Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mark was dead tired he just wanted to not move for the next two days but there were things to do. Mrs Harold's English paper and a report on the field trip they had on Friday to the new science laboratory that had opened in the city for Biology class. They were both due tomorrow there was not even one line written down for either paper. Honestly Mark would have at least tried to finished the English paper, he loved English it was his favourite subject and Mrs Harold was always really nice to him, told him he had potential to be a great writer, but at the moment he really couldn't muster up the effort to remove himself from the sweet sweet comfort of his bed.

 It really was not his fault it was Lee Donghyuck who caused this exhaustion. The entire weekend they had been hunting leads for some cheap Back Street Boys tickets. Why, you ask…. according to Donghyuck, he would just absolutely immediately die if he missed the concert. All the tickets were sold out, and scalpers were reselling the tickets for an arm and a leg, and being 15 and 16 respectively, they really did not have the funds to buy those overpriced tickets. So off they were hunting down rumors about a mysterious connection that their classmate Bertie had claimed he knew that lived down in Brooklyn, that went by the name Nicklover12 on the Bulletin Board System BBS*.

After searching the whole of Saturday and Sunday, they were still shit out of luck, there was no Nicklover12 to be found, or tickets. All they had for their effort were assignments still yet to be done and aching calves. Honestly, the things he did for his best friend, Donghyuck better be grateful. 

Mark stretched his arms over his head arching his shoulders to relive the stiffness that build up, he was so not looking forward to detention tomorrow for not doing his assignments but he really needed some sleep….no his body craved it plus he had basket ball practice and drills tomorrow, if he did not get any sleep he was gonna feel like a 10 ton truck really rolled over him and spit him out to toast on hot asphalt after. That decided it he was gonna sleep. Mark zoned out pretty quickly his eyelids getting heavier and heavier after every blink.

Blink….Blink… his eyes were closing, sleep pulling at his consciousness, to slip into the land of dreams…. He was staring at the bland off white of his bedroom ceiling, just about to fall asleep but maybe he was already dreaming because there was no way the huge spider swinging down from the corner of the room where his bed was pressed against was really there. Maybe just maybe he was already asleep and the fear of not doing his assignments was causing him to be dreaming of the spider coming to eating him for not doing the paper on spider genetics and evolution for Biology class.

Just as he was about to surrender to his dream fate of being spider dinner, there was this extreme searing pain that caused him to jolt off the bed at a speed he did not know he possessed tripping over his blanket stumbling on his feet while he frantically batted away a totally REAL and definitely NOT a dream spider that was biting his hand.

With a swipe of his had the spider final fell to the floor and he scrambled for the closest thing that his hand could reach which happened to be his prized copy of Jane Erye slamming the book onto the spider causing a unpleasant “splat” sound and a bright neon green ooze to smeared on the back of his precious cover or was that venom….ok he was panicking like officially panicking he could feel his heart beat beating in his ears his vision was getting blurry there was sharp pain in his brain and hand.

The bite felt like it had a pulse of its own and was going to turn into a living creature at any moment now. He tried to focus his vision onto his hands, but instead of two hands, there were six hands moving blurry with a large red inflamed area pulsing out a green liquid. Another sharp pain seared through his brain like a hot ice pick. He clutched his head and stumbled back, the back of his knees hitting his bed causing him to lose all the strength in his legs and he fell backwards and soon there was pitch black darkness took over

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 

Tick… tock…tick…tock….

Donghyuck glanced at the clock then the front door. Huh… why wasn't Mark here yet. He should have already been sat between Donghyuk and his sister Minjae at their tiny dinner table, elbows and shoulders jostling while eating grandma's hearty breakfast out of a collection mishmashed bowls, but Mark was late. Mark was never late.

Everyday before school Mark would walk from his nice apartment from the block further up Korean town to Donghyuck’s tiny apartment. The apartment they lived in was right above his grandpa's Korean variety store. The apartment was tiny, always filled with boxes from the store below and with both his grandparents, him and his sister it was a tight fit. Him and Minjae had always lived with their grandparents. He couldn’t really remember his dad, he was never around and his mom…. well according to his grandparents, was busy working hard in a different state and couldn't live with them, at least…. that was the story that was told to them. 
The last time they saw their mom was 2 years ago she had come late in the night to collect some paper work that grandma had. There had been shouting and tears and slammed doors but before Donghyuck could realize what was going on and wipe the sleep from his eyes she was gone and all he had was a glimpse of the back of her as she slammed the apartment door close. 
But at least he had his grandparents even if they weren’t financially well off and they lived in a shitty apartment it was still home and he wouldn’t trade it for the cold emptiness of Mark's apartment.
Mark lived in the nicer part of Korea town with fancy apartments, his Mom worked for a big company in the city, they could have afforded a nice apartment in Manhattan. However, Mark’s mom preferred to live in Korea town to be closer to their culture and importantly the church that Mark dad use to be the pastor at before he passed. So even though  the apartment Mark lived in was nice and had lots of space it was empty, it didn't feel like a home, it was like those designer homes you saw in the magazines or catalogues. There never really was anyone home, Mark’s mom was super busy as the sole breadwinner of the house she often worked till late in the night and most weekends with the exception of Sunday to attend church service, so it was mostly just Mark in the apartment alone. 

When his dad had died and Mark's mom had to go back to work, she had asked Donghyuck's grandparents to watch over Mark. She had paid them of course, but he basically grew up with Donghyuck in this tiny apartment. Even after he was old enough to stay at his apartment by himself, he still frequently stayed over. He came every day before school to eat breakfast and Donghyuck, Mark and Minjae would walk to school together. Donghyuck's grandparents pretty much considered Mark their grandchild and doted on him fussing if he had eaten anything and how wonderful and amazing their Markie was, how he was the top of his class and also played sports and basically the perfect Korean grandson. Unlike Donghyuk who was smart but never really applied himself and was mischievous and according to his sister the devil, but Donghyuck didn't want a boring job that paid little he want to be a star, to have his voice on the radio like Michael Jackson or on the stages of Broadway like Bernadette Peter or Nathan Lane and most importantly never have to think about money again.

Grandma was worried “Yah Donghyuck  did Mark say he wasn't coming over this morning?” she sighed “maybe he the poor child is sick he never misses my cooking, YAH Donghyuck I will pack a container of some soup you go check on mark see if he is ok”

“WHAT??? That's the opposite direction of the school we are so gonna be late” Donghyuck whined.

*chuckles* Minjae “ since when have you ever cared about being on time for school” 
“Hey! That’s not the point, my legs are killing me after walking over the city”  Donghyuck sloughed down the chair dramatically and bellowed dramatically “my legs will fall off!!!” 

Minjae scoffed “And whose fault is that by the way…hmmm?? that dragged Mark along with you to get some mysterious cheap tickets?" 

Minjae perked up suddenly and Donghyuck could see that an  idea was forming in her big forehead. The corners of Minjae lips twitched in delights and her eyes brightened and Minjae said in a sweet voice “ well~~ if you don't wanna go I can go to Mark’s to check on him”

Donghyuck's face twisted in disgusted and faked retched he could practically  see the sparkles and pink roses surrounding his sister as she stared off in space thinking about Mark. Donghyuck's jaw clenched and his stomach felt funny like he had eaten a bowl full of over fermented sour kimchi. Donghyuck brushed the feeling away. Maybe grandma had used the kimchi that was close to the expiry date from the shop below to make the kimchi stew. Donghyuck kicked the chair leg that Minjae sat on jostling her out of her dreamy state and grinned “ no way loser you you have your meeting with the nerdy math club to attend and as president nerd your are gonna have to be there” 

Minjae scowled at Donghyuck and used her hands to push Donghyuck causing his chair to rock back “ YEAH WELL… YOU ARE A DRAMA CLUB LOSER!!!”. Donghyuck scrambled in front of him, hands grasping at the dinner table to balance him.

“YAH STOP Fighting” his grandpa bellowed, both Donghyuck and Minjae shrunk against the harsh scolding, their shoulders reaching up to their ears with the reprimand.

Donghyuck pouted and mumbled “fine I will carry the food for Mark”.

Donghyuck's grandma quickly packed a tupper ware filled with kimchi soup and rice and Marks favourite banchan and Donghyuck was unceremoniously pushed out the door by his grandma telling him to call the store phone when he reached Mark’s apartment to report back if he was sick or not. Donghyuck sighed Mark was lucky that he was his best friend.

Donghyuck trudged his way down to Mark’s apartment kicking bits of litter around the sidewalk as he made his way down to his apartment paying close attention to not step on any funny looking liquids.

Hopefully the idiot wasn't really sick and just probably overslept, Donghyuck could admit the search over the weekend for those tickets really fried them. Yeah..maybe he just overslept, no need to worry over the idiot at all.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

After a 20 min walk Donghyuk finally arrived at the apartment complex and craned his head back to stare at the tall building. 

* sigh* 

“ Now I have to climb these damn stairs,” Donghyuck moaned. Despite Mark living in a relatively nicer building, it still was an older historic  building and unfortunately came with unending flights of stairs that were really gonna put his poor over worked legs through the wringer.

Donghyuck tightened his grip on his back pack straps and with a determined exhale marched through the lobby and up the stairs, waving to Mr Kim the concierge as he passed. By the time Donghyuck had made it to the 7 floor he was out of breath and his legs were aching.  He bent forward, hands clenched on his knees, taking gulps of breath like a cold bottle of water after a run, ok so maybe…just maybe Donghyuck may be regretting the past weekend escapades. Donghyuck glanced up at the door and straightened his back while rumpling through his pocket filled with candy wrappers to remove the copied key for Mark's apartment. Donghyuck was over so often Mrs Lee had given him a spare key, saying he was welcomed anytime. Plus, it helped put Mrs Lee's mind at ease that in case of any emergencies at least someone had access to the apartment and would be there fast enough. Donghyuck twisted the door knob open and toed off his sneakers pulling the door shut behind him, he dumped his back pack to the side and carried the plastic bag containing the food to the kitchen. Donghyuck rested the bag on top of the marble counter. He looked around and couldn’t see a glimpse of Mark nor any rustling from Mark shuffling about to get ready for the day. 

Donghyuck walked down the small corridor where the bedrooms were located and called out for Mark.

“Hey Mark?......you awake”

“ Heyyyy Markkk????”

Donghyuck pushed Mark’s door open, to see Mark sprawled out on his bed half of his body hanging precariously off the bed. Donghyuck marched in suddenly annoyed at the sight of Mark's ruffled hair and used his socked foot to nudge Mark in the ribs “ Yah!! are you Sleeping Beauty?! Why are you still sleeping, Ma sent food for you”.

With a pained groan Mark turned over hand reaching up to rub his eyes, he groaned in pain like the bedroom lights were burning his eyes. Donghyuck had raised his foot to poke Mark again in his ribs but stopped short as he noticed that something was not right. Mark’s usually pale face was flushed red and there were beads of sweat dotting his forehead and his eyebrows were furrowed. Something was definitely wrong, Donghyuck lowered his foot and moved closer to Mark one hand braced on the mattress and the other stretched out to test the temperature of the older boy’s forehead, as his hand was about to make contact with Mark’s eye flew open and the older’s hand grabbed his wrist and Donghyuck felt a swoop in his tummy as his centre of gravity shifted and he was slammed against the bed.

 * Squeek Squeek Squeek squeak… * the sound of the springs of the bed echoed.

 His body bounced with the spring of the mattress and a gush of air left his lungs. It had happened so fast Donghyuck's brain couldn't comprehend what just happened it was like his brain blue screened it was blank and then as his brain slowly rebooted the awareness of WHERE he was where his BODY was….his body was pressed firmly against the bed he could feel the body heat radiating of Mark like a furnace, his wrist twinged with pain as the other boy’s fingers tightened in a painful grip pinning his hands to the bed on either side of his head.

Mark had been in pain he still was in extreme pain  he felt like he was on fire is body felt so hot like if he was in Dante inferno. His body ached with a deep seated ache that would touch his very being, his bones creaked it felt like he bones were growing and breaking and mending at the same time, he could feel his muscles being pulled and taught being stretched like a rubber band. He could hear his heart beat in his ears, every twitch of muscle, every shaky breath in and out, the blood rushing through his veins, the ticking of the gears in the clock on the wall, the rustle of trash on the road. Colour danced behind his eye lids, in his attempt to open his eyes a searing pain poked through his retinas overwhelming his brain with information, colours, tones and hues he has never seen before his vision blurred at the edges one moment everything was moving so fast then one moment everything was moving in slow motion then his eyes would focus onto something and all he would see would be that, every tiny crack, scrape, pore and the fine dust that gathered there it was like it was under a microscope. It was overwhelming. He passed out some time last night. The pain was too much, he couldn't know when or what happened before or after, the pain was so overwhelming his brain just went blank, there was just darkness. With a sudden jolt from something outside of him he was pulled from the pitch black emptiness. As he slowly regained consciousness the pain also followed soon after, much subdued from last night but still there, his body still felt hot and he still felt like he was aware of everything all at once and nothing at all.

Then all of a sudden every hair on his body raised and it was like an electrical tingle went down his entire body and all his body and mind was screaming was *DANGER!*

Next thing that he knew he was looking down onto brown eyes framed with long full lashes, pupils blown wide he could see the invisible tremors as the pupils widened, two pearly white teeth poking out from underneath pink lips that were slightly agar, the bottom lip a bright shade of red, the blood vessels in them burst as if they were chewed on often. He could see the veins of the side of the neck jump as blood pumped through the body, he could hear the rush in his ears, the gasp of breath that escaped those pink lips and the sweet scent of clementine candy burned his nose. He could feel the pulse increase to a thundering rhythm beneath his palm that encircled the wrist pinned to the bed. As the individual bits of information came together to form a single image his laser focus shifted from each individual element to recognise the face that he was staring at. It was Donghyuck. 

“Ma..r..” before Donghyuck whisper of Mark's name could leave his lips the solid weight pinning him to the bed, the pain in his wrist and the heat was gone in an instant. He laid still as a statue, his wrist still in the same position they were in pinned in, his brain was still reeling from what just happened. What in the ever loving fuck…..just happened……