Chapter Text
‘’To your left, Hyuck!’’
Donghyuck moves before his brain can process the words spoken to him. He tries to differentiate between the voices of his teammates and the opposite teams despite the adrenaline that is rushing through his veins that is clouding his senses. The crowd that is filling up the bleachers of the basketball arena is counting down with roaring voices the seconds until the buzzer will erupt. Ten seconds left with one last chance to take home the national championship that will eventually lead them into international level. His dream was at the tip of his fingers — the dream he had spent his entire youth fighting for. He wouldn't dare to let anything come between it.
He turns his body swiftly to the right and directs the ball to their captain. It is now or never, he thinks as he passes the ball in the air.
The nerves inside of him are so heavy that he darts his attention towards the scoreboard in distraction. There are only five seconds left, with the score being tied 100 - 100. He closes his eyes in anxiousness and shuts all of his senses down with trembling hands and shattered breathing as the countdown reaches one.
‘’Donghyuck, we fucking did it,’’ there are multiple bodies pressed against him when he finally regains enough power to open up his eyes. He snaps his eyes towards the scoreboard the second the bright lights of the hall invade his senses.
103 - 100
The sensation that fills his chest as all of his functions open up again can only be described as finally breathing after staying underwater for a long amount of time. Cheers, mixed with the weeps of happiness from his own teammates and the overbearing music blasting through the speakers wash over him like a mighty wave crashing into the ocean.
And there is only one thing Donghyuck can find himself able to do — yell his lungs out in sheer happiness.
‘’First of all, I just want to personally congratulate you all for the win we got today. All of us here made sure that our school managed to reach the national level for the first time in over a decade,’’ Mark, their captain, spoke proudly in the cramped up locker room when the team finally managed to calm down enough with the help of a rushed shower and a bit of stretching. ‘’But we didn’t stop there - no, we even managed to win the whole fucking championship. We are going international, baby!’’
Broken cheers explode in the locker room once again. Despite his throat begging him for a warm cup of tea, or really anything to solve the sandpaper-like feeling burning at the back of it, Donghyuck finds himself following along as well with his own cheers.
‘’Now remember guys, the upcoming weeks will be the some of the hardest training we will ever experience,’’ Mark continues on when the cheers dimmed down a bit.
‘’That ain’t nothing but child’s play, captain,’’ Jeno jokes besides Donghyuck, earning him a couple of snorts.
Mark smiles in his direction before regaining his posture back. ‘’So, are you guys with me?’’
Donghyuck glances down at his deep green jersey with his own name written on it above the numbers 58 in a bold white color. He thinks back to the neverending hours where the team locked themselves up in the gymnasium next to their dorms and practiced until their limbs cried out in pain to those games where they had been a hair strand away from losing it all but pulled through last minute. He thinks back on those nights where the only people that believed in their team was the team itself.
‘’Until the very end,’’ he says with pride.
The end, as it seems, came faster than Donghyuck had initially anticipated. Three days after their huge win, in fact.
‘’Donghyuck, there’s mail for you,’’ Mark announces as he walks into the living room. Judging by the hair that is stuck to his forehead and his sweat-stained t-shirt, Donghyuck can tell that he had just returned from his daily morning run.
The letter in question falls onto the couch right beside him, with Mark following suit. Donghyuck cringes slightly at the thick smell of sweat that crash into him, but he bites down his tongue. He knows that Mark experiences the same thing on the regular because of him as well.
He can feel Mark’s gaze on him as his eyes follow the content of the letter carefully. He tries not to let his emotions show too much, but he supposes that if anyone could see right through him, it’s Mark.
‘’What does it say?’’ Mark asks.
Donghyuck rereads the letter again, just to be sure, before locking his eyes with Mark’s curious ones. ‘’Mark, I’m getting deported.’’
Confusion is clear across Mark’s face before it settles down into panic. ‘’What do you mean deported?’’
There are only a few people that knew about Donghyuck living situation. Those being his Immigration agent and Mark. At first, he had tried to hide it as well as possible. He hid the letters carefully under his bed sheets and went to the meetings with half-assed excuses about going shopping or running. His lies caught up to him eventually when his Immigration agent visited the dorms one day without him being there.
He can only imagine how the conversation between him and Mark had gone along, especially since Mark had proudly announced himself as Donghyuck’s ‘’best friend’’ yet had no idea that his friend had been living in the country with non-existent documents.
‘’I mean deported. Sent back to Korea, yadi fucking yada,’’ Donghyuck sputters out. He tries to remain calm and put together, but he has always been told that his poker face was shit.
The look Mark gives him makes Donghyuck feel like his statement was ludicrous. ‘’You are not getting deported, you said so yourself. Plus you still have two years left of college, it makes no sense.’’
Despite it being the same document as it was just moments ago, Donghyuck feels a burning sensation forming on his fingertips just by touching it. He throws the paper on the ground as if the mere touch of it burned. It took an effort to provide an answer. “Mark, I’m here illegally. Do you think they give a shit about me finishing my education?”
Mark’s face falls. “We will figure something out.”
‘’Okay so I did some research and you can appeal their decision. There is a couple of things we can do to drag out the case. At least for a couple of months.’’
Donghyuck is sitting at his desk, elbows on the table with hands buried deep in his hair. He knows that his parents are supposed to call him any moment now on skype to check up on him. Mark bursting in here is the last thing he would have wanted, but he knows that it’s something he probably needs.
‘’Mark, my parents are about to call. I have to tell them,’’ Donghyuck breaths out. It’s only around three pm, but he feels exhaustion lay over him.
Mark ignores him and sits down on his bed right beside the desk. He places a transparent folder of what looks like documents similar to the ones he has grown to loathe. ‘’Donghyuck, you have to appeal. Please look over these files.’’
The sound of his cellular phone outbursts in the room before Donghyuck could decline his offer. His hands reach out for the phone, but Mark grabs a hold of it and swipes the answer button to the right before he manages to reach it.
‘’Hello, ma. You look lovely today,’’ Mark’s lips stretch into his famous (and well-loved) smile.
The first part of the conversation goes as it usually does — except for the fact that Mark is doing most of the talking. Every time he notices that Donghyuck’s smile drops, he opens up a new conversation in distraction. Donghyuck’s parents adoring Mark is something he is well aware of, so him controlling the conversation passes over their oblivious heads smoothly.
After a long chat about Donghyuck’s younger sisters’ swimming competition, Donghyuck’s mother becomes the one that brings up the conversation. ‘’Honey, have you heard from Immigration yet?’’
The camera is facing Donghyuck entirely, but he is aware that his mother can see Mark’s hand reaching up to his upper arm to give it a slight squeeze. The action may have seemed insignificant in the eyes of an outsider, but Donghyuck knows what it means.
‘’Not yet, mom. I’ll let you know when it does.’’
“Okay I promised myself not to question you, but you really need to fill me in on the details,” Mark says the second the call ends.
Donghyuck puts his phone on charge. “What do you mean?”
“Tell me everything — honestly.’’
So Donghyuck does.
‘’It all started a couple of months before I hit thirteen. My dad came back home from work one day and told us that his company was going to branch out to other countries. He had been asked specifically to come here since he spoke English relatively well. Fast forwards six months and we finally took off,’’ Donghyuck reminisces.
The move hit him harder than he had originally anticipated. Coming to a foreign country where the kids couldn’t understand him and the food wasn’t the same took a huge toll on his pre-adolescent mind. He remembers feeling lonely and scared each time he walked by the hallways because the kids would use words that sounded like gibberish in his ears. Then, Mark Lee came along and everything changed.
‘’My father had been informed that the move was only temporary right from the start, which he accepted at the time. But, as you can probably tell we all got accustomed to living here. Korea became nothing but a blurry memory inside my mind, and my parents’ as well,’’ Donghyuck says. He wonders for a second if Mark remembers New York, the place where he grew up before moving here around the same time as Donghyuck had. ‘’Then one day my father gets a call informing him that his work here wasn’t needed anymore and he had to leave because his job visa was going to be terminated.’’
‘’Just like that?’’ Mark’s tone is harsh, but he knows that it’s not directed towards him.
Donghyuck nods. ‘’Just like that.’’
‘’How’d you make it?’’ Mark asks. His face is scrunched up in the same way it does when he is pondering about something.
‘’They left right after I became eighteen so I figured I could make it on my own,’’ Donghyuck shrugs. ‘’At first, they were against it but they understood eventually that this was the place where I wanted to be.’’
‘’Donghyuck, you have to appeal,’’ Mark repeats, and Donghyuck agrees.
His home was here, in the cramped up dorm that was way to small for one person let alone two messy boys. His family might be miles away, but he had Mark and the rest of the team to compensate. Speaking of the team, the team was another core reason as to why he was so determined to stay. He was more than halfway into making his dreams become a reality — giving it up was simply not an option. Not when he could taste it at the tip of his tongue with the people he cherished the most.
‘’Yeah, I really have to.’’
Despite the current mess Donghyuck found himself in — the hustle never stopped. Mark woke him up every morning at five am sharp to jog around the dorms exactly four laps. The climate had just turned into a pleasant breeze, where the temperature lied perfectly between the lines of semi-lukewarm. He enjoys these particular mornings the most, so instead of finding the jog a burden, he found them very pleasing.
‘’I have a meeting with Immigration on Friday,’’ Donghyuck manages to get out between his elaborate breathing.
Mark abruptly stops on his tracks, making Donghyuck collide into him. ‘’Are you kidding?’’
The words go unnoticed to Donghyuck since he was too busy trying to catch his breath. He places his palm right above his knees and bends his body in half in hopes of calming down his heart rate. He can feel small drops of sweat traveling down his nape before disappearing inside his soaked t-shirt. The feeling is uncomfortable, but he welcomes it wholeheartedly anyhow. It’s a feeling of knowing that he is one step closer to his goal.
‘’Donghyuck?’’
Only then does Donghyuck remember that he had been asked a question. He angles his head upwards and shakes it slightly. ‘’No, I got the letter yesterday morning.’’
‘’What are you gonna tell them?’’ Mark asks, relatively tentative.
‘’I don’t know,’’ Donghyuck admits honestly. ‘’The truth I suppose, that’s all I have after all.’’
Mark screws up his face in wonder. He bites his lower lips briefly, before saying, ‘’You truth never worked before, I doubt it will work now.’’
At this point, the sweat prickling his back had dried down into a faux layer of skin on top of his actual skin. He has regained his posture long ago, making him stand tall right in front of Mark. At moments like these, he appreciates the fact that their height difference was next to minimal.
‘’What do you suggest I fucking do, Mark? Because by some miracle that I—, I don’t know, get fucking married to someone with a green card tomorrow there’s really nothing I can do but pray for the best.’’
The look on Mark’s face resembles a flickering light bulb that has finally gotten enough power to shine thoroughly. Donghyuck feels a pit form inside his chest by observing but lets his curiosity lean towards it anyway. ‘’That's it, Hyuck.’’
‘’That’s what?’’
‘’Donghyuck,’’ Mark takes a deep breath. His hands wrap around Donghyuck’s clammy ones tightly with his eyes set solely on Donghyuck’s own. ‘’Will you marry me?’’
Back when Donghyuck lived in Korea, his mother had brought him along to a tarot reading once. He can still point out the decorations of the small room if someone asked since the memory still lingered at the back of his mind like core memory. He had been nervous, especially since the lady was presumably older than not only his mother but grandmother as well. Donghyuck remembers that she had been really caring and nice; she even offered him a free reading because of his child-like wonder about the colorful cards. At this age, he knows that he had most definitely done the complete opposite of what a person should do during a reading, but the kind lady went along with it anyway. One thing he remembers is her saying was that his future marriage would be one similar to those in fairytales.
As far as he could tell, this situation as far from fairytales as one could come.
‘’What the fuck are you even saying, Mark Lee,’’ Donghyuck huffs out.
A middle-aged lady with a small child in her arms passing them by gives them a side eye. Donghyuck mutters out an apology for cursing as loud as he has, before turning his attention back to his (perhaps crazy) best friend.
‘’Marry me, Donghyuck. I have a green card, that’s what you need, isn’t it?’’
‘’This isn’t a joke, Mark,’’ Donghyuck heaves out, hurt prominent in his tone. He starts walking towards the direction of their dorm which is only around the corner.
Mark starts jogging beside him since Donghyuck had been foolish enough to pick up his pace when he’d noticed that Mark had started following him. ‘’I’m not joking either.’’
They continue with their half-jog, half-walk until they reach the stairs of their dorm complex. Thankfully, they had managed to score themselves a room on the second floor, which was a blessing on mornings like these where the aftermath of the jog laid heavy on their limbs.
Mark closes the door behind them and throws his keys on the one kitchen counter carelessly. ‘’So, what do you say?”
“Marriage isn’t a game, Mark. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s only people that are in love that get married usually, and we,” Donghyuck points towards Mark and back at himself repeatedly, “are not in love.”
“It’s hardly a challenge. We will just be two best bros that are married on documents. Who says marriage has to be romantic, anyway?”
Donghyuck knows Mark barely has any lacking points. He is smart enough to juggle between his education and captainship in their basketball team while prospering in both. Not only that, but he is also kind ass fuck and is overall a damn likable person. What he isn’t, however, is clever enough not to dive head first into unknown territory. Exhibit A; this situation right here.
Donghyuck tries to control the urge to throw a fit about how stupid this whole deal is, and he almost succeeds up until Mark gives him a lopsided smile.
“I’m not gonna fucking marry you for the sake of staying here, Mark. You should be dating other people, people you actually like and not be hitched up at twenty years old.”
“Then what are you going to do, Hyuck? I’m not willing to let you go back to Korea. Not now when we are so close to internationals. The team needs you,” Mark retaliates with just as much heat. His eyes are squinting in anger and his hands fidget with the edge of his t-shirt. “I need you,” he finally whispers softly, and all the heaviness slip out of him.
Donghyuck can hear his own breathing too loudly. It rings in his ears painfully, yet despite that, he tries to focus on the sound anyway. He darts his gaze away from Mark towards a random direction because as much as he loves confrontation, it never came easily with Mark for some reason.
“I’m sorry, Mark. I’ll figure something out, but it’s not this.”
Friday was nearing — fast. It doesn’t hit him until he is standing in the middle of the court, basketball bouncing on the floor below him. The sound of it mixed with all of their sneakers squelching against the floor is like an addiction to him.
Yet here he was, perhaps on his last days of hearing it.
He pauses and allows himself to take it in. The smell of plastic lingering in the air. His teammates' random conversations in between the rough practice they push themselves through. Mark and their coach, Johnny, sitting by the bleachers discussing their new formations and attack tactics.
“You seem out of it lately,” a voice next to him says. He turns around and gets greeted by Jaemin. He doesn’t look angry, in fact, he looks more concerned than anything.
“Rough week, I guess,” Donghyuck answers, and he permits himself to think that it isn’t exactly a lie. Perhaps half of one only.
Jaemin passes him a half-empty bottle of water, which he accepts with pleasure. He unscrews the cap the second his hands touch it and gulps down the content in less than a heartbeat.
“If you are worried about the championship, don’t be. Our team this year has been phenomenal, and it isn’t even me being biased. Have you read the articles? Everybody praises us,” Jaemin snickers, but there’s contentment layered between his words. “In four months we will be in France with the trophy held high over our heads. I can see it so vividly. You, me, and the rest of the team will all get us there, believe me.”
It’s so easy to get lost in the high. It’s easier to imagine them at the top of the mountain than to imagine them at the very rock bottom. Donghyuck wishes that he could tell Jaemin that that isn’t what he was fearing the most — but instead the fact that there is a big chance that he won’t experience it alongside them. That he will be nothing but a starving outsider looking into their room with a massive feast laid out.
He has never felt this left out before.
Donghyuck can’t help but glance towards Mark’s direction. He had moved back into the court with his own basketball in hand, now talking to Jeno and Yangyang about something that Donghyuck’s ears can’t pick up.
They barely spoke since yesterday after the whole marriage thing had happened. It wasn’t because of Mark, no — it was of course because of Donghyuck.
See, Donghyuck doesn’t fear marriage. One of his life goals is to eventually settle down with his own little family and hopefully a dog or two in some suburban area. He knows that that’s one of Mark’s goals too. If Donghyuck was family oriented, Mark was undoubtedly even more so. He visited his family as much as he could, called his mother every other day and texted his brother whenever he found some article he knew he would find enjoyment in.
That’s why he can’t rip that away from him. Sure, it would barely change anything since they are already living together and marriage was at the end of the day only a piece of paper — but Mark was a traditional guy. Donghyuck felt like a jerk for going against his values all for his own selfish reasons. Marriage was still marriage despite the circumstances.
It was almost as if a force told Mark that someone was thinking about him because suddenly his head shoots around until his eyes eventually land on Donghyuck. They share a long look before Jaemin interrupts it by stealing the basketball in Donghyuck’s hands.
“Stop looking so gloomy,” Jaemin whines and runs away with the ball. Donghyuck trails behind him with just as much speed.
“Donghyuck.”
Tomorrow is Friday, is the first thought that flashes through Donghyuck’s mind when he flutters his eyes open on Thursday morning. A far away voice repeats his name, this time closer. He rubs his eyes awake in hopes of evaporating the cloudiness that laid thick on him.
When he finally gathers enough power to sit up straight, he manages to rasp out a sleep infused, “Yeah?”
He gets greeted by Mark hovering around the doorway awkwardly. ‘’So, you know how Jaehyun is a lawyer?’’
Donghyuck nods. The sheets feel too warm and heavy around his skin so he pulls them away effortlessly. They drop on the floor beneath him but he pays it no mind. He can see Mark’s eyes following the movement before returning back to Donghyuck.
‘’I asked him some general questions about your situation. I never mentioned who it was about but I managed to get some solid answers for a change,’’ Mark says. He hesitantly moves further into the room, before settling down by Donghyuck’s legs at the edge of the bed.
‘’Why did you do that?’’ Donghyuck counters, low. The weight of his words lie thick on top of his shoulders and it reminds him of their brief argument the other day.
‘’Hyuck, we can sign the papers tomorrow and get married in a couple of weeks. You will eventually get your green card and stay here. When it all blows over we can get a divorce and forget it ever happened,’’ Mark rambles. As he talks his eyes become wider whilst his hands fly around the air.
‘’Why are you doing this?’’ Donghyuck sighs. ‘’You know that this isn’t going to be easy.’’
Mark sits up straighter. ‘’Because you are my best friend.’’
‘’Mark, I can’t force you to marry me just to keep me here, I can’t do that to you.’’
He can feel the fight inside of him slowly turning into dust. The words leaving his mouth are far different from what he actually wants, but what he wants to have isn’t what is most ideal for them, especially for Mark. This isn’t the first time that they had found themselves in the same situation where Mark has offered to step up just to save Donghyuck’s ass and for the first time, he really wants him to reconsider it.
‘’You aren’t forcing me to do anything, I’m offering,’’ Mark gives him a small smile. ‘’I promise.’’
‘’Are you sure that there is no other solution than to break the fucking law?’’
Mark laughs, shortly. ‘’I’m sure there is, but I know how much you like to spice up circumstances.’’
And Donghyuck can’t find it in himself to argue anymore. He throws his head back in laughter which Mark soon imitates. ‘’Fine.’’
‘’Okay?’’
Donghyuck takes a deep inhale. ‘’Okay.’’
The tension inside of their dorm is sharp as a knife in the morning on the meeting. Donghyuck can feel Mark’s eyes trail on him as he throws his hand-me-down suit jacket over his shoulders by the entrance of their dorm. He feels stiff, hell he probably looks the part as well.
‘’Donghyuck,’’ Mark says and wraps his hands comfortably around Donghyuck’s slim wrist. They stand there for a moment with their eyes searching for comfort within each other. ‘’It will go great, I’m gonna be there right beside you.’’
As they walk down to the bus stop, Donghyuck shortly remembers the minutes before their final game. Donghyuck was never the one to properly handle his nerves and thankfully Mark knew that very well. He remembers how Mark had pulled him to the side of their locker room and wrapped his arms around his shoulders in a silent hug. The action was small, but the impact was great.
This is no different, Donghyuck supposes. The situation might have been understandably unlike this one, but Mark’s ability to calm down his nerves was just the same.
‘’Mr. Lee?’’
Donghyuck shoots his head at the mention of his name. The receptionist he had spoken to just mere minutes ago was standing by the hallway that is lined with endless doors. Donghyuck nods in her direction and stands up with Mark right by his side.
The walk is silent, save for the receptionist’s heels that clash against the floor for each stride that she takes. She suddenly stops in front of a door that Donghyuck could recognize even if his eyes were shut tightly. No matter how many times he had found himself facing it, the deep feeling of uncertainty was still present.
‘’Good morning, Mr. Lee,’’ his Immigration agent, Sicheng Dong, says. His eyes are set on Mark, however, with prominent curiosity.
Donghyuck shakes his hand shortly before pointing at Mark with his whole hand. ‘’This is Mark Lee.’’
Mark and Sicheng shake hands as well before they all take a seat on the worn out (and ugly) chairs with Mark and Donghyuck on one side, and the agent on the other.
‘’So, I take it that you have appealed our decision,’’ Sicheng notes, his voice sounds more amused than the usual stern tone Donghyuck has gotten used to. Donghyuck nods, so Sicheng continues, ‘Donghyuck, to be honest with you I find it rather difficult to look through these documents again and find anything that will help your case. You are here illegally, there’s not much you can do.’’
‘’I’m sure those papers don’t say that Donghyuck and I are getting married,’’ Mark interrupts Sicheng.
Donghyuck knew that it was coming. They had spent the whole afternoon the day prior perfecting the plan, but that didn’t stop Donghyuck’s heart rate from accelerating the second those words left Mark’s mouth. He keeps his eyes set on Sicheng, just how they have practiced despite the chilling feeling washing over him.
‘’A fake marriage? Really?’’ Sicheng snorts out.
Donghyuck opens his mouth to speak, but Mark beats him to it. ‘’It’s not fake.’’
‘’It seems rather fishy for a lack of better word, that Donghyuck is suddenly getting married right after he receives his deportation papers. I’m sure you understand where I’m coming from, Mr. Lee.’’
‘’Timing just works like that, doesn’t it?’’ Donghyuck finally retaliates with the same bite.
Mark chuckles beside him. He lays a protective hand on the upper part of his thigh, yet his eyes are boring deep into Sicheng’s.
‘’How come you have never mentioned a boyfriend before?’’ Sicheng says. ‘’As I recall that topic has come up multiple times.’’
Donghyuck swallows. He turns his gaze for the first time to the side and meets Mark’s warm ones. He feels a heightened pressure on his thighs. ‘’I was never comfortable enough to share my sexuality with the world. Mark respected that, so we decided to keep it a secret for the time being.’’
Sicheng hums as his eyes flicker to Mark’s hand on Donghyuck’s thighs. He takes a moment to answer and when he finally does, there’s a hidden smile behind his words. ‘’I expect the proper paperwork and verification of your so-called relationship within a week. Let’s schedule a meeting for Friday to discuss how we shall proceed, are we clear?’’
Donghyuck and Mark nod in unison.
‘’The meeting will consist of individual interviews with the both of you where I ask you questions that only a real couple would be able to answer. I will continue on to ask your close friends and family similar questions and if the answers do not match up,’’ Sicheng points at Donghyuck directly, ‘’You will be deported to Korea indefinitely,’’ his finger moves to Mark direction, ‘’As for you Mark Lee, you will be arrested for committing fraud with the charge of five years in federal prison and a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So, shall we proceed?’’
The pair share a look before turning their eyes back to Sicheng. ‘’Yes.’’
Coming up with their back story isn’t nearly as difficult as Donghyuck had originally anticipated. After all, they did share a large part of their lives together as friends. All they had to do was add a couple of changes that would indicate that they were indeed romantically involved. They alternate some of their already existing memories; their first date becomes that one time Mark’s parents gifted Mark tickets to Game 5, their proposal becomes the night of them winning their championship.
Living together was a huge benefit, mostly because of the fact that some of the questions were based on their living conditions. They had to know the specifics about the colors of their sheets and even toothbrushes. Those questions usually came easily, and the questions about each other’s habits and personal favorites came even easier.
Donghyuck couldn’t help but fear the fact that it all seemed to come together in such a simple matter. He knew Mark’s favorite music and foods like the back of his palm, he never doubted that it was just the fact that there was a huge risk for them to slip up on something that would have seemed irrelevant at the moment.
‘’They are asking about our romantic past,’’ Mark notes and puts his laptop to the side. The questionnaire stares back at Donghyuck through the dim screen.
‘’Well, you already know everything,’’ Donghyuck shrugs.
Everything was too grand of a word, considering that his everything only consisted of one girlfriend in high school that lasted for a good six months and his casual fling with his teammate, Felix, back in freshman year that led nowhere.
Mark looks surprised. ‘’Do I?’’
Donghyuck laughs and nods in confirmation. ‘’Yup,’’ he says and pops the P. ‘’What about you?’’
‘’Well, there was Mina in middle school,’’ Mark starts with a soft smile. The two of them are still close to Mina, so it was more of a nostalgic memory than anything. Donghyuck still remembers how infatuated Mark had been with her, up until he realized that his feelings were strictly platonic. Oh, and that he was very much gay.
‘’Yukhei in high school,’’ Mark continues on. He grimaces in discomfort but shakes himself out of it before it engulfs him. ‘’And finally Jungwoo last year, but I don’t know if that counts.’’
Donghyuck giggles at the mention of Jungwoo which results in Mark throwing a pillow in his direction. He tries to cough away the laughter but fails when he remembers Mark’s face when he had realized that the only reason Jungwoo got close to him was because of his older brother, and not him.
‘’So you haven’t been hooking up with anyone?’’ Donghyuck questions when they settle down.
Mark shakes his head. ‘’Not really, I guess I’ve been too busy.’’
A silence settles down between them as they finish writing out the final touches of the paperwork. Donghyuck tries to shake away the uneasy feeling flowing through his veins, but all attempts to go avail. Mark answering the questions carefully with a deep frown on his lips doesn’t help the situation whatsoever either.
Donghyuck stands up from the beanbag by the corner of their living space and stretches out his limbs after he presses on send. A low groan leaves his lips as he reaches his hands as high as he possibly can. The action makes Mark’s eyes shoot towards him, but he ignores the interested gaze in order to get something to drink from their mini fridge.
There’s only a half-filled can of Pepsi, so he drowns it with one gulp. He wipes his mouth clean and throws the can in the trashcan by the door. It lands perfectly inside of it.
‘I can hear your thoughts all the way here.’’
Donghyuck throws himself on the couch next to Mark with a sheepish smirk. ‘’What are they saying?’’
‘’You are still having doubts.’’
Donghyuck chews on his lips instead of answering. He leans back against the soft cushion of the couch and flutters his eyes close. Mark shifts next to him, but the warmth by his side never disappears — it only grows closer.
‘’I remember walking behind my parents and siblings down the aisle of the airport the day they left. They were talking about the things they would miss from here. Hina actually cried when she found out that Pop-tarts don’t exist in Korea.’’ Donghyuck chuckles without humor. ‘’I don’t know what came over me, the things they mentioned were so simple, yet I couldn’t help but think that each one of those things is so important to me. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve always known that there is a chance that I might lose it all.’’ Donghyuck opens his eyes and meets Mark’s own. ‘’But now, there is a big chance that it will all work out. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but you make it so hard, Mark.’’
Mark places his hand on Donghyuck’s ankle that thrown haphazardly on his thigh. He gives him the same reassuring smile that has painted his lips quite often these past days. ‘’I’ll make sure you will never be without Pop-tarts, Hyuck.’’
One thing that managed to slip through Donghyuck’s mind is telling their friends. It was one thing to announce that they were romantically involved, but they had to announce that they were actually getting married. It only dawns to him when they are shooting some hoops in the basketball court in the playground by their dorm. They as in Mark, Jaemin, Jeno, Felix, Hyunjin and him.
‘’Mark,’’ Donghyuck whispers as he grabs a hold of Mark’s tank top. Mark stops in his motions and shoots a raised eyebrow in his direction as an answer. They were the only ones on the left side of the court while Jaemin and Hyunjin were too busy deciding the teams by the center of it. ‘’Should we tell them about us?’’
Donghyuck is thankful for the fact that Mark seems to be on the same page as him as he agrees right away. ‘’We can’t tell them the truth though, it’s too much of a risk.’’
‘’You want us to lie to our friends?’’
‘’Just to be safe. We have to make it as believable as we possibly can,’’ Mark says in a voice that resembles the one he uses when he puts on his captain role.
All Donghyuck can do is offer a nod and a shy smile. Mark returns the nod and turns to their friends. ‘’Guys, there’s something Donghyuck and I have to tell you.’’
Donghyuck whips his head toward Mark the second the words leave his mouth. He hadn’t expected them to share the ‘’news’’ so suddenly. He jogs right behind Mark as they near the small crowd that consisted of their friends in the middle of the court. When they reach their friends, Mark's fingers grab a hold of his sticky ones.
‘’We are getting married.’’
The world never experiences a second of silence. If it wasn’t humans speaking, it was the birds singing or the waves dancing. But there was never silence, up until this moment in Donghyuck’s short life. It was as if the air stole every soundwave that dared to invade its space. Donghyuck studies the reactions of his friends with tentative eyes as each of their facial features resembles the stretched out silence.
Then Jaemin laughs and the spell is broken. ‘’Sure. Anyway, Felix, Hyunjin, and Mark in one team and the rest of us are in the other,’’ he dismisses and bounces the ball against the chilly concrete.
‘’Jaemin, I’m serious,’’ Mark insists. His jaw clenched tightly similar to the way his hand is around Donghyuck’s ever so slightly smaller one.
Jeno is the one that speaks this time with an intrigued voice. ‘’You guys aren’t even dating, how the fuck are you getting married?’’
‘’We had to hide our relationship, I’m sorry,’’ Donghyuck says, and he dares to look guilty. He feels ill at the thought of lying to his friends. Knowing that it was for the greater good should ease up on the feeling, but it only makes him feel worse when his friends look at him the way that they do.
‘’Well, if this is true then I’m happy for you guys,’’ Felix says with an awkward chuckle.
Jaemin and Jeno share a look before shrugging, resulting in the thick tension disbursing. Jeno shoots the basketball at the hoop and the conversation is over. At least for now.
The game is laid back compared to what they usually opt to play. They allow themselves a couple of bad throws and misses without any regret. Donghyuck always appreciated days like these, especially now when there’s so much weight on his shoulders.
He feels the breeze drift through his body as he runs around in the court, doing what he loves the most. He cracks up in laughter when Felix accidentally steps wrong and lands flat on his ass, before running up to help him. When two professors from the math department pass by the court, Mark dares to challenge them for a game, which they surprisingly accept with enthusiasm. The professors lose by three points, but when they bid the boys goodbye with bright smiles and sweat running down their temples, Donghyuck wonders if that lose even stung at all.
Only when the sun is shining by the horizon does the group decide to return back to their rooms. Despite being semi-professional basketball players, they still had to take care of their studies in some way.
As they gather up their gear, Jaemin nudges Donghyuck’s body with his shoulder. ‘’I can’t say that I’m surprised. I always knew that there was something going on with the two of you, but I never figured it was this serious.’’
‘’What do you mean?’’ Donghyuck replies as he pulls up the zipper to his (Mark’s) grey hoodie.
Jaemin smiles, large. ‘’I see the way you look at each other, it’s too real not to be true.’’
All Donghyuck can reply with is a short huh. He looks over to Mark that is currently emptying out the now warm water on the grass by the court. A part of him wishes he could see how he looks at him, and see how it’s different for the way he looks at others.
‘’Anyway, I’m glad you got your shit together,’’ Jaemin finalizes with a soft punch on his bicep. He takes off before Donghyuck could question him.
Donghyuck is lying on the couch with his left hand buried deep in some ‘’healthy’’ chips Jaehyun had recommended to them. They taste like utter shit but at least it’s something to clench his need for snacks. The old TV they had placed on top the small table they had found by the elevator the day they moved in is playing some old episodes of The 70’s Show. Donghyuck is too lazy to change the channel so he lets it run.
‘’Hey, are you hungry?’’ Mark walks out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his lower half. There’s still some droplets of water scattered around his pale skin that creep lower and lower each moment that passes. Donghyuck casts his eyes away before a blush threatens to caress his cheeks.
He points instead at the bag of chips in his hands with a grin. ‘’What are you thinking?’’
Mark glances at the bag and mimics his grin as well. ‘’Burgers?’’
‘’Hell yeah.’’
The takeout arrives no less than twenty minutes later. Donghyuck pays, mostly because he feels like he owes Mark too much these days. The meal is mostly silent. The only noise comes from Michael and Jackie arguing on the TV about Michael hooking up with another girl. It’s there for comic relief, but neither Mark or Donghyuck laugh one bit.
‘’Since we will technically be married, what will happen to our love life?’’ Donghyuck suddenly asks when the burger in his hands has turned into a thin crescent shape. He places it on the plate that is wobbling on the arm of the couch since his appetite seems to have evaporated.
Mark thinks about the question for the time being as he chews quietly for himself. He swallows the food in his mouth and scratches his chin. ‘’If you want to date, I guess you have to be really lowkey about it, at least until this whole thing cools down,’’ his voice sounds the same as it always does, but Donghyuck can pick up a waver in the end.
‘’I’m not planning on dating anyone,’’ Donghyuck honestly answers. It hasn’t been on his mind before, and it sure as hell isn’t on his mind right now. ‘’I’m asking for your sake, after all, I’m the one that is dragging you down with me in this bullshit.’’
‘’Stop saying that, you aren’t dragging me down,’’ Mark says, sounding hurt.
The episode playing on the TV is nearing the end as the end credits roll down. Donghyuck focuses on it, even if his brain can’t seem to be able to pick up any of the names. He can feel Mark fidget beside him, and he wishes that he could offer him some sort of consolation but they have had this conversation a thousand times and no matter how hard he tries to not feel bad about it, he can’t help it.
Not only is Mark a great person, but he was an even better friend and captain. He helped Donghyuck through high school by tutoring him through every class, in exchange for basketball lessons. Mark often mentions how Donghyuck is the reason that he fell in love with basketball, but was that enough? The best thing about their relationship is how well they balance each other out, yet Donghyuck cannot help but wonder if he does anything near as much as Mark does for him.
‘’I won't date anyone,’’ Mark says when a commercial about some travel agency starts playing. “I’m yours for the time being.”
Donghyuck feels the way his heart skips a beat — the same way it has done back in the Immigration office and even in the court. Both of the times Mark had announced that they were getting married. The feeling isn’t foreign to him, but it’s an unknown feeling when it’s directed to Mark. He toys with the thought for a second before he shoots it down immediately.
‘’I guess you are stuck with me then, Mark Lee,’’ Donghyuck exhales all the worries away.
Mark smiles so big that his eyes disappear into his cheekbones. ‘’I guess I am.’’
Mark has only been the captain of their team for one season. After Jaehyun had graduated, Johnny had handed the captain title down to Mark. It became a running joke, how the two brothers managed to have the prideful title back to back, but everyone knew it was for solid reasons. Jaehyun had been a strong pillar for their team. He built it up with the help of Johnny and when Mark took over all he had to do was give the team that one final push that drove them into success.
Their team is all relatively on the same level, so objectively speaking it doesn’t matter who has the title. But being a good leader wasn’t just about basketball skill, Donghyuck has grown to realize. Mark was unquestionably great on the court, but there was so much more to him. It was his selflessness and his ability to hold up the team no matter what, both things that Donghyuck truly admired about him.
Donghyuck often forgets just how strong of a leader Mark is until they have their games, or when they have meetings to discuss the future of their team. Like this one for example.
“We have been playing around for a week now guys, which is of course well earned. I think all of us has earned some downtime to cool off, but it’s game time again. All of us need to put one hundred percent energy into training the upcoming weeks which means that I need you guys to put your heads back into the game.”
The entirety of the team lets out a loud yes, which Mark seems pleased about. He rolls out a board from the small office linked to the gymnasium and places it right in the center of the vicinity, where all the players are gathered around. On the board is a number of scribbles to which Mark has done to represent their new game tactics and line up.
Donghyuck takes in every word he says. He feels pride collect inside his chest as he watches Mark speak with enthusiasm and certainty about the future events that will unfold. Mark looks over each of the teammates with so much confidence like he knows that they will make it.
When his eyes finally land on Donghyuck, he stays there for a while. He is talking about their defense strategy, but his eyes seem to be somewhere else. Donghyuck doesn’t break the eye contact, in fact, he savors it as much as he possibly can.
Then, Mark breaks into a small smile. He catches himself before it grows wider and moves on to the rest of the teammates with a short cough.
The moment lingers at the back of Donghyuck’s mind for hours, even after practice has ended and he was underneath the cold water of the showers in the locker room trying to wash off the thick layer of sweat on his skin.
“Do you remember Minseok?” Mark asks over the microwaved leftover dinner placed on top of the coffee table in the middle of their living room. They were too lazy to sit on the couch, so they just leaned back against it while seated on the floor with their slightly dry chicken breasts and pea filled plates laid out in front of them.
“Your cousin right?” Donghyuck asks while chewing.
“Yeah, he’s getting married next weekend. He invited me over.”
Donghyuck hums. “Are you going?”
“I was planning on it,” Mark confirms. He scoops a couple of peas up and throws them into his mouth. “They have hired an entire castle and everything allegedly.”
“Oh, wow,” Donghyuck says, surprised.
There seems to be something else Mark wants to say, but it’s almost as if he doesn’t know how to formulate his words. Donghyuck observes him as he opens and closes his mouth for a couple of times until he heaves out a; “Do you want to tag along?”
“To the wedding?” Donghyuck can’t even bother to hide his amusement. Donghyuck has met a large number of people from Mark’s family since they had grown up together and all. Mark’s mother was always the one for the extravaganza, so their celebrations were always over the top with a lot of people invited. He had been invited to a few as well, mostly because Mark felt too bored between all the grownups there, but Donghyuck figured the invites would stop now that they were both grown enough and Mark wouldn’t need someone to keep him entertained.
“I guess it will be a good time to announce our engagement as well, don’t you think? Most of my family will be there, it will just be faster that way.”
“Alright. I’m sure it will be fun.”
The next meeting with the Immigration agent arrived far too quickly for Donghyuck’s liking. He knows that this might be the most important meeting he will ever attend, which gives him all the more reason to stress.
There was so much on the line here, not only for him but Mark as well. They have their story memorized and every single detail about each other well imprinted in their minds — there was no way they could screw this up.
“Mr. Lee?”
Donghyuck nods and walks down the same aisles he has just a week ago, this time with more determination. He walks into the office with Mark right beside him as a supporting anchor. They sit down on the same old chairs with smiles on their faces.
“Great seeing you again,” Sicheng says, and the statement sounds honest.
“You too, Mr. Dong,” Donghyuck says with a small bow.
Sicheng smiles, with a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Let’s skip the small talk and cut to the chase, shall we?”
A female walks into the office on cue, with a stack of paper in her hands. He recognizes the look of it, it’s the printed out version of the questionnaire they had to fill out a couple of days ago.
“I’m going to be interviewing Mr. Lee, while my coworker will be interviewing, well — you Mr. Lee,” Sicheng chuckles at the situation surrounding their names.
Mark stands up from his seat and turns around at the lady standing by the door. He greets her politely before following her trail out of the room, but not before giving Donghyuck one final squeeze on his shoulder.
“Okay, Donghyuck, tell me about how you and Mark got together,” Sicheng speaks when the click of the door fills the room. He has his eyes on the files in front of him, but he can tell his ears are listening carefully for his words.
“Well, we’ve been friends ever since Mark transferred to my middle school. We quickly became friends because he was the only other Korean in my grade. Our friendship just progressed until our senior year of high school when Mark’s parents got him tickets for Game 5. After the game, I confessed to Mark that I had feelings for him and we started dating,” Donghyuck says, confidently. He smiles at the memories of the day. It had been one of the greatest days of his life, and he almost feels weird for butchering it for the sake of lying to the government.
Sicheng takes down a couple of notes and asks the next question. “How did you get engaged?”
Donghyuck clears his throat. “It was after the finale of the nationals championship. We had just won and the adrenaline was so high that Mark just popped the question on our walk home underneath the moonlight. Said he couldn't wait any longer.”
“That sudden?” Sicheng asks.
“There’s no one I can see myself with, why wait?” Donghyuck responds.
“Aren’t you guys a little too young for marriage?”
The question takes Donghyuck off guard since it hadn’t been written down on the questionnaire. He feels himself chewing the inside of his cheek and his brain buzzes around for any possible answer that would seem fitting, especially if Mark was going to be asked the same question.
“As I said, there’s no one else I can imagine myself with. I’ve already spent such a large part of my life with him, I know I want to spend the rest of it with him as well,” Donghyuck breaths out, and it doesn’t feel like too much of a lie.
The words lie heavy in the atmosphere of the room. He can tell that Sicheng is trying to study him by taking in his reaction to the spontaneous question, but whatever he is looking for he must have found because Sicheng moves on rather quickly. “I’m going to ask you some intimate question now, and compare your answers with Mark’s to see the legitimacy of your relationship.”
When Donghyuck nods, Sicheng begins.
“What’s your favorite song?”
“Thriller by Michael Jackson.”
“What color is Mark’s toothbrush?”
“Blue.”
“What colors are your sheets?”
Donghyuck thanks the lord that they had the same color bedding, “Black.”
“What did you do for Christmas last year?”
Donghyuck chuckles. “It was the first Christmas without my parents here. He didn’t want to make me feel lonely so he stayed in the dorms as well since I was too broke to buy a plane ticket to visit his parents.”
“When is the anniversary of your first kiss?”
The question makes Donghyuck blush, furiously. He ducks his head in appearing embarrassment and tries not to overthink the question. “Uh, June 14th.”
“You live together, correct? How are the chores divided?”
“I take care of the kitchen. I cook when we don’t get takeout. He cleans the rest of the rooms. During Sunday’s we wash the bathroom together.”
“What did you do yesterday night?”
“After practice, we went home and showered. After that, we had some dinner, lasagna, while watching the old Spiderman movies.”
“How is Mark’s relationship with his parents?”
Donghyuck starts to feel somewhat uncomfortable when he realizes that the questions were starting to become personal again. He tries not to let it peek through, though. “Amazing. His relationship with all of his family is very good.”
“What’s your biggest dream?”
Donghyuck thinks for a moment. He knows it’s a trick question, but he has an honest answer anyway. “To win the international league with Mark right by my side.”
Sicheng grins for the first time since the interview started. He leans back again the chair, somewhat relaxed.
“Why did you hide your relationship?”
Donghyuck repeats the same thing he told the agent back in their first meeting. “I wasn’t comfortable enough with my sexuality. Mark figured right away since he didn’t even know that I was bisexual. When I told him how I felt he respected that and told me that he would stay by my side until I felt ready.”
“Are you ashamed of your sexuality?”
“No,” Donghyuck answers, honestly. The part of being uncomfortable about his sexuality wasn’t far from the truth, but he had accepted it many years ago with the help of his friends and family.
“What’s Mark’s favorite food?”
Donghyuck feels whiplash at the change of pace when it came to the questions, and he knows it’s all Sicheng’s doing. He tries to follow along with the pace without any hiccups, and so far he is pretty much up to pace.
“He will tell you watermelon, but does that even count as food?” Donghyuck snickers. A flashback of them fighting in Mark’s backyard back in their junior year of high school about this exact same topic flashes through his mind. Somehow it calms him down.
“Have you gone on vacation together?”
“Only trips around the country with our team for games. And that one time our families went camping in the woods. Oh, and we are going to his cousin's wedding tomorrow.”
Sicheng finishes writing his notes and gives Donghyuck one final smile. “How did you realize that you were in love with him?”
“What?” Donghyuck sputters out. His reaction seems to have caught Sicheng’s attention as he leans forward against the desk. He places his elbows on top of the pile of now filled papers. He repeats the question, with a more determined voice.
Donghyuck sits quietly as his brain rushes. He hates how Sicheng is toying with him with unexpected questions, especially since they are so private. Donghyuck doesn’t know where to search inside himself for a bullshit answer. He has seen countless of romance movies, he should know those clichè words by heart. Yet nothing seems to fit, it’s too narrow or way too broad.
“Mr. Lee?” Sicheng says, the honorifics suddenly reappearing back on his tongue.
“Mark is really selfless, I quickly realized that as a kid. I had no one to talk to since my English was still poor at that time, but he came along and I found a friend. I guess as I grew older I understood that Mark was a special part of me. Being with him, seeing him smile was more than enough to make my day. When my parents said that they were going to return back to Korea, he was one of the biggest reasons as to why I stayed. I guess I never realized that I was in love with him because I might have always been.”
Mark walks up to him the second he leaves the office. “How did it go?”
“It went well,” Donghyuck says — hopes. He grabs a hold of Mark’s arm and drags him out of the claustrophobic building. Mark sprints beside him without a word as they make their way downtown.
Donghyuck finally stops in front of a smoothie stand and orders them two drinks; mango for Mark and lemon for himself.
He feels grateful that Mark doesn’t mention the meeting. Each second that passes as they make their way back home to the dorms, this time on foot, is another step closer to losing the nerves that have now dimmed down to a slow wave inside his veins. They walk side by side with smoothies in each hand as they talk about everything but today’s events.
Donghyuck is so engrossed in their conversation about the latest Marvel movie, that he doesn’t realize that Mark has shifted the direction of their path. Instead of going back home, Donghyuck finds himself by the arcade store they sometimes visit during their breaks.
“Wanna go for a couple of rounds?” Mark challenges, with a crooked smirk.
“Are you sure you are up for losing?” Donghyuck darts his tongue out with a wink. “Again?” He fuels on.
Mark does nothing else but smile. He pushes the door to dark vicinity open and walks inside, with Donghyuck in toe.
Donghyuck always loved the atmosphere inside the arcade. The sound of the artificial fights and bullet sounds fill the area and ignite the special competitive side inside of him. He lets himself get lost beneath the thousands of neon lights coming from the different machines as they walk deeper and deeper into the room.
They have long ago established a routine. At first, they start off small by playing a round of PAC-man each just to get their engines running. Then, they proceeded to play Streetfighter. Donghyuck always feels bad for the other visitors since they can get pretty (note; very) loud during those games. Mark isn’t much of a gamer but he has a competitive side inside of him as well, so he puts up a rather good fight. With the money they have left they finish off by playing a couple of rounds of Super Mario Kart.
“Let me be Mario this time, you lost during Streetfighter,” Donghyuck whines when he sees Mark’s controller moving towards the direction of the character.
“Early bird catches the worm,” Mark shrikes as Donghyuck tries to tackle his side in order to make him lose focus. Donghyuck fails last minute as Mark presses down on the character.
“Dickhead,” Donghyuck says, without much bite. He doesn’t feel too bad when he presses down on Yoshi, especially since Mark gives him a beam that shines brighter than the screen in front of them.
“Oh my god,” Mark has his hands over his mouth as the number one flashes beside Mario against the screen. He darts his head between the screen and Donghyuck a couple of times before he lets out a loud howl that is the complete opposite of Donghyuck that is totally stunned.
“I fucking won?” Mark laughs out and bounces on the chair he was currently sitting on. He proceeds to stand up and starts waving his hands around in what looks like a dance, Donghyuck can’t honestly tell.
“You cheated,” Donghyuck accuses, as he stares back at the screen with a mocking two next to his character.
“Don’t be lame, Donghyuck. I won fair and square.”
Donghyuck is about to retaliate when the cashier by the registers asks them to keep it down with a feed up voice. He bites down on his tongue and feels jittery when he watches Mark continue on with his dance, this time in silence.
The smile on their faces doesn’t leave even when they bid each other good night later that day.