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Suguru is lazily carding his fingers through Satoru’s hair when he speaks.
“How was it for you? Presenting?” he wants to know and Suguru hums in thought.
“Unremarkable,” he finally gives back and tugs on one of Satoru’s strands of hair when he pouts up at him.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that one moment I wasn’t an alpha and the next I was. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t mean anything to me,” Suguru replies and it’s not even a lie.
He presented so early that it barely made a difference for him at that time and Suguru never gave it much more thought than that. It happened. That’s all.
“I wonder how it’s going to be for me,” Satoru mutters out, stretching his long limbs on the bed. “How different things are going to be for me when I present as an alpha.”
That brings Suguru up short.
“But you’re not,” he says, frowning down at Satoru, who is still rolling around on Suguru’s bed as if it’s his.
“I’m not what?”
“An alpha. You’re an omega, Satoru,” Suguru gives back and he wonders how he even knows that.
No one can tell the orientation of someone who hasn’t yet presented; there’s no way to predict it, no indicator that points towards anything, no gene that can be analysed.
And yet Suguru is certain of it.
“Yeah, right,” Satoru laughs out. “The Six Eyes, an omega. Are you feeling okay, Suguru? Do you have a fever? Is your rut close and clouding your judgement?”
“Shut up,” Suguru huffs. “You know my ruts don’t affect me. And you being the Six Eyes has nothing to do with it. It’s just—you’re an omega,” he says again, because Satoru is, will be, and Suguru wonders how he could ever think anything else.
“How can I be the strongest when I’m an omega?” Satoru wants to know and that only makes Suguru frown harder.
“How can you not? Being the strongest and being an omega have nothing to do with each other. You’ll still be the strongest even as an omega.”
“But I’m not,” Satoru insists again, his whole posture rigid now where before it was loose and relaxed. “I’m not an omega.”
He sounds angry, mostly, but Suguru can detect the distress in his voice and he decides to drop it. It’s not as if he can explain how he knows this anyway—he doesn’t even understand it himself, after all—and so he simply shrugs.
“Okay, Satoru,” he gives back and pushes his hand into Satoru’s hair again. “You’re not.” Suguru can tell that his words do not appease Satoru, because he puffs out his chest as if he wants to go on arguing about this, and so Suguru quickly goes on. “You’re not anything yet, seeing as you are late.”
“I’m always late,” Satoru immediately proudly declares. “It’s fashionable.”
“If you’re five minutes late, maybe. Not an hour or longer,” Suguru chastises him, though his words lack heat. Satoru is never late to meetings with him and more often than not he manages to make Suguru late as well for any official meetings so it’s not as if Suguru is really in a position to say anything.
“Yeah, well, I’m never late alone, now, am I?” Satoru asks, a knowing sparkle in his eyes and Suguru flicks his forehead even though he can’t hide his smile.
“I’m still blaming you for my poor track record with Yaga,” he informs Satoru who really couldn’t care less it seems.
“The old guy deserves it. Running us ragged all the time; the least he can do is wait for us to shower after a mission,” Satoru huffs out and Suguru has to admit that he’s right.
He goes back to carding his fingers through Satoru’s hair again, enjoying the way he goes pliant and soft once more and while Suguru congratulates himself for a job well done on derailing the impending argument, the thought simply won’t leave Suguru’s mind.
Satoru’s an omega, he just knows it, and it doesn’t make any sense at all.
~*~*~
Suguru is unable to shake the knowledge that feels deeply ingrained in him about Satoru now that he said it out loud once and so he decides to prepare. If Satoru thinks he’s going to be an alpha, then he will not be prepared at all when he turns out to be an omega, and one of them has to be.
So Suguru does some research.
He reads every book and report he can find about the presenting of omegas; what to expect, what they need, how to care for them. He takes time after solo missions to ask around, get first hand accounts of other omegas and he meticulously notes everything down, all in the hopes of making it easier on Satoru when he does present.
If it turns out Suguru is wrong and Satoru is indeed an alpha, he’ll burn his notes but Suguru knows it won’t come to this.
He still has absolutely no explanation for how he can be so certain about this, and all of his research hasn’t helped with this. No one has experienced anything similar; sure, there are people who guessed the secondary gender of family members or friends correctly but they all admit that it was just that—a guess.
For Suguru it’s not a guess. He knows.
And it shouldn’t be possible.
He tries not to bring the topic up again with Satoru, not after how he reacted the first time but of course it’s Satoru who can’t shut up about it.
“Hey, Suguru?” Satoru asks, his head dangling off Suguru’s bed as he’s looking at him upside down. “Do you think something will change when I present as an alpha?”
Suguru has to bite back his immediate response to that and he covers it by shaking his head.
“Why would it?”
“I mean—you’re not very territorial, not yet, but isn’t that going to change with another alpha nearby? What if we can’t spend time together like this anymore?”
“You mean, how will you cope if you can’t steal my bed for yourself anymore?” Suguru lightly says and laughs when Satoru sticks his tongue out at him. “It won’t change a single thing, Satoru,” Suguru finally says and goes over to the bed to sit next to it, nudging Satoru’s head with his shoulder so he lifts it up and rests it on Suguru instead of letting it dangle down.
“How can you be so sure?” Satoru asks and Suguru can tell that he’s honestly worried about it.
He doesn’t have to be, of course, because he’s not going to be an alpha, but that’s not something Suguru can say to him and besides. It really doesn’t matter either way.
“Because it’ll still be you and it’ll still be me, no matter what. You could be the most dominant alpha in recent history and it wouldn’t matter to me.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely,” Suguru immediately gives back because he knows it. There is nothing in this world that could change how they are now.
They are Satoru and Suguru and it will always stay like that.
Besides, it’s not as if Suguru has any trouble with his alpha side; he presented so damn early that it’s almost as if he’s always been one and nothing has ever shaken him; no omega, no heat, no other alpha has ever managed to get a reaction out of him, so he doubts Satoru is going to be the first.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Satoru mumbles and turns his head so he can bury his face in Suguru’s hair. “You’re not allowed to let anything change this.”
“If we have to worry about anyone, it’s you,” Suguru gives back. “Who says you’ll be able to tolerate me close to you?”
“I will. No matter what, I will.”
“Exactly,” Suguru agrees because really, Satoru has his answer right there and it seems to be enough because Suguru can spot a smile on Satoru’s face.
“Exactly,” he echoes and then falls silent.
They stay like that until Satoru gets a crick in his neck and Suguru laughs at him.
~*~*~
When Suguru wakes up he is being blanketed by the most comforting, familiar, warm scent he has ever smelled and he allows himself a small smile.
Satoru presented then and he’s an omega, just like Suguru said he’d be.
Suguru doesn’t waste any more time in bed, he gets up and gets himself ready in record time, eager to go see Satoru, maybe tease him with a little ‘I told you so’ before he takes him out for dinner in celebration.
It’s going to be a good day.
At least Suguru thinks it will be, right until he opens his door and comes face to face with a haggard looking Shoko.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asks because her bags are even more pronounced than they were before and she lets out a weary sigh.
“Satoru presented,” she tells him and Suguru frowns.
“Yeah, I can tell. So? Where is he?”
“We had to isolate him,” Shoko says and that doesn’t sound right at all.
“Isolate him? Why?”
“Don’t you smell this? His pheromones are too strong.” She pushes a shaking hand through her hair. “It’s probably because he presented so late. At least two people tried to jump him already. Even I’m being affected.”
That brings Suguru up short.
Shoko is the most unflappable beta he has ever met; she’s able to treat both alpha’s in rut and omega’s in heat without any problem at all. To think that even she’d be affected by Satoru—
“Where is he?” he demands to know again because this can’t be right.
Today should be celebrated. He had a plan.
“We had to lock him up in a basement, near Tengen’s area.”
“You—locked him up?” Suguru breathes out because this is so, so wrong.
Everything he read about omegas presenting indicates they need a pack around, people they trust; to isolate Satoru from everyone at this moment—
“Are you not listening? No one can go near him without losing it! Even now it’s—” She tries to cover her nose and Suguru realises with a start that she’s still being affected, even this far away from Satoru.
“I can,” Suguru confidently says, because Satoru’s scent is only warm and comforting to him.
“Suguru, we have to wait for another omega to arrive. We can’t put anyone in danger, not any of us or Satoru himself. Yaga contacted our sister school. They have an omega there but it will take them a while to get here.”
“I’m not waiting that long. Satoru is not waiting that long,” Suguru tells her because he will not allow Satoru to suffer for a moment longer or have to rely on someone he doesn’t know, doesn’t trust.
That’s simply not happening.
“Suguru, you can’t!”
“Watch me,” he tells her and he doesn’t wait for Shoko’s answer before he leaves.
He doesn’t need her to tell him where to find Satoru; his scent is leading him there and soon enough Suguru stops in front of a door.
“Satoru, it’s me,” he says with a cursory knock before he walks into the room.
Satoru is curled up on the bed, a pillow in his arms and he makes such a picture of misery that Suguru’s heart constricts.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Satoru whispers out, without even lifting his head from the pillow and Suguru sighs silently before he walks over and curls up around Satoru.
“Don’t—” Satoru chokes out, and he tries to get away from Suguru. “You’ll lose it, too,” he miserably adds and Suguru huffs out a laugh.
“I’m not going to lose it, Satoru, don’t be silly,” he gently says and nuzzles the back of Satoru’s neck. “How are you feeling?”
Satoru takes his time answering but Suguru doesn’t push him; he’s more than content to hold him like that and he can tell that it’s helping anyway; Satoru’s pheromones are calming down more and more with every minute they stay like this.
“Is Shoko going to try and knock me out again?” Satoru finally whispers out and Suguru tries to push the spike of anger at that away.
“It’s just the two of us,” he promises Satoru, pulling him even closer. “No one else will come and try to knock you out or otherwise disturb us.”
“How did you—” Satoru clings to Suguru’s arm around him almost painfully “—how did you know?” he asks and Suguru can feel him shudder.
“I don’t know,” Suguru admits and noses at his neck again, trying to calm Satoru down.
Everyone he talked to said it would help, having someone close by, having pack near them, being smothered in physical contact. He’s intent on making this as easy on Satoru as he can.
“I just knew, really. I can’t explain it.”
And it’s not a lie; Suguru has never been able to tell with anyone but Satoru. Since he presented so early, Suguru has watched a fair number of people present and not once did he knew like he did with Satoru.
“And this? How do you know that this is helping?” Satoru whispers and he shudders in Suguru’s arm, though he seems more at ease already.
“I did my research,” Suguru tells him. “I know you only ever read about what to do when you present as an alpha but I tried to cover all the bases; I talked to Shoko to know what to expect in the case you present as a beta and I did my own research on what to do when you present as an omega.”
“Why is it not affecting you? Does that have to do with your research, too?” Satoru asks next and this is something Suguru has no answer for.
“I don’t think so. Shoko usually knows what to do when an omega presents but it’s no help to her. I don’t know why I’m not affected,” he admits but he doesn’t hesitate to nuzzle Satoru again.
He really does smell good, but it’s nothing like what Shoko made it seem like. It’s comfort and warmth and it doesn’t spark a single aggressive or uncontrolled urge in him.
“What do I smell like?” Satoru wants to know and Suguru takes this opportunity to press his face into Satoru’s neck, inhaling deeply.
“Like all of my favourite candies wrapped into one,” he finally says and it makes Satoru huff out a laugh.
“So bitter,” he sums up and Suguru smiles into his skin.
“Not at all. You smell sweet.”
They fall silent after that for a while, Suguru content with holding Satoru like this and Satoru relaxing gradually in his arms and just when Suguru thinks that his pheromones have calmed down a spike of anxiety goes through them.
“What’s wrong?” he wants to know, keeping his voice low, keeping Satoru safe in his arms, so he knows that nothing is going to happen.
“This is going to change everything,” Satoru finally says and it sounds so final that it almost makes Suguru growl.
“It won’t change a thing,” he vehemently gives back. “I already told you; nothing is going to change anything. You’re still Satoru and I’m still Suguru, that won’t ever change.”
“That was when I still thought I’m an alpha,” Satoru weakly replies. “Things are different now.”
“They are not. I’m not affected, and I won’t let it change a single thing.”
“It’s no longer in your hands,” Satoru whispers. “Yaga will already have informed my family.”
“So?”
“You don’t know, because you’re not from one of the great clans but—things are different for us,” Satoru explains and he smells so much like misery that Suguru almost feels sick with it. “I won’t be allowed to stay here. I’m no longer allowed to fight.”
“What the hell, Satoru, what else would they have you do if not what you’re good at?”
“I’m an omega, Suguru. I’m good for breeding and nothing else. Me especially, because of the techniques I inherited. They’ll want me to pass that on to someone who can use them, an alpha or even a beta. Not something like me,” Satoru says, his voice shaking and for a split second, Suguru sees red.
The thought of someone locking Satoru up, denying him what he really wants to do, touching him and laying with him when he doesn’t want it—it makes him want to tear someone apart.
“I’m not going to let them,” he promises and he means it.
No one is going to make Satoru do anything he doesn’t want to, Suguru will make sure of that.
Satoru huffs out a wet laugh as he turns around in Suguru’s arms. He seems surprised by whatever look is still on Suguru’s face and Suguru can tell that he takes a moment to make up his mind before he presses his nose to Suguru’s neck, inhaling deeply.
“Suguru,” Satoru finally mutters. “Am I yours?” he then asks and it feels as if Satoru upended a bucket of cold water over him.
Mate. Of course.
That certainly explains a few things, Suguru thinks, as he tries to wrap his mind around the fact that Satoru is meant to be his, has always been meant to be his. It’s why he instinctively knew his second gender and why he’s not being affected like everyone else.
“You smell like you’re mine,” Satoru goes on, not waiting for a reply, not giving Suguru a chance to digest this. “You smell like all of my favourite things.”
“And you smell like all of mine,” Suguru gives back, because what else is there to say and he can feel Satoru smiling against his skin.
“That’s how you knew I had to be an omega, right?”
“No,” Suguru replies, because if he’s certain about one thing then it’s this. “You would have always been mine, no matter what.”
“Even as an alpha?”
“Yes.” There is no doubt in Suguru’s mind that no matter what Satoru’s second gender is, he’d still feel the same towards him.
For him, it’s always been Satoru, he suddenly realises.
“I love you,” Suguru says and he knows Satoru well enough to know that he’s rolling his eyes.
“Of course you do, my pheromones wouldn’t allow anything else.”
“Not true,” Suguru says and nuzzles the top of Satoru’s head. “I don’t feel any different than last week, or even yesterday. More hungry maybe, thanks to your scent, but otherwise it’s all the same. I have loved you, even before this.”
“Same,” Satoru says, in true Satoru fashion and Suguru laughs, bursting with fondness for the boy in his arms.
“But if we’re mates, then your family can’t take you, right?” Suguru asks after a moment and Satoru tilts his head as if he’s inviting Suguru to bite him.
“They wouldn’t dare,” he agrees and Suguru’s teeth ache with the need to make Satoru his, wholly, completely.
He hesitates, though.
“You sure?” he wants to know, ghosting his lips over Satoru’s scent gland and making him shiver.
“Are you?” Satoru gives right back and boldly licks over the same spot on Suguru’s neck.
It’s an electrifying feeling.
“With you, always,” Suguru promises and the words have barely left his mouth before Satoru sinks his teeth into his neck.
It hurts, for a split second, until Suguru bites Satoru in return, and then there’s only bliss.
Satoru is his. He is Satoru’s. Everything is like it’s meant to be.