Work Text:
the first time mark told donghyuck he loved him, it was an accident.
well. it was sort of an accident. and it wasn't the first time.
he had told him he loved him before, a long time ago, with a cursory bro tacked on the end in an attempt to stop it meaning exactly what it really meant. he'd told him he loved him half-joking, he'd said it in a stupid voice, he'd texted it to him persuasively when donghyuck was at the store and mark wanted a tube of pringles.
so it wasn't the first time, mark supposed, but he thought it was probably the first time he'd said it honestly, the first time it had unequivocally meant i actually properly love you and hanging out with you is the easiest thing in the world i want to do it forever i think, the first time since donghyuck had found out the truth, and the world had shifted slightly on its axis.
it was a thursday. mark was on his way to class. the sky was bright right grey and the air was unpleasantly humid. the sunlight was valiantly trying to break through the cloud cover and only succeeding at making it extremely hot. everything was off-white, stark, and mark's eyes itched.
he'd dragged himself out of bed at 7am to stop by the lab and help johnny with a prototype prosthetic arm that was continuously gripping things far too hard, but after a few hours of watching it crunch drinks cans up no matter how they adjusted the code, he'd been forced to leave to make it to his theoretical physics lecture. he wasn't even entirely certain what it was about; he'd barely glanced at the reading. something to do with the pauli exclusion principle, mark wasn't exactly sure.
he'd had other things on his mind. he'd spent most of the night staking out the delivery entrance at Neocorp HQ, watching suspicious deliveries, so he hadn't slept much. and okay, no, he didn't need as much sleep as a regular person, but just a few hours over three or four days was pushing it even for him. now all he had to look forward to was a lecture where every moment would be a fight to stay awake. maybe, if he sat at the back, he could pull his hood down over his face and take a quick nap.
he glanced at his phone, read donghyuck's texts again - somehow the words had lost their meaning, like they weren't quite crossing the distance between his eyes and his brain.
hyuck
do you wanna get lunch with renjun?
also jaemin says to tell you the aircon is broken again and it was making a scary noise and he thought it was gonna blow up so don't turn the aircon on when you get home
also how was work did you stop the arm from giving deadly handjobs
it was quite a lot to process, mark was extremely sleep deprived, and it seemed easier to just call donghyuck and answer him that way, so he did. he didn't even have to think up an excuse, now. he could just call donghyuck whenever he wanted. he didn't have to worry about what donghyuck would think if he realised mark was ringing him up just to listen to him talk. it didn't matter if donghyuck put two and two together and realised what that meant - because donghyuck already knew.
"hey babe," donghyuck said when he picked up. mark pretended he didn't enjoy it.
donghyuck sounded sort of groggy, like maybe he hadn't been awake for long, and he probably hadn't; he had the day off. mark was wildly envious. donghyuck had stayed over at his last night, despite mark's warnings that he wouldn't get back until late and donghyuck would mostly be sleeping alone. donghyuck said he didn't mind, and when mark slid into bed at approximately 5am, donghyuck had stirred and pulled him in close, humming contentedly, and mark had wished that Neocorp would fuck off and he'd never have to think about it again.
"hey," mark said, "you just woken up?" donghyuck made a sort of breathy squeaking sound, like he was stretching.
"yeah," donghyuck said, "god, it's so nice to have a lie in. i've had 9ams every day this week."
"lucky you," mark said sarcastically. he wasn't annoyed, not really, or at least he wasn't annoyed with donghyuck. he was infinitely annoyed by all the situations preventing him from currently being there with donghyuck, stretched out in bed without a single responsibility. not a theoretical physics lecture, not a malfunctioning robotic arm, and definitely not the wellbeing of every civilian in the city.
"sucks to suck, marcus," donghyuck said. mark listened to the rustle of the sheets, imagined donghyuck rolling over onto his back and threading his hand absent-mindedly through his own hair, and, well, if he'd adoringly watched donghyuck do exactly that enough times to commit it to memory - then, well. whatever. "how was work?"
"frustrating," mark replied, "the grip mechanism is still totally fucked."
"there's a sex joke in there somewhere," donghyuck said.
"really mature, man," mark said.
"i wish my grip mechanism... was getting totally fucked... right now?" donghyuck said, "something like that, i dunno."
"not one of your best," mark said. donghyuck giggled.
"no, but cut me some slack. i literally just woke up."
"so you keep saying."
"are you jealous?"
"no," mark protested. he was. a bit.
"you should be," donghyuck said, "it's comfy. and i'm totally not wearing any clothes." mark almost walked into a lamppost.
"oh," he said. he still found it sort of difficult to cope with - donghyuck, and donghyuck's mouth, and the things that came out of it, and the things it did.
"anyway," donghyuck said, sounding amused, "did you get my text about the aircon?"
"um," mark said, struggling to catch up with the abrupt change in subject, "y- oh, yeah."
"jaemin stormed in like ten minutes ago complaining about it. it's fucking boiling," donghyuck said, "hence the lack of clothes."
"just hit it with jeno's tennis racket," mark said.
"can't you fix it again?" donghyuck asked.
"that is how i fix it," mark answered. donghyuck laughed.
"very scientific," donghyuck said, "what do you call that particular method?"
"the hitting-it-with-jeno's-tennis-racket-and-hoping-for-the-best theorem?" mark said.
donghyuck laughed some more, and the sleepy scratch in his voice made mark want to put the phone down and scream, or maybe immediately get the bus home and kiss donghyuck so he laughed into his mouth, and there would be that crackle in his laugh leftover from sleep, and mark would swallow it whole.
"okay," donghyuck said, "i'll test your hypothesis later."
"good luck," mark said, "please email me your results and a full report."
"i'll include demonstrational photos," donghyuck said, "of me naked hitting the aircon with a tennis racket. it will be incredibly sexy." mark laughed.
"it's crazy how there's, like, definitely at least someone out there who'd totally get off on that," mark said, "like super niche hitting-stuff-with-tennis-rackets porn."
"yeah, you," donghyuck said, "obviously. that's why i'm offering."
"fuck off," mark said, and he could hear the smile in his own voice. he hoped donghyuck could hear it too, hoped it carried down the crackly phone line.
"no," donghyuck said, "if i did i think you'd just curl up and die."
"it's kinda troubling how little faith you have in me, man," mark said.
"i honestly don't know how you survived for nineteen years without me," donghyuck remarked seriously.
"just luck, i guess," mark said. sometimes he went along with it, just for an easy life.
"so do you want to get lunch with renjun?" donghyuck asked.
"sure," mark said, "my lecture finishes at one." he smiled to himself. he liked it so much when donghyuck said things like that, talked about them like they were one unit. a real, actual couple.
do you want to get lunch with renjun?
the way he included himself without needing to specify, like it was obvious, like donghyuck just always went where mark went. and mark probably wouldn't admit it out loud; they were 22 and 21 respectively, not married thirty-somethings with a mortgage and a cat and a shared savings account. but mark liked it when donghyuck said things like that.
"cool," donghyuck replied, and was briefly interrupted by a massive yawn. "we could meet at the campus cafe?" he asked when the yawn had subsided.
"sounds good," mark said. he imagined donghyuck stretched out in bed, the blankets half-covering his modesty, his hair sticking up comically, his cheeks pink. maybe the sheets had got all scrunched up and pressed into his skin. maybe there were marks, little red indents on the soft skin on the backs of his upper arms where he'd lay against the sheets. it was genuinely distressing that that was happening right now, that donghyuck was just out there in the world sleepy and lazy and tinged pink at the edges, and mark wasn't there to see it. instead, he was on his way to a physics lecture. it was an evil circumstance. positively foul.
"are you staying over again tonight?" mark asked, attempting to sound casual.
"why? are you planning to actually sleep?" donghyuck asked.
"i was considering it," mark said, "and we could, i dunno, watch- watch a movie. or something. it'd be nice to have a break."
"oh my god. spider-man is asking me on a date. oh my god. i'm freaking out."
"dude. i just said- it's just a movie."
"i love it when you call me dude," donghyuck replied wistfully, "it's so romantic."
"okay," mark said, "fine. baby, do you wanna watch a movie?" there was silence for a moment, filled by just the crackle of the phone line. he smiled smugly.
donghyuck had always been good at making mark flustered. he enjoyed saying outrageous things and watching mark stumble over his words, got a kick out of making him blush, and mark couldn't often fluster him back. donghyuck was difficult to catch off guard. he was almost completely unflappable. almost. but sometimes, very, very occasionally, mark said just the right thing, and donghyuck opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. his ears went pink. he'd laugh this one particular laugh that meant he didn't know quite what to do with himself, and mark would sit there looking smug until donghyuck smacked him on the arm.
"yes," donghyuck said in an odd, strained voice, "i will watch a movie with you, mark."
"cool," mark said, grinning.
"stop looking so smug," donghyuck said.
"i'm literally not," mark replied smugly.
"i can hear it in your voice."
"dunno what you're talking about."
"whatever," donghyuck said, "i'm holding you to this, by the way. if you try and go out to stop a fucking, i dunno, bank robbery, then i'm physically restraining you. you need a solid night's sleep."
"yes, sir," mark said, "although i don't think you're actually capable of physically restraining-"
"i'll trap you under a glass," donghyuck said, "or put you in the bathtub."
mark laughed. "solid spider jokes," he said, "ten out of ten."
"i've been waiting to use them for ages," donghyuck said, and they were both laughing, and it was odd to think he'd been in a bad mood literally minutes ago. suddenly, he was laughing on the phone with donghyuck, and the weak grey sunlight filtering through the heavy clouds wasn't so weak anymore.
“i literally lay in bed at night thinking up spider jokes,” donghyuck continued, and mark laughed harder, “i’ve got a folder in my notes app that’s full of them.”
“dude. sounds like you’re kinda obsessed with me."
"i wouldn’t say i’m obsessed. more casually interested.”
“i see,” mark said, “well, i guess it’s good to have a hobby."
there was silence for a moment. mark grinned. he was pretty sure donghyuck was grinning too. if they'd been together, they would have been sat there grinning at each other like a couple of losers.
"speaking of hobbies," donghyuck said, and mark could hear the smile in his voice, "i'm going to go and hit the aircon with jeno's tennis racket now before i get heatstroke."
"okay," mark said, "it works best if you do it sort of fast and really hard."
"sorry, are we still talking about the aircon?"
mark laughed again, and with donghyuck he was always laughing. it had been like that since the first day they met.
(a tuesday. they'd sat at the same table in the library. mark noticed him because he was reading through sheet music, occasionally pressing imaginary piano keys. and maybe he also noticed him because he was hot. that could've been a contributing factor. then, they'd somehow ended up getting the same bus home, and donghyuck had leaned across the aisle and said in a very serious voice, 'are you stalking me?'. mark had almost jumped out of his skin, dropped his phone on the floor and watched it skid all the way down the middle aisle of the bus when the driver braked.)
"yes," mark said, "dude. don't be so gross."
"mmm. my apologies," donghyuck said, but he didn't sound sorry. just sort of warm and smug, like he was having a good time thinking of stupid things to say to make mark laugh. "well, i'll see you later. have a good lecture."
"i'll try," mark said, "see you."
"unless i've died in a tragic air conditioning accident," donghyuck said darkly.
"as long as you hit it at exactly the right angle, you'll be fine," mark said, teasing, "nothing can possibly go wrong."
"that does not fill me with confidence."
"i believe in you," mark said, "i actually gotta go now, i'm outside my class." he glanced up at the university building, all glass panels and steel, reflecting nothing but the heavy grey sky. theoretical physics. awesome.
"okay," donghyuck said, "byeeeeee."
"byeeeee," mark replied.
"byyeeeeeeeeeeeee," donghyuck said. mark smiled down at the ground.
"bye, hyuck."
"bye, marky barky."
"okay, seriously, bye now."
"BYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYE-," donghyuck shouted suddenly, and mark held the phone away from his ear, laughing.
"jesus," mark said, "okay, seriously-"
"-BYEBYEBYEBYEBYEB-" donghyuck continued, and mark had to speak loudly to make himself heard.
"bye, hyuck, see you later, love you."
there was a split second, just a barely noticeable moment where he didn't realise what it was that he'd said. donghyuck suddenly stopped his incessant shouting and in the silence, amidst the quiet buzz of the phone line, mark realised. his stomach dropped, then flew up into his chest so fast he felt he had to swallow it back down.
it was just two words, it was just two syllables, but somehow the whole world rested atop those two syllables, and mark opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. donghyuck didn't say anything, either, and mark stared up at the physics department and half-wished it would collapse on top of him.
they'd been dating for two months. somehow it had been the easiest thing in the world. they'd crossed the boundary from friends to something more in one short leap, so easily that mark often found himself wishing donghyuck had forced the truth out of him sooner.
that wasn't to say he regretted the period they'd spent as friends, that he mourned it as lost time; he thought being donghyuck's friend forever would probably still have been enough for him. it might've hurt a little, it might've burned if donghyuck eventually started seeing someone else, but mark would've stuck around.
he'd had worse.
once, a giant lizard had thrown him through four walls and two double glazed windows. just because he could survive something like that, just because his bones didn't split, well, it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. pain was an old friend of his. they knew each other pretty well.
he thought he could probably survive donghyuck meeting someone else.
it was all pointless conjecture anyway, because as it turned out donghyuck didn't really want to see anyone else. he'd been the one who kissed mark, he'd been the first to pull mark close in the sunset and press their mouths together until they were breathless, and mark had let him; mark had liked it.
and mark had known for a long time that it wasn't just like. he'd known it on the rooftop. he'd known it sprawled on donghyuck's kitchen floor at 3am, tipsy and laughing at nothing in particular. he'd known it months before, sat in their usual cafe staring at donghyuck like he was trying to commit what he saw to memory precisely and absolutely. the january sun had set punishingly early, plunging the world into darkness at an absurd hour. they'd sat in the window seat. there was this lurid pink neon sign across the street glowing through the cafe window, and donghyuck was tinged pink, saying something stupid about his tutor and making mark laugh. mark had known it then. that it wasn't just like.
so, it wasn't really an accident; it was true, and he was always going to say it. eventually. he just hadn't meant to say it quite so soon.
the phone line remained silent.
"hy-" mark started, finally managing to force the words out, but he was interrupted by the disconnect tone.
"-uck," mark finished, his voice small.
donghyuck had hung up.
donghyuck had hung up.
mark had said the words that had sat heavy on his chest since the first time donghyuck had kissed him and donghyuck had hung up?
he stood outside the physics department, frozen with his phone still held against his ear, like donghyuck might still say something, stared at the ground like it would swallow him up if he asked it politely.
oddly enough, mark didn't manage to take a nap in his lecture. instead, he spent the entire hour repeatedly turning his phone over, checking for notifications (as in, texts from donghyuck), then putting it down again so he couldn't see the screen, then eventually picking it up and checking it again. he barely caught any of what the lecturer was saying, made exactly two lines of notes, and spent the rest of the time staring at a stain on the seat in front of him. it was dark, a murky brown, and shaped sort of like handsome squidward's head.
lunch was absolutely out of the question. he wasn't even convinced donghyuck would turn up, considering he'd just confessed he was in love with him and received precisely nothing in return. mark would probably get stood up. by both donghyuck and renjun, because donghyuck would probably tell renjun and then renjun would be absolutely disgusted by mark's behaviour, and neither of them would ever speak to him again. oh well. it was for the best. if mark never had to speak to anyone ever again, then he wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath. the aftermath being: donghyuck saying something like i'm sorry but i don't feel the same way. or maybe, i really like you, i just don't know if it's, you know.
that.
yes, the best option was obviously to run away from the whole situation and pretend it had never happened. he could move to a new city, get a new identity, maybe even change his superhero alias. he could be... the arachnid. maybe he could spell it kind of funky, like, the araknid. or maybe something completely unrelated, like night monkey.
"right, well, that's it for today," the lecturer was saying when mark's brain managed to tune back in to reality, "off you go." she was a highly intelligent, mildly intimidating woman. usually, when mark was firing on all cylinders and not in the midst of a relationship crisis, he quite liked her lectures. today, though, he felt as if he couldn't get out of the door fast enough. the lecture had overrun slightly, and he was deeply concerned that donghyuck would for some reason be waiting outside the building for him. like, maybe he'd come to the cafe to confront him and then dump him and then maybe tell him he was reporting him to the police for being creepy and weird and confessing he was in love with him after two months of dating, and then mark hadn't turned up so he'd come to confront him outside the physics department instead.
mark felt, sometimes, that his brain was working five times as fast as everyone else's, and not in a good way. sure, it was cool to be able to spot things other people couldn't, to dodge punches because he could tell what direction they were going to come from. it was usually pretty cool. but on days like today, when everything was going wrong and he'd had no sleep, mark became his own worst enemy. it was like, inside, he'd reverted to just regular, boring human, but his body had remained superpowered. he was always fighting to catch up with it.
if he could just take a quick nap, if he could just get some sleep, then he thought maybe he could figure it all out. the thought of a nap dragged a thousand thoughts about donghyuck into the forefront of his brain - donghyuck draped over him in the morning, complaining about having to leave mark's unnaturally warm bed, donghyuck's hands threading through his hair, donghyuck with his head on mark's lap watching legend of zelda compilations on youtube. when mark's eyes fell shut and his breathing evened out, donghyuck had turned the volume all the way down, continued watching in silence.
he had loved donghyuck for almost as long as he'd known him. and no, mark was not a stranger to pain. they were very well acquainted. but it hurt.
mark thought that the library was probably his best bet. he could just hide out in the library until everything had blown over. maybe he could just live in the library forever. he could build a weird little hut out of mathematics textbooks. that could be an option.
he found his way to the robotics section, thinking he could at least solve the problem of the malfunctioning arm at the lab if he couldn't do anything else (if he couldn't make donghyuck fall in love with him).
mark browsed the volumes on the shelf, staring more at the shapes of the letters than reading the titles.
discrete-time signal processing.
donghyuck cross-legged on mark's bed drinking coffee from mark's best mug, the blue one with flowers.
automation and collaborative robotics.
donghyuck's fingers on the piano, long and sort of knobbly at the joints, languidly playing a melody they'd played a thousand times before.
data-driven science and engineering: machine learning, dynamical systems, and control.
mark loved donghyuck. donghyuck didn't love him back.
he selected the thickest book he could find, tugging it out of its spot on the shelf, and promptly caused the books on either side to collapse inwards. several of them slid off onto the floor. mark scrabbled around to catch them, and really it was embarrassing - he was literally spider-man. he was supposed to be better than this.
"shit," mark hissed, crouching down to pick them up. another one fell off and landed on his head. "ow."
"hot," a voice announced, a little louder than was wise in a library. mark looked up so fast he cricked his neck, and to his abject horror donghyuck was standing at the end of the aisle. he was dressed in a pair of black shorts and one of mark's own hoodies, the dark brown one. he looked nice in brown, mark thought, so he was never angry that that particular hoodie had been sacrificed to the cause, but right now he could've done without it. his dark hair was sort of a mess, his backpack hung over one shoulder. his little paddington keychain dangled from the zip, swinging slightly.
mark's stomach did a series of strange cartwheels. he managed to pick the books up, finally, and shoved them unceremoniously back on their shelf.
"oh," mark said, "um." donghyuck walked up the aisle, stopped close enough to mark that he could speak in a low, library-appropriate voice, but not quite close enough to touch. he leaned casually against the bookshelf.
"any reason you stood me and renjun up?" donghyuck asked lightly. he didn't sound exactly mad, but he didn't sound particularly happy either.
"uhhhh," mark said. one of the hastily replaced books slid off the shelf, hitting the floor with a prominent thud. mark didn't pick it up.
"i thought you'd gone to, i dunno, save an old lady from goblins or whatever," donghyuck said, "and yet here you are, reading books about..." he glanced sideways at the books on the shelf. "the mechanics of robot grasping."
"it's the green goblin," mark corrected.
"oh, no, i was thinking of the red one, actually," donghyuck said sarcastically.
"i wasn't," mark started, "i mean, i didn't mean to stand you up. i, um. it's just."
"what is it?" donghyuck said, impatient but with fondness biting at the edges. mark screwed his eyes shut, cringing.
"aboutwhatisaid," mark said, the words rushing out in one go, stuck together, "i'm really sorry if it made you, like, uncomfortable. i really didn't mean to say it, um, i mean, i did mean it, but i wasn't planning on saying it now, and i'm sorry if it was too fast, i just, uh, well. i like you a lot. obviously." donghyuck stared at him, his frown intensifying the longer mark rambled.
"what the hell are you talking about?" donghyuck asked. mark's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. the feeling of panic started to ebb slightly, the pump of his blood slowing as anxiety was replaced with bewilderment.
"um," mark said, "what i said on the phone?" donghyuck looked nonplussed.
"what did you say on the phone?" he asked.
"at the end," mark said, "the thing about..." he trailed off, hoping donghyuck would get the message. had he not heard him? had mark actually not said it aloud and instead just thought it as loudly as possible, as if he might be able to propel the thought into donghyuck's brain via telepathy? had he created an entire scenario that simply didn't happen? donghyuck shook his head slightly, narrowing his eyes like mark was being crazy.
"the thing about," mark said, "the thing about- for fuck's sake. the thing about being in love with you, dude."
donghyuck frowned at him for a moment longer and then it lifted slowly, replaced by an amused expression.
"i know," donghyuck said, "i just wanted to hear you say it again."
he smiled the smile he saved for when he was teasing, a pleased with himself almost-grin, and tipped his head sideways against the bookshelf. he looked up at mark coyly. mark felt as if all the blood he possessed was rushing back into his body, and he wasn't sure when exactly it had leaked out, but suddenly it was back, and he actually felt a little lightheaded with the force of it.
"oh," he said.
"did you not hear me say it back?" donghyuck asked. mark opened his mouth, closed it again.
"no?" he said eventually.
"shit," donghyuck replied, "my battery died, and i couldn't charge my phone because i left my charger at mine and you only have a fucking android charger and jaemin was out."
"oh," mark said, "oh my god. i'm so stupid." he covered his face with his hands. donghyuck grinned, crowded him up against the bookshelf. he dropped his bag from his shoulder to the floor with a rattling thud, then forcibly removed mark's hands from his face, replaced them with his own, cupped mark's cheeks. his hands always felt sort of cool to mark, who ran hot, but he didn't mind it. he especially didn't mind it at moments like this when his whole head was burning with embarrassment.
"you are," donghyuck cooed. his voice was warm, full of love. "look at your stupid face." he pressed his whole body against mark's, kissed him on each of his cheeks and then his nose and then hard on his mouth. the bookshelves dug uncomfortably into mark's back, but he was barely even aware of it. it was abruptly quite difficult to focus on anything that wasn't donghyuck - donghyuck flush against him, his mouth against mark's, cool like it always was, his hands sliding down mark's neck to his shoulders, down to his waist and up again. god, they were in a library, was this really wise, like, mark didn't want to get banned from the robotics section for life - how the hell was he supposed to fix the prosthetic arm at the lab if he was banned from the robotics section because he'd got caught kissing donghyuck extremely enthusiastically against robot programmer's bonanza-
but donghyuck loved him. donghyuck had said it back.
"so you...?" mark asked when they pulled apart, a little breathless.
"love you?" donghyuck finished, brushing mark's hair out of his face, "obviously. always. since the first time i watched you get all excited about quantum geography."
"quantum-" mark said, smiling, and his heart was so full it felt as if it might burst, "quantum geometry."
"yeah," donghyuck said, "that." he kissed mark again, and they were both smiling far too hard for it to be any good, really, but it didn't matter.
"excuse me," an indignant voice said, a fierce sort of whisper. they broke apart abruptly, turning hurriedly to see a librarian holding a large book titled lubricated gripping mechanisms and looking deeply scandalised. she was older, maybe in her fifties, with a very severe bob. "this is a library. not a place for cavorting."
"oh my god, we are so sorry," donghyuck said, and mark could tell that he wasn't. "the thing is, we've actually just said i love you for the first time? which is sort of a big deal, as you can imagine." the librarian stared at him. "we just got caught in the heat of the moment, i guess, and accidentally cavorted a little bit. i mean, i'm sure you can understand that," donghyuck said, and it might have been an attempt at charm. he gestured to the librarian like he was assuming she had a lifetime of experience making out in libraries. mark supposed, of all people, a librarian would be more likely to have a lot of kissing-in-libraries experiences considering, statistically, they were in libraries more often than everyone else.
"out," the librarian said harshly, and mark and donghyuck grabbed their bags and hurried off in the opposite direction, giggling.
"that's the most action the robotics section has ever seen," donghyuck commented when they were outside, meandering across campus with their hands linked. the sun had found its way out from behind the clouds, as if reflecting the change in mark's mood. it beat down on the concrete. mark was uncomfortably hot, but donghyuck's hand was cool in his.
"how did you know i was there?" mark asked.
"i made an educated guess," donghyuck answered, swinging mark's arm, "a deduction."
"how?" mark asked.
"you always go to the library when you're upset about something," donghyuck answered simply, "like, when you failed that programming final and you went to the library and read half of sense and sensibility and then fell asleep. plus, you were complaining about work this morning, so i figured - robotics section."
"right," mark said quietly. he couldn't quite put it into words, but it meant a lot to him. that donghyuck noticed. that donghyuck remembered things about him that he'd scarcely noticed himself.
"i'm just crazy smart, i guess," donghyuck said lightly. he stopped suddenly, turned to mark and got into his personal space, close enough that mark could count his freckles. "or maybe i'm just, like, unhealthily in love with you."
mark's heart must've missed several beats, at the very least.
"are you writing it all down in your notes?" mark said, somehow forcing a joke out when he felt on the verge of a heart attack. donghyuck grinned. he pulled away, almost skipping ahead of mark toward the campus cafe. the sunlight filtered through the leaves in the trees that lined the walkway, turning the concrete to a solar mosaic, and it played gold across donghyuck's skin, caught in his hair like sparks in glass filaments.
"mark lee," he called, loud enough for mark to be mildly embarrassed, "you are seared onto the notes app of my heart."
mark laughed, hurried after him to hold his hand again. it was sunny. mark was sweaty and a little bit gross. his world had ended and rebuilt itself approximately three times in one day. but donghyuck's hand was cool in his, and that was all that really mattered.