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Niall hesitates outside of the brightly lit cafe, looking longingly at the people inside laughing over their expensive cappuccinos and fresh baked goods. His nose is running again, the biting wind aggravating the cold that’s settled heavily in his chest like a - he laughs breathlessly to himself - pack of wolves, waiting for their prey.
“Excuse me,” someone behind him says sharply, sounding perhaps like this was not the first time they’d said it, and he startles, stepping out of the way.
“Sorry, sorry,” Niall mutters. “Uh, pardon .”
The woman sniffs, muttering something in indignant French as she click-clicks her way inside in her no doubt expensive shoes. Niall huddles in the lee of the building, wondering if he might be able to sneak in after someone and sit at their old table. Pretend he’s already bought something and maybe they’ll let him stay until closing. A couple days ago an older man had given Niall a couple loaves of bread they were about to throw out after he’d been there all day.
( he’d offered, in broken english, for niall to come home with him, his wife would get him something proper to eat and he could stay with him, had reached out a hand to pat niall’s arm and niall had startled back, vision going white at the corners. the man had looked at him and there was still pity there but - fear, too, and niall realised he was growling softly. the man had hurried back inside and locked up. )
Niall swallows. Maybe there’ll be half a muffin left on a table or something and he can eat that. The last of the bread was a long time ago, now. A couple leaves the cafe, hands swinging and eyes only for each other, and Niall darts in before the door can shut behind them, sliding in at their table before any of the staff can get to it. There’s half a croissant, still, and Niall forces himself to eat it slowly, licking the crumbs from his fingers as surreptitiously as he can. The place isn’t especially busy at the moment, and he’s right above a heating vent. He’s so cold, he’s always so cold lately, but the back of his seat is cushioned and warm from the vent. It’s not even irritating his bite as much as sitting usually does. Perhaps he can just - lean back, just for a minute. Keep his eyes open; not allowed to sleep, obviously.
( there wasn’t even a row, just kevin looking at him indifferently, not acknowledging the blood or odd angle of niall’s fingers, saying almost offhand - “don’t think you’re a good fit for this pack, mate, sorry,” and turning away to order the others to hurry up and finish packing.)
“Hey, mate,” a voice says, too close, too close, too close and Niall gasps away, flinching back hard and then barely biting back a yelp as his bad knee bangs into the table.
There’s a boy looking at him, sandy brown hair and worried eyebrows, and the hand not holding a cleaning rag is outstretched, almost touching Niall and - Niall pulls back farther, because he was wrong and this isn’t a boy, it’s a wolf, and it’s not a wolf, it’s an alpha , and he should’ve just stayed outside, stupid, stupid .
“Hey, sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” the alpha says, and Niall can’t get any farther away from him and closer to the wall but he does his best anyway. The alpha hesitates. “Look, I - you seem a bit cold, just wondered if I could get you something to drink or eat maybe, even.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” Niall manages. He wills his heart rate to settle, to stop beating faster than a new chick’s first flight. Perhaps the alpha doesn’t - know, maybe Niall can just edge around and get out before anything else happens.
“Right, yeah, just - y’look a bit pale, mate, is all. Maybe a piece of fruit or sommat?”
Niall holds himself very still. “I’m fine, thank you. Not hungry.”
The alpha’s gaze flicks down to the nearly licked clean plate in front of Niall and he raises an eyebrow. “Sure about that, lad?”
Niall ducks his head, slips the edge of a finger into his mouth. One of the alpha’s coworkers walks by, a tray of bread and soup on her hip, and Niall’s stomach growls despite his silent pleas for it to stay quiet. Any minute now, Niall thinks, maybe just a cuff ‘round the ear if he’s lucky or a blow to his traitorous stomach or a heavy slap to his lying mouth.
There’s a sudden movement and Niall flinches despite his resolution to keep still. It’s bad enough without the added punishment for trying to get away. But the alpha is just crouching in front of him, cleaning rag in both hands as he leans forward a little, eyes very blue and intent. He’s frowning even more now. “Let me - d’you like soup? Let me get you some soup, love, how does that sound?”
Niall wants to cry. This is even worse than what Kevin had done - that was just a punch or a kick and it was over, but offering him something he knows he’s not going to be allowed to have is like someone offering to make the six months disappear. There’s still the split second of hope before reality sets in to make everything worse. Viktor likes - liked , Niall reminds himself, viciously - playing these sorts of games. He won’t play though, not this time. He lifts his chin. “My alpha’s on his way,” he warns. Usually the threat of another alpha is enough to make one back off. If he’s lucky.
“Oh, sorry.” The alpha shifts like he’s going to stand and then stops, sniffing almost subtly. Niall freezes again, but the alpha just frowns again and stands up, finally backing away a couple steps. “Well - let me know if I can get you something, I guess.” He goes back to the kitchen, but not without looking back at Niall a couple times, his expression something Niall doesn’t quite recognise.
Niall sags back against the seat. He’ll stay just another couple minutes and then sneak out. That was - too close. But he’s no sooner made a move to get up than the alpha is back, a worn looking coat in one arm and a look on his face that’s almost - sheepish? “Don’t want to make your alpha angry or anything, but. You just look a bit cold, is all. Customer left this behind weeks ago; no one’ll miss it.”
And. Well. Niall is cold, still, despite the heating vents and the bit of food, and the coat is thickly lined. He hesitates. Maybe this is like the soup, and the alpha’s just offering it so he can take it away again and everyone’ll laugh at the stupid omega who thought he could have something without earning it. But. The alpha’s waiting patiently, and he hadn’t hit Niall earlier for lying. Maybe it’s - all right. If no one will miss it. He’s going to have to leave in a minute, and he’ll never see this alpha again, anyway. “No one will mind?” He asks, voice cracking a little.
The alpha shakes his head, firm. “Not a bit of it. You’d be surprised how many people leave their coats and jumpers and things behind and never come back for them. Me mum would’ve had my hide if I’d come back home without me coat and hat, I can tell you that. Made me go all the way back to the shop once for me scarf. I’d left it on the orange display of all places. Dunno why there and not even like, the sweets aisle or sommat, but I was a weird kid. Fit alright?” He asks, a little too casually, and Niall realises somewhere in the rambling he’d taken the coat and slipped it on. It is warm, wonderfully so; just a bit too big but in a comfy way that allows for layers underneath, and smelling slightly of food from being left so long in a cafe. Niall hunches in on himself, hoping the smell won’t start his stomach off again. “Yeah, it’s - thanks. S’good, yeah.”
“Good, good.” The alpha hesitates, then, a trifle awkward. “Look, are you sure - could I get you some tea, at least?”
There’s a jangle of sharp edged and shattered noise from the kitchen, a crash of glass breaking, and Niall presses backwards, fists punched in tight to his thighs. “It was just a glass, probably, just a - someone dropped a glass, it’s fine, it’s fine ,” he tells himself, angry. He can already feel his breathing speeding up, his body helpless against his mind telling him -
(there was a crash, right by niall’s ear this time, and he just stopped himself from flinching. it doesn’t help if you flinch. if you’re lucky he just won’t notice, but if you’re not you got one of his more inventive punishments, but he just leaned closer, the stench of cheap beer enough to make niall feel woozy, and hissed, “din’t have to take you in. ungrateful piece of shit. coulda left ya t’ starve in the woods where the last pack left ya. had the right idea, they did. everything you have is mine, so if i tell you to stay still -” )
Another crash and Niall pulls farther into himself, the presence of the other alpha barely registering at this point.
“...okay? ....hear me?”
(“you hear me, boy?” and niall just nodded, kept his eyes and head down, maybe he’d get away with it, maybe there wouldn’t be -)
“....off! nothin’ to see here, go gawk somewhere...”
(fingers gripping his neck and forcing his head up, bloodshot eyes on his and it was cold outside maybe but it was colder in here and niall tears himself away and runs )
“...safe, all right? you’re safe, I promise, everyone’s left, he’s not here, I promise, you’re safe, all good, you’re all right...”
Niall stirs, slow. He registers the voice first, and it’s soothing, a little rough around the edges, and then a feeling he’s not felt since before his mum sat him down and told him she and his dad were splitting up. Like what the voice is promising is actually true, and everything is going to be all right after all.
“There we go, there’s a lad.” There’s someone smiling at him, a slight boy with light brown hair and crinkled blue eyes, and Niall smiles back, tired but warm. “Feeling a bit better now?” the boy asks.
Niall nods, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m - sorry about that, I didn’t mean to -” He glances around, stiffening.
“Hey, easy, you’re all good, mate, we’re closed. Everyone’s gone but us, no worries.” The boy smiles at him again and Niall starts to return it before he freezes, remembering. He pulls back, berating himself for being so stupid , forgetting there was an alpha so close, idiot , he could have - Niall stops. He hadn’t, though. He’d been nice and stayed with Niall and Niall had felt safe and. That hasn’t happened in - a lifetime, feels like.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” The boy - the alpha, says, quiet but very firm. “I dunno what’s - what you’re thinking right now, but. Really not going to, I promise.” He pauses. “Your - your alpha didn’t come, um. Can I call someone for you, or - take you somewhere?”
Niall stares, uncomprehending. He's forgotten he said that, to warn Louis off. "Don't have one," he says finally, shrugs. He feels very tired, and he’s beginning to be cold again. Hungry too, now the panic is easing. "No one to call." He’s just. Too tired to dissemble any more.
The alpha looks upset, blue eyes going very hard and then abruptly soft as he looks at Niall. “Okay, then. All right. Let’s - get you something to eat, then.”
Niall lets his head fall back against the wall. "No money," he says, too exhausted to feel more than a twinge of shame in admitting it.
"I'll pay, I've got you covered," the alpha says, then, "Have you got somewhere to stay?"
Niall glances away, can't bring himself to answer that out loud. He doesn’t think ‘that one bridge down by the little river has a nice little crevice’ is a good answer, here.
“You could - come with me. If you wanted.” The boy sounds almost shy, and when Niall risks a look at him he’s twisting a finger round the cleaning rag still in his hand.
“Don’t need an alpha.” Niall says, hard and sure on this one thing at least.
“Didn’t say you did.” The boy - alpha. Alpha . looks surprised, almost. “Just - if you’re sleeping on the streets. I’ve got a place. It’s not much but it’s warmer than that, and I could look at whatever’s infected.” He stops. Goes on, not looking at Niall. “I can tell you’ve got a fever. ‘S not good for you, being out in the cold with that, is all.”
Niall’s hand goes automatically to cover his bite, protective. “I - I don’t.” But he is hungry. He’s so hungry, and he’s so tired of being cold and constantly damp, and. “I can take care of myself.” It sounds a little muzzy, like he’s underwater.
“I don’t doubt that, not if you’ve been this long on your own and never had an alpha,” the boy says, looking a bit impressed.
Niall looks away, eyes dropping. “‘ve had three,” he mumbles, and now - obviously this one’ll drop him, because if Niall’s been too much trouble for three alphas, there’s no way -
“Bastards,” the alpha says, low and rumbling, jerking Niall’s attention back to him.
Niall bites his lip, hard, says quietly, “Don’t even know your name.”
“Sorry, sorry, should’ve said ages ago. It’s Louis. Louis Tomlinson. What’s yours, then?”
“Niall.” Niall leaves it at that. He gave up being Niall Horan a long time ago.
“Good Irish name for a good Irish lad,” Louis nods, and Niall is pathetically grateful he doesn’t ask what an Irishman is doing in France. “Look, I’ve got to finish up in the back. Will you be alright waiting another couple minutes?”
Niall blinks, realises that his nails are still biting into his palms and uncurls them slowly, lowering his feet to the floor. "Yeah, I - shit , I'm so - I've kept you from work, I'm so sorry. Yeah, I'm fine."
Louis just smiles again. “Not a problem, they’re used to me being late ‘m afraid. Just a tic.”
There’s a jacket lying on the floor and Niall blinks at it, confused, before he remembers Louis gave it to him, ages ago it feels like. He thought he’d put it on, but he can’t - his memory’s shit, these days, so who knows, really. The cold has settled all the way into his bones, feels like, and he reaches for it, huddling into the warmth gratefully. It feels like no time at all before Louis is back in front of him, a muffin in one outstretched hand and a worn satchel slung over a thin shoulder. “Got a muffin for you for on the way and some soup for once we’re home.”
Niall looks from the muffin to Louis, hesitating. He desperately doesn’t want to offend Louis, and he’s almost. Almost sure this isn’t a trick, but. He still doesn’t know this alpha, and what if it is all just a big trick and there’s something wrong with the muffin, something -
Louis pulls it back, eyeing Niall carefully. He takes a very small bite out of one side and holds it out again. “There, see?” He says, so soft, “All good.”
Niall swallows hard and reaches out, slowly. He takes a bite, eyes fluttering nearly shut. It’s just so good , still a little warm and soft and fresh and the best thing he’s had in days. “Thanks,” he says, belated, flushing a little. Louis’ll know he’s just an ungrateful brat, now.
“Welcome,” Louis says, and then his hand is coming towards Niall again, too fast and this is it then, but a smack for being ungrateful is worth it for the food so Niall just barely flinches, braces himself for the blow, eyes shut.
But there’s nothing besides a small, choked cry that’s - not coming from Niall? He opens his eyes, slowly, and Louis has stepped back, and his eyes look damp. “I wasn’t - I was just going to help you up, I didn’t mean -”
Niall uncurls, slowly, feeling more like an idiot than ever. “Oh” is all he can manage. Then, because an apology is usually a safe bet, “Sorry.”
Louis looks at him, disbelief writ clear across it. “ You’re - shit. Niall, I’m sorry, I should have been more careful.” He pauses, one hand rising to push his fringe off his face. “Look, I’m - my car’s just out back, okay? Would you rather you go first or me?”
The choice is probably a trick question, but the idea of not having someone breathing down his neck is too lovely to resist. “You. Please.”
And Louis just nods, leads the way out the back of the shop and locking it behind himself as they go. He gestures proudly at a little battered Dacia. “Finest car in France, here.”
Niall looks at it in disbelief and Louis laughs, high and clear. “Alright, so it’s not exactly a Jag. Cheapest thing I could find and it still runs, at least. Grateful for it in weather like this.” He unlocks it, wrestling with the bent door for a second before throwing it open with an air of victory. “There we are! Half the seatwarmer still works ‘n everything.”
Smiling a little despite himself, Niall slides in and waits while Louis tries, unsuccessfully the first three times, to start the car. Louis smiles at him, triumphant. “There we are. Regular as a whatsit. Don’t forget your seatbelt.”
Niall jumps only a little at the criticism, flushing hot. He hadn’t thought - but no one’s really cared whether he had a seatbelt or not since he was. Four, probably. He clicks it into place and Louis smiles at him again. “Right, then! Off we go. Home in two shakes.”
Home. Niall feels like he’s been stumbling through darkness looking for it for years, and he’s nearly given up hope, but Louis next to him humming along to music playing only in his head, a little curl of warm in his stomach from the food and the jacket, and - maybe. Maybe.