Chapter 9

Izuku had been waiting for the other man to comment about this, and now that he has, Izuku could finally let loose and voice his thoughts. Shouta was one of the man's friends, no matter how he tried to deny it. They might not get along due to conflicting thoughts about teaching styles, but both men still thought of the other as a friend.

The green-haired teen wanted to help his mentor so badly, and he wasn't too late yet! He could still help. Toshi was still alive here.

"Toshi has a Passive type Quirk that we call 'Belief'. From what we discovered so far, it seems like Toshi's Quirk works based on his subconscious beliefs. For example, Toshi believes that his smile would help those in need find peace and security, well, those distressed people would be more inclined to believe in that smile and find themselves more secure…" Izuku trailed off, letting Shouta come to his own conclusions about Toshi's Quirk.

"So, if say, Yagi subconsciously thinks that his injury won't heal, then…"

"That's right! That's what's been holding him back the entire time. If Toshi had, on a subconscious level believed that his Quirk would heal no matter what, then his injury would have been completely gone."

"I see. This brings up a lot of possibilities. Yagi would be able to continue his Hero career, as he's always wanted." Shouta sucked in a sharp inhale. This change many things. There would be a lot of chaos if this wasn't handled properly. Even at the thought of all the trouble, Shouta couldn't quite bring himself to be worried just yet. He felt happy that his frie- his colleague would be able to go back to being a Hero. He had seen how the weight of the world seemed to rest on Yagi's shoulders after he was no longer able to use his Quirk.

"Will you help me, sensei?" Izuku said, putting a hand on Shouta's thigh. He tilted his head questioningly, causing Shouta's eyes to lock on the other's neck. He directed sparkling eyes at the other man, beaming a smile.

Shouta swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling dry. He made an incoherent sound. He used his hand to block his view of the other's face, pushing him back, causing Izuku to collapse to the bed with an 'oof'.

Izuku playfully scowled at the other man, feeling happy that he was able to affect the other Alpha so.

"Don't do that, brat. I would have agreed even without you using your Omega wiles on me," Shouta said dryly. "Also, Alphas don't tilt their head like that. Ever."

Realization dawned on Izuku. So that was what the weird feeling he got from his inner Alpha was. His mind and his new Alpha-self had conflicted with each other, two instincts clashing. The green-haired teen mused, thinking about how wholly different secondary genders were.

Though, he didn't think that what he'd learnt from being an Omega would affect him too much here. His Alpha scaling was quite literally off the charts. He doubted that another Alpha would be able to affect him too much, but it never hurt to adhere to his instincts. Sometimes, whatever you couldn't explain had a way of being right at the oddest of times.

"Though, I won't allow you to miss any classes."

Izuku gawked at him. "What? I don't think I'll be able to finish doing everything just after classes. I'd have to split the work up."

Shouta gave the teen a dry look. "If you haven't realized, even I knew that something was rather off with you the moment we met. We don't want you to do anything that seems too out of character. It might alert several unknown factors we don't want to get a hold of such information. Being discreet is the key," Shouta said, pausing. "Besides, you have me. We can split up the work between the two of us. I might not be able to help much, but I can still help. I do have connections, after all."

The green-haired teen inwardly felt warm at the amount of trust the other was putting in him. That's right. He'd been so focused on being able to accomplish as much as soon as possible that he had put aside the risk of being discovered by Villains that might want to destroy any of such notions. Izuku lightly chastised himself. As always, he ended up getting ahead of himself. Even years of being a Hero hadn't fixed that habit completely. Good thing he had Shouta now.

Izuku tackled the other to the bed, aggressively rubbing his cheek on Shouta's. The teacher's beard scratched him slightly, but it was a feeling that he associated purely with Shouta in the past couple of days.

"You're the best, Shouta."

The black-haired teacher smirked, his inner Alpha purring from having its ego stroked. Shouta was already pretty sure that his Alpha had already ended up submitting to Izuku's sometime within those three days that their rut had lasted, but he would be damned if he made it easy for the problem child.

He wanted to see what the other would bring to the table during their courting. Looking forward to it, in fact. The other might have dominated him in all ways during their rut, his Alpha wholly unable to fight back at all, but he would be damned if the same thing applied outside the bedroom. He wanted to be equals, a way that he'd never felt in any of his other relationships, be they long or short.

Shouta had always been the one who had protected, but he wouldn't mind being protected by Izuku, so long as he allowed him to return the favour every once in a while. The way Izuku had dominated their entire rut left him feeling slightly breathless at the casual control and dominance hidden within that body.

Something about Shouta's expression or scent must have given him away, because Izuku abruptly let out a growl. Shouta's heart started beating hard at the sight of Izuku's slightly wild eyes. The green-haired teen's eyes were dark and half-lidded with hunger.

"I was twenty-nine before I came back," Izuku said, his voice low and gravelly.

Shouta shuddered at the sound. That made sense, he thought, batting down the irrational jealousy at the various other lovers Izuku must have had to have such prowess in bed. Well, at least Shouta had peace of mind knowing the other wasn't technically still underage…mentally, that is.

Then, lips landed on his neck, nipping and biting at several sensitive spots, causing him to gasp as a wave of pleasure crashed over him.

Shouta stopped thinking.