Work Text:
They start fucking — sometimes. Donghyuck is strict to keep it only maximum three times a week, because he already likes having sex with Mark far too much, if it becomes too regular he knows he’ll be well in the territory of catching feelings.
Sometimes Mark will text him, sometimes the other way around, but never anything more than a simple ‘u up?’ or ‘wanna come over?’. Aside from the first instance, Donghyuck stopped staying over, those post-fuck all-night spoons can get into your head. He avoids them like the plague. Mark got the memo too and doesn’t stay at Donghyuck’s when he comes over either, so they've worked it into a system. Sometimes lying in bed is a little lonely, but it’s worth it to keep things uncomplicated.
Sometimes Donghyuck can still smell Mark on his sheets, too.
The sex is — hot, enjoyable, funny a lot of the time too. Like the time Donghyuck was riding Mark into his bed when he pointed out the 2PM poster on Donghyuck's wall and started off-key singing until Donghyuck was laughing, turning into a moan the minute Mark started fucking up into him again. Or the time they got into the shower together and ended up creating the funniest hairdos they could on each other instead of doing any actual fucking. When the water had started to go cold, they finally realised the time, so they ended up giving each other quick handjobs before their teeth started chattering.
Mark is tender, gentle, fucks him exactly how he asks him to, cuddles him after, all whilst being seemingly easy going and happy with the situation.
Donghyuck definitely has it all 100% under control. Donghyuck doesn’t think of the way Mark’s eyes soften before he sleeps at night.
There’s some instances where it’s sex and nothing else, just something they need to get out of their system. Some, where it turns into something else entirely. Donghyuck has now watched literally every Spider-Man movie that exists because it’s Mark’s favourite post-fuck cuddle movie.
“Do you ever think it’s weird that we know nothing about each other?” Mark asks, one time, as they recover from a round that had literally sucked the soul from Donghyuck’s body.
Still recovering, too hazy with pleasure to be anything but honest, Donghyuck lolls his head to the side. “Hmm, do you want to know more about me?”
“Yeah. I could be fucking a, like, multi-millionaire for all I know.”
“I promise I’m not a multi-millionaire.”
“Should’ve worked that out from your frankly concerning collection of dollar store MJ t-shirts.”
“You’re just jealous. Don’t listen to them, baby.” He whispers into the t-shirt he wears, just to see Mark smile.
Donghyuck is actually curious about Mark as well — and he decides he sees no harm in it, so he turns to look at Mark, and raises his eyebrows as if to say go on.
“Hmm, worst fuck of your life?” Mark asks, fingers idly playing with the tips of Donghyuck’s hair.
“He’s looking right at me.”
“You came in three minutes like an hour ago, Donghyuck-ah, come on.”
Donghyuck rolls out of Mark’s hold quickly, almost falling off the bed if Mark hadn’t clung to his arm, laughing like a hyena the entire time.
Donghyuck rolls over and stares defiantly at the posters on Mark’s wall. Miles Morales stares back at him. “I hate you.” He says, not liking the laugh he gets in response.
After another couple seconds of Donghyuck pulling a strop, warm, wet kisses start lining Donghyuck’s neck, two arms wrapping around his chest, Donghyuck lets Mark press their bodies together. “Hey Donghyuck, I have a question.”
“What?”
“What’s your stance on tickling?” Before he can answer, Mark digs his fingers into Donghyuck’s sides immediately which makes Donghyuck squirm and scream, almost falling off the bed again.
“Oh fuck off, Mark Lee, I was trying to be serious!” He says in between giggles as Mark skates his fingers up and down Donghyuck’s tummy.
Mark lifts his hands, finally, after Donghyuck is near tears. “Sorry, sorry. I’m serious now.”
Donghyuck can finally manoeuvre back so he faces Mark in bed, his head pillowed onto his hand that rests on top of his pillow.
Mark nudges his foot forward, placing his cold toes on Donghyuck’s shin until he relinquishes and tangles their legs together, Donghyuck only calls him a heathen four times.
“We are meant to be getting to know each other.” Mark raises his eyebrow at Donghyuck’s sulky tone, opening his mouth when Donghyuck adds for good measure, “You heathen.”
It sets Mark off again, who laughs so loud and squeaky that Donghyuck thinks even if he was in his apartment he'd be able to hear it.
When Mark finally calms down and promises to commit to the conversation, Donghyuck returns to the topic. “So you’re Canadian.”
“Donghyuck-ah you literally saw my profile, it has the Canadian flag on it!”
“Why hate a guy for trying to get the conversation started!”
Mark grins again. God, does he never stop smiling? Will it stop giving Donghyuck butterflies?
“‘M sorry, baby, ask me another one.”
Donghyuck flicks Mark’s ear at the pet name, but he keeps looking at him unperturbed. As if to say I know you like it. Donghyuck ignores the look.
“Okay. Well, you have a way nicer fridge than me, I thought you were a student?”
“Yeah I finished my Masters a couple months ago, but I’ve been writing and producing for a few years.” Mark looks bashful for a second, focusing on dragging his fingers between Donghyuck’s moles, across his chest. “One of my songs did pretty well.”
“You’re a music producer?” Mark hums in affirmation. “That’s really cool, wow, way cooler than me.”
Mark traces patterns onto the space where Donghyuck’s shirt rides up. “What do you do?”
He sounds genuinely interested. Mark is all genuinity, earnesty, Donghyuck is unused to people being so upfront with him. Small talk is usually insufferable, especially the pillow talk variety, but Donghyuck finds himself telling Mark about Doyoung, the lawyer he works for in the city. How the work that Doyoung does pro bono and what Donghyuck sees of it makes the tedious aspects of the job worth it.
What’s weird is the way, unflinchingly, Donghyuck feels comfortable enough to be open about the other parts of his job.He tells him that he doesn’t really know what he wants to do with his life, that he doesn’t even know why he did Management at university. That he doesn’t even really know why he’s doing the job he is now.
Mark listens to all of it attentively, eyes never straying from Donghyuck’s face.
“Anyways.” He says. “Wanna watch a movie?” Even he can tell he's trying to take all the vulnerable sentences he said back.
Mark just nods, acquiescing, but once they are up against the headboard, Mark’s laptop across their laps, he kisses Donghyuck’s temple. “You’ll find your way. Any job would be lucky to have you.”
He clicks onto Netflix, scrolling through the films listed.
Donghyuck knows it’s not a life altering piece of advice, but the little reassurance, the knowledge that Mark isn’t looking down on him or laughing at him for confessing his lack of direction — it steadies him.
They click on some Romance movie set on a train in Europe, Donghyuck idly plays with Mark’s hair. It’s getting late, and Donghyuck should really head home, but he wants to at least stay until the movie is over.
Mark munches on a piece of popcorn, his head falling into Donghyuck’s lap.
“Ethan Hawke in this movie, smash or pass.”
“I hate the facial hair, but still smash.”
Mark looks up at him, forgetting about the movie as the two main characters walk through a graveyard together. “So you wouldn’t be down for me growing a beard.”
Donghyuck laughs. “Do you think you’re able to grow a beard?”
“Hey, I could!”
“In your dreams.”
“Fine. I’d give you stubble burn anyway. Not worth it I guess.” Mark turns back to the movie. “Julie Delpy is so pretty.”
Donghyuck agrees absentmindedly, feeling sick to his stomach as the thought finally dawns on him that he’d probably find Mark hot no matter what he decided to do. Even if he grew a fucking ugly goatee. He should really go home.
“I should go.” Donghyuck says it quietly, not moving from his spot.
Mark’s body sort of — freezes, for a second, before relaxing again. “Okay, yeah.”
Donghyuck can’t read his tone. He gets out of bed and searches for his boxers and jeans, Mark readjusts in the bed to keep watching the movie. Donghyuck leans down and kisses Mark, just a short peck before leaning back. “See you soon?”
With no warning, Mark grabs Donghyuck’s waist and pulls his body on top of his, kissing him feverishly. Donghyuck falls with an oomph before immediately positioning his legs on either side of Mark’s lap, straddling him and kissing him back.
He pulls back, breathless. “I’ll take that as a yes?”
Mark smiles, giggling goofily, completely ruining the sexy facade he had put on. Donghyuck doesn’t even care. “Yeah.” He presses a couple more gentle kisses to Donghyuck’s lips, leaving him dizzy.
Donghyuck strokes Daegal’s fur on his way out, grabbing his shoes and pulling the door shut behind him.
As Donghyuck said, he has this all under control. Completely and utterly under control.
⧫
It’s coming up on 11pm on a Saturday when Donghyuck next hears from Mark.
mark
i’m bored
Donghyuck stares at the ring and has perfectly innocent thoughts about Mark’s fingers.
donghyuck
are you in the studio?
mark
yeahhh haha
been trying to get this song done but
just doesn’t sound right
donghyuck
im sure you’ll figure it out soon
imagine me naked
great inspiration
mark
don't get me horny in the STUDIO man come on
donghyuck
:D
mark
what are you doing?
donghyuck
very important work
mark
ur moles are so cute
so ur watching tv?
donghyuck
….no
Donghyuck has paused his show at this point, his attention all on Mark. It’s been more days than they usually go without seeing each other, but Donghyuck has been busy with work and Mark with producing. He has a swift flashback to the last time they fucked a couple days ago where Mark had felt in a particularly giving mood, and had rimmed Donghyuck till he cried, and feels a stir of arousal in his lower belly. He wonders if Mark would be down for phone sex.
Clearly the new album he’s working on is a big one, he’s been late at work almost every night this week.
Donghyuck blinks, unaware that he had even knew that.
Donghyuck wants to see him. He could invite himself along but he thinks it might be crossing a line. He’s pondering over saying ‘fuck it’ when his phone buzzes again.
mark
wanna come see the studio?
donghyuck
are you serious?
mark
yeah i mean
if ur not too comfy in bed
id love some company
Donghyuck gets up, throws on some clothes and grabs his jacket, he didn’t realise how badly he had wanted to see Mark until the opportunity opened, now it’s all he wants to do. He wants to see him, see where he works, kiss him. Hopefully convince him that fucking him in his studio his hot.
donghyuck
sure sounds fun!
what's the address?
mark
📍location
Donghyuck works at a high-rise building almost every day with a bunch of different snobby lawyers in suits, but as his uber pulls up at the building Donghyuck immediately feels a little intimidated.
He walks in, the building pretty much empty due to the time at night, but full of huge glass walls and framed posters of different music artists. Mark had given him the passcode to get in, so he wanders through the huge hallway with different booths until he finds Mark’s.
Outside the door is a plaque reading MARK LEE, and then a little sticky note put next to it saying ‘come on in! :)’ which is so Mark that it immediately makes Donghyuck grin.
He knocks softly on the door, hearing Mark's muffled voice call “Come in!” from inside.
Donghyuck opens the door and is a little floored, he knew what music production was but the studio is just like in the movies. Mark sits on a spinny chair in front of a spread of computers with a booth behind them. There’s even a wall of instruments and some framed achievements on the wall.
“Donghyuck-ah! Hi, thanks for coming.” Mark gets up from his spinny chair, removing his headphones.
“Mark.” Donghyuck says, walking over to where Mark stands looking sheepish. He kisses him softly. “This is so fucking cool.”
Mark scratches his neck, laughing. “It’s really not that cool in practice.”
“Don’t ruin this for me.”
Mark laughs again, sitting back down and working on the track whilst Donghyuck explores around, he looks closer at the achievements and sees some for Song of the Year and Best Upcoming Album. “You’re hot shit.” He says, slightly awed.
“And you made fun of me for using ‘super.’”
Donghyuck rolls his eyes and doesn’t reply, but hears Mark fiddling around with some of the beats underneath the melody of the song playing, clearly still focused on the track.
Donghyuck plucks at some of the strings of a guitar on the wall, emboldened by the fact that Mark seems to be letting him do whatever he wants. He fiddles with a couple of other instruments, fascinated about this part of Mark’s life.
“Can I listen?” Donghyuck asks, after hearing Mark play the same section of a melody and guitar for the fifteenth time.
“Oh, fuck, sorry baby,” Mark tears his eyes from the screen. “I didn’t mean to invite you here and then just ignore you.”
Donghyuck walks closer and Mark hooks his fingers into the band of his sweatpants, pulling him closer until Donghyuck’s hands are curling around Mark’s neck as he looks up at him. He scratches his blunt nails at Mark’s nape, relishing in the way Mark shivers a little against him. It’s so natural for Donghyuck to lean in and kiss him that he doesn’t think twice about it.
Mark pulls back after Donghyuck starts bitting at his lip, giving him a look that says we are not fucking in my studio. Donghyuck still has plans though, and he knows exactly how to make Mark cave, but he lets it go for now.
“Wanna help me?” Mark asks, leaning back in his chair as Donghyuck plops down to sit in his lap.
Donghyuck nods, watching, fascinated as Mark talks him through all the layers of the song, the guitar part, bass part, the melody that the singer had already recorded and the added electronic beats Mark put in. He points out the section he’s been replaying, running a frustrated hand through his hair and making it stick up all cutely. “It’s the bridge I can’t figure out, I think it’s missing some vocals but I don’t know quite what.” He huffs a little laugh out, “I’m really not a singer, but I think it's something to do with that.”
Donghyuck can’t think of anything to respond but the only thing that has been running through his mind as he listened to Mark competently explain the intricacies of his work to Donghyuck without making him feel like an idiot. “Do you think one day I could cockwarm you while you work?” Donghyuck whispers in his ear, smiling at Mark’s answering groan, his grip on Donghyuck’s hips tightening.
“You are a menace, Lee Donghyuck.”
“I just like to keep you guessing. Come on, play the bridge for me again.”
Mark looks at him, surprised.
“The sooner you get this done, the sooner I can convince you to fuck me. I was in choir in high school, so let me have a crack at it.”
Mark laughs, pulling the track up with a couple clicks. “If there’s one thing you never need to do, Donghyuck-ah, it’s ‘convince’ me.”
Donghyuck tries, valiantly, not to flush to his toes.
He plays the bridge a couple of times, after the third time, Donghyuck starts humming. All of his music training comes back to him as he realises that the next note needs to be an A. He starts properly singing, these meloding ‘ahs’ that round out the sound of the song, just softly in the back of the bridge, supporting the melody.
Mark is sitting stock still, so Donghyuck leans forward and rewinds the track himself, singing his suggested version over the top of it.
He does it almost subconsciously, he’s always been the loudest and proudest at karaoke nights, often to Renjun’s supreme embarrassment, and doesn’t think of Mark’s audience until he turns back to him and says: “What do you think?”
Mark has an almost crazed look in his eyes, his jaw unhinged. He swallows once, registering Donghyuck’s question, instead of answering he surges forward and kisses Donghyuck so hard that he almost falls out of the chair. “Why didn’t you tell me you could sing?”
Donghyuck feels a little out of breath from the intensity of the kiss. “It never came up?” He says airily.
“You wanna sing that for the track? You can go into the booth and everything.” Mark gets this confidence that looks so beautiful on him when he talks about music, Donghyuck loves it.
“Is this just your way of getting free labour?”
Mark looks serious even though Donghyuck was clearly joking. “You’d obviously have a song credit, and you’d be credited in the album for back up vocals. You don’t have to! I just think it would sound the best with your voice. I don’t think anyone else could do it like that.”
Donghyuck feels his ears turn pink at Mark’s praise. “Okay.” He says, because why not? It looks like fun and clearly makes Mark happy and that makes it something that Donghyuck wants to do.
Mark guides him through the whole process, like how you have to sing way closer to the microphone-looking thing than Donghyuck thought and then into the booth. Mark plays the track and Donghyuck sings what he thought up over it, they do it in seven or eight takes, Donghyuck at first needing to get used to the process and then because, unsurprisingly, Mark is a complete perfectionist.
After what Donghyuck thinks is the final take he whispers into the mic how these walls are definitely soundproof, and given that it’s about midnight at this point, no one would come and bother them, laughing at the speed with which Mark goes red.
Donghyuck sits on the couch and watches as Mark fiddles around with a couple elements of the track, just drinking in his profile and the professional way that he’s so focused on his task. It makes a part of Donghyuck ache a little at the display of passion, and the fact that he’s not really sure where his passion lies yet.
Mark turns in his chair and grins. “Done, I think.”
“Finally!” Donghyuck groans, but is still a little awestruck when the bridge and second chorus plays and he hears his voice in there somewhere. “Oh, wow.” He says faintly. “You’re really talented, hyung, it sounds really good.”
“Me?” Mark chokes. “You saved my ass, Donghyuck-ah, you’ve made it sound wonderful. I can’t wait to see your name on that album.”
Donghyuck really needs to stop blushing around Mark, but his heart just never stops pounding when he’s with him. Mark is so fucking earnest, always there with something to say that makes Donghyuck simultaneously want to throw up and kiss him silly. If Donghyuck examined how he felt a little closer, he’d maybe be able to put a finger on it, but he refuses to. He looks at Mark instead.
“Now that I’ve sung for your song.” Donghyuck says, as Mark appears to be packing up and he can’t bear wasting the opportunity of the room. “Can I please suck you off in your chair.”
“You’re a sick, sick man.” Mark parrots back at him, with far too much affection for the question Donghyuck just posed him, and already pulling down his sweatpants.
⧫
It’s inevitable that at some point, they’d be caught. But Donghyuck never quite anticipated it to be like this.
Donghyuck can tell by the way Mark’s kissing him that they both feel a little desperate today, Mark had picked him up with strength he really doesn’t have and made it to the couch, pinning Donghyuck’s body beneath his own almost immediately.
Mark had literally texted him down for morning sex? And Donghyuck had brushed his teeth and got to Mark’s apartment in a shorter amount of time than he thought possible.
Minutes later and Mark is fingering Donghyuck with his hands holding his thighs up. Mark is stroking dangerously near his prostate, waves of pleasure dulling all other senses in Donghyuck’s body. “Mark, nngh, you’re gonna make me cum.” Donghyuck warns him, his voice fading into breath as Mark sinks in his third finger.
Mark pauses, only for a second, before asking: “Do you think you can cum twice?”
Donghyuck finds it almost too hot, Mark looking up at him with an intense tinge to his gaze, how the fuck did he get so lucky? Donghyuck swallows and nods. Mark opens him up properly, edging Donghyuck nearer to his orgasm with every swipe of his fingers, he finishes him off with his tongue, Donghyuck moaning loudly with his fingers threaded in Mark’s hair.
“Baby, you have got to be quieter.” Mark laughs when he pulls up, his face a little shiny with spit. Donghyuck is going to explode. “I’m gonna get noise complaints.”
Donghyuck manages to glare down at Mark through his panting breaths. “Don’t do that then.” Mark grins, leaning up to kiss Donghyuck, who notices how hard Mark is. “Give me five minutes and then I’ll ride you.”
Dutifully five plus two minutes of Mark frantically searching for a condom later, Donghyuck is sinking down on Mark’s cock with a long moan, straddling him, he tips his head onto Mark’s shoulder, taking deep, steadying breaths. Mark rubs his back, but his hands are shaking, clearly affected as well.
“You always—” Donghyuck puts his hands on Mark’s shoulders and uses the leverage to bring himself up and down with force, Mark tips his head back with a groan.”You always feel so much, fuck, so much bigger like this.”
“‘S it too much?” Mark asks, panting.
Donghyuck shakes his head, settling into the feeling, Mark kisses him deeply, letting Donghyuck set the rhythm as he switches between riding Mark properly and these smaller grinds when he feels a bit too overcome.
He’s getting close, Mark too by the way he’s starting kissing down Donghyuck’s neck and chest. But his legs are fucking shaking — he really shouldn’t have skipped the gym this week.
“Mark, fuck, I can’t—”
Mark reacts immediately, “I’ve got you baby.” He clasps his hands hard around Donghyuck’s hips, picking him up and sitting him back down, making Donghyuck buck forward with a wail that Mark’s neighbours definitely heard. Donghyuck can’t bring himself to be ashamed as Mark starts fucking him, his feet using the floor for leverage.
Donghyuck buries his head in Mark’s neck biting at the skin there as he tries to quieten his desperate moans, his body exhausted from having done all the work for the past fifteen minutes.
Mark puts even more force than Donghyuck thought possible behind his thrusts, Donghyuck has to lean back just to steady himself. Donghyuck can’t stop fucking moaning and neither can Mark, conscious of his warning, Donghyuck puts a shaky hand across Mark’s mouth and his own. Mark meets his eyes, nodding as he focuses on fucking Donghyuck into oblivion.
Donghyuck cums for the second time suddenly, untouched, shuddering as Mark fucks him into overstimulation, way more intense than his first orgasm, his hands leaving Mark’s mouth as he puts both on his mouth to try and quieten his moans. Mark follows him a couple moments later, when Donghyuck clenches down, hard, stilling with a loud groan that echoes around his living room. So much for keeping them quiet.
Neither of them move as they recover, Mark still inside him as Donghyuck draws in breath. It almost freaks him out how well they know each other’s bodies now, how fucking good it always is.
“You know, we wouldn’t have had to be so quiet if you’d made it to the fucking bedroom.”
Mark lifts his head from Donghyuck’s shoulder and pins him with a look. “I could’ve made it to the bedroom. Just wanted to fuck you here.”
Donghyuck doesn’t think he can go another round so soon but he seriously contemplates it, just from that look in Mark’s eyes alone.
Mark lays Donghyuck down after a couple of more lazy kisses and jokes, pulling out as Donghyuck winces at the emptiness.
They’re kissing again, naked chests pressed warmly together, when Donghyuck asks “Hey, Mark, how would you feel about lifting me up whilst—”
“Oh my fucking god, Mark!” A shrill, disbelieving voice echoes through the apartment, Donghyuck and Mark both whip their heads to the door in shock, where two handsome men stand holding coffees and a brown paper bag that you get from delis.
Mark scrabbles for a blanket and pulls it over their bodies, squeaking out a “What the fuck are you guys doing here!”
“It’s fucking breakfast day! We have had this plan all week!” The same guy who was shouting says, his voice calming down from shock and turning to frustration, but it seems to be in jest as he tries to hide the way he’s snickering.
“I personally have no complaints with the morning show.” The other smiles. Donghyuck groans in embarrassment, tipping his forehead onto Mark’s warm, bare back to hide from his friends.
Donghyuck feels hot all over, Mark turns around and murmurs to him, “I’m so sorry, I forgot.”
“I can tell,” Donghyuck giggles. “Unless you have an exhibitionist streak I didn’t know about.”
Mark smiles, kissing him, “You’re incorrigible.”
It’s said so softly that Donghyuck flushes even further, remembering that they have an audience. An audience that seems to not care about privacy and just stares, unabashed. They’re both so hot too, fuck, what the hell? Maybe he’ll have to slip one of them Renjun’s number.
“Mark, your friends have just met me with my dick and balls out, if it’s okay I’d love to put some clothes on.” He tries to say it quietly, but he thinks one of them catches on as one of the guys starts laughing behind his palm.
Sheepish, Mark turns back to the two men at the door, who seemed to be watching their scene with keen interest. “Wait outside for like five minutes, guys?”
Both of them raise their eyebrows in comical synchronicity, but hastily get out of there.
“Who were those guys?”
Mark sighs. “Hyungs from my frat.”
“You were in a frat? Wait, why do I sound so surprised, you call me ‘bro’ right before you fuck me, which is like — super gay dude.”
Mark rolls his eyes at Donghyuck’s mockery. “They’re really nice guys, looked out for me a lot at school, y’know with me being new to the country and all.”
Donghyuck mentally files away this new piece of information, his heart clenching at the idea of Mark all young and wide-eyed with a Canadian accent.
Donghyuck grabs his clothes, turning to Mark and kissing him after he’s put his shirt back on. “I’ve never had morning sex before.” He says onto Mark’s lips, being careful not to make any sort of sexual noise when Mark moves down scrapes the sensitive part of his neck with his teeth, overly aware of Mark’s friends waiting on the other side of the door.
“Glad to have been your first.” Mark whispers back, seemingly aware of the same thing. “Hope I made it worth your while.”
“You did.” Donghyuck opens the door to see both the grown men standing there. Mark comes behind Donghyuck with a casual hand on his hip.
“This is Johnny.” He says pointing to the louder one, “And Jaehyun.”
“Yo.”
“Hey.”
They both say with matching smirks on their faces, Mark’s grip on Donghyuck’s hip tightens.
“Hi.” Donghyuck answers with a smile. What Mark doesn’t know, is that Donghyuck spent a good portion of his university life around frat boys, he knows how to deal with this kind of attention.
He gives Mark a kiss, his attention all for him, “See you soon.”
He walks past Johnny and Jaehyun, whose gazes follow him. “Bye boys! Hope you enjoyed the show.” He sends a wink full of confidence he doesn’t really have and relishes in the answering laughter and the loud question Johnny turns to Mark with: who was that.
⧫
The next real event that happens in his life is that Donghyuck has a shit day at work.
He doesn’t anticipate it — but he doesn’t sleep well and then wakes up with a cold, loses his Metrocard by dropping it on the tracks and so is late to work and is given five dirty looks before he's even out the elevator. Then, at work someone spills coffee on his suit and Doyoung has to tell him off for mixing up some files and delaying an important meeting by twenty minutes as he printed them all off again.
It’s nothing big, but it leaves Donghyuck drained on the subway home, rubbing his eyes hard so no tears fall out.
He finally reaches his apartment, and there’s no food in his fridge and cupboards because he forgot to go grocery shopping, so he feels like such a fucking idiot. He’s tired and upset and hungry to top it all off.
He sits on the couch feeling overwhelmingly empty and tries, valiantly, not to cry.
Donghyuck only spends a minute absentmindedly staring at his coffee table, sitting in his suit on his couch before the doorbell rings.
He lifts his head from his hands and drags his feet to the door, opening it without looking through the peephole. He’s met with the sight of Mark, warm, familiar Mark, dressed in comfy jeans and a t-shirt, gaze open and searching and happy.
“Hey Hyuck, I was just wondering—” He looks at Donghyuck properly and his smile drops.
Donghyuck doesn’t even feel like he can speak, he wants to say hi wants to say what are you doing here but his tongue feels dry and heavy in his mouth. They never see each other without texting first, and Donghyuck is embarrassed to feel so vulnerable in front of him. His stare rests somewhere at Mark’s collarbone.
“Baby, what’s up?” Mark says, taking a step into Donghyuck’s space. “Donghyuck-ah?”
His voice is so gentle that Donghyuck immediately bursts into tears, the heavy weight of what was just a god-awful day making him break.
He cries into his palms for barely a second before Mark is guiding his face into his neck and holding him there, letting out these little shh sounds that usually Donghyuck would find unbearably condescending, but from Mark feel soothing.
Mark pats his back, holding him in this firm way that keeps Donghyuck standing.
Donghyuck cries harder into Mark’s neck until he doesn’t feel like he can anymore, taking deep shaky breaths that Mark talks him through to calm him down.
Donghyuck pulls back once he feels like he can breathe again, reluctant to lift his head from the safe warmth of the crevice of Mark’s neck. He lets out a wet laugh when he sees the mark he had left on Mark’s green t-shirt. “Sorry.” He says, his voice croaky.
Mark is still scanning every feature of his face, like he wants to help him, like he wants to fix it, whatever ‘it’ is. “Don’t worry, baby. You wanna go sit down?”
Donghyuck nods. Mark’s soft baby almost setting him off again. He realises they’ve been standing in his open doorway this whole time, as if his neighbours haven’t seen enough already.
Donghyuck closes the door and turns back around to Mark, who takes his hand and leads him to the bedroom, to his surprise.
He still feels pretty miserable but it doesn’t stop him from saying, “Wow, I didn’t know dacryphilia was your thing. You know I’ve been on a hunt to figure out your kinks, but I’ve gotta say this ones a shocker.”
Mark blushes a deep crimson, “Of course that’s not why we’re in here, idiot.”
He turns and slips his hands into Dongyhyuck’s suit jacket, pushing it onto the floor, before turning his attention to Donghyuck’s shirt buttons, Donghyuck allows himself to be fiddled with without complaint.
“You know each button you undo, I believe you less.”
Mark rolls his eyes and takes Donghyuck’s shirt off, reaching for his belt and trouser buttons. With anyone else Donghyuck would think they were trying to get in his pants. But he knows Mark, he knows how Mark touches him when he wants him, knows how Mark touches him when he needs to be held for a little bit, and he knows that the way Mark is handling him now is only with care, and no ulterior motive.
Mark signals for Donghyuck to step out of his suit trousers, which he does without complaint, the fight having left him with the gentle way that Mark treats him. God, how long has it been since Donghyuck has been treated with care when he was upset? He hasn't been back home to see his family in living memory, and both him, Renjun and Jaemin can be bad on leaning on each other when things get bad. Donghyuck doesn't date, so he's never really been treated this way in his life.
Donghyuck ends up sitting on the edge of his bed in his boxers, watching as Mark rifles through his drawers, he finds a tank top that says MILF HUNTER that he lifts up and raises an eyebrow at, drawing a weak smile from Donghyuck. “Gift from a friend.” He says, and Mark nods with a little laugh. Fucking Jaemin.
Mark finds one of his own t-shirts, this big soft white one from a Justin Beiber tour Mark went to in 2013, a story he told Donghyuck who had found it by accident and almost fell over with laughter. It’s one that Donghyuck wears to bed, and likes because it smells like Mark’s cologne a little.
Like he noticed the attention Donghyuck gave the t-shirt, Mark holds it up as if to say this one? And Donghyuck nods. Mark approaches and says softly, “Raise your arms.”
Donghyuck lets Mark slip the shirt onto him, and lets him fix his ruffled hair after. Mark is quicker at finding a comfy pair of shorts for him, digging out some blue basketball shorts. Now that winter is edging into spring and Donghyuck runs hot, he’s taken to sleeping in shorts whilst Mark looks on in horror from the comfort of his three layers.
Once Donghyuck is dressed in comfier clothes, Mark kneels in front of him. Reflexively, Donghyuck reaches out to him and tangles his hands in his hair, Mark seems emboldened by the contact with Donghyuck.
“You okay with me staying?” Mark asks.
God, Donghyuck thinks, he doesn’t know, he can’t see that Donghyuck isn’t just okay with him staying, that he needs him to stay and keep being gentle with him. That he's pretty close to falling apart again and Mark seems to be the only thing stopping him.
Instead of answering, Donghyuck tugs Mark forward for a kiss. He tries to pour all the emotions he can’t express into Mark’s mouth, he kisses him softly, like they’re teenagers. Mark’s mouth moves gently against his in the quiet of Donghyuck’s apartment. Donghyuck pulls back and presses his forehead against Mark’s, closing his eyes.
“Yeah.” He whispers. “Please stay.”
Mark ends up cuddling him in his bed as they watch the K-drama Donghyuck has been binging. Mark ordered pizza when Donghyuck’s stomach started growling and he had opened his empty cupboards, they ate it, cross legged on Donghyuck’s bed, whilst Mark filled the silence talking about his day at the studio.
Donghyuck can tell, as Mark strokes his back and the music builds in their show as the two leads have a fight in the rain, that he wants to ask. It’s pretty out of character for Donghyuck to just start crying out of nowhere and be unable to say anything about it.
He knows he doesn’t owe Mark an explanation, he doesn’t owe Mark anything, but he still wants to say something.
“Thank you.” He says into the room, turning to face Mark when he says mm? “I had a really shit day, thanks for staying with me.”
It takes herculean effort to get the words out, but he feels lighter for saying it. Mark nods.
“Of course, Donghyuck-ah. Do you wanna talk about it?”
Donghyuck shakes his head and Mark accepts that easily.
“Okay, just so you know, though, I’m always here, yeah? I know we’re just— well we’re just us, but I’m here, y’know? I think of you as my friend now, Donghyuck-ah. So, just know, I’m here.”
Donghyuck looks at him, friends, Donghyuck thinks of the late nights they’ve shared, all the things that so clearly have gone beyond sex, like the stories Mark has told him about things as trivial as a Justin Beiber concert he went to when he was 14. Even if Donghyuck has tried to keep things light and breezy, Mark and his incurable condition of being who he is has snuck in through and ruined his efforts.
He finds that he doesn’t even give a fuck.
“Yeah.” He says to Mark. “Yeah, we’re friends, Mark. You can lean on me too.”
Mark nods at that, gazing at Donghyuck with this ardent look that he gets in his eyes sometimes.
“I… I care about you, Donghyuck.”
This is straying near a territory that makes Donghyuck’s heart clench in his chest and his fight or flight response kick in, but he’s so tired, he’s so drained from the tears he shed today and so cosy with the way Mark has treated him that instead of pushing Mark out of his bed and his apartment and his life, all he does is look at him.
“You’re my… friend.” Mark says, almost stumbling over the word. “I want you to know that I care about you.”
Donghyuck swallows, his eyes stinging for some unknown reason. Donghyuck reaches up and caresses the side of Mark’s face, as he does it Mark’s eyes gain an intensity that Donghyuck feels like pin pricks over his skin.
“You're my friend too, Mark.” Donghyuck chokes the words out, can barely believe he's saying them. This is against almost every rule he sets for friends with benefits situations, it's too tender, too raw, makes Donghyuck's heart beat too fast.
But then Mark's eyes are dropping to Donghyuck’s lips and then they’re kissing, hands soft and warm and all over each other. Donghyuck just puts his rules aside.
Friends, huh? Donghyuck thinks with some derision as he desperately licks into Mark’s mouth, I can do friends.