Day 1.

“Fuckin shit-” 

Nalan shot up from the floor, rubbing his head. A good way to start a morning. 

From the bed, aari blinked sleepily and yawned. 

“Oh-Missed the floor? You both look good together” He muttered, flat. Just a normal greeting between the two. 

Nalan glared at him. “You kicked me off the bed!”

Aari stretched “Did I? When-”

“You—listen, you—!”

Nalan stood up and grabbed Aari’s t-shirt. 

Before things escalate to an absolute mess, there was a loud knock at the door.

“Captain!”

“Captain!”

“WHAT-” Nalan yelled, already annoyed. 

Aari sighed as he walked over to get the door. Standing there were two Betas from Unit 3, who were sweating and completely breathless. 

A guy peeked into the room and spotted the shirtless Nalan, who looked clearly annoyed, and grinned.

“Oh–” 

Aari raised an eyebrow and smacked both Betas lightly on the head. 

“Captain, I swear, I did nothing…” The second one whined. 

“Why are you here?” Aari asked. 

Without answer, both of them pushed past him into the room. 

“Captain, we are losing…” One cried dramatically. 

“Losing what?” Nalan asked. 

“The competition!” One beta said. 

“With Unit 7..” the other continued. 

Nalan blinked. “What competition?”

“You told us not to start anything without your permission…” the first Beta said sheepishly.

Nalan narrowed his eyes. ”You did.”

“…We didn’t start it. We just… joined.”

Aari, who was listening to all this, suddenly burst into laughter.. “The training hasn't even begun, and you are already losing. Isn’t it too early to pack your bags”

“Shut up.” Nalan growled, already walking towards the door. He didn’t even bother to change, or freshen up. Still shirtless, with messy hair, he stormed towards the combat zone, followed by two betas. 

****

The scene was worse than expected.

Two guys - one from Unit 3, one from Unit 7, were in the middle of a hand-to-hand combat match. The rest cheered around them. 

Some of them had a symbol of poop drawn in their face, apparently a mark of defeat. And most of them were Nalan’s men. 

Nalan stepped in and yelled as he released his pheromones to show dominance. 

“What the hell is going in here!?” 

The yelling worked. The pheromones. Meh…. Not so much. 

They were betas. The only thing that scares them was Zian’s cleaning checklist. 

“Where the hell is Zian?” He asked. 

“Here..”A muffled voice came from behind the bunch of betas. 

Zian was tied to a pole. 

Nalan walked over, trying not to lose his mind. 

“Why are you hugging a pole. You were supposed to stop them” 

Zian knows this is expected from a guy like Nalan. “You think I didn’t try? This is what happened after I tried.”

Nalan sighed and said “We are here to train, not to play whatever this circus is.”

“ALL, LINE UP” Unit 3 did. His men snapped into position immediately.

He turned to Unit 7.

“Do I need to repeat it for you children too?”

Before anyone could answer, aari showed up, hoodie half-zipped, no urgency at his movements. 

“Oh, we’re playing now?” he said lazily. “So when you win, it’s called training, but when we do it, it’s play? Loser logic.” 

Nalan scoffed. “Glad you showed up. I was getting tired yelling at your circus”

“Bold from someone whose unit needs a captain just to hold up a line.” 

"At least my men know to follow orders” Nalan sighed” Your men almost broke his ankle trying to jump over a fence.” 

Aari blinked. 

“You did?” he asked, turning to one of his Betas. 

“Ahh, yes captain.” The Beta said as he gave a sheepish little thumbs up. “No, broken bones.” 

Aari sighed “Pick a drill. Let’s get this over with”

Nalan smirked. “Try not to cry when your team loses again.”

“We won't. Try not to pass out trying to keep up.”