The Depth of Green

Chapter 2

Chapter 1 recap: we set the scene, get a glimpse of the life of an omega in Japan, and (viewed through Otabek's POV) meet Yuri-- the mysterious blond who is distinctively not Japanese-- for the first time.

(Wow, this chapter was 4K words-- that was not supposed to happen.)

I didn't make the connection, when writing that I would update on Tuesdays (I say, after having posted this on a Monday), that this would be posted on the US election day. That doesn't matter, though, because it is, and I hope that this chapter, just for a little while, can be a respite from the storm that is today and its inevitable aftermath. Stay safe, stay strong, and vote-- we're all in this together, even if you don't live in America. ♥

~~~

Yuri didn't like the other omegas; they were supposed to be a family, said the matchmakers, but he didn't buy it. If he were to be totally honest, the atmosphere and inhabitants of the house bore a far greater resemblance to those of a high school than the family home the house was esteemed to be. Still, though, they played the part in front of the crowds and investors, (if the showings were ever attended by such) and, for the most part, people kept to themselves and the ones they had chosen to fight the isolation insanity with. They could almost play the happy family; but still, every family fought.

Jealousy was the biggest problem in the house, every inhabitant worth a cent or less aware that the strict portion regulation, the punishments, the guards held only the merest flicker of a candle to the damage that could be inflicted by an omega with just enough friends, just enough social influence, just enough admirers, to be powerful. In the house, whoever could charm the guards held the keys, and they never failed to dangle them just above the bars, just out of reach, giving just a small laugh as the other animals clawed at their cages, chasing a hope that was so close, so near, so fake. Yuri had done that dance, too, once, at his first house, years ago, but had long given it up; the allure of favoritism, protection from the guards who were employed to protect all of the omegas, not just their favorites, having lost its shine, dulled and rotten to Yuri's weary, weathered gaze.

Yuri wouldn't jump: not for the guards, not for the alphas who pestered him at the showings, not for anyone. He'd jumped before, and look where that had gotten him.

He would watch, though, as the others leaped into the air, chasing the slivers of freedom that glinted, mirage-like, in this prison, and sigh vaguely when they succeeded, or, inevitably, at one time or another, fell back to Earth, stomach sucked in and bust heaving, rejected by a guard who had a fresher, prettier flower to prey on.

It always was their figures, Yuri would muse as he watched them coming onto the guards, the alphas who grinned wolf-like with their hot breath and wandering hands, sleazy glances and permanently askew uniforms; the omegas flaunted themselves as if they had nothing to lose and everything to gain from the one, falsely important factor that was their bodies. They all had something to lose, though, Yuri knew: they had everything to lose; Yuri was living proof of that. The subject to endless sets of wandering hands, hot breaths in his ear, whispered words of how he'd be the perfect companion on cold nights like these, if only...

What Yuri wouldn't give to slap them away, to push them aside and tell them what he thought of them, their IQs, their prospects in life, their very beings.

But he wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't need that kind of trouble, and, ironically, the question really was what he wouldn't give.

***

The showing over, first back through the door, Yuri positioned himself just beside it, shielded from view by the wall, and was mentally grateful that the guard stationed several feet away from him, Akari, was the one on duty. As they went, the guards were always handsy, but Akari was less aggressive than most, and at least wasn't prone to spontaneous squeezing while an omega was doing a chore assigned to them by the house. Yuri was currently on parasol duty; he would be left alone. It was a relief; after spending nearly two hours engaged in stimulating, intellectual conversation about philosophy with the alpha from the showing, Otabek, Yuri wasn't ready to return to his objectified role, just yet.