SOLITUDE

Prologue

Louis lightly pinched the bridge of his nose with two of his shaky fingers, his eyebrows furrowing in a small frown, his other hand holding the mobile phone pressed tight against his ear. What exactly do you do in a situation like this?

He was quite a smart person, if Louis did say so himself  - and usually, being his stubborn self he would most likely avoid situations such as this one. It wasn't entirely his fault that his feet brought him into the alley and his eyes landed upon the unfamiliar human.

Humans tend to help humans.

"No mate, he's just sitting... Yes, like I said! Only a jacket, thin one as it is- yes, Niall!" The boy whined into the phone, rolling his eyes when he heard the quiet words of 'homeless' uttered over the phone as he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "Pick me up, whatever - just do something." 

With a small sigh escaping past his lips, he switched the device off after his best friend assured him that he will indeed arrive as soon as possible. Slipping the phone into the warmth of his pocket, his eyes once again flickered upwards, stopping on the shivering figure. It must have been a boy. A boy, because of the slim figure, the jawline, the matted locks of hair falling onto his forehead, and the green eyes, unknowing to the surroundings.

Of course - he didn't know Louis was there. Louis wasn't exactly sure why he was there.

But something about that strange boy made his head spin, because that boy was a teenager who was sitting out on the cold street at one in the morning by himself curled up into a small ball with nothing but a thin jacket over his shoulders.

It's probably the lack of warm clothes that made Louis wince in sympathy for the lad, and so he slowly made his way over towards the curled up ball of shivers, stumbling over his own feet as he reached closer. When he finally came to a stop in front of him he looked down, unsure of what to do. So, following his natural instinct - he nudged his leg with his converse covered foot.

"Excuse me?" he bravely spoke out, his voice shaking a little, unsure of how the boy will react.

He stepped back a little when he saw the head of curls raise, bright green eyes meeting his own, making his breath hitch.

"What?" A deep voice replied in a frightened whisper, making Louis flinch. Not because he was scared but because he was talking to a potentially homeless stranger out in the dark, in the middle of the night, and the boy sounded rough and scary. He wasn't, of course, with his adorable locks of curls and green eyes and pink cheeks, but his deep voice said a lot of about him. Stay away, it said. 

"Erm," Louis started, unsure of what to say, trying to gather his thoughts, as he felt the boy's emerald eyes on him. He buried his hands into the pockets of his jacket, stepping from one foot to another. "I was wondering if you're okay?" He frowned. "You don't look okay, I mean. You seem pretty cold, and uh, lonely-"

"Louis? Louis, are you here?"

Louis turned around, only to find a blonde boy standing leaning against the brick wall, trying to catch his breath. "Oh thank god,"

"Come on, Louis. It's not safe. Town's full of muggers and dangerous people so I'm telling you - get in the car, quick, because I'm freezing out here-" His frantic eyes stopped on the curly haired boy still sitting down, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes. "Oh, hello, who are you?"

Louis turned to look back down at the sitting boy, who met his eyes straight away.

"I don't want to leave him," he muttered to Niall, his eyes scanning the dirty ground that he was standing on.

Niall frowned. "Who is he?" 

"How am I meant to know?" Louis whined, glancing at the boy who was pulling on the rim of his jacket, eyes casted downwards.

"Why are you here? Who are you?" The boy suddenly asked, after long minutes of silence, interrupted by Niall's shivering and Louis' quick intakes of breath.

Louis looked at Niall, his eyes pleading and begging just for him to say something-

"Niall. I'm Niall," he motioned to himself, and then to Louis. "And that's Louis."

The boy murmured something, looking down at the ground, causing the locks of curls to cover his forehead completely, blocking out his eyesight.

"You're cold," Louis stated, his eyes still fixed on the boy.

"I'm not," The boy shook his head. "I'm not cold. I'm alright. I'm used to it. But you are, so get home, or something, yeah?"

Louis turned to Niall, his eyes clearly asking him to say something, but Niall just shook his head. "You heard him Louis. Come on, we have to get home,"

And so Louis followed Niall out of the small alleyway, looking back at the curly haired boy who was leaning against the wall, shivering, wrapping the jacket tigher around himself.