The splash the Crushed Diamond had made turned into a wave.
A big uncontrollable wave, in fact. It was sweeping the continent, well... some parts of it.
There was a minor issue though... because, when is there not?
Occasionally, little... tiny, little rumours and unsettling stories would appear that the lead singer had a history of being pimped out by his parents but in this era of freedom, who would believe that? It was just the crazy rants of haters. Luckily, those stories often disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
Edwin was mostly unbothered, his only qualm being that Edith had still not been found. He had started to feel really bad about that, especially, because he had insisted to Ethan multiple times that he could do it.
The rest of the team, however, were constantly on edge whenever those stories came up but Edwin... being Edwin shrugged "It's not really a lie." And that was it. Having the mental fortitude of this omega... perhaps, one could brave life's most violent of storms.
Anyway....
They released their first album, it did great.
Who knew this generation were so much in their feels? It was a hit. And so, they went on their first tour.
It was in the middle of this, Lillian received her summons... or rather, the Crushed Diamond received an invitation from their... he wasn't an investor, that much was sure.
She sat the band down "Guys... So… you know how when we were making our record label and we had a lot of problems, but I went out one day, and all our problems were gone and I somehow managed to pick up a technician, manager and producer in one trip..." She laughed nervously "...well, it was a bit of an investment and now, it's time to collect."
"WHAT?!" Fred was the first to react to her words "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, when I got to Manson's office that day and there was this woman there. She had beaten Manson to a pulp, and she… and she said they were our new team, and we had been struggling to put out a song for so long and I just… I couldn't say no. She didn't give me a choice."
"And you didn't think it was weird?!"
"Calm down Fred..." Zed intervened "...listen to what she's saying."
Lillian paced the floor "I mean, didn't you think it was weird that we got a building, equipment and registered our record label so easily?"
Joshua's hand shot up in the air "ooh... Oooh... Me! I did. I did…" he looked around the room awkwardly before lowering his hand "…especially, I thought it was weird Manson let us off so easy."
"Yea, so this lady shows up, beats him into a pulp and hands over what we needed at the time. I was-"
"What did she say?" Fred interrupted.
She cast a guilty glance at Edwin "The old man has a soft spot for kids that have had a really tough time and..." She stared at the floor "...Edwin is related to his favourite."
"WHAT?!" Fred flew at her, about ready to bite off her head "And you just took it? How are you any different from Manson?"
"No-no, I didn't..."
Joshua held him down "Calm down, we can figure this out." He turned to Edwin "Right?"
Edwin and Jade were playing on swivel stools, ignoring the unfolding drama.
"Edwin." Zed called out softly.
He stopped spinning "Oh..." He scratched his head "...well, if he does ask for something we could call my uncle."
"You have an uncle?" Fred asked.
"Yup… you met him at my brother's wedding."
They all searched their memories, trying to remember when they met such a relative. They could have sworn his only relative were his twin and the sister they were still looking for.
"I don't recall." Zed said.
"It's the old man right?" Jade asked sluggishly "The one with the weird collar."
Edwin nodded "He said I should make sure to call him if I ever run into any trouble."
Ethan had been going through examination after examination. Luckily, they weren't all painful or invasive. When he wasn't examined, he was with Xavier. Their suites were close together, actually he spent almost all his time under Xavier's care exploring the place or reading or drawing, basically, whatever he wanted to do... Although, there wasn't much he wanted to do.
He was listless.
His situation at the Glasshouse could best be described as an indefinite all-expense paid trip to a luxurious resort or something.
Most importantly, he had stopped crying. Yes, he bawled his eyes out the first few nights, but he figured the tears had to stop at some point, especially if he wanted the chance to speak with his husband.
Alexei hadn't shown up since, and he couldn't gather the courage to contact him, so he waited patiently for his return.
Besides that, his life was pretty ordinary, except the one time Xavier had to be called away to calm Yul down. Apparently, she had gotten into it with a person she kept referring to as a specimen to be harvested. He wasn't too sure about the details but beyond that, everything was pretty ordinary.
It was after one of such ordinary days that he returned to his suite to find Alexei, seated in the living room.
"If you start crying, I will leave."
"I won't cry."
Alexei eyed him with obvious doubt "If you say so."
Ethan stood at the entryway, picking at the hem of his shirt until the seams begun to fray.
"Are you going to stand there all night?"
He shuffled forward until he was standing next to a couch and lowered himself into it slowly.
The room fell into silence again.
Alexei watched him, a finger tapping on the armrest. It was obvious this person was not going to make any moves. He hadn't even gotten a single message from him since he got taken away by OPS. Ethan wasn't even trying to make him understand. It was like he had completely given up "When did you become such a coward?"
Ethan said nothing.
He was fed up "Tomorrow, you will speak with the doctors. Yours, Olly, was it? He will be here with your case file as well..." He got off the sofa "...then you can decide what you want to do with your gland. If you want to keep it, take it out or whatever."
Ethan scrambled from his seat and followed timidly behind him.
He stopped at the door "You won't even make an excuse?" He asked without looking back "I won't come back here."
"I didn't want you to hate me."
Alexei felt a light, almost unnoticeable tug on his shirt.
"You said you wouldn't hate me but I'm an omega so you'll hate me."
He frowned, "You think..." He spun around "...you think this is about you being an omega? Ethan, anyone with half a brain could have figured that out the moment they saw your twin." He brushed his hand away "I was ready to give you everything!" His dissatisfaction reared its head "I told you over and over again to depend on me."
He flinched "I... I was scared."
"So, anybody else was a better option than I was?! Can you imagine how I felt hearing that OPS was going to take you away?"
"Aleeex..." He sniffed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands "... please, please don't shout. I just asked if I could take it out."
"And I'm saying why didn't you talk to me?! I'm supposed to be your husband, does that even mean anything to you?! FUCK! Stop crying!"
He put down both hands "This... You.... You kept treating me like an omega..."
"When did I ever do that? When did I treat you like an omega?"
He bit his lip and turned away.
"I'm talking to you."
Ethan staggered back when Alexei took a step toward him.
"You just... I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with you." He stormed out.
Not that, he was going far... his room was right next door.
"Why should I? He doesn't seem to need me in the slightest."
All Xavier asked was if Alexei would accompany Ethan for his consultation later in the day. It wasn't really a question, it was the reason he was here after all.
When he saw Ethan wince, he lost all appetite and left the breakfast table.
Ethan too, was in quite the dour mood.
"Mm..." Xavier watched his son walk away, then continued with his meal like nothing was amiss.
"Ex-excuse me..." He muttered before following after Alexei. "Alex..."
"What? Why are you following me? Shouldn't you be avoiding me and running away the first chance you get?"
It's not that he didn't want to run away or that he wasn't scared, he just figured whenever he did that, his husband got more upset. "…A-Alex..."
"What?"
"If... If you have time..." He timidly reached out to take hold of Alexei's hand "... please...come with me."
Alexei stared at their hands for a minute "It's really unfair when you do this."
He nodded. Ethan seemed to have understood exactly what was making Alexei so dissatisfied. He would start from there...
Olly finally met with the infamous husband and suddenly, it kind of made sense. If he were in Ethan's shoes, he'd do everything in his power to take his little secret to the grave. Even if the alpha in question had never really perpetuated any harm to omegas, well… no publicly known harm, it was better to be safe. Ugh, and those pheromones too... He couldn't help but break out into cold sweat. "... that's the gist of it. He was constantly stimulated under the actions of your pheromones and there is the suspicion about the bond but that was difficult to confirm."
Yul's eyes brightened "Do you think it's a thing about special grade pheromones?"
He gagged internally, here was another person covered in overwhelming pheromones. He leaned away "Could you stay at least an arm's length away from me?" He asked politely, searching the room for the switch for a vent. He was upset to find it was already running.
"Oh..." She looked to Alexei "...do I smell or something?"
He rolled his eyes "You're doused in father's pheromones."
"Ah... My apologies..." She pushed her chair further away from Olly "My partner is dealing with dysregulation. You seem really smart, if you're fine with it, would you go over his case with me? There's also a special grade omega specimen I'm working with, but special grade pheromones are-"
Alexei cleared his throat.
"That's fine, but we should deal with Ethan first, no?" Olly asked.
"Ah, yes. My bad, carry on."
"As I was saying, there may be other factors, but I can only assume you are a main contributor. If you both are willing we can run some tests to see how his gland responds to your pheromones in a clinical setting, this is if Ethan wants to keep his gland. If not..."
The three turn to the silent omega.
Olly's voice softened "Have you thought about it?"
Ethan turned to Alexei "What do you think?"
"I think we can continue this discussion tomorrow..." Olly sensed it was time to take his leave. He directed his focus to Yul as he stood "About your suggestion..."
She clapped and jumped to her feet "Yes, I'll gladly let you look at them as soon as you settle in."
"Settle in?"
"Yes. I'll have someone arrange a nice suite for you. This place has everything you can think of..." She explained, leading him out of the room "...you can bring your partner or family with you. Just say how much space you'll need."
"Wait? I can't leave?"
She looked at him like he asked something stupid.
"Oh..." He shut the door behind him.
Ethan and Alexei were left alone.
"If you want to keep it, I'll do what is necessary..." Alexei stated calmly "...if not, I'm sure there can be a way to make it happen."
"Alex-"
"Is this what you meant when you said I was treating you like an omega?"
He pressed his lips together and stared at the floor.
"You should have told me earlier."
"…I... didn't...know...how."
Alexei heaved a heavy sigh "I'm still very upset with you."
...sorry."
He stroked Ethan's nape "Do you want to keep it?"
He stiffened under his touch, could be keep it? Being an omega hadn't brought him anything good in his life...
"Ethan..."
Alexei's voice pierced his internal ramblings.
"...whatever you choose, it won't affect how I feel about you."
"Alex..." He drew closer "...do you like my pheromones?" He whispered, watching his face for even the slightest change in expression.
"Tch..." He pinched Ethan's cheek "What a stupid question."
Since Jason made up his mind to try to make things work with Lein, he made a few... minor changes including getting rid of those case files that seemed to have become a permanent fixture on his desk. If Lein saw those... He shuddered at the thought.
Another was reassessing his... methods. He would hate if he, himself, undid all Lein's hardwork. Maybe this time, they would take it slow.
"Hi."
"Hi." He had that look again, the expression Lein always had whenever Jason entered the room, like nothing and no one else in the room mattered which is a bit of a problem for anyone who placed a coffee order while the barista was hyper focused on some alpha.
"...hi."
Jason tapped the counter "Rosalein, you need to focus."
"Yea... right. Right... Sorry. My bad."
Jason chuckled and went to take a seat, as far away from the counter as he could. He had barely sat down when Mari hurried over.
"Jay..." She slid into the chair opposite him "...I haven't heard anything from Ethan."
"You haven't?"
She shifted in the chair "I have but..." She leaned closer "...the thing with your brother..."
"Oh..." He waved away he concern "...if that's the case, Ethan is the last person you should be worried about. He could spontaneously morph into a two headed lizard and Alexei wouldn't bat an eye."
"Really?"
"Really. To be honest, we are grateful to you for helping him out. It was reassuring to know he didn't go through all that alone."
Her tense frame relaxed a little "I'm so sorry..." She said hanging her head "...I never thought it would become something so big, and I roped my family into it. Rose didn't know anything."
"Actually, one of the reasons I'm here is to tell you that you don't have to worry about that. The thing with OPS, it's nothing."
"But the rumours..."
"Are nothing."
She nodded, satisfied with the news "What is the other reason?"
He glanced in the direction of the counter "To speak with you and Hank, if you have the time… about Rosalein."
"Of course, he's in the back. Come." She threw a pensive glance at her son who had his gaze fixed on them. She ignored that led Jason away.
Lein almost crawled over the counter to follow them and he might have, if Kim hadn't physically pulled him back "Your mum said to keep you focused."
Hank wasn't particularly surprised, well not as much as his wife clearly was. They had seemed to accept that Lein and Jason would never get back together, especially, after the whole fiasco with hiding Ethan's gender. He expected a criticism or something similar at this time but here Jason was, apologizing for not being able to keep his promise of staying away from Lein "You said you weren't after anything."
"At the time, I didn't think it would play out this way and right now, I have no intentions of using that as leverage."
He ignored his wife's dirty look and continued on "And if I say no, you can't see Rose what would you do?"
"Hank..." His attitude made her a little flustered.
"Now that he's better he wants him, but when that child was falling apart he dumped him on us, have you forgotten?"
"You know it's more complicated than that." She whispered.
He turned to Jason "If I say no, what would you do then?"
"I will... I will keep trying until you give me a chance."
He wasn't trying to be purposely difficult, it just he saw Lein at his absolute rock bottom and what could be considered Jason's worst, so yes, he was very skeptical of their relationship. Jason also consistently rejected him even when he asked "So, you have no plans of backing down if I say no?"
Jason straightened and stared back at him.
Hank caved in first "Rose is an adult, he can make decisions for himself." He said with a frown.
"Yes but-"
"The both of you are quite intent on doing what you want."
Mari gave Hank's arm a little squeeze "Jay, whatever Lein says if fine with us but..." She gave him a pleading look "...he really likes you, I hope you know that."
He lowered his gaze to the floor "I-I like him a lot too."
Hank had long given up on the pair, even if Jason stayed away, they couldn't say the same for their child. "If you say so." He walked to the door and flung it open, just like he suspected that menace was trying to eavesdrop "You really need to kick this habit."
"Dad." He stepped back.
Hank eyed him with clear annoyance, said nothing and walked away with Mari following eagerly behind.
"Rosalein."
He cautiously stepped into the room and shut the door "What's going on?"
He showed a gentle smile "I had to speak to your parents about something. Do you have time now?"
"Ye...yea."
"You do? What about work?"
"That…" he glimpsed at the door "…that's, it's fine."
He took a step forward "Rosalein, I've been thinking about our discussion-'
"If you're just going to tell me again that we can't be together, I don't want to hear it."
"No..." He chuckled softly "... I'm not going to say that anymore, quite the contrary. If... If you're okay with giving it another try with-"
"Yes!"
He chuckled again "Rosalein, listen to me, okay? Please."
He came closer, nodding excitedly "I'll be quiet." A hand flew to his mouth, to pinch his lips together.
"This time..." Jason felt a little self-conscious under the burning gaze but regardless "...this time, I hope we will be different this time. I will look at you properly and-" he caressed his cheek "-and I won't hurt you. I'll try not to stifle you or demand too much from you. If there's something you don't like, I'll try... I'll fix it but..." He pulled Lein's hands away from his lips, who knew the man could be so agreeable "... Rosalein, what I want is a serious relationship not a fling or a game or something casual. If you think it will be difficult and you will struggle with this level of commitment then please tell me." He brushed his thumb over his cheek one more time before tugging on his earlobe "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Lein nodded.
Alexei had grown a tail, or maybe it was that his shadow had become darker, longer; whatever the case, there was always someone trailing behind him wherever he went. He didn't hate it though, sometimes he even made a little game of it just to see how quickly Ethan would notice his absence and chase him down. Even when Dawson came over with work or he had a teleconference, Ethan would be lingering nearby, disappearing only when it was time to turn in for the night. They were still staying in different suites. He wasn't particularly satisfied with this little detail, so he left the door wide open.
Sure, Ethan did lie about his second gender up until and even after their marriage, hid his recovery from him and consequently caused a PR nightmare for his company but that wasn't something to hold a grudge over. The whole thing was due to Ethan's desperate desire to be with him. It was a testament to the depth of Ethan's love, and he was unwilling to believe anything else regarding the matter.
Ethan took the hint, or the glaring invitation to come in. He sat quietly while Alexei poured over piles and piles of documents. He had decided to keep his gland, the inhibitors were stopped and so were the suppressants. He wasn't used to wearing a patch, oftentimes, he would unconsciously reach out to pick at the edges. The doctors said he might have to spend several months here because his heats were unstable. He curled up on the couch and played with his toes, listening to the sound of rustling papers.
He fell asleep.
The next time he woke up, he had already been tucked into Alexei's bed. The man had his back to him. He moved closer as silently as he could manage.
"If you're thinking of seducing me, I won't stop you but that won't automatically make everything go away."
"...sorry."
He flipped over "Giving up?"
He pursed his lips and began to move away slowly.
"I see." He turned over.
Ethan waited several minutes before moving closer, almost burrowing into his back.
The same pattern repeated the next night.
And the night after that.
He sat up, turned on the bedside lamp "I've had enough of this." And faced him squarely "Ethan, you have something you want to say, don't you? Say it now." He watched him closely as he tried to move away "Don't even think of getting off this bed."
So... Ethan sat on his heels "I'm sorry."
"That's all you've been saying."
"Alex..." He wrung the sheets underneath his hands "... I'm an omega."
"So?"
"Do...do you ha-hate me?"
"Why would I?"
"You hate...hate omegas."
Leaning against the headboard, he crossed his arms "That has nothing to do with you."
"The ma-marriage fraud..."
"You just love me that much."
"Th-then... Then I caused t-trouble for your company..."
"OPS has had it out for me for a while."
"Th-the mo-money-"
"Ah, that... You mean the losses I incurred..." He stroked his chin "... that's on OPS for doing a shitty job. It's not on you."
Ethan fell silent.
"Have I properly addressed all of your concerns?"
He shook his head and crawled closer "A-Alex, why do you hate omegas?" He almost recoiled when Alexei's eyes zeroed in on him, like he had touched a nerve.
After a moment, Alexei visibly relaxed "You know the person Yul keeps referring to as a specimen?"
He nodded.
"That's Iris. My omega father."