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rsadelleThe premise for this story was that Sid is a traditional omega in many ways. For example, he's always chaperoned when with unbonded alphas. (Conveniently, Geno is a beta and therefore a suitable chaperone.) Alex is an alpha, and he and Sid turn out to be ridiculously compatible. There's a bit in here that refers to Ovi talking to the press about how Sid after Sid's bout of the mumps. I really only ever wrote the first scene and a tiny bit of a later one, but there's some what else would have happened at the end.
Content Note: Part of why I didn't come back to this story is that I had Sid talking about hooking up with betas but wanting to bond with an alpha, and I was uncomfortable with that in an A/B/O as an allegory for gender/sexuality politics way.
Alex raises his eyebrows at Zhenya when he sees that they aren't dining alone.
"His idea," Zhenya says with a shrug as he greets Alex.
Alex's eyebrows go up again, but he schools himself into a smile when he greets Sid. "Hello, Sid."
"Hi," Sid says. "I hope you don't mind that I crashed your dinner."
"Of course not," Alex says. "Always happy to have dinner with lovely omega."
Sid blushes, a dusting of red across the top of his cheeks, and he looks down at the table.
"Sanja," Zhenya says. "Not nice to tease."
"Not teasing," Alex protests. "Unless you say Sid not lovely."
Zhenya looks from Alex to Sid and opens his mouth, then closes it.
Sid lets out a honking giggle. "He's got you there, Geno."
Zhenya throws up his hands in an obviously exaggerated gesture of frustration. "You flirt then. I'm chaperone."
Alex tsks. "Always pout when not get his own way."
Sid laughs at that too, and Alex grins at Zhenya until he relents and laughs.
"Not fair, both team up against me. Supposed to be on my team."
"Many things are not fair," Alex says. "You get to see Sid always, I only see pretty face sometimes."
"Sid," Zhenya says seriously, "I'm good chaperone. You tell me Sanja go too far, I make him stop."
Sid makes a face at Zhenya. "I can tell him myself," he says, and then pointedly does not tell Alex he's gone too far.
He continues to not tell Alex he's gone too far until halfway through dinner when he looks very determined and says, "I don't need protecting." It's in response to Zhenya, but then he turns that look on Alex too. "From either of you."
Alex genuinely has no idea what Sid's talking about. "I check you all the time," he says.
"Off the ice," Sid says. "You talked to reporters about me."
It takes a moment to figure out what Sid's talking about. "Because they ask," Alex says. "What do you want me to do? Say, 'No, Sid terrible, never get better'?"
"No," Sid says, with the whiny edge his voice can get sometimes. Then, looking between them, "But you don't have to protect me because I'm an omega."
"Protect you because you team," Zhenya says.
That has the sound of a long-standing argument they can keep rehashing any time, so Alex ignores it and says, "Not protect you at all. Tell truth. You sick, get better, takes time." He shrugs. "True because you're hockey player, not because you're pretty omega." He grins. "True even if you're ugly omega."
Sid stares at him for an awkwardly long time. Alex just lets him, because he has nothing to hide on this count. He's telling the truth, and talking about Sid's hockey is, at least in this case, wholly separate from flirting with him.
Sid's sigh sounds somewhat defeated. "Could you at least try not to sound like you're an alpha defending my helpless omega honor when you say things like that?"
Sid's tone when he says "helpless omega honor" is enough to make Alex pause and think before he speaks.
"I don't think you're a helpless omega," he says. "I think you get sick, take time to get better. True for alphas too." Sid seems satisfied enough with that as an explanation that Alex also says, "You care about your omega honor. Always have a chaperone." He gestures at Zhenya.
"Not always," Sid protests. "Just with unbonded alphas."
"Very traditional," Alex says.
Sid shrugs. "I like tradition. I want to bond with an alpha who who respects that."
Alex blinks, because while he hasn't really put any thought into Sid's love life, he probably wouldn't have guessed that Sid is that traditional, or that he's looking for an alpha.
"Sid very picky," Zhenya says.
"I'm not picky," Sid says. "I'm particular."
Alex joins Zhenya in laughing at that.
Even the corners of Sid's mouth turn up in a reluctant smile. "I don't want to bond with just anyone. I want to bond with the right alpha for me."
Alex leans forward. "You're a romantic."
Sid blushes a little, but says, "Yeah, I guess. Don't you want to meet the right omega to bond with?"
Alex sits back. "No."
Sid frowns and Zhenya chuckles.
"What?" Alex asks Zhenya.
"Nothing," Zhenya says. "Only is funny, watching you two say this. Always different."
"You don't want to bond?" Sid asks slowly.
Alex shrugs. "Found omega, fell in love, think we bond, but then it end." It stings less now, but it still hurts, and he doesn't explain it any more than that. "Not need bond to enjoy life."
"I know that," Sid says, which for some reason makes Zhenya laugh.
"Yes, Sid have lots of fun," Zhenya says.
"Sidney Crosby," Alex says, starting to catch on and pretending to be shocked, "does that mean you have fun," he makes that as dirty as possible, "without being bonded?"
"Yes," Sid says. "I'm not a virgin." he says it emphatically but quietly, so they're not overheard. "I've dated betas and alphas. I'm just careful about it, so I don't end up bonded when I don't want to be."
"Dated," Zhenya huffs. "Many betas Sid date for one night."
"Geno," Sid protests with a laugh.
"My whole world different now," Alex says. It's only partly a joke. Not only does this change his view of Sid, but he also gets that Sid's trusting him with information that not many people have. "But you still want alpha to bond with?"
"Well, yeah," Sid says. "I mean, I want to fall in love and all of that. Don't you believe in love, at least?"
Alex shrugs. "Used to. Not sure anymore."
Sid frowns at him for that, but Zhenya says, "Talk about romance all night, very boring," and Sid and Alex both let him change the subject.
After dinner, Zhenya and Sid wait with him for his Uber to arrive. Alex isn't surprised that Zhenya gives him an enthusiastic hug, but he is surprised that Sid steps in for a hug.
*
Sid and Alex start texting sometimes and become friends. At some point, playing against each other is enough to bring on Sid's heat. He calls Alex while he's going through it and the phone sex breaks his heat.
Then they meet up after their next game against each other and make out a bit:
"You say you not virgin," Alex says.
"You caused my heat last time you were here," Sid says, face pressed into Alex's shoulder. "And then you broke it over the phone. If we do, I think the bond will take."
"Not want to bond to me?"
"Do you want to?" Sid asks. It's a good question. "I don't want to on accident."
That's a good point, and Alex calls, "Zhenya," at the same time Sid calls, "G."
"Need chaperone," Alex says when Zhenya comes around the corner. It's probably obvious from the way he and Sid are clinging to each other.
At some point when they're texting, they talk about hand feeding. Sid says he doesn't like it for a whole meal, but for a few bites as a symbolic thing. The next time they're having dinner together (with Geno chaperoning), Alex holds up his fork to feed Sid and says, "Symbolic." (Poor, long-suffering Geno having to witness this whole courtship.)
Later, Alex texts Sid and says he's changed his mind and he does believe in love. They talk about bonding, and eventually decide they want to. They plan a vacation together during the summer and the first night, Alex knots Sid and they bond. Later, Sid lets Alex Instagram a picture of them, Sid leaning against Alex's chest, both of them shirtless in the sun, sharing a lounger by the pool, Alex's arm across Sid's chest and the claiming bite on Sid's shoulder visible.
Content Note: Part of why I didn't come back to this story is that I had Sid talking about hooking up with betas but wanting to bond with an alpha, and I was uncomfortable with that in an A/B/O as an allegory for gender/sexuality politics way.
Alex raises his eyebrows at Zhenya when he sees that they aren't dining alone.
"His idea," Zhenya says with a shrug as he greets Alex.
Alex's eyebrows go up again, but he schools himself into a smile when he greets Sid. "Hello, Sid."
"Hi," Sid says. "I hope you don't mind that I crashed your dinner."
"Of course not," Alex says. "Always happy to have dinner with lovely omega."
Sid blushes, a dusting of red across the top of his cheeks, and he looks down at the table.
"Sanja," Zhenya says. "Not nice to tease."
"Not teasing," Alex protests. "Unless you say Sid not lovely."
Zhenya looks from Alex to Sid and opens his mouth, then closes it.
Sid lets out a honking giggle. "He's got you there, Geno."
Zhenya throws up his hands in an obviously exaggerated gesture of frustration. "You flirt then. I'm chaperone."
Alex tsks. "Always pout when not get his own way."
Sid laughs at that too, and Alex grins at Zhenya until he relents and laughs.
"Not fair, both team up against me. Supposed to be on my team."
"Many things are not fair," Alex says. "You get to see Sid always, I only see pretty face sometimes."
"Sid," Zhenya says seriously, "I'm good chaperone. You tell me Sanja go too far, I make him stop."
Sid makes a face at Zhenya. "I can tell him myself," he says, and then pointedly does not tell Alex he's gone too far.
He continues to not tell Alex he's gone too far until halfway through dinner when he looks very determined and says, "I don't need protecting." It's in response to Zhenya, but then he turns that look on Alex too. "From either of you."
Alex genuinely has no idea what Sid's talking about. "I check you all the time," he says.
"Off the ice," Sid says. "You talked to reporters about me."
It takes a moment to figure out what Sid's talking about. "Because they ask," Alex says. "What do you want me to do? Say, 'No, Sid terrible, never get better'?"
"No," Sid says, with the whiny edge his voice can get sometimes. Then, looking between them, "But you don't have to protect me because I'm an omega."
"Protect you because you team," Zhenya says.
That has the sound of a long-standing argument they can keep rehashing any time, so Alex ignores it and says, "Not protect you at all. Tell truth. You sick, get better, takes time." He shrugs. "True because you're hockey player, not because you're pretty omega." He grins. "True even if you're ugly omega."
Sid stares at him for an awkwardly long time. Alex just lets him, because he has nothing to hide on this count. He's telling the truth, and talking about Sid's hockey is, at least in this case, wholly separate from flirting with him.
Sid's sigh sounds somewhat defeated. "Could you at least try not to sound like you're an alpha defending my helpless omega honor when you say things like that?"
Sid's tone when he says "helpless omega honor" is enough to make Alex pause and think before he speaks.
"I don't think you're a helpless omega," he says. "I think you get sick, take time to get better. True for alphas too." Sid seems satisfied enough with that as an explanation that Alex also says, "You care about your omega honor. Always have a chaperone." He gestures at Zhenya.
"Not always," Sid protests. "Just with unbonded alphas."
"Very traditional," Alex says.
Sid shrugs. "I like tradition. I want to bond with an alpha who who respects that."
Alex blinks, because while he hasn't really put any thought into Sid's love life, he probably wouldn't have guessed that Sid is that traditional, or that he's looking for an alpha.
"Sid very picky," Zhenya says.
"I'm not picky," Sid says. "I'm particular."
Alex joins Zhenya in laughing at that.
Even the corners of Sid's mouth turn up in a reluctant smile. "I don't want to bond with just anyone. I want to bond with the right alpha for me."
Alex leans forward. "You're a romantic."
Sid blushes a little, but says, "Yeah, I guess. Don't you want to meet the right omega to bond with?"
Alex sits back. "No."
Sid frowns and Zhenya chuckles.
"What?" Alex asks Zhenya.
"Nothing," Zhenya says. "Only is funny, watching you two say this. Always different."
"You don't want to bond?" Sid asks slowly.
Alex shrugs. "Found omega, fell in love, think we bond, but then it end." It stings less now, but it still hurts, and he doesn't explain it any more than that. "Not need bond to enjoy life."
"I know that," Sid says, which for some reason makes Zhenya laugh.
"Yes, Sid have lots of fun," Zhenya says.
"Sidney Crosby," Alex says, starting to catch on and pretending to be shocked, "does that mean you have fun," he makes that as dirty as possible, "without being bonded?"
"Yes," Sid says. "I'm not a virgin." he says it emphatically but quietly, so they're not overheard. "I've dated betas and alphas. I'm just careful about it, so I don't end up bonded when I don't want to be."
"Dated," Zhenya huffs. "Many betas Sid date for one night."
"Geno," Sid protests with a laugh.
"My whole world different now," Alex says. It's only partly a joke. Not only does this change his view of Sid, but he also gets that Sid's trusting him with information that not many people have. "But you still want alpha to bond with?"
"Well, yeah," Sid says. "I mean, I want to fall in love and all of that. Don't you believe in love, at least?"
Alex shrugs. "Used to. Not sure anymore."
Sid frowns at him for that, but Zhenya says, "Talk about romance all night, very boring," and Sid and Alex both let him change the subject.
After dinner, Zhenya and Sid wait with him for his Uber to arrive. Alex isn't surprised that Zhenya gives him an enthusiastic hug, but he is surprised that Sid steps in for a hug.
*
Sid and Alex start texting sometimes and become friends. At some point, playing against each other is enough to bring on Sid's heat. He calls Alex while he's going through it and the phone sex breaks his heat.
Then they meet up after their next game against each other and make out a bit:
"You say you not virgin," Alex says.
"You caused my heat last time you were here," Sid says, face pressed into Alex's shoulder. "And then you broke it over the phone. If we do, I think the bond will take."
"Not want to bond to me?"
"Do you want to?" Sid asks. It's a good question. "I don't want to on accident."
That's a good point, and Alex calls, "Zhenya," at the same time Sid calls, "G."
"Need chaperone," Alex says when Zhenya comes around the corner. It's probably obvious from the way he and Sid are clinging to each other.
At some point when they're texting, they talk about hand feeding. Sid says he doesn't like it for a whole meal, but for a few bites as a symbolic thing. The next time they're having dinner together (with Geno chaperoning), Alex holds up his fork to feed Sid and says, "Symbolic." (Poor, long-suffering Geno having to witness this whole courtship.)
Later, Alex texts Sid and says he's changed his mind and he does believe in love. They talk about bonding, and eventually decide they want to. They plan a vacation together during the summer and the first night, Alex knots Sid and they bond. Later, Sid lets Alex Instagram a picture of them, Sid leaning against Alex's chest, both of them shirtless in the sun, sharing a lounger by the pool, Alex's arm across Sid's chest and the claiming bite on Sid's shoulder visible.