Chapter Text
“Come on Liam, lighten up”, Niall whined and when Liam didn’t answer he sighed and went over to the pool table. Niall had taken him to a pub to make him forget about the fact his “mate” was fucking an omega. His “mate” being Zayn and the omega being Louis. He sighed in his drink and rubbed a hand over his face.
The three days Zayn was gone were bad, but the week after was horrible. Liam constantly having to swallow the burning feeling he felt in his chest when he looked at Zayn. At first he thought it was jealousy, but after the first three months it became clear it was something else.
Sure, there was some jealousy in there when he saw Zayn looking at Louis with that longing expression, but then he also felt in when they were in bed together one night. When Liam almost forcibly had to stop Zayn thrusting into him because he was exhausted.
Zayn gave him a cold and angry expression and went into the bathroom. The feeling once again crept up in his chest and it was then that Liam realized it wasn’t just jealousy, it was also disgust. Disgust he felt for Zayn and Louis.
Not Zayn and Louis in particular, but just the fact they were what they were. An alpha and an omega. He bit on his lip, thinking it was ridiculous and cuddled into Zayn when he finally came out of the bathroom with an apologetic expression on his face.
It had gotten worse after that. His distaste grew every time he saw Zayn eyeing an omega with a particularly sharp smell and he stopped grabbing his hand every time Zayn did so. Zayn didn’t realize, or at least didn’t comment on it. Liam finally understood what had been bugging him in this relationship since the beginning.
Zayn and him weren’t supposed to be together. Zayn was an alpha, his stomach twisted when that thought hit him. He was a beta. He was normal. An alpha was supposed to be together with an omega. That much had been made clear every time Zayn used his Alpha-voice and every omega’s knees almost gave away, whilst Liam didn’t even react.
Okay, maybe it was hot when Zayn’s voice got deep like that, but it wasn’t as if he could hardly stand anymore. Liam sighed again and looked around. It was just a local pub, there were a couple of alphas sitting around a table playing cards.
Niall, who was also a beta (thank god), was currently playing pool with some other betas. Two omegas were sitting next to him by the bar and were whispering urgently. He drank his beer and paid the bartender. He got off the barstool and stumbled against one of the alphas on his way over to Niall.
He mumbled a sorry and continued, but before he could even set three more steps his arm was caught in a death grip. Liam hissed and turned around. It was the alpha he had accidentally stumbled into.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”, the guy demanded. His voice was gravelly from smoking and thick from all the alcohol he and his friends had been drinking all night. “Making my way over to my friend, can I?”, Liam answered evenly while pulling out of the guys fingers.
“You made me fucking lose, man! I could’ve won 120 bucks, but no…You just had to ruin for me, didn’t you?!” The guy was in his face now and Liam pushed him back. “Whatever man, I said I was sorry!”, Liam said defensively.
“Sorry isn’t gonna help me get my money back, now is it, you fucking tramp?!” Liam stiffened and clenched his fist. ‘What did you call me, you piece of shit?’, Liam warned softly and the alpha almost backed off when hearing his tone.
“Liam…”, Niall warned quietly behind him. The whole pub had gone quiet. “You…You heard me”, the alpha weakly challenged. That was it. “How dare you call me that? I am not some fucking slut that needs to be fucked three days a month by some disgusting asshole like you because they can’t take care of it themselves! I am not that fucking desperate!”, Liam yelled and now he was the one backing the guy up.
The alpha looked strangely overwhelmed and frowned at him in the deafening silence that followed. After a couple of seconds one omega soundly grabbed the other one and pulled her out of the pub. Guilt washed over him and he looked at the other alphas who were all looking at him like he betrayed them in some horrible way.
“We’re leaving”, the alpha Liam had yelled at said abruptly and he strode out of the pub, quickly followed by the others. “Oh god”, Liam mumbled and he buried his head in his hands. Why had he said all those things? It was probably the Zayn and Louis thing getting to his head. Someone threw their arm over his shoulder and he looked up expecting to see Niall.
It wasn’t him though. Instead it was a beta with a cheeky grin on his face and brown curly hair. “Well said, mate”, he praised with a deep voice and Liam frowned. “What the hell do you mean?”, Niall asked, coming up beside Liam’s other side. Yeah, what the hell did he mean? Wasn’t what Liam had just yelled pretty horrible?
“By showing those alphas their place. Trust me, they deserve it. They’ve been coming in here calling us names for almost a week”, the beta said. “I’m Harry, by the way”, he continued before they could answer.
“Liam”, he said, feeling slightly better about himself. “Niall.” “Niall and Liam, and judging by the way Niall called you out just then, you two know each other.” Harry grinned as they nodded. “Wanna play some pool with us? Don’t worry about the others, we’re all friends.”
Liam ignored Niall’s sharp glare and quickly answered: “Yeah, sure! I’m in!” The bartender quickly got over the fact Liam had scared away all of his costumers when he ordered 6 beers.
It was easy to forget about what happened after his fifth beer and before he knew it he was laughing at Harry’s jokes and singing along with the others when they broke into a drunken song.
He didn’t even notice Niall’s glare anymore until Harry made an especially nasty joke about omegas after getting a pool cue in the dick by his teammate after he embarrassingly missed the balls ( “Wow, now my dick hurts, well not as much as one of an omega in heat…”) and Liam laughed so hard tears started to stream down his face.
He just started wiping them from his face, still giggling, when Niall grabbed his arm and started pulling him toward the door. “Wha-? Niall, stop! I don’t wanna leave yet”, he protested and he started struggling. “Well, we need to talk, so we’re leaving”, Niall snapped and Liam looked at Harry for help.
“Nah man, Niall’s right. It’s probably time to go. See you back here tomorrow around eight?”, Harry called after him. Liam’s face lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. He let himself be tucked into his warm jacket by Niall and followed him outside.
Liam almost had to run to keep up with Niall. “Around eight? Liam, Zayn’s back tomorrow. You can’t just-“ Niall seemed to force himself to take a calming breath. “You can’t just go on a date with another guy while you’re together with Zayn.”
“Yeah well, you’re not supposed to fuck another guy while you’re together with someone either-“ Niall’s face twisted and Liam quickly went on. “-besides, it’s not a date. The others lads will probably be there too. You can come too if you don’t trust me.”
Niall stayed silent, but slowed his pace. “Come on, they’re nice guys…You liked them too! At least, you would have if you’d have loosened up a bit”, Liam sighed.
“Loosened up-? Liam, first you throw a fucking fit in which you not only insult your best friends' orientation, but also your boyfriends'?! You insulted Zayn, your mate-.“ “He’s not my mate”, Liam snapped, no drunkenness in his voice this time. A tense silence followed.
“What are you saying?” Niall’s voice was quiet now. Liam considered denying what he had just said, just laughing it off. “He’s an alpha”, Liam almost spit the word. “And I’m a-“
“You’re a beta. What’s that got to do with anything?”, Niall snapped. “We can’t bond, so he’s not my mate”, Liam answered shortly. “Liam-“, Niall started, softly. “No, this discussion is over. I’m going back tomorrow, you can come if you want.”
With that he stalked off and made sure Niall didn’t have the chance to step beside him. When they made it to Liam’s apartment, Liam still let Niall in. He couldn’t get it over his heart to close the door in Niall’s face, so he had to walk 3 miles or so to his own apartment.
He stumbled a bit with the keys, until Niall sighed and took over. Liam was almost relieved Niall hadn’t drank as much as he had. It was annoying to have a decent conversation with someone when your brain was clouded and the sober one always seemed to have better arguments, but in situations like these it was good to have someone sober with you.
He followed Niall in the elevator and got a good look at his face. He didn’t look angry, just tired. His big blue eyes droopy. Liam wanted to give him a hug just looking at him, but stopped when he remembered he was angry at him.
Niall caught his gaze and Liam looked away, which meant looking in the huge mirror that was placed in these kind of small elevators. Liam had no idea why the hell they did that and how he always managed to look so horrible in them.
Especially now. His eyes were puffy and his face was extremely pale. The elevator stopped and he dragged his eyes away from his reflection. Niall opened the door to his apartment and immediately crashed in the couch.
Normally Liam would protest and insist he sleep on the couch (which Niall would still refuse, but Liam thought it was the principle that counted), but right now he just stayed silent and went to his room. He crawled under the sheets and his last thought before sleep hit him was: 'I hope Niall doesn’t say anything about this to Zayn.'