upstaged || markhyuck

59: last-minute thoughts.

"hey, mark-hyung."

mark was in his room, frankly still half asleep as it was about 7am. he'd been roused from sleep by his phone ringing, barely noticing that donghyuck had changed it to 'thriller' (the redhead's favourite michael jackson song).

"hey, jeno," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, "everything okay?"

"hyung. i have a bit of a... situation," jeno replied, and mark could just hear the younger boy cringe through the phone.

"what happened?" he asked, sitting up, hair sticking up at the weirdest angles.

"so i ordered renjun's christmas present last month and completely forgot that it should have arrived by now. but then i checked my emails and found that an email from the seller had been lost in my spam folder," jeno rambled, "and turns out they're out if stock. so i've got no gift for ren-ren and christmas is in two fucking days. pardon my french."

mark snickered at jeno's politeness before lightly slapping his cheek to figure out how to help the boy. "could you get him something else instead? what was it, anyway?"

"luhan's album," jeno explained.

"oh, i see," mark mused, his brow furrowing. "want me to help you find another gift? if that's not weird, or anything," he added the last sentence quickly, not wanting to overstep any imaginary line between him and donghyuck's friends.

"oh, no, hyung," jeno answered, "not at all." he let out a breath. "i'm feeling a bit less stressed now, actually."

"oh? that's good," he said, managing to roll out of bed without falling on the floor (which was a feat indeed for mark). he shuffled over to his closet, opening it only to have like seven sweaters fall out onto the floor. "have you got any ideas for what he might like?"

"plenty, luckily," jeno laughed, "renjun has some quite niche interests."

"that's good, then," said mark, moving a pile of shirts out of the way, revealing what he had bought for donghyuck. looking at it, he felt lame.

"what did you get donghyuck?" jeno asked then, making the older flinch a little.

"oh... just, michael jackson's greatest hits on a cd," mark answered. "god, i feel like such a lame boyfriend."

"but he'll love it!" jeno insisted. "hyuck can't get enough of his music."

"i know," mark mused. "but... maybe i should try and find something else?"

"if you want to," said the younger. "sorry i called you so early," he apologised, "i was kinda freaking out."

"no, really?" mark chuckled. "i can pick you up in a couple hours if you want. shops won't open until like nine or ten anyway."

"thank you so much, hyung," jeno gushed, "you are literally a lifesaver."

"no problem, jeno."

when mark's car pulled up outside jeno's house, the black-haired boy rushed out, bundled in a beanie and a massive scarf. he was grinning when he reached the car, immediately gushing how incredibly grateful he was.

"you have no idea how hard it is to find a bus with one empty seat at this time of year," jeno huffed, climbing in the front passenger seat and shutting the door.

"lucky you, then," mark said, unable to not share in jeno's contagious smile, "for having a friend with a boyfriend who has a driver's licence."

jeno chuckled.

"and a car, of course," the older added. "where to first?"

"the christmas market is still open," said jeno, "and i'm almost one hundred percent sure they have socks with moomins on."