Enjoy x

~~

"Kids , welcome Louis . He's staying with us from now on ." Des introduced Louis to the kids in the orphanage , "Show him around , how to get things done ." He placed a large , rough hand on Louis' back and pushed him forward a little towards Niall , Liam , Jenna , Mary and Thomas . Louis clutched his backpack tightly , afraid he'd lose all the clothes he got like last time , when the bag was snatched from his hands and he had to start looking for clothes all over again .

Des left , Niall held his hand out . "I'm Niall ." He said , Louis shook his hand with a trembling hand . Niall tried to smile , but he was just sad that Louis is now a part of Des' circus . Louis pulled his hand back and held onto his sleeve , Liam held his arm out , "I'm Liam , come on I'll show you to your bed ."

Louis nodded and followed silently , the kids following right behind . They walked into the boys' room , Liam pointed to an empty bed , "Here's your bed ."

Louis placed his bag down and looked around the room ; it looked colourful yet a bit lifeless . He sat on the bed and looked up at the kids , when one of the girls approached him . "I'm Mary , and I wish for you to get out of here as quickly as you can ."

"Mary , don't scare him ." Liam scolded a little , Mary rolled her eyes , "Come on , he's going to have to deal with it anyways . He's one of us now and we're going to go through the same shit ."

Niall covered Thomas' ears , "No cursing ."

Mary crossed her arms and returned her attention to Louis . "Anyways , if I were you I'd take off before he gets a chance to actually know you ." She took a few steps back and leaned on the wall , crossing her ankles .

The other girl gave Louis a soft smile , "I'm Jenna . I hope you'll find the good things in staying here ." Louis returned the smile softly , which quickly vanished as Mary rolled her eyes , "There's nothing good about staying here ."

Liam shook his head and sat next to Louis , placing his hand on his arm , "She's exaggerating . You'll be okay here ."

Louis nodded and offered half a smile , Niall smiled at him , "You're not much of a talker , are you ?" Louis looked up at him with soft blush on his cheeks , shaking his head . "N-No , not much ."

"It's alright . I think you're just shy because you're new , but you'll open up to us ." Niall said , Louis nodded at him with a smile , "Yeah . Okay ."

"I'm hungry . Can we go eat lunch now ?" Thomas looked up at Niall , Niall nodded and ruffled his hair softly , "Sure . Let's go eat , Harry said he'd cook for us today ."

Louis followed everyone out of the room and through the place until they reached the kitchen , where he saw a tall , broad guy with a floral apron moving swiftly around the kitchen , the smell of freshly made food reached his nose and made his stomach growl a little .

"Heya Harry , what did you make ?" Liam approached him , Harry turned his head and smiled at him , and Louis' heart skipped a beat at the sight of sparking green eyes , a beautiful smile and dimples .

"Hey Li , just finished making some mashed potatos , grilled chicken and some veggies ." Harry washed his hands and dried them , taking the apron off and hanging it on the wall .

Liam placed his arm around Harry's shoulders and turned him around to face the other kids . "Harry , meet Louis . Des brought him in just a short while ago . Louis , this is Harry , Des' son ."

Harry's heart fluttered in his chest at the sight of a small , soft boy in front of him , looking shy and tiny . He held his hand out , "Hey , nice meeting you ."

At hearing his low yet warm voice Louis melted ; he wanted him to talk forever . He shook his hand , "You too ." Harry wanted to squeeze him between his arms , he was like a tiny soft kitten .

"Alright , you guys go sit at the table , Harry and I will bring over the food ." Liam said and shooed everyone to the table .

"I'll go get Alex and Mia aswell ." Jenna said and walked out of the kitchen .

--

Des stood in the entrace of the orphanage , the kids were all standing in front of him . Louis was a bit confuse and felt out of place but went along , figuring he'd get the hang of it with time .

"Alright , you kids go out . Do not come back without a nice amount . Good luck ." Des dismissed and the kids walked out of the place .

"Where are we going ?" Louis asked , walking by Liam . Liam looked over to Niall and Mary , as if asking them to tell him . Mary sighed , "Robbing ."

Louis stopped in his tracks . "What ?? I am not going to rob anybody ."

"Well you have no choice ." Mary shot back , making Louis frown . Liam shook his head , "Well it's - it's really complicated ."

"I am not going anywhere until you guys tell me what's going on ." Louis crossed his arms over his chest . Niall took a step towards him and put his arm around his shoulders , "You see , Des is ... well he isn't really the best guardian out there . We rob because he forces us to , though sometimes we decide not to rob because we get tired of it but the consequences are just as bad as robbing ."

"Well then why don't you guys find a better way to get money , like getting jobs or I don't know ?" Louis asked , and Liam chuckled sadly , "It doesn't work lke that for Des ." He sighed , "Sometimes he goes out to see us robbing , make sure we do as he says . He's very powerful , Louis ."

Louis frowned deeper . "Does anyone know ? Harry ? The police ?"

Mary shook her head . "No . None of us dared to tell Harry . Well one tried , but he's long gone because Des sent him away and we haven't heard from him ever since . We tried going to the police , twice ; one time they didn't listen , the second time they came to check up on us and Des acted as if we lied to the police . When they left he punished us all , we haven't eaten for three days and were forced to sleep outside in the rain . He wanted to show us we're nothing without him ."

Louis chest tightened as he looked down at the ground , processing the new information . "Does he - d-does he get violent ?"

"When he feels like it's needed ." Niall mumbled , Louis froze and stared ahead , visibly trembling . Liam was quick to put his arm around him , "Calm down Lou , all you need to do is not anger him ." He said in a calm voice , but that didn't help Louis' small freakout .

"I need t-to breathe ." Louis placed a hand on his chest as if to support it , Liam rubbed his back and sat him down on a bench . Niall and Jenna watched sadly , Mary was trying not to show any emotion , though inside all she wanted to do is hug Louis so so tightly . The kids were hiding behind Niall , looking at each other with sadness in their eyes .

Louis rubbed his palms over his face , trying not to cry even though his throat tightened and his eyes stung . He took a few deep breaths , "Is there any other way we can get money ?"

"I-I mean , we can try ." Liam bit his lower lip , "But we don't really have any other way ." He shook his head .

They started walking around , when Louis noticed a street piano . He patted Liam's bicep , "I think I have an idea ." He turned to Alex and crouched down , "Would you mind if I took your hat ?"

Alex shook his head and pulled his hat off , handing it to Louis . Louis smiled at him and took the hat , walking over to the piano . He sat down on the bench and placed the hat ontop of the piano , looked down at the keys and placed his fingertips along , closing his eyes before he started playing .

The kids walked over to him with smiles on their faces , Niall sat next to him and started singing along . People who walked by smiled at the group and placed coins inside the hat , some stopped to listen aswell . By the end of the song the hat was half full , Niall squeezed Louis excitedly , "That was brilliant ! Since when do you play the piano ?"

"Well , I uh - I started learning in my old orphanage . The teachers gave up on teaching me how to read , so to pass the time I would play the piano ." Louis said , running his fingers along the keys as he started playing a new song .

--

"Very well . Very well ." Des nodded as he looked down at the amount of money placed on his desk . "You kids are getting better . I don't care what you did today , but make sure to do it every day from now on . I want more money , and if it takes being there longer - you will . Understood ?"

The kids nodded silently before they were dismissed , they walked out of his office back to their rooms .

"You did great today ." Niall put his arm around Louis' shoulders , "When I first found out about the robbing I was paralyzed , and for the first four or five days that we had to go out I would just stand there and do nothing . You kind of get used to it with time but it still feels horrible to rob people ."

Louis nodded . "I wish we could do something to stop him ."

"There's nothing to do , you just need to do what he says or he'd flip ."

~~

Hope you liked it x

~Author