Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 59

A/N: Sorry I've been away for a while. Life happened, but thank you for coming back. Enjoy! <3

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"Hyung?"

Awareness didn't return all at once, even as a familiar, soft voice filtered through Donghyuck's subconscious. Flickers of disjointed memories came to him piece by piece, making him frown into the soft material of whatever he was curled up against, until enough fragments fell into place and the events of the day finally solidified into a coherent whole.

"Hyung?" This time, his eyes fluttered open immediately, Jisung's sweet, innocent face swimming into view. The younger boy's wide-eyed gaze was filled with concern momentarily, as he waited for Donghyuck's bleary eyes to focus onto him properly, but then a tentative grin lit up the boy's face. "You're awake!"

"Mom, are we there yet?" Donghyuck smirked, his friend letting out a soft chuckle at his poor excuse for a joke, then Chenle's head popped up from behind Jisung's shoulder and the rest of the world stuttered belatedly into view.

The pair stood on the sidewalk outside Alpha Beta Eta, the huge, imposing frat house looming large above their heads as they peered in at him through the boxy door frame of Ten's car. Ten himself was nowhere to be found—at least not that Donghyuck could see, from the limited peripheral he had with half his face still buried in a soft, pillowy fabric that smelled vaguely like home—but he knew the older man wouldn't have gone far.

They still had far too much to talk about.

Stretching languorously to relieve some of the stiffness in his shoulders from the impromptu car nap, Donghyuck pushed up into a sitting position and blinked away a few dark spots that swam lazily across his vision. He had a slight crick in his neck from the angle he'd fallen asleep at, but quickly forgot all about it as a balled-up wad of black fabric cascaded down from somewhere over his shoulder and landed in his lap.

It was a jacket, Donghyuck realized, as his fingers buried deep into the warmth of its folds, but not a jacket he recognised. It was a little too small to belong to him, he noted as he unfurled it fully and shook out the creases, the sleeves a little too short to fit his frame. It could have belonged to one of the younger boys, he supposed, but neither of them reached for it once it was easily accessible.

"It's mine." Donghyuck's head shot up at the words, and he ignored the twinge of discomfort from his stiff neck and shoulder muscles as he twisted in his seat to see Ten leaning casually against the driver's side door behind him. He must have been silently watching the three of them, because Donghyuck hadn't heard him so much as breathe since he'd awoken, and yet his commanding presence surrounded the whole car in a way that made it seem unthinkable that he could have gone unnoticed this long.

"Sorry." Donghyuck hoisted himself up and out of the car, turning on his heel so that he could look the older man directly in the eyes. He held the coat out to Ten, who smiled softly and shook his head.

"It's fine." The man tapped a finger lightly against the chassis paintwork as he spoke, drawing Donghyuck's attention away from his face for an instant before the magnetic aura that was Ten had it snapping right back. "You looked a bit cold while you were asleep, so I covered you with a spare jacket one of the boys found in the back."

"But—" That part made sense, Donghyuck reasoned, but he wasn't quite sure how said jacket had ended up serving as a makeshift pillow, instead of the blanket it had clearly been intended for. "I mean—"

"You curled up around it like a cat, hyung," Chenle offered helpfully. Jisung snorted with laughter, quickly raising a hand to his lips as if to try and stifle the sound, while Ten grinned toothily at the two younger boys. "I tried to tuck it around you from the backseat, because Ten-hyung was driving, but you wouldn't let it go."