Hi :) *laughs awkwardly because it's been so long*
(sorry about that btw)
October 3rd. A difficult day for Louis to deal with and an even more horrible day for him to be trapped in his own thoughts with.
Louis was laying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, knowing he needed to get up and get ready for school. He could hear his sisters laughing and joking around the house- maybe it was just him but it seemed like today they were being obnoxiously loud, as though they were trying to make him feel worse. If he was being honest with himself, he knew they weren't being malicious nor were they trying to agitate Louis but he couldn't help but roll over and huff into his pillow, letting out an annoyed breath and pulling his sheets above his head.
There were three soft raps against his wooden door, his mother entering the green toned bedroom hesitantly. She walked towards the bed, gently placing her hand onto his shoulder, "You're gonna have to get up, Lou." Her voice was soft and hesitant, just like her movements, "It's almost time you were leaving, let alone getting up, babe."
He let out an involuntary sigh and rolled over, Jay's eyes were hesitant too, he noticed, and sympathetic- as though she didn't want to make him get up but she had too. The tender woman leaned down and enveloped his body in a hug even though he was still wrapped in the covers, "I know, baby." She whispered and all Louis could think was 'no you don't'.
So he got up, his sisters leaving while he got ready, and made his way downstairs. His steps were slow and soft, dragging him through the house unwillingly. Jay made sure to tell him on his way out that he could come home if he had to, as long as he tried today. All she could ask for is that he tried.
As he made his way through the quiet streets, the car whirring being the only noise in the otherwise silent vehicle, his thoughts spun, unrolling a large mess in his brain and apparently chucking all common sense to the side. All he could think about was everything that happened with Mark. And subsequently what happened on the third of October four years ago to the exact date.
Louis walked into school with less than a minute before the first bell of the day was due to ring, looking around for his friends in the short time he had left. The only people he managed to spy were the Styles triplets, there was no Liam, Niall or Zayn anywhere in sight. He shook his head, ignoring the anxious bubble floating up to his chest at the inherent absence of his best friends, the loss of comfort that he felt like he really needed today.
Just as he turned to walk towards the table, the loud bell rung effectively cutting him off and forcing him to head to biology where it seems he would find out where his best friend really was. He floated among the crowds of students going to their classes, absentmindedly directing himself towards the lab where he went every Wednesday morning.
Niall wasn't there. He didn't show up at one point in the entire period and Louis hated all of it, every single minute. He was stressed and anxious and quiet and the knot in his stomach was growing with each second it felt. And it turns out none of his best friends appeared.
He figured that one out when he went to the toilet during his free period and checked his phone. There was a text from Liam saying that there was a family emergency with Zayn's family and that none of the three of them would be coming in. So he returned to his table in the lunch hall, feeling somehow more numb than before and continued on with his morning.
At break he sat alone for the first five minutes until the triplets appeared, tentatively looking at him and not saying anything. Louis looked up from his seat, his neck craning to meet eyes with the tall figures. His palms were splayed out across the pages of his book, keeping it open at the page he was reading, and his fingers fidgeted against the paper, "Hello?" He questioned, his eyes flickering between the three green eyed alphas.
"You okay with us sitting here?" Edward spoke up softly, looking at Louis with soft eyes and a gentle smile.
"We can go if you'd feel more comfortable if we didn't." Harry piped up quickly, making a small blush appear on Louis' face- although it wasn't noticeable to the alphas- and a band to reach out.
"Please. Join me." He said it with the most enthusiasm he could muster- which wasn't really a lot- and directed his hands to the seats surrounding the table. Marcel and Harry sat across from Louis, Edward taking up the seat beside him as he went back to his book to ignore the anxious ball bouncing up and down in his chest. The triplets held conversations around him, allowing an opportunity for him to join in if he was willing to but not forcing him to do anything, it was comforting despite his uncomforted about being at school without his best friends.
The remaining ten minutes of break didnt feel as bad as the first few hours since he got there, it was as a break for his brain. His thoughts of Mark were obscured by the combination of his book and the triplets talking around him.
The triplets walked him to history despite Louis' disagreement and then he was alone again. For two periods he sat in silence with his head in the clouds. He tried to keep himself down to earth but he found himself floating away everytime he came back to reality.
Then he made his way down to the lunch hall and Louis didnt know if it felt like it had been five hours since he had been there or five minutes. His brain was full yet empty at the same time and he didnt know how much longer he could face the day. He walked to the toilet and closed himself into a stall, slipping down the wall and resting his arms on the seat, his head gently placed on top of them.
He wasn't sick, much to his relief, and after a few minutes he stood himself up and dusted off his skirt before he was making his way through to the lunch hall. The triplets were seated at a table close to the door and as soon as he was in Edward's view, the alpha waved him over.
A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he nodded his head, making his way over slowly and running a hand through his hair. The only open seat at the small table the trio had inhabited was next to Edward so he sat himself down beside the oldest male.
There was a sense of awkward silence that floated among them for a few seconds until Marcel piped up, his voice holding an echo of anxiety, "You seem a bit down today, are you okay?"
Louis shifted his head towards him, surprised by the question and hesitated. He nodded before he began to speak, "It's been a rough day, an anniversary of not a very nice memory."
All three of the triplets nodded and Edward noticed that his brothers didnt seem like they knew what to say, so he stepped in himself, "We know you probably don't trust us very much but if it's any consolation, we're here to listen if you ever need to talk." He placed his hand on Louis' wrist, retracting when the omega flinched slightly. Louis looked up to him and for the first time ever Edward really saw his eyes.
The deep cerulean blue that was shining under the cheap lights of the school that just reflected pain and sadness. There was no trace of any happiness in the moment and it hurt him, he couldn't believe that Louis had been feeling like shit (to put it lightly) and he hadn't noticed.
"Really, we're fresh ears that will not judge." He kept direct eye contact the entire time, trying to make Louis feel safe just by looking into Edward's green irises.
Louis turned his face away, turmoil coursing through his veins. He needed to talk and he needed to do it now. His eyes showed that so just needed to make sure that none of them seen his eyes while he thought about what the fuck he was supposed to say.
The triplets watched as Louis distantly looked out to the sea of people in the rest of the dining hall. Harry and Edward knew what was going on because they'd seen it before in Marcel, they far away looks as he struggled to decide what he was actually going to tell them and what he was going to keep to himself, the finger fidgeting as a way to keep himself calm. And Marcel knew what was going on because he had went through it.
The youngest triplet stood up slowly, his chair scraping against the concrete floor as he moved around the table. He crossed the corner so he was standing in front of Louis, his thighs meeting the brunet's eyes before he crouched down in front of him. This was anxiety inducing for Marcel, bringing up his issues to someone who he honestly barely knew, no matter how much he wanted to know him.
"Hey, you're gonna have to help me here because I'm better at listening rather than talking, okay?" Marcel whispered, Louis let a small puff of a laugh come through his nose, a small nod escaping him unwillingly.
"Okay." That was all Louis said, giving Marcel the floor to speak.
"I probably don't know what you're going through and you don't have to tell me anything. When I was having a hard day I used to want to scream so loud that I would crack the windows in my house, it felt like my chest was being torn apart from all of the emotions that I couldn't navigate and didnt think I could talk about. I didnt for a long time." Louis looked confused. Sympathetic but confused, "Right. To my point. I know what it feels like to suffer in silence and how hard it is to be feeling like that in school. So right now you have to do what's best for you, you can stay here and let us try to distract you or you could go home and cry and shout and lie in silence in your bed until you feel a little bit better. But we will be there for you either way."
Harry and Edward watched on with small smiles, Marcel was doing a good job.
"I know that we're only really kind of friends because of Niall, Liam and Zayn but that doesn't mean that we can't be your friends. You don't have to tell us everything about your past and what you've went through but we'll be here to help you in any way we can." Those words were Edward's, he began when he realised that Marcel didnt know where to go from there, "Do you need a lift home?"
Again Louis hesitated, this time moving to face Harry and Marcel's seats and place his head in his hands. Edward watched as Louis left his head in his hands, knowing that his thoughts would be racing, "I'm gonna stay." He mumbled, forcing Edward to question him again, getting him to repeat what he said.
"Okay, that's good. Have you got your book?" Louis nodded at Edward's last question, reaching down into his bag and pulling out the old and frayed copy of the fourth Harry Potter book. He pressed the book down against the table to flatten the pages, and forced himself to get lost in the words to ignore the rest of the shit going through his cloudy brain.
Marcel had returned to his seat in that time, placing his head onto Harry's shoulder, giving the older alpha access to his temple. Harry pressed his lips onto the side of Marcel's head softly before he reached his arm up to place it around Marcel's shoulders, heating the youngest alpha up and making him feel more secure in his definite feelings of insecurity at opening up.
Over the course of the rest of lunch the triplets made light conversation, trying to let Louis feel a bit better while he was feeling so bad. The two oldest alphas walked Marcel and Louis to French after lunch, leaving them with a warm smile each before they headed back downstairs to the gym hall for their free period.
"Where's Miss Hamilton?" Louis questioned quietly. One of the school's maths teachers was sitting at the front of the class, his eyes squinted as he logged onto the small laptop that was placed on the desk. The pair took their seats and listened as the sub teacher told them that their actual teacher hadn't left them any work so they were to find something to do themselves: whether that be work for another subject or sit on their phones he honestly didnt really care.
Most of the class immediately got their phones out, connecting headsets and sending messages to their friends, but not Louis and Marcel. Louis pulled his book out of his bag without looking at the alpha and when he turned to face him, Marcel had done the same.
Inwardly Marcel smiled, remembering that day out in the garden where he pictured what he and Louis would do if they were alone together- read.
There was hardly any noise in the classroom; just the quiet turning of pages, clicking of keys, tapping of phone screens. Overtime Marcel's eyes drifted to Louis, watching as the omega tried to focus on his book. The alpha seen his knee bouncing up and down and watched his eyes go back to the top of a page when they reached the bottom, telling him Louis wasn't taking in anything he was reading.
Louis sighed and Marcel realised that was his time to say something. "That's not working." He piped up quietly, leaving his eyes on Louis' book as the omega looked up at him.
"I know, I can't concentrate." Louis trained his eyes on Marcel, waiting until the alpha finally looked at him until he spoke again, "You know when I woke up this morning I never thought that I would make it this far in the day, I really thought I would've went home by now."
Marcel had a quizzical look on his face, "Why didn't you then? Especially since Niall, Liam and Zayn aren't in."
Louis took a breath, "Because you and your brother's made me feel weirdly safe, like I was able to stick it out." He never opened up this quickly but something about it did feel safe. The Styles brothers made Louis feel less insecure in himself, like he was a valid human being without even being overly kind to him, just their presence helped his brain feel less fuzzy yet buzzy and more calm.
"I'm glad we could make you feel safe enough to stay here, I know how hard being around people you don't really know when you feel so shit can be. It fucks with your brain even more." Their eyes locked and Louis nodded, another sigh escaping his body.
"I haven't told anyone about what actually happened to me and I've never felt safe enough to say it- not even to my mum- but I have this strange need to get it out right now and I don't know why." He turned away again, looking down at his book to keep his eyes off Marcel.
"I've had that feeling before and I never acted upon it from fear of being judged. You can tell me anything you want Lou and I promise I will never tell a soul if you don't want me to. But you don't have to say anything either, I know I'm not the person you trust most and they might be a better person to tell but that is completely up to you." Begrudgingly Louis looked back up to Marcel his eyes were genuine, completely and utterly sincere.
"Eventually I'm going to have to get all of this off of my chest, so I guess here it goes..."