Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku loved children, whether they loved him back was yet to be seen.

A small girl, five years old with pigtails way too long for her age, stood atop her chair and was pulling on Izuku’s hair with an unnatural amount of strength for her size. He was in the middle of passing out sheets of watercolour paper to each kid in his class when the trouble maker waited until Izuku walked by her desk.

The kid in question was Yamada Aimi, a trouble maker through and through. With a significant amount of effort that made Izuku embarrassed of his strength, he escaped Aimi's iron grip. Then, with a heaving breath, Izuku attempted his best stare-down at the fake puppy-dog eyes.

“Aimi-chan, that was a bad thing to do.”

“Why, sensei?”

“When you pulled my hair it hurts, because it pulled on my head. Hurting others isn’t very nice, is it?”

“But it was funny..”

“It might be funny,” Izuku sighed, crouching down with his hands on his knees to get eye-level with the child. “But what if someone hurt you and laughed? I don’t think you would like that, right?”

“No..” Aimi said quietly, turning her eyes away in typical guilty-kid fashion.

Izuku humphed and stood back up, crossing his arms to further drive his point through. Once he felt that Aimi was guilty enough, he continued passing sheets of watercolour paper for the whole class. The silence after Aimi’s reprimand was awkward, and internally, Izuku was squirming, but he had to keep up appearances as the responsible adult.

“All right kids,” he announced when he was back behind his own desk. “Since your parents will be picking you up soon, why don’t we give them something as a gift.”

The silence was broken just as quickly with squeals of excitement and the chatter of kids as they brainstormed with their friends on what to draw. Izuku let them be excited for a moment, his own face decorated with a smile at their enthusiasm. He coughed to grab their attention again, then clapped his hands together when that didn’t work.

“All right class! We learned how to handle watercolour paints last week. Remember, be careful of the cups. If you make a mess, you clean it up with no help from me, okay?”

A chorus of ‘yes, sensei' replied and Izuku smiled in satisfaction when he sat back down to leave them to their art. On his desk were stacks of the kids’ homework from the past couple of days that he needed to grade. The school was a mix of preschool and daycare, which was mostly geared towards well-off parents who were preparing their kids for prestigious elementary schools suited to their tax bracket.

Each teacher at Musutafu Star Centre was responsible for a group of students in the three years they are usually enrolled at MSC. The consistency made it easier to track the kids' progress. Like the other teachers, Izuku was trained in all the basic subjects as well as more creative forms of teaching that younger children required.

They had to make sure the kids knew their alphabets, could do simple equations, spell basic words and have some level of social skills. It was a hard and thankless task. Izuku was all too familiar with parents who believed that his job was piss-easy, which obviously meant that every mistake was stupid — but they tended to forget that Izuku was raising their kids for them.

He had made it his personal mission to ensure that the children had the opportunity to develop like every other child, with the empathy and kindness their parents no doubt wouldn’t depart on them. Well-roundedness was an important feature in Izuku’s teaching, even if the curriculum didn’t necessarily mention it explicitly.

Once the initial excitement died down, the class grew quiet while the children focused on their artwork. It gave Izuku the momentary peace he needed to decipher the chicken scratch on the worksheets he attempted to tackle. The first stack was letters. The worksheet was filled with guidelines for their letter spacing, teaching them that lowercase letters should always be smaller than their counterpart uppercase.

“Sensei!”

Izuku looked up from his worksheets to meet the eyes of Yamada Aimi once again, who had her hand raised.

“Yes, Aimi-chan?”

“I’m done!”

Izuku checked the clock and raised a brow. “It’s only been 30 minutes, are you sure?”

“Yep!” she said with her chest puffed and a self-satisfied grin. If Izuku could hazard a guess, he was sure the little girl would grow up to present as an alpha. She was confident and had the aura of influence that made the other kids look up to her. It reminded Izuku of another figure in his childhood. The memory pulled his lips into a sour smile.

“Come here and let me see then.”

Aimi took her paper and nearly bounced her way to the teacher’s desk. She slapped the paper down in front of Izuku, right on top of the papers he was grading. If Izuku wasn’t so tired, he would tell her to be more careful with people’s things. But he was known not to be overbearing, so one reprimand an hour was his limit. He decided let it go and observed the painting.

Unsurprisingly, Aimi’s work of art was simple. It featured blobs for people, a sun in the corner and specks of watery green at the bottom to represent grass. “Hmm, and you're sure this is complete?”

“Yes,” she said, her lips pouting. “I’m done, so I can go play, right?”

Cheeky little girl.

“Class! What have we learned about painting?" He scanned the room. "Kota, an answer please.”

Izuku felt bad picking the shy boy, but learning self-confidence was vital at their age. The boy was shorter than Aimi, with spectacles that swallowed his whole face and a bowl cut that he undoubtedly hated, but Izuku had to admit was adorable. Kota twisted his fingers, looking up from under his straight bangs at Izuku as if pleading ‘don’t make me do this’, but Izuku waited and gave him an encouraging smile instead.

“Um.. that we should plan?” he answered tentatively.

“Very good, what else?”

“Um.. use- use different colours?”

“Mhm, one more thing?” Izuku pushed.

“Take our time.”

“Very good, gold star for Kota.”

The other kids groaned in envy when Izuku grabbed a gold star sticker from his desk drawer to place on the name chart beside the whiteboard. The chart had all the kids' names in a line, and gold stars next to each name as a reward for good behaviour both academically and socially.

Once a student reaches 10 gold stars, they get to have a gummy bear. Admittedly, they were vitamin gummies approved by every parent and the school staff, but the kids didn’t need to know that.

“You heard Kota-kun, Aimi-chan, take your time. This isn’t a race, besides, you want your parents to get a nice painting don’t you?”

“Yes, sensei.”

The girl trudged her way back to her seat, dragging the piece of paper behind her. Izuku wanted to laugh at the obvious dramatics but just looked back down at his papers. He didn’t get very far before a knock on the open door disturbed him.

Will I never finish grading these?

From the doorway, the head of Kayama-san poked into Izuku’s class. Izuku raised a brow but she just beckoned him over. He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that today was not the day he would catch up with grading. 

“What’s up Kayama-san?” he asked once he walked up to the door.

“Will you never call me Nemuri, Izu?”

“You’re my boss,” Izuku chuckled. “So unfortunately not, unless I’m getting fired anytime soon?”

“Pah! Never,” she smiled. “Anyway, I have a favour to ask. We're going to have a new student soon, and I was wondering if you could do the onboarding? I’ll look after your kids!”

“But we’re already three weeks into the term, why would there be a new student?”

“Poor boy’s a bit of a temperamental one and has been bounced around a couple of different childcare centres. We're at the term's quota, but Nezu-san made the exception from a personal request.”

“I see. But why am I doing the onboarding?”

“Because you’re an angel? And I’m falling behind on paperwork- and I’m your boss!”

Izuku placed a hand on his hip and sighed. Kayama-san was the one who interviewed him for the job two years ago, and they clicked instantly. She made the adjustment to a new job much easier at a time when Izuku was a nervous wreck, so he was eternally grateful to the beta. Besides, she made a mean chocolate chip cookie.

And he wouldn't admit it outright, but he had a soft spot for the cheery and sassy beta.

“Fine, but you’ll owe me one.”

“You’re the best,” she said, blowing him a kiss.

“Listen up kids,” he said with a clap, poking back into the classroom. “I’ll be at the office for a little bit, so Kayama-san will be looking after you for some time. Please behave for her, and know she will report everything to me.”

Izuku looked at Aimi-chan to make sure the girl knew that she wasn’t getting away with anything just because he would be gone. 

Once he was satisfied he bid Kayama a solemn 'good luck' and walked towards the shared office space. Since it was a childcare centre at best, the building wasn't large. To be efficient with real estate, the principal and other teachers shared an office space, since the teachers did most of their work in the classroom anyway.

He knocked gently on the office door to announce his arrival. Nezu-san was sitting at his desk, looking as wise as ever. The principal was an older alpha who had an elusive omega mate that nobody at MSC never saw, or even heard much of. The mates were private and everyone respected it.

The staff at MSC were comprised mainly of omegas and betas, which was one of the reasons why Izuku applied for the position at the first place. At first, he was a nervous wreck about it. Musutafu was his hometown, so he was well acquainted with MSC's popularity. By some stroke of good luck, something that Izuku came by very rarely, he got the gig. 

Omegas and betas were less likely to lash out, and as much as everyone liked to assume that alphas were good at everything, dealing with developing children was not one of those things. Though children needed to learn discipline, they were also pliable, which required special attention and a soft touch.

“Ah, Izuku-kun, thank you for helping out,” Nezu greeted with a demure smile. 

“It’s nothing, Nezu Kocho," he said, waving his hand in embarrassment. "I'm sorry but I've never onboarded before, is there anything much to do besides the paperwork?”

Izuku took a seat on the other side of the table.

“Kayama-san left the detail out once again, didn't she?" Nezu smiled knowingly when Izuku scratched the back of his ear instead of answering. "Well, the child you’ll be intaking is.. sensitive we could say. To be honest, the father is a friend of mine of some sort, so its a bit of a special case. Just to make sure the boy will truly fit in at MSC, I’ll appreciate it if you could spend some time with him, just 20 minutes or so and see if we’re right for them.”

“Oh, that doesn't sound too bad.”

“They should be here soon, please make yourself comfortable.”

***

After 30 minutes of sitting in the office, Izuku was beginning to wonder if they were coming at all.

Nezu-san made no mention of their tardiness, so Izuku stayed quiet about it, but he wished he brought his phone or something, because staring at a wall for the past half-hour was driving him crazy.

The principal was a mild man, but he was always so quiet and had his work in front of him. It felt weird to attempt conversation with someone so far his senior. Instead, Izuku counted to 1,000, made a mental to-do list for the next month and finalise his grocery list of the day in his head.

He even planned to go to the dry cleaners.

There was only so much a person could do to entertain themselves, and Izuku was already beginning to get annoyed by the family that had taken time out of his teaching. He could have been in his classroom to finish his damn grading, instead of here. His mother always taught him that first impressions were important, and being late — extremely late — was a terrible one.

Eventually, the door opened to Akihito, MSC’s administration officer, AKA the backbone of the entire school. The beta was tall and handsome, around Izuku’s age, and extremely efficient in his work. He made sure everyone was on top of their forms, had every parent’s contact number memorised, and was in tune with every child’s needs such as their allergies and special needs.

When Izuku first started, Akihito was the one who showed him around. He made sure Izuku knew exactly how MSC was run, who to go for what, and the general logistics of being a teacher at the school. Everyone at MSC knew never to piss off Akihito, because not only was he a godsend, but he could also make your job much harder than it needed to be if the man was ever spiteful enough.

“Nezu Kocho, Midoriya sensei, the Bakugos are here for you.”

Hold on- Bakugo? Izuku wasn’t sure he heard that right. He hadn’t heard the name Bakugo in years, and sure, they were both local to Musutafu, but- Before Izuku could process the familiar name, the man himself walked past Akihito into the office.

Bakugo Katsuki was almost exactly as Izuku remembered. He was taller, much taller, but his face remained the same, unaffected by time. His hair was still bright blonde, styled spiky as it was in the years Izuku knew him. The years had filled him out, because no longer was he the lean teenager Izuku used to be so familiar with, instead a man stood before Izuku, looking down at him with those piercing, red eyes.

Katsuki wore a well-fitted suit, it looked expensive. Izuku even guessed that it was tailored to fit him, after all the Bakugos had a massive fashion magazine empire. Katsuki had always been well off, well-liked and well.. everything that Izuku was not.

Before he could get too caught up on how good Katsuki looked in the smart navy suit, Izuku's eyes travelled downward and saw a little boy with the same spiky, blonde head, and equally unforgiving red eyes. He was a little thing, with a face much too severe for his age. He was dressed smartly in a blue button-down and black shorts.

“Deku?”

“Deku?” Akihito said from behind them, which shook Izuku out of his stupor enough to finally stand up to greet the newcomers. "Who's that?"

It was okay, he could do this.

Izuku was a professional who had dealt with difficult families and obsessive parents. He also hadn’t seen Kach- Katsuki in years, they were virtually strangers. No need to worry, he doubted that Katsuki even remembered much about Izuku. He psyched himself up, took a deep breath, and decided that hey, fresh starts right?

“Hello, my name is Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you,” he said with a false sense of confidence, extending his hand forward, but no hand reached to shake his.

Katsuki looked at him with an expression of confusion. His brows were scrunched and his eyes were critical of the hand that remained outstretched in the air.

“What are you doing here?” 

“I- I’m a teacher at Musutafu Star Centre,” Izuku explained, finally letting his hand drop.

“Oh, do you two know each other?”

“Ah, yes,” Izuku said to Nezu-san. “We were neighbours as kids.”

Izuku looked back to see if Katsuki would expand, but the alpha stayed silent. 

“Oh, that makes this so much easier. Welcome, Bakugo-san.”

“Brat, introduce yourself.”

“I'm Bakugo Haruki,” the child said in a soft voice, his eyes firmly planted on the floor beneath him. Izuku hated to admit that Katuski’s son was adorable, in a ‘he might bite my head off if I take his toy away from him’ kind of way.

The two men ignored each other while Nezu-san explained the paperwork that Akihito brought over for registration. They went over school hours, the curriculum and how the centre was run which included the meals. Akihito noted down that Haruki was allergic to apples and enjoyed physical activity.

Throughout the entire thing, Izuku made sure to not look anywhere besides those forms. Because Bakugo Katsuki was standing behind him, holding the hand of his cute child and it's been 14 years since they last spoke. 

Once the admin side of things was out of the way, Izuku took his cue and started explaining the curriculum for Haruki’s level further. He went over where they were in the term, and confirmed with Katsuki if there was any catching up to do. It appeared that Haruki was ahead of his year-level, but would need to acclimate himself to their teaching style as well as the rest of his class.

Throughout the conversation, Izuku and Katsuki remained amicable, perfectly pleasant. The topic of their past relationship was shoved in a tight, locked, buried box, and nobody brought it up. He remained professional and did his part almost dispassionately, if only to compartmentalise the bizarre situation. 

“Now, Izuku sensei will have a little one-on-one with Haruki-kun,” Nezu announced. “Bakugo-san, you can stay here if you wish or observe.”

Izuku really hoped the blonde would choose not to observe.

“I’ll observe,” he said, somehow managing to make it sound like a threat.

They moved to an empty classroom and Izuku set up at one of the desks for him and Haruki. He decided that watercolours was probably a safe bet since the supplies were already laid out for his own class and was easy to retrieve. Painting seemed like a pretty safe subject.

Haruki sat at the desk, and Izuku crouched next to him. While he organised the supplies, the hairs at the back of Izuku's neck stood up, all too aware of the red eyes that were glaring daggers at his back. He chose to ignore the feeling and resolutely finished setting up the desk.

“All right, Haruki-kun, we’ll be painting for a little bit. Are you okay with that?”

“Mhm.”

“Great,” he smiled softly. “Have you painted with watercolours before?”

The boy shook his head. He was timid, Izuku could work with that.

“All right, I’ll show you how it works and then you can do it yourself. So here is the paint, it looks dry and cracked, right? But watch this,” Izuku said as he picked up a brush that’s been soaking in a cup of water and dabbed it on a block of blue paint. “The water and paint are like a pair, with no water, there’s no watercolour. The more water you use, the lighter the colour. Now you try.”

Haruki picked up another brush and copied Izuku’s movements. The first try was a bit rough since he didn’t fill the brush with enough water and dragged the nearly dry paint over the paper, producing not much colour at all. He growled in frustration and slapped Izuku’s hand away when he tried to help.

Okay, so not timid.

Under normal circumstances, Izuku would have told Haruki off. But with Katsuki observing their interaction like a hawk, Izuku didn't dare. Some parents were touchy with how their kids were disciplined. Even if Izuku knew that Katsuki's own parents weren't shy with giving him a verbal beating, Katsuki, the father, was a stranger to Izuku. 

He had no clue how this child was raised. He didn't know who the man standing behind him was. 14 years was a long times, and Izuku knew that a lot of things could change in that time.

The second try was better, albeit a bit awkward since he wasn’t used to such delicate colours. Izuku watched with rapt attention, making sure Haruki didn’t get too frustrated and throw a tantrum. He itched to correct the child, but the longer Haruki tried, and the more frustrated at Izuku the child got, the more oppressive Katsuki's stare felt.

He knew that the blonde presented as an alpha sometime during middle school. It only made sense — he had an explosive personality, was unnaturally self-assured, and was always bigger than most of their classmates. Once he did present, Katsuki didn’t hesitate to rub it into Izuku’s face.

Izuku himself was a late bloomer, not presenting until the last year of middle school. Thankfully, he presented at home while his mom was at work. It was mortifying. His own mother was a beta, and didn’t know enough about omegas to warn Izuku of what would happen. In a panic, he thought he peed himself and cried alone in the bathroom out of sheer embarrassment.

Turns out he could produce slick, and at the time, he wasn’t sure if that was much better. He really should have paid more attention to sex ed instead of doodling in his sketchbook.

Since then, Izuku’s own growth was stunted. Thankfully, he grew a little taller, up until the end of high school. It wasn’t by much, but at least Izuku could pass as a full adult even if he got carded every time he wanted to buy any alcohol. It was annoying sometimes, but the older he got, the more he appreciated people thinking he could pass as 20.

Being an omega was an adjustment, not only for him, but the people around him.

Once he was old enough to know what his scent could do to people, Izuku wore scent patches like it was his lifeline. He also started on a low dose of suppressants because he would not be a burden to people, and he would live his life just like everyone else, thank you very much.

But omegas weren’t the only ones with powerful scents. Alphas were also prone to releasing powerful pheromones, and they were much less likely to wear scent blockers. Most of them prided themselves in their pheromones, using it as a show of dominance, to make sure people in the room knew that they were the top dog.

Izuku despised it.

Katsuki’s own smell grew stronger the longer he stayed staring at Izuku’s back. Izuku ignored it and kept looking at the boy next to him. Haruki was getting a hang of the paints. Looking down at his artwork, Izuku noticed that he drew two figures that Izuku could guess were the boy and his father.

Izuku wondered whether the mother was out of the picture, but then shook his head because it was none of his business.

“That looks great Haruki-kun! Do you like using the watercolours?”

“No,” he replied, pouting.

“Why not?” Izuku coaxed further, trying to get the boy to talk about his feelings more even if it was just about whether he liked a certain art medium. He knew well enough how emotionally stunted his father was.

“It’s hard. And it's stupid!”

“Or.. it could be a challenge?”

“A challenge?” Apprehensive red irises looked at Izuku. “Daddy says a challenge makes me better.”

“And your dad is right, so do you think you’ll try watercolours again?”

“Yes, because I’m the best!”

The little boy smirked to himself, bending down to keep at painting which made Izuku’s heart melt. No matter how much the statement sounded like Katsuki’s younger self, it was nice to see a child gain confidence in the smallest things. Izuku looked at the clock and realised it had been over 20 minutes since he and Haruki had started painting.

He stood up and cringed at the stiffness in his knees from squatting next to the boy for too long.

“Sorry, Haruki-kun, I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“Can I bring it home?”

“Hmm?” Izuku looked at the painting clutched in tiny hands and the careful expression on Haruki’s face. “Of course you can, you made it, so it’s yours.”

Izuku followed Haruki over to his father who had not let his eyes off Izuku, but Izuku kept his back straight and walked straight past Katsuki while his resolve was still there.

“Hey Deku, we need to talk.”

Fuck, maybe his resolve wasn’t as strong as he thought because a shiver went up his spine at the request. The last thing Izuku wanted to do was talk with him. Heck, he could probably go his whole life without seeing the man again, but fate was a cruel mistress and Izuku had a responsibility to the man’s son so he gave the alpha a nod.

They stood outside the centre, next to the playground where Haruki busied himself with the slide. Izuku hoped this would be quick, because he felt bad for Kayama-san. No doubt Aimi was being an absolute menace. The girl could only go so long without causing trouble — and that was a development from when Izuku had begun teaching her two years ago.

Katsuki stood in front of him, arms crossed and chin raised high. Still so confident in himself, so sure. Izuku used to be envious of the alpha’s ability to believe that he was better than everyone else. It was one thing if Izuku was anywhere close to Katsuki's greatness, but he couldn’t even lie to himself that he was anything short of.. pitiful.

Now though, that envy was gone and it was replaced with ire.

Katsuki just reminded Izuku of every other alpha. Cocky and overconfident. Alphas felt entitled that everyone needed to submit to them. In a room full of alphas, each one thought they were better than the other. In a room full of omegas, an alpha believed each omega would bare their neck willingly as if the act was a given.

Izuku hated alphas with his entire being.

“Could you make this quick? I need to go back to the kids.”

“So, you finally grew a backbone, nerd?” Katsuki scoffed.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll make this quick, don’t worry,” he said with a condescending smirk. “Haruki is my only son, and there is no way I trust your sorry ass to handle him. So, you better make sure you do your fucking job well, Deku.”

“My name is Izuku. And what, you’ll make Nezu-san fire me? You’ll make my life a living hell? I doubt Nezu-san is getting rid of me that easily and you’ve ruined my life once already.”

He got it out all in one breath. But it needed to be said, because Izuku was no longer the snivelling, wide-eyed boy who would take Katsuki's every blow. The alpha was right, he had grown a backbone. 

“I don’t think you know who I am, Deku.”

“I don’t need to. You’re Bakugo Katsuki, an alpha, and a bully to boot. Don’t worry, I’ll do my job and all you have to do is pick your kid up at 3pm every day.”

Katsuki scrutinised Izuku further, a familiar sneer coming back to his face.

“If you ever hurt the brat,” Katsuki said, taking one step closer to Izuku. “Or make him cry.” He took another step, crowding Izuku to the brick wall behind him. “I’ll end you, Deku.”

Katsuki stayed there for a moment, his face much too close for comfort. The smell of cinnamon infiltrated Izuku’s nostrils, and he nearly choked on the oppressive, dominant pheromones. It surrounded him, and the red that stared straight into Izuku's skull didn't help either. 

Izuku felt too warm. Katsuki was too close.

He was adamant that he would never be reduced to.. this again. Yet there he was, struggling to catch his breath, close to whimpering, at the domineering presence of yet another alpha. And not just anyone either, the same person who made Izuku's life a fucking living hell. 

When Izuku started gasping, Katsuki finally stepped back, his eyes lost in a trance. The space between them allowed Izuku to set a hand on his chest and regain his breath, though his throat still felt tight.

Katsuki looked away, offering no apology or even looking the slightest bit guilty. Figures.

“Brat! C’mon, I’m dropping you at your grandparents.”

Izuku stared at the retreating forms of the Bakugos with a frown on his face.

It was going to be a hellish year.

Chapter Text

They had decided to start Haruki off at MSC on Monday, to make it easier for the child and the teachers.

Katsuki sat in his home office, looking over the stacks of case folders that lay on his desk as if taunting him to be productive. Being a prosecutor was hard and thankless work, but damn if it didn’t feel good to put bad people away.

He sighed and geared himself up to start work, but was interrupted by the ringing of his work phone. The caller ID read ‘Todoroki Enji’, the District Attorney of Musutafu. Technically he was Katsuki’s boss, and he was also a person who knew that weekends were just days to catch up on work that got left behind during the week.

“Bakugo speaking,” he answered.

“Bakugo, have you seen my email? That bastard Shigaraki got lawyered up, so expect some more paperwork to come through before trial.”

“That soon? With his rap sheet, it’s a wonder anyone would take him on.”

“Oh, they didn’t take him on out of the goodness of their heart,” Enii replied with venom in his voice. “But expect counsel to delay proceedings to try and get ahead.”

Katsuki sighed, just one more thing to add to his calendar.

“Noted. Anything else?”

“Made any progress on those burglaries?”

“Still trying to see if we can claim hate crime, but the detectives are lazy fucks-”

Katsuki was cut off by a loud bang from the next room — Haruki’s room. He cringed, but was used to the ruckus his son can make when left to his own devices for too long. It was probably a wooden structure he knocked down again, or the jenga that Eijirou got him for Christmas.. or his own body.

“Sorry, I’ll send you an email about the burglaries.”

“Can’t you just tell me now?”

“Kid’s hurt,” he said, even though he wasn’t sure.

Enji was a stern and strict boss. His professionalism was something to admire, but it wasn’t fun being on the other side of the stick. When he started out, only the confidence he had accumulated over the years saved him from quitting in the face of Enji's unrelenting critique of his work.

But Katsuki pulled through, and was now a Crown Prosecutor.

That meant he dealt with the heavy stuff: the murders and gang violence. It was a far cry from the cases he prosecuted at the start. It was mind-numbing, the amount of convenience store thefts and local bar fight culprits.

But in the end, it was worth it.

He hung up on Enji and walked to Haruki’s room. Just like he thought, the little boy was pouting at his fallen over jenga, the colourful puzzle pieces scattered on the floor. The brat didn’t even look like he was planning on picking them up.

“We clean up after ourselves, brat.”

“I was going to!”

“Uh huh,” Katsuki said disbelievingly.

He stood at the doorway with his arms crossed for long enough that his son knew he wasn’t leaving anytime soon and began picking up after himself. In the beginning, it was much harder on Katsuki to figure out the whole parenting thing all on his own.

If he was honest, he wasn’t there hardly enough for Haruki’s developmental years. He was busy building his career by taking on as many cases as he could without being flagged as a workaholic and getting sent home by the office. Since now everyone was so into workers’ wellbeing and all that.

Even if he went home on time, that didn’t mean he didn’t bring some work with him.

Most nights he spent holed up in his office, pumping through every case file he had. The only time he left the room was to have dinner and occasionally play with his son who was much younger at the time. But a child who could barely keep up a conversation felt like a nuisance to Katsuki. It wasn’t a feeling he was proud of, but he was trying to make up for it.

“Can we go to the park?” Haruki asked after he placed the Jenga box away neatly on one of the shelves by the foot of his bed. “Please?”

The puppy dog eyes were the oldest trick in the book. When Katsuki was first left as the only parent to take care of Haruki, it worked. He tried to make up for his neglectfulness and did a complete 180 and indulged his son too much. After a few years, he knew better.

“I’m busy, brat. Didn’t the school give you some homework to do before Monday?”

“Yeah…”

“Once you finish those, I’ll think about the park.”

***

Izuku was not excited about Monday.

Though he was embarrassed to admit it, Izuku’s morning consisted mainly of pumping himself up in front of the mirror for much too long. He was nervous about Haruki, Katsuki’s child, that he would have to teach.

20 minutes with the boy was not nearly enough time to gauge how similar he would be to the blonde alpha. If Haruki was anything like Katsuki was at that age, Izuku was in for a hell of a day. But there was nothing he could do, the boy was registered and considering the amount of childcare centres the boy had been to, MSC was likely his last hope.

So, Izuku walked into class with a smile and greeted the kids who were regularly dropped early by their parents. Parents at MSC had a wide range of occupations, but they all paid well. Some kids were the children of professors, surgeons and even pilots.

“Good morning, Kota-kun,” he said to the shy-faced boy at the back.

Slowly the other students trickled in, and by 9AM, they had a full class.

Haruki sat near the front, since he got dropped off just on time and nobody wanted to sit close to the teacher’s desk. He was adorable in his uniform but said nothing when he got to his seat.

“Something exciting today everyone! We have a new addition. Haruki, would you like to come up and introduce yourself?”

Izuku looked at the blonde boy expectantly, but he said nothing. Haruki kept his red eyes locked to his empty desk.

“Haruki-kun?”

“Can he not talk, sensei?” Aimi asked from her seat in the middle of the classroom.

“Haruki-kun?” Izuku asked once more, choosing to ignore the girl’s question. “Can you come up please?”

“No.” When the boy finally lifted his head, he looked at Izuku with a stubbornness that was all too familiar.

“Why?”

“Don’t wanna,” he said with a humph, looking to the side.

Izuku sighed and knew that it really was going to be a long day. Deciding to pick his battles, he let the boy go for now and explained his situation to the class instead. They were already running behind on time and Izuku knew how cranky the kids could get if they started nap time late.

Despite his earlier defiance, Haruki stayed quiet throughout class and was obedient with the tasks that Izuku set. That day they went through numbers greater than 15, and did simple additions of single-digit numbers with the help of their own fingers.

Before he knew it, the recess bell rang and Izuku nearly had a heart attack.

“All right, come grab your snacks and walk to the cafeteria please- no pushing!”

Izuku stood diligently by the door while the kids made a line and escorted them out to the cafeteria. Standing by one of the long tables was Utsushimi, a staff member who did admin work alongside Akihito, but also supervised the children when they weren’t in class.

Once the kids were settled, Izuku returned to his classroom and wracked his brain.

So, Katuski’s son had his father’s personality. That would be a challenge. It was not as if Izuku had never dealt with difficult children before, but this felt personal. Izuku couldn’t help but compare the two blondes, and he was afraid if he didn’t keep his biases in check, it would be difficult to treat Haruki with the same temperament as he did the others.

“Hey,” he heard Akihito say from the doorway.

“Oh, hello Tanaka-san.”

“Nemuri’s right, you’re never going to budge on that are you?”

“Sorry,” Izuku said with a sheepish smile. “I just don’t want to overstep.”

“Nonsense!” he replied with a smile of his own, stepping further into the classroom until he was standing right next to Izuku’s chair. “The staff members are thinking to go to the local karaoke on Friday. Wanna come?”

“Oh, um..” Izuku said, perplexed. Though he got along well with the faculty members, he had never seen them outside of work and was never invited either. He thought that they were either very professional with their relationships, or couldn’t be bothered to invite him which he didn’t really mind. “I’ll let you know?”

“Perfect.”

Izuku’s eyes followed Akihito’s back as he left the room, now more conflicted.

Besides his friends from high school, Izuku had never really fostered any new friendships. It wasn’t for lack of trying, because he did try. If he accepted Akihito’s offer, he’s scared that all he would do is blunder about and make things awkward — nobody wanted that kind of mood for karaoke.

So, Izuku made up his mind. He would decline the offer, and there would be no harm done since he’s been there for two years and they’ve managed to stay social without him the whole time.

All his thoughts made him lose track of time, and the bell rang once more to signal that recess had ended. Izuku made quick work of going back to the cafeteria to pick up his kids. He thanked Utsushimi and ushered his students in a neat line.

While they walked back, he noticed that Aimi was saying something into Haruki’s ear.

He was relieved, the boy ended up making friends after all. Izuku was worried that starting so late in the term, and being a little shy, would make it difficult for Haruki to socialise with the rest of the class. Even Kato, who had been here since he was 3, barely spoke to any of the others because of his shy disposition.

They resumed the day with shapes. Izuku passed around a short worksheet with a few shapes for them to identify. With something to distract them, Izuku could have some time for himself and look over his lesson plans that all the teachers coordinated at the start of the term — he needed to make sure he was on track.

When he shifted to store away the curriculum in favour of those worksheets he never got to, his eye caught an alarming sight. Haruki was on the ground, and there was blood on his hands.

Izuku got up in a hurry to squat down beside the boy whose mouth was set in a firm line. He did not cry, but Izuku didn’t miss the wetness that had pooled in his eyes. He checked the boy for injuries, worried about the blood, but saw nothing pressing besides a little cut by his ear.

“Are you okay?” Izuku asked softly.

Haruki nodded, clearly trying to seem tough, but a tear escaped and soon enough the boy was reduced to full-on waterworks. Above his wailing, Izuku looked around his class and saw the other kids looking at him in awe and curiosity.

However, one student in particular was looking away.

“Aimi-chan, can you please explain to me what happened to Haruki-kun.”

The girl looked to him with her brows drawn. “I- it’s his fault, sensei!”

“What’s his fault?”

“I was trying to toss him notes, so I could speak to him since he wouldn’t talk to me at recess. But he ignored them all!”

“Aimi-chan,” Izuku sighed. “That still doesn’t explain this.”

“Well..” She looked off with guilt written plainly in her eyes. “I thought if I threw a pencil it might get his attention.”

Izuku was shocked, but calmed himself down. It wouldn’t help anyone if he disciplined Aimi while Haruki was still in tears. He looked back down at the boy who had began hiccupping, then grabbed the boy’s hands to stand him up.

“C’mon Haruki-kun, let’s get you to the infirmary, hmm?”

Haruki didn’t stop crying but nodded his assent.

“And Aimi-chan, I will have to talk to your parents when they come to pick you up.”

“But-”

“No buts! That was unacceptable,” he said pointedly then looked to the rest of the class. “We do not throw things at people. No notes, no soft things, and especially nothing hard!”

Izuku and Haruki left to a chorus of yes sensei.

“Are you sure you’re okay? It’s okay if you’re not.”

Haruki tried to answer, but only managed to hiccup through his sobs. Izuku stopped just outside the infirmary door to let the boy settle down enough to speak.

“Are you going to call daddy?”

Fuck.

Right, he had to somehow explain all this to Katsuki. Katsuki, who threatened him not three days ago, who had expressly voiced his distrust in Izuku. Who would have to know that on Haruki’s first day under Izuku’s care, the boy was bleeding and crying all over his classroom floor.

This day was not going Izuku’s way.

“Yes, of course.”

“Please don’t.”

Izuku’s brows pinched in confusion when he said, “why not?”

Haruki looked down at his shoes, averting his eyes. Izuku grew worried. Was the boy scared that his dad would cause a scene? Katsuki looked rich, maybe he was one of those parents that hated being bothered at work. Would he punish Haruki for bothering him while he was working, even if it was hardly the boy’s fault?

“Haruki-kun, can you look at me?”

Izuku smiled once the boy looked up with red-rimmed eyes swollen and irritated from crying.

“Can you answer me honestly?”

Haruki nodded.

“Does you daddy hurt you?”

Haruki shook his head so aggressively that Izuku thought it might dislodge itself from its neck.

“No! I just.. don’t want daddy to know I cried like a baby.”

“Oh,” Izuku almost chuckled but barely contained it. “But you are a baby.”

“I’m not a baby! I’m a man!”

“Oh really?” Izuku cocked his head to the side. “Hmm, I think you’re a bit too little now. But you will definitely be a man soon.”

“I wanna be like my daddy,” he said with a pout, and Izuku was tempted to pinch those flushed, chubby cheeks. “Big and strong!”

“And you will. But for now, it’s okay to cry when you’re sad and when things hurt, okay?”

Haruki looked at him apprehensively, so Izuku bent down to get closer to the boy.

“Can I tell you a secret?” The boy nodded enthusiastically. “I’m all grown up and I still cry.”

“Really?”

“Mhm,” Izuku said, standing back up. “So, I’ll call your dad while you get looked at, okay?”

Once the boy was safely in the hands of their part-time nurse, Izuku steeled himself and made his way to Akihito’s desk by the main doors. The man was busy typing away on his computer, but looked up at Izuku’s footsteps.

“Hey Izuku! What can I do for you- oh did you decide if-”

“Sorry, no,” Izuku chuckled awkwardly. “Could I grab Bakugo Haruki’s dad’s phone number off you? There’s been a bit of an incident and he’s in the infirmary.”

“On his first day? That’s tough.”

Akihito passed over a post-it note with Katsuki’s phone number, and just like that the topic of karaoke was also forgotten. Looking at the digits in Akihito’s handwriting made Izuku realise that he was holding Katsuki’s phone number and the realisation stopped him in his tracks.

It felt surreal, going from never talking to each other to being in charge of his son, and now also having access to his phone number.

Izuku wanted to cry and laugh at the same time at the sheer absurdity of it all. He almost felt guilty, like it was wrong to take his phone from his pocket and punch in those digits. They were strangers who parted terribly in their childhood — Katsuki’s number belonged nowhere near Izuku’s phone.

But his kid was bleeding in the infirmary, so Izuku pressed ‘call’ and steadied himself by taking a deep breath in, leaning on the wall behind him and closing his eyes. The ring tone went on for a few seconds, and by the fourth ring, Izuku could almost tell himself that Katsuki was definitely a busy and successful man, so he might not have time to pick up a phone call.

Besides, Izuku’s number would be an unknown number since 2 years ago Izuku completely changed all his contact details and started fresh. It was more than likely that Katsuki would think it was a scam call and-

“Hello? Bakugo speaking.”

His voice was deeper through the phone, and the poor connection made it sound almost gravelly.

“Hello? Who’s calling? If this is a telemarketer I swear to fucking god I will-”

“Hello?” Izuku finally answered once he got over Katsuki’s voice. “It’s Midoriya, um, Izuku Midoriya.”

Why did he introduce himself? He felt stupid tripping over his words now when he made such a big show the last time they saw each other. He wanted to slap some sense into himself and say that this was just another parent. Just another father who will berate Izuku for making a stupid mistake.

“Do you think I know another Midoriya? So, why are you calling me? Don’t tell me the brat’s already caused trouble, it’s barely lunch time.”

“Yeah, sorry,” he said, then regretted it instantly because why was he apologising? “There’s been a bit of a situation with-”

“What? Speak up, I can barely hear you.”

“There’s been a situation,” Izuku said more firmly. “Haruki’s in the infirmary.”

“What the fuck happened to my brat?”

“Look, it’s nothing serious. There was just a bit of an.. incident with another student.”

***

Izuku clasped his hands together tightly while he sat on the bench outside the infirmary. Katsuki had said he would pick up Haruki, which meant that Izuku needed to be there for the time being. Thankfully, Nemuri agreed to watch over his class again. He could only hope the incident made them behave for her.

But you could never tell with 5 year-olds.

A loud bang announced Katsuki’s arrival, followed by heavy footsteps headed straight in hid direction. Izuku stood up once the footsteps got close enough and clasped his hands behind his back so Katsuki wouldn’t be able to see them shaking.

Wafts of cinnamon and nutmeg, like a warm winter drink, made its way to Izuku’s nostrils before its source rounded the corner. And just like before, it felt like the scent was choking him. So much so that he unconsciously began breathing through his mouth.

“Where is he?”

Katsuki was dressed similarly in a black suit, without a tie. In his hand was a briefcase that looked well-worn. If Izuku was in his right mind, he wouldn’t have noticed how good Katsuki looked in his work attire. If Izuku was being rational, he wouldn’t be thinking about how good it would be working alongside someone so attractive.

“Deku, you deaf or something?”

“Right,” Izuku replied. “He’s in here, let me-”

“Hold on,” Katsuki interrupted, taking another step closer. “You better have a good fucking explanation for this. Because I remember telling you if anything happened to him, it’d be on you. And now look, are you really that incompetent?”

“I-”

“You sure there aren’t any other classes I can put him into? Because your’s is clearly fucking lacking.”

“Can you let me finish!” Izuku said, loud enough that he knew nearby classes could have heard him over their closed doors. “Sorry, I- just let me explain.”

Katsuki just looked at him for a beat, then nodded.

“Go on then.”

It was difficult; speaking while actively trying not to inhale the intoxicating alpha scent. His omega’s appreciation for scent was mercifully hidden by his scent blockers, or else his omega’s interest would have been mortifying.

“Aimi-chan’s parents will be informed of this, I swear. And she’ll know not to do it again.”

“And this happened on your watch?” Was Katsuki’s only reply.

Izuku already knew where this was going, and he really didn’t want to waste another breath on the brute. Instead, he took a deep breath and turned back to the infirmary door and knocked twice.

“Haruki-kun? Daddy’s here to get you.”

Izuku could once again feel those red eyes on his back, but he was steadfastly looking at the door, willing it to open with his stare. Haruki stepped out tentatively and made his way straight for Katsuki.

If he were anyone else, Izuku would admit that such a large alpha squatting down to be somewhat eye-level with the child was incredibly cute. They spoke in hushed voices but it wasn’t like Izuku was trying to eavesdrop — he had to stay and make sure Haruki got home okay after all.

The two blondes smiled at each other before Katsuki stood up to face Izuku once more.

“Thanks for acting quickly,” Katsuki said softly, throwing Izuku off.

He wondered what Haruki said to him for Katsuki to switch gears. Just a few minutes ago he placed all the blame on Izuku, and now, it’s all good? It frustrated Izuku to no end, the way these parents act like children themselves, unable to regulate their emotions.

Haruki’s eyes were also watching him, so instead of questioning it, he faked a smile instead.

“No worries, I’ll see you tomorrow, Haruki-kun?”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said to no one in particular.

Once the Bakugos left the centre, Izuku could finally breathe a little easier. No more cinnamon, no more stress, no more.. alpha.

***

In the end, Izuku completely ignored his responsibility to give Akihito a response about karaoke. Instead, Friday night found Izuku on his couch, still not changed from his work clothes with a tub of ice cream by his feet.

He was watching the latest reality show, a guilty pleasure to keep his mind away from things. It also helped that he could laugh at other people’s stupid decisions for once instead of worry about his own. Just as a juicy fight was about to break out between two sisters, his phone rang from the couch’s chair.

The caller ID read ‘Uraraka’ and he picked up at once.

“Hey!”

“Woah, that’s enthusiastic.”

“I’m just getting ready for the ‘he proposed!’ phone call at this point.”

Uraraka and Iida have been together since their first year at university. Even before that, everyone knew they would end up together, but the two shy betas just needed the little push of adulthood to take the next step. 

They’ve been together for nine years now, and everyone expected that the proposal was coming soon. Though their friends knew that the couple was in no rush, Uraraka’s parents were pressuring them to just do it for the sake of appearances. Besides, nothing about their relationship would change anyway.

“Ha ha, very funny ‘zuku. Anyway, that’s not why I called. Shouto is free, for once. Can you come out and have a few drinks with us?”

“Actually, I think I will.”

“Oh, that was easy.”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Izuku scoffed, nudging his phone closer to his ear with his shoulder, keeping his two hands free to scoop his ice cream.

“Oh you know how much convincing you need to go out for lunch! Anyway, meet you at the city centre? There’s a new bar next to Marugame Udon.”

“What time?”

“In an hour!” 

They said their goodbyes and Izuku instantly went to his room and looked over his wardrobe. Since moving back to Musutafu, he had barely any time nor energy to go out shopping. What stared back at him was an array of cardigans and smart shirts and blouses, slacks, and board shorts for the summer.

He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he would have to go shopping sometime soon — and maybe do a little overhaul of his closet.

In the end, he decided on a pair of old jeans that he had grown out of, but it still managed to button up (with effort) below his navel. He paired it with a purple blouse, that when unbuttoned low enough, managed not to look like work clothes.

Izuku looked himself over in the mirror before grabbing his wallet and keys to head out.

In the rush, he forgot to reapply his scent blockers, but figured it would be okay. In a place with more adults, scents tended to mix and mingle and his would be easily lost in the crowd.

Once he was out of the train, Izuku kept his head down and relied on muscle memory to get him where he needed to go. Uraraka was easy to spot in her pink dress and shiny boots. Beside her was Tanya, dressed as usual in jeans and a polo.

“Hey guys,” Izuku waved.

“Hey!” Uraraka greeted him with a bone-crushing hug. “Shouto’s on his way and Kaminari mentioned he might wrangle Hitoshi out, but I’m not optimistic.”

Shouto did arrive a little later, clad in his slacks and a white shirt sans the blazer. Unlike his father, Shouto chose to get into criminal defence. Izuku was afraid the man would suffer in the position, if he did it solely to spite Enji, but Shouto had made a name for himself in the past few years.

Though that came with the cost of barely having any free time, Shouto’s expensive cars and high-end wristwatches spoke to his success.

“Shouto, it’s been a while,” Izuku greeted with a smile.

“Midorya, how’s work?”

“Oh you know, the kids make me want to pull my hair out but it’s going okay.”

“Enough about work, we are here to forget about work,” Uraraka announced with a shout, then linked her arms with Izuku to pull him towards the dark building behind them.

The place was called ‘Destroyer’. It was an understated establishment, its name nearly illegible from the dim lights overhead. The only things that signalled it was a club were the bouncers by the doors and the growing queue of finely dressed people.

Izuku noticed that most people wore bright clothes and sequins, all easily drawing attention to themselves. His own clothing spoke for the opposite, but he tried not to think about it.

Once they made it past security and walked down the stairs, the sound of music and the thumping of bass reached them instantly.

The stairwell was lined with posters of gigs and other establishments people would find themselves at after a few too many drinks. It reminded Izuku of the places they’d go during university, which made him realise how long it’s been since he last had a night out with his friends.

After the last step, the room opened up to the dance floor which was already packed with patrons. People were dancing to the house music that blared over the speakers. The amount of bodies packed into he space made Izuku warm and his nose tingle with the intermingling scents.

Uraraka pulled him straight to the bar, ordering each of them a Long Island to kickstart their night. Putting his worries aside, Izuku downed his cocktail, wanting to make the best of the night.

“So,” Uraraka started once they were softly swinging their hips on the dance floor. “How come you agreed to go out to easily? Usually, I need to beg and use puppy dog eyes, if it even works!”

Izuku laughed, and pulled Uraraka towards himself slightly when a beta behind her nearly knocked her with his drink.

“I haven’t told you yet, but do you remember Katsuki?”

“Your childhood bully?” Uraraka asked with a frown. “What about him.”

“Well, his kid is in my class.. as of Monday.”

“Next Monday?”

“No,” Izuku shook his head and raised his voice once the music got louder to compensate for the amount of people trickling in. “I’ve had his kid for a week! And let’s just say time hasn’t mellowed the guy.”

“That sucks,” she pouted. “Did he give you any trouble? Because you know I’d beat him up for you in a heartbeat!”

Despite her short frame, Uraraka was a fearsome firefighter. She wanted to prove people wrong, and help people in need without the moral dilemma of being a police officer. Everyone was shocked when she enrolled herself into the fire academy in the middle of their 3 ^rd year at university, but she took off and passed with flying colours.

“Thanks,” Izuku smiled.

After a while, the rest of their group met up with them and they spent the entire night going between the dance floor and the bar. The more drinks Izuku got in his system, the more open he was to drinking even more. Coupled with the fact that Izuku didn’t drink all that often, he began to feel light-headed and floaty the darker the club got.

Uraraka and Iida separated themselves from the group, no doubt to start making out somewhere Izuku and Shouto couldn’t see.

“How’s Momo been?” Izuku asked once they made their way to the bar, away from the undulating bodies.

“Pregnant,” Shouto said with a huff of laughter.

“Oh, how far along is she?”

Shouto looked at him with a raised brow, face amused. “She’s been pregnant for the last five months, Midorya.”

“Shit, sorry I-”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re a private person, I know it’s not personal.”

Only it was personal.

Back in university, he and Shouto were nearly something. They studied together for finals, just the two of them, on purpose. Of course, to everyone else, they just seemed like the most studious of the bunch, but the late nights at the library were filled with longing glances and not-so-accidental brushes of their hands.

Then they slept together, once.

It was enough to be a disaster though, because of all the days, it was when Enji was due to visit Shouto at his dorm. And like the young, horny, idiots they were, it completely passed over their heads. Enji barged in to Shouto spooning Izuku from behind, both naked but thankfully covered by the blankets.

Then Enji said something that made Izuku bolt, that Shouto was engaged. Izuku was heartbroken, but should have known better. The Todoroki family were prestigious, and the only other family in Musutafu that could match their wealth would surely want to secure their daughter’s future with an arranged marriage.

Their friendship was rocky from then on, conversations stilted and every interaction tinged with tension and awkwardness. Then Izuku went to explore other romantic pursuits, and moved away from Musutafu for a few years.

Once he moved back 2 years ago, it felt like they could start from a clean slate. Though they weren’t anywhere near as close as they used to be, conversation flowed easier and was easygoing at best.

“Congratulations, if I haven’t said,” Izuku shouted over the blaring music. “You guys make a good-looking couple.”

“You still think I’m good looking?” Shouto asked, his forwardness a clear sign of his inebriation.

“Of course, you never stopped being good-looking,” Izuku answered with a scoff, his honestly also motivated by the last three cocktails he downed, and the extra shot of soju Uraraka peer-pressured him to have helped too. “Momo is lucky to have you.”

“Midoriya, you know I never got to-”

“Wait,” Izuku said, holding his hand up once his stomach started churning. “I feel a bit sick.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yep,” he nodded, then stopped when it made his head spin. “Just going to step out for a bit.”

Izuku found his way back to the stairwell and slowly made his way back up, making sure to grip the railing so as not to fall over on his face. One he made it out, the fresh air made him breathe just a little easier, but he still scurried for an alley to spill his guts at.

He found one close enough to the club and leaned his head against the cold cement walls to take deep breaths. Alcohol in your late-twenties was really only fun for the first couple of hours, then it catches up to you out of nowhere.

Izuku knew the feeling in his stomach wasn’t going away soon, so he spread his legs a little more, to avoid any splattering on the only trainers he had. When he had successfully puked out all the cocktails and ice cream he had that night, he stepped away from the mess and squatted down next to it.

It was disgusting, but Izuku couldn’t get himself to move yet.

In his state, there was little he could have done to predict what came next. Because, as Izuku’s eyes fluttered close from the drowsiness that often came after puking your guts out, a shadowy figure made its way closer to him. Izuku was none the wiser and didn’t realise someone was closing in until he felt the tug on his arm.

“Huh?”

He opened his bleary eyes, and was met with a masked figure whose hand gripped Izuku’s arm firmly.

“Turn around, now!”

“What the hell, let go of me!”

Izuku struggled, but the man was clearly an alpha. He towered over Izuku, and was larger than him at all fronts. No matter how much Izuku tried to pull himself away, the man manhandled Izuku until his front was facing the wall.

The masked man kept one hand on Izuku’s arms, locking it behind him. His free arm made its way down, grazing the top of Izuku’s ass. That made him freeze in fear.

No, no way. Please.

His heart thumped loudly in his chest, and his ears started ringing in the quiet alley. His eyes went unfocused as the hand moved down, as if everything was happening in slow motion. When the hand then placed more pressure on his pants, Izuku snapped his eyes shut and prepared for the worst.

“Scared you didn’t I, omega?”

And all at once, the pressure on his body was gone, the hand was gone and the man with it. Izuku was alone once again, as if it were a fever dream. Once he was aware of his surroundings, Izuku could finally hear how hard he was breathing, so he held his breath to calm himself down.

“Okay, okay,” he muttered to himself.

When he reached into his pockets to get his phone, it wasn’t there. He patted around again to discover that his wallet was missing as well.

“Fuck.”

I just got robbed...

Chapter Text

Without his ID, Izuku had no way of getting back into the club.

His cheeks and large eyes made him a victim of his youthfulness. Once he turned 25, Izuku accepted that, at least until his jowls dropped, he would always get ID-ed. So, Izuku sat at the train station, hoping that his friends noticed his absence and would come looking for him.

One good thing, he supposed, was that the bastard didn’t take his keys. Those were tucked safely in his jeans’ front pockets. But Izuku couldn’t even take the train without his wallet or phone. In other words, he was stranded.

What happened felt like an out of body experience. He must have sat by the station for an hour, but it felt like a minute because he zoned out.

“Izuku!”

He looked up and saw Uraraka’s worried face walk towards him from the direction of the club. Behind her was Tenya and Shouto who bore similarly concerned expressions. Izuku smiled at them weakly and waved them over.

“Hey,” he said sheepishly. “Sorry for disappearing.”

“Oh my god, what happened? What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call us? We tried to call you but it just kept ringing! And then it stopped ringing altogether and we thought maybe your phone died, but we couldn’t find you!”

“Honey, let’s let Midoriya speak,” Tenya said from behind her, and Izuku sent him a grateful smile.

“I- I think I was robbed.”

“You think!” Uraraka exclaimed.

“Well, I left to vomit 'cause I wasn’t feeling too good. Then this guy came up and held me against the wall- but he just took my phone and wallet!” He said when his friends’ faces went from concerned to mortified. “That’s all, I swear.”

“We’re calling the police,” Shouto announced, his phone already out with emergency services dialled in.

“Do we have to?”

“Yes!” Uraraka said, then stepped up to give him a hug. “I was so worried, oh my god never do that again I thought an axe murderer got you or something.”

“I’m in one piece,” Izuku said through her hair.

“Still,” she hmphed when she let him go and scanned him from head to toe. “I’m just glad you weren’t badly hurt, we all are.”

The two men behind her nodded in agreement and Izuku could only smile guiltily, feeling like an idiot for letting himself get robbed. Just his damn luck — the past two weeks had really given him enough excitement to last the whole year.

Since there wasn’t any use in staying, the police told them to report the incident to the nearest police station. They walked together, despite Izuku telling his friends repeatedly that he was fine and that they were free to go home. All three of them ended up sitting on the uncomfortable plastic benches in the police station while Izuku filled out the necessary paperwork to begin an investigation.

“Midoriya Izuku?” A police officer called after he was told to wait. “Over here please.”

The police officer was a large man, almost comparable to Shouto’s father. He had hair that was cropped short and severe jaw that screamed ‘alpha’. But as required by most law enforcement, the man was wearing scent blockers so Izuku couldn’t tell for sure.

Izuku waved to his friends and followed behind the police officer dutifully. He led Izuku past a secured door, down a hallway to another door. Upon entry, Izuku saw that one wall had a glass pane which reflected the lone steel table and chairs that was in the middle of the small room.

“Um, am I being interrogated?” Izuku blurted out, the room familiar to him from all the dramas he watches on the weekends to kill time.

“Oh right, we usually do the interviews with victims of a crime. But what happened was a bit of a special case so the prosecutor in charge will be the one coming to ask you questions.”

“Oh, okay,” Izuku said tentatively, still unsure about what the officer was talking about.

“Do you want any water? Coffee?”

“Water would be great, thanks.”

“Coming right up,” the officer nodded and left Izuku alone.

Other than the initial surprise, the room itself was pretty unremarkable so Izuku took a seat at the table and let out a deep sigh. How had it even come to this? Izuku swore he’d never end up in a police station, but here he was, for a completely different reason.

His life was supposed to be boring. He taught little kids, lived alone and was single. He was excited for his average life yet in two weeks things had taken a turn in the complete opposite direction. The sound of the door opening interrupted Izuku’s lamenting.

“Oh thank you-”

Cinnamon. Nutmeg.

“Kach- Bakugo-san.”

For the second time that week, oppressive red eyes met his. Katsuki was clad in a comfortable-looking wool quarter zip and grey slacks — he looked like a finance broker or an extremely rich retiree. Izuku felt stunned.

“What are you doing here?” He asked after a beat.

“I could ask you the same question,” Katsuki replied, walking further in to take a seat opposite Izuku, his gaze never wavering. “So, you’re an omega huh?”

Izuku’s hand flew up to his neck to cover the unobstructed scent gland. Right, when they were young and Izuku and Katsuki parted ways to attend different high schools, Izuku hadn’t presented yet. His mother assured him that he was likely a beta like herself, and was just a late bloomer.

But as it happens, Izuku was thrust into his first heat when he was 16. Not expecting the presentation, Izuku was wholly unprepared and suffered for 5 days straight. He always thought his height and extra chub as a child was purely due to genetics, even if his father was not that short.

Turns out, biology had always been telling him something.

Izuku wondered what Katsuki thought. His face was blank, and Izuku had no way of guessing what was going through his head that moment, and he hated it. It made him nervous for no reason, what did it matter what Katsuki thought?

“Here’s your water,” the police officer said, appearing next to Izuku quietly enough to make him jump. “I’ll leave you two to it then, I’ll just be over there.”

He pointed to the glass pane on the adjacent wall. It must be one of those one-way windows that Izuku often saw in detective shows. So, he nodded and was left alone with Katsuki in a tiny 8x10 room. Great.

“Did Officer Yaorashi fill you in yet?”

“Um, vaguely.”

“Figures,” he tsked, sounding just like he did as a teenager it nearly stumped Izuku. “Right, I’ll say this once so pay attention, got it?”

He nodded, looking down.

“I’m the prosecutor assigned to this case. Since it’s an ongoing criminal matter you’re involved in now, you’ll be one of my witnesses. You won’t have to go to court or anything like that, I’ll just use your statements to help our case. Got it?”

He nodded again.

“Cat got your tongue or something?”

“Got it,” Izuku gritted out.

When Katsuki didn’t respond straight away, Izuku looked up curiously and was met by Katsuki’s confused expression. He really hated those damn red eyes, always looking at things was too seriously — no wonder he became a prosecutor, those eyes could see through a lie in an instant, Izuku knew.

“Right. Anyway, there’s been a string of mugging, burglaries and the whatnot happening around the city centre recently. It looked random at first, then we noticed a few patterns and it might be connected to something bigger. So, I’m here to figure out if your incident was connected to that in any way.”

“Mhm, that makes sense.”

“What happened to you?” Katsuki asked.

“Well, I was in this alley trying to get some fresh air after drinking-”

“That’s not what I meant,” Katsuki interrupted, resting his cheek on his palm whilst bending his neck to get closer to Izuku. “You seem different.”

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Izuku answered, his face flushing from nerves.

“You’re quiet now, it’s weird.”

Izuku looked at Katsuki then. He took in the other man’s relaxed posture, nice clothes and confident air. A switch clicked in Izuku’s head and he began to feel annoyed. Because who did Katsuki think he was? As if he had any right in thinking he knew Izuku well enough to notice any kind of change.

What a joke.

“I grew up, Bakugo-san.”

“See, you could just call me Katsuki.”

“That would be inappropriate.”

“Why?”

“We grew up together. You know my parents. You’re calling me what you would call my dad, it’s fucking weird,” Katsuki stated like he was pointing out the obvious.

“Should you be swearing in an interview?”

Katsuki pointed at a small device Izuku hadn’t noticed rested on the table next to Katsuki’s bag. “It’s not recording yet, so technically, interview hasn’t started.”

Izuku pursed his lips in annoyance. They engaged in a bit of a stare-off, but Izuku have never and will never win at one of those with Katsuki. He had enough experience in it to know his own limits, so he looked down at his hands after a while.

“Can’t you just drop it?”

“Is it making you uncomfortable?”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” he tsked again. “Let’s begin, Midoriya-san.”

Izuku cringed at the same time a beep sounded from the small recording device that Katsuki moved to rest between them.

“My name is Bakugo Katsuki, Public Prosecutor of the Musutafu district. It is currently 2:38 AM. Midoriya Izuku is the subject of this interview, could you please identify yourself?”

“Um.. my name is Midoriya Izuku.”

“And your birthdate.”

“15 July.”

“Can you confirm it is just us two in the room?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, in your own words, recount what happened tonight, Midoriya-san.”

Though he was the one who drew the line between them, it felt weird hearing his surname coming from Katsuki’s mouth. It was foreign after spending their entire childhood calling each other nicknames. He guessed that was how Katsuki felt too, but it couldn’t be helped.

“I was at a club with my friends, um it- it’s called Destroyer. After a few drinks I started feeling a bit dizzy and queasy so I left to clear my head with some fresh air.”

“Sorry, what time did this happen?”

“Like.. at 1? Sorry, I wasn’t really looking.”

“That’s fine,” he said in a steady voice that unnerved Izuku. “Please continue.”

“I found a nearby alley- um I think it was right behind Uniqlo. Maybe? Sorry. Um, then I puked   a bit but didn’t leave straight away.”

“Why?”

“Oh, I felt nauseous still.”

“Right,” he nodded, then took out a small notebook from his bag and began scribbling something Izuku couldn’t see. The speed in which Katsuki wrote with made Izuku think he should have probably been doing that since they started the interview. “You can continue.”

“Okay, um then this person came out of nowhere. He had a mask on so I couldn’t see his face.”

“How about his hair? Clothes? Shoes?”

“Oh,” Izuku wracked his brain at the question, but it was blank. All he remembered was his initial shock and fear at being touched by some strange alpha. All he could do was uselessly stare ahead at a dark wall, forcing himself to calm down. How could he even think about what shoes the man was wearing or what-

“Deku!”

“Huh?”

“Forget it, just.. keep going. I won’t interrupt.”

“Right..” Izuku took a deep breath. “He held me with my front to the wall. H-he had my hands behind my back and um.. touched my back. I thought something.. something else was about to happen. It didn’t!” Izuku clarified quickly after Katsuki’s gaze deepened the more he spoke. “That didn’t happen, he just took my phone and wallet, then left. Um then I waited for my friends and they called the police and now I’m here. That’s it.”

Katsuki nodded but said nothing, instead spent some time writing in his notebook furiously. Once his eyes scanned his notes a final time he looked up.

“Mind if I ask a few questions?”

Izuku shook his head.

“Did he say anything?”

“Um just that I was probably scared.”

“Do you remember exactly what he said?”

“He said ‘scared you didn’t I, omega’ just before he left.”

Katsuki’s lips thinned.

“And just to make sure, you couldn’t make out anything else.”

“No,” Izuku said, frustrated. “It was dark! I was barely conscious and to be honest it was fucking.. like I said, I thought something else was about to happen so I’m sorry-”

“Hey,” Katsuki cut off. “Fuck sake, I’m not getting mad or anything. Calm down, omega.”

Izuku’s hackles rose at the term. Katsuki was looking down at his notes and muttering to himself, so he couldn’t see how Izuku’s expression darkened at his words. Izuku clenched his fists then pushed the chair back with a drawn out squeal.

“Are we done here?” He asked as he stood up.

Katsuki looked up, confused. “Um, I guess?”

“Okay.”

“Hey- hey! The time is 2:52 AM. That concludes the interview.”

Katsuki hurriedly turned off the recording and stood up when Izuku knocked to be let out of the room.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“You said the interview was done,” he said, his back turned to Katsuki keeping his eyes planted firmly to the door, willing it to open with a stare alone.

“Do you need a lift back? I can ask the officers-”

“No need, my friends are waiting for me.”

“How about a phone? You should get something from lost and found at least-”

“Bakugo-san,” Izuku said, turning his head ever so slightly to glance back at Katsuki. “Thank you for the help, but this omega can handle himself.”

***

It felt like the clock was ticking out of a personal vendetta against Katsuki as he stared down at his notebook. After Izuku left, he had gone straight home once the appropriate paperwork was filled out for a transcription request of their interview.

Even though the sun threatened to rise outside his home office’s window, Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to go to bed. After all, it was technically Sunday — he could sleep in all he wanted while Haruki had his midday nap. For now, all he could hear was the merciless tick tick of his clock.

Katsuki growled in frustration, his own writing getting blurry before his eyes.

There had to be some connection between Izuku’s incident and the other muggings. At first, Katsuki was doubtful it was related at all when the detective called him in. But now that he knew Izuku’s subgender, it all made sense.

He couldn’t believe it, his childhood friend was an omega. Everyone around Izuku always thought he would present as a beta. He was objectively unremarkable as a teenager, with his freckles and chubby cheeks. Omegas were usually drop dead gorgeous, they almost always had an aura around them that invited alphas without effort.

But Izuku.. he was different.

When Katsuki first met his childhood friend that day at MSC, all he could think was ‘so this is how you turned out’. He looked mostly the same — same freckles, cheeks, and unremarkable clothing. The only real difference Katsuki saw was that his face had matured and he let his hair grow long enough for a short ponytail by the nape of his neck.

Other than that, he was the same old Deku. Or perhaps, completely different.

Eventually, Katsuki fell asleep at his desk. He only realised his error when a hard tug on his scalp woke him up and bleary red eyes struggled to bring his son’s face into focus.

“What do you want, brat.”

“Can we go to the park? Please?”

“Ugh,” Katsuki groaned and yawned while he stretched his arms up high. “What time is it?”

“Um..” Haruki’s brows curled in focus as he tried to read the clock. “Um.. 12-”

“One. It’s 1:15, brat.”

“Why do you call me brat.”

Katsuki felt like he got whiplash because the question? Statement? It came out of nowhere. Honestly, he didn’t know how to answer. His own mother had always called him ‘brat’ ‘scoundrel’ or other words in a similar vein. Naturally, it became his preferred nickname for his own child.

“You got a problem with that?”

Haruki looked away, a blush colouring his pale cheeks.

“No..”

“Spit it out,” Katsuki said with a sigh, too sleepy to play guessing games with the child.

“Nevermind,” Haruki said quietly. “Are we going to the park?”

“Yeah yeah,” Katsuki relented. “Give me five minutes, 'kay?”

Katsuki left his office to a Haruki who nodded furiously with anticipation and excitement in his eyes. Though he felt inadequate to raise a boy all alone most of the times, those expressions made it all worth it.

He knew that he was far from the perfect dad. Even if he had lightened up on workload, he was still a prosecutor, he was still busy 24/7 no matter the season. But at least he made time for his child — after all, someone needed to put food on the table.

Now clad in comfortable linen shorts and an old white t-shirt, Katsuki took Haruki’s hand and walked out the apartment complex towards the park.

They lived in a nice area. With just the two of them, it made no sense to live in the house they were in previously. It was too big, and Katsuki had no time to clean a two-story suburban home. Hiring a cleaner to come every few days to take care of a three-bedroom apartment was much more easy on his wallet.

Besides, having neighbours only a few metres away made him feel more at ease with a child at home. It also helped that the area was child-friendly with a large park and sports centre only a 5 minute walk away.

Their neighbourhood was surrounded by trees, and the spring brought amazing blossoms that now littered the ground as summer starts to creep in.

“Playground!” Haruki exclaimed, ripping his hand away from Katsuki’s to run towards the swing-set.

“Hey!” Katsuki yelled out. “Don’t run!”

“Oh, how cute!”

Katsuki turned his head and saw a group of moms nearby. There were about three of them sat on a park bench by the playground. There were five other kids playing near Haruki, so Katsuki guessed they were there to watch them.

“So rare to find alphas who take care of their kids,” the one with a bob said. “They usually leave it all to the mothers, you know?”

“He could be single,” the pink-haired one chimed in, keeping her voice low, but not low enough for Katsuki to miss.

“Kinoshita-san will have your head if he heard you say that!” the last one said while rocking a baby in her arms.

“Let my omega dream,” pink-hair said, face way too wistful for Katsuki’s tastes.

Having heard enough of their gossiping, Katsuki moved away to the furthest bench by the playground with a scowl on his face. Since moving to their apartment a year ago, Katsuki usually took Haruki to the park either really early in the morning or after dinner time.

In the middle of the day, too many parents loitered around the place, spewing the exact same rubbish those women were. He knew that being a single alpha with a child was rare, but fuck was it frustrating to hear time and time again.

He looked to Haruki who was swinging recklessly on the monkey bars and smiled. The boy was lonely, Katsuki knew. Maybe MSC was a good idea, maybe this one will last. After all it’s been over a week and Haruki has had no complaints so far.

Maybe Izuku wasn’t so bad at his job after all. Being an omega must help, he thought, even if he couldn’t recall Izuku ever mentioning his interest in teaching kids. Their childhoods consisted of Katsuki’s unrelenting dream to become a prosecutor after peeking at one of the legal dramas his mom watched at night.

But Izuku.. he was just always there, telling Katsuki how cool prosecutors are and how much of a good job Katsuki would do. Now that he thought about it, did he ever ask Izuku what he wanted to be?

***

“Sensei!”

Izuku looked up from his lunch and met adorable red eyes. Recently, Haruki’s been opening up to him more and more. The boy’s relationships with the other kids was still a work in progress, but now 3 weeks into starting at MSC, Haruki’s been braver at approaching Izuku which was a relief.

“Yes, Haruki-kun?”

“Umm.. can you please look at this?”

The boy came closer to his desk and Izuku noticed that small pale hands were clutching a piece of paper. Izuku eyed in curiously and patiently waited for Haruki to gather up the courage to show him whatever was in the boy’s hands.

“Of course, what is it?”

Haruki placed the paper on Izuku’s desk, careful not to bring it too close to his bento box. What greeted Izuku was a drawing of Haruki, and what Izuku guessed was supposed to be Katsuki. The crayon creation depicted them sitting on a swing-set with big smiles stretching across their faces.

It was adorable.

“This looks great Haruki-kun!” Izuku said with a smile of his own.

“I wanna give it to daddy,” the boy replied shyly — Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

“Oh, I’m sure he would love it.”

“.. Think so?”

“I know so,” Izuku ensured him. Just like I know that you daddy is just another hot-headed, bigoted, egotistical alpha. “Have you had your lunch?”

“‘M not hungry.”

“Really now?” Izuku said, cocking his head to the side. “Even though you just played outside in the sun?”

A loud growl from the direction of Haruki’s stomach confirmed Izuku’s suspicions and he smirked down and the embarrassed child. “Something you’re not telling me, Haruki-kun?”

“It’s stupid,” he said.

Izuku had to clench his hands to stop himself from squeezing those rosy cheeks. Though the father was a question mark in Izuku’s life, he had to admit that Haruki was growing on him more than he thought the boy would.

Really, he was relieved. Though he’d done well with the other students in his class, Izuku had only been teaching for a few years, and he had never had to deal with a truly troublesome child. When Haruki first enrolled, all Izuku could think of was Katsuki as a child and his massive ego, unrelenting confidence and fearlessness.

When he was just as young, Izuku was mesmerised. Now, he knew how troublesome it would be keeping a kid like that in check. Izuku would have tried his best, but it might have been the end of him.

“I’m sure it’s not, Haruki-kun,” Izuku said with his most persuasive voice. “Now, won’t you tell me why you’re not eating lunch?”

“I have catering..” the boy said quietly, unwilling to meet Izuku’s eyes.

“Oh! From the cafeteria, right? Did you have any allergies we missed?”

“No,” he shook his head softly. “But Aimi and Kota have lunchboxes.”

Oh.

“Well,” Izuku said with a sigh. “You know that your dad is a busy man, right Haruki-kun?”

The boy nodded dutifully.

“That means that maybe he doesn’t have time to cook you lunches. I- does he cook at home at all?” He asked. If Katsuki cooked at home, that alone would have been a feet. Izuku could not imagine having to take care of all of a child’s needs on top of your own work and feed yourself a home-cooked meal on top of that.

Heck, Izuku lived alone and he thrived on takeout and convenience store bentos.

“Yeah, daddy is a good chef!”

“I bet!” Izuku said smiling, sensing the boy’s spirit was on a rise. “I think your dad wants to save alllll his energy to cook you the bestest dinners. And I’m sure he wouldn’t want you going hungry.”

“Yeah,” Haruki’s rosy cheeks puckered a bit with his smile. “I am kinda hungry.”

“I can hear your stomach growling from here!” Izuku exclaimed feigning shock. “C’mon, there’s still some time left til the end of lunch, I’ll walk you.”

Haruki took Izuku’s hand and clutched his drawing in the other. They walked hand in hand back to the cafeteria and Izuku smiled watching Haruki willingly take a tray and his prepared meal. The day passed pleasantly from then on, and before Izuku knew it, the bell rang and the school day was over.

He packed his things while waving the kids goodbye. Routinely, he went over all the desks, making sure anything left behind was collected by his own desk. Once his classroom was tidy enough, Izuku turned off the lights and made his own way out.

He hadn’t saved up enough to buy his own car. It was his next goal after paying off the short mortgage he had on his apartment. He had enough of renting, of not having a place to call home. It may have been reckless to buy an apartment so young and with a decent but average salary.

If feeling secure meant he couldn’t eat out as much as he used to then so be it. But Izuku was quickly growing tired of the damn buses that never seem to arrive on time all year round. As he walked out of the building after waving Akihito a goodbye, out of the corner of Izuku’s eye he saw Haruki sitting on a bench.

He checked the time on his phone, 3:35. Where was Katsuki?

“Are you waiting for your dad, Haruki-kun?”

“Sensei! Yes I am,” Haruki said cheerfully, in an obviously better mood than he was in earlier.

He wondered then what kind of father Katsuki grew to become. Haruki was a sweet child, and though he shared his father’s temperament in the beginning, Izuku grew to understand that they were really nothing alike.

Haruki’s mood could only be owed to the fact that he was meeting his father. Izuku remembered how they always held hands whenever they were together. Thinking back to his own childhood, Izuku couldn’t remember a time when Katsuki ever held hands with either of his parents.

And Haruki’s mother.. Izuku wondered what kind of partner Katsuki would have chosen to start a family with. Was she dignified and regal like Momo is? Or did they meet at work and become some sort of power couple in law enforcement? Was she still in the picture?

Naturally curious, Izuku mulled over the questions in his head. Then he stopped himself because it was none of his business for crying out loud.

“I’ll wait with you then,” he replied belatedly.

Haruki smiled and scooted over to make room for Izuku on the bench. It was comical because the bench was much larger than the little child, and there was plenty of space left. But it warmed his heart either way that such a young boy could be so thoughtful.

They chatted while they waited. Izuku learned that Haruki’s mother was in fact not in the picture. Haruki didn’t say it outright, but mentioned how he’d like to have a sibling because it was lonely when his dad went to work and Izuku could relate.

His own father was never in the picture, and his mother had to make ends meet even with the child support payments. Having a sibling would have been nice, but Izuku was grateful for his friends who made his life much less lonesome. The two years he lived out of Musutafu were the worst, and coming back only made him appreciate them that much more.

Close to 4 o’clock, a black sedan came to a screeching halt before the two. From it emerged Katsuki in his regular get-up. Though this time, he looked the least composed Izuku had seen him.

“Haruki!” Katsuki called out.

“Daddy!”

“I- oh, Midoriya-san,” Katsuki said after noticing that Izuku was also present.

“Bakugo-san,” Izuku greeted.

“Thanks for sitting with him, sorry I’m so late there was a fuck- freaking- you know what, never mind. But thanks still.”

Izuku’s brows scrunched in confusion because Katsuki never thanked Izuku all their lives, and now he just used the word twice in one go. Izuku was almost impressed but remembered he was annoyed at the blonde for the words he used at the police station. Izuku despised people who boiled him down to the single classifier of omega.

“I couldn’t let a child wait out here by himself, now can I, alpha?” Izuku said, unable to conceal the bite in his tone.

“Look, Izuku- Haruki, brat, go wait in the car, yeah?”

“Why?” The boy asked with curiosity in his tone.

“Just do it.”

“But why?”

“If you do it, we’ll get ice cream after dinner.”

“Yes!” Haruki nearly squealed.

Izuku watched as Haruki quickly took his bag off the bench and bee-lined for the car. Once the door slammed shut leaving the two men alone, Izuku’s heart raced in trepidation. What did Katsuki want from him now?

The alpha just stared at him with his hands in his pockets.

“Well? Spit it out.”

“Spit what out?”

“Whatever you have to say, I can tell there’s something.”

Katsuki sighed and relaxed his posture further. The stance made him look like ever the working single parent and upon closer inspection, Izuku caught the slight bags under his eyes and creases in his forehead that was ill-fitting for a 28-year old.

“Look, I didn’t mean what I said back then.”

“You’ll have to be specific Bakugo-san, you’ve said plenty of things to me.”

“Can you stop being so damn difficult?” he said, exasperated. “Look, I never knew you were an omega, but it’s not that big of a deal if you don’t make it one.”

Izuku felt his hackles raise.

“Not a big deal? Is that how you apologise, alpha brute?”

“What-”

“You insinuated that I couldn’t fend for myself because I’m a poor helpless omega, did you not? I was drunk- not invalid.”

“You were cornered by an alpha,” Katsuki said, his voice carrying a tinge of concern that made Izuku even more frustrated. “Of course you wouldn’t be able to fend for yourself!”

In a rare show of recklessness, Izuku stepped forward and punched Katsuki square in the shoulder. It barely did anything since he was never strong, Katsuki stayed still but his eyes went wide at the assault.

“What the fuck!”

“Fuck you,” Izuku seethed and took his own bag to leave.

“Izuku,” Katsuki said, his hand stopping Izuku by a firm grip on his elbow. “Stop.”

“Is that a command, alpha?” Izuku said without looking back.

“Stop being so damn stubborn for once in your life.”

Izuku scoffed, “you’re one to talk.”

“Are you saying I’m wrong?”

Izuku turned then, his elbow still caught in a firm hold, and saw the challenge in Katsuki’s eyes. Red eyes taunted Izuku like they always did ever since they were young. Every time Izuku wanted to follow in Katsuki’s footsteps when they played, whether it be dangling upside down on the monkey bars or jumping off a tall rock, Katsuki would always tell him he couldn’t but dared him to anyway with those his piercing stare.

It was the exact same this time, and history repeats itself because even over 10 years later, Izuku wouldn’t back down.

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh really? You think a little omega like you could fend off some big bad alpha?”

As Katsuki spoke he inched closer and closer, until the back of Izuku’s knees hit the edge of the bench. Katsuki was close enough for Izuku to have to hold his breath again, lest the smell of cinnamon dulled his sense. That close, Izuku could see the pores on Katsuki’s nose, they were small but they were there.

“You’re a bit quiet,” he said, tauntingly.

“Fuck off,” Izuku said, pulling his elbow from Katsuki’s grasp to push him away.

But unlike before, Katsuki didn’t merely stay still at the force. Instead, he steeled his body and pushed further forward, forcing Izuku to sit back down on the bench. He had to crane his neck up to meet Katsuki’s eyes. Then strong arms came to cage Izuku, resting on the back of the bench beside Izuku’s shoulders.

“Try and push me away, omega,” Katsuki whispered, his voice lilted, daring.

Izuku was breathing heavily then, the sound of his racing heart thundering in his own ears. His senses were filled with Katsuki because no matter how much he blocked his nose, nothing could stop the piercing smell of warmth from infiltrating his being.

It wasn’t merely the scent that was strong, but also the memories that it brought. Unlike Izuku, Katsuki presented early when he was 11. Though his scent was dulled by Izuku’s own immaturity, his memories were tinged with the aroma. It wasn’t just the alpha’s scent that Izuku wanted to ignore, but also the fact that this was an alpha from his childhood, the same one who had no regard to Izuku’s feelings then and still held no regard now.

Contrary to his prior conviction, Izuku felt trapped like prey in a snare. He couldn’t look away from red eyes and he lost focus and began breathing through his nose. All at once, a large whiff of strong cinnamon surrounded him and Izuku’s head spin.

Maybe Katsuki was right-

“Hey!” Katsuki’s shout brought Izuku back. “You alright?”

It was like a switch. Izuku’s expression went from dazed to vexed in a split second. With Katsuki’s guard down from concern, Izuku took the opportunity do something brazen. He slapped him straight across the face. The sound of palm to cheek echoed in the air around them.

“Fuck you.”

Chapter Text

Izuku had run away again.

Katsuki could only stare at the omega’s retreating figure as he stood shock-still in silence. Belatedly he realised that his cheek was growing warm. Turned out Izuku had some fight in him now, who would’ve guessed.

“Shit,” he muttered to himself.

Without realising it, he had overscented the omega, something he hadn't done in years. Part of the training to work in law enforcement was controlling your secondary gender. For alphas, it was making sure that they could control their scents without the use of patches or suppressants.

Katsuki had impeccable control of his scent, always careful not to distress an omega or make another alpha feel threatened enough to go rabid. But apparently, the years of training went out the window at the face of Midoriya Izuku. Looking at the green curls and prominent freckles brought Katsuki back to his childhood.

As a teenager, with hormones raging and emotions unchecked, he overscented a lot. In particular, he’d do so with Izuku. It had made him feel like a powerful alpha, being able to let go and use his scent in such a way. But Izuku hadn’t presented yet by then, so Katsuki’s efforts didn’t amount to much other than make the smaller boy more enamoured by him.

Now, Izuku was an omega, and Katsuki nearly sent him into a drop. Fuck, he was an idiot, he needed to remember that this was no longer Deku, the little runt from the next street over. Izuku was an adult omega that he needed to keep his act together with.

After cussing himself out one more time, Katsuki turned back and got into the car to an expectant Haruki. His son’s eyes shined from the promise of ice cream, so Katsuki put the car in drive and put in the closest grocery store into the navigation system.

Grocery shopping was one of Katsuki’s guilty pleasures. He indulged both himself and his son with name-brand ingredients, organic produce and a large variety of meat. His son was going to have the largest palette out of every 5 year-old if Katsuki could help it.

To make himself feel better more than anything, he took Hruki out of the car and settled the boy on his shoulders as they made their way into the building.

“Woah!” the boy squealed in excitement, bringing a rare smile to Katsuki’s face. “The ice cream is over there, daddy.”

“Brat, we need to get the other stuff first.”

“But you promised!”

Katsuki could already picture the pout on Haruki’s face and snickered.

“D’you want your ice cream to melt before you can eat it, huh?”

“No…”

“Thought so,” Katsuki shifted a little to make Haruki bounce on his shoulder, and the resulting giggle was enough for the boy to forgive Katsuki for not going for the ice cream first. “C’mon, what do you want for dinner?”

Experience alone made Katsuki able to do all his shopping with Haruki seated on his shoulders. At times it required some careful manoeuvring, but he made it work. By the time they got to the freezers, both Bakugos were in a good mood as they bickered between getting sea salt caramel and mint chocolate chip.

They ended up getting both.

Being a single dad didn’t just mean more responsibility, it also meant making your child useful. Haruki was busy putting away their groceries into all the places he could reach as Katsuki was preparing the ingredients for katsu curry udon. It was Haruki’s favourite, and the little boy would never know that every time it was made, Katsuki added just a little more spice. No child of his would have a weak spice tolerance.

Katsuki’s phone interrupted the moment, but the caller ID made Katsuki wipe his hands and pick it up straight away.

“Bakugo speaking,” he answered.

“Bakugo-san, it’s Officer Yaorashi. We’ve apprehended a suspect into custody. The man was found waiting by a petrol station that’s next to an omega shelter. We’ve scanned his prints, he’s in the system but we can’t be sure it’s the same man who robbed Midoriya-san.”

“Alright, that’s good. He lawyered up?”

“No sir, but he’s choosing to remain silent.”

“We can work with that,” Katsuki’s mind began to work. “Have you subpoenaed the city for surveillance records around Destroyer?”

“Working on it, sir. We should have the footage by tomorrow.”

“Good work, is the detective still on leave?”

“More like early retirement,” Yaorashi muttered into the phone. “I’ll be in charge of the case until Yagi-san returns, so please direct any enquiries to me. This is my personal number.

“Will do, officer. Let me know when he’s been interviewed — I’ll be needing that transcript.”

Once the officer hung up, Katsuki stared at the pulverised chicken breast on the cutting board. It was a good thing, progress. But there was a feeling in his gut that Katsuki’s learned not to ignore. He looked at Haruki, who dutifully organised the produce in the crisper shelf and the feeling was forgotten.

Katsuki never wanted to be a father. At least not before he turned 30, and definitely not before he was somewhere he could be proud of in his work. There was simply nothing else in his list priorities that came before his career aspirations.

But he’s made his peace with it, and looking at Haruki made him realise that he wouldn’t trade it for the world. All there’s left for Katsuki is to somehow correct his fuck up with Izuku. After all, his kid was good for more than just putting groceries away.

***

Being an omega sucked.

Some were proud of their secondary gender, they used their wiles wisely. But those kinds of omegas were beautiful, they had small bones, complementing features and the confidence of a bulldozer. Izuku was none of the above — his secondary gender felt misplaced as if nature took a wrong turn when he presented.

He lay in his bed, still bare since Izuku never learned how to make a nest properly. It was not for a lack of trying because he did, all the nights of efforts were wasted when nothing worked. It was never right, either too lumpy or too stiff. Eventually, he would get too frustrated and give up altogether.

The only thing on his bed was a thin pillow and a fuzzy blanket he bought himself. That was all he needed, it was enough to keep him warm and comfortable. The voice in Izuku’s head hounded him mercilessly at the disappointment of a nest, but Izuku was tired, his back ached and his mouth was dry.

All signs of an upcoming heat.

Izuku checked his temperature one more time, and sure enough, it was warmer than it was a few hours ago. This pre-heat was going to be a short one. Izuku only let himself have his heat a couple of times a year instead of the recommended 4-6. Though omegas get paid time off for these things, it wasn’t as much as their working pay.

Izuku simply couldn’t afford it if he didn’t want to lose his apartment. Besides, heats were miserable, who would want to endure more than they had to? So, Izuku prepared for his first heat of the year which came early, though not terribly so, by stocking his bedroom’s mini fridge with electrolytes and bottles of water.

Snacks and cans of fruit also lay near the bed for easy access when his mind was not all there. The growing heat outside also didn’t help. Izuku was already in just a pair of linen shorts but he felt hot inside even if there was no sweat dotting his skin.

Now that he was alone, his heats were worse. The omega hated the aching need he felt through it, the feeling of emptiness. Emotions intensified during this time, and Izuku may have been coping normally, but he was a mess as soon as his omega took control. There was no stopping his tears and anxiety during his heat.

Other than being a mess of slick, Izuku was also reduced to a mess of hysteria. An empty bed, empty apartment and empty life made his omega miserable. At least it only lasted a few days because if he felt like that every day of his life, Izuku would surely end it all.

On Monday, his heat started in earnest.

He lay on his bed for its entirety. From when he woke up to sunset, his only companion was the variety of dildos he bought as heat aides. Thankfully, Izuku was not all there or else the incessant moaning would be horrifying. He couldn’t control his voice that screamed out for an alpha to knot him, nor could he stop himself from wailing when he finished without a knot buried in him.

The lucidity came in bursts. When he was aware enough, Izuku took the opportunity to nourish himself and clean up before he messed the sheets again with slick and cum. By day 3, he gave up on cleaning altogether. On day 5 he woke up feeling sore and tired, his eyes felt hot and swollen and so did his hole.

But the heat was over and Izuku laid on soiled sheets with his own bodily fluids drying on his skin. The hot shower was a welcome guest. Izuku stayed under the spray for what felt like hours, basking in the steam that filled his bathroom, then he dried himself off and prepared to go to work.

There was just enough time for him to get ready and call a taxi because there was no way he was making it in time for the bus. Technically, he was still in heat, but Izuku would be damned if he missed one day of full pay. Besides, as long as he wasn’t screaming for a cock, he thought it should be fine to go to work.

It wasn’t fine.

The whole day, Izuku suffered through a pounding headache and a sore stomach. He skipped lunch, but then his stomach growled in protest. Izuku normally always worked on the last day of his heat, so he figured he was coming down with something instead.

He said as much when Nemuri asked him.

“Are you 100% sure you should be working?”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied from his desk where he was slumped over, one hand resting above his upset stomach. “It’s probably just a bug, or maybe I didn’t drink enough water during my heat.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Huh, I guess? I don’t really remember most of it,” Izuku lied.

He did remember, he remembered all of it plain as day. But he wasn’t about to admit to his senior that Izuku could easily recall being reduced to a cock-hungry, horny monster just yesterday.

“Oh!” she exclaimed loudly, sending a spike of pain up Izuku’s forehead. “I saw an ad yesterday and thought of you.”

Nemuri walked further into the classroom and pulled out her phone to scroll and look for something. When she found it, she shoved her phone into Izuku’s face. The sudden move made Izuku blink a few times before he could focus on the screen in front of him. It was an ad for heat-sharing.

The cover was obscene. It showed topless and tan men posing in uncomfortable looking positions. Izuku guessed these were supposed to be service alphas. He’s heard about them before, his ex even threatened to become one in the middle of a fight so the pictures left a sour taste in his mouth.

“No thank you,” Izuku said, chuckling awkwardly.

“Oh, think about it why don’t you? It could really help, I mean I have an omega friend who swear by it, and who knows, you might even find one you really like,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Izuku wanted to hate her for it, but deep down he knew she was just trying to help.

“I’ll think about it?”

“Perfect, I’ll send it to you! What’s your username?”

“Oh, I don’t have one.”

“WHAT! No way, how do you live?”

Izuku chuckled at her genuine outrage.

“I had one before then deleted it. Guess I never thought about making another account,” he shrugged.

“Well that has to change, like right now.”

“The kids will wake up soon,” Izuku tried, but Nemuri’s eyes were glinting with determination.

“I’ll help, it will take you like 20 seconds. Come on, scoot over.”

Somehow, Nemuri and Izuku ended up sharing the single chair with Nemuri peering over Izuku’s shoulder as he input all the details into his phone. She helped him pick out a suitable profile picture with instructions like ‘not sexy enough’ or ‘you look like a minor in that one’. They ended up with a simple selfie Izuku took around the time he came back to Musutafu.

The photo was cropped but Shouto’s blazer still peeked out at the edge of the picture. Once his profile was made, Nemuri humphed in satisfaction in time with the bell that signalled the end of nap time.

“You better be posting on there, Midoriya-sensei.”

Izuku just gave her a look and made his way out to wake the kids up. The rest of the day passed by pleasantly because instead of his headache, all Izuku could think of was his new social media account — something he hadn’t indulged in for so long. It would have been 4 years now since Izuku completely obliterated his online presence.

His therapist would tell him that this was a good step, that Izuku was moving forward with his life. But all Izuku could feel was trepidation. Was he really ready for it, or was he kidding himself by indulging in Nemuri’s demands?

Once all the kids were handed their worksheets to submit by Monday, Izuku wrapped the class up and tidied his classroom mechanically.

“Izuku,” he heard a voice call out.

The omega turned his head so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash. Katsuki was standing at the threshold of his classroom, looking way too large for the small door. He took up nearly the entire doorway, it was ridiculous.

“Meet me outside when you’re done.”

Izuku said nothing but stared at the back of a blonde head as he realised that there was no smell of cinnamon or nutmeg. The alpha wore scent blockers this time.

***

Izuku gripped the strap of his messenger bag so tight that his knuckles turned white. There really was no reason to be nervous, Katsuki wasn’t actually planning on attacking Izuku.. right? Surely the alpha wouldn’t be that outraged that Izuku slapped him.

Fuck, he was an omega and he slapped an alpha.

An alpha that he barely knew.

An alpha that hated his guts.

Izuku gulped and thought maybe he was right to be scared. But there was no backing out of exiting the MSC building, it’s not like he could stay the night. Or maybe Nezu would let him out of pity? The principal has met Katsuki before, he saw how large the alpha was compared to Izuku, how easily those fangs could rip Izuku to ribbons.

The spine he grew suddenly crippled into dust.

Once he was outside, Izuku spotted Katsuki straight away. The blonde was seated at the very same bench where he cornered Izuku. But the scene that greeted his eyes couldn’t have been more different. Haruki was sitting on Katsuki’s lap, facing his father. It looked like the boy was showing the alpha the worksheets Izuku handed out as homework.

Even from where the omega was standing, he could spot the proud look on Haruki’s face. Though Katsuki faced away, Izuku noticed the way he held the boy gently around the middle so that no matter how much Haruki moved around, he wouldn’t fall off and hurt himself.

It made Izuku relax because he tended to forget that Katsuki was a father to a really great kid. There was no way Katsuki would truly hurt him, at least not in front of the boy. So, Izuku steeled himself and made his way to the pair. He coughed to announce his arrival and two sets of red eyes looked up at him.

“Sensei!”

“Izuku.”

Izuku just waved, not knowing who to respond to. Katsuki turned back to his child before saying much and set the boy down. “Hey, wait for me in the car, yeah?”

“But I wanna speak to sensei, Dad.”

“You’ve spent the entire day with him, brat. Say bye to sensei and buckle up in the car, c’mon.”

“Fine,” Haruki said with a dramatic pout. “Bye, sensei!”

“Bye Haruki!” Izuku said, waving to the child’s retreating figure. It was endearing how well Haruki listened to his dad. Izuku remembered never being a problem child, but he did recall ignoring his mother’s warnings about playing with Katsuki and his reckless behaviours.

He really should’ve listened to his mother more.

“I’m sorry-”

“I’m sorry-”

They spoke at the same time.

“Sorry, go ahead,” Izuku said after a beat.

“No, you first.”

Izuku raised a brow but didn’t comment , but he did readjust the strap on his bag before speaking.

“I’m sorry, about last time when I- it was rude of me, and crass, I’m sorry.”

“Why the hell are you apologising? Fuck, I overscented the shit out of you.”

“You didn’t!” Izuku assured with flailing arms. “I- it wasn’t your fault or your scent I was just-”

“Izuku,” Katsuki cut off. “I did, not on purpose sure, but I shouldn’t have done that, it was dangerous as fuck.”

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” Izuku continued. “You always smell that strong, you were just.. particularly close that day.”

“What- I always smell that strong? Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Izuku said sheepishly. “I just usually breathe through my mouth or else, you know.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki echoed. “But Izuku, I did- I might have just been doing it every time we met, unconsciously sure, but still. People don’t usually need to hold their breath near me, even omegas.”

“Oh,” Izuku said.

He supposed that Katsuki’s scent was always really strong. But it was Katsuki, the world didn’t half-ass anything in his creation. If he was meant to be an alpha, a strong scent would just go hand-in-hand. Izuku never suspected anything like overscenting, heck, he didn’t even know that was a thing!

Granted, Izuku tried his best to ignore everything related to secondary genders. So, he might be just a touch naive about the topic.

“Um, what does overscenting really mean?” Izuku asked quietly, voice tinged in shame at his own ignorance but somehow he felt like Katsuki would answer him honestly.

“You serious?” Katsuki replied.

“Nevermind,” Izuku hurriedly added.

Fuck, it was enough that Izuku acted like a fucking moron when they last saw each other. Now he’s all but admitted how stupid he really is about these things — as if his existence wasn’t embarrassing enough in the face of Bakugo Katsuki.

“Forget it, we’re good, okay? No hard feelings, bye.”

“Hey, wait.”

Like deja-vu, Katsuki grabbed Izuku’s elbow to stop his retreat.

“What?”

“How about I tell you all about it, ask me anything- over coffee?”

Izuku’s brain short-circuited. Coffee?

“Say again?”

“I need to apologise for real, look you don’t get it yet but once I explain it to you then you’ll see why buying you coffee is the least I can do. How about tomorrow? 9 AM?”

“You seem to think I’ve said yes,” Izuku answered.

“Right, shit. Let me start over.”

“I’m joking, Bakugo-san,” Izuku said cheekily, enjoying the way Katsuki’s eyes widened at his unrestraint and normalcy. “Where should I meet you?”

“I can pick you up, Haruki said you catch the bus right?”

Kids really make the worst confidants. Izuku tried not to let the feeling of inferiority overwhelm him, but all he could do was set his lips into a grim line and nod. So what if he rode the bus, plenty of people did. Okay, maybe none of his friends did, but he was pretty sure Akihito rode the train. Or shit, did he still have that motorcycle?

“I do, but it’s fine.”

“Dek- Izuku, I have a perfectly working car, let me pick you up,” Katsuki pressed, his mouth turned into a scowl that matched his stubbornness.

“Bakugo-san, I’d really prefer if you didn’t know where I lived.”

“You do know that I have that information from your complaint, right?”

Fuck he really was an idiot. Izuku could feel his cheeks redden at Katsuki’s self-satisfied smirk. Not only from shame, but from the thought that weaselled into his brain which said that the smirk made him that much more dangerously handsome.

Well, there goes any attempts at keeping his dignity. Trust the alpha to completely disintegrate Izuku’s attempts at maintaining distance. Katsuki always knew how to catch Izuku unawares.

Coffee with this man might be a bad idea. Because really, Izuku could easily ask Shouto about overscenting, or the internet. It wasn’t as if the information wasn’t free and readily available to him, there was no reason it had to come from the alpha’s mouth.

But Izuku was curious, he hadn't seen Katsuki in so long. In Izuku’s head, Katsuki had been immortalised as the self-confident, mean and cocky brat that Izuku followed behind aimlessly. Surely, he was owed the chance to sate the voice in his head who wanted to see if the picture in Izuku’s head still rang true. 

So, he agreed to coffee. So far, they’ve only met under two pretences: as teacher and parent, and victim and law enforcement. It may be an unwise curiosity, but Izuku wanted to see what Katsuki was like as a person now. So, Katsuki promised that he would pick Izuku up at 8:30 the following morning.

They said their goodbyes as Izuku made sure to steel himself, protect himself, for what’s to come. He might have agreed, but that doesn’t mean Izuku wasn’t wary.

***

With the bang of the door shut came a growing sense of dread in Izuku’s chest.

He was getting coffee with Katsuki, he didn’t know how to feel about that. So, instead, Izuku did the next best thing and picked up his phone. The line connected after the first two rings which really told him that maybe Musutafu's fire department was slacking.

“‘Zu?”

“Hey,” Izuku greeted, placing his bag down on the floor and getting comfortable on the couch to prepare for the conversation. “Do you have a minute?”

He heard a little rustling on the other end of the line and waited patiently until the dust settled.

“Yep, all yours!”

“Okay, great, because I’m having a bit of a crisis right now.”

“Elaborate please!” Ochaco’s dampened panicked was felt keenly through the call.

“So, remember that Katsuki guy I told you about? Well, he just invited me for coffee tomorrow and I said yes and now I don’t know what to do because won’t it be weird? I mean it’s weird right? Like, we haven’t seen each other in who knows how long, and we didn’t exactly reunite on the right foot either.”

“Honey, breathe,” she said calmly, and Izuku did just that. “Okay, so coffee is pretty safe territory, I’ll give him that.”

“You’re not really helping,” Izuku said, blowing out a breath.

He was starting to feel like he was overreacting, making a big deal out of nothing. He and Katsuki were two grown adults and Izuku was sure that Katsuki had worked through his issues and could serve as proper company.

Even so, the little bubble in his chest still threatened to pop and drown him in anxiety at the thought of them meeting under.. casual pretences.

Since Katsuki walked back into Izuku’s life — or maybe it was the other way around — each interaction could be excused. It was either for Haruki, or for the investigation. It made those conversations safe, and safe meant that Izuku felt just a little braver to stand up to his former tormentor.

But he couldn’t promise himself the same amount of surety if it was just the two of them, alone, in a random Musutafu coffee shop. Old feelings would arise, and Katsuki would probably yell at him, which would make Izuku yell back and-

“Whatever you’re thinking, please stop.”

“Hey, how do you know I was thinking about anything?” Izuku asked with a pout that Ochaco couldn’t even see.

“Because you’re you, and you spiral, and look- do you want my honest opinion here?”

“Yes,” Izuku conceded. “I’ll tell my brain to shut up and listen to you.”

“Good!” she chirped. “Then listen when I tell you that I don’t know this guy, but it’s been a long time since he bullied you and he has a kid now! That changes people, like big time. So, you know, I think it’s good that he’s taking it slow and making sure not to come off at you all at onc-”

“Hold on hold on,” Izuku started flailing his arms in front of him like it would get her to stop. “What do you think is going on here?”

“Is he not courting you?”

“COURT-” he quickly slapped his mouth shut in case his neighbour decided to make another complaint about him. “Ochaco, that is not what’s happening right now!”

“Oh.”

“Oh?!” Izuku seethed.

In one full breath, Izuku relayed the past few interactions he had with Katsuki. Like the good friend she was, Ochaco stayed quiet and listened to his ramblings. Eventually, he touched on the overscenting, which illicit a quiet gasp from the other side that Izuku didn’t miss. 

“What- what was that?”

“He overscented you?”

“That’s the point, I don’t know!”

“Okay, okay, backtrack now. Isn’t he like.. a prosecutor? You said he was in charge of your case right?”

“Yep,” Izuku said with a pop as he scanned the contents of his bare fridge. “Working with the police and whatnot.”

“Then there’s no way in hell he overscented you ‘zu.”

“Tell that to him, he’s pretty convinced he did, hell, it was the first time he’s apologised to me, like ever.”

“Okay, ass. And anyway, overscenting is abuse, it’s a crime I’m pretty sure. So unless Katsuki is a saint and a sinner at the same time, no way he’d do that then actually admit to it.”

Chapter Text

It was otherwise a nice day when Izuku waited patiently outside his apartment lobby. The sun was shining brightly and even the birds could be heard through the steady hum of cars and early-rising pedestrians. It felt like foreshadowing, no matter how nice the day was, Izuku was still nervous.

It didn’t take long for the now-familiar black sedan to roll to a stop right in front of him. The driver’s window made its way down to reveal the alpha, face clad with an expensive-looking pair of sunglasses. Without greeting, Katsuki tilted his head towards the passenger seat and Izuku followed dutifully, though he felt like an idiot straight after.

“Thanks for picking me up,” he said once he fastened the seatbelt.

“Don’t mention it,” Katsuki replied, eyes focused on the road ahead. “Do you have a preference?”

“I don’t really go out much for food, so no.”

“Really?”

“What?” Izuku said, and he found it hard to keep the offense out of his voice. “Does it look like I have money to throw away or something?”

“No, geez,” Katsuki said with a sneer. “Fuckin’ never mind.”

The rest of the ride was silent after that, but Izuku noticed that he couldn’t smell anything from the man next to him. Risking a quick glance, he caught the skin-coloured scent patch that peaked above Katsuki’s polo collar.

They didn’t drive for long, and Katsuki parked the car after only 10 minutes. Izuku craned his neck and looked up in front of him to see a quaint cafe. There were dogs tied outside on their leashes and bicycles by the front door. It was safe territory, but it didn’t make Izuku any more calm about the whole thing.

Walking in together was also odd, it felt like they were more than strangers even though the opposite was more accurate.

“What’re you having?” Katsuki asked.

“An iced mocha, please,” Izuku answered while he kept his eyes firmly on the blackboard menu that rested above the pastry case.

“Still got that sweet tooth,” Katsuki mumbled, but Izuku caught it well enough. “Go sit down and I’ll order.”

Izuku nodded and found a place by the window. It was close to 9 AM and the cafe was getting good business. There was a quiet chatter around him and the clinking of glassware from the counter that calmed Izuku a little. He chose to wear something simple after agonising about it — an untucked blue collared shirt and cargo shorts to stave off the creeping heat.

Katsuki didn’t take long, because before Izuku knew it he was setting down their drinks on the table and taking a seat himself.

“Thanks, for agreeing to this,” Katsuki said lowly, gesturing between them.

“Bakugo-san-”

“You realise that’s fucking weird right?”

“I told you,” Izuku started impatiently. “It would be inappropriate if I-”

“I get it, I’m one of your students’ dad, but that shit makes me feel old. Just call me Katsuki, nobody’s gonna tell you off for it, Izuku.”

Izuku looked at him for a moment, taking him in. Katsuki wore a brown polo and cream coloured slacks, looking neat and sharp. Even from the material of his clothing, Izuku knew he had money, it was a skill in self-depreciation he taught himself over the years. Despite how put together the alpha was, Izuku still didn’t trust it.

There was danger in being casual with someone, even a stranger. Once people think a boundary has been crossed, they want to cross another one and another. But then again, this was Katsuki, Izuku knew where his parents lived and he taught the man’s son, so maybe he was being unjustifiably cynical.

He nodded.

“Katsuki, then.”

“Izuku,” Katsuki smirked in that familiar way, taking a sip of his drink which urged Izuku to do the same. “When did you present?”

Izuku nearly spit his drink out.

“What- how- why do you need to know that!”

“It’ll help,” Katsuki shrugged. “I thought you were a beta, even after you and Auntie Inko moved. Then you show up out of the woodwork as an omega, so it’s a pretty fair question to ask, right?”

Izuku couldn’t deny the logic, but he hated talking about when he presented. He realised if it really was that important to know, he’d have to answer it. Izuku looked out the window and focused instead on a fluffy white dog that was growling at a large Labrador, biting off more than it can chew.

“I was 14,” Izuku said softly. “Wasn’t fun, I was a late bloomer.”

“Huh.”

“What?” Izuku’s head snapped back to the blonde, who had an inquisitive look on his face that Izuku didn’t like.

“Nothing, it just puts things into perspective.”

“Can’t you just… explain this whole overscenting thing to me and we can be on our way?”

“Ouch,” Katsuki said with a smile, he tilted his head and took Izuku in. “You ever been with an alpha?”

Izuku’s blood turned cold and he narrowed his eyes at Katsuki. “Why are you asking? Is it going to help, or are you just being an ass again?”

“Hey,” Katsuki put his hands up in mock surrender. “Look, I’m asking because I’m curious. But if you don’t wanna answer then it’s fucking whatever.”

“Good, because I don’t,” Izuku humphed.

They lapsed into silence once more. The two men took turns sipping their drinks, both their faces scrunched up trying to think of how to continue the conversation while processing the bizarreness of the situation. Always the more confident out of the two, Katsuki ended up breaking the silence.

“I’m trying to be a fucking better person, okay?”

“What-” the statement nearly gave Izuku whiplash.

“I know how I fucking treated you De- Izuku. I was a fucking piece of shit, my friends told me well enough so I’m trying not to be as shitty here.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Izuku murmured.

“Hah, you’re right. Seeing you at MSC threw me off, I mean, where the hell have you been?”

“None of your business,” Izuku said, because it really wasn’t.

All his friends had asked Izuku the same thing, and he gave them variations of half-answers. He was travelling, he had new work that he was trying out, he wanted to be more independent and live by himself. Sure, they were all reasons why he left Musutafu, but not why he didn’t speak to anyone for nearly three years.

“Fine, about the scenting.”

Izuku’s back straightened, because this was something he wanted to know about.

“I asked if you’ve been with an alpha because overscenting can happen in those relationships. If an alpha is a dick, he can use his scent to bring an omega into a drop.”

“A drop?”

“It’s this fucking weird state, apparently you feel dizzy or whatever the fuck. Most words become commands, when they’re not commands at all. But it doesn’t happen with any alpha-omega pair. You’ve got to really trust each other, or have imprinted on each other.”

Izuku’s head started turning as he recounted experiences that fit Katsuki’s explanation. Every time Izuku caught a whiff of Katsuki’s scent, it pushed him into a daze. But that was true from when they first saw each other, if Izuku stood too close then the alpha’s scent overwhelmed him easily.

“Hmm,” Izuku nodded. “So we’ve imprinted on each other?”

“What,” Katsuki sputtered, wiping away the coffee that made its way out of the corner of his lip. “No- I, what! Fuck no, imprinting is for like married couples and shit.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, not following. “But your scent’s been affecting me since I helped intake Haruki. Have you been overscenting me since then?”

Katsuki shot Izuku a confused look, his eyebrows scrunched down and the corners of his lips tightened. “Since that day? You’re sure?”

Izuku nodded, pretty sure that what he felt matched Katsuki’s description of a drop.

“Shit, that’s not good.”

“You’re telling me,” Izuku said with a quirked brow.

“You really are different, aren’t you?”

“Can we stay on topic, please?”

Katsuki’s face had morphed from confused to inquisitive, and Izuku didn’t like the sheen those red eyes were taking. It felt like Katsuki could look through him, through his lies and falsehoods. He wasn’t ready for anyone to look through the film he had built over himself, especially not Katsuki.

“Sure,” Katsuki shrugged. “I’m not asking again, but if you have been with an alpha and you’ve gone into a drop, and didn’t like it, that shit’s illegal.”

“Are you confessing to a crime, Katsuki?” Izuku deflected.

“I- no. You’re right, I was thinking I might have imprinted on you when we were younger-”

“BAKUBRO!”

A loud shout echoed through the small cafe. Standing by the entrance was a large alpha with spiky red hair and he was staring straight at them. After his declaration, the alpha strode pass the other tables and pounced on Katsuki.

“Bro! That’s crazy, I was literally about to call you- oh my, who’s this cutie?”

The red-haired alpha was staring at Izuku now, his eyes wide and curious.

“Fuck off, shitty hair,” Katsuki said, pushing his friend off him. “Izuku, this is Kirishima Eijirou. And this is Midoriya Izuku, that childhood friend I was talking about.”

Izuku felt like a deer trapped in headlights. Within the same moment, a random alpha just called him cute and he discovered that Katsuki had talked about him with someone else? Yeah, the whiplash was crazy.

“What? He is cute,” Eijirou turns to Izuku. “You’re adorable, but I doubt Bakubro ever told you that.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Katsuki muttered with a generous eye-roll.

“Anyway, bro, 911. Mina is like fucking freaking out- like she nearly shaved my head off and she won’t listen to anyone but you. Please, I’ll owe you like entire night’s worth of whiskey next week.”

Izuku hadn’t said anything, opting to sit back and watch the exchange. Eijirou was doing his best effort at puppy dog eyes while Katsuki was sporting his classic annoyed-and-pretending-to-be-disinterested face at his friend.

When they were kids, Izuku was the only real friend that Katsuki had, if you could even call them friends. Since seeing him again, Izuku had never really thought about what the alpha’s life looked like now. Katsuki had a friend, multiple friends by the sound of it, and they seemed close. The thought almost made Izuku smile, but out of nowhere a faint feeling of bitterness also came up his throat.

What right did he have to feel bitter? Of course Katsuki had friends now. The man lived his whole life since Izuku moved schools, then they both grew up. It was like Izuku expected Katsuki to be frozen in time from when they last saw each other in middle school. He was being ridiculous, so he cleared his throat to disturb the exchange.

“It looks like you’re needed somewhere, we can talk about this some other time?”

“Sorry- shit, but Mina-”

“Don’t worry about it!” Izuku chirped with a smile that felt a little fake. “Thanks for the coffee, Katsuki.”

“Deku- fuck Izuku, wait, let me drop you off,” Katsuki had followed behind Izuku to the door, stopping him at the elbow which was becoming a habit of his.

Izuku looked over Katsuki’s shoulder and noticed that Eijirou was jumping from one foot to another, looking at his phone anxiously.

“It looks like an emergency,” Izuku said, nodding towards the redhead.

“Shit, it probably is if Mina will only listen to me,” Katsuki chuckled, dropping Izuku’s elbow. “But I’m taking you out and apologising properly.”

“You really don’t need to,” Izuku said with a soft voice, anxiety ripping through his vocal cords.

“I ain’t owing you anything,” Katsuki countered resolutely. “I got your number, watch out for my text, kay?”

Katsuki didn’t even give him a chance to reply because he immediately turned to talk his friend down. Izuku took a large breath and continued on his way out and walked to the second nearest bus stop, needing the stroll.

There is no way Katsuki is actually planning on taking him out, right? Izuku is sure Katsuki means another coffee, he probably misspoke. Izuku looked down to his fist that was slightly trembling and sighed. He thought he was over it by now — it’s been two years, he’s supposed to be past letting every foreign alpha shake him.

Izuku stopped and looked up at the clear blue sky. It’s been weeks since it rained last, as if the clouds made a pact to keep away from their skies this summer. Five years ago, Izuku would have taken a day that nice as an opportunity to round up his friends after class and go to the beach.

Those days felt like an eternity ago.

Those days, it was like Katsuki didn’t exist and he wasn’t frightened by alphas. He wasn’t frightened anymore, but he guessed that his guard will always be up because he knew too well what happens if he failed to protect himself. And history or not, Katsuki is just another alpha- another alpha who can look at Izuku like prey, like something to be captured and won.

Izuku sucked in a breath and decided that he would accept Katsuki’s invitation, if only to tell the blonde to back off.

***

It took everything in him not to blow up at Eijirou.

The so-called ‘911’ was a broken thread in one of Mina’s shirts that had been stretched beyond repair because she refused to buy maternity clothing. The alpha was pregnant after years of trying — it was difficult for alpha-alpha couples to conceive, but his friends never gave up.

“Look, Pinky, you need to start buying maternity clothing or else shitty hair here needs to learn how to fucking sew a damn seam.”

“Hell no,” Mina said in between sniffles.

“And why the hell not?” Katsuki asked, impatient.

They were at the Kirishima’s and Mina was sitting on the couch hugging a nearly anatomically accurate bear plushie. Katsuki sat next to her, hands busy sewing the blouse that was the cause for all the hysteria, and Eijirou took the armchair closest to the TV, facing them both. Since they bought their home, Katsuki had been a frequent visitor, even before Haruki’s mom left him.

All along the walls were the memories of their childhood, their friendship, and their love. Smiling faces, albeit a few years younger and much less stressed with the responsibilities of the world, stared back at him from their walls. There were pictures of their college graduation, when Katsuki first got his bike, and when Eijirou graduated from the fire academy.

Eijirou and Mina were sentimental like that. They wanted to keep every record of their youth, framed and shown off for the future generation of the ‘bakusquad’ to see. Scowl as he might, Katsuki was glad he could see his former self in those frames every time he visited. No matter how far away those memories grew, they would always fill his heart with warmth.

Those moments were getting hard to come by as he grew older — obviously barring his kid.

“Hey, man,” Eijirou said from his chair, one hand slicing at his neck frantically to signal ‘cut it out’.

Before Katsuki could silently mouth a reply, Mina burst into another explosion of tears and suddenly it took both alpha men to calm her down. Eijirou had leapt from his seat to snuggle his wife and whisper calming words in her ear while Katsuki did what he does best.

Patting her shoulder with his arm as outstretched as possible.

Eventually she calmed down, and the two men let go while she blew out the rest of her snot into a tissue. “Look, I’ve come this far, right? I know the baby will be okay, but I can’t help but worry. That’s why we haven’t even planned for a nursery! Can you imagine if we start picking colours, buying toys and… and the baby doesn’t make it?” she started explaining wetly. “And maternity clothes would just be a fucking sucky reminder if that was the case.”

“That’s fucking stupid,” Katsuki said bluntly.

“Dude.”

“What?”

“Maybe-”

“Pinky, look at me. Do you think I’d ever be friends with weak, waste of space, bitches?”

“No…” she answered with watery eyes.

“That’s fucking right. So, I know that you’re fucking strong and you’ll be strong enough to bring your spawn to this earth full-term. And even if something happens, you and and shitty hair will also be strong enough to get the fuck through it — you hear me?”

The couple stared at Katsuki’s heartfelt, even if a little crass, words of encouragement. Their gazes made him uncomfortable, so Katsuki just stared back as if daring them to say something. Then, the two couple shared a look and chuckled in sync.

“Bro, you’re terrible at pep-talks.”

“I know right” Mina exclaimed with a barely restrained laugh.

“Fuck off,” Katsuki growled, crossing his arms. “I fucking tried.”

“We know you did, bro,” Eijirou said with an affectionate smile to his best friend, then moved so he could hug Mina’s shoulders with his left arm. “We’re proud of you.”

“Yeah,” Mina nodded enthusiastically. “Thanks Bakubabe, now, when are we going shopping for ugly maternity leggings!”

The trio sat together for a little longer, scrolling through apparel websites straight from Mitsuki’s personal catalogue in search of stylish maternity wear. Katsuki would be caught dead before he let one of his friends walk around in stretchy cotton with patterned stripes out in public. Nah, he’d make sure Mina looked just as good when her stomach was larger than a basketball.

It felt good to be able to act just like he did in his early twenties again. Katsuki loved Haruki with all his heart, but sometimes he needed to not be a dad, to just be himself. Thankfully, he had a friend who was all too happy to take care of Haruki on the odd weekend that Katsuki actually had plans outside of work.

Camie texted him a picture of the little boy in question who was adorably sucking on a spoon that was covered in what looked like caramel ice cream. Katsuki tsked at the photo, already anticipating the sugar rush that would possess the kid that night, but he didn’t comment, glad that the kid was enjoying himself as much as Katsuki was.

However, the devil always beckons, and before Katsuki could type his reply, an incoming call from Enji lit up his phone. Katsuki blew out a frustrated sigh, but he couldn’t ignore the call and instead walked away without excusing himself to the hallway.

“Bakugo speaking,” he answered.

“Bakugo, you free at the moment?”

“Sure, sir. What’s wrong?”

“Defendants got counsel- they’ve got the big guns this time. We need to start with trial preparation ASAP, I’ll be expecting your brief submission by the end of next week.”

“Yes sir,” Katsuki replied solemnly, already dreading how busy that would make his week. “Are we going ahead with the importation charges? Or are we saving that for Chisaki’s lot?”

“We need to put them away, get as much on them as you can and we’ll see what the judge lets slide. We need to go big with this one, can’t have them slip through again.”

“Yes sir.”

The call ended with Katsuki’s stomach clenching in a tight ball. This would be his first case against such a large organisation. Currently, they were grasping at straws, the gang had their fingers on everything illegal, but maintained enough of a distance to the operation that having solid evidence against them was near impossible.

One of the only leads they have is a connection to the burglaries conducted by doped up betas. They had thought it was alphas all along, but the police station who finally caught the man that assaulted and stole from Izuku confirmed that it was a beta who had been injecting himself with a scent-altering drug.

It was their first big break in their case, and what made Enji want to step on the gas on their prosecution case. Katsuki leaned against the wall and thought about how much he would owe his friends to look after Haruki for the next week knowing how late he’d have to work to finish his brief by Friday.

***

Izuku was starting to think he had become full of himself.

He was sure that when Katsuki asked him to dinner, that I meant something more than just two childhood-friends-turned-acquaintances rekindling. Because it was Wednesday now, and Izuku had heard not hair nor hide of the blonde alpha since they said their goodbyes on Saturday. It was to the point where Izuku was staring at his phone in anticipation of the text that never came.

How did he honestly think that Katsuki had a thing for him? He barely knew alpha! And on top of that, Katsuki was busy with work and a child he was taking care of himself. Izuku scoffed at his reflection, admonishing himself for believing the impossible. He looked himself over and confirmed his own thoughts; that he didn’t look nearly omegan enough for an alpha to fall head over heels for him just from scent alone.

Besides, no use in worrying about it now.

Izuku was getting dressed to have dinner with Iida and Ochaco, who were both free that night. Lately, Ochaco had been covering people’s night shifts to get enough time off for a trip overseas. That meant that other than their little stint at Destroyer, the two friends hadn’t had much of a chance to see each other after Izuku got off work.

Thankfully, the fire station captain realised how many shifts Ochaco had taken in a row and all but ordered her to take the night off. She immediately made plans to go out for some ramen and Izuku was just as excited.

Summer had slowly started to claim the night air. Gone were the cold winds and smell of fresh blooms, Izuku stepped out and felt comfortable in his thin sweater and jeans. They chose a restaurant close enough for Izuku to get to by train since the couple had their car to share.

“‘Zuku!" He heard Ochaco called out once he entered the restaurant.

It wasn’t a large establishment by any means, but the low lighting and small tables made for a cozy atmosphere that felt casual and sophisticated at the same time. Izuku’s eyes had to adjust for a moment, but he quickly made his way down to where Iida and Ochaco was sitting.

“Hey guys,” he greeted. “Have you ordered?”

“Nope, was waiting for you,” Ochaco replied.

“Oh, you didn’t have to.”

“Nonsense!” Iida said a bit too loud for the intimate restaurant. “Besides, they have the fancy tablets so it wouldn’t take long for our food to arrive anyway.”

Iida ordered Korean cold noodles, Ochaco settled for a classic tonkotsu ramen and Izuku tried out the restaurant’s signature tonkotsu tsukemen.

“Oh my god!” Ochaco exclaimed, startling the two men. “How was coffee?”

Izuku had completely forgotten to update his friend about his outing with Katsuki. He looked to Iida’s knowing face and guessed that Ochaco filled him in for context. Evenly, he explained how it went, that Katsuki apologised and briefly explained overscenting and imprinting to Izuku before they were interrupted by a spunky red-headed alpha.

“Oh, that sounds like Ei,” Ochaco pondered.

“You know him?”

“Yeah! If I’m right, he’s one of the guys at the fire station. He’s been taking overnight shifts like me to get a little bit more pay and leave for when his mate pops out their first kid. But you’re right, he’s very enthusiastic in.. everything he does.”

Iida and Ochaco shared a chuckle that made Izuku feel slightly left out.

He had been in Musutafu two years now, how did he just meet Katsuki? How did his friends somehow share a mutual acquaintance that Izuku had never heard about? Sure, he kept to himself when he moved back, but Izuku didn’t expect to be so removed from the very place he called home- the people he called home. But he only had himself to blame, so he cast the feeling aside and grinned.

“Yep!”

“So, Bakugo-san invited you to dinner?” Iida asked.

“Yeah, don’t think you can just sweep that under the rug!”

“I wasn’t!” Izuku assured her with a smile that was feeling more genuine by the minute. “I just- well I was pretty adamant that as soon as I got his text I would decline the offer if he was trying to.. you know.”

“And..?”

“Well, I was being delusional.”

“How so?” Iida asked.

“It’s been five days and I’ve heard literally nothing. No text, no call- he even has someone else picking Haruki up from school!”

“So you’ve been waiting for it, huh?” Ochaco said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Pfft,” Izuku laughed off. “I don’t know what I was thinking, but anyway-”

“Could I share some insight?”

Iida was always the level-headed friend. Always so pragmatic, even to a fault. If you needed someone in your corner, no matter what, Ochaco was the person for you. But sometimes, when you need realistic advice, someone who will give you impartial and genuine advice at all times, Iida was your man. So Izuku nodded.

“From what Ochaco told me, and from what you’ve said, Bakugo-san could be doing one of two things,” he started, holding two fingers up. “A, he is simply trying to make amends, which is very likely considering he is now a father and has a job which strives to uphold the law. It wouldn’t be out of character for someone like that to realise his childhood misgivings and seek to rectify them. Or B, he could have taken an interest in you, and has been distant because he has a very demanding job, and one that I hear is very time-consuming to climb up the ranks in.

“Both situations are very likely, though knowing Bakugo-san, I would say the latter is more likely.”

“What do you know about him?” Izuku asked, genuinely curious.

“I only recognise him by name, I don’t know him personally. But if what you said about his childhood self is true, and he is on a mission to hand out apologies, Ochaco and I would have heard more about it considering we know people in common.”

Izuku mulled Iida’s words over in his head, and tried to reason with himself. It was hard though, because once again, his friend’s words had only brought forward the bitter feeling of being on the outside of the Musutafu community. But his sulking aside, Izuku couldn’t help but agree, as he always did whenever Iida chose to share his opinion about something.

“Look, even if you’re right-”

“He is,” Ochaco nodded resolutely.

“If you’re right,” Izuku reiterated, casting Ochaco a teasingly annoyed look. “Then he’s only interested in me because he figured out that I’m an omega. And I took a personal vow to never get involved with alphas like that.”

“Hey!” Ochaco said with her mouth full of ramen. “Don’t sell yourself short babe, you’re a steal, omega or not.”

“You have to say that ‘cause you’re my friend.”

***

It continued like that for the rest of the week. Katsuki was busy making sure he had all the necessary documents in his brief to submit to Enji by the end of Friday. Between work and making sure Haruki wasn’t left in a ditch somewhere, he hadn’t had a chance to shoot Izuku a text.

The one time that Katsuki saw him all week was that Friday, when he had just a little time to get out of the office somewhat early to pick up his kid. Of course, life had different plans for him, because as soon as he pulled up to SMC’s front gates, his phone rang. He groaned in frustration, but he picked up, his phone was his lifeline and every call could be literally life or death.

Just his luck, Haruki was walking out of the building with Izuku on his heal.

While he was listening, and he was listening, the afternoon sun was making its way down at such an angle that it lit up Izuku’s face so bright that the freckles on his face looked that much darker. And suddenly, Katsuki wasn’t listening at all because Izuku turned into Deku in that split second.

So much of the omega had changed. Izuku presented, his hair was longer, he dressed like an adult, he looked like an adult. Normally, the Izuku he’d come to know was nothing like that shadow in his past. But just then, with pronounced freckles and a smile that bright and wide, a pang in his chest told him it’s Deku.

The thought pushed him so off-kilter that Haruki had walked up to the car without Katsuki realising and his secretary was calling his name, almost screaming into his ear through the phone.

“Hey, this isn’t urgent right?”

“Um, I mean-”

“Good, I’ll call you back,” he decided and hung up before she could get a word in. “Hey brat, give me a second.”

Katsuki had moved to get out of the car and chase Izuku down, but a glance back out the window showed him that Izuku was nowhere to be seen. Damn those unreliable buses. He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that life was going to have to be kinder to him in the next few days if Katsuki was ever going to actually speak to Izuku again.

***

Izuku felt a little butt hurt.

He’s come to be familiar with that black sedan that rolls in to pick up Haruki. Even if lately there’s been somebody else picking up the younger Bakugo, there was no doubt that Katsuki was the one behind the wheel earlier, and he hadn’t gone to greet Izuku.

Maybe he was being unreasonable, because Katsuki had no obligation to come all the way out of his car and say ‘hi’ to him. Except, the blonde insisted that he would take Izuku out to dinner, and Izuku had psyched himself up to delivering some grand gesture of ‘I don’t need an alpha in my life’, to then having to suffer from second-hand embarrassment when the invite didn’t come.

So yeah, maybe Izuku was feeling irrationally bitter.

Chapter Text

It was Wednesday when Izuku finally saw Katsuki again.

Since Friday’s mortifying realisation of Katsuki being able to pull his long abandoned childishness, Izuku had mostly forgotten about the whole ordeal. Wednesdays always made Izuku feel like a machine. The day was smack dab in the middle of the week, and mechanically going through the motions of the day helped to keep his mind blank.

But then he stepped out of the building long after the students had left and that damn black sedan was parked by the gate. It wasn’t the car that made Izuku stop in his tracks, but what, or who was leaning against it. Katsuki was dressed in a shirt and black slacks, which was the man’s uniform at that point, but the sight of the dishevelled prosecutor with his head tipped back and holding a very sleepy Haruki in his arms — it arrested Izuku.

The sleeves of his once-crisp white shirt were pushed up to his elbows, exposing pale and strong forearms. Katsuki’s eyes were closed and the way his head was titled exposed his long neck and defined jaw, and a blush crept up the back of Izuku’s neck at the thoughts he was having from the sight alone.

He needed to get a damn grip.

This was Katsuki, and an alpha no less. Izuku shook his head and schooled his features before walking to the car. His footsteps brought the sleepy father from his own standing nap and red eyes immediately met green as soon as Izuku was close enough. Only faint traces of cinnamon filled the air once Izuku stopped in front of Katsuki — he must have worn scent patches that had begun to lose their tackiness as the day went by.

“Hey,” Katsuki greeted, voice gruff from fatigue.

“Hi, are you waiting for somebody?” Izuku whispered, not wanting to wake up the sleeping Haruki. “I can call out Nezu-kocho if you need to talk to him about something.”

“Nah, was waiting for you.”

Izuku really hated speaking to Katsuki. He couldn’t rely on the familiarity he had with his other friends, but he also couldn’t hide behind a wall of formality as he usually did with his colleagues. Talking to Katsuki felt like swimming in an open body of water for the very first time after being in swimming pools your whole life.

“Oh?” He responded dumbly.

“Wait- I’ll set the brat down in his seat. Don’t go anywhere,” he said with a pointed glare, to which Izuku just nodded.

With practiced ease, Katsuki opened the door he was just leaning against and expertly secured Haruki without so much as a twitch from the child.

“Look, I’ve been busy as fuck, I’ve got a hearing in two weeks and my boss is hounding me to make sure everything’s as perfect as they can be.”

“Well, you’ve always been a perfectionist yourself,” Izuku said with a smile that felt sincere even to himself.

“Yeah. But I haven’t been ignoring you.”

“I was- I was not thinking that,” Izuku sputtered.

“Sure,” Katsuki had the gall to smirk, which made Izuku’s brain work double-time in trying to tamp down his earlier improper thoughts. “Haven’t seen you in fucking ages, but somehow I know you still overthink like your life damn well depends on it.”

Izuku chose to stay silent, but his avoidant gaze was answer enough.

“You free this Saturday?”

“Um, I’m staying at my mom’s this weekend. Friday?”

“Friday night, I’ll pick you up at 7 PM.”

“You don’t need to-”

“Out the door by 7, got it?” Katsuki interrupted.

“Fine,” Izuku conceded.

Right when Izuku turned to walk towards his bus stop, a drop of water landed on his cheek. In the moment, he didn’t think much of it, then without further warning a torrent of rain dropped down from the sky with acute vengeance. In barely 3 seconds, Izuku was soaked and so was Katsuki — but he didn’t have time to worry about someone else, his bus was coming in 2 minutes!

“Hey!” He heard Katsuki scream over the rain. “Come in!”

Izuku turned and saw Katsuki on the other side of his car with the passenger door open. Through the fingers that were shielding his face, Izuku recognised it as an invitation.

“Thank you but you don’t have to!” he shouted as well. “Don’t wanna get your car wet!”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Katsuki said, shouting still but a bit softer than before.

The blonde head tipped to the car, beckoning Izuku over. The sight was a little hilarious because while waiting by the open door, Katsuki was also getting more and more soaked. So, Izuku nodded and hurried over, if only because he felt bad the alpha was getting rained on since his stubbornness wouldn’t take no for an answer.

***

The car ride was quiet, mostly because neither of them wanted to wake up the peacefully sleeping Haruki who was almost snoring in his car seat. With the heater on full blast, Izuku was tempted to follow in the child’s footsteps and doze off himself, but it felt weird to do that in Katsuki’s company, so he forced his lids to stay wide open.

Throughout the entire ride, Izuku was mulling over the horror of his easy acceptance to Katsuki’s invitation to dinner. It was as if he didn’t just spend the last week and a half making sure he was not about to give in to the invitation — but apparently that all went out the window within the span of two seconds.

After they parked, Izuku appreciated how much quicker it was to drive from home to work, and again he dreaded thinking about his scant savings. Maybe he’ll get a car in his thirties.. that seemed more likely.

“Thank you, for driving me,” Izuku said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Whatever,” Katsuki huffed, looking away towards Izuku’s apartment building.

“Midoriya-sensei?” a sleep muddled voice said from behind them. “Sensei, what are you doing in my car?”

“Your car? Better pay up then, brat.”

Izuku held his snigger but looked back and smiled at Haruki who was scrubbing the sleep away from his eyes. The little boy was adorable with his guard fully down, barely realising where or who he was. It was odd, Haruki looked so much like Katsuki but Izuku couldn’t remember a time when the older blonde ever looked that unguarded.

It made him a little regretful.

“Hey, we’ll walk you up.”

Izuku turned to Katsuki who was also getting out of his seatbelt and said, “No, no. It’s fine, I don’t wanna trouble you any more than I have already.”

“Hey brat, wanna walk Midoriya-sensei home?”

“Yes! Sensei, do you have a playroom too?”

Once the more innocent pair of red eyes locked on his, Izuku was hopeless to saying no. Glancing between both Bakugos, he could only sigh and nod, acquiescing despite feeling troubled. The three of them made their way into his apartment building, Izuku leading the way and Katsuki on his rear with a still out-of-it Haruki in his arms.

The elevator ride was quiet, and when his apartment door came into view he was going to bid his farewells to the blonde duo.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ‘ZUKU!”

Out of nowhere, the door behind him burst open accompanied by the fearsome shout of all his friends. They were adorned with colourful party hats as well as streamers around their necks and torsos. In front was Ochaco, who gazed at him with a wide smile and held up a cake with an embarrassing picture of him in high school printed on top.

He could make out Shouto, Denki, Iida, Momo and funnily enough, Eijirou, all standing behind Ochaco with matching grins.

“Guys!” Izuku chuckled. “What’s all this?”

Izuku was trying hard not to get overwhelmed, but how could he when he forgot even his own birthday? Ochaco corralled him to step into the apartment and blow out the candle, but not before Momo reminded him to make a wish.

When he blew the candles out, the room erupted once more in cheers and Izuku was promptly squashed by his in a fierce hug, her gardenia aroma settling around him comfortably.

“Happy birthday sensei!”

“Who’re you?” Shouto asked.

Izuku wanted to slap himself in the face because the surprise made him completely forget that Katsuki and Haruki were standing right behind him. Now that the initial adrenaline had begun to wear off, the entire group, save for Eijirou, were staring at the blonde pair with varying degrees of confusion in their expressions.

“Um.. this is Bakugo Katsuki and Bakugo Haruki,” Izuku started. “Haruki-kun is a student of mine and Bakugo-san is his dad.”

They all turned to Izuku, faces morphing into suspicion at the vague answer.

“Bakubro!” Eijirou yelled out, side-stepping Iida to give both Bakugos a hug.

The two friends chatted amongst themselves, diffusing the tension in the room. After that, Ochaco gave him a pointed look, which Izuku planned to ignore for the foreseeable future, but the festivities continued on with the platters of food provided by his friends.

Momo and Shouto were glued to each other, but Izuku still went up to say hello and congratulate her again on her pregnancy. It didn’t help that looking at the raven-haired omega brought back the snippets of his conversation with Shouto at Destroyer. She was kind and pleasant, making Izuku’s guilt churn in his gut, not helped at all by Shouto’s avoidant eyes.

Soon enough, Iida tapped Izuku on the shoulder, saving him from the couple once they ran out of things to talk about. Turns out Ochaco needed to have a word with him and was waiting in the kitchen. Izuku braced himself for impact when he saw her hand on her hip and the accusatory glare sent his way.

“Mister, you have some serious explaining to do.”

Ochaco got the full rundown, including the fact that Katsuki had made solid plans for dinner now that he had spare time. A familiar glint in her eye made Izuku worried, but before he could defend the situation, he heard Shouto pipe up from the kitchen entrance.

“Was he the guy at the police station, Midoriya?”

“Oh Shouto, yeah- he um, he’s in charge of the case. Though I don’t really know how it’s going so far, why?”

“I was wondering why he seemed familiar, he works under my father,” Shouto said softly but his face was barely concealing his resentment. “He’s bad news, Midoriya. Anybody working under Enji Todoroki would be bad news themselves.”

Izuku was about to respond but got cut off again by Iida who poked his head behind Shouto’s shoulder.

“Todoroki, as a lawyer you know you shouldn’t arbitrarily judge someone,” he said with that parental tone he’s mastered over the years. “Besides, I just spoke with Bakugo-san, he doesn’t seem half bad.”

Iida rarely talks about people, but when he did, the beta was always brutally honest. His admission about Katsuki prompted Ochaco and Izuku to share a look — and Ochaco’s smirk was much too delighted for Izuku’s liking.

***

Katsuki looked at himself in the mirror one last time and fixed up his collar.

Most of his clothes were for work or exercising. His wardrobe was filled with ties of every colour of the rainbow, matching suit sets and different renditions of crisp white button-ups. The small section of his wardrobe with ‘going out clothes’ had been completely destroyed in Katsuki’s efforts to find something suitable to wear.

Initially, he thought it would haveen been safest to go with his normal office attire. But then he decided against it, because it would make their plans feel stiffer than it already will be. Instead, with help (barely) from Haruki, Katsuki picked out black pants and a black polo.

Other than going to his friends’ houses, Katsuki didn’t have much of a reason to leave the house on his off days. If he wasn’t picking up Haruki from the boy’s extracurriculars or going to the park and gym, Katsuki preferred to spend his time at home and cooking for the week. So, safe to say, he was feeling a bit antsy about the whole thing.

Unfortunately for him, there was also no one free to look after Haruki. After making sure it was okay with Izuku, Katsuki told Haruki that they were going out with sensei Midoriya and the boy couldn’t be anymore excited for their little outing. The boy in question ran into Katsuki’s room, teddy bear in hand and sporting a similar black two-piece.

“You ready, brat?”

“Mhm! Daddy, daddy, where are we going? Can I have fish and chips?” The boy asked excitedly, a glint in familiar red eyes. “Can we get ice cream after with Midoriya-sensei?”

“Someone’s excited,” Katsuki replied with a brow raised. “You’ll have to wait and see, and if they don’t, you don’t want your favourite sensei to think you’re a picky eater right?”

Haruki pouted but nodded.

“C’mon Daddy, you’re taking so long.”

“Yeah yeah,” Katsuki drawled. “We’ve got a few stops to make, kay?”

“Okay, not that hungry anyway.”

Without much trouble, they got situated in the car and drove first for a small shopping strip that was on the way to the restaurant. Hand-in-hand, the Bakugos made their out of the car, attracting a considerable amount of stares.

Not to inflate his own ego, but Katsuki knew he was attractive purely from what he heard from other people. He also learned from an early age that being dressed well was a sign of a good alpha, so he made sure to never be seen out with sweatpants and a stained t-shirt. It didn’t help that single alphas, with children no less, were magnets for attention.

Sometimes it made him feel good, especially in those early years when his thoughts were constantly plagued by the panic of having a kid so young and alone. If his omega had left him, that made all the years of conditioning himself into the perfect alpha go to waste.

Thankfully, with careful lecturing from the friends he barely deserved, Katsuki realised that although some of the blame lied on him, Haruki’s mother was also nowhere near ready to be a parent, especially with someone so busy with work.

He blamed himself plenty in those years, and it didn’t help that a toddler can really make you feel inadequate whenever they cried out. A lot of his experiences with Haruki taught Katsuki that a change needed to happen — some serious change.

The people who had been a constant in Katsuki’s life could attest to how much he tried to turn things around. He tried his best to be less bristly and tone down his.. colourful choice of words. Inadvertently, it made Katsuki reflect on his childhood, and by some stroke of luck, Izuku fell back into life out of thin air.

At first he was apprehensive about it all. Seeing the tuft of green hair that was such a constant in his childhood made his old self resurface. But slowly, slowly Katsuki got used to it. And slowly he realised his path in making amends was nowhere near over.

Once they got everything they needed, the pair headed for the restaurant. Early was on time in Katsuki’s dictionary, and he hoped to pass that on to his own son so they waited about 5 minutes before Izuku came into view. And just like the other day, Katsuki was momentarily struck.

While the sun highlighted Izuku’s soft features, casting a halo-like glow on his youthful face, the evening did something completely different. Clad in a blouse that flowed with each step and well-fitted pants, the lights from other establishments under the dark sky made Izuku look like he came from a haze. With his hair down and eyes focused, he truly did feel like an adult now.

Of course Katsuki knew they were both in their late twenties, but it really hit him then that this Izuku had lived a whole life without Katsuki there. And for some reason a feeling of cold washed over him, but was quickly interrupted by a tug on his hand.

“Daddy! Midoriya-sensei looks so pretty today!”

Katsuki stared down at his mini who looked at Izuku with a sparkle in his eye. He followed his son’s gaze and decided that he agreed, Izuku did look very pretty. Thankfully, his foresight awarded him the sense to put on scent patches and blockers. It would mask any scent of appreciation Katsuki had for the omega in that split second.

“Katsuki,” Izuku greeted once he was close enough. “Hi, Haruki!”

“Good evening, sensei.”

“Look at those manners!” Izuku beamed down. “Have you been waiting long?”

“Nah, let’s head in,” Katsuki answered for him.

“This place looks busy,” Izuku commented, finally looking at the restaurant behind Katsuki.

He chose a nicer place, compensating for how belated the dinner was. Warm light flooded from the large panelled windows of the restaurant, speaking of the intimate setting inside. It was popular a few years back, but a major rebranding had made it all the rage for tourists and locals alike.

“Haruki here made a reservation, didn’t you brat?”

“Yeah,” Haruki said, looking away shyly as the boy remembered his own stuttering on the phone as his dad urged him to book a table for three.

“Oh wow,” Izuku said, glancing quickly between Katsuki and the blushing boy. “Good job, Haruki! I’ll tell you what, even I still get nervous on the phone sometimes.”

Izuku said that last bit in a whisper, albeit a loud one, but it was enough to soothe Haruki from the sense of camaraderie in social anxiety.

Katsuki was glad that Izuku was right about his own skills as a teacher — being son to a workaholic in an unconventional family made Haruki somewhat closed off. Couple that with the inherited anger issues that was just part of being a Bakugo, Katsuki was worried about his son to say the least.

While the other two were busy with small talk about school, Katsuki prepared himself and brought the hand hiding behind his back forward. He coughed a little, catching the attention of two sets of eyes and just like his son, Katsuki looked away, all his bravado lost.

“From us,” he said.

Katsuki could feel the omega’s eyes on him as Izuku took the small bouquet in his hands. Unlike Katsuki, Izuku was only wearing scent patches, but they were light. He could smell the spring blooms in faint wafts coming from Izuku.

The night at the police station, he had been too frazzled by the incident as well as the knowledge that Izuku was an omega. Katsuki never got time to appreciate the scent coming from the man, but now, he could take a full breath of the fresh scent that reminded him of walking to school on a spring day, the trees full of peach blossoms and petals littering the ground.

It was floral, but not too sweet. Omegas in general were known for their sweet scents, and sometimes it could be intoxicating. Many complainants in Katsuki’s line of work tended to be omegas, which is why he had to undergo special training to even be passive to even heat-muddied scents. At this point in his life, the sickly sweet smell of omegas sometimes made Katsuki feel almost sick.

But not Izuku, this was different. Izuku smelled refreshing, like he was taking a breath of clean air after a lungful of oppressive smoke. After mourning the loss of the scent at his exhale, Katsuki realised that Izuku was also looking away, probably aware that he let the scent out.

Not knowing what to say, Haruki’s tug at his hand saved the day.

“C’mon, I’m hungry. Can we go in now?”

“Right, yeah. Let’s go,” Katsuki replied.

Opting not to say anything further about the flowers, still wary of the tension, Katsuki turned and entered the restaurant. They were greeted and seated quickly by an attendant at a table that overlooked the street — Katsuki’s favourite for his guilty pleasure of people-watching.

“Would you like the wine list to start?” the beta waiter asked them.

Katsuki just raised his brow to Izuku as a question.

“Um, do you have a non-alcoholic drink list?”

“Of course, sir. I’ll fetch it right away.”

“Sorry, I um, got a bad history with alcohol,” Izuku explained once the waiter left.

“You a recovering alcoholic or something?”

Katsuki could barely hold back the incredulous tone out of his voice. Because Izuku, an alcoholic? Unlikely. Katsuki couldn’t even try imagining it. Besides, wasn’t he clubbing the night he almost got robbed?

“Something like that,” Izuku answered vaguely with a shrug. “So, um, thank you for the flowers.”

It was a relief that Izuku looked to both Bakugos when he said it, keeping some of the tension away from Katsuki’s sole shoulders. Instead of answering, his son saved him again with a megawatt smile he seemed to reserve for the teacher.

“They’re really pretty sensei, like you! Right daddy?”

Maybe Katsuki spoke too soon because the question made him nearly choke on the table water he was sipping. Futilely attempting to pass it off as a cough, Katsuki sent his son a glare that the boy definitely did not catch and grimace.

“Yeah,” he answered, because Katsuki wasn’t a damn liar.

As compensation it seems, Izuku flushed at the back of his neck and more of the muted floral scent made its way to Katsuki’s side of the table which made him want to preen.

They ordered without much more fuss and began eating with Izuku and Haruki carrying most of the conversation. Turns out his own son didn’t share much about his school life, but it wasn’t like Katsuki asked much either. It made him feel disgustingly guilty. He thought he was getting better at this whole present-father thing.

Apparently not.

“Katsuki, everything alright?” Izuku asked with his seafood pasta still in his mouth, making one side of his cheek bulge like a chipmunk.

“Yeah, uh, so what’s this about a school trip?”

“Oh! It’s in two weeks or so, permission forms should be handed out soon. It’s a small nature trip, mostly educational while we learn fun things about plants and bugs. The kids will be sleeping in tents at one of the school’s donator’s country home.”

“Yep! I can go, right?”

“Hah? What do you say, brat?”

“Please..”

Katsuki just looked at his son with a pointed stare and caught the almost-eye roll Haruki successfully suppressed.

“Can I please go to the field trip, Dad?”

“Fine,” Katsuki relented, even if he decided to agree as soon as he heard about it.

They finished their food shortly after and while Haruki went to the bathroom, Katsuki took the opportunity to school his features into a somewhat serious one. It was an expression he was used to at work, and life in general, it was comfortable.

“Izuku, look. About this trip-”

“Oh, Haruki’s gonna love it. And I promise I’ll keep an eye on him even though you should probably know that by now at least,” Izuku interrupted him, though his voice teetered off awkwardly at the end.

“Hah, this ain’t about that. Look, my kid’s a bit.. he has trouble sleeping by himself. So, just, you have my number yeah? Call me if anything happens with him, and I mean anything.”

Izuku cocked his head to the side, looking at Katsuki with a similarly serious face. He’s seen Izuku angry and even happy like when his friends surprised him, but never this serious. Is this what the omega looked like when his son misbehaved in class? That would be a sight.

“You..” Izuku started, looking like he was finding the right words. “You’re a pretty good dad, aren’t you?”

“I-”

The question stilted something in him. Gone were the intense eyes that almost didn’t belong on Izuku’s soft features, replaced by a sincere almost-smile, as if Izuku couldn’t believe it himself. Considering who Katsuki still was in Izuku’s mind, it wasn’t surprising.

“I try,” he answered honestly, looking back at the bathroom doors. “I’m trying for him.”

“That’s admirable, Kac- Katsuki, really-”

“Izuku, look. Fuck, I don’t know how to say this,” he chuckled in self-pity. “I was a fucking bastard to you, and you didn’t fucking deserve that. I was a -”

“Katsuki you don’t have to.”

“Just let me, yeah? After this, whatever you need to do is in your hands. Spite me to hell, but just let me do this and I can be out of your hair forever if that’s what you need from me.”

Izuku swallowed but nodded, his silence the sign that Katsuki could say his piece uninterrupted.

“I was.. fuck I don’t know. I was compensating, for what I’m not even sure. But you.. you were an easy target, I’ll be honest. No matter what shit I threw at you, you kept coming back, kept knocking at the damn door to play at the playground. Somewhere down the line, I had enough of all that. So I told you to jump which is,” he took a breath. “Fuck, I can’t even imagine someone telling Haruki to jump without wanting to pummel the bastard to death.

“You didn’t deserve that bullshit. I’m sorry,” Katsuki finished looking down at his glass of red wine, unable to meet Izuku in the eye.

If he wasn’t wearing anything to obstruct his scent glands, Izuku would have been able to smell the acrid stench coming from Katsuki. It was shame, guilt, hope all in one. Finally able to say it, after years of having it at the back of his mind like a ghost was a fucking relief, honestly. At the same time, it felt like opening floodgates.

That is, until a smaller, tan hand reached out and placed itself on top of Katsuki’s.

Katsuki looked up and saw that same sincere expression on Izuku’s face, eyes wide and honest. Maybe Izuku hadn’t changed that much, because that hopeful, open expression had always defined Izuku, had always been the reason Katsuki would push and push to wipe it away.

He was a fucking idiot for that.

“Thank you, for saying that.”

“Oi, I wasn’t just-”

“I know, I know,” Izuku chuckled and retracted his hand, Katsuki acutely felt the cold of the restaurant air conditioner. “You know what’s funny, I don’t think I was ever mad at you for long. Not really- I mean, call me stupid and naive but I forgave you a long time ago.”

Katsuki gave in an unbelieving look.

“Yeah, okay. I had resentment, and we hadn’t seen each other in years so I expected you to be the same old bully and,” Izuku took a breath, though it sounded a little strained. “I wasn’t going to let myself be bullied again. But we were kids.. we were stupid, you were stupid. Obviously, you’re not the same person anymore.”

“So, what does that make us?”

“Oh,” the ease drained out of the omega, just in time for Haruki to come back and demand desert.

“Dad, dad, daddy, ice cream?”

“Katsuki looked between Izuku and Haruki, knowing they had words left unsaid. But it was getting late, and if a 5 year old got ice cream too close to bed time, well.. it doesn’t end with a good night’s sleep on a parent’s part.

“What’s your favourite flavour, Haruki-kun?”

“Ummm…”

“Brat, stop pretending, you only eat caramel flavoured ice cream.”

“Dad,” Haruki snarled as he turned red.

“Caramel it is then!”

Katsuki quickly paid after a short scuffle with Izuku over the bill. They got ice cream at a parlour just across the street to save all three of them the trouble. Haruki chose caramel, and Izuku ever the saint got the same to help the boy with his embarrassment.

The alpha watched over them fondly, thankful that Haruki’s circle of adults looking out for him is expanding. Izuku may only be his teacher for the next year, but the boy doesn’t open up easily and Katsuki will take anything he can get.

“Katsuki?”

“Hm?”

“You’re not getting any ice cream?” Izuku asked, completely unaware of the speck of honey coloured ice cream just below the nose.

Katsuki had to fist his hands tight in his pant pocket to resist wiping it away.

Chapter Text

Summer was truly in full swing with the oppressive heat that coated Musutafu's streets in the afternoon.

Izuku was glad that at least the week was mostly windy, leaving the stale humid air for the weekend where he could spend some time at the beach. To save on electricity, Izuku kept his air conditioner use at a minimum which meant that as he slathered sun screen on his arms, his back was already sweating through.

“Are you getting here soon?” Izuku said on the phone.

Ochaco, Iida and Momo were on their way to pick him up, but as is Ochaco’s fashion, they were running a little late. Despite his own determination that a car was not an essential item, it was unfortunate that without one, a trip to the beach would take him at least an hour.

“Sorry! We’ll be there in like, five minutes tops!”

And in Ochaco-speak, that meant close to 15. Izuku sighed, resigned, and hung up after a quick goodbye. To kill time, he checked the fridge and made sure that he didn’t leave anything behind for their lunch. Izuku was a terrible cook, don’t get him wrong, but he could at least contribute in the form of simple sandwiches and cut fruit.

While he scrolled through his new social media apps, with mild apprehension, a knock came from the door.

“Finally,” Izuku said in greeting, hugging each one.

“Stop being so dramatic,” Ochaco said, hugging him back fiercely.

“Hello,” Momo greeted from behind Iida’s shoulder. “Sorry, Shouto really couldn’t cancel that meeting..”

“Don’t worry!” Izuku assured. “Lawyers are busy; it comes with the job.”

“‘Zukuuuu…. Now what do we have here?”

He gave Momo a playful smirk before turning around to see Ochaco holding up the vase he had chosen to keep Katsuki’s flowers in. Crap.

“Uh, flowers?”

“I can see that, genius. Question is, how can I not know that someone is courting you!”

“Oh my- no! They’re- they were on sale and they looked pretty so I thought my apartment needed a pop of colour. You’re the one who told me that-”

“You’re a terrible liar and you know it.”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, sighing in defeat.

He took the vase from her hands and placed it back on his sad excuse of a dining table. Admittedly, it was a beautiful bouquet and he never really got to tell Katsuki how much he liked it — he didn’t even know what he would have said.

The bouquet was elegant and chic, all very Katsuki. It was a safe bouquet, with peachy pink chrysanthemum flowers taking centre stage, surrounded by an assortment of greens to highlight it. As soon as he got home, Izuku dug for the one vase he got from his mom as part of his housewarming package. It felt wrong to leave it lying in its wrapping paper and let it wilt away. Besides, it was probably expensive.

“So, I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say that Bakugo-san gave you this?”

“And what if he did?” Izuku replied, still looking down at the flowers, nervous from the tone of Ochaco’s voice.

“He must really be into you then,” she said smugly.

“You’re being ridiculous, he- this was an apology gift.”

Footsteps inched closer to his side, but instead of facing Ochaco, Izuku nearly head butted into Momo’s head. She bent down to study the flowers, head cocking to one side.

“Is Bakugo-san that blonde alpha from your birthday, Izuku?” She asked innocently.

“Uh, yeah.”

“So, giving you a massive bouquet is his way of apologising?”

“I guess?” Izuku squeaked when Ochaco’s hand slapped his shoulder, now standing at the opposite side of him and looking far too delighted.

“For someone he barely knows… he must be a saint then.”

***

It’s been two weeks since the dinner and the ill-fated discovery of the bouquet by his friends. Izuku was loading up the bus with an assortment of colourful backpacks and mini suitcases. The sun wasn’t helping, but Camie was helping out which he couldn’t say for Nemuri.

Said beta was leaning by the passenger seat of the coach with an electrical fan blowing less than a centimeter away from her face.

At least it wasn’t raining. Summer rain in Musutafu could be brutal, which would also mean that the kids would be sleeping on top of muddy, soft soil. Izuku didn’t even want to imagine how dirty some of his more rowdy kids would get with that much muck.

With newfound gratitude in mind, he and Camie finished loading the bus and quickly got to ushering the kids into the coach and their respective seats. To save everyone the headache, they made sure that Aimi sat at the very front, right behind Izuku.

Although it was quite far behind them now, Aimi knew that she was on thin ice after the incident with Haruki. There hadn’t been a similar incident, thankfully, but she was an attention seeker and the little Katsuki-copy was adamant about not paying her any mind.

Sometimes it was funny to Izuku, how it almost mirrored him and Katsuki when they were younger. Only, Katsuki was an attention seeker who received attention solely from Izuku. After some quick research on imprinting, it made Izuku realise that the chances of Katsuki imprinting on him when they were younger were way higher than he thought.

The two were inseparable, two peas in a pod, no matter what Katsuki threw his way. In a way, they tolerated each other in a way nobody else could. It was part of why Izuku stayed by his side for so long, because without Katsuki, Izuku would have been completely alone. Especially now that he was older, he understood why being alone is among the scariest things to look for out there.

But unlike his younger self, Aimi had an abundance of friends and it would save everyone the headache if she steers clear of the less… enthusiastic in her cohort.

When they arrived at the place it was early afternoon and the sun was shining down with a vengeance. Everyone had their hats and sunglasses on, prepared beforehand to avoid a nasty sunburn — but at least it wasn’t raining and the kids will only be wet with sweat instead of nasty mud.

“C’mon everyone, once I call out your name, get your bags and follow Camie-san to your tents, OK?”

The kids were excited to be outside the classroom, however the teachers loathed field trip season. Not only did the new environment give the kids more energy, but making sure they behaved in a small controlled room was much easier than in the great outdoors.

Personally, Izuku felt like it was a breath of fresh air. Since there were a few members of faculty who had come along, he felt like he wasn’t alone in wrangling the strays and felt more at ease. The day passed calmly enough, and with the help of Camie and Akihito, even Aimi-chan didn’t stir up too much trouble.

The sleeping arrangements had to be addressed come nightfall — since they were staying on private property, the kids got to experience sleeping in tents under the starry sky. Musutafu was a great city, but pollution and bright lights dimmed and dulled the glittering stars that were so bright in the countryside.

Izuku and the other staff members each got a tent situated in a corner of the square-ish formation they arranged for the kids. If anything went wrong, there would be at least one staff member close enough to deal with it. Though completely unplanned by himself, Izuku turned out to be the closest to Haruki’s tent, who was sleeping with a boy from another class.

In the years he lived in Osaka, when Izuku was but a stranger to his previous life, sleep didn’t come easy. His ears would always be peeled, body tight like a spring, ready to jump into action at any sound. He was living with a monster, and that monster took away even the little things that could make Izuku feel like a human.

It was an adjustment after he moved back, but now he could fall into a deep sleep only after 30 minutes, when it used to take him a couple of hours. Though he might have somewhat fixed his sleeping, Izuku would still wake up if there was a sound close enough.

Which is why his eyes flew open when he heard the soft wailing from outside his tent.

After he made his way outside into the pleasant evening air, Izuku quickly found the source of the crying to come from Haruki’s tent. He listened for a moment, then realised his cries weren’t stopping anytime soon.

“Haruki? Are you okay?”

“Sensei?” He heard Haruki’s tent-mate, Mori, Haruki’s tent-mate, call out. “Sensei, I think Haruki-chan is having a bad dream.”

Thinking back to what Katsuki warned him about, Izuku quickly unzipped the tent from the outside and turned on the flashlight he brought with him. He found Mori sitting up and hugging the little teddy bear he brought along with him. He looked worriedly at the little bundle that was Haruki swaddled in his sleeping bag.

Izuku climbed further in and squatted beside that bundle, gently shaking Haruki to wake him up. His efforts were futile, because Haruki’s body was still under the sleeping bag even though his head was swinging left and right as he wailed in his sleep incoherently.

“Haruki-kun, can you wake up sweetheart?” Izuku said softly, but loud enough that it should’ve woken him up. “How long has he been crying like this?”

“Uh..” Mori pouted in thought. “The past 5 minutes maybe? I dunno, I was asleep for the first bit.”

“That’s alright. Mori-kun, do you mind keeping an eye out for Haruki-kun while I call his dad? It shouldn’t take too long, you can go to sleep but just stay in the tent.”

“OK sensei. Is Haruki-kun gonna have to go home?”

“I think so,” he said sadly, knowing how excited Haruki was for the trip.

Izuku slithered out of the tent and grabbed his phone. At this point, he had Katsuki’s number saved so he quickly rang and the line connected surprisingly quickly after only two rings. It was around 1 AM so he was greeted by a gruff “Hey”.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“Nah, I finally get to work late without waking up the little fucker.”

“That’s not a nice way to talk about your son,” Izuku reprimanded half-heartedly.

“Yeah yeah, I know you’d only call about him so what’s wrong?”

Izuku stilled at the accusation. It was true, every interaction he's had with Katsuki so far had been related to Haruki to some extent, or at least involving the child. Did Katsuki seriously expect them to go back to friends after so long? It was ridiculous to even think about.

“Sensei!” Mori whisper-shouted from the tent flap and beckoned at Izuku.

“Yeah, um, give me a second Mori-chan!” He replied. “Sorry, that’s Mori-kun, he’s just looking after uh, well Haruki is having bad dreams, like you said. I didn’t think they’d be this bad though?”

“Fuck,” Izuku could hear shuffling from the line. “Has he said anything?”

“Uh, no. Is he supposed to?” he looked back to the tent in worry.  “Should I wake him-”

“No, don’t do that. Just, shit. You have to hold him, rock him back and forth, it calms him down a little. If that doesn’t work then you wake him up but gently.”

Katsuki explained how it was best to call out Haruki’s name softly, raising your voice slowly to gently pull him out of the bad dream. One ear listened diligently while Izuku’s other was keenly aware of the others in the camp.

Even if things had been good with the other students lately, even 5 year-olds were nasty when it came to being ‘childish’. It would make things even worse if someone other than Mori who, bless him, was an angel personified, got wind of Haruki’s nightmares. Izuku would like to think the best of MSC’s students, but he was a realist after all.

Once Katsuki said he was on the way, the call ended and Izuku made his way back into the tent. He told Mori to keep sleeping in his own tent while he took over.

Haruki was still bundled up, but now more of his face could be seen and the view broke Izuku. The child’s face was ruddy and stained by his tears. His small forehead wrinkled with his frown and he looked much too young to be that sad.

Following instructions, Izuku gently manoeuvred Haruki into his arms — turns out the kid was heavier than he looked — and began rocking gently while on his knees. It was a bit awkward at first because Izuku didn’t have any younger relatives or knew anybody with young kids. Typically, kids past 3 years old didn’t need to be rocked, but he tried his best anyway.

Funnily enough, with his face all scrunched up, Haruki bore a striking resemblance to the pissy-faced Katsuki from his childhood. It was almost comical thinking about Katsuki being held in his arms that way, rocked back and forth as if he didn’t use to beat Izuku up just for the fun of it.

Unfortunately, the rocking only helped so much and Haruki’s crying barely died down.

“Haruki?” Izuku tried as softly as possible. “Haruki?”

The boy stirred, but his eyes stayed firmly shut. Izuku tried again, a little bit louder, and got a shake of his head. So he did it again, until finally, Haruki’s red eyes slowly blinked open in confusion.

“Daddy?”

“Hey sweetheart,” Izuku said gently, not wanting to scare him. “It’s Midoriya-sensei, your dad is coming to get you soon, OK?”

“Sensei,” Haruki wailed, and in an unexpected move, clutched tightly onto Izuku’s All Might pyjamas. “Sensei!”

“Hey hey, hey now, you’re all right,” Izuku cooed, rubbing Haruki’s back gently while the boy hiccuped into his chest. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Haruki shook his head.

“That’s all right, do you want some water?”

He nodded.

“I’ll get your bottle from your bag, okay?”

When Izuku leaned back to reach the little blue backpack, Haruki’s grip tightened so much Izuku was worried his shirt might rip.

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart. Here, have some water, yeah?”

He waited patiently for Haruki to croak out a few more sobs before placing the sippy bottle into his hands. Haruki gulped the water down like he’d been running a marathon in the desert, but Izuku knew how thirsty that much crying could make you.

His smile was one of understanding.

They waited for Katsuki like that, with Izuku holding onto Haruki gently while the boy sobbed and hiccuped into Izuku’s chest. One hand on All Might pyjamas and the other clutching the bottle Izuku would prompt him to sip from. Slowly but surely, the crying died down and Izuku suspected Haruki had fallen back asleep from exhaustion.

Just in time, he heard the faraway sound of tyres on gravel.

Hoisting Haruki up in his arms, Izuku made his way out of the camping grounds and towards the main house of the property. Walking towards the sedan, he could see Katuski leaning as usual, arms crossed, and even if he was nowhere close, Izuku knew a frown was set firmly on the alpha’s face.

Just as he was passing the threshold between soft ground and driveway gravel, Izuku realised his scent glands were completely uncovered.

Then he remembered that Katsuki probably smelled him during their dinner, because he had been momentarily possessed and even let out pleased pheromones from the flowers. How embarrassing. But that means there really wasn’t anything to worry about. Besides, though Katsuki was… a stranger really, Izuku knew the blonde alpha was nothing like him.

“Hey,” the alpha greeted, pushing off the car to meet them halfway. “He knocked out?”

“Yeah,” Izuku chuckled and looked down and Haruki’s now calm face, no doubt wiped out by the crying he did all night.

Izuku looked back up and caught a strange expression on Katsuki’s face. It was only there for a moment, so he didn’t have time to decipher it. They tried to transfer Haruki gently, it was a bit awkward since they had to get close to make sure the boy didn’t wake up, but they were successful enough.

Once Haruki was safely tucked in his seat, Katsuki looked back to Izuku and placed his hands in his pockets.

“So, he didn’t say anything?”

“Oh, not at all. It was mostly just crying, nothing I haven’t dealt with before,” Izuku said, trying to keep the conversation light.

“Yeah,” Katsuki’s eyes looked away to a spot behind Izuku. “He’s fine when napping, but sometimes he dreams I get taken away from him. Cuz y’know, his fucking mom’s gone or whatever.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“That must be hard dealing with by yourself,” Izuku said truthfully.

Katsuki looked back at Izuku and shrugged. “I get by, ain’t nothing I can’t do.”

“Yeah, I know,” Izuku said, smiling because Katsuki sounded so familiar just then.

***

Haruki settled not long after they got home.

When Katsuki pulled up to the apartment, the jostling of the brakes woke the boy up and he was disoriented for a while. But unfortunately, Katsuki was used to it now and he just dutifully picked his son up and rocked him up and down, left and right, until his eyes closed again.

Once Haruki was tucked away in his room, Katsuki stared up into his own bedroom ceiling and heaved a heavy sigh. He was somewhat grateful that Haruki kept them distracted before, because seeing Izuku in his pyjamas brought back memories.

The omega was always a massive superhero fan, and his top idol was All Might. It was one of the reasons they became friends in the first place. Well, besides their mothers forcing them into playdates that is. But Katsuki also enjoyed reading the same comics when he was young and it became their lifeline.

But then, they grew up a bit. While Katsuki started reading less, opting to hangout with other kids from school and participate in sports, Izuku became a bigger fan — he collected those comics like it became his reason to breathe. The nerd even started analysing all the different powers and making pretend battle scenes in his notebooks to fill up his time.

For some reason, that made Katsuki angry.

And so, the bullying began. Katsuki had forgotten about that small part of their past, but even just thinking about the fact that Izuku might still be into the same characters and stories cajoled an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

It took some tossing and turning, but Katsuki finally fell asleep after telling himself that he owed so much more to Izuku.

***

The rest of the field trip went smoothly, and by Monday, Izuku was back in his classroom and waiting for his students to show up. Surprisingly, Haruki arrived first before anyone. Usually, he would arrive just in time, right before class starts, probably owing to his single and busy father, so Izuku was pleasantly surprised.

“Good morning, Haruki-kun,” he greeted with a smile and was met with a shy one in return.

He didn’t ask Katsuki how the boy went once they were home. On the weekend, Izuku had debated on texting, or maybe calling, to see how everything went. But then he waited too long, and he missed the window for it to be ‘not weird’. Haruki was his son after all, how bad could it get? Besides, who was Izuku to ask?

Haruki looked well enough, if not a little quiet.

The rest of the class poured in slowly, but before all the desks filled up, Haruki took his bag and discreetly approached Izuku while the other kids were chatting amongst themselves.

“Sensei, um.. I have something for you,” he said.

Izuku tried to hide his amusement and said, “Oh? What could that be?”

He employed his most inquisitive tone and tilted his head, which made Haruki excited for whatever he had hidden away in his bag. Izuku waited patiently as the boy crouched down and retrieved the item, but when Haruki presented a pink gift bag, handles tied together with a bow, Izuku was stunned.

“What’s this Haruki-kun? I don’t think it’s my birthday, and it’s definitely not yours,” he asked with a smirk.

“Well, daddy said it was your birthday before, and we didn’t get you anything, so this is from me and daddy. And I helped him pick it out, I swear! Oh, and daddy also said I made sensei worry, so a good alpha needs to repay the favour.”

It was sweet that Izuku could tell Katsuki’s lecture on the boy made him puffed up. The more he spoke, the straighter his back got and the more pleased his face became. Izuku wanted to protest, but how could he?

“Well, thank you, and tell your dad the same, OK?”

“Don’t you have his number, sensei?”

“I- I do, um,” Izuku looked around, making sure the other kids weren’t eavesdropping. “I’ll make sure to tell him myself then, thank you for reminding me what the polite thing to do is, Haruki-kun. Now go back to your desks, class is starting soon.”

Izuku took advantage of the hustle and bustle while the kids were setting up their desks to peek into the bag. Inside was a small, white box that was wrapped neatly by a blue bow. Izuku blew out a breath, looked around once more and took it out.

The box itself was beautiful, and he could tell it was expensive. But the Bakugos were an affluent family, and working as a prosecutor definitely paid well, so Izuku thought this might cost $5 in proportion to Katsuki’s wallet. He untied the bow, taking care not to rip anything in case he could use it again later.

It wasn’t heavy, so Izuku was thankful that whatever they got for him must be relatively small. He opened the box, finally, and a forest green braided bracelet stared back at him. Its clasps were a dark metal, tungsten probably. It was weaved tightly, with small threads of red winding through the dark green, a stark contrast that made it more painfully beautiful.

Although it was mesmerising, all Izuku could do was force himself not to panic.

There was almost always only one reason why an alpha would gift an omega a bracelet or necklace — courting. In Izuku’s experience, anything that could be clasped around his body was a sign of ownership, something he should have been grateful for. If he wasn’t, it was just pain that greeted him.

So, he was freaking out a little, and it was almost 9. Izuku quickly shoved the bracelet back into its box and willed the thought of it away as he stood up to start teaching math.

During lunch, he quickly excused himself to Camie from watching the kids to take a quick call. Not knowing who else to talk to, Izuku automatically tapped on Ochaco’s contact. It rung twice before she picked up; she always picked up.

“Hey Zuku, what’s up?”

Izuku took a seat at his desk and slumped down, staring at the gift box that was tucked under his desk and shoved into a corner.

“Hey, sorry for calling you like this you’re probably at work-”

“None of that,” she tsk-ed. “What’s wrong?”

“So, um, remember that camping trip I went to on the weekend with the school? Well Katsuki’s kid, Haruki-kun, you met him at my apartment, he had a bit of an accident and had to go home. Apparently, me helping him was enough for them to get me a gift? I don’t know, Haruki-kun mentioned something about my birthday but I don’t even remember-”

“Midoriya Izuku, take a breath, then speak.”

Izuku chuckled at his own habits but took Ochaco’s advice. He took a deep breath in and out, re-organised his thoughts.

“I think Katsuki’s courting me,” he said solemnly.

“O M G! Oh my god, I so called it and Iida owes me a ticket to Universal Studios!”

“Um, what?”

“Oh, sorry. We were just betting on how soon he was going to start courting you.”

“Ochaco! I’m freaking out here, I- what do you mean how soon?”

“Babes,” she said placatingly. “You’d be blind to not see that this was inevitable! I mean, he gave you flowers at dinner-”

“Dinner with his kid there!”

“That’s a moot point, but anyway, he drove you home that one time. And you guys are like… a romance plot in real life! I mean, who else loses contact with their childhood friend only to be reunited years later, with mutual friends there to conveniently push you two to meeting each other from time to time? Plus, he’s a single father, and he trusts you with his kid.. to a certain extent. It just makes sense.”

In his head, it made sense, really. But at the same time, it felt ridiculous.

“There is no way,” Izuku said, chuckling awkwardly.

“Just ask him.”

“What,” he nearly screamed. “You say it like it’s that simple.”

“Babe, it is.”

After a relatively short period of deliberation, Izuku swallowed all his anxiety and summoned his brave face to text Katsuki and asked him to come a little earlier. Izuku never got a reply, but he was anxious all day and paid special attention not to check his phone every five minutes and contemplate all the reasons this was a bad idea.

The last ten minutes of class was dedicated to the kids cleaning up after themselves and tidying the classroom. Really, they never did it well, but it taught them discipline and Izuku was making sure his kids didn’t grow up to be slobs. When Izuku was about to tell them it was time for clean up, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was the sheer force of habit that made him check it straight away. Katsuki had replied and simply said: I’m outside.

The many neurotransmitters in Izuku’s brain zapped at lightning speed but he knew it was too late to back out now. So, he told the kids that Camie-san would be looking after them until the last bell, then he mustered up all the courage he somehow had when Katsuki first re-entered his life and walked out of the building.

Izuku walked out with his arms crossed. He didn’t know himself whether it was to seem detached or as a personal shield. Of course, the one day Izuku needed all his wits about him, the alpha had come wearing his regular white shirt and blazer, but this time with no tie in sight and the top two buttons of his shirt undone.

It was casual but still formal.

Izuku had seen this grown-up Katsuki in casual attire before, but this was different. It made him want to stare, so much so that Izuku walked towards the blonde with his eyes firmly fixed on Katsuki’s left shoulder to stop it from straying anywhere inappropriate.

When Katsuki spotted Izuku walking out, he pushed himself off the car and walked towards the omega to meet Izuku in the middle.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

They stared at each other for a moment — well, Izuku was really staring at Katsuki’s shoulder still.

“So, why’d you ask me to come early? I’m fucking busy, so if something’s wrong with Haruki then tell me quick.”

“You still came,” Izuku pointed out.

“Well yeah, I was worried about my damn son. Is that so surprising?”

Katsuki’s voice sounded almost offended that Izuku hurriedly waved his arms.

“No, no. Sorry, I- wait this is going all wrong. Haruki is fine, I actually just needed to talk to you.”

Katsuki raised a brow in question as his shoulders relaxed.

“This morning, Haruki um, Haruki-kun gave me a present. He said it was for that night and for my birthday? Which is nice but-”

“We were at your birthday party, it’d be rude not to give you anything. I’m just teaching my kid basic manners ner- Izuku. Don’t overthink it,” Katsuki said, interrupting Izuku and speaking in that matter-of-fact tone he sometimes used.

Despite being slightly annoyed that he got cut off, Izuku would use an out when he saw one.

“Right? Because it seemed.. anyway, I didn’t think you’d give me a birthday present just because. So, it makes sense if you were doing it as a teaching moment, which I appreciate! With the backgrounds some of these kids come from, you can imagine how spoiled they could get, y’know, everything right at their fingertips and their words being treated like it was hand-delivered from god or something.”

“Sounding a little close to home there, omega.”

“I- sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” Izuku said sheepishly.

He didn’t mean to basically describe the younger alpha to a T, but it came out that way. But really, compared to Izuku’s own upbringing, the Bakugos were richer than life. Fashion designer parents really did give a kid a life most could only dream about. And Katsuki being an only child didn’t help either.

His parents were always lovely to Izuku, but it wasn’t difficult to see just how much they let Katsuki get away with. Even if Mitsuki Bakugo could be a force to be reckoned with.

“Forget it. Besides, why wouldn’t I give you a birthday present?”

“Well, we’re not really friends like that, are we?” He said with a smile, speaking plainly. “It could, you know, be taken in a wrong way if you just.. gave me a bracelet when we’re not that close.”

“Wrong way? The fuck are you talking about?”

Izuku was about to explain the whole courting ordeal, how it seemed when a single alpha like Katsuki gave an equally single omega a bracelet as a present. But before Izuku could even get the first word out of his lips, a red car whizzed by them so fast that he could barely process it — the kind of speeding that would kill a pedestrian upon impact.

Maybe because it was so out of place in the school district that Izuku belatedly heard the loud bang that came from the car. He hardly even noticed that its windows were down and the passenger had shouted. “SNITCH!”.

Because the next thing he knew, Katsuki was falling forward towards him. It only registered because of the weight that made Izuku’s knees buckle. Once his head found its way back to the present, Izuku was keenly aware that he was on his knees, his hands supporting Katsuki’s body that had fallen onto his lap.

The same hands were warm and wet, and now that he was looking down, Izuku's throat caught and just about stopped the scream that was about to escape.

“Kacchan!”

Katsuki had been shot, katsuki had been shot.

“HELP! Kacchan, no- SOMEBODY PLEASE!”

Chapter Text

The minimal first aid training and countless medical dramas Izuku had in his back pocket alone was what moved him to put one hand on the bullet wound. With his free hand, Izuku fished his phone out of his pocket and dialled emergency services. There was a hospital only a few blocks away from the school, another perk of MSC, but Katsuki needed medical attention right now. 

The bullet went through his shoulder, so at least there was nothing lodged in his body. But the alpha’s face was pale, and his eyes were twitching in pain even though he was quiet. With the blood that was gushing through Izuku’s fingertips, there was a good chance Katsuki’s body was in so much shock that the pain didn’t register.

“Midoriya!”

He turned back and saw Camie rush out of the building, she looked at him first then down at Katsuki and a hand went up to her mouth in shock. 

“Midoriya, I heard- I didn’t think but, Bakugo?”

“You know him?” Izuku asked, his voice pitched higher than usual. 

“What happened?”

Camie didn’t answer, but Izuku gave her a quick rundown of what happened with his own shaky breath. While he was talking, he could hear the sirens coming their way. Katsuki was still conscious, but the blood wasn’t stopping even if Izuku now had both hands putting pressure on it. 

“Kacchan,” Izuku whispered, desperate. “Don’t you dare die on me.”

It was funny how it happened, the way you can feign indifference until life forces you to choose otherwise. It had been a couple of months since Katsuki entered Izuku’s life again, or vice versa — and since then, Izuku had been adamant on pushing the blonde away. 

Granted, he had no reason not to. But he could not ignore the fact that they used to be a large part of each other’s lives, and now that they’ve matured, it would have been easy to fall back into it. Katsuki knew things that Izuku’s closest friends didn’t, like his favourite childhood bedsheets or the exact words his mom would use to scold him. 

The intimate things that they had locked in the past were exclusively owned by the two, but now there was a chance that Izuku would be left alone with those memories. The thought made his heart race even quicker and he pushed with his shoulders to use the entire weight of his body to stop the damn bleeding. 

“Don’t do this, Kacchan. We have so much more fighting to do, don’t do this,” his voice teetered of at the end to a whisper when the paramedics rushed from the ambulance to take over. 

Izuku felt like he was underwater when one of the paramedics guided his hands away from the bleeding wound. At first, he resisted, afraid that if he let go then Katsuki would bleed out and die right in front of him. He let go eventually though and watched in a daze as the professionals controlled the bleeding and hoisted Katsuki up onto a gurney then wheeled him into the ambulance. 

Once the doors closed, Izuku could only watch as the sirens grew quieter the further away it drove.

“Midoriya-san?”

Izuku turned to see Camie with Haruki in her arms. The boy was looking around, confused and no doubt wondering where his father was. That was what did it for him. Hot tears streamed down Izuku’s face once the last 10 minutes caught up to him. 

“Midoriya-sensei, are you okay?”

“Hey,” Izuku hiccupped. “I’m all right.”

“You’re crying,” Haruki pointed out innocently. 

“I told you, didn’t I? Grown-ups cry too.”

“Daddy said I can cry if it’s serious, but if it’s not then I should be brave!” Haruki reiterated Katsuki’s words with a proud expression that made Izuku sober up. 

This kid is going to have to see his father in a serious condition. And in the worst case scenario- Izuku didn’t even want to think about it. He knew what growing up with one parent felt like, but he could scarce imagine what it would look like if Haruki was orphaned.

He chased away the thoughts from his head, afraid he would jinx the surgery that Katsuki is no doubt being prepped for right now. 

“Sensei, is daddy here?”

“He was,” Izuku nodded, then shared a look with Camie who had her brows furrowed in concern. “But he got a bit sick, so he had to go to the hospital. Why don’t you get your bag and we can go see your dad together, hm?”

Haruki looked at the two adults and nodded. Camie gently placed him down and they looked at his retreating form before facing each other. 

“So, you’re him huh,” Camie stated, a difficult expression on her face, then handed Izuku some wet wipes she had hidden away somewhere for him to get the blood of his hands.

“How do you know Katsuki?”

“Oh, I dated Yaorashi briefly a few years back. When he became high-ranking enough in the police force to work directly with Bakugo-san, we’d see each other at the bi-annual barbecues. When Yaorashi and I broke up, I found that that Bakugo-san and I made pretty good friends — even if he’s always way too busy to see me,” she answered, her smile pained. “Do you think they’ve called his parents?”

“I- I don’t know.”

“You call him Katsuki, are you guys close then?”

“You seem to know something,” Izuku said, keeping the accusation out of his voice. 

“Oh, nothing much really,” she said, looking back at the sound of Haruki’s footsteps. “He’s just… inferred things and it just came to mind I suppose.”

“Should we walk to the hospital, Haruki-kun?” Izuku said, directing the question at both the child as well as Camie.

Because he didn’t know how long the surgery would take, or if he made it at all which was much scarier to him saying it out loud, Izuku wanted to make sure that Haruki wasn’t waiting around for bad news for too long. Even if the hospital was close, the walk would still take them 20 minutes. That’s 20 less minutes waiting around in a cold, sterile waiting room while people sobbed in plastic chairs and the smell of antiseptic burned into your clothes.

Izuku was familiar with hospitals.

As a kid, he was clumsy. Always thinking he was more agile than he actually was. Then he grew older, and it got even worse when he was chasing Katsuki around. There was endless bumps and scrapes that still scarred his body, and having an anxious mother made hospital visits almost a ritual in his childhood.

It got better as he entered adulthood. Izuku was more careful with himself, knowing the limits of his body and accepting his omega traits. But then things got bad in Osaka — the bumps and bruises were covered easily, and it took much more for him to finally find it in himself to take a leap, leave and admit himself into hospital.

That stay was a difficult one to forget. 

Two years of ignoring every injury, external and internal, was apparently a very bad idea. Even after he was healed, mostly, the doctors urged him to stay, to make sure there weren’t any long term effects of his life choices. It made him hate hospitals, the way they talked to him, like it was his choice not to go. 

At the time, he thought that it was. It was his fault he would stay home and just reach for the first aid kit that was always within reach. It was his fault that he would cover up to make sure no one saw the bruises or the marks. It was his fault that he- 

But he knew now that it wasn’t his fault — and they should have never made him feel like it was. It was for Haruki’s sake alone that Izuku steeled himself to visit Katsuki, or so that’s what he told himself. 

The automatic doors opened soundlessly and they were greeted by the melee of the emergency room in full swing. The round of gurney wheels whizzing past them, the intercom calling for doctors and nurses alike, and the sounds of pain and discomfort from the waiting patients filled their ears and disoriented Izuku slightly. 

He spotted the help desk and tugged gently on Haruki’s arm while Camie followed silently behind them. 

“We’re here for Bakugo Katsuki. Um, I have his son with me, he’s underaged and the patient is his only guardian, so-”

The lady at the desk looked sharp and severe. She had dark-red glasses that covered half her face and her hair was pulled tight into a top-knot. Izuku couldn’t smell anything with the scent patches and the antiseptic wafting around the place, but he could tell that she was 100% an alpha. 

“He’s not out yet, but his parents have been called. You can wait with them,” she said then called out to a man in purple scrubs. “Our orderly here can take you to them. Anything else?”

“No,” Izuku said, shaking his head then lookde back to Camie and Haruki. “Let’s go.”

They were ushered through a few corridors and led through some automatic doors, but Izuku knew they arrived once he saw two blondes sitting on significantly emptier rows of chairs. He hadn’t seen Katsuki’s parents as long as the man himself. 

Izuku had always meant to keep in touch, after all, his own mother was somewhat friends with Bakugo Mitsuki. However, it was awkward — it wasn’t like they didn’t know how Izuku was treated. While the two boys were still friends, he supposed it was easy enough to ignore. Once they drifted apart, it felt almost wrong to keep the relationship going with only half of the family.

After he moved and came to terms with Katsuki’s bullying, Izuku silently resented the blonde pair. It only lasted a couple of years though once he learned how hard it must have been for Katsuki to be conceived at all. Bakugo Mitsuki was an alpha while Bakugo Masaru was a beta. 

It was somewhat a rare pairing as alpha females usually have the best chances at conception with omega females or alpha males. Now that he was adult, he could appreciate just how precious Katsuki must have been to them, which means that whatever they were feeling now could barely even be described.

“Bakugo-san,” Izuku greeted quietly once they got close enough.

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Haruki’s yell for his grandparents overshadowed Izuku’s own meek voice. He didn’t mean to be so quiet, he just didn’t want to insert himself so when they were so vulnerable when he didn’t even know if they recognised him.

“Haruki-chan,” Masaru replied, turning away from his cold stare towards the floor, his face lighting up with affection as Haruki ran into his arms. “How was school, little bugger?”

“Mmm, it was good! I gave Midoriya-sensei a gift and he said it was nice.”

“Midoriya- Midoriya-kun, is that you?”

Izuku caught Mitsuki’s shocked eyes and nodded, stepping closer, not wanting to appear rude. Though the years have aged her, the spunky blonde looked scarily similar to how Izuku’s memory froze her face. Sure, there were some more lines around her eyes and forehead, but everything else stayed the same. 

“You, wow. That fucking brat really tells me nothing,” she said, chuckling mirthlessly before coming closer to hold Izuku by the shoulders. “You’re taller now, not much though.”

“Yeah,” Izuku chuckled awkwardly. “Is um- is he-”

“Still in surgery,” she said quietly, looking back at Haruki who was still excitedly describing his day to his gentle grandfather. “Don’t give me that look, he’s not dying.”

***

It was hard to open his eyes at first.

Hazy spots marred his dark vision, but his eyelashes felt like they were glued shut. It took significant effort to slowly pry them open, only for him to shut them tight once more. The blinding fluorescent lights drilled knives into his eyes, but a few moments of vigorous blinking righted his sight. 

There were blinking sounds and whirring of machines. Sometimes movies would hint that characters get sudden amnesia before waking up in a hospital, but Katsuki knew himself to be a practical and realistic person. He got shot, that wasn’t really that surprising honestly. Enji had told him it was going to be a dangerous case, and being a figurehead for the prosecution case had basically put a target right on Katsuki’s back.

He was shot in the shoulder, if that was right. Consciousness tried to stay with him for a while, but eventually he blacked out to the sight of Izuku’s panicked face. Izuku who- wait, Izuku? Fuck. 

Being shot in front of the omega was probably a sour impression. Not like it would be a good impression for anyone else, but he might be sensitive to that kind of shit. Yet, what the hell did Katsuki know? Izuku might have been part of some crazy government operation to have gone AWOL like that on his friends (as Katsuki’s heard from the grapevine, in other words, Eijirou). 

Nah, that didn’t seem right. Katsuki was probably stereotyping, but he couldn’t see Izuku being covert and sadistic. The omega just didn’t have that in him. He was the type to make sure ladybugs didn’t get squashed under Katsuki’s careless feet when they’d go mess around near the stream and by the forest boundary. 

When he awoke fully, the pain registered. 

His side ached like a motherfucker. The throbbing was like no other, but he only had himself to blame for that. Bakugo Katsuki did not need a fuckton of painkillers and his medical record showed those explicit instructions. Plus, there was no way he’d risk himself getting addicted to opioids at any point in his life and leave Haruki with no parent at all.

A nurse made her way into his room, an omega by the looks of it, but her scent was so dulled by the antiseptics and general ‘hospital smell’ that it made little difference what her secondary gender was. 

“Bakugo-san,” she greeted simply while looking over the board hanging at the foot of his bed. “You took quite a nasty shot to the shoulder there, but count yourself lucky.”

“Lucky? I got shot,” Katsuki deadpanned.

“That you did,” she said, raising her brows as if talking to a child which only infuriated him more. “But, it was a clean shot, through and through. You’ll have some trouble moving your arm for a few weeks — but there’s no serious nerve damage or any bones that need repairing. So, like I said, lucky.”

“Yeah yeah, keep going.”

“Not very nice, are you?” At his sour look, the nurse giggled and continued. “Well, I guess you are somewhat unlucky since your right shoulder got shot. You’ll have very limited mobility, so don’t act like a superhero because nerve damage is still possible after surgery.”

“What are the chances of that?”

“Oh, very low. Surgery was quick since it was mainly repairing the muscle tears more than anything else, and getting the bleeding in control. It was good you had someone there with you, because they nicked an artery. Oh- your family is outside waiting, want me to call them in?”

“Shit,” he muttered, knowing that his parents were probably outside since Mitsuki practically wrestled to get herself on his emergency contact register. “Uh, is there a green-haired omega out there? With a kid?”

“Oh, yes! He’s lovely, such a sweetheart to all the nurses and orderlies, unlike some,” she said pointedly at Katsuki’s direction, a jab he ignored. “Should I call your mate and son in then?”

“What?” Katsuki shouted, his ears hot. “No, the fuck. He’s not my mate but- yeah fuck call him in but don’t let the kid come in yet. If he’s asleep, be quiet.”

“I know how to keep kids asleep, Bakugo-san,” she said, and Katsuki didn’t miss the eye roll that followed the comment. “Sit tight, alpha.”

Katsuki was content to stare at the wall and scheme while he waited, but it wasn’t long until the door opened again to Izuku’s freckled face. The omega was wearing scent blockers like he normally did, but Katsuki could see the trepidation in the way his body moved as Izuku closed the door behind him and walked over to his bedside.

“Calm down,” he sneered. “I just got shot, ain’t gonna bite or anything.”

“I was freaking scared,” Izuku said, his tone startling Katsuki. “You- you were shot! Right in front of me, and, and I thought you were going to die. You almost did- I- what the heck.”

Despite the seriousness of the words coming out of his mouth, Katsuki couldn’t hold back the snickers that ensued. It only served to make Izuku look more upset, the freckles disappearing in the blush that covered his cheeks and ears.

“Why are you laughing!”

“You- you really are a teacher, huh? ‘What the heck’, can’t even swear after some good ‘ol PTSD?”

“I-”

Katsuki was now lost to full-blown laughter. It cleared the mood up straight away, and Izuku’s upset expression morphed into something more calm, though Katsuki knew he wasn’t in the clear, but he just got shot, so what the hell?

“So, Kacchan hey?”

“I- you weren’t supposed to hear that!”

“You were screaming right at my ear. I got shot in the shoulder, not the head, genius.”

The blush caught onto Izuku once more, but he was redder than ever and refused to meet Katsuki’s eyes. If only he could smell him, would Izuku be pleased that he heard, or would the smell of decaying flowers fill his hospital room instead?

“In the movies the people who get shot always go into a coma like, straight away,” Izuku mumbled. “Plus, I panicked, so that’s not fair.”

“Hmm,” Katsuki replied, still trying to catch those green eyes that were fixed on the foot of his bed. “Considering I’m bedridden, and almost died like you said, why not say it one more time, huh?”

Nothing like a near-death experience to make one gain balls the size of Mount Everest. In truth, Katsuki was taking a pretty damn big risk. When he heard his childhood name come out of Izuku’s lips in his in the state he was in, Katsuki was sure he was hallucinating. But then he heard it again, and again, and he was sure that not even his dream-self was ever that optimistic.

He didn’t think about it at first, but now that it’s been mentioned, he would do anything to hear it again. 

“Dream on, brute,” Izuku murmured in annoyance, though his flush wasn’t convincing.

“C’mon, just once.”

“Why?”

It was a simple question, but the alpha’s face was troubled. They seem to have swapped roles, Izuku staring intently at his red eyes while Katsuki looked past Izuku’s shoulder at the door. It felt like there was something stuck in his throat, his earlier conviction and bravery gone in an instant. Why had he wanted that? To pretend, to forget?

However, Katsuki wasn’t even given the chance to answer.

“Katsuki!” 

The door opened with a loud bang, no doubt disturbing the neighbouring ICU rooms. From it emerged his parents, as well as Haruki sleeping soundly in Masaru's arms. They walked in, his mother’s steps loud and heavy with vigour.

“You idiot,” she said under her breath once she was close enough. “We go to get food for five minutes and your dumbass decides to wake up.”

“Yeah yeah,” Katsuki said, feigning annoyance. 

“Don’t ‘yeah yeah’ me you damn useless alpha, you should’ve gotten a nurse to call us! Going around getting shot, what were you thinking?”

“Hah!?” Katsuki’s eyes widened.

***

Izuku sat holding Haruki’s hand in the waiting room once more. 

He thought it was best to leave the adult Bakugos to their business. Personal experience that Izuku dredged up from his hazy memories taught him that when Katsuki and Mitsuki start to have a go at each other, it was best to stay clear and avoid the line of fire. The way the timbre of their voices could be faintly heard even from where Izuku sat was proof enough.

“Hey there,” Camie said, walking towards him with two steaming cups in her hand. “Coffee? I also have tea, sorry, I realised I don’t know what you usually drink.”

“Coffee, please,” Izuku said, and thanked her with a smile. “So, you’re close with Katsuki? It must be tough to see him like that.”

Camie was silent before she answered. In that small moment, Izuku’s mind wandered and he thought how good Katsuki and Camie would look together. Camie was the perfect omega, and everyone at MSC knew although no one has ever outright said it. 

She was slender, petite. Her mannerisms were gentle, and extremely nurturing. Although she wasn’t a teacher herself, she made sure to know all the names of the kids at the centre and got along with all the staff. From what Izuku could tell, she had a pleasing and sweet scent. 

“Are you not his omega?”

“What?” Izuku nearly spit out the coffee that was making its way down his throat. “No no, you’ve got the wrong idea.”

“Really?” Camie said, cocking her head to the side, her face filled with genuine confusion. “Kats has been elusive lately-”

Kats?!

“-and I see him picking up Haruki a lot.”

“Uh, he is Haruki’s dad.”

“Oh yeah,” she said, waving her hand around. “But he used to have a nanny for a bit, you know, with the transition and everything. Then the one on night shift would get a bit.. uh comfortable with him. Then he changed to having them on pick up and drop off duty while he was still in the office, but I guess that’s stopped.”

“Oh,” Izuku hadn’t even considered the working arrangements Katsuki would have had to fight for to be able to pick up and drop off Haruki nearly every day. Even when he didn’t, Izuku would often catch glimpses of Eijirou and others he presumed to be Katsuki’s friends come by MSC. “Well, maybe that’s because Haruki is a bit older now?”

“No way, you should know how much attention kids need until they’re like 8, at least!”

“Yeah,” Izuku chuckled, recalling all the horrifying scenarios he was taught about childcare during university. 

“So, you’re not together?”

“No way,” Izuku’s chuckles turned choppy and awkward. “No, we just, knew each other when we were kids, neighbours.”

 Almost everyone in his life are easily assuming his relationship dynamic with Katsuki had somehow changed. In some ways, it made him upset. Hell would freeze over before the two of them even resumed what embers of friendship they had in the past, much less a romantic arrangement. 

It was absurd. 

Was that all an omega’s good for anyway? Camie is single, and he knew a few other single omegas. Why is it that he couldn’t just be seen that way? Besides, he was tired of alphas. If Izuku were to settle down, sometime in the further future, he would choose a calm beta. They could be dependable too, and weren’t prone to reduce their poor behaviour down to ‘instinct’.

 There was a time, when Izuku was much younger, when he dreamed with wonder about his future. It took some time for him to come to terms with being an omega, after presenting relatively late. Once he made peace with his secondary gender, Izuku had learned more and more about dynamics, and how omegas complement their alpha mates.

Maybe it was because he was a late bloomer, but Izuku had trouble dating alphas in his late teenage years and early twenties. It was always hard to let them be alphas, so hard to let go in that way. The first real relationship he was in was with a nice beta boy who took the same bus to campus. 

It was shortly after Shouto’s engagement was revealed to him, and Izuku was seeking comfort anywhere he could get it. They went steady for a few months, but then his heat came along. The experience was fine enough, but then came his second heat with the boy, and the reality of their incompatibility was too apparent to ignore. 

In the end, he pulled the plug on Izuku.

Now, though, Izuku was willing to take whatever suppressants he needed to be able to live with a beta. It might mean he’d be rendered infertile, but that was a loss he was okay with. He knew now that there was no point in taking useless risks, his life was much more important than the incomparable chemistry people were always harping on about between alphas and omegas. 

Chapter Text

Once Mitsuki finished scolding his ear off, they finally left, taking Haruki to Katsuki’s apartment for the night. The kid was a mess, but with Izuku’s help, they convinced the little alpha enough that ‘daddy just has a really bad flu and you shouldn’t be close while the doctors take care of him’.

Katsuki felt kind of guilty looking at his family’s retreating form for lying to the little guy, but he wasn’t about to say he got shot. Haruki was probably messed up enough as it is.

After everybody left with promises to visit him the next day, though he definitely insisted that they should just mind their own damn business, Katsuki was wrapped in silence once again. The only noises that accompanied him was the steady whirring of the machine and the occasional footsteps of doctors and nurses outside his door.

He wondered about the other patients briefly. Katsuki was set up in a private room in the ICU, perks of a hefty insurance policy. Were the other patients here for anything more serious than him? Probably. Some people probably had major surgery while he was here hogging an entire room for an injury not bad enough for an overnight catheter.

The digital clock that hung above the bathroom door showed 22:34, but knowing his boss, Enji would be up working on getting more material for their trial.

“Enji speaking,” he heard after the first ring.

“Hey,” Katsuki replied. “Guess you heard?”

“I did. It’s getting dangerous Bakugo, they went after you at your kid’s school.”

“I know,” Katsuki said softly, cursing Enji for voicing the fears he had buried for the time being. “If they’ve done that much research on me, taking me out must be important. They wanna bury something.”

“Exactly. This is proving to be bigger than we think it is. We can’t treat these guys like normal snatchers or your run of the mill alpha-supremacists. I smell organised crime.”

Organised crime was almost every prosecutor’s wet dream. Make no mistake, it was a headache to work on. Katsuki was still too junior to be in charge of an organised crime case, but he had lended a hand here and there for other senior prosecutors going after drug rings and human trafficking enterprises.

The amount of evidence they needed to collect, verify and sort through was hellish. But in the end, it was the most satisfying group of criminals to put behind bars.

“What crime though?”

“That’s for us to find out. I’m thinking of offering one of the idiots a plea deal. They’re low on the food chain, out on the streets for whatever cause this group has. One of them has to crack,” Enji’s gruff voice said, filled with the conviction Katsuki had grown to admire. “But you know what that means, right?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki sighed, then ended the call with his head buzzing with thoughts.

***

It had been two days since Katsuki got shot.

Haruki had understandably been away from school since, and Izuku had been keenly noticing the empty spot where the boy usually sits. Although Nezu was aware of the situation, especially since it happened in school grounds, MSC has been running as if nothing happened. It wasn’t like there were many preventative measures to take up in hopes of avoiding another shooting

Izuku was at home, enjoying his Friday night, when the thought of Katsuki popped into his head. He wondered whether the alpha was pursuing the shooter or not. Surely, he would have to report the matter, but what would come of it?

Katsuki was faced away from the street when he got shot, and fell into a delayed unconsciousness soon after. Izuku was nowhere near present enough during the time to even know what car the guy was driving! And by the time Camie had come out to see what happened, the shooter was long gone.

He groaned into his pillow, feeling dejected all of a sudden.

What did he care anyway? There wasn’t much Izuku could do, if anything, he should leave it to the hands of people actually in law enforcement. The more he tried to stop thinking about it, the more restless Izuku felt. He decided it would be best to move around and keep his mind preoccupied.

That line of thought led his feet to his sorry excuse of a kitchen.

His apartment was pretty small, sure. It was a cozy two-bedroom located on the third floor of a pretty small apartment complex, more of a flat than anything. His kitchen had no windows and the light was dimming ever so surely. Honestly, it was rather sad — but it was all his bank account could afford.

Izuku had come to love the little apartment, but when the omega first moved in, he was hopeless. It was when he had only returned to Musutafu for 4 months that Izuku began house-hunting. Not long after, a realtor approached him and offered him a ‘spectacularly located 2-bedroom family home’, or at least that’s what it said in the email.

But all Izuku wanted was to feel settled and grounded, so he took the opportunity after seeing how small the deposit was. When his loan got approved and the same shady realtor handed him the keys, Izuku almost remembered how it felt to smile again.

By that time, he had slowly rebuilt the bonds with his former best friends. Although it was a bit tense at the time, what with Ochaco asking endless questions about the years he disappeared, Tenya forcing her to let him ‘tell us in his home time’, and Shouto maintaining a healthy amount of space between them; it worked out in the end.

Without them, Izuku would have never been able to fully unpack his measly belongings and fully furnish the place in under a week. That week forced them to spend a lot of time together, and forced Ochaco to drop the topic of Izuku’s disappearing act  — but he knew that she still itched to interrogate him about it.

He promised himself, and to her secretly, that he was going to tell her soon. If anything, it was more that he had to come to terms with it himself before divulging it to anyone else. Thinking about that.. that monster, it still brought shivers up Izuku’s spine and made him feel like those bloodshot eyes were still watching every move.

Until he could get past that feeling, nobody could know yet.

There wasn’t much to show in his kitchen, but it worked for him. His mother always started ranting about how it was too small and there was barely enough in it to qualify as a real ‘kitchen’. Izuku really could not refute it, but he was grateful she always left him with containers upon containers of warm food that he couldn’t even pretend to know how to make for himself.

***

“Daddy, can we watch a movie?”

“Kid, you know it’s dinner first then TV time. Just ‘cause I can’t move my arm doesn’t mean I’m going easy on you.”

“Fine,” Haruki said, huffing and rolling his eyes.

Katsuki wanted to give him hell for just that, but he decided to pick his battles.

“What do you want for dinner?”

“I can help! Pancakes!”

“Hell no,” he scoffed at his own kid’s antics. “There’s some instant ramen, or..”

“Not again..”

“We’ve had it like twice, calm down brat.”

Katsuki was sitting on the lounge, legs spread and feeling quite comfortable besides the annoying cast and sling he had on his right arm. Haruki was still in his school clothes and standing at his bedroom door — his face was squeezed in concentration as he thought about what sort of instant noodle creation they would have this night.

It has been two days since Katsuki got discharged.

Surprisingly, Haruki didn’t bat an eye at Katsuki’s arm, taking it at face value and moving on. It was adjustment to say the least, especially when it came to taking care of Haruki. For whatever reason, Katsuki was blessed with a helpful kid so the change hasn’t been too bad outside of trying to bathe the kid with only his non-dominant hand.

Katsuki sighed as Haruki walked back into his room, no doubt to cook up some odd concoction in his head in hopes of making instant noodles look fun. With some free time on his hands, since Enji forced him to take time off for once, he made his way to his home office.

Just because he was on leave doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to do work, as if.

Enji had processed and prosecuted a guy a few weeks ago, turns out, he was willing to accept a plea deal after getting a small taste of prison life. It was a lifeline for their case, really. Although they were playing around with the idea that organised crime was more and more plausible, it was not going to be anywhere near easy to get enough evidence to support it.

Thankfully for them, Yoarashi caught just the right guy for the job. After a few rounds of questioning by the police department, they found out it was the same guy who jumped Izuku. The bastard was nowhere near prepared to take one for the team, so he took the out instead.

His file read ‘Shindo Yo’, just shy of 25 years old and a high-school drop out. What interested the prosecution team, though was that once they subpoenaed his medical documents, it showed that Shindo Yo was assigned a beta — no markers for alpha dynamics anywhere in his genetic makeup.

It was odd because Izuku specifically testified that it was an alpha who pinned him that night and took his wallet. Luck was the only reason they could have caught him anyway, because Izuku’s back was turned towards Shindo the whole time, so there was no way he could be identified.

When police found Izuku’s credit card on his person, they knew that it was time to call Enji in for further questioning. Turns out, Shindo Yo was under the influence of.. something. Something that made the faint and nearly imperceptible beta scent amplify so much so that an omega thought he was being cornered by an alpha.

At the moment, Shindo was still in custody while public defenders figure out how to get him bail and the prosecution wait for court orders to get a warrant to search his house. If they could find whatever drug Shindo ingested, get it tested for its specific chemical compounds, they may finally get a break in the case.

Katsuki sighed and tossed the manila folders back onto his desk.

The case was giving him a fucking headache. Don’t get him wrong, once the sling and cast was off his arm, he was diving straight to Enji’s side to get these fuckers. But thinking about how little he could actually do at the moment stressed him out. Not to mention the two cop cars that were parked outside the apartment building for his safety.

It kind of hurt him to say that he was scared. Not for himself, but for the little boy whose footsteps he could hear approaching the home office. If those sons of bitches had waited just two minutes to do the drive-by, they could’ve hit Haruki by accident. And such a small child couldn’t have survived-

He cussed under his breath when his door swung open — it was no use thinking about it now.

“You’ve decided?” Katsuki asked, a brow raised in anticipation.

“Yeah!” Haruki exclaimed, looking like he was physically restraining himself from jumping up and down. “Ramen burgers!”

Before Katsuki even had the chance to shoot down the ridiculous idea, his doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting guests, but his best bet was that Eijirou forgot Mina’s irritatingly specific slushie mixture and was booted out of the house.

Not thinking too much about it, partly because of his security detail, Katsuki opened the door without looking through the peephole. He definitely should have looked because now Izuku stood in front of him and it was fair enough to say that Katsuki was stumped.

“I- hello,” Izuku greeted.

“Hey,” Katsuki replied, still not quite sure if his eyes were deceiving him. “Uh, what are you doing here?”

“Midoriya-sensei! Is that you?”

Haruki came barreling to the door. Katsuki still had his left hand on the doorknob, keeping it open, and the boy expertly ran underneath his outstretched arm to greet Izuku with a wide-toothed grin.

“Hi Haruki-kun!” Izuku’s face went from slightly uncomfortable to warm all at once, speaking to his skills with children. “Uh, I got your address from Camie-san.. I hope this isn’t too weird. Honestly, it was pretty impulsive of me but well-”

“Come in.”

“Huh?” Izuku’s green eyes were wide as they looked into his own.

“I said come in. You gonna stand out there all night or something?”

“Oh, right. Uh, thank you.”

It felt surreal watching Izuku walk past him, the faint scent of flowers passing by him from under the patches. He could only stare as Izuku took his shoes off and placed them neatly next to Haruki’s much smaller black school shoes, then made his way in.

What the fuck was happening right now?

“Sorry I haven’t checked in or anything,” Izuku said, standing awkwardly in the space between the living room and kitchen.

“Didn’t expect you to,” Katsuki muttered, speaking honestly.

Although he didn’t have much to do in the past couple of days due to the injury, there was a lot of figuring out his messed up schedule that kept him occupied.

“How’s your arm?”

“It’s a bitch,” he said, whispering the last word since Haruki was standing obediently by Izuku’s side.

The omega raised a brow as if he was saying ‘oh, that’s new’.

“I bet,” he answered instead. “So, um, I guessed that cooking would be hard for you so I made you these. They’re for you too, Haruki-kun!”

He finally moved towards the kitchen and placed a wrapped package that Katsuki didn’t even notice on the counter. Izuku unfolded it to reveal two containers that were filled with egg sandwiches, the crusts peeled off and neatly cut into halves.

“You didn’t have to,” Katsuki said, an odd feeling rising in his chest.

“I know,” Izuku chuckled while he looked around the apartment. “I mean, you can probably afford to get takeout. Plus, Camie mentioned you used to hire people to help with Haruki-kun- not that I’m criticising you for that! I can’t even imagine raising a child and working at the same time. I meant- um, I can bring these back I don’t even know what I’m doing-”

“Hey, nerd.”

“Yeah?” Izuku didn’t look back at him, didn’t even realise his use of an old nickname.

“First of all, who are you to tell me all that?” He started, but quickly continued once he saw the rising flush behind the omega’s neck. “Secondly, I fuck- freaking hate takeout. So, thank you or whatever.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, now looking back at him, shoulders dropping with relief. “Good, great. Awesome.” 

***

August was the worst month of summer in Japan, and Izuku was fanning himself with a handheld rechargeable fan, his head resting on the tatami floors of Ochaco’s house. It was one of the rare days that she was free for the entire weekend and they got to hang out, just the two of them.

Tenya was on a work trip to New York and wasn’t going to be home for a couple more days, so Izuku decided to stay over for the weekend. Although they were excited to do absolute nothing with the sweltering heat, when Izuku arrived, Ochaco was panicking about Tenya’s birthday gift that she still hadn’t figured out even if his birthday was still a couple of weeks away.

“Okay, I can’t do this anymore. I need a break,” she moaned.

“I told you, you’re overthinking this.”

“Easy for you to say!”

“Hey! What does that mean?”

“It means, you’re a terrible gift-giver.”

The words cut Izuku deeper than it should have. The first year he got back from Osaka and made a surprise appearance in front of all his friends, they were stumped. Gradually, everything fell back into place until it was birthday season.

Being gone for over two years meant that he missed a lot of milestones and achievements. Like the fact that Shouto had picked up learning to play the guitar, and while people got him a guitar case and personalised picks, Izuku was the only one who got him a generic fountain pen.

It wasn’t a massive deal to his friends, he knew, but it just made him feel left out — even if he was the one who left them in the first place. But he didn’t want to be a Debby Downer, so Izuku smiled and lightly smacked Ochaco’s knees.

“Rude.”

“I think I need to literally be put into a freezer or else I’m going to die.”

“You know who’s going to die? Me. Of embarrassment,” Izuku muttered.

“What, why?”

Izuku gave a brief account of his visit to the Bakugos. After dropping off the sandwich containers, the mortification set in and Izuku hurriedly left using some excuse like his laundry might get rained on. It was a few days since then, and he had been drowning in the disgusting feeling of cringing at yourself.

Camie gave him the address pretty willingly when he asked, and at the time he didn’t think much of it. But now as he remembered Camie's insinuations of their relationship at the hospital, Izuku wanted to strangle the other omega.

He hoped that Katsuki just overlooked the visit at a friendly drop-in from a concerned peer, because if the tables were turned, Izuku would be pretty freaked out. Though something deep in him was satisfied after the impromptu visit. He had always wondered how Katsuki was living now — not only as an adult, but as a father.

With parents like the Bakugos, Izuku wasn’t surprised at the sheer luxury of the apartment. From a quick scan, he could see there were at least three bedrooms in the apartment, speaking to the ‘family home’ status Katsuki had already found himself in. The actual apartment itself was massive, and it made Izuku’s own place look like a shoebox.

He wondered briefly what Katsuki thought the day of Izuku’s birthday. His apartment in was cramped, dark and honestly a little bit derelict-looking. It was in his budget, and Izuku was proud of himself for the purchase, but it was a little humbling looking at the marble counter-tops and massive open-plan living space.

“Okay, so what the hell were you thinking?” Ochaco asked, clearly trying to hold in her laughter.

“I don’t know!” Izuku exclaimed, covering his eyes to shield the mortification oozing out of himself. “One minute I was home, the next, I was there.”

“Oh c’mon,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’re not in a movie, no jump-cuts. Tell me for real what was going through your head.”

Izuku uncovered his eyes and saw that Ochaco was gazing at him with earnest curiosity. So, he sat up from her thigh and sat cross-legged across from her, heaving a big breath before he spoke.

“Well, I was thinking about.. Osaka.”

“Mhm,” she voiced, already used to the no-questions-asked rules about the topic. “Then?”

“Then I found myself in the kitchen, I don’t know, it was kind of like I just needed to move, y’know? To get my mind off it. Then, I started thinking about how since the accident, I haven’t really asked how he’s been going? I mean, I can tell he’s trying to make amends, so it feels kind of wrong not to reciprocate.”

“Are you willing to though?” She cocked her head. “I know I joke about the mating thing, but let’s be honest, from the little you told me Katsuki Bakugo seemed like a nightmare as a teenager.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong! He definitely was,” Izuku chuckled and scratched his ear. “I mean he’d belittle me, push me around, make me think I was less than- okay this is sounding really bad but honestly that was ages ago. He hasn’t even been present in my mind until Haruki enrolled in MSC.

“Seeing him for the first time in years might have brought back some.. turbulent emotions to say the least. But really, I know he’s not that bully anymore. This calmer version of him just needs some getting used to.”

“Huh,” Ochaco looked at him intently. “So, you felt bad since you didn’t check up after him after he got shot, which by the way is crazy, so you made him sandwiches? You. Izuku Midoriya. The worst cook in omega history?”

“Hey! We’re not just homemakers by DNA, it’s not my fault that I didn’t get that specific trait.”

“Okay, the worst cook in human history.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Look ‘zuku,” Ochaco sighed and leaned back to rest on her elbows. “He doesn’t really seem all that bad, and if it really is like you said and he’s trying to make amends, wouldn’t the visit be a good thing?”

Izuku thought about it and realised he agreed. Though he hadn’t been actively seeking Katsuki out, every step towards reconciliation had always been made by the alpha. Izuku was just kind of playing along, especially since Haruki was always there to witness their interactions.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So, about the mating thing-”

“Shut up!”

***

For two years and a bit, Izuku had lived a relatively boring life in Musutafu.

Sure, he’s had to rebuild the connections he put on pause and figure himself out. But he got there in the end, and since everything had settled, everything else about him had been pretty mundane. Although nights could give him some trouble, Izuku had slowly been putting Osaka behind him, he had bloomed into someone new, or the someone he used to be.

After his conversation with Ochaco, Izuku found the courage to reply to Bakugo’s text that was sent right after he left the apartment.

5 days ago

Katsuki Bakugo: thanks for the sandwiches, the brat likes it more than my cooking.

It took some staring at for Izuku to come with a reply, but after he did they had started texting back and forth about nonsense.

2 days ago

Izuku Midoriya: no problem! I’m glad Haruki enjoyed them ദ്ദി (ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ)

Katsuki Bakugo: they weren’t half bad

1 day ago

Izuku Midoriya: sorry! i went to bed straight after work

Katsuki Bakugo: you good?

Izuku Midoriya: yep! so you liked it too?

Katsuki Bakugo: they’re nowhere near good as the ones i make but not bad

45 minutes ago

Izuku Midoriya: phew, because I’m a terrible cook

Katsuki Bakugo: wasn’t Inko a pretty good cook?

23 minutes ago

Izuku Midoriya: yeah..

Katsuki Bakugo: so what happened to you?

Izuku Midoriya: i'm a terrible excuse for an omega haha

that was a joke (╥ ﹏ ╥)

Katsuki Bakugo: i’m not that dense

Izuku Midoriya: sorry

1 minute ago

Katsuki Bakugo: are you home?

A knock at the door interrupted his reply. Their messages were pretty sparse, but it felt nice. Almost like they were on their way to being friends again, and honestly it helped Izuku see Katsuki as just another person in his life instead of ‘Prosecutor Alpha’ or ‘Childhood Bully’.

The titles may still be true, but it would be rude to boil the blonde down to just that.

Izuku expected the man to be busy, but he guessed with the injured arm, Katsuki wouldn’t be able to do much work. It made sense that he replied so quickly all the time even if his kid was home. From what Izuku had seen, Haruki was a very independent child, likely because of his family’s circumstances — although Katsuki was spoiled in a way, he was almost hyper independent at the same time.

He shook his head and told his brain to stop thinking about these things. Otherwise, he’s no better than people’s assumptions of him. He got to the door eventually, expecting one of his neighbours, an old man who comes over with a broken appliance every other day. He was sweet, but most of the time he was just too old to properly see that the switches in his kitchen were turned off.

“Torino-san, what is-”

It wasn’t Torino who was at the door, instead it was the face that had haunted him for over two years. Every single day, the same face that once was filled with so much promise and love, which had morphed to one made of nightmares.

At first, Izuku thought his eyes were deceiving him. But there was no doubt about it, because he grew extremely acquainted with the figure on the other side of the door. The dark roots and light tips of his hair, the dry flaky skin from his eczema and the prominent eye bags that never seemed to go away no matter how much sleep Tomura got.

“What are you doing here,” Izuku asked quietly, grounding himself.

“You missed me, omega?”

“What are you doing here,” he said again, looking at the alpha from below his brows, trying his best to look threatening despite the tremor in his hands.

“Oh, grown feisty since you left, have you? Nothing much, I’m here on business but a little birdie told me you’ve moved back to little old Musutafu,” he said, looking around past Izuku’s head into the apartment. “Would be pretty rude not to say hello, wouldn’t it?”

Izuku wanted those eyes away from his home, from the thing he built for himself. Tomura spoiled everything and everyone that he touched, Izuku included. Although Izuku hadn’t fully picked up every part of himself that had shattered from the alpha’s actions, his apartment, at least, was completely unscathed.

It made him angry, almost irrationally so.

“You have no right to come here, to my home and just-”

“Just what? Show up out of nowhere, the way you left out of nowhere?”

“Out of nowhere?” Izuku scoffed. “If you think I would’ve stayed any longer, then you really really must be sick.”

“Ouch,” Tomura said, feigning offence with a cracked hand on his chest. “You know how to hurt an alpha baby boy-”

“Don’t call me-”

“Like I said, I’m just here to say hello, because unlike you I have manners ‘zu. I’ll be in the neighbourhood for a while, so I will be seeing you around.”

“Stay away from me,” Izuku said, fighting desperately to keep his voice steady. “Don’t ever come back here-”

“Or what? I thought so,” Tomura chuckled, backing away slowly. “Catch you soon, Zuzu.”

Once he walked down the street far enough for Izuku to lose sight of him, Izuku finally closed the door. It was the like all the ice in his body melted rapidly, drowning him in the fear that he was keeping at bay for those handful of minutes.

Tomura had tracked him down here, which wasn’t surprising. He should be more surprised that it took the alpha this long. It was always in the back of his mind, that he would never escape that monster, but then he just never showed up.

Izuku got too confident, felt too secure.

But there was no way that Tomura was here just for him. No, Izuku was just a play-thing for the alpha, just something small to have fun with on his days off — or at least it ended up that way. He wasn’t special enough for Tomura to go to the trouble of leaving Osaka, leaving his work and life behind.

In the beginning, Tomura was amazing, just the alpha that Izuku was looking for. The alpha didn’t force Izuku to become someone that he wasn’t, someone docile and completely dependant. So, Izuku and his omega dove headfirst into the seemingly calm alpha who acted nearly as passive as a beta. That is until he realised that was only because Tomura had some serious difficulties with empathy.

It started out slow, small changes in the rules that surrounded their relationship. The changes were never drastic enough that Izuku wrote home about it. At the most, it would just annoy him and get them into petty fights. Desperate to have a relationship that finally worked, Izuku would concede almost every time.

Looking back now, it felt like the changes happened in the blink of an eye. From being the most idealistic alpha partner, Tomura eventually became so controlling that Izuku would feel guilty about contacting anyone but his own mother. He grew scared of speaking to his friends, afraid any complaint he would make would be seen as a betrayal.

With his newfound lens into their relationship, Izuku knew he only satisfied Tomura’s urge for control. All his actions, the almost possessive obsession the alpha had over Izuku was all just a desire to exert control. It didn’t have to be Izuku.

Izuku just realised too late that he was already caught in the web, ready for the spider to engulf and consume him.

There had to be something else, some other reason Tomura decided to show up now, but at the moment, Izuku was just trying to keep his hands from shaking so much. One step at a time, he just needed to take the destruction of his newfound life one step at a time.

Chapter Text

He felt terribly for it, but Izuku called in sick for the next few days from work. Rightly so, everyone was concerned. He got texts from Camie, Nemuri and even Nezu, asking if he was okay and if they could help with anything.

It was sweet really.

In the nearly two years Izuku had been working at MSC, he had never called in sick outside of his heats — which was coming up soon anyway. The omega was hardworking to a fault, and if he did get sick, mom’s homemade soup, some warm honey water and a good nights’ sleep was enough to fix things up for him.

But this time, no remedy was near effective enough to get him out of the daze he felt trapped in. It was like an out of body experience, the way he almost reverted back to the person he was before from one simple conversation with the alpha that ruined him.

He couldn’t show up in front of the kids, not like this. Izuku cared about his job too much to jeopardise the kids and their education. Somehow, Ochaco got wind of it all and called him. He didn’t answer, of course, but he texted her that he way doing just fine, just a flu that he couldn’t seem to shake.

Inside of himself, his heart was desperate to reach out, to find comfort in his best friend and tell her about everything. Tell her that the monster that haunts his dreams was right at his front door. But his head was not in the right place, it whispered listlessly at him to crawl away, like he used to.

Although he used to be the person who always listened to his heart, one too many bad decisions made him start ignoring it. His heart led him to Tomura, his heart made him stay with Tomura and look where that got him.

It was while Izuku was buried in his covers, munching on stale chips that the knock at his door came. His body seized up, but there was still a rational part of him telling his feet to move and at least check first who it was. What if it was actually Torino-san this time? His heart was right about one thing at least — the fact that the old man really needed company outside of the trash TV he raves to Izuku about.

Through the peephole Izuku saw a flash of blonde, a familiar blonde. The tension melted away and Izuku opened the door before realising the state he was in. Dirty pyjamas, unwashed hair and his lips were probably littered with crumbs.

Too late now though.

“Hi,” Izuku greeted.

“Hey, you weren’t answering my texts.”

“Sorry-”

“I’m not saying you fucking have to or anything,” Katsuki said, his eyes flitting to and from Izuku’s own gaze. “You checked up on me so I figured I could do the same or whatever. That a problem?”

The omega nearly chuckled at the immaturity coming from the man. It was comforting, that Katsuki was being so… himself. Izuku leaned on the door frame and peeked around the hallways for any sign of the younger blonde who was usually attached to his father’s hip but found no sign of him.

“No, thank you but you really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.”

“Okay..”

“Fuck,” Katsuki tsked and ran a large hand through his spikes, messing it up briefly before it fell back into place in a way Izuku was jealous of.

“Um, where’s Haruki?”

Katsuki looked to have heaved a breath of relief, but Izuku wasn’t sure.

“With some random geezer downstairs, you know him?”

“Katsuki!” Izuku admonished. “Yes, I do in fact know that ‘random geezer’. Why you’d leave your child with a stranger in the first place is beyond me.”

“Whatever,” Katsuki rolled his eyes, but looked around as if what Izuku said was actually making sense to him. “Nah, he seemed harmless, I would’ve scented it if he wasn’t.”

“Sure..”

“Fuck, that’s besides the damn point nerd.”

“Nerd?” Izuku raised one brow at the name that younger-Katsuki was so fond of.

Izuku never really minded the nickname, even when he was younger and filled with so much jealousy and awe for the same time. Truth be told, it never stung like it was meant to because even if Izuku was a nerd, so was Katsuki. To his younger self, it was almost as if the blonde was acknowledging their shared fondness for the volumes of comic books that littered their childhood bedrooms.

Looking back now, maybe there was some merit in the imprinting theory. With their fraught relationship mellowing out, Izuku hadn’t had any recent bad experiences with Katsuki’s scent — it wasn’t like Izuku was going to ask Katsuki to overscent him right then and there.

“Yeah, nerd. Been calling you that the past couple of times and you only decide to mind now?”

“Oh, I-”

“You hungry?”

He was just mid-snacking, but Izuku was not going to say no to a proper meal. Really, he could’ve taken himself out to eat, but he felt more ready to leave his house now. Inside, he unwillingly realised that it was because there was an alpha in his presence. His omega felt safe, protected; if there was a threat, there was an alpha there to make sure he was okay.

In any other circumstance Izuku would have shut that thought down, but he knew himself, and just how scared he was of Tomura. He wouldn’t let that bastard alpha hurt him, but Izuku knew how he could… break. So, for now, he welcomed the safety net.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, sorry,” Izuku muttered, heat rising up to his cheeks when he realised he was emitting a faint scent of distress. “Don’t worry about it.”

Katsuki looked around once more and took a step closer to Izuku. Lost in his own qualms about their dynamic an whatnot, he never got to take the blonde in. Although autumn was slowly beginning to settle in, it was still warm during the day. Katsuki was dressed in dark brown boat shoes, an airy linen top and nearly matching pants.

Now that he was closer, Izuku didn’t get a whiff of his scent, but Katsuki’s cologne instead. It was musky, and objectively nice. But he was surprised to find out that he’d much rather smell the deep cinnamon and nutmeg of the alpha.

“Look, I might not know you as well as I did before, but I damn well know you wouldn’t take a sick day if you weren’t on death’s door — and you look pretty fucking fine. So, spill, what’s wrong.”

“I-”

“Don’t lie to me,” Katsuki said softly, without a trace of malice. “If you don’t wanna tell me, I get it. Who the fuck am I to dig deep or whatever the fuck, but you have my damn number, yeah? I know people, so just, don’t fucking hesitate to call.”

“You know people?” Izuku said with a smirk, desperate to lighten the mood.

“The police, you idiot.”

“Ah,” Izuku chuckled. “You know, you can be kinda sweet.”

“Hah?”

“Seriously, you’ve really changed.”

“Huh,” Katsuki smiled slightly. “Well, I got the brat somehow, didn’t I?”

Izuku stilled. He felt like an idiot.

“Yeah,” he chuckled instead. “Um, I’ll go get ready?”

“Uh, yeah.”

***

Katsuki felt like a fucking idiot.

Did he really just insinuate to Izuku.. Izuku out of everyone that he had schmoozed Haruki’s dam with his new dazzling personality? Way to make an omega feel awkward, heck, it made something crawl up his own spine.

Thankfully Izuku fled the scene, because Katsuki sure as hell wasn’t going to do it. Instead, he waited until the omega’s footprints were faint enough to go back downstairs and fetch the kid. Expectedly, the brat was fine and hanging off the poor neighbour’s back in a manoeuvre that Katsuki didn’t think was good for the gramp’s hip replacement.

“Hey, the hell do you think you’re doing brat!”

“Daddy look! Torino jii-chan says he can squat me!”

“I’m sure he can, but your sensei is getting ready so it’s time to go.”

“Okay,” the boy said with a pout and got off the old man’s back way too quickly for Katsuki liking. “Can I come visit you again, jii-chan?”

“Whenever, boy! You both here for Midoriya?”

“Uh, yeah, he said he knows you?” Katsuki replied

“He’s an angel, that one. Helps me every damn time- I can help myself just fine so you know.”

“Yeah gramps, I’m sure.”

The furry-browed man gave Katsuki a disbelieving stare.

“Katsuski?” He heard the nerd call from upstairs.

“That’s my cue, see ya gramps.”

***

With having a child comes the unending requests for sweets, snacks and general random paraphernalia. Izuku didn’t know where Katsuki was taking him, but after being in the car for only five minutes, Haruki began whining more than usual.

The boy was normally so even-tempered that Izuku would forget just who’s child he is, but at times like this he is reminded. Unexpectedly, Katsuki was a bit of a pushover with his kid. Izuku assumed it was because of their past and how much the alpha was looking to atone — not just to Izuku, but it appears to his kid as well.

“Okay, okay, pipe down brat. I said we were going, didn’t I?” Katsuki said from the driver’s seat.

“You promised me yesterday! And the day before, and the day before that!”

“Damnit kid, I literally got an arm and a half to work with, cut me some slack will you?”

Izuku chuckled at the rare show of defeat from Katsuki. Although the alpha’s face was frozen in a snarl and his hands were tight around the steering wheel, it didn’t take much experience with parents to see just how he would give Haruki the world if the boy asked for it.

“Can’t you control the brat?”

“Hmm?” Izuku hummed and smiled genuinely. “Oh no, it’s after hours. He’s exclusively your responsibility papa.”

From his peripheral vision, Izuku could tell that Katsuki was looking at him. But his view didn’t reach far enough to tell what expression he had on. Izuku could guess it was one of annoyance at his teasing.

He didn’t know when it started, but Izuku had begun feeling comfortable around Katsuki. Enough that he wasn’t scared or uncomfortable making fun in this way, casually teasing the alpha like they were old friends (technically they are, but Izuku’s head hurt thinking about it). If only Ochaco and Camie could see them now, he wouldn’t be able to hear the end of it.

They parked with alarming speed and made their way in the supermarket.

Haruki was apparently still upset at his dad, so instead of Katsuki’s, the boy latched on immediately to Izuku’s hand. Not wanting to meddle too much, Izuku just let it happen. Besides, it didn’t seem like Katsuki minded since he didn’t comment.

“This is a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?” Izuku asked as he stared into the blinding lights of the dairy fridge.

Katsuki was beside him, helplessly scouring the aisle for the exact chocolate milk he apparently promised his son a few days ago, but never delivered on. The alpha spared a look to his left and cocked a brow in question.

“That my kid is having a tantrum over milk at 5 years old? Yeah, pretty damn ridiculous.”

“No, not that,” Izuku chuckled, and smiled at the tightening of Haruki’s small hand in his. “I’m your son’s teacher, yet here we are. You have to admit, it is a little unconventional.”

Katsuki shot him a cryptic look then turned his gaze back to the fridge of cold drinks that his son was eyeing up and down, left and right. He spoke, softly enough that Izuku could hear but not so loud that Haruki in his daze could capture.

“I’ve known you all my life, nerd. It’s not weird at all.”

Izuku supposed it was right, and before he realised it, he was smiling to himself. Not because of what Katsuki said, but possibly because he could feel something bridging between them. Not the rekindling of the friendship that once was, but whatever was burned was slowly starting to put itself back together again.

They weren’t strangers anymore, that was for sure.

Katsuki left it at that, and so did Izuku. The alpha took another look at the plethora of options before him and chose a chocolate milk bottle with colourful pictures from the most recent action movie. No doubt something that Haruki had enjoyed. He gave the bottle to the little boy and hopefully said, “Here, brat. We good now?”

Instead of the calm that both adults expected to have followed, Haruki took one look at the bottle and burst into tears. Katsuki was so shocked that he retracted his hand, and even Izuku had to hold back a gasp in surprise.

“That’s not the one I want!”

“Then which one do you want! I can’t read your mind!”

“You’re the worst! I told you I wanted strawberry milkshake that we had a week ago! I told you, I told you!”

“What?” Katsuki ran his fingers through his hair with his good hand after putting the chocolate milk down. “You should’ve damn well said, ‘cause they don’t have that here!”

“You should’ve known,” Haruki countered in between sobs.

Katsuki shot a pleading look at Izuku, and in a moment of weakness, he sighed and bent down to the child.

“Hey there, what’s wrong, hm?”

The boy was wracked with sobs, and it took him a few tries before he wiped the snot from his nose and could respond to Izuku’s question.

“Daddy gave me a strawberry milk.. and he promised me he’d buy more. But its been a week and he still hasn’t..”

“Oh, I see,” Izuku looked up at Katsuki and nearly giggled at the guilty but perplexed look on the man’s face. But without any instruction to stop, Izuku kept going. “Have you asked him again for the milk, Haruki-kun?”

“No..”

“Why not?”

“Cuz..”

“Because..?”

“Daddy was sick, and he’s busy, and I’m not a baby.”

“But you still wanted the milk didn’t you?”

“Kid-”

Izuku’s glare shut him up straight away, but in an instant he regretted it. It might have been his scent patches or some sort of blocker, but Izuku had belatedly realised that he couldn’t smell Katsuki at all.. until then.

Although the alpha’s face was a mask of calm composure, the scent that carried its way to Izuku’s nose was filled with panic. It made the cinnamon undertones of Katsuki’s scent too strong, too sour — he felt like an idiot, of course the single dad would have trouble with his kid. Izuku never expected parents to be perfectly competent.

Most of the times, household with both parents present, and even some additional help from siblings and friends, were sorely misguided in raising children. Katsuki had little to no help (Izuku was sure it was his own stubbornness’ doing) and he was working full-time on top of that.

While he was in Osaka, stuck in a cycle of lonesomeness, Izuku often turned to the internet for company. He didn’t talk to people, but the rabbit hole of threads would pull him in. Particularly those about omega issues that he had turned a blind eye to most of his life from his own feelings of inadequacy and imposter-syndrome.

They were filled with ramblings of single-omega parents, or omegas with alphas who firmly believed that ‘nurturing’ was only an omega’s job description alone. They went on and on how much of a toll a child took on their wellbeing, physically and mentally.

Stuck in an echo chamber for so long, Izuku forgot that technically, Katsuki could share those people’s complaints. It was rare to find a single-alpha parent, when custody battles were involved, omegas almost always won the battle. Whether that was a good or bad thing is yet to be seen.

So, instead of snapping at the blonde, Izuku took a breath and looked back down at the distressed child. He took Haruki’s hands in his own and looked into his eyes, smiling as genuinely as he could.

“Hey, you’ve used your words. What did I say about using your words when you’re feeling upset?”

“That- that its smart because it solves problems faster.”

“Good job,” Izuku tilted his head. “How about we make a deal hm? I’ll carry you so you don’t have to hurt your neck and we’ll look for that strawberry milk together. Because what else is important when we’re solving problems?”

“Teamwork?”

“If we were in class, I’d give you a gold star and a gummy worm!”

Haruki almost smiled at that, but his cheeks were still ruddy and his nose completely blocked from all the crying. Izuku stood up to his full height, which wasn’t much, and spread his arms. Haruki took the cue and latched on — with a dramatised heave, Izuku pulled Haruki up and carried the pretty heavy child to scan the milk aisle.

While the boy’s eyes scanned to and fro, Izuku gave Katsuki a look that asked is this okay?

The alpha nodded, and to Izuku’s pleasure, smelled much calmer.

“Oh, look at that, what a cute kid!”

“Ugh, typical.”

Izuku and Katsuki tuned their heads to the speakers in tandem. Two ladies standing in front of the cheeses were sparing no niceties by pretending not to stare. One was gushing at Haruki while the other, who was holding a basket filled with produce, looked to Katsuki in distaste.

“Alphas are always so spoiled,” basket-lady said, toning her voice down to a sorry excuse of a whisper. “They’re both men too!”

“Oh hush,” the other replied, looking away from Katsuki. “You know how it is. Does Kendo ever feed Mari? Didn’t think so.”

“Yeah, because he’s terrible at it. If he’s ever feeding her, I end up with twice the amount of laundry. Might as well do it myself.”

“And he spoils you rotten!” her friend replied, elbowing her playfully in the side. “Look at that alpha, I mean how much would his watch cost alone? I bet his omega is happy with giving a whole tribe’s worth of pups with that sort of back account backing him up.”

“True,” basket-lady snickered. “C’mon, I think I need some more yoghurt for the kids.”

Although they were both aware of it, Izuku and Katsuki refused to look at each other, uncomfortable at the insinuation of a conversation between two strangers. Did they really look like a couple? Izuku rationalised that he was carrying a child that looked like a carbon copy of the alpha next to him.

But he didn’t wear a ring, smelled the same, and Katsuki was giving him a wide berth. But people saw an alpha and omega together at a grocery store, and their minds would naturally come up with one conclusion.

A few moments passed, but it felt like an awkwardly long time until Izuku looked to Katsuki to find the man already staring back at him.

“Sorry-”

“Don’t bother, ain’t for you to apologise.”

“Oh,” he said, surprised at Katsuki’s thoughtfulness.

Katsuki rolled his eyes, as if he knew that Izuku was taken aback and said, “People love talking smack. I’m a single dad living in Musutafu, people talk like they think I’m deaf all the damn time. It drove me fucking nuts and I’d tell them to shut their traps before I did it for them. But it didn’t stop, so I ignored the fuckers. Realised that people ain’t got nothing better to do than gossip about a stranger.”

“I didn’t know,” Izuku said honestly. “That must be annoying.”

“You get used to it,” he replied with a shrug.

There was a shared, silent, victory cheer between the two men once Haruki finally got his strawberry milk and morphed back into the sweet angel Izuku was used to. Wanting to preserve his mood, Katsuki checked out the milk in lightning speed and led the way back to the car.

They drove in silence with their windows down with only the sound of the engine and the wind surrounding them. Izuku was already caught by surprise at the pair’s appearance, so he didn’t ask any questions on where they were going.

After a few minutes, the streets became faintly familiar. Like Izuku had been there before but was asleep for half the journey. Tall buildings surrounded the streets, telling him plainly that the people who lived in the area were in a completely different tax bracket than he was. Where Izuku lived was littered with squat flats, rusted vending machines and late-night ramen shops.

Katsuki took a left turn and they drove down a dark tunnel into a parking lot.

“Home sweet home.”

“Did you need to change?”

“Nah, I’m cooking for you nerd.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, both apprehensive and delighted at the same time. “I- thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, cause you’re helping.”

***

The last time Izuku was here, it was rushed and awkward.

Now, Katsuki nearly scoffed when the omega dutifully took off his shoes without prompting and was dragged by Haruki to their slippers basket to take one for himself. Of course none of Haruki’s would fit him, but Izuku looked equally as ridiculous in Katsuki’s slippers, as if he were wearing clown shoes, the back of the slippers smacking on the floor with every step he took.

He wasn’t lying about needing help, because here wasn’t much you could do with one hand out of commission. At the same time, Katsuki was secretly glad he could spend some time with Izuku. The childhood friend turned stranger turned acquaintance was closed off, more so than Katsuki ever remembered him being.

The Izuku of their childhood was an open book — he was earnest, and wore his feelings on his sleeve so plainly that Katsuki bullied him for it. He cried when he was sad, but also smiled so bright it looked his cheeks were stretched past its limit. There was none of that frankness now, only polite smiles and avoidant gazes.

If he was honest with himself, Katsuki was curious. Maybe is was the prosecutor in him; Izuku was a new puzzle, a new matter, a new case, that he needed to solve. What happened to him? It would be too presumptuous to ask.

The very least Katsuki could do was figure out what was going on right now. Since Haruki said that Izuku called in sick, Katsuki was not too worried. But then out of nowhere, Ochaco called him asking about the omega. Ochaco was his best friend, so if she had to ask Katsuki out of all people, something was definitely wrong.

Showing up at his door only proved his theory.

The omega had greeted them with swollen eyes and deadpan stare that he shook off just a second too slow. It was only a few hours ago, but looking at Izuku now getting dragged along by Haruki across the apartment showed him that the omega hadn’t changed that much — something was eating away at him, but not enough to erase the bubbly boy from down the street.

“C’mon brat, we gotta make lunch. Izuku, you’re the guest, what do you wanna have?”

“Uh,” he replied. “I really don’t wanna bother you, I thought we were going out to eat or something, really anything is fine.”

“Sensei! My dad is like a chef, trust me!”

Izuku looked down at his son with a troubled expression.

“Look, nerd. I’ve been eating instant noodles and bento boxes for the past week and I’m fucking sick of it. Now I got three hands instead of one, I’m eating some real food. So, you’re doing me a damn favour by just picking something.”

“Okay, okay,” Izuku said, giving in to them both. “Maybe some katsudon?”

Katsuki raised his eyebrows which said ‘seriously?’ but he didn’t comment, just nodded and waved Izuku over. Haruki came along, trailing behind him like the teacher’s pet he is. With curt efficiency, Katsuki went over all the ingredients and steps to make the perfect katsudon — rich and umami.

“Your mom never teach you how to cut onions?” Katsuki said, feeling like his eyes were deceiving him at the sight of Izuku’s posture while handling a very sharp kitchen knife.

“I- no.”

“You gotta hold the knife straight and close to the onion, otherwise you’re just gonna end up cutting your damn finger. Yeah- no not like that- closer, closer!”

“You’re too close,” Izuku said quietly, his hand stilling.

While scrutinising Izuku’s knife skills, Katsuki hadn’t realised that he was walking closer and closer to the point that he was one step away from being pressed to Izuku’s back. The memory of overscenting Izuku in the not so far past came rushing back. Not to mention, the distinct memory of a well-placed slap to his cheek.

The reminder was enough for him to back away almost instantly.

“Sorry.”

“No,” Izuku turned back and looked at him sheepishly. “That came off wrong, I mean, you’re making me nervous. You’re like, Gordon Ramsay or something.”

“Yeah, for fucking good reason,” he muttered.

The rest of the cooking went well enough after they somehow got not-so-uniform strips of onion to add to the omelette. By the time the food was done, they sat around the four-person table and ate in companionable silence.

In between bites, Katsuki would look up at Izuku, who was so engrossed in his food that the guy barely realised the faces he was making. It was hilarious, his cheeks were puffed up from not chewing his damn food fast enough and his hands were bunched into fists from excitement? The spiciness? Either way, the smell of pleased florals made its way to Katsuki, and he didn’t hold back his small smirk of satisfaction.