Yuuji blinked rapidly and leaned against the doorway in thought, “Oh, I guess, it must be that people from the big city just randomly blurt those kinds of things out, huh?”

Megumi sighed, “No, but as my colleague you need to know about that kind of stuff.”

“Okay, well,” Yuuji floundered, “Have a good heat, I guess?  Don’t overdo it?”

Megumi sighed again, “I’m leaving.”

“Drink lots of water?” Yuuji shouted down the hallway at him.

--

“So,” Yuuji drew out, fiddling with the tab on his drink, “Did you, how did your heat go?  Everything…working good?”

“Not appropriate.”

“Gotcha.”

--

“It’s tomorrow.”

“Again?”

“Yes.”

“Didn’t you just have one? How often do you—”

“Inappropriate.”

--

“So, I feel like I’ve been stepping on a lot of landmines concerning your…you know, your biology.”

“We don’t need to talk about this.”

“But, we do, because I keep asking things that aren’t okay, and certain people keep telling me things that even I know are outdated.”

“What people?” Megumi raised his eyebrow.

Yuuji rolled his eyes, “I used the term ‘people’ extremely loosely.”

“Sukuna?”

Yuuji grimaced, “Yeah.”

“Sukuna has…opinions on my heat?”

“You could call them that, let’s just say it used to be a very forward invitation when an omega told you their heat was coming.”

“It can be, yeah,” Megumi conceded, fixing Yuuji with a hard stare, “But, mine was purely a courtesy. Most sorcerers disclose this information to their partners when they work together.”

“Yeah!” Yuuji’s voice almost broke on the word as it forced itself out of his mouth, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that!  I know that, it’s just, he’s kinda hard to shut up, you know?”

Megumi shrugged, “Just keep your Sukuna-to-mouth filter up and we won’t have a problem.”

“It’s kinda hard when the guy can literally make a mouth appear on my face.”

“Try harder.”

“Got it,” Yuuji flashed a thumbs up, “I can totally do that!”

--

Yuuji was left standing by the vending machines, wide eyed with cold coffee dripping down his head onto his uniform.

Nobara peeked her head around the corner and burst out laughing, “Haha!  Your hair turned brown!  Brown as shit, shit-for-brains!”

“I don’t get it!”

“You have shit,” She raised her eyebrow, leaning closer to him, “For brains.”

“No, I mean,” Yuuji raised his arms, “What did I say?”

“Hell if I know, I only came because I saw Fushiguro storm off the field.  Must have been bad though, ‘cause he looked pissed, and he dumped his coffee all over you.  Unless, you did that to yourself for some reason,” Nobara took her phone out and snapped a quick picture.  Then took another one.

“Hey!”

“Shut up, I’m going to show this to Maki-senpai, she’s going to laugh so hard.  Can you make that stupid face again?  Yep, that one.”

--

“Yuuji, is Sukuna listening to everything that happens around you?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Sometimes I think he can see things that I—”

“Good, I’m going to tell him something, so listen up,” Megumi turned, kneeling completely on the bed so he was looking down at the other boy. Looking down at Sukuna.

“Anything that I tell Yuuji about my heat is not meant for you, it has nothing to do with you, you will not comment on it, you will not ask questions about it, you will not tell Yuuji to ask questions about it.  I’m never going to ask you to share my heat with me.  And when the day comes that I ask Yuuji to share my heat, that will have nothing to do with you either.”

“‘When’?” Yuuji gasped out, his voice barely a wheeze.

Fushiguro ignored him.

“This will be the last time I will address this issue.”

“Hey, wait, how—I mean, I’m gonna circle back around to the ‘when’ part later, but—how do you know Sukuna is gonna listen to you?”

“Unfortunately, one of his goals runs parallel to mine.  It’s annoying, but unavoidable.”

“What is it?  And what did you mean by ‘when’?”

“When is when.”

“What?”

“Red Wing!” Batman yells to try to bring his little sidekick back to focus, but is otherwise engaged with Selina’s claws.  Huh, this must be one of their cold phases because Dick actually thinks they’re fighting this time, and not that weird foreplay that Selina plays dumb about when Dick asks.  Big Bat must have done something stupid, as usual.  As Selina tells it, it’s almost always his fault.

“I can’t, I can’t hit an omega!” RW yells back, his voice cracking in the middle. Which sets Dick off again, and a sensual chuckle just isn’t going to convey how funny he finds this.

“Shut up!”

“Aren’t you sweet,” Dick tries to breathe through his laughing, “But this is going to be very one sided if you don’t hit back.”

Red Wing curls his hands into fists, but is still open mouthed, glancing over to Batman for guidance, as if the man is going to stop fighting with Selina and lecture him about proper inter-dynamic conduct as it applies to vigilantes and criminals right here on the roof.

“Hey, little Red,” Dick calls, snapping his fingers, “Are we gonna do this or not?”

“Don’t call me that!”

Dick grins at the flush on RW’s cheeks—birdy’s got a temper. All Selina said he had to do this evening was distract the big guy’s sidekick and Dick would rather rile the kid up instead of fight.

“But it’s your name,” Dick says innocently, widening his eyes for maximum effect, “And what a fine name it is. What’d ya do, pick your favorite color and animal part? Why not Batkid or Batboy?”

“Shut up!”

Dick holds up his hands in mock surrender, taking a few steps back and to the side, “I understand, preteen rebellion, I made some questionable decisions during that time too—I mean, you should have seen some of my outfits. What should I call you then?”

“Hey, stop moving! Stay where you are!”

“Afraid I can’t, little Red,” Dick tuts, “You should understand, birds need space to spread their wings and....fly.”

Dick flips back gracefully, landing with his hands firmly on the ledge of the roof, his legs not dipping backward an inch.

“Hey—wait!” RW yells and Dick is almost touched at the concern in his voice.

He walks a few steps and then lowers his feet to right himself with a blinding smile.

“Impressive, right?” Dick takes a low bow, “Now you’ve been wonderful, but the rest of the crowd has moved on and the only one man show I put on is for mature audiences only,” Dick winks, “Why don’t you call me when you’re old enough for presentation?”

“What?”

--

Dick tries not to cry. He really does, but as soon as Selina comes into his room, runs her fingers through his hair, and says “Oh, kitten,” in a way that anyone else would think was condescending—he sobs. There isn’t anything graceful about it. He doesn’t have the delicate aloofness Selina adopts during the very few times Dick has seen her shed a tear—her pretty Hollywood crying. It’s gasping and lurching and snotty and doesn’t end until he’s cried himself to sleep. He feels disgusting when he wakes up, takes a shower, cries some more in there, and when he walks back into his room to find that Selina has put his bed sheets and clothes in the laundry for the first time since he’s lived with her.

Just saying thank you gets him going again.

Selina, and Dick says this with all the love and respect in his heart for the career criminal who plucked him from the street and took him in, acts like a real mother for the first time.

She wraps him in one of her robes, the satin sticks to his wet skin uncomfortably but it’s better than summoning up the energy to get dressed, and brings him to her bedroom where they lay on the bed, curled around each other. She doesn’t even say anything about his wet hair soaking her clothes. After a while, Selina turns on the TV, volume low, to some cheesy home renovation show and Dick drifts back to sleep.

He wakes up alone in a TV lit room to the smell of Chinese food. Dick’s throat hurts and he has a headache and he would like nothing more than to stay on the bed and watch home improvement reruns forever, but the food smells delicious and he’s getting cold without proper clothes on.

Selina’s smile is small when she comes to check on him and runs her fingers through his heavily cow-licked hair, “Why don’t you wash up and brush your teeth before dinner? You’ll feel more human.”

Dick follows the instructions in a daze, changes into a sweatshirt, pants, and socks, and finds that Selina’s right. He doesn’t feel better, just more human.

They eat on the couch as usual, but instead of whatever trashy reality show they could find, it’s on a two hour special that boasts the world’s cutest pets.

Dick truly is hungry, but so far has only managed one bite of rice. He wants to talk to Selina, see if she got in touch with Bruce, or Alfred (oh god, Alfred, he loved Jason, Jason loved Alfred and now—), he wants to know if she knows anything else besides what the whole underbelly of Gotham has heard of by now.

Joker killed the Bat’s bird.

Bashed his brains in.

Blew him to kingdom come.

Took the teenager that hid his heart behind sneers and brashness, that Dick had offered his whole world to, and made him nothing more than a dark red smear on charred concrete.

Dick isn’t able to finish dinner.

“Oh, I was just,” Robb cleared his throat, “Wondering if she maybe put something in the dryer that wasn’t supposed to be...dried.”

Sansa stared at her brother, shaking her head in confusion when he didn’t elaborate.

“Because of shrinking,” He finished, “Things can shrink in the wash when directions are not followed.”

“Did one of your shirts shrink? Or your trousers?” Sansa put her hands on her hips, “You know it’s best to air dry those. And you’re old enough to be doing your own laundry, don’t you think? I understand the impulse to blame Arya, but honestly, you’re a man grown.”

“I was just—” Robb took a breath, “Your skirt, Sansa. Your skirt is…too short.”

“What?”

“You’re going to have to change.”

“What?”

“Or put something on underneath, but you’ll not be leaving the house without having done one of the two.”

Sansa smoothed down the sides of her skirt, “It’s supposed to be this short—“ She broke off at the look on her brother’s face before huffing in annoyance.

“Okay,” She said between pursed lips, “So it’s a tad shorter than it would be on the average woman, but you don’t know how hard it is to find skirts made for taller women with an appropriate length, and this is in fashion and Margery has one just like it and she looks absolutely darling—”

“Okay, okay,” Robb held up his hands. “Who am I to argue with what Margery Tyrell looks darling in?”

“Practically everything,” Sansa said sincerely.

Robb sighed and barely managed to hold back on rolling his eyes.

“Fine,” He said eventually, motioning toward the stairs, “But you’re going to go up and put some tights on underneath.”

“Robb!” Sansa protested. “It’s still summer—“

“And if you and I ever want to live to see winter, you’ll not be leaving the house without something underneath that skirt. Mother and father and Septa Mordane would throw a fit if they were to see you.”

“But Margery Tyrell—”

“I’ll not hear another word about Margery Tyrell. Margery Tyrell is not Sansa Stark and she’s not living under Catelyn Stark’s roof.” Robb shook his head, “By the Seven, Sansa, the girl is a head and half shorter than you, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same skirt hit her below the knees.”

“Robb, that is not very charitable. She’s perhaps only a head shorter.”

Robb raised an eyebrow, but was undaunted, “Perhaps uncharitable, but still true.”

“I only want to fit in,” Sansa said quietly, “I already stick out so much, between my hair and my height and my...lack of knowledge.”

Robb deftly ignored the last part of that sentence and kept his mouth shut on his opinions of how much knowledge his fifteen year old sister should have, “I didn’t say you had to take the skirt off, you just have to put something underneath.”

“No one else is going to be wearing tights!”

“It’s not my duty to care about what everyone else is wearing. I only care about what you are.”

“You’re worse than father.”

“Ah, but more lenient than Septa Mordane would be. She’d send you back up and you’d never leave the house in anything more revealing than a muumuu.”

Sansa made a face.

“What’s a moo-moo?” Arya spoke up from behind them, hopping up on the counter. “Is it a cow thing? Are we doing animal sounds, I can do a great pig!” She snorted loudly.

“Ugh, you sound like a pig because you behave like one,” Sansa said shortly, before turning around and walking out of the kitchen without another word.

“What crawled up her butt?” Arya asked.

“Nothing that I could see,” Robb winced as the words left his mouth and he shuddered in disgust.

--

“Sansa,” Jon greeted coming down the stairs as she rounded the corner to go up.

Sansa reached the first step before spinning around, looking down, “Jon,” She said with a seldom heard authority in her voice that caused Jon to start and look around. It was the look he got on his face when her mother was talking to him.

“Is my skirt too short?”

Jon’s gaze dropped momentarily down before rapidly shooting back up to her eyes. He took a moment to answer, “I think it’s a very nice skirt.”

“Thank you,” She said curtly, inclining her head in a mock curtsy, “Jon happens to think that it’s not too short at all!” She called out, hoping her voice carried to the kitchen.

“Jon!” Robb’s voice answered back. “Get in here!”

Jon entered the kitchen with his hands up, “All I said was that it was a nice skirt.”

Robb grinned at him, “I know, but if she thinks I’m annoyed at you now, maybe her bad mood will be over soon.”

“Theon doesn’t either!” Was yelled down a few moments later, as well as the firm shutting of a door.

Robb’s face turned red and he pushed himself off of the counter he was leaning on, “Greyjoy! Get the hell down here now!”

--

Fushiguro didn’t bother to keep his exasperated sigh to himself, “Did your stupid cousin say something?”

“He might have mentioned one or two...dozen things when he called me in the middle of the night.”

“Oh my—he, he made a stupid joke at that party we were at and, I just went along with it to get him off my back.”

“So you’re not actually interested in...”

“No.”

“Would you,” Itadori’s voice dipped lower, “Maybe be interested in one of those things...?”

“Which one?”

Itadori leaned over to whisper in Fushiguro’s ear.

“Oh, I could definitely be interested in that one with just you.”

“We’ll have to buy one of those.”

Fushiguro reached for his phone on the dresser, pulling up a website awfully fast in Itadori’s opinion, “I’ve already been looking. I couldn’t decide how...” He trailed off with a look to Itadori, “Big I wanted it to be.”

“R-Right,” Itadori trailed off, taking the phone and scrolling.

“I don’t want to hurt myself, but I also don’t want it to be underwhelming.”

“None of these look like they’d be underwhelming,” Itadori pressed a kiss to Fushiguro’s head, “Some of these are really expensive.”

Fushiguro smirked, “Sukuna said he’d buy it for me—”

“Let me guess.”

“—if he got to watch me use it.”

“Well, it’s up to you,” Itadori said lightheartedly, not bothering to dodge Fushiguro when the other lightly slapped him on the chest, “Can he still be a sugar daddy if you’re technically my boyfriend?”

“There’s no ‘technically’ about it, you are my boyfriend.  And, yes, I guess.  He’s an asshole so he’ll expect something for it, but…you aren’t actually considering this, are you?”

“I mean…” Itadori trailed off, “He is an asshole, but he is loaded, and I know you think he’s hot—”

“I do not!”

“And he definitely thinks you’re hot, and so, if you’d be down with it, I’d be down with it,” Yuuji passed Fushiguro his phone back.

“I knew you were open minded and progressive, Yuuji, but this is insane.  You know he wants to have sex with me, right?  While you watch.”

“It’s called cuckolding,” Yuuji said with faux brightness, “And yeah, he explained it to me last night.”

“And you’d be okay with that?”

“Hell no!  Unless you’d be okay with that.”

“I don’t want to do anything that you’re not okay with.  Flat out.”

“But you would…if I was?”

“I,” Fushiguro left off, placing his phone on his chest, “Have fantasies occasionally, but that’s all they are.  I think if I actually acted on them, I, I wouldn’t like it.  But you know what I think I’d be into?”

Yuuji raised his eyebrows.

“You fucking me while he watches.”

“He’d be so pissed.”

“I know,” Fushiguro smirked, “That’s kind of why I like it.”

“I kind of like it too.”

“Can we lie to Sukuna so he’ll buy me a knotted dildo, please?  And maybe some other things?”

“You sure you want to bait him like that?”

“Maybe we could throw him a bone or something?”

“A bone is exactly what he’s looking for.”

Small puffs of smoke floated into the air like signals heralding the arrival of Katsuki Bakugou, before dissipating into whirls that took on the blue-purple hue of the sunset.  Izuku followed them as they rose higher and higher, his little head tilted back as far as it could go.

“Wow!” Izuku exclaimed, his eyes snapping back down from the sky and going impossibly wider with every small spark that popped out of Bakugou’s hands. “That’s so awesome! You’re so awesome, Kacchan!”

There was another loud pop that yielded a large grey cloud, followed by, “Duh.”

Izuku wasn’t deterred by the lackluster response, still spilling out praises as the two walked down the street together.  There was hardly anyone walking around their neighborhood street, most people already inside making dinner and spending time with their families.  Izuku caught glimpses of activity inside the houses from brightly lit windows of smiling mothers putting steaming dishes on the table and studious children working on homework.  Everyone was inside where it was warm and cozy, out of the Autumn chill, but Izuku wouldn’t trade places with any of them right now.  He had spent the whole day with Kacchan, running through the woods on an adventure until his cheeks were red and his nose was running. The scrape on his knee was still sore and just now scabbing over, but he smiled brightly.

“I hope my Quirk will be as cool as yours.”

“Fat chance! Mine is the best!”

Izuku didn’t reply, but privately agreed, hunching his shoulders and pulling his backpack up to his neck. Bakugou continued with his head held high, his little legs marching as if he were leading an army.  Seeing his friend’s confident strides made Izuku that much more conscious of the way his own steps sometimes scuffed against the pavement, jolting him forward gracelessly.

“You don’t have a Quirk, Deku, so you’re gonna be totally defenseless. You’re probably going to need an alpha for your whole life,” Bakugou said it like it was an undisputed fact of life.

Izuku stopped walking, “I’m going to need an...alpha?”

“Yeah! An alpha to take care of you, tell you what to do and...” Bakugou trailed off, then shrugged, “Stuff like that, ‘cause you’re not going to be able to do it on your own.”

“I-I bet I could...” Izuku mumbled to the ground, slowly walking after Bakugou again.

“Nope! Alphas take care of everybody else, that’s why I’m going to be an alpha when I grow up!” Bakugou’s voice grew louder with conviction, and he raised a small fist in the air, “A hero and an alpha! Just like All Might!  ‘Cause I’m super awesome!”

“Oh...” Izuku didn’t quite know the differences between all of the second genders, but Kacchan seemed really confident about it. The part about being a hero he could relate to, and taking care of people.

“Well, then, I’ll be an alpha too,” Izuku declared, “So I can take care of people.  We can, we can take care of people together, Kacchan!”

For the first time since they had started walking home together, Bakugou turned around to face him.

“Ha! You can’t be an alpha, Deku! You don’t even have a Quirk, you can’t take care of anyone!”

“I, I will!” Izuku insisted, “When I’m older!”

“Forget about it!” Bakugou yelled back at him, “You’re never gonna get a Quirk, you won’t be an alpha, and you definitely aren’t going to be a hero!”

Tears filled Izuku’s eyes and Bakugou scoffed, turning back around to face the empty street.

“There’s nothing wrong with not being an alpha,” He said grudgingly, mechanically, as if he were repeating words he had heard before, “If there were no betas and omegas then there’d be no one for alphas to take care of. So, shut up, Deku.”

Bakugou started walking again, his pace a little slower now, his hands clenched in irritation.

Izuku sniffled, wiping his eyes on his sleeves harshly. He wasn’t going to be useless, he’d get his Quirk and be just like All Might, then he could protect people too. He could even protect—

“Kacchan,” Izuku started, his voice still thick.

“I said, shut up. I’m gonna be a hero, I’m gonna be an alpha, and that means I’m gonna have to take care of you.”

It was such an innocuous statement. One that Kacchan has made a few times before, a general statement about protecting people and becoming a hero, but it had never been said with Izuku specifically attached to it.  Izuku smiled at the ground, his eyelashes were still wet and his nose was running, but his mind kept turning that phrase over and over, his smile getting bigger and bigger with every repetition.

“Kacchan,” He grinned, taking a deep breath and relishing the warm feeling that had wound its way through his insides, “That’s—”

“So,” Bakugou turned around again, the unnatural glow of his red eyes in the light of the setting sun taking Izuku aback, “You should save yourself some trouble, and just give up right now.”

—

“I can hear your stupid muttering all the down the sidewalk, shut the hell up!”

Bakugou jabbed his finger right in Izuku’s chest, startling the other boy and making him wince back.

“K-Kacchan?”  Izuku had seen the other boy walking ahead, his pale blond hair wasn’t hard to miss especially against the stark black of their middle school uniform, and had done his absolute best to stay off Kacchan’s radar. Then he had started comparing and contrasting Pro Heroes, which led to him thinking about the most effective team ups, which got him started on how he would reorganize certain agency’s heroes and sidekicks, and he must not have noticed that the other boy had doubled back.

Or that he had been talking aloud, again.

“Sorry, I was just—” Izuku hurriedly cut himself off as Bakugou leaned closer to him, a vicious glare on his face. “K-Kacchan…?”

“Tch,” Bakugou finally backed off, looking Izuku up and down with a sneer, “What the hell’s the point of a male omega anyway?”

Izuku blushed, swallowing hard, “There are, there are lots of different types of—”

“But I guess it makes sense that you are one, useless on top of Quirkless,” Bakugou plunged on, craning his head over the other boy for extra intimidation, “What did I tell ya, you are gonna need an alpha for your whole life.”

This was an old argument between them, one that had been going on since elementary school after that Autumn afternoon.  It had only gotten worse when they both had presented, Bakugou the expected alpha and Izuku…the late blooming omega.  For the longest time Izuku had thought he was a beta, had made his peace with not being an alpha like All Might, like Kacchan, until last year.  He and his mother had just thought he’d come down with a bad cold, just some minor aches and pains with a fever that hadn’t broken in two days.  But when the doctor had ran some extra tests, Izuku had walked out of the room with an All Might sticker and a shiny new pamphlet that had ‘Your Omega Body and You’ written in giant letters on the front.  The kind that was meant for elementary school kids.

Izuku had shown up at school the next day, stunned when Bakugou had taken one look at him and contemptuously declared him an omega in front of the entire class.  Bakugou had always been really good at guessing second genders, and Izuku’s had just reinforced the idea that he had always had since they were kids.

Bakugou smirked, “Looks like you’re still gonna need me to take care of you.”

There was that peculiar phrase again, the one that had filled Izuku’s younger self with such a brief feeling of warmth before Bakugou had told him to just give up.  Now, Izuku could only hear the phrase with the degrading meaning Bakugou had originally intended, and it left a familiar sour taste in his mouth.

“N-No, you won’t.  I can, I can take care of myself, Kacchan!” Izuku gripped the straps of his backpack and squeezed as if that would give him strength, “You’re not my alpha!”

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Izuku knew he had yelled it too loud, and his cheeks were quickly heating up as he remembered that they were still standing in the middle of a public sidewalk. A group of elementary kids walking past them stared with wide eyes, their little mouths open in shock, the grownups just side-stepped around them, some even covered up a smile or sniggered. Izuku has seen enough of those kinds of smiles to know it was one people had on their face when they were making fun of someone.

Bakugou’s eyes narrowed and he clenched his hands, smoke coming out. Even his cheeks were flushed under all the negative attention.

“It’s a lovers’ spat,” One high school girl didn’t even bother to whisper to her friends as they walked past, all giggling into their hands. “That’s so embarrassing.

Bakugou was growing more and more irritated with every passing comment and while Izuku had been self-conscious as the center of attention of the crowd earlier, now he was exclusively focused on dodging an angry Bakugou.  He crouched in on himself, waving his hands in defense and trying to stutter out excuses.

“I-I, I didn’t mean to say that, I mean, I did, just not so—” Izuku cut himself off when he felt hands grab his school uniform around the collar and pull. “Hey!”

Bakugou dragged him off of the sidewalk and into an alleyway, roughly throwing him against the wall.  Izuku flinched as his back thudded against the brick, a stray edge catching him right on his shoulder. The pain was sharp and quickly spread to his whole back, but it didn’t distract him from Bakugou’s glare. The ferocity of it had Izuku immediately dropping his eyes to the ground in a movement that was as instinctual as breathing.

“Kacchan,” He appealed, his voice catching in the back of his throat.

Bakugou didn’t let him get another word out.  He crowded Izuku further, looming over the shorter boy, “I knew you were stupid, but I can’t believe you’d yell something like that right out in the middle of the street! Now people are going to think we’re a bunch of perverts.”

“I’m sorry, Kacchan. I didn’t mean to say it so loud,” His next word came out softer, “But...”

“But, what?”

“But...you’re not,” Izuku couldn’t quite bring himself to look Kacchan directly in the eye in this charged situation, but he did pitch his voice lower to convey his seriousness, “You’re not my alpha.”

Bakugou narrowed his eyes and let out a snort, “What? You think anyone else is up to the task of keeping your clumsy ass out of trouble?”

“M-m-m-my mom,” Izuku’s lip wobbled, “My mom is my alpha right now.”

“And so? You plan on living with your mom your whole life?”

“No, but...” Izuku took a deep breath, “When I meet an alpha that I...want to take care of me, then, I’ll, I’ll choose them, Kacchan. It’ll be my choice.”

Bakugou’s mouth twisted into an ugly smirk, “No one’s gonna want you.”

The sharp words made Izuku flinch and his lip wobble even more.

“That might...if that’s the case, then,” Izuku trembled, but forced himself to take one short, meaningful glance into Kacchan’s eyes, enough to get a glimpse of bright red, “I’ll take care of myself.”

“You’ll be dead in a week. Useless and defenseless, remember?”

“That’s not true, Kacchan, I’m not! Don’t say that!” Izuku shouted, taking a deep breath and squeezing his eyes shut, “Don’t say that, stupid Kacchan!  I’m Quirkless and an omega, and I’m going to be a hero and even if I don’t have an alpha, I’ll take care of myself!  But I don’t care what you say, someone is going to want me!”

The yell echoed in the space between the two boys.  Izuku was breathing heavily, his fists clenching and unclenching, but his head remained bowed and he didn’t dare open his eyes to see Kacchan’s reaction.  He doubted he’d even be able to see through the tears welling up.  Perhaps when they eventually spilled out over his cheeks and made their way to the ground, his vision would be clear enough to see the derision on Kacchan’s face when he called him a crybaby.

It was too quiet in the narrow alley, not even the other people and their conversations could be heard, the carefree laughter of the elementary children as they walked to school was gone.  There was only the sound of Izuku’s heart thudding in his ears and Bakugou’s deep, angry breaths.  He wasn’t even yelling, Izuku thought with a cold shiver, and that meant it was going to be bad.  Izuku squeezed his eyes shut harder in preparation for one of the perfectly controlled explosions that Kacchan was capable of, loud and close enough to his face to hurt, but not enough to permanently burn his skin.  Kacchan…Kacchan really is amazing, Izuku thought with bitterness.

He was expecting the contact when it came, a hand to his face, pushing it to the side in a move that Izuku could only believe would precede his skull being smashed into the cement accompanied by a loud blast and extreme heat.  Izuku brought a hand up to try to break his fall, defending the side of his head, but the pain never came.

“Ka…cchan,” Izuku choked out, trying to squirm away, but Bakugou held on to him tighter and tilted his neck further to the side.

“Shut up, Deku,” Bakugou snapped. “Just hold still.”

Izuku tried to pull away again, “What, what are you doing?”

“Shut up!” Bakugou’s voice had a weird quality to it, deep and like it had been looped on itself over and over.  It made Izuku’s ears vibrate and tingle, ringing in his head long after Kacchan had quit speaking.  Izuku found his voice dry up at the sound of it, he tried to protest once more, but each time he opened his mouth he could only stutter out a few sounds before shaking so badly he had to close his mouth to stop his teeth from chattering together.

A small furrow appeared between Bakugou’s eyebrows but was quickly replaced by a glare.

“Just,” He started again, taking a deep breath through his nose, “Hold still, and shut up.”

Izuku blinked tears from his eyes, he was scared, he didn’t know what was happening, Bakugou was acting strange, he was acting strange, all they had to do this morning was walk to school, so what in the world—

Bakugou licked him, right above his school jacket collar, below his jaw.  A warm, wet feeling that quickly turned cold in the air as Bakugou leaned away.

“Huh,” He said, absentmindedly, looking down at the faint, wet stripe. “I guess it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Izuku’s lips had just now stopped trembling, and his tears had all made their way down his cheeks to leave his eyes clear, but he hadn’t gotten to ask Bakugou what he meant by that because the other boy’s face was buried in his neck again.

Izuku knew Bakugou was licking him, going up and down his neck with long strokes of his tongue that sent goosebumps throughout his body.  Izuku felt like the pressure of the universe was pressing down on him, his body was warm, the air around him was warm, but, nothing compared to the heat of Bakugou’s mouth.  Izuku brought a hand up to Bakugou’s jacket, intending to push the other boy away, because he was surely going to blast a hole through Izuku’s skin like this!  But his hands had no strength, they were trembling so badly he could barely form a fist.  Eventually, they dropped to his sides without ever having made a defensive move, and Izuku felt as useless as Bakugou always claimed he was.

Izuku’s head began to feel light the longer Bakugou’s mouth stayed on him, licking, or, Izuku wasn’t sure, this definitely hadn’t been in the pamphlet, he just knew it was starting to feel…really good.  A tingly feeling that danced over his skin like the bubbles from a freshly poured glass of soda, or his mother’s hair tickling his skin when she hugged him, the feeling of tall grass brushing against his thighs when he and Bakugou used to play in the park, the strange tension that came over his body when he presented.  When Bakugou’s teeth would just barely graze against the skin where Izuku’s neck met his jaw, that feeling expanded tenfold.

Izuku let out a sigh and moved his head to the side to offer more space when Bakugou startled away from him. Izuku struggled to open his eyes, lifting his lids was now a monumental task and Bakugou slowly came into focus.

“Kacchan…?” The name pulled on the inside of Izuku’s throat, pushing itself up where previously nothing had been able to.  It felt nice, calming, an intimate whisper to accompany an intimate moment.  But where Izuku was calm, Bakugou looked manic. His eyes were hyper focused and his breathing was heavy.  He dove back into Izuku’s neck like some kind of wild animal devouring prey.

Izuku let his eyes drift shut in anticipation, except this time, Bakugou’s teeth didn’t just merely graze his skin.  Izuku flinched at the sharp pain, convinced Bakugou had bitten him.

“Ow…” Izuku shuddered, his voice still not coming out louder than a whisper.  As the pain on his neck became unbearable though, he managed to raise it to a hoarse yell, “Kacchan, that hurts, stop it!”

“Hey!” Came a voice from the opening of the alley.  A policeman stood with his hands on his hips, a long green tail swishing behind him in jerky movements. “What are you kids doin’ in there?”

The man’s shout had startled both of them and Bakugou pulled away.  Izuku started to stutter an excuse, his right hand moving to cover the mark on his neck in embarrassment.

“W-w-we aren’t—”

“It’s nothing.  We’re good,” Bakugou said simply, backing away from Izuku with an unsettling blank look on his face and leaning down to pick up his bag like nothing really had happened.  The crazed look in his eyes had calmed and Izuku was now the one who was breathing hard.

Izuku was struck dumb watching how cool Bakugou looked as he was walking away, his blond hair backlit by the sun and his bag slung over his shoulder. Izuku thought it wasn’t fair at all for Bakugou’s voice to be so deep and unaffected when he had talked to that policeman, while Izuku thought if he even attempted to open his mouth, his heart would leap out on to the ground.  It was certainly doing its best to try to pound through his chest at the moment.

The policeman didn’t seem convinced at their innocence and eyed Bakugou warily as the other boy turned out of the alley and disappeared.  Then he turned his attention to Izuku.

“Hey, you too, kid! Get up and get to school, there’ll be no truants on my watch!”

Izuku felt like a hot mess, his jacket was wrinkled and he wasn’t sure what the state was of the bite on his throat, was he bleeding?  Did he need to go to the hospital?  Or the courthouse, Izuku thought with terror, were he and Kacchan what the adults called “bonded” now?  Was that a claiming bite?  Or a bonding bite?  What was the difference again, Izuku tried to think hard.  Kacchan was an alpha and he was an omega and everyone knew those two went together the most naturally, but was that really all it took for a bond to form? Izuku had always thought there would have to be a bit…more involved, like, adult stuff.  Bedroom adult stuff.  They hadn’t done anything like that!  Had they? Izuku didn’t know all the details about what went on in an adult’s bedroom, maybe he and Kacchan really had done…it?

“Hey, creepy kid,” The policeman’s voice seemed awfully distant now, “Stop with the muttering and the hyperventilating, you’re gonna make yourself pass out.  Come on, get up off the ground.”

“He bit me,” Izuku’s voice was hoarse, his fingers brushing painfully across the raw spot on his neck.

“Huh?  Speak up.”

“He bit me,” Izuku’s lip wobbled as he told the police officer, his hand cupping his neck.

“What?” The man asked, his face dropping into something more serious, “What do you mean—let me see. It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Izuku sniffled and very slowly revealed his neck. The officer kneeled down, medical gloves snapping as he pulled them on, gently tilting Izuku’s head to the side to take a look.  As he did that, Izuku’s thoughts started swirling again.

He was probably going to have to go to the hospital now, the bite might become infected, and then the staff will have to call his mother.  What was his mother going to say about all this?  Would she be happy, or disappointed?  If it was a claiming bite or a bonding bite, would Izuku have to leave her?  Was he going to have to live with Kacchan now?  Were they bonded?  Did they really do it?  Did that mean—

“Do, do you think I’m pregnant now?” Izuku blurted out, his eyes wide in horror, grasping on to the policeman for support.  Instead of kind, compassionate eyes, Izuku was met with a flat stare.

“Kid,” The officer took a deep breath, “This is just a hickey.”

“A what!”

“A hickey, you know, your boyfriend got a little too carried away, he,” The corners of the policeman’s mouth turned down as he gestured to Izuku’s neck uncomfortably, “Sucked too hard.  There’s a nasty looking red mark that might bruise, but nothing that’s broken the skin.  There’s no bite anywhere.”

“But, but, but, it felt so weird!  And it hurts!”

“Well, yeah, it was close to your gland,” The policeman’s face and the tip of his tail were steadily turning more red as he made a vague general motion to his neck, “Come on, didn’t you learn this in school?  It’s close to your gland, and I guess you’re an O, so when it happened it…you know, it reacted.”

“What does that mean?”

“G-Go ask your parents or something.”

“But—!” Izuku tried to press.

“Listen, you’re the one who decided to skip school with your boyfriend to make-out and now, now, these are the consequences!” The policeman drew himself up into a very official stance, his tail adopting the posture as well by sticking ramrod straight up in the air, “And by the way, without going into any specifics, this is not how people get pregnant!”

The police officer had no more sympathy for Izuku after that, he took out a little first aid kit and put some medicine over the hickey while lecturing Izuku about the detriment truancy had on his education. Izuku flushed in embarrassment while nodding obediently throughout the whole thing. His mood only perked up when the officer had slapped an All Might bandage (“Ah!  That’s one of the limited edition ones!  Could, could I have an extra?”) over it and sent him on his way.

Izuku picked his bag up off the ground and bowed in what he hoped was a ‘good little kid’ way before setting off for school again, sneaking out of the alleyway like he had done something wrong.  Just when he was starting to get comfortable, he turned around and saw the policeman following him, a stern expression on his face.  Izuku hunched down under the attention, fiddling with his backpack straps, distinctly aware that people were looking at him curiously, pointing and whispering about the middle school kid who was being watched so closely by a policeman.

What if they think I’m some kind of bad guy? Izuku thought in horror, immediately adjusting his posture to one with more confidence, ignoring the pull of the band-aid on his skin.

The policeman was Izuku’s shadow for the remainder of his walk to school, he even stood outside the gate to make sure Izuku went in the building.  Izuku gave him a little, half-hearted wave goodbye before going through the doors, which was returned by a nod of the policeman’s head.  Izuku let out a relieved sigh when the doors shut behind him and he was alone in the hallway.

Kacchan is probably already in class, Izuku thought, a slight sting of irritation eating at him, He’s probably just sitting at his desk as if he didn’t just...didn’t just…

What did he do?  What was the point of that?

Izuku brought a finger to his bandage and furtively pressed down on it, stopping only when the sting became too much.  Izuku pursed his lips as the memory of Kacchan’s mouth on his neck was brought back to him, the wet sounds and the heat.  Kacchan’s mouth was so hot and the way his teeth had grazed against Izuku’s skin without biting down was, it was, it made him feel—

Izuku swallowed heavily, suddenly aware that he was standing in the middle of the hallway at school, breathing heavily and running a finger along his neck.  Anyone looking at him would probably think he was some kind of pervert, which was definitely worse than being thought of as a bad guy.

--

Yamaguchi’s eyes widened, “Oh! S-Sorry, I, uh, didn’t even realize I was doing it.”

He glanced at the court, wilting under the glares of his teammates. All except Hinata, who was saving all his glaring for whoever he had decided was his nemesis on the other side of the net that game, and Asahi, who was stuck in a crouch, bashfully ignoring his eyes.

“Sorry,” Yamaguchi waved in apology, ducking his head.

“Just like alphas get a penalty for posturing, omegas can get penalties for...” Suga trailed off with a self-conscious smile, “Enticing, I guess?”

“But, but I wasn’t enticing anyone,” Yamaguchi looked off to the side in embarrassment as a face popped into his mind, “Not, not on purpose.”

Suga laughed, “Don’t worry about it, just keep better control during our games. You wouldn’t want to distract anyone from receiving, serving, or, you know, blocking.”

Yamaguchi winced, “Uh, no, I guess I wouldn’t.”

—

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima said bluntly as he walked up to him.

“Uh, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said nervously, “S-Sorry about earlier.”

“Don’t do that again.”

“I know,” Yamaguchi tried to head off another chastising, “Suga-san already told me we get penalized for things like that. It was a total accident though!”

Yamaguchi’s breath caught in his throat as Tsukishima’s eyes narrowed and he waited for one of the other boy’s cutting remarks.

“...Right.”

Tsukishima passed him by with no further comment and Yamaguchi let out a breath.