You Found Me [Nouis]

Chapter 3

"Hey!" Zayn shouted at the kids going after Niall, who was too far away to hear. Niall turned down another hall as the kids stopped to look back at Zayn and Liam and Harry. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You obviously know." The main kid, Garret- that fucking prick said. He sounded confused. "What do you care anyways? Nobody cares about the Irish twat."

Zayn was close to Garret all of a sudden. His fist collided with Garret's cheek, sending the bully plummeting onto the hard floors.

"He's not a twat! You're a twat! You fucking destroyed him!" Zayn was straddling Garret's waist, now. He had two fistfuls of his shirt, clutching hard and pinning him down, his face slightly red in anger. Liam and Harry stood above the two, all but a foot away, ready to do something if one of the other kids tried to hurt Zayn.

"He's the best person in this fucking hell-hole and I swear to god, if you so much as touch a hair on his head, I will beat you until you can't see straight! Now get the fuck out of here!" Zayn got off the boy and watched as he and his crew scampered away, the opposite direction Niall had gone.

"We should find Niall." Liam said, brushing off Zayn's shoulders as if he'd been the one pinned to the ground. "Louis will worry if we go back without him."

Liam started off down the hall, calling Niall's name. They turned down the hallway he'd gone down, but they couldn't find him anywhere. They almost thought he left the school, but then Harry walked into the bathroom in that hall. "There you are!"

Liam and Zayn came into the bathroom as well, hearing Harry say that. Harry was frowning, looking at Niall who was crying on the counter.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, taking a few steps closer to Niall and reaching out a hand of comfort, placing it on his shoulder. Niall shook his head, looking away.

"Those idiots are gone," Harry assured, rubbing his back. He wondered if Niall had gotten hurt, but it wasn't likely because they'd caught those jerks before they could get too close to Niall. "if that's what you're worried about."

Niall shook his head again. He stood, grabbing a marker from his pocket. He took Harry's hand, writing two words on his palm: in love.

Harry was too confused to be mad that Niall just drew on his hand in bright red marker. "Okay? Is that a bad thing? Why is that bad?"

Niall wrote gay on his own hand. Harry shrugged, making the whole situation seem like no big deal to him (which if wasn't). "So?"

On his other hand, Niall wrote straight. Then he made a heart with his index fingers, folding the other ones into his palm. Harry was lost.

"You love a striaght boy?" Liam wasn't lost. Niall nodded, biting down on his bottom lip. He picked up his marker again and wrote friend under straight.

"You're friends with him?" Liam asked. Harry was still a bit lost, mostly because Niall was making this seem like such a bad thing. Maybe his friend wasn't straight? Once again, Niall nodded.

"Who is it, Niall?" Harry asked. He wrote the name on Harry's other hand, shoving the marker back in his pocket afterwards.

"You love Louis?" Harry stared at the name on his hand then looked up at Niall, raising an eyebrow. "You've only known him for two days."

Niall held up three fingers. His hands were shaking.

"Okay, three days, but . . ." Harry frowned. Three days? That wasn't long enough to know you're in love with someone. That's hardly enough time to realize you have a crush on someone. "I mean, I-I'm glad you love someone, but why-"

"Some people fall fast, Harry." Zayn said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Louis' something special, obviously. He's the only one who didn't turn on him at some point. Sure, we didn't, but we weren't around to help. Louis is."

Niall sat down on the counter, burying his face in his hands. He felt arms wrap around him and, looking up, he discovered it was Zayn.

"Come on," Zayn said, patting Niall's shoulder in a way to signal that they should leave. "Louis' probably worried."

-•-

"There you guys are!" Louis said, standing up as Liam, Zayn, and Harry walked back into the cafeteria with Niall. None of them seemed to be hurt or anything of the sort, but Louis did see Niall's eyes were red (though he hadn't really seen Niall without red eyes, so).

"You guys worried me." Louis was still curious as to why Liam, Zayn, and Harry had rushed out so suddenly, but he supposed he could get to that later. "Are you alright, Ni?"

Niall nodded, giving Louis a faint, broken smile. Louis smiled as well, wrapping an arm around Niall's shoulder as the bell rang.

Loui spotted the same boys looking at them again, in pure disgust this time. He shot them a look, his grip on Niall tightening.

"Ignore them." Louis said when Niall looked over at them as well. "They're all pricks."

-•-

School was over, finally. Niall couldn't believe he'd fallen for someone in three days. That was less than a school week!- the first one at that.

Niall and Louis were the last ones to leave their class. They walked out of school together, about to head in opposite ways to go home.

"Well," Louis said casually, stuffing his hands in his pocket. The air was chilly and he didn't want his hands to get cold. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ni."

Niall shook his head in a silent protest, tugging on the sleeve of Louis' jacket. He would've tugged on one of Louis' hands, but they were hidden in the black fabric Niall had gently yanked instead.

"What?" Louis asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He pulled his hand out of his pocket, thinking something was wrong with it and Niall wanted to show him.

Niall took Louis' hand (mostly just lightly holding a few of his fingers), and Louis followed him, confused, to a beautiful house.

"Is this yours?" Louis asked, dumbfounded. He didn't know why, but he hadn't expected Niall to have such a beautiful house. Niall nodded, a blush settling on his cheeks.

"Your house is amazing, Niall." Louis took a few steps forward, thinking they were going to go inside, but Niall tightened his grip on Louis' hand, shaking his head. He knew there was fearful look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Louis asked. He looked at their intertwined hands. He didn't try to pull away. "Did I hurt you?"

Niall shook his head. He pulled Louis into the backyard and to his willow tree, sitting under the branches. Louis sat next to him, his eyes wide.

"This is beautiful, Ni." Louis breathed, his eyes wide with admiration as he looked around a bit. "Is this your tree?"

Niall nodded, smiling slightly as he remembered planting this tree with his brother, Greg, when he was only four and Greg was eight. He felt proud of himself for this, because this was the only beautiful thing he'd ever done or had something to do with.

"Why'd you bring me here?" Louis asked, curious. Niall smiled at him, pulling out his marker. He took Louis' hand, writing three words on Louis' wrist. I trust you.