Chapter Text
Eren was staring at the bruised-up reflection of his nineteen-year-old self in the mirror. Messy brown hair fell in tousled strands into his sleep-deprived teal eyes; fluffy and utterly untamable - not so much unlike himself. His tanned cheeks had somehow managed to retain a bit of their chubby firmness, despite the harshness of the past five years.
His lips pressed together tightly at the thought, forming a thin line as he took in his tattered appearance. His glance fell further down to the tall, lanky legs covered in various purple, blue and green bruises – differing in their stages of fading away; healing only to be renewed again if his father laid eyes on him.
Not if… when, Eren thought bitterly.
He hated it. Eren hated being so… weak. Unable to do anything to stop it. To stop his father from hurting him over and over again. The punches to his stomach had become a predictable norm; the kicks when he was lying helplessly on the ground pleading for him to just stop almost a casual daily routine by now.
Taking his frustration and grief out on Eren had become a standard approach for Grisha Jaeger. Condemning his son for being the sole survivor of the car crash was an easy feat for him, blaming him for taking away his wife only the next logical step. Who could fault him? After all, the misery that was Grisha’s life was entirely Eren’s fault… as if Eren wasn’t blaming himself enough already.
He tried to fight back, he did. Scratching and clawing at the older alpha, trying to get away from him, to stop it all. But the man was his father... and he was weak.
He hated it, but more than anything he hated his shitty excuse of a father; hated the alpha to the very core of his existence. He hated them all. All those shitty alphas that thought they could lay claim to other dynamics, that they could force their will onto others without considering for a second what other human beings wanted. Egocentric, arrogant assholes!! All of them. He loathed them with every fiber of his being, and if it were up to him, he wouldn't have anything to do with them. Luckily, he was a beta. So at least he wasn’t forced to crave for one of these fuckers by his secondary gender; liberated of the urge for a mate.
There was no way in hell he was ever taking one; he had sworn so to himself. If mating and losing their mate did what it had done to his father, then he wanted no part of it whatsoever.
His eyes stared determinedly at his own reflection. This, he had vowed: no matter what, he would never have, want or crave for a mate.
Scowling, he started putting on his clothes, hiding the ugly bruises benneath a simple layer of clothing before throwing on his favorite worn-down leather jacket. Not that he really needed it. Considering it was January, he felt awfully hot; unbearably so. But there was no way in hell that he was staying in this house, fever or not. He shivered at the thought of having to stay home with Grisha, but quickly tucked it away in a faraway corner of his mind. Instead he opted for grabbing his backpack. Another day of university lay ahead of him; fully packed with classes and activities – all to diminish the time spent at 'home'.
He quietly snuck out through the backdoor, trying not to grab any attention from Grisha. He huffed out a sigh of relief when he managed to make it to the main road, having successfully avoided another fit from his father.
'Fuck that man' he thought bitterly 'and fuck that house'. It wasn't like all his memories of his supposed 'home' consisted of horrible ones - but all the good ones with his Mom had been replaced with agony and pain. It was unsurprising then that Eren had secretly applied for a dormitory, hoping he would be able to get into the same one as his best friend Armin. Despite not having been granted a scholarship like the blond genius – since Grisha unfortuntely earned enough to provide for both of them – he still desperately wanted out. There was always a way, and if that included working his ass off with multiple part-time jobs, then so be it. Anything to get out of that shithole.
A cold gust of wind distracted him from his thoughts; the chilly breeze gently ruffling through his hair. It felt good, refreshing on his weirdly overheated skin.
With flushed cheeks and firm steps, Eren started heading towards the campus of Trost university. He knew the way by heart by now, having walked the same path for the past three months ever since becoming a freshman. He was glad his two best friends were attending the same university with him – albeit in different majors. Seeing them always made his days at least somewhat bearable.
It wasn't like everything had been sunshine and rainbows between them though. Ever since Mikasa had presented as an alpha their friendship had been a bit strained. Logically speaking, Eren knew that he was being unfair to her, but her being an alpha had come as a shock. Despite all the telltale signs of her presenting as one, he had meticulously ignored them. He didn't want to believe that one of his best friends would be one of them. But now she was, and he had to deal with it. It had taken him a while, but eventually he had realized that despite Mikasa being an alpha, nothing had really changed. She was still the same old Mikasa: overprotective and hovering.
Eren grunted at the thought… if she had so much of an inkling as to what Grisha had been up to the past five years, he'd be a dead man walking. But Eren never mentioned anything, making sure that no one ever saw the bruises. This was his fight – and he would take the man down one day. He certainly didn’t need the help of an alpha for that. He was perfectly capable of doing that by himself.
Eren was aware however, that going to a hospital or the police would be a fruitless effort. Being a renowned doctor came with the benefit of the doubt and Eren was all too keenly aware of that. It didn't matter how or what he accused his father of, no one would believe him anyway. The bastard would find some sort of excuse for the bruises on his body – like the one time he had justified them to their neighbor with Eren taking karate-lessons. ‘Hah!’ if only he had been allowed to pursue any form of martial arts… he would have kicked his old man’s ass so hard he would have never been able to walk straight again. But of course, Grisha would not risk that. After all, ‘he didn’t want his little angel to get hurt’.
He gritted his teeth in disgust at the memory of his father’s sugary voice as he had uttered that one sentence. Fucking bastard.
His usually sweet scent of earl grey and cinnamon turned sour at the memory, leaving a distinct trail of hate and bitterness in the air behind him.
Shaking his head in frustration he hastened his steps. He didn't want to be late for classes after all.
He was getting closer to the university when he suddenly started to feel off. It was no longer just the weird, overheated feeling of his body but now he was getting dizzy; his body no longer following his orders. His steps became sluggish and uncoordinated; he was wobbling now, trying to steady himself against the wall next to an abandoned alley. What the hell was going on?
It was another five-minute walk to campus. He couldn’t collapse here - and yet every fiber of his being felt like it. Shivers wrecked through his body and suddenly he was on his knees, his legs having given out underneath him. He gasped as cramps tore through him, his lower abdomen convulsing painfully. What the heck?!
That's when he felt it. An uncomfortable wetness starting to spread between his legs, coating his thighs slowly in a weird, sticky liquid. Eren’s eyes widened in shock. What was going on? Wa-was he…? No! no no no…. he was a BETA! That was just not possible. Tears welled in his eyes upon realizing what this meant... that the horrifying liquid between his legs was slick, preparing him to be bred by an alpha.
Fear and panic bled into the overly sweet scent the brunet was giving off now, the distress not enough to cover up the intoxicating aroma of his pheromones, that only served one purpose. Beckoning an alpha closer, to come and mate him. To fulfill their nature together. To fill him up nice and good.
Eren felt like gagging when his secondary gender surfaced; telling him that he needed to be filled with the seed of a virile alpha. He wanted to puke; this wasn’t happening to him. It couldn’t. It just… couldn’t be happening.
He was dragged out of his stupor by a rough hand on his shoulder and a slimy voice whispering in his ear, “Oh, what a sweet little omega you are. You seem to be in pain precious… I can help you with that.”
“Get the fuck away from me!”
He tried to sound confident and threatening as he pushed the disgusting appendage away from himself, but his voice came out too high-pitched, full of fear and terror as to what the man would do to him. He desperately tried to get up, his wobbly legs not helping at all. He somehow managed to stand up; immediately starting to move as far away from the repugnant smell of the loathsome alpha as he could. His body had other things in mind though, betraying him as he ended up collapsed against the wall a few meters into an alley.
The vulgar alpha reeking of arousal and possessiveness stalked him into the alley, continuing with his revolting voice, “Oh baby so you like it rough, hm? I can definitely do that for you." With a sleazy grin on his face, he reached out to grab Eren by his shoulders.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Eren screeched, not wanting the vile alpha anywhere near him. He tried to move further away from him, but it was so hard with his body refusing to listen to him, trying to actually get closer to the fucker. Disgusting. He didn’t want this, none of this!
Tears were now flowing freely down the omega’s check in small rivulets. He wanted to be anywhere but here. He felt helpless and weak all over again. Why couldn’t he be strong this once? Why couldn’t he help himself for once? A sob shook through his body as the dirty hands of the alpha made contact with his shoulder.
The touch, however, was all that Eren had needed. But not in the way his secondary gender would have liked. Instead a renewed fire burned in teal eyes. He refused to be weak. He would fight this stinking bastard of a low life. Fight for his life. Fight for himself. He would not let this alpha touch him any further. With all the force he could muster he kicked the alpha straight in his groin, earning himself a guttural howl as the other fell to the ground, holding his crotch with a pained expression on his face.
Eren took this chance to try and move back onto the main street, anywhere where there were more people around who could help him... only to be stopped by thick laughter erupting from both sides of him. He frantically whipped his head around from one side to the other, trying to figure out what was going on. Panic flooded through his body as realized that he was completely surrounded. They were coming from both sides; laughing condescendingly at the other alpha crouching on the ground, painfully wheezing out breath after breath after the blow he had received from Eren.
He was surrounded by alphas.
His body was shaking from the panic now, trembling uncontrollably as grim understanding settled in: there was no way out of this without getting screwed for hours. No, no, no!! He would do anything for this not to happen! He wouldn’t go down without a fight. Not against these fuckers! No! Another pair of hands tried to grab the brunet, but he slapped them away with all the strength he could muster in his feeble arms.
Laughter erupted around him again. “Oh, we got ourselves a feisty one this time... so you want to play omega? Well then… let’s play. Tom, grab him!”
And without knowing where the hands came from, Eren was suddenly grappled from behind. “No! NO!” He couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything except watch the guy in front of him forcefully pull down his pants. “No! n-no.. p-please, stop! Do-don’t… no” all he could do now was scream, plead and beg for mercy. For this not to happen to him.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks, rendering his vision blurry and useless. This was happening. He was going to be ra-rape… he didn’t want to think about it. He felt hollow, empty, weak. He could do nothing but watch as these brutes had their way with him.
He closed his eyes, as he’d rather not watch what he had feared Grisha would do one day when he was extremely pissed off. But other than beating him to a pulp every other day he hadn't touched him at all. And now these vile pieces of shit would. Another shiver wrecked through him when suddenly a new voice - strong and eerily calm - rang through the alleyway. “Let him go! NOW!”