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There were butterflies in Izuku’s stomach.
He stood outside of Ochako’s dorm room with sweat running down his back and an anxious frown etched over his features. His fingers twitched and he reluctantly scratched at his neck to keep them occupied. His fingers expertly scraped over his scent gland, irritating him yet also keeping him grounded. If he didn’t do that he might try and knock on the door in front of him. God forbid he even try to go in.
Yes, he was invited past the threshold, he was invited far past that, but it just didn’t sit right within Izuku’s mind. He wanted to walk in there and forget every little worry that he had but it did little to just imagine it. Because Izuku was invited to Ochako’s nest, he should be ecstatic, scrambling to get in there and lay down with her. He was meant to be acting that way when he was invited to an omega’s nest, it was just the right thing to do, it was basically human nature.
But Izuku was also an omega.
Everyone knew it, his secondary gender was easy enough to guess with his collar that he chose to wear everywhere unless he was sleeping or bathing. His scent, when he wasn’t wearing scent patches, was a dead giveaway as well. While it wasn’t all that sweet, it wasn’t plain like a beta’s or strong like an alpha’s. Honestly, it was sort of like a mix of the two. He smelled like citrus, but with something else exotic under it. It was hard to place, some said he smelled like something floral like maybe a lily, others said the undertone was akin to what you’d find in a beta, clean and plain but unmistakably there.
It coincided with his looks, plain at heart but still omega-like. He had big eyes and round, freckled cheeks, traits commonly seen in younger omegas like him. It was harder to see with the way that he dressed, but he possessed those subtle and soft curves that are usually present in male omegas. Well, emphasis on the subtle since Izuku never really saw it. Sure, some parts of him were… rounder than his peers’, but that was really it.
And Ochako knowingly invited him to her nest.
No omega invited another omega to their nest platonically, no person invited another person to their nest platonically, it actually meant something.
To older generations it might have been something like a promise that you’ll love and care for someone forever, but to people Izuku’s age it meant something much more… promiscuous. But surely Ochako wasn’t inviting Izuku to do anything like that! It all had to be a big mistake, right…?
With all of the confidence he could muster (which really wasn’t a lot), Izuku strolled into the room and promptly froze.
Ochako sat perfectly in the middle of her nest and the entire room just smelled like mate, not packmate, pure mate and pure want. Izuku’s knees buckled as soon as he met Ochako’s intense gaze. She gestured for him to come closer and he obeyed, his movements similar to how he moved when he was under Shinsou’s brainwashing, slow and sluggish.
“You can sit down.” Ochako said, pulling on Izuku’s arm when he was finally close enough. “This can be our nest, after all.”
Oh, our nest. Izuku could faint. He gingerly pulled himself onto the bed, careful not to disrupt any of the items on it. Truly, it was a beautiful nest, arranged so well, and it smelled perfectly like home. Izuku would pray to have a nest like this in moments where he was desperate and delirious for some comfort and order, when he got back from training for most of the night and just needed to relax and couldn’t even do that. No, instead he’d stay awake fixing his nest and settling with the bare minimum. Sometimes he didn’t need his nest and he wouldn’t sleep fitfully, but that was rare.
So, in that moment Izuku couldn’t help but feel grateful. “Our nest…” He murmured back, the words sounding so foreign on his tongue.
“Are you fine with that?”
Izuku felt a knot in his throat that he just couldn’t swallow.
Was he okay with it, like, really? Would Izuku be fine with having an omega as another omega? Would he be fine with having Ochako? Well, maybe. Maybe he liked her bubbly nature and easygoing yet upbeat scent, how it called out to him and made him question himself. Maybe he liked Ochako but he didn’t like her, not like that…
…Hell, even during those sparse times he was tasked with checking in on her in heat and got little samples of her heat scent, mating pheromones combined with omega slick and desperation, he’d liked her scent but it wasn’t like that. Nevermind the fact that Izuku just wanted to take a bite out of her, maybe a few bites, that wasn’t relevant, it was just a reaction to her pheromones!
Omegas were to be promised to alphas and betas to betas, that’s how it worked. He was supposed to find an alpha one day to love him forever and ever, and he was not meant to look back on what he could’ve had.
Maybe he could even have a few pups. Even if he didn’t favor the idea now (or ever), it was his duty as an omega, as was Ochako’s! It didn’t matter that no alpha interested him, that none of their scents compared to something sweet and cheery, he would grow out of it, he was turning eighteen soon anyways!
When he had to turn his head away from her whenever she was close to him while she wore her hero costume… It was just a fluke, it didn’t mean anything, he was probably just thinking of an alpha woman with that plump yet strong stature, it was just a preference, it was just…
It’s just that Ochako is beautiful and Izuku would be honored to be her omega if she would be his.
Wow.
“...” Izuku’s face flushed bright red and he averted his gaze from Ochako. He couldn’t help the embarrassed pout that he had on his face. “Yeah. ‘M okay with it.” He fought the giddy smile that threatened to show on his face.
Ochako chuckled, her hands now on his shoulders as she settled behind him.
“So, does that mean we’re courting now?”
Izuku’s rushed nod and hunched shoulders told a million words.