Fizzy could only access each level one at a time and made several additional copies for each level for when Fizzy needed to redo it. She will text him when she is done, and he will correct it, and if she passes, then Harry adds a virtual sticker in her completion folder and puts the clue for that specific mystery under it. So that folder will hold her clues and stickers for her completion and achievement. Then he will release the next level for her to work on. He ensured that she wouldn't feel under pressure if he gave her a time limit, so he explained that she could take her time.
Louis was looking over, confused at what Harry was doing, but then he saw Fizzy's name, and his heart melted at the fact that Harry was actually going above and beyond with helping Fizzy. He sneaked a picture that HArry saw from the corner of his eye but didn't say anything and texted Fizzy showing her how hard he was working for her.
Harry spends the whole day perfecting and finalizing the workbooks for Fizzy and his job. Over the weekend, when he got back to the house, he would work on all his schoolwork in the living room at night since he could barely sleep, so he might as well use those hours to get stuff done. Now he is all caught up on the homework and assignments, and this week he is writing all the tests he has missed.
Louis and Niall tried to talk to Harry during their shared classes, but HArry was so focused on Fizzy that he didn't notice them. Louis couldn't even be a little upset or defeated because he was distracted with helping his sister, and as a protective older brother, he couldn't be happier.
When Harry got back to the house, he made lunch and dinner, which became routine. He makes two meals at once, and when dinner comes around, they just heat it since Harry is never allowed to eat with them, so he doesn't even bother coming downstairs. After cleaning the kitchen, he went upstairs to go through the entire workbook and the mystery to ensure he didn't make any mistakes and that everything was set up correctly. He shared the first level for all the subjects, the instruction and achieve file with her and sent her an audio message giving her a rundown of how he set everything up.
Right as he was done and was about to relax for the first time since he got here, Simon burst into his room and smirked. Harry sighed and put his stuff away. Simon grabbed his arm and pulled him into a room in the basement, and this is when he found out where Nick and Greg had gotten those things from.
BDSM, Simon is into BDSM. Not surprising there but isn't this supposed to be consensual?
"I went a week without touching you. I will have my fun tonight," Simon whispered in Harry's ear before kicking the back of his knee,s making him fall to the ground and on his knees.