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The conflict of emotions that struck him as soon as Bakugou's voice rang in his ears made his stomach clench. Anxiety and nervousness that made him want to throw up. God this is going to go so badly. Cautious excitement that made him well, also want to throw up. But.. What if it goes well? End result? He was nauseous. Slowly, he peeled himself off of the blankets in his nest. Shuffled his feet on the carpet, the scratchy texture causing friction that sent chills up his spine.

Fisting the front of his shirt, he took a deep breath in and swung the door open. Bakugou has his fist raised, stopping just short of accidentally hitting Midoriya in the face. He huffs a cough as he lowers his fist.

"What took you so long- '' Midoriya watches the rise and fall of Bakugou's chest as he inhales, "-and why does it reak of distressed omega in here?". Midoriya wants to start crying again at the tone of concern in the alpha's voice.

"Sorry, Kacchan," His voice is rough and small, and it makes Bakugou pause to stare at him. He knows this look. It's his 'I can see you're hiding something,' look. Hesitating for only a moment, he reaches for Midoriya's wrist; the one not in a death grip above his heart.

Rough calloused fingers barely touch him as they guide more than lift the omega's arm, and it makes Midoriya clench his shirt tighter. Why are you being so gentle with me? He wants to ask. He wants to ask so bad. But the words are caught in his throat, afraid to come out.

The scent glands brush against one another, melting the alpha's scent straight through his skin into his veins. It rushes up and into his throat, forcing the words out before he even realizes he's speaking.

"Why are you scenting me?" He almost shouts. Bakugou halts his movements, confusion morphing his face into an almost scowl.

"What the fuck do you mean, why?" Bakugou goes to pull away, clearly caught off guard, something the omega knows he hates, but he can't go back now. Midoriya catches his arm, holding on tighter than he means to which causes their scent glands to press against each other in a way that somehow feels more intimate than anything he's done in his life. The alpha raises a brow, glancing down to where their wrists are secured together.

He takes an open-mouthed breath in, hoping Bakugou doesn't notice how shaky it is. How could he not though when seemingly every sense the alpha has is tuned into the omega, waiting for an explanation.

"I mean, why are we scenting? What is this?" It's barely a difference from what he said the first time but he can see the moment it clicks for Bakugou what he's really asking; the walls are going up. No no please don't shut me out.

"It's not a big deal," There's no venom in his words, but all the same Midoriya flinches, unconsciously squeezing Bakugou's arm tighter. Not even two seconds after he does Bakugou's arm is ripped away. "It's just scenting, it doesn't mean anythin-"

"Of course," Midoriya doesn't mean to cut him off but damn it he should have known. "O-of course it doesn't mean anything,".

"Right-"

"Well then, since it means nothing, I think we should stop," He brings his hand up to join the other one, locking them together so tightly his knuckles turn white. Fuck, he's angrier than he thought he would be. He couldn't help it though, Bakugou denying what's really going on here is maddening.

Bakugou's eyes are red and piercing as they fiercely glare. Midoriya meets it head-on; can't look away, not even as he starts tasting smoked caramel on his tongue and his throat starts burning from holding back tears.

Defensive and hurt alpha pheromones starting to smother him just serve to make him angrier. Why the hell are you hurt? He wants to scream at the alpha. You're the one who just said this was nothing, me calling it off shouldn't hurt you at all if that's the case. But he says none of this out loud. As much as he wants to pummel the alpha right now, he knows, he knows, that this is Bakugou reacting to feelings in the only way he knows how; with defensive anger.

"I think you should go," Midoriya barely manages to get out. It's better to end this here before either of them says something they can't take back.

"Fucking-" Bakugou takes a sharp breath in, eyes looking pained as he does so. "-fine."

The bitter howl that his inner omega unleashes from inside of him as he watches the alpha walk away, nearly brings him to his knees. It's the first time his inner omega has made itself known in the past 15 minutes. It's screaming for the alpha to come back, to tell him that he didn't mean it. Agonized that the alpha rejected them. And the most painful part of listening to it is knowing that he feels the same.

The next few days are spent on autopilot. Staying so focused on studying and training that he doesn't leave himself room to think about anything else. Working himself until he's so exhausted that he practically passes out at the end of the day. Or at least that's the goal.

His friends are worried, he can tell. Sees their worried faces once they realize that something has shifted with Bakugou and Midoriya, and not in a good way. It's like they're first years again. He thanks the gods that no one is brave enough to comment on it. The aura both of them are exuding probably has a good deal to do with that; strong and negative, near acidic that screams leave me alone.

Every time Midoriya manages to get close to the alpha-- which isn't often thanks to them both ignoring each other -he has to fight the urge to both yell at and comfort the alpha. Bakugou makes no effort to keep his scent in check, practically reeking of sad alpha pheromones. Which in turn causes Midoirya to produce distressed omega pheromones since he can't help but react to the distress of an alpha that's been scenting him for months.

The first time this happens he, Iida, and Todoroki had been on their way to lunch rush when Bakugou and company (ie. Kirishima, and Kaminari) walked ahead of them. When Bakugou's scent hits his nose he has to grab Todoroki's arm for support. It's so strong that Midoirya feels like he's been punched in the face and can't help but let his inner omega take over briefly, whimpering as he lets out a distressed scent.

Bakugou stops abruptly, causing Kaminari to crash into his back. "Ow, dude, what the heck?!" Poor Kirishima seems torn between attending to the omega he's courting and his best friend who has just apparently turned to stone.

"Midoriya, are you alright?" Todoroki softly asks. Midoriya can only nod as he attempts to get his scent under control. It doesn't help that when he looks up at Bakugou, he can feel how much the alpha wants to turn around and comfort him. Can see his hands clenched so tight he's shaking.

He doesn't of course, instead as fast as he stopped, he starts walking away, movements strained. Immediately Midoirya's eyebrows crease in anger. Why is he acting like such a wounded alpha?!

"We should continue to lunch before the period is over," Iida says, hoping to move past the odd incident. Midoriya says nothing, simply following his friends as he broods over how stupid his- the alpha is being.

It's late, around 8 pm one night when he finally leaves the on-campus gym and makes his way back to the dorms. His shirt is sticking to him in patches drenched with sweat. His muscles are so sore that it takes all of his concentration to walk straight. Everything feels heavy.

Using his whole body, he pushes the front door open. The lively chatter lowers to a murmur, and Midoriya doesn't have to look up to know that they're all staring at him.

"Bro, he doesn't look good," He hears Kaminari whisper, or try to. He's not sure if he even knows how to whisper.

"Shhh, Kaminari!" Mina hisses before she bounces over to him. "Hey there Midoriya!"

He holds in a sigh, giving her a (forced) smile. "Hi, Mina,"

"Kiri made some curry for everyone and we left you some! It's in the fridge," She beams at him and he can't help but feel warmer under her attention.

He glances over at Kirishima, who is tangled on one of the couches with Kaminari. He wasn't sure if Bakugou had told the red-headed alpha anything about what happened but the look on his face told Midoriya that yes, he had. The sympathy was almost too much.

"Thanks, Kirishima-kun,"

"No problem, Midoriya," Translation: I'm sorry my best friend is an idiot.

He indeed does find a plate of curry that he thinks is a bit too large but he still eats the whole thing anyway. After thanking Kirishima once more he retreats to the elevator, pushing his floor number with just enough pressure to light the 2 in a soft yellow.

In truth, as tired as he is, he's worried about his ability to fall asleep. Each night it gets harder and harder to cross the barrier from exhaustion to actual sleep. He'd gotten so used to the scentings putting him to sleep it's like his body has forgotten how to do it without it. It took him 3 hours to fall asleep last night. Which just made him direct his exasperation at the fact that his workout routine was probably pointless. As the doors chime open his leg muscles cramp, almost as if they're laughing at him.

By the time he makes it to his room, he's so physically tired he wants to never move again. Collapsing into his nest, he prays that his mind will follow suit and shut up for once. He has little hope for that happening though.

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