Warnings; homophobia, mentions of abuse

Louis was happy. True, he didn't have the most fortunate past and maybe he shouldn't exactly be too elated, but the blue-eyed boy couldn't help it. His stomach was filled with sweets and he was inside a warm room. He had lived on the streets for three years after his mum and stephfather kicked him out. Louis was just happy that Colette, an elderly lady that brought him food every few days, decided to take him in.

"Are you warm enough, love?" Colette came back into the room with multiple blankets in her arms, "I will go look for some clothes of my late husband, but I wanted to make sure you are warmed up first. I honestly can't believe you didn't ask me for help sooner! I thought you had at least a shelter you could return to! I swear, if I only had ignored Albert when we met you." The woman shook her head at the memories.

"Thank you, Colette." Louis smiled up from where he was seated on the carpet near the fireplace. Colette had frowned and asked if the chair wouldn't be more comfortable, but Louis told her his clothes were too dirty and that he didn't want to impose on her further, which, of course, resulted to a lecture from the old lady because in no way did she think of him as dirty or imposing. Louis didn't want to move from the ground though, so she let him be if he was more comfortable that way.

"Alright." The woman sighed, "You're rather small, so maybe the clothes won't fit, but it's better than wearing shorts and a large shirt during winter. If I ever have the displeasure of meeting your parents, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind."

Instead of replying, Louis smiled up at his only friend. He got used to Colette's disdain for his parents and he eventually had given up defending them. It wasn't as if he agreed with her, but he also didn't want to argue with her.

After an hour, Louis was dressed in an over-sized hoody that used to belong to Alfred -Colette's late husband-, a pair of joggings from the woman herself and a pair of fuzzy red socks. There was a cup of warm chocolate milk with marshmellows in his hands and a blanket was wrapped around his shoulders. Colette didn't have a TV, but she did bring a boardgame, and Louis couldn't contain his laughter when the elderly woman tried to sneak some toy money out of the bank to cheat during the game.

[###]

Louis had been living with Colette for five weeks when the doorbell rang.

"Louis? Could you get the door, please? I'm in the kitchen making dinner and we don't want another burnt meal, do we?"

The boy's cheeks flushed bright red at the comment. A few days prior, Louis had tried to surprise Colette by cooking dinner. The brunet had managed to burn the vegtables while he was steaming and the rice. Needless to say, Louis wasn't allowed to cook anymore unless Colette was there to supervise it.

The doorbell rang a second time and Louis huffed. He hurried to the door on his red socks and looked through the peeping hole. His breath hitched. Although he couldn't see everything, he could see that there was a very handsome man standing on their doorstep. The stranger had short brown hair hair that complimented his moss-green eyes. The vibe the man gave off was one of authority, but Louis didn't think it was bad; there was kindness and warmth in those green eyes.

Carefully, Louis opened the door.

"Hello?" Louis had to tilt his head upwards to look the stranger in the eyes. He even sneakily lifted himself on his tiptoes so he would appear taller than he was. For a second, Louis glanced at the man's lips. They looked pinkish like the man had only just finished eating red fruits. Because Louis was so focussed on those lips, he saw how they curled into a smile before they opened to return the greeting Louis had uttered.

"Hello, love, who are you?"

"I'm-" Louis stopped himself mid-sentence, "I was told not to talk to strangers."

The stranger's eyes grew wide and Louis thought he'd get angry, but the man started laughing instead. It was a beautiful laugh; one that made Louis relax and made him want to laugh along. Maybe telling the stranger his name wouldn't be so bad after all. A person who is so pretty and is so friendly couldn't be bad, right?

"Is that so?" The stranger was still smiling, "What if I tell you my name first? Would that be acceptable? Or I could just call you 'Love', if you want, you sure are lovely enough."

Louis blushed and tilted his head down, escaping from the man's eyes. Right at that moment, there was a noise behind Louis and Colette's voice followed soon after.

"Harry, leave him alone will you?" The woman scolded, but she winked at the man, Harry, soon after, "You've always been a charmer, but I'm afraid the poor boy's heart won't be able to handle you."

Harry laughed once more and smirked at Louis, "My apologies, love."

Colette took a step back, inviting Harry inside, "Come, it's freezing outside. We got some cookies and I just finished making dinner."

Louis watched Harry while the man made his way in. It felt like the younger of the two was in a movie; a tall, handsome man entering the life of a damsel, well Louis in this case, and sweeping them of their feet. Louis wouldn't mind riding off to the sunset with Harry.

"Louis?" Colette was still standing next to him, "You're drooling, love."

[###]

Apparently Harry and Colette were good friends. If Louis was being honest, he kind of envied them; though he wasn't sure which one he was the most jealous of. Colette was Louis' only friend and she cared for him. Louis would do anything if it meant that she was happy... so he was angry at himself when he wished Harry would stop talking to her. Harry, on the other hand, was a stranger, so Louis didn't know why he wanted to have his attention.

"Thank you for the meal," Louis said after finishing dinner. He had made a habit out of it to thank Colette for everything she did. Colette just rolled her eyes at it, she didn't want to tell him off, but she also thought Louis didn't need to thank her for every single thing. She already thought of him as family and a good friend.

"Likewise," Harry added, "It's the best meal I've eaten since... Well, since the last time I came here." The man grinned, "That reminds me, you didn't have such a gorgeous roommate last time, Colette. Where did you pick him up?"

Louis cringed at that. It was probably inteded as a joke, but Colette really did 'pick him up'. Louis had been shivering outside in the snow, celebrating his birthday the previous day by trying to melt the cold substance so he could drink water.

"We've been friends for a while and he was in a tough spot." Colette smiled, expertly evading Louis' background story.

Harry nodded his head to that. The answer didn't statisfy him, but he knew better than to keep prying. Before he could ask something else, his phone went off. Harry stood up with a sigh, "Excuse me, I need to take this."

"Go ahead." Colette smiled, "Be careful and don't forget to return what you're given."

The man nodded, flashed another smile to Louis, and made his way out. The sound of the door closing could be heard and Louis deflated a bit.

"So, you like him?" Colette asked, her eyes narrowed a bit.

"I-," Louis panicked. He couldn't like Harry! Harry was a man. Louis couldn't like someone who had the same gender as him, he knew that. That was the reason why his stepdad and mum were dissapointed. Louis knew it was wrong. But, why did it feel as if Louis did kind of like Harry? Maybe his stepdad was right, maybe Louis was a failure. Maybe he was better off-

"Louis!" Colette called out to the boy as he began to tremble, "Are you alright?"

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"

"Why? You've done nothing wrong, dear." Colette stood up to hug Louis close, "I don't know what you're thinking, but it's alright. No one will hurt you. I'm not mad at you Louis, you've done nothing wrong. Honestly, I only wanted to tease you a little bit, I'm sorry for taking it too far."

Louis kept mumbling apologies while he trembled and Colette didn't know better than to hug him close and reassure him time and time again that everything was alright, that he was alright.

[###]

Harry closed the door behind him and cursed at the cold wind that hit him once more. He quickly answered the call and started walking towards where he parked his car.

"What?"

"Good day to you too, sir." A voice replied with a thick accent.

"Cut the pleasantries, Horan. Why did you interrupt my free time?"

"Someone is grumpy. Wait a minute, did I call while you were eating those delicious chocolate cookies? I'm so sorry if that's the case! Never mind why I'm calling then. Can you go back and bring some home for me too?"

"Niall." Harry growled into the speaker and a little yelp came as a reaction to it.

"My apologies, sir." Niall coughed and collected himself before he continued, "There is a problem regarding our pub '28'. Some punks from another gang trashed it and the security got shot. Ed and Zayn went out with some boys to see what they can do, but James thought it would be better to inform you."

"Alright. So now you informed me. What do you expect me to do? Hold your hand and tell you which steps to take?"

"No, sir."

"Then proceed according to protocol, Horan. You are all capable men that I personally picked. If you can't handle something from this level, you better resign."

Niall snorted, "yes, sir. We'll send someone to investigate and take care of the loose ends."

"Good." Harry smirked, "By the way, I need you to look into someone for me. I don't have a name nor any other information, but a description should be enough, no? He's not dangerous, just picked my interest."

"Sure. What does she look like?"

"He is a boy, around seventeen or eighteen years old. Brown hair and the most gorgeous blue eyes. He lives with Colette."

"Excuse me, but why are we looking into him again?" Niall sounded like he was trying his best not to laugh, "Do you have a crush on a kid? H, that's extreme, even for you."

"Shut up, Horan. I only want to know who Colette picked up."

"I'll check if it's legal to date him yet or not while I'm at. Good luck, boss."

"Niall-!" Harry couldn't finish because the Irish lad had already ended the call, "I swear, I should have never promoted my mates to my captains."

----

A/n; finally an update.. it is my birthday today so I thought it was perfect for an update!