Work Text:
As far as summer jobs went, working part time at the mall’s Sephora wasn’t the worst. Sure, Donghyuck had to deal with the same shitty customers the rest of his friends working part time jobs in the mall had to deal with. He had to explain their returns policy so frequently he was starting to have nightmares about receipts and broken makeup seals. He’d long since learned that every complaint was best handed off directly to Taeyong, preempting the customers’ empty threats to ask to see the manager.
But it wasn’t all bad. Donghyuck loved makeup. He loved its transformative power, how he could turn the meekest girl confident with some carefully placed pigments and choice swipes of mascara. He never got tired of spotting what had to be beauty gurus or Instagram models in the aisles of the store, dressed to the nines, chatting excitedly to their cameras before turning them towards the shelves.
Donghyuck liked his coworkers. Taeyong ran a tight ship. Every person under his management was fully capable-- of everything from cleaning up spilled loose glitters without leaving a trace to executing a perfect recreation of a single photo of a Pinterest makeup look. It made Donghyuck swell with pride, thinking of the people he esteemed so highly and of how Taeyong considered Donghyuck a match to their caliber.
But. Donghyuck had never thought that he’d come around to view the customers as a bonus treat. Sure, he enjoyed it when they sincerely thanked him, saying they’d mention his helpfulness to the manager. He was proud when they gushed over his makeup looks after a makeover. But he’d never before had someone who could only fall under the classification of eye candy walk into the store, midway through his shift, saving him from the drudgery of the lunchtime lull.
He was scrolling through the playlist of songs Chenle had made for the store, nixing the ones that were far too 2017, when he chanced to look up just as a boy walked in through the glass doors. He looked fearful, for all the world like he was walking into a lion’s den. Donghyuck’s voice trailed off mid-sentence.
The boy had hair the color of merlot, and he shuffled his scuffed Nikes towards a facial mask display. His eyes were wide and getting wider still as he examined the various packets, an unease growing on his face. He kept a good two feet distance between him and the display, as if afraid of stepping any closer. He had on a shabby old band tee with the sleeves hacked off, a look Donghyuck himself would never attempt to don in a million years. But on this guy… Donghyuck smiled, just a little. Questionable fashion? Maybe. Donghyuck approved? Absolutely.
A hand snapped in front of Donghyuck’s face, interrupting his view of the guy, leaving him blinking, disoriented and a little perturbed.
“Earth to Hyuck?”
Chenle was smiling wide, smirking like he knew exactly what Donghyuck had been thinking. And so what if he did? Donghyuck huffed, annoyed. Chenle ought to let him ogle the poor, confused boy as much as he wished. He knew precisely how boring long shifts could be, how one searched for entertainment in the midst of them, no matter the form.
Donghyuck rolled his eyes, resuming his staring. He’d at least try to be covert this time, of course. His heart did a funny thing when he saw the guy had now moved onto the sample tools at an endcap. He’d found one of the sponges, and was squishing it between his fingers, watching the foam depress and reform. He was adorable, Donghyuck decided. Adorable and hot, a lethal combination. Chenle tsked disapprovingly, interrupting Donghyuck’s thoughts.
“Christ, this is so sad. Do you think he got lost on his way to the Lids or something?”
Donghyuck snorted, crossing his arms. Only, just his luck, it was at that precise moment that the boy looked in their direction.
His lips parted slightly as his eyes darted from Donghyuck to Chenle, and back to Donghyuck again. Donghyuck felt his face heat up. Had the guy overheard them? His arms tightened across his chest, then he let out a sigh. He relaxed once more. No way, not with Chenle’s ancient tunes pumping through the store, covering their tracks.
The boy looked away from them to the sponge in between his fingers. He stared at it, then dropped it in the trashcan and darted down the nearest aisle.
“Oh. Your face scared him off.” Chenle sighed, “Pity.”
“Shut up.”
Donghyuck was already moving to get out from behind the counter, out to the front of the store. At Chenle’s questioning look, Donghyuck waved his hand in the direction of the endcap where they’d last seen the boy.
“He needs help, clearly.”
Chenle’s mouth formed a perfect ‘o’, then he smiled and nodded sagely at Donghyuck “Clearly.”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Donghyuck groused.
He didn’t wait for an answer before spinning on his heel and marching away. Let Chenle tease him. He was about to talk to the cutest boy who’d walked into the Sephora in perhaps all his time working there. Chenle could fucking deal.
Donghyuck found the boy frozen to the spot in front of the Nars section. He saw him tense up, his bare shoulders lifting up to his ears, when he must have heard Donghyuck walking up to him. Donghyuck felt an uncharacteristic jolt of doubt. Maybe he shouldn’t be bothering the guy? Maybe he really was just another customer, who knew what they were looking for, and he’d overheard Donghyuck and was feeling self conscious and… Donghyuck saw the guy’s tricep muscle jump out as he tensed his arms.
Then again, maybe it was best that Donghyuck provide him with some top notch customer service.
Donghyuck plastered his brightest smile on his face as he walked up to the guy.
“Do you need help finding anything today?”
The guy turned to look at him, eyes still wide as saucers. He pointed at his chest, as if Donghyuck could have been talking to anyone else, and that was all it took for Donghyuck’s customer service facade to crumble. He laughed. Not at the guy’s expense, just. The poor boy was so cute. Donghyuck couldn’t handle it.
Donghyuck bit his lip to keep the rest of his giggles from escaping after the initial outburst. He didn’t want to make the guy feel any more self conscious. Not when he was already clearly feeling so out of place. Donghyuck nodded, confirming that, yes, he had been offering help to him.
“I… I was told to pick up the new, uh,” the boy scrunched up his nose, probably struggling to remember what, exactly, he’d been told, “eyeshadow? thingy?”
Donghyuck nodded, again. It was a start. He could work with that. But he couldn’t resist a quick little jab. It was just who he was.
“Okay, well. Just so you know, you’re looking at blushes right now. Not eyeshadow palettes.”
He smiled sweetly to soften it, though, so the guy would know he wasn’t making fun of him.
The guy’s face did something then. It colored, slowly, a rosy hue rising up on his cheeks, complementing his wine-red hair, making his wide eyes stand out further amidst all the warm tones.
“I know. Uh, they have,” he looked at the Nars blush display again, “...interesting names.”
Donghyuck laughed.
“They totally do.”
Just then, another customer slipped by him, skirting around them to the foundations just by the blushes. Donghyuck felt some of the warmth that had been filling him subside. He had a job to do, like it or not. And this guy really was looking for something after all. Donghyuck couldn’t waste both of their time, as much as he was tempted to.
Switching to a more professional demeanor, Donghyuck asked.
“Did your girlfriend happen to mention the brand of the eyeshadow she wanted?”
“Girlfriend?” the guy looked bewildered. Donghyuck waited patiently. Then, impossibly, the guy’s face got even redder, “No. No girlfriend. I mean-- I’m single. Not taken.”
Donghyuck’s ears perked up.
“Oh?”
“God, kill me now,” the guy said, making Donghyuck emit a small noise of surprise; the guy’s eyes slid shut and he sighed, “Geez, uh. Yeah, my friend mentioned something about tarts? or... was it pies?”
Donghyuck was mildly concerned about the guy, just casually dipping into thoughts about smiting like that, but he decided to let it pass.
“Ah, Tarte! I think I know what your friend wanted you to get. Follow me…”
Donghyuck helped him to the Tarte section, finding the newest release with ease. He’d just restocked the section a half ago-- the palette had been selling quick. The guy’s friend was trend-aware, at least. Donghyuck eyed the guy discretely as he scanned the palette to ring him up, wondering exactly what kind of friend this guy had. Guy or girl? Friend… or friend ? despite the guy’s prior assurances that he was single.
The guy passed his card over, and Donghyuck just about died when the tips of their fingers brushed up against each other. Cliché of clichés. But the brief moment of contact was enough to make the guy go pink all over again. When Donghyuck looked up from scanning the card, to issue a very restrained “Here you go, Mark,” he saw the pink dusting the guy-- Mark’s-- cheeks. Huh. If he didn’t know any better, he might have been tempted to think he’d made that happen.
“Ah,” Mark took his card. He smiled at Donghyuck, still looking a little helpless, but gratitude was there, too. Donghyuck felt like he could’ve melted on the spot. That is, until Mark finished his sentence, “thanks, bro.”
Bro?
God, did he really just get bro-zoned? And, why did he care so much? On autopilot, Donghyuck managed to close out the transaction.
“Anytime. Our returns policy can be found online. Have a good day.”
“You too! You really saved my life back there. See you around!”
Mark smiled brightly, which only made the pain present in Donghyuck’s chest twinge harder. He was baffled at himself. How had he managed to acquire a crush on a total stranger within minutes? And why did the total stranger have to be a total bro?
After Mark left the shop, Chenle sidled around from where he’d been hidden behind a nearby display, no doubt eavesdropping on the conversation that had just taken place. Donghyuck felt dawning horror that the awful end to the interaction with the stranger hadn’t gone unnoticed, and his fears confirmed just seconds later.
“Great job helping the Lids guy, bro .”
☼ ☼ ☼
Donghyuck lamented that the word bro had rendered him dumb and mute. He hadn’t even thought to try to ask for Mark’s number, too devastated. He was resigned to never seeing Mark again, never getting a second chance. After all, Mark didn’t seem the type to come to a Sephora of his own volition.
Which is, of course, not a decent excuse for abandoning the customer he’d been helping just at seeing Mark walk through the Sephora doors once again.
“Uh, so the micellar water is actually just in that aisle over there,” Donghyuck blurted out, interrupting his own offer to lead the customer to the product, his eyes trained on Mark. He was standing just inside the store, not moving, eyes roving as if in search of something.
“Oh,” the customer sounded confused, but not annoyed, so Donghyuck would take that as an out. He cleared his throat, nodded an apology, and didn’t quite run over to Mark, but it was close enough.
He pulled up before Mark got the chance to see him running though, slowing to a deliberately casual pace. When Mark noticed him, his whole face transformed. It was a sight to behold, the shift from confusion to joy back to something that looked almost flustered.
“H-hey,” Mark greeted, stuttering, then frowning at himself for the mistake.
Donghyuck smiled warmly, “Hey! Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon. Did your friend want a different palette, after all?”
Mark’s frown deepened, a crease appearing between his curved brows.
“What?”
“Was the tarte palette the one they wanted?” Donghyuck tried again, laughing a bit too airily, feeling inexplicably nervous.
He usually found it so easy to convey his thoughts to people. With Mark, it was harder. The stakes felt higher. He wanted to leave a good impression, which only made it more difficult. Luckily, comprehension dawned on Mark, smoothing out the crease between his brows.
He smiled, different from the ones Donghyuck had seen before (not that he was keeping track of them or anything). This one was sheepish. He scratched the back of his neck, his eyes darted away from Donghyuck’s.
“Oh. Yeah, he loved it,” he laughed, self deprecating, “he was actually so surprised I managed to find it. I didn’t have have it in me to tell him it was all due to you.”
Donghyuck’s heart stuttered at Mark’s compliment, as over the top as it was. His cheeks were going to start aching from all the smiling he’d been doing lately. He probably looked insane, grinning just having a completely inane conversation with Mark. He shook his head, reminding himself to at least not be entirely obvious. Mark appeared oblivious so far, but he couldn’t continue to rely on that.
“Anyways. What were you looking for this time? Something for yourself?”
Mark tittered nervously, shifting to the side as a pair of girls came in through the door behind him. Donghyuck angled to align himself with Mark.
“Uh. God, no. No offense.”
Donghyuck couldn’t say he was surprised, but he wasn’t impressed with Mark’s excessive denial. He leveled a (carefully tamed and penciled in) eyebrow at him.
“None taken,” he said evenly. Mark winced.
“Sorry. I.. uh. Wanted a gift for my sister?”
Something about that explanation seemed off to Donghyuck, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what. Mark’s eyes didn’t meet his as he spoke. Donghyuck decided to think on it later. He hummed.
“Okay. We might need to narrow it down a little. Does she have a favorite brand, or type of item? Or were you thinking more along the lines of skincare and beauty treatments?”
Mark’s confused face made a comeback. He looked helpless. It took all of Donghyuck’s admittedly small store of willpower to hold himself from laughing. Taking pity on Mark, he offered up a suggestion.
“Or… you could just get her a giftcard and, like, some high end lotion or something. Everyone likes lotion.”
“Oh,” Mark’s voice was small, but grateful, “...yes. That’ll do. She’ll definitely appreciate that.”
Donghyuck helped Mark find some suitable lotion-- a surprisingly hard task, due to Mark apparently not knowing his own sister. Seriously, he couldn’t even remember how old she was, or her favorite color, favorite scents, anything. Donghyuck was beginning to accept that the boy he was crushing on might have been a little dimwitted.
Exasperated, he’d finally picked one he knew he himself owned. It was scented, but it was a unisex scent that a girl of indeterminate age (“teenager?” Mark had offered, at Donghyuck’s repeated questioning) should enjoy. Coconut, rich and luxurious-- the smell alone transported Donghyuck, making him feel like he was about to head out to spend a day on white sands at some tropical location.
Mark unscrewed the top of the jar, took a hesitant sniff, then his eyes went directly to Donghyuck. He looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure about it. Donghyuck smiled.
“I think she’ll like this one. It’s one of my favorites.”
Mark screwed the cap on with utmost care.
“It smells really good,” he said, the sincerity in his voice making Donghyuck’s cheeks heat up.
He recalled using his own jar of the lotion that morning. He wondered if traces of the fragrance were still detectable on him, if Mark could tell.
“Oh,” he said, when he remembered he ought to reply.
They stood there, at an odd standstill, neither making a move towards the checkout counter. Mark had a smile on his face that was small and crooked, lifted up higher on one side than the other. Donghyuck smiled shyly back. Then, the song switched, and Carly Rae Jepson was suddenly singing about a boy she really, really liked, and Donghyuck remembered he was meant to be working.
Face warm, he led Mark to the register.
As they were checking out, Mark was silent. When Donghyuck finally handed a bag over to him, the lotion and giftcard within, he broke his silence.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
It was a bit of an awkward non sequitur, but it made Donghyuck’s heart skip all the same. If Mark was asking his name, maybe he was a little bit interested too.
“Donghyuck.”
Mark’s face broke out into a wide grin.
“Donghyuck,” he repeated, then, “cute.”
Donghyuck’s heart did more than skip. It fucking somersaulted in his chest. He stared with wide eyes at Mark, who froze, the grin sliding off his face as easily as it’d grown there. He looked horrified.
“Shit-- I. I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. I gotta go.”
Then Mark was turning, stalking away, near-jogging in his haste to escape Donghyuck. Donghyuck shook himself out of the warm reverie the word ‘cute’ had sent him into and ran to get out from behind the counter.
“Wait!” he called, though Mark had already reached the door, and was walking through it.
By the time he’d gotten to the door, Mark had disappeared. Gone, his merlot hair missing among the throngs of people in the mall. Donghyuck sighed, falling back against the doorframe, “I didn’t even get your number...”
When Donghyuck trudged back into the store, feet heavy and weary, he found Chenle leaning against one of the endcaps. He was holding a giant pretzel, and looked very much like he was trying not to burst out into laughter.
“Don’t,” Donghyuck warned, “don’t even start.”
“Wasn’t gonna,” Chenle lied, passing the pretzel onto Donghyuck. He accepted it, sorely. Took a bite from it, falling deeper into sadness when even the delicious salty pretzel failed to lift his spirits. He shook it at Chenle.
“Seriously, you can’t judge! Not when half your pay goes towards Auntie Anne’s. You don’t even like pretzels.”
Chenle’s shoulders slumped as he couldn’t even protest the accusation.
“We’re so sad.”
Donghyuck took a forlorn nibble at the pretzel, pursing his lips when it happened to be a bite with a lot of salt.
“Let’s make a deal. I’ll ask Mark out the next time he comes in, and you’ll ask for Pretzel Boy’s number.”
Chenle looked frightened, but he nodded, “Deal.”
Donghyuck tried to resist tacking on an internal addendum to the deal. If Mark ever comes in again. He hoped he hadn’t scared him off. Though, really, now that he thought about it-- Mark had ran from nothing.
☼ ☼ ☼
Donghyuck had just about had it with Jeno. When he turned around to pick up another handful of lipsticks to continue stocking a depleted Anastasia shelf, there he was, grinning with his signature eye smile. Donghyuck whined.
“Why is it always me? Isn’t there literally anyone else you could annoy?”
Jeno insisted on showing up almost every break he had-- the Yankee Candle store he worked at was just across the way from Donghyuck’s Sephora. Donghyuck loved him, he did, really.
But apparently Taeyong had a special Jeno detector. He always came out from the back at just the wrong time, catching Donghyuck shirking his duties to joke around with Jeno. Donghyuck had already gotten in trouble enough times for Jeno, he didn’t want to push it.
Jeno shook his head, undeterred, his smile unwavering.
“Nope. I don’t want to bother the other guys. Can you imagine if their bosses caught them slacking off talking to me?”
Donghyuck gaped.
“So do you just not care if I get fired, is that it?”
Jeno paused far too long before replying, “Of course not. I just enjoy spending time with you!”
Donghyuck shoved his shoulder, wounded.
“Jeno! What the hell?”
Jeno chuckled warmly, and Donghyuck’s anger dissipated. It was impossible to stay angry with Jeno for more than a span of seconds. He wasn’t going to let himself be distracted, though, not when Taeyong’s appearance was inevitable. He bent down, grabbing another handful of lipstick tubes, and went back to stocking.
“Here, let me help.”
Jeno was suddenly picking up some assorted products, hesitating as he stood before the shelf, uncertain as to where each object went. Donghyuck raised a brow at the unexpected act of charity.
“What’s brought this on?”
Jeno’s eyesmile was gone, a determined look in its place. He gravely placed a tube of lipstick in the wrong spot. Donghyuck suppressed a sigh-- the tube was crimson red, and he’d gone and put it with all the pastel pinks. Helpless. He reached forward to pluck it from the spot, and put it in its correct position, as Jeno spoke up, starting slow.
“I was wondering something about your coworker-- the one with the purple hair.”
“Chenle?” Donghyuck asked, instantly suspicious. As far as he knew, Jeno and Chenle had barely spoken and even then, it was only when they mutually teased Donghyuck. Why was Jeno curious about him?
Jeno screwed up his face, then nodded.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“What about him?” Donghyuck prompted, impatient.
Jeno sighed, put upon, then gritted out as if he was reciting from a memorized script, “I was wondering if he was single. And into guys.”
“....Dude,” Donghyuck cringed, dropping all pretenses of working to make a face at Jeno “are you into Chenle? He’s, like, all of twelve years old.”
Jeno raised his hands immediately, shaking them. His eyes were wide.
“No, no, no. God, no. Not me.”
Donghyuck’s eyes narrowed as he caught the last couple words. Someone, somewhere was asking about Chenle’s status and sexuality. Someone close to Jeno. Donghyuck resolved immediately to suss out the person, interrogate them, give them the shovel talk. He’d do whatever he must. Chenle might have been a brat, but he was Donghyuck’s brat. He wasn’t about to let someone pursue him without vetting them first.
“Then who?” Donghyuck asked.
Jeno laughed, too awkward to be genuine amusement, angling away from the full brunt of Donghyuck’s glare.
“You know what? I think my break’s almost over. I’ll come back another time, yeah?”
Jeno made his escape, walking in long strides away from him. Donghyuck reared up and after him, racewalking, carefully skirting around customers and displays. As soon as he was across the threshold of the store, out into the open mall, Donghyuck cursed.
“Lee Jeno, get your ass back here! Who’s got a crush on Chenle?”
He picked up his walking pace, chasing after Jeno in an odd, slow paced race. Jeno was looking more and more panicked by the second, his speed walking frantic. He finally reached Jeno after chasing him halfway through their wing of the mall, issuing fervent apologies to shocked-looking families and couples as he passed them by.
Donghyuck surged forward just as Jeno slowed down to dodge a crowd of burly looking men coming out from a hardware store, seizing his chance. Caught, Jeno turned in horror at Donghyuck’s face. The expression on it must have been something, because Jeno started spilling information the instant he landed eyes on him.
“It’s my friend Jisung! Chenle’s been buying pretzels from Auntie Anne’s forever, and Jisung’s half in love with him! My words, not his. But he can’t stop talking about a boy with purple hair and I saw a boy with purple hair in the Sephora and I put two and two together and--”
“--Jeno. Hush.” Donghyuck cut him off, deflating.
So it was just Pretzel Boy, then. That was okay, he supposed, since Chenle seemed to approve of him. Donghyuck took stock of their situation, his furor subsided. He felt a hot lick of shame. He’d actually run out of the store after Jeno, shouting and cursing. He winced. He hoped the customers hadn’t been too disturbed by that. He really hoped Taeyong hadn’t seen it. He’d be done for, fired. And he actually liked this job, despite the few drawbacks.
“Donghyuck, is that you?”
Donghyuck’s mind just about ceased operating. The only thought he could muster up was a question, wondering how it was that Mark managed to look heartrendingly good, wearing what looked to be a sweatband as a choker.
“Gah.”
The guttural noise was all he could manage. He froze on the spot, his grip on Jeno’s upper arm must have tightened considerably because Jeno let out a choice curse and wrenched his arm away.
Mark was standing in front of them, holding two cans of… well, something, having just exited from the hardware store. He looked, in increasing confusion, from Donghyuck, to Donghyuck’s hand, to Jeno, then back again to Donghyuck.
His eyebrows rose, and he took a half step back.
“Whoa. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your fight. I mean, not fight! Disagreement,” Mark attempted to correct himself, in reality only digging himself further from the truth. Donghyuck could barely keep up, Mark was talking so fast he might as well have been rapping, “Couples disagree! And that’s fine. Normal. It’s okay. You guys will get past it.”
Mark took another step back. He nearly bowled over a miffed looking tween, who shot a glare back at him that went largely unnoticed.
“Dude, what? Couple?” Jeno sounded just as lost as Donghyuck felt.
Donghyuck gestured between he and Jeno, “You think that we…?” He trailed off with a full body shudder, unable to finish the sentence aloud.
Jeno joined him, cringing at his side, “No offense, but no.”
Mark’s brows knitted together, his mind working hard to comprehend. Donghyuck sighed, exasperated.
“Mark, I’ve been flirting with you since you first came into the store and you really think I’m dating someone else?”
Shit. That was out there now. No taking that back. Donghyuck heard Jeno gasp beside him, picking up on the thread of events. He felt his cheeks go suddenly blazing hot. Shit, shit, shit.
Mark, for his part, looked too taken aback to react. His lips parted in shock.
When no words came out from between them, Donghyuck’s heart dropped. It hurt, like a real wound to his chest, not hearing anything back from Mark. Which was so, so stupid. He barely knew the guy, had spoken to him just twice. The total sum of their interactions probably spanned a half hour and, even then, comprised mostly of talking about makeup.
“Flirting?” Mark sounded tinny, as if he was speaking from the end of a long tunnel.
Donghyuck’s lower lip threatened to wobble, and he bit it to keep Mark from seeing. He looked down to the ground, to the mall carpet. It was all faded into muted hues of grayed pastels that looked dingy under his nice work shoes.
“Right.” Jeno’s voice pierced through Donghyuck’s dejected haze, “Let’s go, Hyuck.”
Jeno took Donghyuck by the hand, and led him away. Donghyuck let him. He closed his eyes, screwing them shut, trusting Jeno to keep him from running into anything.
When he and Jeno returned to the store, Taeyong was waiting for them, standing just inside the door and looking cross. He seemed ready to chew them out. Then, he made eye contact with Donghyuck and his face crumpled.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
Taeyong lets Donghyuck spend the rest of his shift in the backroom, under the pretense of taking stock. But there was only so many times one could check that the number of palettes and brushes had remained unchanged. After thirty minutes, Donghyuck gave up and sank to the floor. He listened to the faint sounds of the store’s music filtered through the thick storeroom door. The upbeat tune is the only discernible part-- the singer’s words lost to his ears, but the song itself was unmistakable.
Donghyuck drew out his phone and opened up Spotify. He suddenly cared about nothing more than creating a store playlist completely free of Carly Rae Jepsen. Chenle and his saccharine sweet love songs could suck it.
He’d just finished adding half of Beyonce’s discography when Chenle burst through the door, suddenly, causing him to drop his phone. Scowling, examining his phone screen for potential cracks, Donghyuck snapped a bitter word.
“What?”
“Mark was just here asking for you?”
Chenle’s words lifted up at the end, making his statement come out more like a question than a comment.
Donghyuck felt betrayed by his own body, at the little stutter-stop his heart pulled upon hearing Mark’s name. His scowl deepened. He didn’t know what Mark wanted him for, but it couldn’t have been anything good. Maybe he was going to beat his ass, for daring to flirt with him. That seemed like something someone who frequented hardware stores might do.
“What’d you tell him?”
“I just. I said you’d gone home,” Chenle shuffled his feet. His next words were barely more than a whisper, like he was scared to speak them. “Hyuck, he looked really sad that he couldn’t see you.”
“Yeah, well. Looks can be deceiving.”
Chenle seemed like he wanted to protest, but Donghyuck shot him a look, daring him to just try. Chenle shook his head, helplessly, letting it rest but not happy about it. He moved on.
“He also told me to pass a message on to you.”
Donghyuck’s heart skipped, again. He pressed his palm flat to his chest, willing the damn thing to behave, feeling it thud traitorously beneath his fingers.
“What?”
“Just that he was sorry for being such a headass.”
Donghyuck forgot how upset he was, hearing that. He made a face, confused, trying to imagine those words coming out of Mark’s mouth, and failing. Chenle shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Okay he didn’t say those words exactly. That was the gist of it, though! He actually apologized for being ‘dumb’. He said he hoped you’d forgive him for freezing up.”
“Oh.”
Donghyuck felt something fluttering in his chest, a sensation, light and airy. Something a bit like hope. He tried to quash it, because a request for forgiveness didn’t necessarily mean much. But it was hopeless. He was weak for the stupid guy. Donghyuck didn’t know why Mark had frozen, but he suspected he’d already forgiven him, from the first moment he faltered.
☼ ☼ ☼
Despite his appearance in the store yesterday, Donghyuck was utterly convinced he’d never again see Mark. At least, not for awhile. He figured he solely wanted to apologize, and leave it at that until his wounded masculinity had fully healed. He certainly hadn’t expected to see Mark in the store the very next day.
In a moment of cowardice, upon spying the back of Mark’s head, hair that deep, deep red, all tousled and fluffy, Donghyuck felt like fleeing. He knew Taeyong would let him spend another shift in the storeroom, that he was still sympathetic from yesterday.
But Donghyuck steeled his nerves. He wasn’t a coward. And, besides, he needed to hear Mark out. Maybe, by the end of this, they could forget Donghyuck’s overtures and become real friends. Donghyuck thought he could handle that, that being friends with Mark might be better than nothing.
Mark hadn’t noticed him. Donghyuck took a deep breath, and stepped up to him. He tapped on his shoulder.
“Hey, stranger.”
Mark whipped around, his expression sliding from surprise to relief upon seeing it was Donghyuck behind him.
“You’re here!”
He smiled then, shy, and utterly disarming. Despite everything that had transpired, Donghyuck smiled back. Couldn’t help himself, not when it came to Mark.
“I work here.”
Mark’s shy smile grew, inching wider, “I know. Actually, there was something…”
Donghyuck cleared his throat, cutting in before Mark had the chance to bring up the fiasco a day before.
“So, what’ll it be today? Another Tarte palette for your friend? More gifts for your sister?” Mark winced, inexplicably. “....Or something else?” Donghyuck tacked on, cautiously.
“Something else, definitely,” Mark laughed, scratching the back of his head, mussing his hair further. Donghyuck restrained himself from reaching forward and setting it right himself.
“Y’know,” Mark began, “I don’t even actually have a sister?”
“What?” Donghyuck wondered if he’d misheard Mark.
“Yeah. I kinda just… needed a reason to see you again?”
“So you invented a whole sister?” Donghyuck said, voice high in disbelief. And from a little something else-- that fluttery feeling, creeping up on him all over again. Mark laughed, shrugging, as if making up siblings was a normal thing to do when one wanted to talk to someone.
“I guess I did. The thing is, now I have a fifty dollar Sephora gift card to use up.”
Donghyuck’s mind was catching up. He nodded, slowly, at odds with the quick pace of his heartbeat.
“Oh,” he said, “I could… help you decide how to spend it?”
He was already imagining showing Mark around the aisles, them joking together, falling back into casual conversation. He could deal with that. He was definitely alright with that. But then Mark shook his head and, just when Donghyuck thought he’d finally got a grip on things, he was forced to reconsider.
“I had another idea.”
“Did you?” Donghyuck asked, wondering where this was going, not ready to imagine up scenarios all over again only to have them shot down. Mark’s Adam’s Apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed, suddenly.
“You do people’s makeup here, right?”
Donghyuck nodded.
“Can you do mine?”
Donghyuck was nervous. He hadn’t been nervous about doing someone’s makeup for a long time-- not since the first customer had come out teary eyed, gushing compliments on the sienna halo eyes he’d done on her for some summer gala. But this was Mark. Mark was letting him do his makeup. As far as Donghyuck knew, Mark had never once even touched a tube of mascara, let alone had makeup on his face. Donghyuck would be working with a completely blank slate.
Donghyuck tore his eyes away from Mark, busying himself with his makeup bag. He focused on taking deep, even breaths. His hands were shaking, just slightly trembling, but even those small tremors wouldn’t do when he had a makeup look to complete. He needed total control.
“Do you have any idea what kind of look you wanted?” Donghyuck asked, because he had to, already anticipating the reply. He smiled when it came, confirming his suspicions.
“No… sorry.”
He turned around facing Mark once more, resting his hip up against the makeup counter, “That’s alright. I have a couple ideas in mind.”
Mark didn’t know that Donghyuck had been dying to see him in shimmery eyeshadow since the moment he’d laid eyes on him in that muscle tee, but that was neither here nor there.
“Nothing too crazy, I hope,” Mark grinned, lopsided. He didn’t look all that concerned.
Still. Donghyuck shook his head. He had just the look in mind. A subtle gradient of glimmery peach shadow rimming Mark’s eyes. It wouldn’t be as eye catching as normal glittery looks, it would just gleam under the right light. But he wanted to emphasize Mark’s eyes, to make them stand out. They were the focal point, not the makeup itself. Donghyuvk would add a touch of smudged out brown liner, too. He was a sucker for liner, couldn’t do a look without it. It didn’t hurt that it’d bring even more attention to Mark’s eyes, of course.
Donghyuck dipped a brush into a pan of the base shade, biting his lip as he inched forward. Mark stayed utterly still as Donghyuck reached forward to lay a hand on his jaw and tilt it upwards, angling Mark’s head so it fell in the proper light.
“Close your eyes,” Donghyuck said, and he hated how wavery his voice came out.
Mark’s eyelids fluttered shut upon his command though, and Donghyuck flushed to hear the hitch in Mark’s breath. He’d give anything to know what was going on in Mark’s mind. He wondered if this was completely platonic for him, what the significance of Donghyuck doing his makeup meant to Mark.
Donghyuck began layering shadows, switching brushes to ones with finer and finer tips as he got to the darker tones in the peach gradient, closest to Mark’s lashes. Mark stayed still throughout the process, not even speaking. Donghyuck changed his mind on Carly Rae Jepsen. He was feeling eternally grateful for her, now that her songs filled the air, masking the sound of his pounding heartbeat.
“Almost done,” Donghyuck spoke, his voice hushed. For some reason, the atmosphere asked for it. The mall Sephora felt akin to something hallowed, like he ought to tread lightly, or risk breaking the spell.
“You can open your eyes.”
Mark did just that, his eyelids rising lazily. He blinked a couple times as he stared at Donghyuck, adjusting to the light.
“Hey,” he said, surprising Donghyuck into an outburst of soft laughter.
“Hey?” he returned, unsure why they were greeting each other but willing to play along.
Mark’s cheek flushed a pretty pink, leaving Donghyuck delighted. He’d never be able to find a blush in his collection that suited him that well.
He grinned, picking up his pencil brush.
“I’m gonna add some shadow to your lower lash line, okay?”
Mark nodded, face still pink. Donghyuck leaned his head closer, presumably to ensure a more precise application, but the stutter stop of his heartbeat made it feel like anything but. He was able to keep his hands stable as he finished off adding the rest of the shadow, though.
When he picked up the eyeliner pencil and uncapped it, however, the first traces of doubt crept into Mark’s eyes.
“What’s that? Where’s that supposed to go?”
Donghyuck laughed. He hadn’t been wrong about Mark’s makeup knowledge, it seemed.
“It’s eyeliner. It goes around your eyes. Don’t worry, though. I’ve done this a million times-- it’s kind of my job. I won’t poke you.”
Mark eyed the pencil warily, but he nodded.
“Okay. I trust you.”
The top liner was applied without too much trouble-- Mark kept his eyes shut for that, but the liner for the lower lash line was a struggle, for both of them, for varied reasons. Mark, because of his lack of familiarity with pointy objects near his eyes. Donghyuck, because he had to position himself only bare inches from Mark’s face to apply it properly. Mark’s nervous fidgeting fed into his own nerves, and he had to grip Mark’s jaw tighter to keep them both still.
Holding his breath, he penciled in the lower liner. When he drew the pencil away, Mark lowered his gaze to meet Donghyuck’s. For a spellbinding moment, they both paused, looking only at each other. Their faces were close enough that Donghyuck could feel Mark’s exhalations ghosting across his lips. Upon noticing the sensation, Donghyuck’s eyes dropped to Mark’s mouth. To his lips, just barely parted. They were chapped, Donghyuck realized. He wonder how they’d feel, under his own lips.
“What are you looking at?” Mark asked, voice tremulous.
But even Mark wasn’t that clueless. Donghyuck flicked his eyes upward to meet Mark’s. The shadow rimming them shimmered, complementing the sheen within his pupils, blown wide.
“Honestly? Your lips.”
Before Donghyuck had time to second guess himself, time for the doubt to creep in all over again, Mark was moving, surging up and out of the makeup chair. Donghyuck felt Mark’s hand land on the crook of his neck, then he felt Mark’s lips on his, and could focus on little else. He emitted a soft gasp of surprise, the sound muffled against Mark’s mouth. Then he felt Mark’s lips slot more evenly with his own, and his eyes slid shut as he fell deep into the kiss.
It felt like it had barely begun-- Mark’s lips were just parting against his-- when someone cleared a throat in their vicinity and the reality of their situation sunk in. Donghyuck’s eyes snapped open and he quickly separated from Mark, guitily meeting Chenle’s pained gaze. Donghyuck’s lips tingled, and he pressed the very tips of his fingers to them, to confirm that they were as kiss-swollen as they felt.
Mark hadn’t moved from his position, just out of the makeup chair. He smiled lazily, broadly, like he’d just won something. His shameless smile made Donghyuck face heat up.
“Not that I’m not happy for you guys but, uh, you’re probably breaking at least fifteen of Taeyong’s rules right now,” Chenle’s voice was as strained as his awkward smile.
“I was just… doing Mark’s makeup.”
Mark nodded enthusiastically, backing him up. Chenle scrunched up his nose at them in apparent digust.
“Yeah, okay, ew. Please do that when you’re off shift, next time. Preferably out of the public eye.”
Having successfully chastised them, Chenle turned to go. As annoying as the brat was, he knew when to give Donghyuck space. Donghyuck watched him walk away and up to a customer ambling through the perfume aisle. Then, steeling himself, Donghyuck turned a shy eye towards Mark.
Mark was smiling at him, still with that wide grin plastered on his face. On anyone else, Donghyuck might have thought it looked cocky. On Mark, on Mark especially after he’d just finished kissing Donghyuck, he loved it.
“Mark--,” he began.
“Hyuck, give me your number. I wanna take you out, someplace nice.”
At the sound of his nickname coming from Mark, of all people, Donghyuck’s mind fizzled. He grinned, probably coming off a tad manic, and carefully took hold Mark’s hand. He scrawled the digits to his phone number on the back of Mark’s hand with the eyeliner pencil. When he finished off the last number he continued to cradle Mark’s hand within his own.
“Don’t let this smudge, ‘kay?”
Mark looked aghast at the thought, “Never.”
Donghyuck’s chest was so filled with that fluttery feeling he felt near bursting. He darted a quick look around to make sure there weren’t any watchful eyes, then, finding the coast clear, leaned forward to press a quick kiss to the corner of Mark’s lips.
“I really do have to go back to work now,” Donghyuck confessed, guiltily. His luck at avoiding Taeyong whenever he was with Mark could only hold out for so long. Mark nodded, sadly.
“That’s okay. I’ll text you, as soon as I leave,” He reached back, “let me just get the card to pay for the makeup look.”
Donghyuck shook his head immediately, “No. Nope, it’s on the house.”
“What? Hyuck, just let me pay for it. I already have the giftcard.”
“I insist,” Donghyuck crossed his arms.
Mark gave into him eventually, agreeing at least to pass on the card to his Tarte-loving friend. Donghyuck saw no reason to charge him for something couldn’t be classified as work, for him. He’d gladly let a chunk of his day’s wage be swallowed up, solely for the joy of seeing Mark in makeup.
True to Mark’s word, Donghyuck’s phone lit up with a text alert from an unknown number as he was walking back to the registers. He smiled stupidly at the message-- just a simple ‘hey! it’s mark lee :)’ and saved the new contact in his phone.
“You guys are gonna be disgusting, aren’t you?” Chenle looked put upon, far too weary of the world for his seventeen years.
“Like you and Pretzel Boy are gonna be any better.”
“I wish,” Chenle sighed forlornly, picking at a peeling sticker on the register, “Pretzel Boy doesn’t even know I exist .”
Chenle looked so sure that he’d be denied the opportunity to be as disgustingly cute as Donghyuck and Mark. Donghyuck’s grin took a turn for the mischievous as he recalled the revelation from Jeno that had set the events of yesterday into motion.
“Chenle, about that…”