Back at Izuku's apartment, the greenette was reading his script while idly chatting with a friend online.
His phone continued to ping with incoming messages, but Izuku simply closed the messaging window to concentrate on his script. Finally, some peace and quiet.
However, that didn't last long, as his phone rang moments later. Giving it a quick glance, it wasn't Copycat but an unknown number. He worried that it might be from the production crew though, so he picked it up right away.
"Hello, Midoriya? Save meee!"
"Wait—" Izuku frowned as he tried to place the somewhat familiar voice, "who's this—?"
"This is Kaminari Denki! We've kinda met before, but that doesn't matter right now! Something's happened to Katsumi!"
"What?" Izuku's heart tightened at his urgent voice. "What happened to Katsumi?"
"Just know that it's an emergency—" he could hear other noises coming from the other end, "—BANG—Please hurry!—CRASH—B-Bakubro! Calm down!—THUMP—He doesn't know any better, go easy on him!—BOOM—No, Katsumi, you can't break that! Don't do it—Ahhhhhh!—"
Kaminari sounded seriously terrified, and the sounds of things falling and shattering in the background made Izuku even more worried about what was going on. He raced over to his closet to grab his jacket, calling out, "I'm on my way!"
"Thank you!" the Beta sobbed through the speaker, gratefulness spilling through his voice as he said, "I'll text you the address and tell security to let you through!"
The Omega didn't know what had come over him, but once he heard that something had happened to Katsumi, his instincts wouldn't let him stay still. He had only known the pup for only a couple of days, and yet somehow he had managed to worm his way into the greenette's heart.
And Izuku wasn't about to let go of this connection, no matter how unusual it was.
The address that Kaminari sent him was pretty far from his apartment, and taking a car would take up to forty minutes. The greenette opted to use his motorbike instead. It was very fast too, cutting down a forty minute trip down to ten.
The security guard at the gate let him in after giving his name, and a maid waited outside the Bakugou residence to bring him inside. Izuku yanked off his gloves and helmet, allowing his viridian curls to pop free as he tossed them aside on the lawn and stormed into the double door entrance.
He walked in just in time to see Bakugou Katsuki standing in the middle of the living room, holding Bakugou Katsumi in the air by the collar and snarling at him. The little spitfire was growling back at him, a fierce expression on his face as he frantically squirmed and struggled to free himself from his father's death grip.
"Katsumi—" the Alpha glowered at the wiggling bundle of anger in his hand, "—Did you really think that I'm not about to—"
"STOP!"
A flash of green smelling of a forest fire dashed past him and snatched the pup away.
Bakugou blinked in disbelief at the sight of his now empty hand. Who dared to intervene and steal his son? He whirled around, infuriated, ready to fight whoever it was—
Only to stop in his tracks at the sight of fierce, hostile emerald eyes challenging him.
Seeing his appearance, Kaminari almost couldn't stop himself from whistling.
Midoriya Izuku held Katsumi in a protective crouch, clutching the trembling pup tightly to his chest as he glared aggrievedly at the fuming Alpha, completely unafraid. Baring his teeth at Bakugou, he looked ready to lash out if anyone dared to get any closer. They'd heard stories of Omegas going feral to protect their pups, but this was the first time they were seeing it happen right before their eyes.
Moreover, this particular pup wasn't even his own.
"Mr. Bakugou Katsuki," Izuku began seethingly, "I know that I don't have the right to say anything as an outsider, but let me just say this one thing—" his voice sharpened, "—There's something wrong with the way you're raising him. Pups at this age need love and warmth, even more so with Katsumi since you know he's going through major trauma AND doesn't even have a mother by his side!"
He pointed an accusing finger at the ash blond, raving at a higher pitch, "You of all people should be more patient and understanding with him because he only has you! You, you're his father! Don't you see how scared he is? And yet you were going to raise your hand against him!"
Viridian eyes went wide and darkened with fury as he roared: "APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!"
The Alpha opened his mouth, angered by the way the Omega dared to talk back at him, but to his astonishment, nothing came out. He stared at that commanding gaze helplessly, struggling with his aggravated self and his worrying instincts that demanded that he surrender before the shorter's will.
Finally, all he could do was swallow down his pride, present his neck in submission and concede: "It was my fault."
Kaminari breathed a sigh of relief to himself and thanked all things holy that they were still alive. Hearing Bakugou admit his mistakes cheered up the Beta considerably. He was only slightly put out that the Alpha had chewed him out earlier for criticizing his strict educating methods, but accepted it so easily when Midoriya pointed it out.
Izuku finally relaxed his defensive stance and carried Katsumi over to go sit on the couch. The pup stuck to him like glue, amber eyes never leaving the Omega's face. He looked like a puppy who had found his owner at last, instead of the ill-tempered lion cub he was impersonating just moments earlier.
Izuku scented and stroked his soft ash blond hair reassuringly, cooing, "Good boy, everything's okay now, I'm right here..."
There was a moment of silence as everyone struggled to recover from the sudden turn of events. Gradually, the greenette calmed down and returned to his senses, asking placidly, "So, what happened today? Wasn't he doing just fine this morning?"
"What do you think?" Kaminari sighed and scratched his head exhaustedly. "Katsumi missed and wanted to see you again, but Bakubro stood up against him because he didn't want to bother you again. So he threw another fit and destroyed this whole entire room! Bakubro finally had enough of spoiling his son and was trying to stop this bad habit, which led up to them being at a stalemate when you came in and saw them fighting..."
"Really?" Izuku sceptically raised an eyebrow at his explanation. He took a moment to survey the room, green eyes widening at the amount of destruction inflicted upon their surroundings. He hadn't noticed due to his haste earlier, but now...
"He did all this just to see me again?" the Omega questioned in amazement, internally cringing at all the damage. Bakugou had told him before that the pup was reliant on him, but he didn't think that he had this much of an impact on him?
"What else could the problem be? You're seriously underestimating your influence on him!" cried the Beta. Seeing that Izuku was still clueless, he went on, "Remember the first day you met Katsumi? Well, after we found you, Katsumi wouldn't let anyone come near you. In the end, Bakubro was the one who carried you the hospital!"
He subconsciously glanced at silent Alpha, who met his questioning gaze in an eerily composed manner, unruffled by the statement. Bakugou Katsuki had personally carried him to the hospital?
"And after you left the hospital, Katsumi woke up and thought you'd died when he didn't see you there. Then he went on a rampage and almost jumped out the window!"
Izuku gasped at the mental image of the pup in his arms dangling out the window. The hospital room they had rested in was on the fifth floor! Kaminari nodded in agreement. He had pictures to prove it.
"Luckily, he calmed down after Bakubro gave him the note you wrote and scented for him. Last night, Katsumi threw a hunger strike to threaten Bakubro into bringing him over to see you. As for tonight, he wasn't able to use his super effective starvation trick this time because you called earlier and reminded him to eat, so he decided to trash this place instead!"
Izuku gulped nervously as the Beta's words sunk in. So because of his phone call earlier, technically, everything was actually all his fault?
He looked down at the pup, who was glaring at his traitorous uncle. "Katsumi—" the ash blond pup immediately turned to attention at the sound of his name, "—did you break all those things because you wanted to see me?"
Katsumi nodded, pleased with himself. His eyes seemed to be saying: And it worked!
Izuku frowned, "Don't you know what you did was wrong?"
Katsumi shook his head slowly, confused. What did he do wrong? He didn't know.
Izuku finally understood why the Alpha was so strict towards his son. This pup had probably been spoiled to the point that he thought that the whole world revolved around him. His emerald gaze turned serious.
"Then I will tell you now, what you did to your home was wrong. Only bad pups do that, so promise me that you won't ever do this again, okay?"
Katsumi nodded in agreement. I promise!
Bakugou's expression became complicated. Although his son was unruly, if he nodded to a promise, he would keep it without fail. Psychiatrists had tried everything to end Katsumi's bad habits of starvation, isolation, and destruction to get his way all the time, but they never worked. His parents were against the more forceful methods, only persisting halfway before giving up in the end to their precious grandson's tantrums.
The Omega's influence on the pup was better than he thought.
"Alright then," Izuku checked the time, internally wincing at how late it was, "Looks like it's about time for baby to sleep! How about I sing you a new song tonight?"
Katsumi nodded happily, wrapping his arms back around the greenette's neck.
"His room is the last one down the hall, on your right," the Alpha informed him, watching the pair cling tightly to each other.
Izuku carried the sleepy pup in his arms as he maneuvered his way up the stairs, softly singing:
A duck walked up to a lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum, bum, bum! Got any grapes?"
The man said:
"No, we just sell lemonade.
But it's cold and it's fresh
And it's all home-made.
Can I get you a glass?"
The duck said, "I'll pass."
Then he waddled away.
(Waddle waddle)
'Til the very next day.
Bum bum bum bum ba-bada-dum~!
Kaminari wanted to crack up at the Omega's song of choice. He thought there was no way his nephew was going to sleep with that kind of silly song, but to his surprise, Katsumi was fast asleep when Izuku placed him on his bed to tuck him in.
Izuku stretched his arms after walking out of the pup's room and closing the door behind him. "Thankfully he fell asleep with just that song. I really don't know that many lullabies..."
"You call that a lullaby?" the Beta guffawed in horror. "I can't believe he actually fell asleep to that! Don't you know any other songs?"
"Other songs?" the greenette frowned apprehensively. "Every other song I know is definitely not pup-friendly!"
"Oh really?" Kaminari was curious. "Haha, are you serious? Can you sing one for me?"
Bakugou glared at chatty Beta, who shrank back fearfully. "On second thought, nevermind..."
"Were you in the area just now?" questioned the ash blond.
"No, I was at my apartment. I sped all the way here on my motorbike! Pretty fast, right?" Izuku grinned proudly. That explained his outfit.
He was wearing a dark heavy jacket, the sort one wore while riding motor vehicles, a white T-shirt that read 'T-shirt', and a pair of gray sweatpants. Had he hurried over in just his casual wear, too anxious to change his clothes before leaving?
"That's dangerous for an Omega," said the Alpha disapprovingly, although his impressed face said otherwise. He resumed glowering at Kaminari for calling the Omega over in the first place.
"No worries! I have my license and there wasn't much traffic either." Izuku waved his hands offhandedly before yawning, "Looks like it's about time for me to go since Katsumi's fine now!"
Just as he was about to walk out the front door to freedom, Bakugou suddenly spoke up to stop him. "Mr. Midoriya, I have an outrageous request for you."
He looked away, sighing heavily, "Although I'll understand if it's too unreasonable for you to accept."
Since Izuku had expelled all his anger and rage through his rant earlier, he was perfectly calm as he answered, "Mr. Bakugou, feel free to ask. I'll listen to whatever you have to say, and as long as it's within my abilities, I'll do my best to grant it."
Bakugou glanced at his son's room. "It seems that back when the two of you were locked in that room, it traumatized Katsumi more than I realized. Since you are the only one who can comfort him, I hope that you'll be able to live with us until he recovers."
Silence.
"W-Wha-?" Izuku looked at the ash blond incredulously, stuttering nervously, "Y-you want m-me to move in a-and, u-uh, live here?!"
"That's right."
"Um, but, isn't that a bit much?" The greenette began to tremble at the suggestion and warily tried to compromise, "If Katsumi wants to see me, I can come over anytime!"
Bakugou frowned as he explained, "There are too many unknown factors involved here. Even more so if there's an emergency in the middle of the night. It'd be too dangerous if you had to keep speeding all the way here from your place."
"You do have a point there..." Izuku admitted reluctantly. He'd been lucky that there hadn't been any traffic tonight.
"Furthermore, because of my work, I don't always have time to bring Katsumi over to visit you either." The Alpha sighed, all his energy drained off from all the events up to this moment. "I know that this is asking a lot from you, but I'm asking as Katsumi's father. I hope you can agree."
"Uh..." The Omega's head began to throb from overthinking. He knew that the Bakugou family held a great amount of influence in both respectable and underground circles. It would be easy for someone like Lord Explosion Murder to end his career at the snap of a finger.
He definitely would've left if Bakugou had threatened him to stay, but the Alpha hadn't. He didn't seem to be thinking about using his position of power, only of his identity as the father of his pup. It was almost impossible for him to say no to such an earnest and pleading handsome face!
Kaminari watched the pair facing each other off, his eyes shining with admiration as he silently gave a thumbs up. A-Amazing! Who would've thought that Bakugou was capable of using such a high level skill, turning a negative situation into a positive outcome that was sure to win the Omega over!
Katsumi's existence was no longer the Alpha's weakness; instead his pup became his greatest advantage!
Just as Izuku was about to make his decision, there was a loud sudden Bang!
Everyone turned to see the pup quivering at the doorway to his bedroom, fearfully scanning the hallway. Once they spotted the Omega, Katsumi shot over like an arrow, lightly whimpering as he raised his arms for the greenette to pick him up. Izuku quickly bent down to do so. "Baby, why did you wake up?"
The pup didn't answer, choosing instead to immediately bury his face into Izuku's neck, his little hands trembling as they clutched the Omega's shoulders in a death grip.
Don't go, don't go, his body seemed to plead as he shook and whimpered, tightening his hold.
"Shhh, don't be afraid, it's okay. I'm here, I'm here..." Izuku murmured softly as he lightly patted Katsumi's back. He could smell the pup's sweet honey-like milk scent souring from distress. Izuku's feelings became conflicted. It pained him to see the fear in those amber eyes.
Usually he avoided pups as if they were life-threatening diseases, so why couldn't he bring himself to dislike Katsumi?
Izuku carried the pup back to his bed and coaxed him back to sleep. This took about twenty minutes: ten used to scent and reassure the distrustful pup that he was going to stay, two minutes to look up the Duck Song since he forgot the lyrics, and the last eight to sing the song over and over again until Katsumi fell asleep.
As he softly closed the door behind him, he noticed that the mess in the living room had already been cleaned up. As expected from servants of the Bakugou family; not only were they fast and efficient, but they were also well-trained.
They seemed to be aware of the Omega's arrival, and might be dying of curiosity to ask why he was here, but none of them approached him. They all left quietly after finishing up their work.
Bakugou was waiting for him outside, leaning against the wall. He watched Izuku expressionlessly, not saying a word and keeping firm control over his pheromones to avoid putting pressure on the greenette.
Izuku looked hesitant, biting his lips nervously. Then he recalled the terrified expression Katsumi had made when he thought the Omega was gone.
Determination fueled him as he took a deep breath, looked at the Alpha straight in the eye and said firmly, "Alright, Mr. Bakugou. I'll accept your request. You can consider it as payment from Katsumi for saving me last time."
Bakugou's tense face visibly relaxed. "Thank you."
"Katsumi might wake up at any moment now, so it looks like I'll be staying here tonight, but I didn't bring anything with me..."
"That won't be a problem, I'll have someone bring some things for you." Bakugou summoned his butler and made arrangements as he spoke.
Kaminari, who had watched all the drama unfold before his very eyes, blinked in amazement at how quickly the situation had escalated. So . . . they were now living together, just like that?!
"What are you doing?" The Alpha stared pointedly at the unwanted lightbulb.
"Uh... I'm going! Going bye-bye!" The Beta fled through the front door.
Kaminari thought that the Omega was going to be a force to be reckoned with, but Bakugou wasn't a weakling either. He finally realized that Bakugou wasn't clueless when it came to chasing omegas. It was just that for the past 31 years of his life, he just wasn't interested in anyone else...
Bakugou led Izuku to the room next to Katsumi's. "For now on, you can stay here. I'll find someone to redecorate it for you later—"
"Um, that's fine!" the greenette cut in before Bakugou could pull out room decor catalogues, "I'm only staying here for a few days, not like it's going to be permanent or anything, so redecorating would be too much of a bother for you—"
"It's not a bother," the Alpha answered firmly as he took a large ring of keys from the butler and passed them to the Omega, "These are all the keys to every room of the house. You can enter any place you want. The main entrance uses a passcode, which is Katsumi's birthday printed on the house key. This is the key to the attic, you should keep it with you since it's Katsumi's favorite hiding place. This is—"
"Wait, wait, waitwaitwait, hold on for just one second!" Izuku hurriedly interrupted the ash blond, seeing as he was about to hand over every key except the one to his safe, "Mr. Bakugou, aren't you being a bit too reckless? Aren't you scared that I might rob you blind?!"
"What do you want? I'll get someone to help you move it," asked Bakugou in all seriousness. It seemed like he wasn't joking around.
"Ack—!" Izuku coughed a few times, feeling overwhelmed by the cherry on top of this information overload. He frantically tried to explain, "I was just kidding . . . it was a joke..."
Bakugou nodded and tossed him yet another key. He seemed to have gotten addicted to giving them away. "It's not easy to catch a cab in this area, so you can drive this car instead."
Izuku stared at the shiny car key in his hands in dismay.
What the . . .
He was only going to stay for a couple of days, so why did he feel like a mistress or something..?
Wait, no, that's not right. He firmly shook his head in denial. If he were a mistress, then he should be kept far, far away from the Bakugou residence . . . What kind of sugar daddy would give a mistress his precious pup and all the keys to the house...?
No, clearly, the Omega shuddered in horror as he arrived at this conclusion, almost dropping the keys, clearly this was the feeling of being a newlywed couple.
His mind went back to when he first met Bakugou, and how he had proposed to him out of the blue...
Izuku thought that he had met every type of Alpha out there, but the one standing before him was like a computer program with a top-notch firewall that he just couldn't hack. He couldn't tell what the ash blond was thinking, let alone what he wanted from the greenette in the first place.
Glancing back to the keys in his hands, Izuku couldn't help but recall a story similar to his situation.
The Legend of Bluebeard . . .
Izuku didn't know if agreeing to stay due to one moment of weakness was going to lead to fortune or a disaster...
Ah well, he thought to himself as he hurried to answer the cries of the panic-stricken pup, Stop overthinking everything. Let's just take this easy, nice and slow, one step at a time...
Katsumi's frame of mind that night was rather unstable, so as a precaution, Izuku slept beside him on the same bed.
~*~
Later that night...
The bedroom door was pushed open silently.
Soft footsteps made their way to the side of the bed, and a tall figure knelt beside the Omega.
Under the warm glow of the nightlight, Izuku slept peacefully. It looked like he had been patting the pup's hair before drifting to sleep, his breathing shallow and expression serene. His full lips were like summer cherry blossoms, slightly parted open as if in an unspoken invitation...
After a moment, a dark shadow abruptly fell over the warm patch of light as figure's silhouette drew closer and closer to those beckoning petals...
He was only a breath away—just a bit more, and their lips would touch. But abruptly he stopped himself, choosing instead to land a warm kiss on the Omega's forehead and to take a greedy whiff of his calming scent.
Midoriya Izuku, we have long days ahead of us.