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For the first sixteen years of his life, Shouto had no idea that a scent could have a color and a feeling in his mind. Then he decided to get off the strong suppressants he’d been on, because finally living his life as his own meant he’d live it as an Omega, too.
So now he knew that Uraraka’s scent was pink and reminded him of bubblegum. He knew Bakugou's was amber, like caramel, and it felt like someone was challenging him to a fight. And he knew that Izuku’s scent was green, like pine and petrichor, and that it felt like home.
They were all in Iida’s room, sitting on the bed together, when it hit him just how much he’d missed. Shouto tried to look away from the frankly unsettling amount of pairs of glasses on the shelves and toward his friends.
It wasn’t that when he was a Beta they didn’t integrate him into their pack. Tsuyu was a Beta, and she was cuddling into Uraraka’s side, leaning onto her shoulder as Uraraka rubbed their wrists together. It just felt different now.
“Are you scenting her?” he asked.
“Yeah, do you wanna go next?”
Shouto was already sitting by her other side, so he just nodded. Uraraka moved slowly, like she was scared he'd run away.
Then she put her hand over Shouto's and touched their scent glands to each other. A sense of calm he'd never felt before washed over Shouto. Strawberries shouldn't mix well with bubblegum, but it didn't really matter. The fact that Uraraka was next to him, offering to mix their scents like that, made the air around him feel warm and fuzzy.
He reached a hand toward her, and she came the rest of the way in. He'd hugged people before (by people, he meant Izuku), but he'd never thought the cuddle sessions their pack had were meant for him, too.
"This is not how scenting felt before."
"How long have you been off suppressants, Todoroki-kun?" Iida asked.
"About a week."
Shouto spoke over Uraraka's hair, his voice muffled.
"It would make perfect sense for your perception to become heightened, then. Don't forget to go see Recovery Girl for a check-up soon!" Iida said, chopping his hands.
"I won't."
Tsuyu reached out her hand across Uraraka, tapping Shouto's palm with her fingers. She was asking permission, so he granted it. It was different from Uraraka. Her scent was much more subdued, like lily pads, and when they touched it was more like Shouto's scent spread over her skin, rather than them mixing. He understood, now.
That was how the others had felt when he was on suppressants. Still close to him, but not in the way they were to Alphas and Omegas.
As the leader of their pack, Iida joined in next, rubbing his wrists against Shouto. He'd noticed there was a very specific way his friend went about it. Three times, first left, then right.
"Can I scent you too?"
Shouto didn't know why Izuku wouldn't just understand that the answer was always yes, when it came to him.
His cheeks were dusted with red, highlighting his freckles. Shouto pulled away from Uraraka and offered his left hand.
For a second, Izuku just looked down, like he didn't know what to do. Then, he glued himself to Shouto's side and ran his wrist over his entire arm.
This was like he was a Beta that Izuku was trying to cover with his scent. It was warm at first, like champagne bubbles in his chest, but then it spread. Shouto's entire body became attuned to the scent he was being covered in.
Something was different. It felt more…right.
"This isn't how Iida did it," he pointed out.
"It's not," Izuku said. He looked surprised with himself. " You're right, I should— is that better? I'm sorry."
"I didn't mind it."
Still, Izuku switched to rubbing their wrists together. All five of them were close together on the bed, cuddled into each other. Shouto had never felt more himself.
*
His friends had become even more affectionate since that day. They all hugged him when they saw him in the morning. Iida was diligent about their pack scenting each other regularly, and Tsuyu asked him to renew it when she wanted to smile because "strawberries are sweet, Todoroki-chan".
Izuku was the most serious of them, though. He'd asked Shouto to scent him more times than he could count. Whenever an Alpha he didn't know approached him, Izuku would renew the mark. It made something in Shouto's stomach flip, and he didn't know why.
For the past few days, though, Shouto had been a horrible friend. He'd been getting urges that he could sometimes barely control.
He saw one of Iida's shirts, draped properly over the back of his desk chair, and he had to dig his nails into his palm. Something in him longed to take it. And do what? He didn't know, and that made him feel even more lost.
He almost kept Uraraka's teddy bear when she showed it to him during a movie night.
This was getting out of hand.
*
It wasn't just that he wanted to steal his friends' clothes. He was starting to feel everything, from the tiniest squeak of a desk chair to the scent of his classmates that weren't even in the common room with him.
"Could you scent me?" Shouto asked, already offering his wrists.
Izuku inhaled deeply, then he closed his eyes.
"I don't think that's the best idea right now, Shouto-kun. Maybe in a few days."
"Alright then." He tried to keep any sour from showing to his friend. "What did you get for number three?"
"I just used the quadratic formula, I think it's twenty-four."
"And the negative one?"
Izuku gave him a sheepish smile. "Ah, yeah, you're right." He started erasing the answer.
Shouto could hear every swipe of the eraser, and it seemed like the more he tried to ignore it the louder it got. He answered the next two questions wrong, distracted first by Kaminari playing music in his own room and then by the smell of the candle Mina had lit up on the coffee table.
It was too much. It was torture. He needed somewhere soft and quiet, that smelled like his pack.
And Izuku didn't want to scent him. He could- he probably should -go ask Uraraka, but his body didn't crave her touch the way it craved Izuku's. Was it because she was an Omega? But Iida didn't feel the same either.
"Are you alright?" Izuku asked. He was frowning, his eyes soft.
"I'll manage."
A chill, calloused hand against his left one. "You don't have to do this, you know. We all take days off every few months. Except for the Betas. Some Betas do, though, so— It's okay if you need to go."
Shouto's resolve was crumbling fast. He was feverish, frost forming and melting on the right side of his forehead.
"Then we'll call it a night," Izuku said.
He stood up and turned away with a warm goodbye. For an unreasonable second, Shouto wanted to pull him back and stay on the common room couch together forever.
He didn't, so Izuku left. His soft gray hoodie, the one that he wore all the time, was still on the arm of the couch.
*
Shouto had covered himself with the quilt from his futon, but instead of the comfort that came with the familiar fabric, his spine tingled with oversensitivity. It wasn't soft enough, he was too exposed, it wasn't right.
He whined, barely suppressing the shame that came with acting so Omega.
A few of his softest shirts dulled the ache, but they were messily scattered over the futon and he just had no idea why he was doing this, why it mattered so much to him. The only thing that kept him anchored down was Izuku's hoodie. If possible, it smelled even more right, the pine mixed with the sweet strawberry even better.
There was a tap against his door. Four times, a pause, then two more. Izuku, saying hi.
"You can come in, " Shouto said, not moving an inch. His friend was an Alpha, he had to hear him.
Izuku was holding a cup of tea in one hand. He pushed open the door and managed not to spill any.
"I told Aizawa-sensei you're in preheat, I hope that's okay."
"I'm what?"
"I figured I'd check in on you, because it's your first time, but I can go," Izuku continued. "Wait….you didn't know?"
That would explain why it felt like he had a fever. His friend looked around and stood in the middle of the room. He kept a few meters away from the futon.
"You can sit here, Izuku."
His face became a vibrant shade of red as he looked away. "I can't just…you shouldn't invite Alphas in your nest like that. They might get the wrong idea." He scratched the back of his head. "Do you not enjoy having things in your nest? I've never seen one like this. Not that there's anything wrong! It's just interesting. Most Omegas get clothes from everyone around them, but it's not like you have to."
"So it isn't unusual that I wanted to take your things?"
Izuku frowned and kneeled on the floor so they were at eye level. "Of course not! Ochako gets our things every time she needs them! I—We'd be happy to help you, too."
Shouto sagged against his pillow, a bone-deep relief filling him.
"I wasn't being a bad friend. It's just how Omegas act," he whispered.
"Yeah, Shouto-kun."
He dragged the gray hoodie into his lap to comfort himself, drawing Izuku's eyes to it.
"You have that," he said.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know what to do. I was overwhelmed, and I needed something, and it was there. I should've asked."
Izuku chuckled. "I left it there for you. I wasn't sure if you didn't want nesting materials or just didn't want to ask. It's more than okay."
The discomfort from earlier returned bit by bit, until not even the quilt and the hoodie did anything to help. Shouto pushed them away and closed his eyes.
"Do you think it'd feel better if I had more things?" he asked, his tone high-pitched even to his own ears.
"Do you ?"
Shouto nodded, his head once again buried in the hoodie.
"Stay right there, I'll be right back," Izuku said. "There's chamomile tea if you want it, by the way. I'll leave the cup."
As if Shouto could just leave. He wanted to crawl out of his skin, but his body was too weak to move.
The tea was nice, though. Lukewarm, not hot. He'd remembered.
Izuku returned faster than he'd expected. He could barely see the Alpha's head under the pile of clothes he was carrying.
He put it down, and it collapsed on the floor. Something in Shouto recoiled in displeasure.
"Here you go," Izuku said. His cheeks were red again, but he was smiling.
He pushed the quilt away and stood up. Without his accord, his hands started sifting through the pile instinctively. The fabric smelled like home , pine with an undercurrent of bubblegum, lilypad and engine fuel.
Shouto smiled as he read the embroidered label on a blanket. "Nesting blanket. All Might, Silver Age Costume? How do you have this?"
"They had the Silver Age one in stock, so I had to take it."
Of course. "Why do you own a nesting blanket, Izuku?"
"W-well I wanted to be a good Alpha, and in case my Omega ever needed one—not that I mean anything like that, I just wanted to help you—but yeah, that's why I have it."
This time, it was Shouto's turn to feel his cheeks redden. That actually sounded…amazing. Like a dream come true.
He'd never had good impulse control.
"Thank you. Do you want to build a nest together, then?"
Izuku started waving his arms frantically. "Shouto-kun, I told you, that's not—you don't have to!"
"I don't mind."
"Are you sure?" Something in the Alpha's eyes shifted.
"I don't mind," Shouto said more firmly. "Not if it's you."
*
Thirty minutes later, the room was unrecognizable. Where Shouto's futon had been, there was an orderly nest of blankets, from which a pink blouse and a gray hoodie stuck out.
Inside it, Shouto was lying against Izuku's chest. The Alpha's wrists rubbed over his shoulders in lazy circles.
"Shouto-kun?"
He hummed in response, cuddling closer.
"We should spend your next preheat like this, too."
"And the one after that," Shouto said.
"And the one after that."