Title: I Wish There Was A Treaty Between Your Love And Mine.
Author: lannamichaels
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga
Pairing: Ivan Vorpatril/Gregor Vorbarra
Rating: G
A/N: The title is from Treaty by Leonard Cohen.
Archives: Archive Of Our Own, SquidgeWorld

Summary: Ivan Vorpatril would have liked a marriage proposal that was better than "a treaty says we have to do it".



1.

Ivan Vorpatril would have liked a marriage proposal that was better than "a treaty says we have to do it".

Ivan frankly would have liked a lot of things better than that. But that's the life you get when you're sleeping with the Emperor of Barrayar and Ivan should have known to expect it. He should have. If he hadn't been sleeping with the Emperor of Barrayar, maybe said Emperor would have been fine with Uncle Aral's idea of modifying the treaty -- it's not like Xav and Ezar thought this was what they were agreeing to -- but instead Gregor Vorbarra decided that he was a man of his word, and, more importantly, that he was an Emperor who would uphold a previous Emperor's word, and thus did Ivan Vorpatril have to endure a marriage proposal when all he thought he was gonna get was an orgasm.

But life isn't fair.



2.

Uncle Aral isn't able to tell them how this fine print got created; he pointed out dryly that he was eleven years old at the time and was not consulted. But what it sounds like was that Prince Xav wanted some kind of guarantee that Emperor Ezar wasn't going to continue Yuri's work when Xav wasn't there to check him anymore, and Emperor Ezar didn't really mind promising his daughter or granddaughter into marriage before she was born. They set a fifty year limit on fulfilling this part of the treaty and then, from what Ivan can tell, went on with the war and never bothered to think about it again.

Fifty years ended a handful of years ago. And where Xav and Ezar probably saw a princess marrying Ivan's dad, or something like that, instead all they have are a lot of sons between them all and Uncle Aral gently suggesting they don't have to bother with this. This came due when Ivan was barely seventeen. It's not like Gregor was thinking about marrying Ivan when Ivan was seventeen.

But Ivan is twenty-three now and Gregor is getting told he has to get married in general and then someone reminded him that he's in dereliction of a treaty and Gregor is honorable and also stubborn and now Ivan has to decide if he says yes or no and he has no idea.

He says, "maybe?"



3.

Maybe is not a good enough answer.

But Ivan's not a good enough consort for an Emperor and so they're all just gonna have to deal with this, if they want to take the hand they've been dealt.

Ivan's mother decides there can be a year-long engagement. Ivan thinks that's fair. That gives Gregor time to decide he wants to break the treaty after all. That should work, right?

But Ivan had not factored in Gregor's guilt and Gregor's desire not to complete Yuri's work and Gregor's paranoia and all that. Gregor doesn't like the idea of extending the treaty deadline another fifty years. He says it's irresponsible. He says there must have been a reason they wanted the marriage to happen while the war was still in living memory. Gregor decides a lot of things. Ivan isn't sure why. Uncle Aral sure thinks it's fine to have them all sign a piece of paper saying they're officially ignoring this, and Uncle Aral was there when this all got agreed to in the first place, so if anyone's opinion should matter the most, it's Uncle Aral's, and Ivan doesn't see why it isn't.

Then Gregor mentions that he'd tried to kill himself three years ago and Ivan has to slowly breathe for a while before the images of him being forced into a different life fade away and he can instead look at the life he's being offered instead. Gregor nearly doomed them all. But then he came back. He came back and he started sleeping with Ivan, who he'd nearly forced into a succession war. And now he wants to marry him, because a piece of parchment says he's supposed to. Ivan doesn't know what to do with any of this, none of it at all.

Ivan goes off on vacation for a couple weeks and if he goes into a forest a few times and resolutely does not freak out, that's between him and the spies, and who are the spies going to tell? It's not like Gregor and Uncle Aral don't already know. So it's fine.



4.

Miles thinks this is all such a great joke. Ivan doesn't see why.

"Don't you start," Ivan threatens Miles. "You also fulfill the treaty requirements."

Gregor's face does something that Ivan interprets as being 'no, because Miles has already committed treason twice and has a huge insubordination problem'. Well, maybe not that last part. Miles has never disobeyed Gregor himself, right? Then that's probably not the problem. The treason habit would absolutely be a problem.

Miles's face is also displeased but it's easier to read and then Miles opens his mouth and says, "I'm Lord Vorkosigan," like that beats any argument in favor of him marrying Gregor. And maybe it does, but Ivan resents the idea that since he's the spare Xav descendant lying around, that he's the only choice for Gregor to marry. Gregor could marry anyone else! He'd just need to agree to go back on Ezar's word. That's not a big deal and definitely something Gregor would do...

Ivan's doomed.

But marrying Gregor! That's one step away from being Gregor and Ivan has spent his entire life knowing he shouldn't do that. That if he tried to do that, they were all going to die. Ivan's not allowed to be Gregor, or want to be Gregor, or even think about being Gregor for even a minute.

Except that Gregor was going to kill himself, or run away, or just leave them all, and leave Ivan to either die himself or become Emperor and probably then die, and did anyone ask Ivan about that? No, they did not. If Gregor was going to conscript Ivan into Imperial Service, well, first of all, he's already in it, and second of all, Gregor was fine with leaving it all for Ivan to sort out without asking his damn permission, so why is Gregor being so careful about marriage? Just order Ivan to marry him and that would be that, it's not like it's any different. Being the Emperor or being the Emperor's consort, both of them are in the blast zone of the Imperium. Why is Gregor suddenly deciding now is the time to care about Ivan and what he wants in life?

Ivan doesn't appreciate that. His Emperor should just tell him what he wants and let Ivan be a good Vor about it. That'd make this all a lot easier. A lot more palatable.



5.

"I am not marrying you," Ivan tries to practice saying in the privacy of his own head.

It's weird, he thinks, but if he'd been told about this when he was a kid -- if someone had even remembered this part of the treaty when he was a kid and didn't want to pressure Uncle Aral into having a daughter to be arrange-married to Gregor -- if this had been a part of his life for his entire life that he was going to marry Gregor, he's not sure he'd've minded that. A lot of Ivan's life has been laid out for him in advance. If Ivan's marriage had been arranged when his father was a toddler, then that's not much different than Ivan knowing he had to grow up to be an officer. Ivan having to grow up to marry the Emperor would just be part of his life and he wouldn't think otherwise.

But now they're all making him have to choose that and Ivan finds it all somewhat... terrifying.

Ivan's gotten a lot of things in his life that he's wanted. He's also gotten things he didn't want. But there's things he knows he isn't allowed to ask for, and it's anything to do with Vor power. He isn't allowed to ask for Uncle Aral's attention, and then he learned how to feel like it was better that he never had it anyway. He isn't allowed to ask to visit Gregor, because that's not how things work with the Emperor, but then he learned it was better for Gregor not to notice him, because Gregor tried to kill Miles. Then Ivan learned that maybe it was okay for him to sleep with Gregor -- which was something he wanted -- so long as no one really knew he wanted it.

If he agrees to marry Gregor, people are going to know he wanted it!

But maybe... maybe he can tell everyone it was just because of the treaty? It wasn't that Ivan Vorpatril got too many ideas about being close to the center of power, it was just that Old Uncle Xav and Old Emperor Ezar made an agreement and Ivan was bound by it, the same way he's bound by the rest of Xav's legacy. People would believe that, right? It'd even be somewhat true, since it's not like Ivan was ever going to marry Gregor without that.

This wasn't something that would make someone track him down in an alleyway and shoot him, right? No one could blame him, it was his Vor duty!

Ivan stares at himself in the mirror and says, "Gregor, you decide."

But Gregor's made it Ivan's decision, which is the worst possible option. If Ivan were Gregor, this would be Ivan trying to get Gregor -- or Gregor trying to get Ivan, it's all messed up in his head -- anyway, it would be him trying to get someone else to say no for him. This would be Gregor not actually wanting to keep the treaty but wanting to pay lipservice to it, so he puts it on someone else to decline the honor, and then, well, not like we had any choice, not like I'm going to force someone to marry me who doesn't want to, guess we're going to modify the treaty after all.

But if Gregor was going to do that, he'd've proposed to Miles.

And Ivan has been sleeping with Gregor. That comes with its own risks and Ivan should have remembered that. He'd just thought Gregor wasn't the marrying type. Vorbarras fuck around all the time, why is this suddenly Ivan's problem that Gregor's caught a conscience?

Ivan's not sure he wants to say yes. He's pretty sure he wants to say no. What he really wants to do is go back to before this all happened, before it was offered to him in the first place.

But now that it's been offered to him... what is he supposed to about this? What is Ivan Vorpatril, raised as he was, being how he is, supposed to do about this?

...he's Vor. Right! He's Vor! He's a Vor lord! He's got a liegelord! He's supposed to obey, sure, but his liegelord has responsibilities to him, too!

Ivan is totally going to solve this. He is going to find someone who will order him to marry Gregor, so Ivan never has to be the one who made that terrible decision. It will be Count Vorpatril who makes that terrible decision for him. Ivan could kiss his own reflection for the sheer genius of it.



6.

Count Vorpatril looks somewhat horrified by the very idea.

"Why do you want to marry the Emperor, my boy?" he asks Ivan, who shifts awkwardly.

"I don't?" Ivan tries.

"Then you shouldn't," Count Vorpatril assures him, patting him on the shoulder like Ivan is six years old.

Ivan wonders if he can switch his oath to someone who doesn't care about him. Probably?



7.

"Marriage to Me isn't an Imperial deployment," Gregor says, sounding fully out of patience with Ivan and this entire situation. That's not Ivan's fault. Gregor's the one who made this whole situation in the first place; Ivan's just an innocent bystander.

Ivan shrugs. "It is kind of a promotion, though, isn't it?" Ivan doesn't really get asked if he wants promotions. He's Ivan goddamn Vorpatril; the Vorrish engine of nepotism works for him, he doesn't work for it. Even Miles made Lieutenant when Ivan did, and Miles never obeyed an order in his life that he didn't want to. If anyone asked Ivan -- which they don't and never have and never will -- he'd be perfectly happy sitting in an office somewhere, shuffling data chips at just the right speed so no one ever expects him to do anything at all. And maybe he could have gotten that if he'd tried harder, but he'd also made the mistake first of sleeping with Gregor Vorbarra and second of being Ivan Vorpatril, which meant that, waiting in the wings, was a treaty about to bite his future in half between its very sharp teeth.

Which is all to say, if Ivan's gonna marry the Emperor, that's just one more disappointment in a life full of them.

Gregor's face is looking very sour. "Ivan, don't make me order you to be honest with me. Neither of us will be happy if I have to do that."

Gregor's right, but he's the Emperor, there's laws about that. He's always right. "So what's the question?" Ivan asks. "It's the big one, right? Will I marry you? And I've told you. Sure, I'll marry you."

"You will marry me," Gregor parrots back, "because you've convinced yourself that you don't have any choice in the matter, despite the fact that I, and everyone else, have bent over backwards to ensure that you do."

"You never would have even thought of this if there hadn't been a treaty," Ivan points out, as he has been wont to do. It always makes Gregor look very frustrated, and if Ivan can make Gregor feel just the slightest ounce of the frustration that Ivan feels every day for their shared ancestors, then he has avenged his father's death and no one can convince him otherwise.

This time, it makes Gregor look frustrated but also decisive. "Ivan," he says. "I'm about to make Count Vorkosigan very happy. I'm going to amend the treaty to remove this clause."

Ivan gapes at him like a fish. "I won't sign," he says.

"It doesn't matter," Gregor says with unfair relish. "It doesn't need your signature; Count Vorkosigan can sign on behalf of Prince Xav and his descendants. Which includes you."

Is Gregor trying to make Ivan beg? "Are you trying to make me beg?"

"No," Gregor says. "I'm trying to get you to tell me the truth."



8.

There are, unfortunately, two ways this can go. In the first, Ivan admits to everyone, including himself and his mother and Istvan Vorross who had slept with him at school, that he wants to marry Gregor. Then he would marry Gregor and get the job of being Gregor's consort. They'd have somewhere between four and seven children, if Ivan's judging Gregor's paternal desires correctly. Ivan's not sure of his own; sure, kids are cute and all, but who wants the trouble? Especially Gregor's kids. What would you do with a baby that had a bodyguard before it had a teddy bear? How could Ivan even raise that kind of child? He knew all about growing up knowing that people wanted to kill you. So did Gregor. What kind of paranoid parents would they make? Their kids would hate them!

But then there's the other option. In it, Ivan doesn't admit to everyone that he wants to marry Gregor. And then he doesn't marry Gregor. And, knowing Gregor, that also means Ivan stops sleeping with Gregor. And then Ivan has to watch Gregor marry someone else and have those four to seven children with them. And Ivan would have to be Uncle Ivan to those kids, what a nightmare.

Both of those ideas sound terrible. Which would be worse, though? To have to go through all that married to Gregor or have to do all that without that?

Hmm. A problem for the ages. It's a shame it's up to Ivan to solve this. Life would be so much easier if it were Miles who were sleeping with Gregor about all this. Then Ivan could just be an innocent bystander.

Must be nice.

"Don't you ever get tired of your own bullshit?" Gregor asks him. "Do you want to marry me or not?"

Ivan can't help it. He flinches. "Fine," he says. "I'll marry you. Let's get married." He waves his hand in the air vaguely, and, he realizes, future-imperially. "Please don't tell anyone you know the word bullshit."

Gregor smiles, triumphant.



9.

And. Okay. Since the worst part is people knowing, that part's fixable! Ivan goes to the biggest gossip he knows -- which is saying something, since Ivan knows a lot of gossips. "There's a treaty between Xav and Ezar that says I have to marry Gregor," Ivan confides. This is something his mother's son would do, which is fair, since Ivan's only in this predicament because he's his father's son.

Istvan Vorross's eyes grow wide. "Tough luck, that," he says with extremely false sympathy.

Ivan nods sadly. "Yeah. But what else am I supposed to do? I'm Vor. Gotta do what the old Emperor wanted."

"Of course, of course," Istvan says. He claps Ivan on the shoulder companionably. "I'll get the next round. Tell me all about it."



10.

Ivan marries Gregor and nothing explodes.

Miles is probably disappointed about that, but hey, Ivan's the one who gets the wedding night, and if Miles wanted to be the one to marry Gregor, well, he had his opportunity. It's not Ivan's fault.

Absolutely none of this is Ivan's fault.