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Mark has bad luck.
Like really bad luck.
Okay, well maybe his luck is moderately bad, it’s not that kind of fan-fiction.
It was just a string of coincidences that led him here into this less than desirable predicament. He was having to take the 2-4am shift at the convenience store for the fourth consecutive night (morning?) in a row.
Christ, he was a college student. He should be procrastinating for his upcoming exam, not staring at linoleum aisles at ass o’clock in the morning (night?).
But he was a neuroscience major after all, and this was such a neuroscience thing to happen to him. Big neuroscience energy, he thought bitterly.
It started with Jaehyun begging Mark to take his shift because he had a “hot date” that night (which actually just turned out to be Doyoung Mark later discovered) and he absolutely couldn’t miss it. When Mark asked why the hell would Doyoung ask Jaehyun out on a date at 2 am, Jaehyun said Mark didn’t get romance.
How the fuck did he not get romance? He’s had relationships and gone out on dates before. Mark would argue he’s incredibly experienced with the ways of the heart since he’s learned to be romantically involved with both men and woman.
(“That’s not how it works Mark.” Jeno says tiredly the next day when in class Mark deliriously is ranting about his tiredness and how people who think eating soup is a thing, are backwards savages.
“You drink soup, you don’t see me chewing water do you? You heathen” he seethes at the one brave kid who tries to counter him by saying it depends on different cultures.
Later that day Mark would find himself apologising to the kid and saying that after much deliberation he found his point to be valid and himself to be culturally insensitive.
“Europeans can’t help the fact that their soup is chunky.” he admits and the kid beams at him. Mark learns the kids name is Jisung and they now get along fabulously in culturally correct soup-consistency harmony.)
Anyways, Mark is a romantic guy. Sure he hasn’t found that certain spark that’ll finally make him wanna keep going back for more and can be a bit awkward at times, but he’s romantic.
It’s not his fault people can be kinda boring and predictable.
The second and third time he’s stuck with the late shift is because Taeyong is going to some high-profile cooking lessons at another university out of town and needs to stay for a few nights.
(“You’ll see Mark Lee, when I come back I’m gonna make the best damn ravioli you’ve ever tasted in your puny mortal life.” Taeyong declares over the phone when he breaks the news. Mark snorts but secretly wishes him the best.
“Ravioli ravioli we’re here to kill the Titan-nolis.” Mark hears Taeil’s weeb ass sing out from the other side of the phone. Mark considers chucking his phone at the nearby wall from how absolutely tired he is but refrains himself from doing so. Renjun likes to sing the jingle too and Mark would much rather throw Renjun at a wall, so he holds back.)
Mark hoped that his luck would improve on the fourth night and dejectedly remembered Thursdays were when he was supposed to take the late shifts. So with burning eyelids, a headache, and a exhausted spirit, he shows up to work on Thursday and relieves Johnny of his shift.
“Hey kid, not to be rude but you’re looking-uh rough around the edges. Getting enough sleep?” Johnny asks like a concerned dad.
“I want you to take one look at my piece of shit body and tell me I’m getting enough sleep.” Mark says gesturing wildly to his, well, whole aura.
“Point taken,” Johnny says amusedly looking Mark up and down while hanging up his green vest in the back room.
“Sorry dude,” Mark sighs,“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten any rest outside of falling asleep in class.” He’s a good student but that may change if he keeps having to wake up to Jeno pinching his underarm and whisper yelling that he’s gonna fail the course. Mark hates it when Jeno is right.
“It’s all good man. Once today is over you can finally get some shut-eye.”Johnny says sympathetically,“If you really need me I’ll be at Ten’s place tonight, feel free to bust down the door to wake me up.” He winks and heads out the glass doors of the store with the plastic sensor above the door chiming a short tune.
Johnny’s a good guy and really just gets how people feel. That’s probably why he has a boyfriend while Mark is left starting at a colourful mosaic of junk foods from behind a store counter. Five long minutes pass and the sound of passing cars in the dark are the only indications of life Mark can hear.
Oh yeah, this was gonna be fun.
~~~~~
Now, you may be asking yourself this, why doesn’t Mark just sleep on the job? You know, since it’s so late no one is really gonna come, a little snooze won’t hurt. Mark would like to say a cordial fuck you to the people who asked him that, because you think he hasn’t tried?
On the second night, Mark fell asleep to wake up to some crazy dude sticking the store up.
Granted, the guy was using a water gun and that doesn’t really register as a ‘lethal’ weapon but that didn’t mean 3am Mark wasn’t gonna lose his shit.
This is how I die, Mark thought and was almost disappointed when the guy collapsed face first on the tiled floors.
He called the police and that was that.
A typical Tuesday in the life neuroscience major, Mark fucking Lee.
But the moral of the story is, Mark is now inclined to not fall asleep on the job after that. Along with the fact that he’s met some eccentric characters.
There was that redneck guy with a mullet muttering about aliens, the tatted up old lady who wore all leather (Mark thinks he’ll never get a tattoo after seeing how they look on less than taut skin) oh and Yukhei was there to pick up pack of ramen. Not much needs to be said about that one. (seriously, how does he still have a will to live at 3am?)
But on the fourth night of him consistently fucking himself over by being unable to say no to anyone, he thinks he’s really starting to lose his diddly darn marbles.
It’s 3:26am and he’s sitting behind the register numbly trying to come up with song lyrics while scribbling incoherent sentences into his black moleskin.
Yes, Mark Lee is a proud arthoe with hype-beast tendencies. Bullet journalling aside though, Mark likes to write songs, the way his guitar sounds to him is better than any early morning car outside. It’s a shame he may never pursue music, but he’s already at a stable, safe, place future wise—you win some, you lose some, that’s life.
Then the the store’s signature chime rings in Mark’s ear, but he’s too focused on this one particular verse about bashing his head into the corner of a table, to notice who just walked in.
He’s starting to get increasingly unhealthily tranced in his morbid lyrics when someone throws a knife at him.
Okay well, not at him, but at the counter in front of him. To be fair, the knife was also in its own plastic packaging.
Still though, what the fuck.
Mark flinches violently enough to bolt upwards and accidentally toss his moleskin in the direction where the deadly projectile came from.
The source of the knife sidesteps the notebook as it collides with the floor.
“That could’ve hit me you ass.” A kinda high pitched voice states flatly. Mark is delirious enough laugh at the hypocrisy.
He’s laughing and laughing, until he looks up. He chokes on his own air when he sees the boy in front of him.
Hot damn,
The boy’s brown eyes are swollen as if he’s been crying, yet they still manage to look down Mark. His cute nose slightly upturned and his even cuter lips in a frown.
Oddly, Mark is kinda into that.
Mystery boy’s hair is a nice auburn that suits his golden complexion. Mark bets he’d look magical in the sun. Which is interesting considering what the boy is wearing is anything but bright and magical. Black jeans, black cropped sweater, black dangly earrings, black just black.
It takes a few seconds for Marks incredibly awestruck brain to begin to process the sight in front of him, then it realises that mystery boy is also a paying customer.
But Mark is not in the correct state of mind to be business-like, so he tries to flirt.
“Why’d you throw a knife at me?” He blurts. Nice.
“Because I can, and I’m paying for it so don’t get your panties in a twist. Oh yeah and this.” The boy gently places a tube of cherry chapstick on the counter next to the knife.
Mark thinks he’s in love.
Mark also realises that it’s a bit weird to be buying a knife at 3am in the morning. Naturally he’s smooth with his questions.
“Whatcha gonna do with that knife?” Shit.
“Why does it matter to you?” The boy states with a glare, probably annoyed at Marks prodding.
“Uh-I…”
“Gonna murder someone with it, probably.”
“Oh. Like murder murder? Like for real murder?” Marks asks like an intellect.
“No a fake murder.”
“Oh.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“Oh.” Oh.
The boy has the gall to laugh at Marks exhaustion addled brain and the sound of it is nice. Not too heavy or too light. Just perfect, Mark thinks he wants to hear more of that sound in his life.
Mark is getting quite proud of himself until he see’s the boy is starting to cry, hands on the counter to steady his shaky body. Tears are streaming and they don’t seem like they’re gonna stop anytime soon.
“Woah, hey man. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.” Why is Mark apologising? It’s not like he really did anything. Yet, he feels distress at the boy crying, the urge to protect twists in his gut.
“Ahah, nah. You didn’t do anything, just got a lot on my mind you know?” The boy’s voice comes out unstable and cracks a bit. Despite that, he speaks again.
“Since I’m already crying and you’re seeing me do this we might as well get acquainted right? I’m Lee Donghyuck, pleased to meet you…?”
“I’m also Lee, uh the Mark kind though, not Donghyuck even though that’s a pretty name—,” Donghuck chuckles weakly at that.
“So Mark also Lee, what brings you here?” Donghyuck gestures wilding at their surroundings, more tears spilling from his eyes, “I mean, you look around my age, what’s a college student doing working so late?”
I could ask you the same thing. Mark bites his tongue instead of saying that.
“Well, I usually only do late shifts on Thursdays, but my coworkers got me to cover this hell shift for the past three days, so that’s fun.” Donghyuck laughs dryly at no one in particular.
“That’s not very nice of them.”
“No, I suppose not.”
An awkward silence hangs over the two as they gaze at each other for a little longer than necessary.
Donghyuck scans Mark’s face, from his mussed up hair, to his sharp jawline, and innocent eyes. Needless to say, he’s also impressed by the boy in front of him.
Mark realises this, coughs and looks away, red tinting the tips of his ears.
“I go to SMU, Neuroscience. What about you?” Marks asks all of a sudden, totally not because the void of sound was making him nervous and he has somehow developed a crush on the boy in front of him within the ten minutes of knowing him. Totally not because of that. At all.
Donghyuck has stopped crying at this point and his swollen eyes widen a bit.
“SMU?” Marks nods his head vigorously in response. “Well what a pleasant coincidence, I go there too. I’m a culinary major.”
Cute, and a cook? Why don’t you just take my heart and put it in a juice press.
“Oh, so that’s why you needed the knife right? For cooking reasons and not killing ones.”
Donghyuck goes stiff as a board while Mark mentally reprimands himself for asking. After a couple beats Donghyuck answers back.
“Aha yeah something along the lines of that I guess.” He turns on his heel and begins to walk away from the counter. Mark panics, Wait! you didn’t tell me your number, zodiac sign, and how you like your eggs in the morning!
But Donghyuck stops and bends down to pick up Mark’s notebook, lying cold and forgotten on the tiled floor. He brings it back to the counter.
“Sorry for not picking it up earlier, that was a dick move.” He sounds apologetic and Mark’s soul shatters a bit in his chest.
“It’s okay man, you were probably doing me a favour anyways. I was getting a bit too invested in my lyrics.”
“Lyrics? As in like song lyrics?” Donghyuck asks, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
“Yeah, I also play guitar but you know, Neuroscience life has got me pretty occupied.” Donghyuck nods understandingly.
“Can I look?” He holds up the journal.
Mark contemplates this for a moment. That journal was filled with everything about his existence, about himself. His first broken heart, his hate for ketchup, all his unreachable dreams, dark stuff. Was he really willing to let a person he just met read through his life?
Apparently the answer is yes because that’s what Mark tells Donghyuck.
He begins to flip through the journal and stops to read Mark’s scribbles on random pages.
“You don’t like ketchup? And proceeded to write a song about it?” He asks with a hint of disgust and admiration.
“Tomatoes deserve better is all I’m saying.”
Donghyuck snorts and keeps flipping through.
He stops at one page where Mark pressed a flower into. Mark recognises that page as the one he wrote on after someone he trusted in, betrayed him, That shit hurted. He remembers those lyrics were some of the heavier ones.
Embarrassed, he turns his gaze from his journal to look at Donghyuck’s reaction. He expects to be met with a sour expression, instead he sees Donghyuck’s eyes beginning to water again.
He panics for a hot moment, concern bubbling in his chest. He didn’t want to pry but he wanted to help Donghyuck. Mark takes a small breath and steels himself.
“Donghyuck are you okay?” Mark asks softly.
A few seconds of silence.
“Today is the anniversary of me and my last boyfriend. He cheated on me, with one of my best friends.”
“Oh.” Is Mark’s pathetic reply.
“I’m over him, I really am. Just, when I think about that friend, and what they did. It always makes me feel so disposable you know?”
Mark knows. God he knows too well. After his own incident, he remembers spending the next few days inside his room, feeling like garbage. His own heart strings tug painfully for the beautiful boy crying in front of him.
“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
“And it’s been a couple years already and I just can’t-“ Donghyuck groans frustratedly, hot tears streaming down his tanned cheeks, “-seem to make myself not feel like shit all the time.”
“It’s always bad around this time of the year, he cheated on the day of our anniversary. I planned on spending the day inside, maybe cook a nice dish or five for myself. I cook when I’m stressed or anxious.”
Marks nods, urging him to go on.
“And so early today, really early today I guess, I woke up in a cold sweat, telling myself that I didn’t have the correct knife and needed to get it this instant. This store was the only place open so late. That’s why I’m here.”
“Why’d you throw the knife at me though?” Mark asks hoping to brighten Donghyuck up.
“I’ve always been a bit emotional, and a attention seeker. What would you do if you went on a spontaneous knife buying trip at a convenience store and the clerk happened to be really cute?” Donghyuck smirks, tears halting a bit and the corners of his red-tinted eyes lifting.
That’s more like it.
Wait. He thinks I’m cute???
Mark gapes at the boy in front of him, not knowing how to respond in a coherent manner.
“Uh what’s your sign?” He blurts out.
Wow there’s nothing better than asking people for their astrological signs when they’re crying about something emotional to cheer them up. Ahah.
Donghyuck stares at Mark for a good second and bursts out giggling.
“I’m a Gemini.” He says between bouts of laughter.
“Cool, I-I’m a Leo.” Mark says surprised, not expecting Donghyuck to actually answer back.
Mark thinks everything is going dandy because Donghyuck is laughing, and it sounds better than the first time. Until it’s not so dandy and Donghyuck starts to tear up for the third time that night.
“Sorry. God I look so pathetic right now.” He says, using the corners of his sweater sleeves to try and clean his eyes.
Mark stands there, still behind the counter, frozen. He gets the sudden feeling like he’s intruding. He wants to help, but what can he do? He’s just a tired college student trying his best.
Mark’s body begins to move on impulse and some sort of invisible barrier is shattered to pieces when he strides over to the still crying Donghyuck.
Mark doesn’t think he’s ever been as confident in his life when he gently wraps his arms around Donghyuck.
“It’s alright Donghyuck, I know how it feels and you’re not worthless. In the brief time I’ve known you, you’re already more to me than some people I’ve known for years.” Mark whispers.
Donghyuck is abnormally silent and Mark thinks he’s screwed up big time and begins to pull himself away from Donghyuck’s warmth.
Until two shaky hands come up to grasp his back tightly and he can hear Donghyuck’s hiccups and a small ‘thanks’ muttered into his ear.
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck. Why is he actually the most precious thing in the world?
Donghyuck feels like everything warm and nice in life, maybe a bit more than that.
Donghyuck feels like home.
They hug for a long time, when they pull away Donghyuck has ceased crying and is looking at Mark with a soft smile on his face.
Mark glances at the clock on the wall, his shift is almost up.
In a momentary act of boldness he says, “Hey, my place is close by and my shift is basically over, want to uh hang out?”
Donghyuck’s eyebrows shoot up and Mark realises how out of line he sounds.
“No god I would never suggest- not that I wouldn’t with you! -wait no I meant to say that you’relikesupercuteandIthinkIkindoflikeyounow, and that’s why I’d like to spend more time with you. You feel?” Mark wants to throw himself into the sun. You feel? Who the hell says that. But it’s 4am, there is no sun to throw himself into yet.
Donghyuck smiles and Mark is absolutely blinded by how beautiful the boy is.
“I think I do feel. And I’d like to take you up on that offer.”
Mark is yet again surprised.
“Not to contradict myself but, we met like half and hour ago, you hardly know me.” Donghyuck smirks slyly, slipping his smaller hand into Mark’s larger one. Mark swears that tingles go down his spine when Donghyuck grips his fingers.
“Better start introducing yourself then.” With that, Donghyuck is dragging Mark out of the convenience store.
Somehow, Donghyuck didn’t forget his knife and chapstick, carrying it all in his left hand, along with one Mark Lee in the right. Mark clutches his journal in his right hand and and thinks of all the new songs he’ll be able to write.
When they do eventually get to Mark’s place, they both collapse on the sofa together, smiling as they chat on and on throughout the early hours of the morning.
~~~~~~~
Mark had somehow fallen asleep on the sofa, blanket covering him. When he had awaken, it was dark out again.
He feels something warm shift against his chest and looks down.
Lo and behold, there’s Donghyuck in all his tanned glory snuggling into Mark’s broad chest, chasing the warmth.
The events of last night play through Mark’s head and he smiles like a fool at the boy in his arms.
He bends his head down a bit to press a quick kiss into Donghyuck’s auburn hair.
Donghyuck whines as Mark panics a bit.
shitshitshitshit
Great he’s gonna think you’re a creep now. Good going Mark.
“Mmm no get back here.”
Mark.exe has stopped working
When Mark doesn’t respond in time, Donghyuck cracks his eyes open and huffs a bit, pulling Mark downwards to meet his lips.
Mark’s ears are on fire as he regains sense and wraps his arms around Donghyuck as they kiss slow and sweet.
Donghyuck pulls away a bit breathless.
“Good morning sunshine.”
Mark wants to tell him technically it’s night but he stops himself before he can ruin the moment.
He simply responds by going in for another kiss.
Mark doesn’t think he’ll be tired anymore.