I've Got Your Back...Always. (Larry Johnson x Reader)

Introduction

You moved into Addison Apartments at the age of 8 years old. The time spent before that was a living hell. Your mother and father would fight a lot and assault would always make an appearance. Whether that be verbal or physical, it would always be one or the other, even both at times. Your Father, F/N Linwood, was a "recovering" alcoholic. This meaning that anytime your family were in the public eye, they'd act as if he wasn't still dealing with this harmful addiction, and your mother wasn't hiding her bruises with concealer. Behind the closed doors of your home, it was bottle after bottle, fight after fight, and then he'd pass out, leaving a broken mother on the living room floor. It was a pattern that started ever since you began to remember things. Your mother, Marie Linwood, she on the other hand was very vain. Calling your father many different names because his inability to keep a job, or even compared him to other men, this never helped keep peace whatsoever. The final straw for the married couple was when your father had almost gotten you killed in one of their many disputes. Head trauma was the damage that had been done. On one of his drunken rampages, and a fight between him and your mother, you wanted to help your mother. She was screaming at your father and crying as he pushed her against the wall, holding her there by the throat. You ran out from behind the couch and pulled at his pant leg, angering him even more. He turned slightly and shoved you to the ground, very hard. It wasn't anything new for your father to lay his hands on you, but this time it was different. After he had shoved you, you didn't just fall to the floor. No. You were shoved so hard that it sent your small frame falling back and lacerating your head against the corner of a glass side table. Neither of the parents had realized the damage until after their fight, which took about 15 - 20 more minutes. By this point, you had passed out from loss of blood and head trauma. Your father didn't seem to care, and he just stomped to his room, slamming the door and leaving his helpless child to suffer. Your mother on the other hand was frantic, trying to figure out what to do. She picked up your limp body and rushed straight to the nearest hospital. She finally came clean and the police got involved. Everything from the fight, to the police taking your father away, the divorce and the move all seemed like a blur to you. It happened so fast.

When you and your mother showed up at Addison Apartments, she began to act like a completely different person. She even went as far to change yours and her own name. You now being Y/N L/N and she being M/N L/N. She claimed that the name change was just for a new beginning, but you knew better. The name change was to hide from your father, just for further precautions. Your mother was never a good liar, so you could always see right through her, but you decided to just go with it, seeing that this was what the two of you needed. You made many new friends in this apartment building, as well as your mother. The first person you met was Larry Johnson. Because of the newfound friendship between your mother and Lisa Johnson, they had introduced you and Larry to each other. He was a short and scrawny boy with braces, and you didn't know at first if you'd even want to be his friend. After everything you had gone through, trust wasn't something you gave out so easily, and assumed everyone was mean and violent. But, because of the constant playdates scheduled by Lisa and your mother, you two were forced to become friends in a way. A year went by and he slowly gained your trust. The very first time that you knew he'd always have your back was when he defended you against a playground bully. The bully had made fun of the scar you had on the back of your head, exposed by your hair being flipped to the opposite side that it usually lies, caused the accident that had happened a year prior. You weren't too self-conscious about the scar, so that isn't what upset you. What upset you was the fact that someone could be so mean, and pick on someone for something they can't help. Larry obviously had the same mind set. Which is why he ended up punching the boy right in the nose, leaving the crying bully to run back home and cry to his priest of a father, Mr. Phelps. What Larry did, in your nine year old eyes, was the most heroic thing ever. No one had ever defended you like that, and to have someone do something like this for you gave you a bit of hope for humanity. From here on out, you and Larry became closer and closer, growing together as best friends.