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Yuuta hadn’t been back to Jujutsu Tech for more than half a year since he was assigned a mission abroad, and the thing that surprised him most upon his return to school was finding Inumaki Toge sprawling in his bed, wearing his old shirt and snuggling with his soft blankets that he’d kept tucked far away in his closet compartment.
He was fortunate that the last few years of his life had been such a wild ride of world-shattering revelations one after another, that his surprise of the situation was manifested in nothing more than a soft gasp and an ‘ah’.
Toge had, for some reasons unknown to Yuuta, vaguely asked about his room and the key to his room before Yuuta flew to Pennsylvania with Miguel. Toge had offered to hold onto it for him. Yuuta didn’t ask why when he gave the key to him, and it wasn’t like Toge was going to ransack his room during his absence.
But Toge did , in a way, ransack his room. Yuuta opened his closet and true enough, the bottom compartment where he kept his soft blankets showed evidence of someone having gone through it.
Yuuta had half the mind to wake Toge up from his beauty sleep, but upon seeing the fall of his soft hair (Yuuta realized that he’d grown his hair and it looked very good on him) and the small sleepy pout that made his cheeks puff up, Yuuta refrained.
////
“Why is Toge in my bed?” Yuuta asked the moment he stepped into the common room, trying not to sound as confused as he felt.
Maki and Panda were munching on diced tomatoes while playing cards, and they looked up to him acknowledging his presence.
“Huh? Obviously because his heat is near. He’s taking suppressants but he still gets the urge…” Maki said casually.
Yuuta wasn’t certain whether he was more concerned about the omega’s approaching heat or whatever this urge was, as Maki put it. Those didn’t sound like good things, and neither was his confusion cleared with the answer she’d given.
“Urge? For what?”
Maki sighed and glared at him. Maki’s disposition in general used to scare him a little when he first came here, but now it was nothing more than reminiscence of the time he’d spent with the rest of the second year–one that Yuuta recalled rather fondly. All of them didn’t change much, at least not in terms of personality. He had only become much bigger physically than the last time he was here. Toge should stand no taller than his shoulder height unless he also grew a few centimeters during Yuuta’s absence.
“Goddamn, Yuuta. Do I need to spell everything out for you?” Maki groaned.
Yuuta felt like he was missing something important here, and the fact that Maki was growing frustrated with him was proof enough to indicate that he was being particularly unobservant.
Thankfully, Panda took over to explain things to him. “Yuuta-kun, don’t you know that omegas have the urge to nest when they are near their heat cycle? Like Maki said, Toge is taking suppressants but the urge is still there. It’s his natural instinct, you know. To be close to his source of comfort–to his mate. Now that you’re here, why don’t you go lie down with him or hug him or something. Or whatever a good alpha should do…”
This time, despite his claimed immunity to surprises, Yuuta sputtered. His cheeks turned warm, and they slowly took a shade redder than the tomatoes they were snacking on as the implication of what Panda said sank in.
Yuuta stuttered, and he felt like smacking himself in the back of his head when his utterance came out as a question rather than a statement. “B-but, Toge… is not my mate?”
Panda and Maki whipped their heads so fast Yuuta thought they’d break their necks, and they stared at him with wide eyes. “What?”
///
Yuuta had grown significantly closer with Toge just a few short weeks before going abroad. He remembered that during that period, Toge had become so… uncharacteristically soft and smiley around him. They would walk to class and have lunch together under the sakura tree, and Toge would come to his room at night to hang out and snuggle beside him on the bed–sometimes until early morning. It wasn’t like they talked a lot, considering Toge’s Cursed Speech limitation, but the time they spent together was comfortable. Yuuta had been drawn to him since the last mission they were matched up together, and had thought Toge was feeling the same. Toge opening up to him was an unexpected, but a nice change regardless.
So that’s why , Yuuta thought. Suddenly the last time all of them were together at the airport made complete sense in his head. How Toge was the only one among his friends who had hugged him before his departure, and how his touches had lingered. How Toge had softly uttered his name ‘Yuuta’ with a smile unlike any he’d seen before–a mix of serenity and longing. How Toge had looked like he wanted to say something, or waited for something, and Yuuta didn’t do anything.
Oh my god, Toge must have anticipated some form of reciprocation. No, not reciprocation. Attention . He was waiting for some attention because they were mates and they were going to be separated for a prolonged period of time. Yuuta felt so stupid for not realizing sooner.
When Yuuta went back to his room after an hour of lecture from Panda and Maki, he felt positively overwhelmed and alive . They’d explained through gritted teeth and sighs of annoyance that Yuuta and Toge were a legit pair of mates, a hundred percent no-question-asked mates. Yuuta wasn’t aware that mutual scenting–something Yuuta and Toge had definitely done in the past–could become a binding vow between an alpha and an omega, despite it not being a permanent thing like bite marks.
“You weren’t fooling anyone, Yuuta. You were literally staring at Toge like he hang the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky or something. And he was totally doused in your scent.” Maki had made a face like she was disgusted. Yuuta’s flush had deepened at the prospect of Toge walking around with his scent and everyone knowing about it but him.
Even thinking about everything Panda and Maki had told him now, as he sat quietly on the edge of his bed after a fresh shower to clear his head, Yuuta was still feeling off-balanced. Giddy, shocked, happy–a mix of all kinds of emotions he couldn’t name one by one.
“Mustard leaf,” Toge called, breaking his train of thought about the omega.
Toge had woken up from his nap but he hadn’t made an effort to rise from the bed. He looked cozy and still somewhat sleepy, but he extended his arms like he was asking for a hug or a cuddle from Yuuta.
The sight of Toge, gentle and unguarded and trusting, had Yuuta overcome with something so raw, so uncontrollable–that whatever faintest doubts he had left about the whole mating thing were erased from his mind.
Yuuta lay down beside Toge and wrapped his arms around him loosely. Immediately, Toge buried his face in his neck, where his scent gland was. They stayed like that for a while, until Toge made a low, pleasant sound in his throat.
“Can I kiss you?”
Toge glanced up at him, appearing slightly shocked–possibly because they never really kissed before–but he replied, “Salmon.”
The flutters in Yuuta’s chest only grew louder and insistent the moment he brought their faces together. Once their lips touched, there was a sense of fulfillment and completion, like everything was falling to its rightful place. Toge’s lips were as he’d expected–soft and plush. The kiss lingered, from brief touch of lips against lips to something more passionate yet oddly contained. Yuuta could only focus on the clumsy way they moved against each other, the warmth of Toge’s tongue and the inside of his mouth.
“Why hadn’t I kissed you sooner?” Yuuta asked once they parted, a little breathless and pink in the face. Toge was the same–breathless and pink-cheeked.
Toge giggled, actually giggled , before he muttered ‘salmon roe’. This time, Toge was the one who leaned in and kissed him, to which Yuuta reciprocated with equal interest.
Yuuta had to come clean to him soon. Yuuta had to apologize for his unintentional negligence before his departure, too. But at the moment, he wanted to savor this new knowledge that Toge was his ; someone he could love and would love him in return.
Everything about this was new to Yuuta, but it felt great and it felt right. Being Toge’s mate was amazing beyond words.