his territory | markhyuck

14

"who did that?" the alpha asked again, now more angry but not at the omega but at whoever had done this to him.

"what are you talking about?" donghyuck hissed, rolling his eyes. mark squinted his eyes at the omega.

"you know exactly what i'm talking about." he growled and grabbed donghyuck's arm so the younger couldn't walk away. they stared at each other in frustration with each other. mark because donghyuck wouldn't tell him what's up and donghyuck because he was irritated with mark. they kept their eye contact, mark trying his best to show the omega that he was speaking from a place of worry. however he didn't know if donghyuck had understood as they suddenly broke their eye contact when a customer accidentally ran into donghyuck. the omega quickly apologised and then walked away, returning to his job. mark stared at his back, confused and somewhat frustrated with the omega but also himself. he realized he shouldn't have been that aggressive and now cursed himself for it.

for the rest of donghyuck's shift the omega only talked to mark when absolutely necessary. the latter didn't like that at all, however he didn't try to start another conversation as he somehow sensed it would only upset donghyuck further. at the end doyoung took over again, letting mark off. deciding to rest early today he went to bed soon after but couldn't fall asleep. his mind tried desperately to search for an answer for donghyuck's behaviour. why was he so quiet and scared now when he had been so bubbly and confident before? not only that but his scent too and the marks on the omega's neck. it worried mark. a lot.

the next few days weren't different from the first one. on friday however mark finally had his first boxing lesson. he went to a small gym together with johnny and there learned some of the most basic punches. when he arrived back he was completely exhausted. he didn't even bother to ask taeil to let him join his friends on their night out as he already knew the beta would decline his request.

knowing he would have to check in with doyoung to see if he could help out, mark returned to the cafe soon which had already a bar-ish vibe around it as people started talking louder and with more alcohol in their blood.

the alpha sat down at the counter, knowing that if doyoung wanted him to do something the beta would come on his own. however when someone finally spoke to him it wasn't doyoung but a certain omega.

"what would you like to drink?" donghyuck asked, giving mark a smile. it was the typical employee smile, mark could identify it immediately as it was the same one he had been wearing all day.

"i don't want a drink, thank you. you wouldn't know where doyoung-hyung is, would you?" mark said. donghyuck shook his head and mark cursed under his breath. however he quickly realized that donghyuck was still present so he took the opportunity and tried to talk with him once again in hopes that donghyuck would reject him as last time.

"how have you been? are you liking the job?" he asked, looking up at the omega. the boy was avoiding his eyes, staring at the empty counter. his hands were playing with a cleaning cloth and mark didn't even need to smell his scent to tell that donghyuck was nervous or rather anxious.

"i'm alright. the job's nice too." the omega replied emotionless causing mark to frown.

"i'm sorry for last time. i was just worried about you." he said. he could see donghyuck gulp and it seemed like the omega was about to break out in tears. mark leaned a bit closer to him and to his happiness, donghyuck didn't step back.

"it's alright." the latter said and finally dropped the cloth. he quickly looked at mark, giving him a small smile.

"what happened to you?" mark questioned, hoping that donghyuck would finally tell him what was going on. however the only response he got was "i can't tell you."
the alpha sighed in frustration and asked "why not?!"

"he doesn't want me to." the omega said, his voice barely over a whisper.

"who?" mark questioned again but donghyuck only shook his head again, this time more eagerly. mark cursed under his breath.

"is it the same person that gave you the marks?" he asked but donghyuck stayed quiet. the alpha noticed however a single tear rolling down his cheek. cursing at himself, mark took donghyuck's hand in his. the omega flinched horribly at first but then let it happen.

mark loved the way their hands fit together perfectly. like a missing puzzle piece had finally put into its place. donghyuck's warm skin made mark feel all giddy inside and as he started to trace his thumb over the back of donghyuck's hand he could see goosebumps forming on the other's arm, telling him that this wasn't a one sided thing and that donghyuck was it too. it being the weird something that had started to form between them ever since they first met. mark didn't dare to define it and would definitely never talk about it out loud, especially not to donghyuck. it would only sound like they were mates which sounded incredibly ridiculous in mark's head.

checking donghyuck's face he could see that the boy's eyes weren't tearing up anymore. instead a smile had spread on his lips, a smile that mark hadn't seen on him in a while. and it made mark happy.

sadly, their little moment soon was disturbed by a customer voicing his wishes for a drink. donghyuck let go of mark's hand and walked to the customer. mark missed the warmth in his hand but didn't bother to keep his hand extended as he knew donghyuck wouldn't come back to him. instead he stood up and walked into the small kitchen. there he found doyoung who was leaning over the counter, noting something down.

"hello hyung." the alpha said. in the past weeks, he had grown to use the word around doyoung and taeil as he grew closer with them with each passing day. despite them still having their discussions and disagreements regularly, mark wondered if this was what having a functioning family felt like. whenever he would be upset or angry at the two elders, he would speak up. often the betas wouldn't agree with him but they still tried to make mark's stay as comfortable for him as possible. and mark didn't fail to acknowledge that.

one time after taeil had once again forbidden him to go out with his friends, their argument got heated and mark stomped off into his room. that evening at the dinner table taeil had apologised to him and mark had to refrain himself from crying as this was the first time in years that someone had given him a sincere apology. especially someone who was in a higher position powerwise. these little things would happen more often and therefore mark had formed a closer bond with both taeil and doyoung and was therefore now very comfortable with calling them his hyungs.

back to reality, doyoung assured mark that tonight his help wasn't needed. apparently donghyuck was a really good employee and very reliable which filled mark with relief as he was now rest assured that seeing donghyuck around would become a casual thing. maybe one day the omega would trust him enough to finally open up. mark considered asking doyoung if he had noticed anything but chose not to. it would only confuse and worry the already busy beta and mark didn't want that. instead he just thanked doyoung and went back to the main room which was more crowded than before. he gave donghyuck behind the counter a smile and a quick wave of his hand before retreating upstairs again.

he felt very tired now and was glad that tomorrow he didn't have to get up early for work. while changing he made plans to visit heechul's music shop again. there was a ton of thoughts on his mind and he would love to write them all down, whether as lyrics or just as little note. with this idea in mind he finally went to bed.

[a/n: exams are over so i'll start posting like normal again, also thank you for 10k?!]