Okay but I am thinking about core 4 sedoretu but I don’t know which axis each boy is on. The problem is I want all of them to have 3 hands and that’s not how sedoretu works
My brain went to a weird place last night. My dreams decided to hand me Jars/Dewey omega/omega post-heat cuddling. They were alone which means they spent their communal/pack-heat together but only together. Jars was thinking that it was nice as head omega to have another omega to take care of during heat which implies either they’re the only two Os on the team or communal heats is only a thing for unmated omegas. Both of them had babies in another room which makes this probably a continuation to the hidden pregnancy au idea I had and they’re both single parents.
Not sure if they’ve got anyone else in the house looking after the babies or making breakfast for them. Dad-who-stepped-up!beta!Rusty would be an ideal person but I could also see fourth line taking care of its own and Cookie and Haysie are rattling around Jars’ house feeding the dogs, communal playdate with all the babies and leaving the omegas to it ready to help them when they emerge from the nest.
I think my problem with retrospective fics is they tend to take the current instance of the team and then backdate it. Like the author sees the current narrative and then they pull that backwards so it’s always been that way ignoring the way that the composition of the team and its narratives have changed.
Maybe it’s because I watched the narrative shift in real time from “Two Headed Monster” to “The Core” trio but anything that tries to write Tanger feeling left out of the spotlight next to Sid and Geno just feels hollow to me. He’s been to 6 All Star Games. He’s lifted the cup 3 times. The reason it feels like he doesn’t have anyone around him in the ship or friendship sense is because they’ve all left for one reason or another: trades, free agency, retirement, etc. If you go back a dozen years and read fanfics set in those periods you will find Tanger with a thriving social life in the form of players some current fans didn’t know existed or didn’t know were on the team. How quickly we forget FlowerTanger or the existence of Duper, Talbo, or others. Dumo and Nealer still exist in some memories but Olli and others don’t. Idk. You can argue that Tanger feels lonely next to Sid and Geno as the only other player left from the 09 cup but you can’t convince me he felt lonely next to the two of them as far back as that. It was a completely different team and identity.
A day late and a dollar short but here’s some weird biology omegaverse worldbuilding+fic outline. For context, this is related to this idea I had in March and this post from April. (God it’s been a month and a half since I last tried to write this out. Ugh).
So for background, the original idea from this came before the Min game that was to be Jars’ first start in the nhl after being put on waivers in January. I’ve added some stuff to the initial idea but it’s def a product of late mpreg March. I think I finally have enough ducks in a row to talk at length about this au idea. It’s rough but whatever can’t work on it more in isolation.
So the basic fic pitch is what if unplanned unmated unannounced/hidden pregnancy!jars and that is why he’s been so *gestures* between the nhl and ahl this season. Tristan had an oops during his summer heat that they didn’t catch until the season had started which he then proceeded to not tell anyone about who didn’t need to know. Yes that includes him/them. Who? Anyone you just thought to ask about. That’s the why and how of both his lacking play this season and his stints in the minors – so he could continue playing through it. The call up during FNFO? So he could give birth. The rebound in his play down the stretch after the call up at the trade deadline? Dad strength. He just… had a baby that nobody knows about. Don’t worry about it. He’ll introduce the bab/pup to the rest of the team eventually. Who already knows and who is finding out for the first time? That’s the shenanigans.
How and why? Well, we’ll get there.
So, some background. Tristan is a male omega. An unmated one. Culturally it's pretty common for male omegas within a pack structure to hide the pregnancy from the rest of the pack. Male omegas run a higher risk of complications and general weirdness as their bodies handle pregnancy differently from female omegas and betas. It is equally as common for a celebration among the omegas within the pack over an expecting pregnancy as it is for mates to just withdraw for 9 months and then come back with a baby, depending on the pack structure. Now Tristan is the head omega of the Penguins team pack (he’s the longest tenured omega among players, it's traditionally a goalie role anyway, and Sid doesn’t have a mate), but he’s also unmated. So he’s got a lot of mixed instincts fucking with his head. The instinct to hide. The instinct to smother himself in the scents of his pack. Depending on who the baby daddy is (not important unless I want to add angst) he’s also hiding that. There’s also cultural taboos about talking about pregnancy before a certain length of time (first trimester?) due to how high risk male omega pregnancies are. Then after a while with the way the team is playing there’s just not a good time to bring it up. Plus what if the team isn’t excited for him? What if his team/pack reacts badly to the idea of his pup? All of this culminates such that the number of people who know Tristan is pregnant at the major league level* can be counted on one hand.
Physically with male omegas it's less obvious that they’re pregnant because the body reacts to the pregnancy differently. Female omegas experience pregnancy interchangeably to how people in our world do. The whole shebang. With male omegas it's a different picture. The body doesn’t shift to accommodate the fetus but instead hardens to protect it. There’s less worry about impact damage to the stomach/baby which is one of the reasons why Tristan can play through it. Pregnancy is higher risk in male omegas, partially because of the changes the body does (and doesn’t go through) but also because of the hormonal changes.
Why, you might ask, are they letting Tristan play even if it's not a risk to the baby? Why not just put him on ltir and let him sit out the season? Well you see, that is the plot hole that kept me from writing this for the longest time. The best answer I could come up with is that what if it’s not just hockey isn’t bad for baby, what if hockey is good for baby? And yes the pelican meme syntax is intentional. Seriously though, what if hormonal changes in male omegas as well as the biological changes that their bodies undergo so that they can continue working in the fields/hunting through pregnancy means that they need a minimum level of activity to stay healthy and sane through pregnancy. Baby needs regular doses of adrenaline, testosterone, and other chemicals for the baby's and daddy’s health. Male omega pregnancy is high risk for biological reasons and also because like food cravings causing expecting parents to eat the craziest things, expecting male omegas frequently see an increase in risk-taking behavior as their brains go looking for that adrenaline fix. Leaving Tristan in the locker room on ltir with an undisclosed lower body injury would mean a) disclosing to more people that he’s pregnant, and b) probably detrimental to his overall health. Thus there’s language in all omega contracts for such things as heat leave, maternity/paternity leave, and also playing through pregnancy.
So Tristan is doing a lot of hiding and dodging of the team. A lot of the team thinks it’s his play and the team’s record and think nothing of his strangeness. Tristan gets pretty religious with his scent blockers while at the same time needing pack scent so underneath the blockers and hiding his own scent he kinda smells like he rolled around in the team laundry when Tags wasn’t looking. Kris (alpha) is worried but chocks it up to an omega thing. Sid (alpha) thinks it’s a goalie thing. Ned (omega and goalie) doesn’t know what’s going on but he’s got his own woes and he trusts his tandem partner and head omega to tell him if something is wrong. (This is a mistake. Jars would prefer to tell nobody anything ever. In fact if he had his way he’d rock up to training camp with a six month old and no explanation. Do not trust this man to communicate effectively. He won’t). In between all the hiding and the experience penguins hockey (tragic), Jars really is happy to be here. He’s got his team surrounding him. He’s playing hockey. He loves it. Does need a larger support network? Yes. Is he going to talk to his larger support network? No. What’s the point of writing shenanigans if the thing would be over with clear and healthy communication.
Astute readers will have noticed the * earlier when I was talking about who knows. That’s because the number of people at the NHL level who know can be counted on one hand. There’s Vyas (Tristan’s doctor), Sully and Chico (Tristan’s coaches), and Dubas (gm & president of hockey ops). There’s also a handful of teammates he’s told or who have figured it out. That’s at the NHL level. Tristan spent two stints in the minors. The first was in October for a conditioning loan immediately after they realized he was pregnant and needed to see if he could play through it and the second was in January when he got placed on waivers. Tristan entered his conditioning stint determined not to talk about the pregnancy or any of his problems. And then the brooding omega ended up on a team with basically every 18 to 24 year old baby hockey player in the Penguins organization and well, I don’t think he told them then since it was temporary but they definitely knew something was up. Got them all protective and everything. Then during his second stint in the minors the primary WBS goalie was injured so they called up “so happy to be here and playing hockey” precious baby omega goalie Sergei Murashov, and boy did the nesting instincts kick him in the ass practically overnight. Tristan was not going to get attached. He got so attached so quickly. They got attached back. Gotta take care of their pregnant omega goalie yknow? Save him from experiencing (pittsburgh) penguins hockey (tragic) by making him experience (wilkes-barre/scranton) penguins hockey (fun).
So yeah Tristan has been mostly** successfully keeping his secret at the NHL level and by the time of his second stint in the minors, all of the kids know. Do the kids and the AHL guys understand why Trsitan hasn’t told anyone in the bigs what is going on with him? No. Like c’mon if he can’t trust Sidney Crosby who can he trust? They aren’t going to undermine his decision to hide it. They’re ride or die for him. Blomqvist is about the only person on the regular WBS roster who doesn’t know since nobody felt comfortable spilling Tristan’s secret. Baby alpha!Picks didn’t get told until he got sent down post-major-league-callup-and-haircut-saga. He knew something was up with Tristan but Rut didn’t read him into the open secret until he was back full time.
**Tristan is only mostly successful at hiding it from his teammates in that some people do know. Eller guessed and got told before he got traded (RIP). (He’s had to deal with pregnant Ovi. He knows what brooding omega looks like, even one trying to hide it). Obviously after January, all the AHL call ups know and aren’t saying shit. POJ (beta) walked into the locker room two days after being traded back to Pittsburgh and clocked that shit immediately. PO asked Tanger, who brushed him off, immediately. PO wasn’t trying to rock the boat so after feeling things out with Ned and DOC and getting nothing, he let it drop. He definitely wasn’t going to ask Tristan, especially if Tristan isn’t telling *Tanger* of all people. Picks is the one who confirms it for PO surprisingly enough. Picks may be ride or die but he cannot keep a secret and folds like a wet blanket when PO asks about how both he and Tristan are doing in WBS. Picks swears PO to secrecy, which, obviously he already wasn’t telling anyone. PO will never turn down the chance to know something others (coughTangercough) don’t. It's the little brother instinct in him. Also most of the SOAPs know. The expecting omegas among the mates all clocked Tristan at one of Sid’s massive team parties and are helping him hide it. They’re also slipping him scent stuff from their mates because pack is pack. He might not be a partner/mate but he is an omega and they’re going to support him. If he doesn’t want to tell anybody then they won’t make him. Cath spent like 5 minutes at team thanksgiving telling Tristan about how she hid her pregnancy with Alex from Kris before they were mated/married. She understands that instincts get weird. (Side note: there is definitely a moment in Tanger’s household where he is the only one who doesn’t know about Tristan. Cath and PO are absolutely conspiring against him).
Oh god I have no idea where to put this since its both important and not important but I don’t think it should go last so I’m moving it up here. Anyway I was thinking about what makes the different designations different and special beyond the mpreg stuff as well as how Tristan can hide the pregnancy so well. Anyway I was thinking that I give betas the nose so good it can smell emotions aka the typical omegaverse sniffer. They’re a small but not that small percent of the population. Most teams have a couple. The all-beta line of Rak-Geno-Rusty was a big deal when it happened. The only other official beta on the team is PO and that’s why he can clock Tristan. Idk what everyone else is tbh, probably a mix of alpha and omega. To give omegas something fun, they get not full blown empathy but soothing pheromones. They’re usually the peacekeepers in the pack and that’s why you usually see them in goalie positions, to calm things down in front of the net. Alphas get commanding pheromones + commanding voice, and maybe some other super senses stuff stolen from sentinel and guide aus since I’m leaning against it a little. The super sniffer for betas means they’re a little more susceptible to alpha and omega pheromones but it's not a big enough thing to matter in the grand scheme of things and it's very easy to get used to things or not notice gradual changes in scent. This is why our trio of beta forwards don’t realize what’s up with Tristan while PO does.
Anyway I think that’s most of the big whys and hows. Which means timeline stuff next. Basic overview of things: Sometime in June/July Tristan has his summer heat. No idea with who. Jakenbake or Teddy if I want some ex-pens angst, but it's just as likely a rando. Doesn’t matter. The sire isn’t in the picture. Tristan is determined to single parent*** this pup. We’ll circle back to that later. The start of the season happens. Experience penguins hockey™️happens. Tristan gets pulled and benched. Routine screening by the docs finds the pregnancy. He gets sent back to Pittsburgh to figure stuff out and then down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the conditioning loan to see if this is something he can play through. He can. Honestly I don’t remember much of November through January and that’s probably for the best. I know we had some hot streaks. I know we had cold streaks. None of it really matters unless I decide to attach some shenanigans to the time period like Cath and Tristan at team thanksgiving and right now I don’t feel like going back. No, the next thing in the timeline is the Kraken game in January. I think Tristan was really determined to stick it out as the backup this season but that game was so specifically terrible it just flipped a switch in Tristan’s brain. After the game, Canner went to check on Tristan, (bc Canner takes care of his goalies even if they aren’t on the same team anymore), and found him crying in an isolated corner of PPG Paints. Canner is the first person Tristan intentionally tells outside of the docs and the kids and other omegas who all just sorta found out. It’s an important moment for Tristan, and also he realizes he can’t *do this* like he has been. Does that mean he tells the team and accepts help? No. Instead he goes to talk to Dubas the next morning about contingencies which is how and why waivers happens. Are there non-waivers ways to send him down? Yes, but that requires him to disclose his pregnancy to the NHL and thus the media which they aren’t doing, so he’s ineligible. He goes down to the baby pens to keep playing and also fails to keep any of this secret from the kids. It’s okay. If Tristan can’t trust Sidney Crosby, he can at least trust them. Tristan is touched, if not reassured. From there Tristan plays out the rest of his pregnancy in the minors, with the call up around the all star/four nations break/bye week coincidentally being very close to his due date (wink wink). By the time the trade deadline happens and Tristan is called back up to the NHL full time, Tristan has a beautiful baby boy being taken care of by a live-in nanny he got from one of the lady pens who sends him photos regularly.
Which brings me to the original scene I had in mind for this fic lmao. I had to fill in the backstory before I could pitch the actual scene. The original idea was Flower taking Tristan out to lunch ahead of his first start since getting sent down just to check in on him regarding the backup role and the AHL and all that jazz. Flower may not be a penguin anymore but Tristan was his backup and he’s still a mentor and older omega. During lunch, Tristan gets a notification on his phone that he doesn’t silence fast enough from the nanny. It's an update+photo of the kid and that’s how Flower finds out. Flower switches straight into parent mode and wants to know if the team/pack is taking care of him. Tristan has to shyly admit that nobody (well not the core at least) knows. His instincts plus the situation meant that he kept it as much to himself as he could. Flower knows this is a mistake, but who is he to resist a bit of chaos. Also he’s boggling that this is the second time in two years he’s had ex-teammates rock up with a secret baby. (Yes of course the Deweys ended up with a secret baby nobody – including the parents – knew about until after the trade deadline. Talk about a two nickels moment for him, especially with omega!Dewey also newly on the pens post-tdl).
People definitely find out over the course of the timeline. Tristan, Boko, and Emil definitely spend the time after the trade deadline being incredibly suspicious (it’s just sharing baby photos with each other and the WBS gc. All of the baby alphas were devastated that Tristan’s call up meant they were too far away to babysit). When Wilkes stopped by to practice at Cranberry ahead of their games in Ohio? Baby time. The mates all know and are keeping the secret from their husband/mates bc omega solidarity. Cath and POJ gossip about it and how clueless Kris is. Rak ends up finding out when his mate has her pregnancy scare and he rushes back from the western road trip to check on her. Which leads to Petey finding out because Swedish househusbands four-way marriage. (Also we’re keeping Doc and Petey bc its my fanfiction I can do what I want and that includes not making myself sad about trades). Geno is the first from the core to find out when Sergei sends a photo of baby!Jars to the Russian NHL players gc instead of the baby pens (wbs) or baby baby pens (wheeling) gcs. Geno has to then go make sad puppy dog eyes at his goalie until he gets to hold the kid. Dewey shows up to the locker room post trade deadline with like a six to nine month old girl and gets recommended the same nanny Jars is using. They end up bonding about being omegas with oops babies though of course Dewey has an alpha and Jars is unmated.
I think the way Jars finally breaks the news is by showing up to family skate with a six week old and no explanation other than “look at what I made don’t ask questions.” Everyone would like to ask more questions but Tristan is too busy skating away from anyone looking to corner him. The various children (Ville, Rutger, Emil, Picks is here cause why not) and other people in the know (Boko, POJ, Geno, Rak&Dragon) are all running interference because like hell are they gonna let the team bother Jars, or worse have a bad reaction. Also the kids are having fun holding the baby and skating him around the ice. Like are you gonna interrupt that? This is smart because Sid is compartmentalizing like crazy and Kris is definitely not having the best reaction. The rest of the team is in various states of “what the fuck” but nobody is letting any of that show at Tristan.
You know who has a good reaction? Rusty. Rusty takes one look at Tristan’s baby and goes “your baby? don’t you mean our baby? pack is pack.” He’s the only non-rookie that gets to hold the baby that first family skate. Rusty isn’t trying to be the step-dad but he is the dad that stepped up.
***Jars was fine doing this single parent/unmated style. He really was. Rusty is not going to let him. He’s single, ready to and willing to step up, and likes Tristan. Maybe not in a like-like way (at least not at first) but they’ve known each other for over 10 years between prospects, minors, and the NHL — and they’re friends. They’ve never been the closest – always running in different but slightly overlapping circles within the team. Rusty is willing to bridge that gap and change that. He’s willing to communally raise this baby like what it means to be a pack. He wants to help out. Then later, if he maybe starts to feel things, well Tristan is willing to let himself be courted and wooed, if Rusty wants to do the wooing.
Why Rusty? Vibes mostly. I do think that out of my prefered ship options Rusty has the least power dynamics and would take the news that Tristan hid important medical information (and a baby!) from the team the best. Ned, Tanger, and Sid are all hurt that they didn’t know. Rusty would process it and move immediately to here’s a pack member that needs help. He’s not in a position of power over Tristan within the pack hierarchy the way Sid is as captain and Kris is as alternate/defense leader. He’s not close to Tristan the way being an omega goalie tandem means Ned has to be. Plus helpful beta vibes for the win.
I’ve been thinking of hockey liminal spaces a little bit and everyone’s favorite liminal space is of course the hrpf hotel room. Anything can happen there. It’s foreign and temporary but a/the character(s) undeniably have ownership of the space. It’s intimate. It’s private. It’s necessary and unavoidable on road trips. The entire team is on the same hall so they can see if someone walks in or hear if someone gets too loud. Nobody is seeing. Characters have to be quiet. They want to be loud. They can hear a pin drop in the room. They can’t hear anything over the noise from outside. Anything can happen when no one is looking. Is no one looking? Are they getting away with it? Does everyone know? There’s a time limit to the room. They’ll check out in the morning and never see that room again. There’s pressure. There’s crunch. There’s just tonight. There’s just this and the four walls of the room. What happens in the hotel room stays in the hotel room. What happened isn’t real. What happened in the hotel room is spilling out and effecting the team. It’s real. It’s real. It’s real.
Really great stuff.
I think my favorite liminal space (and I’m not sure I would call it that but I don’t have a better word) is the locker room actually. It’s empty. It’s full. Somebody is there early. The whole team is there. It’s public. Anyone could walk in at any moment. It’s private. There’s only so many people with access. It’s team only. The coaches are there. The media is there. No one is there. It is solid and unchanging like the logo on the floor. This is their space. It is temporary and transient like the banners strung up to hide the fact that they’re visitors. They do not belong. This is home. This could never be home.
There’s something so delicious about the home locker room and this is their space, they control it but don’t own it. Versus the visitors locker room and this was never their space but they are carving out a moment of ownership as long as they inhabit it. Can they linger at home? Do they have to leave on the road? Also nakedness and various states of dress and undress are just in the pores of the space. It’s polite to look away but do they? Are other things happening that are being politely ignored or cheered on by enthusiastic teammates?
Plus the showers are over there, connected to the locker room and they’re somehow even more liminal.
