With Open Arms

Of Standoffs and Slurs

Louis always hates the part where the social worker talks about the kid like they aren't a even there, and so he tells the kid he can sit on the living room couch whilst they talk in the hall.

The boy eyes him and Zayn almost suspiciously before he walks into the living room and lets the door close behind him.

Sally offers them another of her smiles.

"Who the hell hurt him?" Zayn asks immediately, taking the words right off of Louis' tongue since he has wanted to ask the exact same thing since he saw Niall's bruised face.

The social worker lets out a sigh. "Honestly? We don't know."

"You don't know?" He asks, eyes widening. "Isn't it your job to know?"

"Louis, I appreciate that but we can't know what the kid won't tell. He's thirteen, orphaned at two, bounced from children's home to children's home up until he was fostered by a family out in the city around six months ago. Then he just took off. He got picked up off the streets last week and refused to go back, refused to tell us anything, and we couldn't find anyone willing to take him -"

"Nobody's willing to take in a hurt kid? Why?"

Louis hates hearing about kids who haven't been so lucky in the system. He thinks often about where Harry and Liam could have ended up had they not taken them in when they had.

Sally hesitates then looks up at them. "Niall can be a bit...temperamental? Or at least, he's got a fighting spirit. He's had a rough time of it but he's a good kid underneath - most people just look at him as some kid with no manners and a short temper. He just needs some support," she explains.

And Louis is no stranger to kids with short tempers. He's got one teenager with a serious anger issue at the moment - if he can deal with his mood swings then he's sure they can deal with anything.

"You said you don't know where the bruises came from - it must be the other family, right? The last one he was with?"

Sally shakes her head at that. "He's been on the streets for a month, Zayn. Those bruises are likely from some street fight," she tells him.

Louis opens the door to peer into the living room and watches the small boy as he walks up to the mantle piece, head tilted to get a closer look at the framed photos there. He turns back to Sally with a small smile, heart aching for the kid.

"He'll stay here for however long you need," he decides, already knowing that Zayn will be on the same page as him.

She smiles at that. "Just...take him with a pinch of salt? When he lashes out, it's usually to protect himself," she says. "And you guys have my number. For if you change your mind."

"We won't," Zayn says, and Louis nods in agreement. They've never given up on a kid before. They're not about to start now.

They wait by the door until Sally's car disappears at the end of the road before they enter the living room.

Niall jumps where he stands, turning to face them with an expression of surprise before it turns into another frown. Louis forces himself not to wince at the sight of the bruises beneath the lighting of the living room. The black eye is fresh and dark, bottom lip puffy and raised around the split.

He forces a tight smile instead. "Sorry buddy. Didn't mean to make you jump," he says softly.

The kid eyes him before furrowing his brows further. "You didn't," he states after a few moments as if the men haven't just watched him do exactly that. His voice is young and quiet but there's a heavy edge to it that takes Louis slightly by surprise.