𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸; markhyuck

six

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"I think I must be coming down with a fever," Donghyuck stated as he sat on the edge of his bed and picked at the long sleeves sticking to his arms.

"Oh no," Taeyong hummed, brushing out his sandy blonde hair. "That's not good. Do you need to see the nurse?"

He needs to see a psychiatrist, Mark thought to himself, not really in a position to voice his own opinion. The youngest continued to rant though, trying to come up with reasons for why he kept waking up with 'night sweat'.

Mark, however, tried his best to cover himself up each morning so not to bring attention to the same issue that Donghyuck was broadcasting.

Trailing into the bathroom for a subtle escape, the second youngest teen let the door click shut behind him as he carefully let his shirt slide off his shoulders to pool around his elbows.

Hickeys.

There were small and obvious purple marks blooming across his collar bones and lower neck. They weren't such a problem before since when Donghyuck was younger, he dreamed about it less. But now that he was a sixteen year old male in an all boys school, the 'occurrences' were much more frequent.

Unfortunately, this school educated boys from ages twelve to eighteen. There was really no helping it if one couldn't stand a teacher, another student, or the dorms. It was six years of concentrated learning.

So yes, Donghyuck and Mark had known each other for four years now. Though they had shared a dorm when they were thirteen, which was when the younger found out that Mark was gay, it wasn't as much of a hassle back then as it was now.

As the raventte pulled out a cloth to wipe over his delicate skin, he wasn't entirely sure why tears were starting to prick his eyes. For all he may have come off as a little weak, or perhaps 'soft'......Mark never let himself cry. The only cause of it recently was Donghyuck, and it was more so out of frustration than sadness.

The rough feeling of the old and worn fabric wasn't kind to the little bruises that had formed.

He just wanted this all to stop. If witchcraft could've solved his insomnia, dammit he would've tried it. Anything to sleep through each night and ignore the sinful things he and his dorm mate did together. 

Loud thumping on the door shook him from his pitiful daze, and Mark almost leapt out of his skin when he heard Donghyuck yelling; "Hurry up, Sissyboy! I need to shower!"

Of course you do, the older wanted to snarl back, because it's 'world according to Donghyuck', isn't it?

Quickly wringing out the cloth and depositing it in the small basket of laundry kept behind the door, Mark fumbled to rebutton his shirt back up, covering the marks, and swinging the door open.

"I'm done," he sneered, glaring at the brunette who returned the burning look.

Donghyuck entered the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him and making the rest of the room flinch.

"Why can't both of you just suck it up for a year?" Taeil sighed, folding his pyjamas and leaving them on the pillow of his neatly made bed.

"You seemed fine a few years ago," Sicheng added, plugging his phone in before standing up to leave.

"He wasn't hormonal and bossy back then," Mark waved it off, stepping aside as Yuta, Sicheng, and Taeil exited the room.

Taeyong moved to brush past him as well, joined by Jaehyun and Doyoung. The oldest ran a gentle hand through the raventte's hair as he passed, uttering a quiet 'it'll be fine' before leaving.

Standing alone in the clean bedroom, Mark wasn't sure what to do. He didn't really feel like breakfast, or dealing with his friends and their snide comments. Though staying here would've meant facing the little demon himself.

Two more years, he groaned internally, deciding that taking a nap in the dining area didn't sound like the worst idea. Only two more years to go.

☆★☆

The weekend dawned upon the school before anyone could even comprehend it. The classes, as slow as they may have seemed, flew by in the grand scheme of things.

The snow was gathering day by day on the campus, now shin deep if one were to step into it.

It was Saturday, and Jaemin had promptly reminded each of his friends the previous night that they were going shopping.

Even located in the pits of nowhere, deep into the Korean countryside where no man traveled, there was an old rickety bus stop about two kilometres from the school. The bus would take them on an hour long journey into the nearest town, which was conveniently a shopping district.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" Jaemin bounced up and down on Mark's bed as he, Renjun, and Chenle all waited around. Taeyong watched from his own bed, on his phone though more interested in the youthful fun the others were portraying.

Mark was trying to finish getting dressed, make his bed, brush his hair and teeth as well as find a snack before they were deemed late for the bus.

"I'm sorry guys," he panicked, pulling his sheets up roughly as Jaemin fell off, smoothing them out in a blind hurry before switching to look in the mirror at his reflection and brush his hair. "I actually fell asleep last night, and my alarm didn't wake me."

"Yeah, it woke me instead," Donghyuck huffed from his position opposite, splayed out on his mattress boredly.

"I thought demons didn't need sleep," Renjun snipped with a slightly raised brow, giving the younger a venomous glare.

"And I wasn't aware dwarfs were free to roam our school, but hey, you learn something new everyday."

At that, the oldest Chinese stomped over to him and started attacking him with painful pinches to the stomach. Nobody in their year ventured anywhere near Renjun's bad side, hating not only the slender fingers of death but also the mental demise he inflicted on his victims.

"What's that? Sorry, I don't speak loser!"

Donghyuck, painfully fighting the shorter back scoffed, "I thought you were Chinese though!"

Even Chenle wasn't about let that one slide. He stormed up to them both and pulled Donghyuck straight up by his collar, his own height outweighing the older's ability to come up with a nasty remark.

"Before being brash and potentially making an enemy out of an entire race of students here, I suggest you shut the fuck up and leave us alone."

Mark was ready by the time the commotion was over, and Jaemin stayed well away from their dynamic pair of friends.

Sicheng entered the room with a breakfast bar, tossing it to Mark with a wink. "Eat that instead of wasting time in the canteen. Now go on, the bus will arrive in twenty minutes."

"Shit!" Renjun hissed, getting a high five from the older male before he raced out ahead of Jaemin, Mark and Chenle.

Donghyuck glared at them as they all left, legs crossed and stomach aching from having ten sharp nails dig into it.

"What happened?" Sicheng noted the bedraggled clothes the youngest was in. His hair was a disheveled mess as well.

"Nothing," Taeyong responded for him, glancing at Donghyuck and giving him a look clearly stating; 'remember what Chenle said'.

The brunette sighed, not even opening his mouth as he fell back against his pillow and stared up at the ceiling.

"Never mind."

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