Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 13

A.N. I posted Chapters 12 & 13 back to back today. If you haven't read the first half of the JaeHyuck showdown, skip back one and catch up. Thanks.

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"Hyung?"

Donghyuck waited, listening to the faint strains of the lo-fi music that drifted out from under the door. He'd knocked once, with no answer, but he knew that Jaehyun had heard him. He knocked again, and this time he heard a distant crash, as though something had been knocked over on the far side of his brother's room.

"Hyung, we need to talk."

"Leave me alone, Donghyuck." That was progress, he thought, as he heard the music cut out abruptly. There was no other movement beyond the closed door, so he didn't expect to be invited in any time soon, but the door swung open with a low creak as he turned the handle himself. He hesitated in the hallway, taking in the dimly lit room before him, but reminded himself of the world-class pep talk he'd just received downstairs.

He could never hate you.

How he hoped that was true. Taking a deep breath, he padded into the dark room slowly. "I just want to talk," he whispered, then jumped as a shadowy figure shifted in the far corner. He almost fled in fear until a lamp flared in the gloom, illuminating a small wooden desk with a large, black office chair in front of it. Said office chair was currently home to the man he'd come to see, who had spun around to face him as he spoke.

"Get out." There was the animosity he was expecting, in the gruff tone and the stiff set of his brother's jaw, but he refused to kowtow this time. It might not turn out how he wanted it to, but this was happening. He had to know the truth, no matter how awful.

"No, hyung." Donghyuck swallowed nervously, taking another step forward. "I'm sorry for just barging in, but I think this is long overdue." That was bending the truth to its limits, given his situation, but he knew that it was true for one of them. He wasn't the only one that would be affected by the aftermath of this, after all. "I promise, if you just talk to me for a few minutes, I'll leave."

He didn't know what made Jaehyun agree, whether it was the fresh tear tracks on his face from his heart-to-heart with their mother, or the way his fingers gripped his shirt for dear life but, finally, he nodded. "Fine." He gestured to the bed in the middle of the room and Donghyuck moved quickly, sinking onto it and crawling across to the opposite side, so that they sat just a few feet from one another.

"I--I don't know how to s--start," he said quickly, tongue tripping over the words in his anxiousness to get them out. Jaehyun actually laughed at that, although the sound was flat and lifeless.

"Why are you here, Hyuck?" Donghyuck's heart leapt a little at hearing the conjunction of his name fall from his brother's lips. Jaehyun must have seen the hopeful look that crossed his face, because he leant back in the office chair, half his handsome face disappearing into shadow. "I'm too tired to deal with psychological games today, Donghyuck."

"I'm not playing a game." The older man grunted, but said nothing in response. "I--Jaehyunie-hyung." He couldn't miss the flinch that followed that, but he pressed on. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Pushing up out of his chair, Jaehyun started to stride towards the door, away from Donghyuck. The younger boy reached out, grabbing his arm at the wrist, halting his movements.

"Wait!" Jaehyun turned back and fixed him with an icy glare, half-visible thanks to the lamp that sat between Donghyuck's back and the wall behind him. "I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I need you to answer me. What happened between us?"

"What--?" Jaehyun spluttered, shaking free from Donghyuck's grip but, thankfully, pacing back over to the chair that spun lazily in his absence. He didn't sit down, but gripped the headrest forcefully, staring down at the boy who was again trying to will the bed to swallow him whole. "Are you telling me you really don't remember? Donghyuck, of all the cruel things you've said to me over the years, this is by far the worst."