(Has anyone done this before? An Oofuri Omegaverse AU? IDEK, I was too lazy to look it up.)

(WARNING: There will be sex and later chapters. And some mild dub-con. And possibly some dry, unedited writing. Hopefully more of the first than the last, though. I'll put a note in the chapters beforehand, no worries.)

(ALSO, I'm posting this on my AO3 account by the same name and title, so I'm not stealing my own work or anything. Not that anyone would want to steal this, but you get what I mean.)

(Enjoy!)

Chapter 1

Having an inter-type sports team had been virtually unheard of up until… oh, say, their generation.

And even then, there were hardly any professional Omega players - for any sport. It was an Alpha-dominated occupation, for obvious reasons. Aggression and physical strength were base requirements for any sport, and Omegas simply didn't have either of them.

…And yet, there stood Mihashi.

Abe Takaya gritted his teeth and dug the spikes of his shoes into the mud behind the batter's box.

And yet, there stood Mihashi.

An Omega playing baseball on an Alpha field, surrounded by a team of Alphas and Betas. It was practically unheard of, essentially unthought of, and borderline taboo - and apparently, Mihashi Ren had been doing it his whole life.

And Abe hated it.

The Omega's stance on the pitcher's mound shifted; a nearly instantaneous hush fell over the crowd. Abe could almost hear the spectators leaning forward in their bleacher seats, if it weren't for the light drizzle of rain overhead, and he could certainly feel the change in the atmosphere.

It's a practice game, he had to remind himself resolutely. It's just a simple practice game.

But it didn't feel that way - not with the tenseness of the other players, and the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and the breathless attention of the enraptured crowd. The enraptured crowd that had come to see the Omega play.

Mihashi's leg lifted up in preparation to throw; Abe forced himself to relax and dug his spikes into the mud some more.

He hated this. He hated all of it. He hated how the crowds came to watch a practice game because an Omega was pitching. He hated how Mihashi poising to pitch was enough to make his entire body tense up. He hated how the Alpha batter in front of him was tensing up, too.

But he couldn't lose focus. Not here, not now. Because there was one thing he didn't hate.

Mihashi's wrist arched behind the glove, and Abe narrowed his eyes.

The pitch flew. The batter swung. The ball slammed into the center of Abe's mitt.

And it was that.

X X X

"A-Abe-kun!"

Abe paused in taking off his helmet and shot a sidelong glance over his shoulder. Mihashi stood beside him, eyes alight with excitement and face framed with rain-drenched locks. He held his own helmet tightly in both hands, gloved fingers pressing against the sleek outer shell. His shoulders were bunched up and his face was red and he was completely breathless - Abe had to look away to finish removing his helmet.

"Yeah?" he prompted, when the Omega only continued to stand and stare.

"We… we won!" Mihashi's voice squeaked slightly on the last word, and Abe had to suppress a wince as he slid his helmet into the cubby and quickly turned towards the locker room.

"Yeah, we did."

He heard Mihashi scrambling to put away his gear and catch up to him; Abe made sure to keep his eyes on the hallway ahead.

"You- you batted really well today!" Mihashi reappeared at his side, still red and slightly out-of-breath. At least, that's what Abe could tell from pointedly not looking at him. There were some things that Alphas just noticed.

"Thanks," he replied shortly.

"And- and um, y-you called the pitches really well, too, and- um…" he could tell Mihashi was struggling to come up with conversation material. Maybe if he would just breathe normally, and not pant and gasp right next to Abe's ear, his brain would be getting enough oxygen to function properly.

There were a few more incoherent sounds from the pitcher, but thankfully, just when Abe was about to either punch him or pin him down - he wasn't sure which - the door to the locker room was before them and he was able to push himself none-too-gently inside.

"There you are," Hanai commented, ignoring the aggressive way the catcher had entered; the team captain was shirtless, belt undone and muscles glistening with sweat and rain. Mihashi, who came in almost directly behind Abe, babbled a series of flustered and high-pitched apologies as he covered his eyes and backed himself into his own personal changing corner on the opposite side of the locker room.

"We were wondering where you were," Hanai continued as Abe opened his locker next to the captain's.

"Just putting my stuff back," Abe answered. He grabbed the hem of his own shirt and rolled it up over his head. "And trying to escape the Orange Plague."

"You poor thing," Suyama, another Alpha, scathed good-naturedly from a few lockers down. Abe just shrugged and shot another glance over his shoulder. Mihashi wasn't paying any attention to the rest of his teammates, and sort of looked like he was trying to half-hide behind his locker door as he toed out of his cleats and shimmied out of his pants. Abe tore his eyes away and hid his own face in his locker.

"Never mind," Hanai waved one hand through the air. "Look, great job out there today everyone."

"Yeah!" the curtain that separated the lockers and the shower room swung to the side, revealing the toothy grin - and barely-covered body - of Tajima. "We pummeled them into the dirt, man!"

Hanai's expression was clearly displeased, as the Beta first baseman made a habit of interrupting him, but Tajima's gaze had already moved from the group of Alphas to the lone Omega in the corner.

"Mihashi!" Tajima's shout sent Mihashi, who was struggling to get his shirt over his head, yelping and careening into the locker-lined wall. "The Betas are using the baths first. Come join us!"

"O-okay!" came Mihashi's muffled reply. He twisted around along the lockers, apparently completely entangled in his uniform. Abe didn't even register that he had started watching the Omega again until Tajima bounded over and yanked off the pitcher's shirt, then grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the direction of the shower.

Abe's blood spiked inside him. Don't touch!

"T-Tajima-kun!" Mihashi stuttered helplessly. Abe hated how the Omega made no actual move to get away. "I haven't taken my boxers off-!"

"Don't worry about it!" Tajima grinned back over his shoulder. "Just think of it as helping your mom get a head-start on laundry."

He yanked Mihashi past the curtain, then, as the Omega yipped and struggled to keep his balance on the wet tiles, pulled the curtain closed with a swish. This was followed by a loud splash, and the sound of Izumi indignantly shouting, "Holy crap, Tajima, don't just push him in!"

It took Abe a couple extra seconds to realize that he was holding onto his things much more tightly than he needed to.

Tajima was a little spitfire of a human being, and if Abe were honest with himself – which he rarely was these days – he really didn't like how the Beta was always dragging Mihashi around as though he were the one in charge. Tajima was a Beta, a creature living outside of the Alpha-Omega dynamic, and had no right to waltz around doing what was supposed to be an Alpha's job.

Betas had migrated from the West a couple hundred years ago, and, not being native to the land, weren't a part of the Alpha-Omega dynamic, which had existed in the East since the dawn of time. They had integrated themselves into the system quite nicely, living peacefully and equally within the Alpha-Omega society, but at the same time operated outside of the instinct that defined the Alpha-Omega lifestyle.

From what Abe had learned in school – and from his own observations – Betas weren't separated by type; Alpha and Omega, which was determined by instinct and hormones – but by gender; male and female, which was determined by anatomy and DNA. Which Abe found to be very strange, since he knew Alpha men and Alpha women who were equally driving, intelligent, and strong. Additionally, he also knew of Omega men and Omega women who were equally submissive to their Alphas. He supposed it made some sense, as only males and females could have children together, but then Betas sometimes became mates with someone of the same gender, as Alphas and Omegas could, making the separation by gender pointless. And besides that, it was never definite whether it was the men or the women who were dominant. Sometimes, it was the men who controlled the women – sometimes, it was the women who were in charge of the men. There were no official behaviors or roles ingrained in their systems, and what was more, Betas couldn't bond with their mates or go into heat cycles. To Abe, the world of the Betas was chaos.

That being said, he did have to begrudgingly admit that it was good to have Betas around – at least as far as baseball was concerned. A team of only Alphas, while undoubtedly powerful, could just as easily be destroyed by inner-conflict and aggressive competitiveness. They balanced out the team quite nicely, and, as long as they weren't treated like Omegas, usually didn't mind letting the Alphas be in charge.

And – in the case of the Nishiura High baseball team – they were a haven of sorts for Mihashi. Since Betas weren't driven by instinct, they didn't naturally feel the need to submit to an Alpha, nor did they feel naturally drawn to dominate an Omega. As a result, Mihashi could safely spend most of his time with them, which made the whole situation a bit easier, for him as well as his Alpha teammates.

Unfortunately, with him being the ace pitcher and Abe being the only catcher, it didn't lessen the time they had to spend together at all. And that – that was where Abe's problem lied.

Abe slung his gym bag over his shoulder and slammed his locker door shut. Hanai looked up in surprise.

"Dude, aren't you gonna take a shower?"

"I'll take one at home," Abe replied curtly, then turned on his heel and exited the locker room.

If he didn't leave now, Mihashi would no doubt try to walk home with him, and the last thing he needed was to be alone with the Omega.

Abe sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair as he walked. The sun was setting over the rooftops of the houses that flanked the street home, and the weather was nice for summer, but none of it could pull Abe out of his mood.

He wished he understood what he was feeling. He knew the mechanics, how instinct worked and the reason behind it and what it all meant, but he couldn't quite comprehend how. Why the pitcher of his team, of all people? Was it because they were together all the time? He had never felt this strong of a pull before. Granted, it was his first year being of the bondable age, but still. It was strange, and frustrating, and Abe didn't like it.

This is why Omegas don't belong on the field with Alphas, he thought bitterly as he approached the front gate of his house.

"I'm home," he called out as he slammed open the door. His mother's head appeared from around the corner of the kitchen, smiling pleasantly.

"Welcome back, sweetheart," she said. "How was your-"

"Takaya!" Abe heard the swift pattering of feet before he saw it; his younger brother skidded around the corner opposite his mother, nearly crashing head-first into the wall in his excitement, before running down the hall and latching onto the older boy's arm.

"Did you win?" he chanted eagerly. "Did you, did you, did you?"

"Shun," Abe shrugged his arm with significantly less enthusiasm. "Get off me."

"But did you?"

"Yes, we won," Abe let his bag drop from his other arm to lay beside the door. "Now get off."

"I hope you aren't planning to leave that there," his mother commented chidingly from around the kitchen corner. Shun ignored him and buried his nose in his shoulder.

"You smell like Omega!"

Abe clenched his jaw. "That's because there's one on my team," he reminded him stiffly. "Off."

Then he pushed Shun away, hard, and the younger tumbled back with a grunt into the line of shoes by the front step. Abe didn't spare him a second glance and left his own shoes messily beside the others. All of his patience had been used up trying to win the baseball game in spite of Mihashi's eternally distracting presence.

It didn't matter, though, because Shun was back on his feet and bouncing around at the foot of the steps by the time Abe was halfway to his room.

"Congratulations on your win!" his mother's soft, airy voice wafted up from below. "I'm sorry we couldn't make it!"

"It's fine," Abe called back, robotically.

"I'm definitely coming to the next one!" Shun shouted up cheekily. "I wanna see that Omega pitcher of yours in action!"

Abe shot his brother a tired glare from the second floor before he could stop himself; then he spun on his heel and shut himself inside his room.

His younger brother was at the most obnoxious stage of Alpha life – not quite the bondable age of fifteen, but old enough to be absolutely Omega-crazy. He thought he knew what having a mate was, what it felt like to be attracted to an Omega. Shun thought he knew what it was all about, but he didn't. He had no freaking idea.

Abe sighed heavily and leaned back against his door. He really couldn't be angry at Shun, though. Sure, the kid was basically born to be an annoying prick of a sibling, but he was never worth getting too hung up about.

Although, that last comment about Mihashi had made Abe's stomach turn more than it should. It was partially annoyance at Shun, since him saying that did nothing to help Abe with his current windstorm of emotions – and hormones – and partially annoyance with Mihashi, because he wouldn't be garnering so much attention if he wasn't playing baseball in the first place. And then, it was partially annoyance with himself, because he agreed with Shun wholeheartedly.

Because there stood Mihashi.

X X X

"Hey, team captain!"

Hanai froze and refused to turn around. Then he rolled his eyes and went back to packing his dirty uniform into his duffle bag.

Maybe if I don't talk to him, he'll go away.

"Heeey," Tajima's face slowly slid sideways into his peripheral vision. "Are you ignoring me?"

Hanai glanced over at him before he could stop himself; then he silently cursed himself, quickly looked away, and prayed his slip-up had gone unnoticed.

Unfortunately, it hadn't. At all.

A grin spread over Tajima's face. "Oh, I get it. You're trying to ignore me, and failing miserably. Okay, then!"

Hanai grabbed his duffle bag and turned around to scan the locker room. What the- what kind of heartless teammates would leave me in here alone with this guy?

"So, didja see what I did out there today?" Tajima was still at his side, staring up at him with big, glittering eyes. "I ran all the way from first to home with that hit you made! First to home! Is that awesome or what?"

Hanai let out the tiniest of breaths and started out towards the hallway.

"Hey!" Tajima ran after him. "When I said 'okay then', I didn't mean I was actually okay with you ignoring me!"

Giving up, Hanai let out a loud sighed. "I'm not ignoring you, Tajima."

"Yes you were!" Tajima countered accusingly. The glitter in his eye had turned into a – completely unthreatening – glint. "And now you're trying to cover it up by pretending you weren't!"

Hanai flinched. Why does he have to be so good at reading people?

"Anyways," the Beta continued on. "I'm really hoping that we get another practice game in before the opening ceremony. Otherwise I think I'm gonna go crazy with boredom! It feels like practice is just too easy, know what I mean? Mizutani!"

They had come outside now, and emerged from the dugout to make their way towards the street; the Beta outfielder, who was standing at the curb alongside a few other teammates, turned at the sound of his name at about the same time Hanai winced against the Beta's voice. "What?"

"Catch!"

Tajima then launched himself at the other boy before Hanai could even register that he had left his side, and Mizutani, who had reflexively put up his hand to catch a fly ball, was tackled completely unprepared. He teetered onto one foot, swinging dangerously close to the road, and Sakaeguchi did his best to pull them both back to safety.

"What the heck, Tajima?" Mizutani snapped, trying to pry the boy's arms off from around his face. Tajima just laughed and twisted around to look behind him.

"Suyama!" he shouted unnecessarily loud. The Alpha, who had been watching the scene in silence from a safe distance away, raised an eyebrow. "Turn around okay? I'm gonna jump from him to you!"

Suyama's eyes widened. "No! Don't do it!"

"I'm gonna do it!"

"I said don't do it!"

Hanai managed to look away just in time – he saw the blur of Tajima pouncing from one victim to the next out of the corner of his eye, and heard the sound of them all crashing to the ground. He exhaled heavily, annoyed, and tilted his head sharply towards the sky.

The sunset is beautiful this evening, he thought to distract himself from the pandemonium erupting just a few feet away, though he didn't say it out loud. No doubt the guys would think he was going soft if he pointed out something so sentimental. And he wasn't soft – he was an Alpha. A tough, strong, no-nonsense Alpha. Leader of the baseball team and eldest son of the Hanai family. The eldest Alpha son, who could run for miles, who could hit home runs, who could lift his weight in barbells, who–

"Ah- ah-choo!"

Hanai felt someone brush against him as a sneeze wracked their body; he looked down at his side to find Mihashi standing beside him at the curb, rubbing his nose with one hand and squinting his eyes cutely.

–who could look at an Omega and feel absolutely nothing.

"Mihashi?" Hanai raised an eyebrow. Mihashi squeaked and shot up, looking around in confusion before finally locating Hanai and staring up at him with wide eyes.

"S-s-sorry, Hanai-kun!" Mihashi waved his arms around in a panicked fashion. "I just– p-pollen… seasons… mm…!"

"It's fine," Hanai answered dryly. He knew he should be gentle with Omegas, especially with ones like Mihashi, but it was the ones like Mihashi who got on his nerves the most.

You shouldn't feel that way, his brain reminded him, in a voice that sounded an awful lot like his mother's. You should desire an Omega, not be annoyed by them.

Mihashi was still blubbering and trembling at his side, so Hanai gave him a small smile and a reassuring, "Really, it's okay."

Then, experimentally, he lifted one hand and ran his fingers through Mihashi's hair. The Omega squawked and flailed under the light touch, and he could hear Tajima indignantly asking, "What the heck are they doing over there?" from somewhere behind him.

But none of it mattered. Because Hanai had just touched an Omega. And he should have felt his hand tingle. He should have felt his heartbeat increase. He should have felt his blood boil with instinct. Instead–

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He felt absolutely nothing.

And it terrified him.