Scents - A Shinkami Omegaverse AU

Mina No

(TW: Attempted Suicide)

When Denki woke up, the heat cramps had subsided, he was in his room at Mina's house, and he was incredibly embarrassed. However, he now had a shit-ton more respect for his crush and he was fairly certain Shinsou either really didn't like him or was entirely the love of his life. On the one hand, the alpha had refused to touch him even though the omega had very clearly established that he had a crush on him. The boner Hitoshi had sported could just be attributed to the fact that there was an omega in heat in close proximity. On the other hand, the way Shinsou had held Denki was protective and loving, and the younger boy hadn't missed the scent of euphoria and pleasure in the air when Shinsou was on the verge of finally kissing him.

"UGH." Denki put his face in his hands and Tabby ambled over to sit on his chest. "Tabs, why are boys so hard?" Tabby looked at him for a second and touched her nose to his, then went back to cleaning her paws. The omega released a dirty giggle. "No pun intended." He heard a laugh from the doorway and saw Mina there, who saw that Denki had noticed her and dove onto the bed next to Denki. She propped her head on a pillow. "So. What happened down there?"

"Oh my God Mina it was so embarrassing-" He went on to explain the entire experience, finishing with a long, drawn-out sigh.

While he'd been talking, Mina had moved onto one of the beanbags she had sitting in the corner of the guest bedroom, so their positions in the room looked like Denki was in a therapy session. Mina adjusted the imaginary glasses she wasn't wearing. "So from what you tell me, it sounds like he wants to treat you like a painting?"

Denki shot his best friend a confused expression.

"He wants to nail you to a wall, Denki." Mina gave him an exasperated look, coupled with a giggle.

Denki fell back onto the bed. "I don't know if he does, that's the problem!" Mina sat next to Denki and flopped over his stomach. She pinched the bridge of her nose, waiting for Denki to stop groaning. Once he did stop, Mina cleared her throat.

"Denki, the entire time he was talking to the gang, he looked like he was meeting your parents for the first time. All 'please' and 'thank you' and he actually called Shoto Todoroki, father figure to the stars, 'sir.' I swear to God, Denks, if I have to deal with five more months of your sexual tension, I might kill myself." Denki giggled, and she added, "I'm not joking, man. They'll put, 'She died as she lived, yelling at her best friend for being an idiot about his schoolgirl crush.' on my tombstone." She frowned. "Unless there's like a character limit for that."

Denki pursed his lips. "You know, I kinda hope he never meets my parents." To which Mina's response was a loud laugh. "Kind of? That's an understatement." She shuffled so she was hugging Denki, and the two cuddled for a little. Their breaths evened out and Mina felt their hearts beat in unison as she snuggled with her best friend. It was hard to believe they'd only been friends for ten years when it felt like a lifetime.

Mina recalled the first day she'd met Denki, back in fourth grade. She'd been shunned and ignored for her thick Indian accent. She'd spent days alone on the playground; people didn't want to talk to her because of her broken speech. Then Denki had walked into her life.

Denki was a social butterfly. Mina had been too, back home in India, but that had changed when she moved. The boy had dragged her into his happy lifestyle, and Mina would never regret the day on the slide that she'd taken Denki's hand.

Even when she'd presented as a beta at thirteen, Denki had been there. She'd been bullied for being "nothing" because she didn't have a scent or pheromones, and Denki had been bullied for being a true male omega, even when his parents were both alphas. Together they'd been each other's rock, someone to lean on when it became too much.

She sighed in contentment, curling into Denki.

"Mina?" Denki asked about fifteen minutes later.

"Yeah?" she yawned.

"Did I do the right thing?"

Mina hugged him tighter. "I've said it before, Denks, and I'll say it again. They hurt you. Badly. You grew up with feelings of self-hatred that you believed were your own fault, just because they knew how to play you. You're an amazing, trusting person, and you deserve to live somewhere that you're loved unconditionally. Whether that's with me, or the Todorokis, or even with Shinsou."

When Mina looked up, Denki was crying. "But what if it was me? They- they loved me. When I told them I needed a therapist when I was fourteen they hired one because they wanted me to get better-"

"But how many times, Denki? How many times did you give them a problem that you had and have them make it about themselves? How many times did you tell them you were sick and how many times did they tell you it was in your head?"

Denki just shook his head, each breath racking his entire body.

"How many times are you going to tell yourself it was your fault that they were narcissists? How many times are you going to hurt yourself because of what they told you?" Mina remembered the times, only a few years ago, when she would greet Denki with a hug and had felt the scabs on his wrists rub against her shoulders when he hugged back. "You don't deserve to think of yourself as a waste of space. You don't deserve to believe that you're just a placeholder until someone good comes into the world because you are that someone good."

She huffed a breath at an idea. "You can talk to the boss about this, though, right? His dad was an asshole too, and I know no one can really understand without having experienced it themself."

Denki wiped his eyes. "That's a really good idea but- I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"There's no pressure, babe. I'm your best friend and I'm two kinds of Asian. I'm supposed to have good ideas."

"Are you sure Shinsou likes me?"

"You know what, if he doesn't ask you out the next time you see him, then I'll yell at him to go on a date with you myself."

"Mina no."

"Mina yes."

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a/n

To quote Wicked, "Look at you. You're beautiful."

Love,

-gale