Double update!!

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Meanwhile Louis was back down the hall, chatting with Niall when he heard his name. And even though he hardly knew the boy, he knew it was Harry. And he knew that Harry was quiet and hardly knew Louis, so for him to scream his name he could tell it wasn't for something good. He sprinted off down the hall, looking around frantically until he saw the tall, lanky boy being held against the wall, sobbing.

"Get the hell away from him!" Louis screamed, running forward and shoving Zayn back. This made him mad, and he just pushed Louis away.

"He's a freak, don't you see this? He's a fucking mishap to this world," he angrily told Louis, shoving back Harry's sleeves while he kept his grip on the boys collar against the wall.

Harry hissed in pain, and was shaking his head, his body trembling as Louis gasped, staring at his marks. But as soon as Louis heard the poor boy whimper a "sorry" to him, anger overtook his face, and he lunged forward, pathetically punching Zayn in the face.

"Ey! Get off him!" the other bully, Sam, called, grabbing Zayn, and the two jogged off. Just like that.

Harry fell down onto his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Louis didn't know what to do, but decided on sinking down next to him, wrapping his arms around the sobbing boy who was muttering incoherent words. Louis didn't know what he was saying, but Harry was arguing with himself. With the voices. And it hurt Louis, even if he didn't know about the voices. It hurt him to see this boy sobbing in his arms and beat up. It hurt to see him broken, because Louis had seen broken before, and he hated the sight. So a lump arose in his throat, pulling Harry close to his chest. "I'm sorry, Harry," he whispered, now knowing how he had hurt him earlier. He hadn't thought about why he wore long sleeves in the warm air, but now he got it. And he hated it.

Harry couldn't stop crying. It happened a lot. The voices always found a way to make him cry easily. He cried for the smallest things sometimes, or for no reason at all. And sometimes he couldn't get himself to stop crying. But his mother always helped him. "Just hold him till he falls asleep," is what she had told his sister, Gemma, the one time it happened years ago, since she was driving. So that's exactly what Gemma did held him until he fell asleep.

That's what Louis did. Even though he didn't know that it was what his mother had always done. But he just held the younger boy in his arms, which Harry melted into, until his breathing slowed to a normal pace and he wasn't crying anymore, just sleeping. With tear stained cheeks, a bruised face and red arms from the cuts that had slightly reopened and from Zayn gripping it too hard.

It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, and Louis' friend, Niall, stood at the corner a couple feet away, not sure what was happening. "Just get the nurse okay?" he asked quietly, and Niall obeyed.

"I'm sorry, Harry," he sighed again, feeling horrible for his new maybe friend.

Only minutes later, Niall came running up with the nurse behind him. She gasped, kneeling down and carefully tilting Harry's head to see the bruise of the punch. "Well that just needs ice. It's not bleeding. What happened though? Is there anywhere else he was hurt?" she asked.

"H-He was beat up. But uhm, his arms. Niall, can you leave for a second?" he told him. Niall got the message and left without a word.

Louis lifted the sleeve of the arm Zayn had hurt. "I-I don't know when he did this but Z-Zayn found out about it and must've squeezed the cuts till they like, reopened or something. I-I don't know, I just held him while he c-cried and then he fell asleep," he answered, gulping and looking down at him.

The nurse sighed, "Louis, Harry has a special disorder. I can't tell you what it is unless he lets me, but it sort of explains part of the reason why he just kept crying and crying until he fell asleep okay? These cuts don't look that new. Maybe a week, so don't confront him about it. It will make him feel insecure and guilty if he's asked about cutting. It's a very sensitive subject for some people okay?" Louis nodded. "Okay, I'm going to call his mother. Can you carry him to my office, and we can ice his jaw and wrap his arm," she told him, standing up. Louis didn't say anything, he just slowly got up a bit, picking Harry up in his arms and following the nurse to her office.

❊ ❊ ❊ ❊

"Oh, Harry," Louis heard, and his head jerked up, seeing a woman and a younger girl rushing into the office and over to them. Louis stepped aside, letting what he guessed was Harry's mother, sit down beside him.

"Were you the one who helped him?" the girl asked.

"Uh, yea, I d-" he was cut off by the girl hugging him tightly.

"Thank you. He's been going through a lot. Thank you for helping him," she sighed, and pulled away.

"Gemma, we're gonna go now, hon, and you need to get back to Uni if you want to make the game in time," Harry's mum said to her. Harry was standing up, causing Louis to sigh in relief that he was at least slightly okay.

Harry's eyes caught Louis'. And it felt like forever that they just stood there, not doing anything until Harry whispered, "Thanks."