Work Text:
It starts on a Friday evening.
Actually, it started on the first day of university when fresh-faced Louis Tomlinson stumbled into a wide-eyed boy with dark curls falling into his face. Louis apologized profusely, helping him onto his feet and straightening out his backpack. The boy was clearly younger, green eyes shining curiously and a shy smile on his lips. It was probably his first day at university in a strange city living alone for the first time of his life. A sweet, floral scent flooded Louis’ senses when the boy shook his hand and introduced himself as Harry Styles.
That day, Harry found his best friend and Louis fell in love for the first time in his life.
Ever since, Harry and Louis have been inseparable, trading jackets and sharing jokes no one understands but them. Along the years they found a close-knit group of friends. Niall, the loud Irish alpha, stumbling into their lives as exchange student before relocating to England permanently. Zayn, the calm omega, offering them weed on a house party and along with him comes Liam, the polite beta, who always looks out for all of them. Still, the special bond between Louis and Harry remains and Louis' feelings for the omega only grow.
That's how Louis finds himself with a grumpy omega lying on his couch two years later. Usually, Harry is in a better mood during their film nights.
It always goes like this: Harry gets groceries and lets himself into Louis' flat. He starts cooking dinner while Louis comes home from footie practice and showers. Louis had been banned from helping the omega in the kitchen since the cooking accident at the beginning of their friendship for which the alpha is still catching strays in their friend group. He learned how to cook by now. Thank you very much. Then, they settle on the couch to watch whatever they are in a mood for and enjoy Harry's cooking while discussing their weeks.
Today, Louis comes home to an empty flat, no trace of the omega nor his delicious cooking, and the alpha already knows Harry is having a bad day at work. Louis hears the door of his flat crack open as he is flipping through the tv channels one our hour later.
Harry arrives with complaints about an exhausting day at work and being over-worked with uni assignments he needs to hand in next week. Louis just pulls his best friend to the couch and lets the omega settle in his arms. Harry goes willingly and nuzzles into his chest with a sigh.
“Thank you, Lou.”
Louis wraps left hand around the omega, slowly drawing circles on his back, and unlocks his phone with his right hand.
“I'm gonna order take-away. What do you want?”
“Pizza.” Comes Harry`s muffled answer immediately.
“Okay, pup.” Louis laughs and places the order. Harry sighs contently, his sour scent slowly turning sweet and his breaths evening out. Louis turns on a recap of a football game on low volume, but his attention is on the sleeping omega in his arms. Harry's face is pressed into his chest, his soft curls falling into his face and the blue light from the tv illuminating his peaceful expression. His friend has done a lot of growing up, going from the wide-eyed 18-year-old he stumbled into to the confident omega he is now. He is so pretty, asleep in Louis' arms, looking like he belongs. But the omega will never be his.
Their food arrives forty minutes later, and Louis slowly untangles himself from the Harry's grip. The omega whines and buries himself into the couch. When Louis comes back with their food, Harry is up, rubbing his eyes and pushing his dishevelled curls out of his face.
“You up, sleepy head?” Louis teases him, setting the pizza boxes onto the table.
Harry groans. “Work was hell today. We're still under-staffed, can you believe it? Even though we already asked for more help a month ago. It took us ages to do the close-up.”
“Oh, pup. Maybe pizza helps.” Louis is handing him the box as he says it. Harry flips it open and his face lights up. “Oh, you ordered my favourite type.”
“Of course. Who do you take me for?”
“You're the best.” Harry tells me him earnestly and takes a big bite from his piece.
Louis settles onto the couch, taking his pizza box and grabbing the remote to turn off the football game. They started watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy after Louis found out – with much exasperation - that Harry has never watched it. He clicks play on Return of the King and Louis smiles as the familiar music plays. Louis keeps looking over to catch Harry's reactions to his favourite scenes. The omega is watching with an entranced expression but doesn’t stop fidgeting throughout the first half of the movie.
“Everything okay?”
“My back doesn’t stop hurting.” Harry complains with a pained expression. “You know how bad it gets.” Oh yes, Louis knows, so he offers getting more pillows from his bedroom.
“That would be awesome.”
Louis nods and pauses the movie. He grabs two pillows from his bed and hands them to Harry. The omega accepts them with a brilliant smile and settles down with a content sigh.
Louis tries to pay attention to the second half of the film; usually the eagles collecting Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom has him tearing up, but his mind keeps drifting off to the pretty omega sitting next to him. Oh, how he wishes he was brave enough to make the omega his. He wants to whisper I love you when the omega is asleep in his arms. He wants to kiss his breath away when he spots Harry running towards him in a crowd. He wants to gather him in his arms and never let him go… but he never dares.
Their friends and families often tease them about their unusual closeness, uncommon between alpha and omega, but Harry always shrugs and tells them having an alpha as his best friend is enough for him.
Harry's sweet scent cloys the air in the room, dizzying his senses. It’s not fair that his best friend smells like absolute heaven to his alpha, but he won’t act on his instincts. He is not some impulsive knot head like other alphas.
When Harry bids him good night with a hug and kiss on the cheek, Louis realizes there is no way he can take the pillows back to his bed with Harry's scent all over them. So, on the couch they stay.
A week later, there is a drunk, giggly omega in his living room driving him crazy with his scent. Once again.
Not only Harry but the rest of their friends are here too. Board game night at Louis', everyone decided without asking him first and showing up at his door with alcohol, weed and food. Well, Louis never says no to such an unexpected but welcome surprise.
Now, their cards and snacks are sitting long abandoned on the table; Liam and Niall are smoking weed on the balcony and Harry is whispering and giggling into his ear. Zayn is rolling his joint on the table, watching them with a curious gaze. Louis pointedly ignores him.
Harry nuzzling his head into his shoulder requires more of his attention anyway. Their proximity has been starting to effect Louis in more than one way. The sweet, floral scent in the air feels more like a drug than any alcohol he drank tonight.
“Louuu,” the omega whines, his voice muffled against his shirt, but Louis can still make out what he drunkenly mumbles next. “You smell so good.”
The world stops spinning for a second and Louis'breath hitches. You smell so good.
Louis never had a problem with his scent; some people tell him it’s a tad too sweet for an alpha, but he never cared and apparently his best friend thinks he smells good. His alpha is delighted at his omega complimenting his scent. No, not his, his alcohol-meddled brain reminds him.
Harry is clearly a more than a little bit drunk.
So, Louis, the good friend he is, carefully takes the drink from Harry's hands and sets it onto the table.
“I think you had enough.” He tells him gently.
The omega doesn’t protest. His green eyes widen, and his lips are stained red from the wine.
“Don’t wanna upset you, alpha.” He says in sad voice.
Louis chokes on air. Alpha.
His thoughts are running wild. His alpha yelling at him to soothe his omega, claiming him right here by scenting him. Only Zayn's obnoxious laughter snaps Louis out of it.
“You didn’t upset me, darling. Why don’t you sit down on the couch for a second.” Louis tries to sound collected, not affected by the omega, but he doesn’t think he is convincing.
Harry goes willing and sinks into the pillows. Louis gives Zayn, who is still gasping for air, an annoyed look.
“You're not helping, mate.”
Louis didn’t have too much to drink, but the alcohol still makes it difficult to think clearly. Or maybe it’s only Harry's scent.
“You're blushing.” Zayn teases him. Louis is about to tell him to fuck off when he hears Harry whine, “I'm so hot.”
Well, Louis can’t argue with that statement and watches helplessly as Harry pulls his hoodie over his head. He's wearing a loose, black shirt underneath that reveals the white, creamy skin of his lower belly and his laurel tattoo is peeking out. Louis has to force his gaze away and clears his throat. Harry pulls him down onto the couch.
Meanwhile, Zayn still laughing at his misery. Very helpful.
“Can you at least make yourself useful and get Liam?” Louis asks him and Zayn's laughter dies and gets up with a nod. Liam and Harry share a flat about twenty minutes away from here.
“I feel so dizzy.”
“Oh, pup. You'll be home soon.” Louis tells him in a gentle voice. The alpha hears his friends enter from the balcony. Niall laughs when he catches a look at Harry cuddled up on the couch.
“He is such a lightweight.”
“Don’t I know it.” Louis sighs. “Liam, can you take him home?”
“Sure, 's not the first time I have to get his drunken ass home.”
Slowly, Louis tells Harry that Liam will get him home and the omega readily follows Louis to the door. Together, Harry leaning on him for support, they get his shoes and jacket on. He seems to feel better at this point.
“Lou, I'm so tired.” His green eyes are the death of him, Louis is sure.
“I know, darling. You will be home soon.” Louis reassures him and Harry throws his arms around him, pressing his head into his neck. Louis stills before his arms come around and he hugs the omega back.
“Good night.” Harry murmurs and steps away to meet Liam waiting at the door.
“Night, mate.” Liam mutters as he puts an arm around Harry and carefully gets him down the stairs.
Niall bids him goodbye as well and Louis is left reeling, collecting his thoughts at the door for a few minutes before shutting it behind him. Zayn is smoking his joint on the balcony when Louis joins him. The nightly air is cool but not unpleasant on his skin.
“You're not subtle.”
“About what?”
“Your feelings for Harry.” Zayn turns to him and blows out smoke.
Louis is quiet for a moment, watching cars passing by on the street. He can’t lie to Zayn, the omega somehow always knowing when he is withholding the truth. He is spot on, anyway.
Louis sighs. “I'm not subtle to anyone but Harry.”
“Mate,” Zayn looks at him in disbelief, ”don’t tell me you convinced yourself that Harry doesn’t feel the same.”
“He doesn’t. He always says he doesn’t need an alpha.”
Zayn raises an eyebrow at that, his expression ranging somewhere between god you're so dumb and why am I friends with somebody like this.
“Well, his omega certainly thinks you're his alpha. He was throwing himself at you tonight.”
Louis sighs and decides not to answer instead he snatches the joint from his friend's hand and takes a drag. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing. Harry was drunk tonight and wasn’t making much sense.
Zayn shakes his head and takes the joint from him with a sigh.
“You're a hopeless case, Louis Tomlinson. Just let yourself be happy for once.”
“Your love life is not any better.” The alpha snorts in response.
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Oh, so you are dating someone?” Louis is intrigued. It’s always a pain to get Zayn talking about dating and relationships.
Zayn smiles sheepishly. “I might have gone on a few dates recently.”
“Now you're the one who's blushing.” Louis laughs and shoves him. “I'm happy for you.”
The alpha listens with a smile on his face as his friends is telling him about the dates, joint being passed around and the nightly sounds of cars and rustling leaves and their murmurs fill the silence.
Later, Zayn hands him the rest of the joint and bids him a good night. Louis takes a few drags and closes his eyes, letting the cool night air press against his skin and calm his senses. He had been in love with Harry since he stumbled into his life two years. Loving him felt like breathing and Louis doesn’t think he could ever willingly stop loving him. Maybe Zayn is right. It might be time to choose happiness for himself instead of making everyone else happy first.
Inside, he starts cleaning up the living room and discovers a green hoodie on his couch. Harry's hoodie. He thinks about throwing it to the laundry, but he catches a whiff of the delicious floral scent Harry has left behind and he just… puts it back. He will give to Harry when he sees him next.
Louis doesn’t give the hoodie back.
It stays on the couch, and he finds himself gravitating to it - often. It's just… Harry's scent smells heavenly to him. It relaxes him after a long day at university or work and soothes his alpha when presses his face into the fabric. He feels guilty for hogging Harry's clothes but he can’t stop.
Harry doesn’t say anything about missing clothes when they meet next. It’s a cold spring night out and Harry lends him his colourful woollen sweater when he catches the alpha shivering. Louis is thankful and vows to look at his weather app they next time they go out. The woollen sweater ends up on the couch, right next to the hoodie. Louis wants to give them back, really, but they still smell like Harry…. And he is weak. His alpha is weak, so they will stay with him until they don’t smell like the omega anymore or Harry notices that they`re missing.
Sooner than later, their next film night rolls around. Harry texted him earlier that he will work longer tonight and sent him a grocery list for the meal he wants to cook. So, Louis is out grocery shopping on a Friday evening which he usually tries to avoid. He hates nothing more than crowded supermarkets.
Louis just needs to find two more ingredients when something catches his eye. A fluffy blanket with pink and white stripes in the shopping cart of an old lady there. It’s perfect for Harry, his mind supplies. His alpha is yelling at him to get it.
The lady just laughs when he asks where she got the blanket from and points him to the end of the shop, muttering something about young love. Louis practically runs towards the end of the shop and finds the blankets in between stuffed animals and colourful pillows. The blanket is soft under his touch and his alpha is very satisfied with the discovery.
Louis is placing the blanket into his bag when he spots a small stuffed Snoopy. It's adorable and Harry will absolutely love it. In the end, he gets both and is in a great mood on his way home, not being able to keep a smile from his face.
Louis is unpacking the groceries when he hears the door open. He greets Harry with a hug and leads him to the living room instead of the kitchen. At Harry's confused face he says,
“I’ve got something for you.”
“Oh,” Harry sounds pleasantly surprised, his tired eyes sparkling. Louis clears his throat, feeling a little awkward about the presents. He gets the presents and hands them to the omega.
“I thought you might like them.”
Harry's face lights up as he examines his presents. “Look at him!” Harry holds up Snoopy with a delighted expression. “He's so cute.” The omega pulls him into a fierce hug with the words, “Thank you. They're perfect.”
“You can leave them here for when you stay over.” Louis tells him and gestures to the couch. Maybe he should have cleaned the living room before Harry came over. The couch is a mess of various blankets, clothes and pillows.
“That’s a lot of blankets and pillows.” Harry states with an amused smile.
“Yeah, I want it to be comfortable for you.”
“Oh,” Harry breathes, “Lou, this looks like – “
A knock on the door interrupts him.
“That must be Niall.”
“Niall?” Louis is confused. He isn’t aware that the alpha is coming over today.
“Yeah, we have to hand in our assignment tomorrow and I told him he can find me here, so I can hand him the flash drive with our file.” Harry explains as he rushes to the door.
Louis gets up slower, annoyance bubbling to the surface. Usually, he loves being around the loud, cheery alpha. Niall is always up for a good time, but right now his presence is bothering him. A lot.
Louis hears Niall’s loud voice booming from the door and moments later Harry leads him into the living room, telling a story and gesturing animatedly.
An ugly territorial feeling and the urge to protect his omega is welling up in him.
A growl rips from his throat before he can stop himself.
Harry freezes mid-talk and gapes at him with shock written all over his face. Niall stares at him in disbelief and holds up his hands in surrender. “Mate, are you okay?”
That’s when Louis realizes what he has done.
Harry recovers quickly and shoves Niall into the kitchen, giving Louis a look with his brows furrowed. And Louis is stuck standing in the middle of the room, his mind reeling.
Fuck. He just growled at one of his best friends, for no apparent reason. He usually prides himself with controlling his instincts and now he lost control and offended his friends in the process.
Louis is not in the right headspace to face his friend in the kitchen. It takes him a moment before he slowly sits down onto his couch. Dazed, he notices the careful arrangement of blankets, old clothes and pillows. He pulls a fluffy blanket close, and his own scent engulfs him immediately. He even scented the stuff he arranged on the couch, mixing his and Harry's scent in a space they share together.
He built a nest for his best friend.
Fuck.
He built a nest for his best friend on his fucking couch where they always end up cuddling during their film night. There is no platonic explanation for this.
Louis doesn’t know how much time has passed when he hears the front door close and Harry enter the room.
“Lou.” Harry says quietly and settles next to him on the couch.
Louis looks up and meets wide, green eyes. The first time he found those green eyes in a crowd of students almost two years ago flashes in his mind. His best friend. His brave, stubborn omega. He is so in love with him it hurts.
“I built a nest on the couch.”
Harry doesn’t seem surprised at his words, his eyes soften, and small smile plays on his lips.
“I was waiting for you to realize.”
Louis hides his burning face in his hands. “This is so embarrassing. I growled at Niall because I built a fucking nest in my living room.”
Harry pries his hands away. He is suddenly so close Louis can feel the warmth of his body.
“Lou, look at me. It’s not embarrassing. Alpha nesting is so endearing.”
When Louis opens his eyes again Harry is sitting next to him, his scent is filling up his senses and dimples popping. He looks so pretty it hurts.
“It’s a pretty nest.” Harry tells him earnestly. Louis' alpha preens at the word. His omega likes his nest. His heart feels like its bursting and he opens his mouth before he can overthink his next words.
“I built it for you.”
And the world stops.
Harry lets go of his hands.
“Louis.” Harry breathes, his eyes sparkling. And suddenly the omega is in his lap, his hands cradling his face. Louis' hands comes up to support Harry at his waist.
“This is the most romantic thing somebody has ever done for me.”
“Haz, I'm so in love with you.” Louis finally confesses, the weight of his secret relieved.
“Can I kiss you?”
“Yes, please.” Louis whispers in awe.
Harry beams at him and leans down, closing the distance between them. Soft lips capturing his mouth. Louis' grip around his waist tightens and he pulls the omega close, closer until he can feel the warmth of his body against his skin.
Harry hums and opens his mouth slightly. Louis immediately uses his chance to licks into his mouth. Then, pressing hot kisses against Harry's jaw, slowly trailing down to his neck. Harry throws his head back, giving him better access to the delicate skin. His scent is filling up his senses, turning sweeter with every second.
Louis finds the spot on his neck where the sweet, sweet scent is the strongest and buries his face into it, carefully licking and scenting Harry.
When Louis is satisfied that the omega smells like him, he captures Harry's red bitten mouth with his and keeps pressing kisses on his lips.
Harry laughs, a heavenly sound to his ears. “So, what now?”
“I will take you on a date and kiss you some more.”
“That sounds amazing.” Harry smiles at him, dimples are popping and pressing kisses to the alpha's mouth.
“I'm so in love with you. I can’t believe you built a nest for me without realizing.” The omega whispers against his mouth.
Louis laughs and shakes his head.
“I should apologize to Niall, the poor lad.”
“Later. I want to cuddle in our nest.”
“Our nest.” Louis replies giddily and presses another kiss to Harry's mouth, just because he can.
Slowly, they settle into the nest Louis built, their scents wrapping around them soothingly. His omega cuddles into his arms and sighs contently. Louis pulls their new blanket around them and hugs Harry closer. The omega goes slack in his arms and starts purring. Louis can’t imagine a prettier sound.
“Next time we`re nesting in one of our bedrooms, so you don’t have to growl at our friends.” Harry mumbles against his chest. Louis laughs and starts kissing his omega silly. This must be the happiness Zayn was talking about.