Chapter Text
Six months ago, Louis would have never been caught walking side-by-side with his arch-nemesis since primary school, much less wearing one of his oversized jumpers and holding hands with him.
Fortunately for both of them, much had changed. Now, instead of trying to evade the alpha, Louis was in the process of begging him to come over after school.
“Are you sure you can’t come over, Haz? Are you really, really sure?”
“I wish I could Lou,” Harry said for the third time that day. “But I work this afternoon, remember?”
“I know,” Louis sighed. “Why do you have to be so responsible?”
“One of us has to be.”
“I resent that!”
Harry decided to placate him with a sloppy kiss on the cheek. It was an unfair and unfortunately successful tactic that led to immediate forgiveness.
Everyone had come back from a week-long February holiday. While most students loathed returning to school after an extended week off, Louis was an exception this time around.
It was, however, for a very good reason. That was why he needed some backup when the school day was over and it was time to go home.
With Harry crossed off the list, Louis rounded on his next best option.
“What about you, Nialler?”
“Sorry, Lou, I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“Dammit!”
Harry rubbed Louis’ shoulder soothingly as the trio made their way to their usual lunch table where the rest of their friends were sitting.
“Why do you want someone to come over so badly?” asked Niall.
“For protection,” Louis answered. “Against Papa.”
“What did you do to make him angry?”
Louis scowled. “Why would you assume that I did something? Believe it or not, I had nothing to do with it this time. Not working has been making him crankier than usual.”
“Really?” Niall’s eyebrows were raised in astonishment. “Your papa , not working? How is that even possible?”
“I think it’s a good thing,” Harry said, already aware of the ‘situation’ (as Louis dubbed it) that had occurred over the holiday. “He deserves some time to rest.”
“What happened?” asked Eleanor. “There must be a really good reason for him to suddenly not work.”
“ Oh there is,” Louis agreed.
Now that he had a full audience at the lunch table, he began the story that had been sitting on the tip of his tongue for the entire morning:
Friday night - ever better - the start of a week long holiday!
With Liam working an overnight shift, Zayn and Louis were having father-son omega time. That meant watching action movies and eating the plateful of chocolate chip cookies Liam had left behind for them while they argued MCU over DC.
Everything had been all well and good until around eleven, when his papa decided to vomit all over the living room floor.
It was a horrendous combination of half-digested cookies and-
“Papa,” Louis blinked. “Did you just….oh my god, there’s blood!”
“Calm down, Louis!” Zayn said, arm hugged over his stomach protectively. “Dammit, what a mess. Go get me some bleach.”
“Are you dying?” Louis asked, devastated. “Oh my god, you are dying, aren’t you?”
“I am not dying, Louis!” Zayn said, rolling his eyes. Then, he doubled over in pain. “But…I should probably see a doctor.”
“Okay,” Louis sprang into action. “I’ll get the car warmed up while you call Dad!”
“I’m not going now,” Zayn snapped. “It’s almost midnight. I’ll go in the morning, after I’ve had some rest.”
“Papa, I know I didn’t do so well on my last biology exam, but even I know that puking blood isn’t normal! We should go to the emergency room! No, wait, I can call an ambulance-”
“Louis!” Zayn growled, but winced and curled around himself a little more. “Fine, we’ll go to the hospital, but not until I’ve showered and changed first. An extra hour won’t kill me.”
“It might,” Louis politely disagreed, cringing at his papa’s glare.
“See if you can do something about the mess. Wait down here and whatever else you do - do not call your dad and overexagerate things. I’ll call him when we get to the emergency room.”
Louis waited until his papa had disappeared upstairs. Then, he immediately dialed his dad’s work number.
Liam, naturally, picked up on the first ring.
“Louis?”
“Dad!” Louis cried into the phone “Papa’s dying!”
“...So then Dad called an ambulance and came to the house with his fire team. He broke down the bathroom door and carried Papa out in nothing but a bathrobe.”
The entire lunch table gasped, scandalized. They had all met Zayn on several occasions, and it was hard to picture Louis’ sharp, perpetually composed omega parent in such distress.
“What happened next?” Niall asked, eyes wide as he sat on the edge of his seat in anticipation.
“Turns out he had a really bad ulcer. They had to perform surgery and everything. He had to stay four nights in the hospital.”
“Wow!”
“Papa was furious with me - said I’d be in for a world of punishment as soon as he recovered - but Dad said not to worry, that I’m the best pup ever and did exactly the right thing,” Louis said smugly. “...and that Papa would be the one facing consequences. Apparently he’s been taking on a lot more extra work than he’s been letting on, and the doctor thinks he was under too much stress. So now he’s stuck home for six weeks.”
“Ah, now your behavior makes more sense,” said Eleanor. “Is your papa awfully mad at you?”
“He loathes me,” Louis said, grinning wickedly. It may have been a slight exaggeration, but where was the fun in telling the whole truth?
Zayn had actually apologized to Louis when he’d been released from the hospital. He was, however, pretty grouchy about being stuck at home for the foreseeable future.
“So,” Louis continued. “Who wants to come over this afternoon and save me from Papa’s wrath?”
There were, unfortunately, no takers.
Louis was accosted as soon as he scurried inside the house, slamming the door shut behind him to ward off the cold.
“Louis, don’t slam the door.”
“I didn’t slam the door, Papa.”
“Yes you did.”
Louis rolled his eyes. There was no escaping his cranky papa today.
With Liam still at work, there was no after school snack waiting on the table. Louis would have to fend for himself by raiding the fridge.
One pathetically sliced apple with peanutbutter later, Louis cautiously poked his head into the living room. Zayn was lounged gracefully on the couch, a thick fluffy blanket pulled up to his waist. The television was on, playing some kind of crime investigation show.
Zayn’s eyes caught his own.
“How was school today?”
“Good. It was nice seeing my friends again. How was your day?”
“Dull,” Zayn said, sighing.
“That’s good,” Louis said, moving past Zayn to get to their stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“Homework!”
“The first day back from break?”
“Professor Teasdale’s a menace. I’ve already got an essay to write.”
Okay, so maybe Louis didn’t actually have an essay to write. He did, however, have a very interesting class today. They’d discussed a few primal omega traits that had the cogs in his brain turning.
Instead of going to his own bedroom, Louis went toward the end of the hall and entered the master bedroom of the house.
Louis rarely ventured into his parents bedroom these days. He wasn’t a pup anymore, running scared to them because of a nightmare or waking up sick in the middle of the night.
He stepped further into the room.
The bed was made up cozily into a nest, swathed in carefully assembled blankets and pillows. There were a few articles of clothing mixed in, mostly belonging to Liam, though Louis saw one of his own hoodies included too.
Louis ran a hand over the edge of the nest, studying the structure critically. He’d never given much thought to his papa’s nest before. It was always just there - sometimes structured a little differently, rebuilt every few weeks or so, but similar enough to be considered exactly what it always was: his papa’s nest.
Nesting was an omega instinct.
Louis was an omega.
He thought about his own bed, with its neatly tucked comforter and stray pillows and plushies stacked up against the corner. One of Harry’s knitted jumpers was also tucked close around his pillow, so he could fall asleep to the smell of-
Anyways.
Harry’s jumper aside, it was just a plain old bed.
That, Louis decided to himself with finality, would have to change.
“When’s Dad coming home?”
“Soon, I think,” Zayn said, glancing at his watch. “I should probably start planning dinner.”
“You don’t need to do that. Dad said he’d pick up something on the way home. ”
“Did he? I was thinking about trying a new recipe…”
“You should be resting,” Louis insisted. Truth be told, Zayn's cooking was simply not up to par with Liam’s. It was always either over-seasoned or burned. Takeaway was a much safer option for the whole family.
“I’ve been resting all day.”
“You’re supposed to be resting for six weeks.”
“Louis.”
“Papa.”
“I’m home!”
Liam, thankfully, broke the glaring contest as he sauntered into the entryway. He held a bag of Chinese takeaway in one hand, and a bouquet of roses in the other.
Ever since the ‘situation,’ Louis’ alpha dad had been severely firm about Zayn staying home to rest, and not working under ‘any’ circumstances whatsoever.
At the same time, he was doing everything in his power to placate Zayn and make up for the strict orders. That meant flowers practically everytime Liam came home, and sometimes chocolates too - the expensive ones from the international sweets store across town. It also meant letting Zayn have complete control over what they watched on tv, and other little things around the house that gave him jurisdiction.
Zayn took the roses with an eyeroll. “Liam, we’re running out of vases.”
“I’ll buy some more vases,” Liam promised, completely missing the point. He bent down to kiss Zayn on the lips. Then, he reached down and softly placed a hand on Zayn’s stomach, over the nicely healing surgical incision.
“I’m here too,” Louis reminded his dad, before things got too serious.
“Hi Lou-bear,” Liam kissed him on the forehead. “How are my two favorite omegas?”
“Better now that there’s food!”
Louis broached the topic of Nesting once they had settled into eating dinner.
“I want to make a nest,” Louis informed his parents, his tone as clinical as possible despite the blush creeping over his cheeks. “A real one.”
It went just as he had expected.
Liam instantly began choking on his bite of rice, fork clattering against his plate. Zayn leaned over and gave him a solid thump on the back.
“A- A nest?” Liam finally asked in between sips of water. “You mean in your bedroom?”
“Um, yeah.”
Liam finished off his glass of water and slammed it down a little too hard.
“Louis, I don’t think-”
“Lee,” Zayn cut in. “We knew this day was coming. He’s seventeen - he’ll be off to uni in a year.”
“Why not wait until uni, then?” Liam asked desperately. “What’s wrong with using Papa’s nest, Lou-bear?”
Louis understood where his dad’s head was. Nesting was something of a righteous passage for an omega as they approached adulthood. It was different from the ‘play-nesting’ little pups sometimes did before they presented - different from the ‘mini-nests’ Louis made in the corner of the living room to hangout or do homework.
“Liam,” Zayn chided gently. “It’s a nest, love. It’s not like he’s fleeing the country, or having pups.”
It was both unexpected and relieving to have the older omega backing him up on this.
“Thanks, Papa.”
Zayn actually smiled. “I’ve been preparing for this day ever since you presented. How about I take you out this weekend to buy a few necessity items before you start building?”
“Okay!”
“Now hold on a moment,” Liam intervened - but his attention had shifted to Zayn instead of Louis. “You’re supposed to be resting, darling.”
“Walking around a store is hardly work.”
“But the doctor said-”
“-nothing strenuous, like running or heavy lifting,” Zayn finished for him. “I’ll be walking, very very slowly.”
“Well…” Liam hesitated. “Why don’t I go instead?”
“No way!” Louis practically screeched, horrified at the thought of his dad coming along while he shopped for nesting items. How embarrassing!
“Okay, okay,” Liam finally relented. “But you’ll be careful, yeah?”
“Always,” Zayn promised, looking very pleased. He was clearly thrilled to have an opportunity to get out of the house, even if it was just to take Louis shopping.
As promised, early Saturday morning Louis stood staring at the store entrance in trepidation.
“Papa, I’ve changed my mind. We can do this another day.”
“Louis, you rushed me out the door before my second cup of coffee and made me drive three towns over so you wouldn’t run into any friends; we’re not aborting your mission already. Now come on, let’s go find the Nesting Department.”
Louis gulped, but hurried to follow Zayn through the store.
The Nesting Department was toward the very back, made up of several aisles that contained an assortment of items that would be useful for an omega’s nest.
There were pillows - big body sized pillows, and small dainty ones. There were blankets of all different textures and fabrics. There was an assortment of miscellaneous bins full of plushies, silks, and sheets. There were bottles filled with different scents - mostly ones that mimicked alphas for those who weren’t mated.
It was somehow glorious and terrifying at the same time, a combination that didn’t really mix together well.
Zayn rested a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t overthink it. Focus more on the textures - the scenting comes later.”
“Okay.”
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Zayn said. “I’m going to the book section. I’ll check back in twenty, okay?”
Louis breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that his papa was the one to come with him. Zayn was never too overbearing, especially when it came to ‘omega stuff.’ Some omega parents really gushed over these kinds of activities.
The plethora of options was a bit overwhelming. Louis shuffled through some of the pillows, stopping when he found some that were especially soft with a velvet texture. He put two into his empty cart, moving onto the blankets. He immediately caught sight of one that was colored a deep green, just like Harry’s eyes…
Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.
On the way home, Louis was surprised when Zayn pulled into his law firm.
“I thought Dad said no office trips?”
“I’ll only be a few minutes - I want to make sure everything is being taken care of.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Papa?”
“Louis,” Zayn chided in a tone that said: I’m the parent, you’re the pup. “I’ll be five minutes tops. Besides, what your dad doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
Louis shrugged, propping his feet on the dashboard and settling in for a long wait time. Zayn’s promise of ‘five minutes’ was almost always quadrupled.
As predicted, Zayn took almost thirty minutes instead of five. Louis spent his time texting Harry, making plans to go over later in the afternoon.
When Zayn came back, he looked a lot more stressed than before he’d gone in.
“Ridiculous,” he muttered, slamming his door shut. “...everything out of place…no way that they’ll win our next case without-”
“Papa.”
Zayn stopped complaining.
When they got closer to home, he stopped through a takeout drive-thru to buy Louis a large chocolate milkshake. It was obviously a tactic to buy his silence. Louis’ papa knew him well; he had no problem accepting bribes if they came in the form of sweets.
When they arrived home, Liam’s car was in the driveway.
“I didn’t know Dad was off work this early,” Louis noted, eyebrows scrunched together.
“Me neither. Must have been a slow afternoon.”
Louis took one last gulp of his milkshake while Zayn parked. Then, he gathered his armful of bags and hurried inside. His plan was to drop everything into his room and then go over to Harry’s house.
“How was the shopping trip?”
“Good!” Louis answered, dropping his pile of bags to the floor of the entryway. “I got lots of-”
He stopped.
Liam was standing in the middle of the room, his arms folded across his chest. The room felt heavy, filled with the pheremones of an alpha who was anything but pleased. The last time Louis had walked into a room with this sort of atmosphere, he’d been twenty minutes past curfew.
He hadn’t done anything this time, had he?
Zayn, who had emerged not far behind Louis, stopped dead in his tracks.
“Your secretary called me,” Liam told Zayn cooly. “You left your phone behind at the office.”
Ah.
“Told you he’d be mad,” Louis stage-whispered, feeling much better knowing that his own hide was safe.
The older omega swallowed, his eyes comically wide. “I wasn’t there for very long. I was just checking up on things, honest…”
Liam let out a low growl.
Zayn hunched into himself a little more.
“Liam,” he whined meekly, so quiet that it was almost indecipherable.
Liam didn’t stand down.
“Louis, go upstairs.”
Louis frowned. “Can’t I go to Harry’s instead?”
“Fine,” the alpha agreed, probably happy to have him out of the house. “Be back before curfew.”
“Okay,” Louis hesitated, and then: “Have fun, Papa!”
He would pay for his comment later, but Louis was hardly ever given the opportunity to tease his Papa in such a way, so he couldn’t resist.
“Haz, if I went somewhere that you explicitly said not to go to, what would you do to me?”
“Um,” Harry blinked. “That’s sort of vague. Can you give me some more context?”
“Like- like, what if I went to a seedy underground night club?”
“How would you get in? You’re underage…”
“The details don’t matter, Haz. What if you told me not to go, and then I still went?”
“I’d probably call your dad,” Harry said immediately, eyeing him with suspicion. “You’re not really going to try and sneak into a club, are you?”
“No, I was just curious. Papa got in trouble with Dad because he snuck into work today, so it just got me thinking is all.”
“Oh,” Harry was quiet for a few moments.
“Well, what would you do, if we were bonded and living together and I disobeyed you?”
Harry grinned. “I’d call your papa instead of your dad.”
“Hazza, I’m being serious!”
“Look at me Lou,” Harry said, waiting until the omega met his eyes. “If you ever did something to put yourself intentionally in danger, I’d be mad. We’d probably talk about it and come up with a consequence together, yeah?”
Louis relaxed a little. “Yeah.”
Harry was a good alpha; he’d known that for a while now. He was kind, caring, and warm. He would be a fair and loving bondmate, just like Dad was with Papa. They would have a good future together.
The couple’s loving gaze was broken by his mother’s voice.
“Harry, sweetheart, can you set the table?”
“Coming, Mum!”
Louis waited until Harry was out of the room to take his opportunity. He launched himself toward the hamper in the corner of the bedroom, dumping its contents onto the floor.
He hastily rifled through the clothing pile, sniffing them carefully and rubbing a few items against his cheek. He soon found two shirts that fit his specifications, shoving them into the backpack he’d brought over under the pretense of doing homework.
A nest just wasn’t complete without an alpha’s scent.
“Hey,” Harry emerged in the doorway, just as he was zipping it shut.
Louis jumped about a foot in the air. “Don’t scare me like that, Haz!”
“Sorry,” Harry held out his arms into an inviting hug. “I’m finished setting the table. Dinner’s all ready.”
“What are we waiting for, then?” Louis ended the hug first, grabbing Harry’s hand. “Let’s go, I’m starving!”
When Louis got home, his parents were in the living room, snuggled up on the couch together and watching something dumb on the sci-fi channel. Liam’s eyes were wide as a woman on the screen was devoured by a man-eating blob, but he still accepted the piece of popcorn Zayn held to his mouth.
It was obvious that things were settled between the two of them. Zayn was even wearing his collar, something he only did when he was feeling particularly vulnerable and lovey-dovey.
“Hi Lou!” Liam greeted as his omega child entered the room, clearly glad to have a distraction from the movie. “How was Harry’s?”
“Good,” Louis answered, grabbing a large fistful of popcorn from the bowl. “Gemma was there. She’s visiting for the weekend.”
Louis loved Harry’s older sister. She was smart, top of her class and attending one of the best schools in London. The fact that she was omega (and enjoyed bossing Harry in an elder sister fashion) made her all the better to Louis.
“That’s great!” Liam enthused. “You missed out on my carbonara though.”
“Did you get enough to eat?” Zayn asked him as Louis went in for a second handful of popcorn. “There’s leftovers on the counter.”
“I’m all set.”
“Want to watch The Blob?”
“Thanks, but that’s an extremely hard pass for me.”
Besides, he had nesting business to attend to.
Zayn rolled his eyes, snuggling further into Liam.
“Suit yourself. Before you do anything else - it’s your night for the dishes.”
“Papa!” Louis bristled. “I wasn’t even here for dinner.”
“It’s still your turn.” Then, after a pause: “Have fun.”
It took a solid three days before Louis was satisfied with the results of his nest. Throughout that time, his bedroom was strictly off limits to all. His parents had actually respected his wishes - even though it was clear Liam was dying to see the results.
When the nest was finally ready, Louis invited Harry over. Obviously, his alpha would be the first one to see it.
Everything that followed this moment would all depend on Harry’s reaction. If he liked the nest, everything would be okay. If he didn’t like the nest, Louis would cry himself to sleep for the entire rest of his life.
No biggie.
Louis tugged his alpha up the stairs.
“No peeking!”
“I won’t,” Harry promised. It was clear he was curious, but he kept his eyes closed dutifully as Louis led him toward his bedroom, closing the door behind them.
“Don’t move,” Louis said sternly, leaving Harry in the middle of the room. He rushed over to his nest and fixed one of the corners that had come loose.
Once it was fixed, he had no more excuses.
“Okay,” Louis finally said, taking a deep breath through his nose. “You can open on three. One…two…”
On three, Louis looked down at the ground. His fists were clenched tightly, waiting for Harry to burst into laughter at his first ever attempt to build a proper omega nest. It was probably all wrong…too messy, not cozy enough…
Instead of hysterical laughter there was a low, deep grumble of satisfaction.
“Lou,” Harry said, his voice even more gravelly and soft than usual. “Can you look at me?”
Louis looked up and was met with a tender gaze from the alpha.
“Lou, Baby, did you make this nest all by yourself?”
“Y-Yeah,” Louis swallowed. “I’ve never done it before. Is it…okay?”
“It’s perfect,” Harry praised, coming closer to inspect it properly. “You did so, so good. It’s the best nest I’ve ever seen. I just love it.”
Louis preened at the compliment, becoming much less anxious now that he had the approval of the person whose opinion he valued the most.
“Come on then,” he urged, shoving Harry toward the bed. “Let’s try it out.”
Moments later, Louis was snuggled against Harry’s chest, legs tangled together as they purred in unison.
Harry was in his nest. It was so perfect - so safe and warm. Louis could most definitely stay here forever.
“Louis William, you know the rules about your door being- oh my gosh, what an adorable nest!”
“Dad!”