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Inko’s fingers curl tighter around the wheel as she passes through the business district. Memories flood her mind of this same drive eight years ago. Her and Izuku had gone into the doctor’s office hopeful, vibrating with excitement, at least in one of their cases. However, they had both left that day with less than they came. Inko shudders at the thought of her precious son’s clouded eyes staring ahead mindlessly, silently begging to go home, to go to bed, and to wake up from the horrible dream of reality.
Nevertheless, it was not meant to be. Izuku Midoriya is quirkless, like the doctor said, and Inko blames herself. She was sorry, so sorry that her quirk was so faded. That she had nothing to pass on to her son. And now she is forcing him to go through it all again, because of some unfair secondary gender. Sure, gender discrimination had died down quite a lot since Inko’s youth, but stigmas and stereotypes still remained.
Inko herself was a beta and lived an average life. She knows that if Izuku presented as a beta he just might be able to thrive, quirk or none. Sadly, one look at her son and every half-distracted passerby could tell what was to be. Izuku is small, tiny even for boys his age, and the fact that he always shrinks in on himself never helps. He’s skittish too, like a rabbit, sometimes jumping at the presence of his childhood friends, children who he should be comfortable around after all these years.
But even the neighborhood children know the truth. A few days ago, on her way to the grocery store, Inko had overheard some children from Izuku’s junior high school gossiping about secondary genders. It was all the talk of town as two days a year, in March and in September, stations would be set up in different places, schools, court houses, hospitals, etc., for parents to bring their twelve-year-olds to. There, their gender would be confirmed. Izuku’s classmates had been sure they would all turn out as alphas, laughing and rough housing as they turned toward the karaoke bar. Right before that, however, Inko caught their words.
"What do you think about Midoriya?” one chuckles condescendingly, hands flattened out behind his head as he cracks his long neck.
"Seriously? It’s just like Bakugou said.” The next replies. “That weirdo is an omega through and through. All the teachers say so too.”
The third boy sighs, ruffling his own brown curls. “It’s gonna be a pain once people in our class start turning thirteen though and their genders get full blown crazy. My sister told me this story that her friend told her that this one school had to close down when an omega went into heat during the day.”
" Don’t they have precautions for that or something? God, omegas are such a pain. That’s what my dad says at least.”
Shrugging, the third kicks a pebble down the walk. “I guess there are precautions, all I know is the alphas at that school went crazy and started hunting the omega down like wild animals.”
"Well, at least Midoriya doesn’t have to worry about that. I’ve already been threatened by Bakugou twice.”
“Same, though I really don’t get why. I mean it’s not like Bakugou…”
At that point the trio had gotten too far away for Inko to pick up on the rest of their conversation. Worry bubbled inside of her as she thought about her omega being surrounded by adolescent alphas. She couldn’t protect him while he was at school. Her reusable shopping bad twisted in her sweaty hands as she continued on, forcing herself to think about preparing dinner rather than how Izuku would be spending his last year of middle school as an ever-rarer omega.
Relaxing her grip on the steering wheel, Inko goes to wipe her palm against her slacks, and glances into the rearview mirror, where she sees her son’s form vibrating nervously. He looks pale, and the bags under his eyes show that he hasn’t been sleeping well as of late. This should be a time of excitement for kids his age, especially boys as they held a higher chance of becoming alphas. But for Izuku, well Inko would say she could only imagine the jumbled worry flooding his mind, except that wasn’t true because she could easily decipher the string of words leaving his worried lips.
Inko is just thankful that her son has yet to develop the ability to pick up of people’s scents, for she’s sure hers wouldn’t be remotely calming. Never one for not trying when it comes to her son though, she still plasters a smile onto her face as they pull into the office’s parking lot.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
“Come on sweetheart, let’s go say ‘hi’ to the nice doctor and then head home. I’m making katsudon for dinner.” She attempts to laugh, stepping out of the car. Izuku crawls after her, eyes glued submissively to the ground.
Then he raises his head, caring eyes flashing with almost unperceivable determination before worriedly falling on the glass office doors and the winding line behind, surely made up of mostly betas and a few alphas. Well, if an omega needed to be added to the bunch, then so be it.
Izuku clenches his fists and swaggers forward like he’s seen Kacchan do, making it about two steps before tripping over his feet. He growls under his breath, so sick and tired of living up to gender stereotypes. Izuku knows everyone, even his own mom, expects him to be an omega because he seems like an omega. It was messed up in his opinion, but he couldn’t be mad at any one either. He probably was an omega after all.
Still, that didn’t mean any one gender should be treated different from any other.
Gulping, he yanks the door open with unshakable confidence. A few bored eyes turn their gaze towards him, a small, green-haired boy with pale skin and trembling lips. Midoriya Izuku, the world’s greatest omega.
*****
With a roar, Katsuki thrusts his palm forward, blasting another annoying hunk of metal into oblivion. Next, rotating his arms behind him, the blonde propels himself upward, narrowly dodging a falling rock coming from USJ’s cliffside.
“Watch it Shitty Hair!” He shouts over his shoulder as he sprints up the stacked rocks, going until he gains a clear vantage point of the whole domed facility. Down below, Hair for Brains and Pikachu are poking fun at some robots. Apparently, the robots find the idiot duo as annoying as Katsuki does, for soon enough the two are on the dirt, mouths eating mud. Besides those two, the class seems to be doing pretty decently.
Sure, Lizard girl might be moving a bit sluggishly because she got put in the conflagration zone, and that purple pervert isn’t being useful at all, per usual, but Katsuki supposes they all aren’t completely useless.
Speaking of useless, burning eyes scan the landscape below for one pathetic nerd. When he doesn’t initially see the boy in the ruins, a pesky bolt of worry stabs his nose. It twitches, expecting to pick up on the sweet, yet spicy cinnamon scent blending with the warmth of a well-made home around wintertime and a hearth of --
Katsuki shakes his head, placing a palm over his flaring nostrils until even his tongue tastes like nitroglycerin. The idiot was fine, the blonde assures himself as he nails another robot in the stomach.
Not that Katsuki really cares what happens to the nerd anyway.
Popping his knuckles, and roaring again, Katsuki throws himself back into the fight.
*****
“Good job, Deku” Round Face giggles, patting the boy on his back as she passes by him on the way to her seat.
Snarling, Katsuki tilts his head to glare out the window, and keeps his gaze glued on the outside world even as Deku’s scent creeps closer and closer.
“Everything okay, Kacchan?” The boy asks, and Katsuki’s nose flares at the concerned scent wafting off the alpha. Every part of the older boy wants to melt at the scent, happily floating in the warmth of the alpha’s worry, but Katsuki couldn’t be weak. Not when the world was watching, waiting for him to fall. No, he had to be the best. He was a hero after all, the top of his class, and stupid Deku needed to get that through his thick skull.
Locking eyes with Deku, Katsuki growls lowly, daring the alpha to ask again, and releases a heavy scent into the air. With a squeak, green eyes submissively fall to the floor, and the tuff of green hair disappears as the smaller boy scrambles to his seat located inconveniently behind Katsuki’s.
How the hell did Aizawa expect Katsuki to concentrate throughout the day with the nerd’s damn scent right. Fucking. There? Honestly, his ability to keep straight A’s even under such stressful seating circumstances just proved how damn impressive Bakugou Katsuki was. It just proved that he didn’t need an alpha to succeed. Especially not one like Deku.
So what if Deku had gotten stronger, muscles rippling under that small physique. And maybe he had gotten louder, tripping over his words while voicing his opinion but voicing it none the less, with the conviction of one older than his age. And maybe he could command the attention of a room without the need for releasing any scent, but Katsuki knew that only worked because most of his damn classmates had a crush on the nerd, even if they always denied it upon Katsuki’s cornering.
Katsuki leaned forward, digging blunt nails into his blonde spikes. He remembers that fucking day almost three years ago all too well. The day when he had stomped into school, head held high as everyone scrambled around, asking each other about their secondary genders. Katsuki had felt wave after wave of jealousy and anger as most all the boys replied ‘beta’ with a shrug, while a few proudly proclaimed they were an alpha and puffed out their 12-year-old chests, ready to rule the school and have life handed to them on a silver platter.
Katsuki should have been puffing out his chest too. He was an alpha after all. He had to be. Screw the pitying look of the doctor. Screw the confused look on the old hag. Screw the tentative pats from his father. They were wrong. All of them. There was no fucking way Katsuki was an omega. No way he was like… like Deku.
The world froze as his eyes landed on the smaller boy, curled up in his seat, practically begging to melt into his desk and disappear. Katsuki gulped as he watched those soft green curls dance in the wind floating in from a nearby window.
Katsuki was supposed to be an alpha. He was supposed to be the strongest alpha. The strongest hero. He was supposed to prove himself. Make every omega want him and every alpha want to be him until Deku would finally look at Katsuki and see him. Until Katsuki was standing up so high that it would be impossible for Deku to look down. But now. Now.
Snarling, the boy stalked forward, hand curling around Deku’s pale, freckled, twig-like wrist. Enormous, emerald eyes shot up, staring straight into Katsuki’s own red, watery ones, and Katsuki knew. Katsuki knew Deku knew. In a rush, he dragged the boy to his feet and yanked him out of the classroom.
“Kacchan. Kacchan.” The worried word chain filtered in over the pounding blood filling Katsuki’s skull.
Angrily, he pulled the pest down the empty hallway before slamming Deku into the wall, catching a whimper escape the boy’s mouth, and Katsuki knew. Even so, he had to hear it himself.
One strong, sweaty hand curled around the nerd’s wrist, pinning it above his head to display him fully. A trembling lip, a red-tipped nose, a set of leaking eyes. It was Deku, in all his full, pathetic glory. A boy whose body required protection at all times. A scared, little thing who never stood up for himself, who was never assertive, who never believed in himself, who never tried to grow, who never gained respect, who always hid from reality. Who dreamed about being a hero but never did a damn thing.
“DEKU.” Katsuki spat, grabbing his chin to meet his eyes, needing to get straight to the point. “What. Is. Your. Gender?”
The boy trembled more beneath him and yanked his chin out of Katsuki’s hold in a small act of defiance. But Deku couldn’t get away, and they both knew it. And even if he could, he wouldn’t because they both needed this.
Katsuki was almost too distracted by the fact that he could feel the smaller boy’s quickening pulse beneath his wrist to notice the muttered words of ‘alpha’. Almost. And with his worst fears confirmed, Katsuki released his hold on the boy, waiting for those green eyes to rise, brimming with condescending ruefulness. Yet they stayed lowered.
“K-Kacchan. Are you a…?”
For half a second an apoplectic spike shot up Katsuki’s spine, but then he was stepping back, wishing the tears building in his dimming orbs away. He hadn’t said it out loud, refusing to utter any confirmation, but now…
“Yeah.”
The two boys stood in awkward silence, neither looking at the other, until finally Deku raised his head, nonplussed eyes blinking. “Okay.”
Snarling, Katsuki slammed his fist into the wall. “Okay?!” What the actual fuck?! Bakugou Katsuki had just admitted that he, who had been proclaiming about being the greatest alpha in history, was an omega, and all he got was an ‘okay’?
Bowing his head once more, the useless idiot nodded, eyes distracted by his twiddling fingers. “K-Kacchan is still Kacchan. He’s strong. He’s brave. He’s a hero. Who cares if he’s an a-alpha or o-omega? If someone does, then… then they’re missing out. And even if being an alpha or an omega did matter, isn’t it all the more impressive that an omega as strong as Kacchan exists. That just makes Kacchan twice as cool and twice as strong.”
With that, Deku turned on his heels and scurried away to class, leaving Katsuki frozen in place, eyes wide and cheeks red.
It took a few seconds for Katsuki to process those words as he gaped at his palm, still feeling the ghost of the alpha’s pulse. “Stupid nerd.” He muttered, trying to fight the smile blossoming on his face and failing. Deku, for once in his life, was right. Katsuki would be the strongest hero, and the greatest omega the world had ever seen.
Katsuki snaps out of his thoughts as a tired voice fills the classroom. “What’s so funny, Bakugou?” The voice drawls, not really caring for the answer. Quickly wiping the smile that had crept onto his face off, Katsuki sits up in his chair, meeting Aizawa’s disgusting, dry eyes with a glare.
“Good. Now, fine job with your USJ practice. You collectively managed to destroy a total of 512 robots in 15 minutes, with Bakugou at the top, followed by Todoroki, followed by Midoriya. So yes, congratulations on never ceasing to put a dent in the school’s budget.”
The class fidgets under his scrutinizing gaze, which doesn’t break even as Aizawa reaches over to take a long sip from his juice box, before continuing to drawl, “Tomorrow we will be back at USJ, this time with another class from second-year. Now then, here’s our special guest teacher—”
The doors fly open as All Might jumps into the room, posing. “I AM HERE!” he guffaws, and Katsuki can smell the ceaseless glee and amazement fanning off of Deku from behind. Stupid nerd.
*****
Pursing his lips and bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, Deku stands off to the side. He’s muttering under his breath, probably thinking of some stupid plan that will end up working out of pure luck. Finally, he snaps his fingers and turns his bright eyes toward the rest of the class, before blushing slightly and glancing away shyly.
“What’s up, Midobro?” Asks Shitty Hair with his usual smile. Deku smiles back. Katsuki knows Kirishima isn’t a real threat, but he still can’t stop a small growl from bubbling up his throat at the two alphas’ exchange.
“Oh. Nothing important. I was just thinking about what quirks this other class has. I know we will be scattered around USJ and the whole point of this is to be able to work with other heroes in the area even if you don’t know their quirks or their quirks aren’t the most compatible with yours but I was thinking about what would be the optimal pairings between classes if you could find partners. It was all just hypothetical, but yeah. That’s it. Sorry.” Awkwardly laughing while scratching the back of his head, Deku doesn’t notice Four Eyes until he’s clapping him on the shoulder.
“Thank you for always planning and looking out for us, Midoriya.” Hums of agreement add to the compliment, and don’t think Katsuki doesn’t see the miniscule, fond quirk of Icy Hot’s lips, that bastard.
“Yeah,” interjects Acid Trip with a pearly white smile, “Izu’s input is the best!”
Tensing, Katsuki glares at her, muttering “try hard” under his breath, before going back to subtly keeping an eye on Deku. At that point, Aizawa rolls in with another teacher, a bunch of extras bringing up the rear. After some quick, meaningless introductions, they get randomly divided. Katsuki is directed to the ruins zone with a few pathetic alphas and a beta, along with Mineta. As he stalks away, he watches Deku head to the flood zone.
When they arrive at the ruins, Katsuki begins taking note of the urban environment, considering any changes made in the landscape since his last time in this zone. He’s in the middle of scoping out good vantage points while cursing Mineta for running straight for a hiding spot when he feels a warm breath on his neck. A low chuckle echoes behind him and a strong scent floods his nose, like stepping into a junior high boy changing room. Gagging internally, he whirls around to glare dead on to one of the alphas, whose beady eyes are twinkling and chapped lips smirking.
“Omega.” Is all the alpha breathes and the other members of his group instantly snap their heads his way. The beta steps forward, sniffing the air, eyebrows pinched in confusion.
“Why is there an Omega at U.A.? There are none in second year.”
Katsuki growls, raising his head and locking eyes with each group member. So what if he was an omega? Sure, Katsuki still had some bad days, and struggled to truly accept himself, but he knew he was strong. He proved it every test, every fight, every win, omega or not.
The beady eyed alpha raises a finger and Katsuki knows this fucking alpha isn’t about to caress his cheek. He’d be even stupider than your usual alpha to try. However, the hand doesn’t stop, and the alpha has started whisper sweet nothings about how he’ll take real good care of Katsuki and protect him or some shit.
“Really, who is your caretaker, letting an unclaimed omega wander around, constantly surrounded by big, mean villains?” the alpha coos. “I mean this school is already letting that cute little green one I saw wander around, and now you? They should at least put collars on you two.”
Katsuki doesn’t hear the rest of the words this alpha says, nor the sounds of agreement coming from the small crowd. He’s too busy thinking about these alphas looking at Deku and seeing an omega. Seeing a weak, little, thing. Seeing his alpha in a collar.
Red floods Katsuki’s vision, and when he blinks again the alpha is on the ground nursing a broken nose and singed eyebrows. “You even think about Deku again, and I will roast you alive.” Threatening lowly, rage pulses through every muscle in the boy’s body. Luckily, the robots have just begun showing up, and right now the Explosion user really feels like going on a killing spree.
*****
Katsuki has just finished slipping on his school uniform when his nostrils flare, picking up on the mingling scents that had been masked by the musky, stinking locker room air. He spins around, but not fast enough, and suddenly finds himself pinned to one of the cool walls, exploding hands pinned above his head. Before him stands that broken-nosed alpha along with his posse of desperate wannabes, all releasing overwhelming scents of domination. Katsuki sucks in his breath through his teeth and growls.
The older boy snarls back, leaning in dangerously close to Katsuki’s exposed neck, and for once the boy regrets never properly tying his neckerchief.
“You think you can do whatever the fuck you want, you useless piece of shit omega?! Who cares if you can destroy some lame robots? It doesn’t change the fact that you’re weak! That you’re an omega! You obviously have never been taught your place!” The boy’s beet-red, enraged face gains a dark aura. “Luckily for you, we’re here.”
Anger mixed with fear wafts off of Katsuki as he struggles, explosions firing. “Get the fuck off of me you psychopath before I kill you!” Spitting on the ground, he kicks the guy in the shin. The constricting grip on his wrists loosens, but before Katsuki can break free completely, more alpha henchmen are upon him, holding down his ankles.
The beady-eyed alpha squeezes his eyes shut and breathes deeply. He’s then moving forward once again, voice tight. “I can think of some better uses for those legs of yours, omega. Now, kneel.” The alpha command reverberates throughout the room, and Katsuki can feel his knees tremble. However, there was no fucking way he’d give into this excuse of an alpha. And truly, it wouldn’t have been a problem if multiple other alphas hadn’t joined in on the command.
Katsuki snarls once more, tucking his neck away by dipping his chin. The move wasn’t out of submission, but it goaded the alphas on, nonetheless. Still struggling, never stopping, the boy can’t help but allow a pathetic feeling to seep in. His stupid secondary gender was taking control, pleading to give, and all Katsuki could do was curse. He was a hero, he was a protector, he was supposed to be stronger than this, and yet.
The hands on his wrists fall away…
“KNEEL!”
… and Katsuki is on the dirty locker-room floor. He tries his hardest to remain dignified, and refuses to let his eyes dip in submission, but even so he can stop a desperate scent from leaving his glands. The alphas around him chuckle, not seeing a worthy opponent, nor a future role model, but merely a toy.
“K-Kacchan?”
Red eyes snap wide, relief exploding from his body because he knows that voice. He knows that scent. The alphas surrounding him tense. They then part slightly, falling into a defensive fighting stance over their newfound ‘prize’, and Katsuki catches a pair of confused, bright green eyes.
“Kacchan, why are you on the floor?” Tilting his head, Deku steps forward, only for a meaty hand to fall heavily onto his small shoulder. Deku pauses, and his eyes flash before returning to their normal, innocent selves. “Can I help you?” he inquires politely.
The older alpha leers. “Oh, I’m sure you can.” With that, he herds Deku closer to some of his buddies. Katsuki is about to stand, to fight against every essence of his secondary gender, even if it hurts like hell, because no way in hell is he letting anyone lay a finger on his alpha, but just as he’s about to release the most powerful scent he can muster, a calming, homey aroma fills his nose. It’s light yet encompassing, promising protection and leaking fondness.
“Hey, is it just me or does he not smell like an omega?” One of the alphas questions, snakelike hair bobbing in agreement. His friend just scoffs, leaning in towards Deku’s scent gland, and if the calming smell wasn’t so strong Katsuki knows he’d be ripping out the throats of every alpha extra in this room then and there. Nostrils practically buried in the greenette’s neck, the second-year halts, turning wide eyes on the beady-eyed alpha who still hovers over Katsuki.
“Bro, I don’t think—” his warning is cut off when the leader smirks, placing a palm atop Katsuki’s spikes and allowing his eyes to hungrily roam over the omega’s form. Two cute little omegas in one room, how lucky was he?
“I’m glad you arrived when you did,” the older alpha smiles. “Now you can enjoy the show of what I’m about to do to your disobedient friend before you get the same. Though hopefully after one lesson, you’ll be a good boy.” He’s still laughing when a sharp, overwhelming, almost burning scent floods the room, attacking every set of nostrils save Katsuki, who still picks up on the majority of the controlled smell out of sheer proximity.
“Disobedient?”
The boys turn into statues as they observe the small, well-mannered, omega-like first-year morph into an alpha brimming with anger. “Why on earth should Kacchan be obedient?! He’s his own person. He can do whatever he wants! He’s the strongest person I know. He’s my image of victory and he’ll never let you reduce him to anything less than.” Deku’s thick fragrance lets up, and his hard eyes fall on Katsuki form, immediately softening. “Come on, Kacchan, let’s go.” And that’s all it takes for the blonde to push shakily to his feet, not because it was a command from an alpha, for it wasn’t. No, it was an invitation to show the world his true strength, and confirmation of such strength.
Pushing past all the alphas wasting space, he stops at Deku’s side, just to see the smaller boy’s eyes harden once more. The alphas tremble beneath the gaze, which is all it takes for them to know that they messed with the wrong future hero.
Muttering a “die” under his breath, the two boys exit the locker room, silently heading down the halls to find Aizawa and explain the situation. However, they don’t get too far before Katsuki feels a warm hand curl around the scent gland on his wrist. The next thing he knows, soft curls are tickling his nose and a freckled cheek is rubbing desperately against his neck. Katsuki stands in utter shock as Deku continues to rub against him, quietly purring. It isn’t until Katsuki feels comfortable enough to release a purr of his own that Deku breaks away, cheeks flushed and eyes foggy. Shaking out of his stupor, he yanks back.
“K-Ka, I… I didn’t, I mean, I didn’t, it’s just you smelled like them and I figured you probably wouldn’t like that, not that you would like my scent over you either. I mean, that’s weird right? Not you wanting my scent, but me rubbing it on you without your permission. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have…”
Katsuki watches the way the boy’s pink lips prattle on, and while Katsuki agrees that Deku should have asked, he can’t truly say that he minded at all. Katsuki feels like he’s always looking out for the alpha in some way or another, and while it’s not like the blonde ever needs help, there is a certain… appeal to finally having the alpha’s attention all to himself.
Katsuki leans forward, catching the pair of rambling lips with his own smirking ones, and after a second of a mini shut down, Deku returns the kiss tentatively. When the two pull away a few seconds later, the omega can’t help but flush under the complete, wanting look on his alpha’s face.
That’s right, Deku was his alpha, always had been. But… it was more than that, because really, who cares about secondary genders? Who cares about what someone smells like or what predetermined body features they have? Those types of things didn’t make an alpha, beta, nor omega. Sometimes Deku can be assertive, while other times not. Sometimes he believes in himself, while other times he relies on people. Sometimes he commands respect, while other times he whole-heartedly gives said respect to others.
He faces his fears, he always tries to grow, and he stays true to himself and loyal to his friends.
So yeah, maybe, just maybe, Deku wasn’t the world’s worst alpha after all. Still a nerd though.
“H-hey Kacchan… c-can we kiss again?”
A fucking adorable nerd. And really, who is Katsuki to deny the boy such an honor?
He leans in once more, nipping at the alpha’s lips before dominating the little kiss, and Deku willingly lets him, because he doesn’t care whether Katsuki is an omega or he himself an alpha. For at the end of the day, what’s more important: the tilting of one’s neck, or the beating of one’s heart?