Polaris || l.s.

chapter 9: bloom

"You have nice hair."

Niall commented from beside him, running a loose hand through his curls. Liam nodded in agreement, popping a piece of strawberry in his mouth. "Can I braid it?" Liam questioned once he had swallowed down the fruit. "Oh, that'll be nice! We could weave it along with some nice flowers." It was Niall who had jumped in, his blue eyes wide and jarringly exhilarated.

"Sounds nice, Ni," Liam mumbled, reaching forward to drop a loving peck atop his omega's head. Niall beamed at the action of affection, cheeks flushed in felicity. Harry wondered if he could ever have his own person. The person who would give him unsolicited kisses. Kisses on his neck, head, lips, cheeks, and everywhere in between. "No roses, please. We could add in some daisies?" It was Liam's voice that pulled him out of his reverie, the brunet arguing softly with Niall over which flowers they could pick. "You are no fun!" Niall whined, wriggling out of Liam's embrace to sit far away from both of them.

"You can throw a tantrum over it, and I wouldn't care. We're weaving in daisies and some other wildflowers from the field." Liam proclaimed with an air of finality, standing up from the flimsy fabric they had placed over the jagged ground. Harry squinted against the daylight, watching as Niall followed behind his mate begrudgingly, the pair walking out of the warm shade of the oak tree. It was once they had walked a good distance away from him that Liam turned around abruptly, eyes wide as if the realization that they had left him behind had just dawned upon him.

"Are you coming, Harry?"

"No, I will be fine here. You two can go ahead." He smiled from behind his crossed arms, chin resting atop his knees. "Are you certain, 'arry?" His smile widened at Niall's thick accent, and as he shook his head again to assure the omegas he was fine on his own for a while, he caught sight of Louis and Zayn emerging from one of the bushes outlining the field. Liam and Niall left after much convincing, talking in hushed whispers, totally overlooking the two alphas headed their way.

It was nice, he concluded.

Zayn and his omegas never made him feel as if he was an intruder. Harry never knew it was this easy to make friends. Or perhaps, it was them who made sure the whole process of him 'fitting in' was easy for him. Either way, Harry was happy here. Some rare nights when he couldn't will himself to fall asleep right away, his mind would wander back to the questions that had haunted him since the night he had started plotting his escape. He wondered how Leon was holding up back in Eonshire. He wondered if his father had connected the dots and punished Leon in some sick, twisted way of his. He wondered if Leon had finally resigned now that Harry wasn't there. He did remember the omega admitting he had an affair with an alpha back home, in Comantem. He had always wanted to resign from his job at the palace, but Harry had somehow always held him back.

"What's got you so deep in your head, doll?" Blinking, he peered up at Louis who was hovering over him with an amused smile. "Nothing." He replied, adjusting the hem of his dress so it rested well below his shins. Another perk of befriending Niall and Liam had to be the new dresses and nightgowns they bombarded him with. Niall had the habit of sewing up new clothes in his free time, and since Liam wasn't particularly fond of dresses and nightgowns, the piled-up clothes had ended up in Harry's possession- after a little tweaking-up to make them fit on his body, of course.

Harry was a little sad that he couldn't wear the tunics Louis had bought for him more frequently now, but the rush of confidence the dresses pumped in his system was starting to dampen the guilt with each passing day. "Where did Liam and Niall run off to?" Zayn questioned, still standing up a few feet away from the blanket, whereas Louis had long before taken a seat beside him, munching on a few fruits they had brought along. "They are down there collecting flowers." Zayn turned towards the open field, hands on his hips as his eyes sought his omegas. "I'll be right back." The alpha announced after a beat, turning towards them to bid goodbye before he was off.