Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On the plane to India, he fought with Zayn for two hours before acquiescing to the alpha's insistence of subspace after his second near-panic attack. When he woke, Liam was there. Harry was there. Everyone was there, looking at Niall like he hung the moon.

"I told you guys," Niall protested, spying the oblong package in Louis's hand. "No more presents! I'm starting to feel like a bought bride."

"This is different," Liam insisted, sitting on Niall's other side. "Just open it."

So Niall did. And didn't understand.

It was another collar, brown and plain with his name stamped in gold on the side. Beside it in the box was a long whip of a leash. Niall blinked at the box. Lowered his eyes. Okay. He understood. While they were in India, Niall shouldn't wear the collar with their names on it, dragging his perfect British pack mates through the mud. He nodded, and reached into his pocket for his collar, the supple, simple velvet, the names of his pack like signatures. He'd had it at the ready, knowing he'd have to wear it. But this was better, right? This whole situation was his fault. The name on the collar should be his alone.

The alphas blinked at Niall's proffered collar and Louis let out a choked noise like a moan. "No no no, Niall, sweetheart, you don't have to give us your collar. You keep that."

Niall lowered his hand. "Then, why - ?"

"We thought - it could be like dress-up. This isn't really your collar. You're just playing a part. That way your real collar would still be just for us."

It was...a great idea. Niall felt almost giddy as Harry buckled the brown leather, checking over and over again to make sure he could breathe. "Who do you want to hold the leash?" Harry asked as the plane taxied to a halt.

These sorts of questions used to feel like tests. "Who do you want to spend your heat with?" "Who's the best kisser?" "Did you like what we did last night?" Being a pack used to feel like a series of unanswerable questions, especially before the alphas settle into their roles. Now, though. Now Niall could choose, and know they'd all stay. "Louis," he said, unable to keep himself from looking at the alphas, still wanted to gauge the correct-ness of his answer.

"Yay!" Louis grabbed the leash and tucked it into his back pocket. "It's like those helicopter parents with their kids at Disney. No wandering off!"

Paul poked his head in the plane's cabin. "Oh good, Ni, you're all set." He cleared his throat. "Since you're the only omega this trip, there may be more security than you're used to. Don't be surprised."

Niall frowned. "What about Sandy? Or that makeup girl, Rachel?" He could think of at least half a dozen more who usually traveled with them. Omegas were a minority of the population, but Niall had always made sure that they made it a priority to hire omegas, especially ones, like Sandy, like Niall, who'd been left to fend for themselves, even in the 21st century, for not being what their parents wanted.

Paul's expression hardened. The beta was nearly pack, had fought for them before they knew how to fight for themselves. And he loved Niall. Loved every inch of him. "I thought you knew. It was decreed by the higher ups that it's an unnecessary risk to expose extra omegas to these new laws."

"That's - nice," Harry said slowly. Management was rarely nice.

Zayn saw the angle first. "They want Niall to be the only one collared and leashed. They want to isolate him."

"He won't be isolated," Paul soothed. "He'll be with you."

The trip to the hotel was - in some ways it was "same shit different day" with the girls at the airport ad the girls on the street and girls in the hotel (the girls who hadn't stopped after the pack announced their engagement, who loved them anyway, who showed up and held out signs and screamed and screamed and they all loved their fans with a particular fierceness). But in other ways it was so foreign, buildings and smells and sounds like something out of a dream. Zayn able to blend into this crowd easier than the rest, for once, the only way to spot him the tattoos. And then there were the protests.

Not everyone loved One Direction, of course, they remembered that every time they looked at their phones. Cities didn't like that the girls broke windows and destroyed stores, that they needed to lend their police force to this band from oversees. It wasn't even unusual for hate to be directed at one of them. Most often Zayn, the dangerous Muslim alpha, but sometimes "womanizer" Harry, who "cheated" on the pack once a month.

And then there were those who knew that the easiest way to get a reaction from the pack was to insult Niall, calling him untalented, or ugly, or broken. Or, like here, an undisciplined whore who needed to be put in his place. A stupid foreign tourist pushing an omega agenda.

"Can you get them out of here?" Niall heard Liam hiss. He sounded so far away.

"If they got into the hotel," Paul sighed. "Technically, right now, they're not breaking a law."

No, they were just going to send Liam's omega into a downward spiral, squirming away from Zayn's hands already, mumbling under his breath, "no, please don't," tears in his eyes, his voice a whisper, "I'll be good. Louis? Louis!"

"Sweetheart, please," Louis bundling Niall into his lap. "I'm here. You're okay. Let Zayn put you under, okay? You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry," Niall ducked Zayn's hand and trembled. "Don't leave me, Lou, I'm sorry."

On the other side of the car, Harry started to cry. Girls banged on the car windows. They were at a standstill fifty feet from the hotel. It was hot, and everyone was tired.

Liam scrubbed a hand over his face and reached deep inside himself. "Niall." He rumbled.

Louis flinched and whimpered and even Harry moaned, the command roaring through their systems. Any alpha could give one but Liam was the only one in the band who ever did. The one time Harry snapped one out at Niall, the omega had flinched and submitted on his knees and Harry went missing from three days, afraid of his own power. Zayn had never gotten the hang of it, and even when Liam described the sensation of a command, like reaching down and flipping a switch, even when he demonstrated on Niall, Zayn couldn't find that special tone. He stuck to being their omega space expert, his long tapered fingers unerring every time.

Now, here, in the car, Niall snapped his mouth shut and showered his neck to Liam, who usually would bite it. But today there was a collar at the base of Niall's pale throat, and Liam felt his stomach roll with disgust at his own gender.

Louis shook off the command first. "What the fuck you think you're doing, Payno?"

They kept alpha commands to a minimum in their pack. It was too easy to get Niall and even Louis to forget their fears and inhibitions and do something they'd regret. Liam could have ordered Niall to wear the collar here in India, but he'd always thought, and the pack agreed, that in the 21st century, in love, it was cruel to take away Niall's free will. Cruel and abusive, and Louis informed Liam early on that if the younger boy ever used an alpha command to make Niall submit to something he didn't want to do, he, Louis, would take Niall away and Liam would never, ever find him.

Liam nodded at Niall, who had stopped crying, stopped scratching his arms, stopped begging them to stay. He was sitting peacefully in Zayn's lap as the other alpha increased the pressure on his neck and whispered affirmations in his ear.

Still, Louis punched the Alpha in the shoulder. "You can't do that," he hissed. "Not here. He has too many choices taken away already."

"I'm not going to let him panic if he doesn't have to," Liam retorted, defensive, as always, in the face of criticism. "And Niall's not the only one in this pack. I won't let him upset my alphas."

"Bullshit," the beta spat the word. "Niall's the most vulnerable right now and he deserves your fucking respect."

"Lou," Harry tried, always able to placate the eldest. "Of course Liam respects Niall, he was just trying to help."

"Well, help by trying to understand how he feels instead of shutting him down. Every time you use an alpha command to stop a panic attack, he feels like he's not allowed to be upset, which obviously upsets him more. He thinks that any time he feels anything other than perfectly happy you're going to shut him down. And I guarantee that's why he agreed to this fucking place."

"I didn't put the collar on him! Of course I don't want him collared! I hate it! I hate that I can't help! But I can help with this!"

"Liam," Harry interjected, "Louis's right." He held up a hand when the Alpha tried to retort. "Niall has little enough control here. While we're in India, you should refrain from ordering around. Lou, stop growling, you know Liam would lay down in traffic before he hurt Niall."

"Maybe," Zayn suggested from where he was comforting their omega, "we should ask Niall how he feels."

This made everyone back down, glaring at each other, ashamed. Louis sniffed into his sleeve. "Sorry for yelling, Alpha."

Liam sighed. "I know, baby. I wish you wouldn't yell, right, but I'm glad you spoke up. He glanced at the beta. Under his thin shirt Liam knew there were faded red scratches. "Do you need to be punished?"

Betas didn't need correction like omegas did, but when Louis went too far he was glad for the absolution a punishment could offer. The beta looked between Liam and Harry. Harry, who Louis loved and trusted above all others, always delivered the beta's punishment. "I don't think I did anything wrong," Louis admitted.

Liam drew him into a kiss. Louis always tasted like tea and possibilities. "You didn't," Liam assured. "I love you."

Louis hummed and leaned into Harry, who kissed the top of his head and whispered something that made the eldest smile.

"We're almost at the hotel," Paul said, looking into the back seat for the first time. "We'll go in through the side, so hopefully there's no drama. But Niall's leash needs to go back on."

Liam nodded and put a hand on Niall's cheek. "Hey babe, good boy, can you open those eyes, beautiful? Can I see you?"

Eyelashes fluttered and Zayn cooed, too, "Babes, you're amazing."

Liam put his forehead to Niall's forehead. "You're so brave. So, so brave."

When the blue eyes opened they were almost clear.

The car was rolling to a halt as Louis slid across the car. "My Niall," he said, "do you mind putting on the leash really, really quick? It's just dress-up, remember?"

"I remember," Niall sounded old as the hills. He didn't say anything else, but he did lean forward so Louis could click the leash to the collar, and he almost smiled when Harry said, "I head a joke the other day."

The hotel was clean, lovely, and large. They had to wait for the elevator and the pack was discussing sleeping situations all around Niall. They ostensibly had three rooms but always ended up in one bed. It was decided the bed would be whichever had the best window. Zayn wondered aloud if they'd see stars.

As they got in the trundling elevator Niall's breathing hitched, but he hoped he sounded normal when he said, "what's the joke, Hazza?"

The youngest smiled. "What did the green grape say to the purple grape?"

"What?" the car asked in unison.

Harry rubbed Niall's back. "Breathe!"

So Niall nodded, and promised the others, promised himself, that he would try.