pretty please (with sugar on top) - larry stylinson

28

"Grape? Here."

Louis gave him a weird look but opened his mouth for the offering, letting Harry place the dark purple grape between his teeth.

Once he chewed and swallowed, the alpha whispered, "What's gotten into you?" into Harry's ear with a laugh.

Harry fed him another grape instead of answering. Liam and Zayn were just right there, sprawled out on Zayn's towel and sharing a mimosa, taking sips and passing it back and forth. It was a disgustingly cute sight and Harry felt personally threatened by it. He grabbed more grapes and had to stop himself from chucking them at Louis in misplaced anger.

They'd just spent the past half hour listening to Liam describe the updates to their relationship while his omega nodded along. They'd moved in together last month, apparently, transferring Zayn's New York belongings to Liam's home in Calabasas. They hadn't had their bonding ceremony yet, so they had their hands full with planning the event to perfection, but after that they would enjoy their honeymoon and then travel for a year or two in between work before settling down to maybe try for pups.

Harry really didn't want to hear any of this, but he had no choice but to sit and listen unless he wanted to look rude and obviously jealous. He ignored the way Zayn kept glancing at him with mild interest, and instead focused on feeding Louis grapes and rubbing his back.

He was trying to be a good omega, trying to appear unbothered, trying to make Zayn jealous, and trying to get Louis to fall in love with him. It was a lot to juggle at once. None of it was really working out. So far he'd only managed to confuse Louis by doting on him.

There was a lull in the conversation. He was relieved because apparently Liam was finished fawning over Zayn and listing all the things he loved about him while Zayn smirked over at Harry. Harry was two seconds away from sticking his tongue out in retaliation.

To distract himself from the intrigue of childish behavior, he stretched out and jokingly tossed his legs over Louis' thighs. Maybe if he broke the ice like this, Louis would let him sit on his lap. The alpha didn't react, aside from resting his free hand on Harry's shins. Progress.

"So, Harry, how's Oklahoma?"

His tensed at Zayn's words. Not to mention the tone of his voice, which was wry enough to indicate he knew exactly what he was asking and the trouble it would cause.

In order to avoid looking like a fool, Harry loftily responded, "I wouldn't know."

"What's in Oklahoma?" Louis questioned, clearly confused.

"Nothing-" Harry rushed, at the same time as Zayn smirked and said, "His family."

"Your family's in Oklahoma? I didn't know that."

"Just my mom..." he whispered, pulling his legs away and sitting up straight, eyes wide and cast to the deck of the boat. He wanted to strangle Zayn for bringing it up.

"You don't visit her often?"

Louis' question was just as soft as Harry's words, clearly only meant for him, but Zayn still cut in. "She calls him once a month but Harry never answers, right Harry?"

The omega dug his fingernails into his palms and closed his eyes to stop himself from cussing Zayn out, or, quite frankly, launching across the small distance that separated them and tackling him to the ground. An ugly ball of rage boiled inside him but he was determined to remain in control of himself and not make the situation any worse than it already was. Zayn had opened up a whole can of worms by mentioning Harry's family, his home, but that didn't mean Harry had to react any more than giving Louis the necessary explanation.