Chapter Text
He should’ve figured it out sooner.
The signs were right there, now that Oikawa thinks about it, and he still didn’t pick it up.
He should’ve been more skeptical about Hinata’s proclamation of being a ‘beta’. He should’ve been more adamant about getting Hinata to be honest—if not with their team, then with him—about his actual second gender.
Because then—they would have been able to avoid what transpires next.
“Hinata?!”
It all happens within a matter of seconds. A simple blink of an eye.
One moment—Hinata is soaring in the air, wings ready to fly and hit the ball, and the next—
The entire team pauses with utter shock when they witness their star player stop mid-spike, only to watch the redhead’s legs buckle and he drops on the gymnasium floor with a loud groan.
Hinata hunches over, one hand over his stomach, and he grits his teeth as sweat trickles down his neck and everything starts to get fuzzy and too intense and—
Fuck.
“I—” Hinata grunts and his nose scrunches up when several of his teammates surround him in genuine concern—but it feels more like he’s being trapped right now, “I just need a minute.”
Trapped and suffocated because—even if they’re all required to wear scent blockers—
Hinata can still smell some of them. Most of his team-mates are alphas, and he knows they can’t help it but—
Their scents are too strong, and his stupid body is reacting like crazy from it and—
And he knows his scent blockers aren’t going to help anymore at about any moment now.
Fuck, fuck, fuck—
“Hey,” One of Hinata’s teammates reaches out with a hand to delicately tap Hinata’s shoulder, worry etching the man’s face as he watches the redhead practically shiver on the floor, “you okay?”
But the reaction he gets from that? Nothing that anyone would expect.
Not from Hinata.
The redhead whips his head to his teammate, and his eyes are blown wide as he pulls his lips back almost into a snarl, panic woven into Hinata’s tone as he repeats himself. “I said give me a minute.”
Immediately, almost everyone backs off with surprise carved into their expression.
His stomach is killing him and his breathing is heavy and everything won’t stop spinning.
So stupid. Hinata hangs his head back down, feeling only slightly guilty for talking that way to his teammate, but more the feeling of self-hatred takes over as he berates himself for missing a single damn day of taking his suppressants.
Fucking hell.
Oikawa watches from a distance, taking everything in as he sees all the other teammates backing off, all while Hinata looks like he’s about to go into a panic attack—his back rising up and down in quick, heavy breaths.
It’s as if the entire scene in front of him is playing in slow motion and he can only stand back and watch the panic unfold in front of him.
He should’ve been able to tell. But he couldn’t—Hinata was too good at hiding what he was.
But eventually—once Oikawa notices the panic in Hinata and how he only seems to be getting worse with everyone else surrounding him—that Oikawa starts to move.
“…Hinata,” Oikawa swallows, his brows pulled into a V as he cautiously approaches the redhead, all while everyone else gives Oikawa space to get to him.
But the thing is—Hinata doesn’t hear Oikawa at first.
He’s still in the middle of freaking out because he’s in pain and he’s a dumbass and—
And all of the scents from everyone are getting too overwhelming, he feels like he’s on the verge of breaking down.
Why did he forget to take his suppressants? What the fuck is wrong with him—?
“Hey,” Hinata barely picks up on a familiar voice, and he doesn’t notice that it’s Oikawa—not until the brunet is crouching to get at Hinata’s level, and Oikawa’s scent is the only thing he can smell now. “Shouyou.”
At that—being called by that name by Oikawa—it acts like a knife cutting the thick cloud of anxiety Hinata is in, causing him to turn his head up and look at Oikawa with eyes so wide they might pop out of their sockets.
It’s weird, though. Everyone’s scents—even with the blockers—felt too much for him. Too overpowering. Almost made him feel nauseous and anxious, and Hinata wanted to do was run out of this very gym and hide, but—
Oikawa watches Hinata with a concentrated expression, and Hinata sucks in a small gasp when he gets more of Oikawa’s scent.
It’s, oddly enough, comforting.
And maybe it’s because he’s known Oikawa longer than anyone else on the team. That he and Oikawa developed this camaraderie over the year after being on the same team and all. The only familiar face Hinata was greeted with when he entered college.
But it’s what manages to knock some semblance of awareness into Hinata, making his breathing level out considerably.
“What the hell…” Oikawa starts, wanting to ask what the hell happened, only for his sentence to trail off when he breathes in and catches a certain…scent from Hinata.
A scent so, so fucking faint that you would have to be literal inches from him to pick it up.
But Oikawa is close enough. And he can smell that particular scent from Hinata.
And it’s…
Oh.
Oikawa’s eyes enlarge with slow realization as his brain puts everything together, and his eyes catch Hinata’s with a knowing stare.
No.
It only takes a split second for Hinata to realize that Oikawa knows. He figured it out just like that. And his stomach drops because now—
Now Oikawa has the chance to tell the rest of the team—out Hinata and put his little secret on display for everyone.
Or—
Oikawa gives Hinata one last glance before he turns to their coach, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “…We’re taking a time-out.”
No. No, no, no—
Hinata wants to protest. He wants to stop Oikawa and say that he’s fine but—
The redhead's stomach causes a pathetic whimper to escape from him instead, and Oikawa clenches the back of his teeth because—
That just confirms it, too.
Hinata doesn’t try to fight after that when Oikawa leads him off the court and straight to the changing room. It would’ve been futile, anyway, if he did.
And it’s not until they’re alone in the changing room, the door locked with Hinata sitting on the bench—his back slumped against the wall—as Oikawa stands near the door, his back facing Hinata—
That it goes completely silent.
All you can hear is Hinata’s shallow breaths, and the air slowly turns thicker and warmer and—
And because they’re in a closed space, the air turns heavier with Hinata’s scent with every passing second.
“…” Oikawa pinches the bridge of his nose, and he closes his eyes as he wills himself to take a deep breath, trying so damn hard to not let Hinata’s scent affect him.
And he doesn’t sound mad when he finally does speak, just…confused. Almost betrayed in a way.
“…How long did you plan on keeping this a secret?”
Hinata doesn’t answer at first.
He simply stares at Oikawa’s back, his jersey number on full display, as he tries to calm down his breathing and ignore the stomach cramps.
Thinking of all the possible scenarios that can happen after this. How he can avoid getting the team to find out.
How he can go back and continue playing their game—
“Did you think,” Oikawa’s voice disrupts Hinata’s train of thinking, and Hinata sinks into the bench a little more, “that you would get away with lying about—” Oikawa pauses with his teeth gritting together, almost as if he can’t fathom the truth that’s being slowly unraveled in front of him, “—about what you are?”
Hinata swallows hard, noting how dry his throat feels, and he takes in how Oikawa is barely keeping it together himself—despite the calm exterior he has on. “…It’s been working for me for almost a year, now.”
Until today. Because of Hinata being careless and stupid and—
“But why?” Is Oikawa’s response, and Hinata blinks with a frown, confused by what he means.
“I don’t…”
But Oikawa finally turns to face the redhead, and Hinata’s throat constricts when he notices how…conflicted Oikawa looks.
“Why lie to us about it in the first place?” Oikawa’s shoulders sag as he blinks a few times, sounding at a loss and defeated. “You know it doesn’t matter if—” Oikawa pauses with a small gesture of his hands, “if you’re an omega. You still would’ve been able to join the team and play with us.”
Yeah. Hinata knows.
He knows that sports teams aren’t so discriminatory against omegas now compared to how it was before.
But that wasn’t the reason to hide his gender. To lie about being a beta.
Hinata blinks, his chest moving with every breath, and he can feel the back of his eyes sting with tears almost ready to form.
It’s just…
Oikawa takes in a deep breath, and his voice comes out a lot lower and calmer, and his brows pinch down. “…You could’ve at least told me, you know.”
But that’s the thing.
No matter how much their bond has grown since—Hinata didn’t know if Oikawa would’ve said something.
If he would tell the rest of the team.
He just…
Hinata’s voice is a little ragged, and his fingers curl into small fists. “I…I didn’t want to risk that.”
“And look what happened,” Oikawa lets out a low, caustic laugh like he still can’t believe the situation they’re in right now. “You’ve caused a whole scene and—”
“You don’t know what it’s like,” Hinata cuts him off, and he sniffs, feeling a little heated because it’s not like he wanted to cause a scene on purpose.
With Oikawa closing his mouth, Hinata takes a deep, shattered breath, and continues. “…Even if I was still allowed to play with everyone knowing that I’m an omega,” Hinata’s eyes break contact from Oikawa’s, and he looks down at his shoes, his eyebrows pull down as he continues, “I wouldn’t be treated the same. I wouldn’t get to be as risky as I am on the court—because everyone would think I’m too fragile and—” Hinata bites down on his teeth, “—and I just wanted to be treated like a regular person and not some omega that needs to be protected while playing.”
Which is why he lied about being a beta. Because no one really cares about betas. They’re the ‘average’ people.
The ones you just talk to and they go on about their day.
They’re not the alphas that has everyone a little intimidated by them. Or the omegas that draw all the attention and lure.
And Hinata didn’t want the attention on him to be because he’s an omega.
He wanted his skills to stand out. He wanted people to know him as that player with insane spikes and jumps.
Not just some omega.
“I didn’t want anyone to find out—ever. Not while I’m still on the team.”
And at that…
Oikawa’s throat works around a swallow, and he takes a moment to consider everything—trying to look at it in Hinata’s view and—
And he gets it.
He’s not blind to the types of stereotypes that are put on omegas—even though society has changed in terms of what omegas are and aren’t allowed to do.
People still hold the idea that omegas are ‘weak’. That they need protection.
That they can’t be as strong and risky as the betas and alphas.
That they’re some prize that can be won, something to marvel at and admire with their beauty and fertility.
Oikawa understands it but…but still.
He at least thought Hinata would feel comfortable enough to share one of his biggest secrets with him—given what they’ve been through in the past together.
But he guessed wrong, it seems. And he hates how that manages to make his heart feel a little tight from that alone.
But that’s not the issue that needs to be dwelled on right now.
No.
“…Okay.” Oikawa closes his eyes, his voice softening around the edges since what’s already done is done, and he drags in a deep breath—this time purposely taking in more of Hinata’s scent—before exhaling and looking at Hinata, taking in how flushed the redhead looks. “But it’s pretty obvious now that you’re an omega with your scent leaking out of those blockers. And that bracelet isn’t going to help you any longer.”
Oikawa takes in how Hinata’s eyes are glossy and he looks like his mind is in a different world—not totally sane at the moment.
That Hinata’s hormones are probably a shit show right now—it’s not that hard to notice given how strong Hinata’s scent is growing by the minute.
He should’ve. Fucking. Known.
Especially now, as he takes in Hinata and everything about him—
How he’s always looking out for everyone on the team like he’s the caregiver of the team or something.
How weird and distant Hinata would get whenever Oikawa—or anyone on their team—was in a rut.
How omegas are always the most gorgeous people to walk on Earth and Hinata…
Oikawa isn’t blind.
The redhead is objectively beautiful. Definitely not what your ‘typical’ beta would look like.
And Oikawa silently curses himself for being the one that’s now also part of this whole situation with Hinata—how unprepared they are and sudden this all is—and he just wishes he had more time to deal with this.
But they don’t.
Right now, there’s a larger issue that needs to be dealt with. And quickly.
“…Especially since you’re about to go into heat.”