Suddenly a growl ripped Katsuki out of his thoughts and a new scent appeared on the small clearing. His eyes snapped over to Deku who had just broken through the underbrush and was now standing menacingly across from them, his claws out and his teeth dripping with venom.

His pupils were slits and Katsuki had never seen a snarl like that on Deku’s face. It was like looking at a whole different person.
Katsuki’s heart skipped a beat in relief and with something else, something that he still refused to name or examine closer.

But the most prevalent feeling was one of anger and frustration. He couldn’t stand the thought of having to be rescued by Deku. Of having to be rescued by anyone at all.
“Fuck off,” the Alpha that had caught him snarled and stepped in front of Katsuki. “This one’s mine.”

But that had been the wrong thing to do. As soon as he moved Deku charged. Katsuki could see that he was indeed sporting a few injuries, most likely from his encounter with the trees, but that didn’t stop him.

He barreled into the other with a force that knocked both of them off their feet and they tumbled to the ground. Katsuki could barely see them from his angle but he could certainly hear them.

He could hear the animalistic growling of Deku, of the repeated hits of fists against flesh and of the wet, tearing sounds and the howls of pain after.
The movements stopped and slowly Deku pushed himself to his feet.

Katsuki saw blood dripping from his claws and smeared around his mouth and for a second he was sure Deku had killed the other Alpha. The strangest part was how little that bothered Katsuki.
But now he was faced with a feral, territorial Deku and no way of escape.

He was still as trapped as he was before. And even though Deku was a much better option than the lowlife laying at their feet it didn’t change anything.
To his embarrassment, he could feel tears prickling at the edge of his eyes and he closed his eyes to try and hide them.

He would rather be fucked against his will than let Deku see him cry like one of those other weak and pathetic Omegas.
“Kacchan?” Deku asked and even though his voice was much deeper than normal and bordered more on a growl than a normal speaking voice, he still sounded lucid.

A hand lightly touched Katsuki’s cheek through the net and he lost it.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” he screeched, his eyes snapping open.
“Kacchan!” Deku tried again but Katsuki was not listening to him.

Through his eyes flashed every person, every Alpha, that had ever tried to put him in his place, tried to tell him he wasn’t allowed to do something or be something because of his second gender.

And there was Deku in front of him, the picture-perfect Alpha to boot, holding out his hand to him.
Katsuki saw red.
“Stop looking down on me!” he yelled, the tears of anger and frustration running freely over his face now.

“I can’t stand you! You and every other knot-headed Alpha who thinks it’s their inherent right to control every Omega! Fuck all of you! I decide my own fate! I’m not going to be bonded to some random Alpha!

I’m going to earn my fucking freedom and leave this place and if you touch me one more time I’m going to kill you!”
The clearing was silent after Katsuki’s outbreak. Deku was still standing in front of Katsuki, his hand still raised and his wide, green eyes filled with hurt.

He slowly stepped away from him and turned towards the trees.
Katsuki was confused why Deku was turning away. His inner Omega was whining because they scared away the perfect mate.

He didn’t want Deku any closer to him but he also didn’t want Deku to abandon him in the middle of the woods. Before he could say anything he felt the tension of the net shifting. He was slowly lowered to the ground and the net fell away.

Confused, he looked around and saw Deku standing next to the tree that had been connected to the net.
“It’s morning,” Deku rasped out, his eyes lowered as he stepped closer to Katsuki.

The Omega jumped to his feet, ready to still make a run for it, but Deku simply leaned down and threw the other Alpha over his shoulder. With one last glance at Katsuki, Deku turned around and left.

And Katsuki was left behind, confused, hurt and angry, the darkness around them still an hour away from lifting.

-----

It was the last year that Katsuki would be forced to participate in the mating runs. After this, he would be labeled a difficult Omega and would be allowed to make his own choices.

He would be too old for the traditional mating runs even though he would still be allowed to participate. But he would also have the freedom to travel.

This rule had been put into place so that Omegas would have more chances to find a suitable mate after the resources in their own village had been depleted for them.
But for Katsuki it only meant that he would finally achieve his freedom.

After the end of the last run, the relationship between Katsuki and Deku had become strained again. They still trained and hunted together but there always seemed to be this barrier between them.

Katsuki was still embarrassed about his emotional outburst at the end of the last run and tried to limit his interactions with Deku.
But still, he couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering and seeking out the Alpha wherever he went. He was stuck on Deku’s behavior in the runs.

Not only had he been able to snap himself out of his ruts when he noticed Katsuki’s distress, but he had also treated him with nothing but respect and even protected him from another Alpha.

He still resented the fact that he had needed saving in the first place, but that hadn’t been Deku’s fault. And Katsuki had been vulnerable in that net and if Deku had really wanted to he could’ve mated Katsuki and claimed him for his own.

But he didn’t and Katsuki couldn’t describe how that made him feel.
The whole day before the run Katsuki had been on edge. This was the last hurdle he had to cross but his mind couldn’t stop replaying images of Deku in his head.

He couldn’t concentrate like this, not while he remembered the haunted look in Deku’s eyes from the last run. They had never talked about it again, but maybe they should. Maybe it would be the thing Katsuki needed to finally be done with this bullshit.

So when they made their way over to the forest Katsuki purposefully walked beside Deku. The Alpha seemed surprised and kept on shooting nervous looks over to Katsuki.
“I don’t hate you,” Katsuki said, his eyes pointed forward.

He couldn’t look at Deku right now or he wouldn’t be able to say the words he needed to say. “And thank you for last time.”
For a long while, there was nothing but silence next to him and Katsuki’s stomach started to crawl with nerves.

He was just about to snap something at the Alpha when he got an answer.
“Thank you for telling me, Kacchan. For a while, I was afraid you hated me.”
Katsuki risked a glance over at the Alpha and saw a small but genuine smile on the other’s face.

His cheeks heated up and he snapped his eyes back towards the front.
“Shut up,” he grumbled, his head turned away to hide his blush. “Idiot,” he added for good measure and sped up his steps to get away from his childhood friend.

When the signal came for them to start the Omega part of the chase Katsuki had the weird urge to look back over his shoulder to make sure Deku was still watching him. He didn’t of course. Whatever Deku thought today was going to happen didn’t matter to Katsuki.

The only thing was to escape the Alpha until the sun rose and to finally win his freedom.
The start of the chase had almost become a routine for him at this point.

Find his hidden stash of scent neutralizers, chose a ridiculously complicated route to throw off his possible pursuers, find a hideout to wait in till the sun rose, or, more likely, Deku had found him and the chase would start.

Since the tree solution had worked reasonably well last year Katsuki had chosen another group of high trees. Just like last year, he took up his position at the top of the tree. And just like last year, he waited.
And waited.

The forest around him was quiet, only interrupted by the occasional howl of an Alpha or the moaning of a mating couple. Even the animals were sparse this night of the year, knowing better than to roam around when so many humans were afoot in the forest.

Katsuki kept his eyes focused on the ground around him. He never knew when Deku would finally find him in his hiding spot and he needed to be ready. But as hours had passed and Deku still hadn’t shown up Katsuki could feel his nerves creeping in.

What was taking the Alpha so long? Was this part of his plan? Making Katsuki think he wouldn’t be chased so that he would let down his guard and be easy pickings? Katsuki didn’t think Deku would stoop so low and use tricks like these but he couldn’t be sure.

So he stayed in his tree and kept on waiting, his eyes searching the ground around him despite the little to no light the moon was providing him.
Until the darkness started to get lighter.

Startled, Katsuki looked up to the sky and saw the sun rising. The night was ending. The chase was over.
Deku hadn’t come.
Katsuki was free.
But why was he feeling so disappointed?

----

TBC!!! I'm working on the next part and it WILL have smut even if it kills me

If you enjoyed this I would love to hear from you here and I would appreciate it if you could head over to my kofi and maybe leave me a small tip.

Thank you guys so much for all the love and support you have shown me! https://ko-fi.com/huliganships