A month has passed since the fateful arrival of Louis and his family. After the hallway commotion with Brent, Louis has kept his distance from his next door neighbor and the heavily-fueled bully. Though the young boy counts his distance as a blessing, he can't help but be intrigued by Harry's heartless demeanor. He doesn't want to become the type of judgemental person who would assume the "punk" boy to be anything other than wholesome. Unfortunately, based on what the rest of the students have spoken about him, Harry has quite the negative reputation. Louis tries not to take it all to heart, aware that what others have to say about a person isn't always who they really are.
Niall and Leigh-Anne have been keeping him busy. They showed the unaware boy the 'good' and 'bad' people around the school and how to avoid the bad ones. Louis learned that Jack Anderson likes to stick wet boogers under the desks in the front of History class, so it's best to steer clear. Betty Grace is always sick, but is the nicest girl of his classes, so be sure to keep hand sanitizer on hand. Niall will laugh at anything and Leigh always smacks him when he does something stupid. Louis likes his new friends. They're cool like his old friends. In the end, Louis may not have wanted to move away from his hometown, but he is beginning to warm up to the people surrounding him.
"Louis. Louis. LEWIS." Niall drags out the sounds in his friend's name, poking his cheek with a carrot stick. The three new-found friends are sat at their lunch table, gossiping about the possible teacher affair between Mr. Vega and Mr. Evans. The students caught wind of the situation by examining the way Mr. Evans lets his cheeks warm in color when Mr. Vega just so happens to run out of staples every day. The squealing girls in the hallways clutch at their chests and discuss possible fan fictions while the two male teachers blindly fall in love with each other.
"What do you want?" Louis exasperates, laughing at Niall's scared reaction.
"You've been zoned in on Harry for like 10 minutes. What's up with you?" Niall asks, holding a collection of Louis' flower crowns, looking to see which ones look good on him. Louis snatches the bands away, silently cursing at Niall for stealing them from his bedroom.
"I was just thinking and happened to be staring at Harry," Louis says, half lying. He was thinking, but knew he was staring at Harry a little while ago. At first, it was a purely innocent thought process, simply admiring the way the girls would shyly approach their love interests. Along with watching the boys make fools of themselves trying to find lovers, his eyes focused on Harry sitting among his friends. Trying to figure out Harry's personality silently became an interest of Louis'. It becomes difficult when the person you're examining isn't willing to even glance in your direction, but its a challenge the little blue-eyed boy is willing to take.
"You like him don't you?" Niall asks, mouth full of food. Leigh-Anne sends him a glare, venturing back to the table after copying her friend's calculus homework, slapping Niall on his arm. A large part of Niall and Leigh-Anne's relationship is her trying to beat the fact that not everyone is gay into Niall's head. The Irish boy is nothing but innocent, but sometimes his natural instinct is to just assume anyone's interest in anyone is purely gay.
"What? Guys, I'm not into...guys. I am not and never will be gay." Louis' eyes widen, nervously fiddling with his flower crown. A blush creeps up his neck thinking of the possibility that he could ever be someone's boyfriend. Of course, Louis doesn't have any repressed feelings, but one thing he is sure of is that any romantic emotions towards boys isn't in the cards for him.
"Well, to be honest with you, I think everyone's a little gay for Harry." Leigh pats the now blushing boys' arm, giving him a serious look. Louis silently admires his friends for being so open and compassionate about his sexuality, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.
"I'm not gay! I just...Harry just seems like he's more than what he shows to everyone. I know it seems weird but usually I can guess if people are 'good,' but I can't measure Harry. It's not like I care that much, it's just something that...I don't know." Louis starts to ramble, watching Harry leave the room with his gang of friends behind him.
"We're just going to have to fix this then," Niall says with a mischievous grin graced upon his face.
"Oh no."
~
"And tell me, again, why we're doing this." Louis sighs, crossing his arms. He does not want to do this. He wants no part of this. Why he found himself handcuffed to his locker in the middle of the school hallway, students and teachers walking past with side-eyes and sarcastic glances, he has no clue.
"Harry helped you when Brent was about to kick your ass-" Niall starts, making the frustrated boy send him a glare.
"Hey! I could've handled myself!" Louis defends, his friends staring at him with blank expressions, turning to look at each other, and ignoring Louis' tiny protests.
"Right. Well, you were in danger. So, maybe Harry cares if you get hurt or you're in danger." Leigh-Anne finishes.
"So I have to lock myself into my locker?" Louis lifts his arms in protest, the handcuff cutting into his arm in the process, making the "damsel in distress" glare at his friends. Surely, it wasn't the best idea that the bunch had come up with. Niall tightens the cuffs, much to the dismay of the young boy trapped to the rusting piece of metal in the overpopulated school.
"Precisely! To figure out someone's character and personality, one must create a platform for them to showcase who they are." Niall exclaims a bit too enthusiastically, making Louis groan loudly. Leigh-Anne watches in amusement, scanning the hallway to alert the two boys when Harry has arrived. Louis continues with the resist, almost breaking the boundary of begging Niall to let him go so he doesn't embarrass himself anymore that he knows he already has. Instead of letting Louis just try to talk to Harry like a civilized, normal person, they wanted to be "exotic."
"Curly, tall, and froggy coming this way!" Leigh-Anne whisper-shouts, turning around to slap Niall's arm. In the process, Niall jumps at the unexpected contact, arm shooting up in surprise. The small, metal key that unlocks the cuffs escapes Niall's hand and skids into the sea of students. Niall's eyes widen when he realizes what he's done, trying to not alert Louis of the horrific loss. When Louis does catch sight of Niall's terrified expression, he starts to panic.
"Okay, don't be alarmed but I may have lost the key." Niall nervously smiles at Louis, hands firmly placed in his pockets, face turning red from embarrassment.
"You lost...the key!" Louis reaches forward to strangle Niall, shouting profanities towards the small Irish boy currently trying to find the key. Leigh-Anne bends down to help search for the object, Louis frantically trying to break himself free of the cuffs, panicking as time passes. In this moment, he instantly regrets not working on his arm strength, failing in trying to pull his wrist free. "Guys if I have to explain to my mother how I got like this, I swear."
All of a sudden the upset boy notices a large figure starting to lean towards his body. He looks up and sees Harry standing above him, sunglasses perched on his nose. The smell of cheap cigarettes and high-end cologne swirls around Louis' head and makes him dizzy. Louis' heart physically stutters at the sudden intrusion of space, mouth frozen as he tries to think of something to say. Before he has any further moment to try and explain why he is in this position, Harry is leaning his much broader body against Louis to reach inside the locker. Flushing the distressed boy's cheeks, Harry unlocks Louis' cuffs for him, slightly smirking. He looks at the surprised boy and shakes his head. Tossing the little key he found on the walk up, he walks off before anyone can even say anything, leaving Louis flustered and grateful that his wrists are free.
"That was everything." Leigh-Anne slaps a hand over her chest, eyes blown wide in excitement.
"I smell homosexuality!" Niall screams, immediately being caught by a nearby teacher and scolded for shouting in the hall.
-
After leaving the crime scene that was Louis' locker, the group decided to take a trip to their local coffee shop, Minnie's. Most of the students from school ventured to the small shop to either study amongst friends or viciously plot plans for their friends to do in order to gain the attention of another student.
"Alright, so I've got this plan." Niall starts, flipping through his backpack, puling out a sheet of paper filled out with writings.
"Niall, it's literally been half an hour, mate." Louis groans, resting his face upon his hands, watching Niall dig through his unorganized backpack. One thing Louis has learned from being Niall's friend is that when he has become persistent on something, you have to let him act upon it because there is no stopping him. Whether it is a good or bad situation, Niall will find a way to get what he wants done, done. It's something to admire and fear when it comes to Niall.
"Hey, I'm here to help you get your man," Niall says, making Leigh-Anne laugh.
"I'm going to ignore that you said that."
"It's a 15-step plan. Well, really you're just going to pretend to be in danger 15 times. Well, 14 since you did one today." Niall explains, making Louis rest his head against the table, groaning louder. At this point, Louis has given up trying to convince his friends of his sexuality. For the sake of his sanity, he will pretend to be interested in whatever plan that Niall may have formed.
"Uh oh." Leigh slumps down in her seat, nodding her head in the direction of the entrance, face full of worry. The two boys sat in front of her turn their attention behind them to investigate the sudden intrusion. Two groups of riled teens stand at the door, Harry and Brent staring each other down, white noise filling the silence. The shop seems to freeze with anticipation, waiting with clenched jaws to see if anyone breaks the silence, or each others noses.
Louis scoffs at the scene, mentally demonizing the male ego. Testosterone thriving teenage boys seem to be the bane of the young lad's existence, testing his patience with every chest puff and arm flex. Thankfully, Harry's friends disperse to the front counter, parting ways with dirty glares and leaving the air thick.
"I would let Harry punch me in the face if he looked at me like that."
"Leigh-Anne, if you don't stop this shit."
"Well, if it isn't fag boy and his little freaks." The peaceful aura surrounding the teens at the table is disrupted by the ever fatalistic presence of Brent and his magically vexatious friends.
"Harry wouldn't give you enough attention, so you had to pick on us?" Niall braves up, clenching his fists under the table. The Irish dumpling would be lying if he said he wasn't in the slightest bit frightened, but it's important to him that he stands up for his friends.
"Brent, I really am sorry that you are so insecure with yourself that you feel the need to push your built up anger on us. Life at home must really be terrible, I hope you get some help with that." Louis stares plainly at the fueled bully, lips curling in a small smirk at the near defeated look on Brent's face. What catches him off guard is when rough hands are gripping his grey sweater, tearing him away from his seat. There's a bit of a small scuffle of noise, Niall and Leigh-Anne slashing with profanities.
"I could end you and your little prick friends right here, right now. I can't stand to even look at your twinkly, fairy ass." Brent pulls Louis in close to his face, practically snarling in disgust as Louis remains calm, eyeing Brent up. In these situations, Louis has learned that showing the least amount of emotion is key when dealing with high doses of testosterone. What riles a bully up most is not showing fear, not fueling their ego or dominance. If Louis were to be punched, well, who's really lost the battle?
"Is that a threat or a promise?" A smug grin arises on Louis' face, lighting up his humor defense mechanism. Truly, he knows he deserves a good round of swings after he opens his mouth, but he couldn't help himself from being himself. "Daddy."
"I'll fucking rip your face off!" Brent cocks his arm back, face fueled with red, rage swelling in his veins. Louis laughs maniacally, throwing his head back in a fit, watching Niall's mouth drop it utter shock and amazement. The heavily pissed teenager nearly makes contact with Louis' precious face, Harry bounding in, shoving Brent away from the victimized boy.
"Brent, back it the fuck off, mate."
"Oh, look who it is. The little Styles boy back again to play hail Mary for Rainbow Brite over there." Brent physically falters in his dominance, but not enough to let his egotistical persona fade. He stands with his fists clenched, shoulders broad, chest puffing in fury.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time, nicely. Walk it off." Harry crosses his arms, flexing his muscles, clenching his jaw to stand his ground against Brent. Louis stands, eyes wide, letting his gaze trail over the way he's got a protective stance in front of him, nearly reaches out and touches Harry's arm to let him know it's okay. He refrains from doing anything, lets the boys hash out their adrenaline rushes.
"You think I can't take you, pretty boy?" Brent steps forward, fist raised in a threat attempt to scare Harry off. In return, Harry reaches forward to grab onto Brent's shirt, makes sure to take a few steps away from Louis. He leans into Brent's face with a heart-stuttering stare, clenches his teeth and breathes into his slur of a threat.
"Don't make me fuck you up in this coffee shop. There's people enjoying their muffins." He shoves Brent off again, causing the bully and his friends to scurry away from the scene with glare of pure hatred and resentment. Harry holds his ground until they leave the shop, clenches his jaw until he can turn back to Louis and relax. "You alright?"
It takes Louis a pure moment to fully process the situation, shakes his head to clear his brain fog, looks up at Harry's green gaze, slightly intimidated until he chokes out a small, "I'm okay, thanks."
"Are you out of your fucking mind, then?" Harry means to be irritated, but the words come out much softer than anticipated, takes a moment to look at Louis' slightly worried face and sighs instead of being angry. Louis notices the change in voice, blushes in defense, looks down in slight shame, embarrassed that Harry got involved. He suddenly feels immensely childish and his pulse quickens, thumping against a small portion of his neck.
"I thought it was quite funny, actually." Louis mutters, smiling in remembrance, face pink with guilt and adrenaline. He thinks he may have contracted a slight hearing problem when Harry chuckles softly.
"You've got balls, new kid, I'll give you that. But I'm not gonna be around forever to save your ass from that prick, so just watch it, yeah?" Harry tries to be stern with Louis, carefully tries to warn him of what could truly happen to him if he isn't careful. Brent may buckle under pressure with Harry, but he's got a whole different attitude when he's amongst the little guy.
"I'm no princess that needs saving, Harry. I can hold my own." Louis smirks, shoving his personality in the space between them, biting back the intimidation he's feeling with Harry's gaze struck directly upon him. He's not afraid of Harry, but the way he looks as if he's piercing right through you with the sheer power of his dominance is a bit alarming.
"Let's count on it." Harry smiles, salutes Louis and his friends before walking off to meet back with his friends on the other side of the shop. Louis turns around to greet his friends again after the whole incident, only to find their faces hanging wide in disbelief.
Niall is silent for a long moment before he breaks into a grin and slyly whispers, "13."
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Hi guys! I know that this update has taken literal years to publish but I lost spirit in writing for a bit and I really want to make this fic something amazing, so if you've been waiting, thank you for being patient. I'm going to try to make another update as soon as possible so until then, thank you so much for your loyalty! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. xx