The next morning Ivan awoke to a heavy weight on his chest and Alfred's hair tickling his nose. With a half numb arm he brushed the hair from his face and opened his eyes. Alfred was laying on him, head over Ivan's heart still asleep, sheets draped over him. To varying degrees Ivan was glad they hadn't mated, but currently found himself wanting to protect Alfred from whatever harm may come his way. Dare he say he wanted to care for the American and spend the rest of forever together.
The Russian rested his arm on Alfred's back, closing eyes again. It was nice to have Alfred's sweet scent around him. Ivan found Alfred's scent reminded him of his family trip to America as a child - all those open fields and ripe fruits and those sunflowers. He probably missed those the most... Except he very much disliked the majority of his family.
He came from a long line of rich folk from the very early people who had Braginski as their last name. His grandfather was a famous war general alpha with the code name Winter. Ivan couldn't even remember his grandfather's real name. His grandmother had been a vicious Mongolian beta male, whom his grandfather had picked up during an attack and admired his spirit. They'd had a daughter - an alpha daughter. The rest of their children had been betas much to his grandfather's annoyance. One day his Mongolian grandmother had vanished. Some said he ran away and others say his husband hired an assassin.
His mother had been given an omega at first, but no chemistry meant no babies, and no babies meant the end of the Braginski line. And so that omega had been thrown out and labeled as infertile. She'd had no luck for a while, omega after omega of both genders being thrown out until she met her mate while visiting a friend in St. Petersburg. Her father wasn't thrilled but wanted to see his grandchildren before he died and begrudgingly allowed it.
Ivan's sister Katyusha was the firstborn, a healthy little omega. Ivan had been the family's pride and joy being an alpha. Then there was the last little girl; Natalia, who had been an accident according to their grandfather. Though their father still loved them all fiercely and often waved a rifle around and growled fury when his mother in law beat them. Ivan had no idea why, but the Mongolian only ever seemed to 'discipline' him...
He was snapped from his thoughts at the jangling of keys and a twisting doorknob. He growled and propped himself on an elbow, pulling the sheets higher up around them and waking Alfred in the process. The scent of the omega and beta hit Ivan as soon as they pushed the door open. Another loud growl but this time it came from a now alert Alfred.
"Ah...shit, sorry..." the omega turned away, abashed by the turn of events.
The beta continued to look over them though. There was a long silence before the beta janitor chuckled in amusement, "Never thought I'd walk in on a pair of alphas."
"Out," Ivan glowered. When the beta didn't move he swiped a shoe from the floor and flung it at the beta. There was a yelp of panic and the shoe hitting the door as it slammed shut. "Ugh...too early in the morning for this shit..." Ivan complained and flopped back on the bed.
"It's actually a little past noon," Alfred told him, checking his phone.
"Do you remember anything from last night?" Ivan asked softly.
Alfred got up and shrugged a little, "Most of it; except there was a lapse between when I saw Mathias over me, and then nothing. I started to remember things just prior to handcuffing you. ...he didn't knot me did he?"
Ivan shook his head and Alfred resumed his search for his clothes, wondering if he should tell Alfred about the bet. Not yet...
Suddenly there were jeans in his face. Alfred chirped energetically, "Come on, they're waiting for us to leave. Also I'm hungry and there's a great cafe in the neutral part of campus!"
Morning people irked Ivan just a little... Regardless, he got up and looked around for his boxers, holding his pants to his lower half shyly. Alfred smirked, noticing this, "Really? You're going to try to be modest after what we just did?" He waved Ivan's boxers around.
"Fredka I swear, if you don't give me my underwear back I'll...I'll..."
"You'll what?" He smirked even more, "You'll tackle me and risk those two coming in and seeing you as naked as when you first came into the world?"
"You stupid American, I thought you were hungry..."
"Well I am but...eh," he grinned and pulled on the rest of his clothes, headed for the door.
"Hey!" Ivan snarled.
"You can free ball it today or..." Alfred trailed off.
"Or?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.
"Or...or you can give me a kiss."
"You can get it after you give me my damn boxers back," Ivan walked over, still covering himself.
"Oh? Were you planning on giving me one even before my proposal?"
After some more teasing Alfred finally surrendered Ivan's underwear and Ivan gave him a shy kiss. He went to get dressed and Alfred totally didn't enjoy watching him. Wait where did that come from? The younger alpha blinked. He probably still just had after effects of whatever Mathias put in his drink...yeah...
When the pair was finally ready, they exited the room. Alfred marched ahead without a care in the world while Ivan felt the stares of the janitors piercing him as he followed Alfred. After the two were gone the beta nudged the omega, "Didja get the pictures?"
"Yeah," he nodded and showed the other his phone.
The beta ruffled his hair, "Good. Blackmail is always a good thing to have."
"What do you even want it for?" The shorter male asked.
"That alpha with the scarf owes me a few favors. Think of it this way. You want that blond alpha? You take him. Use those pictures to get what you want from him. They aren't mates."
"But..." the poor omega looked into the room.
"One night flings cause less heartache, bro," he patted the smaller's back before entering to set to work cleaning the room.
By the time they got to the small restaurant, their stomachs were growling. Their waitress seated them in a booth capable of seating four people. Ivan sat down first, scooting over to the wall, and much to his surprise, the American sat down next to him as opposed to across from him.
Food ordered and drinks delivered, Ivan noted that Alfred liked his coffee with four packs of sugar and exactly one and a half little cups of creamer. He himself, on the other hand, had gotten black tea. He couldn't help but wish he had a newspaper to hide behind like in the movies, for he felt the other patrons looking at them...well...even if they weren't they had to have a poor sense of smell to not be able to tell what the pair had done.
It wasn't so bad though...at least not until the definitions of trouble, annoyance, and persistence walked in. The trio immediately spotted Ivan and Alfred, and headed over. Antonio and Francis plopped down in the booth seats across from Alfred and Ivan, while Gilbert squeezed into the seat next to the pair (resulting in Alfred practically seating himself in Ivan's lap, not being fond of the albino German).
"Hello," Francis greeted cheerfully, "And how are we this fine afternoon?"
"Fine," Ivan grunted, nearly being squashed under Alfred's weight.
Gilbert leaned in closer towards the pair, earning a growl from both alphas. The beta only backed off after inhaling their scent, "Hmr...smells like a near mating... Not a merged scent of mates but close. Still...you have your individual scents..."
"Not so loud!" Ivan scolded and smacked him.
As Gilbert cringed in pain, Francis continued where his friend had left off, "Smells like it was a good session but...were there hormone drugs involved?"
With a sigh, Ivan spent the next fifteen or twenty minutes explaining the situation to them. He ignored the look the waitress gave them when she presented them with their food, but it was harder to ignore Alfred squirming in his lap trying to get comfortable. The trio ordered their own food on a separate bill but remained at the table. Ivan found it to be a very difficult task to eat with an American sitting in his lap - the trio seemed to find it amusing.
"Mmm I do have to wonder though...you're both upper level alphas...might I ask who topped?" Francis asked.
"That's not-" Ivan was cut off.
"Francis feels the need to know everyone's business in sexual involvements. He wants every detail and it constantly pisses off the alpha courting him," Antonio apologized for him, casting a glare at Francis.
"Oh but..." The Frenchman seemed disappointed, "But I've never seen or heard of two upper level alphas before... I certainly always imagined you two to be the type that wrestles for dominance in bed... Oh or are you two perhaps quite kinky and it's settled with whoever gets strapped down with bondage first?"
Alfred blushed, Ivan nearly choked on his mouthful of beef. The Russian was glad to be able to hide his face by pressing against Alfred's back. The trio laughed obnoxiously at that and Gilbert seized the opportunity of Ivan's shyness to tug down the larger alphas scarf, revealing purplish marks courtesy of Alfred. The trio of betas snickered at that and Ivan shoved Gilbert off the booth seat.
"Why must my every meeting with you lot result in embarrassment on my behalf?" Ivan asked, red now and readjusting his scarf to hide his neck...and part of his face.
"It's natural for us," Gilbert muttered from the floor, sitting up and frowning at Ivan.
"It's a hobby of ours to know everyone's sex life," Antonio hummed in agreement.
"We don't give information away though," Francis told them, "Whatever we find out is between us and our partners. Ah but...Arthur doesn't care much for it...neither does Antonio's omega..."
"I can't believe you put thought behind what we do even though we aren't together..." Ivan muttered.
Francis shrugged, "You two just give off vibes of connection but being such alphas there may be power control problems after mating."
"Ugh stop talking as if we've already signed a contract. I'm going to shove my damn broccoli down your throat," Alfred snarled.
"I'd rather you shove something else of yours down my throat," Francis winked. None of the trio missed Ivan tighten his possessive hold on Alfred, though Ivan was unaware he'd actually done it.
There was silence from the table for a while aside from forks and knives scraping ceramic plates. Ivan finished first, despite having to eat around Alfred. When Ivan set his fork down, Antonio picked up where the conversation left off, "Which one is more motherly? That...ought to settle any further disputes over who bottoms."
"Nyet," Ivan growled, "We are both on the American level in class, strength, dominance, and parenting abilities. That is a fact."
"Well you won't know if you don't handle kids," Gilbert pointed out through a mouthful of potatoes.
Ivan snorted, "Parents will not let their children in the presence of strange alphas, not even those in daycares. That is why daycares are run by omegas and a few betas."
"Well the educational building has a daycare. There's an abnormality; a short, sweet, Finnish guy. Everyone admires him and his child handling abilities, except he's an alpha that behaves as a low class beta or upper class omega. He tends to be intimidated by other alphas like an omega but is fully capable of kicking one's ass to Pluto if he so needs to," Antonio told them.
Gilbert chuckled nervously, "The alpha courting him is frightening..." Ivan raised an eyebrow. Gilbert huffed, "You two aren't the only gay alphas in the school you know. The others are just smart enough to hide their affections. They won't risk being kicked out."
"This place is just as fucked up as America when it comes to this shit...this classist bullshit has to stop..." Alfred pouted and leaned back against Ivan.
The Russian growled lightly, "If you keep moving about I'm going to throw you and Gilbert to the floor." When Alfred stilled at hearing that, Ivan continued, "While I reiterate once again that I'm not gay, it is still upsetting that people cannot publicly love who they want. But what can a handful of college students do in a huge, wide world of bigots?"
"Every movement has to start somehow, some way, at some place, at some point in time if it's going to accomplish anything. Those movements we read about in classes wouldn't be in said books if people sat around and felt sorry about the situation they wanted to change," Gilbert stated.
Francis looked on curiously, "And are you proposing what I think you're proposing?"
"Hell yeah!" Gilbert grinned and slammed a fist down on the table, "We're gonna start a club right here on campus. All the past ones in previous years have been shot down so fast, but if we can get the club big enough, there's no way they can possibly shut us down!"
"I can think of several ways that would go horribly wrong…" Alfred muttered.
His murmuring went unheard by the albino beta, who prattled on, "Toni can ask the graphic design guys to whip up some cool posters and make up a web page for us. My awesome self will be going into the system and figuring out the buildings and schedules for meetings. And Francis, of course, will be our delivery guy to get the word out."
Both Alfred and Ivan found it astounding how both betas went along so easily with Gilbert's plans. It sounded like complete and utter nonsense to them… The Frenchman chimed in excitedly, "Each class should have a lead speaker for representation purposes. I think most attending will be queer, so we'll all be aware of the problems we all already face, but there are still problems each class faces individually."
"There exists a simple flaw, in that," Ivan sighed, "Betas are not gay. You guys can't be. A beta and beta relationship is quite normal. By societal norms and stereotypes, an alpha couple will only ever fight and cause serious damage, while an omega couple will be in constant heat due to triggering the other's heat."
"Mmm…true… Perhaps a beta mediator then…" Francis nodded in thought.
Alfred shifted abruptly, hastily getting up and shoving Gilbert to the floor again, "You guys have fun with that and good luck. I won't show up, though, so don't invite me. Ivan get the bill, we're leaving." He left the establishment without another word.
"But…he's gay, isn't he? You'd think he'd be right behind this…" Antonio frowned, "I wonder why he's so upset?"
The trio continued to mutter amongst themselves, the topic between the club to be and Alfred. Ivan frowned and got up, taking the bill off the table and headed to the counter where Alfred was waiting impatiently. The duo paid for their meal, and Ivan all but chased after his roommate. "Alfred, what's wrong?" Ivan called out.
"Nothings wrong," the blond growled in response. Although the stress scent he gave off was unnerving everyone around him…
Ivan's frown deepened, "Slow down so I can talk to you properly!"
"No," Alfred hissed and actually increased his pace to a jog. Ivan sighed and broke into a jog as well to catch up.
It wasn't until they were into the alpha section of the campus that Ivan sprang forward and tackled Alfred. The younger alpha hissed and writhed about, swinging his elbow back in an attempt to jam Ivan's side. Ivan had had the element of surprise in ambushing Alfred from behind, and was currently using his weight and size to hold the younger down.
Ivan growled lowly, letting his scent waft out, "Stop struggling and tell me why you're so pissed off."
Alfred snarled right back, still refusing to answer but allowing his own dominating scent to fan out. The pair continued to try to intimidate the other into submission by scent alone, but it wasn't until Ivan wrapped a hand around Alfred's neck that the blond's scent began to waver and taper out, fading into one of slight submission. "You will tell me what's the matter," Ivan glowered. When Alfred glared up at him, Ivan pressed his hand into Alfred's neck harder, dominance radiating as he demanded, "Speak."
"I hate you," Alfred finally spat out. Unsatisfied, Ivan pressed further. Alfred coughed and the older alpha loosened his hold so Alfred could speak, "You led me on and then tore me down."
The confusion and slight shock of the answer made Ivan falter. With the heavy scent lifted, as well as Ivan's grip, Alfred took the opportunity to shove him off and scramble to his feet. Ivan expected to be kicked in the face, not watch the youngster shove past other alphas to the dorms. When the Russian scanned the scene, the other alphas were on edge. Particularly the lower level ones. The mid level and upper level alphas were bristling with adrenaline coursing through them.
Ivan's own confusion and shock wore off, and he hastily rose to his feet to storm after Alfred again when a much shorter alpha blocked his path. At first Ivan thought the small man was mistaken in his step and so tried to go around him, but when the newcomer blocked him again and growled, that got Ivan's attention. Ivan glared down at the light, almost white haired man, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Getting in your way," he replied roughly. Such a hard voice for a tiny, cute faced alpha. "He doesn't want to be bothered right now. Leave him alone."
"Who do you think you are? I don't take orders from a tiny little alpha on a lower class than me," Ivan leered.
Ivan blinked and suddenly he was facedown on the ground, his legs having been swept out from under him. Ivan groaned, in a daze from how hard he'd hit the ground and how fast he'd changed positions. That hard voice had turned soft, presumably to the owners true voice tone, "I'm an education major. I think you know who I am, since I'm one of the only alphas in the program and all… Anyway, I'll be off comforting Alfred." As he left, Ivan swore he smelled the calming scent only omegas could produce emitting from the smaller alpha.
A few alpha girls headed into the dorms giggled, "You got your ass kicked by a tranny."
Ivan sat up and rubbed his head, wincing at touching the bump that was beginning to swell up. That must've been that little Finnish alpha the troublesome trio was talking about…Tino, that was his name, wasn't it? Trans, huh? That certainly explained a few things… Ivan's head hurt, and dammit that was his room too. Tino couldn't keep him from hid own room. The Russian sighed and heaved himself to his feet before taking to his room.
He opened the door to find Tino nursing Alfred, the Finn gently pressing an ice wrapped in cloth to Alfred's neck. Ivan grunted and pulled his own Ziploc bag of ice cubes from the freezer (It's not like college kids had ice packs, after all) and stripped himself of his dirty shirt and jacket. He didn't care that there was company. He felt filthy, between that disgusting club and being knocked to the ground in one hit. He decided he didn't give zero fucks what Tino thought and shed his pants too, laying down on his bed with the ice, only in his underwear and ever present scarf.
Tino stayed long past sunset, content to stick around after Alfred invited him to. The American had excused himself to quickly shower and change into more comfortable clothes, and while Ivan thought it disrespectful, the Finn didn't seem to mind. Ivan had dozed off at one point, waking to the sound of soft chatter. "Uhm…are you sure it's okay? I mean you have a boyfriend and all…" Alfred.
"Platonic snuggling is a thing," Tino chuckled softly, "Berwald understands. Besides, you've had a rough day and I think you could use some comfort."
Some shuffling noises and a sigh from Alfred. Ivan turned his head a little in observation. The shorter alpha gently carding his fingers through Alfred's hair and free arm over the American's waist. Alfred content to be the little spoon and to be coddled like a small child. Ivan snorted. Platonic snuggles his ass. What a cheater.
When Tino finally left, it was a little before ten at night. Finally… Ivan continued to wait another half an hour before getting up. He glared at Alfred, who was still curled up on the couch, "I'm going to ask you nicely one time, Alfred. Tell me what you meant when you said I led you on."
Alfred was quiet before he sighed and finally spoke, "You did all this cute shit and defended me and all that other stuff alphas do when they're courting. I liked you, and I thought you liked me back but then you pull that bull out of your ass that you're not gay and you didn't care the you said it."
"Because I'm not gay," Ivan frowned, getting up and walking over to the couch, "I'm pan."
"Whatever. Don't say that type of shit, it makes actual people who are pan look bad," Alfred grumbled.
"No, really, I am. I've had sex with omegas, betas, alphas, and everything in between. It doesn't matter to me if-"
"Prove it."
"What?"
"Prove it," Alfred repeated, "Prove to me that you are."
"I don't need to prove a part of who I am, because I just am what I am," Ivan growled now, "And I wasn't leading you on, you stupid boy. You just interpreted as such. Courting has to be agreed upon by both parties before it starts. It's been that way since the Hunt was outlawed and deemed unethical. You remember what the Hunt is, right? Releasing omegas into the woods and then sending alphas after them, and the first alpha to knot an omega was that omega's new mate. Is that what you want? Do you want to be treated like an omega fucktoy who has no say in anything? Whose only purpose is to be stuffed with an alpha's dick until he's round with child?"
"No…" Alfred murmured, backing away a little.
Ivan advanced as Alfred shrank back, "Do you want to be thrown in a dark cage like an animal and thrown out into the world and the first alpha that fucks you is your new master?"
A tiny whimper from Alfred, "No…"
"Really? Because it sure seems like it. You look exactly like the type of slut who would gladly take a number of alphas at once because one isn't enough for you. Because one load of cum and one knot isn't good enough for you. Because you're the type of greedy little slut who likes being covered in alpha cum and being claimed and marked over and over again until your body can't handle it anymore. So tell me, Alfred, what exactly is it that you do want?" Ivan was growling lightly. He'd practically cornered Alfred into the opposite end of the couch and the smaller alpha was curled under him submissively.
"C-court me?" Alfred answered, though it was presented as more of a question as the younger looked away.
Ivan frowned but let his threatening scent dissipate. He reached out and held Alfred's chin, turning the American's head so they could look each other in the eyes, "Is that what you honestly want?" A small nod from Alfred. Ivan could tell he was abashed and nervous about making such a proposal. "Are you sure you really want that, Alfred? In spite of all the hate and the prejudice?"
"Yes, goddammit, I am!" Alfred snorted, "I'm naturally gay, Ivan. I've dealt with that shit since others found out. The real question to be asking, is if you're up to dealing with those problems?"