Work Text:
It would be better if Mobei-Jun could carry the baby. He is stronger, hardier, bigger. He would need to consume the Flower Giving Flower in order to do so, but so would Shang Qinghua. An heir to the throne is necessary, and he cannot trust any of his surviving nieces or nephews, cannot know for certain if any of them resent him for killing their fathers or if Linguang-Jun is secretly influencing them.
(“The second we single one of them out, they’re gonna be target number one for the rest of the pack, too,” Shang Qinghua had pointed out. “We could avoid picking one until they’re all grown up, buuut that just means that they’d all be fighting like cats and dogs until then, thinning the herd and dogpiling anyone they think is currently being favored if you so much as accidentally look at one of them for too long. And all the surviving parents will be egging them on the entire time - like the world’s worst stagemoms, ugh.”)
So, an heir must be made rather than chosen. Mobei-Jun already has a mate, so that is no issue. The fact that his mate is a human would be seen as an unresolvable issue by many, but they are fools and have no final say in the matter. The child will have half Mobei blood; that is enough. There are pills and elixirs one can take, to encourage a halfbreed child to take and to develop well. Rare and expensive, but Shang Qinghua arranges everything as if it is only mildly inconvenient.
Everything is taken care of, and it would be for the best if Mobei-Jun could carry the child-- but he cannot.
He cannot.
“The inherited mantle of power of the Northern Desert King would be far too strong for any unborn child to bear,” one of the elders repeats to him. “We have had kings before who have attempted to bear children themselves, but it always ends in miscarriage. It is to the king to sow their seed and for the queen to carry. Which is why the venerable Mobei-Jun should acquire himself a strong, well-bred wife who can--”
He stops listening to them once they start giving him useless advice again. He will only have one wife; Shang Qinghua is all that he wants. He could perhaps sire a child outside of marriage. He could even have Shang Qinghua arrange it, have him find someone that he thinks is suitable for the purpose, someone that he will permit, and then pay them handsomely for the service. But the child would be a bastard then. Even the slightest crack in their legitimacy would be exploited by rivals.
He mulls all of this over heavily, retreading the same issues over and over again as if he might find some new solution that has escaped him until now. It does not happen. He goes and finds Shang Qinghua.
“I cannot carry children,” he tells him gravely.
“Huh?” Shang Qinghua blinks, and props himself up on his arms, tilting backwards until he’s looking up at Mobei-Jun upside down, his hair hanging the wrong way. “I mean, yeah? The whole ‘full of so much eldritch Abyss power that it’ll crush up any fetus like your uterus is a trash compactor’ thing, right?”
“You already knew.”
“Of course! Ah, what, didn’t you? My king, your sex ed has been so lacking. More and more I understand why our first time together was so awful. Don’t worry, though! I’m ready to take this bullet - uh, arrow, for both of us. I’ve already horked down the pussy flower, and taken the new equipment for a spin. It’s really interesting. I still haven’t figured out how to orgasm yet, but I feel like I’m really close--”
“You do not mind carrying the child yourself?”
“I mean, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass, but yeah I already knew that this was how it was going to end up, my king! I mean, it’s only nine months, so how hard can it be really? Ah, famous last words, ahaha…”
He goes to his knees behind Shang Qinghua and winds his arms around him, resting his hands against his stomach. He frowns, thinking about what is soon going to grow there. How small Shang Qinghua is in his arms.
“It will be very big,” he says dubiously. “Mobei children are larger than most.”
“Don’t try to psyche me out, my king,” Shang Qinghua says. “I’ve already started making arrangements! I’ve ordered so many fertility talismans. I’m about to be the most breedable human in a ten li radius. You’re going to be able to impregnate me just by looking at me for a little too long. Squeezing out a watermelon sized--”
“Larger.”
“--a watermelon sized squalling infant is future Shang Qinghua’s problem. Maybe I can find some drugs before then that’ll let me block the entire experience out of my memory. We can invite Mu-shidi to the party so he can fix whatever remains between my legs. It’ll be fine, just wait and see!”
“The pregnancy will be unpleasant for you. You will be… vulnerable.”
“Like that’s anything new,” Shang Qinghua mutters. “I’ll still be the weakest person in the palace, then, just by a wider margin. Waddling around like a fat duck… Ah, at the worst I could go and stick out the roughest months over at my sect--”
“No,” Mobei-Jun says at once, tightening his hold on him. The only idea worse than Shang Qinghua made weak and vulnerable is him weak and vulnerable where Mobei-Jun can’t see or protect him. “You will stay with this king.”
“Hot,” Shang Qinghua mutters, and then starts to subtly try to push Mobei-Jun’s hands lower down his stomach. “Alright, then, so clingy wife mode it is, then! See, my king, it’ll be fine. You’re making a big deal over nothing. Now, do you maybe want to see the new equipment yourself…?”
Mobei-Jun still has reservations, but practical, efficient Shang Qinghua keeps finding ways of shooting them down. In the end, he submits to him. He is his most trusted advisor, after all; if he thinks this is the correct path, then he will trust his judgement.
When Shang Qinghua starts to complain, he will have no one to blame but himself.