Chapter Text
Marco’s eyes fluttered open, trying to adjust to the light that poured into his room through the curtains of the window to the right of his bed that was pressed into the furthest corner of the room, and as he tried to pull in a deep breath he felt something slip from his chest. Marco looked down just in time to his laptop slide from his body and land softly on the bed next to him amongst the open books, folders, and pencil case that was spread out around him; the digital clock on the bed stand next to him let him know that it was only ten in the morning.
Too early to be up on a Sunday. He turned away from the books and pulled his legs up toward his stomach to find a more comfortable way to sleep, letting the warmth of the sun keep him from needing the blankets he was currently atop of. Marco felt a small object under his cheek and reached up to find a flash drive pressing into his face with the name of his roommate scribbled on it.
Why do I have Armin’s flash drive?
“Marco?” Armin’s voice carried down the small hallway of their apartment, it sounded a bit annoyed and stressed. Marco started to sit up when the shorter boy barreled through his door and looked at him nestled comfortably amongst the spread of school supplies with the small object in his palm. “Christ, are you done with that yet? I looked all over campus for your ass, you have my fucking TSA project on that son of a bitch. Is your Bio PowerPoint still on here? Do you want me to save it or can I delete it?”
“What?” Marco reached up to run a hand through his hair when Armin took the flash drive from him and looked at him as if he expected Marco to answer the questions. “Why…why were you on campus on a Sunday? Can’t shove enough of the damn place up your ass when you’re there?”
“Sunday?” Armin shot him a questionable look. “Marco, it’s Monday, did you not go to your chem lecture this morning?”
Shit…
Marco suddenly vaulted from his bed, nearly knocking Armin out of his barely laced shoes and started to pull on a pair of his riding boots before he realized he was only wearing a t-shirt with a pair of boxers. Armin started to howl with laughter before he looked around to pull a black pair of Marco’s skinny jean from a pile on the floor, tossing them over Marco’s head and watching the man jump on the floor until they were pulled on properly.
“I’m going to guess you still need this?” Armin juggled the flash drive in his hand, looking around the room to see the objects that littered his friend’s bed. “You really should just get your own, they’re like ten bucks. You missed your lecture already, let’s just go – Marco!”
Marco had been searching under a pile of clothes for his book bag so he could gather his things and make it to his lecture, though he didn’t realize he had already missed the entire thing. Armin’s call pulled him from his still half-asleep daze and brought his attention to the truth of his statement; Marco sighed and dropped to the floor, sprawling over a pile of clothes.
“My God, man, pull yourself together.” Armin nudged him with the toes of his Converses.
“I really couldn’t afford to miss class this morning.” Marco covered his eyes with his hands and slowly berated himself for falling asleep while trying to finish part of his biology final project. Finals were slowly approaching and both of the boys had been studying hard for the better part of the month to be sure they passed all of their classes.
“Marco, you have made the Dean’s list every time for the past two years, and you know for a fact you spend more time at the stables than you do studying, are you really worried about your grade that much?” Armin put the flash drive down on the large dresser that had Marco’s television perched on it and put his hand out, offering to pull Marco from the ground.
“No, but I’ve been saving my absences days for my heat week and I just spent one.” Marco let Armin pull him up and he walked into the bathroom to make sure he was presentable.
“Looking beautiful, Freckle-Jesus.” Armin pushed Marco out of the way to make sure that the medium-length ponytail on the back of his in place the way he liked it. The boy then straightened his long, red sweater and let Marco back in in front of the mirror. “Marco, you give them their perfect test scores. You really think they are going to care if you need to take an extra day off? Plus, didn’t you miss last month’s heat, don’t you still have those days saved up?”
“I mean, I have ten days saved in total but you know that a heat right after a skipped one can be pretty brutal.” The Omegas had shared this college apartment for the past three years and knew how each other’s bodies worked, knew each other’s times, and helped each other stay under control accordingly.
“We have jumping this morning. Which boots do you want?” Armin had made his way to Marco’s closet and was rummaging around for a jacket. “Getting a feeling for when it’s going to hit?”
Marco had always experience irregular heats, sometime missing one every so often, and suppressants didn’t help him like they helped Armin. Armin could still go to class a day or two into his heat, those of which were usually during the same week every month, but Marco had yet to be able to find a way to control his since they started happening during his junior year of high school and that was four years ago. Marco normally didn’t know his heat was going to hit until the day before, or sometimes even the morning of and this was extremely inconvenient for the pair when they first started attending college but it was something they learned to live with.
“Get me the grey ones I guess.” Marco made haste of rinsing his mouth out and pulled the boots on after Armin dropped them at the bathroom door. “So, you and Eren decide on a date to seal the deal yet, tie the knot?”
“You shut the fuck up, at least I’ve found my Alpha, you lonely hand-fucker. At least his name isn’t Lefty.” Armin shoved Marco into the wall next to the front door as they made their way out of the apartment, Marco grabbing the keys to his truck and checked to be sure he had his cell phone before closing the door behind them.
“You see, if I used my hands that would be a wonderful joke.” Marco was almost unable to speak when a harsh gush of wind ripped through the jacket Armin had pulled out for him. The pair jogged across the parking lot to get to Marco’s vehicle, Armin dipping into his own car for just a moment to pull his bag from the front seat of his small sedan.
“Keep the details of you and your dildo/flesh light husbands to yourself.”
Marco unlocked the doors of the large Ford as they came closer to it and cranked it up quickly to provide them with warm air, this Pennsylvania December had been a particularly cold one and dropped to temperatures Marco didn’t even enjoy his water being. Marco reached up to straighten the rear view mirror and noticed something off about his appearance as it stared back at him.
“Dammit…” He hissed through his teeth, looking through the frosted window to the door of their apartment across the way.
“What? Are you going to drive or not? I need to get some practice in sometime today.” Armin pushed his hands deep into the pockets of Eren’s green jacket and tried to bury his nose in the zippered front.
“I took my knocker out last night before I took my shower and forgot to put it back in.” Marco reached up to let his fingers ghost over his nostrils. “Hang tight, I’ll be right back.”
“No! We’re already almost late for morning huddle, here.” Armin reached up to the shell of his left ear and unscrewed the ball of one of his own earrings with shaky hands, pulling the thick half-hoop out and inspecting it for cleanliness. “It’s new and I just put it in this morning, use it. If I don’t get it back, you can explain to Eren why my anniversary gift in inside the body of another man.”
“That’s fucking disgusting.” Marco rolled the blue metal between his index and thumb before titling his head back to thread it through the hole in the septum of his nose. “It’s fucking cute though, kind makes my skin pop.”
“Christ, can you get anymore gay?” Armin buckled his belt when the windshield had defrosted enough to allow Marco to drive them to the stables.
“You’re the one currently taking it up the ass, not me.”
“Jealous.” Armin cackled and pulled his phone from the pocket of his lover’s jacket, putting it out in front of him to snap a quick picture of them.
“Of Jaeger? No.” Marco drove carefully through the morning traffic as Armin sent Snapchats of them to God knew who. “He have class this morning?”
“Yea, he said he was going to come watch me practice later but you know he scares the horses anyway, even Annie’s horse doesn’t like him and that stallion’s solid.” Armin let a blush cover his cheeks and shifted to hide the screen of his phone from Marco’s view.
“No nudes in the car.”
“Fuck your rules.” Armin stuck his tongue out in an obscene fashion – one that would mimic him licking the bottom of Eren’s cock – and snapped as clear a picture as he could before Marco took the turn to the stables a little sharper than he normally did. “Jealous.”
Marco reached across the console between them to wrap his long fingers around the blonde ponytail atop Armin’s head, jerking the band out and letting the hair puddle around the boy’s shoulders as a growl slipped from his lips.
“You fucking suck, that was fucking perfect.” Armin dropped his phone into his lap and reached forward to snatch the band from Marco’s fingers. “Just drive, before you kill us or something and I never get to feel the glory of Eren’s body again.”
“I may just kill myself now and spare my brain from the hideous images.” Marco chuckled when Armin grumbled and pulled his thick hair back up. “I was thinking about going to get the left side of my hair cut off later, want to go with me?”
“Sure. When are you going to get your shoulder finished?” Armin was referring to the newest tattoo that Marco had stretched over his left shoulder and upper arm.
“Well, Connie hasn’t been back to work since Ymir was born last month, he isn’t ready to leave Sasha at the house by herself yet.” Marco’s friend Connie had done all of his tattoos and had been working on a quite intricate flesh-and-bone piece before his wife had gone into labor.
“Hmm.” Armin pulled down the sun visor to check his hair and then reached down to pull his backpack into his lap. He pulled a pair of riding boots from the bag to trade them out for the tennis shoes that were currently hanging off his feet.
Marco yawned widely as the stables finally came into view, the big barns stretched across the large yard and the place was bustling like it normally was at this time of the day, but he found the parking area to be a little emptier this morning most likely due to study classes. Marco turned down the dirt path that leg to his normal parking spot and was about to pull in when a large Jeep rushed past the front of him from another aisle to claim the spot for itself.
“Shit.” Marco just had enough time to pump his breaks without hitting the red vehicle; he rolled down his window just as the driver side door opened. “Dude, what the–”
“You wanna explain to me what the fuck your problem is?” Armin had opened his door and was perched on the frame to lift his short body over the roof of the truck. “Did you get your license out of a fucking cereal box or something, goddamn!”
“What?” A tall man, he couldn’t have been any older than them, slipped down from the lifted jeep and turned to them. He was dressed in a pair of tight, grey riding pants, long black riding boots, and a plain white t-shirt; his left arm was sleeved in tattoos and he had two toned hair, buzzed in the back and the top of which was lighter, pulled into a thick man-bun.
Oh, sweet Jesus.
“We were just about to park there, belligerent horse-faced fuck!” Armin was about to jump down from the truck when he and Marco were hit with thick waves of Alpha scent, heavy with defense and anger, wafting from the man’s direction.
“Come again?” The man had a jacket clutched in his hands and threw it back into his vehicle, the muscles of his arms twitched when he slammed the door shut and started toward them.
“I didn’t stutter, or are you deaf also?” Armin wasn’t one to normally back down from an Alpha, even before they knew they were Omegas and that often got them into trouble when they went places.
“Look, we aren’t looking for any trouble or anything, we can find a new place to park.” Marco switched his foot from the brake pedal to the gas and almost jostled Armin from where he was standing when the door bobbed and pinned him to the roof.
“Marco!” Armin called down through the top of the truck and then huffed out a sign when they moved past the man to find another parking spot. He hopped down just as soon as Marco parked the truck down a few spots from the Alpha.
“You really are rude sometimes.” Marco chuckled when Armin met him around the back of the now locked truck to walk into the stables together.
“He almost killed us, I had every right to be mad.” Armin crossed his arms as they crossed they yard to the green barn that housed their own horses, they were going to be late if they didn’t hurry up.
“It wouldn’t have gone on your insurance though.”
“See, I was looking out for you, babe!” Armin landed a playful punch to Marco’s shoulder as they approached their horses’ stalls. “Good morning, my sweet, June.”
Armin’s white Arabian gelding tossed his head when the blonde came into sight and instantly started to dance in his stall, ready to get the day started; the two of them had been preparing for a jumping competition next month and the horse was more than happy to please the short boy. Marco looked into the stall of his Marwari stallion and found the palomino horse sleeping soundly in the hay; the horse was always late to wake and was also a little hard to get started in the morning.
“Oi, c’mon, Beast!” Marco raised his voice and tapped his hand against the wooden stall door. The horse opened his eyes and slowly pulled himself from the ground, giving his body a stretch and hard shake to throw off the hay. “There’s my boy.”
The two then turned all of their attention around to making sure their horses were properly groomed, tacked, and wrapped before proceeding to latch the helmets over their heads. Marco pulled himself into the saddle with easy, holding June while Armin readjusted his stirrups a bit, and then the pair made their way out into the huddle ring for their morning meeting before they could start practice.
“Nice of you guys to join us.” The black haired man was sitting on the bare back of a tall, chestnut mare and watched as they took their place in the lineup alongside their classmates.
“Sorry about that, Levi.” Armin and Marco bowed their heads to the teacher and spoke in unison, they were late for the morning huddle.
“I don’t need apologies, I need you guys to make your jumps right, especially you, Arlet. Are you going to be able to make that triple combination or am I going to have to watch your ass get vaulted out of that saddle again because you can’t set your horse up properly?” Levi looked Amin straight in the eyes and raised his eyebrows, Armin was going to be competing in a state competition if he got past the one next month, but this jump had proven difficult to master for both him and his horse.
“We can do it.” Armin was stern with his answer and leaned down to rub June’s neck.
“That remains to be seen.” Levi then turned his attention to the entire group. “Alright, get these warm ups out of the way.”
~~~~~
Marco elbowed his way through the door of the tack room to place his saddle back on its shelf so he could go watch Armin finish practicing; Marco was done for the day and had already released Beast into the cooling pasture after Armin asked him to get his bag from his truck. On his way back to his truck, Marco happened to glance to the side where he saw the tatted up Alpha from earlier trying to haul a rather heavy-looking Western-style saddle from the back of his Jeep.
“H-hey, do you need any help with that?” Marco pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his heavy jacket; the Alpha had his back to Marco and when he didn’t respond Marco started to slowly make his way over. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier, I–”
Marco put his hand on the Alpha shoulder, obviously startling the man, and in a split second copious amounts of frightened Alpha waves gathered in the air and Marco found himself being flipped over the man’s shoulders to land hard on the ground. An audible growl permeated the air and a cold blade was pressed against the skin of Marco’s jawline, Marco froze in shock not knowing what just happened.
“J-Jesus, fuck!” Marco raised his shaking arms in submission, completely overwhelmed with the dangerous scent of the Alpha, that scared him more than the possibility of his throat getting cut, it smelled like pure murder.
The Alpha suddenly registered who it was and dropped the knife to the ground next to them, reaching up to his left ear and clicking a wire into place behind the lobe; the Alpha waves calmed drastically, it may have been the fact that he recognized Marco but it was also possibly due the fact that he was omitting the scent of an Omega in peril.
“I-I’m really sorry!” Marco still hadn’t lowered his arms but he didn’t realize he had clenched his eyes shut.
“Fuck, my god, I am so sorry!” The Alpha wound his arms under Marco and pulled him to his feet as gently as he could muster with the adrenaline still pumping through his body. “I didn’t hear your coming, I…I didn’t even…smell you coming. You scared me, I’m really sorry.”
“Dude, fuck.” Marco’s head was already forming a bump on the back from where it had hit the ground. “I was a speaking to you when I touched you.”
“Y-yea…um.” The Alpha blushed and released his hold on Marco, stepping back from the him and running an unsteady hand through his dark undercut. “My aid wasn’t plugged it and I don’t have the other one with me.”
“Your what?” Marco dusted himself off and shot him a glance of confusion.
“My-my hearing aid…that’s why I didn’t–” Jean gave a nervous smile and chuckle before reaching a hand out to Marco. “I’m sorry, let me start over, I’m not making any sense. I’m Jean Kirstein. I, uh, I’m partially deaf, which would be the reason for our, uh, near-crash-experience this morning. I wasn’t wearing either one of my hearing aids.”
“O-oh!” Marco grasped Jean’s hand in both of his and gave a large shake. “I’m Marco, Marco Bott. I-it wasn’t all your fault. I should have been paying more attention this morning.”
“Nice to meet you, Marco.” Jean gave him a warm smile before kneeling down to pick up the abandoned knife and grasp the horn and cantle of the large saddle that had been droppedd on the ground when he flipped Marco over his shoulder. Marco felt a warmth spread through his chest at the smile that Jean gave him, no longer finding the Alpha to be threatening in any way as he bent down to help him pull the heavy saddle back up to where it had been settled in the trunk.
I didn’t stutter, or are you deaf also. The words Armin had so carelessly blabbered out this morning finally came back into his mind.
“Jean, I am so sorry for what my friend said this morning!” Jean hoisted the saddle over his shoulder and Marco watched has his muscles ripped to accommodate the weight. The man turned to go back to the barns and Marco followed him, seeing Jean’s face contort into a smile when he threw the glance back over his shoulder.
“I will have to be honest with you, I didn’t hear it. I can barely hear without the damn things plugged in and I only had one with me this morning. I did read his lips so I caught what he wanted me to hear.” Marco was now matching his stride as they passed the barn where his own horse was being kept and walked into the yellow barn. “It’s no big deal. I didn’t mean to get so aggressive; I’ve been battling a massive ear infection for the past week and I was in quite a bit of pain this morning so when he gave me attitude I got a little fired up. He’s a snarky little fucker, though, isn’t he?”
“Yea, that’s Armin for you. Seriously, I am sorry for what he said.” Marco stopped when Jean came up to an empty stall, he placed the saddle to straddle the open stall door.
“Sounds like a joy to have in your life.” Jean chuckled before pulling a rag out of an empty bucket next to the stall and wiped the dirt from the saddle.
“So, you ride Western?” Marco finally took a moment to marvel at how beautiful the large saddle was, it was black with white decorations and red jewels; a saddle this beautiful had to be extremely expensive and was one that wasn’t normally used for daily riding, it was usually used for showing only. “Have a show coming up?”
“Just getting ready to break it in, actually. Montey can be a little picky with his saddles, but he should like it.” Jean pulled a heavy lead rope from inside the stall and turned to walk out the back of the barn where the pastures were. “You wanna meet him?”
“Hell yea, I want to meet him.” Jean laughed and titled his head toward the pastures, motioning for Marco to follow him.
As they were walking, Marco took a moment to observe Jean, taking in the fact that Alpha was only slightly shorter than he was – it was barely noticeable – and he also noticed that he had changed into a different outfit from what he was wearing this morning. Jean was now wearing a pair of dark-wash fitting jeans, low hanging on his thin hips, and was adorning an obviously old t-shirt that advertised a tattoo shop. Jean’s sleeve tattoo encompassed may different kinds of art that Marco couldn’t really recognize but they were nicely done all the same.
“Monety!” The boys came to the pasture gate and Jean called out the horse’s name followed by a very distinct whistle.
Marco heard a neigh ring out from over the hill of the pasture before a large tovero blue-roan paint horse charged into view, from far away Marco could already tell this horse was very tall and had a back broad enough to handle the large saddle waiting for him back in the stables. As the horse approached, Marco could tell that he easily outstood Beast and had to be around seventeen hands of nothing but beauty, one of his eyes were blue and the other was a deep black color.
“Damn, he’s a beauty. American Paint?” Marco reached his palm out to let the stallion sniff him, letting him know he was not threatening.
“Registered.” Jean clipped the lead rope to the horse’s halter and the pair started to lead him back to the stables.
“Nice. I have a–”
“Marco!” Armin was near the entrance to the barn, still seated on June. “You ready to go home?”
“Y-yea, you go ahead and get ready. I’ll be right there!” Marco waved at him, Armin nodded and rode off to their respective stable.
“Well, Alpha calls, see you later then?” Jean looked over at Marco with a smile.
“W-what? Alpha?” Marco felt a roar of laughter rip from his chest. “You can’t smell the gay seeping from his pores? Doesn’t losing one of your senses cause the rest to be hypersensitive?”
Oh shit. Marco’s laughing suddenly stopped and he stopped walking, embarrassed that he wasn’t more careful with his words.
“I’m sorry, that was ridiculously rude.” He felt a blush form over his cheeks and ears.
“It’s no big deal.” Jean laughed and waved him forward. “And, yes, to answer your rhetorical question. Ironically enough it’s my sense of smell that’s the strongest, but all I can smell right now is the infection in my skull. It is disgusting and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”
“Sounds delicious. But, no, I don’t have an alpha. How about you, have a bitch waiting for you at home?” Marco looked down to the name that ghosted around Jean’s wrist. “Amy?”
“Uh, no, I, uh, I am not a part of the vagina squad.” Jean said this as if were just a small detail about himself and looked down at his own wrist. “This is actually the name of the old dog I had when I was growing up. I felt your waves earlier so I thought he might be yours.”
“No, but he doesn’t back down, that’s for sure.” They had made it back to the stables, the cold wind pushing them to travel faster. “Well, I’ve gotta be going. I have some assignments I really need to get finished up.”
“Oh, hey, where do you go to school?” Jean pushed Montey into the stall and closed the door securely, turning to lean against it. “I transfer to the PSU next week.”
“On finals week?” Marco scoffed at him, communication that he went there also. “I’m majoring in Forensic Science.”
“Chemical Engineering, but, yes, if you must know. I’m in the top ten for me my major.” Jean stood us proudly and adjusted his shirt.
“Well, aren’t you just a special snowflake?” Marco felt his phone ring and he pulled it out of his pocket.
>> Armin
Bitch, get the fuck out here! I’m cold as fuck and you have your fucking keys!
“Special enough to get your number?” Jean visibly blushed and fished a cell phone from his pockets, he pinched the corner of his bottom lip between his teeth and stared into Marco’s eyes.
“First, you try to run me over; then, you try to stab me to death, and now you want my phone number?” Marco mocked a shocked voice. “You are one cocky little shit.”
“I’m cute.” Jean smiled at him and walked to close the gap in between them, pressing his phone out in front of him.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, kid.” Marco pressed his phone against the back on Jean’s to exchange contact information. “Now, I really do need to go. There’s a freezing Omega near my truck.”
“Drive safe.” Jean reached up to push a stray lock of hair from Marco’s face, like it was something he had done his entire life.
“Y-yea, thanks.” Marco, yet again, felt himself blushing as he turned and jogged to his truck.
“Jesus, have you been standing in a freezer or did he hit you in the full face? That’s the worst blush I have ever seen, now open these goddamn doors before I rip your ass apart.” Armin was huddled beside one of the tires of the truck to keep the wind from hitting him when he saw Marco approaching, looking down at his phone with expectation.
“He’s kinda cute though.” Marco laughed and unlocked the door allowing Armin in.
“Fuck that! Take me home. Onward slave!” Armin turned the heat up as high as he could when Marco finally got the truck cranked.
“So, you are aware that you are an asshole, right?” Marco maneuvered up the dirt road to get back to the main highway to take them back the apartment. He had dropped his joking tone and was trying to be a bit serious, Armin, however, was not doing them same.
“Who, sweet little old me? Nah!” Armin had his face buried in his phone, most likely talking to Eren about missing his practice.
“Armin.” Marco gave a stern tone.
“What?” Armin looked up from his phone as if he felt the scold Marco wanted to give him.
“You remember when you made a comment about him being deaf?”
“Aww, did that tickle one of his funnies?” The joking tone being gone was very short lived.
“He’s actually deaf, for the most part.” Marco could have sworn he heard a sharp intake of breath.
“That is ironically hilarious.” Armin then sputtered out a laugh before picking his phone back up to continue typing.
“You are a sadistic bastard.” Marco refused to look at him, keeping his eyes focused on driving them back home safely without running Armin’s side of the truck into a pole.
“You love me.” Armin used a singy-songy voice and lightly tapped Marco on the back of the head. “Get over yourself, I’m just joking.”
“Ass.”
“Barren bitch.”
“That hurt!” Marco gasped and laughed in surprise, whacking Armin over the head with his forearm.
“Cry me a river and go drown in that bitch.”