Trophy (L.S)

Seventeen

The room was silent and had proceeded to make the situation even more awkward. Harry was just glad that he had managed to convince Louis to come back inside the house, though he hasn't quite persuaded his new companion to put on some clothes yet.

The alpha coughed suddenly, trying to clear his throat and the silence, but that just made his beta even more alert. Louis had whipped his head to face him so fast, Harry could've sworn that the older man got whiplash.

"Louis, I'm fine," he sighed with a slight chuckle, walking over to the boy- who was sitting on the couch- with a blanket in his arms, draping the object over the beta's shoulders to help cover what would be his.

Liam was sat in the recliner across from them, observing the pair silently. He had yet to say anything since Harry had quite literally dragged them both inside, but that was alright. He didn't want to cause any more unnecessary tension, especially since the wild beta before him had seemed to accept him within the same room.

He watched as his friend leaned down to whisper something in Louis' ear then, the poor beta must've not having a single clue what Harry had said due to the look of pure confusion on his face. Liam beamed with fond, the small beta was just too cute not to.

However, Louis seemed to notice the alpha looking at him and he scowled in annoyance. The beta grumbled something back to Harry, but Harry clearly wasn't having it as he swatted at the beta's arm.

Liam knew it wasn't a hard hit, just a simple reprimand, but the look on Louis' face showed just how much it affected him. The poor beta looked like a puppy that was just kicked, and even Harry looked a little regretful once he noticed Louis' expression.

"Go on," Harry encouraged once more, hoping Louis wouldn't argue with him again, and he nearly sighed in relief once the beta stood up from the couch and wrapped the blanket tighter around himself before making his way towards Liam.

Louis stood before the alpha and raised an arm up, offering his own hand to shake, and Liam made sure to quickly reciprocate the action. The beta was gripping his hand a little too tight for a friendly handshake, but Liam didn't comment on it.

"Hi, I'm Louis," the shorter man huffed a brief introduction, but he supposed he did okay based on the smiles present on both alphas.

Liam though was slightly surprised. He didn't quite expect the beta before him to acknowledge his presence. In all honesty, he thought a wild beta like Louis would continue to keep his guard up. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Louis. I'm Liam, Harry's friend."

Louis seemed a bit skeptical of those words, but nodded nonetheless. "Well," he hesitated. "A friend of Harry's is a friend of mine."

The beta quickly reached out with his free arm to grip at the collar of Liam's t-shirt though, pulling the alpha closer so that he could speak what he was about to say without Harry having to hear.

"I will break you if you so much as dare to disrespect me. I didn't forget about what you did back at the fence."

Liam raised an eyebrow at the threat, knowing that the beta was only trying to establish dominance between them, but that still didn't stop him from holding in his laugh at the attempt.

The fence? Really?

Louis did not seem pleased and growled low in his throat at the action, ready to give this alpha a piece of his mind, but fortunately for Liam, Harry had decided to intervene.

"Louis," he sounded exasperated already, and Liam had to wonder if this was how the beta had been like all day. "That's enough, Liam isn't a threat to us. Now, I'd appreciate your help with making some sandwiches. Do you remember how I've shown you?"

When Harry spoke, Liam noticed how Louis listened to every single word. The beta had totally forgotten all about the man he was still cornering within the recliner; and Liam was actually impressed with how well the wild wolf was adapting to his pack bond with Harry already.

"Of course! I'll go make some now."

Just as the beta backed away from Liam and towards the doorway, Harry called out again. "Lou, before you start with dinner, please put some pajamas on."

Both alphas then watched as Louis left, secretly sighing in relief. Harry had turned to face his friend, and together they let out a quiet chuckle.

"I'm so sorry about him," Harry apologized eventually. "He's a handful, but Lou's so open to learning. Thank you for being patient with him too, to be honest, I was kind of scared that he started a battle he couldn't win."

Liam chucked some more at that, shrugging as soon as he regained composure. "It's fine. I wouldn't have done anything to trigger his instincts. I'm glad you called him off though and gave him a distraction, it's exactly what I would've done."