pretty please (with sugar on top) - larry stylinson

Epilogue

Three months later...

"Hush, he'll be here any minute now. Stop worrying."

"I'm not worrying," Harry groaned into the thick material of the sweatshirt against which he was currently smashing his face. He was surrounded by a vast, messy accumulation of his and Louis' clothes, but it was still nothing close to the real thing of having the alpha beside him and actually being able to bury his face in his neck and breathe him in.

"You're totally worrying. I can see right through you," Niall proclaimed. Harry didn't have to peel the sweatshirt away from his face to know that he was folding his arms over his chest in a way that said I know I'm right.

"No, I'm not. I'm just... longing. Missing him."

Niall's voice softened as he said, "I know, pet. It's okay. Look, he just texted saying he'd be here in ten minutes. You can wait until then, can't you?"

Harry shot up, out of the bathtub that was currently housing his cozy, cluttered nest. "Ten minutes?! Niall, why didn't you tell me? Oh god, I look so ugly, I was going to get ready, I was going to do my hair!"

"You look fine. What are you talking about?"

"Oh no," he whispered, spinning around frantically for something to focus on. "No no no. This is all wrong." He was still wearing the same pajama shorts and loose tank top he'd been wearing the past few days, to cool off from the fever of his pre-heat. He had planned on dressing up and doing his hair and cleaning the apartment and-

"Harry. Calm down. Jesus. Why does it matter what your hair looks like if Louis is just gonna mess it up with his hands the minute he sees you?"

The omega pressed his palms to his mouth to muffle a scream. Niall didn't understand. This was their first heat they were actually spending together through its entirety. Louis was going to bond him. Harry couldn't look like an absolute mess when Louis bonded him!

"God, okay, look, it's okay. You start getting ready and when Louis comes I'll stall him to buy you some time. Okay?"

Harry nodded in agreement before grabbing a handful of Louis' clothes to tide him over as he ran to the bedroom to get ready. He kept the clothes pressed to his nose as he searched the closet for the outfit he'd planned to wear. The amber and woods fragrance calmed him to no extent. He was able to pick out the lingerie set and the fancy kimono with shaking hands. He brought everything to the bathroom and then set to work fixing his hair with a curling wand.

A few minutes later, he heard the click of the front door of the hotel suite opening, and Niall greeting Louis. Harry wanted to run to his alpha and jump into his arms, he missed him so much, even though Louis had only been gone for a work event for three days, but he knew it would be worth the wait if he got ready first. His proximity to heat, teetering on the brink of it, was making it that much more difficult to focus on the task at hand. His skin heated up just knowing Louis was in the other room. He was already melting with anticipation, his sweet scent filling the air. He completed the finishing touches, checking over his reflection one last time.

The thought of what was about to happen made him flush all over his face and down his neck and chest. He smoothed out the lace of the lingerie and thought about how they'd been planning this vacation for months now. Not even a few days after Louis showed up at the airport with flowers, they'd had the important discussion about what they were going to do for Harry's next heat. Louis had suggested renting a suite somewhere nice, to make a vacation out of it, an occasion, and the omega had agreed with a certain warmth in his heart at the mere notion of Louis taking care of him like this. He had never felt more special and appreciated in his life.