Chapter Text
Donghyuck was thinking about Mark Lee. He’d been sulking all morning thinking about him, he tried hard not to but he kept seeing big glistening eyes, small pouty lips, the cutest and smallest nose, he kept seeing smooth skin with a constellation of moles and he sighed. Why did he feel like things were so complicated? Why did he feel like he wants to do everything in his power to catch Mark’s attention tomorrow at school and avoid him completely at the same time? He knew he was afraid, he was afraid of his feelings towards Mark, he was afraid of rejection, but he already felt rejected. He keeps seeing Mark holding that girl and then taking her number, sure he was friendly with him and he kept saving him from falling on his ass but that was just because he was nice, it didn’t mean he felt the same way. He got out of bed to take a shower and get ready for his friends who were coming to help him plan the Halloween party and help decorate the house since the party was just a week away.
The first two to arrive at Donghyuck’s house for the party planning were Renjun and Jaemin, apparently Jeno was running late because he was bringing some decorations he had in his house. Renjun stormed into the house as soon as Donghyuck opened the door for him and went straight to the kitchen to get a soda while saying, “So, Sicheng bailed on helping with the party planning.”
Donghyuck and Jaemin followed him and Jaemin spoke first, “Thank god, doesn’t he have friends his own age?”
Renjun drank from his soda and said, “That’s exactly why he bailed, he was going out with his friends and his boyfriend.” Both Jaemin and Donghyuck shared a glance then looked back at Renjun in concern, “Why are you both looking at me like that? I told you I was over my crush on him and I was serious, anyway I’m not that mad at him bailing because he said he’d still come to the party and bring his college friends along” Jaemin then added, “That’s good, we need older people that’s why I asked my brother to come and bring his friends too” “Yuta actually agreed to come?” Renjun asked, “yeah, at first he told me he was busy during halloween and when I asked him doing what, trick or treating he actually said yes, but then he changed his mind when I told him that Sicheng will be there, I didn’t know Sicheng had a boyfriend but Yuta doesn’t need to know that” Jaemin ended with a smile.
They both realized that Donghyuck’s been quiet all this time, staring far away dazed, Renjun then asked, “So, did you see bighead after the incident?” Donghyuck then met Renjun’s eyes and simply said in a small voice, “Don’t call him that.”
Renjun looked confused, “you literally called him tha-”
“Anyway, about my party, it’s good that you guys invited people since I don’t know a lot of people at school, I also asked Lucas to invite all his friends and for Jungwoo to bring people”
Jaemin then asked excitedly, “Do you guys know what you’re gonna dress up as?” Renjun opened his mouth to reply to only get cut off by Jaemin himself, “Me and Jeno are going as Eleven and Mike from Stranger Things” he said smiling so wide, “that’s disgustingly cute” Donghyuck said.
“Thanks, what about you guys?” They both waited for a while to make sure he wasn’t gonna start speaking again, he rolled his eyes and gestured with his hand for them to talk. Renjun said, “I’m going as Legolas, I would offer my blonde wig for your Eleven costume but I need it”
“It’s okay I already got one, and yours is too light for it to fit Eleven anyway”
“True, true” Donghyuck was smiling hearing how excited his friends seemed to be over this party, he knew he started this entire thing because of Mark but he was glad it happened anyway, “I’m going as the best pop artist ever-”
“OH MY GOD YOU’RE GOING AS JADEN SMITH???” Jeno suddenly screamed. They all turned around startled, “What? No, how did you get inside my house?”
“I let myself in, anyway how come it’s not Jaden Smith?” Jaemin thankfully answered before Donghyuck started screaming, “babe, how is Jaden Smith a pop artist?”
“Well, he’s an artist so…” They waited for him to finish his point but he just kept staring back at them so Donghyuck just said, “Anyway, I’m going as Michael Jackson.” then he heard Jeno mumble under his breathe, “how is Michael Jackson the best pop artist” And Donghyuck gaped at him then said, “he’s literally the king of pop!” Jaemin was just looking at Jeno and holding his hand comforting him when Renjun suggested they get back to party planning and decorating.
They spent the entire day decorating the house and writing down all the things they needed to get, they were so tired but Renjun thought they should go out for dinner to lift the mood because everyone remembered they had school tomorrow and were each sitting upset in a corner in the living room. They left the house together and on their way to the restaurant Donghyuck made sure to walk with his eyes straight ahead, not daring to get a peak inside the bookstore, Renjun noticed how stiff Donghyuck looked and realized they were passing the bookstore so he took it upon himself to look inside quickly, after they passed he stopped Donghyuck which then made Jaemin and Jeno stop behind them and he said, “He looks really sad, Donghyuck.”
Donghyuck decided to play dumb and asked, “Who?” Renjun slapped his arm, which made Donghyuck pout, but before he could say anything Renjun said, “you know who, dumbass!”
Donghyuck looked at him then continued walking in the direction of the restaurant, his friends following along and he said, “Why should I care if he’s sad, it’s not like we’re friends or anything”
Jaemin then jumped between Renjun and Donghyuck and said, “Maybe you should do something about that, I don’t know, ask him to the party again?”
Donghyuck scoffed, “I would never do that, he already said no, quite rudely too if I remember correctly, anyway can we not talk about him right now.”
Jaemin looked at Renjun but he only shook his head, so they all went to eat and they planned out everything they were going to prepare for the party, all the while Donghyuck kept thinking in his head about someone whose name sounded like the word park.
Donghyuck noticed at school the next day that Mark was trying to catch his eye, so he decided to ignore him completely. He thought he was pretty good at ignoring Mark, every time the boy called his name in the hall he would pretend he was wearing headphones and start bobbing his head even though he was clearly not wearing any headphones. After a week of avoiding ever looking at Mark’s direction or talking to him, with no visits to the bookstore he was slowly feeling like himself again. Although he can’t help but sometimes miss a certain Canadian boy. At the end of the week during lunch he was going to sit with his friends only to find Mark Lee standing over his table conversing with his friends, so he turned around and left to eat in an empty classroom, but he texted Renjun immediately to know what the hell was going on
You: Renjun, what the hell is going on? Why is he at our table? What is he talking about?
Injun: Hello to you too, he’s just talking about random stuff but he suddenly asked about where you were and we just told him we don’t know, where are you by the way?
You: I’m eating in an empty classroom, also what do you mean random stuff? Please elaborate!!!!
Injun: You’re truly hopeless, and god Donghyuck, why do you care? It’s not like you two are friends or anything (｡◝‿◜｡)
You: SHUT!!!!!!
Donghyuck was panicking, why was Mark so persistent in talking to him, guess he was so good at avoiding Mark that Mark didn’t get the message, the bell rang and he left the empty classroom he was hiding, eating in. He went to his locker to get his books and found a note hanging inside his locker by tape, it was hanging in the middle of his locker. He pulled his head out of his locker and looked around the hall, it was packed with students hurrying to get to their classes, he reached his hand inside to grab the letter and read it.
Dear Hyuck,
About the girl at the store, she was returning some books and she handed me the receipt, I got from your friends that you might’ve misunderstood the situation.
Also I noticed you avoiding me all week :(
PS: I miss talking to you, I miss your bookstore visits.
Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
Donghyuck stared at the note for what seemed like an eternity but it was probably just a couple of minutes, he was shocked, he cannot believe that Mark noticed that he was avoiding him, he truly felt like he was good at it. Then he felt stupid over the assumption he made at the bookstore, he’s been beating himself up about it for all that time and it was just a receipt. He then stared down at the end of the note, what did Mark mean he missed him? What was that about? Anyway, Donghyuck decided to look for this friendly neighborhood Spiderman after school to maybe finally set things straight.
Donghyuck was walking out of his last class for the day with Renjun, he was feeling giddy and apparently Renjun noticed. “You seem like you’re in a good mood” Renjun said while tapping Donghyucks cheek.
“I am.” Was all Donghyuck said back but Renjun didn’t bother questioning him, he was just happy that his friend was back to his all smiley self again. While they were on their way out of the school Donghyuck stopped walking, “Aren’t we going back to your house to finish up decorations?” Renjun asked him when he saw him waiting outside the school looking around for something or someone, “Yeah, I’ll meet you guys there, I just have a thing to do first.” Renjun smirked but left him there and headed towards Donghyuck’s house.
Donghyuck saw Mark leaving his class with Lucas and when their eyes met Mark smiled and Donghyuck finally smiled back. “Hi.” Donghyuck said as Mark stood in front of him, “Hi.” Mark said back, then Lucas looked between them, smiled then slowly but not so subtly walked backwards and left them alone. It was starting to get quiet outside the school, not a lot of students around, “So, about that note you left,” Donghyuck started, “you were right, I was lowkey avoiding you-”
“I wouldn’t say lowkey I-” Mark cut him off only for Donghyuck to cut him off by saying, “so you missed me huh?” And Mark was suddenly turning red and he kept looking at the floor, but then he looked up at Donghyuck, “so you were mad at me because you thought a girl gave me her number huh?” And Donghyuck is the one turning red now, they both started laughing at each other.
After they stopped laughing, Mark suddenly kept taking steps closer to Donghyuck and Donghyuck kept turning backwards until his back hit the school’s wall, he gulped and looked straight into Mark’s eyes that were suddenly so dark Donghyuck could see his own flushed face in them, he could feel Mark’s breath on his face. Mark reached his hand to Donghyuck’s bangs and he put his hand through them, and Donghyuck let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding then finally asked, “What’re you doing?” his voice barely audible, Mark then pulled his hand and flicked it saying, “there was lint in your hair”
“Oh, okay” And Mark pulled away but he was still abnormally close to Donghyuck. Donghyuck cleared his throat and asked, “About my party this Sunday, do you still have to work? Because I thought like now, maybe you could come, I don’t know” he finished still looking into Mark’s big eyes, Mark looked back at him and replied, “I don’t think I can cancel last minute, I mean I would like to really but I don’t think I could get out of it, sorry bro” he said the last part and he flinched and Donghyuck just gaped at him then closed his mouth pressing his lips together so hard they made a thin line, “don’t worry about it, it’s all good…Bro” he emphasized the bro then pulled away from behind the wall and mumbled a good bye and Mark just stood there stunned so he screamed, “I’ll see you around Hyuck.” but it sounded like a question and Donghyuck just lifted his hand up without looking back and made a thumbs up for Mark.
Donghyuck spent his Friday night and the next day working with his friends over decorations and getting snacks for the party, it was good being busy he didn’t let his mind think about what happened with Mark. They all had their costumes ready a week beforehand so they didn’t need to worry about that.
When he woke up on Sunday it was in the afternoon, he overslept. He groaned, he wasn’t feeling up to hosting a party, he was tired and moody. He got up anyway and made sure everything was in it’s place, it was still too early to the party but all his friends were coming over in an hour to get ready in his house. He called his mom and reassured her that everything was okay, she sensed that something was bothering him and he just told her he was stressed from school.
He showered and he got his costume out to wear later. Jeno arrived in his costume even though the party doesn’t start until SEVEN HOURS. He came into the house in a shaggy bowled dark wig and a striped buttoned up shirt with brown khaki pants, a beat down white shoes and a walkie talkie. He was so excited he kept grinning and the first thing he said was, “Guess who I’m dressed up as?” and he seemed so excited but Donghyuck told him, “Jaemin already told us about your costumes.” and Jeno pouted saying quietly, “you could’ve still guessed.” and Donghyuck felt bad for him so he put on a curious face and asked, “Is it Mike from Stranger Things?” and Jeno smiled at the effort but he wasn’t as excited anymore. They hung out mostly talking about random things like what movies were showing right now or why Jaemin keep referring to himself as the fruit god whatever that means, “That Jisung kid he hangs out with is affecting him, he calls himself god Jisung and now Nana thinks he’s a fruit god” Donghyuck said and Jeno just laughed because he thought everything Jaemin did was cute and adorable and the list of synonyms goes on and on.
Renjun and Jaemin arrived later with their outfits in their hands but their wigs were on already, which was hilarious to Donghyuck. They just walked in and tossed their blonde wigs as they sat down. Jaemin had his pink dress and blue jacket for his Eleven costume and he was still wondering whether he should put the blood on his nose or not, but he did bring a box of eggos.
Renjun set his Legolas costume down along with his bow. “Donghyuck, how’d it go yesterday with the Canadian boy?” Renjun asked with a smirk on his face.
“He bro-zoned me” Donghyuck replied while curling up on himself as he remembered the events of yesterday. Renjun went to sit next to him and side-hugged him and told him to focus on the party and that Mark probably panicked and said it or maybe he said it instinctively, but Donghyuck was tired making theories in his head of what ifs, he was tired of thinking about Mark and if he liked him back. They ate lunch together and joked around a lot, and it was getting closer to the time of the party so Donghyuck was checking on everything again and he noticed that they didn’t have enough soda’s so he told everyone to get ready already while he went out to get some.
On his way there he saw Mark walk into the bookstore for his shift, he was suddenly sad again and he stomped his feet as he went to get the soda’s. He arrived back home and set the soda’s in the kitchen, everyone was already in their costumes and the party is starting soon, there were also some early comers. He went straight up to his room to get changed and he got into his Michael Jackson outfit, he picked his iconic BAD era’s costume and he looked at himself in the mirror. He liked putting on his makeup, the silvery eye shadow and the dark black eyeliner. He looked good, so he decided to go downstairs and join the party, he could hear the loud music all the way up in his room and he hoped the neighbors wouldn’t say anything to the police, or worse to his mother.
He was surprised to see his house already packed with people, some were from school while others he just didn’t know at all. He felt a bit panicked at the thought of all these strangers in his house but he was too upset to think about that too much. He spotted his friends going in the kitchen so he pressed against all the strangers dancing in his living room to get there. “UGH” he said as soon as he got inside, they all looked at him and praised his outfit and he bowed down telling them he knew he looked amazing which they all rolled their eyes at him for. Renjun then came closer to him and said, “Maybe he’ll show up” He knew who Renjun was talking about and he just shook his head and said, “ No, I saw him go to the bookstore on my way to the supermarket” “oh, I’m sorry Donghyuck” He just nodded and put on a fake smile, just because he was sad doesn’t mean he’s gotta ruin this party for his friends too.
They left the kitchen to go around looking for their friends in the chaos that was his living room, Donghyuck saw a guy, no not just any guy it was Lucas, dressed up as a cowboy with who he assumed was his boyfriend Jungwoo dressed up as Jason from Friday the 13th. He waved at them and they both waved back, then suddenly Lucas raised his Lasso, the rope cowboys’ use, and threw it in Donghyuck’s direction to catch him. He did catch him for some reason but the rope fell to the ground around Donghyuck, he just stared back at him and Lucas just smiled, Donghyuck waited a bit longer for some kind of explanation but Lucas just kept grinning and screamed over the music, “CAUGHT YOU!” Donghyuck got bored of staring at Lucas’s grin and just removed the rope from around his feet, he turned around wanting to go as far away from Lucas as possible until he got caught again with that damned rope but this time Lucas pulled the rope which resulted in it tightening around Donghyuck’s chest and he fell backwards on his couch’s side, his lower body was hanging from the edge of the couch while his torso along with his head was on the couch, more specifically was on someone’s thighs. He had his eyes shut from the impact but then slowly opened them up to see a Spiderman looking down at him, and that only made him sadder because it reminded him of Mark, so he looked at that Spiderman, who he was lying on, and said with a frown, “Fraud.” He got himself off the couch and removed the rope again to throw a glare towards Lucas who had his arms raised in surrender, but he still had a goofy smile on his face.
That Spiderman from the couch was following Donghyuck and Donghyuck was getting annoyed so he turned around and screamed, “WHAT?” Spidey just shrugged and then he reached for Donghyuck’s shoulder and Donghyuck dodged him then he noticed his built and how he was slightly taller then him and then he was the one reaching for him, he pulled at his mask, and there he was, Mark Lee in a Spiderman costume in Donghyuck’s party. “Hi, Hyuck” And Donghyuck punched his shoulder, not too hard that it would bruise but not softly either,
“Ouch! What was that for?” Mark asked, he still had his mask on his head, his hair a mess.
“You said you had work! You said you couldn’t get out of it!” Donghyuck was mad and it was showing, even his ears were red.
Mark smirked and said, “I couldn’t at first, and then I told Ms. Choi about your crush on her and how I would fight her for you, I mean I really told her that this guy was special and I’m sure she’d be interested in him too but I just liked him more.
Hyuck was grinning at him, “I bet you lost the fight, Spidey”
“Yeah, she’s actually on her way here so get ready, she said she was super excited to give you a big smooch right on the-”
Donghyuck then made a move for Mark’s mask to lower it so he can shut up which only resulted in Mark holding his hands, “I can’t believe you’re actually here”
“You did invite me”
“Which you kept saying no to!”
“So, am I crashing your party?” Mark asked leaning forward towards Donghyuck.
“Yes, yes you are!” Donghyuck said while moving their entwined hands.
“Should I leave?” Mark whispered, and Donghyuck doesn’t know how he was able to hear him over the loud music.
“I never said that” Donghyuck said a bit too loudly, squeezing their hands and to his surprise Mark started chuckling and squeezed back.
“Okay, what do you want me to do then?” Mark asked with a smug look on his face.
And Donghyuck was about to ask him to dance with him, but he got interrupted when Jaemin came up to them with a panicked look and said, “Donghyuck, we have a problem!” And when Donghyuck looked back at Mark he had pulled down his mask over his face and he got close to Donghyuck’s ear and said, “I’ll wait for you, MJ” And Donghyuck felt a shiver run down his spine.
“This better be worth it NANA” Donghyuck said when they were alone, and Jaemin said, “Yuta saw Sicheng with his boyfriend and he got really drunk, you know how he gets when he’s drunk” “did he start singing Whitney Houston yet?” Donghyuck asked panicked, “No, not yet but when I left him he was getting there” Donghyuck let himself be pulled by Jaemin towards where he left Yuta, only to see Yuta making out with some guy, “ he seems fine to me” Jaemin had his jaw on the floor, “who even is that?” “I think that’s Taeyong, he’s one of Lucas’s friends” They stopped staring and left the weird duo to their canoodling.
Donghyuck was looking for Mark and he regretted the moment he saw him. He was with that same girl again, they were dancing really closely together, like really close. And he had his hands at her waist and their faces were so close to each other even with the Spiderman mask on it still pissed Donghyuck off how close their faces were. He felt sick. What was Mark playing at? Was he toying with him? Did he think this was a game? Because Donghyuck didn’t wanna play.
He goes upstairs because he can already feel his eyes getting wet, until he bumps into someone at the top of the stairs, “Hyuck, are you okay?” It’s Mark! Donghyuck turns around quickly to rub the tears out of his eyes and then he blurts out, “I thought you were downstairs” Mark looks downstairs to see the other Spiderman dancing with that girl and he pulls Donghyuck towards the nearest room, it being Donghyuck’s bedroom, telling him they needed to talk privately.
Donghyuck was suddenly nervous, he didn’t know what was going on but he had to admit he was a bit excited. They don’t say anything at first, Mark is looking around the room while Donghyuck is studying him.
“Is this your room?” Mark asks, still looking around the room.
Donghyuck nods still staring at Mark, then he realizes that Mark isn’t looking at him so he answers out loud, “Yeah”.
Mark is standing near his desk, he picks up a notebook that has a watermelon on its cover and says, “This’s cute, I really like watermelons”.
Donghyuck gets behind him and asks, “what else do you like?”
Mark doesn’t dare turn around, he just holds the notebook tighter and says, “I really like snow,” Mark slowly turns around facing Donghyuck, “I- I like w-watermelons” Donghyuck looks at him for a second then turns around towards the door while saying, “you already said that” he sounded disappointed, “Hyuck, wait!” Donghyuck turned around too fast and tripped over a pile of his own clothes on the floor and fell on his back in the middle of his room. He stayed there until he saw a pair of legs above his head, “You’re really clumsy you know that?” Mark said with a smile on his face, slowly he lowered himself down until he was crouched, and now he was facing Donghyuck from above, “You noticed” Donghyuck says back unenthusiastically. Mark chuckles and pulls the lower part of his mask down and before Donghyuck can register what was happening he felt a pair of lips press against his, and they kiss until Donghyuck says, “off” and Mark is still kissing him but he stops to ask confused, “what?” “The mask, take it off” and relieved that that was what Donghyuck meant Mark takes off his mask, and then he’s being pulled down by Donghyuck again.
They return to the party hands entwined, both grinning like complete idiots crazy in love, they see their friends huddled in the middle of the living room dancing together, and Donghyuck asks Mark, “Can I have this dance, Spidey?” that smile still plastered on his face, “It would be my pleasure, MJ” and they join their friends in the dance floor, Mike and Eleven from Stranger Things, Legolas from Lord Of The Ring, a cowboy with Jason from Friday The 13th, and Spidey with Michael Jackson.