Enjoy x

~~

Liam was in the kitchen making lunch and Louis was reading a book at the kitchen table , when there was a knock on the door . Liam walked to the door and opened it , smiling when he saw Harry . "Hey mate ."

"Hi , uh , do you happen to have some milk ? I ran out of mine ." Harry asked , Liam nodded , "Of course , come in ." He opened the door wider , Harry thanked him and walked in , following him to the kitchen .

"Harry , this is my younger brother Louis , Louis this is Harry , the new neighbour ." Liam introduced them before going to the fridge .

Louis felt his stomach dropping at the presence , slowly looking up from his book .

"Hey , how are you ?" Harry waved with a warm smile , but all Louis did was scramble away and run out of the kitchen to his room .

Harry's smile faltered , Liam sighed , "I'm sorry about him . He - uh ... He just - isn't good anymore with people ."

"It's okay . Is it - is it a disorder ?"

"No no , it's - psychological . Something happened in his childhood and he shut himself out ever since ." Liam explained while handing him a half full milk carton saying he could keep it , Harry thanked him and looked back to the staircase , where Louis ran to .

Liam crossed his arms over his chest and sighed . "Don't feel bad about it , he's ... he's just having a hard time trusting people . He's selectively mute . It's sad and tough for all of us , but I just know he will grow out of it ."

Harry nodded , "Yeah , okay ." He sighed . "How old is he ?"

"Turned seventeen three months ago , on December ." Liam said , swallowing thickly to get rid of the tension in his throat at the mention of his birthday .

Harry looked once again at the staircase before nodding and offering a soft smile , "Thanks for the milk ."

"You're welcome ." Liam smiled back and led him to the door , saying goodbye and shutting the door behind him , letting out a sad sigh .

~~

It was Saturday morning and the sun was out , Louis was sitting on the porch with one of his books while Liam was watering the flowers along the pathway .

Harry finished his morning walk with Mojo and Fuji , smiling and waving at Liam .

Liam smiled and waved back , Harry glanced at Louis who was on the porch , and decided he should try talking to him .

He crossed the road and walked over to Liam , smiling . "Hey , you doing okay ?"

"Yeah , everything is good ." Liam nodded with a smile , noticing Harry glancing up at Louis before back at him . 

"You want to talk to him ?" Liam asked , Harry nodded , "Yeah . I want to try ."

"I can't promise you he'll cooperate . There's a chance he would get up and leave ."

"I know , I just - I still want to try ."

Liam nodded , "Alright . Go on then ."

Harry nodded and took a small breath in , going up the rest of the pathway to the porch , where Louis was sitting .

"Hi Louis ." He approached slowly with a smile , holding Mojo and Fuji's leashes tightly . The two dogs wagged their tails , tongues sticking out .

Louis looked up at Harry , his lips pursed together . He moved his gaze to the dogs , eyeing them . He loved dogs , though didn't want to pet them incase Harry didn't want him to , so he went back to his book to try and focus on it .

"How are you ? I hope you're doing well ." Harry said , biting his lower lip when Louis shifted slightly on the bench . Though he wasn't going to give up so easily .

"You know , these two have been waiting to meet you ." Harry said and gestured down to the two large dogs , "They love meeting new people ."

Louis glanced sideways at the dogs , Fuji allowed himself to walk closer and sat in front of Louis , waiting to be pet . Louis couldn't resist and held his hand out to pet him , Mojo walked closer aswell and nudged his head under Louis' hand .

Harry smiled at the two dogs , watching as Louis' small hand moved from Fuji to Mojo ever so gently . 

"This is Fuji ." Harry patted the dog's back , "And this is Mojo ." He ruffled Mojo's hair a little , "They're both very lovely and sweet ."

Louis looked down at Fuji and Mojo , they were both indeed cute and sweet , and he felt himself slowly relaxing in their presence . Though he jumped when Harry stepped closer , grabbing his book and standing up from the bench , taking a few steps away .

Harry froze in his spot , "I - I'm sorry . I didn't mean to startle you ."

Louis clutched his book in his hands , his expression wary as he avoided looking at Harry or the dogs .

Harry quickly realized he's making him uncomfortable and sighed sadly , "I'm sorry . I-I'll go now . It was nice meeting you ." He sent him a sad smile before turning around and taking Fuji and Mojo back with him .

~~

"How was school today ?" Geoff asked as Louis got into the passenger's seat , Louis didn't react to his question , just stared out of the window .

Geoff turned to look at him for a split second before looking back to the road . "Lou ? Did something happen ?"

The fact that Louis didn't talk didn't make things better ; it was harder to look through him . But because Geoff is his father he knew him all too well , and he could tell something happened .

They stopped at a red light and he turned to look at him properly to inspect an injury , though couldn't detect one . "Please let me know if anything happened today . It's obviously something if it made you this upset ."

The light turned green and he went back to the road , Louis swallowed thickly and kept his body stiff so he wouldn't notice his barely noticable wincing , from being punched in the stomach .

They reached home , Geoff parked in the driveway and before getting out of the car he turned to Louis . "I want you to know that I'm here , and if anything happened today I'd like to know . I'm here for you , Lou ."

Louis turned to look at him for a split second before nodding , they got out of the car and  Geoff waved nicely at Harry , who just arrived at his place aswell .

Harry smiled back and waved , sending Louis a smile . Louis looked his way and blinked , and Harry could immediately tell something is wrong . He's known him for about two , maybe three weeks , but the way his body was stiff and his face crumpled just the slightest every time he breathed , he knew something wasn't okay .

He crossed the street quickly and approached Louis , his eyebrows furrowed . Louis hugged his arms around himself as he held the sleeves of his jumper , growing nervous as Harry walked closer .

"Hey ." Harry said softly , knowing Geoff is looking at them from the porch by the door . "Are you - are you okay ?"

Louis didn't dare to look at him , nodding his head lightly . Harry took a step closer , Louis stepped away a bit . Harry lowered his voice to a whisper , "I can see your breathing isn't very even . Are you sure you're okay ?"

Louis' heart dropped at the question . How did he even notice ?

Harry looked him over once again , "You can trust me , I promise you ." He tried taking another step towards him but Louis jumped back and ran into the house , leaving Harry and Geoff to stare after him in confusion .

Geoff turned to Harry and gave him a gentle smile , "He wouldn't tell me either , and I have quite a bad feeling about what it is ."

Harry nodded , "Yeah . Yeah , I can tell ."

"Thank you for trying , though . It's nice to see other people besides me and Liam asking him if he's okay . I guess - I guess he's not used to it ."

Harry frowned and a small pout appeared on his lips . Louis doesn't deserve whatever he went through , and whatever he's going through at the moment . He nodded , "I understand ."

Geoff nodded aswell . "Thanks again , have a good day ."

"You too ." Harry sent him a soft smile before turning back and going back to his house , still thinking about what could have made Louis upset .

~

Louis ran into his room and closed the door behind him , quickly locking it . He placed his bag down on the floor and pulled his phone out , connecting it to his speaker and playing his songs . Only after the songs started playing he let his tears out .

He covered his mouth with his hand and cried as quietly as he could , before making his way to his body legnth mirror . He lifted his shirt up to his chest , biting his lip at the sight of the bruise on his upper abs , painting his stomach a dark shade of red and blue . It didn't look bad , nor was it a large bruise , but it still hurt when he took in deep breaths .

He let his shirt fall back down before he kicked his shoes off , sitting himself on his bed and burying his face in his hands . He absolutely hated those days , when some students would mock him . But today one of them punched him in the stomach , which hadn't happened in quite a long time . 

He calmed himself down enough to turned the music down a little , he grabbed himself some clothes and his towel before unlocking the door and walking straight to the bathroom .

~

Liam knocked on the door to Louis' room before cracking it open , seeing him sitting by his desk doing his homework . "Hey Lou , dinner will be ready in ten minutes , so come down to the table by that time ."

Louis nodded at him , he was much more calm now . Liam bit his lower lip softly before closing the door and going back down the stairs .

Goeff smiled as he walked into the living room , he sat next to him and he patted his back . "He'll come around , don't worry ."

Liam sighed out , "He's my baby brother . I worry so so much about him , life is giving him a hard time . What would happen if one day we wouldn't be here for him ?"

"Don't think about it , Louis is a strong person , stronger than we think he is ." Geoff squeezed his shoulder reassuringly . "I can assure you , he will do great things when he grows older ."

"I know . I'm just so worried ."

"And you have every right to be . But let time do it's thing ."

~~

Hope you liked it x

~Author