Take Me Home

Chapter Six

Louis was excited to have a new roommate, especially one his own age. Sure, Niall had a personality very different to his and at the moment, he wasn't sure Niall wanted to be his friend but in his seven year old mind, sharing a room with somebody meant you had to be friends. There was no option not to be.

"Right, Niall, these might be a bit big but you'll grow into them. Liam bought you clothes that are the same size as Louis'," Zayn said, smiling as he walked into the bathroom with two pairs of pajamas in his hands. Louis was brushing his teeth and Niall was watching him and copying his actions slowly, wrinkling up his nose when the light brown haired boy spat the toothpaste into the sink.

Then he turned to Zayn with a frown, dropping his toothbrush in the sink and allowing Louis to clean it off and put it away.

"I already have these clothes. They're not old yet," he said, using the back of his hand to wipe the foam from his lips.

Louis furrowed his brows at the blond haired boy, wondering if he was joking. But he looked pretty serious, and Louis hadn't seen him smile even once yet.

Zayn smiled, perching on the edge of the bathtub and handing Louis his red checked pajamas. "You get new clothes everyday here, and pajamas for bed every night."

Niall frowned but nodded as if he didn't understand. Zayn passed him the blue flannel PJs and told them to get dressed whilst he went and waited in their room to tuck them in.

Louis stared at the stitches on Niall's forehead for a moment, wanting to question what they were from but knowing that wouldn't be a polite thing to do, so he simply smiled at the boy and began to get dressed.

He tugged off his shirt and trousers, standing in his boxers as he lifted his his own matching pair of red pajamas from the counter. He looked up and saw that Niall was simply staring at him with a frown.

He smiled, deciding that maybe Niall just didn't know how to get dressed, as silly as it sounded to him. He'd be getting himself dressed for over half of his life. But he remembered what Liam and Zayn had said to him, Niall had a different past to him.

"Do you need help?" he offered, reaching out towards the blond boy.

Niall took a step back, raising his hands as if in defence. "No, I can do it myself. Just..." he trailed off and looked away. "Don't look at me," he said, his voice softer than Louis had heard it since they had first met, not too long ago at all really.

Louis stared at the slightly smaller boy for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay," he replied, turning around and continuing to get dressed because even though he didn't really understand why Niall didn't want to be seen, he wanted him to be happy.

When he finished buttoning up his shirt, he turned back around to see that Niall was struggling with his shirt still. He opened his mouth to offer help again but quickly clamped it shut again when he saw the vivid red lines that were drawn across his lower stomach. Some of them looked old and faded but there were three in particular that stood out brightly.

He turned around quickly and pretended not to have seen, though his heart was pounding in his chest because now he knew why Niall didn't want to be seen and he was upset and scared at what his past must've held.

He reached out for the door handle without looking back at the blond boy. "I'm gonna go get tucked in," he said softly, not waiting for a reply before he hurried out of the bathroom and ran back into his own bedroom, almost running into Zayn's legs.

"Woah, slow down Lou," he chuckled, taking the boy by the shoulders and holding him at arms length. "Why're you running? And where's Niall?" he asked, glancing behind the brown haired boy.