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After everything he had gone through to keep his secret, a glass was what revealed his secret.
Well, it wasn’t completely the glass’s fault. It was just a series of terrible events that lead to the glass, which was the final straw.
It all started when he was twelve, and he went through his first heat, meaning he was an Omega. His father was absolutely livid. He stormed around the house, yelling and taking out his anger by setting furniture on fire. He wouldn’t stop saying that all of his hard work was ruined. Initially, he tried to marry him off, but Fuyumi had convinced him not to. So, he had started both heat suppressants and hormone blockers to hide his disgrace to the family. Any little slip-up and he risked his dreams being yanked from him and being sold to the highest bidder. One with a complimentary quirk so that his father could train his children, obviously.
So he was careful. He made sure his already silent steps were quieter; his father believed Omegas should be seen and not heard. He followed every rule his father had perfectly. He did everything right to make sure he could still be a Hero and get his freedom. He gave in to all his father’s conditioning if it meant he could one day get away from him.
When he got to U.A., it got harder to hide. For the first time, he had friends, friends his father disapproved of. Friends his father punished him for having, forcing him to distance himself from them to make sure he wasn’t pulled out of school. The only problem was that it got harder to ignore the class as they got closer and closer to each other, a pack starting to form.
Then dorms happened. He was forced into a building with his classmates, the ones he wasn’t supposed to be close to, the ones he had to hide his designation from. He was a Beta everywhere except his home, and as time went on, it got easier to fall into his lie. As long as he took his meds every day, they would never know.
That’s where the next problem came. He was out of blockers. The company was on backorder, and he wasn’t able to get them for at least a week. If he hadn’t been in the dorms, his father would have lied about an illness, and he would have stayed home until he got more. But he wasn’t at home, so he had to put all his effort into covering his scent for the week. He was doing well, his scent was naturally faint, and blockers took a while to wear off fully. As long as he didn’t experience emotions strong enough to affect his scent, nobody would notice. He was good at suppressing his emotions, he’d been practicing it for years, so it shouldn’t have been that hard.
This is where the glass comes in.
It had been a typical day at the dorms. Aizawa was sitting in the dining area filling out paperwork and occasionally calling over a student with a question. All his classmates were in the common room, watching a movie. He had declined their invitation and stayed in his room for the day. He only came down when he wanted a glass of water.
He reached up to grab the cup right when there was a jump scare in the movie, causing a couple of kids to scream. It startled him so much that he dropped the glass, it shattering on the ground.
Everyone in the common room whipped their heads around to the kitchen, staring at him while he stared straight at the shattered glass. He didn’t notice, but a scent of distress was slowly filling the air around him. None of his classmates moved, all just sticking to staring at him.
He was too focused on the glass that he didn’t notice Aizawa standing in front of him until he was standing right before where the pieces of glass started.
He fucked up, he fucked up, he fuck-
Without control of his body, he dropped to his knees, right on top of the broken glass. His head lowered automatically as a sign of his submission. His subconscious thought it would lessen the punishment.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” He said to Aizawa-sensei. The logical part of his brain knew that he was completely outing himself, but the irrational part told himself submitting would lessen the pain of the punishment.
“Everyone, get out!” He heard Aizawa yell at the class. When they didn’t move, he yelled, “Out! Now!” He could hear their scrambled footsteps rushing to the stairs and up to their rooms.
Only then did Aizawa turn his focus to him. “Todoroki, can you get off the glass, please? Will you stand up for me?”
Todoroki shook his head, still focusing on the ground. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break it, Alpha. I’ll accept the punishment. I understand I messed up. I can get your cane. I’ll clean the glass.” His tone was completely blank, the only sign of distress being his scent. He had only just noticed it and was struggling to pull it in. The more damage he could prevent, the better.
“What cane? Todoroki, I just need you to get off the glass. You’re not in trouble.” His teacher told him. It had to be a trick. His father had done this before. As soon as he got up, his thighs were beaten bloody with the cane, his feet following shortly after.
“I’m sorry, Alpha.”
“Stop calling me that. I am not your Alpha. I’m your teacher.”
Todoroki was confused. He was supposed to address Alphas properly when he was being punished.
“Todoroki, you need to get up. You’re bleeding. Can you please get up for me?” He made the mistake of looking up at his teacher, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He immediately dropped his gaze back to the floor, realizing his mistake. “Todoroki- kid- I need you to get up for me.” His teacher’s voice was calm and soothing, something that was foreign to the Omega.
Suddenly there was a hand held out in front of him. “Shouto, come on, let’s get you up.” He hesitantly grabbed it, letting his teacher help him off the floor. Then, much to his shock, the Alpha picked him up by the armpits and set him on the counter like he was a child. This must be an easier place for his punishment. That makes sense. Aizawa-sensei needed him off the ground to punish him properly.
“Stay right here, kid. I’m going to go grab the broom and first aid kit.” If he needed the first aid kit, the punishment was going to be bad. “Don’t panic. I’m just going to get the glass out of your knees. No punishment, I swear.”
Before he could question it, Aizawa was gone, and he was left alone on the counter. He had no idea what was going on. He broke the glass, which warranted a punishment, but Aizawa said there wasn’t going to be one. That- Endeavor had tricked him with that before. There was always a punishment. He didn’t want to fall for it, but Aizawa had never hurt him before.
He sat there, unsure of how much time had passed since he’d dropped the glass. He was finally starting to control his scent, calming himself at the thought of just a simple punishment. He could handle that, and Aizawa was nice. It would be that bad, and he was able to bring back his neutrality.
Aizawa came back with the broom and first aid kit. He didn’t have a cane on him. Maybe he was going to use the broom? He wasn’t sure how much that would hurt. His panic caused his distressed scent to make itself known again.
“Hey, no, no, you’re okay. What’s wrong?” When Todoroki didn’t say anything and just stared at the broom, obviously masking the fear on his face. “This is just for the glass, nothing else. I just need to clean it up.”
He nodded hesitantly, which made Aizawa looked pleased. Soon, the glass was in the trash, and his teacher was standing in front of him. He had made a show of leaving the broom far away from them, which Todoroki appreciated.
“Can I look at your knees? All I’m going to do is get the glass out and clean it up.”
He nodded, vaguely warry of letting the teacher touch him. What if he was hiding the punishment? The glass could be a punishment if he was creative.
Aizawa didn’t do anything bad, though. He gently pulled each piece of glass out and slowly cleaned the cuts, apologizing each time it stung. Big bandaids were placed on both of his knee’s and Aizawa helped him down.
He was told he could go back to his room with the promise that they would talk another time. Aizawa had instructed him to rest up. His teacher even promised that he would stop his classmates from bothering him. It completely caught him off guard with how nice his teacher was being, but he made his way back to his room, ignoring the stares he got from the group hanging out in Sero’s room.
Dinner came and went. There had been a knock on his door from Midoriya, inviting him to join them, that he hadn’t answered. He didn’t even acknowledge that Midoriya was there. He knew he shouldn’t have ignored the Alpha, especially now that he knew what Todoroki was hiding, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to leave his room ever again.
Only when Aizawa-sensei knocked on his door did he answer. The man currently held the most power over him, and he didn’t want to get punished.
After asking permission, his teacher entered the room. “Are you okay to talk now?” When Todoroki nodded, Aizawa handed him the food and started talking again.
“So first of all, you’re officially registered as a Beta, but what happened earlier tells me you’re an Omega. Care to tell me what that’s about?”
After an awkward moment of silence, Todoroki explained. His father thought he was a disgrace and wanted to hide his designation. When Aizawa asked him why his scent was only noticeable then, he explained the situation with his hormone blockers.
When Aizawa asked why he was expecting a punishment, he didn’t explain. Instead, his gaze lowered to the floor, finding a really interesting piece of flooring that he instead focused his full attention on. How had he not noticed that before? What an interesting piece of floor.
Aizawa cleared his throat, forcing him to stop focusing on the floor. “Todoroki as your teacher, I can’t just ignore the… incident that happened earlier. If you’re uncomfortable talking to me, I can get an Omega teacher or any teacher you feel more comfortable around.”
He shook his head frantically. The fewer people who knew, the better, plus Aizawa was the teacher he felt the most comfortable around. “He thinks Omegas should be seen and not heard. He canes my feet or thighs when I misbehave.”
To give him credit, Aizawa didn't look surprised. Instead, he was quiet for a moment, just analyzing the situation. "Do you feel safe at home?"
Todoroki shrugged. "It's fine. I know the rules. It's my fault if I break a rule or don't perform well enough in training. He doesn't hit as hard so that it's doesn't affect my school performance."
"Todoroki, it's not your fault. Your father shouldn't be hurting you at all."
He shrugged, not quite looking at his teacher. He had revealed too much already, but if he stopped talking now, Aizawa would be suspicious something terrible was going on. "He's not hurting me. He’s just teaching me how to behave. It's just punishments."
"Todoroki, when kids your age misbehave, the acceptable punishment is things like grounding or taking their phone away. It's definitely not caning them. That's child abuse." He opened his mouth to say something, but Aizawa cut him off. "No, don't defend it. It's been illegal to cane Omegas as a non-consensual punishment for years and illegal to cane your children for even longer."
"It's only when I do something wrong, though." He knew his attempt to defend his father was useless. He hated him, but he knew that his mother and sister would be in danger if it got out.
"You thought I was going to punish you for dropping a glass earlier. How is that messing up?"
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came in out. He...didn't have a defense for that.
"There's something you can sign to give the school more rights to you. It'll stop you from going home over weekends and breaks. Is that something you'd like? U.A. can start a case for child abuse to get you out of your father's custody."
He shook his head frantically. "No, no, don't do that, please. I'm alright."
"Todoroki, this isn't okay. As your teacher, I legally can't ignore what you've told me."
He didn't know what to do. Obviously, he wanted to get away from his father, but that put his mom and Fuyumi in danger. Fuyumi still lived at home, and she took care of him when he went back. Since the dorms, she had been looking for an apartment, but she put off the search with how frequently he went back home. His mother was in the most danger. Endeavor had complete power over her. He was the one who put her in the hospital, and he was the one purposely keeping her there. Her doctors said she was ready to leave with therapy, but his father didn't want that. If he left, Endeavor could do something terrible to his mom, and he couldn't let that happen.
"Nothing's happening. I lied."
"That's clearly a lie. Why are you lying about lying? Is there more that you’re not telling me?"
"My mom she- she's in the hospital. She's who I go visit on weekends."
"Is your mom in danger?"
"I-" He was silent for a moment, still unsure if he should tell his teacher. "If I tell you, you have to focus on her first. I don't care what happens to me. You have to get my mother out."
"So that's a yes. I'll talk to Nezu, and we’ll help you both. This isn't our first rodeo. We know how to handle it."
"Swear on it."
"I swear that I will do everything I can to get you out of your father's custody as fast as I can, and I will make sure your mom's safe."
"Thank you." Only then did he notice the distress in his scent. The smell of distress and fear was coating his room like smoke. Aizawa was counteracting it by aggressively pumping out a comforting scent. He probably hadn't meant to at first, it just being his body’s natural reaction to an upset Omega, but how that Todoroki was calming down, it was apparent he was now doing it purposely.
"You don't have to thank me, Shouto. Come to me whenever you need me. I promise I'll be there."
Todoroki nodded, and the teacher stood up. "The class is worried about you. They're having a movie night in the common room, and I’m sure they invited you earlier. So if you're feeling up to it, go down. I’m sure they'd love to know you're alright."
Nothing more was said as Aizawa left. Todoroki was alone in his room, pondering what to do. On the one hand, he couldn't ignore them forever, but on the other, he really wanted to. He didn't want to deal with the train wreck he knew awaited him in the common room.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he eventually got the courage to face them. Raining in his scent as much as possible, he made his way to the first floor, taking the stairs to give himself more time to focus and prepare.
He waited at the bottom of the stairwell, not quite sure how to approach the situation. Does he walk out with his head held high and hope they don’t do anything bad? Does he submit to them in the hope that they won’t be upset? Does he go in prepared to fight? Slap them with NDA’s? That’s what his father would want, for him to fight and legal repercussions if they told anyone, prove he wasn’t weak like an Omega.
But they- They were nice. They never doubted Uraraka or Asui or Kaminari’s abilities. They held them in equal rank in the pack that Todoroki had been avoiding at all costs. They treated them as equals, so maybe they would treat him like an equal? They didn’t make the Omega’s in the class bow down to them, so why would they do it to him?
His father told him Omega’s were weak, though. They would believe the same thing. It’s what all Alpha’s and Beta’s thought. No- He hated his father. Why does he still listen to him? His father’s an ass-
The door to the stairs opened and cut off his train of thought.
“Hey, Todoroki,” Uraraka said in the calmest voice Todoroki had ever heard from her. He remembered it from a rescue simulation they did. It’s how she talked to actors/victims they were saving.
“You’re worrying too much, man. We can smell you from out there,” Kaminari said.
Fuck, today just wasn’t his day. He should have called his dad and asked to stay home for the week. But, instead, all the emotions today were making him lose control.
“Todoroki, hey, don’t freak out. It’s okay. No one’s going to judge you. We might ask a few questions when you’re less panicky, but we’re not going to judge.” Uraraka shot a glare towards Kaminari but focused on him. She held her hand out to him, but he didn’t take it, just stared at her wide-eyed and focused on hiding his scent again. “Come on, pack cuddles.”
“I’m not-”
“Pack cuddles. You’re upset, so we’re having pack cuddles. Don’t give me the “I’m not in the pack” bullshit because it’s a lie.”
“I-”
“Come on, Bakugou’s making you soba, and we’re watching a movie.” Her voice was stern and if he was completely honest, slightly threatening. When he finally took a step to follow her, she grabbed his upper forearm, purposely avoiding his scent gland and hand, and dragged him into the room.
“You’re sitting with Tsu and us!” Kaminari told him excitedly. “We’ve commandeered the big couch. Everyone else is shoved on the small one and the ground!”
Just like that, he was dragged out in front of the pack and shoved on the couch next to Asui. All the planning he had gone to waste as he sat there, schooling his features as everyone stared at him. They were at least trying to keep their glances subtle, even if they were failing. The movie they were watching was still playing in the background as everyone gave him subtle looks of worry and confusion.
A bowl of soba was thrust into his hands by a stomping Bakugou. “Don’t mention it. Ever.”
He nodded and hesitantly took a bite. There was a reason why Bakugou cooked most of the time, a good example being the soba, which was heavenly. Since this entire day had been going downhill, the happy moment had to too. A small amount of his scent shone through his normally well-restrained line of control, alerting everyone that he was happy. The others in the room looked pleased, especially Bakugou, as he yet again smothered his scent.
He was normally way better at this.
After a while of silence from the class, the only noise being the movie playing in the background, Yaoyurozu finally said something. “Are your knees okay?” The Alpha in question asked, sparing a glance to the bandaids on his knees.
“Yeah,” He mumbled, staring at his food.
“Are you okay, Todoroki?” Midoriya asked.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t seem-”
“It’s fine. I just ran out of blockers. Nothings wrong.”
“I have some extra. I only take them on school days,” Uraraka told him, offering a small smile. “There’s not as strong as the ones you’ve been taking, I’m guessing. They won’t completely block your scent.
“Thanks,” He said, only slightly drowned out by Iida’s speech about how you shouldn’t share prescription medication.
Slowly, everyone took their attention off him. The class had a Disney marathon, deciding it was a crime against humanity that he’d never seen them.
Eventually, he fell asleep on Uraraka’s shoulder. Everything was going to be okay. They weren’t like his father. They accepted him.