Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Miwa-nee, why can’t we do a sparring session instead of the tea ceremony?” Tobio sighed, as his older sister ran a comb through his hair.

“I know, I know. But it’s courtesy for potential brides to actually do multiple tea ceremonies with all the suitors.” Miwa grimaced, remembering her own experience of the ceremonies with her omega, Alisa. Courting had been a nightmare, but at least the omega princess’ little brother was good company when she was required to interact with the other suitors. “Fortunately for you, I know what you like to do and have planned accordingly. The training will happen after.”

“Ah, wonderful. Thank you Miwa-nee.”

Miwa hummed and nudged Tobio’s face up to look up at her so she could draw a careful line of kohl onto his eyelids, accentuating the sharp narrow of his eyes. The alpha patted her brother’s cheek and promptly left him to adjust any final things. 

The black haired omega leaned forward, adjusting the silver circlet that dripped diamonds along his brow. After rubbing the tint that colored his lips to a subtler rose shade, he stood up and straightened out his dress.

(Tobio decided that whoever made it tradition for omegas to wear formal dresses, he was going to throw his war fans into their face. Dresses did nothing but make him look less omega-like and more like a cheap imitation of one, he decided. Luckily, he didn’t have to be just an omega.)

(He was going to be a King.) 

(Of course, Miwa was the reigning regent until then, as he was still a year too young to be considered a monarch.)

A jūnihitoe was the traditional wear with 12 colorful layers of clothing. Luckily for Tobio, it was summer and the layers were reduced to a more manageable number. Paired with an elaborate, hand painted folding fan, he looked every bit of a ruling omega. Even if he looked off. Still, he missed the more casual armored training robes he typically wore. At least when he was training, he could wear proper pants without layers weighing him down.

He sighed, looking at himself one more time, before turning with a sweep of his sleeves. Spirits, was this outfit heavy— it weighed at least several kilograms. At least the weapons hidden in various places under his outfit was a welcome weight.

Tobio’s metal tipped boots made quiet clicking sounds against the marble floor. No one had to know they were his training boots and not his geta, the lacquered wooden, raised sandals. If he just positioned his feet carefully, no one would see.

Honestly, Tobio did not understand why so many suitors accepted the invitations. Yes, his kingdom had multiple mining strips and abundant forest and lakes, but his disposition was a known repellent. Tobio was an omega but he was always blunt, never dancing around and weaving pretty lies into his words. Most alphas from noble families had no tolerance for that, aristocrat omega brides were raised to be the graceful ones that spat poison under a mask of friendly conversation and soft smiles.

Perhaps the advantages of the marriage outweighed the unfortunate side effect of his personality.

When he finally reached the sunny main tea room, where the suitors were arranged around a long table. All ten alphas stood, greeting Tobio and then respectfully bowed towards him at an angle. Tobio softly greeted them before bowing back, his angled bow less deep than the suitors’. 

He moved to his position at the head of the table, before kneeling into a seiza, sitting back on his haunches but conscious of keeping his back straight. He clasped his hands on his lap and kept his head up, respectfully meeting every suitor’s gaze as they sat back down, before waving in the servants to serve the tea. Miwa normally would’ve joined him but she had to write a letter to her mate.

Tobio quietly thanked his main servant, Yachi Hitoka, a nervous, jumpy beta girl his age. She was terrified at first, shaking hands and all, and spilled tea onto his boots once, and she almost ran away from the palace, convinced he was going to hang her. 

(Which was understandable, his father had not been the kindest ruler and Tobio had taken after him in his temper. But thankfully, not his father’s homicidal tendencies that caused his mother and grandfather to die and his two children to be shoved into roles years too early.)

(But Tobio had already gone through his rite of passage. The mission was to understand his people and their hardships. To not forcefully shove them beyond their perceived capabilities, but gently nudge them higher and higher until they found themselves beyond what they refused to do. To not be shamefully abandoned again.)

Tobio softly smiled behind his teacup, surveying the room, listening to the endless chatter of Hinata Shouyou bothering the other suitor from Karasuno, Tsukishima Kei. Both princes were distantly related but didn’t seem to be as close as Miwa and Tobio. The tall blonde rolled his eyes, subtly cuffing the shorter alpha on his head. Hinata snarled back, but refrained from physically fighting the blonde. That could come after the tea ceremony was over.

(When the real fun began.)

Kunimi Akira and Kindaichi Yuutarou were high ranking nobles from Kitagawa Daiichi, the kingdom that Tobio had frequently visited when he was younger, before he was… abandoned. They were quietly bickering, or Kindaichi was ranting as Kunimi quietly listened. Tobio sipped his tea before placing it back down onto the low table.

It was uncomfortable at first, seeing them seated in his palace. After all, what were you supposed to say to someone who told you that he was going to be a terrible person, a pushy omega that didn’t even act like one was the worst ruler you could possibly be. 

Especially when he tried to apologize! Kindaichi had said that they were never friends. Tobio had gone through a whole rollercoaster of emotions in the span of a few minutes. Of course, he was still a crown heir and his etiquette lessons were shoved into his head at a young age. A sudden breakdown was never supposed to take place in the public eye, so Tobio schooled his face into apathy and his scent into neutrally disappointed, as one did when blatantly disrespected by a lower ranking person, and told them to wait there. 

They eventually were forced to talk it out when Miwa locked them all into a tea room and forced them too. To refuse the queen regent would shame their kingdom and honor even more than they already had. And for Tobio, his older sister was just scary as fuck. But at least he suffered through actually talking about emotions for a good cause, because now he could talk to them without being constantly on edge of either alphas snapping at him.

He was snapped back to reality when a threatening scent filled the air. Tobio wrinkled his nose, pissed off alpha was always a scent too strong for his senses. He glanced around before narrowing his eyes at Oikawa Tooru, the king of Aoba Johsai, who was glaring at Ushijima Wakatoshi, the king of Shiratorizawa. 

(Why were so many kings willing to leave for a month for his courting invitations?)

The two kingdoms weren’t known for friendly interactions in general, with the three year war that happened a decade ago, but the two alphas always seemed to be at each other’s throat. Tobio sighed and stood up, causing all the suitors to look at him instead of the glaring alphas. 

“Queen regent Miwa informed that she has told you all about the event after this ceremony, but I figure it’s time to start. Change out of your formal attire and your servants will lead you to the training clearing.” Tobio lifted up his fan to cover his lower face, and subsequently, his impish smile from the suddenly flushed alphas.

(His scent had changed from his familiar, gently calming scent to one of bubbly happiness and excitement. Of course the alphas were suddenly flustered, a happy, rather pretty omega was in front of them.) 

Tobio bowed to them in farewell and left with a sweep of his sleeves, shoes clicking just a little faster than probably socially acceptable.

He was going to crush them all.

Chapter Text

“Tobio-sama, please let me help you!” Yachi frantically flapped her hands in the air.

Tobio paused, looking down at the training clothes in his hands. He hadn’t required any help with his casual attire since 13 years ago, when he was 5 years old. But the little beta looked like she was going to pass out so he slowly handed her the belt that cinched around his waist. 

Yachi’s shoulders immediately relaxed and she already looked less anxious than before. Tobio slipped the rest of the training clothes on a long robe that was slit on the sides of his legs, over the tunic he wore.

(Inside his head, Tobio thanked whoever made training gear breathable, or he would've passed out from heatstroke.)

He was already wearing form fitting pants with his boots reaching under his knees. Yachi deftly tied the gold dyed reinforced cloth around his waist, before handing him a small jar of beeswax.

Tobio nodded in thanks, before gently rubbing a small amount of the balm onto his lips. He reached for his twin war fans on the vanity table, hooking them onto the belt, before turning to Yachi, who smiled slightly at his excited scent. 

“Ready to go, Tobio-sama?”

“Yes.” He started out of the door, only to pause when Yachi slipped a choker into his hands. Tobio sighed and clicked the scent-dampening necklace around his neck. “Yachi-chan, please go see that everyone has one of these.”

The beta bowed and took off towards the guest rooms. Tobio quickly strided over to the clearing where Miwa was reclining in a lounge chair under a large umbrella. She nodded at him and she handed him a throwing knife. It was his favorite model of a knife, double edged and balanced. 

Tobio eyed the knife in his hand, “Uhm, why?”

She shrugged nonchalantly, “They’re coming a bit later and I’m bored.” Tobio rolled his eyes, but walked in front of the target he typically used.

He cracked his jaw and straightened up, shifting his right foot forward and his left one backwards. Taking a few deep breaths, he adjusted his grip on the weapon so the tip of the knife was between the second knuckle and his thumb. 

Squaring his shoulders, Tobio lifted his arm and aimed towards the target. He slowly drew back his knife arm, before snapping his arm forward, quickly hurling the knife. The thunk of the blade sinking into the middle of the wood was music to his ears. 

Miwa laughed and clapped, standing up to hand him the other four from the set. Tobio just amusedly huffed a breath through his nose and shooed her away from his general vicinity. Repeating the motions, he smoothly transferred from one knife to another, launching them in quick succession into the center area of the target.

After all five of the knives were buried into the wood, he moved forward to retrieve them. Looking down at one of the knives he flipped it in the air, catching it between thumb and pointer finger. Tobio turned excitedly towards his sister, only to freeze when all ten of the suitors were staring back at him.

“...?” He bowed towards them and scowled at Miwa silently shaking from laughter behind them. 

“Kageyama-kunnnn, teach me!!” Hinata bounced up to him. 

Tobio scoffed and would’ve shoved him away, except he was clutching onto potentially fatal knives and would really like to avoid stabbing the energetic alpha.

“As if, dumbass.” Tobio frowned down at Hinata, “You still have to beat me in archery.”

“But you do stationary AND mounted archery!! That’s unfair.”

Tobio scoffed again, raising an eyebrow, “Are you making up excuses on why you can’t beat a ‘helpless’ omega.”

Kindachi scoffed from where he leaned against a pillar. “The last thing you are is helpless.”

Oikawa furrowed his eyebrows, “You do archery?”

“Yeah,” Tobio nodded, twirling a knife between his fingers. Oikawa opened his mouth and shut it, before he gave up, simply blinking at him. Oikawa wet his lips and then glanced down at Tobio, nimbly flipping the knife.

Iwaizumi smiled lightly, “You do archery and knife throwing? That’s impressive, little prince.” 

Tobio hummed noncommittally, turning to hide the pleased flush rising on his face. He flipped the knife again and Hinata quickly backed away, even if it was just to study the techniques. Tobio closed one eye before quickly throwing every knife into the target again. It was oddly therapeutic to hear knives sinking into wood and Tobio unconsciously smirked.

「🍋」

When Sakusa accepted the courting invitation, he was not expecting to watch a pretty omega flinging knives at breakneck speed, but he took it in stride. It was hot interesting to see the casualness Tobio had with the knives.

So when Tobio smirked and turned back around, glowing in victory, before unhooking war fans that Sakusa thought were decorations, the black haired alpha almost fell to his knees. 

He definitely didn't expect this.

(He didn't mind the unexpectedness.)

「🌼」

Tobio snapped open one of his fans and lightly fanned himself, careful of the sharpened edges. No sense in sweating before the actual training. Miwa stood up from the lounge chair and clapped her hands twice. One of her childhood friends now closest handmaiden, Tanaka Saeko, softly laughed and stood to retrieve Tobio’s knives.

“Well, now that Tobio-kun has shown off,” Tobio sputtered as she sent him a smirk, “Do you want to start pairing up?”

Ushijima tilted his head, “Why would we pair up?”

Miwa smiles angelically and slowly started to separate them into pairs without explaining. Tobio bowed to Saeko when she handed the knives back. He trotted over to the sheaths and slid the knives in carefully. When he returned to Miwa’s side, he noticed the pairs slowly being put together. Tobio tried to hide his smile behind his fan before slowly putting it back down. He handed it to Miwa, who just ruffled his hair and hooked it to her own belt.

( Fans were meant to hide an omega’s expressions but knife throwing wasn’t exactly an omegan skill either and all the alphas seemed fine with it. A smile was just an upturn of the lips, it wouldn’t hurt anyone. )

( It hurt all of the alphas, he had a small, gentle smile and it painfully softened his face. It was unfair how the shy upturn of his lips sent butterflies fluttering inside them. ) 

When the pairs were finally set, Tobio tried to hide his laughter by sinking his teeth into his lip. It didn’t work and he was left shaking behind his older sister as the alphas argued about their partner.

Yachi popped up behind him, “Are you okay, Tobio-sama?”

He waved her concern off, wheezing lightly. “Hinata looks so,” he choked on his laugh, “...short.”

The bouncy alpha from Karasuno was paired with Atsumu and there was a clear difference between their heights. A whole 19 centimeters difference; Tobio almost fell on her, leaning his head on her’s to try and catch his breath. Yachi softly smiled and patted his hair.

A growl prompted him to glance up only to find the pairs staring at them, unimpressed. The growl seemed to come from Hinata, considering his eyes were flashing threatening. It took 18 years of etiquette lessons to keep Tobio from flinching away and baring his neck in submission to the obviously upset alpha.

( He didn’t want Hinata to be upset. He didn’t want any of them to be upset. )

Tobio straightened up and bowed towards the alpha. “Uhm, it doesn’t matter that you’re short, Hinata?” He quickly glanced at Miwa for reassurance but she just looked faintly amused. Tobio’s eyebrows furrowed trying to figure out what was so funny when he was suddenly knocked to the floor.

He laid there quietly, staring up at the sky. Here he was, surrounded by people that made him feel safer, one of them was sprawled out on his chest as Yachi freaked out and Miwa laughed like it was the funniest thing she’s ever seen. Tsukishima scoffed and Atsumu was shaking from laughter because Hinata just tackled a monarch to the floor. 

“It’s fine, Kageyama.” Hinata mumbled into his chest. Tobio patted the alpha on the head softly before sighing and shoving off the alpha before sitting up. 

 “Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's start.”

Hinata bounced up, his foul mood dissipating like a cloud in front of a sun, “What are we doing?”

“...Sparring? We’re in the training center,” Tobio blinked down at Hinata, tilting his head at the alpha. Was it not clear? He was throwing knives for a good portion of the time they were there.                               

Miwa smiled brightly and clapped once again, starting to direct the pairs so that there was enough space for the tussling alphas. Tobio stared at her until she relented and turned to him.

“Tobio, you can’t spar.” Miwa stared him down and he scowled back. He did not suffer under wearing heavy, constricting dresses to not throw alphas to the ground.

“Yes, I can.”

“There’s no one to spar with.”

“I’ll spar with him.” Oikawa quickly cut in, slowly sidling away from Ushijima, who looked at him, completely unimpressed.

Miwa raised an eyebrow, lightly smirking, “No.”

“Can I spar with all of them?” Tobio offered. He just wanted to fight.

Miwa sighed, seeing how her little brother won’t let it go, “Just...you can just spar with the winners of the matches. If that’s okay with everyone?”

Tobio whipped towards the alphas, eyes narrowed and heavy with intense heat. Ushijima glanced around before nodding to Miwa. Nobody wanted to douse the fire in the omega’s eyes by refusing.

Miwa nodded and neatly settled herself into the lounge, Tobio arranging himself on the armrests, it’s not particularly omega-like but he was already in clothes meant for an alpha soldier, what’s one more rule broken. He crossed his legs and rested his elbow on the raised knee, before placing his cheek on his fist. 

Hinata paced around his side of the clearing before launching himself towards Atsumu. And then the clearing was filled with sounds of snarls and bodies impacting with each other. 

Chapter Text

All the alphas were trained in some sort of hand to hand combat and Tobio was practically vibrating in excitement. It’s been so long since he was able to train with someone new. And then he was going to practice with at least five!

Each kingdom had a different style, with influences from certain other kingdoms. Tsukishima had a graceful, analytical style that was similar to Kuroo Tetsurou of Nekoma, where Miwa’s mate came from. Oikawa had a powerful hook and was incredibly good at baiting and faking others out. Ushijima was strong and broad, favoring his left side when he moved with surprisingly agile motions for a muscular alpha.

Tobio leaned forward, interested in the closest matches to him.

Atsumu was powerful and unpredictable, face set it into a consistently, vaguely amused look which Tobio knows from experience is incredibly annoying. He was also taller and probably heavier than Hinata so theoretically, he would win quickly.

Except Hinata’s entire existence seems to defy life. He was short, the height of a typical omega? A purebred alpha. Looked less muscular than typical alphas? He could pick Tobio up. So yes, while theory is typically correct, Hinata quickly proved that fast was a good trait to have.

Hinata was a flurry of jabs and punches, destabilizing the other alpha’s legs and arms. Though by doing so Atsumu was able to clip Hinata’s sides and shoulders with heavy set hits and causing him to stumble. 

Their back and forth continued on until they were circling each other, both panting, sweat dripping down their faces. Internally, Tobio winced at the bruises slowly appearing on their shirtless bodies and he made a note to give them more shirts and salves after.

(Tobio felt strangely embarrassed seeing so many alphas without shirts. This was simply a training thing, he shouldn’t let personal emotions interfere with the idea of finally taking down others.)

Tobio’s eyes slid over to Ushijima and Oikawa, aggression palpable around them. Oikawa was pinned down, Ushijima’s knees on either side of his waist as the larger alpha  gripped Oikawa’s wrists in his hand. Tobio absentmindedly noted that Ushijima had large hands and then realized that the two alphas were not moving. They only harshly argued with each other, albeit awkwardly as Oikawa’s chin was still to the floor. Tobio winced and hoped their dislike with each other would die down eventually.

“Ugh!” Tobio whipped his head towards Osamu, who was rubbing his wrist as Tsukishima helped him up. Tsukishima has a prominent bruise appearing on his cheekbone and Osamu looked incredibly dusty from the ground with few scrapes around his arms. Tobio was almost impressed with the lanky alpha, before he noticed that the blonde actually had biceps. He was confused on how Osamu was taken down by someone who looked less muscular than him.

Maybe Karasuno alphas were just built differently.

Iwaizumi and Kindaichi were an odd pair, as Kindaichi knew Iwaizumi just as Kageyama did: an old mentor-guiding figure. Except Kindaichi actually followed Iwaizumi’s example and became a prominent figure in society and Tobio became an almost king five years too early.

Iwaizumi was incredibly powerful and he knew that, taking potentially risky maneuvers that made Tobio almost uncomfortably awed. Kindaichi was a good fighter, an amazing one compared to Tobio’s royal guards. However, Iwaizumi was trained to be the personal protecter for his king since he was a young child. Kindaichi was forced to the ground with minimal marks on either of them.

As other matches finished up, Hinata cheering brightly when Atsumu was sent to the ground, Tobio stood up to subtly stretch and continue watching Sakusa and Kunimi.

It was odd watching them together. Tobio knew that unless Kunimi changed his fighting style recently, he was slow to be powerful until later (which irritated Tobio for so long before he was shoved back into reality). Yet Kunimi was consistent in his hits as he noted weaknesses before attacking with everything he had. But Sakusa was unpredictably agile, flexible enough to flip out of any compromising situations. His attacks came at nasty times and speeds, making them hard to notice and subsequently block.

Tobio was practically ready to bounce off the walls when Sakusa finally knocked Kunimi down. Kunimi stood up by himself, too prideful to let him be helped up and Sakusa’s infamous aversion of unnecessary human contact also taken into consideration.

The alphas who lost their matches waited to the side, where Tobio was sitting before. The omega felt overdressed in his long everything and took off the robe. He had a sleeveless tunic underneath, he’d be fine. He debated taking off his boots as they could cause serious bruises with the metal but decided not too, deciding to just not kick anyone too hard.

It was an odd lineup, some less surprising than others. Tobio let them decide who would be going first. When they finally decided, Tobio felt a strange calm fall over him as he walked into the impromptu ring. It felt like nothing was in his stomach yet he didn’t feel hungry, just comfortably empty.

Tobio shook off the weird thoughts and tilted his head at Tsukishima, who just smirked back, the bruise on his cheek giving an ominous look.

Okay, Tobio cracked his knuckles and started to recall any memories on how to beat Tsukishima. He calmly edged around the circle, mirroring the blonde, when the alpha called out.

”Hey, Tyrant. Why don’t you actually fight me?”