Dabi's words froze Todoroki in place, surprised at what the other alpha was insinuating. He was familiar with Dabi's scars, his flesh discolored and stapled together to keep him in one piece. The heroes assumed he'd gained such injuries through overuse of his fire quirk.
"I'm not yours!" yelled Kaneki in quick reply. "I warned you over and over again not to come near me while I was in heat! Not to touch me! But you tried to take from me anyway," he said with a whimper. "I never wanted any of this!"
It was when Dabi lunged for Kaneki that Todoroki spurred to action, making himself known to the others as he collided with Dabi and brought him to the ground before the frightened omega. "You were told to stay away; you should have listened, Dabi," Todoroki said as he secured the other alpha.
"Well isn't this a surprise… Who would have thought I'd run into little Shouto in a place like this," Dabi grinned maniacally as he stopped struggling. "Did the little omega entrap you too? Can't be a mere coincidence that you're the one coming to his rescue otherwise! He comes across as helpless and desperate, but when you take care of him and want him to do the same for you, little Ken here goes feral!"
"Sounds like he warned you to stay away, so it doesn't matter if he didn't consent," Todoroki replied quickly, struggling to keep his alpha in check when it wanted to tear apart the threat that Dabi imposed on Kaneki.
Maddened laughter followed his words as Dabi went lax in his hold. "Wow, he's got you fooled as well, huh?! Then why don't you ask him whether I asked for that omega to tear away my flesh during a rut when I was at my most vulnerable?!"
"Doesn't matter who you're sharing ruts with right now," Bakugou growled as he quickly separated Dabi from Todoroki. "You were careless, you overfilled ashtray. We got you on suspicion of soliciting known organized criminals to expand your League of Extras. It'd be in your best interest to shut the fuck up now, but I really don't give a shit if you keep on babbling."
Dabi didn't struggle as the heroes and sidekicks rushed in to secure the room, he focused on Kaneki in the back corner of the cafe, flaming blue eyes watching until he was taken away. "It's only fair I take from you, Ken! You wanna tear away pieces of me, I should get to do the same with you! Not just your body or your skin, I want to tear away whatever you cling to, whatever you find comfort in is what I want to destroy!"
It took Todoroki longer than he would have liked to go through all the post-incident interviews and debriefings, but once he was free of his duties as a hero, he rushed to the last place he had seen Kaneki, though it was empty now.
Not yet willing to give up, Todoroki checked around before finding the omega curled up against the side of a dumpster behind Anteiku. He used caution as he approached, not willing to cause Kaneki any more stress or pain after all he'd been through.
"Dabi is in custody now, he won't be able to threaten you anymore, Kaneki," Todoroki said as he crouched down a few feet away from Kaneki. "We have an Omega Security Unit here to assist you since you're so close to your heat," Todoroki said, feeling himself struggling to focus with the omega's heat pheromones seeping out around them.
Kaneki watched Todoroki with a look that felt familiar before he turned away and made to leave. "I just want to be left alone. I can make it back on my own," Kaneki said, though his words were forced and labored by his quickened breath.
Todoroki nodded to the head of the OSU, who reached Kaneki in time to prevent him from collapsing as he tried to leave. With the information they had, he was brought to his room in Anteiku and left in his nest, the Omega Security Unit assuring that Kaneki was comfortable and at ease within his nest before they left.
"Looks like we bagged this mission before the expected end date," Bakugou said when both Midoriya and Todoroki joined him in walking back to their hotel. "Honestly, I'm glad to leave this shithole city. Nothin' smells right here."
"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked as they got closer to their hotel. "I know us betas don't catch scents like alphas or omegas, but can the smell really make that much of a difference?"
Bakugou chimed in, "Guess you lucked out, Deku. Cuz' it was fucking overwhelming to breathe with IcyHot and Dabi in the same fucking room. It was like getting hit twice by Shouto's damn scent but worse with the shitty burnt skin smell from Dabi."
Todoroki didn't even hear Bakugou's backhanded insult, his alpha urging him to go back to Anteiku and find Kaneki. He struggled to keep himself from taking off once again, and Midoriya could see it.
"Todoroki, you're worried about him, aren't you?" he asked just as they reached the door to their hotel. "The OSU brought him home, so he should be fine. They wouldn't leave until he was safe. Maybe in a few days, once his heat has passed you can check in on-"
"We're finished here!" Bakugou screeched suddenly, interrupting their conversation. "We came here to track down the League's attempts to expand and shut them down. As far as I'm concerned, we're just waiting for them to issue our boarding passes back to Musutafu. We came here on a mission, we got that shit done, and now we're going home. There's nothing to keep us here. That ghoul omega is safe, so get over it and start packing, Icy Hot."
"What gives you the right to tell me where I can or can't be, Bakugou?!" Todoroki exclaimed. "Yeah, we finished our mission, but they can't force me to leave, not when I have to be sure that he's okay!"
The refuge of the hotel gave Bakugou his chance to get out of the conversation. "Look, we did what we came here to do, to prevent the League from expanding. That's the end of our mission. Shit, if you want to go check up on that omega, better get it over with before they get us assigned on a flight back home."
"Don't wait on me then," Todoroki answered as he left his teammates and went back to Anteiku.
And when the agency sent him an email confirming his travel plans back home, he ignored it as he sipped a relaxing chamomile tea in his usual seat at the cafe. Kaneki was still indisposed from his heat, but it made Todoroki and his alpha comfortable to at least stay close even if he couldn't see him in person.
The time to himself gave Todoroki the chance to go over what he wanted to say to Kaneki once he had the chance to talk to him. He could tell there were deeper issues within Kaneki that he'd have to face, but Todoroki knew he was worth facing them.
Kaneki deserved a chance at happiness, and Todoroki wanted to be there to support him in that journey.
"Could you be any less obvious, your pheromones are overpowering the coffee beans, for fuck's sake," said Touka, the lone barista for Anteiku, as she waved her hand through the air for a more dramatic effect. "Kaneki should be good by tomorrow, so reign that shit in before you scare off whatever customers we might have this late at night."
"Sorry," Todoroki said as he made the effort to hold in his scent and urges. "Just don't want to lose my chance to talk to him, seems he's scared of alphas and I don't want him to feel threatened once he's finished his heat."
"Ha!" Touka laughed while Todoroki's pheromones left the room. "It's not that Kaneki is afraid of you alpha tough guys. He doesn't want to be near alphas because he can't control himself during his heat when he's near one. You saw what happened to that villain with the patchwork skin graft job. If he feels threatened, Kaneki won't hesitate to defend himself in that state, tearing away any flesh or bone that gets close to him."
Todoroki nodded as he finished his tea, standing up from his table. "The last thing I want to do is make him feel unsafe or threatened. But I can't ignore the feelings I have that are pulling me to him. So if that gets me hurt in the long run, it'll be worth it to have the chance to let him know my feelings and hope they're returned."