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“Are you alright?”
Mark’s face is illuminated by the fire that he started. Concern is clearly painted all over his face and Renjun just feels so stupid . He looks away from the older and stares directly at the burning wood in front of them. Mark has always been good at starting fires quickly, the same way he has always been good at finding Renjun. It’s a blessing and a curse, Renjun decides as he wraps his arms around his legs, curling himself up to a ball. An unintentional shaky sigh escapes him as he attempts to hide his shuddering from the older.
Renjun almost jumps as Mark covers him with a coat and a blanket. “Don’t fight it,” Mark begins before he could even argue that he was fine. Renjun hated Mark like this. He cared so much. “Funny how we both never changed, you already know why I do this,” Mark whispered gazing into his eyes. Renjun curses himself in his head for letting his brain to mouth filter get the best of him. He hoped that the fire hid his reddened face. He notes that the small smile on Mark’s face is warmer than the heat from the fire. “Oh I–” “If you are going to apologize, it’s fine.” Mark moves away and settles next to him. Of course, out of all people Mark would know what he was going to say. He also doesn’t fail to notice how his smile fell and he can’t help but wonder about the implications of that.
Only the fire crackles and the sound of Mark peeling a fruit accompany Renjun’s steadying breaths. Unsurprisingly, amidst all of this mess, right now is where he feels at home the most. With the warmth from burning wood, citrus, and Mark. Renjun’s pondering was shaken by Mark’s voice. “Your sister is safe, she’s found refuge in the East with Giselle’s help. Yuta and Doyoung took her in and some of the others too. They vowed to keep them safe,” Mark said while taking a bite of the clementine he’s peeled off. He offers Renjun a piece and he reluctantly takes it. However, he doesn’t bring the clementine to his mouth and instead stares at it, while still bundled up and hunched over the fire. He wonders if Ningning has eaten yet. “Don’t worry too much, we know them. Even without a vow they would do anything to protect you and Ningning at least.” He looks up to Mark eating his clementine, stars still in his eyes, and then he brings the slice onto his own. Mark’s lips quirk up in the slightest way as he takes a bite. “I’m glad you’re finally eating, you should eat more but I will hunt for that. I’ll roast some mushrooms for now though if you want.” Mark looks at him expectantly and Renjun just nods knowing Mark burns mushrooms quickly. It's been a habit of his.
Mark took some of the foraged mushrooms he found while searching for Renjun. Renjun watched the older set up wood over the fire to cook the mushrooms. Uncomfortable, he shifted in his seat and let out a small wince in pain from the forgotten scars near his foot. Once again he curses himself as Mark looks up to him from where he is in front of the fire. His eyes drift down to Renjun’s foot. “Hold on,” Mark said as he left his mushrooms atop the fire. He scurried over to his satchel to grab some vials of herbal medicine. He also had some form of bandage with him as he sat in front of Renjun. Fondness returns to Renjun’s heart while blood rushes to his face even though he keeps his scowl in pain. Mark’s delicate touch never left him even after the countless times he had to tend to Renjun’s clumsiness. As soon as Renjun’s shoe slipped off, the older immediately soothed the stinging pain with his medication. He apologized every time he heard Renjun’s sharp inhales of pain. Mark left a chaste kiss on his foot as he wrapped the bandage over it. “Thank you.” Mark smiled at the faint whisper and went back to the mushrooms.
“It’s been a while.” “Yeah...” The almost awkward atmosphere made them both giggle. It blended with the fire crackling in the background. It really has been a while. That’s what ensues when you have a prince who is all too familiar with running away and a guard who has never gotten tired of protecting him.
“I apologize, I’m a mess.” Mark’s laugh ceases but with an enamored look in his face he says, “Not as messy as the kingdom.” Renjun almost laughs out loud again even if it feels wrong. The older carries on with his mushrooms that are already cooked. Renjun sighs as Mark breaks up banana leaves as their plates for the night. “I apologize still, how many times have we been like this?” “Well if you think about it, tonight’s much more memorable really,” Mark begins as he gives Renjun a banana leaf with some mushrooms on it, “It’s the first time we’ve been like this and we both have no home kingdom to run back to.” Renjun scoffs, still with a playful smile, “As if I made any intentions of coming back at all.” He said it in a joking manner. Though Mark raises his eyebrows. “And what? Wander around for forever?” Faint disbelief is heard clearly in his tone. A frown makes its way on Renjun’s face. “You don’t know that. I may have lived in one of the villages somewhere or something. I don’t know yet. You of all people should have some faith in me.” “And you of all people should know I do have faith in you. I just fear for your safety constantly. My anxiety and my faith can coexist, Renjun.”
Renjun puts down the banana leaf. With caution, he moves closer to where Mark is sitting. The older’s hair has grown longer, unlike any of their past encounters. He caresses his face, half amused by the stubble that Mark has grown. Mark doesn’t bother to hide his smirk. Renjun however doesn't want to feed into his ego so much so he tries to ignore the stubble. He still looks at him in adoration, admiring the scars left on his face. Each calloused finger carefully holds Mark’s face. Soft kisses were planted on top of both of Mark's eyelids. One of which had a scar to its side. Mark let out a content sigh as he shifted closer. A piece of clementine fell off Mark’s coat which made Renjun almost giggle. Him and his citrus , Renjun thinks.
“Mark,” Renjun whispers before he leans into Mark’s lips. The fire crackles behind them. The mushrooms are forgotten. And maybe, for a second, Renjun regrets all of the times he has ran away. Mark’s arms find solace around Renjun’s shoulders. “Mark.” Renjun pulled away, Mark with a soft whine just chased after his lips. Renjun rolled his eyes but indulged him anyway. “Mark, you really need to pick up that clementine,” Renjun says as he pulls away again. A smile evident on his face with complete amusement at the older’s antics. “Stupid citrus fruit,” Mark grumbled. Despite the furrowed brows and the faint frown Mark had, he picked it up and then gave it to Renjun. Renjun smiles. “Not stupid at all actually.” Mark mirrors an even bigger smile if that's possible.
Mark sits next to him. Renjun leans on Mark's shoulder and peels the clementine. He brings a piece to his mouth, the next one to Mark's mouth. Mark also kisses Renjun's fingers, then his palm, and his wrist. He holds onto it. After all this time Mark still makes his heart want to fall off, the same way the clementine just did. “Renjun.” “Hm?” “Look at me.” Begrudgingly, Renjun looks up at Mark. The same starry eyes, illuminated by fire. With a shaky sigh Mark spoke. “Stay. Let me take you to the East.”
The fire continues to crackle. The mushrooms are long forgotten, they were burnt but appreciated nonetheless, Renjun expected it anyway. And at that moment, Renjun does consider writing a letter to the line of sorcerers in his family, if they’re still even around. “Is there a way to go back in time?” he might write.
Maybe Renjun mistakes the stars he sees in Mark for celestial bodies when they might just be rain. Tears threatening to fall off. The older squeezes his hand again, he squeezes back. Mark’s fingers are more calloused than his. He brings his hand to his lips and kisses the back of his palm. Taking Mark’s hand with his to caress a side of his own face, he looks back at those eyes he’s stared at a million times before. “You smell an awful lot like citrus.” Mark, taken aback at the response, doesn't pull away but holds onto him even firmer. “That.. that is not an answer to my request?” Starry eyes, eyes of rain look at how Renjun is still holding onto him.
Renjun lets go of his hold in favor of leaning in. The older tastes even more like clementines. He pulls away and leaves a kiss on top of his head.
“Not right now. Please take me there when I find my desire to go there. My sister and our friends can wait.” Mark’s eyes widened. Stars do fill up his tired eyes. Mark grabs him again and they lean for another kiss. Mark laughs into the kiss, making Renjun smile. This is what he has missed all this time. “Alright, alright. Anything you want, I never planned this part anyways. I didn’t expect to get this far and—” Renjun shoves a clementine slice in Mark’s mouth. The older looks at him in disbelief but chews anyway. “We have all the time to ourselves, don’t worry too much. Right?” Mark nods and places kisses in every spot in Renjun’s face.
The fire dances to the music of their laughter.