Chapter Text
Izuku stumbled down the street past droves of people, all showing varying levels of concern. He shoved them aside, shoved his panicked thoughts into the back of his head, and let his instincts carry him. Really, he didn’t know exactly where he was going, just that he was searching for safety, for something to cover him, something that he knew he could trust in. Was he missing his nest at home? Maybe a little more than he would like to admit, but that didn’t matter one bit when he finally realized he was supposed to be at home. Right now with his poor and fuzzy vision he could barely see where he was, two blocks from his apartment building but that wasn’t really important.
All he could focus on were all of the scents floating above his nose, the saliva drooling from his mouth and down his chin. How feral must he look right now? His heart was beating faster than it ever would when he was fighting. Somewhere along the way he would feel his canines had grown so long that they almost touched his bottom lip. But after that it was all a blur. Rushing to get home, he prayed his senses would stop going haywire in public. But this has been happening a lot more lately.
It seemed to be two days, no more and no less, before his heat, that he would get like this. Maybe he should visit the doctor. It was really bad to be seen like this anyways, so hurrying home was the only solution. This never happened to other omegas, and even if Izuku didn’t know many, he knew enough to see this as abnormal. And of course, he had forgotten when he was on the way to get groceries that today was the day, of course he would have to struggle and worry and rely mostly on his sense of smell to find his way back home. The specific type of trees planted in front of his apartment complex, ones that Izuku didn’t know the name of but still liked because of their recognizable scent, were lined up in rows and that was the one distinguishing feature in the courtyard. It was one of the reasons Izuku got this place, that and the fact that it was close to his agency and the air was clear and fresh.
Once Izuku could smell those familiar trees, he almost toppled over in relief, but settled to shuffle his way inside of the building. The trip up his stairs had usually been his preferred mode of transport to his floor, but this time he was just so tired, done running and so he decided to go via the elevator this time. It was a leisurely trip, slow enough that Izuku had time to try and calm himself down—only heaven knows if that helped—but fast enough that he didn’t have time to spiral from the feeling that his nest was too far away. Once the elevator made it to the fourth floor, Izuku scrambled out and ran to his front door and patted his sides to search for his keys. They were in his back right pocket, as always, and soon Izuku was done fumbling with the keys in his hands when he finally opened his front door.
A safe space, the familiar scent of his house was stronger, but more comforting to the omega in his own version of pre-heat. Slowly, he walked into the house and closed and locked the front door. He was going to be okay, he was safe in his own house and no one had to see him like this. Holed up in his room with cotton balls on stand-by in case the drooling really starts to make itself a problem, lying peacefully in his nest with no distractions. No one had to see the pro hero like this.
Then again, it wouldn’t hurt to have somebody by his side while he lays down and searches for an answer for his weird behaviours. It would help to invite one of his friends over, maybe Ochako since she’s also an omega, but Tenya did always know a lot to do with secondary genders… Maybe both of them? Again, it wouldn’t hurt if he did have someone right now, just until his heat really starts, then he can hole himself up in his room and deal with the issue on his own. Being in heat came with its own set of problems that he would rather deal with on his own, it’s not like he had a mate. Ah, but if he did have a mate, so many of his problems related to his own omega would be solved, he wouldn’t have to worry about feeling so alone during his heats, instead he could try his best to relax while his alpha took care of him… Izuku sighed, flexing his fingers on the hand outstretched in front of him. Maybe he really did need a mate if he was going to keep thinking about it.
His vision was slowly being returned to him, but he knew in an hour or so the symptoms of his pre-heat could very well come back stronger. At last, Izuku found himself in the safety of his nest, something that he struggled to get accustomed to when he first moved out of his mother’s house. But over time, and with a little help from Ochako but his omega refused to admit that, he got used to his nest and was always comfortable in it. Now he was snuggled under one of his childhood blankets, big enough to cover his whole body excluding his head, lying under clothes that he and some others scented. Well, those were temporary as always, but he always liked seeing his friend’s clothes in his nest. And sure, when he had to ask for new scented clothes or for someone to scent the clothes that he already used he always got at least a little embarrassed, but his requests were always vindicated. And even though Izuku found that he didn’t expect that every single time, he would try to deny the fact that he was surprised.
Now that he could actually see, he decided he would try and ask Ochako and Tenya over. Leaving his nest was honestly something he dreaded after using it to ground himself, but it had to be done if he was going to get to his phone that he probably left all the way in the kitchen on the counter. He left his room and the very alluring yet distracting arrangement of soft things and ventured out into the kitchen, his eyes locking in on his phone that just happened to light up with a notification once he stepped out of his room.
Traversing the small area between his room door to the closest kitchen counter, Izuku grabbed his phone with Blackwhip and tapped the screen to see what exactly had notified him. His eyes scanned the screen, a few missed messages from his mother, but nothing bad. At least, her tone seemed relaxed when she usually isn’t when texting her son. From worrying over injuries he got in battle to wondering when he was going to visit her next, but this time she seemed fine.
Izuku opened the message, expecting anything and everything to do with his health (he texted her weekly with an update on how he was doing to ease her worries so this was nothing new) and found the other reason that she often texts him instead. He wasn’t going to be fully sure, for all Izuku knew, someone could’ve seen the state he was in running down the street and blabbed about it on social media. But no, he was lucky this time.
Mom
Dear? It’s been a while since we’ve talked. 14:06
How have you been? I wanted to see you today but I was worried that you’d have a heat coming up. 14:07
Is that right? 14:07
Me
You’re right, I’ll probably go into heat in two days 14:08
But I can visit after! 14:08
Mom
That sounds great honey! I can’t wait to see you. 14:09
Now that Izuku thought about it, being within close proximity with Tenya, an alpha, probably wasn’t the best idea if he was set to go into heat in just two days. His pheromones could coax Izuku into an early heat, Izuku had that happen to him a few other times when he was living in the Yuuei dorms. Maybe it would be safer to only invite Ochako over, plus, it was always nice to be close to another omega before his heats. Back when he was in Yuuei and still getting used to the sheer amount of alphas around him his heats were always horrible, and in that time he and Ochako would heatshare to lessen the effect. Izuku sometimes looks back on those times fondly, even though he was in pain and uncomfortable, he had someone to help him. Sure, there were other omegas and betas that he could heatshare with, but Ochako was always his first choice.
Izuku sent Ochako a quick text on his way over to his living room couch, almost laughing at the scarily fast response he got. It was good to hear back from her almost immediately, and she had told him that she would be over in about ten minutes. Cool. Now just to wait… Gods, Izuku was hungry. He didn’t notice it earlier, but when the hunger pains finally made themselves apparent Izuku could do nothing but yield to them. Except for one critical fact, Izuku barely had anything in his fridge. Of course, that was why he went grocery shopping in the first place, other than making it look like he actually took care of himself well he still needed to eat something that was considered “real food”. And ramen and protein bars apparently weren’t considered the real food that he was meant to be eating, bummer. Honestly, life was better when the food that he got was prepared mostly by Lunch Rush and his dorm mates, that way he didn’t have to worry about burning anything if he was making a full meal by himself because someone would always make something else to cover for it.
And now that his stomach was giving him problems about it he was forced to at least ask for sustenance. He picked his phone up again from beside him, and typed an apology for asking before he could even think of what to ask for specifically. But no, he was going to be assertive this time, forgoing the apology! Then type that he wanted any food that Ochako could get and send the message.
And then he would wait, turn the TV on even when it was all for naught when his eyes started watering and getting itchy almost instantly when he got to a channel he actually liked. So he really needed to consult a doctor about this. Ochako replied again in almost record time, saying she would be there with food but with a slight delay, and Izuku thanked her. Honestly the wait wasn’t as bad as Izuku thought it would be, he issues only flared up for a few seconds and then they were gone.
And finally, Izuku heard his doorbell ringing and a soft knock on the door, the knock specific to Ochako. Izuku immediately sprang up, going to unlock the door and let Ochako into the house. The first thing that he noticed when he opened the door was the smell of katsudon coming from the takeout bag that Ochako held in her hand, a fond smile made its way to his face. Ochako smiled at him, letting herself in when Izuku stepped to the side. “I’m glad you’re here–” Izuku closed and locked the front door. “–It’s been way too long.” Ochako walked into the kitchen with Izuku trailing behind her, making a content “hm” and nodding to show that she agreed. Once she placed the katsudon on the kitchen counter she turned around to face Izuku with a confused look on her face.
“So, what’s with the stuff in your mouth?” She pointed out, making Izuku blush.
“Right… That’s kind of what I wanted to talk about. It’s just cotton because lately I’ve been drooling. A lot. Uncontrollably.” He deadpanned, going to remove the cotton in his mouth when he realized that it would make it harder to speak. “And I think that it might be related to my heat because this happened the last time I was in pre-heat. But this isn’t the only symptom, my vision has also been going fuzzy, my fangs get longer, and when I’m outside and exposed to other scents I start to feel very overwhelmed by them. Sensory overload is also more common too, but this is only the second time that this has happened and you know what you say, once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence. But the one thing that these two instances have in common is that they both happened two days before my heat! I made sure to remember that but somehow this morning I forgot and when I was going to get groceries–” Izuku paused realizing he was muttering again. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to bombard you with so much information.” He gave Ochako a sheepish smile as she shook her head.
“It’s fine, Deku. Besides, I think I caught most of that. So this is only the second time, this has never happened before?”
Izuku recalled all of the times he was in pre-heat, but even going back to his earliest, more irregular and intense pre-heats and heats, he couldn’t think of any times that these symptoms were paired together let alone times they were this bad and only lasted for about a day. “No, never. This is really new which is why I’m going to set up a doctor’s appointment, but I just wanted to hear your thoughts on it since you’re also an omega.
“A doctor’s appointment will definitely help you here, I’m sorry I couldn’t help. I don’t really know what’s going on.” For a moment, it seemed like Ochako deflated, but then she pepped right back up and turned towards the food on the counter and smiled brightly. “But at least we can eat this food and not worry about anything for a while, right?”
“Yeah! That’s what I originally wanted to do, it’ll be nice to just unwind while I have the time.” For the rest of the evening, Ochako and Izuku stayed in the living room watching old rom coms like they do usually every month if they had the time for it. Izuku brought blankets from the linen closet, cuddling with Ochako after they absolutely devoured the katsudon that she brought over, letting himself feel free to purr with his head against her shoulder after she started it. At some point Izuku had fallen asleep, and even though he woke up to Ochako ruffling his hair, he still wished he was asleep, keeping his eyes closed. It was only until Ochako got up and said she had to leave that Izuku finally opened his eyes to walk her to the door and lock it. After that he turned the TV in the living room off and dragged the blanket he brought from his room back with him, gracefully crashing into his nest with the lights turned off. There, he finally drifted into a calm slumber.
Izuku stirred awake with aches plaguing his body and sweat decorating his brow. Actually, it felt like he was drowning in sweat in his own nest. Then the next sensation to attack him was the all too familiar feeling of slick pooling under him, more alarming than the previous two ailments. He was uncomfortable all over, yearning taking rational thought’s place in his brain as he complained for a capable alpha in his mind… Fuck, did he really go into heat early? He couldn’t help but toss and turn in his bed, searching for a comfortable spot to lay in before he decided that it was his clothes that were the problem. This was the usual routine for Izuku when he was in heat, struggle to get comfortable in bed, take all of his clothes off, then sometime along the way he would find some… alternative way to settle the yearning feeling lodged deep inside of himself, wishing for an alpha to take care of him in every way.
But of course, he had woken up in heat with no food in his fridge, but luckily his phone was somewhere in his room. The last place he remembers seeing it was on the desk that he may or may not have stolen from Yuuei, no one was yet to recognize it so for now he was in the clear. At the moment, everything not in his nest felt so far away, like he was confined to it indefinitely. Maybe that wasn’t so incorrect, sometimes he thought that with how much he was sweating, he would slip and fall if he tried to get up and do anything. So it was better to just stay in place, slowly stripping himself of any clothes that weren’t his boxers. That was the freedom he allowed himself during his heats, being allowed to streak around his house when clothes felt too heavy and hot was a privilege he never thought he’d be granted. But once he got his own house so many more things became possible. He didn’t have to wear scent patches like he did in the dorms, and he could choose what he wanted to eat (if he did eat) when he couldn’t at his mother’s house.
And now he was free to stay in his nest all day. It wasn’t like he wasn’t allowed to before, but his mother always liked it if he got some fresh air out on the balcony when he was lucid enough to try and enjoy it. Of course, he still had to eat something and if his heart was screaming that he needed some katsudon in his system despite having that yesterday then that would be fine. It’s nothing new anyways. Of course, his instincts were screaming at him for other, much more important reasons, but those were the ones that Izuku always did his best to ignore. For the first time this week, Izuku was faced with boredom while he lay down in agony, the subtle cramps he experienced waking up coming back tenfold, and a rush of slick leaving his body. He shivered and pulled his blanket over most of his body, even though he would get uncomfortable quickly and push the blanket away, eventually rearranging the whole nest later.
This afternoon would be a challenge for sure, no matter what Izuku did.