#you know!!

Thank youuu, Mx Goldfish! Originally I decided to make Ilya a beta in this fic because I wanted to preserve some of the transgressiveness of being gay (whereas alpha/omega relationships would be not only normal but encouraged). So once Shane is outed as omega, everyone would try to set him up with a nice strong alpha because that's what omegas are supposed to want, and Shane just wants Ilya!

One thing I've noticed about stories that use omegaverse and similar premises is how they engage with the implications of the biological imperative. I find it so interesting how often the characters will be negatively impacted by stereotypes and the narrator will push back against some of this, but ultimately, to fulfil the romantic and sexual fantasy, the characters give in to biology and are rewarded for it. You may chafe at the confines of omega identity and fight back to retain agency over your body, but at the end of the day, you do just want to get bitten and knotted by an alpha, you know? Which in turn affirms the stereotypes and designation roles that the text is ostensibly pushing back against.

And of course that's got a lot to do with this fantasy of compatibility (and the size kink and the breeding kink and the D/s...!) but I can't help but read it as heteronormativity asserting itself. I love when people write alpha/alpha omegaverse or soulmate AUs where the soulmates don't become a couple! And I realised I wanted to explore some of the ways that omegaverse can go "wrong" including with sex. Shane and Ilya love each other and they have incredible, mind-blowing sex 98% of the time and there is no part of Shane that thinks he'd be better off with an alpha partner, but he still exists in an omega body.

This would be SUCH an awful extra layer to their dynamic in these years, I think. They're both right because it's a matter of safety, but Ilya thinks Shane hiding his designation risks his physical health while Shane thinks hiding is how he protects himself from designation-based discrimination and violence and they're both right and there isn't a solution to it. The team doctor finding out was both a health risk and discriminatory. Theriault knowing is a result of stereotypes and contributed to an environment that makes Shane feel like he has to give over more of himself even though nothing about him has changed. There is no version of this that doesn't have devastating consequences.