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“It's too soon.” Hua Yong insists, blocking Shaoyou from leaving their bedroom.
“A’yong, it's been 3 months. That's plenty of time,” Shaoyou complains, trying to somehow move past him into the living room.
“You had surgery, you gave birth,” Hua Yong insists, moving so Shaoyou can’t get past him.
“I was cleared by the doctor over a month ago.”
“Too soon, Peanut needs you.” And so do I.
“He has a nanny with him, and you, he'll be fine,” Shaoyou says, placing a kiss on his forehead. “I'll only be gone for a few hours,” he sighs, his voice softening.
“I can't believe this.” Hua Yong pouts.
“Me neither, but there's no way I could attend this meeting virtually. Everyone is still under the impression that you were the one to give birth and that I'm home taking care of you. It would be weird for me not to go, especially since I don't usually miss meetings.”
“Stupid quarterly meetings,” Hua Yong mutters bitterly. It's under his breath but Shaoyou still hears.
“Don't worry Mr. Hua, I'll bring him straight back!” Chen Pinming promises from the kitchen.
“We will be out of there the second the meeting finishes,” Shaoyou says in agreement. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen but Shaoyou is not telling him that.
“Fine. Any more than 4 hours and I'm sending a crew to retrieve you.” Hua Yong insists, reaching up to fix Shaoyou's collar. Shaoyou smiles and nods.
“I'll text you when we leave okay?” Hua Yong nods, still pouting, but leans into the kiss Shaoyou offers.
“Stay safe, drink a lot of water. Don't overexert yourself.”
“I will. I'll be fine, don't worry,” Shaoyou cups Hua Yong’s cheek in his palm, “I’ve hired more guards for the building and Doctor Wang is on speed dial if anything happens. And Chen Pinming will be there the whole time.”
“I won’t let Mr. Sheng out of my sight,” the secretary promises.
Hua Yong swallows nervously and fixes his tie again, even though it doesn’t need further fixing.
“Okay,” he says weakly, “now go before I change my mind.” Shaoyou smiles softly and Hua Yong steps out of the way. He doesn't turn to watch them leave, he might end up chasing after him and cuffing him to their bed. It’s okay Hua Yong, he’ll be back. He has to go back to work eventually.
Hua Yong spends the first hour pacing the length of their condo. This is the first time they've been apart this long since Shaoyou was four months pregnant. Hua Yong's gone everywhere with him since then, to work, social and professional gatherings, the hospital, everywhere.
He forgot how attached he is. He's always been attached, very much so, but this feels so much worse than it did before. That's his mate, his beautiful, precious mate who is barely three months postpartum after a very traumatic birth nonetheless. Sure, he's still an S-Class Alpha, but that's his Alpha.
He's not used to letting him out of his sight, not since he let Hua Yong into his life. To make matters worse, the driver picked one of the vans that Hua Yong doesn't have cameras and mics in so he can't even track his movements.
Hua Yong needs to get a tracker put on him somewhere, preferably in the accessories he wears. Phone trackers can be unreliable, and they are way more obvious to spot. They take up too much data and make everything operate so slowly.
Huasheng is in the nursery, asleep under the watchful eye of one of the nannies they hired. It was a long tedious process of background checks, stalking, and wire tapping, but they managed to find a couple good fits.
Huasheng, their boy, their son, the boy Hua Yong has been trying to figure out how to love.
Wenlang says that it's not his fault, he just had a shitty upbringing, but Hua Yong almost feels bad for the young baby. He has a father who doesn't know how to love people, who was never taught what affection means, what parental love and affection even looks like. He tries… he tries so hard… but it doesn't feel genuine and it's so frustrating because Hua Yong wants to love him.
Hua Yong has been watching how Shaoyou interacts with him but it's no use. Shaoyou birthed him, carried him for eight months, of course that affection is going to look and feel different. Hua Yong can't compare to that.
He's read every book he can get his hands on, thousands of them at this point, in many different languages, but none of them can teach him how to love his son properly. He feels like he's neglecting him, fighting with him in a way.
It feels worse than learning how to cry, that came easy to him once he figured out how.
The frustration is starting to turn to annoyance. Huasheng takes up so much of Shaoyou's attention, attention that used to be reserved towards him.
It's an hour, twenty four minutes and seven point three eight seconds since Shaoyou has left their condo when Huasheng starts crying.
Through the thick walls Hua Yong hears the nanny change him, then give him a bottle Shaoyou pumped before he left, then burp him, but he doesn't stop crying. It's hurting Hua Yong’s ears, and the sound is only making him feel more on edge.
He wants to go in and ask the nanny what is taking her so long to soothe him because the longest Huasheng has ever cried before this was thirteen minutes and eleven seconds and this is way past that. Instead of barging in there however, he keeps pacing and tries to tune the infant out. Going in there will only stress the three of them out even more.
It's been two hours, forty six minutes and nine point one three seconds when the nanny walks out of the nursery holding the still screaming infant.
“He needs your pheromones Mr. Hua,” she says, raising her voice to a level where she thinks that he’ll be able to hear her over the sound of the screaming baby. It’s useless, he’d be able to hear her anyways. Wait- Hua Yong stops pacing and looks towards the older woman.
His pheromones? His?
“Mine?” she smiles and nods, walking closer.
“He got plenty of soothing pheromones from Mr. Sheng. He even scented xiao Peanut's blanket before he left. While Alpha pheromones are important, this little one needs his father's omega pheromones too.” Hua Yong internally sighs. Sometimes it's so inconvenient having to keep up the role of the omega when parenting is involved, but it's needed, it's so so important.
Something he hates about his assumed secondary gender identity is the fact that it makes him look even more neglectful to people who don’t know his and Shaoyou’s dynamic, especially since people think that Hua Yong was the one who birthed him. He tries his best but he doesn’t hold up to the standards society has set for omegas and female betas who have birthed children. The assumption doesn't bother him all too much, let people think what they want about him, but he can tell that it bothers Shaoyou and Hua Yong hates that.
He thinks back to Shaoyou's pregnancy, and how active Huasheng was, especially during the last six weeks. His movement was nonstop, nearly breaking Shaoyou's ribs at one point. Even Shaoyou's S-Class Alpha pheromones couldn't calm him for long. He needed his father, his enigma father.
It would work like a charm. Hua Yong would get Shaoyou relaxed, well… as relaxed as you can get a man that far into his pregnancy, and press his hand to Shaoyou's small bump.
“Now now Peanut,” he'd coo, releasing some of his pheromones, “let's not bother your Papa so much hmm?” It would take a while but he'd eventually calm. He'd still move around like an ordinary baby would, but he wasn't trying to break Shaoyou’s ribs anymore at least.
A little more coaxing and they'd both drift right off to sleep and Hua Yong would watch them for hours, wondering what the boy would look like, who he'd act like. His little peanut, the baby he’d been anticipating for years.
Hua Yong hasn't held him all that much, not anywhere near as much as Shaoyou, or even Wenlang, have held him. After what happened during his birth, Hua Yong couldn't bring himself to. It took him a few days to even look at the baby properly and that was only because Shaoyou had finally woken up and was gently urging him to look at their son because he looks so much like you A’Yong look. Who was he to refuse? Especially when his husband, his mate, went through so much to bring him into the world.
“Gently now darling, it will be okay,” the nanny soothes and Hua Yong can't tell who she's talking to, maybe both of them.
Hua Yong distantly remembers a similar, gentle comfort in his younger days. It's very distant, as if it's a dream quickly fading from memory. He doesn't know who she was, he can't even remember her face, but it definitely wasn't his mother, or any of the omegas or women in his family. Hua Yong wonders if it was a nanny, so much like the woman currently in front of him, comforting his son.
She places Huasheng into Hua Yong's arms and Hua Yong looks down at the crying baby, wondering what to do. He feels so lost, so helpless. He doesn't know how to help, how to stop his son from feeling so awful.
In utero he was still partially protected by Shaoyou's pheromones, who knows what Enigma pheromones would do to him now. Hua Yong doesn't want to accidentally hurt him.
“Release some of your pheromones, it will be okay,” the nanny smiles encouragingly, “I'll step out for a while, just to get rid of mine. I'm sure mine are overwhelming him.” Hua Yong nods numbly and watches her turn and walk away, heading for the door.
He waits for the door to close before he looks back down at his son.
“Guess it's both you and me Peanut, waiting and screaming for Papa to come back hmm?” The baby doesn't answer him, just keeps screaming up at him. Hua Yong feels his ears start to ring; curse his accelerated hearing.
When he's sure that the nanny is actually gone Hua Yong reaches up and tears the scent inhibitor patch off of the back of his neck.
“Alright, then.” Hua Yong mutters, concentrating on releasing soothing pheromones.
His powerful orchid scent starts to permeate the living room and the effect is almost instant, Huasheng stops crying in seconds, blinking up at his father instead.
Hua Yong looks down at the boy in shock. Not even Shaoyou, who seems to be some sort of secret baby whisperer, can get Huasheng to quiet this fast.
“You just needed your Father, hmm little one?” Hua Yong says softly, gently rocking the infant.
“You know, my father was an asshole,” Hua Yong starts, “so I don't exactly have a good point of reference here.” Huasheng just stares up at him with his big brown eyes. He's cute, very cute, Hua Yong has to admit.
“Your Papa is taking quite a long time isn't he?” Huasheng coos in response. “Right!?” Hua Yong sighs, unconsciously rocking Huasheng back and forth.
“They say that I hit some of my milestones very fast, I wonder if you'll be the same. Father Sheng said that Shaoyou took a bit longer though.” Hua Yong hums. Huasheng coos again, reaching up to grasp at one of the silk pieces of fabric hanging off of his shirt, clenching it tight in his tiny fist.
“What do you even do with a baby,” Hua Yong mutters to himself, walking towards the window, “they are so weird.” As if he disagrees, Huasheng grunts.
“You like getting fed, you perk right up every time you feel a nipple in your mouth.” Huasheng coos, as if he agrees. Hua Yong looks out at the city beneath them, crawling with people getting off work for the day.
“You don't like baths. You squirm and cry a lot, and you clench your fists just like your Papa does when he doesn't like something.” Huasheng grunts. “See, you understand. Your Papa thinks I'm insane sometimes when I tell him this stuff.”
“Some adults are hard to read, I'm sure you’ll come to realise that one day. Babies are easier, you aren't afraid to express what you want, or if something's bothering you.” Huasheng coos up at him, tugging at the silk still clutched tightly in his tiny fist.
“I hope you stay that way, little one. I hope the world treats you kindly,” Hua Yong’s voice softens further and he looks down at his son, who keeps blinking up at him. “I would burn everything to the ground to make sure that you're happy, and healthy. I hope you know that.”
“I hope you stay happy, I hope the world doesn't get too overwhelming for you,” Hua Yong murmurs, stroking the boy’s cheek with his finger. “I remember how everything suddenly became too loud, too bright, and I could smell everything. That was right after I met your Papa you know,” as if he understands him, Huasheng coos again, tugging on his shirt.
“It was painful, so so painful and I couldn't even tell anyone about it. I quickly learned to live with it but I hope you don't go through that pain. I want you to stay happy, not burdened by excess sound and sight, by having to hide who you are because the world doesn't understand you.”
Hua Yong murmurs down at the baby in his arms, listening intently as he occasionally coos back at him. Huasheng yawns a few times and grunts before settling in Hua Yong’s arms.
The sun is starting to set, the sky a pretty array of purples and pinks. The light shines over both of them, casting over the living room behind them.
In the streets below Hua Yong spots a young couple. They both look no younger than Hua Yong was when he started actively pursuing Shaoyou. That feels like decades ago now.
The taller boy laughs at something the other one said, throwing his head back. He leans too far back though and would have fallen straight on his ass, had the shorter one not caught him. It's something straight out of one of the shows Hua Yong studied closely as a teenager.
The shorter one leans in and kisses him on the cheek before he pulls back, entangling their fingers together. The taller one smiles and clearly cracks a joke before he tugs his partner along.
“I hope you find someone that treats you well,” Hua Yong murmurs, looking back down at the baby in his arms. His son is still staring up at him and when they meet eyes Huasheng smiles and squeals. Hua Yong can't help but smile back.
Huasheng coos one last time before his eyes start to slowly close. He's getting tired again.
“That's it darling, go to sleep. You have to grow big and strong, just like your Papa. Not too fast though, you might break his heart and we can't have that, can we?” But Huasheng is too far asleep to respond back.
Hua Yong looks down at the sleeping baby in his arms, admiring his beautiful son. He hopes he doesn’t mess him up, Hua Yong would never forgive himself. Huasheng deserves everything he wants, everything he desires, including adequate attention from both of his parents, even if one doesn’t know what he’s doing or if he’s even capable of giving him what he needs.
“You look so much like your Papa when you’re asleep,” Hua Yong murmurs down at the sleeping infant, “you’re so perfect, even more than I ever imagined you being.”
Hua Yong keeps looking down at the young sleeping boy in his arms, admiring him. As he looks at his boy he almost forgets about Shaoyou’s absence.
~
“See you on Monday," Chen Pinming smiles at Shaoyou as he steps into the elevator, “I’ll send you the documents you asked for when I get back to the office.” Shaoyou nods as he presses the proper button in the elevator.
“Get home safely,” Shaoyou says as the doors begin to close. Chen Pinming nods and smiles as the doors shut.
Shaoyou sighs and leans back against the elevator wall as it begins to ascend. He forgot how much he hates meetings with the shareholders but it’s so much worse after he gave birth to Peanut. Physically he feels mostly fine, just a small ache in his healed incision site but his body feels so exhausted, even more than it does when he works 100 hour weeks.
This is the first time he’s been separated from Huasheng since he gave birth, even longer since he’s been separate from Hua Yong. He tried not to show his apprehension because Hua Yong would have never let him go, but his absence had him freaking out for a major part of his meeting. All must be fine if he never received a call from the nanny or Hua Yong but he can't help but worry.
He sent Hua Yong a text to tell him that he was on the way back but the Enigma never responded, something that has Shaoyou feeling very nervous. Hua Yong always responds to him.
The elevator doesn’t move fast enough for him and by the time the doors open he’s properly pissed off. It’s been too long, he needs to see his husband and baby.
Shaoyou rounds the corner and is surprised to see their nanny standing outside of the door, flipping through some sort of planner.
“Auntie? Is everything alright? Why are you out here?” she jumps and looks up from her planner.
“Mr. Sheng, welcome back dear,” she smiles at him, “xiao Hua is spending some time with xiao Peanut and I figured that it would be best to give them some privacy.”
“Hua Yong is?” Shaoyou asks, blinking at her in shock.
“He is,” she smiles, “poor Peanut wouldn’t settle so I handed him off to his Papa, it seemed to have done the trick. Sometimes babies just need their fathers for comfort, works better than any trick I tried.”
Shaoyou stares in shock. Hua Yong is looking after Peanut?
“Alright wow, um- why don’t you go home early? It’s already dark.”
“Are you sure dear, you look awfully tired.”
“I’m alright, I just need to spend time with my family and I’ll feel better,” the nanny’s smile widens and she nods.
“I understand, I’ll see you three soon,” Shaoyou nods. She picks up her bag and begins to walk away. “Oh, and don’t take this the wrong way dear, but have you thought about taking Hua Yong to the doctor?”
“The doctor?” Shaoyou asks worriedly, turning to look at her.
“Yes, dear. He seems awfully troubled these days, I’m worried that it’s some sort of postpartum depression. It definitely warrants a trip to his Obstetrician.” Shaoyou bites back a smile.
“Alright Auntie, I’ll keep that in mind,” she nods, offers him a smile and walks into the elevator. When the doors close, Shaoyou inputs the code into the door and walks into their condo.
Hua Yong has seemed troubled for the past little while and Shaoyou hasn’t been able to figure out why. He’s been that way since Peanut was born but Shaoyou knows that that was because of how traumatic it was but this is different. Hua Yong seems almost… defeated, and it’s kind of frightening. Since Shaoyou found out he’s an enigma, Hua Yong has been so confident, sure of what he wants and needs and his moods as of late are unusual for him, very unusual.
He’s been reading a lot more books, it’s all he does in his free time and Shaoyou can’t tell what they are about, so many of them are in English, or strangely, French. Shaoyou thinks he even saw him holding a book in German the other day, German. He didn’t even know that Hua Yong understood German.
It got to the point where Shaoyou had to ask Wenlang of all people, Shen Wenlang, if he understood why Hua Yong was acting weird. He’s been weird too, Shaoyou is not used to him being so… nice. He’s helped a lot since Peanut was born, occasionally taking care of Peanut so the two of them could get some rest and time to themselves. Peanut seems to like his godfather so it works out, but it still feels odd being so friendly with his former rival.
When Shaoyou asked about Hua Yong, Wenlang just smiled at him and said, “he’s okay, he’s just learning,” without so much as elaborating further, the asshole.
It’s whatever, he’ll find out eventually; right now he just needs to hold his baby and take a long, long nap.
The door shuts behind him and Shaoyou kicks off his shoes, undoing his tie as he slides his feet into his slippers. His feet are so sore and he hasn’t even been on them that much today, just during a break in the meeting. His father insisted on taking him around and talking about Peanut, saying stuff like how he was so brave coming to the meeting while his omega was home caring for their baby.
He wouldn’t shut up about how Shaoyou was such a good partner for staying home with his omega for so long and Shaoyou wanted to tell his father to shut up but he held back. The man could never come close to caring for any of his mistresses, or even Shaoyou’s mother, the way Hua Yong cares for him. If only his father knew, or his half siblings and their mothers; they’re the most useless group of humans Shaoyou has ever met.
“Hua Yong?” Shaoyou asks softly, walking into the kitchen, there’s no response so Shaoyou walks faster, now worried. Where are they? Did something happen?
Shaoyou walks into the living and stops when he’s hit with a thick layer of both soothing and content pheromones. He spots Hua Yong standing in front of the window, holding Peanut who seems to be in a deep sleep. The infant has a tight hold on one of the pieces of silk hanging off of Hua Yong’s shirt, as if he’s keeping his father tethered to him. His sweet boys…
Hua Yong is rocking the infant and the fond smile on his face could make Shaoyou cry. He looks so happy and Shaoyou can smell and feel the happiness rolling off of him in waves thicker than the soothing pheromones he normally emits. It’s such a beautiful sight and Shaoyou stands there, watching the two of them with a large smile on his face.
Hua Yong’s humming softly, a song Shaoyou has never heard before, or maybe he can’t quite place. Shaoyou could watch this forever, he needs this painted and framed, right now.
Hua Yong hasn’t noticed him yet, something that shows how engrossed he is as he looks down at their son. Hua Yong normally hears him when he comes off of the elevator, says the way he walks is distinct, and heads to the door to greet him. If Hua Yong didn’t hear him walking to the nanny or walking in…
“A’Yong,” Shaoyou greets softly as he walks over. Hua Yong stops humming and looks up with so much speed that Shaoyou worries for his neck.
“You’re back!” Hua Yong whispers excitedly, smiling widely. Shaoyou can’t help but smile back.
“I am,” he nods, looking down at his watch, “and it only took… three hours and forty nine minutes. No retrieval crew needed.” He closes the distance between them and looks down at the sleeping baby in his mate’s arms. “Was he any trouble?”
“He cried for a bit but he settled down when I released some soothing pheromones. I think he likes to hear me talk. He went right to sleep.” Shaoyou smiles and leans forward to press a gentle kiss to Hua Yong’s forehead.
“I like to hear you talk too.”
“Really?” Hua Yong asks coyly, fluttering his lashes at him, something that still makes Shaoyou’s heart flutter. He’s so in love with his enigma, his husband. Shaoyou hums, kissing his cheek.
He hugs Hua Yong, careful to not disturb their son who is still sleeping contently in his arms. Hua Yong releases some more soothing pheromones and Shaoyou can feel his body relaxing, the exhaustion starting to bleed out of him.
“He looks so much like you when he sleeps,” Hua Yong murmurs softly, “he’s so cute, so sweet.” He sounds like he’s in awe and Shaoyou smiles, feeling so warm and cozy standing here.
He loves them so much, he wouldn’t trade them for the world.