Chapter Text
Volleyball by its nature is an explosive sport, so when looking at the best players in the division one level, players destined to represent Japan in the Olympics, there was a very common trait they all had. The players were tall and jacked, armed with verticals that allowed them to reach heights regular citizens couldn't fathom, and the strength to send serves at hits faster than cars.
Sakusa Kiyoomi knew he was gifted in that sense, as the spiker for the MSBY black jackals, his strength and height allowed him to dominate in the front row, rivaling blockers to win points for his teams along with shutting down his rival's offense with monster blocks that sent the crowd roaring. He was known as a prodigy for the MSBY even among the strength of Bokuto or speed of Hinata.
Technically, he was known as the Omega Prodigy, being able to compete with people who naturally were stronger than him, taller than most alphas and stronger than them too, not standing out in a heavily alpha dominated space, betas themselves being rare, but omegas almost unheard of. He was known as an example that not all omegas were delicate, a symbol of protests for omegan rights.
Sakusa Kiyoomi was honored with that, even if he wasn't the most talkative during interviews, or any other time really, he knew that people looked up to him as a symbol of omegas in professional sports and jobs outside of the common teacher or nurse or homemaker. Young omegas watched him with no clue what volleyball was, just so see an omega compete and dominate against alphas, mothers and fathers would encourage their kids saying, "you see him, if you work hard, you can be like him." He was an inspiration.
Which is why he felt so guilty when he hated himself when he despised everything that made him such an inspiration. When he was speaking with Hinata, the beta who was so much smaller than him even though, according to traditional standards, the roles should've been switched. When he went on his morning runs and saw alphas with their arms wrapped around their omegas.
Small, dainty, submissive. Perfect omegas that had love in their lives.
Sakusa would probably never have somebody hold him like that, because he was the opposite of that, tall, snarky, reserved. When he was on the court, his body was a weapon that gave him his life, his job, his friends (if you could call them that), and his passion. The second he was off the court, his height and build made him undesirable.
A fact he was reminded of every time he walked in front of the mirror.
~~~
Sakusa's eyes followed the ball as Shion Inunaki received Bokuto's heavy spike head on, passing a dime right up to Atsumu's hands. His feet moved instinctively after countless practices and games with the same footwork. He transitioned behind the ten-foot line, and when the ball left Atsumu's hands perfectly, he loaded his legs and approached, jumping high, swinging right between the two blockers, and watching the ball slam on the court.
The black eyes spiker sighed when he hit the ground, content with himself, before being overwhelmed with his teammates' cheers. He wasn't the biggest on physical touch, but in volleyball the second anyone made a point, it was an onslaught of high fives and pats on the back, and other celebrations that he wasn't the fondest of, but he had gotten better with it.
"Nice hit, Omi!" a voice cut through the rest of the yells and compliments over what Sakusa thought was a pretty normal hit, the spiker's eyes being drawn to his blonde setter. The embodiment of a knot head, cocky alpha, Atsumu Miya.
Nobody could lie that Atsumu Miya wasn't talented, because that was just objectively wrong, as Miya was neck-a-neck to Tobio Kageyama in assists per-set, one of the most offensive setters in the country, leading the male division one setters in attacks, and not a defensive hole in their backrow. Outside of volleyball, Atsumu was attractive, a major fuckboy who had no problem talking about the omegas or betas he slept with, and incredibly annoying with his teasing. He was loud and touchy, and everything that Sakusa found displeasing.
So, why was he so happy when Atsumu's arm was around his shoulders, when the alpha's voice was right by his hear as he entered the little huddle, and why his omega instincts preened whenever Atsumu happened to direct praise or compliments in his direction. He kept his face stern, his eyes flicking back to his other teammates, but he couldn't help but be drawn to Atsumu's face.
His crush had gotten so bad when he first signed with the MSBY and had to see Atsumu almost every day rather than occasionally like in high school, he'd had to invest in scent blockers to not be affected by the alpha's strong pheromones, a strong burning wood that evolved into a harsh charcoal smell when he was upset or focused on volleyball. Sakusa had repeatedly told himself it wasn't because of Atsumu, just all of the alphas he was playing with and it was only safe as an unmated omega to be professional and unaffected by his teammates, opponents, and staff. He'd swear by that to the grave, even though deep down, he knew that no alpha's scent affected him like Atsumu's.
"All right, huddle up!" Shugo, our captain clapped, and Atsumu's arm left my shoulders as everyone ran to the middle of the court, Sakusa following while forcing his disappointment not to show on his face. Atsumu had always held Sakusa's attention, even back during training camps of high school volleyball championships, a precise setter who he'd seen upset the Tobio Kageyama and get under my skin a few times too. Still, his antics that would've been annoying had he had to endure them from anyone else, when Atsumy did anything, it was almost lovable, which made Sakusa sick.
There were three main reasons for this, which Sakusa reminded himself of as he spaced out instead of listening to what Coach was saying, probably something about their practice schedule for next week, or something else that hopefully would be sent via email or if it wasn't, he could always text Hinata.
Firstly, Atsumu already was a professional volleyball player and was in a similar financial state that Sakusa was in, meaning Sakusa really had nothing external to offer Atsumu couldn't get by himself. Secondly, Atsumu was literally the picture-perfect alpha little kids would watch on their screens growing up, handsome, athletic, rich, famous (many people only came to games to see the players nowadays, but it helped with salaries and engagement, so Sakusa didn't mind). Every omega who came to see him was ready to fall at his feet, meaning he had a wide range of options, leading Sakusa to his third, final, and more important reason to never admit his crush on Atsumu or even acknowledge it in his head unless it was to reprimand himself was that Sakusa was undesirable. He couldn't complete with the short skinny omegas with big blue eyes and why would perfect Atsumu ever love the freak of nature that was Sakusa Kiyoomi.
So, unlike the casual romantic comedy that would be Sakusa's life if maybe instead of being the insanely tall omega that no alpha wanted to help through his heat since he presented, Sakusa had been born a cute little omega with blonde hair who tied her hair up in a blue ribbon along with an oversized Japan volleyball hoodie that made her seem even more pretty and happened to be working as a media intern for the team, then Atsumu would be paying attention to him after practice.
Instead, when they were dismissed and Sakusa went over to the bench to get his kneepads off and get a sip of water, waiting for his body to cool down before he put on his hoodie and sweatpants to brave the winter temperatures of the city, he was forced to look across the facility to see his setter shamelessly flirting with the new intern. It would've made his Coffee scent that was usually pretty light for an omega, completely masked with the scent patches he wore over his neck, grow sour and stronger in disgust, like the black kind people only drank for a burst of caffeine.
"Sakusa!" Another bundle of joy demanded the spiker's attention, moving his gaze away from the sight he was incredibly jealous of towards the bright red headed beta who, despite Sakusa's dampened mood, was able to bring the slightest of smiles to his face. The voice obviously belonged to Hinata Shoyo, one of the people Sakusa also used to be jealous of, not just because of his height, but because Atsumu was always incredibly interested in Hinata, and he had no shame expressing just how much he wanted Hinata on his team. Hinata was another example of what Sakusa wasn't, even worse because Hinata had all his assets but lacking the things Sakusa picked apart at three in the morning, despite being a beta Hinata was more desired than Sakusa could ever be even in his dreams.
Still, Sakusa's jealousy in regard to Atsumu had gone down once Kageyama had the guts to confess to Hinata just how much the setter had missed his little giant when Hinata was off in Brazil, and they had their cute little moment during the Paris Olympics where they'd gotten together in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was impossible to hate those two when they were basically written in the stars since the beginning, and it was impossible to hate Hinata because he was so genuinely caring that it made Sakusa feel like a dick whenever he used to make comments that were a little too rude.
"Hm?" Sakusa responded as he looked up at Hinata, untying his shoes now less preoccupied thanks to Hinata blocking his view to where he was 99.999% sure Atsumu was getting that girl's number, which made me frown once again, not at Hinata, even though I could tell from the guy's suspicious look, he could tell something was going on. Still, he seemed kind enough to stuff that piece of information to the back of his mind before continuing on with the original reason for the conversation.
"The team is going to go out to eat tonight, do you want to come?" Hinata said with a bright smile and that pleading look that made you want to go along with him, because Hinata just had that type of radiating energy that made it so obviously clear why his friend group in high school was literally every person he came into contact with. Usually, Sakusa would just go out with the team even when he usually wasn't interested just for team chemistry or just pretending he was a part of the group even when he always felt a little alienated from everybody else. Still, today he had a very good excuse as to why he wouldn't be attending this dinner or trip to a local bar or whatever it was.
Sakusa sighed, leaning back as he unzipped his volleyball bag, opening the specific compartment for shoes and taking out his street sneakers, replacing the space left behind with his court shoes, while at the same time saying, "can't, my heats starting soon and I have to prep, that's why I won't be at practice for most of next week, if not more."
Sakusa had never had somebody help him through his heats before, leading them to be both painful and long, leading to him usually coming to practice even when he wasn't feeling totally better, and everyone knew that a couple days after Sakusa's return he'd be a little tired or clumsily, but he always played good enough to start so nobody talked about it. Sakusa had never been one to hide his secondary gender, but as the only omega on the team, he wasn't one to talk about it either.
"You don't always have to spend them alone you know..." The redhead, always one to touch on sensitive topics, hesitated before saying a little unsurely. Sakusa raised an eyebrow at the advice, not even caring that Hinata had guessed he spent his heats alone, anyone would be due to how long they were. "I mean, lots of omegas have partners that help them through heats, and it might get you back in the gym quicker than you usually are during your heats, and maybe you'd feel better too."
Before Sakusa could stop the words from spilling out of his mouth, his mind went on autopilot, "no alpha would want to help me through my heat, Hinata."
He pulled his carefully folded sweatpants out, as if the weirdly sad self-deprecating words either hadn't been said at all or just didn't hold the same significance that Hinata had heard and was thoroughly surprised with. Still, Sakusa just pulled the sweatpants over his and did the same with his hoodie, zipping it up so only his face was poking out, and slung his bag over his shoulders, "anyways, have fun without me."
Before Hinata could respond, Sakusa was already walking out the door towards the subway, because driving was too much of a hassle and he enjoyed walking the streets after and before practice. It was calming. Hinata on the other hand, was left in the gym, an unusual upset look on his usual bright shining face. Why would Sakusa ever say that nobody would help him?