Work Text:
Sheng Shaoyou had been against it from the very beginning, and he wanted that put on the record.
He hadn’t said it once.
He had said it at least seven times.
Very loudly, very clearly, and very publicly, to the outrage of everyone unfortunate enough to hear him.
The first time had been during a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce board, when Country J’s Minister of Foreign Affairs presented the proposal as “a historic step toward lasting peace.”
The second had been during a private dinner with government representatives, who assured him that a marital exchange was a far more civilized solution than continued economic sanctions.
The third had been when someone used the word tradition, as though calling something a tradition was enough to make it stop being disgusting.
The fourth had been when they explained that only young, healthy, fertile Omegas would be selected.
The fifth had been when he asked whether anyone intended to ask those Omegas for their opinion, and the man sitting across from him looked at Sheng Shaoyou as though he had just suggested holding a referendum among draft horses regarding the quality of their feed.
By the sixth time, he had stopped being polite.
The seventh time, he said:
“I want it put on the record that I think this idea is fucking insane.”
The secretary froze with his pen hovering above the paper.
“Mr. Sheng…”
“Those exact words.”
“This is the official record.”
“Exactly.”
And so it was written down.
Sheng Shaoyou was extraordinarily proud of that later.
It made absolutely no difference, of course.
The pact was signed.
+++
Country P and Country J were separated by only a few hundred kilometers, one rather unimpressive mountain range, several decades of mutual resentment, and a cultural divide so deep that a man could throw a stone into it and die of old age before hearing it hit the bottom.
In Country J, Omegas could study, work, own property, and—at least theoretically—choose their own partners.
There were still problems.
There were still people convinced that an unmarried Omega over thirty was a national tragedy and that an Alpha without descendants had failed seven generations of ancestors.
Magazines still published articles titled Ten Ways to Make Your Alpha Want to Build a Nest with You, and aunts at family dinners still asked about fertility with all the subtlety of a military tribunal.
But Omegas were people.
At least on paper.
They had identity documents, children received the same education, and adults had control over their own money.
Country P had a slightly different kind of paper.
There, an Omega was the treasure of the family.
It sounded very beautiful until one remembered that treasures were usually kept locked away.
From childhood, Omegas were taught obedience, gentleness, housekeeping, and the art of pleasing their future spouse. Upper-class families competed in praising their children: this Omega could play three instruments, that one could embroider, another knew sixty different ways to brew tea, while yet another had hips that one particularly revolting newspaper had described as “promising and enticing.”
Sheng Shaoyou read that article.
Then he stared at a wall for twenty minutes.
Then he called Shen Wenlang.
“Your country is fucked up.”
“Good morning to you too.”
“I read the newspaper.”
“That was your first mistake.”
Shen Wenlang was one of the few Alphas from Country P whom Shaoyou knew personally, and the only one he could tolerate for longer than an hour without fantasizing about violence. He still occasionally wanted to smash his face in with a brick whenever Shen Wenlang opened his mouth, but he was nevertheless better than the average Alpha from Country P.
“They’re writing about hips.”
“Don’t read the matchmaking section.”
“Wenlang. They’re writing. About hips.”
“Shaoyou.”
“About the hips of an Omega who is fourteen years old. That’s encouraging pedophilia.”
“Shaoyou, I know.”
Back then, Sheng Shaoyou didn’t understand why his friend’s voice had suddenly turned so cold.
He would understand later.
+++
When the peace pact was announced, Shaoyou felt sorry for the unfortunate Omega who would be selected as the sacrifice.
That was exactly how he thought of them.
A sacrifice.
The government, naturally, used different words.
Ambassador.
Symbol of unity.
Spouse of peace.
A living bridge between nations.
Shaoyou thought politicians were exceptionally talented at inventing beautiful names for things that became less beautiful with every subsequent explanation.
Well.
There was only one thing he hadn’t expected.
The agreement worked both ways.
“What?”
The minister adjusted his glasses.
“The exchange is mutual.”
“I understand the meaning of the word exchange. I’m asking what any of this has to do with me.”
Silence fell.
Shaoyou looked at the faces of the men sitting across from him.
One cleared his throat.
Another suddenly became deeply interested in the documents in front of him.
The third looked like a man who truly, sincerely regretted every decision that had led him into this room.
Shaoyou slowly set down his teacup.
“No.”
“Mr. Sheng…”
“No.”
“You have been selected as the representative—”
“No.”
“You are an unmarried S-class Alpha, you come from one of the most influential families in Country J, your medical research—”
“When I said seven times that this plan was fucking insane, did any of you somehow get the impression that I was volunteering?”
He received no sensible explanation.
Apparently, his very vocal hatred of the entire idea had somehow made him the perfect candidate in their eyes.
Shaoyou was tired of politics.
+++
The Omega from Country J was named Gao Tu.
Shaoyou saw him for the first time on the day of the exchange ceremony and immediately felt something resembling an instinctive, unexpected urge to protect him. He knew it was his Alpha instinct, but…
Gao Tu wasn’t crying.
He stood straight in a classic dark suit, his hair combed back and his expression so composed that one had to look very closely to notice how tightly his fingers were clenched.
On the other side of the hall stood Hua Yong.
And Hua Yong was crying.
Shaoyou looked at him once.
Then twice.
Then he made the mistake of looking a third time.
A long, pale robe flowed almost to the floor, soft and graceful, with a high collar decorated with subtle embroidery. The fabric emphasized the Omega’s narrow waist while concealing his legs, his hands disappearing partially into the wide sleeves, and with every movement the small ornaments at his belt made a quiet chiming sound.
For all twenty-seven years of his life, Shaoyou had considered clothes like that absurd.
Now he stared.
Hua Yong lifted his wet lashes.
Shaoyou immediately stopped staring.
This was beneath his dignity.
Approximately six seconds passed.
He looked again.
Oh, fuck.
No.
No, absolutely not.
This was a man who had been torn away from his country and handed over to a foreign Alpha under the terms of an international treaty. Sheng Shaoyou refused to become yet another problem in his life merely because his own instincts apparently possessed less morality than his conscious mind.
Across the room, Gao Tu approached Hua Yong.
He said something quietly.
Hua Yong nodded.
For a moment, they held hands.
Only then did Shaoyou understand.
They were saying goodbye.
Gao Tu was leaving for Country P.
Hua Yong was staying here.
Two Omegas who had never met before had been exchanged between nations like two copies of a signed contract.
And Shaoyou stopped thinking about the robe.
+++
Shen Wenlang didn’t attend the ceremony.
The official statement cited a “sudden indisposition.”
Shaoyou knew he was in rut.
He learned about it fifteen minutes before the documents were supposed to be signed and spent the next ten trying to convince Country P’s delegation that sending an Omega into the home of an Alpha going through rut was such an incomprehensibly stupid idea that everyone present ought to be examined for head trauma.
It didn’t help.
Gao Tu was taken away.
Shaoyou watched the departing car with a heavy feeling in his stomach.
Then he heard a quiet sob.
He turned around.
Hua Yong stood behind him.
His future spouse.
His Omega.
No.
He didn’t like that description.
Hua Yong wasn’t his.
Hua Yong had been assigned to him.
There was a fundamental difference.
+++
When Shaoyou opened the car door, Hua Yong dropped to his knees in front of him.
It happened so quickly that for a second, the Alpha simply stared.
The Omega lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes, I heard you. For what?”
Hua Yong was trembling.
Shaoyou saw a tear fall onto the pale fabric.
And then, to his absolute horror, his own body decided that this was the perfect moment to remind him that he was an Alpha.
No.
He closed his eyes.
Don’t you fucking dare.
His body disagreed.
I swear I’ll cut you off.
That apparently worked.
A little.
Shaoyou exhaled, bent down, and held out his hand.
“It’s all right.”
Hua Yong stared at his hand as though it were a puzzle.
“You can get up.”
He didn’t move.
“Hua Yong.”
He flinched.
Shaoyou tried again, more gently.
“I’m not angry.”
Only then did the Omega allow Shaoyou to help him stand.
Shaoyou helped him into the car.
Then he sat on the opposite side.
There was perhaps half a meter of space between them.
Hua Yong immediately moved closer.
Shaoyou moved farther away.
Hua Yong moved closer again.
Shaoyou looked at him.
The Omega froze.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
“I’m sorry.”
Shaoyou rubbed his face.
This was going to be a long day.
+++
The agreement was very specific.
Shaoyou read it from beginning to end.
Then he read it a second time, because several passages had seemed so absurd the first time that he had begun to doubt his own ability to read.
The marriage was to take place within seven days.
The bond was to be “established at the earliest possible opportunity.”
An heir was “expected within the first year of the union.”
There was also an entire section concerning fertility examinations, inheritance, the citizenship of future children, and the manner in which the birth of the first child was to be celebrated simultaneously in both countries.
Shaoyou reached the final page.
He called his lawyer.
“Can I sue a country?”
“Which one?”
Shaoyou considered it.
“Both.”
+++
When they arrived at the residence, he dismissed the staff for the rest of the day.
Not because he intended to do anything.
Precisely because he didn’t.
Hua Yong followed him into the living room.
Shaoyou took off his jacket.
He turned around.
Hua Yong was kneeling.
Shaoyou stared at him.
Hua Yong stared at the floor.
“Don’t do that.”
The Omega went pale.
“I…”
“No, I meant…” Shaoyou sighed. “Stand up.”
Hua Yong immediately stood.
Shaoyou pointed toward the sofa.
“Sit.”
Hua Yong knelt beside it.
Shaoyou closed his eyes.
Counted to five.
“On the sofa.”
Silence.
“The sofa is an excellent place to sit. Really. It was designed specifically for that purpose.”
For the first time, those huge, tear-filled eyes looked directly at Sheng Shaoyou.
The Alpha forgot what he had been about to say.
Hua Yong’s eyes were dark.
Beautiful.
And absolutely terrified.
Something in Shaoyou’s chest tightened painfully.
“You don’t have to do any of this if you don’t want to.”
Hua Yong blinked.
“Any of what?”
For a second, Shaoyou didn’t know how to answer.
Then he realized the question was far worse than any possible answer.
“Anything.”
Hua Yong stared at him.
“I don’t understand.”
Of course.
Shaoyou sat down.
He indicated the place beside him.
Hua Yong hesitated, but this time he sat.
Right on the edge.
His back straight.
His hands folded in his lap.
He looked like a man waiting for his sentence.
“Listen.” Shaoyou spoke slowly. “I don’t like this treaty.”
Hua Yong went even paler.
“You don’t… me…”
Immediate correction.
“The treaty. I don’t like the treaty. It has nothing to do with you.”
Silence.
“I’m not going to mark you.”
Hua Yong flinched.
“And I’m not going to demand a child from you.”
This time, the reaction was more obvious.
The Omega looked at him.
“But…”
“I know.”
“The pact…”
“I know.”
“My family…”
“I know.”
“Your family…”
“Believe me, I’ll survive disappointing a few elderly relatives.”
“But the peace…”
Shaoyou stared at him for a moment.
And that was when, for the first time, he understood just how deeply all of this had been driven into Hua Yong.
Not I don’t want to.
Not I’m afraid.
Not what will happen to me.
Peace.
As though war might break out because an Omega failed to become pregnant quickly enough.
“If peace between two countries depends on whether or not you have a child with me, then our diplomats are even worse at their jobs than I suspected.”
Hua Yong made a strange sound.
Shaoyou froze.
Was he—
The Omega covered his mouth.
His shoulders trembled.
Shaoyou stared.
Hua Yong was laughing.
For the first time.
It was a tiny, muffled laugh, as though he himself wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to let it out.
And Sheng Shaoyou was doomed.
Completely.
Hopelessly.
Catastrophically.
Oh no.
+++
On the first evening, Hua Yong asked where he was supposed to sleep.
Shaoyou showed him the guest bedroom.
The Omega stared at the bed for a long moment.
Then at Shaoyou.
Then at the bed again.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?!”
“Yes.”
Hua Yong looked offended.
It was the first emotion other than fear and shy amusement that Shaoyou had seen from him, so he was actually rather pleased.
“You don’t like the room?”
“It’s very beautiful.”
“Then?”
“Nothing.”
Shaoyou narrowed his eyes.
“You can tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Hua Yong looked at him as though it were obvious.
“Because Alpha said I’m supposed to sleep here.”
Shaoyou began to suspect that he would be completely gray by the end of the month.
+++
On the third day, he discovered that Hua Yong was not gentle.
It was a revelation.
The Omega had been raised to be gentle.
That was not the same thing.
Beneath the lowered lashes, polite answers, and soft yes, Alpha lived a tiny monster.
Shaoyou discovered him by accident.
“You don’t need to ask my permission to eat a cookie.”
Hua Yong was holding a cookie.
“Really?”
“Really.”
He ate it.
Five minutes later, he came back for another.
The next day, Shaoyou found the tin empty.
“Hua Yong.”
The Omega sat at the table.
“Yes?”
Shaoyou lifted the tin.
Hua Yong looked at it.
“That’s terrible.”
“Did you eat all of them?”
“Someone did.”
“There are only two of us living here.”
“That’s exactly why you should be careful.”
Shaoyou stared.
Hua Yong stared back.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Little shit.
Shaoyou fell a little more in love with him.
+++
On the fifth day, an official letter arrived.
INQUIRY REGARDING PROGRESS IN ESTABLISHING THE MARITAL BOND.
Shaoyou read the heading.
He tore the document in half.
Hua Yong watched from the other end of the table.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
“I should.”
“It’s a government document.”
Shaoyou tore it in half again.
“Now it’s government confetti.”
Hua Yong lowered his head.
Shaoyou caught the smile.
+++
On the sixth day, a commission arrived.
They were not allowed inside.
On the seventh, Hua Yong’s godmother arrived with a delegation from Country P.
She was allowed inside.
Shaoyou regretted that decision four minutes later.
“An Omega should sleep beside his Alpha.”
“No.”
“The bond stabilizes emotions.”
“No.”
“His first cycle after the marriage—”
“No.”
“Mr. Sheng, perhaps you do not understand the customs of our country.”
“I understand them perfectly. That’s why I’m saying no.”
The woman pursed her lips.
Hua Yong sat motionless beside him.
“Hua Yong was prepared for his role.”
Shaoyou felt something cold slide down his spine.
“He isn’t a thing you can prepare.”
“He is an Omega of peace.”
“He is Hua Yong.”
For the first time, complete silence fell.
Shaoyou didn’t notice Hua Yong’s fingers tightening around the fabric of his trousers.
He did notice something else.
The scent.
Delicate.
Sweet.
The Omega was emotional.
Shaoyou immediately suppressed his own pheromones.
Hua Yong looked at him.
The look lasted one second too long.
+++
That evening, Hua Yong walked into his bedroom.
Without knocking.
Shaoyou was sitting on the bed with his laptop.
“Did something happen?”
Hua Yong closed the door.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I’m your Omega.”
Shaoyou took off his glasses.
“Are we having this conversation again?”
“No.”
“It sounds like this conversation.”
Hua Yong stepped closer.
He didn’t kneel.
Progress.
“You said I’m Hua Yong.”
“Because you are.”
“No one has ever said it like that before.”
Shaoyou fell silent.
Hua Yong stopped in front of him.
“All my life, people told me whose Omega I would be.”
Silence.
“My family’s Omega. A suitable Alpha’s Omega. An Omega who would give birth to healthy children. Then I became the Omega of peace.”
Shaoyou closed his laptop.
“Hua Yong…”
“But you said I’m Hua Yong.”
“Yes.”
“So Hua Yong wants to sleep here.”
Shaoyou blinked.
“What?”
“Here.”
“Why?”
For a moment, the Omega looked almost shy.
“Because I like your scent.”
That should not have done anything whatsoever to Sheng Shaoyou.
It did quite a lot.
“You can sleep here.”
Hua Yong lit up.
“On your side.”
The smile disappeared.
“And no weird behavior.”
Hua Yong looked innocent.
Shaoyou did not trust that expression in the slightest.
Rightfully so.
He woke at three in the morning with an Omega wrapped around his arm, the younger man’s hair tickling his nose, but Shaoyou merely brushed it gently away, sighed, and went back to sleep.
+++
A month later, all of Country J knew that Sheng Shaoyou had not marked his Omega.
Two months later, Country P knew too.
Three months later, the newspapers began asking about a child.
IS THE MARRIAGE OF PEACE IN CRISIS?
WHY IS OMEGA HUA STILL NOT EXPECTING AN HEIR?
EXPERTS COMMENT: STRESS MAY AFFECT FERTILITY
Shaoyou read the third headline over breakfast.
“The experts can go fuck themselves.”
Hua Yong was eating porridge.
“That’s rude.”
“Mhm.”
“I like it.”
Shaoyou lowered the newspaper.
Hua Yong was smiling into his bowl.
The little monster was growing.
+++
In the meantime, Gao Tu returned from Country P.
Not alone.
He brought Shen Wenlang with him.
Well.
Wenlang brought him.
More accurately, Gao Tu walked first while Wenlang followed half a step behind, carrying three bags, the Omega’s coat, and a box of cookies.
Shaoyou looked at his friend.
Then at Gao Tu.
Then at the bags.
“Rut?”
“Not a word.”
“I heard some interesting things.”
“Shaoyou.”
“Apparently Gao Tu locked you in your own bedroom.”
Gao Tu calmly poured himself some tea.
“He was unbearable.”
“I was in rut.”
“Which is precisely why you were unbearable.”
Hua Yong stared at Gao Tu with something approaching reverence.
Shaoyou saw the exact moment a new possibility appeared in his head.
Oh no.
Two hours later, both Omegas were sitting together on the terrace.
Shen Wenlang approached Shaoyou.
“Yours is weird.”
“Yours locked you in a room.”
“For my own safety.”
“Wenlang, he threw the key out the window.”
“He had his reasons.”
Shaoyou looked at him.
“You’re weird too.”
“That’s why it works.”
They looked at their Omegas.
Hua Yong was whispering something into Gao Tu’s ear.
Gao Tu slowly smiled.
Both Alphas experienced exactly the same kind of unease.
+++
Hua Yong really was weird.
Shaoyou discovered it gradually.
Hua Yong liked wearing his shirts.
He liked sleeping with his face buried in Shaoyou’s pillow.
He liked when Shaoyou hugged him from behind.
He liked leaving his belongings everywhere, as though trying to mark the house with his own presence.
A hair clip on the desk.
A book on the sofa.
A sweater on an armchair.
A mug in the study.
His toothbrush beside Shaoyou’s.
At first, the Alpha thought it was accidental.
Then he found one of Hua Yong’s silk ribbons tied around the handle of his study door.
“Why?”
“It looks pretty.”
“Hua Yong.”
“It matches.”
“Hua Yong.”
The Omega sighed.
“I want the house to smell like me.”
Shaoyou fell silent.
Hua Yong immediately lowered his gaze.
“If it bothers you…”
“No.”
“No?”
Shaoyou approached him.
He straightened the collar of his shirt.
His shirt.
“You can take over the whole house.”
Hua Yong looked at him with that terrifying, soft adoration of his.
“You too?”
Shaoyou went still.
“What?”
Hua Yong smiled.
“Nothing.”
Freak.
Shaoyou was in love with him.
+++
The problem was that Hua Yong was even more in love with him.
Obsessively.
Alarmingly.
With the precision of a military operation.
He knew what time Shaoyou drank his coffee.
He knew which shirts Shaoyou chose for difficult negotiations.
He knew that when Shaoyou was nervous, he rubbed his thumb along the side of his index finger.
He knew when Shaoyou had a migraine before Shaoyou himself did.
He knew the Alpha hated cilantro.
He knew he read reports from the end.
He knew that sometimes Shaoyou woke at four in the morning and spent several minutes staring out the window.
“Are you watching me?”
“Yes.”
Shaoyou had expected a denial.
He didn’t get one.
“Hua Yong.”
“I like looking at you.”
“That sounds disturbing.”
“I know.”
Shaoyou felt heat creep up the back of his neck.
Damn it.
Freak.
Perfect.
+++
Their first kiss happened almost five months after the treaty was signed.
Not during a ceremony.
Not for the cameras.
Not because some official had checked the appropriate box.
Hua Yong was sitting on the kitchen counter in Shaoyou’s pajamas, eating strawberries.
Shaoyou stood between his knees.
“You have juice on your lips.”
Hua Yong licked his lower lip.
Shaoyou stared.
The Omega tilted his head.
“You can.”
Two words.
That was all.
Shaoyou kissed him.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Hua Yong immediately grabbed his shirt.
When they pulled apart, the Omega looked dazed.
So did Shaoyou.
“Again.”
“Is that an order?”
“A request.”
“Ask nicely.”
Hua Yong stared at him for a second.
Then his eyes narrowed in a way Shaoyou had come to know very well.
“Alpha.”
Goosebumps rose over Shaoyou’s skin.
Little shit.
He kissed him again.
+++
The bond came later.
Privately.
Willingly.
Without officials.
Without cameras.
Without flags.
Hua Yong cried.
But this time, not from fear.
The next morning, Shaoyou sent the ministry a one-sentence notification.
Bond established. Details are none of the state’s business.
The ministry requested additional information.
Shaoyou sent them the definition of the word privacy.
+++
Then came baby hell.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you planning to have children?”
“None of your business.”
“Has Omega Hua undergone fertility testing?”
“None of your business.”
“Is it true that your first child will hold dual citizenship?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you have any preference regarding your child’s secondary gender?”
Shaoyou stopped in front of the reporter.
“I’d like them to be human.”
The clip went viral.
Hua Yong watched it a million times, saved several versions of the recording, and fully intended to keep it forever. He thought Shaoyou looked hot when he stood up to the media and answered their stupid questions so calmly, so confidently.
+++
The worst part, however, was that after a while, Hua Yong genuinely began to want a child.
Not for the treaty.
Not for his family.
Not for Country P.
For them.
He said it very quietly one night, lying with his head on Shaoyou’s chest.
“I want something that’s a little bit you.”
Shaoyou ran his fingers through his hair.
“That is the worst argument for parenthood I’ve ever heard.”
“A little bit me too.”
“Even worse.”
Hua Yong pinched him.
Shaoyou laughed.
Then he became serious.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Because you want it?”
“Because I want it.”
“Not because they expect it?”
Hua Yong lifted his head.
There was none of that old fear left in his eyes.
“I don’t care what they expect.”
Something strange tightened in Shaoyou’s throat.
Four months earlier, Hua Yong had believed that peace between nations depended on his uterus.
Now he was saying the state could go fuck itself.
Shaoyou had never been prouder.
“All right.”
“All right?”
“We can try.”
Hua Yong smiled.
Shaoyou knew that smile.
“I don’t like that look.”
“What look?”
“The one you make right before committing a crime.”
“I don’t commit crimes.”
“You ate my cookies.”
“That was never proven.”
+++
Gao Tu got pregnant first.
Shen Wenlang called at six in the morning.
“I’m going to be a father.”
Shaoyou opened one eye.
“Congratulations.”
“I’m going to be a father.”
“I heard you.”
“Gao Tu is pregnant.”
“That is generally how becoming a father works.”
“Shaoyou.”
“Wenlang, it’s six in the morning.”
“I’m going to be a father.”
Shaoyou hung up.
Hua Yong was lying beside him.
“Gao Tu?”
“Pregnant.”
Hua Yong sat up.
“Really?”
“Mhm.”
For a moment, he looked happy.
Then something in his expression dimmed.
Only slightly.
Shaoyou noticed.
Of course he noticed.
He pulled him back down.
“Hey.”
“I’m happy.”
“I know.”
“I really am.”
“I know.”
Hua Yong buried his face against his neck.
“What if I can’t?”
And there it was.
The sadness hidden beneath all the crack of their life.
An upbringing that couldn’t be erased by a few months of love.
An Omega was worth what he could give.
Beauty.
Obedience.
A bond.
A child.
Shaoyou held him tighter.
“Then we won’t have one.”
“But you…”
“I have you.”
“Shaoyou.”
“I have you.”
Hua Yong went quiet.
“Is that enough?”
Shaoyou kissed his forehead.
“That’s everything I need.”
+++
Three months later, Hua Yong threw up on Country P’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In Sheng Shaoyou’s opinion, it was one of the most beautiful diplomatic events in history.
The minister did not share that opinion.
Neither did Hua Yong, mostly because he was too busy dying of embarrassment.
“I’m sorry.”
Shaoyou held his hair back.
“Don’t apologize.”
“I threw up on the minister.”
“I know.”
“On his shoes.”
“I know.”
“This is a disaster.”
“This is art.”
Hua Yong groaned.
Shaoyou took him to the doctor.
Two hours later, they sat in the car.
Hua Yong held the test result.
Shaoyou stared straight ahead.
Neither of them spoke.
“Shaoyou.”
“Mhm.”
“We’re going to have a baby.”
“Mhm.”
“Why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying.”
“You’re crying.”
“Shut up.”
Hua Yong started crying too.
Then he laughed.
Then Shaoyou laughed.
Then they both cried, which was embarrassing, but the car had tinted windows, so the world never needed to know.
+++
The world—or at least Country J—learned about the pregnancy the next day.
Shaoyou wanted to murder someone at the ministry.
Hua Yong wanted strawberries.
They chose strawberries.
The newspapers went insane.
PEACE BABY!
FIRST HEIR OF THE HISTORIC MARRIAGE!
A NEW ERA IN RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES!
Hua Yong stared at the headlines.
He placed a hand over his still-flat stomach.
Shaoyou watched his face.
“You don’t like it.”
“It’s our baby.”
“Yes.”
“Not theirs.”
“Yes.”
“Not peace’s.”
“No.”
Hua Yong looked at him.
Shaoyou placed his own hand over Hua Yong’s.
“Ours.”
+++
A few weeks later, Gao Tu came to visit with a visibly rounded belly.
Hua Yong was beginning to show too.
They sat together on the sofa.
Two Omegas.
Two “living bridges between nations.”
Two symbols of peace.
Gao Tu ate grapes.
Hua Yong ate strawberries.
Shen Wenlang and Sheng Shaoyou stood in the kitchen.
“It’s strange,” Wenlang said.
“What?”
“The pact actually worked.”
Shaoyou looked at him in disgust.
“Don’t you dare give them the satisfaction.”
“I’m just saying…”
“No.”
“Both couples are happy.”
“By accident.”
“We’re going to have children.”
“By accident.”
“Diplomatic relations are the best they’ve been in thirty years.”
“Wenlang.”
Shen Wenlang raised his hands.
Laughter came from the living room.
Both of them looked over.
Gao Tu had said something to Hua Yong.
Hua Yong placed a hand on his stomach and laughed so hard that he had to rest his head against the other Omega’s shoulder.
Shaoyou watched him.
He remembered the first ceremony.
Tears.
Knees hitting the floor.
I’m sorry.
He remembered the Omega who had asked whether he was allowed to sit on the sofa.
Now Hua Yong occupied three-quarters of that very same sofa, wearing Shaoyou’s shirt, Shaoyou’s socks, and absolutely no shame whatsoever.
On the coffee table lay an official letter concerning their future child’s citizenship.
Hua Yong was using it as a coaster for his plate of strawberries.
Shaoyou smiled.
Maybe Wenlang was right.
The pact had changed something.
Just not in the way the people who wrote it had intended.
The countries had exchanged Omegas because they considered them the simplest way to guarantee peace.
An Alpha would get an Omega.
An Omega would get an Alpha.
A bond would be formed.
A child would be born.
Simple.
Logical.
Politically useful.
Except somewhere along the way, they had made one fundamental mistake.
They had forgotten that Omegas were people.
And people had a nasty habit of doing whatever they wanted with their own lives.
Hua Yong wanted Shaoyou.
Not the state.
Not the treaty.
Not duty.
Him.
Gao Tu, for some reason, wanted Wenlang, although apparently he also occasionally wanted to throw him out a window. That, Shaoyou could understand perfectly well.
Wenlang wanted Gao Tu so badly that Shaoyou suspected brain damage.
And Sheng Shaoyou…
Well.
Sheng Shaoyou wanted one more thing put on the record.
+++
A year later, the commission responsible for evaluating the results of the treaty held a formal meeting.
Shaoyou came with Hua Yong.
Hua Yong held their baby in his arms.
Gao Tu sat on the opposite side of the table with his own.
Shen Wenlang looked like a man who hadn’t slept in six months and had never been happier in his life.
The chairman of the commission spent twenty minutes talking about the historic success of the program.
About lasting bonds.
About offspring.
About peace.
About proof of the effectiveness of the traditional model.
Shaoyou listened.
So did Hua Yong.
At one point, their eyes met.
Shaoyou saw the gleam in his eyes.
He knew it.
Little monster.
The chairman finished.
“Would either party like to add anything to the official record?”
Sheng Shaoyou raised his hand.
Shen Wenlang covered his face.
Gao Tu began to smile.
Hua Yong looked like a man who had just received the best birthday present of his life.
The secretary prepared his pen.
Shaoyou cleared his throat.
“Yes.”
“We’re listening, Mr. Sheng.”
“I would like to remind the commission of the position I expressed before the treaty was signed.”
The secretary hesitated.
Apparently, he remembered.
Shaoyou smiled.
“I still think the idea was fucking insane.”
“Shaoyou…” Wenlang groaned.
“Write it down exactly.”
Hua Yong snorted with laughter.
The baby in his arms stirred, displeased by the noise, and the Omega immediately looked down, adjusting the blanket with a tenderness that did something strange to Shaoyou’s heart every single time.
The chairman looked close to murder.
“Mr. Sheng, the results clearly demonstrate—”
“The results demonstrate that you were unbelievably lucky.”
Silence.
Shaoyou was no longer smiling.
“The fact that we fell in love with the people you assigned to us does not mean you had the right to assign us to each other.”
Hua Yong looked up.
Gao Tu stopped smiling.
Wenlang watched Shaoyou calmly.
“Our children are not proof that the system works. They are proof that, despite the system, we managed to create something of our own.”
No one spoke.
Under the table, Hua Yong reached out with his free hand.
Shaoyou intertwined their fingers.
“So yes, I’ll say it again,” he said. “I want that put on the record.”
The secretary looked at the chairman.
Then at Shaoyou.
Finally, he lowered his pen to the paper.
Hua Yong squeezed his hand.
And perhaps that was the most absurd thing of all.
Two countries had needed hundreds of pages of treaties, dozens of signatures, seals, commissions, ceremonies, compatibility tests, and an entire army of lawyers to decide who Hua Yong should belong to.
Sheng Shaoyou had needed months to understand the answer.
No one.
Hua Yong belonged to himself.
So did Gao Tu.
So did their children.
So did every Omega anyone had ever tried to turn into someone’s property, duty, reward, political instrument, or beautifully dressed promise of future offspring.
Hua Yong was a free man.
Who, entirely of his own free will, happened to be obsessively in love with Sheng Shaoyou.
That last part was very important.
Especially because, in the car on the way home, Hua Yong buried his nose against Shaoyou’s neck and said:
“I liked it when you swore.”
Shaoyou looked at him.
“What?”
“At the commission.”
“Hua Yong.”
The Omega moved closer.
“You looked very dominant.”
Shaoyou closed his eyes.
Their baby was asleep in the car seat beside them.
The driver had ears.
Somewhere, theoretically, there existed a boundary of common decency.
His spouse had apparently never encountered it.
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet you wanted me.”
“I still want you.”
Hua Yong immediately lit up.
Shaoyou looked at him and thought that perhaps this was the worst possible thing he could have said to a man with an obsessive personality, absolutely no sense of moderation, and a face Sheng Shaoyou was incapable of denying anything.
Too late.
Hua Yong kissed his cheek.
“I know.”
Freak.
Shaoyou wrapped an arm around him.
His freak.
No.
Shaoyou corrected the thought almost automatically.
Hua Yong.
Simply Hua Yong.
Who had chosen him as the object of his obsessive love.
And that was so much better.