Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 5

Saturday morning arrived much like each morning before it had. The sun streamed through the too-thin curtains, waking Donghyuck up a few hours before he felt was humane. He had the same moment of hesitation beneath the covers, wondering if this would be the morning that he would wake up in the dorm, but that quickly passed now. His mind was slowly but surely adapting to the new status quo, even if his heart still fought it every step of the way.

This morning, though, things were different. This morning, he didn't curl up again and allow himself to dwell on the pain, or on what he'd lost. This morning, he rolled out of bed--on the wrong side again because, damn, that would take some time still--and headed for the bathroom with a small bounce in his step. It was barely noticeable, even to him, but it was there. Today, he had something to focus on, something to ground him in this reality. Today he was meeting Renjun for breakfast.

After the message out of the blue the previous night, and after finally pulling his head out of his ass enough to respond, he'd sent a single word back in response.

'Renjun?'

The reply had been instantaneous, as though the other boy had been watching his phone, waiting for Donghyuck to answer him.

'You still have my number saved.' It was only text, but he could sense the question even through the screen.

'Of course." He understood, more or less, why Renjun might have been surprised but, from his perspective, it wasn't even a question. This Donghyuck, the boy who had lived down the hall from Renjun for years, would never delete his friend's number. He could only hope that, deep down, the Donghyuck he had replaced was the same. Deep...deep down.

After a brief back and forth exchanging small talk, Renjun had suggested breakfast in town the next morning, to which he hadn't been able to agree quickly enough. He still wasn't sure what to expect from their meeting, or exactly what Renjun had meant about believing him, but he was willing to accept this olive branch in whatever form it was offered. He had missed the older boy, even in just a week, and he needed to make things right, even if this wasn't really the Renjun he knew.

Twenty minutes later, Donghyuck found himself sitting on the bottom step in the hallway, staring at the clock on the opposite wall. It reminded him of the one that his dad had brought home from an antique market when he was young, except that the hands were shiny brass and the face white. The one in his family home had been black, with tarnished silver hands that were just slightly bent. Again, he got an odd sense of wrongness but brushed it aside. Everything about this world was odd and not quite right, he reminded himself. Focusing on every strange thing was likely to make his headache return.

"Honey, if you stare at it so hard, it'll stop moving altogether." His mom appeared in the kitchen doorway, eyes keenly taking in everything in front of her. The smile on her face was kind and warm, but it held a hint of worry that made him instantly guilty. He'd been nothing but civil and polite to her in the past week, but he had yet to treat her as a mother. Donghyuck wasn't quite ready to start opening up to her, the way he always had with his own mom whenever he needed her, but he knew he'd have to start making an effort. The other Donghyuck must have loved her, and seeing her mourning a son she didn't even know she'd lost was too much to bear. It wasn't fair to her, or him.

"I'm going out in a few minutes," he said quickly, flashing her a small smile. "I'm meeting someone for breakfast." Her gaze flitted across his face before she met his eye. He held their shared gaze, willing himself to keep smiling, and was pleased to see that she returned it with a smile of her own. It didn't quite ease the tension, but it was a step in the right direction. One of many, he hoped, if this was his life now. He would need her and she would need him, if they were to survive this.