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Liam Payne was a ruthless person. Even he was willing to admit that. From that time where he and his first wife had argued enough for him to kick her until he had accidentally killed his own blood that was growing inside her, to the time where he had his second wife killed for adultery. And when England needed a new emperor, in his mind who would be better for the position than him? He had figuratively climbed his way to the top to get in the position he was in now. If he had to step on a few carcasses to be in such a high position of power where he belonged, why not do just that?
That ruthlessness had gotten him promotions in jobs, girlfriends that were dumped usually within a matter of weeks, and the victory in the most recent war that had brought him to his trophy wife, Louis.
~o~
Louis feels that he had had a normal life once. He had sisters, a house and had innocent harmless crushes on attractive boys that he had seen. But now life seems like an endless blur of days. After the country he had so very much loved decided to wage a war against England; waging a war against Emperor Liam, the effort to fight was futile. There was no point because Emperor Liam had taken away everything that he had known in his entire seventeen years of life. His troops had barged into Louis' home where his family was cowering in fear and had taken his family somewhere, where he didn't even know. Louis doesn't even know if they are safe at the moment.
Louis, he was taken out to a dark military green truck where he could see other people in it's metal skeleton, but maybe this trip was special because Liam himself was sat in a black SUV, not that Louis knew that.
But then Liam saw this small, feminine looking boy with bronze skin being led to the trucks where all those other commoners sat and Liam thinks that that boy could be better than that. Could have a position of power almost as high as Liam's. His large hand gripped the black plastic coated handle of the car's handle of the passenger's side and steps out.
His men and security immediately turn towards the loud sound of the door slamming and the face of their leader coming into view.
"Sir, I think it's best you-"
One of the men that was holding one of Louis' restrained arms at the elbow is cut off by Liam saying in a calm tone "I do not care what you think is best for me. I know what is best for me and I have come out here to talk to that boy in your grip."
Louis is turned towards the tall man with light brown curls and deep brown eyes that Louis decides that he hates. But hate is such a strong word and Louis simply hated what Emperor Liam has done to his country of France, done to his home and done to his family. But without knowing him at all, he cannot decide that he hates the man before him. He has better morals than that.
"Listen to me. I have a proposal for you.” Liam kneels down a few inches so he is eye to eye with Louis' own crystal blue ones. “I could take you away from this; from what would most likely happen to you, take you away from any immediate danger in exchange from something from you."
"And what would that be?" Louis asks quietly. His accent can easily be heard by the way his words roll off his tongue.
"For you to simply join me at my home. For company."
Liam's smile is kind, but Louis can see the emptiness behind the warm demeanor. He doesn't trust the whole facade so easily.
"What could possibly be worse than keeping an ass-wipe like you company? How can I be around you after what you have done to the people I know? The country I know?" Louis' words are bitter towards the man in front of him.
"I would tell you. But I feel as though it would be better sparing these people that are eavesdropping on this conversation some added nerves. After all-" Liam leans close to Louis, just so he can hear him. "If you are facing death, would you want to know it, or would you rather wait until it is literally staring you in the face?"
Liam may have been lying about them dying, but what is a lie compared to a sea of things that could be much worse. His words seem to take their effect on Louis because he pales slightly and mutters with narrowed eyed "Fine. I'll go with you. Anything to keep from dying at the hands of your pathetic men."
Liam directs the two men in polyester uniform to his SUV and opens the door to the backseat. Then practically shoves Louis in the seat and the door is slammed behind him. As much as Liam liked this boy, he had a mouth and a way with words that could get him in trouble. Liam doesn’t like trouble. If there is a large puddle of grease (oil might work better here) and a spark that could possibly ignite it, you put that spark out as soon as possible. And if Liam had to put out the rebellious spark in Louis, he would do just that.
~o~
Liam's driver drives the large black truck to Liam's home, which was almost a palace. It was five stories tall and had a large black wrought iron gate at the entrance with a grey stonewall surrounding the perimeter; which was about seven or eight feet high. There was also a perfectly paved long driveway that twisted and turned until they were at the front of the house.
Once Louis was inside, a woman in all black unbound his hands, he flexed them and rubbed at his wrists.
She is gone for a moment but comes back with a mint green thin gown, which is folded into a neat square. The fabric is thrust into his hands and he stares at it dumbly for a moment, before looking at the woman with brown eyes and matching hair with straw colored highlights, which was pulled into a messy bun.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Louis asks, with his perfectly arched eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Put it on. We will be doing some simple alterations. The changing room is that way." She briefly offers the boy a warm smile and points a slender finger towards a closed door on the end of the closest hallway.
"What alterations?"
"Go change."
"I want to know what fucking alterations are going to be done. And if they are going to be done to my body." Louis demands.
"Go get changed or you will be punished." She says with a cold edge to her voice and Louis didn't find her as nice as he had before. Something about her expression screamed anger mixed with fear and it wasn't something that Louis liked very much . And with that Louis walked off to the large spacious room to get changed.
~o~
Things were all one big jumble after he came out of that room. The woman dressed in the black button down and black skinny jeans, whom Louis had learned was Eleanor, lead him to an elevator that took him to the very fifth floor. There, he was taken to a waiting room and given some water by her to drink. As the water began to dwindle down, Louis' thoughts began to make less sense than they did usually and it felt as if a dense grey cloud had been placed over his mind like the way a parent drapes a blanket over their tiny child's body as they tuck them in at bedtime.
He figures it's nerves because he doesn't know what is going to happen within the next 20 minutes and goes to take one of his last swigs from the water bottle. But he finds that he can't grip anything in his hands. In fact, all movement seems like a war lost. In his muck filled mind he thinks "The water! You were drugged by her!"
"You drugged me." Louis mumbles. All his eyes wanted to do was close.
"Yes. But only because if you knew you were going into surgery, you would protest, run, or do something stupid. But this is to make sure that none of that happens and that everything goes smoothly...." The last of Eleanor's face and words fade out as he gives in to the weight that seemed attached to his eyelids and lets the fog suffocate his consciousness.
~o~
Why was he so cold? Why did his limbs feel so heavy?
Louis wanted the answers to these questions. But he received none and instead had to find them out himself. He fought against that still present, although lighter, fog around his mind and slowly blinked open his eyes. Finally he could see the bright fluorescent lighting all around him and flexed his hands and feet until he regained all the feeling back in his muscles. He discovers he's cold because he is lying on a silver metal table thing with only that stupid gown to cover him up.
"Oh good. You're awake." Some man in a white lab coat with blonde hair said.
Louis tries to respond, but as soon as he doesn't, his throat feels as if chips of glass are grinding through his esophagus. A pained whimper makes his way out of his mouth.
"Here, this'll make you feel better." The blonde with the Irish accent passes Louis a glass of ice-cold water and Louis sits up.
Why was there a throbbing sensation in his crotch?
Louis shakes his head no at the water. He'll be drugged again.
"I know that you're probably thinking that you're going to be drugged up some more, but that wasn't my fault. I'll even drink some myself."
He waterfalls the water and when nothing happens to him with Louis watching intently, he grabs the clear class from his hold when it was held and greedily laps up the water. As soon as he's done, his throat feels much better and isn't painful anymore.
Louis goes to thank the Irish man or ask questions or something, but nothing comes out. Not even a whisper. His face turns to one of confusion and he tries to talk again but the same thing happens.
The other blue eyed boy smiles sympathetically at him and passes him a yellow notepad and a pen that writes with blue ink.
"First off, why can I not talk? Did I lose my voice or something?" Louis asks first.
"You could say that, yeah." The blonde says after Louis turns the paper so that he could read it.
"What do you mean?" Louis inquires confusedly.
"You had your vocal cords clipped."
Now Louis understood the look of sympathy. But why would he be sympathetic if he's the one who did this?
"No. That can't be true." Louis writes in disbelief.
The Irish boy nods. "I didn't do it. I just look after anyone right after they're out of surgery."
Louis shifts and god; why is his crotch hurting.
He looks underneath the gown (with the other man turned away) and looks to see if everything is fine. But then; where are his balls? Where the fuck are his balls?
Louis throws the notebook at the man's back as hard as he can and he turns back around and picks it up for Louis. The boy snatches it from his grip angrily and scribbles out "You cut my vocal cords and now my balls are gone? What the fuck do you people do in here? Tell me why I should not punch you in the face right now?"
"Because there are cameras in here to watch if anything goes wrong. If you do that, then bodyguards will be here in an instant and take you to god knows where. I sympathize with you. A while back there was beef with England and Ireland because they weren't on the same page or close enough on many issues. So same thing happened with you. Even Eleanor. We just didn't get the same treatment as you. Liam considers you a special case. And you do not mess with him or disobey him because he is a man to be feared rather than loved."
~o~
After Louis had his little "meeting" with the blonde Irish man, Eleanor came in once more with a change of clothes and told him to go change into them. Without being able to question it and being tired of wearing the stupid paper thin gown, Louis walks off to a different changing room to get dressed. But when he unfolds the garment, it's a soft white dress made of cotton and this must be a mistake. Maybe this was for someone else or even for Eleanor, but this dress is not for him.
Louis walks out of the room and pushes the garment towards Eleanor. He opens his mouth to say something but oh. He can no longer talk he remembers.
"Here." Eleanor hands him her phone and he opens up the notes app and types out his message.
"This is a mistake. I'm a boy. I don't wear dresses."
"It's not a mistake. Liam picked it out for you. Go put it on."
Louis' jaw clenches and he huffs before stomping to the changing room and slamming the door shut. He finally decided that with what has happened so far in the past twelve hours, he really did hate this Liam man.
Louis stares at the dress with disdain for a good five minutes. He knows that he has to put it on because he really hates the medical gown he is wearing at the moment and he also knows that he can't go anywhere else until that awful dress is on him. After about five minutes of his thoughts of hate, the boy peels the thin papery material of the gown off of him and slips the soft fabric of the dress over his shoulders.
He walks out of the room with a scowl on his face and Eleanor smiles, giving him a sympathetic pat on his bare arm. What is up with all the sympathy? He doesn't want or need it.
"Follow me." She goes to the elevator once more with Louis in tow and presses the button to the fourth floor.
The doors open and they begin walking down the long hallway on the right. Louis assumes that he is being taken to Liam.
Eleanor notices the frown still on her companion's lips and says "Don't frown. At least smooth out your face."
Louis reluctantly does so as she opens the door to Liam's room.
"Ah Louis. I see that you're done getting dressed." Liam says calmly, with a smile that does not appeal to Louis in the slightest of ways. He eyes the dress that he picked out for the younger boy; that hugged his body in the right places and the right curves.
It takes a lot of restraint to not flip the Emperor off.
"I figured Eleanor could show you around today. Dinner is at six and tomorrow is the first time that you will be going in public as my wife."
Louis blanches and wants to say that what he said was a mistake but by now, he knows that nothing said or done is a mistake. They aren't married and he's not a girl despite what has been done to him. He still has a dick after all. Louis opens his mouth to talk so they know he wants to say something and Eleanor gives him her phone once more.
"I'm not your wife. Nor am I a girl. And I will not be going out in public as your 'wife'"
"You are for the sake of the public. I'm certainly not married to a boy thus the procedure to make you as feminine as possible without changing your looks. I know the after affects of it from research. And clipping your vocal cords was to keep you from being more rebellious and saying something that could get you in trouble." Liam says.
"Fuck you! I hate you! You fucking emasculated me just so you could have a wife! Then you should have picked a girl in that crowd instead of a seventeen-year-old boy! You ass wipe!"
As soon as Liam is done reading what Louis typed, he hands the phone back to Eleanor and uses one of his large hands to slap Louis across the face. His cheek burns and there is a blossoming circle of bright red where contact was made; with the rest of the cheek turning a light pink from the blood rushing to the area.
He cradled his cheek in shock, because he expected Liam to say something but not resort to physical attacks.
"Just because of how you're acting up; in public, you don't get to write anything. You can simply use gestures for things. Get something for her cheek and show her around. You're dismissed."
Eleanor walks out of the room with Louis walking right beside her. The woman shut the door behind them with a gentle click. Again, they get in an elevator and take it to the basement to go into the kitchen, which was empty.
Louis sits on a metal stool Eleanor points a manicured finger at while she grabs a Ziploc bag and fills it with ice cubes from the stainless steel freezer.
"Take your hand off for me." She says in a gentle tone, bending down slightly and Louis does as she says.
Lightly she takes his face in her grasp and looks at the extremely red area that was beginning to swell.
"Here. Hold it here. It's starting to swell but you won't have a bruise."
Louis simply nods meekly.
"Do you actually want me to give you a tour? Or do you want to wait until another time?"
Louis holds up two fingers for the second option. She nods. I'll take you to your room then."
After a short elevator ride up to the fourth third floor, Louis is shown his room, which was immaculate with large windows lining up one after another on one wall and gold and Caribbean blue as the color theme. Louis gives her a thumbs up as thanks.
She nods before leaving and Louis curls up on the unfamiliar bed face first. That was the first night that he cried before going to sleep in this strange house. But eventually he stops crying before going to sleep, because that would require feeling something, and Louis hasn't truly felt anything in a long time.
~o~
The next day was Louis' first day out to the public as the Emperor's new "wife." Liam has Eleanor come into his room around ten in the morning with a blue dress; the same color as the Caribbean blue of his bedroom.
Once he is woken up, he frowns at the garment before going to the bathroom to get changed, deciding there was no point in fighting it. Eleanor takes him to the dining room where Liam was sat at the head of the table, already eating breakfast. She leaves to someplace unknown to Louis in the house and he takes a seat at the other end and lifts his fork to begin eating the food on the plate in front of him.
Louis found that the day was long and tiring. Liam had three social gatherings and events to go to that day. He was always the most important person there. And Louis begrudgingly stayed by his side, he had no choice. And every time he was introduced, he was introduced as Liam's wife and that angered him. And what made it worse was that people knew what Liam had done to him. No one blatantly told him but they could see the obvious fact that it wasn't a woman in that dress and Louis would expect that the Emperor would be proud of and boast about what he'd done.
And there were people always catering to his whims. He ignored the fact that they use feminine pronouns when he actually does need something and simply gestures to what he wants or gives them an idea to what he wants.
At one event, he even asks for a glass of wine and they bring it to him! His mum never let him have any more than a sip of alcohol at home saying he wasn't at the legal age for it, but he would rather never taste a sip of alcohol because of his mum's hands rather than be paraded around like a girl. And even though it's only been a day since all of this started, Louis wants nothing more than to go home.
~o~
Over the course of two months, Liam has noticed the effects of the surgery on Louis and it was exactly what he expected. His hips curved out a bit more and his arse has noticeably filled out more than how it was when he first came. His muscle strength has also definitely weakened. Before, he had strong biceps; but now his arms we definitely more slender. And lastly, Louis almost never got angry anymore. It took a lot to get him mad. Liam still pissed him off, but it was much more rare.
When the seventeen year old has to go out with Liam, he simply follows without protest. He learned that it's no point and has also become calmer too.
Eleanor knocks on his door one night after dinner and he looks up at the noise. She pokes her head through the crack in the door and quietly asks, "Can I come in?"
He nods his head and sits up so he is no longer face down on the bed. She sits cross legged at the foot of the bed facing him.
"I'm leaving tomorrow." Her long brown hair is in a ponytail and she's in her uniform of all black, but her thin pink lips are pulled into a small smile.
Louis' face turns into a mask of confusion and he cocks his head to the side, just enough to get across that he's confused as to why. He really liked Eleanor after spending so much time with her and they've warmed up to each other.
"I've been here for a while now and Liam thinks it's time that he 'let me go.' But you'll have a new assistant come around tomorrow. I had a kinda fun time with you. At least more than Liam's previous wives." Louis frowns at the last sentence and Eleanor notices. "I'm not insinuating that you're a girl cause I happen to know that you're very much a boy. It's a simple word. Don't let him make you all submissive and stuff, alright? Be like the kid I met on your first day."
Louis manages a grin and scooches forwards on the bed to give the woman a tight hug. She reciprocates the gesture and they soon pull apart, before Eleanor gets off the bed and walks to the door.
"I'll miss you kid." That was her thing Louis has come to notice. She called him kid a lot even though it was only three more months until his eighteenth birthday. But he didn't really mind. It was a term of endearment from her; a pet name of sorts. He points at her and holds up two fingers in response. And with that and a small smile, she shuts the door to his room with a quiet click.
~o~
The next day, Louis is not woken up by Eleanor. Some unknown woman with black hair and dark blue eyes wakes him up and hands him his clothes for the day. Liam thankfully lets him wear boy clothes around the house if there is nothing to be done that day. Before she goes, Louis grabs his black covered notebook and pen that was sitting on the floor and writes out with sleep squinted eyes "Are you my new assistant?"
She simply shakes her head once and leaves the room. Eleanor at least always sat in the chair in front of the vanity that Louis never used (and never will) to wait for Louis to finish up getting ready for the day in his bathroom.
He shuts the dark brown, glossy bathroom door shut behind him and sets about taking a piss, showering, and brushing his teeth; all three things being done in the large glass, rectangular shower. When the boy steps out of his little haven of steam and scalding water, he dries off as fast as possible because he hated how cold he got after getting out of the shower.
As soon as there is no trace of water on his body, he pulls the tight pair of black jeans over his legs; having to shimmy into them and the tight grey tee shirt Liam picked out is the last article of clothing to be pulled on. Even though he lets Louis wear masculine clothes around the house, he likes loves to see his curvy, full figure in tight clothes. Especially his arse, hips and his tummy; that poked out just the smallest bit over the waistband of his jeans.
Louis silently creeps down the stairs, his steps not making a sound and walks over to the dining room table where Liam was eating his breakfast. Louis sits down in his chair like usual and eats his breakfast in silence like usual. He chews slowly and deliberately, taking his time on the flavor and richness of his food. When he is done, the teenager takes his notebook and pen and writes down "When is my new assistant going to be here?" and passes the paper to Liam.
"By lunch time. You're free to do as you please. Be back by lunch; he'll be here." Liam says with a blasé tone.
Liam watches Louis as he saunters away and watches his arse in the jeans that he picked out for that day. Louis goes to the entertainment room and watches the telly for a while. All the television shows seem to blur together as he watches without even truly paying attention to what was on the large flat screen. Everything seemed to blur together these days.
Finally, the digital clock on the cabinet that displays all the movie options reads twelve twenty-five so Louis pushes himself off of the black leather couch. Goes to the elevator, taking it to the first floor where the dining room was located. Lunch is already set up and Louis eats the same as every other meal; silently, not making eye contact with anything other than his plate of food, and the only sound being the clank of silverware on plates.
The door off to the wall on the left opens up and a tall man walks through. The first thing Louis notices are those jade green eyes scanning the surroundings of the room he is now standing in. The second thing he notices are the deep chocolate brown curls that are quiffed up into a funny looking quiff that reminds him of a ski slope. But Louis thinks it isn't half bad. It doesn't look like shit at least.
This man probably would have been one of the guys Louis would be crushing on, if things were under normal pretenses and he was still living a normal life. But Louis sees him as just another person that tends to him and his needs.
"Harry, this is Louis. Louis, this is your assistant." Liam introduces.
Harry is wearing a pair of black skinny jeans that look extremely tight; enough to show the outline of his knees and a black t-shirt that clings tightly to his muscular biceps and reveals tattoos on his arms. Harry smiles nicely at Louis and Louis simply nods at him, pressing his thumbnails as hard as possible into the tips of his index fingers. Enough to feel pain; feel something other than homesickness and depression.
"I'm going into my office for a while." Liam says as he pushes his chair back from the table with the sound of wood grating against polished wood reverberating through the room.
"So, um, Louis. What do you want to do?" Harry asks and Louis notices that it's deep, slow and smooth like honey and rich like his mum's chocolate cake. Which he would rather not think about because then he'll feel the familiar pangs of sadness once more.
"Nothing. I'm going to my room. You can do whatever." Louis writes out, showing Harry before leaving the table as well with his notebook and pen clutched tightly in his right hand.
~o~
Harry always tries to be nice to Louis, despite the fact that Louis usually doesn't even make the effort to write things out. He is starting to do that less often lately. He usually just nods or shakes his head for yes and no or points at things he wants. He doesn't even really feel the need to talk anymore. But Louis decides that Harry is extremely attractive and nice so he could at least return the gesture. So they sometimes hang around the house when Louis has time away from Liam and Louis at least writes to Harry.
One day the writing has to come to a stop for a week though and it's all Louis' fault. He came back from something with Liam and storms through the door trying to walk ahead of the older man, which is hard because he's trying not to trip on his own two feet under this stupid floor length dress he has on that is pissing him off majorly.
Liam grabs his wrist roughly and tightly and drags Louis to the elevator. Even when the doors close, he doesn't let his grip on his arm go. It goes up to the floor that his office is on and he drags Louis out of the elevator just as forcefully. Louis passes Harry in the hallway waiting for him as the door to Liam's office slams shut.
"How dare you do that! For as long as you've been here I figured that you deserved the privilege to have a phone so that you could type out what you wanted to say rather than write it in a goddamn notebook. You were being so good lately. But no you choose to mouth off to the people who actually serve you even when they might have better things to do. But no. You're just an ungrateful-" Liam slaps him across the cheek much harder than the only other time he has done so. "Brat. As punishment other than the fact that I slapped you hard enough to leave a bruise, you will not be able to speak for yourself for a week. You don't even get to make your own decisions. You don't get free time, and you will be wearing feminine clothes around the house. And since you hate that dress so much, you can wear that for the rest of the day also."
Liam walks over to the door to open it with a completely calm face, other than the redness to his cheeks.
"Harry. Get ice for her cheek. Then take her to her room." With that Louis walks out of the room and the door slams shut.
"Are you okay Lou? I heard what happened." Harry asks softly, looking down at Louis whose head was down facing the floor, his jaw clenched tight and other than the shrug doesn't even acknowledge Harry's question.
Harry gives him the bag of ice like Eleanor did the first day and walks him to his room.
"Bye Louis." Louis shuts the door in his face with a quiet click.
~o~
Louis can't help but not care anymore. Liam is a dick, he can't talk or make decisions for himself, and his life majorly sucks. So Louis just could care less about being rebellious or his well being. He lets Liam dress him in whatever pleases him, he lets himself be called feminine pronouns, and if he writes things down, they're short and simple.
Harry hasn't been there long enough to notice how drastic the change in Louis was, but even after being there for a month, Harry notices how distant Louis has become. Also the boy refuses to admit it. If Harry brings it up- he has a couple times, Louis will shrug the whole thing off or get annoyed at Harry.
"Harry, come here please." Liam calls out after breakfast one day.
Harry immediately speeds through the door that leads to the kitchen when he hears his name being called. He likes to spend some of his time with the cooks in there and no one seems to have a problem with it.
"Yes Liam?"
"I was thinking that Louis might need some new clothes. There is an event that we need to attend to tonight and I figured you could go do that," Liam pauses before continuing with "and maybe take Louis with you."
Louis who decides to swirl his straw in his glass until he was dismissed from the table perks up the slightest bit in his seat at what he hears. For the first time in a while- a day and a half Louis thinks- Louis takes his notebook out and quickly scrawls out "Really? I can go with Harry?" before passing the paper to Liam.
"Yes. So long as you behave yourself. You have expectations as to what you should wear to something important with me so do not go beyond those expectations. Now go upstairs and change. Then you may leave with Harry."
Louis writes out a quick thank you before pushing away from the table to go excitedly up the stairs. He hasn't been outside without being stuck by Liam's side or someone he isn't comfortable with since he got here. But Harry was now considered a friend of his and this was great news. Now he had something to actually be excited for for the first time in a while.
After changing into a pair of light blue skinny jeans, a navy blue t-shirt, and gray high top converse, Louis walks downstairs to meet Harry. The older man hands Louis a coat to wear to protect him from the cold winter air before walking out of the mansion together.
-
Today was really great. He went to the mall and multiple stores inside. Even though he's been to one before, it all felt so new to him. Maybe it was just the freedom of this outing and the fact that it almost felt like before he started staying with Liam.
He browsed through clothes from all sorts of places imported from around the world, made of all sorts of fabrics, colors, and many textures. By the end of the day, he had two bags held in each of his hands that were full of jeans and shirts, one pair of shoes, and one dress that he had to pick out for tonight. He and Harry stayed a bit longer than they should have, choosing to get food from the food court and to browse through a toy store at one point.
As they leave the mall, Harry is grinning and happy and Louis is laughing; internally since not a single sound can be heard but still laughing nonetheless.
Everything turns sour by the end of the evening. After Liam's ceremony late that night, they stumble into the house a bit drunk. Well very drunk is more like it. Louis immediately kicks the black, shiny high heels off of his feet and stumbles a bit as he bends down to grab them in his hands. His right hand seeks out the wall and splays itself flat against the smooth surface, just managing to keep himself upright.
Liam is following closely behind Louis as they walk down the dark hallway. He can't help but notice how good Louis looks in the dress he picked out. How soft his tan skin looks in contrast with the black lace. How the red underneath the sheer material makes his cheeks look more flushed than they actually are. So Liam walks the slightest bit faster to catch up to Louis; something not that difficult and kisses him.
In his hazy mind, Louis kisses back. He is unsure as to what he should do with his mouth since Liam's kissing is more on the aggressive side. He has only kissed him three times since he's been here and all were short and nothing like this. Liam has Louis pinned to the wall between his arms as he kisses him. But he drops one of his hands and instead splays it on Louis' thigh. Louis still doesn't notice how odd this is until the large hand slides up a bit more, rucking the lace a bit higher. This is when Louis begins to think that maybe this is all a bit weird and pulls his mouth away from Liam's.
He twists his body to the side to slip away from him and go upstairs, but Liam is not having any of that. When he starts to kiss Louis again, the younger boy is no longer responding like when he first did it. His hands are in tight fists on Liam's chest, trying to push him away but his attempts are futile. Words won't come out of his mouth to be able to protest, he can't make any sort of sound that indicates 'No. I really don't want this' and he's sort of given up since he is much weaker than him.
When it slips into his underwear, Louis squirms away and Liam grips his slim waist tightly.
"Stop fucking squirming Louis." Liam says in a harsh whisper.
As he takes him upstairs into his bedroom, Louis can't help but hate him and his life a whole lot more.
~o~
"Louis, what's wrong?" Harry asks him about a week later.
"Nothing." Louis types out on his phone.
"You're way more different than usual. What's wrong?" Harry presses once more.
"I said nothing."
"Louis. What the hell is wrong with you lately?" He decides not to let it go and Harry wants to hear it, so he's going to get it.
"Fine. You want to know what is wrong with me lately? I don't even know where to begin. Maybe it's the fact that I've been here since July and everything is the same and doesn't seem to get better. Maybe it's the fact that I have no clue where my family is or if they're alive. Or that I can't talk and don't even have balls because Liam wanted a wife. Or that I hate my life and want to die sometimes. Do you want me to talk about that? I'm referred to as a girl. I have to wear clothes meant for girls sometimes. Or that Liam had sex with me; sex that I did not even want! Or that my birthday is in a week and I'm not celebrating it with friends and family and I'm stuck here. That's just some of the things that have been wrong with me lately." Once Harry got him started, he couldn't stop. Sure it took him a couple minutes to type out, but he was annoyed and needed to vent.
As Harry read it over, he wasn't quite sure how to feel. He felt bad for Louis, and he was mad at Liam, and he felt sad among other things.
"Louis, I'm-"
Louis hold up his finger, cutting him off.
"No. You're not sorry. I can bet that that is what you are going to say. But you just feel bad because you didn't know. Or you pity me. So please, save it for someone who wants to hear it. I'm going up to my room. Don't disturb me."
~o~
Harry still remembers the conversation that he and Louis had the day he blew up at him and now it was Christmas Eve. It's late at night; a few hours until Christmas and Louis hasn't been downstairs at all for the entire day. When Harry silently climbs the stairs and knocks on Louis' bedroom door, he gets a piece of paper slipped under the crack of the door that says 'Leave me alone. Don't disturb.'
Once Harry says that it's only him, Louis crosses the room to open the door for him and let him inside.
"Happy birthday." Harry smiles, pulling a cupcake with a candle in the middle in a translucent red container from behind his back.
Louis simply shakes his head no before moving to sit on his large, plush bed.
"What do you mean no?" Harry responds as he carefully maneuvers himself so that he can sit and not drop the cupcake.
Louis uses a new app he downloaded that says what he types out loud and has customizable people. Louis picked out "Bruno" from France and set it so that he speaks English with his accent. It's as close as he'll get to the real thing now.
"I mean there's nothing to celebrate. This birthday sucks and Christmas is going to suck, there's no point in celebrating." Louis replies calmly as he grabs his book from where it is wedged in between some pillows.
"Even if it's going to suck, at least you'll have me." Harry tries to be persuasive.
Louis shrugs and smiles slightly. "I guess so."
Harry pulls a lighter from his pocket and lights up the candle.
"So Happy birthday."
Louis blows out the candle in the middle and places the cupcake on his nightstand before lying on his back in the middle of the bed.
Harry decides to join him.
"Did you make a wish?" Harry questions as he bends his long arms behind his head to get in a more comfortable position.
"No."
"How come?"
Louis sighs. "We've discussed this. I don't have anything to wish for. There's no point in wishing for anything. I can't wish for happiness cause I'll probably never be happy again. And I definitely can't wish for love cause no one loves me. Especially with the way I am. So leave it alone?"
Harry is really tired of Louis' misery and mopey-ness. "You know what? I love you. I love you the way you are and you're nice to be around when you're not all blah like this. And I wish you'd stop being so sad because it's not a good look on you."
Louis turns on his side so that he is facing Harry and his face is twisted in confusion. "Are you serious? You, love me?"
"I said that, yeah."
"You're not just saying this because you don't like when I'm 'sad' or whatever else?"
"No. Jeez. I like you. Is that so hard to believe?" Harry really doesn't get why Louis is being so- thorough with his questions.
"It really is." Louis averts his eyes from Harry's green ones because it's suddenly become more difficult to look him in the eye.
Harry slides over a little and gently tips Louis head upwards so that he is looking him in the eye once more.
"I'm only telling you this so that you'll know. It doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to."
Louis doesn't respond. Instead he looks steadily at Harry for a few brief moments that seem much longer than they are in actuality. Finally he hesitantly presses his lips to Harry's for a lingering second before pulling away.
"I do want it to mean something. If that's alright?"
"It's more than alright." Harry says quietly against Louis' lips.
~o~
Harry has almost been caught more times that either of them can really think of. One of the best and most memorable times was when they were in the kitchen with Harry standing between Louis' legs, heatedly kissing him. Louis had his hands balled up in Harry's black shirt and lets him take control of the kiss, of him. Just as Louis tilts his head back slightly to bare his neck to Harry; sort of a signal telling him to get on with it, the double doors to the kitchen swing open.
Harry immediately backs away from Louis and tries to make everything seem like it's ordinary. But thankfully it's only Isa .
She happens to be one of the cooks in the kitchen that is most frequently there. When she sees Harry and Louis, she kindly smiles at the two of them.
"Don't mind me Harry. I just came in to see what I need to go shopping for." The woman looks through the freezer, refrigerator, and the pantry to see what the kitchen is low on before saying goodbye to the two boys in the kitchen.
Thankfully, there are no more disturbances after that.
~o~
"You're miserable." Harry says one day while they're hanging out in the kitchen after hours when all the cooks have gone home and it's just the two of them.
"So?" Louis prompts.
"Let's not be miserable. We could run away together. You wouldn't have to be with Liam anymore. You could be happy? Maybe find your family?" Harry offers.
"Harry, are you sure this is a realistic expectation?" Louis types into his app.
"Yeah! It wouldn’t be too difficult to leave right? Sneak out in the middle of the night and go someplace better.”
Louis doesn’t respond for a bit. The only sound heard in the room is the motor of the refrigerator humming quietly in the corner and Louis’ feet kicking the side of the shiny steel counter he is sitting on.
Finally he says “Sure. Let’s go. Tonight.”
Harry asks him if he’s sure and Louis nods his head yes in assurance.
~o~
"You're sure that everyone is asleep?" Louis quickly writes out. To maintain stealth, he has resumed writing things out to Harry until they're safely out and away from the mansion.
Harry nods his head to Louis and they pull the door to his bedroom shut before tiptoeing down the stairs. Louis has two bags stuffed to the brim with clothes in his possession and Harry has his own backpack of clothing and a few necessities, along with a copious amount of money. As soon as Harry unlocks the front door, they sneak about in the inky black darkness of night. Harry's known how to hot wire a car for a few years now and easily does so to the least conspicuous vehicle in the garage.
The car creeps slowly along the black driveway and when he finally gets to the highway which is sparsely driven on at this time of night, Louis finally breaths a sigh of relief and lays his smaller hand over Harry's. For the first time in a while, he finally feels close to happy.