Chapter Text
It had been an especially bad day for Eren Jaeger. He had awoken to a strange heaviness in his body. His skin felt feverish, itching in a way that made him want to rip it off. His clothes stuck to him uncomfortably, and even the soft morning light filtering through the curtains seemed too harsh. He chalked it up to a cold—or worse, some virus going around his office.
Things got worse.
He had a creep sniff him in line at the coffee shop and at work, he was reprimanded for being distracted, unable to focus on his tasks. By lunch, even the faintest scents in the office—coffee, perfume, paper—felt like assaults on his senses. His coworkers asked if he was okay, but he brushed them off, irritable and on edge. He could smell every single thing in close proximity to him, an unusual feeling to a beta like himself.
When he arrived home the door key jammed as he tried unlocking it. He kicked the door in frustration, and when he finally stormed in, his sister sat at the kitchen counter, eating her bowl of noodles, peering from the corner of her eye as Eren had his little meltdown.
“Can you not stare at me?” Eren snapped, Eren throwing his bag onto the couch with enough force to topple a cushion.
“What’s wrong with you?” Mikasa asked, her tone neutral but her eyes scanning him carefully.
“Nothing’s wrong with me! You’re just being a dick.”
“Someone’s touchy,” Mikasa replied, unfazed. Eren ignored her in favour of snatching two cushions off the couch and storming off towards his room.
He felt restless, like something was clawing at the edges of his mind. His bed didn’t feel right. His room didn’t feel right. Before long, he was tearing through the linen closet for extra blankets, trying to make himself comfortable. Eren could not wait for this day to be over. God, what was wrong with him? He was grumbling to himself as he rearranged his room. Mikasa appeared in the doorway, watching him with her arms crossed.
“You know,” she started as she watched Eren fluff a pillow, “It’s almost like you’re pre-heat nesting.”
Eren froze, staring at his hands clutched tightly in the pillow. Heat?
“That’s not possible. I’m a beta.” Eren whispered and in the universe’s most sick and twisted joke, Eren’s body decided at the exact moment to leak slick.
Eren had barely been 24 hours of out of heat when they came for him. Barely enough time to register that just last week he was considered a Beta. To process that he had now become an Omega.
The government’s arrival was swift. Mikasa had tried to fight them—her protests falling on deaf ears—but even she knew the risk of defiance. People who resisted the Omegan Breeding Association disappeared, and Mikasa wasn’t willing to risk Eren’s life.
Mikasa had come into his room quietly, and offered him a drink of water and a bite to eat before she sighed and sat down on his bed.
“They’re here,” she said softly as she ran a hand through his hair and Eren sighed. He let her tangle her fingers through his hair, appreciating this comforting moment for the last time. Who knew how long it would be until he was here again, till he saw Mikasa again.
His eyes were hollow. “I know,” he muttered, his voice breaking.
“Eren Jaeger?” One of the workers asked, her eyes scrutinising him from her position sitting on the couch. She was an Alpha—Eren could smell that much—and an ugly one at that.” The two workers, one Alpha and one Beta, sat on Eren’s couch in their matching blue and green uniforms staring at him with boredom and unpleasantness. Eren could already feel his temper brewing.
“You presented quite late.” Her voice was ice cold and monotone - giving Eren a fucking headache. He already knew that but refrained from snapping back at her. Omegas had always been at the bottom of the social hierarchy but over the past couple of years the gap between the genders had become worse. With an unexplainable drop in Omega population, the government’s solution in order to boost the numbers was to collect all recently presented Omegas and force breed them. A fate Eren was currently experiencing. They called themselves the Omegan Breeding Association, a lovely corporate image for essentially a prison. When the law had first passed there was protest after protest, but a simple trip to the OBA got those protesters out of the streets and never heard of again. It had been decades since the association was founded and public outcry had faded. It was simply expected that’s what happened to omegas. Alphas and Betas of course were more than happy to help repopulate and no protests were seen from them. Eren contemplated running, there was enough space between the Alpha on the couch and the front that he could make a run for it and have a decent head start. However, his rational side knew there was no point, many an Omega had tried to flee, and they were never heard of again. He sighed, if he ever wanted to be free again, he needed to go along willingly.
“I’m sure you also know about what presenting as an Omega entails.” She stated, she leant forward, collecting the glass a water that rested on the coffee table, Eren mentally cursed Mikasa for being so nice to these animals.
“I’m aware.” He snarled, earning a raised eyebrow from the Alpha. He normally wasn’t this angry towards Alphas, but this situation had him bent over backwards and her stupid ugly face wasn’t helping his temper.
“Then I need you to say goodbye to your loved ones, collect your things and calmly follow us back to the car.” Eren rolled his eyes, but after a few moments did as she asked. He returned to his room, collecting a few toiletries, a photo frame that held a picture of his mother, his sister and himself during a family outing and a few other sentimental items. He even snuck into Mikasa’s room and stole one of her shirts to keep her scent nearby. Now that he was Omega, he guessed he needed scents to keep him calm. When he returned to the living room, Mikasa stood there sadly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Eren felt his eyes begin to burn as well before he crushed her into a tight hug.
“I’ll try to come visit if I can.” She muttered.
“I’ll call you whenever I first get the chance.” He whispered back, his voice getting choked up. They stayed hugging tightly before the ugly Alpha cleared her throat.
“Please wrap this up, we do need to leave very shortly.” Her voice was like a knife slicing down the atmosphere of the room. The siblings separated, Eren cleared his throat before giving Mikasa a quick peck on the cheek.
“Stay safe and I’ll be back before you know it.” She nodded and quickly wiped away the first tear to fall. With that, Eren nodded to the two workers and they turned to leave and Eren trailed after them, leaving his old life, his Beta life behind.
The compound came into view—a sprawling, sterile-looking structure surrounded by high fences and security cameras. It reminded Eren of a hospital, the kind where hope went to die.The alpha parked the car and glanced at him.
“Mr. Jaeger, I strongly recommend you behave. The staff here have protocols for dealing with non-compliance, and I assure you, you won’t enjoy them.”
Eren met her gaze with a derisive smirk.
“And I strongly recommend you fuck off.”
Her expression didn’t waver, though her jaw tightened slightly. Without another word, she stepped out of the car, and Eren followed reluctantly.
Inside, the scent of disinfectant hit him like a wall. The lobby was cold and clinical, with white floors and walls that reflected the harsh fluorescent lighting. He was handed a clipboard with forms to fill out—medical history, personal details, waivers. Eren scribbled his answers haphazardly, barely reading the questions.
After what felt like an eternity, the alpha reappeared.
“Follow the receptionist,” she instructed curtly, before walking off without a backward glance. In that time, his anger had multiplied, a string of ‘fuck this’ and ‘fuck you’ came pouring out of his mouth before he was satisfied enough to follow the receptionist.
The beta receptionist, a middle-aged man with a calm demeanour, motioned for Eren to follow.
“Follow me, kid,” The beta stated, not bothering to turn around and face Eren, “You’ll bunk with someone and one of the doctors will come by later once you’ve settled to do a medical check-up. Necessities are all in your room.” They stopped outside a white door and the beta swiped a card which caused the door to slide open.
Eren trailed behind him down a long corridor lined with identical doors. Some were open, revealing sterile rooms with stark white walls and hospital-style beds. He followed behind the beta as he droned on about the rule of the compound as Eren stared blankly into each passing room. The rooms were exactly the same as each other: pale, white, clean. The omegas inside of them looked the same as well; most of them sported swollen bellies, but all with the same sullen look in their eyes that made Eren’s knees go weak. It was nothing like what he had expected. What was he really expecting, though? Chains, cages, people huddling in corners? Happiness, laughter, and babies surrounding all of them? It was government run; there was supposed to be nothing “torturous” about it. His eyes continued to watch them, and they returned his stares, equally interested in his appearance. He had wild and messy brown hair, multiple piercings up the side of each ear and one healing black eye from when he had gotten into a fight the week before he presented with some alpha who had been too close in his personal space.
“This place isn’t what I expected,” Eren muttered under his breath. The beta glanced at him but didn’t respond. He stopped in front of a door labeled 203 and knocked gently.
“Armin, you okay?” the beta called.
A soft, muffled “Yes” came from inside. The beta turned to Eren, his expression suddenly sharp. “Listen. You can mouth off to the alphas all you want, but if you upset Armin, there will be consequences. He’s been through enough. Be decent.”
Eren opened his mouth to retort, but the beta’s glare silenced him. With a small shove, he was ushered into the room.
A young blond omega was seated on one of the beds, his hands resting on his swollen belly. Despite his obvious exhaustion, he offered Eren a kind smile.
“Hi, I’m Armin,” he said, his voice soft. “I’d get up to shake your hand, but, well…” He gestured to his stomach with a small laugh.
Eren shifted awkwardly, unsure how to respond. He eventually walked over and shook Armin’s hand. “Eren Jaeger.”
Dropping his small bag of belongings at the foot of the other bed, Eren surveyed the room. It was larger than he expected, with two beds, an adjoining bathroom, and a small closet. Unlike the cold, antiseptic hallway, the room carried a faint, comforting scent—Armin’s, Eren guessed.Armin had some pictures on the wall above his bed, one of a small child with blonde hair like the omega and a much taller man, who Eren figured must have been an alpha.
“You’ll find clothes in the closet and toiletries in the bathroom,” Armin said. “If you need anything, let me know. I’m not the best roommate right now, but I’ll do my best.”
“So, am I your first roommate?” Eren asked as he moved to sit crossed-legged on his own bed, facing Armin. The mattress felt hard underneath him, Eren was already missing his soft fluffy bed at home.
“No of course not. I’ve been here for a few years, and they would never leave a pregnant Omega alone. My previous one recently finished her stay.” Armin replied, eyes never leaving his swollen stomach. He glanced up, “Are you newly presented? How old are you?”
Eren averted his eyes, feeling suddenly self-conscious about his presenting age. This Omega looked younger than him. The blond was bound to judge him. No one presented as late as he did.
“I presented about a week ago. I’m 23.” Eren replied, ignoring the wide-eyed stare Armin was giving him, “The Beta I was dating was pretty pissed. Dumped me straight away.”
Armin’s eyes widened slightly. “That’s rare. Must’ve been a shock.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Eren fell back into the bed, staring up at the clinically cold white ceiling. A wave of helplessness washed over him as he realised this was it. Only one way out of this situation. A week ago, he was a Beta and now here he was, in the Omegan Breeding Association.