Chapter Text
Katsuki loved being an omega, for the most part. It usually made him feel powerful to know he was able to wrap any alpha around his finger and make them do whatever he wanted, just because he was an omega. It made his sex life pretty damn convenient too, because he never actually had to do anything special or try too hard, he always had people running after him and practically begging to be allowed to fuck him.
Being an omega in a society full of betas and dumbass alphas was fucking great. Mostly. There were some downsides to it, though. The biggest downside for Katsuki were the prying questions of strangers and family and the expectation for him to want to submit to his basic urges, which was just a load of bullshit. Katsuki never thought of himself as a person who settled for the conventional; he wasn’t interested in settling down or mating with someone or having kids. He didn’t do dating or courting or any of the other bullshit people expected him to want just because he was an omega. Someone trying to actually court him was the biggest fucking red flag there was for him, and it was usually his sign to get the fuck out of whatever arrangement he had with that person.
He had his entire life planned out and dating wasn’t anywhere near the top of his list of priorities. Sure, he liked sex and the occassional hookup because he didn’t want his hormones to go haywire; heats were inconvenient enough on their own and he wasn’t about to make them harder on his body by spending them without a knot. But just because he sometimes liked to have a little fun with strangers, didn’t mean he was interested in anything serious . He was perfectly content being by himself and working his way to the top of the hero charts, and he didn’t need any damn alpha in his life. No matter what anyone thought of that.
Katsuki’s life was perfect just the way it was and he didn’t have any interest in conforming to society’s delusions about what an omega was supposed to be or want or do. He knew he’d never be interested in any of that; there was no spark inside him that told him to mate with the alpha who always checked him out at the agency, no baby fever that everyone around him seemed to get as soon as they hit the baby birthing age, no void in in his chest that needed filling. There was nothing inside of him that craved the hassle of having a mate or a family or anything other than a successful hero career that would land him in the history books as the first omega to get the #1 hero title. Nothing at all.
So how the hell did he find himself sitting on his bathroom floor with a bloody, throbbing mating bite on the side of his neck?
When he first saw the thing in the mirror that morning he thought he must be hallucinating or he was still drunk from last night, or maybe he was having a nervous breakdown from work stress. Anything seemed like a more plausible solution than the idea that someone actually mated him.
He gingerly touched the grouseome looking thing and hissed, immediately moving his fingers away from the wound. That shit was looking infected but it hurt too much for Katsuki to clean it properly without making himself dizzy. He stole another glance in the small hand mirror that was laying on the floor next to him and saw his own face frowning back at him with judgment in his eyes. It was like the look on his face was saying great job, asshole, now look what you did .
It wasn’t like Katsuki ever expected for one of his drunken hookups to end up this way. He was always careful, he never slept with random strangers during his heat and most importantly — he always wore his collar when he went out! So how the fuck did some dumbass manage to get their chompers into his neck despite it? And where the fuck did his collar even end up?
The first thing he needed to do was stop freaking the fuck out. That was a lot easier said than done though, because he honestly never found himself in a situation like this before and he had no idea how to handle it. But he was a hero, for fuck’s sake. Being good in a crisis was part of the job description. Only, usually it wasn’t his crisis he was having to deal with, and that, he realized, was something he wasn’t equipped to do in the least. For one, he was still on the floor in his bathroom, his body thoroughly unwilling to move. He thought about getting up but then it seemed like way too much effort, so he just stayed there leaning against the cold tiles. As hard as he tried to rack his brain for any kind of recollection of when or how this might have happened, he was coming up blank and with even more questions than he had in the beginning.
All the questions he had were making his head spin, but he knew he wasn’t gonna find any answers to them sitting on the bathroom floor. And there was only one place he could even go to even begin trying to understand what the hell happened last night.
“Fucking hell.” He muttered into his chin. This was gonna hurt even more than the stupid mating bite did.
Once he finally managed to force himself to get up off the floor – and that was a lot easier once the hard tile started becoming uncomfortable and he realized there was something sticky on the floor he didn’t even want to try to identify – he cleaned the mating bite wound as gently and with as much disinfectant as he could. Once the dried up blood – and what Katsuki could only assume was drool – was wiped away, the thing didn’t look as bad anymore. It was definitely fresh though, which ruled out the possibility that Katsuki had been passed out for more than a few hours. Now there was at least one thing he was certain of, and that was that whatever happened took place sometime last night.
Wonderful.
With one last glare at the mirror, he turned on his heel and trudged out of the bathroom in search of his apparently discarded clothes. His outfit from last night was strewn all over the place and it made Katsuki wonder just what the hell kind of state he had been in when he got home. He found his shirt thrown over the back of the couch, along with a single shoe shoved under the coffee table. His other shoe was laying neatly in the middle of the hallway, and his pants were a little away from it. Katsuki reached for them and patted the pockets, breathing a sigh of relief when his phone fell into his hand.
Of course it was dead. Why did he even bother expecting anything different?
With another annoyed groan he made his way to the bedroom where his phone charger was waiting obediently in the outlet next to his bed. That was a bad decision to be reprimanded on another day, though. While he waited for his useless phone to power up again, he tried to retrace his steps from last night. He remembered going to a club that looked dingy and sketchy from the outside, but was actually quite nice on the inside. He remembered dancing and grinding against someone or something – it could have been a person or a plant pot for all he remembered – and he remembered hot lips on his and large hands on his hips and everything else was blank.
Jesus. Did he seriously drink that much?
He realized his phone finally turned on when it started chiming like crazy in his hand. He was almost afraid to look but he knew he couldn’t ignore it now – the list of unread messages and missed calls was intimidating to look through and the tone of each new message he got from last night ranged from reasonably polite to complete profanity as the hours with no reply dragged on. Shit. With not much choice but to finally return all those missed calls, he unlocked his phone and cleared his overflowing notifications, then finally pressed the call button.
It only took two rings before the other line picked up and Camie’s condescending voice pounded on Katsuki’s head. “Where the hell were you?” She demanded and then continued speaking without letting him reply. “I was worried sick , you lowlife asshole! I was a second away from calling the police!” She shouted.
Katsuki scoffed. “I doubt that.” He muttered, quietly enough that maybe she wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t breathing right into the speaker.
“I so was gonna do it. Like, right after my manicure.” Katsuki could practically hear the pout in her voice.
“Your concern is touching.” He said, knowing she wouldn’t detect the sarcasm or wouldn’t care enough to point it out. “Whatever, I made it home. I need you to come over, though.” He said and then stopped to think about how to continue. This wasn’t really news he wanted to give her over the phone, but he wasn’t sure what other choice he had except to be honest right now. “I’m sort of blanking on what happened last night, I need you to fill me in.”
“Oh?” Camie hummed; Katsuki could imagine her checking out her stupid manicured nails and only half listening to him. “Well what’s the last thing you remember?” She asked, only sounding half interested in his problems. Fucking bitch.
“I don’t remember anything, you moron. Just come over.” Katsuki snapped and hung up the phone before she could respond. At least that way she wouldn’t have a choice but to listen to him and come over here.
Hopefully.
Waiting for Camie to come by was absolute fucking torture because all Katsuki could do was sit around and mope and be pissy about his predicament. That, and try to remember what the hell actually happened last night. Not that he was having much luck with it. Just as he was about to pick up his phone and call Camie to yell at her, his doorbell rang and startled him into movement. His body moved without his permission to the door and as he walked around the huge mess in the apartment, he realized he could have used the time waiting around for Camie to actually clean up a bit.
As soon as he opened the door he was hit with such a heavy scent that he almost puked. “Alright, what’s this big emergency?” Camie asked dramatically. Katsuki scrunched his nose and grimaced.
“What the fuck is that smell?” He asked instead of answering her question. “You smell like a unicorn puked all over you.” He said and then gagged for dramatic effect.
Camie rolled her eyes but didn’t comment. Katsuki could only assume she was probably wearing some unnecessarily overpriced perfume and was offended he thought it smelled like unicorn puke. “Did you, like, call me here to be a bitch? Cause you could have done that over the phone, fam.”
“No, dumbass.” Katsuki said through gritted teeth. “I told you, I don’t remember what happened last night. I need you to fill me in. Did I go off with someone or some shit?”
“Why are you–” Camie started and then stopped and Katsuki watched as her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She zeroed in on his neck and stared at him in shock for a full minute. Oh. Crap. “You got hitched ?” She screamed and scrambled to get a hold of him and get a better look. Katsuki wrestled himself out of her grip with a groan.
“I did not get– will you stop talking like a moron?” He snapped. “I don’t know where the fuck that came from.” He said.
Camie was too busy observing the bruise on his neck – from a relative distance – to pay attention to what he was saying. Katsuki was starting to consider smacking her over the head with his fist when she finally leaned away from him.
“Well, I’m assuming it came from someone with a good set of chompers. I mean just look at that thing!” She exclaimed delightedly. “Looks like you got mauled by some feral animal.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Can you stop being a weirdo for one second and help me out here?” He said through gritted teeth. “I have no idea how this -” he gestured frantically at his neck, careful not to actually touch the wound, “happened! Did you see me leave with anyone last night?”
Camie pursed her lips and then slowly eased herself down onto the couch. “Well, I did see you go off to the dance floor after some girl.” She said thoughtfully. “I turned around for one second to grab my drink and you were, like, totally gone.”
“That’s it?” Katsuki asked. He was starting to feel like this was hopeless after all. “I just went off with some girl?”
Camie shrugged, looking apologetic. “I tried looking for you but the place was pretty packed. When I couldn’t find you on the dance floor later and you didn’t answer my calls I figured you ditched me to go hook up with someone.”
It seemed reasonable enough, but it wasn’t very helpful in the situation. Because Katsuki wasn’t any closer to figuring out who exactly he went with and where, and all he had to go on now that he apparently danced with some girl. He still didn’t even know who she was or if she was the one who bit him.
“I mean, it’s gotta be an alpha, right?” Camie said after a while. “That at least narrows it down a bit.”
“Yeah, to like a thousand people!” Katsuki groaned in exasperation. But she did have a point. If he wanted to try and find whoever did this, at least he knew he was looking for an alpha. The question of who , exactly, the alpha that claimed him was still didn’t bring anything up in his mind, though. “God, this is a fucking disaster.” He groaned and threw himself back on the couch next to Camie.
He saw her reach out like she wanted to touch him and comfort him but then seemed to decide against it. Katsuki kind of hated her for it. He could have used some comfort right now, but there was no way in hell he would actually ask for it.
“Fine. Okay. It’s not a big deal.” He said half-heartedly. “All we gotta do is go back to that stupid club and figure out who I was with. Someone had to have seen something.”
“Um, Kat, you’re forgetting something.” Camie said slowly. Katsuki glared at her but didn’t say anything. What the hell could he be forgetting? “You’re a public figure, smart guy. You can’t go walking around asking people if they claimed you.” She pointed out.
Fuck.
How the hell could he not have realized that? He was a hero ! A top hero, at that. He couldn’t go around with a fresh mating bite and no mate, that would ruin his reputation and any chance he had of ever breaking the top charts. Fuck . This could not be happening.
“Shit.” He muttered under his breath. “You’re right.” But if he couldn’t go looking for the person who claimed him, what the hell else was he supposed to do? Yes, if word got out that pro hero Dynamight had a little too much fun on his night out and got himself mated when he was drunk, it would surely ruin him. And it wouldn’t just take him down, either. Katsuki could already see the headlines questioning if omegas were fit to be heroes, if they could be trusted with the duty to protect people if stuff like this happened to them. Crap. “Well what the fuck am I supposed to do then?” He asked. “Just pretend like this isn’t a thing?”
Camie looked at him helplessly and shrugged again. “Maybe just try to hide it for a while. Take a leave of absence for a few days and see if you can figure this thing out.” She suggested. Katsuki really hated that she was being the voice of reason in this situation. It felt like his entire existence had been flipped upside down. “If you can’t then we’ll ask someone for help.”
She didn’t say what asking for help actually meant, but Katsuki could fill in the blank for himself. If shit really hit the fan with this, he’d probably have to find someone to pretend to be his mate. Somehow that option sounded even worse than letting his hero career take a hit over this. He knew already that there was no way in hell he would get someone else involved in this. He was determined to find whoever did this to him and make them pay for it, he just had to figure out he was gonna do that first.
“Just keep your mouth shut about this.” He sighed after a while of sitting in heavy silence. “I’ll handle it. Somehow.”
“Please.” Camie scoffed. “This is way too juicy to spill it already. I’ll keep this to myself and hold it over your head when I need a favor.” Katsuki could tell she was joking and surprisingly, it actually made him feel a little better. Knowing that she wasn’t judging him and that he actually had someone in his corner during all this helped ease his mind a bit.
For some reason Katsuki expected the solution to his situation to just fall into his lap without him having to do anything. He had convinced himself that if he just stayed put, he would either remember what the hell happened to him or whatever idiot did this would just show up at his front door and announce who they were. But no such luck.
An entire week after Katsuki woke up drunk and woozy and with some asshole’s claiming bite on his neck, he was still no closer to figuring out the situation and now he had a completely different problem to worry about. He wasn’t sure how to explain it, so he didn’t even want to bring it up with anybody, but he felt weird – weird in a way that left his body tingly and weak and made him unsteady on his feet. He didn’t feel sick , exactly, but it was like he kept breaking out in fever and then as quickly as it came, it would go away again. On top of that, his joints were achy and he was cranky, but even worse; he was moody . And not the kind of moody that usually had him yelling at the interns at the agency or throwing a stack of papers into the shredding machine without looking at what they were. No, this was the kind of moody that left him curled up on the couch with his knees against his chest and a blanket over his head, and an empty box of tissues next to him.
Even weirder than all of that was the fact that he smelled differently. It was like his scent changed, but he could still detect traces of himself in it, only now it was mixed with something unfamiliar yet at the same time comforting. But that new unfamiliar scent made him feel even shittier and moodier.
It was absolutely fucking pathetic. Privately, he was glad that he actually listened to Camie and took the time off from work so he could wallow in whatever the hell this was. But when the mood swings and the weird flu symptoms persisted for more than two days, he was starting to get suspicious that he might have actually caught something.
“Maybe it’s an STD.” Camie said evenly when Katsuki finally caved and admitted to her that he wasn’t feeling well.
“You’re an STD.” He shot back lamely from under his pile of blankets on the couch.
He made a half assed attempt to make himself a nest in the living room because that way everything he needed would be closer, but the nest, like everything else, just felt wrong . Something was missing from it and no matter how much Katsuki tried to figure out what, he just couldn’t find it. He had scented clothes from his parents as well as the idiots who insisted on hanging out with him, all of his favorite blankets and pillows and the stuffed bunny he’s had since he was little. Everything he could possibly want and need in his nest was there and yet something was still not right with it.
Camie just shrugged at his stupid comeback but at least she had the good sense not to comment on it. She had offered to make Katsuki a proper nest that he might actually enjoy, but the thought of someone else doing it for him made Katsuki feel physically sick.
“Well, what could it be?” Camie asked. “Maybe you’re just, like, sick or something.”
“It feels… It doesn’t feel like a regular sickness. I never felt this crappy before in my life.” Katsuki mumbled. He felt weak and helpless and pathetic, and it was all made even worse by the stupid mood swings and intrusive thoughts convincing him that he deserved to feel this shitty.
“Do you think it has something to do with your new tramp stamp?” Camie’s insistence on calling his mating mark a tramp stamp made Katsuki roll his eyes the first few times, but at this point he wanted to wring her neck for it. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt protective over the bite mark. Shit. He was really losing it.
“Why the hell would it have anything to do with that?” He scoffed. But it would be a lie to say he hasn’t thought about it – the timing was too convenient to be a coincidence, although Katsuki has never heard of anyone getting sick because of a mating bond.
Camie shrugged again; Katsuki wanted to snap and ask if that was all she knew how to do but he held his tongue. At least she was here, unlike anyone else. Not that anyone else knew about this whole shit show, but still.
“I dunno? It’s a little too convenient, isn’t it?” She asked. “You get some hunk to chomp on your neck and a week later your body is all wacked out. That doesn’t seem weird to you?”
It did. And Katsuki knew that whatever was happening to him was probably caused by the mating mark, he just didn’t want to admit it to himself. Because he knew this wasn’t normal and after all this time he was still no closer to remembering what happened the night he got the bite. Which meant he was no closer to figuring out how to stop himself from feeling so sick.
“Whatever.” He muttered dejectedly and moved to bury himself back in his blanket cocoon. He was just gonna wait this shit out. It had to go away eventually, he was just a little sick. It wasn’t a big deal.
He heard Camie heave a loud sigh and then there was shuffling next to him and then his blanket was being taken away. Katsuki made a grab for it but Camie ripped it out of his reach and off of him before he could even blink.
“Hey, what the fuck.” He growled at her. “Give that back, I was cuddling with it.” Shit. What the fuck was he even saying anymore?
Camie rolled her eyes and threw the blanket aside like it offended her. “You’ll cuddle later, we’re going out.” She announced.
Katsuki blinked at her like she was crazy. “Are you crazy?” He asked. “I’m not going out like this, I feel like shit.”
“You look like it too.” Camie supplied helpfully. Katsuki wanted to hit her with a pillow but it seemed like too much effort to reach for one. “We’re just gonna go to the store, you big baby. If you’re gonna be sick, you’ll need some supplies for it.” She said, “And don’t even think about telling me to go by myself, cause it’s not happening.”
Katsuki glared at her weakly, but eventually he sighed and pushed himself up. He didn’t have the energy to fight her on this, so he might as well just get it over with.
If Katsuki thought he hated grocery shopping on a good day, it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now. His knees were wobbly and he was barely catching his breath underneath the mask he was wearing. Camie made the trip a lot more bearable though, which was surprising. She mostly took care of picking out the snacks and groceries while Katsuki just walked behind her and pushed the shopping cart. Sure, it was annoying, but at least he didn’t have to think and he could rest his eyes every now and then.
It felt like hours had passed since they walked into the grocery store though, and Katsuki’s body was starting to complain; his back felt like an old creaky staircase and the pops his spine was making as he stretched matched the feeling. “Are we fucking done yet?” He groaned as Camie picked up all their grocery bags from the register.
“Sure.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, you big wuss.”
Katsuki wanted to tell her off because she had no fucking idea how tired he felt after this. It was like he just climbed a mountain and all he did was walk across the damn parking lot. He decided to save the little breath he had left though and said nothing. He could snap at her when he was back home in his nest. While Katsuki was busy coming up with colorful ways to tell Camie to shove her attitude, she stopped in her tracks and he almost collided with her back.
“Hey.” She said thoughtfully. “What are you staring at?”
It took him until Camie said those words to realize that he really was staring at something. Katsuki blinked to allow his vision to clear a little and properly looked at what was in front of them. For some reason he had expected to see a person standing there, rather than a shabby little building. He didn't want to admit to himself that maybe he was actually a little hopeful he just found his mysterious mate, only to be slapped with the biggest disappointment of his life when all he found glaring back at him from across the street was a manga shop.
"You wanna get something to read?" Camie's words snapped him out of his haze. He looked over at her but he didn't feel like he was really seeing her. When he turned back to the manga store he felt like he was being mocked by the peeled off M and the wide open door inviting people in. Or maybe he was just fucking delusional now.
Katsuki pursed his lips. All he wanted to do right then was lay down in his nest and wallow, and maybe take a nap. But something about this place made a weird feeling creep up his spine, and even though he wasn't sure what it was, he didn't want to ignore. But he also didn't want to tell Camie he thought he suddenly gained psychic powers, so he kept that bit to himself.Instead of replying, he scoffed and kicked his feet against the pavement, then started walking to the manga store. Since they were already here, he might as well pick something up to occupy him. At least that's what he told himself as his heart started skipping a little too many beats for his liking.
Camie trailed after Katsuki as he opened the door to the store, ignoring both the little bell chiming that signaled their entrance and the person who greeted them from the counter. Katsuki scoffed and sniffed the air, scrunching his nose under his mask. Since there weren’t that many people in the store, he shoved his mask under his chin and pushed his baseball cap lower over his forehead.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Camie hissed at him. “We’re supposed to be blending in. And you’re sick, remember?”
“I can’t fucking breathe.” Katsuki snapped at her. “Who cares, nobody’s even around here. We’re just gonna pick something out and go.” He said.
He turned his back to her before she could start complaining again and just walked around for a bit, browsing the titles. It took him a few minutes to notice it, but after a while he realized that the longer he was in the store, the less tired he felt. It was like being surrounded by all the manga and figurines and all the nerdy crap they had here somehow gave him a huge burst of energy. He almost felt fine again. There was something oddly familiar and comforting about this place that made Katsuki feel so at ease, he felt like he could stay here all day and recharge his mental battery and he’d come out feeling refreshed and ready to get back to his life.
He looked up, glancing around the store like he wanted to find the source of his sudden burst of energy. Like he knew there was something here that picked him up again. Something that made him come here in the first place. There was a familiar scent in the room and Katsuki was suddenly struck with the thought that this was it . This is what’s missing in his nest!
He turned on his heel and started walking around the shelves, ignoring Camie as she called after him and started following him. He walked around, turning his head left and right until he finally found himself in front of the storage in the back of the store. Somehow no one stopped him from just walking in like he belonged. He ignored the ‘employees only’ sign on the door and walked into the small room that was filled with boxes upon boxes of manga, it was filled with dust and spider webs in the corner – and it was filled with a familiar and comforting scent that Katsuki now recognized as his.
He opened his mouth to say something, anything that would break him out of this weird trance – but before any words made it past his lips, someone walked out from behind a mountain of boxes and Katsuki’s breath stopped short in his throat. Green eyes widened as they spotted him standing there and Katsuki was sure he was about to be told off for being back here, but the guy just stared at him for what felt like forever and neither of them were breathing or speaking, and then–
“It’s you.” They both said at the same time.
Well. Shit.