Maybe we can (L.S.)

56

"Hey, Harry! Over here! Sorry I'm late!" Louis shouted between his pants as he rushed trhough the parking lot to get to the tall man who was waiting by the door.

"Lou... I thought you weren't coming" Harry sighed in relief as he wrapped his arms around Louis.

He had been pacing up and down by the entrance to the Special Education Center for the past ten minutes, trying to calm himself enough. He had his interview in an hour and he was starting to panick.

" 'Course I came. I promised I'd show you around" Louis blushed, hugging back and hiding his face in Harry's neck. "Should we go in, then?" He asked as they separated.

"Yeah..." Harry nodded nervously, calming a tiny bit when he felt Louis' small but firm hand on his lower back pushing gently.

"Okay. So... Here we have the school for children between 3 and 21 and a residency for some adults who need some supports to live on teir own, and most of them have cerebral palsy or other conditions that have similar presentations. Out there there is a space for hipotherapy with the horses and an adaptive covered pool for hydrotherapy" Louis explained, pointing to the different areas.

"In the school part there are various classrooms with children grouped mostly by age but also by their cognitive abilities as they et older so that they can all learn the most. But each student has it's own plan with their current motor and cognitive goals to be as independent as they can be so it's a bit different than an 'ordinary school' ".

Louis turned to face Harry when he finished speaking. Stopping and turning on his feet when he didn't see him there. He looked around, a smile making his way onto his face as he found Harry crouched beside one of the kids he had come to know over the last week.

Harry had been listening to everything Louis explained, feeling the need to know as much as he could to be prepares for the interview, but was distracted when he saw a young teenager boy in a green wheelchair looking at him with his head tilted to the side and a big curious smile.

He waved nervously, grinning when he got a slow wave in reponse and aproached him.

"Hi, I'm Harry. You go to school here?" He asked when he was closer.

The boy nodded slowly but excitedly before looking down tho the tablet he had on his wheelchair's table. His right hand moved carefully over the screen for a bit until a sound came from it.

"Hello. I am N-A-C-H-O" The boy looked up happily.

"Nice to meet you, Nacho" Harry greeted, surprised at how the boy formed sentences manouvering trough the pictures on the screen

"Favourite song" The computer spoke, again.

"My favourite song?" Harry questioned to make sure he understood what the boy was asking him.

"Hmm... I'm not sure, but I like to take photos a lot" Harry shruggs, lifting his camera for the boy to see it.

The boys eyes widended as well as his smile before he bent down again to serch for something on his tablet.

Soon a youtube page oppened and a song started playing, the boy happily shaking his head to the beat (Eso que tú me das - Jarabe de Palo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE6CsyWv8Zs&ab_channel=JarabedePalo%28Oficial%29

"Hi Nacho, I see you met my friend Harry. I'm sure you'll see him again but we need to get going" Louis spoke as he approached.

The boy pouted and shook his head 'no' grabbing Harry's t-shirt.

"C'mon... Off you go. Show Harry how you roll to your classroom" Louis encouraged pushing his chair in the right direction.

The boy nodded, lazily waving at Harry and slowly pushing his chair with only his right hand.

They watched until he turned to an open door and managed to roll in.

"See? You have a friend already. You were good with him" Louis smiled.

Harry nodded with a small smile. He looked around at the corner full of walkers and wheelchairs of different sizes and let out a long sigh.

"Hey, what's wrong? I thought you were excited about the job?" Louis asked with concern.

"Hmm... I am. It's just. I- He- Nacho has CP doesn't he? They all have?" Harry questions, his eyes fixed on an older girl who was crying while being pushed away in a wheelchair in a tilted position.

"Harry... Is this about Sam?" He questions while leading Harry to a bench outside.

"I just want him to be healthy" Harry sobs, hiding his face in his hands.

"Oh, Haz... Come here... They do have cerebral palsy but, as you'll see, it is different for all of them. We classify CP from level 1 to 5 GMFCS depending of their movement abilities. Nacho would classify at a level 4. That girl would be at 5... I'm not gonna lie to you. It won't be easy, but I'm going to help you along the way." He explained,  holding Harry close to his chest.

"W- was she in pain?" Harry asked, pulling away a bit and wiping his eyes to look at Louis' blue ones.

"Yeah... She had a back and hip surgery not long ago and it didn't work as good as they had hoped" Louis nodded, wiping Harry's tears with his thumb.

"What level is Sam?" Harry bit his lip.

"We don't know yet... It's difficult to tell until he's a bit older... But we got there early and we know how to help him achieve his goals one at a time" Louis sighed, hoping he could say something more reassuring, hoping he could assure Harry that Sam would never be in pain or that his case was mild. But he couldn't, because he really couldn't know that.

"Okay... Okay. Is there a bathroom around here?" Harry spoke as he stood up, wiping the last tears from his face.

Louis smiled tightly and nodded, reaching for Harry's hand and giving it a squeeze before pulling him inside once more.

Harry calmed down a bit after splashing some water on his face and recieving a quick encouraging peck from Louis and, soon, he entered the room where he was supposed to have his interview.