pretty please (with sugar on top) - larry stylinson

18

The shower was like hitting a reset button. He spent at least an hour beneath the warm water, steam billowing around him as he washed every crevice of his body. He shaved everywhere out of habit, used a coconut hair mask, and contemplated his status as a bad bitch sugar baby now that he was uselessly pining after an alpha who had no interest in him.

Then he turned off the water, wrapped up in a fluffy towel, and forced himself to stop worrying about it. Vacation. He was on vacation.

Vacation called for at least one night of self care, didn't it?

Maybe Louis would want to join him, and they could make a night of it. Harry used to do that all the time with his omega friend Zayn, before everything went to shit.

Zayn would come over and they would order takeout, apply facemasks, paint their nails, and watch rom coms or horror movies depending on whose night it was to pick the film. They would laugh about how needy their sugar daddies were and trade stories about ridiculous things that happened while on a date or in bed with an alpha. They would stay up all night, until the morning sky began to glow with the promise of the sun and Zayn had to get home.

Harry sighed, letting his forehead rest on the bathroom door. Thinking about Zayn made him feel so upset, he was sick to his stomach. They had been friends ever since Harry moved to NYC and they met in an unlikely situation, at a double-date dinner party in some stuffy penthouse that ended with them getting knotted in the same room by different alphas, which was peak hoe activity but as far as Harry was concerned, the gifts he was showered in afterwards made it worth it.

Then just a few months ago, Zayn met some alpha who was different. He was the one. He made Zayn want to give up sugaring and settle down in a brownstone in Manhattan for a life of domestic bliss. And suddenly Zayn and Harry weren't on the same page anymore. They fought, said some nasty things to each other, made bitchy comments, and Harry stormed out of Zayn's apartment that day feeling like his entire livelihood had been insulted by the one person he thought actually understood.

It made him feel angry and upset all over again just thinking about it. Zayn could fuck right off, for all he cared. Harry didn't need him. A few months after he left, Harry met Niall, and everything was okay again. It wasn't the same as having an omega to confide in, someone else in the sugar bowl who understood, but Niall was great in his own way and he was able to offer Harry comfort in the form of his alpha scent which soothed him whenever he was feeling lonely and starved of affection.

He stepped out of the bathroom with his towel wrapped around his shoulders to keep him warm. The air conditioning was on, pumping cold air through the vents, and it had felt refreshing before his shower, but now it just made his teeth chatter.

Warm pair of sweats, maybe a hoodie or a jumper too... That was the plan.

Right when he threw the towel on the bed to hurry into his clothes, a shriek rang through the air.

"Fuck, sorry!"

Harry's jaw dropped open. Louis was standing by the bureau with a shiny bracelet draped over his fingers. The omega had half a mind to cover himself with his hands, but not before Louis got a total eyeful.

"What're you doing in here?" His voice was squeakier than usual, nothing like the usual deep timbre he'd practiced over the years. Nakedness didn't bother him, but being caught off-guard like this was frazzling. His heart was racing.

With his hands clasped firmly over his eyes, Louis inhaled a ragged breath. "I... My sister just texted me saying she left a bracelet on the dressing table the last time she was over. S-sorry."