Work Text:
It’s not that Mark doesn’t like to be eco-friendly. He does. He recycles every week, uses canvas bags instead of plastic ones, tries to spend less than 10 minutes in the shower —a big effort for him, if you ask, considering he used to take between 40min to 1hr showers back in the day— uses stainless steel straws and LED light bulbs, yadayadayada.
But.
His car.
His not-so-beautiful, not-so-new, beloved second-hand silver car is something that he really doesn’t want to say goodbye to.
It took him to get stranded in the middle of the street and getting to work late 4 times for him to decide to take his dear Chevrolet to the mechanic. And now he has to wake up early every day for the next month, having to deal with a crowd of sweaty people and fight tooth and nail in the subway to get into the right cabin to get to work in time.
Nights are easier, Mark works overtime until the clock turns 10 and then he’s ready for a peaceful, non-crowded ride back home.
The door opens, he sits in one of the two empty seats that are left, takes out the first Percy Jackson book—he wants to see if it’s as good as his younger self used to think. After being completely settled for his 45-minute ride, a red light starts announcing they’re almost ready to depart, and someone rushes into the cabin right before the doors close. When he finally stops moving, Mark gets to see them more clearly: it’s a boy, a pretty boy with fresh pink hair, black ripped jeans, a denim jacket over a black turtleneck, and rosy cheeks that match with his hair. He has a black backpack on one hand, a set of headphones hanging from his neck and it’s still panting when he sits beside Mark, who has to force himself to stop looking at the gorgeous boy and focus on his book.
When he’s a few pages in and comes across a funny part, he hears a muffled giggle at his right and turns to see the pink-haired boy with his eyes glued to Mark’s book. When the boy notices him, he just smiles at him as an apology, and Mark turns back to his book, ears burning hot while he moves the book a little more to the side so they both can read comfortably.
The “pink cutie”, as Mark calls him in his mind, gives him another smile and a little nod before getting out of the cabin a station before Mark, and he prays for the universe to let him see the boy again.
Apparently, the universe is, in fact, on Mark’s side, because the next day he finds pink cutie sitting on the same spot that the day before, different clothes but headphones still on his neck. He smiles at Mark when he sees him, silently pointing with his head at the seat beside him. Mark doesn’t need to be told twice, and so they spend the rest of the ride doing exactly the same they did the day before, both giggling and gasping at the right parts of the book until the pink-haired boy has to get out of the train.
It becomes kind of a routine after that, sometimes the pink cutie gets there first, sometimes Mark does, keeping the seat beside him safe and giving a dirty look to anyone who isn’t his subway crush when they try to sit there.
After 4 weeks, Mark's already used to their implicit routine. So, when he goes to get his now fully functioning car, he carefully leaves it at the parking lot and decides to keep taking the subway. He’s just being eco-friendly, okay?
2 weeks later, they finish the third book of the saga, “The Titan’s Curse”, and Mark's ready to pull out “The Battle of the Labyrinth” when pink cutie puts out his phone, gives one AirPod to Mark, and scrolls through his Spotify playlist until he finds what he’s looking for. A few seconds later, the newest album of Taemin starts playing, and the grin on the boy’s face widens when he sees the recognition in Mark’s face, they both like the same artist. Mark closes his eyes as he lets the music sink in. Halfway through the album, he feels a soft tap on his shoulder, pink cutie is looking at him and pointing outside the window, then at his AirPod, and Mark realizes that they’re almost at his station. He gives the device back and they both exchange smiles in a silent goodbye.
It probably is weird that none of them have actually talked to each other but, if you ask Mark, he’s more than fine with it. If he’s being honest, he’s kind of scared of what will happen if they talk. For now, it’s like there’s a spell covering them, making their little interactions comfortable and almost natural, but he’s scared that talking would break that magic. Does that make sense? Mark’s not sure of the response the boy would have if he gets to know Mark. What if he doesn’t like him? What if he finds him annoying, or boring, or doesn’t want to go out with him? It'd make things awkward, and Mark doesn’t want to fuck things up with pink cutie.
They don’t need to talk. Things are good as they are, silent and cute and platonic and in their little bubble surrounded by other 20 people, a 45 minutes long fantasy that Mark indulges himself in every day.
By the end of the week, pink cutie puts the bookmark on page 103 and makes grabby hands for Mark to handle his phone to him. Without thinking twice, he does and sees the boy going to his apps. Instead of choosing a game, or pausing or changing the music as Mark had thought he would, he sees pink cutie picking different songs throughout the ride and adding them to a playlist. When they arrive to his station, he quickly snaps a picture of himself, sets it as the cover of the playlist, types something on Mark’s phone, and handles it to him, running away just in time before the door closes. Mark's so focused looking at the selfie of the boy that he almost misses his subway stop.
When Mark arrives home, he finally has time to look at the playlist —he still looks at the picture of the boy an embarrassing amount of time—and sees the name above the songs, it says “Lee (Dong)hyuck’s playlist to listen on your way to work <3”.
Pink cutie has a name.
Donghyuck.
Lee Donghyuck.
It fits him. It’s cute, just like him.
Mark says it out loud a few times, it sounds better and better with every try.
Lee Donghyuck.
*
On Friday, Mark's tired and just wants for the clock to turn 10 so he can see pink cu—Donghyuck, before arriving home and pass out on his bed until the next day. With a few minutes to spare, Mark takes a detour on his way to the station and buys 2 cereal bars and 2 iced tea at a convenience store. He takes a pen and a sticky note, and starts writing.
Once they’re on the ride home, he handles the bottle to Donghyuck and is rewarded with a beautiful smile. When they’re a few stations away from Donghyuck’s stop, he handles the cereal bar and laughs loudly as he sees the boy’s eyes widen when he notices the little note stuck on the snack.
Mark Lee :D
The rest of the ride feels too fast for Mark’s liking, the air between them is lighter, like they put down a wall he didn’t know was there, and Mark doesn’t have enough time to coo over the pretty blush on Donghyuck’s cheeks while he fidgets with the note until he gets off the subway.
With that pretty image in mind, Mark goes through his weekend listening to the playlist made just for him over and over again, and when Monday arrives, he is unusually happy on his way to work, his headphones playing the songs he now knows by heart.
He can’t wait to see Donghyuck on his way back home.
Donghyuck doesn’t show up that night.
Nor the next one, or the following one.
By the fourth day, Mark's practically pulling his hair out, thinking he did something wrong, maybe he made Donghyuck upset somehow? What if he unconsciously crossed a line by telling him his name? No, that’s not it, if so he wouldn’t have given him his name first, and he didn’t look mad or uncomfortable when Mark let him know his.
Hmmm. What if something happened to him?
In moments like this Mark regrets not talking to Donghyuck, regrets not asking for his number or Facebook or something like that, a way to contact him and check on him.
On Friday Mark lets a middle-aged woman sit on his spot, and he stands the rest of the ride, not feeling like sitting in the empty place. In Donghyuck’s place.
The weekend once again arrives and Mark goes through his usual routine: he cleans his room, his bathroom, his kitchen, he orders take out and spends the rest of his time binge-watching some shitty Netflix show he doesn’t care enough to remember the name of.
A new week starts and Mark isn’t waiting anymore, resigned to not knowing what happened to Donghyuck. He busies himself with paperwork and, before he knows it, the clock shows is half past ten.
The subway station is empty, except for a blond head wrapped in a scarf, a mask, and a hat, holding a thermos in one hand and a too-familiar black backpack in the other.
Donghyuck.
Mark’s heart makes a funny thing when they make eye contact, and he knows Donghyuck is smiling behind that mask, enthusiastically waving at him.
“Sorry I didn’t show up last—” he turns to the other side and coughs a few times, “—last week. As you can see, I had a very bad case of the flu, but now I’m better.”
And oh, that’s new. That’s not how they usually work, they don’t talk, not verbally at least. But he had missed their daily shared ride back home, and he had regretted not asking more about Donghyuck, even if getting to know him means increasing the possibilities of him fucking things up.
“You’re blond,” Mark says, dumbly.
See? He’s already a mess. Not a Hello, not a How do you feel now? or an Oh, that sucks, I was wondering where you were. No, instead of acting like a normal human being, he asks about his hair color.
But, apparently, Donghyuck finds it funny because he laughs and takes a strand of his hair while saying, “yeah, it’s actually the reason why I got sick, I dyed it at night and the power went off, so I went to sleep with wet hair and woke up like this,” he emphasizes, pointing at himself.
“Well, if it helps, know that you look really good.”
“Oh? I thought that you just liked me for my pink hair”
And Mark knows he’s just teasing him, but that doesn’t make the fluttering of his heart any less intense.
“Anyways,” Mark tries to change the subject, “What are you doing here? It’s later than usual.”
“I was just waiting for someone.”
And before Mark has time to ask him who he was waiting for, the doors are opening in front of him, and he feels a hand on his wrist dragging him inside. They sit in their usual spot, and Donghyuck turns to him.
“Oh! Before I forget to tell you, I already finished the books, I had to entertain myself somehow these past few days.”
“It’s okay, I finished them, too. I had a lot of free time this week.”
“Great! I also started watching this new show and was wondering if you'd like to watch it with me? To change the books for once?”
And who is Mark to say no to a very cute, very blonde, very huggable Donghyuck? God, he looks so squishable with that padded jacket.
“Sure, let’s see how it is.”
Donghyuck beams as he takes out his phone and his AirPods, passes one to Mark, and logs into his Netflix account. In a few seconds, the first episode of Brooklyn 99 starts playing and Mark feels Donghyuck getting a little closer to him, holding the phone between them.
Halfway through the episode, Mark feels like he can breathe a little again, and finds himself laughing as the show plays on the tiny screen. An old couple sitting two rows away glares at them, but he couldn’t care less.
That night Mark goes to sleep feeling light and with something in his chest that feels like hope.
For the next two weeks, they keep that new routine. Donghyuck recovers completely, and Mark starts buying snacks for their 45min marathon. Donghyuck learns that Mark doesn’t like red skittles, so he eats those and leaves the rest to Mark, and Mark has Donghyuck’s Starbuck’s order memorized, a cinnamon dolce latte with soy milk.
Mark finally musters the courage to ask for Donghyuck’s number, and the younger—because yes, now Mark knows Donghyuck is younger even though he refuses to call him hyung—laughs happily in his face, beaming, “I thought you’ll never ask,” while taking Mark’s phone and entering his number under the name of “Duckie🧸🌞”.
Life’s good, he texts Donghyuck good morning every day, the other texts back, and they don’t stop until both have to start working. They wait for each other at the station when one is running late, and Brooklyn 99 has enough episodes for Mark to stop worrying about having an excuse to have Donghyuck sitting thigh-to-thigh beside him.
It’s Wednesday and there’s pouring rain falling from the sky when Mark gets out of work. He was too distracted this morning to watch the weather report, and now it’s too late to find someone selling umbrellas. He’s resigned to walk under the rain to get to the subway on time when his phone buzzes.
Mark’s heart does that thing that happens every time Donghyuck smiles at him, and he waits until the boy is in front of him, dark blue raincoat, a beanie on his head, an umbrella in one hand while the other one takes Mark’s and pull him forward to start walking. A minute passes and Donghyuck doesn’t let go of Mark’s hand. Another minute. And another one. They’re one street away from the station when Mark interlocks his fingers with the boy and receives a reassuring squeeze, both of them too flustered to look at each other. They hold hands the rest of the ride back home.
You see, now they’ve added a few things to their usual routine: sometimes Mark goes to pick up Donghyuck at his studio—he’s a producer! He still doesn’t let Mark listen to his work, though— and sometimes Donghyuck waits with Mark in his office until it’s 10 and the subway isn’t that crowded, but now Mark doesn’t work overtime, they just sit on the couch of the waiting room and watch a movie or something, sometimes they have dinner, sometimes they just take a nap and put an alarm to wake them up. And they hold hands! They hold hands all the time, on their way to the subway, on their way home, and all the times in between. Sometimes they even have lunch together.
It’s Friday night, and the sky is clear. Donghyuck texted Mark not to pick him up since he was already getting off work. So Mark goes to the station and it’s taking his card out when he notices that is not there. He looks for it but is nowhere to be found. Maybe he left it in the office? Agh, he’s gonna have to go all the way back and make Donghyuck wait for him and—
A card appears in front of him, and he doesn’t have more than 2 seconds to see Donghyuck smiling and him and pushing him to let him pass, hearing the beep sound again.
“Hurry up or we’ll miss the ride!”
They don’t miss the ride. They sit together, as always, hands interlocked while holding the phone in the middle of them.
“Thanks for paying for my ticket, I owe you one.”
“It’s okay, you can pay for my ticket next time.”
They stay in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride, Donghyuck puts his head on Mark’s shoulder, making his breath hitch for a second, and he knows Donghyuck noticed because he feels him smiling against him. When they’re almost at Donghyuck’s stop, the credits of the episode start rolling and Donghyuck asks, softly,
“You know, that was the season finale, and that’s a pretty big cliffhanger, I want to know what happens next.”
And Mark makes an agreeing sound, because he finds the show interesting and because Donghyuck could tell him to watch the paint dry for three hours with him and he would agree, too.
“So… I was thinking, maybe you want to come to my apartment now and we can find out what happens next?”
Mark stays silent for a moment, processing all the implications that that invitation carries, and he probably waits a little bit too long, because he hears Donghyuck quickly saying.
“You can say no! It’s okay, maybe I read all this wrong and I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t pay for your ticket expecting anything in return, really, I just—”
Mark takes Donghyuck’s hand as they both get up. The doors open, they walk outside together, Mark’s smiling while saying, “I’d love to find out what happens next. With you.”