Niven happily walked through the grounds of the councilmen's building, with small peps to his steps as Gabriel worriedly walked beside him.
The blue haired man didn't know why Niven decided to take him out on an early stroll to the alpha's office, and he was more than happy to accompany the blond, but he became nervous when Niven mentioned wanting to work with Arien.
At first, their first stroll was walking over to Mirren's place. Gabriel's mood dropped incredibly at the mention of the brunet, but Niven just seemed so excited than the past few days combined so Gabriel didn't exactly have the heart to complain. And besides, it was rare for Niven to ask him to accompany him.
But when they arrived to Mirren's place, Crescent answered the door instead. Niven was confused as to where the brunet went, but the sylph quickly handed over a note explaining that Mirren had gotten a bit sick overnights and didn't want Niven to catch his cold. Now, her master was locked up in his bedroom and hasn't come out since.
Niven had the idea of preparing a bit of breakfast for Mirren since he genuinely was surprised at how fast the brunet fell sick, but Crescent shook her head and pointed at the table which was already filled up with food. Since King's last visit, the penguin had shown her more than a couple of tips and taught her several ways to make food and clean up the apartment so the sylph was more than enough for Mirren. But Niven was still unsure, hesitant to leave and head over to Agustine's place before Gabriel politely thanked the silent creature and pulled his master away.
Gabriel supposed it was due to the shit garbage Mirren ate. Maybe karma bit the brunet back in the ass. But he didn't say anything and tried his best to hide a smirk as he led his young master over to Agustine's place.
The visit to the quiet male was a bit better, but the moment he stepped inside the room, Agustine frantically waved his hands up in the air and shoved piles of sticky notes in the blond's hands. Apparently, each one of them had apologies badly written down due to the anxiety from the jackal masked student.
Agustine was recently informed he missed a large amount of homework and needed to make up for it. Of course if it were anyone else they would've flunked, but considering the male's special circumstances and the fact Arien was their alpha, Agustine was given additional time to focus on his studies and turn them in. So that meant he couldn't go with Niven to Professor Vasili's class at all today, or even have lunch.
Looks like Niven had to skip Vasili's class today. He really didn't want to go alone without anyone.
Niven had to calm the male down, tell him it was alright and they could just always go tomorrow while Gabriel stood underneath the doorway, cautiously focusing his eyes on Agustine's form. He knew Niven wouldn't get hurt, though he couldn't help but tense every time he sees the silent student. Every time he had to deal with Agustine, it was a mess after mess. It wasn't that he disliked him or anything, but he preferred if Niven befriended someone else better.
Even Mirren was a better option, hell—Silas could be a better option in his opinion, even if his brother hated any living thing within five feet away from him.
While Gabriel contemplated, Niven brought out a small bag filled with some food for Agustine. Since the two of them knew something would go wrong by the time Niven left his dorm room, Agustine lifted up his mask just a little to reveal his lips and quickly ate through half of the food prepared.
Agustine didn't think Niven would actually give him breakfast, he thought he was just in the moment, but once again the student was eternally grateful since he didn't eat anything last night and didn't have any food for breakfast. Even though his familiar kept checking up on him, Agustine knew that getting too close would harm them, so his familiar was hardly ever around.
And now Niven stood in front of the large doors to Arien's office with Gabriel hesitantly stopping the blond.
"Are you sure you want to step inside? You once mentioned you were afraid of Alpha Arien," he pointed out.
Niven snorted, "Wasn't it you who wanted me to become friends with him?"
"I wanted you to at least be acquaintances," Gabriel sighed. "It's good you're getting along with him, but..."
"What? What is it?" Niven had to stop his hand from turning the doorknob, wondering why Gabriel seemed so hesitant today.
The man opened his mouth but nothing came out, he couldn't find the exact words to speak. And when he saw Niven raise a brow, still waiting for whatever it is Gabriel wanted to say, the man sighed once more and advised him softly, "Alpha Arien is a beastman."
"Yes, I know that."
"I'm not sure if the others informed you, but there are times when he gets agitated in staying inside the office for too long. It's just not in a beastman's nature to do so. So when you feel your alpha becoming irritated, just be careful and head out, alright? Don't stay so close to him." Gabriel was more than serious about this. He wanted to stay by the student's side, wanted to watch over him, but he had other plans for the days and couldn't be with Niven all the time.
"Okay, I understand. I'll leave if it happens," replied Niven. "I'll only be here for a short time anyways. I'll see you at lunch."
"Unfortunately, I'll be in a brief meeting with Headmaster Kingston. He has other information about the rivaling schools and I can't miss it. Please be careful when you're out at lunch. But if someone is trying to mess with you since Mirren isn't around, I'll just forgo the meeting and come straight to you!"
Niven forced a laugh, "Haha... please don't do that." He couldn't handle watching Gabriel beat up one of his classmates.
When the blue haired man finally left, Niven stepped inside the office and closed the door quietly. And then he felt the burning stares coming from the beastman.
Arien was looking through several documents while Niven and Gabriel were outside talking, his jaw clicking as the familiar sense of irritation rose. The room felt a bit too stuffy for him. There were too many paper for him to get done in just a day, and when his ears twitched at the sound of the door opening, he was more than ready to snarl at whoever came inside the room. But then his tone dropped immediately at the sight of Niven, walking into with a nervous smile.
Last night when Niven said it was alright for Arien to greet him in the hallways in the mornings, the alpha would've done so if he hadn't been urgently called back into the office. So this was the first time he's seen Niven today.
"Puppy," Arien greeted, his smile nonexistent once again as a dull expression took place. "Thank you for coming-"
Niven pounced on him.
The blond completely disregarded whatever the hell Gabriel warned him about and just invaded the alpha's personal space.
Well, if Arien had to be specific, the blond hurriedly walked across the room just to stand on the tips of his toes and grab at his wolf ears. But the way he abruptly jumped on him made the alpha stumble back a little, having to grasp the edge of his desk in order to balance himself and the blond. Niven happily greeted him back, "Good morning, Alpha!"
"H-Hi..."
If it were anyone else, considering Arien's rising mood, he probably would've torn them into shreds for actually daring to touch him—but this was Niven, his omega, so it was alright. Though he couldn't help but awkwardly bend his head down, allowing the blond to play with his ears a little more. He was still nervous to stand beside Niven, wondering if the boy wasn't afraid of him anymore.
Arien shouldn't have been surprised, but he was. Incredibly. Niven was always so scared of him before he invited the boy over to his dorm room.
Arien slowly whipped his large tail out and nervously let it fall on top of the desk, the tail swishing around a bit before growling, "Here..."
Niven was more than ecstatic, forgetting about the ears and reaching over to the side to stuff his face in the fluffy tail.
If Arien knew that all he had to do to get on Niven's good side was to let the blond touch his ears and tail then he would've let Niven done so in the beginning.
Last night, when Arien hesitantly allowed the boy to touch him, he was relieved to see Niven excitedly go and ahead and grab his tail and play with his wolf ears just as he's doing right now. It was awkward, more than that at first. Arien's never let anyone else do this before, and it was often regarded as a disgrace to let random people or members of their own tribe pet a wolf beastman as if they were some sort of dog. But it was his first time seeing Niven that happy, so he just endured his own awkwardness and quietly flicked his tail against the blond's face.
Yeah... Niven ended up staying at Arien'a dorm room for another hour before realizing it was past two in the morning.
Now, Arien was skimming his eyes through a few more documents about the academy's students and information regarding Decadri Academy's students for the next Ludos while Niven happily played around with his tail.
"Puppy."
"Alpha?" Niven stopped just in time, his hand halfway up in the air to grab the beastman's ears again.
Arien lowly grumbled, "That classmate of yours with Sound Manipulation..."
"Noah Delgado?" Niven questioned.
"Yes, that one. I was informed a bit earlier about him recently harassing some students from a different school. I've ordered some of the Silver Guard to come and bring him to me," the alpha quietly muttered. "I... forgot to tell you that."
"You didn't text me?" Niven asked.
"I don't... have your number," Arien responded.
Niven had to quickly put his number in his alpha's phone, almost snickering at how bare the beastman's contacts were. There wasn't a lot of people, he only added in the people in the council, the vice-principal and headmaster, and someone else's name he couldn't recognize. Probably a beastman from his tribe.
"Would you mind working on those stacks of paper over there? Just review a bit about some of the students here. At the very least, you have information about their own powers and to try and avoid them since your levels are low." Arien gestured to the side of his desk. "I... will handle speaking with Mr. Delgado myself. Just stay by my side."
"Yes, Alpha."
Niven was still pleasantly surprised by Arien. Right now, the alpha seemed a lot more calmer than he was last night and much more composed. Unlike his lazy attire and messy hair hours ago, he was the prime example of the president of the student council.
But he could still see how careful Arien was around him. It was as if the alpha was walking on eggshells to not disturb the blond.
If it were from before, he'd think Arien would've hated to spend any time with Niven, but now he observed his alpha glancing around the room before silently checking up on the omega, watching him sort through the stacks of paper before focusing on the task in front of him as they waited for the troublesome student to arrive.
Niven now found the alpha to be a little funny. He really didn't think Arien would be this nervous.
As they waited, Niven kept flipping through several pages of information about the academy's students. He was so focused on them, getting a little excited when he realized how much he's learning from the different abilities. He was practically burning them in his mind, not wanting to forget a single detail.
Arien almost snorted at the image of Niven drinking it all in, observing the blond scribble down a few notes with an excited gaze. He... was a nerd. Definitely. He could never be satisfied and just wanted to know more.
Before Niven could point out how cool some of their students' abilities were, the door opened up to reveal a dark haired student walking in with a bored face. The Silver Guard accompanying him gave firm nods to Arien, who quickly dismissed them and sat down on his seat.
And then Niven noticed the beastman tapping against the desk. At first, it went at a slow pace before it became slightly erratic the closer Noah Delgado came by, standing right in front of the alpha.
Surely, he isn't irritated now, right? Niven merely brushed off the tapping as a bad habit and continued to work through the papers, standing right next to Arien.
The student who just came in didn't expect to see the new council member beside the alpha. Niven held onto a few sheets of paper, quietly peeking through his lashes to get a small glance at the troubling male.
"Mr. Delgado," Arien started roughly, his tone suddenly dropping. Niven almost winced, he didn't expect such a change in the alpha. "I assume you already know why you're here?"
"It's not like I did anything wrong," the boy replied with a moody tone. "Not like I hurt them or anything."
"You do understand that it's because of you and your classmates' tauntings we've received multiple requests for Ludos from different schools, yes?" Arien abruptly growled, his tapping becoming a bit louder. "I... simply don't have the time to entertain useless students by letting the Royals fight them. Do you think we're running some sort of circus? Is this a place to just run amok and fight?"
"Dude, chill!" Noah scoffed, raising his hands up. "Isn't it your job to fight whoever wants to fight our academy? We're simply showing them our ranks. The Royals are powerful enough to take them down one by one, I don't see the problem."
"So you wouldn't mind if the Royals killed random students?" Arien sneered. Niven slowly backed up, wanting to stand behind the alpha and quietly wait for this discussion to be over.
The student had to flinch a little from the threatening gaze Arien was giving him. His silver pupils contracted, not even blinking as he harshly stared down at the student. Arien chuffed, "I see... so you want a fight to happen? Sure, why not? Then... how about we let you take the Royals' place and fight those students who you stupidly taunted?"
Noah widened his eyes, almost gaping at the ludicrous reasoning. "Are you insane? That's not my job or place!"
"You started the fight, you should end it." Arien stopped tapping, his ears were pulled back as a look of frustration overcame his features. Niven held the sheets of paper tightly, pressing them close to his chest and bent his head down.
The student exploded, "Do you have any idea who my father is? My family doesn't come from such a barbaric line like beastmen tribes! My family has connections throughout several countries. You should be grateful that I even came to your office at all!"
Shit. Niven almost dropped his papers. He didn't believe that guy just said that.
He looked at Arien, worried that the alpha would tear him apart after that little comment, but he was shocked to see Arien lean back in his chair and let out a quiet... threatening growl. His alpha brought his fingers up, gripping the bottom of his chin as he continued to stare at the student, who still wasn't done with his rants.
Arien didn't seem as angry as the blond thought, he just sat in his seat with a calm expression and listened to Noah spit out whatever insult came to mind.
Was it because Arien got used to Mirren's insults? Ah, who knows?
"You should've stayed wherever the hell the beasts roam. They're nothing more than just animals who eat anyone and anything!" Noah angrily spat. "Your kind isn't welcomed in this school."
Niven gripped the papers. He gave the student a glare. "You-"
"Are you done?" Arien didn't want Niven to get dragged into this, so he needed to step in quickly. He noticed him growing more restless, worried that his alpha would snap. Arien looked away and secretly flicked his tail to the side, letting it bump against Niven's leg.
The blond looked so grateful that the alpha almost snorted as he felt the tip of his tail being snatched. Arien sighed, "If you're done then let's proceed with your punishment."
"What fucking punishment? I didn't do anything wrong!"
"For violating a couple of the academy's rules by secretly endangering other students and dragging them into your hissy fits. You've left the academy more than once without authorization, and began to ignite a fight between some of our students with other schools without permission. Your reckless acts have sent a dozen of Kingston Academy's students to the infirmary." Arien stood up, neatly fixing his shoulder cape. He took out a small note, handing it over to the male. "With permission from Vice-Principal Remiah, you will be detained inside the academy for three months. Your vacations will be taken away, your privileges are nonexistent at this point, and your family has been informed and have already agreed with Mr. Westworth to keep you locked up to prevent any more fights outside of the school. You will serve in detention for five months and be pulled out from one of your classes to fight in semi-trials with other rivaling academies. How nice... looks like you get to duel after all, huh?"
Furiously reading through the notes regarding his punishments, Niven went still at the mention of detention. It wasn't like any other detention schools had, it was to strictly retrain students about their behaviors, no matter how harsh and painful the reformation will be—all student who come out of the detention center will become submissive. It may a be a bit traumatizing, it's what he's heard from his father and brothers, so it's why the majority of the students inside the academy don't dare to mess around with the rules.
Kingston Academy was a prestigious school for the rich and powerful... but it was a nightmare for many of the students as well.
"Well, good talk," Arien growled. "I'll have the Silver Guard escort you back-"
"This is such bullshit! Why doesn't he just fight them himself?" Noah pointed at Niven. "He's part of the council and barely does anything! Hell, no one even knows what his abilities are! Let him partake in these stupid fights! Why the hell should I have to-"
"Did you just cut me off?"
Niven looked up, completely petrified at the image of Arien revealing his large canines. The alpha leaned forward, emitting a guttural sound from his lips and hissed, "You wanna challenge me? Is that right? You think you're powerful enough to cut me off right in the middle of my sentence even though I'm the alpha of this place? You say beastmen are just hungry animals waiting to tear any human apart, so why don't you become my example?"
"A-Alpha, you can't." Niven set his papers down to grab Arien's shoulder. "You can't just do that!"
"You can't be serious!" Noah exclaimed. "You're seriously standing up for this guy? He doesn't even know how to fucking fight back against the rest of us! Since he's a council member then he obviously has some power. Let him fight in my place!"
As if to prove a point, Noah reached out to grab Niven. The blond had to step away to avoid being grabbed, Noah's hand was viciously snatched and was slammed against the desk.
The silver pupils of Arien's eyes enlarged at how close Noah was to grabbing the blond. Arien buried his fingers into the student's arm, not even caring if he was breaking through the skin and getting blood on his fingers.
Arien snarled warningly, gripping the male's arm even tighter. "I suggest you watch it. You don't get to shout and grab at my omega, no one does that shit at all. Even Mirren would castrate you if he hears word about your attitude against Niven. You either take the note and get on with your punishment or stay around and be my meal."
Niven hitched his breath. Arien seemed really pissed off now.
"Y-You can't... kill me-"
"Who'll say I actually did it?" Arien released him, his gaze turning more primal and animalistic with each passing second. "I'm sure the Royals wouldn't mind me pinning the murder on them. If they agree to let me, who's going to vouch for you? Not even your family would want to go against the Kingstons. So get out or stay and be eaten. I wasn't in a good mood earlier so the longer you stay, the more appealing you become... though I bet you taste like crap."
Noah ran out, clutching at his injured arm. He didn't even spare a glance to Niven anymore and just fled the building with the Silver Guard trailing behind him.
Arien, obviously pissed off, continued to growl. He pinched the bridge of his nose, aggressively tapping his fingers against the desk as Niven slowly took a few steps back. He didn't know what to do in this situation so it'd be best to go with Gabriel advice for low.
"Alpha?"
"Sorry... God, I did it again," Arien kept snarling and had to covered his mouth to hide the canines from Niven. "Puppy, you can go now. You don't have to stay."
"I..." Niven was at a loss for words, still staring at Arien's aggravated form. His ears were pulled back, showing a threatening stance as his tail swished around erratically.
Arien didn't hear Niven move. He looked away from the floor and scrunched his brows. "What are you doing? You're allowed to leave, it's not so good if you stay here. I'm just going to scare you more."
"Would opening the windows help?"
"I—what?"
Niven didn't respond, only walked across the room to open up some of the windows to let the air in. Arien had to wait for a second before feeling the cool breeze brush against his ears. He relaxed a little, but he was still tense.
"I don't mind staying a little longer, Alpha. And stop hiding your canines, I don't mind." Niven moved back, grabbing the unfinished documents and information. But he was shaking a little, rekindling that little fear from before.
Arien could smell it, he didn't even have to. He took one glance and knew right away how scared Niven became. He sighed, "It's fine, you can just leave."
"I haven't finished everything," he argued back. "And... I already heard how some beastmen get a little frustrated when being cooped up inside. I-I expected this to happen anyway, so don't feel bad about losing your temper. To be honest, I expected you to kill him after he made that comment about your tribe."
"I... well, it's not like it never happened before..." Arien quieted down a little.
Niven gave him a look. "Can't believe I'm saying this but you should've insulted him like Mirren would."
"Hmm? And how would Mirren insult him, puppy?" Arien sat back down on his chair, watching with the same primal look in his eyes at the blond.
Niven tried to think of one, but he stammered, "I... I-I don't know... Mirren's good with comebacks. How should I know?"
Breathily, Arien let out a deep chuckle. It sounded forced, they both knew that since he was still aggravated. But Niven was relieved to see him calm down a little. It wasn't helping his anxiety a lot, but at least his alpha didn't seem like he wanted to kill anyone.
Sitting down on the sofa, Niven relaxed and continued to look through several papers. He didn't dare to stand next to Arien, he already knew to give the beastman some space and just forced himself to look at the dull papers. But he secretly wished to touch Arien's ears again... it was too bad he couldn't. Arien wasn't in the mood.
But his alpha noticed. Even though he was still tapping his irritation against the hard wood of his desk, he kept his gaze on Niven for a while.
Arien wore a grim smile. "Do you..."
Niven looked up. "Y-Yeah?"
"Do you want to play with my tail?"