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With two younger siblings, it cannot be said that Matsukawa Issei is navigating the experience of sharing a roof with a pregnant omega (his omega, at that! Any chance he gets to remind himself of that fact will be used) without any prior knowledge.
Ever since he got the news he was aware of the implications and, yes to brag, he would say he was able to deal pretty well with all of them despite the particularities of their case. When, during the first trimester, his mint scent made Takahiro nauseous, he swallowed the pain caused by the rejection and started using blockers in order to keep his place in the omega’s nest. He started to watch his words after a couple of times in which a joke that would have had them both laughing before the pregnancy now made the other cry, and not for being too funny.
Furthermore, he knew that knew it was likely that, during pregnancy, his omega would come up with various culinary and olfactory abominations under the argument that they were actually misunderstood delicacies. He was mentally prepared for Takahiro to try to share with him the strangest combination of foods or scents ever seen, to be awakened late at night in order to search for open stores that had something with the flavors and smells his mate would be craving at that moment.
What can one do, however, when in order to fulfill said abominations you have to get your former kohais who hate each other together?
Takahiro has always liked Yahaba Shigeru’s scent: sweet like vanilla cream, with chocolate undertones, it reminded him of the profiteroles he had as his favorite food. During the high school years they spent together as members of the Aoba Johsai volleyball club, it was common for him to pursue the scent of the younger omega when his preheat made him especially mellow.
It was then to be expected that his appreciation would resurface after the two omegas saw each other again at the baby shower Issei arranged for his mate. However, Takahiro was no longer interested in that scent alone. This Issei learned during the days following the party, after endless ramblings from his omega about how Yahaba’s sweet scent and Kyoutani Kentarou aka Mad Dog(-chan)’s own, akin to black pepper, made such a good mix.
Not exactly the same conclusion Issei would have come to, but it soon became clear that he would have to do more than just agree with Takahiro after he found him in their kitchen trying to recreate the smell with the ingredients they had at home, only to be left on the verge of tears because “it wasn’t the same”.
Issei is almost sure that he would have preferred to have to leave their house at three in the morning on a weekday to buy a watermelon rather than this situation. But it is what is and he adores his omega, so if he has to bring out the big guns to please him, so be it.
The big guns in question have a full name: Iwaizumi Hajime. Even if Kyoutani’s relationship with the rest of the team improved a little during his second year and his personality seems to have become less hostile since then, asking him to stay in the same room as the omega he hates for is the kind of request that could only sound reasonable if Iwaizumi is the one to voice it, who has always been the fittest to deal with him.
“Can’t you just ask them both to scent a cloth or something?” Iwaizumi suggests absentmindedly, without taking his eyes off the plate in front of him.
His omega deserves more than mere rags! For some brief moments, he considers making it clear to Iwaizumi what an offensive thing he has just proposed, but since beggars can’t be choosers, he needs the other alpha to understand that he is his last hope.
“And what am I supposed to tell them? Ha, ha, hmm… Hey, Yahaba, would you mind running this cloth around your neck until it smells like you? If you happen to catch a whiff similar to the one of the alpha that you’re always fighting with, don’t worry, it’s just that Hiro was craving to smell your scents together.”
“Having to round them up is even worse!”
“Just convince him to visit us again, you don’t have to tell him why. Do this for me, Hajime,” he pleads. “From one whipped alpha to another.”
When he first met Iwaizumi, Issei didn’t think the other alpha could furrow his brow more than the scowl he wore most of the time. Years of friendship, however, have shown him that Hajime can always look even more annoyed.
“I’m not whipped.”
“Whatever you say. By the way, was something wrong with the cake we gave?” Issei asks, partly to buy some time and partly just for the fun of messing with him.
Raising an eyebrow, Issei looks at the piece of cake that Iwaizumi has in front of him, a reminder of the party that caused his current dilemma in the first place. With a spoon, Iwaizumi has removed the icing and most of the filling, leaving only the sponge.
“Tooru didn’t like the frosting, he found it too bitter.”
Speak of the devil…
“Iwa-chan, is my cake ready?” the aforementioned man chirps before peeking his head through the entrance to the living room. “Mattsun, should I be worried about the fact that you are about to kneel in front of my alpha?”
Boosting Oikawa Tooru’s ego by making him feel needed is something that should be done cautiously and rarely. Issei has known this since they were in high school, but he decides that his predicament must count as one of those rare occasions in which it proves necessary to do so. Oikawa has never been pregnant but he’s also an omega, not to mention that he’s always been on board with anything that involves complicating Iwaizumi’s existence.
“Not at all. Now I realize I would have been about to kneel in front of the wrong person.”
Oikawa gasps.
“You have a pregnant omega at home and my alpha is here! You can’t be unfaithful!
Perhaps Issei jumped to conclusions too quickly by thinking that it would be easier to win Iwaizumi over with Oikawa’s help. Having the latter on the other side of the world most of the time makes it easy to forget about his dramatic tendencies.
“Ew, that’s not what I meant! Never!” outraged, he defends himself. “Just tell me that at least you can understand that Hiro has been craving Kyoutani and Yahaba’s scents together.”
Oikawa looks thoughtful for a few moments until his eyes light up in a special and, knowing him, perhaps a bit worrisome way. There’s something about the idea that seems to fascinate him so much that he doesn’t even take offense at Issei’s utter aversion to the idea of having him as a lover.
“Yahaba and Mad Dog-chan? Doesn’t sound too bad… I always knew Yahaba had feelings for him! The way he got so riled up when Mad Dog started attending practices again wasn’t normal.”
Yet another conclusion Issei doesn’t exactly agree with. But if he could keep his opinions about his kohai’s scents to himself before, he can do the same with the need to make Oikawa understand that the belligerent sexual tension he's always had with Iwaizumi is not a universal experience. Different goals, same end, he supposes.
“Yeah… something like that. We were thinking of reuniting them again at our house. You know, Baby shower 2: Electric Boogaloo.”
“Tooru, no,” Iwaizumi warns him, forcing the omega to sit down while handing him the piece of cake, now just the way he likes it, perhaps in a desperate attempt to distract him. “You’re not the one who’s going to have to deal with Kyoutani.”
“C’mon, Iwa-chan. Best-case scenario, we become successful matchmakers. Worst-case, we can stay and watch them fight. Either way, we can’t go wrong with this one.”
But since Iwaizumi doesn’t seem impressed by his reasoning, Oikawa decides to change tactics.
“Hajime…”
There are many myths surrounding the “alpha voice” and its alleged ability to make other secondary genders submit, but no one ever talks about the power of an omega’s plea. If it comes along with a pair of puppy dog eyes… well, Issei understands why Oikawa became a spoiled brat from such a young age and never really grew out of it.
“No,” Iwaizumi replies before leaving the room in an attempt to save face. Issei doesn’t really understand why, if he has already seen him lose his dignity for Oikawa a ton of times. He knows a “no” you say when you are about to do exactly what you are refusing to do when he hears it.
“Iwa-chan will take Mad Dog-chan to your place,” Oikawa assures him with a wink. “I’ll deal with Yahaba myself. Consider this our baby shower gift.”
“That was a week ago, you didn’t bring us anything?”
“I had just arrived from Argentina; we were too… busy, to buy one. You know, jet lag and stuff,” the omega explains, sticking out his tongue and rubbing the back of his neck in that pose of false innocence that hasn’t fooled anyone in years. “Watacchi let us add our names to the gift tag of his.”
Issei takes less time than usual (and way less time than he would like) to scent his omega. Mainly because, although scents will be important that day, it’s those of his guests that are supposed to be the highlight of their small reunion. But also because he must stay close to the door in case one of them tries to run away. He cannot leave all the work of guarding the exits to Iwaizumi, as much as he would like to.
True to his word, Oikawa has arrived first, bringing Yahaba with him. The latter remains polite while talking with Takahiro, but the slight awkwardness of his replies gives the impression that he does not really understand why he is visiting them again in such a short time; almost everything he had to tell his senpais and viceversa has already been said. No one is going to tell him that he would be right to feel that way.
After half an hour of rather bland small talk (they even talked about the weather, breaking their promise of never becoming so boring as to resort to such a basic conversation topic), Iwaizumi shows up on their doorstep along with Kyoutani. The latter looks calm while he speaks to his former vice-captain, so much so that Issei almost feels bad for how his peace is about to be disturbed as soon as he sees Yahaba or Oikawa (almost, because if all of this makes Takahiro happy and thus release that sweet scent of his, the plan will certainly have been worth it).
How did he expect Kyoutani to react to Yahaba’s presence? With a frown? A growl? By taking up a fighting position? Issei will never admit it out loud but maybe he’s almost as dramatic as Oikawa, because the only thing that happens after the blond alpha sets his gaze on the omega is that his eyes widen and his body stiffens slightly.
As Oikawa starts to deliver a wedding officiant-like speech to explain why they have been gathered that day, Yahaba’s body also tenses up and his face twists in an expression similar to the one he would make when he failed to cover for his captain’s absences when he stayed behind to entertain his fangirls. Suddenly, with two pairs of high school sweethearts and him and Kyoutani as the only odd ones out, their presence in that place becomes something worse than arbitrary.
“They found out about us,” he whispers, barely loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
The doubt they all share, “They’re already together?!”, comes out of their mouths almost in unison, but the follow-up questions each one of them has are different: “since when?” (Iwaizumi), “and you never told me, Yahaba-chan?” (Oikawa), “why?” (Takahiro, as if half of their guests weren’t under the impression that they had once again been invited to the Matsukawa-Hanamaki residence because he is the one who thinks they would make a lovely couple).
“Our… third year I think?”
“The first time he pushed me against a wall. That’s when I knew he had to be my omega,” Kyoutani explains, laconic but with a sincerity so rare of him that it almost makes his confession touching despite its content.
Perhaps the whole belligerent sexual tension thing is a more universal experience than Issei would have originally thought. He doesn’t have first-hand knowledge of the topic and he’s okay with that. He’s glad his soulmate is also the other half of his only brain cell: someone he can laugh and share his stupid humor with.
With Oikawa too busy calling the rest of his former kohais to ask if any of them knew about Yahaba and Kyoutani’s relationship, Iwaizumi is the one that has to ask for the details. Issei refrains from making a sarcastic comment about how the other alpha is definitely not whipped because he understands that Iwaizumi is asking mainly to satisfy his own curiosity; if it also happens to satisfy Oikawa’s need for gossip, that’s more of a side effect than the main motive.
Well, actually, Issei keeps his mouth shut for that reason and also because him and Takahiro are too dying to know.
“During one of your last matches, when we played against Karasuno. Kentarou was being too reckless…”
“Ohhh, they’re on first-name basis already.”
“… and I wasn’t going to let him ruin the game for you,” the younger omega continues, somewhat flustered due to all of the information he’s revealing about their secret relationship in such a short time and the pride with which Kyoutani speaks of one of his most abrasive moments. It shows in his scent, a bit sweeter than usual. “Did you… did you really not see when I pushed him?”
“Of course they didn’t see it,” the blond alpha grumbles. “They were too busy losing for the third year in a row.”
“They lost because of you! You ruined a set for them! In their last game!” Yahaba reprimands him, widening his eyes and showing his teeth in a grimace that comes off a little more ridiculous than intimidating.
His scent is a better testament to his most recent emotion: the smell of vanilla begins to get overshadowed by a more bitter, perhaps even spicy, version of the chocolate that in any other situation would be nothing more than an undertone. On the other hand, Kyoutani’s scent is not very different from how Issei has perceived it on other occasions, if not always: pungent and hostile, perhaps because the mere act of having to visit them again had already upset him before arriving. The combination they create by being so close to each other while in those moods is not the olfactory abomination Issei had imagined, but it does make him want to sneeze.
Issei is not the only one who does not react to the mixture of scents in the best way: while waiting for Watari to answer his call, Oikawa keeps his face glued to Iwaizumi’s shirt, looking for any trace of the alpha’s scent that might have remained on his clothes from before he put on a scent blocker. For his part, Iwaizumi narrows his eyes and scrunches his nose, but keeps it close to his omega’s hair in an attempt to catch at least a whiff of his shampoo.
Both Yahaba and Kyotani seem to realize the effect their argument has on everyone else, the former visibly more ashamed at the thought of causing discomfort to a pregnant omega by creating such a pheromone-laden environment.
“Sorry, Hanamaki-san.”
“No, no. Don’t stop. It’s okay,” Takahiro reassures them. His voice comes out shakier than he would want it to, perhaps moved by what his former team, his alpha, have done for him. Damn hormones. “In fact, I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever smelled in my life.”