Red Roses, Aster, and Peonies

27

Both laid awake, almost bored. Ivan stared at the ceiling, Alfred on his phone texting his kids to make sure they were all alright, messaging his workers to make sure there wasn't too much chaos. Bodaway called and they talked for a bit.

Alfred hung up and put his phone down. It was silent again. Ivan glanced at him, looking him up and down before looking back at the ceiling.

"I've been thinking."

"That's never good."

"How come you can have babies? Do all demons just... possess that power?" Ivan asked, rolling over to look at him, grabbing his forearm and rubbing his scars.

"I'm intersex," he yawned, "demons normally have three chromosomes, but around 25% of the population have four or five, and around 22% of that has both bits."

"That makes more sense," Ivan replied, kissing his forehead as Alfred rolled onto his back. He patted his belly, Alfred tensing before relaxing, giving him a pouty glare.

"Cutie," Ivan chuckled, smiling at him, "I love you."

Alfred hummed, "Love you too."

Ivan wrapped his arms around him, drawing him close and kissing him on the nose, his hands running up and down his back. He felt Alfred's hands come up his chest and land on his cheeks, felt him running his thumbs under his eyes before he pecked him on the lips.

"Do you ever even want to have a baby?"

Alfred giggled, smiling with half-lidded eyes, "Only with you~"

"I'm being serious," Ivan said, cupping his cheeks, his pinky fingers below his chin, moving it up.

"So am I," Alfred said, "I'd always wanted to have a baby. Mostly in spite of my aunt who said I'd be a horrible mother, really, she was a shitty mom. I just wanted to take care of someone. I got that opportunity with my little states, my territories, my capital, my little darlings, but I always wanted to have a baby with my 'one true love'."

He sighed, staring at the ceiling, "My babies are my own though, even though they didn't come for me, and I wouldn't change them for the world... I just..."

"You want to have a baby you asked for, that you took care of since birth," Ivan said, "I kinda know how it feels. Sometimes when we would be colonizing my government would dump the young personifications we took over onto me... most of them died or were killed when they got older and I couldn't do anything about it."

"Like... with NK?" Alfred asked, not knowing if he was hitting a sore spot.

"Ya, like Severnaya (North)," Ivan said, "They wanted to turn him into a machine and they broke his mind in the process, now he can't function like a normal human being."

Alfred stayed silent, letting him continue.

"One time, when he was maybe... seven, physically, I asked if he wanted to play in the snow with Raivis, er, Latvia, and he said yes. I thought it was fine until I heard Latvia scream- I looked out the window to see that Im Sung had pulled a gun and was trying to kill him. They taught him that playing was killing.

"I didn't know what to do with him after that. Hit him on the back of the head so hard he passed out. Boy didn't trust me after that, carried a gun or knife everywhere. Always tried to make sure I saw it."

Alfred nodded, "Sounds about what happened with Im Soo. Wanted him to kill without thinking. It was only because I was sneakier that I was able to break the cycle.

"Reminded me a lot of how I was raised, I guess, and I hated it."

Ivan nodded, his eyes going down his chest and then lower, to his stomach. He pushed himself up, leaning over to kiss him on the belly, just above his belly button. Alfred let out a sigh, looking at him sweetly, running the back of his hand down his cheek when Ivan finally looked at him.