Chapter Text
Kento looked at the photo strips fondly. Yuu was grinning wide, his visage made even more adorable with the little kitty eyes and whiskers added on by the filter. His thumb traced over Yuu’s form, and he smiled to himself.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Satoru asked, peeking over his shoulder.
“Nothing,” Kento said, stuffing the pictures in his wallet.
“Come on, don’t be so stingy!”
The first years and second years loitered at KFC for a few hours, Satoru eating a disgusting amount of fried chicken. Kento’s stomach churned just looking at him. He got up to refill a drink at Satoru’s request (relentless bothering), and he bumped into someone he never expected to see again.
A stocky alpha with burnt orange hair and a coy smile stood in front of him. “Kento-kun! Long time no see!”
Kento blinked. “Nato?”
“How’ve you been? You’ve gotten tall.” Kento gave him a curt nod. “Are you going to school in Tokyo?”
“Yes, I’m here with my classmates, actually. Did you decide to go to school?”
“Me? Nah. I work at this little dive bar. You should come by sometime.”
“I probably won’t-”
“Kento, something wrong?” Yuu peeked out from behind him. “You’re taking a long time.”
Nato waggled his eyebrows at Kento, and he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Everything is fine, Yuu. Sorry.”
“Who’s this cutie?” Nato questioned. “A boyfriend?”
Despite himself, Kento felt himself flush and sputter. “Yuu is my classmate. We’re in the same year,” he somehow managed. Sensing Yuu’s confusion, he motioned to the other alpha. “This is Nato,” Kento said. “We went to high school together.”
Nato laughed and pulled Kento into a side hug. “Oh, stop. What are you so embarrassed for?” He gave Yuu a toothy grin. “I used to be his boyfriend.”
Yuu stared blankly at them. “Oh, your ex,” he said finally. “I’m going to go back to the table.” He walked away stiffly, and Kento sighed.
“Must you tease him?”
“I don’t know, man. I couldn’t resist. He’s cute, like a puppy!” Nato laughed. “Hey, is that alpha you’re with single? He’s so fucking hot. I like them tall.” He pointed at Satoru.
“Gojou?” Kento looked back at the white-haired man who was chatting away with Shoko. “I mean…yes. You shouldn’t risk it though.”
“Why not?”
“The other alpha over there? The one with black hair? I think he’ll actually kill you if you do.” As if on cue, Suguru looked over at the pair and narrowed his eyes at Nato, threatening and dangerous.
Nato laughed nervously. “Okay, message received.” He pulled Kento into a tight hug and squeezed him. “It looks like you’re doing well. That makes me happy.”
“Same here. You take care of yourself, Nato.”
—
Yuu was distressed.
He had only just come to terms with the fact that he may have had a teensy, tiny (miniscule, really!) crush on Kento, and now he was faced with a physical manifestation of somebody Kento was attracted to. Nato was wide and sturdy, all bulging muscles, and he had a strong, manly jaw.
How was Yuu supposed to compete with that? It wasn’t that he didn’t look like a man - he was fairly tall and had built up lean muscle over the years, being active in sports when he was young and now with jujutsu. However, he would never look like that .
He continued to mope while they walked home, and Shoko nudged his shoulder. “Everything okay?” Yuu shrugged, and Shoko chuckled. “I have no idea what that means, dude. So did Nanami know that guy?”
“His ex-boyfriend,” Yuu said flatly.
“Oh, I didn’t expect that from Nanami,” Shoko hummed. “They seemed to be on good terms. I guess it would be hard to be on bad terms with Nanami.”
She was right. Who could ever hate Kento?
“Yooo, we’re stopping at the store,” Satoru called out. He swung an arm over Kento’s shoulders roughly. “Get me a cola.”
“Give me money,” Kento responded.
“Keh! Cheapskate.” Kento took out his wallet when Satoru slapped some cash into his hand, and that’s when Yuu caught a glimpse of it.
Kento had the pictures of them from the photobooth in his wallet. His stomach grew warm with affection, and he had to contain the giggles that threatened to erupt.
“You good, Haibara?” Shoko asked.
“Yeah, I’m all better,” he said with a smile.
—
Things got incredibly hectic after that. Satoru started going through ruts every couple of weeks. Yuu legitimately thought that he might not make it through the first one alive, but they still seemed to be just as severe. Because of this, Yaga was sending Suguru off with either the seniors or separating Yuu and Kento to support him on his missions. It was starting to tick Yuu off. It wasn’t Suguru’s fault or anything, but Kento was supposed to be going on missions with Yuu - they were classmates. His poor pillow was taking the brunt of his frustrations.
“ Nngh ,” he moaned, stuffing his face into his blankets as he ground his pussy against his pillow. His thighs spasmed and squeezed around the soft material as he came, biting his blanket to muffle his groans. He panted as he came down from his high, imagining Kento lying on top of him with his full weight, kissing at his neck and back.
Maybe his little crush was getting out of hand.
He knew things were unlikely to calm down anytime soon. The exchange event was in a few weeks, and if he was calculating the time correctly, he’d be pushing his luck with his heat - it was scheduled to come about a week after, but it was hard to predict exact dates. It may even be triggered sooner because Satoru was going into rut so often and unintentionally spreading his pheromones everywhere.
Yuu no longer knew what he was going to do about his heats. Usually, he would get fucked by an alpha, and they would subside quite quickly, but he didn’t know if anyone here would be willing. Suguru was clearly not an option, and Satoru had never shown any interest in things like that. Mei Mei gave him the creeps, and Kento…he probably wasn’t Kento’s type, judging by the way Nato looked.
It wasn’t that Yuu wasn’t fit - he was fairly tall, especially for an omega, and built with lean muscle, something required for his occupation. Still, it would be hard to be bulky and muscular like that . He was only an omega, after all.
Yuu sighed with frustration. It wasn’t that he necessarily hated being an omega, but he would readily admit that things would probably be easier if he were a male beta or female omega. Male omegas were still rare and were widely considered to be freaks of nature. When he was in heat, alphas became like rabid dogs when they caught a whiff of him, but outside of it…well, they couldn’t care less about him.
It was different at Jujutsu Tech. The alphas here treated him with respect and kindness (even Mei Mei was better than the majority of alphas he’d had the displeasure of interacting with in high school), and he wasn’t treated much differently than Kento. However, Yuu was still an omega, and sometimes he wished it wasn’t so isolating to be one.
The preparation for the exchange event was brutal for him - Yaga was not letting up on their training, pushing Yuu to his absolute limits. While it was probably great for him as a sorcerer, his pheromones and hormones were running haywire. He was far moodier than usual - he had even snapped at poor Shoko, but luckily, she was an angel and far too understanding for her own good. Kento, however, had been taking the brunt of Yuu’s ire during training, and Yuu needed to apologize profusely after all this.
“Oof!” Kento fell backward as a particularly hard kick from Yuu hit him in the sternum.
Yuu gasped. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kento wheezed, though he made no move to rise from the ground.
“S-should I call Shoko-san?”
“That’s all right. I’m just going to lie here for a moment.”
Yuu frowned and kneeled down but the blond man, hands grasping at his knees. “I’m sorry.”
Kento forced out a chuckle. “This is what training is for, right?”
Yuu nodded, and Kento smiled, closing his eyes. A thin sheen of sweat was matting his bangs to his face, and Yuu wasn’t able to stop himself from pushing them back. Kento slowly opened his eyes, a silent question written all over his face. “Sorry! It just looks good that way.”
Kento pursed his lips, his expression indiscernible. “Is that so.” Neither of them said anything further, choosing instead to rest in the breeze.
——-
It was the first day of the exchange event, and Kento woke up in a sour mood. The sun hadn’t even risen, and already, he had the distinct feeling that this day was going to be more trouble than it was worth. Trudging his way to the bathroom, he splashed some water on his face and brushed his teeth, barely able to open his eyes.
Bangs damp with water, he ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back. Kento frowned. Was Yuu right? Did he look more approachable this way? It seemed Satoru agreed with him. There was a part of Kento that didn’t really want to attract the attention of others - it was easier that way. However, if Yuu liked it…
Kento quickly got dressed and headed into town. The event wouldn’t start till later. Just in case, he sent a quick text that he might be a bit late as he walked into the barbershop. “Excuse me, do you take walk-ins?”
The process was quicker than he thought it would be. He had to stop himself from gasping in horror as he watched the hair disappear from his head. He pursed his lips tightly as the barber styled his hair with wax and instructed him on how to use it, scolding him for neglecting to get a haircut for so long. Kento thanked him for his candor, barely able to look at himself in the mirror.
It wasn’t that the barber did a bad job. It was a solid haircut, but Kento wasn’t used to this. He didn’t think he looked anymore approachable - in fact, he thought he looked even more pissed than before. He made his way back to the school, dreading the event that was just minutes away.
He entered the school grounds, walking at a snail’s pace. His heart pounded with the anticipation of Yuu’s reaction. Would he like how Kento looked now? Kento let out a heavy sigh. He felt foolish, worrying so much about someone’s approval.
In the distance, he could see all of the Tokyo students gathered together. As he approached, he could see the tension practically building up between Suguru and Satoru. They both looked displeased and agitated, and Kento just prayed that this day would go by smoothly. However, with both Suguru and Satoru being as worked up as they were, things were likely going to be bumpy.
The group was chattering as he approached, and as he got closer, he could hear they were talking about him.
“I’ll give him a call,” Satoru said.
“That won’t be necessary,” Kento interrupted, sidling next to Satoru.
He cringed as he saw each jaw drop, all eyes trained on him. “What did you do to your hair?” Haibara gasped.
Ouch. That was more hurtful than he expected. “Does it…not look good?” he asked flatly.
“Nanamin, it looks great.” Satoru squeezed his shoulder and even through the scent patches on his neck, Kento could smell that he was trying to release comforting pheromones. However, it was mixed up with his rut pheromones, and Kento had to contain a blush.
“It does look pretty good,” Utahime said with a smile. “I’m just so not used to it.”
“Look at our cute junior,” Mei Mei said chuckled.
The conversation changed quickly, and Kento breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked down as something tugged at his sleeve. Satoru had an embarrassed look on his face, hiding behind his sunglasses. “Hey, can we talk later?” Satoru asked softly, and Kento nodded with a bit of hesitation. He could tell Satoru was in rut, but it seemed to be somewhat controlled this time around. Although his face was a bit pinker than usual, he was standing straight and forming coherent sentences. Hopefully, he would not be attacking Kento later.
Shortly, the Kyoto students arrived, and they were all introduced to each other. Yuu was sticking close to his side, and he was fidgeting, rocking side to side, and his eyes were glued to the ground. Though he was chatting with people intermittently, he seemed to be more reserved, more withdrawn.
Kento sniffed the air. The pheromones were sweet on his tongue and made his mouth water. He swallowed. “Yuu,” he whispered, voice raspy. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay this week?”
Yuu raised his head, looking at Kento with questioning eyes. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Your pheromones…they’re strong right now.” Kento averted his eyes, starting to feel embarrassed. “Are you sure you won’t go into heat?”
Yuu worried his lower lip. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ll go pick up some suppressants so I can at least put it off for a couple weeks.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I just…I don’t want to miss this. Please don’t tell Yaga.”
Kento frowned. This could be dangerous. There were multiple alphas around, and he didn’t like how Naoya spoke down to omegas. He didn’t want to make any assumptions, but he just had a feeling…
“Let’s stick together today then.”
“Kento, you don’t have to-”
“I know I don’t,” Kento said firmly. “But please, just for my own peace of mind.”
Yuu’s lip quivered minutely, but he nodded. “Okay,” he said softly. “Thank you for always watching over me.” His hand reached up to run his thumb along Kento’s undercut, the scent gland on his wrist rubbing against the back of Kento’s neck, and Kento’s mouth went dry. “It looks good, by the way.”
Kento swallowed down a hot rush of arousal. “Thank you,” he croaked.