Polaris || l.s.

chapter 16: olympia

"Oh, my!"

He was up on his feet in less than a second, hobbling on his feet once before he steadied himself and went near the patch of wildflowers growing up by the fences. He stilled when he was barely a few meters away from the sleeping animal, crouching down to assess its form.

It was a baby goat with white fur that had been blemished with grime and tendrils of dry grass. Before he could make or even formulate his next move, the animal jolted upright, pushing itself up primarily through its hind legs. The victory only lasted for a mere second though, as the animal slipped and fell in a disgruntled pile on the ground. He cautiously neared the whining goat, frowning when he realized the poor thing was whining in distress.

The kid didn't oppose in any way when he picked it up, instead cuddled close to his chest whilst he checked for the source of its sorrow. A little check under its tail confirmed his suspicions that the kid was indeed a female. And another examination exposed a meager wound that had scraped off the fur protecting the flesh near her left hoof. Frowning, he ran a careful hand through her fur, cradling her closer to his chest before he set on the trek to the house.

It was another one of those seldom days where he had awoken before Louis. He had laid tangled in the sheets until the first ray of dawn had cracked through the gaps of the window, occasionally stealing a glance towards Louis (truthfully, it was more than occasionally and definitely more than just mere glances but feeding lies to his inner omega was more relieving than accepting the truth, and so he rolled along with whatever felt right at the moment).

The sun was becoming harsh with its heat by now, the nippy air of the early morning waning as he maneuvered his way through the lawn, barefooted.

Of course, he couldn't leave the poor kid to her own devices, especially when she was wounded. Though the wound wasn't anything that could be considered severe, it didn't sit right with him to just leave her alone to fend for herself. If she was this deep into the forest, it was certain that she had either been left behind by her herder or had simply wandered into the unknown on her own. Both of the options sounded horrific to him, especially since she was a mere baby with theatrically big brown eyes.

He reached the porch steps quicker than he had anticipated. Something held him back from entering the house, however. He looked down at the kid, his lips curling in a tiny smile at the sensation of a wet mouth nuzzling against the crook of his neck. "Would you mind if I call you Olympia?" He asked in a whisper, ascending the two rickety steps almost absentmindedly. In retrospect, it was a horrible name but he had always wanted to have a pet and name it something so horrible that it would stick with others - the name, that was.

Come to think of it, the name suited her.

Louis was already awake when he entered the small house they had been sharing, a kettle of hot water simmering by the hob. "Good thing you are back, I might have to visit the - heavens, did you bring a fucking goat into my house?" Louis had slipped on a shirt before Harry could gawk at the alpha's back muscles more. His eyes were wide and unrealistically blue today, Harry noted. "N-No! She brought me into your house!" He blurted out in his defense, ignoring the weak bleat Olympia let out against his skin.

"Harry -"

"Her name is Olympia and she can bleat like any normal goat!" He tried to adopt a new tactic. As if convincing Louis to take in a baby goat because it was a goat was persuasible. He even went so far as to hold the kid at an arm's length in front of him so Louis could take in her enchanting eyes and fall in love as he had. It didn't work. Louis stared at him with an impassive curl of his eyebrow, arms crossed across his chest. "Did you name her that?" The alpha finally spoke after what felt like an eternity. Louis' voice and his facial expressions were both indifferent, unlike the times when they were a dead giveaway to whatever the alpha was feeling.