Freak [Zianourry] - COMPLETE

Chapter 1

A/N: this is a superpower!fic, with m/m. Don't like, don't read, the rules are always the same. Hope you like it.
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(Louis's POV)
"You're going to regret that, boy." The woman spat in my face, pushing me out of the back door. I heard the click of the lock and sighed, resigning myself to yet another cold night as I scrambled over the gate to the front of the house.
While the house was in good condition, and the large majority of the people living there had luxuries, plenty of food and comfort, I was stuck living in the cupboard, for two reasons. One, because there wasn't enough bedrooms (there was four) and two, I apparently didn't deserve one.
It started one night when I asked my 'guardian' how she knew that Santa was getting me a bike for Christmas. She looked shocked, went away for a few hours, read a book, and my life was never the same since.
I'd been treated like I was scum, doing most of the work, never receiving anything, being forced to live in a cupboard, or outside, and not having luxuries such as simple food.
"Dude, where are you going?" Someone jeered at me as I passed by silently, making my way to the nearby woods, where I tended to sleep, seeing as I had made a basic hideout there.
I made my way down the path I knew so well, before I broke off from it and clambered up a tree easily soon after. In a cocoon of branches, I'd laid out a blanket and pillow, some food and bottled water. Several sheets of plastic made from things like bags and packaging formed a shelter so it wouldn't all get wet.
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Several hours after I fell asleep, when it was truly pitch black, I woke to the quiet snapping of twigs and tensed, alert. Peering through the darkness, I saw a figure making their way stealthily through the woods and ducked down, praying they didn't see me.
They paused, looking back to my tree. I held my breath, hoping they didn't spot me. I'd spent so long working on making this a decent hideout, that I didn't want to move.
The person stalked towards me, before leaping up onto the first branch. Panicking, I backed away, swiftly making my way along a thick branch so I was much higher than my hideout. It was scarily tall, and I could see across the large majority of the woods.
"You're stuck, whoever you are." A voice growled quietly. "Besides, curfew was hours ago." Curfew? Curfew?
"Oh, I think not." I whispered as they followed me up the branch. The tree next to me had thickly woven branches just a short distance below, and I jumped.
Snapping filled the air as I slipped upon landing, my shirt temporarily throttling me as it caught and ripped on a branch. I landed with a sharp crack, my leg practically oozing pain, but I stood and limped away as quietly as I could.
"Oh, for crying out loud. You know they only put people with an X-Ray mutation on duty." His words froze me to the spot, and I turned around slowly, seeing him walk towards me still. "Do you want me to heal that?"
"Who - who are you?"
"Me?" The man sounded confused. "Dude, are you drunk or something?"
"No." Leaning against a tree to relieve the pressure on my right leg, I squinted into the darkness. "What are you trying to do?"
"Seriously, don't play around. You know that curfew is at midnight, no exceptions. Just get back to the dorms." He took another step towards me, causing me to shuffle backwards.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. No one has m-mutations," my voice broke as I said it, "and there is no curfew, or dorms."
"You - aren't you enrolled?" Intrigued, the man walked towards me, and I could make out that he was inspecting me closely. "Hasn't the headmaster found you?"
"W-what do you mean?!" Panic gripped my chest. No one could know, no one, no one at all -
"What's your mutation?" Light sparked, from a small lantern he held in his hand. "How old are you?"
"I'm - I..."
"Okay, let's put this simply. You aren't enrolled, you don't know what school I'm talking about, but I assume you have a mutation, yes? You have to."
"No!" I gasped. "I'm not - I'm not a freak!"
"And you're scared. You're scared that someone knows your secret, that you'll get punished for it like you have been your whole life. Louis, don't be scared."
"How do you know my name?" My back hit hard, cold bark and my legs gave way, and I slid to the floor.
"I have an empathy mutation, and X-Ray vision. Harry." Harry offered me his hand, and pulled me up, letting me lean against him. "There's no need to be afraid of me."
"How do I know this isn't a joke? Or, anything?"
"Louis, seriously. Who else would be spouting stuff about mutations, and your personal life, after seeing you through a solid tree?" Harry smiled warmly at me, before he blew the lantern out. "Come on, I'll take you back."
"Where?"
"The school, of course."
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The journey wasn't entirely smooth, with my leg hurting more and more as we walked until I finally collapsed. Harry caught me just as I hit the ground, stopping my head from smacking off a rock. "Here." Harry crouched in front of me. "I'll carry you." Not having anymore choice, I gingerly got on his back, and he resumed walking. "We're not too far away."
"From where?"
"You'll see." Laughter rung quietly around the trees. "You'll probably like it."
"I don't get any of this." I whined, pouting.
"Look, we're here." Harry pointed to a light up ahead.
"That's just the old war field, I read about it." Frowning, I tried to figure out why the war field would be lit up.
"It's not a war field. Only those with mutations can see it." Harry stepped out of the woods, and my jaw dropped. "Told you you'd like it."
Two humongous towers rose into the sky, looking like extravagant, silver, flats. Two matching buildings, which looked like old schools, were either side of them, and a wide path cut through the ground in between the towers, leading straight on to something that looked like a military-style training centre. A large, white building was to the left, and a highly decorative, fancy, hotel type structure to the right. Other, smaller buildings were scattered around.
"Welcome to the school." Harry grinned, nodding at two people standing either side of wrought metal gates as he passed through them. "I'll take you to the headmaster."
"I- it... What is this place?" I looked around in wonder.
"It's where I live, work and train. With my t- friends." Harry stiffened for a second, before playing it off carefully. "Oh, hold on. LIAM!" Several heads turned from a group nearby, and a boy jogged up to us, eyeing me curiously. His deep brown eyes were sharp and focused, something I didn't need in my exhausted state.
"What's wrong?" Liam (or, I assumed he was) flashed a grin at Harry.
"Will you tell the headmaster that I found a mutant in the woods while I was on duty?" Liam nodded and ran off, but he'd already disappeared, so I blinked in confusion. "Liam's mutations are super speed and strength."
"Righttt..."
"Hold on tight, I can't walk all the way there, or it'll be doomsday already." Harry broke into a sprint, as I ducked my head into his back so nothing flew into my eyes. Strangely, no one who was around even batted an eyelid at Harry's running. Then again, hardly anyone was about, and this was different from everything I knew. We came to a halt, and Harry knocked on the door to the hotel like building.
"Come in!" A voice called faintly, so Harry entered the building. A staircase was set on the back wall, and the main room had sofas and tables strewn about, papers and books laying on them. "Harry! The headmaster's upstairs." The woman smiled at me as I looked at her with curiosity. "Breakfast is in five hours, so this place will fill up shortly after."
"We'll be long gone." Harry nodded to her, before walking up the stairs. A large, wooden door was directly in front of us at the end of the corridor, and a few doors came off the two hallways in front and behind us.
"Harry, come in!" Someone called from behind the door, without Harry even knocking. Pushing the door open, Harry stepped inside and closed it, gently putting me on the ground and helping me limp over to the desk. "Ah, I'll get someone to fix that for you..."
"Louis, Sir." I said quietly, sitting down in the seat I was offered.
"Of course, Louis. Would you mind showing me your mutation?"
"Um..."
"Empathy, Sir." Harry interrupted.
"Of course. Louis, could you tell me what I'm thinking?" The headmaster asked me, so I tuned into the voices of thoughts in the back of my brain.
"You're - you're intrigued by me, and why I haven't been found, but you're trying to focus on something simple, a - a book, I think, about the history of formulas." I said, and Harry smirked, and the headmaster nodded.
"Very good. Is that it?"
"I - I think so."
"Well, we'll find out over time if you have another mutation. The majority of people have two, some having one, and a rarity having three." We were dismissed shortly afterwards, when I was told I would be staying with Harry and his roommates, as Harry was prepared to take me onto his 'team', or whatever that was.
"We live in that set of dorms. There's also a canteen and break out area." Harry pointed to the ones that were now on our left, right in coming through the gates. We walked slowly, as Harry had to support me on the way back, and the walk was taking forever. "Niall will be able to fix that. He's one of my, uh, roommates."
"And can he heal people?"
"Yeah, he can also control the weather. Liam, who you met earlier, has super speed and strength, and Zayn is a prophet who has thermal vision. When he wants. It'd be a pain to walk around with that all the time." Harry explained, tapping in a code to the door and helping me in. "We're all on floor twenty eight."
"Okay." Not finding words, we spent the lift journey in silence. Once the doors opened, we got out, finding a single door in front of us. Harry dug his keys out of his pocket as he spoke.
"Liam would have told them about you, so they're probably expecting us." Harry unlocked the door and propped it open with one foot, taking some of my weight as I hobbled through painfully. "Oi! Niall, can you c'mere?" Three boys walked into the room from what must have been a bedroom. I recognised Liam, but not the other two.
"What's up?" The one with dyed blond hair grinned at us as Harry helped me sit on the sofa, and I started unlacing my boots.
"Injured." Harry nodded at me as I wriggled my boot off, hissing quietly, before peeling off a blood-drenched sock.
"Charming." He walked forwards and crouched next to me. "Fortunately, I've seen worse." Reaching out, he touched my leg very gently, and the pain disappeared in seconds, along with the bruises and cuts. "I'm Niall, by the way."
"Louis." I smiled back awkwardly.
"What mutations do you have? I'm Zayn." Looking up, I saw the lightly tanned boy looking at me curiously.
"Just empathy that I know of."
"Awesome." Liam got up from against the wall and stretched. "There's a spare room third on the right, you can have that. Do you have any stuff?"
"No, I - I wasn't allowed anything." I looked down at my fingers, praying they wouldn't judge.
"I'm sorry, mate." Niall looked sympathetically at me, before he smiled. "You've got us!"
"So much better." Zayn drawled.
"Thanks." I smiled back, genuinely meaning it.
"You can borrow some clothes if you want." Liam offered as they all headed off. "We get up in, what, three and a half hours? Get some rest."
"Okay." With that, I went into my new room and inspected it. It was a simple dorm-like room, with a small built-in wardrobe, a plain double bed opposite the door, a chest of drawers and a desk by the window on the right wall. Someone knocked on the door before coming in.
"Thought you might like to borrow this." Harry grinned, giving me a pile of clothes. He left after I thanked him, the door clicking into place.
I got dressed into a onesie - I'd never had one before, and it was warmer and nicer than anything I could remember wearing. My shirt was torn, my trousers muddy and worn, so I left them in the bathroom and went to bed, falling asleep seconds after I closed my eyes.