fighting love » l.s.

forty four - fight

The peace didn't last long. It never seemed to. A few weeks had passed since the drama with Louis's mum, and all of the boys had fallen into the false trap of believing that nothing bad would happen. Louis and Harry had gone public with their relationship at school, and Liam and Niall constantly complained jokingly about being third and fourth wheels. And, of course, about the fact that their classmates assumed they must also be dating secretly like Louis and Harry were.

Making their way down the hallway at the end of yet another school day, that peaceful feeling finally shattered again. Harry, Louis, and Niall were walking together to meet Liam at his locker, chatting about some girl Niall had tried to hit on during their last period.

"I have game, Tommo, you can't deny that," Niall argued, giving Louis a playful bump.

"I can deny that, and I will," Louis replied, laughing. "If you honestly think that --"

A strong force yanked Louis backwards mid-sentence, ripping all of the air from his lungs as his back slammed into the row of lockers beside him. The metallic clang echoed loudly through the hallway, even with the chattering of their classmates, who immediately fell silent at the sound. Before Louis knew what was happening, he stood nose to nose with Nick.

"Thought I forgot about you and your little boyfriend?" Nick sneered, gripping Louis's shoulders tightly.

As soon as he managed to catch his breath, Louis pushed Nick's hands off of him and took a step forward, placing his body even closer to Nick's. "Guess I gave you too much credit. Thought you could mind your own business for once," he replied, holding hard eye contact with the other boy. Nick was bigger than him, but Louis couldn't bring himself to care. He wasn't about to let a stupid bully intimidate him -- especially not the same one that had made Harry's life a living hell just a few months before. He risked a quick glance over at Harry and Niall, who stood still across the hall. Harry appeared to be frozen in fear, his eyes glued to Nick.

Louis refocused. He could do this for Harry. He had to.

"It's my business if you and your twink boyfriend want to be all over each other every day. I shouldn't have to see that shit." Nick's breath blew hotly against Louis's face.

"And you think I want to see you screwing your girlfriend in the parking lot? It's not any different, mate," Louis shot back, clearly emphasizing his sarcasm on the last word.

Apparently not bright enough to come up with an adequate reply, Nick reverted back to his natural instinct. He shoved Louis back against the locker again. Hard. Louis coughed a few times, trying desperately to force the air to flow back through his lungs again. Before he could, Nick had thrown a solid punch, colliding with Louis's cheek and knocking him to the ground.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Harry's voice shouted. Before Louis could fully process the pain shooting through his head, Harry had jumped forward and pulled the other boy away from Louis in a sudden burst of adrenaline.

Immediately, Nick's aggression turned on Harry. He moved away from Louis and shoved Harry back, causing the younger boy to stumble and fall against the lockers. As he watched Nick close in on Harry, Louis completely forgot the pounding in his head. He jumped to his feet and lunged across the hall.

"Oi, get the fuck away from him!" With no hesitation, Louis hauled the much-larger boy away from Harry, immediately stepping between him and his boyfriend. He wrapped one arm protectively around Harry, keeping the younger boy pressed tightly against his back. His eyes stayed trained on Nick, ready to react to his next move and keep himself positioned between the other boy and Harry no matter what happened.

"Hey, what the hell is going on here?"

Right on time, Liam came running down the hallway with Niall hot on his heels, shoving his way through the crowd of students that had stopped to watch the fight unfold. Stopping directly between Louis and Nick, Liam brought himself to his full height, staring Nick down.