Hello! Sorry for the wait, I had a lot of writing work so I had to take a little break from these books. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter, however.

Please leave comments, I've missed you all because I've been inactive. Also, if you have any questions, just ask.

With love, Lucy.

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"True love corrupts innocence, but not only in a sexual way."

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Louis sat at his desk by the front of the room, scribbling away the answers to the equations as easily as if he were writing his own name. The only time he stopped working was when he pushed his fringe away from his face to pin it back with a pink butterfly clip that a girl had given to him the day before.

His mouth and nose were pushed forward in concentration, a crease almost forming between his brows, and then he smiled, obviously thinking about something completely unrelated to his work, despite the fact that he enjoyed it. Niall watched him from the other side of the room where he'd been banished to after chattering too much.

There seemed to be something about Louis that had changed since he'd began ballet lessons. He'd finally done what he'd wanted to do for as long as he could remember-and that was to dance-but he was also uncovering parts of himself that Niall didn't think even Louis himself understood. He had always been known as a happy person, had loved the world without being loved in return, but that had never fazed his view of it. He'd smiled through a lot of his sorrow; of course, he'd cried a few too many times on the way, but he'd overall been truly happy in nature.

However, something was breaking the long train of joy. Harry was that something. Because of Harry, Louis Tomlinson had learnt how it truly felt to be loved with a person's whole heart, but from that, he'd realised that he could be hated by it, too.

There was a time in the past when good and evil were the same person with no distinction from one or the other, when both hatred and love looked at him though the same pair of blue eyes. There was a time when gentle touches and hard scratches came from the same pair of hands, and when the confessions of love were spoken when Louis' body was bruised and bleeding. Louis' Mother had given up her whole heart for him, just as Harry had, but unlike his, her heart was cold and infested with hatred.

It was this was slowly changing Louis from the innocent child who knew no harm to the one that understood it. Through a better love, he was realising cruel obsession was the only thing in his Mother's heart, and that, in the end, he was unloved by Mother.

'Harry's love is Louis' awakening. It's destroying his innocence.' Niall thought to himself, 'True love is corrupting him.'

"Hey, Goldilocks, don't stare." Shawn said, slapping his hand on Niall's arm so suddenly that the boy jumped in surprise. He turned to the desk behind him-or rather, to his right, as he leant not against the chair but the wall-and frowned with uncertainty. Shawn sat there, leaning over the table, his hand still on Niall's arm. Sitting to his left was one of his closer friends-a german girl named 'Clara Stahlbaum', whose father was in prison, and by the scary scowl that was constantly on her face, Niall was certain that she'd one day end up there, too. In a way, she was quite pretty, with forest green eyes and messy black hair and a sharp face, and she was prouder and calmer than the rest of Shawn's friends. She had a turned-up nose that she'd look down to stare at whoever addressed her, and she didn't smile often, but perhaps that she saved them for her closest friends only. She sat here now, even, looking down her nose to the phone hidden from sight as she texted one of her loved ones. Niall wondered who it was.

"Goldilocks, you're staring at Baum, now." Shawn said, shaking Niall, and it was only then that Niall realised how long he'd been watching Clara. It was also then that he realised how many times before that he'd also looked at her like this.

"Let me go." He said, shaking Shawn away. The boy let go of his arm and Louis felt a coldness from where his clammy hand had been. "What do you want?" he asked, "I can look where I like."

He made contact with Clara's green eyes as she glanced up from her phone to him, but she went back to it quickly after.

"Did your parents never teach you that it's rude to stare?" Shawn asked, sharply. He clicked his pen repeatedly, and it irritated Niall.

"I'm an orphan, now, remember?" He said, "My parents are dead, or were you too absorbed in Louis' life to remember that silly little detail?"

He turned around bitterly, but Shawn said a quick, "Woah, wait up a minute-" and spun him back around on the chair. He looked at Niall in an unexpected way. The cruelness that was usually on his face looked so apologetic. Niall had never seen this expression before. Not towards himself, at least. "Stop." he said, pushing Shawn's hands away from his shoulders. The teacher began to yell at someone then, and Shawn got distracted enough to let go, but he returned to Niall soon afterwards.

"What did you say about Louis? Who said that I was absorbed in his life?" He asked.

"Well, aren't you?" Niall said, "You're obsessed with him. I may look at him, but you stare. You always have."

"That's not true." Shawn denied, backing away from where he'd been leaning over the desk. Clara smiled, overhearing, and put her phone away. She turned to the blackboard but Niall could tell she was eavesdropping. "I've never stared at Louis. He's just a kid with a rough life."

"We're all kids with rough lives, that's what we're doing here." Niall said, waving around himself to the crumbling school, "This dumping ground is where kids with the rough lives go. That's not why you watch him."

Shawn backed away and looked down to the small crack between the desk and the wall. A frightened pout was on his face, a blush in his cheeks. "What are you trying to say?"

Niall glanced to Clara. She watched her friend out of the corner of her eye, smiling. She really did save them for her loved ones. Niall lowered his voice, "I know why you're being so kind." he said, and Shawn's head snapped up to him. His eyes were wide, panic on his face, but then he submitted to it and sighed.

"Well, have you seen him? No person in the world could ever meet Louis and not fall for him at least once. You'd have to be a fool to let such a thing pass. He's got everything that we've been missing. He's got the love, the laughter, and all of the happiness that we've all missed out on."

"You used to hate him. You used to hurt him, and you don't anymore." Niall scowled at Shawn. The misery that his actions had caused couldn't be excused, no matter how kind he acted now. Niall could let him flirt, take Louis out on dates, give him pretty clothes. He could do all of that, but he would not ever let Shawn forget what he'd done. "You used to gang up on him and push his head down the toilet. You've ripped his clothes and made him stand shirtless in the middle of the basketball field for everyone to laugh at. You've thrown his things away and he had to live off rations for two weeks just so that he could buy them back. You've ruined him, Shawn. You ruined him and got away with it because of 'discipline issues'. That's just cruel, no matter how you look at it. You're a horrible person for doing those things to him."

The light shivered in Shawn's eyes, and Niall saw faint tears stand there. He glanced at Clara, and she was watching Shawn with concern.

"After everything that you've done, you think that you can be loved in return, just by suddenly acting kind? You don't deserve his heart, why do you chase it?"

"I realised." Shawn said, fiddling with his pen. "I realised that I've been a bastard to him. I always thought that it was him being the weak one to always pester and annoy me. I used to think that he was just asking for it, but then I realised that it wasn't. It'd always been me persuing him. I got under his skin, not the other way around. After that, I just took the time to stop and watch him, and he became something so amazing. He'd always been.. so amazing.."

Niall watched Shawn. He felt the weight of the boy's heart, the regret within it, the love that poured from every crack it had. There was love there now, and perhaps it had always been hidden somewhere, but Niall didn't find even the tiniest piece of trust. "You're playing with Louis' innocence to get his forgiveness. You know that he doesn't understand how bad you've treated him because his mother does worse. He doesn't understand bad actions as being bad. You're a horrible person, Shawn, for using that innocence to your advantage. Kindness won't forgive you from being that."

Shawn leant over the table and grabbed Niall's arm. He hurt. "It's not like that!" he shouted. Niall flinched back, scared of the loud voice. A few people turned to Shawn, the teacher whacked the board with a ruler, and he quietened down again.

Niall glared at him, rubbing his arm. "So what are you going to do? Play with him again and again until he trusts you? Stop messing with him. You know, when you weren't acting so unnaturally kind, Louis was terrified to come into school. He spent our free-time avoiding you, head buried in textbooks so that you wouldn't see him. On Mondays after school, he'd cry to Granny, show her the marks that you'd left on him. You made his life horrible, you know that, right? You'd always thought he was happy, that he always will be, but you damaged him. You ruined Louis, but even so, he smiled just because that's who he is. He's a happy person, he always had been. So yes, he is amazing, but you're a bastard for ruining him. And the broken pieces that you left can never be fixed, no matter how kind you act."

Shawn didn't reply to that. He had no answer to give. Niall watched him. "I'll give you one chance to prove me wrong. Apologize to him properly. Without using his innocence to your advantage."

*

The bell rang, and Shawn lingered outside the classroom for a long time with Niall and Clara, as they all waited for Louis to finish chattering away to the teacher about his love for space and ballet and Harry and small pebbles. He talked about many things, Shawn heard every word of the shrill and bubbly voice through the wall. He smiled softly, head leaning against the door, watching Louis through the glass. The teacher was packing her things, and Louis was jumping all over the place. His hair pointed in every direction, his clothes hung on his body, and his plasters gave him colour. He grinned and laughed and chattered away to his heart's content, and there was so much love there. So much love that the world cracked open.

"Woah.." Clara-who'd also stopped to stare at Louis-said. Her word lacked breath, was overcome with amazement and wonder, and Niall could tell once more how incredible this little kid in Mickey Mouse plasters was.

Louis finally left the room, the teacher-still inside-laughing with him, and he shut the door, turning around, and was surprised to see people waiting. He looked at Niall, and Niall glared at Shawn.

"Louis." Shawn said, grabbing Louis by the wrist, and then letting go when the boy winced from a bruise there. "Do you have a moment?"

Louis took a step back but hit the wall, "What do you want?" he asked, stepping away from Clara.

Shawn pushed Clara towards Niall, implying rather prominently that he wanted them gone. "Baum, go with him. I'll text you."

Clara grimaced at him, and then walked off, not caring whether Niall followed or not. The boy looked at Louis, "I'll be right around the corner. Listen to him."

Louis watched him walk away, heart beginning to pound, and then Shawn took his hand. It surprised Louis, he pulled it back, and put it behind his back.

Shawn looked down at his empty palm, and put it in his shorts' pocket. "I want to apologize to you properly. I don't know how to take back the things that I've done to you-hell, I could never take those things back, but if I could, then I'd do it in a second. If I could, then I'd go back in time and put myself where you've been. I'd let myself get humiliated and tormented so that you wouldn't have to, but I can't. I want your forgiveness, but I want you to understand how much of a horrid person I've been to you."

He looked at Louis, and the boy didn't seem to be either pleased nor angry. He just had an empty stare on his face. The teacher opened the door, smiled at them, and left, but still, Louis looked empty. He finally leant back on the wall and looked up at Shawn. "You have.. been mean." he said, "It's not nice to shoot paper at people and to steal people's food. I didn't really think about it before. Nice people don't do that. Nice people encourage you, and have rubber ducks called Gerald, and make you feel safe even when you're in danger. Nice people give you a home when you don't have anywhere else to go. Niall and Granny are nice. My ballet friends are nice. The supermarket checkout ladies are nice. You, however, are the opposite of everything nice."

Shawn put a hand out to Louis, but Louis flinched back. "No, don't touch me." he said. He had anger in his eyes-Shawn had never seen it before-pure panic and hatred and regret and every other bad feeling was there. "You're a bad person! Why are you trying to be nice to me?! What do you want?"

"I'm not a bad person! Stop saying that!" Shawn said, but he was so unsure of himself. The look in Louis' eyes was so tormented and pained from Shawn's actions that he didn't know if he were good or bad anymore. His little step-bother had always told him that he was the nicest person ever, but Shawn was feeling like more and more people where telling him the opposite. It was a hurtful thing to hear, it really was.

He reached for Louis again, his hope fading, but the boy in plasters stepped back.

"You're being nice to me now but you've been a bully all of this time. You're just like her, thinking this is love! You're like Mother! Mother doesn't really love me, either!"

And then they both stopped, eyes growing wider. Shawn replayed the words 'you're just like her' over and over in his head, while Louis realised what he'd just said. Mother didn't love him. Obsession was not love.

Niall heard the conversation, and for a long while, he didn't know who he should feel the most sorry for. Shawn was just a boy, yet he was becoming more and more doubtful about who he was, and right now, he'd been shut down to complete silence by being compared to Louis' obsessive, psychotic, and abusive parent. But Louis was also dead silent. The little boy in Mickey Mouse plasters had just come to realise what Niall had noticed. He'd understood that the world wasn't kind, that good and evil were separate things, and that he wasn't a happy person, but his innocence-now corrupted-had fooled him into thinking that he was.

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I hope that you liked this chapter!

Written with my love, Lucy.