Sunshine | Markhyuck

32: aloe vera, Mark's first love

Luckily this time he didn't pass out. Managing to slip into his room with a hoodie without Taeyong waking up was an accomplishment. Now he had to just sit in his darkened room with a spinning head for a few hours. He stared at his wall, running his hand across his arm all bubbled and warm.

Taeyong would probably kill him and Haechan once he found out. So would Dongyoung. He fell back on his bed, exhaling as pain surfed through his veins and nerves. Why he did this to himself again was a mystery to him but he did it. And now he must suffer the consequences.

He reached over to the side table, quietly opening the drawer and taking one of the aloe vera gels he had. Putting some in his hands, he slowly patted the gel into his skin, avoiding the area that were still blistered. As he winced and hissed at the stinging, he managed to cover his arms and sides with the gel, dabbing some on his face as well with the help of a mirror.

He sniffed, capping the gel and sliding back in his drawer so Taeyong wouldn't see it in the morning. He fell back, arms spread out on his bed as he stared at the ceiling, waiting for the gel to dry and his nausea to subside.

It wasn't as bad this time for some reason. He had more contact with Haechan this time than last, and though his skin literally felt as if he was set alight, flames burning on his flesh, it was more bearable than last time. He was able to hold on. Maybe it was different cause he held on for less time this time, barely being a minute.

Whatever the explanation really was, he was just glad that he wasn't back in hospital with a drip in arm again. But he was definitely going to have a hard time sleeping in pain.

He grasped around his sheets, clasping to his phone once he found it. "Call Ratbag," he spoke as he held the home button.

Faint ringing was heard down the hall, the sound of Twice's Cheer Up vaguely playing for a moment before his call was answered.

"The fuck do you want," Jeno answered groggily, "its 2 am."

"Not my fault your phone is so loud, bitch," Mark lazily argued back, "can you get me painkillers?"

"Why?"

"Reasons."

"...aight."

Jeno hung up and Mark flipped his phone face down on to the covers as the brightness began to give him a headache. Mark groaned in pain as he shifted slightly, exhaling quietly when he found a comfortable position. He shut his eyes, letting the vague spots of reds, blues and yellows dart and swirl around his eyes. He never knew why they were there but at least it kept him occupied.

A small box flew on to his chest, Mark's eyes snapping open as it hit. Jeno slipped quietly through his door, making sure the least amount of light fell into the room. He shut the door behind him and tightened the blanket around his head.

"What did you do," he asked as he placed the glass of water in Mark's hands as the elder sat up. Mark whined, thanking him for the water and swallowed two pills.

"What the fuck do you think?" Mark snapped, his eyes droopy.

Jeno sat down on the bed with the blanket around him, turning his head toward his brother. Mark stared at him blankly for a moment before shuffling himself, placing himself next to Jeno and taking some of his blanket, both of them now staring out Mark's window with a blanket over their heads.

Jeno and Mark slowly turned their heads to one another, just staring at one another with no expression before Jeno cracked, bursting into quiet laughter. Mark snorted himself, laughing a bit before turning back to the window.

Jeno looked back at him, scanning his arms and face. "How's aloe life going?"

Mark scrunched his face, "sticky."

"Nice," Jeno chuckled, looking back out of the darkness in the room. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

Mark moved his part of the blanket around his chest, tucking his arm into the sheets, "cause."

Jeno frowned, rolling his head forward to Mark, "not a valid answer."

Mark sighed, crossing his legs on the bed, "I dunno man."

"Hmm," Jeno looked up at the ceiling, "is it perhaps that you have fallen in love with Haechan?"

Mark's eyes widened, turning his head as his face turned pink, "how fucking dare you, no I have not."

Jeno smiled at him, giggling as he shrugged, "just a thought."

Mark shook his head, looking back out the glass, "too soon for love."

Jeno hummed, "guess so."

Jeno turned himself back to focus out the window, staring at the view that Mark had gotten so used to. The massive house beside theirs and the smaller houses beside them, roofs dipping down almost meeting in centre, and if you really paid attention, you could see parts of the lit up city through the small gaps between the houses, all glistening yet they didn't pulse like the stars did.

A car buzzed past the front of their house, the only noise in the neighbourhood for a few miles. Mark had sworn before how if you were dead silent and listened carefully, sometimes you could hear the faint nightlife of the city. He'd tap Taeyong's face in the middle of the night, asking him if he could hear it, but Taeyong never did. Maybe it was cause Taeyong lived in Korea before his family moved, and that because Mark lived in Canada for so long, the different noises were more amplified. Or maybe at 12 he still had a very alive imagination. He never knew though cause he was the only one who could ever hear it.

Mark turned to his brother gradually, flicking to English, "Jeno, can you hear the city?"

Jeno laughed, resting his hands behind him and nodding, "yeah, I can, well I could."

Mark cocked his head, Jeno glancing at him and taking it as a sign to continue, "Jaemin thought I was crazy when I tried to explain it. I think it was four or five months after we moved. My Korean was shit so it was kinda hard to explain, but he got the gist." He rolled his head back, eyes focused on the lights through the gap, "but Renjun could hear it. A country boy came to the city, so he heard it." He turned his head to Mark, "we come from the mountains, Mark, of course we could hear it."

Mark nodded, mirroring Jeno's position and staring at the house in front of him. "Sometimes I can still hear it."

Jeno frowned, looking up at Mark's windowsill, turning back to Korean, "I wish I still could, now I just hear the creaking of the house, hoping to fall asleep."

"The nightmares are back?" Mark sat up as Jeno shook his head.

"No, now it's just plain fear."