Chapter Text
George came careening into the packroom with wild eyes and ruffled hair and looking less put together than the pack had ever seen him. The young beta normally had his hair slicked back and with all his buttons done up, never letting his guard down even among pack and never joining in on their nests.
Lewis was up and moving before anyone else. He approached his younger teammate, already emanating soothing rumbles and being careful not to grab too quickly at George, instead gently grabbing the beta’s arm and twisting him until they were face to face.
Like this, the pack could see his eyes were red-rimmed and wide open, a tense expression on his face and his lips bitten raw from nervousness.
“Hey,” Lewis said calmly, pumping out soothing pheromones and offering the young beta a comforting smile. “We’re here, you’re alright. Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?”
George shook his head immediately, eyes darting wildly around the room. He took an aborted step back but couldn’t move far because of Lewis’ hand still on him.
“No, no,” he stammered, high and uncertain. “I just need to make a call, I need to sort something out, I need-”
Lewis cut him off, gently but firmly. “How about I call for you? Or someone else if you want? I think you need to focus on your breathing before you work yourself into a greater panic.”
“No!” George immediately snapped back, surprising everyone with the anger in his voice. “I can do it myself!”
Seb stepped forward, raising his hands in peace as he approached the two of them, the rest of the pack hanging back a little further despite their clear and collective desire to help. The beta was here for the weekend and had decided to join them all in the packroom after some begging from Charles and the other pups, always eager to see him again. His crisp pine scent spread through the room, but it didn’t seem to calm George, who kept his shoulders tight and tense.
“Lewis wasn’t suggesting you can’t do it yourself,” Seb came to a stop next to Lewis, George backing away from them and holding his arm tight where Lewis had held on, defensiveness clear in his posture. “We’re just trying to help you in the best way possible.”
“I don’t need help,” George bit out, flushing red with anger but his eyes betrayed him, glinting bright with fear.
“Okay,” Lewis interjected soothingly, spreading his hands out as though to show he meant no harm. “What can we do then? Can you tell us what’s wrong?”
George bit his lip again, holding it tightly between his teeth until it turned white from the pressure. His body was shaking slightly, little tremors going through his tall frame with every shaky breath. This was a side of the young beta the pack had never seen before, with George always having a Mercedes-perfect PR face or, before, with a Williams-determined we’ll-make-it-one-day demeanor. They’ve never seen him anything less than put together before and they realized now, with a guilty feeling, that it couldn’t have been because he was so unruffled over the years.
“I can’t tell you,” George finally settled on.
Seb and Lewis exchanged a worried glance.
“Is it something you’re not allowed to say or something you can’t say?” Seb asked, peering at George’s expression as though he could see the answer from his furrowed eyebrows.
George didn’t respond, averting his gaze.
“Or is it something you shouldn’t say?” Lewis pressed forward, carefully rewording the question.
This time there was no response but George looked up for a split second, nervous and anxious and vulnerable and revealing more in that moment than he could have with his words.
Alex pushed forward, ignoring Max and Charles’ attempts to keep him back with the rest of the pack and came to stand next to the pack leaders. The Thai alpha forced a smile on his face as he looked at his childhood friend, scent welcoming and friendly in a way it’s always been.
“Georgie, what’s up? Do you want to go somewhere, just us, and you can tell me? I’ll help you, you know I will. Just say the word and I’ll get rid of these guys.” Alex studiously ignored the soft growls coming from Lewis and Seb next to him, instead looking earnestly forward at George. He went as far as to tilt his neck slightly, making it clear he’d follow George’s lead.
“G, come on, do you want them out?” Lando spoke up, the small alpha’s scent turning sharp as he came to stand next to Alex in a firm show of support. He met Seb’s reprimanding gaze with unflinching eyes and tilted his chin up in preparation for a fight.
George didn’t say anything for a long moment. Lewis wildly imagined him agreeing quietly with Alex and Lando, about the chaos that would spread through the room. Tried to imagine if he would be willing to step out, if he could leave his young beta teammate, who he already grown impossibly protective over, to be comforted by the other pups. Tried to imagine protesting, how Alex’s scent would turn acidic, how Lando would push himself in front of George, how George would shrink behind both of them and avoid Lewis’ gaze.
A phone ringing interrupted the tense stand-off, with both Lando and Seb breaking away to look over at George, who was now holding his phone as though it were to come to life and attack him. George cast wide eyes around the room, his body going impossibly still and silent and the whole pack holding their breath. Alex took an aborted step forward, Lando following automatically.
A long moment later, George accepted the call and brought the phone up to his ear. Lewis felt a rush of disappointment that he wouldn’t be able to hear the call, a primal need to ensure that whoever was on the other end of the line wouldn’t upset his already-upset pup even more.
“Yes?” The word came rushing out, the letters tripping over themselves like all the hesitancy George had felt had disappeared when he accepted the call.
A breath, shaky and so delicate. “What is it? Do you know?”
A pause. The pack felt like they were teetering on a needle’s edge, like whatever would be the answer to that question would change irrevocably the world they knew. George’s face grew more tense as the silence stretched, his shoulders coming up so tight and tense that it looked physically painful.
“Sound?” The question was quiet, it felt like a loss, like it was already over and this was a final, desperate attempt to salvage what was left of the situation.
George nodded slightly, his hand coming up to rub at his throat, at his scent gland. His gaze was distant and it was never more obvious than in this moment that he wore scent blockers, the devastation plastered across his face felt like it should have been displayed in his scent and seeping into every crevice of the packroom.
“When?” Another nod.
“Who?” Hesitant, like he didn’t want to know, but firm, like he already knew and just needed it confirmed.
There was another long pause. George remained still, turned half away from them now and achingly tense and still.
“Is there anything else?”
Defeat, shoulders falling lower and losing their fight as though they realized it was futile.
“Is there anything to be done? Anything I can do?” The emphasis placed on specific words made them uncomfortable in a way they couldn’t easily describe. Lando let out a soft growl.
A breath, held for too long to be comfortable, let out in a slow and controlled way. George rebuilt himself right in front of them as he did so, pushing his shoulders back and raising his head.
“Thank you. For reaching out.” Genuine, pained.
George’s hand fell to his side when the call ended, the phone held loosely in his hands for another few breaths before he put it in his pocket and turned to them again. Had his eyes not still been red-rimmed, he would have looked perfectly normal.
“Sorry about that,” he said in a voice that was only mildly strained, “there was a bit of an emergency with a friend.”
“A friend?” Seb asked, slightly disbelieving and questioning all at once.
George’s eyes flashed, his smile polite and unchanging. “Yes. Again, sorry for all the drama. Especially with me,” he waved a hand vaguely in the air, “storming in here so abruptly,” he settled on.
Lewis leaned forward, trying to catch his gaze. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
He was hesitant to let the young beta out of his sight, still feeling the nagging urge that something wasn’t right, that there was more than meets the eyes here. The way that George fell apart and then put himself together made alarm bells ring in his head, the speed and ease at which it happened betraying past experience.
George turned his smile onto Lewis, turning rueful and bashful all at once. He ducked his head slightly, looking up from under his long lashes as though he were to be scolded. It was a devastating look.
“I’m sure, really.” He turned to look at the rest of the pack, the same look in effect on them. “I really am sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything in here and worry anyone.”
They stumbled over themselves, in a cacophony of noise, to protest his words.
“Don’t be ridiculous–” Charles said loudly above the others.
“Are you sure we can’t help–” Carlos insisted, worry not yet faded from his scent.
“-- you should not–” Pierre added, cut off but insistent.
“You can’t just–” Oscar whispered, eyes wide and frightened and undoubtedly shaken by the sight of a pillar of strength and certainty in the pack showing cracks in front of him.
“Come sit here–” Seb demanded, brows furrowed.
And Lewis thought wildly, I want you to cause a fuss and you deserve to come in here and have all of our attention and this is your right and don’t ever apologize for taking up space and please make a mess and be unapologetic about your presence amongst us and you belong you’ve always belonged and please stay with me here.
And Lando, above all the others, “Again, do you want us to get rid of them? It can just be us,” he brashly declared. Alex nodded alongside him, his smile comforting for George when he looked over.
George blinked, slightly taken aback but recovering quickly. “Thank you for all your concern, but it’s not needed. There’s been a slight emergency but it will all be resolved” – a twitch in his expression – “by tomorrow. And Alex, Lando, thank you, but maybe another day. I have to go talk to some people now, get some other stuff sorted and squared away.”
He spoke quickly and without leaving room for any doubt. It took them a second to realize it was the same way he spoke with the media and that bitter, rotten, worried feeling spread through them once more.
“George–” Seb tried to interrupt, but George shot him another smile and swept out of the room before they could catch him.
George left nothing behind in the room, no bitter scent or overturned chair or rumpled blanket to reveal he was ever there. All they had been left with was their own worried scents and the sinking feeling that everything was going to change.