Being Donghyuck's was the most wonderful feeling Mark had ever experienced in his life. 

But truthfully, he needed it. He needed all of those wonderful moments with Donghyuck to get through the rest of his days. The times where he was all alone at home, bored and lonely out of his mind. But even more those times when his dad was home, Jaehyun. 

The sun had set a while before, and Donghyuck was long gone when Jaehyun came back home, no Doyoung by his side. He'd said the hunt was so bad that the best hunters needed to stay a little bit longer, just in case they could get a little bit more food. Jaehyun had been immediately sent home for Mark's sake, and his sour expression told Mark everything he needed to know. 

But he could ignore it for a while, when his skin still tingled with Donghyuck's touch and he could still feel Donghyuck's lips on his own. He couldn't let Jaehyun's cloud touch him just yet. 

But he couldn't keep that feeling going for very long. Not while Jaehyun was so unusually quiet, heaving great sighs, staring out the window in longing, and not the sort of longing for his mate to come home. 

Mark swallowed. It made him feel gross. 

Every second this continued Mark's beautiful afternoon with Donghyuck faded in his mind and his utter came to the forefront. He was sick. He needed more care from his parents. But that wasn't his fault at all; and children often fall ill without being in these circumstances. When a parent has a child, shouldn't they acknowledge that? Shouldn't they keep it in mind that their child may need extra care before having one? 

Mark crossed his arms and adjusted himself in the bed, turning onto his side. At this point, he was so disgusted with his own father that he couldn't even bear to look at him. 

"Mark?" Jaehyun spoke, his voice a little high pitched and quiet. He rubbed his son's arm, and although Mark could hear the clear concern in his voice, he wasn't moved. "Is something wrong?" 

Mark took a deep breath, in and out. He couldn't take this any more. He had the strength to finally have this conversation. "Yes. Yes something is ing wrong." 

"Oh my god do you feel okay?" Jaehyun spoke hurriedly, looking over Mark. 

"I'm fine, dad, I don't feel sick, I'm just pissed off!" He cried, voice growing louder and louder, the first time he'd ever raised his voice at his parents. Jaehyun jumped back in surprise; omega children were notorius for being extremely obedient to their parents, even through their teenage years. 

Unless they felt their parents had truly wronged them. 

Unless they felt their parents had truly wronged them. 

Jaehyun pondered this as he looked at his trembling child, the guilt and pity overwhelming on his face. "Mark... I-I'm not sure what's going on but I love you, we-"

Mark scoffed. "You're not sure what's going on?"

"Look, I can tell my words the other day must have hurt you and I'm sorry, but-"

"But what? There's no but to this." 

"Mark, there is, it's just-" 

"Dad!" Mark yelled. "Dad, I'm just...okay, okay, it's so hard for you to not be hunting or whatever, but you know what else is hard? Having the only person you come into contact with, all day, wish they were somewhere else when you're together. It's just...it just hurts so much that you're embarrassed to take care of your only child who, I might add, doesn't have much time left anyways!" 

Jaehyun winced hard at that and stared pointedly at the floor. 

"You're just being so obvious that you don't want me, or at least want me enough to be doing this. Okay maybe people talk about our family and our situation but it's embarrassing that it affects you deeply enough to show your only son how upset you are to be by his side. You know, you're mated to a beta. You signed up to have an unusual family life. You signed up for the fact that beta children are almost always sick; didn't Kun say it was a miracle I've lasted this long? That I was healthy even for those first ten years? Maybe if you'd used your brain and thought about what being mated to a beta was like, you wouldn't be in this situation. And maybe I'd be healthy. But, I guess using your brain is hard for the typical alpha." 

"Mark I am madly in love with your father. Didn't I say that all of this sacrifice was worth it? To have him and to have you?" 

"You clearly don't get it if you think of this as a sacrifice. And you don't seem to love either of us enough to take your sacrifice in stride. What kind of sacrifice is it if you make us feel guilty every day for what you're doing?" 

Jaehyun and Mark just looked at each other. Mark could feel his father's struggle just in that glance: the words of the pack and society and other alphas and his ancestors before him, versus the words of Doyoung and Mark and Taeyong, two messages vying to tear him apart. 

Was it wrong for Mark to wish he didn't have to feel this way? Was it wrong for Mark to wish that he just knew what the right thing was and to act on it? Was it wrong for him to wish Jaehyun could overcome all the toxic alpha messages in his heart? 

"Mark, I-" Jaehyun started, more upset than Mark had ever seen in his life, maybe on the edge of crying. And alpha's tears are a rare thing. 

But this was Mark's turn to be upset. He was in the right, and he'd had enough. 

"Dad, just get out. Leave me alone."

Jaehyun watched for a long time but Mark just turned in his bed, staring at the wall. Finally he heard the sound of the door gently shutting behind him, and his father's footsteps moving far away. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It was a long period of silence before Mark heard anything again. It was the voice of his other father, Doyoung, carrying from the front door into the house. Doyoung and Jaehyun were having a muffled conversation at the doorway; they both sounded exhausted. Mark sighed. He never meant to get Doyoung involved too, but it looked like now, that couldn't be avoided. 

He seemed to leave again but Jaehyun did not come back inside. A few minutes later Mark heard their voices again for a brief moment before he heard footsteps again in the house. 

And into Mark's room walked Doyoung, his beta father, alone. It was almost strange; Doyoung had been so busy lately that they almost never had time alone together. 

Wordlessly, Doyoung began to take care of him, checking his blankets, his water, the medicine that kept him living but barely ‪alive. It was a long time before he even spoke. 

"Things are hard right now. The famine isn't improving. Every day, all of us adults have to work harder to keep everyone ‪alive. And you're getting older. It's impossible and we all know it, but you want to go out, do things, be independent. So we're all on edge right now. Nobody is their kindest, best self." 

Mark sighed. Doyoung was right, ever the logical beta. But his anger was soothed only a little, and there was only so much sympathy he could give to his alpha father. 

"I'm still upset though," Mark mumbled, truthfully. 

"Of course you are." Doyoung sat down on the edge of Mark's bed, brushing some black hair out of his face. He rolled his eyes and smiled, but so close, Mark could see the exhaustion evident on his face. "I get it. Alphas. But Jaehyun is one of the best of them. Everyone has their flaws, right? And he has his own too. But he tries his best, I promise." 

"Oh god. If he's one of the best then..."

"I know, Mark, I know....but... he does his best." 

"I just don't get it dad. You're the best hunter of the pack, right?" 

Doyoung thought for a moment before smiling proudly. "You could say that, yeah." 

"Then why did you mate with Jaehyun? You didn't really have to mate, did you? And wouldn't you mate with an omega who would totally support your hunting and do all the home stuff for you?" 

"I mated with Jaehyun because I loved him. And I still do. And I've never regretted being his mate." 

"But... how did you two even meet? Did you meet in school or on the hunt? Did you always just hunt? When did you realize you were a beta; wouldn't that have stopped you from hunting?" 

"I honestly didn't realize I was a beta until I was around your age. Maybe a year or so younger. Up until that point I was raised as an alpha." 

"Then... why did you and Jaehyun even consider mating? You wouldn't have considered each other until then..."

"We actually didn't meet until we were in our twenties. I was raised in a different pack." 

"Wait, what?" Mark cried. He was truly confused now. 

Doyoung took a deep breath. "I guess, I should tell you the story of Jaehyun and I. It's a... complex story, so, keep that in mind." 

Mark was curious, of course, but he was more so weirded out by his father's obvious nervousness. Why would he react this way? 

But before Mark could think on it any further, Doyoung began. 

"So...you know about the war, right?" 

"Of course." Even though Mark and all of his friends had been born just after the war, their victory was one of the pack's biggest sources of pride, discussed frequently for years after its end. 

"Actually, I was raised in the enemy pack and lived there until the final battle. Your grandmother and I spent most of our lives there." 

Slowly, Mark's jaw began to drop. "B-But...weren't all of them evil?" 

"Well...there are unkind people in this pack as well, and omegas are restricted no matter what pack you're in. But that pack...it was truly a nightmare to live there. There wasn't a voting system for Head like there is here; the strongest alpha of the pack became Head. And omegas were tossed around carelessly. Once I found out I was a beta, I feared for my life and dignity every day. Some of your old friend's parents are from that pack as well: Sicheng, Jungwoo, Ten and Taeil. All of us were mistreated in some way or another. Maybe the alphas were disgustingly cruel. The omegas could be cruel too but they were so helpless, it was understandable. So...I wouldn't say all of them were evil. But compared to this...it was hell."

"I'm really glad you came to this pack then...did you and grandma move when the war ended?"

This was the moment when Doyoung swallowed and looked down at his lap. "Well...." He sighed. "I'll just explain. During the final battle, our pack invaded my old pack. I was fighting my way through because I wanted to make sure my mother and Taeil stayed safe. But, Jaehyun realized I was a beta. Actually, Johnny was about to kill me. But he saved my life and took me with the omegas." 

Doyoung chuckled at that and Mark tilted his head. "What's funny?" 

"At the same, I was so upset about it. But I'm truly grateful that he did that for me." Mark was just even more confused, but he continued listening to his father. "So...we got here to this pack, and Taeyong told us that all of the alphas of our pack were killed in the battle." Mark gasped, but Doyoung just carried on. "And our territory didn't have enough room for an entire pack's worth of pups and omegas. So...Taeyong had to send them off." 

"Send them off?" Mark tried to understand him for a moment before getting his meaning. "Like...without an alpha to help hunt?" 

"They...they ended up being okay," Doyoung defended, but Mark could see in his eyes his doubt about this issue too. Mark felt like he'd learned so much and yet it still had so many questions, thought so many things didn't quite line up. And he still hadn't learned how he and Jaehyun got together, but fear was growing and growing in his heart. 

"But then, how did you and Jaehyun meet?" 

"Well...before Taeyong sent off the omegas, he let some of our pack's powerful alphas...chose amongst the leftover people to stay in the pack." 

"Stay in the pack for what?" Mark asked. He didn't like where this was going. 

"To be...to be mates." Mark quickly looked shocked but Doyoung continued talking, trying to calm him down. "A-as you could probably assume at this point, Jaehyun chose me...and Johnny chose Taeil, and Yuta chose Sicheng, and Taeyong chose Ten, and Yukhei chose Jungwoo. And, well...we ended up falling in love. All of us did." 

"You fell in love...through that."

"Look, he and I-" 

"He...dad....he..." 

"Mark, I know it sounds bad. And things were difficult between us at first, but we ended up learning more about ourselves, and each other, and we both grew and grew together! And it didn't feel wrong to fall in love with him. It never felt like I was giving in, instead, I was just accepting a different part of myself." 

"So let me get this straight. You're the best hunter of both packs. Half your old pack gets killed and the other half gets abadoned. And you just decide to it up and fall in love?" 

"We didn't just it up, Mark, we tried to escape but-" 

"You tried to escape? So...these alphas, just, trapped you here and forced you to mate them?" 

"They didn't force us-" 

"Oh my god," Mark interrupted, falling back onto the bed. "Doyoung, did you want what you have now? Did you want to be mated to an alpha? Did you think Jaehyun, I dunno, was cute during the battle?" 

"I...When I was young, I wanted something different, I won't lie. Before I came here. But as I grew as a person I realized I wanted exactly what I have right now. This whole thing was so complicated, Mark, it's a hard story to tell quickly but it's not as bad as it seems, I swear-" 

"That. is complete. Bull!" Mark yelled. Doyoung gasped; he too was shocked to see Mark so upset. At the loud noise Jaehyun came running back in, muscles tensed in full alpha mode. But he completely changed when he saw Mark's angry and Doyoung's shocked expression, staring with hurt and surprise at Mark, and wrapping his arm around Doyoung's waist. 

"What's going on?" Jaehyun cried. "Doyoung always understand you better..." he mumbled. 

"I can't believe it. I can't ing believe it!" 

"Mark," Doyoung whined worriedly. 

"I hate you both. I seriously hate you both. Jaehyun, you're just a terrible person! Doyoung was a strong independent beta before you forced him to be your mate and took away his freedom. Why should he have ever had to take care of me? He should have been out hunting with you. , he's a better hunter than you. And Doyoung, you are so oblivious that you have been completely stockholm syndromed! You just totally let this stupid alpha ruin your life! You're so weak!" He screamed. 

At Mark's final words Doyoung shuddered and Jaehyun held him a little tighter, not protectively, just supportively. 

"You know what," Mark continued, so full of rage at everything that he could barely contain himself. "I should have never been born. Really. I mean it. You shouldn't have kidnapped and mated Doyoung by force. And you shouldn't have been weak and let all your hunting ability go to waste by having a kid. Didn't you guys think that you could also have a sick kid? Everyone knows children of betas are destined to die too soon, and I've got that destiny too, so, thanks for that. Yeah, thanks Doyoung. Never should have been born." 

Mark stared proudly back at his stunned fathers. In a way, they reacted so similarly: Jaehyun was clearly trying very hard to react calmly and gently but he was tensing up, alpha style. Doyoung was too; Mark could see it in his shoulders, and as he thought more about his parents, his childhood, his home, it made so much sense that Doyoung was raised as an alpha. But Doyoung had the beta status inside of him; he had enough calming will to make sure he didn't overreact and place a gentle hand on Jaehyun's arm, keeping him down as well. 

At that, Mark rolled his eyes. Why was it Doyoung's job to keep Jaehyun calm? In a perfect world, both of his parents would be mated to omegas, one Jaehyun couldn't quite oppress as much, one Doyoung could be free with. And if Mark existed at all, he'd be healthy. 

"Mark," Doyoung spoke, his voice cracking with utter hurt. 

But Mark was hurt too. He was hurt from what is and what was, from what he came from. So he shifted into the bed on his side, avoiding his parent's eyes. 

"Go away," he mumbled. 

"Mark, please," Jaehyun begged. 

"No. Go away, please, leave me alone. And tomorrow, don't bother to stay here with me. Go hunt. I know both of you would like that better." 

Mark felt his parents eyes on him for a long time, watching his curled up figure, waiting to cry until they left him alone. He stared at the dead flower stems, still in a glass on his bedside table. 

They were dead, but they died out of love. They didn't spent a life in the ground, held back, growing for nothing. 

Mark counted his blessings when his parents finally left him alone.