Louis can feel this kid's parents judging them the moment they walk in.

It's obvious they're homophobic, for one. Where else would Jack have gotten it from? On top of that, Louis and Harry must be ten-or-so years younger than them. Even the headmaster looks a little surprised when they walk in, and Louis assumes that must be the reason.

"Um, hi," Louis holds his hand out to the headmaster; a woman with icy blonde hair. "I'm Louis...Gracie's dad."

"Ms. Germanotta," The woman says, shaking his hand and giving him a polite smile. "Very nice to meet you."

Harry holds his hand out to her next. "I'm Harry," He says, shaking her hand. He has his lawyer face on. That means shit's about to go down. Louis feels giddy. "Pleasure to meet you."

They don't shake Jack's parents' hands. They sit down across from them. Louis' lucky he's meeting with a client today, because he'd feel a lot less qualified to argue with some homophobic parents in his highlighter-green t-shirt.

"Alright, so it seems we had a little altercation in Ms. Bridgers' class the other day," Ms. Germanotta says, folding her hands on top of the table. "To my understanding, Gracie hit Jack in the eye, correct?"

"Yes," Jack's dad, seemingly, chimes in. "Now my kid has a bloody purple eye!"

"Ms. Germanotta," Harry straightens in his chair a little, crossing his ankles. "To my understanding, Jack was harassing Gracie about the fact that she has two dads, and, even after she told him to stop, continued to mock her. Was hitting him the correct reaction? Absolutely not, and we talked to Gracie about it. But, this school advertises a kind, accepting environment, and I don't think that was being practiced by Jack."

Harry's such a badass, Louis' in love with him. "So because we teach our son good, Christian values, he should be chastised?" Jack's mother asks, raising an eyebrow. Louis could tell she was nasty the moment they walked in.

"What is good and Christian about homophobia?" Louis scoffs. "Don't use religion as an excuse. We...we were married in a Catholic Church, it's not Christianity that's the problem."

"Your faith doesn't justify your son persecuting my daughter over the fact that she happens to have two fathers," Harry says, his expression and tone stern. "If that's what you want to teach him, that's not any of my business. However, I think it'd be wise of you to tell him to keep it to himself, because he can get into some real, legal trouble for being homophobic when he's older."

"I didn't ask for legal advice. Who do you think you are?" Jack's dad scoffs.

"He's a lawyer," Louis says smugly.

"Okay, I think we need to re-group," Ms. Germanotta interrupts. "I think what we're going to do is have both of them write out apologies to each other."

"Jack has nothing to apologise for," Jack's mum argues, slamming her hand down on the table.

"He provoked my kid enough to hit him!" Louis raises his voice a little. "You think she just did that for no reason?"

"I think she's bound to have some issues in a household like yours," Jack's mum hisses at him. Louis can see Harry's expression weaken, obviously hurt. "This is exactly why we're against this kind of thing. Two men can't raise a child like a man and a woman can."

"Mrs. Butera," Ms. Germanotta holds her hand up to her. "This meeting was not an invitation for you to share your opinions about their relationship. I don't care what you're teaching your son, keep it out of my classrooms, and if Gracie does not receive a written apology from him by the end of the week, Jack's consequences will be severe."

Damn. Louis looks back to Harry, who's staring down at his lap. "Mr. Tomlinson," Harry looks up at Ms. Germanotta. "I'm incredibly sorry about this whole ordeal. Have Gracie write out that apology, and this whole thing will be over."

"No, it won't," Jack's dad says. "I want to take legal action, my kid was severely injured."

"You don't have the grounds to do that," Harry says to him, although he doesn't sound as strong as he did before. That "household like yours" comment really got to him.

"We will have that apology for your bigoted kid by tomorrow," Louis stands up out of his chair, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Thank you very much, Ms. Germanotta, but I think we're done here."

Louis grabs Harry's arm and pulls him so he's standing up, leading him out of the tiny office. He feels triumphant until he sees how quiet Harry is being, and he remembers how much those cunts must've hurt his feelings. Louis walks Harry to his car, grabbing his hand before he can get in.

"Haz," Harry looks up at him, frowning. "Don't listen to what they said, okay? They've got no idea what they're talking about."

Harry nods solemnly. Louis leans forward and kisses him, not noticing Jack's parents walking out of the school and making faces at them.

♛

"H-i-t-t-i-n-g."

Gracie writes it on her apology note slowly, making sure she spells it correctly. "Like that?" She asks, showing Harry the paper. Harry grins, but it's tired, nodding.

"Very good," He says.

"And then...y-o-u?" Gracie asks.

"Yup," Harry nods again, and Gracie writes it down. "Can you read me what you wrote?"

Gracie picks up her paper, squinting at it. "Dear Jack," She reads slowly. "I am very sorry for hittin' you."

"Good," Harry brushes a curl out of Gracie's face, resting his head on his hand. "What else do you think you should say?"

"Ummm," Gracie stares down at the paper. "It...was mean?"

"Yeah, that's good," Harry says, and Gracie puts the paper back down before picking up her pencil. "Do you need help spelling anything?"

"No," Gracie says. "I can do it."

"Okay, smarty pants," Harry grins, watching as Gracie slowly writes it out. Is it legible? Barely. But, at least she's writing it. Louis walks into the kitchen, hair wet from his shower, and peers over Gracie's head at the note.

"Looks good, G," He kisses the top of her head. Gracie swats her hand at him.

"I'm focusin'!" She huffs.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Louis wrinkles his nose, not missing how Harry presses his lips together to keep from laughing. "I'll just kiss Papa instead. He appreciates it."

"Meh," Harry shrugs. Louis scowls, but he leans over and kisses the top of his head anyways.

sorry this is a short filler but do not worry i have big things planned >:)