[SERGEI]
Frolo looked devastatingly beautiful as Sergei drove to Romanov Steel. Maybe because he was seeing its normalcy and trying to commit so much to memory.
He knew the war would change a lot, and for a moment he wished he’d stayed in defense mode.
Maybe there wouldn’t be too much damage.
But Katya had already lost so much.
Katya had cried too many times because of this city and the people in it.
Sergei would fix that.
He’d make sure his Solnyshka didn’t cry again. Not if he could help it.
Perhaps that was why he turned the radio up and let himself drown one more time in Katya’s favorites. Maybe at the end of this, they would get what they were striving so hard for, right?
Romanov Steel was normal.
Too normal for a Sergei in combat wear.
A Sergei holding lilies in one hand and dessert in another.
A Sergei whose entire reality was determined by a beautiful boy who didn’t ask for war. The boy who only wanted to live without always suffering.
And of course, the moment Sergei stepped inside Romanov Steel, he felt the shift. He usually came here in casual clothes, dressed like he’d been doing domestic chores, and remembered he had a boyfriend.
He’d always looked safe whenever he came into Romanov Steel.
But today was different. He knew it.
He felt it.
Still, it was a need.
Because he was also desperate to see what Katya’s reaction would be.
If Katya saw him in combat wear again.
Sergei knew Katya was intelligent enough to connect the dots. But a part of him desperately hoped that Katya didn’t hate him for this.
That Katya didn’t see him as a monster.
That Katya didn’t stare at him in disgust.
He didn’t want to lose Katya; he wouldn’t risk it.
Still, Sergei got into the elevator, like his heart wasn’t hammering in his chest. Like he wasn’t dying inside of uncertainty.
But he willed himself to go.
Because he wasn’t going to stop the war regardless.
He would get Katya that peace.
Even if Katya hated him afterward. Though a part of Sergei desperately hoped Katya wouldn’t hate him.
The elevator stopped a few times on different floors, but no one who had pressed the button walked in.
Every other day, they were more than glad to survive Katya’s boyfriend.
But this man in combat wear, with guns tucked and blades sheathed, didn’t look like Katya’s boyfriend. He looked like the devil of Frolo.
And no one in their right mind wanted to be trapped in a moving box with the devil of Frolo.
Sergei didn’t even offer the warm smiles he always offered.
Damn.
The elevator dinged on the research floor, and Katya...
He smelled Sergei before he even saw him.
The alpha who always masked his scent...
Hadn’t.
And Sergei waited.
For the disgust.
For the horror in Katya’s face. Because he could feel the room change as the Romanov Steel employees kept their distance from him.
Then Katya turned to him.
It was eleven o’clock in the morning.
Not four in the evening when Sergei usually came.
Not even lunch hour.
Eleven o’clock.
"Vladimir, you’re here," Katya said as enthusiastically as he always did.
Sergei tried to read for fake enthusiasm.
Disappointment.
Disgust.
But all he got...
"I’m here, alpha," Katya waved to him, urging him to come forward.
And Sergei...
He still looked for any markers.
But there was nothing.
Just his boyfriend who saw him as a normal person.
Just this beautiful boy who was still staring at him dreamily, not even scared of the weapons on Sergei.
Which was interesting, given that weapons were always left at the entrance of the company.
But Sergei never came to Romanov to cause trouble.
And Mr. Romanov had waived all security checks on the madman.
"I..." Sergei tripped over his words again.
"You look good, alpha... so good," Katya said, adding the last bit softly.
And the devil of Frolo...
The man who committed murders...
Felt his cheeks redden.
Fuck.
"You’re... You’re not scared?" Sergei asked quietly, even though he hoped to the universe and the deities that Katya wasn’t.
"Of you? Please..." Katya laughed casually, taking the flowers from Sergei and putting them on his desk.
"I take it you’re not going to pick me up from work today, no?" Katya asked softly, like he already could tell what was about to happen.
"I will... I just..."
"Ahh... So probably not in the coming days," Katya said, and Sergei nodded.
He didn’t know what to say yet, because his mind was still coping with the fact that Katya wasn’t scolding him for coming to his workplace like that.
"Well then. Whatever you do out there, if you die, I will kill you myself," Katya warned, holding Sergei’s hand and lifting it to his lips. Then Katya pressed his lips gently, and Sergei just stared.
His Solnyshka...
Damn.
"I’ll do my best," Sergei promised, and Katya glared at him.
Sergei let out a soft laugh before correcting himself.
"I’ll do my best not to come home injured," and Katya swatted his arm, making Sergei wince, but Katya just glared at him.
"If you stay away from me because you’re hurt, I’ll hunt you down and lock you up," Katya said, making Greg snort beside him.
Ah Greg.
The alpha Sergei had almost forgotten about.
But then he’d made his peace with Greg already.
"I... I can come home?" Sergei asked sheepishly; you’d think he was being offered heaven.
"Of course. I don’t care what shape you are in when you come. As long as you come back to me, everything else is fixable," Katya said, shrugging, and Sergei felt his heart swell with warmth.
His omega wanted him home.
Regardless of what happened to him.
Or what he was like.
Katya wanted him home.
"We might need... a few nurses," Sergei teased, and Katya just laughed softly.
"Then it’s a good thing I’m the Romanov heir and can afford home care for you, Vladimir," Katya said as he opened the dessert Sergei had brought him.
"Here, have some," Katya said, handing a cake to Sergei.
The man in combat wear.
The man Romanov Steel employees were terrified of.
The man with guns and blades on him.
...Eating cake.
What the fuck.
"Thank you," Sergei said, and Katya smiled at him, like this was just another day for them.
And as Sergei shared his mate’s dessert, he couldn’t help but fall in love even more with Katya.
The man who saw him for what he was, what he could be, and still chose to see Sergei as a person.
Not a weapon he needed to be wary of.
Not a devil he needed to avoid.
Just Sergei.
Just his Vladimir.
"No matter what happens out there, come home to me, alright?" Katya said moments later, when Sergei got up ready to leave.
"Of course," Sergei smiled.
"You’re my home, Moy lyubim. I’ll always come back to you for as long as you allow me," Sergei breathed quietly.
"Perfect, because it would be awkward to have an empty home when my husband is fighting a war and not coming home," Katya said, and Sergei stiffened.
"H... Husband?"
"Only if you’re a good alpha and come home whenever you get time in the war," Katya shrugged.
And Sergei...
Oh, Sergei.
"I love you, my beautiful Solnyshka," the alpha said, wiping a stray tear from his eyes.
"Go now... The sooner you go, the sooner you can return to me, Vladimir," Katya said, kissing Sergei’s forehead softly.
It was a miracle that Sergei even made it to his car without melting.
Husband...
Katya had called him husband.
Oh, he would end this war, fast.
And return home.
To his... Husband.