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“You can’t sell him!” Louis growled, tightening his hold around the pig’s neck.
“Tommo—”
“But he’s part of our family!”
Zayn looked unimpressed at this reasoning. “Lou, I love you. You’re my best friend. But you and this pig are not my family.”
“He is though. His name is—Gareth. Gareth Malik.”
“You just pulled that name out of your ass, bro.”
“Did not,” Louis insisted. “I’ve been calling him Gareth all along. Ever since I moved into your guest house.”
“Liar. Fine. You can keep the pig. But you’re taking care of it. I don’t want to catch it eating all my tomatoes again.”
Louis hugged the pig tighter. Gareth let out a grunt. “I will! I swear. Just um—you’ll have to tell me how. Or never mind, I’ll google it. Gareth, here, will be no problem at all.”
“Yeah, well, it’s Gareth Tomlinson now. So don’t make me regret it. Could have got like eight hundred bucks for it, you know.”
“You won’t even know we’re here.”
“Yeah, right. Well, Gareth can still have the penned in area I had for him, but since you’re here all day writing anyway, try and keep an eye out for him escaping into other parts of the farm.”
“Will do.”
“Alphas,” Zayn muttered, shaking his head. “You’re all so damn protective.”
“I’d never let anyone sell you either, bro.”
Zayn rolled his eyes and turned to start walking back to the barn.
Gareth’s snout brushed against Louis’ cheek. He was pretty sure it was a thank you kiss.
“You’re gonna be just fine, Gareth. I hope you like that name. I did in fact just pull it out of my ass. But honestly, I think it fits you pretty well.” Louis stroked the pig’s long haired coat. “Your fur or hair or whatever is a really lovely color. Auburn maybe? Anyway, I’ll figure out what you eat besides Zayn’s tomatoes and go to the grocery store tomorrow.”
Harry sighed as he walked into the grocery store on a late Saturday afternoon. The first cart he tried to pull away from the others stuck, and he wrestled with it for a few seconds before giving up. He just didn’t have the energy for that today.
He’d woken up a few hours ago from the longest heat of his life, exhausted and hungry to the sight of a nearly empty refrigerator and the thought that maybe he actually should try dating again. His mom would be delighted if she knew he’d even thought about it.
His plan was to just grab a few pre-made items from the deli section and maybe some fruit and do a bigger grocery run in a few days when he had more energy, but after he’d grabbed a pre-made Caesar salad, someone walked past him with a grocery cart chock full of an absurd assortment of vegetables.
As soon as the man passed, his scent lingered. An alpha. Harry leaned into the scent, nose first before he realized what he was doing and snapped his head back. It was probably because he was just out of his heat, but the scent was frankly—delicious. A smoky, vanilla scent he’d never smelled on an alpha before.
Maybe he really did need a boyfriend.
When he glanced up, he accidentally locked eyes with the vegetable alpha. Blue blue blue, his mind repeated before the alpha looked away. Harry swallowed hard. The alpha’s deep set blue eyes had sparkled like gemstones.
Harry tried not to be too obvious as he watched this alpha appear to throw more random vegetables into his cart. He got a little closer as he picked out a few peaches for himself and got a better look at the way this alpha filled out a pair of soccer shorts.
Maybe he should have had groceries delivered instead of coming here so soon after his heat and panting over a random alpha in the produce section.
To be fair, this alpha really was ridiculously good looking. Silver streaks shot through the sides of his brown hair that looked soft to the touch, defined biceps shown off in his cut off t-shirt, a sharp jaw and cheekbones that added to his frankly stunning looks with a few days worth of scruff. The only feature that wasn’t particularly alpha-esque was a very cute nose with a tip that Harry wanted to boop. Somehow it only added to his allure.
The alpha caught him looking, and Harry flushed and immediately headed towards the check out. He really shouldn’t be out in public like this.
He glanced back just once more at the alpha’s cart and noticed there was one thing in the cart that wasn’t vegetables. Atop the mounds of veggies was a singular box of Cocoa Puffs.
Louis began dumping out all the vegetables he’d bought onto the kitchen counters. He had indeed googled Kunekune pigs and what to feed them, but maybe he ought to check with Zayn just to be sure. He didn’t want to poison Gareth on day one of owning him.
He got out a few large tote bags and deposited all the vegetables in them and headed over to the farmhouse. Since his hands were full, he kicked the door a few times, hoping it sounded like knocking.
Zayn swung the door open. “Bro, were you just kicking my door?”
“No.”
“Why do you lie when you know I’ll know?”
Louis shrugged. “I need you to check over the veg and make sure I don’t poison Gareth. Well, there’s some fruit in there, too.”
Zayn came outside to inspect the food. “It’s fine. Pigs eat everything. Not that they should. But you can’t really go wrong with fruit and veggies.”
“Glad to hear the internet didn’t lie to me about what to feed him then.”
“What else did the internet say?”
“It also suggested seeds and grass and nuts and popcorn.”
“Yeah, that’s all good,” Zayn said, nodding along to the suggestions.
“Oh, and beer! I definitely wanted to get your take on that before I accidentally got Gareth drunk or something.”
Zayn snorted. “Yeah, he can have a beer once in a while. Just don’t have him drink a six pack, and he’ll be fine.”
“Moderation. Got it. Maybe just on special occasions or something.”
“What special occasions do pigs have? Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.” Zayn went back in the house.
Louis grabbed up the bags and headed out to Gareth’s pen. It was quite nice really. A lot of grass in there already, so it didn’t look like he’d need to go searching any out for him.
Gareth immediately bolted over to him, rubbing his cute snout on his leg. “Aw, you’re sweet, aren’t you? Or maybe it’s just because you know I’ve got your food.”
He squatted down next to Gareth and pulled out a head of cabbage that had been on sale. Gareth immediately grabbed it right out of his hands and started chowing down. He must be really hungry.
Louis tried to pull the food out faster and faster, but Gareth was getting pretty impatient with him. So he just dumped one of the bags out onto the ground. Gareth let out a funny little squeal.
“Oh, wait. The bananas. Let me peel those for you.” Louis grabbed the bunch of bananas to start peeling them, but Gareth snatched them right back and started eating them, peel and all.
“Damn. Okay then.”
Louis stood back up. Gareth gave a little grunt and pushed his snout against Louis’ leg again, leaving a smear of banana on his leg and sock. He bent down and scratched behind Gareth’s ear where there was a small patch of white hair mixed in with the auburn. Gareth seemed to appreciate the scratches, but then went back to eating some squash.
He went back to Zayn’s guest house and opened up the box of Cocoa Pops for dinner. His mind strayed for a moment back to the grocery store and the very cute omega he’d seen there as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Harry had gotten by on the few things he’d picked up at the grocery store after his heat, but now he really needed to do a bigger shop.
He’d picked up a bag of oranges and began checking the ripeness of the avocados when an unmistakable scent hit his nose. He whipped around and there he was, the gorgeous alpha he’d seen the last time he’d been here.
There was something so compelling about him that Harry could hardly look away. He was incredibly hot, obviously. But he also just seemed so at ease, filling his cart with vegetables and fruits.
This alpha must be an incredible cook. Maybe he was a chef. Harry didn’t have the first clue what to do with jicama or kohlrabi. He took his cart directly past the alpha’s cart to try and get a better look at what else was in the cart, but he lost his nerve at the last second and instead pretended to be undecided on what kind of apples to buy.
A cart bumped into his cart with a loud clang. Harry let out a little yelp of surprise.
“Sorry.” The raspy voice sent a shiver down Harry’s spine.
Harry gulped, looking up into the glorious, sculpted face of the vegetable alpha. He was even more incredible looking up close like this. Harry’s mind went fuzzy as this alpha’s delectable smell wafted over him. “What?”
The alpha smiled. “I said, sorry. For bumping your cart.”
“Oh. Right. Um, it’s fine. I’m fine.” Harry tried to smile back, but he wasn’t sure he managed to.
The alpha nodded and kept his cart moving, but he did glance back at Harry. Harry quickly looked down as though the alpha wouldn’t know he’d been staring after him, and when he did, he noticed that the alpha also had a jar of popcorn kernels and a box of chocolate doughnuts in his cart.
The items were jarring in a cart full of fruits and vegetables. But Harry supposed if he was going to eat that many vegetables, it was hardly bad to have a doughnut as a treat.
When Louis got home from grocery shopping, he headed right into his kitchen where his brand new popcorn popper sat on the counter. He’d never made popcorn like this before, but he figured he couldn’t make microwave popcorn for Gareth.
The Facebook group for Kunekune pig owners hadn’t specifically said not to feed them microwave popcorn, but everyone had shown off their popcorn poppers on a thread of photos. He figured that meant no to microwave popcorn.
He wasn’t entirely sure how many popcorn kernels to put in. Was he supposed to just dump the whole jar in?
The popcorn started popping away, and it was actually kind of fun to pop popcorn like this. Louis had a huge, stainless steel bowl beneath the popper that surely would hold all of it.
It didn’t.
Louis darted around the kitchen looking for a second large bowl and found a cake pan to use for the moment.
“Shit.” More and more popcorn popped out of the maker, filling the pan up quickly enough that it was creating a huge pile. Louis scrambled around looking for more containers.
An enormous soup pot was what he found next. And then a mixing bowl, his four cereal bowls, and the tea kettle.
The popcorn finally seemed to have stopped popping. “Fuck’s sake. Shouldn’t have used the whole jar, I guess.”
He ended up using grocery bags to carry half the popcorn out to Gareth’s pen. “What the fuck happened to you?”
Gareth, who was covered in pink and purple splotches of color, ran over to see what Louis had in his bags, pushing his snout into one until Louis dumped them out onto the ground for him. He seemed to quite enjoy popcorn.
Louis scanned Gareth’s pen and found the gate pushed open. “How did you manage this?”
A few hoof tracks showed the direction Gareth had been headed. Louis firmly closed the gate and headed off to see what Gareth had gotten into. Zayn’s half demolished berry bushes gave it away. Zayn was going to be pissed.
Louis frowned and headed back to his pig. “Did you have to lay around in them? Don’t leave evidence behind! I thought pigs were supposed to be smart.”
He headed back inside to grab a bag of weird ass produce he’d found on sale. “Can’t pronounce half of this stuff, Gareth. But I bet you won’t care either way.”
Louis dumped out the bag and gave his stained pig a pat.
He’d just sat down on the couch to watch baseball with his box of doughnuts when there was a knock at his door. Louis opened the door to his best friend holding a few containers of what looked to be food of some sort.
“Why is your pig purple?”
Louis tried to look innocent. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do. He’s over there eating popcorn. Unless Gareth suddenly grew opposable thumbs, you made and fed him some popcorn.”
“Ohhhh, you meant Gareth.”
Zayn gave him a withering glare in response.
“Mmm. Well, I’m not precisely sure. Maybe some Girl Scouts came over and tie dyed him.”
“You’d think that as a writer, you’d be a better liar. But I guess I could give you credit for originality.”
“My editor does say I’m quite original.”
“Speaking of your editor, did you write much today?”
“Some. But I had a bit of a mishap with the popcorn so—”
Zayn sighed and handed Louis the glass containers in his hands. “Here, I made roti and kebabs. I’m afraid to even ask what you were going to eat for dinner.”
“I bought doughnuts at the store today.”
Zayn shook his head and turned to walk back towards the farmhouse. Louis scurried back to the couch with Zayn’s leftovers, but he kept the doughnuts out for dessert.
He smiled a little to himself, thinking of the pretty omega he’d run into with his cart that smelled a bit like the chocolate doughnuts next to him.
When Harry needed to make another grocery store run, he told himself it was just convenient to go on the exact day and time that he’d first seen the handsome vegetable alpha. And since that was a complete lie, he told himself if he was going to be some kind of grocery store stalker, he would at least try to strike up a conversation.
He accidentally spent a little too much time on his hair, so when he walked into the store, the alpha’s cart was nearly full to the brim. There was of course the usual enormous assortment of fruits and vegetables, but there was also a six pack of beer along with a large bag of mixed nuts and a package of Cosmic Brownies.
Harry’s heart rate sped up. He needed to say something quickly before this alpha walked up to the checkout lines. Readying himself, he parked the cart directly in the alpha’s way as he pretended to study the prices on yellow peppers.
He heard the grating roll of the alpha’s grocery cart just before it stopped at Harry’s obstacle. Harry looked up in pretend innocence. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Harry moved his cart a bit closer to himself and threw the alpha a deep grin, which he knew would make his dimples pop. The alpha’s eyes grew wide, and Harry knew he'd hit his mark.
The alpha blinked a few times. “Huh?”
“I said I was sorry for being in your way.” Harry gave him another bright smile, but continued on. “You know, you have me really curious. That’s a lot of fruit and veggies. You must be an amazing cook to know what to do with all that!”
“Oh.” The alpha looked down at his cart. “No, really, I’m not.”
“You don’t have to be humble. I wouldn’t know what to do with all that. I’d need a recipe for sure.”
“Well, I do have a recipe. It’s very simple. Ingredients: vegetables and fruits, any kinds. Step one: Throw it on the ground. There are no more steps.”
It was Harry’s turn to blink. “Er, what?”
The alpha threw his head back with a barking trill of laughter. “The veg and fruits aren’t for me. They’re for my pig, Gareth. He also eats nuts and popcorn and seeds. So far he really likes the popcorn, so we’re trying nuts today. And it’s also his birthday according to his former owner, so he gets to have a beer.”
Harry didn’t know what to say to any of this information. “Your pig drinks beer?”
The alpha snorted. “Yeah, who knew, right? I’m just gonna give him one, so don’t worry. The brownies are for me though. Probably eat them for dinner.”
Harry’s confusion turned to horror. This gorgeous alpha was going to eat Little Debbie brownies for dinner? “You can’t just have Cosmic Brownies for dinner!”
“Afraid I can. I’ve been really into chocolate lately.”
Harry couldn’t help the rise of color in his face. His own scent was a chocolatey cocoa smell. Surely, this alpha didn’t mean anything by it.
“I could cook you something and bring it over,” Harry blurted out before slapping a hand to his mouth. “Oh my god, I’m being so forward. You could have a mate at home. I’m so sorry. Never mind.”
He turned away from the gorgeous alpha, his face burning in embarrassment.
“Well, I clearly don’t have a mate, or I wouldn’t be eating a box of brownies for dinner.” That was probably a fair point. “But if the offer still stands, I’ll take you up on it. I mean, you wouldn’t want me to just go home and eat brownies by myself, would you—”
“Harry.”
“Louis. Nice to finally meet you. I’ve seen you around here, but I didn’t want to bother you. Pretty omega like you probably gets bothered quite a bit.” Louis’ eyes crinkled in the corners.
Harry’s blush stained cheeks would likely never recover.
Louis was practically skipping as he headed to Gareth’s pen to feed him. He showered Gareth in mixed nuts and some mixed salad blends that had been on sale. Gareth snorted and hopped around, seemingly catching on to Louis’ good mood.
“Are you doing a little dance? You’re the best, G!” Louis did a little celebration dance with him, throwing his arms in the air and grinning from ear to ear. He had a date! With a beautiful omega! Who was going to cook him dinner! Life couldn’t get better really.
“Do I even want to know?”
Zayn’s voice startled him so much he knocked into Gareth, and his legs went right out from under him. “Scared the fuck out of me!”
Zayn shrugged.
Louis stood up, brushing off the grass. “Gareth and I were celebrating.”
“Sorry I interrupted then.”
“I have a date tonight.”
Zayn’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh? Now this I want to hear about.”
“Haven’t mentioned him before because…didn’t really think there was anything to mention. Just seen him at the grocery store the last few times I’ve gone. He’s so pretty, bro. Dark curly hair and gorgeous green eyes and the cutest dimples.”
“Wow, he sounds exactly your type. Let me guess…long legs?”
“Shut up.”
“Smells like candy?”
“Fuck off.”
“Is he a teacher?
“Don’t know yet,” Louis mumbled.
Zayn doubled over, laughing for a moment. “Just teasing you, Tommo. It really sounds like you have a date with your dream omega though. So I’m happy for you.”
Louis bit his lip. Harry really was his dream omega in looks. Hopefully, their personalities meshed as well as their biology seemed to. “Thanks. And it’s chocolate. He smells like chocolate. Fucking makes my mouth water.”
“Alphas,” Zayn muttered with a shake of his head. “Well, hope you and Gareth make a good impression then. How did you end up meeting him?”
“He’s so damn pretty that I never would have approached him. Would have assumed he had a mate, honestly. But he was impressed by all the fruits and veggies I was buying. Thought I was a chef or something.”
Zayn was back to laughing. “And then you had to tell him it was for a pig?”
“Yeah,” Louis laughed. “When I told him I was gonna eat Cosmic Brownies for dinner, he took pity on me and said he’d cook me dinner.”
“Wow, he’s one smooth omega.”
“Or he was just that horrified by my nutrition.”
“Nah.” Zayn fist bumped him. “He wanted a piece of Tommo for dinner.”
“That just sounds wrong.”
Zayn shrugged. “You’re the writer. Not me. Speaking of, please tell me you wrote something today. That’s the whole point of you being here. Get away from everything and live a peaceful life writing your novel.”
“You sound like my agent,” Louis snorted. “It’s fine. I finished a chapter and sent it off today. Feeling inspired, I guess.”
“It’s nice seeing you excited about something again.”
“Don’t get mushy on me now. I’ll stop by later to do a full rundown of the date. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to give Gareth a nice brushing so he looks his best.”
Louis pulled a red pig brush out of the bag, and Gareth immediately ran over to get brushed, squealing a bit in delight.
Zayn smiled. “I’m glad I let you keep the pig.”
Harry had applied an embarrassing amount of scent blockers, and his roommate’s alpha said he could still smell chocolate pouring from his scent glands. He wished he’d baked a chocolate pie or something to help explain why he was about to burst into Louis’ home smelling like this, instead of the actual reason, which was of course that he wanted to climb directly into Louis’ lap.
He needed to stop thinking about Louis’ lap immediately as he was currently standing at Louis’ front door with two tote bags full of food. Taking one more deep breath to calm himself, he knocked on the door.
Did he knock hard enough? Should he knock again? He didn’t want Louis to think he was pounding on his door though. Not very omega-ish to do that. How many seconds had it been? Ten? Twenty? Sixty? He should knock again.
He raised his arm up just as the door swung open. His arm froze in an odd upright position as he stared at Louis. Harry had only ever seen him in the grocery store wearing sweatpants or soccer shorts. That had been a sight unto itself.
But he’d never seen him like this. He was wearing fitted black jeans and a white collared shirt that had some kind of texture to it. Harry wanted to rub his face all over it.
Louis had clearly put in some effort into the way he looked. He’d shaved his face and styled his hair. And while he looked gorgeous and quite a bit younger than Harry had initially assumed him to be, he’d spent the last week fantasizing about running his fingers through his hair and the way Louis’ scruff would feel on his inner thighs.
He needed to stop thinking about Louis between his thighs.
“Harry, wow. You look absolutely beautiful.” Louis’ eyes were wide, and Harry was now glad he’d taken the time to finger style his curls. Louis cleared his throat and stood aside, ushering him into his house.
“Thanks.” Harry’s omega preened at the compliment. “You look quite nice yourself.”
Louis just smiled. “Whatever you made smells delicious, Harry.”
Harry crossed his fingers that Louis smelled the lasagna he’d made and not his wildly out of control pheromones. “It’s a lasagna with a white sauce.”
“Sounds amazing. I’m pretty hopeless in the kitchen, I’m afraid,” Louis admitted. “Really good with pig recipes though.”
Harry honked out a laugh that he tried to stifle, though Louis looked very pleased with the laugh he’d gotten from his joke. “There were a few more steps with this recipe, but I could probably teach you if you actually wanted to learn.”
“I don’t know if you realize what you’d be signing on for, so I won’t hold you to that. I’m a bit of a disaster most times. Luckily, Gareth eats everything whole. Not great with peeling and cutting and all that.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” Harry felt his cheeks heating up. Maybe he should get to know this alpha first before committing to endless cooking lessons.
“You’re awfully sweet, Harry.” Louis’ face softened with what looked like a bit of fondness. “Tell you what. If you have a nice time with me tonight, you can offer again.”
Harry nodded.
“Let’s get everything set up in here,” Louis said, leading him into the kitchen. It was small but serviceable. “I don’t know if it’s obvious, but this is a guest house. This is my best friend’s farm we’re on right now. He’s also Gareth’s former owner. I’m just staying here to write until I get around to finding my own place.”
Harry blinked a few times. “I have so many questions.”
Louis grinned. “I’ve been told I’m quite original.”
He began helping Harry empty the bags onto the counter. The lasagna had stayed nice and warm in his insulated bag, so that was a relief. Louis was less thrilled about the salad he’d brought.
“Looks like something I’d feed Gareth.”
“Pigs aren’t the only ones who need vegetables, Louis.”
“That was a teacher's voice if I’ve ever heard one. Harry, don’t tell me you’re a teacher?”
Harry shrugged, grinning back at Louis that he’d guessed correctly. “Maybe so.”
“My best friend is never going to let me live this down.”
“Why’s that?”
“When I described you, he said you were my dream omega. And now you’ve just added to the list. I went to university to be a teacher, but I ended up following a different path. It’s something that’s close to my heart though. I do a lot of school visits now.”
He was Louis’ dream omega? He might actually melt into a puddle right at Louis’ feet. He had no idea how to respond though. He couldn’t very well tell him the truth. Oh, Louis, when I think about you, I get so slick that I smell and feel like a Molten Lava Cake.
“What exactly do you write?” He asked instead. This alpha really was the most interesting person he’d ever met.
“I write young adult novels.”
“Louis, don’t tell me your last name is Tomlinson?”
Louis shrugged. “It is. I guess you’ve heard of my books then?”
“Oh my god, Louis. My niece is going to freak out. She’s read all your books, and I started reading them along with her just as a way to connect with her.”
“Oh, really? Well, I’ll write her a note or something before you leave.”
“Would you?” Harry gasped. “I’ll be uncle of the year if you did that!”
“I mean, I’d do it anyway, but it doesn’t hurt that her uncle is my dream omega.”
Harry bit his lip. “Well, let’s eat and you can see if my cooking lives up to your dreams.”
This was the absolute best date Louis had ever had in his life. It wasn’t even close to any other he’d ever been on. Harry was kind and funny and smart and just…lovely. It didn’t hurt that he was fantastically beautiful, but his charm did not rely on how gorgeous he was.
“You said it was Gareth’s birthday, right? Should we bring him his birthday beer?”
Louis felt his heart melt a bit. “You want to meet my pig?”
“Of course! He’s the whole reason I noticed you, after all,” Harry said, his voice teasing.
“True,” Louis nodded along. “Without Gareth, my cart would have been doughnuts and Cosmic Brownies and Cocoa Puffs. You wouldn’t have looked at me twice.”
Harry pretended to consider this. “Mm. Maybe I would have. Would have thought that poor alpha has no idea how to cook. And I would have been right.”
“Well, that’s also true, I’m afraid. Maybe you would have taken pity on me after seeing me with a cart load of chocolate.” He probably shouldn’t have implied his love for chocolate when Harry smelled like an incredibly delicious treat that he wanted to gorge himself on.
Harry’s cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink. “Chocolate is yummy. Though I’m more of a vanilla lover myself.”
Louis’ eyebrows shot up, suddenly remembering his own scent. “Is that right?”
“Mhm. So um, the beer?”
“Right. Let’s grab a few, and we’ll toast to Gareth.”
They walked out to the penned in area nearby, Gareth trotting out to meet them at the gate.
“Oh my god, that is the cutest pig I’ve ever seen!” Harry’s eyes were wide, his hands pressed to his own cheeks in astonishment. “I didn’t know pigs could have long coats like this! He’s amazing!”
“He’s a Kunekune pig. They’re the ones with long hair like this. I didn’t know about them either until I came here.” Louis felt the most ridiculous sense of pride that Gareth was so cute, and a rush of affection for both Gareth and Harry washed over him.
Was it too soon to ask Harry to be his mate?
Louis opened the gate, letting them into Gareth’s pen, and Harry immediately began petting him as though Gareth was an enormous dog. Gareth didn’t seem to mind. He pressed his snout to Harry’s hand and encouraged the little head scratches.
Harry sat sprawled on the grass now, petting Gareth. “He looks like you!”
“Um, what?”
“He has white hair behind his ears.” Harry grinned. “Just like the silver at your temples.”
“Oh.” Louis hadn’t ever noticed he matched his own pig. That was embarrassing. “I think I might be insulted that you think I look like a pig.”
Harry honked out another laugh. “You know what they say about pet owners looking like their pets. And I did say he was the cutest pig I’d ever seen.”
“I guess I’m only slightly insulted then.”
Louis sat down beside them, breaking out the celebratory beers and pouring some into a bowl for Gareth. He seemed to enjoy the beer, slopping it up. Louis glanced over at Harry to see what he thought about Gareth’s piggish drinking habits, but Harry just gave him a pat and took a sip of his own beer.
Harry was better than any dream omega he ever imagined, and Louis had never felt luckier in his life to be sitting in the grass with his pig drinking beer. Moving back to his hometown to write had truly brought him everything he ever could have wanted.
“I’m really glad you asked about the vegetables in my cart, Harry.”
Harry glanced up at him from beneath his eyelashes, looking a bit shy. “I’d been watching you for a while before I got up the courage to say something.”
“Is that so, omega?” He knew he probably had the smuggest look on his face, but he honestly couldn’t control it.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Oh my god, you don’t have to be so smug about it.”
“There’s only one way to wipe this look off my face.” Louis leaned in, and Harry lifted his face to him. Harry’s pretty pink lips were as plush as he’d been dreaming.
He pulled back, not wanting to pressure Harry for anything more than a soft, first kiss. But Harry leaned in further, tilting his head and brushing his lips against Louis’ again.
Louis’ heart pounded as a glorious cocoa scent enveloped him. His hand moved of its own accord, gently pressing against the back of his omega’s neck and caressing the soft curls he found there. Harry melted into him, but the last thing Louis wanted was to push his omega on their first date.
He pulled Harry into an embrace, his lips touching his omega’s forehead. They sat in quiet bliss with only the sounds of Zayn’s farm and Gareth’s rooting in the dirt around them.
Harry finally broke the silence. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Why did you name him Gareth?”
Louis’ head tilted back with a laugh. “I’m afraid it was just the first name that came to mind when I was trying to convince my best friend not to sell him.”
Harry giggled. “I was thinking if I named a pig, I’d be more creative.”
“Oh, really? Gareth’s not creative enough for you?”
“Well, it does suit him. But I was thinking something like…Ham Solo or Snoop Hogg.”
“Oh my god, no.”
Harry grinned. “Peter Porker. Pigcasso. Piggy Smalls.”
Louis laid back in the grass, laughing. Harry laid out beside him, snuggling into his side. Louis wrapped his arm around him.
“You can name our next pig.”