Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hero?

“Dear passengers, please remain seated until the sign to fasten your seatbelt is turned off,” the flight attendant informs them while a bunch of passengers get up and try to flee through the closed airplane door.

Izuku is more than used to this song and dance, catching flights almost on a weekly basis for the past three years. Since the War ended (and he graduated), he and his team have been criss-crossing the country to help rebuild the hero system and bring runaway villains to justice.

His team. It became second-nature to think about the people by his side as his team. No wonder, he, Kacchan, and Shouto have been teaming up since their first year at UA. If someone asked 15-year-old Izuku who he saw himself working with when he went pro, he’d probably have answered Kacchan and Shouto. He just didn’t expect they’d work under Endeavor.

“Come on,” Endeavor urges them as soon as the crowd thins out. “They’re expecting us already.”

There’s no need for Endeavor to explain who they are. The team had been given a briefing file about their next task as soon as they finished the last one. Izuku doesn’t think they even had time to shower the grime of the fight off before they were familiarizing themselves with the names and quirks of who they’d be working with next.

“I’ll get it for you, shortstack,” Kacchan says, looking for Izuku’s luggage in the overhead compartment.

“I can get it,” he protests, already activating Float to reach his luggage as well.

Endeavor slaps a hand on Izuku’s head and pushes him down, “No quirk use out of battle.”

Anger spikes in Izuku and he has to bite his tongue to not point out that having a fire beard is quirk use out of battle. He takes a deep breath and reigns himself in, though. He’ll get nowhere antagonizing his boss for such a petty thing. The media already has a long list of criticism for him, no need to add “Hormonal omega hero starts fight inside airplane” to their potential headlines.

“Got it,” Shouto says, laying Izuku’s luggage by his feet. 

“Thanks, Shouto,” he mumbles, embarrassed. It’s hard being the only short person on the team, even if his team seems to be made up of the tallest alphas in the country. Izuku stands out like a sore thumb among them, barely reaching the chest-height of his teammates.

“Let’s go,” Endeavor orders, walking out of the airplane.

Without Endeavor seeing, Izuku activates his quirk strength to haul his luggage around. He may be restrained by the airlines’ size limit for cabin luggage, but they can’t stop him from packing his luggage so tight it’s always almost bursting.

Izuku’s whole life is in that little luggage at this point. He spends weeks, if not months, without coming back to his home in Tokyo. It’s even hard to call the abandoned, tiny apartment with limited air circulation he rents a home considering he’s never there. Airplanes and cheap hotels are the closest Izuku has to a home currently, and he can’t afford the luxury of checking in a large suitcase when none of his teammates do. Endeavour wouldn’t be amused by Izuku saying he needs to wait for his luggage instead of rushing to the next checkpoint to start their mission.

Walking through the airport is always uncomfortable. Civilians aren’t as strict with their patch use as heroes. Most of them can’t afford the high-grade scent patches they use. Add that to the awful recycled air and seldom cleaned air conditioning filters and you have the perfect recipe for olfactory overload. Izuku’s omega whines and hisses in his mind as he silently curses the airport’s lack of neutralizers.

When they enter the car sent by the local agency for them, Izuku almost sighs in relief despite the fact he’s squeezed between Shouto and Kacchan on the backseat. Stupid, muscled-packed alphas. Why do they need to be so big and take on so much space?

“Our team is already waiting for you in the meeting room,” the local hero informs them as he speeds through the streets.

There was a time that Izuku would be excited to meet whoever this hero is. He’d have been curious about his quirk, his background, his specialty. He’d be making a million questions about who he works with, how he likes working in the agency he’s part of, and what are their other heroes’ quirks. There was a time when Izuku would have a little notebook in his back pocket to write all that down and maybe ask for an autograph.

But that was before the War.

It didn’t take long after the War for Izuku to find out he didn’t want to know who these heroes were, he didn’t want to know what they were doing and what they were not doing while he and his friends fought against the worst villain in history. He didn’t want the confirmation that these heroes were hiding away in their homes while a bunch of high schoolers put their lives on the line for their country. While All Might died.

The way to the agency passes in a blur. Izuku doesn’t pay attention to what Endeavor talks to the hero driving them; he knows that anything important would only be discussed in the meeting at the agency. Shouto and Kacchan probably bicker about one thing or another, but that already became background noise to him. 

Arriving at the agency, there’s no time for small talk or even meeting the other heroes and sidekicks working there. They’re led to a meeting room where the agency’s heroes and some other big names from the region await them. And the second they step into the room, Izuku wants to leave.

The room reeks of alpha. It seems like this agency isn’t enforcing the scent patches rule. Izuku doesn’t even need to look around to know there are more than one alpha in there without any scent neutralizers whatsoever. His inner omega instantly becomes agitated, feeling unsafe among these alphas. Izuku needs to tune out his instincts to run away because he has a job to do and he can’t be labeled as one of those hard omegas to work with that can’t handle a little bit of alpha smell.

“Team Endeavor, welcome to the Buster Union,” a hero Izuku recognizes as the leader, Mister Blaster says. He’s a walking alpha hero stereotype, big, loud and looking angry. He’s one of the alphas not using patches. Izuku just knows this cooperation won’t work as smoothly as he wants.

“Thanks for having us,” Endeavor answers politely as if they actually want to be there and haven’t been ordered by the Hero Commission without any room for argument.

The hero ranking may have been abolished, but there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Endeavor keeps his Number One position despite all the family controversy that came forth during the war. Now, the Hero Commission uses Endeavor and their team’s presence as a bargaining chip and a PR move, hunting down the fugitive war criminals and backing up the local heroes’ morale with the public.

“As you all know, we’re here to discuss the sightings of former members of the Shie Hassaikai that have been on the run since the Tartarus breaking,” Hero Bukkomi, who seems to be the second in command, starts the meeting. “We have confirmed sightings of the villains Chronostasis, Sakaki, and Rappa. We don’t have any information about other partners, be it from Shie Hassaikai or not. For the moment, we’ll assume these are the only targets and work accordingly.”

“The Shie Hassaikai was a very tight knit group,” Endeavor ponders. “We should assume the whole gang’s together.”

“Can’t hunt who isn’t there,” Mister Blaster growls in a deep, alpha-trying-to-control-the-room tone. “If we go after ghosts, we’ll just waste time.”

“If Mimic is with them, he could be in this very room and we’d not know,” Izuku can’t help snapping. His inner omega is growling inside his head, angry at this alpha who tries to make him submit even indirectly.

“Sidekicks aren’t allowed to speak in these meetings,” Mister Blaster snaps back at him.

Izuku is almost growling at this guy now, but Endeavor steps up.

“Hero Deku isn’t a sidekick. He, Shouto, and Dynamight are heroes from the Endeavor Agency.”

Bukkomi scoffs, “They’re barely out of high school. It doesn’t matter what title your agency decides to give them, they’re too young.”

“I’m going to show you too young, you shitty extra! I’m going—” Kacchan yells, but once again Endeavor puts himself between them and the Buster Unit heroes.

“They fought in the War. They’re heroes,” he says with finality. “And we’re here to add to your manpower. Joining forces, we should be enough to track the sighted villains and whoever else they may be working with.”

The Buster Unit heroes may seem very eager to push back against a young mouthy omega, but not as much against the unofficial Number One hero. Endeavor’s words end the argument very quickly, but he still shoots Izuku a side-eye glare that says “Behave. This is part of the job”. So that’s what Izuku tries to do.

Through the rest of the meeting, he bites his tongue and reigns in his temper. That didn’t use to be a problem, but lately his temper has been rivalling Kacchan’s. It takes almost nothing for his inner omega to start growling and snapping inside his head, and Izuku sees that his outward demeanor follows suit even if he tries to not let it show.

Focusing on the logistical organization of the work is the only way Izuku can keep from posturing to Mister Blaster and Bukkomi. Districts to patrol, common hours of villain activity, street informants that may offer something for the right price—just general, run-of-the-mill hero work. Gone are the days of big raids, running around with a big team, car chases through the streets of Tokyo. The Government wants to pass a sensation of safety to the public, so the Hero Commission’s orders are to make any operation look like a small team of heroes surgically detaining one or two runaway villains. No one wants the media to find out about the possible return of the yakuza family involved with Shigaraki and All for One.

“So that’s the plan for now: we’ll have two-heroes teams patrolling Area 1 and Area 2 in five hour shifts. The objective is to look for any type of criminal activity. If the yakuza is back, they’re very likely to use lowly criminals to do their leg work. If we apprehend any of them, we can get more information on who is pulling their strings,” Bukkomi summarizes the meeting.

“Right. I want Boobs with Shouto, Tech Magic with Dynamight, Cangunnon with Deku, Bukkomi with Endeavor, and I’ll patrol with Mellorine,” Mister Blaster lists.

Izuku instantly looks at Cangunnon and sees a hulking alpha who isn’t wearing scent patches. Part of the irritating pheromones he's been smelling since he entered the room can only be from him.

When Cangunnon sees Izuku eyeing him, he puffs his chest out and starts posturing. Inside his head, his inner omega snarls, ready to attack.

“Hero Deku will pair up with Shouto,” Endeavor intervenes. “They’re working on some special duo moves and I want them to continue their training.”

It’s a bold-faced lie. None of them have had the need to work on duo coordination since they left UA, and even if they did, Izuku usually fights alongside Kacchan, not Shouto. But the media has been brewing some gossip about Endeavor hiring Deku because he wants him to become Shouto’s mate and, even though that’s completely made up, it’ll work to their benefit for now. Izuku doesn’t think there’d be much cooperation happening if he partners with Cangunnon.

Mister Blaster turns to Izuku and he can feel when the alpha’s eyes linger way too long on his collared neck. Izuku uses a thick, steel-inforced collar for protection of his unmated scent gland and politeness dictates alphas shouldn’t ogle at it. Mister Blaster doesn’t seem to care for manners. He takes a good, long look at Izuku’s neck that makes him feel dirty before acquiescing to Endeavor.

Izuku hates this.

As much as Izuku doesn’t want to work with an uncooperative, very likely sexist alpha, he also doesn’t want people to think he can’t work with other alphas. Putting Shouto by his side is a way to show Izuku feels safe with Shouto, and he wouldn’t feel safe with any other hero in the Buster Unit roster. If the media catches wind of this, Izuku knows for sure his ability as a hero will be put into question, like it has been so many times before.

But what can Izuku even do? Challenging Endeavor, his boss, in front of a bunch of strangers is a sure way to make the situation worse. His input about the villain they’re hunting has been dismissed already, even though he’s the only hero in the room that has already fought the Shie Hassaikai. All he can do is let the subject drop and maybe talk to Endeavor later, when it’s just the two of them.

“Very well. Cangunnon with Boobs. Bukkomi, please organize the schedule.”

“While your team finishes up with the organization, we’ll check in at our hotel,” Endeavor says to their relief. 

At least, partial relief. 

A hotel room is a poor substitute for a home. The cleaning product smell and the lack of familiarity leaves Izuku’s inner omega on alert, and the pillows are never enough in quantity and quality. But it beats hanging on this reeking agency, hearing Mister Blaster and his goons berating him.

Still, Izuku is thankful for having a room for himself. Perks of being the only omega, he supposes. Kacchan and Shouto always have to share. Sometimes, if there aren’t enough rooms, Endeavor shares with them and then Izuku has to put up with three grumpy alphas in the morning. But Izuku always gets his own room—even if he’s feeling lonely, even if it’s frustrating, even if he gets the stink eye from other young heroes for the privileges he’s given.

This time, it isn’t different. It’s not different at all; the room is beige and scent-free, the sheets are scratchy, and the pillow lost its fluffiness years ago. Izuku unpacks his tiny suitcase in the available wardrobe and brings his ratty old All Might blanket to the bed. The thing occupies almost a third of his suitcase, but it’s the closest thing Izuku has to a nest at this point. The scent of his mother has long since vanished, leaving behind only his own scent of sad and lonely omega, but it’s better than nothing.

In the hotel, Izuku receives a message from Endeavor saying their shifts will start the next day, leaving them half a day to rest and get settled before the real work begins. That gives Izuku some time to call his mom, answer some texts from his friends, and take a nice shower. Not long after he’s done with that, Kacchan messages him to say he and Shouto are going to look for a place to eat dinner around the hotel, ordering him to meet them at the lobby, ending with a if I kill the Half’n Half because you’re late, I’m telling everyone it’s your fault.

Izuku arrives at the lobby right on time. Kacchan is yelling at Shouto anyway. The argument of the hour seems to be about where they should go to eat, Kacchan refuses to go for soba once again.

Shouto always wants soba, Kacchan always wants curry, Endeavor always wants the most expensive restaurant around (thankfully he pays for everyone when he joins them for meals), and Izuku… He just wants food that leads to the least amount of arguing. 

This time, Izuku is in luck. Between the flight and the meeting, they all missed lunch and are starving. The delicious scent of broth from a ramen stand just crossing the street from their hotel is too good for them to resist.

“Endeavor isn’t going to eat?” Izuku asks once they have ordered.

“He’s in some online meetings with the Hero Commission,” Shouto explains. “He asked us to order him something and take to his room.”

“Shitty old man thinks we’re his fucking secretaries,” Kacchan grumbles.

“It beats having to stay in the meeting with the Commission,” Izuku argues.

“Maybe we should be in these fucking meetings. I’d make those old pencil-pushers think twice before shipping us across the country.”

Kacchan ends with an angry snarl that’s pure alpha. It still amuses Izuku how Kacchan learned the alpha posturing so perfectly. When he first presented, it was such a big mess that many of their classmates wondered if Kacchan would ever feel comfortable in his status as an alpha. Now, Hero Dynamight frequently appears on teen magazines making lists of Perfect Alpha Representatives and Most Eligible Alpha Bachelors, side by side with musicians and movie stars.

“If we let you in a meeting with the Commission, they’d strip you from your license,” Shouto warns.

“Let them fucking try! I’d end—”

“Traveling sucks,” Izuku interrupts Kacchan’s threat. “But it’s better than not doing this. I know I’d not prefer staying in Musutafu or even Tokyo and not going after the Shie Hassaikai.”

This is the ultimate truth. The truth Izuku tells himself over and over. When he’s tired, when he’s lonely, when he sees his face on a newspaper under a dramatic headline, when his inner omega wails and wails inside his head. This is the best option. He needs to keep fighting, keep hunting these villains. If even one of them gets away, they can sow more pain and hate. This is what he has One for All for. This is what All Might would expect him to do.

Their ramen bowls arrive, pulling Izuku back to the present. It’s all too easy to get lost in his thoughts and grief, and the only way Izuku can fight that is staying grounded in the present, taking one day at a time, one task at a time. So he asks about his next one.

“Do we have our patrol shifts yet?”

“No. We should get them tomorrow morning when we arrive at the Buster Unit agency,” Shouto answers.

“They better give us a good rotation,” Kacchan grumbles. “Those fuckers look the type to give us the public shifts and keep the ones to actually go for the villains for themselves.”

“They certainly don’t look like they trust our abilities,” Shouto agrees.

“Or our experience,” Izuku completes, unable to keep the sourness from his tone.

“Right. You’ve fought the Shie Hassaikai before the War, right Izuku? That should give some advantage.”

“He fought the final battle of the Great War. That should be experience enough if those fuckers had half a brain,” Kacchan snaps, angrily.

Izuku can’t help offering a small smile. Despite the constant distrust of his abilities coming from media, public, and other heroes, his team always has his back. Kacchan and Shouto haven’t shown any doubt in his skills or commitment since their first year at UA, and having their trust sometimes is the only thing that keeps Izuku having faith in himself.

“Thanks,” he says, a small word that is backed by a whole lot of feelings. “But it is what it is… And it’s always the same. If they don’t doubt us for our age, they do because I’m an omega. It’s nothing new.”

“Fucking assholes,” Kacchan growls.

“I hoped these prejudices would stay behind after the War, but it seems that we’re rebuilding society just like it was before,” Shouto ponders.

“Or worse because now the public doesn’t even trust the heroes,” Izuku says.

“Why would they trust a bunch of suckers who ran away when the country needed them the most?” Kacchan adds. “Just wish the extras remembered we stayed and fought.”

“They do. Some, at least,” Izuku offers. “That’s why the Hero Commission parades us around, isn’t it? Trying to get the public’s favor by associating the UA students who fought in the War to the older heroes. It’s part of our job and we need to do it the best we can.” 

It’s a conversation they had many times before, but that they still come back to whenever the world feels particularly unfair. They’re not the only young heroes being used by the Hero Commission to reinvigorate the public’s trust in the older heroes. All their former classmates are doing the same thing. And though all of them know they’re being used in some capacity, they still show up to do the work because they’re true heroes and that’s what heroes do—give themselves until they don’t have anything else to give. That’s what All Might taught them.

“Come on. Let’s order Endeavor’s food and go back to the hotel,” Izuku says, ending their repetitive conversation. “I want to go to bed and be ready for tomorrow.”

Shouto nods and waves the waitress to order. Soon, they’re walking back to the hotel. Izuku may have a full belly, but he still feels empty. Empty, tired, and not looking forward to the hard days ahead of them. He knows that he’ll keep being shut down in the investigation of the Shie Hassaikai, knows he’ll have to keep fighting against the Buster Unit’s prejudices against his age and dynamic, knows that he’ll still have the media breathing down his neck, waiting for him to make a mistake. And he knows that his life and society aren’t about to change. All that’s left for him to do is keep trying his best to honor All Might’s legacy.

Chapter Text

Team?

The next morning finds Izuku and his team back at the Buster Union’s agency. This time, they’re given a quick tour of the place they’ll be using as base for the next few weeks. Well, maybe not so few if the patrol rotation is anything to go by.

Just like they conjectured yesterday, the Buster Union left for them the more public and less prone to run into villains shifts. Especially for Shouto and Izuku who got the route with the most busy streets in the early afternoon—the furthest possible from where villain activity had been spotted and the hours it’s most likely to happen.

When Endeavor agrees to the shifts presented, Izuku wants to scream.

But he doesn’t. He focuses on his breathing for a minute and then forces himself to remember that he found Eri and Overhaul in very similar circumstances, a busy street in the middle of the day. Just because criminals feel more comfortable working in the dead of night, away from prying eyes, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to find in other places. A hero does his best with the opportunities they’re given, and that’s what Izuku will do.

“You’re all dismissed to get ready for your shifts,” Bukkomi says, ending the meeting.

Before Izuku can consider what to do before he needs to hit the streets, Kacchan grabs him by his biceps and starts to pull him.

“Kacchan!” he protests.

“I need to talk to you,” Kacchan says, dragging him to an emptier hallway.

“You could have just said that,” he huffs, pulling his arm free.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I just said! If you had asked me—”

“Not to me! There! To those extras!” Kacchan barks, getting more aggravated. “They’re parading you like a show pony!”

“I’m not a show pony,” he growls, getting angry himself.

“Fucking looks like one! All your shifts are to show off with fucking Half’n Half! Endeavor may finally get the official courting announcement he’s wanting!” 

“Not this again,” Izuku rolls his eyes. “Endeavor doesn’t want me and Shouto to mate, Kacchan. Be reasonable. This is about helping with the public’s faith in heroes which is part of our job .”

“They’d have more faith in us if we did our goddamn jobs,” Kacchan retorts angrily. “And you can keep in denial all you want, but I know what those fuckers want: they want you to rehabilitate the image of the Todorokis. That’s why this damn team even exists in the first place!”

It’s not the first time Izuku hears this story, and he’s tired. He’s tired of Kacchan accusing his friend of second intentions, tired of having his worth as a hero reduced to being an unmated omega, tired of being seen as an unaware pawn to Endeavor’s machinations. 

“No. Not this again,” he says with finality. “I told you last time I’ll not stand around and listen to you diminish my role in this team and as a hero. I’m not here just to be Shouto’s mate. We don’t even care about each other like that! We’re friends! And I’m part of this team because I’m a hero!”

“Yes, you’re a hero. You’re one of the best heroes in this goddamn country. And you’re one of the only ones who faced the Shie Hassaikai before. So why didn’t you speak up in that fucking meeting? You’re the one diminishing your role, not me!”

An angry snarl comes up Izuku’s throat. Inside his mind, his inner omega is ready to attack. He sees himself going teeth and nail to this alpha’s throat, forcing him to submit. Maybe, if his inner omega was stronger, Izuku wouldn’t have been able to resist the urge.

But as it is, Izuku’s inner omega has been beaten down by years of a strong hold on his instincts, and the several months of being away from home and family, without even a nest to recover. That gives Izuku the wiggle room to reign in his baser impulses and remove himself from the situation.

“I’m done with this conversation. You don’t understand and you don’t want to understand,” he says, shaking his head. “You may dismiss secondary genders and their importance, but I’m an omega, Kacchan. I don’t have the luxury to forget that.”

Without giving Kacchan time to respond, Izuku turns around and leaves.

Still, Kacchan can never lose the chance of having the last word, and he shouts as Izuku walks away, “You may remember you’re a damn omega, but you forgot you’re Deku.”

Izuku swallows back his tears and keeps on walking.

***

The Buster Union’s agency doesn’t have an omegas-only locker room, which doesn’t surprise Izuku. What surprises him is that he’s not the only omega in the agency. The hero Boobs also is an omega and agreed to share the bathroom allocated to her with him. Izuku tries his best to be thankful and hangs on tight to every ounce of sorority he has to not judge the fact her hero name is Boobs.

Boobs is a traditional omega beauty, perfect hourglass shape, long blond hair, feminine features, and, of course, large bosom. Izuku didn’t notice she was an omega in the first meeting because she wears several patches in her neck and makes sure her scent doesn’t bleed, unlike the alphas of her agency. It’s impossible to say if she’s mated or not because she wears a thick collar, much like Izuku’s. But that’s where her modesty stops: Boobs’ uniform leaves very little to the imagination, except for her quirk. Izuku has no idea what her fighting style is.

Not that it matters. Boobs is scheduled to patrol with another Buster Union hero, and if they end up in a raid together, Izuku will make sure to study every hero’s fighting style beforehand. 

For now, Izuku needs to focus on his patrol shifts with Shouto. Not that it takes much of his hero prowess—just as expected, they walk the busy mainstreet scaring away purse snatchers with their presence alone, stop to sign autographs for kids, and overall parade around like show ponies. 

Maybe Kacchan was right afterall.

It’s frustrating to think the Shie Hassaikai is gathering strength right at this moment and all Izuku can do is wait. Wait until some other hero has a breakthrough, wait until someone else brings in the intel. In some way, this feels like the first time he tried going after Overhaul and his goons, just waiting until his orders arrived, while he knew Eri was being hurt. But that was almost ten years ago, he was just a student. Izuku thought he had come a long way since those days.

Turns out, he didn’t. Or maybe the world didn’t. There’s still so much red tape, so many interests to juggle, so much posturing and pretending. His dreams and desires are nothing when facing the needs of the country’s political and societal stability. Izuku is just a cog in the machine, a useful tool to the public interest that the elected officials wield as they see fit. And they must have their reasons, they know so much that Izuku doesn’t. Though sometimes feels like he’s been treated like a child, he understands that knowing your place and limitations is maturing. 

And that’s what Kacchan doesn’t understand.

Sometimes it feels like Kacchan hasn’t changed at all since high school. He’s still purposefully ignoring everything that doesn’t fit his objectives. One would think that Kacchan would realize the error in that after his struggles with presenting. But no, Kacchan continues dismissing the importance of genders in their society, assuming everyone is as unbiased as he. Kacchan doesn’t see that being able to disregard secondary genders is an unique alpha privilege—just as much as disregarding authority is.

People overlook Kacchan’s disrespect for hierarchy because he’s a young, volatile alpha. An omega would never get away with speaking up against the Hero Commission, Mister Blaster, and even Endeavor, who has more patience with Izuku than most. 

Besides, he’s doing his job! There’s nothing wrong in accepting his place and his responsibilities! Helping protect society is what All Might gave him One for All for, and All Might himself always accepted the Hero Commission’s wisdom. If he works hard and show he’s a team player, Izuku is sure that in due time—

“They’re taking pictures of us,” Shouto says quietly by Izuku’s ear, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Izuku looks around, readjust to the world outside his head. He got lost in his thoughts and hasn't paid attention to anything in the last several blocks they’ve been walking. But just as Shouto says, Izuku finds a man with a professional camera pointing at them.

“It’s probably local news,” Shouto continues. “Reporting on our presence. The Commission will be pleased.”

Izuku nods, but he doesn’t actually agree with his friend. If that man was with the local news, he’d be wearing that typical news vest with the company’s logo on it. This man wears an unassuming brown coat and hides his face with a baseball cap. That’s a paparazzi. 

A few months ago, a magazine published a long spread, filled with pictures just like this one of Izuku patrolling with Shouto and with Kacchan. The paparazzi must have followed them for weeks because there were dozens of pictures, and the paragraphs analyzing each picture for body language tells of which alpha Izuku was most likely courting were forever printed in his mind.

The article made several intrusive assumptions and came to the conclusion Izuku was playing both alphas. It conjectured that Izuku was biding his time to find out which alpha would grow to have a bigger public favor before picking his mate. There was even a pros and cons list for the alphas with the humorous suggestion that the writers were just helping Izuku out in his decision making. And it ended with a judgmental argument that it was mean spirited of Izuku to keep stringing both alphas along instead of letting one of them go find another omega.

Hero Deku doesn’t seem satisfied in his prominent position in the Hero World, his legacy as a War Hero, and the chance of mating one of the most sought-after alpha bachelors. His greediness keeps both young alphas at his beck and call, while so many other lovely omegas remain unmated.

Izuku felt like throwing up after reading the article. He had his bad dealings with the media before, but none as long, invasive, and just plain mean as this one. The repercussions went on for weeks. Izuku felt like his face and name were in every news source in the country; even the ones who didn’t agree with the article couldn’t help but mention it, bringing it back to light in their attempts to discredit it. 

It’s been hard not to let the article and its repercussions affect his friendship with Kacchan and Shouto. The alphas had the privilege of not giving it a second thought. Shouto has suffered way more when the news of his family’s problems and Dabi’s history came to light, so he found it easy to brush off the article. And Kacchan hasn’t cared about anyone’s opinion of him a day in his life; Izuku doesn’t think he even read the whole article.

But Izuku found himself second-guessing every interaction with his teammates for weeks, wondering if he wasn’t standing too close, if his clothes weren’t too tight, if his words could be taken out of context. It got so bad that Endeavor had to pull him to the side and give him a dressing down, saying that if Izuku couldn’t work with the others, then he couldn’t be a part of the team, that their ability to trust each other and themselves could be the difference of life and death in a fight.

He was right and Izuku has been trying to not focus on what the media is saying about him since then. But now, having a paparazzi blatantly following them through a patrol brings back all his insecurities.

“Our shift is ending anyway. Let’s circle back to the agency,” Shouto says, as if sensing Izuku’s discomfort.

The discomfort follows Izuku all the way back to the Buster Union. If he’s being honest, the discomfort has been a constant companion for a long time, and having that fight with Kacchan in the morning didn’t set his day off to a better start. 

Izuku hates fighting with Kacchan, despite how often that seems to happen. Their relationship has always been complicated, and graduation hasn’t made it any easier. Or the War didn’t make it any easier. Or Kacchan presenting didn’t make it any easier. Or getting into UA didn’t make it any easier. Or developing quirks didn’t make it any easier.

Has his and Kacchan's relationship ever been easy?

Izuku has to bite back a sigh. He’s so tired of fighting with Kacchan.

In defiance to their whole history, he’s Izuku’s closest friend now. There are moments that it’s just them, hanging out, chilling, talking, and it’s good. It’s really good. Kacchan sees him as he truly is. Kacchan challenges him to be the best version of himself. Kacchan understands—not everything, but he understands a lot. He understands why Izuku is doing this, he understands what losing All Might means to him, he understands the struggles of the war.

But these only make the things that Kacchan doesn’t understand hurt more.  And Izuku doesn’t understand how Kacchan can not understand. It’s a whole mess.

One thing that Izuku understands though is that there’s no point in expecting something different from Kacchan. An alpha would never understand. The only difference is that Kacchan isn’t a liar, he doesn’t pretend to spare Izuku’s feelings—which is a whole other issue in itself.

Fighting is tiring, and Izuku knows that they won’t agree or even agree to disagree if he tries arguing again. All that’s left is to go on, pretend it didn’t happen, just another fight in their long, long history of disagreements. 

Also, sometimes after fights, Kacchan is a bit gentler with him. 

He spends some time with Izuku alone, without it being a team outing. He tells Izuku something he’s proud of him, like a new move or a villain capture. They laugh a lot. It feels like they’re kids again, when their fights were forgotten before nap time.

Tonight, they might go out on their own in one of these special moments of theirs. It wouldn’t be surprising if Kacchan asked him to have dinner, just the two of them. Izuku feels a bit sorry for leaving Shouto behind, but Shouto also likes spending time on his own, and he and Izuku had the chance to have lunch today before patrol. 

Despite everything, Izuku cherishes the times he spent with Kacchan the most. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t matter how many times they fight, Kacchan is his best friend.

A night on their own will probably smooth the wrinkles of this morning. It’ll be fun. Izuku is looking forward to it. When he gets back to the agency, he’ll look for Kacchan and invite him out for curry. Kacchan’s shift was in the same time slot as theirs, just in another route, so he should be done as well.

All the way back, Izuku plans for their outing. He looks for a curry place near the hotel on his phone, and Shouto is graceful enough not to mention it. When they arrive at the Buster Union, Izuku is in a slightly better mood.

And then he sees Kacchan walking out of the agency with Boobs.

“Hello, Bakugou,” Shouto greets as they approach them. “Are you finished too?”

“No,” Kacchan answers Shouto looking straight into Izuku. “I traded my shift. We’re going out now.”

Izuku’s mind goes into overdrive. Kacchan changed his shift. He was supposed to be with Tech Girl and now he’s with Boobs. Why did he want to pair up with Boobs? What was wrong with his other shift? What—

“Alright. See you back at the hotel, then,” Shouto continues, unphased. “Work hard, both of you.”

Kacchan clicks his tongue dismissively, “Right.”

“Thanks, hero Shouto,” Boobs answers politely. “And have a nice rest.”

They walk away before Izuku can find words to say. Words that aren’t interrogating Kacchan and starting another fight in the middle of the street. 

Shouto may not be the most perceptive person, but Izuku is walking so stiff and words are so clearly stuck on his throat that even he can’t help noticing and asking, “Are you alright, Deku?”

“Kacchan changed his shift,” he says through a tight throat. “To work with Boobs.”

“I saw it,” Shouto nods. “I’m sure Bakugou wasn’t happy with the time slot we were given. The early evening one is much more likely to see villain activity, and I noticed Boobs’ route in the rotation was the same one where Rappa had been sighted.”

“Oh… Yeah… That makes sense.”

It makes sense that Kacchan changed his shift to one with more chances of facing villains. More sense than Kacchan changing his shift to spend time with the sexy omega hero. It does make sense for all Izuku knows of Kacchan.

But it still hurts.

Kacchan is leaving him behind.

Why didn’t he tell Izuku he was going to ask to change shifts? If they had gone together… Maybe they could have argued they wanted to patrol together to train, like Endeavor said he was doing with Shouto. But no, all Kacchan did was throw a bunch of accusations at him and demand that Izuku spoke up. Kacchan should know Izuku couldn’t do that on his own! But if they had gone together…

Maybe Kacchan did want to work with Boobs. What alpha wouldn’t want it? She’s gorgeous, soft-spoken, and blond. They’d make the most beautiful blond pups together. And Izuku—

High school is long behind them. Any promise that Kacchan made then certainly is null by now. It’d be crazy to think otherwise. Izuku knows it. He knows they’re friends and nothing more. Kacchan looks out for him, but in a friendly way. 

And it’s all Izuku’s fault anyway. He was the one to turn down Kacchan in high school. He certainly isn’t allowed to feel bad about it now. No, he should be happy Kacchan is interested in Boobs. Happy that Kacchan managed to get a better patrol shift. Happy that Kacchan is moving on with his life, doing great things, leaving Izuku behind.

But the acid pit inside his stomach makes it clear that it isn’t happiness that Izuku is feeling.

Not because of Boobs, no. He’s feeling bad because they could have gone together. If Kacchan had talked to him properly, not started a fight. They could have gone to Endeavor and Mister Blaster together, picked a better shift, gone after the Shie Hassaikai together. They work well together, he and Kacchan. Izuku knows they’d make progress on the case if they had the liberty to work as they see fit. But Kacchan left him behind. Kacchan doesn’t want that. He wants to work with Boobs.

“Izuku,” Shouto says, grabbing his arm.

“What?” he asks, almost snarling. The anger brewing inside him is becoming harder to keep bottled in.

“Are you alright?” Shouto asks with genuine worry. “We passed your locker room. I called you and you didn’t hear me.”

“I’m—I’m tired,” Izuku offers as a half lie. “Couldn’t sleep last night. New hotel, new nest, you know.”

“I see,” Shouto says, letting go of his arm. “Let’s go back to the hotel so you can rest.”

“Right. Thanks, Shouto.”

Izuku follows Shouto’s lead, getting his things and leaving for the hotel.

On the way there, they stop by a konbini to buy some dinner to take back to their rooms, both agreeing that it’s better to have a night in so Izuku can rest more. While they browse the selection, Shouto shows him a curry meal set, mentioning that it seemed Izuku was in a mood for it today. The reminder of his failed plans only make Izuku’s stomach twist itself in knots, so he ends up grabbing a simple miso instant ramen.

Once they get to the hotel, Shouto bids him good evening and urges him to rest well so he can feel better tomorrow. Izuku smiles and promises that he will, even though he honestly doubts that. If Izuku knows himself well, he’s in for a night of tossing and turning, ignoring his inner omega’s cries and his mind spiraling thoughts about Kacchan’s betrayal.

Chapter Text

Omega?

The Japanese people are known for carrying on like nothing happened even when facing horrors. Izuku is surely making his country proud this week.

It’s been a few days since their patrol rotations in the Buster Union agency started, a few days since Izuku had a huge fight with Kacchan and found out of his betrayal, and he’s happy to say he has been carrying on as if everything was just fine. He goes to work as usual, trains at the agency’s gym as if he doesn’t have judgmental eyes on him, patrols with Shouto as if there are no photographers following them, and sometimes goes out for dinner with Shouto and Kacchan as if he doesn’t want to strangle his friend. Truly an exemplary Japanese omega.

Sure, his eyebags are growing darker each day since he’s struggling to sleep. He’s become increasingly snappy. And he has been ignoring his phone because he doesn’t know how to answer the concerned messages of his friends and mother. But those are minor issues. What matters is that no one in the agency can accuse Izuku of lacking professionalism.

Truly, the one real issue Izuku sees is that, from the stress and lack of sleep, his mind is foggy. It’s been hard to keep sharp attention on his patrol shifts, and even harder to focus on his paperwork. Even though Izuku drags his ass to bed earlier and earlier each night, hoping beyond hope to wake up feeling refreshed, sleep doesn’t come.

He lays in bed just to hear his inner omega cry and snarl in his head, just to feel the lack of comfort of his meager nest, just to conjecture how Kacchan and Boobs are getting along. Thoughts spiral out of control, making it hard to even focus on one. There’s no line of reasoning, just an oppressive feeling that nothing is right. And when Izuku is too tired to think and hopes that maybe he’ll fall asleep, the twitching starts—a maddening stress response that makes his body jerk without control of his mind whenever it dares to try and sleep.

The twitching led Izuku to an internet research, worried there was something seriously wrong with him. Luckily, it’s just stress and anxiety. The bad stress hormones build up and don’t let him sleep, an evolutionary trait that probably made sense 3000 years ago when sleeping with stress could mean being eaten by a saber-tooth tiger or something like it. Now, Izuku wonders if it’d not have been better for his ancestors to have been eaten.

During the day, keeping busy is the answer to those anxieties but when the lights turn out, Izuku’s mind becomes his personal torture chamber.

Even walking back to the hotel makes Izuku’s mood more sour. He has come to dread the hours spent inside the hotel room that now stinks of sad omega. The acrid scent sticks to the bedsheets and permeates the whole room, making Izuku consider wearing patches to bed. He tried it once, but wearing patches for almost 48 hours made his neck break out in itchy hives. Putting up with his own stink is better than scratching his neck to death, he supposes.

“Are you coming out for dinner or are you eating in your room?” Shouto asks, unwittingly reading his mind about his issues with his own room as they arrive at the hotel.

Today is one of the days Kacchan doesn’t have an evening patrol so he’ll probably join them if they go out to eat. As much as Izuku doesn’t want to stay locked in his stinky room alone, he wants to spend a night pretending everything is fine with Kacchan even less.

“I’ll stay in my room. I’m tired.”

“I see that. You look very tired. Haven’t been able to sleep well lately?”

Shouto, again unwittingly, sinks the knife a little deeper by pointing out that Izuku looks awful. It’s almost as if his friend has another, special quirk power to always know the worst thing to say.

“Not much,” Izuku answers because it’d be pointless to deny when the proof is painted on his face.

“Are you still having issues with your nest?”

Izuku’s inner omega snarls, readying for a fight. Shouto might be his friend, but having an alpha question him about the quality of his nest raises his hackles, friend or not.

“I’m fine,” he hisses, angrily.

“Well, make sure to go to sleep early. We have a meeting tomorrow morning, remember?”

And now he questions Izuku’s professionalism and ability to remember a meeting and show up on time. Shouto really is playing with fire tonight, no pun intended.

“Yes, Shouto, I remember the meeting as I was the one who told you about it, added it to Endeavor's online calendar, and messaged Kacchan about it! I always remember every meeting, every paperwork! Maybe you focus on your damn work for a change and I won’t have to remind you that you forgot to submit the end of the week report on the Commission’s platform every damn week!” he shouts, letting his anger boil over and spill.

Shouto raises an eyebrow, the only indication he’s surprised by Izuku’s outburst.

“I didn’t mean to insult you, Izuku. I’m just worried because you’ve been looking down lately. If there’s anything I can do to help you, please let me know.”

Izuku sighs, the fight draining from him. It’s hard to keep angry with Shouto when he knows his friend isn’t to blame for his anger nor he understands the social cues he’s infringing most of the time. 

“I’m sorry for blowing up on you. I’m just stressed.”

“What have you been stressed about?”

Life. Kacchan. His role on the team. The media. The social expectations he’s forced to uphold.

“The Shie Hassaikai,” he answers, opting for the only item in his long list that Shouto will understand. “Tomorrow it’ll be a week since we started working with the Buster Union and we’re no closer to handling the situation than we were when we arrived. Everyday they grow stronger, and we aren’t doing anything to stop them.”

“I see,” Shouto nods. “It’s quite frustrating the lack of faith Mister Blaster and Bukkomi have on us. One would think we proved our worth and commitment in the War.”

“Is it lack of faith, or they don’t want us taking the credit for bringing down the Shie Hassaikai?” Izuku voices one of the things that’s been plaguing his head in sleepless nights.

Shouto frowns, taking a moment to think.

“It’d explain why they’ve been burying Endeavor in bureaucratic work, and keeping us away from the sighting spots,” he ponders.

“But it’d not explain why they allowed Kacchan to get a good shift…”

“Maybe… But we don’t know how Bakugou’s shifts have been going. He hasn’t talked much about it.”

“Kacchan never talks much about anything,” Izuku huffs, annoyance coming back just from the mention of Kacchan’s shifts with Boobs.

“I’ll talk to him about it. Ask if he has noticed anything,” Shouto offers.

“Thanks, Shouto… I’ll go to my room now. I need to be rested for tomorrow’s meeting.”

“Right. See you tomorrow then, Izuku. Have a good night.”

“Good night,” Izuku bids, walking toward the elevator.

This conversation with Shouto left him even more drained and he wants nothing but to sink in bed and pass out until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s meeting will be important and Izuku needs to be at his best to read between the lines and try finding out what the Buster Union isn’t telling them.

***

Izuku doesn’t have a good night of sleep. Not a big surprise and it doesn’t stop him from showing up to the agency meeting on time. Shouto walked with him to the agency as usual and mindfully didn’t mention Izuku’s eyebags or their argument from last night. Izuku, in return, doesn’t ask why Kacchan and Endeavor aren’t walking with them even though they’re also expected at the meeting.

When they get to the agency, Izuku sees Endeavor already in the meeting room, discussing things with Bukkomi and Mister Blaster. That answers one of his questions; Endeavor must have arrived earlier to work. 

Kacchan, however, arrives at the nick of time, with Boobs, souring Izuku’s mood even further. Once again, Kacchan dismisses his company for Boobs. There isn’t even time for greetings, Bukkomi starts talking the second they enter the room and Kacchan doesn’t even spare a look toward Izuku.

It’s fine. It’s good that Kacchan is getting along well with his patrol partner. It’d be much worse if, on top of everything, he had to manage Kacchan’s anger at the Buster Union heroes. Shouto would probably say the same, that it’s a good thing Kacchan isn’t starting fights and bringing them trouble.

And yet, Izuku is the one feeling like starting a fight whenever he sees Kacchan nowadays. It doesn’t seem smart to prioritize his relationship with a temporary patrol partner instead of the one with his team.

It takes all of Izuku’s willpower to turn his attention to Bukkomi’s presentation. If it wasn’t enough that he’s frustrated with Kacchan, the meeting is as dull as it can be. Bukkomi’s citing every little minor event the duos reported from their patrol shifts this week, a summary of every report turned in.

At some point between talking about the purse snatcher one duo caught and the old lady that had a health emergency on the streets and had to be taken to the hospital, Izuku realizes Bukkomi doesn’t have anything to report on the Shie Hassaikai case. Nothing. No new sightings, no informant contacted.

His frustration grows as the meeting drags on. A part of Izuku was hoping that the Buster Union was working on the case even if they’re not inviting Izuku and the team to it. He hoped this meeting would show that and they’d start discussing the next steps. But no. The Buster Union has continued with business as usual, focusing on street rats instead of the crime family growing under their noses.

This is all absolutely useless. There’s no reason for them to be here, working with the Buster Union, if all everyone is going to do is work as usual. The agency’s regular roster should be more than enough to deal with these issues. What’s the point of Izuku being away from home, living in a hotel and eating convenience store food every day just to help with petty crimes that high school heroes-in-training would be enough to handle?

Why are they there if not to go after the Shie Hassaikai?

The answer comes soon enough, when Bukkomi starts discussing next week’s rotations.

“It came to our attention that the media is fairly interested in the presence of Team Endeavor in the city,” he says, almost bored. “Considering the importance of keeping the population informed of heroes’ movements, we decided that Hero Shouto and Hero Deku will be out of patrol rotation this week to have time to talk to the local news.”

It feels like a block of ice falls into Izuku’s stomach. He looks around, hoping to see people laughing because this can only be a joke, a prank on the newbies. But no. He sees Endeavor avert his eyes, looking ashamed. Shouto looks back to him just as confused. And Kacchan rolls his eyes and sneers, then he looks at Izuku, waiting for what he’s about to say.

And he wants to say something. He wants to protest, to tell that he’s not in this city to do photo ops. That he wants to work for real, that the Shie Hassaikai is growing every day and soon they’ll be too strong to stop and people will get hurt, and it’s going to be the War all over again but this time they don’t have All Might to sacrifice himself and make things right.

But he can’t. He can’t. It’s not appropriate. Endeavor was into this decision, he can’t challenge his boss. And there are so many strangers in this room, who knows if one of them isn’t colluding with the media, if Izuku’s protest isn’t going to end up recorded and shown on the 8 o’clock news. And—

And the chance passes them by.

Bukkomi continues the meeting, talking about everyone else’s shifts. Izuku is out of the playing field this week.

It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s just a week. Talking to the media is part of his job. Making sure the population feels safe and that the heroes are communicating with them is part of the job. It’s just a week, in the next one he’ll have his chance. In the next one, he’ll speak out. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Keep it together. Focus on the meeting. Maybe they can get out of it. Maybe Shouto has an idea what to do.

Izuku looks up, trying to ground himself in the moment, focus on the meeting. His eyes fall into Kacchan almost instinctively. A knee-jerk response developed since he wore diapers—if something goes wrong, he checks what Kacchan is doing. If it goes right too. It’s part of their dynamic. It has always been.

But Kacchan isn’t looking back to him.

He’s trading whispers with Boobs. They look so good together. So blond and proper. A perfect alpha and a perfect omega. Loud yells and soft words. Perfect balancing each other.

Izuku doesn’t balance anyone out. He’s too… Too anxious, too self-absorbed, has too much baggage, and too many responsibilities to carry. Izuku is too much even to himself, he can’t live inside his own mind sometimes. He can’t blame Kacchan for seeing that too.

Can’t blame Kacchan for not waiting until Izuku got his shit together. Even though he promised he would.

It’s not as if Izuku was planning on holding Kacchan up to that old promise. They were in high school. It was before the War. Things changed. And Izuku never planned on going down this path of courting and mating and whatnot. It’s hard enough as it is.

And they fight all the time. They always have. Just the idea of mating with someone you can’t go a week without trading barbs with is crazy. They deserve better. Kacchan deserves better. Not that Izuku was even thinking about that. He’s not. They’re not like this. It’s not. It’s just the media making stuff up. This is probably better, the media will drop their case soon after Kacchan comes public courting Boobs. It makes sense. It’d be a relief.

Izuku feels like throwing up.

Deep breaths. He can’t lose it here. He can’t. He can’t—

“Izuku?” Shouto says, gently touching his arm. “Are you alright? The meeting is over.”

Izuku snaps back into reality and looks around. People are leaving the meeting room and talking among themselves as they do. Everything is fine. Business as usual.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he lies.

“Bukkomi told us to talk to his secretary because she’s putting together the list of news companies we need to talk to this week,” Shouto says, rightfully assuming Izuku didn’t hear that part of the meeting.

“Right, right,” he agrees despite himself. “Let’s go.”

Everything is fine. Just keep on working. Things will get better. Just keep on working.

***

Things will get better. Eventually. Not today, though.

Shouto and Izuku spent the whole day studying the media companies that wanted to talk to them to find out if any of them was a trap, checking their briefings to see if they were interested in talking about hero work or other things, and trying to convince them to just send them the questions that they could answer in an email.

This is the kind of work agency administrators were supposed to do. Big agencies have all kinds of personnel to help with PR, marketing, accounting, legal issues, insurances, and whatnot. But the people who used to work on Endeavor’s agency are long gone, and the Buster Union didn’t offer their own to help. Izuku isn’t even sure if he’d accept help from anyone working for Mister Blaster, the chances of them being led into a bad media situation is too great a risk.

If that wasn’t enough, Izuku spent the whole day thinking about Midnight, and the class to try teaching them how to give a good interview. It feels like it was a million years ago, and yet Izuku feels like he still would fail that class. Izuku wishes he had paid more attention to that class. He wishes he had paid more attention to her as a whole. 

Midnight was the only omega teacher in the hero course. For too long, Izuku felt overwhelmed in her presence. It seemed she fell too neatly on the omega hero stereotypes—gorgeous, using her sex appeal for media appearances, never as strong as the alpha heroes. Izuku didn’t want to be like her.

Now that he’s a bit older, he bitterly regrets missing the chances he had to learn from her.

Yes, Midnight used her sexuality, but she wielded it as a weapon, not as a shield. Izuku believes she realized that the world would ever hold her secondary gender and her appearance against her, so she decided to hold it back against it. That took courage. A courage Izuku doesn’t see himself having.

And when the War started and so many of those public-acclaimed alpha heroes ran away, tails between their legs, Midnight stood with them. She stood with her students until the bitter end.

Midnight deserved better, as so many others that perished in the war. But Izuku knows she’d not have it any other way, so he tries not to fall into the what-if game. Midnight died a hero, protecting her students, and that’s how Izuku will think of her. He’ll also do his best to honor her memory and do the best he can in these interviews.

By the end of the day, Izuku feels like there’s little of him left. He’s bone tired, stressed, and anxious. They didn’t get the chance of talking to anyone about not doing the interviews; as expected, most of the reporters are just looking for an insight into their love lives and in Shouto’s complicated family; the grief from thinking so much about Midnight is weighing on his soul; and Izuku just wants this day to be over.

Izuku doesn’t even offer to stay behind with Shouto when he says he has to tell Endeavor about the intrusive family questions the reporters wanted to ask. He bids his friend good luck and walks back to the hotel on his own, stopping by a konbini just to grab a quick dinner.

As Izuku approaches the hotel lobby, he’s surprised to see Kacchan coming from the other side of the street. It’s late, so he’d expect Kacchan to already be at his room, but it seems like he went out to dinner on his own.

It’s almost a muscle memory to stop by the door and wait for Kacchan. Izuku is too tired, too frustrated, and too stressed to talk, but he could never see Kacchan and not stop to say hi at the very least.

“Hey, Kacchan,” he greets with as much energy as he can muster.

“Hey, nerd,” Kacchan greets back. “What are you doing here?”

“Just got back from the agency.”

Kacchan sneers in derision and Izuku pretends he doesn’t see it. He knows it’ll take basically nothing for them to start arguing about the same things all over again. Kacchan doesn’t try to hide his contempt for the role Izuku has been forced to take on the Buster Union. So before the attacks start, Izuku tries engaging in an innocuous subject.

 “And you? Got some takeout? I got some onigiris from the konbini on the way here.”

Izuku looks down at the big bag Kacchan is carrying, suddenly curious to what takeout would need such a large package. But then his eyes catch on the logo printed on the bag—a famous, unmistakable brand. 

A famous, unmistakable brand of omega things.

Clothes, nesting items, home decorations.

Courting gifts.

It feels like the world comes to a halt.

A fiery cold feeling goes down Izuku’s spine. His stomach twists. He feels like he’s going to throw up.

Kacchan stands there, not saying a word. Caught in the act. Carrying courting gifts for Boobs. Abandoning his promise.

The truth of the situation is quite obvious, but Izuku can’t stop himself from pointing it out.

“You bought courting gifts?” The accusation is also quite obvious in Izuku’s tone.

“I—” Kacchan starts but fumbles the words, failing the explanation.

That’s the only confirmation Izuku needs. In the two decades he’s known Kacchan, he has never seen him lost for words. He knows he’s guilty. He knows he’s going back on his word, abandoning Izuku. And he doesn’t even have the decency to let him know. No, Izuku is lucky he happens to find out by chance, or else he’d find out reading the headlines like everyone else.

The urge to vomit strikes him again, and this time Izuku does—he throws up his rage.

“How dare you? How dare you give me shit time and time again, then you go behind my back and do this?” he roars. “Always so high and mighty, telling me I must do better, that I must focus on our work, show the world the hero I am while you—? You decide it’s time to settle down? Court the first omega that looks your way?”

“What the hell are you on about, Deku?”

“I’m the one who should be asking you that! What’s your plan here, Kacchan? You think I’d not find out? That you could get away with breaking your promise? Abandoning me? And still giving me shit about how I work? I never took you as a coward and a hypocrite, but now I see you’re both!” Izuku knows his words will hurt and that’s why he says them, wanting to inflict in Kacchan at least a little bit of the pain he’s feeling.

“I’m not—”

“Don’t you try lying to me!” Izuku doesn’t let Kacchan speak. “I’m not dumb! I’ve seen you with Boobs! Everyone sees it! And you come get on my case about being forced to patrol with Shouto? While you run after her? And then try to pass it as a big gesture of going after the Shie Hassaikai?! Accuses me of doing nothing? After—”

“Are you out of your damn mind?” Kacchan barks, loud enough to drown Izuku’s words but that just inflames his anger. “I’m not courting Boobs! You’re the one always running around with Shouto! If there’s any coward and hypocrite here, it’s not me! It’s the one who didn’t speak up when he was told to do a courting announcement media tour!”

“What?! Me?! I’m not the one carrying courting gifts, Kacchan! I guess I should tell Boobs she’s lucky because she didn’t get a fucking dead bird!”

This time, Kacchan doesn’t respond for a moment. Silence hangs above them with the sharpness of a guillotine. Izuku readies a response, his blood pumping hot as if in the middle of a battle, just waiting for the enemy's next move.

Then, Kacchan clicks his tongue and roughly shoves the bag in Izuku’s arms.

“Maybe I should court Boobs,” he says in a defeated tone. “Maybe she wouldn’t leave me hanging since fucking high school.”

Before Izuku can recover from the blow, Kacchan walks away, leaving him alone.

The fight drains from Izuku, leaving behind only exhaustion and pain. He feels stripped, wrong, chewed and spitten. His hands shake around the bag.

The bag.

Izuku looks down to the bag and opens it without thinking. Inside there’s an All Might blanket and a green pillow, the color matching his uniform perfectly.

Chapter Text

Promises?

Katsuki slams the door to his room hard enough that the whole floor must feel the wall shake. His hands are sizzling with frustration, ready to pop at the first waiver of his self-control. It’s only the threat of how much shit he’d get for blowing up a hotel room that prevents him from letting go.

Lucky for him and the hotel’s linens, Shouto hasn’t returned yet. If he had to see that stupid, clueless face of his he’d probably not be able to resist blowing something up. It’s bad enough that his inner alpha is berating him for yelling at his omega.

Stupid, useless beast hasn’t understood that Izuku isn’t his and probably won’t ever be.

Angry bitterness festers in Katsuki’s core. He’s so fucking done with all this bullshit. He’s so tired of this game he’s been forced to play. That Izuku forces him to play.

When will that stupid omega understand this is all for show? That they don’t need to follow Endeavor around, they don’t need to be at the Hero Commission’s beck and call, they don’t need to please the media, they don’t need to do what the public expects them too. They can all go to hell and burn for all Katsuki cares. 

But no, Izuku can’t stop trying to please every useless fucker that may say or even think badly of him. Even if it doesn’t work! Even if it’ll never work! It’s never going to be enough! There’s always going to be some asshole who will have shit to say and Izuku will always bend backwards to please them anyway.

He’ll do anything to make anyone happy—but himself. And Katsuki, he supposes.

He used to think that Izuku preventing his own happiness was the thing preventing his as well. That his and Izuku’s future was one and the same, and if they could just get over this whole War-Hero Commission-Public-Media bullshit, they’d be happy together.

Katsuki doesn’t know that for sure anymore.

He’s not sure of anything anymore and it’s driving him fucking crazy.

It’s like when the War ended, the whole world stopped making sense. The things he believed made a hero were systematically destroyed, All Might was gone, and the future he always envisioned for himself didn’t exist anymore.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the country took a turn for the worse. There were articles about it that explained in academic terms—when facing economic hardships and unsafe times, the population turns more socially and politically conservative. Fancy words for people become assholes at the first sign of trouble and then make it everyone else’s problem.

Understanding where it comes from doesn’t make it any easier. Doesn’t make the paparazzi stop following them, doesn’t make the scrutiny any lighter, doesn’t make the new regulations less strict, doesn’t make it hurt any less. But doing what everyone else expects you to do doesn’t make shit easier either, so Katsuki thinks he might as well tell everyone to go fuck themselves and leave him alone.

He just wishes Izuku was with him through that.

But no, Izuku bends. He tries to please, appease and make the world a better place through smiles and subservience alone. He tries to show the ungrateful fuckers that if they just give him a chance, he’ll make it all better.

And he’ll lower his head and work all the way to a marriage with fucking Shouto Todoroki this way.

Frustrated, Katsuki huffs, and throws himself on his bed. 

Stupid, fucking omega.

He should have made Izuku eat that damn, overpriced pillow.

As Katsuki lists all the ways he could have tortured Izuku with bedding, the door opens and in it comes Todoroki.

“Good evening, Bakugou.”

Katsuki wants so very much to start yelling at him and release all the anger and frustration he’s been bottling up for months, years. He wants to jump on the fucker’s neck and demand they battle this out once and for all, if not with quirks, with fists, teeth and nails. Claws and fangs like real alphas, the beast in his mind whispers.

But the tone with which Todoroki greets him makes Katsuki turn to him and entering his room isn’t a mighty foe, an adversary that will match him hit for hit. The one who enters is the loser he knows since high school and that looks like he just lived five lives in one day.

Todoroki looks exhausted, crushed—there’s no glory in fighting someone who is already defeated.

“The hell is wrong with you?”

Before answering, Todoroki throws himself on the bed much like Katsuki did just a moment before. It’s hard to ignore the feeling of kinship that seeing someone else have an absolute shitshow of a day evokes.

“Izuku and I spent the whole day negotiating with the media.”

Katsuki growls, unable to stop himself. This situation feels like a thorn on his soft parts. 

“Yeah, they’re the worst,” Todoroki agrees. Clueless as ever, he misinterprets Katsuki’s aggression as aimed at the media. “We demanded a list of interview topics before agreeing to any request. As we imagined, all the news wants to talk about is Touya, and Izuku’s love life.”

Another growl comes out, and that seems to be the only prompting Todoroki needs to keep on talking. The idiot really thinks Katsuki is angry on his behalf.

“It’s a nightmare. One of the reporters, if they can even be called that, wants an interview with my whole family. They said they’re willing to go meet us at mom’s hospital.”

“That’s fucked up,” Katsuki says, this time actually meaning to agree with him. 

Half’n Half might be an idiot, and Endeavor is a scheming asshole, but the rest of the family shouldn’t suffer any more than they already have. Katsuki feels bad for the trauma Mrs. Todoroki went through, and Todoroki’s sister is a nice woman who deserves her privacy. 

“Another one wanted a photoshoot in Touya’s original shrine…” Todoroki sighs, tired. “We tried steering a couple that didn’t make outrageous requests to do an interview focusing on the hero work we’re doing here. But they were not interested since we can’t tell them about going after the Shie Hassakai, so they think we’re just here for photo ops anyway.”

“That’s stupid as it is,” Katsuki says, clicking his tongue annoyed. “We should be here undercover to not tip the yakuza fuckers off. They must have figured shit out already and that’s why we haven’t got any more sightings.”

“The Hero Commission—” Todoroki starts the usual speech about the importance of being seen by the public, but Katsuki doesn’t let him go far.

“Fuck the Hero Commission. Those pencil pushers were the ones who got us in this situation in the first place!”

“I know,” Todoroki agrees. “But they’re the ones who control our hero licenses. If they want, they can take it away, and then what? What are we going to do? Who is going to stop the villains?”

Who is going to carry All Might’s legacy? Deku’s voice completes in Katsuki’s mind.

Katsuki huffs, angry. There’s not much else to say. He’s had this argument before many times, most of them with Izuku. He doesn’t know how to break free from the Hero Commission, he just knows that they’re wrong.

“I talked to Endeavor,” Todoroki says after a moment of silence. “Told him there was no way we could do these interviews. A whole day of talking to the media companies and all we got was for some of them to say they’d focus only on mine and Izuku’s alleged courting.”

“The old man must be thrilled,” he spits with venom.

“He said he’d talk to Bukkomi and cancel all the interviews,” Todoroki says, sitting up to look at Katsuki. “Do you still think Endeavor is somehow arranging me and Izuku to get married?”

Katsuki clicks his tongue in derision. 

“I’m not fucking stupid like you. I know what I see.”

Todoroki shakes his head.

“Bakugou, your feelings for Izuku are blinding you to reality. There’s nothing romantic going on between Izuku and I, and Endeavor is well aware of that.”

“Being aware and agreeing are two different things. Even the damn reporters see it, you and Deku are the only blind ones.”

“On the contrary. Considering it’s our love lives that are being discussed, I believe Izuku and I are the only ones whose visions matter on the subject.”

“It’d be if both of you weren’t two fucking idiots,” he growls. “Deku has his head hiding in the damn sand and isn’t seeing shit. And you said it yourself that you’d like to marry Deku!”

“Not this again… I said I wouldn’t mind courting Izuku if our situations were different. If my best friend wasn’t in love with him—”

“I’m not your best friend!” Katsuki interjects but Todoroki continues unbothered.

“If he was interested, which he isn’t. If my family wasn’t such a fuck up, which it is. And if we didn’t have more important issues to worry about, which we do.”

“I’ve heard your damn excuses before! They’re as shitty as they were the first time you told them! None of this denies the fact you said you’d want Izuku as your mate!” Katsuki says with certainty because these words have been plaguing his head since Todoroki uttered them.

“I said that I understood your obsession with Izuku considering he’s so nice and good looking, that he’ll make a great mate.”

Hearing another alpha talk about Izuku like that makes Katsuki’s control on his inner alpha threaten to slip. Another angry growl slips as Katsuki shows his fangs, threatening Todoroki. Challenging pheromones fill the air around them, too strong for Katsuki’s patches to hold back.

But as always, Todoroki brushes off his posturing, unafraid of Katsuki.

“Please, Bakugou. It’s been a long day and I don’t want to explain to the receptionist why we trashed the room.”

“I’m not going to give him to you!”

Todoroki chuckles, “As if that’s up to you. You and I both know Izuku is too stubborn for that.”

Katsuki crosses his arms but doesn’t have anything to retort. Izuku is too fucking stubborn for his own good.

Which reminds him of their fight this evening. Izuku’s accusations, Katsuki feeling betrayed. The one time he tries doing something nice to the nerd, reminding him that he’s not alone and that he can count on Katsuki to care for him, and it all blows up in his face. The assumption that he’d buy gifts for another omega when Katsuki has decided Izuku is it for him since presenting—

“Besides, he loves you.” Todoroki breaks Katsuki out of his thoughts. “He has always loved you.”

“It’s not like that,” Katsuki dismisses, defeated. “He loves me as a friend. Childhood friend. But he still—”

He still doesn’t see me as a mate is what Katsuki means to say, but he can’t force the words out.

There was never any doubt of Izuku’s feelings for him. He knows the nerd cares deeply, knows they’re best friends. How could he not after a lifetime of “Kacchan is amazing!” ? But Izuku’s feelings are almost fraternal. He never showed any indication that—

“He was jealous,” Katsuki says in epiphany, more to himself than to Todoroki.

“What?”

“The nesting shit. You said he wasn’t sleeping because he didn’t have a nest, and I bought them for him. But then he saw and he thought it was for Boobs.”

“Why would you buy nesting items for Boobs?” Todoroki asks, just as confused as Katsuki was at first.

“I wouldn’t. I bought it for him, but he’s a shithead and he got jealous,” Katsuki says, a maniac grin opening in his face. “That fucking idiot…”

“What happened?”

“He yelled at me, then I threw the gifts on his face,” Katsuki says, almost giggling.

He can’t help himself. He was feeling shitty for having another fight with Deku and being accused of shit he’d never do, but now he sees the situation through a different lens. Izuku was jealous, meaning the not-platonic love is finally showing its face.

“You two really need to figure this courting thing out,” Todoroki says, shaking his head in disbelief. “Maybe if you two courted like normal people, the media wouldn’t be giving us so much trouble.”

“I don’t fucking care. The idiot was jealous and he must be feeling like shit now that he realized the gifts were for him,” Katsuki says, pleased. “I’ll have the nerd crawling on the floor to apologize in no time. I’m going to make him beg.”

Todoroki opens his mouth to say something, but then gives up and closes it. He shakes his head and gets up from the bed, walking to the bathroom.

“I don’t even want to know. I’m going to take a shower and go to sleep. You two find a way to fix this mess yourselves.”

Katsuki doesn’t bother answering. He can’t deny this is a mess. He’s still pissed that Izuku thought that he’d start courting another omega out of fucking nowhere when Katsuki has been waiting for him since high school. And there’s the issue of the media and Endeavor, who despite Todoroki’s claims, Katsuki is sure wants to see Izuku and his son together. And there’s the shitty villains that seem to take up all of Izuku’s brain. And their issues with the Hero Commission. And the public’s expectations.

It’s a fucking big mess.

But Izuku is jealous, which means there’s hope. And Katsuki isn’t one to give up when facing impossible odds. 

***

The next day doesn’t rise with answers. Katsuki wakes up just as lost as when he went to sleep, with the difference that he got a text from Endeavor in the middle of the night summoning him for a meeting he doesn’t know what’s about. So, if anything, the next day rises even more confusing.

Todoroki has already left for the agency when Katsuki wakes up, so he can’t ask him if he knows what the meeting is about. That leaves Katsuki no other choice than to get his ass to the agency and see for himself.

Katsuki arrives at the agency a few minutes before the meeting is scheduled, so he looks around for Half’n Half and Deku to see if they know anything. He doesn’t find Todoroki, but Deku is walking through the lobby just as Katsuki gets there.

Then, the unthinkable happens.

Deku looks at him and his eyes grow in surprise as if he’s seeing a ghost. Then, Katsuki sees it in slow motion as he turns around and rushes away, clearly avoiding him.

Katsuki feels his jaw hit the floor.

That fucking asshole.

How dare he?

Anger rises with every step Deku takes away from him.

How fucking dare he?

Shouldn’t he be crawling on the floor, begging for Katsuki’s forgiveness? Shouldn’t he be owning up to the fuck he was the one who fucked up yesterday, that he brought up unfounded accusations when all Katsuki was trying to do was help him out? Katsuki will strangle that little fucker!

With angry stomps, Katsuki walks after Deku. This is not happening. Katsuki won’t let the fucker get away. He’s going to catch Deku and he’s—He’s going to blow his fucking face off. He’s going to make him pay, make him beg for Katsuki’s mercy. He’s going to twist his pretty neck, stab those green—

Deku walks right into the little office room Endeavor has been given during their stay in the Buster Union.

Asshole. Running to hide behind daddy Endeavor. Idiot.

Without second guessing, Katsuki barges in after Deku, ready to give him a piece of his mind.

“Oh, Bakugou, glad you arrived,” Endeavor says, stopping Katsuki on his tracks. “Now that we’re all here, we can start the meeting.”

To his right, Deku stands still, looking like he just escaped death—which he did as far as Katsuki is concerned. To his left, Todoroki looks like this meeting is taking place at 9pm, not 9am. And in the middle, sitting at his too small desk, Endeavor looks like he should have retired five years ago. What a great team they make.

“I understand that the situation with the Buster Union isn’t ideal,” Endeavor starts. Katsuki can’t help rolling his eyes. “I understand you all have grievances about the way the Shie Hassakai case has been conducted. But I’d like to remind you all that our responsibilities go beyond catching some runaway B-listers. It’s unlikely that Chronostasis will amass as much power as Overhaul had, even with some leftover members of the group. Right now we need to focus on handling the media expectations and—”

“What the fuck?!” Katsuki can’t stop himself from interrupting this big pile of bullshit that Endeavor is dropping on them. “B-listers? A bunch of heroes almost died the last time they faced the Shie Hassakai! Deku almost died! These are some of the strongest villains that are still on the run after the war!”

“They were strong under Overhaul’s command. We don’t have proof that they remained as such after the war,” Endeavor parrots what can only be something he heard from the Hero Commission.

“Fuck you! You know that’s not true! You know all it takes is one shitty villain with a good story!”

“What I know is that we’ve been strongly encouraged to work with the Buster Union however they see fit.”

“And what they see fit is to bench us then throw us to the lions! Those reporters want to tear us to pieces!”

Katsuki screams and rages, but Endeavor remains unperturbed. Even the fire crackling on his beard seems cold and emotionless.

“I fail to see how that’s true to you, Bakugou. You got the patrol shift you wanted. You’re still in this week’s rotation, with no expectation to handle the reporters. What else could you possibly want?”

“But Deku—”

“I’m fine, Kacchan,” Deku interrupts him, just as cold and emotionless as Endeavor. His eyes are lost in the wall’s unremarkable paint. “I understand this is my job. We’re doing what we can to adjust to the reporters’ expectations.”

To the reporters’ expectations. 

Not adjust the reporters’ expectations.

Deku is ready to give them what they want—he’ll take the fall and become Todoroki’s mate to get the heat of Dabi’s history away from the headlines. 

Katsuki can’t fucking believe his ears.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he roars. “You know what they want from you! If you walk in one of those interviews—”

“I’ll be doing my job.” Deku interrupts him again, this time looking straight into Katsuki’s eyes.

The green gems that Katsuki used to see sparkling are dead. 

“Your job? Your fucking job?” he screeches in disbelief. “That’s what you think you’re doing?”

“I know that’s what I’m doing, Kacchan! Not all of us can get away with saying whatever we want whenever we want!” Deku screams, finally showing some emotion.

“I can’t believe you’re spewing this bullshit again!”

“And I can’t believe we’re having this argument again! It’s always the same! Nothing is ever good enough for you!”

“For me? Are you out of your fucking mind! This isn’t about me! This is—”

“Exactly! It’s not about you! I’m the one who almost died for the Shie Hassaikai! I’m the one getting calls from the Hero Commission! I’m the one being followed by paparazzis! I’m the one getting hate on the internet! And I’m the one who will talk to the reporters!”

“I know! I’m trying to help you, you asshole!”

“It’d be a great help if you stopped fighting with me at every turn and making demands you know nothing about!”

Katsuki can’t believe what he’s hearing. His fantasies about Deku begging for his forgiveness crumble into nothing. Yeah, Deku might have been jealous, but this doesn’t change anything.

The paths they’re trailing haven’t changed. There was no fork in the road.

At some point, their futures diverged and Katsuki is fucking tired of trying to get them back on course.

Maybe there’s no way of doing that. High school was over. A war happened. Silly little promises made when they were in their teens can’t hold their ground against the expectations of adult life.

Not without a deep desire to make it come true.

Last night, Katsuki showed what he wanted, and this is Deku’s answer.

“You’d know about making demands you know nothing about, right, Deku?” he says with quiet resignation. “Whatever. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’re going to get. Don’t come crying to me about promises later.”

And with that, Katsuki turns around and walks away. Again. He’s tired of doing that. Maybe it’s time he stops coming back.

Chapter Text

Expectations?

Kacchan leaves the room and it’s like a crystal falls on the floor. Something precious and delicate breaking into a million sharp pieces, making Izuku afraid to walk, or even breathe, in case the shreds pierce his skin and leave him bleeding out.

He’s not sure what just happened, the words screamed barely making sense in his head, but it feels big, definitive, and wrong.

“Shouto, please go check your e-mails and see if any reporter answered. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will accept our previous suggestions,” Endeavor says, but his words sound as if they’re coming from underwater.

“Fine,” Shouto agrees, and leaves the room. Maybe he offers a sympathetic smile or a pat on the shoulder to Izuku before he exits the room, but Izuku isn’t sure.

He’s not sure of anything right now.

“Midoriya,” Endeavor calls him, forcing Izuku to turn to him and try to ground himself in the moment. “Please, take a seat.”

Robotically, Izuku sits down, still looking to the door Kacchan crossed. Or maybe it was Izuku who crossed a door, a line.

But he was right, wasn’t he? He has a job to do. Anything that gets in the way of his responsibilities as All Might’s heir is something he needs to overcome. Leave behind. Was he or was Kacchan who left? Who stayed behind?

All Might left them, but it was for a good reason. All Might gave everything he had, his own life, to save them. Save the world. Izuku can’t let the world burn now, can’t let All Might’s sacrifice be for nothing. Even if he has to burn himself. Just like All Might did.

“ —zuku? Are you listening?”

Izuku snaps to Endeavor, surprised at being called by his first name.

The man is seated in front of him, looking way too big behind the tiny desk. It’s so unlike the big, ostentatious office he had in his own agency. It came as a big surprise when Izuku found out Endeavor was dismantling his agency and selling the building. He said it made sense since they’d be traveling so often, but Izuku always wondered about that.

“I’m listening,” he answers, even though he clearly wasn’t.

“Are you?” Endeavor asks, eyes heavy on Izuku. “Did you listen to what Bakugou said?”

Izuku shrugs dismissively.

“Kacchan is always like that. He doesn’t like when people don’t do things his way.”

“And what way do you want to go, Midoriya?”

“I… I was thinking of accepting to talk to a couple of reporters that seem more open to negotiate on the subject of the interview, as we talked before,” he answers awkwardly.

“And what will you tell them, Izuku?”

“What do you mean?” he asks, wondering if they’re not really talking about the media issue anymore.

Endeavor takes a deep breath and tries to lean back on his chair besides the limited space.

“There are a lot of people, not only in the media, interested in knowing what your next steps in life are going to be. I know you understand this situation we’re living in isn't sustainable. We can’t live…” He sighs before continuing. “...in hotels. Chasing shadows to put on a show, instead of doing our actual jobs.”

“Sir…” Izuku starts to speak but Endeavor doesn’t stop.

“We—I can’t let you kids live paying for our mistakes.”

“Are… Are you talking about Dabi?”

Silence stretches for a moment during which Endeavor looks at him with unfocused eyes, as if he’s not really seeing Izuku sitting on that chair.

“Yes, I’m talking about Touya. And I’m talking about you,” he says, almost gently. “You remind me a lot of him.”

“Me?” Izuku asks, surprised.

“Yes. You two… You’d burn yourself to ashes if that’s what you think you’re expected to do.”

Silence befalls them once again. Izuku is lost for words. What could he even say to that? No, I’m nothing like that sociopathic serial killer? He can’t say that about Endeavor’s son, Shouto’s brother. No matter how much pain Dabi brought to the world, one day he was Touya.

Thankfully, Endeavor continues speaking before Izuku needs to make up his mind on what to say.

“There’s a lot of people who expect a lot of things from you, Midoriya. Those reporters, they want a big headline. They want to sell newspapers. The thing is, newspapers are printed everyday, but you’ll have to live with the consequences of what you tell them your whole life.”

“Are you talking about the requests to confirm who I’m courting?”

“Yes, that. And more. Anything, really. I know you struggle talking to the media, and that you were put in their spotlight too young. You’ve already had your fair share of bad quote repercussions.” Izuku makes a face, remembering the times his words were taken out of context and how much trouble they brought him. “But you know all that. And you know that whatever you say to any reporter will be scrutinized and reprinted and brought as evidence against you. So let me ask again, Midoriya, what will you tell them?”

“What I always tell them. That I’m focused on my work and I don’t have plans of courting anyone at the moment. That the country still needs me and the other heroes focusing all our energy on its recovery, so that’s all I’m focused on, as All Might would have been.”

“Right… Just as All Might would have done,” Endeavor nods solemnly. “Anything to uphold his legacy, right?”

Even if you have to burn, right? 

“Yes. I’m All Might’s heir. That’s what I inherited One for All for.”

“You’re certainly All Might’s heir,” Endeavor agrees. “It’s a shame Yagi didn’t have any others.”

Izuku frowns, “What do you mean?”

“No son or daughter, no mate, no nephews or siblings or anyone. All Might was married to his work, and Yagi was alone. If that’s what you want, fine. I just want you to remember, what you say to the press is what you’ll be judged against in the future. If you say having a family is detrimental to your work as a hero, don’t be surprised if that comes back to haunt you if you decide to court someone.”

“What am I supposed to say, then?” he asks, confused. 

“I don’t know, Midoriya. I don’t know what you want for your life,” Endeavor says with a shrug.

They look at each other for a long time. Izuku, trying to find out what Endeavor is hinting at. And Endeavor, impassive, just waiting for his next move. Are they playing something? Is an underlining story being told in this conversation? Izuku always struggled with unsaid context, he prefers things to be clear.

So he takes his cards and spreads them on the desk.

“Kacchan says you want me to court Shouto. That you want me to rehab the public perceptions on the Todorokis, take the focus away from Dabi and what happened with Shouto’s mom.”

“Despite Bakugou’s public persona, he’s quite smart about how to work the media. He’s right in saying that if you and Shouto would make a public announcement of your courting and future engagement, we could use that to change the narrative around our family,” Endeavor agrees. “I’d not say that’s what I want to happen, though.”

“You don’t want me to mate Shouto?” Izuku asks, unable to control the surprise in his voice.

“Not particularly, no. Don’t take me the wrong way, it’s nothing personal against you. It’s just that…” Endeavor sighs again and seems to gather strength before continuing. “Yagi didn’t leave any children. That’s not great. But I drove one of my sons to kill himself. That’s much, much worse.”

That moment, Izuku looks at Endeavor and sees a deep seated pain in his eyes. A pain that’s so ubiquitous to who he’s nowadays that often Izuku forgets he hasn’t always looked like this.

“When I first mated Rei, I was so focused on surpassing All Might, on having kids to surpass him, that I didn’t see the pain this was causing in my family. Then Touya died and… I didn’t want his passing to be in vain. I thought that if I gave up, than his sacrifice would have been for nothing. I was blind to anything but my pain and my ambition for decades. You know that. You were the first one outside my family to stand up against me, back at your and Shouto’s first Sports Festival.”

Endeavor sighs one more time before continuing.

“Every bad thing that happened to my family was my fault. I should have died by Touya’s hands at the war, or I should have died in All Might’s place. But for some reason, I’m alive and since I’m alive, I need to focus all my energy in mitigating the harm I caused.”

Silence falls one more time. It seems like Endeavor gets lost in thought for a moment before he continues.

“What I’m trying to say, Midoriya, is that I’m the last person in the world that should be giving you advice on how to live your life. In a more just world, it’d be Yagi sitting on this side of the desk. He might have been an unmated beta, but he still would have been better at giving advice to you than me, the worst alpha a family could hope for.”

“I… I’m not sure about that…” Izuku confesses quietly. “All Might wasn’t really good with advices… Maybe Gran Torino, but he’d just get me to cook him dinner and let me take six months to find out what he meant by that. Still, I wish I knew what they’d have to tell me.”

Endeavor nods, understandingly.  “It isn’t easy to give advice, much less on this type of subject. Maybe all we have to offer the young generation is our living example, and by that you’d know to do the exact opposite of everything I’ve ever done.”

Silence stretches once again. Izuku looks at his own scarred hands, trying to imagine what All Might would say to him if he asked. He’s drawing blanks because they’ve never talked about this type of thing. They never talked about mates, family, or even gender dynamics. All Might was a beta and seemed happy to not get involved in anything regarding that. The only times they talked about Izuku’s omega status was in relation to his work as a hero, but All Might was always adamant omegas could be heroes just as great as any other gender, his own mentor was an omega.

“I understand you have a lot of thinking to do,” Endeavor breaks Izuku out of his thoughts. “I’ll talk to the Commission and to Mister Blaster to try and make them see that talking to the media isn’t the best course of action right now. It may be hard as I don’t have the influence I used to have, but I’m going to try. You go ahead and take a day off, and sleep for a change.”

Izuku gets up and offers a heartfelt, “Thank you.”

Thank you for caring. Thank you for not trying to push me to the direction you want me to go. Thank you for being honest.

Honesty is something that’s been hard to come by nowadays. Maybe now it’s time for Izuku to start being honest himself. To himself.

***

Back at his hotel room, Izuku snuggles his new All Might blanket and rests his head on his new pillow. They’re soft and cozy. Perfect for him.

A part of him feels bad about enjoying Kacchan’s gifts—gifts he wasn’t actually given—when they’re in such a big fight. He knows that if Kacchan knew about it, he’d explode the items to ashes instead of allowing Izuku their comfort. It’d be fair.

But for months now, maybe even since the War started, Izuku hasn’t known any comfort. He’s too hungry for it, too needy for some sort of relief to his stress. So he guiltily used the items to set up his nest and has been squeezing them tight whenever the mess in his head threatens to overtake him.

To complete his pity party, Izuku drags his notebook to his nest and starts playing old All Might rescue videos. Just like he did when he was a kid, hoping All Might would somehow jump out of the screen and rescue him too.

Tears run down Izuku’s eyes as he looks at his mentor. He hasn’t watched these clips since the War, knew it’d be painful to see All Might running around the screen as if he was still alive. There’s no point in rubbing his eyes raw, he knows the second he dries a couple of tears more will come. Izuku just lets it flow, hoping the salty water will heal his broken heart.

The video player starts clip after clip, the magic algorithm seeming to know exactly what Izuku wants to watch. He sees videos of All Might in every point of his career—the early rookie years, the growing star of his Bronze Age, the dark twist of his Silver Age, the already legendary force in his Golden Age. In these videos, All Might seems bigger than life, an entity above silly scuffles about genders, dynamics, and even life beyond his hero uniform.

So it’s a big surprise when a video extends beyond the usual save-the-civillian-and-catch-the-villain moment, and shows the reporter catching All Might for a rare post-fight interview.

“All Might! Tell us about the fight!” The reporter starts with a basic question.

“The villain thought he could get away with hurting the innocent! But fear not, because I AM HERE!” All Might says, striking a victorious pose that almost pulls a smile out of Izuku.

“Do you know why the villain went on that murderous rampage?”

“I’ll leave the investigation to the detectives in the police force.”

That answer doesn’t surprise Izuku. All Might talked about how for a long time he didn’t get involved in the investigations, just went to fight where he was told. The Hero Commission must have loved that. Eventually, All Might understood that he had to be more involved and that’s when his friendship with Tsukauchi grew.

The reporter’s next line surprises him a lot, though.

“We have information that the villain was an alpha who was driven crazy by grief after losing his mate and pup. How do you feel about that?”

All Might is even more surprised than Izuku. He stutters in his answer and can only spit out pitiful, “Ah… Uh—We—I mean—Society can’t accept… People were getting hurt—”

“Do you think it was necessary to use extreme force in this case? Don’t you think it’s understandable for a father to go feral after such a tragedy? Or do you think alphas are violent creatures by nature?” The reporter presses on, turning the interview into an interrogation.

This time, it takes longer for All Might to answer, clearly thinking in what he’s about to say instead of parroting pre-established lines.

“I can’t imagine the pain of someone who loses their family like that. Even not having a family of my own, I know the weight of losing loved ones. But someone who is hurting innocents is a villain, doesn’t matter their life story. Many people go through tragedies themselves and don’t resort to villany. It doesn’t matter if they’re alphas or not. A person’s secondary gender doesn’t dictate their worth, but their actions do.”

All Might finishes talking and walks away, not letting the reporter ask any more questions. The video ends soon after, leaving Izuku with a revelation—maybe he can hear All Might’s advice even after life.

Immediately, Izuku pulls the notebook closer and types out on the search bar All Might interview. He has no idea why he never considered doing that. Hundreds of search results show up on his screen and Izuku clicks on the first title that catches his eyes.

A number of hours later, Izuku has learned a few things. 

The first and most present lesson in All Might’s interviews is that all his lines were rehearsed, and didn’t carry much information about anything. Izuku should know that already, he knew All Might had some catch phrases he loved throwing around. But just as in the same video he watched, almost all of All Might’s answers were there to simply reassure the public that he’d solve the problem.

No matter what the reporter threw at him, All Might’s first instinct was to say everything would be fine because he was there, thank the work of other heroes and the police, and then promise to keep working hard.

Even when the reporters dug through his personal life, All Might kept his answers professional, almost pretending he didn’t hear the question.

“How do you feel about the villain’s speech about the state of our judiciary system?”

“I’m happy to help those in need and I’ll keep working to protect the public.”

After a dozen or so of those interviews, All Might’s pre-prepared lines became frustrating to watch. But that clued Izuku that if he was tired of hearing that spiel after one afternoon, the reporters must have felt even worse after years of being shut down. Some of them became more aggressive in their questioning, that’s probably what happened to that reporter in the first video he watched, but most of them seemed to give up. The questions were just as pro forma as the answers, everyone just following the script and doing what they were supposed to.

The very few times that All Might diverged from his usual answers was when he found the chance to be inspirational. And sometimes it was about secondary genders.

“Don’t let your dynamic dictate who you are!”

“Justice will always prevail!”

“Follow your dreams with all your MIGHT!”

It was usually something that could be printed on a motivational t-shirt or a mug. Nothing too deep, nothing too complex. Maybe that’s why it appealed to the kids so much—the world through All Might’s words and actions was a simple place. Do your best, fight evil, protect the weak.

That worldview doesn’t hold on for anyone who is past puberty.

But the more Izuku thought about it, the more he saw the value of that approach. 

Kids should be taught these things. It’s sort of wishful thinking a better world. Maybe if you tell kids the world is fair and just, they’ll grow up to make the world more fair and just because that’s how they believe things should be. 

And it worked, didn’t it? Izuku is part of a whole generation of heroes that believe in these values. His former classmates in UA stayed to fight at the War when many old timers ran. They never treated anyone different based on their gender and dynamics. They embrace the weird, the different, see strength in diversity. 

They may not be perfect, but all of his friends are a considerable improvement from the generation that precede them. And most of their problems come from trying to work in the systems put in place decades before. Shaving off the best parts of themselves to fit in the mold.

What would Izuku be if he didn’t cut off any parts of himself?

What would Izuku be if he didn’t have to be what people expect of him?

Endeavor’s words echo in his head. You’d burn yourself to ashes if that’s what you think you’re expected to do.

Izuku is tired of burning out.

It’s painful, it’s draining, and it’s most clearly not working.

He’s tired of being away from people he loves. His friends, Shouto, Ochako, Iida…

He’s tired of pushing away people he loves. Kacchan.

A long time ago, All Might told him he chose Izuku to carry his power not because of what he could be, but because of what he was. All Might has always seen value in him that Izuku didn’t see in himself. When Izuku heard those words, he wasn’t ready to accept them. He felt like there was so much to do, so much to improve for the sake of carrying All Might’s legacy.

Now, it all feels so very hollow.

He’s looking for advice in old video clips of random interviews All Might gave on random subjects while ignoring the words All Might told him about the exact problem he faces now.

“You’re stronger together. Win to save, save to win.”

Izuku hasn’t been winning or saving lately.

It’s time to change that.

Chapter Text

Another chance?

Katsuki is enjoying a rare afternoon off by laying on bed and listening to angry music. No, he’s not sulking, no matter what Todoroki says. With his busy schedule, the chance of lazing around isn’t something he takes for granted.

It’s always waking up early, going to the agency’s gym to train, patrolling, writing reports, shower, sleep, and start all over again. Eternal cycle of going nowhere. They aren’t close to catching the Shie Hassaikai, they are even further away from convincing the Hero Commission to let them do anything useful.

Maybe he should use this rest time to think about how he can break the cycle, but well… He’s tired and the prospect of fighting the system on his own seems exhausting today.

Yeah, the heavy drums and screaming vocals on his ear is exactly what he wants for today. Music loud enough to drown his own thoughts and stop him from wondering what Deku is up to.

It’s been almost a week since that disastrous meeting in Endeavor’s office. Katsuki has been going out of his way to avoid Deku, and the nerd must be doing the same because he hasn’t seen even a glimpse of green since then. He’s avoiding even news on the nerd and has no idea how that situation with the media turned out. Todoroki and Deku might be picking flowers for their wedding already and he’d be none the wiser. He’s been even ignoring the group chat with all his friends to be sure to not get any news.

Whatever. That’s for the best.

Shit is out of Katsuki’s hands now.

If that’s what Deku wants to do, then the loser might as well go ahead and do it.

Katsuki is fucking done with—

A ridiculously strong knock on the door shakes the wall and Katsuki shoots off the bed.

“The fuck…” he mumbles, pulling his headphones off.

Did Todoroki forget his keycard? Katsuki wouldn't put that past the idiot.

“What—” A mean insult is already slipping through Katsuki’s lips when he opens the door and sees Deku.

And if that wasn’t surprising enough, Deku is holding one of the most grotesque things he’s ever seen.

A dead bird.

The thing is taxidermied as if resting on a perch. Its eyes are most clearly fake yellow beads, the dark brown feathers are dusty and unpreened. The bird itself is quite unremarkable; it’s not a big parrot or an eagle or anything impressive. It’s just a shitty brown bird that died and some idiot decided to stuff it with straw. It’s ugly. It’s depressing. It probably stinks.

And it absolutely takes Katsuki’s breath away.

“I didn’t have the courage to kill one on my own,” Deku starts talking while Katsuki is still in shock.  “Found this one online, got expedited shipping. But it’s the thought that counts, right?”

Katsuki doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t know what to think. What is this? Is Deku mocking him? After all this time? But that doesn’t make any sense. Nothing makes any sense. A dead bird. What?

As Katsuki’s silence stretches, Izuku’s anxiety starts to show. He shifts his weight back and forth between legs, clammy hands squeezing the base of the perch.

“I… I thought you were going to like it? But maybe this wasn’t my brightest idea? It wasn’t, right? What was I thinking? I—I should go. Yeah, I’ll—”

Before Deku can flee, Katsuki grabs him by the arm and yanks him inside, slamming the door shut.

“Uahh—” Izuku screeches in surprise, stumbling a couple of times before getting back on his feet. He takes a couple of steps away from the door, putting more distance between himself and Katsuki.

Inside the enclosed room, the anxiety radiating from Izuku seems to hit the walls and ricochet, coming back even stronger like a stress boomerang. 

“A fucking dead bird?” Katsuki finally manages to gasp out.

“I… I thought it’d be meaningful…” Izuku mumbles, looking down at the ugly bird.

“Meaningful of fucking what?!”

“Of… of us… Our story, our… courting?”

It’s the first time, since that day when Izuku said he was not ready to talk about a relationship, that he brings up courting. Brings up them.

Way more gently than that straw-filled abomination deserves, Katsuki takes the courting gift from Izuku’s hands. 

“This is the ugliest shit I’ve ever seen,” Katsuki says with a wet voice as tears threaten to fall. “You idiot—”

And then, as words fail him, Katsuki takes action. He pulls Izuku to a tight hug, careful to not break the dead bird. 

Izuku immediately hugs him back, tight and desperate, and tears start falling from him too.

“I’m sorry, Kacchan. I’m so—so sorry,” Izuku mumbles against his chest between hiccups.

“Idiot. You big fucking idiot,” Katsuki answers, still holding tight as if he’s afraid the second he lets go, Izuku will change his mind.

Time becomes meaningless as neither of them lets go of the hug. They hold on until the tears stop, until the ache in their hearts shrinks, until the doubts lose their place on the forefront of their minds. They hold on until their scents start slipping and mingling, both of them unable to stop their inner beasts of trying to comfort the other. 

It’s been so fucking long since Katsuki had the chance of smelling Deku; he didn’t even realize he how much he missed it. Deku has always been careful to keep his scent under wraps with heavy patches, suppressants, and all kinds of tools developed to lock away someone’s pheromones. Since they went pro, he’s been even more judicious with that. Only now, enveloped in that scent—that scent that reminds him so much of forest leaves and summer sun, reminds him so much of childhood days and innocence—Katsuki realizes there was a hole in his life that can only be filled with Deku’s scent.

He really fucking hopes Deku isn’t going to backtrack again because Katsuki doesn’t think he can keep his sanity otherwise.

Only when his legs start to literally hurt from standing so long is that Katsuki dares to move—and he’s instantly rewarded with a pretty little whine from Deku. Deku paws at his t-shirt and pulls him close once again, all cute and shit.

“Come on, nerd. My leg is cramping,” he grumbles softly, pulling Deku to his bed.

Carefully, Katsuki sets the bird on his bedside table and then sits down, leaning on the headboard. Then he opens his arms and Deku throws himself at him, taking his rightful place over Katsuki’s heart. Fucking entitled little shit.

Deku sighs pleased, sniffling Katsuki’s scent in his bed, and it’d be all too easy for Katsuki to do the same. To let himself get lost in the comfort of Deku’s scent and solid weight. Unfortunately, he knows better than that. 

“So, what’s this? Last time we talked you told me to stay away from you.”

“I told you to not meddle in what you didn’t understand,” Deku mumbles against his chest.

“Same shit.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes—” Katsuki starts arguing because it seems that’s the only thing he knows how to do with Deku.

“No, it isn’t,” Deku interrupts him, raising his head to look straight into Katsuki’s eyes. “I’d never tell you to stay away from me, Kacchan. Never. Not even in our worst fights. Not even when you drive me crazy.”

There’s fire in those green gems, that stubbornness that seems to burn bright inside of Izuku in his best and worst moments. Katsuki is captivated by them and can’t help but be a little tiny bit disappointed when Izuku immediately drops the fight when it’s clear Katsuki won’t retort.

“That’s not to say I wasn’t wrong,” he continues, eyes averting in shame. “I—... You were right. I was lost and I thought… I don’t even know. I thought I had to establish myself as a hero before investing in my own happiness. I thought I had to put my responsibility with One for All above anything else in my life… I thought a lot of things. None of them were helping me, you, or anyone.”

“What changed?” he asks softly, running his finger over Deku’s hands that are still holding on to his t-shirt.

“All Might,” Izuku answers with a sad smile. “Saw some old interviews, trying to find out what advice he’d have for me if he was alive.”

“And what did you find?”

“Nothing,” he says with a shrug. “But then I remembered he already gave me advice about this.”

Izuku turns his hand to squeeze Katsuki’s before saying, “Win to save. Save to win. All Might told us we’re better together.”

Katsuki can’t help but smile and tease, “I don’t think he was thinking about courting when he said that, nerd.”

Izuku shrugs, “I’d not put it past him. He always knew we needed one another. Always saw us together. I’m sorry I couldn’t see what he saw.”

“Yeah, you were a fucking dickhead,” Katsuki agrees. “But I wasn’t always much better. And you forgave me—”

“Kacchan, if this is about when we were kids—” Deku tries interrupting him but Katsuki doesn’t let him.

“So now it’s my turn. I forgive you, Izuku.”

Deku opens his mouth, ready to retort, but seems to think better and give up. Their eyes lock together for a long moment before he answers softly, “Thank you, Kacchan.”

Then he leans in and gives a peck on Katsuki’s lips—and his whole world explodes in color.

In the touch of their lips, everything falls in place. Katsuki finds peace like never before. There’s no more alpha roaring in his brain, no more doubts about the future, no fear, or anger, or pain. Katsuki is where he should be, with who he should be, so everything is right in the world. And even if it isn’t, they’ll make it right together.

When Izuku pulls back, he has a beautiful smile on his face, his eyes are twinkling with happiness, and Katsuki knows Izuku has just felt the same sense of right that he did.

“Took you long enough, nerd,” he whispers with fondness.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” Izuku whispers back.

Not being able to control himself, Katsuki pulls him for another kiss. This one, more than a peck. Their lips tentatively explore the other with a little hesitation that betrays their lack of experience. But it’s alright—this is exactly how Katsuki always dreamed their first kiss would be. How could it be different when they have been waiting for one another since their early teens? Katsuki wouldn’t have traded this chance of learning everything with Izuku for more experience, not in a million years.

And he must not be doing a poor job because Izuku melts in his hold, warm and relaxed. Their scents bloom together, enveloping them in a bubble of their own. A little glimpse into what a shared nest would smell like. Katsuki is instantly enamoured with it. They need to stop living in shitty hotels and buy a home as soon as possible so they can have their magic space that perpetually smells like them.

So, when they stop kissing for a second, Katsuki can’t help but ask, “What now?”

“I took the afternoon off, I was hoping maybe we could go out to eat or something,” Izuku answers a bit awkwardly. “Maybe have a date?”

Katsuki snorts a laughter, amused by how their line of thought is so different. Dumb nerd can’t help but think about food.

“Yeah, we can go out to eat, nerd. But I was thinking, what are we going to do now about this whole shitty mess we’re in. Do you still have those reporters harassing you? Is Endeavor pushing for you to court Todoroki? I could kick that old man’s ass if needed.”

Izuku rolls his eyes, “For the last time, Kacchan, Endeavor doesn’t want me to court Todoroki. I explicitly asked him that.”

“You did?”

Last time they talked about it, Izuku was in such a deep denial that Katsuki had a hard time believing Izuku dared to ask Endeavor about it.

“I did. We were talking about how to handle the media. He actually gave me some good advice. And he said that he already screwed up one marriage, his own, so he doesn’t want to get involved in no one else’s.”

“What advice did he give you?” he asks, even more curious.

“He reminded me that whatever I say to the reporters will always come back to bite me in the ass one way or the other,” Izuku answers with a shrug. 

“I could have told you that…”

“And that conversation led me to watching the old All Might interviews. I was trying to get some insight into how he handled the media.”

“All Might was the worst with the media,” Katsuki teases fondly. “That big idiot would never answer shit straight.”

“Yeah, that’s what I realized too. But you know how bad I am at lying…” Katsuki chuckles. “...so I decided to not talk to the media at all. I haven’t answered any e-mails and I’ve been patrolling from the rooftops to avoid them.”

“Wait, really? Good boy Deku is ghosting people now?” he asks, eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I guess… I talked with Shouto and he agreed. Even the few reporters he thought we could steer the conversation for something less personal and invasive to his family ended up only being nice at first to trap us. Now we’re both ghosting every reporter in town.”

“The Buster Union guys must be pissed,” he says with a mix of pride and amusement.

“And the Hero Commission,” Izuku adds. “I’ve been ignoring their emails as well. So… Yeah… What now? I have no idea. I created a big mess by myself and I was kind of hoping you’d help me get out of it.”

Katsuki feels his heart squeeze with the weight of that confession. Izuku being willing to ask for his help is much, much bigger than the dead bird, as much as he appreciates the gift. Since getting his quirk, hell even before that, Izuku never asked for help. He always tries to deal with things on his own, believing he ought to face every challenge alone no matter how many people offer to help.

This is the biggest proof possible that Izuku isn’t running anymore, he wants Katsuki by his side in everything.

He’ll not let him down.

***

The former day had been close to perfect—he and Deku spent hours snuggling in bed, sharing kisses and talking. A few times, their kisses got more heated, their inner beasts eager to take it to the next level. Katsuki could feel the heat simmering deep inside his guts and it’d take nothing to let it bubble over. But every time, they both pulled back, instinctively knowing that it was too soon. 

There’s no need to rush things. They took their time to get where they are and, through highs and lows, Katsuki wouldn’t trade it for anything. Besides, he convinced his inner alpha that a hotel room where Todoroki may walk in at any time wasn’t the right place to mate his omega.

When night came, they went out to dinner together; it was just the closest ramen shop to their hotel but Deku said it was a date so it was the best ramen Katsuki ever had. And after a deep good night kiss in front of Deku’s door that let Katsuki’s blood pumping hot and his inner alpha howling in excitement, he went to sleep in his bed that smelled perfectly like the both of them.

Katsuki wakes up ready to take on the world.

Perfect timing because moments after waking up, Katsuki gets a message from the Buster Union calling him for an emergency meeting that morning. 

After rushing through his morning routine, he arrives at the agency just as the meeting is about to start. Deku, Todoroki and Endeavor are already there waiting; blatantly missing are the rest of the Buster Union heroes. This makes this meeting even weirder.

“Good morning, Kacchan,” Deku chirps happily as Katsuki sits by his side.

“Morning, nerd,” he answers with a smile that quickly dissolves when Todoroki butts in.

“Good morning, Bakugou. I’m surprised you arrived on time since you were still sleeping when I left this morning.”

“Fuck you, Half’n Half,” he grumbles, annoyed. “I wasn’t supposed to come in the morning. The fuck is this meeting about anyway?”

“We don’t know yet,” Deku answers with an anxious expression that lets Katsuki know he may not have confirmation on the meeting’s agenda, but he’s probably expecting it to be about him ghosting the reporters and the Hero Commission.

There’s no time for conjecturing much more. Mister Blaster and Bukkomi enter the small meeting room and take the front stage to start the meeting.

“Good morning,” Mister Blaster says, looking very much like it isn’t a good morning at all. He starts to stink up the little room with his unrestrained, aggressive scent. “I’ve called you here because it came to my attention that your team hasn’t been fulfilling its obligations in the agency.”

Izuku’s anxiety visibly grows, and Katsuki feels a snarl threatening to come out of his mouth. The awful alpha pheromones the Buster Unit heroes are spreading don’t help him to keep his inner alpha in check. Katsuki hates how the heroes in this shitty agency throw their scents around to impose on others.

“The reporters have been calling the agency nonstop to ask why their emails have gone unanswered,” Bukkomi starts talking with his usual lack of emotion. “No interview has been scheduled either, making it unacceptable that you’re not working with the media to set anything up. You’re to pick a reporter and give an interview in the next couple of days, or else we’ll communicate with the Commission so they may take the appropriate measures.”

“What would these appropriate measures be?” Todoroki asks, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

“They’re going to be whatever we want them to be. Don’t play games with me, kid. I’ve also found out you kids have been taking days off,” Mister Blaster spits out with derision. “I don’t know what kind of sloppy teachings you got at UA, but here in the Buster Unit we don’t accept impertinence or slacking.”

This time Katsuki growls, unable to stop himself.

“We’ve done more for this country in our first year at UA than you fuckers have in your whole fucking careers!” he yells, shooting up from his chair.

“You watch your mouth, kid,” Mister Blaster roars back. “It’s not our fault All Might started this mess and then left a bunch of children to pick up after him. We’re working with what the Hero Commission tells us to do. What the elected officials of this country tell us to do. And you better remember that we have the right and the duty to demand you follow their orders!”

“Don’t talk about All Might like that!” Deku yells, getting up as well to join the fight. “He was more of a hero than any of you will ever be!”

“All Might was the one who got us in this mess!” Mister Blaster turns to scream at Izuku’s face,  projecting his whole body as well as even more of his scent to try and subdue him. “And then what did he leave us to fix the situation? An omega kid that doesn’t know his place!”

At this point, the burning scent of furious alpha makes it hard to breathe in the small meeting room. Mister Blaster is pulling all the stops to force them to submit, barring actually attacking them. Katsuki’s inner alpha that has been ready to charge against this fucker that thinks he’s above him since the meeting started, now feels a new urge—the need to protect his omega that is being threatened by another alpha.

Katsuki’s hands start to sparkle as he instinctively gets ready to jump the fucker if he made any move against Deku. But he should know better—Deku isn’t one to need protecting.

With an angry snarl that shows his fangs, Deku rips off the patches stuck to his neck, letting his angry omega scent loose in the air. The effect is immediate; Bukkomi gasps, in shock, while Mister Blaster scrunches his nose in disgust. Deku’s scent is acrid, it burns their nostrils and it pulls on some primitive instincts to appease the omega.

“Hero Deku!” Bukkomi screeches, appalled. “What are you doing? This isn’t appropriate behavior for an omega!”

“And talking ill of the dead and harassing colleagues isn’t appropriate behavior for an alpha!” Izuku retorts.

“As if an omega like you’d know the right behavior for an alpha!” Mister Blaster screams, spit flying around. “Thinking you’re so much better than us just because that useless beta chose you as successor? Look at where you and All Might landed us! Fixing the country after a War while crime families grow in power again!”

“I may be a bad omega, but I’m a damn good hero,” Izuku growls. “And I’m done with your shitty orders and your posturing! If I hadn’t been forced to listen to you, I’d have solved the Shie Hassaikai situation weeks ago, so that’s what I’m doing now. Stay out of my way!”

And with that, Izuku storms out of the room.

Katsuki doesn’t need to think twice before following him.

Izuku rushes through corridors as if he wants to put as much distance between him and those alphas as he can, which makes sense. Katsuki follows him for a minute before they find themselves on the agency’s rooftop.

“What have I done? I shouldn’t have done that. I made it worse. I made it so much worse. Why can’t I keep my mouth shut? Why did I—”

“Hey, hey, nerd,” Katsuki approaches him and pulls him to a gentle hug. “It’s alright. It’s not your fault. Those fuckers had it coming.”

“I’m so sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku cries, eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry. I made it worse. They’re going to call the Commission and they’re going to take our licenses—”

“No, they won’t,” Katsuki says with certainty. “The Commission doesn’t have the spine to come after All Might’s successor like that. Besides, if they get rid of us, who are they going to call to fix the situation? We’re the best they have.”

“I don’t know, Kacchan. I don’t know.” Izuku’s tears start falling. “I should have kept quiet. Now they might come after you and Shouto as well because of what I said. They’ll go to the media. They’ll make our lives hell…”

“And we’ll fight them. Together. Remember? You gave me a dead bird so now I fight against the world by your side.”

That gets a wet laugh out of Izuku.

“I’m glad I paid for the expedited shipping then,” he jokes back with a beautiful smile.

“Money well spent, nerd,” Katsuki says with a smile of his own. He can smell Izuku’s angry scent dispersing and being replaced by his relaxed one. “It also helps that seeing you yell at that idiot was the hottest thing I ever saw.”

Izuku giggles again and hides his face on Katsuki’s chest.

“You’re awful, Kacchan,” he says with a muffled voice.

“And you love it.” 

It feels good to say that with certainty, to be able to state without any doubts that Izuku loves him despite all his mess ups and his flaws.

And it feels even better to hear back.

“I do.”

Chapter Text

Help?

Turns out that when you stop doing what people expect you to do, you can get in a lot of trouble very fast. But it also turns out that no matter how much Izuku screws things up, his friends always step up to help him solve the situation.

After Izuku’s shouting match with Mister Blaster, Shouto found them on the rooftop and now they’re back at the alphas’ hotel room debating strategies to handle everything.

“Did Endeavor say anything after we left?” Izuku asks, as soon as they settle in.

He’s sitting by Kacchan’s side on his bed, while Shouto sits on his own.

“Mister Blaster tried yelling at him, threatening him the same way he did to you, but Endeavor kind of shrugged and asked what else could they take from him,” Shouto explains.

“Told you that shit about closing the Endeavor agency because he wanted to focus on our team was bullshit,” Kacchan pipes in. “The Commission fuckers forced him in this shit.”

“And forced all of us with him,” Izuku says, resigned. “If even Endeavor can’t fight back against the Commission, what chance do we have? I should go back and apologize to Mister Blaster. I don’t want to drag you all into my mess.”

“One could argue my father and I dragged you two in our mess,” Shouto says. “It’s because of Touya that the Commission has so much against us.”

“Fuck you all and your martyr shit,” Kacchan barks at them. “Deku, the Commission would dig dirt from your damn granny if they had to just to keep us under their thumb. Half’n Half, you were like five when that shit with your family went down, give me a fucking break. None of this shit is our fault, but we’re the ones who need to fix it, so let’s start thinking for a change.”

Izuku turns to Kacchan and can’t help but smile. Kacchan always knows what to say to lift up everyone’s mood.

“You’re right, Kacchan,” Izuku says, gently squeezing his hand in thanks. “So, what are our issues right now?”

“The Buster Unit and the Commission might go to the media in a smear campaign against us for not falling in line,” Shouto starts the list.

“And the Shie Hassakai fuckers are still on the loose,” Kacchan continues.

“And the Commission might revoke our licenses, so we might not be allowed to stop them even if we can,” Izuku finishes up.

“The license shit is the least of our problems,” Kacchan says. “It’s more of an aftereffect of the media shit.”

“True. They won’t revoke our positions as heroes before convincing the public that we’re unreliable,” Shouto agrees.

“But the media isn’t by our side from the start. They’ve been harassing us for a long time now,” Izuku says, thoughtful. “I don’t think it’ll take much for the smear campaign to work.”

“Yeah, but isn’t this shit weird? I mean, we saved this fucking country,” Kacchan points out. “I always thought it’s odd that the media decided we were targets after that.”

“Touya—” Shouto starts explaining, but Kacchan interrupts.

“Dabi wasn’t the only villain in that fight. And he was dealt with by your screwed up family. And Deku? What reason would they have to go after Deku?”

“I’m an omega…”

“And so fucking what? A bunch of heroes are! A bunch of these same fucking reporters that are giving you shit also are omegas! That hasn’t been an issue since All Might, a beta, became the number one.”

“The tabloids have always been harsh on omega heroes,” he insists.

“Yeah, the fucking tabloids. The shitty magazines that were printing stories about shoving coffee pods up your arsehole to improve acne. Most people don’t take them seriously, and the real media never boosted their stupid stories. Why are they doing that now?”

“Do you think the Commission has already started a smear campaign against Deku?” Shouto asks, frowning.

“Why would they do that?”

“Because you’re the savior of this whole damn country! The heroes that stayed to fight the war, rallied behind you! Even All Might was following your lead in those final days!” Kacchan says, shoving his hands up in the air with the frustration of someone who was spelling out the obvious.

“The Commission is afraid of Izuku’s power,” Shouto ponders. “That makes sense.”

“No, it doesn’t! What power? I’m—I’m a mess!”

Shouto shrugs, “Most top heroes are.”

“And you’re a mess with an overpowered quirk and stubborn as a mule. Basically All Might himself,” Kacchan agrees. “And you have something that All Might didn’t have.”

“What?”

“Us. I’m just as overpowered and stubborn,” Kacchan says with a wide, proudful smile. “Half’n Half has two shitty quirks, and the extras we went to school with will do anything you ask of them. You’re more than a top hero, Izuku, you can be a leader for the heroes in the way the Commission could never be.”

Izuku shakes his head, almost hoping he could shake these crazy thoughts out of Kacchan’s and Shouto’s heads. 

“Despite everything, Bukkomi was right in saying the Commission is formed by officials, they come from an elected government. Even if I was able to, and I don’t think I am, I can’t go against them by force.”

“Things aren’t that black and white, Izuku. I’ve been seeing my father push and work around or with the Commission my whole life. We aren’t asking you to start a coup, but I think it’s past time you step up as the leader of this generation of heroes that you are.”

“How would I do that?” he asks, frowning.

“Let’s just call in the extras,” Kacchan suggests. “We deal with the Shie Hassakai like we did with Shigakari and his goons: together. Once our friends are here, we make a plan to go after the villains. And after we get those fuckers behind bars, we’ll have leverage to talk to the media.”

That… makes sense. Izuku still thinks his friends are crazy to think he’s in position to lead anyone, but asking for help feels like the right move. His friends are brilliant heroes and great people, having them around can only improve the situation. Izuku isn’t sure all of them will be able to come in such short notice since they have their responsibilities as well, but if even one of them does, they’ll be better off to handle the Shie Hassakai.

“Endeavor will have a heart attack…” Izuku mumbles, feeling sorry for all the trouble they’re bringing the man.

“I’d not be so lucky,” Shouto says, but there’s a glint in his eyes that lets Izuku know he’s joking. He hopes.

“So, we’re doing this or fucking what?”

“We are,” Izuku agrees. “You’re right, Kacchan. Having our friends around will help. And maybe one of them has a better idea on how to deal with the media.”

“Great. I’ll call my idiots, you call your nerds, Half’n Half deals with the extras,” Kacchan says, taking the lead.

“Can I call Ashido?” Shouto asks. “I want to be the one telling her you two got your shit together.”

“Why the hell would you want to break the news about a relationship you’re not a part of?!” Kacchan roars, quickly getting angry.

“She’s managing the betting pool and I want to be sure to get my money,” Shouto answers, deadpanned.

Kacchan growls and throws his head back. Izuku doesn’t manage a reaction because suddenly he realizes his friends will be way less interested in bringing the Hero Commission down and arresting runaway villains than they’ll be in knowing every single detail on his and Kacchan’s love life. Oh, he’s fucked.

***

“Thank you so much, Iida! I’ll see you soon!” Izuku says before ending the call.

He throws himself on his nest, squeezing tight his green pillow. A big part of him knew several of his friends would turn up if he called, but it’s still emotionally overwhelming how ready everyone is to come to his aid. He barely has to explain the situation before his friends are promising to catch the next train. Iida literally asked his secretary to buy him a ticket while still on the phone with him.

Almost all the names on his list were crossed out already, but he still has one more to call. The one he’s dreading the most.

Before Izuku loses the courage, he finds the number and presses call. It rings a few times before the line connects.

“Heeey, Deku!” Ochako greets him excitedly. “What’s up?”

“Hi, Ochako. I’m glad I could get a hold of you.”

“Is anything wrong? I usually only get calls from you on my birthday.” Worry already taints her tone, and Izuku hates that he can’t tell her he just missed hearing her voice.

“Yeah… No, I’m kind of in a situation and I need your help,” he says, ripping off the bandage.

“Is it Bakugou? What did he do?” she growls.

“No, no! It’s not Kacchan! We’re great! Really! Better than ever!” he rushes to reassure. “It’s a villain problem!”

“Oh, right,” she breathes, relieved. “What villain? How can I help?”

Izuku gives her a brief rundown of the situation but, just as it happened with his other friends, she quickly catches on what he’s not saying.

“Why isn’t the Commission calling for backup? This is their job, isn’t it?”

“Well… We think the Commission sort of doesn’t want us to catch this villain. Kacchan and Shouto have some theories they may share if you come, but the issue is that the Commission and the local heroes are blocking us from making any progress with this case, and aren’t able to fix the situation by themselves. So we’ll need to go around them to stop the Shie Hassakai from returning.”

“What do you mean if I come? Of course I’m coming,” she huffs. Izuku can imagine her rolling her eyes. “This isn’t the first time I go against law and authority to help you out, and it’s probably not going to be the last.”

“Thanks, Ochako. Really,” he says, smiling as his heart fills with warmth once more. He truly has the best friends.

“No need to thank me, Deku. I’m just glad you called and didn’t go on a vigilante rampage again.”

“Hey! That was just once!” he defends himself, trying and failing to sound insulted.

“Once too many… But anyway, tell me more about this Me and Kacchan were never better thing. I feel like there’s a story there,” she probes, getting in the part of the conversation Izuku was dreading the most.

“Oh… Yeah… We… We’re together?” he mumbles awkwardly.

It’s so weird to put it like this. Logically, he knows he and Kacchan’s relationship took a big step. But at the same time, it was the natural step. Despite all the mess and hurt feelings and confusion, this is the path they should always have been on. Izuku feels that deeply. And the biggest proof is that his and Kacchan’s relationship hasn’t actually changed much in the past couple of days.

Sure, there have been some kisses—kisses that make his inner omega exultant—and they have been fighting way less. But besides that, they’re still the same. Kacchan is still his best friend.

“Oh finally!” Ochako screeches happily. “Took him long enough!”

“It’s not like that, Ochako… It was never Kacchan’s fault…”

“Deku, that boy gave you a bird he exploded. It was his damn fault.”

“I gave him one back now, so we’re even,” he says with a chuckle.

“You what?!”

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything when you get here, alright?”

“I’ll hold you on to that,” she says. “Anyway, who else did you call? Is anyone from my area coming for your unauthorized mission? We may catch the train together.”

“We’re calling everyone we trust from UA. Kacchan must have already talked to Kaminari. He’s working there, right?” Then Izuku can’t help but tease, “Iida is coming too. He’ll pass by to pick you up if you ask.”

“Keep that attitude and I’ll bring Ashido along when I interrogate you,” she threatens. “But alright. I’ll talk to the ones I know are close by and we’ll get to you as soon as we can. Don’t go hunting villains before we get there!”

“I promise! See you soon!”

They end their goodbyes and Izuku plops down in bed, hugging his pillow tight once again. Ochako would have been a killer reporter or detective. That woman can sniff a story from the other side of the country.

But just as Shouto had talked about, all his friends will be interested in the new stage of his relationship with Kacchan. They’ve been by their side from the start, watching them fumble and buttheads since they were fourteen. Izuku can’t fault them for being curious. But he also doesn’t want to put this new, fragile thing he has with Kacchan under their scrutiny so soon.

His inner omega isn’t on board with these worries, though. The beast has never been more pleased. It chirps and purrs for every little thing Kacchan does. When Kacchan explained his absurd theory of the Commission being afraid of Izuku’s power, the omega whispered in his ear how perfect their alpha is, how he cherishes Izuku, how he’s the perfect mate. It took all of Izuku’s willpower to not plop down on the alpha’s bed and offer his neck.

For his inner omega, the idea of showing the world that Kacchan is his alpha is rejoicing. The beast wants nothing more than to be covered in Kacchan’s scent and bites, and making sure Kacchan is just as publicly claimed. It’s going to be hard to keep things professional when all their friends are around, but Izuku will do his best. He doesn’t want to fall prey to the possessive omega stereotypes.

As Izuku mulls over that, he hears a knock on his door and gets up to open it.

“Hey, nerd,” Kacchan greets him, entering the room.

Izuku’s inner omega instantly starts crooning, but he ignores it.

“Hi, Kacchan! Are you done with your calls?” he asks, going back to bed to sit down. 

Kacchan follows him deeper into the room but takes a seat on the lone chair by the wall. Izuku’s inner omega whines, wanting his alpha to join him. His inner beast has been needy to the point of shamelessness. It’s been harder each day for Izuku to keep a proper behavior around the alpha.

“I texted the group chat telling all the idiots to get their asses here. I was done in less than five minutes. Don’t tell me you actually called each one of your nerds?”

“Of course I did! The situation is sensitive, I had to explain everything properly and answer all their questions.”

Kacchan rolls his eyes, “No, you didn’t. They’d come regardless as long as it’s you asking.”

“You have way too much faith in me,” he mumbles, embarrassed.

“And you don’t have enough,” Kacchan says with a shrug. “Anyway, they’ll be here in a day or two and then we can see who’s right. That’s not what I’m here to talk about.”

“What are you here for?” Izuku asks, his curiosity peaking.

“I was thinking and I think we should talk to Boobs tomorrow.”

Izuku’s inner omega starts snarling just from hearing the other omega’s name from his alpha’s mouth. Anger flares up inside him, but Izuku schools his face to not let it show.

“Why would we do that?” he asks, trying to sound casual but his voice comes out colder than he wanted.

“I’ve been working with her for a while, and we got to talk. I think she might be open to help us out if we talk to her.”

“We don’t need her help. You said it yourself, our friends are coming.”

“We might not need more fire power, but she has inside information. We’re not in the Buster Union anymore, and even when we were there, they weren’t sharing much with us. They do with her, though.”

“And she shares with them. If we tell her our plans, she will tell Mister Blaster the second we turn our backs,” he retorts, frustrated. 

“Haven’t you heard anything I just said?” Kacchan huffs. “She’s not like that. I talked to her, there’s a bunch of shit she disagrees with the fuckers of that agency. I think she’ll be a good ally.”

“I’ve heard you, I just don’t agree. She’s not an ally and she’ll never be!” Izuku growls, angrily. He’s so agitated that he can’t keep his temper in check anymore.

“The hell are you angry about? I’m just saying we should talk to her. Why are you so against the idea?”

“I’m angry because you’re insisting on something we don’t need. We don’t need her! She’s trouble! You need to stay away from her!”

Kacchan considers him, squinting his eyes as if trying to look straight into Izuku’s brain and find out what’s going on. In other situations, Izuku would be proud of Kacchan for taking the time to think before escalating the fight. But today, he hates this because Kacchan actually sees through him and pokes straight into the core of the issue.

“You’re jealous,” he states. When Izuku looks away without denying, that’s all the confirmation he needs. “You’re jealous of Boobs again. That’s fucking grand,” he says with humor in his voice.

“I just don’t see why you’re obsessed with her,” he growls, angrily and ashamed.

Kacchan clicks his tongue and gets up. For a second, Izuku panics, thinking he’ll leave. But Kacchan surprises once again and sits by Izuku’s side, gently taking his hand.

“It’s cute. I like to see you jealous for a change.”

“For a change?” he asks, looking back at Kacchan.

“Yeah. I mean, how do you think I felt when all the tabloids in the country were pairing you with Half’n Half?”

“Those tabloids know nothing, mean nothing. It’s totally different.”

“Totally different? Who have you been working with since we arrived here?” Kacchan asks, raising an eyebrow in challenge.

“It’s different,” Izuku insists. “Shouto is my friend. Just my friend. Boob is… I mean, you just met her and you already chose her.”

Izuku’s voice is bitter, but there’s no way he can hide that.

“I wanted to work in a better shift, in a better route. Working with her gave me that opportunity, but that’s all it was. Work.”

“Come on, Kacchan… You can’t deny that she’s… You know.”

“I know shit.”

“She’s beautiful! The long hair! The hourglass figure! The damn boobs! She exhales omeganess and beauty! Of course I’m going to be jealous, I don’t look anything like her!”

“I know you don’t look anything like her. That’s why I chose you,” Kacchan says, simply and straight to the point. It makes Izuku’s heart so full he feels like it’s about to explode. “I chose you from the start. There was no competition. No one else ever had a chance.”

“Kacchan…” Izuku’s lips wobble and his eyes fill with tears.

“Stop making shit up inside your head, dumb nerd,” Kacchan says with unbearable fondness.

“I’m going to try but I don’t know if I can,” he answers honestly, tears slowly falling from his eyes.

Kacchan pulls him to a hug and Izuku squeezes him back, hiding his face on the alpha’s neck. He’s so close that even with the patches he can smell a hint of Kacchan’s scent and this helps Izuku melt in his arms.

“Fine, nerd. I’ll knock some sense into you whenever your head gets too far away.”

“Thank you,” Izuku says, squeezing him even tighter.

Kacchan leans back into Izuku’s bed and pulls him in to cuddle. It’s no different than what they’ve done just the other day in Kacchan’s bed, but having the alpha in his scant nest feels even more intimate. Kacchan’s scent will seep into the blanket and the pillow he gifted Izuku, bringing more comfort to this space that just a week or so ago he couldn’t even call a nest.

Izuku’s inner omega purrs happily inside his mind, feeling safe and content as he hasn’t felt in a long time. Kacchan looks comfortable too, the alpha is warm and lax, gently scenting Izuku’s face and hair.

They stay like that—enjoying each other, ignoring all responsibilities—until their stomachs make their needs clear. Then they go to grab dinner together on another simple, little date.

Even with the looming threat of going after the Shie Hassakai and defying the Hero Commission, in those hours, Izuku couldn’t feel more at peace.

Chapter Text

Pack?

Katsuki looks through the option of drinks, wondering what to get. He knows Deku would like a cold latte can, but he doesn’t think it’d be wise to give the nerd any more caffeine. Sure they’ll probably have a late night today (and the several next nights as well), and Deku is jittery enough about this whole ordeal already.

Making up his mind, Katsuki gets a banana milk and a strawberry one. If they need it, they may buy energy drinks tonight but, in the middle of the afternoon, those drinks should be good enough.

“Hey, Kacchan! Got our snacks!” Deku says, appearing from one of the konbini’s aisles with two hot melon buns.

“Let’s pay. We need to keep watch,” he answers, already taking the drinks to the cashier.

They pay for their food and settle on one of the konbini’s tables by the front window, sitting side by side to watch the street. 

The konbini is just a block away from the Buster Union agency, and they’re getting ready to watch the street until Boobs shows up. Deku ended up coming around to the idea of talking to her and now they need to ambush the woman on the streets. 

Katsuki almost chuckles when he remembers Deku’s relief expression when he said he didn’t have Boobs number. It never crossed his mind to get it as they only talked at the agency about work issues—the relief was short lived because Deku soon realized they had no way of contacting her outside the Buster Unit agency.

In the end, the only solution they could find is to stalk her daily commute route in the approximate time they knew she should be going to work. Whatever, it’s not as if they have anything better to do. Their friends should start arriving tonight, and until they do, it’s just a waiting game. Might as well wait in this damn konbini.

“Oh, I wanted a coffee,” Deku mumbles when he sees their drinks.

“Too much caffeine is bad for you, shitty nerd,” Katsuki grumbles. “No wonder you’re always sleep deprived.”

“You’re right,” he quickly acquiesces. “Thank you for the food, Kacchan. I owe you our next snack!”

“Whatever,” he answers, knowing very well that he won’t let Deku pay for their next meal either.

His inner alpha has been driving him crazy with the need to care and provide for their omega, even more in such a stressful situation. Katsuki knows they’re doing everything they can to solve the problem, but it’s not enough for the dumb beast living inside his head. Paying for Deku’s meals is a small thing considering how much peace of mind it gives him from his inner alpha.

“I hope she hasn’t changed her shift schedule,” Deku voices their worry. “We need to be back at the hotel by 5pm.”

“I don’t think she would. She said once she picked this time slot because it’s the one that works best with her daughter’s school drop in and pick up times.”

“She has a daughter?! You didn’t tell me that!”

“You didn’t ask,” Katsuki says with a shrug, then he smirks and teases. “You were too busy throwing a jealousy fit.”

“It wasn’t a fit!” Deku protests, only amusing Katsuki further.

“Yeah, right,” he chuckles.

Deku pouts and mumbles, “You’re an ass sometimes, you know.”

“So I’ve been told,” Katsuki answers unbothered. “And talking about being told. Sero is arriving by plane tonight. He was all the way down in Kumamoto and couldn’t come by train.”

“Wow, that’s a long trip,” Deku says, impressed. “Are you picking him up at the airport?”

“With what car? No. He’s taking a taxi to our hotel. But I’ll stay behind to wait for him while you and Half’n Half go to the train station to pick the other extras.”

“Maybe you two could get us a table at that izakaya two blocks away. I’m sure everyone will arrive hungry and we might as well have a nice meal before everyone arrives and we get to work.”

“Sounds good. The last ones should arrive tomorrow afternoon, right?”

“Yes. Yayozoru and Tokoyami.”

The whole of their class is coming to work with them, and even some extras from class B. The last time they all fought together was during the War. Katsuki is a bit worried about which memories might be stirred from such a big commotion before a fight, but at the same time he knows in his core that calling their group was the right thing to do. Even his inner alpha echoes that feeling, the beast is eager to see their friends.

“They won’t know what hit them,” Katsuki says, not knowing if they means the villains, the Hero Commission or the Buster Unit. Probably all of them.

“It’s her!” Deku says, already jumping out of his chair. “It’s Boobs!”

Katsuki drops his food and rushes after him.

“Wait for me, nerd!”

“Boobs! Boobs!” Izuku calls for her in the street.

“Shut up!” Katsuki barks at him. “We’re trying to keep a low profile here!”

“It’s you who are yelling, Kacchan,” Izuku retorts.

As they’re bickering, Boobs stops to watch them. She looks a little wary, as if she’s not sure if she’ll stay to listen or if she’ll bolt. Katsuki isn’t good at calming people down, but he puts on his least threatening stance and talks as gently as he can.

“Hey. Can we talk to you for a minute?”

She looks around, checking if anyone is listening to them. Or maybe checking for escape routes.

“Please,” Deku pleads with those big, puppy dog eyes of his. “It’s really just a minute. We don’t want to bring you trouble.”

“Alright,” she agrees, still looking a bit unsure. “Come with me.”

Wanting to get out of the busy street, she leads them to a small alley near the konbini. 

“I’ve heard your team had a fall out with Blaster.” Boobs is the first to speak.

She doesn’t look as spooked now they’re out of plain sight.

“I guess you could call that…” Izuku says with a sigh. “Did he tell the agency we’re gone?”

“On the contrary. He and Bukkomi are trying to keep things under wraps, pretending everything is fine,” she explains, showing her more talkative side that Katsuki got used to during their patrols. “I only found out when I was told I’d be taking a new patrol partner by Bukkomi’s secretary. She didn’t say much, but I managed to gather that no one from your team would be in our rotations anymore.”

“Didn’t think those assholes would publicly announce Deku told them to go fuck themselves,” Katsuki says with a chuckle.

“I didn’t say that!” Deku protests, then he looks at Boobs and tries to explain himself. “I didn’t say that. I just told them off for bad mouthing All Might and hindering the Shie Hassakai case. I want to fix this situation and get these villains. And that’s why we came to you. Kacchan said you may be willing to share the information Mister Blaster and Bukkomi were withholding from us, about the developments in this case.”

“Well, that’s an easy enough answer: there haven’t been any developments on the case. They haven’t hid that information; there have been no more sightings on the villains since those few first ones.”

“They didn’t hide that from us?” Deku repeats to himself. “Then why have they been stopping us from going after—”

“What they didn’t tell you is the reason they believe that happened,” Boobs continues. “They believe that the villains went into hiding after your team arrived. That the villains must have been spooked by your presence. That’s why they’ve been so adamant about turning your presence in the city as a marketing thing. They wanted to convince the villains you coming here had nothing to do with them, that it was just for some photo ops or whatever.”

Katsuki nods, absorbing all the information she’s giving them. It makes so much sense that the villains went deeper underground when they showed up. But that being the case, there were a bunch of ways they could lure them out if they had been put at the negotiation desk.

Deku huffs annoyed. “Then why didn’t they tell us? We’d have found ways to work with them if we knew!” he says, voicing Katsuki’s own thoughts.

Boobs shrugs, “Your guess is as good as mine. It’s not like I’m being told these things by them. I only hear it through others, mostly gossip.”

“Those fuckers don’t trust even their own teams,” Katsuki offers. “Probably think everyone is a scheming asshole just like them.”

During the weeks he worked with Boobs, he noticed that she wasn’t put in the loop of Mister Blaster and Bukkomi’s machinations. She was part of the team because they had the need of someone with a stealth quirk like hers, not because they particularly cared for her. Boobs, for all the sex appeal she uses in her public persona, can use her quirk of being ignored and forgotten by anyone she wants with mastery. 

“Yeah… Whatever it was, just created a bigger mess than it should,” Deku agrees. “Thank you for talking to us, Boobs. This information will help us to go after the Shie Hassakai.”

“It’s fine. I want these villains out of our city, and I always thought you are our best bet against them,” she tells Deku with a small smile. 

“We will get them,” Deku promises with that fire in his eyes that never fails to bring warmth inside Katsuki.

Boobs bids them good luck and goodbye, leaving them to go to work. Once she’s out of earshot, Katsuki can’t stop himself from teasing.

“Still jealous?” he pokes with a smirk.

Deku rolls his eyes before answering, “No. You were right, she’s nice.”

“Guess I should find another omega to make you jealous then,” he jokes.

A snarl rips through Deku’s lips and before Katsuki can understand what’s happening, he’s being pushed against the alley’s wall.

“No,” Deku roars at his face. “Kacchan is mine!”

Inside his head, his alpha croons pleased and Katsuki opens a wide, cocky smirk. Jealous brat. Deku is lucky he’s so damn cute—and that Katsuki is into this shit.

“Then do something about it.”

Maybe Katsuki needs to learn to not tease and push Deku’s buttons so much. But considering he gets a deep, angry kiss that leaves them both breathless, he doesn’t think he will.

It’s their hottest kiss to date. Deku pushes his whole body to pin Katsuki against the wall and licks his tongue, steals his breath. In return, Katsuki grabs Deku’s waist and pulls him impossibly closer. 

Fire burns in his veins as his inner alpha expands his claws to take control of Katsuki’s limbs. It’s all instinct driving him to pull, squeeze and grind. His cock is hard inside his pants and the painful friction of the fabric tightening against his sensitive flesh is enough to drive Katsuki crazy.

If it was up to his inner alpha, they’d claim Izuku right then and there in that dirty alley. Only the sound of a group of teenagers passing by, talking loudly and playing with each other, gets them to separate.

Katsuki takes in big gulps of air, trying to get any blood to run back into his brain and bring him clarity. In front of him, with his eyes blown out and face flushed, Izuku seems to do the same.

“We need to get out of here,” Deku says in a wrecked voice that urges Katsuki to kiss him some more and continue what they were doing.

“Yes, we do,” he agrees, making his inner alpha displeased.

Katsuki tells the beast to chill the fuck out. They can’t fuck in a damn alley. No matter how much both of them want to—and by the sweet, tangy scent coming from Deku, they both really want to.

***

Hours later, Katsuki finds himself against another wall. This time, he’s leaning on the hotel’s lobby, waiting for Sero to show up, while he tries and fails to not think about the sight of Deku after their kiss.

Mussed hair, flushed cheeks, spit-wet red lips…

Fuck… Katsuki is going to have to take an extra long shower tonight. 

As he’s groaning and trying to mentally fix his schedule to have time for a long shower before bed, the lobby door opens and through it comes Sero with a haircut so fucking stupid it may knock Half’n Half to second place.

“What the hell happened to your head?”

“Good to see you too, Baku! Miss you as well,” Sero says, approaching with a wide smile.

“What the hell happened?” Katsuki insists. “Surgery? Did you get a concussion?”

Sero’s hair is much longer than it used to be, reaching his shoulders, except for one of the sides that’s buzzed short. Very much similar to Izuku’s haircut after the war, so Katsuki can’t help jumping to conclusions.

“No, no. Nothing like it,” Sero waves him off. “I just wanted a more edgy look, you know?”

“You did that willingly?” he asks in disbelief.

“I sure did,” Sero answers unbothered.

“You’re stupider than I remember.”

“And you’re just as charming as I remembered,” he says with a chuckle. “Come on. I have to check in or else I may be sleeping on your bed tonight.”

“Fuck no. I’ll explode you to the other side of the room. Let Half’n Half deal with you,” he grumbles, following his friend to the receptionist counter.

“Sleeping with Todoroki? Don’t mind if I do,” Sero says in a sultry tone that makes Katsuki roll his eyes.

In their third year, Sero started with this shit of flirting with Todoroki. No one seemed to know for sure if he meant it as a joke or not. Some people had opinions about an alpha flirting with another alpha—Katsuki had opinions about anyone being attracted to Todoroki. Whatever it was, it never ended up amounting to anything as far as Katsuki knows.

Sero talks to the receptionist briefly and then she leaves to get his keys and whatever papers he needs to sign. Once they’re alone again, Katsuki continues the subject.

“You’re still on this shit.”

“Well, you of all people should know how it is. Never getting over the high school sweetheart,” he answers with a smirk. “Figure we’re both going to be pinning until we’re grey.”

Maybe Katsuki should acknowledge that his friend is confessing his feelings for Todoroki are real, and that he trusts Katsuki to tell him that despite the big taboo such feelings are. Maybe Katsuki should say something to support his friend, encourage him, show him he’ll always be by his side no matter what others think.

But that wouldn’t be Katsuki.

This time, he’s the one to smirk widely, smugly.

“Maybe you’ll be an eternal loser, but not me.”

“You didn’t…” Sero whispers amazed. “You got Midoriya?!”

Katsuki crosses his arms and fills his chest, his inner alpha preening.

“Yes, Deku and I are dating,” he admits for the first time out loud.

“Hell yeah, bro! Congrats!” Sero cheers, giving him a light punch on his shoulder. “Is there actually a villain to catch or are we here for the wedding?”

“I fucking wish… No, we have shitty villains to deal with.” He sighs. “And the Hero Commission are being dickhead, and the local heroes are a pain in my ass, and the media is stirring so much shit that I think we should consider them domestic terrorists.”

“From the headlines I’ve seen in the last months, I’m surprised you haven’t gone rogue and exploded some of those reporters.”

“I got close sometimes, but I got into Deku’s shit list for less,” he grumbles.

“Oh, what a time to be alive,” Sero wheezes. “Surviving the war was worth it just to see you whipped by little Midoriya.”

“At least I have someone to be whipped by, you loser,” Katsuki pokes back. “And I’ve been rooming with Todoroki for months…”

“Now that’s just mean, Baku,” Sero pouts.

The receptionist returns and they cut their conversation short. Katsuki follows Sero to his room and waits as his friend settles his things. They talk a little about who is coming to help, what time they’re supposed to arrive and all that logistical shit. When Sero is done, they walk together to the izakaya Izuku is supposed to bring the extras to once they’re settled on the hotel as well.

Soon, they’re sitting on a huge table, waiting for their friends while nursing beer bottles.

“So, you and Midoriya… Since when?”

“About three days.”

Sero almost spits out his beer laughing.

“Three days? You were giving me grief for three measly days?”

“Three more than you, loser. And tomorrow it’ll be four!”

Still chuckling, Sero agrees, “Yeah… I suppose you’re winning from me. Not from Kiri and Mina, though.”

“Those idiots are too stupid to be apart,” he grumbles with a small smirk.

“I think we’re the idiots for being apart,” Sero says with a sort of sad smile. “But tell me more, how did it happen?”

“Like a fucking mess. We fought a lot. He gave me a dead bird. We kissed. I don’t even fucking know,” he says, finishing with a sigh. “We’ve been fighting a lot for a long time. Guess it all came to a head.”

“You and Midoriya fighting? Who would have guessed…” Sero teases.

“It’s different then how it was in high school…” he continues, not bothering with the joke. “With All Might gone and so much to do… So many extras butting in where they don’t belong… I gave up for a while. Figured there was no reason to keep on fighting, you know? But then Deku stepped up and now we’re together.”

Sero clamps his shoulder in a supportive manner and says, “Hey. What matters is that you two are together now. Just work on not losing this, ok?”

“Fuck no. I’m not fucking this up,” Katsuki agrees with certainty. “And you, going to take your chances to not fall too far behind?”

Sero smirks but averts his eyes, “Who knows… Let’s see how this fight turns out, hm?”

“One thing I learned through this shit is that if you wait until there are no more villains to start living your life, you’ll wait until you’re fucking dead.”

“Look at you! Last time I remember I had to teach you what scenting even was, now you’re here giving advice on how to get a mate,” Sero says with humor, then reaches to mess with Katsuki’s hair. “Our little boy has grown so much!”

“Fuck you!” he barks, pushing Sero’s hand away which leads to a silly game of pushing each other.

“Oh, you started the party without us!” Ashido’s screech breaks them apart.

“Bros!” Kirishima yells before throwing his giant self in the middle of him and Sero to pull them into a hug.

“Get off me, you idiot!” he barks while Sero just laughs.

“Oh, Kacchan! He missed you!” Deku coos amused.

“We all did, but I don’t want us to get kicked out of the restaurant before we had a chance to eat,” Jirou offers.

“I’m starving!” Uraraka agrees, sitting down and grabbing a menu. “What’s good here?”

“I told you to get one of the train’s bentos,” Iida chastises her.

“Those things cost a fortune! I’m not paying that much for a store bento!”

They continue talking, completely ignoring Katsuki and Sero who are still being suffocated to death by a crying Kirishima who can’t stop telling them how much he missed everyone.

When Katsuki finally gets free from Kirishima’s hold, the table is full. Almost half their class is there—Todoroki and Deku brough Kirishima, Ashido, Uraraka, Jirou, and Iida. The air is already filled with laughter and excited conversation. There’s so much happiness all around for this rare chance of being together that it doesn’t even look like what brought them together is such a tense situation.

There’ll be time to talk about that tomorrow, after everyone arrives. Tonight, Katsuki is happy to have some reprieve. And he’s happy to see the wide smile almost splitting Deku’s face in two.

The nerd couldn’t be more excited, sitting between Uraraka and Jirou, talking openly like Katsuki hasn’t seen him do in a long while.  He knew the stress, overwork, isolation, and grief have been pretty hard on Deku but the nerd always tries to put on a brave front and Katsuki is ashamed to admit sometimes he falls for the act.

Now, watching as light seems to shine out of Deku’s smile, it’s impossible not to compare with how dull he has been. Deku has been wasting away under his very eyes and Katsuki has been helpless to do anything about it.

Deku cracks up laughing over something Jirou says and, at that moment, Katsuki promises himself that he won’t let things get this bad ever again. He won’t allow Deku to be away from his friends and family for such a long time, chasing villains despite his own health. They’ll have to find a better way to balance being heroes and being themselves, and Katsuki won’t stop until they do.

Katsuki won’t say it because it’s sappy as shit and he knows the idiots will make fun of him, but he can’t help but think this is what a pack must have been like in the old days. In the days where you had to kill a stag and bring to your chosen omega to prove you can provide. But the title doesn’t matter.

What they call each other doesn’t matter. The villains, the Commission, the media. None of that matters. Tomorrow the rest of their team—their pack—will arrive and they’ll get to work. They’ll fix this mess much like they ended the war: together. Planning together, fighting together, sticking together through and through.

Chapter Text

Battle?

Izuku is almost buzzing out of his skin. The last few days have been absolutely chaos—from fixing his relationship with Kacchan, to the big fight in the Buster Union, and now having all his friends transform a simple executive hotel into a makeshift hero agency. It’s mayhem, and Izuku is thriving.

True to their word, all of his friends came when called. They didn’t hesitate in coming, didn’t argue about going against the Hero Commission, didn’t second-guess putting their lives and careers at risk to catch the villains. On the contrary, they all easily fell into their old roles, some stepping up to organize the group, others helping with the logistics, everyone putting their heads together to think of a solution.

The last two days since they arrived have been hectic and so damn refreshing. Yayozoru got the hotel to rent them a couple of their conference rooms and now there are plans on the walls, maps on the desk, and long discussions about how to best tackle the situation. When they’re hungry, Sato and Shoji show up with takeout food. When they’re tired, they sleep in shared rooms. Iida organizes their work groups, Yayozoru supplies any material they need.

It’s just how they worked in those days before the war. This time, without their teachers and mentors.

Not even Endeavor stayed to help. When Izuku, Shouto and Kacchan told him what they were doing, the man said that considering his damaged reputation, his presence could only drag them down. He said that when the media comes to ask questions, they should say that Endeavor wasn’t in any way involved to make sure their names are the ones who get the laurels. And he was sure they’d get them.

Izuku felt deeply moved that Endeavor was so sure they’d be successful in their plan. At first, he wished to feel the same certainty but couldn’t. Now, watching all his friends work together, he feels it. There’s no way they can lose when they’re fighting together.

Kacchan and Shouto were certain that Izuku was their trump card and that the Commission was doing all these schemes to smother his strength. Izuku isn’t sure what the Commission was thinking, but he knows that he’s just one small part in this well-oiled machine that is class 3-A. (They need to find another name to refer to their group as they’ve been out of school for years now.) 

In any case, Izuku knows he’s not the head of the operation. Their group is made up of so many brilliant people, so much strength and dedication, that he accepts whatever minor roles he can to help. This afternoon, as Ochako, Ashido, Ojiro, Yayozoru and Iida pour over maps to find out possible hideout locations, and the others scavenge the web to find any information on the possible villains of the area, Izuku feels like the best he can do is support his friends—even if it’s just bringing drinks to fuel their work.

He left quietly to not bother anyone’s work, and went to the closest convenience store to find cold beverages. When he returns, he’s ambushed by an agitated Kacchan before he can enter the conference room.

“Where the fuck were you?” Kacchan asks with an annoyed huff, crowding Izuku.

“I was out to buy some drinks for everyone,” he says, showing the heavy bags he’s carrying. “Did I worry you, Kacchan?”

“Fuck no. Who would be worried?” he grumbles in an angry tone that lets Izuku know he was worried when he didn’t see Izuku working with their friends. “Fuckin drinks? What are you, their butler? Why didn't you send any of the extras on this shit?”

“All of our friends are busy, Kacchan. They’ve been working so hard I figured they could use some energy drinks.” Then, to appease him, Izuku rummages through one of the bags and pulls out an ice tea can. “I got you your favorite.”

Kacchan considers him for a long moment in which Izuku thinks he’s weighing his options of accepting the drink or keep fighting. 

In the end, he doesn’t do either of those.

Kacchan takes a step closer and whispers, “Yes, you do.” 

Izuku watches, surprised as Kacchan gets closer and closer until it’s impossible to keep looking into those deep red eyes. Then he pushes him against the wall and shoves his nose on his neck, trying to get a whiff of Izuku’s scent. Kacchan won’t be able to get much because of the patches and neutralizers Izuku is wearing as usual, but that doesn’t stop him from trying. 

A delicious shudder runs through Izuku’s whole body as he catches the barely there scent of the alpha. Kacchan is wearing just as many patches as Izuku, so maybe it’s just his brain remembering what the alpha smells like. Either way, it’s the most delicious scent Izuku has ever smelled.

“Kacchan…” Izuku whines, not even knowing if he’s pleading to stop or continue.

Since their friends arrived, they haven’t found any moment to be alone and Izuku can’t deny he already misses it. His inner omega is a greedy beast, just a taste of Kacchan left it spoiled, needing more. He already misses the kisses and cuddling sessions. Even the presence of all their friends around isn’t enough to quell Izuku’s need for Kacchan and it seems that it’s reciprocal.

Kacchan rubs his nose on Izuku’s neck, huffing deeply, and rubbing his lips in an almost kiss that leaves Izuku lightheaded. He feels his legs become jelly and drops the bags to grab on the alpha’s shoulders. This only encourages Kacchan and he trails his lips up, getting closer and closer to stealing a kiss and—

“Hey! You two! Quit making out!” Kaminari’s voice forces them to break apart abruptly. “I know it took you a long, long time to get your shit together but now you can’t keep your hands to yourselves for a minute?” he mocks them.

“We—We weren’t—” Izuku tries to explain himself.

“You weren’t dry humping in the hallway? Silly me, my eyes must be tired from all that research,” Kaminari keeps teasing them. “Anyway, you two can go back to not necking later. Jirou is back from recon and she’s got a villain!”

“What?!”

“The fuck?”

They rush after Kaminari to another conference room they’ve been using and just like he said, there is a villain. A skinny, mousy looking man, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by heroes. The man shakes on his shoes and looks very close to passing out even though none of their friends shows any aggression, only curiosity.

“What the hell is going on?” Kacchan demands to know when they enter the room.

“He wants to confess,” Jirou says, with a shrug. “He approached me after I finished my recon shift. Says he’s working for Chronostasis.”

“I am! I have information!” The villain exclaims in a screech.

“Why would we believe you?” Shouto asks, starting the interrogation.

“Listen, I—I’m no saint, and I know it. During the War I…—Let’s say I wasn’t one of the good guys. I’ve done some things I should probably be ashamed of and—But those guys? They’re crazy! It’s different, alright? I’d never—And they have plans! So many plans! Saying shit like Overhaul shouldn’t have trusted Shigaraki and recruiting everyone who has a chip on their shoulder with the heroes. I thought it’d be like old school, you know? That there’d be honor and we’d probably make money with games like the old times. But then you three arrived and he got this crazy look on his face and I didn’t sign up for all of this!”

“The hell is wrong with him? I can’t understand a fucking word he’s saying!” Kacchan barks angrily, making the villain quake in fear.

“I—I—” he stutters, failing to explain himself.

Luckily, Izuku has a lifetime of experience with his own head, deciphering nonlinear thoughts.

“I got it,” he says. “You wanted to join the yakuza to work with illegal gambling, right?”

The villain nods rapidly.

“But you found out that the Shie Hassakai didn’t want to go back to their old ways, under their former boss. They wanted to go back to Overhaul plans to end the hero society.”

“And I’m not about that! I’m not above shaking some dicers that lose more than they can pay, but I don’t want to fight All Might’s successor!” he screeches in that mousy way of his. “Even if you’re an omega, you’re strong! And you brought your whole team to the city! You all defeated them when they had a much bigger army under Shigaraki, I’m not about to wait around and find out what you’re going to do to me!”

Kacchan clicks his tongue, “Great. Now the villains are surrendering just from hearing the nerd is around. We won’t get any good fights anymore if this keeps up.”

“Do we believe him?” Shouto asks.

“Shinso is out on his own recon shift, but we can ask him to use his quirk when he returns,” Jirou says.

Izuku nods in agreement, “I believe he’s telling the truth, but let’s wait on Shinso. Then we can get the information we need out of him.”

“What? Who is Shinso? It’s not going to hurt, is it? Because I’ll talk! No need for quirks! I’ll say whatever you want!”

“Sero, can you secure him, please?” Izuku asks as they all ignore the villain’s cries. “And let’s make some shift schedules to keep watch over him until we can deliver him to the police.”

“Police? But I’ll say everything! I came to you to confess! No need for police! What are you—”

A thick tape from Sero quiets the villain.

It seems they’ll be able to fulfill their promise to catch the Shie Hassakai faster than they expected.

***

In the end, it’s all too easy. Ridiculously easy. Boring, even.

Turns out mousy guy isn’t the only criminal with loose allegiance that Chronostasis recruited. Besides a handful of original members of the Shie Hassakai, the others joined in hoping for an easy payday out of underground gambling and maybe shaking some local shop owners out of their hard earned money for the privilege of not getting beat up. Even if they didn’t have weak quirks, unremarkable criminal history, and not an ounce of training, they were already ready to jump ship because Chronostasis couldn’t rope them in the ideological obsession that Overhaul did.

It doesn’t take much to get valuable information out of the villain that surrendered to Jirou, and it takes even less to get a couple of more disgruntled pickpocketers that were in way over their heads to turn on the Shie Hassakai. In less than a week they have all the names, locations, quirks, and motives they could want in a report.

With all the information in hand, they organize raids to the three locations where the main leaders of the Shie Hassakai are hiding. They split up in teams, coordinate the attack so no one is tipped off, and after less than a couple of hours they’re delivering the restrained villains to the local police. A flawless execution, Aizawa would be proud.

It’s anticlimactic and Izuku feels a bit silly for calling in all his friends, so many outstanding heroes, to such a small fight. A bad use of resources—the exact thing the Hero Commission is supposed to prevent.

However, the fact that they solved the Shie Hassakai issue in a few days makes it even clearer that the Buster Union wasn’t doing their best to catch these guys. Izuku gets frustrated just thinking about it, about how they almost let a terrorist group grow just because they were too caught up in appearances and hierarchical power. The Hero Commission would sooner let the whole country burn to the ground than admit they didn’t have everything under control. 

This topic sparks a heated debate in the night after the raids. They’re all cramped in one of the conference rooms they used to organize their work, but now instead of maps and plans on the tables, there’s delivery pizza and beer bottles. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t leave even one villain for me,” Ashido whines.

“For us,” Kirishima corrects her. “Bakubro bursted in with a Howitzer Impact and the villains all dropped to the floor.”

“Fucking small fish,” Kacchan scoffs. “That should teach them what happens when the Great Explosion Muder God Dynamight is in town.”

“Bakugou probably was trying to overcompensate because that villain said he turned himself in because he was afraid of facing Izuku,” Shouto points out.

Izuku feels his face heating up and tries to dispel that notion, “That’s not—The villain didn’t know—”

“The villain knew who led us in the war,” Ochako states proudly. “And now they’ll know that hasn’t changed. Anyone who wants to mess up with Deku will have us to answer to.”

“Yeah!”

“Cheers!” Several exclamations in agreement come at the same time.

“I suppose that, in a way, that’s what the Hero Commission has been doing with Midoriya,” Tsuyu ponders. “Parading him around the country to inhibit villain activity.”

“With his three big alpha chaperones,” Shindo teases.

“Three alphas? Izuku has a harem. I want one too!” Mineta joins him.

“Don’t you start that,” Izuku grumbles, already tired of this conversation. “I have enough problems with the media as it is.  And if that was the Hero Commission’s plan, then why didn’t they let me do my job? They’ve been stopping us from going after the villains every step of the way.”

“They brought you here but then stopped you from going after the Shie Hassakai. They put you in media display but want to hide your work. The acts of the Commission are contractionary at best,” Yayozoru says with her usual calm. “I believe the core of the issue is that the Commission isn’t a monolith. It’s a group of several people, bureaucrats, politicians and former heroes, with vastly different objectives and world views.”

“And they suffer great pressure from outside forces,” Shouto adds. “Endeavor is always advocating for us, despite the fact his sway on the Commission isn’t what it used to be. And I can only assume other heroes are doing the same.”

“And politicians,” Sero agrees.

“So what’s the fucking plan here? To be under the thumb of this shitty institution that can’t make up their fucking mind about anything?” Kacchan grumbles, annoyed. “We can’t waste our lives being pushed around, waiting for them to get their shit together.”

“Well… Does anyone here fancy getting into politics?” Ojiro says in a playful tone, but it’s impossible to ignore the conclusion they’re all drawing to.

“I might run for Prime Minister,” Sero says with a wide, mocking grin. “No way the country isn’t going to elect this winning smile.”

“Hey! I want to be in your cabinet!” Ashido is quick to demand. “Minister of Fashion! For more pink in this country!”

“I want in too! Minister of Manliness!” Kirishima says, pumping his fist.

“So I’ll take the Minister of Femmeness for, you know, gender equality,” Kaminari says.

“For fuck’s sake, we’re fucking doomed,” Kacchan says with resignation as their friends start shouting increasingly more absurd government seats they plan on filling.

The room is filled with laughter and jokes, no one taking themselves too seriously. There’s not much else they can do at this point. They all know very well that dismantling a weakened villain group isn’t going to be the answer to all their problems; it’s barely a start.

Actually, it isn’t even a start. It’s a continuation.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that at some point, the world as a whole was a much worse place. Gender roles were more strict, omegas were treated as propriety, the governments were more authoritarian, the quirk you had dictated your whole life. Life was harder 20 years ago, and even worse 40 years ago.

Izuku had the unique chance of seeing what the world was like in previous generations through the eyes of the old One for All holders. He lost the ability to talk to them during the War, but he refuses to let go of the memories they shared. There had been previous wars, people fought for basic human needs, any small thing was enough to label someone as a pariah.

Maybe it’s the happy environment his friends create, maybe it’s the two beers Izuku had, but in this little moment of time, he feels filled with hope. Things are bad, but it’s been worse and people like them fought to make it better. The point is to keep fighting—and to keep those you care about near you. Fighting alone is sad and painful, but with people you love is revolutionary.

Maybe All Might’s biggest gift for Izuku to help him in this fight wasn’t his quirk, but this little group of people who came when he called. All of them believing in All Might’s optimism, all of them fighting for a better world. 

“You look too quiet for a celebration,” Ochako says, approaching him.

Deep in thought as he was, Izuku notices he ended up alone in a corner, just watching as his friends have fun.

“Just thinking,” he answers.

“Your specialty,” she teases.

“That’d be overthinking, actually,” he jokes back, making her giggle. “I don’t know… It’s weird… It feels like so much has changed, but nothing changed at all. Tomorrow you’ll all go back to your homes, and I’ll stay here with Kacchan and Shouto. We need to have a meeting with Endeavor, align what we’ll say to the media. And then we need to not let the reporters take over the interviews and distort our words. And we probably need to go back to the Buster Union and talk things out. Not to mention the Hero Commission itself. They can’t be happy we went behind their backs…”

“They’ll have to be happy that you got the villains.”

“Do they? I feel like nothing I do makes them happy…” he sighs.

Ochako bumps his hip with hers, “Come on. Cheer up. It’s going to be fine. I mean, from what you told me the Buster Union are a bunch of knotheads so they’ll probably kick a fuss no matter what. And talking to the media is always a bit nerve wrecking. Same with dealing with the Commission, they can be such dickheads—”

Izuku can’t help but chuckle, “Thanks for the pep talk…”

Ochako glares at him and continues, “What I mean to say is that yeah, it’s not going to be easy. But if there’s anyone who can do it, that’s you. You’ve already done so much, Deku, and you’ll continue doing it, no matter what the world throws your way.”

“I could do with less being thrown my way, to be honest… But thanks, Ochako. You’re my biggest cheerleader.”

“Can I record you saying that? I want to play it back to Bakugou.”

“Don’t poke Kacchan,” he chides. “And he’d not want to be called my cheerleader anyway.”

“Yeah… He’d probably say he’s your sidekick.”

“My partner,” Izuku says, feeling warm from the words. It’s so crazy that he can say that with such certainty that he repeats it just because he can, “Kacchan is my partner.”

Ochako smiles at him and squeezes his hand.

“I’m so happy you two figured everything out.”

“Everything is a big word… But yeah, I think we’re on the same page now.”

“So, did little Deku finally get a knot that’s not silicone?”

“Ochako!” he screeches, horrified, and looks around to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

“What? I’ve been watching your fumble around for years now! I deserve the dirty details.” 

“There’s no dirty anything to tell,” he says in a low voice. “We barely had time together between all this mess.”

“Oh my god, you two never tire of making things more difficult than they ought to be,” she says, shaking her head.

“We do things our way,” Izuku says with a shrug. “Which may not be the best way most of the time but still…”

“I guess that’s why you’re perfect for each other.”

“Yes, we are…” Izuku says, looking across the room and sees Kacchan laughing with Sero and Kirishima. His heart fills with affection and he wishes he could go there just to scent him, to feel Kacchan’s pheromones in his skin, steal his warmth. 

“Don’t leave him hanging for too long, though,” Ochako says. “I feel almost sorry for that dumb alpha. He’s been following you around like a lost puppy for years already. Put the guy out of his misery. I know you want to.”

Izuku’s face burns with embarrassment and he looks away. Yeah, he wants to. It’s pretty hard to remember why they’re taking things slow and he isn’t sporting Kacchan’s mating bite on his neck right now. Still, he can’t give all that ammo to Ochako, so he shoots back.

“Shouldn’t you be talking to Iida? How long are you going to keep him waiting?”

“I’m not keeping him waiting,” she huffs with a pout. “He never asked to court me.”

“You made it well known that you wanted to live in Tokyo to score high earning publicity contracts. He’d never tell you to go with him back to his family’s little town and forgo your plans,” Izuku pokes her gently.

“Well, I also made it well known that I paid off my parent’s debt last year, didn’t I? And he still didn’t say anything…”

“Maybe he’s waiting for you to say something.”

“Iida? You know how old school he is. He’d never go for an omega that starts the courting,” she says with barely concealed pain in her voice.

“I don’t think you’re giving Iida enough credit. I mean, two of his best friends are omegas, aren’t we? And he never treated us any different.”

“There’s a difference between being friends with modern, independent omegas and mating them. I can see him courting a civilian, keeping them as a stay at home mother.”

“And yet, he hasn’t done that,” Izuku says with a shrug. “If you want to keep making theories in your head, be my guest. I do that myself way too much too. But that hasn’t helped me finding my way in life, and I don’t think it’s doing you any favors either.”

Ochako looks at him for a long time, and Izuku can almost see the cogs in her brain turning as she tries to come up with a retort. Then her mouth sets in a determined line and her brown eyes spark with fire. She’s come to a decision.

“You’re right, Deku. Time to do myself favors,” she says before marching on towards Iida who talks to Tsuyu and Jirou in some other corner of the room.

Izuku watches her go with a proud smile. One more win for today’s tab.

Chapter Text

Partners.

One day Izuku hopes to be able to wake up and stay in bed, to laze around and let the sleepiness leave his eyes in its own time. He hasn’t been able to do that since middle school, before starting his training with All Might. After that fateful day, every morning Izuku wakes up with a long, long list of things to do, exercises to get to, people to see, a world to save.

Today it’s not any different. If anything, based on how his phone doesn’t stop buzzing on the nightstand, today is worse.

Izuku rubs his eyes and sits up, wondering if he should check what’s blowing up his phone or go to the bathroom pee first. The decision is made for him when someone starts banging on his door.

“Nerd! Get up!” Kacchan’s voice comes from the outside as Izuku approaches the door.

“Kacchan? What’s going on?” he asks in a whine he’ll blame on sleepiness.

“The press is here,” Shouto answers and that’s when Izuku realizes he’s there with Kacchan.

“What?”

“The police must have told the media about our raids yesterday. Every reporter in the prefecture is in front of the hotel, waiting for an interview,” Shouto explains.

“What are we going to do? Should we call the police to disperse them?” he asks, forcing his brain to catch up.

“Don’t think that’s going to work, nerd. If we don’t talk to them now, they’ll start making shit up as they always do,” Kacchan says.

“Right, right…” he says, shaking his head to wake up his thoughts. “Let me get dressed and I’ll meet you in the Conference room. See who isn’t taking trains back home this morning and can help us think of a solution.”

“Alright,” Shouto says, already turning to leave and wake up their friends.

Kacchan, on the other hand, stays in place, his eyes going hazy as he tries to sneak peeks inside Izuku’s room.

“Kacchan? Everything alright?”

That seems to snap him. His eyes focus back on Izuku and he grumbles, “Go get ready. And check your shitty phone, nerd. It’s drilling a hole on the table.”

When Kacchan leaves, Izuku rubs his eyes a couple more times. He glances at his phone that’s still buzzing but decides to go pee first. Something tells him this is going to be another long day, so he’ll take what little time he can to feel human before tackling it.

About half an hour later Izuku had taken a shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in his hero uniform—all the while trying to find out what to do about the huge number of reporters getting rowdy in front of the hotel. In the middle of it all, he checked his phone and it was just an avalanche of questions from reporters and media outlets from all over the country, plus some ominous calls from the Hero Commission. 

But no matter how much he thought, as Izuku walks to the Conference room, he doesn’t have a solid plan ready. Every option he thinks of seems to open an array of possible consequences that could make the situation worse—Endeavor’s advice about being sure what to say before speaking to the media keeps playing on the back of his head. Like Kacchan said, calling the police to disperse the media would only infuriate the reporters. If the media calls the Buster Union, there’s no telling what Mister Blaster will say. If they call Endeavor… Well, Endeavor already said it’s better not to involve him and Izuku is inclined to believe his assessment. There’s also no point in asking the Hero Commission for direction as it’ll only confuse them further since they’re still on the fence about the Commission’s agenda overall.

“Hey, nerd,” Kacchan greets him when he arrives at the Conference room. “Done with your beauty sleep?”

“Good morning, Midoriya!”

“Morning, Deku!”

Being welcomed by his friends, Izuku is filled with the reassurance that even though the only ones he can count on are his friends, they’re all amazing people. They came when he called, they fought by his side numerous times, and they’ll back him up in whatever he asks of them. Izuku believes that if he asked, many of them would step up and talk to the reporters outside and most of them would do a better job than he could dream of doing. Yaoyorozu is one of those who are still around and she’s one of the best public speakers he’s ever met, but Izuku feels like he can’t pass this responsibility to his friends. They already did so much for him, and he’s the one who started this whole mess. He should be the one to end it.

“I’m going to talk to the reporters,” he states with much more confidence than he’s feeling. “Explain we were just doing our job, not any different than an after-battle interview.”

“Let’s fucking do this!” Kacchan says with the same glint on his eyes he gets before fighting a villain.

Even though he doesn’t ask, all of his friends follow him to the front of the hotel to face the media. The second they step outside, a thousand flashes blink from the photographers’ cameras, and all the reporters start talking at once.

“Heroes! What happened yesterday?”

“Did you dismantle a crime family?”

“Since when you were tracking them?”

“Who is the leader of the operation?”

“Were they escaped villains from the War?”

The onslaught of questions makes Izuku dizzy and he doesn’t know how he’ll even start answering them until Kacchan helps him.

“Shut up and let him talk!” Kacchan screams at the reporters.

Izuku takes a deep breath and begins speaking as evenly as he can, doing a sort of All Might impersonation by only saying innocuous information that can’t be taken out of context.

“Yesterday, a team of heroes from all over the country got together to apprehend a growing group of villains. These raids were the result of weeks of cooperative and investigative work with the local heroes. We’re happy to report every villain involved in this group is now under police custody and the city is safe from them.”

“The reports we have say the local heroes weren’t in the raids,” one reporter accuses.

“If we took every hero from the city off the streets the villains would notice,” Izuku answers—not a lie, even though that’s not the reason the Buster Union wasn’t involved either.

“Why were so many heroes from all over the country called? Were there so many villains that justify this?”

“A few of the villains we were after have extremely strong quirks, like Chronostasis and Mimic. And they’re all disciples of Overhaul. We had to be prepared,” he says, once again happy to have a good enough answer.

“Hero Deku, why are you the only one answering questions? Were you the leader of this operation?”

“No, I—I mean—The operation was a collective—”

This question catches Izuku and he stumbles through the answer until Kacchan comes to his rescue once again.

“Yes, he was,” Kacchan says loud enough to drown out whatever Izuku was saying. “Deku was the head of this operation from start to finish.”

There’s no doubt in Izuku’s mind that Kacchan said that with pride in having Izuku take on a leadership role. Kacchan has been pestering him for months to be more of a leader, to put himself more at the front of everything. But there were reasons why Izuku shied away from such roles and the reporters are quick to remind him of them.

“Hero Deku, do you think it’s appropriate for an omega to lead such a big operation?”

“What do the alphas in your team have to say about your leadership?”

“Is this a political statement?”

As reporters yell sexist questions at him, anger rises inside Izuku. All Might never had to deal with that even though he was a beta. Kacchan and Shouto wouldn’t have to deal with these questions. It’s not fair that Izuku is the only one being attacked for simply being who he is! He’s done a good job, the villains are caught, everyone is safe, why isn’t that enough?

“I took the lead on the operation because I had previously encountered these villains, and because I’m the one with the most experience in leading big teams, as I did so in the War,” he says through gritted teeth. He’s trying to keep his voice even but his fury is slipping in every word.

Most of the reporters seem satisfied with that answer—or at least they know better than to keep provoking him. But there’s always one who needs to go further.

“Did you manage to secure the leadership role because you don’t have an official courting alpha yet?” the reporter asks, making several others gasp or widen their eyes in surprise.

“Excuse me?” Izuku asks, not believing the man had the gall to ask that either.

“It’s a known fact you’ve been in pre-courting stages with both Hero Shouto and Dynamight. Have you been doing that to leverage your position in the team?”

The smug look on the reporter’s face, victorious for getting an emotional response from Izuku is what makes his anger boil over.

“How dare you? Every honor I received as a hero came from my work and dedication! You don’t have the right to question that!”

“The public has the right to know if a hero’s position was attained by merit or other means,” the reporter insists.

“I gave my life, my blood to protect this country, to fight against the villains that threaten its peace. I’ve been doing that since I was 14! While most of you were hidden away in bunkers, I was outside facing your nightmares! I lost—” Izuku chokes and that’s when he realizes angry tears are running down his face. “I lost my mentor, my teen years, and many loved ones in the War. And I still get out of bed every day, ready to keep on fighting, keep on saving and winning for you. But that doesn’t give you the right to attack my privacy, doubt my motives, make up awful stories about me and my friends! Shame on you! Shame on everyone who sees someone fighting for a better world and decides that questioning their love lives is more important!”

Izuku rubs the tears off his face in front of a crowd of speechless reporters.

“That’s it. No more questions. Any inquiries about the villains can be directed to the police who have them in custody,” he says, ending the interview.

He turns around and walks back into the hotel. On his back, the reporters yell more questions that he doesn’t even hear as he continues wiping away his tears.

Warm arms wrap around his shoulder and Izuku finds himself being enveloped in a strong hug from Kacchan. The faint scent bleeding through the alpha’s patches is enough to relax him instantly.

“That was badass, nerd,” Kacchan whispers in his hair. “I’m so proud of you.”

“You were wonderful, Deku,” Ochako says, hugging him together with Kacchan. “We’re all proud of you!”

“Get off, Round Face,” Kacchan grumbles, trying to shove Ochako away. “We’re having a moment here.”

“We’re all having a moment, Bakugou,” Ochako sassies back and squeezes the hug.

“Yes we are! Group hug!” Kaminari screams and everyone takes the cue, smothering Izuku in love.

“Get out! He can’t breathe!” Kacchan tries to fight but he’s being smothered as well.

“We’re all so proud of you, Izuku,” Yayozoru coos and several others agree.

“You were amazing out there, Deku!”

“That was the manliest interview I ever saw!”

Izuku tears turn into giggles. His anger turns into gratitude. He’s not alone facing the world anymore. He probably never was. There’s an amazing group of people who love him for who he is, omega and flawed. Izuku is so lucky to have them in his life.

When they all pull away, everyone is laughing and joking. Many whine about finally being able to breathe to which Kacchan barks complaints. As the group of people spreads out, Izuku sees Endeavor standing a few meters away, watching them with an unreadable expression.

“He’d be very proud of you as well,” Endeavor says and there’s no need to specify who he’s talking about.

Izuku starts crying all over again. It seems today will be a day of letting his emotions flow, whether he wants it or not.

***

The rest of the day passes in a blur. There are emotional goodbyes to his friends, gutsy reporters calling in the hopes of getting another bombastic interview, and a strained conversation with the Buster Union where they all agree to swipe things under the rug. 

Mister Blaster had to grudgingly accept that Izuku and his friends did a good job, and he had to be happy enough with the excuses he gave to the media. And Izuku had to accept that Mister Blaster may be a dickhead, but he’s not the enemy and further antagonizing him will only make their real struggles with the Commission and the media harder to deal with. 

By early evening, Izuku goes back to his room with plans of hiding in his nest and eating take out. One night probably won’t be enough for him to rest and emotionally recover from the last few days, but it’s a start.

But just like this morning, a loud knock on the door forces Izuku out of the comfort of his bed.

“Please, no more reporters, please,” he prays under his breath as he gets up.

He opens the door to find Kacchan carrying a bucket of fried chicken.

“Want some dinner?” he asks, visibly trying to sound casual.

“Fried chicken?” Izuku asks, giggling.

“Yeah, you know, since dead birds is our thing,” he shrugs.

Izuku takes a step back to let Kacchan enter. But when the alpha steps in, Izuku grabs him by the arm and pulls him down to a kiss. He’s overcome with a big, warm ball of fondness that threatens to explode in his chest if he doesn’t do something about it. Kacchan showing up with dinner seems to be the last drop in the emotional tsunami that’s been Izuku’s day and now he needs to let the flood flow.

Awkwardly trying to not let the bucket fall, Kacchan reciprocates the kiss. Izuku pulls him, walking backwards deeper into the room until Kacchan can drop the chicken on top of the small breakfast table that’s already littered with Izuku’s snacks and half-drunk water bottles.

“The fuck?” Kacchan asks, bewildered when he manages to pry Izuku off his lips.

“Get in my nest, Kacchan,” Izuku orders.

The alpha grins widely, all fangs, and answers, “Make me, nerd.”

A threatening growl comes from deep inside Izuku’s chest. He doesn’t even intend on doing it, but his inner omega is tired of playing around. He’ll get his alpha on his nest now no matter what. 

With One for All crackling around him, Izuku pulls Kacchan for another kiss—this one harsher, more full of teeth and demands. Kacchan repays in kind, nipping sharp fangs on Izuku’s lips. They move as one, slowly as hands are busy mapping whatever exposed skin they can find and their brains are fuzzy from the heady kisses, but somehow they fall into bed.

It’s a messy tangle of limbs, and it’s painful. Actually painful. Izuku falls on top of Kacchan and his elbow presses down on the alpha’s ribs, Kacchan cries out and rolls, which leaves Izuku to fall onto his own arm in an awkward angle.

“Calm down, you horny nerd,” Kacchan grumbles. “You’re going to break my nose like this.”

“You told me to make you,” Izuku huffs, annoyed. “I was making you!”

“Yeah, yeah, forgot you’re a klutz,” he teases, scooting back to lay in bed properly. “Come here now.”

Kacchan opens his arms, urging him in and Izuku crawls to lay by his side. Now, with their heads a bit more sober, they manage to fit together properly, no stray elbows, just Izuku half-laying on Kacchan’s chest, mouths meeting back in a slow, sensual kiss.

Once again, all it takes is a touch of their lips for Izuku’s mind to start floating. He relaxes fully in Kacchan’s embrace and runs his hand on the alpha’s strong arm, just trying to feel more of his skin. Kacchan touches him right back, a warm (if not clammy) hand pushing Izuku’s t-shirt a little bit up to reach his lower back.

It all feels good, and right, and a culmination of something they’ve been going toward for a long time. Izuku’s inner omega is ecstatic, finally getting what it wanted for so long. 

A little bit of Kacchan’s scent bleeds through the patches and Izuku’s inner omega forces him to nuzzle on his neck, greedy for more. He doesn’t think twice before pulling the damn patches off, releasing the full power of Kacchan’s pheromones. It’s spicy, tinged with desire, and it leaves Izuku feeling drunk.

“Get these off too,” Kacchan mumbles, pulling on Izuku’s patches.

It’s probably the first time both of them have let their scents bloom unrestrained together. And it’s so incredibly good. Izuku could live in this little bubble of theirs, warm and safe and so damn horny.

Kacchan licks over his gland and Izuku gasps as every nerve ending in his body lights up. His inner omega whispers in his mind that this is right, that their alpha is finally going to claim them, that they should never let Kacchan leave their nest ever again.

The flow of their desire now is like a tide, slow to rise but unstoppable, instead of the wild flood they were caught on before.

When Kacchan adjusts his body to drape himself on top of Izuku, his weight is welcomed. Heat gets trapped between them and Izuku feels his most intimate places throb with pure want. Kacchan is in the same state, judging by the hard length Izuku feels digging on his thigh, which only adds to the euphoria of it all.

Hands become more daring with each passing minute. Izuku feels Kacchan palm his back, his stomach, his ribs. A finger brushes his nipple and he can’t help the moan that escaped through their locked lips. This only serves to spur Kacchan on—and that’s when things start not flowing so well.

Kacchan pinches Izuku’s nipple and he cries out. Then Kacchan does it again to the other nipple. Izuku’s body becomes confused and overwhelmed; it’s too much, too fast to the point the threshold between pleasure and pain is crossed. He squirms away instinctively, but Kacchan tries doing it again, probably thinking he’s doing something right.

Izuku grabs his hand to stop him and manages to breath out a winded, “Too much.”

“What?” Kacchan asks, confused. “Don’t you like it?”

“Yes but it’s—It’s too much right now. Just—Slower, alright?” he pants.

Kacchan nods, though still looking confused, and they go back to kissing.

The mood between them is quickly restored. Kacchan keeps his hands away from Izuku’s nipples, but keeps gently rubbing his stomach. The sensation of having the alpha’s hands so close and yet so far from where the fire is burning in Izuku is exhilarating, so he gives him back the same treatment. 

Izuku runs his hand up and down the ridges of Kacchan’s well defined abs and feels the skin fluttering under his fingertips. Kacchan groans pleased into their kiss and presses closer to Izuku, at this point practically laying on top of him. 

In their minor shifts, Kacchan’s hard dick presses right on top of Izuku’s. Then, a minute move of their bodies has them grinding erections. They moan together and repeat the motion, mindlessly chasing the friction that brings them so much pleasure.

“Holy shit,” Kacchan gasps when Izuku rolls his body. “You’re so hard…”

“Kacchan,” he whines, past the point of eloquence.

The alpha runs a finger on the seam of Izuku’s joggers and asks softly, “Can I touch you?”

Izuku nods enthusiastically, spreading his legs in the most slutty movement of his life.

Expectation thrums through Izuku’s body like livewire when Kacchan dips his hand inside his pants and for the first time he feels a skin that’s not his own touching his dick. It’s weird but it’s good. Kacchan’s touches are tentative, learning as they go, so much different from the certainty Izuku touches himself. Izuku holds on tight to Kacchan’s shoulder to try to anchor himself because every little shift of Kacchan’s hand feels like it’s about to make the heat explode inside him.

Little whimpers and breathy moans let the alpha know he’s doing a good job, eliciting sensations on Izuku that he never felt before. Or, at least, never felt this way, this raw, this uncontrolled.

But, once again, encouraging Kacchan backfires.

Just as tentatively, Kacchan reaches down, behind Izuku’s balls, towards his slicked hole. But this time, the foreign touch doesn’t set Izuku’s veins on fire. Kacchan’s fingers are too stiff and it feels like he’s being poked, not caressed. 

For a minute (or probably less), Izuku tries relaxing and hoping that Kacchan will magically get it right, but it doesn’t work. Kacchan probes like a medical exam, all stiff fingers going too fast. And then the tentativeness is gone and Kacchan tries sticking his finger in Izuku’s unrelaxed hole.

“Ouch,” Izuku cries, pulling back from the kiss.

Instantly the alpha pulls back and looks at him worried, “Did I do something wrong? I should have asked—”

“No, no,” Izuku shakes his head. “You can touch me there. You were just… doing it wrong.”

“Wrong how?” Kacchan asks, frowning.

“It’s too fast. Too… Hard,” he tries explaining.

“Thought you’d like hard things down there,” the alpha jokes, raising an eyebrow.

“I do, but in the right way,” Izuku whines, feeling self-conscious with the turn their perfect moment has taken.

“Right, right… Let me try again…” Kacchan says, sticking his hand back into Izuku’s pants, this time completely ignoring his dick and going straight for the prize.

Once again, too stiff and alien fingers probe on Izuku’s most sensitive and intimate spot. He tries not jerking away as his body anticipates the pain. But the pain doesn’t come. No, Kacchan keeps his touches featherlight and it fucking tickles.

“No!” Izuku screeches, squirming away. “Tickles! Don’t tickle there!”

Kacchan pulls back again, this time with a big pout.

“But you said to do it soft!”

“Soft, not light! It’s different!”

“The fuck are you making shit up for? If you don’t want to do this just tell me, for fuck’s sake!” Kacchan barks, sitting up. The mood is totally gone now and stress is taking hold of the conversation.

“I want to do it! I just want you to do it the right way!” Izuku argues.

“I was doing how you fucking told me!”

“No, you weren’t! It was feeling wrong, it’s never like that when I do it myself!”

“You better be comparing me to yourself, nerd, because if I find out you were having fun with others while I was saving myself for you,” Kacchan threatens.

That’s when Izuku realizes he inadvertently must have walked right into one of Kacchan’s insecurities. There’s a furious red on the alpha’s face that Izuku can clearly see comes from embarrassment more than anger. Kacchan isn’t used to not being good at something; he isn’t used to being patient and having to wait for Izuku to accept him; he isn’t used to not knowing what to do.

And now he’s pulling back, trying to leave the nest, because he’s ashamed. Izuku can’t let that happen.

“Wait, wait,” he pleads, pushing Kacchan back to lay on the bed.

Feeling a little bit of resistance, Izuku climbs on Kacchan’s lap to not let him leave.

“It’s fine, it’s all fine,” he coos, rubbing Kacchan’s chest to calm him down. “I just know how to touch myself, and I only ever felt my own touch. So it was a little overwhelming, but we’ll get it right, alright?”

“It’s going to be easier if you fucking explain things right,” Kacchan says, pouting but already visibly calmer.

“What if I show you?” he offers.

A wide smirk takes on Kacchan’s face, making Izuku realize the gravity of what he just said.

“Go on then,” Kacchan says, way too pleased for Izuku’s liking. “Get those pants off and show me how it’s done, nerd.”

It’s a bait if Izuku ever heard one, but he’s incapable of backing off from Kacchan’s challenges.

Trying to not overthink it, Izuku gets up from the bed and kicks his pants off together with his underwear. He does it as fast as possible as if hoping Kacchan won’t see his hard cock wobbling around. Then he tries climbing back into bed just as fast but Kacchan stops him.

“Take your t-shirt off as well while you’re at it,” he asks, still smirking.

And well, Izuku is already in over his head so he might as well. Showing his nipples shouldn’t be as nerve-wracking as showing his bare butt, right? He throws the t-shirt away just as quickly as he did his pants and finally climbs back into bed.

Kacchan’s hands are on him as soon as he’s close enough, squeezing and feeling and pushing him down to lay back.

“So fucking hot,” he whispers as his eyes rack over Izuku’s body.

“Kacchan,” he whines. “Don’t make it weird…”

Kacchan chuckles, “It isn’t weird to say my omega is hot.”

A needy whimper breaks through Izuku’s lips just from being called Kacchan’s omega.

“Come on now, omega. Show me how to make you feel good,” Kacchan whispers as he runs a hand on Izuku’s inner thigh.

At this point, Izuku’s brain and his instincts are at odds. He knows he should feel embarrassed, even ashamed of being so slutty, but his inner omega is loving every second of this. The beast wants Kacchan’s eyes on him, wants to show off.

Usually, Izuku has his omega on a tight leash but it seems like right now the beast is loose.

His thighs fall open, exposing his hole to the alpha’s hungry eyes. And Izuku’s hands trail the well-known path, jerking his dick a couple of times before cupping his balls and then finding his slicked hole. He rubs two fingers on his rim, running around it a few times before pressing them in. Just for a second. Then he pulls back and repeats the motion.

Rubbing, spreading, deeping, pulling off. Again and again. Each time going a little bit deeper, a little bit harder.

It’s a process Izuku has done to himself since presenting. It’s how he takes care of his needs during his lonely heats. And now, he’s showing Kacchan to let him take on the duty of bringing him pleasure.

And Kacchan is taking the lesson seriously. His eyes don’t leave Izuku’s hole even for a second. His nose flares up as he takes big sniffs of air when his slick starts dripping through Izuku’s knuckles. Kacchan looks wild but focused, a predator eyeing his prey, waiting to pounce.

When his fingers are as deep as they can go, Izuku has to pull them off. It’d be all too easy to keep going the familiar path, press on his prostate and find the way of his orgasm. 

“I… I think I’m ready for you,” he says breathlessly.

That’s all Kacchan needs to hear to rip his own pants off with a speed and roughness Izuku only sees him use on the battlefield. Izuku catches a glimpse of the alpha’s cock and the relaxed state he’s in goes up in smoke. That thing is huge, possibly bigger than the biggest heat aid Izuku has used in the deep end of his heat.

And then Kacchan is climbing on top of him with that monster between his legs and Izuku remembers the pain he felt when Kacchan stuck his fingers the wrong way and all he can do is screech, “Wait! Wait!”

Kacchan halts all movement immediately and looks to Izuku expectantly.

“Let me… Let me do this,” he says, scrambling to think of a solution that won’t ruin the mood once again.

“What do you mean?”

Izuku takes a good look at Kacchan’s dick, hoping to find answers. It’s big, very big. And there’s a knot just as big waiting to pop on the base. Izuku has taken knotted dildos before, his heat aids, and he loves it, but it’s always been at his speed, how he wants.

He supposes that’s the answer.

“Lay back,” he says and once Kacchan complies, Izuku climbs on his lap.

In this position, their dicks align and it takes Izuku’s breath away. Kacchan is almost twice as long, more than twice as thick. That’s a true alpha cock. 

Lead by curiosity, Izuku takes that big cock in his hand to feel its girth and weight. It feels massive, and burning hot. Kacchan hisses and jerks his hips, fucking into Izuku’s hold. 

“Now who is teasing,” Kacchan says through gritted teeth.

“Sorry,” he whispers, closing his fist to give it a good pump.

Kacchan whimpers and jerks his hips again. He’s holding back, but it’s clearly a struggle. The cock in Izuku’s hand drips precum in his fingers, and it’s easy to see the way every muscle on the alpha is pulled tight. And still, he waits. The predator is under the prey’s will.

“Relax,” Izuku coos, running a hand over the alpha’s abs to settle better. “I’ve got you.”

Just like using a heat aid, Izuku tells himself as he raises to his knees and uses a hand to align the alpha’s thick cock to his hole. The blunt head touches his rim and Izuku rolls his hips, teasing his rim with that hard heat. It feels good, so he keeps rolling, using the head of the dick as he’d his own fingers, and slowly sitting down to feel the cock breach into him.

Izuku’s eyes fall shut as his whole being focuses on the sensations coming from his hole, and the slow opening, on the hard length spreading him open, on the blistering heat that threatens to burn him to ashes.

He forgets how to breathe when the whole cockhead slips in. He’s so full he almost wants to get out, but it’s so good he also wants to sit down completely. It’s the last wisp of Izuku’s rational thought that keeps him in place, slowly working his hips down, savoring every centimeter. 

“What a fucking vision…” Kacchan whispers in a reverent tone that makes Izuku feel his insides become all gooey. He wants to bite Kacchan, and he wants to hide, and he wants to preen for his alpha.

There’s not much time to feel self-conscious, though. Taking a peek down, Izuku sees the most fascinating sight. Kacchan down there, between his thighs, muscles pulled taut like violin strings, mouth open but without breathing, glazed eyes, hands clawing on bedding. What a vision.

Enraptured as he’s, Izuku sinks down into the cock until it’s all the way in. 

“Holy shit,” Kacchan wheezes. “So fucking tight…”

Izuku agrees with the sentiment. He’s so full he feels like he’s about to split at the seams. And yet, he loves it. It’s the best sensation he ever felt.

Greedy for more, Izuku rolls his hips—just to have Kacchan’s big hands stop him.

“Give me a second,” the alpha pleads in a broken voice.

Izuku smiles. His handsome alpha is just as overwhelmed, just as lost. His inner omega urges him to reassure the alpha.

“So good, Kacchan,” he moans. “You fill me so well… Let me ride you, alpha.”

“Right,” Kacchan agrees, voice broken and rough. “Take what you need, omega.”

How could Izuku resist such an offer? He rolls his hips again just to get a taste, and feels his whole body lighting up with pleasure. It’s so incredible and makes him hunger for more, so he does it again. And again. And again.

Just like he did when he was working his own fingers, Izuku pushes deeper and harder each time. Every new stimulation just makes him hungry for more and more and more.

Kacchan’s cock is so different from his heat aids; so hot and hard, and the skin feels amazing. It doesn’t take long until Izuku is bouncing up and down, relishing the way his prostate is brushed in every movement from how big Kacchan is. Having those hard abs to support himself is also great. That plus the hands on his thighs give him the stability he needs to ride faster and harder than ever before.

At this point, it’s a mad rush to the finishing line. Izuku doesn’t think, doesn’t see, doesn’t hear. All he can do is feel the growing coil of heat inside his guts that is desperate for release.

So it takes him completely by surprise when Kacchan’s muscles seize under him and his knot pops deep into Izuku, locking them together. Izuku cries loudly as the coil inside him immediately unravels and waves of pleasure crash through him, into him.

Time comes to a stand still as Izuku gets lost inside himself. It’s so much pleasure that it feels never ending.

But it does end, and Izuku collapses on the alpha’s chest as a puppet with cut strings.

Kacchan’s thick arms hug him tight, almost as if he’s afraid Izuku will leave. Impossible. Even if they weren’t locked, which they are, he barely has the energy to raise his head. He’s all too happy to float in the happy hormones of his brain for as long as he can.

So that’s what they do. They hug and try to slow down their breaths and heart rates. And they enjoy every second of it. 

Izuku realizes that Kacchan recovered his higher brain functions when the alpha starts grooming him. He kisses Izuku’s temple, nuzzles his cheek, all soft and affectionate like no one would believe Kacchan can be.

When Izuku pulls back to look at the alpha under him, he sees that his face is red and sweaty. Izuku can’t help but lick him clean. He licks Kacchan’s cheeks, jaw and neck, basking in the alpha’s pheromones, and bathing him in his. Purrs and croons fill the air around them, betraying the happiness of their inner beasts. 

Finally the four of them are on the same page.

“Kacchan,” Izuku purrs as the alpha kisses his gland. “My alpha…”

“My omega,” Kacchan responds. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Kacchan,” he sighs.

When he kisses Kacchan’s gland in return, his inner omega whispers for him to bite down, make the alpha his. But Izuku whispers back that they’ll get to it soon. Now it’s not the time since they haven’t talked specifically about mating bites, but Izuku is confident they’ll have the conversation quite soon.

For now, Izuku wishes  they could stay that way, kissing and cuddling, forever. However, when Kacchan’s knot pops off, a messy mixture of slick and cum drips down their thighs and groins, and in seconds it starts cooling and becoming sticky in the most disgusting way.

“We need to clean up,” Izuku says, pulling back from their clammy hug. “And we’ll have to change the sheets before sleep.”

“Am I sleeping here?” Kacchan asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I was hoping you would,” Izuku confesses, eager to spend a whole night enveloped in his alpha’s arms and scent.

“Great. Because I kind of told Sero I’d leave the room for him and Todoroki the whole night.”

“Oh yeah, Sero’s plane leaves tomorrow, right?”

“It does. The bastard bought the tickets a day later than the others on purpose to get some more time with Half’n Half,” Kacchan says with humor. “So I told him I’d let them allow tonight so he can make his move or whatever. That idiot better not waste this chance.”

“That’s why you brought me dinner?” Izuku asks, poking Kacchan on the ribs for his assumptions. “You were planning this!”

Kacchan grabs his hand and pulls Izuku for a hug.

“I was hoping, not planning,” he answers, giving him a small kiss. “I was ready to sleep on the floor if you didn’t invite me to your nest. I’m glad you did though. Even if our chicken must be cold already.”

“I’m just glad you bought the chicken instead of killing it yourself,” Izuku says giggling.

“You’re just too bad of an omega to recognize my incredible hunting skills,” Kacchan teases back.

“You didn’t seem to think I was a bad omega a few minutes ago, when you were being a good alpha and letting me take your knot,” Izuku whispers in his ear.

Kacchan pushes him to bed and leans in on top of him to whisper, “Then maybe now you’ll be a good omega and let your alpha show you all he’s learned.”

Izuku rolls his head to the side, offering his neck to the alpha. He knows he’s not a model omega, but he wants to be a good omega for his Kacchan. And from the way Kacchan pulls him for a deep kiss, he’s doing a good job on that.

True to his word, Kacchan shows Izuku what he’s learned in their second round—that is much better than the first. Maybe it’s still not perfect, but they’re not a perfect couple anyway. They’re a couple that learns and grows together despite all the hardships and this will be just another one of the things they’ll get better as they go.

And Izuku knows they’ll keep learning and growing in every facet of their lives. They’ll face the media, the Commission, the public opinion, and whoever else they must together. They’ll learn to handle their inner beast, their instincts, and the expectations attached to them together. And they’ll find a way to live happy lives together. And everything will be alright because they’re together.