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The van stopped with squealing tires on the side of a rather busy road consisting of mainly office buildings. The team for the inter-agency mission quickly got out and followed Bakugou, who was was the one to assigned to the case from the beginning and was therefore pronounced leader for the rescue mission. Todoroki was the last to dismount. He was feeling a little weak on his feet and, thanks to Ashidos driving, also rather nauseous. Cursing under his breath, he hurried to follow the team. Bakugou led them into an alleyway off the street and started glaring each of them down.
“Alright, gather up, idiots, here’s the plan. The lowlifes we’re gonna make sure to never have the fucking chance at kidnapping another fucking omega again, have most likely brought all their victims into the basement of the office building three blocks from here. I got the blueprints here, the building has three entrances, one in the front, one at the back and another on the roof. We’re going to split up and cover all the entrances. The team on the roof goes in first and searches the upper floors. Once they reach the second floor, the other teams are moving in and we will go down into the basement together. Now, I don’t want to have to fucking rescue any of you extras, so no solo actions from anyone on our team, got that? They have managed to kidnap omega heroes before, which is why we are such a large team with only one omega.
Teams are as follows: Pikachu, you partner up with shitty hair and Deku. You’ll come in from the roof, probably gonna need to disable the electronic lock up there. Sweep the floors, in case we missed something, or if these bastards have guards up there as well. Racoon eyes, Sparkles and Plant guy come in from the front entrance, sweep the surroundings of the building and the ground floor. Frog girl and Wings guy are gonna be on the roof for backup. If anyone needs help, you move in, otherwise you’re gonna be there to help get the omegas out. Half’n Half, you’re with me, we move in from the back. We’ll go straight to the basement and search there. The Omegas are gonna be kept there, so I need you to make sure they get that we’re here to help them.”
Todoroki swallowed. Shit. That wasn’t good. Of course it was a very logical decision, since an omegas scent could calm down other omegas, but Todoroki could already feel the sweat running down his back. Heat Haze hadn’t set in yet and hopefully wouldn’t but he didn’t know how long the blockers that dampened his sense of smell would last. From what he knew, the kidnappers kept the captured omegas in a state similar to heat, so they were more docile and could be controlled easier. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but he was only hours from his own heat and the pheromones emitted from the captured omegas would speed up his own. He wore patches to hide his own scent, but that most likely wouldn’t be the case for the kidnapped people.
Still he nodded to what Bakugou had said and hoped that they could just make it in and out of the building fast. While it wasn’t like Omegas lost complete control of themselves when in heat, it was certainly uncomfortable and he usually tried to have the rota arranged so he could stay home. It hadn’t worked out this time though, so hopefully they could get this over with sooner rather than later.
“Oi. Oi. Half’n Half.” Fingers snapping in front of his face tore Todoroki from his thoughts. Darn it, he had completely zoned our and missed the rest of the briefing. He sighed and turned his gaze to meet the angry one of his team leader.
“You with me, dumbass?” Todoroki nodded. For a split second, something like relief crossed Bakugous face, but it was gone in an instant and Todoroki wasn’t sure that it had actually happened.
“Good, we gotta get moving. Team Roof is already in position, and we still need to get to the back door. So move your ass, you giant peppermint candy cane.”
They moved around the building and got into position behind some plants near the back entrance. Todoroki settled down beside his frowning partner and waited for him to get the mission started. It would take some time until the team from the roof had finished searching the upper floors, so he might at least get a little comfortable.
Bakugou still hadn’t given the signal. Eyebrows slightly drawing together, Todoroki turned his head and immediately met the crimson eyes of his team leader. The scowl on Bakugous face was even more prominent now as he tried to stare Todoroki down.
“Is something wrong, Bakugou?” He hadn’t thought it possible, but the scowl deepened. Todoroki didn’t know how to read the furious glare sent his way.
“You tell me”, the blond guy shot back. “You have been acting weird all morning, zoning out and staring into space… I know you’re a fucking airhead sometimes, but you usually pull yourself together for the mission, especially for something so large. What the fuck is wrong with you today?”
Todorokis eyes widened. He hadn’t counted on Bakugou being perceptive, which,
in retrospect, was a really stupid thing to do. The always angry hero wasn’t announced leader of this team just because he happened to be the first to work the case. Hoping to placate the explosive guy, Todoroki pulled his lips into a slight smile.
“Nothing, I’m fine. Just give the signal, okay?”
Bakugou didn’t move, his gaze still moving over Todorokis face. Obviously displeased by whatever he seemed to find in Todorokis expression, he snarled.
“Bullshit, you look like death. Cut the crap and tell me what’s wrong, or I’ll call off…” He froze. His face froze, then closed up completely. Todoroki tried to move back, but faster than his slightly-hazy-from-the-oncoming-heat brain could follow, Bakugou grabbed his arm and pushed his head slightly to the side to smell at his neck. Instinctively, his arms came up and he pushed Bakugou off him.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?”
Heart beating faster at the victorious expression the other displayed, Todoroki quickly took another step back and covered his neck with his hand. The skin was slightly tingling where Bakugou had touched him.
“I knew it. You’re in heat, aren’t you?”
Todoroki faltered. He should have known. Bakugou was an alpha, of course he would smell the heat on him, even if it was muted by the patches. Swallowing down his discomfort, he met Bakugous gaze head on – and faltered again. The victorious look was gone – instead there was an expression that on anyone else Todoroki would have identified as concern. Quite frankly, it was unsettling.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” he stated and braced himself for the explosion that would no doubt follow.
It didn’t follow. Nothing happened. Bakugou just tilted his head to the side and, still with the concerned expression on his face just calmly stated “It is my business, if it jeopardizes my mission. Can’t have one of my guys zoning out all the time. So, honest answer: Can you do this?”
Todoroki blinked. He opened his mouth to say that sure, of course he could, but one look at Bakugous face, eyes fully focused on him, he suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore.
“I…” Unable to meet Bakugous gaze, he turned to stare at his feet. The truth was, he would rather be anywhere but here. He wanted to curl up in his bed, surrounded by pillows and just sleep, not charge into a building full of people, full of fighting, full of other omegas in heat. Already he felt nauseous, when he thought about all the different scents and pheromones he was going to have to inhale once they entered. But admitting any of this would be admitting to being weak in front of an alpha that Todoroki desperately wanted to see him as strong. Uncharacteristically, the blond stayed silent, waiting for Todoroki to formulate what he wanted to say.
“I.. yes, I think I can… I just…” He needed to get it together. Otherwise, Bakugou was going to get angry again, he was already showing much more patience with Todoroki than he ever had in the past.
Todoroki startled when something soft landed on his shoulders. He looked down and realized that it was a well-worn jacket, the black fabric soft and emitting a warm and comforting scent. Resisting the urge to bury his nose in the material, he turned his head and looked at his former classmate in surprise.
“There’s gonna be a lot of scents in there. Just focus on the jacket if it gets too much, alright?” Bakugou had his head turned ahead, seemingly observing the building as he spoke.
Narrowing his eyes Todoroki mustered the blond. “You… you want me to focus on your scent?”
He definitely needed to get his eyes checked, because there was no way that that was a blush on Bakugous cheeks. It was almost… cute?
“Tch. Don’t really have anything else that would help you now, do I? And I’m gonna need you to pull your weight in there. Don’t wanna have to bust you out, when you zone out in there and get yourself caught.” Bakugou still didn’t look at him, so he didn’t notice the tears welling up in Todorokis eyes. It had sounded as if Bakugou was actually concerned about him, but of course he just wanted to get the mission done. And of course his heat-addled brain would take it the wrong way and get upset about it. Sometimes, he really hated the fact that he was an Omega.
Quickly blinking, he managed to get rid of the tears while Bakugou gave the signal for the start of the mission. Hoping that he wouldn’t notice,
Todoroki rearranged the jacket into something resembling a scarf and tried to breath in as much of the calming Alpha scent as he could. It did help a little, cleared the foggy feeling in his head and helped the upset part of his brain to calm down.
When Kaminari contacted them and said that they were on the second floor, Todoroki managed to get up and follow the Alpha running into the building. As agreed upon, they went down the stairs into the basement. Curiously, there weren’t that many guards. Todoroki left them to Bakugou and went to search for the captured Omegas, making quick work of any remaining criminals. When the other teams finished their searches upstairs, Todoroki and Bakugou had already found the Omegas and were working on untying them and getting them out of the building.
“That was easy,”grinned Kaminari to Kirishima and moved to help a girl who seemed too dazed to walk.
“Yeah, it was surprising, I would have thought there were more criminals… Are you okay, Todoroki?” Immediately he straightened back up from where he had crouched down. Todoroki gave Kirishima a slight smile and nodded.
“Yes, I am fine, thank you.” He wasn’t though. By now, the heat blockers had almost completely worn off, sweat was sticking his hero outfit to his body and he felt so lethargic he could barely bring himself to move.
“Are you sure? You look really tired… I can drive you home after the debriefing, if you want?” Of course Kirishima would offer. And it might be nice, not having to walk home. Todoroki opened his mouth to agree and thank him, but was rudely interrupted by Bakugou grabbing his arm and dragging him away from the little crowd of heroes, rescued Omegas and paramedics.
“It’s fine, shitty hair, I’m taking this idiot home now. I’ll take the car, you guys will have to squeeze into the Van, alright? Just fill me in later on what they said.” Kirishimas eyes widened, but then he grinned, gave them a thumbs up and turned back to help Ashido haul a rather large Omega towards one of the ambulances.
Finally managing to get his feet back under himself and walking instead of being literally dragged towards the car, Todoroki let himself be rather forcefully pushed into the front seat. In an attempt to curl up on the seat without actually curling up, he buried his face back into the jacket and took another deep breath. It had really helped during the mission, Bakugous scent had kept his head unclouded and he could actually keep his calm a little better than usual during his heat. He wondered whether Bakugou would ask to have it back now, or if he could keep it until they were at his place. Just in case Bakugou did want it back, he breathed in deeply to commit to memory the warmth and peace the scent made him feel. His inner Omega really did like it, more than any of of the other Alphas scents that he had had the privilege to sample before. And if he was honest, deep deep down somewhere he knew that he wouldn’t mind spending his heat surrounded by this scent.
A snort pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Relax, Half’n Half. I’m not gonna ask you to give it back. You can keep it if you want.”
Todorokis eyes widened. He unburied his nose and turned his head to look at the blond now sitting in the drivers seat starting the car. No, thank you, I don’t need it. Or Thank you, Bakugou, but I’m fine without it. That’s what he wanted to say. But when he opened his mouth, all that managed to make its way past his lips was a little “Really?”
Bakugou turned to look at him, smirked and faced the road again.
“Sure. From the way you hold onto it, I’d have to fight you pretty hard for that jacket if I wanted it back, even though you look like you’re gonna fall over from a little push.”
Todoroki felt heat creeping over his cheeks. He hadn’t even noticed how tight he was holding onto the material. Embarrassed he quickly shoved his nose back into the folds and resolutely avoided looking at the explosive hero. A quiet chuckle told him that Bakugou had seen it. His shoulders tightened in self-consciousness and his breath sped up. Forcefully trying to calm himself down, he took a deep breath and the warm scent washed over his senses. Automatically, all his muscles relaxed and Todoroki sunk even further down into the seat.
“You really like my scent, huh?” Bakugous voice was quiet, contemplative and Todoroki almost hadn’t caught the words. He didn’t know whether he was supposed to answer, so he kept quiet and tried to melt into the jacket.
They spent the rest of the way in silence. Finally arriving at the building housing Todorokis flat, Bakugou pulled into a parking spot and shut off the engine. The sound of the car had lulled Todoroki into a state of almost asleep, and it took some time until he managed to get his eyes open enough to even look for the door. Bakugou was uncharacteristically silent.
“Well… thank you for driving me home, Bakugou”, he stated when he found the handle and pushed open the door.
“Tch. Whatever.”
Finally Todoroki managed to get his legs out of the car and he stood up.
“Goodbye, Bakugou. Thank you again.”He closed the door and turned to the apartment building behind him. Before he could start walking he heard the drivers door open and turned to see Bakugou standing and regarding him with an odd look on his face.
Todoroki raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Bakugou opened his mouth and closed it again.
“What is it, Bakugou? Did you change your mind about the jacket?”
Exasperated Bakugou rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I said you could keep it, so no, I still don’t want it back. I was just… I was… Will you be okay?”
“Um. Yes, of course I will be okay. This isn’t my first heat, so why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well… because… oh fuck it, forget I asked.” Furiously puffing, Bakugou made movements to get back into the car, refusing to meet Todorokis eyes. For the second time today the dual quirk user thought his eyes might be deceiving him, because again the explosive hero seemed to be blushing. All of a sudden, he didn’t want Bakugou to go. He wanted to know the reason for the apparent vision failure.
“No, no, wait, why did you ask? I… you…” Frustrated because the heat made it so hard to formulate a proper sentence, Todoroki searched his brain for a way to get Bakugou to stay, so he could find out.
“I was just….” By now, Bakugou was full on blushing up until the tips of his ears as he kept on muttering. “I was just… wondering whether you wanted help. I mean, I don’t have anywhere to be and tomorrow is my day off, so if you wanted, I could help you with your heat. Not that you have to of course, but… well I just thought I’d offer. And now I did. And you obviously don’t need my fucking help, so I’ll just… go. Bye.”
Todorokis jaw had dropped considerably, his eyes wide as saucers and his face felt like it was on fire. Other Alphas had offered help for his heat before, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, even Kirishima had asked. But he’d never taken anyone up on it. Somehow it always felt weird to accept, and so he hadn’t. But for some reason, seeing Bakugou this flustered and concerned about his well being made him feel… warm. Like his scent, Bakugous offer made him want to inhale deeply and have that warmth settled deep within his heart. He wanted to hold onto the man currently opening the door of the car to leave, and suddenly, he realized that he didn’t want that to happen. Todoroki wanted Bakugou to stay.
“Wait! Bakugou, wait, I…” Red eyes immediately shot up to meet blue and grey ones. Todoroki swallowed at the intensity of the gaze that met his, and felt his cheeks heat up.
“I… um… you’re right, I don’t need help...but!” he exclaimed as the others eyes turned stony, causing blond eyebrows to draw together in a frown. “But… I… that doesn’t mean that I don’t… that I don’t… I mean I would… um…” His whole face seemed to be on fire now, he quickly had to check that he hadn’t accidentally activated his quirk. Why was it so hard to say that he wanted Bakugou to stay?
Because he makes your heart feel warm, a quiet voice inside him whispered.
Bakugou had frozen in his movement, an undecipherable expression on his face. He tilted his head in a quiet go on gesture.
Again Todoroki buried his nose in the soft black material around his neck and let the warmth of the scent calm his racing heart a little.
He breathed in deeply again, squared his shoulders and met the others gaze.
“I don’t… need… your help for my heat. But… But I would... like it. I would like it if you stayed.”
Bakugous eyes hadn’t left his, so he was acutely aware that he couldn’t hide the nervousness that he was sure was very visible. The blond blinked, then he nodded, closed the door of the car and walked towards the door of the building.
“You comin’, Half’n Half?” Todoroki quickly shook himself from the embarrassment rooting him to the spot and followed his partner.
As soon as they entered his flat, he immediately remembered why he never accepted any offers for his heat. His nest. was. everywhere. Most Omegas nest when their heats approach, piling up a few blankets and pillows in their favourite spots. From his conversations with other Omegas Todoroki knew that most preferred their bed as a nesting spot.
Todoroki didn’t. Pre-heat Todoroki tried to make himself comfortable wherever he just happened to settle himself down, resulting in the entire place being decked out in piles of blankets and pillows, clothes both worn and clean (it was a pain to sort them after the heat, so he usually just threw all of them into the washing machine), his own clothes or accidentally stolen from one of his friends, even the carpet and the pillow for the cat had been dragged up onto the couch, onto the kitchen floor, around the chairs at the table, on his bed and wherever else he fancied. To him, the entire flat looked like a giant nest, with lots of comfortable spots. To everyone else it was… a huge mess.
Flushing beet-red, Todoroki turned to apologize, only to find Bakugou looking around in awe.
He whistled appraisingly. “Wow. This looks really comfortable… like a huge blanket fort or something. Feels really homely.” Todoroki just stared at the man carefully making his way over to crouch down and inspect the closest pile of fabric. He had always been ashamed of his nesting habits, had heard Alphas complaining about their mates tendency to spread out even just around the bed and Omegas lamenting about having to clean up their mess. Not even once had he considered that anyone, especially an Alpha like Bakugou, would like his nest. Tears welled up in his eyes again, as he silently cursed his overly emotional heat-state. Bakugou looked over with something that looked suspiciously like a smile quirking up the corners of his mouth, but the awed expression quickly dropped when his eyes fell on Todoroki fighting back the tears.
Immediately he shot up and moved away from the nest back to the entrance where Todoroki still hadn’t moved from.
“Shit, I’m sorry, I should’ve asked, shouldn’t I, I just ran in like an idiot, shit, nests are personal, aren’t they, I’m sor…” Todoroki interrupted his rambling by yanking him into his arms and pushing his nose right into his neck breathing in deeply. Bakugous scent washed right over his frayed senses, engulfing him in the by now familiar warmth, so much stronger straight from the source. His entire body was trembling and he tried desperately to keep the tears at bay, barely managing not to fall apart.
Two strong arms settled around his waist, one instantly sliding up higher over his back and onto his neck, carefully trailing into his hairline.
“Sorry,” Todoroki whispered into Bakugous shoulder. “I just...I’ve never shown my nest to anyone, I thought Alphas would hate it, I mean, it’s quite the mess…” Trailing off he felt Bakugou carefully nosing at his own neck.
“I really like your nest, Todoroki,” he murmured. And Todoroki just sagged, holding tight onto Bakugous shoulders. Everything, the mission, the entire day, the heat-induced emotional chaos all at once caught up to him and he buried his face into the firm muscles under his cheek. He knew they could and would hold him.
It took quite a while to compose himself again, and Bakugou never once let go of him. Instead he allowed him to breathe in his scent and to nuzzle into his neck, carefully scented Todoroki back, and played with the hair at the back of his neck.
Finally Todoroki managed to lift himself out of the cocoon of warmth and pulled back to look at Bakugou. Something – the second reason why he usually refused the offers of help for his heat - had been swirling at the back of his mind and he knew he needed to ask.
“You said—you said you wanted to help me through my heat… what exactly did you mean by that? Because I don’t… um… basically all I want during my heat is sleep and just – just curl up somewhere and not move. I know that’s not… what people expect during heats, but… I don’t want anything—more… is that okay?” His fingers fidgeted with each other and he found it hard to lift his gaze.
“Todoroki?” He flinched.
“Shouto? Can you look at me?” Blinking at the sound of his first name, Todoroki swallowed and slowly lifted his gaze until he met Bakugous. Surprisingly, the other guy was smiling. Genuinely smiling. Something in Todorokis stomach swooped at the sight. He only remembered seeing that smile about a handful of times and never had it been directed at himself.
“Stop fucking fidgeting. This is your heat and yeah, I said I’d help. That means me doing what you want or need me to, not what other people might be expecting, all right? Even if that means playing some stupid card game all night long or watching stupid TV dramas, or like you said, just fucking sleep. So yeah, of course that is okay. But, I do have one request.”
Todoroki frowned at Bakugou, who looked like he could barely hold in laughter.
“Oi, I said stop fucking fidgeting. And quit looking so worried, jeez. All I was gonna ask for is some food. For both of us, it has been quite a tiring day. And then we can go sleep. Alright?”
A huge weight seemed to have dropped from Todorokis shoulders. One corner of his mouth quirked up and he nodded. Food. He could do food.
They ended up ordering take-out. Bakugou had taken one look at his kitchen and its contents and immediately grabbed the take-out menus from the board by the fridge, all the while muttering something about stupid Half’n Half, can’t even stock his fucking kitchen right, what the fuck, who the hell only has instant soba in his cupboards? under his breath. Buried in a pile of pillows and blankets, they did switch on the TV to pass the time. About five minutes into a weird and overly dramatic episode about some crazy family, Todorokis cat slunk into the living room and made herself right at home in Bakugous lap. Todoroki watched the other man carefully getting acquainted with Lady and for some reason, this felt right. He didn’t even realize he was smiling until Bakugou pointed it out and told him not to stare so creepily, which only resulted in making him laugh. Bakugou stared at him as if he had lost his mind, but Todoroki spotted the slight upturn of the corners of his mouth and concluded that Bakugou enjoyed this evening just as much as he did.
When the food arrived, they both dug in, even though by now, Todoroki barely managed to keep his eyes open. His heat had fully set in a while ago, and he felt it deep in his bones, making him extremely tired and, possibly because of the constant exposure to Bakugous scent, longing for warmth, comfort and touch. So when he had finished more than half of his food, he didn’t resist any longer and just slumped against Bakugous side. And Bakugou let him, he even raised his arm, so Todoroki could better lean on him.
This was nice. Todoroki had never thought that it would be Bakugou, who made him feels so at home. He had known that the seemingly always angry blond did care about his friends a lot, but he had never seen it to this extend. For the first time since he had presented, Todoroki was glad that he wasn’t alone during his heat. And he was glad that it was Bakugou, who kept him company.
He dozed off a couple of times while Bakugou finished his meal, and was barely conscious by the time the other had finished. Instead of waking him, Bakugou carefully lifted the younger man up and carried him to the bedroom, placing him down on the mattress. He did wake him to help change his clothes, but left him to sleep while he finished up in the bathroom.
Todoroki had nearly drifted off completely, lulled to sleep by the mountain of pillows surrounding him, when he felt his friend sliding in under the covers next to him. The warm scent washed back over him, completely enveloping him and relaxing every muscle. It took him a few moments, but he did manage to turn around, open his eyes and look at the Bakugou. He laid on his back, one arm behind his head and stared at the ceiling. Moonlight streaked light across the covers and across his face, and Todoroki couldn’t help but think that Bakugou looked… beautiful like this. Serene and calm, and for once without the constant scowl on his face.
Hesitantly, Todoroki reached out his hand and placed it gingerly on the others chest, right over his heart. Bakugou turned his head and looked at him.
“You okay, Todoroki?”
His eyes were already closing again, but he nodded slowly.
“Could you maybe… call me by my name?” He felt the heartbeat under his hand pick up a little speed.
“Sure. But only if you call me by mine. Shouto.” Todoroki felt his mouth pull into a little smile. He nodded again, by now barely even conscious.
“Thank you, Katsuki,” he managed, before he gave in and let sleep overtake him.
The hand carefully trailing over his cheek must have been part of his dreams.