A/N I'm sure no one expected this to be the last update on this story. Ever. Don't worry though. I'll be doing DIS one shots. Because I can't get rid of this story that fast.
When Louis had first gone to school, he was well-liked, it seemed. He had plenty of friends, despite his stutter and problems with reading. But things slowly went away as time went on, but it was okay to Louis. He still had some sort of small group of friends that kept him all together.
But, of course, they slowly withered away, too, until Louis had no one left. And because he had no one left, his parents became more and more ashamed of him. Louis no longer wanted to try in school, even though he was down right one of the best students in all of his classes. He never tried his absolute best, and actually volunteering to help in class was rare.
Louis hated himself for how much he made everyone else's lives hard. But he also hated himself because of who he was.
He was and had always been Louis Tomlinson. The boy with a stutter and nothing better to do but be alone. Maybe read a book or two. He was just a loner.
Always was just a loner.
Slowly, but surely, Louis started to want to change his life. He associated himself with new people, new things. He started volunteering more in class, letting himself speak up, stutter be damned. He met new people online and would help them, never asking for help in return because he didn't need it. He even started a blog to keep track of things going on in his life and to help even more people who needed it. And slowly, but surely, people started to appreciate Louis more. Especially as the school year started to pull into an end and summer holiday was coming upon them.
Louis was no longer alone. He always had someone holding him up. Whether it be Harry, who he gladly flaunted around as his boyfriend. Or Savannah, who was always around to make sure everything was kept in order. Or Zayn, Liam, or Niall, who together could hold up the whole world. Or Georgia, who even though Louis barely got to get close to before they were protecting each other. Louis had someone. Unlike most teenagers, Louis even considered his parents his best friends.
Louis was happy that things were changing. He worked on his speech, even though it seemed so incurable. But, he slowly got his stutter to a reasonable amount where he wasn't stuttering as much. Louis realized it all seemed really unreasonable goal because he felt like no one was supporting him. He felt like everyone was against him.
It goes to show that no story is good without the hero.
Heroes come in many shapes, sizes, people, and things. A hero can come in a small bottle. A hero can come in a shot of vodka. A hero can come in the form of a newborn baby. A hero can come in the form of a boyfriend.
Louis' hero was in the form of multiple people.
But in reality, his hero was much more than that.
Louis slowly realized that he was his own hero. He couldn't have saved himself without other people, sure, but the key thing was he did it for himself, by himself. Louis didn't ask for help. Didn't ask for people to change him. He slowly changed himself.
And it was for the better, really.
~~O~~
"I'm g-going to s-say the senior-or speech?" Louis asked, his jaw dropping at the sudden announcement from the school counselor, who was standing next to the principal, hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. She looked pleased with how shocked Louis was, which made Louis' stomach flop weirdly.
"You're going to say it and write it, Louis Tomlinson," Judith said, poking Louis' chest with a hard finger, making Louis wince internally. Judith smiled a little wider and pulled out some papers and guidance sheet from her desk draw, handing them all to Louis, who laughed humorlessly when the papers fell on the ground and no one else made a move to help him.
Louis scanned the guide sheet and frowned, reading over the requirements for the speech a couple more times.
"W-why exactly-ly is th-there rules and g-guidelines I h-have t-to meet?" Louis asked, pointing to the different rules.
Judith scanned the rules herself, pointing to one and laughing with the principal. When Louis tried to look at it, Judith stepped away, clearing her throat.
"Because even though it is your speech and your peers' speech, we still want some order and proud-ness in it. We can't have any silliness in the speech. We want some order and some say in it. And make sure you pay special attention to rule ten. It will apply to you the most," Judith said, leaving the room with the principal right behind her.
Louis quickly flipped to the page where rule ten was, his eyes pricking at the words.
10: No distractions with your speech. Stuttering, yelling, screaming, etc. will make your speech unprofessional. Please keep distractions to a minimum, or better yet, keep all to yourself.
He threw the papers into his bag and left the room, walking straight for the doors to go home.
~~O~~
"You're still working on that speech, Louis?" Harry asked, coughing the repeated words into his elbow.
"You-ou're s-still-ll cough-ghing up your l-lungs, Harry?" Louis teased, pulling Harry down for a kiss. Harry scrunched back, coughing into his elbow again.
"Stop tempting me with kisses. You need to be able to do your speech and I don't want to ruin that for you by getting you sick. Now, work on your speech," Harry ordered, sitting down across from Louis. Louis raised an eyebrow at Harry, who coughed in response.
"F-fine, fine. I d-don't even know-ow wh-what to write-te-te," Louis said, biting his lip.
Harry furrowed his eyebrows and moved to the chair that was next to Louis'. "Louis. You're getting nervous. What's wrong?" Harry asked, slowly rubbing Louis' back.
Louis broke down then, shaking and crying his eyes out. Harry held him close, rubbing circles into his back every now and then. Louis sniffled and sobbed and bawled into Harry's shirt until nothing was coming out but dry heaves.
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, calm down," Harry repeated, stroking Louis' hair, pressing tender kisses to the top of Louis' head. Louis slowly started to breathe normally, sniffling only a little to get the snot off his face.
He looked up at Harry, who was smiling softly at him, rubbing at the tears drying on his cheeks.
"Look at that. You're so beautiful," Harry said, smiling wider when Louis snorted, pushing away from Harry.
"N-now I know-ow you're j-j-just being-ing a j-j-jerk," Louis said, trying to hide the smirk pulling at his lips.
Harry shook his head, pushing some of Louis' hair out of his face. "No, no. Could never lie about that. Could never," Harry mumbled, pressing a quick kiss to Louis' cheek.
"N-no k-kiss-sses, remember?" Louis tsked, shaking his finger at Harry, who held up his arms in defeat.
The two stared at each other for awhile after that, trying to figure the other out. Harry knew there was something wrong with Louis, because of course there was something wrong with Louis. Ever since Louis had been working on his stutter, Harry could tell when Louis was nervous or upset, or even excited. His stutter would return back to its original state, leaving Louis blushing and flustered.
Harry continued to stare at Louis, narrowing his eyes at his boyfriend, who was trying not to laugh at Harry's constipated-looking face.
To tell the truth, Harry was quite offended and hurt that Louis wasn't just talking to him openly about what was bothering him. Ever since the two had become official, Harry was very open about everything. His father, his parents in general, his sister. Everything. He even talked about his feelings, which was just as hard as getting Zayn to open up.
So to know that Louis couldn't trust Harry with his feelings really, truly hurt. Harry was contemplating what to do, though. He couldn't exactly say out right that he was hurt by Louis' actions. Because that would be quite self-centered, would it not? And he knew that just asking Louis wouldn't work. Maybe not at first.
Harry's eyes flickered down to the speech, a small, satisfied smirk forming on his face. Instantly, Louis' face dropped and the laughter had stopped.
Hook.
Louis looked down at the paper and back up at Harry, who was still staring at him.
Line.
Louis bit his lip, trying to gather the papers up before Harry could see them. Harry snatched the biggest one, though, finding a bunch of papers stapled together.
It was a guideline book to how to write the speech. Harry furrowed his eyebrows even more, looking through the papers slowly. When he had reached number ten, his eyes widened.
Sinker.
"You're nervous about the speech, aren't you?" Harry asked, setting the guideline papers down slowly, trying his best not to lose his temper. Last time he lost his temper in front of Louis, Louis had threatened to break of the relationship. Harry didn't want to scare Louis like that any longer, had practiced on making sure he could keep control of his feelings. Make sure he wasn't as protective.
"Y-yeah-ah. S-so nervous-s, I d-don't know wh-what-t to write-te," Louis said, sighing heavily.
Harry sighed, too, looking at the blank sheet of paper, only a few things written in chicken scratch on the top. It didn't look like it was about the speech, though.
"I know you're nervous about stuttering and all. But. I say, you know what? Fuck it," Harry said, picking up the guidelines paper and plopping it on the table. The stack of papers made a soft, but effective bop noise. Louis jumped slightly, still nibbling on his lip.
"F-f-fuck it?" Louis asked, pointing at the guidelines.
"Fuck it," Harry answered, repeating his actions as before, "just fuck it. Don't follow this bullshit. This is your speech. Your speech! And this is my speech. And Zayn's speech. And Niall's speech. And Liam's, too. And this is everyone's speech. So fuck the guidelines. This is our time. Not their time to govern what we do! We're going out in the real world now, and you wanna know what?"
"Wh-what-t?"
"I saw fuck it!"
"F-fuck it-t," Louis muttered, the words light on his tongue. He chuckled, nodding. "Y-yeah. Fuck-ck it-t! Fuck it-t! F-fuck it!"
"Louis!"
Harry and Louis turned towards the door, both flushing under Louis' mum's stare. She rose her eyebrow at the two, her lips pouting. Her hands were strong on her hips and the look on her face showed she was angry. But, before long, her lips starting shaking, and she burst into a smile, a couple chuckles falling from her lips.
"Aw, fuck it," Jay said, turning on her heel, leaving the room.
Louis looked at Harry and smiled, picking up the stack of papers and standing to throw them in the bin. When he dropped the papers in, he did a little sigh of relief, turning back around to sit down again. He picked up a pencil and started writing fast, everything suddenly coming to him in fast thoughts and quick pictures.
"Louis? We were supposed to go watch a movie, though," Harry said, his repeated words a bit louder, more urgent. "L-Louis. Movie. The Incredibles. Wow. So incredible. Ha. Ha ha. Right?"
Louis continued to write, ignoring Harry completely. He especially ignored the incredible joke. He didn't want to lose a single thought he was thinking right now, wanting to get it all down.
Harry smirked and shook his head.
"Fuck it."
~~O~~
The lights were bright, blinding Louis with their whiteness. There was a couple of colored ones, green and red and blue. But the white one shined right in his face, like a spot light. Which was what it was suppose to do, he guessed, since it was a spot light.
Louis cleared his throat, cap tight around his head and robe loose around his body. A happy contrast, he supposed.
"H-hello-lo, f-fellow peers. Hello-o teach-chers. As you-ou can pr-probably tell, I suffer from a st-t-tutter. I have suffered with th-this stutter-r ever s-since I was a ch-child. So to kn-know I was going-ing to re-read the sp-speech was like gett-tting kicked r-right square in the g-genetalia. Honest-stly, how c-comedic is th-that, l-letting the st-stuttering freak say the se-senior speech-ch. The l-last th-thing I'll s-say to all-ll of y-you as one-ne, most-st likely.
I don't w-want to be like-ke all of th-those other-er-er sappy people-le, who d-decide that-t they should st-start their new-ew life by-y cr-crying their eyes-s out-t with a gr-group of their fr-fr-friends. While this s-s-sounds like the best kind-ind of ch-chick-flick-ck movie night ev-v-ver, this is n-n-not one of your belov-v-ved soaps. This is, s-s-sadly, life. And life c-c-comes with a lot of ru-rules and guide-de-delines that we have-ve to foll-llow, but really don't want-t-t to.
Whe-n-nn I wa-was asked-d-d to write this sp-speech, I was t-t-told I had to follow-ow-ow all of thes-se rules. All of th-these guidelines-s-s to make-ke sure th-that I g-gave this schoo-ool some kind of pr-pr-pride for their se-se-seniors. And in the spark-k-k of the mo-moment, I di-di-didn't react-t to that. And I sh-sh-should've. B-b-because who the hell-ll has the right-t-t to say we, as a gr-gr-group, haven't-t-t made-de-de this school-ool proud.
If I'm n-n-not mistak-k-ken, we were the fi-first group-p of k-kids to sell-ll-ll out d-d-dance tickets-s in only one d-day. And our f-f-football team-eam? W-won all of our g-g-games-s! First-st time in ten ye-years. And our gr-grades-s? Th-they were through-ough the roof-f gr-great. And even th-the people who did-didn't do s-s-something-ing for th-their school still-ll accomplish-shed something-ing.
We all acc-cc-ccomplished being-ing ours-s-selves and supported-ted the school-ool we love by b-b-being here. And I th-think that's something-ing to be pr-pr-proud of.
Yeah, I may have a st-st-stutter. Yeah, I m-m-may be gay-ay-ay. Yeah, I may h-h-have some tr-tr-troubles-les read-d-ding aloud-d. Yes, I'm not p-perfect.
But guidelines-s-s and ru-rules th-th-that hold me back-k-k from being-ing my tr-tr-true self? The ones-s-s that m-m-make it so I c-c-can't stand-d-d up here and s-s-say what we're all th-th-thinking? You wanna know-ow what I say to th-th-those?
I say f-f-fuck it. And fuck-k-k anyone-ne or anyth-th-thing that holds-s you back fr-from doing-ing what-t-t you wann-nna do and being-ing what-t and-slash-sh-or who you-ou want to be-e. You are b-b-beautiful, you are per-erfect, you are unique-que, and you are go-go-going to fucking-ing r-r-rock this world-d.
Class-ss of 2014? We fuck-cked it. And we fucked it h-h-hard!"
Everyone laughed and cheered, some even started to cry, touched by Louis' pretty messed up words. There were some teachers and officials who were rolling their eyes, obviously irritated, and the principal looked like he was about ready to blow a right nut. Louis blew a kiss to them, and waved at the teachers who were cheering and clapping along with the students.
Louis jumped down from the stage, joining the crowd and instantly running up to his boyfriend, who wrapped Louis up in a tight hug, along with the others.
"You did amazing, Louis," everyone said, either patting him on the back, or pressing a sloppy, wet kiss to the side of his face. Louis chuckled and flushed red, leaning back into Harry.
Louis hummed, twirling some strands of Harry's hair between his fingers.
"Yeah. I did-d do pr-pr-pretty damn goo-ood," Louis said, smiling widely at Harry, who stuck out his tongue. Louis looked up then, meeting eyes with a specific someone. He smiled at him, twiddling his fingers. He looked back at Harry and muttered, "I h-have to go-I do some-mething-ing real-l fast-ast."
Louis pulled away from Harry and strode over to a proud-looking Mr. Langston. He shook Louis' hand, pulling Louis in last minute to hug him. Louis gasped in shock, awkwardly hugging Mr. Langston back.
"You did good, Louis," Mr. Langston said, putting his hand on Louis' shoulder.
Louis shrugged, smiling up at Mr. Langston. "Th-thanks, Mr. L-Langston."
"No, call me Adam," Mr. Langston said, winking at Louis, who shook his head in shock.
"A-Adam?"
Mr. Langston - Adam - winked again, sending Louis off to go to his friends.
Louis turned and went towards Harry, smiling a little to himself. He looked into Harry's eyes and stopped, biting his lip. He then turned around and ran up to Mr. Langston, smiling.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Louis asked, smiling wickedly.
Adam chuckled, nodding his head. "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see," Adam responded, rustling his curly, blond hair.
Louis smiled and twisted around, running towards Harry.
~~O~~
After the graduation, everyone had met up at a pizza place, hoping to get something to eat with their friends before splitting off and doing whatever they'd be doing for the rest of now. The group didn't really want to go at first, because it was going to be a bunch of popular kids and too many people. But Louis had convinced them, saying that it was the last time the whole school was going to be together before a reunion, twenty years from now.
When they had arrived at the restaurant, they were all surrounded by cheers. Everyone was either cheering because Louis had entered, school was over, or they didn't have a clue what was going on, but cheered anyways for the Hell of it.
"Wh-wh-where do you w-want-t to sit-t?" Louis asked, pointing to the very limited seating spaces. Harry and Savannah instantly raced over to a very large booth, pushing each other around in it. Louis rolled his eyes, blaming senior fever, and walked over, scooting into the seat so he was next to Harry. "Wh-what are you-ou f-f-fools doing-ing?" Louis asked, nudging Harry in the gut.
"Oh nothing, nothing," Harry said, biting his lip to hold back his smile. Louis rolled his eyes again, looking at Savannah, who simply shrugged, picking up a personal pizza menu.
Niall, Zayn, Liam, and Georgia suddenly arrived, squeezing into the seats themselves. Even the booth was quiet large, the seven of them had little to no room. It was mostly because of Niall, though, because he had to take up about ninety percent of everyone else's room.
"Alright, what to eat, what to eat," Niall said, licking his lips as he also grabbed a personal pizza menu.
"I thought we were going to order four large pepperoni pizzas," Savannah said, putting down the personal pizza menu she was holding. "I was just looking at the desserts on the back, Ni."
Niall scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Savannah, that's exactly what I'm doing right now," Niall said, like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. Savannah harrumphed and got out of the seat, motioning for everyone to scoot down so she could sit next to Georgia.
"Hello, guys, what are you all getting?" a waiter asked, walking up to the table.
"We're all getting cokes, except for the girls, who are gonna get diet cokes, and we're just going to have four - ow, Niall - five large pepperoni pizzas," Liam said, rubbing his side of the table with a sanitary wipe.
The waiter looked at him confused. "Okay, great. I, um. I just wiped down the table," he said, trailing off.
"H-h-he does th-that," Louis said, waving his hand. The waiter nodded and walked off, obviously still confused by the whole thing. "S-s-so. Life-fe plans. What's-s-s gonna-na happen-en for you a-all?" Louis asked, putting his head in his hands, smiling at everyone.
"Well, I'm going to go to some beauty school with Georgia. It's pure luck that we sent forms to the same one. We're just hoping it accepts both, or that we can get to another one," Savannah said, smiling up at Georgia, who put her arm around Savannah's shoulders.
"I have finally been accepted to this really nice art school in America, actually. It's in New York, and only the best of the best go. So, I feel like it's going to be challenging to stay. But. I'm excited," Zayn answered, earning a look from Niall and Liam.
"You never told us about getting accepted, Zayn," Liam said, a slightly hurt expression on his face.
Zayn looked down at the table, folding his napkin into a swan. "I wanted to wait until the time was right. I guess now was the time," Zayn said, smiling. "I kind of want you two to be okay without me. I don't think our relationship is healthy. And. Niall, you're into a bunch of different girls. I feel like Liam and I were just experience."
Niall sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry, you two. I think I was just confused, you know?" Niall asked, earning a pat on the head from Harry.
"You're okay, Niall. Everyone gets a bit curious sometimes," Harry said, smiling over at the blue-eyed boy.
"He's right. We're not angry, Niall. And Liam likes the nurse anyways. Don't think he can get too upset," Zayn said, laughing at the blush that was forming on Liam's cheeks. "Anyways, back to happiness and college. What are the rest of you going to do?"
Louis shrugged, smiling when the waiter came back to drop off their drinks. He sipped his drink, chewing on the straw a bit in a thinking matter. "I'm-m not-t too sure-ure-ure, actually-ly," Louis spoke softly, stirring his drink. "I w-wanted-ed to be an English-sh-sh teacher when I was-s y-y-younger, but who is-s going t-to take me seriously-ly with my stutter?" Louis asked, snorting a little.
Harry elbowed his arm, making Louis wince. Harry pulled him close and kissed his cheek, saying, "Louis, you just blew the school away with your speech. Whatever you decide to do in life, you're going to do great at," Harry said, placing his repeated words into his hand.
Louis smiled, cuddling into Harry's side. "Th-this is why-y I l-love you-ou," Louis muttered, the words slipping out.
Harry grinned like a cat who got a fish. "I love you too, Lou," Harry murmured, kissing Louis on the cheek again. "Now. I'm not going to college. Decided that it wasn't really something I want to deal with. You know? I might go to university later on in life, when I'm a bit older. But I just want some time to myself and with Lou."
Everyone nodded, agreeing to what Harry had said.
"Y-yeah, I m-m-might take-ke a y-year off-ff," Louis responded, sighing a little. "D-d-don't know-ow if-f I c-can deal-l with-th much more-re school."
"I get what you mean. Last week, a teacher told me that if I didn't write two essays on Romeo and Juliet by the weekend, I wouldn't be able to graduate. I hadn't even read the play! Wasn't here for that section. But whatever. I have never read anything that fast. Literally read the whole thing in four hours. Took my awhile to finish the essays, though, because they were on bullshit topics. Why do you think Paris did this or that instead of this? I wanted to write an essay about how terrible Romeo and Juliet is," Savannah said, rambling.
"R-r-right-t-t, I h-h-hate that-t book-ook," a girl suddenly said from behind them, making everyone turn. Hailey had appeared, smiling nervously at everyone, waving cautiously. Harry grinned and motioned for her to pull up a chair and sit down. Louis glared up at Harry, who ignored it and greeted Hailey.
"Glad you could join us, Hailey," Harry said, winking at her. Hailey laughed and shook her head.
"M-m-my pleasure-sure," Hailey said, smiling at Harry and Louis. "S-s-so, you-ou t-two got-t-t togeth-th-ther?"
Harry nodded, pulling Louis closer to him. "We've been going out for awhile now, actually. Haven't seen you in forever, Hailey," Harry responded, making Louis smirk smugly.
"M-missed you, Hailey-ley," Louis sneered, harrumphing.
"H-h-he doesn't-t-t kn-know, d-d-does-s h-he?" Hailey suddenly asked, biting her lip.
Louis shot out of Harry's arms, looking between the two, and at Savannah, who suddenly looked very, very, very guilty. "Know wh-what?" Louis asked, glaring at Savannah.
"So, like. H-Harry and Hailey broke up for a reason. And I knew about the reason. They weren't really that much together? They weren't beards or anything, but it wasn't really. Um. Anything serious? Like. Um. Hailey has a boyfriend now named Chris and Harry has been wanting to get with you for awhile, so I kind of mind-fucked you into realizing you like Harry back and Hailey told Harry to get you? So there really wasn't a relationship? It was more to get you jealous?" Savannah said, each other sentence sounding more like a question than anything.
"W-why wasn't-t I t-t-told you-ou had-d a crush on m-me?" Louis asked, poking Harry in the side.
Harry blushed. "I thought it was kind of obvious. I stalked your Facebook to see if you'd dated any guys. That's how I knew you had dated girls in the past, because you talked about someone named Hannah or something like that in a post. And I had tried to get your attention by going to your house. I followed you around a bit because I'm a bit of a stalker, I guess. And I connected with an old friend of yours, who told me a bit about you. His name was like Noah or something. Cute blond guy," Harry said, repeating words over and over at some spots.
Louis quirked an eyebrow. "S-so you've-ve l-l-liked me-e f-for awhile-le now?" Louis asked, blushing a little. Harry nodded. "And-d you-ou connected-d with old f-friends-s to find out more about-t me?" Harry nodded. "You f-followed-d me around-d-d?" Harry nodded again. "And-d you-ou were 'with-th Hailey-ey' to m-make me j-jealous?" Harry nodded again.
Louis burst out laughing, holding his stomach. Harry, Hailey, and Savannah stared at him, while Zayn, Niall, and Liam tried to keep their giggles to themselves, and Georgia was biting her lip. Before long, everyone at the table was laughing and giggling.
"I'm a bit of a weirdo, aren't I?" Harry asked, wiping at his eyes.
Louis nodded, kissing Harry's cheek. "B-but you're a cute-te w-weirdo," Louis said, kissing Harry's cheek again.
Everyone aww'd, making Louis blush and flip them off.
"Now. What is everyone else doing with their lives after this," Georgia asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
"I think Louis said it the best," Niall said, smirking at everyone. "Fuck it. We have our whole lives ahead of us to worry about college. Now let's fucking eat, I'm starved!"
Everyone laughed before digging into the pizza, even letting Hailey join the group and have fun with them.
A/N so i changed it up a bit because some things didn't really add up and i just wanted a less ridiculous ending. i think this really fixes some missing things up. this doesn't mean i'm quite yet done with this story. still more to go editing/rewriting wise, i think. so i'm taking the massive rewriting/editing thing out of my description and i'm going to leave this be for awhile. i hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as i did.
btw, i think noah is the milk carton-y son of a bitch.
prepare for some one shots in the future!
love you! <3
~Bree