Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All the other stories.

All the films.

All of two lovers who are miraculously just an omega and alpha.

Made to be together.

Perfect.

But what if a story wasn't so perfect?

What if they were never going to be an omega and alpha, but they still managed to make it work?

Would they be able to make it work?

Seán, Jack, he really didn't care what people called him anymore, most called him Jack, in fact, everyone did, other than Mark, which he actually kind of liked, it was something different, refreshing, grounding, something real to cling onto, Jack was a nickname, something anyone who had been online would call him, but Seán, it was so much more... Personal, so much more real because that was his true name.

It seemed everyone else had forgotten it.

Of course, some part of him liked Mark as maybe a little more than a friend, but not quite infatuation either, it was impossible to like him that much when they saw one another so little, but there was something there, he had no idea if it was something Mark would even notice because of their lack of actual communication.

They don't do panels together anymore, Mark does his with Ethan and Tyler instead of him now, but Bob and Wade are still there, and he hated the jealousy that rose up in him because of that, it was Mark's panel, he could do what he wanted with it, could choose to do it with anyone he wanted to, but some part of him still felt that his time with Mark was up, he had had his time to shine, and now they didn't even really talk any longer.

He does his own panels alone now.

He still gets so nervous, misses being with the others, misses his first panels where Mark would always be next to him, right there if he blustered or forgot what he was going to say and covering for him long enough to get his thoughts in order, if there was one thing Mark was good at, he could talk for hours, or how he even missed Wade and Bob, how they all used to use Wade as the scapegoat, a joke if they ran out of things to say, he had none of that anymore.

He wanted it back.

He hated how he wondered at night, whether or not Mark would have talked to him more if they had been closer or if they had become more than they ever had a chance to be, what if they had managed to become mates?

But they could never have been that.

Because this isn't a movie, it's reality...

And they aren't alpha and omega, are they?

Omegas were too rare now, so few left in the world that many of the alphas were becoming more possessive if they did have an omega, or how others would try and kidnap those already bonded and try their best to undo it out of desperation, so many omegas died from alphas trying to undo their bonds, going as far as to rip out the flesh with their bondmarks and letting them bleed out when it never worked.

It only made sure there were fewer omegas now.

But Seán didn't want any of those omegas, he had seen a few that he had liked the look of, had a few friends who had become omegas, and they were some of the sweetest people, became the precious person in their friend groups, the one to be protected, and they liked being that, alphas had once been so kind to omegas, trying to court them and competing with other alphas for an omega's hand, but now...

Now death, crime and flat out murder seemed to be the only way to even have a chance at the near impossible alpha-omega bonds.

But he wanted Mark.

He could never have him though.

Because he was no omega, and either was Mark, they couldn't even get away with an alpha-beta bond, that would have had a chance at working, but no, they didn't even have that sort of luck, did they?

Because they were both alphas.

...

Was that why Mark stopped talking to him?

Because he found out Seán was falling in love, but their traits clashed too much for them to ever have a chance at being anything more.

He would have been willing to try.

So why was Mark so ready to push him away and out of his whole life?

He knew that he might have a chance to rekindle that friendship they used to have, the jokes and the simplicity that had always helped to clear his head, maybe it would be refreshing, to bicker with the alpha again, because they had been planning something for a while now, something he had not thought he would ever be doing.

Hell, they were making their own clothing brand together, and he was finally going back to America, all the way back to Los Angeles because they had decided to make a clothing brand together.

He had known that Mark could come up with some strange and very out there ideas, and yet that one night where he got a Skype call he had never envisioned, he had never agreed to anything quicker. He knew Mark had plans for when he was going over there, and he was excited.

He hated having to put the septiplier shippers down so much, he knew how estranged and empty it made some of them feel, so alone in their own fanbase, where they couldn't even use their own creativity to make something they wanted to, be it writing or fanart, just because they thought that those they had made it for would hate it because of what it was, what it was supposed to imply.

Maybe it wasn't implying anything and he was jumping to conclusions now.

It wouldn't be the first time.

He hated putting them down because he knew how they felt, all of the jokes they had made to one another that only blurred the line between friendship and something more, all of the small gestures or tweets or even movements and pictures that were taken between them, images are frozen in time, ones he wished he could go back to and warn them what was going to happen to their friendship.

Maybe he had gone too far.

And yet Mark had pretended to kiss him before, told him he loved him so much that even he started to believe it sometimes...

Until the Skype calls ended and he was brought back down to Earth, back to where he really was, holed up and alone in his apartment.

He wasn't a stalker, he didn't steal Mark's clothes or watch him every hour of the day, never tried to steal his cologne or asked their friends if they thought Mark might like him in that sort of way, he just wanted something a little... More.

They all felt so fake now.

What happened to all of his friends?

What happened to him?

What happened to the days they were all just guys being the test subjects as to whether or not YouTube could ever really be a job, all recording on shitty sound equipment that made them sound fuzzy, facecams barely able to surpass 480p, headphones making them unable to hear themselves think and sat for hours on dining chairs trying to edit with free editors because they didn't want to have to pay for editing if YouTube was never going to get them anywhere, but now he was here, on top of the internet, but he felt he was the person to least deserve it.

Why did people look up to him?

He watched his own videos as he checked how Robin had edited them, watched Mark's and Bob's and Wade's and Ethan's, and then watches their older ones too, there's such a difference that he isn't sure is for the best, the way they are so much more constrained to what they can say, what jokes they can make, just because of the fragile balance of monetisation and demonetisation, he can't talk freely at all anymore just in case someone finds out about something and he loses his job over it.

Loses anything he had ever built in his years.

Just one more day...

...

He barely managed to sleep, his mind too riled up and happy to remind him that he was leaving off to America as soon as he opened his eyes again, he would see Mark and Ethan and Tyler, but not Wade, Bob, Ken or even Felix sadly, because he wasn't going for a convention, he was going for Mark and their carefully cultivated little clothing line.

They had hidden it well so far, but he needed an excuse to be in America, so they were doing a sort of video that couldn't have been done through a Skype call, one that Mark had promised a long time ago.

A pole dancing video.

He was excited and also dreading it at the same time, well... Maybe dread was a bit of a strong word, he was just... Unsure of it all, knew he wanted to be able to joke with Mark about septiplier, even if it was just a little, it always managed to get all of their fans riled up, but he had no idea if Mark would play it back, or if he would even be able to do what he wanted, something stupid and petty, especially for him, but he hoped it would be fun.

He wanted to show himself off.

He didn't exactly sell himself short he just...

Didn't like to boast about himself.

Yeah, that was it, he didn't like to brag, unlike Mark's ego which could have stopped the fucking Titanic from sinking, but he knew that under all of that, Mark was a genuine person, and that was why he liked him.

But he wanted to be that person this time, the one who could break down Mark's defences as easily as he broke down his own, he hated how easy he was to mess with, and Mark knew all the right words to push his buttons and make that happen.

But he was an alpha, one who didn't really even look much like one even then, didn't have the power or muscle or even the height to qualify against most of the others, he was small, and had spindly and likely easy to break arms and legs, a small body that would have been much more fitting for an omega than an alpha, and yet, he still looked nothing like an omega, he didn't have an ass, he just didn't, and he did have curves, but they could be easily hidden away and it was only his hips, everything else was flat and thin, he hated looking like that and this was why he wanted to do the pole dancing, he wanted to at least look like what he was, even if that meant doing something small and trying to work up some of his definition.

Of course, some alpha part of himself was jealous how Mark seemed to put on muscle so much easier than he did, and whenever he complained, albeit only playfully, Mark would only blame his genes, but Seán's father was...

An impressive alpha, to say the least.

So why was his alpha son so small and fragile-looking?

No one had been able to work it out in his family or between his friends, he was the youngest of his siblings, a mix of alphas and betas, he knew that omegas were rare, but between all of his brothers and sisters, he thought it was strange that there were no omegas, not even a submissive beta, and that was why his family joked that all of the omega traits had been pushed onto him as the last child, even if he did present as an alpha.

He was so glad his father wasn't disappointed in him.

It would've made it all worse.

But he loved him just as much as his eldest alpha brother, because he didn't care about how he looked, he just cared about the person on the inside, and maybe that was why when he had last gone home for Christmas not long ago, even if it had been so many years since all of his siblings and their parents had been together, he had been talking about Mark and all of their other friends, he wasn't a lovesick puppy, he wasn't fixated on Mark all of the time, but his father's reply had surprised him.

He'd seen right through him from the very beginning.

He'd never even had a chance to meet Mark in person, only seeing a few of his videos, and yet he told Seán to go for it.

To go for Mark.

Before he slipped away from him.

That was what his own father said, the strong, wise and powerful, respected alpha of the family, telling his alpha son to go after another alpha.

Of course, he was quick to duck his head down and quickly and fervently explain that Mark was most definitely an alpha and wouldn't be interested in him.

His father asked how he knew Mark wouldn't like him if Mark hadn't realised his own feelings, but he found himself frozen, how would he know?

And yet he came to his senses, they were both alphas, Mark wouldn't want him, he'd want to be able to settle down with a pretty female omega or beta or something and be able to have pups, something Seán would have never given him, he wasn't even sure his alpha would allow that sort of submission, especially not if one of them was in rut, their instincts would make them fight instead.

But his father's words stuck in his mind.

If the fact you are both alphas didn't stop your own feelings, why should it stop his?

It was so simple, and yet it shattered his argument into fractals which he desperately tried to salvage, he didn't need to realise he had a chance, he wanted to be able to shake off the little, and currently harmless crush before it grew into something that would ruin their whole friendship, bleeding from trying to pick up the sharply shattered pieces as if on desperation, he needed something to cling to and yet it all cracked and broke beneath his own two feet, he was... Afraid.

He couldn't afford to like Mark like that.

And he started crying instead.

But he felt safe there, in his family home, knowing how he was safe crying in front of his family, they asked him what was wrong, and the look he gave his father?

He explained instead.

None of them turned away from him after finding out he loved another alpha.

Because that's what it was, he had been trying so hard to be able to suppress it all, all of those sorts of feelings Mark would never be able to reciprocate with him, he had numbed it down to a little, petty crush that he would be able to turn to dust with a click of his fingers and carry on as if nothing had happened, but he had been so wrong about it being so small and easy to control.

He realised two things after those few days with his family.

He loved Mark.

And he really needed to pay closer attention to his emotions.

He may have been an alpha, but he had a good family, and he learnt that it was good to have emotions and to display them, and so he decided that he would take their advice, he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and he was going to America now.

When he had woken up the following day after he had fallen asleep, and he finally felt ready to see Mark, to go to America and admit it all, maybe even before they made any other plans for the week he was going to spend there.

...

Chapter Text

...

The flight made him over-think things.

They always did when he was travelling to America, maybe it was just because it was so long and his phone had not charged as he thought it had before he set off to the airport and so it had died halfway through the roughly 12-hour flight, and he had no one sat next to him that he knew and could open up to, so he was left alone to be made to feel small and useless by his own thoughts...

They weren't thoughts an alpha should have...

Were they?

...

No, he shouldn't be so doubtful of himself...

Of course, because his phone had died, he had never gotten the text that he should have, the one from Mark that he had missed due to his phone not charging right.

'You can't come to my house, please don't come here, I'm on suppressants but they failed for some dumb fucking reason, I guess they only do work... 86% of the time? And I am really unlucky sometimes... But, my rut just decided to kick in and will probably last the whole week, I'm so sorry to ruin your trip Seán...'

But he didn't know, did he?

He had arrived at the airport and knew he couldn't really text Mark and ask him to pick him up because his phone was dead and he didn't have any coins for a phone or something, only notes, and he didn't want to ask to borrow the phone of a stranger.

He had to take a taxi instead, but he didn't mind, as long as he got to see his friend, but when he got to the house, Mark didn't answer the door and so he thought that maybe he was out and hadn't expected him quite yet, so he found the spare key under a brick-thing and unlocked the door, calling out for the other alpha.

"Mark?!"

But then he froze, scenting something he had never been prepared to, he had expected all sorts when he tried to confess, being shoved out of his house or being told Mark hated him, or him saying he loved him too and that they should mate or some wild shit, but he had never, ever prepared for walking in during Mark's obvious rut, he was confused about how he had not caught scent of it sooner, it was so powerful, and he knew for a fact that his ruts were never that strong in scent, maybe just further proving the point that Mark had the stronger alpha genes.

He didn't know what to do, and yet he found himself wandering upstairs, and not even pausing or hesitating when he got close enough to Mark's bedroom to hear growling and the shifting of sheets, but he did stop at the door to savour those sounds and the scent, even if it was the rut of another alpha, it was still somehow managing to turn him on, he knew that Mark's rut was sending him into rut too, but some part of him didn't even care about that.

And the other half felt the need to try and prove his dominance over the other rutting alpha, it was a natural instinct, but it would be so much worse if there was an omega or viable mate nearby, and yet a part of his alpha knew that he would never have had the power over Mark, he was the stronger alpha, and some little part of him wanted to put down his invisible tail and roll over, showing he was not the one in charge, and if anyone possible to mate with came into this house, he would not be the one mating, he wouldn't have the right as the subordinate of the two, unless Mark allowed him, that was.

And a tiny, itty bitty part was entertaining the thought of letting Mark on top of him, they both needed to resolve the sexual tension and they only really had one another for that, so maybe, if Mark was able to prove his power over him, he would be able to let Mark mate...

But they could never breed.

He had no idea what the fuck he was doing when he took off his own shirt, pretending that he was just too warm while in rut to stand around fully clothed, and yet he did know the real reason, the instinctual side of him wanted to get rid of all the humanity between them, all of the clothing and human things, and literally wrestling on the ground until one of them was proven to be the more powerful of the two, but he knew how... Bad that could get.

It could take a lot of lengths to actually get one of them to give up while they were in that sort of state and surrounded by the scent of both of their ruts, but he knew how the effects would be permanent, even if they did separate off and no longer talk to one another, if they moved on and got mates, whoever lost this one fight would forever be the second to the winning alpha, if they saw each other after years and years of not hearing from one another, he would only have so much space to argue if he was the one to lose.

Mark could stop him trying to argue if he wanted to, if he was the alpha to win, that was, as Seán's instincts would change to fit in some form of small submission to Mark, but he would only be able to push it so far, his alpha nature wouldn't let it get out of hand.

Of course, while he was in his thoughts, he had barely even registered that he had stripped himself down to nothing, and he just sat outside of that bedroom door, waiting for the other alpha to take up his challenge and knowing that he could not invade Mark's privacy like that, nor could he force him into the challenge, but knew that his instincts would drive him to accept it and win, because this was Mark's territory, in his home, and he couldn't just barge into what his instincts thought of like the older alpha's nest, his most private place, he had to have permission to go in there.

He snarled, growling and calling out to the other alpha when there was no reply for a few minutes, he was offering a challenge, but he was not going to wait forever, he had the power to snap at the American alpha because they had yet to settle into place as subordinate and the true alpha of the pair, so they were on level ground, if not for the fact that he was in the other's territory and home, which made him slightly more hesitant...

He jumped up excitedly when he heard the lock on that door slide out of place, snuffling at the door to try and get a better scent of the other alpha, knowing he was stood so close, only at the other side of that door, the stupid piece of wood blocking their power-battle.

He clawed his blunt nails on the paintwork on the door, not enough to damage it, but it most definitely made a noise that the other would just have to hear, telling him to hurry the fuck up, but his nails were so useless and blunt, they would do very little to the Korean and he knew it, but he couldn't change it now and stood ram-rod straight, spine snapping as he took a bolted step back from the door when seeing it open and the other's heavily dilated pupils, eyes almost black..

He was all tan skin, dark eyes and black hair falling over his eyes, and his alpha half immediately saw the appeal in the other, though he had thought that this would have been much stranger than it was, maybe his instincts were blocking out his human thoughts.

They were stood silent, directly in front of each other and completely, utterly naked.

And it wasn't even strange to his mind anymore, and the other alpha didn't particularly seem concerned either.

His alpha perked up a little on the inside when he saw how... Generously endowed... The other male happened to be, and he shivered a little, he had a feeling he was going to lose this fight, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try and battle for power at all, that would be the easy way out.

Of course, that was when the American finally snarled, accepting his little strength challenge and he grinned in reply, well, it was more a show of his teeth, but it still got its point across as he turned tail and raced down the stairs, well aware the other was metaphorically and literally snapping at the back of his neck and following, but he needed to find a place with enough space to do any of this.

He finally stumbled into the living room and twisted around just in time to see Mark crash through the door with some strange sort of hurried elegance that he himself just did not possess at all and some part of him was already prepared to submit to the powerful alpha stood in front of him, but he still stood his ground, both of them were turned on, it was quite obvious as neither was even wearing clothes, knots formed at the base of their dicks, ready and made to be stuck in an omega, but he knew he wasn't going to get that now, there were no omegas here for them, and so they were left with one another.

"Thought I messaged, not to come here..."

Even that came out as a growl from parted lips, deep and demeaning, something that was still almost akin to a challenge, defensive, and it had Seán's hackles rising too, he wasn't going to take too kindly to being challenged over his actions.

"Ran out of charge, would've come anyway..."

"Why? We're alphas, you're now in a rut too, no point to this..."

"Wanted to challenge you for long time, this is my chance, we have no one else right now, but we have each other."

He saw Mark's eyes roll, a pronounced gesture as he took a bold step forward, and they circled one another, though Seán felt it was more him trying to keep a distance between him and Mark, but then he was taking his own chance and pouncing thinking he had the surprise advantage but found himself plunging face first into the floor instead, Mark had taken a step out of the way before he even had a chance to land a hand on him, the other alpha was swifter than he had thought.

Before he even had a chance to get back to his own feet and bearings, there was an overbearing weight pressing him to the floor roughly and a snarl next to his ear, warm breath a tease on his neck, but he found his hands in the perfect place to retaliate while he didn't expect it.

He wasn't going to give up that easily.

And he was clawing his nails down Mark's thighs and jumping back up when the sudden move made Mark's power falter for a moment, even if his nails were blunt, they were still painful and a bit of a surprise too.

But Mark pounced this time.

He had thought he had the upper hand, that he was safe because Mark dove past him.

But then a foot hooked around his ankle and dragged him down into a heavy landing on the wooden floor, but he couldn't complain about that as he was turned onto his stomach for a second time, and that was it, Mark's teeth over the nape of his neck, hovering as a warning that he should give up, and he did.

Chapter Text

He dropped his head onto the floor, and then Mark changed his position on him, he should have pressed his legs together and shook the larger alpha off after that, reminding him he was not a mate to be courted and they were both alphas, but instead of doing what he was supposed to, his thighs were being pushed open by impatient hands and they fell open in compliance instead, allowing Mark to settle between them.

And then a nose was nuzzling his inner thigh, coaxing him to present his ass and hole in order to be knotted, and for some strange reason, he did just that, back arched, hips lifted and legs spread until his body was aching in silent protest but that didn't matter when a warm, wet tongue was trying to work him open instead, and he could actually smell his own scent begin to recede in order to let the elder alpha's scent overpower his own.

He was embarrassed when he genuinely smelt the new scent coming off of him in desperation for sex when he was in a rut and only one person could help him now, his own scent had become more submissive than he had even thought possible for an alpha, begging to be opened up and fucked.

He knew he would have no chance at knotting today, but he couldn't even bring himself to care, all he wanted was to fill another or... To be filled himself?

This was a strange new feeling he didn't understand, he was an alpha, never able to be submissive to anyone by nature, especially not in a sexual sense, so this wasn't good, surely...?

He didn't even dare to hope for the pleasure of being spread open by a heavy knot, Mark's specifically, because even if this was strange, he couldn't even imagine being submissive to anyone other than the alpha currently holding him down in the way that he was.

Alphas won't knot without intention, even when in rut, only able to form a proper knot if they genuinely wanted to give their chosen mate babies and pups, it was a good indication to how an alpha felt in a relationship, if there was no knot, they didn't want their mate like that, not in a long term sort of way, but Mark wouldn't give him that, if he even could because of their clashing sub-genders, because he wasn't as dysfunctional as to actually want another alpha, was he?

That turned him off fast.

Was Mark only trying to get to him because he wanted anything warm and wet to fill with his seed because he was in a rut, was he not really wanting him just because it was Seán?

But he soon ended up worked up again when he caught the scent of the air not yet changing their scents to that of mating, but they were close, even having fingers in him wouldn't change their scents, but the moment that Mark filled him properly, even before they came, just as soon as their hips were connected?

It would change, their scents at that very moment were simply saying two things, Mark's was 'If you are submissive come here and I can make you feel good' and his own was 'Let me fuck you or fuck me' though of course, the fuck me part was specifically tailored to Mark on top of him and his smaller body.

But when they got further? Their scents would combine and mingle to become stronger, to announce rather proudly to anyone nearby 'Go away, we don't want you here, we have mates and want privacy to bond' though Mark's scent would likely a little more down the lines of 'I'll fight you off if you try and interrupt'.

He would know if Mark really had wanted him for him or not afterwards, wouldn't he?

If Mark knotted him, it was all good and then he could be one with the other alpha, maybe he could convince Mark to bring them to bed and they could sleep and continue.

Would Mark want a nest?

He would build one if he did, preferably when Mark making food or looking after him or something, he would have a chance to make a good nest for the pair of them, he wanted to be able to prove to Mark that they could make it work if he just gave their relationship a chance... Would he give them a chance?

What if Mark didn't knot him?

Well, he would be hurt because of how far they had gotten already and that Mark's body and he himself had been sending him false signals of love and affection and courting, he didn't want that to happen but it was a high risk in their situation where neither seemed sure on how the other felt, but they both wanted this much so they carried on anyway.

If Mark didn't knot him they wouldn't be connected to one another and so he could slip off of Mark as soon as possible, rush upstairs and lock himself in the bathroom with his clothes and other stuff, getting dressed and trying to clean Mark's cum out well enough to make it to a good hotel and then remove any trace the alpha had left on him, hoping it wouldn't be obvious as to what he had let another alpha do to him.

He was pulled away from his thoughts rather abruptly, as he had felt something that he wanted more of, Mark's tongue had dipper further into him, stretching him a little more as he felt the alpha pull away and he whined pleadingly and pushed his hips up further, desperate for him to come back and take more care of him.

Mark tried to soothe him with a croon and a chaste kiss to his back, and he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt the warm head of Mark's cock brush against his inner thigh, smearing precum there, and he shuffled back to try and find it again, but all he got in reply for his efforts was a chuckle and fingers pressing at his hole, asking silently whether that was okay or not, but when he simply whimpered and tried to take them in by clenching up, they slowly pushed against him until they breached him and he bit his lip so as not to cry out, more than thankful that he hadn't made a sound to make him appear weak and so, so glad that Mark's fingers were wet with lube, where had he even gotten that from?

He stopped questioning it as they very carefully began to scissor him open as if Mark understood that he was no omega and did not simply slick and loosen up on his own, he needed to be stretched, but he also didn't want to make Mark impatient, and so he decided that he would try and take it anyway, surely it wouldn't be that bad?

"A-Alpha... Give me... I'll take it, I'm ready for you!~"

But even then, it seemed Mark knew better than he did about all of this, and he trusted Mark because he was a virgin, he had never found someone he had genuinely thought would be someone who he could have had a long term relationship with, but maybe he had now, Mark, even if he was an alpha too.

"Not yet, don't want to hurt you, gonna take good care of you...~"

He was almost purring, continuing to work him open until Mark seemed to think he was ready, at least enough to not tear him open, but he still had a feeling this was going to hurt, if even just fingers were so painful in the beginning, what would Mark's knot be like?

If he was even getting a chance to have that.

Mark was all over him, hands digging into his thighs and keeping them well spread apart, messy kisses pressed and smeared down his back and the other alpha's warm, hard cock dragging across and up his thighs and ass, trying to find his entrance, and when he found it, he could feel one of the veins pulsing against him needily, and he pushed back a little, as if to tell him he could carry on, and he did just that, pushing against him even as Seán hissed and clawed at the carpet, he was right.

It fucking hurt.

And he had no time to adjust before he was being hammered into the floor below him, Mark's alpha was so much stronger than he had first thought, easily managing to keep him pinned while still making him feel like he was going to split in half from how painful it was, and yet no part of him wanted it to stop, his alpha wanted to prove he was strong enough to take Mark properly, every part of him.

"Alpha!~"

"Mm, so good, you're so good...!~"

But what Mark had said, it sounded strangled and pained, as if he was too unsure to try and name him something else, he couldn't call him omega because he wasn't one, and if he called him alpha, that would suggest he was the dominant one, which just wasn't right, but he wanted Mark to enjoy this too, so...

"Call me omega, I don't fucking care, I feel like your omega! Every inch of me, I'm a fucking virgin Mark, make me yours!~"

"Oh, omega, you feel so good, you are mine!~"

He was surprised he was even managing to put up with all of this, managing to take every inch of Mark into his small body, a body that was never meant to be taking anything inside of it, that was.

Mark's hips were still pushing him down harshly into the carpet, and he was silently glad they weren't on the wooden floor, the feeling of Mark kissing and biting at his neck was almost numbed, he could barely feel it against Mark thrusting into him instead, filling him up only to tease him and pull away again, continuously, and there was nothing he could even do about it, he couldn't move at all under Mark.

And he fucking loved it.

Now he knew why he had never been attracted to any of the omegas, or even to the thought of pinning one down and fucking them because he had never even wanted that at all, had he? No, but now he understood, just because he was an alpha did not mean he was supposed to be the one on top of all of this.

He was made to be fucked and kept under someone.

Who gave a fuck if he was an alpha?

Not him.

Not Mark.

Not his family.

They were the only ones who mattered anymore.

He cried out needily when he felt Mark pull out of him, the cold pressing over his small frame and soft skin, he felt so desperate that he didn't even know what to do, not daring to move out of his perfect position because that was how Mark wanted him, but what was he doing, and where was he going!?

"Alpha!? Come back, don't leave me! I love you, alpha!~"

But then two hands were gripping his hips and he was on his back instead, so he could see Mark's dark eyes looking down at him, the other alpha's lips heavily bitten at and face flushed, adding a healthy pink to the bronze skin before those hands were holding his shoulders down and he was being opened up and filled with Mark at a whole new angle, moaning whorishly.

"You're so beautiful omega, want to see your face when I fill you with my cum until you're crying and begging for it to stop, but it won't end until you're full to the brim and entirely mine!~

The possessiveness in his tone had Seán whining in agreement and spreading himself as much as he could, arms reaching up and hooking around Mark's shoulders to keep him close and kissing him passionately, feeling Mark slowly build up his pace again, and hit something inside of him that made him limp, eyes not seeing for a moment as his mouth opened and yet no sound came out.

"You'll never want anyone else, never want to fuck anyone, every rut of yours you'll be crawling back to me and begging for me to help you like a good little toy, wanting me to open you up with my knot because that'll be the only thing that'll turn you on anymore, because you're all mine and mine alone!~"

He could feel it, Mark's knot swelling at the base of his dick ready to lock them together, and some part of his mind breathed a small sigh of relief, at least Mark was going to give him his knot and he didn't have to leave him...

His own knot was swelled, not because he was mating with someone who he could lock his knot into, but because he loved Mark, and if it was the other way around and he was holding Mark down, he would've knotted Mark, because he wanted Mark to be his mate, and alphas showed that through knotting, so he still did it anyway, even if it didn't matter at all anymore to either of them.

Mark was fucking him within an inch of his life and there was nothing he would ever do to change that, holding Mark close by his shoulders and kissing him desperately, nuzzling under his chin and whining for his knot.

And he got it.

Mark's hands were keeping him pinned and still on the floor as he finally let his knot swell inside of him, and he arched up into Mark just at the feeling of being so fucking full that he could barely even begin to process any of it, other than one thing.

He wanted to be claimed.

"Alpha, please! Bite me, claim me, I'm yours!~"

And yet Mark made no move to do so, instead, he gave a small, sad sigh and held him close as he filled his mate that he wished could be entirely his, but never would be, and there was one very simple reason for that.

"Omega, you know that an alpha can't mark an alpha, it doesn't work, it'll just heal over like any other scrape or cut, it doesn't change anything...~"

"I don't care, just fucking give me your mark, please! I don't care if it won't stay, I just need to feel claimed, don't leave me without claiming me, it hurts!"

And that meant that Mark was leaning down, teeth sinking into the scent gland on the left side of Seán's neck, hearing him cry out at the same time and come on both of their stomachs, and he slowly retracted the teeth, licking at the mark to stop it bleeding and nuzzling against it, leaving his scent there to show it was his bite, but his alpha side was sad that the mark would never really stay, he wanted to be able to take his mate as his, to own him, but he couldn't do that and his mate wanted it, but he couldn't give that and it made his so frustrated.

He just wanted to make his mate happy.

But it all felt so good too, he hadn't been able to knot someone for so long, and he had managed to forget how good it was, missed it, and yet it had never felt as good as it had with his mate now, on the floor and pinned beneath him in a way that just had to be uncomfortable, and yet he didn't try to complain, just letting him take control and he loved it.

He loved to be in control.

And his omega was clenching up around him, milking his knot of his seed in the way that a real omega would automatically, especially in heat, though they would usually only ever do that because the more of the alpha's cum they could get the more likely it was for them to get pregnant, but Seán was really an alpha, not made to carry a baby as well as not usually having those instincts, so why did he know to try and wring away every last drop of his seed from him in the perfect way?

Well, he wouldn't question it, all his alpha cared about was the fact that his omega knew what to do.

He knew they would be locked together for a while and because Seán wasn't an omega, his body was not made to be able to hold his knot very well, so he would be hurting like hell if Mark jostled their tie too much, so he tried to keep still as he could literally feel himself filling his mate, knowing eventually, Seán would beg him to stop, but he physically couldn't because they were forced to stay together by his knot until Seán was full one way or another.

He was still rocking into Seán, riding over the waves of his orgasm as he just wanted to fill his mate as much as he could, and Seán's opening was fluttering from the overstimulation, but he didn't even think he would be able to stop if he tried, so he didn't.

Seán felt a little bit of sadness find a way to creep up on him as he felt Mark's warm release shoot deep inside of him, he would not be able to give Mark a baby for all of this, would he? He had no womb or eggs for Mark to give him a baby and he wanted that so badly in that one moment, like nothing else.

He couldn't be mated with Mark like an alpha and omega could be, and he couldn't even give them a healthy litter of pups.

He decided not to say anything to Mark, he didn't need to make Mark feel bad too, and maybe he didn't even want to have pups with him at all in the first place, why would he?

Of course, the second he felt the very first hot splash of Mark's seed inside of him, he automatically threw his head to the side to reveal his neck, which had only just been marked in the first place, but he did that just in time for Mark to lean down and sink his teeth back into his neck, using that as leverage to continue softly rutting into him.

Maybe he was feeling too strong about all of this, maybe Mark only liked him, whereas he was already up to his neck in love with Mark and there was no way he was going to get over him any time soon, but maybe Mark would be the one to leave, would he be the one who was too overbearing and drove Mark to leave?

What he didn't know, was that Mark was just as afraid as he was.

What if Seán hadn't really wanted him at all, and his rut had only made him so desperate that he would have let anyone on top of him? He had even said he was a virgin, maybe his alpha half wouldn't know any better...

But he had felt so much better than he had even thought the smaller alpha could have felt, it was amazing and he hoped Seán would want to stay with him too, because he would very much love to have that kind of sex more often, maybe even for the rest of their lives, he would happily let Seán live with him, he had been kind of lonely in his home, he was doing rather well for himself, he had his dog, his car and even a pretty good sized house, but it felt so big and empty sometimes, because he was the only one to live there, he would have gone insane there by now if it was not for Chica.

He knew his new mate only had an apartment, but he was used to living at the other side of the world, would he even want to move in with him?

He would give Seán everything he ever wanted, he loved him way too much this early in their little relationship, if it even was a relationship at all yet, but he would fucking spoil him if he was ever given the chance, didn't want him to have to live in an apartment all alone, not when he had a three bedroom house on the outskirts of Los Angeles with a dog, he would let Seán buy anything he wanted, he wouldn't mind, he just wanted his mate to be pleased, it was an inbuilt alpha instinct, one to make their mate happy and content, and yet many alphas pushed it away, at least to some degree, but he was more than happy to indulge it and his mate.

"Let's get you somewhere more comfortable...~"

Chapter Text

He gently picked Seán up, not missing the subtle tension in the younger male's frame and how his small face twisted in pain, even as he tried to hide it in Mark's shoulder so he wouldn't see it, but there were two fingers under his chin, coaxing his head up so he could see the watering blue eyes, and how his blunt teeth sank deeply into his reddish lip to stop from crying out.

"You need to tell me if I hurt you too much, don't try and hide things from me, I'm still your alpha right now, even if we can't be bonded or if you don't want to have me as your mate at all, right now, and until our ruts finish, you are all my responsibility and I will look after you, you just have to tell me if you want something, okay?"

His eyes were sparkling as he hugged Mark close, sobs shaking him slightly, but he wasn't sad, and yet Mark was concerned, dark eyes wide and gently questioning as he held his mate close and shushed him softly.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong, are you okay?"

Seán's arm came down gently on his chest, a little punch as a sort of reprimand, and yet it was so light he barely even felt it.

"No, you absolute doof, I'm not sad, I'm fucking happy... I never thought you would want to care for me like this, hell, I'm a fucking alpha, I shouldn't be sensitive or acting like I need to be taken care of like an omega, but... Thank you, for caring about me too...~"

"You idiot, whoever said you shouldn't be emotional, they're just an idiot and I love you too much to not care about you and you should know that at the very least."

"I love you."

Seán's voice was bold and unapologetic, he had no regrets about what he had said, and it made Mark want to be able to cry too, but he held it back instead, just gently bringing them upstairs and to the bedroom, making sure not to move Seán too much, he never wanted to hurt him and would do his best not to.

"I love you too mate, I just wish I could bond with you because we both want that and yet I can't give you that..."

"You're giving me more than I could have ever imagined I would want right now, you don't need to worry about all of that, not now, at the minute, you can bring me to bed and let us sleep..."

He saw Mark's smile, silently thanking him for stopping Mark before he began to over-think everything, but it was all worth it, and Mark was carefully manoeuvring the pair into bed, trying not to move too much or upset Seán, eventually getting to the point where they were both under the covers and laid on their sides, Mark holding his mate in his arms closely, knowing neither of them would be falling asleep any time soon, quickly and swiftly proven when he tensed, feeling when he came again into his new mate, filling him further as he heard Seán's breathy chuckle, voice still scratchy from screaming and moaning.

"Are you almost done there? I don't how much more of your cum I can take..."

He felt a sudden burst of dominance over his mate and pushed his knot a little further inside just to hear Seán hiss in pain before speaking.

"You will still take my cum without complaint until I think I'm done with you, understand?"

He whimpered.

"Of course, alpha... I love you...?"

He was looking for a sign he was still loved, curling closer to Mark and it made his alpha soften.

"Oh I'm sorry mate, I just... I don't know what came over me then... Of course, I love you too, so much my beautiful little mate, my alpha half just got the wrong idea, that you didn't want me because of all instincts and that shit, you know, the one to have kids, since my body seems more than happy to see you as an omega, it was unhappy you didn't want to have my baby, I'm so really very sorry?"

Seán chuckled, curling into Mark and leaning his head back onto the other alpha's shoulder.

"It's okay, I get it, you just scared me a little I think, we'll be okay, now rest, yeah?"

He agreed, knowing that he had to be pretty close to actually stopping from coming into Sean and then they would be able to sleep properly, and when he closed his eyes, he fell asleep much quicker than he had ever thought he would.

When he woke up, Seán was still asleep, and yet their ruts could kick back in at any minute, especially if he woke Seán up and he wanted it, so he slipped out of him and gentle rested him off of his chest and onto the pillows instead, getting up from the bed and not even caring about clothing as he went to the bathroom, catching his own eye in the mirror and turning to view it fully, running a hand through his rapidly fading hair, he had dyed it back to the normal colour, but it was even beginning to fade out from the dark blackish to a more brownish colour, much dryer than it used to be, and he guessed that was the price he paid for dying his hair for charity.

It was still worth it.

He showered quickly, knowing that he didn't want to leave his mate alone for too long, and he wanted to cook them dinner too, but he knew that he was absolutely disgusted when he crawled out of their bed, covered in sweat, cum and all sorts of other things, but none of that had mattered in their post-high haze, they just needed to be with one another, but now his mind had cleared a little, and he knew that he had to be responsible now.

So he showered, studiously ignoring his alpha also beginning to rouse from its rest, pushing it back down gently, reminding himself that he needed to care for his mate before they could be with one another again, a strange and refreshing change to how he usually felt during rut, knowing he finally had someone to care for.

He finished cleaning up and drying off, leaving his hair damp and trotting down the stairs, not even feeling strange for not putting any clothes on because it wouldn't be the first time he just walked around naked, it was his house, who the fuck cared?

No one would know.

He knew some part of it felt generic, but he decided to make pancakes for the pair of them, knowing Seán had more than a little bit of a sweet tooth, but when they were done he made Seán some coffee and himself just orange juice, but he heard something when he made it back upstairs and stood in front of the closed bedroom door...

Crying.

He opened the door and quickly put everything on his little tray down, and Seán heard the sound and looked up at him, eyes red-rimmed and glassy from his crying, laid on his side and whining lowly, a constant sound that broke the other alpha's heart.

"Seán? What's wrong, do you... Regret this?"

He gestured between Seán and himself, did he regret them doing what they had?

Apparently not.

"No no no! I don't regret any of it, but... I lost all of your cum, I didn't want you to see me like this, but I woke up and it was all in the bedding instead of inside of me where it's supposed to be... You could have woken me up when you got up so I could keep it inside..."

His alpha half was delighted that his little mate was already beginning to assume his cum was supposed to only be inside of him, but he ignored it entirely.

"Oh Seán, you know it isn't the end of the world, you can have me after we've eaten and I can just fill you up again, okay?"

He nodded, looking distinctly happier but still somehow disappointed in himself, and yet Mark decidedly tried to brush over it, not wanting to hit a sensitive subject and so smiled warmly and walked over to the bed with the food.

"Hey, come on, we need to eat anyway, I can clean the sheets later, okay? It'll all be okay...?"

That only seemed to make him feel worse.

"Oh, I've made a mess of your bed too, alpha... I'm so sorry, you have to do everything for me like I'm an omega, I should be strong and able to care for myself, shouldn't I? I'm an alpha after all, but I guess that even if you are the one being the caring one, which I love so much, I should still have made a nest or cleaned the sheets, that's my job, to clean our home..."

He just shook his head slowly, sitting on the bed with the food and letting Seán sit in his lap like a little puppy searching for attention as he stroked a hand through the brown hair, watching as he nuzzled up into the touch.

"Here, come on, you need to eat...~"

He cut a small square of pancake and speared it on the fork, holding it up to the pale lips until those blue eyes looked into his own and he ate it, not trying to take the fork from Mark and simply letting him be fed instead, which Mark was more than happy to do for him.

He eventually got through the whole pancake and Mark ate his own so that they pushed the plates to the side and drank their drinks before Seán's snuggled up to him, trying to give him a kiss but he pulled back playfully instead, softly pushing at the smaller alpha's chest.

"Not with that breath, you aren't getting anywhere near my mouth you addict!"

His breath smelt of strong black coffee, and so Seán shot up off of his lap, wincing as he stood, likely from Mark's knot stretching him a little too far, but then he was trying to get to the bathroom, feeling as if he needed to explain to his alpha where he was going.

"We can't have sex if you aren't going to kiss me, I'll brush my teeth!"

He sounded so happy at his revelation that Mark simply couldn't ruin his little ray of sunshine by telling him his toothbrush was still in his bag at the other side of the house and not in his bathroom, and he soon came back sheepishly, scratching at the back of his neck and looking up through dark lashes.

"Umm, I forgot where I left my suitcase?"

He chuckled, his mate was adorable.

"Of course, I need to take the dishes down anyway, I'll go and get your case and you just stay up here, yeah? I'll get you your stuff, only be a few minutes~"

And he wandered down the stairs, quickly cleaning up the dishes and leaving them out to dry before he was padding back up the stairs and then he could walk down to the other side of the hallway, into the spare bedroom where Seán had been supposed to stay and where he had put the case, deciding it was better to just take the whole thing rather than pick everything he neede out, that would have only taken longer, and he decided to pick it u as it wouldn't roll very well on the carpets and he had no idea where it had been and didn't want to drag it over all of his clean floors, even if it was a little heavier than it had first looked, he soon got back to his own room, wanting to be able to get back to his mate.

His heart absolutely melted at what he saw.

His mate may have been an alpha, but he was more considerate and gentle than he had ever known an omega to be, warmer and softer and nicer and more eager to please than Mark had thought he had ever deserved.

Seán looked up from what he was doing, seeing his alpha's dark eyes warm and soften as he realised what his mate was doing, and that looked made him feel so good, so glad he had had a chance to go and make Mark a nest for them to be able to make love in, even if he thought it was a bit of a mess and very quickly rushed, the sentiment behind it was still very clear and there for anyone to see.

He wanted to stay.

Even only omegas nested in places where they felt grounded, a place that felt like home to them, but he knew that it was supposed to be so much deeper than that... Even if it seemed like Mark ignored that part...

Because it was never just made to be innocent, it also meant that Sean wanted to still be his mate and that he wanted...

He wanted a baby...

As many as his alpha would permit him to have, because his body would never deceive him and give more than his mate had wanted for them, no, that wouldn't be good, he needed to be perfect for his mate.

All Mark would have to do was to express even the slightest desire for a baby and he would be tripping over himself to give him one.

Chapter Text

None of it mattered, for now, he happily bustled over to Mark, all too eager to watch the flex of those muscles as he finally put the case down and he snuggled up against those arms, feeling them flex more as he kissed at the bronze skin and cooed in happiness, allowing his hands to trace the curve and accent of those muscles that he had never had a chance to see so closely in his life.

And then he was being wrapped up in those arms and lifted off of the ground with ease, causing him to squeal and his own arms flew up to loop around his mate's neck before he went crashing back to the ground in a heap.

He chuckled, cuddling into Mark's neck and laughing easily, shifting to be more comfortable, Mark's hands holding onto his thighs and digging in in the best sort of way.

"So that's why you could pin me down so easily, I should have known I didn't have a chance against you, but I love that...~"

Of course, Mark easily picked up on the sultry undertones curling into his words, as lust bled into his own and lit them on fire like gasoline.

"Of course, I could, why wouldn't I want to when you're so fucking beautiful?~"

The coffee, the dishes, the suitcase were all forgotten in a haze, like a mist clouding the sight and thought of anything other than one another, anything else in their minds carried off like leaves in a stream until they were simply forgotten in favour of something much more important.

Why care about a leaf when you could see the waterfall?

And then lips were crashing against his own, no longer asking but absolutely downright demanding him to open his mouth and submit, which he did without hesitation, as one arm let go of him and swept the desk of all of the junk on top of it, the plates falling to the carpet but thankfully not smashing from their slightly cushioned landing as Seán was soon being placed on there instead.

Mark's alpha didn't care where they were, he just needed somewhere to put his mate down, so he could pay attention to him instead of having to balance too, and the cabinet was the closest thing he saw.

There was nothing now, nothing other than the heated crash of lips and lust and sweat glittering in evening light, skin damp and desperate, nails digging into any soft skin they could find to try and hold on to one another, hooking into one another and not letting go.

But he had to ask.

He didn't want to pull away, but he had too, and yet he never regretted seeing the sight below him, Seán was already a mess and they had barely even started, tongue lolling out to the side and eyes clouded and glassy, pupils blown so wide it was hard to imagine, pale skin already bitten and bruised from their last encounter, yet that would never stop him leaving more marks there.

"Do you... Would you want to top this time? You've got to be fucking sore...?"

He was offering an option to stop before he went too far, but that never meant he had to take it, no matter how kind the gesture was.

"No, I could never throw you around as you do to me, I'm fucking yours, no one else's, so show me that...! You know how much I love you, alpha, I just want you, please...?~"

He sounded so small, and Mark didn't want that, so he leant down and kissed his neck slowly, trying to soothe his mate as he allowed his hips to rut upward, trying to find his omega and when he did, he thrust straight into him, trying to kiss away the pained hiss when he heard it, knowing he would still be stretched open from their last time and trying to stretch him again would only cause more pain for him.

But he was rocking into his mate, thinking of nothing other than making sure his mate was filled to the brim and happy, that was all he really wanted, wasn't it?

It was over sooner this time, and he was gentler, not as rough as he had been before, but not as gentle as he was outside of rut, that was something for later.

It was still just as real as the first time, he would never forget any of it, how warm and tight his omega was, how he took his knot well and fucking begged for it in a way he loved so much he couldn't even begin to describe. Or the feeling of nails digging into his shoulder blades, gripping onto him, but Seán was unable to do anything but hold onto him and beg for more, leaving the older alpha in control of it all, but that didn't mean he didn't want Seán to love it too, or the different sounds he managed to drag out of that pretty throat, just a slight change in his hips would make his omega make a different sound, he could learn where his sweet spots were just from what sounds he made.

And of course, like a good mate, when they were done, he took his mate back to bed and laid them together, making sure he had not caused any injury or pain to his smaller mate from pinning him to a table, but he seemed okay, he didn't fuss like an omega when their alpha was hurt, he just liked to make sure nothing was wrong with his mate, but his heart broke from the very first thing Seán said after they had had sex again, when Mark had managed to get them into bed and comfortable...

His omega was running his hands all over his own belly, gingerly taking one of Mark's hands and pressing it there too, his alpha quickly noticing the difference in their hands, Mark's were larger than his counterparts, tanner skin and veinier, whereas Seán had smaller hands, pale and thin with long fingers, it made them both smile.

But then Mark was the one to frown.

"Mm, alpha, baby, please, give me a baby, have I not been good enough to take your babies? I'll be good, I promise!"

And then he saw his alpha's frown and became afraid of why he was unhappy now.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you not want me to a carry a baby? But I thought I'd been good!? What else can I do for you to accept me as the carrier for your litter?"

"No, Seán, you know what I'm going to say, you may be this wonderful submissive mate, which I love so much, but you still have the biology of an alpha, we can't hold a bond together, and you have no womb to carry my children, I'm so sorry, you've been so good, and you would already be heavy with my child if I could give you that, been so good for me...~"

But he started to cry in his arms, curling up around his belly and pressing back against their tie and yet refusing to make eye contact with Mark at all.

"Oh... I'm.. Sorry, I just I... I got lost in the moment, I think I forgot, I didn't mean to... Just forget it."

He refused to speak any more than that, they fell asleep instead.

But Mark woke up to soft sobbing from Seán, where his mate's small face was buried in his own chest, the warm smatter of fresh tears dripping down his own neck barely served to bother him any longer, he was just concerned, but he could hear Seán muttering and listened closely instead, fighting down his instinct to comfort and help right away, convincing himself that listening could be the only way to understand what was wrong and then he would be better able to help with anything.

"Of course this would happen to me, wouldn't it? I'm not fertile in the way my mate needs me to be and there's nothing I can do about it..."

"I wouldn't hate a child that was adopted, but I want to... Why the hell do I even want to be an omega? That's all I really want, isn't it? To just allow Mark to get me pregnant and then stay here with him, nothing else would matter other than our family, so many hate being omegas, would love to be alpha instead, but all I want is to be an omega, Mark would protect me from alphas, right? Then I would be carrying his young inside of me, a life that was ours, his and mine... I would stay here, in a nest, I would fucking quit YouTube if he wanted that from me, if it meant he would let me have his bond, his bite, his knot, his love, his home, his heart, his children..."

He couldn't take it anymore.

"No, I would give you all that, you don't have to quit YouTube, why would I even want you to do that? It's your job, your channel, you can do whatever you want in that respect, and you always should, oh I would give you everything, pup, all of it... I wish I could give you a bond, wish your body could hold it, I'll give you my bite in a heartbeat, already have, but it just won't stay, you've had my knot before, you know I won't stop giving you that... You already... You already have my love and my heart, you should know that by now, I just hope I have the same back, of course, I'd let you share my home... I'd give you my babies if I could, but I can't, and you have no idea how frustrating that is, you know what rut is, all we want is to reproduce, and my alpha sees you as my omega already, knowing you want my children and I want you to have them too but you can't carry them, I hate it...~"

He looked terrified.

"Oh my god... Y-you were awake for all of that?"

He simply hummed in response, but instantly sensing some sort of pain from the small body he was curved around, as if protecting him', and there was a smell that wasn't there before, soap, almost something akin to disinfectant, coming from his mate and he already knew what it was, but it made him sick to his stomach.

"Why? What have you done to yourself, why are you in pain? What happened while I was asleep? Show me... Show me it, I won't be mad at you, I promise, I'll take care of you, just show?"

He nodded very carefully, vaguely afraid of how Mark would react, but keeping his mind on his alpha's promise, his natural half trusted him, he had been right to trust the other alpha with his body before...?

He moved away, showing how they were no longer together and that he had slipped off of Mark earlier to move away and turned so they were chest to chest, not wanting Mark to see yet, and so took his alpha's hand, glad he did not try to pull it away and resting it on his own chest...

"Please Mark, promise me you won't be mad of what I did?"

"I promise, but please, don't blame me for being defensive or protective of you, you know I care about you...?~"

"Of course, just don't... Hurt me for it, I don't want you to be mad at me, that would be the worst thing right now for me, but... I did it... For you..."

And he pulled his body away from Mark, wincing when his closed legs brushed as he shuffled away and his alpha gasped, yet thankfully had not begun to shout, at least not so far...

His little mate's dick was still bleeding profusely, but the open wounds around the base. They were made by a knife or razor purposefully, it was obviously in the clean-cut, there was no jagged skin, and yet it looked so painful for his mate to even be on his side, so he didn't hesitate to roll Seán onto his back and then spread his thin legs with strong hands pulling his knees apart with ease.

"Seán, that's going to get infected like that, and you must be in so much pain poor thing, why did you do this to yourself?"

He whimpered, thankful Mark's voice was still low and even, if a little barbed and defensive, almost possessive of him and his body, but he sort of liked that in a way, no matter how many things that were really wrong with his body.

"For you, a-alpha, an omega doesn't have a knot, so I shouldn't either, you know I shouldn't, because I'm your omega, even a beta doesn't have a knot, so I don't need it either, so... I think you know what I tried to do, but... It didn't even fucking work, I'm so useless, my body is so useless, especially to you... Don't have a womb, don't have ovaries, don't have a way for you to bite-bond with me, don't have the right hormones, nor the right breeding cycle, don't have any eggs or even a way for us to make a child together, and no way to absorb your cum so it just leaks out of me uselessly..."

He whimpered near the end, barely even able to carry on.

"Stop demeaning yourself, I hate that, and we'll find a way if we are meant to be together, I will find you a way to have a child, omega, do anything I can so we may share a baby and maybe even a bond, there will be a way, and if there isn't, I'll make one..~"

He nuzzled up into his mate, he was all he ever wanted, soft and warm and yet still holding power over him, toned arms either side of his head and dark eyes looking into his soul as he looked down.

"Oh alpha, I would love that...~"

Even if they weren't actively rutting, they were still in rut and those hormones were still flooding through them, especially Seán, as the subordinate of the pair, and those hormones made him crave a child, especially because this was his first time to mate with someone so those sorts of feeling were only amplified.

"Come my sweet, delicate mate, we need to get you cleaned up, fed and well-rested, I can lay off mating with you if you want that, we both know you knotting will actually hurt like fucking hell...?"

He was offering to stop all the pain, but he refused it.

"I know it'll hurt, but I don't do it for me, I do it for you, so you can still have me and I'll still love it, feeling you fuck me open and leave your knot inside of me is more than worth the pain of all that, I just know it, but please, look after me and my body is yours...?~"

He sounded so painfully innocent, and Mark wanted to wreck that facade.

The rest of that week passed in a blur, finally their feeling subsided to the back of their thoughts and their ruts broke together, strangely fitting for them, wasn't it? To be on such a similar wavelength...

Seán could barely even bring himself to care about cancelling his flight back home to stay in bed with his mate's arms around him, but still knew he would have to go back eventually for all of his stuff at the very least.

But he had still been thinking about a child between them through the whole of his rut, couldn't stop his mind flooding him with scenes of their child, dark hair and dark eyes, tan skin, just like their father, their alpha...

Allowing Mark to talk to his baby bump.

Seeing their litter for the first time.

Feeling them kick.

He wanted it so bad...

...

Needed it.

Why couldn't he have it?

"Hey, I really need to restock on the food in this house, do you wanna go shopping with me?"

"Sure?"

He always loved going out in California, always sunny and bright with large groups of smiling, tanned faces, group of people that he never belonged in, even if his mate did...

But they ended at an impasse, Mark insisted he had something he needed to do alone as a secret, and gave him some money and told him to adventure wherever he wanted in the city, but to call a taxi or Mark if he ever got lost and he agreed.

He wandered for a long while not really seeing any shop that caught his eyes, but then he saw a walk in clinic, only a simple one, and a thought came to him, he'd have to see someone medical to be who his alpha needed him to be, wouldn't he?

Why not go now?

Not let Mark know just in case it never worked out?

And so he did, finding the waiting room refreshingly empty and waiting for only around 10 minutes before being called in by a woman who reminded him of Mark's mom, even sort of smelled like her too, but he brushed it off as she let him to a room and asked the simple questions he had expected and revised his answers for in his waiting time.

Chapter Text

"Okay, so, why are you here today?"

She was so kind, maybe a little past her prime by now, he could smell infertility, but she was so happy, and he wanted that too.

"I, umm, it's sort of embarrassing really, I have... A mate? Mark, but we're both alphas, there's no way for me to hold a bond or even carry his pups as I want, as well as the fact that... I would prefer to be an omega..."

He became to mumble near the end, but she gave a small, warm smile in return.

"I think I should go and get one of the doctors for this, I'll pass on what you told me, and I hope that you all find a way..."

She walked out, and he kicked his legs back and forth sort of nervous from where he was sat on the side of one of the medical chairs which can be pushed down into a sort of bed, but he didn't think about that as his head snapped up when a doctor walked in, recognising another alpha and his own scent becoming tenser, not like an omega would, his scent didn't suppress itself to anyone other than Mark and he hoped that it never would.

He was worried about how long he would be and if Mark would go looking for him.

He hoped he had time.

The female alpha doctor walked up and gave an easy, practised smile, she was quite a bit younger than the nurse, but he still smiled and looked away in embarrassment as she relays what he had told the nurse and he nodded along, confirming that was him.

She had a clipboard with a sheet it appeared she had to fill in for him as a patient.

"Okay, can I ask your full name?"

"Oh, uh, Seán William McGloughlin..."

She frowned as she wrote that down in one of the boxes, but not allowing her voice to become harsh, it was still light and kind.

"You aren't from America, are you? Your accent and your last name, you do know that you wouldn't be able to do much beyond come here and get advice, you don't really get any medical care unless it is life or death unless you have a visa or green card, and have a sort of health care... You said you had an alpha, is he from America?"

He nodded, smiling softly at the thought of his mate as she smiled at that, he really did seem in love...

"If you managed to move here, could you not go under his healthcare, if he has any? I'm assuming you are from the UK from your name and accent, you'd have a good chance at being able to move over here, but you might not even consider it after yet, anyway... Could you lay down on the table please?"

He nodded, laying as he was asked to as she moved to him and asked if she could touch him as she put on a pair of rubber gloves, and he nods as she lifts his chin carefully and turns his head from side to side slowly, eyes slightly narrowed as if she was concentrating as she then leant down and carefully took in his scent, picking up the scent unique to him, as well as the alpha and yet the careful underlying scent of a recently ended rut and submission to someone else, something no alpha should ever have, and it was a surprise.

She blinked and moved back a little, looking over him and seeing how he is different from how an alpha should look, wide hips, thin legs, round thighs and delicate, small body, not even looking like what an alpha should as she silently considered before nodding to herself and finally speaking aloud.

"Okay, there are a few options, but before all of that, do you have any health conditions I should know about?"

"Oh, well, I do have asthma and I can't sweat, I just get a sort of red rash instead, but it isn't too serious...?"

She nodded.

"Okay, that rules out a few things, I wouldn't advise messing with your respiratory system and preferably nothing to do with the skin, I can see the best idea being shots of hormones, how male omegas with beta female mates can take alpha hormones to get their mates pregnant, but I wouldn't recommend pills, they'd be too weak I think for what you are going for... I think your body would be able to hold a bond between the pair of you if you just had omega hormones, but I don't want you to have to come back to get another shot every other month, you'd want a way for your body to create those hormones, and your body actually seems well suited to being an omega, your body would try and make a womb if you had the hormones for long enough, but it could make your infertile and you would need to have some sort of surgery to attach your womb to you and so you could be impregnated by your mate..."

He blinked at the massive monologue that had just rolled off of her tongue.

"Okay, well, at least there could be a way...?"

She nodded again, and then looked behind her and smiled.

"We do have hormone shots in here somewhere, they aren't major things, though there is only a couple of omega ones, I could give you one of those, if you sign to say you agree to it, of course, but I could only give one for now?"

He nodded happily and signed a legal paper before she filed it away, and he barely even felt the pinch of the needle in his arm, too happy about there possibly being a way for him to have Mark's baby and more.

That was all he wanted.

And then he was leaving and his phone was ringing, and he answered happily.

"Seán?"

"Hello!~"

"Why do you sound so happy?"

He paused.

"Oh, it's nothing, where are you?"

"Umm, back in the centre? Where are you? I'll meet you halfway and we can go home, if you don't want to go anywhere else?"

He smiled to himself happily just at the sound of his mate's beautiful voice.

"Yeah, I'm in the shops near the clinic, do you know where?"

"Of course, but what are you doing over there?"

He gulped, he had not even taken a glance at any of the shops in that place and had no idea what was around.

"Oh, I don't know, I just carried on wandering, but I sort of want to go home now, please? I'll start walking back to the centre now and meet you, yeah? I want to know where you wentttt...?~"

He heard the deep chuckle.

"Oh, maybe I'll tell you later, but come on, we'll meet back up sooner if you set off now..."

And so he rushed off out of the clinic and ran quickly down busy streets, eyes looking out sharply for his mate and bouncing onto him, clinging to his mate as he automatically changed his stance to accustom the new weight he had to hold, and he heard the rustle of a bag in his mate's hand and he looked down at it with curiosity, but it meant that Mark only moved it further out of the way so he would not be able to see even as he pouted and nuzzled into Mark's neck instead.

He let a hazy happy little grin pull over his lips when he felt Mark's snuffle into his bangs in a pleased sort of way, happy to be able to see his mate again, and of course, he felt the same way, feeling some hint of nervousness as he realised Mark had moved down and was nuzzling his scent glands affectionately, taking a moment to properly breathe in his scent, he had no idea if the new hormones were already taking an effect on his scent, and apparently, it did.

"Mmh, why do you smell so good right now, god, how much I would love to pin you down and absolutely ravish you~ Why do you smell so good to me right now? Oh, let me take you home right now...?~"

"Please do that, oh I really want that, Mark, mate breed me, please?~"

He let Mark carry him home, happy to just be able to snuffle into that scent he loved so much, rub that scent back off on him and leave his own on Mark, it was the only way he could simulate a sort of mate bond between them, because if they were, in fact, bite bonded, his scent would be always at least slightly left on Mark, and his alpha's scent would also be on him, which he would love more than anything, but he knew they would never be able to do that now, he just had to keep rubbing their scent glands against one another as much as he could to keep renewing the scent markers on both of them, which he was fine with doing, but he knew he could not just stay in America indefinitely, it doesn't work like that in any way, and he needs to go back to his country as soon as possible so he doesn't get in trouble for not going back after his holiday there should have already finished and he was still there and had cancelled his flight.

He'd have to go home and leave his alpha again indefinitely for god knows how long, and it meant that their scents would eventually wear off of one another and they would appear as if they didn't have mates, even if they did.

Just at the thought of having to leave his alpha made him feel weird, not exactly like he was getting slick, even if it sort of felt that way, but it wasn't, he would have been able to feel the wetness between his thighs, and there was none of that, he would have recognised the feeling of the dampness from when Mark's cum dripped out of him after their coupling or when Mark used lube on him, and he wasn't wet, he knew that, but he had a feeling part of him was confusing itself because of the new hormones inside of him, which his body seemed to be sort of complaint to, more than he had thought it would be, and he had a sort of feeling that the new hormones were trying to make his body grow new cells an omega had, the glands inside of him that would produce slick as his own natural lubricant when he was turned on or in rut or heat or whatever the hell he would go into.

But he didn't have that.

And it was making his body distressed and confused because he was supposed to be producing slick and he wasn't, felt the primal part of himself checking everything over, this was his mate, yes, he was turned on, yes, he wanted this, yes, so why wasn't he wet like he was supposed to be? He tried to calm himself, didn't want Mark to know what he had done at all, but he couldn't help these strange new thoughts creeping up on him, ones that didn't understand what was wrong, only now so worried about the blank space on his neck, Mark's mark on his neck had healed quickly, did that mean he didn't bite down very hard and so did that mean that Mark didn't want him!?

But of course, Mark knew, Mark always knew, probably could smell his distress and confusion, wanted to make it better, and so he felt a warm tongue gently lapping at the sensitive part of his neck, as if he was trying to smother his distressed scent as they finally made it home, Mark somehow managing to still hold him up and yet unlock and open the door, but when Seán had expected to be put down and pressed against the now-closed door, that didn't happen, and instead, he was carried away to the bed and placed on it gently, Mark's weight dipping the soft material next to him.

"Tell me, what's wrong?"

He didn't reply, he never wanted to admit where he had gone and what he had gotten just because he wanted to please him.

"Come on, I won't be mad at anything you say, you are your own person and I'm not going to hold you down for a decision that you have made, I just want to know what's made you so distressed and if I can make you feel any better, I promise~"

Oh, Sean more than recognised that, the purring croon at the end of Mark's words, the sort of vocal sound only an alpha could make, one that was made to comfort the distressed or hurt, or afraid children and mates, and they had it to also be able to compel others, which could be a blessing or a curse, they could compel others to not be afraid of something, or could compel them to submit to anything, such as mating with someone they didn't want, and this time, it was being used to tease an answer out of him, and he couldn't even bring himself to care.

"I... M-Mark, please, just... Let me keep this secret for now? I promise I'm not keeping anything from you that is vital or dangerous, it's just something I'm not... Comfortable to tell you yet...?"

He was asking to be able to keep his secrets, and Mark was not going to be the person who made sure Seán could keep nothing from him, so he hummed his own sort of approval and just held his omega in his arms, cradling him gently before pressing a small kiss ro his neck, silently asking his mate whether or not he actually wanted to be with one another, or did he want to make Mark lay off of him for the moment so that he would have been able to think about the things that were bothering him so much, and he heard a rumbling chuckle from Seán, and he pushed Mark's head away gently with his hands.

"Thanks for giving me an option, thank you, I just... It's not really something related to making love with you, but it is at the same time, but it not your fault at all, it's all me, as cliche as that may sound..."

"Shh, it's okay, I don't mind if you don't want to be with me today, I really do not mind because there is no way I would ever force you to have sex with me, I'd never do that to anyone, I'm an alpha, it does not mean that I am a rapist by any means, you can trust me, I hope you can learn that and really truly trust me, and if not now, that's okay too, you will learn that I'll always go by your word as much as my own for as long as I have you~"

Just the sound of possession in that voice made Seán want to automatically open his legs, and he almost sort of felt like he would make that motion easier than he would have in the past, but maybe that was just a sort of placebo effect, and he wondered if it was because of those new hormones, was that why some omega had a penchant for not being able to keep their legs shut...

Well, he would keep his legs shut to anyone other than Mark.

That was a promise to himself and to his alpha too, he would never have sex with anyone else if he had any option about it.

Chapter Text

"Can I just go to bed? I have a headache...?"

Mark gave a small nod and gentle smile, lifting his mate out of his lap and then carryin him to the bathroom, helping him to wash up and get ready for bed before placing him softly in the bed, covering him with the sheets and leaving a chaste kiss on his forehead, stroking his hair back from Seán's forehead and pressing another kiss to his temple, whispering a soft goodnight before gently closing the door.

But he could barely sleep and when he woke up, it was dark now, and there was hot cocoa on the bedside table, steaming and leaving an amazing chocolate smell in the air, and he sat up carefully, trying not to make his headache any worse, and it meant that he still felt a little dizzy and drowsy before he saw a small note on the scup, but he could not read it in the dark, until he had been able to adjust his eyes and barely make it out.

'You aren't sleeping very well so I thought this might make you feel a little better if you wake up and I'm not there for you, and if you need me, you can just call out for me, because I'm not going to leave the house and leave you alone when you seem so tired and vulnerable, I'll protect you <3~'

He knew it was only meant to be a little note to help him settle, but some part of him took it as much more than that, because he had a chance to see that Mark had, in fact, handwritten all of this, because it was in his slightly slanted and curly handwriting, so different to his own, but their differences meant so much to him, because it showed just how unique and deep his alpha could be, and he loved that thought that he would always have a lot to learn from and about Mark, and it almost excited him.

He noticed everything, the fact that it wasn't just a ripped off piece of paper, but it was on a fancy little post-it note that he had not seen around Mark's house at all, which made him have a feeling that Mark had actually gone out of his way to find him a post-it note, which made him feel warm inside, and there was also the handwriting, as well as the caring manner which the drink had been put together with, there was marshmallows and whipped cream, even more chocolate powder on top of the cream, and it smelt so good, it showed that none of it had been a rush or gone to waste Mark had to have spent time putting it together.

And he couldn't get that thought out of his mind, he could see Mark in the kitchen, trying to be quiet so as not to wake him up from his already fitful sleep, and trying to stop anything from making a single sound to disturb him, deciding to go out of his way because he wanted to do something for his mate, for his omega, he had to have spent time on this drink, and it made Seán want to drink it down as fast as he could as well as not wanting to drink it at all because he wanted to savour all that Mark had done for him without being asked, which was the best way to get a favour, when you never even had to ask it but Mark already had known that he wanted something that even he had not realised he wanted until he had it.

It was still hot, and it meant that Mark must have made it recently, and it still made something warm glow inside of him, and even if he had a headache, he needed to thank his mate, and so he stumbled out of the bed, not caring that he was only clad in boxers beyond the fact that it made his skin take a bitter chill, but he didn't care, because he knew Mark would be warm.

He wandered down the stairs in the dark, because he had adapted to the darkness and could see better now, but that didn't mean that he wasn't scared out of his own skin as he heard claws clicking on the floor, and there were glowing eyes in the dark, but then he felt a gentle tongue and soft fur against his shin and tried to take some deep breaths, it was just Chica, just the lovely labrador with the biggest heart he had ever seen in any animal.

He cuddled her close to him for a moment, before setting off from where he was at the bottom of the stairs, and he silently smiled to himself when he heard Chica following behind him, she seemed much more protective of him than she usually was, and he knew dogs had alphas betas and omegas, and Chica happened to be an alpha, and he silently wondered if Chica was trying to protect him in the darkness when Mark wasn't around because of the sweet change to his scent, the one that had the omega hormone undertones that made him literally smell more vulnerable than usual.

But then Chica began whining, and he turned to her, trying to understand what had made her so unsettled, and he followed her when she nosed at his legs and then turned down the hallway, and he followed her to the front door, which she stopped at, and he had only assumed she just wanted to go outside, but she didn't paw at the door as she usually did when she wanted to go outside, but instead she crouched on her haunches and growled at the door fiercly, and it instantly put him on edge too, she was a sweet dog, and didn't usually act so unsettled or out of sorts like this.

But then the door handle moved, as if someone was trying to open it, and he let out a large breath when he had realised the door was locked, and he even briefly wondered whether or not Mark had ended up trapped outside, but he had gone to one of the other rooms in the house, where you could just see the outside of the front door from one of the windows, and he knew in an instant that was not Mark.

He was too tall, but not quiet as well muscled as his own alpha was, but something about him just told Seán that this man was an alpha, and a proud one at that, if he was able to go off of the posture of that silhouette, and some part of him froze when he had then seen this figure turn his neck, it was looking at him, wasn't it?

And then it turned it's full body towards him, and he had taken a step back from the window when this man had taken a step closer to it, before he whimpered softly to himself, he couldn't stop the sound from slipping, and as if she was trying to comfort him, he felt Chica brush against the back of his legs and wrapping her tail around one of his legs before walking quickly to the other side of the house, a hurry to her step that made him follow with no hesitation, and he found Chica brought him to...

Wait, Mark had a basement?

But she pawed at the door with a kind of urgency that made him try to open it, and the door drifted open with a click, and he looked down the flight of stairs and happily saw that the light was on and he could smell his mate faintly down there, and so he rushed down the stairs, making sure Chica also came in before he shut the door to the higher part of the house so no one would think to find them there as he rushed over to his mate, who was laid out on a small bed in there, and it seemed surprisingly clean, as if he had just put the sheets on, and he had a tiny thought that just maybe he had gone down there so he could sleep but would also not wake Seán up by trying to go to bed, and he had no idea why he didn't just go into the spare bedrooms instead, but then he realised that there was something about this place ti seemed rather... Calming, and then he finally decided to wake his alpha before he died from his own fear.

The part of him which he assumed were the omega thoughts passed through the forefront of his mind, carefully wondering if his alpha would be angry if he woke him up, especially if he had just imagined it, and now he understood why many omegas were courted, he was so nervous about disappointing his alpha, and he knew that if he kept taking the hormones, Mark would have to take quite a while to prove to the omega half of his mind that he would never be angry at him for things like this.

But he shook his alphas shoulder gently, seeing him stir and when those dark eyes he loved opened, he felt a new wave of calm wash over him, he was safe now, his alpha was with him and awake, so he would be safe because his alpha would always make sure to protect him, right...?

"M-Mark? Alpha? Please, I'm s-scared...?"

He felt like a child again after he had had a nightmare, rushing to his parents, and then he saw Mark sit up very quickly, looking over him as if to make sure he did not seem hurt and he smiled gently when he saw Chica protecting his omega, but then he was looking back up when he had seen the tears in the blue eyes and he stood up as quickly as he could, hugging his arms over the thin, pale shoulders and allowing his omega to breath in his scent, which he allowed comfort to flow through, only pulling back when he was satisfied that his omega was calmer, and then held him at an arm's length.

"Oh darling, what's wrong? What has you so scared? Please tell me, alpha will make it better...?~"

He soothed softly, feeling much like a parent but he kind of liked that thought.

"I... Chica found me w-when I got out of b-bed to find you... S-she led me to the front d-door and there was a... A man was s-stood there, Mark... H-he saw me... P-please, he scared m-me!"

He shushed his omega gently, holding his hand tight as they went back up the stairs and Mark locked the basement, just in case, but he didn't need to tell his mate that and make him even more afraid.

They went back into the room with the window and looked out, the man was still there, and he felt Mark stiffen against his side when he saw him.

"Omega? Do you want to come with me or stay here?"

He hiccuped, only now realising that tears were streaming down his face.

"U-uh, I'll come with y-you...?"

He nodded, leading him to the front door and then Mark felt Seán snuggle into his shirt as much as he could, burying his face but just ever so slightly peeking out so he could see the door, and then Mark unlocked it and swung it open, seeing the man in the light now, and he saw who it was.

"Ken!?"

Chapter Text

The man grinned, soon seeing the smaller man clinging to Mark's side still, even when he saw who it was.

"What are you doing here?"

He blinked at the harsh tone, and realised some part of Mark was trying to protect Seán from him because he was afraid, and that confused him, they were both alphas so why was the youngest man acting more like an omega clinging to his alpha's side because he was scared of whoever was outside of the door, and so he decided this was a bad idea and stepped further away from the door, making the other alphas relax a little.

"I... I came to see you, Mark, I didn't realise Seán was still here, but you two seem unsettled by me, so I guess I'll stay in a near hotel and come back in the morning?"

Mark nodded and he smiled gently, going back to the car with Mary and his two children, telling them and his wife completely understood, she was an omega who hated someone she couldn't recognise coming near their home, especially if they had not said they were coming to their house beforehand.

"See omega? Ken won't hurt you, don't be afraid, but because you still seem scared, I sent him away, okay?"

But then he squinted at where Ken went and saw other people in the car who he would recognise from just their silhouettes.

"See? Mary was there too? She's an omega and their children are there too...?~"

For some reason, that made Seán look up very quickly, looking at the car himself and seeing the small children inside that made him feel a little empty.

"O-oh, Mary and their pups w-were here too? Oh, I-I'd love to see the pups, they're so c-cute!"

The alpha instantly recognised the tone of voice in Seán's sentence, and he nosed at Seán's neck to soothe him a little more, and so he could also breathe in his scent a little better, soon identifying the scent he was looking for, and he was surprised, he only thought Seán wanted that because of his rut, but apparently he was wrong...?

"Oh omega, you want a baby, don't you? You want us to have our own pups to raise, hmm? If I could give you a litter of babies, I would, without a doubt, and we'll find a way eventually, I promise, I'll do anything to make sure I can leave a pup in a womb inside of you,~"

But that triggered something.

"W-wait, Mark, I... I wouldn't talk earlier, right? Well, I think I need a chance to explain what I was so nervous about earlier... I wish you had put your baby inside of me...After our cycles ended... We went out, right? Well, you had to go somewhere and I wandered for a while until I came to another place... A clinic, you know, the walk in one?"

Mark nodded wearily as he shut the front door and continued to listen to his omega.

"I wanted to know if I could ever have a chance, a chance to have my own womb and eggs, so I could let you give me a pretty baby, I know I would adore them, as many as you choose to fuck into me, I'll take them all without a doubt, love them so much, but... I saw a doctor, she said I could become an omega really with a lot of shots and surgery..."

He got quieter the longer he spoke, but his alpha still caught every word.

"You would go that far for us?"

He sounded so touched.

"Of course, I would, without a doubt, but... I wanted to warn you she gave me a shot of omega hormones, that's why I've been a little off and I smell different too, I thought it would please you, but when we got home, I made myself confused and panicked because I'll have fleeting thoughts for that of an omega, and one was scared because I couldn't understand why I was turned on but I wasn't wet for you, the little omega piece of me freaked out because omegas slick, but I couldn't, the single shot of hormones wasn't enough for my body to make those glands and cells to produce slick for you and it scared me a little because of the confusion, the shot was only enough for a little change in my scent and how I act and think just a tiny bit though..."

But then he caught Mark's scent and his breath stuttered at what he could scent.

Pure love and affection solely for him, as well as the same wants he had, wanted to be able to bond with him, as well as give him a pretty pup to grow inside of him before raising them, his alpha wanted to see him have their baby?

"Mmh, I really do want your baby alpha, hope you'll give me it if I can ever really give you a baby, our baby... I can show you how good I'll be, taking care of our baby for you... I love you alpha.~"

He nuzzled under his alpha's chin, nipping at his jaw as hands stroked down his sides and gripped at his thighs, the hands were much larger than his own, gently opening his thighs a little more and he let him do that, leaning up himself to seal his alpha's lips in a soft kiss, wrapping his arms around Mark's shoulders to pull him a little closer, to pull them together and allowing Mark's hands to continue to open up his legs.

His alpha reciprocated his kisses, moving down to leave soft kisses and love bites on his neck, and he felt his hand gently tap at his thigh, telling him to jump up, and that was what he did, trusting Mark to catch him as he did just that.

Some tiny part of Mark briefly wondered if his omega would let him settle his cock inside of him when they slept, not necessarily having sex with him, only being inside of him while they sleep, there was something so intimate about holding his omega, his mate, close with more than just his arms, but he wondered if he would have been uncomfortable with having Mark inside of him for no reason, and if he was, he could just slip himself between his omega's thighs, or not at all if it really unsettled Seán so much, but he doubted that would happen after pinning his mate down during their ruts and fucking him with his cock.

"You're thinking and not telling me about it, so what are you thinking about?"

He chuckled and shook his head, nuzzling his omega and hugging him even closer to his chest happily, smiling lightly and massaging his soft, pale thighs with deft fingers just to relax him a little more.

"It'll make a little more sense later, you'll find out eventually, I can barely keep anything from you as it is...~"

Seán chuckled at that and gently shuffled so that Mark put him back on his feet and he ran to the kitchen, where Mark smiled, bemused, and decided to follow at a slower pace, peaking into the kitchen to find his little omega looking through all of his cupboards in the kitchen, reaching up to one of the highest shelves until his hand hit something else next to what he was trying to reach up to and knocked a heavy bowl out of the shelf in the cupboard and then it landed directly on the tiny omega's arm, making Mark flinch when he heard the snap and watched the bone break in his mate's delicate arm, rushing forward and barely bothered by the broken pieces of pottery gently stabbing at his feet as he huddled around his mate, as if trying to protect him, and helping him out of the kitchen and to the main bathroom upstairs.

It was a rather large bathroom, and Seán was holding his arm very close to his chest, so Mark couldn't get to it if he tried, so he settled for finding his phone, he knew he needed to take his omega to the hospital, but he also needed to see how bad it was and his omega would not let him see it to see how worried he had to be.

"Come on Seán, please, I need to see how bad your arm is and I'll bring you to the hospital as soon as I can just see how bad it is, it won't hurt too much, I promise you...?"

But Seán shook his head, holding his arm a little closer to himself and taking a step away from his alpha, he didn't want anyone to try and touch his arm because it hurt too much without someone trying to feel the bone, it would hurt him too much and he was afraid, so he just shivered in the corner of the room.

"Omega, please, I'll keep you safe, I'll look after you, I promise that as your alpha, you just have to trust me... Come here, please, I'm not just going to force you to show me your arm, but I need to, please...?"

He whimpered again, louder this time, but the tiny part of him which was beginning to become more omega-based, it was telling him that he should be able to trust his alpha, it wasn't his fault this happened and all he wanted to do was have a chance to help him, so why couldn't he let him take care of it instead because he himself was scared?

So he stepped forward, even as he started crying out of fear of the pain of what was to come when he let Mark touch it, his omega was still distraught too, he had wanted to make food for the pair of them, maybe it was his own homing, nesting sort of instinct that came with an omega, but he had wanted to be able to make him something to eat to show his own gratitude because Mark had done so much for him and he had not yet had a chance to give anything back to say thank you yet, but he had even failed that and all he had managed to succeed in doing was making Mark even more concerned for him.

"Come here, come to me omega, I will look after all of it if you'll just give me a chance to look after you, I know that you're scared and that the alpha part of you doesn't want to be babied, but I need you to let me in, please?"

He finally made it to his alpha's waiting arms and let him carefully take his arm, peeling his sleeve back, which was drying with blood from the underside of his arm, where Mark twisted it very carefully again, wincing at his omega's pained whine as he saw the worst thing he had ever seen, the bone had cleanly snapped in two, at least, but it did make it so that the bone had gone straight through the bottom of Seán's arm, tearing through the skin as Mark gasped and hugged him close, careful of his arm.

"Come on, we need to make you all better so I'll take you to the hospital, jesus, with how much you seem to like to go to the hospital, I feel like I need you to actually buy some health insurance so they'll actually serve you..."

He frowned.

"Wait... W-would they actually help me?"

He shushed the whimper.

"Yeah, they wouldn't leave you with a bone sticking out of your arm and bleeding, it would be totally inhumane for you and leave you in pain, they won't do that even if you do not live over here, and you wouldn't actually be able to get health insurance unless you lived in the states anyway, just... Forget I said anything, it's fine, I promise..."

He only nodded in reply, allowing his alpha to lead him down the stairs and to the front door, where Mark had to help him put on his shoes before getting him into the car and strapping in his seatbelt before beginning to drive to the hospital, LA main hospital, the closest one he could get his mate to.

They just sat in silence, both in their own thoughts as Mark also focused on his own driving and Seán found it a little amusing he found it so strange to drive on the other side of the road or even being in a car on that side, or how even if he did have a driving license in the UK, he would likely still need the practice to be able to drive in the US, but at the same time there was also the fact that Mark would find it weird to be driving on the other side of the road, Mark had grown up and lived his whole life in the states, he would find it weird to have to drive on the other side of the road, and that silently reminded him just how different and he and Mark were as people, and that could be a good thing as well as maybe it could also be a bad one...

Mark had been surprised when his omega spoke up, not expecting the sudden noise.

"I don't think the UK would really want to give me the operation to become an omega, as well as the omega hormones and the rest of it, so I would likely have to be here, as well as being able to see you, so I would have to be here, and yet because it is not a vital thing to my health that affects me right then, they won't give me it unless I had health insurance, and that would mean I need to live here..."

He only seemed to be thinking out loud, but Mark still wanted to make him feel a little better and crooned in encouragement to soothe his omega a little more, shifting at the thought of being outright refused for what he was going to say.

"Oh, my lovely dear omega, If you really want to be an omega and that's the way you want to do it, then we'll make sure it can happen for you, okay? I know it'll be a big change, but you could move to this country if you wanted to come to live here, I'll be here with you every step of the way and you should know that very well by now, I'll help you with anything you'll need to move here and I'll help you with your healthcare and everything, you could... live with me?"

There was a nervous tint to his voice, he could have been refused when he even propose the idea, but Seán looked up at him quickly and smiled gently, taking Mark's free hand and pressing it into his own hand, lacing their fingers together and not able to stop his smile on his face.

"Oh alpha, I hoped if I decided to come to live here, you'd let me live with you, oh I'll love you so much alpha, I already do, I'll give you such beautiful pups we can raise together if I live with you, I can get that surgery and become an omega so I can have your baby!"

He sounded so happy, but then he whimpered when he moved his arm strangely, it was his right arm he had broken, so he could still hold Mark's hand, and they made it to the hospital pretty quickly.

He had to sit in the waiting room for quite a while, eventually convincing Mark to let him shuffle into his lap, nuzzling into Mark's neck so no one else could see his face and so he could hide from the very bright lights that were hurting his head, and Mark seemed to understand, just letting him sleep in his lap after making sure his omega was signed in and explaining what was wrong with him, so that they would help him even if he didn't live in America.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, it was getting later into the night and there were very few people waiting so that it meant that it didn't take any more than an hour before they were welcomed into a room and Mark told him to sit on the bed, and Mark sat in the chair next to the bed, a doctor walking in a couple of minutes later.

"Hello, you must be Sean, and I was told we needed to look at your arm?"

The doctor was a male alpha, though he only asked him kindly because he knew that he could smell something strange about his patient's scent, knowing that everyone in the room were all male alphas, there was something strange about his actual patient, something in his scent that told him there was something not right about him, or maybe just a little different, something he would sort of expect from an omega, as well as... Sadness, towards the other alpha? No, not sadness, though it was only weak and he doubted his patient or the man with him could really scent it at all.

His patient wanted something from his friend and he had a feeling his patient's friend had no idea, but it reminded him of the scent of an omega who wanted to have a pup from their alphas, but that couldn't be right... Right?

He brushed it off, it was none of his concern was it, because that was not why anyone was there, even if it did intrigue him.

"Okay, can I see your arm, please?"

He moved forward, arms out, but his patient only pulled his arms back, whimpering slightly and shuffling closer to his friend, and he decided he was moving too fast.

"Okay... Don't worry, I'm not going to try and scare you... Alright, so I know your name is Seán, but my name is Dr Suran, but you can call me Alex, okay?"

He smiled when Sean nodded in reply, hugging his arm close with his working one.

"Okay, can I ask your name too?"

The alpha at the side of the bed blinked, surprised he had even been addressed in the first place, but he did comply.

"Oh, yeah, my name is Mark..."

He smiled, reaching over to carefully hold his patient's normal arm, and it seemed to soothe him in a way, watching him settle much quicker as 'Mark' whispered something to Seán that made him hold out his arm for it to be examined.

Of course, he took his chance and took his patient's arm, quickly checking it over and turning it over lightly to see the protruding bone, and he started at the sight of the blood.

"Okay, you need to have an X-ray, I want to see what that bone is like before we try and clean it up, though it does look like a clean break, which is good, and if it is, then we can have it set back in place, stitch up your arm and then set it in a cast, though you will have to come in and have the cast changed, we'll need to take out the stitches and make sure it doesn't get infected, but you should be good to go, if you have shattered it, we will have to operate and take out the small shattered pieces and fit your bone back together and put a cast on it, okay?"

He just nodded along numbly, not really understand half of what was said to him as he was way too focused on the pain in his arm, he just wanted it all to go away, but then he was being told to stand and follow the doctor, but Mark didn't go to follow him, and he turned back.

"M-Mark? Aren't you g-gonna come with me?"

He sounded so small and unsure, but.

"I can't be in the room with you while you have an x-ray, and I will only manage to get in the way, I doubt that my first aid knowledge will do shit for you now, Seán..."

It was only a joke, but it made his omega's worry spike, he didn't know what to do in an American hospital, he was relying on Mark in this whole thing, as well as being too nervous to really say anything to this doctor he doesn't actually know, and Mark just being around him helps him to calm down...

"No, p-please, Mark... I-I need you..."

The doctor heard this and sighed.

"Well, he can't come with you for your X-ray, just like he said, but, I can have someone get him from here and meet you after your X-ray, where they'll hopefully only have to stitch and clean you up and stick a cast on you, okay? The sooner we get this X-ray done, the sooner you can see him again."

He nodded at that, going back just to press his face under Mark's chin and left a small, discrete kiss there, because he didn't know whether or not they would be accepted by others yet, or even if Mark wanted anyone to actually know about them yet, or at all, so he left it be and wandered off, following the doctor and only thinking about Mark.

Was Mark unhappy?

He didn't want to force his alpha to wait for him all alone, but at the same time, he couldn't bring him with him and he knew that he was way too afraid of the different system in America to ever even think of telling Mark to leave him so he didn't have to waste time here, or did he actually want to be able to stay? He wanted someone to be there for him, it was just more he had to be able to pay back to Mark and actually make him feel worse in the end, but who even cared?

Not him, he was just glad to have someone looking out for him, or at least, he's pretty sure his alpha is doing that because he can be so amazing like that.

He stopped thinking as he was lead into a room and told to lay down.

He came out of there only a few minutes later, happy to know that he was supposed to be able to see Mark very soon now, even going as far as to even ask his doctor to make sure he had not forgotten to send someone to actually go and get Mark, and he somewhat saw a smile on the doctor's face, one that he had no idea whether or not it was only supposed to be kind-hearted or whether it was mocking him, but he started to doubt the second option, this doctor seemed like a good man, another male alpha, so it could very well just be a knowing smile, maybe he had seen him kiss Mark before leaving him?

Why was it making him worry so much?

He decided to try and ignore it, but he couldn't...

Why was he hyperventilating...?

He felt his lungs close up, as if he could no longer breath, even if he was technically fine and should have been breathing okay, and it didn't take a doctor to know what was wrong with him, anyone would know.

A panic attack.

But he didn't know that, even a tiny part of his mind wondered if it was his asthma making all of this worse for him, as well as his inability to sweat and whether he would have actually been sweating at that moment if he could.

"Whoa, look at me, okay? You need to calm down, breath with me..."

But he wasn't listening, at least, not until he felt someone else wrap around him, pulling him into a familiar chest but still being careful of his arm, and he buried his own face into the neck, breathing deeply, but still managing to hyperventilate, even if he could hear his alpha talking to him, warm breath on his neck, and even if he had no idea of just what Mark was saying to him, just the sound of his voice managing to calm his omega a little.

He knew his own legs had buckled, but Mark was holding him up anyway, so it didn't matter anyway, as well as the fact that he finally had his alpha again, but he had no idea if he would even have a chance to explain to Mark what had made all of this happen, maybe he didn't even know himself, maybe it was all just a piece of him which became very afraid that someone else would see that the pair of them were together, both two male alphas, but there was something more than just plain and platonic friendship between the pair, but then he realised that just maybe someone had seen that side of them and he outright panicked, and he had no idea how to feel about that.

"Seán!? Omega, please? Tell me what happened, what's wrong?"

He started whispering, knowing he had just called his mate an omega, which would make no sense to anyone, he was calling an alpha his omega? That would make no sense to someone who wasn't just the pair of them, but the most confusing part must have been that that nickname actually calmed him a little, he knew who was speaking to him and it comforted him...

"Oh alpha, I'm sorry alpha... I just... I thought he might have seen me kiss you and I just... Panicked, oh alpha, I'm sorry, please don't hate me..."

He heard a deep, gentle croon in his ear, and he automatically relaxed at that sound, knowing that it was his alpha trying to make him relax, and of course, he wanted to do that and his alpha was trying to make him feel better, which he quickly did, because fuck, it was Mark...

"Oh Seán, you're okay now, you'll be okay, right?"

He was asking louder now, making sure not to call him his mate or omega, and that sort of hurt a part of him, but at the same time, he was thankful, this made sure he wouldn't have to explain himself to the doctor.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm okay..."

But then the doctor stepped in, still, a hint of surprise hung around him, he had never had an expectation for his patient to just break down like that, and he was powerless to be able to help, and he saw how easily his... Friend?... Had managed to calm him down, he really did need this Mark more than he had originally thought

"Did you... Have some sort of trauma? Or is there something really causing you so much stress? Did something happen I wasn't aware of? Anyway... We need to get you stitched up, the bone looks like it broke cleanly, I think we just need to set it back in place and then we can put a cast on it, but we'll need to stitch you up before that, okay?"

He asked soothingly, glad that Seán was calm again and gesturing for him to follow as he decided to walk into one of the empty rooms, and set the alpha patient of his down on the medical table and moving out of the room, allowing his patients, what... Friend? Ito the room with him

"It fucking hurts, alpha..."

It was meant to be some sort of joke in the first place, a laughing murmur to the edge of his words, but that seemed to get lost in the severity of the situation and the joke fell flat, just as Mark partly expected, he couldn't make himself joke over his omega's health, he just couldn't do it...

Chapter Text

"Oh omega, I could have reached up there for you, I don't want you to get hurt, please don't make me think about you being hurt, it makes my alpha feel like I failed you because I'm supposed to keep you safe and I couldn't do that when we were in our fucking nest! I'm so stupid..."

"Mark, no, that doesn't matter, you don't need to be all strong and powerful for me to love you, I just want you to be you, I don't want-"

"No, it does matter, that is important, you should know that! What if something happened to you, or if you were in heat, what if I wasn't able to force other alphas to leave you alone? then your other half would never want me if I couldn't defend you from other alphas for the right to mate with you, I couldn't earn the right to keep you as my own, or defend our pups inside of you..."

But that made Seán look down in shame too, kicking his feet and shuffling away from Mark just a small amount, but Mark definitely noticed.

"You already know that I'm not going into heat for a long time, not gonna be fertile to you for such a long time, you're not going to be able to even give me a litter of pups for such a long time from now, I'm still technically an alpha too you know, I know how it feels to want to be able to protect the people you love and I know how frustrating it is when you know you were not strong enough to do that, there are other people here for you Mark you just need to remember that sometimes..."

There was a harsh underbite to that voice as if warning him that he wasn't allowed to feel like that when there's so many people around him that cared about him even if he didn't realise it right away.

This was why he loved his omega.

He didn't care how he looked or even whether or not he was an omega an alpha or even a beta it didn't matter to him as long as it was Seán, and that was true love, knowing that no matter who this person is as long as it's their soul you're going to love them for as long as you live, maybe even longer than that unconditionally, and there was nothing wrong with that and maybe that was what made love so intoxicating, knowing that there was going to be someone there for you for as long as you needed them and vice versa.

Who wouldn't want that?

"Seán, no it doesn't matter I don't care about any of that all I care about is the fact that as long as you still love me and I still love you we will be together I don't care what anyone else has to say about it because they're not the person I want to mate, with not the person I want to have children with and not the person I'd rather marry... All you need to do is understand that, and even if you don't, I'm not going to blame you, you can learn, all you need to do is give me a chance and let me in and I'll show you how much I love you. Please...?"

He didn't get a chance to reply before the doctor was walking back in at the least opportune time that he could, but he had no idea about that as both of them fell silent the moment he walked in, though he barely realises that as he walked to the table and smiled slightly.

"Hello again Seán, I hope you're ok now... So, shall we have a look at what we can do for your arm?"

He tried to say it as calmly as he could, knowing that his patient was in a delicate mindset and even if he didn't know why, he knew he had to be gentle with them so that was what he was going to do... He didn't care what other people thought he should do, that was what he was going to do no matter what...

Of course, the alpha-turned-omega (or rather turning omega) didn't know how to reply to that, simply nodding and hoping that his point got across, which it seems to as Mark smiled, squeezing his hand and the doctor calmly giving a small grin too, turning away from him which meant that Sean could now see the tray of all the medical equipment and that unsettled him because he wasn't a big fan of needles as it was, and he could definitely see a stitching needle on there along with the thread that he knew was going to end up in his arm and so he turned around and buried his head in Mark's neck, only tilting his head slightly to show he heard when the doctor spoke again.

"Ok, we just need to clean up all the blood so we make sure that nothing gets infected, okay?"

He didn't make any form of reply other than a slight nod, still huddled into Mark and refusing to let go of him, but that was okay as long as he could get to his arm but there's one thing the doctor himself wasn't entirely sure about... Would it make it better to go normal with the numbing injection or would that just make him feel worse?

His patient would likely respond better if he just chose to use something else and maybe wouldn't have the omega as worried about all of it, as much not that he knew that this man was really sort of an Omega, at least, he felt that he was at heart.

He tried to make it as quick and easy has he could, not wanting to upset his patient even more and make him feel worse because he knows that pain could be affected by your mood and if he felt really bad it could really make it all worse for him and he didn't want to scare his patient either, not entirely sure whether it would elicit a bad memory if you try to use something like a needle to stitch him up or even in the case of just needing to use it so that he could inject him with something to numb the area... Or maybe he could use numbing gel? But that would be more difficult because he was more than well aware that he would have to clean it up first, and that was going to hurt like all hell for him.

"M-Mark, I'm scared..."

"Why? What's wrong?"

He loved how the moment he voiced his concerns, Mark's protectiveness over him came flooding through without a moment of thought, something about that just made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even if he didn't understand it yet, he was alright with that...

"I fucking hate being stitched up... It's just the skin and the pulling back together and-"

"Seán, calm down, the sooner we get it done, the sooner it's over with and then we can go and get some food or something yeah?"

"Okay, okay, can we just... hurry up?"

There was a whimper in his voice as the doctor smiled, but then frowned quietly, knowing he wouldn't like the first step, but really, it should have been done already...

He needed to get the bone back in place before he could actually stitch him back up.

"You might want to bite down on something, I don't want you to bite your own tongue, do you have anything to bite down on?"

He looked around himself, finding nothing until Mark made a motion as if to bite his own sleeve, but Seán shivered and shook his head quickly.

"No, I am not putting fabric anywhere near my fucking teeth, I hate that feeling so goddamn much, it's disgusting!"

He sighed, quietly thinking of what he could use before Mark sighed and held out his own arm as a sort of offering, even if Seán didn't understand and only looked at him, as if waiting for an explanation as to what the hell he was doing, at least, until Mark moved a little closer to him and pushed his arm a little closer to his mouth.

"Use me then, you're teeth are blunt right now, you'll probably not break the skin, and it doesn't matter if you do, it's better than you biting your tongue off, and sometimes it helps people to inflict pain to others when they're in pain too, it might help...?"

He looked at the doctor for confirmation, but he was just surprised Mark was prepared to go so far just to make Seán comfortable, and that made him wonder if they were something a little more than friends, especially with how Sean didn't actually seem to have any hesitation to bring Mark's hand to his lips.

"In theory, yes, it would be better, you'd be less likely to inflict worse damage, and I can see why you wouldn't want to bite into your own hand, but surely there's something better to use? Or maybe we'll find something somewhere else, most people wouldn't offer up to be bitten in a place like this, you know how hard he can bite down, right? Your jaw muscle is the strongest muscle you have that can be flexed by choice..."

Mark only chuckled in response to that.

"Good thing I have thick bones then, isn't it?"

He could just about shrug in response, not having any more of a dignified response, instead, moving to very gently hold Seán's arm in deft fingers and gently feel out the bone, knowing where it needed to be from the X-ray, it would just be a fuck load of pain to get it there, and he would just have to survive through all of that if he wanted to make it any better, it had to get worse to even be able to get better in the first place, that was just how it was, nothing he could do to change that.

"Okay, you both ready?"

Two nods in response, the moment he snapped the bone back into its correct position, he heard a light hiss of pain and looked up to see the discomfort actually coming from Mark, where Seán's teeth had been fastened tightly into the side of his palm, and there was a deep mark in the skin, quickly going red and bleeding lightly, but he just wiped the blood off and smiled, as if to assure Seán that he was fine and he had done nothing too bad to him, hadn't hurt him too badly, and he silently appreciated that in a person.

"There we go, wasn't too bad, was it? Now, please don't move your arm, I don't think you want to have me have to pop it back into place again, do you?"

The frantic shake of his head was enough of a response.

"Okay, hold your arm straight up in the air for me? I need to get to the broken skin, just don't bend your arm at the elbow, okay?"

He nodded, looking nervous to even bring his arm up, but he did as he was asked, whining under his breath at the pain as the doctor put on a disposable pair of gloves and made sure to be as careful as he could while he unwrapped a sanitary cloth and wiped away the drying and fresher blood, knowing he had to be at least somewhat firm to actually clean off the blood.

After all of that, it really didn't take too long for him to neatly stitch him back together and get his arm in a cast, it went even quicker to Seán because he was so tired, it had to be past midnight by then, knowing they had got in fairly late, had been in for a while before he broke it, and then he had to drive them to the hospital, wait, and then get fixed up.

Of course, Mark knew he was tired, letting him lean up against him and slowly fall to sleep, not even trying to move him when they were done and he fell asleep on him, instead he just gently manoeuvred him into a bridal hold in his arms, carrying him out of the room and into the waiting room and to the front desk, where there was a rather impatient assistant, most likely because she had to work such late hours.

Chapter Text

"Excuse me, could we have medical forms for Seán McLoughlin?"

"What happened, sir?"

"He has broken his arm in a small accident..."

"Does he have medical insurance?"

"Well no, but-"

"Then he'll have to pay, it wasn't something detrimental to his own health, only a broken bone, and he has no medical insurance, sir, it's that simple..."

She hissed at him, motioning for him to wake up his omega.

"No, he only just fell to sleep, don't wake him up!"

He whisper-yelled at her, but she only rolled her eyes in response, even as he could barely believe her attitude, why the hell was she working in a hospital?!

"Are you related to the patient, or his mate?"

She already knew the answer to that, from their obvious very different heritage and the fact they were both alphas, she was taking the piss out of him, stupid beta...

He shook his head, annoyed.

"Then wake him up, he must sign his own forms..."

"Fine..."

He just hoped Seán wasn't so sleepy as to make a mistake, but he knew he would find fun in a little fact which depended exactly on which arm Seán had actually managed to break, he would get back at this woman.

He shook his omega gently, watching those pretty blue eyes blink open and look up at him sleepily, a little smile on his face, even if his eyes showed the pain that he felt from his arm, he tried to hide it from Mark.

"Alpha...?~"

He quickly shushed his mate, allowing him time to properly wake up and realise where he was, in public, not in a place they could act how they really were, and then managing to weakly cover for him too.

"Yes I am an alpha, Jesus, how tired are you?"

He added an easy chuckle in the end, trying to hint he wasn't supposed to call him that as Seán finally caught on and joined in with his own light laughter, running a hand through his hair to get it out of his face with his good arm.

"Pretty tired, apparently, I feel so sleepy..."

He added a yawn at the end, just for effect, or maybe he really was just as tired as he said, but Mark didn't miss the way the woman at the desk looked his omega up and down appreciatively before speaking again, in a much... Flirtier voice than she had with Mark, smiling.

"Good morning, haha... Well, sir, would you mind filling out your forms for this impromptu hospital visit for me?~"

But he quickly picked up on her flirtatious tone, catching onto Mark's discomfort around her too, as well as some sort of... Annoyance? He hadn't been fooled, having a feeling she had been acting very different to his alpha earlier.

He lifted up his broken arm and laughed sarcastically.

"Yes, well, slight problem, broken my right arm? you know, the one I need to fucking write with...?"

She didn't seem to pick up on the vibes of absolute 'fuck off' coming from him, he still had his alpha pride in him somewhere...

"Oh, sorry sir... Umm... Oh, you'll also have to pay for your hospital visit, sir, as it was not something really, truly dangerous to your health and I have been informed that you do not have any health insurance?"

Mark saw his slight little reaction to that, the brief panic he quickly hid behind his eyes, but he saw it flash past in those beautiful baby blues, he knew Seán didn't know how to deal with any of this, and he silently deliberated to himself in his own mind, wondering if there was something he could do.

"With the combination of the time taken, as well as the use of an X-ray, cleaning materials, time used of a doctor, as well as the stitching, resetting of the bone and the cast, that's coming out at around a total of nearly $100..."

He held his omega tighter, closer to him as he shrunk into Mark, seeking his comfort.

"I'll... I'll pay for it..."

Seán looked up at him, his eyebrows drew together and trying to sit up, failing as he was in Mark's arms still.

"Wait, no I'm not gonna let you do that for me, I can pay for mysel-"

"Just let me do this one thing for you, honey...?~"

He murmured very quietly in his mate's ear, feeling him slacken in his grip to avoid being dropped and simply sighing, still not wanting to give up his fight.

"No, I'm not gonna make you pay $100 just for me because I was stupid and managed to break my arm... Don't make me fight with you over this..."

He only shushed Sean in response, quietly giving his details to the woman at the front desk as she copied them down and thanked him very fakely, telling him the hospital would expect a payment either within a month or before Seán left the country again, and he simply nodded in reply, taking the forms from her and sitting in one of the waiting room chairs and picking up one of the hospital branded pens on a table filled with magazines, placing Seán down in the seat next to him and taking the forms, turning around in the chair to face Seán and picking up a magazine to rest against.

"Okay, what's your name?"

He actually snorted, making Mark coo at the adorable sound and he went bright red, trying to hide his face behind his casted arm.

"You know my name, Mark, surely?"

Mark only chuckled and nodded, jotting it down in the appropriate box.

"Okay, are you, by any chance, over or under 18?"

"Oh, I see how it is..."

It took an unnecessary amount of time for them to finish the forms, because Mark refused to fill in even the simplest of things without Seán's confirmation just to annoy the shit out of the desk woman who could hear them from the other side of the waiting room, as she tapped her long, fake nails against the side of the desk in her silent frustration, but there was not really much she could do, except tell them to be quiet every two minutes, that was, but this only meant that it took them even longer to fill everything else in.

They eventually got out of that place, Mark stealing the pen from the waiting room just to spite that damn desk woman and writing down that he had to make that payment in his messy handwriting on the inside of his wrist, so he wouldn't forget it, he knew what he was like, he knew he would forget it otherwise.

"Mmmh, Marki? C-Can we just go home, I wanna sleep, I don't wanna have food anymore, Marki..."

He muttered tiredly, and Mark internally exploded, Seán sounded so cute when he said Marki in such a tired little voice, it made him want to bundle the Irishman up and run away with him, and he reminded himself that he could do that right there and then, just drive off into the moon and stars with him, yet, he couldn't leave Chica-bica behind!

Of course, he knew he would also miss his mom and brother, as well as all of his mother's doggos, and even Bob and Felix and everyone else, other than wade.

Fuck Wade.

They made it back home in record time, the streets were much emptier late at night and Mark wanted to make his mate happy and get him home as fast as legally possible, which he managed before picking up his pretty omega and getting him ready for bed, promising he would help him getting a proper wash the next night and nuzzling him until he finally fell asleep, in their nest, together, how it should always be.

Mark couldn't sleep, he must have gone to bed at 2 in the morning at the earliest, and then he was getting up at around six, when the sun began to rise and he couldn't force himself stay in bed any longer, he was bored out of his mind and wasn't going to stay there any longer, deciding to make himself useful and get a quick shower, before starting on breakfast, barely even looking at the bite mark still deep into his palm, it gave a soft sting if he worked the muscle too much, but he knew he'd be fine after a little while.

It wouldn't take as long to heal as his little, pretty omega's broken arm would, so he could deal with it, he didn't have to complain and make it about him, not when Seán was in even worse shape than he was himself, he just made sure to clean it out in the shower and move on with his life.

Of course, he just couldn't resist making waffles, he fucking loved them, but he also knew he liked to have something also more savoury in the mornings, so he also scrambled a few eggs and placed them on top of the waffles, deciding that Sean could pick whether he wanted a savoury sauce like ketchup or something sweet like maple syrup, he had no idea what would make his omega feel better.

Of course, he knew what drink his omega would want, he always wanted the same thing in the morning, black coffee, and he hated the smell and taste it gave Seán's mouth afterwards, believe him, he's tried to get used to it, but it's so strong, if Seán wanted to kiss him after coffee, he had to go and clean his teeth, it was an unspoken rule between the pair of them, one that annoyed Seán to no end.

He also had the mindfulness to make sure to also bring a glass of orange juice for Seán as well as himself, because, he knew a coffee would only make his poor baby more dehydrated than he was in the beginning.

He managed to balance everything upstairs and set it down on the desk, shuffling over in his fluffy socks, making sure he was silent in that respect, and gently shaking Seán's shoulders, he kind of needed waking up anyway, he was drooling all over Mark's pillow, and as cute as he found it, and as much as he knew the struggle as someone who did sometimes drool himself, he really didn't want sticky Seán saliva all over his side of the bed, it was already enough of a mess and he really needed to change those sheets as soon as he could, but a part of him knew that Seán would be lowkey pissed at him if he did that, he had already been very insistent he was the omega of the two of them, and he was the one supposed to do thing like clean their nest, or make a new one for them to make love in, as Seán put it when they were both in rut, in fact, it was near damn word for word.

But he already woke just from Mark walking so close to the bed, and he was curled up in the heap of duvet, blankets and pillows, the nest that had been put together a while ago, but it was still there as Seán refused to let it go, as well as just not letting Mark change the sheets on his own, it was just something the younger alpha was determined to do.

"Mmh, can I call you alpha now?~"

Mark chuckled in reply to that sleepy voice, he still thought it was adorable and no one could change that for him.

"Sure, we're home now, you can be you, no need to pretend here, and you weren't wrong anyway, I am an alpha."

They both laughed at that.

"Yeah, that was a neat save there, kind of stupid though, a bit like you, isn't it? Beautiful but a little silly...~"

"Hey! I'm proud of being silly, I'll never grow up!"

Of course, that was the thing he was defensive about.

"Oh, you're hopeless, Marki... You're not gonna grow up? It would explain why you're as tall as a child, and I hope you fucking grow up, I need you to if you're ever gonna be a father, you idiot, oh, buuuuutttt I love you though...~"

He sat down on the edge of the bed, looking over his little mate and smiling gently, tentatively ignoring the playful jab at his height, he knew he was fucking short, he didn't care, as long as he could protect his mate, that was all that mattered to him.

"Someone's in a flirty mood, aren't you?~"

Chapter Text

He allowed his own words to twist a little, a sweet tinge to the end of every letter in a way that he knew Seán liked, maybe he was doing it to annoy him, who knew?

"Maybe I am? But I need to shower anyway, and I'm fucking starving, and why the hell can I smell food?!"

He shot up from the bed, looking over the room and eyes glittering when he saw all of the food on a neat little tray at the other side of the room, moving as if he was ready to stand up and go over to it, but Mark was quick to push him back down with a hand on his chest and bound back over to the food so he could please his mate, and that was a funny thing with him, he always just wanted everyone to like him, to please everyone, and maybe that was why he did YouTube in the first place, because he loved to be able to make people happy, and even if it had all turned to shit, which was the opposite of what really happened, he wouldn't have even been able to bring himself to care, as long as he had still had a good chance to meet his beautiful omega, his Seán, yes, he was his.

"Oh my god Mark, I need to be able to pay you back for everything you have done and you are only making it worse because I need to make everything back up to you, but you keep doing everything for me, so I have to keep track of even more I need to do for you too, and even then, I also have to make sure I don't miss anything because I don't want you to ever have to think about that either, we just need to be on level ground there, right?"

He was asking what Mark felt about that, and yet he couldn't agree with him on this, he didn't care about all of that obsession people had with making sure that they were even, he didn't care if he was doing more, as long as he had him and they were still together, as long as Seán loved him he would do anything for him.

"No, I don't care if I do everything for you, as long as we love one another, and as long as you will still love me back as much as I do you, as long as we are even just friends, or even more than that, if you will be there for me if I ever need it, then I will always be at your beck and call, I wouldn't change that for the world either."

The mood changed a lot after that, Seán finally broke, crying just at what Mark said, which lead to Mark crying with him, it wasn't that they had had bad or particularly rough lives, no... Nothing like that, but Mark had been in an abusive relationship in the past, it didn't matter if he was the alpha in the relationship, and Seán himself had only ever had a long distance relationship, and even when he was growing up, he had not really had a very close family, but by no means did they ever neglect him, or even hate him or anything that drastic, they made sure he always had someone to play with, someone supporting him from the sidelines, as well as making sure he was fed and had a roof over his head, but he had never really said I love you to any of them, and they hadn't to him either, it was just something that they were all aware of, so why should they have to say it in the first place?

Though of course, he was the youngest of all of his siblings, so when they were all finally moving out of the house, he was left with his just his parents, and as much as he loved them, he missed the understanding of his siblings always being at his fingertips, and he had never really thought about it until then, when he just lived with his parents, so feeling such... Intense love, the love that Mark wanted to give him so badly?

It was a lot for him to adapt to, but it was by no means bad, just a lot to take in, he knew Mark was a loving person to his family and friends, and he had gotten used to that much, but being his significant other? His mate?

He had never seen his alpha be so affectionate to anyone, and some part of him was sad, knowing of Mark's past relationship, and silently wondering how someone could even treat such a gentle soul so bitterly, what could he have ever done wrong to deserve that?

Of course, Mark was soon coaxing him back to reality, getting him to eat, even if he had to be fed, and that embarrassed him somewhat, but he had never really had to use his left hand so diligently, and it meant that he couldn't really use a knife and fork because they would require both hands anyway, he wasn't willing to try and cut things by himself, and the side of his fork was too blunt to make it through a crispy waffle, that was never going to work, and so Mark had to actually cut his food up and feed him like a toddler, and even if it made him blush like a rose and complain under his breath a little, he was ultimately thankful, and also glad that Mark seemed to understand that, even if he was complaining on the outside, that he really did like him doing this for him, and that he knew that he kinda had to add this to the score too, of things that Mark has done for him.

He wasn't really sure when Mark degraded from using his fork and keeping his hands far away from his mouth, to the moment when he was just using his fingers to feed him instead, maybe it was when those fingers brushed his lips and made him open his eyes and cross them a little, so he could see Mark's hand at his lips, and as soon as Mark realised his... Surprise, he pulled his hand back and used his clean hand to scratch at the back of his neck awkwardly trying to apologise for all of the awkwardness, but he was tripping over his own words and it made a part of his heart shuffle uncomfortable, was he not showing Mark that he didn't have to do everything, didn't have to apologise for every small thing?

Was he trying to avoid an argument that badly?

I mean, it wasn't as if Seán wanted to argue with him, but he was almost shocked by how desperate Mark was to just agree with him and try and say sorry for everything just so they would even have a small argument or little fight, but he knew that was healthy, had seen his parents fight a little before, and yet they were still going strong, but Mark seemed so afraid of that, and he was painfully reminded that Mark's father was gone, how it must have felt, to lose him just as he was going out into the world as a real adult, he could have only been 19 at the time, and you were always searching for approval from your parents back then, so how it must have been to lose him right them?

How was he only realising this now?

Maybe they had both been so wrapped up in one another at the start that they had managed to forget about their own insecurities, he knew his own were flooding back with a new sort of vengeance, he'd always had little body issues, maybe that was why he had a long-distance relationship in the first place, she didn't have to see him in person all of the time and he didn't have to worry about how he looked all of the time when talking to her.

But now, having a relationship with the man he had looked up to for so long that he could barely even remember when it had started, and seeing him, especially knowing that as much as Mark would only comment it was purely genetic luck that he was already naturally muscular, Seán was the opposite of that, naturally lanky and lithe, small and overall surprisingly feminine to say he was supposed to be a male alpha, he had never even met a female alpha that was as short as he happened to be, it made no sense to him, and his siblings had teased him over it for a while until they realised it was actually having an effect on him and making him feel bad, and they were very quick to stop it and apologise as often as they could.

He was so small, and at least Mark looked like an alpha, even if he was a couple of inches under the average height for their kind, he was strong, and his voice was deep and smooth, laced with something a little bit darker you were just so eager to unravel, work him out, but those eyes had always gotten to him, something about dark eyes that he just loved.

Fuck, he didn't even know he liked men at all until Mark made him question it just by existing and being a part of his life...

They had a lot to work through, but he would hold out through all of it, knowing that in the end, the reward would be the best, having Mark, he would happily flaunt him as his partner, but that was another thing they had to talk about, were they going to tell their fans? Family? Friends?

Mark hadn't even said a word on that topic, and he was afraid of starting it for the fear that Mark would shy away from it and retreat a little, he didn't want that, but he thought that facing it head on might be too much for Mark, even if he had never really talked about Mark's romantic life before now, never realising that someone like him was such an amazingly... Gentle lover, that he had not expected, and yet it was somehow very nice, it was something he loved about Mark.

He knew they both had their own problems, ticks, all sorts that they needed to work through together now that they were here, and he knew it would likely end up being a little awkward the first time they make love outside of their own ruts, knowing that Mark will likely not understand why he is so nervous of Mark seeing him naked, they'd had sex before, Mark would never understand that this time he wasn't flooded with hormones and felt a lot more insecure over his own looks normally, it increased tenfold when they would be totally naked, showing everything he hated about himself, as well as the idea that they are much more committed to one another now, it isn't just helping eachother out in some sort of mutual benefit, no, he's in love with Mark, knows Mark holds him in his affection too, but they needed to have a chance to talk everything out, didn't they?

Chapter Text

He was partly trying to hide under the duvet, not wanting Mark to have to see any more of him that he strictly sort of had to, he wasn't ready to let Mark see him so vulnerable like that again, and he probably wouldn't be for a while.

"Hey, you're slowly slinking under those sheets over there, don't think I don't see that, you're being absorbed by them again, aren't you?"

Mark was only being light-hearted, chuckling at the end of his own sentence.

"I can't leave now, they have accepted me as their own, if I leave, they might not take me back...~"

He whined it, almost aiming for something close to pathetic, so his alpha would let him stay in their bed, or at least leave him to change in privacy, didn't want Mark to see him, it'd be awkward...

Right?

Well, it seemed his mate didn't think that same thing, he felt a hand grab his own under the sheets and pull him up out of the bed, and he stumbled when he was forced to stand on his feet on the bed, the soft surface was not very firm and he could barely stay upright, and he almost jumped out of his own skin when he felt Mark's other hand suddenly grip at his thigh to steady him, a little too close to his ass if you asked him, but then they both just stood in silence, because he was uncomfortable and Mark just didn't see a need to speak, but not realising just how uncomfortable Seán was with him doing that.

He eventually settled a little more, trying to ignore all of those thoughts crowding his mind, about how bad he must look, he had not washed his face, his eyes were watery from the light in the room and he knew his hair must look as greasy as fuck, but he eventually did relax as Mark didn't move or do anything else to surprise him, and yes, he didn't exactly want Mark touching him in such an intimate way, but he was starting to forget his hand was there at all.

But then it moved, drifting further up as Mark's hand disentangled from his own, moving down to one of his hips and gently stroking his thumb over the bone there, and the hand that had been rested on his thigh to support him now took place to gently squeeze the curve of his rear, which made him squeak and bury his face in Mark's neck, not wanting him to see his face as Mark pulled his hands off of him as soon as he made even the slightest show that he really didn't want his alpha to touch him like that.

He just shivered, now feeling the difference as Mark's hands were gone from his body and he could still feel the skin tingling where Mark had had his hands, it didn't feel good when he was embarrassed over his own looks, over the body Mark was touching, didn't want him to see any of it, but here they were.

He slowly, as if he were a frightened animal, leant down just enough to get at Mark's scent glands, allowing himself to rub up against them, where Mark's scent was lingering near him, and he quickly realised, much to his own interest, that if he actually caressed Mark's scent glands, touching them and allowing his lips to ghost over them, they began to secrete his scent more heavily, choking up the air, but he needed that, to remind himself this was his mate, the one who just wanted to love him, not some stranger, Mark wasn't the type to judge anyway, he knew that much.

He felt Mark shift a little, granting more access to his neck for Seán, and he happily continued to kiss the sensitive skin there, tongue darting out to taste it, soon finding his skin was salty and yet somehow sweeter over his scent glands, not like an omega, but it tasted sort of... Pleasant in a way he found difficult to describe but still a tint of its own thrilling bitterness labelling Mark as the alpha he was, feeling Mark lean over to his neck too, hesitantly moving his own head a fraction to let Mark know he could touch him there, and he seemed to get the message as teeth quickly dragged along where he used to have his pseudo bond-bite when they were in rut, making him gasp and nip back at Mark's own neck in retaliation, noting how Mark's hands and arms were now hanging limp and awkward at his sides, as if he was itching to get his hands on him but was afraid of the reaction he had just a few moments ago, so he nuzzled against Mark's neck, attempting to hide his red blushing face from Mark, as he took his alpha's hands and wrapped those arms around his torso, just above where his hips began to curve out, and they continued their gentle scenting for a couple more minutes, just breathing each other in, in a way that made them both relax, but there was another feeling scratching under his skin.

One of Mark's hands tangled in the shorter grey-brown strands of his hair at the back of his head, forcing his head back so he had the full expanse of his throat and chest, and he barely even hesitated to sink his teeth into his omega, the other arm pressing the smaller body against his own to keep Seán still while he marked him as his own, releasing his bite for a moment to snarl a warning when his mate tried to move, which quickly made him go still and quiet again, allowing him to bite right back into the now-sensitive bite, right over the scent gland on the left side of his neck.

He kept his teeth buried into that soft skin for almost a whole minute of silence before retracting his teeth and quickly licking at the mark to stop the bleeding and soothe the reddening skin around it, unconsciously pressing their crotches together when he tried to pull Seán even closer by pressing a hand into his lower back and the thin fabric of Seán's boxers did very little, they could most definitely feel one another through the fabric.

Seán could only be limp and pliant, giving into the instinctual side of himself, no longer recognising the gentle Mark he was beginning to know better every day, no, this was a possessive, territorial alpha marking what he thought was his, and there were only two things he could have done while Mark was doing what he was.

Submit to it, especially when he drew a snarl from Mark when he tried to fidget.

Or he could challenge it, shoving Mark away or giving his own growl in reply, but that would challenge Mark's position as the more powerful of the two, as well as his possession of Seán himself, but a part of him was curious.

He wanted to test Mark's limits, just because he was a little body conscious never meant he thought he was made of glass, he wanted Mark to be something more than just soft and gentle, even if it was just for a few minutes...

And he didn't like how Mark pulled his head back to expose him, that was supposed to be a thing of trust, Mark couldn't just force him into submission, mark him without consent, that wasn't okay with the alpha still lingering within him.

So he snarled back at him, using his sudden element of surprise to snap his own teeth at Mark's throat, aiming to bite him to show he could claim him back, but Mark was faster, putting his chin down to defend his throat from that bite.

The territorial alpha didn't like that.

He barely even had time to react before Mark was pushing him back down onto the bed roughly and Mark's hands were forcing his thighs apart, only able to see Mark's hair as he felt him bite into the pale flesh of his inner thigh, which made him gasp and whimper, the skin there was so sensitive. He was reminding him exactly who had submitted to who when they had both been in rut, reminding that he had been the one on top before, and teasing that he would beat him again too.

"You're in my den now, my nest, my territory, you need to learn that, omega, know your place, below me!~"

He only bucked upwards and snapped his teeth, he had no intention of giving in that easily, even if he did seem more of an omega, especially in physique, he still had more strength than any old Omega.

He twisted them both, so he was on top and sat over Mark's hips, feeling those thoughts of disgust at himself, seeing the difference in their skin, Mark was a beautiful honey colour, his skin was smooth and naturally fairly hairless, but then he could see himself, his skin looked a sickly paper white to him, hair covering his arms and legs that were exposed, as well as below his navel, dusting the pale skin.

But those thoughts, they felt so far away now, so distant and foggy, as if there was a trail of mist obscuring his view, but he didn't mind that, his focus entirely on them, right then, in the nest he had made, in Mark's most private place, in his home, his nest.

"I'm not just an omega, Mark, I'm more than willing to put up a fight, alpha, if it means I'll show you that you can't just throw me around like a rag doll and expect me to follow your every word, who knows, maybe you're not as strong as you look...?~"

Now he just wanted to purely wind him up in that one sentence, which seemed to work rather well, feeling Mark's hands dig roughly into his sides, sliding down and finally finding a good grip on his wide hips.

Chapter Text

But he looked at him with wide, innocent eyes as he landed a hand directly on the tent in Mark's jeans, making the alpha freeze in his tracks, mainly for a mix of reasons, because even if he didn't particularly care too much, his alpha would naturally be defensive of... Well, what allowed him to make children, he didn't want to step out of line while Seán was in power and end up not being able to have pups, especially because he did plan to breed Seán eventually, and also because a part of him was interested what his omega would do, if this would lead into something else he would like.

But of course, being the fucking tease he was, Seán simply lifted his hand and chuckled, watching the automatic reaction of Mark's hips bucking upwards again, trying to find the pressure and friction he had provided just moments ago, but then he was surprised and yelped as he was twisted over and on his back again, Mark over him and looking down over him.

"But I could make you fall apart, omega, tear you apart piece by piece, wreck you and leave you red, purple and black with lovebites and teeth marks, ruin what's between your pretty little legs and leave you there, in bed, so you can't walk for fucking days... Would you want that, little omega? For me to leave you stretched open and just dripping my cum? Lock you away? Oh, you'll feel me for weeks, omega! 'Til the only thing you can say is my name, begging me to fill you up again, just because you feel so fucking empty, I'll make sure you feel used, little Omega!~"

This was the part of Mark he was trying to tease out of its hiding, he could always see it in the shadows behind Mark's beautiful golden-mocha eyes, but he just had to find a way to bring it out.

"You won't break me, alpha...~ I just dare you to fucking try me...~"

A hand around his throat, and Mark's warm breath on his neck leaning in close to whisper into his ear, and he was quickly mentally reminded he could only use one arm now, trying to move his dominant hand only for a strike of pain to singe through it instead, knowing that he could only use his weak arm now, he had very little control when Mark was over him.

"Oh, but I'll do so much more than just fuck you, tie you up, I could, couldn't I? Tie you to a breeding stand? Make you think you're really being bred and given my babies? Only to find out I can't even give you any yet?!~"

He felt more than saw a hand slip between his thighs, two fingers pressing against his hole even through the thin material of his boxers, but the heat from Mark soaked through the dark fabric, but Mark made a soft sound, not quite confusion, carefully moving both hands to shimmy down his omega's boxers, and Seán was curious what had caught his attention and so allowed him to do it.

He shuffled Seán's boxers no more then a couple of inches down his thighs before reaching a hand in and brushing up against his thigh, but that contact with Mark felt... Damp?

And then there was a tongue lapping at the pale, sensitive skin, Mark's tongue which didn't take long to start teasing at his hole, but he seemed very interested in something?

Mark nuzzled the inside of his thigh and purred in satisfaction.

"Mmh, I couldn't have ever even imagined how sweet you taste, little mate...~"

And that made him blush but...

"W-what do you mean, Mark?"

And the use of his actual name made him reply.

"Thought those omega hormones were only enough for behavioural changes? But I'm not gonna complain about you being nice and wet and ready for me, and my god you taste so fucking good...~"

He hummed, not quite processing what Mark had actually told him, but now Mark let him close his legs, and his boxers were out of the way now, so he could feel the slick smeared on the insides of his thighs, a little thicker than lube, but also somehow much more slippery, and a part of him crowed in delight, and another part breathed a quiet sigh of relief, if Mark dared to be so rough as to not even try to prep him, he would at least have his own slick to make it a little easier on him.

Mark spread open his legs again, and he growled out a warning, causing Mark to reply to that with his own snarl, teasing at the soft skin of his thighs with his teeth, reminding him he was the one in the much more vulnerable position, and a part of him was excited that Mark would finally fuck him, and not be gentle, even if it was outside of rut.

He was flipped over, but that hurt him, even if it wasn't physical...

Of course, Mark would never want to have to look at his face while making love to him, if he could even call it that, because he was disgusting and he knew it, Mark didn't want to see him, he only did it during their ruts because it was a decision he likely regretted, but he didn't resist Mark moving him into the position he wanted, having him on his hands and knees, and kisses pressed against his back to make him ignore Mark's subtle movement, but he couldn't ignore the feeling of Mark mounting him, no matter how much his mate tried to distract him and one of his alpha's hands quickly splayed out over his belly, holding him gently still while he lined himself up to his omega, biting into that sensitive bite mark and pushing himself inside, hearing Seán's hiss and hesitating half inside of him, not wanting to hurt him, but what did he do?

So Seán pushed back to clear the last few inches for him, and Mark's hand actually began to stroke over his stomach while they were still, Mark's head in the crook of his neck and biting into the soft flesh on the back of his neck now, purely for the instinctual need to hold him still so he could breed him without him trying to get away, even if he had no plan to do that.

If Mark was so loving with him, a part of him assuring his omega he would eventually provide him with a baby by stroking his belly, why didn't he want to even see his fucking face while they were being intimate?

He didn't care he started crying, but he was also briefly surprised, he had thought he would be able to hold back the tears until they were done and he was alone again, but he just tried to keep still and not alert Mark to his glassy eyes as he slowly began to move inside of him, as if sensing he didn't just want to be senselessly fucked open, because even if he did want to try that one day, he was too sensitive right now.

But then one sob made it's way out of his lips and Mark froze, and he only cried harder, knowing he had been caught.

"S-Seán? Baby? Omega?~"

He cooed softly, not getting a reply any more than the sobs now wracking the tiny body pinned beneath him, and he was afraid he had hurt him, done something wrong, maybe he should have taken more of a chance to stretch him more than just eating him out a little?

So he pulled out of his little body, even if a part of him didn't want that, and flipped Seán over, watching him curl up into himself, into a tight ball, and his face was shiny and tear-stained, a shiny red colour under his eyes and on his adorable little nose, and he just knew it would be a bad idea to try and open him back up when he buried his head into his own arms to hide it, so he just curled up next to him, curving around him as if to protect him, and that was what he was doing to a degree, reminding his omega that he was there, and he would be safe because his alpha would protect him, but it only made the crying worse.

But he refused to move until he died down his whimpers slightly and Mark now spoke.

"Seán? What did I do? What's wrong, please, you can tell me and I won't do it again, I promise...~"

But he whimpered and seemed to be on the verge of more intense crying, but he managed to choke it back and ask a question to answer Mark's own question.

"W-why don't you want to look at me? Is it because you think I'm d-disgusting? I know I don't look anywhere good enough to be with you, is that why you always wanted me to turn around when we have sex, so you don't have to look at my face?"

He nipped at the mark he left, deep into his omega's neck, to calm him and show he really wanted him, if he didn't then he wouldn't be so desperate to try and leave a bond mark on him, even if it won't stay yet.

"Oh, just tell me these things, omega, if you feel uncomfortable like that, then I won't do it, I just default to it, oh I'm so sorry omega, of course, I want to see you, I love so much and you're beautiful, don't you dare even call yourself disgusting...~"

He added a possessive snarl at the end, it was a warning.

He allowed his omega to nuzzle under his chin and press his cheek against his throat, despite what they had been doing just minutes ago, and simply laid there with him for a little while, letting Seán be the one to move closer to him, not wanting to scare him off again, he would never want to do that.

Eventually, Seán curled up into his side, allowing their legs to tangle together and moving to a more comfortable position where he could now lay his head on his alpha's chest and cuddle into his, but he seemed uncomfortable like he wanted something even if he wouldn't say it, happy enough to not actually mention it, but it made Mark curious, what did his little omega want...?

But he started whining for attention, and so he was happy to comply with him, stroking his hand through the brown-grey fluffy hair splayed out on his chest, until Seán moved his head to look up at him, but he still played with his hair, watching Seán yawn and stretch lightly, closing his eyes and smiling up at him in the most adorable way, more than compliant to Mark's other hand moving down and slowly massaging one of his thighs, just wanting to show affection to Seán, all he wanted to do.

But then Seán looked down and his face heated up, he knew what he wanted but had no idea how to ask for it, and if Mark would even be willing do that, seeing as how it was likely only him who wanted it, but Mark was kind, right? He would do something small, just for him?

Chapter Text

"I-Inside...?~"

He whimpered, shuffling a little and inadvertently moving so Mark could curl up around him and spoon him, the way he wanted to be even as Mark kissed at his shoulders and nuzzled him, leaving his scent all over him and making sure he left his claim on what was his.

"Mmh, what was that omega? What do you want?~"

Mark sounded sleepy, perfect.

"I... Inside, please, i-inside...?~"

He was asking so cutely that even though Mark didn't understand what he was asking for, he was already sure he would do whatever Seán wanted from him, he was such a pushover for his omega, those big blue eyes and little whines, searching for his affection.

He wrapped his arms around Seán's chest, pulling him as close as he could and resting his chin on the dark brown hair, leaving a kiss in it too before settling there, he wanted to sleep, especially like this, but he wanted Seán to be comfortable and happy too, so he was just waiting, he wouldn't sleep until he was sure his mate was happy and didn't want a single thing.

"Come on, Seán, you can speak to me freely, I won't judge you, all you have to do is tell me what you want, I just don't understand, but tell me and I'll do it or get it for you, I promise, just explain for me, please?"

But he didn't want to say it, never mind the fact that he didn't even know how to say it in the first place.

So he did the only thing he could think of that might make more sense so he could get what he wanted, reaching back and tugging Mark's boxers out of the way insistently, happy that Mark let him do it, just waiting to see what he wanted and not shooing him away, and he moved them away just enough to be able to grab Mark's dick and pull him forwards, allowing his cock to brush up against his still wet entrance as Mark shuffled closer to make it easier for both of them as he whimpered again.

"I-Inside, please...?~"

Mark hummed, finally having an understanding of what Seán actually wanted, and he wanted it too.

"Do you want me inside of you? Just while we sleep? I bet it'd make you feel a little better, wouldn't it? To know I'm right here and I love you, so much?"

He nodded, whimpering and whining just at the thought of it as Mark shuffled as close as he could, hips against hips as he felt Mark fill him and sighed in relief, this was somehow more comfortable and grounding for him than he was without.

He instantly recognised and accommodated his alpha inside of him, drinking in Mark's own sigh of bliss as if he was dying of dehydration and moving back to make sure they were as close as they could be, and he found it strange but a sort of... Nice thought, that he remembered and recognised every curve, ridge and vein that made up Mark, his cock was perfect for him, arching up in just the right way to always hit his sweet spot, even now, the head was brushing against it gently, filling him with a fuzzy feeling of warmth and comfort beyond what he had felt before.

And a part of him thought it was sort of practical too, knowing that this would keep him stretched open if they wanted to make love later and so he wouldn't need stretching out later, which made it so much easier.

Of course, he couldn't lie and say that at least a part of him wasn't turned on at this, but he still managed to relax, until he felt Mark twitch inside of him, Mark quickly trying to cover it up by moving a little, but he could have never missed it, and it meant that he eventually decided that he knew he could take this further and he knew Mark wanted it too, wanting to pay Mark back somehow and this could be one of the ways... Right?

He wanted to see how he would react anyway, purposely tensing up and squeezing around him, feeling his alpha shiver and twitch inside of him again, quickly becoming turned on again, and it felt strange to feel that happen while Mark was already inside of him, but he sort of liked it.

"Mark, you know, if you want to, you... You can fuck me, I kind of want that too you know... I just... Want to make you feel good too...?"

"No, that won't help you at all, it'll just make it feel even more like I'm only using you, and that is nowhere near what I am trying to do, so sleep, omega, I'll look after you in the morning, I'll make sure you're happy..."

That was what he fell asleep to, and he would never change that for the world.

But he woke up to his own phone, which had somehow ended up in the bedroom - Mark most likely put it there - making these small but infinitely annoying pinging sounds, and he just tried to roll back over, until his mind actually caught up and he realised what that sound was, someone texting him, more than once, apparently.

It wasn't the best wake up call, one that made it really sink in, how he and Mark were such a secret.

His brother, Malcolm.

'Hey, we were all wondering how it was going in America? With Mark? We've never met him, you know, I hope you realise we're going to change that if you do ever get together, he won't get away from us, and I think the girls and mom are ready to fawn all over him as it is,'

He briefly wondered if he should ask Mark if he could tell him about their relationship, and then pushed that thought away rather angrily, he didn't have to go and ask Mark if he was allowed to tell his own fucking family, frankly, it was none of Mark's business what he told to his own family, and he didn't have to ask permission for everything.

'Yes, I'm fine, how are you and the family? Mark and I had a bit of a... Push, I guess, his rut came early and my phone died, so I had no idea, it was a mess, but skipping over the details, we spent a week together and now we're... Something...?'

Fuck.

What are they?

Mark's never really explicitly stated what they are, and he never considered it until now, what did Mark want them to be? What did he want them to be?

He had no idea, they could class themselves as mates, but that would be very messy to explain to anyone else, and they technically weren't mated, not while he was like this, his body would never accept the bond, even if he wanted it like nothing else, and then they could be boyfriends, but that would still raise questions, and he felt like they were deeper than that, leaving him stuck for words and downright confused at the whole thing, not the first time his relationship with Mark has made him confused and upset.

And where the fuck was Mark, anyway?

He stretched and forced himself up and out of bed, the cold instantly making itself known, even in California, and he walked downstairs in just his boxers, scratching at his stomach tiredly with his good arm, mumbling complaints about his other arm as he went, not really saying anything notable or even understandable, just to ease his mind a little as he made it downstairs and looked around, soon realising Mark wasn't here and shaking off the sleep like a great wolf, yawning loudly into the silence, tongue curling slightly and jaw unhinged.

He looked around, knowing there were no messages from Mark on his phone, but there was no note, no nothing, and something about that felt suspiciously unlike Mark, he had always left a note when he went out without telling him, or even for tiny things, and that was even when they were only friends and he was staying over, so for him to just be gone with no motivation was strange and unfamiliar.

Some part of him panicked while the other half was strangely soothed, he was in Mark's home, their nest, and the scent of his alpha was all around him, he would never have gone far from him, he probably just went to buy some food or something and forgot to leave a note or thought that it was too mundane of a thing to have to explain to Seán.

He showered, dressed and made himself breakfast, sure Mark would have eaten already if he had gone out, but he sat at the table, scrolling idly through his phone with a steaming mug of black coffee to his left, until he wandered down the rabbit hole of Twitter and saw so many of his fans fussing over something, but he couldn't actually find out what, so he continued to search until he came across a news article someone had linked.

Chapter Text

The link opens to a sketchy looking webpage, but he reads it through just because so many of his fans are asking whether or not it was true or something, and he has no idea why he'd know because all the links he'd seen were something about Mark, though the rest of the title is cut off, due to being too long, until he finally opens it up and his cup of hot coffee slips from his grip, quickly staining the wooden floor, not that he even realises...

'Youtube's Markiplier In Jewellery Shop With Unidentified Omega... Secret Girlfriend?'

It sounds like such a clickbait title that he's unsure why he continues to read it.

Maybe because it seems to have blown up.

He definitely had not been anywhere close to a shop like that with Mark, but the image heading the page is blown up big, so easy to see that that is most definitely his boyfriend, and a curvy girl with hair cut relatively short, eyes brown like Mark's own and grinning towards the elder. At this, his stomach flips and he turns to the side, body telling him he can't look at this anymore as he stands in a daze.

Their fans' tweets made sense now, all asking in strange ways if he knew about this girl, if he was really going to propose to her, if the articles was true. Fuck, why did they have to sound so happy about Mark having this... This girl?

"N-need to... Clean up..."

He sounds like a walking zombie murmuring to himself, trying to keep calm and rationalise this mess, but the once rather pretty mug that had held his coffee is now splintered on the floor, digging into the soft arches of his feet with no forgiveness.

He stumbles towards the kitchen, as if forgetting himself for a moment and trying to clean up again, not even aware of how the broken shards were cutting into his dainty hands, wondering if Mark was gonna come home and see him like this. Remembering his phone had been thrown haphazardly back onto the table when he'd spilt the coffee, he dashes back for it, opening his contacts and hovering hesitantly over Mark's name, his profile picture is just him being an absolute goof, grinning as wide as he seems to be able to, caging Seán in his arms for a bone-crushing hug he didn't exactly sign up for. They're stood in front of the sign for Disneyworld Florida, and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face that day, even though their relationship had been entirely platonic back then, this is still his favourite picture of the pair, but now it only feels spoiled, as bitter as the black coffee he consumes on a daily basis but somehow more difficult to swallow.

The stain is cleaned to the best of his ability, barely leaving a mark as the wooden floor was polished and covered by a thin layer of shiny varnish, with relatively dark wood beneath, it barely even got the chance to sink into the soft wood and so here he can stand, knowing he has done something to make sure Mark isn't mad at him, even when he's definitely got a few questions for his alpha.

Despite how he works himself up, as soon as he hears the lock of the front door unlatch and then the soft close of that same door when someone steps inside, carelessly throwing the keys in the bowl on the table next to the door, all of his anger dissipates. It lingers in his bones, and yet he's too afraid to act on it or even bring the subject up at all, his alpha would probably lie about it, and then he'll sound pathetic because he read something on the internet and didn't doubt it for a second, taking it as a fact because everyone one of their fans seemed to believe it without a doubt, why can't he have the same luxury of blind belief?

Because he knows Mark, all the small things that make him what he is today, he knows how much his father's death actually affected him, he'd kept up enough of a facade to seem okay when he'd done the draw my life video, and all of the fans thought he was fine. But they weren't the ones who had to sit and just fucking listen to one of his best friends cry over a grainy Skype call such a long time ago because he's unearthed a topic which he wanted to be able to share with his fanbase, but it also brought everything that happened back into an upsetting light. Mark's a brilliant man, but even he cries and makes mistakes and gets angry, just like any other normal human being.

The fans place them on a pedestal they don't feel they deserve the stand on, some youtubers slip off that pedestal, and others step down gracefully, some disappear and many won't even step on it to begin with. But what happens when you don't have the choice? He was placed on a pedestal that hadn't been there before, sprouting from beneath his feet... Chains hold him in place and he can't escape them, because those chains are his friends, his family and his loving fans, he doesn't want to hurt them so he's forced to stay put and take it. Every new person who finds his channel, he cherishes them beyond anything else, but they only add more chain links to his armour made of chains and rope, but those bindings are people that become expectations, which only eventually divulge into disappointment.

But they've chosen this life, and now they have to go with it because they could have been nobodys, those who no one judged because no one really cared about what the fuck they did, but they brought themselves to this point. They've dug their respective graves, now they just have to lie in it.

Mark's footsteps are somewhat familiar as they grow closer to him, and it makes him wonder when he began to learn the sounds of this house, how to tell whether his mate is standing on the one creaking floorboard outside their bedroom door or the tell-tale groan of the floor underfoot whenever you sat on the sofa, or Chica's claws clicking on the floor as she fusses around her owner.

This place has become his home, but not because of it's building, but rather the person inside of it, he's fallen in love with the man who dances around to Ed Sheeran songs in his recording room when no one's there to see it, the man who spends far too long fussing with his hair in the morning or struggling to put in his contact lenses even when he's had them for years. And he's only human like everyone else, he screams and breaks things, and sometimes it's all too much and sometimes he thinks he can't carry on down this rabbit hole anymore.

But he still stands in front of a camera, all smiles and glee because he just has to help people, knows there's fans out there who've considered taking their own lives before, hell, some have even tried it and some have succeeded. Did they think he wouldn't care? Every time he hears about one of his fans painfully removing themself from the world, it hurts him too, because maybe if he'd just been a little more serious, or if he'd done a different video that day, or if he talked about mental health and getting help more, if he could've done these things and saved them... Does that mean it's his fault for not finding a way to stop it?

"Omega?~"

A sweet voice purrs, and a warm body shifts to press against him, shoulders all the way down to their ankles are touching, and a chin comes to rest on his fluffed up hair, reminding him that he really needs to get it trimmed at some point and how he's just a smidge shorter than his counterpart.

He nearly nuzzles into the affection, into the warmth to hide his feelings right now, but then he realises just who this has to be, what Mark's done to him and now he acts like this? All lovey-dovey and just as innocent and cosy as usual, not seeming to carry even a trace of shame for where he went, what he must've been shopping for. He shrinks away from the body against his own, shoving at the toned chest when hands come to grip his hips as he suddenly tries to jolt away as if he'd been burnt.

He refuses to return the affection, even if he feels a little guilty because Mark is clearly showering him in it.

Mark mumbles something about cooking something for dinner, even if his voice is tinged with misunderstanding and he steps out of the room when no reply seems to be given. Seán's back was facing him, but what he didn't see was how his omega didn't move an inch when he left. However, tears silently dripped down his face as his eyes scrunched closed and then he finally moves, gripping his hair in tight fists and tugging far too hard to be considered sane.

A while later, Mark is calling for him to come and eat, but he refuses to come out and doesn't miss how the elder stands outside the bedroom door and waits for him, growing slightly uncharacteristically impatient when the Irishman refuses to come out. Even if he plays it up in his videos, Mark is a man who knows when the situation is serious, and he can be the most patient person on Earth if it's needed from him. He'll refuse to leave your side if you're really hurting, and perhaps that's why he stands outside that door far past the point that the food must've gone cold, trying to coax him out but not getting into his space if he really wants it.

Mark can't stray into his own bedroom because he's in there, and he won't intrude on his personal space if it really matters so much to Seán, hell, he's pretty sure that if he stayed in here all night, Mark wouldn't complain, he'd probably sleep on the couch or outside the bedroom door in his clothes.

"Seán, I don't know why you're upset, but you need to eat something at least, the food'll go cold otherwise."

They both know it's far past gone cold at this point already.

[Oh, you know exactly why I'm upset.]

The elder doesn't even try speaking to him after that point, walking off and he hears the ringing hum of the microwave reheating whatever Mark had made for himself.

He sits on the bottom of the bed and tucks his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them and rocking gently, watching the last traces of sun slip below the horizon. God, he feels like such an asshole for acting how he is, but how could Mark do this to him?

Even then, a small part of his mind argues that even if Mark was definitely cheating on him, he was still one of his best friends and he doesn't deserve this treatment, a bad lover maybe, but an amazing friend. All the joy and awe and fanboyish nature that follows Mark's name doesn't deserve to be wasted for this.

He's never lost his adoration for 'Markiplier' and everything he does, his awe has just refined itself into something much... Closer, because Mark is so full of life and joy and awe of his own for everything around him, for space and time and good games and... Him. He may like Markiplier, but he knows the man beneath it all just as well, perhaps more so.

Even now, he doesn't understand how they've gone from being so damn affectionate just yesterday to this relationship that he's hesitant to even call that in the first place. His wander downstairs is seemingly unrecognised by Mark sat in the living room, even if his venture down the stairs in the dark, because he's just too stubborn to reach for the light, lead to him nearly falling down them and narrowly avoiding that by stomping down the pretty ungracefully instead.

How could Mark not have heard that?

Chapter Text

He creeps into the kitchen and his eyes flicker through the shelves and cupboards half-heartedly, not hungry but also knowing he'd be personally mauled by Mark for not trying to take care of himself. He'd get sick, and there's no point forcing Mark to have to take care of a sick Seán.

Eventually, his wandering leads to the fridge, which he pulls open with unusual delicacy and peeks inside, seeing a plate covered by an inverted plate on top, so he pulls the whole thing out of the narrow shelving and lifts off the makeshift lid. It's spaghetti, obviously what Mark had made for them earlier, but the interesting part is the note which had been pinned between the edges of the two plates and now flutters quietly to the ground.

Cerulean eyes squint in the low light to see it better, a big, pencilled paper heart on the front, and he unfolds it with one hand while kicking the fridge door shut.

'I knew you'd come down for it eventually ;) <3'

It's unlikely there's anything on the back of the note, but he checks it anyway and he's glad he does:

'I'm right here if you need me.'

No friendly hearts or smiley faces accompany this statement, showing just how much the older alpha meant what he said. Even so, he couldn't convince himself to go and find Mark now and he knows the raven will be aware he's downstairs and probably try to talk to him if he microwaves his food, so he eats it, stood at the kitchen counter, ice-cold spaghetti. It makes him feel a little sick to know that a part of him still preens because Mark this made for him, and then his appetite is gone.

He wants to stop these thoughts but they crowd his head, shouting into the silence that he can't hear, but he knows they're there nonetheless, and that seems somehow worse than someone shouting at him ever could be. This trail of thoughts continues spiralling out of control despite his attempts at distracting himself, isn't he supposed to be in control of his own mind? Eventually, he's losing his meal when he thinks about the fact that hell, he wanted to carry Mark's kid, what sort of life could he have possibly given such a child? An unfaithful father and an omega mother scrambling to keep it all from falling apart? Some life that'd be...

But warm hands rub his back gently as he curls his body over the basin of the toilet bowl, shivering, with his skin covered in a thin layer of cooling sweat, he knows he isn't pretty right now, but he can't exactly help it, and he doesn't feel bad about it, for forcing Mark to see him like this, because it's his fault he's even thinking about it right now. Those hands wander to rub his shoulders, which both loosen and tense at the contact as Mark's thumbs slip beneath the collar of his shirt, so warm against his thin, shivering body on the floor as the alpha shushes him gently, trying his best to soothe him but it's not really working-

Why isn't it working?!

Even that makes him panic further, trying to get the hands off of his and free himself from their traitorous hold, unintentionally hitting his own head on the sink in his incoherent scramble to get away, immediately tipping because of how fast he moved.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, you'll only feel worse if you try and... Struggle-"

He seems hesitant to call it that.

"-Let's put you in bed, hm?" He silently obeys.

...

His breaking point is when he finds the ring.

Okay, maybe it wasn't his proudest moment, but he knew his alpha must have brought things home from his little shop yesterday, and he used the excuse of changing the bedding, even if he was sleeping on the couch because he can't sleep in the same bed as the man who had deceived him and gone behind his back, and yet he can't bring himself to sleep on the spare bed either, because it smells so much like his alpha, and if he tries to sleep in a pace like that, he'll think Mark's in bed with him and grope for him, but when he doesn't find him if he's just woken or something, he'll likely search for him. That, and it tears him up a little to sleep in a bed smelling so much like Mark without his supposed boyfriend at least being in it with him.

Scent marks are left very easily on beds, and even the fresh linen on the spare bed smells like Mark because it's the same fabric conditioner used on the elder's clothes, he made the bed and likely left accidental scent markers with his wrists, or maybe he does it on purpose to mark his home.

He's searching, as fast as he can while also trying to be quiet enough to not alert Mark to what he was doing, because he's only a couple of rooms away and the sound of the TV only covers so much. Opening Mark's bedside draw seems a little too much even for him, it begins to feel like overkill when he's found nothing anywhere else, but what he does find is a lot of things he had no idea Mark had.

An open, half-empty bottle of candy-apple flavoured lube and he knows for a fact that Mark's never used this on him because they've never used lube in the bedroom because he's started to slick naturally and before that, their first time was in the living room, followed by sequels in the rest of their ruts such as; the bathroom, the dining room table, and one of his oddly personal favourites, the kitchen, but if it isn't hot for Mark to hold him up against the cool surface of the fridge and fuck him like that, he no longer knows the meaning of the word at all.

His rut had been unusually... Potent this time around, maybe it was because he'd been taking suppressants for so long before it, but now he's been forgoing taking his tablet suppressants because he wanted to share another rut with Mark and he wasn't sure if he'd even go into rut anymore as it was, due to the odd mix of both alpha and omega hormones running through him. The idea scares him more than it should, that the new hormones introduced into him could cause him to stop experiencing mating cycles altogether, so he'd never be able to share them with his mate again.

Now, he isn't sure what to do about the lube, it's fair enough if it'd been used when Mark had still been with his ex, she was a lovely woman but they obviously hadn't worked out, though he was never made privy to exactly why they separated. Still, even the idea of Mark stuffing his knot into another omega makes his possession flare up, and some part of him wants to dispose of the oddly flavoured lube while another side wants to use it all, just to show he's just as good at pleasing Mark as any past girlfriend was. Even if he would only be proving it to himself.

The next thing he finds is condoms, and yeah they make sense, but they've never used any of them, and he doesn't understand how it's only now he realises that they've always been unprotected because Mark wouldn't be able to accidentally get him pregnant or anything. However, they hadn't even considered if either of them had any STIs, he knew it'd be very unlikely if he had anything like that because Mark was the first person he'd had sex with, but his mate could've been a different story. He knows Mark never exactly slept around and doesn't seem like the guy to have STDs or anything, but he hadn't even considered it every single time they were getting intimate with each other, because he'd just trusted Mark to put on a condom if he had fears about that or anything. This makes him realise that maybe he should take a little more control in their time together, isn't that what the alpha side of him is for?

Then, he's pulling out cologne and deodorant, which are both pretty normal things to have in there, but the scent of those combined emulate the scent of Mark very well, and yet something is still missing, likely his natural scent beneath. Still, he sprays some on himself because he just can't help it.

There's plenty of other stuff in there too; hand sanitiser, tissues, a notebook full of vague video ideas and a small pile of pictures stacked on top of each other, and he flips through them to find a rather sad picture of Mark and his dad, followed by a much happier picture of the same man, but this time with Chica bundled up in his arms on the beach, a picture of Mark again, grinning along with all of his Korean family and him and his brother Tom, with one where he's taking a photo in a sea of fans, with his eyes glowing and Bob and Wade stood on both his sides, it must've been a Pax panel. His eye catches on one of them, though, the same picture he has set as Mark's profile on his phone, the one with the pair of them stood in front of a Disneyworld sign, grinning at eachother.

He didn't know Mark even had that picture, and it was stacked with so few other important pictures in his drawer?

It's printed in a way similar to a polaroid, with a white edge with a thick white band at the bottom to write a note on or something, but he flips it over to see a messily pencilled brief of what this picture meant.

'Me and Sean 2016'

He doesn't know why it gets to him so much, such simple words which pretty accurately describe the picture, and yet it makes him tear up a little because he's made it into this stack of pictures which are clearly special to the raven, and it's just this simple picture of him and Mark, nothing particularly remarkable about it. Other than the memory it holds.

And this manages to warm his heart, and he almost convinces himself to stop looking for this stupid thing, he doesn't even know what it is exactly that he's looking for, just some sort of incriminating evidence that proves Mark is cheating on him with someone else. It's pathetic and low, even for him, and yet here he is, being there one who doesn't trust his partner enough to know he would never cheat on him.

Eventually, he gets to the point where he's convinced himself that if he just looks one more time for something and if it's nothing odd, he'll just accept it and move on.

But the next thing his fingers touch is the recognisable texture of a velvet ring box, which he pulls out delicately, holding it at arm's length as if it were going to burn him, opening it with shakier hands and seeing something glint from within.

It's almost ironic, how happy he would've been to have this presented to him, if Mark had planned to give it to him in the first place, this would've been the most amazing surprise he could ever think of, even imagining the scene makes him tear up, but then those tears in his eyes cool and fall, as it sinks in that that's never going to have a chance to happen anyway. Mark has clearly already made his decision, and his decision wasn't him, no, it was someone else. It doesn't matter how optimistic he is, Mark would never have had a ring for him now, they weren't anywhere near ready for that and he doesn't quite understand why the raven is wanting to propose to someone else when he's with him. Hell, he's not just with him, no, they're living in the same house, having sex together and promising themselves to each other.

The ring is modest, a silver band glinting in the low light of the evening, but the most prominent feature is most definitely the iconically green precious stone embedded in the centre as if it were the main focus of the whole ring. He can't take his eyes off it, and a lump forms in his throat when he just knows that it would've been perfect for him, the shade of green is so similar to what his hair once was before he redyed it, and it'd fit so well with his channel. Even if his favourite colour is red, this is beautiful too, and he hates that such a lovely little ring that he would love to wear isn't for him.

Worst of all, this ring fits snuggly on his finger, it's perfect, snug enough to not slip off but at the same time he could definitely get it off, and if that just isn't ironic...

He puts it back in place, rearranging all that he has in that drawer, trying to make it seem as if he had never even touched this place, and now the guilt begins to sink in, even if he is right and Mark definitely shouldn't have a ring in his drawers unless he's cheating, he still should have been able to trust the elder, and he most definitely should NOT have gone through Mark's things when he was kind enough to let him stay in his home.

He can never help himself, and he tries his best to brush it off until Mark wants to propose and has to tell him or something, and he manages to convince himself to snuggle against Mark that night, in the quiet darkness which was anything but soothing. They're both a little too warm, but he doesn't want to leave Mark for now, and he knows that even if he has no idea of what to do about what he now knows, he cannot bring himself to leave Mark right this moment. No matter what's happened, his heart is still very much attached to Mark and he isn't yet willing to let him go.