The Alpha and his Omega

Jealousy [University 9]

Eren's joyous chuckle filled his ears from outside and he sighed at being interrupted by the sound. Some part of Levi disliked how cheerful the omega always seemed conversing about his friends and work colleagues, frequently texting and talking to them on the phone. He was glad the brat had adjusted so well to having a part-time job and handling his classes, but some part of him didn't enjoy how much time Eren devoted to those things.

It had grown worse over the last few months. Due to the brat's schedule, they had dropped the training sessions altogether while retaining the occasional morning jog, which weren't even that intense. It didn't seem like it would improve this summer either with the internship Eren would be starting at a local company. They never had much time to begin with, Levi with his full-time job and Eren with classes, leaving open the evenings and weekends, but with the part-time job Eren had as a cashier at the nearby chocolate shop, since the brat had a giant-ass sweet tooth, they didn't even have dinner together regularly except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Weekends were a coin toss, which had a higher possibility of landing on tails. The end of the term was a fortnight away, and Levi could count on one hand the number of days he actually had a decent conversation, not that they had many to begin with, with Eren.

Once he had actually calculated it, he had been that annoyed with the whole thing, and realized that of the twenty-four waking hours in the day, he spent less than ten of them with Eren on any given day. Most of those ten were technically when they were asleep, or Eren was asleep and Levi was his usual insomniac self, meaning that their interactions which were limited, only took up one or two hours, in other words no more than ten percent of any given day, with Eren. Sometimes even less than that. The remainder of Eren's free time was spent studying, out with friends, or at his part-time job. At least the brat didn't do drugs or spend hours locked up in his room on the computer like some former university students he had heard about.

Levi knew the importance of the friends you made during these formative years in college, but he hated how little of the brat he saw. It only amplified the hesitation in his gut. Eren had once told him that this was the only relationship he had ever been in, not that Levi had any right to judge, but there was always a nagging doubt that Eren didn't really care for him as intensely or in the same way he did.

Thinking back to when he was younger, love and romance played no role in his life. Nor was having a lover ten years his junior something he ever dreamed of. All Levi could remember was one of those who were goal-driven, his time focused on the future and steps to reach said future. There was no need to socialize, party, or drink oneself into a stupor. Parties were gross things with people's sweaty bodies pressed up against each other and who knew what kind of spit and nasty shit went into those weird-ass drinks. Romance was out of the picture as well. Because of his height, most people, men and women alike, didn't consider him as viable relationship material. Levi did, however, have more than his offer of one-night stands, mainly from inebriated omegas who wanted him physically, not that he indulged in them very often.

Now, being a grown man, he had everything most people wanted. A well-paying job, luxury apartment, vehicle, and a devoted (although not completely mentally mature) mate. Many would have assumed that it would automatically equate to happiness, but it didn't.

He couldn't spoil and pamper Eren the way he wanted. The brat had told him in explicit terms before that he didn't want to be dependent on Levi, but he couldn't help the urge to support to the point of Eren never having to leave his side. Perhaps it derived from a biological imperative imprinted inside all alphas to protect and make sure their omegas were well off, or maybe it was a reactionary attitude from his less than stellar childhood, or it could be because Levi himself was insecure given all the losses in his life and his piss-poor social and communication skills, but it was difficult for him to refrain from being overprotective towards Eren. He knew with clear-cut clarity that the brat didn't want to be restricted, but it was so difficult not to.