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“Donghyuck!”
“Actually don’t call me at all since I’m so annoying! I wouldn’t want you to be in a relationship with someone who annoys you.” Donghyuck whips around and slams the door shut, leaving Mark to stare at it in his wake.
Mark’s chest is rising and falling as he takes deep breaths after being riled up. “Shit,” he yells, frustrated with himself.
Why had he said that? He couldn’t believe he’d gotten so irritated with his incomplete song that he’d snapped at his boyfriend like that.
He punches his notebook. He’s so stupid, he hadn’t even been thinking.
~
Donghyuck was sitting with him in his room, passing time on his phone when he said, “Markie, are you coming to Yukhei’s party tomorrow night?”
“Not if I don’t finish this song,” Mark replied, his pencil tapping the notebook on his lap.
“The same one you’ve been working on for a week straight? C’mon, babe, you deserve a break. Come to the party with me.”
“No, Donghyuck, I want to finish this. Parties aren’t really my thing anyway.”
“But sometimes you like them. You had fun at Jaehyun’s own a couple months ago.”
Mark didn’t know how long it would take him to finish this piece. He was stuck on the same verse for hours. “I don’t want to go, Donghyuck.” The longer the conversation went on, the more Mark could feel his flow for this song slipping away from him. “Can you just leave me alone for a bit?” he mumbled.
He was so focused on his lyric sheet that he didn’t notice Donghyuck’s expression turn serious.
“You don’t want me to keep you company? If we don’t go to the party, then at least let me— “
“Donghyuck, please, I need quiet, okay? I’m not done with this song so I’m not going to the party. Maybe if you stop being so annoying I could— “
“I’m being annoying?”
Mark looked up when he heard Donghyuck’s hurt tone of voice and backtracked what he’d said.
“What— Hyuck, a little, yeah.”
Donghyuck’s mouth dropped open and his eyes started to blaze.
“Are you being serious right now? Well, honestly, Mark, you can stay here by yourself and finish your stupid song!” He pushed himself off of Mark’s bed and stomped to the door. “Don’t call me when you’re lonely and have no inspiration.”
“Donghyuck!”
~
Mark groaned and fell back into his desk chair. He’d screwed up and said the wrong thing, thought the worst thing.
This wasn’t the first time they’d had a fight like this. Mark has said some stupid things before. But Donghyuck knows that he’s stupid so usually, once he lets Donghyuck cool down and gives him his space, they’re happily together by the next day.
Mark goes back to the song. He convinces himself that they’ll be fine by the morning. Donghyuck should understand that he didn’t mean it.
~{}~
“Donghyuck didn’t message me this morning.”
Jeno looks up from his coffee. “And?”
“He always messages me when he wakes up,” Mark says. He sits down in the seat next to his best friend, his eyebrows furrowed together.
“Maybe he didn’t wake up yet.”
“He did. Look, on his WhatsApp it says that he was last seen a half an hour ago. And I know that he has a vocal class right now. Donghyuck never misses vocal class.”
Jeno shakes his head. “Mark, what are you getting at?”
“We had a fight yesterday.”
Jeno quirks an eyebrow. “The quarterly Markhyuck fight?”
“No— well, yes, but we’re usually good by the next day. But he hasn’t contacted me. Which makes me think that we aren’t good.” Mark worries, biting his bottom lip.
Jeno shrugs. “Give him the rest of the day. Maybe he just forgot to message you.”
Mark seriously doubts that but he tries to push the situation to the back of his mind as his lecturer walks in.
~{}~
“Jeno, it’s five o’clock and he hasn’t contacted me at all.”
Jeno looks at Mark out of the corner of his eye. “Mark, it’s five o’clock and you’ve mentioned Donghyuck five hundred times today.”
Mark makes a sad face. “He’s really mad at me, Jen.”
“What did you even do this time?”
Mark pouts. He doesn’t really want to say it aloud. “I called him annoying.” Jeno makes a ‘yikes’ face, pulling his lips back in a thin line. “And I think I told him to leave me alone.”
“Oooh, you know both of those things really hurt him.”
Mark looks down at the floor. “Yeah.”
“His childhood was filled with people telling him stuff like that. For you — his boyfriend — to say that...”
“I know, I know.” Mark puts his head in his hands. “I really fucked up.”
The door to their dorm bangs open. “Mark Lee, you really fucked up.”
Mark all but falls onto the floor. “I know, oh my god!”
The newcomer, their friend Renjun, glares at Mark. “Donghyuck’s been switching between moping and being pissed all day. How could you tell him that?”
“You know what happened?” Jeno asks.
“Yes, Donghyuck told me.”
“He’s talking to you?” Mark wants Donghyuck to talk to him so badly.
“Yes, dumbass, I’m his friend and his roommate and you know Hyuck can’t keep his mouth shut. He’s so mad at you, how’re you gonna fix this?” Renjun folds his arms. Clearly he takes his job as intermediary very seriously.
“I don’t know, Renjun, what did he say? Anything that could help me?” Mark’s tone is solemn. He really feels like trash when Donghyuck is mad at him.
“He said that he’s going to Yukhei’s party now and that he doesn’t want to think about you. So if I were you, I’d figure out what to do as soon as possible.”
“He’s...” Mark’s spirits fall. Of course he’s going to the party without him, Donghyuck’s always been independent. He’s never had a problem going places without Mark. But he doesn’t want to think about Mark? That can’t be good. “Would he really...?”
Renjun tilts his head. “Well, usually I’d say no, because you’re, like, the love of his life, but he’s still really emotional. What did he say to you?”
Mark hates recalling the memory of the fight. His chest constricts. “He implied that we shouldn’t be together.”
Renjun gasps, Jeno yells, “No!”
Mark wants this fight to be over right now. “He didn’t mean it. I know he wouldn’t mean that.”
Renjun nods. “I don’t think he would either. But you know how Donghyuck gets at parties. Once he’s gone... who knows.”
The thought infuriates Mark. He wants his boyfriend back home with him now.
He jumps up, propelled by his anger. “No. My boyfriend is not getting wasted, another guy is definitely not gonna touch him and I am not letting him break up with me because I was being a headass. I’m going for him. Where’re my car keys?”
Renjun and Jeno gape at him as he dashes to the front door, grabs the keys that sit near it on a stand and shoves his feet into the first pair of shoes he sees.
“Hyuck, I’m on my way.” And with that he’s out the door, trying to remember which apartment Yukhei lives in.
~{}~
Mark isn’t shame to say that he speeds a little bit and he gets there in ten minutes. On arrival, he dashes out of the car and runs up the steps to Yukhei’s thriving apartment. There are college students congregating outside and when he pushes his way in, trying to seem bigger than he really is, he finds the inside cramped with bodies and vibrating with music.
He trusts himself to find his significant other easily so he scans the heads of everyone in the crowd until he spots a familiar auburn colour bouncing animatedly. He zones in on his target only to find Donghyuck smiling sweetly at someone that isn’t him: a tall boy with blond hair and a smirk.
Mark makes a beeline for the pair and he’s so upset that his fear came true that he pushes the unknown boy out of the way without hesitation— a totally not-Mark thing to do.
“Donghyuck, I— “
“Oh my god, Mark, what are you doing here?” Donghyuck pins him down with a glare. “I thought— “
“I came here for you, Hyuck.”
In an instant, Donghyuck’s eyes soften and Mark knows that he has a chance.
“Who is this?” The stranger pushes his way back into their conversation, squinting at Mark.
Mark gets worked up fast. “Fuck off, I’m his boyfriend,” he snaps.
The tall boy’s eyebrows pop up. “Doesn’t seem like it since Donghyuck was talking to me.” He turns a flirty gaze on Donghyuck. “Let me know if this doesn’t work out.”
Mark sees red. He steps between Donghyuck and the boy. “I said that I’m his boyfriend and I swear if you lay one hand on him I’m going to try my absolute best to break your face, okay, dude? So back off.”
The boy snares at Mark before stepping away, taking his loss and flipping Mark off in the process.
Mark stares him down until he disappears from view into the throng of people. Then, he feels Donghyuck’s hand close around his wrist and he turns back around to face him. He’s met with the beginnings of a smile.
“Are you sure you’re Mark Lee?”
Mark’s anger dissipates now that Donghyuck’s attention is on him and he doesn’t seem upset. “I don’t really know what I just did.”
Donghyuck chuckles and Mark grabs his hand, cupping it with both of his. “I’m sorry, Hyuck. I didn’t mean what I said yesterday. I was just so focused on finishing the stupid song, I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Your song isn’t stupid. I didn’t mean what I said either.” Donghyuck says apologetically.
“No, it really is, Hyuck, it’s so stupid that I’m scraping the whole thing and I’d write you a hundred songs instead.”
Donghyuck covers his cheek with his free hand. “You know I get dumb when you talk about writing songs for me, that’s not fair.”
“I wasn’t being fair yesterday,” Mark says. “And I’m so so sorry. Come home with me please, Hyuck.”
Donghyuck steps closer to Mark and gives him a soft kiss on the cheek. Mark is happy that he doesn’t smell like alcohol. “Of course, Mark. And I’m sorry too, my retaliation was harsh. I love you, okay?”
Mark’s heart leaps. Those are his favourite words. He kisses Donghyuck, slotting their lips together and savouring the familiar taste. “I love you, too,” he mumbles against Donghyuck’s mouth.
Donghyuck pulls away when someone bumps into them. “Let’s go, I know you don’t like parties.”
There’s a fat grin on Mark’s face. “I wrote about ten love songs for you in the past five minutes.”
Donghyuck shoves him towards the exit.