Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The familiar scent of stale sweat and cheap disinfectant hung heavy in the air of the locker room, a smell that had come to define the start of every season for Mark. But this year, as Coach Miller’s booming voice cut through the excited chatter, something felt different. “Alright, listen up!” Miller’s gaze swept across the assembled team, lingering for a moment on Mark. “As you all know, we’ve got big expectations for this season. And leading us on the ice, your new captain, is a man who’s earned it. Mark Lee!”

A roar erupted, a chorus of cheers and stick taps against the worn linoleum floor. Mark felt a surge of pride, a warmth spreading through him as his teammates clapped him on the back. He was no stranger to leadership, having served as vice-captain last year, but the 'C' on his jersey felt heavier, more significant. This was his senior year, and this was his team.

His gaze flickered to the spot where Jeno usually stood, a sharp pang of absence cutting through his elation. The new year had brought its share of shifts. Not only was Mark stepping up as captain, but Jaemin was taking his old spot as vice-captain. Jeno? He was out of the team entirely, a choice made no doubt under his parents’ relentless pressure to focus on his studies. Mark knew their parents linked Jeno's less-than-stellar academic performance at the end of last year to the time sports took away from him, completely unaware of the toll the breakup had taken on him. His own fault, anyway, Mark thought, the familiar guilt stirring, but he still hadn't wanted his best friend to pay for it by having to give up one of his passions.

A slight dampening of his mood, a subtle tightening in his chest, as he truly wished one of his closest friends could have been there to share this captaincy moment. But there was nothing he could do, and as Jaemin liked to put it with a wry twist of his lips, “If losing Donghyuck was going to hurt him so much, he should have just treated him better.”

The trio had managed to mend their friendship, but forgive doesn't mean forget. A part of them — especially Jaemin, who witnessed it firsthand — would always remember Jeno's poor treatment of their omega.

Still, he had his other best friend right there, hugging him tightly and patting his back with the brightest smile. That characteristic toothy grin from the younger alpha that Mark had become increasingly weak to even before they started dating.

The blond, ever the picture of laid-back confidence, offered a relaxed grin. "Hey, Cap. Ready for the fan club?"

Mark chuckled, shaking his head as they pushed through the swinging doors into the crisp evening air, leaving behind the buzzing chaos of their teammates. And there he was. Donghyuck, their omega, stood a few feet away, a radiant smile gracing his lips, two bouquets clutched in his arms. The setting sun caught the highlights in his hair, making him seem almost ethereal against the backdrop of the campus.

"Hey, you two!" Donghyuck's voice was a bright melody, cutting through the distant sounds of student life. He stepped forward, his eyes sparkling with genuine pride as they landed on Mark. "Congratulations, Captain."

Mark felt a warmth spread through him, different from the locker room cheers. This was softer, more intimate. Donghyuck extended the bouquet in his left hand to Mark. It was a vibrant celebration, anchored by the stately presence of gladioli. Their tall, strong stems rose like a fanfare, each bloom unfurling in shades of deep crimson and fiery orange. Nestled amongst them were smaller blossoms, a scattering of deep purple irises, their velvety petals adding a touch of romance and mystery. Sprigs of emerald green foliage, like sword fern, provided a lush backdrop, enhancing the bold colors of the flowers. The arrangement was tied with a wide, satin ribbon in a complementary shade of burgundy, its ends trailing gracefully, adding a final touch of elegance. It was a bouquet that spoke of admiration and pride, a fitting tribute to a captain's achievement.

"And for you, my amazing vice-captain," Donghyuck said, turning to Jaemin with a playful wink, offering him the other bouquet. This one was a vibrant mix of exuberant pink peonies and deep burgundy roses. The peonies, symbolizing prosperity and good fortune, their ruffled petals bursting with an outgoing charm, contrasted beautifully with the roses, which added a touch of romance and a serious, yet gentle nature, their velvety texture hinting at an understated intensity. Playful wildflowers, in shades of lavender and cream, created a chill, easygoing vibe, while delicate sprigs of greenery provided a sophisticated simplicity. The overall effect was a heartfelt and uniquely personal message.

Jaemin took the bouquet with an exaggerated bow, making Donghyuck giggle. "My dearest beloved, you truly know the way to a man's heart."

Mark, now holding his gladioli, leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Donghyuck's temple. "You didn't have to, Hyuck."

"Of course I did," Donghyuck countered, his gaze sweeping over both of them, full of an affection that made Mark's chest ache in the best way. "My alphas had a big day."

Jaemin, still admiring his vibrant bouquet, suddenly turned to Donghyuck. "You know, Hyuck, you should really try out for the cheering team." He said with a smile that betrayed his lack of seriousness “You have a serious talent for motivation.”

Donghyuck immediately shot him a look, crossing his arms. "Absolutely not. You know I'm not strong enough to be a base, and I'm definitely not brave enough to be a flyer."

Jaemin waved a dismissive hand. "Who said anything about stunting? You could just do the floor routines. You've got rhythm, you're expressive." He punctuated his points with gentle pokes to Donghyuck's arm.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes, but a playful smirk tugged at his lips. "Why are you insisting so much, Jaemin? Now that you're vice-captain, do you want to date a cheerleader?" he teased, bumping Jaemin's shoulder.

Jaemin simply smirked back, his gaze lingering on Donghyuck's face. "Not really. But I would love to see you in a skirt."

Mark chuckled, shaking his head. He exchanged a knowing glance with Donghyuck, who was now mock-glaring at Jaemin, though a faint blush was creeping up his neck.

The trio hadn't made any announcements of their relationship, keeping it a quiet understanding between them. Yet, gestures like this, two alphas openly receiving flowers from their omega, coupled with Jaemin's brazen flirtation, were bound to give people a clue, even if they weren't particularly observant. Friends don't typically give each other flowers like this, nor do they usually tease each other about wearing skirts with such suggestive undertones.

Even now, half a year into the relationship and with no effort put into truly hiding it, their classmates and teammates were still gossiping about them. Whispers of who was dating whom circulated the campus, the speculation never bold enough to suggest what it actually was: something a lot more complicated, a taboo to many, but one that undeniably worked for them.

A week had passed since Mark's captaincy announcement, a week filled with rigorous early-morning practices and the quiet contentment of evenings spent with Jaemin and Donghyuck. The initial thrill of the 'C' on his jersey had settled into a steady sense of responsibility, a drive to lead his team to victory. Today, the rink buzzed with a different kind of energy: tryouts. Hopeful freshmen and a few ambitious sophomores, their faces a mix of nerves and determination, crowded the benches, their hockey bags cluttering the floor.

Mark, along with Coach Miller and Jaemin, stood the sidelines, watching the boys stretch and doing laps to warm up for the test, discussing among themselves the type of player they were looking for.

"Lee, you ready for this?" Coach Miller grunted, gesturing towards the ice. "Lots of eager new faces today."

"Always, Coach," Mark replied, scanning the line of new hopefuls. His eyes snagged on a familiar face near the back. Sungchan. He was a year younger, a sweet kid from Mark's old high school who last he knew, had been studying abroad. Guess he's back to finish his degree here. Mark thinks to himself.

He nudged Jaemin. "See the tall brunette? Kid from my high school. Very fast on the ice."

Jaemin gave a brief nod, already making a mental note. "We'll keep an eye on him."

Mark stepped closer to the boards where Sungchan was lacing up his skates, a nervous energy radiating off him. "Sungchan? Didn't know you came back."

Sungchan looked up, his eyes widening slightly in surprise. "Mark! Yeah, just this semester. Got too homesick." He gave a sheepish smile.

"Glad to see you," Mark said, offering a reassuring smile. "And happy to have you try out for the team. You've got the skill. Just play your game, don't overthink it."

The younger alpha's shoulders seemed to relax a fraction. "Thanks, Mark. Means a lot."

Mark gave a brief nod, his gaze already shifting back to Coach Miller, who was blowing his whistle, signaling the start of the first drill. The ice came alive with motion.

Mark, along with Coach Miller and Jaemin, watched from the sidelines, clipboards in hand, assessing the new talent. The slap of pucks against the boards and the squeak of skates on ice filled the cavernous space. They were halfway through the drills when a ripple of murmurs started near the entrance. Mark glanced up, his focus momentarily diverted.

Standing in the doorway was Donghyuck. The omega often stopped by after his classes, sometimes bringing snacks or just offering a comforting presence. But today was different. Today, Donghyuck was wearing a skirt.

It was a simple, pleated number in a deep blueberry shade that contrasted sharply with the cream-colored sweater he had tucked into the waistband, it was a stylish mockery of their team’s white and blue colors. The oversized sweater was falling off of his shoulder too nicely not to be intended, letting everyone have a peak at the slender clavicle that under the right light looked like he had applied body glitter to it — and knowing the shorter, he probably did.

The embroidery across the front of the sweater was a bold “Hockey Girl” in the same color as the skirt and it had to be custom made. Freaking custom made. Donghyuck had definitely put effort into it and he knows exactly what it's doing to them. He'd even worn thigh high socks in pure white, a powerful contrast to the honey color of his skin.

It was the sight of his legs that seemed to have caught everyone's attention. They were glossy and tanned, honed from countless hours of dancing and simply being Donghyuck. The skirt swished gently as he walked, drawing every eye in the rink.

A few of the returning team members exchanged amused glances, most respectful enough not to openly stare knowing that the boy is most likely taken, but others can't really help getting distracted and it's hard to blame them. Even Coach Miller’s eyebrows rose slightly before he quickly regained his professional composure.

The freshmen, however, couldn't help but gawk. 

Mark felt a rush of conflicting emotions. Pride, undeniably. Donghyuck looked stunning, confident, and utterly captivating. Amusement, too, at the sheer audacity of the gesture. But also a flicker of protectiveness, a primal alpha instinct surfacing under the weight of so many gazes.

Jaemin, standing beside him, let out a low whistle. "Well, fuck," he murmured, a wide, knowing smirk spreading across his face. "I don't remember today being my birthday, is it yours?"

Donghyuck made his way towards the bleachers, his smile a bright beacon. He sat down near the middle, legs crossed and back straight, almost too formal, like a good boy that wouldn't hurt a fly, but they know better.

Coach Miller let out a sharp, piercing whistle that echoed through the rink, cutting through the remaining whispers. "Alright, boys! Eyes on the ice! Let's go, drills!" His voice, though gruff, held a hint of amusement he quickly suppressed.

The tryouts resumed. Skates scraped, pucks clattered, and the thud of bodies against the boards picked up. But despite Coach Miller's command, a subtle shift had occurred. Many of the hopefuls, especially the younger ones, still occasionally stole glances towards the bleachers where Donghyuck had settled.

He sat casually, one leg crossed over the other, the pleated skirt falling gracefully. Whenever someone looked his way, he’d offer a small, innocent-looking smile, a subtle tilt of his head, or a slow blink. It was just enough to make them look away quickly, then sneak another glance a moment later. A flirty game played from afar, completely unspoken but perfectly understood. Mark caught a few of these interactions, a private smile tugging at his lips. It was classic Donghyuck – utterly captivating without even trying, and fully aware of the effect he had.

Jaemin, beside him, leaned in, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. "Told you he'd look good in a skirt," he murmured, his eyes glinting with satisfaction.

Mark just shook his head, a warmth spreading through him. "You're enjoying this too much."

"Can you blame me?" Jaemin countered, his gaze drifting to their omega, who was now blowing a dramatic, silent kiss to a particularly flustered freshman. "He's putting on quite the show for us.”

Mark's smile faded slightly as he watched Donghyuck's performance, his thoughts drifting. "He never pulled a stunt like that with Jeno."

Jaemin shrugged, a casual dismissal in the movement. "He was always considerate of him, wouldn't have wanted him to ever feel insecure. But we both told him we're not the jealous type, so he can dress however the hell he wants."

"Agreed," Mark conceded, then his eyes narrowed, focusing on something specific on the ice. "But why during the tryouts?"

Jaemin followed his gaze, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. "He wouldn't jeopardize an actual game by distracting us like that, you know him. Why? Are the stares actually bothering you?"

"That one is," Mark muttered, his voice low.

Jaemin chuckled softly, recognizing the direction of Mark's stare. "Your high school friend?"

Mark nodded, a flicker of concern in his eyes. "He used to have a crush on Donghyuck,” he admits, looking from the obliviously smiling Donghyuck to the gaping player on the ice “It's been two years, but that doesn't look like the face of someone who's over it."

The younger alpha was too tall to miss and the way he was looking at Donghyuck didn't leave much up for interpretation. The boy looks smitten, completely gone for the pretty omega with the short skirt. He'd even fallen to the ice a of couple of times, objectively more distracted than everyone else. Pitiful.

Jaemin threw his head back, a genuine laugh escaping him, loud enough to draw a brief, curious glance from Coach Miller. He recovered quickly, nudging Mark playfully. "Wow, so you're not even jealous, you just don't want your friend to get his heart broken? Mark, you are adorable." His gaze softened as he looked from Mark to Donghyuck, then back to the tryouts. "Don't worry. Hyuck knows who he belongs to."

Mark sighed, his gaze still fixed on Sungchan. "If he gets heartbroken, I don't care, but I don't want to be the one doing it."

"Two years is a long time, Mark. He's not in love, he’s just horny right now, half the rink is just salivating," Jaemin said, his voice flat but reassuring.

Mark ran a hand over his face. "I sure hope you're right.”

After the coach dismissed everyone with promises to announce the new team within the week, the pretty distraction stood up, walking down the stairs with too much confidence until he stood by the pair of alphas.

"Hey guys," Donghyuck said, his voice casual, as if wearing a skirt to a hockey tryout was the most natural thing in the world. He leaned in to give Mark a quick kiss on the cheek, then did the same to Jaemin. "Just thought I'd stop by on my way back from class." His eyes, however, held a mischievous glint that belied his innocent tone.

Mark couldn't help but chuckle, shaking his head. "Hyuck, you know you didn't just stop by."

Donghyuck simply batted his eyelashes, his smile widening. "Maybe I wanted to offer some moral support.” He said, then his attention turned to the edge of the rink where Sungchan sat, taking off his skates while still stealing furtive glances his way “Is that Sungchan? I thought I recognized him but wasn't sure. I'll go say hi!” He announced cheerfully, walking away before his best friend could say anything.

“Relax” the blond said, giving the older a reassuring squeeze with a smile that was almost condescending but quickly soured when he turned to look at the pair of friends reuniting. A hug was in order he expected as much, but “Isn't that hug going on for a bit too long?” He asked the brunette, who groans low in his chest in agreement.

But the sound bubbles up until it comes out, not loud enough for others the hear, but too intense for Jaemin to ignore, answering it with one of his own because “Is he… is he fucking scenting our omega?”

Chapter Text

Jaemin’s low growl, barely a vibration in the air beside him, was enough to snap Mark's full attention away from the lingering hug. His own instincts, dormant only moments before, flared. Scenting. The word hit him with the force of a body check. Sungchan, still holding Donghyuck loosely, had his head dipped slightly, his nose brushing against the omega's hair near his neck. It was an unmistakable gesture, blatant and possessive.

A cold, hard knot formed in Mark's stomach. His jaw tightened, and he felt a primal urge to cross the ice, to rip Sungchan away. His knuckles, still clutching the clipboard, whitened. He'd never considered himself the jealous type, had never tried to stop Donghyuck from being flirty back when he was single, from kissing boys and had even celebrated him finally finding someone who loved him.

But that was all before he had him, before they had him. Back when he felt that he could never claim the boy — as much as it already felt and looked and smelled like he already had — because he didn't know how to give the kind of love Donghyuck needed.

Things are different now. He's still coming to terms with what he is and what love means for him, but there's Jaemin now, giving Donghyuck all the love in the world, in the traditional sense of the word, and Mark doesn't have to feel inadequate anymore, like he has to step aside and let someone else make Donghyuck happy because he can't.

He can. He is. 

The Sungchan he remembers is a really sweet kid and the last thing he wants is trouble with him. Mark can let most things slide and so can Jaemin, but scenting?!

Donghyuck has only ever been scented by him, Jeno had every right to but as a Beta he couldn't, and Jaemin can, but chooses not to. At least not by himself, only doing so on days when Mark does, turning the tan male into a confusing mix of pheromones that drive them both crazy.

Their boundaries are quite lax, they told Donghyuck as much, but scenting definitely counts as crossing them all.

"Hey!" Jaemin's voice was low, sharp, cutting through the usual rink din, though only Mark could hear the dangerous edge to it. He started forward, a predatory gleam in his usually playful eyes.

Mark grabbed his arm, holding him back. "Easy, Jaem," he hissed, his own voice strained. He needed to think, to avoid a scene. This was a public space, tryouts were still technically underway, and Coach Miller was just a few feet away.

Sungchan, oblivious to the attention, finally pulled back from the hug, a smug, satisfied smile on his face. Donghyuck, however, looked entirely unconcerned, a bright, friendly smile still in place as he chatted animatedly with his old high school friend. The scenting seemed to have simply washed over him, or perhaps he truly hadn't registered its territorial implications in that context.

"He's clueless," Mark muttered, more to himself than Jaemin, watching Donghyuck. He himself had scented the younger several times without his knowledge, so he isn't surprised that the omega hadn't noticed the action.

"The guy is claiming him in front of the whole team, he doesn't want any competition," Jaemin retorted, his voice still tight. He glared at Sungchan, who now had an arm slung casually around Donghyuck’s shoulders, pulling him slightly closer. The gesture was innocent enough on the surface, but the underlying alpha claim was screaming.

Mark took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. He couldn't make a scene. Not here. Not now. He exchanged a frustrated glance with Jaemin. The silence between them was thick with unspoken fury.

Donghyuck, sensing their eyes on him, finally looked over, giving them a cheerful wave. "We're just catching up! Sungchan's telling me about studying abroad!" he called out, completely oblivious to the thunderous expressions on their faces.

Sungchan, emboldened by Donghyuck's casualness, offered a confident, almost challenging nod in Mark and Jaemin's direction.

"Alright, boys, that's it for today!" Coach Miller's voice boomed, ending the drills. "I'll post the team roster by Friday evening. Good work out there!"

The remaining tryout participants began to file off the ice, some looking exhausted, others still buzzing with adrenaline. Sungchan finally detached himself from Donghyuck, a lingering touch on his arm. "It was great catching up, Hyuck. I'll see you around campus, okay?" His tone was cheerful and there was a soft purr underlying the words, like a content feline snuggling up to its master.

"Definitely!" Donghyuck chirped, before turning to walk back towards Mark and Jaemin, his smile as bright as ever. "Ready to go, you two?" He seemed completely unaware of the tension radiating from his alphas, of the lingering scent of Sungchan on his clothes, or the silent, furious conversation that had just transpired between them.

As Donghyuck approached, Mark forced himself to relax, his protective instincts warring with his need for discretion. Jaemin, however, didn't bother to hide his annoyance. He met Donghyuck with a pointed look.

"Did you... have a nice chat?" Jaemin asked, his voice dripping with false sweetness as he took a subtle but firm step, placing himself between Donghyuck and where Sungchan had just been. He subtly leaned in, inhaling. The scent was definitely there, a sweet — almost nostalgic — note of maple — underlined by the sharp smell of pine, grounded and woodsy, a very distinct alpha smell that doesn't belong on Donghyuck.

Donghyuck's brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of confusion in his eyes at Jaemin's tone. "Yeah, he was telling me about how much he missed home. Why?"

Mark cleared his throat, trying to inject some normalcy into the situation. He exchanged another look with Jaemin, a silent agreement to address this later, away from prying eyes. But the tan male had other plans.

"Seriously guys, what's with the weird mood?" Donghyuck demanded, his lower lip pushing out in a dramatic pout that was always hard to resist. He gestured between them, his eyebrows raised in exasperation. "I thought you liked the surprise. I was high-key expecting a hot rendezvous in the locker showers, not whatever this is. Is the skirt not short enough?" He spun slightly, letting the pleated fabric swish around his glossy, tanned legs, clearly trying to bait them back into their usual playful dynamic.

Jaemin’s eyes narrowed, the hint of a growl vibrating in his chest. His usual laid-back demeanor was cracking under the weight of the sweet, invasive pine-and-maple scent clinging to Donghyuck. "Oh, the skirt is plenty short enough, Hyuck. More than enough, actually." His voice was low, laced with an edge Mark rarely heard directed at their omega. "It's not the skirt that's the problem."

Donghyuck finally stilled, the playful bravado draining from his face as he truly registered their anger. His pout softened into an apologetic line. "Oh. My bad, I... I didn't realize. I'm sorry." He lowered his gaze, fiddling with the edge of his skirt, accidentally hitching it up even higher to the point that a strip of blue lace is revealed high on his thigh. A freaking garter belt, he'd really gone all out for them.

The bright confidence he’d exuded moments before was hiding beneath a sheepish deference. "If you want me to wash his scent off, I can do that, the showers are right there,” he says, pointing to the hall leading to the locker rooms, a flirty playfulness returning to his expression “But I'm not in the team, I don't think I'm allowed into the locker room by myself." He looked up, a hopeful, slightly vulnerable flicker in his eyes. There was worry there, anxiety over their sour mood, but there was also an invitation to drop the topic and fulfill his earlier expectations, to enjoy the surprise he had planned for them.

Mark reached out, gently taking Donghyuck's arm, his thumb tracing a soothing circle on his skin. His voice was firm, but tinged with a deep tenderness. "Baby, this is serious, don't play."

Donghyuck pulled back slightly, a spark of defiance returning to his eyes, brushing off Mark's concern. "But it's not serious. He's into me, so what? So are the rest of the freshmen. I look gorgeous today because I dressed up for you two, who cares if someone else looks? it's meant for your eyes, enjoy it!" He gestured wildly around the empty rink, as if to emphasize the fleeting nature of the stares.

"He didn't just look, though, baby, and that's the thing," Mark explained, his voice low and patient, his gaze sweeping over the exposed collar, nose catching the residual scent of Sungchan that still clung to Donghyuck despite his words. "We wouldn't be mad if he'd just asked you out, because you would have said no, and that's the end of it. But he didn't shoot his shot, he took a claim on you, for everyone to see." His eyes darted meaningfully towards the door where a few straggling freshmen were still lingering, glancing back.

"Exactly," Jaemin added, stepping closer, his presence a solid wall at Mark's side. His voice was no longer dripping with false sweetness, but held a firm, serious edge. "And we know you love us and you're not going anywhere, but we're still alphas and it rubs us the wrong way to see that shit. It's disrespectful.”

Donghyuck’s lower lip trembled, not quite a full pout now, but a sign of his growing frustration. He threw his hands up, exasperated. "Well, maybe if you were to stake your own claim, we wouldn't have this issue!" With that, he whirled around, the pleated skirt swishing violently, and stormed away, heading straight for the exit, leaving the two alphas standing alone in the silent rink.

Mark and Jaemin watched him go, their hearts now feeling heavy in their chests. The sudden silence was deafening, filled only by the distant sounds of the last few players leaving the ice. They looked at each other, the unspoken accusation hanging between them.

After a long moment, Mark finally broke the silence, his voice barely a whisper. "Do you think he wore that and flirted with the whole team to bait us into going public?"

Jaemin ran a hand through his blond hair, his smirk completely gone, replaced by a grim set to his mouth. "Yeah… and I think we failed that test."

Mark’s gaze drifted back to the exit, a new worry etching lines around his eyes. "Worse, I think someone else passed.”

Chapter Text

A melodic twinkling bell sound from his phone cut through the quiet hum of Jaemin’s room. He glanced down, seeing a notification, and from across the room, Jeno chuckled. "It's time already? Have fun, I guess," Jeno commented, a knowing smirk playing on his lips as he stayed sprawled on his own bed.

Jaemin’s brows furrowed in confusion, then his eyes widened in sudden realization. The calendar reminder. Donghyuck’s heat was starting today.

His thumb flew to his screen, about to text Mark, but a message from the older alpha already vibrated on his lock screen.

Mark: It's today.

Jaemin: yeah, mine just pinged.

Mark: you know what this means?

Jaemin: that we have work to do?

Mark: No you horn dog. If his heat is today then yesterday he was pre-heat. We couldn't smell it under Sungchan's claim.

Jaemin’s jaw tightened. The pieces clicked into place with a sickening thud. Pre-heat is nowhere near as intense as the heat itself, but the pheromones do flare up. In the middle of a crowd you wouldn't notice, but if you happen to hug them, you can't possibly miss it.

Jaemin: But that jerk sure did smell it when he buried his nose in his neck. 

Jaemin didn't type the expletive, but a raw, furious curse tore from his throat, startling Jeno, who looked over with a puzzled expression.

Mark: that might even be the reason he did it, the same way I used to.

Jaemin: but that only works for a day, he showers and it's gone.

Mark: then he'll try it again today.

Jaemin didn't reply. His fingers froze over the keyboard, the implications crashing down on him. Sungchan wasn't just attempting a casual claim to ward off the other hopefuls who'd been looking at Donghyuck; he was actively targeting Donghyuck during his most vulnerable time, using a tactic Mark himself admitted to employing. This wasn't a playful rivalry anymore; this was a calculated move.

With a furious snarl, Jaemin slammed his laptop shut, the sharp crack echoing in the small room. "Over my dead body," he muttered, the words thick with dark promise. He grabbed his keys, shoving his phone inside his pocket, and stormed out the door, his mind racing. He had to find Donghyuck. Before Sungchan did.

He burst into the bustling campus cafeteria, the cacophony of chatter and clanking trays hitting him instantly. His eyes scanned frantically over the sea of students, ignoring the aroma of stale coffee and fried food. He spotted Donghyuck immediately, sitting at a corner table with his roommate, Chenle, a bright smile on his face as he gestured animatedly. The midday sun caught Donghyuck's hair, giving him an almost ethereal glow, but all Jaemin could focus on as he got close was the faint, yet unmistakable, scent of maple and pine clinging to him. It was a cold, hard knot in his gut, confirming his worst fears.

He strode purposefully towards them, his usual confident swagger replaced by a tense urgency that seemed to ripple through the air around him. Chenle, ever observant, glanced up from his phone and his playful smile faltered as he caught sight of Jaemin’s grim expression. Donghyuck, however, seemed oblivious, still chattering about something animatedly.

"Donghyuck?" Jaemin's voice was tight, barely above a whisper, filled with a desperate plea. He stopped abruptly beside their table, his hands clenching at his sides. "Tell me you didn't shower this morning." He already knew the answer. The scent was too fresh, too strong.

Donghyuck’s animated expression dropped, replaced by a defensive slump of his shoulders. His smile faded entirely. "I did," he replied, his gaze unwavering, "and yes, I met him this morning. He gave me a hug today too, and I took it. I think you know why." His voice was oddly cold, devoid of its usual warmth, a sharp contrast to the lively atmosphere of the cafeteria.

Chenle, sensing the abrupt shift, cleared his throat and quickly gathered his books with practiced ease. He avoided eye contact. "Ah, I just remembered I have a thing. Super important. You guys… talk it out." He offered a hurried, awkward smile to both of them and scurried away, leaving the two of them alone at the small, laminate table amidst the bustling room.

Jaemin ran a hand through his blond hair, frustration warring with rising panic. His fingers trembled slightly. "You should have called Mark. We do have a reminder, but it only sounded off just now. He could have scented you. Why let Sungchan scent you again? We told you what it feels like." His voice was low, strained, as if barely holding back a growl.

Donghyuck bristled, his eyes flashing. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest, leaning back slightly in his chair as if putting distance between them. "I did talk to Mark this morning, okay? I'm not a slut, Jaemin." His voice rose slightly, edged with raw vulnerability. "He said he was busy with the coach, reviewing the tryouts or something. So I went to class like that, it's not that deep. But when I ran into Sungchan and he hugged me, I remembered you telling me yesterday that he had scented me, and I thought, oh well, I was needing it anyway, and let it happen. It was a convenience, Jaem, not me trying to spite you."

"Convenience?" Jaemin echoed, his voice rising sharply, laced with disbelief. He slapped his palm lightly on the tabletop, making a few nearby students glance over. "Why would you do it when you know you're hurting us?"

"Hurt?" Donghyuck scoffed, throwing his hands up in exasperation, then letting them fall heavily onto the table. "Jaemin, none of you mentioned hurt. You said you found it disrespectful, like the only thing hurting is your alpha ego. You didn't tell me it was hurting your feelings." His defensive posture stiffened even further, his chin jutting out stubbornly.

"Don't play obtuse, Hyuck, it doesn't suit you," Jaemin retorted, leaning over the table, his eyes narrowed, piercing. "How could it not hurt to watch you get scented by another alpha?"

"You used to say you love watching others fall for me!" Donghyuck shot back, his voice thick with frustration, eyes wide and accusatory. "Am I supposed to guess how much is too much?"

Jaemin’s gaze softened, but his jaw remained tight. He reached across the table, his hand finding Donghyuck's, his thumb tracing worried circles on his knuckles, a silent plea. "Fall? Yes. Admire? Absolutely! Dote on you? Love to see it. But he did none of that, Baby, he scented you. That is a claim, not a flirtation. I am not the jealous type, I won't get angry watching you get attention from others, but of course I'll get hurt if I stand to lose you." His voice dropped to a low, earnest tone.

"Lose me? Who said anything about losing me? I never said I liked Sungchan!" Donghyuck tugged his hand away, his voice edged with panic, pulling back into his chair.

"I know, baby, but smelling him all over you? It feels like losing you” he admits, getting up and walking around the table to sir next to Donghyuck instead so he couldn't keep pulling away “It's an alpha thing, I don't know how else to explain it, but it hurts like hell. The smell of another alpha covering yours makes us want to fight and cry and throw up all at the same time." Jaemin's voice was raw now, thick with unshed emotion, betraying the depth of his emotional pain. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, head bowed slightly.

Donghyuck’s defiance crumbled, his expression shifting to one of defeat and sadness. His shoulders slumped, and he stared down at the table, playing with the high collar of his white turtleneck. "You said," he began, his voice barely a whisper, "You just said it rubbed you the wrong way."

Jaemin lifted his head, his eyes pleading. "I meant it rubs me raw, it rubs the skin and muscle clean off my bones," he begged, his voice cracking with emotion. "It's a crappy feeling, so please, please, I beg you. I know you're mad at us right now for not being completely open about us, and we'll get to discuss it, but as angry as you might be, unless you have decided to dump us, please don't let anybody scent you again." He reached out again, his hand hovering, unsure if Donghyuck would accept his touch.

Donghyuck watched his outstretched hand, his lower lip trembling. The fight drained out of him entirely. He leaned forward, ignoring the hovering hand and instead wrapping his arms around Jaemin’s waist, burying his face in his chest. His voice was muffled, thick with genuine regret. "I'm so sorry, Jaemin. I didn't—I really didn't understand. I just... I was so mad about yesterday, and I thought you were just being prideful, not actually hurting." Jaemin squeezed him back tighter, the maple and pine scent still present, but now mixed with a fresh burst of Donghyuck's own sweet, distressed omega pheromones. 

Jaemin hugged him back tightly, his own tension slowly bleeding away, though a core of unease remained. "I really didn't do it to spite you. I just don't like the attention I get during my heat, not when I already have someone, to me that feels disrespectful. So I just took the opportunity to mask my heat," Donghyuck explained, his voice sounding genuinely repentant against Jaemin's chest. He pulled back slightly, looking up into Jaemin's eyes, a flicker of something troubled in his gaze. "But that's only half the truth, I know if we hadn’t argued yesterday I would have pushed harder.”

Jaemin pushed Donghyuck gently away so he could hold his face, his thumbs brushing comfortingly over his cheeks. He looked intently into his eyes with concern. "Pushed harder? What do you mean push? You were pushing him away?"

Donghyuck swallowed, his gaze dropping momentarily. "A little? I justified it to myself as convenient, but it did feel wrong to be scented by someone else, so I did push him away at first."

"Yet he just kept going?" Jaemin's voice was flat, a dangerous edge returning.

Donghyuck winced. "I'm in heat, Jaemin, I'm sensitive... this feels wrong to admit, but it's a nice tingling sensation. I didn't exactly push too hard." He looked away, embarrassed by the admission.

Jaemin’s eyes narrowed, his concern hardening into something more chilling. "I know you're sensitive during heat... and he knows that too, so he just took advantage of you?"

"You make it sound like he did an awful thing to me," Donghyuck protested, pulling back fully, his arms crossing defensively again. "It was a hug."

"Was it really?" Jaemin countered, his voice low and tight. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, his gaze unblinking. "Alphas can barely focus with an omega in heat one meter away, but getting your nose all up in their glands? It's too tempting… do you promise all he did was hug you?”

Donghyuck looks around anxiously, as if checking for prying eyes. He looks at Jaemin, at the coldness beneath the reassuring smile and has to look away, unable to hold the intent gaze too long. He's not being judged, he knows, there is only concern for him and the anger is directed elsewhere, he knows. But it still weights on him, his hand moving slowly, hesitantly, until it reaches his collar and pulls.

His fingers fumbled with the fabric, slowly stretching the tight collar of his white turtleneck until the smooth skin beneath was exposed. It wasn't purple, not yet, but a stark, angry red mark bloomed just below his jawline, a fresh hickey standing out against his tanned skin. It was undeniable. A new claim, made not just with scent, but with force.

Jaemin stared, the breath hitching in his throat. His entire body went rigid. The noisy cafeteria, the murmuring students, the clatter of trays – all of it faded into a distant hum. All he could see was that mark. A primal, guttural growl tore from his chest, low and dangerous, drawing a few startled glances from nearby tables. His vision tunneled, the maple and pine scent now roaring in his nostrils, mingled with the sudden sharp bitterness of his own enraged alpha pheromones. Sungchan hadn't just smelled Donghyuck's heat and covered it; he had tasted it. He had dared to stake a physical claim.

Donghyuck flinched, pulling the collar back up quickly, his eyes wide with fear and shame. "Jaemin—" he whispered, his voice barely audible above the sudden, involuntary growl from the alpha beside him.

Jaemin didn't hear him. He pushed himself back from the table, his chair scraping loudly on the linoleum floor. He stood, towering over Donghyuck, his gaze fixed on the spot where the hickey had been. His hands were clenched into fists, trembling. His entire being screamed outrage.

He actually did it.

Without another word, Jaemin spun on his heel. He wasn't thinking. He wasn't planning. He was simply moving, driven by pure, incandescent fury. He had to find Sungchan. Now.

Chapter Text

The sudden quiet vibration of his phone in his hand made Mark jump. He checked the screen, seeing Donghyuck’s contact name flash. Relief flooded through him—he hadn't expected the omega to call him after he had to deny him in the morning. Especially after his calendar had belatedly let him know that the call from this morning wasn't just a simple "I miss you and want to see you" but an urgent "my heat begins today, mind coming to scent me so I can go to class without smelling like dessert?" That he had dumbly said no to. Guilt churned in his stomach.

"Mark?" Donghyuck's voice was hoarse, almost breaking. He sounded out of breath, and the rush of wind through the receiver made it sound like he was running or in a vehicle.

"Hyuck? What is it? Is everything okay?" Mark's voice came through, laced with concern and a hint of confusion.

"No! No, everything is not okay!" Donghyuck practically shrieked into the phone, probably drawing attention, though Mark could tell the younger had immediately forced himself to lower his voice. "You need to find Jaemin. Before he does something stupid."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, baby," Mark tried to calm him, his voice firm but gentle. "Calm down. Tell me what happened."

Donghyuck seemed to stop running to catch his breath. "He's looking for Sungchan. I managed to follow him into the west side dorms. I don't know how he even knows where Sungchan's dorm is, but he went in there and then I lost him." He gasped, taking a shaky breath. "He has a scholarship, Mark, he can't make trouble. Please alpha." He begged, and the older one could hear the tears in his voice.

The west side dorm? "Fuck," Mark cursed under his breath, realizing how far from them he was. A cold dread seeped into his bones. If Jaemin had already found his target and—for whatever reason—was really planning to use violence, Mark wouldn't be able to stop it. He mentally calculated the time it would take to get there, and it was too long.

Donghyuck disconnected the call before Mark could ask any more questions, or tell him he couldn't make it, but that was no excuse. Mark might not be able to go, but he wasn't leaving them alone. His mind raced, scrambling for a solution. There had to be someone closer, someone who could intervene. He pulled up his contacts, his thumb hovering over a name. This was going to be messy.

Mark's thumb didn't hesitate for long. He tapped the contact. Jeno. He answered on the second ring, his usual laid-back tone colored with mild surprise.

"Hey, what's up?" Jeno asked.

"Jeno, listen, no time to explain," Mark cut him off, his voice clipped with urgency. "Jaemin's gone to the West Side dorms. He's looking for a guy and he's mad. You need to get over there. Now. Before he starts a fight he can't finish."

There was a beat of silence on the other end, then a sharp intake of breath. Jaemin, picking a fight? That alone was enough to tell Jeno this was serious. Their roommate rarely lost his cool like that. "West? Okay, I'm on it. Give me five minutes. What dorm, though?"

"Just the West Side dorms in general. Donghyuck said he went in there. Look for Jaemin," Mark instructed, knowing his time was limited. He hung up, already pulling on his shoes, still too far to make it himself, but relieved someone was on their way.

Jeno burst through the heavy glass doors of the West Side dorms, his heart pounding. The building's lobby was a chaotic mix of students, but his eyes immediately locked onto a commotion spilling out of the communal lounge area. A crowd had already gathered, drawn by the unmistakable sound of raised voices.

Pushing past startled onlookers, Jeno shouldered his way into the lounge. His gaze immediately found Jaemin. His best friend was a furious blur of motion, pinning a guy Jeno didn't recognize to a wall, his arm twisted painfully behind his back. Jaemin's face was contorted in a snarl, eyes blazing with a primal rage Jeno had rarely, if ever, witnessed. The other guy, an alpha Jeno could tell by his scent, was grunting in pain, struggling fruitlessly against Jaemin's grip.

The air in the lounge crackled with the sharp, bitter tang of two alphas' aggressive pheromones, one clearly dominant, the other struggling. It was a potent, unsettling smell.

"Jaemin! What the hell?!" Jeno yelled, lunging forward. "Bro, you're a fucking honor student, let the guy go and let's talk it out, you can't afford to be caught in a fist fight,” he tries to reason, falling on deaf ears “Whatever you're mad about is not worth it" he attempts, trying and failing to pry him away from the brunette.

Donghyuck also follows the commotion and finds them in the lounge, standing in the middle of the circle the curious audience has formed around the alphas, inserting himself but not physically. He knows if things get violent he doesn't have the strength to physically interfere, but in that moment he wishes he could, watching Jeno — with all his gym rat muscles — struggle to even budge the angry alpha.

"Jaemin!" He calls loudly "listen to him please, please let him go" he begs, but his weak voice gets ignored. The angry pheromones in the air are affecting him, and any other omega among the onlookers is probably feeling something similar, but during his heat, he is extra vulnerable to it, finding it hard to even raise his voice under the oppressing aura of dominant rage.

"You don't know what he did, Jeno,” Jaemin replies, and he's not telling the beta to back off or trying to manipulate him in any way, but the tone he is using is one meant for command, an alpha's command. He doesn't seem to be able to control it, too angry to regulate it. “I can't let this piece of shit think he can do whatever he wants and get away with it."

Jeno stops trying to pull his best friend away from the brunette and turns to Donghyuck, watching his hunched posture and his knees about to buckle under him. In that moment, he makes a choice, giving the omega an apologetic look before grabbing Jaemin's head and shoving it forcefully below his jaw, pushing the alpha’s sensitive nose into his scent glands, letting their soothing properties wash over him. It's not magic, he still tries to fight him off, but slowly, his movement becomes less frantic and Jeno tries to reason with him again, hoping he can hear him now.

“Jaemin, man, I know you are angry for a very good reason. But violence is never the answer, please get it together” he begs, feeling some of the tension seep out of the blond but not all of it, only enough for him to finally pull him away from the struggling brunette and firmly into his arms, holding onto him tightly like he's giving comfort and not a natural tranquilizer.

He hears a heavy thud and without looking, he knows it's Donghyuck dropping down on the carpet, knees finally giving under his weight. 

“Donghyuck!” The unknown alpha calls out, rushing to the tan male's side, sounding concerned. Jeno doesn't have any extra hands to stop him with so he stays there, hugging Jaemin until all the fight drains out of him. The crowd around them disperses, thankfully no dorm leaders among them. There are cameras, of course, but no one is actively looking at them, so long as there isn't a report, Jaemin should be in the clear.

“Get him away from him” Jeno feels more than hears the vibrations of Jaemin speaking against his neck, a pleasant shiver running up his spine “I'm calm now but I won't be for long. Get that man away from Donghyuck before I lose it again” he threatens, and Jeno has never heard him sound so beyond pissed, voice deep and dark, the command coming from his chest something the Beta can try to ignore with a bit of will power, but to the distressed omega in heat, it reverberates like gospel, forcing him to push himself weakly away from the concerned brunette.

Jeno swiftly switches Jaemin's now unresisting head from one side of his neck to the other so he can turn to face the other two in the room. He sees the shorter sitting on the floor, hugging his legs and his head buried to make a self soothing ball while the tall male looks at him with regret a couple of meters away, clearly itching to get closer and comfort the distressed omega.

“I can't let go of him unless you go” he tells the brunette, voice soft and almost pleading. The other nods absentmindedly, gaze still focused fully on the tan male, but he does move slowly towards the hallway, disappearing at the stairs. Jeno gives it one more minute before releasing his best friend.

Jaemin straightens up, taking one step away and stares at him, like the sight of him has calming properties too. He takes slow deliberate breaths until the last of the tension in his shoulder goes away, but the smile he tries to force still looks too fake, even by fake smile standards. Jeno smiles back anyway, patting his shoulder and not knowing what to say, if asking for an explanation would just break the impasse. So he keeps quiet and just smiles wider until a more sincere smile touches on Jaemin's lips, small, but present, and fuck if Jeno doesn't want to kiss that smile until it grows back to that too wide grin he loves so much.

So he does.

And for a moment there's nothing, no movement, no sound, just feel. And it feels glorious, god, how he missed this. He doesn't even remember their last kiss anymore, probably right before he started dating Donghyuck…

Donghyuck!

And it's bizarre the way they remember at once, or perhaps only one of them forgot, maybe the other was rather frozen with shock, but you wouldn't know just by looking. And looking was all Donghyuck could do.

He'd raised his head shyly when the angry aura finished fading, still shaking from the intensity of the entire ordeal, but feeling the strength return to his limbs.

The sight of Jaemin in Jeno's arms had been a painful one, too much of a deja Vu of the day he'd seen them at the party, of the day they had all planned to sleep together only for him to be ignored in much the same way he was being now. But the situation is too different to compare, Jaemin isn't distracted by a lover, he's too high strung to notice him and his best friend is helping to bring him down from that rage. That's all it is, he rationalizes, fighting against the heightened sensibility of his heat to force a reassuring smile, a much needed “I'm okay” in hopes to keep Jaemin from getting mad again.

When he thinks he has the most convincing smile he can pull under the current circumstances he raises his head and immediately wishes he hadn't.

And look is all he can do, through wide teary eyes. Look on as he's ignored once more, betrayed once more.

And then they part, like they suddenly remember he's there, and both look at him with varying degrees of panic, gaping like fish out of water, trying to form words — explanations, excuses.

And he looks back, through cold, squinted eyes. Gets up. And leaves.

Chapter Text

The faint echo of Jaemin's own growl was the only sound in the communal lounge, still thick with the bitter tang of agitated alpha pheromones. His jaw hung slack, his eyes fixed on the empty doorway where Donghyuck had just vanished. Jeno, still pressed against him, seemed equally frozen, their unexpected kiss now a monument to a heat of the moment mistake that they can't even hope to be forgiven for. For Jaemin, the brief contact had been a sudden, disorienting jolt, an unwelcome echo of their past, quickly overshadowed by the sickening realization of Donghyuck's hurt.

"Hyuck—" Jeno finally managed, a choked whisper.

Jaemin snapped back to reality, a cold wave of dread washing over the incandescent fury that had just consumed him. He shoved away from Jeno, a sharp, angry glint in his eyes that had nothing to do with Sungchan. "What the hell was that, Jeno?!" he hissed, the accusation cutting through the air. 

Jaemin snapped back to reality, a cold wave of dread washing over the incandescent fury that had just consumed him. "Donghyuck!" he roared, the word tearing from his throat with desperate urgency. He scrambled, his eyes darting wildly across the quiet lounge. But Donghyuck was already gone, a phantom amongst the lingering aggressive scents.

"He's in heat, Jaemin," Jeno gasped, his voice thick with panic, ignoring the jab. "He's extra sensitive. We fucked up.”

"Who's we!?" Jaemin snarled, shoving through the lounge door and out into the main lobby of the West Side dorms. "Let me make this very clear, that wasn't a kiss, Jeno, that was assault” he said with an intimidating severity, stopping to shove an accusing finger into the beta's chest “You knew I wouldn't consent to that and did it anyway, and you did it in front of my boyfriend! My omega in heat!" He yelled, unable to believe his own best friend had just done that to him. The history between them was in the past and for him it had been long forgotten, he has someone he loves in his life — two people in fact, and doesn't think about Jeno at all, not like that.

After the beta had mentioned he was in the talking stages with someone he had thought they were both on the same page. It appears not, and letting his guard down may just cost him the best thing he has in his life.

He was already at the main doors, pushing them open with a desperate shove. The bright midday sun hit him, momentarily blinding him, but he blinked it away, his heightened alpha senses straining for any sign of Donghyuck's scent. It was there, a faint, distressed honey and petrichor underneath maple and pine, heading towards the main quad.

"He's going to his dorm!" Jeno yelled from behind him, catching up, his own face pale with alarm. A part of Jaemin wants to tell the other to fuck off, but his reasonable side knows he needs him to come with him, he needs him there to explain things to Donghyuck, if he'll listen at all.

Just as they rounded the corner onto the main quad, Mark Lee rounded it from the opposite direction, jogging towards them from his parked car. His face was a mixture of concern and relief, clearly having just arrived from his earlier location.

"Jaemin! Jeno! Thank god," Mark panted, slowing to a halt. "Are you guys okay? Did you... did you stop the fight?" His eyes scanned them quickly, noting their disheveled appearance but also the lack of visible injuries. For a fleeting second, relief washed over him; he'd imagined far worse.

But then he saw it. The raw panic in Jeno's wide eyes, the tight, furious set of Jaemin's jaw, and the lingering scent of overwhelming distress that was coming from the alpha, while the scentless Beta carried Jaemin's rich scent of dark chocolate with its addictive notes of coffee. It was potent, too much for just the side effect of standing too close for too long or even sharing a hoodie. Like he'd been scented.

"Mark," Jaemin choked out, his voice strained. "It's... it's not the fight. Donghyuck... he saw us."

Mark's brow furrowed in anger, understanding downing on hum before the roommates even had a chance to explain. "Saw you scenting Jeno? Why the hell would you do that? And where's Donghyuck? I just tried calling him, but he's not answering." His gaze darted frantically past them, searching for the omega.

"He's running to his dorm," Jeno supplied, pushing a hand through his hair. "It wasn't just scenting, Mark... he saw Jaemin and I kiss."

Mark's eyes widened, then narrowed. A slow, agonizing dawning of horror spread across his face. "You what?" he finally rasped, the words thick with disbelief. "Are you serious right now?"

"It wasn't—" Jeno started to explain, but Jaemin cut him off with a sharp, angry glare directed at his best friend.

"He kissed me, Mark. After he used his pheromones to calm me down, I was standing, slowing down my breath, and he fucking kissed me," Jaemin clarified, his voice tight with lingering resentment, even as he was desperate to fix things with Donghyuck. "And Donghyuck saw."

A cold, nauseating twist churned in Mark's gut. Not just concern for Donghyuck, not just anger at the situation, but a sharp, personal stab of betrayal. Jeno, his closest friend since starting college, the omega's ex but still a vital part of their intertwined lives, had kissed his boyfriend. Jaemin, his alpha, who he was navigating this complicated, beautiful new relationship with, had allowed himself to be kissed. The images flashed behind his eyes – the intimacy, the shared moment of relief in the face of chaos – and it felt like a violation of the fragile trust they were building. The familiar scent of the blond, usually comforting, now carried a bitter undercurrent of deception.

Before the older could stop it, a low, guttural growl, different from Jaemin's earlier rage, more akin to despair. "A kiss? the fuck?!" Mark growled, his voice raw.

"It wasn't... it just happened. I don't know, he was so angry and I was trying to calm him and it was... it was a stupid, instinctive thing, Mark! I messed up!" Jeno interjected, stepping closer to the alpha with a pleading gesture, but the brunette stepped back, and the Beta felt another pang of guilt explode in his chest at the sight of Mark's confused disgust. "It was all me, ok? Jaemin didn't kiss me back. You have a wonderful faithful boyfriend but a shitty best friend, you can punch me later, right now let's worry about Donghyuck."

Mark cursed, a string of expletives under his breath. Jeno was right. It was hard to squash down the sense of betrayal but rationally he knows he can't blame Jaemin, as much as the prideful alpha inside of him wants to say “he's an alpha, he had the strength to push Jeno away” he knows how victim blamey that sounds. Some people just freeze up in those situations, specifically under the effect of calming Beta pheromones and after the rage he had just experienced.

He's a better man than this, he won't get mad at something Jaemin didn't do but just happened to him. Even if somewhere deep the idea of the two best friends kissing fucking hurts. And it's a confusing pain, one that contradicts everything he used to believe about himself, because wasn't he aromantic? Didn't he reject Donghyuck, his omega, three separate times out of an inability to love him back properly?

He'll have to tell his therapist about it, a long session of self discovery was certainly next on the agenda for him, but first…

“I won't punch you, Jeno. But we're definitely having a long talk about this, and don't expect us to come out all buddy-buddy on the other side" He paused, a shaky breath, "But right now, Donghyuck needs us, so let's go.” He ordered, grabbing Jaemin's hand and intertwining their fingers, a silent acknowledgement of the strength of their connection, resilient even in the face of all that happened that day. He dragged the blond alpha to his car, leaving the Beta behind.

He'd had his second chance, there would be no third.

Now they just have to hope Donghyuck is a lot more forgiving than Mark.

Chapter Text

The frantic sprint across campus, the biting anxieties of their guilt, brought Mark and Jaemin to Donghyuck's dorm building in a matter of minutes. The scent of distressed omega, fainter now, but still present, guided them up the familiar stairs to Donghyuck's floor. It clung heavily to the air outside his door, a tangible manifestation of the pain they had caused.

Jaemin didn't hesitate. He pounded on the door, a desperate urgency in his fists. "Donghyuck! Please, open up! Let us talk to you!"

Silence answered, thick and heavy. Jaemin tried again, a little softer this time, his voice laced with a plea. "Hyuck, it's me. And Mark. Please."

A moment passed, then the sound of muffled fumbling from inside, and the click of the lock. The door creaked open just enough for a sliver of light to escape, and a face peeked out. It was Chenle, Donghyuck's omega roommate, his usually cheerful expression replaced by a look of profound hurt and anger. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, a fresh tear tracing a path down his cheek, confirming their worst fears. He looked like he'd been crying for a while.

Mark's breath hitched. "Chenle, is he okay? Can we—"

Chenle pushed the door open wider, and in that agonizing moment, they both saw him. Donghyuck, a small, trembling mound under the duvet on his bed, his back to them, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. The sight was a knife to Mark's heart, a visceral ache that twisted his gut. For Jaemin, it was a confirmation of his deepest fears, the image of Donghyuck's shattered vulnerability making his own chest tighten with suffocating guilt. The faint, sweet scent of honey and petrichor, now completely overtaken by pure, unadulterated distress, clung to the air around the bed.

Without a word, Chenle stepped out, closing the door firmly behind him with a soft click, plunging the alphas back into the hallway's muted light. He turned to face them, his small frame radiating an unexpected, fierce alpha-like anger. His face, streaked with tears, was contorted into a furious glare that spoke volumes.

"What do you two want?" Chenle spat, his voice trembling not with fear, but with thinly veiled rage. He crossed his arms over his chest, a protective barrier. "Haven't you done enough?"

Jaemin flinched as if struck. "Chenle, we just want to explain. We messed up, we know—"

"Mess up?" Chenle's voice rose, edged with incredulity. "You didn't 'mess up,' Jaemin. You just broke his heart. Again." His gaze flickered to Mark, equally accusatory, but his words were aimed squarely at the blond. "Do you have any idea what that looked like? While Donghyuck was in heat, feeling every single thing magnified, you two decided to relive your past in front of him! Do you have any idea what that looks like to an omega who's already been cheated on by one of you?" The last words were venomous, hitting Jaemin with the force of a physical blow.

He paused, taking a shaky breath, his glare burning into them. "He's in there, crying his eyes out because he thinks he's not enough. Again. Because he thinks you and Jeno belong together, and he's just... in the way. Again." Chenle shook his head, a single, fresh tear escaping and trailing down his cheek. "He told you that was his worst fear, his biggest insecurity was that you and him might still have a spark, but knowing that, you go and fucking kiss him?" He took a step closer, his voice dropping dangerously low. "Get lost. Both of you. He doesn't want to see you right now. He doesn't want to smell you either. Just leave him alone."

Chenle’s final words hung in the air, a definitive dismissal. Mark and Jaemin stood there, rooted to the spot, their faces etched with a bitter blend of guilt and helplessness. The closed door felt like an impenetrable barrier, and the distressed scent of Donghyuck, now muffled and distant, was a constant, agonizing reminder of their failure. There was no arguing with Chenle, not in this state, and frankly, he wasn't wrong.

With heavy hearts, and no other option, they turned from the door. Each step away felt like a retreat, a surrender, but Chenle’s glare followed them until they reached the end of the hallway. They descended the stairs in silence, the weight of the omega’s pain settling heavily on their shoulders.

Outside the dorm, the campus hummed with midday life, a stark contrast to the emotional devastation they had just witnessed. They walked in silence, side by side, heading towards Mark's parked car. Jaemin’s jaw was still clenched, his earlier rage at Sungchan now replaced by a cold, simmering resentment towards Jeno, and a crushing despair over Donghyuck. Mark’s expression was equally grim, his earlier concern for Donghyuck now mixed with the sharp pang of personal betrayal and the growing dread of the fractured bond between them.

As they reached Mark's car, the metallic tang of his frustration mixing with the faint scent of Jaemin's bitter dark chocolate and coffee, Mark finally broke the silence, his voice low and carefully controlled. "Okay. We'll give him some time. Let him cool down. But... before we figure out what to do next, I need to know. What was that all about with Sungchan? You were furious. I know finding out another alpha is scenting your omega feels like shit, but you know better than to start a fight over it." Mark glanced at Jaemin, his gaze intense, demanding an explanation. He knew the primal, incandescent rage he'd sensed from Jaemin back at the West Side dorms hadn't been just about Sungchan’s bold claim. It had been something more. Something deeper.

Jaemin stopped, his hand on the door handle, but he didn't open it. His eyes, dark with residual anger and fresh pain, met Mark's. He took a ragged breath, the memory of that moment flooding back, eclipsing even the sting of Jeno's kiss.

"He didn't just scent him, Mark," Jaemin said, his voice a low growl, thick with suppressed fury. He reached up, his fingers touching the side of his own neck, just below his jawline, exactly where he had seen it on Donghyuck. "He put a hickey on him. A big one. Right there." He gestured, as if the mark was visible on his own skin, a silent scream of violation. "While he was in heat, at his most vulnerable."

The air around Mark went still. The last lingering traces of his own relief vanished, replaced by an icy dread that gripped him by the throat. A hickey. A physical claim. He hadn't even considered that possibility, the focus on the scenting having consumed him. The image of Donghyuck’s smooth skin, now marred by another alpha’s mark, sent a fresh wave of primal protectiveness, dark and dangerous, surging through his veins. The usually calming scent of fresh rain and earthy oakmoss, which often accompanied Mark’s more level-headed personality, was now turbulent inside the enclosed vehicle, a tempest reflecting his internal rage.

Without another word, Mark strode to the driver's side, yanked the door open, and slid in, slamming it shut. His hand immediately reached for the ignition.

Jaemin, quickly understanding his intention, wasted no time. He scrambled into the passenger seat, leaning over and stopping Mark's hand before it could turn the key. His voice was urgent, laced with a desperate plea. "You're the captain, Mark! You know you can't make trouble!"

Mark's eyes blazed, a mirror of Jaemin's own earlier fury, but colder, more controlled. "Well, neither can you, Mr. honor student, team vice-captain," he retorted, his voice low and dangerous. "But that didn't stop you, did it? Let me go." he ordered, an alpha command that he never thought he'd be using against his lover.

The blod shivered from the dominant growl, but fought to counter it "No, it didn't stop me," he said, his grip firm on Mark's wrist. "Jeno did, and you know how that turned out. But he won't be there to stop you. If you let your anger control you, you'll end up doing something you'll regret. Something you can't afford to regret."

"He assaulted him! He took advantage of an omega in heat! You expect me to just file a complaint with campus security while he's suffering and feeling betrayed by all of us!?"

"I don't want you to do anything that will get you suspended, or worse, expelled, Mark!" Jaemin countered, his gaze unwavering, cutting through Mark's fury with sheer force of will. His scent, the grounding dark chocolate and coffee, steadily pushed back against Mark's rising rage. "Think, Mark! We already have Donghyuck hurt and mad at us. Do you want to give him more to worry about? Do you want to risk your career? Your captaincy? What about the team? What about us?" He squeezed Mark's wrist, just enough pressure to break through the alpha's immediate, violent impulses.

Mark froze. The questions, delivered with Jaemin's sharp, clear logic, began to chip away at the edges of his fury. The team. The future. Donghyuck, already in such pain, would be devastated if Mark jeopardized everything for a fistfight. And "us"—the fragile, complicated "us" that included Donghyuck, and the suddenly strained "us" between Mark and Jaemin, and Jeno.

He let out a ragged breath, the initial blaze of his rage slowly, reluctantly, banking down. The air in the car began to clear of his own volatile scent, replaced by Jaemin's anxious presence. Mark slowly relaxed his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, his shoulders slumping. He still felt a profound, seething anger at Sungchan, a deep-seated need for justice, but the immediate, reckless urge to act on it began to recede.

"So what is the way, Jaemin?" Mark finally asked, his voice low, tinged with defeat, but no longer blind rage. He pulled his hand away from the ignition, leaning his head back against the seat. "Because I'm not letting that bastard get away with it."

"We won't," Jaemin agreed, his own body relaxing visibly now that Mark's composure had returned. The tension that had held him rigid bled away, replaced by a deep, weary sigh. He then leaned in, his gaze soft but steady, and gave Mark a soft kiss on the lips. It was quick, a brief press of warmth and reassurance, a silent apology for the chaos, and a desperate plea for their bond to hold. It was a promise, made without words, that they were still okay, even when everything else felt like it was falling apart. “We’ll keep that guy as far away from us as physically possible. And we’ll get our omega back.”

"And we’ll get you moved out of Jeno’s room," Mark added, looking at him pointedly.

"And I’ll move the hell out of my ex's room," Jaemin affirmed, a note of grim determination in his voice and a small tired smile. This wasn't just about Sungchan or Donghyuck now; it was about solidifying their own future, free from the lingering ghosts of the past.

Chapter Text

The mossy tang of Mark's frustration mixed with the faint scent of Jaemin's bitter dark chocolate and coffee inside the car as they drove away from Donghyuck's dorm. The silence was heavy, broken only by the hum of the engine and the unspoken anguish of their failure.

“Sungchan needs to face consequences," Mark said, his voice hard. "What he did to Donghyuck... it was almost predatory." The anger was still simmering under the surface, but now it was a cold, calculating fire. "We go to the Dean? Campus security?"

Jaemin shook his head slowly. "No. Not directly, not yet. He could easily spin it, claim I assaulted him . I did punch him, Mark, in a public space. If we make an official report, he could accuse me. It would be a mess."

Mark gritted his teeth, the logic undeniable, but the unfairness of it burned. "So what then? We just let him walk?"

"No," Jaemin insisted, his eyes narrowing in thought. "He wants to join the hockey team, right? He's trying out? You're the captain, Mark. And Miller's tough on alpha conduct. If we tell him, Miller would never let him on the ice. He protects his players, and their mates, fiercely."

Mark paused, considering. It was a more contained solution, less public, and it hit Sungchan where it hurt—his athletic ambitions. It wouldn't bring down the full force of campus disciplinary action, but it would effectively shut him out of the team, a significant blow for a competitive alpha. "He wouldn't be allowed to join the team," Mark mused, the corner of his lips tightening. "No official record, but his career here would be over before it began."

"Exactly," Jaemin said, a grim satisfaction in his tone. "That's how we keep him away from Donghyuck. Physically and publicly."

"Okay," Mark agreed, a heavy sigh escaping him. "It's not what he deserves, but it's what we can do without making a mess. And it keeps you safe, too." He reached over and squeezed Jaemin's hand, a renewed sense of unity settling between them. "And the guys need to know too. I’m not letting my team cluelessly befriend an alpha like that, fucking disgrace to the gender,” he spat angrily, but the worse of his rage had been contained, Jeamin’s hand in his a stable anchor.

The hallways of the dorms were quiet, almost deserted in the early afternoon. Mark followed Jaemin the familiar way to his room. The scent of dark chocolate and coffee was getting stronger with bitter anxiety as they approached.

Jaemin took a deep breath, steeling himself, before he opened the door to his and Jeno's shared room. Jeno was there, sitting on his bed, scrolling through his phone, looking surprisingly calm. The calm shattered the moment he saw Jaemin enter, followed by Mark. 

"Guys? How’s Donghyuck?" Jeno asked, his voice hesitant, a flicker of panic entering his usually placid scent.

Jaemin stepped fully into the room, letting the door swing shut behind Mark. The air instantly thickened with unspoken words. "I'm moving out, Jeno," Jaemin stated, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. He walked over to his side of the room, pulling a small suitcase out from under his bed.

Jeno scrambled off his mattress, his eyes darting between Jaemin's face and the bag. "Moving out? Why? Where are you going? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about what happened back in the lounge," Jaemin snapped, pulling open his closet with a sharp yank. "I'm talking about you kissing me in front of Donghyuck, knowing exactly what he's been through, knowing his biggest fear, and doing it anyway. While he's in heat, Jeno! Do you have any idea how much that hurt him? How much that hurt me ?" His voice cracked on the last word, the carefully constructed indifference crumbling. "That was a betrayal, Jeno. A complete and utter betrayal of my trust, and of what we have with Donghyuck. And of our friendship."

Jeno flinched as if physically struck. His scent spiked with acute distress, the lemon turning sharp, acrid. "Jaemin, I'm so sorry! I didn't—it was stupid, it was impulsive! I was trying to calm you down, you were so angry—"

"You calmed me down with your pheromones, Jeno. You used that. And then you kissed me. That wasn't just an impulsive mistake," Jaemin countered, throwing clothes into his suitcase with violent efficiency. "That was a choice. A choice that just blew up everything. You knew my history, you knew Donghyuck's insecurities, and you just... did it ." He looked up, his eyes blazing, the dark chocolate scent in the room turning bitter. "I can't live here anymore. I can't trust you. Not like that."

Jeno stumbled back, his face pale. "Jaemin, please, don't say that. Don't leave. I made a mistake, a huge mistake, I know! But we're best friends! We've been through everything! Please, don't let this ruin us." His voice was choked with desperation, tears welling in his eyes. He glanced at Mark, who stood by the door, his own face a mask of grim resolve. There would be no intervention from him.

"You already ruined us, Jeno," Jaemin said softly, but with chilling finality, snapping the suitcase shut. He grabbed his duffel bag and the suitcase, turning to leave. "When you decided your impulsive comfort was more important than Donghyuck's feelings, or mine."

He brushed past Jeno, who stood frozen, heartbroken, in the middle of the room. Mark opened the door, a silent goodbye, and Jaemin walked out, leaving Jeno alone in the room, surrounded by the sudden emptiness.

Saturday morning arrived, quiet and subdued. Donghyuck’s heat was still a low, insistent hum beneath his skin, amplifying every emotion. He’d barely slept — and missed all his Friday classes, thankfully only two that he’d have to catch up with — the knot of hurt and anger in his chest refusing to loosen. The image of Jaemin and Jeno kissing still flashed behind his eyelids, raw and painful.

But as the first rays of light filtered through his blinds, a different clarity settled over him. His alphas had failed him, spectacularly. But Sungchan... Sungchan had taken advantage of his vulnerability, regardless of Mark and Jaemin’s actions. The hickey on his neck, fading now but still a stark reminder, was a line crossed. Donghyuck might be hurt, but he wasn't a pawn. He needed to address it, not just for himself, but for any omega who might cross paths with someone like Sungchan. This wasn't about spite; it was about principle.

After a quick shower, Donghyuck dressed carefully, choosing clothes that were comfortable yet conveyed a sense of self-possession. He ate a quick, bland breakfast to settle his stomach, then pulled out his phone. He found Sungchan’s number that they had exchanged on Wednesday at the rink: Can we talk? I'll be at the campus coffee shop in 15 minutes.

He arrived first, taking a quiet corner table. The coffee shop was less bustling than the cafeteria, its murmuring patrons and soft jazz music providing a calmer backdrop for a difficult conversation. The smell of roasted beans and warm pastries filled the air.

Sungchan arrived promptly, his expression a mix of apprehension and eagerness when he spotted Donghyuck. "Donghyuck! Hey. I got your text. Everything okay?" He slid into the opposite chair, his gaze tentative.

Donghyuck took a deep breath, letting the scent of his own heat, still prominent, permeate the space between them. He needed to be clear. "Sungchan, about yesterday... first, I want to apologize for Jaemin's actions. What he did, physically, was out of line. I’m sorry you had to experience that." He knew Jaemin's anger was justified in his mind, but violence was not.

Sungchan seemed surprised, a flicker of genuine appreciation in his eyes. "Oh. Uh, thanks. I guess." He paused, then his expression shifted to concern. "But... are you okay? He was really mad and I had to just leave you with him... I was worried."

"I'm fine," Donghyuck said, his voice firm, though he could feel the emotional residue of his heat making it tremble slightly. He then met Sungchan's gaze directly. "Now, I need an apology from you."

Sungchan blinked, taken aback. "An apology? For what?"

Donghyuck felt a fresh wave of frustration, but he kept his voice even. "For scenting me, Sungchan. Not once, but twice. And for this." He pulled down the collar of his shirt, exposing the faint, but still visible, red mark on his neck. "For doing that, when you knew I was in heat, and when I wasn't giving you clear consent."

Sungchan’s eyes darted to the hickey, then back to Donghyuck's face, a flush rising on his cheeks. "I... I thought... you let me. You didn't push me away," he stammered, his voice losing its confident edge.

"I'm in heat, Sungchan," Donghyuck explained, his voice gaining a weary patience. "Omegas in heat are extremely sensitive. And while I may not have physically pushed you off, because frankly, in that moment, any attention felt like a relief after... after a difficult conversation, that doesn't mean you had consent to claim me like that. Not with your scent, and certainly not with your mouth. You knew I was in heat. You know what that means for an omega's vulnerability. You took advantage."

Sungchan looked down at his hands, twisting them nervously on the table. The confident alpha from the hockey rink was gone, replaced by a much younger, more uncertain boy. "I... I'm really sorry, Donghyuck. I honestly... I didn't think of it that way. I just... the way you were dressed on the tryouts, like you were hunting for an alpha. And your scent was incredible. I guess I got carried away." He looked up, his eyes earnest. "I really am sorry. I won't do it again."

Donghyuck studied him for a long moment, searching for genuine remorse. He found it. "Good," he said, a weary sigh escaping him. The mention of his Wednesday stunt was a prickly thorn; he’d gone all out to tease his alphas, uncaring that he’d tease everyone else in the process, knowing the duo wouldn’t care, but secretly he had hoped that they would. A part of him has wanted them to feel threatened enough by all the attention that they would finally claim him in public.

He often waits for them after practice, giving them a sweet kiss on the cheek and smiling like the fool in love that he is. Of course, the team has a running bet on which is his boyfriend and which is the too touchy best friend, they would be stupid not to be suspecting something, but that’s all on him . That’s him waiting for them, kissing them, holding their hands, giving them flowers, showing up to the tryouts in a mini skirt, calling them first thing in the morning asking to be scented for the day.

His boyfriends are amazing, they love him and treat him so so well, but for some reason they just won’t let the world know and to an omega that means a lot.

Jaemin had called it an alpha thing, the pain of smelling another alpha on your partner. Well, omegas also have a thing, a deep insecurity that worsens when a long term partner won’t stake a public claim. And knowing Sungchan hadn’t hesitated for even a minute before staking his own, happy to let everyone know Donghyuck had an admirer and to please stand back… that was just salt on the wound.

Donghyuck began to stand, signaling the end of the conversation, but before he was fully off the chair, the tall brunette spoke again. "If you don’t mind me asking," Sungchan began shyly, his eyes flicking to Donghyuck's flushed cheeks and then quickly away. "You’re still in heat. Why doesn’t Jaemin… you know." He trailed off, gesturing vaguely.

The question hit Donghyuck like a physical blow. The careful composure he'd maintained shattered instantly. All the buried pain, the feeling of rejection, the betrayal, the abandonment, surged to the surface. His vision blurred as hot tears welled up, and his lower lip began to tremble uncontrollably. He burst into wracking sobs, burying his face in his hands, unable to articulate the tangled mess of hurt and confusion.

Sungchan moved his chair closer, his own scent immediately shifting from cautious to genuinely concerned. "Hey, are you okay? I’m so sorry I asked," he murmured, his voice soft and regretful. He hesitated, then spoke again, "I’m… I’m not trying to scent you, but do you need a hug?"

Through his tears, Donghyuck nodded, a desperate, silent plea. Sungchan, true to his word, wrapped his arms gently around him, providing a platonic embrace of comfort, his scent remaining neutral, almost odorless, as he carefully avoided Donghyuck's scent glands. Donghyuck buried his face in Sungchan’s shoulder, clinging to the unexpected solace.

Unbeknownst to them, across the coffee shop, one of the hockey team's more observant players, a beta named Alex, watched the scene unfold. His eyes, initially curious, widened in surprise as he saw the tearful omega being comforted by Sungchan. He quickly, discreetly, pulled out his phone, snapped a quick picture, and shared it in the team group chat, aptly named “Polar bears Unsupervised” as it didn’t include the coach nor the captain.

Meanwhile, across campus, in Mark's room in the Kappa Kappa frat house, Jaemin was trying to study. His textbook lay open on Mark's desk, but his eyes kept blurring over the dense paragraphs of economics. The memory of Donghyuck's retreating figure, the cold accusation in his eyes, the undeniable taste of Jeno's lips, churned in his stomach. He kept replaying the scene in the West Side dorm, the rage, the fight, the disastrous kiss, and the awful sinking feeling of Donghyuck's final, betrayed glance.

His phone buzzed, vibrating against the desk. He picked it up, expecting a text from Mark or maybe even Jeno, trying to reach out. It was the "Polar bears Unsupervised" group chat. He usually ignored it, but a quick glance at the notification showed a new picture had been posted. Curiosity, mixed with a dull dread, made him tap it open.

The image filled the screen, instantly making his breath hitch: Donghyuck, unmistakably, in Sungchan's arms. Donghyuck’s face buried in Sungchan’s shoulder, in some sort of Cafe. Sungchan was holding him, looking down with a sympathetic, almost tender expression. Below the picture, the chat buzzed with new messages.

Alex: Guess we were wrong about Jeno’s ex dating Mark.

Jungwoo: My money was personally on Jaemin. Mark is his childhood friend.

Alex: Well, turns out it's neither. 

Jungwoo: No fucking way!

Minho: Yes way! I saw them on thursday, tall boy was going ham on that omega’s neck right outside the library. Really hot, but I don’t take pictures like you, pervert.

Alex: It was a pics or it didn’t happen moment.

Sky: So they’re dating?

Jungwoo: Sungchan literally just got here, I think they’re courting.

Sky: Well he moves fast.

Sky: Also great taste.

Sky: I still can’t believe Jeno let that go.

Jaemin’s vision tunneled. A cold wave of something far worse than anger washed over him, something akin to pure, unadulterated terror. He didn't even hear the door open as Mark walked into the room, fresh from grabbing a quick snack.

"Hey, found any answers?" Mark asked, his voice still edged with concern from their earlier call. He stopped, noticing Jaemin’s frozen posture, his knuckles white around his phone. Mark’s eyes followed Jaemin’s horrified gaze to the screen.

The sight hit Mark with the force of a physical blow. Donghyuck. In Sungchan’s arms. The casual speculation of the team, the casual betrayal. All the suppressed pain from Jeno's kiss, the guilt from his own actions, exploded into a blinding, agonizing fury that eclipsed everything else. Sungchan, the one who had literally marked Donghyuck.

"No," Mark rasped, the word a raw, guttural sound torn from his throat. His scent, usually a grounding oakmoss, spiked sharply with bitter alarm. The phone trembled in Jaemin’s hand, the image a damning testament. They had been too late. Donghyuck had found comfort elsewhere. And Sungchan hadn't just moved fast; he'd played them all, expertly.

Jaemin looked up at Mark, his dark chocolate and coffee scent now acrid with pure anguish. His eyes were wide, brimming with unshed tears. "Mark..." he choked out, the name a plea, a confession of utter defeat.

The two alphas stared at the phone, then at each other, the unspoken truth hanging heavy in the air. This was worse. So much worse.

Chapter Text

The phone clattered to the floor, forgotten. Mark and Jaemin stood frozen, the damning image of Donghyuck in Sungchan's arms burned into their minds. Mark's scent, already sharp with alarm, curdled into a primal scream of fury and fear. Jaemin, trembling uncontrollably, dropped to his knees, his own dark chocolate and coffee scent turning sickly sweet with despair.

"No, no, no," Jaemin whimpered, running his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots. "He wouldn't... not after everything." His voice was raw, laced with disbelief, but the image on the phone spoke volumes. Donghyuck, their omega, in another alpha's arms, looking so vulnerable, so... comforted.

Mark's jaw worked, a vein throbbing at his temple. "That little punk," he growled, his voice low and dangerous. Sungchan hadn't just gotten away with a hickey; he was actively making a move, and publicly. And Donghyuck, their brilliant, frustrating, beautiful Donghyuck, was letting him. Or worse, seeking it out. The thought twisted the knife in Mark's gut. The "aromantic" doubts he'd just started to question, the complicated feelings he was just beginning to explore for Donghyuck, now felt like a cruel joke. He wanted to rip Sungchan apart.

He hadn’t felt jealous the other day: Angry, indignant, concerned, but not jealous, Donghyuck had never quiet sparked jealousy in him, not like what he’d felt learning about Jaemin kissing Jeno. He’d told his therapist as much, sat down for longer than the usual hour to dissect what it meant to feel possessive over one partner and not so much the other.

Dr. Malcom had dared suggest he perhaps didn’t love Donghyuck romantically, not because he himself was aromantic, but because it was Donghyuck.

Mark has never cried that hard in his life.

The mere suggestion that the omega he’d been calling his since he freaking presented wasn’t actually… No.

“It seems to me you feel like you owe him love back for all the years he has loved you; you might be subconsciously forcing it when what you truly feel is just friendship. A strong bond, sure, but not a romantic one” the old beta had said “You mentioned your beta friend who prefers Alphas, and that’s why he and your best friend didn’t work. Perhaps you have the same preferences, and that’s why you formed an attachment to your alpha partner that you aren’t forming for the omega”.

Fuck no.

Right now, watching tangible proof of just how close they are to losing their mate, three thoughts form in Mark’s head:

One: Jealousy isn’t a proof of love; it’s a consequence of doubts and insecurities. Donghyuck loves him so loud, so forward, so consistent. What is there for him to doubt?

What was there for him to doubt? Past tense. Now, he’s not so sure. Sungchan’s bold claim was serious but ultimately one sided, not enough of a threat to their connection, but this?

Two: Love is too wide of a spectrum. He’ll find his place if he keeps looking, but he’s not any less valid if he doesn’t, his love for both Donghyuck and Jaemin no less real, as full of confusing contradictions as he might be.

"We have to go to him," Mark stated, his voice firming, a new, desperate resolve taking root. "We have to explain. We have to make him understand."

Jaemin pulled back, wiping fiercely at his eyes. "What if he won't listen? What if it's too late?" The fear was palpable in his scent.

“It’s not, we won’t let it be” Mark said, his voice hoarse “He still loves us.”

“Does he?" the blond asked with a fresh sob. "Can’t you see history repeating itself? Him being in heat, feeling unloved and inadequate, Jeno and I betraying him… its all the fucking same, Mark. We stole him from Jeno under these exact circumstances, didn’t we? We comforted him at his most vulnerable and in no time, he was ours. Now that it’s Sungchan giving him that comfort, how confident are you that he won’t move on?"

"Jaemin stop! What’s with you? Our bond is stronger than that, you make him sound like an easy slut, he’s not!" Mark snapped, the accusation stinging him more than Jaemin.

"I know he isn’t!" Jaemin retorted, his voice rising, raw with desperation. "But put yourself in his shoes, Mark, he thinks I cheated on him, with stupid Jeno of all people! Wouldn’t you try to move on if it was the other way around?"

"I—" Mark started, but the words died in his throat. Jaemin was right. The mirror image was undeniable, sickening.

"I know the hickey on his neck isn’t something he consented to, but if I had thought it was, I would have broken up with him, I told him so," Jaemin continued, relentless in his self-condemnation. "I told him it would be over the next time another alpha scents him and what do I do next? I scent Jeno in front of him and kiss him!"

"You didn’t kiss him," Mark argued, a futile attempt to defend.

"But Donghyuck doesn’t know that," Jaemin whispered, the brutal truth hanging between them. "He loved Jeno too, it was real between them too, until it was gone… the harder you love, the easier it becomes to hate."

The air in the room grew heavy with the combined anguish of the two alphas. Mark knelt beside Jaemin, pulling him into a tight embrace. Their own scents mingled, no longer bitter or acrid, but a desperate, shared sorrow.

The third thing that came to Mark’s mind in that moment, kneeling on the floor of his room next to his boyfriend as they both sobbed uncontrollably at the thought of losing their omega was this: Doctor Malcom doesn’t know shit.

Friendship? Feelings forced out of obligation? A preference for alphas?

Bullshit.

This is love. Only love could hurt like this.

Finally, he has found it, finally he can see that he has always had it. He’s not letting it slip through his fingers.

They were going to fight for their omega, even if it meant tearing down every obstacle, including their own past mistakes.

Chapter Text

The pair of alphas were still sitting on the carpet on the floor, sobs slowly subsiding when Jaemin's phone vibrated again, a startling buzz against the silence of their despair. He picked it up from where he’d carelessly let it fall, his hand trembling as he saw the name: Renjun. Donghyuck's most protective roommate.

Jaemin hesitantly tapped the screen, and a string of messages flooded his display.

I just spoke to Jeno. He swears you’re an innocent Lamb and it's all his doing.

Considering the track record, I'll believe it. 

Hyuck's in Delta Nu. He knows that's one place you wouldn't think to look.

I am actively betraying his trust by telling you this, so don't fucking disappoint me Jaemin, I'm warning you.

If you pull another stunt like this, I'm not helping you again.

Jaemin's eyes widened, a flicker of something beyond despair – a desperate hope – entering them. He turned the phone to Mark, who snatched it, reading the texts with fierce intensity. Mark’s initial fury and despair momentarily softened, replaced by a surge of relief that was almost dizzying. Not for their innocence, but for Donghyuck's sake – that the truth about the kiss was out there, and that Renjun, at least, believed it.

"Delta Nu," Mark breathed, the name a beacon in their storm. "He's at Delta Nu."

"Of all possible places," Jaemin whispered, his voice thick with a mix of gratitude and overwhelming dread at the ultimatum. "We pushed him to hide in a known den of wolves."

Mark nodded, his jaw set. The weight of Renjun’s warning settled on them, heavy and absolute. This wasn't just another chance; it was the chance. The air around them crackled with renewed urgency, a desperate, driving force. Their scents, which had been thick with sorrow, now sharpened with a fierce determination, almost a battle cry.

They had a location. They had a sliver of hope. And they had a solemn, unspoken vow to each other that they would not fail again. They had to go. Now.

They scrambled to their feet, leaving the phone and the textbook forgotten. There was no time to discuss, no time to plan beyond the immediate, burning need to reach Donghyuck. They burst out of Mark's room and out of the Kappa Kappa frat house, their footsteps pounding on the pavement, a blur of desperate alphas racing across campus, their collective pheromones a frantic, determined wave.

The Delta Nu house wasn't far, but every step felt like an eternity. They imagined him there, alone, hurting, perhaps trying to lose himself in the anonymity of the busy house, or just hiding in plain sight. They knew his heart. They knew he was vulnerable. And they knew, with a certainty that chilled them to the bone, that this was their last, best shot.

They found the Delta Nu house. It was quieter than they expected for a Saturday, no obvious party in full swing, but music drifted faintly from inside. Mark pushed open the front door without knocking, Jaemin right on his heels, their combined alpha scents immediately asserting their frantic presence.

Inside, the living room was brightly lit by the late morning sun coming in through the windows, a few scattered students lounging on couches, engrossed in their phones or a quiet conversation. The air smelled of stale pizza and a mix of various alpha, and beta scents, but none of them were his. Their eyes swept the room, darting past unfamiliar faces. Jaemin immediately spotted Daniel, a tall alpha from the basketball team, leaning against a wall, scrolling on his phone.

"Daniel!" Jaemin snapped, his voice tight with an urgency that cut through the room's languid calm.

Daniel looked up, startled, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of the two frantic hockey alphas storming into his fraternity house. "Jaemin? Mark? What the hell—"

"Donghyuck," Mark interjected, cutting him off, his scent spiking with impatience. "Is he here? Have you seen him?"

Daniel blinked, then his gaze flickered, not to a corner, but towards a hallway leading deeper into the house. "Uh, yeah, he's... he went to lie down in J's room. Said he wasn't feeling great."

Jay's room. The name meant nothing to Mark or Jaemin, yet the implications hit them like a physical blow. An omega, in heat, vulnerable, asleep in the room of an unknown alpha in this house? Their fear, which had been a dull ache, exploded into pure, unadulterated terror. Their scents flared violently, a clear warning.

"Which one is Jay's room?" Mark growled, his voice stripped bare of civility, his eyes wide and wild. A chilling alpha's command that he hadn't been able to hold back in his urgency.

Daniel, startled by their sudden, intense shift, pointed a trembling finger down the hallway. "Uh, third door on the left"

Mark and Jaemin didn't wait for another word. They stormed past Daniel, their footsteps heavy and urgent, their collective alpha presence a storm of protectiveness and dread. They burst down the hallway, their eyes scanning door after door, until

Mark slammed his hand against the third door on the left, shoving it open with a desperate force.

Inside, the room was dim, curtains drawn against the soft late morning light. The air was thick with the faint, sweet-and-sour tang of Donghyuck's distress heat, mingling sickeningly with a slightly familiar, musky alpha scent – a scent that was definitely not theirs. A figure lay curled on a bed, barely visible beneath a pile of blankets. It was Donghyuck.

Mark and Jaemin froze in the doorway, their hearts hammering against their ribs, every alpha instinct screaming. Donghyuck, their omega, lay vulnerable, asleep, in another alpha's bed. And the room's occupant, Jay, was nowhere to be seen, thankfully.

The figure stirred, his eyes wide and red-rimmed, his heat scent a low thrum of misery and exhaustion. He looked fragile. His gaze landed on Mark and Jaemin, and a flicker of something unreadable – fear? anger? – crossed his face before hardening into a mask of weary defiance. He didn't say a word, just stared, daring them to approach. The sight was a dagger to their already fractured souls.

Mark was the first to move, his steps slow, deliberate, as if approaching a skittish deer. His alpha scent, which had been a storm just moments before, now softened, trying to convey only remorse and reassurance. Jaemin followed, his own scent mirroring Mark’s, his face a mask of profound guilt.

"Hyuck," Mark's voice was barely a whisper, hoarse with emotion. He stopped a few feet from the bed, not daring to get closer without permission. "Baby, we... we are so sorry."

Donghyuck’s gaze flickered from Mark to Jaemin, then back, searching for any hint of insincerity. His lower lip trembled, but he pressed it flat, refusing to show weakness. His silence was deafening, more cutting than any shouted accusation.

Jaemin took a shaky breath. "We messed up, Baby. So, so badly. Everything. From the moment you called, to... to what you saw at the dorm." His eyes pleaded, glistening with unshed tears. "We know you think I cheated on you with Jeno. But you have to listen. I didn't kiss him back, Hyuck. I swear to god I didn't. I was... I was just so angry, so full of alpha rage that Sungchan had dared to touch you, that I didn't even think, I froze. But there was nothing between me and Jeno. There never has been, not since you."

Donghyuck blinked, a slow, disbelieving movement. The mask of defiance faltered, replaced by a flicker of confusion. "How… how do I believe you?" His voice was raspy, unused. It was the same line, the same thing even Jaemin had said to Jeno back then. "You can wax poetic all you want" is what he'd told the heartbroken Beta "but he won't believe you, he can't trust you anymore". Standing on the receiving end of the same ultimatum, faced with the very real possibility that regardless of how innocent he knows he is, he might still loose his lover. The feeling of absolute helplessness was suffocating. The blond looked to the older with pleading eyes, begging for his help — if it'll work at all.

"It’s the truth," Mark confirmed, his voice gentle, taking another tentative step forward. He pulled out his phone, already open to the picture of Donghyuck and Sungchan hugging in his chat with one of the players who’d sent it to him personally. "I spoke to Jeno myself, Hyuck. I know what you saw was damning, baby, but it’s a misunderstanding, just like your hickey, just like this picture." He spoke slowly, deliberately, showing Donghyuck the screen. "Damning, right? Things like you smelling like another alpha, and waking up in this room, it all really sells the story that you were cheating too, but you know you weren’t, it’s a misunderstanding, baby, all of it.” He finished, deliberately calling him by the intimate pet name every couple of sentences, testing the waters, waiting for the dreaded “You don’t get to call me baby” that he knows signals the end of Donghyuck’s patience, the end of the road for them. But some god must favor them, because it wasn’t coming.

Donghyuck’s gaze, which had been fixed on Mark's face, dropped to the phone screen, then flickered back to Mark's earnest expression, then to Jaemin's pleading eyes. The mask of defiance completely dissolved, replaced by overwhelming confusion but ultimately, bellow everything else: Trust. 

At the mention of Sungchan, Donghyuck flinched, his shoulders hunching. "It's not what you think," he mumbled, his gaze dropping to the blankets. "He just... he was comforting me, but he knows I’m not single. He thinks I’m dating Jaemin.” he mumbled, his shoulders hunching defensively, but the anger was gone, replaced by a raw vulnerability “He hasn’t tried to scent me again, and I wouldn’t let him either.”

Mark and Jaemin exchanged a relieved look, their terror of moments ago finally receding.

"We believe you, Hyuck," Mark said, taking another tentative step forward. "We know. And we know that picture, and you coming to hide here, is just a reflection of how badly we've failed you. That you even needed comfort from someone else. That you thought you couldn't come to us."

Jaemin finally knelt beside the bed, still keeping a respectful distance, his hands open in a gesture of surrender and appeal. His scent was pure, agonized remorse. "We have been so stupid. So clueless. You kept telling us what you needed, and we just... we just didn't listen. We got caught up in our own drama, in our own insecurities, and we left you alone. We made you feel like you weren't important enough to claim, to protect publicly, and that's the biggest betrayal of all."

Donghyuck's eyes, no longer defiant, welled up with fresh tears. He finally looked at Jaemin, really looked at him, and then at Mark. The weight of the perceived infidelity was gone, replaced by the deeper, more pervasive hurt of neglect.

"You did," he choked out, his voice cracking. "You did. Every time. I'm in heat, and I'm hiding in a stranger's bed in a frat house because I felt like I couldn't come to you. Because I thought you didn't care enough to make it public. Because I thought you didn't want me enough to make it public. And when I say you, I mean you, Na Jaemin,” he clarified, his tear-filled gaze fixing solely on the blond.

Jaemin immediately snapped his head to look at him, then at an equally shocked Mark, his eyes wide. Donghyuck’s accusation, sharp and pointed, felt like a physical blow.

“Mark has never denied me, I’m his omega, always have been, but you?" Donghyuck’s voice rose, a bitter edge entering his scent. His hand clenched into a fist on the blanket beside him. "Mr. I don’t like labels, ‘we don’t owe people an explanation’” he air-quoted with sarcasm, his expression twisting into a pained grimace. “You say you love me, but you treat me like a secret, and I respect your boundaries, your desire for some privacy but some days I wake up extra sensitive and it makes me feel like… like I'm nothing. Like I'm not worth it." His breath hitched, and he turned his face slightly away from Jaemin, unable to hold the blond’s gaze.

He dissolved into wrenching sobs, his body shaking with the raw force of his pain, but he held his head high with the last of his strength. His body shuddered as he took a ragged breath, then slowly, he turned his head to meet Mark's stunned eyes. “And you’re the complete opposite,” he said, his voice raw but unwavering, gaze intently on the older alpha. “You’ve been scenting me since I presented as an omega, you call me yours in front of anyone who asks; I can’t complain that you don’t claim me but you don’t love me, and I’m so so sorry I’m saying this to you after promising I wouldn’t demand from you something that you just couldn’t give, but I’m only human Mark, and I fell for you again. I love you, romantically, and sometimes it just stings to know that you don’t.” His omega scent pulsed with a deep, aching sadness. 

Donghyuck’s chest heaved with another sob, his strength visibly draining. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, pushing it back from his tear-soaked face. “I’ve been feeling like this for a while and I wasn’t planning to say anything, because I promised you guys that I wouldn’t. That what we had, more than friendship, less than love, something unique and label-less, was enough for me. I don’t have a right to complain, you guys have boundaries, and if I’m not willing to accept them, then aren’t I the problem?” His voice faded to a whisper on the last word, the question hanging heavy in the dim room.

His omega scent filled the room, thick with sorrow and the deep-seated ache of a bond that felt neglected.

Mark and Jaemin couldn't hold back any longer. All their carefully maintained distance shattered. Mark was on his knees beside Jaemin in an instant, their combined alpha scents now pouring out, not in aggression or fear, but in pure, overwhelming sorrow and fierce, desperate love.

Before any of them could speak through the lump on their throats, Donghyuck continued, his weak voice sounding nonetheless resolute “I think, I think we should break up.”

Chapter Text

The words hung in the air, a final, devastating blow. Mark and Jaemin froze, their blood running cold, their desperate alpha pleas caught in their throats. Their scents turned bitter, acrid with fresh agony.

Just then, the door creaked open, interrupting the crushing silence. A tall lanky figure stepped into the dim room, phone in hand, looking startled to find two frantic alphas kneeling beside a bed.

“Oh, hey guys,” a familiar voice said, pulling his headphones off, looking utterly bewildered. “What’s going on? Daniel said you guys stormed in looking for someone, but I didn't think he meant my room.”

Mark and Jaemin snapped their heads up, their terror-stricken gazes landing on the faded pink hair. Jisung. Not Jay. J’s room. The realization hit them like a tidal wave of ice water and scalding shame. Their protective alpha instincts, which had just been screaming murder, now collapsed into a humiliated puddle.

"Jisung?" Mark managed, his voice a strangled croak, his face burning.  The musky, slightly familiar alpha scent in the room, which had filled them with such dread, was Jisung's mint and fresh cut grass, always more mellow and comforting.

Donghyuck, who had been bracing himself for their reaction to his breakup announcement, instead watched their dramatic shift with a weary, almost detached amusement. He looked from his frantic alphas to their bewildered friend. As their attention fractured, Donghyuck saw his chance.

He slipped off the bed, his movements fluid and quick despite his heat-induced exhaustion. Mark and Jaemin, still caught between humiliation and the residual shock of Donghyuck's breakup words, were a crucial beat too slow to react. Donghyuck took a silent step towards the door.

Jisung, finally taking in the scene – the red-rimmed eyes, the scent of distress heat, and the two utterly devastated alphas – frowned, sensing the deeper tension. "Wait, is everything okay? You were really out of it when you got here, and you guys look even worse." He said, quickly catching on to Donghyuck's scape plan and purposely distracting his two older friends.

He isn't sure what's going on between the trio, but if the omega trusted him enough to nap in his room, hiding away from the two alphas, he won't let that trust down.

"Jisung, we're kinda having a crisis here, so if you could just go, that'd be great," Jaemin said, his voice tight with desperation, finally noticing Donghyuck's movement. He shifted, but wasn't fast enough to get off his kneeling position in the floor before the omega was bolting out the door, Jisung stepping aside to let him pass before closing the door and positioning himself firmly in front of it, a steady guardian.

"This is kind of my room, though..." he countered, leaning casually against the door like he hadn't just let their omega escape. He might not understand everything, but he understood a friend in need of space.

It was only a minute, maybe two, but it was enough. Donghyuck, seeing Jisung buy him time, didn't hesitate. He didn't move too far away, knowing he did not have the physical state to outrun them if he tried to leave the house, so, without a sound, he slid into the bedroom directly across the hall, locking the door with a quiet click.

An alpha's room, thankfully, otherwise his scent would easily lead them to him. Thinking fast he grabbed the used hoodie that was hanging behind the door and put it on, wrapping himself in a musky scent he didn't recognize. He dared to open the door once more, rushing to hang a sock from the floor, in the doorknob, the universal signal to "fuck off, we're busy", hoping they wouldn't try to check inside. He then buried himself under the duvet and waited until he could hear the rushed steps fading.

Back inside Jisung's room, the tension was thick, almost suffocating.

"Move, Jisung!" Mark snarled, letting the alpha command burst out of his chest, destabilizing the younger long enough for them to shove past him and open the door, his earlier despair overridden by pure, unadulterated panic. Jaemin followed, their combined alpha scents exploding with fresh, frantic fear. They burst into the hallway, their eyes sweeping wildly.

"Hyuck!" Jaemin yelled, his voice echoing. They checked the adjacent rooms, pounded on a couple of closed doors, but the house remained largely quiet. The Delta Nu house was big, with plenty of places to hide, but the immediate vicinity revealed nothing.

"He bolted," Mark gasped, his gaze fixed on the front door at the end of the hall, already picturing Donghyuck racing across campus. "He ran out. He's gone."

"He'll be back in his room eventually, maybe not for a couple of days, but he can't hide forever. We'll corner him and fucking clear this mess once and for all," Mark reasoned after a pause, trying to calm their fastly beating hearts.

"Clear what exactly? He already knows I didn't cheat on him, the rest isn't a misunderstanding," Jaemin questioned harshly, his voice laced with frustration.

"You're joking right? You think what he said is true? You really care so much about keeping it private and not explaining yourself to people that you'll just let him go?" Mark countered, his voice rising, a fresh wave of anger overriding his earlier panic.

"Of course not! If he wants to be claimed by me, trust me I'll claim him. But what about you? You don't love him Mark, and you can't force him to be happy with scraps," Jaemin retorted, his scent spiking with challenge.

"Scraps!? I am the most doting boyfriend, Jaem, you would know, because I'm your boyfriend too!" Mark shot back, his face contorting in offense.

"But you can't love!" Jaemin yelled, his voice cracking with exasperation.

"Yes I can! It took me ages to come to the revelation, but yes I can love!" Mark roared, his alpha scent flaring, raw and desperate.

"Then why didn't you say so!?"

"Because I wasn't sure if I love him too!" Mark cried, the words tumbling out in a rush, a painful confession.

"What!?" Jaemin's eyes went wide, disbelief etched across his face.

"I realized I love you, Jaemin, but I wasn't sure... About Donghyuck," Mark admitted, his voice barely a whisper now, filled with self-loathing.

"You did not just tell me you love me but not him Mark, tell me you didn't just say that," Jaemin pleaded, his voice trembling with a mix of shock and hurt.

"I hate it too, okay!? To think that I can fall in love but not with him goes against everything I believe and have wanted for myself since I met him!" The brunette yelled in frustration "I have never been more disgusted with myself!" He choked out, clutching his head in his hands.

"So you do? you're in love with me but not with Donghyuck?" Jaemin asked again, his voice flat, needing to hear it clearly despite the pain.

Mark shook his head vehemently in denial, his gaze frantic. He loved them both, desperately, confusingly.

"Then why didn't you say so?" Jaemin pushed, his voice softer now, sensing Mark's genuine anguish.

"I wasn't sure until today, until I saw that picture of them. What I felt in that moment, it confirmed it for me." He confessed, the weight inside his heart not feeling any lighter after the admission, knowing that he had loved Donghyuck for who knows how long, but convinced himself and more importantly, Donghyuck, that he didn't. That he never would.

The younger one had been openly loving him for so long, only to get told time and again that Mark just wasn't interested. Even now, wherever he may be, he still believes that.

"We can tell him that" Jaemin spoke softly, bringing the older one out of his dark thoughts "And I love you too, by the way, in case I wasn't being obvious enough all these months" he added with forced humor, but the smile was sincere, hopeful "We'll go to his room, break the door if we have to, and tell him how we both feel." He reassured, grabbing hold of Mark's neck and bringing their foreheads together "He'll understand."

On the other side of a wooden door not thick enough to block the shouting, hidden in the quiet alpha's room, Donghyuck lay curled under the covers, clutching a pillow to his chest, his heat pulsing through him, a dull, aching throb. His exhaustion was profound, but his omega ears were painfully sharp. He could hear the alphas’ voices, muffled at first, then growing sharper, more distinct through the thin door, their argument a jarring soundtrack to his despair. He could distinguish every frantic shift in their scents, even if the precise words were indistinct.

He flinched as Mark’s voice rose, then Jaemin’s, both laced with frustration and something that sounded like accusation. He heard fragments: "...not a misunderstanding..." "...let him go..." "...don't love him Mark..." The familiar ache in his chest, the one he thought he'd finally gotten rid of, returned with a vengeance. They were arguing about him, about their feelings, dissecting his worth and their commitment even in his absence.

Then, Mark’s voice, loud and raw: "Scraps!? I am the most doting boyfriend, Jaem, you would know, because I'm your boyfriend too!"

Donghyuck’s breath hitched. Boyfriend too. The words landed like a blow. Of course, they were boyfriends. He knew that. He just... he just wanted to believe he was more than a shared obligation, more than an omega they reluctantly accommodated.

The argument continued, sharp and fast. He heard Jaemin’s pained "But you can't love!" and Mark’s desperate, guttural "Yes I can! It took me ages to come to the revelation, but yes I can love!"

A sliver of hope, sharp and painful, pierced through Donghyuck’s resignation. Could he? Could Mark actually love?

Then Mark’s confession, a desperate plea to Jaemin: "Because I wasn't sure if I love him too!"

"What!?" Jaemin's shocked voice cut through the air.

"I realized I love you, Jaemin, but I wasn't sure... About Donghyuck," Mark admitted, his voice a choked whisper.

The world seemed to tilt for Donghyuck. His meager hope shattered, leaving a gaping, bleeding wound. He pressed his knuckles to his mouth, stifling a sob against the pillow. He had been right. All this time.

"You did not just tell me you love me but not him Mark, tell me you didn't just say that," Jaemin pleaded, his voice trembling with a mix of shock and hurt.

Donghyuck strained to hear, holding his breath, his heart pounding in his ears. This was it. The answer. The final confirmation.

"I hate it too, okay!? To think that I can fall in love but not with him goes against everything I believe and have wanted for myself since I met him! I have never been more disgusted with myself!" Mark choked out, anguish evident in his voice.

Disgusted because he can't love me, Donghyuck thought, a cold certainty settling in his bones. Because I'm the one he can't fall for.

"So you do, you're in love with me but not with Donghyuck?" Jaemin asked, his voice flat, demanding the final, painful truth.

Donghyuck heard Mark's frustrated sigh, then the sound of a hand running through hair. He didn't hear a direct verbal confirmation, but the absence of a vehement, undeniable "I love him too!" was deafening. He heard Mark's "I wasn't sure until today, until I saw that picture of them. What I felt in that moment, it confirmed it for me."

Donghyuck interpreted it as a confirmation of what he already knew. A quiet, painful assent. Mark probably nodded his head to confirm Jaemin's words as much as the idea unsettled him. Yes, he loves the other alpha but not Donghyuck, never Donghyuck. The world constricted, confirming his worst fears.

He was just scraps. A part of a package deal, loved as a friend — that much he knows — by Mark, but not with the romantic passion he clearly held for Jaemin. The revelation, fueled by misunderstanding and his own deep insecurities, solidified his resolve. There was no going back now. He was right to leave. He was right to break up. He just had to wait for them to leave.

Whatever was said after that was spoken low and intimately. The pair were probably exchanging heartfelt confessions, perhaps even a kiss, a hug. Curiosity got the better of him, a morbid, masochistic need to know what else was being said.

"He'll understand" he hears the blond say before hearing their footsteps fade away.

He does understand. He's standing in the middle of two people who would be better off just dating each other. He did it to Jeno and Jaemin, and he's doing it again.

He does understand. There is no love for him here, not because they can't — as painful as that notion had been on its own — but out of choice. This time, they just don't want to.

A little voice, pathetically hopeful, tells him that's not true, not to include Jaemin in the same bag. "He does love you" the voice says— weak, pleading — "He said he'll claim you if that's what you want."

"Yes, to keep me happy, but does he need to?" He shoots back, and the voice goes quiet, no arguments left.

If Jaemin loves him, and Donghyuck believes he does, the blond is now faced with a choice, either him or Mark, because the three of them won't work anymore, not if he has to watch Mark, the man he has always loved, love someone else while keeping him at arms length.

He can't live with that. It's what he'd meant back then when he'd told Jeno he couldn't do open relationships. He's capable of loving two people at once and if they love each other that's even better, but dating someone who's in love with someone else? He can't, he's sorry if that's selfish, but he can't.

Jaemin would have to chose, and if he does love him — Donghyuck doesn't want to count how many pieces he'll break into if he learns that he doesn't, hasn't loved him all this time — then it'll be a painful choice.

The best he can do for the men that he loves, is spare them that pain.

Chapter Text

Donghyuck lay absolutely still under the thick duvet, the silence that settled over the Delta Nu house feeling both suffocating and strangely empty. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing the lingering echoes of Mark and Jaemin's conversation to fade, but they clung to him like burrs: "...I love you, Jaemin, but I wasn't sure... About Donghyuck." The words were a fresh, agonizing brand on his soul, scorching away the last vestiges of hope.

His heat was a dull, insistent ache now, compounded by emotional exhaustion. He could feel the wetness on the pillow beneath his face, silent tears that had escaped him. He clutched the unfamiliar hoodie he'd pulled on, burying his nose in its fabric, finding no comfort in the strange, musky alpha scent that was meant to hide him, only loneliness. He could still hear the distant thrum of the house, quiet murmurs from other rooms, but no one was searching for him. They thought he was gone. He was safe, for now, but safety felt like cold, desolate abandonment.

A few minutes later, just as the tension in his shoulders had begun to ease slightly, a new sound cut through the quiet. Footsteps, lighter than Mark and Jaemin's heavy panicked stride, approached the room. Donghyuck froze, hardly daring to breathe. He felt the familiar shift of scent – not one of his alphas, but a warm, vaguely sweet scent he recognized from the basketball team, something like ginger and cedarwood.

The doorknob rattled. Once. Twice. Then, a soft grunt of surprise, followed by a confused murmur.

"Huh. Locked?" The voice was low, laced with mild amusement.

Donghyuck's heart hammered against his ribs. He knew that voice. He burrowed deeper into the covers, willing himself invisible.

A faint jingle, then the crisp click of a key turning in the lock. The door swung inward, letting a sliver of bright morning light spill into the dim room, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air.

Donghyuck heard a soft sigh, then footsteps crossing the room towards the bed. He pressed his face further into the pillow, pulling the duvet even tighter over his head, trying to vanish completely into the rumpled fabric.

The bed dipped. Donghyuck's breath hitched. He stiffened, every nerve ending screaming. A moment later, the covers were gently, cautiously pulled back from his head, revealing his tear-streaked face and swollen eyes.

Looking down at him, a shock of bright red hair caught the sunlight from the hallway. His eyes, wide with surprise that quickly softened into concern, were familiar. Sean. A tall red head from the basketball team he remembers casually flirting with last year but not much more. Now he was staring at him, utterly bewildered to find him curled up in his bed, quietly sobbing.

"Donghyuck?" He breathed, the question a soft exhalation of disbelief. "What... what are you doing here?"

Donghyuck scrambled to sit up, pulling the duvet tighter around himself like a shield. His cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment. "Sean! Oh my god, I am so, so sorry," he stammered, his voice hoarse from crying and the lingering effects of his heat. "I... I just needed somewhere to hide. I didn't think anyone would be back for a while. I swear I'll leave right now." He made a move to push himself off the bed, clutching the borrowed hoodie.

Sean held up a placating hand, his own alpha scent remaining calm and neutral. "Whoa, whoa, easy there. It's fine, seriously. Don't worry about it." He settled onto the edge of the bed, not too close, radiating an unassuming calm. "You look like you've been through it. Are you okay? Do you... do you need anything?" His brow furrowed in genuine concern.

Donghyuck shook his head weakly, tears stinging his eyes again at the unexpected kindness. "No, I just... I just needed a minute. I'm really sorry." He pulled the hoodie tighter around himself, trying to make himself smaller, to disappear.

As he did, a subtle shift occurred. Sean's eyes, which had been fixed on Donghyuck's face, flickered downwards. His brow furrowed deeper, and his head tilted almost imperceptibly. A faint, almost imperceptible change in his own scent, a hint of something more aware, seeped into the air. Donghyuck held his breath, already knowing what it meant.

Sean inhaled slowly, a deliberate breath that seemed to pull the air around Donghyuck closer. His gaze softened, but a new, subtle intensity entered his eyes. "You're... in heat," he murmured, the words barely a whisper. His voice was still calm, but a primal, underlying awareness had entered it, an alpha recognizing an omega's fertile pheromones. 

"It's... is it really that obvious?" Donghyuck murmured, a deep blush staining his cheeks, adding to the flush of his heat. He instinctively pulled the duvet higher, as if the fabric could somehow absorb the embarrassing truth radiating from him.

Sean's expression remained kind, a small, knowing smile playing on his lips. "Not to an outsider, no. You've got a decent mask on, with the hoodie and all." He gestured vaguely to the well-worn fabric Donghyuck was still clinging to. "But I know my own musk, so it's easy to pick up yours beneath it. It's like... a subtle overlay." He didn't seem bothered, just observant.

Donghyuck felt a fresh wave of mortification but also a strange, desperate need for continued concealment. "Right. Um. Could I... could I keep this for a bit longer? The hoodie, I mean. I don't feel like dealing with the looks today." He hated the pitying glances, the knowing stares omegas in heat attracted if they weren't properly suppressed or claimed.

Sean considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Sure, keep it as long as you need." He paused, his gaze softening as he took in Donghyuck's tear-streaked face and the lingering distress in his scent. He shifted slightly, leaning a little closer, his tone dropping to a low, soothing offer. "It's more effective if I just scent you directly, you know. It'd cover it completely, and you'd feel better."

"No scenting, I—" Donghyuck began, the automatic words 'I have a boyfriend' already on his tongue. But the words died in his throat, a bitter, hollow taste replacing them. Boyfriend? He didn't have one anymore. He'd just broken up with them. Hadn't he?

He remembered Jaemin's words, sharp and possessive even then, echoing from days ago: 'Unless you have decided to dump us, please don't let anyone scent you again.' The blond's eyes had been serious, his alpha demanding.

But I dumped them already, Donghyuck thought, a cold, hard resolve settling in his chest. I did. And this... this is one sure way to guarantee Jaemin won't want me anymore. The pain of it was a dull throb, overshadowed by the fierce, misguided conviction that he was doing the right thing. He can be happy with Mark now. They deserve each other, truly in love, without me in the way, making everything complicated with my stupid needs. The idea, however twisted by his hurt and misinterpretation, felt like an act of sacrificial love, freeing them both.

Donghyuck met Sean’s gaze, a newfound resolve hardening his features. With a deliberate motion, he pulled the borrowed hoodie over his head, shedding the last pretense of concealment. The air in the room, already thick with the subtle promise of his heat, now shimmered with it, unmasked and potent. He could feel Sean’s alpha scent, calm and steady, deepen slightly in response.

As the hoodie came off, revealing the smooth expanse of Donghyuck’s neck, Sean’s eyes snagged on a faint, bruised mark near his shoulder blade. It was a hickey, barely visible now, but still distinct. Sean’s hand, warm and gentle, rose to caress it, his fingers lightly tracing the sensitive skin.

"Am I late to the party?" Sean murmured, his thumb brushing over Donghyuck's scent gland, sending a shiver through the omega that had nothing to do with cold.

Donghyuck didn't flinch away. He met Sean’s eyes, a brittle, defiant smile touching his lips. "You are. This is my last day."

Sean chuckled, a low, rumbling sound. "You've been getting a different guy to scent you every day? Didn't peg you as the type." There was no judgment in his tone, only lighthearted teasing.

"My regulars were busy," Donghyuck retorted, the lie tasting bitter but sounding convincing.

"You have regulars? What do I have to do to get on that list?" Sean’s voice dropped, a flirtatious challenge in his eyes. He leaned in, his warmth encompassing Donghyuck as he finally dove down, burying his face in the sensitive crook of Donghyuck's neck. Sean’s lips brushed against the tan skin, soft kisses preceding the deeper press as his scent glands flared, marking Donghyuck with his musk. It was a deliberate, thorough action, cloaking Donghyuck’s inviting heat pheromones beneath his own calm, steady alpha smell. 

Donghyuck felt a confusing swirl of pleasure and nausea. The warmth of Sean's body, the unfamiliar yet comforting scent, and the intimate contact sent shivers through him. But the thought of doing this willingly with someone who wasn't his alphas, someone he barely knew, made his stomach churn. A harsh, insistent voice in his head reminded him, You don't have alphas anymore. The thought ripped through him, bringing a fresh, silent wave of tears that streamed down his face, unnoticed by Sean.

Sean's hand slipped under Donghyuck's shirt, his fingers deft as they found and began to gently tease his nipples. A moan broke from Donghyuck's throat, a sound so raw and tangled that even he couldn't tell if it was a cry of pleasure or a sob of despair.

Emboldened by the moan that escaped Donghyuck, Sean pressed their bodies closer, letting Donghyuck feel the hard, undeniable evidence of his own growing desire against his abdomen. "Scenting is nice," Sean murmured, his voice a low rumble against Donghyuck's neck, "but wouldn't you rather we break this heat of yours?"

Through the haze of his heat and the film of silent tears in his eyes, Donghyuck found his voice, a surprising firmness in his tone. "You're not on that list, alpha, behave."

Sean chuckled, the sound deep in his chest. "What do I gotta do, then?" he questioned, beginning to move his hips, grinding shamelessly against the shorter omega. In that moment, a cold dread seeped into Donghyuck's bones. The reality of the situation he had put himself in hit him with brutal clarity: his own vulnerability, being in heat, under a much larger alpha, in the privacy of a locked room. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage.

"Show me your self-control," Donghyuck ordered, passing it off as a flirtation, desperate to hide his mounting panic. "I have places to be, let me go."

The alpha smirked, a slow, predatory curve of his lips, before he leaned down and captured Donghyuck's mouth in a long, passionate kiss. Donghyuck couldn't return the passion, but he also found he couldn't openly deny it, his omega body reacting instinctively even as his mind screamed. When Sean finally parted, his eyes gleamed with a possessive glint.

"Come to me first during your next heat," he demanded, his voice dropping into a low, resonant alpha command that made the vulnerable omega break out in a cold sweat. Then, as quickly as the tension had risen, Sean's expression shifted. He let out a soft laugh, disentangled himself from Donghyuck, and stepped away from the bed with a dramatic curtsy, pointing theatrically towards the door. "You're dismissed."

Not needing to be asked twice, Donghyuck scrambled off the bed. Without a backward glance, he bolted out of the room, carrying the red-headed alpha's scent, now mixed with his own distress, with him.

Chapter Text

Donghyuck burst into his dorm room, slamming the door shut behind him with a force that rattled the posters on the wall. The familiar scent of his own space, usually a comfort, offered little solace now. His body was a tangled mess of heat, leftover arousal, and bone-deep emotional exhaustion. He could still feel the phantom pressure of Sean’s body, the demanding rumble of his voice, and the chilling realization of the precarious situation he'd just escaped.

His roommate, Renjun, was at his desk, head buried in a textbook. At the loud entry, he startled, looking up with wide, concerned eyes. His gaze immediately swept over Donghyuck's disheveled state: the rumpled clothes, the tear-streaked face, and the tell-tale redness around his eyes. Then, his omega nose twitched, catching the unmistakable scent of a foreign alpha clinging to Donghyuck. It was a musky, unfamiliar scent, distinctly not Mark or Jaemin's. Renjun's eyes narrowed, his gaze sharpening as it landed on the fresh mark that darkened the tan skin of Donghyuck's neck, still wet and glistening.

"Donghyuck... Are you alright?" Renjun's voice was low, laced with alarm and confusion, his own scent flaring with concern.

Donghyuck didn't answer. He couldn't. The words were stuck in his throat, choked by the sheer weight of everything that had just happened. He stumbled towards his bed, the worn duvet a distant beacon of temporary refuge. He sat heavily on the edge, fumbling for his headphones, pulling them over his ears, and cranking up the volume. It was a clear, undeniable signal: leave me alone. Don't touch me. Don't speak to me.

Renjun watched him for a long moment, his scent turning bitter with frustration and helpless worry. He understood the signal. He knew Donghyuck well enough to know when to push and when to back off. This was a moment for backing off. But he couldn't just do nothing.

Without another word, Renjun rose from his desk. He walked out of the room, leaving the door locked behind him in case a certain someone decided to come by, and made his way to the quiet lobby of their dorm building. He pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen.

First, he tried Jaemin. The call rang once, twice, as many times as it can without someone actively rejecting it then went to voicemail. Frustrated, he pulled up Mark's contact.

His fingers flew across his phone screen, a cold rage simmering beneath his worry. He knew Donghyuck too well, knew the signs of deep, unbearable pain. And the foreign alpha scent, coupled with the fresh marks on his neck, ignited a protective fury in him. He typed out the message, his thumbs hitting the keys with barely controlled force.

He hit send, the messages flying into the digital ether. The omega stood in the quiet lobby, his own scent sharp with righteous anger, waiting for the inevitable explosion from the other end.

Mark’s phone buzzed violently in his hand, pulling him and Jaemin from the thick, still-charged air of Mark's car. They had just decided on their next move, a desperate plan to corner Donghyuck later, when this new crisis landed like a devastating blow. Mark looked at the screen, seeing Renjun’s name, and felt a flicker of annoyance—he wasn't in the mood for an "I told you so."

But as he opened the message, his breath hitched. His eyes widened, pupils dilating, and his own sharp, metallic scent flared in the vehicle.

"What is it?" Jaemin demanded, his voice tight, instantly picking up on Mark's sudden shift. He leaned in, peering over Mark's shoulder, reading the words as they appeared on the screen.

Donghyuck just came into the room and he looks like he's been crying all morning.

And he smells like an alpha that is neither of you guys.

Congratulations, you Fucked up.

I'll stay out of the room if you're coming, but I left it locked. You're only coming in if he wants you to, I'm not helping you anymore.

I don't even know if he consented to whoever scented him today, but he has fresh hickeys now.

I swear to everything holy, if you guys left him in a vulnerable position and he got taken advantage of again, I'm castrating you both.

The phone nearly slipped from Mark’s trembling fingers. His jaw dropped, his mind struggling to process the impossible words. Foreign alpha. Fresh hickeys. It hit him like a full body check, a sudden, blinding rage mixed with a soul-crushing terror that stole the air from his lungs. His vision swam.

Jaemin let out a strangled, guttural sound, a primal snarl ripping from his throat. His usually warm, comforting scent turned acrid with instant, volcanic fury, a desperate primal instinct to protect overwhelming him. "What?!" he roared, snatching the phone from Mark's lax grip, rereading the texts, his eyes flying over each word, his face contorting in pure, animalistic rage. "He's scented by who?! He has hickeys?!"

The previous argument, Mark’s confession, their desperate strategizing—all of it vanished, utterly eclipsed by this new, horrifying reality. Their omega, their mate, smelling of another alpha, marked by another alpha. It was an invasion, a violation of their very core.

"No," Mark choked out, shaking his head frantically. "No, no, no. He ran from us, yes, but... he wouldn't. He wouldn't just let someone else—" His voice broke, the thought too agonizing to complete. The memory of Donghyuck's raw pain, his declaration of wanting to break up, now twisted into a monstrous justification. Did he do this to hurt them? To sever ties?

"We need to go." Jaemin snarled, the word laced with venom "Now!"

They abandoned their plan to wait, abandoned the lingering conversation. All thoughts of reasoning, of cornering, of strategy, dissolved into pure, instinctual panic and fury. Their scents, a chaotic storm of possessiveness, fear, and murderous intent, filled the car as Mark started the ignition. His eyes were burning, promising violence. Without a single word exchanged, their path was clear: they had to get to Donghyuck. Now. And then, they had to find out who had dared to touch what was theirs.

The elevator doors hissed open on their floor, and Mark and Jaemin surged out, their scents a chaotic storm of possessiveness, fear, and barely contained violence. They moved with a single-minded purpose, their boots pounding on the carpeted hallway.

They reached Donghyuck’s door and Mark, his knuckles white as he clenched his fist, hammered on the wood. The sound echoed through the quiet dorm, a jarring intrusion.

"Donghyuck! Open the door!" Jaemin’s voice was rough, an alpha command barely restrained. "Hyuck, we know you're in there!"

The heavy thud of Mark's fist against the door reverberated through the thin wood, a jarring interruption to the oppressive silence inside. Donghyuck, still curled under his duvet, headphones clamped firmly over his ears, barely registered it at first. The mournful notes of his chosen playlist drowned out the outside world, a protective shield against the turmoil raging within him. He was a small, desolate island, adrift in a sea of self-pity and pain.

But the hammering grew more insistent, rattling the doorframe. Even through the music, a frantic thrum worked its way into his chest. He heard a distant shout, muffled but laced with desperation. He recognized the tone, if not the precise words. Mark. Jaemin.

He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, pressing the headphones more firmly against his ears. They wouldn't give up. They hadn't before. But he had to make them. He had to make them understand he was serious. This was for the best. For them. He clung to that thought, a lifeline in the swirling chaos of his emotions.

Outside, Mark's fist was a blur against the door, the impact growing harsher with each desperate thump. "Donghyuck! Open the door, damn it!" His alpha voice cracked with raw urgency, his scent flaring violently, radiating waves of frantic possessiveness and a newly ignited, scorching fury.

Jaemin, his face pale with a mixture of terror and rage, shoved Mark aside. He slammed his palm flat against the door, leaning his weight into it. "Hyuck! Please, just open the door! We need to talk! What happened?!" His voice was ragged, begging, but his scent was just as sharp as Mark's, a dangerous warning to anyone else in the vicinity.

The hallway began to fill with their agitated pheromones, a thick, suffocating cloud that promised imminent confrontation. Other dorm residents, startled by the commotion, peered cautiously from their doors, only to quickly retreat at the overwhelming scent of two alphas in distress.

The furious pounding on the door intensified, rattling the frame, punctuated by Mark and Jaemin's raw, desperate shouts. Donghyuck flinched, even through the blare of his headphones. He squeezed his eyes shut, picturing their enraged faces, their frantic scents. This was it. This was what he had wanted. He had expected them to come, had let Sean scent him precisely because he knew they would. He wanted them to smell the foreign alpha, to hate him, to feel disgusted and betrayed, so they could leave him without regret and finally be happy together.

With a deep, shuddering breath, Donghyuck slowly pulled the headphones off, letting the silence of the room crash around him, only to be immediately filled by the renewed assault on his door. He wiped the lingering tears from his face, forcing his trembling hands to steady. He wouldn't cry in front of them. Not now. Not when he had to shatter their illusion of him completely.

He pushed off the bed, his legs still a little unsteady from heat and exhaustion, but his resolve was a cold, hard knot in his gut. He walked to the door, took another bracing breath, and, with a flick of his wrist, unlocked it and pulled it open.

Mark and Jaemin, mid-pounding, stumbled forward, their hands still raised to strike. Their eyes, wide and wild with a mix of fear and fury, landed on Donghyuck. They froze, scents flaring, their rage momentarily eclipsed by pure, unadulterated shock.

Donghyuck stood in the doorway, a fake mask of bravado plastered across his face. His chin was tilted up, his eyes, though still red-rimmed, held a brittle defiance. His stance was casual, almost dismissive, belying the frantic beat of his heart. The scent of the foreign alpha, Sean's ginger and cedarwood, clung to him, mingling with his own suppressed heat, an unmistakable declaration that hit the two alphas with the force of a physical blow. They could see the faint but undeniable fresh hickey on his neck, a blatant testament to another's claim.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Donghyuck said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, a stark contrast to the storm brewing in his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest, his gaze sweeping over their shocked faces with a chilling indifference he didn't feel. "To what do I owe the displeasure?"

Jaemin recovered first, his face a mask of wounded fury. His hand shot out, grasping Donghyuck's neck without squeezing, his alpha scent exploding with unadulterated possessiveness. "What the hell, Donghyuck?" he snarled, his eyes blazing. "What is that scent? Who did this to you?" His thumb brushed over the hickey, a low growl rumbling in his chest.

Mark, equally stunned, stood a step behind, his gaze fixed on the mark on Donghyuck's neck. The fresh scent, the hickey, Donghyuck's dismissive attitude—it all twisted into a knot of agonizing betrayal. His own alpha instincts screamed, demanding retribution for the blatant trespass. "Donghyuck, answer him," Mark's voice was low, dangerous, a stark contrast to his earlier desperation. "What happened? And why do you smell like another alpha?"

Donghyuck didn't flinch from Jaemin's grip, nor did he break eye contact with Mark. He just offered a cold, brittle smile. "What happened? Oh, nothing much. Just dealing with my own business, which, by the way, has nothing to do with either of you anymore." He made a show of shrugging his shoulders, attempting to dislodge Jaemin's hand. "As for the scent... isn't it obvious? I got scented. And as for the hickey... It's exactly what it looks like." His words were casual, almost bored, designed to provoke.

Jaemin's grip tightened, then instantly released before he could cut Donghyuck's airflow. Violence was running through his veins, but he knows he can't aim it at Donghyuck, so instead he takes it out on the innocent door, slamming it shut behind them, shutting out any curious students around.

His eyes searched Donghyuck's face, desperate for a hint of the omega he knew, the one who cherished them, but found only this cold, defiant stranger. "So what? You just went to find someone else?" His voice was thick with hurt and anger.

"You don't get to ask questions about that anymore," Donghyuck retorted, pulling his arm back, his bravado hardening. "I made myself pretty clear earlier. I'm done. And as for this," he gestured vaguely to his neck, "it's just confirmation, isn't it? That I'm moving on. You two can go be happy together without me." He pushed back, trying to create distance between them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired. I've had a long day."

Mark finally moved, stepping forward, his scent a suffocating wave of desperate fury. He grabbed Donghyuck's arm and spun him around, effectively trapping him between them and the door. "No," he snarled, his eyes burning with anguish and rage. "We're not going anywhere. You're not moving on. Not like this. Not after this." His gaze bore into Donghyuck's, pleading despite the anger. "You don't understand, Hyuck. We were just—"

"I understand perfectly," Donghyuck cut him off, his voice rising, a sharp edge to it that belied his forced calm. "I understand that I'm just a friend to one of you, and a convenient secret to the other. I'm not doing this anymore. Let me go."

The words hit Mark like a tornado, worse than any punch. "A friend?" he echoed, his grip on Donghyuck's arm slackening fractionally, his face draining of color. "What are you talking about? Baby, what—" His mind reeled, flashing back to his desperate confession to Jaemin in the hallway of the Delta house, his agonizing self-realization of loving both of them. How could Donghyuck possibly think he was a friend?

Jaemin's own fury faltered, replaced by a deep furrow of confusion. "A secret? Donghyuck, we—" He looked from Donghyuck's defiant, tear-stained face to Mark's utterly bewildered expression. The accusations didn't make sense, not in the face of their desperation, their possessive rage. How could Donghyuck look them in the eyes, smell their distress, the barely contained jealousy and call himself a friend?

"Don't pretend you don't know," Donghyuck scoffed, his eyes hardening, clinging to his painful interpretation of Mark's earlier words. "I heard you, Mark. I heard everything. You love him. You weren't sure about me. I'm sorry I'm not enough. But I'm not going to be some obligation you force yourself to care about when your heart is clearly with someone else." His voice trembled, betraying the crack in his bravado, but he quickly reasserted control.

Mark's jaw dropped. His head snapped towards Jaemin, then back to Donghyuck. "Heard... you heard what? Baby, that's not—" He struggled for words, his mind racing to untangle the devastating misunderstanding. "No, you heard it wrong. You got it completely wrong!" His scent surged, a desperate plea for understanding mixed with growing panic.

"Wrong?" Donghyuck laughed, a hollow, bitter sound devoid of humor. "I don't think so. I heard you admit your disgust with yourself for not loving me, but loving him. It's fine, Mark. Really. It's just... it's just not going to be my problem anymore." He yanked his arm free from Mark's loosening grasp, the movement surprisingly effective.

Jaemin stepped backwards, his eyes wide with dawning horror as Donghyuck's words clicked into place, twisting Mark's raw confession into something monstrous. "Donghyuck, that's not what he meant! That's not what he said! He loves you—"

"Save it, Jaemin," Donghyuck cut him off, turning away, his shoulders stiff. "You're both free now. Go. Be happy. Just... leave me alone." He took a step back into the room, preparing to open the door for them.

But Mark, driven by a primal terror of losing him, reacted instantly. He surged forward, planting his palm against the wood before Donghyuck could even turn the knob, his scent exploding with a desperate, overriding alpha command. "No! We are not leaving! You are not leaving us! Not because of this goddamn misunderstanding!" He internally cursed himself for letting the command past his lips when he saw the instinctual reaction Donghyuck had to it, flinching away and trembling with fear. Rule number one of alpha conduct: you don't use your alpha command on omegas, specifically not one vulnerable and in heat.

Drastically softening his tone, the older took a step back, letting the tan male breath and recompose after his aggressive outburst "We love you, Donghyuck" he said with as much calmness as he could muster "Both of us love you. I realized it today, I swear to god. I was just telling Jaemin that I wasn't sure before, but I am now. That's what you heard."

Jaemin followed his lead, his own voice urgent, raw with emotion, but no longer raised. "He did, Hyuck. He just told me he loves us both. And he's an idiot for not realizing sooner, we can both take turns punching him about it, but it's the truth." He extended a pleading hand. "He's a complicated guy, somewhere in some spectrum maybe one day he'll find himself but for now believe this: We love each other, and we love you."

Donghyuck froze, the words hanging in the air, a tiny, fragile seed of doubt, desperately hopeful, began to sprout in his chest, warring with the deep-seated conviction of betrayal. But then his eyes landed on the mirror on the wall between the bunk and Renjun's bed, on the faint hickey, and remembered the scent of ginger and cedarwood on his skin. The thought of Sean's knowing smirk, and the painful resolution he'd made. He had gone too far. He'd burnt the bridge.

He shook his head, a fresh wave of tears blurring his vision. "It's too late," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "It's too late." He pulled away from them, retreating further into the room, his eyes fixed on his reflection: used, marked, the only boundary his chill non-possessive alphas had ever set, and he'd crossed it.

Chapter Text

"Why, Hyuck? Why is it too late?" Mark's voice was raw, desperate, his hand hovering, aching to reach for Donghyuck but afraid to push him further. "Because of him? Who was it? Do you... do you have feelings for him?" His eyes searched Donghyuck's face, pleading for an answer that wasn't confirmation of their deepest fears.

Donghyuck finally met their gaze, his own eyes brimming with fresh tears, but he shook his head slowly. "No," he whispered, the single word an agonizing confession. "No, I don't have feelings for him. But I let him do it anyway." He watched their faces, seeing the dawning horror, the deepening hurt. "I know I disgust you now. It was the one thing you begged me not to do." The words were a self-inflicted wound, meant to cut them deeper than any blade, to sever the ties completely.

Jaemin recoiled as if struck, his face contorting in a mixture of pain and disbelief. "Then why?" He asked, making sure to keep the judgment out of his voice. They'll get nowhere making Donghyuck feel guilty of the claim he'd welcomed during their very brief separation, as much as he wants to demand answers, a name.

Donghyuck flinched at Jaemin's raw anguish, his bravado finally crumbling. The words tumbled out, choked with sobs he could no longer suppress. "I- I just... I knew you didn't love me, Mark," he choked out, his eyes, swimming with tears, darting desperately to the brunette's face. "But I thought Jaemin might, so... I wanted him to be done with me. So you guys could—" His voice broke completely, dissolving into a ragged gasp. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The confession hung in the air, a devastating wave of raw vulnerability. Mark felt a fresh wave of agony, but also a fierce surge of understanding. He finally grasped the depth of Donghyuck's pain, the cruel logic that had driven him. His own earlier words, so carelessly misunderstood, had pushed Donghyuck to this. The foreign scent, the hickey—it wasn't a malicious act of betrayal, but a desperate, heartbroken sacrifice.

"Baby," Mark whispered, his voice thick with emotion, stepping closer and reaching out. His hands cupped Donghyuck's tear-stained face, gently tilting it up. "Look at me."

Donghyuck's gaze was blurred by tears, but he reluctantly met Mark's eyes.

"We hate this smell on you," Mark admitted, his nose twitching instinctively at the lingering ginger and cedarwood. His voice was low, laced with the deep, primal possessiveness of an alpha, but it was edged with overwhelming sadness, not anger. "Every instinct in me screams to rip it off. To find him and—" He cut himself off, taking a shaky breath. "But we understand why you did it, Hyuck." His thumb brushed away a tear. "And it doesn't change anything. It doesn't make us love you any less."

Jaemin, who had been listening, his own face contorted in a silent battle against his furious alpha instincts, moved to Donghyuck's other side. He reached out, pulling Donghyuck into a tight, desperate embrace, carefully avoiding the marked neck. His own calming alpha scent, usually so warm and addictive, was now tinged with a desperate reassurance, trying to soothe the distress radiating from Donghyuck.

"He's right," Jaemin murmured into Donghyuck's hair, holding him close. "We're furious, yes, about the scent, about the hickey, but not with you. Never with you. We're furious because you thought you had to do this. We're furious at ourselves for letting you believe for even a second that you weren't enough. That we could ever be happier without you." He pulled back slightly, looking into Donghyuck's eyes. "You are everything, Hyuck. And we love you completely. Both of us."

Donghyuck just stared at them, the truth of their words slowly seeping past his emotional defenses, warring with the deep-seated pain. He could feel their raw alpha emotions, the genuine distress in their scents, the desperate sincerity in their eyes. They truly hated the scent on him, but they also truly loved him.

The conflicting emotions were overwhelming. The warmth of their embrace, the earnestness of their words, the crushing relief that they didn't hate him—it was too much after the long, agonizing morning. A new wave of desperate, heartbroken sobs wracked his body, clinging onto them, burying his face in their chests.

The two hockey players tightened their embrace around Donghyuck, letting his sobs wrack his body. Their own scents, which had been frantic with fear and anger, now softened, pouring out a steady, comforting stream of warmth, layered with grief and a desperate need to soothe.

They held him close, letting him cry out the agonizing relief and lingering despair. They began to thoroughly scent him, lovingly covering the foreign alpha's musk with their own familiar, protective aromas – Mark's grounding Oakmoss and Jaemin's dark chocolate notes. This wasn't just about masking Sean's scent; it was a primal act of comfort and reclamation, meant to physically reassure Donghyuck he was still theirs.

Mark gently traced the hickey on Donghyuck's neck. They acknowledged it, not with anger, but with profound sadness and a promise to heal it.

"This will fade," he said softly, scenting over it more intensely. "Time will make sure it does. And we'll leave our own claims, if you'll let us."

Just as a fragile peace began to settle, the door to the dorm room creaked open. Donghyuck's other roommate, Chenle, stepped in, his expression one of mild curiosity, followed closely by his best friend, Jisung.

Jisung's nose twitched almost immediately, his head tilting as he took a deep sniff of the air. His eyes, wide and innocent, landed directly on Donghyuck, then flickered to the familiar ginger and cedarwood scent that still clung to him.

"Oh! Happy to see you guys made up!" Jisung blurted out, his voice clear and unsuspecting. "Why does it smell like cap in here?" The words hung in the air, shattering the fragile moment.

"Cap?" Chenle asked in confusion, sniffing around but catching nothing with his weaker beta nose until he stepped closer to Donghyuck "Oh right, it does smell like Captain Sean..." He trailed off, realizing his mistake when he saw a distinctly possessive shadow pass over the eyes of both alphas.

Noticing the same growing tension, Jisung clapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes widening further in horror. Chenle's head snapped between the scene in front of him – Donghyuck being held by a visibly distressed Mark and Jaemin, and the fresh scent and hickey – and Jisung's ill-timed announcement. The atmosphere in the room, already thick with raw emotion, instantly condensed into a suffocating tension.

Mark and Jaemin went rigid, their arms tightening around Donghyuck like steel bands. Their scents, which had momentarily softened with comfort, now flared with a dangerous, predatory edge, a mix of pure alpha rage and possessive fear. Their previous expressions of relief and understanding vanished, replaced by masks of cold, dangerous fury directed at the unseen alpha.

"Sean?" Mark's voice was a low, guttural growl, utterly devoid of warmth. His gaze, however, snapped from Jisung and Chenle back to Donghyuck, burning with a primal intensity. He remembers the man, vaguely, the red headed newly appointed caption of the basketball team, an alpha who he remembers flirting with Donghyuck in one of the parties at Delta Nu before he got with them.

He took Donghyuck's face in his hands, forcing their eyes to meet, his thumbs gently brushing away the lingering tears. The rage was still simmering, but it was held in check by a more urgent, terrifying question.

"Donghyuck," Jaemin's voice was barely a whisper, thick with restrained violence, as he mirrored Mark's action, taking Donghyuck's other hand. "Did you consent to him touching you? To him putting his scent on you? To... that hickey?" His eyes, usually warm and sweet, were now hard as ice, fixed on Donghyuck's face, pleading for an answer that wouldn't unleash their fury, hoping Renjun was wrong and they hadn't pushed their omega into a situation where a repeat of the dreaded Sungchan incident had occurred.

Donghyuck flinched, his body trembling beneath their touch. The raw intensity of their gazes, the depth of their restrained anger, almost paralyzed him. He remembered his brief, desperate bravado with Sean, his conscious decision to let it happen to push Mark and Jaemin away. He remembered the alpha command.

His gaze dropped, unable to meet their piercing stares. "I... I let him," he whispered, the words barely audible, laced with self-loathing. "I just... I just wanted you guys to move on. I thought... I thought it would make it easier." He couldn't bring himself to explain the full coercive nature of Sean's actions, the way he had been cornered near the end. He just clung to his own flawed reasoning, his misguided attempt at sacrifice.

Mark and Jaemin felt the shift in Donghyuck's scent, the rise of his shame. They absorbed his whispered confession, their fury towards Sean solidifying. This wasn't something Donghyuck had wanted, but something he had allowed out of pain. Their grip on him tightened, not hurting, but possessive.

Jisung stood frozen, his hand clamped over his mouth, while Chenle stepped forward, his eyes wide with a mix of concern and alarm, sensing the impending explosion. The air in the room grew heavy, charged with the palpable, dangerous rage emanating from Mark and Jaemin, now fully directed, not at Donghyuck, but at the name they had so innocently provided.

"Did he do anything else besides what you wanted him to do, Baby?" Mark asked, his voice low, a silken thread of dread running beneath the calm. His eyes were locked on Donghyuck's, pleading for honesty, for a truth that wouldn't shatter them completely. Jaemin's grip on Donghyuck's hand tightened almost imperceptibly, his own scent sharpening, a silent, lethal question.

Donghyuck's breath hitched. He wrung his hands, unable to meet their gaze. "I - well. He, uhm, he kissed me." He rushed to defend, the words spilling out in a desperate torrent. "But I was asking for it! I got on his bed, put on his clothes and let him scent me, of course he'd assume a kiss would be welcomed, I don't blame him."

Jaemin's knuckles whitened, a low growl rumbling in his chest, but he forced it down, his eyes fixed on Donghyuck. "Did you ask him to stop when he started crossing the line?"

Donghyuck nodded frantically, relief momentarily flickering in his eyes that they were still listening. "I did, and he did let me go!"

Mark's voice was dangerously quiet, his gaze unwavering. "Was the kiss before or after you verbally told him to stop?"

Donghyuck's fragile composure cracked. He flinched, his shoulders hunching in. "I- well... After." His voice was a barely audible whisper, his body shrinking in on itself, unable to meet their gazes. The shame was a crushing weight, confirming his self-condemnation.

A primal, guttural growl ripped from Jaemin's throat, deep and raw, vibrating through the room. His hands, which had been holding Donghyuck's, clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. His eyes, already cold, now blazed with a terrifying, murderous intent. Every fiber of his being screamed for retribution. His scent exploded, a suffocating wave of pure, unadulterated alpha rage that made the air crackle.

Mark's reaction was just as visceral, if quieter. His face, which had been pale with concern, now contorted into a mask of chilling fury. His jaw tightened so hard a muscle jumped. He released Donghyuck's face, his hands dropping to his sides, clenching and unclenching. His own scent, usually grounding, was now a dangerous, sharp crackle of static, promising violence.

"He kissed you. After you told him to stop." Mark's voice was flat, devoid of emotion, a dangerous calm before the storm. He didn't look at Donghyuck, his gaze fixed on some point beyond him, already picturing Sean's face. 

Donghyuck trembled violently, trying to pull away from their overwhelming rage, terrified by the sheer intensity of their alpha fury, now unleashed but not directed at him. He hated that he was the cause of this, that he was making them so angry.

"Mark. Jaemin. Stop it! You're scaring him!" Chenle cried, stepping forward, his voice sharp with alarm. As a beta he could barely perceive the changes in their scent but he didn't need to, their eyes told the whole story of their fury, and it was suffocating to the vulnerable Omega. But Mark and Jaemin were beyond hearing. Their world had narrowed to one singular objective: Sean.

Jaemin was already turning, his body language coiled and lethal. He glanced at Donghyuck one last time, a fleeting look of pain, then his gaze hardened, cold as steel. "We'll be back," he said, the words a chilling promise to Donghyuck, and an even more chilling threat to Sean.

Without another word, or a backward glance at Chenle and Jisung, Mark and Jaemin strode towards the door, their powerful alpha scents preceding them, their footsteps heavy and purposeful.

"Stop right there!" Donghyuck's voice, surprisingly strong despite his trembling, cut through the air, momentarily halting the two alphas just before they reached the door. They froze, turning slowly to face him, their faces still etched with dangerous fury.

"Yes, I was scared he'd take advantage," Donghyuck continued, his voice rising, a desperate plea for them to listen. "But in the end, he didn't. He let me go, and I'm alright now. I'm not even mildly traumatized." He took a shaky breath, then launched into his own pain, aiming to cut through their rage with his truth. "But wanna know what I did find traumatic? Jaemin kissing Jeno."

Jaemin flinched, his jaw tightening, the name like a fresh wound.

"And that happened because you went all righteous alpha, trying to beat up a guy who already apologized and I already forgave." Donghyuck's voice broke, the tears flowing freely again, but his eyes, though wet, were defiant. "You guys do love me, you do feel possessive under the wrong circumstances, great, point proven, now STOP." He outstretched a trembling hand towards them, his voice cracking with desperate sincerity. "I don't need knights in shining armor starting fights over me, I need my boyfriends by my side."

The words hung in the air, piercing through the thick haze of their alpha rage. Mark and Jaemin stared at Donghyuck, their furious expressions slowly, agonizingly softening into stunned disbelief. The raw honesty, the pain in his voice, the direct comparison to their past mistakes – it hit them with the force of a physical blow. Their aggressive scents began to recede, replaced by a tangled mix of shame, confusion, and a burgeoning, painful realization.

Jaemin was the first to move, his posture losing its rigid tension. He took a hesitant step back towards Donghyuck, his eyes wide and filled with a familiar ache. "Hyuck..." he breathed, the fight draining from him, replaced by profound regret. He looked at Mark, a silent message passing between them.

Mark's shoulders slumped, the ferocity bleeding out of his stance. He scrubbed a hand over his face, inhaling deeply, trying to clear the lingering scent of his own rage. Donghyuck's words had landed, striking the core of their biggest failing. He hadn't just spoken his pain; he'd forced them to confront their own hypocrisy.

"You're right," Mark said, his voice rough, barely above a whisper. He dropped his hand, his gaze fixed on Donghyuck, now filled with remorse. "You're right, Hyuck. We... we messed up. We nearly did it again." He glanced at Jaemin, a silent apology passing between them for almost letting their primal instincts override their love.

Jaemin stepped forward, his eyes locked on Donghyuck's. "We're sorry," he murmured, his scent now purely apologetic, radiating desperate reassurance. He reached out, slowly, his hand open and inviting. "We just... we were so scared, Hyuck. Scared we'd lost you. Scared someone hurt you."

The room was still heavy with residual emotion, but the suffocating rage had dissipated, replaced by a fragile, vulnerable peace. Chenle slowly lowered his guard, exchanging a relieved glance with Jisung.

Donghyuck watched them, the intensity of their apologies a stark contrast to his earlier despair. He could see their shift, feel their genuine remorse, and the overwhelming current of their love. His outstretched hand trembled, then, slowly, he took a step forward.

"I'm still in heat," Donghyuck reminded them, his voice still a little shaky but with a hint of his usual playful bluntness. "The last thing I need is to be surrounded by anger pheromones. I need a warm cup of tea and a blanket. Or a knot, whatever's faster." He joked, a weak, watery smile touching his lips.

Jisung's face immediately flushed a vibrant red, and he cleared his throat, suddenly finding the floor fascinating. Chenle, however, barked out a laugh, the tension breaking slightly in the room.

"Have fun, I guess," Chenle said, waving a dismissive hand towards them, though a fond smile played on his lips. "But not here. You're not stinking up our room full of alpha musk. Go somewhere else, go mess around in the car or something."

Mark and Jaemin exchanged a look. The whirlwind of emotions — fear, rage, relief, shame, and now this fragile thread of Donghyuck's humor — had left them reeling, but his words had cut through everything. He needed them, truly needed them, not as avenging alphas, but as his boyfriends.

Jaemin was the first to act, stepping forward and pulling Donghyuck into a tender, careful hug that acknowledged his lingering pain and the still-present foreign scent. His own alpha musk, now entirely soothing, flowed over Donghyuck, a silent promise of comfort and belonging. "Tea and a blanket, then," he murmured against Donghyuck's hair, "and then we talk. Really talk. No more misunderstandings."

Mark moved to join the embrace, wrapping his arms around both of them, his scent grounding and steadying. He nuzzled into Donghyuck’s neck, deliberately scenting over the faint hickey, a soft, possessive hum rumbling in his chest. "We're not going anywhere, Hyuck," he promised, his voice thick with devotion. "Whatever you need. We're here."

Donghyuck melted into their embrace, finally allowing himself to be fully held, to draw comfort from their combined warmth and reassurance. The weight of his own misjudgment, the terrifying encounter with Sean, and the agonizing belief that he'd destroyed everything, began to lift, replaced by a tentative, fragile hope.

He looked at Chenle, then Jisung, both still observing the scene with a mix of curiosity and relief. "Sorry for the drama," Donghyuck mumbled, a genuine, albeit tired, smile finally gracing his lips.

Chenle just shook his head, a fond exasperation on his face. "Just... try to keep the relationship drama and the mating rituals outside this door, okay? Some of us have exams."

A small laugh escaped Donghyuck, the first real one all day. Mark and Jaemin released him, their hands lingering on his back. The question of where they would go hung in the air, but the choice was clear: they would go together.

Chapter Text

A week later, the sting of the past few days had begun to dull, replaced by the familiar routine of classes and the anticipation of hockey season. It was the first practice after the new players had officially joined the team, a mix of fresh faces and seasoned veterans. After a grueling session on the ice, the team decided to head to Tony's Pizzeria, a long-standing tradition to welcome the new blood.

Donghyuck, having come to wait for them after practice, stood outside the rink. His phone buzzed, and he saw a message from Mark: Hey, team's grabbing pizza at Tony's. Donghyuck sighed, a small pang of disappointment, but he understood. Team bonding was important.

As the players spilled out of the rink's main doors, their equipment bags slung over shoulders, a symphony of sweaty alpha musk and nervous energy filled the crisp evening air. Donghyuck was already walking away, his back to them, heading towards his dorm. He was wearing a pair of tight jeans that hugged his curves, accentuating his lean, athletic build.

Several of the players noticed him, their conversations momentarily hushed. A few eyes followed him, and soon, hushed comments began to ripple through the group.

"Man, is that the hockey girl from the tryouts?" one new Beta muttered, elbowing a teammate "the skirt wasn't doing that ass proper justice."

Mark and Jaemin walked among their teammates, their own conversations about practice and strategy quickly fading into the background as their alpha senses zeroed in on Donghyuck's retreating figure. They noticed the tight jeans immediately, a silent, defiant challenge from Donghyuck. It wasn't as bold as the skirt he'd worn that day he was trying to provoke them, but the message was clear: If you don't like them staring at me, then claim me already.

Then the comments started, cutting through the casual chatter of the team like sharpened blades. Each whisper, each low chuckle, each admiring gaze sent a fresh wave of pride between them. The redefine of their relationship hadn't changed their views about jealousy: Looks and whispers? Completely harmless and nothing to be angry about, that beautiful omega was still theirs.

But when Alex's voice boomed, mentioning Sungchan, Mark and Jaemin went rigid. 

"Sad Sungchan didn't make it into the team, or we could get that view almost every day after practice."

The casual implication of another alpha having easy access to their omega's presence, their omega's body, ignited a fresh fire in their blood.

A ripple of low chuckles followed. Another player chimed in, "I thought they were just courting, you reckon they are already going out?"

"With how quick that boy was moving, I expect to see a mark on him soon," a third voice speculated, a hint of envy in his tone. "Not a hickey, a real mating claim."

"Major league stuff," yet another player agreed, his voice thoughtful. "Then again, with a beauty like that, you snooze you lose."

The words landed like a direct hit. A real mating claim. Not just announcing it to the team, which they still hadn't done properly, but a permanent, undeniable mark. The casual speculation about Sungchan, about someone else taking "major league" steps, twisted the knife deeper. It highlighted their own inaction, their prolonged uncertainty, and the near-catastrophe it had caused. The guilt from their past mistakes, coupled with this raw, immediate threat, made their stomachs churn.

That last comment, dismissive and predatory, snapped something inside them. They had almost lost him. They had almost "snoozed." The memory of Donghyuck, heartbroken and scented by another, flashed through their minds.

Mark's hands clenched at his sides, his jaw tight. His eyes, dark and narrowed, swept over the group of alphas, daring any of them to make another comment. Jaemin’s scent was now radiating a potent warning, a low growl barely suppressed in his chest. The easy camaraderie of the team dissolved around them, replaced by a palpable tension that made other players instinctively fall silent and give them space. They couldn't let this continue. Not for another second.

Mark jogged a little to the front of the crowd of players, turning to face them. He planted his feet, his posture subtly shifting to that of a territorial alpha.

"Okay team, listen up," he called out, his voice cutting through the remaining murmurs, laced with an undeniable edge of authority. "Donghyuck is a taken man. I would know, 'cause he's my best friend, so let's keep it respectful, alright?" He announced, stopping himself from declaring that they were dating. He didn't need to. Donghyuck had said it himself, clearly stating he wanted his "boyfriends" by his side. Mark had never denied him; with him, it was a matter of finally acknowledging his feelings, and that had already been addressed.

He felt Jaemin's presence just behind him, a tense, simmering presence. The one who always denied any label, the one who should claim him in front of everyone who cared to ask before he risked losing him again: that was Jaemin. All eyes were now on them, the new players looking confused, the older ones understanding the unspoken challenge in the air.

As if on cue, Jaemin stepped forward, a formidable presence beside Mark. His scent, already sharp with warning, flared even more, a dominant wave washing over the assembled players. His eyes, usually crinkling in a smile, were now narrowed, cold, and unwavering as they swept across the faces of their teammates.

"By me!" Jaemin announced, his voice ringing with absolute, undeniable authority. Every word was a deliberate hammer blow, striking down any lingering doubt. "He is taken, by me."

A ripple of confusion, then outright questioning, spread through the team. "But Sungchan was courting him, we all saw it," one of the new players ventured, his voice betraying genuine bewilderment. Another player nodded in agreement, eyes wide.

Mark's jaw tightened, and he stepped forward slightly, his gaze piercing. He didn't raise his voice, but the chilling calm in his tone commanded absolute attention. "What Sungchan was doing was predatorial. He scented and kissed Donghyuck without consent." The words hit the team like a cold splash of water, silencing all dissent. The unspoken implications of such an act in their society were grave. "That's why he didn't make it into the roster. We don't mess with that here, so take that as a PSA." His eyes swept over every face, daring anyone to question the gravity of his warning.

"You guys owe me 20," Jungwoo commented happily, cutting through the heavy silence, referring to his bet that Jaemin and Donghyuck were dating.

"You bet on me?" Jaemin asked, a playful smirk touching his lips as he glanced at Jungwoo. "Thanks for the vote of faith, man, but no one owes you anything." He then looked at Mark conspiratorially, a knowing glint in his eyes. The team looked confused, exchanging puzzled glances, until Mark, with a fond smile, slowly extended a hand and took Jaemin's hand in his. Their fingers intertwined, a silent, intimate gesture.

Suddenly, one of the players, a seasoned veteran from the back of the group, let out a triumphant scream. "I knew it! You all owe me a hundred!" Some of the older veterans laughed, a mixture of amusement and grudging acceptance, while most of the newbies remained utterly confused, their eyes darting between the intertwined hands of the two alphas and the suddenly exuberant veteran. The air, which had been thick with tension and confusion, now crackled with the energy of a secret revealed.

"We probably should have done that where Donghyuck could hear," Mark whispered to Jaemin, low enough so only they could hear him over the lingering murmurs of the team.

"Damn it, didn't think it through," Jaemin joked back, a playful glint in his eye that quickly turned determined. "Guess I'll have to lay my claim some other way, where he can't possibly miss it."

A slow, satisfied smile spread across Mark's face. He knew that look in Jaemin's eyes, the one that promised deliberate, unapologetic action. This wasn't just about public declarations; it was about solidifying their bond, about showing Donghyuck, unmistakably, that he was theirs. The urgency of their past near-loss still hummed beneath their skin, pushing them towards a future where there would be no more misunderstandings, no more doubts.

As the team began to disperse, heading towards Tony's, Mark and Jaemin fell into step beside each other, their hands still intertwined. The veteran who'd screamed about the bet caught their eye, giving them a knowing nod and a wink. The confusion among the newer players remained, but an undeniable tension had lifted. Everyone now understood that Donghyuck, the beautiful omega who frequented their practices, was definitively off-limits.

Jaemin squeezed Mark's hand. "Let's go get some pizza," he said, but his eyes were still on Donghyuck's disappearing car. "And then, let's go get our omega."

Chapter Text

After the team pizza at Tony's – a cacophony of loud chatter, greasy slices, and lingering relief now that the air was clear – Mark and Jaemin walked back to the Kappa Kappa house. Donghyuck had texted to say he'd be waiting in Mark's room; being the only one without roommates, it was their usual sanctuary.

They pushed open the door to Mark's room, a knot of anticipation and lingering concern in their chests. They half-expected to find Donghyuck in those tight jeans, sitting there looking sexy and waiting for them, perhaps still subtly testing their resolve with a mischievous smirk. It was Donghyuck's way.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared them for what they found instead.

The first thing that hit them was the overwhelming, intoxicating scent of Donghyuck's arousal — not his biologically unavoidable heat, but a purposeful, intentional arousal that slapped them across the face with its potency. 

And then they saw him.

He had stripped off the tight jeans and was now clad only in one of Jaemin's spare game jerseys, white with a small blue 'A' on his chest and just big enough to swallow the omega's petite frame. Its fabric, still carrying Jaemin's distinct scent, contrasted playfully with the dominant presence of Mark's aura in the room – a nice touch of balance, a silent declaration that he was claiming both of them.

But it wasn't about what he was wearing, it was what he was doing. He wasn't waiting. He was beckoning.

"Oh Fuck" Jaemin exclaimed, his voice a breathless gasp as he stared, utterly mesmerized, at the omega on the bed. His own alpha scent spiked, hot and urgent, mirroring the sudden, overwhelming rush of desire that slammed into him. Mark, beside him, was equally transfixed, his eyes wide, already reacting to the raw, blatant invitation.

Mark swallowed hard, a dry click in his throat. He felt his own blood surge, his alpha instincts screaming in response to Donghyuck's potent arousal. The soft whimper Donghyuck let out, a tiny, needy sound, was like a direct hit to his core. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath until Jaemin's frantic words finally broke the spell of pure visual absorption.

Donghyuck's eyes slowly fluttered open, meeting theirs. A slow, knowing smile played on his lips, tinged with a delicious mischief. He let his weight drive him down, the monster dildo sinking further up inside of him, long and girthy, and glistening with enough lubricant to fill a bowl. The monstrosity was a deep ocean blue with black exaggerated veins all around it, the texture a delicious tease against his walls.

"That's the plan" Donghyuck purred, his voice a low, husky whisper that sent shivers down their spines. He tilted his head, watching their reactions with keen interest. "But I can also make you work for it" His scent pulsed, an undeniable lure.

Jaemin took a shaky step forward, his eyes never leaving Donghyuck. "Hyuck..." he breathed, his voice rough with sudden hunger. He reached out a hand, as if to confirm Donghyuck was truly there, truly offering this.

There was no mistaking the invitation, the rim of Donghyuck's pucker was an angry red and puffy from who knows how many hours of constant abuse, the abandoned plug on the floor a testament to the fact that he'd started this game since much earlier, hidden under those tight jeans, rubbing against his insides with every step he took.

A planned, patient stretch, wide enough for two.

Mark's gaze was fixed on Donghyuck's half-lidded eyes, captivated. He felt a fierce, primal desire to simply fall to his knees and worship. "What... what do you want, baby?" he managed, his voice barely a rasp. 

Donghyuck's smile widened, a slow, seductive invitation. He slowly sat up straighter, letting the dildo slide further in, a soft gasp escaping him. He licked his lips, his gaze sharp and commanding. "Mark, clothes off. All of it," he ordered, his voice low and firm.

He then turned his attention to Jaemin, his eyes softening, but no less commanding. "Jaemin... I know what you like, baby," he whispered, a hint of a wicked smile playing on his lips. "So how about you sit on the chair and enjoy the show for a bit?"

Mark's hands fumbled with the buttons of his jacket, his fingers surprisingly clumsy. His mind, usually so sharp, felt like static under the intense surge of arousal. The fabric snagged, and he let out a frustrated grunt. Donghyuck watched him, a delightful chuckle rumbling in his chest.

"Jaem, before you sit, help our alpha get his clothes off. I don't know why he's struggling so much," Donghyuck drawled, his eyes never leaving Mark. As if to underscore his words, he slowly rolled his hips, a loud moan escaping him, and then deliberately ran his hands over his own nipples through the thin fabric of the jersey. It was a calculated, brutal taunt, designed to make Mark's already difficult task even harder, driving his alpha instincts to a fever pitch.

Jaemin's eyes, wide with hunger, immediately snapped to Mark. He didn't just undress him; he turned it into a performance. With a predatory gleam in his gaze, he stepped close to Mark, his hands already on the hem of his jacket. Instead of ripping it off, he slowly began to pull it up, revealing glimpses of Mark's sweat-slicked torso underneath. His fingers lingered, tracing the hard planes of Mark's stomach, sparking shivers.

He peeled the jacket down Mark's arms, then let it drop to the floor, his attention never wavering. He moved onto Mark's t-shirt, his movements deliberate, teasing. As he pulled the shirt over Mark's head, he leaned in, pressing a hot, open-mouthed kiss to the pulse point on Mark's throat, letting a low growl rumble against his skin. Mark shuddered, his own scent flaring, responding to Jaemin's intimate touch.

Jaemin then slid his hands down, unbuckling Mark's belt with a sensual click, his fingers brushing the sensitive skin of Mark's hips. He pushed the pants down slowly, allowing them to fall to Mark's ankles, before kicking them aside. Each touch, each lingering brush of skin, was a deliberate act of adoration and provocation, meant to draw out every ragged breath and desperate whimper from Mark, for Donghyuck's pleasure.

Their scents, two distinct but harmonizing alpha musks, mingled intensely, filling the room with potent hunger as Mark stood before Donghyuck, clad only in his boxers, breathing heavily, his eyes locked on the omega who had orchestrated this exquisite torment. Jaemin, his own face flushed, looked up at Donghyuck, a silent question in his eyes: Are you entertained, baby?

"I do remember saying all of it," Donghyuck commented, his voice a low, satisfied murmur, his eyes sweeping over Mark's still-covered crotch, the fabric doing a terrible job of hiding the prize beneath.

Jaemin's smirk widened, acknowledging the command. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees, his hands already on the waistband of Mark's boxers. He pulled them down with practiced ease, sliding them past Mark's hips, letting them fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. As the last barrier fell, Jaemin found himself eye-level with Mark's hard, throbbing erection, which sprang free with an audible gasp from Mark. Jaemin's gaze lingered for a moment, an almost predatory satisfaction in his eyes, before he slowly, deliberately, reached out.

His fingers closed around Mark's thick shaft, a soft groan escaping Mark's lips. Jaemin’s thumb immediately began to stroke the sensitive tip, eliciting a needy whine from the older alpha. His touch was firm, yet teasing, eliciting a shiver that ran through Mark’s entire body. Mark's eyes squeezed shut, his head falling back slightly as he breathed out a ragged, "Jaem... oh, fuck."

Donghyuck watched, his own hips beginning a slow, languid grind against the dildo, his eyes never leaving the scene before him as his hand dove under the jersey. A low hum of pleasure vibrated in his chest as he took in Mark’s raw, exposed desire, expertly handled by Jaemin’s knowing touch. The scent of Mark’s intensifying arousal, mingled with Jaemin’s eager musk, enveloped Donghyuck, feeding his own potent need.

"That's a good alpha," Donghyuck purred, his voice laced with approval, the sound a direct current running between the three of them. He then tilted his head towards the empty desk chair. "Now, Jaemin, if you're quite finished preparing our Mark, perhaps you'd like to take your seat? The show is just beginning."

As Jaemin reluctantly pulled his mouth away from Mark, letting out a soft groan of protest at the loss of contact, Donghyuck, with a deliberate, slow movement, pushed himself off the dildo. A soft, wet pop echoed in the room as the large toy slipped free, glistening, and Donghyuck let it fall with a thud onto the plush rug beside the bed.

With eyes fixed on Mark, a clear, open invitation in their depths, Donghyuck shed Jaemin's jersey, letting it fall silently to the floor. Naked now, save for the lingering sheen of lubricant around his entrance, he climbed further up the bed.

He didn't crawl or curl. Instead, with an almost ritualistic grace, Donghyuck laid himself down spread-eagle on the bed, his limbs open, his body an offering. His head was slightly tilted, his eyes still half-lidded, his lips parted in a silent gasp. The angry red rim of his pucker, a testament to his prior preparations, was now fully exposed, swollen and ready.

Mark’s breath hitched, his eyes widening at the sight. The sheer, blatant vulnerability combined with such deliberate exhibition was almost too much. His alpha roared, a primal urge to cover, to claim, to bury himself deep inside that open invitation. He took an involuntary step forward, his erection pulsing painfully.

Jaemin, tearing his gaze from Mark's throbbing length, quickly moved to the desk chair, his eyes glued to Donghyuck's alluring form on the bed. He settled into the seat, his own arousal evident, watching with bated breath. He felt a deep, almost reverent awe for Donghyuck's power in this moment, the way he commanded them both with nothing but his presence and his raw, unfiltered desire.

Donghyuck, sensing Mark’s proximity, slowly extended one arm towards him, beckoning him closer. His eyes, still heavy-lidded, held a challenge, a promise, and an undeniable hunger. "Come here, my alpha," he breathed, the words a low, husky whisper that vibrated through Mark’s very bones. "Do your worst."

Just as Mark took another eager step forward, something flew through the air, aimed at his head. His excellent reflexes allowed him to catch it mid-air without even thinking. He brought his hand down, glancing at the object in his palm. It was a bandana, folded neatly. He looked at Jaemin with confusion, but the blond simply smirked, a wicked glint in his eyes, and subtly tilted his head towards Donghyuck.

Mark's gaze flickered back to Donghyuck, now watching him with an amused, expectant expression, and understanding immediately clicked into place. The bandana wasn't just a random toss. It was a blindfold. Donghyuck wouldn't be the only one playing games tonight. And it made Mark's alpha hum with an even deeper, more primal anticipation.

Mark didn't hesitate. He stepped to the edge of the bed, his fingers trembling slightly as he unfolded the bandana. Donghyuck watched him, the wicked smile still playing on his lips, an unspoken dare in his half-lidded eyes. As Mark leaned over, the rich, honey scent of Donghyuck's arousal enveloped him, making his head swim. He gently tied the fabric over Donghyuck's eyes, ensuring it was snug but not uncomfortable.

As darkness fell over Donghyuck's vision, his other senses immediately heightened. His smile didn't falter; if anything, it deepened, transforming into a look of pure, amused anticipation. He let out a soft, satisfied groan, the sound vibrating through the bed. The feeling of Mark's presence, the warmth radiating from him, the surge of his potent alpha musk, became the singular focus of his world. He was no longer just the director; he was a willing participant, relinquishing control to the very alphas he had so expertly lured. The game had truly begun.

Mark took a moment, his gaze sweeping over Donghyuck's exposed form. The blindfold seemed to amplify the vulnerability, making the invitation even more potent. He leaned in, letting his hot breath ghost over Donghyuck's lips, savoring the soft, eager pant that escaped him. Mark’s own scent, already thick with desire, deepened, a possessive, hungry rumble.

From the chair, Jaemin shifted, a low hum vibrating in his chest, his eyes devouring every detail. He took a long, slow inhale of the air, thick with Donghyuck's omega scent and Mark's escalating alpha musk, already feeling the delicious throb of his own erection.

Mark finally pressed his mouth to Donghyuck's, a kiss that was both tender and fiercely possessive. Donghyuck responded instantly, his lips parting eagerly, his tongue seeking Mark's. He gripped Mark's hair, pulling him closer, desperate for the contact. The kiss deepened, a raw exploration of longing and release, punctuated by soft moans.

Mark pulled back just enough to trail kisses down Donghyuck's jaw, across his throat, inhaling deeply at the scent gland near his neck. Donghyuck arched into the touch, whimpering, his body trembling with the intensity of his arousal. Mark's rough hands then moved, sliding down Donghyuck's ribs, brushing over his hips, until they rested firmly on his inner thighs, parting them just a fraction wider.

"Ready, baby?" Mark whispered, his voice a low, gravelly growl against Donghyuck's skin, his gaze flicking to Jaemin, who watched, utterly captivated, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face.

As tempting as Donghyuck's rosy entrance was, the raw, open invitation on the bed, he wanted to savor every inch of Donghyuck, to play with his senses, to give Jaemin a proper show. He would worship this body that had been prepared so exquisitely for them.

Mark’s lips continued their slow, deliberate path downwards. He kissed the sensitive skin of Donghyuck's collarbone, lingering at the small dip there, before moving lower. His tongue swirled around Donghyuck's taut nipples, making them pebble under his attention through the lingering sheen of sweat and lubricant. Donghyuck's moans grew louder, more frantic, his blindfolded head thrashing slightly on the pillow.

Mark moved lower still, pressing soft kisses to Donghyuck's quivering stomach, inhaling deeply, letting his nose drag across the soft skin. He slid his hands beneath Donghyuck’s hips, lifting them just enough to plunge his face between his thighs. He licked the inner skin of Donghyuck's leg, tracing a slow, hot path upwards until he reached the slick, swollen entrance.

Donghyuck gasped, a choked cry tearing from his throat. "Mark... please," he whimpered, his hips instinctively bucking against the anticipated touch. His fingers dug into the sheets, his body a trembling bow of desperate pleasure.

Mark chuckled, a low, satisfied sound that vibrated against Donghyuck's inner thigh. He savored the potent scent that exploded from Donghyuck, the taste of arousal already coating his tongue. He pressed his lips to the throbbing pucker, inhaling deeply, before gently suckling. His tongue swirled and darted, teasing the delicate folds, then dipping into the slick, ready opening.

From the chair, Jaemin leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his jaw tight. He watched Mark's meticulous devotion, his own alpha scent a low, vibrant thrum of appreciation and anticipation. Every sound Donghyuck made, every shiver, every desperate arch of his body, was a direct hit to Jaemin, preparing him for his own part in the omega's pleasure.

Donghyuck's blindfolded state seemed to heighten his other senses to an agonizing degree. The sounds of Mark's hungry lips, the feel of his breath, the taste of his own arousal being devoured, all intensified the torment. He could smell Jaemin's scent, a thick, potent wave of pure alpha lust, intensifying.

Unable to simply watch any longer, Jaemin reached for his own waistband. With swift, hungry movements, he shed his remaining clothes, letting them fall in a pile around the base of the chair. His own hard erection sprang free, pulsing with a need that matched the atmosphere in the room. He reached down, wrapping his fingers around his own shaft, and began to stroke himself, a deliberate, rhythmic motion.

His eyes never left the bed, a challenge in his gaze as he met Mark's over Donghyuck's thrashing form. Jaemin’s scent, now fully unleashed, intensified, a raw, primal declaration of his own arousal and his intent to join the game.

Through the rising tide of sensation, Donghyuck registered the sharp spike in Jaemin's scent, a wild, demanding musk. He instinctively stretched out a hand, his fingers splayed wide across the sheets, a silent, shameless invitation. His mouth fell open, his tongue slipping out to trace his own lips, then staying there, a wet, filthy beacon. He didn't have to see to know Jaemin was watching; he could feel the intensity of his gaze, hear the sounds of his self-pleasure, and he was deliberately, unequivocally, beckoning him to join.

Jaemin needed no further calling. With a low growl that was almost a purr, he pushed off the chair, striding towards the bed. He didn't pause, didn't hesitate. With one fluid motion, he climbed onto the mattress, his knees finding purchase next to the Omega's face. Donghyuck let out a sharp gasp, his blindfolded head snapping to the side as he felt the shift in weight, the new, hot alpha presence.

Jaemin leaned over, his erection already throbbing. He took Donghyuck's open, waiting mouth without preamble, pushing his hard, slick length deep inside. Donghyuck choked, a raw, guttural sound escaping him, his eyes fluttering wildly beneath the blindfold as the sudden, overwhelming invasion filled his throat.

Mark felt the shift in the bed, the sudden, sharp scent of Jaemin joining the fray. He paused, lifting his head from Donghyuck’s pulsing entrance to look at Jaemin. A slow, appreciative smirk spread across his face as he took in the sight: Jaemin, half-buried in Donghyuck's mouth, eyes blazing with feral desire.

Without breaking eye contact with Jaemin, Mark leaned in, pressing a deep, passionate kiss to the blond alpha’s lips. It was a kiss of shared triumph, of mutual hunger, and a silent promise of the depraved pleasure to come. As their mouths tangled, Mark’s hand, never truly still, continued its relentless dance along Donghyuck's hard erection, pushing it up and down, not giving the omega a single moment of rest, caught between the exquisite torment of two demanding alphas. His lips also pushed forward, his member tantalizingly close to the Omega's offering, but he didn't push inside, only grinding against the younger's core with slow teasing movements.

Donghyuck bucked, his body arching violently against the mattress. He was close, too close, but he didn't want to come like this, he hadn't prepared himself for nothing. He would take both of his alphas tonight or die trying. He thrashed his head, the blindfold a tight band of darkness, trapping him in a world of overwhelming sensation. His throat worked around Jaemin’s depth, desperately trying to draw a breath as the blond fucked his face mercilessly, a silent plea for a momentary reprieve, even as the ruthless strokes on his cock from Mark’s hand drove him closer to the edge, the heat of the older's cock so so close, but not yet where he wanted it. He clenched his fists, knuckles white against the sheets, riding the razor-thin line between exquisite pain and unbearable pleasure.

Mark pulled back from Jaemin’s kiss, panting slightly, their shared lust still heavy on his tongue. His eyes, however, were fixed on Donghyuck’s struggling form. He saw the desperate jerking of his head, the way his fingers dug into the sheets, felt the subtle tremors running through his body. He understood the omega’s silent battle.

He gently tapped Jaemin's shoulder. "You're choking him, ease up a little," Mark murmured, his voice low, a note of concern tempered with a possessive pride in Donghyuck’s endurance.

Jaemin, however, only smirked, his eyes glittering with a wild, knowing amusement. He didn't move his hips, keeping his rigid length firmly planted in Donghyuck's throat. "He's not tapping out for me," Jaemin rasped, his breath hot against Donghyuck's face. "It's for you." He gave Mark a pointed look, then nodded subtly towards Mark's hand, still relentlessly working Donghyuck's throbbing shaft. Mark gave him a look of confusion.

"He came here prepared to get wrecked by both of our dicks," Jaemin continued, his voice dropping to a low, conspiratorial whisper. "But you're about to make him spill with just your hand. He's asking YOU to stop."

Mark's eyes widened with sudden understanding. Jaemin was right. He immediately lifted his hand from Donghyuck's straining erection. The effect was instantaneous; the white-knuckled grip Donghyuck had on the sheets loosened almost imperceptibly, a silent testament to the precision of Jaemin's observation. Donghyuck's throat still worked around Jaemin's depth, a quiet gulping sound, but the desperate edge of his thrashing eased.

Jaemin, feeling the subtle shift, pulled his erection from Donghyuck's mouth with a soft, wet pop. Donghyuck gasped, sucking in a much-needed breath, his blindfolded head falling back against the pillow with a groan that was half relief, half protest.

"You're doing so well, baby," Jaemin murmured, his voice a low, reassuring rumble as he leaned down to press a soft kiss to Donghyuck's sweat-damp forehead. "Don't worry, you're getting what you want tonight. Who are we to deny such a pretty omega anything at all?"

Without another word, Jaemin's strong hands closed around Donghyuck's waist. He manhandled him expertly, shifting Donghyuck from his spread-eagle position, spinning him around, and settling him onto his lap. Donghyuck's blindfolded body was pliant in his arms, his slick pucker now pressed against Jaemin's awaiting pelvis, a silent promise of what was to come.

Mark, seeing Jaemin's actions, also got into motion. He moved to align himself in front of Donghyuck, ready to meet him, but then he paused. A thought struck him, and he moved away, reaching for the nightstand beside the bed.

"I swear to god, if you're looking for condoms I'll bite your dick next time I suck you off," Donghyuck warned, his voice still a little breathless, but laced with a firm, almost feral demand. "We already took the test together and we were all clean, as expected. And my heat just passed, so I'm not even fertile right now. You know how I want it."

Jaemin chuckled, the sound vibrating against Donghyuck's back. "Relax, baby," he murmured, his hands tracing soothing circles on Donghyuck's hips. "He's getting lube. We'll need it."

Mark’s fingers, already slick with anticipation, fumbled open the small bottle of self heating lubricant he kept in the nightstand. He poured a generous amount into his palm, the cool gel a stark contrast to the heat radiating from the bed before it began to warm up. He could feel Donghyuck’s intense gaze on him, even through the blindfold, a palpable hunger emanating from the omega.

Jaemin chuckled again, a deep, satisfied sound that vibrated through Donghyuck. "Hear that, Hyuck? He's getting the good stuff. We want this to be perfect for you." He tightened his arms around Donghyuck, subtly adjusting him, pressing Donghyuck’s already swollen pucker more firmly against his own eager erection. Donghyuck let out a small, anticipatory whimper.

Mark moved, kneeling beside the bed once more. He reached out, letting his lubed hand sweep over Donghyuck's exposed, ready entrance. The warm, slippery sensation against his highly sensitized skin made Donghyuck gasp, his hips instinctively clenching and trying to squirm against Jaemin. Mark spread his fingers, dipping one, then two into the slick folds, gently stretching and preparing, adding more lube to the already generous coating around Donghyuck's tight, eager opening.

"So wet, baby," Mark rasped, his voice thick with admiration and hunger, his mouth almost salivating with a desire to taste his omega again that he had to squash down. He'll have all the chances in the world to choke around the cute little omega cock, tonight, their baby wants something else. He pulled his fingers back, leaving Donghyuck glistening and ready, a delicious invitation.

Jaemin wasted no time. With Donghyuck still settled securely on his lap, he began to slowly, deliberately, press forward. Donghyuck let out a ragged, strangled cry as the head of Jaemin's cock nudged against his rim, then began to push inside. He stiffened, every muscle in his blindfolded body tensing, the sensation of being stretched and filled almost overwhelming after his previous extensive preparation.

"Easy, baby, just breathe," Jaemin whispered, his voice a low, steady anchor in the storm of sensation, even as he continued his slow, inch-by-inch invasion. Donghyuck whimpered, clutching at Jaemin's thighs, his nails digging in, as his body fought and then reluctantly, gloriously, began to yield. The sounds of thick, wet stretching filled the air, punctuated by Donghyuck's sharp gasps.

Mark watched, utterly mesmerized, his own erection pulsing painfully against his stomach. He could taste the arousal in the air, smell the mingling scents of his two boys. He reached out, his hand finding Donghyuck's hard, veined shaft, which was still glistening from his earlier attention. He wrapped his fingers around it, applying a gentle, rhythmic pressure, a silent promise of his own coming invasion, keeping Donghyuck teetering on the edge, unable to fully relax even as Jaemin steadily claimed him.

Finally, with a thick, wet thud, Jaemin was fully seated. Donghyuck's breath hitched, a long, drawn-out moan escaping his lips as his body shuddered, accommodating the full length and girth. He instinctively arched back against Jaemin, seeking purchase, his muscles clenching tightly around his alpha. The blindfold did nothing to dim the overwhelming sensation of being profoundly, deeply filled.

Jaemin began to move, a slow, deliberate grind that immediately had Donghyuck moaning, his hips starting to rock in a desperate rhythm against his alpha's. Each push of Jaemin's hips brought a fresh wave of sensation, stretching him, kneading him, driving him deeper into a pleasure he'd only just begun to experience.

Mark, still expertly stroking Donghyuck’s cock, watched Jaemin work, a satisfied hum rumbling in his chest. He could feel the quickening pulse beneath his fingers, the way Donghyuck's shaft twitched and swelled with each thrust. He dipped his other hand into the puddle of lube on the bed, coating his own hard erection, preparing it for its moment. Donghyuck's silent demand for both of them echoed in his mind. The omega was ready, more than ready. Soon.

Mark, his own cock slick and aching with anticipation, didn't hesitate. He shifted, aligning himself directly in front of Donghyuck's spread thighs. Donghyuck, still bucking against Jaemin, whimpered when he felt the new presence, a hot, heavy pressure against his entrance. His blindfolded head snapped up, a desperate sound caught in his throat.

"Ready for more, baby?" Mark growled, his voice a low, rough rumble that promised both pleasure and delicious torment. He didn't wait for a response, instead nudging his thick head against Donghyuck's pulsing opening.

Donghyuck’s body tensed, instinctively clenching around Jaemin’s invading length, even as his hips tilted forward, a primal invitation. Mark pushed, slowly, deliberately, his own hard shaft beginning its arduous journey into the already stretched and claimed omega.

Donghyuck screamed, a raw, piercing sound that was muffled by Jaemin’s shoulder as he buried his face there. His back arched violently, a primal scream of pure, unadulterated sensation. He felt himself tear, just a little, a sharp, searing pain instantly overwhelmed by the incredible, impossible stretch of being filled, completely, by two massive, demanding alphas. His entire being screamed with the exquisite violation, the overwhelming fulfillment of his deepest desires.

With a final, agonizing push, Mark was in. A thick, wet groan escaped his own lips as he felt Donghyuck’s impossibly tight walls clench around him, a sensation of utter possession. He buried himself to the hilt, letting out a shuddering sigh, his body thrumming with raw satisfaction.

Behind Donghyuck, Jaemin began to move again, a slow, deep thrust that sent a wave of pleasure and pressure through Donghyuck, driving him further onto Mark. Donghyuck cried out, his voice choked, his body now a taut bow between them. He was utterly impaled, stretched to his limits, yet his hips instinctively found a rhythm, rocking back and forth, desperate to accommodate the impossible.

Mark joined the rhythm, pushing slowly, feeling the exquisite friction of Donghyuck’s inner muscles, still clenched tightly around both their shafts. Donghyuck was a symphony of gasps and whimpers, each sound a testament to the blissful agony of his situation. The air thickened with their mingled scents – Donghyuck's sweet, musky omega arousal, now tinged with a faint, intoxicating tang of discomfort, and the rich, potent musk of two triumphant alphas.

"God, Hyuck," Mark breathed, his lips pressed to Donghyuck's sweaty forehead, "you're incredible." He felt Donghyuck's blindfolded head thrash, his small hands clawing at the sheets, utterly lost in the overwhelming rush of being taken, completely, by both his alphas. The ride had truly begun.

"You remember your safe word?" Jaemin reminded the omega, his voice a low, possessive rumble against Donghyuck's ear as he drove deeper inside him.

"I'm not using it tonight!" Donghyuck declared, his voice breathless, thick with defiance and burgeoning pleasure. He was a small, shaking bundle of raw sensation between them, his hips still instinctively rocking against the two insistent cocks filling him.

Mark, hearing the bratty defiance, smirked. He reached out, his hand connecting with Donghyuck's trembling thigh with a sharp, echoing smack. The sudden, unexpected impact, amplified by Donghyuck's blindfolded state, punched a shocked scream out of him. His body seized, clenching around both alphas.

"Fuck, okay, it's pain," Donghyuck gasped, his voice ragged, already tinged with the edge of tears, but laced with surrender. "The safe word is pain!"

A shared, guttural growl of satisfaction rumbled from both alphas. Jaemin chuckled darkly from behind, leaning down to nip at Donghyuck's ear. Mark, from the front, tightened his grip on Donghyuck's shaft, his gaze meeting Jaemin's over Donghyuck's head. A silent agreement passed between them.

With renewed vigor, both alphas began to move, their pace unforgiving. Jaemin slammed into Donghyuck from behind, deep, pounding thrusts that drove him further onto Mark's equally relentless forward motion. Donghyuck was crushed between them, a delightful sandwich of omega flesh and demanding alpha cock, his cries escalating from desperate gasps to full-throated moans. The bedsprings creaked a frantic symphony beneath them, mirroring the violent, beautiful rhythm of their shared pleasure.

When both alphas could feel the telltale pulsing of the heat around them, constricting to an almost painful degree, they could tell the tan male wouldn't last much longer. They looked at each other, a silent message passing between them. Their eyes, hot with shared intent, conveyed a primal understanding. Without warning, they both dove down, their faces descending towards Donghyuck's nape. They started with seemingly harmless licks and sucks on his soft, tan skin, drawing out gasps and whimpers from the blindfolded omega. They targeted the sensitive skin over his scent glands, a place typically reserved for tender affection.

Then they bit down, hard.

It wasn't a real mating mark. That's not the sort of thing you can surprise an omega with in the heat of the moment, but it was a mark all the same. More permanent than a hickey or even their scent, a physical, undeniable claim.

The scream that flew past Donghyuck's lips before he could catch it was so loud it left his throat feeling raw, and would probably lead to a lot of teasing from the frat bros the next day. But at that moment, none of them cared, riding out the high of their climax together, their seed coating the heated insides and also each other, mixing with the slick and the lubricant, spilling out when it all became too much for the already too full passage.

"Kiss me?" Donghyuck whispers with what little air and sanity he has left. Those words, Jaemin remembers them from a past life, from an I'll conceived threesome. That time they weren't for him, that time, they had been ignored.

Not this time, never again.

Craning his neck, the blond locked lips with the rosy mouth, using a hand to push Mark's head forward to join them in a filthy dance is tongues and lips.

The sheets were a mess of fluids, the kiss was a nasty mess with no rhythm, they were a mess of a relationship.

But it was their mess, and what a mess it was: Perfect.