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Chapter Text

The scenting had been a thing between Bakugou and Midoriya since they were four years old. Scent glands don’t become functional until you hit puberty, but that didn’t stop the two young pups. They had been at Bakugou’s house- playing heroes, obviously -when they saw Bakugou’s dad approach his mom and rub their wrists together. Face scrunched up, Bakugou asked them what they were doing.

Masaru, Bakugou’s dad, starts an explanation of what scent glands are and why and how people use them. At least the best he can to a couple of four-year-olds.

“These are our scent glands,” he says, pointing to the slits on his wrist and neck. “When two people are close to each other, like your mom and me, they rub them together and then they’ll smell like each other,” 

Midoriya’s eyes are filled with interest and wonder as he looks from Masarus wrist to his own tiny one. Then getting frustrated when his didn’t have a slit, large eyes filling with tears. 

Holding up his wrist to show Masaru, he whines, “Don’t have one,”.

Masaru laughs softly, explaining, “Not yet, but one day you will,”.

Meanwhile Mitsuki was trying not to laugh as little Bakugou puffed up his cheeks and asked, “Why?”. 

“Well, uh, you’re too little to have them right now,”. 

Bakugou didn’t seem to think this was an acceptable answer, claiming defiantly that he was not ‘little’.

This was a topic usually saved for when a pup was older and could better understand the implications of scenting someone who wasn’t a family member, and Masaru stumbled over his words as tried to answer his sons questions the best he could, explaining the importance of scenting and how special it was.

Eventually, Bakugou gave a noise of understanding. He then turned his now determined face towards a wide-eyed Midoriya, who had been staring at his wrist this whole time, willing a scent gland to appear. He grabbed the other's arm, and furiously rubbed their small non-functional scent glands together. Mitski howled with laughter, exclaiming how she was willing to bet money on the fact that Bakugou was going to be an alpha. Midoriya barely hears her as he stares once again at his ‘scented’ wrist. Kacchan thinks I’m special?

It continued on that way. He would fake scent Midoriya each time they met up; Bakugou being the one to initiate each time. He would walk up to Midoriya, grab his wrist and rub his own against it. It eventually became like instinct for Midoriya to start holding it out for the slightly taller blonde. 

The first time Bakugou stopped the fake scenting had been when he was ten. Midoriya smiled as Bakugou walked into the classroom, waiting for him to walk over and scent him as usual. Up until that day, even when the blond was irritated at him, he always fake scented him. Always. 

That day though, Bakugou holds his gaze for a second, then huffs and turns away. Midoriya is confused as Bakugou joins his friends, waiting for the teacher to come in and start class. Thoughts are racing in his head, trying to understand what is happening. Distantly, Midoriya notes that he should cut his nails as his fingers dig into his wrist where he has a death grip on it. He silently hopes that the other is just waiting, and will scent him when he goes to sit down at his desk - he has to, he will.

He doesn’t. 

By the time they present and would be able to scent for real, two years later, Midoriya is silently cursing his glands. The barely-there slit in his wrist is leaking the scent of pine trees and mint tea. 

By now he’s never surprised when Bakugou ignores him to be with his friends. Though somehow today, as Midoriya stares at his wrist with contempt, it hurts a bit more. It’s ridiculous to miss something that never worked in the first place, Midoriya knows. They were too young for the ‘scenting’ to do anything at all. 

“Alright take your seats,” He hears his teacher call out. He’s still so lost in cursing his scent that he almost doesn’t register Bakugou walking past him on his way to his desk, but a new smell causes him to pause. For a moment he stops breathing and can’t focus on anything other than the fact that Kacchan has presented as an alpha .

He’s not sure how he knows it, instinct probably, but he’s unable to stop and think about how he does, for Midoriya’s inner omega starts practically howling for the scent of caramel and smoke. His breathing is heavy, chest constricting as he tries to get himself under control. Why the hell am I reacting like this, get it together Izuku.

“Midoriya, are you with us?” His teacher calls to him, the class quietly snickering. Oh no, how long had he been zoned out?

“Y-yeah! Sorry sir,” Midoriya manages to squeak out, clutching his wrist in his hand,

squeezing it tighter when he realizes he’s leaking a distressed scent. 

Eventually, the class starts quieting down and the teacher begins his lesson. He chances a glance at the newly presented alpha that his omega is clawing under the surface for, expecting to see Bakugou behaving as usual; a smirk on his face, body relaxed into his seat.

Instead, he finds the blonde tense, sitting hunched over his desk. His hands are gripped tight into fists, and if Midoriya didn’t know better, he would think the new alpha was shaking. Before he can question it, however, he’s pulled back into the lesson.

This becomes Midoriya’s new normal; training himself to ignore his omega. He slowly learns to control his scent, something he practices with vigor after a particularly intense teasing session one day at school.

It’s not that he hates being an omega, exactly. He just hates that his omega seems insistent on crying for an alpha that doesn’t want anything to do with him. He’s always struggled with wearing his heart on his sleeve, but when he leaks pheromones that screams to everyone, hey I’m distressed, it’s like calling out to his classmates to tease him about it. 

Newly presented alphas are high on instincts that they can’t properly control yet- or that’s the excuse Midoriya is given - and he’s their prime target for showing off how to put someone in their place. Look at the little omega who can’t control his scent. They only stop after there’s no scent for them to tease him about. It’s slightly painful to hold it back at first, but he has always had a high tolerance for pain.

His first bi-yearly heat hit him at 14 in the fall. It turns out to be more annoying than painful. He has cramps sure, but he’s comforted with a nest his mother helps him build and a heating pad. The real struggle is trying to shut his inner omega up when it continuously cries for a scent that he can’t have. 

Where’s our Alpha? Need our Alpha’s scent! It cries out to him. “Shut up, he’s not our Alpha,” Midoriya hisses to himself, clutching the heating pad closer to his stomach while burying himself further into his nest. 

Eventually, it becomes easy to ignore Bakugou. Or.. maybe easy is a strong word. Bakugou is an alpha who demands attention, and Midoriya can’t help but be drawn to his vibrant presence. He never stopped thinking the blonde was amazing and would be an incredible hero. 

After that first heat, his inner omega at least gets less and less insistent that it needs the scent of caramel and smoke. A fact he’s grateful for when Midoriya announces in class that he wants to go to UA. Bakugou's scent turns dark, burnt caramel floods the room, and Midoriya fights the urge to pinch his nose.

Later after class when Bakugou tells him to ‘take a swan dive off the roof’ it’s the first time in nearly a year that he lets his scent slip. Bakguou barely falters as the scent of distressed omega- rotting pine trees, and wilted mint -hits him. Just laughs as he saunters out of the room. 

 When he enters UA, he’s gained confidence in himself as a hero. The training sessions with All Might shift his focus onto his goal of becoming a hero and he barely even hears his omega anymore. He might as well be a beta, he tells himself. 

Chapter Text

If you were to ask Midoriya when there was a shift in his ‘relationship’ with Bakugou back to something positive, he would undeniably name the incident at Ground Beta. As Bakugou and Midoriya fight, all of that pent-up tension between the two is unleashed. Explosions ring in his ears until he’s no longer sure if the smell of smoke is from the alphas quirk or his pheromones.

The scenting issue is never mentioned; never even enters Midoriya’s mind as he dodges and kicks. Until the fighting is over that is, and Midoriya is consumed with the urge to comfort . Bakugou's words are playing over and over in his head, trying to understand how he missed how vulnerable the alpha had gotten. Have I been ignoring you that much?

All Might pulls a crying Bakugou into his chest, his usual strong scent sourer than it’s ever been, and Midoriya’s wrist itches all of the sudden. His inner omega now stirring uncomfortably in his burning chest for the first time since entering UA as he watches the alpha break. It takes more strength that he would like to admit to hold himself back from scenting Bakugou right there. 

After that day though, they become proper rivals. They start sparring with each other, spurring each other on as they train to become heroes. A healthy almost friendship starts to form without either realizing it. Well, okay without either outwardly admitting it would be more right. Midoriya is exceedingly aware over the course of the next year that the gap between them is growing shorter.

It’s a cold day in December of their second year when the scenting resumes. Snow has just started to fall outside, the wind demanding to be heard, even from inside the dorms where half the class is lounging in the common room. Thankfully the dorms have a good heating system, which half of the class is now huddled next to while watching old cartoons.

The hum of the TV and chatter of  Uraraka explaining to a sheltered Todoroki what’s happening in the show become distant as Midoriya gets lost in his thoughts. He’s currently pondering an adjustment he might make to his hero suit when he jumps- “Eep!” -with a start when the wind bangs something, a branch most likely, into the wall of the building.

In his brief confusion, he emits a small amount of distressed scent, though he stops it as soon as he realizes what happened. God, I haven’t let out a scent by accident since I was 13. Embarrassed with himself, he tries to continue mulling over his hero suit quandary. He doesn’t have much success though, and can’t help but chastise himself for letting out his scent.  Something about being found out makes him feel weak, and he hopes to god that no one has noticed. But, of course, someone does.

Bakugou, who had been sitting on the other end of the couch, shifts closer to him, the couch cushion dipping slightly with the movement. He barely registers it happening at first when a wrist starts faintly brushing against his. The skin-on-skin contact makes him shudder.

When he glances up, he sees the blond alpha isn’t even staring at him. In fact, he’s looking the complete opposite way, seemingly occupied in the animated conversation going on between Sero, Mina, and Kaminari.

“Aw come on Kaminari, tell us!” Mina pleads. Sero seems to be getting more enjoyment out of Mina’s desperation to get Kaminari to spill whatever it is that she wants to know than Kaminari’s actual answer. 

After a few stunned moments, his brain catches up to the fact that Bakugou’s alpha has apparently reacted to Midoriya’s distressed moment and is attempting to comfort him, albeit discreetly. And if he had asked Bakugou what he was doing, he would no doubt shout about how it was an accident and that the ‘nerd shouldn’t just lay his arm there on the couch like that with his scent gland exposed’. 

They were far from their days of constantly shouting at each other, true, but  Bakugou still refused to say out loud that they were friends. The most he had gotten was a grunt instead of a denial the last time the subject was brought up. Which, thinking about this fact, just makes Midoriya even more so want to ask, what are you doing. He doesn’t ask though. Instead, with a shaky exhale, he lightly brushes back, in a small answer to the alpha. Thank you.

They brush back and forth a few times before Bakugou abruptly pulls away, leaving Midoriya in a haze of confusion. What just happened?? He spends the rest of the day in an endless mutter before coming to the conclusion that it was a one-off thing. A fluke. There’s no way Bakugou wants to scent him like that. No. It was just an instinctual reaction. That’s all.

By the next evening, he’s willed himself to forget about it and Midoriya finds himself in the kitchen with Todoroki, who is stumbling in the kitchen determined to make dinner for them by himself. Everything smells good, the scent of garlic and butter wafting out of the pan in the steam. Everything looks- well, it smells good at least.

“Are you sure you don’t want help, Todoroki?” Midoriya laughs from his seat on the counter. 

“Yes, I can do this, I’m doing fine,” the Alpha insists. Midoriya thinks ‘fine’ is a bit of a stretch as he glances at the almost burning vegetables in the pan. Still, he lets it be, knowing how stubborn Todoroki can be when he sets his mind on something. 

“Why do you want to cook for yourself anyway? You’ve never minded not knowing how until now?” 

“Fuyumi has been busier lately, and hasn’t had much time to cook so I wanted to help out while I’m there on weekends,” Todoroki says, desperately stirring the vegetables. “Why aren’t these cooking right?” 

“I think you need to add more olive oil?” He gestures towards the bottle on the counter. “That’s so sweet of you to help your sister, though!” Todoroki has started visiting his brother and sister more on weekends now, and Midoriya thinks he looks happier for it. He’s glad that his friend is finally building a relationship with his siblings. 

Todoroki adds more olive oil as suggested, looking satisfied with the result. Or as satisfied as he can look with his ever-present blank face. Emoting is something Todoroki is still working on. Soon enough, his dinner is finished and they’re both sitting at the table, Todoroki watching eagerly as Midoriya takes his first bite. 

“Mmm, this is good Todoroki-kun!” He smiles, happily chewing. It’s slightly charred but it honestly just adds a unique flavor to the bell peppers that are mixed with the meat. The alpha emits pleased pheromones, like marshmallows roasting on a campfire, before digging in himself. 

Later, after they’re done eating, Midoriya makes his way up to his dorm. His feet shuffle on the carpet, slippers hugging him tighter with the action. It sends shivers up his spine with the friction but it’s almost pleasant. He smiles, looking up to notice an exhausted post-workout Bakugou waiting for the elevator. “Hey, Kacchan!” 

Bakugou gives him his trademark frown, grunting as an acknowledgment, hands shoved inside his pockets. It would be seen as a glare to anyone else, but by now Midoriya’s not fazed. Especially right now when he’s content and full from eating. He makes sure to give the alpha some distance, standing a few feet away from him.  

After a quiet minute, the elevator dings, and the doors slide open. They both shuffle inside, Bakugou hitting both their floor numbers, the resounding click of the buttons is louder than it probably should be. But given that it’s Bakugou who pressed the buttons, he’s not surprised. 

Now in an enclosed space, with nowhere for their scents to go, the smell of caramel and smoke hits him. He almost can’t help the deep breath he takes in; letting the alpha’s scent fill his lungs as much as it could without being obvious about it. His lungs burn for a moment from the smoke in his scent before the caramel drapes itself on anything and everything. It’s like being wrapped in a warm blanket from the inside out, so much so that he can’t help it when his small smile gets slightly bigger.

“What’s got you so fuckin’ pleased?” Bakugou asks, eyeing him. 

“Oh, Todoroki-kun made dinner for the first time by himself!” He decides to - panicking internally - leave out the part where he’s also comforted by his scent. Stop acting like such a typical omega! We’re better than this!

“Tch, Icyhot cooked? And you let him?” Bakugou asks, disbelief clear in his voice. “I swear to god if that bastard ruined the pans again,”

“Hey, he’s gotten a lot better since our first year! He didn’t burn anything this time!” The first time Todoroki had tried to cook by himself in their first year, he had managed to burn everything so bad you couldn’t tell what was what anymore. After that, he was banned from cooking unsupervised anymore. 

“And you actually ate it?” 

“I did! It was delicious too,” Midoriya hums happily. Bakugou just scoffs, staring at the floor.   

The chime of the elevator reaching Bakugou’s floor echos in the now silent space and the doors open. A couple of seconds pass and Midoriya notices that he has yet to move.Normally he wastes no time in getting to his dorm to keep with his strict sleep schedule.

Right now though, he almost seems..nervous? No, that can’t be right. Before he can ask if the other is okay though, Bakugou’s hand is moving out of his pocket and is grabbing Midoriya's wrist that had been hanging loosely at his side. 

Neither of them speak as Bakugou proceeds to scent him, face scrunched up as he does so. Honestly, Mirdoriya is too stunned to speak. This isn’t like yesterday’s scenting when he was comforting a distressed omega. Cause that’s all that was right?? Right.   Not to mention the fact that it had barely even been a proper scenting. No this is a deliberate, unprompted, and thorough scenting.

This goes on long enough for Midoriya to notice that the skin around Bakugou's scent gland is particularly smooth. Especially in contrast to the calloused fingers that are gripping his arm. Then, it’s over and while Midoriya’s mind is still reeling, Bakugou steps out of the elevator, the doors closing moments after the alpha leaves. 

In a daze, he somehow manages to make it to his dorm room and throws himself into his nest. His inner omega is practically preening at the fact that Bakugou had scented him not once, but twice now - well one and a half? He hadn’t been scented by anyone in his life other than his mother. And now by Kacchan too.

Warm and thick caramel consumes him as he gets more comfortable in his nest, surrounded by soft cushions and throw blankets his mom has scented for him, and the smile from before returns to his face. He has so many questions but right now he can’t find the energy to ponder over them. The reaction to the scenting starts taking over, his eyelids drooping and he’s suddenly hit with how tired he is. When his mother did this it had never made him sleepy. Just comforted.

And it’s not like Bakugou’s scent directly made him tired- or at least he thinks. It’s more along the lines of he’s so comforted by the scent that he finds himself relaxing almost unconsciously. Like his body has finally received something it had been waiting years for. His omega is taking the reins, and for once, he listens. That night he sleeps better than he ever has.

Chapter Text

In the following days, similar situations happen. Bakugou manages to find him in a space with just the two of them- how does he keep doing that? -before scenting him without a word. Midoriya desperately wants to ask him why . Why did you start the scenting again? Why now? Why did you stop back then? However, each time it happens, he can’t find his voice. His inner omega takes over and is so happy with what’s happening, it pleads with him not to say anything that would make it stop. 

Cause if Midoriya is sure of one thing, it’s that if he did finally manage to ask just what the hell is going on, Bakugou would get defensive and stop. So, he doesn’t. He lets it happen. It’s selfish really; probably a little self-destructive. He deserves answers, he knows this. But what is he supposed to do when the one thing he had been wishing for, finally happens?

One cold morning, Midoriya manages to awaken before anyone else. Usually, he got up at around 7, but today his eyes shot open at- he glanced over at his clock -5:30 am. Ugh, it’s too early… But he can’t fall asleep no matter how hard he tries. Whether that’s due to the frost creeping up on his window or a nightmare he’s forgotten he had, he’s not sure. Either way, he’s not getting any more sleep. So, he swings his feet onto the floor, immediately cringes at the frigid bite his toes receive, looks to find his slippers, and groggily makes his way downstairs. 

Rubbing his eyes as he enters the common room floor, he stumbles every few steps. Groaning to himself, annoyed, he mumbles, “How can I manage to be too tired to walk straight but not too tired to sleep ?” 

The soft clinking of glass causes him to force his eyes open more than just a crack. There standing in the kitchen, almost in the dark save for a light above the sink, is Bakugou. The small yellow bulb almost glows around his blonde spikes, and Midoriya can’t help but think how soft he looks in the warm lighting. After a few moments of staring, he shuffles closer, trying to see what Bakugou’s doing. 

“What are you doing awake, Nerd?” Bakugou asks, not even turning around.

“Couldn’t sleep… Wait how’d you know it was me?” 

“I’m fuckin’ psychic,” Bakugou answers, a sarcastic bite to his words. He shoves what Midoriya now sees is a chopped frozen banana into a blender. “You’re leaking pheromones all over the damn room,” He is? Shit, he didn’t even realize.

“Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t-” He hears the tremble in his voice, cursing himself for being so weak in his tired state.

“Shut up,” Bakugou finally turns to face him, grabbing his arm, and starts rubbing their wrists together. This does, in fact, shut him up. Instantly, Midoriya's already tired eyes flutter shut. His shoulders sag and the tension leaves him. If he was more awake he would be flustered by how obvious it is how much the scenting affects him. 

Before he even realizes that the scenting has stopped, he hears Bakugou go back to his smoothie, the blender coming to life. Inhaling soft smoke and warm caramel, he feels much less grumpy about being awake so early. He almost wants to pur at how calming the alphas scent is today, like it was specifically made to make Midoriya less anxious. Maybe it was, he honestly doesn’t know that much about how alphas scents work. Finally opening his eyes, he grabs a bottled protein drink he’d bought the other day. He’s distantly wondering why Bakugou is so okay with what just happened, but it’s hard to think when his omega is so soothed. Earmarking that train of thought for later, he makes his way to the showers.

Once the warm water hits his back he feels blissed out. The water presser is rough enough that it works out knots in his upper back, then soft as it runs down his sides and legs, creating a contrast so perfect that he feels utterly comfortable. So comfortable he almost forgets to shampoo and wash himself. It’s a longer shower than he normally takes and when he gets dressed he feels a bit guilty for using so much of the hot water. 

“Morning Midoriya!” Kirishima greets cheerily as he enters the bathroom. 

“Oh, morning Kirishima!”

“Already finished getting ready? Wow, you got up early today!”

“Ha, yeah I did. Couldn’t sleep I guess,” He says, putting his toothbrush away. He’s more awake now that he’s showered and brushed his teeth, but that deep calm from the scenting is still there. 

“Man, you look happy Midobro,” Kirishima laughs, grabbing his showering kit from the cabinet. 

“Hm? Do I? Just a good morning I guess,” He hums. 

~~~

Later on in class, he finds himself propping his head in his hand, struggling to keep his eyes open. Which was frustrating since he really wanted to take notes on the lecture Aizawa was giving them. I’ll just close my eyes for a moment. He thinks to himself, resting his head on his desk. The wood is cool and inviting, and he sighs into it, 

The next thing he knows, Bakugou is shaking him awake. “Oi, nerd, wake the fuck up!”

“Hm?” He blinks his eyes open to see that his classmates are shuffling out of the room. “What? Is class over?”

“No shit. You fell asleep, moron,” 

“Aw damn,” He mumbles, moving to put his things away. I can’t believe I seriously missed the whole class. Bakugou ‘tch’s’ before walking away to join Kirishima and Kaminari. Midoriya hurries and leaves to join Uraraka and Iida as well, hoping he can borrow Todoroki’s notes from today's lecture.

After the same thing happens the next day, Bakugou seems to deduce that the scentings make Midoriya want to nap and therefore should not be done in the morning. Midoriya is thankful that Bakugou is so perceptive so he doesn’t have to say anything about it himself. Though he does panic a little when Bakugou ignores him in the morning. He spends all day convincing himself he doesn’t care, only to sigh in relief when Bakugou scents him that evening. He also chooses to not say anything about how Bakugou is mumbling as he does so, grumbling ‘stupid scentings making the stupid nerd tired’, holding in his laughter at the irony of Bakugou Katsuki mumbling for later

~~~

Two months into the secret- at least Midoriya assumes it’s a secret -scentings, someone finally comments on his new smell. “Hey Deku, I’ve been meaning to ask you, why do you always smell like Bakugou lately?” Uraraka asks him, her nose slightly turned up. Midoriya freezes, unsure of what to say. Should he tell her?  Well, she can smell him so it’s not like he can hide it. Oh god, he hadn’t even thought of the fact that everyone can smell Kacchan on him now. Well, logically he knew they’d be able to, that’s what scenting works, but he hadn’t actually processed that- “Deku?” 

He shakes himself from his panicked thoughts. “Uh, w-well-” 

“None of your business, that’s why pink cheeks,” Bakugou interrupts him before he can explain. Midoriya blinks, whipping his head around to see the blonde alpha walking past their table in the library. When had he gotten here? 

Uraraka grumbles something about stupid alphas, rolling her eyes. Midoriya can’t exactly hear her though through his inner omega singing, alpha is here, alpha saved us. He clenches his pencil in his hand, silently telling his inner omega to shut the hell up, he’s not our alpha!  

Though it’s hard to be truly mad at his omega as Midoriya finds his eyes drawn to Bakugou as he continues to walk away, joining Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero at a table near the back of the library. Once seated, Bakugou looks up and catches Midoriya’s gaze. Oh shit, I’m staring, aren’t I? Face flushed, he turns around and becomes immensely interested in the words in his textbook. Uraraka says nothing but carefully eyes him, confused. Clearly, she had poked a sensitive subject. 

After that- and one more instance of Kaminari starting to ask the same question before Bakugou growls, daring the omega to finish his sentence -no one asks what’s going on between them. Not that Midoriya would be able to answer them.

Chapter Text

As far as he knows, scenting like they are is usually reserved for family members, pack members, and mates. Bakugou and Midoriya are none of those. Right? It’s possible, he guesses, that Bakugou just sees him as a member of his pack, given they’ve known each other practically their whole lives. But he’s pretty sure it takes more than that to make someone a member of your pack. The more he analyzes possible explanations, the more his brain hurts. So, he resolves to not think about it. It’s not a big deal. Just something we do.

If only not thinking about something was something Izuku Midoriya was capable of. It doesn’t help that every time Bakugou comes near Midoriya, his omega has something to say. He can’t seem to convince the stupid thing that, no, Kacchan is not our Alpha. They’re just- what? Friends? Rivals? Pack? Well, whatever they were, it wasn’t romantic. He repeats this mantra, pretending it doesn’t make his chest clench every time he says it.

Three months into the scenting, it once again feels like a natural routine. Bakugou no longer hides what he’s doing, every evening he finds Midoriya and scents him, regardless of who is there. Though the first time they scent in front of their classmates quite a few jaws drop. Midoriya is so used to Bakugou scenting him by this point that it takes a few moments to realize why everyone is looking at them weird. The odd stares continue for a while but eventually those stop too.

They start talking more too. Not about the scenting or anything relating to it, of course. Instead, Bakugou lingers closer to Midoriya while they train, they’ll talk about hero work, about One For All and how far Midoriya has come in handling his quirk. It’s such a slow shift that Midoirya hardly notices that he doesn’t go a day without at least one conversation with the alpha. 

This reflects in their scentings too, with him almost unconsciously holding out his wrist upon hearing Bakugou and Kirishima enter the dorms one evening. The two Alpha’s had been doing their weekly Saturday spar and were just now returning as the sun began to paint the sky in soft warm hues.

Arm resting on the back of the couch he was lounging on in the common room, Midoriya waits as the blond alpha approaches him. His scent glands tingle in anticipation and Midoriya can feel his omega wanting to chirp at the alpha. He, of course, ignores this impulse. Bakugou upon finally reaching him, proceeds to rub their wrists together gently, not even stopping in his conversation with Kirishima as he did so. 

“I can’t believe you expect me to help your dumbass study for a huge test that’s literally in two days , what in the actual fuck have you been doing all week?” Bakugou growls at Kirishima, sliding Midoriya’s wrist, now thoroughly scented, carefully out of his grasp and back onto the couch cushions. Smoke and caramel aroma now beginning to envelop him, Midoriya breathes in deep, sinking into the soft cushions with his exhale. The pheromones today have a sweet undertone to them, like he’s being soothed by a warm drink; it’s a rarity for Bakugou. Midoriya doesn’t know what the occasion is but he embraces the feeling, letting it settle in his stomach.

“Aw, come on man, please? I’ve been training with Kami and forgot!” Upon Kirishima’s declaration, Midoriya vaguely sees Kaminari tense. 

Bakugou scoffs, and though Midoryia can’t see him, he knows the blond is rolling his eyes. “Right, training. If that’s what you wanna call it.” Bakugou walks away, presumably to shower. Kirishima rushes to follow him, stuttering as he does so.

Eyes now drooping, Midoriya chuckles a low laugh at Kaminari. The other omega is sitting on one of the other couches near him, eyes wide at the insinuation, and buries his face in the magazine he was reading to hide the blush creeping up. It was a well-known fact that Kirishima and Kaminari had been courting each other, and honestly, it was cute how nervous they got when confronted with it. So cute, he’s almost able to ignore the stab of jealousy he gets over it, wishing he and Bakugou could be as open as they are.

~~~

Midoriya tries to keep his not feelings- because he doesn’t have real feelings for Bakugou, it’s just the scenting messing with him -in check after one instance where his inner omega gets jealous and breaks through his resolve. Both class A and B are together for a joint training session, the details of which Aizawa and Vlad King are explaining. Not that Midoriya can focus much on what they’re saying through his inner omega wanting to tear off Monoma’s head.  

The- annoying -omega from class B has gotten better about boasting that his class is greater than class A, even if only marginally so. If you had asked Midoriya in any other moment he would attest to it himself, saying how Monoma had brought it down to a healthy rivalry instead of his usual craziness. 

However, none of that positive, glass half full, wanting to see the best in people, outlook he usually has would come out if you asked him right now. Midoriya’s eyes narrowed as he watched Monoma saunter over to Bakugou, leaning a bit too much into the alpha’s space. 

“Heyyy Bakugou~” Monoma sings, hands clasped behind his back. Midoriya can’t see his face but he can practically sense the eyelids fluttering. He’s not even trying to be subtle. 

Bakugou, visibly uncomfortable, recoils. “Tch, what the hell do you want?” 

“Just wanted to wish you good luck today!” Midoriya can practically taste the pheromones that the omega is leaking out. Pheromones that are meant to make it clear to an alpha that they’re interested in them. And as soon as they register with his inner omega, a low growl escapes him. 

Todoroki, who had been standing next to him, raises a brow. “You okay Midoriya?” When he doesn’t respond, too focused on glaring holes into Monoma, Todoroki places a hand on his shoulder. “Midoriya, you’re growling,” 

“W-what?” He shakes his head, trying to escape the fog that his mind had become. Shit, he had been growling, he didn’t even realize. Sheepishly, he brings a hand to rub the back of his neck. “Sorry, ha, I don’t know why I was doing that,”. 

Turning to try focusing once again on the training session they’re about to start, he nearly misses the questioning yet amused stare from Bakugou, who is shoving Monoma away, grumbling that he’s not interested. Nearly. And now he’s struggling to focus for a whole new reason. 

He internally argues with his inner omega fiercely later on in his dorm room, demanding that it get ahold of itself. Why the hell did he react like that? He’s always had great control of his impulses. Not giving into his baser instincts like his omega wanted was something he was most proud of. Was it just because it was Bakuou that Monoma was flirting with? What does that mean? 

He’s caught up in this internal conflict when he hears a knock at his door. Swinging the door open a little too quickly, he finds Todoroki, who looks about as conflicted as he’s ever seen. 

“Todoroki-kun, what’s up?” He asks, furrowing his brows. 

“Can we speak? I have a question I need to ask you,” 

“Oh, sure come in,” He opens the door wider, letting his friend in. Todoroki has been the only alpha he’s ever allowed into his room. An omega is very picky about who they let near their nest, usually feeling very territorial of it. However, he suspects that he and Todoroki are getting close to being ‘pack’ (along with Iida and Uraraka, but they’re both betas, something his omega cares less about), so he felt comfortable with him. He knew this alpha was safe. It wasn’t in a romantic way either. He wasn’t even sure Todoroki felt anything romantic for anyone .

Once they were settled, Midoriya sitting on his nest and Todoroki in his desk chair- which had been pulled back a good distance to not be too close to the omega’s nest, just to be respectful -he prompted the alpha. “So what did you want to ask?” Please don’t ask about the growling incident from earlier. Please please please.

Todoroki seemed to be thinking over how best to start, his mouth opening and closing a few times before finally saying, “You growled at Monoma and Bakugou today,”. Well, shit. 

“Uh… hah,” Midoriya nervously chuckled. “Y-yeah I did huh,” 

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but I’ve been meaning to ask for some time. What exactly is going on between you and Bakugou?” 

Midoriya felt his heart speed up, now immensely more nervous than he already was. “Nothing’s going on,” he tried to smile as he responded, but it came out as a weak imitation. He only hoped Todoroki wouldn’t be able to see through it. 

“You’ve been scenting every day for three months, and today you growled at him being approached by another omega. I’ve never heard you growl at anyone, not even a villain.” It’s a statement of events, but Midoriya hears the question that’s implied. This is weird for you, and as your friend, I’m concerned. What’s going on?

He doesn’t know what to say to that, because Todoroki is right. Him and Bakugou have been scenting and he did growl today. Which was one of the few times in his life that he’s done so. The problem was he doesn’t know what was going on either. So how can he possibly tell Todoroki?

“Honestly, I’m not sure what’s going on either,” He admits. 

“I only ask because of the growling today. I’ve ignored the scenting, knowing it’s none of my business. But the growling seemed to surprise even you and I just wanted to check up on you.” 

“I appreciate that, Todoroki-kun. As I said, I’m not sure why that happened. It just kind of slipped out?” He pauses, wondering if this is his best chance to ask someone else what all of this could mean. He’s getting nowhere on his own and he’s been too nervous to ask anyone else. “Hey, Todoroki-kun, do you know if scenting can be... platonic? Outside of family and pack members I mean,”. 

“As far as I know, no,” Todoroki says, blunt and honest. Midoriya feels his face fall. “I don’t scent anyone though, so I may not be the best person to ask. You should ask Uraraka or Iida,” This was true. Midoriya wasn’t even sure if Todoroki scented with his family anymore, considering everything that’s happened with them. When was the last time Todoroki was scented by anyone? He shakes his head, not wanting to go down that rabbit hole. 

“Yeah, maybe I’ll ask them. Thanks for checking up on me, I appreciate it. I’m fine though,” He puts on his best smile, the most reassuring one. Todoroki seems to accept it.

“You’re welcome. If you need to talk about it again, I’ll be glad to help if I can,” He says, standing up. Midoriya nods, saying he will. As soon as he hears the click of the door shutting, and he’s once again alone, he falls back into his nest. 

Their conversation had started a string of questions in his head that he couldn’t seem to ignore anymore. Why had he growled today? Was it just his inner omega being jealous? Why was his inner omega insisting on treating Kacchan as his alpha? And the one that was the loudest. Was it just his inner omega, like he had been telling himself.. or did he want Kacchan as his alpha too? His mate? Squeezing his eyes shut, his hands shoot up to cover his face. 

He honestly didn’t know. He hadn't ever let himself think about stuff like that. Too preoccupied after he first presented with telling his inner omega to shut up, and then once he got into UA, training to be a hero. Okay, he could figure this out. No big deal, he was smart and good at analyzing things. He knew his omega liked Bakugou. That was a given. Did that extend to him though?

Up until now, he had always treated his omega and himself like two separate beings, each with their own wants. It was his safety net amongst all of the complicated feelings that came along with his secondary gender. Made it easier to deal with if it wasn’t him feeling these things. It was his omega. Maybe he needed to reevaluate that line of dealing with things. Accept the fact that his omega is him.

“Ugh, this is making my head hurt,” Rubbing his face, he groaned. A glance at the clock told him it was 7 pm and it then occurred to him that he hadn’t eaten dinner yet. His stomach growls then, as if to say, ‘finally you notice’. Taking the excuse to stop thinking about all of this, he heads down to the kitchen.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner into the common room, he found it fairly occupied already. Jirou and Yaoyorozu were huddled together on one of the couches, Tsu and Uraraka opposite them on the other. Kirishima and Bakugou were on the table, the latter helping the former with tonight's homework.

Midoriya smiled softly as he realized that the loud blonde had gotten significantly less loud over time so now he was only barely yelling at the redhead about some problem he did wrong. It was a blink and you miss it kind of change but his eyes weren’t as harsh and his voice not quite so piercing.

Opening the cupboard with his shelf of snacks and food, he mulled over his choices, working his lip between his teeth. He could just make ramen again, though that wasn’t the healthiest option. Making a full meal just seemed like so much work. 

“I swear if you try to make that prepackaged ramen crap again, I’ll kick your ass,” A voice interrupts his ponderings from behind him. Turning, he glances at the table Bakugou was at a minute ago to find Kirishima happily humming to himself whilst packing up his things. 

Huffing a halfhearted laugh, he smiles, looking back at the alpha in front of him. “Hi, Kacchan, nice to see you too,”

“Tch, yeah yeah, just make real food for once, got it?” Bakugou grabs his wrist and proceeds to do their nightly scenting. He almost tells the alpha to wait, that if he wants Midoriya to make food, he probably shouldn’t scent him and make him tired. But it’s too late, the effects are already causing his muscles to relax, his hand almost slipping from its grip on the cupboard door. 

“Hm, okay,” His eyes are half-lidded and his smile has gone soft, but he manages to shut the cupboard and move to the fridge. Lazily he grabs a few ingredients for a simple meal that won’t take him long. 

He registers that Bakugou hasn’t left the kitchen yet, mostly through his senses. His omega just knows that the alpha is standing a few feet from them. Not in the hair standing on the back of your neck, kind of way. But more in a soft, fluttering in his stomach, kind of way. Five minutes into cooking, a hand is taking the spatula from him, along with some muttering about how he’s going to burn the food. Midoriya isn’t sure how he could have managed to mess up the meal already but allows himself to be pushed aside. Kacchan’s cooking is better anyway.

It takes more concentration than he’s willing to admit for him to hop up onto the counter; the effects of the scenting to blame, causing his limbs to feel heavier. Situating himself with his legs crossed, head cradled in his hands, he watches Bakugou work- or cook. There’s a kind of focus on the blonde's face that tells Midoriya how seriously he takes this. You could find the same look when Bakugou was studying, training, or doing hero work. Like all of his attention was on the task at hand.

Midoriya knew, however, that Bakugou was very good at multitasking. It may look like he hadn’t noticed Midoriya was sitting on the countertop- something the omega knew he wasn’t supposed to do - but he had. Now, why he wasn’t yelling at him that he was getting his germs everywhere and to quote, ‘get the fuck down!’, he couldn’t say. He was pondering the answer to that as he watched his food being cooked. 

Sizzling mixes in with the muffled sounds from their fellow classmates, bringing with it the smell of sauteed vegetables and meat. Exposed calves grew goosebumps as they slowly adjusted to being pressed against the cool countertop. It’s a bit early in the year to be wearing shorts, but he’s eager for spring to turn into summer. Plus moments like this make it worth it, the smooth granite is soft and his omega loves soft things. Closing his eyes, he let himself intake a breath, deeper than usual. This moment felt more domestic than anything he had yet experienced since entering the dorms, and he wanted to capture it with all of his senses. 

“Oi, get off the counter, Deku,” Ah there it was, less bite than usual though. He hummed, opening his eyes and shuffling to the edge to jump down. “Your food’s done,” Bakugou shoved a plate of steaming food into his hands. 

“Mm, thanks Kacchan,” His voice came out softer than normal, another effect of the scenting. 

“Whatever, nerd,” Bakugou huffs, moving to take his leave. Before he could pass the doorway to the kitchen, however, Sero rounds the corner, a beaming smile on his face.

“It smells good in here! Did Bakugou cook?” The excited beta asks while making his way over to the stove. A low growl, however, causes him to sputter to a stop. “Shesh, alright alright, I can take a hint!” 

If Midoriya wasn’t so preoccupied with eating, he would have a few choice reactions to the fact that Bakugou just growled at Sero when he tried to eat the food that the alpha had prepared for him. He would recall it tomorrow after the scenting had worn off, at first thinking it was a dream- why he would be dreaming of that though is a question he doesn't have an answer to -only for a teasing Sero to confirm it later that day.

For now, however, he wasn’t focused on it. He’s too busy feeling so sated and happy that he finds himself purring. Again, something he would later remember doing, causing him to spiral back into his, what the hell is going on with me, crisis. It’s not until he’s nearly finished that it occurs to him that he probably should have moved to sit at the table instead of just standing in the middle of the kitchen like a zoned-out fool. 

Taking his last bite, he shrugs and then rinses off his plate. Oh well, it was hard to care when he now got to go burrow into his nest. That night is the first time he can’t find it in him to tell his omega to shut up when it starts purring, alpha takes care of us so well. 

Chapter Text

For the next week, Midoriya is in critical analysis mode; taking apart every piece of interaction between himself and Bakugou and putting it under a metaphorical microscope. The incident with the food is just too odd for Midoriya to simply overlook. So far his findings have been conclusive. No doubt in his now terrified mind what the answer to his question is. Which was a problem, considering he was at the moment sitting in his desk chair waiting for class to start when this realization hits him head-on. 

It’s nothing drastic that makes everything finally click, which is somehow more frustrating. No grand heartstopping gesture, or world-stop-turning statement; instead, it’s just Bakugou walking into the room and taking his seat. Midoriya can’t help but follow the alpha’s movements as Bakugou drops into the desk in front of him, causing a waft of his scent to all but engulf Midoriya’s senses. He feels the urge to purr and that’s when his eyes fly open, his body now stiff. Wait- no . 

“Hey Midobro, are you alright?” Kirishima asked him. The red-headed alpha had been talking to Bakugou while waiting for class to start and happened to look over at the greenette to see him behaving oddly. 

“Me? Oh y-yeah, I’m fine!” He pleads with himself to gain some composure; now is not the time to be losing his mind. The nervous response gains the attention of Bakugou, who turns his head slightly, feet still propped up on his desk, arms crossed over his chest. 

“If you say so,” Kirishima laughed, turning his attention back to the blonde in front of him. Midoriya swallows heavily, still feeling Bakugou’s side-eyed gaze. He feels it because he can’t bring himself to meet the others' eyes. There’s a deep secret he’s holding onto now and he’s desperate to go as long as possible before anyone- read Bakugou -finds out. 

Thankfully class starts shortly after the exchange, allowing Midoriya to ignore his newfound realization and focus on his hero studies. Or mostly focus on them. His resolve breaks every once in a while when suddenly his eyes aren’t trained on Aizawa or the board, but on the wild blonde hair in front of him. 

As soon as the day is over, he throws his things in his bag and makes for the door. He knows Bakugou is staring at him wondering just what the fuck was up; almost thinks he hears him vocalize that thought. He can’t stop to explain though as he rushes to his room and locks himself inside. 

He drops his bookbag with a heavy thud onto the floor, breathing heavily from spriting here. His lungs burn, his mind is racing, and a shaking hand comes up to his chest and clenches onto the ruffled fabric of his uniform. How did this happen?!

Though he knows, he knows , he’s right, he tries to see any other possible explanation. Any other reason, since he can’t accept this one. He has no idea how he had let this happen. Or well, that was a lie. He knew. Some part of him has always known. He just didn’t want to accept it. 

The idea of accepting this was terrifying . Squeezing burning eyes shut, he felt tears spill over and run down his cheeks. He had been living in a blissful state of denial for so long that it was overflowing now. The floodgates had opened; the dam cracked and tumbled down as it all spilled over. He was in love with Kacchan.  

A sob escapes him, as memories rush through his mind. All of the scentings, his admiration for him, the way his inner omega howled for the alpha. That was something he really should have given more merit than he did before. He knew his inner omega was a part of him, but accepting that the alpha it wants is one he does too was easier said than done. 

Especially after the scentings had stopped those few years, Bakugou had been sending messages that he received loud and clear. He wanted nothing to do with the omega, to the point Midoriya thought he genuinely hated him. The heartbreak upon coming to that realization had just about killed him back then.

And after he finally accepts that fact and starts to let him go, he gets pulled right back in. The scentings resume and he’s too much of a coward to say anything about it. He knows,  he knows , he should have talked with Bakugou about all of this by now. Even so, the idea of losing the alpha again was too high a risk. Which made Midoriya sob harder because you can’t lose something that’s not even yours. 

With no strength to hold it back, he mewls. It’s like his omega has turned itself up to full volume and there’s no way for Midoriya to escape it. No way to deny that part of him. Because as much as he’s pushed it away, it is part of him. He’s an omega, for better or worse. He recalls telling himself that he didn’t hate being an omega but maybe that had been a lie too. As much as he’s suppressed his instincts, some part of him must hate it.

A distressed scent is virtually gushing out of him at this point but he doesn’t have the strength to stop or control it. He honestly hated how much of a crier he was, the one habit that he couldn’t quite break. Crawling over to his nest, he burrows into it, clinging to any comfort he can find, but for once, it’s not enough. Fleece blankets, satin pillows, and various soft items from his mother and a select group of friends all felt dull to him now. The scent he wants isn’t here. His omega had long been yelling at him to make the alphas scent an integral part of their nest, which he in turn had long been disregarding because there was no way in hell he would be able to accomplish that.

Where is alpha, alpha will comfort us, alpha will make it better, need alpha’s scent. His omega is imploring him to listen. And for once, he is listening.. he just doesn’t know how to answer. Doesn’t know how to tell his omega that the alpha they want most likely doesn’t want them back. He never knew why the scentings started or stopped, but he knew it had nothing to do with Bakugou wanting him as a mate. Most likely, it was a habit the alpha had started when he was young and just kept up. 

Midoriya was a smart person, knowing Bakugou better than most anyone. If he really examined and scrutinized everything he knew about the alpha, he might be able to come up with a decent inference on how Bakougou felt about him. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. For all his panicked thoughts were telling him that the answer he found would not be one he liked. He also knew that anxious thoughts don’t listen to logic, and his current state of mind was influenced by the breakdown currently consuming him. So it’s hard to convince himself otherwise when he can’t conceive of a world where Bakugou would ever feel that way about him.

But still, he tries… Why had Bakugou done all this? Why scent him? Why make him food? Does he know the implications of his actions towards the omega?

He had to, right? Did he just not care? Though, the education on their secondary genders was something schools hadn’t quite perfected yet. He remembers sitting in the gymnasium with the other omegas in middle school while a beta awkwardly pushed abstinence on them, telling them they were too young to have a mate.

The longer he laid there, blanketed by his thoughts and uncertainty, the more ridiculous he felt. His resolve to keep this to himself was breaking under the weight of his want; want for answers, want for an explanation. Maybe he should just ask. Maybe-

A pounding knock reverberates off the door, followed by a gruff voice calling out, “Open up, Deku,”. Speak of the devil and he shall appear; or something like that. 

Chapter Text

The conflict of emotions that struck him as soon as Bakugou's voice rang in his ears made his stomach clench. Anxiety and nervousness that made him want to throw up. God this is going to go so badly. Cautious excitement that made him well, also want to throw up. But.. What if it goes well? End result? He was nauseous . Slowly, he peeled himself off of the blankets in his nest. Shuffled his feet on the carpet, the scratchy texture causing friction that sent chills up his spine.

Fisting the front of his shirt, he took a deep breath in and swung the door open. Bakugou has his fist raised, stopping just short of accidentally hitting Midoriya in the face. He huffs a cough as he lowers his fist. 

“What took you so long- '' Midoriya watches the rise and fall of Bakugou's chest as he inhales, “-and why does it reak of distressed omega in here?”. Midoriya wants to start crying again at the tone of concern in the alpha's voice.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” His voice is rough and small, and it makes Bakugou pause to stare at him. He knows this look. It’s his ‘I can see you’re hiding something,’ look. Hesitating for only a moment, he reaches for Midoriya's wrist; the one not in a death grip above his heart.

Rough calloused fingers barely touch him as they guide more than lift the omega's arm, and it makes Midoriya clench his shirt tighter. Why are you being so gentle with me? He wants to ask. He wants to ask so bad. But the words are caught in his throat, afraid to come out. 

The scent glands brush against one another, melting the alpha's scent straight through his skin into his veins. It rushes up and into his throat, forcing the words out before he even realizes he’s speaking. 

“Why are you scenting me?” He almost shouts. Bakugou halts his movements, confusion morphing his face into an almost scowl. 

“What the fuck do you mean, why?” Bakugou goes to pull away, clearly caught off guard, something the omega knows he hates, but he can’t go back now. Midoriya catches his arm, holding on tighter than he means to which causes their scent glands to press against each other in a way that somehow feels more intimate than anything he’s done in his life. The alpha raises a brow, glancing down to where their wrists are secured together. 

He takes an open-mouthed breath in, hoping Bakugou doesn’t notice how shaky it is. How could he not though when seemingly every sense the alpha has is tuned into the omega, waiting for an explanation. 

“I mean, why are we scenting? What is this?” It’s barely a difference from what he said the first time but he can see the moment it clicks for Bakugou what he’s really asking; the walls are going up. No no please don’t shut me out.

“It’s not a big deal,” There’s no venom in his words, but all the same Midoriya flinches, unconsciously squeezing Bakugou's arm tighter. Not even two seconds after he does Bakugou’s arm is ripped away. “It’s just scenting, it doesn’t mean anythin-”

“Of course,” Midoriya doesn’t mean to cut him off but damn it he should have known. “O-of course it doesn’t mean anything,”.

“Right-” 

“Well then, since it means nothing , I think we should stop,” He brings his hand up to join the other one, locking them together so tightly his knuckles turn white. Fuck, he’s angrier than he thought he would be. He couldn’t help it though, Bakugou denying what’s really going on here is maddening.

Bakugou’s eyes are red and piercing as they fiercely glare. Midoriya meets it head-on; can’t look away, not even as he starts tasting smoked caramel on his tongue and his throat starts burning from holding back tears. 

Defensive and hurt alpha pheromones starting to smother him just serve to make him angrier. Why the hell are you hurt? He wants to scream at the alpha. You’re the one who just said this was nothing, me calling it off shouldn’t hurt you at all if that’s the case. But he says none of this out loud. As much as he wants to pummel the alpha right now, he knows, he knows, that this is Bakugou reacting to feelings in the only way he knows how; with defensive anger. 

“I think you should go,” Midoriya barely manages to get out. It’s better to end this here before either of them says something they can’t take back.

“Fucking-” Bakugou takes a sharp breath in, eyes looking pained as he does so. “-fine.” 

The bitter howl that his inner omega unleashes from inside of him as he watches the alpha walk away, nearly brings him to his knees. It’s the first time his inner omega has made itself known in the past 15 minutes. It’s screaming for the alpha to come back, to tell him that he didn’t mean it. Agonized that the alpha rejected them. And the most painful part of listening to it is knowing that he feels the same. 

The next few days are spent on autopilot. Staying so focused on studying and training that he doesn’t leave himself room to think about anything else. Working himself until he’s so exhausted that he practically passes out at the end of the day. Or at least that’s the goal.

His friends are worried, he can tell. Sees their worried faces once they realize that something has shifted with Bakugou and Midoriya, and not in a good way. It’s like they’re first years again. He thanks the gods that no one is brave enough to comment on it. The aura both of them are exuding probably has a good deal to do with that; strong and negative, near acidic that screams leave me alone. 

Every time Midoriya manages to get close to the alpha-- which isn’t often thanks to them both ignoring each other -he has to fight the urge to both yell at and comfort the alpha. Bakugou makes no effort to keep his scent in check, practically reeking of sad alpha pheromones. Which in turn causes Midoirya to produce distressed omega pheromones since he can’t help but react to the distress of an alpha that’s been scenting him for months.

The first time this happens he, Iida, and Todoroki had been on their way to lunch rush when Bakugou and company (ie. Kirishima, and Kaminari) walked ahead of them. When Bakugou’s scent hits his nose he has to grab Todoroki’s arm for support. It’s so strong that Midoirya feels like he’s been punched in the face and can’t help but let his inner omega take over briefly, whimpering as he lets out a distressed scent. 

Bakugou stops abruptly, causing Kaminari to crash into his back. “Ow, dude, what the heck?!” Poor Kirishima seems torn between attending to the omega he’s courting and his best friend who has just apparently turned to stone.

 “Midoriya, are you alright?” Todoroki softly asks. Midoriya can only nod as he attempts to get his scent under control. It doesn’t help that when he looks up at Bakugou, he can feel how much the alpha wants to turn around and comfort him. Can see his hands clenched so tight he’s shaking. 

He doesn’t of course, instead as fast as he stopped, he starts walking away, movements strained. Immediately Midoirya’s eyebrows crease in anger. Why is he acting like such a wounded alpha?! 

“We should continue to lunch before the period is over,” Iida says, hoping to move past the odd incident. Midoriya says nothing, simply following his friends as he broods over how stupid his- the alpha is being. 

It’s late, around 8 pm one night when he finally leaves the on-campus gym and makes his way back to the dorms. His shirt is sticking to him in patches drenched with sweat. His muscles are so sore that it takes all of his concentration to walk straight. Everything feels heavy. 

Using his whole body, he pushes the front door open. The lively chatter lowers to a murmur, and Midoriya doesn’t have to look up to know that they’re all staring at him. 

“Bro, he doesn’t look good,” He hears Kaminari whisper, or try to. He’s not sure if he even knows how to whisper. 

“Shhh, Kaminari!” Mina hisses before she bounces over to him. “Hey there Midoriya!” 

He holds in a sigh, giving her a (forced) smile. “Hi, Mina,”

“Kiri made some curry for everyone and we left you some! It’s in the fridge,” She beams at him and he can’t help but feel warmer under her attention. 

He glances over at Kirishima, who is tangled on one of the couches with Kaminari. He wasn’t sure if Bakugou had told the red-headed alpha anything about what happened but the look on his face told Midoriya that yes, he had. The sympathy was almost too much. 

“Thanks, Kirishima-kun,” 

“No problem, Midoriya,” Translation: I’m sorry my best friend is an idiot.  

He indeed does find a plate of curry that he thinks is a bit too large but he still eats the whole thing anyway. After thanking Kirishima once more he retreats to the elevator, pushing his floor number with just enough pressure to light the 2 in a soft yellow.

In truth, as tired as he is, he’s worried about his ability to fall asleep. Each night it gets harder and harder to cross the barrier from exhaustion to actual sleep. He’d gotten so used to the scentings putting him to sleep it’s like his body has forgotten how to do it without it. It took him 3 hours to fall asleep last night. Which just made him direct his exasperation at the fact that his workout routine was probably pointless. As the doors chime open his leg muscles cramp, almost as if they’re laughing at him. 

By the time he makes it to his room, he’s so physically tired he wants to never move again. Collapsing into his nest, he prays that his mind will follow suit and shut up for once. He has little hope for that happening though.

Chapter Text

The ticking of the clock felt like it was mocking him, and he glared at it as the time finally hit 3:00 am. He’d been staring at the ceiling for hours, wishing sleep would come. It hadn’t and he no longer felt comfortable. Once soft blankets now felt itchy and there was a restlessness in his legs that wouldn’t go away. 

Pushing himself up, he can’t help but scowl. For all his overthinking, he hadn’t seen this coming. Of course, his body had gotten used to falling asleep after scenting. So much so that now it was like he didn’t remember how to fall asleep without it. Stupid scentings, stupid alpha, stupid stupid. He muttered to himself as he shuffled towards the door to head downstairs, draping a throw blanket across his shoulders. 

The days had been warming up with the coming of spring, but the nights still had a chill to them that had Midoriya hugging his blanket tighter. He wasn’t even sure why he was heading to the common room. His rational brain supplied that making a cup of tea might help. His omegas low crying told the true reason; one he was ignoring for it hurt too much to focus on how his nest made him want to claw his scent glands off.  

Rounding the corner to the kitchen, he decides to keep his thoughts focused on what he’s doing to avoid the usual wandering his mind does. Should he turn the light on or off? Having the overhead light on seems like it would be too bright, so he instead opts to turn the small light above the stove on. A dull yellow spreads across the counter, just enough so that he can see what he’s doing.

After filling the kettle up with water and switching it on, he opens the cupboard to scan the selection of teas there. They’re mostly Yaoyorozu’s, but she’s expressed multiple times to everyone that she’s willing to share. English breakfast tea? No. Lemon? Hmm, he does like lemon but the idea of citrus seems to wake his mind up instead of calming it down. Chamomile? That’s a calming tea, right? He knows next to nothing about tea but that sounds right so he takes a bag out and waits for his water. 

Before he can worry about intrusive thoughts, a monotone, “Midoriya?” causes him to turn around and see a half-away Todoroki standing in the doorway to the kitchen. 

“Todoroki-kun, what are you doing up?”

“Needed water. What about you?” Todoroki pulls a glass out of the cupboard and starts filling it with water. 

“Can’t sleep, so,” he gestures to the kettle that’s nearly finished boiling, “tea,”. 

“Hm,” Is all the reply he gets while Todoroki gulps down the water. However, when he sets the now half-empty glass down, Midoriya can see the subtle changes in his friend's face. 

“Stop looking at me like that,” 

“Midoriya-”

“I don’t need to hear the lecture right now, okay?” Midoriya knows that his behavior has been concerning, he knows . Between not sleeping and overworking himself, it’s obvious he’s not okay. 

Todoroki pauses before he chooses to continue. “I’ll admit that the dynamic between secondary genders has always been.. confusing to me.” 

Midoriya says nothing while he fills a mug with water and puts the teabag in to steep. 

“I’d like to help though if you’ll let me,” 

This time it’s Midoirya who pauses. Help? “Help how?” 

“Well, the scentings between you and Bakugou always made you sleep, yes?” 

Midoriya tries not to visibly wince at the mention of Bakugou and nods. 

“And now that that’s over, you’re having trouble sleeping.” 

“Where are you going with this, Todoroki-kun?” 

It takes a few seconds before he replies, and his answer nearly makes Midoriya drop the sugar jar he’s just picked up. “What if I scented you?” 

“W-what?”

“Only in a platonic way of course,” Todoroki quickly adds on. Midoirya opens his mouth to say something but- nothing comes out. Out of all the things he expected his alpha friend to say, that wasn’t one of them. 

It had never occurred to Midoriya to scent with anyone other than Bakugou. Even the idea felt wrong and he could already hear his omega protesting it. He pondered the proposal while he finished his tea. 

“I figured the scenting had something to do with your lack of sleep lately, was I wrong?”

“No, you were right,” Midoriya sighs. He is desperate for sleep. Maybe it would help? “So.. it would only be as friends, right?”

“Yes, I’m not trying to court you. I know social convention frowns on this sort of thing, but if I can help my friend out, I don’t see why I shouldn’t,”.

Midoriya almost wanted to laugh at how matter of fact Todoroki often saw things. It helped ease some of the tension that had spread through him. 

“O-okay, if you’re sure?” 

“I’m sure,” Todoroki nods as he holds out his wrist. The rush of anxiety that the gesture gives him almost makes Midoriya back out. His hand shakes as he brings his wrist up to Todoroki’s. The initial brush of glands makes him want to cringe. He’s staring too hard at the action, eyes locked on the motion. He wants to look away but the idea of staring at Todoroki’s face makes him feel even worse. Campfire and marshmallows are sickenly sweet, instead of comforting as they should be. Everything about the scenting feels off and wrong. 

It’s only a few strokes of the wrist before it’s over and it takes everything in Midoriya not to show how uncomfortable he is. “Thank you, Todoroki-kun,”.

“You’re welcome, Midoriya. I hope it helps,” Todoroki is as straight-faced as ever, and Midoriya nods before grabbing his cup of tea and heading back up to his dorm.

~~~

The scenting doesn’t help. It actually makes things worse, but he doesn’t tell Todoroki that. His friend was only trying to help and he greatly appreciated it. It was nice knowing he had someone who cared that much. 

One of the ways it makes things worse is when Bakugou is passing by Midoriya on their way to the lockers and he catches a whiff of Midoriya’s scent. Or rather, Todoroki’s scent. 

Midoriya barely registers that Bakugou has stopped walking until he feels the angry alpha grab his arm. “What the hell?!” Bakugou yells, a confused scowl on his face. 

“Kacchan. Let go.” Midoriya narrows his eyes, trying to keep his now enraged omega at being manhandled in check. He had somehow slept worse last night due to the scenting. His omega wanted him to scrub himself clean of the scent of his friend, which led to him tossing and turning all night. So, with eyebags rivaling Aizawa and Shinsou’s, he really didn’t want to deal with a moody Bakugou right now. 

“Why the hell do you smell like that Icyhot-bastard?” Bakugou's voice lowers slightly, a growl escaping between his words. 

Midoriya growls back and this causes the alpha to raise his brow, grimace faltering. “Why do you care?”

“What?” Bakugou tries to keep the anger in his words but it comes out forced. With everything that’s happened between them, Midoirya can count the number of times he’s growled at the alpha on one hand. 

“I said, why do you care? You’re the one that said the scentings didn’t mean anything,” Ripping his arm from Bakugou’s grip, he barely notes that they’ve gained an audience, but Midoriya is practically blind to them. Can only see the alpha in front of him desperately attempting to keep his emotions in check and failing. “You have no right to ask why I smell like Todoroki. Not anymore.” 

He starts to walk away, but only gets a few steps before he stops and glances back at Bakugou. His jaw is clenched and his breathing is quickening, chest heaving. The alpha looks lost, angry, confused, and hurt . Which just about stabs Midoriya in the heart. Fist clenched, he adds, “Ya know, if you weren’t such a stubborn asshole it could have been your scent, not his,”.

With that, he continues to the locker room. Once the rest of the class joins him, he’s nearly finished getting ready. No one talks to either him or Bakugou. Though he does hear Kirishima telling Kaminari to leave them alone. He’ll have to thank him later. He’s honestly surprised that Bakugou hasn’t come over to him to continue their argument. Barely glancing over, he sees the stoic-looking alpha focused on putting his hero gear on, eyes contemplative. Letting out a quiet huff, he leaves the room.

Chapter Text

Despite his hands aching from today's training, Midoirya clutches the steaming mug in his hands tighter. Shifting his legs into a new position, rough concrete from the front porch of their dorm building rubs against his legs. It almost helped, feeling the heat burn through porcelain onto his skin and not smooth enough step edges nearly cutting into his calf muscles. It helped distract him. If he was focusing on his almost pain - cause he’s felt much worse, really it didn’t hurt that much - he wasn’t thinking about.. well he wasn’t thinking about anything else.

A soft breeze drifted around him, billowing his t-shirt, almost making him regret not grabbing his hoodie. Yet, despite the goosebumps now trailing up his arm, it almost felt like the wind was embracing him, wrapping him up in a weightless blanket. He imagined this was close to feeling like you’re underwater, and if he closed his eyes and imagined it he could feel the waves pushing and pulling him out to sea. Drifting out further and further from his problems. The sounds from the common room just inside of the open door behind him were muffled and muted. Sucking in air through an open mouth, he filled his lungs and for what felt like the first time in weeks, he could breathe.

Until suddenly he was thrown an unwanted life preserver. “Midoriya?” Eyes opened and the peaceful ocean faded away. The sounds of evening rushed back to him and he sighs regretfully.

“Hey Todoroki-kun.” 

Todoroki just hums and elects to sit next to him on the steps. Now that he’s brought back to reality he can hear his classmates animatedly arguing about which movie to pick tonight. Kaminari of course wants to watch a comedy that Iida is insisting is inappropriate. A small smile forms on Midoriya's face at the normalcy of it. 

“Would you like to scent again tonight?” Todoroki breaks the silence. No beating around the bush then. 

“Ah, thank you, but no,” Bringing the mug up to his face, he almost hides behind it, as if doing so would hide him from having to talk about this. He doesn’t want to think about scenting.

“Did it not help last night?” 

“Um,” he’s torn. He doesn’t want to lie to his friend, but it feels rude to say ‘no your scent didn’t calm me down at all, in fact, scenting with you felt awful, but thanks!’. Instead, he elects to say, “kinda. It just felt different.” 

“I see.” The alpha nods. “Just not the same, is it?” He doesn’t say it as a question. It’s a statement. Midoriya hums a yeah anyways. 

They’re only sitting in the tranquility of the evening cicadas buzzing for a moment before he hears Kirishima approaching the dorms. Looking up he almost instantly wishes he hadn’t. That way he wouldn’t have seen Bakugou grumpily walking with the beaming redhead. He’d be able to pretend he didn’t see them and could just stare at the ground as they passed him. But no, instead, his eyes are deadlocked on the blond Alpha, and as if he can sense his staring, red eyes soon glare right back at him.

Though, it almost doesn’t feel like a glare. It’s clearly meant to be a glare but Midoriya aches when he sees the flickers of hurt pass through crimson. As if looking at Midoriya pains Bakugou. Maybe it does. 

“-and that last move I did, you can’t deny I had you! Oh hey, Midoriya! Todoroki,” Kirishima greets as they finally reach them. Todoroki gives a soft hello and Midoriya can’t bring himself to do anything other than raise his mug slightly. Thankfully his muted greeting gets immediately forgotten when Kirishima hears a certain yellow-haired omega whining inside about his movie choice being officially vetoed. It’s almost endearing, if he were a dog his ears would be perked and tail wagging. “Welp, I’m gonna go inside, see you guys!” 

Kirishima elbows Bakugou, giving him a clear ‘talk to him’ look, before he rushes past them, calling out to Kaminari, leaving the trio in the most awkward silence to ever exist. Todoroki is half-glaring at Bakugou, while Bakugou has his eyes downcast, hair covering the top half of his face in shadow. Midoirya is cursing how gorgeous the alpha looks with sunset glowing behind him, painting his edges in a soft orange. 

“I’m going to head inside as well,” Todoroki puts his hands on his knees, turning towards Midoriya slightly. Todoroki doesn’t have many looks to give, but he easily recognizes this one. If you need me I’ll be right inside . Then he rises and heads inside. This time the discussion in the common room really is muted as the door clicks shut. 

He’s honestly not sure why Bakugou is just standing in front of him. Which is frustrating to all hell because Midoriya prides himself on being able to read him. But now he’s not sure if the alpha is just hiding his intent that successfully, or if he just doesn’t know him as well as he thought he did after all. The idea of that makes Midoriya want to run. Run from this encounter and up to his nest that damn it, his omega wants to rip apart . 

They stand there like that long enough for their classmates inside to start quieting down. He guesses that they’ve finally picked a movie and are settling in to watch it. Which is in turn causing Midoriya to feel like the air around him is going dead. Everything is too quiet and it’s piercing through him. He’s about to give in to the urge to run when Bakugou finally speaks.

“Uh,” The alpha's voice is rough and the sound of it caresses Midoriya's ears in a way he hates because he doesn’t hate it and wants him to keep talking. “How have you been sleeping?” 

The question makes Midoriya grip his mug so tight he almost shatters it. How had he been sleeping? Really? That’s where he wants to start this? In a voice he wishes sounded angrier than it does, he asks for the third time, “Why do you care?” 

Bakugou sighs and pinches his eyes closed. “Fuck, you know I’m not good with this shit, I-” He sighs. “I’m fuckin’ trying, alright?” 

“I know,” And he does. He knows how hard this is for Bakugou. Understands that this is him wanting to say sorry without saying the words. But Midoriya needs to actually hear it. He needs more this time. 

Gently, he sets the mug down, the tea having gone cold. “Why did you start the scenting?” His breath is shaky and his hands tremble under the weight of having to ask this again. But he needs to know. 

Bakugou sighs and moves to sit next to him, though he keeps about two feet of space between them; as if he’s afraid to touch the omega. Midoriya is both grateful and agitated by it. Grateful for the space to think properly, and agitated since all his inner omega wants to do is touch. Rub their scent glands together until he’s drowning in caramel and smoke. 

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Bakugou finally starts, and Midoriya is opening his mouth to retort that he needs to try anyway , but he’s cut off. “Let me finish, nerd,” Midoriya shuts his mouth and nods. 

“I don’t know how to answer ‘cause it’s not like it was a conscious choice. I barely remember my dad tellin’ us about scenting and then doin’ it to you,” his voice barely betrays it, but Midoriya can hear how nervous Bakugou is. “It just felt.. Natural, I guess, so I kept doin’ it.” 

Midoriya waits a beat before asking, “And the second time?”.

In turn, Bakugou wavers before responding with an exhale, “I just- fuck, I smelt your distress and it was like you were pullin’ my wrist towards yours.” 

Well, that’s.. Midoriya doesn’t know what to say to that. He technically has his answer, but it still feels like there’s a lot left unsaid. Still feels like Bakugou is evading what Midoriya is actually asking him. 

“You probably want more than that, huh,” 

Stunned, Midoriya finally looks over at Bakugou to see him rubbing his hands over his face. It’s then that he notices the scent of distress coming off of him. It’s only a trickle, like a line of water escaping a crack in a dam. 

“I-” Midoriya starts, but has to stop and clear his throat when his voice comes out scratchy, and his throat is sore like he’s holding back tears. Okay so he’s holding back tears, no one is surprised . “When I asked what this was, I wasn’t expecting you to lay out all of your feelings, Kacchan. I just- We’ve never been good at communicating,” Bakugou scoffs next to him. “but we got to a point with the scenting where I couldn’t make excuses anymore about why we were doing it.” The air feels heavy now. Midoriya is sure they can both feel it, like a weighted blanket draped over them both. 

“D’you remember when we first presented?” 

Silently, Midoriya nods. Of course he does. The first time he smelled Bakugou's scent he thought his omega would claw its way out of his chest in order to get to the alpha. 

“I was so pissed cause I couldn’t understand why my alpha wouldn’t shut the fuck up about you. Took everything in me not to scent you right there in that classroom. But like hell I was gonna give in to my instincts; didn’t wanna be weak. Which was fuckin’ stupid.” 

Midoriya can barely breathe with the information he’s being given. He never would have thought that Bakugou's reaction to their presentation was similar to his; the instant attraction to the other's scent. If he thinks back hard enough he can remember seeing the alpha tense in his memory of their presentation but he hadn’t been able to put much thought into it at the time. Wasn’t able to foresee a scenario where Bakugou wanted to scent him too.

All of this realization is great but somehow, he still has no idea what Bakugou is actually trying to tell him. Didn’t want to give in to his instincts? What does that mean? Is that why Bakugou stopped scenting him the first time? If so, why does he think it’s stupid now? What does that mean? 

“You’re mumbling, nerd,” 

Of course he is. “Ah, sorry,” he brings a hand to rub the back of his neck, which is now red with embarrassment. 

“S’fine,” 

There’s a beat of silence and it’s the first time since everything went to shit that it’s felt somewhat normal. He can’t help but cling onto how nice it feels. 

“I have one more question,” Midoriya finally asks.

Bakugou turns his head slightly towards him, eyes telling him to go ahead and ask. 

“Why did you stop the scentings?” It seems ridiculous now, how he didn’t realize that this was the real question he wanted answered. He didn’t really care why it started, either time. What mattered to him was that they stopped. 

Bakugou rests his hands behind him, leaning back. “When we got to middle school, everyone had already been telling me how great my quirk was; how I was sure to be a great hero. My cocky ass loved it. Ate it up until I thought I was better than everyone.” He pauses a second here. “‘Cept you. You were quirkless but somehow you still thought you could be a hero. You would stand up for the other kids who were bullied and helped ‘em. It drove me mad ‘cause that’s something I’ve never been good at. Feelings.. helping people.. being a good fuckin’ person. That shit came so easy to you.” 

His breathing has all but stopped now and he can feel that the tears he was fighting have spilt over. One tear trailing down his face. 

“When you held out your hand to me after I fell off that log.. It felt like you were shoving your goodness in my face. It was fuckin’ dumb.. I was fucking dumb. I shouldn’t have blamed you for my shortcomings.. Shouldn’t have told you to.. fuck..” He takes in a shaky breath, clearly struggling to get out the words ‘to take a swan dive off the roof’ . 

“Kacchan..” His words are wet and soft. 

Alpha pheromones waft over him as Bakugou moves to rest his forearms on his legs, hanging his head. The regret and anxiety smell like burnt caramel and Midoriya nearly chokes on it, like a bitter smoke is filling his lungs. Suddenly his omega is being a lot more vocal, saying it hates that scent and that they should fix it. 

“I’m sorry,” Bakugou says with a deep exhale. “I’m sorry I said awful shit to you. I’m sorry I told you this was nothing. It’s not.”

As soon as he hears the words something shatters in him. The dam breaks, the walls fall, a weight is lifted; whatever you want to call it, it takes away his strength to hold back his scent. It pours out of him in waves until he can’t smell Bakugou's distress anymore, just the soothing smell of pine trees and mint tea meant to calm.

He sees Bakugou go rigid for a second before he relaxes into the scent. Shocked red eyes turn soft and half-lidded before shifting towards him, holding his gaze.

The corners of Midoriya's mouth pull up slightly while he whispers, “I forgive you,”. His arm shakes as he holds out his wrist, hand clenched around nothing. Bakugou stares at it in disbelief, slowly reaching out. 

The moment their glands brush both of them shudder. His eyes fall shut, getting lost in a scent he’s missed so much he wants to cry. So lost he’s caught off guard when Bakugou grabs him and pulls him close, slotting their necks together.

It takes a moment for his brain to catch up with what’s happening, but then an explosion of warm caramel wrapped in smoke seeps into his skin with every brush of Bakugou's neck gland. 

Throwing his arms around the alpha, he furiously starts to respond, burying his face in Bakugou's nape. And fuck.. If he thought scenting before was intense it was nothing compared to this. Every nerve he has is screaming alpha, alpha, alpha . His omega is purring, both inwardly and outwardly, so intensely that he feels his skin tremble. Bakugou answers his purr with a deep rumble, digging his hands into Midoriya’s waist, bunching up the fabric of his t-shirt. 

Eventually, they slow to a stop, and then they’re left just holding each other. His purr has softened, as has Bakugou’s rumble. Neither seems to want to let go, so they don’t. He’s not sure how long they sit there like that, but it’s long enough that they start hearing their classmates stir inside.

Reluctantly, they both pull away, agreeing that they should probably go inside before someone decides to be nosy and comes out looking for them. After they stand and Midoriya grabs his cup, he’s surprised once again when Bakugou grabs his hand, lacing their fingers together.

Chapter Text

Midoriya desperately tries to tone down the smile on his face as they enter the common room. They’re both nervous, though it shows in different ways. The omega red-faced and shy smile, the alpha stone-faced and squeezing their hands slightly. 

Half of their classmates are up and getting new snacks, going to the bathroom, or just stretching their legs. The rest are half asleep where they ended up around the couches, pillows, and blankets that are scattered around in front of the tv. 

Kirishima looks up from where he’s putting in the next movie and his eyes widen when he spots the two of them. A smile breaks onto his face when he spots their hands. Bakugou looks ready to tell him to shut up, obviously expecting an onslaught of comments and questions from their friends.

And while Midoriya appreciates the support they’ll get, he too can’t deal with that attention right now. Everything has left him feeling raw. The combination of not sleeping properly for days, pushing himself physically, having their talk, and scenting each other afterward has left him drained.

Thankfully though, Kirishima simply winks at them, gives them a little thumbs up, and shuffles back to re-join a sleepy Kaminari making grabby hands at him. Midoriya lets out a sigh of relief that everyone seems too distracted to really notice them. They find an open stop on the floor in some cushions that Momo has likely made for everyone. 

As he sits down, leaning against the front of the couch, he feels the effects of the scenting taking hold. His muscles feel heavier now and as Bakugou drapes a blanket over both of their legs, his eyelids droop. If he wasn’t feeling happier than he’s felt in a week, he would be more self-conscious about the way his head finds Bakugou’s shoulder. More actively aware of how the alpha freezes a moment before relaxing and putting an arm around Midoriya. Instead, all he can do is purr as calloused fingers softly brush back and forth where they rest on his arm. 

Not that he expected to, but he doesn’t even make it halfway into the movie before he’s passed out. Too tired to hear the soft coos from Mina as he’s lifted into Bakugou’s arms to carry him to bed, or the responding low growl that the alpha gives her when she tries to pet his head. 

He only manages to barely wake when Bakugou has arrived at the door to his room. “Hey, we’re at your room,” he whispers to Midoriya, low and rough. Eyes barely open a crack, and Midoriya lazily fishes out his room key and holds it up. It’s a silent permission for the alpha to go inside, and the realization makes Bakugou stiffen for a moment. 

After a moment though, he takes the key and- with some shuffling, opens the door. Carefully, he sets Midoriya down onto his feet so he can crawl into bed. His omega is very aware that the alpha they’ve been wanting is so close to their nest.

Once he’s burrowed into soft blankets and pillows, Bakguou clicks the lamp off and moves to leave the room, but Midoriya manages to twist his fingers into his shirt. He’s mostly instinct right now, which is what gives him the courage to whisper, “Stay,”. 

He’s not overthinking and worrying if this is moving too fast or that he might be pressuring Bakugou. Though somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that Bakugou never does anything he doesn’t want to. He’s only thinking of how much he wants the smell of smoke and caramel to finally be able to become ingrained in his nest. The missing piece he’s been lacking. 

He wills his eyes to stay open, no matter how much they’re fighting him. The usual intense red he expects is instead a softer tone. Softer than he’s ever seen and it makes Midoriya want to commit the sight to memory. 

His omega senses how nervous the alpha is- their alpha? -and automatically releases calming pheromones. Releasing his shirt, Midoriya lifts the edge of the blanket and that’s all it takes for the Bakugou to gingerly slip in next to him. 

Tomorrow he will be embarrassed about the way he instantly curls into the alpha's chest, and nuzzles into it, purring. For now though, he’s all base instincts, his omega fully taking the reins. 

Timidly, Bakugou wraps his arm around Midoriya, as if he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. Which would make sense. If Midoriya was in his right mind, he would realize that this is probably the first time Bakguou has cuddled with anyone. But he’s not so instead he lifts his head to give Bakugou a questioning stare as if to ask him if he’s alright.

Bakugou huffs slightly in response before lightly pressing his lips to his forehead. “Go to sleep, omega,”. It’s the first time in years that he’s called Midoriya anything other than ‘Deku’ or ‘Nerd’ and he can’t hold back the pleased scent he lets out, burrowing his face back into Bakugou's chest. 

There are definitely things they need to talk about in more detail. Steps they need to go back and cover; ones they skipped altogether when they leaped straight to scenting instead of courting like normal people. 

It almost makes Midoriya laugh; they always did do things kind of backward, didn’t they? Oh well, they’ll sort it out at their own pace. For now, this is enough.