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Levi’s legs were thrown over the alpha’s body, his arm pulled across his torso. He grasped it tight. And pushed.
The alpha below him struggled, squirming and grunting like a pig, and smelling just as foul. His stench seared Levi’s nose, acrid and intense as it mixed with their combined perspiration, nausea boiling in the pit of Levi’s stomach. Those fucking regulation scent blockers did nothing as soon as they started sweating and Levi needed to end this.
One word, one voice, deafened out the cheering of the crowd around him.
“More!”
Fucking Erwin.
Levi applied more pressure.
The alpha grunted, his face contorting and body tensing as he tried to squirm under him. He dug his heels into the ring, trying to duck his head into the grip. Levi pushed his legs down on the alpha’s body, digging his heels in because if he didn’t tap out soon, give into the ‘shrimpy omega’ as the alpha had described him, Levi would have to break his arm.
And at this point, Levi would be more than happy to.
The alpha stopped trying to get under him, changing strategies as he tried to lift Levi up. Levi growled.
He shifted the arm under his own armpit and began to lean back. Levi could almost feel the way his bones were going to crack, dreaded the sound but just kept pushing and pushing and-
The alpha tapped out.
Levi released immediately, arms falling to his side and he hauled himself up. He looked over to his corner, meeting the eyes of his head coach, Erwin. He nodded once, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips and Levi nodded back, walking over.
“Wonder who taught you that armbar,” Eld joked, handing him his shirt. Levi started to put it on, but it only got as far as face level before Levi froze, sniffing at it. Alpha. Strong, and while not as pungent as the alpha he had just fought, foreign. Levi lowered his arms.
“Well certainly not you, your ground game is shit,” Levi said, glaring up at his grappling coach. “Whose scent is this?”
Eld barked out a laugh, looking up to Mike.
“Told you he would notice.”
“What?” Levi looked between the two, skeptical. If they thought he was going to be upset, odds were Levi was going to be pissed. “You make some strange alpha roll around in this?”
“It’s his scent,” Mike said, tilting his head to the side, angling his chin to where Erwin was speaking to a young fighter. “Eren, the unlucky new fighter that ended up in your corner tonight. Insisted on holding it for you.”
Erwin had a habit of bringing new fighters to a seasoned fighter’s corner. An unorthodox practice, but one the large alpha insisted one. Levi thought it was just a pain in the ass.
Levi looked over to the young man. He was tall, broad with the classical musculature of many of Levi’s alpha peers. Assessing him, Levi’s eyes scanned over his stance, confident to the point of cocky, and then the younger man’s t-shirt, so tight that it stuck to the outline of his abs. Definitely an alpha.
As though sensing Levi’s eyes on him, the alpha looked over, bright green eyes catching his own. His entire posture seemed to lift, back straightening, chest puffing out minutely. Preening. His face brightened into a smile, warm, wide, and welcoming in a way that had Levi subconsciously lifting the shirt towards his face, as though to sniff it again.
He caught himself.
He was a fucking idiot.
Scowling, he used the fabric to wipe off his sweat and threw it back at Eld.
“Burn it. I’ll go out there shirtless.”
---
“Hey, shrimpy!”
Levi’s hand stilled on the doorknob as he exited his room. He took a moment to scowl at the nickname, eyes blurring out the flaking gold-coated knob as he slammed it and turned around. The alpha he had fought earlier, Dylan Goodwin, stood before him, his unblocked scent strong and just as disgusting as before.
“The fuck is your problem?” Levi gruffed, popping his chin out as a hand tightened on his gym bag, too used to these encounters to drop it yet. Some hot-shot, pissed off, alpha he’d just beaten confronting him in a pathetic attempt to bandage whatever pride they had left. He wrinkled his nose. “You look consitpated, if you’re looking for the restroom, you passed it.”
Dylan stepped closer, and even as his face remained fixed in that stupid, egotistical grin all alphas seemed to master before they even presented, Levi could smell as his scent turned sour.
“Omegas shouldn’t be allowed to compete.”
Basic, repetitive, and Levi carefully kept his face impassive.
“Doesn’t change the fact that I beat you.”
Levi saw the flicker of something, some darker emotion, in the alpha's face as his jaw twitched. His displeasure at the comment rolled off of him in new, pungent waves, and Levi fought to keep from covering his nose.
“That was in the ring, out here things are different,” Dylan said. It was the beginnings of a speech Levi had heard too many times. About his natural place as a breeder, a homemaker, a submissive. It was old, trite, and even though it was probably meant to elicit some sort of reaction out of Levi, he felt nothing. “Out here I could make you kneel with a single word. I could bring you to your knees with my scent alone. You’re nothing.”
“Yes,” Levi drawled. “You have me beat, I’m a weak little omega.” He tilted his head, looking straight up into the alpha’s eyes, having done this meeting, this stupid puffing-of-chest confrontation, enough times to know exactly which words would worm their way under the alpha’s nerves, hit that sweet little spot to piss them off. “Feel better ‘bout your loss now?”
The smile blinked off the alpha’s face, lip curling up as he snarled. His scent was getting stronger and Levi gave in to the urge to cover his nose as he lifted the neckline of his shirt, eyes never leaving Dylan’s brown ones.
”That alpha ego of yours really took a blow, huh?” Levi taunted, despite the fabric muffling his voice.
“You watch the way you speak to me, bitch.”
Dylan stepped forward again, his pheromones oppressive and Levi had to drop his shirt to cough. His scent was everywhere. Sharp and bitter. It swirled through the air like strands of spider silk slowly weaving themselves around Levi, binding him, trapping him.
“No,” Levi scowled back, eyes watering to stay locked to Dylan’s, his nostrils burning.
“Yes.” His voice dropped lower, vibrating with the edge of a growl. Levi’s eyes widened, because there was no way, no fucking way this loser of an alpha had- “Kneel.”
Levi’s legs trembled.
Alpha voice.
“What the fuck?” Levi swore, leaning back against the door to keep himself up.
“You little shit,” Dylan grinned down at him. And gone was the anger, replaced with something more dangerous. He looked victorious, like he was looking at a fly that’d been buzzing in his ear before finally killing it. “Maybe you’d be more obedient if I mated you, yeah? Kneel.”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Levi growled, wanting to strike out, using all his strength to resist the command of his words.
“I’m sure you’d be such a sweet little bitch with my knot in you, huh?” His voice turned sickly, the undercurrents of his scent sweetening with a lust that made Levi nauseous. “A tiny thing like you might be cute, I’m sure I’d enjoy your heats, anyway.”
“Fuck you. Get the fuck back.”
Levi’s shaky arms pushed out against the alpha’s chest, swatted away in one motion.
Levi hated how weak his voice sounded, how that suffocating panicky feeling was rising in his throat as he fought against the overwhelming pressure of Dylan’s pheromones. He could hardly move.
Dlyan tsk’d.
“I don’t gotta do anything, not if no alpha’s got a claim on you.” At the look on his face, Levi felt bile rise in his throat and the acidic taste coated his tongue. It was still more pleasant than Dylan's scent. “And I don’t even smell a whiff of one on you. Now kneel.”
“Those rules…” Levi coughed again, his body slowly sliding down the door as his mind and muscles battled his instincts. “Are archaic.”
“But they exist.” The alpha took a few steps over, grabbed Levi by the back of his neck, scruffing him, and Levi’s legs finally gave out. Dylan huffed out a laugh, voice mocking. “And there he falls.”
“Fuck you,” Levi repeated. His voice was too soft, his instincts too strong. Levi needed to resist, to move, to fight. He’d beaten him in the ring, if he could just stand, if he wasn’t a fucking omega.
“You’re tough,” Dylan said, fingers digging into his skin, pressing against the muscles of his nape. “I’ll give you that, but there’s nothing even you can do against a true alpha, huh, omega.”
Omega. That one word, thick and biting. Spoken like a fucking slur. For all the infliction in Dylan’s voice, it might as well have been one.
Levi’s leg kicked out weakly, his heel digging into the floor and he focused on the pressure, the small movements he could make.
The sound of his knees hitting the floor, dull and dampened by the carpet, still echoed in Levi’s ears. And his scent, the alpha’s fucking scent, disgusting and lustful, was starting to make Levi slick. Not for the first time, he hated his body.
“Stay still for me, will y-”
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Levi didn’t recognize the voice, and could weep in joy for that. No one he knew had to find him in this position, kneeling and defeated. In despair because he was an omega next to an alpha who might as well be- was going to be- his alpha.
“Get out of here. Can’t you see I’m busy with my omega?”
Levi knew the person would walk away, because he’d seen it happen too many times before when he was a child. Too many times to his mother.
“Get. Away. From. Him.”
Another scent filled the hall. This one familiar.
More pleasant.
Levi couldn’t move his head, but he could hear the footsteps, and suddenly the pressure on his neck was lifted. There was a bang, a quick, pained shout. Levi scrambled to his feet, using the doorknob to hold himself up as the new scent, rushing in like a gust of wind in a storm, began to clear the hallway.
Across from him, the alpha who had been holding Levi's shirt, Eren, had Dylan help up against the wall, fists bunching the front of his shirt. His scent had dominated, suffusing the hallways in a more pleasant odor. Clear and clean. Levi felt like he could finally breathe.
Dylan’s feet dangled an inch above the ground, and he seemed shocked, frozen, as he gaped open mouthed. A low growl emanated from Eren’s throat and that seemed to bring him back. His face contorted, angry and red, and he kicked out, his feet landing solid blows to Eren's legs, but the taller alpha didn’t budge.
“Let me go, you lunatic!”
Eren’s growl grew.
“My omega.”
A lie, Levi had just met Eren, but he felt his heart skip a beat regardless.
Across from him, he saw the alpha who had just attacked him, belittled him, humiliated him, start to panic. His eyes went wide, mouth flapping open and closed, and Levi felt satisfaction in the way he swallowed, eyes darting over to where Levi was standing.
“He- he didn’t have a mark, or a scent and-”
“Mine.”
Dylan’s eyes darted from Levi to Eren again and Levi rolled his eyes, because as aggressive as Eren had been, one word statements weren't very convincing.
“My private life is my business,” Levi stated blandly, walking over to stand next to Eren.
Eren’s eyes flickered towards him quickly, taking Levi in, before he unceremoniously dropped Dylan Goodwin to the ground.
Eren reached out, wrapping his arms around Levi's shoulders and resting his head on top of the omega's. His arms were large, and Levi already felt himself tensing, ready to throw them off, but they remained slack with Eren's loosely clasped hands dangling over his chest. Levi let out a shaky breath, breathing in the clean scent that had now completely encircled him, completely blocking Dylan’s stench.
The other alpha’s eyes seemed to track Levi’s tenseness, the way he straightened, and Levi could see him preparing to call them out on their bullshit.
But then he felt one of Eren’s arms leave, reach into his pocket, and pull the shirt Levi had rejected out of his pocket. He threw it at Dylan.
“He’s mine.” Eren repeated, and Levi shivered at the words.
Dylan carefully sniffed the garment, and Levi knew what he was going to smell. The both of them, together. The scent Eren had left behind earlier mixed with the undercurrents of Levi’s that had come from his sweat. Levi watched as Dylan predictably coughed in disgust, throwing it back at the two of them.
He bared his teeth, sucking in a deep breath as his chest heaved out again.
“Fine then,” he said, and with one last look, walked away.
Levi watched him leave, watching as steps that had damned him earlier carried the alpha away from him. When he turned the corner, Levi sunk into Eren’s chest for a second, and let the scent circle him, and heard his heartbeat. It was fast, and Levi counted each beat- thump , thump , thump- and somewhere around the twentieth beat both his and Levi’s had slowed considerably.
Levi breathed in deeply, ignoring the way Eren’s scent, comforting like a scent he’d known forever, filled his lungs, and tried to wiggled his way out of his arms.
Instead they tightened, and Levi’s heart skipped a beat.
“What are you doing?”
Eren hummed, giving him a quick squeeze with his arms.
“You still smell distressed.”
Weak, a small voice in Levi’s head whispered.
“Eren,” Levi said carefully, placing his hands atop of the junction of Eren’s. “I don’t know you.”
There was a minute of silence where neither spoke, neither moved, Levi’s hand still latched onto Erens’.
“No,” Eren finally said. “You don’t. But we’re going to be fighting for the same gym.” One of Eren’s thumbs lifted from where they were interlocked to stroke the back of Levi’s hand. “I promise I won’t hurt you.” Eren paused, as though waiting for Levi to speak, and when he didn’t, Eren continued. “Just let me comfort you.”
Levi breathed in again, could just pick up notes of Dylan’s scent in the air, and nodded. He was still shaking, and and Eren had just seen him at his worst. One more minute couldn’t hurt.
“Okay.”
---
The next day, Levi woke up feeling like he’d been run over by a car, the birds singing outside of his open window seeming to mock him with their early morning gaiety. His body ached, and he could feel every place where he’d been injured the day before in startling intensity. The strain of his muscles, bruises pressing against the mattress, it was all normal for the day after a fight.
But the pinch in his neck, the dread sitting heavy in his chest, the inexplicable, unplaceable need to sob into his sheets as he remembered the suffocating feeling of Dylan’s scent and the squeeze of his hand, was all new.
Levi wanted to wallow in it, absorb the barrage of emotions that were beating at his mind and let it seep into his skin and become a fleshy part of him. Like the bruises that he knew would heal in a few weeks, the small cut that had split open below his eye that would eventually clot into a deep red scab and heal.
Instead, someone knocked on the door.
A little pattern, five short knocks, a pause, then two more. Isabel. Levi grit his teeth.
“I was trying to sleep!” Levi shouted. The response was immediate.
“No you weren’t! Your bed creaked, you’re a really still sleeper.”
Levi squeezed his eyes shut, internally cussing out his roommate. At least he had convinced her, after a few too many bucket traps, not to come barging into his room.
“I hope you realize how fucking creepy that is!”
“It’s only creepy if you make it,” Isabel chirped back, too cheerful for bum-fuck early in the morning. “Now can I come in?”
Levi sighed.
“Yeah, I’m not naked.”
The doorknob turned and hinges squealed as Isabel bounced in. Two, much larger, figures followed.
Levi quickly dismissed Erwin, the blond giant had been to his house a few too many times after a fight, to talk about his performance, create a new training schedule, make sure he was looking after his injuries.
The second figure though, messy brown hair in a bun and wearing sweats as though he had just gotten up, was not a usual visitor. Levi bolted up, sheets falling down around his bare torso. He gaped at Eren as the other smiled sheepishly back at him, hand rubbing the back of his neck.
“Oh,” Isabel said, grinning. “Forgot to mention that we have guests.”
“Levi,” Erwin said with a tilt of his head.
“Hey,” Eren said, giving a little wave, face flushed. His eyes were trained intently on Levi’s face, and it took him a moment, and a small breeze from his window, to realize why.
Fucking pervert.
“Shit, Isabel,” Levi swore, gripping at the sheets and pulling them up to cover himself. “You couldn’t have just had them wait while I got dressed like a normal person?”
Isabel shrugged, but Levi saw the amusement written around her eyes clearly. She was enjoying this far too much.
“Farlan is making tea,” Isabel offered, as if that was enough to salvage her social graces.
Levi’s jaw twitched and he fixed her with a glare.
“I swear, Isabel,” Levi warned, looking at Erwin before biting his tongue and shaking his head. “Just… get out of here.”
“If you say so, bro,” Isabel sang, and Levi heard her giggle as he left, leaving the door wide open behind her.
“Close the door!” Levi shouted after her, and the laughter got louder.
“I can do it,” Eren offered, and the room built an awkward sort of tension as Levi and Erwin watched Eren go to shut it. Erwin, to his credit, helped himself to Levi’s wardrobe and threw him a shirt.
As the latch clicked closed, Erwin cleared his throat, and both men looked up at him. He opened his phone, flipped through something before finally landing on what he wanted and passing the device to Levi.
“Levi,” Erwin said, as Levi took the phone. “I think it would be best if you just read this yourself.”
Levi only had to look at the screen for a second to understand. There, in bold, angular, font was the headline: Only Omega Fighter in UFC finally has an Alpha. Looking to settle down? Below it was a grainy photo of Eren in Levi’s corner, holding that damn shirt. And then another, Eren’s arms circled around him in the hall and Levi, leaning back against him. Eyes closed.
Levi saw red. Dylan had gotten his pay day after all, just outside of the ring. And at Levi’s expense.
His hand tightened around the fragile device and Erwin reached down to slowly extract his phone before Levi could destroy it.
“So I’m guessing,” Levi said, voice low, studying his fist as his knuckles turned white. “They think Eren’s my alpha.”
Erwin answered shortly, and that was something Levi appreciated about him.
“Yes.”
“Shit!” Levi swore. “Stupid fucking Dylan Goodwin. I’m going to-”
Levi’s voice cut off, because he didn’t know what he would do. What he could do. Rumors were sinister, deadly, because they didn’t need to carry the burden of truth. They just needed pretty words, words that sensationalized, that told a story that people wanted to hear.
Levi swallowed, trying to think of what this could mean, of tabloids thinking he was going to ‘settle down,’ of the way everyone might see him and-
What better story than the violent omega tamed?
“Listen, Levi,” Erwin said, and Levi’s head shot up, hoping that some words of wisdom, that some answer to his problem would spring from his mouth and make all of this go away. “Eren was telling me about last night, after the fight, and I think… it might be a good idea to run with it.”
Levi was wrong.
His answer was instantaneous.
“No,” Levi shook his head. “No, I came into this for a reason. To prove that despite everything, despite being an omega, I could win.”
“I know, Levi,” Erwin said, and Levi started to smell his scent, surprisingly neutral for an alpha, started to permeate the room. Soothing. Erwin never released his scent. “And you’ve done wonderful, you’ve shown omegas more than capable-”
“Damn other omegas!” Levi shouted. “This is about me. I am going to be the best, I am the one who can succeed.”
“Having a relationship won’t change that,” Erwin said. “It’s just to keep something like yesterday from happening again.”
“It will change everything!” And Levi had to struggle to breathe again because it was all so stupid. If Dylan had never shown up, no, if Levi had never fought him, he wouldn’t be in this mess. “I’m an omega, everyone’s going to expect me to be knocked up and mated within a few months. They’re going to speculate about our relationships, about my personal life, instead of my fights. I can’t-”
Out of the corner of his eye, Levi saw Eren shifting uncomfortably, looking down to the ground, and that action, so uncertain and submissive, pissed Levi off even more.
“What do you have to say?” Levi said, and Eren startled, eyes meeting Levi’s. “You’re content with this?”
“Yes,” Eren said, eyes unwavering at Levi’s tone. “I think it’s a good idea. That alpha said something about you not being marked, and if we pretend to be together then in the eyes of the law, no one can come after you. I’ll have,” Eren’s eyes burned intensely into Levi’s, and Levi could see the way his pupils dilated, hear how his voice lowered, “a public claim.”
Levi shuddered at his voice, the suddenly low pitch, and stayed there, staring and studying, the want in Eren’s face.
Then he remembered Erwin.
Both his eyebrows are raised as he looks at Levi like he’d never seen him before, although the small twist in his lips and crinkle around his eyes spoke to amusement more than disgust.
“It won’t be bad,” Erwin reassured. “Just hold hands a few times, give him a hug after a match, let him scent him before coming to the gym, and wear some of his clothing from time to time.”
Levi saw the way Eren looked at Erwin with interest, actively listening, looking like an overgrown puppy. He could imagine little pointy ears coming from his head, twitching with each word.
“No,” Levi said and shook his head, the motion also working to rid himself of the image. “I can’t do that, I can’t, for my career, for my personal life.”
“Levi,” Erwin cautioned. “Just think-”
“No!” Levi yelled. “I won’t do it!”
Erwin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Levi felt himself mutter a curse when Erwin’s eyes met his.
He’d fucked up.
“And what, pray tell,” Erwin started. “Do you think the actual story about what happened between you and Dylan Goodwin would do? Because not only would it put more attention on you, but it’ll bring into question your ability to even fight in the league.”
Levi’s mouth opened, some sort of protest ready to spill out, only for the words to get stuck in his throat when Erwin narrowed his eyes, asking for silence.
“It’s not fair,” Erwin continued. “And you have every right to talk about what happened, if you want, but if you do not go with this story, at least pretend to date Eren for a little bit before breaking up, it will eventually come out.” Levi’s brain stopped working. “Because then Dylan would have had an actual claim, and do you really want to be his omega?”
Slowly, very slowly, Levi began to shake his head no, and Erwin lifted his eyebrows, prompting him for more. Beside him, Eren looked just as shocked as Levi felt, looking at Levi with something akin to pity.
Levi hated pity.
“I’ll do it,” Levi said, dropping any expression from his face. “But I’m not hugging him after fights.”
“Fine,” Erwin said with a nod, and just as he did, there was a knock on the door. Desperate to leave this conversation behind, to silently mourn the loss of his freedom, Levi called them in.
Farlan was standing on the other side, tray of tea in his hands. His eyes automatically scanned Levi, checking him, before searching the rest of the room.
“I heard yelling,” Farlan said. “And tea’s done.” He walked over to the bed, placing the tray on Levi’s nightstand before subtly placing himself between Levi and the two alphas. And while Farland would be nothing more than a fifteen second warm up for either of the men, Levi appreciated the gesture. “Is everything okay?”
“Well Farlan,” Levi said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “It seems that I’ve got myself a boyfriend.”
---
Pretending to date Eren was surprisingly easy.
Levi wouldn’t have another match for a while, and would normally be banned from the gym and all strenuous activity to heal for the next few weeks. Luckily for him, his ‘boyfriend’ had one of his first fights coming up in two months, which gave him the perfect excuse to stop by the gym regularly and receive side eye and glares from Erwin whenever he innocently picked up a weight or kicked a target.
But between each poorly-disguised attempt at working out, Levi found himself standing at Eren’s side, watching him as he trained.
And god was it distracting.
Levi would alternate between giving advice and making small talk, gradually learning more about the alpha. Like how he had one sibling, adopted and also an alpha, who was overprotective. ‘Alpha instincts on steroids’ Eren had called it while telling Levi the story about how Mikasa had driven up three hours one night to visit after he had drunkenly butt dialed and refused to answer any of her twenty-one missed calls.
Or about how the alpha had gone to college to study biology and chemistry, on the track for medicine, before dropping out after he heard a classmate shit their pants during an organic chemistry final. Levi had told a shit joke following that, something about how at least shit was organic, and Eren had laughed so hard he fell to the floor.
And standing there, looking down at the alpha as tears leaked out his eyes from the force of his laughter. Levi realized two things:
One, Eren was gorgeous. Beautiful like how Michelangelo painted men. Muscled, yet graceful, with an ethereal allure to him that seemed to shine from within. And when he smiled, face splitting in half with joy, he seemed to radiate life.
Two, Levi, without a doubt, liked this man.
Since then, each time he looked at Eren he didn’t just see a training alpha. He didn’t just see his form, posture. Instead he saw the way sweat glistened on his brow, slid down his face. He saw the way his muscles flexed, rippled under taunt, tanned skin.
Sometimes, when Levi got caught up in watching, he would forget what they were talking about. Judging by the smile on Eren’s face, he knew exactly why.
Then there was the scent marking and the clothing.
Levi and Eren weren’t a real couple, didn’t spend a lot of time together, didn’t go out to eat together, didn’t even really touch each other, so most forms of scent marking were rendered useless. They were forced to use their wrists.
Soon, even that became an action of eroticism.
In the corner of the gym, dark hallways outside the locker room, small nooks around the corner from the bathroom, they would stand only one foot apart, both their breathing loud in the silence, and reveal their wrists.
“Alright,” Eren would whisper, voice low as though telling a secret.
“Alright,” Levi parroted.
Blue-green veins ran down Eren’s arm, jutting out at the wrist, and Levi swore he could feel them as Eren smoothed it over his scent gland. Swore he could feel Eren’s pulse from his wrist and in his neck, all at once. Knew that the longer they held them together, the longer they were connected, the more their heartbeats fell into sync.
Their scents mixing, tingling Levi’s nostrils, would give him a rush, a high, and he’d leave feeling as though he was floating. Like he’d mixed with another.
Then Eren would give him a shirt, always much too baggy for Levi, and he would covet it for it’s scent. Avoid people in the day, keeping it clean, clear of other scents, so he could take it home and add it to the small pile he’d made of a collection of Eren’s shirts. If Eren noticed, or cared, that Levi had been stealing his shirts, then he didn’t let it on. Which suited Levi just fine. He needed the shirts.
Each night, as he fell asleep, Levi would burrow into them, becoming intoxicated with their scent.
Levi was, completely and utterly, screwed.
---
The two months till Eren’s match flew by in a blur of secret scenting, world-brightening conversations, and Levi felt himself falling.
And Isabel and Farlan acted as his narrator.
“You’re going to be in his corner tonight, right?” Farlan asked over breakfast.
“Oooh!” Isabel squealed. “He’s gotta! He’s his boyfriend.”
“Well,” Levi shrugged, shooting a knowing look at Levi. “Fake boyfriend.”
Levi growled over his eggs and toast.
“They’re totally in love,” Isabel insisted, for the fifth time that week, and just as with all the other times, Levi didn’t find himself correcting her. “Levi sleeps in a pile of Eren’s clothing, and Eren doesn’t ask for them back.” Isabel leaned over the table in excitement, pointing her fork at Farlan threateningly. “They. Are. In. Love.”
Levi took another bite of his toast, not tasting the butter as he listened to them discuss his fake love life.
“Well, we know Levi’s in love at least,” Farlan said, stabbing a piece of egg. “That much is obvious, but Eren in love with Levi? I don’t know.”
The words were light, and a common tease from him, but they hurt every time.
“He totally is!” Isabel said in defense of Levi, and Levi almost nodded along in agreement, but stopped himself. “You’ll see. Tonight.”
“Tonight?” Levi asked, and both Isabel and Farlan nodded their heads.
“Tonight,” Farlan agreed, nodding his head solemnly.
Levi looked between them, looking for a reason to doubt their sincerity, or understand their madness. He found none.
“It’s okay,” Isabel said, probably reading some emotion Levi hadn’t been trying to display off his face. “He’s going to sweep you right off your feet. I just know it.”
Farlan hummed.
“We’ll see,” he said, doubt in his tone, and Isabel flung a piece of toast at him.
---
Levi was unprepared for the damage Eren would take in his fight that night.
Levi was a grappler, agile enough to avoid blows while taking another man down. With a good hold, anyone could be subdued, so that’s how he fought. Occasionally he’d had to punch, kick, take one himself, but never in excess.
Never like Eren.
Eren was a striker, a boxer before he began learning other forms, and it shone in how he fought. He took punches and blows to his body in a succession that made Levi queasy to think about. And then he dealt them, a hard strike with a kick, a hit series, and Levi nearly vibrated with every exchange.
In the end, Eren won, his face in a snarl of intensity as he raised his fist up in the air while he walked back to the corner. His victory was hot, alluring, his poorly concealed scent swirling and beautiful, but none of that mattered. When Levi looked at his injuries, the split of a deep cut over his eye, the blood pouring from his nose, his heart clenched.
Sensing his distress, Erwin called his name and handed him a towel.
“Go wipe him off,” he said, and Levi was all too eager to jump into the ring.
He walked up to Eren, rearing back as the alpha whipped around as soon as he got close. His eyes were wide, nostrils slightly flared, and when he caught sight of Levi, rushed over.
“Levi,” Eren said, taking long strides over.
“Eren,” Levi snorted, holding up the cloth. “I’ve got to wipe you d-”
Levi was cut off as a pair of arms circled around him, holding him tight enough to his chest that Eren’s scent filled his nose. It was slick with sweat, salty as it touched Levi’s lips, and all he could think about was how this should disgust him. How Eren’s sweat slowly seeping into his clothes, slipping between his lips, should repulse him.
Yet Levi had the strongest desire to lick it.
“Sorry,” Eren whispered. “I know you said that you didn’t want post-match hugs, but I do.”
Levi had to squeeze his eyes shut, clench his jaw, from responding and saying something stupid like ‘I think I may want them too, now.’
When Eren pulled back, looked down at him, his face was soft, lips curved into a gentle smile. It was loving, heart-wrenching, and completely ruined by the blood dripping down his face.
“Holy shit,” Levi swore, breaking out of Eren’s embrace and bringing the cloth up to blot at Eren’s face, starting with the cut over his eye. “You’ve got to learn to block better or something, this is fucking insane.” Levi wiped up the rest of it as best he could, the blood already clotting and becoming sticky, before using another corner to dry it away under his nose. “You probably have a concussion, you absolute dumbass.”
Eren laughed, a hand covering Levi’s wrist as he dragged his arms down.
“Careful,” Eren taunted, leaning close, and Levi froze, suddenly able to see the speck of brown in his eyes, so light they looked gold. He whispered, low, just for Levi’s ears. “I might get the crazy idea that you’ve actually fallen for me.”
The words caught up in Levi’s brain a millisecond too late, leaving just enough of a pause after Eren’s words that Levi might as well had agreed.
“Don’t get too full of yourself,” Levi whispered back, a rushed, generic answer that had Eren’s grin splitting his face ear to ear as he pulled back.
“If you say so, but Levi.” Eren’s hand rested heavy on his shoulder, warm and encompassing. “I have. Fallen for you, that is.”
Then he released him, leaving him to flounder with the implication of Eren’s words for the next few seconds as he turned around. He didn’t laugh, didn’t, and Levi felt as though this had to be one big joke. What else would a young, hot, alpha be doing with an omega he’d had to rescue just a few months ago.
If Eren hadn’t just received several too-hard blows to the head, Levi would have knocked him out with one of his own.
Levi spent the rest of the night avoiding Eren, even as his eyes tracked him as he walked away to get his head checked.
And if Eren caught his stare and blew him a kiss, then no one had to know about how much Levi’s heart pounded.
---
After the match, tension between them grew in the following weeks. As though spoken into existence that night, Eren began to tease Levi. Lingering touches, light as he walked by, small, consistent glances, and then of course, the little kisses he’d blow across the gym. Dramatic, and fake, and if Eren was truly playing with his emotions, Levi was going to kill him.
Both Isabel and Farlan had agreed he wasn’t, that a hug like that couldn’t be faked, and Levi knew he should believe them. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to give in to the idea that maybe Eren likes him too, couldn’t get rid of that little niggle of doubt that chewed at his brain.
So he did nothing.
The tension between them became taunt, fraying at the edges with each seemingly innocuous touch, being pulled tighter every time one caught the other one staring.
And then, came Levi’s next match, one and a half months later.
It was in San Diego, a plane ride away, which meant hotels and Isabel’s shitty (fantastic, she had insisted) planning abilities had Levi sharing a room with Eren. A room with only one bed. Because Isabel and Erwin, who surely had some say in this, were evil.
When they’d walked into the room, Levi had tensed, preparing himself for some sort of teasing, suggestive remark from the alpha, anticipating it even, only for Eren to easily agree to sleep on the couch.
“Alright,” Levi had said, confused, and Eren refused to even look at him as he dragged his suitcase towards the armrest of the couch.
It hurt.
But later that night, right before Levi turned the lights out, he looked over to Eren, uncomfortably sprawled on the too-short sofa. His legs hung off the end, torso twisted awkwardly to comfortably fit on the shallow seat as he reached over toward the coffee table next to him.
“What are you doing?” Levi asked, hand dropping from the switch as he studied Eren.
“Reaching,” Eren said, arm trying to stretch across the coffee table. “For my phone. I left it over there and-”
Eren fell, rolling out of the couch, nearly hitting his head on the coffee table, and Levi cringed. He sighed, waving Eren over. He was only taking up one side anyways.
“Come sleep on the bed.”
Eren followed without comment or complaint, bringing his phone and placing it on the much more accessible night stand.
“Better not fall off like an idiot again,” Levi warned, and Eren snorted, his voice soft as he responded.
“Goodnight to you too, Levi.”
---
The tension, that thread of wanting between them, snapped the next morning.
The first thing Levi noticed as he came to was the arm around his torso, that had no doubt been thrown over him during the night. They made him feel safe, secure, and just as Levi was preparing to burrow into them, chasing the scent that must had enveloped him with the arms, he noticed the second thing.
Eren was hard.
The bulge of it, pushing through Eren’s briefs, pressed up against the curve of Levi’s ass. Full, fitting perfectly between his cheeks. He sucked in a silent breath and held it, listening to the sounds around him. Birds chirped out the window, the air conditioner rattled, and the mini fridge hummed.
Then there’s Eren, breathing deeply, evenly, behind him. Asleep.
There was a sense of relief with that, of knowing that he didn’t have to face this awkwardness with him. That he could just get out of bed and walk away… But that feeling, that thick member nestled into him, was one he’d never had before.
Levi was a virgin, had never felt an alpha’s cock driving into him. It never appealed to him, he had fighting after all, he just never had the desire. Until now.
Perhaps Levi’s next move was driven by his twenty-odd years of being an alphaless omega, of never really feeling that fullness, the hardness of an alpha within him. Perhaps it was from pure insanity, the madness that grew with having Eren tease him relentlessly and thinking that this could symbolize some version of want, because this was insanity. It was madness. It wasn’t Levi. And yet.
Levi pushed his ass back Eren’s dick, grinding onto it as slick began to form between his legs, all at once rejoicing at the feigned feeling of being wanted and cursing out the layers of fabric that acted as a barrier between them.
A hand covered Levi’s hip, fingers digging into his flesh and-
“Levi?” Eren asked, his voice strained.
Levi froze, refusing to respond. He took deep breaths in, trying to steady them, as though he was sleeping.
“God, Levi,” Eren groaned. “I know you’re awake,” and the body behind him disappeared as a hand flipped him over to his back so he was face to face with Eren as the alpha loomed over him.
His eyes were intense as they examined Levi’s face, looking over his eyes, lingering on his lips. Levi swallowed and Eren’s eyes followed the motion of his Adam’s apple before locking back onto Levi’s. The alpha dipped his head down a little, scented the air, groaning again.
He lifted a hand from the bedspread next to Levi’s head, reaching out, hesitant and awed as he cupped Levi’s cheek.
“You want me.” From the wonder in his eyes, the tenderness in his touch, Levi knew that Eren had found the truth. That it was a statement, not a guess.
Levi took in deep breaths, could still feel the ghost of the warmth of Eren’s cock against his ass, and finally nodded.
“Yeah,” Levi said, meeting Eren’s eyes. “I do. What about it?”
The lines around his eyes crinkled, lighting up his entire face, and he pressed a kiss onto Levi’s lips.
Eren’s lips were soft, giving, and as incessant as he was tender, prying Levi’s lips apart with his tongue and slipped it inside.
Levi had never been kissed before, had nothing to compare Eren to, yet Levi didn’t think anyone would ever be able to beat this sensation of pure, floating bliss.
When Eren pulled back to give him space, room to breathe, and Levi took a moment to admire Eren’s face. The full curve of his lip, strong lines of his jaw, intense green and gold of his eyes.
Levi wanted him. So much.
With a need that threatened to make his chest burst.
“Eren,” Levi said, threading his fingers into Eren’s hair. The alpha looked at him, attentive, as though Levi were the gorgeous one and not him. “I’m a UFC fighter, I won’t break.”
“Fuck,” Eren whispered.
Levi tugged Eren’s head down and Eren’s lips crashed down onto Levi’s, bruising. The passion, the force, worked as a key, releasing Levi’s mind from whatever had trapped it and kept him from pursuing this, kept him from having Eren and everything they could be.
Levi’s dynamic began to take hold, his head going fuzzy, slick oozing out. It was overwhelming, all-consuming in a way that made him lose control, and for once, Levi could not give a single shit.
All he could do was taste Eren’s scent, thick on his tongue, smell him clogging his nose and swirling in his mind, and feel him, thrust up into him to rub his dick against Eren’s as it seared into Levi.
All he wanted was Eren.
Eren, here, now, giving him everything, taking everything.
Eren’s hands rubbed down Levi’s sides, sliding their way under his nightshirt, caressing each curve as though he deserved to be worshipped. Levi eagerly drank in the sensation, arched into the heat.
Each press of his hand left little flames of desire as they trailed a path down his skin, up and down, up and down, teasing and snapping the edge of his waistband before dipping under to pull Levi’s boxers down his legs.
Just that though, just his hands and his kiss, already had Levi aching, his cock leaking and hole blinking, begging for a cock, for Eren’s cock. And Levi would fight him for it, submit Eren to ride his cock, but his hands and his lips felt so good and-
Fuck.
He had a fight today.
“Eren, Eren,” Levi panted, pushing at Eren’s chest to get him to wait.
Half lidded, red lipped, and beautifully flushed by desire, Eren pulled back. And Levi could never imagine a better site.
“What’s wrong?” Eren asked, bringing one of those wonderful, magical hands to cup Levi’s cheek, his thumb running over Levi’s own kiss-swollen lips.
“I have a fight tonight,” Levi whispered into the morning light of the room, and Eren’s eyes widened with realization before he deflated.
“Right,” Eren said, breathing in deep and lifting himself off Levi. “Right, I can go to the bathroom or something and-”
“Oh no,” Levi said, wrapping a leg around Eren’s torso. He’d waited too long for this, too long to have any alpha in him, let alone one as stunning and amazing as Eren. “You’re not going anywhere. We’re fucking.”
“Um,” Eren looked at him, grinding his own, still cloth-covered dick, over Levi’s. “Then why did you stop me?”
“Because I can’t have you knotting me or marking me tonight.”
Eren’s face brightened, catching onto the silent promise in his words.
“Tonight?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Levi huffed out a laugh.
“Yes, tonight.” Levi repeated, and tightened the grip he had with his leg. “Now then, shut up and fuck me.”
Eren gave him a tiny peck on the tip of his nose, before shrugging off his briefs.
“Such a way with words,” Eren joked, and his hands were on Levi again, skimming over his skin, flicking over his nipples and Levi arched into it. Mewled into it, reaching up to grab at Eren’s shoulders.
Slowly, Eren’s hands worked his way down, fingers feathering over his cock and scooping some of the slick that had flowed out of his asshole.
“Would you look at that,” Eren mused, dragging the slick covered finger up Levi’s dick to make him shudder. “You’re already so wet for me.” He grinned, sharp and toothy at Levi. “Don’t move.”
The words were a promise as much as a damnation and Levi’s hands fell to the sheets to grasp at the fabric. Eren grabbed a hold of his own dick with one hand and pulled apart Levi’s asscheeks with the other so he could drag the tip across his hole, gathering slick, and Levi whined, twisting wrinkles into their bedspread.
“Eren, alpha,” Levi moaned. “Please.”
Eren pressed the blunt tip against Levi’s hole, pushing in just a little, and Levi could feel his body shake as he resisted. His fingers threatened to tear holes through his sheets, whimpering as Eren teased the bluntness of his cock.
“Please, please, please,” Levi begged, his voice needy and foreign. He met Eren’s eyes, held his gaze, and pleaded with him again. “Please fuck me, alpha.”
Levi could see his composition crumbling, even as he shakily tried to remain in control.
“I suppose since you asked so nicely,” Eren conceded, slowly pushing in, eye’s struggling to stay open, to watch Levi as he drove deeper and deeper.
Levi groaned, the feeling of heat and fullness hitting him. With Eren’s scent, fogging up his mind in the most beautiful way, he felt complete.
He felt Eren’s hands firmly grasp at his waist as he bottomed out and watched the way Eren struggled to keep his eyes open, mouth falling open as he entered. Then his alpha made a whine, a high pitched keening sound that resonated from deep within his throat, and through the haze of need, Levi wanted more.
He wrapped his legs around Eren’s waist as he stayed there, panting, and used his abdominal muscles to thrust, breaking the grip Eren had on his hips.
Eren left out a broken moan, hands falling to the bed on the side of Levi. His head hung, lips red and parted. So he did it again, and again, loving the way Eren’s face contorted, how he lost himself to pleasure.
Every sound, little mewl, keen, and moan, was music to Levi’s ears. So delightful that he had to tease.
“You’re doing so good, letting me use your dick like that,” Levi said lowly. Eren only whined at that, head nodding, hair falling in curtains over his face. Levi smirked. “What a good, submissive alpha.”
And that got Eren’s attention.
Green eyes snapped open, glared down, and suddenly the dick in his ass was gone and Levi’s world was a blur. He was tossed onto his front, a heavy hand on the back of his head.
“Don’t you dare,” Eren growled, and Levi breathlessly laughed into the sheets. His teeth grazed where Levi’s scent glands rested. “Mine.”
“Yes,” Levi said, voice muffled, hand too tight on him to fully nod. “Your’s. Now fuck me.”
Eren listened, thrusting in rough, at a new angle inside of Levi that had him squirming, struggling against him to get more and more. But Eren just held him there, arms strong as they locked Levi in, muffling his moan.
Levi pushed back against Eren’s thrusts, hoping for some attention, wiggling it when Eren smacked it. Levi gasped, could feel the spit that had pooled out of his mouth wet on the sheets, and wiggled his ass as though asking for more.
Eren responded by letting go of his head, using both of his hands to smack down on his cheeks. He grabbed them, kneaded it as his cock thrust in, and Levi felt his insides curl with each thrust, his cock twitching and hit hole raw and-
“Eren, Eren, alpha,” Levi chanted. “I’m- I’m going to cum.”
Eren stopped, dick deep inside him, and whined.
“Fuck,” Eren swore. “I want to see you.”
Eren flipped him over again, entering him immediately, pounding him, and it wasn’t long before Levi splattered himself in cum, hole tightened and twitching around Eren’s cock. Eren soon followed suit, pulling his cock out of Levi’s hole to come over Eren’s abdomen as well.
Eren panted over Levi, his cock still half hard, his cum smattered over Levi’s torso side by side with his own and Levi got the sudden urge to use a finger to mix them together.
“I guess this means you like me, huh?” Eren asked with a chuckle, slowly lowering himself on top of Levi’s body, his stomach mixing their cum so Levi didn’t have to.
The question, so innocent and sweet after having , made Levi’s heart stutter.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Levi said. “I guess this means you like me too?”
Eren lifted himself up to look down at Levi with confusion.
“Levi, I told you that I like you.” Levi reached up to brush away a strand of Eren’s hair.
“You mean you weren’t joking?” Levi asked, his expression mirroring Eren’s.
“What! No, God no Levi.” Eren wrinkled his nose at him. “What, did you think I was trying to play with your feelings? What do you take me for, a monster?”
“Maybe,” Levi responded, shrugging, and burrowed his face into Eren’s neck. “But you know that’s not it.” He licked up to Eren’s neck, nipped at his neck. “You’re too beautiful.”
“But you are too,” Eren whispered back, exposing his neck to let Levi lick at it again, lapping at that gland to consume as much of his scent as possible. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Not like you are,” Levi said, resting into Eren again. He felt the- his alpha shake his head in disagreement, but didn’t say anything else.
Levi laid there, in the comfort of Eren’s arms, the strikingly potent and ambrosial mix of their scents, and tightened his grip on the other man as though he might go. As it was, Levi was amazed he was here to begin with.
“Eren,” Levi said, furrowing his eyebrows as he smoothed hair from his face. “When did you begin to like me?”
Eren blinked, having to think for a moment before answering.
“I mean, I always thought you were cool. I looked up to you, you built up enough muscle, tuned your fighting style, so that an omega could fight against alphas.”
Levi snorted.
“I feel like I should take offense to that.”
“No!” Eren was quick to reject. “No, no, not at all. You were just… I don’t know, admirable.”
Levi swallowed around nothing.
“Then what was it?”
“When you told Eld to burn that shirt.”
Levi tried to push Eren back, to push his own head into the mattress to look at him in disbelief.
“Explain,” Levi demanded and Eren shrugged, raising a hand to comb through Levi’s hair and cup his head to his chest.
“You wiped your sweat off with it first, asserted your dominance, and then threw it away, as though the whole display meant nothing,” Eren said. “Coming from an omega, quite frankly, it was hot.”
Levi breathed in deep, kissing the slope of Eren’s shoulder.
“You have a few screws loose,” Levi said, and Eren just chuckled.
“How about you?” Eren asked. “When did you start to fall for me?”
Levi paused, tracing patterns into Eren’s skin as he thought, remembering the tears, the smile, and smirked into Eren’s skin.
“When you laughed at one of my shit jokes.”
The hand in Levi’s hair stopped petting.
“Wait, what?” Eren asked, eyes searching Levi’s face. “You can’t be serious.”
“Deadly,” Levi confirmed.
“But-” Eren’s eyes zoned out onto the white sheets below them. “But a shit joke?” Levi snickered and Eren shook his head, looking distressed. “No, no, it’s not funny. Levi, you tell so many, how am I supposed to remember which one?”
Levi cocked his head to the side, trying to hold back a laugh.
“Which one?”
“Yes!” Eren exclaimed. “It’s important! It was the moment you started to like me, I gotta-” Eren’s eyes focused on Levi’s again, intense like he was gearing up for a fight. “Which one was it? You remember right?”
“I do.” Levi said, simply.
“Which one?” Eren asked and Levi let out a laugh and shook his head.
“I’m not telling you.”
“No, don’t laugh at me.” Eren pouted. “Tell me, I have to know! Your shit jokes are important!”
Levi couldn’t hold it back anymore and burst out laughing.
“Hey, Eren?” Levi said, between laughs.
“Yes?” Eren whined, still pouting.
“I think I love you.”
The pout on Eren's face dropped, leaving an endearing face of slack shock.
"Yes?" Levi asked, pointedly raising an eyebrow, as though he hadn't just confessed his possible love to an alpha he'd been in a fake relationship with for months.
"I-" Eren licked his lips and smiled gently. The lines around his eyes softened and Levi's heart skipped a beat. "It's just, I think that I love you too."
Levi wrapped his arms around Eren to pull him into his chest once again, smothering his face in Eren's neck to smell their newly combined scents. Perhaps here, being cherished in this alpha's arms, Levi didn't mind being an omega all that much.