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NanaIta || Jujutsu Kaisen || NanaIta || To Tame a Tiger || NanaIta || Jujutsu Kaisen || NanaIta
Title: To Tame a Tiger – A Leopard Never Changes His Spots
Jujutsu Kaisen: Jujutsu Kaisen
Tags: m/m, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, shapeshifter AU, nesting, fluff
Main Pairing: Nanami/Itadori
Jujutsu Kaisen Characters: Itadori Yuuji, Nanami Kento
Summary: Nanami has no idea who keeps stealing his clothes. He heavily suspects Satoru, as some kind of prank. He does not expect Itadori to be the culprit, much less that the omega is stealing them for his nest.
To Tame a Tiger
A Leopard Never Changes His Spots
Fushiguro was a wolf, his fur was a near black dark-gray. Strong, intimidating, smart. Pretending to be a loner, but in reality he was very pack-oriented. It suited him perfectly, in Yuuji’s opinion.
Kugisaki was a rusty-brown fox. Cunning, swift, mischievous. Often underestimated by fools.
Yuuji himself was a tiger. He was brute-force strength. Sukuna thought it suited him, the king of the jungle. Yuuji didn’t like that, and he’d never seen himself as royal of any sorts. He liked to prowl the streets, he was strong, but that was it. He didn’t know how well it suited him, he just knew it was what he was. Just the same as being an omega. It was who he was, no need to think if it fit him, or if he ‘should be’ a beta, because he wasn’t all that special, or ‘should be’ an alpha, because he was strong. These were just aspects of him, not the ultimate, defining thing.
Still, aspects mattered too. All these different pieces made up who he was. All these different aspects made up who his friends were. Both Fushiguro and Kugisaki were betas, which put them at a disadvantage toward alphas – both, from a social standpoint, as well as pure physical strength, supposedly. Then again, Yuuji was an omega and he could easily beat any alpha he faced, so he didn’t really believe in that biological physical advantage nonsense.
People pretended that being an omega was a disadvantage. That Yuuji should be weak and submissive in nature, when everyone who ever met him liked to refer to him as a force of nature. He was a strong fighter, he could tear through his enemies. He didn’t just drop on his knees for any alpha who’d growl at him, no alpha had ever had an advantage over him just because they were alphas. Not bullies, not curses, not other jujutsu sorcerers.
Nanami Kento was an exception. One look from those intense eyes, even hidden behind the glasses, and Yuuji wanted to bare his neck. One disappointed sigh and Yuuji was ready to do anything to make it better. One proud smile and Yuuji was about to melt into a puddle. No alpha had ever made him understand what that attraction between alpha and omega was supposed to be the way Nanami did.
They worked well together. It had felt so incredible to fight at Nanamin’s side against that stitched-up curse. There was a lot he could learn from Nanamin and it made the omega absolutely preen that Nanami had indeed agreed to be a mentor to him. Though in the end, that mentorship only factored into how much Nanami saw Yuuji as nothing but a child.
Yuuji wanted the blonde to see him as more. He’d never wanted to be seen as an omega, had always wanted to be seen as more – and yes, he surely wanted Nanami to see more than just an omega in him, but it definitely would be nice if Nanamin saw that in him too. Sometimes, Yuuji liked to imagine Nanamin looking at him and going oh, omega. All of the alpha’s instincts kicking in and Nanami being all over him, seeing him as a potential mate, scent-marking him, claiming him.
Those were the private fantasies of a foolish omega, of course.
Nanami saw nothing but a child in him. Someone to protect – but not like an alpha would protect their omega. Someone to mentor. Not someone to court, to hold, to love, to mate.
Yuuji didn’t even know the man’s shift-form. He knew those of his friends, had seem them in full-shift and often in half-shift. Partially because they were young, inexperienced. It took certain effort to keep their half-shift contained, but it also took effort to use cursed energy. During a particularly straining fight, focus could slip and then there were ears, tails, fangs and claws popping out.
Nanami, of course, had perfect control. Yuuji craved to see him slip though. He wondered what kind of shifter Nanami was. Something powerful, befitting the impressive sorcerer.
Yuuji knew his crush was silly and hopeless, but he couldn’t help it. If anything, it kept getting worse the more time he got to spend with Nanami, be that on missions or when the alpha would visit the campus to teach a lesson, something he got roped into more and more often lately.
/break\
Kento never wanted to be a teacher. He didn’t want to get attached to the children. Too many sorcerers died so early, growing attached to them was unwise. He did his job, worked on the clock, usually went on his missions alone. And then Satoru had to force Itadori onto him. A request, one little favor for his old senpai. Taking one student on a mission.
Itadori was unlike anyone he’d ever met. His smiles were brighter than the sun, his eyes were richer than the most expensive whiskey, his determination was unbreakable. He was a diamond in the rough, still needed to be shaped and sharpened, but he had so much potential.
He also had no regard for his own safety, no value to his own life, only who he could safe. He carried guilt for every person he couldn’t safe, so heavy the weight may crush him soon if he didn’t learn to compartmentalize. For the first time, Kento felt the urge to mentor, to guide, to help this boy learn these things. To make sure Itadori would get to live as long a life as possible, as safe as possible for sorcerers like them. Kento wanted to protect him.
At first, it was easy to fool himself into thinking he simply had found a worthy mentee. He even spent a lot of time blaming Satoru, convincing himself that the white-haired nuisance had gotten into his head, was manipulating him into becoming a teacher of sorts after all.
It became apparent and hard to deny for Kento that this was wholly about Itadori, the longer it went on. When he let himself be convinced to give examples and occasional lectures at the school. Fushiguro and Kugisaki were both bright and had potential too, but they didn’t hold Kento’s attention the way Itadori did. Their successes didn’t make Kento feel proud the way Itadori’s did. Kento didn’t get lost in their eyes the way he did with Itadori’s. Their smiles and laughter didn’t make him feel warm and pleased the way Itadori’s did.
Itadori’s soft strawberry-scent soothed Kento to a point that the man had been buying strawberries for himself lately whenever he missed the omega. The temptation to run his fingers through fluffy, pink hair was growing stronger every day. He wanted to pull the omega into his lap, hold him close and bathe in his scent and warmth, cover him in Kento’s scent in return. To make sure any alpha knew that Itadori was his.
Which he wasn’t, and that was becoming a problem too.
/break\
It started out innocently enough. Well, ‘innocent’ as far as theft went, he supposed. Nanamin had taken off his suit jacket for a demonstration with Gojou-sensei. The jacket just hung there, over the back of a chair. Nobody was watching it, it was all alone, not on Nanami’s body. Yuuji’s fingers had itched and when nobody was looking, he took it. The material was so soft, expensive clearly. And it smelt like Nanami in a way that made the omega’s toes curl.
Another jacket on another day. A week later, the five of them had been on a mission together and Nanami had gone back to the school to clean up after because it was closer than his own place and this way he didn’t have to drag the grime and blood to his home. Yuuji tried to resist, but Nanami’s shirt was clean, it were mostly his pants that had gotten torn-up, bloodied and gooped on. He took the shirt before he even consciously decided on it.
Of course did Nanami notice. His clothes kept disappearing, after all! Thankfully enough, the ill relationship between Nanami and Gojou immediately made the blonde suspect a prank from his senpai. Much to Yuuji’s luck and relief did Gojou not correct him. Whether he did that because he thought it was funny or because he was protecting Yuuji’s secret, Yuuji didn’t know.
It worked out, for a couple of weeks. Yuuji had an impressive collection of shirts and suit jackets gathered at the bottom of his nest room – a small, connected room in his room no larger than a closet that was meant to give omegas privacy and safety to nest. He had taken some assorted pieces from Fushiguro, Kugisaki and Gojou, even a hoodie from Toudou, a shirt from Inumaki and a jacket from Maki. But the items from his pride paled in comparison to the collection of clothes from his chosen alpha. Yuuji should be pleased with what he had, content, satisfied.
He wasn’t.
Yuuji stared in abject horror at the item in his hand. Yellow silk with black dots splattered all over. It felt so good in his hands, against his skin. It shouldn’t be in his hands. He had no business touching it, much less stealing it. Suit jackets and shirts, Nanami had let slide. But this? This was his important tie. He was going to be furious – and even Gojou-sensei wouldn’t cover for Yuuji anymore when faced with that wrath. Not knowing what to do, he stuffed the tie into his nest before quickly fleeing his room again, trying to put distance between himself and the stolen item.
/break\
Kento was brimming with unbridled fury. This strange prank that Satoru had going on had been testing him for a while now, but this? This was going too far. He knew how important his tie was to Kento. Cursed energy was crackling around his fists as Kento stalked the hallways of the school, ready to give Satoru six black eyes. He came to an abrupt halt when Itadori nearly ran into him.
“Nanamin,” Itadori looked up at him with those wide whiskey eyes of his.
The rage inside Kento dimmed down in the face of those eyes, the calming strawberry-scent soothed his anger and Kento found himself inhaling slow and deep. He had the urge to pull the omega against his chest and bury his nose on those pink locks. He resisted that urge.
“Itadori-kun,” Kento straightened up. “I apologize, I was in a bit of a rush there.”
“No, I nearly ran into you, so I’m sorry,” Itadori smiled sheepishly and ruffled his hair.
Kento also wanted to ruffle it, and to tell the omega that it was perfectly fine. He resisted, again.
“If you’ll excuse me, Itadori-kun,” Kento straightened his shirt and then paused at the lack of his tie. “I am in a bit of a rush. I need to speak to Satoru. Urgently.”
He ground his teeth together, sure a portion of his resentment was bleeding into his gaze, because before him, Itadori tensed. His knuckles turned white where he was now gripping the lapels of his own jacket, trying to force himself to calm down. He would never want Itadori to wrongfully assume himself the target of Kento’s ire, so the blonde attempted to force a smile. It didn’t work, the omega before him started smelling sour in stress.
“Please don’t be mad at Gajou-sensei,” Itadori blurted out.
Kento heaved a sigh and reached out a hand to rest in the crook of Itadori’s neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. He shouldn’t be doing this, it was a move usually reserved to an alpha comforting their omega, but he had already resisted so splendidly before. A little indulgence couldn’t hurt, right?
“Don’t worry about it, Itadori-kun, it doesn’t affect you,” Kento assured him. “Satoru and I, we go way back. He sometimes takes things a bit too far and it’s important to remind him of boundaries.”
Itadori’s brows furrowed, his eyes so wide as he stared up at Kento, clearly fretting. Of course he did, the boy’s heart was so incredibly big, even for those who didn’t deserve it, like Satoru.
“It wasn’t him,” Itadori blurted out, his eyes squeezed shut tightly.
His cheeks flushed a bright red and Kento was left confused. He let his hand slip from Itadori’s neck to his upper arm, giving that a squeeze too, trying to encourage the boy to go on. Carefully, Itadori cracked one eye open, looking at Kento as though he expected Kento’s wrath. Never would Kento aim that at Itadori, even if he didn’t entirely understand what was going on here.
“Ah,” Kento nodded slowly. “Was this some kind of… dare, among your peers?”
It was Kento’s best guess. Why else would Itadori steal from him? The boy was too good and sweet to do such a rude and uncalled for thing. Itadori’s cheeks turned even darker and he seemed near meek as he ducked his head and started fidgeting with his hands. He didn’t speak. Didn’t admit or clarify anything. And then he squared up, raising his gaze and meeting Kento’s eyes with determination brimming in his own. Kento tilted his head curiously and followed the omega as he led the way.
“I didn’t mean to take it,” Itadori explained when they reached the boy’s dorm room. “It just… It just happened. I didn’t mean to take any of it, I swear.”
Any of it…? Kento’s brows furrowed. And then they rose very high when Itadori opened the door to his nest chamber. The small space was stuffed with clothes – and the majority of them were Kento’s. The nest was well-made, intricate in how the clothes were curled together to make it not just cozy but a stable nest. A nest made of Kento’s clothes. Atop the nest laid the missing tie.
“You’re nesting,” Kento said unnecessarily.
“I… uh… Yeah,” Itadori’s cheeks turned even darker somehow. “It’s not even like my heat is coming up, I… I don’t know why I started making it, but suddenly, I was in the middle of it and I couldn’t resist whenever your… your clothes were laying around. I really didn’t mean to take your tie, I knew that would upset you. I’m sorry.”
He looked up at Kento with disarmingly large eyes and in that moment, Kento would have forgiven murder. He had the startling realization that Itadori could get away with anything with him. That his infatuation with Itadori had grown much, much stronger and much more dangerous too. The boy was clearly distressed because he slipped into half-shift, round tiger-ears flat against his skull, sharp fangs poking out between his pout and gentle tiger stripes appearing on his cheeks and neck. His long, striped tail was curled around his waist. He looked too endearing.
“When alphas find an omega they want as their mate, they start courting them,” Kento began, then raised his hand when the flustered omega wanted to interrupt, most likely to point out that he knew this. “What is far less common knowledge and what you may not even know, having been raised by your beta grandfather, is that when an omega finds the alpha they want as their mate, they start nesting, seeking the alpha’s scent out more and more.”
Itadori’s eyes widened in mortified embarrassment, telling Kento that Itadori indeed didn’t know. “I’m sorry. I… You can… You can take your clothes. Please just don’t… don’t say it.”
“It?” Kento repeated confused, cocking his head.
“I don’t want to hear you tell me that you don’t see me that way, that I’m just some… some inexperienced pup that you’re helping,” Itadori whispered, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “It’s alright. I know. I know my feelings are misplaced and not recuperated. But I don’t think I can handle hearing… hearing you say it out loud, so please… spare me that dignity?”
Kento frowned deeply at that. He was the reason for these unshed tears and he couldn’t stand it. It was even worse than anything else he could imagine in that moment. All his composure, all his control, and what had it gotten him? He’d upset and hurt his omega.
“I’m sorry, Itadori-kun,” Kento whispered softly.
“Please, don’t,” Itadori was close to sobbing now.
“I’m sorry that my attempt to do the right thing has hurt you,” Kento reached out and cupped the omega’s cheek. “I have taken you under my wing, teaching you, protecting you, feeding you. I… have been courting you, in my own way, even though I know I shouldn’t. I know I shouldn’t want you. You’re young, barely presented, and I… shouldn’t want you.”
“W… What?” Itadori’s eyes widened in shock. “You… Are you… Really?”
The hope rising in those golden eyes was breathtaking and it was certainly worth it. Worth everything. Kento nodded and reached out, his free hand settling on Itadori’s lower back to pull him closer. Itadori’s breath hitched as he collided with Kento’s chest, his hands resting against it.
“I want you to be mine, Itadori-kun,” Kento paused. “No, Yuuji. I want you to be mine.”
Itadori swallowed, his pupils widening at that. His ears perked up too, and his tail started flicking back and forth. Kento didn’t resist reaching out to run his fingers over the soft fur on the tail. Near immediately did the omega in his arms start purring loudly.
“A ferocious tiger,” Kento whispered teasingly as he leaned in closer. “Purring like a kitten.”
“Shut up,” Itadori flushed embarrassed. “You just said and did things I didn’t think you ever would! I thought you would be mad at the nest and at me and-”
“Never,” Kento cut him off, his voice final. “Never, Yuuji.”
Yuuji made a small noise and nodded slowly. His mouth stood open just a little and it was so tempting. Kento didn’t resist pressing his own lips against Yuuji’s, tasting that sweet, plush mouth for himself. Yuuji was clumsy and needy but it was endearing. Kento smiled into their kiss and easily took the lead, patiently teaching the omega. As their kiss deepened, Kento could feel his own impeccable control slip. He was indulging himself too much here, it seemed.
/break\
Yuuji gasped into their kiss, completely breathless. His eyes widened when he pulled away enough to take a much needed breath, because he saw the yellow ears atop Nanamin’s head, with a black frame and black dots on it. Tilting his head, he looked past the alpha at the long, yellow tail curled behind him. It perfectly matched the man’s tie. Finally, after all these months, Yuuji got to see his Nanamin’s half-shift. He had made the alpha lose enough control to show it! Pride and giddiness filled him, making him giggle just a little.
“What’s so funny, Yuuji?” Nanamin asked with a frown.
“You’re a leopard,” Yuuji grinned and reached for the tie, holding it up.
“Yes,” Kento heaved a sigh, a fond smile on his lips. “The tie was a present from my mother, when I first presented, proud to see me share her genes. I have cherished it ever since.”
“I’m… I’m very sorry for taking it,” Yuuji ducked his head again.
He startled a little when Kento gently laid the tie around the omega’s neck. “It’s quite alright.”
Oh. The alpha really meant it, then. He really did want Yuuji. Yuuji’s tail started flicking in excitement at that. Could he really have his chosen alpha? Kento’s lips curved into a smile as his fingers traced along Yuuji’s tail again. This time, Yuuji retaliated by reaching out for Kento’s tail. The man cocked one amused eyebrow but didn’t stop him.
“Are you having fun, little tiger?” Kento asked in a low voice.
“Yes,” Yuuji’s voice hitched just a little at that.
Kento chuckled and it was such a beautiful, rich noise that it made Yuuji shudder pleased. The man’s hands came to rest on Yuuji’s hips just as Kento buried his face in the omega’s neck, nuzzling and inhaling deeply. Maybe Yuuji wasn’t the only one being indulgent here.
“Can I… Can we… lay in my nest? Together?” Yuuji requested, eager but nervous.
With a smile and a nod did Kento take off his shoes and glasses before climbing into the nest with Yuuji. Yuuji was purring loudly as he curled against his alpha, pawing at the blonde’s chest.
“Ferocious tiger,” Kento whispered teasingly, caressing Yuuji’s hair. “Tame as a kitten.”
“Only for you,” Yuuji pouted just a little and then nuzzled against his alpha.
~*~ The End ~*~