Chapter Text
the city of Bangkok glowed outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of Mark’s apartment. inside, the silence was warm and heavy. they were cuddling on the sofa, the remains of late-night takeout dinner on the coffee table. Mark was leaning against Junior’s chest, tracing the lines of the Alpha’s palm with a lazy, content finger.
“i still can’t believe how lucky i am,” Mark murmured, his voice was a mix of exhaustion and happiness. “of all people i could blackmailed into a fake contract, i somehow picked the one who actually liked me.”
Junior let out a soft laugh, his arm tightening around Mark’s shoulders. “you didn’t pick me, Mark. i think, in a way, i’ve been waiting for you to notice i was there for a very long time.”
Mark pulled back, tilting his head with a curious frown. “what do you mean? we only really talk… talk because of the audit.”
Junior looked at him, reaching out, and tucking a stray hair behind Mark’s ear. “do you remember the old headquarters? the emergency stairwell that always smelled like damp concrete?”
Mark stiffened. his mind flashed back to a memort he had buried deep — that day where he felt the weight of being a “Beta defect” crushed him. “yeah… why?”
“four years ago, i was a new junior officer. i was taking the stairs because the elevators were so slow. i found someone crying there. i’d just heard before that what those Alpha executives said about you in the breakroom — how you were the ‘weak link’, how you can’t dominate a boardroom because you weren’t an Alpha.”
Mark’s breath hitched. “you… were there?”
“a landing above you,” Junior confessed. “i want to come down to tell you that they were the weak ones for needing a secondary dynamic to feel powerful. but i was nobody, and you… you are the president’s son. so i just stayed there, kept a silent watch until you wiped your tears, threw your chin up, and walked back out to face them.”
“from that day on,” Junior continued. “my eyes never left you. i witnessed you work yourself to the bone. i saw the gentle side you tried so hard to hide — how you left tips for the cleaners, the day you ran three blocks in a suit to save that injured cat near the old office.”
Junior smiled, looking slightly sad and happy too. “i spent years cheering for you from the shadows. i made sure your files were always perfectly cross-checked. i made sure compliance never flagged your accounts, even when your father was looking for reasons to doubt your competency. Mark, i fell in love with the one of the stairs long before i ever met the director you.”
Mark was silent, feeling warmness behind his eyelids. all this time, he had thought he was alone. he had thought he was an island in a sea of Alphas. he didn’t realize that someone had been building a fortress, brick by brick around him for four years.
“so… when you cornered me with that contract,” Junior whispered, leaning his forehead against Mark’s. “i didn’t agree to it because of the money or the position. i agreed because for the first time in four years, i was finally allowed to step out of the shadows, and actually take take care of you.”
Mark didn’t say anything. he couldn’t. he simply pulled the man, burying his face in Junior’s neck, hugging him tight.
“i swear to god, Junior. you… oh lord, i love you so much,” Mark whispered against Junior’s skin, his voice trembling with joy. “i love you.”
“i love you more. every single version of you,” Junior echoed, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of the man he had loved for years.
no contract. the audit was over, the data was complete. the ledger was finally balanced, the office was dark. and Afterhours belonged to them now.
— the end.