41: Chanyeol and Minseok's relationship there were a lot of firsts. But only one in particular made a difference. Pairing!XiuYeol/ChanMin, ArrangedMarriage!AU, (Non-)ABO!AU

From the moment Chanyeol and Minseok met, everything changed.

One moment, Minseok's heart's desires were at his fingertips—never denied—and the next he was forced by his parents into an arranged marriage to a gangly giant of an alpha. The other man was too tall and too alpha to be anything like Minseok's ideal type, but his father and mother remained firm and for the first time in Minseok's entire life he didn't get his way.

Chanyeol's parents had been a little less indulgent during their own son's formative years, but the alpha certainly hadn't suffered as a child and was no more pleased by the marriage arrangement than Minseok. And anyway, Minseok wasn't Chanyeol's ideal type either. The taller man's tastes ran more toward self-sufficient betas and far, far away from the petulant, spoilt omega on whose hand now sat the Park family ring.

But Chanyeol was an alpha above all else, and above all else alphas cared for omegas; the cumpulsion to do so was literally biologically ingrained and Chanyeol was no exception to that rule. So when the weight of Minseok's selfish demands transferred from the omega's parents to the omega's new husband, Chanyeol did what he could to keep Minseok happy. (If only because a happy Minseok meant a quiet Minseok, and a non-whiny spouse made Chanyeol happy too.) That's not to say that Chanyeol gave his omega everything the smaller man puffed his pretty cheeks and pouted his plump lips for. There was no way Chanyeol's pride could condone the hiring of a personal masseuse, for example, especially since he'd heard more than a few rumors about bored omegas cheating on their alphas with the household staff. Refusing that request was the first time Chanyeol ever said no to his husband's demands, and Minseok began to really dislike all of the first times and new experiences that came with being married.

The alpha and the omega were married for nearly six months before Minseok's opinions began to change. Even then the transformation was painfully slow and would never, ever have happened if not for one first time in particular.

Up to that defining moment, Minseok and Chanyeol merely coexisted, content to remain distant in the separate bedrooms of the luxury apartment that Mommy and Daddy Kim had purchased as a wedding present. The Kims had hoped the gift—and the elaborately decorated master bedroom—would appease their son as well as bring the new couple closer but it hadn't. And with their old-fashioned beliefs about alpha-omega power dynamics, Minseok's parents would probably have been appalled to learn that their son and his husband had yet to sleep together—ually or otherwise. It was really just luck and good planning that kept the omega's parents from discovering the truth because anyone with a nose could smell that Minseok's scent was untainted, unclaimed, and entirely his own; if not for the glint of the Park family crest that flashed from Minseok's wedding ring, no one would even know that the omega was married.

Minseok knew that any control an omega exercised in a marriage was merely illusionary and so if his husband wished to claim him, Minseok knew that Chanyeol was well within his rights to do so. But since his husband hadn't, Minseok figured that Chanyeol had his own reasons for allowing Minseok that modicum of extra freedom usually reserved for omegas who were unattached. (Chanyeol's instincts were itching to stake a mated claim simply because marriage made Minseok his omega, but the alpha indeed left his husband to his own devices. Actually, not smelling taken was essentially a gift in Chanyeol's opinion. And it wasn't like the alpha couldn't find ual gratification elsewhere—even if Minseok doing the same would be a huge scandal and would probably set Chanyeol's proprietary alpha pheremones blazing.)

Of course, there were many benefits to not carrying his husband's scent mark, but Minseok especially enjoyed being the object of interested attention whenever he deigned to appear at his "part-time job."

(Since Chanyeol owned the cupcake shop where Minseok sometimes worked, in actuality the omega's position there wasn't anything like part-time at all. Minseok had complained about boredom and how unfair the double standards were that let Chanyeol out of the house to do stuff—and other people—but kept high-society married omegas like Minseok cooped up inside. He didn't actually want to do anything labor intensive, but he did want something to do with his time, and the job at the cupcake shop had been a compromise between the newlyweds. It was the first time for that, too.)

Ironically, Minseok's flirting extended past his hours at the bakery to practically anyone except his own husband and historically Chanyeol hadn't seemed to mind.  It was a great shock to all involved, then, when Minseok came home from work one day after batting his eyelashes at the world—business as usual, really—and Chanyeol had actually growled.

"Who is he?" Chanyeol's voice had been low and threatening and produced all sorts of emotions in Minseok that the omega had never experienced before. The alpha's words were deep and rough, the sound of them floating over Minseok's skin and making the omega shiver, even as he recounted the story to a friend of his when he stopped by the cupcake shop again that next day.

"I told him he was crazy and hid in my room for the rest of the night. He was damn y though, Baek."

"You told me the boss wasn't your type," Baekhyun, Minseok's friend, coworker, and fellow married omega pointed out dubiously.

"You married for love," Minseok reminded his friend. "Have your parents force you into a marriage you don't want and then you can tell me about wanting to mate with the guy immediately and walking around smelling like only him for the rest of your life." He pouted cutely with a little huff and hopped up onto the counter behind the register, pulling out his phone to play a game and leaving Baekhyun to deal with the customer who'd just entered the bakery.

"One blue haired omega, please," the customer's husky voice requested, and the tone was so similar to Chanyeol's that it broke Minseok's game concentration almost instantly. The omega's head snapped up and his gaze caught that of a smirking Baekhyun before he looked past his friend to see the alpha from the day before, the one whose scent on Minseok had made Chanyeol so angry. (Their hands had briefly brushed as Minseok offered the alpha his change, and the man had apparently scent marked Minseok—without permission—during that exchange.)

The customer's "order" finally registered after another moment and Minseok just gaped while Baekhyun winked at the man, pulled Minseok off the counter, and declared, "Coming right up!"

Minseok resisted the urge to blush and forced his lips into a flirty smile as he in his cheeks and raised an inquisitive brow. The alpha's eyes dropped shamelessly to Minseok's mouth and the man his lips, making his interests clear.

"It's you," Minseok breathed out, purposefully a little just because he could.

"Yifan," the alpha shared through gritted teeth, nostrils flaring as he sniffed the air and Minseok's unclaimed scent registered. Yifan smirked, likely registering the scent of Minseok's light attraction as well, and held out a hand. "Take a walk with me?"

Minseok hesitated, remembering the heat of Chanyeol's anger. (It had been super y, sure, but also made Minseok tremble against the biological urge to bare his neck in surrender.) But Baekhyun had no such qualms about Chanyeol's wrath, and the omega practically pushed Minseok around the counter into Yifan's arms.

"Have fun you two," Baekhyun commented with a cheeky wink. "Don't worry, Minnie," he added, "I'll hold down the shop."

But I'm married! Minseok wanted to shout as a frantic reminder to his friend even as he clutched Yifan's forearm and walked with the alpha toward the door. There was a fine line between harmless fun and infidelity, and even if Baekhyun considered a walk with Yifan "harmless fun," Minseok was almost positive that Chanyeol would disagree. Still, Minsoek wasn't used to considering his husband's feelings—this was something new again, yet another "first time"—so he ignored his own concerns, pressed closer to Yifan's side, and fawned prettily when the alpha held open the door for him.

"Thank you," Minseok cooed demurely, looking up at Yifan through long eyelashes and smiling sweetly. "Such a gentleman."

"My pleasure," Yifan responded with a smile of his own before rearranging their stances to wrap an arm around Minseok's slimmer shoulders and resuming their stroll. "An omega as beautiful as you deserves someone with manners."

Minseok did blush then, and thoughts of Chanyeol appeared unbidden as the omega remembered all the times his husband had cared for him and freely given Minseok practically whatever he'd asked for. (Chanyeol had manners, too.) The blue haired male could practically even see the expression of righteous anger flit across Chanyeol's face as Minseok turned to Yifan and teased coquettishly, "I'm not sure someone with manners would so blatantly pursue an omega who's already married."

The Chanyeol in Minseok's mind emitted a low whine of warning and clenched his fists tightly when Yifan smirked, strengthened his grip on Minseok's shoulders, and whispered into the omega's hair, "It isn't my fault your husband is too much of an idiot to claim someone as remarkable as you."

Chanyeol's low whine became an outright growl of possessiveness the moment Yifan's lips brushed against Minseok's forehead, and suddenly Minseok wasn't imagining Chanyeol's reactions because Chanyeol really was there. (Had been there the whole time, actually.)

"Remove your arm from my omega," Minseok's husband commanded with enough authority to make Minseok's knees weak.

"This must be your alpha," Yifan commented to Minseok, tone almost nonchalant as he tightened his grip again and raised his arm so it was an immovable ring around the smaller man's neck. Yifan pulled Minseok in front of him and leaned over to let his lips brush the omega's cheek, though his gaze never left Chanyeol's. "Pity."

Chanyeol was still growling in simmering anger and Minseok was beginning to whimper at the bruising pressure of Yifan's arm against his neck. He could feel Yifan's teeth graze his ear and shuddered involuntarily in reaction to the sudden fog of battling alpha pheromones swirling around him. Minseok's husband took a step toward Yifan and the other alpha chuckled darkly, nuzzling Minseok's nape like a taunt. "Pity," he repeated, his tone darker but still somewhat amused.

The vocal effect was a cynical one and Minseok didn't like it, not at all. He found himself yearning desperately for the comfort of Chanyeol's protection, wondering about the warmth of Chanyeol's embrace, questioning his own sanity as to why he'd ever thought that being unclaimed by his own husband was a good thing.

Minseok whimpered again and gathered enough courage to plead, "Stop it, please. I'm not worth it. Just let me go."

Surprisingly, Yifan shrugged. (Minseok could feel the movement all the way to his toes.) Still the alpha didn't release the little omega from his hold for another few moments, and in that time Minseok prayed fervently to all the Kim and Park ancestors combined, thanking them just as feverishly when Yifan finally loosened his grip and stepped back.

"He's all yours," the alpha sneered to Chanyeol before walking away and leaving Minseok to sink to the ground without any physical support to hold him up against the adrenaline crash.

"I'm so," Minseok choked on his apology as he began to sob, but Chanyeol, who rushed forward as soon as Yifan was gone, swooped Minseok into his arms and held him tightly.

"It's alright," Chanyeol comforted, though his teeth were still gritted in anger. "I know you're sorry. It's fine. You're alright."

In a few moments, Minseok felt like he could breathe again and the last thought he had before losing himself to sleep in his husband's arms was that everything, everything smelled exactly—and only—like Chanyeol.

(The alpha admitted later that night that he had, indeed, scent marked Minseok. Chanyeol was tired of ignoring the compulsion to claim his own husband, and the stench of Yifan on Minseok's skin had only been making Chanyeol more and more jealous as he carried the sleeping omega home in his arms. It was the first time Chanyeol actively came to Minseok's aid, the first time Minseok saw Chanyeol as anything other than an unwanted match, and later, when Minseok flirtily reminded his alpha that the scent marking was really only temporary until the true claiming between mates could occur, Chanyeol practically pounced on him.

It was the first time for them to do that together, too.)

This is a mess. Thanks for reading it anyway.