The Alpha and his Omega

Competition [University 5]

Sighing as he collapsed on the couch, Eren closed his eyes. He couldn't believe Levi had signed him up to compete in a casual local sparring contest at a nearby gym. Weren't those for people who put in weeks and months of training? And completely not for amateurs who kept getting their asses kicked, like him.

After the incident where he found himself lying on Levi's bed and told to get some rest at home, in the last few weeks the alpha had been overly concerned for his wellbeing. They had withheld from any sparring for one full week, Levi citing that he needed to heal first, but when they did, Eren found it much less intense and nowhere as Spartan.

It was like the whole world had been spun on its axes. At first, he hadn't even been sure he was still in the right place or just dreaming everything up.

The militaristic barking had been replaced with hesitation. As if Levi would hesitate. But it certainly seemed like it with the way the alpha would ask him every few minutes whether it was okay to continue. Thankfully that habit had petered out quickly; Eren didn't want to be asked every five minutes whether he could handle an hour of sparring, he wasn't that much of an invalid. He had the urge to punch Levi sometimes for implying that he was weak; and if the man had said anything of the sort, he likely would have. Instead, Eren found himself on the receiving end of many concerned, least it seemed like concerned, glances.

It didn't end there.

Upon returning home, more often than not, Levi would ask him to strip – not in a sexual manner – to make sure he hadn't gotten any more injuries and that any existing ones were healing. Initially, he found it slightly embarrassing showing the number of wounds he had obtained, but Levi didn't say a word, only smearing those bruises with the cream.

The number of new bruises did lessen over time through a combination of Levi going easier on him and because he was actually starting to be able to defend against those lighting quick attacks, retaliating with a few of his own. After that realization, that Levi could be beaten or at least he had improved, his motivation skyrocketed. Once Eren even had to argue for not stopping one of the sessions, since Levi thought he was too badly bruised, but he was too stubborn to give in.

Watching Levi's movements was another reason. There was something both animalistic and graceful in those actions, many of which he still had difficulty seeing through. The way Levi moved was flowing, and to his untrained eyes, without fault. The man could dial up or down the amount of force in those blows, which he had, but even then, there was something mesmerizing, deadly, but mesmerizing, just watching those limbs and body in synchronized coordination. At times, the alpha was like a snake, just lying there in wait and striking before his eyes were aware of Levi moving. Other times, the man was a force of nature, blitzing and wrecking everything in his wake.

Eren doubted he would ever reach that level. Even after an additional five weeks or approximately two months of total training, he was nowhere close. It'd be years before he even hoped to defeat the alpha, but at least now he lasted more than a minute before getting his ass was kicked. There had been a few instances where he had managed to get Levi to grunt a few words of grudging praise, such as on the first occasion of his fists managing to connect with the man. Of course, Eren had been so surprised at the success he immediately froze in disbelief and was promptly defeated. The alpha had reprimanded him for stopping and not following through right after that.

They had also begun a morning run every Tuesday, Thursday, and during the weekends. Levi had started him out with five kilometers during his rest week and that had been hell, and he couldn't keep up at all. But now he was running double that with relative ease, though he was still out of breath and slightly winded. The older man, of course, was able to all that without breaking a sweat, though Levi did insist on taking at least a three-minute shower afterwards no matter what to wash off said nonexistent sweat, prior to heading out.