Aosh told himself this wasn’t a bad thing.Well lying about who he was was probably not the right thing to do but he rationalized that things could be worse; besides he saw it as another opportunity. A straight out confession was probably not the best way to go about this. Aosh got caught up in the intense emotions that swelled inside him, not having enough common sense to stop and think things through.

As an avid purveyor of romantic literature Aosh liked to think he had gathered an adequate amount of  knowledge to woo Tiza. This name changing situation was the perfect opportunity to test that, he’d read about a couple scenarios like this one anyway so he felt like he knew what he was doing. These scenarios followed a simple formula: 

Say you’re someone/something you’re not, get to know the other person on a deeper level than you could if you were to be yourself, confess, and live happily ever after.

Aosh wasn’t so out of touch to believe anything could end in ‘happily ever after’; most of these stories he’s referring to had an underlying message of: ‘It’s better to be yourself than anyone else’.

The Alpha understood that fiction and reality were two different things, even so he was in no position to tell the Omega who he was yet. If he wanted to get to a place where a relationship was possible he’d have to stick to this little white lie, he hoped Tiza would be able to forgive him knowing the circumstances he was faced with. Aosh was really doing this for Tiza’s sake after all.

With the first step in the formula already complete, they could get to know one another slowly as teacher and student. Both men would grow closer through intimate touches and casual conversation; from there their relationship would blossom. He could picture it now in his head; learning new things about one another, a smile here, a laugh there. All soft and pleasant like in the novels. It was the ideal situation, he thought.

Aosh also hoped that with the return of his fated mate he would enjoy these classes once again. Without knowing anything about ballet, he already preferred Tiza as a teacher rather than Sean, and that wasn’t solely because Tiza was his fated mate.

After only one dance lesson Tiza had made the basics extremely clear and easy, no one  would’ve known it was his first class. From first position, to pliés, and onward he made it easy to follow and the terms easy to understand. Sean on the other hand had a completely different teaching style, coming from a more matter-of-fact point of view than an artistic one.

What Tiza had that Sean lacked was passion. It was plain to see in the way that the Omega spoke about ballet and the way he danced; gracefully with both purpose and emotion. This was why the class had dwindled down in the last week to about half , and Aosh’s lack of progress was apparent. Sean’s sub par teaching strategies and the sudden inconsistency with the teacher ,due to Tizas heat, was mostly the cause for this. Aosh didn’t mind though, the less people the more attention he would get from his mate.

Arriving early like always, Aosh was ecstatic to see Tiza inside the dance studio once again; seeing his brother next to him, shooting the Alpha a glare that could put holes in his head, did not.  Ignoring the Beta, a plain black collar caught his attention, an anti-bite collar to be more precise. Wrapped around Tiza’s neck, it was a stark contrast to his pastel attire. Aosh was a little taken aback by it, it wasn’t that he’d never seen one before, it was common for Omegas to protect their necks from being claimed and mated by another Alpha. Tiza hadn’t worn one prior, that was why he was confused.

Tiza noticed Aosh and his lips pressed into a thin line looking at the Alpha. Before he could make it further into the studio he was stopped by Tiza holding up his hand.

“You’ve been in these classes for a week and you still haven’t gotten the proper clothes?” Tiza clicked his tongue in displeasure.

It was only now that Aosh realized that he totally forgot to get the recommended clothes for the class, always showing up in a shirt, some loose joggers and his street shoes. In the back of his mind he wondered why Sean hadn’t scolded him for it.

“How could you learn proper postures and techniques dressed like that? Go to the front desk and get what you need.”

Tiza shooed him away much to Aosh’s dismay. It was a good thing he came early.

The leggings were tight and the ballet flats felt weird on his feet but at least he was able to keep the shirt he came with on. Tiza gave him a once over when he reentered and gave a nod of approval. At this point more students had shown up and class was about to begin.

“Hello ladies and gentleman, I cannot apologize enough about being absent this past week, but thank you so much for bearing with me and being so kind as to welcome me back.”

Several students expressed their excitement to have him back and it was clear to see that Tiza left a good impression on all the ladies present even if he had only taught one lesson. Starting with warm ups they went to work going over the material they had learned in the Omega’s absence.

“Aaron, straighten your posture.”

Aosh didn’t hear Sean at first, forgetting his fake name while he tried to keep his balance in his plié. The one correcting his posture was Sean not Tiza; this made Aosh irritated. The Omega had not corrected his positioning since that very first class. Aosh could barely remember the electric tingles those feather soft touches brought to his skin. He was starting to get the idea that Sean was doing this on purpose.

It’s his third week in this class now and although Aosh has gotten a bit better at ballet, Tiza and him have not become any closer than they were before. Sean wouldn’t let Tiza stay close to him for more than a minute before he came between them and ushered the Omega away to help another student. Aosh’s well formulated plan was falling to pieces; cockblocked by Sean so many times Aosh wasn’t even able to get more than a few words in with Tiza let alone get to know him on a more personal level. If it wasn’t obvious by now that Sean had it out for the Alpha then you were blind.

A solution found its way into Aosh’s brain when he finally realized he’d had enough, and that solution was private lessons. Using his lack of talent in the ballet department as an excuse, he would ask for private one-on-one lessons with the Omega.

Now Aosh believed that this was definitely not going to work, especially with Sean eyeing him like a hawk everyday during class; but he was running out of patience and time. By the time classes came to a close he had hoped to be able to confess to his mate, but the two were no closer than before.Once again proving not everything in romantic fiction was indeed possible.

Part of the curriculum the class was to complete included a dance sequence that utilized all of the basic moves and techniques learned in the two month class. Compared to the rest of the women in the class, Aosh’s abilities were far below average. Luckily they only poked fun at him a little, which he took in stride; he knew when to laugh at himself.

One day after class he approached the two teachers. Sean eyed him when he approached, Aosh chose to ignore it, turning his attention to his fated mate.

“Tiza, I have a question for you,” he continued after getting a hum of acknowledgement.

“I feel like I’m having a harder time than the others at getting these techniques.”

“It’s because you’re all muscle. It’s not hard to tell that you’ve let your lower body become underdeveloped in comparison to your upper,” Tiza said snarkily, Sean let out a shallow laugh, “But your progression isn’t the worst I’ve seen.”

“I think I would improve with some one-on-one training. Would that be something I could do?”

“No,” Sean said immediately. Tiza shot his brother a narrowed glance.

“Aaron, along with this class I have two other classes to teach-“

“Before this class?”

“Well no..”

“So you do have time.”

“Wait, Aaron-“

“I’m willing to pay extra for private lessons. It’s no problem, I just really want to improve.”

In fact paying for extra lessons was a problem, his wallet hadn’t recovered from paying for these classes yet and adding another expense was really pushing it. Aosh already told himself it was worth it and he had to try. Tiza was worth it, even if he had to pick up some extra shifts and add more things to his already hectic schedule.

Sean opened his mouth to object again but Tiza’s voice drowned him out when he suddenly agreed to Aosh’s proposal.

“Tiza I said-” Sean tried to protest but was ignored.

“You’ll get an extra hour before this class to work with me on things that you’re struggling with. Fifty dollars extra a week starting tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

Tiza walked away leaving Sean to throw a disdainful look Aosh’s way before he caught up with his little brother. Sean’s mood was made worse seeing the shit eating grin plastered on the Alpha’s face.

“Tiza, listen to me.” Sean said angrily as the two walked to their shared office.

“This is my class, remember. Let me do what I want,” Tiza answered, opening the door, “Besides, I need the extra money to replace the heat suppressants I lost.”

“Do I need to remind you that it was that Alpha’s friend who made you lose them in the first place?!”

“Then it’s only right that it’s Aaron’s money that will pay for them,” Tiza turned to say.

“Besides you already put this damn collar back on me, what’s the worst he can do? He can’t even get to my neck.”

“And that’s another thing! You know that his name isn’t Aaron just like I do. Why are you indulging in this game he’s playing? If he doesn’t have any ulterior motives then why give you a different name than the one he used to sign up? I don’t trust him to be alone with you for a minute. You should know better than anyone what Alphas-“

“Can you just back off! Just…just let me handle this ok. Let me at least try to handle things myself for once.”

Tiza looked morose as his fingers brushed up against the collar, pretending like he didn’t notice how his brother completely sidestepped the Omega bringing it up.

Aaron hadn’t done anything to raise suspicion that he had ulterior motives, but Tiza had a hard time believing that the Alpha just wanted to improve his dance skills as well. The fact that he didn’t have any more heat suppressants was unnerving to him, he’d feel better knowing he had some in case an emergency happened. Due to the fact that his insurance won’t cover his prescription he had to pay out of pocket for the necessary medication.

Tiza’s mind made a sudden comparison to his past ,another time when money was needed and couldn’t be procured through traditional methods; it left a bitter taste in his mouth. This was different he told himself, and as much as it made him anxious to be alone with an Alpha he’d do what had to be done for the money. That was a thought that he had hoped he would never have to think again.