It was the next morning when Izuku woke up.
The first thing his sleepy green eyes saw was the attractive Alpha sitting in the chair across from him. The blond didn't seem to have noticed that the Omega was awake yet, thoroughly engrossed with his phone. Izuku took advantage of this moment to give him a once over.
He was lounging comfortably with his long legs crossed, wearing a dark fitted tailored suit that clearly displayed his broad shoulders and slim waist, though he wore no tie and a few of his shirt's buttons were carelessly undone.
Under the morning sunlight, there was something familiar about his ash-blond hair, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
Then the Alpha finally detected his gaze, for those intensely crimson eyes abruptly rose up—pinning Izuku in place.
That menacing stare was a bit too aggressive for the Omega's liking, as if the blond was examining him like a menu. As if he were a meal to be devoured. It made Izuku uncomfortable, not being used to this sort of attention and scrutiny, so he broke their eye contact and looked down to examine the hospital bed he was laying in.
However, try as he might, he couldn't ignore the stranger forever, so he finally tried the awkward silence of the room and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but can you tell me how I got here? Oh, right, I guess that really doesn't matter right now. Um, have you seen a young pup earlier? About four to five years old, doesn't really like to talk? He has light blond hair, a little dull maybe, but he's really cute!"
Cute . . .
The Alpha raised an eyebrow at Izuku's attempt to describe the pup, shifting his eyes to the right of the hospital bed and asked gruffly, "You mean Katsumi?"
The Omega followed his line of sight and, to his relief, found the pup sleeping soundly in a cot next to the bed with an IV attached to the back of his hand.
"Yes, that's him! His name is Katsumi?"
Izuku finally felt at ease, tension leaving his body as he reached over to test the pup's temperature. Thankfully, his fever had gone down overnight. He had been worried about sending the pup out to search for help. He was so young after all, and had a fever to boot, so the Izuku was afraid of the sick pup collapsing before someone found him. What if something had happened to him as he tried to make his way through the maze-like bar?
The Omega turned back to face the Alpha, "And you're this pup's—?"
As the words fell from his mouth, Izuku immediately wanted to swallow them back down. They were just like two peas in a pod. That ash blond hair, those narrowed suspicious eyes, it was obvious they were related.
Sure enough, the ash-blond answered, "Father."
"Hey, look who's up! How're you feeling, stranger?"
Suddenly, a cheerful face popped up from the side, smiling and adorned with familiar-looking spiky red hair. "I'm Katsumi's godfather! Thanks for saving him last night by the way. It's nice to finally meet you!"
Izuku instinctively flinched and scooted back until he had a good look at the newcomer. Wait, wasn't that—?
"Kiri-Kirishima Eijirou?" he exclaimed in disbelief.
This man was the Bakugou Corporation's second-in-command, Ground Zero's spokesperson and representative! He was well-known in the entertainment world, making more appearances in headlines and magazines than most celebrities and artistes due to his eye-catching appearance and friendly personality.
There was no mistaking that toothy smile.
So if he was Katsumi's godfather, and the blond stranger was Katsumi's father . . .
Then didn't that make the grim-looking Alpha, Kirishima's boss, Bakugou Katsuki?
Bakugou Katsuki, the myth, the legend, the one and only head of the Bakugou Corporation. There wasn't much information on this infamous yet extremely private person on the internet, only of his successful business deals and—the fact he had a pup out of wedlock.
Who knew that Katsumi turned out to be that very mystery pup?
Bakugou scrutinized the Omega sitting up on the bed, determining whether his surprise was genuine or not. After a long while, he seemed to believe that Izuku didn't have any sinister notions regarding his pup's identity. He then stated, "What do you want?"
"Uh, what do I want...?" The greenette repeated hesitantly. He didn't understand what the Alpha meant, asking out of nowhere like that!
"What Bakubro means to say is that he wants to thank you for saving Katsumi!" explained Kirishima, looking as if Izuku had just won the lottery. "So he wants to know if there's something he can do for you."
Hearing this, the gears inside his head began to spin as Izuku answered cautiously, "Oh, you really don't need to thank me. It's true that I saved your pup, but he also saved me in return. If it weren't for Katsumi going out to call for help, I'd probably be stuck back there right now, so we're even."
Even though he did help save a young master, how could he dare to demand a reward for it? The more money someone held, the more vulnerable they were to paranoid delusions of people wanting their money. Furthermore, this was the Bakugou family he was dealing with, one of the wealthy, top-class elite of elites.
Izuku was already lucky enough that they didn't suspect him of being the mastermind behind the whole incident. Look how guarded Bakugou was as he glared at the Omega. He was probably better off if he didn't make any unreasonable requests.
The greenette thought that there was nothing wrong with his answer, but the somehow Alpha's expression became even uglier, causing his heartbeat to speed up in terror. Did he say something wrong?
Why was his expression so scary?
"Bakubro, stop doing that with your face! If I didn't know that you were trying to return the favor, I'd think that you were here for revenge!" Kirishima did his best to remedy the situation and to calm down the frightened Omega. "He doesn't like to be in debt to others, so don't be afraid to ask for anything!"
The corner of his mouth twitched. "It's not that I'm scared or anything, but there's really no need for you to do this for me. What I said was the truth, and if you don't believe me, you can go back and check—"
"No need." Bakugou cut him off, his sullen face beginning to show hints of impatience.
The red-head jumped in again, "There was a security camera outside of the storeroom. We've already seen the footage; Katsumi clearly ran inside by himself before you got there. As for you, that Beta manager already confessed that she locked you inside, so we know that you're a victim as well. Since we have proof that you did save Katsumi, I'm begging you, please just ask for something!"
Great, they've made a full circle, right back to where they started!
In the end, Izuku had no other choice, unless he wanted to reveal his nerdy adoration of All Might memorabilia, to which he'd rather die than admit in front of these two. Under ash-blond's increasingly angry glower, the Omega gathered up all his courage and cautiously ventured, "Then . . . I guess you can give me money...?"
Usually, all rich people like to solve their problems with money, right? That means that Bakugou Katsuki also followed this sort of philosophy, right? If he didn't ask for money, then wouldn't they think he was eyeing something else? He really didn't want to give them any ideas....
Just when Izuku thought he said the right answer, the Alpha's expression turned for the worse, full-on scowling now.
The greenette was on the verge of tears. What did he even want Izuku to say? Why didn't he say anything? Would a few words kill him?
The translating machine, Kirishima, rubbed his nose as he responded, "Bakubro believes that giving out money like that is offensive."
That's fine by me! Izuku's heart cried internally. Feel free to stomp all over my pride! I don't care, just get me out of this awkward situation!
Having the Bakugou family in front of him was just too much for him to handle. The Omega couldn't think clearly, his mind spinning and whirling at speeds too fast for him to catch up, and figure out what was an appropriate reply. Just as they arrived at this crucial point of their standoff, the Alpha opened his mouth—
"Marry me."
Izuku lost his soul for a second there, before coming back to his senses and coughed fiercely, almost choking himself back to death. There . . . there was no way he actually heard Bakugou say that, did he?
Was he dreaming about all this happening? Maybe suffering from head trauma after that fall? But no, the intense burning of his lungs from coughing so hard reminded him that this was reality. Still, he had to make sure that he wasn't overthinking things again.
"Um . . . What did he say?" the Omega asked, turning to Kirishima for help. But to his surprise, the red-head seemed to be just as stumped as Izuku was. "What do you mean by that, Bakubro?"
Together they stared him down for a few seconds questioningly, the ash-blond stubbornly holding onto his formidable expression, giving nothing away.
"I guess he means exactly what he said." Kirishima said helplessly, throwing his arms in the air.
Then a lightbulb went off inside Izuku's head. There was only one reason why Bakugou would suggest such a thing. He spoke up hesitantly, "Is it because I saved your pup that you've decided to repay me with your life?"
Bakugou tilted his head, contemplating his words before suddenly breaking into a startling handsome grin. It was dangerous, wicked, taunting of unspeakable promises. "You could say that."
Izuku felt light-headed at the sight of it. That sort of smile was fatal, powerful enough to bring any Alpha, Beta, or Omega to their knees in reverence. He covered his reddening face in embarrassment at the sudden warmth within in his belly, and asked weakly, "Doctor . . . is there a doctor nearby? I think I've damaged my brain from the fall . . . nothing is making any sense . . . I must be hallucinating or something-!"
From the side, Kirishima had an amazed expression on his face. "I think I'm gonna need a check up right after you! I can't believe this...."
At this moment in time, no matter how strong Izuku's heart was after getting abused a million times over, never in his wildest dreams would he be able to accept that this was happening right before him. All he did was save a pup, and now that very pup's father wanted to repay Izuku with his life?!
If this were someone else, then it would've been fine. If they were just a little bit good-looking, then he would've taken it as a lucky chance of fate, maybe even possibly romance. But this was Bakugou Katsuki right in front of him, Ba-ku-gou Ka-tsu-ki of all people!
When it came to looks, Izuku supposed his own weren't that bad, having attracted his fair share of suitors, but what kind of person was Bakugou Katsuki? Surely the Alpha had seen countless beauties in his lifetime. He could literally have anyone he wanted, not that they would ever refuse him, so why would he want Izuku?
If he had only taken a liking to the Omega, Izuku wouldn't be as shocked. If this was only just a passing interest, a possible fling, he'd still understand. Having green hair was a bit of a novelty after all. However, what Bakugou had placed on the table was not that, but marriage.
That in itself was already terrifyingly worthy enough to be reproduced into a horror movie, but more importantly . . .
"I heard you had a vasectomy done!" Izuku blurted out without thinking.
"Pfffffft—!" Kirishima was caught off-guard by the accusation and fell over, laughing his head off. The ash-blond Alpha's face darkened immediately, instantly filling up the whole room with furious pheromones wafting off his skin and causing the greenette to shrink back in fear.
After a long while, the red-head finally managed to hold down his laughter. "I-If Bakubro did vasectomy, then where did Katsumi come from?"
"Uh, surrogate pregnancy and artificial insemination?"
"Okay, that's fair. Fine, if Bakubro was sterile, then why would he offer you his body?" Kirishima did his best to hold a straight face as he carefully emphasized the last word, just to make a point clear to the Omega.
"To cover up the fact that he's sterile? I mean, he does have a pup already—"
"Pffffffffffft—!" Kirishima couldn't take this seriously anymore, once again bursting into laughter. "Ahahahaha—Bakubro, I-I don't think there's anything I can do to help you anymore...."
"....I've also heard another rumor regarding the two of you..." Izuku began slowly, green eyes shifting sneakily between the two Alphas, "....and how you've been . . . secretly together."
"Ack—!" It was the red-head's turn to choke at his words, laughter dying off instantly at the horrific thought. "Oh, no, we're strictly in an employer and subordinate relationship. And I'm interested in someone else...."
At this moment the center of the storm stood up, his long legs making their way to Izuku. "Eijirou, take Katsumi outside with you."
"Huh? Bakubro, what are you doing?"
The ash-blond slowly fixed the cuffs of his sleeves as he released more heavy pheremones into the room, his fearsome red eyes pinpointing the greenette in place as he rumbled, "Proving my fertility to this Omega."
Seeing the Alpha's dark expression, with a gaze that wanted to completely devour him, Izuku panicked and hopped off the bed. He dove behind the pup for protection, worried green eyes peeking back up at Bakugou as he thought about retreating further under the bed.
"Ah, Mr. Bakugou, it wasn't me who started it, that was just some random gossip I've read on the internet! It was my fault for bringing it up, but if you're this concerned about it, then maybe you should go and directly address these sort of rumors? Or you know, shut it down completely from the source? Also, you really, really don't need to thank me, but if you absolutely, definitely want me to give you an answer, then my answer is please don't ask me to ask for anything from you!"
Izuku took a deep breath, a quick rest from his rambling when he noticed the clock on the wall behind Bakugou. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, but I have this very important audition that's gonna start in an hour, so I really should get going right now! Uh, and about that reward, how about we discuss that another time—?"
He mumbled his excuses and prepared to make his escape, only a few steps away from freedom, when a spine-chilling voice asked, "Did I say you could leave?"
The Omega's knees went weak at the sound of that question, body quivering right before the door, his instincts obediently listening to his dismay. His legs trembled as he slowly turned around, fervently hoping for a quick end.
Looks like this was how he was gonna die. Good-bye, cruel world.....
But to his surprise, the Alpha was holding out a pen and a sheet of paper. The greenette turned towards Kirishima quizzically, awaiting one last explanation.
"He, uh, wants you to write a note for Katsumi," the red-head answered, gesturing at the pup who had somehow slept through their ruckus, "so that the little rascal won't worry about you when he wakes up."
That's . . . That's all?! Izuku released a silent sigh of relief as he took the stationery to get started. That was a close one!
"Yes, yes, yes, of course I will! No problem, I'll write as much as you want!"
Once he finished, he quickly handed it over to the Alpha before rushing off in agitation. He had wasted five minutes on that exchange, five whole minutes that could've been used to leave the hospital by now. He feverishly prayed in hopes that he'll be able to make the auditions on time....
Watching the Omega leave, the ash-blond held a deep expression, as if he were watching prey that had already been collared. As soon as Izuku left the room, Kirishima slid up to his side and began bouncing on his toes, wide-eyed with curiosity.
"Bakubro, pinch me if I'm dreaming. Do you really like that Omega? He's a cutie! I'm so glad you haven't lost your touch yet! Man, I can't believe you've been single this whole entire time! Even me, your own best friend, thought you were an ace! I mean, you already have Katsumi, but still who would've thought that—"
"Shut up." The Alpha stared daggers at his second-in-command, daring him to say another word.
"....'Kay." Kirishima beamed, knowing that this was Bakugou Katsuki's limit.
Still, he had so many questions he wanted to ask! Keeping all of this curiosity inside was going to kill him!