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“London! Thank you, good night!” Louis screamed into his microphone while he made his way up the stairs and into the backstage area, his band’s closing notes ringing in his ears.
There was a grin present on his face that not many things could wipe it off, if any. The atmosphere inside the arena was absolutely crazy all night giving him the energy to bounce back and give an amazing performance.
As soon as he made it behind the curtain at the side there were hands all over him: removing the mic-pack and his microphone from his hand, giving him a wet towel to wipe off the sweat from his face and finally handing him a cup full of water to quench his thirst. There were shouts of congratulations for such a good show coming from all sides of him, he just smiled into the water cup feeling proud of himself and how far he had come.
He never imagined when he was 18 years old and played covers in half-empty pubs or when he started posting covers and later original songs on YouTube when he was 22 that he would get to play in front of the sold-out crowd at the O2 arena 10 years later, especially not 2 nights in a row.
He got discovered at 25 after one of his covers went viral, finally achieving the dream of signing a record deal. After that, his career slowly took off with some ups and downs in between but he was finally where he wanted to be, in front of a crowd who screamed his own songs back to him, together creating a safe space for him as well as the fans.
When he drained the cup till the last drop, he excused himself from the crowd around him, promising to join later when the celebrations would take for successfully finishing night 2.
He just needed a few minutes to himself to take a breath, feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the excitement and strong scents around him. He might also jump into the shower and eat the snacks he had stashed in his backpack in his dressing room.
When he stepped inside his dressing room he leaned against the closed door, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly a wave of tiredness washed over him, wishing he could just go home instead of partying, but it is what it is.
Just as he was about to push himself off the door, a faint sweet scent caught his attention, that wasn’t usually present in his room. It was almost like a peach?
Louis quickly opened his eyes and scanned the room, his eyes stopping on the sofa on the far left side. There was a man, turned with his back towards Louis, and based on his slow rise and fall of his back he guessed he was sleeping. If he had to guess, it was probably an omega, based on the faint scent.
He pushed himself off the door and slowly made a couple steps closer to the omega. He was a bit weary because there was a stranger in his room, but the alpha in him made him want to protect the omega.
When he was halfway across the room, someone burst through the door, “H, I brought you some food!” Louis turned around to see that it was Olivia, his bass player and also one of his close friends. She had a sheepish look on her face. “Louis, hi!”
Before Louis could say anything a deep but quiet voice stopped him.
“Liv?”
Louis and Olivia both turned their faces towards the omega on the sofa.
Louis finally got a good look at the omega’s face. Despite the small frown, he was beautiful. He couldn’t take away his eyes from the green of his eyes and the way his chocolaty brown curls framed his face. He felt drawn to the omega and wished he could smooth the frown but held himself back, they were still strangers after all.
Olivia made her way towards the sofa and sat down next to the omega. She put down the food she was holding on the table to the right and lightly touched his arm. “How are you feeling, any better?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, I’m- I’m better, the headache’s gone,” the omega replied, his gaze flickering between Louis and Olivia, the frown still present on his face. If Louis had to guess the omega probably didn’t feel completely safe with a strange alpha present in the room.
“Good, that’s good,” Olivia sighed. “Then, I’d like you to meet someone. This is Louis,” she gestured towards Louis still standing in the middle of the room.
Louis didn’t know what to do, so he waved awkwardly and tried to give a small smile, “Hi.”
The omega smiled a small smile back, still a bit apprehensive.
“And Louis, this is Harry, my little brother,” Olivia said, gently moving her arm up and down Harry’s arm.
Harry. Now it clicked. Olivia mentioned him before a couple of times, most recently a couple of days ago when she told him Harry had just been released from the hospital, after being there for a few weeks due to touch deprivation. At that moment an overprotective urge washed over Louis, making him unintentionally release a bit of calming pheromones, which made Harry’s nose twitch. Louis felt heat rise to his cheeks.
“Anyways, I have to get ready for the party, will you come to the girls’ dressing room?” Olivia asked Harry, referring to the dressing room she shared with the other two members of the band who were also girls. It looked like the idea didn’t appeal to Harry, so Louis quickly spoke up.
“He can stay here, I don’t mind,” Louis offered.
Both siblings shot him a look. While Olivia was mostly hesitant, Harry looked almost grateful. Before Olivia objected Louis spoke again.
“I mean it. He can stay here, it’s just me anyway so plenty of space. Of course, if Harry wants to,” Louis looked at Harry.
“Yeah, that be great, thank you!” Harry smiled at Louis.
Olivia looked between them, “If you’re both sure,” she got two nods in confirmation, “Okay, then. I’m gonna go get ready,” she turned towards Harry, giving him a hug, “Call me if you need me, love you.”
Harry squeezed her back, “Love you too,” he mumbled.
The siblings released each other, and Olivia left the room. Suddenly they were alone.
“Louis, thank you for this, it means a lot to me,” Harry smiled at Louis, a slight blush creeping up the omega’s cheeks. He was absolutely adorable, Louis thought to himself. “And sorry ‘bout me crashing on your sofa. Liv said I could wait here in peace with no one bothering me and said you’d be okay with it.”
“Don’t apologise, I really don’t mind you being here,” Louis smiled at him, “I’m gonna go shower, please make yourself at home,” he gestured towards the table with plates of fruit and other snacks and bottles of different kinds of drinks, as he made his way towards the bathroom. When he closed the bathroom door behind himself, he thought to himself, I think I just got a crush on someone.
!!!
When Louis emerged from the bathroom, Harry was still on the sofa but this time he was sitting on one side with a blanket pooled around his lap and a bottle of water in his hands. He was wearing a band T-shirt, and seemed to be shivering a bit; that didn’t sit right with Louis.
“Do you want a hoodie, it’s a bit chilly here isn’t it?” Louis asked Harry.
“Yeah, actually, that would be really nice of you, thank you, Louis,” Harry smiled at him gratefully. Louis couldn’t help himself but to give him a hoodie he wore before the show. Harry smiled at him again when he handed it to him.
“You coming to the green room, to have drinks with us?” Louis made his way to the door.
“Yeah, coming,” Harry was right behind him, as they left the room Louis put a hand on Harry’s lower back.
xxx
Louis and Harry sat in Louis’ hotel room, their shoulders smushed together and their faces turned to the TV. They were on their tenth episode of Friends. They had barely moved in the four hours they had been at it. Louis didn’t even really know how they ended up here. He finished a show and didn’t really feel like partying with the others so Harry suggested a Friends marathon, and how could Louis ever deny Harry anything? It wasn’t even like this was the first time they decided to chill after the show just them either in Louis’ tour bus or in a hotel room on rare days where they stayed for more than one night in the city. In the last two months, since Harry had joined them on tour Louis seemed unable to be away from Harry. There was some kind of pull between them, and luckily for him, Harry didn’t mind it. It seemed like Harry craved Louis’ presence as much as Louis did his, which was presumptuous to think like that, but Harry was lately always found in one of Louis’ hoodies, usually snagging one immediately after Louis took it off, burying his face into the material when he puts it over his head, making Louis’ alpha happy that Harry seemingly likes his scent. And he hung with Louis in his dressing room while he had to get ready for shows. And they had cuddled, and Harry even asked to scent him.
Louis was just on the verge of falling asleep when he heard a knock on his hotel room door. He was confused since it was past 2 o’clock in the morning. Louis stood up and made his way to the door, rubbing his eyes while opening them. On the other side stood Harry in one of his hoodies, a frown etched onto his face.
“Harry? You okay? Do you need anything?” Worry immediately spread over Louis.
“Yeah, I-” Harry sighed and looked at the ground. “Lou, can you scent me? It’s just I’ve been feeling weird all day and I can’t fall asleep, and I don’t know what to do and your scent calms me down for some reason. Actually, it’s weird that I came here, I’m just gonna go,” Harry rambled, and Louis had to stop him.
“Harry, calm down,” Louis couldn’t help himself but release calming pheromones. “Come in, we can have a cuddle in my bed,” Louis opened the door wider to let Harry in.
Harry made his way to the bed, hesitantly sitting on the edge.
“Lie down, I’ll be right there with you,” Louis smiled at him, and went to the mini bar, taking out a bottle of water for Harry. He put it down on the bedside table and laid down next to the omega. Harry laid his head in the crook of Louis’ neck, and they fell asleep like that, cuddled together Louis scenting Harry.
A weight dropped on Louis’ shoulder disturbing him from his dream. He looked at Harry, who now had his head on Louis’ shoulder. Now is my chance, Louis thought to himself.
“Harry, can I ask you something?” Louis asked nervously.
“Sure, Lou. What’s up?” Harry lifted his head and smiled at him.
“I- I like you, Harry, would you go on a date with me?” Louis bit his lip.
A grin spread over Harry’s face, “I’d love to!”
“Okay, that’s great!” They both grinned at each other.
fin.