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Donghyuck woke to the sound of his phone ringing loudly into his earphones, cutting off the ten-hour loop he had on of Mariah Carey singing ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ (it was the only appropriate soundtrack at the time of the year). He groaned, blinking his eyes open lazily to check the caller ID.
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 (3 missed calls)
He sighed, lifting himself up to a position that no longer made his spine want to cry and brought a hand to wipe any drool that might have stained at the corner of his mouth. It took a moment for him to gain his bearings again and remember that he was at Beijing Capital International Airport. He paused rubbing at his skin when he looked up to find multiple families standing up, watching the announcement boards with tense gazes, a small crowd starting to form around the support desks. What had he missed while he’d been asleep?
He pulled one earbud out, startling when he heard a lady loudly announcing something over the speakers in Chinese. Multiple voices from all across the large waiting area started shouting up in protest. A rather stressed-looking mother was trying to placate her three children as they burst out into tears and started whining in mandarin. The only phrase he could understand was 圣诞老人, Santa Claus. He pulled the other earbud out too, waiting patiently as the announcement repeated in various languages until finally, it was in Korean.
“Due to the sudden forecast of a severe snowstorm across Beijing tonight all flights scheduled to depart after 18:00 are cancelled. This includes flights MU1677, BL900, FJ879-“
Donghyuck quickly scrambled for his boarding pass, bringing the paper closer so he could read the words printed neatly on it. CZ317.
“-CZ317-”
Fuck.
It was the night of December 22nd. There was a chance he might not make it home for Christmas at this rate.
His phone buzzed again, this time lighting up to show a text message notification.
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
ur so annoying u never pick up
did u see ur flight is cancelled
He swiped across the screen to unlock it and quickly shot a message back.
Lee Haechan:
this is literally ur fault
And it kind of was Renjun’s fault.
Donghyuck had been visiting him over winter break because ever since his friend had decided to move back home to China, they’d both learnt that distance truly does make the heart grow fonder which meant it apparently made him crave Renjun’s cuddles more than usual. They’d spent the two weeks he’d been there catching up on each other’s lives, drowning in hotpot, and visiting all the attractions like they were stereotypical tourists. It had been perfect.
And then Renjun had slept through his alarm on the morning of Donghyuck’s flight back after he’d specifically told Donghyuck to not worry about setting an alarm the night before because he had it covered. He did not fucking have it covered and so they’d gotten to the airport three hours too late and he’d missed his flight. He supposed it wouldn’t have been Donghyuck and Renjun if they hadn’t fucked up somewhere. The airport staff had booked him a seat on the next earliest flight but the rather prim sounding voice blaring through the speakers had just announced that one had been cancelled.
If the snowstorm was really that severe shouldn’t they have seen it coming before? Donghyuck blamed meteorologists and phone companies that didn’t make their alarms loud enough but above it all, he blamed Huang Renjun.
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
HOW is this my fault tf?
it’s cancelled bc of a snowstorm
do i look like fucking elsa to u?
Lee Haechan:
no u look like an annoying lil bitch
Another notification came through and Donghyuck swiped to open up the other chat.
Chenle 💕💓:
i read ur messages over renjun ge’s shoulder
i agree this is definitely his fault
Donghyuck felt his lips tug into a smile at that. He had always loved Renjun’s little brother.
Lee Haechan:
next time i visit ill treat u
He turned his phone to silent and put it away in his pocket ignoring how it kept buzzing with notifications. He could deal with Renjun later. He had a much bigger problem at hand.
In the few minutes he’d been preoccupied with messaging Renjun and Chenle, the airport had descended into complete and utter chaos. Families were running around frantically, trying to get a hold of airport staff in an attempt to coax them into not cancelling the flights as if they had any control over that. The three crying children from earlier were now joined by the annoying whines of multiple other kids scattered across the waiting areas, all of them nagging in an equally annoying way. Would they make it home for Christmas? Would Santa Claus know where to find them to give their presents if they weren’t there? Were they going to die in the snowstorm? Donghyuck made sure to give the little girl who’d asked that last question an extra judgemental stare as he walked past.
He gripped onto the straps of his backpack, thankful he’d already checked-in his main luggage and decided to pack light, as it now let him easily manoeuvre through the crowd that was thickening by the minute. Maybe there were still seats on the next flight leaving before six, or the first flight leaving tomorrow morning. If he could get on those he still had a chance of making it home in time.
“Excuse me,” he spoke purely as a formality as he shouldered past a tall man who stumbled back from the contact and proceeded to swear at him. Rude.
See that’s the thing about the holiday season. Everyone says it’s filled with festive cheer and friendly spirit and Donghyuck sort of understands where they’re coming from. He’d felt the ‘Christmas spirit’ when he’d watched Renjun fall over again and again in the ice-rink, and when he’d eaten more gingerbread men than should have been humanly possible. But people are only cheery and festive when things go to plan. They’re only nice after they tick off everything on their meticulously made holiday checklist and then have time to spare to be generous towards others. Right now, with around fifty cancelled flights leaving thousands stranded and possibly unable to make it home in time for Christmas, the people were, as Renjun would say, just straight up not having a good time.
“Get in line,” a woman hissed at him as he tried to walk past her.
He looked past her to the multiple queues winding forward seemingly endlessly until they reached three small support desks where airport staff sat looking overwhelmed and terrified. If there did happen to be any tickets left for the next earliest flight, there sure as hell wouldn’t be by the time he’d made it to the front after hours of waiting.
This was the first time he’d be home for in over a year. He didn’t have the smoothest relationship with his family and after they’d kicked him out for coming out as gay, they’d naturally lost touch. But recently, his parents were trying to change. They cared in their own fucked up way and they wanted to try for him. Donghyuck wanted to try too. So much was riding on meeting them this year and he just couldn’t afford to miss it.
No. Waiting in line just wasn’t an option.
He cleared his throat and turned to look the woman dead in the eye as he channelled two years of drama classes from school all those years ago.
“My husband just died. I have to make it home for his funeral.”
Why did he pick that lie out of all the possible lies he could have told? He’s not sure. He’d been watching too many dramas and he panicked in the moment. His phone buzzed in his coat pocket at that exact instant as if Renjun was watching him from somewhere and laughing at his painfully bad life choices.
The woman’s eyes softened and Donghyuck didn’t wait for a response, using her moment of hesitation to slip past her and edge forward further down the line.
He repeated those same words loudly every few steps and it granted him enough leeway to be able to push his way to the front. An actor that he had the biggest crush on had just died in the latest drama Renjun had him watching so he didn’t think of what he was saying as a lie… just as a subjective truth. In many ways, that man had been like a husband to him and it had taken him a whole tub of emotional-support ice-cream while Renjun rubbed circles into his back for him to get over his character’s death.
Now that he was nearer the front he could make out the figures standing before each of the three counters. The counter on the far left was occupied by a man so tall and well-built that Donghyuck didn’t want to test his temper; the counter in the middle was taken by a woman holding on to one, two, three, four, five children and if there was anyone scarier than a man with the body of a wrestler, it was a stressed and tired mother; the counter on the right, however, was occupied by a small-framed boy who looked around Donghyuck’s own age. He was wearing thin-rimmed round spectacles and a ridiculously ugly Christmas jumper that was so brightly coloured it almost hurt to look at. He looked like the kind of person you’d find handing out discount flyers in front of a Santa's grotto while dressed as an elf. All in all, the boy looked tiny and friendly and far too easy to push out of line.
Donghyuck grinned and made a bee-line towards him.
“Yeah. Vancouver-“ he heard the boy tell the staff in English.
He went to stand next to him, relaxing his shoulders and channelling authority like he was meant to be there. He sharpened his gaze to stare right into the face of the lady with the airline logo pinned on her shirt.
“I need a flight back to South Korea,” he spoke in Korean and was grateful she seemed to speak Korean too.
“Woah, woah, woah - wait.” The boy turned to him, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he stood, clearly taken aback by Donghyuck’s sudden intrusion. From this proximity Donghyuck noticed how the boy’s features were small but sharp, and how he had tiny teeth that peeked out from behind his parted lips, and how his black hair fell over his forehead, covering his eyebrows. He looked cute. If it was any other circumstance Donghyuck would have leaned against the counter, legs crossed and head tipped back as he threw on his practised flirty smile reserved just for cute boys. Unfortunately, the situation at hand made getting home for Christmas slightly more of a priority than his painfully dry love life and so as much as he thought the boy’s voice was pretty enough to want to hear him speak English for hours, Donghyuck needed him to shut up.
“I was here first,” the boy spoke in fluent Korean, a clear edge of annoyance to his tone. Oh, so Mr Ugly Christmas Jumper was apparently far less timid than Donghyuck had assumed he would be. Upon gaining no reaction from Donghyuck, the boy gestured his arm out and rolled his eyes. “Move.”
Anyone else talking down to Donghyuck like that would have made him scoff but he liked how it sounded coming from the boy. It made him want to rile him up more.
The lady stood in front of the computer and watched them nervously, her fingers pausing from where they’d been clacking away on the keyboard.
“My husband just died. I have to make it home, I can’t miss his funeral,” Donghyuck lied effortlessly, his gaze defiant and his tone mocking.
The boy narrowed his eyes, clearing not buying his bullshit, “Husband? You look like you’re eighteen-”
“Nineteen,” Donghyuck corrected just to be annoying.
The boy’s gaze dipped down and Donghyuck stood, noticing how long his eyelashes were and how they fanned against his cheeks, and how gentle he looked when he wasn’t directing his poisonous glare at him. His eyes snapped up again.
“It says you’re unmarried,” he spoke, clearly unamused and Donghyuck belatedly realised that he’d read his declaration form that was sprawled on top of the counter along with his passport.
Donghyuck quickly moved to prop his arm over the document so the boy couldn’t gather any more personal information about him.
“Yeah, it does. You know why? Because my husband died.” He looked down to the boy’s navy passport clasped firmly between his fingers. “God Canada, you’re insensitive-” he said, huffing like he was truly offended.
“What’s his name then?” he asked clearly not ready to give in to Donghyuck’s lies. Donghyuck wasn't quite sure why the boy was still entertaining him but he'd never been one to back down from an argument.
The phone grasped in the boy’s hand lit up with a stream of message notifications all in English. Donghyuck could only read the name of the sender. Johnny.
“Johnny,” he spoke without thinking.
The boy stared back at him incredulously. He hadn’t missed the way Donghyuck had eyed his phone and he slowly brought his hand up to gesture to the messages.
“Johnny-?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. They both knew he was lying at this point but Donghyuck wasn’t about to give up his act. He liked the way it was so easy to get a reaction out of the boy but more than that he needed this flight ticket.
The lady cleared her throat. “Should I switch to looking for flights to South Korea instead of Vancouver then?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
They both spoke at the same time and moved to glare at the other.
The woman behind them in the queue piped up, shifting from foot to foot as she eyed her watch, “Could you please hurry up-“
They both turned in unison from where they were glaring at each other to glare at her.
“My husband fucking died, Susan,” Donghyuck spat at the same time the boy hissed, “Can’t you see we’re busy?”
The way he'd said "we" and included Donghyuck made him feel just slightly giddy and that thought itself made him feel pathetic on ten different levels. He really needed to quickly date someone - at this point, he was throwing heart eyes out to every boy who even breathed in his direction. While Ugly Christmas Jumper was distracted with the woman, Donghyuck quickly whipped around back to the staff.
“Earliest flight to Seoul,” Donghyuck repeated and the lady quickly set to work before the other boy could object, clearly not wanting to get caught in between their bickering.
“Unfortunately, no flights are leaving before six today,” she said after a moment of typing. “The earliest flight is late tomorrow-“
“I’ll take it,” Donghyuck spoke quickly, not even pausing to blink when she quoted a ridiculous price. You could probably buy a small island somewhere for how much money he’d just handed over. God, capitalism was sickening. Renjun would just have to shoulder at least a quarter of this bill; Chenle could back him up on this. As soon as she’d finished processing his details, she turned to the other boy who'd been standing there and grumbling the entire time.
Donghyuck waited as she looked for a flight for him too. He wasn't sure if it would be more socially acceptable to stay or to leave but somehow he felt like he at least owed the boy company for letting him push in front.
“The first flight to Vancouver departs late on Christmas Day, I'm afraid,” The woman spoke, looking bored.
The boy looked distraught. “The flight’s eleven hours. I won’t make it home in time. Is there no earlier flight?”
The woman barely looked over the monitor screen before shaking her head.
The boy looked absolutely broken and Donghyuck hated it. Before he could think it through he turned back to the lady and scowled. Those two years of drama were really getting him far in life.
“Any airline is fine. This cancellation is the airport’s responsibility and the least you could do is get us home before Christmas ends which is already much later than the journeys we paid for.”
She watched his sudden outburst with shock as did the boy next to him. So maybe he’d overdone it a little.
“Uh-“ she stuttered, moving her mouse about again and squinting at the screen. “A seat just became available on a flight that leaves 10PM tomorrow if that works?”
The boy lit up again, his cheeks shining as rosy red as Rudolph’s nose on his jumper. No one should look that cute smiling. His eyes sparkled as he nodded at the woman eagerly and Donghyuck felt like a winner.
While Donghyuck was still on the high of talking confidently he spoke up again, “We also want full refunds and paid-for accommodation until our flights.” The woman watched him with wide eyes before nodding. “And free food,” he tacked on as an afterthought.
She set to work processing both the boy’s payments and Donghyuck’s requests. The woman waiting behind them was swearing under her breath about how long they were taking but Donghyuck couldn’t even bring himself to care because the boy standing next to him looked so bright and hopeful now and how could anyone look away from that?
The staff emailed them both new e-tickets and told them that a coach would come in an hour to pick them up along with others who were also being moved to the hotel as compensation.
Donghyuck’s not sure what he had expected but as soon as she was done speaking, the boy next to him had taken off in the opposite direction, walking away without even sparing a glance back at Donghyuck.
Donghyuck resisted the urge to pout at that. Now that he’d dealt with the main problem, the next biggest problem at hand was his non-existent love life. He wasn’t about to let the cutest boy he’d seen in a while walk away just like that. They’d even shared a public argument! If that didn’t scream chemistry Donghyuck didn’t know what did.
“Do I not even get a thank you, Canada?” he asked, skipping to catch up to the boy who was definitely speed-walking away from him now.
The boy huffed keeping his eyes trained straight ahead and not once slowing down. “For which part? For cutting in front of me? Or for holding up the queue?”
Donghyuck grinned. For someone who looked so harmless, the boy sure had a lot of bite in his words. “For getting you a flight that would get you home in time.”
The boy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”
Donghyuck’s grin widened. He’s not sure why he liked annoying the boy so much. “You’re very welcome,” he answered in the best English he could muster and watched with satisfaction as a small expression of surprise graced the boy’s features.
They walked in silence for a few moments longer before Donghyuck piped up again. “Can I get a name or do you really like me calling you ‘Canada’ that much-?” he was about to pair his easy lines with a just as easy smile but faltered when he saw the boy stop rolling his suitcase and come to a halt.
He turned to Donghyuck, his face red and his lips pursed in a thin line. “Can you stop following me? I don’t even know you.”
His eyes were hard and Donghyuck felt his breath catch in his throat then. For once, his witty comebacks lay forgotten at the back of his mind and he opened and closed his mouth, not quite sure what to say. He’d just gotten so caught up in the moment and hadn't stopped to think that maybe he hadn't been welcome. He’d never meant to intrude but now that he thought about it maybe that’s what he had been doing all along.
He dropped his head low and winced at how meek his voice sounded as he spoke, “I- I’m sorry.”
He quickly turned around walking off in a random direction, mind not quite focused on anything. Typical. He just always had to embarrass himself like this.
“Wait, no- I didn’t mean it like that,” a voice followed him but Donghyuck hastened his pace, not turning around. The boy was right, they were just two strangers and they owed each other nothing.
“Stop-“ a cold hand came to wrap around his wrist and his skin burned where the boy’s palm touched him. Donghyuck let himself be pulled to a halt but he never lifted his eyes from the ground.
“I’m sorry,” the boy spoke, his voice so soft now and definitely laced with guilt. Donghyuck assumed he wasn’t used to arguing with anyone. He sounded so genuinely apologetic and distraught that he couldn’t help but forgive him on the spot. “I’m not usually like that, it’s just been a long day.” He sighed, running his other hand through his black hair. “I didn’t mean that.”
Canada was clearly the type of person that couldn’t handle not having everyone love him. He’d apologised because he didn’t know how to deal with the prospect of not having left a perfect impression on someone. Regardless, he didn’t have to make the effort and yet he had. He could have just rolled his shiny red suitcase away without a glance back and yet he'd come running after Donghyuck. That was enough for him.
Donghyuck fought back his smile and made a show of sniffling like he was hurt. As expected, the boy before him panicked. Donghyuck looked up to the airport ceiling. “I only accept apologies in food.”
“Food-?”
Donghyuck brought his eyes back down to lock with his wide-eyed gaze. “Food.”
Donghyuck sat, cross-legged in the chair and a box of sushi placed on his lap. The first thing he’d done after opening the box was to rip open the soy-sauce packet and drench his sushi-rolls in it while he gave a lecture on the importance of the condiment. The boy next to him had just grimaced and wordlessly slipped his own soy-sauce sachet into Donghyuck’s box when he thought he hadn’t been looking. It was cute.
Donghyuck brought his chopsticks up to take another mouthful, loudly moaning at how good it tasted. The boy next to him squirmed uncomfortably.
“I don’t get why you like it so much.”
“That’s because you have no taste, Canada. This is fine cuisine-“
“Mark.”
Donghyuck paused chewing, his cheeks still bulging as he turned to raise an eyebrow at him.
The boy coughed awkwardly. “Mark Lee. That’s my name.”
Donghyuck smiled. He’d bought him food and given him a name. Maybe his standards were just really low, but this was starting to feel like a weird sort of date.
“Mark,” he repeated, testing out how the name rolled off his tongue. He decided he liked it. “I’m Donghyuck. Also Lee.”
“I know,” Mark replied and Donghyuck narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Not in a creepy way! I just saw it on your passport,” Mark rushed to clarify.
“That’s still creepy, Mark.”
The boy winced and picked up his chopsticks to move a maki roll from his box to Donghyuck’s.
“What’s this?”
“An apology,” Mark said like it was the most obvious thing. “For being creepy.”
Donghyuck chewed down harder to stop a dumb smile from making its way onto his face.
By the time Donghyuck had finished his food (and half of Mark’s) he felt like weighed about twice as much as Santa Claus probably did. He suggested they should walk around to help digestion. Mark looked like he’d rather sit in one corner and take a nap but his guilt from shouting at Donghyuck earlier still hadn’t washed away and so he let himself be dragged him around the airport as he dutifully trailed his suitcase behind them.
“What is even in that suitcase? It’s massive.”
Mark blushed. “Things.” Donghyuck eyed the red luggage again with curiosity.
They popped in and out of almost every shop they passed. Mark, Donghyuck learned, was a curious soul. He wanted to see and know everything and when he wasn’t glaring at Donghyuck for lying about his marital status, he was actually a very loud and cheerful person. The boy was full of surprises. Donghyuck had assumed he’d be timid and then Mark had held his ground against him and then just when Donghyuck had gotten used to that side of him he learned that Mark giggled loudly and brightly and clapped his hands whenever he found anything even mildly amusing.
They’d known each other for all of thirty minutes and started off on the wrong foot but somehow, despite it all, they just clicked. Donghyuck couldn’t tell you Mark’s favourite colour or where he used to go to school, but he could tell you how to make him laugh. Maybe it was from the delirium of missing an important flight and then being forced to spend time with a stranger but he laughed at every little thing. Donghyuck pointed out a turkey-shaped hat – he laughed; Donghyuck tried the hat on – he laughed louder; Donghyuck posed – that finished him off and he was almost rolling on the floor by that point.
“Wait, wait, wait, look there,” Donghyuck instructed whipping out his phone to take a photo as Mark positioned his hands on his hips and looked to the side dramatically with the large elf ears he had on. The plastic ears were long and pointy and they made mark’s face look smaller than it already was. As soon as he’d heard the shutter go off, he walked forward to lean over his shoulder and immediately burst into a fit of complaints.
“Delete that.”
“No way, I’m posting this on the internet. I can already see the caption-” Donghyuck looked ahead and sprawled his hand out dramatically, "Twink tries elf cosplay-"
Mark looked horrified. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Of course, he wouldn't but Mark didn't need to know that. “Is that a challenge?” Donghyuck raised an eyebrow.
“I bought you sushi!”
Mark reached his hand out to steal the phone and Donghyuck dodged, laughing. With limbs tangled and breaths mingling as they squealed, they went colliding straight into a rack of sunglasses that almost toppled to the ground. The shop assistant looked like she was ready to commit murder and they rushed out back into the crowded space of the airport.
He didn’t know why they were so comfortable. Mark felt new and familiar at the same time.
Mark looked down at his phone and his eyes widened.
“Fuck.”
Donghyuck’s froze at hearing him swear like that. His first impression of Mark was that he’d be the quiet, nerdy type that hated confrontation and would be too shy to hold eye contact. Mark Lee was a man full of surprises though and somehow he’d turned out to be loud and talkative and he rarely hesitated to meet Donghyuck’s gaze as his eyes creased with laughter. He still made lame jokes like he had in Donghyuck’s imagination but he made them with so much enthusiasm that they were almost acceptable. And apparently, he now swore too. It was kind of hot though so Donghyuck had no complaints about this recent development.
“Fuck,” Mark repeated again and Donghyuck committed that sound to memory. “It’s 6:40.”
“So?”
“The coach!” Mark yelled.
Shit. They were supposed to board the coach to the hotel at 6:50. Donghyuck had gotten so caught up in finding new ways to make the boy laugh until his nose creased and his voice cracked that they were going to miss the coach. Typical. He could almost hear Renjun laughing from wherever he was.
Without thinking, he reached forward to slip his fingers through the Canadian boy's, tugging forward and breaking into a sprint. Mark yelped, panting as he kept up with him. They raced out of the airport together, ignoring the disapproving looks airport security were throwing them for running and the one staff who'd yelled at them to slow down. Mark’s suitcase fell over three times before they reached the parking lot and even amidst running, Donghyuck had managed to gloat about how this is why he only ever took a backpack as hand luggage. Mark bumped him with his suitcase at that.
They asked around, hoping someone could direct them to the coach and Donghyuck was incredibly thankful for Mark because most people didn’t understand Korean but nearly everyone understood English. A taxi-driver with a questionable green interior to his car insisted he saw an airport coach around the corner and gave them directions to a dead end. This was probably why you shouldn’t trust anyone who has olive coloured car seats.
They’d been walking in circles for ten minutes and when they’d finally, finally found the vehicle, it was only to see it pull out of the parking lot and drive away. Mark laughed because apparently when he got nervous he laughed. That was the most useless evolutionary response in Donghyuck's opinion and he was left trying to save the situation all by himself.
“As cute as you sound Mark Lee, I am going to scream if you don’t shut up.”
Donghyuck didn’t even realise he’d let slip just how cute he thought Mark was but apparently the Canadian boy didn’t miss it because he laughed even louder then.
Donghyuck ran forward, desperately yelling after the coach but it didn’t slow down, leaving the two of them stranded outside of the airport in a country neither of them spoke the language of, with the cold December air pressing burning kisses into their skin.
This was also Huang Renjun’s fault. If in doubt, blame Renjun – that was Donghyuck’s life motto (he even had it on a T-shirt that he’d gotten himself as a birthday present last year).
In the end, they decided to walk it. Google maps told them the hotel was only fifteen minutes away and somehow, while high from the euphoria of running through an International airport, they’d both agreed that was a good idea. It was only after half an hour of walking when their fingers had become so numb they couldn’t feel anymore, that Mark had announced he’d read the time for how long it took to drive and not to walk. Donghyuck had thrown him a death glare and pressed his ice-cold fingers against Mark's neck, asking him if he could feel how cold he was because of him and Mark had replied that he couldn't feel anything and that he'd lost sensation in most of his body. In the end, they end up calling a cab anyway. It was a five-minute ride and for the price they paid it would have made more sense to have just gotten a cab for the whole journey.
The cab driver gave them a concerned look as they stood there arguing for two minutes about who got shotgun. Donghyuck only wanted it because Mark wanted it.
By the time they poured into the lobby of the hotel, Donghyuck had never been more thankful for central heating. He hissed at the feeling of his ice-cold skin thawing and Mark too was blowing hot air into his palms from next to him. When they both felt like they could bend their fingers again, they walked up to the front desk.
The receptionist greeted them politely.
As the representative English speaker, Mark spoke, “Hi, we need two rooms. We’re from the airport – our flights were cancelled.” Donghyuck walked up to stand next to Mark, picking up one of the sweets they had in a bowl on top of the counter.
The receptionist looked at them with surprise. “I’m so sorry, I was told all the airport customers came in the earlier coach and so we gave all the rooms away.”
Donghyuck’s English was good enough to understand perfectly what she was saying.
“Unless,” she began and immediately rushed to pacify the situation when she saw both of their mouths fall open, “You would be okay with sharing a suite? ”
Donghyuck could practically hear the cogs in Mark’s mind slow down and come to a stop. The boy had turned bright red at the implications of sharing a room and Donghyuck had to step in to finish the conversation he’d started.
“That’s fine, thank you.” He took the key-card from the receptionist, sighing with relief. It wasn’t ideal but they had little other choice and he was far too broke to find another hotel that he’d then have to pay for. He was a poor uni student – he’d lived in far worse conditions than sharing a suite with just one other person. Mark started laughing again and Donghyuck wanted to roll his eyes. Key-card in hand, he tightened his fingers around Mark’s suitcase, dragging it after him because the boy still looked far too in shock about the whole situation to carry it himself.
“Relax, Mark,” he said as soon as they’d gotten into the elevator, their backs pressed against cool marble. “We don’t have to sleep together or anything.” He’d meant that innocently, in the sense that they didn’t have to share the physical space of a bed. But with the way they were standing with just the two of them alone in an enclosed space where the words seemed to bounce off the walls around them, it came out sounding slightly too suggestive. Mark spluttered even more, turning a darker shade of crimson. Weren’t foreigners meant to be more relaxed with things like this? The very possibilities of what Mark could have been imagining at that moment made heat crawl up Donghyuck’s neck too.
True to her word, the receptionist had given them one of the rooms on the top floor. Walking in, Donghyuck’s mouth dropped open. It wasn’t ridiculously big (the airport was funding this) but it was still large enough and lavish enough to leave an impact. He rushed forward to press his face against the glass windows, eyes scanning over the Beijing skyline, before walking around the rest of the space. With the number of futons scattered across the rooms, it wouldn’t be a problem to avoid sharing the bed.
Ever since that conversation in the elevator, the air between them had turned awkward and Donghyuck attempted to fix it in the way he best knew how – he picked a fight.
“The bed’s mine Mark Lee, I hope you like sleeping on sofas.” He threw himself onto the king-sized bed, humming in satisfaction as he bounced up slightly off the mattress. From where he had his face buried into the duvet, he could hear Mark quiet laugh. He breathed out a sigh of relief at hearing that sound again.
“Okay.”
He frowned, rolling around so his gaze could follow Mark’s figure drag his suitcase across to the room the largest sofa in the suite. He didn’t like how Mark was just accepting his fate so easily. He didn’t really care about the bed - he’d just claimed it in an attempt to rile him up.
“You’re not going to ask why I get the bed?”
Mark rolled his eyes. “You’re going to tell me you have arthritis or something and need the soft mattress.”
Donghyuck fought off a smile, pretending to gasp in shock instead, “How did you know?!”
Mark turned around to face him, one hand on his hip and a wide grin plastered across his face, the tension from earlier long gone. “So you’re nineteen, and you’re a widower who has arthritis?”
Donghyuck’s heart fluttered at how Mark had remembered his age. God, he really needed to get higher standards for romance. “It could happen.”
Mark hummed, the smile seeping through to his voice as he turned away from Donghyuck again to unpack his suitcase.
“How old are you?” Donghyuck asked with curiosity as he twiddled the edge of the duvet mindlessly in between his fingers.
“How old do I look?”
Mark made it too easy for him sometimes. Donghyuck pretended to hum as if in deep contemplation, “Sixteen?”
Mark whipped around at that, voice rising an octave, “Sixteen?!”
“…Seventeen?” Donghyuck tried again, holding back his smile. Mark looked even more shocked and Donghyuck found it cute the way his mouth fell open, silent protests spilling from his lips.
“I’m twenty.”
Donghyuck considered that. He’d assumed Mark was nineteen like himself but this was fine, he was into older guys anyway. “Alright, grandpa.”
Mark spluttered again, looking completely affronted. Donghyuck loved how easy it was to render him speechless like this. “Grandpa?! I’m not the one with arthritis,” he challenged Donghyuck to correct him and out himself for lying even though it was obvious anyway.
Donghyuck laughed at that. “Touché.”
Mark insisted they get an early night because they couldn't leave the hotel with the snowstorm anyway and there wasn't much else to do. By nine-thirty, the Canadian boy was tucked into the sofa, the spare duvet they'd asked room service for cloaking his small shoulders. So apparently Mark hadn’t been joking when he'd mentioned to earlier about having the sleep schedule of a toddler and Donghyuck couldn't wrap his mind around how someone who was the literal embodiment of the nerd trope was so fucking attractive.
The room lamps were off and it should have been dark, but the lights from the city outside poured in through the glass and danced across the ceiling.
Donghyuck opened up his phone.
Lee Haechan:
i think im in love
It wasn’t long before he saw the typing bubble pop up on his screen.
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
u say this every week
what did the starbuck’s barista look like this time?
Lee Haechan:
not a barista
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
oh…? 👀
Lee Haechan:
cute canadian boy
kinda lame
but in a hot way
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
OH…? 👀
Lee Haechan:
he’s in my bedroom rn
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
he’s whAT
wow,,, u move fast
Lee Haechan:
noT like that
like we didn't do anything
unless u count arguing in public, running through an airport and then walking for 40mins in -6 degree weather as smthn
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
i-
u disappoint me more and more with every day hyuck
Lee Haechan:
u know what fuck u
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
sure time and place? ;)
Lee Haechan:
EW
im gonna throw up
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
k u do that
At some point between texting Renjun and watching the fish in the aquarium at the end of the room, Donghyuck had fallen asleep. When he woke, it was to the sound of the shower being turned off and the thick smell of steam and citrus body wash drifting through the air.
He lazily blinked one eye open to see an empty room, the duvet folded neatly on the couch Mark was sleeping in with no sight of the boy. He groaned, looking over to read the bedside clock, which blinked the numbers 07:00 at him in bright light. It was far too early to be functioning.
The door of their en-suite bathroom creaked open and Mark stepped out amidst a cloud of steam, his skin glistening, his hair wet and his lower body wrapped in nothing but a fluffy white hotel towel. Donghyuck instantly felt ten times more awake, coughing into the bedding and spluttering for air from the sudden shock of such an image when it was too early for his brain to be processing anything.
"Are you okay?" Mark, forever the good samaritan, rushed forward to lean over him and peer down with concern.
"I'm-" Donghyuck fought for his words to be heard over his coughs, "-just great." From this distance, he could make out the shadow of stubble on Mark's face and the trail of hair that dipped down from his bellybutton. Donghyuck's face felt like it was on fire.
"Should I get you some water?" Mark asked, his eyebrows still furrowed and his voice husky and unbroken from waking up. Donghyuck had never heard someone sound hotter.
"Please just shut up, Mark." Donghyuck coughed out. He hadn't meant for it to sound so harsh but he had to do what he had to do to save his dignity.
"I uh-" Mark backed away with confusion. "Okay?"
"Thanks," Donghyuck sighed out feebly as soon as he caught his breath again. God, he really should not be this affected. He'd seen a lot of half-naked guys in his life. This time shouldn't have been any different. Mark was lanky and scrawny and he had seagull shaped eyebrows and his nose scrunched up when he smiled and yet in addition to thinking he was cute Donghyuck thought he was hot. This was a problem.
He eyed the open bathroom door as an escape route from the situation. A subtle sniff told him he probably needed to shower too but just as he was about to roll out of bed and leg it towards the bath, he realised he had an issue. He scrunched his eyes shut, remembering how proud he'd been of himself for checking in all of his luggage save for his small backpack with his charger, his toothbrush and neck pillow in it.
"Say, Mark..." he began, "you don't happen to have any spare clothes do you?"
Mark didn't have spare clothes but he did have a pile of horrendous Christmas jumpers that he'd apparently bought at a discount stall in a night market in Beijing.
Donghyuck picked up a particularly ugly red one off the top of the pile in his suitcase, the white lettering spelling out "WHERE MY HO'S AT?" across the front. Donghyuck threw a judgemental glare at Mark who flushed as red as the jumper and stumbled over his words to explain.
"It was meant to be a gag gift!" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "For uh- for Johnny."
Donghyuck remembers seeing that name light up the boy's lock screen yesterday. "Is he your boyfriend?" he asked, keeping his tone as nonchalant as possible.
"What?!" Mark's eyes snapped up to him, looking horrified. "No! No, he's my brother."
Donghyuck filed that information away with satisfaction, making sure his relief didn't show on his face. "Well, your brother has interesting taste." His eyes dipped down to the next jumper on top of the pile, which was navy blue and embroidered with the image of Santa Claus climbing down a chimney in nothing but a black thong. Mark slammed his suitcase shut as he caught Donghyuck staring. Donghyuck would need a lot more than a shower to wash that horrific image away from his mind.
Around an hour later, he'd showered and started functioning after Mark had finally decided to put him out of his misery and wear a shirt.
Donghyuck stirred the spoon in his coffee, clad in Mark's crude red Christmas jumper and his jeans from the day before, watching the Canadian boy who was lying against the couch in a pale blue sweater with a giant penguin on it. His hair was messy from air-drying and his spectacles were slipping down his nose as he peered into a book.
"Mark."
The boy hummed quietly, his eyes not once straying from the pages of whatever he was reading.
"Maaarrkk."
"I'm busy."
"God, you're so boring." Donghyuck wanted attention.
Mark glared at him from behind the book. "There's still almost twelve hours till our flights. Do you have a better idea?"
Donghyuck could name at least fifty things off the top of his head that would be more exciting than reading in silence.
"Let's leave."
"What?" Mark raised an eyebrow at him.
"Let's go somewhere."
"Yeah, no." Mark dropped his gaze back to his book.
"Was that a yes or a no?"
"No."
Donghyuck huffed, walking forward to pluck the book out from the boy's grasp. Mark immediately leapt up, yelping and trying to snatch the book back "What's so interesting that you can't stop reading anyway?"
He let his eyes scan over the pages of English words. "Wait a second is this..." he flipped the book over to read the cover. "A bible?!"
Mark turned bright red as he stole back the book.
"So let me get this straight - You carry around a bible next to your thonged Santa Christmas jumpers?!"
Mark spluttered as he brought that jumper back up. "It was a gag gift. And it's a tradition to read a few verses before Christmas."
Donghyuck stood there trying to wrap his mind around that. Just how had he managed to pick up (did this count as picking up?) a cute elf-looking boy who told bad jokes, carried around a bible, and had the worst sense in fashion? And just how did he find the boy with all his weird quirks that he'd make fun of in anyone else, attractive?
"Before this, I thought you might have wanted me to take initiative and drag you out but after seeing what you were reading it's clear this is just a cry for help." Before Mark could protest, Donghyuck wrapped a hand around his wrist and tugged, pulling the boy towards their suite door. "Let's go."
Mark had his back pressed against the side of the elevator. After insistence from Donghyuck's side, the boy had agreed to pull on his shoes and coat and confront the world outside. And by agreed, Donghyuck means he'd left their suite with the bible in hand and Mark had run after him. They both stood in silence, letting the Christmas-themed elevator music wash over them.
The lift dinged to signal that they'd reached the ground floor and as Mark walked out, Donghyuck immediately rushed after him to pull him to a crouch behind a sofa.
"What are you doing?" Mark asked with wide eyes, his words muffled through the hand Donghyuck slapped over his face.
"You see that Christmas tree?" Donghuck pointed to the green figure on the other side of the lobby. "We should try to get there without the receptionist noticing." He moved his finger to now point at the girl sitting at reception, fingers typing away on her keyboard as she sat oblivious to the two of them.
"Why?" Mark hissed back in a whisper.
Donghyuck rolled his eyes. Did there always have to be a why? "For fun."
Mark stared back at him like he'd never heard of the word before and so Donghyuck tacked on, "Whoever gets caught pays."
Mark looked marginally more interested now. "For what?"
"For everything."
They were grown men and two strangers. And yet here they were, giggling into the space between their hands over their mouths as they crawled across the lobby floor, ducking behind sofas and glancing over to the lady by the reception every two seconds. Donghyuck felt ridiculous and that's because it was. He'd never expected Mark to agree, he'd just thrown the idea out as yet another wild card to get a response from the boy. But now, as he sat crouching behind a coffee table, watching the black-haired boy behind him snickering with his eyes creased and his cheeks rosy, he's glad he ever suggested it.
With a last glance back, Donghyuck legged it across the space, sliding into a stop next to the tree. Mark watched him with wide eyes. Donghyuck thought he looked so pretty like that. Eyes innocent and mouth open with silent laughter. As pretty as he might be, that didn't change the fact that Donghyuck was one competitive bitch.
Without breaking eye contact once, he pulled a golden bauble off the tree and threw it in Mark’s direction. The plastic clanked as it bounced off the floor and the lady in reception immediately snapped her eyes up. The bauble continued rolling across the floor and she wheeled her chair back to get up before walking towards it. Mark froze, still crouching behind the sofa as she strode up to him. They both startled at the sight of each other and Donghyuck wanted to laugh. Instead, he bit the inside of his cheek to muffle his giggle, watching Mark flush red and splutter out excuses about how he’d dropped his contact lens and was squatting to look for it.
“Sir, you’re wearing glasses,” was the last thing Donghyuck heard before he burst out laughing from where he was hidden behind the tree.
It wasn’t long before he was joined by a certain Canadian boy who now looked red enough to pass off as Rudolph’s nose.
“You asshole,” Mark aimed for a gentle hit against his coat and Donghyuck dodged. “You didn’t have to get me caught.”
“You should have seen your face!” Donghyuck chortled out and Mark aimed for another hit which landed this time. Donghyuck liked how comfortable they'd gotten with each other in just a day.
After they'd both calmed down a bit when the receptionist threw them a concerned glance, Mark shifted his attention to the Christmas tree they were standing next to.
"Huh...they're wishes..." he breathed out, looking behind Donghyuck and stepping forward with fascination to thumb at one of the branches.
Donghyuck whipped around to trace his line of sight and noticed that the tree had small pieces of paper hung up all over, scrawled with colourful writing in gel-ink. He leaned forward to read some of them.
"love and health for everyone" Boring.
"this xmas i hope i become a spy" This was clearly written in a child's handwriting.
"chocolate" Relatable.
"please please please let me pass english" Also relatable.
"We should write one," Donghyuck spoke, eyes darting over to watch Mark's reaction. The boy nodded eagerly.
There were a hundred and one things he wanted for Christmas and also nothing at all. He was happy with his life but then again he wouldn’t complain if someone handed him a winning lottery ticket. In the end, he settled on a single word. "Bridges".
He wanted a passage - a connection. To his family that had been so distant, to his best friend who now lived in a whole different country, to this cute stranger he'd met at the airport and was now somehow sharing a hotel room with.
Donghyuck's never been a big believer in miracles but Mark clearly was from the way he earnestly scribbled onto the small rectangle of card they'd gotten from the pile at the bottom of the tree. He peeked over the boy's shoulder to read what he was writing.
"A relationship?" Donghyuck pulled back grinning. "Really Mark Lee?"
Mark looked at him, embarrassed. "I don't know. It would be nice." Donghyuck could understand that sentiment but he wasn’t about to let Mark know just how single he’d been over the past few years. He had a reputation to maintain.
"Well," he leaned forward into Mark's space, playfully tilting his head, "I could make that one come true right here and right now."
As expected Mark flushed red and blinked rapidly, at a loss for words. Donghyuck really had no idea why he found it cute whenever he got a rise out of the boy. He expected Mark to laugh, to push him aside, to tell him to dream on - but then Mark's eyes dipped down to his mouth, his tongue subconsciously darting out to wet his lips, and Donghyuck faltered. His gaze was scorching and Donghyuck’s heart drummed against his chest like it was desperately trying to escape the cage of his ribs. This didn’t mean anything. Mark looked down on instinct because Donghyuck had put the idea in his head. This didn’t mean anything.
He pulled back, voice shaky. "I'm joking, Canada."
Mark's eyes snapped up to meet his and Donghyuck swore he looked almost disappointed. "I know."
They poured out into the streets of Beijing, cheeks pink from more than just the cold. Amidst aimlessly ambling, they realised that neither of them knew their way around and after yesterday’s experience with Google maps, they didn't bother with it again. There didn’t always have to be a destination. The pavement was dusted with a thawing layer of snow that Mark kicked towards Donghyuck, spraying the bottom of his jeans with flecks of white. Donghyuck smiled, not even hesitating before he kicked back twice as hard.
They kept talking as they walked with their cold fingers buried into their coat pockets. Donghyuck learned that Mark was a music student and that he studied in South Korea but his family lived in Canada. He learned that he’d been catching a connecting flight from Beijing to Vancouver on his way home from Seoul but then his flight had gotten cancelled because of the snowstorm. Mark told him about his friends and his family and how he liked to play the guitar and sometimes write short stories. In return, Donghyuck told him about how he’d been visiting Renjun and Chenle before the flights got cancelled, and how he also studied in Korea except his degree was in economics. In what he wasn’t ready to mention about his family, Donghyuck made up by giving excruciating details of his daily routine of dropping by the dance studio where he mentored a younger boy called Jisung, before going back to his apartment where he gamed until his eyes couldn’t physically stay open anymore. Mark told him he was insane for staying up that late and Donghyuck retaliated by insisting it was far more abnormal to go to sleep at nine like Mark had made a habit of.
They stumbled across a Christmas market by chance. It was illuminated by countless lights wrapped around trees and light-up figurines of reindeers and elves nested in the snow. The scenery looked absolutely magical and clearly Donghyuck wasn't the only one drawn to it as it was crowded with people milling around nearly every stall, their gloved hands clutching onto mugs of hot chocolate.
Donghyuck brought a hand out to tap Mark and get his attention. "Buy me one."
Mark watched him eye the hot drink with no sympathy in his gaze. "Buy yourself one."
"You lost the bet!"
"You chucked a bauble at me!"
Details, details. Donghyuck still won. He turned to pout at Mark and ask again with big doe eyes. "Please?"
"No."
Mark ended up buying hot chocolate for him anyway because he was Mark and he was awful at saying no to people, and he's Donghyuck and he always gets what he wants.
No matter how he looked at it, this felt like a date. Donghyuck knew he was desperate, Renjun made sure to remind him of that painfully often, but he'd never thought he was desperate enough to get this attached to someone he'd met less than twenty-four hours ago. Somehow, it felt like they'd known each other for longer. It was just easy with Mark. Spending time with him came with the excitement of learning all about someone for the first time but also with the comfort of knowing that regardless of what he said, Mark would probably smile brightly anyway. The boy laughed or blushed at every single thing he said and sometimes he did both. Donghyuck wanted to pinch his cheeks and kiss the stupid smile off his face.
"Oh, it's hot," Mark blew into his hot chocolate, fully focused on cooling the drink.
"Kind of like me, huh?" At this point, flirting with himself was just second nature to Donghyuck.
Mark coughed over his mouthful and Donghyuck watched him with curiosity. "Yeah." He looked everywhere but at Donghyuck. "Maybe."
Donghyuck's face felt like it was on fire. Why did he keep getting himself into corners he didn’t know how to get himself out of? "Just say you think I'm hot Mark Lee," he mumbled, walking ahead before he could hear the reply. Mark obviously wouldn’t say it.
Mark absolutely refused but after a lot of pouts and threats from Donghyuck’s side, he agreed to line up in the queue to the Santa’s grotto.
“This is so humiliating,” Mark spoke, eyes trained on the children that barely reached half their height in the line ahead and behind of them.
“You care too much about what others think.”
“This is so humiliating,” Mark repeated like he hadn’t heard him.
Donghyuck grinned as an idea came to him. He made sure Mark was watching before unzipping his coat so the “WHERE MY HO’S AT?” Christmas jumper was on full display.
Mark panicked, rushing forward in an attempt to cover Donghyuck’s body with his own. “Zip it back up!” He hissed.
Donghyuck felt light-headed from how Mark’s body felt pressed against his own. “Why? It’s kind of warm here.” It was freezing but he’d say anything to watch Mark look this flustered.
Mark pressed even closer as a father shot a curious look in Donghyuck’s direction. The air was bitter and cold but the weight of Mark’s body against his was warm. Donghyuck felt like he was burning up from the inside.
They eventually got called forward to take a picture with the actor dressed up as Santa Claus. Donghyuck threw himself across his lap, one leg sticking up in the air dramatically while he winked and held up a V-sign. Mark, on the other hand, smiled a tight-lipped and awkward smile from where he was standing a few feet behind the chair with his hands clasped tightly together because he didn’t know what else to do with them. For a pair that got along so well, they looked like polar opposites. The photo came out absolutely awful. Donghyuck looked drunk and Mark looked like he’d been kidnapped and forced to be there which wasn’t too far from the truth. It was so laughably bad that they just had to buy two copies, funded by Mark because regardless of how much the Canadian boy complained, a bet was a bet and he’d lost.
Donghyuck borrowed a gold-coloured sharpie from the man they’d bought the pictures from to add a date and location on both photos.
Beijing 23/12 Mark + Hyuck
He made sure to draw a few hearts around his own name on the photo he handed to Mark who blushed as he noticed.
When Mark wasn’t looking he quickly snapped a picture of the photo and sent it to Renjun.
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
is that mark?
why does he look so scared
hyuck what did u do to him
Donghyuck ignored him, choosing instead to type out,
Lee Haechan:
hes cute right?
Renjunnie~ 💀🔪 :
hes CUTE cute
i totally get what you meant about the lame but hot thing
“Who are you texting?” Mark's voice sounded curious and nervous.
Donghyuck jumped, immediately switching off his phone.
“No one.”
Mark narrowed his eyes. “Was it a boyfriend?”
Donghyuck’s heart fluttered. Why did Mark care? “I don’t have a boyfriend.” He tacked on as an afterthought, “Or a girlfriend.” He wanted to make it as explicitly clear as possible that he was very much single and ready to risk it all for Mark Lee if he so much as smiled at him again.
Mark visibly looked less tense after hearing that. He grinned with mischief, “Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot about your ex-husband.”
Donghyuck rolled his eyes, biting the inside of his cheek to stop smiling too. “Exactly.”
After getting some food and looking around a bit more, they walked back to the hotel. It was nearly 4PM and they decided they both ought to pack and head back to the airport. Mark’s flight was at ten and Donghyuck’s was at seven. They had to check in at least a few hours beforehand.
“Do you want this back?” Donghyuck asked, already pulling the jumper he’d borrowed up and off his torso.
Mark spluttered, yelping and whipping around. “No! No- uh. Keep it. On.” Donghyuck thought it was unfair that he was panicking this much from seeing him topless when he’d put Donghyuck through the same pain just that morning. If Donghyuck had to witness the smooth expanse of skin across Mark’s waist and maintain his composure when he’d barely been half-awake, then Mark had to too.
It barely took them half an hour to pack again. Mark hadn’t unpacked much from his suitcase and Donghyuck didn’t have many belongings that he’d brought with him.
He watched Mark throw in the last few items into his luggage before struggling with zipping it up.
“Here,” Donghyuck walked over and promptly sat on top of the suitcase, effectively compressing it.
Mark laughed at that like he laughed at everything and Donghyuck’s heart beat wildly at that like it beat for everything Mark seemed to do.
“Thanks,” Mark zipped up the suitcase and looked up at him with bright eyes and floppy black hair. Without thinking Donghyuck plucked the spectacles off his face, sliding it off his nose. Mark watched him with confusion.
They’d probably never even see each other after a few hours. He didn’t have much to lose from being honest.
“You looked too cute with them on,” he confessed.
Mark’s cheeks glowed a pale pink colour.
“But you look just as cute without them.” It was unfair. Mark was living proof that God, if she existed, truly did have favourites.
Mark stuttered as he spoke. “Uh- uh thanks. I’ve actually been told I have the right kind of bone structure for glasses-“
Donghyuck cut him off, “I’m trying to hit on you, you idiot.” He felt light-headed from his own words. For someone so confident most of the time, he felt like he was nothing but nerves right now.
Mark’s ears flared bright red. “I- I noticed.” His hands fidgeted in his lap.
Donghyuck felt like his heart was in his mouth. “So?”
“So?”
He was the one who laughed nervously this time around. “Do you like what you see?” He threw his hands out in a small pose in an attempt to take the weight slightly off his words.
Mark smiled at him nervously. “Well, actually I can’t see much because you just took my glasses… so…“
Donghyuck blinked. He’d worn his heart on his sleeve. Was he being for real right now? “Are you joking? I swear I will castrate you Can-“
He never got to finish his sentence because Mark leaned forward, hesitantly, gently, pressing his lips against Donghyuck’s.
His mind was racing and blank all at once and all he could focus on was the way Mark’s lips were oh so soft. He let his eyes flutter shut, pressing back just as gently for a fraction of a second before Mark pulled back looking alarmed.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! You’ve known me for like a day, was that weird? I feel like that was weird-“
“Mark.” Donghyuck tangled his fingers through the boy’s hair pulling him closer. “What part of ‘I’m hitting on you’ do you not get?” And then, before Mark could overthink it all over again, he leaned forward to chase Mark’s lips and lose himself in the warmth of his mouth again.
This time, Mark kissed less hesitantly and more like he was aware that they both had a taxi to take them to the airport that was due to arrive any minute. Donghyuck licked into his mouth, savouring the way he tasted and felt and sounded.
Was it weird? They’d only known each other for a day like Mark had said. Being stranded in a foreign country and sharing a room with a stranger forms an unexpectedly quick bond. But Donghyuck feels like it was more than just their circumstance. He feels like they would have hit it off this effortlessly regardless of how and when they’d met. Their universities were fairly near each other and it would have been so easy to bump into each other eventually. Mark felt like a when and not a why. It was only a matter of time before they found each other like this with his fingers tangled through Mark’s hair and his lips sliding against the boy’s.
They both pulled back for air, smiling nervously into the space between them.
After checking in at the airport, they spent some more time strolling aimlessly. Donghyuck gave Mark his number and after spending so long making out it shouldn’t have affected Mark but he blushed anyway. He was lucky Donghyuck was beyond whipped for him and found it endearing.
“You better text me, Canada, or I’m uploading all the weird photos of you on the internet." He jabbed his finger out into the air to emphasise his point. "And there are a lot.”
Mark smiled fondly at him. “I’ll be sure to message you in that case.”
“Good. And say hi to Johnny for me.”
Mark maintained a deadpan expression as he replied, “And say hi to the other Johnny for me. At the funeral.”
Donghyuck laughed and Mark joined him. They stood like that, breaths mingling and touch straying for a little too long as they were reluctant to let go. Goodbyes always felt bittersweet but this wasn't a goodbye. This was a see you soon. “I have to go, Canada.”
Mark kissed him one final time. It was playful and eager and innocent and everything Mark was. Donghyuck wanted to drown in his kisses and shut out the world to focus on how his skin felt against his. Unfortunately, he spent far too much money on this flight to afford to miss it and so instead he threw one last smile at the Canadian boy before walking through to his gate.
He hadn't realised how just how used he'd gotten to Mark's bright laugh until it suddenly wasn't around him anymore. His heart ached and all he wanted was to feel Mark's smile against his lips and his hair between his fingers. It was when he was in the middle of Christmas dinner with his family that his phone pinged with a notification.
Unknown:
johnny says hi back
Donghyuck immediately smiled, saving the contact.
Lee Haechan:
merry christmas loser
Canada ❤ ️:
and to u!!! ⛄️🎄🎅
Donghyuck grinned down at his phone. He'd never pegged Mark to be the type of guy to use quite so many emojis but somehow it made sense. It was bright and colourful like everything else about the boy.
Canada ❤ ️:
im back in seoul next week btw
Lee Haechan:
good. come over
Canada ❤ ️:
i was hoping u would say that
Lee Haechan:
oh...?
what were u hoping for exactly? ;)
Canada ❤ ️:
i just really miss seeing u
That message was so sweet and sincere that Donghyuck couldn't even bring himself to make a joke out of it.
Lee Haechan:
i miss seeing ur ugly face too
Canada ❤ ️:
ugly????
that's not what u texted renjun
Lee Haechan:
what
Canada ❤ ️:
yea if i remember correctly
it was something about me being "CUTE cute"???
Donghyuck's eyes widened. There went his bad bitch reputation.
Lee Haechan:
u read that???!?
dhfjs8sf%$£
brb gonna go jump off a cliff
Canada ❤ :
if it's any consolation
i think ur cute cute too
The butterflies in his stomach felt like they were birds.
Lee Haechan:
shut up mark
"Who are you texting?" his mother asked, her curiosity badly concealed.
This was it. He'd already been kicked out once, he couldn't be kicked out again.
"Uh-" he began quietly. The truth was hard to say when it had hurt him so much in the past. "A guy. That I like."
His parents looked at him in a long moment of silence and Donghyuck's heart stopped as he waited for their reply.
"Well, is he nice?" his father asked, his eyes trained on the turkey.
Donghyuck's eyes widened with hope. "Yeah. Yeah, he is."
And that was that.
Donghyuck wasn't a huge believer in wishes or miracles but this Christmas it felt like he lost a little (his bank account would beg to differ about the little) and gained a lot more. You only ever realise how long one day is when you get to know someone for the first time, and you only realise how short one day is when you spend it with someone you like.
Mark and Donghyuck might have a short page of history behind them but they were both determined to write a whole lot more. On this Christmas and the next one. And hopefully the ones after that too.