Work Text:
By all logical reasoning, Nemuri ought to be the one standing in front of the classroom giving the talk to twenty teenagers swimming with surging hormones. Though it hadn’t been explicitly stated, he knew that he’d been ordered to do this because he was a precautionary tale. He had two issues with this, however. One, he didn’t want to be the one to look his own students in the eyes and give them The Sex And Bonding Talk; and two, he didn’t regret a damn thing that he’d done. He’d just have to modify the subject a little and let Nemuri fill in the technical bits later. He’d debated taking the omegas aside as a group, but Hizashi had swayed him. “The alphas need to hear it too, Shou.”
He sighed and stood, waiting for the chatter to cease. Three seconds, they were getting better.
“Today we will be discussing issues specific to alphas and omegas in the field. I will be answering any questions you may have regarding work accommodations, professionalism, and personal concerns.”
Glances were exchanged between the students ranging from worried to excited. None of his students were marked yet, but he had a fair idea of who was with whom from their interactions and their first attempts at scent marking, although that wasn’t always a clear indicator. Bakugou, for example, routinely marked half the class and Shouta was certain that he’d tried to mark him at least once. Oh, to be a young, possessive alpha.
“Do you have any questions?” Silence. Shouta sighed, noting Midoriya’s fingers twitching and his lips moving despite his hand not being raised. “Yes, Midoriya?”
“...Me?” Midoriya stopped vibrating with his constant need to interrogate now that there was a chance that his unspoken question had been addressed. “Um. I was just wondering... I imagined that Midnight-Sensei would be talking to us about this.”
“Yes, that would have been ideal, I agree; but you should know that you can talk to me about anything.” He tried not to grimace as he said it. It wasn’t that he didn’t mean it, just that saying it outright sounded so false, the sort of thing adults say but don’t mean to follow up on. The number of eyes avoiding his said as much. So stop being a coward and give them your honest thoughts.
He took off his capture weapon and pulled a hair tie from his belt, tying his hair back to expose the twin mating marks on either side of his throat. He watched as realization and confusion both began to dawn on them. With his neck covered, some of his students probably didn’t even know that he was claimed at all. He never spoke about his personal life and he wore scent blockers for his work, though he was sure that he’d been physically close enough to some for them to place him as a bonded omega.
“I was around your age when I was mated by a pair of alphas.” Again, a surprised rustle of voices whispering. “It was consensual, and my mates adored one another. I am obligated to say here that this was a foolish thing to do and that none of you should even consider such an important step in your lives until you are much older.” He kept his voice level, focusing on a spot on the wall just up and to the left of center. “You are already making a life altering decision by training to work as a hero. Complications are a terrible idea and can derail your chances of finding work. Agencies are looking for candidates who are mobile and flexible.”
---
Shouta felt his heartbeat in his ears as he stared down at the plastic stick in his hand. Two red lines. Pregnant. Two red lines, two alphas, and if he’d been on thin ice showing up to school with two mating marks, this was going to be the end of him for sure. He’d be expelled. He’d never be a hero. It should be an easy choice.
“That one’s red too.” Oboro peered over his shoulder.
“That’s helpful. I couldn’t tell.” Shouta snapped, and instantly regretted it as his mate’s face fell.
Hizashi draped his arms over them and kissed both of their cheeks in turn. “Hey, hey.” he soothed. “We’ll figure it out.”
“What’s there to figure out? I’m not running your futures.” Shouta set his jaw in determination. He’d have to take the fall, one way or another. They couldn’t be involved.
“Our future.” Oboro amended. “It’s kind of our fault, too, after all.”
“Mostly our fault.” Hizashi agreed.
“Well, one of you.” Shouta sighed. “There’s no reason for both of you to deal with the repercussions.”
“So what do you want to do?” Hizashi leaned in, forcing him to look into his eyes.
Get rid of it. It’s the only rational choice. We’re seventeen and we can’t do this. But. I don’t want to! Shouta sucked in his breath and let it out as a snarl. “It’s not yours. Either of you. Do you understand? You’re going to get signed to your agencies, and I’ll deal with this.” Everyone called him a slut anyway. It made him laugh, his reputation had gone from being so unremarkable that he barely registered as an omega, to being gossiped about as the school whore. It didn’t bother him. He was a bonded omega, there had never been anyone else. There was no reason to feel ashamed because his mates knew the truth.
“Not a chance.” Oboro replied, his smile bright as ever.
“We have options.” Hizashi pointed out, adjusting his glasses. “If you don’t want this, then we’re with you. If you do, then we can get help. We’re all graduating, okay? Even if I have to tutor you overnights!”
“What do you want?” Shouta turned his head up to look at his mates. He didn’t have to ask, he could smell it. They both wanted it desperately, that was just biology. Even if they had no way of knowing who the father was, their triple bond had blurred those lines so that it didn’t matter. Their eyes, on the other hand, said differently. Their brains wanted what his did, for this problem to just go away so that they could get on with their lives.
---
“Sensei, why didn’t you tell us that you have two mates?” Ashido was bouncing in her seat in excitement. “How does that work? Are you allowed to get married? I mean bonding is the important part anyway, right?”
“Neither one is more important!” interjected Iida. “It’s outdated to say that, and offensive to betas and non-traditional couples.”
“But you’re an alpha.” complained Ashido.
“Fair is fair.” he insisted.
Shouta carefully weighed his words. “Bonding and marriage serve many of the same legal functions. It is true that in many cases, a bond would take precedence. There would have been no need for a legal marriage.”
“But things are changing all the time, right? Can we be in your wedding?”
Shouta paused to order the mess of words in his head.
“Shut it, racoon eyes!” Bakugou growled. “He said he can’t, okay?”
Their eyes met for a split second, and Shouta knew that he’d figured it out. “That’s right. I lost one of my mates that year. He was killed during our work study.” The words came easily to him now. He’d said a variation of them so many times that the words could almost be devoid of meaning if he didn’t think too hard about them. He could pretend that they weren’t real, that he was talking about someone else entirely.
---
Shouta’s head pounded from sobbing. His throat was dry and he felt weak and dehydrated. Grief had overwhelmed him for over a week now, leaving him unable to keep down any food he ate and unable to sleep for very long without nightmares. When he opened his eyes again, the nightmare was still reality. Hizashi would hold him close, rocking him back and forth, make him eat or drink before another wave of sickness hit him. Those gorgeous green eyes that usually sparkled with excitement and joy were dull and dark now, and ringed with puffy red eyelids. He knew that Hizashi felt the pain of the broken bond as strongly as he did. It was even worse for him, because Shouta could sob. Hizashi struggled to remain mute, holding back the full force of his tears so that his quirk wouldn’t do any damage. Shouta had seen the woods outside of the school grounds where Hizashi had vented his grief in deafening wails earlier in the week. It looked as though a tsunami had hit the area and leveled it clean. Hizashi should be there, letting that out, but he held it in so that he could stay by Shouta’s side as much as he could.
Shouta shuddered, trying to fight back against a wave of self pity. Hizashi should be taking care of himself, no, he should be taking care of Hizashi, his alpha. Oboro was gone, and grieving the broken bond had made him physically ill. That was why he’d lost the baby. He’d felt his body convulse with the break, and everything had felt off since that moment. It was his own weakness, and it had just hurt Hizashi even more, grief on top of grief, their mate and their baby gone in one day. His fault.
“I’m sorry.” he’d lost count of how many times he’d said it. It fell off of his lips, a guilty litany.
“Shh.” Hizashi had him tucked up under his chin, rocking back and forth. His nose was pressed against Hizashi’s scent gland, his anchor to the world.
“It was all that was left of him. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Hizashi whispered, stroking back his hair.
Shouta gripped him tighter. He was a monster of an omega. Hizashi had just tried to comfort him by suggesting that he’d killed his child instead. “I’m sorry.”
“Love you.” Hizashi nuzzled his hair.
---
“A broken bond can make you both physically and mentally ill.” Shouta continued, keeping his voice as level as possible. “It is dangerous in any circumstance, even as an adult. To someone your age- to someone training to do a hero’s job- it could be the death of you, or of the people you are meant to protect. If my mate hadn’t taken care of me then, and every day since-” Shouta sucked in a deep breath, composing himself. “Suicides are common. Anxiety, depression, lapses in attention, any of that could cost you your lives in combat. It only takes a moment to lose focus, and lose everything. I need for all of you to promise me that you will think before you act. You have the rest of your lives to mate and nest.” It was all a lie. The three of them had barely a year, and yet... Oboro was their bondmate, forever, both he and Hizashi agreed. Losing him didn’t mean that he was forgotten. He’d be their mate until they died, and Shouta refused to regret any of it.
He glared at his class until they all nodded and agreed with him. He knew it wasn’t much, that it might not mean anything at all, but it was the best that he could do.
“Sensei?” Midoriya’s hand was raised, a bit timidly.
“Yes, Midoriya?”
“Your mate...you still have a mate, right? Who went to UA with you? Does that mean that they became a pro hero, too?”
Shouta felt the stab of a headache beginning behind his eyes. Of course Midoriya would realize... he glanced up at the clock. One minute left.
“My mate is Yamada-sensei. He’s my best friend and everything I could ask for.” Even those who’d been quiet were clamoring for answers now. He scooped up his papers and stepped out the door just as Hizashi approached. “Don’t let them eat you alive.” he murmured as he passed. He stood by the door frame, just out of sight.
“HELLOOO, listeners! Are you ready to unpack your adjectives?!”
“Mic-sensei! Are you really Aizawa-sensei’s alpha?”
“Like, really? You and Aizawa-sensei?”
“Is that so odd?” Hizashi chuckled, opening his bag to retrieve his lesson plan.
“It is!”
“I can’t imagine Aizawa-sensei in love!”
“You’re so different!”
“What, you don’t believe that I love him? The light of my life?” Hizashi grinned.
“But- you and Aizawa-sensei-”
“What’s so hard to believe? You all love him.” Hizashi laughed at the groans and protests. “Yes, you doooo! Now, let’s start on page seventy-three-”
“But, Mic-sensei! What’s he like? Like, really like? Not at school?”
“Do you have any cats? Does he bring them home?”
“Do you have date nights?”
Hizashi held up his hands in defeat. “All right, all right.” He leaned back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. “I’ll answer your questions, provided that they are asked in English.”
Shouta smirked. Hizashi had everything under control, but really, that was no surprise. He was so good with kids, a born teacher. He felt proud, a fond warmth in his chest that eased the pain of his memories. Thank you, Hizashi. For everything.