Authors Note: Again, I own nothing, which is a sad thing.
Here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.
Practice had gone well for the most part. There was a snide comment from Tsukishima here and there, but he avoided the subject of Hinata's nature. The team as a whole had avoided any comments on their mingled scent and focused hard on the training. Kageyama was grateful that the team was being somewhat sensitive about it. Both he and Hinata had been worried about how the team would react. But with no mention of the topic, practice continued as if nothing had changed. From the first serve and receive to their first freak quick, their cares melted away. The feeling of a volleyball in their hands and the thrill of practice charged them both with energy and enjoyment. There really was nothing like a good toss and spike to make the world right again. The bond between them only worked to amplify those feelings, making them stronger. By the time practice was over Hinata had a genuine smile plastered a crossed and was bouncing about the room in his normal manner. Kageyama was relieved.
It wasn't until the end of practice as Kageyama dried his face with a towel that he realized the rest of the day wasn't going to go as smoothly.
"Alright listen up," Daiichi called in an authoritative voice. "Let's get this place cleaned up. Nishinoya, Yamaguchi, and Hinata… you take care of the net. Tsukishima and Tanaka take care of the balls… everyone else get started on the floors." Kageyama didn't miss that he had put the omegas together on a task. He knew what was coming next. "Suga and Kageyama, come see me." Kageyama sighed. Well, he knew the captain would want answers. He had hoped to put it off until after evening practice was over. But no such luck. He nodded and with towel in hand followed the captain and Suga-san out the doors to the back of the gym. After a slight distance from the doors Daiichi stopped and turned around. He didn't say a thing and just waited for Kageyama to give him the details everyone on the team was dying to know. No one had missed that Kageyama's scent hand been mixed with Hinata's new scent, to the point that it was almost one scent.
Kageyama sighed again. He didn't really need words for this and it was the easiest way to get the captain to understand. He reached the towel had had in his hand up to his neck and wiped at the heavy amounts of concealer his mother had helped him and Hinata cake on that morning. It came off much easier than he would have liked. They had been a little unsure as to whether the makeup would last through the whole day but the movement of practice and the sweat from hard work had taken a toll. He was suddenly glad he had brought a small bottle of it with him to school just in case. As he moved his hand away the reaction was almost instantaneous. Both Suga and Daiichi's mouths dropped in shock at a complete loss for words. After a minute or two the only words they two had managed to utter was, "wow"
"Well I guess I can't really be mad at you huh?" Daiichi said as he put his hands on his hips. This wasn't just a lack of self-control or restraint, it was fate. There was no use getting upset over something no one had any control over.
"I guess this is also part of what you meant earlier when you said it wasn't a choice." Suga piped in.
Kageyama nodded. "Yeah." That was all he had planned on saying but the urge to tell them everything flashed through him. He knew that was definitely coming from Hinata but he opened his mouth again anyways and it all came spilling out. "When we went home from practice last week I was worried about Hinata. He had been kind of wobbly on his feet and I just wanted to check on him. But as soon as I got close to him the scent of his heat slammed into me so hard there was no helping what happened next. I tried to resist but I couldn't" Kageyama blushed slightly as the memory of that night popped into his head. "Hinata was just so…" Kageyama balled his fists together and clamped down on the bond between him and Hinata. This wasn't something he wanted to share or talk about.
Suga smiled. It was uncharacteristic of Kageyama to talk so much or so openly. Suga could see a bit of Hinata's character leaking through. Understanding the frustration Kageyama was feeling Suga decided it was best to switch things up. "How did your parents take it?" Suga asked changing the focus to how the rest of their week had gone.
"Not well." Kageyama frowned and grumbled. "They tried to force us to break the bond before our fate marks showed up." His hands balled up in anger this time. Talking about this wasn't much better. Had it not been for their fate marks the bond between them would have been long gone. Even the thought of their bond being severed hurt quite a bit. This time it was Daiichi put a hand on his shoulder and brought Kageyama's attention back to him.
"Don't focus on it." Daiichi instructed Kageyama. When Kageyama calmed a bit Daiichi released him with a sigh. "So what do we need to be aware of when it comes to you two?" He asked with a serious tone to his voice. He was back in captain mode and it was time to get down to business.
"Don't upset Hinata." Kageyama stated bluntly. Suga suppressed a chuckle at this but said nothing. He was pretty sure everyone on the team had already picked up on that one.
Daiichi nodded. "Alright, what else?"
"Don't separate us." Kageyama's short reply only prompted another questions.
"You mean on the court?" Daiichi asked for clarification.
"No," Kageyama said. He didn't exactly want everyone on the team knowing about the specifics of their trigger but it would be helpful in not setting things off if the captain didn't divide them up for cleaning duties. "We have to be able to see each other." He said trying to explain the details. "If we're in separate rooms for more than half an hour, the next time we see each other Hinata goes into heat and I go into rut." Again a slight blush made its way onto Kageyama's face. "The doc said that line of sight was our trigger."
"Half an hour?" Suga said in surprise. "That's not very long."
"That shouldn't be a problem for club activities." Daiichi said, though he omitted his thoughts about how Kageyama and Hinata would deal with this throughout the day. Weren't Kageyama and Hinata in different classes? What did they plan on doing for evening practice? With that in mind he asked his next questions. "If you two are triggered, how long does it take until you're… good to go?"
"Over an hour." Kageyama said not giving details. His captain really didn't need the minor details about that. Kageyama frowned at the thought of dealing with that in front of the team or in school. Speaking of which, how long had they been out here talking anyways? He didn't want to go into rut before classes started. They hadn't even seen Takeda-sensei yet.
"Ok, anything else we need to know?" Kageyama considered Daiichi's words and he knew he should probably tell them about the whole hearing each other's thoughts thing but they hadn't really figured that out completely. Sometimes they heard everything, other times nothing and during practice the only thoughts swirling through his head were all volleyball related, he hadn't really paid attention to the fact that some of those thoughts might have been Hinata's.
"I'll let you know as we go." Kageyama spoke, deciding it best to only tell others about what was absolutely necessary and nothing else. Daiichi nodded at Kageyama's words.
"Alright, then let's get you back with Hinata." Suga said and they all turned and headed back in. Kageyama agreed and they headed back. He place a hand over his fate mark to keep it hidden. He was going to have to put more make up over it after they changed. As the three of them made it back inside Kageyama frowned. Hinata was nowhere to be seen. Annoyance flashed through him but was gone as the storage room doors opened and the three omegas returned from storing the net. The smile on Hinata's face was enough to melt Kageyama's annoyance away. Over the bond Hinata felt happy and light. He had probably given Nishinoya and Yamaguchi way more details than they needed to know. Kageyama moved forward and took Hinata's hand with his free one and pulled him towards the door.
"Come on, we have to get changed and see Takeda-sensei." As soon as they were out the door Daiichi called for everyone to gather around. He explained to the rest of the team the basic gist of what had happened between the two and also that this was to be kept among the team only. The only place anyone was allowed to even mention the words fate mates would be in the club room. He also told Tsukishima to lay off the comments for the next couple weeks.
Hinata sat in the almost empty classroom twirling the new key around his finger. Takeda-sensei had given them both a key to the third floor teacher restroom and said they could use it to take care of things should they need to. Hinata had been a little skeptical about using the teacher's restroom but it turned out that it was rarely ever used by the teaching staff since it was completely out of the way. As such Takeda-sensei had given them the keys under the pretext that they were assigned permanent cleaning duty for it. They were also warned to make sure they cleaned up after themselves and aired out the room as much as possible.
But none of that was the troubling part. After Kageyama had left for his class Takeda-sensei had pulled Hinata aside to talk to him for a moment. They only talked for a moment but that was enough. Takeda-sensei had told Hinata he needed to be on guard. As a new omega he was bound to get teased a bit. Takeda-sensei assured Hinata that most of the teasing would be harmless at first and meant for jest, but there might be a few that weren't that way or turned harsher later. If something major was to happen he was supposed to go directly to a teacher or to Kageyama or one of the other alphas on the team. Hinata had smiled and told Takeda-sensei that he didn't have to worry and left, his usual smile on his face. Now that class was about to start he was a little nervous. The team had accepted everything quite well but his class mates were another thing. He was just glad most of them probably weren't familiar enough with Kageyama's scent to understand the significance of how strong it was mixed with his own. Heck they would just be smelling his own scent for the first time that day.
As the classroom filled up Hinata was the center of attention. All the girls were congratulating him for finally gaining his nature, it wasn't until a bunch of the alpha males came in that things got a little awkward. There were a lot of comments about how they had expected Hinata to be a beta, not an omega, even though his size should have made it clear. This spurred a bunch of short jokes and though annoyed it was nothing he couldn't handle. But as the teacher came in to start class that things turned ugly. One of the alphas had mumbled a command at Hinata, something small and stupid, but it was enough to inspire a few of the other alphas in the class to do the same. They were small things, stupid things, like take a bite of paper, or toss your eraser away, but it was enough to upset him.
About half way through the lesson Kageyama's voice popped into his head unexpectedly making him jump in his seat. "Oi what's wrong? What's going on?" He could feel Kageyama's concern over their bond. The students around him snickered his jumpiness, believing it was just another command he was given, no idea what had actually caused it. Hinata frowned. He was going to have to talk with Kageyama about doing that so loudly and unexpectedly. Granted they hadn't really figured out what would get through to the other and what wouldn't.
"It's nothing." Hinata answered out loud not really thinking about it only to blush as everyone's attention turned to him. Even the teacher had paused in his lesson. Not knowing what else to do Hinata stood up. "I'm sorry sensei, but can I go to the bathroom?" He asked in a shaky voice. He just wanted to get out of there. He needed a break, he wouldn't be able to deal with this if things got worse. The teacher agreed to let him go to the bathroom and he practically ran out the door, hands over his ears to block any more mumbled attempts to make him do something even more embarrassing.
Once out of the class room he relaxed a bit and tried to answer Kageyama properly this time. It's nothing, Hinata thought back to him, hoping it would somehow get across. Apparently it did because a few second later Kageyama's voice was in his head again.
It doesn't feel like nothing. Hinata cursed under his breath. He had forgotten Kageyama could feel his feeling through their bond. Which meant there was no way to completely hide everything from his mate. Besides, before evening practice Kageyama would just be able to pick through his memories and see what it was that was bothering him so much. Once Hinata was in the bathroom he decided it would be good to splash some water on his face to help himself calm down before he dealt with Kageyama. It helped quite a bit.
It was just some classmate being jerks and trying to be funny. Hinata thought back at Kageyama. It was hard to remember he didn't need to actually speak the words for Kageyama to hear him. But he was starting to get the hang of this whole hearing each other's thoughts thing. It seemed that when he wasn't connected with Kageyama he had to actively push his thoughts at his mate for them to be heard. It seemed to be quite simple.
Who? It was a one word question but Hinata could feel the malice in Kageyama's voice. Hinata frowned. There was no way to keep it from Kageyama for forever, but at least if he made Kageyama wait until they were connected, he didn't have to worry that Kageyama would get suspended for doing something stupid to those idiot alphas.
I'll tell you later. Hinata thought. Get back to your lesson.
Kageyama sighed unhappily as he tried to move his attention back towards the teacher at the front of his classroom. He could feel just how upset Hinata had been moments before and it bothered him more than he had originally anticipated. It was to the point he was ready to violently assault those making Hinata feel such pain. Though now all he could feel from Hinata was determination, Kageyama almost growled in frustration. There was no way in hell he would be able to concentrate on his lessons with his mate being troubled by his other classmates to this degree. What's more is he couldn't do anything to physically comfort his mate during breaks. Not without risking triggering them both into a frenzy in front of other students.
By the end of their second lesson Kageyama had broken three pencils in effort to remain in his own classroom. It was evident through their bond that Hinata was being tormented. When the bell rang at the end of the lesson Kageyama stood up unable to take it anymore. His omega, his mate, was going to get help whether he wanted it or not. He was halfway to Hinata's classroom when Takeda-sensei appeared.
"He's in the teacher's office." Takeda-sensei told him, not even bothering to ask where exactly it was that Kageyama was headed. Kageyama paused for a moment considering. Wondering how the heck he ended up in the teacher's office It was probably best that Hinata wasn't there that way he would have free reign to kick the crap out of every single alpha in that class. Kageyama made to sidestep Takeda-sensei and continue on his way towards Hinata's classroom but the teacher stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't" Takeda-sensei told him. "It would be best for Hinata if you didn't get yourself suspended because of this." Kageyama turned murderous eyes onto Takeda-sensei. "Hurting them will only make things harder on Hinata. Besides, once the teachers caught on to the situation they put Hinata in the offices and are dealing with the others as we speak. It would be better for you to go up to the bathroom and wait for Hinata there. I'll send him up there as soon as the next lesson starts. You'll both be excused for the rest of the day."
Kageyama growled in frustration. He was torn between wanting to kick the crap out of those guys and wanting to comfort his troubled mate. In the end, comforting his mate won out. "Fine." Kageyama mumbled and turned on his heal to grab his stuff from his own classroom and make is way to the third floor bathrooms to wait as patiently as he could.
Hinata was silent as Takeda-sensei walked him through the halls after lunch was over and the third lesson had started. Takeda-sensei had even been kind enough to gather Hinata's things from the classroom for him. He had known things were going to be difficult as an omega, but he honestly hadn't expected his classmates to take things so far. He had called every single one of them a friend at some point but after everything that had happened that day he be damned if he ever called a single one of them friend again. Most of the girls and the betas in the class felt horrible for what was happening but didn't dare open their mouths to the teachers for fear they would be targeted next. Why did they even feel the need to do such things anyways? They never treated any of the female omegas that way, so why was he so different?
Takeda-sensei placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder drawing Hinata's attention him. "I'm sorry Hinata." Takeda apologized to Hinata. He understood just how much it hurt to have the people you call friends turn cruel over the course of a week.
Hinata's eyes widened in shock. "What are you apologizing for sensei? You didn't do anything."
"No…" Takeda replied. "I didn't, but I know exactly how you feel right now and I'm sorry that I can't do anything to make it better." Hinata frowned even deeper at that. "I'm actually quite envious of you." Takeda continued, hoping to make Hinata feel somewhat better. "When I went to school the teachers never intervened, no matter how bad it got."
"Seriously?" Hinata asked in complete shock.
"Yeah, and the "jokes" were much worse then. Instead of chalk I was forced to drink my own urine." Hinata's mouth dropped open it horror. Such horrible things. Unable to help it he asked the question he'd been asking himself all day.
"Why sensei? Why do they do it?" Hinata's eyes were searching his teachers for some sort of answer to this senseless humiliation and suffering male omegas were forced to endure.
Takeda frowned. "I don't know Hinata, I don't even think they know. I don't think they understand just how much those little things actually hurt us." Takeda sighed as he tried to think of just what he could say to take away some of the sting. "But they aren't all like that. From what you said earlier it was only about 4 or 5 of the alphas in your class that were being jerks. And you know the alphas on the volleyball team aren't like that at all. They were all really happy that you finally presented. And Kageyama… you know he'd never do that to you." Hinata nodded, agreeing with Takeda-sensei. Takeda smiled this time, having found the perfect thing to sidetrack Hinata's thoughts. "You know in all the yelling he's done sense he's been here, I've never actually heard him use his alpha voice."
Shock was evident on Hinata's face. "Are you serious?" He asked Takeda-sensei in complete astonishment. Hinata had always just assumed that when Kageyama was yelling at him that he was using his alpha voice. Even when they were connected Hinata had thought to actually pay attention to that, just assuming the alpha was present in every shout.
"Yep." It was here that they reached the teacher's bathroom on the third floor. Takeda removed his arm from the young omega as the boy turned to look at him. "Just to forewarn you, Kageyama's not happy."
"Wait wha…" Hinata started but was interrupted.
"I stopped him on the way to your classroom, I'm assuming to kick the crap outta those alphas who were giving you a hard time." Hinata was speechless at this, he hadn't wanted Kageyama to get involved at all but it was stupid to think Kageyama would just sit back and do nothing. Of all things Kageyama was never one to sit on the sidelines. If it had been the reverse Hinata would have just bolted right through Takeda-sensei. "I convinced him that it would be best to wait and comfort you instead. Though he didn't let go of his anger he turned around and headed straight here."
"Thanks Sensei!" Hinata said. Takeda-sensei wished him well then turned and headed back down to the class he was supposed to be giving this hour. Hinata slid the door open to the bathroom his eyes immediately shifted downwards. He didn't want to go into heat right away. He just wanted to be with Kageyama for a while and calm down before they took care of any of that. He shut the door behind him and locked it. He felt Kageyama approach him from behind but didn't move, couldn't move. When Kageyama's arms wrapped around him, he finally broke down, finally safe from everything around him. Turning in Kageyama's arms Hinata hugged his alpha close to him. Unable to stop the tears he cried, sobbing into his mates arms.