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Katsuki walks into the common room to find half ‘n half about to snuggle with Deku’s hoodie.
“Where did you get that?” he asks. “What are you doing with it?”
Shouto blinks like a cat. “Oh, Izuku gave it to me,” he says. “For my nest?”
The urge to rip it out of his delicate, princely hands washes over Katsuki like a tidal wave. He grits his teeth. He takes a deep, slow breath. “Give it here,” he says. “You’ve got no business smelling like that nerd.”
“But Izuku is my friend.” Shouto pouts. And then he pouts harder, because he’s a brat. “I figured, you know, it would be nicer to start my first nest with the scent of a familiar alpha?”
His first—
Oh, fuck. Right.
Katsuki’s face heats up. “Don’t do it with Deku’s shit,” he says, anyway, because—because peppermint princess should know this stuff matters, even if his pretty little head is up in the clouds half the time.
And, because there’s clearly only one effective solution here, Katsuki rips his own hoodie off his back, and says, “Here.”
Shouto cat blinks at him some more. “Oh,” he says, “but I thought you said we weren’t—”
“Here,” Katsuki says again, “take the damn thing, you spoiled brat.”
“Oh,” says Shouto. “Alright then. Thank you, Bakugou.”
And then he abandons stupid Deku’s stupid hoodie in favor or reaching for Katsuki’s, and he lets out a content purr and snuggles the fabric to his cheek, and Katsuki takes the opportunity to yank the competition away.
“Um,” Shouto says, “that’s not going to fit you. I know he bulked up a lot, but Izuku is still shorter than you.”
Katsuki’s quirk flares up in his palm, and suddenly Deku’s hoodie has a circular burn on the elbow. “I’m not wearing this shit,” he says. “I was just, you know, gonna give it back to him.”
“That's nice of you,” says Shouto. “It’s burned now, though.”
“Not my fault,” Katsuki huffs. “Damn nerd was overstepping.”
“But I asked him?” Shouto says. “How is that overstepping?”
“Because it is,” Katsuki says, just a little too loud. And then, quieter, “Go back to your cutesy omega snuggling, half ‘n half.”
“Um, okay,” says Shouto. And then, because he obviously hates Katsuki and wants to kill him, “What kind of fabric softener do you use? This smells a lot nicer than Izuku’s.”
“None,” Katsuki huffs. “That’s just my scent.”
Which half ‘n half likes.
And half ‘n half is an omega, even if he apparently knows damn near nothing about it.
And that means—
Shouto’s cheeks go warm. “Oh,” he says, all soft. “Well, thanks again, Bakugou.”
That obviously means Katsuki has to flee so he doesn’t bite him on the spot and then end up in Aizawa’s office trying uselessly to explain himself while Shouto pouts and pouts and pouts, because nobody’s going to blame him for sitting there looking too pretty.
“Have fun with your nest, princess,” Katsuki says. “I bet it’s gonna turn out cozy.”
And Shouto just goes redder, which is—
Great, actually. It’s real great.
...
Katsuki does return Deku’s hoodie.
“Here,” he says, throwing the damn thing at Deku when he opens the door. “Stop giving weird shit to other people’s omegas.”
“Other people’s—,” Deku says, voice muffled by hoodie fabric. “Oh, Kacchan, did you tell him, that’s great news—”
“Shut up,” Katsuki says. “Just—let me take care of this stuff for him, okay? Halfie doesn’t know how it works yet.”
“Oh,” says Deku. “That’s considerate of you.”
“Fuck off,” Katsuki hisses. “Damn nerd.”
(It’s better than half ‘n half calling him nice with those big, wide eyes, if nothing else.)
...
Katsuki is going to hit a girl.
He knows this with the same certainty that he knows the sun is going to rise tomorrow.
He’s going to hit a girl, because—
Well.
Half ‘n half looks real cozy on that couch. There’s some old, black-and-white movie about pretty people kissing in the rain playing on the screen, and halfie is snuggled up to Ponytail like he doesn’t know what pressing up to alphas that easy means. His face is tucked into her neck, for fuck’s sake.
Ponytail could tip his chin up with one manicured finger and bite him right there if she wanted. And Shouto looks cozy enough to let her.
Katsuki growls.
It makes peppermint princess look up. “Oh,” he says. “Hi, Bakugou. Do you want to watch with us?”
Ponytail giggles, shameless enough that Katsuki starts to think of it less as hitting a girl and more as taking out direct competition. “Oh, Shouto,” he says. “Bakugou probably wants you to be alone for something like this.”
Katsuki decides he’s gonna strangle her with her own stupid ponytail, actually.
“To watch old romcoms?” Shouto says. “Really?”
Ponytail presses a kiss to his forehead. “Mm,” she says. “These things are special for alphas, you know, when they like an omega.”
“But,” Shouto says, “I thought you liked me too?”
“Maybe he likes you more,” Ponytail says.
Katsuki is this close to blowing up this dorm with everyone in it. Half ‘n half is pretty fireproof, he’d probably be fine. And then they could finally get some decent alone time, and he could put his head and all that soft, fluffy hair on Katsuki’s chest instead.
But, instead, Shouto scoots up to meet his eyes over the backrest, and says, “Do you like me, Bakugou?”
“Hell no,” Katsuki hisses. No way is he doing this shit in front of Ponytail. While Ponytail is sitting there all smug snuggling his omega. “You’re spoiled and your hair smells too much like strawberries.”
Shouto’s eyebrows furrow. “Too much like strawberries?” he repeats. “Is that a thing?”
“It is,” Katsuki says. “Look it up.”
His face burns. He can feel it crawling down to his neck. He wants to yank Shouto away from Ponytail like a spoiled housecat and take him back up to his room. But he’d probably pout about missing the end of his silly little romcom where to the shock of everyone the pretty people kiss some more in the rain, so.
“Um,” Shouto says. “Okay, do you want me to change my shampoo, or...?”
“Don’t change your shampoo,” Katsuki hisses. “There’s nothing wrong with your stupid shampoo.”
It smells like halfie. It’s... you know. Nice.
Shouto throws him another confused glance before he goes back to his shameless public cuddling with Ponytail. “Okay,” he says. “I won’t change it then.”
Impatience prickles at Katsuki’s throat. He wants to bite something. Ponytail’s stupid laughter follows him out of the common room.
Why does she get to cuddle half ‘n half, huh?
...
Deku keeps telling him to talk about his feelings.
Katsuki goes to one of the empty training gyms and blows stuff up instead.
...
It’s not—
Katsuki isn’t going to pine away, or something.
It’s just, you know. Given a choice, he’d really like it if nobody puts their paws on half ‘n half until he figures out how to say the important stuff. Because it is important. Even if Katsuki’s bad at saying it.
Halfie likes the cheesy stuff. And he sure as hell deserves it, so Katsuki is just gonna have to figure it out.
But people keep touching his omega in the meanwhile, and it’s really pissing him off.
Like—
It’s three in the morning, for fuck’s sake.
And, for a hopeful breath, when Katsuki spots Shouto sitting in the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate with enough whipped cream to take out a small army piled on top, he thinks maybe pretty boy had a nightmare, and maybe now Katsuki gets to go over to him and ask if he’s cold and wrap a blanket around his shoulders and they could finally get somewhere that doesn’t involve Katsuki wanting to explode stuff.
And then Shinsou steps out of the little kitchen area holding his own mug of hot chocolate, piled high with marshmallows and—are those sprinkles?
“You’ve really never had it like this?” he asks. “Do you want to try some?”
Shouto perks up. And then he’s reaching for Shinsou’s mug.
Katsuki’s eye twitches.
“Don’t give him that,” he hisses. “He won’t be able to fall asleep from all the sugar when he goes back to bed.”
“But we’re not going back to bed,” says Shouto. “Not yet.”
“What?” Katsuki asks, eyes narrowing. “What are you doing, then?”
“Hitoshi was going to show me some cat videos,” Shouto says, cheeks pink. “It’s nice, when it’s quiet in the dorms.”
It’s quiet because everyone’s in bed. Where halfie should be. Alone. Definitely without Shinsou.
Does he like scrawny betas with eyebags now? Is it because Shinsou’s taller than him?
“We were going to cuddle some more,” says Shinsou, the smug bastard. “Do you want to cuddle, Bakugou?”
“Fuck off,” Katsuki hisses. “I was just going to make some tea.”
And then Shouto’s eyes get all wide with concern, and he says, “Did you have a bad dream? Is that why you’re up so late?” and Katsuki feels like a whole idiot.
It wasn’t a bad dream, exactly. Halfie was in it. He’s pretty sure there were sakura petals floating in the breeze behind him. But Katsuki still woke up with his heart racing, because apparently his dumb alpha brain doesn’t understand the difference between getting chased by a tiger and not telling a pretty omega that you like him, so.
He figured he might as well make some tea.
“Not a bad one,” Katsuki mutters. “Just—you know.”
Shinsou’s eyebrows shoot up. “Don’t embarrass Bakugou,” he says. “He probably needed a change of sheets. I hear alphas get sensitive about this stuff.”
“It wasn’t like that, you dumb—”
Shouto’s eyebrows furrow. He manages a truly impressive pout for someone with whipped cream on his upper lip. “Don’t argue,” he says. “It’s late, you’ll wake everyone up.”
“Hey,” Shinsou says, both palms up, “don’t look at me. Bakugou’s the one who doesn’t want to cuddle.”
“Hmm,” Shouto says. “It is pretty late. Maybe we should go to bed.”
It’s dumb, but it feels like a victory.
“I’ll walk you up,” Katsuki says. “Come on.”
Shouto blinks. “I can go back to bed on my own,” he says. “Don’t worry about it, Bakugou.”
And—
And the thing is, Katsuki might actually die if he has to put up with another second of this, so.
“I want to,” he says. “You’re important, so—I gotta make sure you’re safe.”
And yeah, part of it is just the instinct, whatever dumb little thing inside his brain keeps pushing him to bite Shouto all over, but it’s also just. Shouto, you know? He’s all soft and squishy. People should be careful with him.
So Katsuki’s gonna do his best.
(Even if he has to watch the living embodiment of eyebags shoot him a thumbs up behind Shouto’s back. Even then.)
...
“What about your tea?” Shouto asks. “You didn’t make any.”
They’re right in front of Shouto’s door. Katsuki’s palms are sweating. The hallway is somehow both too big and too small.
“I’ll be fine,” Katsuki says. “Don’t worry about it, princess.”
“Are you sure?” Shouto asks.
“Yeah,” Katsuki says, softer. “Just fine.”
“Okay then,” says Shouto. “Thanks for walking me up.”
And then—
And then he leans in, and presses softsoftsoft lips to Katsuki’s cheek. Stupidly, Katsuki wonders if he tastes like hot chocolate. If it would be that bad to try and find out.
It’s late, though. Halfie’s probably tired.
“Good night,” Katsuki says. “Sleep well.”
“Yeah,” says Shouto, cheeks pink. “Good night, alpha.”
...
At this point, there aren’t too many things in life that surprise him.
His best friend princess carrying Shouto in broad daylight might be one of them, though.
He does look apologetic about it, at least. And when Katsuki gets close enough to hear, he’s rambling about, “So sorry, Todoroki bro, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard,” and Shouto looks—
Shouto looks amused, if anything.
“It’s okay,” he says. “At least you’re being a gentleman about it.”
Eijirou winces. “Let’s get you to Recovery Girl so she can take a look at that ankle,” he says. “Okay?”
Shouto nods, small and soft and fucking docile, and Katsuki sees red.
“I’m taking him,” he says. “Hand him over.”
“Huh?” says Eijirou. “But it’s my fault he’s hurt, I should—”
“Yeah, so stop touching him,” Katsuki hisses. “Probably gonna bang his head on the door jamb or something.”
“I would never,” says Eijirou. “That’s so unmanly.”
Round Face giggles behind her palm. “Um,” she says, “Kirishima-kun, I think Bakugou can handle this one.”
Well. At least she’s not completely useless like the rest of these idiots.
Worryingly, Shouto only wraps his arms tighter around Eijirou’s neck. “But I’m comfy,” he says. “What if you drop me?”
Round Face laughs harder.
“I’m not gonna drop you,” Katsuki says. “What the fuck?”
“I don’t know,” Shouto says. “I think Eijirou should take me.”
“Fine,” Katsuki huffs. “Then I'm coming with so he doesn’t give you a concussion on the way.”
At this, Eijirou looks like a kicked puppy, but Shouto, at least, doesn’t protest.
...
He’s mostly in one piece once Recovery Girl kisses him.
“Oi,” Katsuki says, poking Shouto’s shin with the tip of his boot. “What’s up with you? Why are you being a brat?”
“I’m not being a brat,” Shouto says. “I’m just letting my friends take care of me.”
“But you’re an omega,” Katsuki says helplessly.
Which, okay, there are better ways to put it, ways that don’t make Shouto’s eyebrows scrunch and his mouth purse, and there are definitely better places to talk about it than the school infirmary, but at least—at least they’re alone, for once.
So.
Katsuki takes what he can get.
“So what?” Shouto says. “I need an alpha to look after me? I guess I’m lucky, the hero course is full of them.”
Katsuki growls. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, okay, sure. Fine. Just stop letting people touch you.”
“Why should I?” Shouto huffs. And then, a little quieter, “You don’t touch me.”
And, because Katsuki is a fool and an idiot, he says, “You want me to touch you?”
Shouto nods. “It wouldn’t be bad,” he says. “I think about it. I was, um, thinking about it that night you walked me to my dorm.”
Oh, Katsuki thinks.
“I didn’t—fuck, princess, I didn’t wanna fuck up, I guess?” he says. “Like—you know.”
Shouto tilts his head to the side like a cat. “Am I just supposed to guess?” he asks. “I don’t have a mind reading quirk, Bakugou. And I figured—Momo says omegas are supposed to be wooed. So—I figured you’d be good at it. You’re usually good at stuff.”
Katsuki blinks. “You don’t... feel wooed?” he says. “And that’s my fault?”
Shouto’s cheeks puff up when he sighs. “Not particularly,” he says. “Ever since I presented, everyone has been so nice, and you just. Yell at me and avoid me. That’s mean, alpha.”
“Fuck,” says Katsuki. “I’m an idiot.”
Shouto giggles. “Yeah,” he says. “Pretty much. Thanks for noticing.”
“Don’t push it, princess.”
They’re so close.
Shouto’s sitting on the neat little bed with the crisp white sheets, and Katsuki could just—
He could lean in. That would probably be romantic, right? And Katsuki would finally have a decent reason to tell Shouto not to let other people touch him.
But then the door swings open, and Recovery Girl walks in, and she’s telling Shouto he can go if he doesn’t feel woozy from the healing, and then she hands him a lollipop, and Katsuki’s pretty sure it’s strawberry, and he can’t help it.
He laughs.
“Let’s go, princess,” he says. “I’ll walk you back. And stay away from dumbasses with hardening quirks, okay?”
“What about dumb alphas with explosion quirks?” Shouto asks.
(Even as he walks Shouto to the door, Katsuki could swear he watches Recovery Girl’s mouth twitch.)
...
Pikachu is the last straw.
It’s too early in the morning, and Shouto’s pajama shorts are way too damn short, and Pikachu is eyeing his thighs a little too lovingly for Katsuki’s blood pressure.
With terrible urgency, Katsuki has the horrifying thought that he’ll never be able to live with himself if Kaminari Denki of all people gropes Shouto right in front of him.
So he steps right in front of Shouto and tells him, “I’m taking you back to bed.”
“Oh,” says a sleepy Shouto. “Okay then.” And then he reaches his arms out expectantly, eyes still half closed.
You know—
Like he doesn’t mind at all, if it’s Katsuki.
“No fair,” Pikachu whines. “Can I at least come watch?”
“Fuck off,” Katsuki hisses, scooping Shouto up. “This one’s mine.”
Pikachu throws Shouto a pitiful, longing look. “But,” he says. “Everyone else got to.”
“Hm,” says Shouto, even as he tucks his face into Katsuki’s neck. “He’s got a point.”
“Half ‘n half, I swear to—”
“Denki,” Shouto says. “Come a little closer.”
Like he’s under a thrall, Pikachu does.
And Shouto leans down, and kisses his cheek. “There,” he says. “Is that better?”
“Wow,” says Pikachu, a hand reaching up to touch the spot Shouto just kissed. “I’m never washing my face again.”
“Gross,” Katsuki says. “Don’t be a pervert.”
“No,” Shouto says. “He can be a pervert if it gets you to touch me.”
The degenerates filling up the dorm actually coo at that.
“I hate you all,” Katsuki huffs, marching for the elevator.
“Get it, Bakugou,” Round Face cheers.
Okay, maybe he hates her just a little bit less.
(When the elevator comes, Katsuki hits number four, because he can.)
...
“Spoiled brat,” Katsuki says. “What am I gonna do with you?”
“Spoil me yourself?” Shouto says. “This is a pretty good start. Your bed smells nice.”
“You like my scent,” Katsuki says. “You know what that means now, don’t you?”
Because, sure, halfie presented late, and he didn’t know at first, but he’s snuggled and scented enough people all over this very dorm for Katsuki to reasonably assume he got a clue at some point.
“Mm,” says Shouto. “It means you should keep me, because you’re my alpha. Right?”
And then, because he really, really is trying to kill Katsuki after all, he bats those long eyelashes at him, and he bares his neck, and—and he’s still in those stupid little pajama shorts, and Katsuki is so, so gone.
“Did Ponytail get you the pajamas?”
“Oh,” Shouto says. “Yes?”
Figures. Everyone in this school hates Katsuki and is plotting his demise. He is, in fact, god’s strongest soldier.
“Gonna have to say thank you later,” he says. “After I open my gift.”
And then he slides his hand up Shouto’s thigh, and Shouto lets out this soft little oh, and Katsuki decides he absolutely can’t let himself die right now, no matter what.
“Bakugou?”
“Yeah, princess?”
“This is nice, we should do it more often.”
Katsuki laughs, can’t help it. “We can do it every day after we graduate,” he says. “How about that?”
Shouto eyes go wide. “Every day?” he says, voice dropping to a whisper. “Can you, um, pop that many knots?”
“I meant the cuddling,” Katsuki says. “You know, sharing a bed. God, you’re gonna be insatiable, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” Shouto says. “I’ve never—but I bet you’re gonna be good at it.”
“You have faith in me, huh?”
“Mm,” Shouto says. “My alpha is the best.”
“Well,” Katsuki says. “You’re not too bad either, I guess.”
Shouto throws a pillow at him.
“Fine, fine,” Katsuki says. “You’re perfect, princess.”
Shouto lets out a pleased little purr at that. “See?” he says. “It’s not that hard. You should be nice.”
“Oh, I’d beg to differ,” Katsuki says. “A lot of things are hard on my end.”
Shouto probably wouldn’t mind helping out with that, though.
...
“Princess?”
“Mm, yeah?”
“No more snuggling other alphas now, okay?”
“What about betas?” Shouto asks. “Are betas allowed?”
Katsuki pinches his wrist. “Nope,” he says. “Just me.”
Shouto considers it. After a little bit, he just snuggles into Katsuki again. “Well,” he says. “I guess that’s not too bad.”
It really isn’t.