Work Text:
Three calls, Mark decides, would’ve been more than enough.
By now, Donghyuck’s troublesome antics should be no surprise to someone like Mark. He’s desensitized from the neverending number of terrible actions Donghyuck always does, having been best friends with such a reckless person for most of his life. Mark had assumed that things would get a bit easier to handle with time, but every day is still a new challenge with Donghyuck and his incredible skill of always being unpredictable. He is loud and a hassle and everything in between. He’s not someone to easily be tamed—and Mark out of all people should know that the best.
Mark gets called 22 times.
With one eye barely open, a quick glance at his alarm clock tells him that it’s three in the morning. His head throbs with a major headache, and a fuzzy sensation consumes his entire right arm, which he infers is from him sleeping on it for way too long. His body aches all over. Mark regrets eating a bag of Sour Patch Kids for dinner. He regrets a lot of things.
He lifts up a section of his curtain to take a peek outside. It’s pitch black, and the only source of light that emits is from the specks of stars littering the sky. It’s rather obvious that Mark should not be awake at this time. Outlined with the roofs of his neighbor’s houses, he sees that no one else’s windows are lit inside (well, except for Zhong Chenle’s, the freshman three houses away from him who spends his nights away on his PlayStation and never seems to shut an eye).
Donghyuck, he concludes, must be batshit crazy.
In his state, Mark decides to call him back. He doesn’t know if he makes this rather brash decision because he’s sleepy and hungry, but his fingers press the Contacts app before he can think it through. He decides he’ll deal with the consequences later.
He picks up almost in an instant—all Mark does is press his contact name—and he picks it up in an instant.
Before Mark can speak, however, the person on the other line answers first.
“First of all, fuck you, Mark Lee.”
He scoffs, nearly poking out his eyeballs because he’s in a rush to put on his glasses. He undrapes his blanket, getting off the bed. His messy hair springs out in all directions; wrinkles are painfully present on both his black tee and his forehead.
“Shut the hell up. It’s 3:16 and I’m up and about because of you,” Mark chides so fast he’s not even completely sure of what he’s saying. His head’s thinking of countless thoughts—especially about the paper he was typing up yesterday before he fell asleep. He wonders if he had double-spaced it or not. He’s also considering the prospects of ending a beloved friendship.
“Because of me? ” Donghyuck teases, cooing at his big age.
“Donghyuck, I’m really not having it.”
“Your voice is so deep in the morning.” Mark hears Donghyuck giggle and he despises how much fun he seems to be having by waking Mark up at the asscrack of dawn. “What were you doing before this?” Donghyuck asks like he doesn’t know.
“Trying to complete my REM cycle. That is, before somebody called me 22 times,” Mark says in a tone that’s far too calm, a tone that doesn’t quite reflect the internalized rage he’s feeling.
“Oh. I was trying to figure out why you weren’t picking up my calls after a bit. Thought you would be up eating crocheting or something.” He snickers after that.
“What do you want?” Mark demands, turning on his desk light. “I can’t believe I’m even talking to you right now.”
Donghyuck clears his throat like he was waiting to be asked this question the whole night. “Before I was rudely interrupted...Second of all, Renjun’s birthday is today and I thought that we should do something for him. I don’t know...like bake a cake or something?”
“You need to do something for him,” Mark corrects accusingly. “I already bought him my gift. I’m hanging up in five seconds.”
“You can’t really do that though,” Donghyuck replies so fast, as if Mark were to actually end his call in a couple of seconds.
“And why is that?”
“Because I’m pulling up to your block and I’m taking you to Target.”
This prompts an immediate shout from Mark. Voice hoarse and still groggy from his premature wakeup, he chokes out a “What?!”
“You heard me,” the person on the other line confirms hastily.
“Just wait until I see you,” Mark grits in between his teeth, pointing a finger at an invisible figure. His parents are still home: sound, and asleep, so he still makes sure to shout only in hushed tones.
“I’m waiting,” Donghyuck singsongs. Mark swears he can hear the sound of a car engine sputtering and rumbling in the distance. “Can you please get here before I wake up your whole neighborhood?”
Mark falls back onto his bed and ruffles his hair. “I would love for that to happen,” he bluffs, and he’s not even sure why he tries, because Donghyuck always seems to get the last word in no matter what.
“No, no I’m afraid you wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I very much would. And I’m going back to sleep now.”
“Okay,” Donghyuck sings again. And Mark hates it. Absolutely hates it. Because he can imagine the stupid little smirk on his stupid face right now.
Mark hangs up the phone abruptly with a smack on the red button. He wraps his covers over his head. An un-humanlike groan escapes his lips.
I'm such an idiot, he thinks.
“You’re such an idiot.”
Mark doesn’t give him satisfaction by saying “I know,” but it’s practically being done as he opens the door and seats himself on the passenger seat in Donghyuck’s car.
The soft melody of Dean’s “Instagram” hums from the speakers, and as soon as Mark closes the door Donghyuck immediately zooms off out of his block.
“I forgot to say thank you for coming along with me on the call.” Donghyuck reaches to turn on the heater to combat the chilly breeze that is usual with March’s early mornings. “You know, you didn’t really give me a chance to do so—” Donghyuck glances at the passenger seat, at Mark who is currently unwilling to return his gaze, who is staring outside the window instead and chasing down the moon with just his eyes.
“Grumble back a ‘you’re welcome’ for me so I know you won’t kill me before the night’s over?” Donghyuck pleads, one hand on the steering wheel and the other gripping the sleeve of Mark’s shirt.
Mark despises the way his body betrays him in this instant. His skin rises in goosebumps at the contact of Donghyuck’s slightest touch, and out of surprise, he immediately moves his arm back. Donghyuck doesn’t seem to notice, only dropping his grip, and not hesitating before returning both hands to the wheel.
“I’m still considering it,” Mark replies.
Donghyuck lets out an overexaggerated gasp, bringing a hand to cover his mouth.
Mark can’t help but chuckle just a bit. He folds his arms and finds himself drawn to the sky again. It had been a while since the two of them had last hung out. College classes took much of Mark’s free time, and Donghyuck had a senior year to worry about with applications and all. They had only managed to meet up here and there with their other friends whenever their schedules allowed. Still, finding time where both of them were free was hard to come by and Mark had only last seen Donghyuck individually last month.
It’s amusing to Mark how Donghyuck manages to get him to join in on his crazy shenanigans every single time without fail, whether Mark voluntarily joins or not. It had always been like this when they were kids, too, because Mark would always end up right next to Donghyuck’s side, even if that meant he would reap the same terrible consequences that came with hanging out with a troubled child.
He thinks it’s ridiculous of him that he simply can’t say no to the other, not as simply as he wishes, ever since he had realized that the blatant crush he had developed on Donghyuck wasn’t just mere admiration for his best friend.
Being friends with Lee Donghyuck is a strange, strange thing. Mark is used to his typical teenage habits: he rebels by sneaking out during the wee hours of the morning and skips class to go buy Starbucks for Jaemin because he feels like it. Other than that, Mark had to get used to the other crazy shit that Donghyuck would pull that wasn’t so reminiscent of the American coming of age movies one would watch. Mark has seen it all: Donghyuck dyeing his hair red right before finals, ordering food through a Drive-Thru with no car, and sneaking inside rap concerts. After having been friends with him for nearly a decade, things don’t feel so bizarre to him anymore.
On top of that, having a crush on Lee Donghyuck is even stranger. It had caught him off guard when Mark realized that it wasn’t normal to imagine going on cute dates as partners and waking up next to him every morning. Mark wonders if Donghyuck knows. After all, years of pining might’ve made his hidden crush more than obvious to outsiders, and maybe even to Donghyuck himself. Mark wonders if Donghyuck knows how much he absolutely adores the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles and how his laughter rings throughout the whole room and how his ability to give absolute zero fucks about what everyone thinks is something he is so envious of. Mark wonders if Donghyuck sees the way he looks at him—how his eyes always burn with infatuation and appreciation. Mark would risk it all for him. He wonders if Donghyuck knows that.
“Hey, how’s this?” Donghyuck asks, which shakes him out of his wandering thoughts. “You’ll help me with my gift for Renjun and I promise you we can watch the sunrise afterward like people do in the movies. Yeah! How’s that?”
Mark gives Donghyuck a look that screams that he’s dissatisfied: raising his eyebrows and all, frown apparent on his face.
“I swear it’s a lot of fun! I’ve done it a lot of times myself.” Donghyuck points towards himself with his thumb and shoots Mark a triumphant grin.
“Donghyuck, I’ve pulled all-nighters too, y’know, sunrises aren’t really abnormal to me.”
“Okay, okay, buzzkill.” Donghyuck pauses to roll his eyes but then returns to his usual tone of voice. “Sunrises aren’t the same without me, of course.”
He doubts the verity to Donghyuck’s words, and to that, Mark says nothing. On his phone, he looks up a recipe for chocolate frosting, Renjun’s favorite. It’s been a while since he’s stepped in the kitchen, truth be told, and quite frankly, he’s unsure if he’ll be of actual help to Donghyuck or not, but he supposes another late night spent with his best friend won’t hurt anybody.
“Ooh, you like this song,” Donghyuck says and turns the volume up as “Martini Blue” by DPR Live comes on shuffle. “Now you have to smile.”
This song reminds Mark of a lot of things. It brings back summer break from last year, where he, Donghyuck, and Jeno snuck out to the beach to swim at night before they got busted by a fellow passerby. It reminds him of late-night car rides just like this one and going to Dairy Queen and finishing their ice cream cones in an empty parking lot. He never hesitates to dance whenever it comes on, but today for whatever reason, it makes him feel both nostalgic and gleeful.
“That’s not fair at all, you can’t just play one of my favorite songs like that and expect me to not smile,” Mark argues, laughing as he looks over to Donghyuck. Donghyuck’s already looking at him. His heart skips a beat.
“I win again!” Donghyuck exclaims, returning his eyes back to the road.
“You always win,” Mark replies, and he doesn’t mean for it to come out so sappy, but it does.
Roughly ten minutes pass before Donghyuck pulls into their local Target. Much to Mark’s surprise, loads of people are still shopping around. The parking lot is rather crowded and Mark knows Donghyuck is nervous because he immediately drives to the back and away from all the other cars to find a spot.
“You would think that after all this time you would’ve learned how to properly park by now.” Mark chews on his bottom lip, holding onto the grab handle as he looks outside the window.
“I’m not the one without a car, so I wouldn’t be talking if I were you,” Donghyuck fires back after he turns off the engine.
Mark is about to give another snarky remark but Donghyuck gets out of the car before he can say anything.
The breeze of the night flies past the two, nicely reminding a regretful Mark that he didn’t bring a jacket along. It isn’t long before the two approach the entrance; the automatic doors swing open, giving them the vibrant green from leftover St. Patrick’s Day decorations screaming SALE and BOGO. It also smells strongly of Lysol wipes.
Donghyuck gets distracted on the way to picking up ingredients for Renjun’s birthday cake extravaganza, and it’s not long before their shopping cart is piled up with various miscellaneous items that Mark can’t see Donghyuck ever using. He thinks he should’ve said something after Donghyuck placed a yoga mat down, but Mark keeps his mouth closed because, like most days, Donghyuck couldn’t seem to give him a break today.
Before long Mark finds Donghyuck in the gaming section, where their Nintendo Switch display is present. Donghyuck is immensely busy on the console, eyes fixed on the screen.
Mark takes a peek over his shoulder, watching as Donghyuck creates an island on Animal Crossing and ventures along as he talks to the villagers. He stands there for a good five minutes before Donghyuck acknowledges his presence.
“For my birthday I would love you forever if you got me a Switch. I’ll ask Jaemin to buy me Animal Crossing,” he says, still focused on the game.
“Are you saying you wouldn’t love me forever if I didn’t get you the Switch?”
“I’ll have to consider it,” is his reply, and he gives Mark a dirty look.
Mark gives him a look that mirrors his expressions back, but he can’t hide the growing smile on his face.
It takes Mark an eternity to get Donghyuck off the Switch, but it takes him even longer to drag him out of the cosmetics section. Donghyuck had been dying to get his hands on a new moisturizer, so Mark waits patiently as the other takes what seems like 50 years to pick one out. He ends up choosing something from Neutrogena.
“Mark, come here, I want to try this color on you.” Donghyuck waves him over, having somehow managed to escape the skincare aisle and end up in the nailcare one. In his hands, he’s got a tester bottle of glitter nail polish open and ready to use.
“You’re killing me!” Mark complains, dragging his feet over like a little toddler. He hopes the pout on his face can get him out of this one. “We have to bake a cake soon, Hyuck.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll get it done!” He assures. “This one’s called ‘Bedazzled.’ Personally I would’ve named it something else, but it’s pretty.” Donghyuck reaches for his hand, which Mark gives out reluctantly, and begins to paint Mark’s index finger. “Sorry they don’t have any base coat lying around.”
Donghyuck takes his time, even if it is just for that one finger. His hands feel delicate and soft on Mark’s own. After he’s done, he marvels at it like he had just finished painting the Mona Lisa. “It’s cute! Should we get it for Renjun?”
“Sure.” Mark shrugs. His finger tingles with the sensation of fresh polish painted on it. “The color definitely looks better on me than you.” He eyes down the same polish that’s on Donghyuck’s own index finger.
“It does not.” Donghyuck glares.
“It does.”
“Does not!” Donghyuck sings. He puts down the bottle at the testing column and grabs a sealed one, hopping back to their cart, literally skipping in his steps.
“Do you have seaweed sheets for the kimbap?” Donghyuck asks, setting down the nail polish in the cart.
“I’m sure Jeno has some at his house,” Mark answers. “I’ll text him, but I think we’re done. Want anything else?”
Donghyuck scans the cart, shaking his head as he sees all the necessary ingredients: chips, ingredients for the cake and Renjun’s seaweed soup, and a few party decorations. “Think we’re good,” he confirms.
Donghyuck makes sure to grab a pack of Trident mint-flavored gum on his way out, and refuses to let Mark pay, no matter how much Mark desperately continues to offer to do so and even though he has his wallet out—his card practically in his hands.
“Think of it as a treat for waking you up so early,” is all he says as he pops a piece of gum in his mouth and begins to push the shopping cart.
Once they get inside the car, Donghyuck turns on Frank Ocean and neither of them says much for the remainder of the trip. Mark feels at peace with just the sound of the heater running and “Nature Feels” playing, treasuring even the moments of silence with his best friend beside him. On any other day, Mark would’ve probably still have been mad at Donghyuck, but he decides today isn’t like all other days.
Mark almost misses how Donghyuck takes a left turn instead of going the usual route on their way to Jeno’s. Almost.
“Yeah, uh, you missed a turn there,” he stammers, kicking his feet off the dashboard and surveying the area to prepare for a U-Turn.
“I know,” Donghyuck replies, one hand fixed on the wheel. “That’s because I’m taking you somewhere.”
Mark watches the clock on the monitor of Donghyuck’s car turn 3:49 and turns his head back to stare at Donghyuck with a perplexed expression. “Where? Everything’s closed now.”
“You’ll see,” is Donghyuck’s simple response as he proceeds to turn right at a somewhat familiar corner.
And that’s when Mark sees it: as Donghyuck pulls up to their old elementary school, the bold sign displaying the school name along with the bald eagle as their mascot peering over the school’s announcement board. Donghyuck finds an obscure parking spot, and as if Mark is reading his mind, the two race off to the playground to snatch the two available swings that are closest to them.
Mark takes it all in. He feels the nostalgia underneath the ever-brightening night sky, and how he was sitting in this very swing with Donghyuck right next to him more than a decade ago. It is time that slips away from the palm of his hands, and he doesn’t know Donghyuck’s intentions for taking him all the way back here, but he’s appreciative of it.
“Do you remember?” Donghyuck glances at Mark with eyes that are filled with curiosity, full of intent to know. “When we first met, I mean.”
Mark lets out a deep laugh. “Yeah, I remember how I was so angry that I didn’t get to go out for recess the next day because of you.”
Mark remembers the events leading up to meeting the greatest nuisance of his life vividly. He’s certain that the other remembers it almost as well as he does.
It was the first day of second grade, and Mark remembers meeting Mrs. Park and loving her classroom layout at first glance. It was much much more colorful than his teacher’s classroom from last year, and Mark had loved the toy airplanes she had put in the ceiling. After introductions were presented, he had raced to the cafeteria to eat his mom’s packed kimchi fried rice for lunch, scrambling to finish every last grain in his bowl because he was so excited to see the new playground at his school. After recess was set in commission, he recalls racing to the swingset, only to see all but one of the swings left. Before he gets on, another boy clears his throat, crosses his arms, and scowls. Mark doesn’t seem to remember much of what happened after, except he had gotten into a fight with perhaps the scariest first-grader at school and had some privileges taken away. At the end of the week, Mark had somehow become friends with Lee Donghyuck: after they had agreed to alternate sharing the swings on different days. It is such a funny memory in Mark’s head, but he treasures it nonetheless, coming to find how his very meeting with his best friend would match their friendship in the present.
“But can we both agree that I had gotten there first?” Mark teases, a hand stretched out, ready to push Donghyuck’s side.
“In your dreams. You were so distracted you didn’t even see that I was already there!” Donghyuck accuses, poking his tongue out.
Mark chuckles, kicking the woodchips from underneath his feet. It’s crazy to him how fast time truly flies sometimes. He remembers being on this very swing set, when his feet were too short to even touch the ground. He remembers buying ice cream with Donghyuck every day after school, so much so to the point where his father had stopped giving him allowance because he was eating too much. It’s little memories like these that make Mark realize he’s all grown up already, almost with Donghyuck always by his side, and how he has become such an important person to him.
Whatever light that is left in the moon illuminates the features of Donghyuck’s face, and when Mark looks over, he finds that Donghyuck is already staring back right at him.
“Why’d you take me out here?” Mark asks, desperate to know. He can never seem to figure out what’s going on inside Donghyuck’s head.
“Because I missed this swing set,” he states straightforwardly, raising a brow.
Mark nods and mouths, “Okay.” He smiles fondly, moving his head to look at the ground again. Only Lee Donghyuck could get him all riled up so early in the morning, and only he could get his heart racing like that in his chest.
The two of them leave only after the moon had disappeared from their view.
Donghyuck and Mark arrive at Jeno’s house a little after four. He welcomes them in with a wide grin, as if being at his house at four in the morning is a normal occurrence. Jeno also assures a worried Mark that his parents are away on their own business trips, so he shouldn’t bother worrying about rummaging through the Lee household. He ushers them towards his kitchen as Mark and Donghyuck begin to lay out the ingredients they had bought earlier.
“Jeno, get the measuring cups ready. Mark, wipe down the counters and prepare the cake mix,” Donghyuck orders as he pushes the sleeves of his shirt up.
Mark and Jeno nearly say, “Yes, chef!” at the same time and it sends Mark in a fit of laughter.
Ten minutes inside Jeno’s kitchen and chaos presents itself in the form of a broken hand mixer (Jeno’s fault) and the smoke detector going off three times (Donghyuck’s fault). Mark should’ve known, because they’re all inexperienced bakers, and he had never left a kitchen in a happy mood.
“You know what? We should’ve just picked up a cake from the bakery near Jaemin’s house. Now I know why Gordon Ramsay’s mad all the time,” Jeno grumbles as he whisks the egg yolks with a pair of chopsticks.
Mark is basically there just for moral support, but he tries his best to help either Jeno or Donghyuck when they need it. Besides, his main job was to work on the frosting, and he wasn’t going to start it until a little later.
“Real bakers don’t give up,” Donghyuck says, pointing his index finger at Jeno.
“We get it. You’ve been binging Cupcake Wars this week,” Mark jokes, earning a chuckle from Jeno.
To that, Donghyuck spits out a sarcastic “Ha-ha.”
Mark keeps his eyes on Donghyuck when he goes back to looking at the recipe and measuring out the dry ingredients. He’s working with all his focus fixed on finishing the cake. And Mark knows when Donghyuck is determined to do something, he’ll finish his task with his all, even if it is just for baking a birthday cake. His hair falls just a little past his eyes, longer than usual. The beige sweatshirt he’s wearing makes him look incredibly small, and if he didn’t have any self-restraint, Mark would have run over and given him the biggest hug and bury his face in his chest and—
Jeno clears his throat and Mark looks up. He’s staring at Mark staring at Donghyuck.
Oh.
Mark gulps and darts his eyes elsewhere, moving to a different part of the kitchen to try and forget the feeling of embarrassment that he feels so intensely as his face heats up.
Mark decides to start on the chocolate frosting to distract himself from Jeno’s continuous mischievous stares. Mark is determined to get the taste just right and at least try to get picky Renjun to actually like the cake because he had woken up so early for this after all. Whenever he looks to the corner, however, Jeno always seems to be looking back at him, and it catches him off guard every time.
The three of them go through the various steps of the chocolate cake recipe and manage to recover the batter from the horrible state that it was in. Much to Mark’s surprise, no attempts of a flour fight broke out, and for that, he is thankful. Donghyuck sets the cake in the oven, dusting off his hands.
“In 45 minutes, we’ll have a cake baby!” He declares as he begins to wipe the counters clean.
“Are we watching something?” Jeno asks, rinsing the measuring cups.
Donghyuck shakes his head and announces that he’s due for a much-needed rest and adds that Mark had interrupted him from last night’s sleep (to that, Mark rolls his eyes). He makes way to the spare guest room upstairs without question. This gets no response from neither Jeno nor Mark, both of whom are very much accustomed to the guest room of Jeno’s house being Donghyuck’s second home.
Mark, meanwhile, finds a seat in the living room and busies himself by scrolling through Twitter. He begins to wonder why Donghyuck had seemed so...off today. He had been oddly distant and it hadn’t been like this the last time they had hung out. Their friendly jabs at one another were typical and he didn’t think he went overboard. His hands suddenly feel cold, and Mark starts to think if it had something to do with him. When Jeno approaches him he realizes he wasn’t scrolling through Twitter at all, his timeline idle.
“Punch?” Jeno offers, reaching out to hand Mark a cup that is identical to his own.
Mark pauses from his seat, eyeing Jeno for a moment as he places his palm on his jaw. He nods his head, grabbing the cup. “Thanks.”
“Of course. It’s strawberry-kiwi, your favorite.” Jeno takes a seat on the one-seater couch next to where Mark is at. He scrolls through the Netflix catalog, hopping from one show description to the next, none particularly catching his eye. He says nothing which unnerves Mark a bit. Everybody seems weird today, he thinks.
Mark attempts to make a move at conversation to ease the air. “Is your mom going to be okay with the broken hand mixer?”
“I’ll buy a new one before she gets home. We don’t usually bake much at home, anyway.” Jeno hovers over an image of a crime documentary. “Want to watch this one?”
Mark nods once, shoving his phone away in his shorts’ pocket.
The show goes on for ten minutes before Jeno looks over at Mark, only to find him not really watching the screen at all. His eyes are distant, thinking about something else.
“You had that look on your face when you were cooking today. You were looking at him so much you were practically drooling.”
Mark jumps from his seat, almost spilling the cup in his hands.
Jeno laughs, his eyes resembling that of crescent moons. “You’re awful at hiding secrets! Your eyes tell me everything,” he says throughout spaced giggles. He narrows his eyes. “I’m obviously offended that you decided to tell Jaemin before you told me.”
“He found out on accident.” Mark isn’t even really sure if it’s a worthy excuse, but Jaemin had ended up finding out one day through a game of Truth or Drink and Mark had sworn to himself he wasn’t going to talk about the incident again.
Mark groans, burying his face in his hands.
“I’ve never seen you so flustered,” Jeno points out and his tone of voice is both full of concern and curiosity.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you earlier.”
Jeno shakes his head. “I was joking. I was bound to find out one way or another.”
Mark sighs. “It’s been eating at me,” he admits. “I can’t bring myself to tell him,” he spills, without moving an inch. “It’s been so long, but I’m scared of his reaction. Scared it’s going to ruin everything.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Jeno suggests. “You beat yourself up too much. You don’t know how he’s going to take it.”
“But I can’t help but think it’ll be bad. I don’t know, it’s just a feeling that’s gnawing at me.”
Jeno makes a “Pssh!” sound and places a hand on Mark’s shoulder ever so delicately. “Donghyuck would never let something so small ruin your friendship,” he says softly. It almost sounds like a whisper. Mark can’t see Jeno’s face but he imagines that he’s peering down at him, that bright smile shining through.
It’s at this moment when Mark decides that he’s going to tell Donghyuck the truth. About his feelings—everything. Because he can’t just bottle up and pent everything up anymore, not when the person he wants is right in front of him: in an arm’s reach. He knows he’ll regret it if he were to let Donghyuck go, and he knows he won’t forgive himself for it if he does.
Jeno smiles, patting Mark’s shoulder as he gets up. “I think you know what to do,” he says, before taking his red solo cup with him and leaving.
Jaemin arrives nearly a half an hour later. He’s dressed up in a simple white T-shirt with a cardigan draped over and jeans. Blue and purple balloons fill up the room in almost every corner and multicolored streamers cover every inch of the floor. To top it off a big banner hangs near the staircase, where Donghyuck had placed a Moomin plushie on it to complete Renjun’s big birthday surprise. The decorations are flamboyant enough to Jaemin’s liking, as he exclaims as he walks through Jeno’s door and shouts, “You guys did all of this without my help? It’s amazing!”
Donghyuck smirks, pouring a bagful of Doritos into a party tray. “And we even bought hummus just for you,” he says, making sure Jaemin is able to note and appreciate his attention-to-detail.
Jaemin throws his jacket onto the nearby rack and makes his way to the kitchen to get a taste of the appetizers. He yawns, plucks the stem off the strawberry in his hands, and eats it in a single bite. “Woke ‘Jun up and told him we needed some help on our world history project and to make his way to Jeno’s house. Can’t believe you guys made me do all of the hard work—arguing with him is always so tiring.”
Mark and Donghyuck both laugh at this, looking over in Jaemin’s direction. “Mark’s not one for surprise wakeups, either,” Donghyuck teases, plopping down on the seat next to him.
Jaemin and Jeno occupy themselves with their project and figure it would be nice of them to finish the project to ease Renjun’s school workload.
Donghyuck immediately heads over to the living room after pulling it out of the oven and letting it cool. “Cake looks good!” He cheers, bursting out in smiles.
“The frosting will be the best part,” Mark boasts.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
Donghyuck snuggles up to Mark’s side, bringing his knees up to his chest and stuffing his face in the outer layer of Mark’s shirt. “That was tiring,” he sighs. “Thank you. I had a good day with you today.”
Mark beams looking at the sight of him. “I had fun with you, too. Even though you were a complete bother at all times possible.” Mark ruffles Donghyuck’s hair. The strands feel incredibly soft in his fingers.
He wouldn’t mind staying like this forever.
“Renjun’s going to be really happy with all of this,” Mark assures, tracing the lines on Donghyuck’s palms. His own hands feel sweaty against Donghyuck’s.
“I hope,” Donghyuck says, popping the “p”. “I’ll have to tell him that I woke you up for all of this.”
“You better.” Mark feels Donghyuck getting up, sitting straight now. He starts playing with the loose thread on Mark’s shirt. When Donghyuck turns his head, Mark’s looking at him, in awe and with wonder so evident in his eyes. He’s dying to tell him now. Is right now a good time?
“Mark?” Donghyuck asks.
The sound of his name snaps him out of his scrambling thoughts. Mark looks away immediately, brushing off invisible dirt off his clothes. He clears his throat and doesn’t return eye contact.
Donghyuck laughs and pokes his side. “You looked so funny spaced out like that.”
“I was thinking of something,” he responds.
“Clearly. What about?”
“It’s not important,” Mark murmurs, hoping to find a way to end going down the subject. He decides that now wouldn’t be a good time. Now right here, not right now.
“Now I wanna know! Tell me,” Donghyuck pushes.
Mark shakes his head, lips shut.
Donghyuck shakes Mark’s arm, with puppy dog eyes and a pout on his lips. “Please?”
Luckily, Renjun rings the doorbell before Mark has a chance to say anything back, and he jumps up at the sound of it, eager than ever to open up the door.
Both Jaemin and Jeno run to the door at lightning speed, and their poster board nearly topples over in their frenzy. They grab the confetti containers and prepare to open them, tossing Donghyuck one in the process. Low whispers are exchanged between each other, and before he knows it, Mark is in a party hat with a sign in his hands.
A sleepy Renjun is greeted with various shouts of “Surprise!” and confetti streamers popping as he enters Jeno’s house.
He gives a scream that is unfortunately not too discreet, and Jaemin runs over to dress him in a party hat and puts a party horn in his hands. “Happy birthday, Renjun!” He exclaims, motioning for him to move forward to see Mark and makes sure he is able to see the rather obvious sign that spells, “HBD Junnie!”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you guys did all of this,” Renjun says, being abruptly seated and served Tostitos with guac. “Jaemin, I thought we had to finish Mrs. Kim’s project with Jeno.”
“We finished it! We knew you had physics work to finish up so consider this your birthday gift,” Jaemin clarifies, winking.
Renjun gives Jaemin a look full of admiration, holding a hand to his chest. “I’ll consider forgiving you for making me wake up so early now.”
Mark laughs, setting down a Caprisun on the table. “Courtesy of Lee Donghyuck. He really spearheaded this whole thing.”
“Of course he did,” Renjun says, sarcasm laced in his words. He turns towards Donghyuck, who has his hands in his sweatshirt pocket and a smirk on his face. “You’re the worst. Thank you,” Renjun says in between laughs, accepting the back hug Donghyuck gives in an instant.
“You’re going to love the cake. Well, you better. Jeno broke his hand mixer and Mark went into hysterics to perfect that chocolate frosting,” Donghyuck reports, and gives Renjun a kiss on his forehead.
“You guys are the best for this,” Renjun compliments, visible happiness present in his expressions.
Mark is glad that their hard efforts made Renjun happy, and although he still finds it bizarre that it’s still only 5 in the morning and Renjun’s spending his 18th in Jeno’s house with all five of them, he’s sure it’ll make it a memorable event to remember.
While the rest of his friends busy themselves by playing Just Dance on Jeno’s console, Mark sneaks out before anyone can notice him missing. He finds himself on the roof, having taken the shortcut out from Jeno’s room. It’s a familiar spot that he always finds himself drawn to, and oddly enough, he feels safe on the roof, just soaking in all of his thoughts without disturbance. He admires the top of the houses and the distant trees that he can see from being up this high.
Then Jeno’s words begin to play in his head like a broken record. “Donghyuck would never let something so small ruin your friendship.”
Mark is certain that Jeno’s right, but he’s so unsure of himself, and he’s so scared of all the endless possibilities. What if it ends up being good? But if it isn’t good?
He hears the sliding of the window behind him, followed by Donghyuck’s arrival with a series of groans and grunts after getting his foot stuck trying to get through.
The sun begins to slowly appear into view, all its intense warm colors expanding on the horizon. Mark watches as shades of orange and red collide and mesh, transforming the former dark sky into a scene bursting with color and vibrance.
Mark takes a quick glance behind him to find a recognizable face. “Didn’t expect you to find me so quickly.”
“I did invite you to watch the sunrise,” Donghyuck says, both hands in his sweatshirt pocket. A gust of wind rushes past them, rustling the trees. He chooses to sit right next to Mark, letting his legs dangle off the roof and using the palms of his hands to adjust himself on the panels. “Although I’m going to judge you because this is an extremely uncomfortable seat.”
Mark chuckles, turning his head to give an elongated stare into Donghyuck’s eyes, which shines brightly from reflecting the sun’s rays.
Donghyuck gives out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad Renjun seems to like everything. It makes me the happiest seeing him happy,” he starts, dragging his nails through the roofing.
“I’m glad too. It was all thanks to your hard work,” Mark agrees.
“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Donghyuck says with a smile.
The smile falls from his face when he catches the aloof expression on Mark’s face.
“What? I swear I didn’t eat the leftover frosting in the fridge!” Donghyuck shouts, putting both hands up to surrender.
Mark shakes his head, gaze still longingly fixed on Donghyuck’s face. Jeno’s words repeat again. And he’s sure that now’s a better time. He thinks back to their trips today: to the grocery store, to the playground. He’s certain that if he doesn’t say anything now, he might never have another chance again. “No, Hyuck, hear me out. I know I’m going to sound absolutely crazy but I need to say it.”
A frown finds itself forming on Donghyuck’s face. He pulls closer to Mark to hear what he has to say. “Christ, what is it, Mark? You’re scaring me.”
He decides to go through with it, despite whatever outcomes might happen. Mark pauses a beat before he finally says anything.
“I like you.” He turns to look away, nervously picking at his nails. “In that more-than-friends kind of way.”
Donghyuck’s body stiffens as soon as Mark finishes speaking, eyes growing wide. Mark wonders if his heart is beating as fast as he thinks it is, wonders if Donghyuck can hear how it’s hammering from inside of his chest, how adrenaline is rushing through his veins right now.
“I don’t even know when all of this started...I’ve just come to terms with it in the last couple of months. Whenever I need somebody, you’re always there to listen to me talk and comfort me even when I’m at my lowest.” Mark takes a second to stop, not taking his eyes off the sunrise. “You’ve made it so incredibly hard for me these past couple years, Donghyuck. I’ve always admired you for a lot of reasons, and just being with you makes me really happy. and oh, my God, I don’t even know what I’m saying, but I just wanted you to hear it from me. I like you.”
Mark feels the butterflies in his stomach swarm together, punching his gut. Although he hasn’t done another remotely athletic in the past couple of hours, his body feels like it has just finished running a marathon: his forehead suddenly is overcome with sweat and his hands are shaking out of control.
Donghyuck doesn’t say anything immediately, only turning his body straightforward to face the horizon again. His mouth hangs slightly agape, but no words come out.
The two sit in silence for a bit, waiting for the other to say something, anything , but too afraid to speak up in fear of saying the wrong words.
“Mark Lee.”
And Mark’s heard his name come from Donghyuck so many damn times, but he hasn’t ever fathomed hearing it in this way: so stern but soft at the same time and he’s unsure how to respond, too afraid to look in Donghyuck’s direction, even.
“Do you mean it?”
Mark exhales a long, deep breath, mostly out of relief, although he really isn’t sure how to take in this reaction. He nods, waiting expectantly for the continuation of Donghyuck’s response.
“You scared me, you asshole!” He throws a fake punch at Mark’s soldier, but it stings like a real one nonetheless. “I thought you were going to say you broke Jeno’s oven or something.”
“You didn’t need to punch me!”
And it’s banter like this that Mark especially loves, even though the look on his face might not always show it.
Donghyuck scoots right next to Mark’s seat so that their hips are practically touching. “I don’t invite just anyone to go bake cakes and watch sunrises with me at 3 in the morning, Mark. Well, I could’ve. But Jeno said he had to finish playing GTA and Jaemin was asleep and he would most definitely kill me if I were to wake him up, and it’s Renjun’s birthday—” Mark shoots him a look that screams “You’re rambling.” Donghyuck purses his lips.
“What I’m trying to say is I enjoy the time we spend together. And that maybe...just maybe, I kind of like you too.”
Mark wants to believe his ears are lying to him right now, that those very words didn’t just so happen to come out of Donghyuck’s mouth. He was getting ready to prepare himself for rejection, for the years-long of friendship to come shattering down like broken glass but Donghyuck...says he feels the same way.
Donghyuck places a quick peck on Mark’s lips and he nearly misses it. It lasts for half a second, but Mark feels the way his lips are soft and warm against his own, and his stomach buzzes and heats up, hot to the touch.
“I can’t believe this had you acting all weird the whole night,” Donghyuck remarks, giggling.
Mark is still too stunned to reply, his body frozen and his lips can’t move to say anything even if he wants to.
“Making me wait a decade and a half is a little cruel. If you let me kiss you again then maybe I can forgive you,” Donghyuck offers, staring so intently into Mark’s eyes.
“We have a deal,” Mark confirms promptly, nodding his head in approval.
When their lips meet again this time, Mark takes it all in, tracing the edge of Donghyuck’s mouth with his own, tasting a hint of the chocolate cake. His lips are soft and gentle, and Mark wonders where they’ve been all his life. Cupping Donghyuck’s chin, Mark turns his head to deepen the kiss, gently letting his hands brush Donghyuck’s hair.
“I can’t believe you ate the chocolate cake before all of us,” Mark complains, letting go.
Donghyuck sighs, hiding his face in his hands. “It looked so good I just had to give it a try!”
Mark fights back a laugh.