“Now I feel bad for trying to set you up on dates,” Niall laughed, either not sensing the tension in the air, or misjudging the reason for it. “How come you never mentioned this before?”

“Doesn’t concern you,” Louis replied, finally snatching his shirt from the hook, his movements frantic.

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy, Lou. Who is this person that managed to charm you?”

Harry should intervene, stop the situation from escalating, should dismiss Niall with some work, but his body refused to obey. His mind kept playing the images of that scar, of the glimpse of scarred skin, of the years of evidence in that mark. There was a knot in his stomach, tightening further and further, making his chest feel empty and his heart beat faster.

“You have to introduce them to us,” Niall grinned, swinging his arm around Louis' shoulders.

Maybe that was the final straw, the last stretch that snapped the tightly wound thread. “I said it doesn’t fucking concern you!” Louis snapped, brushing Niall away, eyes wide and unfocused as he made his escape from the room, stumbling past the door.

“What? I – I didn’t mean to upset him,” Niall spoke, seeming lost as he looked at Harry.

“It’s not your fault,” he tried to assure, somehow managing to find his voice, “You should head home, I’ll see where he is.”

“I should apologise,” Niall’s eyes darted to the door, a nervous energy radiating from him, “It must be something bad if he doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“You can talk to him tomorrow, Agent Horan,” he spoke with a finality. He didn’t know where Louis had fled, or what he was thinking. The omega had been on the verge of panic, he dreaded the state he would find him in. “Have a good night.” He grabbed his and Louis' bag, slinging one over his shoulder before leaving the room.

Maybe he had been curt with Niall, but the man should have stopped with his questions the moment Louis had refused to answer the first one.

Harry found Louis shooting targets, sighing in resignation when the omega looked at him and then turned away. He dropped their bags on the counter and leaned against it, waiting until Louis had taken his frustration out on the dummies.

“What do you want?” Louis asked without turning back, reloading the gun and starting to shoot again before Harry had the chance to reply. “If you’re expecting me to apologise to Niall, you can kindly fuck off,” he said once the magazine was empty.

“I just wanted to check on you. I don’t want you to apologise, but you should be respectful.”

“Why? Because I shouldn’t insult your subordinates?”

“Because he is your friend,” he reminded.

“He is not my fucking friend!” Louis slammed the earmuffs and glasses on the counter, an irrational anger in his eyes, as if he was itching to pick a fight, “I don’t make friends.”

“Right, you only push people away.”

“That’s a low blow, Styles,” he laughed derisively, closing the distance between them, “Did you come here on my behalf, or to confront what you saw?”

What he had seen had nearly torn him apart. He had suspected, but the evidence of it had still given him a shock.

“I don’t care about your bond,” he said, a heaviness in his chest at the lie that slipped so easily past his lips.

“Our bond!” Louis hissed, pointing an accusatory finger at his chest, “And don’t you dare lie to me. You have no idea how easy you are to read. Still pining after me, aren’t you? Always wondering where you went wrong. Always thinking what you could’ve done differently. Well, let me ease your conscience, no matter what you had done, I would have left you either way.”

Harry had never doubted Louis' cruelty, knew that the omega could quite effectively make him suffer with mere words, but he had hoped the man still held some affection for him, some fondness to dull his sharp edges. He could feel the sting of those sharp words, of the realisation that underneath the surface there were barbed wires ready to skin him.

He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, it was idiotic how all these emotions grappled at him, he should have made peace with the truth years ago. He had made peace with it, but then the omega had came crashing back into his life, upending the carefully patched pieces of him.

He gave a single nod, “I will be waiting in the car.”

“That’s it?” Louis scoffed at his retreating form, “That’s all you have got to say?”

He didn’t stop to look back, didn’t fall for the dangling bait. A fight was what Louis was pushing for, so he could scream and shout his frustrations, use his words as weapons. But Harry didn’t have it in himself to fight. He fought everyday, his job was an unending cycle of battle, either intellectual or physical. Louis had been his one form of eternal peace, his solace and happiness, but in the end, even he had not found Harry worthy of kindness.

There was something about car rides and heavy silences. So often they found themselves enduring it.

-

Enduring work the next day had been nearly impossible. His mind kept drifting to Louis, wondering if he was alright being alone at home, whether he had eaten or not, whether he had finally found his chance to leave.

Harry had to make excuses why the omega was not with him, stating that he was feeling under weather. Niall had refused to look him in the eye, burning with misplaced guilt. It might have been Niall’s words that triggered Louis’ anger, but it was their shared past that had boiled it to the surface. The omega had refused to leave his room after storming out of the car, had sent Harry away when he had tried to get him down for dinner.

He wouldn’t be too surprised if he went home and found it empty, it had already happened once after all.

But Louis was home, Harry felt his presence as soon as he unlocked the door. Though, it didn’t do much to tamper his ire when he found the lunch untouched, kept inside the refrigerator exactly where he had left it in the morning.

“Louis,” he called through the door, knocking loudly when the omega ignored him, “I don’t care for your tantrums, or that you keep yourself locked away, but you need to eat!”

He heard some shuffling inside before then the door swung open, or rather, was yanked open.

“Stop bothering me,” Louis spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes swollen and red, hair in a dishevelled state.

“You’re being immature about this.” And maybe that was not the way he should've gone about it, but he was on the brink of losing his patience.

“Am I?” Louis asked, furious as he stepped into his space. “You keep lying and lying. For once can you just stop and say the truth?”

“What have I lied about?” It was offensive how easily Louis accused him when Harry had been more honest than Louis deserved.

“That you don’t care about our bond! Just stop lying!”

“Is that what this is about?” He sighed, tired and worn out, “You have no right to demand any sort of truth from me.”

“I have every right—”

“You left me, Louis,” he reminded, standing to his full height, following as Louis drew back inside the room, “You chose to walk away and leave me behind.”

“But I am still your mate,” the omega gulped, his eyes shimmering, “And you can’t say that to me. You can’t say you don’t care for our bond… because that would mean you don’t care about me.”

Harry clenched his teeth; he had finally reached the end of his patience. If it was truth that Louis wanted, Harry could give that away, too. He had given every part of himself to the man. Why not this, too? “Fine, yes, I do care about our bond, and I do care about you, and most days I pretend that I don’t hate myself for it!”

“You don’t—”

“No,” he stopped the omega, “You wanted the truth, didn’t you? You know what I felt when you left me? I was confused, at first, and then I was so fucking scared for months. Because from what I remember, we were happy, we were so happy, Louis. We were engaged, our wedding was six weeks away, we had gone to look at doves because you wanted them for the wedding and who was I to ever deny you anything. I told you that night that I couldn’t wait to call you my husband, I was so stupidly deep in love with you. And guess what? I come back home from work the next day, and there’s no you.”

Harry gulped past the lump in his throat, clenching his eyes as the memories overtook him, threatening to pull him under, “I thought maybe you were held up in the office, but then hours went by and you weren’t home, you weren’t answering your phone and at some point, it stopped ringing. I called everyone we knew, but I couldn’t find you. When I reported you missing, the cops concluded that you had left of your own accord, and a part of me knew that was true but I refused to believe it. I kept looking for you for months, beyond scared that something had happened to you, afraid to even voice my fears. At times I thought it would be for the better if you had left on your own rather any of those fears coming to life.”

He moved away from the omega, unable to look at him any further, hating the pity directed at him. “But then you decided, it wasn’t enough, that maybe I hadn’t suffered enough. I get called in by the FBI and that’s how I find out that while I had been losing my mind with worry, my mate was out there emptying back accounts, and if it wasn’t for you revealing your identity, they wouldn’t ever have found out. You goaded and mocked them, and for that single video that you sent, I was under scrutiny for over a year.

“Did you even think of the consequences? Couldn’t you have just done whatever you wanted anonymously? Because of you, mum and Gemma were interrogated for days, Gemma lost her job, I was nearly kicked out of the training programme. You put them through hell, Louis,” he turned back to face Louis, hating the tears in his own eyes, “And the worst part is, despite everything that happened, I am still in love with you.”

Louis returned his stare, his barriers broken, tears rolling down his face, “…I am sorry, I never knew… fuck, I’m so sorry, Harry.”

“I don’t need your apology,” he said, shaking his head, “...I just need you to break the bond.”

“Don’t say that,” Louis whispered, his mouth pinching, “Don’t say something you don’t mean.”

“Louis, you still wear that ring on a chain around your neck! You never got the mark removed, you refuse to break the bond, yet you keep insisting on leaving. Why are you doing this to me?” He asked, his heart in shambles, broken and bare.

“Did you get your mark removed?” Louis stepped in close, “You didn’t, right? Then how can you expect me to? I left, yes, but not because I stopped loving you, Harry, or because I wanted to hurt you. I left because I could never be enough for you.”

Harry frowned, wondering what he had done to make Louis feel inadequate. He hated the tears in the omega’s eyes, hated that he couldn’t console him. They needed to let out everything they had been holding in for years, needed to have this conversation, even if it caused the distance to grow between them.

“You said you couldn’t wait to call me your husband, but you also said you couldn’t wait for us to be a family,” Louis stopped then, looking down at the carpet, tugging the sleeves over his hands, “I could never give you a family… I could never give you what you wanted. We would have been fine, at first, but at some point— you would have wanted children, and then you would have started to hate me. I couldn’t have you hating me for that, so I gave you a reason to. Us… it would have never lasted. It was better that you saw me as a criminal than as your broken omega.”

“You left because you thought I would have hated you?” He asked, unable to believe that all these years he had suffered for something that was never a possibility.  “Louis, you were my family! You were what I wanted! You were enough for me! I knew we couldn’t have children. I wanted a life with you, there was not a damn thing I would have changed about you. You don’t think I was sure about us when we mated, or when I proposed—?”

“But I wanted children!” Louis said, pushing the heels of his palms against his eyes, “I wanted to have a family with you! I wanted to raise kids with you! And I wasn’t even enough for myself!”

Harry held the omega’s wrists, pulling them away from his face and holding them close to his chest. He forced Louis to meet his eyes, to realise that Harry meant every word he spoke, “Then we would have found another way, there’s adoption, and surrogacy, and IVF. You didn’t—fuck! You didn’t have to leave, Louis,” he opened his arms when Louis pressed close, holding him tight. “You should have just talked to me.”

Harry tilted his head to a side when Louis sought permission to scent him. He could smell the omega’s distress at the realisation of what they had lost, of everything they could have had if he had just voiced his insecurities.

But wasn’t that the cause? Insecurities were called so for a reason. They festered within one’s mind, taking root and eliminating all reason, leaving them hopeless at times. What might seem miniscule to someone else, would likely poison one’s conscience. He wondered how long Louis had suffered alone in his head, letting the thought fester and spread. How long the omega had berated himself for something he had no control over, something that had been taken from him because no one had looked after him when he was too young to do so himself.

“If—if I had come back—would you have let me?” Louis asked, voice barely a whisper.

“Yes,” Harry said without hesitation.

“Even after I became a fugitive?”

“Yes, and if we had to, I would have run away with you,” he ran his nose through the omega’s hair, resting his cheek on top of his head.

Louis clutched the back of his sweater, tears smudging against his neck, “I ruined everything. Ten years… I had to live without you for ten years because I was so stupid.”

“No, Lou,” he whispered, “I should have known something was bothering you. I should have paid more attention.”

“You did, Harry. It’s not just you who has wondered and wondered about the past,” Louis looked up, shrugging one shoulder, “I never wanted you to know.”

Harry nodded, not entirely convinced. His mate, his Louis had been suffering within the walls of his own mind, and Harry hadn’t had a clue. He never thought everything would have boiled down to a lack of communication, because there had been communication; between them, it had always been a two-way street. Still, he had failed to see the distress, failed to assure the confidence he had in them, failed to show the love his heart had harboured. Still harboured.

“Where—where do we go from here?” Louis asked.

“I don’t know,” he sighed, caressing his hand down the omega’s back, “I wish I knew.”

-

The indents of sharp canines and incisors was etched on the skin over his heart, neither too wide nor abhorrent, rather a delicacy was imbued into the bite. Artistic even. Though that couldn’t have been said for the one he had given. Carnal would be one way to describe how he had bitten his omega, had laid claim to his mate. The two marks had bound them forever, he had surrendered his autonomy to the omega the moment those teeth had sunk inside his chest.

Harry traced over the jagged skin, reminiscing how once his whole body would come alive with a single brush to his mark. Now, it laid dormant. Louis had not broken the bond when he had left and the consequences had damned Harry. It only responded when the omega was in heat, and what once was pleasant, now burned his skin, putting him through days of anguish as he felt like his heart might give out.

In the initial months, the ache following the separation of their bond had been his sole companion, and Harry hadn’t sought a way to cope until years later, carrying forward with tattered pieces of himself. It was during rehabilitation that they had advised him to break the bond completely, warning him that if he did, the worse of it would be suffered by the omega, so he had refused, opting for bond suppressors. He had hoped that if it ever came to breaking it, it would be Louis who initiated the process, only because Harry would rather tolerate the pain than having the knowledge of putting his mate through it. Until then, he had made peace with the frayed threads that dangled between them.

After a day of revelations and the subsequent ruminations that followed, Harry felt a dull spark of anger. He had laid all of his trust in them, once, had taken the metaphorical leap of faith, and Louis had been right beside him, at least physically. Had the man been so unsure about them as to throw away everything over one single comment of his?

Where do we go from here? Louis had asked. And how was Harry supposed to know? Was he ready to put that same faith in them again? Could he ever be?

-

“You look like someone spat in your coffee,” Adeleye remarked as he walked into Harry’s office and invited himself to sit down.

“Good morning to you, too,” he grumbled, rubbing his eye a bit too forcefully.

“Rowen or Louis?”

“Both,” Harry said, then, “Neither.”

He handed the file to Adeleye, letting him take a look at the pictures, “We have no leads. And while it’s good that there are no more murders, it also puts us at a stalemate.”

“So, this is the Rowen scenario?”

“This is the neither scenario,” he corrected, “The Rowen scenario is that he wants me to come in for a board meeting on Sunday. I’m this close to telling him to shove it,” he pinched his fingers for emphasis, “What business do I have in a board meeting?”

“Maybe he wants to recommend you for a promotion,” Adeleye reasoned.

“A promotion means I get his job, Niji,” he stated, “And he is nowhere near done harassing us.”

“So, how does Louis factor into all of this?”

Harry heaved a sigh, he had been doing that a lot lately, “He does not. He and I, um… we talked.”

“About?”

With a heavy heart he told whatever he could, giving away parts of himself that hurt less than the others, bits and pieces he could spare without plummeting into the memories of years that haunted him.

“And I—I don’t know what to do.”

“From what I see, it comes down to whether or not you can live without him.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have solid leads on the drug cartel, that’s the third name on the list. Another month or two and Louis will have completed all the conditions of the contract. If you don’t make up your mind, you won’t have a choice but to watch him walk away,” Adeleye said, smug at the concreteness of his observation.

“You’ve got a point there,” he agreed reluctantly.

“I think it’s for the best if he sticks around,” Adeleye slumped into his chair, smirking, “You’re less insufferable, almost tolerable.”

Harry needed new friends. Urgently.

-

Harry balanced the two mugs in one hand and slid open the glass door to the backyard, a slight shiver running up his spine at the sudden change in the temperature. The nights were getting colder with each passing day, a thin layer of snow covered the grass, giving it a silver glow under the moonlight.

“It’s certainly cold out here,” he remarked, nudging the omega with his elbow and passing the mug of hot chocolate with a smile.

Louis thanked him, taking a tentative sip and sighing in relief. “Well, it is winter. What did you expect?”

“For you to hoard all the blankets.”

“Funny, Harry, really funny,” Louis shot him a look and then giggled into his drink. “I love watching the snow at night. There is so much peace emanating from it when it’s untouched.”

It brought a smile to his face. Harry realised there were parts of each other they didn’t know, things that they had grown in and out of love over the years, habits and hobbies they had dropped and picked up. They had a chance to learn it all again, know each other all over again. A chance that he did not wish to miss.

“I apologised to Niall,” the omega said with a smile, “I shouldn’t have shouted at him. I told him I am mated, but that I’m not ready to talk about it.”

Harry nodded, it was after all Louis' choice who and when he talked to about his mark, if ever.

“You asked me where we should go from here,” he spoke, turning to face the omega, “I still don’t know the answer to that. All I know is—I can’t lose you again. I can’t learn to live without you again. You have every right to walk away when you’re free, but um… I’d rather you stayed… with me. That’s—yeah, that’s my answer.”

Louis was quiet for a while, simply looking at him until Harry grew even more nervous, and then looked back at the snow. “You bought this house and built a beautiful home out of it,” Louis said, tracing a finger along the curling pattern of the railing, “I think it deserves to be treated like that, like a beautiful home, with people who love each other,” Louis gulped, “A family.”

The omega turned to him, abandoning his drink on the railing.

“Lou—”

“Ask me.”

“Stay with me, please.”

Louis smiled, removing the distance between them, cradling Harry’s face in his cold hands. There was so much warmth in his gaze, Harry felt like he would melt. “Where else would I go? There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

His hands found the omega’s waist, travelling up his back, warm air misting between them as their faces inched closer.

“I’m gonna do it right this time, H,” Louis said, nuzzling against his cheek.

“Me too, baby,” he promised, slipping his fingers into the man’s hair.

“Darling,” Louis whispered, pressing against him, shivering as Harry’s lips found his.

Their lips moved in slow brushes; delicate and searching, reacquainting with each other. Fingers sought warm skin, a graze at the nape, a stroke at the cheek, another caress down the neck. There was not much else they were aware of in that moment, tuned entirely to their other halves. Their mouths emboldened as the seconds turned to minutes, losing themselves to their mates. Louis nibbled at his lip, a single brush of his tongue before he pulled away, head tilting to a side as Harry’s lips continued down his neck.

“You’re so cold, baby,” he whispered when Louis pulled him in for another kiss, “Let’s go back inside.”

Louis parted after stealing another kiss and with a visible pout at his lips, “It’s unfair of you to ask me to stop kissing you.”

“I know,” he smiled, grabbing their mugs, drinks having gone cold, and led them back into the warmth of the house.

Louis urged him to abandon the mugs and tugged him to the sofa. “I think there is something I need to do,” the omega said, taking off the chain hidden under his sweater. He slid the ring out of the chain, light catching on the diamond as he held his palm open, “I should give it back.”

Harry shook his head, “It’s yours, Lou. Keep it.”

“I can’t keep it, not if we are to start anew,” Louis whispered, his reluctance showing, “I have to do this, because I can’t do the other thing you asked of me, I can’t break our bond, Harry, I’m too selfish to let go of you.”

He shifted closer to Louis, cupping his face and leaning their foreheads together, “I said it when I was hurt and with an intention to return it. I don’t want to break our bond either, darling.”

“Okay,” Louis breathed, “But you have to take this, because I did break our engagement, and I can’t keep living in the past.”

Harry gulped, knowing it was only true. Then why did it hurt more than when he had seen that Louis had kept it?

“I’ll keep the next one forever, H,” Louis whispered, his voice full of promise and hope, “And I’ll always wear it on my hand.”

“You hate wearing rings,” Harry reminded, his heart feeling lighter, happier.

“But I love you more,” Louis said.

“Oh, baby,” Harry breathed, he felt as if he was soaring through the skies, “I love you, too.”

It was difficult to stop kissing once they started, too much lost time, too many lost years. His alpha kept purring in content, rejoicing at the returned calls of his mate.

-

It was an impulsive purchase, Harry kept telling himself as he stepped out of the store, bag firmly clasped in his hand, its contents wrapped carefully and covered with a black paper on top. But saying it was impulsive would be a massive lie. He had thought of buying these items every day for the past few days. Whenever they returned from work, his eyes had always caught on to the elegant display of the high-end store, and it wasn’t like he couldn’t indulge in such lavish items. It was only that in the past he had no reason to actually buy them.

He had Rowen to thank for this opportunity, at least partially. His boss had only needed him on Sunday. Naturally, Louis had stayed at home, only waking up to kiss him goodbye before curling into the blankets and effectively dozing off.

The meeting had been a formality; the board assembling to instate their authority, even if had been presented as an honouring of titles. Rowen had called him to show him off as his prized horse, proudly declaring his arrest record, not that Harry had any interest in the whole ordeal, but he knew how the politics worked even in the FBI, so he had gone along with it.

Louis was sat at the kitchen counter, scrolling through Harry’s tablet, probably reading the morning news, a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea in front of him. He had a phone, but it was being tracked by the FBI and the omega was immensely wary of it, only ever using it to call Harry.

“That’s all you’re gonna have, baby?” He asked, placing a small kiss at the omega’s lips.

“Would you rather I burnt the kitchen down?” Louis inquired, laughing when harry rolled his eyes. “I thought you had a meeting,” Louis eyed the bag.

“I did,” he said, placing the bag on the counter, “This is for you.”

The omega smiled, pulling it close and digging in to pull out its contents. His smile turned into bashful as he pressed his cheek to the fabric of the scarf, “You didn’t have to get me these, H.” Even as he said that, Louis donned the gloves and wrapped the scarf around his neck, grinning after pulling on the beanie, “They are so soft and warm!”

Harry was more than happy to bore the force of the omega’s body colliding with his, laughing as he clasped his hands behind the omega’s back. The man looked beautiful dressed in soft colours, but then he looked beautiful in anything he wore, “I take it you like them.”

“I love them,” Louis sighed, pressing his cold nose to Harry’s neck, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, baby.”

Whether it was intentional or impulsive, Harry was glad it had brightened the omega’s day, that was what mattered to him the most.

“I’m gonna go change and then cook you a proper breakfast,” Harry said, trying to hide his distaste at the sad looking bowl of soggy cereal, wincing when Louis pinched his arm and returned to his seat, carefully removing the gloves and the beanie, leaving the scarf on before picking the said sad bowl.

“Cereal is normal for breakfast, you just have too high standards, mister.”

“I was thinking enchiladas for dinner, but maybe you’d prefer a vegetable broth.”

“You do that and I’ll really burn down the kitchen.”

He shook his head, “What am I gonna do with you, baby?”

“You could do anything you want,” Louis licked his lip, winking and sauntering away after Harry was left with a stricken look, unable to help his eyes from wandering down the delectable body.

He cleared his throat after dumbly standing at the same spot for a minute, his face suddenly feeling unbearably hot as his thoughts wandered in every which way. Louis’ confidence could leave him blushing at times, he hadn’t known the same was true even now. It felt good to know he was still as hopelessly devoted to the omega.

Instead of following after him, Harry followed his intended path, taking a few extra moments in his room to calm the thrumming under his skin. Louis smirked at him when he came back downstairs, failing to clamp down on the smug arch of his mouth even as Harry pretended to busy himself.

Arms curled around his middle, a kiss pressing to the back of his neck, such intimacy in that one act; no alpha simply let an omega have access to their neck.

“I was only teasing, love,” Louis said, “There is no rush for anything.”

He grasped one hand and brought it up to his lips, whispering against the skin after kissing it, “I was hoping you would agree to go on a date with me on Friday.”

Louis hummed, making him turn around, tone teasing, “Will I be back home by eight?”

Harry shrugged one shoulder, hooking a finger between the scarf and the omega’s throat, tugging him closer he spoke, “If that’s what you want.”

Louis gulped, “And what do you want?”

His eyes flickered to the thin lips, watching as they parted on a gasp, realising it was a response to an uptick to his own pheromones. “To watch you unravel.”

“Harry…,” the omega whimpered and bared his throat, or at least tried to. His whimper turned into a whine when the scarf came in the way.

“You want me to kiss your neck, baby?” He asked, removing the scarf and pressing his lips under the omega’s ear, earning a delighted whimper this time. A soft gasp echoed in his ear when his lips worked a wet kiss over Louis’ throat, fingers tangling in his hair and urging him to stay there. He couldn’t help but growl when the omega’s sweet pheromones invaded his senses, “You sweet little thing.”

“Alpha…,” Louis moaned in his ear.

“Fuck!” His mouth closed over the omega’s in a hungry kiss, moving them until Louis was pressed against the wall as his fingers slipped under the layers of clothes to find soft and supple skin.

“Not little,” Louis stated on a single breath before connecting their lips again.

Harry huffed a laugh, “Oh, I’ve missed you.”

“Never leaving you again,” Louis said, “You’re gonna grow sick and tired of me.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, baby.” He took to kissing the omega’s cheek, hands safely back over the clothing.

“You’re gonna make me wait until our date to see you naked, aren’t you?” The pout was evident in his tone.

“Technically, we should wait until the third date.”

“I will come up with a hundred different ways to hide your body by then.”

Harry laughed, “I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

“It better not,” Louis pointed at his chest, “I can’t keep coming up with excuses to sleep beside you.”

“You don’t need to come up with excuses, darling, you’re welcome in my bed whenever you want.”

“I sleep better when you’re there.”

“Then we can sleep in the same bed.”

“No more pretending to go to different rooms at night?” Louis asked, drawing patterns at the front of Harry’s sweater.

“No more pretending,” he agreed, kissing the top of the omega’s head.