pretty please (with sugar on top) - larry stylinson

50

A few weeks ago, Harry might've felt remorse for what he was doing right now: invading privacy and eavesdropping on a conversation he clearly wasn't meant to hear. However, things had changed, and Harry was losing his morals. He was desperate.

"Yes. He's fine. I'm telling you, he's fine."

Harry leant his head against the wall and tried his best to listen over the noises of the city. He was at Niall's house, and Niall was out on the porch, in the cold, pacing back and forth. He was talking to Louis.

It wasn't fair that Louis only picked up the phone for Niall.

Sick of waiting for the call to end and pestering Niall for answers he refused to give, Harry took it upon himself to open the window and listen through the screen. Niall hadn't noticed, or if he had, he was nice enough to pretend he hadn't. Harry was sitting on the floor, in the dark, with his back to the wall as he closed his eyes and imagined Louis' voice on the other end of the line. Niall's responses in the beginning were so ambiguous, it was difficult to tell what they were talking about, and Harry did his best to fill in the blanks with the use of his imagination. Then, it got interesting.

"For fuck's sake," Niall groaned, finally cracking and showing some real emotion. He was the cheeriest, most happy-go-lucky person Harry had ever met, and it took a lot for him to actually convey his annoyance. "If you want to know who he's sleeping with, you're gonna have to ask him yourself. I'm not a messenger pigeon for transcontinental gossip. If you want to know so badly, book a flight over here and see for yourself."

Harry thought he heard loud sounds of shouting and growling coming from the other end of the line, but he couldn't be sure.

"Jesus, calm down. I just told you I'm not answering that. You don't have any right to be acting like this. He's not your omega. You don't have any more of a claim on him than anyone else does."

There was another pause before Niall's voice rose again.

"No, you don't get to shout at me about this. I don't care what happened. What matters is that you're not here right now, and that's your problem, your fault, not mine."

Harry listened to the tone of Niall's voice as it turned more and more agitated. An annoyed growl rumbled low in his chest at something Louis said on the other end of the line, and Harry pulled his knees to his chest and curled up into a ball to comfort his inner omega. He knew he wasn't in any danger, but his inner omega didn't know that, and all it heard was an aggravated alpha outside, which stressed him out to no end.

"God, you are such an idiot. This is honestly ridiculous. I get that you're insecure, but there's no way you're daft enough to think it isn't mutual. You know how he feels about you, so why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you doing this to Harry?"

They argued back and forth for a few minutes more, but Harry had trouble ascertaining what was happening when he could only hear one end of the conversation. He was left mostly confused.

"Yes, of course I'm taking care of him, unlike you! Ugh, I can only take so much of this. I've told you, he's fine. Sort out your own shit before you call me again."

Whatever Louis said in response, must've lightened the mood, because suddenly Niall was laughing and smiling again.

"Jesus, you're an idiot. A real idiot, Louis Tomlinson."

The call ended shortly thereafter, following a conversation about sports that Harry didn't seem to follow, especially when it was hard to make sense of Niall's incoherent gibberish on one end of the line. He didn't bother to close the window or get up from his obvious eavesdropping spot as Niall came back inside and spotted him there, his smile falling only slightly.

"Hey, it's getting late. Do you want me to take you home, or do you want to spend the night?"

Harry stood on wobbly legs. His inner omega was still trembling from all the growling and yelling. "Stay the night, if that's okay?"

"'Course it is." Niall secured the window shut and locked it, letting the curtains fall closed again.

"Does he know?"

"Hm?"

"Does he know we're soulmates?"

"Oh. No, I haven't told him. I think it'd be best if it came from you."

"Yeah, well he won't talk to me."

"I know. I'm working on it."

"Do you think it'll change things? If he finds out?"

He hung his coat in the closet and kicked his shoes off, subtly sending out comforting pheromones to soothe Harry's omega. The action made Harry melt, his limbs feeling like jello to the point where he had to lean against Niall to stand upright without sinking to the floor.

"Yeah, pet, I do. C'mon, let's go to bed."