Work Text:
The Yamada Kingdom is unfailingly warm, Shouta thinks as he adjusts his collar for what feels like the umpteenth time that day. He grimaces as he follows the servant in front of him, her dress swishing around her ankles in muted oranges and yellows, eyes catching on the Omega collar on her neck and wondering how the hell she can stand to wear it all the time in this oppressive heat. He’s at least thankful for the fact that his parents had told him to get fitted for clothing that was better suited for the South - in the desert . Coming from a kingdom that gets regular snowfall for four months out of the year and thrives in it, he’s not sure how the hell the Yamadas can live like this.
At the very least he won’t be staying here for long , he thinks to himself, though inwardly he winces. He knows why he’s here, and the reason why he’ll be going back home when he’s done with this...visit.
“Prince Hizashi is waiting for you just through here, Your Highness,” the servant tells him once she reaches a door, bowing low to him.
“Thank you,” Shouta tells her, pausing for a moment to gather himself.
The door, he finds, is tall and decorated with the distinctive geometric designs that dapple the halls, the walls, and even the ceilings of the entire palace that Shouta has been walking through for the past week of his stay. The colorings are bright and beautiful, soft blues and yellows and vibrant reds and greens, and even though he doesn’t necessarily have an eye for things like art he can tell that quite a lot of thought went into just this one door.
The Yamada Kingdom certainly likes to flaunt their wealth, don’t they?
Shouta swallows, hopes that this prince he’s about to meet isn’t too much like the rest of the Yamada’s, and goes through the door.
It empties him out onto a terrace, where thankfully there seems to be plenty of covered shade from the afternoon sun, and Shouta sees that the area overlooks a gorgeous garden down below with a pond, olive trees, and what he thinks might be orchids (but don’t quote him on that). A bottle of wine, a pitcher of water, and two glasses are set out along with a tray of snacks - some thinly sliced meats and cheeses, some olives, and even a few sliced fruits - on a low table between a couple of cushioned couches with many throw pillows on them. An ottoman sits off to the side, plush and inviting, and the walls of the terrace are decorated with curtains and drapery and hanging plants. The ceiling, which is crossed lattice work, has more hanging plants and spun colored lanterns than catch speckles of the sun’s light, spreading their color across the terrace in cool and warm hues.
They also do a wonderful job of highlighting the fact that Prince Hizashi isn’t here.
Shouta sighs, scrubbing at his face and falling down onto one of the couches. “Fantastic,” he grumbles. “We’re supposed to get married tomorrow, and I’m not even going to know what the hell the man looks like.”
For nearly as long as Shouta can remember there’s been war between the Aizawa Kingdom and the Yamada Kingdom. Honestly he can’t even remember the reason why it had started in the first place; it could have been because the Yamada’s had been insistent on using magic in their travel in and out of the borders of the country, it could have been because the Aizawa’s had been harsh on those that they deemed broke international laws. It very well could have been any number of things. By the time that Shouta had been born, tensions had already been high.
The war had broken out when he was young, and as the 5th Alpha born to the King, Shouta felt that there wasn’t much he could do except join the ranks of the soldiers once he came of age. It’s not like he was ever going to get the throne, right? There wasn’t any point in pretending, not with his older siblings all being Alphas and all of them doing their level best to succeed their father through legitimate means. No, he wouldn’t pretend, so Shouta put on armor, he picked up a blade, and he marched out to the border between the Kingdoms and fought for his people.
Now, several years of fighting over dreary, gray, cold landscapes later, the two Kingdoms finally want to come to an accord.
It seemed the monarchs and the councils behind them are grudgingly impressed by the military might and the magicks that either side used during the war, and that is the base for the tentative treaty. They both admit that Yamada magic has its place and can make travel and trade impossibly easier and that the Aizawa might is simply hardier and they have the better land overall between the two kingdoms. With a treaty in place, trade can recommence between the two with the Yamada’s using magic to make it easier on both sides and the Aizawa’s crops yielding for both Kingdoms. There is, of course, much more to the treaty than that, but a lot of it is nuisance and minute technicalities.
The thing is, though, that many lives were lost in the war, and a lot of damage was done to both sides. Many were caught in the crossfire, and many - many - are still angry (even though they aren’t sure what they’re supposed to be angry about). Why aren’t they still at war? Why aren’t they still fighting? It isn’t like they want to fight still - no one truly wants to be at someone’s throats all the time after all - but the fact remains.
How can anyone be sure that the treaty will actually be upheld?
This was something that the monarchs for both sides considered seriously with their councils for a long time when they heard what their people were saying - Shouta had a bad, bad feeling when his father gave him a considering look one evening during one of his rare trips home, when he was not training with his men and his father wasn’t off negotiating on the peace treaty. It turned out his gut feeling was right when a few days later he was told what the council had agreed to without discussing anything with him first.
It’s not often that Shouta confronts his father on anything, but the explosive argument he had with him is one that many servants will remember for years to come.
It was also one that he didn't win.
An arranged marriage between the Aizawas and the Yamadas is good for both Kingdoms. They need this war to officially end, and the people need to know that the leaders for both are taking things seriously. What better than an actual union, a marriage, to signify that to the everyday, ordinary people? Since neither of them are firstborn Alpha’s, they’re of an age to each other, Shouta’s 5th in line for the Aizawa Throne as an Alpha, and Hizashi’s 3rd born son and an Omega, everything lines up perfectly.
Really, when the councils laid out all the details side by side by side, it was only logical that the two of them were the ones to carry this burden of marital grace. Shouta and Hizashi, called on to marry for the sake of peace between their Kingdoms.
How romantic.
Except for the part where neither of them have ever met in their lives, they have no say in the matter at all, and chances are they’re going to hate each other on principle. Shouta may have spent a good portion of his adult life fighting in the war, but he’s still a prince. He’s attended his share of weddings, romantic, arranged, and otherwise. He knows exactly how sour things can turn.
Worst of all, his parents, the council, and those involved in the making of the treaty have been the ones mostly in charge of the preparations of the actual wedding itself. Shouta hasn’t had anything to do with it whatsoever. He’s had to argue for the chance to even travel out to the Yamada Kingdom in the last week instead of the day of the wedding itself because he doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder in case his husband might want to stab him in the back.
“Why would he do that?” his father had asked him in genuine confusion. “Isn’t he just an Omega? Sure, he’s a Yamada, but Omegas aren’t anything to be scared of, son.”
Luckily, Shouta had managed to get his week - but getting a meeting with the wayward Prince was just as tricky.
And apparently, getting him to show was another thing entirely.
“Are you pouting?”
Shouta jolts, sitting upright and looking around for the voice that just spoke to him as his hand goes to his belt - where his sword usually lays. Unfortunately, he’d left it in his rooms when he’d left for this meeting. “Who’s - “
His eyes alight on the railing that overhangs the gardens, and the words die in his throat.
Bright green eyes look at him, curious and quizzical, from a tanned and freckled face, nearly gold blond hair trailing down over just as freckled shoulders with a small, blond mustache above a grinning mouth to match. There’s leaves and a few flower petals, pinks and oranges and blues, set adrift in his hair, but the man doesn’t seem to mind much as he clambers over the rail, simply straightening his soft, flowing white clothes that show off his arms before walking over to the other couch and all but falling onto it, eyes on him the whole while.
Shouta stares back, unable to look away. He’s...gorgeous.
“No, really, you’re pouting,” the man says, waving a hand towards him, amusement clear in his voice. “What, afraid I wasn’t going to show up or something?”
“I…” Shouta clears his throat. “You must be Prince Hizashi, then.”
Hizashi snorts, straightening up in his seat to bow dramatically, one arm off to the side and one splayed over his chest as his hair nearly trails over the table between them. “Prince Hizashi, at your service,” he says. “And you must be the ever mysterious Prince Shouta of the Northern Kingdom?”
“I am.”
Something flashes across Hizashi’s face then, a little dark, but it’s gone before Shouta can catch what it might mean. The man claps his hands, grinning widely, before sweeping them over to the bottle of wine. “How about we indulge ourselves?” Hizashi asks. “I’ve been running through the gardens for a bit, so I know I’m parched, and we’re about to sign our lives away to each other for the sake of both our kingdoms and our careless parents, so might as well make the most of it while we can!”
“I… I suppose so,” Shouta says, a little awkwardly.
“Great!”
He grabs up the bottle of wine, uncorking it with expert twists of the wrist, and pours out two glasses - one full one for Shouta, and one half-full for himself. At the confused expression that he gets sent, Hizashi's grin turns sharp.
“Oh, I’m not supposed to be embarrassing my parents today, you see,” he explains, grabbing the small pitcher of water and pouring some water into his glass of wine, making the rich red go nearly pink. The grin he wears goes even sharper. “Can’t have their Omega son getting drunk the day before his wedding. You understand, don’t you?”
“Do they often regulate your drinking when no one is watching?” Shouta asks before he can stop the words from leaving his mouth.
For a moment, he regrets it when Hizashi’s eyes go wide with shock. Then his eyes squint as he’s throwing his head back and laughing, one hand slapping his knee and the other struggling to keep a hold of the water pitcher. A few of the petals and leaves drift from his hair and land on the couch. “Oh! Prince Shouta, you might just be a national treasure!”
“This is the first I’ve heard that,” he mutters, ears heating.
Hizashi’s nose scrunches as his laughter dies down, making the freckles shift just barely on his face, and green eyes dance. “Well, this meeting might be more interesting than I thought,” he says. “Come on then, let's get to know one another a bit more and try to get at least a little bit drunk.”
“Sure,” Shouta agrees, if only because so far things aren’t going quite as horribly as he thought they might.
As it turns out, Prince Hizashi is...an interesting character. As the only Omega son in the Royal line, he’s been mostly left to his own devices, apparently. He’s spent a lot of time learning music and art, having grandiose dreams as a child of running off to join a traveling circus and performing for them, and - when he found out that as a royal he’d be recognized and returned instantly - he made it his life’s mission to try and escape. Or, if not escape, an opportunity to prove to his parents that he could strike it out on his own in the world despite the fact that they don’t believe that he could. It led to him studying all sorts of things - language, history, botany, and (his favorite) explosives, among other things. He’s been a pain in his parent’s hind-quarters ever since.
His family charmingly describes him as a problem child. Hizashi prefers the term feral.
Shouta… Well. He’s not entirely sure his Kingdom knows what they’re signing up for, exactly. At the very least he knows his marriage to the man is going to be a very colorful one - his own life makes him seem like he’s done nothing more than try to live up to his family name or make him seem worthy in his parent’s eyes. He honestly feels bland and colorless in comparison.
“Why is it that only Omegas are the ones that get the mating bite?” Hizashi asks eventually, swirling his glass of wine, catching Shouta off guard.
“...I’m sorry?” he asks.
“Omegas.” Hizashi shrugs, one of his long fingers pointing at himself and smiling disarmingly at Shouta. Somehow, Shouta feels like the smile is a trap for all that it’s bright and charming. “I’ve been to quite a few weddings - and I’m sure you’ve been to a few yourself - and it’s always, always, always the Omega that gets the mating bite at the end. The Alpha, or even the Beta, will hold the Omega still, pull the collar aside,” and here Hizashi imitates doing just that, pulling his own shirt collar aside and revealing a long strip of pale throat, “and bite down, hard. But it’s never the other way around. Why is that?”
“I’m not...sure,” Shouta replies honestly, brow furrowing in thought. “I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Betas bite each other,” Hizashi supplies. “And I know Alphas bite each other, too - they’ll even let Betas bite them. But never an Omega.”
He downs the rest of his glass of wine, watered down as it is, and laughs bitterly.
“Omegas are never allowed to bite.”
Things move onto lighter topics after that, but Shouta gets the distinct feeling that Hizashi isn’t quite able to get the thought from his mind. His smiles are still bitter, and he works his way through the bottle of wine, even with the way he’s watering each glass down. They talk about the garden, the books the both of them have read, their stances on certain political ventures that the councils have decided on, and what things might look like in the future now that the war seems to be finally over.
Of course, the conversation can’t last forever. A palace servant comes to let them know that they’re both being called away, and Hizashi all but saunters off, a casual and careless wave being tossed over his shoulder, petals and leaves still in his hair. It leaves Shouta to walk back to the guest room he’s been staying in on his own with his thoughts, quiet and wondering.
So this is the person that he’s supposed to marry?
Prince Hizashi is certainly nothing like he had expected. For all that the Aizawa and Yamada kingdoms were at war with each other and that the two of them were all but forced into this marriage together, it doesn’t seem like Hizashi is a bad person. Eccentric, yes - clambering over railings and talking about using various botany for explosives in order to escape his lavish lifestyle to run away to the circus certainly makes him seem to be so. But bad?
No. Shouta can’t seem to bring himself to think of him as a bad person at all.
He’s quick-witted, sure, firing off jokes and snappy comments at the drop of a hat almost faster than Shouta could keep track of the conversation. And quite intelligent as well, if his rambling of his various studies for fun were any indication.
He’s tall for an Omega and a little on the wild side - which is admittedly strange for a royal, but after fighting in the war Shouta thinks he might be able to handle that just fine - and his skin is absolutely smattered in freckles. From the way he’d crawled over the rail and what Hizashi had said, he must spend a lot of time outdoors. A lot of nobility wouldn’t be caught dead letting their skin have that many freckles.
It’s...actually sort of refreshing, seeing someone so different from the court Omegas back at home. Marrying Hizashi doesn’t seem like it’ll be so bad now that he’s actually met him.
“Why is it that only Omegas are the ones that get the mating bite?” Hizashi asks eventually, swirling his glass of wine, catching Shouta off guard.
Shouta slows in his walk, frowning.
Looking around at the palace he’s in, at the beautiful geometric patterns on the walls and the floors and the ceilings, the bright colors and designs, he wonders if Hizashi would be happy marrying him .
His eyes move down to his own hands - pale, with paler scars from his time at war - and the dark, boring colors of his clothing that he’d worn that day. The dark blues, the blacks, the browns. His boots, Northern-make to withstand a harsher climate, are heavy and tough, and his trousers are sturdy. While he knows that the clothes he wears were specifically made to withstand the desert climate…
Out here, in this place, he feels...drab. Dull. Nothing like Hizashi’s brightness in comparison.
“Betas bite each other,” Hizashi supplies. “And I know Alphas bite each other, too - they’ll even let Betas bite them. But never an Omega….Omegas are never allowed to bite.”
Just like that, Shouta gets an idea.
The next day, the wedding is held just before noon. It's something to do with wanting the ceremony to end with the chorus of the twelve bells ringing across the city to bring good luck to their marriage, especially considering everything at stake in their union, but honestly Shouta doesn’t believe in that sort of marital luck and nonsense. As servants fuss over making sure his ceremonial armor - less armor than it is something worn to denote rank within his military and his place within his kingdom - is free of wrinkles or motes of dust, he thinks that his plan will bring more to this union than any hope for good luck ever will.
After that, he’s led to the chapel, where hundreds upon hundreds of nobility from all over the two kingdoms and places far beyond have taken seats are waiting for the proceedings to start. The walls are open, he notes, pillars and walkways into the gardens instead of stone and stained glass windows, and along the pillars are crawling floral decorations that are the colors of both the Yamada and Aizawa Kingdoms combined. Pearlescent white and gold, navy and charcoal gray - intertwined.
It’s…not unappealing, when Shouta looks at it.
Shouta marches down the aisle to the more traditional wedding music of his Kingdom, the sound of the pan flutes and violins echoing off of the pillars and the high ceiling, and takes his place at the steps just by the priest, an old and calm beta, and when he turns, hands clasped at his back to hide the shaking of his hands, the music changes. Drums beat in tandem and create a soothing, interesting tempo for lutes and a guitar to play back and forth with each other. He can only assume it’s something traditional to the Yamada Kingdom, enjoying the vibrant song, and then Hizashi appears.
Where he’s wearing ceremonial armor that covers him from his neck to his toes, dark like his Kingdom’s colors and almost stuffy and oppressive in this desert heat, Hizashi wears white. There’s a veil upon his head woven together with a circlet crown, and while his clothes still come up to offer a modest collar for his Omega neck, the rest of them flow about him near-freely. There’s no belts or cords on him to hold the clothes tethered in place, and Shouta swallows heavily.
An Omega dressed in white and comes unbound to their wedding. Another one of those “good luck” notions that the council has put in place for them, he assumes.
When Hizashi finally arrives at his side in front of the priest, the two of them join hands as instructed and Shouta can see through the fabric of the veil that Hizashi is subtly rolling his eyes as the old beta begins to speak in a loud, droning voice.
Shouta quirks a brow at him.
Seeing this, something of a mischievous grin crosses Hizashi’s face and green eyes dart to the priest before back to him. Then, like a completely mature adult, he makes an exaggerated mockery of the dramatic expression the priest has and mimes speaking slowly, all while cross eyed.
He may have a veil to hide his face from the entire chapel, but Shouta does not. It’s more than a simple effort to keep a straight face once he realizes that Hizashi wants to make him laugh.
Honestly, it makes the ceremony bearable. Shouta’s never been one to enjoy having a bunch of people staring at him, but at least he’s got a suitable distraction from the number of people watching. And frankly, he doesn’t think he’s ever wanted to laugh this much in his life, either.
It takes his mind off of his nerves - and it makes him feel like his plan is worth it.
The priest eventually has to call their attention to him again so that they may proclaim their vows for the entire audience to hear, and after that the rings are exchanged, the veil is lifted, and the both of them lean in to exchange a chaste kiss. Shouta gives a quick prayer to whatever god is listening that his lips aren’t nearly as chapped as he remembers them being throughout the last week because Hizashi’s are so incredibly soft compared to his.
Then the priest is stepping back, everyone in the chapel is leaning forward with eager eyes because the ceremony isn’t done yet, and Hizashi’s face goes bitter.
Shouta takes a deep breath, calming his suddenly racing heart, before raising his hands…
And begins to undo his own collar.
Murmurs go through the crowd as Hizashi’s eyes go wide.
“...Prince Shouta, what are you doing?” The priest asks, stepping forward with a hand raised but not touching.
Shouta doesn’t even spare him a glance. His eyes are only on Hizashi, looking at him evenly as he bares his neck and shoulder. “I’m letting my husband and mate make a claiming bite, of course,” he says, slow, loud, and clear so that the entire chapel can hear. “It’s only fair.”
Immediately there’s a riot of noise throughout the entire chapel.
There’s women fainting dead away. There are mothers covering their children’s eyes. There’s old men standing from their chairs with the most outraged expressions while pointing up at the altar with shaking fingers and saying “It’s just not done!” with horrified expressions on their faces. The priest himself has stumbled back and is using the altar to keep himself upright, fanning himself to keep from fainting in shock, white as a sheet and stuttering out prayers in multiple languages as if that might help him make sense of what he’s just seen and heard. There’s so many people shouting, all of them clamoring to have their opinion heard over everyone else’s, and soon enough panicking guards need to swarm in, magic at their fingertips, to help control the chaos. Little of their actions actually do anything to stem the rising hysteria in the chapel.
It’s absolute anarchy.
The rising cacophony and noise grows to, frankly, ridiculous levels - Shouta thinks he spies someone pulling their gloves off and slapping another dignitary across the face after being insulted for their opinion. In another corner there’s someone sobbing, tears streaming down uncontrollably, as the people around them argue needlessly about what needs to be done to fix this situation.
He doesn’t much care for any of that, though, because soon after he’s made his announcement Hizashi’s face morphs from the slack, confused expression and adopts the biggest, brightest grin he’s seen on his face yet. It seems to light him up from the inside, nearly making him glow; a happy flush grows across his face, making his freckles either go darker or blend in, and Shouta can’t help the way his ears burn in response to how much he likes how pretty a delighted, joyful Hizashi is.
The blond laughs as he steps forward, eyes crinkling in the corners as his hands come up to help pull the collar away from Shouta’s neck and looking absolutely charmed by the person right in front of him.
“You know what, Alpha o’mine?” Hizashi starts as he leans in, green eyes all but sparkling as things devolve quickly around them. “You really are a national treasure.”
Shouta huffs a laugh, one of his hands coming up to cup the back of Hizashi’s head as the other prince brings his mouth down to make the claiming bite. So it seems his gesture was very, very much appreciated. He watches with amusement as nothing - absolutely nothing - can be done to help settle peace amongst the nobility. Chances are that his actions here might have just caused another international incident from the amount of chaos he sees around them. It’s fine though, he thinks. Whatever comes out of their marriage now, he knows that things will be alright between the two of them.
After all, Hizashi’s been planning on running off to join the circus for years now. They can always fall back on that if they really need to.