Work Text:
Izuku has waited all his life for this. He knew, the moment the announcement was made about a mating run for an omega of nobility, that somehow this was his time. He had felt it in his chest, hearing the whispers of how beautiful and fierce this particular omega was rumored to be, how this run would surely be in the history books for its difficulty and prize.
He tries to remember that feeling as he’s lined up at the edge of a dense wood, the other alphas around him hulking in size. Izuku knew he wasn’t the biggest, strongest-looking alpha there has ever been, but his strength and agility were cultivated in the small village he called home, and he was not about to doubt that now.
A lavishly clad couple stands before the line, the man mouse-haired and kind-eyes, the woman blonde and emanating confidence and pride. Izuku figures they must be the parents to the omega running tonight, the Bakugou’s, and Izuku feels a strange twist in his gut just knowing their judgemental gazes could fix on him any moment.
Just as the sunset starts to die in the sky, dazzling oranges and pinks settling for darker blues and purples, the air is spiked with the sweet scent of caramel candies, rich and decadent with underlying notes of arousal that can only mean the start of an omega’s heat. Izuku turns, panting in his effort to smell more of it, and finds the source stalking across the grounds to stand in front of the waiting alphas next to his parents.
Izuku can’t look away. Blonde, spiky hair like his mother’s, ruby red eyes that burn with determination, and a strong physique that doesn’t betray his secondary gender at all. His clothes are nothing like his parents, and Izuku realizes that he’s dressed in athletic, functional clothing, much like most of the alphas themselves.
Bakugou Katsuki is, indeed, an omega worth running for. Izuku’s blood sings with the knowledge of it.
The lavish couple nod to each other, signaling the start of… something , but just as the man opens his mouth to speak, Bakugou Katsuki beats him to the punch.
“Listen up, you idiot extras!” he barks, and the line of alphas snap to attention at his tone. Fierce. Unrestrained. Izuku can bet most, if not all, the alphas here have never been addressed like that by anyone before. “If it were up to me, none of you would be running tonight,” he sneers, his gaze trailing down the line. He pauses as he catches sight of Izuku to turn his nose up, the smug expression on his face not hiding his obvious doubt of Izuku’s capability. “Thankfully, it’s not up to me to make the final call,” he finishes as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“I’ve spent over the past 20 years in this forest,” he announces. “I know every inch of his land, every pitfall, every type of creature that lives here. I’ve mastered everything you alphas ,” he says the word like it’s synonymous with scum , “have claimed for yourself, including combat. If you think I’m going to give up the rest of my life without a fight, you might as well leave now.”
He’s met with a silence so deep, the air is tense with it.
“Tonight is a momentous occasion for us,” the lavish man speaks, his voice warm and placating, “and we’re sure it must be for you as well. Whoever claims our son tonight will be gladly welcomed into our family and will share the right to our prestigious name.”
“All benefits aside,” the woman chimes in, sounding every bit as stern as her son did, “these woods are nothing if not dangerous. Try your best, but for the love of the gods, exercise caution.”
“There will be no violence among you alpha participants,” the man says, his voice turned perfunctory. “If there is, you will be disqualified from the run and stripped of your privilege to participate in any other run in Musutafu. With that said…'' He turns towards his son, who smirks widely at the waiting alphas.
“Don’t keep me waiting, extras,” he demands, before turning on his heel and jogging into the thick of the forest behind him.
The wait is excruciating for Izuku. With Bakugou Katsuki’s sweet scent vanishing into the dense forest, Izuku is itching for the signal for them to start their pursuit. The alphas around him are stretching and palming their groins dramatically, their gruff, low-level growls already starting in their throats. It’s no wonder Bakugou Katsuki called them extras; they were as base as alphas come.
Still, it stings to now that he pegged Izuku as less than a contender for his hand. The look he gave Izuku said it all. The doubt, the unabashed act of looking down on him, was all it took to light a different kind of fire low in Izuku’s belly. He knew that this was his time, and he’d be worse than scorned if he wasn’t going to prove it.
After what feels like a century, the remnants of the sunset almost completely replaced with the dark hues of night, a horn is blown from distantly within the forest, and Izuku feels himself take off before he knows it.
While almost all of the other alphas enter head-on, following the same path Bakugou did when he entered the woods, Izuku veers down another path, separating himself from the others. The last thing he needed was the stink of their pheromones in his nose to throw him off. Not that Izuku is focusing on the scents that weave their way into the forest at this point.
Bakugou Katsuki would be far from where he signalled the start of the run, by now. Izuku is sure of it.
It’s dark. The forest’s canopy blocks out nearly all of the moon’s meager light, locking Izuku’s view into shadows and impressions. He figures this is part of the challenge, to prove yourself by being resourceful and strong, but a part of Izuku just thinks Bakugou chose a night run just to be difficult. Izuku likes a challenge, though. He darts past tree after tree, careful to not trip over any exposed roots or run face-first into any low-hanging branches. It almost reminds him of the sparse woods that surround his village, and all the times he joined hunting parties there when food was running short.
But now instead of focusing on the smells of the forest and animal fur, Izuku tries to track the distinct bite of metal or the smoky-sweet notes of Bakugou’s heat.
He has to stop once he’s gotten deep enough into the forest where the trees become thicker than two of him, sturdier and taller with age. He heaves in breath and breath, hoping his lungs won’t pop with exertion as he parses through all the smells coming at him at once.
Izuku catches a note, caramel biting through the evergreen despite it being stale with a day or two’s time. Unthinkingly, he follows it, knowing that the scent was Bakugou’s alone, knowing that, while it wasn’t recent or what he was looking for now, it would get him closer to a Bakugou, even if it only existed in the past. He breathes deep as he walks through the criss-crossing of trees, fallen leaves and broken branches crackling under his footfalls. Izuku hopes this isn’t some sort of trap, that the trail won’t lead him to a pit or a den of coyotes, because he knows this is supposed to be difficult but it couldn’t be… mauling, would it?
The scent stops at a single tree, pooling at its roots like it was mocking Izuku, and he doesn’t know why he decided to get lost following a flimsy trail instead of focusing on his goal. He almost turns away from the tree, to track deeper into the forest to at least amount this run to something , when he sees it. Etched into the bark of the tree, almost imperceptible in the scarce lighting, is a thin arrow pointing up. The mark looks fresh, probably just as old as the scent Izuku followed to find it, and he can’t help himself from grinning.
Backing up a few feet, Izuku takes a running start at an adjacent tree. He leaps at the last second, kicking off of its trunk and propelling himself into the air, just high enough to catch the arrow tree’s lowest branch. It bends under his weight, as young as it is, and Izuku works his way towards the trunk of the arrow tree for stability before pulling himself up. Rich caramel mixes with the scent of evergreen and forest decay, and Izuku almost feels drugged by it.
From there, it’s muscle memory. Izuku remembers the times while out with the hunting parties, when he was the one who scouted out new areas from the trees just because he was the best at climbing. He jumps from branch to branch, climbing higher into the tree as he followed his nose, stopping when the homey caramel scent was practically dripping from his nose. And then he looks down.
A leather canister sits neatly in between the fork of two extending branches. It’s branded with the Bakugou family seal, a jagged oval made up of several angular points, making it look like a typical award or explosion. Izuku doesn’t hesitate to grab the canister and open its top.
Parchment. There’s a single piece of folded-up parchment waiting for him. Izuku’s hands shake as he pulls it out. On it, is a hastily drawn map; a rectangle for the perimeter of the forest, an X for the arrow tree, and other crude doodles for what Izuku could only assume to be landmarks. A circle is at the opposite end of the map, past what looks like a wide clearing, and Izuku knows that’s where he needs to go.
Beneath the map, written in scrawling kanji, is: “ If you’ve found this, you’re already better than the rest. Keep it. ”
Izuku straps the leather canister to one of his belt loops and refolds the map. He takes it between his pursed lips before lazily making his way back down the arrow tree.
The map is easy enough to follow. It helps that it’s charmed, the X indicating the map itself moving as Izuku treks into the forest. It makes Izuku’s heart sing in his chest, knowing he has something the rest of the alphas don’t, something that sets him closer to Bakugou than the rest of them. He has this advantage, now all he needs is time.
After vaulting over a wide, nearly-dried stream and avoiding a small pack of coyotes, Izuku finds himself at the edge of the clearing. And he’s not alone. Most of the alphas were there in the wide expanse of grass and wildflowers, prowling around the edges with their chests out and noses in the air.
“You said you wanted a fight!” one called, sounding outraged. “We found the arena! Show yourself!”
Checking the map once more from the clearing’s edge, Izuku’s eyebrows furrow. The circle wasn’t far from the clearing at all, nearly the same exact distance Izuku’s X is from it. It’s almost too much of a coincidence for this to not be intentional, and yet…
A bang so loud and close it shakes the forest floor shocks Izuku out of his thoughts. Birds cry and flock out of the trees overhead. When Izuku looks back to the ground, his eyes widen as he stumbles back a few feet. The clearing’s earth cracks and crumbles under the crowding alphas’ feet, giving way to about five meters of nothingness below. Most of the alphas at the edges of the clearing manage to scramble out of it, sprinting farther into the forest as they retreat, but Izuku stays rooted.
The map. The bang. The whispers about Bakugou Katsuki that swept the nation with the news of his mating run didn’t mention the omega knew magic, but with the smell of burnt caramel in the air and nearly a dozen alphas grunting and struggling to get out of a pit, Izuku knows he’s right.
A ruthless cackle, pleased, proud, and a little breathless, catches Izuku’s ear, familiar and foreign all at once, and Izuku doesn’t hesitate to start running. He shirks the edges of the clearing and clambers his way into the trees once he spots one sturdy enough. His steps are light and quick, nearly weightless as he runs through the maze of branches and leaves, following his nose as his eyes scan the forest floor for a snatch of blond hair or a shit-eating grin.
When Izuku finds Bakugou, the omega still sprinting deeper into the forest, he tails him. Let him exhaust himself , Izuku thinks, let him think he’s won, just for now… And just as Bakugou Katsuki’s pace starts to slow, as Izuku darts in front of him in the treetops, he lets himself slip between a gap formed from the branches.
His timing has him dropping right onto Bakugou’s back, sending the two of them to the floor in a heap of limbs and hurt, but they aren’t there for long. Knuckles slam into his jaw and a foot catches his stomach, and before Izuku can gain his bearings enough to fight back, Bakugou is out of his grasp and getting to his feet.
“What kind of’a cheap ambush move is that?” Bakugou snaps, venom in his voice. It only gets worse when Izuku pushes himself upright, rubbing at the no-doubt forming bruise on his jaw. “It’s you,” the omega snarls, his stance widening. “I always wondered how runts of the litter turn out. Why am I not surprised they use cheap tricks like falling from trees?”
“Well, according to you, I’m better than the rest ,” Izuku snarks back, fishing the map out from where he stashed it hurriedly in the hem of his pants. He can’t help but grin at the way Bakugou’s eyes widen. “I found your map.”
“Finding a piece of paper doesn’t make you better,” Bakugou snaps. “But I’m sure you felt so special when you read that, huh? Like a dog getting a treat. You’ll do anything for a little validation, wouldn’t you?”
“Wouldn’t anyone?” Izuku asks. “Don’t you enjoy the attention , the lust , of three dozen alphas from across the kingdom showing up just to run for you?”
“We’re not the same,” Bakugou says, low and boiling.
“We’re not,” Izuku says, “but we’re not so different, either.”
Those are the words that get Bakugou moving. He darts forward, almost quicker than Izuku can track, but Izuku catches another punch in his hand and ducks under another before he knows it. Bakugou fights relentlessly, every punch thrown and kick aimed deliberately and potentially debilitating, and Izuku finds himself grinning as they dance around each other. Izuku gives as much as he takes, landing a hook that has Bakugou’s nose oozing a trail of blood right above his lip and a kick that leaves him unsteady on his feet. Bakugou rushes him, aiming a kick high at his chest, and Izuku drops and somersaults across the forest floor with ease, launching himself in the air to tackle Bakugou once again. Except, this time, Izuku has the upper hand.
He finds himself straddling Bakugou Katsuki’s waist and pinning his wrists above his head. They’re both panting and red-faced with exertion, a slow moment passing as they realize their position. Bakugou struggles fruitlessly in Izuku’s hold, his hips shifting under Izuku calling uncomfortable attention to his heat’s arousal, and he growls frustratedly when he can’t get himself free.
“Do you want this?” Izuku asks once he has enough breath in his lungs.
“What?” Bakugou snaps back.
“You say the word,” Izuku says, “and you’ll pin the alpha runt that had the audacity to participate in your run.” Bakugou’s gasping breath hitches. “I’ll leave,” Izuku continues, “and another alpha will take you, and you’ll never have to think about me or see me ever again.”
“You’ve got this all fuckin’ backwards,” Bakugou says. “It’s not up to me. You take me now, or someone else will. That’s how it works.”
“That’s not an answer,” Izuku says.
“Why are you doing this?!” Bakugou shouts, anger and desperation clear in his voice.
“Because I don’t want you spending the rest of your life with someone you obviously hate!” Izuku yells back. The answer seems to shock Bakugou into silence, his red eyes boring into Izuku as he holds him in place. “You deserve to be happy,” Izuku says, “and if you think you’re going to be miserable with me, then I’ll leave.”
Their eyes meet, and it feels like an eternity before Bakugou lolls his head to the side, exposing his neck.
“Are…” Izuku says, shocked. His grip loosens and altogether frees Bakugou’s hands as he rears back. “Are you sure…?”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Bakugou sits up, all but dumping Izuku into his lap as he grasps at Izuku’s tunic. He tugs him forward, their chests flush, and an over-warm hand finds its way into Izuku’s hair and forces him into the crook of Bakugou’s neck.
“You gave me a choice,” Bakugou says, his voice shaky. “That’s more than enough for me.”
Izuku moves hesitantly, nosing at the curve of Bakugou’s jaw, drinking in his scent. He kisses his skin, warm and damp with sweat, but Izuku doesn’t mind it. He gets bolder, his tongue swiping along the line where Bakugou’s neck meets his shoulder, his senses swimming with Bakugou Katsuki .
He almost forgets that Bakugou’s in heat until he feels him shifting under him, the hand in Izuku’s hair gripping the strands almost too tight.
“The hell’re you waiting for?” Bakugou gripes.
“I’d rather not do this all out in the open,” Izuku mumbles, feeling the way Bakugou shudders at Izuku’s voice in his ear. He presses a final kiss to Bakugou’s neck before he musters the strength to pull away. He gets to his feet before offering the omega a hand, and he holds back a smile at the way Bakugou stands, weak-kneed. “Is there somewhere more… private?”
“Well, aren’t you forward,” Bakugou mutters.
“Isn’t that the whole point of a run?” Izuku asks, cocking his head to the side. “Also, wasn’t it you who practically begged me to claim you five seconds ago?”
“Okay, smartass,” Bakugou huffs. “There’s a place, but it’s pretty far.” He sounds like he hates the fact.
“You need me to carry you the way there?” Izuku offers. He puts his hands up at the fierce glare Bakugou pins him with. “Not that you’re not capable or anything but… it looks like your heat has you… out of it.”
Bakugou looks away for a moment, before muttering a low, “Fine.”
Izuku kneels in front of him, and Bakugou doesn't hesitate to get on his back, his arms looping around his neck and, once Izuku stands, his legs wrapping tightly around Izuku’s waist.
“Just keep heading that way,” Bakugou says, pointing in front of them. Izuku fights down a shiver as his breath ghosts the shell of Izuku’s ear. He hums an affirmative before he starts jogging.
Really, he wasn’t expecting Bakugou Katsuki to be as light as he feels on Izuku’s back. He tries to focus on running, paying attention to the directions Bakugou points him in instead of the way the omega is subtly rutting his hips against his back, panting ever so lightly into the skin of his neck.
Izuku nearly trips over his own feet when he sees that Bakugou’s directions lead him to a small cabin. With it being this far into the forest, Izuku almost expects it to be dilapidated with disuse, but when Bakugou slides off his back and opens the door, the cabin is as sturdy and well-kept as anything owed by nobility should be.
“So you uh,” Izuku says, stepping inside and looking around. There’s a small, comfortable-looking cot in the corner, what looks like a simple kitchen on the other side, and a door to what must be a bathroom near the back. “You must come out here a lot, huh?”
“We aren’t having small-talk right now,” Bakugou says, a slight growl in his words. He fists Izuku’s tunic once more and pulls him down into a suffocating kiss.
Their lips glide together, a delicate, heated dance as Bakugou nibbles at Izuku’s bottom lip and slides their tongues together. Izuku finds his hands resting on the omega’s hips before they sneak under the hem of his tunic to memorize the feel of Bakugou Katsuki’s skin under his fingertips. Dazed, nearly drunk off the hungry way Bakugou is kissing him, Izuku lets his hands wander lower, caressing the curve of the omega’s ass and feeling the way his trousers were already wet with slick.
“Fuck,” Bakugou pants, arching his hips into Izuku’s touch. “Gods, I need you…” His voice lilts up at the end of the phrase, asking, and Izuku bites back a smile as he realizes that Bakugou Katsuki didn’t even know his name.
“Midoriya Izuku,” he answers the unspoken question.
“Deku,” Bakugou says quickly, tugging on his tunic and guiding him to the cot. He’s so out of it , Izuku thinks, he heard my name wrong . “Deku, please, fuck me, claim me, please !” As they get close enough to the cot, Bakugou starts lifting Izuku’s tunic up over his head, undressing him with uncoordinated hands.
“Bakugou, slow down--” Izuku tries to soothe as his tunic hits the floor and Bakugou’s hands go to the tie of his pants.
“Call me Katsuki,” the omega insists, already shimmying Izuku’s pants down to his knees.
“Katsuki, you don’t--” need to rush . Izuku doesn’t get to finish, because Katsuki groans obscenely at the sound of his name, his hands snaking their way into Izuku’s hair once more as he pulls him down for yet another kiss. This time, though, Katsuki falls down onto the cot, his knees finally giving out, leaving Izuku to bend at the waist and hurriedly kick off his shoes and pants in order to join him.
They’re a mess of limbs, their teeth clacking uncomfortably as Katsuki relieves himself of his tunic and kicks off his pants. Izuku’s dizzy with the smell of Katsuki’s heat, sickly sweet and setting him ablaze from the inside out. His blood crackles like firewood under his skin, his heartbeat rabbit-quick, as he breaks his and Katsuki’s kiss, focusing instead on tugging down Katsuki’s underwear.
Katsuki sobs as his dick pops free of its slicked confines and Izuku wastes no time in gliding down Katsuki’s torso, leaving a trail of open-mouthed kisses as he goes. Katsuki’s hands find Izuku’s hair once more as Izuku takes his cock in his hand, steadying it before he licks the length of its underside. The fingers tighten in his hair, enough for Izuku to be worried if Katsuki was going to rip his hair out, as Izuku swirls his tongue around the weeping head. And then Katsuki’s cumming, his body spasming under Izuku as he bucks his hips weakly. Izuku catches most of his omega’s cum in his mouth, the sweetness coating his tongue and leaving him hyper-aware of his own painfully hard dick.
“Shit,” Katsuki sighs, collapsing into himself. Both his arms go over his head, covering his eyes, as he catches his breath. Izuku presses a kiss to the inside of his thigh before sitting up.
“You alright?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Katsuki says, before groaning. “No. I need you in me, Deku. Hurry up already.”
“It’s Izuku ,” he huffs, standing from the bed briefly to shrug off his underwear. Katsuki shifts, craning to look at Izuku’s cock, and bites his bottom lip.
“Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s Deku,” Katsuki says, a lower, huskier edge to his voice now. “But you can be Izuku if you make yourself useful and fill me up.”
“Now who’s forward?” Izuku asks, sitting himself between Katsuki’s propped up knees. He caresses Katsuki’s thigh with one hand while he strokes himself with the other. “You ready?”
“Just…” Katsuki groans, frustrated. “ Do it, already !”
It takes a bit more adjusting, but it’s not long before Izuku is pushing his length into Katsuki’s slick-covered hole. It takes all he has in him to move incrementally holding his breath and Katsuki struggles for his, his back arching with Izuku’s movement. Katsuki’s insides are as overheated as the rest of him, the heat so encompassing Izuku almost thinks he’ll melt, right then and there. After a century, a whimper escapes from Katsuki’s lips, his walls twitching around Izuku’s cock. And Izuku doesn’t need words to know that means move .
They start slow, squelching slick and hiccupping moans filling the space between them before Katsuki pulls Izuku down into a bruising kiss. The slide of Katsuki lips and tongue on his has Izuku burning, the rhythm of his hips quickening as he feels his knot start to inflate. Their skin slaps with every thrust, Izuku’s knot catching at Katsuki’s rim as he pulls away. It’s mesmerizing to see Katsuki come undone under him, Izuku thinks, all flushed cheeks, wanton moans, and tearfully blissed eyes, but he knows he can’t last much longer.
The thought of having Katsuki for the rest of their lives, though, makes Izuku’s head swim.
“Do you want me to--?” Izuku starts to ask, as the swell of his knot becomes too much to rut in and out of Katsuki for much longer.
“Knot me,” Katsuki gasps out, turning his head to expose his neck to Izuku, “claim me, Izuku, do it…”
Izuku leans down and kisses at Katsuki’s jaw and down his neck as he forces his hips forward, his knot slipping inside Katsuki’s hole and fully inflating, tying them together. Katsuki twitches against him, practically crying with pleasure as he cums, and Izuku can’t take it. He’s biting into Katsuki’s neck before he knows it, the taste of blood on his tongue, but all he can feel is the heat of Bakugou Katsuki around him as he spills into him, fertile and his , and that’s all that matters.
Izuku comes down from his orgasmic high lapping at the fresh wound at Katsuki’s neck. He gathers him in his arms, situating them so that Katsuki is lying comfortably on top of Izuku while still being tied. He brushes sweat-soaked strands of blonde hair from Katsuki’s eyes, which earns him a barely-annoyed glance.
“You feeling okay? Need anything?” Izuku asks, nuzzling Katsuki’s cheek.
“You’re too accommodating for your own good, aren’t you?” Katsuki accuses.
“And you’re stuck with me,” Izuku says, grinning.
“Yeah, I can feel that,” Katsuki huffs, a hint of a laugh at the edge of his voice. Izuku laughs with him. “So, we’ve got a little time before we can move again,” Katsuki announces, making himself comfortable as he stares at Izuku. “Tell me about yourself.”