Archive of Our Own

Sousuke was actually fairly surprised they’d kept things so low-key for so long. Makoto had taken to wearing more t-shirts in the water, and even the occasional wetsuit (citing “just cold today” as his reason for the poolside fashion faux-pas) to cover his mark, but not all the time, and despite the amount of time he did spend with his shirt off, it seemingly went unnoticed. The mating mark, which should have been a glaring-red beacon of their coupling, an unignorably black-and-white indicator of their status, was either undetected, or spotted but ignored by Makoto’s team, which may have been for the better, if Sousuke thought about it frankly. He was especially wary that his life would conclude at the pointy end of a shiv in the shower rooms curtesy of Nanase Haruka if he found out about the two of them – beware the quiet ones, indeed.

For his part, Sousuke rather enjoyed the secrecy. The idea of being able to watch Makoto from across the room, knowing that they had a unique, blood-forged connection that no one else knew about. Being able to think about Makoto when they were apart, at their own schools, dawdling through lessons and silently wondering about what his mate was up to, but never worrying about whether or not he would still be there when Sousuke returned to his side.

Even when they were together, they spoke very little, and aside from the occasional brush on the arm or friendly pat on the shoulder, they rarely touched. Sousuke could tell himself it was in the name of privacy, and the desire to keep personal distractions to a minimum during swim practice, but the truth was probably something way more disheartening: they barely knew a thing about each other.

The weekend practice at Iwatobi went well, Sousuke grateful for an opportunity to look after Rin while not having to worry about people gossiping about the two of them and why they spent so much time at a rival school. The eight-some swam for hours, Sousuke quite comfortable with the fact he was still disinclined to know a third of the team’s names, instead contenting himself with watching Makoto’s gorgeous back as he made lap after perfect lap, ducking beneath the waves and emerging again with the grace of a breeching whale.

Makoto’s smooth, suntanned skin still bore his mate’s mark, but the brilliant redness caused by constant teething and deepening during their two-day-long coupling session a few weeks ago was fading into a translucent white, and suddenly the vagueness of the mark bothered Sousuke to no end. He scratched his neck irritably like a dog whose collar was too tight, briefly remembering the humiliating restraining get-up they’d put him that fateful day, as he stared out across the open pool from the sidelines.

“Sousuke,” it was Rin who woke him from his unconscious musing, bouncing before his face with a spring in his step that only came after a successful spar with (Sousuke shuddered internally) Haru. “We’re all going to Rei’s house to ‘study’,” – he made quote marks with his slender fingers – “you coming?” he asked, tilting his head gently to one side as the chlorinated water dripped from his thin hair.

“Actually, I think Yamazaki-kun and I were going to go to lunch at Mogu Burger, weren’t we?” Makoto chimed in before Sousuke even had a chance to answer, leaving him suddenly dry-mouthed in a way he didn’t expect.

Rin looked curiously between the two of them with eyebrow raised. He knew what they got up to the other week, after all, he was the one who put them together, but well, sex was sex, and “friendship” was another thing. He seemed to realize that his childhood friend shared his disbelief and he cuffed Sousuke on the shoulder in solidarity.

“Alright, then,” Rin replied, “you two losers have fun,” he snarked, then waved Sousuke off like a brother sending his hapless sibling right into a scolding from their mother. Then, he left, trailing the rest of the bright-haired misfits after him, leaving Sousuke and Makoto alone in the echoing pool.

Makoto smiled and tilted his head at Sousuke, then they tidied the change rooms and locked up the pool mostly in silence. They worked easily, already attuned to each other’s movements, knowing when to pull and when to push, when to bend and when to stand, in a strange natural side effect of their status as a mated pair. The omega led and the alpha instinctively followed him out the door, watching his back as they went.

Sousuke didn’t quite believe they were really going on a lunch date until they were fully seated, had put in their orders, and were waiting at the table across from each other sipping sodas. It seemed so unbelievable all of the sudden, and the alpha found himself utterly at a loss of what to say.

“Do you like it here?” Makoto asked, then before he got an answer, went on, “I do. It’s kind of immature, I know, but I used to go here with my family for dinner sometimes and it was really fun, so, it still holds those kind-of fond memories for me.”

Sousuke nodded blankly. He knew so little about his supposed mate, it was almost alarming. His smile was open and sweet, his body was attractive, and his personality seemed to be friendly, but that was just on the outside: for all Sousuke knew he could be cold and manipulative on the inside. For two people who were supposedly so intimately connected, he felt suddenly more distant than the scant centimeters of the tabletop put between them.

“Do you eat meat?” Sousuke asked suddenly, before he was even sure the words were out of his mouth.

Makoto looked puzzled, but nodded just the same, friendly smile remaining solidly on his face, “of course…? Why else would I come to a burger restaurant?”

“No, I just…” Sousuke replied quickly, biting at his bottom lip in thought. “I just thought…I don’t know a lot about you.”

“So what? That’s no—” Makoto began to reply, but Sousuke cut him off immediately, leaning on the table with his elbows.

“I mean, what kind of food do you like? What kind of music do you listen to? I don’t even know those basic things,” the alpha went on, the words flying from his mouth without him even being able to rein them in as Makoto started to shrink back into his chair. “Seriously. What is your favourite food? Your favourite movie? Have you lived in the same town your whole life? Tell me.”

Makoto stumbled to find the words for a moment, but Sousuke was already cutting him off with more questions, his alpha-coded pushiness taking over in a way the boy himself wasn’t prepared for. But he couldn’t stop. The more he thought about it, the more anxious it made him. He didn’t like not knowing things. He didn’t like being out-of-the-loop. Hell, he would throw a fit when his favourite pair of shorts went missing, for crying out loud!

“Do you have any siblings? What’s your dream for the future? How many other lovers have you had? Do you want kids?” Sousuke went on, even as he saw how uncomfortable his mate was getting, sliding back into his chair and away from him. “I feel like these are things I need to know, and I don’t.”

Makoto swallowed, raising his head defiantly even though he was clearly intimidated by the other boy. The mark on his neck suddenly stung like a bug bite, raging against his hormones as he rose up in the chair.

“What do you want from me, Yamazaki-kun?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at the alpha, who returned with a glare of his own.

“I don’t know, I just feel like these are things mates should know about each other,” Sousuke replied, crossing his thick arms across his chest, “don’t you?”

The words felt so much like an accusation despite himself, and Sousuke felt nearly sick to his stomach when he saw the way Makoto averted his gaze. Tears glistened in his green eyes and Sousuke’s heart plummeted almost immediately into his stomach.

“I think I’m going to…” Makoto began, standing shakily, collecting his swim bag and loading it meekly onto his back, “take my food to go, okay?” He left the table in a hurry, offering an empty smile in Sousuke’s general direction before dashing out of the restaurant, letting the door clatter shut behind him.

And with that, his mate was gone, and Sousuke knew he’d screwed up. But despite that, he couldn’t help the way his heart still pounded away inside his chest, anger swelling up inside him like a balloon, pressing against his insides. His alpha hormones simmered quietly beneath the surface, not letting him calm down, not letting him let go. The omega was his mate – he wanted more of his attention, deserved to have more of it. Arrogance filled him – how was he supposed to react, besides with irrational anger, when a clueless, wide-eyed, good-hearted…gorgeous…sweet…gentle boy was placed just out of his reach?!

Sousuke took Makoto’s abandoned food home with every intention of calling him later, inviting him over, or better, going over to his house where they could sit on their mating bed, imbued with their shared scents, and just bask in being with each other. He fully meant to do so, but his phone instead sat dormant on the bedside desk, waiting to be picked up at the slightest sign, but none came. And so the food went uneaten and Sousuke just glared at his motionless phone screen all night long, face in his hands when he finally rolled over and went to a fretful sleep.

They didn’t talk for a week after that, until the following Saturday found them both at Iwatobi’s pool again, Makoto diligently practicing and Sousuke watching him from the sidelines. It was unbearably awkward, but neither was willing to be the first to break the silence. For an entire week, Sousuke had wondered if making the mark was a mistake. Not that he thought he was completely in control of himself at the time, but maybe it was just too impulsive, too fast and too soon.

Makoto swam back and forth, sometimes outpacing his teammates, and other times letting himself fall behind, encouraging them from the adjacent lanes with a determined look on his face, hair slicked back against his scalp. His cheeks shone with the flush of a hard workout, panting softly, broad chest expanding with air as he treaded the water with even, measured kicks.

Sousuke just stared, unconcerned about who was watching. His arm ached from the small amount of exertion earlier in the morning, but the pain was nothing compared to the twisting in his stomach when he thought about the tears that were in Makoto’s eyes the other day on their failed date. His heart felt swollen, ill at just the thought of making his mate sad, and he quickly blamed his overactive instincts first for his outburst and then for this ridiculous, all-hindering feeling of protectiveness that rose up in him, but…that wasn’t really it.

He didn’t know a lot about Makoto, that much was true. But he knew he liked Makoto. He liked the way he smiled. He liked the way Makoto blushed when he was complimented. He liked the way he always greeted everyone with a smile, no matter how well he knew them. The way he could drop the cutesy, pushover demeanor at the drop of a hat and go into serious coaching mode, and that when he did, no one could stop him. The way he was endlessly patient, caring, and kind, with even the most hopeless of cases…

Sousuke took a deep breath. Sure, he didn’t know a lot, but maybe that was an advantage. It meant he had plenty to learn about his partner, his likes and dislikes, his hopes and dreams, and plenty of time to do it in.

And he was going to tell Makoto as such, when he next got out of the pool. But when he did, the omega rushed by Sousuke and to the change rooms without as much as a glance in his direction.

Well, maybe he deserved that. A few more days of being ignored was due penance for his outburst in the restaurant. But he couldn’t help the way his heart sank when Makoto stormed past without even looking at him, trailing his sweet pheromones as he went.

The team began to ascend one-by-one from the water, Sousuke and Rei diligently clearing up the pool area, Sousuke tossing the boy a glance lamenting being one of the “responsible ones”, which Rei reverted with great confusion. They returned all of the equipment to the racks, and Sousuke turned to take his jersey and go to get changed, when the commotion at the change room finally caught his attention.

“Something’s wrong with Makoto,” Rin noted, emerging from the room with Haru in tow, wringing his wrists anxiously while Haru stared stoically ahead.

Sousuke drew closer to hear the rest of the team speculating on what made their teammate so conspicuously absent, Nagisa bounding up to the crack of the door and peering curiously inside.

“I think he’s in heat,” he said, peering in through the door, shutting it behind him with an energetic spring in his step.

“That can’t be,” Haru countered, “Makoto doesn’t go into heat.” His neat eyebrows drew into a frown, crossing his arms over his chest. His gaze caught Sousuke’s, and went instantly icy cold. The team still didn’t know about Makoto’s recent breakthrough – or at least, they didn’t until this very moment.

“Well, he does now,”Nagisa insisted, grinning cheekily at his fellow omega’s predicament. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Rin, who clamped a hand over his mouth as the realization struck him moments after it reached Haruka.

Sousuke’s mind went sort of blank, then, hunger rising up in him at the same time his protective instinct filled his head with visions of shoving the whole lot of onlookers into the deep end of the pool and barreling through the door. He imagined the team calling up the school’s beta handlers and them coming to restrain him again, binding him with straps and poles or worse, drugs, but he could handle that affront to his dignity if it meant he could get to Makoto again. The only thing that held him back was the awareness that he just might not be wanted. He stood a few feet from the crowd while they fluttered about wondering what to do, and Haru continued to glare maliciously at him.

“What do we do?” Rei asked, shakily raising his hand to the door and peering inside at his sempai, whose form was obscured by the door, even as his scent wasn’t. His pheromones, dense and permeating, floated from the doorway, rolling out into the pool like fog, surrounding the team, who reacted accordingly, omega Nagisa blushing and bringing his hands to his face, betas Rin and Rei going sort-of hyper-alert, and Haru’s entire body contracting as his hackles rose and his dormant knot threatened to come forward.

When the scent reached Sousuke, it was all he could do not to rush forward, throwing the other boys aside in effort to get to his mate, but somehow he held his guard. His rut was nowhere near the level of urgency it was last time, but Makoto’s pheromones were setting off signals in every fibre of his synapses, giving him a hyper-focus on his mate, and dulling him to everything else.

“‘We’ don’t do anything,” Rin answered, turning his eyes knowingly upon his childhood friend, whose hulking, stiff form quickly became subject to the gaze of everybody else. Sousuke’s arms trembled at his sides as he thought about what to do. Obviously he wanted to go to his mate: it was a longing, an intuitive need that was clawing at his insides like it would tear him inside-out if he had to wait much longer. But he also wanted Makoto to want him there. He wasn’t about to go where he wasn’t invited. He would rather consume and go mad from rut than force Makoto to be with him.

Almost of more concern was the other alpha squaring off in front of him like a wolf ready to charge. Sleek and undeniably strong, Sousuke was actually worried he would have to fight Haruka to get to Makoto, a prospect rendered no less frightening by their difference in size.

“You’re his mate, aren’t you?” Rin said, and it was almost like an accusation as he stalked forward, taking the other alpha’s shoulder while Haru’s clenched fingers gripped deep into the flesh of his arms like talons.

“That’s why the mark!” Nagisa piped, patting his own shoulder with the opposite hand, giving a bit of a dreamy sigh as he smoothed over the still unmarred area, “how scandalous…”

Sousuke didn’t answer. The truth was out, and not in the way he wanted, but he was slightly relieved for it. Makoto’s heat scent clung to his flesh, sunk into his clothes and heated his blood like nothing else, and he was finally free to allow it to draw him nearer. He took a step closer, seeing the way Haru bristled at his approach.

“You have to go to him,” Rin whispered, stepping forward, laying a hand on Haru’s shoulder. The alpha flinched at the touch and threw his hand off, stepping up to meet Sousuke toe-to-toe. The two alphas stared each other down for a long time, both expecting that this was coming eventually. They both cared for Makoto deeply, both in their own ways, and wanted best for him, and finally Haru seemed to realize as such, and stepped aside, keeping his icy gaze trained on Sousuke’s face as the larger boy went by. He wasn’t backing down by a long shot – he just knew that what Makoto needed right now wasn’t him.

Sousuke walked towards the door, attention focused entirely on space separating him and his mate, oblivious to the machinations of the boys around him, the unsubtle stares, the warring hormones as they all reacted to the omega’s rare heat. He took the doorknob and pulled the door open with a flourish, the air filling in around him like a sugary mist as the scent of an omega in the beginning throes of heat rushed out of the room.

The alpha nearly collapsed as his omega’s scent overwhelmed his senses, instantly flooding his vision and making his knot ache with want. He closed the door behind him and went into the change room quickly, eyes dark with lust as he strode through the sweet-scented steam and across the beige tiles.

Makoto was seated against a locker, half-into his street clothes, having gotten as far as pulling on a t-shirt and briefs before giving in and collapsing to the ground, panting hard as heat overtook him. He was shaking all over as his hormones raged, only for the second time in his life incapacitating him, overwhelming him and making him helpless to the workings of his body. His wet hair was messy and clung to his temples when he looked up cautiously at the boy who had come inside.

Sousuke’s alpha pheromones comforted the suffering omega for a moment, allowing Makoto to gain enough cognizance to utter the other boy’s name in utter bewilderment. The breathy sound, sweet and needy, cut the air and struck Sousuke right in the chest, echoing through his sturdy frame like the shot of a needle, stirring him to his core. He waited there, standing before Makoto, every ounce of his not-inconsiderable strength dedicated to holding himself back.

Makoto lifted his shaky arms and reached out to him, holding them high and wide like a child asking to be picked up and Sousuke felt no more hesitation, leaping forward and pulling Makoto into his arms. He held his omega close, the scent of his heat and the unique flavour of his skin, his sweat, his breath washing over him like a wave, filling his senses and making him indistinct, like he wasn’t sure where he ended and his lover began. Makoto sighed into his shoulder, pulling Sousuke closer, the boy kneeling between his open legs and bringing their chests together until every part of his heaving body was pressed right against his mate’s strong frame.

“I’ve never felt this way before,” Makoto whispered, “they say there’s nothing wrong with being a late-bloomer, but I say that’s bullshit.”

Sousuke chuckled at the swear and Makoto sighed into the sound, closing his eyes and nuzzling his head into Sousuke’s neck and shoulder, pressing his nose into the warm flesh. His chlorine-lightened hair was still slightly damp from the water, and the clean white t-shirt he’d quickly changed into now stuck to his flesh with sweat, turning it see-through in the damp air of the locker room.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to cause a—” Makoto began, only to be cut off by Sousuke’s mouth falling against his, capturing him in a deep kiss, breath hitching through his nose as Sousuke turned his head to plunge deeper into his mouth. A warm tongue sunk into the slick cavern of his mouth and Makoto couldn’t help the moan that tumbled up his throat in reply as he met the seeking tongue with his own.

Sousuke pulled away, reaching for the hem of Makoto’s sticky t-shirt and sliding it up over his abs, his ribs, until it was bunched right across his breastbone, exposing his pink nipples. He squeezed one between the fingers of each hand, sinking into Makoto’s slack mouth again, drawing moans and gasps from his sweet lips with each kiss. The sugary-rich taste of him amplified the effect of his heat pheromones, which streamed from him in waves, engulfing Sousuke until he felt like he was drowning, desire and want building up in his gut and straining between his legs.

The combined scents of chlorine and the fruity, buttery smell of Makoto’s heat filled the room as Sousuke reached down to strip Makoto out of his shorts, lifting his ankles one-by-one until the boy was naked from the breast down, slick pooling on the floor beneath him and making him flush and cover his face with his hands.

“It’s okay, you can’t help it,” Sousuke assured, echoing the soothing words Makoto gave him during their previous encounter while he gently rubbed the omega’s inner thighs, encouraging them to part. Makoto’s legs fell open, his back to the locker, sliding down a little to lift his hips and reveal his hole, which was clenching and opening, oozing out clear slick with every twitch.

Sousuke went rock-hard at the sight, swooning and falling against Makoto’s shoulder, gently nudging from the front where he’d placed his mark on the back. The fabric of the t-shirt stretched across the neat, circular scar, making desire boil in the omega’s belly, swinging his head back and forth to try and find relief as Sousuke gently kissed at his throat and collarbone.

Makoto yelped, panicking as Sousuke reached beneath him and sunk two fingers into his hole, the wet opening accepting two immediately, while Makoto scrambled his hands down over Sousuke’s arm, clinging weakly at his wrist. He begged, wordless sounds spilling from his mouth and hands shaking as Sousuke massaged his ready opening, fingers sliding easily in and out of the accepting chasm, slick pouring down his hand and wrist. He whined as Sousuke nudged gently at his prostate, sliding his fingertips over the slippery bulb once or twice before withdrawing and leaving Makoto a trembling mess.

Makoto panted, allowing Sousuke to guide his hands to his own legs, laying them over the insides of his thighs, encouraging Makoto to hold himself open. He pressed his thighs wider, looking down over his heaving stomach to see slick puddling on the floor beneath his erect cock, pink and straining against his abdominal muscles.

Sousuke pulled himself painfully out of his tight swim trunks, which clung at his flesh and dripping member like a wetsuit, revealing his aching cock and dormant knot. His shaft was heavy in his palm as he gave it a few strokes with his hand covered in his mate’s slick, the exquisite feel of the omega’s fluids against his flesh rocketing his pleasure up to the threshold of near-pain. Makoto caught sight of the monster cock and swooned, nearly falling faint as he tipped his head back against the locker, fingers trembling on the ultra-sensitive insides of his thighs.

Sousuke started to move forward, shuffling his knees up on the hard tile and settling between Makoto’s knees, guiding his cock-tip towards Makoto’s clenching hole. Just the tip connected with the clinging flesh when Makoto cried out “stop!” with such urgency it stunned them both.

“Wait, wait,” Makoto panted, his mate too shocked to respond but to freeze in place. Makoto wiped desperate tears from each eye with slender peach fingers as he took in a shaky breath.

“My favourite food is chicken karaage,” Makoto explained, not looking Sousuke in the eye, keeping his expression turned determinedly on his navel as he went on, “I have two siblings, twins.”

“Tachibana,” Sousuke whispered as he realized what was happening, reaching a hand out to the omega’s cheek, stroking the beautifully soft flesh with the back of his fingers, “Makoto…”

“My dream for the future is to swim in the Olympics; my favourite movie is Ponyo – I know it’s a kid’s movie, but I like how they become friends,” Makoto continued, voice getting shakier and reedier and tears springing to his brilliant green eyes once again, “I’ve had two lovers besides you, and I do want kids, lots of them, because I think I’d make a really great dad!”

He sobbed and Sousuke’s heart clenched, hand hovering uselessly in the air between them as Makoto bared his soul to him. He didn’t know what to say, moved by his mate’s candidness, stunned once more by his incredible honesty, shaken to his core.

“I don’t know a lot about you either, Yamazaki—Sousuke-kun,” Makoto sniffled, “but I want to know, because I feel safe with you, I really like you, and I really, really, really want this to work!”

Makoto cried, tears soaking his flushed face faster than he could wipe them, and Sousuke didn’t know what to do besides comfort him. He leaned forward, kissing Makoto’s cheek and ear and chin, tasting the salt of his tears on top of the sweetness of his breath, his desire mixing more and more with adoration, and, slowly but surely, love.

“I want this to work too,” Sousuke whispered into Makoto’s ear, “I want you to be mine.”

Makoto flushed, heartbeat flashing through his chest like lightning at the confession, nodding helplessly in agreement. He was beautiful, blushing, brilliant, and Sousuke couldn’t get enough.

Gently, gently Sousuke pushed forward again, guiding his cockhead to Makoto’s ready hole, sliding it into the opening and pushing until the muscle gave, allowing him to slip in up to the crown. Makoto breathed in, preparing himself for the stretch, exhaling as Sousuke’s cock glided inside him, pushing past his twitching ring and into his body, pressing him wide around the thick shaft. Makoto’s body clenched down around him, muscles sucking Sousuke instinctively in, drawing him closer, pulling their bodies flush.

Makoto let out a deep sigh as Sousuke sheathed himself fully, the pressure filling his belly, widening his hips. He lifted his knees and Sousuke’s long hands slipped underneath them, cradling the hot flesh and holding his lover open.

“Ready?” Sousuke asked, barely able to keep himself still, and Makoto nodded his head.

“Y-yes,” he whispered, and Sousuke didn’t hesitate any longer. He plunged into him like diving into water, his flesh pressing into Makoto’s rump, then withdrew in a long, agonizing slide while Makoto’s flesh clung to keep him inside, before sinking in again and making Makoto’s toes curl.

The pleasure was stunning, all-reaching as Sousuke began to thrust, finding a firm, rocking rhythm, Makoto’s hips rising to meet each push. The hard tiles beneath his knees were unbearable but Makoto’s desire was impelling every other thought out of his mind save the drive to please his omega. The omega moaned and turned his head to the side, bearing his neck for Sousuke to suck as he fucked him, meeting each stroke of his hips with a stroke of his tongue against Makoto’s throat. He sucked a fat hickey into the side of his neck and then paired it with another, and another, pumping his hips with more and more urgency as Makoto’s cries grew higher and higher.

Sousuke mind went only briefly to the boys waiting outside the door. Where he expected he would be filled with pride at the prospect of them – especially the other alpha – being made to listen to the noises Sousuke pulled, drew and squeezed from his mate, he found he was mostly indifferent. He could care less what they heard – all that mattered to him was what Makoto felt, the way he moaned when Sousuke hit a particularly good spot, the way his toes curled and his hands made fists over his head when he neared his peak.

“I’m getting close,” Makoto breathed suddenly, rocking his hips up, compelling Sousuke deeper, making him nearly faint with the sucking, squeezing heat around his shaft, the head slipping through clenching rings of muscle inside his mate’s body, the ultra-sensitive tip slipping past Makoto’s prostate with each thrust.

“Oh, oh Sousuke,” Makoto moaned, eyes gliding shut and lashes fanning out across his cheeks, until he threw his head back with a sudden jerk as Sousuke switched his angle just enough to hit right against his prostate, and it only took a few more thrusts to make him come with a shout.

“Oh…oh…!”

Sousuke looked down to see Makoto’s cock paint a stream of cum up his chest, a dollop landing beneath his chin and that just about took him, and he reached down quickly to grab the base of his shaft to keep himself from spitting off, wincing at the pressure but holding firm. Makoto looked beautiful, content, chest rising as he panted softly, and Sousuke had to breathe deeply to keep himself from losing control and bursting into his hand.

Makoto looked down to see the way his lover was restraining himself and his eyebrows drew together in concern. “Sousuke-kun?”

“It’s okay,” Sousuke hissed, leaning over to catch the edge of Makoto’s jaw in a gentle nip, “I wanna have you again.”

The breath against his earlobe sent a shiver down his back and Makoto looked down to see himself hard again, slick pouring from his hole and pooling on the ground, and flushed frantically, putting a hand over his eyes. This was what most omegas really went through? He didn’t know if he would ever get used to being this…needy. His body was still raging with thirst, waves of heat crashing over him, engulfing him, like he was melting.

“I’m sorry,” Makoto whispered, and he didn’t have to explain as his lover seemed to predict it, pressing a kiss into his cheek, the corner of his mouth, the tip of his nose.

“It’s fine,” Sousuke said, his muscles clenching as his hardness twitched eagerly in his hand at the sweet sound that sprung from Makoto’s throat, “I love it.”

Sousuke encouraged him to his feet, entwining their fingers together as he helped Makoto stand, taking a few more greedy kisses from his honey-bright mouth before turning his lover around sidling up behind him. Makoto’s back immediately bowed, presenting himself to his alpha.

Slick continued to pour down his inner thighs, a new trickle of it coming out with every tender touch of his mate’s fingers. Sousuke sunk his fingers into the clear fluid, sliding up the perineum and sinking two fingers into the clenching hole. Makoto moaned, eyes lidded with want as he reached back to join Sousuke’s hand there, their fingers sliding together.

“It’s…” he moaned and lifted his head as Sousuke’s fingers sunk in to the last knuckle, stretching him around their shape.

“Incredible,” Sousuke concluded, and pulled his hand away, to replace it with his throbbing cock.

Makoto groaned and reached forward, hands falling hard against the lockers, curling his fingertips under to find purchase on the slippery surface. He groaned, body arching forward as Sousuke pounded into him from behind, tipping his hips back to be fucked more deeply. He whined, sinking against the lockers until the cold metal met his nipples and made him yelp in shock, a throb of pleasure echoing through his entire body as he clenched around the cock inside him.

“Need…” Makoto stammered, but he wasn’t even sure what he needed. All he could think about was the omnipresent smell of his alpha, the feel of his hot, large hands gripping his hips and pulling him back onto his thick cock with each stunning thrust. Tingles of electricity burst inside him each time the shaft hit his most sensitive areas, like starbursts behind his vision, making him light-headed.

“S-Sousuke—” he breathed, turning to look over his shoulder and finding lips immediately sealing over his own as Sousuke drew him into a breathless kiss, plunging his tongue into the slick heat of his mouth. Moans overflowed from his lips between messy kisses, growing higher in pitch and louder, louder until he was nearly shouting, clawing desperately at the lockers as his body was rocked into them, until suddenly the movements stopped, and Sousuke pulled away.

“W-what—?” Makoto mumbled insensibly, wincing as the long shaft was withdrawn from his body, leaving his muscles clenching helplessly around nothing, slick gushing out of the space left empty. Sousuke’s hands found his waist, long fingers circling around and pressing into his heaving stomach, firmly turning his body around to face him.

Makoto flushed pink when he realized what was happening, Sousuke reaching down and putting his hands beneath Makoto’s thighs muscles in his forearms tensing as he prepared to pick the other boy up.

“Sousuke-kun, I’m too big,” Makoto panted, shaking his head, “you’ll hurt yourself,” he bemoaned, imagining with stark clarity his mate’s old injury and worrying for his safety. But Sousuke shook his head, leaning in to kiss the uncertainty from his glowing face.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” he whispered, and scooped Makoto up from the ground, holding his thighs around his waist, Makoto leaning back against the lockers, clinging at the metal, now slick with the dampness of the room, flushed chest heaving with shock.

After the initial fright drained away Makoto looked down to see Sousuke’s cock trembling against his ass, the hefty shaft against his hole.

“Put me inside you,” Sousuke breathed and Makoto swooned, carefully, gingerly removing his arms from the lockers and reaching down, so Sousuke was holding his whole weight, which he supported without hesitation.

Makoto reached between his legs, gently taking Sousuke’s thick shaft into his hand, two fingers of the other holding open his hole, and guiding the cock back inside. It slid forward to the hilt, Makoto gripping Sousuke’s shoulder and sobbing his pleasure as he was filled again, toes curling with ecstasy behind his lover’s back. He squealed as the cock drove deeper inside, and Sousuke started to move, bouncing Makoto on his cock and grinding deep inside of him.

With Sousuke holding him, Makoto’s entire weight fell against his hips, pressing his hardness impossibly deeper and making Makoto moan, a stream of sweet, sultry noises flowing from his chest and from between his parted pink lips. He cried out as the thick cockhead pressed against his prostate, the star-bright pleasure making him insensible, wordless, helpless to the steady rocking of his body. Gradually, climax rose up in him, gaining speed until he was trembling, shaking all over, feet bouncing against Sousuke’s muscular back, fingers pressing into his shoulders tight enough to leave cherry-coloured bruises in the skin, panting, shouting as he came again, cum spurting up his chest, pooling in his navel while shockwaves resonated through his body.

Makoto’s body was still shuddering, wracked with thirst as waves of heat continued to wash over him. His ready hole loosening in the wake of his orgasm enough to let the huge knot to slip in, where it grew until it was too large to withdraw, and it slammed against the over-sensitive bud inside Makoto with each movement, sliding back and forth over the gland until he was a limp mess, moaning senselessly while Sousuke fucked into him a few more desperate times before coming as well, his cock pouring out spend into Makoto’s body.

“Still…want…” Makoto panted, reaching down to feel where Sousuke was locked tightly inside him, running his fingers across the stretched hole, feeling the bulge of the knot behind the narrow opening, amazed by his body’s abilities. This was only his second real heat, and it felt like his body was making up for lost time, slick dripping down his legs and pooling on the tiles beneath him and cock hardening again. It twitched as every little movement of his lover’s hips rocked the knot inside him, grinding it deeper and making him whine with it. “Oh, God, you’re in me…you’re really in me…”

The amazed, insensate murmur of his mate’s voice made Sousuke’s body surge with lust again, but it would be a few more minutes before his knot went down and let him move. Now that his hormones weren’t blaring louder than a foghorn and his body remembered its shortcomings, his shoulder was finally protesting the strain and so he leaned forward to nuzzle a comforting kiss into Makoto’s cheek.

Makoto swooned at the breath against his ear, gasping in surprise as the hands under his knees suddenly tightened their grip, and Sousuke lifted him higher onto his hips, careful to mind the knot stuck inside him, broad hands cupping Makoto’s ass and pulling him up. Makoto yelped as he was lifted into the air, knot still in him, carefully wrapping an arm around Sousuke’s neck to stabilize himself and the other to the lockers behind him to steady them both as Sousuke carried him away from the wall and into the bench in the center of the room.

Holding onto Sousuke’s neck for dear life, he squealed as the alpha went to the end of the bench and bent forward, lowering Makoto’s back to the smooth wood, laying him flat and going to his knees once his strong arms finally released his mate.

On his knees with Makoto lying before him, they were still connected by Sousuke’s thick knot, which filled Makoto to the brim, the stretch making him ruthlessly hard. He reached down to stroke himself but insistent hands batted his away and Sousuke took the cock in hand instead, stroking it with quick, even strokes that had Makoto melting into a puddle of molten pleasure.

“Oh God, I—!” Makoto breathed, stomach convulsing as he climbed to peak yet again, shouting as he came, arching his back and grinding down onto Sousuke’s knot with his hips, rolling them side to side as he worked himself through his climax, as his mate’s soft fingers soothed his aching shaft.

Exhausted by another orgasm, Makoto collapsed back onto the bench, hips still moving unconsciously in small circles, feeling out the big shape of the alpha’s knot deep inside him. It still felt surreal, the strange pressure filling his head with images of being contained, protected, cared for, and when he breathed, he felt his stomach rising and falling under Sousuke’s hand, which was gently smoothing his flesh, the muscles contracting in his belly beneath the soft skin.

They lay together in peace for a few more minutes, Sousuke enjoying the way his mate’s body stirred with breath, Makoto savouring the fullness in his belly. It wasn’t long, however, before he felt his body start to stir again, slowly realizing the impact of having a real heat. This is what Nagisa went through every month? No wonder the kid had so much energy – he would certainly need it.

“Sousuke-kun,” he whispered, and the alpha looked curiously down at him as Makoto’s hand travelled down his body and slipped into the space between them, fingers parting across his stretched hole, feeling the knot tying them together gradually sinking back down, and just in time. He needed another mating, his body prepared more slick in anticipation of having Sousuke come inside him again.

Without him even needing to ask, Sousuke’s hands slid under his knees again, holding them parted as he stood between them, staring down at his mate. The urgency of their first mating was gone, replaced by a comfortable intimacy that made Sousuke’s stomach flare with warm light.

“Beautiful…” Sousuke whispered, and then immediately flushed, realizing what he’d said. Makoto reached out in reply, to placing his hands over Sousuke's, gently squeezing with a bright, warm smile on his gentle face.

The pair was finally able to separate from each other long enough and pull on presentable clothes and sop up the bench with towels, to leave the change room for their teammates to use it for its intended purpose, Makoto apologizing sheepishly while Sousuke whisked him home, his hand never leaving the alpha’s back for a second as they dashed out of the room, trailing a thick mist of pheromones behind them that made the rest of the team blush and scramble to get changed. The secret was out, and Makoto’s stomach ached to think of the pending reactions of his various teammates.

Since they were public, however, the only thing that really changed was that Nagisa kept staring at them like they were fancy animals in a zoo, tickling Makoto’s mating mark to see his reaction and cooing when the two of them were in the room. Haruka looked at Sousuke like he was going to kill him for the slightest offense, which wasn’t too much of a change from his usual expression, so the other alpha just accepted it. The only other difference was that when they were near enough to each other, Sousuke’s hand would fall gently to Makoto’s back, or intertwine his fingers with Makoto’s in the most subtle display of affection it made Makoto’s knees weak sometimes with its sincerity.

Makoto decided to visit the doctor after his latest heat, expecting that while all systems were most likely in order, he probably had some more surprises to look forward to, now that his hormones had finally caught up with him.

“Everything alright?” Sousuke asked when they left the quiet waiting room of the clinic, relief washing over him when Makoto nodded in reply.

“Only,” Makoto said with a beaming grin what spread from ear-to-ear, peach skin practically glowing as he uttered, “we’re going to have to use protection from now on, though.”

Sousuke’s head tilted in confusion for a moment before realization flooded his heart, as quick and engulfing as a tidal wave, and he leapt forward to take Makoto into his arms, squeezing him into a hug right in front of the clinic windows, not caring who saw. Knowing how much Makoto had wanted to be able to have children, Sousuke’s heart leapt with joy for him. He kissed Makoto while he giggled his happiness into Sousuke’s mouth, breath warm and light across his cheeks.

Sousuke felt like he needed to say something, too, to answer the heart-breaking confession Makoto had offered him, before, in the locker room. But telling his gentle mate about his favourite food and favourite song seemed like a paltry offering to give him, especially in the light of this latest news.

Sousuke had a mate. He was bright, and gentle, and strong, and a perfect complement to him. But now, he wanted something more: a boyfriend. He wanted to know what music Makoto listened to when he was sad, what he liked to do at home after practice, even what his favourite colour was! And he realized, with near breathless glee, as Makoto laughed joyfully and buried into his neck, that he had plenty of time to learn all of those details, in the time they would spend together, from now on.