Chapter Text
Donghyuck is about one hot second away from ripping his shirt open Superman-Style and bursting into real life actual flames. Right here in this club, screams and all.
„There are two wolves inside of me“, he mansplains to Renjun instead, „and both of them need to get fucked.“
His audience only lifts one unimpressed — perfectly primped — eyebrow and scoffs. „Sure, big guy. Also, can you please stop making your mansplaining face, you know that always triggers my F.O.F.“
„I am not making a mansplaining face, I am fine-tuning it, okay?“, Donghyuck defends weakly, „and also right back at you: can you stop saying fight or flight like that? This is like the third time this week and I don’t mean to be so Regina George about it but it’s —„
„Not a thing, yes yes“, Renjun Wiener replies, „but-"
„Especially if you keep pronouncing it fof?? Who does that?“
„Think about why I would even feel the need to F.O.F three consecutive times around you, why don’t you?“
„I don’t need to think, I need to fu—" Donghyuck starts passionately, when someone lays a hand on his shoulder, heavy and warm, somewhere from behind.
Immediately, both Donghyuck and Renjun squeak undignified squeaks, loud enough to mix with Usher’s Yeah currently blasting through this godforsaken club. Miraculously, however, Renjun doesn’t feel the need to fof at that. Interesting.
„Come on, really?“, Jeamin blinks at them, drink in hand. „I tune out of this convo for a measly minute and you both forget I’m here? Like I’ve been here. Do either of you possess any long term memories?“
„Who says measly —" Donghyuck starts again — maybe a little ashamed, okay — but Renjun cuts him off with another squeak, this time of the reproachful tenor.
„Right. Huh. Sorry. Where were we, then?“ Somehow, Renjun always adopts this little British-esque accent when he feels bad. Donghyuck thinks it’s because he’s currently Kate Middleton in his parallel life.
„Somehow also at that point where Dongie admits he needs to both get wasted like crazy and have a dick shoved down his —"
„Yay, I love hearing about myself“, Donghyuck beams, feeling the wolves stir again.
„It’s all we’ve been forced to agonize over and I say - genug. That’s German for ‚enough‘, if you’re wondering“, Jeamin winks for some reason. „I say we need to find you a hookup with stellar reviews now, tonight, or we may never be released from this earthly strife. You hear me?“
„I certainly am hearing…you talk“, Renjun supplies.
„And I hear lies“, Donghyuck jumps in, „I don’t just need to find a hookup with a Five Star Yelp Account, I need a permanent fixture in my life. A fuck buddy who isn’t somehow also in love with his bicycle — setting the bar high, I know — or secretly a raging homophobe or has sweaty hands and/or eats sushi wish two spoons and two spoons only.“
„Very real, very too much info there.“ Jaemin shakes his head a little, as if to dispel the negativity. „You’ve had bad luck I know —“
„Or someone who isn’t Sungchan The Giant“, Renjun laughs, and suddenly Donghyuck’s shirt does feel a little too tight for his torso, ready to burst.
He tries to giggle, but fails halfway through. Right. Sungchan The Giant, tall, handsome, one year his junior. Sungchan with the soft eyes and easy smile, Sungchan with the inexplicable hard-as-rocks eight pack. And also, equally inexplicable, a five foot two girlfriend who swears he’s gonna propose any minute now. Even though Donghyuck knew him first and helped him ace that tricky essay last term. Yeah. That Sungchan.
„Who?“, Donghyuck croaks, trying to come off as nonchalant. Renjun’s perfect eyebrow shoots up again. Busted.
„Dongie, that act’s not even gonna convince yourself“, Jaemin says, before Renjun can fire any shots, „You want to stop uselessly pining over that big himbo? Then get yourself a Grade A replacement now.“
Donghyuck turns around fully to Jaemin, throned on his barstool, drink half empty.
„And do you, perchance, know of any Grade A replacement, if you’re so clever?“
„Finally you ask.“ Jaemin’s smile takes on dangerous dimensions all of a sudden, and Donghyuck has to gulp down the dread. Last time Jaemin finally you ask-ed him, he ended up with a hairful of the worst shade of red ever, for two whole months. No, no questions allowed. Demise is imminent. „Coincidentally, the Lit reps are partying tonight too, like two tables over. You’d know if you had any object permanence. And if I’m not totally mistaken, I can see one hot Canadian piece of meat throwing these shots back like a pro, do you catch my drift?“
Trying to do exactly that, Dongyhuck peeks over to where Jaemin is nodding. And, lo and behold, there really are a bunch of semi-nerdy looking fellows gathered around one of the heart-shaped tables, clinking glasses and talking to pretty girls. Probably exchanging hot new ideas about Victorian Realism.
Donghyuck is skeptic, though. „Canadian? Where? You mean Matt Lee?“
He’s only ever talked to that guy for, like, two seconds at a time, once, when he asked him whether he was queuing for the men’s toilet. Sexy stuff.
„Mark Lee —but yes, bingo!“, Jeamin beams again, „he’s Korean, too. And he’s had the hots for you ever since last year, so believe me, this is about to be the easiest thing you’ve ever done. I mean, come on, he’s easy anyways.“
„Hey, no slut-shaming!“, Renjun pouts over the music.
„I’m not slut-shaming, Renjun, if anything I’m slut-praising, this dude is supposed to have killer stroke game —"
Some bubblegum K-Pop song is starting to blast through the speakers, interrupting Jaemin’s pillow talk and making the girls around them squeal like crazy. Donghyuck sort of feels like squealing too, though less because of TWICE.
„First of all —„, he raises a hand in Jeamin’s face, who immediately stops smiling. Kind of chilling, to be honest. But then, if Donghyuck really is honest, his brain’s already starting to work overtime, trying to construct half-formed memories of black curls, little shark teeth blinking through a smile, blue jerseys, basketball caps askew on a big head.
Yeah. Yeah, he knows who Mark Lee is.
He knows he’s doing his Masters in English Literature, which is kinda nerdy but if you look like he does, also kinda hot. He knows he must be smart, has a cute laugh, and asks fellow men whether they’re queuing for a piss. That’s super polite. And polite is good. Polite might even be sexy.
And that’s genug for Donghyuck right now.
„First of all“, he repeats with renewed passion. „how do you even know he’s into me?? Actually wait, no, don’t answer that, I know your diabolical liar face well enough. But how would I even go about it? Whenever I happen to see the man, he has at least one girl hanging off his arm, you sure he isn’t taken? Like, in the hetero sense?“
Jeamin, smug again, only shrugs. „Well, I don’t know. But you could find out. Right now. I know you wanna find out.“
Donghyuck hates how right Jaemin is, so he takes a second longer to look mysterious and apprehensive before snatching the drink right out of Jaemin’s hand and downing it in one fluid motion. Hah.
„You know what? Whatever! Vive la Canada!“
And with that he’s off, disappearing right into the crowd.
On his way along the bar, he shakes his hips a little, shimmies his shoulders. He feels the beat in his throat, pulsing down his abdomen in waves. Maybe he forgets himself a little, along the way, and dances one whole song among colorful strangers instead of making any moves into Canadian territory.
Maybe it’s because dancing helps a little with the nerves, or because it always manages to make him feel sexy, and he loves feeling sexy.
Or maybe it’s because there’s currently two girls practically sitting in Mark Lee’s lap across the room. Well, whatever. Donghyuck can wait.
He waits through one more TWICE song, in fact, a fast paced Jihyo solo this time, and ends up hyping up this group of girls dancing the whole ass choreo, almost from start to finish. He takes off half his jacket in the throes of the dance floor, and almost resolves to give up on his quest when Destiny’s Child comes on.
But when he throws a look over his shoulder, Mark Lee appears to be nursing his cocktail, totally solo. Okay. Enough frolicking around, time to move in.
Through the gritty beats of Say My Name, Donghyuck lightly bounces to the right, then the left, pretends to move one way — maybe to the toilets? — but coincidentally, totally by accident and super naturally, prowls right over to the High Council of English Literature.
„Hi!“, he greets the circle of semi familiar faces, normally hidden behind laptop screens or book covers. But now, tonight, the boys stepped up and dressed in their finest ironed shirts, it seems.
„Looking dashing, the lot of you! How’s that project on, uh, Dickens going?“ He’d certainly like to know how his project on dickens is going to go. A bunch of mute faces look back at Donghyuck in shock, surprise, and drunken confusion. Fair enough. He’s never talked to the Lit representatives, not even at the department meetups at the beginning of the semester. What would a marine biology guy even have to discuss with these well-read gents? Well, he’s about to find out, he guesses.
„There’s…no project on Dickens?“, one of the more sober looking ones musters the courage to answer, and Donghyuck waves it away, clicking his tongue.
„No need for great speeches, really, I’m just here to borrow one of your clever brains for a second. I have a quick question about Christina, um, Rossini? Super important stuff.“
He giggles his sweetest giggle, and then turns slightly to the right, tilting his head in a way he knows will make his highlighter glitter just the right way. He’s gripping the back of the chair right next to Mark Lee — some poor guy is scrolling through his phone on it, probably feeling the waves of horniness steaming off of Donghyuck’s skin. Great. At least Mark Lee is looking back at him, shot glass halfway to pursed lips, eyes wide.
Me? the look seems to say; instead of voicing that, however, Lee just throws his shot back, winces slightly and says to his glass: „Christina Rossini?“
„Yeah, the…poet.“
„It’s Rossetti“, Mark Lee answers, almost smiling, and Donghyuck’s eye twitches. Before he can complain about the mansplaining, however, the lit student ventures on: „Is Victorian literature, like, your thing or something? You into that?“
„No“, Donghyuck beams, fluttering his eyelashes innocently. Okay, he’s back in his element. „But I can show you what I’m into instead.“
Mark Lee lets his shot glass slip onto the table, and then his left knee, in the same second the guy beneath Donghyuck laughs. It’s a little distracted, but evil enough. Especially because it ruins Donghyuck’s carefully curated courage to be sexy and mysterious. Asshole.
„Mark’s got a girl, man“, the guy says, not looking up, while Mark scrambles for his glass and Donghyuck for his dignity. Well. Well, okay, that’s certainly one way of finding out.
When Mark comes back up, hair slightly ruffled, and looks at Donghyuck with even bigger eyes than before, Donghyuck caves fully, and lets all strength leave his shoulders at once.
„My friends dared me to do this!“, he announces, energetically pointing back to whence he came. He hopes Mark Lee can recognize the truth in the pure evil of Jaemin and Renjun’s faces, even across all that blurry distance. The lit student frowns for a second but then, inexplicably, starts smiling again.
„Yo, you friends with Jaemin?“, he says, smile widening. „I know him from German class! Guten Tag.“ At that, for some reason, Mark shuffles his chair back and gets up, extending a hand towards Donghyuck.
„Um, sure“, he says, instead of sorry I don’t know any German because why would he make this any easier for himself? „Hi, I’m Donghyuck. Jaemin is actually just holding me hostage, we’re not friends. I lied to you.“
Mark Lee, thank fuck, laughs at that instead of questioning Donghyuck’s lame jokes. He really is polite. Too bad he’s het. And during pride month, too! What a bummer.
„Well, anyways!“, Donghyuck starts, extracting his hand again, „this was a bet, I’m stupid and you’ve got a girl, man“, he tries to imitate the guy’s tenor, making a little pirate-arm move for whatever godforsaken reason. „So I’m off again. Was nice meeting you, though, dude.“
For a split second, Mark Lee looks like he didn’t listen to any of that. Then, he shakes his head minutely and drops his eyes to Donghyuck’s dress shirt.
„Yeah, dude, nice meeting you“, he echoes but when he looks back up, he’s got this little intrigued quirk between his brows, making Donghyuck pause. „But Jake is tripping, don’t ask me why. I, in fact, do not have a girl. Haven’t for some months now. It just never worked out. Not lately, anyway.“
„Okay“, Donghyuck gulps, trying to sound a little neutral, a little empathetic. „But you don’t need to tell me your entire dating history, we’re good. I’m not gonna tell anyone I saw you flirting with half the female club population. Don’t sweat it.“
„I’m not sweating it“, Mark Lee answers, too confident for Donghyuck’s liking. What’s he trying to get at? Donghyuck hates being one step behind, even if it’s just for one moment. „I’m just laying bare the facts, in case your offer still stands.“ He starts smiling, almost smug. „The one where you’re very much not into Victorian literature, you remember?“
Oh, Donghyuck remembers. Pushing his tongue into one cheek, he squints his eyes and allows himself to look, for the first time tonight — or the first time ever, really. He looks at Mark Lee’s hair, the black elegantly curling at his nape, hanging over his forehead. He looks at the rounded eyebrows, the high cheekbones that make the rest of his face look a little boxy, a little young. He looks at his worn leather jacket, the blue jersey beneath, scans the jeans, the sneakers, sweeps back up to his hands, currently hanging loosely at his sides, the silver rings, the clean nails, two on each hand painted a cherry red.
Maybe he takes purposefully long, to make Mark sweat a little. If he does, however, he at least doesn’t start squirming under his gaze.
„You into dudes?“, Donghyuck finally asks, eyes still squinted.
Mark Lee’s smile slants a little, and his eyes — his eyes begin returning the favor. First Donghyuck’s hair, the soft brown, freshly dyed. Then, the one clip-on earring he decided to wear today, a droopy fake diamond, down to his half exposed collarbones between the opening of his shirt. Down, down his slim fit pants, surveying his dress shoes. Okay, maybe Donghyuck laid it on a little thick today.
But remember the wolves? A gay’s gotta do what a gay’s gotta do.
Mark’s eyes return to his, and all he says is „Yeah, pretty sure.“
How scandalous.
Donghyuck has no idea whether Jake, or whoever, is ‚tripping‘ or not, he doesn’t even really know this Mark Lee, has no guarantee for him being unattached, no guarantee for him not being an asshole or, worse, a blasphemous sushi eater. All he knows is, somehow, this shit is working on him.
And he has no urge to fof whatsoever, so that’s a plus.
„Okay, big guy, yours or mine?“
Mark Lee, to Donghyuck’s surprise, kisses much more tentatively than expected. His fingers curl around Donghyuck’s jaw softly, slowly, tickling along his throat, the back of his neck. He presses his lips into Donghyuck’s as if in shy inquiry, asking for warmth in return, an opening if allowed.
He tastes like sweet liquor, and something much more private Donghyuck cannot pinpoint.
He tastes good.
„Wait, wait, I need to take my jacket off“, Donghyuck breathes into Mark, squished against the door of his own dorm room. God, why ever did he think it was a good idea to bring him back here? He didn’t even think far ahead enough tonight to clean his room beforehand. Well, oops. „And you should take yours off too. And your shoes, if you want to.“
„Hey, it’s your home“, Mark Lee replies, ever polite. So hot. He immediately goes back to kissing him once he’s rid himself of his sneakers and jacket. Also hot.
Mark holds the back of Donghyuck’s head steadily, and finally their tongues touch. It’s a bit clumsy at first, but then they find their rhythm, Mark’s left hand roaming down his torso, winding around it to grab at his ass. The lit student grabs Donghyuck’s knee, and hooks one of his legs around his waist, pressing their crotches together deliciously.
But instead of grinding happily away, Mark simply continues sucking on Donghyuck’s lips, moving on to his jaw, then nosing along his throat, almost tentative again.
„You smell good — vanilla?“
Donghyuck, to his slight mortification, moans in response. To hide the embarrassment, he moves his head to the left, away from Mark’s nose, and shoves at his chest a little instead.
„Go. Bed“, he orders, out of breath already. Mark blinks, a little taken aback, but readily complies nonetheless, shuffling backwards until his knees hit the mattress. On his way, he only stumbles over one piece of dirty laundry, so that’s great! And when he spots one of Donghyuck’s stuffed animals he only makes a small cooing sound. It’s when he lands his ass square on the remains of a bag of Doritos that he says something.
„Okay, man, romantic atmosphere you got going here“, the lit student snorts, fishing the crumpled piece of plastic out of the tousled blankets. „Chicken Flavor. Nice.“
„Only the best for my hookups“, Donghyuck bats his eyelashes, grabbing the bag and throwing it somewhere behind him. „Let’s hope I closed that bag of M&M’s, though, otherwise you have to help me collect them.“
„Deal“, Mark smiles when Donghyuck climbs on top of him. He still smiles when their lips find each other again, melting easily. When Mark starts nosing down his throat this time, he also uses a hand to dip underneath Donghyuck’s shirt and ghost a couple fingers along his naked belly. Goosebumps explode over his skin, making him shiver.
„Let’s pray for these M&M’s“, Mark mumbles into Donghyuck’s chest, and then he’s turning them around in one swift motion and tossing Donghyuck onto his back. No M&M’s hurt in the process, it seems.
Before Donghyuck can comment on that, however, Mark’s already hovering over him, one hand on his hips, gently caressing. Holding eye contact, the lit student dips his head down and kisses Donghyuck’s neck again, then his collarbones, one by one, first the left, then the right, Then, he kisses down his shirt, still buttoned up completely, before riding it up a little and pecking his belly button. Donghyuck laughs a little, nerves fluttering, before Mark slightly lifts Donghyuck’s hips, and seems to nudge at his pants.
„Can I?“
And that’s where Donghyuck’s reaches his limit. He quickly zaps his knees up to his chest and shakes his head, feeling the nerves expand into something bigger, something uncomfortably familiar. Yup. Yup. As he thought, he can’t do this.
Mark Lee’s wide eyes look back at him from above, and Donghyuck does his best to scramble to a sitting position again, as quickly as possible.
„Donghyuck, are you okay? Is something wrong?“
„Um“, he starts, putting one of his hands up as if Mark is the one needing to be reassured. „Actually I. Uh. No, you were totally doing fine, super hot.“ Donghyuck doesn’t really understand, anyway, it’s not like with any of the bozos before, who smelled weird or went too fast or used too much spit or had conflicting world views or secretly two girlfriends or only talked about their dogs even when kissing —
„It’s just — that was kind of a lot. You know, the pants thing?“
„The pants thing?“, Mark echoes, looking absolutely lost. Okay, fair enough.
„Uh, yeah, I mean normally I — you know we could just, like, make out or something? Making out is fun! — and I know I technically wanted to finally get laid tonight and I even showered and all that shebang but people can change their minds, right? That’s totally cool, totally chill. And I should probably clean my room anyway. Yeah.“
„Yeah“, Mark echoes again. „totally cool.“
„Cool!“ Donghyuck springs up a little too enthusiastically to start cleaning, considering he’s currently still sort of sporting a semi. Mark was really hot, no, he really is hot. Honest to God. It’s just —
„Donghyuck, have you done this before?“ The Donghyuck in question already has five handfuls of cookie wrappers in his arms when Mark finally asks. Goddamnit. „Like, have you not had sex before? Ever?“ Mark’s still sitting where Donghyuck left him, knees deep in the mattress, eyes innocently wide. And now he also sort of looks mortified at having asked that. As if it was rude, or off the mark. Which, congrats, it absolutely isn’t.
„Okay rude“, Donghyuck still replies, to save his dignity, „but also, um, yeah sure, if you put it like that.“
„You mean you’re — a virgin?“
„Okay, just so you’re aware? Virginity is a concept.“
Mark looks down at the bed, then back up again, brows furrowed. „A concept in which…you fit?“
Donghyuck rubs at a piece of melted chocolate on his blanket, picking at the flakes. He’s kinda gross, now that he thinks about it. The cookie wrappers make pitiful little noises between his fingers when he nods. „Yeaa—auh“, he draws out, looking at his hands, „you want, uh, Snickers, or something?“
Mark is clearly not finished with this conversation, goddamnit, but apparently hungry enough to accept the Snickers bar Donghyuck hands him, freshly fished from his bedside table. Or rather, bedside overturned-cardboard box.
„But, like —„, Mark starts again, as soon as he’s taken his first bite. His left cheek is bulging cutely, his brows still furrowed. „But you were so — I mean I always thought —„
„Okay, yeah, I know I walked up to you and did the whole flirty bit“, Donghyuck huffs before he can finish, „but that doesn’t mean — well, I know I wanted it to mean —„
„No, that’s not what I meant“, Mark adds to the ramble, biting off another, even bigger piece of chocolate. It sort of gives his sudden pensiveness a funny quality. „I meant, haven’t you been with guys before? You know, like Johnny Suh from the uni’s swim team? The tall, hunky one? I thought you guys were at least going out or something.“
Donghyuck narrows his eyes at him, feeling for more plastic under his pillow. „Sorry, but who told you that? Jaemin? I’ve never dated Johnny Suh, even if he is tall. And hunky. I have never dated—". He almost says anyone, but bites down on it in the last second. Instead, he busies himself with getting up and roaming about his room. God, he didn’t remember it being this messy.
„Well okay, maybe you weren’t dating but —„
„Sex?“, Donghyuck supplies for him, getting more antsy again. „yeah, sorry to disappoint there. We talked for, like, two weeks, sure, but he was hopelessly in love with his best friend — or mortal enemy? Actually now that I think about it I never really understood. Anyways, no“, Donghyuck chuckles without humor, picking up a pair of sweatpants and blindly folding them, „no, me and Johnny were never dating, just like me and Jaehyun were never dating, or that tattooed guy from the first semester. God, I forget his name every time. Not that it matters anyways, really.“
His hands keep moving and moving, until he’s folded three pairs of pants, two shirts and one whole pajama set. Heavens, he needs to wash more regularly. And somehow, the ensuing silence of his room makes him want to explain himself even more, so he spirals on: „And I know it’s me, it’s me, who’s always getting myself out there and asking for their numbers from their buddies or stalking their Instagram or creeping up behind them in a club and baiting them with Victorian lit. Sorry.“
„What. No“, Mark says, through a mouthful of what Donghyuck is pretty sure isn’t Snickers anymore, „you didn’t creep —"
„Okay, first of all? Are those my sacred M&M’s?“ Mark, like the stupid boy he is, opens his mouth to confirm. Yummy. „You sneaky motherfucker. But no, I did creep a little. I creep around a lot actually, especially after that failure of last month. The guy was texting three other people and kissed with way too much tongue. No thanks.“
Donghyuck has finished stacking up his socks, and turns to drag his laundry basket out from under his desk. Mark Lee, to Donghyuck’s slight surprise, gets up to help him load it up.
„I always ask for some sugar first, and then it’s me hitting the brakes and kicking them to the curb. Not that they don’t deserve it“, he laughs a little, but backtracks when Mark hands him a stringy black crop top. Oops. „I mean, you didn’t deserve it, you were, are actually very —"
„No need for consoling words“, the lit student waves off quickly, „it’s not like you did anything wrong. You know that, right? You are allowed to not want to have sex. Not to have anything, really, if you never feel the need to.“
Here, Donghyuck clicks his tongue a little impatiently. It’s something he’s discussed with Renjun like a thousand times, so he sounds almost irritated when Mark hands him the next rumpled blouse.
„But I want to, that’s the whole dilemma“ he sighs dramatically, „when I text these randos just because I saw a little ‚six foot; athlete; blue eyes‘ in their bio, it’s only partly because of social pressure — because, honestly, what isn’t? — but mostly because I want to be lifted and carried and fucked, okay? It’s a primal urge, have you heard of the two wolves theory?“
Mark Lee, two faint blotches of red blossoming on his cheeks, nods like he has no idea.
„You like tall guys?“, he asks instead of begging Donghyuck to explain his super scientific sex theory. Bummer.
„Duh“, Donghyuck answers, dead-panning a little, „and they want me, for sure, and I know I have charisma for days and cute eyes and sexy legs. And I’m humble. But when I get to know them a little better, they all fall short. Don’t ask me why because I will be giving specific reasons, believe me. But even worse is when I get into bed with them, and then they’re too loud or too sweaty or too fast and I just — it’s not that I don’t want to, I just never have and rejection’s sort of become my default response when it comes to…you know.“ God, he has no idea why he’s telling Mark all this, but he’s already gotten this far, so why not make it worse? „But I do get it up, and I get excited, so it’s not like I have erectile dysfunction. You got me going alright.“
„Great“, Mark answers, voice faint.
Donghyuck, finally stuffing the last piece of dirty laundry into the basket, looks up. He’s not sure Mark listened to most of that and when their eyes meet, Mark’s waver a little, drop to the basket, drop lower to Donghyuck’s hands on the handle. Feeling scrutinized, Donghyuck fiddles thumb again forefinger, rips at his cuticles.
Also, why not blurt out the worst thing of it all, to really make sure Mark’s got all the deets?
„Super great“, Donghyuck echoes, quickly pressing on: „also there’s this guy that I’m pretty sure I like, like like, and yes he’s also tall, okay, but there’s so much more to him and he sees me as a role model and he laughs about all my jokes but he’s got a girl for real, not like you earlier tonight. Which, by the way, I hope you weren’t shitting me to get into my pants. If so, at least you failed.“
At that, Mark exhales suddenly and sharply, almost resembling a laugh. His hand, which has been hovering above one of Donghyuck’s dress shirts, finally drops into his own lap, rubbing at his other wrist, tugging at a frayed bracelet Donghyuck hadn’t noticed before.
„No, man, don’t worry“, he huffs, shaking his head, „I really am single. But, yeah, sorry to hear about the, um, crush thing. I hope it works out? Somehow.“
Wow, Mark really has no idea how to handle this. To be fair, neither does Donghyuck.
„Sorry, you really didn’t need to know all that“, he apologizes right back, biting at the inside of his cheek, „I guess that’s the three tequila shots talking or something. Anyway, you can forget that. Or write about it, I don’t really mind. I love inspiring people.“
Mark looks up at him inquisitively. „You think I write?“
Donghyuck shrugs quickly, already having decided that this conversation is over, this night is over: he spilled his complete and utter guts, cooled off his hard-on and needs to wash his laundry. Like, now.
„What else would literature folks do? Anyway, you wanna have something to eat before you go?“
„You mean other than your entire stock of chocolate treats?“, Mark shoots back, looking a little tired. Distractedly he rubs at his arm again, then his face. His eyes look even more enormous when he’s sleepy, Donghyuck thinks. „No, no I’m good, I think. But thanks. Really.“
„Oh“, Donghyuck gets out, sounding a tad too disappointed to his own ears. He’s not even sad about it, no really. „Well, then. I’m gonna head out to wash this load.“
On slightly tingly, wobbly legs, Donghyuck manages to stand. Mark, still rubbing at his head, follows suit, and together they trot to whence they came, rewinding the moves: first, Mark gets into his shoes, then Donghyuck. Both take their sweet awkward time slipping into their jackets.
„Which way are you headed?“, Donghyuck asks, voice hushed in the corridor.
„Going back to the city“, Mark whispers back, „probably gonna take a bus.“
Donghyuck, too tired to question this, just nods mutely. Then, for some godforsaken reason, he goes in for a handshake right across his laundry basket.
„You saw my dirty laundry“, he murmurs, almost conspiratorially. „Like, literally and figuratively.“
„I guess so“, Mark manages to smile, and takes his hand above the folded socks. „Much more interesting than Victorian literature, for sure.“
Instead of doing a little bro shake or bro bump with Donghyuck’s hand, as he expected, Mark Lee leans in to touch the knuckles to his lips, feather light. Not even a kiss.
„Yup. Good night“, he says to his hand, then, and turns around to leave, shuffling along the corridor. Which, Donghyuck isn’t sure what to think, but he guesses he just isn’t familiar with the newest fuck boy tactics? Or maybe he simply watched Pride and Prejudice 2005 one too many times (probably that) because did his heart just do a little extra thump at that? Maybe. Or maybe he just needs a big fat portion of sleep after tonight’s mess.
Shrugging, Donghyuck turns to leave himself, only to realize that he does, in fact, need to go into the exact same direction Mark Lee just disappeared in. For good measure, he waits a full minute before making his move. No need to make this any more painful than it already is.
The real exhaustion, however, comes crashing down on him later, much later, when he’s propped up in bed, laundry washed and dried, and it’s a whooping four a.m. He can feel every bone grinding into his skin, every joint pulsating, his head swimming with the colors and sounds beaming up at him from his phone.
Approximately three thousand missed texts and calls and audio messages pile in, all from either Jaemin or Renjun or Jaemin and Renjun, Great. The messages, luckily, are less of the concerned type and more pure curiosity, it seems. Figures, since they saw Donghyuck leaving with Mark in tow, twin grins on their faces.
The curiosity, however, he has to satisfy - or more like disappoint - later, the only thing he does right now is send dw, I’m safe and sound in bed!! into the group chat, before swiping down on his phone and seeing another, newer message drop in from above: m.ark_ly has requested to follow you on Instagram. Oh okay.
Eyes almost falling shut, Donghyuck pauses, thinks a quick what the hell, sure, and then presses on that damn notification to click accept.
And why not? Who is he to say no to a new follower?
The follow back can come another day. He is sure Mark won’t mind.