PART 3 of: ALPHA HARRY/BETA YN COWORKERS (Patreon)

HIIIIII :D THESE GUYS ARE ACTUALLY SO FUN TO WRITE I WANNA TURN IT INTO A BIG FIC SO BAD ODMFOGMDFGM I HOPE YOU LIKE!!

SOMEONE WANTS THE HEAVY PRAISE A/O/B CHECK-IN WHICH I CAN DO! I'LL START WORKING ON THAT. I'M IN AN A/O/B MOOD

ALSO FRIENDS IM LOCKING IN AND MAKING COLLECTIONS AGAIN

i know it's the worst trying to go through things, even if I link previous parts, so I'll fix that! I'm giving myself to the end of August to have it all done :-)

OKAY LOVE YOUUUU!!!

part 1

part 2

(2.9k+ words)

iii.

Harry sticks to his word. 

Again, it’s not like he has some huge personality shift; he’s still relatively flat and grumpy, but in a way that doesn’t seem like he hates her guts. Instead of flat-out ignoring her when she talks, he makes an ample effort to respond. And if he doesn’t know what to say to her rambling, he is very honest and tells her, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, so I’m not going to respond much, but you can keep talking about it.” Which is particularly nice when she’s been hyperfixating on something. His voice is gentle, and he does a lot less grumbling at her. Hell, once he even brought her a coffee! And Y/N doesn’t like coffee a ton unless it’s pumped full of sugary syrup, but she still choked it down because it was very thoughtful. 

So it is really nice. Niall notices and doesn’t comment on it around him or anyone else, though his eyes speak volumes towards her, and her phone always lights up with like 100 messages once he gets back to his desk. When he found out about what had happened, he screamed – loud enough that Y/N worried her neighbors would say something. His mouth clapped over his hand, eyes widened, and he said something along the lines of, “You are so fucking joking! Are you joking? Oh my GOD, you aren’t joking! Y/N, what the fuck!”

Y/N told him everything last Saturday night when he was at her flat. About following after Harry, about what he said regarding her scent, how he looked, how she scented him, and his apology afterward. The whole time, his jaw might as well have been unhinged at the joint, lips gaping. 

“I knew he wanted to fuck you nasty-style,” Niall concluded, nodding to himself, “God, I’m never wrong. I swear sometimes he looks at you like he’s going to eat you –” 

“But before recently, he rarely looked at me to begin with?” Y/N inquired, head tilted, to which Niall shook his head. 

“I mean, maybe it was rare, but every rare instance he was looking in your direction, I thought we’d have to collar him and yank him off of you. Y/N, you have to fuck him.” 

Y/N’s face felt hot when she shook her head this time, “I don’t think he’s interested in that, really. He didn’t even call when I offered to help.” 

“Because he’s kind of a gentleman. He doesn’t seem like a first-time-during-rut guy, really. Oh my god, was his dick big? Tell me, I know you saw that bulge.” 

Her cheeks threatened to melt right off when she nodded, “It was huge, Ni, like – I know his knot is fat.” 

“Oh my god, this is so amazing.” 

So the cat was out of the bag with Niall, but he’d been sworn to secrecy. And when Y/N brought up what Harry said about the Christmas party, he gasped and placed a hand over his heart, and his other hand in the air. “Oh, god, he remembers that? Tell him he’s got my infinite loyalty and I will never breathe a word of this to anyone who breathes.” That was good enough, she thinks, but even without the Christmas party stuff, she knew Niall would keep it secret. He shares everyone's secrets with her, sure, but the secrets shared between each other are sacred, so she knew she could trust him. 

It’s why, when Y/N shows up to work on a Wednesday with no scent patches, Niall grins like an imp. 

“You’re really trying to make it hump day, aren’t you?” He teased, “He’s going to tweak when he smells you.” 

This was not purposeful, despite Niall’s accusation. She had miscounted the number of scent patches that she had remaining for the rest of the month, and had been certain that she could make it to Wednesday this week before having to go to the store to pick up some more. It might have been smarter to pick some up at the beginning of the week to have on hand, sure, but Y/N actually tries not to go anywhere other than work and then home on Mondays and Tuesdays so that she can properly relax. Wednesday is when she usually will start going shopping or something, if not Thursday – and then those days are easier to stomach because it’s almost the weekend again. So, according to her calculations, she should definitely have two days' worth left. She was actually going to be addressing the issue early is what she had thought. 

So imagine her surprise when she’s already running late to work, and her box is completely empty. There should definitely be two more sheets in there, but there’s nothing at all. Y/N worries that her math skills are actually down the drain for good if she messed up this badly. Until she remembered that she forgot to factor in the days after Harry returned from his heat. She knew her scent patches could wear out through the day, so she switched them at lunchtime, putting new ones on so that the blocking was a little more intense. She quickly gave up doing that, because – funny enough – she did the math and realized she would run through boxes twice as fast. And as much as she wanted Harry to be able to focus and exist around her without feeling smothered by her scent, she couldn’t justify doing all of that. He’d just have to start breathing through his mouth or something. 

There was no time to stop at the store, so she did the quick and not as efficient method of the gel blocker. Y/N had to dig it out from the back of her cabinet, and while it was still within its expiration date, it gradually loses potency over time. The feeling of it was tacky and horrible against her skin; she’d even grimaced when she rubbed it over her scent glands, almost instantly wanting to scrub it off with a wipe. But she sucked it up and took herself to work, ran into Niall, who said that, and then immediately reached up to her neck. 

“Oh, god, is it distracting?” Y/N asked. 

Niall huffed a laugh. “For me? Absolutely not. For the average nose? Not even a little. For someone who could smell you so well through your scent patches that he was starting to lose his mind sitting beside you?” He lingered for dramatic effect, “Definitely.” 

She pouts, “Well, shit. I hope it isn’t too abrasive on him today.” 

“I don’t think he considers it abrasive. I think he probably likes it, y’know?” He motions all over her body, “Your very essence, I think, just drives him a little crazy. But who knows until we really sit you down with him.” 

They make their way up to their floor. Y/N walks in with an unsure step, like someone who just started working there yesterday. Harry is already at the desk, and she watches his back closely to see if he reacts at all. And he 1000% does, almost instantaneously. The moment Y/N is just a couple of meters away from him, the muscles in his back go absolutely rigid. His head swings around toward the entryway, his mouth falls open like he couldn’t believe what he was smelling. Y/N feels bad immediately, and feels like she should apologize, but that also feels weird too. She just doesn’t want him to think that she’s doing this on purpose! Usually, she could get away with not having anything, and it does not disturb anyone because her scent is so non-abrasive. 

She sets her things down on the floor beside their desk and lowers herself to her seat. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs before she can talk herself out of it, her voice low enough just for him to make out, “I ran out of scent patches, and I tried the gel, but it never really works but –” 

“You have nothing to apologize for,” he says remarkably steadily, but she can tell his jaw is set weird and he’s trying really hard to seem normal. His eyes are light enough that she can make out his pupils dilating, though. “You are perfectly fine, don’t worry about anything, this is. . .my own battle.” 

It feels like that scene in Twilight where Edward is trying his best not to lunge at Bella in front of a classroom full of students. His fingers bite into his palms; she can tell, and he swallows thickly. 

“Still, I can – I can wear a scarf or –” 

“It’s the middle of summer; you aren’t wearing a scarf. Please, just... .continue on as normal.” 

Well, that’s really hard to do when she can tell Harry is in distress almost all day! He’s more wriggly than he normally is in his seat, shuffling and shifting every couple of minutes like he just could not get comfortable. Y/N is gnawing on her lip, feeling incredibly guilty even though he told her not to. Her heart is racing, and her mind is spinning with possibilities of what’s going on in his brain. Did she smell like she wanted to be bred again? Or was this his reaction to her total, unfiltered scent just normally? Last time, he accused her scent of kicking him into rut. What about this time? Oh, god, was he hard? 

She wants to peek, but it feels invasive to do so, so she tries to focus on her work and be normal. Maybe Harry really did just have the world’s most sensitive nose. At least he thought it was because she smelled too good, and not because she smelled horrible or something. So his nose is getting accosted with something nice. What if he was just sitting here, hard as a rock in his pants? Y/N would help him out – she could. She could reach her hand under the desk and let him use it, and he could cum, and maybe feel a little normal the rest of the day. Or maybe he needs to go and cum in the bathroom or something. Maybe it has very little to do with her, and he’s just pent up or something.  

Or maybe she’s just making shit up too! She doesn’t even know if he’s really hard or not; she’s just imagining that he was. 

Y/N’s phone buzzes on the table, and she grabs for it blindly, looking at her lowered brightness because Niall can’t be trusted in situations like these. 

He’s going to knot his underwear 😝

Still, they make it until around 11 AM without any incident. Or at least, that’s until the floor manager introduces Y/N to a new alpha that’s interviewing to be on their floor. Y/N can only tell because that’s how the manager introduces him to her over the top of her desk, which is probably inappropriate, but she doesn’t say anything about it. “Y/N! This is our new alpha that would like to be working on this floor,” she nodded toward her, “Y/N here is one of our best and brightest. She’s a beta, so she makes for a very levelheaded employee. Diffusing situations is like her speciality.” Really? Y/N thinks she’s actually kind of bad at diffusing situations. They must really want this person to choose to work here though, so he must be important or something. That’s the only reason she could figure this. “Do you mind if he follows you a bit until lunch to see what you do?” 

“Um, no, I don’t mind!” She agreed, “I have an extra chair here under my desk. It’s nice to meet you.” 

The alpha, for what it’s worth, smiles very genuinely. “Likewise. I’m Oliver.” 

“Oh! I had a cat named Oliver once,” she notes, and he chuckles before Y/N motions to Harry behind her, “Here’s Harry; he’s really good too. He always gets his work done super fast, and he’s always getting complimented.” 

Oliver waves to Harry just as he waved to Y/N, “Hello! It’s nice to meet you.” 

Harry grunts, like he always used to do to her. Y/N is a little surprised that he’s treating someone new like that – usually he at least makes the attempt to be kind-ish. But he looks back to his computer right away, and Oliver looks at Y/N, a little startled. 

“Um, haha, he’s a little quiet. A man of few words and all that.” She explains away. 

“Oh, I totally get it. I’m sorry you guys have to deal with me for a bit.” And again, he seems so genuine and sweet that Y/N doesn’t mind. His hair is a little shaggy, and he’s got this lost look in his eye, like anyone has the day they meet a potential coworker. But he seems nice, and his scent patch isn’t very good, so she can kind of smell him. Honestly, he seemed a bit like he might have just presented – a late bloomer of sorts. They usually have trouble containing their scent. It’s good though, a little woodsy. What is leaking out doesn’t seem to be purposeful: “I already really like it here, everyone’s been very kind.”

He’s only there for an hour, but through the way she had her desk decorated, he realized that they were into the same show. It was a little obscure, so Y/N was ecstatic! They ended up spending the last 30 minutes with him not watching any sort of work they were doing, and instead describing every intimate detail about why this was simultaneously the cutest and most intense show that they’d ever seen. At some point, Y/N grabs his hands – she does that sometimes, when it’s hard to contain her excitement, and he accepts it gratefully. He sort of reminds her of Niall, actually; she thinks that’s why she’s so comfortable with him. 

“Ah, well, if you work here, we can talk about season 2! I know it’s going to be incredible,” Y/N tells him, slowly packing up her stuff for lunch, “For now you’re free from me! It’s time to eat.” 

“Actually, if it isn’t too much trouble, did you want to eat together? I’m new in town and sort of looking for friends, so –” 

“We already have lunch plans,” Harry speaks for the first time since Oliver showed up. Y/N is so startled by him she almost gasps, because she was not expecting him to talk at all, and when he did, she definitely wasn’t expecting him to say that. 

Oliver blinked, also startled, but his shocked face still eased into a smile. “A different time then,” he said, standing up, but there was an understanding in his gaze that hadn’t been there before. “It was great to meet you, Y/N, Harry.” 

Y/N waves, but her wrist is grabbed by Harry who pulls her in the opposite direction. Oh, he was serious? Only he yanks her into the stairwell that nobody ever uses because everyone is convinced it’s super haunted. The last time she used it was when she was following Harry’s scent to the closet he’d hid in when he started rutting. 

He takes her down just one flight while Y/N asks, “Wait! Harry, slow down, I –”

“Can I scent you?” He stopped them on the first landing they made it to. Y/N jumps a little, “It’s okay if you don’t want it. I know it’s kind of sudden.” 

It isn’t abnormal for alphas to scent betas, she guesses, but it isn’t super common either. Y/N thinks that’s mostly pack-related, rather than coworker-related. She and Niall scent each other all the time though, and she did scent Harry when he was rutting to calm him down, but – yeah, she doesn’t know why he would want to. Unless maybe he figured out it would help cover her scent enough that he could focus on work. 

“Oh? That’s – I mean, I don’t mind!” She agrees, “Was mine getting to be too much? I brought the gel with me, but I don’t know how good it will be —” 

“It’s not your fault at all,” he grits his teeth, “That guy was leaking his scent all over you.” 

Y/N raises her eyebrows, leaning in to sniff her wrist, “Wait, really? I – I mean, I could smell him, but I didn’t think –” 

“Of course you didn’t,” he sighs, “Just like how you probably couldn’t tell he was into you.” 

“He was into me?” 

“Exactly,” he reaches up, validated,  pulling the sleeve of his shirt down and wiping Y/N’s neck dry of the gel that was still sort of tacky against her skin. He presses his wrist against her throat, and Y/N shivers, almost immediately affected by his scent. Earthy and sweet, filling up her nose, her brain, making it feel cotton soft. He doesn’t do it as fruitfully as he could, but it’s enough that she knew she’d smell like him. 

And Harry leans in, sniffs her softly, then nods his head, “Okay, that’s. . .that’s better.” 

“Oh,” she swallows hard, her heart racing – she really, really liked that. How does she tell him that she really liked that? He could probably tell in her scent, “That’s good. Should we – um, are we actually going to get lunch together?” 

Harry smiles a little, for the first time since she’d seen him this morning. 

“Yeah,” he answers, “Come on.”