#omega!ryan

Alright, Luke. Study. He told himself, rolling his shoulders in an effort to regather himself. The other student was studying well, he could do the same! Within five minutes or writing down notes on different equations and theorums, Luke found himself routinely glancing up at the boy at the other end of the table. 

His hair was messy in a way that made the alpha question how long ago he’d woken up, and he couldn’t help but find the look cute on the boy. His face remained in a little pout as he worked, lips twisted and brows furrowed as he focused on the school work before him. His concentration seemed unbreakable and several times, Luke had to pinch himself to force his attention back to his half-written notes. 

Eventually, he got the hang of it. He’d powered through several pages of notes and found pride blooming in his chest at his progress. He, too, was focused. No one interrupted them. No one walked by. Neither of them distracted each other. 

Well… for the most part, they didn’t. 

It had been just over an hour that the two had shared a table and studied privately when the scent slipped into Luke’s awareness and brushed at his senses. It took a few minutes until he realised that the other student was the source of the scent. It was a tangy scent; tasting briefly like coffee but holding the undertones of something sweet and foreign to the alpha’s nose. 

Yet when he looked to the other student, there was no different. He didn’t move, he didn’t look any different; he continued studying like there was no difference. The last thing Luke wanted was to offend the guy, so he shrugged it off and tried to focus only on his work. 

Which was hard enough when omega pheromones weren’t clouding his mind. 

Heat. That’s what he could smell. Preheat to be specific; he could taste the fire that acted almost alike a warning, floating among the coffee that stained the insides of his nose and mouth. And it only seemed to get stronger by the second. 

There was no chance he’d be studying with that scent. He hung his head and clenched his fists. Self control was something he was good at and it wasn’t like he was about to pounce on the poor guy, but it didn’t mean the scent of the omega’s preheat wasn’t messing with his head. 

He glanced up when he heard a soft curse uttered beneath the boy’s breath, watching where he sat bolt upright. “Fuck,” he murmured, digging around in his backpack. Luke picked up on his pink cheeks, a fresh wave of preheat flushing his senses as the omega became aware of his situation. “Oh, no, no, no.” Panic mingled with the scent of lust as the boy pulled out a container, flicking it open to find no pills inside. No suppressants. 

“Hey, are you-?” 

“Found ya!” Luke’s words didn’t even make it out before another voice covered them, far too loud and blunt for their little private corner. The other student turned and both boys landed their attention on the two boys who had rounded the corner. 

Luke’s spine curled immediately. An alpha and a beta. He could see the dilated pupils, the snarling grin, the look of hunger and the offending scent of possession. 

“I knew I could smell an omega in here somewhere,” was what the alpha purred as he prowled closer. The omega was out of his seat in seconds, putting the table in between himself and the two newcomers. 

“Leave me alone,” he demanded but Luke could hear the racing of his heart. It seemed he was invisible to all three of the other students as the omega stumbled around the back of his chair. When the alpha rounded the table to follow him, Luke stood, stepping in front of him and meeting those sharp blue eyes. 

The alpha immediately rose to his full height, pulling his shoulders back and puffing out his chest. Luke’s bared teeth showed no fear. “Don’t touch him,” he growled and the bark of laughter that followed had him snarling louder.

“Why not?” the alpha snapped, shoving to hands to Luke’s chest. He took a step back but caught himself. 

“Fuck off, he doesn’t want you near him,” he said, stepping forward and shoving back. “Leave him alone.” 

The alpha snarled but there was a clear difference between his scrawny height and Luke’s football build. “Asshole,” he snapped, gnashing his teeth. “Learn to share your toys.” And had he not turned and left then, Luke would’ve punched him out. 

He waiited until both boys slinked their way out of their area, and waited still until he could no longer taste their unkind scents, before turning to where the omega was pretty much pressed back against the bookshelf. His eyes were wide and full of fear, trained on Luke, and when Luke took a step forward, he cowered down. 

“Hey, hey, I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said, stumbling back and raising his hands. He waited until the boy lifted his head, shyly peaking back at him. “I’m not like that, I wouldn’t- I wanna help you get out of here. Let me drop you home?” he asked. He didn’t step forward. 

“I don’t- I haven’t had many good experiences with alphas,” was the reasoning that the boy returned, words falling to Luke’s feet in fear of the response they might evoke. 

Luke sighed, shaking his head. “I promise I won’t hurt you,” he said. “I’m Luke. My sister’s an omega,” he said and the omega lifted his head further in surprise. 

“I’m Ryan,” he murmured, and Luke felt relieved as he stopped trying to merge himself back into the bookcase behind him. “Are you sure it’s okay?” he asked, and Luke smiled gently. 

“Of course. I know how this school can be. C’mon, I promise I won’t hurt you but you’re gonna need to hide your scent under mine.” He lifted an arm but made no movement towards the omega. 

He let Ryan come to him, treading silently and slowly before he was stopping just out of reach of Luke. “Let me just… get my stuff.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Gather your things and I’ll walk you to my car.” 

As the two collected their belongings, Luke made sure to give the anxious omega a wide berth. It was bad enough smelling like a walking orgasm and Luke knew that preheats and heats were far from comfortable to experience. When Ryan was ready, he allowed the boy to tuck up against his side, wrapping a careful arm around him and resisting the urge to bury his nose in the mess of brown hair. 

“Thank you,” Ryan murmured and they didn’t receive anything other than a few interested stares as they walked through the campus to where Luke had parked his car. They drove with all the windows down and when Ryan jumped out of the car, he flicked a piece of paper at Luke with red cheeks, uttering, “Text me and I’ll call you when I’m off my heat.” 

Luke’s smile didn’t fade until he was back in his apartment, sitting at his desk and trying impossibly to continue his study.