Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 48

Knowing that if he lingered for too long, he'd likely end up chickening out of his mission, Donghyuck bid a final goodbye to Mark and Jeno and then headed back out into the arcade. Mark waved to him as he walked away, which Donghyuck hoped was a sign that Mark wasn't too upset by his abrupt departure. Even still, he made sure to flash them both a bright parting smile over his shoulder, just before he ducked behind a large machine bearing the original Tekken logo and disappeared fully from view.

Once he was out on the street, Donghyuck paused, trying to recall the final part of the route he and Mark had taken from the bus stop earlier. He was certain that they had approached the arcade from the right, so he quickly made his way down the street in that direction, retracing his steps until he reached a fork in the road that looked less familiar. It took him a few moments, blindly gawking at the passing people and traffic in all directions, but then he remembered that he didn't have any of Mark's network issues and pulled out his phone.

One perfunctory Naver search later, he was pretty sure he'd identified the bus stop he wanted--and the correct bus to get onto once he got there--so he pulled up a map application and set off in search of the blinking red dot on his screen. As it turned out, the route was a whole lot easier to follow when using an interactive map, and so he found himself back beside the familiar metal and glass structure within minutes. Whether by design or by accident, Mark had apparently chosen to take the scenic route--if you could call backroads and dingy alleyways scenic. If he was honest, Donghyuck strongly suspected it was a touch of both.

He had to wait a while for the correct bus to arrive, perched on an uncomfortable bucket seat in the small, mostly empty waiting area, watching several others come and go, travelling between places he'd never even heard of. As he eyed people going about their business in all directions around him, he swung his legs absently, letting the toes of his shoes graze the coarse concrete beneath him, and tried to focus on absolutely anything other than Jaehyun.

He was fighting a losing game, he knew, because every time he felt his mind drift or let his eyes flutter closed, he saw his brother's face staring back, that pained look from earlier firmly entrenched in every pore. It was like a macabre game with himself that he just couldn't stop playing. Fight off the fear for a moment, then let it seep back in and have to grapple to regain control. Give and take, his mind sabotaging itself at its very core, and yet Jaehyun's face always remained perpetually at the centre.

Donghyuck was relieved when the next bus finally pulled up next to the curb, and he glanced up to see the number 116 emblazoned on the windshield. Hopping down from his seat, he followed a pair of young children onto the bus after their father and handed over the ticket stub Mark had given him earlier for the return journey. He didn't think Mark had expected him to be alone when he used it, or for it to be this soon after their arrival on campus, but he was grateful for the forethought regardless.

The journey back to Greek Row passed mercifully quickly, and Donghyuck was able to distract himself by watching the bustling streets and wide, open fields teeming with life as they passed by outside the window. It was the first time he'd been able to properly appreciate the beauty of the place he'd already called home for several months, without either being in the driver's seat or with some other concern getting in the way, and the bus was soon pulling into a familiar street lined with manor houses as though mere seconds had passed.

Ten minutes later, he was pushing open the front door to the Annex, having narrowly avoided becoming an unwilling mascot in a game of flag soccer the seniors up at the main house were playing out on the front lawn, and kicked off his shoes with a sigh. It was almost too quiet in the living room, the music having long since ceased, but Donghyuck could hear low, muffled voices emanating from the general direction of the kitchen.