Spoils

T'Challa was lying beside Erik in their shared bed, pretending to take a nap. Erik knew that T'Challa was avoiding him out of embarrassment, but he was willing to let it slide for now given how much T'Challa's pride must have suffered today.

To amuse himself, Erik scrolled through the Wakandan equivalent of Twitter on his kimoyo bead bracelet. The trending topic of the day was, predictably, himself and T'Challa. People were happily gossiping and making memes about the return of their long-lost Prince, his scandalous bonding to T'Challa and the state of their relationship right now.

Erik rolled his eyes and held back a sigh.

His first mating with T'Challa had been unintentional, an irresistible biological compulsion on both of their parts. But the same thing couldn't be said for what he'd done with T'Challa earlier in the medical bay. He had wanted to fuck T'Challa, and T'Challa had let him. And he couldn't even blame it on the Change this time. He'd had days to get used to T'Challa as an omega.

The thing was, T'Challa was slowly starting to grow on him. Erik's fantasies of victory had always involved him ruling the world with a pretty omega by his side to spoil and kids to inherit his empire. He had never imagined the omega would be T'Challa, but fate had a way of fucking up his plans.

Erik had hated T'Challa for a long, long time, but now, it was as if everything about T'Challa was designed to appeal specifically to him. The way T'Challa squirmed when he was embarrassed, the bright sheen of tears in his eyes when he was trying to hide his shame or arousal, the way he reacted so responsively to just a little bit of stimulation - it was just hot. Of course Erik hadn't been able to resist the sight of T'Challa restrained with his legs spread, all slicked up and just begging to be fucked properly.

Wait a minute.

It suddenly occurred to Erik that he'd fucked T'Challa right after being informed by the doctor that he was healthy and most likely fertile. Fuck! For all he knew, he had already gotten T'Challa pregnant.

But for some reason, the idea didn't seem quite as repulsive to him now. The thought of T'Challa growing round and cranky with his cubs formed a very appealing mental image. It triggered an unexpected swell of desire and protectiveness within Erik - the urge to protect his mate. To procreate with him.

Biology, Erik told himself. That's all it is. Biology and hormones.

But despite Erik's best efforts to convince himself that it was all just a side effect of the Change, that he wasn't starting to - to fall for his fucking cousin, deep down, he knew that he was only lying to himself.

He had originally been looking forward to making T'Challa suffer, but his resolve had quickly crumbled the few times when T'Challa had showed just a little bit of distress. Listening to T'Challa sniffle and hold back tears while getting a spanking - a spanking which he had totally deserved, and which couldn't even have hurt that badly - had actually been somewhat upsetting for Erik. He had known the exact moment when T'Challa started getting off on it, but even then, he still felt irrationally guilty. Seeing T'Challa in pain or distress was now actively uncomfortable for him.

It was true that T'Challa wasn't the perfect little omega that Erik had always dreamed of settling down with. He wasn't as submissive as Erik preferred - Erik had always gone for the more traditional, obedient omegas - but he could tell that T'Challa was trying. Cooperating. He had worked to help Erik during the council meeting, had swallowed his pride and submitting to Erik with minimal fuss. In fact, it was because T'Challa wasn't by nature submissive which made it all the hotter to watch his internal struggles before he convinced himself to bend over for Erik.

It was fun.

And also, T'Challa was just hot. The Change had done its magic and reshaped T'Challa into a very attractive omega. Just a few subtle tweaks - a lengthening of his eyelashes, a softening of his features, and he was the prettiest omega Erik had ever laid eyes upon, even if he was still recognizably T'Challa. It was like nature had altered T'Challa exactly to suit Erik's tastes, transforming him into the exact sort of omega that Erik hadn't even known he wanted. He triggered all of Erik's possessive, protective instincts.

Could he really see himself spending the rest of his life with T'Challa?

It had all seemed so straightforward in the beginning. Pretend to be a happy family with T'Challa, then break the bond the moment the opportunity presented itself, when T'Challa had his first heat. He hadn't planned on getting so attached. Now he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to do it.

If he wasn't going to break the bond, he would need to somehow talk T'Challa over to his side, to persuade T'Challa to support his goals. Erik had been putting off the talk with T'Challa, but he decided to invite T'Challa to dinner and take it from there.

Erik looked down contemplatively at T'Challa's prone form lying in the bed next to him.

T'Challa was curled on his side, back towards Erik, huddled under a light silky blanket. It clung to the lines of his body, swelling at the curve of his ass. Erik resisted the urge to pinch it.  

"T'Challa," Erik said instead, nudging him gently. "Get up."

T'Challa didn't react, his breathing shallow and even. He was still pretending to be asleep.

"I know you're awake," Erik said, annoyed. He could feel it across the mating bond. This time he didn't bother to hold back - he reached across the bed to give T'Challa's juicy ass a satisfying pinch.

T'Challa yelped, more in surprise than pain, then quickly scrambled to sit up. There was a guilty, anxious expression on his face. He was probably worried that Erik would spank him again. T'Challa immediately began to apologise. "Erik, I'm sorry, please, I was just tired - "

Erik sighed. "You know I'm not going to punish you for every little thing, right?"

T'Challa blinked at him. From the look of it, he hadn't known that.

"Unless you'd like it that way," Erik added with a smirk. T'Challa had enjoyed the spanking much more than he should have.

"No!" T'Challa protested immediately, looking mortified.

Erik snorted. "Never mind. You wanna go for dinner? I want to talk to you."

T'Challa swallowed, still looking slightly nervous. "All right. Let's go."