Praise the Mutilated World

Chapter 3

HARRY

Harry was in the middle of making lunch when the alarm went off.

It was Saturday, which meant his only plans were to finish his stir fry, finish his daily work out, and then read or watch whatever movie ALL had selected to show on TV that night. Maybe he'd pour a glass of wine and listen to one of his records.

But the alarm was one he hadn't heard before. It was definitely a government alarm — he didn't recognize it from his own presets. It was loud and musical, a series of bright, happy charms. He frowned and walked over to where he left the tablet on the island. The tablet screen lit up when he approached, and the soothing, mechanical female voice he had grown used to giving him announcements over the years played.

"Congratulations, Mr. Styles," the voice said, "You have officially been matched for the Cause. Please scan your retina to view your match now."

Harry stood in front of the screen, mouth open in shock, as he looked at the tablet, pulsing a pleasant light pink and displaying words that matched exactly what the voice had just said.

The system had matched him within only about a week of his testing.

He'd prepared himself to wait months, a year, even, but ALL had quickly delivered him his perfect match within a few days, never failing him.

The voice recording repeated, and Harry exhaled and lifted his tablet so he could complete the eye scan. His tablet slid open, but instead of opening to his usual home screen, it opened to a simple white background stamped with the The Cause fertility department seal in the upper right hand corner. He skimmed the letter, already eager to click to the little arrow at the bottom of the page.

Dear Harry E. Styles,

Our sincere congratulations on your recent positive fertility testing. You have now entered an elite group responsible for rebuilding our society's future and providing new hope for us all. We trust you will serve us all well in your new role.

After careful examination, we have determined your ideal genetic match is one Louis W. Tomlinson. The omega will be delivered to your residence at approximately 15:00, August 15, 2085. Please read the following health and behavioral file and prepare accordingly.

We look forward to your check-in in six weeks time. Once again we salute your commitment to The Cause and to ALL.

The fertility department logo stood bold at the bottom of the page.

All that remained was the arrow button that would take him to everything he needed to know about Louis Tomlinson. His omega. He couldn't stop staring at the name. It was a perfect name. The first part so elegant and pretty, the second part so clean cut and strong. Of course it was perfect. That was how the system worked. Everything about Louis would be perfect, because their genetics matched, he had been selected just for Harry.

Harry took a big breath and clicked the arrow button.

The next page was a profile, as promised.

The profile showed Louis' name typed in bold letters at the top of the page, and his information listed right after. But Harry fixated on the image at the side of the screen: a moving image of an omega man, blinking serenely up at Harry and smiling gently.

Even in the image, he was lovely, with big blue eyes and full cheeks and shapely, bright pink lips. Harry tapped the image to enlarge it, and he pulled his fingers across the screen, zooming in on Louis's eyes, his small, upturned nose, his bright smile. In the corner of the screen was the option of switching to a full body view, and he tapped it immediately, spinning his finger to take in the 360 degree view. It showed Louis in a pair of black shorts and a white vest, his feet bare, and Harry clicked and zoomed all he could on his elegant collarbones, his tanned and smooth legs. He flushed a little as he scrolled away from Louis's full hips, his crotch, and his bum. A banner at the bottom of the screen informed him that he could look at Louis without the shorts and vest if he so desired, but he waved the option away. He knew the profile was a tool - to look and learn everything he could about the omega.

That's why he had been sent this -- so he could fully know his new match, so they could be compatible physically when the time came. But he didn't like the idea of looking over Louis's naked body when the omega wasn't here in front of him and aware of what was happening.

Harry switched back to neck up view, and saw a new icon in the corner with the silhouette of a talking head. He tapped it, and the image shifted. Louis smiles brightly, and his lips moved in time with audio that started playing through the speakers

"Hello, Mr. Styles," Louis said with a smile on his face, "I can't wait to meet you."

Harry kept hitting play, over and over. Maybe he was hoping for Louis to say something else, but he kept saying the standard message. That was fine. Harry was already enthralled by his voice, how soft and musical it was, high and feminine, his words a little rounded out. He must be from Neighborhood Two, he thought, just because he didn't recognize that as a Neighborhood One accent.

After about thirty plays, a flashing reminder popped up, telling him that Louis would be arriving in less than an hour. Harry switched back to the profile, and luckily, Louis's face followed him as he scrolled.

He read the information slowly. Louis was 24 years old, 170 centimeters tall, and weighed 68 kilograms. This was his first assignment. He had no allergies or health issues but was slightly underweight — which the file assured could be fixed with appetite stimulants.

He was in the upper intelligence percentile for his age and gender. He was non-aggressive but shy. He was best suited to small groups but Harry could socialize him for larger groups as needed. ALL marked him as a good companion and his suggested sources of entertainment were marked as reading and solving puzzles. If Harry was interested in bringing Louis to parties, he had high musical aptitude and a lovely singing voice that might be pleasing to guests.

The end of the file offered another reminder: Your match will be delivered at 15:00. Prepare accordingly.

*

Time hadn't felt real in the hours since he received the notification.

Harry, naturally, was a clean person, but as he pulled his hair back into a headband and wiped sweat from his forehead, the reality of it set in. He'd spent the last several hours cleaning, scrubbing everything to near perfection, washing all of his bedsheets and duvet, but he finally finished.

He took a deep breath as he looked around his own home and realized that it was soon going to be his and Louis'. He was about to start a family, about to start the life he'd been longing for for so long.

All he could do was smile at the thought.

The doorbell rang as Harry stepped off of the treadmill and the noise set every nerve ending in his body on high alert.

His heart skipped a beat and his head snapped in the direction of the noise, eyes wide. A part of him almost couldn't believe this was real, couldn't believe that everything he'd ever wanted was finally happening, that the thing he'd dreamed of since he was a child was right in front of him.

After all the years of seeing other people's matches, other people's babies, other people's lives, it was finally time for him to start his own. It was overwhelming in a way he didn't fully know how to comprehend, and all he could do was rush to toss on his jeans as he made his way to the door.

He pressed the button that allowed the group bringing Louis to him to have access to the building and ran to his room. Tossing his running shoes off and somewhere across the room followed by his socks, he grabbed another pair from the top drawer and slipped the cloth over his feet. The small circular robot he'd bought a few years back zoomed over to the discarded items on the ground, the whirring noise of the wheels filling the room, and picked the clothes up to take them to their place.

He buttoned his pants as quick as he could, sprayed deodorant on, and pulled out his favorite mint green shirt from his closet. His heart pounded as his eyes darted over to the clock on the wall, and just as he'd started to button his shirt, the second bell rang to tell him the group was at his door.

Another wave of disbelief coursed through him, but he made his way across the apartment in long, fast strides.He took a deep breath and tried to pretend his anxiety wasn't racing, that his palms weren't sweaty and that his heart wasn't pounding.

Then, he opened the door.

Two men dressed in the standard all white bureau uniform stood on either side of Louis, but Harry didn't pay them any attention. All Harry could bring himself to do was look at Louis - and it took him a few seconds too long to be able to say anything, to be able to think anything, to be able to comprehend everything that was happening. His heart was still pounding and the words he wanted to say all felt jumbled, tangled and unable to be said in the exact way he wanted to say them.

The omega was right in front of him and he was absolutely stunning.

He'd known what he looked like from the images, from the clip that had been sent to him, but seeing him in person made the photos seem like they could never compare.

The facility had dressed him in a soft set of pale blue hospital pajamas, with a matching pair of slippers. There were few stray strands of hair covering part of Louis' face, and he was slow as he reached up to move them out of his eyes, tucking them back behind his ears. His eyes were wide and he wasn't smiling, but he didn't look unhappy, either, just a bit confused.

"Hi, hello, please come in," He choked out a beat too late, but the two men brought the omega inside and all Harry could bring himself to do was smile. Louis' eyes darted around the apartment, but he didn't say anything.

He looked exhausted, perhaps a little dazed, and Harry couldn't blame him. If he'd had anything similar to the wild emotional ride of a day he'd had himself, then the omega had every excuse to be tired.

"Here's all of the materials that come alongside a new match," One of the men said, handing him a white, cardboard box. He remembered reading what would be in it, so he didn't think to pay it much attention - but rather he just set it on the counter. "Do you still accept the match?"

"Yes, yes, of course," He said, not even having to think about it. Not accepting a match wasn't something he could've ever imagined - giving up the prospect of a family. A match was a match for a reason, and he knew that he and Louis were going to be perfect for each other, compatible in every way that the system deemed necessary for the two of them.

It was beyond exciting.

"Then we will leave you be. Congratulations on the match."

"Yes, thank you so much," He said, grinning. It was the words he'd always wanted to hear. The news he'd always wanted to get. Slowly, the anxiety inside of his chest simmered down and faded into excitement instead.

It wasn't the kind of excitement he thought it would be - but rather it was dull, just barely there, but still so, so obvious. It was the kind of excitement that he thought would be spread out over such a long period of time that it couldn't be overwhelming just yet. He was excited for their bonding period, excited to get to know Louis - both as a person and as his partner - and he was most excited for moving on with his life.

For too long it felt like he was stuck in a limbo, trapped in a part of his life he wanted nothing more than to get over. Of course, through all of that he'd known that this was the only way to move on, but then, having it, he was thrilled.

He watched as the two men left, shutting the door firmly behind them and leaving the two of them alone in the apartment.

It was a feeling he didn't know how to describe.

Knowing that he would finally have a future he wanted to look forward to, knowing he had someone who he could grow and develop as a person beside for the rest of their lives. It was too much to handle all at once. He didn't even know what to say, didn't even know how to start something this monumental.

All he could do was watch the way Louis seemed to be taking in his own surroundings, still dazed and clearly tired, but still present. That was enough for now. Harry just hoped that he was just as excited as he was.

"I'm Harry," He settled on, before an awkward laugh came from his mouth. Of course he knew that already, and it only made an embarrassed flush of heat rise over his cheeks. "Sorry, you uh, you probably knew that. Um," He ran a hand through his hair, trying to follow the way Louis' eyes scanned around the apartment to gauge what to say, what to think, what to do. "Can I get you something to drink? Water? Or juice, tea, fizzy water..." He trailed off.

"Um, water, please, thanks," Louis said softly, and his voice was beautiful. A little different from the recording, but he'd assumed it wouldn't be exactly the same as real life. It still made his heart flutter just a bit in his chest to hear it, though.

"Yeah, of course."

"Can I sit down?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry. Make yourself at home," He noticed, then, that the omega didn't have anything with him. He hadn't entirely expected having to completely provide for another person, but he didn't mind.

Louis moved over to the couch and sat down, then rested his head against the cushion behind him and sighed softly. His eyes fell shut before long, and all Harry could do was walk away, get two glasses of water from the kitchen and try his best to be welcoming.

He could imagine it'd been a stressful day for the omega, and even more so if he'd known about being matched longer than Harry had. So, he knew not to press. Knew to just let him rest and do anything he needed to do for a few hours before they needed to talk or start doing anything.

With the two glasses of water in hand, he made his way back to the living room and handed one to the omega. He looked so much smaller than he had in the photos - almost like he wasn't as happy as he looked. Something about that made a heavy ping of sadness settle inside of Harry's chest, the thought leaving an odd, bitter taste in his mouth.

He was almost certain it was just because of how fast things had been moving, or something like that, but the anxiety that crept into his chest was relentless. He knew ALL wouldn't match him with someone who would make him unhappy and he knew they wouldn't make his match unhappy, either. His trust in the system was what helped him hold faith. That's all he really needed.

Louis drank the water silently, only sitting up to do so, and he kept his eyes cast down to the ground. Harry bit his lip and checked his tablet, opening it and pulling up all of his own to-do tasks for the remainder of the day.

A second, separate box appeared on the left hand side for all of Louis' daily tasks, and the box was empty other than the arrival time that was repeated in Harry's own to-do box. "You look really tired. If you want to take a nap you're welcome to. Or I can put tonight's film on before I start dinner."

"Um, yeah, a nap would be great. I'm just not feeling myself right now, I'm sorry."

"No worries at all. Here, I'll show you to the room."

His apartment was spacious on the bottom floor - with light hardwoods that stretched throughout, and bright edison style lights that hung on white wire from the ceiling. Most of the walls were a bright white, with different pieces of art hanging on them that he'd picked up from galleries and sales over the years. But at the far end in a way he'd always thought contrasted nicely, the kitchen walls and the back bedroom walls were a darker grey.

Tucked behind the staircase was his office that he used when he worked from home, the front wall made of paned glass and the other three the same bright white he'd always loved. About three dozen different plants had homes around the apartment, each placed in the exact position they needed to get the amount of sunlight they needed to thrive. ALL had created the layout for him, with his input, shortly before he'd been upgraded to this apartment with his new job, and there hadn't been a single time since that he'd wanted to change anything.

He led Louis up the stairs to the loft that was his bedroom. The railing on either side of the stairs was made of glass, but the half-wall that covered the room was solid white. Three plants were placed on top, held down firmly by electric magnets that only released when he did his twice-a-year plant rotations.

The bathroom was the only closed in room on the upper level, stacked right on top of the bathroom on the bottom level and through a short hallway behind his - or perhaps, their - bed. His study, with the same glass paned walls, sat right beside the bathroom, filled with books and a separate desk. He wasn't entirely sure what he deemed the difference between his office and his study, but he mostly just chose which room to settle into depending on his mood.

"There are sleeping clothes in the first cabinet inside of my closet if you want to change. I'll be downstairs if you need anything else, okay?"

"Right, yeah. Thank you, Harry," Louis said, smiling softly. It made Harry smile, too, and he finally thought that everything was going to be okay.

*

Harry had about two hours by himself -- which he tried to fill with dinner prep, finishing his work out, and playing games on his tablet -- before he heard screaming. It was the kind of scream that he could imagine only accompanied by true terror, the kind that was genuine in a way that made his skin crawl and rise with goosebumps.

He immediately bolted up from the couch and jogged down the hallway, back towards the stairwell.

"Louis?" he called, his stomach dropping a bit as the screams faded and he heard gasping and whimpering in its place.

Fuck, what on Earth was happening?

"Louis, are you hurt? I'm coming," Harry called out again as he ran up to the edge of the stairwell. He tried to go through all the things that could have happened -- maybe Louis just fell out of bed. Maybe he had a migraine. Maybe he broke a glass or got into Harry's razors and cut himself. Still, all Harry could hear was that whimpering, and it sent him shooting up the steps as quickly as he could, taking two at a time.

He only stopped when he got to the top of the stairs, and Louis was right in the hall, right outside their bedroom. He was in Harry's sleep clothes, which were far too big on him, and he looked sleep-rumpled and precious, but he was staring at Harry with wide eyes, his chest heaving as he panted.

"Louis?' Harry said again, "What's wrong?"

"Where am I?" Louis said, "Why -- why am I here?"

"What?" Harry asked, "Don't you remember?"

"What am I supposed to remember? Louis said, "I remember -- I was in the facility -- god, fuck, who are you, even?"

Harry blinked, frowning a bit. He had never actually heard an omega curse. Of course, he knew Louis was an adult, he knew surely he knew what those words were. But still, it felt a little odd to hear it come out of Louis's sweet mouth.

It threw him off enough that he didn't quite process what Louis had asked.

"Who am I?" Harry parroted, "I'm Harry, Louis, I'm your alpha."

"My fucking what," Louis said, and Harry blinked again.

"They delivered you here a couple hours ago," Harry said, "We got matched in the system."

"The system," Louis repeated.

"Yes, the Cause," Harry said, "Are you alright? You were screaming and now -- "

"Did you just say the fucking Cause," Louis said. His voice rose a bit, and he backed up, grasping onto the bannister behind him.

"Well, yes," Harry said.

"That's not right," Louis said, "I was -- I should be going to a client. Are you the client? Did you buy me?"

"Buy you?" Harry parrotted. He felt stupid in that moment, like he was having an awkward dream that he couldn't wake up from but also couldn't understand the purpose of.

"Yes, did you buy me? Like, to fuck? That's what this is, right?"

"Are you -- are you asking me if you're a prostitute?" Harry asked, whispering the last word, "Oh, God, no, no, of course not. I'm going to call a doctor, you're forgetting -- "

"No, no, don't call a fucking doctor on me," Louis said, and his voice was high again, almost yelling, "Just tell me where I fucking am and who the fuck put me here!"

Harry stared at him again, and then took a step forward, but Louis backed up, pressing his back to the glass wall behind him.

"You're in my apartment," Harry said, "Or I guess, our apartment, now."

"No, no, let's stick with your apartment," Louis said, "What Neighborhood am I in? Am I still in One?"

"Yes, you're in One," Harry said, "This is where I live. Where you live now. Are you not from here? Your accent sounds different."

"God, fuck me," Louis huffed, "No, I'm not from here. And I'd like to fucking leave and go back to where I came from, thanks."

He shifted a bit, moving to the side of the hallway, and Harry frowned.

"You can't go," Harry said, "You just got here."

"Uh huh," Louis mumbled.

"Look, I really think I should call a doctor, you're not yourself."

"Oh, I'm really fucking myself right now, Henry, you have no idea."

"My name's Harry."

"I don't give a shit, where's your door? There's been a misunderstanding."

"My front door? That's downstairs," Harry said, "But you can't go."

"Shouldn't have told me where the fucking door is, then," Louis said, and then tried to break for the stairs, moving so fast Harry had to catch him by the shoulder.

"Don't run," he said, "You could slip and hurt yourself."

"I don't care!" Louis said, squirming hard, "Unhand me, you bourgeoise neanderthal!"

He grunted and squirmed more in Harry's arms, but Harry held fast, frowning.

"You feel really thin," he said, "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay, we went over this!" Louis shouted, "Just let me go!"

"I'm sorry, I can't," Harry said weakly. He pushed a little, trying to guide Louis to the bedroom, "You're my omega now."

"I'm not your anything," Louis hissed weakly, and Harry frowned. He didn't know what kind of drugs they had given Louis at the facility, but they must have reacted badly with his system. He wasn't supposed to be this aggressive. Or this loud.

"Why don't you lay down?" Harry suggested, "I'll make you a cup of tea and call the doctor."

"I. Do not. Want. a doctor," Louis said, "I want to know why I am here, and what is wrong with my fucking face."

"Your face?" Harry frowned. He leaned closer, trying to find any flaws in the omega in front of him, "What's wrong with your face?"

"Everything!" Louis shouted, making Harry wince, "My -- my nose doesn't look like this. My teeth don't look like this. And why are my cheeks so puffy?"

"I don't see anything wrong," Harry insisted.

"God, you're useless," Louis said. His body went a bit limp, and he stopped thrashing against Harry, "Why am I here, even? Did you say something about the Cause?"

"Yes," Harry said, and then tried to smile, the same smile he gave to children and frightened migrants at work, "We got matched in the Cause, Louis, isn't that wonderful? That means we're going to have a baby."

He thought maybe that would soothe the omega in his grasp, switch some flip in him that made him gentle and pliant and back to the man that had been delivered to Harry a couple of hours ago.

Instead, Louis screamed and tried to slap him in the face.

"Hey, hey, whoa," Harry said, his eyes widening. He grabbed Louis's wrist as his hand came up to the alpha's face, firming holding onto it. Louis wrinkled his nose, his face going red, and tried to bring his other hand into Harry's shoulder. But Harry caught that hand, too, making Louis shriek.

"Let me go," Louis hissed. "I did not agree to be here, and you will let me go."

"Didn't agree?" Harry frowned. "Didn't they put you in the system?"

"No they fucking didn't," Louis snapped, pulling his wrists hard against Harry's hold. "Jesus Christ, why are you so fucking strong."

"Are you from the outside Neighborhoods?" Harry asked. "Were you a rescue?"

"A -- a rescue?" Louis stammered. "No, I'm not a rescue, I'm not a fucking dog."

"No, of course not," Harry agreed. "You're just a little out of sorts, that's all. They probably didn't explain anything to you, did they? No wonder you're scared, poor thing."

Louis narrowed his eyes and then lowered his head and tried to butt it forward, but in one quick motion, Harry let go of Louis's wrist and grabbed him around the waist, hulling him off the ground and into Harry's hold.

"What the fuck!" Louis shouted. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'll let you have some alone time now," Harry said, and in return, Louis landed a fist between his shoulder blades.

"Oof, ow," Harry coughed. "You're very strong for such a little omega."

"Oh, fuck you," Louis huffed.

Harry opened the door of the bedroom and then deposited Louis in the threshold.

"Just take some time for yourself. I'll fix us some dinner," Harry said, and then closed the door as Louis opened his mouth. When the door closed, he lifted his chin a bit, speaking in the slow, clear tone he used with NOA. "NOA, please lock the bedroom door from the inside."

"Yes, Harry," NOA replied, and then there was a single, crisp click from inside the door.

"Oh, fuck this fucking place!" Louis shouted, and then landed a swift kick to the door, making it rattle.

Harry just shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck.

ALL had sent him a little fighter, it seemed. But he also knew they wouldn't have done that if they hadn't seen his own capability as an alpha, and knew he was capable of such a task. It would be difficult, but he had to keep reminding himself of that.

Louis continued to kick at the door and shout, but Harry just leaned closer to the wood, speaking to Louis directly.

"What do you want for dinner?" he asked.

"I want your fucking balls covered in melted butter, you facist wanker!" Louis shouted back.

Harry just shook his head.

"I'll make us some quesadillas," Harry said, and then walked back down the hall and down the stairs.

*

The atmosphere in the house had finally settled as the city lights slowly started to switch off, and Harry finally found himself feeling tired. It was nearly his scheduled bedtime and the hours had passed both quickly and slowly all at the same time.

It wasn't that he was physically tired, really. Just emotionally. Mentally. There was a heavy weight to his bones and in his heart that he rarely felt, and even the warmth of his tea didn't make it go away.

It had been a long day trying to convince Louis that everything was fine, that he was exactly where he was meant to be, and in the end, he really hadn't gotten very far. There had been far too much yelling and far too much craziness for Harry to feel like he made much progress, in the end. All he really managed to do was damage control, and as the moments went on he considered more and more just calling up the bureau and asking them what on earth he was meant to do.

He didn't want to give up a match after less than one day, though, so he knew he was going to stick it out for at least a while longer and see if he got any better once the medication wore off.

Yet, none of it was what he'd expected.

None of it was what he'd been prepared for.

None of this was anything he'd been warned about. All he could do was think back to how Louis' file had claimed he's not violent, that he's docile and sweet.

He could still hear the soft lull of his voice that had been in that first video. The soft, sweet melodic tone of his voice and the way his mouth had turned up at the corners into a smile when Louis had said his name.

He felt bad, but a part of him wanted to go back and watch it again.

The few minutes he'd had with that video alone have already been better than the few hours he'd had with the omega after the drugs wore off. He even considered messaging Liam, asking him to help, asking him what he was meant to do or if these feelings are normal, but he didn't.

He knew he needed to work these things out on his own, or at least try to. The last thing he really needed was a documentation of his dissatisfaction before he had a chance to try and work through it. If he could work through it himself, if he could manage to get Louis to calm down for good, then he'd have no reason to turn him back at the end of their bonding period.

Even the thought of giving him away made him sad. It was a weird feeling, considering the long day he'd had solely because of the omega, but he knew he wanted children, a family, a big house with little bodies and an omega to love him.

It was a lot to ask for, but he'd been given a chance at it, and he certainly was not going to give it up easily.

He made his way into the kitchen slowly.

The sun was down and the evening sky was dark outside. From the height of his building, he could see over everything. He could see over the entire neighborhood and slightly into the second as well, illuminated by the lights of their own smaller city. As he took a moment to scan his eyes over the expanse of everything, he watched as a few lights turned off here and there, bathing another section of their city in darkness.

The clock read nine forty three at night, and it was nearly time for him to go to bed.

Harry felt relieved, really.

He put on the kettle with enough water in it for two cups and leaned back against the counter. Everything was clean from when he'd fixed it all up after dinner, and everything was in its proper place. In a way, though, it felt wrong. It felt like something should have changed, like things being in their places wasn't how it should be. With Louis being there, things felt disrupted.

It's a feeling he was warned about, but it's still something he struggles to understand.

His life had been completely changed in just a matter of hours, and it felt wrong that there were still parts of it that remained the same. His shoes were still on their rack by the door, his coffee mug that he drank from every single morning still sat beneath the spout, ready for the automated system to pour it for him exactly six minutes after his alarm went off. His tablet rested on it's charger, his name still in big, bold letters across the screen.

The only physical marker he had of the changes was that his bracelet had a thin, yellow band of light around it where it had been blue before. It's the marker that showed he'd been paired. Blue had been for fertile and unpaired, and then, yellow, meaning paired but not a parent.

It would turn green when Louis had their child, and he knew Louis' would too.

The kettle let out a scream when steam started escaping from the spout, and he flicked it off and poured the water into the cups. Louis hadn't told him how he takes his tea before, so he put the cups on a tray along with his dish of sugar and milk, then placed a bottle of honey there, too.

Just in case.

Everything about him wanted to please Louis. He'd always known that he'd feel some kind of protectiveness over an omega when he was paired, always known that something inside of him biologically would change - that the chemicals in his brain would go haywire until he felt Louis was safe and comfortable. But it was almost impossible to put the feeling into words. To explain it to anyone, let alone himself.

The fireplace was crackling and that was the only sound in the room. He hadn't turned on the television to watch the evening's scheduled program out of politeness for Louis, but for a moment he wished he would have.

The silence was almost harder to bear than Louis yelling at him.

Louis looked at him, his big blue eyes still slightly red from the small fit of crying he'd had earlier, and his skin was pale.

"I wasn't sure how you wanted you tea, so I brought a bit of everything," He said softly and placed the tray down on the coffee table between the two couches before he took a seat himself.

Louis was sitting on the couch opposite him, his legs pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He had finally come out of their room after wailing nonstop for two hours, and even then, he had only eaten a few bites of the meal Harry had made him, muttering the whole time about hidden poison Harry could have slipped in.

He looked small, now. Small in a way that didn't suit his personality - or at least what Harry has been able to see of it - and a part of him ached at the thought of that. Nothing about this had gone how Harry had thought it would. Ever since he was a child he'd been looking forward to this day, to the aura of romance and happiness and relief that was supposed to fill his house when he got his match. He'd been romanticizing the day so much in his head for so many years that experiencing it in a way that felt wrong made him nervous.

He didn't know how to handle it.

He focused on the vases sitting on the coffee table for a long moment.

He'd pushed them to the side to make room for the two of them to play a game or something, but that hadn't worked out the way he thought it would have.

"Thank you," Louis finally said after a while, his voice slightly raw from the yelling. The cups were still steaming, still probably too hot to drink, but Louis unwrapped himself from the way he'd been sitting and leaned himself forward. He poured some milk into his cup, just enough to turn the tea a soft brown color and took the cup into his hands.

Harry noticed for the first time that his fingernails were a bright shade of blue. It's something he'd seen in himself when he's had a hard week at the gym and had forgotten to eat enough protein to make up for it, but he'd never seen it on anyone else. Another shred of concern bloomed in his chest, but he forced himself to swallow it down.

It was finally peaceful between the two of them, finally quiet and gentle, and the air of awkwardness and tension had died down. He didn't have the energy to bring it back up tonight. There were questions he had for Louis and he was certain the omega had plenty for him, too, but they could be for later.

He turned the television on while they sat there with their cups of tea.

Normally when he had company the last thing he'd ever think to do would be to turn the television on. His father had always told him it was rude to focus more on technology than on a guest, but he wasn't sure if he could really call Louis a guest.

He lived there now.

Owned the house just as much as Harry did, at least for their time together. Or maybe that was just his way of justifying it. Either way, the noise that filled the space between them was refreshing.

Louis watched, too, and he finally almost looked peaceful. His face was neutral - not quite the happy expression Harry hoped for - but he was not crying anymore. He didn't even look upset anymore, and that was enough. If he had to compromise in the beginning, he didn't mind. A part of him knew that everything would be fine in the end if he worked for it, and that was enough for him.

It was enough to make him know he could keep trying at this.

They sat there until the lights dimmed on their own to the point where Harry just wanted to go to bed. Normally his system would keep the lights brighter if he was up and moving around, but with the two of them just sitting there, doing nothing but watching television in the quiet, it seemed to think he's trying to wind down for bed.

Which wasn't too far from what he was doing, really.

"Do you want to get ready for bed?" With those words, Louis' body went completely rigid. He tensed up visibly, his jaw going so tightly shut that Harry could see the way his muscles moved from across the room. The omega swallowed hard. His eyes met Harry's once again, and a look so similar to the one he'd had earlier was there. But that time it almost looked just like fear.

The anger had gone and all that was left in its place was fear.

Harry has no idea why Louis would be afraid of him, or of any of this. He'd been given all the same information Harry has, he was sure. If Louis had been brought up in Two, then he knew that they had the same educational system when it came to mating and pairing that One did. He had to know Harry wouldn't do anything to hurt him and if he did, that he could appeal to the matching system and leave.

It was uncommon for omegas to leave a match, but it was possible. He knew that. He was sure Louis knew it, too. But he didn't want to pry. Didn't want to ask or question anything Louis was feeling. Not when he was so tired and just wanted to sleep.

"Do you want to shower or anything? I can show you where the towels and stuff are tonight, or I can show you tomorrow. Didn't really get a chance to do a proper tour today." He didn't get an answer, but he couldn't find the space in his mind to be annoyed. "Alright. I'm going to go brush my teeth and stuff. I'll come back down to turn the lights off and stuff when I'm done."

Louis nodded, still looking at him. But this time his expression had changed into something Harry couldn't read.

He made his way up the stairs and rounded the corner into the bathroom. He looked exhausted as he looked himself over in the mirror, with his hair flat and starting to get oily against his head and small beginnings of grey circles under his eyes. It's nothing a good night's rest wouldn't fix, and he didn't think he'd ever been so excited to just go to sleep and not have to think about anything for a few hours.

Slowly, he started his routine to get ready for bed. He washed his face and put his lotion on, then changed into his sleeping clothes. Last, he brushed his teeth and set out his products for the following morning. Then he rummaged in the basket beneath his sink to pull out anything that Louis might want to use - a toothbrush, soap, towels.

"Would it be alright if I just slept on the couch?" Louis' voice came from behind him. He could see him in the mirror so he didn't turn around.

"Trust me when I say you don't want to. It's comfortable to sit on but every time I've accidentally fallen asleep out there my back has been a mess the next day," he said, then turned to face the omega. "I know it might be a little awkward to sleep in the same bed, but that's... all I have. I wasn't really expecting to be matched or else I might have thought to buy a daybed or a sleeping couch or something."

Louis just stood there another moment, bottom lip between his teeth. "Right. Alright." He didn't look happy about it, but Harry could understand that. He hadn't really thought it through to this point, hadn't really imagined that it might be a little strange to sleep in the same bed beside someone who is still a stranger.

"Here, you can use a pair of my sleeping clothes for tonight. You and I can go shopping for everything you need tomorrow. I left some stuff here for you as well, and feel free to use anything you see." He pulled a pair of the same thin, light grey sweats he had on as well as a large shirt out and handed them to the omega. "I'll give you some privacy." Louis nodded and Harry made his way out.

He went downstairs and picked up their mugs that they'd had their tea in and put them in the sink, then turned out all the lights that he knew wouldn't shut off on their own. When he made his way back up the stairs to his room and peeled the covers back to sleep underneath, Louis was still in the bathroom. Louis had closed the door and he could hear the water running, so he didn't think anything of it.

The omega emerged before long.

When Louis had been having his fit of panic, Harry had first noticed exactly how frail the omega was. He'd felt it beneath the layers and layers of clothes he'd put on, but in that moment, seeing him in the thin veil of the night clothes, his heart sank.

He could count his ribs, even beneath the baggy fabric, from how much they jutted out from beneath his skin. His collarbones were pronounced in a way that went beyond what they should, and he looked sickly. He looked nothing at all like the video he'd been sent when they matched them, and every nerve ending in his body lit up, a visceral reaction, a kind of guilt he didn't know how to fight off.

Did Louis do this to himself? Did he think he needed to do this -- did he think he needed to hurt himself in this way to be more attractive?

He didn't want to stare, didn't want to spend any longer looking at the omega's sickly body than he had to, yet he couldn't tear his eyes away. "Oh, Louis," He said after a long moment of just looking at him.

"Stop looking." There were slight tremors in his hands, his fingers shaking. If Harry hadn't been looking so closely he wouldn't have noticed, but as soon as he did it almost seemed obvious. The fear he'd seen in Louis' eyes earlier was still there, then, just manifesting in a more physical way. That though - that was something Harry could handle. He knew how to handle people who were afraid, knew how to make everything look like it was going to be alright when he knew it was going to be. That was a part of his work, a part of what he did every day, and it just came naturally to him.

"Hey, stop, come here. Are you cold? You're shaking."

"Not cold, no." The omega took a few steps closer to the bed, eyeing it like it might hurt him. "Are you going to...?" It took Harry a moment to figure out exactly what the omega was asking, and his heart dropped all over again.

It was a vulnerable question and the same hurt, the same pain that he'd felt before, bloomed in his chest tenfold. A part of him had always thought it was odd, seeing the way people talked about omegas as if they were always interested in having sex with any alpha they laid their eyes on. It was one of the things he'd never really agreed with - one of the things he found too strange to take seriously. A part of him had wiped all of the thoughts of those campaigns from his mind until then, seeing the way Louis was so clearly terrified of him.

Too many things that he'd never thought of in a mating were running through his mind, and he had no clue how to handle them, no idea how to respond in the way he knew he needed to. The words just didn't form properly in his mouth, didn't string together in the way he needed them to in his head.

"No," He started. "No. We have a bonding period of six weeks. To get to know each other."

"Six weeks," The omega echoed.

"Yeah, but you know -- even then. It's not. I wouldn't expect you to, if you didn't want to." Louis didn't respond to that, but a faint beeping noise at his bedside caught Harry's attention. It was a reminder to take his nightly medication, but this time when he opened the case, there's a second set of pills there for Louis. "Anyway, here's yours," He said, handing Louis the two small pills and a small water bottle. One was a light shade of pink, the same shape and color as Harry's. The fertility vitamins. The things that they were only given since they were matched.

The other Harry didn't recognize, but he assumed Louis would.

"What are these for?"

"Vitamins. The blue one is probably to help you gain some weight, too."

"No, no. No. I'm not taking any medications."

"Alright," Harry said, shrugging. "Back when I used to forget to take my pills, my doctor would just give me a shot that lasted a few months so I didn't have to take them. I wouldn't doubt they have something similar for you. I'll make an appointment for later this week."

"No."

"Alright, okay. Let's just talk about this later. I'm tired." He knocked back the pills and followed it with the water. Louis didn't respond to him, he just climbed under the blanket and positioned himself as far from Harry in the bed as he could. It didn't surprise him, so he just sighed softly and laid down, too.

The lights turned off on their own, and the silence surrounded them.

*

Harry had always had the same thing for breakfast, or some kind of a variation of it. But when Louis had looked at what he'd made for the two of them with a frown on his face, he'd changed it up.

He'd learned that Louis was the pickiest eater he'd ever come across, and that the only things that really appealed to the omega were packaged or sweet. Which -- made it harder than he'd thought it would to stick to his dietary plan that ALL had assigned.

But he'd found out that Louis liked pancakes, especially with bananas, so that's what he made.

As soon as he poured the batter onto the skillet, he heard a loud, authoritative knock on his door. "Come in!" He called, swiping left on his bracelet to unlock the front door. He would have been notified if it was someone he didn't know or shouldn't let inside, so he doesn't mind just letting whoever it is in. "I'm in the kitchen," He said again, walking a few feet away from the stove to look and see who it was.

There were two government officials in his living room, both of them dressed in the same crisp black uniform with the alpha and government pins on their collars. They made their way over to him, standing on the opposite side of the island from him.

"Good morning, Mr. Styles. Is now an alright time to ask you a few questions?" He'd never been questioned before, never had any reason to be in any kind of trouble, but he still felt a pang of nervousness spike through his chest.

"Uh, yes, of course. Let me just turn this off." He moved the pan off of the heat and turned it off, mind running wild as he tried to think of what he could have done that would have led to this. He'd always lived his life as honestly and as law-following as possible. Knowing the work his father had put into the system only made him want to respect it. "Can I get you some coffee or anything? Fresh pot," He motioned over to the machine in the corner.

"No, thank you, Mr. Styles. You're not in any kind of trouble or anything, this is just routine questioning about the attack that you witnessed at the ceremony earlier this month." A flood of relief rushed through him at that, even if he knew he'd done nothing wrong.

"Oh, right, of course. A tragedy, really, but I'm just so thankful no one was hurt."

"You walked to the ceremony alone, yes?"

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to get there early so I could be closer to the stage. My system can tell you the exact time I left, if you'd like, but I believe I left at about eight twenty."

"Right, and what happened when you got to the ceremony?"

"I ran into Liam Payne, my best friend. He was there without his omega, said that he was feeling poorly and was watching the broadcast from home. So I stood with him and we talked for a bit, then the president came on stage," He said, unsure why any of this had anything to do with this. Liam and Zayn were some of the most highly cleared people in this building -- just barely below a government official -- so he couldn't imagine why either of them would want to do anything wrong.

"So omega Zayn Payne was not present at the ceremony to the best of your knowledge?"

"No, he was not."

Louis chose that moment to come down the stairs, likely looking for the pancakes that he'd been promised, but as he walked into the kitchen, he stilled. "Gentlemen, this is my Omega, Louis," Harry said, mostly just out of politeness than anything else. "We should be done here before long, Louis, if you'd like to go back upstairs."

"Actually, Mr. Styles, if you don't mind, we'd like to ask him a few questions as well." That confused him more than anything else, but he had no reason to deny. Had Louis even been at the ceremony? He hadn't gotten a solid answer out of the omega about where he was from, but Harry just assumed neighborhood two, just because of his accent. So if he wasn't even from here, why would it need to be questioned?

"Oh, alright, that's fine," He still said, "But I'd like to be here." He knew that was within his rights in his own home, to supervise any and all alpha interaction with his own omega. The two men just nodded in agreement.

"Louis, right?" One of the men asked and Louis just nodded."We have reason to believe you were with Omega Zayn Payne during the ceremony." Harry furrowed his eyebrows, looking over to Louis with a soft frown.

"I don't know someone with that name. It's a name I'd remember, don't you think?" The official pulled out his tablet, then, and pulled up a photo of Zayn, then showed it to Louis. "Oh, oh, yes. Him and I were walking in the same direction towards the stage, not together, but an escort came over and led us over."

"Yes, of course. But this omega was at the event?"

"Oh, well, yeah." That surprised Harry more than it should have. Liam had no reason to lie to him -- especially not about something as simple as his own omega's doings, so it almost made him sad. He was sure there was a good reason for it and that Liam and Zayn would be able to reassure him just fine that it wasn't a problem, but he couldn't help but worry.

"Do you know the name of the official who escorted you?"

"No, I didn't get his name."

"Did he say anything that you think might have warranted his murder had anyone overheard it?" Harry's eyes widened at those words. He'd been told that there had been no casualties, that the attack was not successful and that all of the instigators had been captured and dealt with.

"And you were transported to a hospital directly after the event. Were you injured?"

"No. I just panicked."

"Right. Alright, that's all we have for our questions. We may have someone contact you to come in for further questioning if we deem necessary. Thank you for your time." Harry nodded and Louis just went to sit at one of the stools on the counter without so much as an acknowledgement.

He walked the two men out of the apartment and closed the door softly behind them. His anxiety had settled, but the entire thing had still managed to just leave a weird feeling in his stomach that he didn't really understand. He stood there for a moment just to collect his thoughts, but then he made his way back over to the kitchen.

Louis was still sitting at the barstool, looking out the window over the city.

"I saw you, at the ceremony. Didn't come back to me 'til just now, when they mentioned it," Harry said, trying to break the tension that their guests had created. "You got to walk because of your positive results from this year, right?" He'd always heard that unmated omegas only got to walk when they'd been recently told that they were fertile. The fertility crisis was bad enough -- but the fact that there were even fewer fertile omegas than alphas in an already small pool made them even more reason to celebrate.

"Yeah. I uh, don't want to do that again, though."

"No, of course not. The trauma from that must have been terrifying." Louis just nodded. "Anyways, pancakes?"

"Alright."

*

In all of his years working for the same company, Harry had never requested days off.

He'd fallen into a routine of working five days a week and never thought much of it. It was just a part of his life that he didn't mind living. But, with the new transition and with Louis acting so strange, he found himself struggling to give his full attention to the families that deserved it at work. So, he filled in the time off request form and tried to ignore the odd feeling of both dread and glee that filled his chest when he clicked the newly paired button beneath reasoning.

Louis had continued to act strangely after that first night – nothing like the easy, docile omega that he'd been the first few moments that they'd been together. He didn't understand it and all he wanted was to go back to those first few moments and relive them.

Instead, he was going to go home and see if all of it was caused by something he was doing. He knew there would be an easy fix to all of this, but he just needed it sooner rather than later before he stressed himself out too much to be able to function in the way he normally wanted to.

So he walked home for the last time for just over a week.

As he walked into his apartment, Louis was sitting on the couch reading a book, a crinkle in his eyebrows as he focused and his lip teased between his teeth, and that made Harry smile. There were little hints of the sweet omega of his dreams in everything that Louis did, and he couldn't wait until he was like that all the time. After all of this was fixed for good.

His legs were crossed in the arm chair that he'd pushed to be near the window and the sunlight shined bright around him, even if he still cocooned himself in a pile of blankets. He moved out of the chair and put the book on the table just beside the chair.

"Hey," Harry said, smiling. Louis looked up from his book, closing it and setting it beside him.

"Hi," Louis said with a smile.

Louis seemed to be adjusting.

That was the one thing that kept Harry sane through all of the changes, was that even if the omega still acted in ways that Harry wasn't sure he would ever be able to fully understand, he seemed to fit in more as each day passed.

They could talk at least at surface level and even if Harry had known from the beginning that they would get along, it still surprised him how well the two of them matched up. Louis was interested in a lot of the same things that he was interested in, too.

As much as it hadn't felt like it at first, he could see the two of them being happy together, one day.

*

It was the middle of the night, three days into being home, when Harry woke up to a loud, repetitive beeping. It was the first time in the week that Louis had managed to wake him up in the middle of the night, and as long as Harry kept his focus on the baby steps, on the slow adjustment, he could count that as a win.

He rolled over in bed with a soft groan, letting his eyes stay shut as he tried to lull himself back to sleep.

It was a sound he recognized, but a part of him didn't pick up exactly what it was for a few moments. As soon as he did, his heart started hammering in his chest at the thought of someone breaking into his home, breaking into his office and finding the secure documents he had in there.

He sat up quickly and turned his lamp on before the anxiety settled.

He looked over and found that Louis wasn't in bed beside him, and all he could do was sigh. The adrenaline was still rushing through him, but it subsided quickly as he rubbed at his eyes with the back of his fists. Leaning back against the headboard, he took another few seconds to collect himself, to prepare himself to go and deal with the omega once again.

It had not been a rare occurrence, to wake up and find Louis doing something other than sleeping, but he'd found that it wasn't his favorite thing to do. It's not that he was frustrated with Louis, because he wasn't.

Louis was a little much at times, but he knew that was what he was getting himself into with an omega before they'd been paired.

He crawled out of bed and tossed his slippers on as he padded down the hallway towards his office. The lights came on just enough for him to be able to see as the sensors tracked his movement through the hall.

Through the tall, pure glass doors of his office, he could see the omega. Louis was sitting on the ground, back against the wall with his knees pulled up to his chest. Quietly, Harry opened the door and let himself inside, a small frown forming on his face.

He was crying, and that made something inside of Harry's heart break.

It's not a sight that he'd seen before, Louis crying unprovoked, and it's certainly not something he ever wanted to see again. He didn't know how to deal with it, didn't know what he was supposed to do with an omega in distress, and he knew he didn't have time to go and look it up, either.

"Louis, my sweet omega, are you alright?" He asked, crouching down on the floor beside him.

"I'm sorry," He said, putting his head down to rest against the top of his knees and all Harry could do was frown. Scanning his own finger print on the top drawer of his office desk, he turned the alarms off and the blaring beeping noises came to a sudden stop. The only noises that surrounded them after that were the gentle sounds of Louis' soft cries.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. This is all new to you, and if you want to explore and look around there's nothing wrong with that. This is your home too, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to know about it." It took a moment, but eventually the omega lifted his head. His bright blue eyes were slightly reddened with tears, but they had stopped flowing. "NOA, set the light setting to 5pm,"

"Light set to 5pm," The woman-like voice repeated as the lights brightened just slightly, but still dim enough that he knew they'd be able to fall back asleep without disruption.

"What did you want to look at?"

"I don't think there was anything in particular, I was just curious."

"Okay. Well, in this top drawer there are things that deal with my work. A lot of information about other countries and how the English government interacts with them. I can't show you that stuff unless you get a job with the same level of clearance I have or special permissions. But it's all a bit boring anyhow."

"That's why the alarm went off, then."

"Mhm," he scanned his fingerprint to open the second drawer, and it chimed as the sensor turned green before it unlocked. "This drawer is most of my financial records, receipts, taxes, more boring things." He closed it back up when Louis' eyes scanned over the folders, all neatly labeled and organized both alphabetically and by color within their respective letters. "The last drawer doesn't have anything in it." He opened it to prove it, and Louis almost looked disappointed.

"Thank you for showing me," He said, still chewing at his lip.

"Do you want to tell me what actually caused all of this? Because I know you're not this upset over drawers not opening." Louis' eyes met his own briefly, and another frown flashed on his face. "If you don't want to, it's alright. But, we do live together, and you can trust me. I doubt you can tell me anything that would surprise me."

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Alright."

"Can we go back to bed now?" Louis asked, and it was the first time he thinks he'd ever heard the omega mention wanting to be anywhere near him. It made bursts of happiness spread through his chest and he hoped once again that they could make their lives work out together.

"Okay, yeah."

In a perfect world, he would want to hold Louis' hand as they made their way back to his room together, but he knew they weren't there yet. Maybe one day, maybe after their bonding period, but for that moment all they could do was wait. Maybe it was the stories of instant connections and love that was so immediate that there was no stage like this that made him believe all matches were perfect from the beginning. Or maybe it was just his own hope. But he wasn't planning on giving up on any of it, and a part of him thought that the two of them were better together than Louis could see.

They crawled back into bed and the lights slowly faded back out into the darkness he'd first woken up in.

And then it was quiet, only the sounds of their breathing between them before Louis finally spoke again.

"It's just hard to completely abandon what my life was before to come here and dedicate my entire life to being an omega, a mother. To belong to someone."

"You don't belong to me Louis. You are allowed to have a life outside of our bond."

"You just don't get it. I was completely pulled from my life without warning. I didn't know what to expect. And now I'm just supposed to go along with this predetermined time line that neither of us have a choice in?"

"Do you not... Do you not want children?"

"No, I mean, I didn't even know for certain that I was fertile until this week though. And now I'm expected to be pregnant soon? By an alpha I don't even know?" Even though the darkness, Harry could see a few more tears building in Louis' eyes all over again. It made his heart feel tight in his chest, and all he could think to do was reach over and take Louis' hand.

The omega didn't pull away.

"It's a lot. I know it's a lot. I'm never going to hurt you, Louis. This is all new and a bit confusing and scary to me, too. But we're going to navigate all of this together, and it's going to work out somehow. I can promise you that."

That seemed to settle Louis down enough to make the tears stop falling. Harry smiled and squeezed their hands, and for the first time since Louis arrived, he felt like he'd done something right.

*

Harry woke up to a notification on his tablet that he needed to bring Louis into the hospital that day and that an appointment that the system had scheduled into their daily activities for him. He clicked on the notification with his only half-awake brain just as NOA started speaking and telling the two of them it was time to wake up. He'd somehow managed to get into the habit of waking up just a few moments before schedule each morning, but he didn't mind.

Louis stirred beside him, pulled a pillow over his head in an attempt to block the noises out and Harry just smiled fondly. He knew the omega slept for most of the day when he wasn't home -- just because he checked every once in a while to make sure he was alright -- and it made him feel a bit fond to see how much his omega liked to sleep.

He turned his attention back to the notification and loaded the email, scanning his thumbprint to unlock the content.

Dear Mr.Styles,

It has come to our attention that your Omega, Louis Styles, has not been taking the required dosage of his medication orally for the last several days. We have scheduled an appointment for the medication to instead be administered through injection for today at 10:00am. Please arrive fifteen minutes early to fill out paperwork for your omega as we have none on file since he has mated.

We recommend clearing the rest of his schedule for today as the injection of these medications may cause drowsiness for the rest of the day.

Thank you.

He'd figured he would get that eventually.

As much as he'd tried the last few nights to get Louis to just take the medication, he couldn't convince him. So he'd given up, knowing this would happen before long. "Louis," He said softly to the half asleep omega beside him. "We have to get up. You have an appointment today." He didn't get an answer in response, but he tried again, "Louis, come on."

"I'm sleeping," He finally gets in response, but it makes a little smile spread over Harry's face.

"Alright then I guess I'll just go make pancakes for myself." He slung his legs over the side of the bed, but he could see Louis watching him. He'd learned that food was one of the few things he could really use to bribe Louis out of bed or really to do anything he didn't want to do - yet another thing that the manual had said was likely to happen. He'd always thought omegas weren't quite this childlike, but seeing it just seemed to confirm everything the books had said.

"Alright. Fine." Louis crawled out of bed, then, still wearing Harry's night clothes.

"NOA, make our coffees, please."

A chime was his response from the system all through the house, the affirmative noise that he'd learned to know meant that the command was taken. The two of them made their way down stairs, still in their sleep clothes, and when they walked into the kitchen, two cups of coffee were already sitting on the counter.

Louis took his with cream and a dash of sugar and it was made up exactly how he liked it. Harry kept his black most of the time and NOA always made it black unless he told it otherwise. So he grabbed his cup and walked to the island and set his cup down before he started digging out the pan and bowl to make the pancakes. Louis sat at the island and quietly drank his coffee, still watching every move that Harry made.

Harry knew that the omega didn't trust him yet. He had no reason to, given that they had only met just a few days earlier, so it made sense for him to want to be critical of everything he was doing. He had three days left with Louis before he had to go back to work, and he was more than excited to get the chance to get to know him better and find out more about him. He'd learned a few small things, but not enough to appease him. To make him feel like he knew him.

"You said something about an appointment?"

"Oh, yeah, you know how I said that they just gave me my medication by injection when I kept forgetting to take it? That's all they're gonna do for you, too," He says, turned away from Louis as he dug the dry ingredients out of the pantry.

"I don't want to take any medication," Louis repeated again, his voice sounded a bit more strained then, though. "It's not just taking the pills. I don't want to be medicated."

"You should talk to your doctor about that when he sees you, then. He might have some kind of solution."

Louis got quiet again, curled up on himself and just looked down to the ground. Harry wasn't entirely sure what to do, so he just tried not to think much about it.

Once they were finished with their breakfast, the two of them got ready and left for the doctor.

He'd fastened Louis' pins onto his collar for him, a little swell of pride flowering through his stomach as he'd done up his own with the fertile and mated alpha pin. It was a beautiful shade of forest green with a dove in the center, while Louis's was pale pink, also with a dove, although his showed a little chick under the dove's wing.

It felt good to be reminded that he was finally able to fulfil his role in The Cause, that he was finally able to do what he'd wanted to do for his entire life.

They walked in silence, and he could tell that Louis still wasn't entirely pleased that they had to do this. Harry understood, knew that it was a little overwhelming sometimes to just be told what to do and when, but he'd just gotten used to it. He could see how it was effecting Louis, even if just slightly, with the transition between a less strict neighborhood and his own, but before long, he knew Louis would be used to it, too.

They both scanned their bracelets at a checkpoint and walked through without any trouble, then got on the train right as it pulled up into the station.

The two of them sat in a different part of the train than Harry had grown accustomed to, a few rows further up than he typically did, prompted by the new coloring on both of their bracelets. It was the place where those of high status and who were mated got to sit. It sent yet another zip of pride, of happiness, through him. So much was changing because of all of this, and he was more than happy to watch it all play out in front of him.

Four stops later, Harry's bracelet vibrates to alert him to get off. He stood up and motioned for Louis to do the same, holding out his hand in offering to help him up, but Louis denied the gesture.

It doesn't bother Harry, though. He knew that it would take some time to learn Louis' boundaries and find out what he was and wasn't alright with.

The omega hospital was larger than he remembered it being, five stories tall and made of sleek white brick and large, towering windows. He didn't come to this part of town often since he typically shopped on the other side of the central city, but it was refreshing to have a change in scenery.

It felt nice to get away from the usual just for a moment.

He checked Louis in when they got to the front desk and watched a doctor come out to collect him just a few minutes later. He looked back at Harry with a look on his face that almost looked afraid, but Harry just tried to give him a reassuring smile in return. He was trying his best to navigate living with Louis, to how everything seemed so brand new in his eyes.

Louis was in the back office for about fifteen minutes before a nurse came out and greeted Harry alone.

"Alpha Styles?" She asked, looking around the room. Harry stood up and walked over to her, shaking her hand with a smile.

"Your omega needs to take this orally every day," The nurse said, handing him a bottle of pills. He had never seen pills come in a bottle before, normally distributed by the machine in his room each night. "We don't offer these in an injection as they're needed daily."

"What are they for?"

"They're the fertility vitamins. He's significantly low on many nutrients that he needs in order to be healthy enough to get pregnant and carry, so they need to be taken daily to make sure the levels are balanced in his body each day."

"Right. But he's refusing to take any medication?"

"We can give you a liquid version if you'd think it would be easier to hide that in a food or drink, but otherwise you can just crush up or dissolve these pills." Harry doesn't like the sound of that, doesn't like the idea of having to hide something from Louis that is directly affecting his health, but he doesn't feel like he really has a choice in the matter. "If he doesn't take these pills, the likelihood of him falling pregnant are significantly reduced and within a few months he will be relocated or marked infertile. Do this for him, Mr. Styles."

That, at least, helped him wrap the idea around his mind a bit easier. If he had to do this for Louis, then he would be willing.

"Alright. Can I have the liquid version instead, then?"

*

He had the bottle of medicine he was meant to give to Louis in the bottom of his bag, wrapped up in a brown paper to hide it just in case Louis were to see it. He felt bad, was the thing, because he knew that Louis wanted nothing to do with any kind of medication, but he wasn't willing to lose him over something that small. It felt like a small tsk to be able to go forward with his life and finally have a chance at having a family.

But he had an easy tell when he felt guilt, something his friends had always called him out for and told him was the most obvious give when he felt bad: he liked to buy things. Not for himself, but for others.

Louis was no exception.

"I was thinking we could go out and get dinner, and then maybe go shopping?"

"Shopping," Louis said, quirking an eyebrow. Harry nodded.

"Uhm, yeah. Yeah. Like, for anything you might need that we don't already have at the apartment." Louis was quiet and just responded with a shrug, but it wasn't a no, so Harry could accept that.

The mall was directly in the city center, with all glass walls and shops with only the nicest things inside. Designer clothes that Harry had always been fond of and home décor that he'd bought more of than he wanted to admit over the years. Older approved films could be transferred onto his tablet whenever he wanted to watch them and old-world music shops were only in the mall, and suits and clothes specific to class level and jobs were on the uppermost level of the mall.

On the lower level right as they walked inside, there was a replica structure of the first neighborhood from the years before it was built, with the original plans and notes on what stayed the same and what changed after the walls were actually built. There was a fountain inside with small, old world coins that some older people still seemed to collect sitting at the bottom, reflecting the sunlight that streamed into the windows. "What is this place?" Louis asked, eyes wide as he looked around.

He almost looked nervous, still, with the way his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth hung open just slightly. "It's the central shopping mall. There's like, food here, and shops for clothes and stuff."

"I don't – I don't like it. It's loud." Music played over the speakers in the lobby and hundreds of conversations that Harry blocked out of focus faded into the background.

"Oh – right. We don't have to stay here, if you don't want to. There are other shops that are much quieter," He started, "Or we can just go home – I mean. I want to get you things you need and I want your input on them, but we can always just order for delivery."

"Um," Louis started, eyes darting around to everyone around them, "Whichever. I just don't think I like it here very much." Harry just nodded and smiled softly.

"Okay. We can go to a different shop then." Louis nodded and followed him as he walked out, the sound slowly fading away as they got further away from the crowds of people.

The next store he took the omega to was quiet, with only one other couple inside when they entered. There were soft lights dangling on wires from the ceiling and the look of awe on the omega's face that made Harry's chest swell with pride. He wanted nothing more than to make his boy happy – because he was his. Even if things still felt awkward between them at times, he wanted to make sure Louis didn't want for anything. He wanted him to feel taken care of, loved, happy.

He wanted to build a life with the omega, even if they had to take baby steps to get there.

"Good afternoon," A young omega girl said as they walked into the store. She was wearing the uniform of the shop that Harry was familiar with from his time shopping here. "Do you need measurements taken?"

Louis looked over to Harry, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Oh, yes please. We're just shopping for him today."

The girl nodded before she pulled out a small, cloth measuring tape from a bag around her waist. "May I?" She asked Louis before he nodded and she wrapped it around his waist, then hips, upper arms, and thighs. She wrote the measurements down on a small piece of paper and handed them to the omega. "You're going to be either a small or extra small, depending on if you shop in the mens or womens section. I don't believe we have anything from the alpha department that would fit you, but I do know of a tailor who is really good if you find something that really catches your eye that doesn't fit you."

"Thank you," Louis and Harry said at the same time, and she just nodded and left them to do their shopping.

Harry grabbed a small trolley from the front of the store as they walked and then he just followed the omega to the racks of clothes. It took some time as they walked, with Louis reaching out and running his fingers across the fabric of a few different items before he stopped. Louis stopped in front of a dress, printed with soft sunflowers on a white background and yellow threads. He seemed to stare at it for a moment before he reached out to touch it, too, and all Harry could do was watch him with a smile on his face.

"Do you want that?" He asked and that broke Louis out of the slight daze he seemed to be in.

"I –" The omega paused for a moment, "It's pretty." Harry glanced back down at the measurements of Louis on his tablet and took the one in his size, folding it once and then placing it into the little basket. Louis bit his lip, looking at him with confusion, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips, and that was enough for Harry.

"Harry," Louis said once as he put another pair of trousers into the cart for the omega. "Harry, stop."

"What?"

"I don't need all these clothes. Stop getting things."

Harry opened his mouth to defend himself, but he stopped. Maybe Louis was right, but he just wanted to make him happy. And, of course, he still felt guilty. The shopping made that feeling go away, even if just slightly.

"Alright. Okay. I'm sorry. Is there anything else you need or want? I want you to be happy and comfortable, and I want to provide everything for you."

"I promise this is more than enough."

"Okay. Alright. Okay, let's go home, then."

*

Harry's palms were sweating as the eggs cooked on the stove in front of him.

Louis was sitting at the island, playing a puzzle game on his tablet, distracted enough that Harry knew he could pour the medication into his tea.

But it still felt wrong.

He knew he was doing this for Louis' health, for the health of their future child, but it didn't stop the feeling of something being wrong. How would Louis react if he caught on to what he was doing? Not well - that much he knew.

"Louis, would you go get my tablet from our room, please? I think I left it up there." He hadn't left it up there, but he needed Louis to step away, even if just for a moment. The omega looked at him with an odd expression on his face, an eyebrow raised.

"Why don't you just go get it?"

"I don't want the food to burn."

Louis didn't protest after that, just got up and made his way to their bedroom. Harry was quick after that when he grabbed the cup of coffee that Louis had barely started drinking and poured three milliliters of the clear medication into it.

Then, he tucked the bottle back beneath the counter where he kept the onions. It was one of the few places he figured Louis would never look.

A few moments later, Louis was coming back down the stairs, no tablet in hand. "I didn't see it in there."

"Oh. NOA, where's my tablet?"

"Your tablet is in the living room, Harry," The robotic voice called out. Louis looked at him with a weird look, but Harry just shrugged.

He had two bars of the orange infused chocolate hidden beneath the countertops that he'd bought after the appointment. He'd always had a tendency to spend money on anyone who he felt he even minorly inconvenienced. Even if this was more than a minor inconvenience, he couldn't help it. Somehow, he felt like he needed to make up for what he was doing.

He was meant to go back to work the following day, so both of their schedules were clear, just to make time for them to keep getting to know one another.

---

Harry went back to work on a Thursday.

The August sun was high in the sky, hot and beating down against the pavement as he walked.

He'd started walking to work three years previous, in his own commitment to keeping himself away from public transit after the rumors of rebellion attacks being most frequent there. Of course, he hadn't heard of anyone who had experienced it personally, but just the whispers of possibility were more than enough to keep him away.

After the incident at the Ceremony, he only wanted to keep his promise to himself even more. So, he limited taking transit as much as he could and only took it when he needed to or was going farther than he was willing to walk.

The streets were just as busy as usual, the bustle of weekday life all around him as everyone in the center center made their way to work. He'd always been grateful for having been placed in an apartment just slightly out of Center City, just because it was a little quieter.

At times, he loved the noise and the life of all of his fellow citizens, but other times he enjoyed the peace, too.

He made his way through the checkpoints without his usual small talk, just giving polite smiles and answering the questions they asked him as he made his way through.

He felt off, weird in a way that wasn't quite sick but wasn't entirely normal, either, and he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that was making him feel that way.

Something felt different as he walked into the same, excessively tall glass doors to the same building he'd worked in since he was nineteen, and it was frustrating. The anger he felt sitting just beneath his skin wasn't who he was - it wasn't how he wanted to be. Anger wasn't an emotion he felt often, and it certainly wasn't something he'd ever felt in that way without being provoked.

It was irritating, and all it served to do was set him further off of his normal.

He thought - maybe - it might have something to do with Louis. Leaving the omega alone in his apartment that morning had been one of the hardest things he'd had to do since they paired, but at the same time he hadn't really put much thought into it. Getting ready and falling into his usual schedule hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. Getting up and leaving the sleeping boy in bed beside him hadn't made him feel wrong or off.

It all just started once he was outside.

His assistant was sitting at her desk just outside of his office when he walked out of the elevator, and she had two cups sitting on her desk. "Welcome back Mr.Styles!" She said, cheery and happy as ever.

She was an omega, too, but infertile. His company had never hired fertile omegas because of the long-term needs of their employees. It made enough sense in his mind - since there were few businesses at all within the district that hired fertile omegas. It was still rare to see an omega with a job at all, but since she was unpaired and infertile, she'd been able to keep her place as his assistant.

She handed him the cup as he walked by, and he just smiled curtly in response.

When he sat down, he noticed the tension deep inside of his muscles, and slowly it crept up to be the only thing on his mind. He stretched, tried to move his body around to make the weird aching go away, but it stayed no matter what he did.

It kept him distracted for most of the day, through different clients and families and situations, to the point where the entire day almost felt like a blur.

He sent a message to Louis to ask him if he was doing alright and see if he needed anything about half way through the day, only to get no response, and that made the tense feeling in his muscles feel tighter.

Over lunch, between reading his booklet on how to handle the omega, he checked his messages almost obsessively waiting to see if Louis had responded. Each time he found that the omega hadn't. Each time he managed to make up some other excuse for the omega in his mind - like maybe he didn't know how to work the system Harry has installed, or maybe he wasn't feeling well and was still in bed, or anything else. But none of them were logical, and it only made him more nervous the longer it went on.

A part of him was still more than worried for the omega, especially because of the drugs that they'd given him at the facility only having just worn off. It had taken far too long for him to remember where he was and why he was there, and a part of him worried Louis might run off or hurt himself in some way.

He'd tried his best to do some reading on how to handle Louis, but each time that he tried when he was home, the omega always seemed to pop up. A part of him wondered if Louis knew what he was reading and was curious, but the better part of him figured it was just the omega side of him that needed constant attention.

But since he had enough down time and needed something to take his mind off of his own frustration, he pulled the book out of his bag and flipped through the pages.

The book itself was two hundred and eight pages long, mostly filled with pages of walls of text.

Pictures started filling the space on the chapter about sex, but Harry wasn't entirely interested in that part. He wasn't sure he wanted to feel like he was back in secondary school getting the awkward omega talk from his father all over again. Or maybe it was the same part of him that didn't want to look at Louis naked when they'd first been matched that doesn't want to read that chapter.

The part of him that wanted Louis to have a say in things like that.

Even if, logically, he knew that they had less than five and a half weeks left of their bonding time, he wasn't entirely ready to think about sex with Louis just yet. Not when the omega could barely sit through supper with him without the atmosphere turning awkward or tense.

He picked up at page forty.

It was the end of Chapter One, most of which he'd just skimmed since it was a brief history on how omegas came to exist followed by the history of fertility and infertility - which he knew enough about from his years of history classes in school.

He turned the page to Chapter Two: Day to Day During Your Bonding Time with an Omega,

the section he knew he should have started reading when Louis first showed up, but he hadn't.

Maybe that's why he was struggling so much with handling the omega.

First of all, the authors of this book congratulate you on your cooperation with the Cause for Humanity and Population Restoration. We will refer to this, as commonly heard, as the Cause throughout this book. This chapter covers the basics you as the Alpha of your household need to be aware of to properly care for the omega you've been delivered throughout the next six weeks. Included are general tips about Omegas, though there may be some slight variation due to personality differences.

This book is specified for Omegas who have not previously been in a pairing. If you received this book in mistake, please consult your pairing coordinator to get the copy to better suit your needs.

Below the introduction paragraph was a short outline of the chapter, and Harry had to read it a few times before he fully prepared himself to start the real bulk of the chapter. It was a lot to take in. It was a book he never really thought he would get to hold in his hand at all when he was infertile, yet it's something he still didn't know how to feel about.

It was further proof of the life that he'd been given the blessing to lead. Of the chance he'd been given. Somewhere, beneath the unexplained agitation under his skin, the constant thrum of excitement and joy still made its home.

He turned the page.

Omegas, naturally, are needy creatures who enjoy the company of those familiar to them. This is only exaggerated by their fertility. In the beginning, the omega will have difficulty adjusting to you, their new alpha, as they are no longer in the spaces they had built with previous companions. This adjustment period is labelled in the timeline as "Home Building".

He frowned as he read, remembering how Louis had talked about being ripped from his life. That hadn't been something he'd previously put a lot of thought into. The idea was unsettling in a way - especially when he thought about it in his own situation. He wouldn't entirely like to be taken away from his own life and be expected to just adjust, either.

But this is natural and Omegas expect this. They expect alphas to dominate their lives and choose what they do; it's in their biology to listen to an alpha without resistance. The omega will adapt to you within a few days of delivery.

He could only hope that was true, as he read on. Louis had certainly warmed up slightly in the few days that he'd been at Harry's house, but it hadn't been a major improvement. It was some improvement though, and that was all he really needed as proof that something was changing.

Caring for an omega is similar to caring for a child in many ways, and practicing caring for your omega now will help prepare you for caring for your soon to be child.

You must ensure that the omega takes their medication each morning. The tablets help with fertility and give essential vitamins that your omega needs to ready their body to mother children. These are the same tablets your omega should have been taking since they were delivered to you, but you should still ensure that the medication is being taken as instructed.

Omegas need certain amounts of caloric intake, indicated by their body mass. Below is a chart of caloric needs. If your omega does not fall within the range of the green, please see your new Family Care Doctor to work on a plan for your omega to gain or lose enough weight to fall into the child-bearing weight.

Should your omega not fall into this weight range at the end of your six-week bonding period, they may be given special care instructions or hospitalized for medical supervision to ensure there are no hormonal problems preventing the omega from falling into this range.

He turned the page again, just as a notification bell rang on his computer.

He waved the notification forward and tucked the book away, back safely into the top drawer of his desk, before he started reading the file for the new client he'd been given.

Walk-In clients kept coming in for nearly four hours after that. It was a constant stream in a way he didn't see often, only when their liberation and rescue teams discovered large sub-groups of refugees, but it kept his mind busy. It kept him occupied enough, but it didn't stop the way that he didn't get as excited just to be around the kids, didn't get as excited to welcome a new omega child into their city with a bright blue pin badge, didn't get as excited to welcome families into ALL or to send them safely on their way to their new lives in the military states.

All of that was too blocked out by the awkward, angry, tense feeling that still rested just beneath his skin.

When he finally got a break, he leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. It was getting a little longer than he liked it and that made him sigh once again.

"Anna," He called his assistant in, checking his watch and seeing he had an hour left of work for the day.

"Yes, Mr. Styles?"

"How many other appointments do I have for the day?"

"None scheduled."

"Are there any other officers available for walk-ins?" She pulled her tablet out and scrolled through a page. Harry rolled his shoulders again, a useless attempt to get the feeling out.

"Yes. Two."

"Okay. I'm going to leave early today, but I'll be in an hour early tomorrow to make up for it. Will you let the walk in officers know?"

"Of course. Have a good rest of your day, Sir."

He took the book from the drawer in his desk and shoved it into his work bag before he slung it over his shoulder and headed out.

It was still warm as he made his way down the pavement further into Center City. Mid-summer still brought the longest days, but his body clock had always taken nearly the entire season to catch up, only to fall behind once again as the next season swept in.

"Hi, does Dr. Lus have any walk in appointments available for this afternoon?" He asked the secretary. An alpha with wide shoulders that gave away his status faster than the coloring on his identification bracelet.

"It looks like he does. But not for half an hour. Would you like me to schedule you for that slot?"

"Yes, please. Harry Styles, date of birth two-one-sixty-three." He scanned his bracelet over the reader when it flashed the pale green it always did when it was ready to read his information.

"Fantastic. You're all set for a 4:45 appointment Mr. Styles. Feel free to have a seat in the waiting room to your left, or we will send a ping to your bracelet ten minutes prior to your appointment if you would like to step outside."

He nodded before he made his way to the waiting room and took a seat nearest the door.

The television hung on the wall was showing the afternoon's approved program. Some old movie with the date at the bottom reading 2022. When he was younger he used to love Thursday's afternoon programming, because it was always a film from the old world. Something cool and odd and different enough from his own life - yet still so similar - that he could attach himself to the characters.

He'd lost interest over the years, though.

Instead, he pulled the booklet back out of his bag and flipped back to the page he'd left off with.

There was a new heading, and more text right beneath it.

How to treat your omega and other common questions.

The proper way to treat an omega is controversial in social nature, but the science behind it is well studied and sound. The gene of fertility inside of omegas makes them particularly sensitive, and because of this it's best to speak to them in a voice that is around the same volume you would use in a hospital room. Below normal conversation volume but louder than whispering. This is best done by making your voice lower and using a soft vibration behind it.

It was a weird way to talk, he thought, but he knew that these were the people who had dedicated their lives to doing what they do. To studying how omegas worked and functioned and interacted, so he knew that it was best to trust them. A part of him was almost nervous to see how Louis would react to the change - and he was almost upset with himself for not having done the reading he needed to be doing before now to know to do that before.

He just hoped that something as simple as the way he talked would help with Louis' aggression.

An aggressive omega wasn't something he ever wanted, yet just the thought of Louis not being what he wanted brought on the thoughts of sending him back. That only made the tightness in his muscles return even stronger than it had been before. A part of him had already settled in with Louis, had already started fantasizing about having a life with him and a future with him, even if he wasn't exactly what he'd imagined.

Omegas should have set schedules put in place for their day-to-day activities. You should set the time they are meant to wake up, cook, bathe, and go to sleep at night. This helps create a routine for your omega and will also be the routine they will follow with your child(ren) when they are born. As previously mentioned, omegas do not adjust well to change and may show signs of hostility with this in the beginning, so the set schedule should be one you are comfortable having permanently and should be put in place in the second week of your bonding period.

"Mr. Styles?" A voice interrupted his reading, and he was quick to put the book back into his bag, standing and following the doctor. "Newly matched?"

"Oh, yeah. Just this week actually."

"I thought I saw that in your file. Congratulations."

"Thank you," He said, smiling as the two of them turned the corner into the exam room.

"What's bothering you today then?"

"It's a little strange and I can't really explain it," He started, and the man across from him remaining expressionless. "I'm a little antsy? And I yelled at Louis once this week, and I've felt just off, and I can't remember feeling like this ever before in my life."

"It's an easy problem to fix, Mr. Styles. It's actually quite common. In the Old World, humans relied on their sex trait instincts - in your case Alpha instincts - and sometimes those resurface when they're unneeded. Since you've recently welcomed the omega into your home, your instincts feel you need to protect something, and that's causing this aggression," He paused and pulled out a tablet from his drawer and tapped the screen a few times, "Since you came in early to treat it, it's easily manageable for now and preventable for the future."

"That's all it is?"

"Yes, Mr. Styles, there's nothing wrong with you. I've just sent in a short round of inhibitors. It's a week course of tablets, take one each morning with food and your typical multivitamin."

"Right. Thank you, Doctor."

"Of course. Have a good rest of your day Mr. Styles."

*

Harry woke up to the sound of the shower running.

His eyes opened slowly, and the tiredness hit him hard as he forced himself to sit up. The clock on the nightstand across the room read 4:02am, and all Harry could do was sigh. He hadn't entirely gotten used to Louis' middle of the night antics, though at this point he doubted he ever would.

It took more effort than he was entirely willing to give, but he forced himself out of bed and walked over to the bathroom. The wooden floors beneath his feet weren't heated to the temperature they were set to be when he usually got up, and the cold made him wince slightly as he walked.

"Louis, you alright?" He asked, ducking his head into the bathroom.

The omega wasn't in the shower, but instead he was kneeling in front of the toilet. Harry's body went into high alert so quickly that his heart skipped a beat in his chest, and he knelt down beside the omega, putting a hand on his back.

"This is gross, please go back to bed."

"How long have you not been well?"

"I just woke up like an hour ago. It's not a big deal. Go back to bed."

"No, here. I have something that might help," He said before he stood and opened his medicine cabinet. In the top right corner was a bottle of pills that helped when he had a bout of nausea the year previous. "Yeah, see. These might help. At least enough to help you get to bed. Let me make you some dry toast and a cup of tea so you can take them?" Louis still wasn't looking at him, but he dry heaved again a few seconds later.

That's all it took before he was nodding. When he stood up, Harry got a better look at him. He looked pale, and there were fewer tears in his eyes. He certainly didn't look well, and it made something in Harry's heart hurt. The part of him that cared deeply about Louis as the mother of his future children and his future mate overruling the part of him that was annoyed by being woken up in the middle of the night.

Louis sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen as Harry stuck a piece of bread into the toaster and flicked on the water kettle, then leaned back against the counter. The omega put his head down in front of him, and he looked small in more ways than physical for the first time since he arrived. Ever since he showed up at Harry's door, he'd been trying to make himself look bigger by being loud, by being a brat, by doing whatever it was he wanted to do to try and defy the omega inside of him.

But for the first time, he truly looked small. Omega like.

Harry's heart was fond.

The toast popped up before long and he was quick to put it on a plate, pour the not-quite boiling but still hot water into a cup, plop a tea bag in, and put both things in front of the omega. Then he poured two of the pills from the bottle in his hand and handed them over to Louis. He looked at the toast for a moment too long, like he almost couldn't stomach eating it, before he gave in and took a bite of the toast.

It took longer than it needed to, but Harry still sat there alongside him and watched as he tried to stomach it all down, followed by the pills. A part of him didn't mind it or even almost enjoyed it. Enjoyed the small moments where he got to see Louis truly being himself, and that's all he really needed. There weren't many times where he got to see it, and as much as he hoped he'd see it more as their time together went on, he wasn't entirely sure.

So he had to enjoy the small things, instead.

It was still clear how many blocks and walls Louis had managed to build so strongly around himself - and Harry knew that those walls were hard to break down.

Once Louis finished, Harry put his plate into the washer for him.

But right as he did, Louis walked up and leaned over the sink and started dry heaving again, face still twisted into a pained expression. Frowning, Harry rubbed at his back again, before putting two fingers against the top of his forehead. "You have a fever. I'm going to call my friend alright? He's a doctor so he should be able to tell me if I need to take you in to get looked at."

"Why wouldn't he just be able to look at me if that's the case?" Louis said, snark filling his still weak voice.

"He's a pediatrician. So. Unless you're six years old and I missed the memo, I don't think he can help." Louis laughed, a soft, airy laugh, and it made Harry smile just slightly. "Come on, let's get you back to bed and I'll message him." Louis just followed him wordlessly, and something inside of Harry felt bad at the thought, but he almost wished Louis was sick more often. The way he was so soft and kind and easy to handle when he was feeling unwell - it was all exactly what he'd always wanted in an omega.

Louis crawled back into bed and wrapped the blanket tightly around himself, face down against one of the feathered pillows. Grabbing his tablet and sitting in the spot right beside the omega, Harry sent a message to Liam.

The clock read 5:11am then, and Harry had always known Liam to be up by five each morning.

So he hoped that he was and that he'd be able to come and look at Louis.

Their online messaging system showed Liam as online, so Harry took that as confirmation and typed up his message. Hey, Liam! The omega I was matched with is feeling really poorly and I wanted to ask if you would be willing to pop down and see if I need to take him to A&E or if he's alright to just rest it off? I'll buy your dinner at lads night... and a beer :). Cheers!

His message was read within a few minutes of being sent, and just a few seconds after the little typing dots popped up, there was a new message on his screen.

Of course. Wanted to meet him anyway. Be down in five.

He tucked the tablet back away in his drawer and made his way out to the living room and put on a pot of coffee. The brightness of the lights slowly started climbing as the sun came out, too, and Harry rubbed at the sting in his eyes. The light would be at their full brightness by six, when he was used to getting out of bed, but he almost didn't mind being awake in the early hours every once in a while.

Light pinks and purples illuminated the sky over the city, perfectly visible from the height of his apartment. A crescent of the sun peeked over the water of the river, sending reflections of the light bouncing throughout the seemingly endless expanse of the land around him.

The smell of coffee filled the apartment, and just as it switched off when it brewed, there was a soft tapping at his door.

"Liam," He said, smiling as he opened the door. The other man pulled him into a hug, a smile on his face too.

"Hi, Harold. I missed you, you've been missing since you were matched."

"Yeah, I know. He's certainly kept me busy."

"Are you both doing well?"

"Yeah, of course. He's warming up to me a bit more, now, I think. Shame you two have to meet when he's ill. But, help yourself to coffee or whatever, let me go get him." Liam nods again as Harry makes his way back up the stairs and into the room, then places a hand on Louis' shoulder gently.

"Louis," He said, and the omega groaned softly. "The doctor is here. Can you come out?"

"Mm, yeah, alright."

They were both still in their nightclothes, but Louis didn't seem to mind. He'd always had this image of omegas in his mind - that they were conscious of things like fashion and appearances, but Louis had squashed all of those thoughts down faster than Harry thought possible. It was only proven again when Louis didn't even bat an eye at walking down the stairs to greet his friend.

Louis rubbed at his eyes before he looked up and he and Liam's gazes met.

Louis took one look at him and he looked even paler than he had before.

"Louis, this is Liam. He's a good friend of mine. He's gonna check on you, make sure you're alright," He said with a smile.