MHA smut

The Scent of Smoke

Written by:
corpseFlora

Summary:

After he runs away from UA to start making the world a better place, Izuku takes refuge in Dabi's safehouse. There, he realizes that Dabi smells very similar to his lifelong crush, Bakugou.

The smell of smoke has always had a stranglehold on Izuku.

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Izuku wasn't sure when he started smoking. He remembered sharing a few cigarettes here and there with Shinsou while he was still in school, remembered Saturday nights when Mina and Denki would offer messily hand-rolled joints to him, remembered his small moments of solitary reprieve after tough exams and crushing training sessions when the only thing that kept him from going crazy was a hit of nicotine and a head rush so strong it made his knees give out. But it definitely got worse when he made a new home in the underworld.

Cigarettes were pretty common in the underworld. Everyone smoked. It kept the hunger pangs at bay, gave them something to do with their hands and mouths except anxiously bite at their nails and wring their wrists.

The smell of smoke seemed to follow Izuku around his entire life. Sweet, burning sugar, boiling caramel, marshmallows on fire. It was a scent hat Izuku fell in love with before it had truly developed, when it was still wrapped up in the milky smell of toddlerhood. But the slight curl of smoke still stuck in his brain, and even now the burning aroma brought to mind the image of ash-blond hair and ember red eyes.

As they got older, Katsuki's scent only got smokier. It became a raging bonfire when he was posturing his dominance, evoking scorched earth when he was angry, but it always retained a hint of sweetness. It seemed to cling to things, leaving traces on Izuku's clothes when they sparred – it was probably Katsuki's sweat, too abundant and potent for most patches and blocking lotions.

Izuku got good at acting like it didn't affect him. In middle school, he steeled himself every time he was cornered by the alpha and his friends, just barely keeping himself from cowering and baring his neck in instinctive submission. Once he got One for All, it was easier – the Quirk fucked with his instincts and biology somewhat, changed his scent, killed any submissive inclinations built into him. So when Katsuki growled at him and pushed out his forest fire pheromones, Izuku was able to push down his desire for the alpha and snarl right back. It helped as they started to build their friendship anew, changing to fit they ways they had changed along the years.

And then, Izuku left. He disappeared from UA without a whisper to anyone.

He needed a place to stay, of course. He couldn't be seen walking around or sleeping on the streets while he put his plan into place and started working.

So he went to Dabi. A tense, momentary truce was made between them – sealed with a spitty handshake, effectively scentmarking each other – and Izuku was allowed into Dabi's safehouse. The omega only had a duffle bag to his name, all essentials. He curled up in the corner of the room he was given and slept with one eye open, knowing how many alpha villains traipsed in and out of this safehouse. With his Quirk, he could easily defend himself if he needed to, but he'd rather avoid the situation entirely if possible.

Over the next days, Dabi and Izuku built up something of a rapport. Strange bedfellows, certainly, but they were slowly learning to respect one another.

One thing that kept sticking in Izuku's mind was that smell. Deep, charcoal smoke, logs snapping open with the heat of the fire within them, bones turned to ash. It scratched that itch in the back of Izuku's brain that missed Katsuki, that wanted to go back to his friend and get his help and support. It was the same desperate, needy part of him that wanted to beg Katsuki for attention, wanted to present himself real pretty for the alpha, let himself be used up and thrown away as long as it meant Katuski was touching him. Most days, Izuku could squash that part of him down, silence its squeaky little voice, and move on with his new life. But on days when he couldn't, he found himself clinging close to Dabi's side, taking in subtle lungfuls of that smokey scent.