Sunshine | Markhyuck

4: Mark needs a break

10:00.

The sun was finally down.

He could always count on that.

Mark pulled himself off his bed and walked over to the window and drew up the blinds. The one time of the day he could do so.

He opened his window, the cool wind of the night caressing his skin. Mark may not know the day well, but he knew the night better than his own mind.

The only control he had, when he could go out to see what the world really had in store without suffering the consequences of mere existence, was during the night. Without having to be the victim of one damn dreaded large star, he was embraced by millions of smaller ones. Under the moonlight, under the stars and the streetlights, he was free.

Mark rolled his shoulders back before stepping through the gap on to the roof, staring out to the houses that surrounded him. The next-door house's roof dipped down like his, the two roofs almost meeting in the middle.

He knew that house well, every room and hallway, blueprinted in his mind, as it used to be Johnny's. Every weekend when they were all younger, all three of them would either sit on the roof, opposite Johnny and his sister, and talk for hours, or they would cross over and sleep over there, walking back in the morning.

It had been a while since he'd been there now, of course. Once Johnny moved out to live with his then boyfriend, his entire family left there, moving to the countryside. Now, almost eight years later, both Johnny and Taeyong were respectable teachers at his high school, Johnny was married, and the house next door was vacant.

Sitting down on the tiles, he leaned back as the breeze ran through his hair and top, the stars above him pulsing ever so slightly like his head the entire damn day.

Haechan.

The kid had tried talking to him again, and it was a nice conversation, but Mark could only now associate the name with fear and pain. Haechan was heartbreakingly kind and cute, a small chocolate ball of energy that you could bounce back off easily, and Mark could now never know to what extent that was like. As much as he hated the pain, he loved how the boy spoke, both his voice and his words were always something to get lost into no matter how ridiculous the topic was. Renjun ended up having to drag Mark away before he caused himself to bleed yet again as he was too engrossed. So engrossed, he just never notices himself itching himself.

Mark brought his arm up into view under the glow of the night, his tan arm, bumpy and almost blistered from scratching, each line and mark pushing out of his skin. He ran his fingertips across the peaks in his skin, an unpleasant feeling prickling through that he intended to create. Somehow, these marks were because of Haechan. Full Sun. A bittersweet name. Mark swallowed harshly, lowering his arm to look up at the stars before him. At least he wasn't allergic to them.

He stretched up, looking at his phone for the time. 10:30. Half an hour before Taeyong would come check on him to see if he was asleep. If it weren't for his brother, Mark would've bolted out the door or the window or wherever and run. Night time is his freedom but he had so very little of it because it was night time. Things must function during the day, and until he got some night shift in a local company somewhere, he'd need to follow those rules of society to the letter. Then again, he had to be grateful for the elder or else he would not be a functioning member of society. So he guesses it was a net gain in the end.

Mark just had to be grateful for what he had. But it didn't mean he didn't want more. It was unfair.

Mark scrunched his nose slightly, an irritatingly familiar feeling welling up.

"No," Mark whined mentally before letting out another sneeze for the nth time that day. As if he couldn't catch a damn break. Mark started to feel itchy, not very badly which was good, but it was a sign that he probably should just get his ass back inside.

Huffing, he begrudgingly stood up. Turning around, he carefully made his was back up to his window, shoulders slightly slumped. He crawled back through the window, brushing his shirt down once he was inside. He turned back, subconsciously shutting the window out of habit.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes as he made his way over to the strings of the blinds, slowly trudging as he fell more and more tired. Pulling on the draw string, he looked out the window as the outside world gradually slipped away behind the curtain, a soft smile making its way on to his lips.

That is, until something caught his eye, making him wide awake.

Mark's eyes grew, freezing for a moment before yanking the cord down, the blind clattering against the windowsill.

You've got to be kidding me. A cruel mistress you are Madam Universe.

Turns out the house next door was no longer vacant. Somehow, he hadn't realised the lights flickering off and on in the house. After eight years the house was occupied.

And as Mark made eye contact with his neighbour, the worst possible fate fell upon him.

Of course, the one person who would be in the room opposite his, with damn roofs touching like every damn cliché...

...was the one and only Lee Haechan.

This was going to be one awful year.