Chapter Text
The dinner went well. His parents were their usual sappy selves, exchanging smiles, giggles, mouthfuls of food, and gag-worthy declarations of love. He was used to it, but it was giving Teruhashi so many ideas and expectations. No, no, no. The last thing he needed was Teruhashi trying to win his affections by emulating his over-the-top, lovey-dovey parents.
Then it was all over. Kusuo was fervently hoping the girl would hurry and leave. Was there homework that needed to be done? Maybe he could telepathically call her pervy brother over. That would certainly get her to leave, although he didn’t want to be anywhere near the guy.
“You can come over for another cooking lesson any time you like,” Kurumi chirped. “It is getting late now though, so shouldn’t you head home?”
Yes, his mother was the best!
“Oh, yes,” Teruhashi said with a bit of a jump, “I suppose I should start making my way back.”
“It was wonderful to have you over,” said Kuniharu. “As my darling wife said, you’re welcome here any time you like.”
Teruhashi smiled, a blush dusting her cheeks as she was chivvied to the front door. “Thank you so much for having me. You’re too kind. I look forward to visiting again! Goodbye!” She collected her things, waved, and left.
Once outside she blinked. That was a quick exit. How did that happen? Oh well. I mean, I really should get home before it gets too dark. I can always come back another day after all. Maybe even tomorrow! She grinned and started walking.
This dinner was just the start!
And the end, if Kusuo had his way. That would take a miracle at this rate, and any deity paying even the slightest bit of attention to his town would only bless the school’s goddess in mortal form.
Kusuo was tired; physically, mentally, and emotionally. He made his way to the stairs, determined to flop onto bed and do some reading. He absently rubbed his chin and jaw against his mother’s shoulder as he went by, ignoring his father’s whine about being left out. If he went a week without seeing Teruhashi it would be too soon.
…
Maybe he could skip school tomorrow. Delayed ongoing presentation problems, perhaps?
That probably wasn’t even a thing. Oh, that’s right. He needed to get Aiura to study omegas for him. He forgot to ask her about it before leaving school since Teruhashi had scuttled up immediately and latched on like a crab.
Aiura had complained about his lack of a phone every now and then. Kusuo had quickly learned to tune them out. This would surely spark another lecture. The information would be worth it.
Oh, Kusuo~!
What was that saying? Speak of the devil and they shall appear? Yes, that was it.
Fine, if you wanna ignore me, then you don’t get any of my research!
She started as he teleported in front of her, in a dark spot around a corner from his house. “I was not ignoring you,” he told her flatly. Kusuo held out his hand.
Aiura scoffed. “Why do you never say hi, how are you? And if I hand over this information I lovingly researched and compiled, you won’t even thank me. You’re so rude.”
He wiggled his fingers. “Aiura, I appreciate the time and effort you spent to prepare this for me. You know this, so why must you hear it as well? Seems redundant.”
The girl sighed and handed over a sheaf of papers with a patient smile. “The rest of us aren’t telepathic and it’s nice to hear out loud. You can understand that, can’t you?”
Kusuo had observed the need people seemed to have to hear things spoken aloud, even if they knew beforehand. It was an affirmation thing. He dipped his head in a nod. “Thank you,” he told her.
She smiled brightly and gave him a flirty wink. “There we go! I know you love me, babe. I looked a bit further into the future and you’re gonna need that info real soon. I couldn’t see what happened though, things are too open. Good luck and I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” she said, wiggling her fingers in a girlish wave as she sauntered away.
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and teleported back to his room. The psychic knew better than to dismiss Aiura’s warning, vague though it may be, so he sat at his desk and started reading the papers.
Pack roles, dynamics, integration after presentation, behavioural differences, instincts, vocalisations. So much information. Some he had known, and quite a lot of it was completely new. It mentioned the purring and causes for it. Apparently, an omega’s purr could calm down every member of their pack. It could even affect people outside the pack if the purr was loud enough and could avert fights. An omega with a loud purr was very valued for certain jobs, including mediators, teachers for anger classes, therapists, etc.
Many people thought omegas were small, fragile, timid, submissive, and so on, but omegas could be the most vicious member of a pack in certain circumstances. That explained why he stuck up for Kaido.
He read about nesting – a behaviour inherent only to omegas – that he couldn’t quite wrap his head around. Kusuo could not imagine himself making some sort of nest-like bed out of bedding, pillows, clothes, and anything else that felt right depending on what the nest was for. He had a perfectly fine bed already.
Omegas were the glue that kept a diverse, non-family pack together, the members that showed the most care in various ways.
Kusuo blinked at that. Yeah, no, that was definitely not him. He wasn’t an average human, so it stood to reason that he wouldn’t be an average omega.
If an omega was introduced into any pack; pup-pack, friend-pack, etcetera, then any alpha in those packs could turn more protective, more territorial. They would become bouncers, essentially, vetting everyone that tried to approach the omega and warning off anyone they decided was unworthy or undesirable.
Kuboyasu was protective and territorial already, such behaviour and instincts honed from his years as a delinquent. Nendo hadn’t acted any differently so far either. Kaido, as a beta, was a bridge between the vastly different behaviours of alphas and omegas. His role was to temper the more aggressive tendencies of an alpha, while giving care and confidence to a timider omega.
That did not align with how Kaido worked very well. The kid faked confidence well, although he had come through before. Hmm. There would probably just be more instances of Kaido doing things like fixing Kusuo’s hair. Not exactly wanted, but not the worst that could happen.
Now that he was an omega, his older brother was going to try and manipulate him via his rank in any and all ways conceivably possible. And then several more ways. How the hell could Kusuke turn nesting against him in a way that would leave the older victorious in some sick game?
Kusuo glared at the papers before he shuffled them neatly together and set them down on his desk. Aiura had done a great job compiling this for him, and he felt far more knowledgeable and prepared than he had this morning. Tomorrow would be different. The psychic was now aware of what could happen and could plan and act accordingly.
Kusuke would have to work hard to catch him off guard now. His classmates had no chance.
He went to bed calm and content. Well, as content as he ever got when sweets were not involved.
“Hey, buddy!”
“Hi, Saiki!”
“Sup, Saiki?”
Nendo, Kaido, and Kuboyasu caught him before school and easily fell in step with him.
“So, how are you finding life as an omega?” Kaido asked. “I-I mean, you don’t have to tell me if-if it’s too personal or whatever…” he added, voice high pitched and slightly stuttering as he flailed his hands in front of his chest.
“It’s no different than before,” Kusuo said.
Kaido looked highly sceptical. “Uh, okay.”
“This is Japan, not Egypt. Stop living in de-nial,” Kuboyasu said with a snort.
Kusuo gave the punk a lazy glare.
“Of course pal is different. Buddy purrs now,” Nendo stated as if they were stupid. “Does Egypt have ramen? I wonder what ramen from there tastes like. We should go try some! Let’s go!”
Kaido gave a long-suffering sigh. “Nendo, you dummy! One, Egypt doesn’t have ramen. Two, we’re not in Egypt to go get ramen they don’t have. Three, we have school and can’t ditch just to go have ramen.”
“Oh,” Nendo said. “We should totally get ramen after school then. Egypt isn’t far to walk to, right?”
Kuboyasu stifled a snort of laughter as Kaido gave a long-suffering sigh.
“Egypt is nowhere near Japan,” Kaido slowly explained. “We can’t walk there. If you want to go to Egypt, you need to go on a long plane flight.”
Kusuo didn’t, but he would eagerly keep his teleportation a secret. Not that Nendo would probably realise what happened if he did teleport with the big lug.
“I need to be home before dinner tonight,” Nendo said with a shake of his head. “Let’s go on Sunday!”
You could almost hear Kaido’s mind cracking. The short teen gave up and walked along with his head down and shoulders slouched, as if the weight of the world was messing with him. Kuboyasu gave his shoulder a commiserating pat. Nendo continued on, completely oblivious, and seemingly unperturbed by the lack of answers. Kusuo just kept walking, pretending that there was an invisible wall between him and the others.
This time when they entered the classroom, the other students ignored them, or only gave them a passing glance. Kusuo was cautiously pleased – things seemed to be returning to normal. Well, as normal as PK Academy ever was, he supposed.
Class passed with no incident. Lunch was looking to be much the same, but Yumehara and Teruhashi joined them. Kusuo’s eye twitched as every other male in the cafeteria kept glancing at their table, muttering prayers and praises to their goddess, while spitting venom and curses at his friend-pack. Well, the other boys everyone decided he was in a friend-pack with.
Yumehara blinked coquettishly at Kaido, even when he wasn’t looking, the beta girl hoping to catch his eye. They were only a four percent match according to Aiura, but such a thing would never stop a hopeless romantic like Yumehara. Kaido was as oblivious as ever. He was simply happy to have such a good, close friend.
Teruhashi was far more subtle and restrained, making sure to look at everyone to disguise her frequent glances at Kusuo.
I have to obverse their new dynamics. I need to see how Saiki reacts to everything as an omega. Knowledge is power!
She wasn’t wrong. If only she was focused on someone else.
Don’t worry, Kokomi! We can both succeed at Plan Accidental Scenting!
Oh no, another Yumehara plan for getting closer to someone romantically. Kaido was on his own – Kusuo would have enough trouble fending off Teruhashi. He did not want Teruhashi to try and get his scent on her, or to leave her own on him. It wasn’t that she smelt bad. Quite the opposite, she used a pleasant floral perfume to help cover her natural pup-scent. Once she presented, her pup-scent, which was fairly neutral, would evolve into something stronger and completely unique.
Kusuo was sure his own scent had changed from the neutrality of a pup to something unique that told everyone that smelled it ‘this is Kusuo Saiki’ and ‘this is an omega’, but people couldn’t smell their own scent. No one knew why, even with scientists working on finding an answer for centuries.
If he wanted to know what his scent was, he would have to ask his mother. He wasn’t going to though. He didn’t care.
Unfortunately, through various circumstances he wished hadn’t happened, he was familiar with the scents of a number of the people that hung around him.
Kaido’s scent was like paper with a hint of ash. Nendo’s was eerily similar to beef, with an undertone of salt. A curse or a gift in disguise? Kuboyasu smelled like petrichor and ionised air after a thunderstorm. Aiura was an alpha that smelled like some sort of incense and candle smoke, which was very fitting, while Toritsuka, a beta, stunk of burnt cookies.
He could clearly see Teruhashi’s plan play out in her head like a cinematic drama scene. While getting close to him after standing up from the lunch table, she would trip over, landing directly on him and mingling their scents. She couldn’t reach the scent glands on his neck, so the weaker ones on the inside of the wrists would have to do. Hers would easily brush against his torso, while his would hopefully brush against her arms, shoulders, and even against her neck if luck was with her.
Luck usually was with her, but Kusuo was now at least two steps ahead. Mentally. The bell was going to ring in two minutes. He stood up and excused himself to the bathroom, leaving with casual ease. Teruhashi was spluttering incoherently in her mind until anger, disappointment, and determination took over. It was time to play Dodge The Teruhashi again. The bell rang.
The classroom door slid open and a body tripped and fell into the person entering.
“Oh, wow! Teruhashi!” I can’t believe I’m hugging Teruhashi! This is the best day of my life! I can die totally happy now!
Teruhashi hastily extricated herself and stepped back, blush evident. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry!” she squeaked out in apology.
The boy simply stood there, a dopey expression plastered on his face. Nothing would shake him from his bliss, and his friends were forced to manhandle him inside the room and into his seat. Kusuo entered from the other door and quietly made it to his desk unmolested.
Foiled again! I’ll have other chances. I just have to wait. Nothing can stand in my way!
Teruhashi was a persistent girl, he’d give her that. He could outlast her though. No one could out-stubborn Kusuo Saiki. Except, perhaps, his fanatical brother. But he was a special case in a category all of his own.
Afternoon classes passed by uneventfully. As the clock ticked closer to the last bell of the day, the thoughts of Teruhashi and Yumehara became louder. He could easily hear the two girls run through their plans, modify things, and hype themselves up. He silently wished Yumehara luck.
If Kusuo didn’t have to switch his shoes over, he would simply teleport home.
The bell finally rang and everyone stood up, eager to leave. Yumehara’s foot got caught on a table leg and she fell toward Kaido with a squeak. This is it! We’ll scent each other!
Nendo caught her around the middle. “Hey, are you okay? Be careful,” he said as he righted her with ease.
“Th-thanks,” she mumbled.
“Great catch, Nendo!” Kaido praised. “You’re not hurt are you, Yumehara?”
Her face was bright red, and she partly covered it with her hands. “I’m fine,” she squeaked out.
“That’s good. Nendo’s right, you should try and be more careful.” Kaido paused and frowned, scrunching his nose a bit. “Nendo’s right?” he muttered. He shook his head.
Kusuo knew exactly how he felt. Nendo being right seemed to break one’s perception of reality. Acknowledging that Nendo was right about something was another shift of reality that really threw off one’s mental balance.
Ugh, now I smell like Nendo…
If the alpha smelled like pocky instead of salted meat, then Yumehara probably wouldn’t protest. If she wasn’t obsessed with Kaido, then Kusuo doubted she would seek out the scent of paper and ash. He was just glad that Yumehara had given up on scenting him, though it was annoying for her to pass the torch to Teruhashi.
Good try, Chiyo. Now it’s my turn.
He could feel her eyes on him. She was watching him like a hawk, determined not to miss him or run into someone else by mistake again. That guy from earlier was still in a daydream state from his impromptu hug. Hopefully his friends walked all the way home with him, so he didn’t get hit by a car or something.
Kusuo couldn’t even hide in the bathroom and turn invisible. She planned to watch the door. Kind of creepy. Yumehara was rubbing off on her, instilling stalker tendencies. He thought Yumehara hanging out with the other girl in the Occult Club was bad enough. At least the boys didn’t absorb each other’s traits by osmosis or anything.
Even thinking such a thought had him suppressing a shudder.
The psychic waited for Nendo to move and tried to make sure the larger teen was between him and his stalker. But Teruhashi was not to be thwarted again. She pulled off a move befitting a dancer, or a martial artist, and slid around Nendo like water around a rock, stumbling directly into his right arm and side in a movie worthy performance.
“Oh, Saiki! I’m so sorry!” she gasped out, voice high and girlish. She rubbed her wrists on the back of his green jacket and the front of his white t-shirt, angling her neck to brush against his jacket sleeve.
Damn, she’d done it. She’d scented him.
Well, sort of.
Pup-scent just smelled of pup. Teruhashi had only achieved rubbing her perfume on his clothing. Still, her perfume was very distinct and every male in PK Academy, and a majority of the town, knew it. He was going to attract so much ire on the way home.
Damn it, Teruhashi!
He said nothing and made no move to catch or support her. Kusuo merely looked at her and blinked. His friends made up for his lack of reaction with gasps, exclamations, and multiple questions regarding her health and safety.
Teruhashi let him go and tilted her head, twirling some blue hair around a finger. “I’m fine, no need to worry,” she assured.
Mission accomplished but… Ugh! He barely reacted! He should have been frantically trying to catch and hug me! I managed to scent him, but he didn’t scent me the slightest bit in return. Back to square one…
She should give up.
Maybe I can go to his house again!
“Alright, time for ramen!” Nendo said loudly and enthusiastically, thrusting a fist into the air.
Kuboyasu smirked and Kaido looked resigned, both heading off with Nendo. Kusuo followed closely to dissuade the girl, but her thoughts had shifted to joining them. No, damn it! Just go home! At least she had no plans to ask them while there were witnesses. Being seen asking to join Nendo and friends for ramen was PK Academy social suicide – even for Kokomi Teruhashi.
They got to the shoe cubbies, switched shoes, and left the school.
“So, which way is Egypt? Huh?” Nendo asked the moment they passed the school’s gate.
Kaido took a deep breath. “I told you this morning that Egypt is very far away, and you need to fly on a plane to get there.”
“Oh, right. So, where are we going for ramen?”
“I know a nice place for food if you don’t mind us two girls tagging along,” Teruhashi said. Her comment was casual and pointed, delivered with all of the strategy and accuracy of a sniper.
“Oh, wow! Teruhashi! Sure, you girls can join us!” Nendo and Kaido babbled out simultaneously.
There was a faint dusting of pink decorating Kuboyasu’s cheeks, but he didn’t join the exclamation.
How odd.
The boys were a bit better around Teruhashi in general since being stranded on an island for days. But that usually meant they just recovered faster, not ignored her. Ah, here was his chance.
“I need to go straight home today,” he told them. “Sorry,” he added. He wasn’t sorry in the slightest, but polite social conventions demanded that he show remorse for not wishing to be near Teruhashi. And for not hanging out with who everyone dubbed his friend-pack.
“Aww, pal. That’s okay, we can get ramen again tomorrow,” said Nendo.
“Bye, Saiki,” said Kaido.
“Stay safe, homie,” said Kuboyasu. He tapped his nose, making it look casual, his eyes sharp.
Kusuo gave a tiny nod and walked away. Teruhashi was whining in her mind at being thwarted, but he easily ignored it. Once he was out of sight of his friends, he planned to duck away from everyone and teleport home. There was no way he was going to tempt fate by walking all the way home smelling of Teruhashi’s perfume. He may be a stupidly powerful psychic, but he also had abysmal luck, and Teruhashi drove guys to extremes.
Things went smoothly and Kusuo made it home mere minutes later.
“Ooh, Kusuo, have you finally made a move on that beautiful Teruhashi girl?”
The psychic whirled around, scowling darkly. A growl burst from his throat, and it made his father flinch back, a teasing expression morphing into regret and fear.
“Sorry, sorry! But you smell exactly like her, so I naturally assumed–”
“She deliberately tripped into me to scent me,” Kusuo explained. “And I want to get rid of her scent as quickly as possible.”
Kuniharu nodded in hasty agreement. “You do that. Yep. Although why you’d want to… When your mother scents me, I never want to bathe or wash my clothes ever again,” he said dreamily.
Yeah, that tracked. His father was so sappy and sentimental it bordered on disgusting. “One, I’m not you. Two, I don’t like Teruhashi that way.”
“You’re missing out,” Kuniharu almost sing-songed.
Kusuo glared harder and bared his teeth in a silent snarl. His canine teeth had grown longer and sharper due to his presentation. Instead of the milk fangs of a pup, he now possessed the proper adult fangs of a predator. “Shut up.”
“Shutting up!”
The teen spun around and headed straight for his room, leaving his father to slump as the tension left. Stupid dad, he had no idea what he was talking about. Just because the old man would enjoy a pretty girl scenting him didn’t mean Kusuo would. He was very different from his father in many ways. He ducked into the bathroom and checked his teeth.
Huh. His fangs were longer and sharper than both of his parents. Did betas not change as drastically as alphas and omegas? Perhaps he could check his classmates’ fangs.
Kusuo went to his room and stripped out of his clothes, getting changed into comfy clothes that didn’t smell like Teruhashi’s perfume. He took his school uniform straight down to the laundry and shoved it in the washing machine, setting it up and turning it on.
There. Much better.
He quickly took care of his homework so that he had the most amount of personal time possible. No one would try and copy his homework today at least. Although why they copied off the guy with the most average scores made him scratch his head. Kaido had higher grades, so he shouldn’t be copying from someone with lower grades. Nendo copying from him he could understand – the guy’s grades were abysmal. Kuboyasu wasn’t too far behind Kusuo on the scoreboard. Not bad for a mostly former delinquent.
Perhaps being lazy trumped copying off the one with average scores instead of copying off Kaido.
Kusuo got into bed, ready for sleep, but it never claimed him. Something itched at the back of his mind, nagging him into staying awake. There was something that just seemed wrong, yet he couldn’t put his finger on it, and the feeling was only growing worse the longer he laid there.
He growled, decided to give in to the feeling, and sat up. With new and unfamiliar instincts pushing at his brain, Kusuo got up and let his body move without much conscious input. His feet took him out of the room and straight to the wardrobe full of extra bedding. Okay? He pillaged the place. There was no other way to describe it. Like a Viking emptying a church of all its gold, silver, and precious gems, Kusuo ransacked the wardrobe, gathering all the blankets, comforters, and pillows he could physically hold.
Treasure in hand, Kusuo made his way back to his room, shutting the wardrobe with a thought before he left. He shuffled to his bed, telekinetically closing his door, and dumped his pillaged prizes on the mattress.
Now what?
Nest.
Huh? What for? There was nothing wrong with his bed. It had served him just fine since he got it, including last night as an omega. Why was it suddenly not enough tonight?
A light frown marred his face, but he set about moving the bedding until it felt right.
That blanket there, shove a pillow here…
Ten long, awkward minutes later, Kusuo stared at his bed.
It looked more like the nest of some huge, bedding obsessed bird than anything. He crawled in, dubious, but something clicked. The feeling of wrong was now radiating a pleased rightrightright. Kusuo snorted, curled up, threw one loose blanket over his body, and drifted off to sleep in mere moments.
Waking up was a slow affair. Usually, he snapped awake in a second or two, reality asserting itself with lightning speed as the thoughts of everyone in a two hundred metre range flooded his brain. But today those thoughts were muffled as he drifted in a hazy fog of lazy comfort. Was this how normal people woke up every day? Lucky.
The walls of his nest greeted him as he opened his eyes. Had sleeping in his nest resulted in this? He would need to test this further.
Kusuo didn’t want to get up. He was warm, he was comfortable, and his mind was floating on a peacefully quiet ocean. Well, the voices of others were no louder or more distinct than ocean waves, and that was a volume level he would happily accept. He peeked over the nest to check his clock. It had to be early; his alarm hadn’t gone off yet.
7:29 was displayed.
What.
He’d slept through his alarm? He never did that!
The sleepiness fell from him in seconds and he hastily left his nest, and bed, reaching out for his school uniform. Kusuo was ready in record time and teleported downstairs for breakfast. His mother served him food without missing a beat, nor did she comment on his tardiness.
“Did you hear my alarm go off?” curiosity drove him to ask.
“Yes, I did. You never turned it off, so I went and checked on you,” she said.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
The answer came from her mind moments before she spoke. “Oh, but Ku, I simply couldn’t! You just looked too cute, comfortable, and peaceful asleep in your little nest. So adorable!” she squealed, hands on her rosy cheeks as she shook her head.
That was often the reason his dad was late for work. Ugh.
“Mum, I don’t care how cute you find me. If I ever sleep through my alarm again, you need to promise to wake me up as soon as you can,” he said firmly.
“Oh, but Ku…”
“Promise me.”
Her eyes were watery and her bottom lip trembled, but she warbled out, “I promise, sweetie.”
He could hear his dad rushing about upstairs, having awoken late for the exact same reason. His thoughts, amongst the panicked racing around, and what his boss would do to him, were focused on getting Kusuo to teleport him to work.
No way. He had to teleport near school just to avoid being late himself. Even if he wasn’t running late, he would refuse on principle. He quickly finished his food, put his shoes on, and vanished just as his father started to clatter loudly down the stairs.
A clean getaway.
Kusuo emerged from a nondescript alley that was clear of people. In seconds the school gate was in sight, and he seamlessly merged into the crowd streaming inside the gate and school building. There was Yumehara at the shoe cubbies, perpetuating the late high schooler trope of arriving with a piece of toast in her mouth. It wasn’t the first time she had done it, and apparently it wasn’t going to be the last. At least she was aware she was a living trope right now and was suitably embarrassed.
He ignored her, switched shoes, and made his way to the classroom. Thankfully Teruhashi was not waiting to ambush him and he sat down unmolested. Kaido immediately bounced over to him and made an aborted movement to run his fingers through Kusuo’s hair.
“Hey, Saiki! The winds are turning ill today. We should be careful and stick together so that no one is left vulnerable,” he said, voice low and tone dramatic. He grasped his right forearm tightly with his left hand to further sell the story.
Kaido wanted to hang out with everyone today. Of course, for some reason he couldn’t just say that.
Kusuo faintly raised one eyebrow but gave no answer of any kind. Kaido took this as a positive reply and beamed. Overly cheerful beta and his odd interpretations of Kusuo’s responses. Hopefully Nendo didn’t drag them to some new ramen place.
“Hey, buddy!”
Think of Nendo and he shall appear.
“I heard that only the fittest people can lick their elbows,” the alpha announced in his typical loud voice. “You gotta watch me try! I totally bet I can!”
He really didn’t have to watch, but he knew Nendo would go ahead anyway. And if he looked away, the big lug would only nag for him to watch until class started or he gave in. Kusuo really didn’t want to hear Nendo’s repetitive nagging, so he set his bored gaze forward and let the other boy get on with it.
Unless you were able to dislocate several joints, like Kusuo could, or had an absurdly long tongue, no human was actually capable of licking their elbow. He didn’t waste any effort in telling Nendo this, of course, as the alpha simply wouldn’t listen anyway.
Watching Nendo try was…unpleasant. Hairo started cheering him on from partway across the classroom, Kuboyasu was shaking his head, and Kaido was staring as though it was a train wreck he couldn’t look away from. The girls in the class were appropriately disgusted by the display, scrunching their noses and turning away. Kusuo wished he could join them.
“Don’t let physics and anatomy beat you!” Hairo yelled.
Nendo was special, no doubt about that, but not that special.
“Yeah, right,” Kuboyasu muttered.
Good to know Kusuo wasn’t alone in reality. Thankfully the teacher appeared seconds later and shooed everyone to their seats. Nendo grumbled about being so close and Kusuo had a sudden urge to pat the alpha on the shoulder in commiseration.
He froze, feeling as though someone had upended a bucket of freezing water over his head.
No. Go away, stupid, useless instincts. That was the last thing he wanted or needed to do.
A tiny, barely audible whine made it through his iron clad control, and he bit his lip to cut the noise off. Everyone seated nearby glanced at him. Kusuo was their often silent and always stoic classmate. Emotions were not something he indulged in often, especially at school, so for him to let loose any sound or expression made his classmates curious.
Nendo, Kaido, and Kuboyasu had immediately turned their attention to him the moment the damnable noise left his vocal cords. The weight of their stares seemed heavier than his other several classmates, and he fought the urge to try and turtle into his shoulders.
The teacher ploughed ahead without a hitch and the students went back to their work after a few long, awkward seconds. His quote-unquote ‘friends’ kept sneaking peeks, making the back of his neck itch.
He just knew they were going to pounce on him the very moment class had a break.