Chapter Text
After practice, Kageyama was dead. Both emotionally and physically.
His body was indescribably sore. Every limb joint muscle felt like it had been stretched to hell and back. The sensitivity grew to the point of being borderline painful. And that stupid little voice in the throes of his mind hadn’t stopped spewing new scenarios of the people that he cared for leaving him.
It was hell. All he could do after was lie down on the cool wood floors of the gym and wait to get enough strength to face Suga’s eventual lecture.
He could imagine it, the disappointed look on his head omega's face as he tore him a new one.
The thought sent shivers down his spine already.
It was only after the sensitivity had simmered down to a low throb that Kageyama tried to get up. His joints popped, and his knees nearly gave out, but he was able to pull himself off the floor.
Lugging his body exhausted, over to the side of the gym, Kageyama pulled open the doors, looking towards the club room where Suga is plotting different ways to explain his failure as both a teammate and a packmate.
Kageyama took a breath, trying to calm his racing mind, and was immediately assaulted with the scent of… burnt cake?
Now, he wasn’t stupid; he understood that scents existed. He'd smelled Iwazaumi the first week he’d presented and had a faint aroma of freshly baked bread following him, or the slightly rotten smell that came from kindachi whenever he flubbed a serve
But that was the issue. They’d always been faint, barely there smells that Kageyam wouldn't think twice of. But this one he could smell fully. Like the cake was right there burning in an oven, and what accompanied this odd odor was a feeling.
Embarrassment, frustration, and just under the surface sadness.
As much as Kageyama wanted to analyze the reason why he could ‘feel, smell,’ he would file this away with all the other strange happenings and deal with it another time.
Kageyama crept out of the doorway into the night. If he just sat here sniffing the air like a weirdo, he’d most definitely get caught by this troubled mystery person, and he couldn’t help. He could barely understand his own emotions, never mind someone else's
Sneaking towards the stairs, trailing up only a few steps, when he caught a figure curled into a ball behind one of the pillars with a jacket covering their head.
They moved the jacket, shifting just enough for Tobio to see the tuffs of blonde hair and a single golden brown eye peeking out.
It was Tuskishima.
Kageyama silently cursed whatever god put him in this situation.
He couldn’t just leave him there. Despite hating his stupid blonde guts, he was both his teammate and packmate; he had to help even though the bastard didn’t really deserve it…
Reluctantly, Kageyama stomps over his pouting teammate. Moving to poke the blonde with his foot.
“What do you want, king?” Tsukishima's voice muffled his arms. His voice sounded more monotone than before, and his scent grew even more distressed. Kageyama wrinkled his nose, taking a half step back.
“Are you okay…?”
His head raises, an unimpressed frown painting his face.
Even in the dim overhead light, Kageyama could point out the puffiness around his eyes, like he’d been crying.
Well, shit— Kageyama's mind stuttered, he knew this was a bad idea.
But seeing such a proud person like Tsukishima look so… pitiful… He knew he had to fix it. If not out of the goodness of his heart for the team. The blonde was sadly a good player, and if he continued to smell and act like this, they wouldn’t be able to focus, meaning they wouldn’t be in top shape for the upcoming practice match.
And he’d be damned if they weren’t ready to play against Oikawa
Kageyama moved closer and crouched down in front of his sulking teammate, and for the first time in his life, tried to hug someone
People like hugs, right? Hinata always talks about how nice it is to touch other people.
“It’s like a physical reminder that people care!” He said while clinging to his back like a parasite. While that wasn’t a hug, and was more annoying than some careful gesture, it was nice to have somebody who knew and understood him enough even to attempt something as dumb as that. Like a joke… but he wasn’t good at those either, so perhaps an awkward hug would do.
He coiled his arms around his shoulders, tugging Tsukishima closer to his chest
“There…there…” Kageyama said, giving him a single pat on the shoulder.
His body went stiff for a second. And Kageyama was ready to bolt. His heart hammered, and he wondered if this was the single stupidest thing he’s done in his entire life.
His scent changed first. The burning smell of his misery faded into something lighter. Accompanied by the light scent of strawberry shortcake was now happiness and humor.
Tsukishima snorted. But allowed the hug and relaxed, even opening his legs so he could pull him closer. Pressing their necks together in the embrace.
He felt odd as Tsukishima's scent wrapped around him.
There had to be some biological omega thing at play… that scenting thing. Where alphas become possessive and omegas become clingy. He thought because he was genderless, he wouldn’t be affected, but damn, was he wrong.
Kageyama's body felt light; his neck buzzed with a strange electricity that only made him want to hold his teammate closer and not let him go.
“Yknow, I'm fine, king.”
“Don’t call me that.” Kageyama pouted.
“Never gonna happen.”
Kageyama cracked a smile. This scenting— hug thing felt like all their past grievances had melted away. He felt content in his arms, happy even.
They stayed like that for a while, but eventually Kageyama’s legs gave out from the weird angle, and he slowly had to wriggle himself free from Tsukishima's grasp
The blonde eventually got up too, mumbling curse words under his breath as he stood towering over Kageyama once more.
“Thank you. I didn’t need to be scented, but it was welcome.” The blonde grumbled. His cheeks, even in the faint light, now looked longer, flushed from crying, but— embarrassment? It was almost laughable if Kageyama didn’t feel the same way.
That small moment of intimacy was nice, but now that it was broken, it felt as if it had gone straight back to before.
“Yeah… no problem— wait, did you say that I scented you?”
Tsukishima stared at him. And crossed his arms.
“Well…duh.” He snorted, “That hug— you’re worry stunk up the place.”
Kageyama blinked. He scented him? Nonono, that can’t be right. He doesn't have a scent; it's impossible. The glands in his neck are dormant. He might’ve smelt like sweat, but he should've been able to smell worry on him.
“Tsukishima I—I didn’t scent you.”
“Well, you might not have wanted to, but you did. I’m practically drenched in blueberry Tart.” He suddenly smirked, and Kageyama could feel the anger rise in his chest again. “Seriously, I can tell why you were in supperants before this, you’re scent is fucking strong—“
He grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it tightly. This wasn’t the time to joke, given all the weird happenings, his sickness, and irritability. Increased self-deprecation…
He couldn’t be presenting? Could he?
“I can’t scent you. I’m a beta, not an omega.”
Tsukishima stared at him like he had three heads before he burst out laughing. Not those evil conniving chuckles, but a genuine hearty laugh.
“Okay? Are you misogynistic or something?"
Kageyama stammered over his words. He didn’t mean to say something offensive.
“I.. I’m— I didn’t mean to—“
“No, no, that just makes it funnier. King scents aren’t exclusive to omegas and alphas. Betas, hell, even non-presented people have slight scents. Betas and… others don’t have the nose to pick it up most of the time.” He reassured, still snickering.
“Seriously, you have to start listening in health class. You’re gonna end up saying something actually offensive.”
Kageyama felt his cheeks go hot, and his lips moved to a pout. Of course, he was teasing him. Kageyama was genderless through and through. Besides, to actually present, he had to go through a heat or something, and he’d definitely know if that happened.
“Whatever.”
Tsukishima shrugged Kageyama's hands off, patting his shoulder
“There, there. I’m sure you’ll have many more times to fuck up before somebody actually thinks you’re a raging misogynist.”
“Tsukshima—!”
Kageyama attempted to grab him, but the bastard slipped out of the way, walking away cackling all the while.
When the blonde-haired bastard disappeared from his view, Kageyama slowly looked back up the stairs to the club room, but instead of the overwhelming fear, he felt strangely relieved. That stupid voice in his head had gone silent, and he genuinely felt like he might survive Sugarawa's lecture.
Before walking up the stairs, he gave a quick smell to his jacket. If he could smell Tsukshima's scent, shouldn’t he be able to smell his own?
But all he got was his detergent and the faint smell of strawberries. He smelled again a few more times to make sure.
And most definitely not because Tsukshima's scent calmed him down.
After thoroughly checking for any other scents, he began trailing up the stairs once more, ready to meet a possibly tragic fate in the club room