Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 12

Friday came and went in a daze, Donghyuck almost sleep-walking through it as he watched the hours tick by, time marching inescapably toward Saturday afternoon. He hadn't figured out what he was going to do about his Jaehyun-shaped problem yet, and he was running out of time. He didn't see much of his friends doing the day, with another Drama Society meeting during lunch and his mind becoming distracted by thoughts of the weekend whenever anyone tried to engage him in conversation.

Jaemin made several more frustratingly vague references to needing to speak to him, but every time he was usurped by Renjun appearing, which had him clamming up faster than the zipper he constantly played with on his jacket pocket. Donghyuck eventually told him to just call him on Sunday, rather than have to watch him gnaw on his bottom lip when he failed to evade hurricane-Renjun yet again.

Renjun seemed to understand his nerves and deliberately kept the mood light, finding him--and by extension, Jaemin, hence the younger boy's constant frustration--in the halls or outside the drama studio at lunch, just to hug him and make him smile. Donghyuck appreciated the effort, but he was relieved when the day came to an end and he was finally able to climb into his car and head home.

"Do you want company tomorrow?" Renjun asked as they left the building together. He considered it for a few minutes, during which time Jaemin caught up with them, complaining loudly that they had left him behind. Renjun ignored him, focused instead on Donghyuck, who shook his head and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine," he insisted, pulling his keys out of his jacket pocket and flipping them over in his hands a few times. He saw the entirely unconvinced expression on Renjun's face and patted his phone, nestled in the pocket directly above his heart. "I'll text you if I need anything, okay?"

"Why would he--?" Renjun clamped a hand firmly over Jaemin's mouth and dragged him away. He heard the older boy promising to buy him a coffee if he stopped talking, which seemed to appease Jaemin as they walked away from him towards Renjun's car on the other side of the lot. He smiled at their retreating figures, before closing the small distance between him and the peace and quiet of his car's interior.

--

When he woke the next day, Donghyuck didn't hurry to get out of bed, luxuriating in the feeling of not having anything pressing that demanded his attention--other than the elephant in the room, which still sat squarely on his chest, threatening to suffocate him to death. He'd spent all of Friday night getting all of his homework done for the following week, with an occasional call or message to Renjun to make use of both his superior intellect and superior internet speed.

He hadn't wanted to worry about anything other than Jaehyun today, which was a good plan in theory, until he remembered that his brother wasn't due to arrive until the afternoon. That left him a good few hours to stress over his lack of a solid strategy, and to worry that he was going to somehow make things worse between them. He let himself doze for another hour, despite the way the sunlight streamed in and hit him straight in the face but eventually he could avoid the world no longer.

Making his way downstairs, he found his mom in the kitchen, humming softly to herself as she cooked breakfast for his dad, who was tapping away at his laptop in an armchair in the living room. He'd met the man for the first time last night, when he'd arrived home halfway through dinner, but the softly-spoken, middle-aged man had immediately put him at ease with the affectionate way he greeted first his wife and then Donghyuck.

He got the feeling, from the deliberately vague questions he had fielded during the rest of the meal, that his father in this reality was away a lot, and didn't really know a whole lot about either of his sons--which was further evidenced when he asked Donghyuck when he was next going to see Jaehyun in the dorms, to which his mom had shaken her head imperceptibly, a panicked look in her eyes. He'd taken the hint, subtly brushing off the question to ask about his business trip, and she had visibly relaxed as the topic of conversation moved away from Jaehyun.