it was around seven, and mark had finished eating about thirty minutes prior. he wished he'd been more specific earlier now that he wasn't sure where to find donghyuck. if only he had set up a meeting place and time rather than claiming he would find the younger himself. 

   mark wandered the halls, going to the library, the break room, and even scanning the tables of the dining room. with no luck, he went back to their dorms. opening the door, he was hopeful, but unfortunately, donghyuck wasn't there either. "looking for someone?" jaemin asked, whom mark realized was sitting on his bed, studying a textbook. 

   "yeah," he nodded, "have you seen donghyuck?" jaemin laughed, but it wasn't full and cheer as he usually sounded. it was almost—dead, and exasperated. his voice sounded dry as if he were near to losing his voice. "i haven't seen him, i never see him," jaemin told.

   mark eyed him carefully, taking a seat on jaemin's bed. "what are you reading?" the brunette snapped his book shut and hugged it to his chest protectively. "you can't have it," he glared. mark shook his head, "i don't want it." he gently moved jaemin's arms so that he could read the title. algorithms to live by: the computer science of human decisions, it read.

   why would jaemin be so secretive about a book on computer science? mark hadn't even realized that jaemin had even been taking computer science classes. i guess i need to be more observant, he told himself inwardly. he stared at the book longer and noticed that there was a lump between the closed pages, preventing the covers from meeting one another.

   he reached his hands towards it, but jaemin jerked his body backwards. "i said you can't have it!"

   this caused mark to pull back himself and frown. why was jaemin being so aggressive about it? mark observed his face, noticing the enlarged pupils and bloodshot eyes. "jaemin," mark breathed, watching as jaemin twitched ever so slightly. he knew just by watching that it was uncontrollable and jaemin was most likely unaware of it even happening.

   "are you-," he fell quiet as jaemin suddenly laughed again, throwing his head back. "are you okay?" mark asked. "i thought you were looking for donghyuck," jaemin changed the topic. "you and donghyuck spend an awful lot of timeee together," he spoke. his words seemed to barely be there, hanging in the air only faintly.

   "jaemin, i'm gonna take you to the nurse," mark decided. "no!" the younger shrieked, clutching the book to his chest once more. "go away, go away before i yell bloody murder," he said harshly, eyes becoming daggers. 

   "jaemin," mark reached out to grab his shoulders, but the younger male dodged it and got up, dashing out of the room. by the time mark caught up and looked into the hallway he had no idea of what direction jaemin had even gone. great, just another addition to my list of people to find, he thought to himself.

   on second thought, mark looked out the big window in the hallway, out to the yard. under the tree there was a person lying down. even with the slight fog and pouring rain, his gut told him that it was donghyuck. 

   before he could change his mind, he ran towards the yard in the rain, heading straight for the curled up body underneath the tree. just as he'd suspected, it was donghyuck. he got on his knees touching donghyuck's face gently. "hyuck wake up," he called. 

   the sun kissed male only stirred, not being as responsive as mark had hoped. "c'mon, donghyuck, wake up," he shook him now. almost grudgingly, donghyuck opened his eyes. mark breathed out in relief, helping him up in a sitting position. donghyuck did as he instructed, but refused to look at him. mark took notice in that, and tried not to push things. "can we go inside," he nearly begged. donghyuck was shivering and mark knew he would be next.

   they were both now soaked by the rain, clothes catching the shapes of their body with their hair sticking to their foreheads. nonetheless, donghyuck shook his head, continuing to look anywhere but at mark. at the rejection, mark didn't know what to do other than continue trying. "please, i don't want you to get sick."

   whether donghyuck agreed that he couldn't afford to get sick with exams coming up, or he lost every last trace of his fighting spirit, mark didn't know. but he slowly rose to his feet, allowing mark to help him up. "let's go," mark held his hand and attempted to lead them inside. 

   donghyuck kept himself exactly where he was, not moving, his feet planted in the ground. the older male wanted to cry out in frustration, but kept himself collected. "hyuck, let's go, what are you gonna do if you have to miss the classes next week?" with no response, he turned to look at donghyuck and it'd appeared that his words had fallen upon deaf ears. donghyuck's eyes were tired and glossing over.

   for the second time in not even twenty minutes, mark asked, "are you okay?" donghyuck finally met his eye and broke down sobbing. his body shook with each cry, and mark froze, unsure of how to handle the situation. 

   first he eyed the windows from the school and figured it would be best to bring them to the backside of the tree where it would be nearly impossible to see them. "donghyuck can you tell me what's wrong? i don't understand and i can't help you if i don't understand, and i hate when i can't help you. i'll do anything if i know where to start, but as of right now, i'm just los-," he stopped talking as donghyuck pressed himself against him in a hug.

   it took a couple of seconds for the canadian to process what was happening, but once he did he wrapped his arms around donghyuck tightly, securely. donghyuck buried his head in mark's shoulder, muffling his cries while mark did what he could to calm him down by rubbing his back gently, and whispering reassuring words to him. 

   when donghyuck finally pulled away, he burried his head in his hands. "donghyuck?" mark said cautiously. when there wasn't a response, he opened his mouth to try again, but donghyuck beat him to it.

   "i'm always embarrassing myself in front of you," he sniffed.

   mark couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "well, don't be embarrassed, it's cute," he said honestly. donghyuck only looked up at him, but compared to the unresponsive state that he was in moments ago, mark took it gratefully. 

   "can we go inside now? we're both seriously going to get sick," mark asked as he felt a raindrop slide down the bridge of his nose. "wait," donghyuck shook his head. "about what i said, yesterday," he spoke so quietly that mark could barely hear him over the rain. "i meant it, though i almost wish i didn't," he said taking a deep breath, making mark's heart clench. "but i hope we can both pretend that it didn't happen, because if i hadn't been in my sleep deprived state, i wouldn't have even said it."

   "what if i don't want to?" mark asked before donghyuck could say anything else. 

   "what?"

   "what if i don't want to pretend that you didn't say it?"

   the smaller male looked taken aback, "why wouldn't you want to pretend that it never happened?"

   "well... just because," mark shrugged lamely. he watched as donghyuck looked towards the ground, obviously thinking it over, "we should just forget about it, and you're right, we are going to get sick. we should probably head back inside now," he turned around and began walking. 

   just man up you dumbass! mark thought to himself as he watched donghyuck slowly walk away from him. had it always been this hard to confess to another person?

   he clenched his hands into a fist and sucked in a deep breath. he stared longingly at donghyuck's retreating figure which was now about twenty meters away. (a/n: that's approximately twenty-two yards)

   it's now or never, he decided. "we shouldn't forget about it because...," he found his voice, stronger this time, "because i like you, donghyuck!" he wasn't sure the ravenette had heard him until he stopped dead in his tracks. he turned to look at mark slowly, "i already feel like an idiot, don't lie to me, mark." 

   "there's no way," the blonde groaned quietly. he ran up to donghyuck, catching up with him. "i'm not lying, i like you too," he repeated. "mark, i really can't deal with this right now," he sighed, not meeting mark's eye. the older shook his head in disbelief. "hyuck, i meant it," he stated seriously before deciding to prove it with actions rather than words. he cupped donghyuck's cheeks in his hands, pulling his face towards him. they made eye contact while everything but the rain fell silent around them.

   "i'm going to kiss you now. okay?"

   "okay."

   then mark watched as donghyuck gently closed his eyes, and leaned towards him. their lips hovered above eachother for a moment until mark carefully connected their lips in a sweet kiss. 

   it was cold, and it was wet, but it was good. really good. 

   it only lasted a few seconds before mark pulled away, dropping his hands to his sides. donghyuck's cheeks were pink, and he looked surprised as if he wasn't expecting mark to actually do it. the taller male searched his eyes, making sure there was nothing wrong. 

   "i like you, okay?"

   "okay."

   and this time, donghyuck was the one to reach out and bring mark to him, holding the back of his head. he pressed his lips against mark's and mark returned the favor. his hands found their way onto donghyuck's waist while donghyuck dug his fingers into mark's hair. his fingers tugged gently at his golden locks, making mark only kiss him harder.

   they moved their lips against eachother, carefully, softly, and somehow naturally. donghyuck's skin was on fire where mark held him, and he was mildly aware of the burning sensation forming in the pit of him stomach. 

   they pulled apart briefly and kissed again. mark taking lead while donghyuck happily followed. it was crazy how perfectly their lips molded into eachother. frankly, neither of them could get enough of the feeling. mark pulled away though, holding donghyuck close. "no more for now, i think i'll go insane. god, you make me go insane," mark mumbled, pressing a kiss on donghyuck's nose.

   the latter smiled fondly and mark lead them inside, where they could finally escape the rain.

---

   mark unbuttoned his shirt slowly, seemingly unaware of donghyuck's gaze. then he reached for the back of the neck-line, and pulled the shirt over his head with his thumb and index finger. he set the soaking shirt on the ground and dried himself with a towel. 

   donghyuck scolded himself for looking, but couldn't help but admire mark's biceps. the way his muscles moved was so mesmerizing, and he found himself following the trail down his chest to his toned abs. he couldn't help but feel slightly jealous that his entire life he'd never had abs himself.

   the thought left as quickly as it'd come when mark spoke up. "like what you see?" he chuckled at donghyuck's flustered face as the sun kissed male turned around and wouldn't look at mark until he had put a hoodie on. then it was donghyuck's turn.

   "take it off," mark instructed. donghyuck shyly refused to which mark couldn't help but find cute. "c'mon," he pulled donghyuck closer and began undoing his buttons. seeing that he wasn't protesting, mark continued. when all the buttons were off, mark pulled the shirt over his head, and donghyuck let him.

   mark followed the next step as he had done himself, and dried donghyuck off. his touch unnecessarily lingered, but he made sure not to cross the line. as he came down to donghyuck's wrists he knew he couldn't act blindly on the bruising for any longer. what he wasn't expecting was for donghyuck's knuckles to be cut open and bleeding. 

   "donghyuck," he said stiffly, "what happened?" he held up the younger's hands and inspected each knuckle. he'd been hurt pretty badly.

   "oh," donghyuck let out. "i did that, don't worry about it," he brushed off. mark shook his head, refusing to let it go this time. "what happened to your hands, and to your wrist?" he confronted him now. 

   the ravenette debated coming clean or avoiding the truthful answer, each had consequences, but he ended up deciding to be honest. "when you found me outside earlier, i had gotten really upset. i was sad and mad and confused, and i think i just punch the tree because it was the only thing there and i needed to let out my frustration," he said quietly. 

   "that can happen," mark hummed aware that donghyuck didn't mention any details on purpose. "and your wrists?" donghyuck held his breath. he didn't know how he would explain this one. lying straight off the bat would lead him to be even less likely of ever telling the truth about the matter. being honest would lead to possible confrontation between mark and daeshim. neither option seemed too appealing to him at the moment.

   mark pulled a hoodie over donghyuck's bare torso, warming him up now while waiting patiently for an answer.

   "well i ran into someone accidentally, and they were only slightly aggressive. i don't think they meant to leave the bruises," he drawled. each sentence was formed carefully as if not to alarm mark that he'd dealt with domestic violence from a senior. mark read between the lines, distaste filling his voice, "hyuck, i need you to be honest with me now. did someone hurt you on purpose?"

   donghyuck let out a small unintentional whimper which gave himself away. 

   "was this the first time or has something similar happened before?"

   "it happened before," he reluctantly replied.

   "who was it?" mark asked. this was a question donghyuck knew he couldn't answer—or he was too scared to answer at least. "i can't tell you, i'm sorry," he covered his hands with his sleeves, giving himself sweater paws. "donghyuck, i really need to know. that's not okay, and i won't allow this to continue happening," he gently intertwined their fingers. 

   "just give me a week," donghyuck pushed, "i'll handle it by then, and if i haven't i promise i'll tell you who it is."

   seeing the determination on donghyuck's face, mark couldn't bring himself to push the younger into doing something that he clearly really didn't want to do, and opted to trust him. "okay," he gave in with a sigh, "just one week and no longer." the smile on donghyuck's face made it feel like he made the right decision by agreeing. he just hoped he wouldn't end up regretting it.

-----

word count: 2500

honestly not satisfied with this chapter, but 'shalala' is stuck in my head, and i'm too tired to fix it <3

✎ ---- dreaminghyuck⤾